Hello! Yes, another chapter. God only knows when I'll be able to post after this one though, have to work tomorrow after school and have things on Thursday and Friday… but oh, I will try, you all know that I will try!

I'm posting this chapter before I've had a chance to re-research where I scooped that fish-singing link from, but I will do so! Anyone who wants it before hand, do email me, and I'll try my damndest to find it for you before them.

Please excuse any OOCness in this chapter. I'm totally dreaming for this, some of this stuff would just be nice…

Enjoy!

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Chapter Forty

Thankfully, Miss Granger had been too caught up in her work to take any notice of Snape when he told her he had to leave for a moment. If she had have been taking notice, surely she would have realised that this Sunday he was not scheduled for duty; or perhaps she had been taking notice, and had just assumed that he was off on one of his evening swoops around the castle. Which in a way, he was, just simply swooping down a most irregular part of the school – one he normally ignored in his paroles.

Stopping in front of a portrait, he wondered if he were doing the right thing. The grumbling in his tummy told him that he was – his body was too used to getting regular meals now to start skipping. And it was well past dinner time and the witch in his chambers did not to seem making any attempt to return to her dorms.

Once or twice, he had felt the need to remind her that she had other study to do, study that was certainly more relevant that her current. However, his desire to keep her presence in his chambers had outweighed that in a most selfish way, and he had silently let her continue.

When he noticed that dinner had long past, he had excused himself from the chambers, letting her know that it was perfectly fine that she continue her work without him to supervise. Swiftly, he had made his way into the Entrance Hall, and then back down into the bowls of the castle, though through brighter halls then those of his own dungeon territory. Hardly any students dared to venture down here – he had only known the most infuriating Weasley twins to do so.

Stopping before one portrait in particular, Snape gave it a thorough study. Was he doing the right thing, or would Hermione run away? Not that he could stop her… she did have work to do.

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Moments later, Snape was making his way back through the more comfortable section of the school, through the dungeon corridors, carrying in his hands something he hoped that no student would see him with. Except for the one he planned to present it to.

As he neared his office door, he realised that it was in the process of opening, and he could see Miss Granger coming out into the Hall, looking at the notes she held in her hand. "Miss Granger?" he called, stopping her from closing the door fully.

She gave a jump as she looked up to meet his eyes. "Professor, I was just leaving." She said quickly.

"Yes, Miss Granger, that I can see," he raised an eyebrow at her and watched as she ducked her head. "However, I was hoping that perhaps you would stay a little longer.

Once again, her head shot up to meet his eyes, and he held out one of the plates that he carried, performing a small bow. "Sir?" Miss Granger asked apprehensively.

"We happened to have missed dinner, Miss Granger," he said quite simply. "Though I suspect that this is not the first time in the past few weeks that you have done so." His suspicions were confirmed when a scarlet blush reached her cheeks. "As I have been eating frequently, and have noticed that you have not been doing the same, I was hoping that you would chose to dine tonight." The words sounded pathetic, he knew it. "Perhaps we could step out of the corridor." He gestured to his open office door, and was somewhat surprised when she stepped back through it.

She waited in the office for him to come through, and then followed him through to the sitting room, clearing some space on the coffee table so that he could set the plates of assuages down. As he did, a set of cutlery for each of them appeared beside the plates.

"Do sit, Miss Granger," he motioned to the couch now that his hands were free. Taking his wand from his pocket, he threw a spell at the fireplace, lighting it now that evening had fallen and the air in the dungeons was unmistakably cooling.

"Sir… I really should be doing my NEWT revision." She said somewhat nervously, despite taking a seat yet again on the green couch.

"And just what were you going to do for dinner?" Snape turned to face her, putting on his best demanding voice.

He watched as she fumbled with her hands for a moment. "Oh… well…"

"Stay for dinner, Hermione," he suggested, pushing the plate a little further towards her before also taking a seat on the couch, careful to keep a good distance between them. Before beginning his meal, however, he remembered to summon a flask of pumpkin juice and two goblets.

Unbelievable, she flashed him a grateful smile before picking up the fork. "Sir, if you could summon the juice like that, and also I've seen other people summon food… why did you go to the kitchens to fetch this?"

He flicked her a look out of the corner of his eyes, noting that she was chewing carefully. His mind wandered back to her fourth year when he noted at one stage when he had seen her wolfing her food down at full speed. What a change had happened, he thought, how she's grown up. He regretted losing two years of his life for an extra reason now, seeing just when the once annoying chit had grown up.

"Haven't you learnt, in all your seven years, that I do nothing without an ulterior motive, Miss Granger?" He asked lightly, turning his full attention back to his meal.

To his left, he registered her interest. "And just what was your ulterior motive tonight?"

To his disgust, his mouth almost watered as a thought flicked through his head, but he tried to blame it on the delicious meal that lay before him. "Well, why else, but to catch students out where they are not supposed to be, Miss Granger?" He asked, allowing the corners of his mouth to curl up. Before she could open her mouth, he cut in with, "and yes, I realise that it is still half an hour before curfew, but technically, students are not allowed in the kitchens." He noted with great interest when she blushed scarlet again. But she still managed to ask another question.

"Then sir, your ulterior motive for the actual dinner?"

"Nothing more then to see the Head Girl get a good meal – I've noticed you've not been dining in the Hall of late, Miss Granger, I can only assume that you've been eating elsewhere?" He managed to keep his voice as casual as he possibly could (and for Severus Snape, that was quite a task!), but knew that she'd recognise the underlying seriousness. If she could get on his back about not eating, surely he could get on hers.

Once again, he blamed the flip in his stomach to the scoop of potato that he had just swallowed.

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It was quite late by the time Hermione made her way back through the castle towards the Gryffindor Common Room. She prayed that Harry and Ron wouldn't be up, she knew they'd have already guessed exactly where she had been, as the library had closed nearly three hours ago, but she didn't feel up to facing them at the moment.

She didn't feel up to facing the furious bubble that was threatening to rise in her, to tell her off for the hours she had just wasted, hours she should have been revising for the upcoming NEWTs in. But after dinner, Snape had retreated into his bedroom only to return quickly with a couple of books in hand. He'd not let her use any of the books from the shelves in his bedroom yet, claiming that he should at least have some privacy. In the back of mind, she'd wished she'd had the guts to explore those books while she'd spent the week ill in his bed.

His bed. It was almost a good thing that Snape had finally realised the time as it neared midnight, or Hermione feared she would have been spending another night in the Potion Master's bed. It had been a long few weeks, and after such a filling meal, which she had to admit to him, was her first in quite awhile, and the sound of his voice, after another few hours she had found herself thinking of dropping off to sleep on his comfortable couch. Biting back a smile, Hermione was somewhat shocked to think that the idea of spending the night in his chambers once more did not seem such a daunting prospect.

Her smile grew a little bigger as she thought of the almost lazy conversation her Professor and herself managed to draw themselves into after their meal. She'd had no idea that the man could talk so much, even when she had been forced into staying with him while suffering the effects of the BlueCloud Fever, yes, he had sat with her and studied on more then one occasion, but never had he talked freely about the ideas and prospects in his field.

Remembering some of the things that he had said, Hermione almost didn't notice Ginny sitting by the dying fire side as she crossed to her private room. "Hermione?" the young witch called.

Hermione jumped once again, making that twice for the evening. Turning to see the redhead, she crossed the room to sit with her. "Hey Ginny, you're up late."

Ginny gave the Head Girl a sly smile. "And you're getting in late." She winked. "No need to ask where you've been."

Feeling the usual heat rushing to her cheeks, Hermione ducked her head, turning away from the cheeky Weasley. "I'm sure the boys are having a field day," she said scathingly.

"Oh, come on Hermione, who really cares about them?" Ginny leant forward eagerly in her armchair. "But what on earth were you doing down there? From what Harry said, you've been down there for like hours!" She gave Hermione a wicked grin. "You can't tell me that you've been studying all this time."

"Well… no." Hermione bit her lip as she admitted to this to Ginny. The younger witch looked positively delighted. Resigning herself with a sigh, Hermione began to tell Ginny about her day, starting from when she had stormed out of her own bedroom, driven off by the whinging by the boys. "Honestly Ginny, I don't get it!" She said. "They ask me to help them, like I've been trying to do all year, yet still wave me aside when I do!"

Ginny waved her hand impatiently. "Really, I've already said, who cares about them. Tell me what happened with Professor Snape! You haven't been down there for ages; what did he say?"

Hermione proceeded not only to tell Ginny about what Professor Snape had said, but also what the Headmistress of Hogwarts had said in her little visit.

"Sounds like she's giving consent, Hermione!" Ginny giggled, wiggling her eyebrow suggestively.

"Oh, stop it, only consent to allow me to keep studying down there. Besides, it'll probably be the last time that I can before NEWTs! And during NEWTs, so she needn't worry. And you needn't get any ideas in your head either, missy!" Hermione gave her friend a stern look before continuing on for the rest of the story.

Ginny couldn't help but interrupt when Hermione began to tell her about the dinner. "He brought you dinner!" she practically shrieked. "Hermione grabbed her friend by the arm.

"Quieten down Ginny, the whole bloody castle will hear you if you shriek it out like that!" She said, giving an odd sort of embarrassed grin. When the red head had managed to quieten down, she demanded to know full details of just what had happened down in the dungeons over dinner. "He asked me why I hadn't been eating lately – and threatened to take house points off if I skipped another meal. Can you believe the nerve?" Hermione tried to hardest to ignore the cheeky grin on Ginny's face. "And after dinner, we just sat and talked about Potions and careers in Potions and stuff like that."

Ginny was still grinning. "I can't believe that Snape has a crush on you!"

It was Hermione's turn to jump and almost scream. "WHAT?" She thought that her younger friend had finally stepped around the bend, or that Harry's continuos insistence of coming up with rumours and plots about everyone was seriously wearing off on her. And she told her friend so. "That's completely ridiculous Ginny, and you know it." She scoffed. "The poor man's probably just lonely.

"And you're more then willing to provide said man with company?"

Hermione stood. "Honestly Ginny, don't you dare insinuate that I've got a crush on Professor Snape. Perhaps I don't quite hate him as much as I maybe once did, but that's as far as it goes. Goodnight!" She turned and stormed across the common room, leaving her friend doubled over in silent giggles on the floor in front of the fire.

Getting ready for bed, Hermione thought over what Ginny has said, hoping to find more evidence that her friend was truly mental for having such an idea. Instead, she found herself lying back in bed, recounting the conversation they'd engaged in for hours after dinner. It had been most interesting, a lot of the theories that he'd had, that he could back up with books that she had only ever dreamed of getting her hands on.

The smile that had strayed across his face as she had left his chambers earlier, only due to the time, surfaced in her minds eye, and she found her smile returning to her face. Snape really was an okay man, she told herself. He'd certainly been most kind to her the past few months, never reprimanding her in class, nor chiding her for knowing answers. He'd not blown up as he normally would when she had barrelled him over in the corridor (though she still secretly thought that it was partly his fault as well!), and he had been a completely different man during the hours she had spent in his chambers.

Hermione felt almost saddened when she realised that it would be at least three weeks before she could spend any time with the Potions Master, for she would busy all week, and then NEWTs ran over a two week period beyond that.

In the last few days, before the Hogwarts Express would take her and the other seventh years away from the castle for the last time as students, she made a promise to herself that she'd go and spend a little time with him, in chambers.

She tried to convince that it was the prospect of studying down there that made her smile, not the memories of a lovely afternoon spent with him. As she fell asleep with a gentle smile on her face, she knew that it hadn't worked. But she refused to believe it could be anything else.

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--Rolls around on the floor for a bit, playing with a ball of wool--

Opps, please excuse me!