Chapter 3

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for being my beta and making me look like I know what I'm doing.

Chapter 3

Hermione felt as though her feet were glued to the ground. She knew she was blinking erratically but couldn’t seem to stop. Had she heard correctly?

“Professor Snape’s assistant?” She looked at Albus. “But you said I was going to assist Prof….Minerva.” Hermione walked closer to them now.

Minerva gave Dumbledore a scalding look.

“Ah, yes. Please forgive me, Hermione, but you see, when I wrote the letter offering you the position, I had just finished a meeting with Minerva, and I am afraid I had Tranfiguration on my mind. I am deeply sorry, but you will be Severus’ assistant.” He patted her on the shoulder and smiled, then turned to continue walking.

“But….but he doesn’t even like me,” Hermione argued as her feet began to function again. “He’s never had an assistant; he hates having other people around him in his lab. He…he wouldn’t even write a recommendation letter for me when I began attending university. All he said to me was, ‘If you are so talented, I don’t see why you would need a recommendation from me to get into the Potions program.’” She spoke her last words doing her best imitation of her former professor.

“And did you?” asked Albus, eyes twinkling wildly as he turned slightly to meet her worried gaze.

“Well, no, but that’s beside the point. I….I can’t even believe he agreed to this.”

“Well, you see, the thing of it is, when I gave Severus the DADA position, I realized there was no one with the proper qualifications to hire as a Potions professor — that is, until you graduated,” the Headmaster sid innocently. “Soooo, I proposed that the only way he could have the DADA position permanently was to bring in someone as his replacement. You are newly graduated; you need hands-on experience that you can only obtain as a teaching assistant. Therefore, you will be teaching the first, second, and third years. This will allow Severus to teach both DADA and the higher years potions classes. You were planning on using your degree to teach, were you not?”

“And he agreed to take me as his assistant?” She was wringing her hands now, and quickly noticed he either had not heard her question or quite simply ignored it. 'Dear Merlin, what was this crazy coot up to,' she wondered. Hermione had to laugh, though. She doubted he really did make a mistake writing that letter. She walked alongside them again, deciding it was best to just leave things as they were. It was done; she had already quit her other job and vacated her flat. She had nowhere else to go. It was either this or go back to her parents’ house; she resigned herself to her fate.

They reached their destination, her new rooms. After giving her a brief tour, Albus informed her that he had spelled her new quarters to accept any changes she wished to make to suit her needs. After a few more minutes spent on chitchat, Albus and Minerva left her to get settled.

Once the door closed behind them, Minerva turned to him.

“Albus Dumbledore, it is times like these I’d swear that Sorting Hat made the only mistake it has ever made by sorting you into Gryffindor and not Slytherin.” She huffed as he laughed and put his arm around her shoulder. “Why on earth did you not tell her she would be working as his assistant?”

“Did you not hear me, Minerva? It was a mistake,” he said innocently.

“Mistake? Yes, well, I’ll believe that when Voldemort rises from the grave wearing a pink tutu while singing Danny Boy.” She swatted his arm off her shoulder and walked away, stopping only to shout at him. “I trust you informed Severus who his new assistant would be?”

“Well,” he said as he picked up his pace and walked past her.

“ALBUS!”

As soon as the pair were out of sight, Severus came out of the dark corner he had been hiding in. He stood shocked as he faced the door to Hermione’s quarters. So this is why Albus had been so secretive. For days the Headmaster had been avoiding him, claiming he had Ministry business. ‘Right, Ministry business — my unicorn husk,’ Severus thought, as he approached the door. He quickly drew his mind back to that moment those many years ago. Was it Hermione’s face he had seen all those years ago? No, he shook his head trying to free his mind of such things, knowing it only to have been an image and nothing more.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to post another one soon.