Chapter Three

"You have my attention." Snape drawled. They had made their way up the stairs guarded by the statue of a gryffin and entered her office. Snape sat in a high backed chair facing Mcgonagall's desk. The office had changed since he had been in it when he had been headmaster the year before. His office had been sparse. Books had lined the walls and there had been a cupboard full of potions next to the pensive, but there had been no ornaments or nicknacks. The only pictures being those of the past headmasters that always hung in the headmasters office in order to give advice to the current headmaster. Dumbledore was currently away from his frame, but Snape ventured to guess that he was not out of hearing range. Always having to have his nose in everyone's business. Snape's own portrait hung next to Dumbledore's, but his own likeness simply sat at a desk lit by faint candlelight writing on parchment paper.

Mcgonagall's office was simple, yet sophisticated. Two velvet green high back armchairs faced a mahogany desk and another similar chair sat behind it. It should be noted that this chair had a charm placed on it so that it could be easily moved and swivel about the room while someone was sitting in it. The walls of books remained, but their contents had changed. There were no trinkets or odd thingymabobs, but on her desk sat a portrait of her deceased husband. Fawkes sat on his perch in all of his glory and bowed to Severus when he had entered the room.

Mcgonagall sat with her back ramrod straight and her hands folded in her lap. "As I said before, Hogwarts is in need of a Potions Master that is able to locate and gather ingredients, as well as brew the potions. I'm sure you will be pleased to hear that there is no mandatory interaction with the students. If you so please, you may dine in the Great Hall with the rest of us, or you may spend this time in your own quarters. The house elves will be at your disposal.

Hogwarts is able to provide you with one assistant that meets your approval. You will have full authority over this person. You and I will have bi-monthly meetings to discuss achievements, expectations, and concerns. Otherwise you will be on your own and make decisions that best fit you and your assistant.

Furthermore, the pay will be comparable as to before and you will receive a percentage of the profits from the potions that you sell. I will provide a list at each meeting. I'm willing to offer 40% of the profits, but no more. If you would like to do research on improving potions, or creating new ones, that will be acceptable, but the other tasks come first.

"Do we have ourselves an agreement?"

Snape thought for a moment. "I believe we do."

"Excellent." Mcgonagall stood and shook Snape's hand. "Hogwarts wouldn't be the same without you."

In the Great Hall a storm was raging. During the battle a stray spell caused the ceiling to not just reflect the sky outside, but also the weather. On stormy days like today it would rain and the wind would blow causing havoc inside. This was the last task left in the reconstruction of Hogwarts. Unfortunately it had also been one of the first tasks that they had set about trying to fix. All of the standard spells and charms failed in making any change to the ceiling.

Hermione sat in the library skimming through books hoping to find a spell that would undo the damage. The task was made much harder by not knowing what spell had caused the charm on the ceiling to go haywire. Stacks of books surrounded her. The familiarity of the smooth leather and rough parchment brought her comfort. Everything could change, but it would all be okay as long as books stayed the same.

Her finger traced a line of words in one book, her eyes darting along. A look of excitement graced her face as she hungrily grabbed another book from the top of the pile, wordless and wandless magic causing the pages to turn until she found her desired destination. Her pointer finger slammed down on the book. "I've got it!" She gathered to book to her chest and raced out of the library, down a set of staircases, to the Great Hall and stopped herself just in time to not slam into Professor Flitwick who was standing just outside the doors to the Great Hall observing the monster inside. "Professor, I found it. I know how to reverse the spell. Look!" She pushed the book into his hands. Excitement radiated off of her; a glimmer of her old self could be seen if one were only to look close enough.

"Ah, yes! This should do just fine." Flitwick chirped "The honour is all yours."

Hermione pushed open the doors with great effort and once inside the doors slammed shut behind her. The wind whipped her hair around her and the rain stung as it hit her skin. She planted her feet to keep from being knocked over by the wind and raised her wand, pointing it at the center of the ceiling. "Tempest cael terminus!"

The wind and rain slowly died out leaving the room wrecked. The floor of the Great Hall had turned into a lake and the tapestries that hung on the walls were torn. "Brilliant, Ms. Granger. Brilliant!" Professor Flitwick clapped his hands together.

At that very moment Headmaster Mcgonagall approached the Great Hall. "It appears that a celebration is to be had. Wonderful job Ms. Granger." Mcgonagall placed a hand on the young witch's arm and smiled warmly at her.

Hermione beamed with pride. Even after all the darkness and hate she had been through she was still able to do good. She was still capable of good and even though the past still weighed down on her, she would get through this.

The Great Hall was aglow with candle light and cheer as the witches and wizards that had volunteered their time to fix up the castle gathered for a feast. They were celebrating the end of the reconstruction of Hogwarts. The finishing touches had been done that afternoon, just in time for the start of the new school year. Students would be arriving in a few weeks and everything would be going back to normal, which just so happened to be the topic of conversation as everyone settled around the table.

"And you, Hermione? What do you plan on doing? I'm sure you could get a job just about anywhere with your NEWT scores and being a war hero and all," asked Draco Malfoy. His guilt led him to help with the reconstruction. At first, nobody knew if they could trust him, but after a few weeks of hard work and dedication he was welcomed by the other volunteers which included: Madame Pomfrey, Professors Mcgonagall, Flitwick, Binns, Sprout, and Hagrid, Firenze, Draco, Hermione, Hannah Abbott, and Anthony Goldstein.

Hermione was not sure what she would do. While helping fix up the castle she also studied for her NEWTs and Mcgonagall administered the test for her and a few other students that had been doing the same. She knew she would need to find a job. SInce she no longer had a link to her parents she was basically out of money, she only had a handful of galleons to her name. She did not have to worry about paying for a place to stay or for food. Now she would have to find a means of making money, but she had not the slightest idea of what she wanted to do.

She was saved from answering the question when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Severus Snape appeared. Without a word he pulled out the only empty chair and sat down. He was placed at the end of the table next to Mcgonagall and directly across from Hermione. The entire hall was silent.

"It's good to see you Uncle. You look well." Draco piped up.

Snape bowed his head in reply. Conversation went back to normal.

Hermione had lost her appetite after being reminded that she had not the slightest idea of what she planned to do now that the reconstruction was finished. She pushed her food around her plate as she mulled over different ideas. She had thought about being a research assistant at the Ministry, but now the idea seemed mundane. Working at St. Mungos would be much more exciting and she would be able to help people, but she was not sure if she could handle being around any more pain and suffering. Hermione could feel the tendril of darkness wrapping themselves around her thoughts. A feeling of unease washed over her. Her leg began to bounce and the voices around her sounded like they were screaming, screaming at her.

She reached for the flagon of pumpkin juice at the same time Snape did. Their fingers brushed and she immediately withdrew her hand, but not before a flash of warmth shot from her fingertips to the center of her chest. Snape's eyebrows pulled together as he began to retract his own hand. As he began doing so he seemed to change his mind and instead grabbed the flagon and poured some into Hermione's glass before doing the same to his own.

"Thank you sir." He seemed to grunt in reply. Hermione took a sip of her drink before sliding a flask out of her pocket. She looked about the table to ensure that no one was looking her way and then poured a portion of the potion into her drink. Wandless magic stirred the contents. Unknown to her, Snape had seen what she had done out of the corner of his eye, but he said nothing. She took a sip of her new concoction and felt her shoulders relax as the numbness washed over her.

"What are your plans for the new year, Uncle?" The occupants of the table fell silent once again as they awaited his answer.

Without missing a beat, Mcgonagall filled everyone in on Snape's new position at Hogwarts and the assistantship that came with it. The table was filled with excitement as everyone asked questions. Professor Sprout offered to meet with him and discuss which ingredients she would be able to grow. Snape replied with a bow of his head. Hermione was enthralled by the position.

She studied Snape. His skin was pale, but there was a hint of pink below the surface, much more than there was when he lay bleeding out in the Shrieking Shack. His hair was still long, but it looked as if it had been recently cut. His shirt had a high neckline, but she could see a bandage sticking up over the edge. He was still healing. His long fingers spread butter onto a piece of bread, but he did not lift it to take a bite. His own plate mirrored her own. The food had been pushed around, but not eaten. She was not sure what it was, but something screamed inside of her. She could not miss this opportunity.

As the feast came to an end the occupants filed out into the corridor, some staggering a bit from too much elven wine.

"Professor-er, Headmaster, tomorrow morning are you available for a meeting?"

Mcgonagall replied in the affirmative and gave her a time when she could meet. The two parted ways and Hermione made her way to her quarters. She took another sip from her flask and lay down for bed.