Owls flooded into the Great Hall through the open windows, small letters and packages attached to their feet. Brown, tawny, gray, and in a way that was quite reminiscent of Harry's owl Hedwig, snow white. They glided gracefully down to the recipients and dropped their parcel in front of them accurately as they coasted down smoothly overhead, and then back up again, so that there was a great traffic jam of owls all making an effort to leave the Great Hall at once. A member of the staff rarely received mail at breakfast along with the students; if they did, it was either very exciting or very grave news. It was a message that could not wait until later to be delivered. This was one such morning.

A brown owl drifted slowly over to the staff table, Dumbledore's eyes fixed upon it. He waited and watched to see whom the message belonged to. The owl coasted closer and closer to the table, finally dropping the scrap of parchment in front of Hermione and then joined the other owls as they were attempting to leave the Hall altogether. Hermione picked up the parchment and unrolled it with trembling hands. She drew shaky breaths as her eyes darted from word to word. She recognized Harry's untidy scrawl as soon as it appeared to her, before she had even read his name at the bottom where he had signed it. Some of the staff were waiting uneasily for tears or swears or screams, but none came. Hermione was careful to keep her face blank as she rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into the pocket of her robes. Without a word, she stood abruptly and, taking great strides, marched out of the Great Hall.

Severus had thought nothing of the letter when she first received it, but as the day passed on, he began to grow a bit worried. He had heard that she was still teaching her classes, but lunch came and went and there was no Hermione. Perhaps she was sobbing in her rooms or sitting there alone, when she needed someone to help support her at this time, Severus imagined. He regretted not stealing a peek at the letter when he had had the chance, because he had been sitting right beside her that morning at breakfast. This had become their daily routine: whichever one of them arrived in the Great Hall for the meal first chose a seat at the High Table that still had one empty chair next to it, and that is the place that the second to arrive took a seat in. It remained unspoken between them, but it reoccurred every single day. Sometimes, they did not even talk to each other; they merely sat beside one another and ate their meals, and then left when they had finished.

Soon enough, dinnertime had arrived. She did not arrive then, either. However, as always, Severus still reserved a seat for her, just in case she might happen to turn up halfway through. However, she did not even bother to make an appearance. Severus felt annoyed at this, but he let it go for now.

Albus, who was sitting to his left, turned to him and asked, "Have you seen Professor Granger as of late, Severus?"

"How should I know the whereabouts of Granger?"

"Professor Granger, Severus."

"She was my student for seven years, Albus. I will call her what I like," he snarled.

"As you were mine, Severus. But this does not keep me from treating you as an equal, or respecting you."

Severus had to admit, it was true, Dumbledore had never regarded him as inferior, despite the fact that he was indeed Dumbledore's former student.

"And I suppose you think this girl deserves the same respect that I have spent the past twenty years at Hogwarts gaining?"

"Yes, Severus, I do. However, let me remind you that unlike Hermione, you spent twenty years regaining my respect and trust, whereas she has never lost it."

Severus stared at the old man. What was wrong with everyone lately? Why was everybody determined to never allow him to forget his haunting past?

"You never answered my original question, Severus."

For those couple of minutes, Severus had forgotten entirely about the Headmaster's simple question that had started this minor debate. Severus was furious with himself now, because he knew that had he averted from acting as his usual, despicable self, he would never have had to be reminded of his past for the second time in two days.

"I have no idea where Professor Granger is. Why do you ask, anyway?"

"Naturally, I assumed that if anyone would hold the information as to her location, it would be you, Professor Snape."

"Why is that?"

"No reason. None at all," Dumbledore said with a smile, his eyes twinkling again.

Severus turned away and scowled, glowering at the cheerful students' smiling faces.

"Perhaps you would care to find and comfort her. I believe that she received a bit of very grim news this morning, and I am sure that she could use your support."

Severus noticed as Dumbledore told him this that at the end of his second sentence, he had not said our support, but your support. Severus nodded at the older man and quickly finished his meal. Without another word, he stood from his seat and swept from the room. Although he was bothered that Albus had not requested, but ordered him to find Hermione, Severus was also, for some reason, looking forward to seeing her. He just hoped that he would find her in a composed state, instead of in the turmoil that he was expecting.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate it sooo much!

Minerva the 'Angel'- Sorry I stole your dream. Lol.

tallgiraffe32- I'm not very knowledgeable about these terms, like "OOC." What does that mean? And I'm really sorry that you didn't like it. L (I can't really respond all that well to your review until I know what OOC means. Sorry. J)

olivialynlee- You are making perfect sense! Thank you for the compliment! I could tell by your story that you like the buildup of the romance, and I fully agree with you. In fact, I think that is one of the things that make your story so amazing. However, I sometimes feel that I am taking too long, and I apologize for that. Please let me know if you agree at some point. Thank you also for taking the time to read my new chapter. That means a lot to me. :D

EbonySpirit- Awww! That is so sweet! Thank you! Don't worry, I have been updating fairly quickly, and I plan to continue this routine, so Chapter 10 should be up shortly.

zoe- Forget about my story? Ha, that's a laugh. It's all I ever think about! Lol.

selinabln- Thank you. And yes, I think so too. J

Unfortunately, it seems that I have lost my powers. L But it's okay, because that means that this chapter has been put up sooner, and that's good, right? Gosh, I hope so.

However, despite my very wrong prediction just now, I will keep continue to keep you informed anyway. Chapter 10 will not take long to write, I hope, and so it will be up in probably about two days from now, most likely on Monday, although that is what I said about this chapter, so I guess you really never know. Maybe I should just stop predicting when they'll be up altogether!

Again, sorry for all of the mistakes in this chapter and in the previous ones. Of course, I checked for errors and then double-checked, but I know I missed some that you people will find anyways. So, I apologize for them.

Remember: Review, Please! Even if you don't like the story, tell me what you dislike about it and I will try to work on it! Thanks!