A/N: I would like to say thank you to those who have reviewed. It has helped. I also would like to remind you that this is my first fanfic, and reviews would be appreciated. Enjoy.
The next morning flew by fast with only one class to go to. Professor McGonagall gave out a small essay and told them to practice changing there appearances with the new charm they learned. Hermione was successful as usual in class changing her full head of hair into a black color while the rest of the class struggled with changing the lengths of their eye lashes. Ten points were awarded to Gryffindor for her success. As the class left the room, Draco brushed past Hermione and sneered back at her after she felt a hand brush her arse. She glared back knowing full well that it was him.
Harry and Ron followed her glare and were ready to follow Draco and teach him a lesson or two, but Hermione directed them towards the Great Hall for an early lunch. The boys watched as passing males gazed at their friend in front of them. They felt a brotherly urge to attack them all, but held back when Hermione waved at a few in a friendly manner. She smiled back at them and gestured to them to catch up with her.
They walked into the Great Hall and sat down in their usually spot. Very few students were in the hall at this moment, giving them the perfect opportunity to talk without being heard. Ron eagerly started filling his plate with some lunch. Harry watched Hermione for a moment.
"So, how have you been Hermione?" He asked while filling up his plate.
"I am wonderful. How have you been? I see Quiditch has treated you nicely." She heard them talking about how they played over the summer and tryouts would be soon since Harry was Captain. She winked at Ron as he smiled at her.
"Good, pretty good. Quiditch has made a difference I guess. Same for Ron though. He has to swat the girls like flies to keep them off. I just resort to bug spray." He laughed at Hermione's reaction. She slapped them both softly on the arm and began eating.
"So, Hermione, where were you all after noon yesterday? You missed out on some fun stuff." Ron stopped eating enough to give her a questioning look.
"I was helping out Professor Snape with some potions. We had fun. I'm sure I missed out on some stuff, but I enjoyed being down in the dungeons for once. He really has changed." Hermione took a drink of her juice.
Ron and Harry has stopped eating and gaped at her. They looked at each other than back Hermione.
"What? You were down in the dungeons with Snape?" Ron asked.
"Well, yeah. He asked me to join him in brewing some potions for the infirmary. He needed some help." She stopped eating to watch her two closest friends as more students began to fill the hall, as well as most of the teachers. She glanced at Snape at the head table as he talked with Lupin.
"You were alone with him? Why? Do you know what this could cause? There are already rumors about you two. This will just spur on more and give people reason to wonder." Harry's face turned into one of pure confusion.
"O come on, what is the big deal? He needed help, he is nice, and I wanted to brew some things. Those rumors have no truth to them." Hermione thought to herself of how she wished they did, but cleared that thought from her mind.
"Are you alright? This is Snape we are talking about. The greasy git who was rude to all of us for the past six years of education here at Hogwarts. You can't seriously want to help him." Harry turned away from his food and sat on the other side of Hermione so Ron and Harry surrounded her.
"I am fine! Snape has changed. I kind of wish to be friends with him now. He seems to feel the same. Start off on a new foot kind of. You should be happy things are improving after you killed Voldemort. You should have expected something to happen, seeing as Snape was a spy for us. With all the stress gone, things are great now." Hermione turned back to her food to avoid the stares of students at the other tables. Her voice had risen as she ranted to Harry.
"Hermione, he is still Snape. You can't trust him!" Ron laid a hand on her shoulder to comfort her or maybe just to quiet her down.
"Ron, you don't know what you are saying. He is kind now, and I do trust him." Hermione looked up in time to see Snape pass them on his way out of the hall. Apparently he had heard the conversation, everyone else did. He nodded at her and smiled slightly and glared at her companions before leaving the hall.
"See what I mean? He is still the same." Harry whispered after Snape had passed.
"No, Harry. You are the same. You killed the dark lord, and life is back to the way it always was for you. You had a hard life, but that is nothing compared to his. You didn't have the years of spying he did, and are able to live freely now. Everyone is free, but Snape is even more." She patted both her friends lightly on the shoulder as she got up to follow Snape to brew some potions. She smiled at them, realizing it would be hard for them to understand. "Now, if you two don't mind, wait, you will mind. But even if you do, I will be leaving you now. I have some potions to go brew." With that said, she walked out of the hall with eyes following her as usual, but this time for her change in behavior, and not appearance.
Snape sat behind his desk grading some papers slowly waiting for the potion he had been working on to cool before continuing on adding the necessary ingredients. He heard the conversation between the 'Golden Trio' as they had been called for years, and didn't quite realize what it meant. Did Hermione want to be his friend? He wouldn't mind that after all those years of just having colleagues and no one to talk to or at least be honest with. He smiled to himself at the thought of having her as a friend. He would really like that, more than she would think right now. He finished the paper he was grading and went back to his potion.
Hermione walked slowly down to the dungeons. She had taken a different path today to clear some thoughts. She came down a small corridor just a little ways off from the classroom she would be working with Snape in. As she walked past a suit of armor against the wall, a hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her against the wall. She took in a breath as the person shoved against her, pinning her to the wall.
"Well granger, I believe we have some unfinished business." Draco breathed into her ear. His arms were against the wall on either side of her. She could smell the faint aroma of peppermint on his breath.
"I don't think we do Malfoy. Unless this is about duties tonight." She sneered at his expression shoving him slightly away from her. His hands were still on either side of her head and his face mere inches away from hers. His eyes were angry.
"Duties, hmm….Granger, those are some things we should discuss. Duties would be a word for it. You need to watch what you say." He sneered at her in return. Her face changed as soon as she saw his sneer.
"What duties would we be discussing, Malfoy? I don't think anything we do involves each other outside of classes." She wondered about what he could be thinking.
"O, I could think of some things that involve both of us. Just you wait Granger, you'll see." He whispered in her ear softly. He nipped her ear and pressed her against the wall further. His hand trailed up her side and barely touched her chest before he pushed away and smirked at her. She was breathing hard and had a scared look on her face. He liked it.
"See you tonight mudblood." He walked away slowly relishing in the way he made her speechless. In his mind, it would be a fun evening.
Hermione straightened out her robes and leaned against the wall for a moment. She folded her arms across her chest feeling slightly violated at his touch. Moments before she had been thinking about her want of someone to touch her like that, but it was the wrong Slytherin that did the touching. She composed herself and walked briskly to the classroom. She entered without knocking hoping he wouldn't mind. Being by herself at that moment frightened her. She shut the door quickly and turned around and leaned against it.
Snape glanced up from his potion. His dark green shirt rolled up to his elbows and his robe lying on the back of the chair at his desk. He watched for a moment as Hermione closed her eyes and then stepped forward removing her robe and setting it down on a nearby table, her wand laying next to it. She pulled her hair up in a bun and turned to her professor.
"Good afternoon professor. What will I be brewing today?" He watched her, taken aback by her sudden composure. He blinked before realizing she was blushing under his stare.
"Miss Granger, is something the matter? You seem flustered." He questioned placing his hands on the edge of the table.
"O, it's nothing sir. Really, I can handle it." She smiled at him, trying to comfort herself in the process. Telling him would make things better, but she was too embarrassed to approach that conversation at the moment.
"Fine, well, today I would like you to brew the bone healing potion. More Quiditch accidents I believe." He smirked and went back to his potion after directing her to the other table.
After about an hour of brewing, Snape was getting annoyed. Hermione definitely seemed distracted and did not seem like she was listening at all to anything he was saying. She had already spilled some ingredients and even dropped a jar on the floor, shattering it. She cleaned it up before he even could turn around with the help of her wand. She smiled weakly and mumbled an apology. This was getting out of control, but he would not push her.
Finally the breaking point came when she sliced her finger with the knife while trying to cut up some simple roots. He turned at the sound of her whimper and muttered obscenities. He healed her finger quickly and made her sit down on the near by stool. He stood next to her watching her eat a small piece of chocolate he gave her off of his desk. He was glad he had followed Lupin's advice. It seemed to help her feel better. She smiled weakly at him and tried to get up to go back to brewing her potion, but Snape made her stay seated.
"Miss Granger, I tried to ignore the fact that you were wasting my supply of ingredients and my failed attempts at conversation, but cutting your own finger while chopping up a simple root is hard to ignore. When you came into the classroom, without even a knock I might add, you seemed flustered to say the least. I asked and you failed to tell me what was bothering you, but now I demand that you tell me. I don't want you chopping off your finger over something that can be taken care of." He watched her thinking for a moment when he had finished.
"Professor, I can't really tell you. It is really embarrassing. If I tell you, you have to promise not to do anything. I can handle it. It really is nothing." She watched him contemplate this thought before nodding and continuing.
"Apparently the boys have noticed my change over the summer." She blushed as Snape shifted uncomfortably. "Well, not just any boys that it, Draco Malfoy has noticed. He actually has done more than notice." She trailed off at remembering her past two encounters with the boy.
"What do you mean by more than noticed?" Snape looked concerned and slightly angered.
"Well, he has stopped me twice and told me he would be doing something about my change. He said it had him 'all worked up' and he didn't like it." She shuddered at the thought. "He stopped me on the way here and shoved me into the wall. He told me we would be discussing some 'duties' tonight and he would show me what he meant."
Snape folded his arms and leaned against the wall propping one foot up to hold himself steady. He didn't like the thought of Draco doing anything of the sort to Hermione. He glanced at her as she nibbled the last of the chocolate.
"Did he do anything else, Miss Granger?" He sounded concerned. He watched Hermione blush uncontrollably. He guessed there was more, but she didn't feel comfortable saying what it was. "Please Miss Granger, what else happened?"
She eased up a bit after finishing her chocolate and looked at him.
"Well, he umm….bit my ear, and then ran his hand up my side." She gestured to her side and slowly moved her hand up her side as a demonstration. She shivered a bit.
Snape closed his eyes and anger enveloped him. He didn't know why, but he felt jealous of some sort, but realized he was jealous of someone harassing Hermione, not her willingly having a relationship with someone. He opened his eyes slowly and saw her staring at him. He smiled comfortingly.
"I shall handle that. You don't need to worry about him bothering you any time soon. If I know Draco, he will say anything to get a rise out of someone, but never do anything of any importance." He lied trying to comfort her. He would talk to the headmaster later about the Head Boy. Right now it was not the time. "Right now, I think it best we forget about this for now and worry about our potions." He smiled at her as she got up to finish her potion.
The rest of the evening went by fast. They laughed and joked. Several times, Snape can remember bumping into Hermione trying to make her laugh or do something as she tried to measure out some ingredient. She would laugh and gently slap him on the arm at his fake apology. It was rather immature, but he was trying to get her mind off of other things. Sometimes she would place a delicate hand on his arm or back as she tried to pass him. He would relish those touches, unknowingly, just as much as she relished I his.
It was late and they tidied up and said good bye. Snape watched her as she threw on her robe and put her wand in her pocket. She waved and walked out the door. He thought about her. Her beauty, intelligence, and mannerisms. She was gorgeous. He smiled to himself at how he successfully changed her mind set after the incident. It would take him about another ten minutes before he would remember exactly what the incident involved.
Hermione's mind was completely off of Draco. The only thing running through her mind was Snape. His laugh, his voice, his touch. She loved it all. She walked into the corridor towards her common room, unaware of the danger that lurked behind the portrait hole in front of her.
A/N: I hope you liked it. You could kind of guess what is going to happen next, but maybe you will be surprised. Please review.