A/N: I'm late. I know. I'm sorry. Between Mother's Day, finals, and last minute papers, I just didn't really have time. I finish with school on the 23rd, so after that, I shall be able to write to your heart's content. To make up for missing a week, I wrote you guys a quick fluffly little oneshot. Not the sequal to HBNBOYC, but I promise that I am working on it, and you'll get it as soon as it's done. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy Why Don't You Blush?
Disclaimer: I own nothing except immense relief that this school year is over.

SSHGSSHG

It took nearly all of Hermione's free period for her to convince Poppy that she was alright. Spell after spell was cast on nearly every part of her body before the medi-witch was satisfied. Hermione asked what was causing the pain in her ankle to return so quickly, and was presented with a slightly puzzled look from Poppy. Raising a hand, she turned and bustled into her office, leaving Hermione on her bed, watching George sit next to a sleeping Fred.

Poppy returned a few minutes later, giving a nod to George before ushering him out of the room and off to class. Sitting down on the edge of Hermione's bed, she gently laid her hand upon the young Gryffindor's.

"Well, m'dear. It appears as though the potion I gave you for your concussion," Hermione rolled her eyes at the mention of the continuously problematic potion, "has shortened the timespan on the spells. They'll need to be reapplied much more frequently than I had anticipated. Other than that, you're healing quite well on your own. For all intents and purposes, your wrist is as good as new." Poppy gave her patient a small smile, conveying her pleasure at the good news.

"Thank you, Poppy." Hermione let out a small sigh. "When do you wish to see me back here to reapply the spells?" Poppy got off of the bed and waved her wand, causing what looked like a timetable to appear in the air. She waved her wand again, this time at Hermione, and the floating timetable flashed a pale purple color.

"Well, according to this, I'd say right after dinner."

"Poppy."

"And that'll be the perfect time for me to check over your head again."

"Poppy."

"And I'll also be able to…"

"Poppy!" Hermione was finally able to cut her off and get her attention.

"Yes dear? What is it?"

"Poppy." Hermione started chuckling a bit. "Poppy, I'm supposed to come then anyway." The medi-witch looked a bit surprised. "Remember? It was part of our agreement for my release. You need me back before bed, too." Poppy just stood their looking at her for a moment, before a look of dawning crossed her face, and she began laughing.

"You are indeed right, my dear. I suppose it just moved to the back of my mind. I've had my hands full all morning with trying to revive Mr. We…um, with trying to revive him. She nodded her head towards the corner of the wing, a sad and disappointed look on her face. Poppy saw the distant look on Hermione's face, and knew she had to get her mind focused on something else. Casting a quick tempus spell, she turned once more to Hermione.

"Hermione, dear, it's 2:05. You'd best be heading to your next class."

Hermione snapped out of it with a slight jerk of her head, realizing her next class was finally potions. Potions meant Snape. Snape meant answers. Answers are good. She hopped out of bed, her ankle back up to speed, all thanks to magic. Replacing her socks and shoes, she grabbed her bag and gave the medi-witch a smile.

"Thanks, Poppy. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Goodbye deary. Enjoy your last class. Don't let Severus give you too much trouble." Hermione laughed at her comment, turned, and began her descent into the dungeons.

'Trouble is exactly what I may need from him.'

SSHGSSHG

Severus stormed into his classroom, black robes billowing around him. The entire class jumped, almost in unison, startled by his sudden appearance. A few of them even hoped that he maybe might not have shown up at all, what with him being five minutes late on the first day of classes.

He strode up to the front of the classroom, turning to face the fifth years in front of his desk. His eyes scanned over his Slytherins before wandering over to the Gryffindor side of the room. She seemed alright, no different than previous years. 'Why is she looking at me like that?' Her eyes seemed hard, almost cold. Like she was trying to find a flaw with him, or something. They weren't they eyes that should've been looking at him. 'What's wrong? Is she mad at me? Why the hell would she be mad at me? What could…' His internal monologue trailed off when he realized that he had been looking at her long enough for it to be classified as staring. Quickly diverting his eyes, he waved his wand at the board and addressed the class.

"You have two hours. Begin." Giving her one last glance, he swept behind his desk and sat down. The period would be over soon enough. For now, all he could do was wait.

SSHGSSHG

The vials were handed in. The cauldrons were cleaned. The left over ingredients were properly put away. The only thing left to happen was for the bell to ring. And it was taking forever.

Hermione felt like she had been waiting to hear that sound for months, when in reality it had only been a few minutes. She cast a discrete tempus charm behind her bag. There was only a minute left. It lasted a lifetime. Finally, the sweet sound of the bell ringing was music to her ears. She had scarcely pushed her stool away from the desk before she heard her name.

"Ms. Granger, stay behind." He hasn't looked up from his desk while he said this, his hand never faltering on the papers he was grading. He was strangely quiet during the lesson; he hadn't even left his desk since he walked in.

Hermione waited until the room cleared out completely before slowly walking up to his desk. She didn't know how he was going to act, not to mention that he was the one to call her to stay after class, not the other way around like she had intended. 'Obviously he wants something. But what?'

She heard the lock click shut on the door and looked up at her Potions Master, slightly pulled from her thoughts. 'Why is he looking at me like that?' There was a soft, gentle look on his face, and his eyes were clearly filled with concern. They roamed over her as though trying to find something wrong, something out of place or injured. He just sat there, looking at her with his gentle eyes, not saying a word. Hermione didn't know what to say, didn't know how to begin the sure to be odd conversation. 'Well I can't just come right out and ask him "What the hell happened last night?" now can I? No, of course not. You're being ridiculous. There has to be a more socially appropriate way of putting this. Then again I suppose we're not particularly socially appropriate people, are we?' She gave a mental groan. 'Why does this have to be so difficult. I should just . . . What is he . . .?' Her thought process was cut off immediately by him suddenly rising from his chair. He circled around to the front of his desk and stood in front of her. 'He's so close. Why is he this close?' His eyes were on hers, as searching as ever. He looked almost puzzled at what he saw in her eyes. Raising his hand, he brushed her hair back behind her ear, his fingertips gently grazing her skin. Hermione didn't flinch, exactly, but rather seemed unprepared for his rather affectionate action.

Placing his hand on the side of her neck, Severus ducked down to her level, lightly pressing his lips to hers.

SSHGSSHG

He knew he shouldn't have done that, shouldn't have kissed her. At least not until they had talked a little, not until he had found out what was bothering her. But he was only a man. He just couldn't help himself. It was bad enough that he had had to endure the entire two hours of her being in his presence and not being able to even look at her. It was something akin to torture for him. After class, when she was just standing there before him with such an odd look in her eyes, he immediately had the instinct to want to make her feel better. It just so happened that the only way he know how at the moment was by kissing her. Or rather, it had helped her last night at least.

Severus was close to being lost in the feel of her soft lips against his, before he finally noticed something. She wasn't kissing him back. Why wasn't she kissing him back? 'Why isn't she kissing me back?' It always seemed to him like he could only think the obvious thoughts whenever she was around, and it appeared that now was no exception. He pulled back from her lips, instantly missing the closeness of their connection, and reluctant for it to end but hopeful that they would find theirselves in a similar situation once they got everything sorted out. As said before, he is a man, and most men are quite shallow. But he, Severus Snape, only wanted her to be okay.

He looked once more down into her eyes, and noticed that she wasn't smiling. She should have been smiling. She smiled last night after he had kissed her. She had smiled quite a lot, actually. Something was severely wrong. It had to be.

"Hermione?" He gave her a quizzical look, hoping to convey his confusion to her through her eyes. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

She was giving him that look again. The one that said 'Where the hell am I and what in the world is going on?' Severus continued searching her eyes, trying to find a trace of the woman he was with last night. He couldn't. Not entirely, at least.

"What're you doing?" He could detect a hint of confusion in her voice, and a small undertone of accusation as well.

"What do you mean 'What am I doing?'? I'm kissing you, I thought that that much would've been obvious." He let out a small chuckle. "What else did you think I was doing?" Severus brought his hand back up to her, moving to tuck her hair behind her ear again. She stepped away from him before he could reach her. His hand dropped through the air, landing beside him and feeling strangely empty.

"Well, not kissing me seems like a good place to start."

Severus was confused. No, he was beyond confused.

"Hermione, what are you . . .?"

"Look. To be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea why you asked me to stay behind. I will admit that I was going to do so anyway, but that's beside the point. I need answers. And I think you're the only one who can give them to me."

"Hermione, darling, I don't understand what you're saying." And he didn't. He well and truly had no idea what in the name of Merlin she was going on about. And it scared him, for both of their sakes. For him, because he was rarely confused and almost never didn't understand something. And, more importantly, for her, because she wasn't acting like herself. This wasn't the Gryffindor princess all of Hogwarts knew and loved. It wasn't his Hermione either.

"Don't know . . . Don't know what I'm saying? And I thought you were somewhat intelligent." She threw up her arms and nearly growled in exasperation. "You want to know what I'm saying? What I'm saying is what the hell happened last night that gave you the thought that you had a right to just kiss me or touch me whenever you had a passing fancy to do so?" She was nearly panting by the time she finished her tirade. Her breathes were coming in short and fast, and her eyes were darting around the room.

"What happened? Hermione, last night was wonderful. How could you possibly be asking me what happened?" He was hurt. 'Do I mean that little to her? Maybe I was wrong.' He looked her over again. Her breathing wasn't slowing down. 'No. Something's wrong. This is worse than I thought.'

Her eyes finally found his, if only for a few moments, before she burst out her response.

"BECAUSE I DON'T FUCKING REMEMBER!"

Her breathing was getting even faster know, and she was starting to shake a slightly. What she said barely had time to register with Severus before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she began to collapse. Darting forward, he managed to just catch her in his arms.

"Dammit." Severus whispered the cure under his breath before rushing with her into his office. Shifting her unconscious body to one side, he grabbed some floo powder and threw it into the fire.

"Poppy! Poppy get your ass over here, I need your help." He didn't care that he had just disrespected one of the only motherly figures he had. All he cared about right now was making sure Hermione stayed alive.

"Stay with me. I'm here. I'll always be here."

It was a fact he could no longer deny.

He needed her.

SSHGSSHG

A/N: You should know the drill by now. Love it, hate it, don't really care about it, let me know. Any ideas or questions, let me know. And don't forget to check our my new oneshot Why Don't You Blush?