Chapter 2

This story is finished and I am reposting here. This is also newly betaed by the wonderful June, who I would be totally lost without.

All canon Characters are owned by JKR.

Chapter 2

One week had passed since she accepted the Headmaster’s offer, and Hermione was now standing at the gates of Hogwarts. She had her pockets filled with shrunken boxes and not one but three trunks full of clothes and books. She took a deep breath and made her trek up the path to the castle. It looked just as glorious as it did when she was eleven. It was hard to believe that was eleven years ago. Her mind wandered back to a day during her seventh year…

* * * * * * *

She had just come back from the Christmas holidays, and was sitting to dinner in the Great Hall when Harry and Ron began to feel nostalgic. They started to talk about their first year at the school, and Harry mentioned the Mirror of Erised. As he and Ron were describing what they had seen in detail, Seamus began to talk about visiting the Chudley Cannons training camp over the holidays; and quicker that you could say canary crème, all talk about good times past ceased. Quidditch — would she ever get away from that game? She supposed she couldn’t begrudge them their talk of sports. After all, with Voldemort no longer a threat, times were now happier and people were able to laugh again. As she tried to tune out their theories about how they could improve their own Quidditch skills, she began to think about the Mirror of Erised. After Harry had found it, it was moved and never spoken of. She wondered if she could find it. And if she did, what would she see exactly? Would she really see the object of her deepest desire?

* * * * * * *

Hermione now reached the steps leading into the castle and forgot about the Mirror of Erised. She didn’t find it in her seventh year and she highly doubted she would find it now, especially since she would have very little time to go traipsing around the castle looking for hidden rooms and mirrors one should stay away from. As she neared the top of the steps, she saw Professor McGonagall standing next to a very happy Professor Dumbledore. Hermione smiled immediately and rushed to meet them.

“Hello!” she said as she drew nearer.

“Hermione, how glad we are that you have finally arrived.” Minerva stepped forward and gave Hermione a warm hug.

“Yes, Hermione, we were most pleased to hear you had accepted our offer.” Dumbldore also gave her a hug and motioned for her to walk along with them.

“Now, before we get on to the business of your quarters and schedule, since you are now part of the staff, we must insist that there is no longer the need for such formalities. We are Albus and Minerva now,” he said with a twinkle of his eye.

“That’s going to take a bit of getting used to, but thank you,” Hermione said with a grin.

They walked down the corridors together. Naturally the older witch and wizard asked her about Harry and Ron, so she updated them on their progress in the auror training program. Harry and Ron had taken a bit more time off than Hermione did, three years to be exact. But she figured that at least Harry deserved to take some time off to enjoy life, after having lived with those horrible Dursleys for so many years. As they walked further, Hermione noticed they were heading towards the Dungeons.

Noticing the puzzled look on her face, Minerva placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I hope you don’t mind, dear, but we thought it would be easier for you to get to your classes if your rooms were in the dungeons. I think you’ll like your quarters, as they are much larger then the rooms in the rest of the castle. Since we have progressively gotten more students each year since the end of the war, we will be needing the extra space above.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, but…” she furrowed her brow. The Transfiguration classroom was above ground in the upper level of the castle; she didn’t see how the dungeons could be considered close.

“Don’t worry, dear. Severus was a bit hard to convince, but in the end he agreed that he would need an assistant for some of his potions classes, if he was going to take on the DADA position as well. And your living near the Potions classroom is more convenient for both of you.” Minerva suddenly noticed that Hermione was no longer walking beside them. When she and Albus stopped, they turned to see Hermione was several feet away from them and not moving. “What’s wrong?”

“Potions assistant? I….I thought I was to be your assistant?” Hermione was thoroughly confused, as was Minerva.

“My assistant? Hermione, you are to be Professor Snape’s assistant.”

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I hope you liked this chapter. Since this story is already finished the updates will come quicker.