Hermione knows that he probably is still awake, even at this hour, slips on her shoes and apparates to Hogsmeade. She quickly walks to Hogwarts and heads inside before she can change her mind. With a smile on her face, she heads to the dungeons.
Severus paces in his office pondering whether or not he should tell her how he feels. After awhile he decides against it and sits at his desk to mark papers. Just as he starts the first one, there's a knock on the door.
"Go away!" he shouts. He looks up when he hears the door open. "I said go…" he stops short when he sees who it is. "Miss Granger, what brings you back to Hogwarts?" he growls, trying to mask his emotions. She shuts the door and walks up to his desk.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," she says slowly.
"Well obviously," he says sarcastically.
"I…I really don't know where to start." He sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Just spit it out, girl. I don't have all night." Hermione lowers her head.
"It was a mistake to come here. You haven't changed and you never will, even if I tell you how I feel," she says turning around, heading towards the door. His face masks in confusion over the last thing she said.
"Miss Granger?" He asks standing up. She stops just short of the door, waiting for him to say something else. "You came here to talk to me. So talk." She turns around and looks him in the eye.
"Since the day I graduated from here, all I have been able to think about is you. Wondering every night what it would be like to have you lying beside me, holding me, kissing me; loving me. Dreaming about how it would feel to have your arms around me or your lips on the back of my neck. Hoping you could be there with me when I woke up screaming from the nightmares, ones that show you being murdered by Voldemort. I can't take not knowing if we can be together. So I came to tell you that….I love you, Severus." He stands there in complete shock at first, then glares at her.
"Get out. I am in no mood for this sick joke you are playing, Miss Granger. Get out now, and never come back, you insignificant little bushy haired know-it-all," he says coldly. It's her turn to look on in shock. Then tears begin to stream down her face and she flees the dungeons. She passes by McGonagall just outside the Slytherin common room as she races outside and back to Hogsmeade. Knowing that it would be impossible to catch up with her, McGonagall heads towards Snape's office to find out why Hermione came back to Hogwarts and why she left like she did. When she enters the office, she finds him sitting at his desk, nursing what looks to be a badly broken hand.
"Severus, what on earth happened to you? Why was Miss Granger here? And why was she running down the halls crying?" she demands.
"None of this is your concern, Minerva."
"None of my concern? A young woman from MY house that I haven't seen in five years shows up in the middle of the night to come see you and then leaves crying. Like hell this isn't any of my concern."
"She was sent here by Potter and Weasley to play a sick joke on me."
"I do not believe that, Severus. Try again. What did she come here to talk to you about?"
"I would rather not say." McGonagall glares at him.
"If you wont tell me, your hand will just have to heal the muggle way. I'll have Poppy refuse to treat you." He glares at her, but decides to tell her since he knows that she follows through with her threats.
"She said she loved me." McGonagall's faces lights up, but falls when she remembers how Hermione left.
"What did you do to her?"
"I told her to get out and never come back."
"You did what? After five years of you pining for her to come back and confess her love for you, when she finally does, you send her away? That is simply the most idiotic thing you have ever done."
"I know….that's why I have a broken hand," he says quietly.
"What are you waiting for? Go after her! Tell her how you feel! Beg her to forgive you! Tell her you're sorry for all the things you have ever done to her, let her know-"
"You know, Minerva, cats have nine lives. I'd hate for you to loose one," he says icily. Minerva stares at him for a moment, then walks out of the dungeons. He sighs heavily and lowers his head in defeat.
Hermione collapses on her bed, her vision blurred from all her tears. Crookshanks goes to cuddle with her. She gently strokes the ginger colored cat, hoping to calm the racking sobs that control her body. After awhile her tears finally stop and she falls into a restless sleep.
Severus woke up the next morning at his desk with a very stiff neck and both his head and hand throbbing. He passed out from the whole bottle of fire whiskey he had drank trying to curb his sadness and the pain from his broken hand. He stands up and somehow makes it to the hospital wing where he receives a severe tongue lashing from Poppy for acting irresponsible as she treats him. He doesn't say a word to her when she's finished and leaves to go take a walk.