Dreaming of You

By: acrophobia1322

Chapter Five:

Don't Go

Hermione woke the next morning and was moved to the Infirmary where she remained for two more days. She left and began classes on the third. She was at breakfast that morning when she felt a shiver run up her spine. She turned and found that her eyes were looking at a black clothed chest. She cleared her throat and averted her eyes from the chest to the face. Her chocolate eyes met with a pair of beetle black ones as she stared into the sallow face of Severus Snape.

"Professor?" she asked him. His body was slightly rigid and he was giving her a guarded look. He held out something to her.

"I felt you may need these back, Miss Granger," he said, handing her the clothes that had been removed from her the night that she stayed with Snape. They had been washed and dried and folded neatly. "Though I am somewhat thin, I doubt I could fit into them." Hermione chuckled.

"Thank you, Professor Snape," she replied, taking the clothing from him. 'Well, he does have a rather comfortable sense of humor in there somewhere.' Snape nodded to her and headed for the staff table just as Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall.

"What was that about?" asked Ron, jerking his head toward Snape and then staring pointedly at the clothes in Hermione's hand. "And what are those?"

"These," she said, holding up her clothing, "are my robes and uniform and he," she motioned to the Potions Master, "was just returning them to me."

"Why did he have them?" Ron prodded, giving her a suspicious glare.

"Stop being filthy, Ronald!" she snapped at him. "They were in his rooms because I was changed out of them when they found me outside." Hermione had explained to her to them what had happened the numerous times they visited her while she was in the Infirmary. She looked down at her clothes and saw a piece of parchment fall out.

"What's that?" asked Harry through a mouthful of eggs. Hermione gave him a look and told him to eat with his mouth closed before unfolding the parchment and reading it.

We meet in Bristow, Wednesday, 7:30 PM. Do not be late or you shall be punished.

Lucius

"Something tells me this was not meant for me," she murmured.

"Well, what is it?" inquired Ron impatiently, after nearly choking on his food.

"It's nothing," she managed. "Nothing important." She saw Snape get up and leave the Great Hall for his classroom. "Er—I'll see you guys in first period, okay?" She didn't wait for a response, and though Ron and Harry tried to stop her, she nearly ran out of the hall after gathering her things. "Professor!" she called after Snape, who was heading for the dungeons.

He stopped and turned toward her, a slightly curious glint in his eyes. "Miss Granger? What do you want?"

Hermione stopped to catch her breath and held up the parchment. "Th-this…it's yours…I think…" she managed between breaths.

Snape took the parchment and read through it. "Yes, this is mine." He pocketed it and made for the dungeons again. Hermione tailed after him.

"Are you going?" she asked, still panting slightly. He gave her a fierce look.

"What I do is none of your business, Miss Granger," he said. She didn't stop following him. "Now, don't you have elsewhere to be? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey won't be pleased with you for running out of breakfast after you've barely eaten anything."

"But—" she began, her voice a silent plea. Snape stopped and turned to her, seeing her flushed face. She looked up at him, the look in her eye making him take a step back. "—I-I…I don't want…you to go." Snape smirked and Hermione was unnerved.

"Miss Granger," he began, starting toward his classroom, "this will not be the first time I have attended a Death Eater meeting—" he looked around for any stray students and when he found none, continued. "I'm a spy, as I'm sure you know. I have, thus far, been able to handle anything that they have given me, for as you can see, I am not dead. I am going, and your frivolous schoolgirl crush will not hinder me."

Hermione was very quiet very suddenly, her face reddening from embarrassment. He took her silence as a sign for him to leave and opened the Potions classroom's door. When he entered, he looked back out into the corridor to find that Hermione was making her way back to the Great Hall, looking dejected. When he heard the dungeon's door close, he breathed a sigh and turned around, jumping when he found someone sitting at his desk.

"Sylvia!" he barked, looking suddenly displeased. "Classes are about to start soon. What do you want?"

"I wanted to speak with you about the conversation we never had," she said, no seductiveness in her voice. Her face was solid, much different from the jovial look she usually wore when conversing with Severus.

"Ah, yes," he murmured, rather dazedly, pushing past her to get something from his desk. "Well, you are here now. Let's get this out of the way. What is it you want?"

She checked her watch. "Fifteen minutes is not enough time to achieve what I want." She smirked seductively, her face changing slightly. Severus took the hint and blanched, repressing the urge to retch.

"That is all you wanted?" he asked. "I'm not interested, Sylvia. The only thing about you that I want is your job, nothing more." Poreschi frowned. "I'm not one for relations, so your 'proposal', if that's what you would call it, interests me little."

"You seem pretty interested in your aide, Severus," she grinned, taking him in. "A little young, though, isn't she?"

"What are you insinuating? That I am anymore than a professor to my student?" Severus snarled.

"Oh, no!" laughed Sylvia, though there was a hint of sarcasm in her honeyed voice. "I'm just saying you're getting mighty…close with her. I was just wondering if you favor her in the least." Severus glared at her.

"I do not play favorites with my students, Sylvia," he drawled. She scoffed, obviously not convinced by his shows of nepotism for the Slytherins. "Not matter how bright they are. Now, class is about to start and I have to prepare, so if you don't mind—" He gestured to the door.

Sylvia jumped down of his desk and stared at him, meaningfully, with her hands on her hips like a mother scolding her child. Severus looked at her and could tell that she was not pleased with some of the answers she'd received. He stared her down and she walked out of his room, in a huff, stopping at the door to say "This isn't over yet, Severus" before exiting and heading for her classroom.

'Who was I kidding?' thought Hermione as she walked down the steps toward Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. She lagged a few steps behind Harry and Ron as she was in deep thought. She had nearly let the entire group move ahead of her when she over heard Draco Malfoy speaking with Pansy Parkinson and his other goons about a Death Eater meeting about to take place.

"Father says that the Dark Lord is growing tired of Snape's excuses," drawled Malfoy, smirking evilly. "If Snape doesn't bring anything interesting, then he's going to torture Snape into submission, and then kill him, slowly and painfully." Hermione blanched and she grabbed onto a nearby tree for support.

'K-kill him!' she thought, feeling her stomach tighten and tears burning her eyes. She brushed them away and started moving faster, toward Hagrid who was sitting with his hands clutching the leash of Fang.

"H-Hagrid…" she breathed, walking up to standing directly in front of him, panting slightly and looking down at Fang as the large boarhound slobbered all over her hand.

"'Ermione? What's wrong?" he asked, looking rather concerned.

"Hagrid…I-I'm not…" she said through choking breaths. "I'm not feeling…too good…Would you mind if I…went to…the Infirmary?"

"No, no, o' course not!" he said, shoveling her slightly toward the school. "Go on then!"

Hermione ran as fast as she could, sweeping by Ron and Harry without even a glance. They watched her race for the school, a look for worry etching her features. She, obviously, did not go to the Infirmary. She raced up the stairs, heading for the stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office. She dropped to her knees, quivering slightly from the overexertion of her limbs and tried to regain her breath.

"Sugar Quill!" she yelled at the gargoyle. It didn't budge. "Cockroach clusters! Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! Pumpkin Pasties!"

All of a sudden, the gargoyle jumped out of the way and revealed a staircase. Hermione all but climbed the stairs toward the door at the top. She scrambled into the office to find Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, with Fawkes at his shoulder, looking at her pensively. He took in her flustered appearance.

"Miss Granger?" he asked, his eyebrows rising slightly at the look of her. "Aren't classes currently in session? Shouldn't you be with Hagrid?"

"Headmaster! Y-you can't let him go!" she cried, fumbling over to his desk and toppling to her knees once more. "You can't let him go!"

"Miss Granger, what do you mean?" The headmaster's voice was its usual kind and calm tone. He looked down on her with her mussed hair and flushed face. "I can't let who go where?"

"Professor Snape! You can't let him go to the meeting on Wednesday!" she sobbed, clutching his desk desperately.

She told the headmaster of everything transpiring from when she had received her clothing to when she had heard Malfoy speaking of the meeting. When her story was finished, Dumbledore was scribbling something on some parchment. She had managed to find her way to the armchair and had tears willingly falling down her cheeks. She watched the headmaster hand the parchment to Fawkes and the phoenix took off out a nearby opened window.

"Miss Granger," he began, "I cannot help but assume that your…relationship with Professor Snape is a little more intimate that you lead on." Hermione choked at his choice of words. 'Relationship? Intimate? He makes it sound like we're sleeping together!'

"Oh, no, Professor Dumbledore!" she insisted. "It's just that…since I started aiding with him, he seems different. He's not nearly been as cold as I thought and sometimes…well, he almost seems happy. It disappears so quickly from his eyes but I'm sure it's there. I have a high respect for all of my professors, headmaster. I'm just worried that if Professor Snape goes, he won't come back…" She sighed.

Someone at the door cleared his throat and the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stood up. She shuddered and looked back to stare at the Potions Master they were discussing. He gave Hermione a slight glower, suspecting what the conversation at hand would most likely be about. Dumbledore motioned for Snape to sit down in the chair beside Hermione and he did. Hermione didn't look at him anymore. She turned her head to the hands folded in her lap and remained silent.

"Severus, it has recently come to light that you will be attending a Death Eater's meeting on Wednesday, insisted by Lucius Malfoy. Is this true?" Dumbledore surveyed Snape over his half-moon spectacles.

The pale man to her right looked down at Hermione but she refused to make eye contact. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes, Albus," replied Snape, looking back at the elderly headmaster before him. "At 7:30."

"Ah," breathed Dumbledore. "Some new information has arisen about this meeting, Severus. Miss Granger, if you please."

Hermione turned toward him, keeping her eyes down and focusing on a leg of Dumbledore's desk. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth but closed it again, trying to decide where to start. She sighed heavily and began.

"Well—er—sir, I was going to Care of Magical Creatures, a class that the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins have together, as I was lingering behind the rest, thinking about…NEWTs, when I overheard Draco Malfoy speaking with his cronies—er—friends, about a meeting between Lucius Malfoy and yourself involving the Dark Lord." She paused and looked up, locking eyes with her Potions professor for a moment. "Well, I heard him saying that if you don't give them something useful, I would guess they meant something they could act on, they were going to torture you painfully and ultimately…" She gulped at looked at her clenched hands nervously, "…kill you." There was a slight quiver in her voice. "I was worried, so I came to the headmaster and talked to him."

Snape looked down on her with his usual wintry black eyes as she ended her explanation. He then, turned away from her and stared at Dumbledore, obviously awaiting some kind of verdict.

"Severus, you know I can't give them anything to 'act on' that doesn't endanger Harry Potter or any of the students or staff of the school," began the elderly man. "If what Miss Granger says is true, I think it would be best if you did not attend the next meeting. Feign illness or obliviation if you must, but I highly warn against it."

"Headmaster," began Snape in a slightly incensed voice. "You know very well, if I miss this meeting now, they will be suspicious. When I attend the next one, it will most likely have the same outcome of the next one. Could we not fake information?"

"You mean lie to Voldemort?" Dumbledore questioned.

"It would be simple, in the beginning," the Potions Master explained. Hermione took a sharp breath and Snape looked at her.

"Do you wish to add something, Miss Granger?" the eldest of the three asked.

"Well, it's just—" she looked up at Snape who was giving her a cold glare. "—I fear that if He-Who-Must—er—Voldemort were to find out that he had been tricked, the punishment for Professor Snape would be much worse." She looked down, tears, unknown to both men, were forming in her eyes.

"That would be my burden, wouldn't it then, Miss Granger?" snapped Snape, still glaring at her. She stood up suddenly.

"Excuse me Headmaster, Professor," she murmured, and turned, heading just outside the door of his office where she feverishly wipe the tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.

Severus stared at the closed door for a moment before looking back at the headmaster, who had lost all elderly charm and had a look of utmost seriousness on her face.

"I wish you would be a little compassionate for the girl," Dumbledore said, his voice almost a snap. "She came here because she was worried about you. It's refreshing, I think, to find that you have someone who's looking out for your best interests, not the other way around."

"I didn't ask her to look out for anyone's 'best interests,' Albus," Severus replied. "She's meddling in places that ought not to be meddled in. She could get into serious trouble for that sort of thing. We don't need a dead student on our hands." Dumbledore let out an exasperated sigh, something he barely ever did.

"I understand where you're coming from, Severus," he said, "but that doesn't mean that you need to be so harsh to a girl who is genuinely concerned for your health."

The door creaked open and Hermione stepped back in. She wiped her eyes again and stopped abruptly, feeling the tenseness lingering in the air.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked. "I can go back out into the stairway if you'd like." The annoyed look on Dumbledore's face dissipated as he looked at her.

"No, no, dear girl," he assured, smiling at her. "Come sit back down and we can resolve this. Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you, headmaster," Hermione declined politely. Snape refused gravely as he was also offered one.

"Well, I suppose there is nothing we can do," Dumbledore stated. "Severus will decide if he would still like to go, though it is against your, as well as my, best interests, Miss Granger. I doubt we can stop him. But if he does choose to not go, Voldemort would undoubtedly suspect his role as a spy or that he is mutinying and punish, otherwise kill, him." Hermione tensed visibly. "But if he chose to stay away, a suitable guard and protector could be assigned. I'm sure Professor Poreschi would be more than willing to use her connections."

"That will be unnecessary, headmaster," Snape insisted. "I have decided that this little information that has been brought up is not enough for me to back down. I will continue in my Death Eater activities until I have been…relinquished."

Dumbledore stared at Snape with firm eyes. "Very well, then." He then turned to Hermione. "Miss Granger, because of your current emotional condition, I would request that you are absent for the rest of your classes. See Madam Pomfrey for a Calming Potion as well as a Dreamless Sleep Solution. I usually find that sleeping while I'm in a state helps calm and relax the nerves." Hermione almost objected. "I will see that Mister Potter and Weasley retrieve your homework and bring it to you."

"Thank you, headmaster," Hermione murmured getting to her feet.

"You are dismissed as well, Severus," Dumbledore stated, waving his hand toward the door. "I do hope you'll think about what we spoke of."

Both Hermione and Snape exited the headmaster's office. Hermione lagged by a few steps and Snape stood at the foot, with the gargoyle still blocking. Hermione was cautious to catch up to him. She moved rather reluctantly to his side and made to leave when he grabbed her arm to stop her. She flinched slightly at his touch and looked up at him warily making eye contact.

"Miss Granger," he said in his cold voice. He looked into her brown eyes, etched with fear and concern. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Hermione lifted a finger and pressed it to his lips, silencing him.

"Before…before you scold me, please listen," she beseeched, looking away from his face. "I-I…don't know what's going on. Ever since these dreams surfaced, I have been feeling rather different, noticing things that I shouldn't. My aiding you hasn't helped. Trelawney told me that if…if I let my feelings mature, there would be troubling times for me…so I tried hard not to let them, but when time progressed, they began to ripen on their own accord.

"When I saw that note in my clothes, I felt scared for you. I know you don't want me to be fearful for you because you've had experience in these kinds of things, but I can't help it. I know you think it's a schoolgirl crush, and maybe that is what it is. I tried to make it go away but I couldn't. I used every reason I could to make it unjustified. Such as you're my professor, you're older than me, you don't want me, you don't like me…so on and so forth. It wouldn't be helped, though. It just got worse and I found myself looking forward to sleeping, to having those dreams.

"My coming here when I heard Malfoy talking…it was instant. I was afraid…so afraid you were going to die…" The tears were forming again. "I don't want you to die." Her voice was but a mere whisper.

Snape was completely silent for a long time. He had been thrown off guard by her sudden confession. He was staring at her, his mouth slightly open, his eyes flashing with many different emotions. Shock, confusion, anger…there was something else that Hermione couldn't quite place. When he didn't say anything for a long time, Hermione turned and made for the gargoyle again but he stopped her again.

"Wait…" he whispered. She turned to look at him once more, tears filling her chocolate eyes. He was captivated by her vulnerable look. "Wait…"

Suddenly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to her, in a soft yet hungry kiss.

A/N: Blah! Is that too soon? Meh! This was one annoying chapter. I wonder if it turned out okay. Um, I would say that I'll revise and post all my chapters soon, but then I'd be lying! See, I'm not meticulous. I look over it and my eyes automatically correct errors, without my fingers doing any work, so I don't notice the blunders. As for beta-reading, my email was disabled a looooong time ago so there would be no point to that. After I finish maybe the first ten chappies, then I'll think about revising and posting, but don't hold your breath.

Meh! Unusually long A/N I see! So anyway, review! I love reviews! The more you review the fast I update!

Acro and you know it!

PS Has anyone noticed how my chapters are getting longer? I'm so happy that I'm doing it without even noticing now! I used to have to force myself to make it longer! I so happyyyy! (My goal is to make a story where I reach 100,000 words! Then I'd be truly and blissfully happy.)