But she turned and weaved her way into her room, shutting the door with a satisfying clicking sound, leaving Severus standing in the doorway. He sighed heavily, pinched his nose, and decided he definitely needed a drink to sleep. As he walked up to his office, he decided he would assign Miss Granger detention in the morning.

…

CHAPTER FOUR – DETENTIONS

Hermione woke up feeling groggy and uncertain of the night before. She was sure had dreamed about Professor Snape which was just insane. Grumbling, she flopped out of bed and shuffled to her small closet and pulled out her robes, they were slightly wrinkled and she though that matched exactly how she felt today. She pulled them on, grabbed her book bag and slowly made her way to the Great Hall, nodding at the Hufflepuff prefects as they whispered by the fire in the common room. The Great Hall was only about half full. As soon as she sat down, her eyes shot up to the professor's table and noticed Professor Snape's eyes dart way from her. Odd. Trying not to think too much about it, she dug into her breakfast, happily sipping her way through three mugs of tea and two pumpkin juices before she had to go to classes.

Severus anticipated his third class, the one with the 6th year Gryffindors, with some discomfort. He had decided on detention for the female third of the golden trio, but it would be harder to give her detention for something she didn't remember. It was an odd predicament. But even if her mostly-asleep mind had retained the memories, what would she think of their strange conversation? He glared down at the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as they made their way into the class room, Miss Granger was among the first there, choosing a seat in the front row. He watched with a smirk as Potter and Weasley came in later, saw Miss Granger, rolled their eyes and reluctantly sat next to her. He would enjoy picking on them today.

"Miss Granger." He snapped as the students were loudly putting away their things and rushing from the classroom.

She looked at him with round eyes, her lips parting slightly.

"My office, now." She nodded, and he watched as she ushered her shadows out of the room. But only after they had glared at him vehemently. "Ten points from Gryffindor." He muttered out of spite.

"Sir?" Miss Granger inquired as she approached him.

He spun on his heel and walked up the short staircase to the office, listening to her lighter footsteps as she followed. When he knew she was in the office with him, he waved his hand and the door slammed shut. He walked to the other side of his desk and stayed standing as she seemed to instinctually slide down into the uncomfortable chair he had there.

"Do you remember where you were last night?" He demanded.

"Erm, bed, I assume. I don't really remember. May I ask why sir?"

"You were in the library. Asleep around about 2am I would say. I had to wake you to return to your dormitory."

"Oh! I thought I dreamed about you!" She blushed immediately and ducked her head.

His nostrils flared, and his brows shot up, but he continued. "Considering you were out after hours I am going to assign you three detentions with me this weekend."

"Yes, sir." She said quietly, not looking up.

"I expect you to be here Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening right after dinner."

"Yes, sir." There was a moment of silence before Miss Granger eased her way out of the chair and towards the office door. "Good day, professor."

Severus hoped she wasn't expecting a reply because he didn't plan to give one and was satisfied when she exited without waiting for him to say anything. He was rather pleased with how she had known when their conversation was over, not waiting to be sent away like half of the nitwits here who never seemed to know when their presence was no longer wanted. Sighing, he returned to the classroom where his second-year class was just starting to trickle in.

SHSHSH

"He gave you detentions for falling asleep in the library? Bloody hell." Apparently, Snape pissing him off was the only way Ronald was going to speak to her again.

"I was out after hours."

"Don't justify his actions, Hermione." Harry said.

Hermione sighed as loudly as she could. "It was against rules and he is a teacher, Harry, he could have done worse than three detentions."

"Still a git though." Ron mumbled through a mouthful of dessert.

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance and laughed. "I can't believe your mother didn't teach you not to speak with your mouth full." Hermione teased.

Ron shrugged and grinned. "Might've but I don't remember."

Hermione smiled and stood up from the large table in the Great Hall. She stretched and glanced up at the head table. Professor Snape was already gone. She gathered her things and grabbed a cupcake to eat on the way to his office.

"I should go guys. It's time."

"Be careful, Hermione, he can still make you clean cauldrons." Harry teased.

Hermione giggled and proceeded out of the Great Hall, making her way to the DADA classroom, munching happily on her cupcake. She didn't think detention would be that bad. Not great, sure, but not that bad either. She crossed the classroom, thinking how odd it was to see the room dark and empty. She climbed the small set of stairs to Professor Snape's new office.

When the knock came, Severus checked the time and was surprised to see Miss Granger was earlier than he thought. She entered when he told her to and she came to settle herself in the uncomfortable chair again, sliding her book bag under the seat and waiting patiently with her hands in her lap. He watched her discretely as he continued grading papers. She kept her eyes trained somewhere on the edge of his desk and did not move, except a little wiggle of her foot now and then. He finished his stack of grading, put the quill down and looked at her, lacing his fingers atop his desk.

"Someone thought it would be hilarious", he seethed, 'To curse the dragon skeleton in the room to fly around every day during the first and last class of the day. Make it stop."

Her eyes met his. "Yes, sir."

"After that return to my office." He commanded.

She nodded, left her bag tucked under the chair, pulled out her wand and left to go deal with the dragon skeleton that usually hung just above the desks. She eyed the creature warily. Hermione wondered how to make the skeleton reveal its curse. Seeing it in action would be the best way to figure out what spell had been placed on it. Hermione began a litany of spells, paying attention in case one of them brought the creature to life. It took longer than she expected to un-spell the dragon skeleton and when she was done, she practically flopped up the stairs to Snape's office, her magic exhausted.

Severus watched as she eased herself into the chair, looking slightly ruffled. She looked somewhere at the edge of his desk again but her posture was not as stiff. He silently passed her a stack of papers and red ink and she seemed relieved when she dove into grading. He hadn't originally planned to have her grade anything, but he was unable to focus on the stack that never seemed to be getting any shorter and if he figured if anyone in detention was going to grade to his standards, it was her. She finished quickly and nudged the stack back towards his side of the desk. He took them, put them in his stack of finished essays and told her curtly, "Leave." He watched out of the corner of his eyes as she followed his orders.

SHSHS

The next two detentions were relatively the same. He would have her fix some problem that generally made her quite tired and then she graded papers. It was Sunday by the time he realized that he couldn't distinguish which papers she had graded, and which he had. So as she graded on Sunday he watched her, taking note of the tidy, curved handwriting she corrected with. When she was done, she tapped the stack with her wand, muttering something he couldn't hear, and watched as her elegant writing turned into his spikey scrawl.

"What are you doing Miss Granger?"

She flushed. "I created this spell to mimic handwriting and personality. I used it since I figured you didn't want students reading their essays with my writing all over it."

"Personality?"

He smirked when she turned a bit redder. Instead of answering, she took the top essay off of her stack and passed it to him. He read the comments in his handwriting that he didn't write, how odd.

Errors like this are why you blow everything up, Mr Finnigan.

Miss Granger reached across the desk and tapped the paper, muttering again. Severus watched as his handwriting turned into hers and the biting phrases turned into things like:

Not quite Seamus, you can reference Defense Tactics in Battle for this section.

Severus made a noise in the back of his throat. Useful spell she had made. And he was impressed that she knew which books to references, although, having graded her essay himself, he knew she had already done all the research anyway. He placed the essay on top of her finished stack and moved it to the side.

"You may go."

If Granger was surprised by his polite dismissal, she did not show it. She left, offering him a rather pleasant smile, before scurrying out the door.

SHSHSH

Hermione Granger was now absolutely certain of one thing: Severus Snape was not inherently evil, nor was he a bad person. After three long detentions with him, she came to the conclusion that while he was caustic and unfriendly, he simply told things like they were and perhaps his social skills could use some polishing. But still there was that nagging bit about Malfoy's mother making Snape protect him and Dumbledore saying that Snape had to kill him. Although Snape had been adamant about not killing Dumbledore, she wasn't sure what that meant.. Hermione felt a headache coming.

…

All mistakes are my own. I apologize for the slow burn, things will get juicier soon!