Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I make no money from the writing of this story.

Notes: So sorry for the delay in updates. Life's been pretty hectic and I haven't felt all that inspired lately…

Treating Her Curses, Healing His Soul
Chapter Five

When Severus Snape woke up in the early morning, he was quickly aware of several things.

One, his bedclothes were soiled in a manner he hadn't experienced since he was a student himself.

And two, the reason for his nocturnal "adventures" had been none other than Hermione-bloody-Granger.

Shite.

Sitting up and making a hasty grab for his wand, for a moment Severus wasn't sure if he wanted to clean up the mess and get on with his day, or avada kedavra himself right then and there. Opting for the former, he flicked his wand and the stickiness disappeared.

With a groan of disgust, the Potions Professor swung his legs out of the bed and padded barefoot to the bathroom for a long shower.

Best make it a cold one, too. Memories of his vivid dreams the night before had him horrified, ashamed, and painfully aroused.

Shite, shite, shite.

XXXXXX

Breakfast in the Great Hall was business as usual for Hermione, who sat across the long Gryffindor table from her two best friends. As the boys began to discuss the 14 inches that they'd finally written for Transfiguration the night before, Hermione finished her breakfast and prepared to head to the library before Charms class was due to begin.

"I'll meet you guys later, okay? I have a few things I want to look up in the library."

Harry and Ron spared her a quick glance and an arched eyebrow each, before nodding and going back to their conversation. After all, Hermione going to the library wasn't exactly big news.

And so, she put her bag over a shoulder and trekked from the Great Hall up a few staircases, and several minutes later found herself searching the vast shelves for a very specific tome.

"Healing… ah, hexes!" she exclaimed, as she pulled down a rather large and well-used book, bound in dark leather, pages tipped in red. "Hexes: A Grisly Grimoire" she murmured, tracing the gold-gilded lettering on the cover with a fingertip.

Nodding, Hermione carried the weighty volume to a nearby table and cautiously opened it up. When nothing exploded, shrieked, or burst into flames she flipped to the index and began to search for anything that could possibly be the hex she'd experienced first-hand just a few days before.

It was twenty minutes, and fifteen hexes later that she came across the likely candidate.

"The Flesh Melting Curse." She began to read softly to herself, lips barely moving, "is an illegal curse, banned for use without direct authorization after a mishap in 1875 led to twenty four witches and wizards being melted on the spot outside of Hampshire, England during a duel. The curse is most easily recognized by the victim's skin turning to a sickly black color, and often times the skin actually melts away, leaving the affected areas flesh-less." She shuddered. Sounded like the right one, that was for sure. She continued to read. "The incantation 'Tabesco Pulpa', when paired with a quick wrist rotation anti-clockwise and the proper malicious intent, will send a blue flash from the wand that appears almost as if it is being affected by a great force of static electricity, looking to the naked eye to almost be prickly."

Hermione had found her hex.

Scanning down the page, she found the heading 'After Effects', and began to read quickly.

"While a very powerful potion (more information under Curing Dark Hexes, page 443) can remove the damage done to the flesh if it is not entirely melted away, the most dangerous after effect of the Flesh Melting Curse is indisputably the power that the caster holds over the victim even after the curse has been cast. Until the injured party is completely healed (commonly takes seven to twelve days, depending on severity), the caster can make the injury become agonizing, even to the point of madness, just by having dark or murderous thoughts about the victim. Face to face contact between the caster and the victim are highly dangerous and can lead to death if the injury, and the anger of the caster, are strong enough."

She stopped reading there, as she was suddenly overcome by the sensation that she might be sick.

Draco Malfoy could still harm her, just because he'd cast the spell? Did he know?

One thing was for sure. Hermione couldn't wait until Potions class was over. She and Professor Snape had some serious talking to do.

XXXXXX

The rest of the day went by in a haze for Hermione, who couldn't shake the fear that she would turn a corner to find herself face to face with Malfoy. The agony of the previous morning made more sense now, and she shuddered to think what could have happened. She was lucky she'd gotten away with her life, apparently!

Soon enough it was time for Advanced Potions, and Hermione met Harry and Ron outside of the classroom in the dungeons, her bag over her shoulder, although the book on hexes was making it quite unbearable to hold. When the boys arrived amid a gaggle of other Gryffindor students, she was relieved and concerned in equal measures. While glad that she had her two best friends at her side for the only class of the day with Slytherin (and therefore with Draco), she was also worried that they might notice her anxiety, despite her fervent attempts at holding it down, and start to figure out what had happened to her. After all, even if Ron was usually oblivious to much of what occurred around him, Harry was sharp, and a devoted enough friend to notice when anything at all was amiss.

But there was nothing to be done for it. The Slytherin students were arriving, and Hermione pushed the heavy dungeon door open, moving directly to her seat without sparing a glance to the heavy desk in the front of the room. She sat down with a sight of relief, and let her back fall to the ground next to her chair with a great "thunk" that made Ron raise an eyebrow.

"Geeze Hermione, what do you have in there, boulders?" he asked as he sank down into his spot next to Harry. She laughed his comment off, waving a hand in his general direction as the last of the students were seated and Professor Snape swept into the room in his usual robe-fluttering intimidation technique that had all the students immediately falling completely silent.

"Today we will be brewing a complex healing potion for the infirmary, as the next Quiddich game is coming up, and I'm sure Gryffindor will be in need of a large supply." He sneered, causing the Slytherins to begin snickering and casting the Gryffindor students (mostly Harry and Ron) decidedly malicious looks. While her friends became red-faced, obviously easily baited, Hermione simply looked down at her hands, folded on the table top, and waited for further instruction. The sooner class was over, the better.

"Your instructions are on the board. Sub-standard potions will receive a zero. They must be absolute perfection in order to be used. You may begin."

Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She quickly glanced at the board, then placed her cauldron on the table and went to the supply closet for ingredients. She was half way there when she noticed Malfoy standing in line right in front of her. She quickly back-peddled and squeaked softly when she felt herself run into something very solid.

"Such Gryffindor grace, Miss Granger."

Her face paled, and she turned quickly, lifting her chin to meet the amused gaze of Professor Snape.

"I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression that the ingredients for today's potion were that way," he drawled as he lifted a hand to lazily gesture in the opposite direction. "Did you get lost?"

Flushing, Hermione brought her lower lip between her teeth and shook her head. "No sir, I merely… well, I thought I would wait until it wasn't so crowded." She stated, hands folded behind her back.

A flash of understanding moved over Professor Snape's face so fast that she wasn't sure she had seen it at all, and then he nodded.

"As you wish."

She turned and quickly went to the closet, grabbing what she needed and getting back to her table, fingers shaking. What on earth was wrong with her? It was as if meeting his gaze had caused her knees to turn to water!

A nudge from Harry caused her to jump, and then quickly look his way.

"You all right? You seem a little pale, Hermione."

Uh oh.

"Oh, I'm just a little hungry, didn't eat much at lunch I suppose." She said evasively, then turned toward her cauldron and began preparing her ingredients, thankful for the distraction. She let her concerns go, focusing instead on the chopping, grating, sprinkling and stirring required to make her potion as perfectly as she could. Hex or no hex, she was not going to let her performance slip!

The end of class came quickly, and then Professor Snape was stalking through the rows of students, vanishing a potion with a sneer here and there, making short, one word remarks there. Finally he came to Hermione's cauldron. As always, it was flawless. He took a moment to let his eyes linger on the perfect pale lavender of the fluid inside her cauldron, and then met her gaze. "Not bad, Miss Granger."

But there was no venom in his words, and his eyes held none of their usual bite and sting. Instead, he regarded her carefully, as if trying to read something in her gaze, then moved on.

In the end, Harry's potion squeaked by, but Ron received a zero, and as everyone left the classroom, his grumbling was quite audible. Hermione hung back, and Harry was too busy trying to calm Ron down for either of them to notice when she closed the classroom door with her still inside, and turned to go back to Professor Snape's desk.

"What is it?" he asked simply as she stood before him, and she set down her bag on the floor, then reached in and pulled out the book, placing it before him on the desk and opening it to the marked page.

"This." She stated, pointing to the passage about the Flesh Melting Curse.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this? He can still cause me pain and damage, even now!" she cried, and Professor Snape took a cursory look, and then pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers in irritation.

"I did not want to frighten you any more than you already were. I feared you would become irrational."

She gaped.

"You didn't want to scare me?! That's no reason to not tell me that I was still in danger! I could have-"

"Miss Granger, do you think me a fool? As soon as you came to my office in such agony before, I took care to place a charm on Draco. He cannot hurt you further. You are perfectly safe."

She blinked, silenced quite effectively.

"I'm surprised you did not realize that right away, to be honest. Do you doubt my intentions to help you? Why would I bother brewing this potion, wasting precious ingredients and my precious time if I was going to allow Draco to potentially make things worse?"

He was becoming quite worked up, and Hermione swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't think of that. I was just so shocked and… I didn't think."

"Obviously." He grumbled, before standing and coming around the desk. Hermione quickly stood as well, and she flushed at the intensity of his gaze.

"Are you in any pain right now?" he asked, and she frowned, thoughtful.

"It does sting a little, but it isn't too bad." She replied, unable to hold eye contact any longer. Why was he looking at her like that? She felt almost like he was a wild animal about to pounce! Unconsciously she took a step back, and watched he went to his desk, opening a drawer.

Pulling out a tin of Magden's salve, he gestured to Hermione's robes. "Open them up, I'll put some more salve on for you." He offered, and her fingers found the fastenings before she even realized that she hadn't hesitated at all at his request.

At the first cold touches of his fingers, coated in the slick fluid, touched her skin, Hermione gave a soft, pleasured sigh, all her muscles relaxing as she looked down at the top of Professor Snape's head as he knelt before her, focused on his task.

Almost in slow motion, Hermione watched as if outside of her own body as her hand raised and touched his hair with gentle fingers. He froze.

But said nothing.

Taking it as encouragement, Hermione stroked more firmly, surprised to find his hair soft and pleasant to the touch, despite its appearance. Twining her fingers in the strands for a moment, she realized that she was nearly panting, and she let go quickly, holding her breath as his head lifted and their eyes met.

"How do you feel now?" he murmured, as he moved his fingers from her midsection, still holding her gaze.

"Warm." Was her reply, both unsure if they were talking about her wound or something much deeper.

"Good."

And he stood, breaking their connection as he put away the tin of salve and cleaned his hands with his wand.

"You'll be late for supper. I will see you afterwards for your potion."

Hermione felt rooted to the spot, and she nodded slowly.

"Thank you, sir. For everything, I mean."

Their eyes met again, and he gave a slow nod, lips slightly parted, breathing a bit heavily. She had touched him, and he wasn't sure what to think about the whole incident at all. But he did know that he needed space before he did something that they would both regret most heartily.

"You're welcome, Miss Granger. Enjoy your dinner." His face was shuttered, eyes blank.

And then she was out the door, and as it closed behind her, Severus sunk into his chair, head in his hands. His whole body felt as if it was on fire, and he knew he was in trouble.

He was actually beginning to find her presence enjoyable.

And her touch…

This was not good. At all.