Disclaimer: I don't own anything or make any profit from it. Everything belongs to JKR.

A/N: There's a little plot bunny that would not leave me alone. Severus/Hermione as most of my stories are. Let me know what you think!

It Started During A War

The First Time: Forest of Dean

The first time it happened it was by complete accident. She never expected to literally run into him in the middle of a pitch black forest. The first time it was her fault. It had been exactly three days since Ron's miraculous return to their camp and Hermione could not stand the sight of him. What did Ron think, that she would just let him in again like nothing had happened? Everything had changed in that moment when he left. Ron wasn't the only one suffering through this war. How could he be so selfish? She knew Harry was only pretending to be alright with everything and Ron did save him from drowning after all. Only a boy would have gone after a sword in the middle of a freezing lake. How did the sword even get to the bottom of the lake anyways? Surely, her or Harry would have noticed it before. They had used that lake several times over the last few days for drinking water, cooking, and bathing. She briefly wondered if Harry was getting ill, saying his mother led him to the sword. Impossible. Most likely he had imagined the doe patronus he saw that night. They were both starving and severely lacking sleep, that combination did crazy things and made people see things that were not there.

Hermione had volunteered to cover Harry's night watch shift tonight. Sure, it meant pulling two watches in a row but she could handle it. It wasn't the first nor the last time it would happen. Mostly, she wanted to be as far away from Ronald as possible, but she was also concerned about Harry, he needed a break. A few less hours of sleep really didn't matter that much to her.

It's not like there was much to watch anyways. They had moved camp two days ago and had not seen a sign of life yet. The whole forest seemed devoid of life. It was rather intense, but she would take a still forest over the chaos that now reigned in the cities any day. It wasn't long before she felt herself begin to tire so she decided to walk along the perimeter of their camp. It was a habit she had picked up not long after the start of their journey. The repetitive steps helped to clear her head and the physical act of watching fought of exhaustion. It was nearing midnight so the forest was completely cloaked in darkness. On the first pass of the perimeter Hermione didn't see anything out of the ordinary, just the vast emptiness of the forest. It was on the second pass that something strange caught her eye.

In the distance she could see a light blue, ethereal figure. Unfortunately, it was too far away from her to properly identify it. This alone should have caused her to pause and proceed with caution, but she did not. The figure was standing still as a statue and it appeared to be staring in her direction. Hermione figured it to be about ten meters away from the edge of her wards. Was it worth it to go investigate? She would be completely alone once she broke through the wards. It was an utterly reckless idea.

Well it was about time Hermione was allowed to be the reckless one. Before she could allow her logical mind to stop her, she stepped out of the protection of the wards. Hermione knew neither of the boys would notice the slight shift in the wards indicating that she had left. She was on her own. Surprisingly, the blue figure seemed to notice her transgression. It took a few cautious steps towards her as she approached. Hermione stopped when she was close enough to see the figure clearly, but not close enough for it to attack her. It was a doe, just like Harry had said! Except instead of looking like a ghost, it looked like a patronus. But who had a doe patronus that would be out looking for them in the middle of the forest? Hermione could think of no one who fit that description.

When the doe did not move again, Hermione decided it was time to head back to the camp immediately. Even if the person who cast the patronus was not a foe it didn't exactly mean they were friendly either. It was better to get back to the safety of the wards before the caster of the doe found her. She spun around to head back to camp when she ran directly into a large black object. Hermione bounced back and instinctively drew her wand. She followed the long, dark robes up to the murderous looking face of Severus Snape. She had just pulled her wand on Dumbledore's killer and now she was alone with him in the woods.

"What are you doing stupid girl?" He spat out quickly as he grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her near him. He then proceeded to nearly drag her at an insane pace back through the forest to their camp. How he knew the location, she didn't even want to know. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, clearly I was mistaken." He snarled at her.

Hermione attempted to answer him only to be interrupted by a loud "Silence!" from the former potions master. She was so confused at the moment she didn't even attempt to question him again.

When they reached the wards around the camp Snape physically shoved her past them. Once on the other side she just turned and stared at him. He hadn't even tried to cross her wards. Instead, he simply started to turn away from her and walk back into the forest without so much as a word.

Hermione was so baffled she couldn't help herself. "That's it then?" She yelled out at him. "That's all you're going to do?" She instantly regretted the words that had come out of her mouth.

Snape stopped walking but didn't turn around, almost as if he was having an internal battle with himself. "What is it that you expect me to do Miss Granger?" He asked venomously. When she didn't reply immediately, he continued. "To storm your camp, somehow manage to capture all three of you, take you to the Dark Lord by myself? All while I was supposed to be back at Hogwarts, preventing you three from entering it, torturing students, and not know any information about your location at all?" He paused to calm himself and gauge her startled expression. "Yes, now you see how that would not do me any good."

"But you gave Harry the sword! He saw your patronus." She blurted out, recalling how Harry had mentioned the doe patronus. It all made sense now. He thought it had been his mother, but clearly he had been very wrong in that assumption. "Are you on our side? How is that possible?" She asked all at once.

Snape's face remained emotionless but to Hermione it looked like he wanted to say so much more. "We all have our parts to play in this war Miss Granger. It's time you remember that." He said simply before disapparating away.

Hermione stood there like a statue, too stunned to move. What had just happened? Snape hadn't harmed her, in fact it was almost like he was protecting her. Forcing her back behind the wards had been his way of doing that. But why? Why would he care at all about her fate? There was no way he could be on their side of the war, could he? Was he still loyal to the Order? If he was, why hadn't he said more? Why was he here, in the forest with them at all? Her incessant questions were cut off when Harry and Ron came running noisily up to her side.

"Hermione, are you alright? What just happened? It sounded like someone disapparated just now." Harry said, scanning the darkness for something that was no longer there.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm fire. It was just the wind." She lied. They could never know who had actually visited her. "Come on, let's get back to the tent. We need to start researching the next horocrux, we need to end this war." This was her part in the war and like Snape said, it was time to end it.

A/N: Hope you liked the first part of this collection. Let me know what you think so far!

~A