"Severus?" Hermione asked tentatively as she pushed open the door to the room he was held hostage in and closing it quickly behind her. Harry and Ron were due back any day now, and the last thing he needed was to be caught up here fraternizing with the proverbial enemy. Of course, she knew he wasn't really an enemy, more a victim of circumstance beyond control but nobody else saw it that way.

"Yes?" He snapped a little harder than he had intended. He was going stark raving mad in these four walls day in and day out. Never a reprieve. It didn't take long before the walls started to cave in on one and crushed their spirit exponentially.

"Ron and Harry will be back any day now I suspect so I'm not sure how often I can come to keep you company." She watched him intently as he lay on the aged bed staring helplessly at the mouldy ceiling above.

A derisive snort filled the air quickly. "I can't wait for that. Two of my favourite people in the universe."

"Are you being sarcastic?" Head cocked to the side a tangle of brown curls covered her white face.

The only answer he gave her was a pointed, blank stare and she realised right then how inept her question had been. Of course, he hated them. Loathed them, actually and probably wished a terrible death upon them she was sure.

"To what do I owe the displeasure of your company today?" Upper lip curled back to sneer just a touch. Force of habit.

"My Occlumency lesson, of course," She said a little too perkily for someone who had to endure his company voluntarily or others.

A haughty sigh passed his thin lips. Legs swung over the edge of the bed. Hermione noticed his appearance was starting to be worse for wear. Bloodshot eyes, bags under his eyes and stubble adorned his face. Robes were starting to become tatty looking and she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

"Fine. But only because I like you." He motioned for her to come to sit before him on the floor. With the enthusiasm she showed at Hogwarts during a lesson, she showed here. Sitting cross-legged before him she rested her hands primly in her lap and sat up straight. He wanted to roll his eyes at the sight before him.

"You like me?" She smiled sweetly, eyelashes battering unintentionally at him.

"I like you better than Potter and Weasel, anyway." Thin shoulders shrugged high. "Although there are other people further up my list than you so I don't really see it as a compliment considering I hate those two dunderheads with the ferocity of a million suns."

"I'll take that as a compliment… I think. Maybe." A quizzical look plastered on her face as she battled in her head whether it truly was a compliment or if he was being the sarcastic asshole she had come to know and admire.

"I probably wouldn't." He sneered harshly again at her. "It wouldn't hold much merit. Are you ready? Good," his voice monotone and bored. She was unsure if he was annoyed with her impromptu visit requesting the lessons he had offered or if he had been so worn down that small cracks in his otherwise stoic demeanour were starting to appear.

"I'm ready. I think." Teeth gnawing harshly at her bottom lip in worry. Pushing her curls over her shoulder, frizzy from being brushed and almost unmanageable today.

"I'm going to really push in. I can read your thoughts without any intrusion but this time, I will be pushing into your mind and you are to push back with as much force as you can. Extract me from your mind and build barriers. You don't want me to see your deepest, darkest secrets so keep me from those, protect them with every fibre of your being. It will be tiresome, and you will be mentally and physically exhausted after this."

A small nod of her head was enough for him to begin. Holding her gaze with his own her had never realised how deep and warm her eyes were. He never had a reason to stare into them. He mentally scolded himself for letting his mind get off track.

She noticed his eyes were despondent and cold. An uneasiness swam in the depths and she couldn't put her finger on if it is perhaps he had a worry in them mingling with villainous intent.

Gasping loudly her head hurt, feeling as if she had been cracked over the head with a steel bar. At least she knew she had never had anyone in her mind because if it felt like this, she would have known. She felt an uneasiness sweep over her and could feel his presence weighing heavily upon her as he started scratching the surface of her memories. At first, they were trivial and boring, fights with Harry and Ron or times she cried herself to sleep at night over their childish antics.

She shuddered slightly as he pushed further. She didn't like this one bit. He navigated the twists and turns of her mind stopping at something that piqued his interest. The time she sent her parents away. A lump formed in her throat heavily as she relived the sordid memories of months gone by.

She tried to push him from her thoughts. She pushed and she pushed, and it hardly felt like she had budged him an inch. She tried again and again as he began peeling back even more layers and delving deeper. She didn't want him to see anymore. She didn't want him to see her deepest desires and her twisted fantasies some of which may or may not have involved him at one time or another. Stupid schoolgirl crushes held little merit in her eyes.

"Push harder!" He bit at her gnashing his teeth in pain and frustration. This hurt him almost as much as it was hurting her. It was hard work pushing this far into someone's mind when they were fighting you the entire time.

"I can't!" She bit through gritted teeth, her heading feeling as if it may split open at anytime a piercing headache forming just above the temple of her left eye.

He pulled back. She felt him leave faster than he had entered, and she breathed a contented sigh of relief. Her mouth was dry and her whole body shook, on hands and knees she panted hard looking up at him with condemnation.

A smirk gently played on his lips as wickedness sat in his eyes. "It's been a while since I've had a woman panting before me on all fours giving me a look like that."

"You are disgusting," She managed to choke out, slowly and gently clambering to her feet and dropping beside him on the bed, her whole body shaking and spent.

"It's not as easy as you imagined, is it, Hermione?" An air of smugness cloaked him and shrouded her, almost mocking her harshly.

She hated the smugness that surrounded him at this moment, and she hated being wrong. She wanted to master this on the first go as she did with many things she turned her hand to with little to no real effort on her behalf. But this, this she wasn't a natural at and she hated it.

"No." She pouted, crossing her arms tightly across her chest in the ultimate show of petulance. She hated not excelling at something she had set her mind to.

"You are just oozing petulance, right now." His eyes rolled backward. "You can't be good at everything the first time you try it, you know that, yeah? Occlumency is a task that takes many months and years to master. It isn't something that you can learn in one sitting, Hermione."

"But I want to." Her petulance continued to emanate around the room tenfold.

"You can't be the stereotypical cookie-cutter genius that you seem to see yourself as all the time, Hermione. You aren't perfect, nobody is and you can't expect to be at everything you try your hand at," He said matter of factly, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"I'm so tired after that, I'll just rest here for a moment." She leant sideways, resting her head on his pillow, eyelids heavy with the need for sleep.

"No. Not here you don't."

She groggily waved a hand and he knew it would be too late to evict her from his space. Fuck.

"I'll just rest here a few minutes," She managed to groggily mumble before her breathing turned shallow and soft with every rise and fall of her chest.

Well. That was rude. He thought to himself. Now. Should he search her for her wand and run or stay put.

He tapped his bottom lip in deep thought for a few moments. No, he would stay. He wanted to see how long it would be before she was escorting him out of the house and trotting along behind him like an obedient puppy that wanted nothing more than to please its master while she stared at him with carnal fascination.

Oh yes, this was going to be fun.

A/N: I am having so much fun writing this story. I love an evil Snape, he is so diverse that you can go for the redemption avenue and have him fall in love and live happily ever after, or you can have him be a total cunt who doesn't care who he offends with a maleficent intent. He's diverse like that.

I had someone ask if it was going to be a happily ever after and I honestly don't think it will be. So if that bothers you, you won't be too invested in this story to turn back now.

-Aliasmel1