In the Darkness

OH! ME THINKS! I will not be in tomorrow night, I will be stopping out at my GodMother's and won't be able to update tomorrow evening. Gutted. (anyone who isn't British or doesn't understand "gutted" it means upset) Yeah, anyway, so I thought that i'd add another chappie this morning, hope you apperciate how early I got up to do this! HALF PAST BLOODY SIX!
Ahem Onwards!

Chapter 4

Severus leaned his head against the wall and thought about what he had just seen and heard. Her voice was captivating, and she had nearly spoke to him. He was sure that her speaking voice would have been just as sweet as her singing voice. His angel. He replayed her voice in his head, listening to it carefully, savouring it. "Sir I'm…" He replayed it and analysed it. He stopped suddenly.

"Sir?"

That meant it was a student. It was a normal woman, one of his students.

He spun around and ran down the stairs after her. He was going to know who is was now, he had to. He had to find her. Not only would she would tell everyone that the heartless Professor Snape was listening to her sing and that he let her go without punishment, it would mean that she would stop singing, knowing that Snape had listened to her.

He chased after her, not knowing what house she was from, not knowing what direction to turn to. He couldn't even hear her running because she tread so lightly.

"Wait!" He called out. Nothing. no noise. He looked at the candles on the wall of the staircase leading to the Gryfindor common room, they were dancing almost erotically as a wind had passed them not long ago. She must have past them he thought to himself, she must be in Gryfindor. He leapt up the stairs, checking every shadow, every hiding place he knew of on the way up. He was nearly at the top, she couldn't be far now, he had ran at a fair pace straight after her. He was close to finding her, he knew it….

"Severus? Is that you?" He turned sharply to the source of the voice. McGonagall stood at the base of the flight of steps that he was nearly at the top of.

"Yes, it is. What is it?"

"It's 1:10 in the morning Severus. I am wondering why it is that you are running around the school?" Severus swallowed hard.
"I heard a student out of bed. I was merely trying to find them."

"I heard no-one. Go back to bed Severus, we will address this at a suitable hour." She said bitterly. He took a finally look around him, then followed McGonagall down the stairs, wishing desperately that she had not heard him, or that he would have remembered himself to be quiet.

Hermione's P.O.V. (if it isn't obvious)

Hermione climbed the curving staircase to her usual spot in the tower. She quietly opened the heavy oak door and slipped inside, not bothering to close it properly for the noise it might make. She lay her cloak on the window ledge and climbed on the open hole in the wall. She leaned back on the cold stone wall and rested there for a short while, letting the cool night air gently caress her naked shoulders and legs. She closed her eyes and thought of her father. Remembering what he had said to her, the last time she saw him, the times they had together before he was taken from her. She felt her eyes already welling with tears and before she could stop it one had already escaped, rolling slowly down her cheek. She didn't bother to wipe it away, a lingering memory of her father's touch on her cheek. She missed him so much it was untrue, she had not only lost her father but her best friend. She was closer to her father than she was to her mother, it was always him who mended the broken bridges between them when they argued, it was him who she could confide in and who would listen to her, who would keep her secrets and in turn she would keep his. Since he had died the gap between Hermione and her mother had grown, almost to the point of no repair. Hermione suspected that her mother blamed her for her father's death, although she had never said it out loud. Hermione blamed herself. If only she wasn't so good at school, if only she wasn't a witch, none of this would have happened. It was her fault. If she wouldn't have been a witch, or if she would have never told her parents, they would never have sent her here, they would never have heard about Voldemort, he wouldn't be interested in her family. It was all her fault.

She wiped her tear from her cheek at last. She took a deep jagged breath, and composed herself, knowing that if she was to think of herself and her own self blame that she would not sleep tonight as a result of it. She took another deep breath and cleared her mind of al thoughts, thinking only of her father and his voice. It was him who inspired her to sing. From a young age she had discovered her voice, but was so shy she never sang in front of anyone. Her father would often plead her to sing for him but she always refused. When she would practise in her bedroom, she would hear him listening outside, and she would always stop. Now she sang to him, letting her voice trail into the night, projecting it into the heavens so that he could at last hear it, and somehow she knew that he was there, listening to every key and note, smiling down on her. She looked up, smiled and started to sing for him.

She was lost in this world. There was nothing but her and her thoughts of her father.

Until something disturbed her.

Behind her. There was a noise.

Snape. She had forgotten about the risk of him discovering her. She spun her heard around to see the source of the noise. She saw a figure looking at the ground, a black shadow, then suddenly the head lifted up. It was Snape. She froze.

Shit.

She didn't know what to do. He could she the moonlight shining on his face, making him look snow white with black holes for piercing eyes. They stood and stared at each other, neither knowing what to do or say. "What is he waiting for?" Hermione thought to herself. "Why isn't he doing anything?" He started to walk backwards. She was about to speak, to beg and plead with him not to tell anyone about this…

"Don't speak. Don't say a word." He said gently. She hung her head, waiting for the blow to fall, for him to start his long line of snide remarks and torturous warnings of how he was going to tell everyone about this.

"Sir I'm…."

"No, don't say anything." He carried on walking back, leaving the corridor wide open. "Go." He said. She was confused, why wasn't he telling her off and escorting her back to her room, waking Magonagal on the way? He was just stood, staring at her. "Go, now." She took her chance and ran past him, still confused over why he let her go. She ran down the spiral staircase, running into the darkness but not slowly down, counting the stairs as she went as not to trip on them. She got to the bottom at last, turned and fled in the direction of the Gryfindor common room. As she began to run up the stairs, she stopped and heard a voice calling.

"Wait!" It was Snape. He must have realised it was her. Instead of giving herself up to him, she carried on running, hearing his footsteps speeding behind her. She was slowing down and he was speeding up, there was no way that she could out run him. She turned sharply and hid in the shadow of the wall, holding her breath as she heard him getting closer, her chest heaving, her heart beating so fast and loudly that she thought he might hear it. She saw him then, running up the stairs, getting closer and closer to her, he would find her, there was no possible way that he wouldn't…

"Severus? Is that you?" Hermione's heart sank as she heard the voice of the head of her house. She heard them talking, not listening to what they were saying, closing her eyes and waiting for them to look for her together, seeing the disappointment on McGonagall's face….

Then suddenly, Snape began walking back down the stairs. Hermione opened her eyes and watched him walk down them, looking back every so often to find her. Once out of sight, she came out of the shadow, breathing at last a deep breath. She wasted no time in retreating to the safety of her room, getting back into bed, letting her mind twist and turn, churning over the events of the evening. And for the first time since her father's death, she fell asleep thinking of someone else instead of her father.

HALF PAST SIX! YES! Not happy! I know, not much different from chapter 3, however I feel that you have to understand what both are thinking and feeling, so I do this a lot. Well, will update tomorrow evening after work! Ciao!

OH! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I would normally put a load of replies up but I don't have time and have to get to school for a 7hr day of acting. Yay.