Start of Term

Disclaimer: I promise to return these toys to their boxes when I'm done; relatively unharmed.

Thanks to my beta, HP_BNC! I would also like to thank the wonderful admin here! As usual, thanks for pointing out my silly mistakes.

Chapter Three: Start of Term

The students arrived via Hogwarts Express on September the first, as usual. The Sorting Hat did the standard song and dance, well, minus the dance portion, the Sorting Hat doesn't have any legs to dance on. Hermione didn't pay any particular attention during the sorting; she hadn't been out of Hogwarts long enough to know any of the children that were incoming students because of their parents. She feigned interest and caught herself venturing towards day dreams with a certain snarky Potions master. What is it about this place? All I've done since being back here is fantasize about that self-righteous bastard! She shrugged it off. Her hair, after all, did look fabulous. Thanks to that man sitting on her left. With that thought she glanced to her side, and when he looked at her, she gave him a quick smile before turning back to face the students. Severus was perplexed by the little vixen sitting next to him. She's young and vivacious, and if I didn't know better, I'd swear she has a crush on me! It was time for the speech from Headmistress McGonagall.

"Greetings. To all of the new students, welcome; and to all of our returning students, welcome back. There has been a change in the curriculum over the summer, which I'm sure most of you have heard about. There is a new class required of all students, regardless of year. This is a health education class that will broach all topics directly related to the students' well-being. This class will be taught by the school's new mediwitch, Miss Hermione Granger, in addition to the Potions master, Professor Snape."

At the mention of the ever so popular...scratch that...notorious potions master, the crowd of children broke into murmurs amongst themselves. They wondered why such a sickly looking, ill-tempered man was doing teaching them about well-being.

Pressing on with her speech, the Headmistress spoke again. "This new class has been deemed mandatory by the Board of Governors. We will be doing our best to make the class as enjoyable and educational as possible. As usual no students, regardless of year, are allowed in the Forbidden Forest. It's called forbidden for a reason. Please be mindful of that fact. There is a list of 764 objects that are not permitted within the walls of Hogwarts. If you are interested in this list, you may receive a copy from the caretaker, Argus Filch. It is also posted in your house common rooms. Now I'm sure it's been a long day, and you're all hungry. Please, dig in!" And with that, food magically appeared on all of the tables.

***

The students had all settled themselves into their new surroundings. The first years had begun forming the cliques they would hang out with for the remainder of their time at Hogwarts; the older students had caught up to their clique of friends. The students happily chattered away at breakfast, awaiting their time tables. Hermione had received her schedule a week ago and knew that her first class was today, Monday at 11 AM. She had first and second years. Headmistress McGonagall had decided that the best course of action would be to teach first and second years in one class, third and fourth years together, while fifth, sixth, and seventh years would all have separate times.

Hermione thought it best to start the semester off with an explanation about all of the sexual reproductive organs; Muggle and wizard alike, the organs are the same. From there, she would venture into risks associated with sexual intercourse and eventually broach on the topic, for the younger kids anyway, about contraception methods.

Despite being forewarned, all of the first and second year students shivered upon walking into the health classroom, located on the fourth floor. The sight of Professor Snape standing in the centre of the room, arms crossed with his meanest sneer plastered onto his face, made a few of the first years actually squeak and nearly run out of the room at the sight! Severus smiled broadly internally. He would have preferred to let the students file into an empty classroom, and then make a grand entrance. He would slam the great wooden door against the wall with such force that it would rebound back and slam shut. He would briskly sweep into the room and turn on his heel once having reached the center, sneering with contempt at the students. The way it actually played out did have its merits as well. The class was quite from beginning to end. No interruptions from any of the students.

After the class, Hermione caught Severus before he stalked back to the dungeons. "Severus, please, I must insist that you try to be even a little less foreboding. The open forum approach I would like to take with the older students isn't going to be of any use if they're too petrified to think of any proper questions!"

His response was to sigh slightly after placing a formidable sneer on his face. The little wench is rolling her eyes at me! Are my intimidation tactics failing? As if able to read his mind, she answered him, "It's not that your intimidation tactics are failing, but I hardly find you frightening after fighting in a war, and certainly not after having a drill sergeant screaming at my face. It was always unnerving when they were close enough for you to feel their spittle on your face, while they yelled at top volume."

With a simple twitch of his eyebrow, and a slight incline of his head, Snape decided this was an acceptable answer and excused himself. "Class in the dungeons." Before briskly striding out of the classroom, Hermione stayed a few moments longer, ensuring that she had gathered up all of her belongings before heading back up to the hospital wing. She had fifth years tomorrow at the same time.

Next class

As per Hermione's request, Snape made a conscious effort to be less daunting. He began class lurking in the shadowy corner of the classroom. When the students began to quietly mutter amongst each other, he took a step out with an average sneer firmly in place. It succeeded in quieting the class, without being too fear inducing. The most minimal fear tactics were enough to make Mr. Longbottom rendered useless. There was a note of pride at that thought, but he let Miss Hermione begin her lesson.

"Good morning, class," she began.

"Good morning, Miss Granger." Her class responded in unison.

"Today I would like to begin by giving you some general information about your bodies; we will be discussing the reproductive systems. I would like to hold this class in a partial lecture and partial open forum type of setting. I will lecture for a portion of the class, and if you have any questions about the topic at hand, or something relating to what we're discussing, please don't be afraid to ask any questions or make any pertinent statements." Pausing to ensure that her students were clear on the procedure, she saw various nods of understanding. Pressing on she began with her teaching. With a wave of her wand, there were various diagrams on the boards behind her. She had placed diagrams of both the male and the female reproductive organs and proceeded to explain the various parts and what purposes they served. "...So in conclusion, when sperm, contained in semen, is introduced into the uterus, it makes an effort to fertilize a mature egg. This can be found in a sac at the end of the fallopian tubes. When fertilization occurs, a pregnancy is conceived."

Hermione looked out at her classroom. Some of the students appeared to be a bit green; clearly they had never heard any of this information before. Feeling annoyed at their immaturity, she pressed onward. "This isn't a gross topic, it's what you can all expect if you'd some day like to become parents, and Merlin help us since you all seem to be trying to become parents before you're even of legal age."

The mention of the act of sexual intercourse brought a flush to the classroom, though one very brave Ravenclaw raised her hand. It was a nervous looking girl. "Yes, Miss Scott?" She was small for a fifth year. She wore thick glasses with a dark plastic frame, and her hair seemed mildly unkempt. She seemed to exude a bookworm aura. Miss Scott didn't have any experience in physical relationships other than a bit of awkward hand holding. She had been scared of trying much else; there weren't any books to help her on the matter in the library of Hogwarts.

"I was wondering, Miss, if it's not to bold of me to ask... What was it like losing your virginity?"

Before Hermione could filter her response she answered quickly, "Which time?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, my very first time was with a Muggle. It happened over the summer between sixth and seventh year. I was nearly 18 years old. I had attended a music concert with a group of friends, and we somehow had managed to find our way backstage. We spent some time with the musicians. No, I'm not telling you who. We had been drinking with the band, just laughing and having a good time, I got cozy with the lead singer, and one thing lead to another. I had groupie sex, and it was the worst experience I've ever had. He was terrible in bed, from start to end; it couldn't have been more than five minutes. I was rather frustrated for the remainder of the evening."

Of all the jaws that she had expected to drop, Hermione hadn't suspected that Severus Snape would be one of them. She blushed slightly before pressing on with the class agenda.

There was a rather undignified, "Only five minutes?" from the bookish Ravenclaw.

Mutters swept throughout the class, punctuating that train of thought. "Five Minutes? That must have been terrible!"

"Miss Granger and a rockstar? That's so cool!"

"Even if he was a Muggle!"

"Wait, you lost your virginity more than once?"

"I can't believe it was over so soon."

"Well, the Headmistress did say that questions would be answered without prejudice."

"Miss Granger, I'm quite sure that telling the children about your sexual exploits is not what she had in mind when she told you to teach them about safety and health issues."

The blush returned to her face. "My apologies Professor, I guess I just got carried away." She turned back to her class before starting again. "Are there any other questions you had today?"

There was an unsure shifting in seats. The students were appraising their neighbours, trying to see who would ask a question first. This time a Slytherin boy raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Grace." She sighed inwardly, maybe she was a little too forward after all...

"I was just wondering, Miss. Is there any difference between Muggle sex and wizard sex?"

"In regards to the mechanics behind it, no, there is no difference, but the physical feelings do differ. I found that during intercourse with Muggles, yes, it was enjoyable. However, you can't beat that magical feeling of your bodies' inner magic duelling for control with another wizard."

There was more muttering amongst the classmates. They had no idea that this class was going to be so candid; Neither did I, a voice came from the back of Hermione's brain. Before any more potentially loaded, borderline inappropriate questions could be asked of her, the bell rang dismissing the students from class and sending them off to lunch in the Great Hall. The students took their time leaving the classroom, talking to each other as they filed out of the room. Once the room was empty, Severus Snape turned on Hermione with a look she had never seen on him before. "What are you doing telling these children such an exploit, Miss Granger?" Every syllable was clearly enunciated, which gave the sentence a much harsher sound than the words alone could have ever done.

"I suppose I gave them a bit more detail than I had intended..." That was a blatant lie. She hadn't meant to tell them any of that information, but they seemed so genuinely curious, and it was her job to inform them, was it not? The answers had left her lips before she could filter them out to make them more classroom appropriate.

Confusion settled back onto Snape's face. As angry as he was, he was intrigued by how a woman could lose her virginity twice. She noticed the change in him, giving him a questioning glance. He stumbled over his words slightly. "I was, I mean to say, I wanted, I...uh..."

She smiled at him before saying, "Just spit it out, Sevvy."

"I abhor that nickname more than you'll ever know!" His proclamation was passionate, but it put him off balance long enough to ask his question, without stumbling over his words. "I was curious as to how a woman could lose her virginity twice. You see, the hymen can only be broken once."

"That is a very good question, Mr. Snape" She began in a professional tone. "You see, my first sexual encounter was with a Muggle, the experience you heard about in class today. That was when I lost my textbook version of virginity. However, I consider my first encounter with a wizard to be my second loss of virginity. It was physically no different than the first time, well except for the fact that the bloke could actually hold out for longer than five minutes. The emotional difference though... it was amazing!" A flush crept up her cheeks as she remembered the passionate evening. "But I digress; my sex life isn't really the topic of the class."

Once having his curiosity satisfied, his face returned to a stony mask, and his anger returned to him. He practically growled the next phrase to leave his thin lips. "You are skating on thin ice, Miss Granger."

She held back a chuckle, because he had used such a blatantly Muggle saying. "I'll be more careful next time," she assured her teaching partner.

***

Notes: Just want you to know, All of the 'sex ed' information is just random knowledge that I've gained, I'm a bit of a wealth of, sometimes useless, knowledge. As for the Co-ed classes, well other than initial introduction intro I got in fifth grade (9/10 years old) all of my health/sex ed classes have been mixed groups.