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Severus Snape.

Traitor.

Death Eater.

Her Potions Professor.

Wait. Her Potions Professor, yes he was that. Death Eater – he had the mark – but… Hermione back tracked… traitor?

Well Harry had said so.

But Harry was rash. Hermione knew this. Everyone just about knew this.

And Snape had run.

However, for some reason, unclear to even her, she doubted it.

She would never say so to Harry or Ron. No, definitely not. Hadn't they been offended before at her for lesser defence of the same teacher? Yes – she highly doubted defending the murderer of Dumbledore would have gotten her anywhere with those two.

None of this mattered however because right now, the boy standing here, separated from her only by the large muscled form of Sirius Black, was not her Potions Professor, was not a Death Eater and was not a traitor… at least not yet anyway.

But there was something he definitely was.

An enemy.

Of the Marauders.

And as the saying goes – your enemy's enemy is your friend.

Perhaps that's a bit harsh, she thought.

She did not want to be enemies with the Marauders as such. But she definitely did want to keep her distance. So far this had seen her fail miserably.

She needed to try something different, she had been trying to stay away from them but there had been nothing to stop them from being near her. She needed something to help them stay away, and what's better, she thought, than a ten-foot Severus- pole?

The boys were throwing verbal insults at each other but Hermione wasn't listening. She was trying to remember any scrap of information that anyone had possibly told her about the younger version of her Professor.

Sirius hated him. Well it didn't take a genius to see that.

James hated him. Again – apparent.

Remus never said anything to stop them. Her head whipped around to find the young wolf, sure enough standing with his back to the wall, behind Sirius and James looking at his shoes, the classroom door, anywhere it seemed but at the scene in front of him. Hermione frowned, but turned her attention back to Severus.

She noticed all the Gryffindors had started to inch closer to James and Sirius whereas the Slytherins were more or less slinking away from where Severus stood facing the two bigger wizards alone.

Friendless.

But why?

Hermione felt a strong sting of pity catch her breath. She was no stranger to feeling alone and friendless. She remembered only too well the sting of Ron's words to her during her first year. But she had eventually made friends. Why hadn't he? Why didn't he get his Troll?

She could feel the magic building around Sirius as there fight escalated. It wouldn't be too long before they started throwing hexes and Hermione found that she truly didn't want that.

She was just about to reach out to Sirius and do what Remus was to her to cowardly to do. What the Slytherins should have done. But then she remembered…

The memory.

And then… Lily's fight.

Harry had told them of the memory he had seen in Snape's pensieve. She remembered he had been angry that his Mother had tried to stand up for Snape, and he… he had called her a Mudblood. And that Lily had been shocked, like he hadn't done that before. Harry had said it had been the end of exams so it must have been just the end of last term for them.

And they had been lab partners before that?

Perhaps… it wasn't her blood then? Perhaps it was something else? Perhaps it was… the pity?

Hermione didn't have to worry about such name calling as she supposed that having Dumbledore as a "Grandfather" would suggest her having a magical background. But still if she wanted to befriend the boy-Professor she figured that she might as well take advice from the pensieve memory and not echo Lily's actions.

Angry red sparks were now coming from James wand, so thinking quickly Hermione spotted the cupboard hanging on the wall above James head and as discreetly as she could aimed her wand at the hinges and cast a non-verbal charm at the door.

There was a small explosion as the cupboard doors swang open and the jars it contained burst spilling its runny green substance directly onto James and Sirius.

Apparently alerted by the noise Professor Slughorn ran out from the classroom to examine the scene in front of him which now consisted of the two Gryffindor boys head and shoulders covered in slime, the colour and consistency of snot. Surprisingly Severus had already placed his wand away and discreetly slipped from the scene as the Slughorn scroufougied the boys heads clean muttering about how they were lucky it was only a concoction of Peeves' and not a dangerous substance.

They all started to file into the classroom, Hermione following the disgruntled Gryffindor boys only to be pulled aside by a strong hand on her upper arm as she entered the dark room.

"I saw that you know," he breathed hot air onto her neck.

Hermione pulled her arm back and lifted her chin, refusing to look at him and instead brushed past him walking to the only available seats, at the front of the classroom.

"I'm afraid I don't have any idea what you're talking about," she replied softly but confidently.

She could almost feel him smirk at her back.

He followed her to their desk and they remained silent as Slughorn began to lecture them about the potion they would be making today.

Hermione was determined to do her best today, thinking that surely if she showed him her intelligence their friendship could follow on from that at least. She knew he would appreciate brilliance in potions… well at least she hoped that followed through from her time.

She started to cut up and prepare the ingredients to precision handing them over to him when she finished. Fifteen minutes later she looked up to him pleased with herself only to find him redoing the entire ingredients her own preparations being placed in a muddled pile on the desks corner.

She stood there mouth agape, unbelieving at what he had done. What was wrong with them anyway?

Without looking up he said smoothly "I suggest you close that mouth, I do not know about you but I would not trust some of these fools so much that I would doubt their abilities to turn a simple dreamless sleeping potion into toxic fumes."

She had changed her mind.

Sirius and James were right.

Severus Snape was a jerk.

"And dare I ask just what you, pray tell, think of my abilities," she hissed venomously. "Those ingredients were prepared perfectly, I have never once –"

"They were prepared to the text book standards, were they not?" he said calmly clearly unfazed by the steaming witch.

"Well it was written by –"

"– a squib, who had never brewed a potion in his life. Or didn't you know that?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes, surprisingly she didn't doubt him. But she was surprised that she had never heard that before. After all it was the same book that she had used last year.

"Now just sit back and maybe you will learn something."

And so astonished she did.