Thank you for the comments/reviews etc, chapter was a bit late due to terrible net connection over the weekend.

The Forbidden Forest

Chapter 8

Severus read the last few lines of the chapter and closed the book. He looked down at Lavender Brown, lying so still in her hospital bed. He came to read to her every day at the same time, the hour just before lunch. He had been about ready to give up the sessions, when three days ago, she had shown a flicker of interest in the new book he had chosen. It wasn't much of a reaction, but she had moved her gaze from the ceiling to him and it had given him a little sanguinity, a rare emotion for him. It had been a relief to everyone, especially Poppy who had already filled in the papers for Lavender's admittance to St Mungo's.

"That is all we have time for today, Miss Brown." Severus gave her a slight smile. She was still staring at him, it was faintly unsettling, but progress. He briefly thought of using Legilimency on her to find out what was going on inside her mind, but dismissed the notion as soon as it appeared. She was in a fragile enough state already and he did not want to do anything that might make her lose ground.

He got up from the chair by her bed and walked to the end of the ward to where Poppy was seated behind her desk. She smiled warmly at him as she closed up her folders and gave him her full attention.

"I appreciate your help with Miss Brown, Severus; your visits really seem to have made a difference. She improves a little every day."

"I am glad to do my duty." He replied. "I will come an hour earlier tomorrow so we can go over the proposed budgets for the new school year before I read to Miss Brown." He pinched the bridge of his nose, alleviating some of the tension that threatened to turn into a headache.

"Before you go, tomorrow night is the full moon, and we had discussed brewing Miss Brown some Wolfsbane potion just in case she transforms, if you remember?"

Severus sighed. He had been a master at brewing that potion, but its intricacy was too chancy to be left to him with his nerve damage. He would not risk brewing it incorrectly and make Miss Brown suffer for a point of pride "Yes, it slipped my mind; I will get Professor Slughorn to deal with it."

"Headmaster, I am sorry about your hands. Did the Healer from St Mungo's give you no hope?" She guessed at the source of his barely concealed anguish.

"Well, let's just say if you run short of contraceptive potions, I am the man to do them. I daren't brew anything more complicated. The mind is willing Poppy, but the flesh is weak." And oh how the flesh is weak, he thought to himself, thinking of Hermione and his inability to steer clear of her. He was tired of trying.

"Before you go, there is one more matter...I received a reminder from the Ministry for Magic that you have not yet submitted your...donation..." Poppy reddened.

"The Ministry can go hang. The deadline is still more than two months away." Severus snarled. His good humour faded instantly. "I will see you at lunch, good day Madam Pomfrey."

He walked briskly from the ward and firmly closed the doors behind him.

Hermione worked liberal amounts of Sleekeazy Hair Potion through her damp hair. She cast a drying spell over it and twisted it into a French pleat on the back of her head. She took a moment to pull down the collar of her blouse, noticing the purplish mark on her throat, remembering Severus's lips pressed against her skin. She touched it and smiled, before replacing the collar and looking at her hair. Pleased with the results, she left her quarters and walked down the stairs, determined to be on time for lunch and show her fellow staff members that she could be responsible. She was about to turn the corner to access the staff entrance to the Great Hall, when she heard voices.

"I am sorry, Headmaster, it cannot be helped. I received an Owl from my daughter, my only child for that matter. She has gone into labour and I must be at the hospital. I have told you this might be the case for days."

"But you know I cannot brew the Wolfsbane potion and it has to be done tonight! Tomorrow is the full moon and Miss Brown... I could refuse you permission you know Slughorn."

"Then you would have to find yourself another Potions Master Severus." He returned, gravely.

Hermione was surprised at the older man's bravado when faced with such an intimidating prospect as she knew Snape could be. She frowned, wondering why Severus could not make the potion himself. He had made it for Professor Lupin when he had been a teacher here. She was perplexed. Not wanting to eavesdrop any longer, she turned the corner to see a harassed looking Slughorn, who seemed enormously glad to see her.

She walked up to the two Professors and stood close to Severus. Hermione was gratified to feel him reach for her hand. The connection was concealed by both of their voluminous robes.

"Ah, Miss Granger, very nice to see you and on time too." Slughorn winked at her. The Potions Master gave Snape an apologetic glance. "I am truly sorry that I cannot help you Severus." He added, before hurrying through the Staff Entrance.

Snape continued to hold her hand under his robes, seemingly drawing strength from it. Hermione studied his face; there were lines of tiredness and stress about his eyes and mouth. Hermione felt a wave of guilt that she might have added to that strain with her relentless pursuit of him ever since she had come back to Hogwarts. It was hard to believe that she had only been here since last night.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, stroking his hand with her thumb. She didn't want to press him as to why he was unable to brew the potion himself; instead she would wait for him to tell her.

"No doubt you heard most of my conversation with Horace." Snape sighed. "He is the only one who can brew the Wolfsbane potion, Madam Pomfrey is not up to the task and neither are any of the other professors, or I would ask them."

"I could try...I mean if you instructed me every step of the way. I know it's a complicated potion, but I have brewed Polyjuice Potion before, with success...that was an advanced potion." Hermione offered. She felt her face grow hot; sure he would dismiss the idea out of hand. The silence between them grew heavy as she waited for his response.

Severus gave her a stern look. "I remember it well; it was in your second year. You and your friends liberated ingredients from my personal stores. I might be still angry at you for that if it wasn't for the fact that I believe you more than paid for it by spending several weeks in the hospital wing."

Hermione flushed with embarrassment. "You knew about that?"

"Of course. It was hard to miss, especially with you being absent from my classes for a while." He replied, haughtily. "We can gather some fresh Wolfsbane; the fresher it is the more effective it is. It is best picked just after sundown. Meet me at the school entrance around eight pm."

Hermione squeezed his hand. "It's a date." She smiled cheekily.

"No, Miss Granger, it's a task." Severus said, firmly.

"Fine, we will play it your way, for now." She reluctantly let his hand go and walked towards the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Remember Miss Granger, no games at the dining table."

"As if I would." She replied with an air of studied innocence.

Severus watched her go, almost thankful that Horace had been called away on business. It at least gave them a legitimate reason to spend time together without arousing suspicion. Professor McGonagall came round the corner; she gave Severus a stern glance that made him feel like he was one of her students caught misbehaving.

"Good afternoon Severus and who pray tell is playing games? " She enquired.

"No one." He replied sharply, before taking the same route as Hermione.

McGonagall's lips thinned, but she could do nothing but follow him into the hall.

Hermione was as good as her word and she was the perfect example of how a Hogwarts professor should behave all through lunch. She hungrily demolished the roast chicken on her plate. With all the rich foods they served at the castle she was once again thankful that she did not have the predisposition to gain weight easily. She allowed herself a quick glance at Severus. No wonder he was so thin. She noted that he only picked at his food. Unkindly, the thought of a middle aged Ron flashed through her mind. She could imagine him looking very much like his father when he got to Mr Weasley's age.

Professor Slughorn who was trying to get through his meal at record speed, chatted to her in-between mouthfuls about his daughter. She had been surprised to find out that not only had he been married and widowed, but he had had a daughter in the first place. He had always seemed like one of those tweed covered condemned bachelor types to her.

"How old is your daughter?" She asked conversationally, between mouthfuls.

"She is thirty-nine; I had given up all hopes of being a grandparent." He pulled a slightly dog-eared photograph from his jacket pocket and handed it to Hermione. A pretty woman with long brown hair smiled and waved from the picture. "Takes after her mother, she does. Good job too, wouldn't want anyone to be saddled with my looks." He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Isabelle's husband is a Muggle, but very nice chap. My wife while she was alive never lived at Hogwarts, we tried but she found it too isolated."

Hermione smiled sadly.

Slughorn patted her on the back, rising from the table. "Family is everything Miss Granger." He threw his napkin down on the plate, pushed his chair.

Hermione felt as if her heart would break, but as much as it hurt and as great a temptation as it was to restore their memories, she would sleep better at night knowing her family were safe. There were too many Death Eaters still unaccounted for, McNair and Rookwood were only a fraction of them.

"Good luck Horace, I want to hear all about the new arrival." Professor McGonagall said fondly.

"I will owl you all later." He said jovially, before rushing out of the Great Hall, impatient to be out of the school grounds so that he could Apparate to his daughter's side.

Hermione could understand his haste, but for a different reason. She still had an afternoon of going through Arithmancy lesson plans with Septima and another meal before she would have the pleasure of Severus's company this evening, even if it were to do no more than gather potion ingredients. The main thing in her mind was that they would be alone together.

Severus replaced his knife and fork on the plate, his meal barely touched. He looked around the table at all of the other professors. His gaze rested on Hermione, having the luxury of watching her unobserved. She seemed to converse and fit in easily with the teachers as if she had been born for it. He remembered his own sense of needing to belong when he had not been much older. It had soon become apparent to him that the ranks of the Death Eaters were not that place. After he had Lily had parted ways, which he readily took much of the blame for, he had felt like a shipwrecked man cast adrift when Lucius and the others had extended a hand to him. It was not until it was too late that he realised what that hand meant.

Hermione had been fortunate in her friends from year one, although even for her there had been problems fitting in with Potter and Weasley at first. He had not been so imperceptive as to not know what that little escape with the troll in the girl's bathrooms had been sparked by. He was a spy; or rather he had been a spy, correcting himself. It had been his job to know everything, especially regarding Potter. He grudgingly admitted to himself that if it wasn't for Potter and Weasley then her time at school might has been as rough as his. Nobody liked an overachiever, especially at school and the young Severus had been as much as an insufferable know it all as she. It had not taken long for Sirius Black and James Potter to notice it either. His expression turned sour as he looked away.

"What is it Severus? You look like you have just lost a Galleon and found a Knut." Minerva had been observing him as he looked at Miss Granger. She had been surprised to see a softening of his expression as he looked at the young Witch, before he had pulled a shutter down on his face and went back to his customary sour demeanour.

"I was just thinking about the pile of papers which arrived this morning that I have to go through before dinner." He lied smoothly. "This brings another matter to mind, I would not ask my members of staff to do something which I am not willing to do myself. I am informing you that Miss Granger and myself will be absent from the castle this evening for an hour or...two."

Minerva's curiosity was peaked. "Where will you be going?"

"We need to collect some fresh Wolfsbane for the potion that needs brewing as a safeguard for Miss Brown. Horace has been called away on urgent family matters as you know, so Miss Granger will be assisting me with the making of the potion."

Minerva looked to Poppy. "Couldn't you do it?"

"Alas my skills do not include that particular potion Minerva. I have always relied on Severus in the past for the more complicated ones...Severus; do you think Miss Granger is up to the task?" Poppy enquired.

Severus gave her a level look. "I have absolute faith in Miss Granger's abilities." His tone brooked no further argument from her or anyone else and he rose to leave the table. "I have much to do; besides I will be instructing her every step of the way. I will see you all at dinner. I shall be in my office if anyone needs me."

With Severus gone, all eyes turned to Hermione. Hermione tried to put on an air of disinterest as she felt them watching her. However, without seeing it, she felt her face redden in the aftermath of his rather fulsome praise. After a few moments she dared at glance at them all, most had gone back to their food, but Minerva was studying her. She felt akin to a bug under a microscope under that penetrating gaze.

Septima, who had remained quiet thus far, delicately dabbed at her lips with her napkin. "Someone is in favour with our headmaster. I never thought I would live to see the day." She arched a perfectly pencilled eyebrow at Hermione. "Now, if you are ready, let's go and get through those lesson plans."

Hermione nodded and smiled weakly at her mentor, before bidding the others a good day and exiting the hall, relieved to be gone at the same time.

The clock tower struck the hour. It was eight pm and Hermione had been standing there for at least ten minutes, not wanting to displease Severus by being late. He had been rather quiet over dinner and not predisposed to converse with anyone, even though the bolder members of staff had attempted it. Hermione had remained relatively silent herself, sensing that Severus had had a lot on his mind and not wanting to intrude, even though she desired answers as to why she was going to be attempting to brew the Wolfsbane potion in the first place.

By the time the clock had made the eighth strike, she felt a cold breeze behind her and nestled further into her woollen cloak, although June was almost upon them, the nights in Scotland could still be a bit nippy. As it turned out, the chilly air behind her heralded the arrival of Severus. Instinctively she turned around to face him, surprised find him so close to her that her nose almost touched his chest.

"H-Headmaster." She breathed shakily, caught off her guard by his sudden appearance.

She instinctively took a step backwards, mindful that they were standing in the main hall of the school. But even with the skeleton staff in residence there were still plenty of people who might stumble upon them. One never knew when Filch might come wheezing around a corner, either.

Snape put out his hand to grasp her fingers, as if fearing she might turn tail and run away. He thrust a pair of cotton gloves into her other hand. "You will need these; you do not need me to tell you the toxicity of Aconite."

Hermione took the gloves from his fingers and secreted them away in one of her pockets. Severus went on ahead of her and opened the huge oak doors, stepping to one side as he allowed her to go first and then he followed, closing the doors behind them with a resonant bang. It was good to get out of the castle and into the fading daylight. The sun was fast going down and the sky was streaked with rich hues of orange and purple.

"It's beautiful." She exclaimed, looking up.

"Yes, it is." Severus said softly.

Hermione turned her head to smile at him, catching an unusual look of gentleness on his face as he watched her, bathed in the orange light of dusk. Her breath hitched in her throat as she looked back at him. She had the feeling he had not been talking about the sky with his comment and she blushed. She was not accustomed to compliments from the opposite sex. Ron rarely said anything. She instantly felt ashamed with herself again that she was comparing her friend against Severus.

It would get better, she hoped when she spoke to Ron this weekend. The idea of causing him more pain on top of his grief for Fred, weighed heavily on her, but it would be far crueller to continue the attachment when her heart was not in it. Everyone was probably going to hate her for this, Ginny, Harry, and especially Ron. She looked at Severus, weighing up the price she would pay to take a chance with the man who had told her not to pin her hopes on him. The war had taught her one thing if any, life was a series of chances that if not taken you could regret for the rest of your life. If her friends truly loved her then in time they might come to accept her decision, but they would never understand her choice, she thought sadly.

"Why so quiet Hermione?" Snape searched her face. "It is not like you." He commented, an ironic note creeping into his voice.

"I think you know."

"Mr Weasley?" He guessed correctly.

"You, of all people must surely understand the agony of losing a long time friend." She saw the pain flit across his face at her words and instantly regretted bringing Lily to his mind.

"I do." He looked away. "I also know the biting jealousy of seeing that friend prefer another. I think it best that we do not...further...our, whatever it is, until you have resolved things with your fiancé."

"Please, do not use that word. If I belong to anyone, I feel it is you." She admitted.

His hand tightened around her fingers and they continued walking down the craggy hill, now not far from Hagrid's hut. The sun had disappeared behind the hills and night was beginning to set in. Hermione knew he was right about the Ron situation. She had to get her emotions in some semblance of order, and when passion so easily ignited between them it was hard to think of anything else. She owed Ron that much to wait until she was entirely free to follow her heart.

Hermione looked towards Hagrid's Hut, the thatch was new, but otherwise it had been rebuilt in the exact replica of the old building. It had all but been obliterated by the death eaters when they had attacked the school the night Dumbledore died. The windows were lit from within and she felt a surge of happiness as the door was flung open and the huge frame of her friend filled the doorway.

"Hagrid!" Hermione let go of Severus's hand quickly, hoping Hagrid had not noticed. She would have been hard pressed to find an excuse as to why she was holding hands with the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Hermione! It is good teh see yeh back here. How's yeh young man then?"

"Er...Ron is fine. He is playing Quidditch with the Wigtown Wanderers. He was hoping for the Chudley Cannons, but you can't have everything." She grinned.

"Heard about that, an' about yeh all planning to get married." Hagrid nodded to Severus. "Evening Headmaster."

Hermione looked uncomfortable. "Harry and Ginny are. I want to be more settled first."

Hagrid patted Hermione on the head. "Look at you, all grown up now. You'll make a fine teacher Miss Hermione, yeh mark my words." He started to sniffle, reaching for a hanky the size of a tea towel from his trouser pocket. He took a large blow on it before tucking it away again.

"Miss Granger...the day isn't getting any younger." Severus reminded her, brusquely.

"Where, yeh both headed then?" The groundskeeper asked with interest.

"We're going to the Forbidden forest to gather some Wolfsbane." Snape replied.

"Ah, well in that case, be careful. The Centaurs have been a bit restless since the battle." Hagrid warned them.

"We will not be going that far in, Hagrid." Severus assured him.

Hermione and Hagrid said their goodbyes with a promise extracted from her to go to tea with him the next day. She just hoped his tastes had changed from Stoat sandwiches. They waited for the door of Hagrid's hut to close, Severus held out his hand to her and they continued on their way. Neither felt the inclination for needless chatter as they walked together through Hagrid's pumpkin patch and to the borders of the forest beyond that.

They walked through the trees, each keeping an eye out for their goal. Hermione spotted a clearing up ahead. "That looks a good place to start." She pointed.

Severus let her hand go to don a pair of gloves, took out his wand to conjure up a basket for the Wolfsbane. "Best to put your gloves on now, Hermione."

She took her gloves out of her cloak and did as he asked. She smiled at him sweetly.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"That is the second time you have called me Hermione since we left the castle. I like it."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Do not get too fond of it; it will be Miss Granger again when we get back."

Hermione gave him a saucy look. "Ah, but we are not at the castle now. Here we are only Severus and Hermione."

"Thinking like that will only lead us to trouble of the same kind we had my office this morning."

"Well, after Saturday I hope to get into trouble in your office and often." She threw over her shoulder as she walked towards the clearing, leaving Severus gaping after her.

He followed her shortly, kneeling down on the forest floor with little care for the state of his trousers as he searched the vegetation. Triumphantly Severus found what they were looking for. He took out a pair of silver scissors and cut the flowers from the stems and placed them in the basket. "I have some, but we need more. Any luck in your area?"

"Yes, can I borrow your scissors?"

He handed them to her, and watched as she worked. She placed her cuttings in the basket and Severus, satisfied that they had gathered enough, cast a Diminuendo Spell over it and placed it with his scissors, beneath his cloak. They both removed their gloves and froze as there was a loud crack to their rear. Someone or something had trodden on a twig. It echoed round the forest. Snape and Hermione's eyes locked. He removed his wand from his cloak and she did the same.

"I loathe stating the obvious, but I think we have company." He said in a low, quiet voice. Hermione tried to calm the thumping of her heart, as on his signal they both got up and turned to face whatever it was. Snape breathed an audible sigh of relief as he saw a baby Thestral and its mother feeding on a bird they had captured. Severus took her hand. "Come, we had better be getting back."

Hermione had other ideas; she went over to the Thestrals and petted the mother's bony flank. "Just a little longer." She pleaded.

"Fine." Severus walked back over to the rocks and sat down, replacing his wand in his cloak.

"Your little Mudblood whore seems to have your pussy whipped Severus." Sneered a voice from behind them. "Never thought I would live to see the day."

Severus felt a lurch in his gut and instinctively moved to grab his wand. "Keep your hands where I can see them!"

He knew that cold voice anywhere. "McNair." Severus got up and turned to face the Death Eater, his hands raised. "Only you would be stupid enough to come here alone and face me. How did you get past the gates?" He looked to Hermione; her face was frozen in dread. "Hermione get out of here." He snarled at her.

"I won't leave you!" she retorted.

McNair smiled evilly at Snape. "Maybe, I am not so stupid after all." He looked past his shoulder. "Ah Augustus, so nice of you to join us, having a little chat with our old friend Severus and his slut."

Snape's head whipped round just in time to see Augustus Rookwood coming out from behind a tree and grabbing Hermione by the throat before she had a chance to get out her wand. He pressed his wand tip into the tender flesh of her neck. "Move one inch and you can kiss your boyfriend goodbye." Augustus hissed in her ear.

"He's not my boyfriend." Hermione answered him. She tried to keep the fear out of her voice, knowing they would only delight in it.

"This is fortuitous Snape; I hoped to get one or the other of you this time, but both of you together, killing the proverbial two birds with one stone." McNair cackled.

Hermione and Severus looked at each other. She took strength from his outwardly calm demeanour, not one flicker of an eyelid betrayed what he might be feeling at their current position. She wished she had his presence of mind. It was only when faced with death that she appreciated what an exceptional spy he had been. How many other times had he been in these circumstances besides the Shrieking Shack and talked his way out of it? She realised she would happily trust him with her life, regardless of what he had said in the past about people around him tended to die. People had had tended to do that around Harry, but she hadn't stopped it trusting him either.

"Well, if you are going to kill us, why waste small talk and just get on with it." Snape drawled.

"All in good time Severus. You know me better than that. I always did like to pull the wings off of flies before I crushed them." McNair replied. He looked Hermione up and down, giving her an evil leer. "Crucio!"

Hermione closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for the pain. When it didn't come she opened them again to see Severus crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony as the curse coursed through him. He fought the muscle spasms and gritted his teeth to stop himself from crying out and giving them any satisfaction.

"Not so high and mighty now, are you Severus?" Sneered Rookwood. "Crucio!" He removed his wand from Hermione's neck to cast a second curse on the prone man on the ground.

"Stop it!" screamed Hermione, tears ran down her face.

Severus was unable to control his cry of pain this time as the second curse hit him. It felt like he was being torn limb from limb. Both Death Eaters laughed vigorously at his pain. Their faces twisted into evil masks. Hermione used their momentary distraction to get her wand from beneath her robes and aiming it at Rookwood. "Stupify!"

He fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, out cold. McNair rounded on Hermione. "Avada K..."

"Confringo!" Both of the Death Eaters had underestimated Severus's resilience. A jet of blue light sprang from his wand impacting the Dark Wizard. With a flash of fire, he exploded instantaneously. Snape collapsed back on the ground; he was unharmed, but still weak from the Crucio curses. All that was left of McNair was a small crater where he had been previously standing.

Hermione's shoulders slumped for a moment before she mentally told herself to move. She could not allow the shock to overwhelm her. Checking that Rookwood was still unconscious, she kicked his wand away from his hand and picked it up, tucking it in her cloak pocket. She ran over to Severus, got on her knees and helped him to sit up. She leaned him back against her, putting her arms around him.

"I am not hurt Hermione." He assured her. "I have felt better, but I am fine." He put his hands over her own as she pressed her face into his hair and wept.

There they sat for several minutes until he had let her cry herself out. The damp from the ground was starting to penetrate his clothes and he was sure she fared no better. Snape looked around him. Where was a bloody Auror when you wanted one?

"Are you sure?" She asked tearfully.

Severus felt like he could have wept himself. She had come within a hairs breadth of dying right before his eyes. He gently removed her arms and got up unsteadily from the ground. He could still feel little aftershocks of pain from the curse in his limbs, but ignored it. He put out a hand and helped Hermione up to her feet. Snape pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair; it had pulled free from its clip and was beginning to curl in its usual unruly manner.

"That was nothing. When you spend time in Voldemort's service, pretended or otherwise, you become accustomed to pain. He liked to dispense it on a regular basis to test his follower's loyalty. Even in my position I was not exempt."

"But how could you face the prospect of death so indifferently?"

"You forget that I have died once already, it is nothing to fear." Severus glanced at the inert form of Rookwood. "The Aurors should be here by now. The reason I was surprised to see McNair and Rookwood within the grounds was because I had members of staff set up an intruder charm while I was still in hospital."

"Well, McNair said they did have ways and means." Hermione stared at the scorched hole in the ground. "I guess it is a bit late to ask him now."

"But there is always Rookwood." Severus motioned to the Death Eater behind them.

The intensity in his expression changed. His dark eyes looking deeply into hers, she was taken entirely by surprise as his dark head swooped down and he claimed her lips with his own. Hermione responded to his kiss with equal passion, his indifference dropped away from him like scales as he pressed himself closer to her, running his hands up and down her body as if checking she were all in one piece. Hermione's hands curled her hands around his back, caressing him gently. Finally they broke away, both taking a breath. He held her tightly to his chest, placing a final kiss on the top of her head.

Hermione looked over Severus's shoulder; she stiffened as she saw the Death Eater rising from the ground. There was a pop and in a trail of black smoke Augustus Disapparated out of the forest. Both of them were too late to stop him, and since neither of them knew where he was headed it was too dangerous to try and follow.

"Don't worry, if I know Rookwood he will be back to finish what he started and for now he is wandless." Severus said, grimly.

"Promise me you will not take any unnecessary risks." Hermione begged him.

"Hermione I have been taking risks for almost eighteen years...longer even."

He took the loophole she had unconsciously given him with the word unnecessary and made his promise. "I swear I will not take any unnecessary risks." He sighed. "Is that good enough?" He asked, a little acerbically. He pulled out of her embrace and folded his arms over his chest, defensively.

"For now, but I think you put little value on your life or how your death might affect others." She said angrily.

"Nobody has ever cared whether I lived or I died before, so therefore I give it little importance." He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. It was easier to pretend he didn't care and the lie slipped off his tongue easily. He was starting to think about a great deal, and more than he was willing to admit to her.

Hermione stepped in front of him, her eyes blazing. "Well, consider it! I care! It is not just about you anymore...if you died..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

Snape lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. His thumb glided across the smooth skin, comfortingly soothing away her fears with his touch. What was it about this Witch that drew him in so completely? Only days, even weeks ago she had been nothing but an annoying memory to him, but all too quickly she was becoming much more; and it terrified him more than facing rogue Death Eaters. He dropped his hand to his side.

"We had better return to the castle, we still have this potion to make, which will take most of the night and I have to contact the Ministry for Magic."

He glided past her, his cloak swirling out behind him, much like his teaching robes did. Hermione stood there; hardly able to believe his lack of concern to what had happened, unable to see his true feelings behind the mask he had put up, but having little choice, but to follow him.

"I do not know what went wrong Severus." Kingsley Shacklebolt said thoughtfully. "All of the Aurors are on high alert right now and we have every available person out in the field."

Severus paced the floor of his office. "Just every field but here?" He asked sardonically. "Two highly dangerous Death Eaters were in the grounds of Hogwarts! I need to know when the children return in September that they will be safe here!

Hermione sat in one of the chairs, watching the proceedings between the Minister and Severus, feeling proud of the latter and how he carried himself. A few years ago he would have terrified her, striding around the room, his face a picture of controlled anger. So many things she had not noticed before, his long legs encased in black wool, his sensuous lower lip. She knew how good it felt to kiss that mouth. Her thoughts drifted to places it shouldn't, especially with Kingsley Shacklebolt only a few feet away.

"You have to understand the pressure I am under here Severus. The number of Aurors has been greatly reduced by the war and we have had to take on people that perhaps are not as highly qualified as before. Desperate times my friend."

"Miss Granger could have been killed. While your second rate Aurors fumbled their way here almost an hour after Rookwood had fled." Severus was almost shouting.

"And how exactly did he get away?" Asked Kingsley.

"It was my fault Minister, I was overwrought and going into shock and Severus was...attending to me and Rookwood was gone before either of us could do anything." Hermione lied.

Shacklebolt looked at the two of them, seemingly satisfied with her answer. "I am going to assign a couple of extra Aurors to the school for now and I have to submit a report about this incidence, so I will bid you both good evening." He stepped into the fireplace and was gone.

Severus looked at Hermione, gravely. "I just hope our momentary lapse of judgement will not cost more lives."

"Severus, you cannot hold yourself responsible for every..."

A knock at the door put paid to further conversation. "Come in!" Severus snarled.

Poppy Pomfrey stood in the doorway looking at both of them, a grim expression of disapproval on her face. "I just heard about the episode in the forest, down to the hospital wing both of you. You should have come to me first!"

"As you can see, we are both unharmed." He drawled. Poppy put her hands on her hips. "Very well, I can see we are not to get a moments peace until we do. We might get this potion brewed in time for the next full moon at this rate." Severus drawled sarcastically. He looked to Hermione and sighed. "I hope you are prepared to stay up all night Miss Granger?" She nodded and followed him out of the office.

Severus stepped out from behind the hospital screen, securing the last few buttons on his frock coat, waiting for Hermione to immerge from behind her screen. He smiled indulgently as the object of his increasing affections appeared, followed by a Junior Medi-Witch. Poppy had seen to him herself, most of the other Medi-witches too afraid to deal with him, especially after his recent stay in the hospital and his mercurial moods.

Severus glanced at Miss Brown's bed as he waited for Hermione to join him. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the girl. Her cheeks were curiously flushed and she was staring at Hermione as if she was a vial of Flobberworm Mucus. He had not seen her so animated since her admittance to the hospital ward. He decided he would mention it to Poppy on their way out, but found she had already retired for the evening, leaving one of the Junior Medi-Witches on duty for the rest of the night.

"Come Miss Granger, we have a long night ahead of us."

Hermione smiled nervously. She had to believe she had the skill to make this potion and under Severus's skilled tutelage. It would be as much a test of her abilities as his as he talked her through it. Both with their minds on the job at hand, neither of them noticed that Lavender continued to watch them until they disappeared through the doors.

TBC