A/N: Could this be an actual update within a week of the last chapter? Wow. It is. That sure surprised me. Anyway... There seems to be a lot of confusion over Hermione's age and this being in her fifth year and all that. So I'm hoping to clear this up. Hermione was born in mid-September, which means that she would be almost a year older than expected. By October of her fifth year, Hermione would be sixteen. If you add on the extra time from her use of the time-turner her third year, say a year and a half, Hermione would indeed be of legal age in the wizarding world at the time this story takes place. That was kind of a long sentence, but I hope you guys understand where I'm coming from with the whole age thing. Confusion aside, please enjoy this rather fluffy chapter.

I do not own the world of Harry Potter. I do, however, own a very hyper German Shepherd.

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"Hermione. Darling, what's wrong?" She could hear the concern in his voice. To be perfectly honest, Hermione was quite shocked at the way he was acting. This was the last reaction she had expected after what happened the other day. Filing away this confusing information for later, she tried to focus on not crying and answering his question. This was much easier said than done. Hermione could feel her heart rate rapidly increasing, whether from the crying or the kiss she had yet to determine. She began seeing small black dots and could feel herself blacking out from hyperventilating.

"Hermione, please. Try and calm down. You're breathing much to quickly." Severus pulled her closer to him, craddling her to his chest. His voice was bringing her back to herself, but not quite fast enough. "Match your breathing to mine. You can do it darling, just relax and focus." Zoning in on his voice, Hermione grounded herself to the earth and began to match her breathing patterns. Soon, they were breathing in perfect harmony. "Better?"

She gave a small nod and Severus pulled away from her slightly, far enough that he could look into her eyes but close enough that she could easily match his breathing if things got out of hand again.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" he gave a small chuckle, hoping to lighten the situation a bit. "What's wrong?"

"I think my ankle's broken." she began. "The fall was..."

"Hermione, I know about your ankle." Severus gave her a small smile. She had always amused him when she tried to avoid answering questions, as rare a situation as it was. "It is indeed broken. However, that is not what I meant, and you know it." She looked up at him, tears still shining in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sev. I just don't want to bother you with my pathetic life issues. They're not that important."

"They're not a bother to me, Hermione. You could never be a bother in my eyes, and anything you have to say will always be important to me." He pulled her close once more, trying to show her how much he cared. 'Where is all of this coming from. Yes, I was considering talking to the girl, but this? When the hell did I get so lovey dovey and considerate. Why I'd say that I'm acting as though I lo... ALBUS! What in the name of Merlin did that old bastard do now?' Giving himself a mental shake, he looked down at the distressed woman in his arms. 'Well, its a little too late to change now. I'll deal with him later. Hermione, well, I guess I should just enjoy it. What's done is done. Maybe it'll have been for a good thing for once.'

"Do you really mean it, Severus?" She looked so hurt, yet so hopeful. Hermione looked as though his answer would change the history of mankind as we know it.

"Of course I mean it silly girl." A phrase that was once an insult was now a term of endearment, that much Hermione could tell. And, somehow, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. "Now, tell me. What has you so upset? You were crying even before you ran into me. Something is causing you a great deal of stress, and I won't be able to help you unless you tell me what created it."

"I want to tell you, Sev. Really I do. I just don't think I can go through it without freaking out again and panicing." She looked so lost and alone to him. Severus wanted nothing more than to hold on tight and never let go of her. He wanted to protect her from the world and all of its cruelties. 'Albus when I get my hands on you, so help me.' Leaning down, he placed a soft kiss on her head, trying to think of a way to find out what had caused Hermione so much pain. A few minutes passed before he mentally smacked himself. 'Some mind reader you are.'

"Hermione?" He waited to continue until she looked at him, wanting to make sure that he had her full attention. "Hermione, do you trust me?"

"Of course Severus. Why?" There was no hesitation in her answer, no accusation in her questioning. Nothing more than complete confidence and curiosity.

"Hermione, there happens to be a very simple solution to our problem. But it will only work if I have your complete trust." Of course this was total bull. If he wanted information, Severus could have easily taken it from her. Yet for some reason he wanted to make sure that she was okay with him violating her mind.

"I trust you."

Severus Snape never thought that three little words could make him feel so... so... feely. He couldn't describe what they made him feel. He was happy and sad and concerned and wonderful and confused and certain all at the same time. He didn't think it was humanly possible for a person to feel all of this at one time. Deciding to focus on these strange feelings later, he knuckled down his mind and looked deep into her eyes.

"Try and stay as calm as possible. If you get scared, or if I've gone to far past your comfort zone, let me know and I'll back out straight away." He took a deep breath, and placed his hands gently on the side of her face. Looking into her eyes- 'God I love those eyes.'- he was encased in her mind within seconds. He was so practiced with the spell that he needed neither wand nor verbal encantation to activate it.

Combing through her mind, trying his hardest to be considerate and only look at the past few minutes so as not to pry, he found what he was looking for with relative ease. His reaction, however, was not quite so peaceful.

Watching him pull out of her mind, Hermione could almost see the red gleaming in his black eyes. She almost started panicing again, before she realized that his anger was not directed at her. That was one thing for which she was truly greatful. He looked ready to kill. And Hermione was almost certain that he would.

"Severus?" He still hadn't said anything. Perhaps if she was able to calm him down before he exploded, things wouldn't go quite so badly. "Severus, are you alright?"

At that question, he focused back on her and spoke with a rather strained voice.

"Alright? You are asking me if I am alright? Hermione... I... Come here." He pulled her back tighter into his arms and laid his head down upon hers. Severus didn't even know what to say. He knew what he wanted to do, that was for sure. He wanted to string that Weasel bastard up by his toenails and slowly feed him to some flobberworms. And that was to start with. He wanted his hands around the Gryffindoor's neck and to feel it snap underneath his hands. He wanted to put him through hell. But he couldn't. Not in front of Hermione. She was upset enough as it was, and she didn't need anything more to deal with tonight. He would do anything he could to make her smile just a little bit more.

"Hemione. Darling, listen to me. I will not let him get away with what he did. I'll only take this as far as you want it, but if you don't want me to kill him then I promise you I won't... this time."

She looked up at him and could see the small smile playing on his lips that meant he was kidding. The firey rage was still visible in his eyes, but it wasn't as strong as it was before.

"You really won't kill him this time?" A sassy little smile followed this statement, and Severus felt one of those strange feely feelings again.

"No, I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise." With those two words he felt as though he was saying so much more than what the outside led to believe.

Both of them smiling now, though Hermione with a slight grimace due to her ankle, they leaned forward for yet another kiss. This one was much more gentle than the last, and seem to be filled with much more something. What that something was, neither of them knew. But for tonight, for right now, they were just happy they were together.

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A/N: Extremely fluffy chapter. I think that may have been a little too much fluff even for me. I must be in a good mood, there's no other explaination for it really. Let me know what you thought, and I'll try and figure out some sort of plotline for the story. Lol. I suppose I should've done that by now. Anyway... No beta means that any and all mistakes are mine. There were quite a few in the last chapter once I went back and glanced through it, therefore I offer my apologies. Enjoy your weekend everyone!