A/N: Talk of sex and bad language! Thanks for all your reviews and comments! :)

Chapter 8: Diagon Alley, an Awkward Dinner, Isolation

Hermione was still buzzing about her newly discovered prefect status. She had worked so hard for so many years and it has all finally paid off. She had finally been awarded something that she had wanted since she had stepped foot into the magical world. She walked downstairs and went into the drawing room with everyone else and prepared for the day at Diagon Alley.

"Right listen up you lot. I have a list here to show all you underage students, which Order member you will partner up with. You are all to go where you need to go and then you are to come back, understood? We don't want any casualties today" Moody said.

The list was passed around and it eventually got to Hermione. She already knew who she had been partnered with but she looked anyway.

Partners:
- Tonks and Ginny
- Fred and George
- Ron and Arthur
- Hermione and Snape
- Harry and Lupin and Moody
- Molly and McGonagall

"Tough break Granger" Fred said

"Yeah, good luck with that" George stated.

A deep clearing of the throat sounded from behind them and they gulped. They were gonna die.

"Actually, I think you will find that it is I who needs the luck Mr's Weasley. Merlin knows how long she will keep me in Flourish and Blotts" Severus said with a voice of disdain.

The boys winced.

Ginny chuckled at Hermione's expense. The girls had never really got on and any swipe Ginny could get at Hermione, she would do so.

Hermione knew Severus was just putting on an act. But it still hurt when people mocked her love for reading. At the end of the day, reading was her escape and her own personal haven so she wasn't going to apologise for it.

"Right, if we are all ready to go then. Order members, remember your apparition points and happy shopping" Mr Weasley said grinning.

They all headed off. Severus led Hermione to their apparition point and whisked her away to the bright, cheerful alley.

"Where to first Miss Granger?" Severus asked.

"I have a plan sir, and a list of everything I need so hopefully it won't be too boring for you. First is Flourish and Blotts, I thought you would appreciate getting that one out of the way first" Hermione told him. Severus nodded.

"Is there anything you need to get sir?" She queried.

"There will be items that I can get in the shops you need to go to, so don't worry about me, just concentrate on your own shopping" Severus told her, touched that she had thought of him and his needs again.

Hermione spent just over an hour in the bookshop, and came out with an arsenal of books that even she had underestimated. They were so heavy and she was struggling to carry them. Luckily for her, she had a knight in shining armour that was Severus Snape, and he cast a shrinking charm, and feather light charm, on her books which made them feel no heavier than a piece of paper. She smiled her thanks at him and he smirked at her back.

"Can't have anything wrong with your arms now, can we? What world would we be living in if Hermione Granger couldn't raise her hand to answer the questions in class?" He teased.

She huffed playfully at him and pretended to stomp childishly away from him.

Severus tried to contain his laughter. There were took many people around who knew who he was and would definitely notice if he, the feared potions master of the world, laughed.

They went on shopping and found themselves finished with a little time to spare.

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Hermione asked Severus.

"I have to keep up an act here remember that Miss Granger" he told her.

"I never said we had to eat in Diagon Alley" she said hopefully.

Severus sighed, he just couldn't say 'no' to her and agreed that they would go and find somewhere to dine in the muggle world.

They apparated back near the house and then walked into the town that was nearby. They found a sandwich shop and so brought sandwiches, cakes and drinks. They found a beautiful spot by a lake that was accompanied by a beautiful field. They located an empty park bench and table, and sat down to eat.

"I miss this you know" Hermione told him.

"Just the simplicity of buying a sandwich, and eating it in the park, at a bench. I miss normality, my life has been everything but normal and it sort of upsets me a bit" Hermione said wistfully.

"I understand exactly what you mean Miss Granger. I also prefer, and appreciate, the smaller things in life. But I think it would be a bit boring if it was like this all the time" he told her.

'True' she thought.

They sat in silence and ate. Hermione thought about how in four days' time, she would be heading back to school on the train.

"I hope this school year is interesting" she announced suddenly.

"I am most certain it will be. Miss Granger, I thought that I should inform you that I will be leaving Grimmauld Place on Wednesday evening. The teachers have to be back at school the day before the students are due to arrive, as there are meetings to be had amongst the staff. I just thought you should know" he told her.

"It's none of my business sir, but thank you for telling me all the same, I appreciate that you care enough to inform me of things like that" she said honestly.

"Tell anyone and I will deny it, and then I'll have to kill you" he joked back.

They both smirked at each other. She was going to miss him when he left headquarters but she would probably be too busy getting ready to go back to school to miss his absence terribly.

They sat basking in the calm world, knowing that in a week it was going to be back to mayhem and madness, and shouting and screaming, and the only tranquillity would be if you were rendered unconscious by an awry spell.

As Soul II Soul would say 'Back to Life, Back to Reality'. Hermione sighed; she knew they would have to be heading back soon.

"Come, Miss Granger, we must be making tracks now" he told her gently and almost disappointed that he also had to leave this peaceful place.

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They walked back to the safe house and went up to their floor. They went into their rooms and unpacked what they had brought when shopping.

A few moments later, there was hurried footsteps coming up the stairs and headed towards their rooms.

Hermione poked her head out and saw Moody and Lupin coming towards the bedrooms like hell had been unleashed.

Severus, also was now aware that there were others near the rooms, also peered his head out of his door.

"Where the devil have the two of you been? We thought something had happened, you have been gone well over the agreed duration of the visit" Moody yelled looking half crazed (not that he didn't normally).

"You sent the whole Order into frenzy when we couldn't locate the pair of you" Lupin stated also looking worried.

"We thought you had been attacked or worse" Lupin added.

"We are clearly fine and we stopped to get something to eat. Miss Granger was practically faint with fatigue, and would not have been strong enough for apparition" Severus lied convincingly.

"It was my fault in the first place, we never should have spent so long in the bookshop, I apologise for causing the worry it was my fault. Professor Snape was kind enough to do his duty and watch out for me; it's him who should be thanked that I'm feeling alright now" Hermione smiled following Severus' lead and lying through her teeth.

"Very well, you're both ok and that's all that matters. We were all panicked but there has been no major harm done" Lupin said trying to keep the peace, and he walked away hoping that Moody would drop it and come away as well.

"I'm watching you Snape" Moody glared, seething at the potions professor, and he turned and followed Lupin back downstairs.

"Well, they were as charming as ever" Severus said sarcastically.

"I'm not apologising for a beautiful afternoon professor" Hermione said firmly.

"Neither am I, don't let them spoil it" Severus agreed.

They grinned at each other once more, and went back to unpacking their shopping.

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A short time later, they were called downstairs by Molly Weasley, who had kindly prepared dinner for everyone. They both begrudgingly went downstairs and joined the other guests.

"Ah, and they return" Arthur said jokingly.

Everyone was aware that Hermione and Severus had been gone hours and nobody knew where.

There was light murmuring around the table as food was served. Hermione had been seated between Fred and Lupin, and Severus had been seated opposite her, between Arthur and Tonks.

"Did you shag the bat of the dungeons, the greasy git, Hermione?" Fred whispered not so quietly with mischievous glee as he knew it would gain unwanted attention.

Severus nearly spat out his drink and ruined his meal.

'Where did that insinuation come from?' he thought. Knowing the two twins, they were just doing it for the laughs, and they had spent way too much time with Peeves over the years.

"Yeah, I mean we know you have a thing for older men but Snape, really?" George joined in the fun.

Severus glared at the boys. Hermione had confided in him, what had happened to her, and he knew she was sensitive to it because of what no one else but he, (and Dumbledore), knew.

The whole table had stopped talking now and were in silence focusing on the unlikely pair.

"Mr's Weasley, I do suggest that you desist from speaking of such impropriety at once. Miss Granger is my student and I am practically bound, by oath, as her teacher. Please remove your minds from the gutter, and do not let me hear such things from you again" Severus snarled at the boys, and glared at the rest of the table.

"He's being pretty defensive about this, don't you think?" Ginny whispered with Harry and Ron. Great, that's all Hermione needed, more rumours flying around the school.

"Nah, we know she never go for ole Snapey, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't favour older men now does it Granger. Now go on fess up to what we called you out on the other day" Fred and George joked trying to embarrass her, in a harmless, sisterly way.

The whole table was now intrigued by the girl.

"No, not gonna share with the table? Its ok, we will save it for another dinner. Make more of them interesting that way" the twins sniggered. They were only having fun but Hermione was internally panicking.

Hermione excused herself from the table and left the kitchen, heading straight for her bedroom.

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"We were only having a joke" Fred stammered, shocked by Hermione's sudden exit.

"Is she always this serious?" George remarked.

The other students just nodded their heads and shrugged.

"That's one of the problems with her; she doesn't have a sense of humour. She can't take a joke" Harry told them.

'Wrong' Severus thought.

'She has a sense of humour but a sarcastic one, battle of wits. Much too intelligent for your puny minds' he thought towards his students angrily.

"What's her secret that no one knows?" Ginny asked, looking for hot gossip to take back to school with her.

"Like we said sis, that's for another night. You know how much we love suspense, and it will also mean you won't miss another meal before we all head back to school" the boys grinned that mischievous grin once more.

Everyone went back to eating and chatting except Lupin who was staring at Severus with such an intense gaze that Severus wouldn't be surprised if Lupin could see into his soul.

After everyone had finished eating, Molly shooed them all out of the kitchen so she could clean up and prepare pudding. Severus knew that it would gain attention if he didn't go back for dessert, so he unwillingly stayed and prayed for this to be over quickly so he could go and see his student, and make sure she didn't do anything stupid. He was also worried that she hadn't eaten; she didn't eat enough as it was.

He managed to secretly give orders to the house elf to take Hermione up a plate of food without appearing suspicious. The elf did as it was asked and soon, Molly was calling them for pudding.

Pudding was an awkward but quick affair, and Snape thanked Merlin when they were dismissed from the kitchen. Snape headed up to his room and was going to check in on Miss Granger but he thought better of it, he would surely see her in the morning anyway.

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Hermione was in bed and couldn't help but feel dirty again. Is that what people really thought of her? She was upset by all this, she had never really had friends before Hogwarts and people's opinions didn't matter because she had no one to care enough about what they thought. But she had friends now, and so it all mattered.

She looked at the empty plate; it had been kind of the elf to bring her a full plate of food. She hoped she hadn't made things too awkward at dinner, but she hated being talked about as if she was a slut and people commented on her in a promiscuous way. She hated it and tonight had been humiliated but she refused to cry over it.

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The following day was just boring; Hermione moped around in her room and refused to leave. Severus had been trying to coax her out for something to eat, and would send up the house elf with food when she refused to come out.

'He is such a gentleman' Hermione thought to herself, not for the first time.

'He's a good man' she smiled.

Yes, she and Severus had formed an understanding in the last few weeks and dare she say it, she even considered him as a friend. She smiled at the thought. If she told anyone she considered Severus a friend, she would be earning herself a one way ticket to St Mungo's emergency department. She giggled at the imagery.

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Later Severus knocked on her bedroom door; she sighed and let him in.

"You've been hiding from your demons" he criticised.

"Wasn't in the mood" she replied.

Severus nodded and let the subject drop, sensing that she wasn't in the mood for jokes or humour tonight.

"Are you ok though?" He asked thoughtfully.

"I'm fine, I love being painted as a scarlet woman" she said monotonous.

Severus sighed.

"You are anything but a scarlet woman. They were only mucking about, but I understand why it has upset you" he confessed.

"Are you ok with all of that? Is there anything more you want to discuss about that night yet?" He asked, hoping he wasn't pushing her too far.

"What's sex supposed to feel like? How is it meant to be?" She asked him.

"I cannot answer that question because I have yet to discover that myself" he smiled reassuringly at her.

"Forgive me for being bold but, you have never had anyone, like loved, anyone?" She queried hoping she hadn't overstepped a boundary here.

Snape sighed.

"I thought there might have been someone, once, a very long time ago, but it was not meant to be. After that, my double agent duties have prevented me from being involved. Some of the things I have seen, and some of the things I have done, has made me a forever damned man, Miss Granger. No one deserves to have that in their lives" he opened up his soul to her.

She gasped at the revelation.

"You deserve happiness though; surely you won't condemn yourself forever?" She asked him.

He shrugged.

"Maybe, one day, but I don't expect to survive this war to be honest, so let's get that out of the way first before planning a future of any kind" he stated with finality.

"You won't die; you have willingly suffered so greatly, and for so long. You will be rewarded for it, I am sure" she smiled as she leaned in and hugged him again.

He was always caught off guard with those hugs but he welcomed the comfort all the same.

"Will you be moping tomorrow, or will you come out?" He asked her, once she was satisfied with the hug.

"Why do you think I did all my moping today? I wanted it all out of my system for you, for your last day here tomorrow" she told him jokingly.

"Never make promises you might not keep, you never know what tomorrow may bring" he smiled at her.

"Good night, Miss Granger" he said to her.

"Good night sir" she responded and he left her to her peace and she fell into a blissful sleep.

Severus also lay in bed, but was wide awake.

What was it about this girl in particular?

They had grown close that he almost considered her as a friend. He hadn't had one of those in decades but he couldn't help it now. He enjoyed her intelligent conversation, and loved her dry sense of humour. She had understood him in less than four weeks than anyone had ever come close to in over twenty years.

'It's because she doesn't see Snape the dungeon bat' a voice answered him, in his mind.

'It's because she sees you as Severus, the real true Severus Snape, and she likes you even more because of it' he stopped his thoughts there. He was tired and his mind was wandering into dangerous territory again.

He almost laughed in the darkness and the silence, as he began to drift off to sleep.

Whoever could have guessed that Severus Snape, would find a true friend again, in the form of the bookworm Hermione Granger?