The next morning the whole school was talking about the strange attack. The girl hadn't woke up, and her room mates had carried her to the hospital wing. There had been red markings on her neck, she was as pale as Death and her hands were cold as ice.

The theories about what had happened flew across the tables in the Great Hall.

"Maybe she's faking it to have fun."

"They're going to close the school! It's going to be like four years ago all over again!"

"She has been petrified! She is a Muggle born, the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is back."

Harry, Ron and Hermione were talking amongst themselves at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked a bit shaken by the attack.

"Are you okay, Hermione", Harry asked and tried to make eye contact with her.

"Yeah, you haven't touched your food", said Ron and pointed at her bacon.

She took a deep breath and turned to them.

"For the last time, I am fine. I just had a hard time falling asleep because I was wondering about the new safety rules."

As if to add more strength to her words she ate a large piece of bacon, but she had problems swallowing it.

She didn't really know why she didn't tell Ron and Harry the truth, something inside her told her not to. Her sleep had been perfect, she couldn't remember when she had had such a calm and peaceful night before. It was waking up that had been awful.

She had been in the same room as the attacked girl, and therefor she had helped in carrying her up to madam Pomfrey.

And she had woken up with black rose leaves strewn over her.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Snape felt feverish as he left breakfast to begin his classes. The attacked girl was a Gryffindor, which meant the monster had been very near Hermione. Cold shivers ran down the Potion master's spine as he thought about what would happen to her if... No, he couldn't even finish the thought.

He had searched his mind for potions that could make a good substitute for the Dormatica potion, but he hadn't found anything. He was scared, annoyed and angry with the entire world, and this made him very dangerous to the students. He took away twenty points from Ravenclaw when Luna Lovegood dropped some dragon heart strings on the floor in the afternoon. All through the day he looked as if he was going to rip the head off anyone who came too close to him.

Dumbledore knew about the attack, of course. He hadn't spoken to Snape all day, he had only given him a sad look.

"It is a wonder indeed he hasn't fired me for being useless" Snape thought to himself as he awaited the Gryffindors in the dungeons.

When Hermione entered his eyes were at once attached to her. She was as beautiful as ever, but something in her eyes didn't seem right.

He wanted to enter her mind, see what she was thinking. But he couldn't do that now. Instead he put on his usual stone face and barked at the students to brew today's potion.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Later on that day Hermione went to the library. Harry and Ron were outside practising quidditch, which gave her plenty of time to do some research about the events of last night.

What could come in through a door locked with spells? What left its victim cold and pale, with markings on the neck? Her first thought had been a vampire, but it didn't make sense. Vampires didn't just came out of nowhere and, contrary to most believes, they didn't come in through locked doors.

She searched the tall shelves for books on monsters and magical creatures and sat down a few minutes later at a table with a huge pile of dusty, thick volumes.

She opened one of them and was just about to begin reading when she was interrupted by a sound. She looked up, but the library seemed empty except for herself. Then she saw him.

Snape was sitting on the floor in the restricted section, his head in his arms. His black robes were spread out on the stone floor, looking like giant wings. He sighed deeply from time to time, and it was clear that he thought himself completely alone, like Hermione had. Next to him on the floor lay a pile of books.

She rose from her seat and walked over to him. This was beyond anything she could imagine about the Potion master, he seemed too strong and tough for it. She came closer, but he didn't look up, didn't even hear her steps. Eventually she sat down in front of him, took a small breath to gather courage and said:

"Professor?"

His head popped up and his black nighteyes looked straight into hers. They captured her completely, as if she was an animal standing in bright light.

"Is everything allright?" she asked carefully.

"Miss Granger...", he began, but lost his voice, just like he lost himself in the oceans of kindness that were her eyes.

"No", he continued. "Everything is not allright. Everyone is in danger, and it's my fault."

Again he dropped his head into his arms. Hermione knew he wasn't crying, he just seemed exhausted. A new feeling filled her heart as she looked at him. She felt sorry for Snape. All her bad memories of him melted away, she wanted nothing more than to comfort him.

She stretched out her hand and put it on his head, felt his greasy, silky, black hair under her fingers. Once again his head popped up and Hermione removed her hand quickly, as if she had burned herself. But the Potion master didn't spoke or showed any signs of anger, as she had expected. Before Hermione had understood what happened he had his arms around her, Snape held her close to him, as if he would never let her go. Without knowing why, Hermione put her arms around his neck, and they sat there on the floor, holding each other, for what seemed like an eternity.

Snape leaned his forehead against her shoulder and sighed once again. How had it happened? How did he put his arms around her? He didn't know, he didn't really care, all he wanted was a moment of comfort and solace. He felt so small.... This was what he wanted, to hold her in his arms, safe from harm.

But all good things must come to an end. He let go of her with a very sudden movement. It wasn't a rough shove, he just pushed her away from him gently. Then he rose and left her there on the floor. He threw a look over his shoulder and she met his eyes once again. She had never seen eyes like those, and she probably never would.

He left the library without a word to her. There was no need to ask her not to tell anyone, he knew she was too smart for that, and she knew he didn't have anyone to tell it to.

Hermione sat on the same spot on the floor for a few minutes. What was happening to her? This was Snape, the Potion master that everyone hated and that hated everyone in return. Hermione had never liked him. He was unfair, bad tempered and sometimes even plain evil, but she had respect for him anyway. But this...

Why was her heart feeling so warm at the thought of his arms around her?

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

When the sun started so sink towards the horizon and the sky was painted in warm colours of blue and pink, Snape was in his private rooms, holding a mirror of silver in his hands. He stared deeply into it, as if it held the answer to all his problems. He had a long, brown hair tied around his forefinger. It was one of her hairs, he had taken it from her robes without her noticing. At that time he only did it to have something from her, something that was truly hers, but then he had remembered a spell...

He took the hair off his finger and placed it on the mirror.

"Darem Hermione", he said and waved his wand over the mirror. At once the glass made rings on itself, as if it had been water hit with a small stone, and soon Hermione's image became clear to him.

She was with Harry and Ron, of course, sitting in the Gryffindor common room by the fire place. He couldn't hear them, only see them. The two boys had big books in front of them, but they were clearly not studying. Once in a while they turned to Hermione, as if to ask her a question, but she didn't seem to hear them. She was staring into the roaring fire with a deep look in her eyes, as if she was looking at something very dear to her.

He remembered the way she had responded to his embrace. He had never felt anything like it, not ever. The feeling that somebody might care for him.

He woke up from his reveries. Her lips had moved, but not to Harry or Ron. He had managed to read the word on her lips, those soft, silky lips, and his heart seemed to miss a beat.

It was his name she had spoken.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Hermione watched Snape in his rooms, looking into a mirror. She had heard about mirror spells, they could be used to see or communicate with people who were far away. He was probably talking to Dumbledore.

She was doing something similar. She had thrown a pinch of Floo powder into the Common room fire and whispered 'The Potion master's rooms'. He didn't know she was watching him.

"Poor Snape", she thought. "He has done so much for the Order, but never got anything in return."

He hadn't left her mind for a second since the embrace in the library. When she closed her eyes she could still feel his arms around her, so strong and safe. Seeing the attacked girl in her dormitory that morning had scared her well, and she was worried about her friends.

He looked so tired. She wanted to be there with him, talk to him.... hold him once again.

After an hour or so, she, Harry and Ron left the Common room and went to their dormitories for the night. At exactly ten o'clock, all the dormitory doors in Hogwarts lightened up for a few seconds and locked themselves.

The pale moon grew stronger outside... and a dark shadow soared through the corridors.