This chapter is focusing on how Hermione's feeling now that she's awake. I don't have much of a feel for Hermione's character right now, nor how Snape reacts to her, so I've written it as well as I can. Hope you can at least get some enjoyment out of it!

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Chapter Nine

Sunday dawned cloudy over the Hogwarts school grounds. It seemed even gloomier for Harry and Ron, who were beginning to really worry about their best friend.

"She wouldn't willingly stay down there, would she?" Ron asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at the empty armchair in the common room, where Hermione usually sat, doing homework.

"I don't know." Was all Harry could say. He didn't want to think that Snape could be doing something evil to one of his best friends. He couldn't hold her against her will. McGonagall knew she was down there.

Yesterday, for the first time in… almost as long as Harry had been attending Hogwarts, he and Ron went to the library together, without Hermione. They had looked hard to find out just what the "BlueCloud Fever" was that McGonagall had informed them Hermione had. But the library had no information. And when they could not find information, they usually turned to Hermione. At this, Ron had slammed his hand down onto the desk, causing Madam Pince to kick them out without question.

Much to their surprise, they had not seen Snape swooping around the corridor in his bat-like fashion. Usually he was right there, waiting for them to slip up and make a mistake.

Rather frustrated, they had taken out their anger on the Quidditch Pitch in afternoon, and the evening playing Exploding Snap. But the next morning, when they still had received no news from their friend, they began to plot ways to get into see her.

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Feeling slow, groggy, and very, very sore, Hermione awoke. She felt as though her body had been taken to by several angry monkeys with carving knives, ripping at her flesh. She wished to go back to sleep, but she knew that now she was awake, the pain would never let her return to the sweet nothingness of sleep.

Opening her eyes, she almost expected to see a blue sky above her. Instead, she could hardly see a thing. Thinking back, she tried to remember what had happened. The last thing she remembered was Professor Snape's face, looking into hers, a comforting expression on his face. Where had she seen that look before? The sky… the clouds…

Where was she? She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a bedroom she didn't remember she'd ever been in before. There was a bookcase along one wall, and she just itched to climb out of the mahogany bed she was resting in. The bookcase went from floor to roof, full of books. Although she could no see the titles from the bed, she ached to sit into the green leather armchair that was facing the bed and begin to read, until she'd read all the books. Straight across from her was an open door, through which she could see a handsome leather couch, matching the armchair that sat in this room. Against the wall she could see of that room, there was yet another bookcase.

To the left of the bed stood a mahogany wardrobe, and a closed wooden door. On either side of the bed sat a small dressing table, upon which books, papers and candles were stacked. To the right, there were two potions. The bed was covered by a beautiful black satin doona, with gold stars and moons sewed upon it.

Hermione would appreciate the bed cover later, when she wasn't in such pain, she thought. As she reached to pull down the covers of the bed to inspect what was causing her such pain, the door on her left opened, and one Severus Snape strolled out.

They both jumped at the sight of each other. Hermione noticed that Snape's hair was wet, and assumed that the room he had just emerged from was the bathroom. Horror soaked through her as she realised she was in Snape's bed. Why else would he be in the bathroom? These were Snape's rooms, Snape's chambers, Snape's books, Snape's candles and worst of all… Snape's bed!

"Miss Granger, you are awake." He stated, giving her an almost shaky look.

She wasn't sure what to say. "Where am I?" She asked, silently begging him to tell her she was somewhere other then his bed.

He cleared his throat, and looked wary. "You are… in my private chambers. You are very ill, Miss Granger."

"I hurt," she whispered, and watched in amazement as he moved, as though about to walk over to the bed, instead, he took out his wand and pointed it at the armchair in the corner. It zoomed closer to the bed, and he sat down.

"I know you do, how could you not?" Hermione noticed the bags under his eyes, they were worse then she'd ever seen. Raising an arm out of the bed, she was about to brush some hair out of her eyes when she noticed the boils, rising angrily out of her arms. There seemed as though there were hundreds. Her mouth opened in horror, as she stared. She brought her other arm up, and was horrified to see the boils rising even there. Pushing the beautiful bed covers away, she gazed at her legs. She could barely see them for all the boils that rose out of her skin.

She didn't dare explore her body any further, she knew they were there. She lay back down, feeling the pain course through her body again and again. Her breathing was hitched as her muscles yelled at her for moving.

What happened to me?

"You have BlueCloud Fever." Professor Snape said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She hadn't realised she'd asked the question aloud. He was sitting in the chair, watching her with an unreadable expression, his voice neutral.

BlueCloud Fever..., Hermione turned the words over and over again.

"A fever that lasts few hours,

But burns for a while.

A sweet experience beginning,

And ending so vile.

But never mind dear,

You'll hurt from this,

But the burning boils,

Will scare off death's kiss."

She said slowly, repeating what she'd read in Rare Diseases of the Mind and Body.

"Ever the know-it-all." Snape said, his voice still neutral. Hermione didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or be offended.

Hermione studied him for a moment. This was not the Professor she knew. The man who stood before her was quiet, and not sneering. She wasn't sure what to think. They were shrouded in silence for a moment until she broke it.

"Professor?" She saw him look up, and met his eyes. "May I please have some sleeping potion?"

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Snape didn't recall being so tired in a very long time. Even when nightmares pushed him from his room, he had at least had an hour or two of fitful sleep, enough to keep him going. But last night he had not being able to sleep, in fear of what might happen to Miss Granger. After the fever broke, she had fallen asleep, and not woken up until just now. That was almost 24 hours. So many times he had go and sit with her to check that she was still breathing.

Fear had overcome him in that he was scared of what might happen if a student died in his care. Even though Minerva had assured him that BlueCloud Fever was not fatal, it was still so scary that a student could lay so still and so quiet for so many hours. She had not even roused when he had attended to her boils.

Looking at her poor body, Snape had to fight very hard not to shudder. She was a mess of a young woman, with boils appearing all over every inch of her exposed skin. They had risen at a very alarming speed after Hermione had fallen asleep.

When he was faced with the prospect of boils rising on areas of Miss Granger's body that he would rather look at, or touch, he had been faced with a very interesting task indeed. Knowing the boils would be there, he had solved the problem by fetching a face towel from his bathroom and soaking it in potion. Gritting his teeth and cursing McGonagall in every way he knew how (silently, however), he'd slid the towel up her shirt, and gently dabbed it around, hoping the potion managed to reach all the needed areas because there was no way in hell he was going to check.

In the end, he'd used this method to apply the potion to her boils all over her body. While it used a lot of potion, it was quick and effective. At 3am, while listening out for any sound from the bedroom, he'd made more potion. The rest of the night he'd spent watching Miss Granger sleep. He had tried to correct papers, he had tried to read books, he had tried to do research into things, but nothing worked to take his mind off the problem.

At ten Sunday morning he decided to take a shower, to rid himself of the stench that was his worry. He was angry with himself for getting so worked up over a student. But when he returned to the bedroom and saw the object of his worry was awake, relief had coursed through his veins faster then anger did when he was facing Potter in any situation. When she spoke to him, her voice had calmed his nerves.

Yet it was much to his amusement that frustration raged through his body when she had recited that bloody poem. He could not let her see that, and when she had asked for a sleeping potion, he had to try hard not to storm out of the room.

Show off! Know-it-all! Over confident, Gryffindor bitch! He snarled to himself as he snatched the potion out of his private storeroom. He pushed his wet hair away from his face with his free hand, hoping to push away some of his anger. Anger has no place in sickroom, he told himself, adjusting his black robes. He needed sleep, and he needed food, so badly. While he body had once been used to being denied of such luxuries, the added strain of a student's life hadn't very often been added into the mix.

Returning to the room, he found Miss Granger studying her arms, tears running down her face. She looked up when he entered. "It hurts so much." Her voice broke, taking his spirit with him.

What was wrong with him? What did he care whether the wench was in pain or not. The fact that the moment she is not longer in pain, you can throw her from your bed, a voice inside his head told. But he knew this was a blatant lie.

Holding the sleep potion, he moved to sit on the bed next to her. "Here, drink this, it'll help. It's a potion for numb sleep." He brought the potion up her lips. "You won't have to worry about the pain."

"Thank you." She whispered, taking the potion.

Severus Snape sat next to her on the bed long after she fell asleep.

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Wow! I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten, I'm really feeling very special now! Since I didn't reply to any reviews last chapter, being so tired and all, I'll make it up to you all now! Thank you again for all your readers!

Hello BrokenAngel1901, great to see you enjoy the way I write! Keep reading, hope you continue to like it!

Snape14, I'm really happy that you like the way I write those things with repeating, it's just a way to make sure the whole impact of the situation gets across. Thanks for your really nice compliments!

Your wish for an update has been granted, Severus-Fan. I hope you enjoy these new chapters and this story will hopefully continue to make you feel warm.

Jenonymous, while McGonagall I agree is a little ooc, she's also a professional who wants the best for both her staff and her students.

I'm glad you're liking the way I'm headed, Nastygurl, I'm still working on it all! Again, stick with me!

Yeah, bookxlurver, it is a bit of an odd storyline, but one I though would hopefully work out. Glad you like it, despite it being weird.

Come on Kiki, Snape can definitely be cute ;-) Let's see what you think of him after the next couple of chapters! And no, I don't attend school during Summer. I'm actually in Australia, so it's winter for me at the moment.

Tinas74, glad you liked how my chapters became a little longer, yeah, I realised they were too short, now work at keeping them fairly longer, which is working out okay. This is my first, I have a long way to go yet with getting better, please keep reading and help me out!

I was thrilled to get your review not mad mentally unstable! I hope your computer behaves itself a little more, and allows you to read more of my story!

JTBJAB, hope you enjoyed Snape's reaction to that scene, as was explained in this chapter1

He does to, Shdwcat27, he just doesn't know it yet.

Thank you so much for your review xxx-kisses-xxx, you're got a really valid point that while Snape may have been ooc, that may just how he is when we don't see it. I'm sorry about my typos, I should get a beta, shouldn't I:-P But I enjoy writing and posting as soon as I've written, which probably isn't such a good thing, hey? Also, I will look out for you and your tuna!

Yes NayNay, I know you'll beat me up, why do you think I'm still writing! Lol. Hopefully your question was answered in this chapter!

Sorry that I'll probably disappoint you on the update front Fuji-hopper, I probably won't get close to my computer after tonight to update!