Authors note: In response to WIKTT "Hollow Man" challenge. I make no money from this, although I wish I thought of it first. Please review.

Chapter Two

Hermione quickly lit a fire in the black marble fireplace of her study. Pulling two burgundy wing back chairs together she instructed Severus to sit and he did so. She looked at him curiously and he stared back at her. Not into her eyes as he had before. Simply at her. His twisted mouth was slightly agape and he looked a little bit like the figure in Munch's "The Scream". Hermione said nothing but watched him for a moment before she leaned forward and put his hands in hers. He blinked and looked down, no flicker of familiarity at all, simply acknowledgment. If it was even that. The fire reflected in his hollow eyes and gave them the dancing look he had had with her before. Hermione smiled slightly and willed herself to be transported back into her memory just months before. Before the fall of Voldemort, right after her graduation. She wanted nothing more than to break into the ministry and steal a time turner and bring her and Severus back, for forward, somewhere where he was back the way he was before. Sneering and belittling to those who he perceived as the most threatening to him. Hermione cocked her head to the side and tried to look deeper into his eyes. She could see life, in the most biological sense. Blood coursing through veins, heart pumping, brain functioning. Nothing beyond that though, no feeling, no hope, no glimmer of mischief he had reserved only for her to see.

"Severus..." Hermione let his name curl off of her tongue.

"yes." He replied in a robotic tone that sent chills up her spine.

"Can you please get me a few crackers from the kitchen" she said quickly, feeling bad for saying his name for no reason really. Then feeling immediately worse for ordering him around like a common house elf. He rose and walked off to the kitchen. Hermione leaned back in the plush chair and folded her hands over her belly. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't take him back, she needed him here with her, the order needed him. As soon as the excitement had died down she had to get into the Department of Mysteries. That's where the souls of the victims were stored. Everyone in the Order knew that. It was Hermione's job to get Severus his back. Her stomach lurched with nervousness that made her jump up and make a run for the toilet.

Hermione emptied the meager contents of her stomach and rinsed her mouth out with water before she brushed her teeth. She closed her eyes and turned to see him standing in the doorway, no longer the formidable man she had once known. Her small 5'3" stature next to him was even more diminished. She drew herself up straight and looked at him. He tilted his head and looked down to her as she approached him.

"Severus, what happened to you? What happened to the man behind those big dark eyes?" she smiled. "The man who loved me." She whispered.

"Would you like cheese?"

"What?" Hermione took a step backward.

"For your crackers?" He turned and left back to the kitchen, taking Hermione's saltines with him.

A week had passed quickly into two and Hermione had so many questions about what to expect from Severus she wasn't quite sure who could answer them all. She trusted Severus could manage on his own, he didn't do much but stare at books when he wasn't busy doing something for her. She didn't know if he could still read or not since she had to turn the pages for him. On his two week anniversary of non existence, Hermione made a short trip to the Burrow to speak with Arthur. She had quite a few questions that needed to be answered.

"Arthur? Molly?" Hermione called through the kitchen window. George looked up from the sink quickly and smiled.

"Hullo Hermione! Come in, how are you?"

"Fine, a little bit nauseous, but apparation has never really agreed with me." She smiled warmly.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable. I'll get Dad for you, since it's him you probably want to see." George left the room in one direction and Arthur came in from the shed in the back.

"Oh Hermione! How are you?"

"Fine, George just went looking for you."

"He did?" Arthur looked over his shoulder towards the living room and made to leave before Hermione continued.

"I wanted to see you. That's why I'm here. That's why George went to find you."

"Why's that?"

"I have a few questions."

Arthur sat down across the table from her and listened intently to what she had to say.

"Severus... It's like... he has no personality. It doesn't sound like him when he speaks, he walks differently, he has no feelings. I talk to him at dinner about... things and he says nothing. He doesn't react. But, sometimes he'll say something that... makes me wonder..." Hermione's fragmented story left Arthur in a mess of confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"The first night I brought him home I had him bring me crackers. He brought them to me and I spoke to him for only a few moments and he asked me if I wanted cheese."

"Ah! He's working perfectly then!"

"That's not it. I didn't ask for the cheese. That's the point. Severus knew before I couldn't eat crackers without some cheese on them. I love cheese! It's like... how can I explain this... He's like a mobile phone!" She burst out, leaving Arthur only more confused.
"A cellular phone has two memory options. Save to mobile, or to SIM card. If you save your information to the SIM, it can be removed and lost forever, but if you save it to the mobile, you have the information as long as you have the mobile. Understand?

"So the Ministry has his mobile?" Arthur jumped up from his chair.

"No!" Hermione laughed for the first time in weeks. Arthur smiled at her.

"It's good to hear you laugh Hermione."

"It feels good to laugh."

"You know, he will retain some information. Little things, trivial at first, of no real importance. He knows who it is talking to him. Like a coma victim, he can hear you. He understands everything, even if he doesn't react the way you want him to. He might not remember an anniversary or the first time you two... well we're all adults here. However he remembers about cheese and maybe he'll remember Jay. Give it time. He's a fighter Hermione." Arthur helped her up from her seat and leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"He's a fighter, and he's fighting for you."

"Dad! There you are!" George walked back into the kitchen.

"I see you found him Hermione." Hermione blinked back tears and smiled.

"Yeah. Thanks Arthur for your help. I'll see you two later." Hermione stepped out of the Burrow and into the sunlight with a chip the size of Texas lifted off of her shoulder. With a 'pop' Hermione was quickly back onto the grounds of Severus's mansion, where she was living.

"Severus?" She walked through rooms looking for him, only to find him in the bath tub. He looked at her and said, matter-of-factly,

"I'm taking a bath."

"Yes, I see that Severus." She smiled at him. He smiled back, but it was an automatic response, not one of feeling or emotion, she'd come to realize this the hard way. Severus did not stand up for her, or make any offer of service, only sat in the bubbly water and stared at her intently.
"Dinner is at 8 sharp." Hermione said after a period of silence. He nodded slowly and continued to soak in the tub. Hermione stood up from the side of the bath and left him there. She was definitely going to need a plan for action. She needed him back. She couldn't rely on a few off beat memories he had lurking around in the attic. She was going to need to get into the Department of Mysteries, soon if she was to have chance at a future with him.