DISCLAIMER: The only thing I have to my name at the moment is five dollars and a new vaccum...oh, and a sack of flour with a picture of George Bush's face on it...Translation: I don't own it.

Beta: the wonderful moonyNZ

Dark Heart

Chapter 3

Hermione sat at her desk in the transfiguration classroom writing up her teaching plans for the semester. She wanted to get them as complete as possible.

She sighed as she placed her quill back onto the desk and rubbed at her eyes with her hand, fighting the exhaustion that was threatening to take over.

She would not fall asleep though, she needed to get this done. Tomorrow she was planning on taking the day off to spend time with Ron and Harry in Hogsmeade before having to worry about putting the finishing touches on their classrooms.

She smiled as she lightly toyed with the feather of the quill as she wondered whether the youngest Weasley would accompany them. She figured that her and Harry had already met and made up.

She felt her eyes closing on their own accord and fought to keep them open. She needed to finish this…only two more weeks to map out…

"Classic," a cold voice drawled from beside of her and she instantly snapped herself awake. She looked around wildly as she realized that she had fallen asleep.

She looked over to the side to see Severus standing there, a tray of various foods and a steaming cup of tea balanced in his hands. On his face was his trademark sneer.

"If you are quite done staring," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "maybe you would like to move so that I can put this tray down on the desk."

Instantly she snapped back, sweeping her hand along the wood surface to make room for him to place the tray on. She watched him carefully as he did so beneath her lashes, her eyes taking in every movement.

"You have ink on your face," he said suddenly drawing her eyes up to his. When she stared at him in a confused sort of way, he sighed and leaned forward, brushing his hand along her cheek.

"Thank you," she replied softly, a faint blush rising up against her cheek.

He shrugged and spun around, his cloak billowing around his legs. She fully expected him to leave then, but instead he merely took a seat in the chair in front of the desk.

"You do realize it is Saturday morning," he said carefully, watching her for the reaction that he was sure to come with that announcement.

Almost immediately she was on her feet, her hands running wildly over her hair in an attempt to tame it. He could have chuckled at the frantic look on her face.

"Saturday?" she repeated, stuffing pieces of parchment into her arms as she ran about. "Oh Merlin…how could I….must get….oh no…."

He watched her as she simply stood in the middle of the classroom and let all the papers fall from her arms. Her brown eyes were wide as she looked at him.

"What are you doing here?"

This time, he did smile…albeit it was a small smile, one not easily detected. "I am here to deliver you breakfast. I happened to be walking by earlier and saw that you were asleep. I thought that you might like something to eat and to be woken up."

She blushed. "Thanks," she muttered as she bent to retrieve the pieces of parchment from the floor. She picked them up quickly and shoved them into a folder.

Then, she ran her hands over her hair again, only furthering the bushiness of her hair. "Oh Merlin…Harry and Ron are going to kill me if I'm late…"

"Actually," he piped up, "they already left, about ten minutes ago. They inquired about you but I assured them that you were quite fine where you were and that you probably needed rest more than a day of gallivanting all over Hogsmeade."

Almost immediately her temper reared up on its two legs, spitting terribly. "How dare you! If you would have just told them where I was, they would have come to wake me up. I don't need to rest! Who are you to say that I need to rest over spending time with my friends?"

He gestured towards the desk. "You are the one falling asleep while working and waking up with ink smeared all over the side of your face." He shrugged. "But who am I to make such assumptions?"

Her eyes narrowed on him dangerously and she even took a couple steps forward before she stopped and thought about what she was doing. She shook her head while throwing her hands in the air, spinning around and stalking to the other side of her desk.

"Thanks for breakfast and for waking me," she said stiffly, looking appraisingly at the food before her.

"It's not poisoned if that's what you're wondering," he drawled darkly. He leaned back slightly. "Although I do believe that I do owe you some retribution for your insult the other day."

This time she didn't back down from her glare. "You deserved it and you know damn well that you did."

He merely shrugged as he sat there and observed her while she lightly snacked on the food in front of her. He was amazed that she didn't ask him to leave. Actually, she didn't seem to mind his presence at all.

"I heard that Draco stopped by the other day," he said, hoping to draw her into a conversation.

She glanced up at him and finished chewing. "As a matter of fact, he did. He just stopped by to see whether the rumours were true or not."

"Rumours concerning your return, I'd wager," he said, leaning back and closing his eyes slightly. He kept his gaze on her through lowered lashes, though.

"Yes," she replied simply with a small shrug, biting into the blueberry muffin. She swallowed before elaborating. "He figured that we had come back but he wondered whether we had truly taken on jobs as professors. Obviously everyone has been talking about it."

"Obviously," he remarked dryly, opening his eyes to look at her.

She didn't seem intimidated by his intense gaze. Actually, she seemed quite unfazed by it and merely continued eating while never looking away from him.

Finally, she pushed the tray away and took a long gulp from the cup, closing her eyes as the warm liquid flowed down her throat. She smiled at him and said, "Thanks again."

Clearing his throat and standing, he replied, "Don't mention it."

He walked out of the room without a single glance in her direction. That meant that he missed the inquisitive look upon her face as her gaze followed his movements.

o-o-o-o-o

The storm was beginning to calm itself as the students filed off the Hogwarts Express, ducking as the last few raindrops leaving the sky struck with a vengeance.

Hagrid, of course, was the one to meet them as they exited the train, separating them into two groups- first years and the rest of the student body. The first years seemed a bit intimidated by the half giant as they stood in front of him.

The teachers were just then filing into the Great Hall to wait for the students to arrive. Hermione took a seat beside of Harry, leaving the seat on her other side vacant. She knew who it was reserved for- the Deputy Headmaster.

Her messy haired friend offered her a smile as Ron sat there, rocking back in forth in his chair mumbling something about "food" and having to wait. She shook her head while fighting back her laughter.

Minerva swept in then and took a seat in her chair, smiling at the trio as she did so. "I'm afraid I'm going to have one sour man on my hands after the sorting," she whispered.

"I'm assuming that you are meaning Professor Snape," Hermione returned, casting the older woman a sly smile. "I wonder, what have you made him do this time?"

"The sorting, of course," was the response. She snorted, "It is his duty after all since he is the Deputy Headmaster. You'd think I was asking him to be excessively nice to them."

"Like that would ever happen," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "If he doesn't want to do it, I wouldn't mind doing it for him."

Minerva laughed. "And let him get out of it? I think not." She smirked wickedly. "Besides, he hasn't asked nicely and therefore you shouldn't have to do it. Make him beg."

Hermione doubted that would ever happen. She personally thought that he'd rather die doing it before asking her to do it for him, but she would not voice her opinion.

Just then, some of the older students started to file in and she could have sworn she heard Ron mutter, "Finally," but she wasn't too sure. He was grinning rather largely though.

Harry patted her knee in a friendly gesture as she sat stiffly in her seat. He knew how high strung she was at the moment and he was simply trying to get her to calm down.

Immediately the students' eyes started to roam the length of the Head table and whispers broke out. She wondered whether it was about the three of them until she heard a snippet of the conversation.

"Do you reckon he's gone for good this year?"

"Don't know," another student replied, "he could just be late."

"Like McGonagall would let him be late," a girl snorted.

"Let's just hope that he's finally been given the boot. Maybe I'll be able to pass potions."

Hermione covered her mouth as she fought back her laugh. She glanced out of the corner of her eye when she heard Harry shifting and saw him in a similar position. He had obviously overheard too.

"I wonder how disappointed they'll be when he does come in," she questioned.

"Loads," Harry said immediately. "I can only imagine since it was always my greatest hope upon returning that he would be gone."

She nodded but didn't say anything. He wasn't that bad of a professor after all…

Just then the doors were thrown open and a scowling Severus walked in leading a cowering group of first years that looked terribly afraid of the man before them…not that anyone could blame them though.

He led them to the front and she had to fight back another bout of laughter when the older students groaned, realizing that their sincerest hope was ripped to shreds yet again.

"I'll call your name once and only once," Severus drawled as he reached the head table. "I suggest you come up immediately and do not make me repeat myself."

The new students took his words to heart and, as their names were called, practically ran up to the stool. The sorting was finished in record time, something for which Ron was thankful.

Severus waved his hand impatiently and the stool and hat disappeared. He walked around the table and took a seat beside of Hermione, putting an impassive look upon his face.

Minerva stood up then and gained all of the students' attention. She smiled at them and a few students- first years for sure- could be heard sighing with relief.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," she greeted. "I'd like to take this time to inform you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden. Also, we have some new professors among our ranks."

She turned in the trio's direction and held out her hand. "Teaching flying lessons and heading the Quidditch department this year is Ronald Weasley." The redhead stood while the students applauded him, causing his face to flood with colour.

"Teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts this year will be Harry Potter." This time, the applause was more pronounced and even a few whistled. A few of the girls had dreamy looks upon their faces as they gazed up at him.

"Finally, taking over the Transfiguration position is Hermione Granger." As she stood up, Hermione was shocked by the amount of applause she received. She shifted uncomfortably as a few of the boys let out wolf whistles.

She sat back down and glanced at Severus out of the corner of her eyes, frowning slightly when she saw his menacing glare directed at the students- mainly the boys.

Odd…

"Now we feast," Minerva cried, clapping her hands.

Ron dug in hungrily and Hermione paused to watch him for a moment before slowly turning to her own meal. She selected a wide variety of food so as to sample it all.

"Hungry?" a voice to her left questioned and she turned to stared into the onyx eyes of the formidable Potions Master.

"Not really," she said with a shrug.

He gazed down at the food littering her plate and then let them slowly move down her figure. "Hmm," he said in a way of a comment which made her wonder.

She put down her fork. "What do you mean by that?"

"By what?" he asked innocently enough.

"By that sound that you just made." She paused, looking at him while the wheels in her head turned. "Are you calling me fat, Severus Snape?"

On her other side, Harry began to choke on the piece of chicken he had just swallowed as his emerald green eyes rotated immediately to the formidable man, shaking his head frantically.

Hermione ignored him and stared steadily at the dark hair man.

"Well," he drawled slowly, allowing his eyes to take in the large amount of food on her plate, "you certainly do not have the same figure you had when you were a student here."

By now, most of the staff were listening raptly. Even a few of the students who were close enough to hear were watching the scene unfold, hoping against all hopes that she would hex him.

"First of all," she replied briskly, "that was two years ago and I am no longer a girl. I am a woman and therefore I have acquired a woman's figure." She narrowed her eyes dangerously, leaning forward and lowering her voice so that only he could hear. "Second of all, what were you doing noticing my figure when I was a student?"

His sudden intake of breath gave her a little satisfaction as he pulled back sharply. He seemed generally shock by her comment and the fact that he had implied that.

One point Hermione, Severus none.

She leaned back in her seat with a small smirk on her face, happily savouring the rich taste of the slice of beef she was currently chewing. If he wanted a word war…

"It's your body," he finally said with a low draw, causing the fork she was rising to her mouth to pause in the air.

It wasn't what he said that made her do what she did next, it was the way in which he said it. Really, if you asked anyone who was sitting near enough to hear, they would vouch for her that she had every right to retaliate.

Her wand raised on its own accord- her mind wasn't registering what she was doing- and the spell that left the tip was one of a complex nature, striking him dead on.

Now, if any of you are acquainted with the muggle world, then you would instantly recognize the shape which the once scary Potions Master took. However, seeing as many of the students attending Hogwarts was not acquainted with the muggle world, they had no idea that the man in front of them was transformed to resemble the energizer bunny, drum and all.

As Hermione rose from the table, she had a large smile plastered on her face as the teachers howled with laughter. Severus, meanwhile, was trying to reverse the spell, not an easy thing to do since Hermione was the brightest witch of her age and could make a spell of hers very hard to reverse.

Harry gave her a pat on the back as she walked past him and Ron smiled at her. As she walked between the tables, the students cheered her on.

All the while, a very pink Potions Master sat at the Head table, vowing revenge on the insufferable know-it-all.

A/N: So I'll put some of you out of your misery. This is a SS/HG story... Yes, I do love DM/HG stories but when this one popped into my head, it was Snapey-poo that I saw her with. Draco is there simply to infuriate Snape more by taking his girl... sorry...

Thanks for reading, Much Love,

MiZZ AmAyA