Clutching his left hand tightly to his chest, Snape swooped into the darkened hospital wing and headed straight for Madame Pomfrey's office. He stopped abruptly, feeling a pair of eyes drilling into the back of his head. Turning around deftly, wand out in his right hand, trying to sense any movement in the shadows, he paused. In the obscure darkness, unable to see anything out of the ordinary, he continued on his way to Pomfrey's office , sighing softly, not wishing to wake all those in the ward with a Lumos.

Severus found his hand good as new after a painfully long, drawn-out lecture on the danger of unique and illegal potion experimentations from Poppy. Before she tried to start another hour-long scolding session about his appearance, which was now atrocious because he had not slept for days, he silently thanked Poppy with a quick nod of his head and began to leave her office

A hard sobbing shattered the previous calmness of the whole room the moment Snape stepped out into the main ward. Striding halfway across the room, he turned his head to a nearby bed, and his common sense started to kick in. 'It has to be Granger,' he realized.

As he took another step toward the door a weak, cracking voice whispered, "Is anybody there?" Severus continued to the door, afraid of the reunion he had been most dreading. It was not that he didn't want to see Miss Granger, the talented witch; actually, he would have loved to see her, but the frail girl calling out in the darkness was clearly not that Miss Granger. 'And it's all your fault' Snape reminded himself coldly.

Severus began to turn the doorknob to the hospital wing, almost freed from the gloomy despair of the area, when the pleading voice of Hermione Granger tugged at his heart, "Please, no, don't go. I don't want to be alone. I'm sorry if I did something to offend all of you. Just don't leave me here all alone again!"

Severus partially opened the door, sending a faint light into the room. He glanced back at the shaking form of Miss Granger, whose small body was shivering as she cried. Severus silently closed the door through which he had almost escaped, once again encasing the room in total darkness.

He whispered, "Lumos," encasing the area around him with a pale light. Robes fluttering, he strode over to the fireplace on the far side of the room, put out the light from his wand, and whispered "Incendio," causing a large fire to begin crackling merrily in the fireplace. Glancing around the room with a raised eyebrow, he casually noticed that all the other occupants of the infirmary were gone. 'Good no goggling eyes at what I'm required to do' he noted inwardly.

With the blazing fire sending a steady flow of heat and light throughout the room, Snape left the fireplace, headed over to Hermione's bedside and sat down in an armchair to the right of the bed. Casting a furtive glance over at Miss Granger, he was startled by her amber eyes boring into his ebony ones.

"I'm sorry, but who are you? Do you know what's wrong with me, sir? I just remember flashes and capes, but that is the only recent memory I can remember. Was that recent? A boy called Ron said it was yesterday, but I cannot really remember. I can't seem to remember anything that's been going on in this place. I can't move my body very much. In fact, I don't know where I am, or how I got here. I just want to see my parents," Hermione finished trying her best to look somewhat composed, though obviously she was out of breath from reciting the chain of questions.

'Well at least she's exploding with questions as usual,' Snape smirked inwardly as he brushed a strand of his raven hair behind his ear.

"Miss Granger, my name is Professor Snape. I believe you are suffering from a sort of directed amnesia. It is a formulated amnesia that blocks out things of a certain caliber in your mind. You will eventually regain full use of your body, do not worry about that. As for where you are, you are in the hospital wing of your boarding school and yes, that memory did occur yesterday. Your parents have already been notified of your condition, so rest assured" Snape finished almost mechanically.

"Oh, so will they be coming to get me?" Hermione questioned nervously, a slight spark of hope stirring in her eyes.

Snape looked at the girls desperate expression. 'She rather looks like a caged animal' he observed dismally. He hated the answer he had to give her.

"No Miss Granger, your parents will not be coming to get you. You are recovering from this illness and will need to stay here for quite some time yet," Snape said in an almost sympathetic tone. How was he supposed to all of a sudden tell her everything? She had no clue that she was a witch, had no clue why she couldn't go home, and had no clue that many of the Death Eaters in hiding would give up their lives just to finish her off for having dared save his life. He knew what it was like to feel nobody wanted anything to do with you. He just hoped that wasn't the impression he was giving her.

"I was wondering if you would like some books to read while you recover," Snape added, hoping to make the mood of the conversation less dreary as he gestured to the empty bookcase near her bed.

"Oh, well, I absolutely love to read, but I can't exactly hold a book and flip the pages that well yet…" Hermione whispered, clearly disappointed.

"Well I am sure I could get one of the house elves to read to you Miss Granger. Perhaps a book about magical theory?" Snape added, careful not to drown her too fast with the key fact that she was a witch. Snape raised an eyebrow waiting for her response.

"Um excuse me sir, but did you say someone was going to read to me a book about magical theory? Sorry sir, but I must have heard wrong. I have been feeling a bit out of it since waking up," Hermione related rubbing her forehead with her forefinger and thumb.

Snape took his wand out and set it out on her bedside table, saying, "No Miss Granger you heard perfectly right, as always. I did say a book about magical theory." Snape closed his dark eyes, pausing to let the girl respond.

"Oh," Hermione whispered after half a minute of awkward silence.

"If you are not interested in that, perhaps a book on Potions?" Snape offered casually tilting his head while slowly tracing his jaw line with his right forefinger.The silence continued.

Snape rested his chin on his right fist waiting for Hermione to answer his proposal.

"Potions? Am I really hearing you correctly?" Hermione sputtered nervously after a moment of deliberation.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Yes your hearing ability is perfectly fine Miss Granger, so do desist asking me to rate your listening ability," Snape snapped, clearly getting aggravated. He slid back on the black armchair. 'Way to cloak your temper Severus, an effort worthy of a Hufflepuff.'

"What kind of school is this? Is this a cult? Where am I?" Hermione continued with a voice so faint Severus wasn't sure she was really addressing him.

He decided to answer her anyway, "Actually no, you are currently attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Miss Granger there's something I must tell you. He paused for five seconds. Miss Granger you're a witch. You have magical abilities, but they are temporarily …"

Hermione sat up unexpectedly, cutting Snape off mid sentence; she tried her best to edge away from Snape. "Stay away from me! Where am I really? What have you done to me?" she barked. Snape stood up in an instant.

A pair of strong hands forced her to lie back down onto the pillow. "Miss Granger stop this ridiculousness right now! You are going to hurt yourself even more!" Snape ordered, full of worry. She obviously was not taking this as well as he had expected.

"Just don't touch me!" Hermione sobbed. "Let me out of here…I'm not a witch!" she pleaded, tears down her pale cheeks.

Snape picked up his wand from the bedside table and pointed it right at the struggling girl, still keeping his other hand on her, pinning her down. She stared at him with wide eyes. "Please don't hurt me! Please don't kill me!"she begged, shuddering at the thought.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, but you leave me few other options, Petrificus Totalus," Snape chanted quickly before he could change his mind. He lowered his wand and examined the result of his spell; Hermione lay there, unmoving, with a horrified look on her face.He slowly withdrew his hand from her small shoulder. The look on her face was similar to one he had seen many times before. The look of someone whose life was about to be extinguished by the killing curse or even by one of the many poisons he had concocted while a loyal Death Eater. He looked down at his left forearm. 'It's not there anymore' he silently reminded himself as he prepared to relay to Granger everything she needed to know.

"Well now that you can no longer harm yourself I might as well tell you everything right? You were fighting in a large battle yesterday against evil wizards. I daresay those were the people in capes from your memory. Your, or rather our side won when the other side's leader was defeated by one of your friends, Harry Potter. After the leader of the other side was defeated, I became distracted and was almost hit with a spell. You, however, prevented that for some reason and jumped in front of me; therefore, they hit you instead. I quickly detained the wizards that hit you with their spell and carried you here up to the hospital wing. As enlightened from the interrogations of those very same wizards, the spell was meant to deprive someone of all of their memories concerning magic and of their magical powers, but since you were not their original target, the part with your magical powers being taken away will only be temporary. As for the memory part, I'm sorry but right now we don't know if you will ever remember," Snape finished calmly.

Snape whispered " Ennervate" and replaced his wand on her bedside table, after sitting back down.

Hermione blinked her eyes several times, opened and closed her mouth, and slowly turned to look at Snape. "I'm really a witch?" she questioned.

"Yes Miss Granger, you are, by all accounts, a witch, and might I add your skills as a witch were somewhat impressive as demonstrated by your fair grades while in school," Snape explained.

"It's unfortunate I can't remember anything then," Hermione laughed sadly.

"Oh, about that Miss Granger, a few of your teachers and I will be re-teaching you all of the magical skills that you no longer remember. Unfortunately, in your current condition, you will be unable to start your lessons immediately, but I will be checking on you periodically to gage your recovery. When you are well enough, you will be moved into your own private quarters across from mine in the dungeons," Snape recited. He got up from the chair.

"I shall send a house elf with a Potions book tomorrow Miss Granger … Good evening," Snape offered curtly as he strode over to the door and left.

Hermione stared once again at the ceiling, though at least this time she didn't feel as alone.

Ah my reviewers! Thank you so much! Sorry this took so long! – A.P. exams and unfortunately, my grandmother was just diagnosed with cancer… Next chapter will be out much faster.