A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) if you'd like, too!

Please let me know what you thought of chapter nine and be on the lookout for chapter ten tomorrow!


Severus had been surprised to learn that Hermione Granger wasn't all he imagined her to be. He'd only ever experienced her being an annoying know-it-all in the potions classroom, who was disgustingly perfect in nearly everything she did. She had a disgusting need to follow to rules or instructions down to the letter, but had no qualms about bending them when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were involved.

He'd been curious to see how she would fare without her two dumb sidekicks at her side, but then, he supposed she wouldn't be Hermione Granger if she hadn't convinced them to come back for their eighth year as well.

When he first found out that it was Granger who was possessed by Lily and that he was instructed to work for her, he was prepared for incessant questions and all the annoying habits she had in full display in class, but to his surprise, she'd been anything but.

They had many more similarities than he thought, and it seemed her need to follow the rules was limited to the classroom. It didn't take long for him to realize that it stemmed from an overwhelming fear of failure, possibly due to her muggleborn status. She had to work that much harder to prove that she fit into this culture she'd been thrust into, and it seemed Granger was determined to do it by being the best.

He was intrigued that she was willing to explore and push the boundaries of academic thought when there was no right answer, and they were just trying to figure out something that would work. It would serve her well in whatever discipline she followed on, but Severus found himself hoping that it would skew academic. He would never tell her to her face, but he was sure that whatever contributions she made to the academic world would be refreshingly interesting.

There had been more than one occasion where their reading had divulged into discussion of potions, and he found that he rather enjoyed her insight, and had even written down a few of her observations when he made it back to his quarters.

He had noticed that her cheeks would sometimes turn a bit pink if he caught her staring, but he was certain that she was just horrified of the way she behaved when possessed by Lily's spirit. Darkly, Severus was certain that a nubile, smart, and really quite pretty girl like Hermione would be disgusted at the thought of being intimate in any capacity with someone like him.

For his part, he hadn't been able to forget the way her coy looks had transformed her face into something beautiful. The glimpses of her body had haunted his memories, and as much as he wanted to shove them from his mind they had persisted. He wasn't going to act on anything romantic with a student, even if she was of age.

That's why he had to come clean to her about finding a ceremony to remove Lily from her body. He'd found it a week ago, but had been dragging his feet on letting her know, because he was going to miss their private time together in the library. At least, the ritual would have to be performed during the new moon, so they still had a few weeks together. Plus, there were many things that would need to be prepared, including a massive quantity of a precipitate of a potion to sprinkle into a ritual pattern to protect her body from Lily.

Severus looked across the cramped table at the girl in question, watching her nibble her lower lip in concentration and scribble out notes on her parchment. She was undeniably sweet looking in that moment and he was loath to break her concentration, but he knew it was necessary. This couldn't go on any longer...he didn't want to end up attached.

Clearing his throat, he pushed the huge tome across the table. Hermione looked up at him hopefully, before pulling the book towards her, her fingers running back and forth across the page, reading each line. Her face was a wonder to watch while she was reading, and Severus thought he could detect each minute expression that she had.

A gasp broke his concentration, when she was finished reading. "Do you really think this will work?" She asked. The ceremony was from a druidic tradition of magic, not one that was taught at Hogwarts, and it definitely skewed towards dark magic, rather than light magic.

"Yes, enough that it warrants a try." Severus said, before realizing he'd been too gentle on the girl. He had a reputation to uphold after all. "Why else would I share it with you?" He snarked, watching her turn bright pink at the admonishment.

Shaking her head slightly, Hermione ran some sums in her head. "We are going to need a massive amount of this potion. I'll say...we might be brewin all month!"

Impressed with her focus, Severus made a small noise of agreement. "Yes, which is why you will accompany me to my stores immediately. We will need to make an order for some of these ingredients and the sooner the better." Pulling the book back, Severus marked the page before closing it. A simple wave of his wand had the unneeded books floating back to their respective shelves.

Hermione stood from the table as well, and was staring at him with the oddest look on her face. Before he knew what was happening, the small woman was stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his waist, pinning his arms at his side. "Thank you so much for all your help, Professor Snape." She whispered.

It was his turn to blush, an odd feeling rushing through his body. It was different to be thanked, her sincerity plain as day. "You're welcome, Miss Granger." He said, wanting the contact to end as quickly as possible. It was one thing that he had caught glimpses of her more feminine attributes...he didn't need the memory of how they felt pressed intimately against his body to add fire to the flames.