"Severus?" Hermione gently awoke as the sunlight beamed into the bedroom threw the tangled and dusty curtains pulling her harshly from her slumber. She hazarded a guess that it was sometime after nine by the height the sun was in the sky and the amount of light it was letting off assaulting her retinas.

She felt a warm hand resting on an exposed hip as if it were the most natural thing to wake up to. She didn't pull away nor did she push him off, instead she lay still on the bed feeling the warmth radiating off his body and onto her own. Leaning back just so against him she appreciated the comfort of another human when her life felt so empty of late. She liked Severus on a platonic level. He was smart, interesting and he held her attention. Of course, he could be snarky and rude but at the moment he had been treating her with nothing but kindness and she always treated others how they treated her.

Soft movements against her back and the deepening of his breath made her realise he was slowly awakening from his deep sleep and she was slightly crestfallen when she realised he would eventually move and the feeling of warmth and comfort would be gone.

"Morning," he mumbled barely audible, resting his chin on her shoulder gently not even thinking about what he was doing. The closeness startled him a little once he did come to the realisation, but he never pulled away. It was comforting to him in an odd way; to be close to someone. His soft breath brushing her cheek gently like a passing summer breeze. "I did wake up before, but you were still asleep, so I went back to sleep. There isn't much to do around here obviously so sleeping passes the time."

She rolled to face him, brown hair in a tangled mess from the night's slumber as she blinked at him through heavy hooded lids and sleepy eyes. His hand still resting on her hip as she rolled she didn't seem to shy nor was she repulsed by his touch which was unusual he thought to himself.

Angling his elbow and leaning upon it he placed his head in a flat palm and watched her intently for a moment without trying to show too much interest.

"Thank you for letting me sleep here. Kreacher is so unpredictable and we all know his stance on my kind. I usually almost must sleep with one eye open when I am alone. I've tried to deter him with spells and hexes, but you know what elves are like… Rules don't seem to apply to their magic, and he is certainly one elf I wouldn't lobby to free. He's ghastly." She shuddered slightly at the thought of the elderly elf and his hatred for not only her kind but her also. He hated most people honestly but hated her the most.

A wayward strand of frizzed curl fell annoyingly in her face obscuring her view. Before she even had a chance to push the annoying hair from her face, he reached out gently, brushing the curl ever so softly from her face. Fingertips stroking her soft skin as he did so, and it sent a shiver rippling down her spine.

Realising what he had just done his hand awkwardly rested on her face. His thumb beneath her chin he lifted her head just ever so slightly to look at her a little better. Without even thinking he leaned in close to her without a second thought, without reservations or thinking of the repercussions his lips feather-light touched her own so lightly she hardly felt the impending kiss before they both heard footsteps heading up the stairs. Pulling back with haste he was disappointed he never got to see the kiss through to fruition. It felt so right yet it was so wrong, and he knew that.

Panic in her eyes, nostrils flared she knew she had no time to spring from the bed. She had no time to right herself and she had no time to make it look as if she were coming out of her bedroom because they had already passed that she deduced from the location the footfalls were coming from.

"Shit," she whispered to herself under her breath as the footsteps grew nearer and panic intensified. How was she going to explain this one?

"Hermione?" The soft yet gruff voice of Remus floated down the hall and all she could do was groan. This is all she needed to be caught in bed with Severus Snape even though it was totally innocent and hardly anything had come out of the situation.

"I know you are up here; I can sense it." The wolf within always lying just beneath the surface heightening his smell and sense. Seconds later he walked through the open door, face contorted into confusion and slight disgust at the scene he had walked into.

"Remus!" She exclaimed. Heat creeping into her cheeks and they burnt beet-red. "W…W..what are you doing here?" She managed to finally stutter out, heart beating out of rhythm and mouth going drier than a desert. This was one person she wasn't expecting.

"What are you doing is probably more important than what I am doing here, Hermione." Arms folded tight across his chest and a foot tapped impatiently on the floor. She felt very much like she had been caught sneaking back in the house by her father after a night out. Only he wasn't her father and it was probably none of his business.

"What is it your business what she is doing, Lupin?" Severus almost leapt out of the bed with vigour. Lips pulling back into a sneer as he looked venomously at the other man now in the room. Annoyed with both himself for almost kissing the girl and equally annoyed he didn't get to follow it through because it was obvious, she had no intention of pulling away and she was starting to walk head-long right into his plan. It wouldn't be long before he walked out of here with her following along happily.

"No doubt you are filling her brain with lies and trying to sway her so she will let you go no doubt. Bedding the girl is a whole other situation. It is abhorrent and immoral that you are taking advantage of the girl when no one else is around. I actually heard what happened with Harry, how you tried to attack him and I-" He was instantly cut off by a seething and irate Severus Snape.

"For the record, Lupin, I did not bed the girl nor have I ever in the past. She asked me if she could stay in here because of that vulgar elf scurrying around here hiding in dark corners like a rat skulking around the place. I agreed. I have not touched the girl so you can back right down before you regret walking in this room. Also, I never attacked that swine, he attacked me. How would I attack someone when I have no wand, Lupin? I may be a lot of things, werewolf, but one thing I won't stand for is the making up of abhorrent lies about me," He snarled savagely, teeth bared. Fists clenched tightly till his knuckles went white down by his sides.

Lupins nostrils flared rapidly as he picked the scent up of Hermione all over Severus. Eyes glittered dangerously and his teeth bared just as Severus's had just seconds ago. "I can smell her all over you, Severus and you expect me not to believe you didn't touch her?" He took a few steps forward as if trying to detect the scent further.

"Even if I did touch her, which I didn't, it would be none of your business, wolf. Of course, her scent is all over my person, I slept beside her the entire night. Now you can stop with the interrogations because I grow bored with your trivial antics. Now back up before I make you back up."

"That's a bold statement coming from a Wizard without his wand."

"I don't need my wand to put you in your place, Remus, now back down like a good wolf," animosity dripped from his every word as it fell from his tongue.

"I could tear your throat out Severus and you know it."

Hermione not being able to bear the confrontation she pushed between the two men.

"Stop it both of you. Severus stop antagonising him and sit on the bed. Remus, everything he said is true. It's admirable that you are looking out or me but I am fine. Severus hasn't killed me yet and Harry attacked him. So I am unsure what twisted tales of woe he is spinning you but I suggest you go back and seek the truth," she huffed pushing a tangled strand of hair from her face as brown eyes stared back at him unwavering.

"That's the keyword there Hermione, yet. Just because he hasn't killed you yet doesn't mean he won't and for you to lie beside him and fall asleep is totally irresponsible of you. I won't tell anyone else what I found but you need to revaluate the trust you are obviously placing upon a known murderer," his voice almost laced with desperation as he talked.

"I'm hardly going to take the life of a child, Remus. Have you no faith in me?"

"Not at all," he growled low in his throat, turning on his heel and stalked from the room.

Hermione flopped down beside him on the bed. The fleeting kiss that could have been, the kiss that could have changed so much more was never spoken of again that day.

A/N: Hi guys! Hope you like this chapter. The kiss thing just came out of nowhere yet it felt so right… Stupid Remus for interrupting them.

-Aliasmel1