New Beginnings

DISCLAIMER::: Everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I just love them so much I wanted to play with them a little.

Summary::: Hermione's first day as a Professor.

New Beginnings

Chapter Three

It was the first day of classes for the new term, and Hermione was nervous as she sat at the staff table for breakfast. The students were making their normal amount of noise as they ate and prepared for their morning classes. Hermione had chosen to sit on the end so she wouldn't be bombarded with questions and greetings from the other professors. She was concentrating so hard on eating that she did not notice the surly Potions professor entering the hall and sitting in the chair next to hers until he spoke.

"Prepared for your first day at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley?" Professor Snape asked.

"It's Professor now, and yes, but I am nervous," she stated. "I am a bit afraid that I won't be able to hold up to Professor McGonagall's expectations."

"I wouldn't worry about that. You could have started teaching here directly after graduating if you hadn't wanted to go off and get married," said Snape.

Hermione winced at these words, but said nothing. It still hurt her every time she thought about how foolish she had been. She had known then that Ron would never change, but she had loved him so much. When he was released from his contract with the Cannons, everything got worse. If he had been argumentative before, he was ten times worse after that.

"I will do my best. The Headmistress gave me her syllabus, and I can follow that. It will at least get me through the term," Hermione said after awhile. Professor Snape just looked at her oddly and then turned to his cup of coffee.

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The morning classes had gone as well as could be expected. She had a few students in first year that wouldn't be able to transfigure a handful of snow into a snowball even if their lives depended on it. One of her second years, a female Hufflepuff, had burst out crying when Hermione had tried to help her with the pronunciation of the spell they had been working on. By the time she made it to her third year Slytherin class, which was just before lunch, she had gotten herself into a foul mood. And she had a hard time restraining herself from snapping the wand of a boy who singed off the eyebrows of the girl next to him when his spell backfired. Now, she slumped into the same chair she had occupied at breakfast and waited for her meal to arrive.

"I understand you tried to kill one of my third year students by sitting her next to Mr. Boden," came the smooth drawl of Professor Snape to her right.

"I did no such thing! I simply had the students sit in alphabetical order so I could learn their names more efficiently. Muggle teachers use the technique all the time. And furthermore, it is not my fault Mr. Boden is useless with a wand," Hermione stated defensively.

"Yes, well, he is kind of Longbottom-ish with his wand, isn't he," he joked.

This brought a surprised look to Hermione's face.

'He just made a joke! Is that a smile on his face? Wow, he looks quite handsome when he isn't scowling at everything,' she thought.

Before she could respond though, an owl swept into the Great Hall and landed right in front of her.

'Who could this be from?' she wondered.

Nobody knew she was even there except for Harry and Draco, and they would have used Hedwig to send her a message. Taking the rolled note from the tiny brown owl, she gave it a small piece of her toast in payment, and it flew off.

Unrolling the parchment and starting to read, her heartbeat picked up to an alarming pace. Her hands were trembling by the time she finished the brief note. Dropping the letter and standing on wobbly legs, she ran from the Great Hall, leaving everyone to stare after her.

Seeing Hermione's reaction to the note, Professor Snape picked it up and read through it quickly:

Hermione,

I really wish you would just talk to Ron. He is so upset with the way everyone is treating him. He didn't mean to do those things that he did. It was just the stress of not working and you having to support him. We are all sure that if you just went to the Ministry and told them that it was all just some horrible misunderstanding, they would let him come back. He is so alone out there. He knows nothing of that world. Please, just think about it.

Your Mother-in-law,

Molly Weasley

After finishing the note, Professor Snape stood and walked out of the hall himself.

'How could that woman be so insensitive? Didn't she know what her precious son had done to Hermione?'

Being banished from the Wizarding World was just a slap on the wrist in Snape's opinion. If he had been overseeing the proceedings, Mr. Weasley would have spent the rest of his days as a drooling mess in Azkaban. Snape was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't see that Hermione was crouched on the floor against the wall. Rounding a corner he ran smack into her and almost tumbled to the ground himself.

"Professor Weasley, are you all right?" he asked.

"Stop calling me that. It isn't right," Hermione cried.

"Stop calling you what, Professor or Weasley?"

"Weasley. I was never really one of them and am not in name either as of a few days ago. When Ron was sent away, I petitioned to change my name back to Granger. I got the certificate on Saturday making it so. I am Professor Granger now. Please address me as such," Hermione stated.

She was calming down. Now all she wanted to do was go to her office and distract herself by preparing for her classes.

"Excuse me, Professor, but I need to be going. I have a class in ten minutes."

At this she stood and started to walk away.

Turning around, Snape reached out his arm and placed his hand on her shoulder. She stopped moving and turned back to face him. Meeting his eyes, she said, "Yes, Professor?"

"If you ever want to talk, you know where my office is."

With that said, he spun on his heel, his robes billowing around him as he walked away. Stunned, Hermione stared after him.

TBC

AN::: I would like to thank my betas Pixie and Allison. Without them you would never have gotten to see this. In the next chapter Hermione visits the kitchens and has a snack.