Beta-reader: PuddyTatt

A/N: R&R… rather speechless at the moment, finally a minute of peace, eh.

Important Announcement!!This chapter has not been Beta-read as of yet, for I couldn't reach him. As I am soon off on holidays, I thought it best to put the chapter online and I will replace it with the Beta-read as soon as I come back. So excuse my spellings and grammar faults for now.

A leap in the dark

Chapter eight
Not another one

Vaguely she heard voices talk in the distance. Two low voices that must've been male and two that where female. When she focused on them and woke up a little more she noticed the people talking weren't far away from her. With her eyes still closed she frowned, Boys aren't allowed in the girl's dormitories. She rolled onto her left side and heard the voices stop talking. At last she stretched and opened her eyes.

It was still dark in the room and with her fuzzy sight she couldn't quite make out where she was, for it certainly didn't look like her own room. She rubbed her eyes and heard footsteps.

When she opened her eyes again madam Pomfrey, professor McGonagall and the headmaster were surrounding her. A few feet further stood Snape, looking at her through narrow eyes.

Only now did she recognise the room as the hospital wing and a confused look crossed her face.

"How are you feeling?" madam Pomfrey asked checking her arms and feeling her forehead.

"I'm fine, but what am I doing here?"

"You can't remember?" Dumbledore asked surprised.

"Well I remember I was at the quidditch match with Harry and Slytherin was winning and…" she got quiet all of a sudden.

"… And you got hit in the head by a bludger and fell down." McGonagall finished for her and Hermione nodded slowly.

"How long have I been out?" she asked. It must've been a long time for as far as she knew all her injuries had healed.

"You were only out for about fifteen minutes actually, but you fell asleep almost instantly again. The accident happened just yesterday if that's what worried you." Madam Pomfrey secured her.

"But then how… did someone catch me or anything?"

"Well no, but this part is a bit more difficult to explain." McGonagall said and looked at madam Pomfrey, "Poppy if you would be so kind to do the test."

The woman nodded and walked across the ward heading for the cabinet. She got some equipment out and some sort of potion. She walked back to the bed and grabbed Hermione's hand.

"This is going to hurt a little bit, when I have the blood you can press this bit of cotton on the wound."

With a tiny knife Pomfrey cut Hermione's thumb and pressed out a droplet of blood. She knew it would be useless for the girl to put cotton on the wound for it would probably heal within the next ten seconds, but they could explain things better with a calm Hermione than an already panicking one.

So, as ordered, Hermione pressed the cotton against her thumb and looked curious at what Pomfrey was doing.

The medi-witch mixed the droplet of blood with a droplet of the purple potion. She stirred the mix quickly with a sort metal needle. The fluids mixed badly and in the purple potion now floated little bits of blood.

"It's not binding, she's infected Albus." Madam Pomfrey concluded.

Hermione looked around, confused. Everyone just looked at her with sad faces, except for Snape of course. His face wasn't showing any kind of emotion. Sometimes she wondered whether he had any at all.

"Can someone please tell what's going on?" she said with in the most academic tone she could muster.

Everyone kept silent, perhaps contemplating what to say. Yet she wanted an answer right that instant and insisted for it again.

"Remember that one night a few weeks ago, Miss Granger." Surprisingly Snape was the first to grant her wish, "When Lupin and I were taking a lovely stroll across the castle grounds." She flickered at his sarcasm, though how she could expect anything less from him.

The discontent about the subject was clearly seen on her face.

At her slight nod he was about to continue his explanation when Albus did instead.

"Severus wasn't in time to catch you and you got seriously injured. Yet, I've been told you had already recovered completely before anyone else could reach you." He said in the most gentile voice Severus had ever heard coming from the old man.

It stayed silent for some time while his bushy haired student looked down, her mind no doubt racing over what had just been told to her. She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but closed it immediately again.

"Like professor Snape…" she mumbled. It would surely take her a lot longer to come to grips with her new identity. Even he had had trouble. Unaware of it, her slender fingers fumbled with the clean white sheets. She was still wearing the same clothes as she did yesterday at the match, though her cloak and thick winter sweater were hanging over a nearby chair. Her hair was even wilder than normal, probably because she had just woken up.

"So you mean I'm a… a werewolf?" the brown eyes that looked up weren't directed at the headmaster, nor Poppy or at her head of house; they were directed at him and for the first time in his life he didn't know what to say. It seemed his whole armor, the one he had build up so long ago and continued strengthening until nothing could penetrate his soul, just got torn down like it was a mere toy block house. For one short second there was a harmony between them that he had never felt before with anyone. He suddenly understood her many unnecessary worries about her school work, her worries about her friends, and her worries about her future; about what would happen next now that she was a monster. He understood her whole being. It felt like they were both was using legilimens on each other yet her wand was lying there on the nightstand and he was fairly sure he hadn't spoken the incantation either.

Usually one second doesn't last very long yet to him it seemed like an eternity. He couldn't speak so all he did was nod. Breaking their eye contact he quickly turned and walked away.

He crossed the ward halfway and stood still for a moment to address the headmaster, "I have other engagements that need my attention at the moment." He said over his shoulder.

"Of course Severus, we will have our talk later on."

"Also I will need a few samples of her blood." He said and noticed Granger looked as muddled as he felt. By the look of his colleagues, they had noted little of their exchange.

When Poppy acknowledged his request, he left the room.

The door to the hospital wing flung open and Harry, Ginny, Neville and Luna came bursting in. Followed by a cautious Ron and a bright looking Lavender at his side.

"'Mione, how are you feeling?" Harry asked sitting down on a nearby chair.

"Fine really." She smiled.

"Are you sure, you fell from quite a height." Neville said amazed.

"Yeah I'm sure, I guess I was just extremely lucky." Only now did she notice Ron who was reasonably busy keeping Lavender from kissing him.

"What are you doing here." she spat.

"I was just wondering how you were."

"Well next time just ask Harry."

"Fine, have it your way then." He said as he stalked out, pulling Lavender along.

The rest of her company didn't say a word, neither during the confrontation nor after. They all got tired of it weeks ago.

After a few hours Ginny and Neville took leave, they still needed to do their homework and had other stuff to do as well. Harry said he stayed for just a little while longer.

When their other friends had left, Harry turned his full attention at Hermione.

"They're gone, are you now going to tell me what's going on." He said seriously.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked curtly. Why did he have to make this hard after all.

"You can't fell that far down without a single scratch." He said and paused, "You and I both know you're hiding something from me."

"I was just lucky, that's all Harry." She hated lying to him, but she had promised Dumbledore after all. She noticed Harry sigh at her answer and he stood.

"I guess I should be heading back. You'll get released before dinner right?"

"Yes"

"I'll probably see you then. Oh and Hermione?"

"Hm?"

"If there's something troubling you, you can always talk about it with me." She nodded and Harry turned and left the room.

Severus stepped into Albus' study and was greeted by old man himself.

"This is turning out to be a fairly bothersome situation." Severus said as he sat down in a luxurious armchair near the fireplace. He usually sat there during these sorts of conversations.

"Indeed, bothersome to say the least." Albus agreed as he sat down as well and conjured some tea for the both of them. "Miss Granger told us she believes she got infected through a tiny cut on her finger, she didn't tell madam Pomfrey before because it was already healed the next day."
"Then she didn't got injected through Lupin, but because some of our blood mixed?" Severus wondered aloud.

"Those were my thoughts precisely." Albus nodded thoughtfully.

"That might explain why she healed even faster then I did; she has yet another form of the curse." If this keeps going on like this, I won't be having any sleep for the next year or so, with all the experimenting on that bloody potion. He sipped his tea contemplating all their problems.

"The next full moon is due in about a week, but seeing the progress of the wolfsbane I don't think it will be ready by then. We will need a place where the three of you can transform without being a danger to any of the students." Said Albus.

"Yes, the Shrieking Shack is the most obvious place where we could transform, but I'm quite sure it isn't large enough to house three werewolves."

"I agree, but we cannot take the risk of letting you three go beyond the grounds of Hogwarts. I am sure there are Death Eaters monitoring who goes in and who comes out those gates. If they knew you were gone from the castle Tom would surely want to know why. Also, it would be far too dangerous seeing as Miss Granger would have to leave the grounds as well. We cannot afford to lose any of you."

He nodded, "Potter would go mental losing the know-it-all."

It kept quiet for some time, both men thinking about a way to cope with the 'monstrous' problem.

"Can't we just magically enlarge the Shrieking Shack. I know it's not normally done with houses, but it might be a possibility." Severus said.

"That is a very good idea, I will make work of it immediately." Albus said as he got up. He walked towards the window and stared across the Hogwarts grounds. The Hufflepuff quidditch team were practising and he watched the tiny figures fly through the air.

"Have you found someone who could help me with grading homework and essays?" Severus asked as he came standing near him, looking out the window as well.

Albus shook his head and it got silent, but from the corner of his eye he noticed Severus was struggling to say something.

"I may have someone in mind." Severus said eventually, having composed himself mentally.

"You have?" Albus said casually, though he couldn't completely hide the surprise from his voice.

"Granger"

At this Albus turned his head towards his old friend. It wasn't like him to willingly ask the help of a Gryffindor, especially not from one who indirectly held ties with his awful past at Hogwarts.

"She already knows all she needs to know about the situation and though I hate to admit it, she is indeed the smartest witch of her year. Not that that means a lot thinking of all those dunderheads that call themselves Hogwarts students."

He studied Severus' face and found the man was being sincere. It was no wonder she would eventually impress even the cold professor Snape, but he wondered why Severus had so suddenly changed his mind on the young woman.

He turned his head towards the amazing view again, "Do I need to tell her or will you?"

"I'll tell her. I was going to see her anyway."

"Tell her about the Shrieking Shack as well. She will be anxious to know what will happen to her." Severus nodded and headed for the polished oak door.

"You have my permission Severus, but don't make her life more miserable, she'll be your assistant, not a student. She will be doing you a favour, try to remember that, dear friend."

They both knew there was no doubt she wouldn't take the simple, yet time-consuming task of grading papers. She would kill to finally be able get acknowledged by the dark clad man. That he trusted her with the assignment though was what amazed Albus. He had not often seen him this secure about an other person.

A/N: another chappie done. I've cut this chap a tad bit short for I'm going away on my holiday soon – I'll be gone for at least three weeks. Yeah.

With the new Harry Potter book. Woooot I can't wait till I've finished it… (I'm reading it really slow so I have something to read in on my holiday, but the excitement is killing me)

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with the story. I mean if book seven connects with my vision on what ought to happen next I'll follow it and make this love story bloom 'between the lines' so to say.

But if it collides with what I think ought to happen, I'll probably just ignore book seven and finish this story like I think seems right.

We'll see what happens, first I'll need to finish DH of course.

I've also seen the new movie – OotP for anyone who's reading this years from now…like that would happen haha – and I absolutely loved it. The only thing I missed was a lot more Snape. I was also looking forward to seeing the grey underwear he wore when he was younger, what a disappointment that they never filmed that.

Good, over to the reviews, I'm ecstatic to announce the story has reached 53 reviews now and that with only 7 chapters. I'm so proud :D:D:D

PuddyTatt: I reward you with the best-Beta-read-chapter-award! You tried so hard to get the previous chapter send back to me, your a doll!

TwistedLilBarbie: How come you feel sorry for Snape? Great you find Hermione likeable by the way :D

Goldnote: Glad you're pleased with this new collaboration :)

Furthermore I'd like to thank Heidi191976, Toria sparrow, Phantom's Allure(love the nickname btw), Half-elf and last but certainly not least Thebookwerm for their lovely reviews, tips and thoughts on the story.

Have any comments on the story, maybe something you'd like to see happening, or perhaps you have a comment on the way the story should intertwine with the last HP book. Let me know, just don't send me any spoilers (I'm on page 219 at the moment, please don't tell how it ends)

If you have other things you'd like to share (maybe about the new movie or something) you can always let me know.

Anyway have a nice day and my thoughts are with you, my dear readers, while I'm off sunbathing :D