A/N: Wow, I really must have done something right with the last chapter, I got a lot of follows, welcome to the story guys :) anyway, hope you enjoy the new chapter and don't be shy, please let me know what you think! :) xxx


"Enter.", she heard the professor's voice order from inside.

She found him sitting at his desk, grading papers.

"Good…evening."

"Hrmph." He looked up at her for a second and then inclined his head towards a chair. She sat down and waited for him to finish and say something.

"I am impressed to see that you have completed two assignments in less than two hours. I should hope you are not rushing with your regular school work?"

She shook her head, looking appalled at the mere thought of not completing her work to a proper standard.

"I had most of the research done, Sir, so it didn't take very long to write up everything."

He didn't reply, but finished grading the paper in front of him, drawing an ornate 'E' on the bottom of the page.

Hermione found the man greatly confusing. He behaved very gentle and concerned towards her, even offered her all this help, but then he just fell back to his usual grumpy and snarky self, even though she was under the impression that he did not mean to hurt her anymore with his sarcastic remarks.

She watched as he pushed the stack of parchments to the side.

Slowly the wizard stood, summoning a cauldron from the store room.

"We will start off with some brewing. I know it will help to calm you. It will also be a daily exercise during which you will learn to discipline your thoughts. It is crucial that you are able to control your mind as it will help you cope during the day and when we try to solve your problem."

She nodded in agreement, feeling at ease for the first time that day due to his clear instructions. She wasn't sure if he was aware that just those stern rules did a great deal to help her. It was like something to hold on to.

"If you will now, Miss Granger, please count to ten."

He saw the surprised look on her face, but she did what she was told without asking.

"Breathe. In. Out. Push all thoughts from your conscience. Focus on the present until everything else ceases to exist."

Hermione looked up at him, her face an expression of calm.

"You will use these instructions every time before you brew and also whenever you feel a situation is overwhelming you. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Very well. Today we will make a Calming Draught. I believe you are familiar with it?"

Hermione nodded and confidently recited the list of ingredients.

Snape cocked his head in approval and motioned for her to stand in front of their workbench.

"I see you have restocked the mistletoe berries." She turned to look at him a sparkle of amusement in her amber eyes.

"Focus.", he drawled, finding it hard to focus himself standing so close to the young woman. He told himself he would get used to it in time. After all he was going to see Hermione every day now, as it seemed. He nearly growled at the thought. Why did he do this again? Oh yes. It was the right thing to do.

Hermione turned back to the ingredients, her face once again calm.

Snape's hand curled around hers just like before, guiding her through the different motions of preparing the mildly difficult potion, which were slightly different from the ones found in the text book. She secretly rejoiced in the cool feel of her potions professor's touch, but told herself to keep focused lest he find out what broke her concentration.

The professor smirked at the delight on the know-it-all's face when they managed to create another absolutely perfect potion and found he looked forward to seeing her use the newly learned skills in his potions class and later on in their private sessions when he would allow her to brew on her own.

Hermione looked around for Snape after tidying their workstation and found him sitting in one of two comfortable armchairs, that seemed completely out of place in the room students often referred to as 'the cave'.

She took a seat and the cup of tea he was offering. Hermione had found that she loved his tea, but she didn't dare ask him where he got it.

They drank in silence for a while until the young witch cleared her throat because she couldn't stand it anymore.

"This looks a bit like a session with a muggle psychologist."

Snape snorted. "Believe me, Miss Granger; this… arrangement is in no way comparable to what you are referring to."

They fell silent again and she started fidgeting in her chair.

"So what are we going to do, professor?"

He had trouble hiding his smile. "Just now I am testing your ability to stay quiet for a to you unknown period of time. I must sadly inform you that it is not one of your better skills. However I am confident it may improve in time. For now however… How do you feel about telling me about those nightmares you have?"

He saw her hesitation and decided she needed a little nudge in the right direction.

"Don't worry, we'll take it one step at a time and I will try not to push you too far out of your comfort zone. It is the only way to go about this, though, trust me."

He looked at her and suddenly remembered he had meant to ask her something else earlier.

"Wait, before I forget, have you eaten today?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Yes."

"When?"

"What does this have to do with my problem?", she snapped.

"Watch your tone. If you must know, forgetting to eat are first signs of either stress or of a person that has deemed their life is without purpose. You should know yourself which category you fit at the moment."

With that he clicked his fingers, almost certain that she had missed lunch completely. A house elf appeared and returned seconds later with a platter of sandwiches.

Hermione had to force herself to not scowl at the professor for his overly concerned behaviour.

Snape himself had to force the bemused expression off his face when he saw the Gryffindor relish in a sandwich seconds later, her whole body giving away her hunger.

"Is it possible that there is another category of people that forget to eat?", she asked a bit later.

"Do enlighten me."

"Well, what about people that are completely overwhelmed by a situation and get so caught up in distracting themselves from it that they forget to eat?"

"And would that be the category you fit in, Miss Granger?"

She sighed, deciding to do everything to make this odd form of therapy work and so she started telling him about her earlier encounter with Ginny and Luna and how it made her forget about lunch. It also allowed her to avoid the topic of her nightmares for another while.

Always observant, Snape noticed this of course, yet said nothing knowing she would tell him in her own time.

"I always thought Miss Weasely seemed to be a bit pushy at times.", Snape conceded after Hermione finished her story. "I am almost certain she got that from her mother."

The young witch gawked at him for a minute and then started giggling.

"I can't believe you just said that! … Sir."

He smirked at her reaction and the way she nearly forgot the formalities. He noticed he didn't mind, as long as she didn't slip up in front of other students, not that he was going to tell her.

"I can say from past experience that it is true, Miss Granger. I was subjected to that… pushiness at nearly every Order meeting. There were quite a few of them, as I'm sure you know."

Hermione kept shaking her head in disbelieve, trying to imagine Mrs Weasely fussing over Snape.

"Am I right in assuming that Miss Weasely's attitude is the reason why you missed lunch and why I found you in such a state in your room?", he interrupted her thoughts.

She looked up at him and had half a mind telling him that he was sounding just like the Weasely matriarch, but of course she didn't dare. Instead she nodded in assent.

They fell silent again, but this time she didn't want to be the first to speak. Probably because she knew where the conversation was heading.

"Now, those nightmares of yours… What kind of nightmares are they?", he asked softly, knowing they wouldn't get anywhere if he didn't make the first step. And when did you become an expert on human behaviour, again? Seeing her wince he wished he hadn't asked, afraid she would feel he was pressuring her just like her friends.

"I'm not sure I understand what you are asking, Sir.", she replied shyly.

"Look I will just ask you a few simple questions to get the general idea, what do you think?"

She nodded, one of her curls falling from her loose bun.

"Are your nightmares recurring or always different?"

She did start to feel as if this was a proper therapy session.

"Recurring."

"But it is more than just one?"

"Yes."

"And are they about things that have happened to you or things that you are afraid of that will happen in the future?"

"Both, in a way. Most are things that happened to me during my… adventures with Harry before he finally defeated Voldemort. And then there are some that are a mixture of both…" She trailed off, but started to speak again when she saw the puzzled look on her professor's face. It wasn't an obvious expression, but obvious enough for her.

"Do you remember during my second year, when the basilisk petrified Mrs Norris?"

Snape nodded, scowling on the inside at the thought of a livid Filch threatening to do things to the culprit even he wouldn't consider for punishment.

"Well, sometimes I dream it's Crookshanks instead of Filch's cat…"

Hermione blushed feeling embarrassed. Snape had to hide a smile once more.

"Oh that insufferable fur ball of a familiar? To be honest, Miss Granger, I get what you were trying to explain but somehow I doubt that this dream renders you unable to sleep at night."

"I haven't seen him since the final battle!", she scoffed. "He could have been eaten by acrumantulas for all I know. But you're right; it's by far not one of my worst nightmares."

The potions master watched her intently for a moment.

"Would you be able to share one of those worse nightmares? It is important for me to know what has you so terrified so I can figure out a way to help you get over that fear."

He saw her hesitation and added: "I don't expect you to tell me the worst of all, take one that's bad but still bearable. Little steps, remember?"

She nodded, taking deep breathes, trying to pick one of her nightmares without thinking of them too much.

"It's difficult…. You know how I said the nightmares were recurring? Well they are, but it's as if there are also different versions of the same dream, some worse than others."

"Then you should tell me the worst-case-scenario, if you can."

Hermione cocked her head to the side, finally deciding on a dream.

"Sometimes I see Hagrid, carrying a dead Harry in his arms. Voldemort is talking to everyone, telling them to join him before it's too late. Neville steps forward, but this time Harry doesn't wake up. Hagrid is shaking him, but he just doesn't wake up. Voldemort kills Neville and then his Death Eaters come forward and start killing everyone and in the end it's just me and Voldemort."

She swallowed, not daring to look up at her professor.

"He…he levitates Harry out from all my dead friends and towards me. He laughs in my face and says 'not so smart now, are you, Princess of Gryffindor?' and then he feeds Harry to Nagini. Bellatrix turns up out of nowhere-" She stopped abruptly not ready to share that story just yet.

"I wake up, thinking I am completely alone with no one to turn to and I feel even worse for pushing my friends away, but… but I just can't help it."

A stray tear ran down her cheek and she tried not to shiver.

Snape had watched and listened in shock, noticing how the blood drained from her cheeks. Needing time to think of a reply he handed her another cup of tea and she wrapped her hands around it gratefully.

"It seems that you are still trying to work your head around all the things that happened to you during the war and that is only natural. But you should remember that the Dark Lord is defeated. He will not come back and he will not harm any of them or you, for that matter. Your friends won't abandon you either, they are your friends after all, and you Gryffindors are known to be fiercely loyal."

She smiled at that, a bit of colour returning to her cheeks. "You're right. Maybe I feel guilty for not talking to them as much as I used to…"

Snape shook his head. "You shouldn't feel guilty about that. They all have things they don't want to share with anyone and they should realise that you are just the same. But if you are afraid of being alone… Even if every single person in Hogwarts should suddenly leave or die, I'll still be here to give you your extra potions class."

Hermione stared at him, surprised at the sudden declaration that made her feel incredibly warm inside. Never would she have thought to rely on and come to trust the professor that much.

He watched her over the rim of his tea cup and straightened up when her expression of relieve turned into shock.

"What is it, Miss Granger?"

She stared at him and he started to think he had done something wrong, when she spoke again.

"I think I just understood one of my problems…", she said, looking straight at him.

"Did you know Ron left Harry and me when we were trying to find the horcruxes?"

"Yes, I was aware of that." He still couldn't believe the Weasely-boy had been such a coward to just abandon his two best friends, the female of which he had had a crush on for all he knew.

"Well, I think that day something inside me broke and I… I lost my ability to rely on people. How can I when one of my best friends left me when I needed him most? I know they're not all like Ron and Harry can be great but he's so preoccupied with his own problems…" Her voice faded and she stopped talking.

"I'm over-analysing, aren't I?" She asked, meeting his black gaze. His lip curled up slightly.

"Yes, but I for one find it quite helpful to do so from time to time. For now, I think it is time for you to go get some rest. I will try and think of something for tomorrow to work on your trust issues."

Hermione shuddered at the prospect of sleeping. Snape noticed of course.

"You should try and focus on the good things that happened to you over the past few years. Maybe that will help you sleep."

She sighed deeply. "I can always try."

The young witch got up and grabbed her bag. Stopping on her way to the door, she turned back to the dark wizard who was still sipping his tea.

"Sir, may I ask you a question?"

"That was one already."

Hermione growled at him and he smirked in reply.

"How do you know all those things about nightmares and what to do?"

He hesitated and decided she deserved the truth. Lies on his part, should she catch him, would only worsen her trust issues and the little Gryffindor had already experienced enough pain.

"From my own experience. I, too, had trouble coping with things that happened to me. It took me the better part of twenty years to get through my problems. I do hope I will be able to accelerate the process for you a bit."

She smiled. "Thank you, Professor." Growing a bit bolder facing this more open version of her professor she added: "By the way, your tea is absolutely amazing."

He couldn't help chuckle and shooed her out the door, before she realised just how much he enjoyed her company, even though their conversation hadn't been exactly light.

oxoxoxoxo

At the same time in the Gryffindor common room, Ginny was speaking to Harry's head in the fire. Luna was next to her, having managed to convince the Fat Lady to let her in. Ginny still couldn't believe it, but Luna had always had a way with portraits and ghosts.

"Harry, we need to do something. Hermione is completely shutting us out; she slammed a door in my face today!"

Harry frowned. "What did you do? When we were in school she only went to those extremes when Ron was annoying her for hours about a sensitive topic."

Ginny sighed. "Well, I tried to force her to tell me what the hell was wrong with her. It didn't quite work."

Both of them ignored as Luna got up and started walking around with her typical dreamy expression on her face. She stopped to inspect a crack in the wall.

"You can't push her into something; that never works. You should try just being nice to her, pretending nothing is wrong and she'll eventually come around."

"Hermione is very hurt about something, but she will tell you in her own time, I think. You should show her that she can trust you." Luna, who had wandered back to the fireplace, suddenly chimed.

Ginny scoffed. "She knows she can bloody trust me, Luna, I don't need to show her."

Harry shook his head looking soothingly at his girlfriend. "Maybe that's exactly what's wrong, Ginny. When Ron left us in the woods last year she was devastated. I mean really really hurt. Coming to think of it, she hasn't been the same ever since."

They started to discuss a strategy to help Hermione, while Luna moved away again to pet one of their classmate's familiars.