The Truth About Hermione Granger

The next morning at breakfast, both the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables were buzzing over the fact that Professor Snape was Hermione Granger's real father. Hermione figured that Draco must have told the Slytherins, but she didn't really care. What bothered her was that the Slytherins were treating her like she was a member of their own house all of a sudden!

"Good morning, Hermione!" called Pansy Parkinson.

Hermione didn't even acknowledge her with a nod or even a glance, but kept walking right over to the Gryffindor table where she sat with Harry and Ron as usual. Snape came in a moment later and a hush fell over the entire hall as he walked to the head table and took a seat next to the new Dark Arts professor. He scanned the Gryffindor table and when his eyes met Hermione's he nodded, unsmiling, and turned to his breakfast.

"I think everyone knows by now," said Hermione, turning back to her friends.

"They must," said Harry. "Take a look at the Hufflepuffs."

Hermione twisted in her seat and saw the Hufflepuffs all looking either at her or Snape. When she caught someone's eye, he quickly looked away. "Oh, what's the big deal, anyway?" asked Hermione, turning back around.

"Think about it, Hermione!" said Ron. "It's Snape! Snape's a father! He's got a daughter and what's more, it's YOU!"

Hermione just shrugged as Professor McGonagall handed them all their class schedules. She looked over hers quickly. "Oh, good!" she said. "Defense Against the Dark Arts first thing! Perhaps this woman teacher will be better able to keep the job."

"I doubt it," said Harry. "She doesn't look very tough, does she?"

Hermione looked up at the head table to see the tall, thin Professor Goldwood smiling and laughing with Professor Dumbledore. She really didn't look the sort to know about the Dark Arts, and she didn't even look that much older than the seventh year students, but Hermione was determined to like her, if only for the fact that she was a woman.

Immediately following breakfast, Hermione, Harry and Ron headed up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. As soon as Ron set foot in the doorway, though, he stopped.

"Ron!" exclaimed Harry, pushing his friend through the door. "What's the matter with- ohmigod!"

Hermione pushed Harry in, and then stopped herself. The entire room was filled with all sorts of Dark Arts paraphernalia, including a lightening sphere, a complete collection of weather seeds all set up on a small wooden rack and- most prominently- a very dangerous looking wooden stake and mallet sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Wow," said Hermione, hurrying to a front row seat. Harry and Ron stood gawking for a moment, but then quickly sat next to her. Hermione was grateful for the diversion of objects in the room because she was certain that the other students would have asked her about Professor Snape if they hadn't been looking at the lightening sphere or weather seeds.

"Good morning, class!" said Professor Goldwood cheerily as she entered the room. "I see you've discovered my little collection. I am informed that most of my classes are very far behind, so today, we will be covering something that should have been covered in your fourth year. That is what these are for," she added, picking up the wooden stake and mallet. "Now, who can tell me what these are used for?" she asked.

Hermione knew right away, so she shot her hand into the air. She wanted so much to impress this new teacher! Impressing people was important to her. She never quite understood why, but it was.

"Yes, Miss..." Professor Goldwood hesitated as she checked her attendance records. "Granger is it?" Hermione nodded. "All right, then," said the professor. "Tell me what these are most often used for."

"For killing or curing a vampire," she said, beaming.

"Very good," said Professor Goldwood. "I never expected anyone to know about curing them. Could you tell me how you cure a Vampire?"

"By forcing garlic down his throat and driving a steak through his heart within fourteen days of when he was turned into a vampire," said Hermione, very proud of herself for having scoured 'Things That Scare Even Me,' thoroughly the first night she got it.

"Very good, Miss Granger," said the professor again. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, as you all know, The Vampiress is the only known living cured Vampire in the entire world right now, but nobody knows her identity. She keeps this a secret. Now, if you will all turn with me to page thirty-seven of 'Things That Scare Even Me,' we can find out just how to tell the difference between The Vampiress and other living uncured Vampires...."

* * * * * * * *

By the end of the class, they had learned just how to cure a friend who had been turned into a Vampire and how to keep him from turning you into one. They had also learned that cured Vampires are harmless except to dark wizards and how to tell whether or not a Vampire was cured. The biggest give away was in the eyes. An uncured Vampire typically had bloodshot eyes while a cured one did not. Further, cured Vampires can handle the sun, though they don't like it much and try to stay in the shade while an uncured Vampire will stay indoors with curtains drawn during daylight hours. They were given one and a half feet of parchment on the subject, due by next class, but Hermione already had enough information to fill twice that much, maybe more.

If they thought Defense Against the Dark Arts was interesting, it was nothing compared to potions class with Snape. Upon entering the dungeon classroom, nothing had changed except that Snape had pulled his hair out of his face and tied it back with a little elastic band. The reason for this became apparent when he told them that they would be making dissolving solutions today and if their hair were to get caught in it, it would travel up to their scalp, leaving them bald. The girls and few boys who had long hair were instructed to get an elastic band from him if they didn't already have one, so Hermione hurried to Snape's- her father's- desk. He handed out the elastic bands quietly, but when Hermione approached his desk, he also pulled out a couple of small barrettes. "You've got a lot of hair to keep out of the way," he said, only a hint of the usual growl in his voice.

Hermione thanked him and quickly sat down, tying her hair back and using the barrettes to hold up a few stray strands. "That was odd, wasn't it?" she asked Harry.

"Not really, when you think about it," he whispered back. "I mean, you're his daughter."

"Still," hissed Hermione. "I'd have thought he'd treat me much the same in class!"

Harry only shrugged and turned back to listen to what Snape was saying, which was to roll up your sleeves and be sure to stir the potions carefully so as not to splash any on your clothes. "And by all means," he added emphatically. "If you DO get any on your clothes, do not hesitate to remove them quickly. The last thing we need is for anyone to loose skin over this! Miss Granger, I want you working with Longbottom. I don't fancy taking anyone to the Hospital Wing on the first day back," he added with his usual sneer.

Hermione nodded and went over the list of potions with Neville as the rest of the class paired up. She instructed him to go get the boomslang skin, flubberworm oil and dried scarab beetles from the regular cupboards. She decided she'd better get the more potent materials from Snape's "other" cupboards, as the students were fond of calling them. By the time she returned, Neville had already started mashing the beetles to a fine powder with mortar and pistol. "Very good, Neville," said Hermione as she set the things down on their table.

"Thanks!" he said, smiling up at her. "I figured something out over the summer. I only make mistakes because I'm nervous and I'm only nervous because Snape yells at me and he only yells at me because I make mistakes. Usually big ones. So, if I can just keep myself from being nervous..."

Hermione groaned. "You've put a spell on yourself, haven't you?" she asked.

"No," he admitted. "I asked Seamus Finnigan to do it for me."

She smirked. "Well, that was probably smart," she said. "We'll see how it goes."

"It's good so far!" he said, setting the now powdered bugs aside. "I'm not even the slightest bit nervous!"

Hermione grinned at him and pulled on her dragon-hide gloves to mix the bubbotuber puss and flubberworm oil together. By the end of the class, they had a nicely simmering cauldron that was just the right shade of purple. Neville had even added a couple of things himself and stirred it a bit, with Hermione supervising, of course.

"Very nice, Miss Granger," Snape said over her shoulder. "Now, let's see if it works." Carefully, he took up an eyedropper and sucked up a bit of the stuff with it, then dripped it onto a small piece of cloth in the bottom of a glass dish. The cloth sizzled, smoked, turned to a liquid and then evaporated. "Very nice," he repeated, going on to the next group.

"Wow!" whispered Neville. "I can't believe it! I actually got through-"

"No!" hissed Hermione. "Don't say it! You don't want to jinx it, do you?"

Neville grinned and shut his mouth.

Finally, though, they were headed out the door of the potions classroom. Hermione didn't make it through, though before Snape called her over to his desk. "Yes, professor?" she said, standing patiently next to him.

"Hermione," he said, a similar demeanor to yesterday's apparent in his face. "I'm curious. How is it that you look like neither myself nor your mother?"

She grinned at him. "I look just like Alyssa's mother," she explained, pulling the picture out of her backpack. "This is her when she was my age."

Snape took the picture and studied it for a moment. One corner of his mouth slowly curled up into a half smile. "You do, don't you?" he asked. Finally, he handed the picture back to her. "I am going to ask Professor Dumbledore for permission to take you to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday," he said. "I've got a lot of Birthdays and Christmases to make up for."

"Oh, that's not necessary, Prof- I mean, daddy," she said.

"No, but I still want to," he said, staring up at her. "You will come, won't you?"

"Of course I will!" she said. "I wouldn't deny you the opportunity to spoil me rotten!"

"Not rotten my dear," he chuckled. "Just nicely ripened. Anyway, you just meet me after breakfast on Saturday, all right?"

"Sure, daddy," she said, still uncomfortable with using the name. "I will."

Snape gazed at her for a moment, then nodded. "You may go," he said. "And tell Potter and Weasley that it's not nice to listen in on other people's conversations."

Hermione had known that they were waiting outside the door for her, but she hadn't realized that Snape had known. Quickly, she hurried out the door to her friends and as soon as they were far enough down the corridor, she burst into giggles. "I don't believe it!" she said. "I can't believe how DIFFERENT he is!"

"I know," said Harry. "I'm starting to think he's pretty descent."

Ron grinned. "I always wondered what Snape as a father would be like," he said. "I thought he'd be a horrid brute, but he seems pretty cool."

"Well, it's still too early to tell," said Hermione. "I don't really know if he'll stay like this. In fact, I doubt it very much."

Ron and Harry agreed as they all walked into the Great Hall for lunch.

The day had been so long, and yet, it was only half over.