Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except the plot. Though in sixth grade I tried to convince my band teacher I owned Ode to Joy. (His response to that? "You're in sixth grade. All you have is an unnatural love of PBS and a snotty tissue." Oddly enough, he was my favorite teacher.)

A/N: The song he's playing is Prelude in D flat, Op.28 No.15: 'Raindrop' by Chopin. It is one of my favorite piano pieces. I am a trumpet player through and through, but this piece made me wish I was coordinated enough to play the piano. I wasn't planning on extending this story past the chapter but who knows. If you notice, I kind of avoid saying what the project is and that is pretty much because I don't know what it is. I shall see. Sorry in advance for the poor paragraphs. I edited as well as I could myself, I don't have a beta though so it's probably not correct. Any feedback would be much loved. PS: I'd just like to take this chance to say, I have THE coolest buddy icon. It has a pic of Hermione and it says 'Smart is Sexy' and I have another one that says 'Embrace Your Inner Hermione'. Awww yeah!

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As Hermione walked down the long hallway to the dungeons, she was having second thoughts about her idea of her seventh year project focusing on potions. She knew she had done more research than most would think possible on a proposal, and that her idea was original, but all that was going through her head was the sneer and unsympathetic rejection she was sure she would receive from Professor Snape. It didn't help that the rest of Hogwarts had gone to bed hours ago leaving the school unnaturally quiet. The fact that the dungeons were poorly lit didn't surprise her in the least. Snape wasn't one to make his students feel welcome.

Gradually she was pulled out of her thoughts to the first sound that she had heard for hours. It was the delicate music of a piano. A sound, though very much welcome, was one she hadn't heard since she joined the world of wizards and witches. Radios and CD players could not function in Hogwarts; it was a well-known fact. She had never seen a piano in the school, but she knew from past experiences, that was no reason to assume there wasn't one. For the life of her though, she couldn't figure out what it would be doing in Snape's dwelling area. Though she knew he was a more educated and sophisticated man than most of her peers gave him credit for, the piano just did not fit the persona she associated him with. Maybe the cello if she had to pick an instrument. Maybe it wasn't even him playing. It was possible that she was so worried that her fear took over.

Hermione decided to continue on, her project was more important than fitting her professors with the correct instrument or rationalizing the inner workings of her mind. As she neared the classroom the music changed pace. Before it was a light piece, but now it tugged at her stomach. She felt like her stomach was attempting to go through a portkey without the rest of her body. Hermione reached the doors to the classroom and knocked once. Not hearing a response, she knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still hearing no answer, she slowly pulled open the heavy doors. The room was dark and as far as she could tell, empty from the professor she sought out, but the piano music was much louder.

Her heartbeat quickened as the peace became more dramatic. She felt both the pains of the composer and the anonymous player. It made her heart ache.

Hermione saw at the far end of the class a door that she didn't recall ever being there. It was slightly ajar and there was warm light pouring out of the room that it connected to. As she slowly approached the door the music seemed to be getting more and more heartfelt and clearly the volume increased.

Clutching her massive pile of notes and scrolls, now nearly forgotten, she slipped through the door. She assumed she was now in Snape's private quarters. The coloring of the room was neither black, silver, or white much to her surprise, but a warm blue. There were enormous bookshelves covering all the walls that didn't hold a door, or fire place and each one was full of books. It reminded her a bit of the library in her favorite childhood movie, Beauty and the Beast.

After a moment, her eyes rested on the source of her curiosity. There, in the middle of the room, was a beautiful black grand piano. Sitting at it was Snape with his back facing her. He was wearing a black robe that had been untied and hung loosely around him. His long black hair appeared to her, not repulsive, but sensual as it moved with his body to the music. He was clearly focused only on the stunning piece he was playing.

Not wanting to disturb him, Hermione took a few steps to her left and slowly sunk her body into a large couch. The song had calmed down and sounded like it was nearly over. Though it was smoother, it was in no way less intense. As the song lazily dwindled to the end, Hermione slowly let out a deep breath she though must have been in her lungs since she stepped in the room.

Suddenly she couldn't remember if she had told her professor that she wanted to talk to him and realized he might not appreciate his unexpected audience. Her fear quickly replaced the tranquility. Knowing that there was no graceful way out of the situation she had foolishly gotten herself into, she decided to take it like the Gryffindor she was.

"That was marvelous sir." Hermione said quietly. "I didn't realize you played the piano." He spun around and for a moment Hermione was afraid he was going to throw something at her. Possibly the very large bench he had been sitting on a moment ago.

"What are you doing here Granger?" He growled. "I don't believe we have class again until tomorrow. I understand your need to continually prove yourself as the most annoying girl in this school, but trust me. You need not confirm this with me. I have been convinced." For some reason his comment didn't come out as sarcastically as she was sure it was meant to sound.

"I'm sorry professor. I wanted to talk to you about my project but then I came and you were playing and-" he cut her off with a roll of his eyes. "What was that you were playing sir?" She asked sounding a bit braver than she felt. A pained look shot through his eyes and was gone sooner than it appeared.

"What was this brilliant idea you needed to talk to me about?"

Though she wanted to know everything there was to know about the song, the rational part of her brain took over and she let out a frustrated sigh as she held her notes out not feeling generous enough to get up and hand them to him. He slowly walked over and snatched the notes from her hands. He returned to the piano bench and began reading.

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The Granger girl was brilliant. He had to admit it. On a nearly daily basis much to his dismay. As he finished reading the notes he looked back up at her. Her eyes were not looking down or away as he expected. Instead they were looking right into his as if saying 'I may be annoying but it looks like you're going to have to deal with it.'

"Nobody has ever wanted to study healing potions in this way before Miss Granger." He paused. "You do realize that you will have to devote all of your free time to your project. You won't be able to save it for the last second like the rest of the geniuses in this school." She sent him a glare nearly worth of Snape-on-a-bad-day-with-Longbottom-melting-his-chair.

"I believe you have forgotten whom you are talking to Professor Snape." She carefully said.

"If only it were that simple." Snape muttered under his breath. In retrospect, this may have been the wrong thing to say. He saw her eyes narrow and she pushed herself off of the couch and quickly stood up.

"With all due respect, Sir," Hermione said with forced politeness. "I wish I could say the same. But I desperately want to do this project and I am willing to spend as much time as needed working on it. Even if that means working with you. You know as well as I do that this is a good idea and it is worthy of even your time."

Snape turned around without saying a word. He hadn't the energy to go through a battle of words. It was obvious she was going to do this project with or without his help and he might as well make sure she didn't blow herself up in the process of proving she had a brain. Not that that wasn't appealing on a certain level. He nodded his head.

"Very well Miss Granger. I shall look through my books and see if there are any that can make this research a bit more complete. We won't be brewing for quite some time. This is by no stretch of the imagination an easy project. It may not even work."

"I know that Professor. I'm willing to take my chances. Do you think you could play one more piece before I leave?" Snape gave her what, on anyone else, might have been considered a grin and spun around dramatically. He slowly raised his right hand and with his pointer finger, plunked out a slightly off tempo Ode to Joy. He turned around to see Hermione rise with a small smile on her face. As she walked towards the door she slowly turned around.

"Thank you Professor Snape."

Maybe, just maybe, he thought, working with the girl wouldn't be a horrible as he had first assumed.