Hello there everyone! This is another oneshot with our favourite couple. It was something silly that came to me last night and I thought about sharing it with you. It was intended to be more on the funny side but romance won out! ;)
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Please note that I am not an english native speaker, so try to excuse my mistakes.

Please don't read if you don't like this pair. As usual JKR owns these great characters, I'm just playing with them. Now let's move on with the story ;))

Sleepless nights?

It started a little over two weeks ago, one night in the middle of February. Hermione Granger was up until late working on a particular difficult assignment for Professor Snape. "Severus" as she liked to call him in the refuge of her mind. They have formed now a professional relationship as Hermione became Severus's apprentice when Hogwarts reopened after the end of the war.

Yes, Harry managed to kill his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, with the aid of his friends and the man that is the object of Hermione's affections. He almost died that day, but she came back to save him. She doesn't know if he is aware of that fact -and if he is, he doesn't show it-. Severus Snape returned to his position as the fearful Potions Master while the wizarding world proclaimed him a hero. He hasn't changed much and for that Hermione was grateful. Sure he was still the snarky bat of the dungeons, but she got the chance to see a side of him she didn't know it ever existed.

So now Hermione is on her way to become a Potions Mistress; the first apprentice Severus Snape ever had. Since she usually spent most of her time in his quarters doing research and found herself sleeping on his couch on numerous nights, it was only natural that they got to share quarters -a motion that was common in apprenticeships-. Now on her second year the projects she had to work on were getting more and more difficult and as she wanted to impress Professor Snape she was working double hard. That was how she first noticed it.

The clock striked 3am. Severus had retired to his room almost two hours ago since he had classes first thing in the morning. Hermione yawned, got up and stretched. She still had a lot to do so she gathered up her things and moved to sit on Severus's desk. "Mmm way better than the couch" she thought with a smirk while curling up on his chair. Looking on her left though she saw light creeping up under his door. Curious as she was she debated with herself whether to go and check up on him -maybe offering him a cup of tea as well- or just let it go. At the end she just let it go thinking how angry he might be if she knocked on his door at this time of the night. After half an hour with no apparent progress done, she gave up. "That's what you get when you look at his door every two minutes" she told herself and retired to her own room. The light under his door still there, taunting her.

The next day Hermione woke up feeling like a mess. She was exhausted, she knew that she shouldn't have stayed up so late, but she didn't want to disappoint Severus. Speaking of him he wasn't in their quarters. Checking the clock she saw that it was 6.30am. She internally groaned and called a house-elf to order breakfast. She wasn't going to the Great hall today so as not to waste valuable research time. She hoped to talk to Severus over lunch.

As it turned out though she was too engrossed in her research that she almost fell off the chair when the door slammed shut. A dark figure approached her, an amused expression on his face which he quickly covered.

"You missed today's meals Granger"

"Sorry sir, I was too focused on my work that I didn't notice the time" Hermione replied with her eyes set on her lap.

"We'll see if the result will be adequate" he half sneered. "Now go take a break before you faint on my chair!"

"Yes sir!" and with that she stormed to the small kitchen to make some tea.

When she returned to the living room Severus was nowhere to be found, the door leading to his room was closed. On his desk there was a plate with roasted chicken and potatoes. She smiled waving goodnight to the light under the door.

The following days passed in more or less the same fashion. Hermione didn't get much chance to see Severus. Even though they were sharing quarters either he went straight to his room -the light always present until she went to sleep- or she was so exhausted that she retired first. After four days of continuous sleepless nights Hermione was picking absently on her food. She was looking like a mess, dark circles under her eyes, disheveled hair. She was looking at Severus out of the corner of her eye. "How can he look so fresh while I am ready to collapse? I guess there's a reason he was the spy." Just then Severus turned, his obsidian eyes boring into hers and she hastily diverted her gaze, a flushed look on her face.

That night Hermione returned late to their quarters. She had a meeting earlier with Professor McGonagall -now Headmistress- regarding her apprenticeship. After that the two women caught up with each other and had a few drinks. She was her favourite professor when in school and the older woman was always quite fond of her. Besides, it was too good an opportunity to loosen up a while to pass up.

She slowly approached her bedroom after tossing her outer cloak on the couch. When passing Severus's room she abruptly stopped. There was light under his door "Again!" Deciding that enough is enough she moved to open his door without knocking first.

"Okay, what are you..." she dropped her voice to an astonished whisper "..doing?"

There in front of her Professor Snape was lying on his back in the middle of his four-poster bed... asleep! The man was sleeping like a baby. "Then how?" her mind tried to process the scene and then she saw it. "A nightlight?!" she chocked trying to hold back her laughter, because she was sure that Snape was going to skin her alive if he found her there. She couldn't stop the grin though that spread on her face and for a moment she thought to take a picture and use it for blackmail. "Who would have thought that the intimidating Potions Master was afraid of the dark and needed a nightlight in order to sleep?"

Suddenly that thought put a stop to her laughter and a feeling of sadness overcame her. She cautiously approached his bed. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or the infamous Gryffindor courage that compelled her to do it, but she leaned and brushed a few stranded hair out of his closed eyes. Then she lovingly kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight Severus. I hope one day you find someone to hold and be your light in the darkness"

And with that she left wishing all the while that he let her be his nightlight.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you liked it! :))