A/N: Here you are, dears. I hope you enjoy. I didn't warn you before, my chapters for this fic will be really short. ;) Just stick with me; fluff and nonsense will come, I promise. ~Mel~

The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.

Professor Granger's Puzzle

Chapter Two

It was traditional for Hermione to spend the last week of her summer holiday with Harry and Ron and their large, overly loud families. She enjoyed the a wholesome week full of delicious food, sweet children, and old friends. Ginny and Luna were always thrilled to have her around, and the children all adored their Annie Minnie. She'd earned that moniker from little Jamie a year prior after he tried his hardest to call her Auntie Hermione as the adults had prompted. But alas, his little tongue could not do it, and instead, she'd been Annie Minnie ever since.

Thankful for the respite her friends provided before she took on the craziness that was Hogwarts during the school year, Hermione relished the time she was able to spend with her friends. She loved watching the happy couples interact together, Ginny with Harry, Luna with Ron, and she held a special place for each member of their families in her heart. Her only regret was that she couldn't visit them more often. This single week of noisy happiness gave her something that she cherished throughout the rest of the year. It didn't even bother Hermione when she received her annual ribbing about becoming an old maid. It was easy to simply laugh it off and tell them she was happy with her life as it was, and she would change it only when she found a love as true and as happy as the ones they enjoyed. Why would she settle for anything less?

Deep in her heart she knew there was more to it than that. It was no secret to her why she didn't date, why she did not go out and seek love in the world. Love had already found her; her heart irrevocably enraptured years before. However, it was simply something that could not be. He was not the type of man one simply approached and asked out for a drink, and she respected him too much for that anyhow. He'd made it clear long ago he did not desire affections, and her regard for him was so high she would never want to offend him by offering him something he did not want, especially since he had never shown any interest in her whatsoever, on any level. Until he did, she would never show him anything other than polite friendship, no matter how much her heart ached for him.

If there were two things that war had taught Hermione Granger it was: you can't always get what you want and be content with what you have, even if means you must live a life without love. She could, at the very least, find comfort in the fact that she was near him and able to share with him a distant but a scholarly life. Enjoying the rare moments when their paths crossed, she was even able to occasionally indulge, when no others were around, in a quick sit in his chair in the teacher's lounge. Where, in those rare, stolen moments, she would allow his scent to envelope her and take her away into a land of fantasy where all her wildest dreams came true. It was silly, she knew, but one does what one must when faced with an impossible situation.

And so she did. He would never know, and she would never tell.

~oOOOo~

Hermione returned from her visit on the Monday afternoon, just before the start of the new school year. With her mind on the many students that would be arriving in a number of hours, she hurriedly unpacked and then rushed to her classroom, anxious to spend those last few hours of her holiday making a few last-minute preparations. There wasn't much to do, simple organization mostly. As she worked, she thought about the year ahead of her. After five years of teaching, she genuinely enjoyed her job, even if she had only initially taken it to be closer to him. The students were a joy to be around, and her work colleagues had grown into close companions. Well, all of them had except for him.

As her mind filled with the image of the dark man who held her heart, her eyes flitted up to land on the equation surrounding her classroom. It was funny, she'd been terrified when she first made the mistake of magically promising a secret within her Arithmantic Puzzle, but now, after five years of it remaining unsolved, she found a perverse amount of comfort in the presence of her greatest secret. Its place on her walls and in her life, gave her the strength to go on when the days and night turned long and lonely, as they often did late in the school year.

As her attention moved back to the task at hand, Hermione quickly got lost in her work, and by the time she noted the hour, it was time to head down to the Great Hall. The students would arrive soon, and it wouldn't do to be late for the sorting.

~oOOOo~

Professor Severus Snape had spent the last two days locked in his rooms working on the puzzle. He was truly amazed at the brilliant mind of the creator. The witch was a bloody genius; there was no other way to put it. Why she was teaching foundational magic to adolescents he couldn't understand. With her brain, she could be working as a consultant and making millions of galleons a year, if she so desired. But no, she had tied herself to this school, much like him. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly about Hogwarts had drawn her into its halls.

His mind so full of the days and hours he'd devoted to her puzzle, he didn't even notice that his eyes locked on her as she entered the hall. Immediately, he was struck by how much she had changed over the years. She was no longer the bushy-haired member of the golden trio that he recalled from so long ago. The creature before him was a lovely woman who had to be nearly thirty.

He quickly calculated. Yes, she would be turning thirty this year, by his estimation.

How had he missed her growing up?

Severus realised suddenly that over the years she'd spent teaching he'd really never considered her at all; they rarely exchanged words or crossed paths. In his typical standoffish manner, he had dealt with her as he did all his colleagues, paying her absolutely no mind, but looking at her now, he couldn't help but feel that made an egregious error in doing so.

As she walked toward the head table, he studied her petite frame and signature wild curls which fell down to her waist in beautiful waves. He recalled that in her school days, despite her small stature, she held a fierce temper and a magical strength to rival any other. He greatly doubted that had changed.

In fact, he recalled a memory from several years ago. He had been sitting at an Order of the Phoenix meeting bored out of his mind, when he heard Potter and Weasley start to joke that as far as they were concerned Hermione was taller, stronger and far scarier than anyone else they knew. At the time he hadn't understood their reasoning and honestly was not surprised in the least that the pair would make such a seemingly stupid declaration. However, now that he had seen the brilliance of her mind, he understood.

Severus thought back to the puzzle sitting in that high castle classroom and the pages of parchment filled with his work in his dungeon. He had managed to work about two-thirds of the way through it but had hit a part he just couldn't get past. As he thought about the equation and the witch who had created it, he felt the desire to break through her code evolve and shift within him. This was no long about the thrill of solving a difficult puzzle. No. He wanted to measure up to her, to this witch with the fascinating mind. He now knew that, even if it took him all year, he would see it unravelled.

Severus glanced down the table where Hermione sat quietly speaking with Hagrid. Her eyes were fixed on the doors of the Great Hall in anticipation of the students' arrival. As Severus too turned to watch the doors, they swung open, and the peaceful, summer silence of the Great Hall broke. It was official; the school year had begun.