A Dark Scenario

Chapter 6 ~ Arriving at Hogwarts

"'Hermione! Wot yeh doin' 'ere wit' all those bags?" Hagrid exclaimed as he opened the gate for the excited witch shifting from foot to foot outside it. Hermione hurried through, bundled down with suitcases, too excited to remember to miniaturize them.

The half-giant took all the bags from her as she gazed at Hogwarts with a huge smile on her face.

"I'm going to be a teacher, Hagrid. The Board hired me. I'm going to teach Charms," she informed him happily.

Hagrid beamed.

"Well, now. Tha's a reason ter celebrate iffn thar ever wuz one, Hermione," he said as they began to walk across the grounds towards the castle.

"Yes, I can't wait, Hagrid. Teaching is going to be so rewarding. Molding all those young minds—it's going to be fantastic," she said excitedly.

"Yeah, but it kin be 'ard at first, Hermione. Yer got ter git yer bearin's first. Git tha students' respect an' all tha'"

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem, Hagrid. I can handle it."

Hagrid couldn't help thinking back to his first time teaching Care of Magical Creatures. He had acquired the job when the old professor Silvanus Kettleburn retired. Kettleburn had been quite reckless as the Care of Magical Creatures professor and had been put on teaching probation no less than sixty-two times in his career. By the time he retired, he only had one and a half limbs left.

Hagrid's background as gameskeeper had given him the qualifications necessary to hold the position, and Albus pulled a few strings. After Kettleburn, Hagrid couldn't do any worse. The half-giant had been a nervous wreck starting out and a lot of students didn't take him seriously. It took time and a few very dangerous creatures to gain their respect. Teaching was no cakewalk.

But, as Hermione bounced along, all smiles, Hagrid didn't have the heart to warn her about this. Maybe she would be able to handle the students from right off the bat. He was sure that if anyone could do it, Hermione could.

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Snape was just leaving the Great Hall from supper when the doors to the castle opened. He'd taken his supper there because there was literally no room in his quarters to eat, there were so many unsorted books about. He froze for a moment when he saw Hermione enter, followed by Hagrid. Hermione stopped when she saw him.

Their eyes met, then Snape turned with a billow of robes and walked over to the dungeon entrance on the side of the marble staircase and descended the stairs without a word. Hermione looked after him.

" He's back," Hagrid said from behind her. "Tha Board gave 'im back 'is position as Dark Arts teacher, they did. Good fer them. 'E deserves it, 'e does. A man's got ter work fer a livin'."

"Yes. Yes he does," Hermione said a bit hollowly. Seeing Snape walking about freely was just a little startling. There had been a dream-like quality to her life during his incarceration and trial. Now, after seeing him, everything was all too real. But, she had other things to think about, such as her new career.

"Yeh wan' ter go ter yer quarters?" Hagrid asked her.

"Can I get in?" she asked him.

"Yeh should be. Yer a teacher, now," Hagrid said with a smile.

"Well, yes then. I want to put my bags away, then go visit the classroom."

"Let go then," Hagrid said, and they headed for Flitwick's former quarters.

Professor Flitwick's quarters were very nicely furnished, but Hermione had to resize everything to fit her. Filius had been one-eighth goblin and very small. His bed looked like a doll's bed.

"Can't sleep on tha' kin yeh?" Hagrid chuckled as Hermione exclaimed about the size.

Hagrid left her to her business, promising to see her at breakfast tomorrow, and Hermione quickly put her things away and headed for the Charms classroom, room 2E on the third floor. She opened the door and entered the classroom slowly, smiling at the familiarity of it. She'd feel right at home here. Charms had been one of her favorite subjects.

She took in the four long tables that the students would sit at. They were built a bit like stairs. Her brown eyes rested on the large fireplace and the stacks of books left over from Flitwick. He used to stand on them to lecture.

She walked up to the desk and ran her fingers over it almost reverently. It was here she would impart knowledge and give witches and wizards the skills they'd need to use their magical abilities. Knowing charms was extremely important, maybe the most important skill of all. Teaching it was a very large responsibility and one she would take quite seriously.

She walked over to the big file cabinet. Next to it was a large chair also stacked with books. It was how Professor Flitwick accessed the cabinet's contents. No one was ever allowed to go into the cabinet except for the professor, so Hermione felt quite excited to finally get a look at the compilation of spells. She pulled open a draw and rifled through the files, a look of incredulity on her face as she realized they weren't sorted alphabetically.

It seemed Flitwick had his own filing system, one that appeared to be indecipherable. No one could find a spell in this mess.

"My goodness," Hermione said, taking out the files and putting them on the desk. Well, she had a hobby for the moment. She had to sort out all those spells and there seemed to be a couple of thousand thin, printed and fragile parchments to work with. Everything else would have to wait.

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At about midnight, Snape was wandering the empty halls of Hogwarts. It was an old habit that he renewed. There were no students to catch, but he wandered anyway, unable to sleep. He didn't currently have access to the Potions lab. It was warded against intruders, and since he was no longer Potions master of the school, he would have to be let in by Minerva, so he couldn't brew a sleeping draught. Walking about was the only thing for it.

As he walked down the third floor corridor, he saw the glow of torchlight coming from the open door of the Charms classroom. He approached it quietly and peered in to see a very tired-looking Hermione Granger sorting through stacks of parchments and putting them together. She looked as if she were about to keel over from exhaustion. The torchlight flickered over her, making the shadows under her eyes more pronounced.

Snape stood there for several moments, just watching her, then quietly continued his walk. He ran right into Minerva, who was dressed in her Tartan robes and walking up the corridor.

"Severus! What are you doing walking around the castle at night?" she demanded, frowning. She had almost forgotten he was here. She made nightly rounds of the castle out of habit since the final battle. She just felt safer.

"I couldn't sleep," he said shortly.

Minerva could believe that.

"I am not the only one awake," the wizard said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Miss Granger is up and about as well," Snape said.

"Hermione? She's here?" Minerva said, shocked.

"Yes. She's in the Charms classroom," Snape replied.

Minerva looked down the corridor. Yes, she could make out the glow of torches emitting from the room. She looked at Snape with narrowed eyes. He'd been coming from that direction. What had he been doing?

"Severus, I don't want you lingering about Miss Granger," she told him.

Snape stared at her, yet said nothing. He walked away from Minerva and disappeared into the shadows like a wraith. Minerva blinked after him.

"I hate when he does that," she muttered. "It's disturbing."

She then briskly walked up the hall toward the Charms classroom.

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A/N: Finally another chapter. Thanks for reading. ***