And I know that I-

I sometimes tend to lose my temper.

And I cross the line,

Yeah that's the truth.

-Better Than I Know Myself, Adam Lambert.

Chapter 8-Detention Part 2.

Night 6-Friday.

Snape's grip tightened on his quill as he glared at the door to the classroom, the Granger Girl was currently cleaning out one of his old cupboards. He had taken to sticking miscellaneous things that were not used much in it, now it was overflowing with random items. He had to hand it to her, she was an efficient worker. Unlike her school mates both younger and older years, she did not so much as flinch when he would storm in to the room in hopes of catching her lazing about. She never was and he had yet to find any real problems with her work. Like her school work, whatever task he gave her, she would do it quickly and efficiently and without error or complaint. Which in turn made it difficult for him to come up with reasons to deduct points, not that he didn't deduct points when he could, only that he had to be a little more creative in his reasoning for the deduction.

After her second night of detention he had been waiting for Potter and Weasley to begin complaining for the sake of their friend at the tasks he had been designating to her. He was sure she would have told them everything about her time in the dungeons and there was no way a Potter would pass up a chance to complain about something he had done. Whether it was handing out extra work so the scarred dunderhead didn't make the same catastrophic mistake twice, because he couldn't be bothered to follow instructions the first time; or by taking advantage of Granger's talents to restock his ingredients and save himself some work, instead of wasting her on lines.

Neither boy had been any more of a pain then they usually were so, with no increase in the glares sent his way throughout class. Snape could only conclude that, despite having spent all week in detention with him dissecting, grinding, crushing and sorting all manner of plant, animal and even a few mineral substances she had not found the need to complain to her friends about being treated like a house elf. Even now when he had moved her to cleaning out one of his supply cupboards, she didn't seem all that bothered.

The sound of humming filtered in from the classroom again and Severus put his quill down intending to tell the girl to stop with the infernal racket, only to have her quiet the moment his quill touched the desk yet again. Snape ground his teeth and glared at the doorway; she was in detention, she wasn't supposed to be enjoying herself he seethed. Picking his quill back up, he managed to read a paragraph on the essay he was grading before the humming started again. Snape slammed his hands on his desk, nearly upending his bottle of ink as he stood suddenly.

"Granger, stop-" The girl in question was suddenly walking out of the classroom reading over a paper in her hand and a book under her arm like he was not in the process of shouting at her.

"Professor, here is the list of everything in the cupboard by the door. There was a number of trash items; broken glass, dried bottles of ink and broken quills. There was also a number of texts for different years that I have sorted and check for wear, all of it is here." She said setting the paper on his desk between his hands which where firmly planted on the desk top from his sudden outburst. He glared at her without a word as she stared back completely unperturbed. Snape ground his teeth in frustration, he couldn't tell if she was intentionally baiting him or if she was really that thick headed.

"Oh and there was this, I thought you might want to put it where a student wouldn't grab it by mistake." She said placing a worn potion book on top of the paper. Snape slowly let his eyes drift down to the book, Advanced Potion-Making, his body stiffened.

"Why should I put it away?"He asked glancing up into her eyes, nothing. He could read nothing in her gaze.

"Because I doubt the owner would want so many of his personal notes out for the general student body to see." She replied promptly, no hesitation. This is what confused him about the Gryfindor Girl; she didn't come out and say what she was thinking, dancing around the subject without outright saying anything, but alluding to more. It put him in an awkward position; to move along with her or call her out and be forced to reveal his own secrets. It was all very Slytherin as they danced about the current subject.

"He?" He moved right.

"An educated guess," she said flipping the cover of the book open. "It is highly unlikely a girl would refer to herself as 'Prince' unless the name had some significance to her." And she moved with him, never touching but just skimming the truth.

"And this Half-Blood Prince," Snape said tapping the page with a long finger, "Do you know him?" He moved left.

"I could hazard a guess, the hand writing is familiar enough." and she moved with him again, like a dance of words.

"Did you read this book?" He asked closing the cover on his old potion's book.

"Enough to know it didn't belong in with the others." She replied folding her arms over her chest. "What would you like me to do with the rest of the items on that list?" She asked disengaging herself from the previous subject. And he moved with her.

"Put the rest of the books back in the cupboard; move any of the undamaged glass wear with the others and throw away the rest of the items then you can move on to the closet where the extra caldrons are. Same instructions clean it out and catalog everything."

"Yes Sir." She said turning and heading back to the lab.

"And Ms. Granger." Snape said reseating himself in his chair and unlocking a drawer of his desk.

"Professor?"

"If I hear you humming again I am placing you under a silencing charm for the duration of your stay." he said without humor as he placed the book in the drawer and locked it.

"Yes Sir." Hermione replied heading back into the potion's lab.