Severus didn't know what to make of the girl's surrendering of information she had guarded so long. She laid there silent with her head his lap for a moment, but once she had opened her mouth, the flow of words seemed to come like a river breaking a dam, it crashed through the barrier with the incredible force of a storm contained and brewing for years, washing over the land it once provided with an unforgiving rage. Tears flowed freely from her closed eyes as she unleashed her torrent, speaking in hushed, breathless tones of a world crashing all around her.

It seemed the last brick of her dam was removed when she opened her eyes and acknowledged him as the one she had told all of these horrors to. It was there, under the tree in the golden sunlight that he was certain Hermione had surrendered herself completely to him, even the dying gold light in her watery eyes seemed to be like the dying embers of a battle fire extinguished, signifying the end of a war.

Hermione was lying there, exhausted from her weeping, she allowed herself to sleep, guardless to him. She had made herself vulnerable to him, without a fight. Sleeping there with her head in his lap, she knew he could do anything to her, and trusted him not to, she knew he could hurt her greatly with what she had shared, and trusted he wouldn't.

"You'll never be alone, darling," he whispered this promise to the sleeping girl.

Hermione stared up at the man running his fingers through her hair. He looked down at her with absolute patience in his eyes. He accepted her confessions and condemnations without a hint of resistance. He held in his gaze with an over powering sympathy gleaming in his eye.

They stared at eachother in silence for a while, both seeing the other for their feelings. It was an instant realization. In the other's eyes gleamed an undying, powerful, passionate and consuming love that would serve as a life line for the other. It was then she knew, he couldn't live without her, and she, despite her short life span, couldn't live without him. She wanted him, and he returned the unreasoning desire she had been fighting for all this time.

This time, Hermione was prepared for his move. There was an excited buzzing in her head and pounding in her chest as his lips met hers. His lips lightly brushed against hers, delicately playing with them, she met his careful, sweet and tender movements with a delicate response of her own, softly pressing her own lips against his. He gently lifted her head off of his lap and set her on the groundlightly. He then held himself above her and continued to kiss her. Hermione felt fireworks bursting and richocheting in her head as he did so.

The two proceed to undress eachother and were ready to make love after all this time. He began kissing her neck as he made his entrance. There was a pause, and she opened her eyes to see his angry black eyes flickering like hellfire above her.

"Would you mind telling me what became of your maidenhead?"

Hermione choked as she remembered what became of it. Tears stung her eyes as she looked up in fear at the man she loved.

"Nothing in your body is untouched. Everything has been tampered with. Your blood, contaminated as it is,I could stand before I remembered it's not even yours after so many transfusions. You've been poked and prodded, cut and fixed along every tendon, bone and muscle, the marrow in your bones have been tapped more than a tree for sap. The hands of complete strangers have touched you more than any lover. You kept nothing for me, didn't you?"

She opened her mouth to explain when she was paused by him tracing the long scar between her breasts.

"Absolutley nothing here is mine," he growled. "It's not even yours!"

"Please!" she cried. "I love you!"

He continued to trace the scar. He looked down at her, now with indifference rather than anger. He kept eye contact, piercing her soul with the disgust. He ripped open the scar with ease, causing Hermione a great deal of pain, she felt the icy fingers clutch her heart and rip it from her chest as though he were pulling a weed from its roots.

Hermione stared at the man standing before her in shock as he stareddaggers into her. Crimson stained his white, icy hand as he dug his fingers into the still beating heart, causing more blood to spurt out of the veiny, pink organ. Hermione reached a weak arm out either to him or to the heart, she didn't know which.

With the indifference of a child with an old toy, he examined the heart, eyes tracing the veins as he played with the tissue between his fingers. He then simply tossed it aside to lay indifferently in the cold grass forever.

He then walked over to her and knelt by her without a tear to shed for her. She laid there dying because of him, and he acted as if he had simply took away a trinket or toy. He knelt down beside her and whispered harshly into her ear as she took her last breath.

"It wasn't yours to give."

With a gasp Hermione bolted upright with a cry and grabbed her chest. Looking down, she noted it had no tear and she had not been bleeding. There was little relief from knowing it was a dream. Her body wasn't hers, and she was quite literally heartless. How could she expect anyone to love her when she hadn't—she was being ridiculous, but she still found herself with her knees drawn up to chest with her arms wrapped about her legs and her head tucked into the protective gap between her torso and legs as she sobbed.

She was reminded she wasn't alone when she felt a pair of slender, firm arms encompass her. She wanted nothing more than to leave, but all she could do was weep as her back was soothed by hands that tore her heart from her chest and hushed by the voice that so condemned her in her dream.

Severus was to say the least, confused. Hermione had been angry with him, bared her soul completely and now wept inconsolably. She had fallen asleep, so he could reason it was a nightmare, but why it disturbed her so, he couldn't know. All he could do was wait for emotional exhaustion to kick in once more as he muttered vague assurances.

It wasn't long before she grew silent in his arms, her body went limp and her breathing softened to the point had they not been so close he might have been concerned. She seemed so helpless before him, the girl was pale and wan, looking rather like glass doll in comparision to the girl he had grown to know and love. This was a completely different side of her he imagined no one saw. He knew that she had never been a prime example of an emotionally stable person, but she never bared her soul so, especially not with the likes of him.

He merely sighed and rested his cheek at the top of her head and waited for signs of stirring in the exhausted girl. He thought about what he was going to do with her a bit further. He thought he'd had it figured out, but he couldn't deny how safe for her his decision actually was. It clearly had advantages and disadvantages, one of them being the fact that it was wildly inappropriate and though Dumbledore was more than happy about it, he was undoubtedly the only one and frankly Dumbledore trusted him far too much to weigh the pros and cons himself.

Severus knew she wasn't his to keep, or at all. Finding her when she was most apt to break down didn't mean she was trusting him. A wave of guilt came over him as he knew that he had purposely agitated her into a break-down more than once. Hermione was a fine instrument that he could play to any tune he wanted effortlessly. This was something he was more than ashamed of, but he continued to do it. It wasn't often he did it either, but that wasn't any excuse.

"Your mother's going to kill me." Severus sighed as he lifts his head from the table to look at a small girl staring out the window. She is Hermione's height and about fifteen or sixteen years of age. She is leaning over the window staring at nothing.

Severus doesn't know why he was talking to this girl or why he thought the girl's mother would kill him, but he knew that he was frustrated with her and that he cared about her. There was something strangely familiar about her. She is petite with black curls cascading down her back and from what skin he could see, she was fair skinned.

"She isn't the only one." She says with a growl. "I just don'tsee why you couldn't be more patient with him."

What is she talking about? He wonders why he feels so strongly towards as the words leap from his lips, and unlike before they are his own.

"Who are you?"

The girl turns around and he sees her for the first time. The blue clad pallid thing is painfully familiar. Black curls draped over small shoulders and framed a pale round face with delicate features. Her eyes, her eyes are large and round and were a warm chocolate brown. Just like Hermione's!

That's when he looks at her cupped hands and sees a tiny yellow thing resting and singing cheerily in them. It's a canary, one he had seen before, and when he looks into those black eyes of his, he knows where. Some time ago, he saw this very same bird with his eyes clouded over in death.

He looks at the girl again and wonders why she is holding a bird that was once dead and cradled in Hermione's arms. She opens her mouth and finally speaks.

"Dad?"

id:7135195

It was dark when Severus opened his eyes to see that he had been laying down beneath the tree with a small cloak draped over him like a blanket and his head propped a folded peice of fabric. He lifted his head to see Hermione sitting beside him, tearing a piece of paper into shreds.

"What are you doing, girl?" he groaned rubbing his eyes.

Hermione gasped with a slight jump at the sound of his voice. "Ah, you're awake."

"How long were we here?" he asked moving to sit up, he folded the cloak and gave it back to the girl.

"I don't know. I just came to not that long ago."

"The peice of paper you're ripping to shreds," he began looking at her hands paused from the tearing. "What is it?"

"I couldn't wake you," she sighed. "I was going to write you a note explaining why i was gone and I decided I couldn't leave you alone in here asleep. Conscience wouldn't let me."

Severus locked eyes with Hermione briefly before she had turned her head away from his gaze. He might have done the same had the gaze lingered much longer. He had dreamt he fathered a child of hers, and he couldn't help but feel there was an implication the two were raising her together. He had no desire for a family before that dream, but that had changed. He wanted not just her, but a life with her. Hermione had been haunting his dreams for a while now and she would continue to as his feelings for her grew stronger. He wondered when sympathy and attraction turned into the intense feelings he wasn't able to shake. He reasoned this longing would only grow worse the longer it was unspoken.

Hermione was chewing her hair as she averted his gaze. He was awake, not helpless, her conscience shouldn't be keeping her sitting infront of him anymore, the smart thing to do would be to get up and walk away, but she couldn't. It was a dream, get over it! She scolded herself as she bit her bit of hair harder. A sigh came from the man in front of her and a lecture was sure to follow as he moved her hair behind her ears.

"Hermione," he now placed a hand on either cheek and was trying to establish eye contact. "There's something I need to tell you."

"And I'm sure whatever it is can wait." Said a voice from above them.

Hermione looked up to see McGonagal standing above them with her signature severe expression. She felt she might shrink beneath her disapproving gaze before she realized it looked much worse for Snape. He was alone with a female student in the middle of the night in a courtyard one would have to go out of their way to come across. But she couldn't suspect him of...Though she did seem more upset with him than she was with her.

"Would you mind explaining why you felt the need to summon a student at three AM?" she scowled as Snape got to his feet.

"I didn't summon the girl." He said. "I found her here asleep. I couldn't sleep and came here to kill time. She was passed out at the base of the tree."

"That at least explains why she looks like that," said McGonnagal indicating the blades of grass on her clothing and in her hair as well as leaves and twigs. "But why is there grass in your hair?"

Hermione looked at her teacher turning pink at her insinuation. Why everyone believed they were sleeping together she didn't know, but it was passed the point of irritating her, it now terrified her. Would she be responsible for Snape being fired?

She felt the weight of her guilt pressing on her while she rose to her feet. Snape began to reach out to help her but stopped when his eyes moved to the glowering old woman before them. Hermione hoped she hadn't noticed the way she did.

"I think you've helped her enough, Severus," McGonagal hissed.

"What on earth are you talking about, Professor?" asked Hermione in her most winsome little girl voice with a wide-eyed innocent stare that she had reserved for explaining Harry and Ron out of a ditch.

"Miss Granger," McGonnagal sighed. "I don't believe you'd do anything, but the circumstances I've found you in—I can't ignore it and it needs to be looked into." She turned around. "Perhaps you two should follow me. And, Severus? You never did explain why there are blades of grass on your clothes and in your hair..."

Hermione noticed him draw his wand quietly and point his wand at McGonnagal. With a simple gesture the old woman fell to the ground.

"What the hell did you do?" she cried kneeling by McGonnagal.

"A memory charm," he knelt beside Hermione leaving precious little space between them.

"Because we couldn't explain we weren't doing anything?" she scoffed.

"There was no way she'd believe it!" he then turned her face to his. "You wouldn't have played up the 'innocent little girl' thing if you didn't think so."

"Forgive me if I thought coming across as innocent was something we might want to do!"

Snape rolled his eyes and let go of her face. "You came across as innocent. What you didn't think of is how drawing attention to the fact that you're a helpless little girl would affect the grown man you were found alone with in the middle of the night!"

"Oh," Hermione bit her lip and looked down.

"Well, I'm shocked." He growled.

"What on earth are you two arguing about this late?" McGonagal looked at the two, then took in her surroundings. "Why are we here? And why on earth are you two covered in grass and leaves?"

Severus looked at his student who still bit her lip, now in nervous thought. Niether he nor Hermione could come up with something and McGonnagal was getting impatient. He flipped through excuses like pages in a book, hopefully less obviously than Hermione did.

"Severus!" she said incredulously looking at both of them. "Tell me you didn't."

"Didn't what?" Hermione squeaked.

"I can't believe—"

He quickly grabbed his wand and cast the memory charm again.

"Now you're just going to cause brain damage," she rolled her eyes and gestured to the teacher. "Honestly!"

"Oh, I'm sure you knew exactly how to deal with her suspiscions! It was quite evident in how confidently you replied to her questions after biting a hole in your lip! The squeaking was particularly convincing."

"Just get rid of the leaves and grass blades before she—"

"Granger? Severus?"

And of course the same questions came from poor McGonagal.

"She fainted and knocked me over" he replied at the very same time Hermione answered with "I fell from a tree and landed on him."

"So which is it?" she eyed the two skeptically.

"I fainted and knocked him over" "She fell from a tree and knocked me over"

"Which is it?"

Severus cast Hermione a "say-nothing" look and grabbed her fidgeting hand.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came here to kill time," he tightened his grip on the shaking hand in his. "I found the girl asleep in one of the branches. I called to wake her up, she responded by bolting upright, which caused her to get dizzy and faint. Her fainting made her fall out of the tree and I was knocked over when I caught her."

"Why didn't you just catch her with a spell?" she laughed.

Hermione read too much into this innocent question, when he was about to offer to help McGonagall up he heard a shaky voice cry "Obliterate!" and for the third time McGonagall was out.

"Hermione!" he barked. "She believed it!"

"I panicked!" she snapped, wand shaking in her hands.

"Remind me not to take you as an ally should I need one in a life-or-death situation." He grumbled using a quick spell to remove the grass from his clothes and hair in a second. "Now put the wand away and lay down."

"What?" Hermione choked.

"I'm telling her you fainted to avoid this from happening again. It would be a feat for you to mess things up even further if you're pretending to be unconscious."

"Okay, so where'd I faint? And why'd she faint?" Hermione drilled him for details. He'd impress her yet.

"I ran into her on my way here, she accompanied me," he couldn't resist the urge to pinch her cheek. "And you, my sweet , little darling, were found at the base of the tree not breathing. She fainted when I said you weren't breathing. I performed CPR and you were able to breathe again. And fortunately you hadn't gained consciousness."

Hermione began to walk over to the tree when he gathered her in his arms. "Stop squirming, you're unconscious."

"Jerk."

"Well, I'm simply devastated to find you think that, sweetheart." He laughed. "Maybe if you're a good little girl I'll finish what I was about to say sometime we're in Canada."

Hermione's eyes widened and she coked as she nearly leaped from his arms. "We're?"

"Shh!" he smirked. "You're unconscious."

"She's far out of eye and ear shot," Hermione huffed not ten minutes after McGonagall retired to her chambers. "Any chance I could walk?"

"Of course," he said setting her down. "I might as well give my arms a rest. I'd give you five minutes before I have to pick you up again because you've fainted."

Hermione rolled her eyes and gestured to her standing body. "I'm going to be fine."

"You always say that," he walked on past her and took her hand. "I simply don't believe you anymore."

"Why?" she demanded taking her hand back.

Severus sighed as he eyed the angry little girl before him. Hadn't they had this conversation before? Several times? Would they ever have a conversation not pertaining to why he didn't believe her? Flustered, he grabbed her hand back and dragged her behind him.

"What did you mean 'we're'?" she asked, now keeping pace.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When you said 'when we're in Canada'?"

"I meant exactly what I said." He marched on.

"But what did you mean by 'we're'?"

"We're, a contraction of we and are!" he explained, skirting around her actual question.

The frazzled girl broke free of his grasp and cut him off, standing infront with him blocking him from moving any further.

"You're going to tell me what you meant right now!" she shrieked her eyes wide open and burning.

He sighed as merely walked around her. Severus badly wished to walk past her and leave her , but his desire to be near her won out. He hadn't moved three paces before turning back toward her. Hermione had began to walk away as well. He walked up beside her and took her hand in his.

Luna and Neville had been walking back from the watching the albino moths return from their migration. Despite the fact she, Neville and Hermione had all agreed to see the return of the moths (after much urging on Luna's part), the return still made her ecstatic. She forgot about Hermione's absence once the clear black sky was filled with fluttering, translucent gossamer wings dancing around the silver sliver that was the moon. It was the most beautiful thing she saw every year and she was glad to have shared it with Neville.

"We'll talk about it in the morning." A baritone voice from around the corner said. "We'll need to prepare for class anyway. It's Friday, it'll be your last."

Neville paled at the sound of the oh-too familiar voice and huddled against the wall. Luna, curious to see who Snape had been talking to decided to peer around the corner. Hermione's absence from the moths' return was no longer just forgotten, but also forgiven when Luna saw her walking down the corridor with her hand in his.

Hermione must have been an idiot for not seeing the way he looked at her, Luna concluded. Snape had now turned to face her and moved her leaf strewn bushy hair from her face. She wondered why Hermione was covered in leaves and grass when Snape was completely clean, but it became a minor detail when she smiled sheepishly and looked up at him with affectionate light in her eyes. "You mean I'm not fired?"

He laughed lightly and lifted her face slightly by her chin. "Hermione, did I ever say you were fired?"

"No, but after—"

"You assumed that I'd call it off because of our arguement?" he asked amusement fading from his voice. "Hermione, what kind of a man do you think I am?"

Hermione said nothing, the two traded intense gazes after she had to avert hers in shame. Luna recognized it well when Hermione was confronted with something she didn't understand. But now there was guilt and pain palpable even from Luna's distance.

"Look at me," he sighed sadly, probably shame from learning what she thoughtof him. He turned her face to his very gently. "Sweetheart, I'm a foolish man. I'm ornery and stubborn ...but I'm not petty."

The two shared a lingering gaze, intense with passion as they lost themselves in eachother's eye. Hermione moved closer to him with caution in her step, Snape , in turn,reacted by slowly and lightly circling his arms around her waist, she raised her hands to his shoulders and he began to lower his face to hers when he suddenly whipped around to Luna's direction knocking Hermione off balance. He caught her just before she hit the floor.

"I know you're waiting for us to pass in the corner, you can come out!" he snapped still holding Hermione from under her arms.

Luna sighed and dragged Neville behind her, which was a feat considering her diminutive size, and left the safety of around the corner. Neville stood behind her shaking, the two were mere paces from the teacher and her friend.

"Luna?" Hermione asked as she took to her fate with the unneeded aid of Snape.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" he glowered.

"We were just on our way returning to our dorms after watching the albino moths' return from the great migration," Luna explained with a smile.

"There are these lovely little things called windows—" Snape began but was cut off by Hermione.

"That was tonight?" Hermione cried slapping her forehead with unnecessary force. "God, Luna, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot!"

"You knew about this?" he turned back to her with a less than impressed look.

"It was my idea," she groaned convincingly. "For years the three of us had been watching it from windows, and the migration came up in conversation not too long ago, so we decided to get together for the return and watch it more closely." Hermione looked at her friends. " Don't blame them, I was adamant to the point eventually they just couldn't say no. I'm not sure you're aware of it, but I can be quite an annoyance, for some it's quite persuasive."

"Oh, believe me, sweetheart, I'm quite aware of that," said he "If you three wanted to see it so badly,why didn't you get enough students together to make a case and get permission?"

Hermione only replied with another face-palm, this one still noticeably forceful.

"Stop that!" he grabbed her hand.

"She didn't because it was my idea," Luna answered and stifled a giggle as Snape intercepted Hermione's hand and kept his fingers laced between hers. "I think she wants to remove the blame from us by saying it was her idea. I don't know why she thinks so, it's rather silly."

"Indeed," he agreed looking at Hermione, thenturning back to Luna. "Typically, I'd be stripping points from your respective houses and put you in detention. But your stumbling across us turned out to be convenient for me." He let go of Hermione's hand in favour of moving behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I have business to attend to. See to it that Miss Granger makes it to Gryffindor Tower in one peice."

With that he left the three confused.

Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table and eyed Hermione excitedly. She was so curious about what she saw she couldn't wait for knitting club to talk to her. Hermione left the Gryffindor table without touching her food, again. Luna decided to ask the questions in private and follow her out of the Great Hall.

"Hermione?"

"Hi, Luna," she replied turning around with her eyes wide, yet relieved.

"Afraid I was someone a little more—"

"Yeah," Hermione answered before she could finish the question. "I have to meet him at some point this morning and after last night, I'm a little, well, nervous. I need to take a walk."

Luna enthusiastically linked her arm in Hermione's and beamed, knowing she was being a tad childish. "Care for some company."

"You know I can't say no to you."

"Yes you can."

Hermione simply rolled her eyes and the two left.

Luna was skipping stones in the lake as Hermione sat at the base of a tree and wrote in one of her journals.

"So, what were you two up to?" she asked abandoning her rocks to sit beside Hermione.

Hermione eyed Luna for a second before laying down with her head in her lap. "You wanted to play therapist, Luna, so prepare yourself for the unloading of the century!"

"Oh, I want to hear that!" Ron exclaimed sitting down beside them.

Harry, Ron, Neville and Ginny had asked around and looked for them. The search brought them here, Luna was a little off-put at first, but then figured it wasn't her place to interrogate Hermione anyway. The four of them joined the huddle, Hermione lifted her head to allow Luna to lay down, she put her head back down on her stomach, Ginny then placed her head on Hermione's stomach and Harry on Ginny's.

"Join us," Luna laughed looking up at Ron and Neville. "You know you want to."

"I don't want them to!" Hermione spoke with her melodramatic voice. "I'm obsessive-compulsive, Luna, and we already have a square. Ron and Neville join and it'll be ruined! I'll not have non-Euclidean geometry!"

"Suck it up, buttercup!" Ron laughed.

At this Ron set his head on Harry's stomach and Neville laid by Harry's feet and gently lifted Luna's head laying her head on his stomach.

"Now, what about promised the unloading of the century?" Ron chuckled.

"Oh, yeah," Hermione sighed. "Well, I suppose it wasgoing to occur to you guys anyway."

"Oh?" Harry asked, concern peeking in his voice.

She paused to let them speculate silently before continuing. Luna wondered briefly if she would tell all of them about last night. Other than craving her curiosity, she imagined it'd be cathartic for Hermione.

"Ron is such a jerk!" Hermione ranted. "I swear he is the single biggest jackass I've met! I swear, you people wouldn't believe how much of a jerk this guy is!"

"Hey!" Ron cried.

The friends burst out laughing as they all looked at the sky. Luna wished the moment wouldn't end. It has been a while since the lot of them were together for reasons so innocent and all of them were happy. It was so carefree, light and just happy. Luna didn't care her curiosity hadn't been sated and was glad their friends had found them.

"I don't blame you,Hermione," Harry cackled. "I feel the same way."

"Feeling's bloody mutual, Harry!" Ron tried to pout but his lips cracked a smile.

"It's okay, sweetie," Ginny comforted her brother. "It's not your fault you're that way."

"I know it's not his fault he's that way," Hermione continued, "But, goodness gracious! He's just awful! Biggest arse I've ever met!"

"I sure hope you're not talking about me," said a voice from above them.

Luna looked up to see Snape with a blank expression on his face. The line had been said to draw their attention to him, but she suspected he actually thought they were talking about him. He looked at Hermione somewhat hurt. She would probably never know how much her opinion meant to him, despite Luna's many efforts.

"What's going on, Professor?" asked Luna before Harry could say something to set him off.

"Miss Lovegood, are you aware that the rules regarding school boundries apply to you lot as well, aren't you?"

"Lake's technically school grounds," Hermione but in. "The forest is protected by funding from the school giving it partial owner ship."

"Partial." He agreed to that point as he moved to stand almost directly over Hermione. "Meaning that this is not school grounds. You should have been able to figure that out, my little wordsmith."

"I wasn't finished," Hermione continued with her matter-of-fact tone that drove Luna bonkers. She wished Hermione saw what she did. "That contract was drawn up a very long time ago. When it was drawn up the forest hadn't quite reached the lake because it had been cleared beyond the lake. Making everything a mile that way—" she pointed beyond the lake "—property of the school."

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger," he spoke, his face reddened and his words dripped in sarcasm as he knelt at her side and leaned in close to her. "I wasn't aware you had every single contract ever drawn up regarding the school memorized."

"If you don't believe it," she nudged Ginny and the three in the chain before her let her up. "Check yourself to see if it remained unchanged. Just remember I have alot of time on my hands where I do nothing but read, and I've made a hobby in finding loopholes since my second year."

"Why am I not surprised?" he sighed. "Let's see if you can use that ability to get out of trouble for missing our appointment. You knew I asked to meet you this morning, and frankly, I don't appreciate the lengths I had to go through to find you a mere two hours before I have to teach a class. Well, I suppose it's a half-hour now, because you've made yourself so bloody difficult to find."

"You never specified a time, Professor," Luna interjected looking at Hermione, who became even smaller than her as she chewed on a strand of hair. "After breakfast I came up to her, suggested we go for a walk. She said she had to meet up with you at some point this morning, I asked what time and she said you didn't specify." Luna then shrugged. "Obviously, if she came to see you anytime before noon, she'd ave kept her word."

"You're a clever little girl aren't you?" he began.

"Leave the poor girl alone," Hermione sighed. "She hasn't done anything wrong."

"Oh?" he turned his attention back to where Luna had tried to take it from.

"Tell me, what exactly did Luna do wrong?"

Snape turned pink after thinking on it a while and Luna's pity for the man was re-kindled. Hermione needed to decide whether or not she was going to make herself accessable to him. He obviously wasn't consistant in how he showed his affections for her, but he at least made it painfully obvious he had feelings of a sort for her. Even if she deemed him to be a tad possessive at times, Snape was at least trying. Hermione followed an inconsistent pattern that left him in the dark. Even an outsider saw the complete switch from the sympathetic friend to the antagonistic bitch. Hermione's behaviour left Snape so insecure about her feelings for him that he had to do what he could to ensure she wouldn't run off. In turn, Snape's behaviour grated on Hermione and she didn't know whether she had to fight, flee or accept him and her feelings for him. Luna wished Hermione would just make up her mind.

"She didn't do anything wrong," he finally admitted. "Though sixteen is a far cry from an adult, you do make your own decisions. Which brings me to take twenty points from Gryffindor and reinstate the detentions I had so generously let you out of."

"That isn't fair!" Harry snapped pointing to Hermione. "Hermione agreed to go through with the bet you proposed and she's probably going to win, which according to the terms you outlined, is supposed to get her out of those detentions."

"And it will if she does," he began setting a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "That doesn't stop her from acquiring new punishments for her many displays of appalling behaviour."

Ron stared at the hand clutching Hermione's shoulder. He opened his mouth but was cut off as the man continued.

"That'll be ten additional points, Potter, and you can join her for the first week in detention. Whatever you're going to say, Weasley, I'm sure it'll put you in the same position, so choose your words carefully, boy."

Ron turned pink and folded his arms across his chest as his gaze became down cast when Hermione mouthed 'don't make things worse' to him.

"I—we don't have time for this!" he huffed grabbing Hermione's hand and leading her out of the grove.

Luna prayed their interaction would go better when they were alone. They certainly went well last night when they were about to kiss.

"I'm betting she wishes he'd go back to ignoring her now," Ginny said getting up.

"He can pay as much attention to her as he bloody well wants," Ron grumbledlifting his bag. "But I'm sick of seeing his hands all over her everytime I see them. It's disgusting."

"It's weird, Ron," Harry agreed. "Snape's a lot of things, but he's not a pedophile."

"Actually, I think once you're over sixteen it doesn't count as pedophilia. It's just a large age difference." Luna offered.

"Even if he would, Hermione wouldn't..." Harry began.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Harry," said Neville. "Luna and I saw the two of them and it looked like they were about to kiss."

Luna could have slapped Neville for saying that infront of Ron. The others could eventually know and it would be fine, but Ron loved Hermione and the idea of her being with anyone was bad, but the well-hated professor.

"He had her in an embrace and their faces were close," Luna admitted at her friends' gazes. "But it looked like he was just holding her up and examining her face." She lied.

"He probably told her that too," Ron grumbled.

Luna rolled her eyes and began to walk out of the grove and her friends followed her. When they parted ways she noticed Harry trying to calm down Ron for a change. She wondered if Hermione's leaving the country would set things back to normal for those four.

"Hermione!"happily cried Remus Lupin who stood at the door waiting for them.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped in delight.

Severus wished his mere presence would make the make her that happy. He swallowed his jealousy and explained why he was there as he recalled their late night interaction the night before.

4:27AM Previous Night:

"I've been waiting forever, Snape," Lupin huffed gesturing to the pile of dirty coffee mugs he had to buy while waiting.

Severus had arranged to meet Lupin hours ago, they had corresponded through letters for a few days and had agreed to meet at the Three Broomsticks hours before four AM.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, I got tangled up in a bit of a mess." He replied nonchalantly. "I am, however, glad you waited so long. A sane person might have left hours ago."

Lupin laughed as Severus seated himself across from him. "A sane person wouldn't just up and leave his job for a week. Are the students really driving you so mad?" concern then crossed his face. "Or is it something else...?"

"it's nothing like that, Lupin," he replied taking a great weight off the werewolf's shoulders. "Young Miss Granger is heading off to Canada for the week with nothing resembling protection. She has been assigned to me as a charge."

"Assigned" was a term used loosely. Severus appealed to Dumbledore to let him go with the poor defenceless girl incase something happened. It made sense for the death eaters to want her out and for them to strike when she was only amongst muggles. Though it would throw Potter off his game, him agreeing to protect the girl would serve as a signal to the death eaters it was too early to start hacking away at Potter's sidekicks.

"So, I only need to teach your class for a week?" Lupin asked. "Pending you don't come back prematurely weeping."

"I crave your pardon?" he growled.

"Hermione's a strong independant girl," Lupin began."I'm sure she will have alot to say about being guarded like a child when she's perfectly capable."

"She can complain all she wants. She isn't perfectly capable, she's a defenceless little girl and she's eventually going to have to accept that."

"Let's not forget you and Hermione grind against eachother on the best days."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on," Lupin laughed. "Everyone knows you two grind against eachother."

What! Severus's mind screamed. Sure, I've fanaticized about the girl, but I never touched-

"It's gotten better," he sighed catching his meaning hating his perfectly innocent choice of wording to express they didn't get along. "I've grown a tad fond of the girl since she was assigned to me."

"Doesn't mean the feeling's mutual, Severus," Lupin jokingly reminded him.

"Don't remind me." He got up and left a sickle on the table. "You start Monday. Meet me at my office about nine AM and I'll give you the briefing."

Present.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he fished the keys out of his pocket. "I'm afraid both times I've kept you waiting were because this darling little thing beside me. I'm afraid my little TA likes to make herself difficult to find when needed."

"She's your charge and your TA?" Lupin laughed. "How in hell are either of you still alive after spending so much time together."

"Psychoactive drugs," Hermione joked before turning back to Severus. "Charge?"

"Did you think I volunteered to go to Canada with you?"

"I assumed you drew straws," she said.

Severus let them into his office and walked over to a high shelf diminutive TAs couldn't possibly reach to retrieve both his and Hermione's class notes. The height discrepancy between a tall man and short girl was frustrating for the poor girl and amusing enough to Severus to enchant the notes so no one could simply levitate them.

He set the plans on his desk and grabbed the books and things he needed for the class he had to teach. "I have to go. Hermione, go over the plans with the class you teach for him."

"Yessir," she opening her notes over the desk.

"I'll be here in an hour or so, Lupin. You can meet me back here so we can go over our other classes. And, Hermione sweetheart, do try and remember you have a class to teach at noon. I don't want another re-run of this morning."

"He calls you by terms of endearment now?" Lupin asked with a chuckle.

"Only for condescention purposes, Remus."

"Never would have guessed," he laughed. "How on earth did he decide to give you a position as a TA?"

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"You're early," Severus noted as Hermione showed up to meet him outside the classroom.

"You've never commented on being five minutes early before," she said. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, little girl," he ushered her into the classroom. "I don't know why you read so much into little comments."

"Because I have to." Hermione left it at that as she opened her book to the respective page and began to underline certain parts.

"You're ten minutes early, by the way. I always took you for a bibliophile," he commented as she marked up the pristine pages.

"I'm sure you have alot of assumptions about me that are wrong," she looked at him with an exhausted expression. "and I know I've made the same mistake with you."

"Talk to me, Hermione," he closed the book she meticulously examined. "What's bothering you?"

"So you're my keeper and my therapist now?"

"Fine. Forget it." He huffed slumping into his chair.

It seemed a century passed in their silence. Snape stared at her as she underlined and noted things leaning over one of the students' desk. Had their encounter that morning been that horrible she couldn't speak to him? Or was it what happened the night before? He nearly kissed her, again, and the shock value it would have should be gone when he had kissed her before, and very nearly—but it was different this time, for one, there had been no alcohol involved and it was painfully obvious this time he was going to kiss her. And to add another new element, she was about to meet him half way this time. It wasn't all him this time, which as much as it relieved him, must have frightened her greatly.

"Why did you agree to go to Canada with me?" she finally broke the silence.

"Because I have to."

"So, you weren't even given an option?" she asked

"I had the option, and I decided to go."

Hermione's eyes narrowed in a confused suspicion. "Then why-?"

"I told you, Hermione," he sighed. "Because I have to."

Hermione finally turned to look at him, and her expression was next to dead. "Well, isn't that the cop out answer of the century? Should have expected it from the most guarded human being on the planet. God, do you even remember the last time you were open with anyone?" she demanded with her eyes wide, fearful and most importantly, angry. "The last time you were open with yourself?"

Severus felt his anger mounting. How could she just say any of that? Was she trying to set him off? It was obviously another pathetic attempt to push him away; perhaps she thought if she angered him enough he'd not accompany her on her trip. Or maybe she actually cared...Either way he did not care to be called out by someone just as closed as him, if not more.

"You know what, little girl," he hissed grabbing her by the crook of her arm. "I'm willing to listen to this lecture coming from anyone but you. I think you know why!"

"Let go of me!"

"Who's the hypocrite now?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

There was a silence until the students arrived.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Hermione asked the students as she looked longingly out the window. "Why don't we hold class outside today?"

There was an excited buzzing among the students that Severus resented. Why did this girl have such a good handle on them when she had absolutely no influence whatsoever among her peers? Did she know he had been teaching them longer? That he had worked harder to produce the mediocre level of attention and effort they displayed? Who was this little girl to waltz into his classroom and take over? Who the hell did she think she was? No matter, he would put her beneath him once more...

But that's not really what he wanted... He wanted her at his side as his equal. But the way she was treating him was so inconsistent it was cruel. He never knew what to think of how she felt about him and at times swore she knew it meant everything to him.

He despised himself for hoping it'd rain when they led the students out into the main yard and gathered in a small circle beneath a vast and majestic maple. The lot of them sat in a circle, Severus sat by Hermione and noted the young boy on his other side shift down leaving prescious little space between his neighbour, but a generous amount between them. He again felt a twinge of jealousy toward his little apprentice.

The lot of them opened the books to the respective chapters and awaited instructions. They sat for the duration of the class and she let the class speak freely about the chapter the test would be on. Hermione interjected only a few times to correct someone or reference a page in the book. Listening to the students have a conversation about the material, Severus was surprised at how well the majority of them seemed to understand it.

"Don't forget about the test on Monday," Severus said as the bell from the tower sounded for classes to change over. "And for the next week you'll all have a substitute as I'll be away."

With that, the class left the feild to pursue their next classes.

The two silently gathered there things and headed inside. Once they were in the building Severus and Hermione started off in separate directions. If they were going to be in a different country for an entire week together they would have to be able to speak to eachother. Why not start now?

"Miss Granger?" he called before she got too far.

"Yes?" she approached cautiously.

"I expect to see you on the train platform at seven. Do try to be on time...and preferably conscious."

Hermione responded with an eyeroll. "As you wish."