Hermione woke the next morning with a sense of dread for what was to come. She was going to have to have to have that talk with Ron. The one where you tell them, "I love you, but I'm not in love with you, but I hope we can still be friends." She was going to tell him before breakfast allowing everyone else to go down before them, ensuring privacy.

She got washed and dressed then went down to meet the boys with Ginny as usual in the common room.

"Hey babe!" said Ron, in the cheerful tone he always used when addressing Hermione. He came up to her, sliding his hand around her waist and kissed her. When Hermione reacted awkwardly to this loving gesture he gave her a confused look.

"What's up?" he asked, crinkling his brow

"We need to talk" Hermione answered sadly, looking down

"What about?" He asked, sounding slightly nervous

"Us" she said simply

"Oh" he answered back

Hermione entered the Great Hall and went immediately over to where Ginny and Harry were sitting. She stopped for a while, watching, realising how intimate they looked, talking and laughing, sitting very close to each another. She hesitated before eventually going over to sit next to them, hoping they wouldn't notice she had been crying. She took some toast from a plate and began scraping jam on it.

"What's the matter Hermione? Have you and Ron had another row?" Ginny asked immediately, upon seeing her

"Erm..me and Ron have..have..well, we've finished" Hermione answered looking down at the toast

"What! Why! Oh Hermione, what's happened to make you do that!" Ginny sounded very upset, Harry just looked shocked

"Look things just weren't working out, he's just so full on and I need a bit of space for a while. After all, we all need to do well in our exams this year, we need to concentrate on our studies more." She replied, realising as she had said it, that this excuse sounded very cold hearted

"Is Ron okay?" Ginny asked, concerned

"Well, I just thought I'd leave him to it for a while. Of course he begged me to change my mind, to give him another chance, but this is what I want. He'll get over it given time, I'm sure." Hermione replied, feeling upset again at these last words. Even though in some ways it had been a relief to finish her rather suffocating relationship with Ron, she still felt sad, it was the end of an era. She knew this would throw out the balance on the friendship of the four, but all would be well if Ron could find it in his heart to be civil to her and not harbour too much resentment. She sadly doubted he was capable of this though, as he had the emotional capability of a child, he went into sulks, had tantrums and got very jealous all the time.

"Look, I'm not hungry any more, I'll just go off to my first lesson now" she said, picking up her bag and standing up

"Okay, well, we'll see you later then" Ginny said sadly

Hermione knew she had upset her friends but she knew she had had to do it, it was for the best. Some of the guilt she had felt had been off loaded a little, she was a free agent now, so whatever happened between her and Professor Snape, at least she wasn't two-timing. Though she still had no intention of telling anyone about it, it would still definitely have to be a secret.

Three weeks of rows, confrontations and pleading later, Hermione and Ron had come to an uneasy understanding, much to her's and everyone elses relief. They were civil to each other but there was a distance between them now. Hermione still felt sad, as she knew she had broken his heart and Harry had told her that Ron had been having long talks at night, mostly about her and sometimes crying himself to sleep at night. He'd also taken out his pain on anyone that crossed him, usually Slytherins, who did not know what had had hit them. Hermione felt terrible about this, but still felt that she had done the right thing.

It was a Saturday night and Hermione was at a loose end, having normally spent this time with Ron on their own, she didn't know what to do. She had done all her homework already and was sitting on her bed, fiddling with the edge of her quilt. Ginny had gone to meet Harry and presumably Ron somewhere and Hermione had bowed out of joining them, wanting to spend as little time with Ron as possible at the moment.

Thoughts started to creep into her head - thoughts of Professor Snape. She remembered the night they had made love, no scratch that, had mad passionate sex in the library. She licked her lips, smiling, thinking of how good it had felt. Suddenly she felt naughty, very naughty. How would he react if she paid him a surprise visit? She didn't know, but she hoped it would be positive as she was going to give him one. For the past two weeks, she had been very good, not purposely going near him or giving him any indication that she was still interested. He had done the same – almost. Every now and again when he passed her in the corridor, she felt something brush against her hair, tugging it slightly, or touch her back, un-noticed by anyone else.

She knew he was teasing her, daring her to say something, but she didn't dare, for fear of raising suspicion. She had merely kept silent.

She went over to her wardrobe and looked inside, then she found the perfect outfit; a petticoat style top with scalloped lace at the bust line, in black together with black hipster trousers. She finished off the outfit with a pair of strappy, heeled shoes.

Slipping on her school robe over the top, she made her way down to the Slytherin dungeons. Every step she took made the guilty feelings within her rise, making her jumpy. She eventually reached the Slytherin common room entrance and walking past it, made her way to Professor Snape's office.

Her belly now clenching tightly with nerves she knocked on the door. A rather annoyed, "what is it?" came from the other side

"Erm..it's me Sir, Hermione" she said, holding her breath and biting her lip, not knowing what reaction she was going to get.

The door opened and Hermione recoiled in shock at who was sitting by the desk. But he didn't seem to recognise her, he got up and went over to her as Snape shut the door behind her.

"Goodevening" Lucius Malfoy said, looking Hermione over lasciviously, "come for some extra curricular activities have you?" then turning to Snape "You lucky devil Snape, this ones a real beauty, let me know when you've finished with her and I'll gladly take her off your hands!"

Hermione pulled a face that said she did not appreciate this remark, but said nothing.

"Weren't you just going now Lucius?" Snape asked impatiently,

"Of course, I'll go and leave you to your..work!" He replied looking over at Hermione and smirking. He flounced out of the door, leaving Hermione alone at last with Snape.

"What was he doing here?" Hermione demanded

"That, is none of your business!" Snape said sternly, "now what have you come to see me about?"

Hermione's jaw dropped as she watched him go over to his desk and roll up parchments with his wand then float them up onto a high shelf.

"Isn't it obvious!" Hermione said incredulously, pushing her robe over her shoulders and showing him her outfit.

"No" He said simply, sitting down on his chair and looking at her expectantly

Hermione felt exasperated, what did he want her to do, spell it out? She suddenly lost her confidence, maybe he'd only wanted her once and that had been it, now he just saw her as a student again. She felt defeated and turned towards the door.

"I'll go then" she said, reaching for the door handle

"Not so fast! You still haven't told me what you came here for" Snape had got there unbelievably fast and leant against the door, looking at her, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Hermione looked down, feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

"I..I.. thought that maybe, you'd want to spend some time with me..or..or something" she replied, twiddling with her robe nervously.

She felt quite humiliated as Snape began to laugh, well more of a derisive snigger and went to open the door again. But his hand was suddenly on top of hers and keeping hold of it he led her over to the middle of the room.

"You may be an intelligent girl, but you've got a lot to learn about seduction!" he pulled her close then, making her whole body start to quiver with nervous expectation. Hermione felt powerless in his arms, but she liked it.

"Oh, little Hermione, you amuse me so much, I like that. Your innocence is intoxicating" he smiled

"I'm hardly innocent! I have had sex before you know and once with you!" Hermione said indignantly

"Are you talking about that oaf Weasley, I can't imagine he even knows what to do, without detailed instructions to show him!" he sneered, but stopped when he saw Hermione's annoyed expression, "I meant that you're an innocent in the ways of seduction and entrapment! I, on the other hand, am not" he said, grabbing her hand and turning it palm up, kissed it softly.

"That was mean of you just now, making me think you'd lost interest, I felt like such an idiot!" she said sulkily

He didn't answer and just smiled, his eyes flicking all over her body. Her breathing got shallower and faster now; when he looked at her like that, like a snake about to swallow a very tasty looking mouse, it scared her slightly.

He still had his wand in his hand and pointing it at the middle of her neck, trailed it slowly downwards following with his eyes. When he reached her legs he slid it in between them, then he pulled it out again, dragging it upwards, making her flinch.

"I like what your wearing, very sexy" he said breathily, she suddenly felt conscious of how she looked and smiled awkwardly.

"Erm..thanks, I.." but before she could say anything else, he cut her off by kissing her hard on the mouth. His hands slid round to her back and started to squeeze gently, through the silky satin fabric of her top. This was a very pleasurable sensation and she got lost, forgetting what it was she had wanted to say. Her belly was still clenching with nerves, though, making her flinch then quiver every now and again. She wished she could stop it doing this, as it was very uncomfortable, but she couldn't.

"You're nervous, aren't you? Afraid of what you're doing, of what you're feeling and wondering whether you can go through with it. Any time you want to stop you can, I'm not into force, that's only for Neanderthals.. . but I will do everything I can to keep you here. I have a potion you can take if you want, it will help you to relax" he said beginning to kiss her neck.

"Err..no I..I'm alright, I'm just not used to doing this sort of thing, that's all! It's very new but very exciting, I've never felt like this before!" Hermione explained

"Very well, it is your choice" he said, stopping what he was doing and leaning up again. He went over to the shelves of potions, where his door had been before and made it appear again, with a sweep of his wand. They both entered his bedroom and Hermione sat stiffly on the edge bed, waiting with trepidation.

Snape walked over to an old fashioned looking gramophone and put on some soft soothing music. The tune was very simple, repeating the same bars over and over with a soft back-beat, it was almost hypnotic.

Hermione watched as he took off his cloak then his jacket, hanging them up using his wand. He then walked to where she was sitting and stood in front of her, smiling. He took her head in his hands and leaned down to kiss her, pushing her back, then he took his hands away from her head to lean on the bed for support. They both crawled backwards across the bed, still kissing, until Hermione felt her head touch the pillows. As they kissed, her nervousness lessened, pleasure feelings gradually taking it's place.

She really hoped she wasn't going to regret this afterwards, because at the moment it felt really good.