Snamione One Shots

An Unlikely Conversation

When Hermione walks out of Divination class in her third year, she is caught by a teacher wandering the empty corridors of the school… and not just any teacher, but Professor Snape. Attempting to explain why she is out in the middle of class, the conversation that ensues is most unexpected.

-

"Fine. I give up. I'm leaving!"
Hermione Granger walked aimlessly through the deserted hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was an hour until lunch, and all the other students were still in class.

She would be, too, but for the fact she had just walked out. Quit, a little voice inside her head corrected, and she blinked quickly in an effort to hold back her tears.

Hermione Granger had never quit anything in her life before. Ever since she had been a young child, if she had started something, she had always, always finished it, whether it was a simple game, a difficult third grade maths problem or a two-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. No matter how frustrated she became, she always worked out the solution in the end.

Since learning she was a witch and coming to Hogwarts almost three years ago, she had become even more determined never to give up on anything.

Despite what people said, there was prejudice against Muggle-borns in the wizarding world, and she would be damned if she would let any pure-blood witch or wizard better her and blame it on her heritage.

True, she had a natural talent for spells and charms, and an excellent memory for remembering them, but she still studied twice as hard as any other student in her year. She was taking more elective subjects than anyone, thanks to the Time-Turner, and she was determined to prove herself adept in all of them.

Unbeknownst to Professor McGonagall, she had also been using the Time-Turner for extra study time after dinner, and extra hours of sleep as well. The past seven months were starting to take a toll on her, and she was snatching extra minutes in bed wherever possible. The tension in the castle, with Sirius Black still on the loose, wasn't helping either. Harry was too preoccupied with his anti-Dementor lessons to notice his friend's exhaustion and Ron, though they had repaired their friendship after arguments earlier in the year, had his own problem to worry about, too.

She had never enjoyed Divination, right from the first lesson. Trelawney was an old fraud and obviously completely crazy as well. After all, spending years staring into empty tea cups and crystal balls would be enough to drive anyone mad, not to mention the cloud of incense hanging about the room, so thick one could cut it with a knife.

Still, she was upset with herself for giving up on something, and for failing where she could see others excelling. Lavender and Parvati, her Gryffindor roommates, had earned the House over a hundred points in Divination. Hermione had yet to receive a single point, or even a well done. She had been shocked almost to the point of tears when the batty teacher had labelled her as one of the most Mundane students she had ever taught.

She'd never been told she wasn't good at something before. She had never been not good at something before. And she hated it.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked around to see where she was. In her desire to get as far away from the North Tower as possible, she discovered she had walked all the way to the dungeons. She'd just passed the portrait that hid the Slytherin common room and was now standing at a four-way junction of passages.

Left would take her past the Potions classroom and eventually back to the Entrance Hall. In front of her seemed to be a short corridor finishing in a dead end. Looking right, she saw a corridor she'd never noticed before. It was quite long, but she could see a short flight of stairs leading upwards at the far end, and at the top of them, a wooden door set with clear glass panes. Through the glass, she could see sunlight and a hint of green.