Hermione’s heart was still beating wildly in her chest as she climbed the steps to Dumbledore’s office and knocked on the door. The door opened magically on its own and she saw Dumbledore seated behind his desk, his light from the large windows behind him pouring into the large room, shrouding him in a halo of golden morning light. He looked up at her with a smile and gestured for her to come in and take a seat across from him. It was a bit off-putting seeing the auburn streaks in his hair and his hands that were wrinkled and spotted from age, strong but weathered from use in this time. His eyes still looked the same though, piercing blue lit with a mischievous inner spirit.

She sat across from him and watched as a gold instrument spun rather violently on his desk. He watched her before saying, “Don’t mind that. How have you been, Miss Cresswell? Have you been settling into Hogwarts well?”

Hermione hesitated, not knowing how much she wanted to say to the headmaster. “I have been enjoying my time here. I am learning so much, I really can’t thank you enough for letting me take my apprenticeship here under such…different circumstances.”

“I am glad to hear it. How are your studies going?”

“Really well, sir. I feel very comfortable with my progress. Madame Pomfrey is a great teacher.” Hermione smiled at him at this. She really was learning a lot from the witch.

“I have noticed you don’t seem to come to many meals in the great hall, I hope Poppy isn’t keeping you so busy you can’t eat.” He said with a knowing smile.

Hermione laughed, “Oh no! I just prefer to get my work done and eat at the same time. I’ll have to make it to dinner more often.”

“Good!” Dumbledore paused and looked at the witch steadily, “So, everything has been going well for you? No qualms you want to address?” Hermione laughed and shook her head. The headmaster seemed to be staring into her soul. “Is there anything you wish to tell me?”

Hermione hesitated and as she did, the spinning object stopped abruptly and pointed directly at her. Both her and the headmaster’s eyes shot to the object that was straining as it pointed at her before meeting each other across the desk that, originally seemed huge, now seemed impossibly small.

“I know more than you think I do, Miss Granger. You don’t have to worry about upsetting the timeline by telling me too much.” Dumbledore said, his lips quirking into a small smile at her look of utter shock.

“How do you know my name?”

“I wrote it down in the note I sent myself. And I told myself to help you in whatever way you asked without question. So, I’m asking you, is there something you wish to tell me, Miss Granger?”

Hermione sighed and slumped in the chair, putting her head in her hands before saying, “I need someone to teach me occlumency, sir.” She looked at him from between her fingers covering her face, gauging his reaction.

The headmaster looked…impassive. “I can teach you occlumency. Tell me, Miss Granger, what will this be used for?”

Hermione looked at him soberly, straightening in her chair. “The second wizarding war. It is important that certain people in this time don’t know things that I know and they seem to think it is fine to waltz into people’s minds whenever they please.” Hermione ended it on an annoyed note and she saw Dumbledore’s eyes twinkle.

“Who is using legilimency on you?”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed, “I can’t tell you that.”

Dumbledore raised his hands in a mock surrender, “Okay. We will start your lessons tomorrow. You don’t have a night shift at the infirmary then, correct?” Hermione nodded. “Let me know if there is anything else I can do in the mean time to make your stay here easier.”

“Thank you, Headmaster.”

- - -

Hermione grimaced as the rain started to come down in sheets onto the stands of the quidditch pitch. Today was the first match of the season and it was going to be a wet game. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. She wasn’t required to be at this game, as it was her day off, but she went to show support anyway…and was regretting it. The rain was bone-chilling and she didn’t need to get sick on top of all of her other responsibilities.

She looked around her in the teacher stands to see if anyone was paying attention to what she was doing and saw that no one was. Everyone was focused on the game, as they should be. James Potter really was an amazing seeker and getting to watch him play would have been astonishing had the sheets of rain not made the task impossible. Hermione knew this wasn’t the only game she would get to see and vowed she would watch a match for Harry. This was just not going to be the one.

She excused herself as she pushed through the stand of teachers and towards the rickety exit. She hurried down the wooden stairs, drops of water falling onto her head even from inside the watch tower, and out onto the lawn. If she hurried, she would maybe have enough time to get some ingredients from the greenhouses and be able to brew a bit this afternoon yet.

She trudged across the lawn, the grass slippery and spongey under her feet. Rain soaked through her clothes and settled into her skin, making the tips of her fingers wrinkled and pruney. She was thankful she wasn’t wearing her white uniform in this torrent of rain, otherwise it could be quite the show.

As she neared the green houses, she decided to head into one that she knew would have the most mature plants for harvesting ingredients from. She quickly ran into the glass building and shut the door with a hard snap! She sighed as she felt the warm, moist air hit her.

“Miss Cresswell?”

Hermione yelped and spun around, her wand drawn. Snape was standing not far from her, bent over one of the plants. She sighed in relief and lowered her wand, but then remembered he was not the most pleasant person to be around in any timeline and her back stiffened at the memory of him catching her in the hallway yesterday. “Um, hi, Severus. What are you doing in here?”

Snape’s eyes narrowed and he straightened, “I’m a seventh year, I’m allowed to be in here.”

Hermione raised her hands in defense, “I know you are, I’m just trying to be friendly.”

He glared at her before he seemed to accept her answer. “I’m gathering supplies for a potion I’m brewing.”

She nodded and took off her cloak to hang it on the door next to his, “I’m planning on doing the same thing.” She smiled at him over her shoulder, “Maybe we could help each other out on the shared ingredients so that we aren’t in here all afternoon harvesting?” Hermione walked over to him and stood next to him, eyeing the plant he was taking cuttings from. She could feel his eyes on her as she carefully harvested the seeds from the deep red flower and added it to his pile of seeds. “If you put pressure on the filament, the seeds will loosen and it will take you less time than plucking one by one.”

Snape gave her a look that she couldn’t decipher. He just continued to stare at her.

Hermione fidgeted under his intense gaze. She couldn’t remember ever seeing this look on his face before, and even though he was her age now, it didn’t make his gaze any less penetrating. “Or we could just harvest our own ingredients.” Hermione gave him a small smile.

Snape pulled his wand out and Hermione’s face fell and before she could do anything, streams of hot air whipped at her skin and blew her hair back. Hermione looked confused down at her now dry clothes then back up at Severus. “You were dripping on the plants.”

Hermione’s brows pulled together, “Oh.”

He turned back to the plant and started harvesting the seeds like she showed him and she stood there, watching his hands massage the filament carefully and the seeds loosened and fell before he levitated them into his little pile. “Well? Are you going to help me or are you going to stand there all day staring?” He snapped at her.

Hermione quickly stepped back to her place at his side and fell into a working silence with him, harvesting from the plants. The rain pounded on the glass of the greenhouse and made for a relaxing background noise to go along with the occasional snipping noises coming from their wands as they cut off bits of plants.

After several hours of working side by side, the pair made their way back to the castle and to the infirmary to divvy up their stock. They laid out their hoard and started to bottle up everything and Hermione eyed him carefully.

She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. “You know, I have a room I use for brewing my own potions that is my own. If you ever need a place to brew that is more secluded than the common rooms, I would be happy to let you use mine.”

Snape’s sure and exacting movements as he divided the cuttings of the shrivelfig faltered. He paused for a moment and she could feel his eyes on her, even though he was hiding his face behind a curtain of black hair.

His body stiffened and she could tell he wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Just let me know if you ever need it. I don’t mind sharing with people who are competent and respectful of the materials.” She gave him a small smile.

He nodded his head and continued on his task stiffly. Almost like he was worried he was going to make contact with her as they worked around each other.

Suddenly there was a commotion and most of the Gryffindor quidditch team poured through the doors of the hospital wing. Hermione quickly joined Pomfrey’s side and saw she was helping James whose face was covered in his own blood, though he was smiling through it.

“What happened?” Hermione asked calmly.

James’ eyes went from her to Snape who was behind her, watching as the team crowded around their star player. “Oi! Is that you, Snivelly? Whatchya doin’ here, mate? This place is for people who see enough action to get hurt. Do you know anything about getting action, Snivelous?”

Hermione felt magic crackle from not far behind her. “Watch your tongue, Potter, or I’ll make the rest of you match your bloody face!” Snape ground out.

“Enough! Everyone who is not injured, out of my infirmary!” Madame Pomfrey shooed everyone out.

Hermione watched as she quickly mended James’ broken nose with a sickening crack and then scrugified his uniform. When Madame Pomfrey had left to put something away, James snuck up behind Hermione and startled her, “What were you doing with Snape?”

She turned to James and saw Harry for a second. It disturbed her to see him but know it wasn’t actually him. They really could have been twins. “That’s really none of your business, is it?”

James leaned against the table she was cleaning up from their supplies, “I just want to warn you, he’s not a nice guy. I know you’re our age, so I’m just trying to look out for your best interests. He’s bad news, Cresswell.”

Hermione restrained herself from rolling her eyes straight out of her head, “I can look out for myself, thanks.”

“Alright, alright. Just trying to do the gentlemanly thing.” He gave her a smile and then gestured to the ingredients she was holding, “What’s all that?”

“Oh, just some ingredients I need to restock our stores of potions.”

James’ face scrunched up in distaste, “I’ve never been very good at potions.”

Hermoine snorted and said under her breath, “Neither is your son.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

James smiled at her again, “Listen, a few of us are going to the Hogs Head next weekend if you want to join. Remus said he wants to buy you a butterbeer for teaching him that spell.”

Hermione considered turning him down. She didn’t want to make friends in this timeline and mess up anything in the future. But one night of fun wouldn’t hurt, right? She hadn’t been out in almost two years and she missed hanging out with friends, even if these technically weren’t hers. Plus, it would make Harry’s day to know she would be hanging out with his parents. “Uh, sure! I’ll go.”

“Brilliant! I’ll let him know! I’ve got to get going, but I’ll see you around, Cresswell.” He pointed at her as he walked backwards towards the exit. He turned after she waved and left the hospital wing.

Well this was just great. Now she was going to have to balance a social life on top of everything else she had going on right now. She shook her head at her stupidity and boxed up the ingredients that belonged to Severus. She would have to give them to him next time she saw him.