Chapter 13: Nocturnal Creature

{"Think you're kind of neat then she tells me I'm a freak...friends don't mean a thing...just leave it up to me...take time with a wounded hand cause it likes to heal...I'm half the man I use to be..."} Half The Man I Use To Be,Nirvana

My Thanks to all my readers and reviewers Enjoy-S.S.

The Sitting Room, Dumbledore Manor, Wizarding World...

Hermione had been sitting alone in the darkness of the sitting room. She had fallen asleep while reading like so many times before but she had forgotten to go to bed. It wasn't until numbness pierced the bliss of sleep before the bushy haired witch awoke feeling a bit stiff as well as the tingling sensation as she stretched standing on weary legs. Both Albus and Aberforth had gone out on another supply run leaving Snape in her care. She had been fine with it. All the scariness of caring for the ailing man had been done away with and she was something of an expert by now. The bushy haired witch made her way toward the loo giving thought to checking in on the professor before she headed off to bed.

She made her way inside and had been utterly involved in her thoughts. The moment she stepped inside she had taken in the sight of Severus Snape's naked pale form as he stepped out of the shower. The water had been making it's way down his form like rain on a window pane. Her amber eyes widened in shock as they traveled lower and ended up below his waistline. He had not been by no means a small man.

"My eyes are up here, Miss Granger." said Snape in his usual baritone drawl.

Hermione looked up meeting his obsidian eyes. His raven hair had been soaked and slicked back out of his face. She could see the beginnings of five o' clock shadow appear on his sallow pale face. His eyes had bags beneath them and his expression had been the equivalent of a man who had been on his last leg in a race.

"Professor, you're awake." she said happily momentarily forgetting that he had been naked.

"In case you haven't noticed Miss Granger, I am more than a little under dressed for casual conversation." replied Snape. "That being said we are no longer at Hogwarts...there for I am no longer your or anyone's professor...so kindly step aside so that I may venture into my room to get properly dressed."

With his comment Hermione noticed that Snape had been naked again and once more her amber eyes fell below his waistline. Blush crept into her cheeks and she looked away from him.

"Oops sorry." she said.

"I'll bet." replied Snape.

He stepped out of the shower and summoned a towel to him that he wrapped around his waist. His raven hair in soaked strands as it dripped water down his pale back. Hermione looked back at him unable to take her eyes off the pale torso her fingers had grown quite accustomed to roaming while he slept through his illness.

The former Potions Professor attempted to squeeze passed the witch when she froze in place blocking the door he needed to exit. She had not realized that she had been holding her breath when the hardness of his lean frame gently grazed her own soft from as he slipped by her. The brief contact causing her to gasp.

Snape made his way toward his rooms leaving her to stand in place staring after him. After a minute the urge to use the loo returned with the distraction of a naked wizard being out of sight. Hermione turned her attention to relieving her aching bladder. When she finished up in the bathroom she ventured down the hall toward Snape's bed room. He had the door closed but she was amazed to find that it had not been neither locked nor warded.

Snape's bedroom, Dumbledore Manor, Wizarding World...

Curious, the bushy haired witch twisted the bronze knob and made her way inside. She was treated to the sight of Snape standing in the dark near the bed with his arms folded across his chest. He had still been wearing the towel around his waist but all traces of the water from his shower had been gone.

"Miss Granger what on earth are you doing?" he asked in his usual baritone drawl.

"I-I came to see how you were doing." said Hermione. "It was my last stop before I went to bed."

Snape seemed to be amused by her gesture.

"As you can see Miss Granger I am doing quite well given the circumstances." he replied. "As well as can be expected I'd say for a man hated and hunted by the entire wizarding world at the behest of a boy too stupid to see the truth in front of his eyes even with spectacles."

Hermione sigh. Same old Snape.

"Although, I am curious as to why you're here." he said with an eyebrow arched.

"I'm here because we were attacked after your trial and Dumbledore brought us here for safe keeping." she replied.

"I know all that." replied Snape. "I am simply asking why you feel the need to venture into was appears to be my given room inside this mausoleum they call a house."

"Well, when you were sick and it was only the two of us it seemed to be the prudent thing to do." said Hermione. "Besides all the running back and forth during your night terrors was exhausting."

"And the need to run your delicate little fingers along my person?" he asked still with an arched eyebrow.

Hermione blushed again.

"Well, you didn't seem to mind it." she said in her defense. "I've read that the sense of touch can help promote healing."

Snape seemed to be further amused by this.

"The advantages to being an Insufferable know-it-all." he said. "At the very least my curiosity has been sated...be off with you now little Gryffindor...leave me to my thoughts in peace."

"Alright." she said unable to help feeling a little disappointed. "But if you need anything Professor, I'll be across the hall."

"Miss Granger we're are not at Hogwarts anymore." he said.

Hermione smiled.

"I know but you'll always be Professor Snape to me." she replied.

Before he could say anything more she blew him a kiss and headed back toward her rooms. Snape stood with his eyebrows arched in confusion. He had not known why Hermione Granger had suddenly taken an interest in him but he couldn't help but find himself slightly unnerved by it and a bit impressed at the same time.

"Little Gryffindor." he said as he turned his attention back to his own thoughts.

He had missed quite a lot during his illness. The last thing he had remembered was being struck by a curse meant for Hermione. It was unsettling to known that the innocent young witch had been targeted because of her association with him. Then again she was most likely use to it since her days of being a friend to Potter with death eaters after her.

Still, it had been disconcerting to hear her referred to as his "whore."

"Couldn't stay away." he said shaking his head.

Hermione's bedroom, Dumbledore Manor, Wizarding World...

Hermione had been more than a little disappointed when she went back to her bedroom. She had grown accustomed to sleeping in Snape's bed when they were alone in the house. It was comforting to know that he had been beside her and his low breathing seemed to keep the eerie silence at bay that had been present throughout the entire house. She had been glad that he had been okay but she wondered just what he intended to do now that he had been out of Azkaban and his health was restored.

She could tell that he had no desire to return to Hogwarts. The place held too many bad memories for him. It had seemed like he had not even wanted to be apart of the wizarding community as a whole in the wake of their treatment of him, no one could really blame him. Snape had been un-liked and little loved since his birth. He put little stock in people and even fewer stock in his emotions.

The bushy haired witch sighed.

She had not known how to feel about everything really. Taking care of him seemed to dampen that part of her mind that ventured onto over analyzing what the future would bring. Her thoughts drifted back to Professor Snape stepping out of the shower. Her cheeks flushed when she considered his pale naked form. He was by no means a small man. She couldn't get the image of his enormous pale cock out of her mind. The witch smiled unable to help herself. Who would have thought that beneath all those black robes and emotionless appeal was a red blooded wizard like any other.

After thinking about how strange the situation she found herself in had been she drifted off into a quiet sleep although it had not been easy process unlike those times she had fallen asleep in Snape's bed. A girl can dream can't she? And dream Hermione did about a certain raven haired pale skinned Potions Master across the hall from her.