A/N: Merry Christmas! ;)

CHAPTER THREE

Poppy stares at the headmaster. "Surely you aren't serious? A soul mate?"

Stroking his beard, Albus lets out a deep sigh. "Yes, Poppy. I'm fairly positive at this point. Coming into her magical majority, such a leap in power, and hearing a heartbeat that isn't her own? The signs are all there."

Suddenly, the door to the infirmary is thrown open and a dark figure staggers into the room, before falling to one knee. "Poppy…!"

Albus whirls around, pushing the curtains away from Hermione's bed. "Severus?" His eyes widen before narrowing in thought. "Oh, Severus…" He glances over his shoulder at the slight figure curled up on the hospital bed, then back to the kneeling Potions Master. He moves forward quickly, his strong stride belying his apparent age, and when he reaches Severus, he hooks his hands under the younger man's arms and helps him stagger over to the bed beside Hermione's.

With a wave of his hand, the curtain expands and surrounds both beds as he settles Severus on the empty one.

"What the bloody fuck is happening, Albus?" Severus' voice is gravelly and sounds rather short of breath. "It's almost as if there is some kind of shield around this place. The closer I came to the infirmary, the harder it is to hear; the beating…"

Albus nods, waving his wand over Severus before dismissing the diagnostic spell with a flick. "Fascinating." The headmaster clears his throat, motioning to the other bed with his free hand while waving the wand and settling a perimeter around the cluster of beds, followed by a muffliato. "Miss Granger has reached her magical majority."

Dark eyes flicker from the old man over to the trembling form, curled up in the fetal position, on the bed beside him. "And what, exactly, does that have to do with the infirmary, headmaster? Has her power gone rogue?"

Suddenly, a small voice gasps from behind the potions master and he glances over his shoulder to Poppy. She stands just on the other side of the bed he's sitting on, her hands covering her mouth as she stares, wide-eyed, at Severus.

"And what, Poppy, is the matter with you?" He scowls, his attention turning from the healer to the headmaster. "What is the chit doing?"

"I'm afraid, Severus, that none of this is Miss Granger's doing. Rather, the fates." Albus pauses, his sober blue eyes affixed on the potion master's scowling countenance. He sighs slowly, with an inkling of just how well this information may be about to be taken. "Severus, Miss Granger - Hermione - has reached her magical majority. Rather traumatically, in fact; she was knocked unconscious while in the shower, sustained a bit of a bump on the head when she fell, and was found by her dorm mates." He pauses again, watching the other man closely. "Poppy and I cannot hear what you or she has described, nor sense it in any other way. It's… only the both of you."

There is a long moment of silence, Severus's penetrating gaze fastened on the headmaster, as though waiting for more information.

At the exact moment the knut drops, Albus briefly wishes for one of those muggle cameras. Severus's eyes widen, the whites shining in stark contrast to the dark centers, his lips part as a sudden breath whooshes from his lungs, and his hands curl into the bed beneath him, fisting the sheets between his fingers.

"No."

Just one word, stark and hard.

"It is the only possibility we have, Severus. Soul mates are rare and a precious thing - the timing could be better, of course."

The dark man leaps to his feet, one hand slashing through the air as he shouts. "The timing? The timing could be better?! That is your concern, Albus?! That your only concern from the possibility of the golden girl of Gryffindor possibly being bonded to someone like me is the timing?! Have you completely lost your mind?"

"Severus -"

He continues on, stridently cutting off any consolation the headmaster may attempt. "And what of me, Albus? This is not something I asked for, and how am I supposed to do my other duties if there is this as well? Not to mention she's a student?! A student that I have to teach!"

"I'm not particularly jumping for joy by this revelation, either, sir." The soft voice behind Albus cuts through the conversation and three gazes snap over to the girl in the hospital bed. Hermione pushes herself up carefully, drawing in deep breaths before she raises her suspiciously shiny eyes to her potion master's. "I apologize for any inconvenience, sir."

Severus's eyes narrow as he takes a short step closer to Hermione's bed, nostrils flaring as he draws in a sharp breath, his molars grinding together as he spits out the words. "An inconvenience is putting it mildly, Miss Granger."

"Not that I chose you, or this at all, sir… though, I suppose there are worse outcomes." She can't seem to look away from his eyes as he moves closer still.

A sharp exhalation of annoyance, sounding suspiciously close to a snort, makes Hermione's lips quirk as she watches the potion master. His shoulders relax minutely in the quiet lull, an action she would have missed if she hadn't been watching him so closely. Perhaps he was waiting for me to run, screaming, from the room.

They are still staring at one another as Severus takes another step closer, and his thighs bump into the bed. Hermione's eyes widen as the whole bed rocks and she flings out one hand as she wobbles.

When he reaches out as well, and their hands clasp, she cries out in surprise at the golden flare of light that subsides as quickly as it appeared.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Severus blinks the light from his eyes, before looking down to see his hand clasping Hermione's.

Hermione just shakes her head slowly, her fingers still clutching his rather tightly. "I don't know; I don't know any of this!"

Albus clears his throat then, making the two of them jump and pull apart suddenly. Severus clenches his hand - the one that had been holding Hermione's - before whirling on his heel and stalking from the infirmary.

"Well, that was rather abrupt." Hermione frowns, watching the potion master leave before blinking in surprise. "Oh! I don't hear the beating anymore." Her brows furrow as she looks to the headmaster. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"You know, I'm not really sure, my dear. I need to go check a few sources, maybe we can find some more information, hm?" Albus smiles benignly, before reaching out and patting Hermione's hand lightly. "Why don't you get some rest, while I do that? Poppy has some more potions for you, from Severus."

Hermione nods slowly, her brows still drawn together. She watches Albus as he steps over to Poppy and the two leave the enclosed area together after Madam Pomfrey tells her she'll be right back with the other potions she needs to take.

Once they're gone, she shudders and rubs the hand that Albus touched against the blankets covering her legs. After he touched her, it felt as though she needed to thoroughly scrub the spot he'd patted.

It certainly didn't feel like that with Professor Snape…