~Author's note~

Thanks to all my reviewers! I appreciate them mucho! Sorry its been so long, I had finals (mid-terms)! For anyone who knows my pain, I'm sorry 'cause I know they are HELL!

Anyways, on with the story*

Ch4: Christmas Surprise

Halloween soon arrived, and the students were happy for a break from their vigorous studying. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were especially happy, for Snape had pushed them extremely hard this year.

"I know this is our last year, but he could ease up!' Ron groaned as he got his last essay back. He compared his grade to Harry's, who had gotten the same thing, a D.

They both looked up to Hermione, who, surprisingly, had a smile on her face.

"What did you get?" Harry asked her, eager for the answer.

"An A," she smiled,

"I got an A!"

"Jeeze Hermione, that's the fifth one this year! What are you doing? Sleeping with him?" Ron, joked, and Hermione felt her face grow very red. Ron had no idea how close to the truth he had come.

"No," she said sharply, and both Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"Hermione we didn't mean-"

"Just forget it!" she demanded, cutting Harry off. She was in no mood to remember what had happened between them. But she had to admit that they were right. Ever since that day when she had confronted him, Snape had been extremely nice to her. She shook her head, not wanting to think about Snape anymore. She managed to push all thoughts of their encounter away from her until Christmas.

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Snow fell on the ground and covered the school with white powdery dust. Looking out her window, Hermione gloried at the beauty of it all.

Christmas! her mind screamed For, it this was the last day before their vacation, and she was looking forward to spending everyone one of those days sleeping.

She quietly got dressed and headed down stairs to meet up with Ron and Harry for breakfast. As she reached the table, Dumbledore stood up, silencing the whole hall.

"I have an announcement to make. Our top four, seventh year students will get the chance to look at different career paths this winter break. They will each be paired with one teacher, whom you will share a dorm with, and you will travel to Cambridge for a convention. This convention will have all sorts of career choices involved."

"That will be you, Herm.," Ron mumbled.

"Yeah," it probably will be," Harry agreed.

If Dumbledore heard these side comment, he chose to ignore them,

"Now the following students will need to come see me after breakfast: Hermione Granger, Terry Boot, Susan Bones, and Draco Malfoy."

"Told you," Ron said.

After breakfast, all four students made their way up towards the teacher's table.

"Now," Dumbledore addressed them,

"Your teachers: Draco, you will be paired with Professor McGonagall, Terry with Professor Sprout, Susan with Professor Flitwick, and Hermione will be paired with Professor Snape." If anyone had heard Hermione and Draco groaned they ignored it.

How can I be paired with Snape? Of all people! she fumed as she packed her suitcase and headed out the door and onto the train. She had previously said good-bye to Ron, Ginny and Harry, who were going to Ron's for the holidays. She found an empty compartment, and plopped down on it. She was looking forward to a nice quiet ride.

Snape walked down the aisles, looking for a place to sit. He opened the compartment, and was surprised to see Hermione in there, sleeping. Figuring that she would not mind, he sat down opposite to her.

Hermione awoke as soon as the train pulled into the Cambridge station.

"Have I been asleep all this time?" she asked, still groggy from her nap.

"Yeah, you have," came a masculine voice from behind her. She turned around to come face to face with Severus Snape.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

"Crabby, crabby! For your information, I have been here this whole time!" he responded, laughing at the confused look on her face.

"You have?" she asked.

"Yes, and you are so cute when you sleep!" he smirked.

"Shut it!" she cried, as she brushed past him, and out of the compartments.

They arrived at the dormitory at the same time. Hermione looked around, then said,

"I'll take the room on the left," and she moved towards it.

"Ok, then I got the one on the right."

After settling into her room, she moved downstairs for the first of the discussions. Her love of teaching is why she came to this convention in the first place, otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered to come.

She quickly took her seat, as the discussion began. To her surprise, the first speaker was none other than Severus Snape.

"Teaching is a career not to be considered lightly, it takes hard work and dedication." as he went on with his speech, he surveyed the room. He smiled when he saw Hermione in the back row.

Not her usual place, is it? he thought, but in spite of his remarks he was surprised to see her there at all.

I had no idea that she wanted to be a teacher.

Throughout the whole week, Hermione and Snape managed to spend as little time as possible with each other. This was their plan. They would pass each other on the way to the bathroom, but other than that, no physical contact.

The last full day of the trip came, and their plan had so far succeeded.

One more night, thought Hermione, as she climbed into bed, and was soon asleep.

Snape was in his usual place by the fire, reading, when he heard the cry. It had come from Hermione's bedroom.

She probably hit her foot on the bed, or something… His head told him, but then he heard the cry again.

Slowly, he walked to her door and tapped lightly on in,

"Hermione? You ok?" he asked. He heard nothing for a minute, then he heard her cry again. This time he could make out the word help.

What the hell? His mind asked as he waved his wand to open her door. He rushed in to see her in bed, asleep. He was about to head back when he heard her voice, this time more persistent: Help, somebody help! Ahhhh! Her voice shrieked!

Snape realized that she was having a nightmare, as he crossed over to her.

"Hermione, Hermione! Wake up! HERMIONE!" he yelled as he shook her awake. She shot up like a bullet.

"Ohh, ohh!" she breathed heavily.

"You had a bad dream," Snape explained.

"Oh, it was awful!" she cried, as she unexpectedly moved into his arms. Snape, unsure of what to so, just held her tight as tears ran down her face.

She hugged him tighter when he began to run his fingers through her hair. He thought of the last time that he had done this, and what he had felt.

It was right then and there that he realized that he was in love with Hermione Granger.