Lessons In Love

Chapter 4: Lesson Learned

Hermione stopped herself from climbing the stairs up to the Gryffindor common room. She had run away crying too many times and she needed to face her problems head on like Harry always did. She took a deep breath, and with all the pride she had, walked back to Professor Snape who was watching her every move. Of course she couldn't meet his gaze but she kept her head up until she reached her Potions Master.

"I would appreciate it if you could take me to my room now." She wiped her tears on the back of her hand. Luckily, Snape did not say a word but turned to lead her to her new home. She followed his quick pace with some difficulty; the Potions Master was much taller than Hermione.

As Snape led Hermione through a large landscape painting of the black lake next to Hogwarts, he muttered, "Finite Immendo."

It seemed that the teachers all had a common room that they shared for Hermione spotted Professor McGonagall entertaining Cho Chang with a cup of tea, small smiles plastered on their faces. She noticed the teacher and apprentice catch sight of them walking in and stared with wide eyes at her tear stained face, following the intimidating Professor Snape. He did not seem like he was in much of a good mood that day but Hermione knew that if she gave up too quickly, which she always vowed never to do, then she would lose his respect for her as his student and hopefully, if he wanted to keep her, his apprentice.

There were two spiral staircases at the far end of the common room, one led up, and the other led down. Snape turned to Hermione to make sure she was following him, after his glance, he continued to walk towards the spiraling staircase that must have led to the dungeons. She followed after him into what led to a long dark corridor with two doors opposite of each other and one door facing the entrance that she assumed led to either the Slytherin Common Room or the Potions Classroom, Hermione hoped it was the latter. He led her to the door on the right and opened it for Hermione to enter. As soon as she walked past the threshold into her own private quarters, she heard the door slam shut behind her. She flinched slightly but made her way through a small living room and walked into her new bedroom. Her belongings were all unpacked in the dressers and closet. She saw the shoes that she had been so desperate to find and laughed bitterly at them.

"Well you're useless to me now." Hermione sat on her bed.

She needed to pull herself together, she needed to play along with Snape or she knew she would never be able to have a chance at teaching, so long as Cho was still apprenticing with McGonagall. She sighed and leaned back, she just needed to relax. She would not give up and prove Snape right about his comment that he made earlier that she was incompetent.

Hermione stood up and slipped off her clothes and found old ripped up pair of shorts and a large, oversized T-shirt that she used for painting back at home when she was living with her parents. Walking into the bathroom, Hermione summoned a hair clip from her belongings set on the vanity. She quickly parted her hair on the far right side, swept up her side bangs behind her ear and twisted her hair into the clip. A small trestle of curl fell out of the clip on the left side of her hair, helping to frame her face with her bangs. She decided she would leave the makeup on, realizing that she should probably take more care into her appearance now that she was an adult and not just a silly school girl. Although she couldn't really talk since her outfit of choice was more raggedy that even Mr. Filch's attire. She smiled, in the future; she promised herself that she needed to take more care of her appearances.

The sun was fully up, Hermione could tell by the humidity and heat rising in the dungeons. She silently applauded herself for being smart enough to wear light clothing. Hermione could never forget the end of term exams in the Potions room, they were absolutely miserable with the humidity and heat of the oncoming summer. Hermione looked at the clock on the wall in her bedroom, it was seven thirty. Had it really been that long since she had woken up? She shook her head and walked out of the room that Snape had led her into. She saw the door that she had assumed was the Potions Classroom and had tugged at the handle, attempting to open it. Hermione decided to use her wand,