A/N:

First of all I would just like to say a big thank you to Tearainy and mslupin21 for their lovely reviews on the last chapter. They totally made my day!

Also please if anyone has any suggestions as to what they want to happen next please let me know! I always like to hear what other people will predict!

Read/Review Please!

Chapter 13: The Truth

Today was Friday. Fridays had now become Hermione's favorite day of the week. It was the beginning of the weekend, which meant a lot of time in the lab working side by side with Severus. Hermione was now sitting in what she called "her" chair in Severus' library. It was half past four, another half hour until Severs would barge in and start complaining about all the dunderheads he had to teach. She giggled to herself then. Personally there was nothing funnier than a disgruntled Severus Snape. She marveled at that last thought, last year she would have avoided a disgruntled Snape at all costs and now she looked forward to it? Things really had changed.

At exactly five o'clock the door opened and a muttering Severus walked through. "Hello Severus, did you have a good day?" Hermione said already knowing the answer.

"They are all dunderheads! I don't know how I am expected to teach any of them!"

Hermione decided it was best to just change the subject before he got himself too riled up.

"So what are we working on today?"

"We are going to be adding the wormwood today so that means that we will have to change the temperature of the lab to 38 degrees."

"Okay, I will start getting out all the supplies while you change the temperature."

They both went their separate ways doing what they needed to do to get ready for the evenings tasks. Because this was a very long process they opted not to go to dinner, this way they wouldn't have to stop halfway through the process.

Three hours later they were both standing over their cauldrons drenched in sweat. Hermione had had enough. She was boiling. She looked down at what she was wearing and sighed. She was wearing her heavy school robes. She had felt uncomfortable taking it off before. She knew Severus would scold her for even thinking about taking it off. But now she was so hot that she didn't really care what Severus thought of her, she just had to get cooler. In five minutes she would be able to put a stasis charm on her potion and then she could take it off.

Five minutes came and Hermione cast a nonverbal stasis charm over her cauldron and started to shrug out of her robe. Underneath she was wearing her school uniform which today consisted of a navy pleated skirt that ended just above her knees, a white oxford blouse with a tie and a navy v-neck sweater. Once she had gotten the robe off she decided to take the sweater off too it was silly to be wearing so many layers when it was 38 degrees! When she was in the middle of taking her sweater off she heard Severus snap in an offended voice, "Hermione what do you think you're doing?"

"Severus! It is 38 bloody degrees in here! I am taking my sweater off."

"You were able to last for three hours without taking it off I'm sure you can last the rest of the night."

"You know perfectly well that this is the first opportunity I have had to put a stasis charm on the potion! I couldn't do it before now! And looking at all the sweat running down your forehead I would suggest you do the same!"

Severus wiped the sweat away quickly. "I am perfectly fine wearing the appropriate attire but thank you for giving me permission anyways."

"Fine Severus! Be hot if you want but let me just say that you look utterly ridiculous!"

SPOV

Merlin it was hot! He wished desperately that he could take his robes off. If only he was working on this alone and Hermione wasn't here then he could work practically naked if he pleased! He stood farther back from the potion than usual, afraid that the sweat dripping off him could accidentally contaminate his potion. He was about to tell Hermione to do the same but before he opened his mouth he looked up to see Hermione with her robes on the stool and her in the middle of taking her sweater off to reveal her slim figure in only a white oxford shirt. The shirt was soaked with sweat, which made it a little transparent, which also made it inappropriate attire.

"Hermione what do you think you're doing?"

"Severus! It is 38 bloody degrees in here! I am taking my sweater off." Her whole face was red with a mixture of anger and the effect of being so hot.

"You were able to last for three hours without taking it off I'm sure you can last the rest of the night." He didn't even know why he had said it, he knew this was the first chance for her to put a stasis charm on the potion.

"You know perfectly well that this is the first opportunity I have had to put a stasis charm on the potion! I couldn't do it before now! And looking at all the sweat running down your forehead I would suggest you do the same!"

Severus wiped the sweat away quickly he hadn't realized that he had been sweating that badly. "I am perfectly fine wearing the appropriate attire but thank you for giving me permission anyways."

"Fine Severus! Be hot if you want but let me just say that you look utterly ridiculous!"

I don't look that ridiculous do I? Well it is 38 degrees and I'm wearing my wool robe with a sweater and oxford button down and undershirt underneath. He rolled his eyes in frustration and groaned as he started undoing the buttons on his robes.

Hermione looked over at him and smiled. "You wont regret it Severus." She said triumphantly.

He sighed in relief as he shrugged out of his heavy robes. Damn! She was right. He already felt better, he then took off his sweater, he couldn't help it really, it was just so bloody hot in there he had to take off the sweater besides it wasn't that inappropriate she was after all wearing the same shirt.

"Don't be so uptight Severus! You still have two more layers on, there is no reason to feel so uncomfortable!"

"I am not uncomfortable!" He snapped.

"If you are not uncomfortable then why are you making that face?"

Severus quickly tried to readjust his features into a more indifferent expression.

"You know you're not fooling me." She giggled.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door that led to the corridor to his office. He could see that she was confused.

"Somebody's at the door." He said dumbly.

"What? How do they know about the secret passageway?"

"Nobody but you and Dumbledore know about it. I have my doors set up so if a student needs to speak with me I will hear them knock wherever I am in my quarters."

"Oh I see."

"Stay here I will be back as soon as possible."

"Okay."

Severus quickly made his way down the corridor, he really needed to get back to the lab. Hopefully it wouldn't be one of his Slytherin's that needed advice. He quietly closed the secret entrance to the corridor and made his way over to the door.

He inwardly groaned when he saw who it was.

"What do you want Weasley?" Ron looked him up and down with raised eyebrows.

"Umm I was wondering if Hermione was around I needed to speak with her for a moment."

Severus rolled his eyes. They lived in the same bloody tower why did he have to come down to the dungeons to talk to her?

"Hold on one moment while I go get her."

Severus closed the door in his face, there was no way he was going to let Weasley know about his secret entrance to the lab. As he walked down the corridor he wondered why the Weasley boy had been looking at him oddly. Severus smiled to himself when he realized what it must have been. In all the rush to get back to work he had totally forgotten to put his robes back on. When he had answered the door he was sweaty and had his shirt un-tucked and the first two buttons had been undone. This was by far the most undressed the Weasley boy had ever seen him. When he walked into the lab he looked over at Hermione her hair was a mess and she was sweaty. Also her clothes were all ruffled from working in the heat for so long and her cheeks were quite flushed, Severus then noted that at some point she had also decided to take her shoes off. Yes, this was definitely going to be fun watching the Weasley boy's reaction on seeing Hermione.

HPOV

While Hermione waited for Severus to come back she began working on her potion. Between her 73rd and 74th counterclockwise stir she decided to take her shoes off, she was definitely going to have to buy a more comfortable pair for the days where she was standing in the lab for this many hours. When she heard Severus come back in she looked up to see him looking her up and down. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." He said with a mischievous smile. "Weasley wants a word."

"Okay I have thirty more stirs left then I can put a stasis charm on it."

When she was done they both walked back into his office. Hermione ran to open the door feeling bad that she had kept him waiting so long. "Sorry for making you wait so long-"

"Yes there was something that needed her attention." Snape said coming up behind her. Hermione jumped not realizing that he had been so close to her. "Oh! You scared me!" She said smiling up at him. When she looked back at Ron it was to see a face of complete shock and confusion. "Oh sorry I didn't even invite you in!" She and Snape moved out of the way to let Ron in. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Up until this moment Ron still hadn't said anything and he was still making that face, she was starting to worry.

"Hermione! What is going on here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about coming down here and being greeted by the two of you looking like you do! He doesn't even have his robes on Hermione and you aren't even wearing shoes! And I can't even begin to imagine what could cause two people to sweat that much!"

"Well no you wouldn't would you Weasley." Snape said with a smirk.

Hermione finally seemed to be catching up to the two of them. It was all starting to make sense now. How on earth could Ron think that they were doing anything other than working!

"Ron! You are being completely ridiculous! We were just working in the lab and it was very hot there was no way that we could work with our robes on!"

She suddenly heard a chuckle coming from the man behind her. She spun and gave Severus a warning look. "And you! You were encouraging the whole idea! Don't deny it!"

"I was just having a little fun."

"Professor do you mind if we have a moment I promise I will be back in the labs in a couple of minutes."

"It is no matter I have a potion that needs tending to anyways. Don't be long we have a lot of work to do."

She nodded as he left the office through the door that Ron had entered. She knew that there was another entrance to the labs somewhere in the dungeons.

Turning to Ron she sighed and said, "Sorry about that. Now what did you want to talk about?"

It took a moment for Ron to reply but then he seemed to remember why he was here. "I just wanted to talk about Harry."

"What about him?" Hermione asked concerned.

"Well I'm just starting to get a bit worried about how obsessed he is becoming with Malfoy. I know that he is following Malfoy on the map whenever he has a spare moment."

"Yes, I have noticed that too."

"Sorry that I had to come down here and interrupt your work but I didn't know how to talk to you about this without Harry hearing."

"No, no you did the right thing. Besides someone else could overhear if we talked about this anywhere else. And Ron, don't worry about Harry too much. If we are both keeping an eye on him I doubt that he can get into too much trouble. I think the best thing to do is to just keep telling him that it's not true and that he is reading too much into it."

"Do you think it could be true?"

"I don't know, possibly. But if it is true I don't think it's a good idea for Harry to be following him around. If Malfoy is a death eater he wont be very pleased to learn that he has someone following him. I think it's best that we just discourage it."

Ron nodded in agreement.

"Okay well I better get going before Snape comes in here yelling at you to get back to work." Hermione laughed as she walked him over to the door. "Good night Ron."

"Won't I see you later tonight?"

"Probably not I'm going to be here till at least one we have a lot of work to catch up on."

Ron looked slightly disappointed. "Okay. Will you be going to the Quidditch tryouts tomorrow?"

"Of course I wouldn't miss them for anything!"

"Okay good. See you tomorrow Hermione."

"Bye!"

Hermione had completely forgotten about Quidditch tryouts tomorrow she was going to have to ask Severus if she could have the morning off. This wasn't going to be pretty he always got mad when she chose the boys over him.

When she walked back into the lab Severus was standing over his cauldron whispering spells under his breath while stirring in graceful figure eights. Hermione walked over and waited until he was finished. He then put a stasis charm on it and finally looked up at her.

"Is there something you wanted to discuss?"

"Yes a few things actually."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "And what would these few things be?"

"Well I wanted to tell you why Ron came down for one."

"Oh yes please tell me what Mr. Weasley had to say that was so important that he came all the way down here to tell you."

"He is worried about Harry he is starting to become obsessed with the idea of Malfoy being a death eater."

"What did you say?"

"I just told him that we should discourage it. That if it was true it could be dangerous for Harry."

Severus nodded, "Yes that is probably the wisest thing to do for the moment. What does the Weasley boy think of the theory?"

"He's not sure what to believe."

"What was the other thing that you wanted to discuss?"

At that question Hermione smiled up at him and said, "Well….. I was wondering if I could have the morning off tomorrow I completely forgot that the Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow morning and I had already promised the boys I would go." Snape rolled his eyes. I suppose that would be alright if you came here right afterwards." She smiled brightly at him. "Really! I can go? Oh thank you so much Severus! And don't worry I will be here as soon as tryouts are over."

"Yes, yes I know. Now is there anything else you wanted to discuss, I would like to finish this potion at a somewhat reasonable hour."

"Oh yes there was…." SMACK! Hermione had hit him in the shoulder with a very large, very thick book.

"MERLIN WOMAN! What on earth is wrong with you!"

"Severus how could you let Ron think those things about us!"

"Oh come on you have to admit seeing his face was kind of funny!" he said chuckling.

Normally he would have been furious to have one of his students hit and scold him. But it hadn't actually hurt and he was actually guilty in this case so he really couldn't get too mad. He looked down at her to see that she too was fighting a smile. They made eye contact and after a moment they both burst out into laughter.

"Just don't do it again!" She said trying to catch her breath.

"I will promise no such thing it was entirely too entertaining."

Hermione shook her head at him and left him to work on his potion.

It was now Wednesday and Hermione was once again on her way down to the lab. She had been anxious to get away from Cormac who hadn't stopped bothering her since Saturday's tryouts. Thankfully he had still been eating his dinner a few moments ago when Hermione had left the Great Hall. She had left before Severus so she knew that she was going to have to wait around a couple of minutes before they could start working. When Hermione walked in she went straight over to the library and sat down in her chair and started to read a book on ancient runes that he had suggested to her a few days ago. About a half hour later she was startled by the sound of a door opening and closing. She looked up to see Severus sitting down next to her. "Hello Severus. Did you enjoy dinner this evening?"

"It was acceptable."

"What took you so long getting back here?"

"I had to make sure that the Slytherins got the pitch this Saturday for tryouts. Speaking of which how did the Gryffindor tryouts go you never told me. Oh how I do hope Mr. Weasley made the team." He said mockingly.

"Well now that you ask they went okay…. Ron made keeper." She said ignoring his earlier jibes at Ron.

"Really how lovely. I'm actually quite surprised, I heard somewhere that McLaggen was going to try out and I heard he's quite good."

"He was good, but Ron was better." At that Hermione's cheeks flushed.

"Why are you blushing?"

"Umm no reason."

"There must be a reason otherwise you wouldn't be blushing. Now spit it out."

"Really Severus there is no reason." But with that last statement she blushed even more.

"You're lying I can tell!"

"Okay, okay fine I will tell you!"

Snape leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.

"Well you see I had been sitting on the bleachers next to Cormac throughout the whole of the trials. The whole time he was just saying horrible things about the Weasley's and everyone else on the team. Plus chatting on about how he would be a much better captain than Harry could ever be. I knew that he wasn't the kind of person Harry would want on his team!"

"What did you do?" He said smirking slightly.

"Well then he started hitting on me and saying that he was a much better snog than Ron could ever be and suggesting certain things that I won't say just now… Anyways, when it was his turn and I saw how well he was doing I well… I might have jinxed him."

"What jinx did you use?"

"Confundus." She said grimacing.

"And all this time I thought you were an innocent little know-it-all. And then here you are jinxing people left and right." He said shaking his head teasingly.

"I know at first I felt horrible!"

"At first?"

"Yes well I guess you haven't been paying attention. He has been hounding me ever since! Every time I turn around he is there and saying things." She paused a moment as she cringed at memories of what he had said. "He is so full of himself and very forward. Now I wish I had another excuse to jinx him, he is really starting to wear on my nerves!"

"Hermione if he is bothering you this much you should go to Minerva. And if that doesn't work I will have to step in."

"Oh please Severus, he's not going to harm me he's just a dunderhead he will move on eventually it's just rather annoying at the moment. Besides Harry and Ron are usually there to help me."

"It's the usually part that worries me."

"Aww Severus are you worried about me." She said teasingly.

"I'm not worried about you I'm worried about having to find another assistant when you are in the hospital wing!"

She giggled at how easy it was to ruffle his feathers.

"Who knows maybe Cormac is really sweet I haven't really given him a chance."

"That boy is an absolute idiot. There is nothing below the surface trust me."

"Maybe he has just never shown you his sensitive side Severus. You never know…."

She laughed at the murderous look he shot her.

Hermione couldn't believe it she was seventeen! Finally when she went home for break she would be able to use magic. She had already started planning her NEWT's study schedule, which starts at the beginning of the summer. She wondered idly if Severus knew it was her birthday. But then she remembered that even if he did know why on earth would he treat the day differently. He didn't really seem the type who liked to celebrate things. Him being in a good mood all day would be gift enough for her she thought as she walked into the lab.

"Hello Severus! How are you today?"

He only grunted in response. This meant that he was in the middle of something very important and to sit down at her desk until he was done. As she was sitting down something caught her eye. It was a small black velvet box. She looked up at Severus who was still engrossed in whatever he was doing. Even though he had left it there for her she wasn't sure if she should open it or not. What if he wanted to be there when she was opening it? "Umm Severus?" He looked up at hearing the unsure tone of her voice. "Is it alright if I open this?"

"Of course it is your birthday today is it not?"

"Well yes I just wasn't sure if you wanted me to open it just yet."

"You may open it whenever you please."

"Oh well then I guess I'll open it now!" She said excitedly she was curious to see what he thought suited her in the gift department.

She gasped. It was beautiful. Inside the small box lay a necklace. Held on a tiny silver chain that felt almost like liquid was a silver circle the size of a water drop. On either side there seemed to be rune symbols on it. She realized then that on one side it was the symbol for the lion while on the other was the symbol for the snake.

"I hope you like it."

Hermione jumped. She hadn't realized that he had even moved from his seat across the room, he was now standing just behind her.

"She stood up and turned to him. "Oh Severus it's beautiful I don't know what to say."

"I decided to get you something small. I have never seen you wear jewelry so I figured that you would prefer something small that you could forget you were even wearing."

"I could never forget I was wearing this." She said a tad teary eyed.

"You like it then?"

"Like it? I love it, it's just perfect." She put it on and beamed up at him. "So what do you think?"

He gave her the once over. "It suits you."

"Thank you."

"You are very welcome."

It had been a week since Hermione's birthday. While she had gotten some lovely gifts from her friends and family none of them were even close to Severus' gift. She hadn't taken it off once since she had received it. Severus had been right that she didn't like big jewelry this was just right for her. Plus this way she could wear it everyday without anyone asking where she had gotten the lovely necklace. She and Ginny were walking back to the common room after dinner only to be interrupted by someone yelling Hermione's name. Hermione inwardly groaned as she recognized whom the voice belonged to.

"Oi Hermione! Wait up will ye!" Yelled Cormac.

Hermione turned around and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Hello Cormac."

"Hey Hermione hey Ginny did you guys have a good dinner?"

Really this is what he wanted to talk about? Whether or not they had enjoyed their meal?

"Yes it was quite good this evening." She said trying to be polite.

"Hey Hermione I was wondering if you might want to go walk around the castle for a little bit who knows maybe we could find a quiet place and-"

"Sorry Cormac but I can't I promised Ginny I would help her with her potions essay."

"Ahh that man is always ruining my fun even when he's not yelling at me for no reason."

"What do you mean yelling at you for no reason?"

"Today me and my mates were walking down the hallway and we were all talking minding our own business and BAM! Out of nowhere Snape jumps out of the shadows and starts yelling at me and saying all these things that didn't even really make sense. He said he was keeping an eye on me and that if I stepped one toe out of line I would have detention for the rest of the year. He then proceeded to take twenty points from each of us!"

"He did what?"

"Yeah can you believe that? That man is starting to loose it if you ask me. I'm pretty sure that I could teach potions better than he could. I noticed a few mistakes he made the other day….."

Hermione stopped listening at this point she highly doubted that Severus had made a mistake, at least one that Cormac could catch. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Could it be that he had done that for her? Had he done it as some way of defending her?

"Sorry Cormac but we really have to be going." She said cutting Cormac off and pulling Ginny towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Hermione what was that all about?" Ginny whispered.

"Later." She said

When they got to Hermione's room they checked to make sure they were alone. When Ginny was sure she turned to Hermione and said, "So what was that about I saw the face you made."

"Well I'm not sure it has to do with anything really. It might have just been Snape being Snape."

"What do you mean it might have been?" Ginny said.

"Well the other day we were talking about the Gryffindor tryouts and I mentioned how annoying Cormac was and how he hadn't stopped bothering me since. Then Severus said that I should go to McGonagall and-" Hermione stopped suddenly when she noticed that Ginny was giving her a look. "What?"

"Since when has he been Severus?"

Hermione blushed at the slip up. "Oh well awhile now I forget exactly when but when you are spending that much time with someone it's weird to be calling them by their sir name. Please Ginny don't tell anyone. Can you imagine what the boys would say! They would make a scene and you know it."

"Don't worry I promised you already I wont tell them anything. So you were saying….. about Cormac and Snape?"

"Oh right! Okay so he got really protective of me and even said that he would do something about it if needs be. And he basically said that he was worried about me. I mean he didn't actually say the words but the meaning was there."

Ginny was silent for a moment taking all this information in. "And you're sure that you're not in a relationship?"

"Ginny no! How many times do I have to tell you!"

"Okay! Okay! It's just well come on you call him Severus! And you're telling me he is worried about you! This is Snape he doesn't worry about anyone! You must see how this looks."

"We are friends and that is the truth." Hermione feeling a tad awkward went over to pick up Crookshanks who was sitting on the floor. As she bent over to pick him up she heard Ginny gasp. "Hermione that's such a lovely necklace! When did you start wearing jewelry?"

Hermione hadn't realized that when she bent over the necklace Severus had given her had slipped out from under her top. She instantly started to blush. "It was my birthday a few days ago Ginny."

"Who gave it to you? It's so beautiful! What do these symbols mean?" Ginny said as she fingered it.

"Oh well um… that one is the runes symbol for a lion. And that one is the rune symbol for umm….a snake."

They were both silent for a moment. Ginny just looked at her. "Hermione what's going on he's just your friend but yet he is giving you jewelry?"

"Yes! And I swear it's the truth!"

"Calm down I believe you! I just want to know something okay?"

"Anything."

"Do you have feelings for him?"

Hermione thought about it for a moment. To be honest she had never really thought about it. Perhaps because she wouldn't let herself think about it in fear of the answer. Did she have more than friendly feelings for him? She started to think of all the time they had spent together, and all of fireside discussions. She thought of their heated debates that sometimes turned into full-fledged fights, she thought about his face, his smile, his voice, his eyes, and his smell. She had never smelled anything so delicious in her entire life. He smelled of pine, spices and something else that could only be described as…..him.

She gasped quietly. "Oh my gosh I…. I didn't even realize! How could I be so thick as to not even understand my own feelings?"

"I knew it!" Ginny said triumphantly.

"How is it possible that you knew before me? They are my feelings after all."

"I am an impartial party it is much easier for me to see things clearly. So Hermione, what are you going to do now, now that you know?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Nothing. I'm not going to do anything. I don't even know how he feels, plus he is my teacher. Nothing can happen. Besides what happens if I say something and then he turns me down. Then we would have to be together everyday in the lab, it would be so awkward. Besides I love our friendship too much to ruin it."

"Yeah I guess I understand. It would be really awkward having to see each other everyday."

"This is terrible! Now every time I look at him I'll be thinking about it! It was so much easier when I didn't know."

"You will be fine plus you have me to talk to about all of this. It would be much harder if you weren't able to talk about it."

"Well I guess that's true." She said half smiling.