Once the kiss was broken, she sat blinking rapidly at him; her expression was void of any emotion- she looked utterly bewildered and like she may burst out into tear at any given moment.

She had not expected such a confession from the man. She thought, and would have been happy with an "I tolerate you," and she would have known he somewhat liked her. But to go all out and confess his love for her threw her off.

She opened her mouth and closed it a few times doing her best fish out of water impersonation. Her mouth was dry and her palms sweaty and her heart was almost beating out of her rib cage.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," he said dryly.

She held up a hand to silence him, "just give me a second." She grabbed the bottle of vodka off of the table once more downing a hefty portion before placing it back down. Merlin knew she would need more than what she had all drank to deal with what was going on right now.

"I.. well, I literally have no idea what to say, Severus. I'm speechless."

"Again, I'm sorry, let's preened I never told you and we go back to the way things were before…" He looked sadly at her as he trailed off, his heart shattering like a drinking glass that had just been dropped onto the floor.

"No, Severus. It's not like that." She grabbed his hand in her hand, tracing small circles over the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I just didn't expect such a revelation from you of all people. I mean after Lily I didn't think… I'm sorry; I just don't know what to think. I was only saying to Draco earlier I didn't know how you felt about me or where this relationship would be going and then you blow me out of the water with this confession."

"And how do you feel about me?" He hand twitched under the touch of hers. He didn't know how he would react if she told him she didn't have the same mutual feelings that he harbored for. He had only ever loved one person before and he saw how terrible that turned out for him, so for him to love again was a big deal to him.

The awkward silence hung in the air as Hermione tried to form the words with utmost sincerity before she spoke them.

How did she feel about him? She liked him, she found him interesting, she loved being around him and she found herself trying to find a way to spend more and more time with him. Was that love? She assumed that was love, she wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure if she had ever loved before, she might have loved Harry, she had the same feeling towards Severus that she once felt towards Harry and in her mind that was love.

"I think I love you…" She looked at him as hurt and regret fluttered across his eyes before vanishing as quickly as it came.

"Forget I even said anything." He tore his hand away from her with ferocity, getting to his feet he stalked away to his bedroom and slammed the door so hard, the walls surrounding it shook.

"Oh my fucking god." She sighed in frustration, scrubbing the palms of her hands over her eyes with force. This wasn't going anything like she would have expected it to.

She stomped with anger all the way to his room and flung the door open with so much force, it his the wall behind it and the wood the door was constructed from cracked a little.

"Listen here," she said sternly pointing to him as he lay on the bed staring aimlessly up at the ceiling.

He turned his head a few centimeters to look at her. He really didn't care for what she had to say but he would hear her out.

"I think I love you because I don't know what love feels like." She gently lowered her finger, dropping her hand by her side. He rolled a little to get a better look at her, this could be interesting.

"If love is the heart skipping a beat when the other person kisses you, and butterflies in the pit of your stomach fluttering around and then wanting to spend every waking moment with the other person and if love is the way you look at someone with a stupid grin on your face as you imagine you want to spend the rest of your life with them then yes, yes I love you. That's all I have to say." She rubbed her left forearm absentmindedly before turning and leaving the room. She said what she had to say and if he wanted to stay angry with her then that was solely on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.

She had gotten all but ten steps when she felt herself being whirled around by a strong hand. She stared, breathing heavily looking into his eyes. Their gazes locked for what seemed like an eternity when only seconds had passed.

"I'm no expert on love either but what you described in the exact way I feel about you, Hermione."

A small smile spread across her lips. Of all the people in the entire world she had found love with the snarky, snarly, unpleasant dour old Potions Master that she had disliked for almost the entire time she had known him.

Of all the people in the entire world, he had found love with the bushy-haired know it all little chit that he spent a good few years loathing for no other reason than she was friends with Harry Potter.

The world sure did work in mysterious ways.

He wanted to shout how he felt from the rooftops but he also knew right now, that wasn't wise. It wouldn't be long before he would be hauled into Minerva's office and fired if he had to hazard a guess and the way he felt right now he didn't care. In fact, maybe he would start to take that leap before he was pushed.

"Draco knows, you know?" She walked back to the couch and sat down.

"I know."

"And you aren't mad?" Her brows knitted together in confusion.

"Not one bit. He isn't totally inept; he is fairly good at working things out on his own. But it makes me wonder who else can see it if he can." He sat beside her, resting a hand on her thigh.

"You aren't worried he will run off and use it against us?"

"Again, he isn't stupid even if the façade may tell otherwise. He knows the repercussions if he were to do that. He isn't a wretched as he comes across and he is a semi-decent human being as I am sure you found out today when you spent time with him. The way Draco comes across and his ideologies and his mannerisms are all the by-product of one Lucius Malfoy, you take him away and Draco becomes a semi-decent albeit sometimes annoying human being."

"He paid five thousand dollars today for a dress. I didn't want to accept it but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"He may be a git at times but chivalry is rife in pureblood society, Hermione. And I am sorry I flew off the handle when you first came to see me… I had made a stupid scenario up in my head where you and Draco ran off together and I was once again left cold and alone."

Hermione snorted loudly, "trust me, Severus, you have nothing to worry about there."

-o-o-o-o-

"Is there a reason you brought me to an old, empty store in the middle of Diagon Alley, Severus?" She asked quizzically, totally perplexed as to why he had dragged her out here a few days after he had confessed his love for her.

"You can't see it?" He questioned her.

"See what?" She asked, baffled. She was sure he was finally losing his sanity, or what was left of it anyway.

"Shelves here," he dramatically waved his arms over beside a wall. Hermione only quirked a brow and pursed her lips, and it was official, Severus Snape had lost the plot.

"Counter here," he walked a few steps forward, gesturing to yet another empty space.

It was about at this moment her eyes grew wide and the cogs ticked over in her head and she finally realized what he was getting at.

"Ohhh I get it, I have to metaphorically see it, not literally see it."

"Exactly."

"What do you think?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" She gushed, walking over to him she stood on the tips of her toes, raising her up high enough to steal a chaste kiss from him.

"Minerva will be positively beside herself when she knows you plan on leaving…" She trailed off.

"Minerva is the one that pushed me to this so she can deal with it, I hope she is happy."

Hermione looked sadly out of the dusty, cobweb-covered window out into the bustling alley, losing herself in her thought for a few moments.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She sighed sadly, averting her gaze to the old, dusty wooden floor. This place hadn't seen love in a long, long time and she hoped he didn't pay too much to purchase the derelict rundown building.

"You can't lie to me. Well, you can try but you won't get far with me." Gently he lifted her chin so she was looking at him.

"It's just that soon my time at Hogwarts will be finished, and you will have left and I will be back in the house my parents left behind. My life has and is still a train wreck apart from you being in it. I don't know what I want to do in life. You know, do I want to be an Auror, or a healer or work with magical creatures? I don't even know what I want to do let alone expect anyone else to know what I want in life."

She tried to swallow the large lump in her throat away, tears burning at her eyes and she tried in vain to stop them from spilling down her cheeks. The hot, wetness trailed down her cheeks.

"I just don't know what I want from life," She sobbed, launching herself at him and burying her head deep in his robes.

She felt terrible, this was meant to be his moment, to share with her his excitement and his future and here she was sobbing into his robes like an emotionally unstable wench.

Gently he stroked her long, curly locks and she felt some of the sadness ebb away knowing that someone in her life cared about her and that someone was there for her.

"I'm sorry," She sniffled pulling her face from his robes, "It's just that you are getting your life together and I am so happy for you but at the same time I am standing here and the thoughts are racing through my head and I am self-doubting myself about what I am doing with my life. I don't want to be alone in that house and I don't know what I want to do in life."

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders her drew her into an embrace, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"You don't have to do anything Hermione and you don't have to be alone. You can live with me. I have a house, albeit it needs a bit of work, we can fix it up together, you can help me set up the business and then if you decide you want to leave to study you are free to go, and by then hopefully you would have made up your mind about what you wanted in life. But you have nothing to prove; you are in the eyes of just about everyone a hero. You don't have to run off and work yourself into the ground for fear of retribution."

It was her turn to now wrap her arms around his waist as she buried her head deep in his robes again, her body convulsing from silent sobbing and he wondered for a moment what he had said that was wrong. He knew women were difficult and at times emotionally unstable but Hermione Granger took the cake.

"Thank you," She mumbled into his robes with a smile and for the first time in a long time, she felt at peace and she felt as if her life was perhaps going to head forward instead of in a downward spiral.

A/N: Here you all go. I am putting you all out of your misery after the last cliffhanger. And because you were all great readers and I was rewarded grandly with all of the reviews I am posting this chapter early.

-Aliasmel1