A/N: This chapter covers both Hermione and Snape's point of view, so I hope it doesn't seem to confusing. Great big thanks to all those who reviewed and corrected some of my mistakes!

And no, English isn't my first language. But I'm learning it as we speak, so I suspect it'll get better:) So if anything sounds a little odd, blame it on my Norglish (Norwegian English)()

And I don't own anything, J.K Rowling does. I make no profit either, so please don't sue;)

Source of inspiration

Chapter two -

Nightmares and detention

Severus Snape retreated to his chambers with a slight purr in his head, a sure warning sign of the headache about to set in. It was late, much later than he usually went to bed, but as usual, a student had kept him up. This time it was that annoying Gryffindor know-it-all Hermione Granger.

It was his first day off in weeks, due to the fact that things had been incredibly hectic lately. Snape had been planning on a quiet night in (not that that meant he ever took a night 'out'), so he had been heading for the library for something sufficient to read. His book collection was quite the impressive one, but at the moment he wasn't all that interested in reading about Potions or anything otherwise related to the subject he taught. He wanted some real literature, something relaxing.

But as he reached the library, he noticed that he was not the only one there. Standing behind a table, barely visible through the large piles of books, was Miss Granger. And as any other student would look if they met the infamous, cruel and greasy Potions professor in a dark library late at night, she looked livid with fear. He took some perverse pride in it, him being the reason for her fear.

In lack of any other means of entertainment Severus didn't feel like just grabbing the first and best book he could find to flee the scene as fast as possible. He stayed put, and wearing his worst threatening face he punished her for him having a horrible day, taking his anger out on her. It wasn't until he no longer could get any satisfaction from tormenting the young girl, and decided to leave, that he realised his mistake. In a weak and feeble voice, the girl had asked him for help on a problem in Potions. Now there was something he didn't expect. Severus couldn't decide on whether she had gone mad, or if this was some stupid prank her friends had thought up. He clearly wasn't doing his job of being the intimidating greasy git well enough if a student would willingly spend her free time with him. But it had not been a prank, he realised, and as Miss Granger had tried to back out of it in the last second, he had made his decision.

Severus did not like the insinuation that the girl thought he would say no just because he didn't want to spend time with her more than she with him. The girl had offered him a challenge, and he never backed out of a challenge. If help was what she wanted, then that was what she would get. Severus imagined she would excuse herself from his company as soon as she realised what she had gotten herself into.

But she hadn't excused herself, just looked at him with those big brown eyes as he was talking about something, being genuinely interested, trying to ingest as much of what he said as possible. And then there was the fact that he had caught her staring at him as much as two times. He didn't quite know what to make of it, it wasn't as though he was used to that happening. But then again, the most fearsome teacher at Hogwarts had suddenly found tine in his busy schedule to help a student, something which hardly ever happened, so it was no wondered she was surprised. She had probably just tried to determine whether or not he was another person disguised with the help of poly juice potion.

And then there was that episode outside the library. The silly chit of girl had not only gone forgotten her book on Advanced Potions, she had also crashed into him on the way out. And clumsy as she was, she had fallen. Severus had for a fraction of a second considered letting her fall, but for some reason he had reached for her wrist and pulled her up by her waist.

That's when he became aware of the fact that little Miss Granger wasn't exactly shaped like a little girl anymore. Horrified by his own thoughts and the intimacy of the situation, he released her as if she was poisonous, and within a second he had turned his anger from himself to her.

Getting up from his favourite chair by the fireplace and heading to his bedchambers, thoughts of the day's events still refused to be pushed from his mind.

It had been a long time since anyone's gotten that close.

It had been a long time since he had let anyone get that close.

Hermione found herself standing in a dark dungeon, feeling quite claustrophobic as the four damp stonewalls surrounding her seemed more menacing than she had ever remembered walls to be.

Suddenly Harry was standing in front of her with a playful smirk on his face. Or was it Draco? She couldn't really tell, funny she hadn't noticed how alike they were before.

But as he started to speak she could hear him, of course it was Harry.

"Hello, 'Mione! Are you coming to watch me play Quidditch today? I've got a brand new broom, you know," said Harry, as he reached his hand out to Hermione.

She smiled and reached out her hand, but pulled it back as she suddenly saw the broomstick turning into an enormous, silvery snake, turning against Harry and reaching for his neck.

"No! Harry watch out!" she tried to scream, but the words were caught high in her throat. Then the snake had bitten clear through Harry's neck, and he sank crumpled into a bloody heap on the floor.

Hermione wanted to scream and cry, but she couldn't do either, and as the snake turned to her, freezing her to the spot with his sharp, emerald green eyes. Slowly it was writhing its way to her, hissing just as she had heard Harry do that time at the Duelling Club with Lockhart and Snape.

And suddenly she could hear the hissing voice whispering inside her head as well.

"Kill him, Hermione."

The voice hurt her head, and she brought her hands to her ears, but the voice just kept talking to her.

"Kill him."

A little more insistent this time, and the pain in her head increased.

'Just whom was she supposed to kill?' Hermione thought.

And then the voice again, more painful than ever.

'No' she thought.

'Get... out...'

"Just reach for your wand and kill him... I know you can, Hermione..." Then the voice died out, replaced by another, far more comfortable voice as the snake faded to black.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Severus Snape was standing before her, speaking to her with that silky, rich baritone of his. Hermione shuddered as his hand reached out towards her face, long elegant fingers carefully tracing her jaw-line.

"Looks like our famous Gryffindor is lost, isn't she?"

He took a step closer. 'Yes' she thought. 'Take me home'

Snape was close enough to touch now, his fingers moving enticingly across her face, down to her neck, before his mouth followed suit to a very sensitive spot close to her collarbone.

"Do you like this, Hermione?" His breath was on her neck now, moving up to her face again, and lingering over her lips. Not a trace of his habitual sneer was left, just a soft, silky voice making her weak in the knees.

"Yes," she said in a whisper, while closing her eyes and arching her body into his.

But then she could no longer feel his breath on her face, or hear that sensual voice – and everything became cold.

"'Mione!" Suddenly he was calling for her, why was he calling for her?

And why had he gone away?

"'Mione!"

Harry was standing over her, both hands on her shoulders, nudging her awake.

"Harry? What are you –"

"Ah, you're up," he said casually, as though he had been standing over her when she woke up by coincidence instead of being the reason for it. He let go of her shoulders and straightened up, wearing a smile that erased any feeling of anger Hermione had towards him at the moment. Though he had woken he up in quite the interesting dream, she wasn't even sure what to characterize it as - dream or nightmare?

"Well, aren't we quite the little sleepy head?"

She didn't respond to his remark, as sunlight suddenly streamed in the window when Harry pulled the blinds away. Hermione winced before her eyes could adjust to it. Her nightmare must have lasted long; it felt as though she had hardly slept at all through the night. She slowly got up in bed, her joints still in a state of sleep disagreeing with her movement.

Then she took in the situation before her. Both Harry and Ron inside her bedroom, early in the morning and wearing expressions like she'd missed the out on something big.

Harry read her puzzled expression, and answered before she could ask.

"Hey, you can't tell us the password for your Head Girl room and then expect us not to use it. And besides, we thought something was up when you didn't show for the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw quidditch match."

Hermione turned her head, seeing Ron sitting on the edge of her chest of clothes, looking rather bothered by the situation. He had always been awkward with her, and she guessed that being in her bedroom when she was only wearing her nightclothes would not make it any better.

Then suddenly realisation hit her. She had to get up much earlier tomorrow, if she was going to get any studying done at all, with the detention business and all.

"Oh Gods, I've overslept!" Hermione rushed out of bed, making an already uncomfortable Ron blush till his face matched his hair.

"It's Saturday, Hermione!" Harry called after her as she ran to the bathroom.

"You'd think she never got enough school, the way she carries on in the weekends," Ron noted, still looking a bit disgruntled.

"So what were you doing last night, since you were so tired this morning? Usually you're up at the crack of dawn," Harry sounded amused as he spoke, and Hermione wondered if he really thought she was keeping someone from him. Which she was not at all.

"You will not believe what happened," Hermione said as she slumped down on the bed, a brush in her hand trying to entangle the big mass of copper brown curls as she spoke. They were still rioting as much as ever, maybe even more. But a haircut fitting perfectly for the shape of her face and her hair, it looked much more natural.

"I got detention with Snape."

The two boys' eyes widened from her revelation and Ron especially looked furious.

"What?!" he spluttered, rising from where he had been seated.

"That greasy git gave you detention? What sort of crap has the fucker thought up now?"

Hermione ignored his outburst, getting off the bed and moving towards the window. If he couldn't ask her properly what had happened, she wouldn't gratify him with an answer. Absently she rubbed the bracelet her mother had sent to her just yesterday as an early birthday present. It was itching uncomfortably even though it was made of silver, but she didn't remove it. 'Uncomfortable or not, it was a present from someone she loved dearly,' Hermione thought while rubbing the skin under two sapphires in silvery circles. Suddenly she felt the two pairs of eyes on her and turned her attention from the bracelet.

"I don't believe you did anything to deserve it, Hermione," Harry said empathically.

She gave a weak smile in return. "No, I guess not... I was just studying in the library, and then he suddenly turned up there, and I remembered that I needed help, and so I asked him..."

"What?!" Ron's second outburst was more furious than the first, his face reddening with anger by the second.

Hermione had always thought Ron's untimely tendency to overreact would blow over as he grew older, though it seemed that it was only getting worse. Or maybe she was just becoming more sick of it.

"No, Ron, that's not why he gave me detention..." said Hermione, tired of having to explain everything to him so carefully.

"He helped for a while until I had everything under control, and then we discovered it was past curfew, so he sent me back to Gryffindor Tower. But then I remembered that I had left my book on Advanced Potions in the library, so I went to get it, and..." Hermione's voice had become weaker by the word.

"- And then I crashed into him on my way out, and he gave me detention" The last words were barely audible.

Hermione Granger was not a girl to get detention. Of all her seven years in school, she could not think of one time where a detention had been caused by her, and not her two more attention drawing and accident-prone friends.

And now, in her last year, her last month even, she had gotten detention all without their help. Hermione shivered at the thought of some of their boyish recklessness having rubbed off on her, as she pictured rolling around in the mud, digging up worms for ingredients to her demanding professor.

How would she ever survive?

It was five minutes past midnight now, and still the Granger girl hadn't shown. Not only had she disobeyed his orders last night, now it also seemed that she plans to disregard his orders once more. Severus was furious.

"Professor?" The voice was weak and barely audible, but undoubtedly the voice of Hermione Granger.

"You are five minutes late, miss Granger." Snape covered his surprise well, fixing her with a deadly glare to match his statement about her tardiness.

"Did you think that since I would be so fortunate as to experience the grace of your presence, you would be allowed to keep me waiting? Tut tut, miss Granger." He shook his head slightly, hoping to make his point about her being an insufferable little know-it-all.

"You should know by now that I am by no means impressed by you current status as Potter's sidekick. And you can rest assured that I will never become that, either. Now perhaps we could get to work?"

Maybe that would shut her up. And if not, he could always use a silencing spell.

Five measly little seconds late for her detention, and he was in an uproar. As Head Girl, Hermione knew how to be punctual, but an encounter with Peeves in the hallway outside the Gryffindor common room had sabotaged her strict schedule in the NEWTS season. And she would not be the least bit surprised if it was Snape himself who had set Peeves to torment her that night, so that he could have something to yell at her for.

And then when she finally turned up, she was not even allowed to explain herself. How could she have ever thought anything good about that man?

She was in a blazing fury herself, by the time he suggested to get to work. But Hermione had good control over her emotions, and did not her anger slip through her façade. She would not give him the satisfaction of saying something she might regret, and therefore allowing him to punish her even more. And she knew at the moment, that the things struggling to escape her mouth were reasons enough to have her expelled. Which would be nothing more than Christmas come early for Snape.

The biggest surprise, however, was her appointed task. Collecting different night herbs and plants from the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Hermione was definitely sure no one would believe her if she said she had spent the night with Snape, picking flowers and such.

"What's the matter, Miss Granger? You do know what kind of plants these are, do you not?" Snape testily gestured to the sheet of parchment he had given her.

"Yes, of course I do. It was just the combination of them I was wondering about. Which potion are you making?"

"That, Miss Granger, is none of your business. Just pick the plants, remember to bring the stems and a sufficient amount of leaves, and hand them to me, unharmed."

His answer only fuelled her curiosity, because though he wouldn't normally give her that type of information, he had answered a little too quickly and brusquely. Hermione knew she had seen most of these plants used as ingredients in the same potions, she could just not figure out where.

As she started her collecting, Professor Snape moved on the inside of the forest, slowly walking with his gaze glued to the ground. And Hermione's mind started to remember the nightmare she had had the night before.

She had spent quite the amount of time thinking about it, because it had been so much more different than any usual dream, it had felt so real. And not only real, it had felt as though there was someone inside her head, talking to her.

That was when she had remembered in which potion she had seen these exact plants used as ingredients. The Dreamless Sleep Potion.

Hermione shot a quick glance at her professor quizzingly. Why would he be brewing the Dreamless Sleep Potion? Or more importantly, to whom?

Half an hour later, Hermione had gathered all the herbs and plants from the list Snape had given her. They had been relatively easy to find, except for some which she had to go further into the forest to collect. She was surprise to discover that detention hadn't been half as bad as what you could expect from Professor Snape. Potions had always interested Hermione, and collecting ingredients such as these could hardly be considered punishment. Breaking her train of thoughts, she headed towards her Professor.

Snape was organising his collectings into different jars when she approached him. He didn't acknowledge her presence but she knew he had heard her coming.

"Sir?" Hermione was surprised at how weak and squeaky her voice could sound, but ignored it and continued, while trying to sound a little more confident.

"I've collected everything on the list, Sir." This earned her a deadly stare as he looked up at her with his cold, black eyes.

"Well then hand them over, Miss Granger," Snape said impatiently, motioning for her to give him the basket she had collected everything in.

It wasn't until Hermione stretched her arm out and her sweater crept up her wrist she saw that there was light coming from the two sapphires on her bracelet. Snape had noticed it as well, his eyes widening in surprise and anger as he grabbed her wrist almost painfully.

"Where did you get this?" She had never heard his voice so lethal before, and it sent shivers of fright down her spine.

"Answer me girl! Where did you get this bracelet?" Snape sounded if possible even more dangerous this time, but Hermione knew what was best for her, and answered.

"I- it was a gift. From my mother, I turn eighteen next week." Her voice wavered a bit, but she ignored it and continued.

"I didn't know it could light up like that, it has never done so before."

Snape looked at her suspiciously before releasing his grip on her hand slightly.

"And why would your mother give you a bracelet so conspicuously alike the Slytherin crest?"

She looked disbelievingly at him for a moment before she studied her bracelet. Hermione was speechless. The two blue sapphires were gone, replaced by green, sparkling emeralds, and the silvery circles had changed shape so that they looked like a serpent. The bracelet did actually look like something designed for a Slytherin. Which made it so much more strange.

Hermione brought her gaze up to Snape, gaping while trying to form a sentence. He had still not let go of her hand, and he was now reaching to touch the bracelet with his other hand. And that's when they both felt that familiar, tugging sensation jerking them from their surroundings.

Hermione couldn't have told which of the two looked more surprised as they were suddenly somewhere far from the Forbidden Forest.

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