Chapter 7: finally

So far:

Snape acts weirdly in class – due to his sister dying. Hermione finds out and pities him, starts to get intrigued by him then eventually ends up getting a crush on him. She puts forward an unusual plan that comes in four stages and ultimately ends up in her getting a kiss from Snape that he does not remember. But Hermione still has his book from when she broke into his chambers.

One horrible party later: Seamus kisses her and she goes outside to think, getting caught by Severus.

"Miss Granger!" he snapped, with a little more malice than was needed. She started so hard that she visibly jumped. She focused her stare and noticed him standing a few feet away from herself.

She gulped. He gave her a disapproving look and stretched a hand her way for her to take. She looked up at him from beneath her eyebrows with big eyes then hesitantly took his hand and stood up. She suppressed a shiver at the touch of his hand.

He let go once she was up and she did too, reluctantly.

"Walk with me," he said darkly and Hermione did not consider this a good sign. He smoothly walked towards the stairs and Hermione followed alongside.

They were just entering the Grand Entrance when he next spoke. "Do you wish strongly for a punishment? I gave you a fair chance to avoid one." She ignored the bite in his voice.

"I'm sorry," she lied. "I really just did not feel like going back up to the common room at the moment..." She looked at her feet and Snape looked at her openly. His black gaze was unreturned.

"This would not have anything to do with a certain Mr Finnegan would it?" he sneered. Hermione was surprised. She looked up and caught his stare. There was a quiet silence as they walked for a few seconds before Hermione forced herself to answer.

"It may..." she replied honestly. He nodded coldly. She bit her lip nervously. "Why?" she dared to ask.

He ignored the question. "You could have done better," he said before unconsciously speeding up. Hermione had to quicken her pace too. She frowned.

"Excuse me?"

"I take that back," he said sincerely, "It is none of my business..." She frowned harder. What was that supposed to mean?

"I don't mind," Hermione felt relieved to have the ability to explain what had happened to her. "I really did not expect him to kiss me. It wasn't mutual." Severus' brows shot up. "I'm going to have to clarify to him later exactly where I stand."

"And where is that?" he asked curiously.

"I have absolutely no feelings in return for him," she said firmly. Severus suddenly felt how unprofessional he was being. The word "feelings" had snapped him back to his sense of boundaries. And yet he felt relieved in a way he could not comprehend.

"Why did you choose to sit outside?" he inquired, steering the conversation away from feelings but prolonging it so that it may seem to her that he would forget to punish her. "And in that particular spot?"

"I'm not quite sure. I wanted fresh air and I wanted to be in a dark corner where I would not be found..." He suddenly felt that they shared something other than thought patterns. He remembered that sensation all too clearly. It still lingered.

"If you do not mind sacrificing fresh air then the dungeons would have been the best haven," he stopped himself too late. He wished he could take back what he had said. There was no doubt that she would make the connections. He glanced at her and when he saw her eyes widen only in the slightest he took a deep breath.

"Are you feeling any better these days..." she asked it lightly but he knew what she meant. He frowned, now that she mentioned it he was reminded of Stella. He had pushed the thought away.

"I was until now," he sneered. Hermione looked confused then she looked worried.

"Oh. I'm sorry," she said earnestly. He frowned directly at her and saw she was kicking herself inside. He abandoned his annoyance just to make her feel better.

"Don't worry about it," he said offhandedly. He waved a hand vaguely and Hermione sighed, relaxing. He was disturbed by the fact that he now was comforted by her feeling better.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, hoping to see how far she could push her good luck. He raised a corner of his mouth slightly. She definitely had nerve. He avoided looking at her, preferring to keep his eyes dead ahead.

"Do you want to be? Because it may have just... slipped my mind..." She could read the truth behind what he said. He was going to let her off the hook. "I suggest you get back up to bed now. Immediately." He stopped half- way along the first floor corridor and turned to face her.

She stayed back too. She looked up at him for a long moment before smiling. He glared in reply, trying to get her to stop. It had been a mistake to talk to her. She was now smiling at him.

"Good night, sir," she said thankfully, with a cheerful bounce to it he had never really noticed in her voice when talking directly to him before. He nodded briskly back and stayed still as she left.

He watched her leave. Her curls shrouded the back of her crystal peach dress and the skin of her shoulders. He turned his head and looked away as she disappeared around a corner.

He did not lift his dark haired head at first for fear of accepting that there was something other than a teacher-student feeling for Miss Granger. It was not too strong so it may not be too late to squash. That thought soothed some of his frustration at himself.

He sniffed and lifted his head again, proudly and strode off back to the dungeons.

Hermione did not see him until the next lesson on Monday.

She had the whole Sunday to read The Magic of the Ancients. Around five o'clock that day she finished it, closing the last page with satisfaction. It was a very informative book. It also enlightened her more on the nature of Harry's scar.

She dropped by Ginny's dorm a few minutes after finishing it and they talked for while. They discussed the party, the fact Seamus had kissed her, Snape's behaviour afterwards and what she should do with the book now she had completed it.

Hermione left feeling happier than she had in weeks. Things were looking up. There was one black spot on her good mood, however, that had to be removed as quickly as possible. That black spot was Seamus Finnegan.

She left Ginny's dorm and skipped down the steps to the common room. She hoped she would find him there. She needed to explain things to him and get him out of the picture as soon as humanly possible.

She reached the last step and paused before she walked down it. She looked around the room quickly.

Sure enough, under the streaming light of the common room window sat Seamus and Dean Thomas talking together over a table filled with strewn books and parchment.

She paused once more, checking to make sure she was not being watched. The last thing she wanted was to cause a scene. When she was sure nobody was indeed looking her way she sucked in her breath and brusquely walked over to his table.

Seamus looked up and smiled at her, completely ignorant of the emotions radiating off of her. That was the total opposite of Severus, she noted, he would have been able to pick up on the slightest change in mood.

"Hello 'mione," he smirked. Hermione's eyebrow twitched and she resisted the urge to glare at him.

"Seamus, may I speak with you privately?" she said stiffly. He cast a vexed look to Dean then stood. He was starting to slowly pick up on her hostility. He cautiously walked towards her. She turned and headed for the portrait hole. He continued to follow closely, nervously.

She did not exit through the portrait however. She chose the corner of the room. Seamus came up to her. Nobody was near enough to hear if they kept their voices low, with the exception of extendable ears.

"Yes...?" he said unsurely. Hermione finally unleashed her icy stare.

"Why did you kiss me at the party, without my consent?" she snapped. He shrank a little. His flimsy light brown hair brushed his cheeks and partly covered his eyes.

"I was hoping you felt the same..." he said lamely. She glared harder.

"You did not even bother to find out if I felt the same!" she growled. "There is no way, Seamus, that I would feel the same. So you may as well drop it." He looked disappointed "Let's just forget this ever happened," she finished and lifted her head sharply before spinning around and joining Harry and Ron at the nearest table.

Harry looked up from his book and greeted her warmly. Then he looked past her and Seamus standing numbly in the corner of the room. "What was that?" he said, sending a questioning look at Ron as well. Hermione looked at Ron and saw that he was blushing guiltily.

"Ron..." she started carefully, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?" she said sweetly with a twist of bitterness.

"Erm..." he looked up at her with puppy eyes. "I thought that there would not be a problem on your part of him making a move," he was slowly sinking deeper into his chair, "but obviously there was," he said with a small voice.

Hermione was not angry at him, after all, how was he supposed to know about her obsession about... about another man.

"It's over and done with now," she said, shrugging and Ron sat up with a huge sigh.

"Wait," said Harry, utterly lost, "Seamus made a move on Hermione? What did he do? When?" he looked between the both of them.

"At the party, Seamus kissed me when I was totally unprepared and then Snape walked in," she said bitterly.

"What relevance does Snape have?" asked Ron, blowing some orange hair out of his eyes.

Hermione was forced to make a quick save. "That supplies an answer as to "When", does it not?" Ron nodded, seeing her point. Harry's attention, though, was drawn away from his friends as a person entered the room from the girls' tower.

Hermione glimpsed in the direction Harry now stared and saw Ginny coming down the stairs. She was wearing a pretty skirt and t-shirt that went well together and her hair was done up in a high bun with a straight curtain of dark red hair falling from underneath it. Hermione pursed her lips to keep herself from smirking. All her new looks had started cropping up ever since the first kiss from Draco.

She saw that the conversation was as good as finished and went over to Ginny.

She smiled at her and as she passed her, up the steps of the tower, she muttered "Nice outfit" and Ginny smiled back gratefully to her. Ginny took Hermione's place with the boys and Hermione took this opportunity to see if it was possible to return the book. Today she did not have access to an invisibility cloak and she needed it way more than last time.

She raced up the stairs to her room. She shoved open her door and grabbed her book from her bed. She ran back down and when she left the common room, under the questioning looks from Harry, Ginny and Ron, she excused herself saying she needed some air.

She watched the portrait close behind her as she sped away down the stairs.

She did not have the time to be nervous. She had to think. She would wait until Snape left the classroom before she would go in, obviously. She should wait in the darkest areas of the hall outside with the help of the disillusionment charm.

She was half way down to the dungeons when she ran into an unexpected surprise.

Malfoy approached her on the second floor. She kept walking at first but he headed straight for her, showing no signs of passing her by. She quickly hid her book in the huge inner pocket her robes. She stopped when he came to stand right in front of her.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she said carefully. He may be a sweetie to Ginny but she had no idea what his attitude was towards her anymore. She straightened her robes, trying to hide any showing bulk of the book.

"I was hoping to talk to you sometime and now that I've found you earlier I might as well get this over with," he said bluntly. Hermione denied the fact that she admired his honesty. She blinked. He gestured in the direction he had originally been walking. "Shall we?" Hermione did not want to put off returning the book but found herself forced to.

She nodded and walked alongside Draco, in the direction opposite that of the dungeons.

"This is about Ginny, I presume," she said wisely. He nodded his silver- blonde head.

"So you are aware," he stated the obvious and she rose an eyebrow when she saw him visibly un-tense. His new relaxed-self was something Hermione had never witnessed. "Does anyone else know?" there was some urgency in his voice.

"Not that I know of..." she frowned. She brushed some curls back off of her shoulder. "Not Harry and Ron if that's what you mean." He sighed. "But," she continued in a tone that made him snap-to. "Harry has an obvious and probably serious crush on Ginny..."

"Well he can't have her," he spat, starting to get prickly and defensive. They headed up some moving stairs.

"I know," she snapped back. "I'm just warning you, because when he does find out it may be worse than you have anticipated." Malfoy's silver eyes gleamed. "And from the way he's been acting, he may make a few moves before the year is out and you may have to deal with the relationship being revealed a little sooner than planned..."

"Thank you for the warning," he sneered ungratefully. "But I trust Ginny will not reveal a thing until she has discussed it with me. She would not do something like that," he said firmly and surely. Hermione was struck by the caring in his voice. He obviously felt strongly for her and he was utterly convinced she felt the same way. Fortunately, this was true.

"Is there anything else?" she said, checking her watch. Malfoy seemed irritated by the fact he was merely a distraction and straightened his back and cocked his chin.

"Nothing pressing," he said sharply.

"In that case, I should go," she said, racing back down the stairs before they changed again. "Goodbye," she called from the bottom of them. He nodded back frostily.

She was behind schedule; she had a time limit for the amount of time she could spend waiting for Snape to leave his classroom before appearing suspicious to Harry and Ron. She had wasted a good many valuable minutes with Malfoy.

She was soon out of his sight and on her way back down to the dungeons as she had been before.

She stood at the beginning of the dungeons hallway that sloped dangerously down in front of her. She slipped a hand into her pocket, pulling out her wand. Never taking her eyes off of the emptiness ahead of her, she muttered the charm pointing the wand at the top of her head. In a moment she was nothing more than a disturbance in the air.

She slipped into the darkest shadows where the torches were weakest and very carefully tip-toed over to the edge of the potions classroom. She stood, around the corner, leaning against the wall listening. She heard nothing.

She dared to peak around the door frame and she could not spy Snape anywhere. She relaxed her tense posture. Keeping her wits about her she crept forward into the classroom.

The empty desks stayed silent and the feeling of being alone in this room started her nervousness.

She approached the storeroom door and hesitated for a long moment before she bit her lip and pointed her wand at the lock.

Snape, however, was just coming back down the corridor having forgotten his note-taking quill on his desk. He swept silently down the hall and cast a smooth black shadow on the wall that glided alongside him, flickering in the torchlight. Hermione was unaware of this.

She had just stepped into the large storeroom. She paused to take off the disillusionment charm, not seeing any use in it now she had got past the classroom.

She found herself, once again, in awe of the shelves of aromatic potions ingredients of the rarest and most powerful kind. The light in the storeroom was terrible; she could barely see the end of the room. She paused for half a minute, feeling that she could afford it. She read the names of several particularly interesting items then got her thoughts back on track. With a small gulp she took a tiny step forward.

Severus halted abruptly half way to his desk, something odd just caught his eye. He raised a brow and turned.

The storeroom door was wide open. He was certain he had not left it that way. He took a few calm steps closer and blinked when he saw something move inside. He came to stand in the doorway. He was further surprised to see the brown curls of the back of a head that he recognised all too well.

He slowly and very quietly walked over to her and stood right behind her but did not say anything, waiting to see when she would notice him. He just remained a towering black presence, blocking the light from behind her. Despite his cast shadow, she remained blissfully unaware of the intent and powerful gaze upon her.

He became increasingly aware of a sweet smell radiating off of her soft curls. He breathed in deeply and he recognised it with a frown. She was about to start walk towards the black door at the back of the room.

He grabbed her shoulder sharply, so fast that she had not taken more than the small step forward. She whirled around even faster, in nervous surprise. She felt her stomach drop to the floor when she was faced with a pillar of ebony robes.

The grip in her shoulder was firm and she felt it stinging under his tight hold. She slowly and anxiously dragged her eyes up to meet his. She had expected him to be furious with her and to start yelling but as she stared at him with big doe eyes she could not find any hostility.

He was not thinking straight. He just studied her face, the curve of her jaw, the shape of her lips, the color of her eyes. She watched his eyes flicker over her, anticipating him to still explode at her.

The hand on her shoulder loosened and she felt the pain leave but he did not take his hand away. She did not know what was happening but she felt her own emotions being pulled out of the corner of her mind. She was blinded by them and unwillingly took a small step closer to him.

They were inches apart and Hermione just wanted to lean closer still and snuggle against him like a kitten. She resisted the urge with all her might and gently closed her eyes.

Severus did not remember ever feeling this way, he could not control his actions. He could feel the heat of her skin from his hand on her shoulder. He saw her close her eyes softly and he could not stop himself from smoothly sliding the hand up to her neck. She sighed quietly. He wished she would open her eyes so he could see them again. And she did.

She studied the face in a similar way to him just now. His shoulder length black hair highlighted the shape of his cheeks and added emphasis to his captivating eyes. The hand on her neck made her shiver, it was a soft touch. His gaze caught hers and for a long time the silence between them spoke volumes.

She wanted to kiss him and tried to show him so with the way she looked at him. He seemed to be hesitating, struggling with his morals and boundaries. She lightly placed her hand on his other arm and he glanced at it quickly before looking back into her eyes with a look of confusion. She blinked slowly.

Unable to hold himself back longer, he raised his other hand cupped her jaw with both hands. She sighed again and he leaned closer to her face, then paused, their lips barely a centimeter apart. He could feel her warm breath against the skin of his face and he closed his own eyes before pressing his lips against hers.

And in the dark light of the storage room they shared a soft passionate kiss.

Sorry for the small chapter, you forgive me don't you? (Of course you do.)

Mush and fluff for everyone!!!!!! Tons of fun to write!

Mr McGhan - if you are reading this then you have no respect for privacy - I specifically told you not to.

You make me sick.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!