"So what is it?" Ginny said, her eyes narrowing. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Can't I come by just to hang out with my girlfriend?"

Ginny's laugh was husky and warm. "Can you? Yes. Will you? On a work night? No. You never come over all-casual on a work night just to hang out. You come over on a work night when you can't sleep and the cause of that not-sleeping is something that you don't want to talk to the boys about. Which means men, or sex, or men and sex. So spill it, sister."

Hermione sighed. "Gods. Sometimes I hate that you know me so well. Men and Sex. Ugh. You're not going to believe it, if I tell you. Hell, I don't even believe it."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You're hot for Snape, and having a problem with it?"

Hermione's face went slack, and her mouth gaped open. "What? I…how?"

Ginny laughed. "Oh, come ON! It's rather obvious. You've been mooning over him since we were teenagers, you know."

"I was NOT."

"Were too." She glanced down at her nails. "I mean, I know you were all about Ron, but there was definitely something there with Snape. Remember how sure you were that he was good, and how heartbroken you were when we thought he'd murdered Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I liked him."

"No, but it was a something, wasn't it? You believed in him. You really did, even when we all thought you were barmy. And THEN you spend your entire career working towards bringing him back. You rescue his ass, and he's all weak and looking to you for comfort. It's like a Geraldine Sparks novel. Hell, I'd think something were wrong with you if you weren't into him."

Hermione laughed. Trust Ginny put her mental agony into every-day perspective. "Well, when you put it that way…" She groaned. Dropped her head onto the pillow she'd set in her lap. "Shite. I'm so screwed."

"Oh, stop it. Why are you screwed? Because you like him so much?"

"He's my patient, for Merlin's sake. It's inappropriate."

"Was your patient. And it's absolutely appropriate."

"You're right. Was my patient. Oh, gods. Do the boys know?"

"What, that you want to shag the professor?" Ginny laughed and sipped her margarita. "I think Ron would need a brain enema if the thought even occurred to him. But yeah, Harry knows. He's the one who first pointed it out to me. You've been acting lovesick ever since the good professor woke up."

"Shite."

"Oh, stop moaning. It's just us, and we'll keep your secrets for as long as they are secret. I mean, I don't see why it needs to be, once you break up with Malcolm. Because, really, girlfriend, it is past time you pulled the plug on that one."

"Oh. Um. Yeah, I forgot to tell you. I broke up with Malcol yesterday."

"You broke up with the guy you've been dating for three years and you didn't owl me? You're just telling me now?"

"Uh,yeah. Sorry. I just got busy, and well, Snape."

"That is a serious friendship foul, Hermione, and you know it. But I'm going to let it pass, because…" She paused, raised her hands in a gesture of inevitability, "we'll call it mitigating Snape Insanity."

"Yeah. That fits."

"So if you're both unattached adults, there should be no problem. So, are you going to go for it?"

"Go for it? With Snape? He's not the kind of man one 'goes for it' with."

"Says who? He's male isn't he? Fully functional?"

Hermione frowned.

"I'll take that as a yes. So, what's the problem, then? It's not like going for him would be taking advantage of him. He may not be back to his fighting weight, but Snape's a big boy. From what you've said, I'm pretty sure he can defend himself if the big bad Healer puts a move on he doesn't like. So, what is the problem?"

"The problem is, I'm scared shitless. He's like a creature from another planet. He could really hurt me."

Ginny smiled, and topped up Hermione's glass. "Good. It's past time for you to put on your big girl panties and stop living in fear. You're a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake. You and Ron broke up. And you're afraid to get hurt again. I get it. But it's time for you to date someone with a pulse. And I'd bet the good professor has one."

"You have no idea."

"Really? That sounds like a story. Here. Drink your drink, and tell Ginny ALL about it."

SSSS

She was definitely not sleeping. Though he was enjoying his cassoulet with accoutrements, he couldn't help but notice that her eyes, tired on a good day, were blank with fatigue. He couldn't be certain, for she was skilled, but he'd bet the glamour she'd cast hid a pale complexion, and dark circles. He did not enjoy the feeling of concern he experienced. He had no business worrying about any body but his own. And yet…

"You look like shite." He said, his voice betraying his annoyance.

Hermione's eyebrows winged upward. "Please, no more compliments. You'll set me aflutter."

He scowled. "You perpetually appear tired. But today is worse. Why are you not sleeping?"

"Who said I'm not sleeping?"

"It is painfully obvious."

"Well, it's good to know that the work I put into my glamour in the morning has such great effect. I don't know why I bother."

"Nor do I. When you are not at the point of exhaustion, your actual face is pleasing, there is no reason to muck about with it."

"I'll take that under advisement. How is your rabbit?"

"Satisfactory, as you well know, as you are eating the same dish. And you'll find I am not so easy to distract. Why are you not sleeping?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not that it's any of your business, but I've had mild insomnia and sleep interruption since our year on the run. Med school didn't help."

"I assume you developed dreamless sleep issues."

She grimaced. "Utterly expected, eh? Thankfully, I broke the habit before it go too bad."

"That's more than most can say."

"Anyway, I don't sleep much now. The real insomnia comes and goes, but it rarely happens two days in a row. But this week I had interrupted sleep on Monday, insomnia on Tuesday, and then last night I got home late and was called back in on that emergency consult. And now I'm knackered."

"Understandable. The human body requires rest. Go home. Sleep."

Hermione yawned. "I can't. It's only 7pm…I'm due to work 'till midnight tonight."

"You've already indicated you have nothing pressing. Don't be obtuse. You are the director. Leave early."

"The director, doing things she'd never let her staff do? That's the kind of behavior that crushes a sense of shared commitment, and undermines morale. No, I've worked too hard to put this place to rights to stroll out of here five hours before the end of my shift. I'll finish it out. Tomorrow's my day off, I'll sleep in."

"But you have an hour for dinner."

"I do. Half of which is now gone."

"Well then, take the next thirty minutes for rest." He gestured to his bed.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're just saying that so you can eat my dinner."

"Possibly. But I generally get your food without resorting to trickery, and I can see your appetite is already flagging. Perhaps I simply wish for you to rest. You are safe here. Why should you not lie down?"

An entire list of objections formed instantly in her mind as to why she shouldn't take a brief lie-down in his hospital bed, but those objections vanished just as quickly as they'd appeared. All of the sudden, she could not think of one reason to resist. Resisting seemed pointless, a waste of energy. She really was tired. She pushed away from the table and staggered towards his bed, her eyes already at half mast. "You'll wake me in half an hour?" She yawned. "Mmm…it smells like you."

Severus Snape smirked as she closed her eyes…and immediately pulled her serving of cassoulet to his side of the table. Humming contentedly, he tucked in.

SSSS

Swimming up from a delicious dream, Hermione slowly moved towards consciousness. She was warm and safe and comfortable. Something smelled good. Daylight was playing on her eyelids; she must have slept the night through. Hallelujah.

She fluttered her eyes open. The comforting smell she'd identified came from the arm her face was nuzzled into. It was not her own. Disoriented, she took stock of her body, which seemed to be tangled up with the body next to hers. Her leg was thrown over the other person, and her left hand was wrapped around what seemed to be a trim male buttock.

She flew from the bed.

Lying there, awake, with his usual inscrutable expression, was Severus Snape.

She looked around her. For Merlin's sake. She was in a hospital. Her hospital.

"You look," he intoned, his voice deep with sleep, "Much improved."

"What in Hades name happened here?" she screeched.

Snape, utterly unruffled, summoned his wand and silencio'd the room. "You were tired. So you slept. When I was tired, I enlarged the bed so that I could do the same. If you are concerned about what else may have occurred, I assure you, your virtue is intact."

"My virtue? That's not what I'm upset about and you know it. I may have been tired, but I wasn't THAT tired. One minute I was rational, functional, and the next I was IN YOUR BED."

"I performed a mild compulsion spell. That is all."

"That is all?" She screeched again, then dropped her voice to a sibilant hiss. "You compelled me to sleep in your bed."

"It was hardly as prurient as that. You required sleep, and were unlikely to take it. I simply assisted you."

"Assisted me? Merlin save me from Slytherins! Of all the sneaky, slippery…"

"Ah, we've devolved to name calling. Delightful. Yes, yes, I am a Slytherin, as you well know. I remind you that although you knew I once again had my wand, YOU came to my bedside without the slightest protection or warding. If anything, you should be thanking me for my restraint. It has been rather a long time since I had a comely witch at my disposal."

"At your disposal?" outrage stained her voice. "I am your healer!"

"Were my healer you mean. Nonetheless, you'll admit a mid compulsion spell was rather the mildest offense I might have committed."

"Well, it didn't occur to me that you would commit any offense on me." She gave him a fulminating look, and began straightening her clothes viciously. "Obviously, letting you keep your wand was a mistake."

"Perhaps. But the nuance you are failing to grasp is that I neither hexed you nor harmed you. You had a need and I ensured that it was met. I fail to see what the problem is."

"The problem is, this is my hospital. I can't be seen sleeping in a patient's bed." She took a deep breath, "Particularly with the patient in it!"

Snape rolled his eyes and sat up. She noted with gratitude that while he was bare to the chest, he was, at least, wearing St. Mungos issue pajama bottoms.

"Now YOU are being offensive. I am recently comatose. I am not, however, an imbecile. I assure you that those who glanced in this room saw exactly what the expected to see. One standard sized hospital bed, containing one somewhat emaciated patient, and nothing else."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and sank into the room's sole armchair.

"Well, that's something at least." She tried, valiantly, to find a bright side. "So, what did you use to make me sleep? That would be a good charm to know."

"I used a simple compulsion spell to assure you that this bed was a fine place to sleep. That is all."

"That can't be. I don't sleep for twelve hours straight. Ever."

"A statement that is patently untrue. Obviously."

"Obviously. Twelve hours. I must have been more tired than I realized."

"My point exactly."

"Be that as it may, you must understand how inappropriate this action was."

"Must I? You needed sleep. You got it. I know from your files that you spent years attempting to care for me. I simply repaid the favor."

Hermione scrubbed her hands over her face. "Are you always so high-handed with your friends?"

His face held mild bemusement. "Are we friends then?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "After waking up with my face in your armpit, I would certainly hope so." Her temper, which had begun to wane, fired up again. "And why the hell do you think I've been eating with you? Pity? Yes we're friends, you idiot. Or we were. Or, I don't know what we are! And right now I'm so angry at you I can't see straight. You should not have done this."

"Given how rested you look, I disagree."

"Fine." She stood up, wand-waived herself tidy. "Well then, you can get your own damned dinners for the next few days. I don't want to see your face for a while. And don't think I won't shield myself from further compulsions in your presence."

He shrugged. "A wise choice. Good day, Madam Directress." He said. He then rolled over in his bed, giving Hermione his back side.

Hermione growled at it. The nerve! He was lucky she didn't hex him to eternity and back again. She growled again, then, checking the hallway to ensure it was clear, she slipped from the room.

End Chapter ten.

AN: Hello dear readers! I hope you enjoyed Hermione's tantrum and this weekend's post-a-thon. Unfortunately, I'll be slowing down soon, as I'm catching up with myself…I only have two chapters drafted after this one.

I do want to apologize for not responding to every review lately. I sit down with every intention of responding, and I open my computer and get sucked into writing the story instead. But I do read each and every one. And they make a difference. Many of your thoughts and suggestions have already been integrated into the plot. I even had my first cannon debate with the very brilliant VerySmallProphet. (I'm pretty sure she kicked my ass, but it was fun and informative nonetheless!)

And so! Our Plot! Our heroes have slept together. Platonically, alas, but…yum anyway. How long do you think it will take Hermione to figure out why she has no problem sleeping in Snape's arms?

Ponder that, and have a great week! Theolyn