"Go back into your parents room, Miss Granger," Severus said, realizing the smell was coming from Hermione's own room.

"But..."

"Now!" He bellowed at her, making her jump.

She backed into her parents room again and Severus almost felt a surge of satisfaction at the fact that she'd finally treated him with at least a little bit of fear and respect.

"It would take a bloody long time and a lot of terrifying and point deducting for him to recover from the cuddling in the cupboard room," he decided.

He turned on the light, and grimaced at the sight in front of him. Hermione's room was wrecked and on the wall, written in blood was:

"You can't hide forever, Mudblood."

But that wasn't what had made Severus grimace; it was the mess on the bed that had got to him.

That irritating cat had been the bane of Filch's life, always chasing Mrs Norris on its bandy legs and Severus had almost liked it for that. And now it was lying, a mass of fur and blood on the bed, barely recognizable as the animal it once was.

Severus was casting a couple of spells to test for a pulse without having to actually get blood on his hands, when he was pushed aside and Hermione went flying into the room. She picked up the mess on her bed, muttering to herself and rocking with it.

"He's dead, Miss Granger," Severus said, stating the obvious, but not knowing quite what to say.

Why hadn't she listened to him and just stayed in the other room? He could have cleared everything up and then broken it to her gently. Or maybe got Dumbledore to break it to her gently. He knew how attached she had been to that weird looking, temperamental cat. It had been Severus himself who had stopped Filch from poisoning it last year.

Hermione was still on the bed, rocking and stroking the blood covered fur. She wasn't crying, but Severus knew never to take that as a good sign. It was usually the people who didn't cry who fell apart completely once they were alone.

He stood, watching her, feeling completely helpless. He hated feeling helpless.

"Miss Granger, would you like me to give you a few minutes?" He didn't want to leave her alone, but he thought she might need some time to take everything in.

He was turning around, leaving the room, taking her silence as a 'yes' when she finally spoke.

"Professor Snape?" she asked.

He turned around slowly. "Yes?"

"What happened?"

He figured she wasn't completely stupid, so wasn't asking what had happened to Crookshanks, but more what had happened full stop; why he had turned up in her bedroom in the middle of the night and why they had had to hide.

"This isn't the time, or the place, Miss Granger," Severus said, moving towards her. "We need to get you out of here first."

Hermione rose to her feet, still clutching the mangled form of her beloved cat to her chest.

"I have to burry Crookshanks," she said, brushing past him and going downstairs. He stood there for a second, his eyes closed in frustration, then followed her.

She had wandered into the back garden, still wearing that bloody ridiculous nightwear of hers and was scrabbling in the dirt. Digging a hole, he supposed.

"How long have you been a witch, Miss Granger?" he said, taking hold of both her muddy hands and pulling her to her feet. "You are still a Muggle at heart, aren't you? Always doing things the hard way."

He let go of her hands and waved his wand. A hole appeared where she had been digging. Hermione didn't acknowledge his presence, but scooped up the body of her dead pet and put him gently in the hole.

Severus waved his wand and the hole filled in again. Hermione stood staring at the patch of freshly dug earth for a second, then looked up at Severus, hatred flaming in her eyes.

"If you don't tell me what's going on, I will kill you," she said, quietly, looking straight into his eyes, her wand clutched in her right hand.

"Now where had that come from?" Severus wondered, eyeing her wand. He was sure she hadn't had that with her before.

Severus stared at her and was hit with the completely inappropriate urge to laugh. Hermione Granger, the Know-it-all of the school was standing in a tiny silk night thing, which was bloody see-through in the streetlights and she was threatening to kill him, and meant it. It was surreal. She barely even looked him in the eye in class, but now she was staring him down and was almost, not quite, but almost intimidating him.

Was she even wearing knickers? He tried not to stare too closely.

"As... amusing... as the prospect of you trying to kill me is, I think we should get you sorted out first. Have you looked at yourself? You need to get cleaned up and then I will take you somewhere safe. Then you can threaten me all you want."

Hermione looked down at herself. She and the beautiful nightie that had been so precious to her, was covered in Crookshanks' blood. Even her hair seemed to be matted with it.

"Oh God," she whispered, looking at her hands. Her legs gave way and she fell to the ground in a heap.

Severus lifted her into his arms. She was surprisingly light, he noticed, as he carried her up the stairs. He pushed all the doors open, taking in the mayhem the Malfoys had caused as he tried to locate the bathroom.

After minutes of searching he finally found it and lowered her to the bathroom floor. He wanted to put her down to run her a bath, but Hermione clung to him.

"Not here," she whispered into his neck. "I don't want to be alone here."

"Miss Granger, short of me getting into the bath with you..."

She raised an eyebrow at him, almost looking like herself for a second.

"Can you just stay in here with me?" Her voice was pleading and he closed his eyes for a second, praying for a bolt of lightning to come and strike him, to get him out of this situation.

"That is hardly appropriate, is it?" he asked, finally managing to untangle her arms from his neck. "I'll just be outside the door. There's no reason to be scared anymore – they won't come back tonight, and I'm here if they do."

"I don't see what the problem is, professor," Hermione said in a slightly more confident voice. "You're hardly going to be overcome with lust over one of your students taking a bath, are you? And... I need you to stay. Please."

Her voice had got quieter and quieter as she spoke, until she was almost whispering.

Severus groaned under his breath. Did this girl think he was made of stone?

"Apparently she does..." he thought, as she stripped off the sticky nightie and stood in front of him, completely naked. Bending over to turn the taps on to run her bath, she was an amazing sight.

"I'm so going to Azkhaban for this..." he muttered under his breath.

"Can you be left long enough for me to find you some clothes?" Severus said, speaking to a point above Hermione's head, as she lifted her leg to climb into the large white porcelain bath that was full of hot, soapy water.

His eyes drifted down and his breath caught in his throat as he caught a glimpse of her breasts, smooth and creamy. God, he wanted to touch her, taste her...

His eyes met Hermione's and awareness tingled through his body. She'd been watching him as he'd stared at her.

"Thank God I'm wearing nice long robes..." Severus looked down at himself and pulled his robes more tightly round him.

"Acio clothes," she said, putting her wet hand out and pointing her finger at a stool, next to the one Severus was perched upon, looking uncomfortable.

A neatly folded pile of clothes flew through the half open bathroom door and landed on the stool. Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Wandless magic, I'm impressed..." he drawled.

"Thank you," she said, looking at him with an indeterminable look on her face. He dared to look back, because now all he could see was her head and a load of bubbles. It didn't stop it tantalizing the hell out of him as the bubbles moved around and he kept thinking he'd glimpsed things he really shouldn't be trying to glimpse.

Severus decided that now would probably be a good time to explain, because at least it would distract him from her nakedness.

"You are, I presume, aware of my... involvement with Lord Voldemort?" he asked, knowing she knew something about it, because of Harry, but not knowing how much.

"I know you are spying for Dumbledore, yes," she said, her hand reaching for some body-wash and distracting the hell out of him by sitting up, letting him see her breasts all wet and soapy.

It took him a second to get his thoughts together. He still didn't know quite how much Hermione needed to know about this situation and she really wasn't helping.

"If I may, professor," Hermione interrupted his thoughts. "I'm not delicate and breakable, however my behaviour tonight may have suggested. Please just let me know everything, because I've learnt that gaps in knowledge can become fatal. Don't spare my feelings, sir."

He wondered if she realized how incredibly surreal it was to be naked in a bath, calling her professor 'Sir' as he tried not to perve over her naked body.

Severus looked at her determined face and sighed. If only Draco had picked someone else, maybe he'd felt less inclined to involve himself so completely. But Hermione Granger was one of those people who, however annoying, managed to get into your heart a little. She was so... human.

"There is a tradition, a ceremony," he explained. "Every year, the people who wish to become Death Eaters have a year to complete a task. The task is to turn a student to Voldemort's side, and Draco has chosen you. He wishes to... break you. To make you either turn to him, or be so badly broken, that you won't care what happens to you."

"So he's starting slow? Killing Crookshanks?" Her voice caught a little on her cat's name.

"He came here tonight to kidnap you. Then to take you to his home and rape and torture you, holding you there until the start of term. Murdering your cat was just something to fall back on, as he couldn't find you."

"And you can't be seen to stop him, because it would blow your cover," she worked out. "So how do I stop him? Am I expected to play along? Join the Death Eaters?"

"That is what I am not completely sure of, Miss Granger," he said, nearly choking on his words when she started soaping herself all over. He shifted on his stool, eyeing the door and wondering if it would be wrong to just run all the way back to Hogwarts.

"I do not want you exposed to the same things I have been exposed to, and I will inform the headmaster of my opinion when we see him."

"So Dumbledore decides my fate?" she asked, standing, water dripping off her body.

His gaze raked over her dripping wet body, starting at her legs and working his way up until his red hot gaze met hers. She held his gaze and held out her hand.

At Severus's confused look she said, "If you could pass me a towel?"

Severus stood to pass her a towel and then looked away.

"I don't know what solution Dumbledore will have, Miss Granger. But if it could be one which doesn't put you in constant danger every day of your life, it would be preferable. We might be able to get around it."

"What happens if Draco fails and can't bring me to Voldemort?" she asked, drying herself and driving Severus insane with random glimpses of her naked body.

"He will be tortured, then killed," Severus said, bluntly. "But his fate is not your concern, Miss Granger. Malfoy knew what he was getting himself into."

He wondered how true that statement was as he said it, but put his thoughts aside. Draco's soul may not be salvageable, but Hermione's was. He wasn't going to have her turned into what he had become, which is what would happen if she ended up spying for Dumbledore too. Or worse, she could actually fall for all Voldemort's spiel and want to be one of them. He wondered if Voldemort had ever sold insurance or timeshare...

Hermione dropped her wet towel onto the floor and bent to pull the plug out of her bath. Severus wondered if she was being deliberately provocative – she didn't seem like the prancing around naked type. Then again, it was always the quiet ones, wasn't it?

"I don't even want to think about Dumbledore's dirty side..." Severus thought, thinking about Dumbledore's possible dirty side and cringing. At least it was distracting him from the very naked Hermione standing in front of him.

"Why did you come here tonight, professor? Why not Dumbledore, or someone else from the Order?"

"I didn't have time to send anyone else in my place," he replied, wishing she'd hurry up and put some clothes on. "I came straight from a gathering."

She took in his Death Eater robes and randomly asked, "Can I see your mask?"

"My involvement with the Death Eaters is not a subject I enjoy lingering on, Miss Granger," Severus said, tightly. "And I would be most grateful if you put some bloody clothes on!"

He got up and stormed out of the bathroom, his control desperately near breaking point. He had to put some distance between them until he'd calmed down a little. Maybe a cold shower charm?

He waited in the kitchen, which had also been wrecked by one of the irate Malfoys. A few minutes later, she appeared, wearing jeans and a sweater, her hair damp and falling nearly to her waist in dripping rats tails.

He waved his hands over her hair and Hermione felt something warm and tingly pass over her head and shoulders. When she reached her hand up, she discovered her hair was dry. A little messy, but perfectly dry.

"I need to take a slight detour and stop off at my house," he said, snapping the words at her, because he just didn't want her in his home. It was his sanctuary and he didn't want comments or judgment on it. And he feared that this witch was not any more likely to keep her comments to herself out of class than she was in it.

She nodded and then reached up and touched his face.

"Thank you," she said, then stepped back.

Severus nodded, feeling awkward and unsure of what to say, then took her hand and Apparated them both.