Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad you love the story so far. And as a special treat, I'm posting 2 chapters! Enjoy!
"Hermione…Hermione," Ginny says as she tries to wake her. Hermione mumbles something and rolls over. "Hermione, you have to get out of bed."
"No, I don't. I just want to stay in bed forever," she says opening her eyes a little.
"No, now get up. I'm not going to let you sulk over that greasy over-grown bat." Hermione glares at her.
"He's not a greasy over-grown bat."
"Then what would you call him? I know what happened last night." Hermione looks at her blankly. "Professor McGonagall owled me this morning. She told me what happened and asked me to look in on you."
"How does she know what happened? I don't even remember seeing her last night."
"She said that Snape told her after you ran past her crying." Hermione hides her face in her pillow. "Come on Hermione. I'm taking you out today."
"But I don't want to go," she protests.
After a few more minutes of arguing, the girls apparate to Hogsmeade with Hermione not happy in the least. Ginny drags her into ten different stores trying to find the perfect dress to buy for her anniversary dinner with Harry that's a few weeks away. Hermione finally convinces her to stop looking for awhile so they can get something to eat at the Hogshead. Just as their food arrives, Hermione feels a pair of eyes staring at her from somewhere behind her. She turns around to find Severus glaring at her. She looks away and lowers her head.
"I'll be right back," Ginny says and walks over to Snape. She slaps him hard across the face. Everyone around stops what they are doing to look on at the scene that is unraveling in front of them. "I can't believe what you said to her. You are such a selfish greasy haired git." She ends her sentence with another smack across his cheek. Snape just stands there with no hint of emotion and stays quiet. "She pours her heart out to you, and what do you do? You break it into a million pieces. Do you not have any sort of compassion? If you never felt the same way about her, you could have at least said so instead of treating her like she's some stupid student trying to pull a prank on you!" She hits him for the third time.
"Miss Weasley, I have had enough of your childish display this afternoon." He walks out of the Hogshead with not even a glare at the on lookers that stare at him with their mouths agape. When Ginny turns around to go back to Hermione, she notices that she's gone. Ginny sighs, goes to pay the bill, and heads back to home to Harry knowing that even if she goes looking for her friend she won't find her.
Hermione snuck out of the Hogshead before Ginny slapped Severus for the second time and made her way to Hogwarts. She headed up the familiar stair case to the seventh floor corridor and stood in front of the Fat Lady.
"Miss Granger, you have returned!" the Fat Lady says. "What brings you here?"
"I wished to speak with Professor McGonagall."
"About your troubles in love?"
"What have you heard?" Hermione says giving her a questioning look.
"Oh, just the portraits talking amongst themselves. About this and that."
"That's quite enough," Professor McGonagall says scolding the Fat Lady as she comes up behind Hermione. The Fat Lady puts her hands on her hips then turns her back on the former student and her professor. "Hermione, dear, come with me to my office."
Hermione follows her and takes a seat in one of the chairs as McGonagall takes the other.
"How are you doing, dear?" she asks her former student.
"As well as one could be after professing their love to someone and being rejected. And it doesn't make me feel any better knowing that all the portraits in the castle know about it."
"I know, dear. The portraits really need to learn to keep their mouths shut."
Hermione nods her head in agreement. "But you mustn't hold Severus' reaction against him. You know as well as I do that women aren't throwing themselves at him."
"True, but guys aren't exactly throwing themselves at me either."
"Hermione, you need remember that he's not used to having anyone care about him, let alone love him."
"So, you condone what he did to me?"
"No, of course not, dear. I think what he did was the most idiotic thing that he has ever done in his life and I told him so last night. What I'm trying to say is that you should try again with him."
"Why? I'm just going to get my heart stepped on some more."
"You maybe surprised to find out that you won't." Hermione sits their puzzled, then it dawns on her.
"Are you saying that he-" she stops short.
"Yes, Hermione." She smiles, then jumps up to hug her former professor, and runs out of the office in search of Severus.