Chapter Twelve

There was a pale light filtering in through the window – or was that just a lamp? She couldn't really tell through her temporarily blurred eyes. She blinked a few times to clear them, and finally was able to determine that it was a window, and the reason why the light inside was pale. It was snowing, and there was plenty of it covering everything in sight. Slowly, she rolled onto her side, but found that tiring even. Sighing, she gave up and turned to stared at the ceiling once more.

She had an idea that she was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, but was quite unsure as to how she got there. She wanted to say something, but her throat was too dry. She wanted to get out of bed, but her body was too stiff, too sore and felt like it had been unused to walking for quite some time. She swallowed dryly, and then turned onto her other side, only to be confronted with the sight of black hair, roughly pulled back at the nape of a man's neck.

She slowly slid her hand towards the hair, and fingered it lightly. It was soft and cool, and silky – not oily. She knew that hear, and the pale skin, and those damnable repressed black robes coat. Severus was here with her. He had his head rested on his arms, which were resting on the edge of her bed. She hoped that how ever long she had been there, that he had not done this every night.

Letting her hand fall, she reached out to run her fingers over his arm, and tried to use what little energy she had to wake him. Despite wanting him to sleep, she really needed some water. She nudged him just a little, and he jolted to a sitting position, and his eyes snapped open. She looked up at him and offered him a weak smile, making his eyes widen noticeably.

'Hermione…?' he asked quietly.

She nodded and pointed towards the water jug on a nightstand nearby. '…water…' she croaked out in barely a whisper.

He got up and hurried to comply, pouring a liberal amount of water into a glass, and then returning to sit beside her on the bed, using his free hand to lift her into a reclined position on the pillows. He brought the glass to her lips and tipped it so that she could drink, but not take too much at the same time. When she had enough, he set the glass aside and continued to sit beside her.

'Can I get you anything else?' he asked softly, and she shook her head. 'Are you sore anywhere?'

'…no – I'm fine,' she said in a rough, yet weak voice. 'How long have I been here?'

He closed his eyes for a moment and released a heavy sigh. 'About three weeks. You've been unconscious the whole time,' he replied with hesitance, but when he saw that she was not too upset, pressed on. 'Lucius Malfoy kidnapped you while we were in Hogsmeade. You wee found unconscious in his dungeons…'

'What became of him?'

'He was sentenced to Azkaban for life,' Snape said softly, taking her small, frail hand into his and giving a gentle squeeze. 'Never fear that he will hurt you again.'

Hermione swallowed thickly as she tried to process everything she had just been told and looked to where his hand was holding hers. Did she even dare to think he cared for her? Why was he here? Where were Harry and Neville?

'Your friends are in Gryffindor Tower, sleeping, I believe,' he said as if he had known what she was thinking. 'It is quite late.'

'Please tell me that you did not stay here every night of the three weeks,' she said quietly, looking down in case she had made the wrong assumption. 'You look like you haven't had a decent night of sleep in months.'

He chuckled softly and released her hand. 'Well at least now I know how terrible I look,' he commented idly. 'I won't answer that because you're not going to like it.'

And that was when she saw it. The cloak folded neatly on the top of a cabinet nearby. She had been under that cloak too many times to not know what it was and who it belonged to. 'Why do you have Harry's invisibility cloak?' she asked.

'Ah yes… Mr. Potter saw fit to let me make use of it to come here. I was banned from the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey,' he explained with a twinkle in his black eyes. 'I shouldn't really be here now…'

'Oh… Severus, why did you do it?' she whispered.

'Because you are my friend,' he said in an equally quite voice, looking into her eyes and reaching a hand out to cup her cheek gently. 'I couldn't bear to see anything happen to you… I had to come for you.'

Hermione swallowed thickly, but the tears still sprung from her eyes and slid down her cheek, or fell onto his hand. 'Thank you, Severus,' she said with a heaving sob, before she broke down and began to cry in earnest.

Severus wrapped his arms around her to hold her and stroke her hair and back gently as she cried. She had been so strong, but it was only natural to have an emotional reaction to this sort of traumatic experience. He tried to soothe and calm her down, whispering small words of comfort into her hair as she clung to him and cried for every bad thing that had happened to her. She didn't deserve any of this – she was innocent and good for god's sake. She was only eighteen!

And then it struck him. Despite Minerva and Albus both supporting and encouraging his feelings for Hermione, not to mention Potter's acceptance of it, he knew that the rest of the Wizarding world might feel differently. Sighing heavily, he decided to disregard that for a little while longer. Hermione was back, and he needed to be there for her if she needed him.

'…Severus…' Hermione whispered softly.

He loosened his arms and tipped her chin up so that she could see his face and know that he was listening to her. 'What is it Hermione?'

'I don't want you to blame yourself for one second. What happened to me was Lucius Malfoy's fault. He did this to me, not you,' she said firmly, though croakily.

He wanted to argue, but he knew that he could do no such thing to this witch. 'I know Hermione,' he said softly. 'Lucius can not harm you and longer.'

'How did you find me?' she asked.

'I bargained with Narcissa. Your return for her safety,' he answered simply. 'Don't blame her for what happened, Hermione. She's just as much a victim as you - Draco too. He didn't try to harm you intentionally.'

'I understand. I saw what he did to her. He hit her in front of me and took her wand saying that he would break it,' Hermione said with a catch to her voice. 'I know Malfoy didn't do it on purpose. I knew there was something up.'

'Good. I am glad that you understand and that you are taking this all so well,' he said with a hidden pride in his voice.

Hermione smiled a little, and hugged him around the waist, burying her face in his shoulder and inhaling his clean, spicy scent. She couldn't believe that it had been so long since she had smelled him. She had been out for three weeks, and had left him to worry and fret that it was his fault. With that thought, she began to feel sleepy, and closed her eyes, relaxing in his embrace and letting sleep claim her.

Severus noticed her relax more, and when he looked to check, she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. She hadn't had a natural sleep in a long time, and after all of this information being given to her and the added strain of crying, she was beat. He gently eased her out of his arms and slipped her back into a laying position on the bed, drawing the covers up to her neck. He leaned down and allowed himself to kiss her forehead, brushing curls out of her closed eyes.

He then proceeded to gather Potter's cloak and threw it over himself so that he could exit the Hospital Wing unseen, and then went straight towards Albus' office. He knew the old man would be awake. It seemed as though the old man hardly needed to sleep at all or something of the like. He smiled to himself – he was not so different from the daft, beloved old man in that aspect.

He made it past the Gargoyle and ascended the stairs as quickly as he could, not wanting to waste another minute to tell the Headmaster what had happened. He burst through the office doors and threw the cloak off as quickly as possible. 'Albus!' he called when he couldn't see him anywhere.

'I'm up here my boy,' said Albus' voice from the loft above.

Severus pushed past the curtain hiding the staircase to the loft, and climbed two at a time so that he could get to him quickly, the invisibility cloak slung over his arm. 'Albus, you need to tell Poppy that Hermione has woken! She's had water and was weeping for a time, before she fell asleep again,' he said quickly.

'Calm down, my boy. Poppy has already discovered Miss Granger, and quite aware that she was not alone when she woke up,' Albus said in a soothing tone. 'Now sit down and have a cuppa.'

'Poppy knew that I was in the Hospital Wing?'

'Not until recently, no – but she has allowed you to stay there anyway. She was in her office when Hermione woke and is now taking care of her as we speak,' he replied evenly with a smile, levitating a cup of tea to him.

'How long will Hermione have to stay in that room?' Severus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing.

'Until she is able to walk on her own and feed herself,' Albus replied. 'But I might be convinced if another option for where she stays as she gets better comes about,' he added suggestively.

'If you are implying…'

'I was not implying anything, Severus,' Albus cut across him coolly. 'I was simply stating that your chambers may be a slightly more interesting place fore her to reside during her recovery. She will have books and company there. And you know how Miss Granger loves to study and will be in a dither when she finds out how much class works she has missed,' Albus reasoned.

Severus smirked at that. 'Yes, she does have a bit of a habit, doesn't she? Well I suppose if Poppy were happy, and if Hermione wanted to, she would be welcome to occupy the guest bedroom,' he said hesitantly. 'I do believe that she will be straight into those essays the moment she is able to write again.'

Albus chuckled. 'That's the spirit, my boy,' he said, and then a thought occurred to him. 'You will allow her friends to visit in the afternoons will you not?'

Severus held up the invisibility cloak and closed his eyes. 'It seems I will have no choice. I owe Mr. Potter a favor and I suppose that visiting rights will be at the top of his list,' Severus admitted with a scowl as Dumbledore snorted a laugh out.

'Well I should think that you will have to get used to Gryffindor's for company a lot more in the future Severus,' Albus said.

'If it makes Hermione happy…'

'I do believe that this is the largest sacrifice that you have ever made, my boy. You're becoming soft,' Albus said with glee, his eyes twinkling like mad. 'You really love her enough to put her happiness before your own?'

'I love her much more than that…' he said quietly, looking at his hands that were clasped tightly in his lap. 'She means more to me than my own life, Albus. She has brought meaning to my life, and I will be hard pressed to give her up if she would ever have me. I know she is young, but god help me, I will not see her in the arms of another… I – I never loved Lily as I do Hermione.'

Albus nodded understandingly. 'I know, my boy. You loved Lily as a sister. What you feel for Hermione is so much stronger than that,' he said gently.

Severus nodded, realizing that the Headmaster understood him better than he thought. But then again, he had always been insightful. He couldn't remember a time when the Headmaster didn't know about everything that went on inside the walls of Hogwarts, or even outside amongst his close contemporaries. He smiled inwardly at the thought of Albus actually not knowing something for once. One day – just one day, Severus promised to do just that.

He placed the tea cup in his hand back down on the coffee table from which it came and stood slowly, taking the invisibility cloak with him. 'I'm going to bed now Albus,' he announced going to the fire place and taking a pinch of Floo powder.

'Good idea. I hope that you get a good night sleep, if not for your sake, then for the sake of our colleagues and the students,' he said with a smile.

Severus almost smiled at that. He knew that he had been worse than usual in class and at meal times to the other Professor's. It was because he was worried and he hadn't been sleeping regularly again. He knew he would have to rectify that somewhat and at least try to be civil to his friends once more. With that thought, he threw the Floo powder into the fire and stepped into the green flames.

'Severus Snape's Private Quarters,' he announced clearly.

He disappeared and left Albus in the office loft on his own, smiling and eyes twinkling away like mad. He stood and went to the fire himself, and pinched the Floo powder before going from there to the Hospital wing. He arrived in Poppy's empty office and went straight to Hermione's room from there. When he walked in, he saw the Hermione sitting up, propped against pillows as Minerva fed her broth and Poppy rushed around collecting her Potions.

'Hermione, you have no idea how relieved we are that you have come back to us,' he said with a warm smile, going to sit next to Minerva on the bed. 'You have no idea how relieved Severus is…'

Hermione, although sick and weak, managed to blush still at the Headmaster's insinuations, almost choking on her broth. 'I am glad to be back, Professor,' she said croakily. It would take a couple of days for her voice to heal properly yet.

'Hermione, it's alright – we know you have feeling for Severus,' Minerva said softly as she spooned broth into Hermione's mouth. 'We want both of you to be happy, and I know that he makes you happy… He has never talked so much since you returned this year…'

'What are you saying that I should do?' Hermione asked quietly.

'Give him a chance, that's all…' Albus replied serenely.

A/N – Hey all these are my latest chapters. I hope you like them. I wrote the first part of the story before the release of the final book, but decided to finish it – but that might be a while yet. Please review – Brandy.