In The Darkness

Ok, this is a very long chapter! And another B I G leap of faith! Replies would be GREATLY appreciated

Chapter 23

The day had seemingly rushed by, and before she had realised Hermione found herself being reminded about a looming detention with Snape. Harry, Ron, Neville and Seamus were sat around the fire with her, chatting aimlessly.

"Herm, you know that you've got a detention in 15 minutes?"

"Hm…?"

"Hermione? Oi!" A sharp jab in her side told her that Ron wanted her attention.

"What is it?" She replied angrily.

"You have a detention in 15 minutes, and you're not even nearly ready!"

"What? Oh, oh yes, of course I do…"

"Hermione, what has got into you?"

"Sorry, I've been so into this homework, Jadypunks are really amazing creatures, you can use their liver for…"

"Hermione, please. I don't care?"

"Ronald, you have your newts coming up in just a few weeks! You should be trying to revise as much as possible!"

"No, Hermione, we have our newts in a few MONTHS. I'll do it later…"

"Fine. But don't say that I didn't warn you…" She was tired of telling them two foolish boys to revise. Finishing her sentence, she began to put her things away as she let the ink dry, screwing the top on the bottle of black ink that was now nearly empty, having only bought it a few weeks ago. Sitting back on the comfy leather chair, she picked up the parchment and began blowing on the ink gentle, encouraging it to dry.

"Why 8? I mean, it's been 7 for the past however many detentions!"

"Maybe he has something different planned for me…" She said on baited breath, secretly hoping that this was the case.

"Yes, well, I'm sure that you will have a lovely time with him… I mean, we all remember exactly what you want him to do to you, don't we?" Seamus added huskily.

"Oh please, I do not know what you possibly mean…" She said, curling her fingers around her chocolate curls and pretending to blush.

"Oh no? What was it, those hands… moving up your body…" Hermione felt her breath hitch in her throat as the light from the fire cast a dark shadow to one half of Seamus's face, his eyes looking almost black for a few moments…

"I, er, well…. What can I say? I bet he's so experienced…" She said, her thoughts coming out of her mouth before she could stop them. Luckily, the boys thought that she was messing around.

"Ha! I'd be surprised if he's even HAD a woman!" Ron shouted, causing the others to laugh.

"He'd be at a loss when it came to a woman! Can you imagine it? 'Miss Granger, what is that?' 'That, Sir, is a nipple…'" Seamus added to the conversation, mimicking their voices almost perfectly. Everybody who heard cracked up laughing.

"Seamus! That is disgusting!" She pretended to be offended. "Besides, I bet that he would know exactly what to do!"

"Yeah, right, my guess is that he's never even kissed a woman… or a man for that matter…"

"Eurgh, sloppy kisses. Hate them." Harry added.

"Those rough lips against yours Hermione. That tongue, fumbling clumsily in your mouth…"

"Ok, thank you Seamus…" She said, disgusted at the graphic descriptions.

"Yak. I hate that." Neville suddenly added. Everyone turned to look at him.

"You hate it when Professor Snape kisses you with his tongue? Neville, we all knew that you were gay, but I mean, Snape? Why?" Harry laughed.

"No, no, I meant…" But everyone was too busy laughing. "Ok, ok, so it's true! I mean, first time wasn't great, but me and Hermione managed to show him a thing or two the other night when we decided to, erm, well, you know…" That shut everyone up, the shock on their faces turning into amusement. Neville didn't often say things like that!

"Hermione! Why didn't you tell us that you had a threesome with Neville and Snape?"

"Tell me, is it true that he does it hanging from the ceiling?"

"Oh my God Ron! That is just sick!"

"Tell me, what does his tongue taste like?" It was too tempting.

"He tastes like all the exotic spices and essences of the hidden treasures of the earth, the aromatic flavours of the most remote untouched vallies of the Middle East and Asia. His tongue whispered against mine, giving me a hint of a preview of the majestic sun rising and falling over an endless landscape of orange and yellow sand, a thousand tastes of saffron, cinnamon, sweet basil, samese ginger and kaffir lime, erotic in the most mysterious and intense way…"

Ok, so she had found herself going off on a tangent…

The rest of the group stared at her, mouths wide open.

"Erm, ok Hermione…" Ron finally managed to say.

"Oh guys, sorry to disappoint you but I have to go. I know that you would love for me to carry on and tell you what Neville tastes like, but Sna... I mean, Severus, is waiting for me." She smiled, trying to convince them that her little daydream wasn't a daydream at all, and was really a way of trying to freak them out. It seemed to have worked, as there were no comments made as she left. She smiled to herself as she thought of their reactions if they knew that her description was true.

Band on 8 o clock, Hermione rapped on the Potion room door, a thousand thoughts running through her mind. How was he going to be with her? What would he say? Even though she had come to her conclusion about what she was going to do, she was nervous as to how he would react about last night…

She heard the all too familiar "Enter", took a deep breath and entered the classroom.

He was sat at his desk, writing something. His eyes did not look up to meet hers, he kept them focused on the paper, the whole time.

"Miss Granger, for your detention this evening you are going to be gathering ingredients with me from the Forbidden Forest."

A white fear struck through her. Why was he taking her to the Forbidden Forest? He had said yesterday that he would hurt her if she was to stay, he never wanted to take another's innocence… and now he was taking her into the Forbidden Forest? What was he going to do to her? He had been acting very strange earlier…

"Why Sir, what are we…"

"Do not question me, Miss Granger. You will do as I say." He put his quill down and stood up, his eyes still not meeting hers. Was that because he didn't want to remind himself of last night, or because he didn't want to see her as a person with emotions, it would be easier for him to… well…. Hurt her if he was more detached…

He walked towards the door, his thick cloak sweeping behind him. She didn't move.

"Come, Miss Granger." He said, his back to her. It took her a few moments to force her feet to move.

She kept her distance from him. A good few steps behind him, as he strode off in front of her, she found herself having to run slightly to keep from falling behind. As he opened the doors that led onto the grounds, and the cold night air hit her bare arms, she realized that she only had a short sleeved t-shirt on. Before she could mention it, he had begun the trek towards the Forbidden Forest, forcing her to run to keep up.

They had been walking for about 5 minutes before he finally stopped on the bounders of the dark, thick Forbidden Forest. She almost ran into him, he stopped so suddenly. He turned to her, looking down at her in almost disgust. She looked up at him, and for the first time since last night their eyes met. She did not like the man stood before her, cold, unforgiving, unemotional.

"I beg of you, Miss Granger, please watch where you are going." He drawled.

"Sorry." Was her mumbled response. They both saw her breath on the air, the sudden cold contact of her hot breath becoming visible suddenly. He smirked.

"Miss Granger, perhaps you should have brought some suitable clothes?" Oh, she was beginning to get annoyed. Being cold did not bode well with her, let alone with a sarky, nasty, confusing man.

"Perhaps you should have told us about this fun little outing? The I could have prepared for it?"

"5 Points for your cheek. I will not tolerate those kind of remarks, Miss Granger." Then, he began to stride into the very depths of the forest, not looking back to see if she was keeping up. Hermione found herself running to keep up with him.

"Sir, sir, where are we going?"

No reply.

"Sir, please, please will tell me where we are going?"

"No." Was his simple response.

They had been walking for what seemed to be a good few hours, but was really 15 minutes. The creaks and echoes of the forest startled Hermione, it was so dark that there were no shadows, no shapes forming against the twisted tree trunks that made up the forest. She was constantly stumbling on tree roots and other unidentifiable objects. She was cold, her arms were like ice to touch, she was mildly afraid, and the person who was suppose to be protecting her was striding off in front of her, his black clothes melting into the surrounding blackness. She couldn't see him.

"Professor… please… please can we stop?"

No reply. She couldn't see him, she couldn't hear him…

"Professor… where are you?" Her voice hinted with fear.

No reply. She stopped, so that she could hear any footsteps snapping over the dry twigs that lay on the floor. The sound of the forest filled her ears, the trees creaking, an animal growl in the distance, a swoop that told her that a bird had passed over head, the cry from an animal in pain… yet no sound of footsteps… all in the sheer darkness….

"Please Professor, I'm afraid." The fear now blatantly apparent in her shaky voice.

"Miss Granger, please, desist being so pathetic and keep up." Hermione felt unwanted tears sting her eyes, the fear, the darkness, the noises, the cold, the lack of emotion from that man…

"Professor, where are you? I can't see you… where are we going…" Her voice wavering as she slowly took a few steps forward, stumbling over a hidden rock. She heard him now, turn around and walk forcefully towards her. She could hear the power in his steps, but she still couldn't see him. His silence scared her, that hidden, confident power that he had over her… she began to walk backwards, falling over the same rock that she had just stumbled over.

She hit the floor with a high pitched "ah", feeling her knee cut open on a protruding tree root. She quickly wiped away an escaped tear, when she felt the material of her Professor's cloak against her arm. She looked up to see a faint shadow of him.

"Get up."

She tried to get to her feet without his assistance. She stood, hanging her head.

"Now keep up."

And he turned from her again, striding off into the darkness again.

"No, Professor, come back…" She began.

"What is it, Miss Granger?" He asked, the anger rising in his voice.

"Please, I don't like it here; I'm cold and my knee's bleeding, and I just…"

"You just what?" He said, walking back to her.

"I... I just don't like it…" There was a pause.

"Miss Granger, I couldn't care what you like or don't like."

That was it. How dare he treat her like this? He was so caring yesterday, what was wrong with him? She was cold, in pain, afraid, and not happy. She couldn't help herself, she felt the anger rising within her, the emotion was going to pour out of her, she could feel herself wanting to cry…

"W, why are you being like this?"

Silence.

"WHY ARE YOU BEING LIKE THIS?"

"Like what, Miss Granger?"

"Why can't you call me Hermione? Like you did last night?"

"Miss Granger, I wou…"

"No! Call me Hermione? You think that you can treat me like this? I don't know what your problem is, but you have no right to treat me like this!"

"How dare you…"

"Oh here we go! What are you going to come up with? The teacher/student act? Well how many teachers kiss their students like you kissed me last night? How many teachers find themselves hard in the presence of their students? You cannot treat me like this, I won't allow it! I am not a toy, Severus, Snape, Professor, whatever you want me to call you. You were such a nice person yesterday, and now you are worse than ever! No matter what you think, I am a woman with feelings! I want to know what's going on!"

She felt her adrenaline leave her slightly, being replaced again with fear as she heard him take measured steps towards her. If this was going to be the last thing that she ever said to him, she was going to make it as good as possible.

"I want to know where you are taking me! I want to know why you have dragged me out here, in the freezing cold, why you are making me feel so afraid. I want to know what happened last night; I want to know what you meant by all those things that you said!"

She had run out of steam. Nothing else to say really. She waited for his response, fear and adrenaline, anger and pain coursing through her veins.

"Miss Gra… Hermione. I appreciate what you have said. And I understand you perfectly. However, now is not the time to discuss this…"

"Oh, no, you are not going to pull that one!" She said, pulling out her wand and shouting the words Lumos. The light shone from her wand, lighting up their features. Snape took a deep sigh.

"I am sick of you're emotional constipation, Severus Snape! No matter what you try to tell yourself, you felt something last night in the tower. You opened up to me, you showed me the real you. And did I flinch? Did I run? No." She saw the… sadness… almost desperation in his eyes, and she felt herself soften. "I just want to understand you. I just…"

"You will never understand me."

"Please, let me try."

There was a flicker. A glimpse of something in his eyes, something uncontrollable. All emotions mixed into that look. He was going to do it. He was going to bear all to her.

"You want me? You want to know me? Fine."

Hermione got the distinct impression that she was going to regret ever prying into his private life. She braced herself as he looked straight into her eye and began to speak.

Ok, I know that the plot hasn't been moving very fast over the past few chapters, so this one I decided to shift into 5th gear! Tell me what you think... Granger gets tougher, and Snape will get even tougher next chappie!

WARNING FOR NEXT CHAPTER It will have Snape's very dark past in it! Very dark...