The next morning at breakfast, both Hermione and Emiline's chairs remained vacant.

"Where is Professor Granger?" he asked the Headmistress.

"Emiline wasn't feeling well so Hermione has taken her to see Madam Pomfrey," she said.

"Serious?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so, just one of those things that children are wont to get," she said nonchalantly.

Severus ate his breakfast, glancing over the students, trying to ferret out danger, out of habit more than anything else. He watched Alexander quickly finish his breakfast and rush out of the Great Hall. Curiosity got the better of him and Snape rose to follow him.

When he caught up to Alexander, he had just turned the corner into the infirmary.

"Zander!" a little voice shouted.

"Hi Emmy," he returned with a smile, "Mum says you're not feeling well. I came to cheer you up."

"Zander, I miss you. I can letitay, Auntie taught me," she informed.

"That's wonderful Emmy, you show me when you feel better, ok?"

"Ok, do you have lessons now?" she asked him.

"Yes, I have potions this morning," he said.

Emiline screwed up her nose, "That 'Fessor Snay is mean."

"He's not mean, Emmy, or at least I don't think he means to be. He's very smart. He was one of Mum's favorite professors you know," he told her.

"I know," she said, "he doesn't like me."

"I bet he does," Alexander said.

"No, he doesn't. He say I talk too much, like Father," she told him.

"Well, maybe he didn't mean it," Alexander offered.

"Maybe," she compromised.

"I have to go to lessons now, I will see you at lunch. Feel better Emmy, I love you!"

"I love you Zander!" she replied, laying back down on the cot.

Snape had managed to slip down the corridor before Alexander left the infirmary. The scene between them was warming and they were clearly very close. He still wasn't sure how he was going to fix things with Emiline but for now, he decided he would start with her mother. The direct way, he supposed, was sometimes the best. Once he had built his courage at least.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Several days later, Severus made his way into Hermione's office.

"Granger," he began.

"Professor Snape," she returned.

"I would like to…apologize," he stumbled.

"I'm sorry?" she said shocked.

"I would like to apologize for my words the other day, at the Whomping Willow. I wasn't sure what to say to you so I was unkind. I'm sorry," he told her.

"Well…thank you, Professor. I appreciate that," she said, a bit unsure.

"Yes, well, I think that we are both members of this faculty, perhaps you could address me as the other staff do," he tried to offer.

"Only if that's what you want," she confirmed.

"It would be fine," he said, "I would also like to take you for dinner. As a thank you, for saving my life and not telling anyone, all that you know," he stumbled.

"That's the most interesting invitation I've ever received…" she said in shock. "Let me see if Flitsy can stay with Emiline and we'll be off."

"Agreeable," he said, "I'll meet you outside the doors in an hour."

Hermione wasn't quite sure what had just happened but her curiosity certainly had the better of her.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Hermione figured out quickly this wasn't to be a very conversational evening. They walked in silence to Hogsmeade and she followed him into a restaurant. The sign over the door was so faded she couldn't read the name of it, it was not a place she necessarily would have guessed would be a reasonable establishment for dining but was pleasantly surprised.

"Severus?" she asked, testing their new agreement.

"Yes, Granger," he answered.

"First, you can't call me Granger if I'm calling you Severus. I do have a name you know."

"Yes, Hermione," he corrected.

"Where are we? I mean, what's the name of this place?" she asked.

"Bill's," he told her.

"Bill's? Just Bill's? No Bill's Bar? Bill's Banshee Burgers? Just Bill's?"

"Yes, just Bill's, terrible name for a restaurant but the food is quite good," he told her.

She shrugged, finding her day getting stranger and stranger. A bottle of elf wine was brought to the table, dinners were ordered and for once, civil conversation between them ensued.

As the evening wore on and the bottle grew emptier, conversation was light and flowing, about potions, about people they knew, about Neville Longbottom's mishaps, about the Prophet, about everything. Hermione's cheeks began to flush from the alcohol, something she wasn't used to. She had shrugged off her cloak and her outer robes in the warm restaurant, leaving her in a jumper over her dress shirt and her slacks.

"I'm surprised Seamus is still alive," Hermione laughed, "At least Neville only tended to melt cauldrons, Seamus was always exploding something."

Severus smiled at the memory. "That's true. I have a first year this year that makes Longbottom look like a bleeding potions master."

"Buckleby" they said in unison.

Hermione shook her head. "He's a sweet boy but just so accident prone. He was trying to transfigure some cauliflower into a stopwatch and the next thing I knew there was a shriek. He had somehow, and I still haven't figured this out, managed to transfigure his feet into turnips."

They laughed together about their student, Hermione getting warmer and pulling her jumper over her head. As she pulled her jumper up, her shirt caught beneath it, pulling it up to her armpits, revealing an almost healed, but very large, yellow bruise.

Snape reached across the table, tugging her shirt up to see her ribs better.

"What is that?" he asked.

Hermione surveyed his eyes and followed them to her side, pulling her shirt down.

"Nothing," she said.

"That's not nothing, how did you get that?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Hermione-"

"Severus, can we not talk about this? We were having such a nice time, let's not spoil it please," she asked him.

"But-"

"Please."

He nodded silently as they finished their meal.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

As they walked back to Hogwarts, Hermione was disappointed by the quiet between them.

"I'm sorry about ruining your evening," she said.

"Nonsense, I had a lovely evening, I don't get out nearly enough and it was enjoyable to have someone to talk to," he said.

"You know," he started, "I was merely concerned. I wasn't trying to pry."

Hermione said nothing.

"Hermione, you can-"

Hermione stopped on the path and he turned around.

"Severus, I had a very nice evening with you. It was nice to have someone to talk to about theory and history and such and I hope we can be friends. There are some things though that I cannot talk about. Not to you or to anyone. I hope that you can respect that."

He looked into her eyes, a sort of desperation for company that he hadn't noticed before.

"I can respect that," he told her. "I will say one further thing then I won't bring it up again unless you do. May I?"

"Go ahead," she invited.

"If you find yourself needing to talk about anything, you can talk to me and I will keep your secrets closely. I don't want you to think that you don't have anyone," he offered.

"Thank you," she replied. "It's getting cold out, we should get back."

They walked back together, conversing sparsely at first then picking up, returning to a pace equal to that before the incident at the restaurant.

When Hermione got back to her rooms, Emiline was tucked in bed asleep. She brushed the girl's curls from her forehead and kissed her gently before retiring. She had enjoyed her evening with Severus immensely and felt slightly guilty for it. As her fogged brain tried to work out the conditions of the heart and mind, she dozed off, her mind numb and dreams dreamless.

Severus Snape was not resting nearly as well. He lay awake for some time, replaying those few seconds over and over in his head. Something was very, very wrong in the Granger-Weasley household and he wanted to know what. For that evening, however, he had to give himself credit for repairing two wrongs. Those had been the easiest, fixing the third was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done.