Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, and oh, not mine.

A/N: Writer blocks, writer blocks, writer blocks. They are evil! I blame my late update on them. Anywayz.

Whoa, 12 reviews a chapter! That's my record! And not one flame! You guys are most generous, I love ya! *big bear hug* And thx for all those telling me what LMAO and ROTFLMFAO is! I will be using them myself! *grin* Now, to my beloved reviewers:

Caryn: Glad you like the story!

Kryptonite: Thanks for coming back, here's the detention! Enjoy! *wink*

Lily of the Shadow: Sorry for not updating earlier, but here it is!

Mel: Thank you! I tried my best to update sooner but...*kick writer blocks*

Sohma Kai: Thanks for reviewing!

Metallicafangirl: Glad ya like it, and I may have said it before, I will say it again: your story's cool!

Erikalya Arvanesse: Cool penname! And here is more, enjoy!

crazy: I am continuing, please come back and read more!

Weep You No More Sad Fountains: You changed your penname! I couldn't recognize you, almost! Here's the next chapter, hope ya like it!

She-who-must-not-be-named: Can't blame ya coz myself is writing so sloooowly! NEways, update soon!

Queen-Ditz: Glad you like the story!

ChocolatePudding2: Cute name! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it!

*phew* I think that's it! On with the story!

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Knock, knock, knock. Someone was tapping on the door. Severus looked up from the parchment he was grading and listened. Nothing. It was as if he had imagined the knock. He was about to return to his work when the sound was heard again. Knock, knock, knock. A soft tap on his door.

"Come in!" He ordered, this better be good. He disliked being disturbed, especially when the paper he was grading was bad enough.

The large door cracked open, and a small white face appeared. Hermione Granger. She stepped in and stood by the door quietly.

Severus hadn't expected her. He thought it would be Draco, or any other Slytherin, who had learnt to trust him and seek him when they had problems. They were the only ones who would be finding him in such hours, apart from Dumbledore and McGonagall. Thinking of this, he demanded,

"What are you doing here?"

There is something different about her, he thought as he scrutinized her with his icy glare. Yes, her face was paler than usual, but that was not it. Her hair was still frizzy, a few tufts lying on her face and neck lazily. Her eyes were looking directly into his, not casually though, he could see her hands tugging her robe tightly. Her smile... that's it! Her smile! No one smile in my classroom- no, no one smile in my presence.

"I- I am here to serve, my detention?" was Hermione's timid reply. Her voice was squeaky, which she hoped hadn't given her away.

"Detention?" he repeated without taking his eyes off her. "I thought you fainted this afternoon?" He narrowed his eyes.

Hermione gulped visibly. He had noticed her fainting after all. She had thought he might, just might, not know about the 'case' and let her do her detention.

Severus walked from behind his desk over to the now trembling Hermione. He stood directly in front of her and looked down, "Did Madam Pomfrey know you are out of Hospital Wing? Would she allow a student, fainting in the afternoon, serve a detention of mine in that very evening? Being the fussy Healer she is?" Hermione looked down, she had never been very good at lies.

Glaring at the top of her bush of brown hair, he sighed inwardly. 'Why me' was a constant question that ran over his mind, and tonight, it did again. Suddenly he grabbed Hermione by her left sleeve, and pulled her out of the dungeon. Unexpecting something like this to happen, Hermione stumbled after him.

"I don't know how you did it Miss Granger, but it is a crazy idea to flee the Hospital Wing without Madam Pomfrey's approval. You can't just run away from the infirmary and you are never to do it because you need to serve my detentions- really, that woman would be after my blood if she finds out-" He muttered under his breath as he pulled her along, praying that Poppy hadn't discover her disappearance yet.

Hermione didn't say anything, which she thought was wise because she would definitely bit herself on the tongue if she had tried to talk while struggling to keep up with his long strides. She bit on her lip and walked faster, ignoring the small nagging pain in her chest. However, despite the effort, she couldn't walk quite as fast as Severus did, and would have fallen on the stairs leading to the West Wing if it wasn't for him.

"Incompetent girl, can't you walk properly?" He scolded, but slowed his paces notably after that. They walked along the dark corridors, lit only by shivering torches, in silence. Severus chose not to comment on her shallow breath, and together they arrived the Hospital Wing unseen by others. Pushing the door open, he was relieved that Poppy was no where to be seen.

Hermione's mind was blank since he grasped her arm and would never know how she had returned to the Hospital Wing. Before she knew it, she was tucked comfortably under white covers, and Severus was bending over her, his face inches from hers. She looked into the now very familiar black pools, and saw a tiny frame clutching the blanket sleepily. That was her.

"You will not leave this room- this bed- until you are told to do so. Understand?" He hissed onto her face. She nodded and fluttered her eyes tiredly.

Severus turned and swept out of the room. She looked out of the window near to her bed, up at the black velvety sky. She couldn't figure out what had just happened, so she counted the stars. On her sixth star, she fell deep asleep, and her dreams that night were very sweet.

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Severus didn't know what had gotten into him, he was not a caring person. If a sick student ran away from the Hospital Wing he would normally have given her a detention and called some house-elf or a prefect to collect her, but would never bring her back personally. The thoughts were squirming around his head when he looked over his back and saw the Griffindor lying peacefully in bed, the moon showering her in its soft silver gleam. She seemed to glow, her cheeks almost transparent under the light. He closed the door with a slight 'click' and swept down to his dungeons. Seeing piles upon piles of parchments and scrolls, he pushed the incomprehensible thoughts roughly into a dusty corner at the back of his head, and didn't take them out again.

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Hermione received a small cheer from the Griffindor table two days later, when she was released from the Hospital Wing at last, but not before she promised to take the potion Madam Pomfrey gave her regularly. She was very pleased to find that the first and second years missed their prefect a lot.

"Good to see you again Herm," greeted Harry and Lavender when she sat down next to them. Ginny looked up and gave her a small wave from the other end of the table. Hermione smiled back and wiggled two fingers at the other girl. Her smile freeze however, when she saw Ron. He was not looking at her, and was laughing at some joke with some third year girls really loudly. She swallowed bitterly and fixed her gaze on the table.

"Whoa, Hermione, that hotdog is going to burn," said Lavender. She poked the sausage and dropped it onto her friend's already full plate. "Eat more Herm, you need the energy. I mean, you are so pale!" Harry nodded in agreement, loading even more food onto her plate.

"Madam Pomfrey didn't exactly starve me! In fact, I am surprised that I hadn't burst yet!" Hermione chuckled lowly, pushing the food around with a fork but wouldn't take a bite. Ron certainly had a way to make her appetite go.

"C'mon, eat some." Harry started to cut her food into smaller pieces. "I will feed you if you don't."

I have made the decision, I am not going to back down just because of Ron, Hermione thought, seeing the worried faces of her friends. She had been doubted before, hadn't she? But always it would turned out that she was correct, and she would gamble one more time. This is going to be a long battle, and I will not be bashed by some lousy boy. She brightened up and put a piece of carrot into her mouth.

Lavender and Harry let out a sigh of relief, happy to see her sat up again. They were joking and talking about what happened in the past two days, when Severus walked up to them. The table fell silent. He was almost six feet tall, and when you were sitting, he could look like a tower. His cold eyes swept across every scared Griffindor, then locked onto a particular auburn-haired girl. He strode up ignoring the whispers exchanging behind his back.

"You will serve your detention tonight. Eight o'clock, the same place." Hermione could feel him standing behind her, and her back got rigid immediately. She nodded without looking back. Severus stared hard at the girl in front of him, and exited the hall without another word.

"Relax, he is gone," Lavender whispered to Hermione whose shoulders slumped upon the words, and a silly grin spread across her face.

"Hermione?" Harry asked, worried again at the sight of such a grin appearing on her face. You can hardly see one on Hermione. "Are you alright?"

"Something happened." Lavender, who was more an expert in the area of mind-reading than Harry, stated.

"Well..." Hermione drawled with a dreamy expression.

"I've got the feeling that you are enjoying this too much," said Harry, trying to look uninterested.

"Am I?" Hermione laughed, and was soon joined by Lavender and Harry. All three of them were unaware of a pair of eyes watching, flames of jealousy and pain flaring in them.

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She had missed her classmates, her professors, the stifled giggles in lessons, her textbooks and inkbottle... and it felt so good to be back to the lessons. The familiar sound of quills scratching on parchments, the sparks flying in Charms, even the droning of Professor Binns, all made her felt alive once more, and the day passed in a blur as she absorbed knowledge in an alarming speed. By the time she stepped out of Transfiguration the sky was already burning orange.

She paused at the corridor facing the Lake, let her bag slip beside her, and looked. The clouds were in red and orange of different hues, the Lake was glittering with golden scales, creasing when a soft breeze went by. Hermione took a lungful of fresh cool air, closed her eyes and listened to the rustling of pine trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She opened her eyes again, and inwardly marveled at the beauty of this place- Hogwarts had many wonders, and it never stopped amazing her.

A loud laugh rang through the hallway and broke the peaceful silence. Hermione frowned slightly and turned to the source of the disturbance. Ron, together with some fourth year Hufflepuff girls were talking and joking loudly. For a fleeting second their eyes locked, but when Hermione wanted to say 'Hi', he walked pass her like she was invisible, an arm on a girl's shoulder, their paces not slowing a bit.

Hermione stared straight at the now empty corridor, their noisy chattering could still be heard from behind. She put down her half-raised hand miserably, and bent down to pick her bag up.

"Why Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" Came a stern voice. Hermione turned and saw her Transfiguration Professor.

"I- I am going to the Great Hall."

"Hermione, what's the problem?" There was a trace of concern in Professor McGonagall's words.

"Uh-uh. It's nothing," the younger witch shook her head and forced a small smile. "I am just- caught up-" She waved a hand at the scenery behind her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Said Professor McGonagall, and the two of them stood watching the heavens change to a darker shade of blue. "Oh, we better go to the Great Hall now."

"Yeah," Hermione flashed a much more genuine smile and followed the head of her house down to the Hall.

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"Which one look better on me?" Hermione asked, putting two robes in front of her.

"You know, they don't look any different to me," Lavender answered.

"They are different, this is crimson, this is cherry-red."

"He can't see the difference, not in that dungeon!"

"And this one has this cute gold button-"

"Whatever!" Lavender threw her hands up in exasperation. "Listen, this is a detention, not a date."

"I know," Hermione replied meekly, and threw on the 'crimson' one with 'cute gold buttons'. With fumbling fingers, she pulled her dripping-wet hair into a ponytail.

"I don't know why you bother to bath before a detention," Lavender sat on the bed cross-legged, watching her friend buzzing here and there in amusement. "For all I understand you are likely to scrub the dungeon all night."

"Do I smell right?" was Hermione's nervous question as she pulled out stuff from her trunks.

"You smell great," Lavender rolled her eyes. "What are you looking for?"

"My ribbon," Throwing things out of her trunks, she managed to say. "Oh no! I am going to be late!"

"Here," Lavender handed the gold ribbon Hermione had gotten out earlier. "Relax!"

Hermione tied the gold ribbon onto her hair and ran a hand through it. It was still wet, but at least it was not bushy. She pulled her robe and put on a smile. "How do I look?"

"You are the prettiest witch ever," Lavender pushed a strand of hair behind her friend's ear. "Serving a detention anyway. Now off you go!"

With a swift "Thanks" and a twirl, Hermione went out of sight.

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Here we go again, she patted herself lightly on the cheeks and tapped on the large door for the second time in the week.

Silence.

She knocked again, more determinedly this time. Knock, knock, knock.

Nothing. She thought for a moment, then tried the handle. The door wasn't locked. She pushed the heavy door open, and stepped into the dimly lit room.

Severus was sitting by his usual desk, books and parchments scattered around him. His head was lowered, curtains of long black hair hiding most of his face. He was reading something, obviously so engrossed that he didn't notice someone entering, one of his fingers drumming on the desk absently. A large pewter candle was standing on a silver candleholder, lighting a merrily wavering flame. It made the whole table glow and stand out from the rest of the dark dungeon.

She didn't know how long had she been standing there. Since that night he escorted her back to the Hospital Wing, the menace she could see every time near him before seemed to vanish. Now, the mere sight of him sent a warm wave up her chest. She didn't know why was she touched, why did she want to cry, but she did. Her heart thumped louder and faster, and the stone walls seemed to be resonating to her pulse.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

At that moment, the entire world included the two of them in a dank dungeon, and a steady beat. She was sure he could hear it, at least feel it, since the whole chamber seemed to be vibrating.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Suddenly, Severus looked up from his parchment with a scowl on his face. "What are you doing standing there? Come in!"

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Severus was grading the sixth year Slytherins papers. He was always proud of his house, as a student and as a professor, and was never ashamed to admit he possessed many of Slytherin's attributes: cunning, shrewd, calculating- and was even once power-hungry- but it worried him just reading the work of these young people. Some of them had begun adding dark magic in their potions, as shown in their homework. Maybe they thought it was fine to let him know, it was common knowledge in Slytherin that he was a Death-Eater, after all. It was not a comforting thought that he was more or less responsible for these teenagers- how many of them would turn to the Dark Side, now that Voldemort had arose again? And what possibly can he do? He was a spy, and nothing, absolutely nothing, should risk this position.

Thinking of being a spy, he was suddenly aware that someone was near. He looked up, mentally berating himself for not being more careful, and saw Hermione Granger standing at the door, wearing a strange expression.

Damn, why is she smiling again? He frowned, and snarled, "What are you doing standing there? Come in!"

She walked quietly into the room, closing the door behind her. He glared at her. Unlike Hermione, he had almost forgotten all about the other night, and felt nothing but annoyed at the girl. He knew he shouldn't, but he was always like that to students outside his house. Even to Slytherins he wasn't particularly nice. In fact, he hadn't been nice for who-knows-how-long he was pretty sure that the 'good' side was eliminated from his system.

"Brew the Dreamless Sleep Potion, would you?" He waved a hand at the cauldron next to his table. "Accio phials." About a dozen glass phials zoomed across the room and landed on a small wooden table next to the cauldron. "Fill those, you should brew about four batches. Get anything you need in the cupboard." With that he returned to his parchments and paid no further attention to Hermione.

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. Dreamless Sleep Potion? It's not exactly easy like a Shrinking Potion, but not something she couldn't do in about three hours, and definitely not something she was expecting in Severus's detentions. The idea of doing something this trivial in his detentions was laughable. Was he just being nice, seeing that she was sick a few days ago? Nah, the day he is nice to a Griffindor will be the day I take up Divination again. Maybe he hadn't prepared for the detention... or maybe he just wouldn't trust me, the incompetent Griffindor, with a more challenging potion? Yeah, that's probably it... Thoughts swimming in mind, she set off and took out the ingredients she needed from the cupboard.

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It was not difficult, but it was beyond tedious. Hermione mechanically dropped in two drops of belladonna essence, and stirred as the potion slowly turned into the right shade of purple. This was her third batch of potion, and she felt she could just close her eyes and sleep and the potion would still be right.

This is a waste of time, he can easily brew this himself with half a mind, thinking of the homework and research she could have done if not because of this stupid detention, she became more and more pissed off. She couldn't hum, she couldn't whistle, what fun was there in potion-brewing if you couldn't whistle? She stirred a bit stronger than she intended to, and the potion emitted a small purple puff and a warning hiss. She stole a quick glance at Severus- he hadn't noticed.

The only good thing about brewing an easy potion was that you can afford letting your mind drift off to other- certain things, her hand instinctively reached for the bottle of crushed dragon fangs. Her eyes shifted to the man working at the desk next to her cauldron for the millionth time that night. He was frowning, he was nodding, he was pointing out a mistake in that essay- she started to enjoy herself by guessing the grade that parchment would receive by reading his expressions. It was hard, but he was not as expressionless as she thought. He would stack the essays up at the end of his desk, and she could take a peek at the grade, to see whether she had been right or not.

He was frowning and oh no, a big stroke of quill- this student probably had a 'D'- with a quick look she knew she was right. He didn't look particularly pleased at this piece, but at least he was not scowling, maybe an 'A'?

Severus finished marking the sixth year Slytherins' essays and so did Hermione her third batch. Ladling the purple potion into the phials, she looked to her left again. This time, something on the desk caught her eye.

A pink box. The pink box that blonde gave him last week. Why was it still there? Hermione wondered, as she loaded the cauldron with water from her wand. It must be pretty important to him if it was there on the desk for a whole week, right? What's in there? An unpleasant pang ran through her body. What is so special about that box the girl gave him that he would put it on his desk for so long? What kind of gift is it?

The more she thought about it, the brighter the box seemed to be, and it stung her eyes. She clenched her jaws and let herself smothered in the flame of jealousy, in the burning feeling that was slowly consuming her. She added a pinch of bat droppings into the cauldron without looking, her gaze resolutely staying on the small package.

It's probably just some innocent thank you gift, for extra lessons, maybe? She consoled herself, but a fresh surge of envy washed over her when the words extra lessons crossed her mind. She almost stirred more than she should in her sulking.

The scene replayed itself in slow motion in her head, the sickly sweet voice was heard again: Professor, please. You know how long I've been working on these.

Grrr. What had she worked on? How had it anything to do with him? Hermione dropped in the drops of belladonna essence again, and stirred, added the dragon fangs and stirred some more, until the potion was done. She was not paying attention, however, her hands ladled the potion into phials automatically. Stupid box. Stupid girl. Stupid wavy hair. Stupid extra lessons- stupid him. Why must he put that box in front of me? Why must he give her extra lessons? In her mental ranting, she forgot that the extra lessons probably existed in her mind only.

She labeled the phials accordingly, and put them up the shelves. She then went back to clean the cauldron. During all this, Severus hadn't look up from his parchments. It was as if he was oblivious to another living soul was in the same room with him. Hermione pursed her lips and looked at the pink box with great dislike.

Why had she done it, why would she dare, would remain a mystery for as long as she lives. Hermione had experienced jealousy before, with Cedric and Cho together it was rather difficult not to. But she had never let it out like this. She picked up her wand, pointed at the annoyingly pink box, and whispered, "Reducto".

The effect was instantaneous and drastic, the pink box exploded as the last syllable left her lips. The contents inside, together with what was left of the box, was blasted all over the place- on the ceiling, on the desk, on the parchments, on Hermione, and worst, on Severus.

"Whoops," she whispered under her breath, as Severus finally looked up with furious eyes.

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He had forgotten all about the box he was forced to accept last week. If not for Potter, Weasley and this Granger girl here spying on him he may not need to take it in the first place. That seventh year Slytherin- Acree was it?- was beyond reason. Sure, he had been fancied by silly students before, especially in his earlier teaching days, but he had always managed to put them down by being the nasty, sadistic professor he was. He couldn't believe someone would still like him after all these years, with his reputation as the worst professor Hogwarts ever hired.

What's more unbelievable was the perfect Granger blew the box up. In his face. During a detention.

He looked up and counted from one to ten, he couldn't hex her, no. He glared maliciously at the girl, her face now covered with shreds of pink paper and some brown thing. He didn't even want to know what that is.

He strode up to her, trying with all his might to restrain from swinging his fist at her. He stood directly in front of her and glared down at the witch about one and a half head shorter than himself. She was not looking away, instead she was looking straight at him. He would have cheered for her if he wasn't so angry- few students could do that in his full fury. Or maybe she was just too scared to look away.

"What do think you are doing, blasting my office apart?" His voice dangerously low.

"I- I didn't blast your office apart." Hermione replied timidly. "I just- eh-"

"Blasted my personal belongings!" He let out a hiss of anger, wanting to strangle the Griffindor in front of him. "A hundred points from Griffindor, and a week's detention!"

"A week's detention?" She repeated incredulously. "You can't put me in detention when I am already in one!"

"I can, and I am," he snarled malevolently, "Don't you ever question my authority of being a professor again, or I will make it a month's."

Hermione stared at him, mouth agape. He had to be kidding, a week's detention? What about her homework? So yeah, what if she blew a box up. It was only a box! Unless it was more than only a box to him- that would explain everything, but she refused to accept it as a possibility. He wouldn't like some stupid student twenty years younger than him, she thought, forgetting that included her. Looking up at him once more, she saw that his hair was not as tidy, tufts of it were messily lying on his face, which was grimacing with fury and covered with some brown substance.

Observing him made Hermione wonder what state of her own face was in. She traced a finger across her cheek and yes, the same ooze was there. She took some and smelt it. With plenty of courage she put some into her mouth. Hmm. She took some more off her face and started to lick her finger.

"Chocolate!"

No matter how skilled Severus was in Legilimency he would never understand the mind of a Griffindor, let alone a Griffindor fifteen-year-old know-it-all. First she didn't tremble in fear like normal students would if he advanced on them perfectly pissed off, second she began to eat that muddy substance in front of him. He stared and for a second, words failed him.

"Why did she make you chocolate?" Hermione asked, still licking her finger. "Sir?" She added as an afterthought.

"How is that any of your business?" Snapped Severus, coming out of his reverie.

"You like chocolate, sir?" She continued, not taking in his scathing tone.

"Stay out of my personal interests, you nosy dunce," if looks could kill, she would have been dead several times by now. "You Griffindors are all the same, sticking your nose into where it don't belong-"

Hermione watched as he continued insulting Griffindors, but didn't really listened. Even if she did, she doubted that she would mind much... a plan was slowly forming in her head as she looked at the remains of the pink box lying on his desk. She looked up again at Severus and saw that he hadn't yet finish with his rumbling. It was very funny, seeing him there pacing back and forth, throwing insults at her with chocolate at the tip of his nose. A fit overtook her and she burst into giggles.

Severus gawked at the girl and for the second time of the night thought she was out of her mind. He was sneering and taunting her house, and there she was caught in a fit of giggles. And it didn't look forced, she was genuinely laughing at something. He continued staring as Hermione straightened up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Here, you've got chocolate on your nose," she was smiling when she walked up to him and tiptoed. With great difficulty she managed to finger the speck of chocolate off his nose. Without thinking, she licked the chocolate from her finger.

Severus gaped at her finger, then at her. They stared at each other, speechless. Her face flushed into a brilliant red that could rival the color of her robe when what she had just done finally dawned on her. She shook her head disbelievingly, and ran out of the dungeon. Severus stood there for a whole minute before moving again, swearing and cleaning up the room.

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The sky was pale blue, the sunrays shone through the trees and danced on the lime green grass. Once in a while an owl would fly pass, elegantly taking the mail to its master. It was a cool afternoon perfect for Quidditch.

A girl in red robes walked across the meadow and down to the Lake, a thick book tucking under her arm. Finding a comfortable spot, she sat down and leant against a tall Willow.

It was a free period for Hermione, normally she would have spent it in the library, but she felt it was too nice a day to waste it indoors. She put the book she had just checked out onto her lap. It was a thick moldy book, and instead of about Arithmancy or Transfiguration it bore the title, "1000 easy cuisine that appeals to a wizard".

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A/N: How da ya like it? Personally I think this is a better chapter, mostly because there's more Severus! Tehehe... I am writing another humor fic about him, so I may update slower, but I will try to put one up every week! Please take the time to read that too... Now, you know the drill, please REVIEW!