"How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another."- Lewis Carroll.


Chapter 3

The next day found Hermione heading down to the Great Hall between the chattering Pandora and Aurora. They both seemed determined to have her as part of their group and as soon as she had finished dressing had steered her out of the dorm, Emmeline calling after them that she was going to be a bit late. Hermione was glad to have at least some people to talk to. She had been a bit worried that this was going to be like her first year before she had made friends with Harry and Ron, with her not quite fitting in.

The weather was fine and the sky in the hall was a clear blue with a few wisps of clouds scattered here and there. The three girls took seats at the table and began grabbing food as they waited for Flitwick to bring their schedules over.

"What classes are you taking Rose?" Pandora asked as she poured herself some milk.

"Potions, Herbology, Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts, Transfigration, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, " Hermione replied as she placed eggs on her plate.

Pandora nodded. "I'm taking all of that except for Arithmancy."

"I'm taking all of that except Potions," Aurora replied. "My marks aren't high enough. "I'm also taking Astronomy. I did the best in our year at that subject."

The tiny charms professor passed them then, carrying a large pile of parchment. ""Here you are, Miss Brightman and here is yours Miss Perkins and yours Miss Sinistra." He said cheerfully, passing each around. "…and here is your, Miss Vance," he added as Emmeline slid into a seat next to Hermione. The four girls leaned in and began examining their timetables.

"We have Herbology first, then Potions," Pandora announced as she looked first at her schedule, then at Hermione's. She took a large sip of her milk, and then grabbed her bag. "Better get going then. We shouldn't be late our first day."

Hermione and Aurora got to their feet to join her, but Emmeline, still working on her toast, merely waved them off. "She'll catch up soon enough," Pandora said as they left the hall. Several Ravenclaw boys in their year were leaving as well. As they entered the grounds, one of them fell into step with the girls.

"So it's Perkins, is it?" he said brightly as he walked beside Hermione. "I'm Charles Belby. It's good to have some new faces in Ravenclaw."

"You mean some new girls to ogle," Pandora said. "Go away Belby."

"She doesn't mean that," Belby assured Hermione. He smiled in an indulgent sort of way at Pandora. "I try to be friendly and she gets dark thoughts."

They were at the door to the greenhouse now. Aurora looked amused but Pandora was scowling. The professor, a stout man named Seedling, was making his way towards them. Unlocking the doors, he ushered them into the greenhouse, Emmeline slipping in just before the door was shut. Charles Belby gave another of his indulgent smiles, mouthed 'we will talk later' to Hermione and took a spot by a small group of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff boys.

The class was a decent sized one. A number of Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's had made it through as well as a small group of Gryffindor's and two Slytherin's. Hermione found herself looking around as she waited for the professor to begin the lesson.

"Good morning class," Professor Seedling began, "…it is good to see so many of you able take the N.E.W.T level course and a special welcome to Miss Perkins," he added kindly, turning towards Hermione. "I hope you enjoy our school."

Hermione thanked him. He took roll call then and Hermione was startled out of her thoughts to hear the names of several people she had known, including Professors Lupin and Snape, as well as Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. The professor began assigning them all pods and Lupin and Sirius turned away before she could get a good look at them but Severus Snape came to work at a pod right next to hers.

He was a stringy looking boy, with shoulder length, oily dark hair and a hooked nose. The boy next to him, Avery, she thought the professor had called him, was looking around at the other students in disgust but Snape was merely scowling at his plant.

"Pass me that bowl, will you?" Aurora said, interrupting Hermione's thoughts. She handed over the bowl they were supposed to be gathering seeds in. She couldn't be sure, but she thought that Snape had glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, as though he knew she was thinking of him. When she looked, however, he was staring in focus at his plant, his weedy arms attempting to prize it open.

Hermione decided to stick to her plant. She was not going to get distracted her first day back.


After Herbology, the girls cleaned up, and then Hermione, Pandora and Emmeline made their way down to the dungeons. Hermione was surprised to see that the door was already open. Heading inside, she could see several cauldrons set up on tables against the walls, the contents bubbling. Taking a seat next to a pearl colored potion emitting a delicious mix of smells, Hermione's eyes widened. 'Was that Amortentia?'

Pandora sat next to her. Behind them Emmeline was sitting next to a dark-haired Ravenclaw boy who name Hermione didn't know. A small group of Slytherin's took the seats behind Emmeline including Snape and his Herbology partner, Avery. Across from her two girls, a blonde and a girl with dark-red hair were sitting. Hermione could see the sandy haired Lupin and a very good-looking young Sirius Black taking their seats next to, Hermione's heart leapt, Harry's father.

His eyes were different, and there was no scar on his forehead but there was no mistaking the thin face and messy dark hair. She felt a stab of homesickness as she thought of her friend and found herself wondering once more if she would ever see Harry or Ron again.

A bald elderly wizard with a large gut made his way into the room then. He stood at the front of the class and beamed around at them all. His eyes eventually found Hermione. She couldn't tell for sure, but he looked like he was sizing her up. He turned back to look at the class a moment later and began to speak.

"Welcome back! It's wonderful to see so many of my old favorites. Now let's see, I see Avery, Aubrey, Black, Miss Brightman, Miss Evans, Lupin, Miss Macdonald, Mulciber, Potter, Miss Runcorn, Ryan, Miss Vance…" his gaze fell on Hermione again. "…and a new student, a Miss Rose Perkins, is it?" He beamed at her. "Excellent, I am Professor Horace Slughorn." Professor Slughorn beamed at several of his old favorites then.

"Yes, we will be going over a number of new potions today that you have not seen in your O.W.L classes. I will also be showing you some potions I have here already made." He waved a hand around to the bubbling cauldrons. "They are much more complex to make but I won't have you starting out with anything too hard. They are just to give you all an idea of what to expect. Now, can anyone tell me what this one is?" he asked, gesturing the pearl colored potion Hermione had been looking at earlier.

Her hand shot in the air, as did Pandora's and the red haired girl across from them. Professor Slughorn turned to Hermione. "Yes, Miss Perkins?"

"It's Amortentia," she breathed, more certain than ever. "I can tell by the pearl color and spirals the steam rising from it are making."

Professor Slughorn looked impressed. "Exactly, very good. Now do you know what it does?"

"It's a love potion," Hermione said. "The most powerful love potion in the world."

"Very good, five points to Ravenclaw!" At several of the grinning boys, he added in a mock stern glare, "Now boys, you must not make light of how serious obsessive love can truly be." He then gestured to a gold potion near the Gryffindor's. "And this one, class?"

Pandora did not raise her hand this time but Hermione did and so did the Gryffindor girl from before. Professor Slughorn called on Hermione once more. "Yes, Miss Perkins?"

"It's the luck potion, Felix Felicis."

"Take another five points, my dear!" He said, looking mightily impressed. He turned to the redhead then. "Miss Evans you may have a rival here in Miss Perkins. You too Snape."

Avery leaned in and whispered something undoubtedly nasty to Snape, whose expression remained blank. Evans did not look too upset. She looked curiously at Hermione for a moment before turning back to the professor. "I already have a rival though, I still have to become a better potions maker than you professor," she said cheerfully.

Professor Slughorn laughed. "Well said, my dear. You have two more years here, so maybe in time, eh?" He then turned towards Hermione. "I do wish you luck Miss Perkins, but perhaps you might get some today, as luck will be the reward of the best potion made in this class. I have," he added, holding up a small bottle filled with the same golden liquid. "A bottle of Felix to give to whoever has the best potion today. The potion in question is the Draught of Living Death. Instructions are in your textbooks. You have an hour, so get to it!"

Hermione opened her copy, found the potion and got up to get her ingredients. She returned them to her desk, placed them neatly beside her and then lit the cauldron. From beside her, Pandora was doing the same. She was busy chopping her ingredients when she heard Professor Slughorn turning to Evans.

"I must say I expected that you and Severus Snape would be paired together. I hope nothing is wrong with my best potions students?"'

Evans looked up from where she was cutting her roots. Her eyes were looking determinedly anywhere from either Slughorn or Snape. Hermione could not hear her answer, so low was it spoken, but she could see the edge with which the girls face was set. Professor Slughorn smiled fondly at her.

"I'm sure that you two will be talking soon enough. Such old friends are likely to have little quarrels now and then." Snape, Hermione noticed, had not looked up once. His face was completely blank but his hand was gripping his knife very tightly, the knuckles turning white.

Hermione began placing her roots in her cauldron. It occurred to her that she had heard the name Evans somewhere before, but where she didn't know. She worked in silence as steam began to lift into the classroom.

It became apparent very soon that as well as Hermione was doing at the potion, and it was not an easy one to make, she was far outstripped by both Snape and Evans. The Potions Master made his way back and forth between the two of them more than any of the other students, making favorable remarks and smiling his jovial smile. Hermione couldn't help but notice that each one seemed more and more focused on their work after he had spoken to the other.

It seemed like no time at all that time was up and their cauldrons were being inspected. Hermione was given a warm smile and a "very good" but it was clear that this was a face-off between his two favorites and he saved them for last. He inspected first Evans potion and then Snape's very carefully then straightened up. "I'm sorry Severus, but Lily's is just a bit better. It reached the lighter color." An indulgent smile was given to him before he stepped up to Lily Evans cauldron. "The winner and now owner of a bottle of dear Felix. Use it well Lily."

Though Sirius and James Potter were both throwing Snape amused looks, Lily Evans' face was impassive as she took the bottle from him, her green eyes scanning its contents without enthusiasm. The class began to make their way out, Hermione included, Snape already having gathered his things and beaten them all to the door without a backward glance.

As Hermione headed up to lunch with Pandora and Emmeline, it crossed her mind that she had never thought of Snape having friends before. He had always seemed like such an unpleasant, solitary person, never interested in what others thought of him. Were his school days responsible for him being the way he was?

She dismissed the thought quickly. Snape surely had other friends, and from the way Sirius had once described them, they were all death eaters in the making.

Pandora passed her a roll as she sat down. "It's just Charms with Flitwick and then we have the rest of the day to ourselves," she said. "Lucky too, or I'd never find time to do that essay Seedling is asking for."

"You might be off the rest of the day," Aurora told her as she poured stew onto her plate, but I have Astronomy at midnight."

"Well you chose to take it," Pandora replied. "I don't mind," Aurora told her. "Night time is the best part of the day. It's when everything makes the most sense and all the inspiration comes to me." She sighed dreamily. "If only we could sleep during the day and stay up during the night."

"You stay up all night anyways," Pandora argued. "And keep me awake half the time."

Aurora began eating her stew, her mind far away from Pandora's complaints. Hermione ate in equal silence with the taciturn Emmeline. Her eyes roamed the hall, taking in the deep-red hair of Lily Evans at the Gryffindor table, who was chattering animatedly with the blonde girl from potions class. Near to her sat James, Sirius and Lupin, along with a small blond boy with an anxious looking face who Hermione vaguely recognized from Herbology as Peter Pettigrew. Sirius was saying something and James and Pettigrew were laughing. Lupin, however, was shaking his head at them.

Hermione's gaze passed quickly over the Hufflepuff table and to the Ravenclaw table to observe her new housemates. The dark-haired boy from first year and the girl with the pigtails were both arguing while several other first years were listening, clearly entertained. Hermione could not hear them but she thought they reminded her a bit of herself and Ron at that age. Another girl, a third or fourth year from the looks of her, was sitting by herself, shuffling a pack of cards and mouthing something. She was covered with an assortment of bangles and looked oddly familiar. On her other side sat a boy who looked to be a year or so younger than her. He was very handsome, with blond hair, blue eyes and very white teeth that he was admiring in a small mirror. Hermione thought her parents would have loved his teeth. The thought made her feel homesick.

Next she observed the Slytherin table. Snape sat at the end across from Avery and another boy from potions class. They were talking to each other but Snape was concentrating on a book that he had open in front of him, not even bothering to eat. He was frowning in deep concentration. Hermione thought it might have been his potions book.

A few seats away from them sat a light haired boy with freckles that was snickering and throwing glances at his fellow Slytherins, as though they were all the butt of the joke. His two companions, one just as light haired and the other dark-haired, were smirking.

Hermione returned to her lunch. She was going to have to get to know a lot of new people over the next few days, but at the very least she shouldn't have to worry about boys like that given that they were in a different house and year.

It wasn't until she was making her way back to Ravenclaw Tower with Pandora, Aurora and Emmeline to drop off their books and get their things for Charms that she remembered where she had heard the name Lily Evans before. It had been Harry's mother's name.

'Harry's mother was once friends with Severus Snape?'