Part 3
So over the years Hermione had firmly suppressed her odd feelings for the Professor to a faint flicker in her heart, determined instead to learn all she could from him. She had persistently asked questions in his class, to which he had responded first by ignoring her, then had given her tough assignments with a mocking smile.
When she had completed them to the best of her ability to reach his exacting standards, there had been grudging respect in his dark eyes – before he had handed her tougher assignments. At times through the years he had even unbent enough to give her a faint smile at times, which had made her heart lurch strangely in her chest.
She blinked and came back to the present when she heard Severus comment with dark amusement "You're unusually quiet, Miss Grainger. That must be a first. Alone as well. Another first. Or perhaps…you're off with an assignation with….Potter, perhaps. Or that wretched Weasley."
Hermione blinked again. She must have been hearing things because for a second she thought she had detected a note of jealousy in his voice. Lack of sleep was obviously getting to her. Then she smiled at the thought of sneaking off to meet Harry or Ron. The three of them were the best of friends and were fond of each other, but it wasn't the kind of affection that say, Harry had for Ginny, Ron's younger sister, or the kind that Ron had for a girl on their Quidditch team. Or she had for…no, don't think of that.
Severus obviously took her smile for assent for in a grim voice he said "Just as I thought. That's thirty points off Gryffindor for you – now get back to your dormitory." With that he wheeled and stalked off down the corridor.
[Thirty points!!] Hermione thought, aghast. He had jumped to the wrong conclusion! What a horrible night this was turning out to be.
"Wait, Professor – it's not like that at all" she called in alarm.
Severus paused but didn't turn around, looking like a black shadow in the corridor. "Really?" he said indifferently. "No secret tryst then? No….plots with your friends?"
"No" Hermione said quietly. "Just some studying in the library. Sometimes night is the only time I can get some peace and quiet in there."
"Ah" Severus said softly and it seemed that his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Sometimes I think students are too dim-witted to understand what the sign 'Silence in the Library' means."
Hermione had no intention of telling him her encounter with the other professors. The less people who knew about the mirror the better, in her opinion. Besides, perhaps Dumbledore would inform him tomorrow, perhaps even ask Professor Snape to be one of the wizards to do the disarming spell, for he fairly reeked of power. She was tempted to plead with him to reduce the number of deducted points he had given her, but that would be pushing her luck. He could even take off more points for 'impertinence'.
Perhaps he had sensed something for he suddenly swung around and stared at her with narrowed eyes.
"There's something you're not telling me. What is it?" he demanded.
"Nothing" Hermione said calmly, but she cautiously backed away a step. Severus drifted closer to her, his eyes never leaving her face. A wave of weariness swept over her, making her momentarily careless.
"What's the reason you are out here, Professor?"
His eyes gleamed. "Would you like ten more points off, Miss Grainger? Then that would bring the total to…how many points off Gryffindor in this night because of you?"
"Seventy" Hermione said unthinkingly, then cursed herself for her foolishness.
"Seventy?!" he said in surprise. "Who gave you the extra points tonight? What have you really been up to?"
He took a step closer and she took another step back, and found herself backed against the wall. "It was a slip of the tongue, Professor" she said in what she hoped was a steady voice.
"No it wasn't" he murmured. "I will have the truth out of you yet, Hermione."
A traitorous part of her mind whispered how easy it would be now to reach out and touch him. She flushed, unable to look away from his dark gaze, silently cursing how she sometimes lost her objectivity when he was near. Her mind worked furiously. Severus would probably find out about the mirror tomorrow, but she knew that Dumbledore would be disappointed to find out Professor Snape had heard the news first from her.
"I promised to keep silent – but you will probably find out tomorrow" she hedged.
There was a mocking smile on his face. "Mystery upon mystery – and it's only Monday" he murmured. He looked at her silently for a second – thinking what? "Very well, you may go. I will find out one way or another. Dismissed." With that he turned and walked away, his robes swirling about him as he went.
[But why had he been out wandering the corridors tonight?] Hermione thought as she went back to her dormitory, devoutly hoping that she would not run into any more teachers on the way. Her name would be mud tomorrow when it was found out how many points she had incurred. She could say with near certainty that Professor Snape wasn't neck deep in some nasty plot, but there had to be a good reason….
There was something he said that hadn't seemed right. Besides the part about points being taken off, of course. She winced. What was it? She paused in the corridor for a second, a puzzled and wondering look on her face. Oh, yes. He had called her by her first name for the first time….
After the encounter with Hermione, Severus felt irritated, amused and frustrated, as he always seemed to be after he had an encounter with her these days.
He was angry with himself for feeling relief at the news that she wasn't sneaking off for a teenage snogging session with Harry or Ron. As if it mattered to him, a Slytherin teacher. He also felt angry that she wasn't sneaking off to see either of them, either. Were those boys blind not to see how beautiful and brilliant she was? They deserved points off alone just for that offence. He found himself smirking at the thought of informing them both tomorrow that they both had forty points off, watching them wonder what they had done this time.
He scowled. Damn her for making him moon over her like some silly lovesick teenager. He thought he was long past that sort of nonsense. Damn him for thinking about her at times, for feeling an absurd sort of pleasure when she was in his class. And as for thinking before how tempted he was to embrace her and push her back against the wall, imagining her willing arms to embrace him in return and return his hungry kisses, well, that thought made him crosser than ever, and oddly sad for something he could never have.
He shrugged angrily and managed with an effort to stop thinking about her. He had been walking the halls at night lately because he had been having trouble sleeping, plagued by nightmares. Usually he had had coped with nightmares by focussing his mind during one to the point where he could dismiss it, and sleep in relative peace again. Either that or brewing a potion for dreamless sleep.
But this time…he would wake up after one of these nightmares nearly on the point of screaming – nearly, because he would not remember the exact details, just the sense of a dark presence drawing nearer, and the feeling of being helpless and trapped, unable to do anything. He hated that feeling most of all, of not being in control. He could almost hate Hermione for making him feel when he was around her that he wasn't in complete control. No. No, he could never hate her, he admitted to himself. What he felt for her was far from hate, and that was the problem.
So, he had taken to walking the corridors at night in an effort to wear himself out so that his sleep would be dreamless. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and he was filled with the nagging disquiet that things would get worse, not better. He refused to ask Dumbledore for help – he had his pride, after all! But Severus found himself wondering what would have happened if he had told Hermione, and whether she could help. He also found himself feeling guilty for taking so many points off her, especially after she had already had many points taken off this night.
He frowned as he silently walked along the corridors. How had she had the other points taken off? There was a mystery there, or he wasn't a Slytherin. Perhaps he would ask Dumbledore tomorrow and see what he knew. He yawned, but made himself keep walking. Not until he could barely keep his eyes open would he seek his cold bed.
A/N: Right, does anyone want more? g
So over the years Hermione had firmly suppressed her odd feelings for the Professor to a faint flicker in her heart, determined instead to learn all she could from him. She had persistently asked questions in his class, to which he had responded first by ignoring her, then had given her tough assignments with a mocking smile.
When she had completed them to the best of her ability to reach his exacting standards, there had been grudging respect in his dark eyes – before he had handed her tougher assignments. At times through the years he had even unbent enough to give her a faint smile at times, which had made her heart lurch strangely in her chest.
She blinked and came back to the present when she heard Severus comment with dark amusement "You're unusually quiet, Miss Grainger. That must be a first. Alone as well. Another first. Or perhaps…you're off with an assignation with….Potter, perhaps. Or that wretched Weasley."
Hermione blinked again. She must have been hearing things because for a second she thought she had detected a note of jealousy in his voice. Lack of sleep was obviously getting to her. Then she smiled at the thought of sneaking off to meet Harry or Ron. The three of them were the best of friends and were fond of each other, but it wasn't the kind of affection that say, Harry had for Ginny, Ron's younger sister, or the kind that Ron had for a girl on their Quidditch team. Or she had for…no, don't think of that.
Severus obviously took her smile for assent for in a grim voice he said "Just as I thought. That's thirty points off Gryffindor for you – now get back to your dormitory." With that he wheeled and stalked off down the corridor.
[Thirty points!!] Hermione thought, aghast. He had jumped to the wrong conclusion! What a horrible night this was turning out to be.
"Wait, Professor – it's not like that at all" she called in alarm.
Severus paused but didn't turn around, looking like a black shadow in the corridor. "Really?" he said indifferently. "No secret tryst then? No….plots with your friends?"
"No" Hermione said quietly. "Just some studying in the library. Sometimes night is the only time I can get some peace and quiet in there."
"Ah" Severus said softly and it seemed that his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Sometimes I think students are too dim-witted to understand what the sign 'Silence in the Library' means."
Hermione had no intention of telling him her encounter with the other professors. The less people who knew about the mirror the better, in her opinion. Besides, perhaps Dumbledore would inform him tomorrow, perhaps even ask Professor Snape to be one of the wizards to do the disarming spell, for he fairly reeked of power. She was tempted to plead with him to reduce the number of deducted points he had given her, but that would be pushing her luck. He could even take off more points for 'impertinence'.
Perhaps he had sensed something for he suddenly swung around and stared at her with narrowed eyes.
"There's something you're not telling me. What is it?" he demanded.
"Nothing" Hermione said calmly, but she cautiously backed away a step. Severus drifted closer to her, his eyes never leaving her face. A wave of weariness swept over her, making her momentarily careless.
"What's the reason you are out here, Professor?"
His eyes gleamed. "Would you like ten more points off, Miss Grainger? Then that would bring the total to…how many points off Gryffindor in this night because of you?"
"Seventy" Hermione said unthinkingly, then cursed herself for her foolishness.
"Seventy?!" he said in surprise. "Who gave you the extra points tonight? What have you really been up to?"
He took a step closer and she took another step back, and found herself backed against the wall. "It was a slip of the tongue, Professor" she said in what she hoped was a steady voice.
"No it wasn't" he murmured. "I will have the truth out of you yet, Hermione."
A traitorous part of her mind whispered how easy it would be now to reach out and touch him. She flushed, unable to look away from his dark gaze, silently cursing how she sometimes lost her objectivity when he was near. Her mind worked furiously. Severus would probably find out about the mirror tomorrow, but she knew that Dumbledore would be disappointed to find out Professor Snape had heard the news first from her.
"I promised to keep silent – but you will probably find out tomorrow" she hedged.
There was a mocking smile on his face. "Mystery upon mystery – and it's only Monday" he murmured. He looked at her silently for a second – thinking what? "Very well, you may go. I will find out one way or another. Dismissed." With that he turned and walked away, his robes swirling about him as he went.
[But why had he been out wandering the corridors tonight?] Hermione thought as she went back to her dormitory, devoutly hoping that she would not run into any more teachers on the way. Her name would be mud tomorrow when it was found out how many points she had incurred. She could say with near certainty that Professor Snape wasn't neck deep in some nasty plot, but there had to be a good reason….
There was something he said that hadn't seemed right. Besides the part about points being taken off, of course. She winced. What was it? She paused in the corridor for a second, a puzzled and wondering look on her face. Oh, yes. He had called her by her first name for the first time….
After the encounter with Hermione, Severus felt irritated, amused and frustrated, as he always seemed to be after he had an encounter with her these days.
He was angry with himself for feeling relief at the news that she wasn't sneaking off for a teenage snogging session with Harry or Ron. As if it mattered to him, a Slytherin teacher. He also felt angry that she wasn't sneaking off to see either of them, either. Were those boys blind not to see how beautiful and brilliant she was? They deserved points off alone just for that offence. He found himself smirking at the thought of informing them both tomorrow that they both had forty points off, watching them wonder what they had done this time.
He scowled. Damn her for making him moon over her like some silly lovesick teenager. He thought he was long past that sort of nonsense. Damn him for thinking about her at times, for feeling an absurd sort of pleasure when she was in his class. And as for thinking before how tempted he was to embrace her and push her back against the wall, imagining her willing arms to embrace him in return and return his hungry kisses, well, that thought made him crosser than ever, and oddly sad for something he could never have.
He shrugged angrily and managed with an effort to stop thinking about her. He had been walking the halls at night lately because he had been having trouble sleeping, plagued by nightmares. Usually he had had coped with nightmares by focussing his mind during one to the point where he could dismiss it, and sleep in relative peace again. Either that or brewing a potion for dreamless sleep.
But this time…he would wake up after one of these nightmares nearly on the point of screaming – nearly, because he would not remember the exact details, just the sense of a dark presence drawing nearer, and the feeling of being helpless and trapped, unable to do anything. He hated that feeling most of all, of not being in control. He could almost hate Hermione for making him feel when he was around her that he wasn't in complete control. No. No, he could never hate her, he admitted to himself. What he felt for her was far from hate, and that was the problem.
So, he had taken to walking the corridors at night in an effort to wear himself out so that his sleep would be dreamless. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and he was filled with the nagging disquiet that things would get worse, not better. He refused to ask Dumbledore for help – he had his pride, after all! But Severus found himself wondering what would have happened if he had told Hermione, and whether she could help. He also found himself feeling guilty for taking so many points off her, especially after she had already had many points taken off this night.
He frowned as he silently walked along the corridors. How had she had the other points taken off? There was a mystery there, or he wasn't a Slytherin. Perhaps he would ask Dumbledore tomorrow and see what he knew. He yawned, but made himself keep walking. Not until he could barely keep his eyes open would he seek his cold bed.
A/N: Right, does anyone want more? g
