Things I do own: Copies of all 6 Harry Potter books, more fiction books than my school library, and this really cute little wallet that is grey and white pin-stripe

Things I do not own: Harry Potter, any of the songs that I have used in this story (except the first one in this chapter, I wrote it) I also wish Severus said such nice things about my singing. He tells me I suck.

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Severus walked into his lab lost in thought. One year ago he never would have imagined having Hermione as an apprentice. Now he couldn't imagine his life without her. He was almost in a daze as he walked into the room that is until he heard Hermione singing. She didn't have her CD player on but she sounded even better than usual. He assumed she had written the song

And I've been to the other side

And baby let me tell you

The grass ain't much greener

And life ain't much better than here

You may think that you have it so rough

And life's just so tough

Well I just wish you knew

My life would be so much worse

Without you to brighten up my day

because

I've been to the other side a

And baby let me tell you

The grass ain't much greener

And life ain't much better than here

No, life ain't much better than here

Hermione was startled to hear clapping and as she turned around she blushed. Severus was standing on the other side of the room clapping with a smile on his face. He looks so handsome when he smiles. She had gotten used to thoughts like that and didn't blush when they occurred any more. He looked younger this way, but she had apparently been looking too long.

"What is it?' he asked, suddenly feeling self conscious.

"Oh nothing," she said in a daze, "But you look really good when you smile, you should do it more often."

Somehow she had avoided blushing while saying that, she just wanted to get the truth out for once. Severus, on the other hand, had a pink tinge to his cheeks. This was a very adorable pink tinge in Hermione's opinion.

"I think I should be the one complementing you right now Hermione. I don't think I've heard that song before, who is it by?"

"It's kinda by me. I wrote it. It really isn't a big deal, just something I did in my spare time. Besides it sucks, writing has never been my thing."

"Are you kidding me, that is amazing. I had no idea you wrote your own stuff."

"Well it's not exactly something I go around telling people off the bat. 'Hi, I'm Hermione Granger; did I mention I write my own music?' See somehow I don't think that would work."

"That wasn't entirely what I meant. I just figured that since I have known you for almost eight years and you have been my apprentice for almost 5 months I would have known."

Hermione was confused at that statement; did he mean he wanted to get to know her?" Trying to not let him on to what she was feeling and replied,

"Honestly not even Harry and Ron know that I write music. I can count the number of times they have heard me sing on almost one hand. And usually then we were just joking around, nothing special."

So she sings for me but not her little friends. How strange, and by strange I mean good.

"Well the reason I came down, besides the fact that this is my lab, is to remind you of the little 'party' that Albus is having. He expects you to be there too, which is good because if I have to suffer through a drunk Minerva singing 'Don't Stop Believing'

then you do too."

He didn't mention the part running through his head about wanting to have a pretty and intelligent witch to talk to/stare at all night. But what he said was correct; a drunken McGonagall made great black-mail. But it would help if he had someone there that could make fun of her with him. Hermione was the perfect person to do that. She wasn't vicious exactly, she just had a tendency to notice people's bad characteristics and point them out to him. She said it in a manner that wasn't rude, just funny.

"Oh lord, I may have to steal one of your infamous excuses and become suddenly ill…….. and contagious."

"Well then what am I going to do. I guess I could get sick too, but people may start to talk."

"What?"

"You know; you and me, sick at the same time. By the time it got back to us we would me engaged with triplets and planning to move to Bermuda."

Hermione smirked because she knew what he had meant the first time, she just wanted him to say it out loud.

"Oh professor that is ridiculous…"

"I wasn't trying to say anything…"

"…I mean I don't even like Bermuda, I would pick India or something."

Severus learned a new trick that day; he somehow managed to both pale and turn bright red at once.

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Sadly enough later than night found them packing up early to get ready for the 'Party from hell' as Severus referred to it. Hermione ran up to her rooms and started to look through her closet for something to wear. Albus had described the dress code as 'Casual muggle' so she had no problem. She wanted to make an impact on Severus though so she looked for the perfect outfit.

"Aha!" she said out loud, and then realized that it had actually come out. But that didn't matter; she had found the perfect outfit. It was a darker red halter top with gold stitching and little gold sequins. On the bottom she had found a pair of dark-wash straight-leg jeans. Those along with some gold sandals and a small amount of make-up and she was almost ready. All that was left was her hair, and after a small period of debating she waved her wand and it turned into curls that fell part of the way down her back. Perfect

Meanwhile Severus wasn't having as much luck. 'Casual muggle' didn't work as easily for him. After 15 minutes of standing and looking at his closet he grabbed a pair of black jeans and a dark green button down shirt. He ran a comb through his hair and left, praying that Hermione would show up and the night wouldn't be as bad as the usual parties.

---------Ok, now don't yell at me, I cut this short because I wanted to get the next chapter up for my loyal readers (like all 5 of you). But the next chapter will be out soon. Well as long as my Bio teacher doesn't assign too much homework. The next chapter will obviously be the party. Let me put it this way, Minerva isn't the only one who will be tipsy. Severus and Hermione may have a little bit too much to drink also. By the way I know a lot of people in this story are tipsy or at least buzzed. Please be sure that I don't recommend drinking excessively; or if you're a minor, at all. Well now that I got that little drunk disclaimer out of the way…