Many Years Later –

Harry had heard whispers and rumors about Professor Snape long before he decided to take Care and Keeping of Magical Creatures.

Impossible to please. Unnecessary information, when are we going to use this? Never eats in the Great Hall - always down by the lake.

As odd as Professor Snape turned out to be, Harry found the coursework to be relatively easy – there was a lot of it sure, but everything was explained clearly in class if you bothered to listen.

Still, Harry never seemed to put enough originality in his essays to please.

And it would probably help if he wasn't always running late. (It was just so far from the History of Magic Classroom and Binns always drones on and on…)

Harry nearly runs into someone rounding the corner on his way to class. He stumbled backwards into the wall, only saved from falling by the firm grasp on the back of his cloak.

Harry blinked up into a pale solemn face. "You're late." The man scolded, pushing Harry before him into the classroom.

"Ah, Mr. Potter." Professor Snape said from the dais, "I see you've found our guest speaker for today."

She rolled her wheelchair forward, extending her webbed hand to the man as he joined her before the class. "This is the renowned potions expert, Severus Snape."

She smiled at some of the raised hands from the girls in class. "And yes, before you ask, he is my husband."

Hermione twisted around in her chair, curling her tail so she can smile at Severus over the back while he pushed. "Thank you so much for coming, Severus." She pronounced carefully. Even after so many years off living in the wizarding world, his name still caused her some trouble.

"Do you truly enjoy teaching those brats?" He scoffed. "Potter's son looks just like him. But with Lily's eyes." He shook his head.

"Hmm. It is still difficult with some of the Pure Bloods, they don't want to listen to a mermaid teach them." She shrugs slightly. "But the others in the lake say that more and more of the Slytherins are willing to sign through the glass so I am glad of that." She turns back around, facing forward once more. "I suppose overall I do enjoy it."

"Then that's all that matters. Most of the children will not learn until they have experiences of their own."

"So cynical."

"Can you blame me?"

"Ah, no."

It was a conversation had multiple times over the years. Hermione got her fair share of judgement ever since she officially joined the human world in Severus' seventh year.

Severus, never one to fight to get attention for himself, haunted Dumbledore's office until the Headmaster allowed Hermione to sit the exams in her wheelchair. It caused quite a stir, a mermaid in a wheelchair with spelled clothing to filter moisture into her gills to breathe.

She's never attended a class in her life? Why should they let her take the exams?

(Severus is a marvelous tutor when he puts his mind to it, and spite is a wonderful motivator for the both of them.)

(Hermione treasures every subject she surpassed the Marauders in.)

"Do you miss working in the library?" He asked as they near their cottage at the far side of the lake, the castle barely visible behind them.

"It was quiet." Hermione agreed. "But I like teaching. You should be a teacher, Sev'ris. Why don't you teach potions, or defense?"

"Oh god no. I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing Dumbledore again, I truly pity Regulus – having to play spy for him."

"Mm." Hermione made a sound of agreement. Dumbledore had approached Severus years ago, assuming that he had joined the Death Eaters. That mistaken assumption was what earned Hermione her chance at a teaching position. (One does not insult one of the best potions masters Hogwarts has ever known without making some kind of recompense.) "Have you heard from him lately?"

"Ah, no, but he'll probably come around this summer as usual." Severus lifted her out of her chair, it rolled towards the wall and out of the way automatically. "Until then I have you all to myself."