Several hours later Hermione was strolling the corridors on her rounds when she heard Dumbledore's aged cough
"Miss Granger"
"Yes headmaster"
"Fetch Professor Snape and bring him and yourself to my office, I rather like Pygmy Puffs at the moment"
"Yes of course Professor, we'll be there right away" setting off towards the dungeons she didn't bother knocking as she walked into Snape's quarters to find him topless on the sofa head resting back with his eyes closed, Hermione raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat, making him jump up and grab his wand "Jesus Christ Hermione! You shouldn't do that, I could have killed you"
"Well then you'd be reckless for shooting any type of curse at an opponent you haven't even looked at yet. Now put a shirt on Dumbledore wants us"
"At this time of night?"
"No I'm lying" she said sarcastically as he picked up his shirt
"How did you get that?" she then queried pointing out a new cut walking over to him, pushing back his shirt slightly too lightly run her hand across it
"I got caught in the rebound of one of the Dark Lord's spells"
Her hand fell to her side "Will you be okay?"
"Why do you worry about me so much?"
"Don't worry Severus, I worry about everyone, you're not the only one"
"For your information to stop your worrying it will be fine I just haven't got round to healing it yet" he said flinching as the shirt fell back against it
"Looks like you're stuck with loose clothes until that's sorted out"
Well done for pointing out the obvious"
Hermione huffed "Do you want me to heal it?"
"It's to advanced for you" he said doing his buttons up
"What's the spell?"
"Do you want to keep Dumbledore waiting any longer than he already has been?"
"No"
"Walk then!" he snapped and followed her out the portrait hole he used for a door
"Pygmy Puffs" Hermione said to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office door which happily hopped aside to allow them to enter.
"Evening Albus" Snape said
"Ah Severus, how did your business go?"
"The usual"
"No injuries this time?"
"No"
"Liar" Hermione breathed
"It's nothing to serious just a scratch"
Hermione sighed and shook her head looking away from him
"Miss Granger, I trust your okay after your run in with Mr Weasley?"
"Yes, thank you Professor, our understanding of each other hasn't been better" she smiled a smile that only Snape could detect the pain in
"Good to hear, now the real reason I have brought you here is the relationship between you two"
"What relationship?" Hermione asked casting a quick glance at Snape who had
an apprehensive look in his eye
"The one that is stuck on the level of pretending everything you do for each other is meaningless"
"It is meaningless that's why" Snape half growled
"So you're telling me you felt nothing when you two kissed?"
A moments silence before Snape broke it "Nothing at all"
"Miss Granger?" Dumbledore questioned
"…Nothing" she said quietly
"You need to stop acting like you don't care. You are both doing each other more damage than you're healing. Don't let the past get relived and don't let it hold you back"
"I have nothing holding me back" Hermione said darkly, pain shining in her eyes
"Maybe so, but what do you have that is pushing you forward?"
Snape saved her "My past is my past Albus; it has nothing to do with the present"
"Your past shapes you"
"The present shapes you to, so does the future" Hermione intervened
"This is exactly what I'm talking about, your helping each other without even realising it"
"What do you want us to do then Albus?"
"I want you both to go back to one of your quarters, preferably Severus', no one will look for you there and seriously think and discuss how you feel about each other"
"And when we come to a conclusion, then what?"
"Oh my dear boy, then you do something about it of course"
"Very well, if we do this will it be the last time we hear about it from you?" Snape asked
"Maybe, who knows what the future holds"
"Very well Albus, you senile old man"
"Severus will you wait outside for Miss Granger, we'll only be a minute"
He sighed and left
"No Miss Granger"
"Hermione"
"Very well, now Hermione that man is going to hide how he feels for you as long as he can but there are some signs you can look for 1. He won't flinch away or pull back from physical contact 2. He uses your first name and lets you use his. 3. He is nice almost out of character to the Snape you know as a teacher"
"Is that all?"
"Yes, good luck, he may be hard work but in the long term, you're good for each other"
"Thank you Professor" Hermione smiled
"What did he want?" Snape asked
"Nothing much" Hermione smiled reassuringly
Snape sighed "Let's go get this over with"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing"
"Severus, don't lie to me" she said pulling him by his hand into a secret passage way that led straight to the dungeons
"I'm not" but Hermione silenced him with a glare Snape's hands found her waist and pushed her roughly against the wall
"Just drop it" He growled his face millimetres from hers, lit only by the light from Hermione's wand hanging by her side fighting how he felt when he was this close to her, this alone with her, this vulnerable with her he released all of her except her hand and dragged her down the passage way, finding their way out of the passage and down the corridor into his quarters before shutting and silencing the door.
"You want to know what's wrong with me, when im not with you you're always on my mind, when I'm with you the urge to reach out to you drives me crazy, I want you, every part of you, there's nothing I don't want and… I hate myself for it" His face confused, pained and angry as he collapsed on the sofa. Hermione walked over to him and took his hands that were covering his face he looked up and met her eyes as he stood up entwining one hand with his while the other cupped his cheek and gently, slowly, shyly guided his lips towards hers "You can have me" She whispered before he gently kissed her once more,
He pecked her lips once again "Let's get you to bed" he smiled slightly as he took her hand and led her into his bedroom lying next to her he kissed her head and whispered "Sweet Dreams"
Hermione awoke to find a note on Snape's pillow
'We still need to have our talk, you're not getting out of it that easily' she walked into Snape's living room, running a hand through her hair
"Good morning" she smirked as she leant over and kissed Snape who was laying topless on the sofa, his trousers tight in all the right places
"Finally awake then"
"Finally! It's only… 10… that's not the point I was really tired last night"
"Speaking of last night, we still need to talk"
"I know" Hermione said sadly "But I don't think im going to like where it ends up"
"Last night I told you more than I was planning on, I don't regret a word of it but if anything were to happen between us I wouldn't be that open often, at times I'd be stubborn, I would rarely every say the 3 words you would want to hear and I can be quite argumentative, I won't be polite and friendly to Potter and Weasley but I would be civil, you can't expect me to express my feelings especially in front of people, to get me where you did last night is quite an achievement and what could of happened next is meant to make two people vulnerable together and closer than any conversation can and it might take me a while to get there, if we were going to settle down I would want to discuss our future together and I won't want to tell anyone until you have left school only earlier if absolutely necessary and we were sure, Hermione I am a broken man and not easy to get along with but as long as your sure, I'm willing to give us a try"
"I'm sure Severus; I've never been so sure of anything in my life"
"Well then, that's that" he said standing "Oh… one more thing, the romantic side im not very good at either, don't get me wrong I can be, but at other times its hard, okay?"
"No, I want you to know, that I can't explain how I am or why im like it or even begin to explain what I've been through but I am willing to let you find out, however, I'm broken and… I have bad days, and then I have really bad days,"
"Stop, you don't have to explain, I understand, really I do"
"You do?"
"Yes and I'm sure when you see my bad days you'll see just how much I understand"
"Hermione, there's something bothering you, it's not the obvious thing, what is it?"
"My parent's won't walk me down the aisle when I get married or meet my husband, or hold their grand kids, will you come to their funeral with me? I know you didn't know them but I can't go alone"
"Yes I will, if that's what you want"
"Voldermort has messed everything up hasn't he?"
Snape pulled her in for a hug "Some men like chaos… some men just want to see the world burn… none of this should ever have happened to you" Snape whispered in her hair
"I give up Severus, I can't act like it doesn't hurt anymore, I should have done something, anything to save them" she cried into his chest, crying so hard, her throat hurt, her lungs hurt, her whole existence hurt
Snape felt eyes on them both and looked up to see Dumbledore but as soon as he made eye contact Albus left
"There's nothing you could have done" he whispered hiding the pain from his voice
"I could have tried" Hermione whispered desperately "I should have tried"
Snape guided her to the sofa and sat her down an arm around her pulling her close while the other used his wand to lit the fire, sitting with her quietly.
After about 10 minutes Hermione had stopped crying and resulted in staring into Snape's fire one or two tears still escaping
"Hermione" he whispered is voice full of care
"Yes" pain obvious in her voice
"Please promise me you'll never give up, no matter how much you want to or how much it hurts, please… if not for me, for them"
He go no reply the pain on his face was heart breaking as she whispered "I'm sorry"
Several minutes later she added "I'm going for a walk; I'll talk to you soon okay?"
"Okay" he replied worried but he wouldn't admit that to Hermione, embracing her before pecking her on the lips
"I'll be fine don't worry"
"Who said I was worrying"
She smiled weakly before pecking him on the lips, pulling on her trousers and leaving Returning to her quarters she showered, dried her hair, and changed clothes into skinny jeans, a red vest top and a thick woolly beige cardigan before leaving once more for a walk.
PLEASE R&R HOPE I HAVEN'T DISAPPOINTED YOU ALL IF I HAVE JUST LET ME KNOW AND I WILL TRY AND CHANGE THE BITS YOU DON'T LIKE :) THANK YOU FOR READING I REALLY APPRECIATE IT X