Severus stood looking out of the back library window in Grimmauld Place, staring down at the yard. More specifically, he was watching the woman sitting on the grass in the shade beneath the tree. Hermione Granger held a book in her hands, the summer breeze softly blowing her long hair over her bare shoulders. He had told himself that he would never love again, not after what had happened before. But Hermione was different. She loved him, wouldn't hurt him, wouldn't leave him, wasn't like the others. She was the only exception. And he was on the way to believing.
