Chapter 4

"You will do nothing without my say so. You will touch nothing, you will say nothing and if I see you doing, touching or hear you say anything then I will personally make sure that you are never allowed within a 100 metres of these labs or myself. Is that clear Miss Granger?" he sneered as he looked this, girl up and down.

She gulped, "Yes S-s-sir." was the rather shaky reply.

"Good, now sit over there and do not, make a sound." he whispered venomously.

Moving as delicately as a ballerina she slid herself on one of the stools behind a random desk in the room.

Severus moved with the grace of a swan as he body moved instruments ready to begin preparation of a very volatile potion. The thoughts that seemed to crowd his mind were of the Headmaster's stupidity. He of all people knew that Snape wasn't a terribly, polite, man to get along with and why it had compelled his elder to force this, girl, upon him was inconceivable to his mind to say the least. As he lit a mild flame and watched his magic entwine with its sparks part of his mind swam into the region of Miss Granger.

A Young Gryffindor she may be but a stupid, ignorant fool she was not. Question was, why had she accepted a task such as this? She of all should know that his temper was icy at the best of times as many a time, when seeking approval he had blatantly rejected her efforts to please in a harsh and hurtful way.

As he added powdered ivy leaves, his eyes never leaving the potion, his deep velvet tones unleashed themselves upon the innocent victim behind him.

"Pray tell Miss Granger," his silky voice let out, "a young lady such as yourself should have much better things to do with her time then spend them down here coped up with an unfriendly git such as myself, why aren't you with Potter or Weasley? I'm sure they'd appreciate your company much more than I."

Inwardly she rolled her eyes and sighed quietly. Obviously he had not shown much attention to her as of late or he would have realised that the Head Girl no longer held such companions as Harry and Ron for they were now more concerned when their next 'meal' would come from, in the form a delightful lady, than the troubles of their so called best friend.

"I doubt that very much sir." She replied, a distant tone to her voice.

"Why would you say that Miss Granger?" he inquired, honestly curious from her reply.

It seemed strange to her that she would openly converse such thoughts in her mind with the professor, but quickly shunned any further leads to the answer as she watched the professor's hand delicately slice the asphodel root into perfect penny sizes.

"They seemed to be occupied with the concerns of men as of late. Far to busy to spend time with the likes of me. It seems that boys in my year are far more concerned with girls such as Lavender Brown to concern their selves with friends or even small acquaintances similar to the likes of me." She blushed at her reply, so honest with the obvious down putting statements was she that she didn't see the small frown appear on the Potions Master's face as he stirred in the bats blood.

"Young man such as, Mr Weasley," he sneered with disgust at the name, "has no consideration for what is truly valued in life. One day Miss Granger, he will look up and see the cloud that has blinded you from his vision and realise how stupid he has been." He pointedly looked across the room at her, still stirring his potion, "When that day comes I hope you will not fall into the trap of accepting his proposal, you deserve more than him."

Hermione openly gaped at her professor before promptly shutting her mouth with decorum. The profound compliment not lost on her she smiled.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"What on earth for?" he questioned, clearly confused.

"For letting me know that life doesn't revolve around the pretty girls and that I'm not wasting my life by doing what I love."

Severus narrowed his eyes a little. Such a young girl to have such negative thoughts on the world, although, he at this age had already pledged his life to the Dark Lord so how hypocritical was he to admonish her for her negative thinking on life?

The next morning light shone into the window of the Gryffindor 7th year girls' dormitory and made a beeline for one Hermione Granger. Tossing to avoid the unwelcome wakeup call she grunted in disapproval as she landed in an undignified heap on the wooden floor below. She groaned as she felt the bump on her head swell slightly and used all her effort to pull herself back up from the pile she had created on the floor and onto the grand four poster single in the dormitory.

Flattening her bushy main a little she reached over her pillows to pick up the muggle alarm clock. A nice present from Molly for her birthday last year. Seemed Arthur had found that tinkering with muggle artefacts did have its advantages and received a very wide grin from Hermione when she opened her wrapping to find a normal, silver, muggle radio/alarm that was usable in Hogwarts. Not that she was complaining, but she did miss some of her muggle technology as the best alarms that were available at Hogwarts screamed at the top of their voice, 'Up! Up! Up! Don't waste the time and get in line, Up! Up! Up! Lying down will cause a frown.'

Let's just say that the other girls in the dorm didn't much like it at 5.30 in the morning. Could she help it if she liked to be up early? Maybe but it was habit. Ever since primary school she had always got up early and ran. It didn't matter where, just as long as she could feel the fresh morning air hitting her legs and allowing herself to feel as if her legs could take her anywhere. It was a Hermione thing; she knew this but the feel of the morning grass under her trainers before a full timetable was heaven. She felt connected to everything.

And so, as she pulled her jacket on she pulled the zipper up to the top and stretched her tired limbs before heading down the stairs to the Grounds, to her release. She didn't happen to know that at the very same time someone on the grounds would be showing her just how release in some terms can mean almost certain death for another.

His limbs shook with every effortful step he took. His hair was sticking to his forehead and making it ever so more difficult to see; even if it wasn't for the pretty little rings forming at the corners of his eyes. He could feel the tremors in his legs getting worse and worse and soon, they wouldn't be able to hold him up anymore.

As if his body had heard his mind his legs collapsed beneath him just on the edge of the forbidden forest, leaving his mangled body in view for all to see. Just what he needed, a student to stumble upon him in the early hours of the morning, screaming because they saw blood, he groaned in unfairness and passed out.

She breathed in the air as her legs took her further and further away from the castle and towards the forest. She couldn't even feel her legs moving her form one step to another and it felt like she was gliding. Closing her eyes she smiled before stopping abruptly.

Smelling the air her forehead became creased in confusion and she opened her eyes to see a crumpled figure laying just yards from her. Eyes widening in shock she shock her head quickly and began sprinting towards them.

Reaching the body she had to take a step back as realisation hit her that it was Professor Snape, and he had obviously come back from Voldemort. Tears began to form slightly at the corners of her eyes at the state of him, blood everywhere and the pain etched on his face was unbearable.

Shaking her head she quickly got to work. Finding where the blood was flowing from she cast a sewing charm to seal the wound. Searching for any other bumps or breaks she saw his left arm was protruding a rather large bone from the skin. Thinking back to last year when she had helped Madame Promfrey in the Infirmary after a rather bad year of Quidditch the bone charm came back to her. Now she had never done this ever in her entire life but now wasn't the time to be squeamish. If she didn't fix it, when she tried to move him it might get worse.

Furrowing her brow she looked at the offending limb and whispered under her breath, "Brachium Imendo."

Hearing a deafening crack she began to panic, but the swelling had reduced considerably and there was no longer a bone jutting out of the Professor's arm. Composing herself with a deep breath she quickly debated what to do with the professor, get Dumbledore, take him the Infirmary, or take him to his rooms? Deciding on the latter of the three she pulled his robes over his bare chest for warmth before bending slightly to stand up when her wrist was captured in a glass shattering grip. Hissing in pain she looked back to the Professor to see his eyes gazing around widely, delirious.

"Professor, pleased," she gasped in pain, "let go, I'm not going to hurt you." She struggled and bent back down to him.

He squinted in the light and comprehension dawning onto his face, "Miss Granger?" he questioned with suspicion.

"Yes," she replied, "We're on the grounds, I think its best if we get you inside so Madame Promfrey can have a look at you." She started as he began to ease his grip on her.

His strength returned ten fold and he pulled her down to him, "No," he spluttered, "not that damnable woman. Take me to my rooms. Do not take me to the Hospital wing." He begged.

"Alright, but shouldn't I tell Professor Dumbledore? Shouldn't he kn--"

"No. I don't want him interfering." He impressed with urgency, "just leave me be." He forced out as he tried to pull himself back up, "I don't want your pity. I can take care of myself." He said stubbornly.

"I won't get them." She tried to get him to lay back down but she didn't need to as his arms buckled underneath him sending him flat against the wet grass, "Just let me take you to your rooms."

He grunted in response as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

'What a day.' She thought to herself as she cast the morblicorpus charm on her teacher's body, 'what a day'.