In The Darkness

Sorry for not updating! Explantation at the bottom! I won't prolong the wait!

Chapter 27

Days passed in a blur for Hermione after that night. Just as she has expected, once they had left the comfort of each other's arms he had stiffened again, realising the potentially fatal mistake that he had made by showing her his entire soul. A vice like grip had taken a hold of Severus once again, making him colder and more distant than ever before. He barely looked at Hermione now, didn't speak to her unless absolutely necessary. If she was doing anything wrong, he would tell someone else off instead of her. He would walk right past her when she had her hand in the air in class, asking him for help. If she bumped into his (which he now made sure would never happen) he would simply carry on walking as though no-one's bag had been knocked to the floor due to the force of their collision. Harry and Ron though that it was great. Snape didn't look in their direction anymore, which meant that they got away with a lot more too. They had failed to notice Hermione's slow decline, their blissful ignorance to her inner pain.

Hermione's mind was driving her crazy.

She could not stop thinking about him. All the time. She dreamt about him. Some nights she would wake up sweating, breathing erratic as she tried to push him off her, her family watching as he forced her to the floor, Lucius and the rest of them smiling down at her with those smug grins, the weight of him on top of her crushing her tiny frame. Sometimes she would whisper softly in his ear, telling him that she forgave him for everything that he had done as she held him protectively as he bore his beautiful soul to her again and again. Other nights she would curl up next to him, her fingers curling in his raven hair as he told her that everything would be alright, that the war was over and that no matter what had happened that he would never hurt her, that he would always love her…

In her waking thoughts as she sat in the classroom, every unexpected noise could be him walking in with the other Death Eater, could be him rushing in to tell her that he needed her, he wanted her, or could just be him peeking through the window, flashing her a smile that would make her knees go weak. She constantly glanced up at him wherever they were, to see if she could get his attention, to see if he was looking at her for even a moment. He never did.

"Hermione? Hey, Hermione?"

"Hm? What?"

"Oh my god, she is alive after all!" Ron shouted, causing half of the first and second years glance over in his direction.

"We've been talking to you for the past 5 minutes and you haven't been listening at all!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Oh, sure I have…" Hermione started.

"Oh yeah? How many points did I score in yesterday's match then? We were only talking about it 30 seconds ago." Ginny asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"Erm… I think it was… Oh I don't know, I never listen when you guys talk about Quidditch!" Hermione started defensively.

"See. You don't know. You haven't been listening at all!" Ron said smugly.

"Oh so what if I don't listen to ever single one of your conversations with every ounce of my being! I have other things to think about, more important than whether or not the nose dive that whoever made was legal or not in yesterdays match!" Everyone stared at her.

"Woo, erm, ok Hermione, chill out, we were just proving a point…"

"Then let me prove a point Ronald. You never listen or watch me, because if you did you would have noticed that something isn't just quite right with me, and you have cared to ask me if I am alright! Now if you excuse me, this conversation is boring me!" And with that, she gathered her things into her bag and marched out of the hall, leaving her dinner untouched.

She had heard Ginny follow her out. She knew that she would eventually catch up with her, and when she did, she would confess everything. Which is why she was walking so fast.

"Hermione!" She heard Ginny call after her. "Hermione!" Ginny appeared by her side, slightly out of breath. "What, what the hell was that about!"

"I'm tired Ginny! I'm tired of everyone! I'm sick to death of all of it!" She said as she carried on walking.

"Tired of what? Hermione, please… Hermione wait!" Ginny grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. "What is this all about? We all know that there's something wrong. No-one has asked you what because you are so distant all the time, so unapproachable."

"I… I'm just so sick of it all…" It was then that Ginny heard the wavering in Hermione's voice, noticed the tears that had filled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go somewhere quiet…" Ginny said.

Ginny took Hermione to the girl's dorms, knowing that at this time it would be empty. Hermione cried for what seemed like an eternity, sobbing her heart out to one of her closest friends. She told her everything, from the very beginning, not stopping to listen to the small gasps that had came from Ginny at certain parts of the long tale. Sat on the end of her bed with a box of tissues, she wiped her eyes tenderly for the hundredth time.

"And I'm just so sick of being invisible to everyone. To all my friends, they have barely noticed that I am so… depressed… to all the teachers… none of them have asked me if I'm feeling ok… and him… why am I so easy to block out? So easy to just cast aside?"

"Hermione, you're not…"

"Yes I am! He showed me everything in the forest Ginny. Everything. I mean, he showed me the reason why he swapped sides for crying out loud… he let me see his darkest demons, passing them on to me, then he just ignores that it ever happened? Ignores me completely, doesn't care about me at all or what I'm going through? I wake up at night thinking that he is in my room and that he's going to rape me or something! I've kissed that man! He's comforted me, made me feel… gosh I don't know what! And he finds it so easy to just ignore me, forget about me completely!"

"Hermione, have you ever thought that he doesn't find it easy to forget you? That in actual fact he hasn't forgotten about you at all?"

"Have you seen the way that he walked right into me, and didn't even stop to knock off points?"

"No, actually, I haven't. But what I mean is, maybe he can't stop thinking about you, in the same way that you think about him. Maybe the way he chooses to deal with his feelings is to ignore them completely. I mean, lets face it, he's not exactly the most emotional man…"

"He can be!"

"Alright, but what I'm trying to say is that he has problems telling people how he feels. Maybe he can't let himself speak to you because if he does he will only confess how he truly feels. Maybe he won't look at you because he thinks that you will read him like you did before… and maybe he doesn't touch you because one touch would not be enough for him."

Hermione began to grin.

"Ginny, I must congratulate you on your beautiful poetry skills. Simply divine darling!"

"Hermione shut up you Muppet! Have you ever considered it from that point of view?"

"What that one touch might not be enough for him?"

"Yes! I mean how do you know… Ew! Hermione, don't look at me like that, that's gross!" They began chuckling together.

"Oh Ginny, what can I do?"

"Well, I have an idea, but you won't like it…"

"Ginny, at this point, your idea could be to throw myself out of a very high window, and believe me; I could take to it swimmingly…"

"Well, have you ever thought of talking to him about it…?"

"Of course I have! But he won't let me near him… he won't speak to me!"

"What about when you're not actually his student…"

"You mean, when I leave? That's a bit far off isn't it…?"

"No you twit! I meant when you're not actually in his class with him… maybe at a time when it's a bit more personal…"

"You mean…."

"Exactly. And maybe you could sing again…. That seemed to get him last time right?"

"Oh I don't think so Ginny, I haven't sung since…"

"Well, ok then. But what about a little midnight visit?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on, what's the worst that he's going to do, give you detentions?"

"Do you not remember what I told you before?"

"Herm, he said himself that he would never rape anyone again." Hermione looked away, considering everything. "Hermione, from what you have said, it is obvious that he likes you a lot. Please, go and try this for me. If it goes pear shaped… well then I will personally brew a killing potion and we will drink it together!" They laughed as Ginny pulled her friend into a hug as Hermione considered what she would do.

"Just one thing. Is he a good kisser?"

"Ginny!"

"No, please, come on! Is he?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Very good."

"OH! I never would have thought it? How big is his…?"

"OHHOO! Ok, that's enough!"

"Hermione, you know if you sleep with him, you will have to tell me everything?"

"Yeah. I know. You're not freaked out about me… you know… liking Snape then?"

"No. If you like him, go for it. But, I advise that you don't tell many other people though…"

"And I will advise you the same, or else you won't be able to brew any killing potion, however much you will want too…"

"Oh! The naughty side of Hermione Granger! I see why he likes you! Innocence with a dash of sin! He's rubbing off on you already!"

That night, Hermione crept out of her dorm at 12:30, down the long flight of moving stairs, and silently made her way to the dungeons.

Severus stood in his private stores cupboard, his black shirt undone a few buttons, sleeves rolled up his arms as he reached up to put the powered mustirad in it's space on the top shelf. He had been sorting out his stores for the past two hours, cleaning everything furiously by hand, sorting all the different ingredients out, writing down what he needed more of and how badly, then resorting them all out in order of rareness, the rare ones hiding on the tops shelves. Sweat had dripped off him at one point, causing him to throw his cloak to one side, and even open his shirt a little. The sheer amount of dust had caused his sleeves to roll up. The balanced the jar on the top shelf, climbing back down the ladder to get a few of the other jars. As he got back on the ladder and past the third step, he heard the tiny rapping on his classroom door.

"Bloody kids, I will give them detentions for a month if they are trying to annoy me!" He thought to himself as he climbed back down and placed the three jars he was carrying on a lower shelf. The tiny rap came again as he walked towards his door. He took a breath as his hand touched the doorknob, swinging the heavy oak door open to reveal the person stood on the other side.

He froze as he saw her stood there, and before he could close the door on her face she has snook in past him, walking quickly into the middle of the classroom. He quickly regained himself as she stood with her back to him

"What are you doing, Miss Granger…" His voice deadly low and dangerous. She had caught him off guard.

"Please, don't send me away…" Came a small voice.

"Miss Granger, you are out way after the curfew, you are disturbing a member of staff… please leave now…"

"Please, Professor I beg you, don't make me leave…"

"If you do not leave I will be forced to make the headmaster aware of this little visit." She did not move. "Very well." He began to walk towards the office door where there was a fire place. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him making his way towards the open door. A small cry of "No" escaped her lips as she ran over to stop him, grabbing his arm. He spun his head around and looked down at her as if she might be contaminated with something.

"Please, please don't call the Headmaster…"

"Then let go of me and leave at once."

"I will not!"

He pulled away from her grip to continue walking, but she grabbed him again.

"Please, please Professor I beg you…"

"You beg me for what?"

"To let me stay! To listen to me! To talk to me!"

"I have nothing that I want to say to you, Miss Granger, now be so kind as to follow me up to the Headmaster's office." He flipped his wrist so that it was now him holding her tiny wrist in his hand, holding her arm up in a tight grip as he began to drag her towards the open classroom door.

"No, please, just listen to me…" He said nothing. "Ouch, stop… professor please… Severus you're hurting me!"

Suddenly he stopped, and spun around, still holding her arm, glaring at her. "I beg your pardon?"

"You're hurting me… please… let go…" He suddenly let go of her wrist and stood by the open door.

"Please leave."

"Why are you being like this?"

"I would like you to leave."

"Severus…"

"Don't you call me that!"

"Why not? You let me before…"

"Leave! Now!"

"I will not! Not until you talk to me!"

"I am talking to you. Leave. Now."

"Please! Why…"

"Get out…"

"No!" With this he turned to her, grabbing her roughly and dragged her to the door, throwing her out of his classroom, not caring to look where he had thrown her as he closed the door.

He heard her form land heavily on the floor as he closed the door. He leaned against, trying to ignore her quiet whimpers from just outside the door. How could he… again…

This could not go on any longer…

The door flew open. Hermione looked up to see him stood there in the door way, looking down at her. She could tell that he was battling some conflicting emotions within him. After a few moments he walked out and pulled her to her feet. He then walked back to the door, turning to see her as he did.

"Come in." Was all he said. She wiped the few stray tears away and followed him inside through the door.

OH MY GOD I am sooooooo sorry that I haven't updated for a while! I have had such a bad case of writer's block! But I have this extra long chapter for all of my lovely readers, and I have one nearly finished that you will get sometime tomorrow! After that it will be Wednesday/Thursday night when I next update because I am out for the next few days... but believe me you will love the next few chapters!