"Ok, let's try this again. Swish and flick," Hermione chanted, demonstrating with her wand. She looked around the room filled with first years. Suddenly, the faces of the students changed and she saw faces of the past. She saw herself sitting next to Ron. They hadn't liked each other very much then.

"It's le-vi-O-sa, not le-vi-o-SA." Her own words echoed in her head, clear as day, making her smile. She turned her attention back to her class.

"Now, try again," she instructed.

"Excuse me, Professor. Could I have a word with you?" came a voice from the doorway. Hermione looked up to see Professor Fiore. He had been the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for two years, breaking the school's record.

"Excuse me a moment, class. Practice the levitation spell while I'm gone," she said as she stepped outside the classroom. Professor Fiore was about 5'11" with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Ever since Hermione had gotten a job at Hogwarts, he had been trying to take her on a date. They had gone out twice, but she wasn't sure how far her feelings went towards him.

"Hermione, I was uh...just wondering if maybe you would like to go to the Three Broomsticks this weekend for lunch," he said nervously. She worked hard to hide a smile.

"Sure, Stephen. That would be great," she said, giving him a smile.

"Oh, good," he said. "You should probably get back to your class." Hermione nodded.

"I'll talk to you later," she said as she went back into the classroom.

Hermione became the Charms professor at Hogwarts when she was 23. She had only been working there a year. Hogwarts would stay with her forever. Unfortunately, her friends hadn't. After graduation, Ron had moved to Germany to work with a special group of Aurors. He made this decision because Ginny and Hermione had both been kidnapped by the Dark side, and Harry had also been victimized for many years. He decided to make it his personal business to make sure that kind of thing never happened again. Harry trained and auditioned to play on a professional quidditch team. The team traveled so much, the friends lost touch after only a year. Oddly enough, Draco began to play for the very same team and he and Harry became close to best friends. Unfortunately, after two years of the traveling everywhere, Hermione and Draco broke up. By this time, they were nineteen. She hadn't heard from him since then, and nowadays, she rarely even thought of him. It obviously wasn't meant to be, she reasoned. Occassionally, she would get a letter from Harry or Ron, but she hadn't for quite a while.

Teaching a class at Hogwarts often caused her to have flashbacks of her childhood. Happy memories, all of them, yet they brought tears to her eyes. They were supposed to be friends forever. So many good times, and now she hadn't seen any of them for almost seven years! How she missed them.

Shaking herself mentally, she went back to the lesson, which was ironically the same one she had learned the first time she, Harry, and Ron had been in a class.

"Sherry, dear, don't wave your wand about so violently. You're going to put someone's eye out," she reprimanded, running over to the little blonde girl in the second row. Now, where had she heard that before? Oh yes. Yet again, she had repeated the same words she had said to Ron so many years ago.

"Okay, class dismissed. Your assignment is to successfully levitate an object. A light object!" she called as the students left. Thank goodness that was her last class of the day. She favored Fridays because she had all weekend to relax and roam the castle, flooded with memories...and occassionally water from the girls' lavitory.

She locked the classroom door and wandered towards her living quarters thinking of Professor Fiore. He was terribly nice and fairly handsome. She enjoyed spending time with him. Who knew? Maybe she was meant to be with him. He was always so shy though. Draco was never shy. He was always confident. Maybe too confident. Where had that thought come from? she thought. She sighed. That part of her life was over, and she had to accept it.


Hermione sifted through her closet. Red went well with her hair, yet it was more dressy and she was only going out to lunch. Purple? No, it wasn't one of her favorite colors. She finally found a pair of white capris and a pink shirt. She tied her hair up in a messy, but cute, bun and applied her usual makeup: mascara, eyeliner, and clear lipgloss. Then she left the castle and set off towards Hogsmeade.

As she walked through Hogsmeade, she realized she was late, so she hurried directly to the Three Broomsticks. She was relieved to see that Stephen had yet to arrive. She settled into a chair and smoothed out her clothes.

"Can I get a butterbeer, please?" she called to the bartender. A young woman entered and headed towards the bar. She had short brown hair with an auborn tint. She looked vaguely familiar to Hermione, but she couldn't pinpoint where she knew her from.


It had been a half hour since Stephen was supposed to meet her and he hadn't shown up yet. Hermione sighed and went to the bar to pay for her drink. She smiled politely at the young woman, about her age.

"Hello," the young woman greeted, her eyes taking on a bright glint. Hermione started.

"Oh, um, hullo," she answered. "Do I...know you?" she asked.

"No, no, I don't think we've ever met. But I recognize you to be a professor at Hogwarts, right?"

"Oh, well, yes," Hermione said awkwardly.

"Hogwarts is a brilliant school. I want my children to attend there," she said, almost child-like.

"Oh, how old are your children?" Hermione asked. The young woman laughed.

"I don't have any yet," she said smiling. "But I will eventually. I'm engaged to the most wonderful man in the world," she sighed, showing Hermione the impressive stone on her left hand.

"Congratulations," Hermione said politely.

"I'm so excited," the woman breathed. "He should be here any minute," she said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I really should be going," Hermione began. "I--"

"Oh, here he is now. Darling," she called, "come here!" Hermione looked up at the ceiling impatiently. She just wanted to get back to the castle. The woman's fiance wandered over to the woman and she took his arm.

"This is my fiance, Mr.---" she began, but at that moment, Hermione had looked up.

"Draco," she breathed, horrified that this scenario was real. He looked just as shocked. His fiance just laughed.

"Actually, most people call him Mr. Malfoy. Do you two know each other from somewhere?"

"Oh, I think we used to go to school together," Draco recovered quickly. Hermione looked down.

"Yes, I think so."

"Well, it was nice running into you, Miss Granger. If you'll excuse us?" he asked as he led his fiance away. His fiance, Hermione thought sadly. This couldn't be happening.


A/N: Well, you've read the Prologue and now the first chapter. Please tell me what you think so far, although I know it isn't much to go on. I really want this to be as good as the first. So please keep reading and reviewing! Email me anytime, too, if you want. Love you all!

Amber