“Mum! Dad! Wait up! Can I? Can I, please?” a small, bushy-haired girl pleaded, pointing to a small tent off to the side of the carnival grounds.

“What, dear?” the girl’s mother replied distractedly as she straightened the girl’s jumper.

The little girl sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. Adults never paid attention. “Can I please go have my fortune read? Pleeeeeaaaaase?” She looked up at her mother with large, doe-like eyes. The girl’s father chuckled and put his arm around his wife. He knew his wife could not refuse that look; their daughter did have his eyes after all. Sure enough, she agreed and handed their baby girl some money. She beamed up at them and bolted for the tent opening.

“That’s our Hermione,” the girl’s father said as he watched her enter the tent fearlessly.

Hermione’s sensitive nose tickled under the assault of the tent’s perfumed insides. She managed to force back a sneeze as she looked around. The tent looked a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside, but her child-like senses barely registered that fact. What really caught her attention were the inhabitants of the tent. They looked like they were from some whole other world, and her eyes widened at the implications.

Hermione had never been a child that was enthralled by the fantasy books and stories like most children at her age were. She was a reader of fact and science. Even at her young age. But at that exact moment, her world was flipped upside down. She whole-heartedly believed these two people were magical.

The younger-looking person was a boy, hardly older than she was, if not the same age. He wore beautiful robes that shone a dark, deep green. His hair was messy and short, but the color was pure, snow white, and they matched his eyes, which were the palest blue that she had ever seen on a person. He was laughing at something the older person had said. Hermione turned to look at the other person.

In comparison, the two looked nothing alike. Except for the eyes, they both had those pretty blue eyes. Where the little boy was pale and fair, the older was dark. It took Hermione a moment to figure out the older person’s gender, but she finally settled on female. She didn’t know exactly how she came to that conclusion, but it felt right to her. The older woman was tall and had really long black hair. She also wore robes, though hers were a dark red. If Hermione had known more about the shades of red, she would have called it a dark, candy-apple red. The woman’s face was what had made Hermione hesitate when it came to guessing. It was very neutral, neither girlish nor boyish in its features, but beautiful all the same. Particularly with the wide smile she had in place.

Hermione stood there patiently, waiting for them to notice her. It didn’t take long, and the boy was off entertaining himself with some bauble while the woman went to Hermione. Her voice was low and silky as she addressed Hermione. “Hello, child, what brings you to my little tent?” She smiled gently at Hermione.

With as much pluck as she could muster, Hermione said, “I’m here to get my fortune told! My mother said I could.” A snort from the little boy drew her attention and she frowned at his smirk.

“Now, now, Draco. That wasn’t very gentlemanly, now was it?” the older lady said.

“No, Auntie Melinda. Sorry.”

“Very good.” She turned back to Hermione. “Well, I suppose we had best get started then. Now, are you absolutely sure you want to know?” She had one eyebrow arched in question.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Tch. Do not worry about being so formal. It’s Melinda, dear. Melinda Locke. Now here, sit down and we’ll see what we can do.” She ushered Hermione over to a cushioned chair. The girl promptly sat and put her hands politely on her lap. Melinda shuffled around some things in a chest before finally lifting out a large crystal ball. Hermione gasped in wonder as she saw the smoke gently swirling around inside the ball.

Melinda placed it on the table between them and mumbled something Hermione couldn’t quite hear. The smoke seemed to swirl faster, and Hermione looked up at Melinda in awe. The older lady simply smiled and gestured to the ball, inviting her to look closer. The little girl eagerly turned back and looked into the crystal ball. She felt herself being pulled in and let herself go willingly, her ever curious mind guiding her. She was disoriented and many images began flying past her.

An older version of herself sat on a stool, wearing a funny-looking hat that whispered to her that she would do better in Slytherin, where her destiny lay, but she pleaded not to be put there so he yelled out, “Gryffindor!”

She saw a large, three-headed dog that growled fiercely at her and the unknown people standing next to her.

Another image zoomed past of her. This time she was slapping a white-haired boy that looked a lot like that little boy.

She was proudly looking at an essay that had nothing but the best marks and compliments on it.

She was running through a forest, being pulled along by a boy with untidy black hair.

She was in a classroom standing in front of a tall, intimidating man all in black. She wasn’t scared though. She was blushing and trying not to let on that she really loved him.

She was waving a magic wand around in some sort of battle. Shadows of people were everywhere and lights flashed all around her. Everywhere was chaos.

She was running back to some dark, dusty place where the tall, scary man was. She bent over him, trying her hardest to save him. Bring him back.

She was cradling a baby and showing it to a crowd of loving people; the tall, dark man stood with her, holding the hand of another child that resembled her.

Hermione pulled back with a start, staring up at the pensive Melinda with round eyes. She pulled Melinda out of her thoughts. “Is all that really going to happen?”

Melinda smiled. “Yes, dear, I think it will. Don’t worry about payment. This one’s on me.”

Hermione grinned and thanked her. Then, she waved goodbye and left, hurrying to catch up to her parents to tell them all about the things she saw.

Melinda glided over to the boy and lifted him in her arms. He looked questioningly at her frown. “What’s wrong, Auntie?”

“Things are going to happen really soon, my boy. She’s going to play a big part in them. She’s even going to save your Uncle Severus.”

“She’s a witch too?” he asked hopefully. He’d never been able to meet many witches or wizards his own age.

“Yes. One of the best there ever will be. You watch out for her. She’ll be at Hogwarts with you in a couple of years. Make sure she doesn’t get hurt too badly.” She frowned again then looked him in the eye. “You are not to tell Uncle Severus about this. My little brother has enough to worry about. Promise?” She held a hand out to him.

“Okay.” He smiled and shook her hand to seal the deal.

“Now be a good boy and put away your toys. Your father will be here soon to come get you.”

-Two Years Later-

Hermione Granger was nervous as she walked up to the stool. She glanced at the Head table toward the man that looked so familiar to her. She sat down and tried not to think about it as the Sorting Hat was lowered onto her head.

‘Ahhh…’ the hat whispered in her ears, ‘you at last. I was wondering when you’d arrive. She told me all about you ages ago. Now where should you go?’ Hermione was clueless as to what the hat was talking about, but she focused on the issue at hand. She desperately wanted to be in Gryffindor, she wanted to prove to herself she was good, not at all troublesome or sneaky. She would change her ways if she could but be sorted into that house. ‘You’re sure? You’d make a great Slytherin. Your destiny lies within that house. Well, if you’re sure. Better make it-- “Gryffindor!” The hat’s shout was loud in her ears but she didn’t care. She was happy. She was a Gryffindor!

Two days after the sorting, Severus Snape attended the funeral of his older sister with Draco Malfoy. The two of them attended in stony silence. Afterward, Draco told his uncle of someone that had visited Melinda two years ago, and what she had said when the girl left.

Severus spent the next several years watching the girl that would save his life in more ways than one.

-Seven Years Later-

It was years before she remembered the carnival where she had her fortune read all that time ago. She gasped and remembered that everything she had seen had come true. Well, almost. Currently she was reading in a chair in the hospital wing next to the slumbering form of the recovering Professor Snape. She dropped the book and stared at him. The thump from the book hitting the floor woke him up in a jerk and he stared back at her.

“Is there something on my face, Miss Granger? I thought I told you to go hours ago.” His voice was raspy from the damage to his vocal chords from the snake bite he’d received. Her jaw worked as she tried to find something to say.

Finally she blurted out, “I have something I need to say.”

He looked at her, glare in place and one eyebrow raised. “What is it that cannot wait until the morning?”

“Professor… I really like you, a lot. I have for ages now, ever since you let me work on that potion with you in my fifth year. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long now. But I’ve only just remembered something that pushed me to say it,” she finished, stared down at her hands in her lap and stayed there with rose-red cheeks.

She heard the bed creak as he moved and reached out a hand to lift her head up. He looked into her eyes and saw the emotions playing there. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had to say something, but what? He settled for the half truth. Maybe things could work out nicely after all. “I know, I’ve seen the way you glance at me when you think I’m not looking. I admire you, a lot more than I have been able to show. I have watched you become a woman. A woman that I have come to know and like.” Love, he thought. “I am not promising anything. If you’d like to explore your feelings some more, come to me. But I will not take you into a relationship you are not ready for.” His eyes and voice were sincere.

Hermione was staring at him, mouth agape. She had fully expected him to mock her. Instead, he was confessing to her. She closed her mouth as he put on a wry grin and pulled his hand away from her face. Seeing her chance slipping away, she grabbed his hand and held it. “I’m ready now,” and she leaned forward to press her lips against his in a fevered kiss.

-Five Years Later-

A baby’s cry pierced the hospital room as Hermione gave one last push. The doctor lifted the newborn up and gave it to the nurses to clean and wrap him up. “Congratulations, it’s a baby girl,” the doctor said to Hermione as she lay back panting against the bed. Severus nodded and removed his hand from hers and massaged it.

The doctor smiled and had one of the nurses hand the baby to the father. Severus sat down next to Hermione with their baby girl. It was their second child; the first was a boy named Travis. Travis was already two years old.

“What should we name her?” Hermione said, waking him from his staring contest with the newborn. Hermione was tired, but her eyes were alert and smiling as she watched Severus with the baby.

“I thought you wanted to name her Victoria?”

“I did, but I want to know what you had in mind before deciding.”

“I think I’d like to name her Melinda Eileen. After my sister and mother, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“I think that sounds perfect.”

They sat in silence after that, both captivated by the mewling sounds of their baby girl. Soon though, the silence was broken by the excitement of visitors and family crowding into the little room.

In the middle of the all the noise and clatter, Hermione lay content. She was happy and thanked Melinda’s spirit for all that had happened.


A. Note: This was one of those plot bunnies that stuck around until I finally sat down to write it out. Hope you enjoyed it! And please let me know what you thought of it.

Many thanks to my Beta, Nathaniel. It was a pleasure.