This chapter is a little mature, towards the middle, nothing too serious. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me.

Hermione lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes were puffy, burning slightly from crying. He had pushed her too far again. Why did he always do that? Why did he always have to push her so horrendously?

She was pulled away from her thoughts when Ginny opened up her door, looking troubled.

"Is everything okay?" She asked her.

"I'm not sure. I heard that Hagrid has been taken very ill. He's refusing to go to the infirmary for help."

Hermione was staring at her, trying to process the information. "Have you told Harry and Ron?"

"No. Harry has been very withdrawn lately, and Ron, he's been very difficult to talk to. Oh Hermione…what if something is very wrong and he…"

Hermione reached out and drew the younger girl to her, "It'll be alright. I'm sure he's alright. Professor Dumbledore will make him go to Madame Pomfrey if it's too bad."

Ginny sniffled and nodded her head.

That night, sleep did not take Hermione at all. What if Ginny was right, what if her friend was in serious trouble? She glanced over at her clock, it was approaching midnight. Swinging her feet over the side of her bed, she gathered her winter clothes, flinging them on.

She wasn't sure how far she'd get, without Harry's invisibility cloak it looked very slim that she would make it down there, but she had to try.

Getting past the Professors that were patrolling would be simple enough, sneaking around the castle was relatively easy, if you used common sense.

Hermione exited the portrait, she looked around. She had to get to the clock courtyard somehow; she would be cutting through a lot of possible teachers, prefects, and possibly head boy and girl. But, it was a chance she was willing to take for Hagrid.

She slid along the walls, in full stealth mode. All she had to do was get past the hospital wing now.

Finally, she made it to the door that connected with the courtyard, she whispered a silencing spell, propping open the wooden object. Stopping for a moment, she looked around, making sure no-one was in the vicinity. Taking her chance, she slid outdoors, feeling the bitter cold brush her skin through her clothes.

It was viciously dark. The stars had been covered by a thick blanket of clouds, making the grounds look formidable.

Grasping her cloak, she kept her wand up, the ticking of the clock ahead could be heard, her only company. In a few strides she was cutting across the covered bridge, close to hitting the trail that led to Hagrids hut.

As soon as she planted her feet down, a noise to her right, close to forest startled her. She stopped running, panting, smoke clouds coming out with her ragged breath. It was a voice!

Hermione ducked for cover, hiding herself beside the bridge.

Merlin.

A dark figure came out of the forest, and she realized it was Professor Snape. He was clutching his shoulder, mumbling something darkly. He stopped walking for a moment, holding his knee now. Pulling up his cloak, she noticed blood oozing down his shin. Gasping, she covered her mouth.

His wand was up in an instant, his eyes on full alert.

Hermione scooted herself back, deeper into the shadows.

He was moving in her direction, her breathing was shallow now, wishing she had Harry's cloak now. Why had she decided to make such a fool-hearty decision?

His boot was near her now; she shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable discovery.

Severus heard the whimper, his black eyes snapping down.

He reached out, grabbing a fistful of something rather soft in his left hand. The said object shrieked in his ear, a hand flinging out to squeeze his, mumbling something rather obscene to him.

Granger.

Hermione tried to get his fist out of her blasted hair!

"Professor! It's me, Hermione Granger!"

He flung her away, extremely aggravated. How in the bleeding hell had this daft little chit made it outside without being noticed by anybody?

"Miss Granger!" He hissed, shining the wand in her face.

She was rubbing her head, the pain subsiding from him grabbing her hair. Merlin that had hurt. Her brown eyes were glaring into his black ones, anger washing through her.

"Did you follow me out here?" He asked her, his tone acidic.

"Of course not! I have better things to do than sit out here and freeze, wondering what your extracurricular activities are…sir." She was very shaken up, not liking the dark aura he had brought back with him from…wherever he had been.

His nostrils flared, his hand whipped out and grabbed her wrist, hauling her forward.

"I demand you stop man-handling me!" She jeered at him.

He kept his hand on her shoulder when a pain shot up his knee again. He gasped and stopped walking. Christ, Dolohov was rather gifted with his maiming spells. His wand hand shook so hard, he couldn't keep it steady to mumble a healing spell on himself.

Hermione felt the absence of his hand, the gasp of pain drawing her head back to look at her injured Professor.

"Sir, are you alright?" She asked, timidly itching closer to him.

Snape pulled his hand up, stopping her.

Blood glistened in front of her, his hand drenched in it.

"S-Sir, you're badly injured, let me get Mada-"

"You will do no such thing." He interrupted her, trying to stop the black specks of light that were now dancing across his vision.

Hermione knew a few healing spells, rather simple, but good enough to help him until he could help himself.

"I can help you sir." She said, confidently.

Professor Snape looked at her, not fond of the idea of her being so close to him, but he pushed that thought aside. Sweat had begun to break out on his upper lip, the specks becoming more clear now. Grangers face was muddled with darkness. His eyelids drooped, but he nodded his head.

Hermione dropped to one knee, her small fingers touching the fabric that stuck to his flesh. He hissed in pain as she pulled it away. Her eyes widened, a chunk had been torn from his flesh. She looked up at him, wondering who had done something this horrendous to him.

She ripped his pant leg up above his knee, the pale flesh staring at her. Bringing her wand up, she sang the healing spell across his flesh, making him shiver. Hermione was almost done when she noticed he had started to shake. Not being able to hold himself up any longer, he dropped down. Hermione grabbed him, trying her best to keep his head from hitting the ground.

"Sir! Professor!" His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing.

Thank goodness.

She had been able to heal his knee relatively well. He needed a blood replenishing spell though; he had passed out do the loss of said substance.

"Expecto Patronum." She breathed out into the air, the good intention filling her up. Her otter shot out, fully formed.

"Please. Please go get Professor Dumbledore."

It took minutes, and she watched as lights lit up the covered bridge. Three figures were running out, their feet making thumping noises on the wood. Hermione noticed by now that Professor Snape was fully unconscious.

Professor McGonagall appeared in front of her first, a stern expression across her features.

Madame Pomfrey was beside her Professor, prodding him, making tsking noses.

Professor Dumbledore was staring down at the man; a semi- sad expression flitted across for a slight moment.

"Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall started, her Scottish accent thick.

"Minerva." Professor Dumbledore interrupted her before she could start ripping into the student. "Let us get Severus into the warmth before you start in on your pupil."

The older woman had a pinched expression on her face, it softening quite a bit when she looked down at the younger man.

"I-I've stopped the bleeding on his knee, he has a great deal of flesh missing there. I-I…" The blood on her hands was becoming sticky, her fingers twitching nervously as the three adults stared down at her with questions.

"I understand Miss Granger." Dumbledore said quietly. He flicked his wand, Professor Snape now levitating in the air above her. His robes billowed out, dancing with the wind.

"We can take it from here Miss Granger." Minerva told her sternly, "I expect you'd like to shower, and then I want you in your dorm. Is that understood?"

She nodded, watching as they took the man to the infirmary.

Upon entering the shower, she closed her eyes and let the hot water wash over her form. She looked down, watching as the blood was washed off her skin. For some reason, she couldn't get his look of pain out of her mind. He had always seemed like such a strong man, who could endure anything. It was rather stunning watching him buckle and collapse in front of her. She sighed, knowing that their relationship with each other was rather…wishy washy.

He was really an exceptional person, once you got past his general lack of social skills. He could be cruel, bitter, mean, resentful, humiliating, but…she had to hang onto the hope that he was doing all of this to prepare her for the upcoming war that was on their doorstep.

Hermione realized that her mind was drifting to the side of her teacher that made him a man… she envisioned his arms when he rolled up his sleeves. His dark eyes that ate at her mind, and drew her in. His quick movements when he was blocking spells. His focus. Hermione caught her hand aching to grab a breast as his face danced across her vision. She thought back to his pale skin, his muscular calf in front of her face.

She snapped out of it suddenly. Her breathing was rather raspy as she shook her head.

When she crawled back into bed that night, she thought back to Hagrid, she had never seen him. Tomorrow after her first class, she'd make a visit down to him; tonight had been very…strange.

The morning welcomed her with rain clouds. Oh, that was brilliant; it was as if the weather was mocking her. Her hand went to her head, remembering the events last night in the courtyard and then her little scene in the shower. How bloody humiliating!

The clock buzzed 7:30 and she slapped the button so it wouldn't go off.

The Great Hall was empty, save for a few early birds. She glanced at the head table, seeing Professor Dumbledore, scooping up some porridge. She wanted to speak to him, to try to tell him exactly what she was doing out so late. She sat down, reaching for some eggs and ham that smelled wonderful.

As she was almost done eating, a presence loomed over her. It was Professor McGonagall.

"I would like to see you in my office Miss Granger, "she said to her, her face looking rather cross. Hermione nodded, setting down her fork and following her back to Gryffindor tower.

"What you did last night was extremely reckless Miss Granger." She told the young woman, her head down.

"I know Professor; I only went because I had heard that Hagrid was very ill. I wanted to see if he was alright, and I couldn't go to sleep. Stumbling upon Professor Snape was purely accidental."

The older witch sighed and stopped pacing, looking at the girl with less anger now. "I understand your concern for Hagrid, but you already had an incident this year on the grounds. You must be careful Miss Granger; there are those out there that would be most pleased to have one less muggle-born in this school."

Hermione understood what she was talking about. It still sent a small chill up her spine.

"I will not give you detention. I am however taking 25 points from Gryffindor, and if this happens again, the consequences will be more severe, am I understood?"

Hermione nodded.

"Oh, and Miss Granger, you are to see Professor Snape in the infirmary. I think he wants to give you a berating of his own." She told her, her firm expression returning.

Wonderful, after last night, she hadn't wanted to face him so quickly. The embarrassment rolled off her in waves, how could she-? How could she even think like that?

The doors to the hospital wing loomed above her, sardonically mocking her. Getting her thoughts together, she shoved through.

Severus looked up, his brow furrowing at the adolescent that had just walked through. His grip on the Daily Prophet he was browsing across tightened exceptionally. His pride had taken a small beating, having to look weak in front of Miss Granger.

"I was told you wanted to see me sir." She said, not able to look at him directly.

He looked at her, taking in her embarrassment.

"Exactly when will you stop being making such ludicrous decisions Miss Granger?"

That got her attention, "And what exactly does that mean?" she asked him.

"You deliberately left the safety of the castle to peruse around the grounds, after what happened to you last time in the forest. I have to wonder, if you enjoy chasing danger, or if you are sincerely stupid."

You breathed in roughly, feeling her anger climb.

"If I hadn't sir, you'd be hanging onto life right now."

He glared at her, but Hermione had heard more than enough. She turned around, making a bolt for the door. A click startled her, and then she was being lifted off her feet and slammed into a chair, facing him.

"Oh no Miss Granger, we are not done with this discussion just because you have a flare for being overly dramatic."

She tried to wriggle out of the restraints to no avail. Those dark eyes looked her over, and she turned her head away, the events of last night popping into her brain again. The indignity washed over her, and she hoped to Merlin that he could not see what she was thinking of.

"You are lucky you are not in my house, or I'd be escorting you out to the carriages to plop your disrespectful arse on a train home!" He thundered.

"I was only outside to see if Hagrid was alright!" she shouted back at him, his words hitting her.

Expulsion.

Oh no.

"Gryffindor sentimentality, don't make me vomit." He said, venom splicing through his words.

She glared, her cheeks heating up.

"You just don't learn do you Miss Granger, you are the embodiment of delusional."

Hermione pinched her lips together, her nostrils flaring.

"And you are a complete bastard!" The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them; she shut her eyes, wishing she could take them back immediately. The look on his face would have stopped Voldemort dead in his tracks. Professor Snape flung his legs over the bed, clad in only a shirt, cloak, and a pair of the infirmary's night pants. He still looked menacing, and as threatening as he always did. Closing the distance between them, he gripped the handles of the chair, his nose close to pressing against hers.

Hermione was close to panting in fear, her thoughts whizzing to the events that took place in the shower the night before. Her hand was close to running down to fondle herself as she thought of him. What was wrong with her?

His dark eyes violated her.

"Is that so Miss Granger? You think of me as a bastard?"

She shut her eyes, not able to handle the tension any longer. Shaking her head vigorously, she almost breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled away from her. Her heard was thudding so loudly that she knew he could hear it.

"Our lessons are at an end Granger; you can kindly see yourself out of my presence, before I remove you physically."

Hermione felt the restraints fly off of her wrists, and she was up before he could finish the sentence.

He watched her bolt from the room, he closed his eyes, he had seen from her point of view what had happened last night and that included what had transpired in the shower. It was entirely inappropriate; he could no longer be alone with her. Sitting back on the bed, he realized that he had never stumbled upon this problem before. He'd rather the females at the school be frightened of him, then see him as an object of desire.

It was unsettling, and he thought that maybe somewhere he had given her some kind of ludicrous idea that he wanted her. He shuddered, pushing that thought from his mind.

Problem after problem after problem, his life was just a mockery.

Lying back down, the image of her still sat in his iris.

Bleeding fuck.

This story will not be M. It was slightly sexual, but that's because Hermione is a 17, hormone raging teenager. Well, adult in the wizarding world.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, drop me a review, if you'd like to.

Thank you

-H.