"Finish up, Granger," Professor Snape said as he watched her finish cleaning his classroom. He had been grading the papers her 7th year class had just turned in. "You're so intelligent, but you don't think I notice that Harry and Ron's papers are just reassembled sentences from your work."

Hermione paused for a second not quite sure what to say. She had given up trying to have them do their own work. At least they have to read her's to write their own. "We went to the library and worked on it at the same time, I doubt every part is like that." She looked over to see if he bought it. She noticed that he was smiling to himself.

She put down the broom and looked around the room to see how it was. She had already been there for two hours, thank god being muggle born had taught her how to clean properly. If only there was some music to listen to, she had tried to come up with conversation but he had been going in and out and grading and everything.

"So...read any good books lately?" she asked him. He laughed out loud for that one, she realized she had never heard him laugh like that. It was always mokingly. "Is that all you can come up with?" He replied. He sat back and crossed his arms, looking her over for the first time he could remember.

She had grown since her first year, obviously. She was average height and on the thinner side. She had some meat on her but it was in all the right places. Her hair, which was big, was also really shiny and she had seemed to be able to tame it to a nice wave. Hermione felt really insecure as she noticed him looking at her, ever since the war had ended everything was even more surreal than it had been. Everyone coming together and such. She even looked forward to seeing Draco in class, as did Harry.

"It's just really quiet and I hate having to clean when its like that. Normally I would be listening to my computer, but that is not gonna work." She looked back at him as she started wiping the seat and tops of the desks. He was still watching her, already feeling insecure, she noticed how short her skirt was on her. It was the school's fault. As you get older, the skirts just continue looking shorter, but no one else seemed to have a problem with them, Pansy had yet to stop letting any guy put his hand up hers.

She set the cleaning stuff down, realizing that she had no idea how Snape had acquired Windex. She sat down on the desk and faced him. They stared at each other awhile until he asked in a voice that sounded, surprisingly, concerned, "How did you get that scar on your neck?"

Hermione touched it and remembered back to that night, "I was sending a spell at a death eater, don't even know who it was, and one of those damn spiders crawled past my leg, I jumped up and fell down. Then a spell hit me and it was definitly dark magic because nothing is making it go away." Snape looked taken aback.

He got up and went around to her and she moved her neck so he could see it better. He traced it with his finger and shivers ran down her back. "I could get you something for that," he whispered, still touching it. He shifted his body so he was directly in front of her and very, very close to her body. He didn't seem to notice the closeness, but she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. It seemed intimate.

He then let go and went to his potions cupboard and came back with some ingredients. Hermione was surprised at his quick movements but noticied he used the cauldron right next to hers, and he continued to talk to her about how the scar could have lasting conditions that might take awhile for her to notice, but could be deadly if it had been the right spell. She was shocked at this bit of information. She assumed it was just a blasting charm that had just missed her.

He changed the subject and asked about what she had decided she was going to do next year. She was surprised to learn that originally he had planned to become a researcher for medical purposes, but had decided not to when he realized that he couldn't afford having an apartment with two-years of internship.

It was silent as he finished the potion, her watching him the rest of the time. She noticed how smoothly he walked, unlike her who could stumble over her own feet on an hourly basis. And he was always so sure of himself, and she didn't remember once when he hadn't been right.

He then turned to her and she moved her body so that it was towards him and showed him the scar again. "This will probably burn." he said cautiously. She nodded and he poured a little bit over the scar and she bit her lip as her neck felt like it was on fire. He grabbed her hand she held it really tight for awhile. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "but its getting it out of your whole body." He didn't let go of her hand for a second though and maintained eye contact.

For some reason, Hermione felt safe. After the pain subsided he dismissed her and said that she had had enough of a detention without the physical pain. She laughed and walked off, realizing that Severus Snape was actually a good guy.