A/N: since you all obviously like this story, I'm going to continue it, but I should warn you. The majority of this chapter is Snape fighting with himself and it is OOC. I usually don't make him OOC in this story, or at least, this is the only chapter that I know of so far. Otherwise, the story is information about Hermione's life. I hope you like it R&R.

Italics and Bold: Snape

Bold: Snape's Personality / Conscience

Chapter 2: Denial

Hermione ate her dinner in bed the next few nights. She was exhausted by the time it was seven pm. Her head was pounding and her body felt like it would fall apart at any moment.

Severus came into the room to take her tray away and she asked what she had been curious about for hours.

"Whose room is this?"

"My own," Severus stated as he took up the tray and drink by the bed. "Why?"

"Just curious. Where are you going to sleep tonight?"

"I usually sleep on the couch after reading. Get some sleep. You're going to need it," Severus stated, deliberately avoiding her eyes, knowing that he had lied about where he had slept. He hadn't been able to sleep since she got here. He was worried and couldn't get her out of his mind. He left the room with the tray and closed the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and braced his hands against the center counter separated from the rest. (A/N: can't remember what they're called but it is not a bar.)

Why are you surprised? She always was caring for others before herself. What makes you think she's changed?

Nothing. But she shouldn't care about her cruel greasy bat Potions Teacher who has been a jerk to her for years.

Might I remind you that you are also the teenage boy who took care of her when she was a child?

No, you don't need to remind me. Thank you, very much.

No problem. But I do see a problem with this.

What problem?

She's grown up from a little girl into a beautiful young woman.

Why is that a problem?

Because I know you well enough to know that you are going to scare away every guy who looks her way. Other than looking at her as a friend.

And why is that a problem? You know as well as I do what teenage boys can be like.

Yes, I do.

Then why are we arguing about this?

Because I can tell that you're becoming attracted to her.

Yeah, OK, whatever. I'm not stupid enough to go after her. Her brother would kill me.

Despite that, your still attracted to her. You can't be attracted without actually pursuing.

I'm gonna get a spoon and cut you out of me, just so it will hurt you more.

OK, don't take my advice.

I won't now shut up.

Severus left the kitchen and headed to his library. He took a random book from one of the shelves surrounding the huge circular room and then sat on the couch in the center of the room to read. At eleven pm, he was woken by a soft noise coming from down the hall in his bedroom. He stood in front of the door when he got there and waited, trying to distinguish what the sound was. Hermione was crying. He contemplated going inside the room to comfort the young teenager, but the young girl he once knew had never let anyone see her cry, not even when she had broken her arm rollerblading down the street. She had never let anyone comfort her either, and he bet all the galleons he had that she would hold to it now. So, he headed back to the library and laid down on the couch after putting the book back, wondering why she was crying so late at night and about what.

The following morning, Severus woke to the smell of food wafting through the house. He got up quickly and pulled out his wand. He headed to the kitchen with it raised and ready to cast a petrifying or disarming charm when he was surprised by what he saw. His oak kitchen table was covered with a white tablecloth with lace at the corners. There was a vase of white roses in the center of the tablecloth and Hermione was standing at the stove cooking. The counters were no longer a black color, but a gray marble. He was still standing the doorway in shock when she turned with food in her arms on two plates. She walked to the table after glancing at him and turned away to get napkins and silverware.

"Are you going to stand there and gawk or are you going to sit down and eat," she finally asked when she stood by the table once more.

Snape finally came out of his trance and spoke. "Why are there flowers on my table?"

"To give the room some cheeriness. I don't intend to stay in a dismal place with absolutely no light or feminine charm."

"There is no feminine charm because this is a bachelor's house. There isn't supposed to be feminine charm."

"Well, it's the least I could do for you for letting me stay here."

"No, the least you could have done for me is left everything the way it was."

"Why would I do that? The colors were dreary and now they're not. Don't you just love what I did to the counters?"

His jaw tightened as he looked around. There were muggle devices everywhere and plugs in the walls. He sighed and put his wand on the table as he walked over there. "Let me point something out, Miss Granger. You are a guest in this house. That means that when you want to change something, you ask fist. I don't care about the counters, but please, get these flowers and the tablecloth off the table." His voice was calm and firm. Dangerously calm.

Hermione flicked her wand and everything but the counters were back to the way they were before she had come into the kitchen. Voice still calm, Severus voiced his appreciation quietly.

"You can eat you know," Hermione stated as she sat down in front of her own breakfast. "It's not poisoned."

"Well that's nice to know," He said sarcastically as he sat down to eat.

Over the next few days, Hermione cooked breakfast, they had sandwiches for lunch, and Severus cooked dinner, surprising Hermione with his knowledge of how to work the muggle devices. When she questioned him about this, he stiffly replied that his father was a muggle and she left it at that.

They heard a knock at the door when eating dinner a few days after that incident. Severus got up to answer it to find Dumbledore was already half way into the house.

"Any news," Severus questioned.

"Yes. It seems her brother is now married. He has a child on the way and a growing three year old daughter named Emma for his sister."

"What do you mean, 'Emma'? His sister is Hermione."

"Miss Granger's real name is Emma Hermione Jane Violet Riddle. He mother put her up for adoption when she went on a supposed business trip for eight months. Her father told her mother that he didn't want any more children because his first was such a disappointment to him. So, after they were married for about a week, she discovered she was two months along with Miss Granger and went away on the business trip. She put her in a muggle adoption agency and requested that she was not told until her brother was twenty-one because he was allowed to visit with her. Unfortunately, at the time he turned twenty-one, he was no longer a part of her life. For her, her real brother is a family friend who she considers a brother. When in all actuality, he is her half-brother. Her mother is Emma Cynster Riddle."

"But that would mean that her father is --"

"Yes, Severus, she is the Dark Lord's daughter."

Unknowing to the two of them, Hermione stood just inside the kitchen doorway. Having felt she had heard enough, she headed to the kitchen table and sat down, contemplating if she was having the worst nightmare of her life.

A/N: sorry for the cliffy but I just have to end it here and I love to end my chapters with cliffys. I hope you enjoyed it! Review.