A/N: Thank you all who added/reviewed! I'm toying with simply combining the three stories into one because the breakdown now is looking like ten chapters for the first story, twenty for the second, and thirty for the third. I didn't plan it that way, but it's a thought. I'd love to have some input. Sixty chapters is rather long, but ten is rather short if I were to end a story there. Regardless, I own the plot and nothing more.

Something More

Chapter 5: A Light in the Darkness

Hermione went to bed that night feeling very satisfied. She and Severus had made progress, and by the looks of it her classes would work themselves out. She was awakened by the tap of an owl's beak on her window.

She tried to ignore it at first, but the noise persisted. Finally, she forced herself to get out of bed and go to the window. She allowed the bird in, fed it something small for its trouble, and removed to piece of parchment from its leg.

Without waiting for a reply, the owl left as it had come. Hermione made face. That was strange, normally when someone sent a letter the owl was instructed to wait for a response. She shrugged it off, and laid the letter on her bedside table.

She decided she'd read it after she finished her morning routine. After all, nothing that hadn't warranted a response could be that urgent. It was probably one of her friends, owling to check in on her.

An hour later she was dressed and ready to leave. The letter almost went forgotten, until she realized she'd left her wand on her bedside table. There beside it lay the note, and though she almost decided to leave it until after classes, her curious side got the best of her, and she unfurled the page.

'Your days are numbered Mudblood'

Hermione barely had time to register the words before her vision began to cloud. Moments later darkness had enveloped her completely, and her thoughts were no more.

Severus was on his way to his classroom when a student rushed up to him. "Professor Snape!" the child cried. Startled, Severus turned the full force of his glare on the girl. "Yes, Miss Helton?"

"Professor you have to come quickly, it's Professor Granger sir she…"

Snape's mind reeled. 'Granger? What could she have possibly gotten herself into now?'

Aloud however, all he said was: "yes, well, out with it."

The child gulped, "sir she isn't breathing."

(A/N: Such a tempting place to end…but that would be far too short now wouldn't it?"

The blood drained from Severus' face. "Have you alerted Min-McGonagall?"

The child nodded, somewhat proudly. "Yes sir, she told me to get you."

Severus nodded, "go to class, and consider your message delivered."

The child nodded and scurried to avoid Snape's obviously dark mood. Severus cursed as he made his way quickly down the corridor. When he arrived to her apartments, Granger had been placed in bed.

"We found her on the floor", Minerva explained, "holding this."

She passed him the piece of parchment gingerly, almost as though she were afraid it might bite her. Severus took it, read the contents, and nodded. He felt the dark magic radiating almost as though it were a tangible thing.

"Has someone tried to enervate her yet?"

Minerva shot him a wry look. "Yes Severus, I tried as soon as I arrived."

Severus knew that under different circumstances, she would have scolded him, but there was not time for that now. "I shall take this to the dungeons for examination."

She nodded, "in the mean time are we certain it is safe for the students to go on as normal?"

Severus considered that, "Yes, whoever sent this was obviously targeting Miss Granger, I see no reason to create unnecessary panic."

McGonagall took him at his word. "I shall take over Hermione's classes, and alert your students that you have prior engagements."

She left, and Severus made to follow her, but something stopped him in the doorway. He gazed around the room. There were books everywhere, despite the library across the hall. Her robe from the night before was draped neatly over a chair.

Though he resisted, he somehow ended up next to her bed. She was pale, almost deathly so, and Severus felt an involuntary pang of sympathy. 'She looks so innocent', the thought came to his mind unbidden.

A single curl had draped itself over her eye. He reached out reflexively to brush it away. Her skin was cold, and that somehow scared him more than her pallor did. But then, something strange happened, a movement out of the corner of his eye. Her nose had twitched.

Severus jolted, "Miss Granger?" No response.

"Hermione can you hear me?" he touched her face again. Her eyes began to open, slowly, as though it hurt. "S-Severus?"

Inexplicable relief coursed through him. "Yes, Hermione." She smiled, but the expression was disoriented, as though she hadn't yet realized she was awake.

"Is this…am I dreaming?"

Normally, Severus would have made some bitingly sarcastic comment, but given the circumstances and the fact that he still wasn't sure what had happened to her in the first place, he refrained.

He shook his head, "no Miss Granger, you are very much awake." She nodded, but he still wasn't sure she understood. Her next words confirmed his thoughts. "Severus…the darkness..."

He was instantly alert. "What darkness?" She scrunched her face as though in thought. "I'm not sure", she answered finally. "It was so large, as though it wanted to swallow me whole."

Severus was concerned, what she described was definitely dark magic, and he wondered briefly if her description had been a dream at all. His first priority, however, was to bring her back to herself. He took her shoulders, which startled her.

"Hermione, you are awake now. There is no darkness, and even if there were you are more than safe from it."

He looked directly into her eyes, and apparently something she saw there made the difference. All at once her eyes cleared, and her voice returned to normal. She gave him a puzzled look, and he realized he hadn't let go of her shoulders. He promptly released her.

She hadn't expected that, and she let out a soft cry of surprise. Severus felt slightly guilty, but didn't find it prudent to say as much.

He stood, "I shall go alert Minerva that you are awake." Hermione looked panicked, and appeared to be struggling with her next words.

"Actually Severus…could…could you stay?"

He wanted very much to tell her no, and remove himself from the situation immediately, but not even he, Bat of the Slytherin dungeons, could ignore the fear and vulnerability in the young woman's eyes. He nodded, and pulled a chair next to her bed.

He scribbled a note to Minerva, and charmed it to find its recipient. Mere minutes later, the headmistress arrived in a flurry of robes. "Hermione!" the woman exulted. "Are you all right?"

Hermione thought about that, she felt fine, but decided to go with: "I'm not sure, I feel all right, but I'm still a little disoriented."

Minerva nodded worriedly. "We shall look into this straight away", here she gave Severus a pointed look. He nodded, but refused to be dismissed.

The headmistress sighed, "well, I suppose I should return to teaching your classes", she said at last. She left soon after, and Hermione returned her gaze to Severus. She looked as though she was once again struggling with something she wanted to say.

Severus simply sat and waited. Several moments later she opened her mouth.

"Severus I…"

Her mouth closed again as they both heard the rhythm of hurried footsteps.

"Hermione!" It was Draco, looking panic-stricken and out of breath. It took him a moment to notice the other party in the room.

"Oh, hello Severus", Draco paused as realization dawned on his face. He began backtracking, "oh I just remembered, I have to go do...that thing...for...Hagrid!"

Both Severus and Hermione looked at him as though he'd gone daft, but before they could comment he was gone.

Hermione smiled and shook her head, "quite the impeccable timing your godson has", she observed.

Much to her surprise, he smiled back at her. "That he does."

It didn't last, a moment later his face was solemn again and the spell was broken.

"You were saying..?" he drawled.

She sighed, "I was going to say..."

A/N: And so ends this chapter, a bit of a cliff hanger there, but at least I update a lot right? XD All opinions welcome! - MWMS