This story centres around some heavy issues.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters or spell ect. Nor do I own 'Superwoman' Alicia Keys or 'Smile' by Nat King Cole.

Severus Snape woke up in his bed with a smile on his face, it was a rare occurrence and he was sure as hell going to make the most of it. It was rare that a smile would make it way to his face these days; normally his lips were set into a scowl, frightening enough to scare off even some of the teachers. The reason for his smile was that in approximately seven hours and twenty two minutes the castle would be empty, the 'dunderheads' as he liked to call them, were going home for the holidays and he could not be happier. Three weeks of pure bliss, three weeks of no potions mishaps, and three weeks of no patrols.

But his happy mood was soon ruined when he realised that he had to go to visit all of his family of the festive period. He didn't mind seeing his family, but it was preferable in small doses, not all together.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by his alarm clock going off, he threw the blasted thing to the other side of the room with so much force that it hit the wall and bounced off, he had learned that trick a while ago when he had had to purchase his twenty-fifth muggle alarm clock from muggle London.

Hermione Granger awoke to the sound of her room mates banging on the bathroom door, the silencing spell she had cast last night had obviously worn off. Lavender always took too much time in the bathroom in the morning, but she wasn't bothered, it was better than being woken up by someone shouting at you down your ear.

He completed his normal morning routine and entered the Great Hall to find it nearly empty, Albus was, or course sitting up in the head chair, but the amount of student that sat on the house table equalled one, Hermione Granger.

She seemed withdrawn over the past few months, not that he cared for a student, but it was just that he couldn't read this students mind. He was shaken from his analysis of Hermione Granger when Albus asked him to pass the jam, he didn't thing of her again until potions that afternoon.

Twenty minutes late she was sat in the Great Hall eating a bit of toast, Harry and Ron greeted her with a small wave and went to sit next to their other half's, they didn't really have much time for her any more, they were always with their girlfriends and when the three of them did get together that was all they talked about, so she sat in deep thought eating her toast until the first class of the day. Charms.

She had made it through the day, going from class to class, and all that was left was potions, it was her favourite class, she loved brewing, it bewitched her mind, body and soul she could forget all of her problems and just 'be'.

The class filed into the classroom to find that there was no potions master waiting for them, they took their seats and pulled out their textbooks, but unbeknown to them their potions master was in the room waiting silently, in the darkest corner of the classroom. They started to chat amongst themselves when instructions for a potion appeared on the board, Hermione was the only one to notice and she got to work straight away, the others followed suite shortly after and that was when he moved from his corner, he made his way to the front of the classroom and swept his eyes over his class, the majority of the group that had taken it last year scraped enough marks to take it this year and Albus had somehow convinced him to allow Potter, Weasley and Longbottom into his class.

"As most of you may have noticed the potion up on the board, this potion is called the forget-me-not potion; can anyone tell me what it can do?"

He looked around the classroom to find no hands up, not even Miss Granger's, but somehow that didn't surprise him, she had avoided answering questions in all subjects, eventually Albus had told them not to ask her any, as when she was even asked the simplest of questions she froze up.

"Potter, can you tell me?"

"No sir."

"Pity, I for one have no idea how you even came to be in this classroom, do you?"

He didn't answer back, so he just carried on with his lecture.

"The forget-me-not potion is used when a person suspects that they have been oblitivated, now normally this potion wouldn't work but if the caster were to concentrate on a specific memory then the potion could recover the memory..."

As Professor Snape was lecturing, Hermione Granger had her mind on other things, she was trying to work out when Christmas break was, she was dreading it, and three weeks alone with her mother was her own personal hell.

Her hand hovered over the sharp silver knife she was about to pick up as she realised that today was the last day of term in fact Potions was the last class of the day. She could feel the tears build up behind her eyes and to her horror they flowed freely down her face, she felt claustrophobic as she became trapped in the memories of her summer holiday.

Stupid bitch, no matter how many times I tell you, you can never get it right."

New Memory

"Sometimes I wonder why I ever had a kid, I thought they were supposed to help you, but they only hinder you..."

He had finished his lecture and resumed prowling around the classroom when he noticed that Hermione Granger had stood in the same position for several minutes.

"Miss Granger"

The sixth year potions class looked up at the sound of their potions professor half of them hoping to see the resident know-it-all get told off and the other half were ready to attack him if he said anything wrong, but the students were shocked to find resident 'know-it-all' with tears streaming down her face.

"Miss Granger"

The voice that was calling her was that of one Severus Snape, he had also noticed in the past few weeks that the student in question had not seemed herself on many occasions. She had become jumpy and snapped at people who annoyed her. Many of the staff had also noticed the changes and many of them had tried to talk to her, and failed.

"Miss Granger?"

He voiced her name as a question in hopes of getting her to respond his tone was stern but held a warning, but she still seemed oblivious to everything, he dismissed the class, after telling them to clear up, with the hopes of getting her to respond, as the last few students ran out the class he noticed that her hands were shaking.

He knew what was happening he had seen the glazed look over many victims' eyes at the Dark Lords revels and could only imagine what had happened to her.

Her head snapped up and a crack could be heard resonating around the classroom. She didn't seem to notice the potions master wince at the sound and the surprise that flickered through his eyes at the dead look that they held. He held her gaze and slipped into her mind, he was shocked to find that actually enter her mind, he sussed that it was because she was so distraught in the first place.

"Hermione Granger, you better have this ironing in the airing cupboard before I get back or there will be trouble, and you had better get your ass down here and clean the kitchen, I want it spotless by the time I get back."

Hermione mumbled a reply and went to get off the bed she was sitting on when the wrist she was leaning on gave out under her; she fell off the bed and landed on the floor in a crumpled heap.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT RACKET?"

Her mother's voice echoed throughout the entire house.

"Nothing"

This time her reply was loud enough to be heard downstairs, that was the thing with her mother, she didn't expect a reply and she didn't ask for things to be done, it was more of a demand.

New Memory

"HERMIOINE GRANGER!"

The girl who was holding over a piece of sheet music dropped the pieces of paper as soon as she heard her mother's voice and bolted out of her bedroom door, she tore down the stairs at an alarming pace and nearly tripped on a shoe that was left at the bottom of the stair, she caught herself in time and knocked her wrist on the banister.

"Yes"

"Don't say 'Yes' in that ungrateful tone of yours, now, I asked for the ironing to be done and imaging my shock when I came home and saw the same amount of ironing in the same place it had been left, I thought that by the time I had come home you would have at least done a basket, but no, I come home to find nothing done."

"I did do something, I emptied the dishwasher and I filled it back up..."

The sentence was left hanging due to the fact that her mother came so close to her face she had to take a step back.

New Memory

"You selfish girl, don't you know that I work all day just to send you to that school of yours, and to help pay for everything, don't you?"

She looked around Hermione's room and her face turned into an expression of disgust,

"I don't know why I put up with you; you obviously can't be bothered to do anything for me, so why should I do anything for you?"

New Memory

"You stupid ignorant cow!"

She raised her hand to slap Hermione, but lowered it millimetres form her face."

New Memory

Hermione was crying in her room, her mother had just called her a disappointment; she hadn't closed the curtains correctly.

"I wish you had never been born!"

Severus slipped out of the girls mind, only to find the girl staring up at him, her eyes didn't look dead any more, they seemed empty, which to him was worse than before.

"Miss Granger...I..."

He trailed off, not sure of what to say. Contrary to popular belief, he had a brilliant relationship with his parents, they had always supported him even when he joined the dark side, somehow they knew it wouldn't last, and they weren't surprised when they were proved right when their son became a spy for the light.

"Hermione...what..."

Words failed him, no student of his ever came to him with problems such as these, they came to him with trivial matters, such as school work and friendship problems, and because they were so distraught he could slip into their minds easily and check for anything that was bothering them. Technically it was illegal and it earned people a sentence in Azkaban, but ever since the chamber of secrets had been opened Albus overruled the Ministry and only he knew which students his Potions Master kept an eye on, if he found a problem then he reported it to Albus, who would spike a lemon drop or do with a calming draught and ask them questions about whatever he saw. Normally everything was resolved with no fuss, but this time he knew it wasn't going to be that easy. To some it seemed uncaring, but he found that he tended to get too attached to the damaged. A small voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"How could you!"

He had to strain to hear what she said and when he met her eyes, this time though, they weren't dead instead they shone with unspoken fury.

"Miss Granger..."

"NO"

She looked momentarily startled that she had shouted at the most feared professor in Hogwarts but, her face soon became blank once more. She seemed to wear that look a lot, he saw he entering and leaving his classroom like her face was a blank canvas, waiting for the right moment for someone to bring it to life.

"For six years, I have trusted you, six years! I knew from the very first moment that I walked into the classroom in my first year that you were someone that I could look up to, but now..."

She trailed off, as her eyes became unfocused as she remembered more details of her past.

"...I thought you were different, I thought I could trust you more than Dumbledore at the very least, but no..."

Her eyes her eyes became unfocused again, but this time it wasn't with memories, this time the tears had returned.

"I. Trusted. You."

Three words that was all it took, three words for her to get under his skin. Three words that made his heart clench painfully in his chest. He was shocked at the feeling, but dismissed it as guilt.

"Hermione, I...I know what I have done is inexcusable but..."

He didn't get another word in as she cut him off.

"But what? Would you like to tell me how every time a student comes to you with a problem you sift through their memories like a gold digger sifts through the sand?"

His eyes flashed black, and Hermione instinctively took a step backwards, only to bump into the desk behind her, she cursed softly and rubbed her wrist. He took no notice of the action, the memories that he had seen of her forgotten by the anger that he now felt.

"Miss Granger, I suggest that you don't make accusation that you cannot back up. Dismissed."

She didn't need any more encouragement to get out of the potions classroom, she ran out of the classroom slamming the door closed behind her.

He couldn't believe it! How did she know? He made his way over to his desk and sat with his head in his hands, he sat for an hour trying to figure out how she knew. He started to think about her behaviour in class and cursed softly, the memories of why her mind was so easily accessible became prominent in his mind. He berated himself for his own foolishness, allowing her to change the topic so easily while at the same time distracting him from what he had seen like the wind which blew the leaves every autumn that he had seen when she was so distraught. Realization dawned upon him as he noticed the time; he had to talk to Albus before the evening meal.

He bolted to the door; and was shocked to find Hermione Granger walking in.

"I'm sorry professor..."

He didn't understand she looked determined, like someone who was on a mission.

"...Obliviate"

She ran. She ran until her legs were about to collapse underneath her but by then she had reached her destination, the Room of Requirement. She threw open the door and found what she was looking for, she came here often enough that she didn't have to pace three time for it to know what she wanted. In the middle of the room stood a grand piano, a small smile graced her face but then twisted itself into a frown as it all came rushing back, Professor Snape, her mother, she refused to cry again, not here and not now. She would be stronger than that; she wouldn't burst out into gut wrenching tears every time a painful memory resurfaced.

She glided over to the piano and sat down on the wooden bench provided for her. Her fingers danced gracefully over the keys as she played a few scaled to warm up, she then started to play the intro to a song that summed up her life, she took a deep breath and let the melody flow with ease out of her mouth. Superwoman by Alicia Keys. It described her perfectly.

She finished the last few bars of the song before starting up a new one, Smile by Nat King Cole.

After she finished the song she knew what she had to do, it would be risky, making sure it was the right memory, but it had to be done, he had seen too much.

She walked down to the potions classroom for the second time that day, and contemplated what to tell the rest of the potions class, the Slytherin's didn't matter, they could make up what they wanted to, but the Gryffindors, especially Harry and Ron would ask question, even though they weren't as close any more, something like this would get their attention. She pondered the thought for a while, making her way down the dungeons with her brain on automatic as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse, she settled on telling them it was her 'time of the month' she figured that it would have to do, she wasn't going to tell the boys the truth.

She came to a halt just outside the potions classroom door and summoned up all of her nerve to open the door she had slammed shut a little over an hour ago, concentrating on the memory that she would rather forget and walked in to find Professor Snape walking towards her, he didn't notice her until the words of an apology had left her mouth, he looked up, confused by what she had said in time to see her whisper on word , one word that would make a difference to both of their lives.

"...Obliviate"

He looked stunned for a moment and then she saw the potions master of Hogwarts resume his normal appearance.

"What are you doing here Miss Granger?"

He sneered down at her, she just took it in her stride, and brushed past him to pick up the bag she had left on the floor.

"Miss Granger, answer me at once"

She turned round and plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Getting my bag Professor..."

She managed to look confused when he asked the question and had left the sentence hanging to make it would seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world for her to waltz into his classroom.

"...I had forgotten it, I just passed you in the corridor and asked you if I could come and collect it and you said, and I quote 'wouldn't it be a shame if the know-it-all didn't have her books, I should say no then that would teach you but as I set your homework I suppose I will have to say yes.'"

He looked sceptic for a moment but then his face contorted into a scowl.

"Hurry up then girl, you're wasting my time, I have things to do."

As she looked up into his face, she noticed that behind the scowl the Potions Master looked lost, but she didn't blame him, he was properly wondering where an hour of his life had gone to. She took pity on him; after all it was her fault that he looked lost.

"Sir, it's time for dinner. Sir are you okay? You look a bit peaky?"

"Fine, I just lost track of time, now off to dinner with you."

His tone held no room for an argument.

As soon as she had left he slammed the door and made his way to his private chambers to figure out where the last hour had gone to.

Meanwhile, Hermione Granger went up to the Great Hall and ate dinner like she was a normal girl, not like someone who had just erased the last hour of a teacher's life.

She finished her meal and chatted amicably with the rest of the Gryffindors they didn't expect much more from her these days, after an hour in the Common Room she went up to the girls dormitories and went to bed. As soon as the rest of the girls in her door had fallen asleep she cast a silencing spell around her bed and wept, she wept for Snape and what she had done, she wept for her mother and her farther but most of all she wept for herself, three years it had been going on, three years she had hidden the scars that were deep in her heart and in three measly minutes a certain potions professor had revealed her deepest darkest secret.

Her dreams that night were filled with her mother's words of spite and the Headmaster handing her over to the Minister of Magic. That night she wasn't the only one whose sleep was filled ridicule , Severus Snape lay in the dungeons below tossing and turning in his sleep, he dreamt of his own childhood, but this time it was different, this time mother was shouting as him, tormenting him and as she raised her hand to hit him, he woke up.

"What the bloody hell was that about!"

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