Chapter One

Chapter One

"I think she's waking up."

"Damn it, James! Let Lily see to her!"

Hermione woke up and began a mental tally of what was going on. After a few minutes...and realizing that the only thing wrong with her was a sore throat and a dry mouth...she sat up and took a look at her surroundings and was not surprised to be in the hospital wing. A younger-looking Madam Pomfrey came through the curtains surrounding her bed and began to shoo out the unwanted visitors. "Just because she is now in Gryffindor doesn't mean that you can all come in here any time you want." As soon as all of them had left, the Matron of the hospital wing closed the curtain behind her, sat on the edge of Hermione's bed, and began running diagnostic spells on her. Pomfrey withdrew the vial that had been hanging around Hermione's neck out of her apron pocket and handed it back to Hermione. "If I were you, dear, I would make sure this was kept in a safe place." She checked her pocket watch and said, "Headmaster Dumbledore will be down in a minute, and he is very interested to know how you came to be in his office."

Hermione stayed sitting when Madam Pomfrey left her area. The curtains had been fully opened...a good sign, Hermione surmised...and she was able to see the entrance to the hospital wing. She swung her legs off the bed and waited for the headmaster. She was not waiting long before he arrived with her misplaced valise and wand. She stood to greet him, but he motioned for her to sit. He closed the curtain around him and cast a Silencing Charm. "I guess introductions are in order. I am Headmaster Dumbledore. This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; I found you in my office when you appeared out of thin air. Unfortunately, a student was in my office at the time, but he can be discreet. You will probably meet Severus Snape before too long. Now, please tell me about yourself."

Hermione fiddled with the vial around her neck and licked her lips. "My name is Hermione Granger. I am a seventh-year Gryffindor. If my assumptions are correct, I am nineteen years in the past." She sighed and secretly wondered if this is where Snape's infatuation with her began. She looked up and said, "Your future self sent me here. Obviously, I am supposed to be here."

Dumbledore smiled kindly at her and said, "I had surmised as such. Was there a specific time when you had to go back?"

Hermione bit her lip and shook her head. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and she took a steadying breath. She would need to be strong if she was going to get through this. She swallowed and said, "You told me that I would go back when I was told to."

Dumbledore handed her the valise and said, "I took the liberty of going through your things, and I found a letter addressed to me. It explains your appearance as well as when you are to leave." He rose and opened the curtains; he motioned Hermione to follow him, and together they went to the Gryffindor Tower. "Miss Granger, make sure you live life as you are meant to. Forget these students' futures, only think of fitting in."

Hermione stepped into the common room and was nearly tackled as Sirius Black came to a halt in front of her. He ran a hand through his black hair and said, "Nice to see you're not laid up any more. Sirius Black is the name; you can just call me Sirius."

"Just like all of your other girls?"

Hermione looked over to an oversized armchair and saw Lily looking at her curiously over a book. She was dressed in a Muggle shirt and a pair of jeans and made Hermione envious. Lily stood and crossed so she was standing next to Hermione. She held out her hand and said, "I'm Lily Evans. You are to be put in the same room as me since the rest of the dorms are full."

Hermione smiled and shook Lily's hand. "I'm Hermione Granger. I hope you don't mind having a bookworm for a roommate." Hermione followed Lily to a small painting on the other side of the common room. Lily whispered, "Abracadabra," and the painting opened to the side to let her and Hermione in. Hermione was surprised to see that half of the room was already divided for her to put her things in there. She turned to Lily and asked, "How?"

"I had a few hours to prepare for your arrival. Dumbledore also let me know where you came from." Lily took Hermione's luggage from her and added, "Don't worry; your secret is safe with me."

Hermione and Lily both began unshrinking the things that had been packed in the suitcase. Mostly it was clothes and school supplies, but there was also a letter from Snape at the bottom it. She placed it in the bottom of the trunk that had been provided for her. She would read it later. She turned to Lily and asked, "I thought only Severus Snape and Professor Dumbledore knew about me."

Lily gave a small smile and said, "He probably would not have said anything to me if it had not been for that letter..."

Hermione wrinkled her nose at mention of the letter. This was the second time she had heard of it today, and already she was getting annoyed with it. She slipped into some Muggle clothes and threw her robes over them. She asked, "Since today is Sunday, are there any restrictions about going out of the castle?" When Lily shook her head no, Hermione left the Gryffindor Tower. She wandered the halls until it was dark, missing dinner and not really caring.

By the time she had made her third circuit around the castle, she became aware of someone following her. She waited until she rounded a corner and waited for her follower to come around. When he did, she stuck out her foot and tripped him. Being on the butt end of one of Malfoy's pranks earlier that year had since made her wary of being anywhere alone, even Hogwarts. She pressed her wand against the back of his throat and asked, "Why were you following me?"

Her stalker turned around, and she found herself staring at a much younger version of her Potions professor. Her wand still to his throat, she impatiently asked, "Well? Are you going to tell me, or do I have to hex it out of you?"

"I wanted to watch you," he croaked out. "Will you kindly remove your wand from my windpipe?" When Hermione complied, he sat up and rubbed at his throat. He felt the tears rise in his eyes, but he was not going to cry. He needed to toughen himself up against physical pain if he ever wanted to best Potter and his rag-tag gang.

Hermione looked down at him and smiled. She didn't enjoy his pain, but she was surprised that he wasn't crying. The last time Ron or Harry had snuck up on her, they were both whimpering when she was done. She stooped down to his level and held out her hand. When he looked at it as if were diseased, Hermione sighed and said, "I want to help you up. I won't hurt you." When he stood up without any help, Hermione...with her hand still stretched out...said, "I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?" When no answer came...unless you count the sneer...Hermione began tapping her toes and said impatiently, "This is where you say, 'My name is Severus Snape; nice to meet you.'"

Severus sneered at her again and began to think she was a bothersome creature. She kept acting as if she was annoyed, even though she was the one who had assaulted him. He was going to reply something snippy when she kissed him. Her lips felt soft and full against his. Her hands were on either side of his head as if to keep him in place. He reached for her hair to keep her where she was because he really did not want to let go.

Hermione didn't know what possessed her to kiss him. It could have been many things, but what it boiled down to is that she wanted some sort of response out of him that was not a sneer. She dropped her hands to his shoulders when his hands tangled in her hair. She parted her lips and licked his bottom lip, eliciting a groan from him. She pulled away a little and said, "The next time I catch you following me, I might actually have to hurt you."

Severus pulled her close and made sure she was looking at him when he spoke to her. He looked down at her lips and said, "Maybe I'll keep all of the other bogeymen away." He tried to lean down for another kiss when Hermione pulled away.

She smiled at him and said, "Until we meet again, Severus." Then she turned and went to the Gryffindor Tower. She was certain that Severus followed her the whole way there.

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Hermione met the rest of the gang the next morning. James was nearly as bad as Sirius when it came to girls, but you could really tell he had a thing for Lily. Remus was very quiet, and Hermione didn't even give Peter a second glance.

An arm was casually draped around her shoulders, and Hermione brushed it off as if it was a fly. When Sirius sat down to her right side, she pointedly turned to Lily and asked, "Does he think this is suave? Do all of the other girls swoon over this stuff?"

Lily giggled and said, "Yes, but he mostly goes after the younger girls."

Sirius attempted to pout and said, "Lily, that's not fair. The last three girls were our age."

Lily sighed and said, "That doesn't speak well for your track record." She looked around the table and asked, "Where is James?"

At that moment, James came barreling through the door and skid to a halt where they were all sitting. He sheepishly ran a hand through his hair and smiled at everyone. He sat down next to Sirius and asked, "Are you the new girl?"

Hermione nodded and went back to talking to Lily. She could feel a set of eyes watching her, but she kept her gaze away from the Slytherin table on purpose. She knew if she acknowledged him, she would cause rumors to build before she had even had her first class over. "So, what do we have first?"

Lily smiled and said, "Potions with the Slytherins. You will probably be paired with Severus Snape. He is the only student without a partner."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "I am not surprised. I ran into him in the halls last night and..."

"Did he do anything inappropriate, Hermione?" James looked the Slytherin table as he asked his question. He sneered in Severus' direction and said, "If Snivellus gives you any trouble, you just let us know."

"Believe me, boys, I can handle him," Hermione said as she stood up. She looked down at Lily and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Lily put the last of a piece of toast into her mouth and nodded. She "led" Hermione through the halls to the dungeons where Potions was to be held. Lily stopped short and pulled Hermione to the side before they entered the classroom. "Professor Slughorn plays favorites, so don't be surprised when he constantly calls on me for the answers."

Hermione gave a little snort and said, "It will be a welcome reprieve not to be known as the only student who actually read the text the night before." They entered the room, and Hermione went to the desk Professor Slughorn was sitting at. She cleared her throat and said, "I am the new Gryffindor student. I believe Professor Dumbledore told you that I need to borrow a text until my books arrive."

The professor did not say anything as he handed her a battered text. When he looked at up again, he looked past her and asked, "Miss Evans, who are the students without a partner?"

Lily promptly replied, "Only Severus Snape, sir."

Slughorn looked back at Hermione and said, "Severus Snape will be your partner. If you have any objections, take it up with the headmaster."

Hermione bowed her head in mock meekness and said, "I have no objections, Professor." She turned away and was not surprised to see a few Slytherins snickering behind her back. She glanced at them with a raised eyebrow. She looked up at Lily and was not surprised to see James attempting to sit beside her. She walked up to a desk situated in front center of the classroom. She sat in the chair on the left hand side of the lab table and glanced out of the corner of her eye.

Severus glared at her and said, "Why ever are you sitting at my table? If you had not noticed, I do not have a lab partner."

Hermione turned in her chair so she was looking straight at him. She very calmly pulled a ribbon out of the pocket of her robes and tied her hair back. She then spoke softly, "Professor Slughorn has assigned you a lab partner. You will soon find that I am proficient at making potions."

Severus sneered at her and said, "You had better be or I will make you miserable here."

Hermione gave a grin that would have scared anyone who knew what it meant; Hermione Granger was never one who backed down from a challenge. "Fine, I highly doubt you could make my situation any worse than it is now. Besides," she lowered her voice, "I enjoyed our encounter last night, and I would like to repeat it again." Hermione turned her gaze to the front of the room with a satisfied smirk on her face. She might enjoy tormenting Severus Snape.

Severus felt annoyed by this girl. If it were not for the fact that the headmaster told him not to say anything, he would have told any and every one where she came from. It did not help that she seemed to have a desire to torture him. Maybe she had a personal vendetta against him; in the same vein, she didn't seem as malicious as Black and Potter. For the first time in memory, Severus Snape actually had to concentrate to complete the potion. "I hope you don't make it a habit to chop your rose petals in diagonal strips."

Hermione happily kept slicing her petals in a diagonal direction. She smiled at him and said, "I have found that slicing them in a diagonal direction has a tendency to yield more of the oils needed for this type of potion. Besides, my old professor recommended it." She glanced at his deft hands crushing pearls to a fine powder. She smiled slightly to herself and asked, "Why does Professor Slughorn have us making a beauty salve? I was under the impression that this was work better suited for fourth years."

Severus slowly added the crushed pearls to the cauldron and said, "I have to agree, but Slughorn is under the impression that most of the students only have the rudiments learned." He glanced up where James and Sirius were sitting and shook his head. He looked back at Hermione and saw a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "What do you find so funny?"

Hermione added her rose petals and slowly began stirring the cauldron. She was only slightly startled when Severus' hand clamped over her own. She looked at him, and she could already to see the beginnings of the longing she saw in his eyes. She whispered to him, "They were afraid that you would hurt me." She gently pulled away from him and sat down. Things would have been far less confusing if her former Potions professor had not kissed her before she left.

At the end of the class, Hermione slowly packed up her things and carefully wrote down the reading for the next class. Severus hesitated as he went past her, and Hermione looked up at him. She asked, "Is there anything you want, Severus?"

He hesitated and looked into her eyes. Watching her expression, he put a hand on hers and said, "If you want to repeat what happened last night, I know of a classroom that isn't used on the second floor. Meet me where we met, and I will show you where it is."

Hermione nervously licked her lips and asked, "Are you sure you want to get involved with a Gryffindor?"

He drew small circles on the back of her hand and said in a silky tone, "At this point, Miss Granger, I would gladly date Potter, but you are by far more attractive than he is."

Hermione withdrew her hand and grabbed her bag. She turned to Severus and said, "Mr. Snape, as tempting as your offer is, I am going to have to refuse." She headed toward the door and stopped when Severus grabbed at her arm and pulled her back.

"Why the hell not?" he sneered at her. He had put himself on the line, and he was burned.

Hermione yanked her arm out of his grasp and said, "Until you can make me feel like I am not some consolation prize, I do not plan on meeting you anywhere." She pivoted again on her heel.

Severus grabbed her arm and swung her around so she was pressed against him. He looked down at her and said, "You are not a prize to be won, Hermione." He captured her lips with his and abruptly let go. Hermione looked confused, and he added, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

He brushed past her, and Hermione held a trembling hand to her lips. There were certain things that she was uncertain about, but one was for sure; she was going to have Severus Snape on his knees before she went back to her own time.