Ron sat in a snug armchair by the fire, thinking

Repetitive Disclaimer: I don't own harry potter…

Ron sat in a snug armchair by the fire, thinking. He was losing Hermione, he knew that. He just didn't know how to get her back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw mini Snape walk across the common room, and out the portrait. Harry had seen it too. Ron rushed up to their dormitory, grabbing Harry's invisibility cloak, and threw it over them as they rushed out after Snape, catching up to him in record time.

"What are we doing?" Harry whispered, out of earshot of Snape Jr.

"I just want to know where he goes at night," Ron explained. "There's something off about him, and I want to know what it is."

"I don't know about this Ron," Harry said, unsure of Ron's intentions.

"He won't even know we're following him," Ron assured Harry. "No one will ever know."

Harry shrugged, and they followed him in silence.

They came to the foot of the steps leading to the owlery. Harry and Ron shared a look of confusion, then followed quietly. Once in the owlery, Snape moved to the farthest corner and laid out a blanket, lighting candles.

'What, does he sleep here?' Ron wondered.

The last person he would have expected to see that night then walked into the owlery, with a bag of her own.

Ron watched, horrified and transfixed as Hermione embraced Severus. He wanted to scream. He knew they liked each other, but he had never thought Hermione would…she'd only known him two days. Three nights. How could she…?

Ron could feel Harry pulling him away, and down the steps of the tower.

"I didn't just see that," Ron told himself.

"Ron, come on, mate, snap out of it," Harry said as they raced back to Gryffindor common room. "There's a perfectly logical explanation."

"She's shagging him!" Ron yelled, once in the common room. "That's what it is! She's shagging that vermin!"

Harry gave him a hard look. "You don't even know him, Ron."

"I don't have to! I know what he comes from!"

"Right, just like Malfoy knew where you came from the day I met you, right?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head. "This is completely different."

"No, it's not," Harry said. "Instead of Malfoy wanting to make friends with me, Snape the second wants to be with Hermione, and you can't bear the thought of her being with anyone other than you!" Harry was ranting now, and he didn't care. He had something to say, and he was going to say it. "Hermione is allowed to be with him. You don't have to like it, and neither do I. But it's her life, not yours. You're just going to have to deal with the fact that you aren't the only person around here interested in her. The only difference: he acted on it."

Ron glared at Harry. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend, dammit! You're just being thick-headed!"

"Me?" Ron asked, astounded.

"Yes, you! Ever since he got here, you've been adamant that something is 'up' with him! You've been obsessed. Now, we know what it was. Him and Hermione. You just can't see past your own bloody hormones!"

"Just like you and Ginny!" Ron said.

Harry decked him. "Don't you dare drag her into this."

People were coming out of their dormitories. 'They must have heard us shouting,' Harry figured.

"What's going on?" Dean Thomas asked groggily. He stood at the foot of the stairs in his soccer pajamas, along with Neville Longbottom.

Harry glared at Ron. "Nothing."

"Didn't sound like nothing," Neville pointed out.

Ron put on a poker face. "Really, it was nothing. A little spiff, that's all. But we've got it sorted out, now, and everything's fine," he told them. "You can all go back to bed now."

Surprisingly, their dorm mates complied.

Harry looked at Ron, expecting the worst.

"I'm sorry, man," Ron said.

Harry was thrown off. "Um…ok."

"Yeah, ok, I overreacted. I just didn't like seeing her with him. You were right," he said.

Harry let out a relieved sigh. "So, we're good?"

Ron rubbed his jaw. "Yeah, we're good."

Harry smiled. "Sorry about that."

"Me too," Ron said, sincerely, decking Harry.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Hermione groaned in protest as her alarm clock went off. 6:00 in the morning was way too early for her. She was eternally grateful that Snape had only placed her in charge of his classes, and not Head of Slytherin House. She would not be able to handle that extra work, and get a decent night's sleep.

She dressed quickly, not wanting to wake Severus. Then decided that she'd better, or he'd sleep until someone found him in the owlery, and that would be a fun one to explain.

"Severus?' she sang into his ear.

He smiled into awareness. "Yes, darling?"

Hermione giggled softly. "It's time to wake up, sweetheart," she joked.

"Just five more minutes?" he pleaded.

"Sure," she said. "You can stay here all day, if you want…you just have to explain to Albus Dumbledore why you slept in the owlery instead of your dorm room."

Severus sighed. "Alright. I'm up."

"Much better," she purred, gathering her belongings.

Severus looked at her. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"What did you think of my father?" he asked her.

"Well, what do you mean?" Hermione wondered.

Snape shrugged. "Well, for starters, did you think he had killed Dumbledore?"

Hermione looked him in the eye. "Not for a second."

"You didn't? Why?" Snape asked.

Hermione sighed. "I'm not sure, really. I guess I just didn't want to believe he had done it. And, I knew how much he respected the man. Severus Snape…the first…" she added, grinning slightly. "He's a brave man, and a loyal man. Something not a lot of people see in him or give him credit for."

"Then why do you?" Snape asked her.

She tilted her head at him, studying him. "Why the sudden interest in how I felt about your father?" Hermione inquired.

Snape shrugged. "It's just that a lot of people around here seem to hate him."

"I don't. I never have," she told him honestly.

"My father must have admired you greatly," Snape said to her.

Hermione snickered. "I highly doubt it."

"Why? He made you his replacement, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but I don't think he ever really liked me. Respected me, maybe…and even that's a stretch," she said, thinking back. "He always seemed to take such pleasure in making my life hell. Mine, Harry's and Ron's."

"Yet, you don't hate him?" Snape asked in astonishment.

"It takes more than that for me to hate someone," Hermione told him. "He never gave me any real reason to hate him."

'I think she may have loved me,' Severus thought. 'But did I love her? Was I capable of love?'