A/N: Thanks to RenitaLeandra who was so nice to offer to beta this for me!

Chapter 5- Crying in Her Butterbeer

The few weeks remaining until the start of term passed agonizingly slow for Hermione. She had told Minerva about the encounter with Snape and she had been both properly impressed that she convinced him to come and properly horrified at the way Hermione had been treated.

She had even owled Harry the day after their meeting and he had agreed to meet her in Hogsmeade. She had had such horrible nightmares that night that she had woken up drenched in sweat with tears streaming down her face. She had met him at the Hog's Head, hoping to avoid anyone who would know her at the Three Broomsticks.

"Hermione," he said pulling her into a hug. "Are you okay?" She had dark circles under her eyes which were red and swollen.

She sighed heavily as they sat down at a table in the corner. She took several drinks of her butterbeer before answering.

"Oh, Harry. I feel so foolish for making you come all the way up here. Tell Ginny I'm sorry. I just don't know what has come over me."

"Don't worry," Harry said patting her hand. "Ginny understands. She's had to go out in the middle of the night to help cheer George up more than once. Why don't you tell me what happened. Your owl said something about going to see Snape? What possessed you to do that?"

"Minerva asked me to. She hadn't had any luck finding someone to take the Potions position, so she had owled Snape. He agreed to meet her, but she already had a meeting with the Minister that morning, so she asked me to go in her place. Needless to say, things did not go well."

"From the looks of you, I would say that is an understatement," said Harry smiling gently at her. "I take it you were not successful?"

"Actually I was," she said brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "He was mean and cruel and said the most hateful things, but believe it or not, he agreed to come. I guess at least something good came out of it."

Harry looked at her shocked. He would have never thought it possible that Severus Snape would ever consider going back to Hogwarts. It said something about Hermione's powers of persuasion that she had managed it.

"Anyway," she continued, "I'm not sure exactly why I owled you. It just brought back so many memories of the Final Battle and those weeks you were in St. Mungo's and…" Her voice trailed off and she took another drink from the bottle.

"And Ron," Harry said looking at her.

Hermione nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "What is wrong with me? Why can't I get passed it? Look at you! Not only did you lose your best friend, but also your mentor, your Godfather and your parents. And then you had to fight and kill the most feared dark wizard of all time, nearly dying in the process. Yet you're not the one sitting here crying into your butterbeer because someone insulted you."

"First, do not think, Hermione, that I haven't had my own moments of 'crying into my butterbeer' as you put it. I just have Ginny to help me through them. But that's not the point. I don't think you're upset just because Snape insulted you, although you really should have hexed him a couple times, but because of everything he reminded you of. There is nothing wrong with being sad because you lost someone you love. Remember that according to Dumbledore, love is the strongest form of magic."

"I know," Hermione said smiling sadly. Harry scooted his chair around next to her and put his arm around her.

"Someday you will be able to put this behind you. I am sure of it," he said squeezing her shoulders.

Hermione snorted loudly. "Are you Sybil Trelawney now?"

Harry also laughed and slowly the tone of the conversation lightened. Hermione felt better having shared her grief with someone and Harry was glad to see a smile back on her face. Finally the hour grew late enough that even Harry admitted he had better be heading back to his wife and son.

"Don't let Snape get you down," he said as they said good-bye. "He is just unhappy and wants everyone else to be unhappy too. He doesn't know how to be kind anymore. Well, let's face it, he never really knew how to be kind to begin with." Then he smiled brightly.

"Let me know if he insults you again. I'll send a couple Aurors up to have a word with him." The two shared a good laugh at the thought and Hermione told Harry to hug Ginny and Ronnie for her and she headed back to the castle.

Hermione tried putting the entire incident out of her mind, but she continued to wake up every night with nightmares. Unable to go back to Madam Pomfrey, she had looked up the ingredients for the Sleeping Potion herself in an old copy of Advanced Potion Making and brewed it herself in the Potions lab. She had felt nervous and guilty as she had done it, but the nights of waking up panicked had, in her opinion, left her with no other choice.

As the final week of summer came, the castle seemed to come alive. Most of the staff had returned and was preparing for the students. Hermione felt that she had successfully improved her N.E.W.T. courses and was looking forward to the beginning of term with only a small amount of dread at the return of Professor Snape.

She first heard of his return to the school from Neville who had stopped by her office his first day back. He and Luna had had a lovely time in their search for the Loch Ness Monster and he reported that he had successfully found all the plants he was looking for. He also brought news that he and Luna had finally become engaged.

"That's great news, Neville!" Hermione said, and she could tell he was near to bursting with pride. "You two make such a lovely couple."

Neville flushed at the compliment. "Thanks, Hermione."

"So where will you two live? Surely she won't want to live at Hogwarts."

"No," said Neville shaking his head. "We have found a house on the edge of Hogsmeade and I will walk in to work every day. We're planning to get married around Christmas time so we'll be moving around then."

"But, if you do that you can't be Head of House can you?" Hermione asked with surprise. Neville had been the Head of Gryffindor for the last two years. He shook his head.

"No. That's the other reason I came to talk to you. Professor McGonagall wanted me to ask you if you would consider it. It's not all that much work. Just some extra paper work and mandatory cheering at the Quidditch matches," he said with a grin.

"Well, I would be honored!" she said smiling. "I will have big shoes to fill. You know, the Gryffindors love you."

At this Neville turned completely red and stammered for a moment unsure of what to say.

"Well, the Slytherins have always loved Snape too, but that doesn't mean so much does it?" he said joking. "Speaking of which, I saw him heading toward the Headmistress's office a moment ago. He looks as much like an old bat as ever, doesn't he?"

Hermione tried to put a stern expression on her face. As professors they were supposed to rise above such things as house loyalty. But her encounter with Snape had made it difficult and she couldn't help but smirk at Neville's comments.

"I hope you won't let him intimidate you now like he did when we were students," she said earnestly. "You know you have as much right to be here as he does."

Neville nodded but didn't look too convincing. "I know, Hermione. That's what Luna said when I told her."

"Listen to her!" Hermione said encouragingly. "You have earned the respect of the entire wizarding community. What one bitter old man thinks of you should not matter."

Neville nodded, looking slightly more confident as he headed out the door leaving Hermione to sit and think. Hopefully being Head of Gryffindor would not mean any more interaction with Snape than she was already going to have. She thought back to the words she had just said to Neville and chastised herself. Here she was lecturing him while she was trying to find ways of avoiding the man herself.

Hermione managed to avoid the Potions professor the rest of the week. It appeared that he was not taking meals in the Great Hall or, if he was, not at the normal times. In fact, it was not until the Opening Feast that she even laid eyes on him.

It had been her duty to escort the first years across the lake in boats. She had been rather nervous about it but it had gone relatively smoothly. At least no one had fallen into the lake this year. It was with dismay, however, that she noticed when she reached the Head Table that the only empty seat was the one next to Snape.

"Good evening, Professor," she said coolly as she reached the table and sat at her place. There was no response from the man at her right. Professor Vector, however, looked up and smiled at Hermione.

"Good evening!" she said as the food appeared in front of them. "Did you have a nice holiday?"

"Oh yes. It was lovely," Hermione said grateful that she had been saved from embarrassment. "I spent some time with Harry and Ginny and their new baby and then I spent several weeks with my parents."

"Ah, and how is Ginny doing? I never knew Harry well as he never took Arithmancy, but Ginny was a lovely student."

"Oh, she is doing very well. The next time I owl them, I will be sure to give her

your regards," she said buttering a slice of bread. "And did you have a nice holiday as

well?"

The two continued to chat through the rest of dinner and Hermione felt more at ease than she had feared. Snape had not made a single comment and, in fact, it appeared as if he could not even hear them. However as the puddings appeared in front of them, Hermione felt obligation take over and turned to speak to him.

"I trust everything was as it should be in your rooms?" she asked him as she reached for a dessert.

"I suppose," he growled, not lifting his eyes from his plate. "Slughorn liked things a bit more… comfortable than I do. But I will manage."

Hermione felt relieved that at least he had responded politely. Perhaps he had just been caught off guard when she arrived in his home.

"If there is anything I can do…" She started to speak but was quickly cut off by his harsh voice.

"Miss Granger, the only thing you can do is to leave me alone. You know what that means don't you? It means I don't want to speak to you." He looked up at her giving her a withering look. Hermione suddenly felt as though she were back in Potions class again and had a sudden flare of anger. She was not a timid young child anymore but an equal to him.

"I am sorry, Professor. I was only trying to be polite," she shot back at him. "You know what that is, don't you? It's when you speak to someone you don't like for the sake of appearing nice."

For a moment she thought he almost looked surprised at her response. After all, she had never dared speak this way to him when she was a student. But instead, he just snarled at her.

"Well, for once we are in agreement," he said returning his attention to the plate in front of him. "I trust that by tomorrow you will find a new place to sit so we do not have to continue to be annoyed with each others presence?"

Hermione just rose from the table at this point, and followed the students toward the door ignoring the calls from Neville asking what was wrong. He finally managed to catch up to her in the Entrance Hall.

"Hermione, wait a minute," he called clearly running out of breath. She did not stop. "Professor Granger!"

This brought Hermione to a sudden stop. She looked around and suddenly realized that a large number of the students were watching. She paused and waited for Neville to catch up to her.

"Hermione are you all right?" he asked gasping for breath. "Did that old bat say something rude to you?"

"For crying out loud Neville, keep your voice down," she hissed trying to avoid the stares of the students. "And this is Snape we are talking about. Is the sky blue? Of course he said something rude to me." Together they took the staircase that led in the direction of both their quarters.

"Really, Neville, it is very sweet of you to be concerned, but I can fight my own battles."

"I'm sorry Hermione. You took off in such a hurry, though, and Snape had such a satisfied look on his face." They reached the hallway at the top of the stairs where they had to go in different directions.

"I'm fine," she said smiling at him. "And this is going to be a long year for everyone if people get worked up every time I speak to Snape. Really, we should strive for more inter-house unity, okay?"

"Okay," he said before turning to walk down the hallway. "Have a good night."

Hermione turned in the opposite direction walking up several more staircases before reaching her own rooms. She readied herself for bed pausing in front of the bottle of Sleeping Potion. She knew she had been taking it far too often, but every time she went without she ended up having nightmares all night long. Ignoring the sensible part of her brain that was telling her to stop this and pour it down the drain, she quickly took a drink and settled into bed.