Brushing off Harry and Ron's probing questions once they were released from the Hospital Wing hadn't been easy. There was no way either of them would have understood why she'd gone to check on Snape and she had no intention of telling them anyway; what had transpired between herself and her Professor was private, even to her two best friends. Knowing them well, all she'd had to do in the end was mutter something about her time of the month and they'd both looked mildly queasy and changed the subject.

"Er – Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin' … thought everyone would know by now … Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see? An' he was loose on the grounds las' night... He's packin' now, o' course." Hagrid informed them as they stretched lazily by the lake.

"He's packing?" said Harry, alarmed. "Why?""Leavin', isn' he?" said Hagrid, looking surprised that Harry had to ask. "Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin again."

Harry scrambled to his feet.

"I'm going to see him," he said to Ron and Hermione.

"But if he's resigned -"

" - doesn't sound like there's anything we can do -"

"I don't care. I still want to see him. I'll meet you back here."

Hermione sighed. It seemed as though Snape was back to his usual, vindictive self. Lupin wasn't to be blamed for the "werewolf incident" in Snape's sixth year, but although Hermione really liked and respected her Defence teacher, neglecting to take his potion last night had been beyond irresponsible. It didn't matter who he'd seen on that bloody map – even if it had been Merlin himself – it didn't justify him forgetting something so important; he was very lucky he hadn't bitten or killed anyone.

She wondered idly if Snape had taken a hangover-draught this morning, she rather hoped he had given the amount he'd had to drink, she didn't know a great deal about alcohol but she was fairly sure he'd had enough to knock out Buckbeak. That made her think of Sirius; she really didn't know what to make of him now either.

Snape had been treating Harry very badly over the last week. He started to look a step towards insane every time he laid eyes on him, a muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of his thin mouth and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry's throat. He was treating her differently too. It wasn't something you would really notice unless it was specifically directed at you, and you were paying attention. She'd gone into the first Potions lesson with him after that night with no small amount of trepidation. Well, if she was being honest it had been more like facing Fluffy or the Basilisk all over again, but at first it had seemed as though he was treating her just the same as always. Then she started to notice him staring at her like she was absolute filth from behind his desk, he'd notice her looking and his face would twist into a smirk, as if he had some superior reason for eyeing her with such loathing. He was more critical of everything she did as well, though that wasn't a huge surprise, it was his staring that bothered her, it made her feel embarrassed and disgusting and humiliated and she couldn't quite fathom why.

Hermione would have liked to be angry at him for behaving so petulantly, she wanted to glare back at him and smirk in the knowledge that she'd seen him unhinged and she'd seen him drunk and she'd seen him miserable after a nightmare and he was the one who should feel embarrassed, but then that little noise of sadness he'd made would come back to her and all her anger would evaporate. It was a bit annoying really.

So all in all it was rather a relief when the term ended, she was sad to drop Muggle Studies but heaven knows she needed a normal timetable next year. She'd observed a few nights ago, as she lay in her bed unable to sleep and wondering if Snape was being plagued by more troubling dreams, that each year seemed to be rather packed with drama. They'd been the stone in first year, the chamber in second year and the rescue of an escaped convict who happened to be innocent but then tried to kill her friend's rat, who was really a fully grown man, this year. Things were happening at Hogwarts and she felt sure that more things were to come.

And then she was hurtling home on the Hogwarts Express, greeting her parents on the platform and settling back into the muggle world for a pleasantly uneventful summer….

Sorry this chapter's a bit short and uneventful, this and the next one will probably be transitional chapters until the next significant moment between them, I may write the next chapter, or the one after from Snape's perspective so we know what's going on with him. I'll try and get the next one up tomorrow or Sunday to make up for this one being so short!

I can't decide whether I should have more scenes with Harry and Ron or stick to it focusing nearly solely on Hermione and Severus, I'll probably do a bit of a compromise but if anyone has any opinions on that I'd be grateful to hear them.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned :)

Text in italics from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Queen J.K Rowling.

Text after in italics is just for emphasis.