September 1, 1974 (continued)

"Hey, Evans." The boy who could only be James Potter leaned against the door frame and smiled a smarmy grin that Hermione had only ever seen on Cormac McLaggen and Draco Malfoy. Such a display on that face instantly disconnected James from her Harry. Harry, who was somewhat shy and didn't want to draw attention to himself, would never look at a girl the way James looked at Lily: as if she were a conquest.

Knowing the future as she did, Hermione expected only one response from Lily.

She was terribly surprised to see the opposite.

"Go away, James," she replied immediately in genuine exasperation. "I was looking forward to a peaceful train ride."

"So why are you in here with Snivellus?" a handsome dark-haired boy asked with a chuckle, causing a short pudgy blond boy to laugh.

"That's awful," Hermione said, glaring at the group of boys.

It drew their attention to her for the first time. The dark-haired boy, who was truly a bit too handsome, smiled broadly as he slowly looked her over. "Well, well, well. Who do we have here? I haven't seen you around the common room before. What's your name, Kitten?"

"Kitten?" Sirius Black had whispered upon seeing her in the Shack. "No, I've gone mad, alone in the dark for all these years."

Hermione's jaw dropped, not only at the audacity, but at the fact that Azkaban had changed Sirius so much.

"She's Hermione," Lily said, much to Hermione's displeasure. "She's a transfer student."

"Well," Sirius said as he slid into the car and sidled up beside Hermione. He draped his arm over the back of the seat and grinned with obnoxious self-confidence. "It's great to see you were sorted into the best house of Hogwarts. But what Evans can't accept is that one should never hang around with snakes. Those are the Slytherins, by the way, and they always go dark. Bit obsessed with the Dark Arts, really. That's what Snivellus over there is."

There were chuckles from the boys who didn't notice the way Hermione's hair started to crackle as she raised her chin. "I, for one, know that not all Gryffindors are good," she spat, fighting the urge to look at the chubby blond she guessed was Peter Pettigrew. "It's said that Merlin himself was a Slytherin, so tell me how your logic works? And quite honestly, in the very short time I've been on this train, I have found his company far superior to yours and he's barely spoken."

"Maybe that's why you think his company is superior," James commented.

"Perhaps. At least he hasn't opened his mouth and revealed himself to be a pompous arrogant moron who honestly believes the color of his dormitory bed sheets makes him better."

"Actually, I believe that's demonstrated by the new robes and clean hair," James retorted.

"My robes are second-hand. And if you think your hair is considered 'clean' with the amount of products in it, then we certainly need to find you a dictionary. Maybe that will also help in our next conversation. By then, I'm sure you'll understand big words and understand that the ones I would use to describe you in this moment are not very flattering." She then turned to Sirius. "Kindly extract yourself from my personal space, you were neither invited nor wanted."

Sirius lifted his hands in surrender, standing and backing away toward a scowling James and Peter. "All right, but don't be surprised if in a week or two you find yourself changing your mind. I have a way with people like that."

"I doubt that," Hermione sneered.

Sirius merely chuckled as he turned, gesturing for the rest of them to follow. James glared at Severus before turning away. Just before the door closed behind them, Severus flinched and hissed through his teeth.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, trying to quiet her thoughts screaming that this was not at all the story Professor Lupin had painted for Harry about his parents.

"Nothing," Severus scowled, tucking his left hand in his sleeve.

"Did he hex you?" Lily asked, yanking at Severus' hand.

There was a small welt forming just below the first knuckle of his thumb.

"Of course he did," Severus gritted out. "Do you really think they would just pop in for a chat and leave without trying something?"

Hermione glared at the door before reaching for her backpack and digging through it. Once she found the burn salve Delia insisted she carry, she chucked it to Severus without a word. He caught it with his good hand, frowning at the jar before looking at her with suspicion.

"It's just something to heal it," she said with a shrug.

"I didn't ask for it," Severus growled, tossing it back to her.

Hermione caught it and rolled her eyes. "I'm aware you didn't, but I thought it would be useful," she retorted before chucking it back with a bit more force.

"I don't need your help," he snapped as he tossed it back. It collided with the back of the seat but didn't break or spill.

"Fine," Hermione huffed, taking the jar and stuffing it back in the bag. "Enjoy the discomfort for the next couple hours." She grabbed her Charms book and opened it pointedly.

She was aware that Lily and Severus were conversing, but she didn't hear a word of it.

Instead, she mulled over what she had witnessed.

She could believe that Sirius had been like this all along. But James? She simply couldn't understand how Harry's parents were married and in love if this was how they interacted heading into their fourth year at Hogwarts. She did the math in her head: they died at about twenty-one, and Harry had been just over a year old. Lily would have been pregnant at nineteen, meaning that, if she was turning fifteen, she'd have to have changed her mind about James Potter enough in four years to conceive with him. Unless, of course, it was more a marriage of honor. Hermione knew enough about sex and relationships to know they didn't always coincide with one another. She had a cousin who was a product of a one-night mishap, and his parents were together only to raise him as a unit. But she just couldn't help but remember the pictures she'd seen of them. They looked happy and in love. Maybe it was an act, maybe....

"Do you find Charms that difficult? Is the material more advanced than you expected?" Severus' jeering tone brought Hermione out of her reverie , and she turned to him in surprise.

"What? No, not that. My mind wandered."

"A daydreamer, then? Typical more of Hufflepuffs than Gryffindors."

Hermione snorted, wanting to comment on the daydreaming numpties in her own house, but she felt her throat closing before the words escaped. "Wasn't daydreaming," she managed to say, though her voice was a bit raspy. "Just ... amazed by first impressions, is all." She looked at him. "Why do they dislike you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I do mind," he grumbled. "But since Lily scolded me for not being nicer to you ... I have no idea. Because I exist? Because I'm Slytherin? The reasons are endless."

Hermione took in this thin lanky boy with bad hair and a bad disposition. "The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin but wasn't sure it was a good fit." She offered a truth not even her two best friends had known. "It considered Ravenclaw as well but thought I would never reach my true potential there. Gryffindor was the only place left. So, really, disliking someone simply for their house is ridiculous, as some people shouldn't or wouldn't fit in any other than the one they were placed in." She glanced at the door and frowned. "And if they dislike you simply for existing, well, it's hardly like their presence is going to make the wizarding world a better place."

He gave the barest of smiles, a tiny quirk of the lips, but she knew he knew she'd seen it. So, she smiled back, and decided then and there that if James Potter was an arse of the biggest kind, then maybe Severus Snape wasn't the man she thought he was.

September 3, 1974

It took a full day of classes for Hermione to notice one thing about Lily Evans: she was a bit of a flake. It wasn't that she wasn't smart, Lily was quite good in Charms and Transfiguration, and had a decent, comprehensive knowledge of Astronomy. But the moment they arrived at the school, Lily had taken off with the girls of their year without so much as a 'see you later' for Severus. Hermione had offered him a smile and a wave, but he hadn't returned it. His eyes had been on Lily, sad and disappointed but not at all surprised.

She thought that maybe it was the rush of being back at school and seeing the friends she hadn't spoken to all summer, but while Lily let Severus wait for her and walk her to class, she was quick to sit beside and partner up with either Alice or Marlene. Both were nice enough, Hermione supposed, but far too interested in boys and beauty for her taste.

She'd sat next to Severus when it was clear no one else was going to, not even his own housemates. He'd sneered at first, especially for the first two classes. But when Lily left them for Divination and the two had Ancient Runes together, he seemed to understand that she sat with him because he was an ally of sorts. She didn't really know anyone else, and the other options were far less than palatable.

Therefore, it wasn't at all surprising that as the three of them walked into Potions the following morning, Lily went to join the other girls. Hermione stayed with Severus as he made his way to the back bench. She frowned as Alice went with Frank Longbottom, leaving Marlene with Lily.

"Has Lily partnered with you before?" Hermione asked as she noted that there was an even amount of Slytherins.

"Only in first year," Severus replied. "I've worked by myself the last two years."

She rolled her eyes. "Believe me, Severus, I wouldn't—" The grip on her heart prevented her from saying the rest of the sentence. I wouldn't dream of disrupting you in your subject.

He frowned, noticing her abrupt and obviously unintentional stop, but wasn't able to comment on it because the professor walked in.

Professor Slughorn was like day to Professor Snape's night: short, fat, and utterly ridiculous. Hermione could only shake her head in disbelief.

"Good morning, good morning. How have you all been? How was your summer? I hope it was all quite well. I thought perhaps we could start with a simple practical, ensure you all haven't forgotten how to brew a basic hair-raising potion?" He smiled jovially, twitching his elbow toward a nearby Slytherin as if giving a ribbing.

"He's not at all what I expected," Hermione commented as she and Severus pulled out their kits before moving to retrieve their cauldrons.

"And what were you expecting?" Severus asked.

"Intimidating. Tall and much more ... looming. I expected presence, magnetism."

"Your previous Potions master, I expect?" he queried as he got his cauldron.

Hermione stretched on her toes, her fingers grazing the rim of her cauldron but not quite grasping it. It shouldn't have surprised her when Severus reached up and grabbed hers as well, handing it to her, but it did. He didn't smile when she thanked him, he merely nodded, but it was another un-Snape-like gesture that reminded her that he had yet to become the man she had known.

"Yes," she finally managed to say. "My last Potions professor was exactly that."

"Oh," Professor Slughorn said behind her, and before she could turn, she felt his arm drape around her. Hermione grimaced, turning away from him as much as she could while he held her. "And you must be Miss Granger. I was told in the staff meeting to expect you. I was actually surprised when Albus did not have you sorted with the first years." She kept quiet, feeling everyone's eyes on her as Professor Slughorn kept her beside him. He was the first teacher to draw attention to her. "Tell me, you wouldn't happen to be a relative of potioneer Hector Dagworth-Granger?"

Her immediate instinct was to tell the truth, but as she glanced around to see the Slytherins eyeing them with interest, as well as a few Gryffindors, she murmured, "Distantly, I believe."

"Splendid, splendid. You should give our young Mr. Snape a challenge, then, with potioneers in your family tree." He finally let her go, and Hermione all but ran back to their work station.

"I imagine there are potioneers in many families," she mumbled when Severus joined her.

"None quite of that caliber," he retorted as they opened their potions kit. His eyes immediately fell on Hermione's ingredients. "And I'm sure not all families have resources like that."

Hermione looked between him and the kit before she understood what he was saying. Her ingredients would have cost a fortune this fresh from an apothecary. No student, save those from affluent families, would have a kit like this. "One of my guardians is a Herbologist. He let me take what I needed for my kit, so I didn't spend my money unnecessarily."

Severus' cheeks reddened, and he immediately turned away and focused entirely too hard on his potion and taking notes in the margin of his textbook.

After about halfway through brewing, she felt his gaze dart to her while waiting for the next step. She peeked at him, but he immediately averted his eyes and tried to appear nonchalant.

"All right. Let's bottle those potions and bring them to the front of the room," Professor Slughorn called out at the end of the first hour. "And now that I'm sure you are all awake, we will discuss what to expect this upcoming year, and go over some of the properties of Draught of the Living Dead ."

Hermione had already decanted her potion, as had Severus, and before she could move, he took her vial and took it up to the front of the room with his own.

When he returned, she nodded in thanks and he nodded once in acknowledgment. Still, she couldn't help but notice how his shoulders weren't so tense anymore.

September 21, 1974

Dear Delia,

First and foremost, I'm sorry for taking so long to write. It was never my intention to wait this long. I spent the first week adjusting to how different things are compared to what I'm used to. While many of the professors are extremely similar to my previous professors, some are vastly different. Professor Slughorn, for instance, is quite lax compared to my previous Potions instructor. Thankfully, my lab partner, Severus, is as studious as I am and has no interest in slacking.

I met him on the train, along with our mutual friend Lily. We're civil and I may even go so far as to say we are kind to one another, but it's quite obvious that the only reason he even bothers to hang out with me is because of Lily.

She and I are in Gryffindor together, and that's why she's the person I'm closest to at the moment. Though, if I'm honest, I don't feel a true connection with her. Lily is outgoing and vivacious and draws people to her like a moth to flame. She's friends with all the girls in our year, and while I do find Alice Diggory to be tolerable, Marlene McKinnon leaves much to be desired. There was a girl in my dorm at my previous school who I thought was the most vapid and self-obsessed girl who ever lived. Marlene could easily have been this girl's inspiration.

All that to say, I don't care much for most students in my year and house. The boys, with the exception of Frank Longbottom and Remus Lupin, are horrid. The former seems content enough to keep to himself until he can socialize with those in other houses, the latter ... he needs to find new friends.

I haven't told Minerva this, since I'm sure it wouldn't make a difference. If the glares she sends them are any indication, she shares my opinions anyway.

I wish I could give you a reason for not writing the other two weeks. I've had a difficult time, and I've been so caught up in my studies and adjusting to life away from the village and Bob's greenhouse that I lost track of time. I'm sorry. I promise to write more often and won't wait until Halloween to give you an update.

Hope the warm weather has reached your neck of Scotland.

Yours,

Hermione

She finished the letter in her quiet dormitory before heading up to the Owlery. The weather really was quite fantastic for late September, it was a nice walk to drop off her letter.

It was Saturday, so most of the students were sprawled around the grounds, soaking up what may be the last of the warm sunshine before autumn set in. Her journey through the castle, then, was mostly devoid of people. She passed a first-year Ravenclaw on her way up the stairs to the tower, but that was it.

Until she got to the Owlery and discovered Severus sitting on a ledge that looked relatively clean. He was looking out one of the arrow loops, eyes cast to the ground below.

"Come hang around the owls often?" she teased as she entered the room, looking for a school owl she could send her post with.

"No," Severus said simply. After an owl fluttered down to Hermione and offered its leg, he added, "Lily said you would be up here."

"You were looking for me?" She frowned, glancing quickly at him over her shoulder while she tied her letter to the owl's leg.

Severus snorted. "No, not really." She turned toward him as the owl took off through another window. He scuffed his foot against the stone floor, avoiding her eyes. "I thought maybe you'd join her after you sent your letter. And that she might leave the others to spend some time with you."

"Alice and the Harpy?" Hermione snorted as she went to lean on the wall beside him. She crossed her arms. "I wouldn't hold your breath for that, I heard the Harpy was quite excited to spend the day charming each other's nails while gossiping about the idiot boys in our house. Fourth year and above only, of course."

"And you aren't down there because?" he asked without making eye contact.

"Do I strike you as someone who would engage in such inane conversation?"

"Your hair could benefit from their attention," he retorted, and she gaped at him in indignation.

"And yours is the epitome of perfection," she shot back. He stiffened and his jaw clenched, but he said nothing. "Regardless, I have no intention of joining them. I'm heading to the library to work on my Charms homework."

"That's funny," Sirius' voice came from the doorway, and Severus was instantly on his feet, facing the four newcomers with his wand out. "We thought we'd do the same thing."

"What do you want, Sirius?" Hermione sighed.

"Why, something to practice on, Kitten," he gloated.

"You were going to come up here to charm owls?"

Sirius, James, and Peter laughed, not moving from the doorway. "Hardly," Sirius taunted, and before either she or Severus could react, he pointed his wand at Severus and said, "Engorgio ."

Severus' already large nose began to grow.

As all the Gryffindor boys began to chuckle, Hermione withdrew her wand ... and hesitated. Magic in the halls was strictly forbidden. Except, well, this wasn't really a hallway, was it? And besides, it was four against one. Against two.

Before she could second-guess herself, Hermione whispered, "Slugulus Eructo!"