A/N:

I apologize in advance if there are mistakes I didnt have time to proofread

but I figured that you would rather have it with a few mistakes than wait another day.

Read/Review/and contact me if you would like to BETA this!

I own nothing!

Chapter 6: Harry Potter's Arrival

Hermione had just finished the last of the healing potions for the day, it was now half past five and she was glad to note that Snape seemed to be relaxing, he had only finished ten minutes before her, but he was already leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

"Did you not get a lot of sleep last night?"

"No I don't think I got back until around quarter to six and then slept only for an hour or so" He said in a soft whisper not even attempting to open his eyes.

"You only slept an hour and you have been working all day! That is very unhealthy! Why don't you take a nap and I'll come and stir you half an hour before dinner. How does that sound?" Hermione waited for a response. "Sir?" She whispered but still there was no answer. Hermione smiled to herself as she watched Professor Snape take a nap right in front of her. "He must have been exhausted if he let himself fall asleep in front of me." She thought to herself.

Three hours later found Hermione in Ginny's room, talking about how excited they both were for Harry's arrival.

"Hey Hermione you never told me why you were able to get off early today."

"Oh! Well actually we made a huge step forward with this project that we are working on. We had been stuck with the same problem for the past couple of weeks now and today we figured it out! So we decided to give ourselves an easy day as a reward. I'm pretty sure Professor Snape is still asleep in his armchair." Hermione giggled. "He looked so tired this morning. After we finished our day he admitted to me he had only had an hours sleep! And before I could order him to take a nap he was already asleep!"

"Come off it Hermione you wouldn't actually give Snape an order!" Ginny said flabbergasted.

"Oh yes I would but there is no telling if he would actually follow any order I gave him."

"But Hermione its Snape! You are so brave I could never give him an order! Doesn't he scare you at all?"

"Well in the beginning yes he did scare me quite a lot. I was spilling and breaking and burning everything in the start all because he made me so nervous. But then we got into a routine and things got kind of… comfortable. Now we work quite well together. Oh but Ginny please don't repeat these words to anyone he is so touchy about people talking about him."

"Don't worry even if I did tell someone nobody would believe me."

Hermione giggled at that. She was probably right.

"Well I better go wake him up. See you in a bit Ginny." She said as she got up and walked over to the door.

Ginny got goose pimples just thinking about waking the sleeping Professor up. That she thought to herself, is something that she would never do.

When Hermione walked into the lab she was half expecting him to be awake, however he was still fast asleep. She quietly walked over to him she reached out a hand to his shoulder to jostle him slightly. "Professor its time to wake-" As soon as she had touched his shoulder his eyes snapped open and he grabbed her wrist. When he saw that it was only her his face relaxed and he let go of her wrist.

"Never wake a spy from his sleep. I could have killed you for Merlin's sake!"

"Sorry Professor I just thought that you would want to wake up its half past eight. I know you like a lot of time to get ready before you go downstairs."

"Is it really half past eight already? You shouldn't have let me sleep so long I have things to do! It's a miracle you decided to wake me at all!" He ranted as he got up from his chair and went to get his journal from his workspace where he had left it last.

"A minute ago waking you was the most dangerous thing I could do and now its I didn't do it soon enough! Will I ever be able to do anything right!" she said exasperatedly

Snape ignored her comment as he went back to his desk and started writing in his journal where he kept all the anti-venom information.

"Do you need help with anything sir?"

"No Miss Granger I think that I am perfectly capable of writing down our new discoveries all by myself don't you?"

"Okay so I will see you downstairs?"

"Didn't I say that I was coming down to dinner?"

"Okay see you later then!" she said ignoring the annoyance in his voice.

When Hermione entered the kitchen she looked around trying to find Ron. She had checked his room first only to find it empty. He wasn't in the kitchen either. "Fleur where is Ron? I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"I believe zat he iz in de garden! Did you hear zee newz Harry is arriving tomorrow!"

"Yes I did hear that actually." Of course she knew she was the one who told everyone else she thought angrily to herself.

She got out of the kitchen as fast as she could to find Ron. Thankfully Fleur was right about Ron being in the garden. Hermione loved the garden at Grimmauld Place. It was the only place to get away from the noise and other people without leaving the protection of the wards. For some reason not a lot of people ever ventured out here. And that's the way Hermione liked it. The ground was a mix of brick and moss with a few chairs and green hedges all around. Someone in an attempt to make it pretty had conjured up some white paper lanterns that floated around ten feet in the air. And above that was the sky. Usually you wouldn't be able to see that many stars being in the city and all but someone had magiced the sky above to make you feel as though you were in the middle of the country and miles away from civilization.

She walked over to Ron and sat down next to him. "Hey" She said quietly. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm just thinking about the future. It kind of all just hit me today that this is real….you know?"

"Yes I think about it everyday." They sat in silence for what felt like hours. One of the things that she loved about being alone with Ron was a moment like this. When he was with Harry the two of them were always talking. But when it was just her and Ron they could be so in tune sometimes. It was one of the reasons that she had a crush on Ron. She had liked him for so long she couldn't even remember when her feelings for him had changed.

"So how is your job going?"

"Really, really well actually. But you are asking me on a good day. Who knows, tomorrow I might have a completely different answer." Hermione chuckled.

"How can you work for him he just seems so…. So Snape!"

"Well he is very Snape I will give you that but that isn't always a bad thing."

"What do you mean? Being Snape is always a bad thing."

"Working with him one on one I have learned so much about magic. things that I wouldn't have ever learned otherwise." She would have gone on to say more but she felt as though she was telling his secrets by revealing that she thought he was actually a good person. and that they had somehow become friends. She couldn't picture Ron taking that last bit of information too well. They were both silent once more and let the comfortable silence stretch until they heard a cold voice shatter the moment.

"Sorry to break up this cozy moment." Snape mocked. "Miss Granger could I have a word?" Hermione went to get up. "No Hermione you stay I'll go I have to ask Ginny something anyways."

"Oh okay. Thanks Ron."

Snape's eyes followed Ron until he was out of site.

"That wasn't very nice you know." Hermione scolded. "Oh I'm sorry did I ruin your romantic moment?" he said mockingly. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "You wanted a word?"

"I just wanted to inform you that I am giving you the day off tomorrow."

"What! Why?" Hermione said dropping all pretense of anger.

"You did very well today and I know that you will be thinking of nothing else but Potter all day. I really don't feel like having to clean up your mistakes because you will be so distracted with the thought of seeing him." Hermione decided to ignore the insult she knew that he didn't really mean it, "Thank you Professor. I really appreciate it!" Hermione said brightly. "Do you want to sit with me for awhile? We still have half an hour before dinner is ready."

"Certainly not I do not lie around and look at stars." Hermione laughed. "Yes I suppose that isn't very Snape-like is it? I guess I will see you at dinner then?"

Snape bowed his head as an answer then turned around and walked back into the house. Hermione smiled as she watched him retreat. They really had come a long way this summer. She wondered if Hogwarts would be any different now that she was friends' with one of the most formidable professors the school had ever seen. "Probably not" she thought to herself, he would never do anything that could potentially ruin his reputation. Although he didn't seem to mind her seeing something other than the mean potions professor that first day when he shared his lunch with her. "I wonder why that is."

"You wonder why what is?" Ron said, as he walked over to where she lay.

"Oh nothing I was just thinking about things. Its nothing really," she said lightly.

"Oh okay well tea is ready everybody is already sitting down."

"Thanks for coming to get me I tend to loose track of the time out here."

When Hermione stepped into the room she automatically looked for an empty seat the only on was luckily in between Ron and Professor Snape. She smiled at both of them as she sat down. "Oh Ron I forgot to tell you the good news! Professor Snape has given me the day off tomorrow isn't that lovely!"

"Really! That's brilliant!"

Hermione beamed back at him. Hermione was about to start eating when she noticed that Snape seemed to be looking for something without even hesitating she grabbed the salt and handed it to him. "Here."

Snape took the salt from her and sprinkled some over his dinner he put it down but still didn't eat. She could feel his gaze on her; she turned to give him a questioning look. "What?"

"How did you know that I wanted the salt? I hadn't even asked you for it." He said bemusedly.

"Well the food tonight is roast beef I know for a fact that you only eat it with salt. since you weren't eating and seemed to be looking for something I just knew that's what you were looking for. I am your assistant after all. I'm sorry sir but I'm afraid that you are becoming predictable." She said with an evil smirk knowing just how much that statement would annoy him. She heard him muttering something about "insolent child". She giggled to herself, she had really come to love teasing that man, he really was predictable.

After dinner she said good night to everyone and headed up to bed as she reached the landing she could hear someone coming up behind her. When she turned around she smiled to see Snape only a few steps behind her.

"Where you walking behind me this whole time!"

"Miss Granger I have better things to do then creep up behind you. I merely left a little bit after you and climb the steps faster due to my having longer legs thus allowing me to skip steps." Hermione rolled her eyes at such a formal reply. "Good night Professor. Oh and thanks again for letting me have tomorrow off."

"Think nothing of it I have errands that I must run anyways."

xxxxxxxxxxx

The next day Hermione was practically running down the stairs to see if Harry had arrived yet. She burst through the door to find it empty. She decided that while she was down there she might as well make herself some breakfast. While cooking the eggs Ron closely followed by Ginny burst into the kitchen. They both looked disappointed to only find Hermione there.

"So he's not here yet ?" said Ron a little out of breath.

"No not yet."

They all sat down at the kitchen table and ate, just to take their minds off of waiting for Harry to arrive. "This reminds me exactly of the day that you were supposed to arrive, Ginny and I were just sitting here just waiting."

"Well its always exciting to have someone new to talk to in the house considering we are never allowed to leave it."

Suddenly the door opened and everyone's head snapped up in the direction of the door in hopes that it would be Harry. However it was only Mrs. Weasley and when she saw all the glum faces she said, "Did nobody tell you? Harry arrived around two this morning he has only just woken up I've only just brought him his breakfast."

"What? Why are you only just telling us now!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well I have only just seen you haven't I when was I supposed to tell you?"

"Well where is he!"

"He's staying in Fred & George's room I thought he might want his own room."

Before she had finished her sentence the three of them were through the door and running up the stairs to get to the top floor as fast as they could.

Ron being the tallest was leading the gang and when he burst through the door Hermione heard a huge clatter. Worried she rushed in to find Harry still in bed looking quite surprised with what looked to be his breakfast all over the floor.

"Sorry mate didn't mean to frighten ye'"

"It's alright. Hi Hermione! Hi Ginny! It's so great to see you all."

"Hi Harry!" Hermione was so happy to see her friend again.

Suddenly they were interrupted by Mrs. Weasley walking in. "Oh dear! Harry darling what on earth happened?"

"Sorry Mum that was my fault I startled Harry when I burst through the door."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head as she waved her wand and cleaned up all the mess.

Turning to Ginny she said, "Ginny! I need you to come and help me downstairs in the kitchen."

"But why do I have to help you you've never needed help before."

"I just have more to deal with this morning than I usually do that's all."

"Wait! Don't tell me Fleur is down there with you." At the guilty look on Mrs. Weasley's face Hermione guessed that Ginny had gotten it right.

"Just because you have to be in the kitchen with her doesn't mean that I have to endure it with you!"

"Ginny! I will have no more of this nonsense! Now come!" Mrs. Weasley turned on her heal and walked back downstairs. Ginny reluctantly got up from the corner of Harry's bed she had been perched on and followed her mother down stairs.

Hermione now finally having a calm moment took a chance to really look at Harry she had been worrying about how he was coping with Sirius' death. She could see sadness in his eyes but he did seem to be okay. She guessed that it would just take time.

"So what were you doing with Dumbledore?" Ron asked impatiently.

"Well he just had me go help him get this teacher out of retirement. It really wasn't that exciting. His name was Professor Slughorn."

"Yeah I guess he would need a new teacher with Umbridge gone and everything." Ron said obviously disappointed.

"Well what is he like?" Hermione asked curiously as she sat down on the unoccupied bed before she sat down she noticed a telescope. She picked it up and held it in her lap and thought nothing else of it.

"He's okay I barely met the guy we weren't there that long. And as soon as we left his house we came right here…oh! I forgot Dumbledore said he was going to be giving me private lessons this year!"

"Really what kind of lessons?" Ron said leaning closer almost as if he was afraid he was going to miss something.

"Not sure he didn't really say but it must have something to do with the prophecy and Voldemort right?"

"Well yeah that's what we kinda thought last night would be about." Ron admitted.

"But Harry we don't know what the prophecy said it got smashed at the Ministry last year." Said Hermione.

"Well yes it did get smashed but that's not the only record of the prophecy. You see Dumbledore was the one who witnessed the prophecy being made. He told me what the prophecy said."

"We only know what the profit is saying. What did Dumbledore tell you?" Ron said anxiously.

"The profit has it right for once. It looks like it's going to have to be me who kills him." Harry said looking almost relieved to have gotten this conversation over with.

"Yes we had figured that they weren't far off from the truth but we couldn't be certain." Hermione said reassuringly.

Suddenly Harry broke the silence "Oh I almost forgot Dumbledore said that O.W.L. results would be coming in today."

"WHAT! When are they supposed to- AGHHH!"

"Hermione! What happened are you alright?"

"It…it punched me! I squeezed it and it punched me! Its not funny Ron!"

He had started to laugh, "I have to be honest I never thought I would see you give yourself a black eye!"

"Oh no! I can't have a black eye!"

"Don't worry Mum can fix it! Lets go downstairs maybe the O.W.L. results have come in"

"Oh my goodness! I almost forgot!" Hermione practically ran all the way there.

When she got down to the kitchen she said "Mrs. Weasley! Has any post arrived yet from Hogwarts?" Harry said Dumbledore told him that we would be getting out results today!"

"No dear-" Mrs. Weasley gasped. "Hermione what on earth happened to your eye!"

"One of Fred & George's pranks."

"Let me see if I can get it off."

"Its alright I will just go up to the lab later we have some great bruise salve that should do quite nicely."

"Alright then."

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An hour later Hermione was walking up the stairs to the lab. She had received her O.W.L.'s. She had done quite well but there was still room for improvement. Why did she seem to have such a weak spot for DADA?

She walked in hoping that maybe he was running one of his errands that he had mentioned to her yesterday. She had no such luck it seemed because sitting and writing at his desk was none other than Severus Snape. "I thought I told you that you had the day off? Did you-" He stopped when he looked up to see her face. He quickly strode over to her and tenderly held her face so he could get a better look at her eye. "Who did this to you?" He said with such anger his voice was like low rumbling thunder and was there a hint of protection in his voice? Hermione was shocked at how angry he had gotten.

"Promise you wont laugh?" she bit her lip and looked up at him.

"Why on earth would I laugh?" he said taken aback.

"Well… I was in Fred & George's room and I picked something up off the bed and when I squeezed it….it punched me!"

"Oh… I see." He said trying his hardest not to burst out into a fit of laughter. It was no use however he started laughing so hard that his eyes started to tear. He kept laughing as he went to the storeroom and found the bruise salve. He only started to calm down when he started applying the salve to her swollen eye. Her skin was so soft like silk. He had never felt anything so delicate before in his life. He slowly massaged the salve into her skin in slow circles. She had closed her eyes and seemed to be enjoying his touch. He was shocked he couldn't believe how calm and relaxed she was while he was touching her like this. He had half expected her to be repulsed by his touch. It was quite apparent that she felt the opposite. He desperately needed to distract himself. "So did you get your O.W.L. results yet?"

"Yes."

"Well aren't you going to tell me your scores? I know your potions grade already how did you do in the rest?"

"I received outstanding in all but one."

"And which subject would that be?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"And let me guess. You are disappointed."

"Well would you be! What is the point of getting an almost perfect score across the board?"

"This is true."

"Professor do you know who Professor Slughorn is?"

He mad a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "Unfortunately I do. He was my teacher when I was at Hogwarts. I didn't care for him much. He was always looking for the next rising star he is very superficial I don't like the man all that much. But I hear he is going to be your new teacher all thanks to Mr. Potter I hear."

"Well you aren't known for liking many people are you? All I'm hoping for is that he is at least a competent teacher."

"Oh did I forget to tell you the good news?' Hermione said brightly.

"Harry made Quidditch Captain! I thought you would want to know." She said jokingly.

"Oh yes thank you for that you have brightened up my whole day."

He said finally relieving her face of his finger. "Your done that was a very strong hex whatever they used I had to use twice the usual amount to remove the entire thing."

"Thank you! Oh and before I forget you are expected to be at dinner on Friday night its Harry's birthday."

"Oh joy a celebration of Potter's life that is exactly my kind of party." He said sarcastically. Hermione giggled.

"Yes well you are still expected to come. Well see you tomorrow I guess."