She wanted to speak, but no words came out. He kept looking at her expectantly, while she felt a crimson blush spreading on her cheeks. How could she ever tell him that she had been madly in love with him, and so hurt by his scathing rejection that she had stooped to a childish and reckless vengeance? What would he think of her? She had always been a model student, attentive, caring and, most of all, sensible. What she had done was her big, dark, shameful secret. It was bad enough he had seen those images – Merlin, Hermione, he's seen you naked! What were you thinking?! – but she couldn't just talk to him about any details. But then again, she wouldn't need to do that to apologize.

"Professor Snape, I… umm… there are no words to say how sorry I am. I cannot possibly explain my reasons to you, but I can tell you that I have never been as ashamed of anything I have done in my life as much as I am ashamed of what I have done to you. I hope, one day, you might be able to…. forgive me." She really had wanted to meet his eyes during her speech, but shame had weighed her down so much that this time, she had fallen even short of the tip of his nose and had instead apologized to a fabric covered button on his chest.

She let out a deep breath when she had finished, and waited for him to speak. He didn't.
The silence stretched out, becoming uncomfortable. She fumbled with her hands, then slowly forced her gaze upwards, button by button. Her courage almost left her at the tip of his nose, but finally, she looked into his eyes for the first time in years.

They looked thunderous, fierce and furious. Although she knew she should probably cower in fear, her body decided to counter the flight command of her subconscious with unloading a mass of butterflies into her belly. Oh, his eyes… she had forgotten how much she loved his eyes. Before she could make an utter fool out of herself, Snape's sharp response snapped her out of her reverie.

"That's it, Miss Granger?! After all these weeks of torment that you have put me through, you just expect me to forgive you without you giving me any explanation? I hadn't thought you a fool."

Hermione sputtered: "Weeks of torment? I know it was unforgivable, but still… it was only three times…" She felt like an idiot saying that. She was about to concede that he was right, when he interrupted her thoughts.

"Four times."

She blinked at him, astonished. "No, believe me, I know for a fact that it was only three times. Maybe you picked up on some other student's thoughts."

He advanced on her, menacing. "Believe you me, Miss Granger. Four times. I know for a fact that each one of them was you."

"I do trust my memory, Professor Snape. I would know if I had done it a fourth time!"

He squinted at her. "So you are confident that you are in possession of all of your memories of the last night before leaving for summer break?"

The night before leaving for summer break? What had she been doing? She tried to remember the end of her fifth year, thankful that her brain was such a reliable machine that usually spilled out the facts that she requested with ease.

The Gryffindor Girls Pajamas Party! her brain supplied. Remember how all of the girls had gotten together and gossiped and talked about which boys they liked and if they had kissed anyone yet? They had stuffed themselves on sweets, one rather large package being liqueur filled chocolate candy. That had been Hermione's first real experience with intoxication. She remembered the mad giggles, laughing until tears came to her eyes, before finally, she had stumbled off into the direction of her bedroom and then… nothing. The concentrated as hard as she could, but everything after that remained blank, her memories picking up the next morning.

"Oh…" was all that Hermione could manage. And then it dawned on her. She must have done something in her intoxicated state, sent him another image. And probably not one of the timid ones, either. Oh, no! Oh no, no, no! This just couldn't be true.