Title: True Colors
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Alas, the characters herein are not mine; I just snitch them to play with every now and then.
A/N - This story is non-compliant with DH, because I find it much better for my well-being to pretend that book never happened.
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The day they thought would never arrive had finally come. They had survived trolls, basilisks, a mental Defense professors, polyjuiced Defense professors, and Ministry interference. They'd spent months on the run, tracking down Horcruxes and Hallows and avoiding Death Eaters and other minions of the Dark Lord. Three weeks ago, they'd taken their NEWTs, and six months before that, they had faced down and defeated the Dark Lord himself. None of them could decisively say which task had been harder.
So here they were, the Golden Trio and their year-mates, about to graduate.
The Great Hall was resplendent, covered from floor to ceiling in finery, an awe-inspiring sight for the soon-to-be-graduates.
Professor Dumbledore, fully recovered from his staged 'death', stood up at the podium in the front of the hall. The other professors stood in a line at his side; as each name was called, the student walked up onto the dais, received their diploma from the Headmaster, then proceeded down the line and shook the hands of each of their professors.
They even shook the hand of the dark-clad man at the end, who despite being a war hero in his own right looked like he'd rather be eaten by thestrals than stand up there.
The Hufflepuffs had been called, and then the Ravenclaws. Everyone had cheered for their friends. Now the members of Gryffindor House were being called up.
"Lavender Brown."
"Seamus Finnigan."
"Neville Longbottom."
It took them a second, but Harry and Ron turned quickly to their friend.
"Hermione," Ron hissed, "Dumbledore forgot to call your name!"
"Quiet, Ron," she hushed him, "it's fine."
"Parvati Patil," the Headmaster continued. He didn't stop the ceremony, but it was clear that he was puzzled by the absence of Hermione's name on his list.
"But Hermione…" Harry protested.
"Harry Potter!"
Harry's name was met with a deafening cheer from the rest of the hall. Hermione smiled wryly. "You're up, Boy Wonder."
There were still whispers and students pointing to her as her remaining classmates (Dean and Ron) were called. Why hadn't Hermione Granger received a diploma? Had something gone horribly awry? Was she not graduating?
Dumbledore moved on to the members of Slytherin.
"Millicent Bulstrode."
"Vincent Crabbe."
"Tracey Davis."
"Gregory Goyle."
Dumbledore paled and his voice faltered. "Herm…Hermione Granger."
Without batting an eyelash, Hermione stood and tapped the front of her robes with her wand. As she approached the dais, the red and gold of her tie was replaced by the silver and green of her real House. Her appearance changed subtly as well. No longer was she a frumpy, barely put together bookworm. In her place was a chic and polished young woman, pretty enough to turn even Malfoy's head.
She took her diploma from the Headmaster's numb fingers and shook his hand. The same pattern was repeated with the rest of her professors, who appeared too stunned to do more than just stand there.
When she got to Professor Snape, she raised an eyebrow. Though he was examining her as though she were a particularly complex puzzle that he was trying to sort out, he said nothing. Instead, he shook her hand slightly less grudgingly than he'd done with the other students.
The Headmaster was forced to finish out the ceremony, unable to ask the questions that he so clearly wanted to.
"Daphne Greengrass."
"Draco Malfoy."
"Theodore Nott."
"Pansy Parkinson."
"Blaise Zabini.'
As Zabini shook Professor Snape's hand and returned to his seat, Dumbledore spoke over the buzzing of the crowd. "Ladies and Gentleman…I give you the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Class of 1998!"
There was a huge cheer, and confetti fell from the enchanted ceiling along with streamers. Fireworks were set off, caps were thrown in the air, and there were hands shaken and hugs given freely.
Severus Snape ignored the nonsense around him, focusing on tracking down one particular person. When he finally found her, she had made her way to one of the side doors of the hall and was just about to duck out. Almost as though she knew he was watching, she turned around and looked him squarely in the eye…and winked.
The bloody chit winked at him.
And then she slipped outside, as though it were nothing out of the ordinary.
HG * SS * HG * SS
Not long after, he found her leaning against a tree just outside the gates, a pleased smile playing around the edges of her lips as she looked over the grounds.
"I've just had an interesting chat with the Sorting Hat," he said by way of an opening.
"Oh really?" she inquired with seeming indifference.
"Indeed." Snape leaned against the tree as well and crossed his arms. "To hear It talk, It orchestrated your entire career here at Hogwarts."
Hermione snorted. "I'm not sure I would go quite that far. We may have had a chat from time to time, but nothing more."
Snape was looking at her oddly, almost as though he'd never seen her before.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I believe, Miss Granger, that this will go down in Hogwarts history as one of the most bizarre things to have ever occurred. The Sorting Hat, deliberately placing someone initially sorted into Slytherin into Gryffindor."
She shrugged again. "It seemed to know what needed to be done, and decided that I was the person to do it; It placed me where I could best manipulate the situation and get the desired outcome. And really, pretending to be a Gryffindor for seven years really wasn't all that difficult."
He tilted his head to the side, much like he did when evaluating the color of a potion. "I'm not sure if you're the worst Slytherin I've ever seen…or the best."
The sultry smirk that spread across her face was one he'd never seen before, and it was purely Slytherin. She stepped up to him and stood on her tip-toes until her mouth was right beside his ear.
"I think you'll find, Professor, that I'm the best at everything I do."
Before he could come up with a response, she was gone in a swirl of green fabric. He stared blankly at the doorway where she had disappeared for well over a minute before a smirk started to spread across his own face.
As he made his way back inside, Snape mentally revised his response to her apprenticeship application; he found himself very much looking forward to finding out what 'everything' might encompass.
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A/N #2 - Hope everybody enjoyed this! I had a lot of fun writing it. Hermione's apprenticeship should be interesting, eh? As always, reviews are love!