Here's another chapter! Yay! I've written almost 2 more pages so it shouldn't take too long until the next one is posted... thanks for the reviews, i'm as grateful as ever!!! xxx
Crystan Crepsley: Thank you so much for your review. Oh well, I'm happy to hear that, as I was kind of worried that she was OOC, even for my Hermione.
Sharmon: Thanks, I try to update as soon as I can, but it's hard to find the time.
The Gryffindor Drummer: Thank you so much for always reviewing!! Means a lot to me.
Paprika: So would I!
Madyashiefan: Here it is, hope you enjoy reading this one too.
Catysmom: Thanks, here you go.
Notwritten: Thanks, I suppose.
Megan Consoer: Thank you, I really am trying to write more often but I can't seem to find the time!
Winters'Darkened'Reflection: Thank you very much indeed! I adore the word original ;)
Artemis-Eureka: lol, well many thanks for taking the time to review even if you don't know what to say...
Bkerrmom1: Thanks a lot!
Evie2657: Thank you very much for you review, it's always nice with a bit longer reviews, like yours.
Oliveydoughnuts: I try, okay? Thanks for taking your time to review!
Amsev: Well, she's not really depressed, more like she's too clever for her own good, so she wants to try new things (2 of my friends are kind of like that) and she takes it a bit too far. Thanks!
Smile28: Here you go!
madamepince89: Thanks!
The following days had passed by quite smoothly. It was already Saturday afternoon and everyone was getting ready for the ball. It had been raining all day, which meant that every single girl in the castle was panicking about her hair.
Hermione was sitting in the common room, reading a book about gender differences between Hippogriffs. In fact she was not really reading, she was thinking. In her opinion, the past couple of days had been quite pleasant. She had continued to leave blood samples every evening and they had all tested negative for alcohol. The only thing that bothered her was her lack of sleep. She had had trouble sleeping ever since the Saturday when she was caught and she had barely got four hours of sleep each night. Her detentions had been anything but horrible, as she had brewn an inredibly challenging potion and been succesful in doing it. In fact, she had even had a rather enjoyable conversation with her potions professor the day before about whether to test potions on cats or not. The relaxed side of him that she had seen since that Monday night had come to stay, it seemed. Still, he was the same in classes though. After all, that was to be expected as he was a very professional teacher. Hermione could not help but feel herself become attracted to the new side of her professor. She had always liked men in suits, especially those with dark hair. It was also obvious to her that he posessed a very muscular body under those layers of clothing. Her gut feeling told her that he felt something for her too, although she did not really think so. At least he was interested in getting to know her, that was obvious. She watched people run through the room, borrowing things from each other. In fact, she was rather happy about not going to the ball. Fun was not a word she connected with her 'friends', at Hogwarts, anyway. A ball gown was not her favourite choice of clothes, after all. This night she was dressed in muggle attire instead of her usual Hogwarts robes. She had thrown on a pair of jeans, red ballerina flats, a white tank top and a thin, black cardigan. Time was approaching 7 p.m. so Hermione decided to leave for the dungeons. Ron called for her on her way out but she pretended she hadn't heard him.
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A certain Gryffindor student had made Snape think more of a person than he had done in ages. She intrigued him, that was for sure. No matter how much he tried, he could not understand her. When he thought he knew something about her personality, she proved the opposite. There was something about her that made him want to know more about her.
Snape served himself some brandy and he quickly downed most of it. He unfastened his outer robes and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he felt much more comfortable in that attire. Then he heard a knock on the door. He quickly got rid of the glass with a simple spell and uttered his usual 'enter'. As he had expected, Miss Granger was in the doorway, dressed in some weird clothes that probably was muggle attire.
"Sit down, Miss Granger,". He nodded at the chair in front of his desk.
"Good evening, Sir,". Hermione complied and stared into his eyes with that intense gaze of hers. She crossed her legs and looked at her teacher expectantly.
"Miss Granger, I never wish to see you in that muggle attire again, is that clear?," he said sternly. In fact, he felt a bit disturbed with her being so relaxed in his prescence, that she even dared to dress in muggle clothes. On the other hand, was there anything that she did not dare to do or say?
Hermione was slightly amused at his order. She decided that her outfit must have been disturbingly casual in some unfathomable way.
"Yes, Sir," she replied in a bored voice. "May I ask why? There is no rule that forbids students from wearing muggle clothes after classes, as far as I am concerned. Sir,".
"I hardly think that outfit is suitable for any hard work that I might have you do during your detentions," Snape explained.
"Yes, professor," Hermione replied and pretended to suppress a yawn with her hand. "What am I going to do today? The potion only needs to simmer tonight. As I was excused from this detention at first, I shouldn't be forced to do any hard work today, should I?," she played.
"That is for me to decide," he said and decided to switch subjects. "How are things between you and your friends? Do you still want to leave Hogwarts?," he asked teasingly.
"Well, we're not exactly fine but it's not like they care. Nor do I. So it's fine. To be honest with you, Sir, yes, I'm rather sick of this monastery life," she joked and looked straight into his eyes. There was something with his eyes that made her want to look at them all the time.
Snape chuckled lightly. He pretended to give her a stern look but she just smiled knowingly.
Hermione removed her cardigan and let it fall to the floor without a second glance. All she could think about was what it would feel like to have her professor's graceful hands gently carressing her body. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts.
"I bet all the seventh years have drunk their heads off by now. At least the Slytherins," she smiled teasingly and watched him frown. There was a hint of jelousy in her voice.
"What makes you think that?," he asked curiously.
"Well, where do you think we get the alcohol from? The Slytherins provide everyone with it. I don't know how they get hold of it, but they can get pretty much anything," she explained.
"Most of them have servants at home who send it to them," he replied.
Snape eyed his student closely for a few seconds. He could tell she hadn't slept well lately. There were bags under her eyes, though he guessed most of them had been covered by make up. Perhaps she's used a glamour charm too, he mused.
"Let's be honest with eachother, shall we, Miss Granger?," Snape asked seriously. "Would you like a sleeping potion? I can tell you are not sleeping. How many hours of sleep do you get each night?,".
"I'm fine, honestly," she objected. "I sleep about six to seven hours each night,".
"No, you don't," Snape said emotionlessly. "I can tell,".
"I sleep about three or four hours each night," the Gryffindor replied in an edgy voice. "No, thank you, I do not want a sleeping potion. Since we are being so honest with eachother," she said dryly. "I may as well tell you that I am immune to all kinds of sleeping potions, as I was abusing them last year," she said softly.
"Why were you taking sleeping potions so regularly? Were you suffering from insomnia?," the teacher wondered.
"For a while, yes. For a few weeks I kept going for nightly walks and I suppose my body got used to not sleeping a lot. When I tried to go to sleep at 11 p.m. my body wouldn't fall asleep until 3 a.m., no matter what time I went to bed. That's when I started using sleeping potions. I couldn't sleep without them so I kept using them until I had developed an addiction. Unfortunately, immunity came with it. After a month or so without the sleeping potions, I started to sleep more. It's just the last week I haven't been sleeping well," she admitted.
"I understand. Is there anything I can do?," he offered.
"Not really. Look, I really appreciate you taking your time to talk to me. It's actually quite nice to have someone to talk to," Hermione said softly and looked into his eyes.
"You're welcome," Snape replied sternly but honestly. "I want you to know that I was not comfortable with asking you such private questions the other day. It was in fact the headmaster who wanted me to get a closer picture of what your life has been like so that I could understand you better in order to help you. Frankly, I still do not understand you one bit, Miss Granger," he said sardonically.
"It's okay. Well, you have to try much harder if you want to understand me...," Hermione said and smiled confidently. She rose and walked around the desk. "There's something I've wanted to do for a while," she murmured.
"And what is that, Miss Granger?," Snape said and challenged her with his eyes.
Hermione walked up to her teacher and straddled him when he opened his mouth to speak.
"Oh, shut up," she said and kissed him passionately.
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