"Never Underestimate A Girl"

So first off, I would just like to apologize for taking so long to update. This last year and a half has been really stressful and hectic, and it has distracted me no end from my writing. But here I am, back at last! Hope you like the new chapter! Oh, and for all you nerds who know what I mean by this-I LOST THE GAME! –mad cackle- HA!

Standard disclaimer applies.

V. This molly-coddling was about to wear on Severus's last nerve, which was dangerously thin to begin with. Whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, Hermione was there to take care of it. He was thankful she at least gave him privacy to use the privy on his own, though he suspected she hadn't even done that when he was still groggy from the battle. Severus was not at all acquainted with plain, unselfish kindness and love so he, of course, got more and more waspish as he suspected more and more that she wanted something from him. What he didn't know was that he was right, just not about what he thought she wanted. He of course assumed that the little chit wanted something of his knowledge, some arcane bit he had tucked away, and was just awaiting her chance to pick his brain. Though this was one of the things Hermione wanted to do, she wanted him willing and by God, she was going to have him that way. Perfectly willing, that is, to strangle her to death!

Hermione stared coldly at Severus before picking up the plate of uneaten food and dumping it down the disposal. Since they existed like this in the muggle world, she was very careful not to use obvious magic, but if anyone were to look under her sink, they would notice a very different, very fat plant from anything they had known. Hermione loved very few things in this world, especially after THAT incident, but her Man-eating Tracker was one and Crookshanks the other. She still shook with anger over that time, even though it had already been months. Schooling her expression to indifference she turned to look at the professor still too weak to rise from his chair unassisted. "I told you so," she said, relishing the finality of that statement and finally getting to say it to this incorrigible patient of hers. The shock on his face told her that he honestly had not expected her to follow through on her threat and this new show of backbone and will was slightly startling in the least. He was just going to have to get used to it.

VI. This new Hermione he stared at was a completely different creature from even the woman who had rescued him from the bite, and completely unrecognizable from the timid but brilliant student he had taught at school. She had bite and temerity in her words that challenged him. Her actions went against everything he had come to expect from this docile sweet person. It infuriated him, but it also invigorated him and somewhere, in a very deep part of his mind, he was thanking her for pushing to get well, to live. Then she left one day, while he was still asleep, and did not return til late that evening, looking disheveled and exhausted from some kind of labor. He ranted and railed, then sulked, and finally, just came out and asked what had happened while she moved about the kitchen, cleaning and cooking though she didn't in anyway look to be in a state for it. When she almost burned the toast, he had had enough. "Give me that," he said irritably from the level of her waist in his wheelchair. Severus was also not accustomed to trying to look down his nose at someone that was taller than him. (Temporarily! He railed in his head). Whatever it was, something he did worked and she let him finish the meal, a little in shock. "Are you going to enlighten me as to the events of this day or do I have to sit here and stare like a dumb giant, drooling as you do even now?" This acerbic tirade seemed to jolt her a bit, though, for some strange reason, he was pained to see the hurt on her face. He dismissed this emotion however, as superfluous, and stared her into submission, willing her to tell him. He only thought he was prepared.

"I got a job at the muggle hospital," she announced. The dead silence that followed was worse than she had thought it would be. "Have you lost every wasted cell in that dunder head of yours?" he ground out from behind clenched teeth. She winced involuntarily then straightened her shoulders. "No, Severus, actually I haven't. Though you haven't once thought to ask, we are actually living on the normal side of things and this side requires that one pay bills and such. I need a job to do this. So I got one. That simple." This slightly ranting diatribe made her feel better, but only slightly. It had been a trying day and she had thought to, once or twice, just bewitch herself a job, but her conscience always caught her before she had the chance. Finally, with her few muggle credentials and her parents' assistance, she had gotten a job as a pharmacy tech at the hospital around the corner. Though she would have to take some refresher courses, the hospital was badly understaffed and they were willing to take anyone on. She would have to work many long hours to make up for all the rent and bills she hadn't paid in the last three months, but that was ok. It was time to let Severus figure things out on his own, and she had some thinking to do for herself, which she apparently couldn't do with this crazy man around. How was he going to take all this, she wondered uncertainly.