DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS OR PLOT...ALL GLORY TO THE GODDESS JK ROWLING

A/N: Hey all! I'm back again! This came to me in the middle of financial management class...gah, kill me now. I'll only update every five reviews...feel free to flame me...I can always use a good laugh...and I'll post your name and reply to you on my next chapter...so flamers- ye be warned!

-Snapes-Angel13

Amor Vicint Omnia

Chapter 1; Midnight meetings

Hermione walked swiftly down the corridor, clutching the roll of parchment in her hand. She had finally finished Snapes Essay on the properties of Asphodel, and she wanted to hand it in before breakfast. Strangely...it was 12:50 in the morning. The teachers really had the seventh year students' noses to the grindstone...as the NEWTS were fast approaching, every early assignment added up to a recommendation for a place in the Ministry Of Magic. She turned a corner, and nearly ran headlong into said Potions Master. "Miss Granger, unless you are completely and totally blind, there is no reason to barrel down my hallway like you own the place."

Hermione regained her confidence, and looked her professor straight in the eye.

"First of all Professor...you DON'T own this hallway. Second of all, you know very well that I am not blind, as I oh-so-deftly caught that snitch that was going to nail you right between the eyes yesterday! I am here to deliver my essay."

Snape looked at her with an expression of shock on his face.

"At 12:45 in the morning? Why?"

"I was on my patrol rounds Professor. Being Head Girl does have its responsibilities, despite what Mr. Malfoy might think."

Draco was the Head Boy, but everyone knew that his father had threatened the Ministry with several exposures if they did not make it so. Mr. Malfoy had somehow at the end of Fifth year weaseled his way back into the ministry after the events at the Dept. of Mysteries. Somehow, he had convinced Fudge that he had been under the imperius spell...but Hermione knew that there MUST have been some kind of monetary exchange. Draco, although having been given the coveted station, only used it to pick on the other houses. Not once had Hermione seen him make his rounds. She grimaced inwardly as she recalled the little second year girl-Rosa Parkers that Malfoy had brought to tears when she had accidentally bumped into him in the transfiguration hallway. Hermione had had to step in and shut him up before he did any real damage to her. Not that she cared whether or not he got into trouble for it...in fact, she would have paid good money to see Draco Malfoy, the resident schoolyard bully put (not too gently) in his place. Hermione looked up at her professor, exasperation shown clearly on her cherubim face.

"Look, I would like to get some sleep at some point tonight, so, if you don't mind I would be much obliged if you'd just take the damn essay and let me get to my room. Thanks."

She was about to shoulder past Snape, when he suddenly clutched his left forearm in pain. Hermione, caught off guard took a full thirty seconds to register the problem, but when she did; her face went even whiter than it normally was. Severus looked as if he was going to collapse, so she instinctively took his arm and led him into the nearest room. She assisted him to a seated position, and transfigured a chair into a hot compress. Snape hissed as she applied it to his arm.

"There is no need for you to doctor me Miss Granger. I am quite capable of taking care of myself. In fact, I daresay that the pain has quite diminished as of now, you may go."

Hermione could tell that he was lying, the pinched expression was still there on his pallid face, and his left hand was clenched in a fist. Sighing, she looked her professor right in the face. Little did Hermione know that what she was about to say to him would change both their lives forever...

A/N; MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.....okay...I'm done now. Don't you just love cheesy cliffhangers? I do. Okay-I know it's frustrating, but I promise it'll get better.