A/N- Wow, I feel like a jerk. I'm aware that some people were actually reading this and I just dropped off of the face of the planet. I seriously apologize for that, but I had heck of a lot of things to tend to over the summer. Now, however, I've been sucked back in to the fandom and in to the ship. Expect more of this fic and of me, as my ideas won't ever run out. As usual, all reviews are 100 appreciated. Much love to you all.

Of course, I once again apologize for the ridiculously short chapter, but this is my attempt at getting back in the swing of things.

"I vill be seeing you again soon, pet." Viktor said gruffly. He patted Hermione on the shoulder, making her flinch. She looked at Viktor with fear in her eyes, hoping he hadn't noticed her flinching. For once, he hadn't. She boarded the train, avoiding having to look out the window.

The holiday had been as close to hell as possible. She couldn't count the amount of times she'd cried to herself, wanting desperately to be free of what was going on around her. She wasn't the only one there against their will, she could hear other females crying and yelling. She even thought that she'd heard a little boy crying, but she shook the thought from her mind.

Regardless of what she had been through over the holiday, Hermione had somehow woken up without a single bruise or abrasion that morning. Remarkable, she thought as she stared out the train window, just last night you wouldn't have been able to tell me from someone who'd been in a car accident. She shook her head and took out her double pointed knitting needles and a large skein of wooly, green, lumpy yarn. She had given up on making hats for the house elves and had started in on making socks instead. It' be much easier to hide those.

She started another row but found that it was still painful for her to move her fingers. The sensation of the wooly yarn scraping against her dry skin was even more painful. Sighing in frustration, Hermione placed her knitting back down and stared outside the train window again. She just couldn't win lately. She just couldn't win.

Once she was back at Hogwarts, she tried to plaster her face with the old look she'd worn. A few people smiled and greeted her cheerfully when she walked through the gates, and she did her best at returning the gesture. Hugging her books as close to her as possible, she ignored as many people as possible as she made her way back up to the Gryffindor common room. At least twice, she felt that she'd heard someone call out to her, but she just played it off as if she hadn't heard anyone. The twelve uses of dragon's blood ran through her mind as she made an earnest attempt to refocus and center herself, preparing for a new start. It didn't help much, and while she watched the floor passing beneath her feet, she slammed straight in to something solid and heavy. As she bounced off, one of her books slid to the ground.

"Excuse me," she said softly, looking downward. "Pardon me, I'm sorry."

"Ms. Granger, would you care to elabourate where you are going in such a hurry that you can't even look where you're going?" The voice was soft and all too familiar, the tone demanding and irritated.

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape, I was headed back to my dormitory." Hermione said quickly, bending down to pick up the dropped book. She felt something tugging at the front of her robes as she did so. When she stood back up, she tried to move out of Snape's way, but found that part of her robes had hooked on to one of the buttons on his. She reached out to unhook it, balancing all of her books in one arm, but watched as Snape's hand suddenly grabbed her wrist and held it out away from his body. She looked up, completely startled at the Professor's firm grip.

Snape quickly and swiftly unhooked Hermione's robes from his own, but kept his firm grip on her wrist. He caught his first glance of her face when she looked up at him. Immediately, he dropped her wrist and felt his eyes widen substantially. Taking a step back, he watched her change from looking startled to looking scared.

Hermione took a step backwards as well. "Professor?" she said softly, her voice broken up with nerve. "Is something wrong, sir?"

Snape shook his head and collected himself, ignoring the gnawing thought in the back of his mind. "Get to your dormitory, Ms. Granger, and this time, watch what you're doing and where you're going." He shook his head at her and brushed past her to walk. Hermione turned and watched after him for a moment before practically jetting down the corridor herself.

-

Severus paced back and forth in front of his only mirror. It was cracked and dull, as if it hadn't been cleaned in more than a few years. Nonetheless, it showed exactly was he'd been used to for the past thirty seven years of his life, so nothing fancier would have done any better a job. The floor in front of the mirror was scuffed, a testament to the idea that Snape paced in front of it frequently.

"No." he said, stopping in his tracks. "She's nothing to worry about, she's not even one of mine." He nodded, as if marking the finality of his decision, and took a seat in a comfortable chair on the side of the room. He leaned and pressed against the back of the chair, hearing a few of his joints cracking in stereo. Sighing, he let his head fall limply to his chest. The image of Hermione Granger's face came back in to mind. The way he had seen her today was the same as he'd seen her at the Welcoming Feast as the start of the year. She look like she'd had her fair share of beatings as of late. Yet, he had seen her just just before the holiday and she'd seemed fine. Was it the girl's parents? Did Granger's father take to beating her? He'd seen it so many times in Slytherin house, but he would never have thought that the snooty Granger girl would have been going through anything like that. Severus sighed again and snapped his head up. "No," he said again, nodding his head once more. "Someone else is bound to notice and do something about it, I have no need to worry about little Gryffindor girls and their problems."

So why was the idea of it being so much more gnawing at the back of his head?