A/N: A big thank you to the ever faithful Irritable-Grizzly69. Now on with the story!

Chapter 14

As October turned to November, and November to December, not much had changed in the way of Hermione and Snape's relationship. He was still infatuated with her and her with him. They spent many nights hulled up behind the portrait of Fawkes, wishing the night would never end, yet always waking in their own beds and with the memory of the pervious night still on their minds. They where in love, there was no denying that, they knew it, and Draco knew it, but that was what began to bother Hermione, it was a secret no one knew but them, she did not want to let the world know but she wanted someone to know. She had no one to talk to except for Draco and Zandra, and though they were good friends Draco already knew all there was to be said, and he often knew it before Hermione did. And Zandra, sweet naïve little Zandra, she was none the wiser to Hermione and Snape's relationship even though she had nearly walked in on some very intimate moments in Snape's office. Ron she could no longer talk to for fear that she might want to go back to babying him like she had for so many years, he was not an important part of her life and she knew it, but she felt oddly empty without the trio. Harry, had eyes only for Ginny and was rarely seen not looking at her, he was so caught up in his affection, yes affection is what Hermione called it for she did not believe that he loved her, for her that he could not form a sentence without her presence. Ginny was to enthralled with Harry's lack of ability to function without her that she seemed to forget that there was a world outside of him. Yes they were quite the couple, often seen gazing lovingly into each others eyes for hours at a time, caught in the broom cupboard a fair few times, but still not in love. They never argued, or even disagreed on anything, they never had a bad word to say to each other, it was all to perfect to last, and Hermione knew that. She and Snape had their arguments, about how fairly he treated her in class, which he said he treated her as he always did but Hermione thought that her grades had been given a boost, they argued about her staying in his bed on Saturday nights, Hermione saw no harm in it no one woke on Sundays until noon at the earliest and if caught leaving his room she could simply say that she had a question to ask him, but he would not hear of it he said it was too risky that they would be caught for sure and then kicked out of Hogwarts. Hermione thought that he was far too safe, that he was scared of taking chances, and she enjoyed a little thrill everyone in a while, she thought that getting caught would be fun, but Snape wholeheartedly disagreed. They where different, oh yes, different in almost everyway. She was flamboyant and happy, and even though he did not care to admit it he was a rather surly unsocial person, She was young and in the prime of her life, while he was growing older and nearing his fortieth birthday. These differences did not bother Hermione in the least, but Snape was greatly bothered by them. He wanted her to have someone to grow old with and he knew that his days would end far before hers, he did not want to leave her with nothing, but she did not care she only wanted him. Her days at Hogwarts where drawing to a close, her, Draco, Harry, and Ron were permitted by McGonagall to graduate after the Christmas holidays, this meant much planning for Hermione and Snape, trying to figure how they would find time to be together after her graduation, how they would continue their relationship. Draco, Ron, and Harry had chosen to stay for the remainder of the year to be with their girlfriends, and in Ron's case fiancé and Hermione learned last week. Snape wanted Hermione to stay in school, to continue taking classes, but Hermione wanted to be done and graduate, thus leading to the argument the couple were currently having in Snape's rooms.

"You need to stay, you can get more classes and more training, and that will help you become a healer just like you always wanted." Snape said in a calm but firm voice from his place on the couch.

"Yes but if I leave not then I can get a head start on an apprenticeship months before anyone else." Hermione replied in an equally calm voice from the other end of the couch. She was turned to face Snape with her legs crossed in front of her, Snape found her adorable in this position but refrained from saying so because he felt that she would use it to her advantage to win the argument they were now having.

"Why do you want so badly to do an apprenticeship? You could walk right up to St. Mungo's now and they would give you a job." Snape replied.

"Because, I want to learn more still, I'm not done learning."

"Then stay here at the school, you know the place where learning is the forefront of the priorities."

"Now don't get smart with me Severus, you know what I mean, there are things I can learn from an apprenticeship that I can not learn here."

"Name one" Snape shot back a little more rudely then he had planned.

"I will learn to operate in a work environment; I will meet new people..."

"Well what if I don't want you to meet new people?" Snape cut her off.

"What? Is that what this is about?" Hermione said she crawled to the other end of the couch to be closer to Snape, she took her hand cupped his cheek and made him look at her. "If you are afraid I will meet someone else, don't be, I love you." She said then kissed him, she found herself doing this a lot lately, reassuring him that she loved him. Snape broke the kiss after a second or two,

"I know you love me, but that doesn't take away my fears."

"You shouldn't have fears babe, I found the perfect man for me and he is right here in front of me," She said.

Snape took her in his arms and hugged her tightly, "I know but I am still afraid to loose you." He said then kissed her, that was his only fear loosing her. He had already lost someone once, and thought it was not the same kind of love he felt for Hermione he could not endure loosing another person in his life.

A/N: Ok I know this one is short but I think that it gives a great insight into Hermione's perspective, and then next chapter will be mostly about Snape. I am also considering doing one for Draco seeing as he is a big character in this story. So I hope you enjoyed this, and please review.