Minnie Ranger Snape

Minnie Ranger Snape

Chapter One: The Truth

Hermione sighed, looking out towards the approaching train. Today would be her first day at Hogwarts. She remembered the day well. She remembered the bratty know it all she had been, how the dirt on Ron's nose had bothered her so much, and how she had been impressed by Harry Potter because his name was mentioned in a book.

She was almost trembling in anticipation of seeing her friends who she had not seen in almost twenty years. There was just one problem: her husband didn't know about her true identity, and he was in for a nasty shock when he heard Minerva calling out 'Granger, Hermione' to be sorted. Of course, he knew his wife to have been Minnie Ranger before they married, so he would not make a big deal out of the name, but when he saw her face... Hermione shuddered, wishing wholeheartedly that she hadn't been too chicken to tell him. In fact, Albus was the only one who knew, so the rest of the faculty would be in for a major shock as well.

"Minnie," her husband said when he exited the bathroom, "are you ready to go? Those insufferable children will be arriving, and I would like to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Yes, Severus," she replied, glancing once more at the distant train, "let's go." She paused for a minute, inwardly fighting a battle. "Err... Severus?" She said quietly, "if you see anything... strange... at dinner tonight, don't make a big deal out of it. Please? For me?"

He looked questioningly at her, but nodded once before sweeping out towards the great hall. Hermione sighed. He was really sweet when they were alone, but for the past few days he had been practicing his big mean scary guy appearance so as to scare the students senseless.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, they took their usual seats, Hermione on the end of the table next to Severus, who, in turn, sat next to Quirrel. Within a few moments of sitting down, the students had begun to filter into the hall, taking their seats at the appropriate tables.

Hermione gnawed at her nail, waiting nervously for the first years to follow Minerva into the hall. Finally they came, all looking nervous, and Hermione was easily able to pick out herself and her two best friends. The look on her younger self's face was one of pure terror. Hermione remembered the fear she had felt, not having been able to prepare for the sorting.

The long and tedious process of calling out names finally began, and Hermione clapped loudly for the Gryffindors, and a little less enthusiastically for the rest of the houses. When Minerva finally reached her name, Hermione glanced along the length of the table, waiting for their reactions.

Dumbledore caught her eye and smiled warmly, trying to make her feel less nervous, but it was no good. When they had gotten a good look at the bushy haired eleven year old, she knew that the entire staff would know the truth.

Sure enough, when Minerva called out "Granger, Hermione," Hermione, who was staring determinedly at the plate in front of her, could feel the eyes of every single member of the staff boring into her head. She couldn't look at them. She merely clapped when the hat called out "Gryffindor," and purposely ignored the stares of her colleagues and the glare of her husband.

At both Harry and Ron's names, Hermione's eyes filled with tears at the mention of her best friends who she had not seen in over twenty years, and clapped extra hard. Well, she had seen Harry as a baby, but that didn't count. And that brought back too many painful memories of Lily and James.

When Dumbledore made his speech, Hermione was shocked at the fact that it was word for word what she had remembered. Of course, she shouldn't be, but still-. "Why didn't you tell me?" Severus hissed once the food had come and the sound of excited chattering had filled the room, "That's you, isn't it? I could recognize you even at the age of eleven from miles away. You were/are? from the future! And the name I have thought of as yours for over twenty years really isn't yours is it Hermione Granger?" He spat her real name out as if it was something poisonous.

"I-" Hermione began, but didn't know where to go with that thought. Thankfully Albus came to her rescue.

"Severus, I suggest that you and Hermione continue this discussion after dinner is complete, for I must warn you: the Hermione sitting over at Gryffindor table MUST NOT know what is going on."

"Of course Albus," Severus sneered, glaring at his wife before turning to Quirrel to talk to him for the rest of dinner. Hermione saw Harry grab his scar as the back of Quirrel's head was turned to him and she sighed. It had been easier before, in the years that she had, her first time through, only known about the Muggle world. But now, living in the same building as her younger self, it was going to be hard not to give anything away.

Finally, they sang the school song and then they were free to go. Severus gave Hermione a meaningful stare before getting up and walking out of the room. She got up and followed him, neither of them speaking during the entire trip down to their dungeon room.

"So," Severus began, fixing his wife with the penetrating stare that had scared her senseless as a child, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Hermione was quiet for a minute, trying to find the best way to tell him. He let her sit there, silent, for a minute, collecting herself before she began. "I can't tell you how I came back," she started, staring at her hands, clasped in her lap, "I can't tell you anything about the future. All I can say is that somehow, in my seventh year, through an accident, I was transported into the past. I realized quite quickly what had happened when no one recognized me, so I ran to Dumbledore's office and started naming all of the sweets I could think of. Finally it opened and I ran up the stairs.

"He didn't know who I was, obviously, but once I told him what had happened, he said that he would find some way to transport me back to the future, but it would probably take around a month, so in the meantime I should just pretend to be an exchange student. He also suggested that I change my name so as not to create any future paradoxes, so I called myself 'Minnie Ranger,' as you obviously already know.

"I settled down into Gryffindor life, and, well, you know the rest. Well, except for that a month after I had come back Dumbledore had the potion ready that would take me back, and I couldn't do it. Believe me Severus, that was the hardest decision I have ever had to make, but I stayed with you. I stayed with you Severus, I left my friends, and I had to live through Lily and James' death knowing that I could have stopped it, but it would have caused a paradox that I couldn't cause."

Severus had stayed silent through her entire story, but once she reached the end he went up to her and hugged her, wiping away the tears that had begun to fall down her face. They stood there, silently hugging each other, until Severus broke the silence. "So-" he began, looking down into her face, "the first time I kissed you, were you disgusted? Were you thinking 'Eew! This boy is going to turn out to be the icky Professor Snape!?' Did you think that it would gain you house points once you came back?"

Hermione looked at him in shock, and then said softly, "No, I thought to myself, and I believe that these were my exact words, 'What happens to him to make him hate me? I don't want to go back to that. I want to stay with him.'" She looked up at her husband, tears still shining in her eyes, and pleaded with him "Please Severus, don't be angry. You have no idea how hard these next seven years are going to be for me. I know everything that is going to happen, but I can't tell anyone, because they can't not happen. Horrible things are going to happen and I won't be able to do anything to stop them. Please don't make it harder for me!"

Severus sighed, and then nodded, softly kissing her trembling lips. "What do you want me to do?" He quietly asked her, gazing into her eyes.

"Be the big, bad Snape your reputation holds you to be. Treat my friends badly and me worse. Don't let anyone guess who I am, because they seriously can not know. Keep calling me Minnie and DO NOT ask me questions about what is going to happen. If I don't want to expand on a subject don't push it, because that could have horrible consequences."

He nodded and kissed her again, smiling down at her. "I promise," he said quietly, "But what happens if I get turned on by my eleven year old student?"

Hermione smiled at that and murmured silkily into his ear "Then I will castrate you on terms of adulterous thoughts. After all, that girl is not your wife yet, and she will not be for quite a few years."

Severus turned paler than usual, because he knew that Minnie-Hermione-whatever- would willingly follow through with that threat. He sighed, knowing that this was going to take getting used to.