Disclaimer: My name is Jerry, but I think I said my name was Moe.

Hey, it's been a while. I recently started high school and things have been kind of hectic. I'm sorry for being away.

Important: Also, since I am not allowed to directly thank you personally or answer questions, you can email questions you have for me if you wish. Thank you to everyone for their support.

Thanks to my beta, gooseflesh, it's been a long time hasn't it?

A Teenaged Snape?

"I didn't say stop!" Severus yelled, imitating a drill sergeant.

"Aye! Aye, Sir!" His two recruits responded, as they continued with their thousand push ups.

It was a Monday evening, as the Gryffindor Qudditch team practiced their drills under the setting sun. The Captain was still furious with his Keeper and Seeker's action. They were currently doing a thousand push ups or as many as it took till the sun went down. The rest of the team, not wanting to join in the mad task, continued with their drill in silence.

Severus stood there in silence as well, contemplating over the events. He would have to face Voldemort, well the Death Eaters at least. You could say that Severus Snape was scared, something he hadn't been in while.

First on his mind was how the evening would play out. What would he say? Who would he speak to? Who would he avoid? How could he go unnoticed? The obvious answer was: avoid everyone, particularly Lucius Malfoy. Lucius had already seemed suspicious enough their last meeting. But then again, he would want to introduce him to everyone, seeing as no one knew that Severus Snape actually had any living relatives left. There was really nothing Severus could do about that.

The second question on his mind was who would he take? Charlotte was a possibility, but she knew nothing of the Order. He could possibly use that to his advantage. However, if they got into a sticky situation, his position and the sake of the Order would be jeopardized. Charlotte was out of the question. But who was there left? Ginny? No, she was with Harry.

He was on the right track though. It had to be someone from the Order. Minerva? Severus flinched. Ugh, disturbing thought of seeing the 70-something year old in a low cut dress. Tonks? That was a good possibility, but there was a suspicious age difference and she did work as an Auror. No, to suspicious. There was no one!

Wait! There was someone, but she was definitely Severus' last resort. She was aware of Lucius' offer and she was an Order member. Hermione! Severus shook his head. They had just had a fight yesterday and hadn't even spoken for two weeks before that. But she was his only resort. He had to put personal issues before the more important issues.

Even if Hermione was not aware of his true identity, like most people, she was still deeply connected into the Order and would be better prepared for tight situations. She was intelligent, quick on her feet, beautiful...Wait, beautiful?

Hadn't they just fought yesterday? Hadn't he driven out this idea of Hermione and him being together? That she was better off with Eric? This brought him back to their last encounter. She had said that she had loved him, but then had taken it back. Which of these was he supposed to believe?

Severus sighed. This was one of the reasons he avoided women, they were too distracting.

"Yo, Sev! Earth to Big Head!" someone called, snapping Severus out his trance. He looked around to see the entire team surrounding him.

"Um, good work everyone. Now hit the showers," he said. Everyone began to leave, beside Ron and Harry who were still on ground trying to feel their arms.

"Are we forgiven yet, El Ca-pe-tan?" Ron asked, rolling onto his back. Severus nodded, as he left them in silence.

A month later came too soon and Severus now only had a week before Hermione or any of his options were going to leave on Christmas break.

His most clear option was unfortunately Charlotte. His friendship with Hermione had improved slightly; they now did not sit as far as possible from each other and their conversations with each other had now lengthened to complete sentences, only a few however. Also, he could not figure out a way yet to break things off with Charlotte.

Severus was now heading towards a Prefect meeting in the Staff room. Upon entering, he noticed that only Hermione had arrived so far.

"Oh, hello Severus," Hermione said, as the others began to enter. He nodded his hello in reply.

"Hello everyone," The Head Girl said, beginning the meeting. "We are here to schedule this months patrolling schedule and bring up anything anybody has to say."

The meeting soon progressed as it did every month. Near the end, Ernie raised his hand.

"Yes, Ernie?" Severus said from the corner where he sat, bored as usual. These meetings were too much like staff meetings for his liking.

"I know I'm not patrolling tonight, but could somebody really check the classrooms in the dungeons more closely tonight? Nobody likes patrolling down there, but on my usual patrol nights recently, I've been hearing a lot of commotion down there."

"Fine, someone check that out," Severus said, "meeting adjourned."

Severus, unfortunately, had patrolling that night. He actually hated patrolling, opposed to popular belief back when he was still Professor Snape. He liked catching students, just not having to room the halls when he had better things to do. He wished he could fly down halls, like students believed, but unfortunately was not a bat like everyone believed and had to walk.

Tiredly, Severus decided to check out Ernie's little problem. Descending the stairs to the dungeons, he could feel the temperature decrease even more. After a few minutes of traveling the dungeons, he heard nothing.

He was just turning the corner when he heard someone yelling. Rushing towards the voice, Severus found himself in front of a site he had rather not encountered.

He had walked in on Charlotte and Draco together up against the wall, lip locked. Severus was absolutely furious! Stalking up towards them, he quickly grabbed Draco by the collar and threw him back to the ground. Charlotte screamed, as Severus was on top of Draco, beating him to a bloody pulp.

Severus had never been so furious in his life. He was just about to take another swing at Draco's bloody face, when he felt someone grabbing him from behind, arms around his waist.

"Severus! Please stop!" Hermione yelled, as she pulled him back off of Draco. Severus made one last effort to take a swing at Draco.

"Get out of here now!" Hermione screamed. Draco and Charlotte left as fast as they could.

"Let me go!" Severus yelled, but Hermione held on as tight she could.

"Severus, you have to calm down. Beating him to death won't do anyone good. Please Severus, stop for me?" Hermione whispered. Severus, frustrated, reluctantly gave in and stopped struggling. Hermione did not let go, however, unsure if he could control his temper.

"Severus, why were you beating Draco up?" Hermione whispered into his back. Severus still did not look at her.

"Charlotte was cheating on me," Severus said quietly.

"Oh," was all Hermione could say for the moment. "You shouldn't have acted so rashly. You could loose your head position."

"Screw, the position," Severus said angrily. "I was going to take her to that Malfoy-prick's dad's Ball."

"Why don't you just not go at all?" Hermione asked, finally letting go of him.

"It's not up to me whether I go or not. I no longer have a say in anything," Severus said, walking away, back to the Head Rooms.

Severus sat in the warm, nearly empty Great Hall, playing with his lunch. Most of the students were going home for the holidays. He had been invited to go to the Burrow, but he had declined. Well, actually Albus had declined for him. The Headmaster felt it was safer for Severus to remain in the Castle and attend the Ball. Hermione was noting going with them though. Eric was whisking her away on a surprise trip and although he hadn't spoken to her at all since that night, found out that Charlotte was returning home.

So Severus was all alone for the holidays, just like it used to be. He sighed, as he lost his appetite. He soon spotted Hermione, walking towards him with a broad smile on his face.

"Happy Christmas," she said, as handed him neatly wrapped package. Severus looked up at her in surprise.

"I don't deserve a present after all the mean things I said to you," Severus said, making a failed attempt to return the gift.

"Forget about that Severus," Hermione said, "just have a nice Christmas." The Head Boy just starred at the young woman as she walked away from him.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione Granger," Severus whispered and for the first time, he realized he was actually in love.

How was that folks? I really had fun righting this. Sorry for the fuzzes if you don't enjoy them.

Please R&R

Love,

N