Chapter Two- Tuesday

Hermione had tossed and turned all night. The anger that she had held in and had refused to let loose onto Snape had made her sleepless and also the thought of spending a whole week under Snape's mercy, or lack of.

The bright sunlight of morning had come too soon and the bustle of waking girls had annoyed and awoken her. She awoke groggily, realizing she had only gotten at least a few of hours of sleep then groaning because she had a Arithmacy test later on and she never studied last night.

She hurried out of her bed and threw on her robes and started to head down to the Common Room only to be stopped by the sudden shock that she had forgotten her books. Maybe getting a detention had thrown her out of her usual loop.

Hermione made her way to the Common Room, books under arm, and she tried to look cheerful and sunny, but the fact of the matter was…she just…wasn't. She glanced around the busy room and wasn't surprised to not see Harry or Ron, who were probably still in bed. She sighed and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, even though her appetite was limited and she really should be studying for her test.

She made her way down the row between tables to her usual seat she would get and wait for Ron and Harry when she stopped short. Harry and Ron were already sitting in their seats and her seat was empty across the table. The two boy's plates were half gone and they were in deep conversation. She moved over to them and grimaced inside when they noticed her. She sat down and their eyes were burning with questions.

"So…?"

"So…what?"

"How was it?"

Hermione poured herself some pumpkin juice and sipped it.

"What?"

"Your detention of course!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Gee Hermione, you look kind of awful…"

"Nicely spotted, Ron…I thank you…" She gave him a cold glare and began to eat. Harry sighed and leaned over to Hermione.

"I know how bad Snape's detentions are, but…what did he make you do?"

Hermione stopped chewing and sighed heavily.

"I had to check off his cabinet inventory, but since he's such a right foul git, I have to go back every night after dinner until Friday…"

She stared up at the staff table to look at her Potions Professor. He was scanning the crowd over his Daily Prophet and Hermione snorted under her breath how he made it seem like he wasn't trying to obvious. His dark eyes then stopped and met Hermione's and they held a frozen hatred and she looked away. The anger she had felt last night bubbled up inside of her again and she took a bite of toast and then stood up. She said her goodbyes to Ron and Harry and then made her way to the library where no one could disturb her.

In the library, Hermione had no energy to study. Her mind was always going back to that look Snape had gave her only a half an hour ago. His deep eyes haunted her memory and their coldness made her blood boil. He was an arrogant man that knew nothing of compassion and justice. He was vile and cruel and Hermione hated him with every pore in her body. She just couldn't understand why her focus kept floating from her parchment of notes to that mean bastard in the dungeons. She sighed and tried to focus.

'C'mon Hermione, focus on your Arithmacy…oh wait! I have Arithmacy in 5 minutes! Oh Merlin!'

Hermione closed her book and collected her notes and burst out the library doors and rushed to her class.

Later on that night:

Hermione made her way down once again to the smelly, dark dungeons. She approached the doors and lifted the handle only for it to be ripped out of her hand and in place of the wooden door was a billow of robes.

"You're late…"

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but was ushered into his classroom and she jumped when the door was slammed behind her.

Snape thrusted the inventory in her hands and stalked away.

Hermione gave his backside a icy glare and stomped over to the cabinets to finish her work. When she opened the cabinet and looked down at the parchment, her eyes went wide.

She spun around and scoffed.

"What happened to all my checks!"

Snape sat coolly at his desk and a faint evil smile crossed his lips.

"I went through your checks last night and you skipped a few things and I know some things hadn't even been touched because the collected dust was still undisturbed. You just checked things off without checking them. You will do it right this time. Good thing you are coming back tomorrow night…"

Hermione felt like strangling her professor. She could see in his eyes a flicker of humor and down right coldness. She wanted to fling the inventory at him and leave in a fury, but then it would give him the satisfaction that he won. She would do no such thing.

Hermione turned and started to check things off correctly. It wasn't like her to do a sloppy job the first time around, but she found this whole detention stupid. She shouldn't be here.

"Oh, and Miss Granger…if you intend to get out of this week without having to come back next week, I suggest you pick up the pace."

She growled under her breath and began to work faster. She was furious, but refused to let Snape get the better of her.

Two hours later:

Hermione made her last check and sighed heavily with relief. It felt like her hand was going to fall off. She walked up to Snape's desk and almost flung the list at him. He twitch slightly and she felt the corners of her mouth turn up slightly. Snape scanned the list and then looked up at her.

"All right you may go."

Hermione hesitated. Did that mean go for good?

"Do…do I still need to…"

"Yes you do, Ms. Granger. I will not revoke your punishment just because you finished a measly inventory list. You have had me long enough to know that I would never do such a thing. Same time tomorrow night then."

Hermione groaned and turned quickly enough so she couldn't catch Snape's eyes and the hatred and annoyance she knew was shinning in his eyes. She grabbed her notebook and quill and quickly made for the door, when Snape's deep voice made her pause.

"Ms. Granger…don't be late tomorrow. Your next task will need all of the time you have for your detention…"

She nodded, not even facing him and she hurried out the door.

Damn him to hell.

Chapter 3- Bittersweet Dreams