DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot bunny that was hopping around my neck! The characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: This is to prove that Snape HAS a heart! Remember to review after reading! And I expect some good reviews!!

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Damsel in distress

Chapter 1 - A midnight guest

"Harry, Ron, look who's here!" she called her best friends as she pulled him toward them.

"Viktor Krum!" Ron said with a surprised expression on his face, which soon changed into a frown.

"Hello Viktor." Harry said politely, giving Ron a stern look as he did so.

"Yeah, hello Viktor," Ron said, "nice to see you again."

"Hello Harry, Ron." Viktor said with a bow, "nice to see you too."

"Viktor is going to spend a week at my house," Hermione said happily.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Viktor," Harry tried to change the subject, "can I have a word?"

"Of course."

Harry pulled Viktor to a side and they started talking. Hermione was looking at them with a smile on her face, but it soon faded as she felt Ron staring at her with a frown on his face. She turned to him and put her hands on her hips.

"Ronald Weasley, are you going to learn to behave yourself around guests, or what?"

"Or what." Ron replied.

"Honestly Ron, why do you hate him?" she asked.

"How can you let him stay at your house for a week?"

"He's my friend."

"A friend who doesn't think the same way about you. Do you realize that he's just using you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You're jealous." She said.

"Jealous? Me? Ha! In your dreams!" he said and left her.

Hermione shrugged and went to join Harry and Viktor.

"Vikky, it's getting late, can we go home now?" she asked. Harry raised an eyebrow at the sound of 'Vikky' and stared at Hermione.

Viktor smiled and turned to Harry, "see you soon."

"Sure, bye 'Mione." Harry said and watched Hermione and Viktor leave the Burrow.

She had insisted to go to her house by foot. It was a long way to go, but Hermione wanted to walk, and to spend the evening with Viktor. She had so many things to tell him. He was her friend and he cared for her, but how wrong she was.

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Professor Snape, the Potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was spending a peaceful rainy night in his apartment in London. He was reading a book named 'Potions and Poisons' when a knock on his door made him drop the book in frustration.

Who cold ever disturb him at this moment of concentration! He got up and opened the door furiously.

"What?" he said, not expecting to see one of his most hated students standing in front of his door, her hair wet from the rain outside, her face bruised and her bottom lip bleeding. Her clothes were torn and she was sobbing silently.

"Merlin's beard," he muttered, "come in."

He was surprised to see Hermione Granger, little miss know-it-all-and-always-proud-to-show-it in front of his doorstep.

Hermione entered silently. She was in bad shape. As soon as he closed the door, he heard a thud and turned to see her lying on the ground. He carried her to his bedroom and put her on his bed and started examining her body for further injuries. He was somehow relieved not to find any other wounds on her body and pulled the bedcovers on her.

"What the bloody hell has happened?" he asked himself as he rushed to his wardrobe and opened it. He pulled a small black box from the bottom of the wardrobe and put it on his desk. Opening it, he took out two vials of potions and a bandage.

She was still unconscious, he could tell. He sat next to her on the bed and poured some potion from one of the vials on the bandage and started cleaning her face. Her bruises started to fade but didn't disappear. The wound on her bottom lip stopped bleeding. He threw the bandage and the vial in the dustbin and took the other vial, which contained sky blue potion and put it on the small table near the bed. He pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, waiting for her to wake up.

"What could have happened to her?" he silently asked himself, "what was she doing outside at this late time?"

"No, please don't. NO!" Hermione stirred and opened her eyes. She didn't recognize where she was and looked around, only to see her Potions teacher standing near the bed she was lying in and looking at her with concerned eyes.

"Calm down Miss Granger, you're safe." He said with his cold voice.

Hermione tried to sit up, and found it a hard task to complete. To her surprise, Snape helped her to sit and placed a pillow behind her back.

"Where am I?" she asked in a tried voice.

"In my house," he replied, "surely you remember coming here."

She shook her head. "I don't remember how I ended up here. I was on my way home when…" she gasped and cried.

"I told you to calm down Miss Granger." He took the vial from the small table and poured the sky blue potion in a glass and gave it to her. "I will wait until morning to hear your story. So, until then, drink this, it'll help you to sleep."

"I want to go home." She said in a whisper.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to let you go home in this shape?"

Yes. She thought. "My parents don't know where I am."

"I'll send them an owl. Now drink this potion and go to sleep."

Hermione took the glass and drank the potion to the last drop. She gave the glass back to him and tried to get off the bed.

"You won't be able to get to the door now that you have drank it." Snape said with a smirk.

"I… can." She replied but before she could move she was asleep.

"Gryffindors." He muttered and brought her back to lying position and pulled the bedcovers on her.

He took a pillow and left the room, closing the door slowly after him. He heard a door knock. "Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me Severus." It was Lucius Malfoy.

Snape took out his wand and put a locking charm on the door of his bedroom, then he pointed the wand to the pillow in his hand and muttered. "Evanesco." The pillow disappeared. He put the wand back into the pocket of his robes and opened the door.

"What took you so long?" said Lucius as he entered. "You need to change the habit of wearing that robe at home."

"I'll do as I please at the moment, thank you very much." Snape replied.

Lucius sat on the couch and put his cane on the table.

"What are you doing out at this time?" Snape looked at the clock; "It's almost two in the morning."

"I had some work to attend. A task for the Dark Lord."

Snape felt his body get rigid. "What task? How come I do not know of it?"

"It was arranged this morning. You know that my son hates that mudblood at school, don't you?"

Snape nodded.

"Well, the Dark Lord obviously knew about it and he advised me to get rid of her."

Snape didn't say a word; he kept staring at Lucius, his face expressionless.

"Do you have some fire whiskey?" Lucius asked.

"Yes." Snape replied and got up. After a moment he returned with two glasses of fire whiskey and gave one to Lucius.

"Cheers," Lucius said and took a sip of his glass, "now, where was I? Oh yes, the Dark Lord wanted me to get rid of her."

"And what did you do?"

"I heard that one of her friends was arriving today, and I decided to meet him before she did."

"Who is this friend?" Snape asked, drinking his fire whiskey.

"Viktor Krum."

Snape still couldn't understand how and why did Hermione end up in that condition. If Krum was supposedly her friend, and he remembered perfectly how close they were to each other about a couple of years ago, during the days of the Triwizard Tournament. If Krum was with her, then he must've tried to protect her somehow, but where is he now? Did he fall into Lucius' trap?

"When I met him this morning, he was more than happy to cooperate. He said that his headmaster would be pleased to know that he helped Lucius Malfoy." Lucius laughed loudly. "He won't be telling his headmaster anything now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's dead."

"He's what?" Snape said, trying his best not to show any emotions.

"Dead, Severus. He tried to resist the Imperius Curse and I killed him." Lucius swallowed the rest of his drink.

"Tell me how it happened." Snape said.

"Well, I wanted to talk to him before he could meet the mudblood, but somehow, she was there before me. So, I cast the Imperius Curse on him and when she wasn't there I told him what he was supposed to do." Lucius said with a smile.

"And what was he supposed to do?"

"He was going to use her and then kill her." Lucius replied and his smile disappeared. "When he was about to do it, she realized that he was under the curse, and she tried to make him fight it. Then I was there to kill her myself, but that bloke had managed to fight the curse and he tried to attack me. I should've stunned him and killed her first. She ran away as soon as he was dead. The Dark Lord won't be pleased to know that I have failed. I have to find her and finish my task."

"Yes, you do that Lucius. You don't want to upset the Dark Lord." Snape said. He turned to look at his room door, hoping that Hermione would still be asleep and Lucius won't hear or see her.

"Can you use Legilimensy to find her?" Lucius asked.

Snape was surprised by the request. No one had ever asked him to do such thing. If he didn't do it, then Lucius would tell Voldemort that he refused to cooperate. If he tells Lucius that Hermione was in the next door, she'd be dead. Snape decided to do it, but with a little twist of information.

"Alright, I'll do it." he replied. "Where was the last time you saw her?"

"One block away." Lucius said.

Snape closed his eyes and pretended that he was searching for Hermione.

Stupid git. Snape thought. He doesn't even realize that Legilimensy isn't the same as Telepathy.

"So?" asked Lucius impatiently.

"She's confused." Snape said with his cold voice. "She's heading to that place where Muggles use an underground train."

"Good," Lucius said, "I'll see you tomorrow then. Thanks Severus."

Lucius got up and left the apartment. Snape closed the door after him and put a locking charm on it. Then, he rushed to his room. He unlocked the door and went in. Hermione was still sleeping. Snape sighed in relief and went back to the living room. He conjured a pillow for himself and put it on the couch. He lay down and closed his eyes. The Dark Lord won't be happy with him on the next Death Eater meeting.