This is probably my longest chapter yet, and also the longest list of replies to reviews, just because I've been missing them the last couple of days. With a bit of luck, chapter 14 will be up tonight! Enjoy this one for now!

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Chapter Thirteen

Try as he may, Snape could not help but let the horribly embarrassed feeling creep through his system. She'd seen him, she had been awake when he'd left the bathroom. How could he not tell? Oh, he was just so distracted! Smoothing his robes, he turned to face the Gryffindor witch.

"You saw," he stated, looking at her disfigured face.

He watched her as she tried to grasp for words that just weren't coming. He knew she was just as embarrassed as he was. "I-I… I didn't mean to look." She whispered.

Snape knew he had no right to be angry with her, he was the one who had stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. Letting out a breath, he forced his anger onto its fraying leash. "It's perfectly fine, Miss Granger." He said, in his cold voice. "It was not your fault that you awoke at such an awkward time." He almost choked the words – here he was apologising to a student! "Would you like some more sleeping potion?"

"No, thank you, Professor." She whispered, much to his surprise. "What is the time?"

"It's four thirty, Miss Granger."

"Oh…" she looked thoughtful. "What potion would I have done if I were in class today, sir?"

Her question threw him off guard completely, though when he thought about it, it was really hardly surprising. Any other student would have been thrilled for the chance to have missed a class, and here she wanted to know what she missed. He took a breath and answered her question.

"Your… classmates made a start on the Living Death potion." He noticed the way her eyes lit up at the thought of brewing this potion. "However, I must highly emphasis the usage of the word "start"." He growled, sitting on his small cot bed. "Your presence was quite… sorely missed by your classmates today."

He watched in amazement as she giggled at him. "My guess is Neville blew it up because he added too much unicorn hair to the mix, or too soon."

It did not fail to surprise him that Miss Granger knew exactly what was in such potion, or she knew what would happen if something were to go wrong with it. He had come to expect such behaviour from the Gryffindor, although in s classroom, he far from appreciated her hand constantly waving in the air at him.

"Correct, Miss Granger." He said in his silky tones. "He destroyed the classroom… again." I'm almost beginning to appreciate your help, he thought, but did not dare say. "Perhaps, when you are feeling better, you could demonstrate your ability to brew the potion. It is one that often shows up on your NEWTs." He said quite stiffly, not believing the words that were coming out his mouth.

He saw her smile at him again. "Yes, that would be good; I'd hate it if I were to get it wrong…"

Snape almost wanted to tell her that she shouldn't worry. After all, in all her seven years at Hogwarts, she was yet to make a mistake in brewing a potion. But he did not. Instead, more foolish words tumbled out his mouth.

"Perhaps you would also like me to fetch some of your homework from today. If you cannot complete it due to your… illness, perhaps you would at least like to know what is required of you when you are fully recovered." If only to occupy your silly little mind while you stay the voice in his head tried to add. Unfortunately, he could not bring himself to believe it.

"Yes, thank you, that would be greatly appreciated." She said. Looking down at her hands, he watched her bite her lip.

"Sir?" She asked, quietly. "I'm not entirely sure if I want to know the answer to this… but am I going to be scarred because of this?"

He turned the thought over in his head. From what he had read about BlueCloud Fever, and also what he had seen first hand on her body, "No, I don't believe you will, unless you scratch the boils. The potion seems to be clearing them away quite quickly, leaving almost no marks."

She sighed in relief.

"Perhaps you would also like your potion now?" Snape suggested, knowing it was nearing the time when he would have to apply more potion to her awful boils. When she agreed, he fetched the potion and sat by her as she drank and slowly drifted into sleep. Carefully applying the potion to her body, he could not help but feel extra embarrassed about touching her now, even if it was to help her heal.

She'd seen him at his absolute worst. Yet he couldn't help buy admire how well she'd taken it.

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Feeling too tired to move, Hermione leaned back against a tree trunk. She was worried about what she had seen, worried about the man who sat a metre or three away from her, he too leaning against a tree trunk. He'd just given her what she know realised was potion to help soothe her pain and heal her boils.

His touch had been again neither impersonal nor sexual, but he felt his hesitation. Why didn't she deny being awake when he had entered the room, tell him that she'd seen nothing? Because that would have been lying, she scolded herself.

Knowing that while she could watch him, he would only see her sleeping, Hermione allowed her gaze to travel in his direction, and was most surprised to see him looking back at her, a strange look worn into his features. Oh, how she longed to know what he was thinking, see if he hated her for seeing what she did. But she she'd seen and she'd worry about him.

Finally, he stood and left the room, leaving her to her own thoughts.

While here in the dreams she had no boils, she was so annoyed at the fact that her body could not properly rest. Oh, how she longed just to lie down and sleep for awhile, to shut down for a period. She could not do anything here except sit, and maybe soar around. Once or twice frustration overcame her as she couldn't do anything but these two things, and she longed to read a book, or just see Harry and Ron. But she only saw Professor Snape.

Resigning to the idea that proper sleep would not come for quite some time, Hermione allowed herself to indulge in a favourite past time of hers; mentally reading Hogwarts: A History.

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During dinner, Snape quietly asked all the staff members what homework they had set for their Seventh-Year classes today. Although they all insisted that Miss Granger be waved of homework during her illness, Snape would not hear a bar of it.

"We cannot allow students to begin thinking that by being sick, they may simply forget about their homework," he retorted, with a sneer. "Especially Seventh-Years."

They had told him he was being too hard on the poor girl, but complied, handing over the assignments they have given out today. Only Snape knew that it was for the poor girl's good, she'd fret if she left her homework for days on end. Thought he wasn't entirely sure how she was going to do it.

Striding back into the dungeon after dinner (which he had actually managed to eat a little of), he found Miss Granger asleep. Shifting some of his mess away, Snape set her assignments down on the bedside table, before moving into his office to correct the weekend homework from his morning classes.

When he finished writing comments and suggestions, neither of which were ever very polite, on the essays, he moved to make more of the potion which Miss Granger required for her healing. First of all, an impulse made him check on the young witch. Much to his surprise, she was once again awake, despite only being asleep for three hours. The sleeping potion should have lasted about four hours.

"You're awake." He said flatly, approaching the bed.

"I couldn't stay in the forest anymore." She whispered, closing her eyes. "Maybe it's time I left there for good?" She asked, looking up in her his eyes.

Snape did his best to hide his confusion at this comment. The forest, he wondered. "Would you like some more potion?" He asked, gesturing towards the flasks that sat on the bed side table.

"No, thank you, not yet, Professor." She said in a small voice. "I was wondering if I could take a walk."

"A walk?" Snape snorted. "Where would you go, in this state?" He knew why she wanted to walk; it was awfully annoying to be lying in a bed day after day.

Almost smiling, she looked up at him. "I meant, just around the room, Professor." She said. "Just to loosen my muscles."

Snape thought on this for a moment. The boils were healing very quickly; perhaps she could walk without hurting her self too much. Then an idea crossed his mind. "How about, Miss Granger, I levitate you." Seeing her mouth open to say something, he quickly cut her off. "As in, you move like you are walking, allowing your body to get the exercise, but you will actually be doing no harm to the boils under your feet." He almost allowed himself to be quite pleased that he had come up with such an idea.

He watched as Hermione considered it. A bright look in her eyes was a response. "That would work quite well, thank you Professor."

Daringly, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would I say it, if it would not work?" He asked, keeping himself from snapping at her, his voice a gentle tease. He was rewarded for his efforts by a smile, which much to his disgust warmed him.

Gently, he helped her out of bed, and quickly cast the spell to allow him to keep her levitated. He sat on the bed and allowed his wand to follow her around the room, keeping her level as she carefully moved around his bedroom. After five minutes of doing this, he called for her to stop.

"That would be enough, I believe, Miss Granger. I do have other things to do."

"Thank you for your help, Professor." She whispered, and he helped her back into the bed.

He gestured to the small stack of papers beside her on the table. "I took the liberty of gathering your homework for you," he said in a quiet voice. "Perhaps you would like some help with completing it, considering the condition of your hands?" He raised an eyebrow at her again.

He was pleased with the look of shock that she did not manage to conceal flittered across her face. "Y-you'd do that, s-sir?" She asked. "I thought you had other things to be doing?"

He allowed his face to darken at this comment. "I do Miss Granger, but the quicker we get your work done, the quicker I can return to my doings," he responded, hoping that it sounded plausible.

His comment was greeted with a smile, and sitting on the bed, he called several books from his many bookcases to the bed. It was much to his surprise that he found himself enjoying the time, reading to the young witch and helping her answer her questions. Several times, he found himself just wanting to test the depth on knowledge she held.

She'd do well in anything she went into, for he found her knowledge on everything from Potions to Astronomy nothing like that which he'd ever found in a student before.

After leaving her to sleep, and applying the potion, Snape left the room with a sigh. It really was a pity she was so annoying.

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Okay, since I've been so naughty and not replied to any reviews from the last two chapters, I figured I'd better make up for it now! I didn't like leaving reviews unanswered, but I've been so busy with school and work. Yuck!

AH! I just realised that I have over 100 reviews! –Squeals in excitement and runs around hugging everyone who reviews—You guys are amazing, thank you so much!

First of all, to not mad mentally unstable, I'm glad that your computer has decided to behave itself, and hope that it still is! That threat to it's is still holding! And I figured that Snape should sleep all curled up, since he's a very closed off person! Glad you thought it was cute! OH, and I'm really glad you liked the bath scene, was a bit scary trying to write that one! What did you think of the shower?

You're dead right, Shdwcat27, poor tired Snape has no idea what's coming for him! And yes, he is just a little embarrassed about what happened!

In all honesty, SlytherinsDarkAngel107¸ I don't think many of us would mind being bedded by Snape! And yes, he does like her, it's just a matter of admitting it to himself! And yeah, it's actually well over half way through my school year :P Since it's middle of winter for me, being an Aussie and all, lol. I get like three months off over November – January. But I'll get until March off this time around, since I'm off to uni next year, EEK! Thanks for the hugs!

Yeah, he is all cute, isn't he Taste's Like Home! Though not toooo cute, gotta love the dark and cold side of him sometimes too!

Hermione's well on the road to recovery, Snape14¸and it'll be interesting to find out what happens when she is fully recovered! ;-) And yeah, I'm in school, check out what I said two reviews up about school for me, it's a pest really…. Despite getting so much time off over Summer!

Yay, glad to see you're still reading and enjoying Kiki! Your reviews are just adorable, pwease keep reviewing!

Ooh, little-starling, you made me blush! Yes, like you I'm most drawn to Severus, just because he's so shut up! You'll love the HP books, enjoy reading them! Ooo, and do keep reading Fan-Fics as well, they're great too!

Also, to Erin, welcome back to the site, hope you like what you read!

My birthday:-O NayNay, you're too kind! Thank you for picking up my mistakes, have corrected what mistakes you found!

Oh, no, I'm so sorry for picking that up, jenonymous! I will fix that, I can't believe I missed that! I feel so stupid, sorry for not picking your humour! –feels terrible—

I know what you mean about the fridge JTBJAB, I've got an awful habit of doing silly little things like that. And yes, though Snape clearly does too (well, at least in my story!). And no, she won't be scarred, like I've just said.

I'm really glad you like my idea, blackthornroses! I simply love your name!

Hi there Via, kingsmeadroad, stargazer156, snapes saviour, tragic fantasy, Transylvanian and deadlyabyss12! Welcome to my little story, hope you enjoy it!

Hope you enjoyed the new chapter Nattie88¸and that the babysitting went well!

--blushes—Thanks glassdragon2, good to hear you're like it all!

Hey there, Hprox4ever. Thanks for reading! I just gotta say that Snape is not going on about the fact that it's a mudblood who is touching his things, it's more about the fact that a female student, from a completely different house to his, is taking up his bed, in his private chambers. He doesn't wish to use a bed that a student has laid in, leaking pus all over:-P