The Mentor

Over the next several weeks, Hermione began to settle in to her role as the new Transfiguration teacher at Hogwart’s. Her days were filled with lesson planning, personal research and grueling, often torturous, tutoring sessions with a few of the dimmer students. These often left her fighting the urge to beat her head against the nearest stonewall. But it was worth it to be able to return to the place where she had achieved so much and where she felt so safe.

Although she missed all the faculty members who had perished at the hands of the Dark Lord and his minions; Vector; Flitwick; Slughorn and Sprout among others, Hermione was glad that her favourite teacher, Professor McGonagall was not one of them. She could not imagine what the past few weeks would have been like without Minerva’s gentle guidance, teaching advice and companionship.

Minerva had been appointed Head Mistress the year after the final battle, a post that she had coveted for several years. But after losing some of her best friends, and still reeling from the death of Albus Dumbledore, the achievement felt hollow. Having Hermione was helping McGonagall rediscover some of her love for teaching. Hermione’s enthusiasm was infectious and slowly, Minerva could feel herself coming back to life. As much as she was happy to have Hermione at the school, she did worry that her newest teacher might be working herself steadily towards exhaustion, giving everything that she had to her lessons and her students.

Hermione was not the only teacher that Minerva lost some sleep over. Severus Snape was not the same man since his return to the post of Potions Master. Of course, after almost dying at the fangs of Nagini, Minerva was not expecting him to be unchanged. But she worried. He was different. For most of his adult life, Severus had never been free. He answered to one of two masters, and every decision that he made for one impacted how he acted and reacted with the other. Following the death of Albus, and then the defeat of the Dark Lord, Minerva was expecting him to be more, well more free, and maybe a little happier, or at least more satisfied. But he wasn’t. Severus Snape seemed to be drifting through life, just existing but not really living. Of course, his teaching work remained exemplary, and he assigned as many detentions as ever, but when you looked in eyes, something was missing.

One morning at breakfast near the end of the first month of school, Minerva McGonagall sat in her seat at the Head Table, discreetly observing Severus while keeping an eye out for Hermione. She often skipped meals, and Minerva was more concerned than ever. She would have been shocked to learn that Severus Snape’s thoughts were equally focused on Hermione, and her irregular attendance at meals.

‘Hermione,’ Severus thought to himself with chagrin. ‘When did she become Hermione to me?’

He already knew the answer to that question. That moment on the battlefield when their eyes met over Harry’s shoulder everything about how he felt for her changed. As he watched her strength and conviction focused so completely on that moment, she stopped being a child, his student, and became a woman, and no matter how many times he called himself a sick, twisted old man for feeling that way, one fact remained: he wanted her. He wanted her on that battlefield, and after five years the feeling had not diminished. It was starting to consume him. In fact, now that she was working at Hogwart’s, his desire for her was becoming unbearable, and he was living in a constant state of arousal tempered with bitter internal conflict. Every time he looked at her he lusted for her body. The few times that he spoke with her, he lusted for her mind, and when he watched her enthusiasm for teaching and helping her students, he lusted for her spirit. And then he would remind himself that he was a dirty old man, old enough to be her father, and that she should be firmly off limits.

‘Fuck!’ Severus shouted to himself, violently stabbing at his eggs. ‘I can’t go on like this. This is not living.’

“Is something wrong?” Minerva asked Severus quietly. “You appear bothered.”

“Everything is fine,” Severus responded in his trademark silken drawl. “Just thinking about my first class of the morning. Merlin save me from first year Hufflepuffs!”

“Indeed”, Minerva replied with a chuckle. “There are some moments when I do not miss teaching at all. Actually Severus,” she continued. In a flash of inspiration Minerva thought that she found something that might draw Severus out of his rapidly closing shell. “I am going to need some help with the evaluations for the new staff. As a senior teacher at this school, I was hoping that you might be able to assist.”

“Indeed,” he mimicked in reply, trying to disguise his growing excitement. This might just give him exactly what he wanted, the opportunity to spend more time with Hermione. “My schedule is extremely busy, and I do not want to waste my time with the dunderheads you have teaching anymore that I would waste my time with some of the dunderheads that I teach. I would like to choose who I evaluate.”

Minerva pondered this for a moment. Severus thought that he might have pushed a little too hard with his dunderhead teachers comment, as her expression started somewhat fierce, but as she considered what he said, that expression gentled.

“I think that you may be on to something with this idea,” Minerva replied with growing enthusiasm. “I will admit that choices were slim when it came to replacing the teachers we lost in the battle. I had hoped that after this time some of them might show more improvement, but it does not seem to be happening,” she continued with a sad shake of her head. “But I think that I know the answer. Mentors.”

“Mentors,” Severus replied skeptically. “What do you mean by mentors?” He hissed the word as though it was the foulest thing he had every heard, always the consummate actor.

“It is so obvious!” Minerva returned, almost shaking with her excitement at the idea. “We pair the newer teachers with the more seasoned staff for the remainder of the school year. The senior member will help with the practical elements of teaching; the lesson plans, evaluations, you know…that kind of thing. But they will have regular meetings, maybe once a week, where the junior teacher can share how things have been, get advice with any problems and maybe even get some help with their research. Several of them are also working on their own research while they are working, and their mentor may be able to help. It is an excellent idea!”

As Minerva was sharing her plan with Severus, he gave the most convincing acting performance of his life, including those times he had stood before the Dark Lord and told lie after lie. A plan was starting to form in his mind, a plan that, at the very least, would give him the opportunity to spend more time with the object of his affection; Hermione Granger. It would be torture to spend that much time with her without being able to touch her or to tell her how he felt, but for him the pain would be worth it. If all he ever had was time alone with her, Severus would accept it for the gift that it was. He was fighting with every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep his excitement from showing. Severus did not want to give Minerva any clue as to his true feelings about this mentoring plan.

“Well,” Severus continued. “There is only one member of the junior staff that I would even remotely consider mentoring for the next year. There is only one teacher here that has the talent, dedication and work ethic that are worthy of my time. The only person that I will agree to mentor is the Transfiguration teacher, Hermione Granger.”