Hermione slammed the door to the dungeons and sprinted away as far as she could. She could believe that she just kissed Professor Snape…again! He would surely hate her after this. She needed to go somewhere to clear her thoughts and sort out her feelings. She decided on the astronomy tower, she always went there to clear her head and see things in a more rational light

(Scene Break)

Meanwhile, Professor Snape was pacing in his office. He just couldn't get his mind off the feeling of Herm—Ms. Granger's body next to his and her lips on his. Suddenly his office seemed rather stuffy and oppressive. He needed some fresh air to muddle out his thoughts. He decided to go to the astronomy tower. He, like Hermione (though he didn't yet realize it) went there to sort out his thoughts and to get away from everyone else.

He quickly fled his office and made his way to the tower. He hoped he wouldn't find any snogging couples along the way. Although docking points and verbally flaying people did always cheer him up.

(Scene Break)

Hermione had made it to the top of the tower without any obstruction and settled down on a stone bench to think. She knew that she had a crush on her professor but she never thought she would actually act on it.

She thought about the two times she had kissed him. The first was a horrible mistake she realized that now. She shuddered as she remembered what happened earlier that day in class:

She walked into potions class punctual as usual and grabbed a table for Harry, Ron and herself. As she was settling into her seat Harry and Ron raced into class just barely making it before class started. But they needn't have worried about being late for the professor wasn't there. That in and of itself was a rather strange occurrence. But was even stranger was that there were no instructions on the board. In the past, though it had only happened a handful of times in Hermione's past seven years of school, he had always put instruction on the board and the class had set to work though usually with a little more chatter than usual seeing as the potions professor wasn't there to oversee them.

As the class had nothing the students started chatting amongst themselves. Harry and Ron, of course, started talking about the upcoming Gryffindor quidditch match against Ravenclaw. They were busily dissecting the Ravenclaw seeker's, strategy and ways of outsmarting him.

Hermione tuned them out seeing as she had never been able to see what the whole fuss about quidditch was about. It was just a game after all. And she, Harry, and Ron had much bigger things to worry about. Even though they had just defeated Voldemort there were still some rogues death eaters out there and they were very bitter over their defeat and were looking to take their anger out on anyone who fought on the light side.

As she sat there thinking she let her mind wander and soon her thoughts centered on her favorite topic of daydreams: the currently absent Professor Snape.

She had completely zoned out and was having a lovely daydream about the potions master snogging her senseless against the wall of the dungeons when suddenly the classroom door burst open. Professor Snape swept in and the class instantly fell silent. He assigned the class a sleeping potion and assigned them partners. Harry was with Neville, Ron was with Crabbe, and Hermione was with Draco. The golden trio had formed an uneasy truce with Draco after he switched sides during the final battle. Out of the three she and Draco had the best relationship. Shockingly they could often be seen in the hallways joking around. But whenever he was in a bad mood he tended to revert to his old self and would pick a fight with her over the littlest things. She knew not to take it personally but sometimes it was hard. Today had been an example of her taking his insults to heart and then doing something incredibly stupid in retaliation.

She could tell that he was not in a very good mood as it was and tried to be very careful around him and not say anything to set him off. But then she accidentally spilled armadillo bile on him and he exploded. Of course he didn't want to get in trouble so he whispered but he still managed to use a tone that made her feel horrible.

"You're such an idiot Granger! You can't even go one potions class without spilling something."

He continued on in that manner, and Hermione had handled it fine just listening without reaction and watching Professor Snape to make sure he didn't notice. But then he said the unthinkable: "…in fact this totally explains why you can't get a guy, not only are you ugly, bushy-haired, and too smart for your own good, but you're such a klutz."

That really hit a nerve. She had tried to hide the fact that she really wanted a man in her life but obviously Draco had seen through her and in a fit of anger used his knowledge of this to really hurt her. Her eyes welled up at that and before she could blink them back one had overflowed. She furiously wiped it away but Draco noticed. Suddenly he realized what he had done. He instantly felt remorse and tried to make it better.

"Hermione, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that…" he started to say.

"Yes you did Malfoy, and you know what I'm tired of being your punching bag. So fuck off!" She practically yelled. She was attracting quite a bit of attention by her outburst and everyone was shocked when they heard her curse. The Gryffindor bookworm NEVER cursed.

Professor Snape heard her outburst and headed over to confront her and dock points for disrupting class. As he headed over Hermione muttered over to Malfoy in venomous tone, "I'll show you who can get a boyfriend."

As Professor Snape reached her he started to say, "Miss Granger what do you..."

But he never finished that thought because at that moment Hermione stood up, reached her arms up around his neck, pulled his head down and furiously kissed him. He was frozen for a split second then he pushed her away and looked at her shocked. The rest of the class was so flabbergasted that they stayed completely silent, unable to comprehend what was going on. Draco's jaw was literally hanging open.

Hermione was so stunned by her actions that she was frozen in place a look of total bewilderment on her face. Meanwhile, Snape was practically shaking with rage.

"DETENTION TONIGHT AT 8!" He shouted at her, practically frothing at the mouth.

"Now…" he said in a deceptively calm voice, "GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!"

Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed her things and all but sprinted from the room. Behind her the class burst in to chatter but was almost instantly silenced by one glare from the potion's master.

As she finished her trip down memory lane she decided to get organized and, in usual Hermione fashion, listed out her reasons for her both of her impulsive kiss and more importantly the reasons behind her deeper more profound attraction to him.

Well to start with she spontaneously kissed him because Draco was being such a prat and going on and on about how she didn't have a man in her life and how she was ugly and too smart for her own good. This hit a nerve with Hermione. She had always been self-conscious and her supposed friend bringing her self-doubts to light just caused something inside her to snap. She didn't even think about her actions until after Professor Snape had pushed her off him and was yelling at her to get out.

Her second kiss was also completely unexpected. She just seemed to be unable to control herself when she was around him. And when he was yelling at her she just wanted him to stop so she did the only thing she could to shut him up.

But onto the more important question in her mind: why did she like Professor Snape? As she thought a few obvious things came to mind. His brilliant and cunning mind attracted her like a moth to flame. She knew that she had finally found some one that she could have an intellectual conversation with. In fact he could teach her so many fascinating things not only about potions but almost any subject. Her seemed to be a very well read man. Next were his eyes. When he looked at her his onyx orbs seemed to see right through her to her soul. She felt she could be content the rest of her life just looking at his captivating eyes. Then there was his voice. Though it could occasionally be harsh, it was almost always smooth and silky. She could almost feel it caressing her like satin every time he spoke. And, of course who could forget his hands. His long, elegant, alabaster fingers chopping, preparing, and stirring ingredients we're the subjects of many of her naught fantasies. But it wasn't just these qualities that attracted her; it was his whole being. She found she loved everything about him; even his sarcastic nature had really grown on her. As she thought about him she found she was growing drowsy. She knew she shouldn't fall asleep at the top of the astronomy tower but she just couldn't resist. Maybe she would just rest her eyes for a while…

(Scene Break)

He silently climbed the stairs and as he made it to the top of the stairs he paused to look up at the stars. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and you could see all sorts of constellations. The professor wasn't really all that into astronomy but occasionally he did enjoy just looking up into the sky and pondering. He was so fixated on the stars that at first he didn't notice the presence of another person in the tower. He caught a sight of an awkward lump in the corner of his eye and swiveled around to see Hermione slumped over on a bench apparently fast asleep. He silently cursed his luck. The one night he wanted to be alone to think he runs into the one person he wished to avoid at all cost.

Professor Snape slowly walked over to her and noticed that she was clutching what appeared to be a written list in her hand. He knew he shouldn't look at her personal belonging but he saw his name at the top and couldn't resist a look. He was astonished by what he found. Ms. Granger had written out a list in precise detail explaining the reasons behind both of her kisses and even about her deeper feelings for him.

Her decided that he only thing to do in this case was confront her.

He gently shook her awake and said softly, "Ms. Granger….wake-up."

Hermione snapped awake and suddenly realized two things: one, she was alone in the astronomy tower, two, he had her list with all her reasoning and feeling on it. She kept telling herself to stop writing incriminating information down, but it was the only way to organize her thoughts.

"Professor Snape…" she murmured.

He interrupted her by saying, "Ms. Granger would you care to explain the meaning of this list you wrote?"