Ten Months Prior
Hermione Granger stood in front of Hogwarts, looking at it in a completely new light. For now she was a Professor. It was a position she was initially reluctant to accept, but her two best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, eventually talked her into it. They reminded her of all the help she had given them throughout their entire time at the school, and knew that she would be a valuable asset to the teaching staff at the prestigious Wizarding institution.
With Professor Slughorn returning to his quiet retirement, and Professor Snape retaking his role as Potions Master, there was an opening for a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Since the curse on the position had broken with Voldemort's death, many people applied for the job, yet Professor McGonagall wrote to Hermione specifically, offering it to her. After loads of persuasion from her friends, and many owls from McGonagall, reluctantly she accepted.
A part of her worried that her students may not have taken her too seriously. Afterall, she was just barely twenty-four years old. Hardly older than the seventh years, and looked as if she could have still been a student at the school. She wondered if any of the current professors began their careers at such a young age, and if they would have any advice they could give her on how to command the students' respect.
When she arrived to Professor McGonagall's office, she received quite a shock when she noticed there was someone already in there, looking just as nervous as she was. It was Neville Longbottom, who was sitting in an armchair in front of the Headmistress' desk, wringing his hands together.
"Surprise!" he smiled when she entered.
Hermione immediately guessed why Neville was there. She had heard rumors that Professor Sprout was also retiring, and assumed Neville was now taking on the role of Herbology Professor. The thought of having a friend there with her caused her to smile.
"You're taking over for Professor Sprout, aren't you?" she guessed.
Neville nodded proudly. "I couldn't believe it when McGonagall asked me, but here I am."
"Neville, why didn't you tell me?" she asked excitedly.
Before Neville could respond, the door opened and Hermione saw his black cloak billowing in before he stopped and looked at both of them; disapproval saturated his eyes.
"This was the best Minerva could come up with?" Severus sneered.
Hermione rolled her eyes and noticed Neville visibly stiffen. Her blood boiled. She was his colleague now, and was not going to be treated like some errant teenager.
"Did you need something, Severus?"
She made sure to put emphasis on his given name, just to further prove that she was not a student, and no longer would be spoken to as such.
Severus' eyes narrowed; Hermione refused to break eye contact.
"It's nothing that cannot wait," he said, then threw one more icy look in her direction, before leaving the office and slamming the door hard behind him. Neville winced.
"Git," Hermione muttered.
Nine Months Prior
"I just don't get it!" Hermione cried out, slamming her bag down in the staff room. "They refuse to listen to a word I say. They just keep asking me questions about Harry and if they'll have a chance to meet him. It's maddening," she complained to the room, which consisted of Filius, Neville, Hagrid and Severus.
She noticed the corner of Severus' mouth twitch as he exhaled loudly enough for her to hear. Ignoring him, she continued on.
"I've assigned them more essays than I remember ever completing, have taken house points for going off topic and have even handed out a handful of detentions, and I still cannot get them to take me seriously."
Hagrid, who was sitting the closest to her, patted her on the shoulder - which nearly caused her to fall over.
"Don' yeh worry 'bout it, Hermione," Hagrid smiled. "Remember me firs' year?"
Hermione, remembering the trouble Malfoy and his friends had given Hagrid, nodded. "I do," she said with a sad smile.
"Summat will change when yeh least 'spect it, an' they'll start ta listen," he tried to reassure her.
As Hermione went to reply she heard a loud snort from the back corner of the room. Her shoulders dropped as she inhaled deeply.
"Something you'd wish to add, Severus?" Her eyes narrowed.
Severus' eyes did not move from the Daily Prophet, which he held in his hands. "You've always had all the answers, Miss Granger. Of course there is nothing I'd wish to add."
Hermione's hands balled up into tight fists as her vision suddenly became red. The man was just as surly and insufferable as ever.
"Look here, Professor-"
Clearly uncomfortable with the mounting tension in the room, Filius intervened by clearing his throat.
"It's been a long day for all of us, I reckon. Perhaps we should all calm down before we say things we may regret later?"
Hermione stood shooting daggers at Severus, still ready to bombard him with a verbal assault she was sure he had never endured before. But after looking around and noticing how uncomfortable her friends and colleagues looked, she decided to bite her tongue. Quite literally, actually.
"Erm, Hermione?" Neville said quietly. "Want to join me for some tea in the greenhouse?"
Her stance loosened up, yet she gave Severus a look that clearly stated that this was not over. Severus rolled his eyes and lazily turned a page of the paper her was reading.
"That sounds lovely, Neville," she said through her teeth.
Later that evening Hermione was doing patrols around the castle, making sure no students were wandering around after hours. A part of her found it sort of funny, since she, Harry and Ron had done their fair share of roaming the castle at night while she was a student.
During her travels, she found herself in the Dungeons of the castle. She pulled her robes tightly around her; the air was much colder there than any other part of the school. As she passed the Potions classroom, she paused for a moment and looked in. She didn't know why she stopped, or what she was looking for, but something seemed to draw her to that room.
Hermione stared at nothing in particular as she recalled her first month and a half teaching at Hogwarts. The transition from Student to Professor was not going as smoothly as she hoped it would; it was going about as well as she feared it wouldn't. At least Professor McGonagall and the rest of her colleagues were treating her as an equal, like one of their own. Well, almost all of them.
"May I help you with something, Miss Granger," a dry voice said from behind her.
Hermione's heart leapt and her whole body trembled. She hadn't heard him approach at all.
"Merlin's Beard!" she exclaimed while clutching her chest.
A hint of a smirk briefly crossed Severus' lips before his signature scowl returned to his face.
"You scared me half to death! Couldn't you have given me some kind of warning that you were lurking about?" She hissed.
Severus cocked an eyebrow. "Where would the fun be in that?"
Hermione did a double take. Had he just made a joke?
"Speaking of lurking," Severus said, then gestured towards Hermione and his Potions classroom.
"I was doing rounds," she answered defensively; hands on her hips.
"Right," he simply answered.
The two of them stood in a heavy silence for a few moments, until Severus let out a loud breath.
"I was twenty-one when I began to teach here," he said, to her surprise.
Hermione mentally did the math and realized that he must had taught students whom he attended Hogwarts with three years before he became a Professor.
"That couldn't have been easy," she replied softly.
Severus let out a snort. "To put it mildly."
It was difficult enough for her teaching students who were near her age, but she couldn't imagine what it would had been like to try and gain the respect of people who were students with her. Perhaps that was why he was giving her that information.
"Imagine teaching the insufferable Gryffindors who had watched Potter and Black torment me for years. Gryffindors who had the gall and the audacity to refer to me as 'Snivellus' during lessons," he said with an ugly, twisted look on his face.
Hermione automatically took one step back due to his frightening expression. "How did you cope?" she whispered.
A cruel smile formed on Severus' face. "Taking house points, failing students for the simplest mistakes, handing out detentions…among other things."
Hermione then began to slightly understand how he became such a miserable and tough professor.
"From what I remember, you hadn't changed much."
"Old habits die hard," he smirked.
"Clearly."
Were she and Severus actually having a civil conversation? He had been nothing but hostile towards her since the day she'd began teaching. It was a shock to see this side of Severus Snape. To see him finally begin to speak to her as a peer, instead of a child.
"Although," she began, "I don't think it's fair of you to still take out your past on students who had nothing to do with it; who weren't even born when you first began to teach."
So much for the civil conversation, she thought, as she watched his face darken.
Severus' nostrils flared. "You dare insult my teaching methods when you cannot even manage your own students," he hissed.
Hermione flinched. "That's not fair, Severus. You went through what I'm going through. And had a rougher go of it, from what you tell me. A little empathy never hurt anyone you know," she scolded.
Severus' eyes narrowed. "My apologies, Miss Granger," he said with heavy sarcasm.
Too tired to have a row with him, Hermione decided to take the high road.
"Thank you," she said.
He cocked an eyebrow. "For?"
"For sharing that with me; letting me know that I am not the only person to have gone through this."
Severus, visibly uncomfortable by her genuine gratitude, cleared his throat. "You're welcome," he said shortly.
Again they stood in an uncomfortable silence, which was interrupted by a yawn from Hermione.
"I think I'll be heading to sleep now. Thank you again."
"You do not have to continue to thank me," he said in an exasperated tone.
Hermione shook her head softly. "Goodnight, Severus," she said with an edge of irritation in her voice, before turning and beginning to walk away.
"Goodnight, Hermione," she heard him say quietly as she left.
It was the first time he addressed her by her given name. A part of her, which completely took her off guard, realized that she rather liked it.