A/N: Thank you so much to the readers that take the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! Also I reached 100 followers, thank you!

Chapter 11

February turned into March and March turned into April and their N.E.W.T.S. where gaining up on them. Hermione had been studying non-stop, even though she practically knew everything. She was determined to pass them with flying colors and hopefully the best of her class, which she undoubtedly would be.

The relationship between Hermione and Severus had developed into something steady and warm. Severus was a changed man and even the students noticed that he seemed content. In Snape's case you could totally call it happy but everyone who knew him, would never consider Snape and happy in the same sentence, that would just be odd.

Whenever she had the chance she would stay with Severus in his chambers, she felt at home there and she couldn't remember the last time she actually slept in her own bed.

In the second week of April, Hermione fell ill and when Severus came into his chambers midafternoon he could hear her throwing up in the bathroom. He rushed in to find her hugging the toilet as she looked beyond pale.

'Hermione how long have you been like this?' He hurried over to her and held her hair back when she hurled again. Her neck was sticky with cold sweat and her head felt as if it was on fire.

'It started this afternoon but my stomach has been bothering me for days now, it's probably a virus or something. I'll go to my own chambers as soon as I can leave this stupid toilet alone. I don't want you to get sick as well.' She sounded very weak and fragile.

'There is no way I'm leaving you alone in a state like this. I hardly ever get sick so we'll be fine. I'll see if I can find a potion against the nausea.' He pulled her hair back and summoned a rubber band to tie it all up. She looked up at him and opened her mouth to probably shoo him away, but apparently she lacked any strength to do so and just mouthed a 'thank you', his way.

He went to rummage through his cupboard and to his relief found a small green bottle at the end of the shelve. He made a mental note to restock it again. Quickly he returned to the bathroom because he could already hear her gagging again, there probably wasn't anything left in her stomach any more. She hadn't been eating well the past week, so she must have been ill for a few days, why didn't she say anything? Something crossed his mind but he passed it on quickly to help her administer the potion against the nausea.

'Can you stand?'

'I'll just stay here… I'm not going to contaminate your chambers.' She muttered as her eyes fluttered shut for a minute, she looked utterly exhausted.

'Don't be weird Hermione.' He handed her a glass of water to rinse her mouth and picked her up afterwards to bring her to his bed. 'I have another class to teach in about ten minutes, will you be fine?'

She nodded and waved him away with her hand. 'Go, before you start throwing up too.'

He just laughed at her dramatic statement and kissed the top of her head. 'Get some rest, I will see you tonight.'

Before he left his chambers he turned around to look at her, already fast asleep.

His lessons were severely thinned this week. Out of the thirty students he was supposed to teach that afternoon, only eighteen were present, the rest all out with the flu. This was more pressing than it seemed at first. This was an epidemic.

When a fourth year Ravenclaw started to throw up in his cauldron, he seized his lessons and called it a day. All the students that weren't sick, he instructed to return to their common rooms and stay away from the people that are sick. Everyone who even felt the slightest hint of sickness, he send straight down to Madame Pomfrey. She was going to be in for a few rough days.

After instructing the students to use Scourgify as much as possible and don't touch the sick people, he let them go. He returned to his chambers, to see that Hermione was thankfully still asleep, and flooed himself to the headmistress' office.

'Severus! Just the man I need.' Minerva looked disheveled and worried.

'I figured as much. You want me to start brewing?'

'Yes please, Poppy informed me that she is low on everything flu related. Start with the anti-nausea potion first, I cannot stand the smell of vomit Severus.' This was the first time ever that he heard the headmistress admit to anything that would discomfort her. He chuckled knowing this little secret of hers.

'I send the healthy kids back to their dorm but I it just crossed my mind that they'll probably be better off outside, get some fresh air or something?' Minerva's eyes widened by his suggestion, funny coming from him, she thought. The weather outside had been nice the last month or so, they were finally getting to the better seasons again. Only Severus was always so caught up in his dungeons she wouldn't have guessed he even paid attention to the weather.

'I'll send out a message to all the boards in the common rooms with the new instructions. Let Hermione help you with the brewing Severus, the sooner we can get past this, the better.'

He shook his head. 'Unfortunately Hermione has already seen the inside of my toilet.'

He caught his mistake almost immediately, as did Minerva, suggesting that Hermione was indeed in his chambers. Her eyes narrowed, but to his surprise, she didn't comment on it.

'Just take care of her Severus…' She finally sighed. He nodded and left the room to start, what probably would be, a sleepless night.

He tried to brew as many potions as possible that night. His classroom was now fully fraught, with every square inch covered by a caldron, which contained an anti-nausea potion or a pepper-upper potion. He settled his wand in a way that if he would add an ingredient to one caldron, they would also appear in the other cauldrons, set for the intended potion, to save him some time.

It was a good thing both potions didn't need that much preparation time, and after four hours of brewing, he took the first batch to Madame Pomfrey.

It startled him to see so many sick patients that crowded the infirmary. 'Merlin Poppy, how are you managing?'

'Hardly.' She breathed and thankfully accepted the potions he made for her. She gestured a Hufflepuff girl to help her administer the potions. Always the Hufflepuffs that seemed to be helping, Severus thought to himself. 'I'm sorry to ask you Severus but can you please brew more? We need to put a stop to this virus before everyone gets sick.'

All he did was nod reassuringly to her and left the room as swift as possible. He didn't mind vomit but he did mind weak people, they made him uneasy and nervous. Except maybe for Hermione, her he could stand when she was in a state of need. He felt himself wanting to take care of her when he had found her this afternoon, a rather strange and foreign feeling to him.

When he returned to his classroom to start brewing another batch, a sound distracted him. 'Severus where have you been?'

Hermione was standing in the doorway to his chambers and she looked like utter shit. Pale as a ghost and although she was clutching her hand to the doorpost, he saw it was trembling.

'What are you doing out of bed? You should rest Hermione…'

'Don't… change the topic.' Her breath hitched and he made his way over to her, pushing her gently back into his chambers.

'You are not the only one that has fallen ill, half the school is puking their guts out, as it seems. I've been brewing potions to help Madame Pomfrey to keep this under control.' He managed to get her back on the bed but she wouldn't let him push her down to rest.

'What kind of potions? The one you gave me this afternoon? Can I get another one?' It was very unlike her to ask so bluntly for his help, she must really be sick to do so. It also worried him that she needed another dose of the potion this quickly. Normally it should uphold to at least twenty-four hours. He frowned and thought about the little flask he found this afternoon, perhaps it had been very old. The last time he had to take it, he was still playing the double game with Voldemort and Dumbledore, after a sickening display were some muggles were slaughtered and he couldn't do anything to stop it, without risking being exposed.

'Yes, I saved you some anti-nausea potion.' He reached in his pocket and handed her the little flask. She shivered and he felt that she was ice-cold to the touch. She drank it quickly and closed her eyes to let the potion do its work. Finally she gave in to his gently pushing arms and rested back on to his pillow. She closed her eyes and sighed, sinking into the bed sheets, letting him cover her up with the blanket. 'Rest now… my love.'

When she woke up the next morning, she felt his presence but not his touch. Turning around to find him she flinched when she felt the weakness of her body. It seemed she was drained of all energy, but at least the nausea was gone, thank Merlin for that.

Eventually she found him next to her, right on the edge of the bed. As if he had only managed to reach the outskirts of the bed, before passing out entirely. He was also still wearing his clothes from the night before, so her assumptions seemed correct. Looking past him her eye fell upon another potion that was settled on the night stand. It looked a little reddish and very thick, she reached behind Severus to retrieve the bottle.

It must be pepper-upper she considered and without thinking on it, she uncorked the bottle and tugged it down her throat. She could hardly feel any worse than yesterday so here goes nothing, she thought dryly.

Almost in an instant, she started to feel stronger and the nausea was almost gone. She decided on taking a shower and brushing her teeth very thoroughly. She couldn't deny that it was weird that she fell ill so suddenly and was already back on her feet the next day. A stomach bug tended to last longer than but food poisoning didn't give you a fever or headaches. It was just weird… And why didn't Severus get sick? Well maybe he just had a better immune system than she had.

Severus was still stone out cold when she returned to the bed and she decided to leave him there, he had been working all night, he deserved some rest. She waved her wand to get him undressed and moved him a little more onto the bed so he wouldn't strain any muscles. With a quick kiss to his cheek she left the room.

The halls of the castle were disturbingly quiet. It was eleven o'clock in the morning, on a Thursday, and everything was deserted. The only sound that she did perceive was coming from the infirmary, this must be serious, she thought.

'Miss Granger! Are you here to help? Have you not fallen ill?' Madame Pomfrey definitely looked worse for wear. Her hair was all over the place and somewhere during the night, she seemed to have lost her nursing-cap. Dark circles were under her eyes and her uniform was disgustingly dirty. Hermione wrinkled her nose when she figured out that it must be vomit.

'No I have, but I'm better now. Severus gave me something last night and this morning I took a pepper-upper, I'm still a little on edge but I'm definitely feeling better now. Do you need some help?' Madame Pomfrey nodded absentmindedly, she must be exhausted.

'Okay, let me just do this first… Scourgify.' She waved her wand over Madame Pomfrey and she looked better within seconds.

'Oh thank you, I've been so busy, I honestly forgot. And here I'm telling the patients to keep clean and everything. What kind of example I'm I?' She sounded all over the place and Hermione was afraid that the nurse was going to dissolve into tears.

'Why don't you sit down for a minute while I tend to the patients? Most of them seem quiet now so I will be able to manage them.' Madame Pomfrey was trying to protest but she wouldn't give her a chance. She pushed the nurse towards her little office and nudged her down into a chair. She waved her wand a little to make the chair more comfortable. When she turned around to close the door behind her, she could already see that Madame Pomfrey was closing her eyes.

Standing in one spot for a minute she tried to figure out where to start. She had never really taken care of sick people before, let alone this much at once. Straightening her shoulders and picking up a cloth she just started with the patient, closest to her. It was a fourth year Hufflepuff girl listening to the name Claire. Her eyes were opened but she seemed far away.

'Can you hear me Claire?' She asked.

The girl didn't seem to respond at first but then she blinked and tried to talk but no sound was coming from her mouth. 'Do you want some water?' Hermione offered.

The girl gave up on talking and nodded to confirm. Hermione summoned a big flask of water and filled that glass on the nightstand, offering it to the girl, helping her drink.

After helping Claire she went from bed to bed to help all the patients. When she reached the second row of beds, she was surprised to see a familiar face. 'Ron, I didn't know you were sick?'

Thankfully he wasn't looking as sick as most of the patients, maybe he was already through the worse part. 'Yeah, I haven't been sick for that long. It started last night but I think I'm feeling better already. I did throw up on Dean though.' He admitted full of shame. Dean must have been really happy about that, she chuckled. It was only when she reached the next bed that she realized that Ron had been talking about last night. So did this mean that Dean and Ron had been together? And did this mean that Dean was also gay, like Ron?

'Miss Granger! What the hell are you doing?' She jumped into the air when she heard his voice and dreaded turning around to him.

'I'm just taking care of the sick, Sir! Madame Pomfrey needed some well-deserved rest, like some people.' She was aware that they were around people and that everyone could hear them but she was angry when he was able to brew all night, and deflect his own sleep, but she was being scowled for helping when she was already feeling better, not fair.

'Oh like blind helping the blind?' He lifted his eyebrow and she was just surprised that he knew the muggle saying.

'I'm not sick anymore!' She didn't yell but her voice was very firm and she could see the anger that was written on his face. He was clutching his fists at his side, trying to stay in control.

They were lucky that so many patients were asleep or too weak to even notice them. Only one person did seem to have latched on to their conversation and was now eyeing them with suspicion written across his face.

Severus seemed to have noticed it too because he just shot her a dark look and turned around to leave the infirmary, his robes bellowing behind him to dramatize his exit.

'Hermione, what is going on?' Damn it!

'Nothing Ron, you should get some sleep.' He didn't even look tired but she just didn't want to get into an argument right now.

'I know you Hermione and I know the look on your face, you are in love with him, I knew it.' He whispered the last bit very carefully so that she was the only one that could have heard him.

'Don't be ridiculous.' She snapped at him but she could feel her cheeks getting flushed.

'Seeing as I am in no position to judge, I just want to say, be careful Hermione, I do not want to see you get hurt.' This surprised her immensely. Ron had always been very quick with his judgment and he never made it a secret that he full on hated Snape. To hear this coming from his mouth, meant a great deal to her. Maybe there was hope for them after all if her friends were willing to accept him.

'As long as I don't have to sit near him at Christmas.' He added to it. Well accepting was maybe too much to ask.

'I don't know Ron, Severus is hardly the man to spend Christmas with family…' She trailed of and for the first time since she was seeing him, she let her mind go to the future and wondering if or how Severus would play a role in her life.

She had been postponing thinking about it because she feared that he wasn't willing to leave Hogwarts when she would be graduating. She wanted to start a life with him but that was hardly possible when he was still living and teaching here. And she could never ask him to quit his job for her. He had been a teacher for at least nineteen years and Hogwarts was his home, of course he wouldn't leave all this behind for some girl.

'You'll never know if you don't ask…' Ron told her and she was wondering where in hells name he had become so mature. This was hardly the Ron Weasley she had known for the last seven years, all wise and everything.

All she could do in response was shake her head slightly, diving into her mind to find a solution for the problem that finally had surfaced after she had tucked it away for so long.

For the rest of the afternoon she stayed in the infirmary even when Madame Pomfrey returned. She wasn't ready to face him and the problems they were about to discuss.

A/N: I received a comment where was asked if it was really normal for couples to pee in front of each other (thank you it really made me laugh). Honestly I really don't know, I know me and my boyfriend do it but my girlfriends and I are also not shy around each other (just peeing though, definitely not other stuff). Maybe it's a Dutch thing (I'm from Holland and we tend to be quite blunt and free around each other). Also I've never been a shy person and am really open-minded about that sort of stuff and I really believe that if you and your partner are comfortable with it, there is nothing weird about it. And if you are not than that's totally fine too!