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 gets some questions answered.

New Beginnings

Chapter Four

It was close to midnight, and Hermione was still sitting at the desk in her office marking essays, when a house-elf popped in and startled her. Deciding that it was time for her to head to bed, she stood and started for her private chambers. She had just approached the portrait to her rooms when her stomach growled loudly.

"You had better get down to the kitchens and take care of that, Professor, or none of us portraits will get any sleep tonight," the young lady in a white dress standing in a garden of yellow roses stated. This portrait had always been one of Hermione's favourites, and she used to converse with it often as a student.

"I think I will do that," Hermione agreed, turning around and heading down toward the kitchen.

When she entered the kitchen, all the house-elves inside started rushing around, piling her arms up with food. She tried to explain to them that she could never eat all this in a week, and all she wanted was a nice fresh salad.

From behind her came that now familiar voice, "Will you get the poor girl a salad, already?"

Turning around, she said, "Thank you, Professor, but I have everything under control."

He met her eyes for a second, and then, looking at the food in her arms, smirking, he met her eyes again.

"I can see that, Professor Granger. So what were you planning on doing with all that food in your arms? Or were you just holding it so they would have space on the counters to prepare your salad?" he drawled sarcastically.

Her eyes flashed with anger as she leaned over a nearby table and deposited her load of food. Ignoring his comment, she put her hands on her hips and asked, "Are you stalking me?"

Looking shocked for a moment, Professor Snape asked, "Stalking you? Why in the name of Merlin would I be stalking you?"

Smiling, Hermione's eyes danced with mischief. "Every time I turn around, there you are, ready to throw a comment at me just to see if you can get a rise. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Professor, but you don't scare me. You never did."

That being said, she turned around, took the salad she had requested from the elves, and walked over to a small table in the corner of the kitchen. Sitting down, she began to eat, completely ignoring the fact that Professor Snape asked for a piece of pie and, after receiving it, walked over and joined her.

They each ate in silence for awhile until Hermione's curiosity got the better of her, and she asked, "What kind of pie is that? It smells delicious."

Not looking up, Snape simply stated, "Peach."

Before she even had time to ask one of the elves for a piece of her own, one appeared on the table next to her salad. Grinning, she started in on it, too. They ate companionably until they were done. When a tea service appeared on the table between them, Professor Snape poured them each a cup and asked, "How has your first week of classes gone? I hope they have improved since Monday."

Hermione picked up her cup of tea and sipped it before responding, "The week did improve, thank you."

Then as if she just couldn't wait any longer to know, she asked, "How long have you been back at Hogwarts, Professor? The last I heard you were out of the country."

"I returned just last term. Yes, the last time I wrote to Draco, I was still in Tibet, so he would not have known I was back here. We don't keep in contact like we used to when we were first pardoned," he said, never looking up from his tea.

"How did Professor McGonagall get you back here? I thought the Ministry said you could never return to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, they did, but like Albus, Minerva can be very... convincing when she needs to be. She just frankly told the Minister that if he wanted her to stay on as Headmistress, he would have to give her free rein of the hiring and firing of professors just like Albus had had. Of course, he agreed, and she even talked him into signing a Wizarding contract attesting to it," he said, a small smile playing across his lips.

Shocked, Hermione said, "Who knew that the personification of Gryffindor could be so Slytherin." Then smirking, she added, "If she doesn't watch it, she just might turn into you."

Hermione giggled a little at the thought. Snape, on the other hand, laughed all out. He tilted his head back and simply laughed.

Not understanding this new side of Snape she had never before seen, she felt compelled to ask him about these changes.

"Who are you? If Harry ever saw you laugh like that, or even smile, he would die of shock on the spot, and then Draco would be forced to kill you out of revenge. I don't understand."

"Well, Professor Granger, as you know, I spent four years in the hills of Tibet after I was pardoned by the Ministry, when they discovered I was not really responsible for killing Albus. The poison he drank to get that fake Horcrux killed him the instant I cast the silent levitation charm on him to get him over the edge of the tower. It took some convincing and demonstrating that I could indeed perform a different spell silently than the spell I said out loud. Sometimes people just don't realize that it is the power of thought and feeling that is the strongest magic."

Sipping his tea again, he continued, "Anyway, while I was in Tibet, I lived with a group of Muggle Buddhists. They taught me about inner peace and forgiveness. They helped me to see that all the anger inside of me was toward a person that had only done to me what had been done to him, a person that had been dead for almost thirty years-- my father. The Buddhists showed me how to move beyond the past and live for today. They believe that every day is precious, and that if you ignore the little things in life, then the big things don't matter as much."

Hermione was fascinated by listening to him talk about the Buddhist monks as if they had saved his life. And in a way, she guessed that they had. After the war had ended, everyone had tried to go on with his or her lives, and Snape had been stranded. He was a wanted man, so he couldn't go home. He had 'killed' Albus Dumbledore, so he couldn't go back to Hogwarts. He was no longer needed by the Order, and so he couldn't go to Grimmauld Place. He was stuck.

After the trial that freed him and Draco of all charges pertaining to the death of Dumbledore, Draco had been able to marry Harry, but Snape had no one. So he left the country. From what Draco had told them, Snape had travelled the world, spending very little time in any one place, but constantly moving. That is, until he had arrived in Tibet. All he would tell Draco in his letters was that he was alive and staying in the mountains. They had all pictured him living in a cave like the overgrown bat they had all considered him.

"It must have been difficult," she said finally.

"What was difficult?" he asked. "Do you mean the releasing of all the anger and hatred that I had carried all those years, or living as a Muggle for four years? In my opinion, the fact that I had to do chores without magic was the hardest part."

Picturing Snape on his hands and knees scrubbing floors made her chuckle, and Snape started to laugh too. Once they had settled down, the Potions professor set his teacup down and stood up.

"Well, Professor, it is late, and as we have a Hogsmeade trip to supervise tomorrow, I bid you good night." He bowed low, and then, looking up into her eyes, he smiled.

Smiling herself, she said, "Goodnight, Professor. Sweet dreams." Then she stood as well, and they walked out of the kitchens, going their separate ways toward their respective rooms.

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 Hogsmeade.