"You!" He bellowed as he saw Alecto heading down a corridor early the next morning. Striding after her like a leopard stalking prey, he caught up to her with ease. A hand placed on her shoulder, spinning her around with such aggression she almost lost balance and toppled back to the earth.

"Is there a problem, Severus?" She smiled at him as if she were but just an innocent party.

Lightning fast, a hand wrapped around her neck with such ferocity it pushed her hard against the cobblestone wall, pinning her there hopelessly unable to move. Fear flickered in her eyes as she felt it tightening around her neck, and breathing would soon become difficult. She best tread carefully so she could escape with her life. Severus wasn't known for mercy, nor remorse.

"You know awfully well there is a problem, Alecto," He whispered fiercely through gritted teeth. Right now, he felt like a bull that was seeing red. He wanted to kill her. He wanted to tear her throat out and let her bleed out right here on the floor and stroll away as she pleaded for his help.

"And just like that, you want to pay me the attention I seek." She forced a laugh out, eyes wide with fear.

"I'm here to give you what you deserve, and that is to be treated as the lowly animal you are. Bent on killing an innocent girl because she was close to me is pathetic. You are pathetic and even if you succeeded in taking her life, I still wouldn't be interested in you. It makes me sick to think I fucked such a filthy Troglodyte and if I could take back that summer we spent together, I would give anything to do so. I am not interested in ever being in a relationship with you and never will be."

His grasp tightened again on her larynx, causing the woman to gasp for air for a few moments as her windpipe was being crushed before he threw her to the ground with force by the throat.

"I should kill you, but I know Hermione wouldn't want me to do so even though you almost killed her. Watch your back Alecto because you never know what corner I may lurk around. Revenge is a dish best served cold and you know yourself I am a master of vengeance when one least suspects it." Turning on his heel, he strode away down the hall.

The woman sat on the cold stone floor, caressing her larynx and choking for air as tears pricked at her eyes furiously.

He absolutely hated her with every fiber of his being.

o-o-o-o-o

"I saw Alecto today," He whispered, twisting his head left and right to establish no one was listening in on their conversation. At Hogwarts, the walls had ears. They also seemed to have legs and ran off to disclose secrets they had learned as well.

Gingerly she sat up in the hospital bed, pushing herself up and resting on her arms that were behind her back now behind her back.

"Severus," she warned sternly, looking down her nose at him. Her jaw stiffened.

"I didn't kill her if that is what you are so worried about. I just… told her I had no interest in her and that going around trying to kill you wouldn't drive me into her arms as she planned," he took a breath before continuing. "Also, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to dish out to her what she served to you. She tried to kill you, Hermione."

"And two wrongs don't make a right, Severus," She countered. Laying back down in the bed gently. Wincing slightly as she did so. He may have stitched her back up, but the internal tissue was still to heal.
"All I'm saying is do unto others that others have done unto you. Revenge is sweet."

"Forgiveness is sweeter," she mumbled. Her eyes still closed but her head turned in his direction. He reached out and grabbed her hand as if it were the most delicate flower he had ever held between his fingers and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

"When you are feeling well enough to leave here, I would like it if you come back to my chambers, Hermione. Just so I can keep a closer eye on you… I was stupid to push you away and put you in the way of danger, and I am remorseful for doing so. You don't have to share a bed with me or even the same room, but I feel you would be better off close to where I can keep you under my protection. I trust very few in this school of late, and tension is mounting. Something will have to give soon and when it does, well, I couldn't bear to lose you," His voice strained, turning his head to look away from her not wanting her to bear witness to his fleeting moment of weakness should she open her eyes.

"Really?" She cracked an eye open apprehensively, looking over him in disbelief.

"You pushed me away, humiliated me, and now you want to come crawling back to me so I can fit into some agenda you no doubt have that you need me for." She rolled away from him and face the opposite wall in the hope he got the hint and left her alone.

"I don't have an agenda, Hermione. I truly care and worry for you." Placing a hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off with lightning speed.

"This entire ordeal was no doubt some part of an agenda you had. Right from when you dragged me to Spinners End and then back here to Hogwarts. You don't care for me and you never had, Severus. If you cared somewhat for me, you would have never pushed me back into the main population of students for me to become a sitting duck."

He sighed forlornly, rubbing his eyes with his left hand. "There was an agenda at one stage, yes, but then… then I-" He took in a deep, shaky breath.

"Then I fell in love with you, Hermione." There. He finally said it.

She froze where she lay, closing her eyes tightly shut once again and taking in a shaky breath.

"You don't love me, Severus. I don't think you have ever had genuine feelings for me. You played me from the start. Turned me against my friends. Used me as a pawn in some sick game to escape and then successfully convinced me I was in love with you and I would follow you through hellfire if needed."

"Where is all this coming from?" He asked stiffly, teeth clenched.

"Pansy and I talk. About you." She rolled back to face him, wincing in pain as she did so.

"You talk at your meetings with Voldemort and Pansy's parents, talk to her, and she comes to me with all the information she was told." A single tear fell down her cheek like a lone diamond before it soaked into the pillow on which she lay.

"I let them hear what they want to hear, Hermione!" He bellowed, standing so fast the chair he had been sitting on skidded a few inches backward into the wall.

"You think I am going to waltz into these meetings and make them privy to every thought or feeling I have about you? If I did that, it would jeopardize your life further. That is why I pushed you away; to protect you! I hoped that if I pushed you far enough away, it would throw the lot of them off you and you would have been safer than with me. Of course, I was going to spin a few tales about us to make them think otherwise." He threw his hands in the air angrily. Why did she have to be so fucking difficult?

"Everything I've done of late it to protect you, Hermione, and it has fucking killed me. Do you know how many times I have wanted to grab you as you were walking by and pull you into a classroom and make love to you? Do you know how many fucking times I have had to go take a cold shower after you have kissed me, or we have been closer than we should have? You don't know to the extent in which I have-in which I do desire you," his voice strained as he talked. Unable to make eye contact with her, he stared at the wall instead.

"I- I just don't know if I can believe you, Severus," She whispered, straining her voice.

"For Merlin's sake, woman. I gave you the blood from my veins to ensure you survived. If that isn't a show of love, I will never know what is. I didn't even fucking hesitate to offer my lifeblood, and I would have offered my life for yours if it had come to that."

He could tell she was on the verge of breaking down. He knew how stubborn she was, and she would wait until he left to do so. So, he gave her no choice.

Laying on the bed behind her, he held her tightly in his arms, resting his forehead against her back softly and he waited. It didn't take long before her body shook with heavy sobs and in return, he just held her tighter as she cried the pain and uncertainty out of her body like a deep cleanse of her psyche.

Gently placing a kiss upon her cloth clad shoulder, he couldn't help but feel a little helpless right now. She was still sore and so tired her emotions were all over the shop and it was obvious she was at the end of her tether.

"Severus?" She sobbed out forcefully.

"Yes?" He whispered, still gripping her.

"I love you."

And at that moment, she felt safe. As if nothing could ever hurt her again and she had something to look forward to living for now. She had loved him for a while now but had never told him. Of course, she didn't. Not when he was pushing her away.

"I would do anything for you," He mumbled into her shoulder, holding her close, trying to soften the heavy sobs her body was emitting.

And now. Now he wanted Potter to achieve his end goal more than ever.

A/N: Finally, I am trying to guide this story towards the end goal I had in mind. I suspect there might be another 5-10 chapters and I will wrap it up in a neat little bow and marked as completed.