TWO WEEKS

Professor McGonagall isn't a very good potions teacher. Hermione thought bitterly. She had been teaching the class for nearly two weeks and it was generally agreed that as brilliant of a witch as she is… she should stick to what she knows.

THREE WEEKS

"Hermione, can we talk?" Ron lightly grabbed her arm and she turned to face him. "I'm really sorry, I was acting bloody insane. There is no excuse for it."

Hermione looked into his pleading eyes, "You know nothing happened right? I loved you a lot."

"I know," he nodded. "And I fucked it up with my stupidity. Can we just start over? At least as friends again, until I can prove to you that there is only you and me." He placed both hands on her shoulders and her stomach turned. She missed Ron a lot, but she missed Severus too. He was her teacher though, and she can't let a little girl fantasy ruin everything.

"When Professor Snape comes back, I am going to return working with him. And you are just going to have to trust me Ron. Besides, he is a greasy old bat," she chuckled. Lies.

The red-haired boy laughed and embraced her in a warm hug. "Let's go for a walk, we haven't talked in three weeks and I miss your rambling."

SIX WEEKS

Things were going great for Hermione, she had to admit. They eventually replaced McGonagall for a more competent teacher, but mostly because she had her own class to teach too. Hermione spent her days in class as usual, embracing her schooling as she once did with so much passion. She spent her evenings with Ron, Ginny and Harry laughing and having fun. She missed that kind of fun when she spent so much time with Snape.

Her heart hurt to think of him. It had been six weeks since he left unannounced, and she still had no idea when he was coming back. She did miss her nights with him, learning about new and invigorating potions. Even starting to invent some of her own. She wondered if he would ever come back. She wondered if he ever thought of her.

EIGHT WEEKS

Hermione awoke with her head on the shoulder of the boy she loved. Despite her moving he was still fast asleep and toppled over into her lap snoring loudly. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, trying to stretch a kink out of her neck. They had fallen asleep in the common room, on the couch in front of the fire. How romantic. She couldn't even remember what they were doing. Just talking… or something.

She looked down into his freckled face and smiled. Things had gotten so much better since their fight. They were more open, talked more and expressed their love. She shook him gently awake. "Ronald…" she whispered. "It's time for breakfast."

"Mmm… food," he mumbled and rolled off the couch. She laughed as he fumbled to get up, abruptly awoken from his fall. "I'm just going to change and then we can go," she kissed his face and retreated to her room.

The Great Hall was full by the time they arrived. And Hermione gladly took her saved seat beside Ginny while Ron sat across. She dug in immediately realizing just how starved she was, and it took her a few minutes to realize the topic of conversation.

"Yeah, he walked in this morning and ate quickly but left a few minutes later," Harry was telling Ron.

She heard a voice from the table behind her. "He looked pretty messed up. Cuts and bruises all over his face. He even had a black eye," a first year was telling animatedly.

Hermione turned to Ginny, "What is everyone talking about."

"Snape's back," she said plainly not showing much interest. "Came in and then left without saying a word to anybody. A normal person would have at least talked about his trip to the professors or something, but nope, that's Snape for ya." Hermione continued eating in silence. She had to go see him, but she knew it would start an argument with Ron. She decided she would go that evening after the group returned from Hogsmeade.

Hermione couldn't stop thinking about what she had heard in the great hall. Cuts and bruises all over his face. She hoped he was okay. Part of her was angry that he just left and came back with no word. Very unprofessional she thought, trying to rationalize her own emotions. As she finished her dinner she excused herself with an excuse about the library and made her way towards the dungeons. It was a Saturday anyways, and they were scheduled to work. At least, that was her excuse to herself.

As she paused in front of the dungeon door she hesitated. She remembered the first time she arrived for their meeting, she was nervous. Unsure what she would find on the other side. After a moment she knocked, but there was no response. She knocked again, and still nothing. It was common for him not to answer if he was deep into his work, so she opened the dungeon door and walked in.

The room was empty. No bubbling cauldrons, no sweet smelling steam or smoke. And no Severus. She looked around and saw the bookshelf twisted sideways revealing a secret room. "Severus?" she called out. No answer. Hermione walked towards the entrance and peered inside. From the looks of it, this was Severus Snape's private chambers.

She knew she shouldn't go in without his permission but she couldn't help herself. The room was memorizing and so well designed. Immediately as you walk in you find a spacious living room. Walls lined with bookshelves as tall as the ceiling broken only on the furthest wall by a fireplace which was the only source of light except for a few candles floating throughout the room. On the floor in front of the fireplace was a deep red merchants rug and on it's other side a beautiful dark emerald leather couch. To the far right of the room was a door that she could only assume led to his bedroom, she wasn't about to go in there.

"Severus?" she called again, at least to make her seem like she wasn't snooping. She couldn't stop staring at the beautiful decor.

"Hermione," a deep voice made her turn toward the bedroom and the sight of her professor froze her in her place. Severus walked from the bedroom drying his long black hair with a hand towel. He stood wearing nothing but a pair of black trousers. His naked torso still glistened with water droplets that trickled down a set of lightly defined abs. She had never really thought of what Snape looked like beneath his robes but she wasn't expecting that. "How are you?"

"I… you left…" She broke her gaze and looked at his face. Even in the dim light she could see something was very wrong. "Oh god Severus, what happened to you?" She approached him swiftly and he held out his hand to stop her.

"It's still a little bit tender," he grimaced as he moved the towel from his hair and started drying off his chest. "But it's nothing I haven't handled before."

Now that she was closer Hermione could see his injuries clearly. He had a long gash across his eyebrow, and a slowly healing black eye. There was a small cut on his lip and a deep bruise across his left jaw. She gasped at the sight of his torso, his porcelain riddled with bruises, gashes and faint scars.

Hermione couldn't help herself, she wrapped her arms around him a little too hard and he groaned in pain. "I'm sorry," she said still holding tight. I missed you... she couldn't say it out loud. But he held her in silence, squeezing her back, and she couldn't help but feel like he missed her too.