Disclaimer: Harry Potter not mine. Harry Potter be JK Rowling's.

A/N:I couldn't resist. I had to update now and stop your wait. Also, I'm feeling very happy as I have just received my 100th review, so you can thank CharmedLeoLvr for me updating now. Now for my thank yous. SnapeSeraphin - I wonder how revealing this chapter is for you;-) Thank you for reviewing, it's so nice that you do. mrs malfoy - Was this soon enough for you?Padfoot's-Luvr- I did it, I updated tonight....how's that for trying to please my reviewers.:-)Davida - I hope the hanging wasn't too long for you. Super - Hope you like this chapter CharmedLeoLvr - See, I'm not too cruel, I updated within the day.:-) maile - I can't help myself when it comes to cliffhangers....sorry:-) Hope the end of this one isn't too bad for you.

Right, well, not too happy with this chapter. I struggled a little trying to get from A to B but here it is none the less. Let me know what you think....is it a disappointing chapter or do you like it? Hope you enjoy. Also, I've been lazy again in my rush to update and haven't checked over my spelling and grammar. There really is no excuse for it I know but it's so time consuming.;-)

Chapter Fifteen

"Hello, Severus." Lucius Malfoy greeted the potions master with a cold smile. 'This isn't happening.' Hermione thought to herself over and over. She was still backing into the classroom.

"Lucius, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Snape asked coldly. 'Let's see how she reacts now.' He maliciously thought to himself. 'Maybe now she won't protect him.' He put himself behind her so that she backed into him. She jumped as he gently placed a hidden hand on the bottom of her back.

"I wanted to pay Miss Granger a visit. After all it has been all of the papers what had happened to this poor girl," He spoke in his usual drawl, his grey eyes were staring straight into hers. "I wanted to be sure that she was fine." 'Please help me.' She pleaded in her mind, hoping that Snape could hear somehow.

"How very kind of you. Where are your manners, Miss Granger?" She whimpered a little as she pushed his hand further into her back. Why didn't she just tell him? Her kidnapper was stood right in front of her and she should be shouting out that he was here.

"I-it was v-very kind of you t-to visit me." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Lucius felt relief fill him up. She hadn't told anyone, but why hadn't she told anyone?

"I was wondering if I could have a word with Miss Granger. Alone." He asked with a smile. Hermione's heart raced. Her palms were starting to sweat and the pain from her elbows was starting to take over her concentration. She felt a sharp jab in her back as something was slipped into her back pocket.

"Of course." He sneered. "It must be a quick word. Madam Pomfrey is expecting her back in the hospital wing." Hermione felt like shouting at him, tell him that is was Lucius who had kept her hostage, and beg him not to leave her alone with him. But her mouth was dry and she felt rooted to the spot. She felt his hand disappear from her lower back as he walked round her and swept out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Lucius turned back to her after watching Snape leave. He wanted nothing more than to touch her, smell her, kiss her, but he had to keep his feelings under control. He needed to remember who she was; a mudblood. His heart ached at seeing how terrified she looked.

Hermione kept her eyes on him as she slowly felt round to her pocket. What had Snape just given her? He took a slow step towards her and finally finding her feet, she took one back. He stopped moving towards her. What had he expected? Did he honestly think she would welcome the sight of him with open arms? She finally found the object; it was a wand. Had Snape worked it out?

"Why are you here?" Her voice was steadier than her nerves. She found, mixed in with her fears, that she was relieved to see him alive. He looked a little stiff but he was fine. 'Why am I feeling like this? I should be wishing him dead, not relieved that he isn't.'

"You have something of mine and I want it back." He told her with a cold smile.

"You were a fool to come here. How did you know I hadn't told anyone?" She now had a firm grip on the wand in her back pocket, trying to not make it look to obvious.

"I certainly paid for my foolishness. If you had told anyone, I wouldn't be here. I would be firmly locked up in Azkaban. And now I want what is mine." She took the wand out of her pocket and brought it round. Only this time she wasn't pointing it at him, she was looking down at it. She remembered now. She had taken his wand. She turned it over in her hands as Lucius watched her. This wasn't her wand and she highly doubted that Snape would just give up his wand.

"Is this yours?" She asked rhetorically. She continued to inspect it, noticing that he was edging towards her now. Did Snape know all along? She suddenly whipped the wand up, pointing it at him. "Why can't you just leave me alone? You have enough money to buy another wand." To her surprise, he had continued to walk towards her, lifting his arm up as he did. Instead of taking the wand, his hand went past it and covered hers.

Hermione flinched at his cold touch. She stared into his eyes to find nothing. They were their normal coldness. He gently pulled her towards him, taking her hand with both of his. Her heart fluttered as she allowed him to pull her towards him.

"Yes, this is my wand," He told her just above a whisper. He took the wand from her and threw it to the floor. "But that wasn't what I have come to claim." He placed her hand on his chest, just above his heart. His cloak beneath her hand felt welcomingly cool against her skin. "At risk of sounding like a lovesick fool, you seem to have taken my heart and that is what I want back. It shouldn't belong to you."

Hermione frowned as she watched him talk. She couldn't be hearing right. Was he saying that he loved her? She felt like being sick. A small part of her felt elated and wanting to return the feelings. Regaining her senses, she finally spoke, taking her hand back in the process.

"I must have misheard or you are under the Imperius. You have no right to say that. You beat me, had me tortured, played mind games with me, held me hostage and wanted me dead." Her face was contorted with fury. This day was getting worse by the second. "Why are you doing this to me? Haven't you had your fun?" She felt upset, no, she was more than upset. She felt like her heart was being torn from everything that was happening and had happened to her. She just wanted everything to go back to normal, and that included Lucius sticking to his cruel remarks about her, instead of declaring that he loved her.

"This isn't my idea of fun and I would love nothing more than for me to have never met you." He told her in a bored manner. "But then you can't help who you love." His heart was aching at not being able to hold her. It was annoying, it proved the he did have feelings and wasn't immune to them.

"Just take your wand and leave." Her nerves had taken over a little as her voice trembled ever so slightly. But there were also hidden feelings that she refused to let surface; she was happy at what he had just told her.

"Will you be telling anyone?" He asked, keeping any emotion from his voice. He felt like he had been kicked in the teeth. It was Nerissa all over again. She looked down at the floor. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. He put a hand under her chin, lifting her face up. "You feel the same, don't you?" She watched his eyes, searching them. He felt a flicker of hope ignite in him. Not that anything could happen between them. She sighed as she nodded, removing his hand from her face. He entwined his fingers with hers as he bent down to kiss her. After a few minutes she pulled away.

"Please just go." She had those never ending tears in her eyes again. He slowly bent down to pick his wand up and placed it into his pocket. She watched with a heavy heart as he took a few steps away from her.

"I'm willing to make you a deal." He said coldly as he turned slightly to look at her. "I'm sure you realise that the Dark Lord will not give up on his plan easily. And you can be sure that I never bargain with anyone." Hermione nodded, not sure what he was proposing to her. "I will try my best to keep him away from you as long as you keep my identity a secret." He took a couple of more steps away from her.

"What about Harry?" She called out to him.

"Potter is of no concern to me. I will only keep him away from you and you only. Is that understood?" He spun round on the last note, his face hardened. She nodded slowly before watching him walk out. She was meant to be happy, she was with her friends, she was back in Hogwarts and she wouldn't be hurt anymore. Yet she felt like she was recovering from the Cruciatus.

"Stop protecting him." A bitter voice told her from the door. She snapped her head up to find Snape standing there. She couldn't find any words to speak. She opened her mouth to say something however words refused to be formed. He came into the room and closed the door behind him. She sat down at a desk, feeling dizzy and confused. He walked over and put his hand on the desk she was at, leaning into her. "I'm sorry for being cruel. I'm sorry for berating you all these years. I'm sorry-"

"Stop….please….just stop." He frowned. He was apologising to her to help her feel more able to tell him and she was throwing it back in his face. This was why he hated the students. Too many bloody emotions racing around in them. She took one deep breath and explained what she was feeling to him. "I am not going to break if you keep being horrible to me. How am I meant to settle back in if you change towards me? I can barely handle it when one Death Eater does but not you. So please, once I'm healed and ready to talk, just treat me how you would. Call me an annoying show off and take points away from me for getting the answers right." He raised an eyebrow. What had just happened in this room?

"Then let me tell the headmaster." He gave her an icy look to try and push her over into talking about it.

"I will tell him myself. Just stop pushing me and making threats that you'll probe my mind." She snapped. He stood up, finally giving in…..for now.

"Very well." He sighed in annoyance but bit his tongue to stop himself from shouting at her. "I must get you back to the hospital wing." She nodded as she stood up.

Hermione hated what was happening. Her heart wanted one thing, her mind wouldn't allow it to happen and her emotions were in one big muddle. She was happy, she was sad, she was confused, she was tired, she was scared, and she was very, very lost. All she wanted to do was cuddle up to her mum and have a good chat.

That was it. She could go home. Surely Dumbledore would allow her to go. She needed to see her parents. Did they even know she had been gone? In all her excitement, she had forgotten to ask about them. How could she have forgotten? That was it; she would ask to go home. Her mum and dad would help her through this.