A/N: I do not own Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, or Neville Longbottom. They all belong to J.K. Rowling.

I wrote this awhile ago, and was gonna add more to it, but I just looked at it again today and thought it seemed good where it's at. Hope you enjoy it ^_^

Severus Snape had fallen in love.

No, not just fallen in love. He had fallen in love with someone that wasn't a probable candidate for him to fall in love with. In fact, she was probably the least likely person for him to fall in love with.

This girl was so unlikely that it would even be called a forbidden romance, if she ever accepted his feelings, although he would have to tell her first.

This girl was one of his students.

Actually, she wasn't just one of his other faceless students that he couldn't care less about. She was the most brilliant young witch he had ever seen. She was definitely top of his class.

He would always watch her, pretending as if he was simply checking her potion to see if she had done it right, but of course she had. She always did. Therefore, it was really a very flimsy reason, but it was the only one he had. Sometimes she would gasp a little when he passed, as if she was actually worried about having done it wrong. Or maybe…no, it couldn't be. She couldn't be gasping because of him, could she? Sometimes when he passed her he would let his hand or arm brush her back, but he never did anything else. He knew better than that. He didn't want to frighten her away. Not that she was there to begin with.

If only he could get the courage to actually tell her his feelings, but there were so many things to stop him. First, he knew that he could get fired and she could get expelled, although she would only get expelled if she reciprocated his feelings, which he highly doubted. Second, she would probably be completely and totally grossed out, and, well, he just didn't want to know if she would be or not. He preferred living in the dark. Lastly, well, he was a bloody coward.

So, it was just his luck, one day, when he caught her trying to help out that sniveling pathetic Neville Longbottom once again. He thought about giving her a detention, being alone in a room with her for any amount of time really, and he just couldn't let the chance pass him by.

"Miss Granger, what have I told you about helping Mr. Longbottom?" he sneered to make sure she couldn't see past his façade.

Her eyes widened at being caught. "T-that he needs to learn to do this on his own?" Her answer was more of a question in itself.

"Precisely. I believe that is an hour with me tonight."

She grumbled a little in her seat, but did not argue.

He sat down at his desk and hid his face in a paper he was grading, so as to hide the slight smile that came over his features just at the thought of having an hour alone with her. Now he just had to think of something to have her do while she was there.