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Chapter 5: Interesting Conversations

Authoress: Dodge-This

Based on idea by: PookaSeraph

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Disclaier: Not mine. Snivles.

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Hermione walked late into the Great Hall, her purveyor of food through elfin means. She made her way between the tables to settle in her spot. She sighed and stared at the food. Too much effort in the morning Charlie looked over her attire.

"Aren't we the muggle today." He said happily, gauging her response from the relative safety of behind his toast. Toast with jam. Strawberry jam.

Hermione decided that she didn't dislike strawberry jam enough to pass it up. So she opened her mouth to reply as she snicked his toast, "Woke up late, your silly wizarding robes have too many damn buttons." She munched happily on her toast.

Bill looked over, seeing she wasn't in a mood to manage her own toast he jammed two and set one on his plate, on her side. "The robes are good if you're going for the menacing wizardy look," he bit and chewed, "but I myself prefer these muggle articles."

Hermione finished 'her' toast, she sighed resignedly as she contemplated jamming her own toast, an insurmountable task, to be sure. It was then she noticed the purposefully unguarded toast of Bill. "Muggle clothing is rather comfy," She said while filching Bill's toast.

Charlie looked over and began loading her plate for her, he also poured her a cup of coffee. "Drink that, you'll feel better."

She sniffed it, "Mmm, coffee." She downed a cup and poured another. "Can't be a good muggleborn if you aren't addicted to coffee."

Charlie began speaking through his eggs, after a few words he realized he wasn't being very successful so he swallowed. "I hear you threw one hell of a party last night. You didn't invite us?"

"It was for the students, thank you. But by the end of the night I had a fair number of not my students in attendance." She took another sip of coffee before taking a sip of pumpkin juice from Bill's cup. "Eighty-seven people total by the end. I only have forty-one in the classes I invited."

"Anyone have eyes on our little sister?" Bill said with mock sternness. Hermione snorted in Bill's cup, "Aww, gross man, that was mine, ugh, keep it." He stole Hermione's coffee cup.

"Not particularly," she said gently, "any reason why?" She picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on the end.

"She's been crushing on Lucius since second year. Hell if I know why, she almost died because of him, bloody bastard."

Hermione tutted at his language while her mind whirled through the night's activities. So Gin was…pursuing…Lucius. Interesting.

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Severus Snape sat with most of the 'new' seventh year Slytherins. None of them had questioned how they had been shifted twenty years into the future. And Slytherins were supposed to be cunning. Dumbledore said something about a freak accident at the end of sixth year. He had been rather vague, actually. He poked his eggs before setting down his fork and picking up a slice of bacon and crunching on the end. His gaze shifted along the head table stopping briefly on Professor Hermione and the redheads whose names he had forgotten. She smiled at one of the two and had a bite of toast. Redheads, bloody blighters, the lot of em. He lurched to the side as Lucius pulled him from his introspection.

"I can walk, you know." Lucius shook off his comment and towed him away to Charms. That was something else, he had known the Malfoy family before, but Lucius was a good five years older than him. And there certainly wasn't some freak accident that produced another Malfoy, namely Draco, in the same year as them. Answers, I want answers, he thought as he followed Lucius.

Lucius barely missed running his friend into a door jam. Severus scowled at hm. He was ignored as usual, and unceremoniously dumped into a seat.

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Hermione groaned as the sun met her eyes. Thursday. She blinked her eyes. I've almost made it through my first week, she thought. She slid her legs over to the side until they fell from the bed's support and landed on the floor, she pushed herself upright and picked out her outfit for the day. I feel like a comfy day. She pulled out some baggy jeans and flung them at her bed. Comfy, comfy, comfy, ah comfy! She pulled out a red flannel shirt and tossed it on her bed in passing on her way to the tub.

She turned the tub taps and started stripping off her pooh bear pajamas. When she finished she went over to a shelf and picked out some scented crystals, tossing them in the tub. They sank and dissolved, filling the air with the smell of lavender. She sank in and planned her day.

"Right now its about 6:10, I'll be bathed, clothed, and done-up by 6:45 ish. Finish up on planning next weeks lessons until breakfast starts at 7:30." She wallowed in the warmth of her tub. "First week hasn't been too bad." She squeezed some shampoo into her hand. Hermione had always been attached to her muggle products, but once she tried making her own cosmetic supplies she fell in love. Now that she had access to her own lab it was far easier making it than sneaking in with Myrtle every other month.

She rinsed her concoction from her hair with a showerhead and finished bathing, thinking and talking to herself. After a while she rose from the bath and let out the drain, she wrapped herself in a towel and sat at her vanity. After ten minutes of effort she was dry, made-up, and polished to as close to perfection as she had come in the past three years. She hung her towel and dressed in her outfit messily placed on her bed.

She settled to her desk piled with her own papers and pulled out the first year plan sheet. She had been nice last week with the introduction, but they needed to get to work, so now was as good as ever. She thought back to her first year and decided that the boil cure they had done would be a good start. She continued to scribble until she looked to her grandfather clock, seeing it was getting close to breakfast she piled her plans and put the back into vague order before walking to the Great Hall.

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After breakfast she wandered back down to her classroom and set out her notes for today's class. They were going to continue working on poisons. She was starting with one that had no serious consequences if it was come in contact with before done brewing, if say, a cauldron exploded. Bay Poison was today's project. She set the ingredients on the supply table and made sure the antidote she had brewed a day ago was handy. This done she took her seat and opened Dangerous Poisons and Their History.

As a teacher, Hermione had been taking advantage of her newfound privilege to roam the Restricted Section. She looked up in the middle of the Trans Poison, which ate away from the inside with intense pain and no antidote unless administered in the first day of the poisoning.

Her sixth years were starting to filter in. She placed the book in her desk and closed and locked it. She sat and watched the students take their seats chattering among themselves. She met Ginny's eyes as she walked in with a Gryffindor friend named Jenna Roberts. They smiled at each other. At lunch on Tuesday she approached Ginny about what Bill and Charlie revealed about her 'fancying' Lucius. Ginny had smiled and confirmed her brothers' speculation. Hermione shook her head to herself. Ginny is trying to hook Lucius.

Looking at the clock Hermione got up and walked to the front of her class and leaned back on her desk. "We began studying poisons, you should have read up on them for me, so today we will start making one. We will make Bay Poison, take note of the scent it has to it, at the end of the unit you will be tested on the recognition of some poisons." She waved her wand and the directions appeared on the board. "Directions, supplies," she said, pointing to each. "Don't mess up, bottled and labeled on my desk at the end of class. Begin." Student got up from their seats and moved to the table.

She sat at her desk, what did Snape do with the time he had sitting here? Graded, she answered herself. She hadn't had any class more than once except this one. They need to get used to work, homework shall be and essay on their next potion. She looked through next week's class plans. Virani Poison. One foot, I suppose. She nodded to herself and got up to start her rounds.

She started on the left side of the room. Luna Lovegood was stirring her silver potion while staring at the wall in front of her. Hermione couldn't figure out if she was daydreaming or if she always did this, but as long as the potion was ok she didn't mind. She meandered through the room occasionally informing someone that it was time to add something, but most of the students were competent. To have made it this far they had to have a serious attitude about Potions.

She wandered past her students and decided none had made any mistakes that would greatly affect the outcome. She returned to her desk and doodled, her class looked on and saw their teacher involved in something, apparently serious. They got back to work as a sketch of the room formed on Hermione's page.

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As the last student came to her desk and slid his flask into the holder she turned her eyes to the class. "Alright, I don't know what misconceptions you may have formed about me being nicer than the prior Potions Professor, but I will be no more easy on you. An essay—" She was cut off at the collective groan of the class. "Hey, you picked the class. Foot long essay on the effects and background of the Virani Poison. Due on, hmm, Monday. Dismissed." She cocked her head and smiled sweetly.

The class resumed to its chatter as they packed books and papers. She returned to her desk. Ginny wandered up to her desk after class.

Hermione spoke without looking up, "How's Operation Snake Charmer going?"

"Decently, not the point." She looked at her feet. "I'm really glad to have you as our teacher. I really like Potions and was worried you would slack. But that was silly, Hermione slack off." She shook her head, "Anyway, you're a great teacher, I just wanted to tell you in case no one else had." Ginny wandered out to her next class.

She smiled to herself as her friend left her. Seventh years would finish up their potion base. She relaxed and worked on her sketch in the absence of her classes. In ten minutes her seventh years filtered in. It was apparent that the party had crumbled a few barriers, much of the class was openly mingling, pairs were moving around the room. Harry and Neville sat in the front as she instructed. Some were trying valiantly to uphold the barriers, but partners were being tugged around the room near newfound friends. As the class came to a stop she wandered around her desk.

"Finish your potions from Monday. There will be an essay due next meeting on this base and its uses. Directions for this section are on the board." She waved her wand and the last class's instructions shuffled to form the directions for the assignment. "Begin. Quiet talking allowed until you mess up, as long as you stay on task."

At her order one of each pair rose and got the cauldron as the other gathered the ingredients on the board. Good, she thought. She returned to sketching the pattern of the stone floor. She glanced up occasionally to see if Harry and Neville were doing ok.

As the class got further into the process she rose from her seat to wander the room. The seventh years knew her, and her reputation. Believing that it held over to her teaching they were being particularly observant about their process, making sure they did it right. She walked to the corner of the room Snape was seated in near the Malfoys. Severus smiled at her and leaned back to let her inspect his potion. She smiled back and bent slightly to see his potion over the rim. It was the exact shade of lavender it should be. She nodded, "When it's done with the simmer bottle it and label it. You will need five flasks. Put it in the store room."

He nodded and lowered the heat. "I need to talk to you after class."

She gave him a questioning glance, but when he said no more she nodded. Hermione walked away to her final table, the Malfoys. As she faced them Draco gave her a smirk, but not the usual 'I'm better than you, mudblood' look, just a slightly mischievous look. She ignored it and looked over their potion. She nodded and walked back to her desk. Draco leaned over to whisper in Lucius' ear.

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The last student walked back to storage and put their potion in with the ranks. "Ok, remember, quiz on chapter one on Monday. I will also be collecting and grading your notes on the chapter as well." She waved her hand at the class, "Out, lunch time."

Lucius and Draco got swiftly from their seats, they flanked Snape and started marching him to the door against his will. Silly boys, "Malfoys, I need to talk to Severus before you take him away. Don't wait, it may be a while." Hermione didn't actually know if it would, but Snape was looking at her gratefully.

The Malfoys slowly relinquished their claim on Severus' arms and sulked out to the hall. Snape hurried away from them and made his way to her desk. He dropped his bag and rubbed fiercely at his forehead. "Thank you, so much." He glanced at the drawing of the classroom on her desk. He picked it up and turned around looking from picture to the room. "Impressive."

She was slightly surprised to hear a thank you followed directly by a compliment from this man. In her six years he hadn't given thanks to anyone. He's a totally different person, "What exactly did I save you from?"

His eyes widened. "Uh, boy-talk and Veritaserum." He looked at her when she snorted.

"You get your gender labeled conversations, believe it or not, we have ours." He shook his head, "I don't know when they gained the skill to do it themselves, highly restricted. Anyway, I have questions. I went to Dumbledore, but he said I should go talk to my Head of House."

She nodded, this was the first time any duties of her position had risen. She hoped she wouldn't botch it too badly. "Private?"

He nodded. She led the way into her office and placed a silencing charm on the door, to prevent eavesdropping. She went over to the fire and ordered two trays of food to her office before settling into a chair and offering another to him across the desk. Two plates appeared in front of them. "Help yourself, you're missing lunch. What was your question?"

"Why are we here?" He asked and picked a roll from his plate.

She took a drink and started thinking out loud for his benefit. "Well Dumbledore sent you to me, so probably expects me to tell the truth as opposed to whatever he told the lot of you." She ate a grape, "What did Dumbledore tell you, and how?"

"As much as I remember is it being July in our sixth to seventh year summer. I was at a…meeting…"

Hermione shook her head, "You have to tell me the truth, does this involve Voldemort?" He flinched at the name.

"Yes. I was at a meeting to get marked. I don't remember actually being marked though, and I don't have one," He rolled his sleeve and looked at his forearm. "Then there was darkness, I woke in the Infirmary." He started on another roll. "Dumbledore gathered us in his office, he said something vague about some freak accident that put us in the year 1998. For all the cunning, none of the Slytherins have questioned the Dark Lord apparently having been defeated, or anything else."

She nodded, "This will take a while. You want the whole truth, I can modify your memory with your consent later." He nodded and sipped at pumpkin juice observing his surroundings and settling into his chair. "Ok I'll start with you, though you are not in possession of the memories, you were living and aging during the last twenty years, is it?" He nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "You became a Death Eater, but later turned double agent for Dumbledore. You started working at Hogwarts as the Potions Professor, sometime you gained the qualifications for a Potions Master. You spied on Voldemort, so that we could act to prevent the worst. Me, Harry, Draco, you were our teacher for the past six years. Last summer you helped in the final battle, defeating Voldemort. Apparently Voldemort spelled the Mark to link to his demise. Everyone returned to the age marked at when he died."

"The man I was prepared to join for life was killed with my help? I guess I'll trust myself on that decision." He started on an apple. "Continue."

"Harry Potter, in your Potions class, he was prophesized to defeat or be defeated by Voldemort. Son of Lily and James Potter." He nodded slowly. "They were killed in Voldemort's efforts to get to their son."

His face flashed from glee to being stricken. "I guess it isn't too hard to see how I turned that way."

"You are in no way responsible for what you did, if that makes sense." He nodded and rubbed his head. "Um, Sirius was killed in a battle in my fourth year. Lupin was a teacher here in my third year. Pettigrew, was Voldemort's rat until the end." He nodded once more. "Lucius married Narcissa Black. Draco is their child." Severus blinked. "Narcissa died in the battle. I'm not sure what else to say, I think I covered most of it."

He nodded. "That will definitely take time to absorb. Covers a lot of why most of the school is shunning us. Was I a good teacher?"

Hermione hesitated. He raised a brow. "You knew everything about the material you were teaching, you never had any horrible accidents in your classes…You were, harsh on those who weren't as apt in the subject, and those not Slytherin."

"I take it I was an evil bastard who knew his stuff?" He smiled.

"That about sums it up." Hermione was relived he was taking it well.

He smiled and shook his head. He thought for a second, "You were a Gryffindor, right?" She nodded and ate some toast, "I'm sorry for anything I said or did. I was probably horrible to you, Gryffindor muggleborn, right?" She nodded. He laughed, "Smartest in my class as well?" She nodded again.

"You were mean."

"I am so sorry."

"I suppose it's alright, you're making up for it now." She smiled.

Severus looked stricken, "I'm being nice? I'll have to fix that for class."

"Please don't. Anyway, how are you liking class?" He looked hesitant. "Say whatever, wont take off points. Promise."

Suddenly a huge smirk crossed his face. "You do realize how far down your shirt we can see when you bend to check potions?" Hermione snorted her pumpkin juice and her eyes snapped open. She set down her cup and coughed.

Snape hurried over to her side of the desk and patted heavily on her back until she could breath again. Hermione proceeded to look down, the shirt was perfectly modest, but he was right, it was loose enough to see if she bent.

He went back to his seat. "Apparently not." She settled and crossed her arms across her chest. "Never said it was a bad thing." He smirked, "Your class is good too. Actually know your stuff."

She scowled, "You'll be late to class."

He shook his head. "Free period, I'll stay if you don't mind. Lucius is free too, they've been trying to catch me alone since the party."

Hermione blushed. Severus noted and tucked it into his head for reference. "What are they trying to get out of you?"

Severus looked up from an apple, he raised an eyebrow. "See if I like you as 'more than a teacher.'" He smirked as he flushed an even deeper red. He shoved off his chair and examined the books along the wall. "Whatcha got?"

She cleared her head, "Most of those are yours actually, these were your rooms until this year, a bunch of your stuff stayed here."

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One hour found the floor around them scattered with books as they sat debating an article on the effects of Wolfsbane. Severus' glance rested on the clock. "Now I do have to get to class." He got up, pulled Hermione up, and brushed off some dust from his uniform. He offered his hand, "Pleasure to have mental challenges. Your company as well, of course." She smiled and took the hand. Instead of shaking he pulled gently so she fell forward a step. Severus kissed her lightly on the lips before letting go and wandering towards the door. "Off to Defense. Ta." The door shut behind him.

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Reviewer Responses:

artemisgirl: thank you, spin the bottle inspirations actually goes to my cat!

Suzaku West: I hope I'm keeping up with everyone's update expectations.

Sarahamanda: Thank you for staying with me.

Slytherin Queen: I decided that since it wouldn't mess up any time continuum that it would be ok to kill people and repair them off to my suiting.

Fuuruma: Questions answered?

Miss Elvira: Yup, this is one fic I actually intend to finish.

Dragonsdaugter1: Thank ye.

Blade McKay: will do.

babydoll125: Glad to keep you amused.

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Authoresses Notes: 'crush' is the stupidest word in existence, and yet I use it mearly because I'm not in a make up words mood. If you want to see either Hermione, Snape, or the general population's schedule for classes and times please email me, HappyLeprechaungmail.com, its one of few things I put effort into, so I hope it helps with making the whole story flow better. The Bay Poison is based loosely on the fact that Bay Leaf is poisonous if digested. Vira whosi poison is loosely based on a potion mentioned in my sistahs fic, PookaSeraph, the Trans thingy I just pulled out of thin air.

I also do not own pooh bear.