Snape rolled over to the other side of his bed, facing the window. The bright sun was shining in on him and he blinked his tired eyes open. He smiled a little bit, there was a dark brown owl sitting on a perch outside of his window. He stared into its hazel brown eyes and it reminded him of someone…her, he couldn't deny it, everything reminded him of her. Hermione, Hermione…

"Hermione!" He yelled when he noticed the girl. Her body shot up quickly. So quickly her hair fell out of its ponytail and went flying around her in a mess of curls. Severus noticed how exquisite she looked, even in her disheveled state, but he was too angry to allow it to fully register. She spoke almost before she had awoken.

"Yes Professor," She said rapidly.

"Yes Professor…Yes Professor! Is that all you have to say for yourself?" She merely gawked at him as he rose out of his bed and walked over to face her, "Huh? Out with it girl."

"Uh…Professor what are you…"

"Don't, don't even ask that question. You were supposed to be the smartest student in your whole class." He said directing every ounce of anger her way. He was totally embarrassed to find her there. He wondered if he had been snoring, or drooling. He was determined to make her pay for being there, "I want to know why you are in my bedroom. Perhaps you were not at the top of your class, but maybe that choice was fixed. After all you are the best friend of Mr. Potter." His very hatred for the boy oozed from the last two words he had spoken. He found he was a bit calmer. He hadn't even started in on her yet, but he felt he had succeeded in upsetting her. That was good enough.

"Excuse me Professor," She said trying to mimic him, "But do not question my intelligence. You did quite enough of that while I was a student here. And besides you know damn well I deserved that honor. Ha! Christ, it's the only honor I've ever received that I actually gave two shits about." She said standing up to face him. She put her finger up level with his face, which now wore a shocked expression, "Also do not talk about my only remaining best friend like he's some foul being. He is a good man, and if you would just stop being so-so hard headed and cruel you would see that."

"I-I…" The words were stuck in his throat, somewhere close to his Adam's apple.

"I was in here," She continued, "Because I wanted to make sure you would be okay throughout the night. I'm sorry for doing my job." Her outburst had been so unexpected. Snape was surprised that he found this to be a turn-on. By now she had already stormed into the sitting room, where she grabbed the few things she had there and shoved them into a bag, "I fear I will not be returning." She said as she turned to face her old Professor. She had just reached out for the door handle when his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Why?" He asked almost by accident. Her faced turned up and she looked into his far-seeing eyes. She had never noticed how tall he was.

"W-why what?" She asked forgetting, for a moment, what they were fighting about.

"Why…why do you choose to-to look after me if you could have just as easily… Oh never mind just leave."

"No." She said letting go of the handle, but not moving from her spot, "Tell me." Her harsh tone had faded away. Snape was surprised to find that she had even had it in her to be so-so like him. Now she sounded rather docile. He hesitated before answering. He didn't want to open himself up too much to her, but in the end he couldn't resist.

"You and your friends, you never liked me when you were here. Why would you stick around to try and help me if you can't even stand to be in my presence?"

"Well as a matter-of-fact," She said placing a hand on her hip. Severus had always thought this simple gesture to be so sexy. It defined her curves. Hermione, it was obvious, had grown into a natural beauty. She had a way of being modest and unadorned that made her seem even more attractive than she already was, "I-I did like you when I went here. And honestly I spent most of my time defending you from those two." Her heart ached once again at the thought of Ron, and the ever-attentive Snape did not miss the fleeting look that had passed over her features. "You can't blame them you know. You were kind of…an asshole." He wanted to laugh at this; he was still shocked to find that she had really grown up.

"Well, I think that's fifty points from Gryffindor." He said. Hermione snorted at his attempt to make a joke, and for a moment he smiled.

"You know," She said, placing her bag down on the table, "You two are so alike it's scary."

"Who?"

"You and Harry. Maybe that's why you never got along."

"What!" He asked shooting a very confused look at her. How could he be anything like Potter?

"I know why you hate him," She said, "It's because of his father, but perhaps you could take into consideration that Harry is not James." He merely stared at her dumbstruck, "Besides who would know better than me? I am his best-friend." She made a good point. Who would know better than her?

"And what could have possibly brought this to your attention now, of all times, Ms. Granger?"

"Well when you made that joke. I-I don't know it just reminded me of him." She answered, "Whenever I was angry or upset, usually with Ron, he would always try to make me smile. Huh…it was just nice of you that's all." She had had to be kidding; certainly no one had ever deemed him, Severus Snape, to be…nice.

"Somehow I find that to be quite impossible Ms. Granger." He retorted. He had completely forgotten the pain in his knees until now. Now he felt his legs turning to jelly under the weight of his body. Hermione had caught this almost a moment before he did, and was next to him in a flash. She pulled his arm around her shoulders, which Severus had failed to notice, until now, were just the right height for such a purpose. She walked him over to his lounge chair and sat him down gently. For being a woman capable of such hostility with her words, it seemed that, when it came to her touch, she was quite incapable of being anything other than tender. Severus thought about how much of a contradiction she was.

"Nothing is." She said propping his feet up on the ottoman.

"What?" He asked extremely confused.

"Nothing is impossible." She answered him looking up into his eyes for a brief moment, "Highly improbable, yes, but impossible…I don't think so." She began pulling her things back out of her bag again.

"Looks like you're not going anywhere." He said with a smirk.

"You know just because you got your way does not mean that you can act like a pompous ass." She said grinning.

"Who says I got my way?" He answered still joking.

"Oh so you want me to leave." She said standing up.

"No!" He said, reaching out, once again, to grab her wrist, "Don't leave." He looked up at her from where he was seated, and almost stared a hole right through her. He had unshielded himself, made himself vulnerable, for just a moment. What she saw in the depths of his eyes was almost terrifying. She had known that he had been hurt in the past, but it was more than that, he was traumatized. She saw all of this in a glimpse and then it was gone. He looked down at where he held her wrist and seemed shocked at his outburst. He slowly released her arm where there were now florid bruises. She was surprised as well, for she had been so entranced by his look that she did not feel the shooting pain go up her arm. Not until now at least. She extended her fingers trying to get the feeling back into her, now numb, arm.