It's Christmas eve and I'm at work! Aaaahhhh! LOL

So first off I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and everyone who put me on their alert lists and I do hope this lives up to any expectations you've had. Here we have Snape still drinking and entertaining himself at Hermione's expense. And Hermione well….being indignant like hermione's do best!

I have to disclaim of course that JK Rowling gave me Harry Potter as a Christmas present! So now I own it and its MINE! ALL MINE!!!! Bwaahahahahahaha!!!! *sigh* if only!

And Finally-this chapter is dedicated to the loverly ThatScaryGirlOverThere who left me a wonderful first review! And to laurawillows who left me a very long review! I thank you both! Now On with the story!

The sun had set several hours ago and Hermione had yet to emerge from the guest room, not that Snape minded of course but he felt it would defeat the purpose of saving her life if he was to let her starve to death and he was hungry himself.

He pulled himself out of his chair with a sigh, walked slowly to her room, and with another sigh knocked on her door. She opened the door an inch and pointed her wand through the crack.

"What do you want?" She said knitting her eyebrows together and regarding him with something of a wary glare.

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her, "For starts a little gratitude would be nice but seeing as you're displaying typical Gryffindor manners I shan't be holding my breath." She rolled her eyes and widened the door. Leaning into the door frame she crossed her arms as well.

"Yes thank you for burning my house down and scaring me half to death." She said sarcastically.

"I would think you would prefer half dead as opposed to completely dead, Miss Granger." He said taking a step forward he leaned down to look her in the eye. "I suppose if you can't bring yourself to express your thanks we could find another way to repay my hospitality." He slid a long finger along side of her jaw and she stiffened and her eyes flew wide open. When he tipped her chin up she gave a mighty squeak and in a flurry of brown curls disappeared behind the door, slamming it right in Severus's face.

He walked back down the hall laughing softly. This is really too easy, He thought to himself; I suppose I had better figure out what do about feeding the little Chit.

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Meanwhile , Harry Potter had been standing in the Kitchen on number 4 privet drive when an Owl brought him a copy of the evening prophet rolled inside a piece of parchment. First he unraveled the note paying no attention to his uncle ranting about the owl that grazed his head as it flew out the window. It read:

Harry,

Please stay where you are no matter what, we have to stick with the plan. Our people are investigating even as I write this and we will get justice in the end. Please remember there was nothing any of us could do.

R. Lupin

Harry's brow furrowed as he set the note aside and a knot formed in his stomach as he unrolled the prophet. The front picture showed a mass of rubble that had apparently once looked like the houses that stood on either side of it. The Dark Mark floated grimly above the scene, Harry felt the bile rise in his throat as he knew immediately someone he knew was dead. Closing his eyes and stealing his courage he then read the caption under the picture confirming his worst fears.

"July 25, a little after sunrise the Dark Mark was reported over the home of Muggleborn and known friend of Harry Potter, Hermione Jean Granger, who is at this moment presumed dead.' It looks as though the residence was burnt out with fiendfyre, so any evidence of a body would have been destroyed. All we really know at this point is that the attacker must have been a very powerful wizard to have controlled the fiendfyre without so much as singeing the other houses.' Auror Dawlish reports."

Harry threw down the paper and ran a hand threw his unruly hair; tears ran unchecked down his face as he bolted from the room. His uncle called angrily from the kitchen table where he had been seated with his tea, "What on earth is the matter with you boy?" Dudley walked over and ignoring his mothers warning of "Dinky-dums! Don't touch that!" he read the caption that troubled his cousin so much.

His face turned grim as he set the paper down in front of his parents and said "They killed his friend." Then he simply walked out of the room, leaving his parents staring silently into the horrible image of the Dark Mark.

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Hermione emerged from her room shortly after her run in with Snape. Her stomach growling noisily as she padded in stocking feet down the hall. She heard a knock at the door and bolted into the nearest room to hide. Peaking through the crack in the door, she saw Snape take a package from someone and then close the door. "Miss Granger you can come out of my bedroom now, "he called out. "Or you could stay in there; either ways is fine with me." He said smirking as she scrambled out of the room quickly. "I have food, if you wish to eat" he said walking into the kitchen.

She followed cautiously stopping in the door way of the sparse kitchen as he dug a jug of pumpkin juice out of his fridge and set it next to a glass on the table. He had sat down when he realized she hadn't actually ventured into the room. He turned to look at her and said with a sly half smile. "You can come in here and sit down Miss Granger, I won't bite…"

She glared at him and sat down." Take Away Professor?" she said staring at the cartons of delicious smelling Chinese that were scattered around the table.

"And you expected?" he said dryly, as he turned and summoned his bottle of firewhiskey from the sitting room. She shrugged and reached for a carton of chow mien. "Miss Granger, in case you hadn't noticed I happen to be a bachelor, I do not cook"

They ate in silence for a moment or two, until Severus brought up something that had been bothering him slightly. "Ms. Granger, where are your parents?" She looked up slightly surprised and took a sip of her pumpkin juice before answering.

"I modified their memories and sent them to Australia." She ignored the moderate surprise that crossed his face. "They don't know I exist." She said nonchalantly and continued eating.

He sat back and took a long drink from his bottle and leaned back in his chair. He stared at her for a moment before speaking. "Saturday I will be assisting in an attack on Potter, when they move him from his home."

"Why are you telling me this?" she said with a look of disgust, setting her food down and sitting back.

He sighed and set his bottle on the table. "Because I need to know if you have any information that would be helpful in protecting Potter." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

She shook her head, "the last letter I got said everything would be explained when I got to the Burrow that the information was too sensitive to be sent by owl. " She thought for a moment. "How do you know what night their moving him?"

"It was part of Dumbledore's plan, and so that would feel safe moving him I modified Mundungus' memories so he would suggest that there be decoys on the move as well, that way The Dark Lord wouldn't know which one was real."

She nodded, "If It was me, I suppose I would try to draw him away from the real Harry. For example the first ones I would look at are the ones on brooms, but I'd never look at one that's say being made to ride on a hippogriff. "

Snape raised a eyebrow at the young witch, reached for a bottle and took another long drink. "How can you drink so much?" she said wrinkling her nose at him.

"Easy," he said taking another drink and standing. "I have a lot to forget." Then he walked into the sitting room and stared into the fire.

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She followed him into the sitting room, perched on the edge of an ottoman and just stared at him. For fifteen minutes she stared as if he was a puzzle to figure out, until finally without looking away from the fire he said, "Is there a reason your staring Ms. Granger?"

She startled and hesitated for a moment, "Can I try it?" He stopped mid swig and looked over at her fidgeting on the ottoman. "No." he replied smoothly.

"Why? You're not the only one with things to forget." She said crossing her arms.

"You're my Student, it's wildly inappropriate." She snorted loudly, before jumping up and pacing.

"Ex-student, I'm dead Remember? And Inappropriate!? What about all those little comments you've been making ever since I got here?" she pulled the collar of her shirt aside, "what about your bite marks on my neck? " he watched her rant for about five more minutes before deciding it wasn't as entertaining as he thought and handed her the bottle.

She stopped and stared at him doe eyed, and he waved the bottle in front of her face a bit. Swallowing hard she reached up and took the bottle and he watch bemusedly as she lifted it to her lips and took a long swig. She swallowed it before choking and coughing which as it turns out was much more entertaining and he began to laugh heartily. She glared at him half heartedly before asking "How much of this do you have to drink to forget the taste?" she said grimacing and handing it back.

"You'll find that you can never forget the taste, but after about a third of a bottle you just don't care." he said still slightly chuckling and taking the bottle back from her.

"You almost sound pleasant when you laugh." She said pulling her knees up to her chin and staring at him.

"Well I can assure you I am far from pleasant." He said taking another sip from the bottle before looking between the bottle and Hermione, shrugging his shoulders and holding it out to her. She reached out and took it looking at him warily before taking another sip, coughing only a little this time.

"Have you ever actually tried being pleasant or are you stuck permanently in 'snarky dungeon bat' mode?" This time it was Severus coughing on his firewhiskey after Hermione asked this. He raised one eyebrow at her after he regained his composure.

"My, my, I guess Gryffindor Courage does come in bottles labeled fire whisky," he said dryly smirking slightly. "I must remember to apologize to the Weasley twins for giving them detention for distributing it to the first years as such." This made Hermione Giggle slightly and he handed the bottle back to her. It was clearly going to her head but was weighing the problem of having to clean up after a sick Gryffindor Vs the entertainment value of watching her get drunk, and having gone though more than enough of the drink on his own he wasn't making his choice with a clear head.

"Your funny too…" she said in mock shock. "Who knew? What other secrets is the Potions Master hiding?" she raised an eyebrow at him and took a second drink before handing the bottle back. When she did he caught her arm and pulled her forward.

"I could show you but I don't think you'd ever recover." He hissed in her ear. She gasped and her eyes went wide, she tried to get away as she had done the other times but not having all her faculties about her she instead simply fell backwards off the ottoman.

She looked up at him wide eyed for a moment before bursting out laughing. She pulled herself up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Did you hit your head or are you drunk already?" Snape said wearing a bemused expression.

She shook her head. "I had only just realized how stupid I looked just then." She stood and stretched before saying. "Perhaps I should become acquainted with my bed…" Snape stood as well and not being one to miss a very open comment responded.

"Was that an invitation or a comment?" He whispered running a hand down her back. She gasped and attempted to turn away from him but tripped over her own feet. She closed her eyes against the face plant she was about to do but instead felt strong hands on her waist.

She heard him chuckle as he pulled her back upright and she turned to glare at him. "You've been messing with me!" she said indignantly "How dare you! I'm not some piece of meat for you to play with!" she practically shrieked before storming away and slamming the door to her room.

He wandered down the hall to his own room, now what am I going to do to make this bearable. He thought to himself, flumping down tiredly on his bed. I suppose I could try pouring whiskey down her throat every evening. This idea he decided had merit and he lay down that night contemplating whether or night she would accept a drink from him again.

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Meanwhile.

Hermione lay in her bed contemplating the best way to get back at him. She folded her hands behind her head and sang a little song to herself…"oh Snapeys gonna get a taste of his own medicine." Casting a wicked grin at the ceiling she began to formulate her evil plan.

Ok I've been working on this chapter for three days which is longer than I have ever devoted to a piece of writing ever. So I really hope it shows! I really hope you laughed reading this as I did writing it! Next chapter should have some big drama and even more laughs.

I snuck one of the 520 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts in here, and there is a dedication to anyone who can point it out. (it's easy!!!)

So please review! And Happy Christmachaunakwanzyule!