Hermione: Troublemaker?

Many thanks to my awesome betas Keladry and Subversa. Now onward to the SS_HG Exchange...

Chapter 6- Hermione: Troublemaker?

The sugarplums revolted against Hermione; after an hour of waking, tossing and turning, she would fall back into a fitful sleep. This repeated several times throughout the remaining hours of the night, and at six the following morning, Hermione gave up her valiant fight.

She took her time preparing for the day ahead of her, as it was sure to be a rather taxing one. As much as she adored Thea, the girl would be another distraction on Hermione's mind as she tried to mentally prepare herself for the arrival of students that evening. It was seven by the time she had gotten out of the shower and put her bathroom necessities in some semblance of working order, and eight by the time she was ready to organize her classroom.

Thea had not arrived yet. Or, more aptly, the black cloud that was Severus Snape had not arrived yet to deposit Thea on her doorstep for the day. Deciding not to wait...Snape knew she was not going to wait around for anyone, especially after their meeting yesterday...Hermione gathered her condensed box of teaching supplies and moved down to the dungeons. It did not take her long to sort everything out and organize it in a workable fashion. She was Hermione Granger, after all. She had organized the lesson plans, course materials and potions paraphernalia and been ready for transport to Hogwarts within forty-eight hours of accepting her tenure. Granted, she did spend some time arranging and rearranging said paraphernalia to dispel some nervous energy, but it still only took about two hours of her morning.

The Black Cloud had not yet appeared by eleven, so Hermione set off to explore the castle for the first time as an adult. She had seen some of the castle the previous afternoon, but that had been with her mind trying to catalogue all of Snape's instructions and comments. It had become clear ten minutes into their meeting that she could either pay attention to what he was saying or pay attention to the portraits trying to get her attention. As much as she would have loved to engage Sir Cadogan in a ridiculous conversation, she certainly knew that she would be dead in the water if she did not pay attention to her boss. Reminiscing had been left until now.

It was not long before she found herself standing in front of a large, nearly floor-to-ceiling oil of the Order of the Phoenix, Second War Against Tom Riddle. Her caricature waved back at her. Ron was being harangued by Mrs. Weasley for something or other. Harry looked sullen.

Out of nowhere came a deep, commanding voice, and for a second she had thought the dark man in the picture had spoken to her. It took her another long moment to realize that the voice had come from the actual man beside her, not his likeness. Hermione turned to the tall, broad-shouldered figure standing to her right, a line of perfect ivory between two dark, smiling lips. He looked as though he were a venerable African king from a time long ago, clothed in bright ceremonial robes, wizard issue. His bald head shone more brightly in the dim corridor light than the fine gold of his hoop earring.

"Kingsley!" Hermione smiled and stood on her toes and kissed each cheek.

"How are you this fine day, Hermione?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," she said.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had been a most useful ally in the war, when the Order of the Phoenix had needed a spy at the top of the Ministry. When he had no longer been needed in a governmental position, a greater need for Aurors had come along, so he had returned to his original calling. After all, Magical Law Enforcement would need able bodies and brilliant minds to track down remaining Death Eater cells. When the magical world had finally seemed to be in a state of equilibrium, Kingsley had moved on, looking for a place that needed him.

Hogwarts' dearth of qualified educators beckoned him to the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The last time she and Kingsley had actually said more than a few words of greeting to each other was at Harry's and Ron's Auror academy graduation...now nearly eight years ago...but she had always gotten along well with the genial man.

"Yourself?" she asked.

"Well, you know, this and that," he jested. "When did you get here? Harry said in his last owl that he did not know when you were scheduled to arrive."

"Yesterday. After my meeting with Snape, I went straight back to my room and whimpered," she said.

Kingsley laughed. "I highly doubt that, but I can understand being overwhelmed."

Hermione nodded her head and was silent for a few moments, trying to think of something to say. Harry and Kingsley had been made partners after Harry had become a fully-vested Auror, but Harry had never really spoken about him except in the context of a case they were working on.

But then something dawned on her.

If Harry knew that Kingsley was at Hogwarts, then why would he need her to "spy?" For that matter, why had she not thought of that during her argument with Harry and Ginny? Had she become that much of a nuisance that Harry had still chosen to use this argument to get her away? And why hadn't she thought of it?

"Well, I don't like that look," Kingsley said, motioning for her to fall into step beside him at an easy pace down the hall.

"I'm just thinking," Hermione said. "So, Harry told you I was coming to teach?"

"That he did," Kingsley affirmed with a nod of his head. "I hear it was quite a struggle to convince you to come... I hope you came because you wanted to."

Hermione frowned slightly. "I haven't decided yet... but Harry told you? Did he tell everyone about the offer and my refusal?"

"He's only concerned for you, Hermione," Kingsley laughed. "Why do you ask?"

"Because every single one of the Weasleys who came into Flourish and Blotts last week asked me about it. I figured he and Ginny had called in reinforcements, but he apparently told everyone, not just reinforcements. Let's just say that Harry is going to be on the receiving end of a nasty hex the next time I see him."

Kingsley smiled. "Though my Slytherin tendencies tell me not to say anything more on this matter, I feel that I should defend my... associate... of seven years. He only wrote to me about it because he knew I would be here. He said that I was to make sure nothing happened to you. Something about keeping you out of trouble ... seems to think you're a troublemaker."

"If I'm a troublemaker, he's the next dark lord!" Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I think it's safe to say that there was another force at work here, Hermione."

Hermione worried her lip between her teeth. Who, though? Surely Snape had not given her a second thought after she had initially turned him down.

"I wouldn't worry about it. You have plenty more to be worrying about with the start of term tomorrow, Deputy Headmistress."

She chuckled lowly. "That sounds so odd. I always think of Minerva whenever I hear that. Why didn't anyone else take the post?"

Kingsley looked at her with a cocked brow. "What do you mean?"

"I'm certain I was the absolute last person on his list to be his deputy," she said. "Why didn't he offer it to you? Or Flitwick? Sprout?"

"Each of us has turned it down for our own reasons. Pomona can't be removed from her greenhouses most of the time. Filius said he would be deputy should Severus find no one else. Filius has gotten much older, after all, and it's hard for him to take a commanding tone anymore. As for me, the last thing this school needs is two Slytherins presiding. After all, a Gryffindor and Slytherin worked so well for so long, it might just work again."

"I understand Snape and Minerva... but Dumbledore..." Hermione began.

Kingsley laughed. "Well, yes, that was two Gryffindors by title, but you could never really tell with Dumbledore."

"No, I suppose not." Hermione smiled.

"There she is, Father!"

Both Hermione and Kingsley wrenched their heads to the left, looking down the corridor they were passing to find black robes billowing and a tiny girl struggling to keep up with her father's longer strides. Snape certainly did not look pleased, most likely because Thea had not let her father give up the search for Miss Hermione's whereabouts, by the sound of it.

"Good morning, Professor," Hermione said with a small smirk. "Good morning, Thea."

"Miss Hermione! We looked all over the castle for you. First we went to your rooms. Then to Father's old classroom! We even went outside, but we couldn't find you."

The words spilled forth from the girl's mouth in a nearly incomprehensible rush. Thea's eyes were wild, and her muscles moving in a jittery fashion; Ron's children looked and acted like this at times when they could not wait for something to happen, like their trip to Grandpa and Grandmum Weasley's house. Hermione might even have said Thea's excitement was due to too much sugar that morning, but knowing Snape, the girl probably did not get sugar very often.

What had her so keyed up? Was she really that anxious to go "play" with Crookshanks, despite the fact that all the playing the old furball did any more was to bat a catnip toy about his feather pillow?

But then again, Thea probably did not get that much excitement being cooped up here in the castle. And even for all the majestic and fascinating qualities of Hogwarts, it must get pretty boring after a little while. Hermione had always been ready to go home after the last term of the year. She could not imagine living here all the days of her life. Crookshanks was a new and exciting addition, however; Thea obviously needed to study him.

Or was Thea studying her?

Hermione did think highly of herself at times, she would not deny that, and this was one of those times. Both she and Thea had taken an instant liking to each other since the encounter at the bookshop. Perhaps Thea was just happy to see and spend time with her? With someone other than the crust of wizard who was her father?

Looking up to find a sneer on the face of the hook-nosed man, Hermione sighed. Well, she definitely could not blame Thea.

"I'm here now!" Hermione exclaimed and lowered herself onto her haunches to look at the girl. "Have you had lunch?"

"No." Thea shook her head.

"Why don't we go back to my chambers, and we'll ask Winky to bring us something while we work, okay?" Hermione asked Thea.

Thea nodded her head excitedly. "Alright, Miss Hermione."

Hermione stood up and smoothed her robes over her abdomen haphazardly. "It was nice to talk to you, Kingsley. I trust I'll see you this evening?"

"I believe there's a good chance of that," he said. "Perhaps we may continue our discussion over a drink one of these nights."

She laughed. "I'm going to need more than one after this week, I assure you."

"Then I'll be sure to have some of the good stuff on hand," he said.

"Professor." Hermione inclined her head toward their severe leader to bid him farewell.

He did not reply, but inclined his head in turn. Hermione looked down at Thea, smiled, and turned on her heels. Thea followed quickly along after her.

Hermione had not offered her hand this time, as she had at Flourish and Blotts. It was a surprise to Hermione to feel the small hand slipping into hers, but she suddenly felt warm. Odd, yes, but warm and fuzzy all the same.

-----

Severus tried to ignore the retreating females by engaging Shacklebolt in conversation. However, the instant Thea slipped her hand into Granger's, he found himself strangely entranced by the situation playing out before him. Entranced by the way Thea seemed completely at ease with Granger; his own daughter did not even reach for his hand unless in the most dire need of attention. Entranced by Thea's giddy giggle when Granger glanced down at Thea because his daughter was never that happy with him around.

What entranced him the most, though, was neither of those things. What captured his attention was the sudden glow that seemed to emanate from Granger's countenance, as though this was all she had ever wanted.

Certainly, her face was hidden by a curtain of brown curls, and he only saw this look for a fleeting moment, but he was sure it was happiness -- or something like it.

It was certainly something he had never felt before for his daughter. After all, he thought it rather weak to allow the child to hold onto his hand as tightly as Thea was now holding Granger's. Thea would not always have him around to act as a security blanket. She needed to learn to stand up for herself before she started school...

... before she met female versions of Potter, Black and Lupin.

Severus could not help the bitter taste in his mouth at the thought of his childhood enemies, even after all these years. Potter and Black were long dead; Lupin had asked for forgiveness sometime shortly after the last war. They had been able to establish a rocky, yet companionable, camaraderie. Different though things may be at this point, Severus had every right to be slightly paranoid about what his progeny might suffer when Thea's classmates learned that she was a Snape.

"Thea seems to have taken a liking to Hermione," Kingsley remarked beside him, successfully pulling Severus from his thoughts and bringing the vexation to the light.

"Yes, well, Granger is Potter's darling sidekick," Snape said, making no effort to hide the acrimony in his voice.

Shacklebolt's face remained expressionless, but Snape knew the man was reading between the lines; Snape hated being transparent. Yet, he was also glad. Certainly, Severus would have never seen true freedom unless a fellow Slytherin in the Order of the Phoenix had been one of his staunchest supporters. As an Auror, Shacklebolt had honed elusiveness to an art, even more so than his consummate Slytherin housemate. For that reason, Shacklebolt had been able to see through Severus' smoke screens and misdirection in many cases during the war.

"It's good to see her so happy," Shacklebolt replied.

Snape frowned. "Whom? Granger?"

"Your daughter," the other corrected. "Hermione seems overwhelmed right now, more than anything."

"It was her choice to accept my offer only a week before term," Snape said. "If you will excuse me, Shacklebolt, I have work to tend to."

With that, Snape turned and went back the direction from which he had come with Thea, not knowing what to think about Hermione and his daughter.