A cold hand clasped onto Hermione's shoulder and she let out a scream swatting at the hand. She didn't want him to do that. His hands were too cold. He was the wrong person. She had to make him stop. She was just causing more trouble for herself. The hand came back to her shoulder and shook her. She started crying before she realized the hand wasn't cold anymore, but warm to the touch.
Her eyes flew open to see Snape kneeling next to her on the floor. She was lying on the couch in his office. She must have fallen asleep. She stared at him for a moment into his eyes that once were cold and unemotional now showing concern. Tears poured into her eyes in embarrassment and she realized he had found her in her most vulnerable state. She couldn't face him, but she couldn't turn away. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at him crying. Her head shook from side to side mumbling something about being sorry as tears rolled down her face. He looked into her gaze and noticed fear behind her brown eyes.
Before she knew what was happening, she was wrapped in a warm embrace. His arms around her shoulders calming her down. The cold hands were just a memory as his warm hands gripped her. Her head fell to his chest, where it rested rolling back and forth as she apologized over and over again. She didn't want him to be the one to see her half undressed, being assaulted by a boy. She grabbed at his robes trying to keep him near her. He comforted her for reasons she didn't know.
"Calm down. It is ok. It is all over." He rubbed a soothing hand on her back. Her sobs were shaking her whole body. She finally stopped and seemed to go back to the mature woman she was. He slowly tried to get up from his kneeling position on the floor but she tugged at his robes.
"No, please don't leave me. I don't know what I will do if I am alone. He could come back!" Her hands were in fists holding onto him. He glanced at her hands and noticed her white knuckle grip on his robes. He quickly sat down next to her on the couch.
"He won't find you. I will deal with him. You can trust me. I will protect you." Before he could stop himself, he hugged her shoulders to him and rested his chin on her head. She was still crying, but silent tears instead. He knew this was unusual behavior for a teacher, and even more so for him, but he couldn't control himself. She was in distress, and he had to do something.
"I don't want you to leave me. I feel better when I am next to you. I enjoy your company. I love your company. Please don't go." She whispered into his robes where her head rested. He placed a gentle hand on her head and whispered into her hair.
"I won't go unless you want me to." He leaned back into the couch pulling her with him until he was resting against the back. Hermione's head lying on his chest. She was curled up next to him with her shoes off and her robes pulled tightly around her. Her hair was sprawled out over his shoulder and down her back.
In all his years of being her teacher, he never noticed how lovely her hair was. He felt her heart beat slow down until it was at a steady rhythm and he realized she had fallen asleep. He twisted a small strand of hair in his fingers as she shifted against him. He realized since she had first raised her hand in his class, he had felt proud and respectful of the young witch, but now that she was a woman, he felt more than just respect. He could even venture a guess as to say he loved her. Just the past two days of working with her in his lab had been heaven. His eyes eventually grew weary and they fluttered closed.
Hermione woke up feeling better than she had the night before. The memory was still lodged into her brain, but she felt as if she could get through it. A warn arm was draped over her shoulders and she curled herself back into the body next to her. She tilted her head to look up into the sleeping face of her professor. He had changed, and definitely for the better. She watched as his eyelids twitched in his sleep. She rested her head back against his chest and shivered at the thought of Draco undoing her blouse.
The body next to her stirred when she had shivered and she faked sleep as he opened his eyes. Snape looked down at the sleeping form of Miss Granger next to him. Thoughts raced through his mind until he remembered why she was there. It wasn't because she felt the same way for him as he felt for her, it was because she needed comfort and he was the only one there. He watched as her body rose and fell as she slept. He liked having someone next to him like that. Through all the stress of the spying and teaching students who didn't care, he finally felt at home. It wasn't just having someone there, it was having Hermione there. She was a bright, strong, young witch, and he respected her dearly.
Hermione felt it was time to make her presence known a bit more and turned her head to look at her professor and open her eyes. She looked at him for a moment before pulling away and sitting up. She slowly scooted to the other end of the small couch, not that there was any where for her to go.
"I'm truly sorry. I just didn't want to go back to my dorm. I'm sorry to intrude on you like that. I, well, I just felt comfort next to you." She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the ground around her stocking feet trying to hide the truth. Snape watched and tried his hardest to not respond how he really wanted to.
"It's ok Miss Granger. I will take care of Mr. Malfoy this morning. He shouldn't bother you anymore." He gave her a small smile and began to get up. Hermione watched as he reluctantly got up and walked to his desk. He walked slowly and hesitantly, as if he could read Hermione's mind and realize she didn't want him to leave her.
"Thank you, sir. I never thanked you last night. It was, well, greatly appreciated." She smiled weakly at him and put on her shoes. She realized she never took off her robe and made to straighten out her clothes. She tried not to cry as she remembered Malfoy unbuttoning her blouse that she now fixed up.
Snape watched as she closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. She was strong and would get over this quickly. She was truly a tough witch. He looked down at the parchment on his desk and the letter he was writing to the headmaster. He read through it again and then decided to deliver it in person and maybe fill in some of the cracks for the dear old man. Although, he knew in his mind that the headmaster already knew about it. He headed to the fireplace and turned around to find Hermione fixing her hair up in a tight bun.
"Miss Granger, you are a strong witch. The brightest one I have ever known. You have grown to be the most beautiful, and frankly, the most perfect witch. You will get through this. I know you will." He looked at her shocked expression and flooed to the headmaster's office before she could respond.
Hermione stood in place as she watched her professor leave. Could that really have just happened? Did he really just compliment her to that extent? She smiled to herself at the realization that she had made an impact on her professor. A very strong one as well. She straightened her self out again and flooed to her common room. Draco would probably already be at breakfast, or perhaps gone.
She entered the abandoned common room and briskly walked to her dorm. She stripped off her clothes quickly and took a cold shower before composing herself and acting as if nothing happened. No one would need to know. She threw on her uniform and robes and tamed her hair down as usual. She pulled her robe closer about her than usual to hide her perfect figure. She did feel exposed now.
The heels of her shoes clattered in the hallway as she made her way quickly down to the Great Hall for the last of breakfast. She held her head high and walked as she always did. No one noticed the fear in her eyes of someone else doing the same thing Draco did, or at least wanting to. The Great Hall was halfway empty when she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Harry and Ron were sitting there talking when she sat down beside Ron.
"Hey Hermione, where have you been?" Ron asked her questioningly. She gave him a half-hearted smile before pulling a plate to her.
"I had to talk to Professor Snape this morning about a few things." She couldn't stand completely lying to her friends. Ron looked at the front table to find Snape missing.
"Where is he anyways?" He gave Hermione a weird look. Hermione followed where his gaze had been to see an empty chair where Snape should have been sitting.
"Well, I think he said something about talking to Dumbledore." She shrugged her shoulders when he began to ask why he would need to talk to Dumbledore.
"Do you have any clue what Malfoy is talking about? He seems too impressed with himself today. It is bothering me." Harry piped in from behind Ron. Hermione looked over at the Slytherin table just in time to see all the guys around Draco leaning in to him as he whispered something to the group.
It only took a second for her to figure out what he was whispering, because at that moment, all the heads of the boys around Malfoy turned to look in her direction. Hermione could feel her face turn red and tears come to the corners of her eyes as she looked at their faces and saw the smirk on Draco's face. She quickly looked away and composed herself the second she saw Snape walk into the Great Hall. She didn't want him to see how distressed she still was. She knew his scowl would not vanish in public at her tears.
The hall quickly emptied as students finished their breakfast and headed out for a nice, warm Saturday. Hermione walked ahead of Harry and Ron out of the hall as usual. Her maturity was no match for anyone else around her. The boys seemed to just fall into step behind her. She had calmed down a lot since the beginning of breakfast and walked with her usual stride. As she turned to go up the empty main stairs, a platinum blonde boy stepped in front of her, followed by five of his closest Slytherin companions.
Hermione stopped in her tracks and quickly wiped the look of fear and depression off of her face to look at her one true enemy. Anger boiled up inside of her as she saw the smirk on his face. Harry and Ron stood a few feet behind her prepared to stand up for her if she needed it.
"What do you want, Malfoy? Do I need to remind you that harassment is not a very legal action?" She glared at him with all of her strength.
"You know what I want, Granger. I believe I informed you last night." He slowly began to circle around her as his cohorts watched in anticipation. Hermione remained facing the smirking faces of the Slytherins as she felt Draco's eyes trail over her body and his whisper in her ear as he passed behind her, brushing a hand over he back. "I am fairly certain at least that you got the main part of my actions, before your little buddy decided to come in. How is he, Granger? Is he as good as me in bed?" Malfoy came back in front of Hermione and stood a foot in front of her face.
The anger and glare on Hermione's face began to falter as his words slipped out of his sneering face.
"Malfoy, I believe in order for me to answer that question, I would have to have slept with at least one of you, and sorry to inform you, but that hasn't happened. I also would like to inform you, that it will never happen with you." She thought about Snape as she said this. She would never sleep with Draco, but she didn't know about Snape. At her words, Draco's smile went into a full out offensive sneer.
"Your little professor won't be there to save you all the time." He took a step closer and Hermione could feel the warm air coming from his mouth. Hermione could feel his anger and jealousy. He wanted her, and he would do all he could to get her.
"I believe that is where you're wrong Malfoy. I will be there." A silky voice filled Hermione's ears and she stared into Draco's furious eyes. The eyes that were once higher than hers suddenly filled with pain and fell from her stare.