A loud crash and a long string of curse words resonated from inside the dungeon as Hermione rapped hurriedly on the door. She pushed the door ajar slowly and peered through the thin crack. Timidly, she walked inside and said quietly, "Severus?"

"Yes, Professor Granger?" he asked, sounding as if he was irritated to no end.

Hermione gasped as she saw crimson blood thickly coating his right hand. A broken potions vial lay in a shattered mess at his feet. "What on earth happened?" she asked, still in shock.

"What do you think happened? You knocked on the door and startled me, so I dropped the vial and tried to clean it up quickly, but the broken glass sliced into my hand and it began to bleed. You are very lucky this potion wasn't harmful."

"Where is your medi-kit?" she asked.

He pointed with his left hand to his desk on the opposite side of the room. "Bottom right drawer."

Hermione nodded, retrieved it from its place in the drawer and brought it over to him. She opened it and took out a roll of tape and sheer, cotton gauze, and then cut the gauze with clippers and laid these tools on the desk beside her. He had swathed his right hand in his black robes, but she took it and gently unwrapped it from his robes, now stained dark with blood.

"These will need to be washed," she said evenly.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Thank you for stating the obvious."

Hermione took his hand in hers, letting it rest on her palm carefully, and extracted a couple of antiseptic wipes from the kit. She cleaned most of the blood off his hand and then threw the wipes away in the rubbish bin. Then she took a small pair of metal tweezers from the kit and began removing the tiny shards of glass that had gotten lodged sorely in his skin. He flinched each time she plucked a bit of the glass out, but remained silent. Hermione then removed a purple potion from the medi-kit and poured it onto a clean, white cloth, staining it a deep plum color.

Looking up at him, she said, "This may sting a bit."

She waited for a response, but he said nothing, so she brought the cloth down lightly to his cut. He wrenched his hand away from her instantly, covering it with his bloodstained robes once more, as if protecting it.

"That hurts!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Thank you for stating the obvious. I told you it would."

He glared at her, but began moving his hand back toward her slowly. She took it in hers and, once again, allowed it to rest softly on her palm. With her free hand, she lowered the rag down once more onto his skin where he had been slashed painfully with the smashed glass. She could feel his entire body go rigid and he just about drew his hand away once more, but she held it tenderly, her fingers intertwined with his to prevent him from jerking away again. As she dabbed and swabbed gently at the gash in his hand, there was complete silence. When she had finished, she patted it lightly with the cloth and then wrapped his hand in the gauze carefully, securing it with a short strip of the adhesive tape.

When she had completely finished treating his wound, she packed all of the supplies back into the medi-kit and replaced it into the bottom right drawer of his desk, tossing the violet-stained rag into the sink on her way.

"Thank you," Severus said when she had returned to his side. "I am, uh…sorry that I…snapped at you."

"Don't mention it," Hermione answered. "I'm sorry I startled you. I didn't mean to."

"That's all right. It wasn't your fault."

Hermione looked up at him. Her face was sheer inches from his. Severus could feel her hot breath upon his skin. Hermione felt herself being drawn toward him by an unseen force, and she leaned forward slowly. Finally, she closed her eyes. His lips pressed to hers gently, so lightly, and her hand moved instantly to his arm. He placed a hand on her soft, smooth cheek. They were both rapt, in their own world, for a moment or two, until Remus Lupin burst through the door. They pulled apart abruptly and Hermione took a step back. Both of them glanced toward the door, where Remus was looking a bit confused. They both hoped that they had been swift enough to evade detection from Remus as to what they had been doing.

"I apologize. Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"No," Severus said quickly. "Nothing at all. Professor Granger was merely assisting me in the brewing of a rather difficult potion." He gestured toward his steaming cauldron. "What is it that you want, Lupin?"

"Well…" Remus glanced out the door and turned back his colleagues. "I suppose I don't really require your assistance, after all. There was a scuffle in the hallway, two students dueling, but it seems to have been sorted out by Minerva. Thank you. I'm sorry I disturbed you, and that I forgot to knock; I will allow you to get back to your, ah, potion now." He backed out of the room and shut the door softly. Severus and Hermione waited until they could no longer hear his retreating footsteps, and then turned to each other.

"Perhaps I should leave," Hermione said quietly, and then began to head toward the door.

"What did you come in here for, in the first place, Hermione?" he asked, but he was not rude about it. It seemed as though he was purely curious.

"Oh, I merely wanted to return your coat to you." She gestured toward his desk, where he noticed, for the first time since she had entered the room, his black coat that he had lent her right after the last Quidditch match had ended.

"Oh. Thank you."

She nodded, and then glanced toward the door. "Of course. Er, should I stay or…?" she questioned uncertainly.

"You may help me complete my potion, if you like. I could certainly use the assistance. Honestly, it is a rather difficult potion to brew. However, if you don't-"

"No, Severus. I mean, yes, I would love to help you," she answered quickly and noticed his shoulders relax slightly at this.

After they had been working side by side for nearly an hour and a half (during which time Hermione received a pleasant chill whenever her and Severus' hands brushed together or he stood too close to her body), the room began to become quite stifling. They both quickly removed their robes and draped them over a nearby desk. Severus did the same with his black frock coat. Now he was only wearing his black trousers and his white button-up shirt with cuffs at the wrists. He unbuttoned the top two buttons, though at first, he did not dare roll up his sleeves. However, he soon remembered that his Dark Mark had long ago vanished, and so he quickly did so.

Hermione smiled and blushed. She liked this look on him… she liked it a lot.

"What?" he asked suddenly.

She realized that she had been gawking at him with her jaw slightly dropped. She quickly closed her mouth and stuttered, "N- nothing. It's just that…I doubt if I've ever seen you in anything but black attire, although I must say, white works quite…well…on you."

"Hm," he murmured, and then returned to the cauldron. Hermione soon rolled up her sleeves, as well. Unfortunately, there were no windows in the dungeons, and no way for the air to circulate properly. She stole glances at Severus every so often, but tried her best not to be caught again. She assisted him further in the brewing of the potion, until all the ingredients had finally been added and it had begun to simmer quietly, steam surging out the top of the cauldron.

"Thank you for helping me," Severus said as he was clearing away the last of the mess.

"I enjoyed it."

Severus nodded and then continued straightening his room back into order and making certain that everything rested in its rightful place on the shelves or in the cupboards.

"I do not require your assistance any longer, Prof- Hermione," he said after turning around to face her.

"Very well," she replied. Before she left, Hermione walked over to Severus while his back was turned, as he stooped over the counter adjacent to his sink, and she reached around his waist, took a gentle hold of the hand that was bandaged, and swung him around smoothly to face her.

Wow. He should really wear only white shirts more often, she thought as she eyed his top.

"Yes?" he asked, looking down at her.

"I won't be seeing you again tonight, as we missed dinner quite some time ago," she said.

"We did? I hadn't noticed."

Hermione smiled and looked down at his hand bound in gauze and stroked it lightly with her thumb.

"Try not to be so jumpy when you're working on your potions next time, Severus," she said, laughing a little. Then she looked up at him.

He's so tall, she thought.

Into his eyes. They were still the same dark pair of black eyes, but they were no longer cold and unfeeling. Now, the eyes that were reflected in hers were kind and welcoming. At least, to her.

"Good night, Severus," she muttered, and leaned up and kissed him quickly and lightly on his lips, and then she turned to leave his classroom.

"Good night, Hermione," he called out to her, but she had already gone, leaving him with his limbs tingling pleasantly and on his lips, a warm spot in the place where she had kissed him.

Thanks a lot to everybody who reviewed! I love getting reviews, because it pushes me to post the chapters up faster! So thanks!

MiKaYGiRl- Because it's Snape, I guess. Lol. Thanks!

olivialynlee- Thank you! I tried to keep up the great spirit of Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry. Lol. Thank you!

SeverusSnape'sLove- Yes, so I've been told. Many times. But it's true, so there you go. Thank you!

Zoe- Hehe. Yes, well, Severus is really just an old softy at heart, as we all know, right? Thank you!

I think I may be falling ill, so Chapter 14 might take a little longer to get up here. But don't worry: If I can help it at all, Chapter 14 will be up here by Thursday.

Disclaimer- I do not own anything. Zero, zilch, nada. J.K. Rowling owns it all- the characters, anything to do with the wizarding world…everything.

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