Hermione woke with a start, completely awake in seconds. She'd been having a dream and she vaguely remembered someone with shoulder-length, black, lank hair in it. She had an idea that he was very possibly starring in said dream. He would even have had his own trailer with a big, gold star on the door and groupies camping outside...

She closed her eyes and forced herself to stop trying to remember. Denial was the way forward, she decided.

She had a quick shower, using a spell to take the water from the tap and make it cascade over her head and into the bath. Showers were so much quicker on a morning, but Hogwarts didn't have one shower cubicle in the whole place. The headmaster could operate a DVD player, but still hadn't acknowledged the existence of showerheads.

She quickly used her towel to get the worst of the water off her hair. She hated it dripping down her back, but didn't have time to dry it properly. She wondered what charm Severus had used to dry her hair so quickly the other night.

Bah. She was back to mentally calling him Severus again. Professor Snape. Professor Snape. Professor Snape. Professor Snape who would be able to feel every strong emotion she had until the headmaster 'fixed' the charm so it wouldn't be so sensitive.

She willed herself calm again, making sure all her emotions were in check. Then she pulled on a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeved t-shirt, ran her fingers through her damp hair, making the curls separate before wandering down to face breakfast in the Great Hall.

She'd never really been a breakfast person, but had eaten a little of something every morning just because she knew that without breakfast the brain couldn't run to anywhere near it's full capacity. And without her morning cup of tea, she couldn't function at all, which was the main reason for coming and suffering the torture that was breakfast. Everyone was so damn cheerful.

God, she loved her morning cup of tea. One sugar (much to her parents disgust, being dentists), a little milk and as strong as she could possibly make it – that was her perfect cup of tea. Harry reckoned you could stand a spoon in it and Ron thought she was mad for drinking tea anyway. He always had pumpkin or orange juice. But where was the caffeine in that? Pointless breakfast drinks.

She walked into the Great Hall, taking in the one small table in the middle. There were so few of them who had arrived early that all the students were at the same table. Luckily there were no Slytherins, or she might have had to forgo her morning cup of tea in the name of peace and quiet.

She kept her eyes focused on her seat, refusing to look up at the teachers' table. She wasn't going to look at Sever... Professor Snape. She wasn't even going to...

Bugger. She'd looked at him.

And he'd been looking right back at her, the bastard.

She held his gaze for about five seconds before she had to look away. Her heart was beating faster, her mouth was dry and she knew he could feel it. She sat down next to Harry and mumbled something that could have been interpreted as 'morning'

Harry put a large mug of almost black tea down in front of her.

"Drink that and we may be able to understand you a bit better."

Bless him.

She drank her tea and started to feel more human again. Severus breathed a sigh of relief – her grogginess had been adding to his already foggy brain and even three cups of incredibly strong coffee hadn't been able to shift it.

Hang on, wasn't this supposed to be limited to when she was in her quarters? Why was he feeling her now? Albus bloody Dumbledore. He was going to kill him.

He leaned forward to get Albus' attention.

"Headmaster, if I might have a word...?" Very few people would recognize the quiet, silky tone for what it was, except Albus, who smiled at his friend's infuriation.

"Certainly, Severus, Certainly," he said, smiling at Severus expectantly.

Severus glowered.

"In private."

"Yes, of course," Albus said, nodding. "After breakfast, perhaps?"

Severus gave a curt nod and went back to drinking his coffee. Luckily he could only hear what she was saying when her mood was a little more intense, so he was free of that curse for most of the time. With extreme concentration he could almost block her out completely.

He wished he'd never let Albus attach the bloody charm to him. He had no idea how to get rid of it, unless the usual 'Finite Incantium' would work and he doubted it would. But maybe it was worth a try? It would be far less disturbing if they broke the charm now and started it again when Albus had fiddled with it. Draco wasn't even due at Hogwarts for another six days and none of his 'friends' were around.

He looked at the table Hermione was sitting at. There were only about ten other students and none of those were Slytherin. They were chatting and joking around Hermione who appeared completely oblivious, sitting drinking her tea, her eyes closed as the caffeine slowly but surely brought her into the land of the living.

She was definitely going to end up a coffee drinker, he decided. He'd started out like that – needing a strong cup of tea before he could feel human in the morning. Then during his seventh year at Hogwarts he'd been introduced to coffee by Lucius Malfoy and had been addicted to the stuff ever since. Strong, sweet coffee. He'd even started making his own coffee blend, although he never let the rest of the staff find out. They'd never let him hear the end of it.

Hermione was bored; he could feel it. He concentrated hard, blocking everything else out of his mind. The word 'Quidditch' popped into his head. Followed by the words, "Kill me, kill me now."

Yes, she was bored.

He stood, breakfast nearly at an end. He was going to get Albus to sort this out if it was the last thing he ever did. He did not need a seventeen year old girl in his head – he hadn't even liked being in his own head when he was seventeen. It wouldn't be at all conductive to brooding and skulking about the hallways when he couldn't concentrate properly on looking intimidating.

And really, life was just miserable without being able to make the students shake and jump at the sound of his voice. How would he have any fun?

He smirked. Then looked down the table to where Albus had been sitting and his smirk turned into a look of dismay and complete infuriation. Albus had gone, his half drunk glass of pumpkin juice mocking Severus from where it stood in his place at the table.

Severus snarled as he strode past the students, making a second year girl jump and spill her tea. Severus was going to kill him. He was going to give him one of his most painful poisons and... he'd have to find him first though, wouldn't he? And that wasn't looking very likely...

After a quick search that Severus already knew would be fruitless, he sent out the same 'tracker' spell as he'd used at Hermione's house, except this time it was specific to Albus. In fact, instead of being a bright blue light, it looked suspiciously like a Lemon Drop.

Moments later, the small yellow, Lemon Drop shaped light returned, looking dejected. Well, as dejected as a small yellow Lemon Drop shaped light can look.

"Albus Dumbledore!" Severus yelled, making the students in the dining room jump. "Get back here at once!"

He waited for a second to see if Albus would suddenly pop up from behind a pillar or something, before sweeping back into the Great Hall. Someone was going to suffer for this.

When he did find Albus, he was going to shove his Lemon Drops where the sun didn't shine... Except, didn't everyone already believe that the sun shone out of Dumbledore's arse?

He grinned to himself and the students tried not to cower. It was a very evil grin.

"I thought I told you to meet me after breakfast, Granger?" he snarled.

Hermione lifted her piece of toast and pointed to it with her other hand.

"My classroom, NOW!" he snarled.

Maybe he hadn't had enough coffee.

Severus had calmed down a little by the time Hermione made her way into his classroom. Not much, but a little.

"Professor Snape?" she asked, nervously.

"Yes."

She sighed. So he was going to be like this.

"You wanted to see me. Although why you couldn't have just told me what you needed to tell me last night, I don't know."

Severus' eyes glinted. "By all means, carry on talking like that, Miss Granger. Gryffindor will be in the red before you can even say 'Polyjuice'."

He let that sink in, watching her eyes widen.

"Sorry, sir," she said, wondering how on earth he could have known. She'd have thought the mention of Polyjuice was just coincidence, except nothing was ever coincidence with Severus Snape.

"I had wanted us to go over your plan of attack, assuming you have one?" He sneered.

Hermione nodded, then looked around the classroom she was so familiar with. She shivered. How could he spend so much time down here? It was dark and dank and just so... miserable.

"Is there somewhere else we can go?" she asked, bracing herself for his reaction. "It's so cold and uncomfortable in here."

Severus raised his eyebrows and she thought he was going to say something suitably cutting. She was surprised when he got to his feet and walked through to the back of his classroom. At a wave of his wand, a door appeared in the very corner of the room. He walked through and the door disappeared again. Hermione gaped at it. All these years spent in this classroom and she'd never realized there was a door there.

"Are you coming or not, Miss Granger?" Severus' voice came to her ears and she quickly followed. The door appeared as she touched the wall and she walked in with a strange feeling of foreboding.

The room was not unlike Severus' living room in his house. It was cosy and strangely warm, especially considering they were still in the dungeons. There were pretty ornaments and a few paintings. Hermione looked more closely at the paintings nearest to her and gasped. They were the most beautiful paintings she'd ever seen and really not what she'd expected Severus to own.

Professor bloody Snape, NOT Severus, she told herself.

The first painting was a beach scene, rocky cliffs and deep blue sea. But the clouds were drifting across the sky and the waves were really crashing against the shore. She could hear the sea and the gulls and... God, it was relaxing.

She moved to the next one. It was a painting of a forest. It was green and lush and she could almost taste the icy cold water, which was flowing over some rocks and into a large pool of water. The trees were rustling and she could hear the water cascading into the deep pool. She wanted to be there, to swim in the cold water and to let it take her breath away. God, it looked amazing.

She was about to move onto the next painting when Severus appeared next to her, taking her attention from the paintings.

"They're beautiful," she whispered.

Severus smiled at the wonder in her voice.

So he'd decided to keep his distance. Well, it wasn't even term yet – surely he could just do this one thing? He wanted to show her, because he knew she'd be so delighted that it would be worth anything just to see the look on her face.

"Give me your hand."

Hermione looked sideways at him and complied, slipping her small hand into his long, slender one. It was warm and sent shivers down her spine.

What was he doing?

Severus reached out and touched the beach painting.

"Close your eyes," he said, looking down at her.

Her heart beat faster.

"Sanctorum," he said clearly and quietly, facing the painting.

Severus looked down at the girl next to him. She still had her eyes closed and it would have been so easy to kiss her. All he had to do was lean forward...

"Open your eyes," he said gently and regretfully, letting go of her hand and stepping back.

She opened her eyes, confused. The sound of the sea was louder and her eyes widened as she realized that she was in the painting.

The sea glistened in the sunlight and the sand looked so soft.

She looked up at Severus with her mouth open.

"I didn't know things like this existed," she said, quietly.

Severus was debating whether or not to shrug off his teacher's robes and sit in the soft sand. It was what he usually did when he was here. In fact in his wilder moments he'd been known to strip off completely and swim in the amazingly warm water. But he wasn't completely sure Hermione would be too happy about that. In fact, she'd probably have a go at drowning him if he tried.

"A very talented witch drew them for me," he told, dropping his robes to the ground, revealing a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

The professor wore jeans?

"Very few witches are able to create these and they are worth a small fortune."

Hermione didn't care, she was still trying to get over the fact that Professor Snape wore jeans.

Jeans!?

"Honestly, Miss Granger," he said, exasperated. "Would you kindly remember that I am very skilled in Occlumency and with this bloody spell, I can practically read your mind."

Her eyes widened.

"I'm not in my rooms, Professor Snape," she pointed out nervously.

Severus groaned. He hadn't been going to tell Hermione about this little hiccup and somehow he had anyway. She'd really got to his concentration. Irritating girl.

"No. Apparently there are parts of this spell that Albus didn't bother to verse me on," he answered her, letting his annoyance show.

"I'm not feeling any strong emotions," she pointed out.

"I think proximity may also be a factor," he said, acknowledging that he could feel her far more now than he could at breakfast, when she was quite a distance away.

"I think we should finish this spell," she said, looking panicked.

"Miss Granger, do you really think I would be interested in the thoughts and feelings of a seventeen year old girl? I am trying to sort this out."

Hermione glowered at him.

Actually, Severus hadn't tried anything to end the spell. It would be embarrassing if he really could be terminated with a simple 'Finite Incantium'

"I'm talking to Albus about this," she said, firmly. The sea was beautiful and relaxing, and she could feel the sun warming her skin, but nothing would be quite relaxing enough to stop the panic rising in her chest.

"What do you think I was trying to do this morning?" Severus asked. "Just relax for now. This is as good a place to talk as any – at least no one will hear us here."

He wanted to talk to her about things he didn't want anyone else to hear? Her heart sped up again.

Fear and disgust, she told herself, trying not to stare at his mouth.

"What are you planning on doing about Malfoy?" he asked, silently adding at the end, "the prat."

Oh.

"I don't really know, Professor," Hermione confessed miserably. "I mean, he's going to try to do things to hurt me and I don't know how to prevent that, or even what he might do."

"I could talk to him," Severus began.

"No, you can't," she interrupted. "He'll suspect something if you suddenly start trying to help me. Stop trying to get yourself killed! There are some people who do actually care whether you're dead or alive, you know!"

He closed his eyes, refusing to let her see that she'd hit a nerve.

"Let me finish, Miss Granger." Severus' voice had an exasperated edge to it.

Hermione gave him a hard look.

"Go ahead."

"Most generous of you."

Her hard look turned into a glower.

"I was thinking of advising Malfoy on how to... get you. Steering him away from harming you, while discovering what he's planning to do, so we can take precautions."

Take precautions. Honestly. He made it sound like...

Oh My God.

Precautions.

Hermione sat up from where she'd settled herself on the sand, then quickly scrambled to her feet.

"Get me out of here," she said. "Now."

Severus rose to his feet and picked up his robes.

His heart was beating fast and he could feel bile rising to his throat. What on earth was wrong with her? If she didn't calm down she'd end up giving him high blood pressure.

He looked at her, debating whether it would be so wrong to just dip into her mind...

"Don't you fucking dare, Severus Snape," Hermione said, her panic overriding any sense of propriety. "Keep out of my head."

Severus' eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair.

"Might I remind you that technically we're still on Hogwarts grounds and I'm about to assign you more detentions than has ever been heard of in the history of Hogwarts."

"Just get me out of here."

"Miss Granger, Hermione..." he said gently. "What is wrong?"

Hermione took a chance. She turned away from the sea and stared up into the cliffs and said, "Finite Sanctorum."

Severus stared at the spot where she'd been standing and shook his head. Clever little witch. Or insane little witch. What on earth was wrong with her? This Draco situation seemed to be getting to her more than he thought – he'd have to have a world with Albus. If he ever found him.

He shook his head, then shrugged to himself before stripping off his clothes, walking quickly across the hot sand and diving gracefully into the sea.