A.N.: Multilingualism worked her magic again and made my mistakes go away!

Chapter 24: Being there for you

Fred was beyond curious. What was Hermione doing out in the corridors at night? Not that he had something against it, Merlin, no! He always found his and George's nightly strolls through the castle very refreshing. But it just wasn't Hermione's style. The girl wasn't only a Prefect, she was a stickler for rules, at least when Harry and Ron were not there to drag her with them into the trouble. And they were nowhere to be seen.

No, there was only Hermione in front of them in the corridors and she seemed to be in quite a hurry as her robe billowed while she strode off with quick steps.

"We'll need to hurry, if we don't want to lose her," George urged him and Fred agreed. Then their long legs fell into step, as they hastily started to follow their witch. But Hermione suddenly disappeared behind a corner and when Fred and his brother finally reached it and attempted to follow her, the little witch was gone, which was impossible. Ahead of them was only a long, straight corridor and there was nothing there where someone could hide behind, not even a small person like Hermione Granger.

"Where is she?" Fred whispered to his brother and looked around. "There's no way she's already down the stairs."

"No." George agreed. "She's not an athlete. Even we wouldn't have been able to get there this fast. So, where is she?"

"Well, there are only two possibilities," Fred said with a grin. "Either the girl has suddenly gone invisible or there's a secret passage that we don't know about."

George looked at him with excited eyes. "You think there's another one?"

The other redhead shrugged. "I'm sure there're plenty we do not know about. So why not here? Care to find out, Georgie?"

"Absolutely. There's nothing more exciting than a mystery, after all."

ssssssss

Hermione flew through the corridors with hasty steps. For a while, she was sure that she had been followed, but she hadn't dared to turn around and check. And so she just cast a quick disillusionment spell, after she turned around the next corner and continued to walk as silently as possible. Because no matter how strong her urge was to press herself against the next wall and wait, her urge to help Severus was stronger. Her friend needed her and whatever happened to him, grew worse every second. By now she didn't only feel uneasiness through the bond, she felt positively sick and her limbs started to ache. And she felt more and more tired, like her magic was slowly draining away, which it probably was. That could only mean one thing: Severus needed it, he needed her magic. And that was a bad sign.

Like in trance her feet carried her out of the main gates, towards the Hogwarts apparition point. If Severus was outside of the castle, which he most likely was, then he would come back here. If he ever came back. He had to, Hermione told herself, because the mere thought that he might not, let her heartbeat speed up in a panic.

When she finally arrived at her destination, she looked around. But Severus was not here. There was only the wide grassland and the dark trees of the forest around her and in her back, there was the dark silhouette of Hogwarts. With its lightened windows it was a breath-taking sight but today Hermione could not enjoy it. All her emotions were clouded by worry for her friend and so she hastily turned back to the apparition point, cast a quick warming charm on her disillusioned body and waited.

The minutes trickled by but it couldn't have been too long until the heard two cracks of apparition and two masked and cloaked figures appeared 300 metres in front of her in the grass. One of them was barely able to stand straight and so the other one had to more or less keep him upright.

The two of them stood there for a long moment, until the second person suddenly stepped away, nodded and apparated away. It was only a moment after when the other one stumbled and fell into the grass. Hermione gasped in shock. She knew without a doubt, that the wounded Death Eater in the grass was Severus, she could feel it was him. And he needed help.

"Severus!" she said loudly and after cancelling the disillusionment spell she stepped closer and kneeled down next to him. "Merlin, what has he done to you?"

Severus was lying on his side and even though his face was still covered by the unsettling Death Eater mask his black hair was fanned out on the ground. He groaned in pain. "Crucio," he croaked out and Hermione saw that he tried getting up but only moving his arms wrung another pained moan from his lips.

"Don't move," Hermione hastily instructed him and scrambled to her feet. "I'll levitate you to your chambers. Don't worry, I'll disillusion you and myself. Nobody will see. Just try not to pass out. I'll need the password to get in."

He grunted something unintelligible as an answer and Hermione just assumed from his tone, that he agreed. And so she simply cast the necessary charms and started moving, because she had the unmistakable feeling that there was no time to lose. With determined steps, she walked back to the castle while she carefully levitated her friend next to her. Luckily no one stumbled across their way and so it was only a matter of some minutes until she closed the door to Severus' quarters behind them.

"I'll levitate you to the sofa," she said matter of factly, but when she looked at the now visible form of her friend she saw him shake his head.

"No, bed," he croaked and motioned his head towards a dark brown door to his left, that Hermione had so far ignored. For a moment she stared at it with wide eyes, before she caught herself again and nodded.

"Alright, to your bed then," she agreed and moved him carefully through the door. Severus' bedroom wasn't at all what she had expected. In stark contrast to the rest of his quarters, it was held in light tones, and even though the walls were the typical dark, Hogwarts-stone walls, they were covered with numerous landscape paintings. But Hermione forced herself to ignore them for now and moved Severus to the huge bed in front of her. It was covered with dark blue blankets and when Hermione carefully pulled them aside to make room for Severus, she was surprised how warm and soft they were.

"There you go," Hermione said after she had carefully positioned him on the bed. Only then she allowed herself the time to properly look at him. He was white as a sheet and his eyes were blood-shot but apart from the sweaty look of his skin and the tortured look in his eyes there were no actual signs of injury. Hermione didn't know if this was a good or a bad thing. She gnawed on her bottom lip. "Alright, Severus, tell me what to do. Do you need me to get Madam Pomfrey? Or some potions? Please, Severus, I want to help!"

He looked at her with pain clouded eyes. "Blue potions… bathroom… cupboard behind the mirror…" he croaked before he closed his eyes with a sigh. Hermione sprang into action right away and after some problems finding the right door to the bathroom, she dashed back with two of the ordered vials. She uncorked the first one with shaking hands and held it to his lips. Her friend gulped it down eagerly, without opening his eyes. Hermione held her breath and waited.

"Give me another one," Severus slurred and looked at her with small eyes. "It will probably knock me out, but don't worry," he said and the fact that he could talk full sentences again gave her hope.

"Alright," she agreed, opened the other vial more calmly and held it against his lips. He swallowed the content down with a last thankful look at her before his eyes closed with a soft sigh from his lips. And suddenly he looked peaceful and definitely no longer awake.

Hermione looked at him with a tired sigh. It must be almost midnight now and it would have been the most logical thing for her to finally go back to her dorm. But the idea of having to leave her friend alone didn't only make her feel uneasy but positively sick. Was that the bond? Or would she have felt the same if it was Ron or Harry in his stead? Probably. She'd never have left them alone. Which meant she was staying at his side. Severus would probably scold her for this because she had most definitely classes in the morning. But for once in her life, Hermione didn't care, because there were more important things in life than school.

ssssssss

After almost two hours of fruitless searching, Fred and George had to accept that there was most likely no secret passage. This lead them to the conclusion that Hermione had disappeared by some other method, which only fascinated them more.

"We knew she was a smart witch," George murmured as they finally climbed through the portrait hole together. The Common Room that lied behind it was totally empty by now.

"Yeah, which means that she probably disillusioned herself. Do you think she'd be willing to teach us that spell?" Fred asked in a hopeful voice while they walked towards the stairs, that led to the boy's dorms.

His brother shrugged. "Maybe. We didn't have much of a chance to talk to her now that we're back to the castle. We could ask her when we see her next time."

Fred nodded eagerly. "Would be a good excuse to spend some more time with her. Let's ask her tomorrow. She'll probably have a lie-in though, as she's still not back. Or do you think she sneaked past us and we didn't notice?"

"Who knows?" George replied with a grin. "The girl seems to have a lot of secrets. I mean, we seem to be the only ones she told about her parents. I wouldn't be surprised if that's not the only thing she's hiding. Where do you think she went?"

Fred grinned. "Dunno. But I can't wait to find out, because I've got the feeling that it wasn't just the library."

sssssssss

It was hours later when Severus awoke from his potion-induced slumber and even though he could still feel his limbs and head aching, he felt almost content, which was strange when one considered that he had almost died yesterday. Severus was pretty sure that the only thing that saved him from biting the dust was his bond to Hermione because he had clearly felt the magic pulsing through his veins as things had started to get out of hand. Even though his master had originally just planned to punish him, the man had bottled up too much anger inside of him and once he had started to punish Severus, he hadn't been able to stop himself. Luckily Lucius had waited somewhere hidden in the background and he had reminded the Dark Lord, that they probably still needed their spy at Hogwarts. But at that point, Severus would have been long dead or at least no longer sane, if there hadn't been the fact that Hermione Granger had agreed to form a connection to him. He was such a lucky bastard.

When he opened his eyes and blinked the blurriness of sleep away he realized that the girl was still there. He remembered her waiting for him and levitating him into his chambers. Of course, she had felt that he was in danger, as he had felt her magic after all and so it was only natural that his friend came looking for him. Still, the realization that somebody cared enough for him to not only bring him back into the safety of the castle and give him the right potions but to remain at his side all night long made him feel slightly mushy and somehow… happy. The girl really cared about him, not because he was of value for her like he was for Dumbledore. No Severus realized that he must really mean something to her and that made him like the brave little Gryffindor witch even more. Yes, he liked her, he realized, when he looked down on her sleeping form in the chair next to his bed. Her body had sagged forward in sleep so that her head was now bedded on her arms on his mattress and he was pretty sure she'd have an aching back when she woke up in the morning. And waking her to send her back to her room in the middle of the night just felt wrong.

Well, then there was only one way to go, he realized and with a smile he found, that he was still in his clothes from the day before. Thank god the girl hadn't felt the need to change his unconscious body into pyjamas or something equally embarrassing.

His wand was still in its holder that was hidden under his right sleeve. It only took him a moment, to transfigure her chair into a comfortable bed for her and levitate her sleeping body onto the soft mattress. As soon as her head hit the soft pillow, her mouth made a soft, content sigh and a little smile formed on her lips. It gave Severus the feeling that he had done the right thing, even though it meant that he'd sleep side to side with the girl for the rest of the night. Luckily she was Hermione Granger and so there was no danger of her seeing that as something it was not, otherwise, the knowledge of having a teenage girl in his bedroom would have made him more than uncomfortable. But as things were he had no problems closing his eyes again and the knowledge that there was someone at his side who cared for him, made him immediately relax. And so it wasn't a surprise when he fell back asleep only a few moments later.

ssssssss

"Hermione, wake up," a male voice told her silently and a moment later she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder, which made her open her eyes. For a long moment, she didn't know where she was and she looked around in confusion, but then her eyes landed on her Potions Professor and she stared at him with wide eyes. He was back in his teaching robes and it looked like he had been up for a while, because his bed was neatly made and his hair looked like it was still wet from the shower.

"Good morning, Professor," she mumbled before her brain caught on and remembered that she was supposed to call him by his first name. But somehow she felt the need to assure him that she remembered the first rule he had established between the two of them and so acknowledging his position felt somehow right.

He looked at her with a soft smile. "Good morning, Miss Granger," he replied with a nod. "You have about half an hour before your first class. As far as I know, it's potions so it's not too far to your classroom. You know the way to the bathroom. I'll have some breakfast ready for you in the sitting room by the time you're finished."

Hermione looked at him with an open mouth. The man looked totally unfazed by the fact that she'd spent the night at his bedroom. He had even transfigured his chair into a bed for her, she realized, which indicated that he must have been awake during the night. For some reason, she had expected him to make a fuss about it, but Severus didn't. And Hermione was more relieved about it, then she had expected. "Thank you. I'll only freshen myself up a bit."

Luckily she was used to hurrying up in the bathroom, as her dorm mates usually spent ages in there and so Hermione usually did quick work in the mornings. It was only seven minutes later when she entered Severus' sitting room with a shy smile on her lips. The man already waited for her on the sofa with a big mug of something in his slim hands.

"I ordered my assigned house-elf to bring your schoolbag so you won't have to run back to your dorm and get it. Don't worry, he will keep his mouth shut."

Hermione nodded with a thankful smile. "I'd never make it back in time for your lesson, which would have meant that you'd have given me detention." She grinned. "There was a time when this would have meant personal failure to me."

Her friend snorted. "I can imagine. You were quite enthusiastic. I was the same as a boy, only less bossy and way too shy to raise my hand more than any of the others. Slytherin is a complicated house and one had to tread carefully if one didn't want to get hurt. Luckily this was something I already learned as a child."

Hermione looked at him with a sad expression. "I can imagine. How are you feeling today? Are you even able to teach?"

Severus looked at her with a raised brow. "I am not known for being sick," he said with a neutral expression on his face. "And it's not the first time I had some unpleasant experiences the night before. Don't worry about me, Hermione."

She sighed. "That's easier said than done. I… can't help it. Since yesterday night there's this constant, nagging worry inside me and even though it calmed down a bit, it's still there. Must be the connection through the Open Link or something."

The Professor nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense. It'll probably take a while for it to calm down. Maybe I should really give you detention so you can use the evening to convince yourself I'm alright."

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "You wouldn't. What would you give me detention for anyway? I'm your best student."

He looked at her with a raised brow. "So? When has that ever deterred me from giving somebody detention? I'm known for being unfair after all."