A/N: Hello Readers! As always, your nice reviews keep me writing. You all are an inspiration. The first part of this story sets up a very important character. It's Finals Week at my Uni and so I may post sporadically. Wish me luck!

WARNING: Sexual Situations and Attempted Suicide. This Story is Rated M! just a reminder.

Molly Burbage stared, horrified at the potion's professor. All she did was put too many lotus petals into her potion. Just a little too much. The color was still pearly, maybe a bit murkier than it was supposed to be. She stared at the retreating back of the man as he went to so torture some other poor person.

Molly didn't know why he was more awful than usual. Then again, the whole school was off kilter since Professor Granger lost her baby. Molly teared up at the thought and she tried to shake the feeling. But that was the reason that she was sorted into Hufflepuff. She was too empathetic. Whatever someone else was feeling, she would feel it too. Headmistress McGonagall had told the whole school that a student pushed Professor Granger down the stairs.

How could someone do something like that? She thought, almost starting to cry.

She bottled her potion after stirring it twice, trying to lighten the color. All of the professors aside from Professor Granger had been more snappish, and no more so than Professor Snape. One of her seventh-year house mates said that the school had lost more points in one week than during most years.

She approached the teacher's desk cautiously and picked up a label. Molly quickly wrote her name and house before gently settling the vile in the stand on Professor Snape's desk. Professor Snape, who had been consumed in grading papers, looked up straight into her eyes. Gone was the angry expression he wore earlier. All she saw was sadness. Sadness and pain.

Molly's eyes widened as she came to a conclusion. Professor Snape was Professor Granger's magic match. Molly quickly stole away to sit down in her seat, trying to forget the fact. Her mother's advice, no, orders, floated into her mind as she waited for class to finish up.

"Molly dear," Her mother called to her.

An eleven-year-old Molly was sitting near the pond by their house surrounded by mice, cats, racoons, fox, and even some of the fish came to the edge of the pond as the little girl told them a story. She was purposely ignoring her mother, wanting to finish before she had to go away until summer time.

"So you better all be here when I get back," She told the various animals as they scattered as her tall tale came to an end.

"Molly Masie Burbage!" she heard her mom yell.

At the sternness of her mother's voice, she dashed to the house. She felt the annoyance come from her mother. The force of it made her tear up.

"I'm sorry mummy, I wanted to f-finish my s-s-story," She said, trying to hold in her tears.

Molly then felt her mom's frustration melt away into a much stronger and softer emotion. Relief washed over the little girl as she grabbed her mom by the waste.

"Oh, my sweet baby, I could never be upset at you for long."

When her mother didn't speak for some time, Molly looked up at her face. She was getting older, and the little girl noted the fresh wrinkles that appeared in her mother's beautiful skin. She thought it made her mom look wise, regal, especially when her honey-blonde hair was done up in a high twist like it was done today. Her mother's crystal-clear blue eyes were pensive, as if she was thinking of places far away or long ago.

Molly remembered a conversation she overheard after she was supposed to be in bed. Her mother was talking to one of her friends about how stressful it was raising a child without a dad. It made her feel guilty, and the same emotions she felt coming from her mother were the same she felt now. It was like when her mom broke her leg. She was feeling pain, but deeper than pain, something more.

"I'm sorry mummy," she started in her sweetest voice, "I am going to Hogwarts. I won't be here so you won't be so sad and stressed anymore."

The girl, who looked almost exactly like her mother, hugged her even harder and started to cry despite herself.

"Molly, baby, no," her mother said sternly, "I am sad that you are leaving. I will miss you dearly and I will be counting the seconds until the winter holidays. But about you going to Hogwarts."

Her mother trailed off, seeming to struggle with her words.

"I should have told you this a long time ago, maybe tried to teach you how to control it, but it is so hard," she sighed, "You are an incredibly bright child. More than that, you are an empath, and those traits mean that you know things. You know things that you are not supposed to know. You are going to be around a lot of people and you are going know things, secrets, that you can never tell without permission. Do you understand me?"

"Mummy, you said I should never keep secrets."

The older woman sighed and stood up, "And no more listening to mummy's conversations," she said, but she smiled at the girl.

Molly, feeling she was dismissed, went to go upstairs. Before she got too far away, her mother grabbed her arm firmly.

"Promise me you'll try to keep the secrets, Molly."

Molly stayed silent, not wanting to make a promise to her mom and then break it.

"Promise me!" Her mom shook her slightly.

"I promise mummy." She said.

"Miss Burbage!"

Molly was snapped out of her reverie by the unpleasant voice of her potion's professor.

"If you don't vacate your seat this instance, I will assign you another weeks' worth of detention, but this time with Professor Hagrid, He'll have you go into the forbidden forest!"

Molly jumped out of her seat, terrified of the monsters lurking in the dark woods and rushed out of the room. Her friends were standing outside of the class room. They made their way to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Who do you think Professor Granger's magic match is?" One of her friends asked.

This conversation was one almost everybody had about the sweet yet stern professor. Molly had never joined in with these speculations but now she knew something.

"It's Snape!" She couldn't stop herself from blurting out.

Her friends all looked at her with widened eyes before bursting out into laughter. They called her mental, saying they couldn't picture the vicious, sarcastic man with their favorite professor, or anyone for that matter. Molly was silently relieved. She berated herself for sharing yet another secret.

I failed you again mummy.

SSHGSSHG

Severus sighed as he glanced at the empty chair next to him. It was the third time this week the woman had not come to any faculty meals. She had missed breakfast in the morning, and She had only just got back to teaching her classes two weeks after the incident and though he tried to seek her out, to ask about her welfare, she was nowhere to be found outside of her classes. He had started to care about her in spite of himself. He grew irritated at the thought and pushed his chair back with a loud creek. He felt all the eyes in the great hall on him as he left the room. On his way to the library he ran into the one person he did not want to see.

"Have you seen Hermione?" The impudent raven-haired boy asked.

"Who do you think I am looking for, boy?" He spat at him, speeding up his steps in a vain effort to lose him.

The boy followed him silently, much to his chagrin. They arrived at the library in silence. Severus passed by her favorite table, even looked in the restricted section, but she was no where to be found. He turned around and Potter was looking both ways, biting his lip.

"There's one more place," he said, walking to a corner of the library.

Severus followed him curiously to a part of the library he had never been to before. The books were all dusty, save a few. He read the titles that were less dirty than the others. Charlotte's Web, Sense and Sensibility, The Federalist Papers. He picked up one by Henry David Thoreau. They way he wrote was annoyingly old fashioned, but the pictures he painted with his words were amazing.

"This way," Potter whispered as he pulled a book of the shelf.

Severus was shocked as a section of the bookshelf simply vanished. Potter carried the book inside and Severus followed. He quickly placed the book in an empty gap inside the room and the wall appeared behind him.

"What is this place?" Severus asked.

He looked around him. It wasn't a big place, but there were several more rows of bookshelves, some comfy looking couches and a large roaring fireplace.

"This is… Hermione's place," Harry answered tentatively.

"She made this place?" He asked.

"Well, er, no. The ghost of Ravenclaw showed it to her first year because everyone was teasing her, calling her annoying, a know-it-all. She had wished she had been sorted into Ravenclaw. The ghost took pity on her. Apparently, Rowena made this place for her own daughter to relax after studying. Time works differently in here, it is a bit slower, and the room is spelled to help you relax, but don't worry, Hermione never used this room to extend study time, though maybe she did her third year…" Potter trailed off in silence.

They quickly searched the room, but not finding her there, they replaced the book on the outside of the room and left the library.

"How has no one found that room?" He asked.

"It's the muggle section, and you know how the wizarding world feel about muggles and almost all muggleborns abandon their heritage to be here and feel as though they can't read anything by a muggle. Everyone but Hermione. Now where could she be?"

Severus remembered when they had first found out about the law, the girl had not gone to the Library, but to the tower. Severus turned on his heel and left, not bothering to speak to the annoying boy, who quickly started following him anyways. About halfway there, Potter realized where they were going.

"She wouldn't come up here, she's terrified of heights,"

Severus just grunted as they started climbing the stairs to the astronomy tower. When they reached the top, they saw Hermione, sitting on the window ledge, her legs swung over the side. She was in her white nightgown and her hair was loose, her curls flying every which way. Severus was stricken by her beauty. Her nightgown was almost translucent, and he could see her pale, scarred skin through her dress.

Harry walked up to her and grasped her shoulder.

"Hermione, what's going on?" He asked.

Hermione turned her eyes towards him.

"I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice.

Her eyes briefly turned and stared straight into Severus's. What he saw there was terrifying. There was nothing. Her eyes perfectly mirrored his own, but it wasn't a mask, like his was. Her eyes were dead, soulless and he was immediately transported back.

He was standing by the window in the astronomy tower overlooking the lake. He looked down. It was a long way down. He felt a presence behind him. There was the headmaster, a knowing twinkle in his eye.

"Killing yourself will solve nothing," The wise man said.

"I have no reason left to live," he said, his voice emotionless.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't kill them."

"But you said—" Severus started.

"I was angry, and I shouldn't have said that. You were brave for coming to me, and as soon as I said I would do anything to save them, their deaths were as much of a fault as mine. But we, you and I, really know who killed them: Voldemort."

"What does it matter. She died anyways. I loved her, and now she is gone."

"Severus, my dear boy. Everybody makes mistakes in life, some worse than others. Voldemort, Tom, He was a student here. I knew he was turning to the dark arts, and I did nothing. I thought it was a mere, healthy, fascination that all powerful wizards had. But I was wrong. I could have stopped him. It was one of the worst mistakes I have ever made. Just think of the suffering I have caused by my inaction. That is why we fight. To correct our mistakes, to restore the good in the world. I have been in your position before, standing where you stand, but don't make this mistake, Severus. If you make this mistake, you cannot hope to fix the others you have made."

Severus stepped away from the window and towards the aged man. He fell to his knees and hugged the man around the middle, crying, for the first time in his adult life, into the various layers of the man's purple robes.

"There there, my boy," he whispered, running his fingers soothingly through his hair.

Severus thought how he longed for his own father to comfort him this way. To show any sympathy for him at all. The now branded death eater took comfort in the fact that someone as good as Dumbledore did not think he was beyond saving, beyond being good.

The wise man seemed to read Severus's mind, "You are a good man at heart, Severus, and we will not let Lily Potter die in vain. Now come, there is much to plan for."

Severus started moving as soon as they broke eye contact. Potter didn't realize what was happening before it was too late. Hermione leaned out of the window. Potter made a grasp for her hand, but her delicate fingers slipped out of his hand as she started her rapid descent. Severus pushed the idiot boy out of the way an dove out of the window after the girl. He willed himself to fall faster and was silently grateful the Dark Lord imparted with him the skills to fly.

He grabbed on to the girl with his arms and legs. With a 'pop' they disappeared.

SSHGSSHG

They landed with a hard 'thud' on Severus's couch, breaking it into several pieces. Severus had tried to slow their speed before they apparated, as acceleration was not lost during the process. He had been on the bottom and therefore had taken most of the force. He got up slowly and cast a diagnostic charm on the imbecilic woman. Nothing was wrong with her except her accelerated heartrate. He then sent a Patronus to the Potter boy, as he would probably come looking for them if he hadn't.

After he checked himself over and making sure everything was okay, he turned on Hermione.

"What in Merlin's Beard were you thinking?" He yelled, "Was that really your plan? Do you think you're allowed to just die like that? Do you know what would have happened if Potter and I had not showed ourselves exactly at that moment, or if it was just Potter and he obviously didn't know what you were going to do?"

He took a deep breath, "You would have died, Miss Granger," He bit out angrily, "You would have died in front of the students no less, in front of Potter. Do you have any IDEA what that does to a person?"

Severus finally looked down at the trembling woman and thanked merlin that she wasn't crying.

"I used to think that you were brilliant, Miss Granger, but now I know you are just as stupid and idiotic as the rest of them."

Hermione stood up and pushed Severus back into the wall with surprising force.

"You have no idea what I have been going through!" she shouted at him.

"I lost a child too!" He yelled.

Then she kissed him. He froze, not knowing what to do. She deepened the kiss, and whatever anger he was feeling moments earlier melted away temporarily as his animalistic need, heightened by adrenaline, took over.

He started pushing her back, leading her towards the bedroom while trying to feel every inch of the girl through her nightdress. He pushed her onto his bed and hiked up her dress. He unbuttoned his pants, releasing his erection, and after prepping her briefly, thrust inside of her. It felt heavenly as he set a rough pace. She was moaning underneath him and running her hands through his hair but then something happened.

He was back in the dark lord's presence. He was making Severus watch his memory of killing Lily Potter. He watched the man send the killing curse towards James and move towards the nursery. Lily was there, his beautiful Lily, shielding her boy who was in his crib, begging the dark lord to spare them. But the evil wizard, without pause, without remorse, cast the killing curse at her. She screamed before it hit her in the chest, crumpling to the floor.

"Lily!" He shouted as he came.

He collapsed, spent, on his bed.

SSHGSSHGSSHG

Hermione thought that nothing had felt so right. She knew as soon as she left the window that she did not want to die. She wanted to keep living, she wanted to get her magic back, to get her masteries, to fall in love, to have children. But it was too late. Then Severus had grabbed her, had saved her life. She knew in that moment that she wanted to be with him.

She never knew that Sex could feel this amazing. The roughness, the passion, it just wasn't there with Harry. She had never felt this amount of emotion with anyone else. Then her heart shattered. He said her name as he spilled his seed inside of her. Lily.

Hermione immediately started sobbing. What had felt so amazing suddenly felt disgusting, dirty, degrading. She pushed away quickly, replacing her underwear and adjusting her nightgown.

"Hermione?" The man asked confusedly as she fled from the room.

Hermione was grateful that it was a Hogsmeade weekend, the halls were deserted as she rushed to McGonagall's office. She arrived out of breath, tears streaming down her face, and said the password.

"Hermione, what's going on?" she asked, taking in her disheveled appearance.

"I need some time off. Suspend my pay, I don't know when, or if, I will be back."

"Hermione," The graying woman said in a warning tone.

"Please, Minerva," Hermione stressed her first name, "I need this, I can't be here."

McGonagall seemed to think for several moments.

"In light of everything that has happened, you are due some time off. Please come back after Christmas break, as you are in a binding contract with the school that must be fulfilled. If you wish to not renew your contract after the spring term, so be it."

Hermione nodded her thanks and grabbed some flu powder.

"Oh, and Hermione,"

Hermione turned around. She saw the woman she often regarded as a mother figure with a deep, intense worry all over her face.

"Please, if you need anything, all you need is to ask."

Hermione nodded before throwing powder in the fireplace and shouting:

"The Burrow!"

SHGSSHGSSHG

Minutes later, Severus burst through Minerva's office door. Minerva noted he looked frantic, his hair and clothes disarrayed and a wild look in his eye.

"What did you do?" She asked accusingly.

"Something very very bad."