Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters blah blah blah

Author's Note: Okay this chapter took a little while to write becuase of exams etc. I personally find this chapter incredibly boring as well, so that probably had something to do with it. Don't worry though: I'm now on uni holidays so I'll have MUCH more time to write. There should be another chapter coming up within a few days hopefully. And i can definatley promise you that there will be some lemons in the next few chapters too! Please keep Reviewing becuase reviews make me want to write!

Recap: Hermione gets attacked *gasp* by Mrs Norris and Snape arrives to save the day...er..night. What did he think about it? Well, read on..

A Yearning - Chapter 10

Severus –

I sat in my room, breathing heavily, once Hermione had left.

It was some time before I found the energy to move. Hermione's sudden departure had sucked the air out of the room, leaving me feeling momentarily empty.

Somehow, however, I managed to slap myself back to reality.

I got off my chair, took one look at the pile of unmarked essays on the table and, steeling myself, grabbed them and stalked out of the room; the door banging shut behind me. As much as I wanted to sit there and think slowly and carefully through all the possible fantasies I could soon be experiencing with Hermione, I didn't want to let myself get carried away. I reassured myself that there would be plenty time for that later.

I sat back down behind my office desk, trying to pretend that I had not just sat here looking across from Hermione only an hour or so earlier that day. But I must admit; it was very difficult indeed to sit there and mark sloppy essays when I could distinctly taste Hermione in my mouth. I closed my eyes, and my mind tried to dissuade me, but to no avail: she had kissed me; there was no need to hide anymore.

I caught myself grinning, and had to struggle to suppress it. Stop it, Severus! My mind was shouting at me, Kissing Hermione is one thing but for God sakes: control your damn emotions! What will people think if they see you smiling?

'They'll probably think I'm enjoying myself' I replied aloud, rather sarcastically.

Exactly! My conscience yelled triumphantly. How suspicious would that look? Severus, you've never smiled at anything in your whole damn life!

I threw down my quill angrily; about to retort loudly that perhaps I was sick of looking miserable, when I stopped. For a whole five seconds I stared straight ahead of me, realising that I was not only having an argument with my head, but I was fighting for the losing side.

'God, I am an idiot' I muttered, wrenching my head back down to the essays. But I couldn't concentrate now; I was just too damn irritated. I sighed loudly and rubbed my eyes wearily. Would my conscience never let me rest?

Yes, I kept my emotions to myself and no, I didn't smile or laugh very often; but, I thought irritably, being a Potions teacher is hardly an amusing career.

I knew that, in general, all the students (excluding those in Slytherin) disliked me to some extent. And to be completely honest, I generally disliked most of them back. It was not an easy task, teaching Potions. It meant getting up early and staying up late marking essays. It meant long hours gathering ingredients and sorting them out. It meant sweating over the steaming fumes of cauldrons and freezing slowly from the iciness of the dungeons. It ruined my skin and it left my hair lank; and to say that preventing students from blowing up the classroom was an easy feat would surely have to be the understatement of the century, especially when Longbottom was involved. At least the pay was reasonable.

The students, no doubt, payed no regard to these facts. I was well aware of the names they called me, how they referred to me as a great greasy bat. I'd liked to see just one of those evil little shits spend a week in the Potions classroom and not have greasy hair, I thought darkly.

I shook my head. There was no use thinking about my career, I told myself, it was not going to get these essays marked in any case. I picked up my quill again, and forced myself to read the wretched papers until they were done.

*~*

The day passed by incredibly slowly and I can not pretend that my patience was not waning by dinner. I spent the whole hour sitting there scowling and skulking, although as this was hardly different from my usual character, nobody noticed.

I then retired to the staff room where I enjoyed a restrained argument with Minerva over the first game of Quidditch for the year. Several hours later, having finally exhausted the subject, I decided it was late enough to return to my room and wait for Hermione. I didn't know what time she would be coming, but I wasn't about to sit around with the staff when I could be tasting her sweetness again.

But before I could make an excuse to leave, Minerva sighed and rubbed her temples, 'Severus, I'm quite tired.' She furrowed her brows, 'As much as I have enjoyed this conversation,' (I gave a small smirk), 'I hope you'll forgive me, but I think I'll turn in.' She stood up.

I gave her a look of polite surprise, 'Oh, must you? Well, it so happens that I have somewhere that I need to be anyway.' As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to kick myself. Couldn't I keep my mouth shut when it counted?

Just as I could have predicted, I heard a soft voice behind me. 'And where exactly is that Severus?' Dumbledore had overheard my conversation.

'Oh, there is a book I was supposed to borrow today from the library. It must have slipped my mind, but I really must get it now' I lied coolly, though I was cursing myself inside. Lying came easy to me, almost second nature; but Albus always had a way to see through me without the use of Legilimency.

I felt his light blue eyes pierce into mine, but I kept my face impassive as he asked, 'And you feel you must get the book tonight? It is already late, Severus.'

His persistence was making me nervous, but I kept my cool. 'I am aware, Albus. But yes, I really must get it tonight.' I stood up. 'Now, if you'll excuse me' I trailed off, hurrying towards the door.

'Wait a moment, Severus!' Minerva was calling after me. I turned. She had followed me to the door. 'I'll join you if you don't mind. I wanted to have a word with Poppy in the Infirmary before I leave.'

I nodded, wanting to slap my own forehead in frustration. My own stupid lie had cost me precious time with Hermione. Now I had no choice but to go upstairs. 'Certainly' I replied, always the gentleman.

We left the staff room together and walked up the stairs, away from the dungeons and possibly from Hermione. I wasn't sure if she was already down there, waiting for me. For a moment I pictured her there, alone, scared and slowly freezing in the cold, and my stomach turned over in fear and worry; but then I remembered that this was Hermione Granger and she would have remembered to dress warmly, not to mention that she could conjure fire at will. I very nearly smiled, but managed to turn it into a grimace. I would have to be careful of my emotions in the future, I thought.

We were halfway across the third floor landing when I decided I wanted to make small talk. 'Why did you want to see Poppy?' I asked lightly.

Minerva, as usual, gave me a small frown as we continued our brisk walk, 'Well, I wanted to ask her ab–.' She stopped talking abruptly, coming to a halt with one foot on the third floor staircase. I stopped too and looked at her enquiringly. She did not reply, but cocked her ear towards the ceiling, listening. I listened too. Sure enough, there was a faint noise coming from the fourth floor. It sounded like two people were talking, and the fact that we could hear them from the floor below meant that it was probably a very loud conversation. Indeed, it sounded like someone was shouting.

We looked slowly at each other and then simultaneously moved forwards up the stairs, drawing our wands. We ran up the staircase, the voices getting louder, and then turned the corner, where I nearly crashed into Filch who was standing at the end of the landing near the Infirmary, holding a lamp. I righted myself at the last second while Filch bellowed at someone, Mrs Norris hissing at his feet.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance while I heard Minerva sigh in exasperation beside me as we realised that the disturbance had only been Filch terrorizing some poor student caught out of bed. Usually if I came across such a situation I would just keep on walking, unless, of course, it was a Slytherin student. However, tonight I was with Minerva and anyone with half a brain could tell that Filch's attitude towards the unfortunate student was making her increasingly cross. She was, after all, already tired.

'Filch? Miss Granger? What in Merlin's name is going on here!?' she yelled. I looked up sharply. Miss Granger? Moving quickly forward, I looked closely at the person standing across from Filch. It was Hermione.

After I had caught my breath, the first thing I noticed was that she was in a mess: she was standing with her legs tangled up in a cloak; her hair was wild and partly sticking up, her face alive with blazing anger. She did not look at me, but opened her mouth to speak. Filch cut her off.

'I caught her attacking Mrs Norris, Professor. She was waiting here for her, waiting to attack her. Then I caught her in the act, I did!' He pointed the lamp accusingly at Hermione.

Before I had time to register such a bizarre accusation, Hermione had fired up. 'I wasn't trying to attack her, you idiot! I was walking down the corridor when your evil cat flung itself at me and started scratching my eyes out!' she yelled defiantly in his face. I was momentarily stunned, but rather excited at the same time.

I had never seen Hermione acting so defiant before and this wild side of hers was turning me on immensely. Smirking, I thought how it would feel if this fieriness was used in the privacy of my bedroom. I wouldn't mind in the slightest if Hermione wanted to dominate me. But these pleasant thoughts were rudely interrupted by Minerva, who was yelling again, and then realisation hit me like a tonne of bricks: the only reason she had been down here in the first place was to sneak her way down to see me. I groaned inwardly as I listened to what Minerva was shouting about.

'–is quite enough!' she was saying, nothing but shock resounding in her voice. 'Miss Granger– no, Filch!' she shouted, as he tried to talk over her, 'Let me speak! Now, Miss Granger, I do not want to believe that you were up here specifically for the purpose of attacking Mrs Norris. So I am asking you, Miss Granger, if you were not trying to attack the cat, what exactly were you doing up here in the first place?'

Like I had assumed, Minerva obviously did not believe the idea that Hermione had sneaked all the way down here simply to put a hex on a cat, not that I would blame her, or anyone for that matter, if she did. Mrs Norris was affectionate to nobody but Filch.

I waited silently, anxious to hear what Hermione would say. Surely she wouldn't say the truth? I tried to catch her eye but she was staring resolutely at Filch.

Hermione sounded much more subdued when she spoke, though she still refused to look at me. 'I wanted to return a library book, Professor. I forgot that it was due today, so I took Harry's cloak and stole up here so I could return it. Then Mrs Norris saw me and leapt on me.' She glared at the fur ball hissing from between Filch's knobbly old legs and then turned slowly around. 'I accidentally broke this statue, too' she said quietly, pointing to it. As she patted herself down, I saw her wand lying on the floor, half covered by Potter's Invisibility Cloak.

I couldn't restrain myself. I found myself walking towards her, standing right in front of her. Slowly, I bent down and picked up her wand, holding it out to her. 'It's here' I said softly, trying my best to remain calm. Hermione looked directly at me, her eyes boring into mine and for a moment, my decency left me and I forgot about the fact that two members of staff were watching. With her so close, I wanted to reach out and touch her skin, feel its creamy softness in my hands. I felt my hand twitch, almost betraying me.

But then I looked closer at her and all these thoughts left me. Hermione had blood dribbling down her arms; tiny red lines were welling up across her face. She shivered where she stood and suddenly my lust had transfigured into pure hatred: Mrs Norris had done this. That mangy, disease-ridden, old cat had done this to my Hermione. For a moment, my rage over the idea that anyone would hurt Hermione seemed to overwhelm me and I could barely see straight, but then my head cleared.

I wanted to give that cat the most exquisite pain imaginable, and I would. But revenge would have to wait. First I had to clear Hermione's name and then make sure her injuries were treated. I stepped away from Hermione carefully and looked at Minerva.

'Well Minerva, it seems clear to me exactly how we can solve this' I said coldly. Minerva merely pursed her lips tighter together. 'Really, Severus? Would you care to explain then?' It was obvious that she was a frog's whisker away from starting a yelling match and waking up half the school in the process, so I got straight to the point, praying furiously that Hermione had had the sense to follow her story through.

'Certainly' I replied softly, my anger throbbing through me gently. I stood next to Minerva and gazed down at Hermione expressionlessly. 'Miss Granger said she had to return a book. Do you have that book on you, Miss Granger?' She looked back at me, her eyes huge, and nodded slowly, holding up a book in her hands. My insides sank in relief.

Minerva looked at the book and sighed wearily. 'Well, then it's obvious that Miss Granger is speaking the truth. She must have run into Mrs Norris, who– '

'Don't say Mrs Norris attacked her!' Filch interrupted, his old face screwed up in anger.

My patience at Filch had expired. 'Argus, the girl was setting out to the library to return a book. Her wand was lying on the floor and she is covered head to toe in scratches!' I felt my anger rise up again inside, and couldn't control my voice. I started yelling. 'I hardly think that, given the evidence, Miss Granger would seek out to fight a cat in the middle of the night without her wand!' I finished abruptly, breathing heavily.

Silence fell; Filch looking at me with surprise etched across his face. I think he must have been expecting me to side with him, especially considering Hermione was in Gryffindor. Minerva laid a hand on my arm. It was enough to silence me. She turned towards Filch.

'Argus, I know you think best of your pet, but it seems in this case, that she simply sensed Miss Granger's presence and assaulted her. We cannot punish Mrs Norris for that,' she added, eyebrows raised, as Filch swelled up like a Muggle balloon, 'But you must keep her under control, otherwise the Headmaster may see to it that she can no longer stay at Hogwarts.' Filch stood quite still for a moment, knowing he had lost the battle, before picking up his spitting, hissing cat and stalking into the darkness. I was glad to see the back of him.

Minerva seemed to feel the same. Scowling deeply at Filch's retreating figure, she turned back to Hermione, rubbing her temples again. 'Miss Granger, you are well aware that it is forbidden to walk the corridors at midnight.' She looked quite fed-up. 'Frankly, I am disappointed somewhat in you, Miss Granger. You are Head Girl, and you set an example not only to other Gryffindors, but to everyone here at Hogwarts.'

Hermione hung her head in shame and I glared at Minerva, who didn't notice, but continued, 'However, I am aware that your intentions were fairly innocent.' She sighed and looked at Hermione shrewdly. 'So I am willingly to give you only one detention – tomorrow night – for this misdemeanour, rather than a week's worth, as I would have done with anyone else.' I raised my eyebrows at Minerva in what I hoped was a cold and calculating look, for I was feeling very annoyed. I had obviously put too much faith in the hope that she wouldn't reprimand Hermione because she was of her own House. I had succeeded in getting Hermione hurt twice in one day, as well as into trouble with her Head of House, and now there would be less time to spend with her. I scowled again, more angry at myself than at Minerva.

So caught up in my thoughts, I didn't realise that Hermione was speaking. 'What is it, Professor?' she asked softly, peering uncertainly into Minerva's face. I looked closely at her: she was looking into the distance and frowning harder than she had all evening. 'I just recalled that I have another detention to preside for tomorrow night. And I have a week's worth of detentions to supervise because of Lee Jordan.' She looked like she wanted nothing better than to sink onto the floor and sleep. At that moment, I felt almost sorry for her. Almost. I smirked.

Then suddenly, she whipped around to face me. Caught off guard, my eyes widened in surprise. 'Professor Snape, would you mind supervising Hermione's detention? I would not ask, only you are already present…' she trailed off delicately, and then I saw her smirk at the look on my face.

My anger vanished. I could have hugged her. If it had been any other student, even Draco, I would have raised an objection at once. How dare you, I would have thought, how dare you give me detentions to oversee! And, oh, how she would have found it all so amusing because I would have to comply and not make a fuss in front of the students.

But this was Hermione we were talking about! All I could think about was getting Hermione on her own again, and Minerva, in her attempt to aggravate me, was handing me the opportunity on a silver plate!

With all my strength I managed to fight the urge to laugh aloud. I obviously was even a better actor than I gave myself credit for because when I spoke, my voice was completely calm. 'Of course, Minerva.'

I turned towards Hermione, wanting to see her expression, but at the same time afraid that I might not be able to keep up this pretence much longer if I did. 'I am free tomorrow night. Miss Granger, you will meet me in my office for your deten– Miss Granger, what's wrong?' I moved quickly forwards towards Hermione, who had started to sway. After having her faint early in the day, I wasn't taking any chances.

Before I reached her, she started to fall backwards. No! I thought. Thankfully, she managed to right herself, holding onto the statue. She seemed to be trying to pull herself together but dropped her wand. Slowly, she touched the back of her neck. What is she doing? I wondered. She took her hand back and looked at it blankly. I instantly recognised the shiny red liquid. Blood.

'She's bleeding! Quickly, Minerva!' I yelled, running forward. For the second time that day I caught Hermione before her head hit the ground, though this time I used my wand instead of my hands to lift her. I looked at her as closely as I dared. Hermione's face had at least a dozen tiny scratches over it. Dried blood covered her bare arms. I turned her lolling head gently. She was barely conscious. 'It's okay Hermione, everything will be okay' I murmured gently. Could she hear me? I restrained myself from stroking her hair. I wanted to comfort her, but how could I do that with Minerva around? I continued to check over Hermione. The back of her neck was deeply grazed, the skin purple like a bruise. The rage I had experienced earlier came back. That cat will pay, I thought darkly. But for now, Hermione needed medical help.

'I'll get Poppy' Minerva said suddenly, waking me from my thoughts. I nodded curtly, and picked up Potter's cloak as Hermione drifted into the Infirmary. Thank Merlin it was so close, I thought gratefully and followed Minerva through the door.