Chapter 8: Sneaky Gryffindor

"Professor?"

"What?" Severus Snape said looking up from his desk. His eyes settled on Hermione. "Ahh... Miss Granger... Why are you bothering me after class?" She smirked at his sneer, wondering what he could possibly be thinking under all that thick, black hair.

"Would you rather I bother you in the middle of the night?" She asked, bravely/ She thought she caught a glint of a smile in his eyes.

"Refrain from using that smart tongue of yours." Snape said, trying to keep a straight face. Why is she here? Is this about the assignment? He thought.

"I'm here about the assignment on the sleeping draught. "She made sure her eyes kept steady on his face. "I've already written a bit of the essay... and..." Hermione feared the next moment for many reasons. One of them just happened to be his angry wrath for bothering him. "I hoped you'd read over it early." She took a deep breath as she finished.

"Very well, but five points from Gryffindor for disrupting me for this." Severus held out his hand for the paper and as she reached out to give it to him, he noticed that her hand was shaking. As he placed the paper in front of him, he waved his hand at Hermione, dismissing her.

"The first word he read across the page was "Dreamscapes..."

Severus looked up quickly, to see if Hermione was still there. She was already gone. He let out a laugh as he read the word again. That girl is smarter than even I give her credit for, he thought.

IIII

"Hermione Granger!"

"Ginny? What's the matter?" Hermione asked as she entered her bedroom. Ginny was holding a single sheet of paper and looking quite upset and bewildered. Hermione just watched her. Ginny's eyes flared with a green flame.

"Are you going to tell me what this is?" Ginny asked angrily.

"I..." Hermione couldn't think of how to explain herself. Then it hit her; "I don't know what you're so angry about. You are the one in my room, going through my belongings... and questioning me about something that has nothing to do with you." Hermione said, calmly, yet defiantly. Ginny looked at her, obviously shocked at Hermione's outburst. "Well?" Hermione asked keeping a straight face.

Ginny dropped the paper, as though it were nothing. "Oh 'Mione! I'm so terribly sorry to storm in here, and demand answers. It wasn't very nice and absolutely unneeded by me." Hermione stood and embraced Ginny.

"I'm sorry too." Hermione said.

"After a few moments of comfortable solace, Ginny spoke.

"But really Hermione, If you wouldn't mind telling me, "Ginny reached down and grabbed the paper from the floor, "I really would like to know what this means."

Hermione took the paper from her and read:

"1. Make Snape speak of his past.

2. Learn more of dreamscapes.

3. Change his view of me."

IIII

Severus laughed to himself as he looked at Hermione's notes. Obviously now, there was no doubt in his mind, that the dreamscape was real. She had been quite the sneaky devil, giving him these notes.

"Severus what on earth are you snickering about?" Snape looked up and laid eyes on Minerva McGonagall.

"What do you want, Minerva?" Severus asked, grumpy that he had been interrupted.

"Well, I was going to my office when I came across this little feline wondering the halls." Minerva walked further into the room and dropped a black cat onto his desk. "I would you've you'd take better care to keep him away, knowing full well that Mrs. Norris is still severely hurt because of the attack your wicked little cat gave her."

"Yes, I remember well," Snape said smirking maliciously. "I named Lucifer well."

"Anyway," McGonagall said, changing the subject, "I really would like to know what was so funny. God only knows, I could a laugh."

"Oh you know... just another first year explosion." Snape said.

"Really Severus, when will you get a heart man?"

"Never." He said laughing again.

"Minerva walked from the room, clicking her tongue and shaking her head. Severus stroked Lucifer's fur and smiled to himself.

IIII

Hermione took a deep breath. Her mind raced into many different excuses for having a list with her potions Professors name written on it. But none very plausible. Unfortunately the real reason wasn't exactly realistic either. She finally settled on the truth, whether it was real or not she doubted Ginny would judge her too harshly. Besides, she considered, it'll be nice to finally tell someone.

"Okay Ginny, here goes nothing. About two weeks ago, I began to have dreams about Professor Snape. And then this thought occurred to me. Maybe he was having the exact same dreams about me. I wasn't sleeping very well because of these dreams... so for the sake of my sleep I did some investigating. Apparently Snape and I had been meeting on a dreamscape." Hermione took a deep breath as she pondered what to say. Ginny gaped at her, unaware if she should believe her or not.

"Okay 'Mione, I have two questions." Ginny said finally. Hermione nodded enthused at the possible questions. "You said, 'had been'. By that do you mean that you aren't meeting there anymore?"

"Well, I don't know. It's kind of a day to day thing. I don't believe I'll fully stop dreaming about him until he and I understand why it was happening in the first place." Hermione asked trying her best to answer Ginny's question.

"Okay. Now what the bloody hell is a dreamscape?" Ginny asked. Hermione laughed.

"The dreamscape is... like the meeting place between two dreams. An interception of dream waves that happened to clash and transport these two peoples' subconscious' into this empty world. Our dreamscape, where Snape and I meet, is complete blackness except for us."

"Wow..." Ginny said, taking it all in. "and your are sure of this?"

"Positive." Hermione said.

IIII

Severus sat there, just watching her. She smiled at him. For some reason, the awkwardness of their meetings had evaporated. It was as if both were now perfectly comfortable in each other's presence.

"Are you ready to tell me more about yourself?" She asked, slightly fearful of his reaction. Although she was scared she asked anyway. The idea of learning more about him outweighed the danger the asking of it seemed to pose.

"Miss Granger... there is something about me you have to understand. I have a very... dark past. I don't like revealing it to just anyone. I'm not proud of what I was." Snape said, looking away from her. The thought of her judging him, after the past few days was practically unbearable to the man.

"I know. But... maybe if you're ever ready to share... I'd be very welcome to listen."

"Why?" He asked. Why would this young little girl bother trying to open up his hard shell?

"Besides the fact that I thought it might help us figure out why we are having these dreams... Talking about things helps."

He looked at her. Her smile was sincere... and her eyes had a sheen of something. Maybe it was caring, he thought.