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Severus stopped after he opened the door. He looked back at Hermione as if he wanted to say something else, but settled to nod at her before shutting the door behind him, leaving her to work.

Hermione walked down a familiar dark hallway. It was adorned with similar decorations from the room she had healed Severus in. She could hear her own breath, her own pulse, both very rapid. The adrenaline flooding her system made every small noise like thunder; her robes swishing was a dull roar, her feet hitting the ground resounding crashes.

She soon found herself in front of a familiar door that led into a familiar circular room. She knew who would be on the other side of the door, who had summoned her.

She paused in front of the door even though she knew she shouldn't. He had low tolerance for hesitance and unabashed fear. And Hermione was guilty of both at the moment.

She reached a hand toward to door when she heard a strangled cry. It sounded familiar. It was Severus. Her already trembling hand froze. She was terrified of what she would see when she opened the door.

"Enter." Hermione jumped. He was aware of her presence. And by the harsh cold tone in his voice, Hermione began to fear what she herself would face when she entered the room.

The door flew open and Hermione felt herself getting jerked inside roughly by a charm. She had to stifle and a cry when her eyes fell on Severus. He was crumpled and bleeding in the corner. She couldn't see him moving.

Hermione whipped around to face Voldemort who was twiddling Severus' wand between his long white fingers.

"It's always curious to me the different levels of pain different people are able to tolerate. Some people break almost immediately. Some," he said indicating the motionless Severus, "require a much more aggressive and intensive approach," he said slowly and calmly, as if talking about the weather. "It seems Severus has been keeping some interesting secrets from me. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Hermione's throat clutched and felt her chest squeeze so tight she couldn't breathe. At first she thought it was a panic attack, but then she realized it was Voldemort doing it. Her chest was being crushed from the inside out, causing excruciating pain. But she couldn't scream for she could draw no breath.

Voldemort released the curse and let Hermione drop to the floor. She gasped for breath even thought every inhale caused extraordinary pain. She didn't try to get up. She merely looked from where she was lying across the floor where her eyes met Severus' gaze. She was relieved to see his eyebrows raise because it meant he was alive.

"Hermione.." Severus gasped out, desperately trying to tell Hermione something. Hermione lifted her head. She heard the Dark Lord moving closer. If Severus had something to tell her it needed to be quick, before his next curse.

"Hermione…"

"Hermione!"

"Huh?" Hermione mumbled, the book she fell asleep on toppling to the floor.

"Hermione, it's morning. You fell asleep in the common room again. You looked like you were having a fit," Harry said, looking concerned. Hermione blinked the sleep away and took in her surroundings. She was at Hogwarts. Not with Voldemort.

The first time she had had that dream, it took her several minutes to calm down. She had had to run down to breakfast to see Severus alive and (as always) glaring at his toast to assure herself that it had just been a dream. She was now fairly quick to recover after the nightmare, but she always woke up tired afterward. She didn't know whether she preferred these or the other nightmares she had. About two nights a week she had nightmares; sometimes she would have one, and other times to other dream.

"You don't look good, Hermione," Ron said.

"Oh, thank you Ronald," Hermione quipped, trying to discretely wipe a line of saliva from her lips.

"You know what I mean. You're up all night every other night doing all this research for Snape. I say sleep is more important that that greasy git," Ron replied.

"I'm sure you do think that, but I happen to find the research I'm doing very interesting. I'll get to bed extra early tonight, okay?" Hermione pleaded with the two, not wanting a Hermione-style lecture aimed at herself.

Ron and Harry exchanged looks but agreed and waited for Hermione to get changed so they could all go down to breakfast.

As they entered the Great Hall, Hermione quickly surveyed the professors at the table and saw Severus was there and, as always, glaring at his food. She looked away quickly so he wouldn't catch her looking at him. It apparently annoyed him. But he wasn't as impatient as he used to be with her.

It had been over a month since Severus had retrieved Immortalirituals and they had been making good progress with their research. They had successfully singled out all the ingredients they would absolutely have to use, and they were now trying to find the right combinations of ingredients to cancel the undesired effects.

And quite unexpectedly, Hermione found working with Severus to be almost pleasant. He had an incredible natural and deep understanding of potions, and when Hermione could catch him in the right mood, he was a very good teacher. In fact, she was pretty sure she was the only one who ever received such attention from Severus where Potions was concerned. She was quick to learn and she was sure he would tolerate nothing less.

Hermione saw as she finished breakfast that Severus left the Great Hall in the general direction of the dungeons. It was a Tuesday so Hermione did not have her first class until 10. Severus had no classes until after noon so they had begun to continue their research on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as most evenings.

They had sunk into a comfortable routine of researching and checking each other's notes and results. When Hermione sensed Severus was in a decent mood, she would ask questions here and there about various potion ingredients and different potions. When she had first started asking questions he had seemed annoyed, but he apparently found it more annoying for her to prance around, glancing at him but holding in all her questions.

With the first questions she asked each day, Severus would begin with a sigh and occasionally a rub of his temples, but would soon answer all her questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. She didn't understand why he couldn't be like this in class. He was capable of being an incredible teacher. Hermione honestly felt he found it fulfilling to impart his knowledge on an eager learner, even if he would never admit it. Hermione found enough satisfaction in the fact that he was actually teaching her.

Hermione stepped in his classroom and Severus looked up.

"Ms. Granger, are you ready to begin?" he began with what he asked every day, word-for-word.

"Yes, sir," Hermione responded, trying not to sound too eager.

"I was looking over your notes from last week about combining powdered asp fang and bulbadox powder. You obviously have no knowledge of the Penlanger Effect, unless you wish all takers of the potion to die a rather pointless death from instant dehydration," he said condescendingly, looking over her notes at her. Hermione knew better than to take offense.

"Well since I have never heard of the Penlanger Effect, I'm sure it is not in any textbook you have allowed me to read," she quipped, "So please do tell me or at least direct me to the correct textbook to consult. Perhaps I'll find the correct information in the same book that you consulted when you wrote notes about a possible potion with both dragon bile and diced Graphorn, for surely you knew that combination is equally as lethal," Hermione finished smoothly. She had been waiting to use that one for over three days. The flash of confusion in Severus' eyes gave Hermione all the satisfaction in the world.

Severus glared and quickly pulled out a thick textbook to check his own alleged mistake. The slight frown that appeared quickly turned to Hermione. She knew she had won…kind of.

"Hermione, you can start over with a new potion base. This one is useless," he glowered, handing her notes back.

"Of course," she smiled. She always smiled when she could manage. It bothered him.

Severus grumbled something under his breath and returned to his desk. He pulled out several books and referenced them often. He obviously wasn't going to make another mistake for Hermione to find and hold over him.

Twenty minutes later, Hermione asked a question.

"Why are Jobberknoll feathers an unstable ingredient in any potions with aconite?" Hermione questioned. She waited a moment, but he said nothing. She went back to work. He obviously wasn't in the mood.

Then he sighed heavily. Hermione smiled and awaited the knowledge he was about to impart.

I know it was short, but this semester is killer... :)

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