Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I only
wish I did.
Note to readers: This is my first attempt at a story, so please be easy on me. Also, I would love to receive any reviews, so please leave many. Thank you so much!
The first light of dawn was creeping inside the bedroom window of an attractive, and quite large, apartment. The building sat comfortably in the outskirts of London, and although it was invisible to the eye of a muggle, any witch or wizard could plainly see the extremely tall building there on Nettleforth Avenue. Inside the corner apartment on the 7th floor, a witch named Hermione Granger was just waking up to an alarm clock that she had bewitched to both talk and sing.
Hermione sighed and stretched as she woke up, stepping into her bathroom, which was painted white, as well as gold and crimson, the signature colors of her former house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor. She had graduated from the place two years back, and had almost immediately been hired at the Ministry of Magic, where she now worked directly under the new Minister, Arthur Weasley. As she felt the warm water cascade down her back, Hermione thought of the circumstances that had allowed Arthur to become such a prominent man in the wizarding world. Her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, had grown up with her at Hogwarts, and the three of them seemed to have a knack for finding trouble and facing the Dark Lord Voldemort nearly every year while they were there. During her final year at Hogwarts, she and Ron both helped Harry fulfill the prophecy that had been made before he was born, and Voldemort was defeated. Although most of the Death Eaters had committed suicide after the death of their Lord, any that remained had been sentenced to the Dementor's kiss, and were now spending the rest of their soul-free lives in Azkaban. Cornelius Fudge, Britain's former Minister of Magic, had been murdered by Lord Voldemort during the last days of his power, and Arthur Weasley, having shown outstanding courage as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, was asked to take his place. Under his recommendation, Harry and Ron had both been given jobs as Aurors, and Hermione as his personal assistant. Although she was quite fond of Mr. Weasley, and did enjoy her job, it wasn't to say that she didn't miss her days at Hogwarts.
After this brief bout of reminiscence, Hermione stepped out of the shower and continued getting ready for work, dressing in her robes, and then apparating to the Ministry of Magic. After a long day at work, she disapparated and immediately appeared back at her home, hungry and exhausted from the day's activities. As she walked past the end table by her door, Hermione noticed an envelope addressed to her that had been left there by her owl, Wispen. She took a moment to look at the loopy handwriting, and the emerald green ink before opening it, and reading it through, twice. The letter was from Albus Dumbledore, requesting that she take up a job at Hogwarts, and saying that although she already was settled in at the ministry, her intellectual presence was greatly desired at her former school as well. He asked her to please contact him as soon as possibly, preferably by means of floo. Without a moment of hesitation, Hermione immediately walked over to her fireplace, tossing a handful of the powder into it and calling out the name of her destination. She then found her head inside the fireplace in Dumbledore's office, and face to face with her old headmaster. Dumbledore smiled, looking at the beautiful young woman Miss Granger had become, a feeling of pride filling his heart as he thought of all her achievements. "Good evening, Miss Granger, I trust you are well?" he asked her, in the soothing voice that made her smile every time she saw him.
"Yes, sir, I am doing very well, thank you. I am here in response to the letter from you that I received earlier today. If I should choose to accept this job offer, what will I be doing here at Hogwarts? Do you want me to teach?"
Dumbledore gave her the knowing smile that she had seen him give so many times during her days as a school girl there. "This position is that of a potion's mistress. Professor Snape is working very hard at many extremely difficult potions, as well as teaching his classes, and will be needing assistance this year. It seems that right now he is reluctant to receive any help whatsoever, but has finally been persuaded by me to not outdo himself this year with too much work. I know, Miss Granger, that you are not particularly fond of Snape, but I have a distinct feeling that the two of you might just get along better than you may believe to be possible. I do, of course, know that you currently have a very respectable job at the Ministry of Magic as the personal assistant to Minister Arthur Weasley, and I would understand if you did not wish to give that up. However, I ask you to take this offer into some consideration, and get back to me before the start of term in three weeks."
"Thank you for your offer Professor, and I can of course assure you that I will take it into consideration. I must be getting back to my apartment now, but I will be sure to contact you soon. Good evening." After Dumbledore had also wished her goodbye, Hermione appeared back inside her apartment, and sat down, quite hard, on her sofa. Her head seemed to be on the verge of exploding with thoughts about this job offering. As tempting as the thought of going back to Hogwarts was, it was true that she did have a very nice job here, and did not wish to offend Mr. Weasley by resigning from her position. Also, the job she would be accepting at Hogwarts was with Professor Snape, who had been her least favorite teacher during the time she spent there, with the obvious exception of Professor Trelawney. Yes, thought Hermione, this offer would certainly need to be thought over. Her mind then turned to another comment that Dumbledore had made in his office. He had said that he felt she and Snape would get along much better than they had believed possible. Although Hermione knew that Professor Dumbledore was extremely intuitive, she did not know how she could possibly learn to work and get along with the Professor who had humiliated her so many times during her childhood.
After going over every option in her head what seemed to be a million times, Hermione finally went to bed, thinking that a good night's sleep would do her good. However, even as she began to drift into slumber, thoughts of Professor Snape and being back at Hogwarts did not disappear from her mind.
Note to readers: This is my first attempt at a story, so please be easy on me. Also, I would love to receive any reviews, so please leave many. Thank you so much!
The first light of dawn was creeping inside the bedroom window of an attractive, and quite large, apartment. The building sat comfortably in the outskirts of London, and although it was invisible to the eye of a muggle, any witch or wizard could plainly see the extremely tall building there on Nettleforth Avenue. Inside the corner apartment on the 7th floor, a witch named Hermione Granger was just waking up to an alarm clock that she had bewitched to both talk and sing.
Hermione sighed and stretched as she woke up, stepping into her bathroom, which was painted white, as well as gold and crimson, the signature colors of her former house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor. She had graduated from the place two years back, and had almost immediately been hired at the Ministry of Magic, where she now worked directly under the new Minister, Arthur Weasley. As she felt the warm water cascade down her back, Hermione thought of the circumstances that had allowed Arthur to become such a prominent man in the wizarding world. Her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, had grown up with her at Hogwarts, and the three of them seemed to have a knack for finding trouble and facing the Dark Lord Voldemort nearly every year while they were there. During her final year at Hogwarts, she and Ron both helped Harry fulfill the prophecy that had been made before he was born, and Voldemort was defeated. Although most of the Death Eaters had committed suicide after the death of their Lord, any that remained had been sentenced to the Dementor's kiss, and were now spending the rest of their soul-free lives in Azkaban. Cornelius Fudge, Britain's former Minister of Magic, had been murdered by Lord Voldemort during the last days of his power, and Arthur Weasley, having shown outstanding courage as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, was asked to take his place. Under his recommendation, Harry and Ron had both been given jobs as Aurors, and Hermione as his personal assistant. Although she was quite fond of Mr. Weasley, and did enjoy her job, it wasn't to say that she didn't miss her days at Hogwarts.
After this brief bout of reminiscence, Hermione stepped out of the shower and continued getting ready for work, dressing in her robes, and then apparating to the Ministry of Magic. After a long day at work, she disapparated and immediately appeared back at her home, hungry and exhausted from the day's activities. As she walked past the end table by her door, Hermione noticed an envelope addressed to her that had been left there by her owl, Wispen. She took a moment to look at the loopy handwriting, and the emerald green ink before opening it, and reading it through, twice. The letter was from Albus Dumbledore, requesting that she take up a job at Hogwarts, and saying that although she already was settled in at the ministry, her intellectual presence was greatly desired at her former school as well. He asked her to please contact him as soon as possibly, preferably by means of floo. Without a moment of hesitation, Hermione immediately walked over to her fireplace, tossing a handful of the powder into it and calling out the name of her destination. She then found her head inside the fireplace in Dumbledore's office, and face to face with her old headmaster. Dumbledore smiled, looking at the beautiful young woman Miss Granger had become, a feeling of pride filling his heart as he thought of all her achievements. "Good evening, Miss Granger, I trust you are well?" he asked her, in the soothing voice that made her smile every time she saw him.
"Yes, sir, I am doing very well, thank you. I am here in response to the letter from you that I received earlier today. If I should choose to accept this job offer, what will I be doing here at Hogwarts? Do you want me to teach?"
Dumbledore gave her the knowing smile that she had seen him give so many times during her days as a school girl there. "This position is that of a potion's mistress. Professor Snape is working very hard at many extremely difficult potions, as well as teaching his classes, and will be needing assistance this year. It seems that right now he is reluctant to receive any help whatsoever, but has finally been persuaded by me to not outdo himself this year with too much work. I know, Miss Granger, that you are not particularly fond of Snape, but I have a distinct feeling that the two of you might just get along better than you may believe to be possible. I do, of course, know that you currently have a very respectable job at the Ministry of Magic as the personal assistant to Minister Arthur Weasley, and I would understand if you did not wish to give that up. However, I ask you to take this offer into some consideration, and get back to me before the start of term in three weeks."
"Thank you for your offer Professor, and I can of course assure you that I will take it into consideration. I must be getting back to my apartment now, but I will be sure to contact you soon. Good evening." After Dumbledore had also wished her goodbye, Hermione appeared back inside her apartment, and sat down, quite hard, on her sofa. Her head seemed to be on the verge of exploding with thoughts about this job offering. As tempting as the thought of going back to Hogwarts was, it was true that she did have a very nice job here, and did not wish to offend Mr. Weasley by resigning from her position. Also, the job she would be accepting at Hogwarts was with Professor Snape, who had been her least favorite teacher during the time she spent there, with the obvious exception of Professor Trelawney. Yes, thought Hermione, this offer would certainly need to be thought over. Her mind then turned to another comment that Dumbledore had made in his office. He had said that he felt she and Snape would get along much better than they had believed possible. Although Hermione knew that Professor Dumbledore was extremely intuitive, she did not know how she could possibly learn to work and get along with the Professor who had humiliated her so many times during her childhood.
After going over every option in her head what seemed to be a million times, Hermione finally went to bed, thinking that a good night's sleep would do her good. However, even as she began to drift into slumber, thoughts of Professor Snape and being back at Hogwarts did not disappear from her mind.