First off I want to say, cable companies suck. Just got internet yesterday in my apartment. Apparently it takes 5 tries for a company to realize that when I say all I want is internet, all I want is internet. I had them show up many times trying to hook me up to cable and phone, but never internet. I almost went insane. Anyway! Here is the chapter. I hope you all like it :) And as always, please read and review!

Hermione stared at the letter as she sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. So that was it. Her relationship with Remus was over. She couldn't lie, a small part of her was grateful that he had ended it. She knew that eventually the end would come for them and she never wanted to be the one that had to say goodbye. But it was a very small part. The tears fell from her face as she stared at the words that he had written. He had said nothing nasty, nothing cruel, and yet it was one of the most cruel things she had ever read.

He had given no reason! No reason at all for ending their relationship. And to do so in a letter? How cowardly was that? She wished she could hop on a broom right that instant and fly to him and demand that he give her a proper explanation and a proper break up. While the words were tender, the tone was cold. It felt more like he was ending a business partnership than a romantic relationship.

She was angry, so angry, for she knew that this had to have something to do with Severus. It had to have something to do with Remus' ridiculous jealousy of his. What else could have prompted this?

And as the tears began to lessen, her rage began to grow. She longed to scream and throw things and cause pain for someone, anyone. The clock read a half an hour to midnight, and Hermione knew exactly how she wanted to bring in the new year.

…...

Though he very much hated the rest of the students he was forced to be around, Snape hated the castle even more when it was empty. Always preferring to hide away in a crowd, he hated being exposed like this. At least the paintings had learned to not try and speak to him and after the incident last year, Peeves had stayed far away, so his walk back to the dorms were at least quiet.

And as he walked, his thoughts found their way back to a familiar topic. Why in Merlin's name was he spending so much time with that girl? When they were together he never thought about it. To his mind, it didn't seem strange that he should be spending time with someone that was only slightly less intelligent than he was. But then once they had parted, he realized how insane it all was. He remembered all that she had put him through that year and he wondered what it was that kept him there once their assignment was over.

Surely he wasn't beginning to consider this girl a friend? That would be ridiculous. He didn't make friends. Not since Lucius had been at school. He had acquaintances yes, but never friends. He was Severus Snape, he tolerated the company of others, he never enjoyed it. And yet he was. He couldn't deny when looking at everything objectively, they had been acting as friends.

His immediate thought after coming to such a conclusion was to end their relationship, but thinking of ending their strange friendship caused him to feel a touch of sadness and that reaction frightened him. He'd thought multiple times about ending his friendship with Lucius and never once had he felt saddened by that.

What was it about this girl that caused him to feel like this?

Severus was only a few feet away from his dorms when all of a sudden he hear feat running towards him.

Set on ignoring the runner, he quickened his pace towards his rooms until the sound of his name stopped him.

"Severus!"

"What?" He barked at Hermione as she ran towards him.

While he was glaring at her, he noticed the tear stains that were on her face. Apparently whatever had been in that letter had upset her. And Severus hoped that she had not come to him for comfort or solace. That was something he would never do for anyone. And then he noticed the smile on her face and, despite his best efforts, hoped that it was directed towards him.

"I was hoping I'd catch you before you got back to your dorms." She said as she tried to catch her breath, "Sorry I ran all the way from my rooms."

"What for?" He tried to snap, though he had to admit that it didn't have his usual edge to it.

Hermione must have noticed, for her smile grew once more.

"This," she answered as she closed the gap between them.

Severus stared at her, confused, as she walked towards him. Every part of his brain was screaming at him to push her away but his body grew rigid as he waited to see what she was going to do. Her face moved closer to his and he couldn't believe what he thought was about to happen. His brain screamed even louder for him to move, to push her away, to do something to stop what was about to happen but he still found himself unable to move.

His eyes closed on their own just as her lips touched his and he felt his heart explode inside of his chest. Her lips were warm and soft and he could feel her smiling against his own lips. Whether a moment or an eternity passed he could not tell, but he felt time return back to normal when she began to draw back.

When he finally opened his eyes once more, he saw her watching him as she began to walk backwards the way she came.

"Happy New Year Severus," She called out as she left him standing alone in the hallway.

It took a while for Severus to move again, and even longer to wipe the stupid grin that marred his face.

…...

"Happy New Year Remus," Lily smiled as she came over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy New Year Lily," Remus answered, putting on his best fake smile.

After he had written his letter to Hermione, he had come downstairs to be with his friends for New Years. He had wanted to get all that business behind him before midnight so he could start the new year fresh. But now that it was done, Remus felt an overwhelming sadness coming over him. He no longer wanted to be around his friends. He wanted to lock himself up in a room alone and not see anyone for a long, long time.

But he didn't want to spoil the new year for anyone else with the news of his break up so he put on a fake smile and tried to join the rest of the party, trying not to miss her.

November 25th, 1997

"Did you hear about Snape and Remus?" Harry asked as he joined Ron on the couch in the common room.

Most of the other students had gone to bed long ago, so thankfully they were alone. There were more than a few things that Harry needed to talk to Ron about, and he needed privacy.

"Hospital wing, right?" Ron answered without looking at Harry.

"Yeah, they got caught dueling. They're not too far from Malfoy I hear," Harry said as he joined Ron in staring into the fire.

Harry waited for Ron to respond to his little nudge. It had been a few days since Ron had attacked Malfoy and he hadn't spoken about it yet which had Harry worried .Usually when Ron was upset enough to hurt someone, he came to Harry and shouted and got his anger out before he did anything. But this time he just attacked.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you attacked Malfoy?" Harry finally asked after what felt like hours of silence.

"Were you ever going to tell me about Hermione snogging Snape?" Ron snapped back as he turned his head towards Harry, "Yeah, that's right, I read your stupid letter."

"That was private Ron," Harry half shouted, wanting to keep quiet so that he didn't wake anyone up.

"Since when? You've been telling me everything in the letters anyway," Ron spat back. "I thought something had made you upset and I wanted to know what it was. She's my friend too."

"If she had really wanted you to know, she would have put them in a letter to you Ron," Harry scolded, "I know you've cared about her before. Did you think that perhaps she didn't tell you because she didn't want to hurt you?"

Ron stared back at the fire and didn't say another word. Harry waited for a while, waiting, hoping that Ron would keep talking but eventually he gave up.

"You can't go around attacking people because you're frustrated with everything going on with Hermione," Harry said, breaking the silence as he stood up, "Next time come find me and we can talk about it. You're not the only one upset by all this."

Harry left Ron in the common room to sulk as he made his way up to his dorm. He wished that Ron would just open up and they could talk about what was going on. Ron was the only one that Harry could talk to about Hermione now and he was getting frustrated too.

It was another couple of hours before Harry heard Ron get into bed. And before he fell asleep he prayed that Hermione would come back soon. He wasn't sure how much longer they could last without her.