Hermione lay in bed, exhausted. She knew she needed to sleep, her eyes were heavy and dry. But she couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes the same face would flash before her eyes, sometimes with the soft, curious look they had shared across the dining hall, sometimes glaring at her with that typical sneer smeared across his face... she was so confused! Her heart pounded when she remembered how dark his eyes had seemed, how piercing they were, as if they had seen right through her. She had to admit to herself that this was not the first night thoughts of Severus Snape had kept her awake... ever since Harry had shared with her the tragic story of his miserable life full of unrequited loved and never ending sacrifice, Hermione had not been able to stop thinking about him. How she had misjudged him! She felt so ashamed of her previous hatred for the teacher who, despite having been prejudiced and even cruel towards her in the past, had taught her so much in her years at Hogwarts and who, she had found out, had saved her life more times than she could count.
A low groan reached her ears, another reason she couldn't sleep. Hermione cursed her fate. Why did she have to sleep in the room next to Ginny? Hermione loved her dearly, but the thought of having to listen to Ginny and Harry having sex every night for the next year was horrifying! Why couldn't they just cast the muffliato spell? She was once again reminded of her own romantic situation and again a feeling of loneliness washed over her. Although after hearing the sounds Harry made when reaching his climax she had to wonder if she was really even missing anything!
...
Severus finally gave up on sleeping. It was useless, he realised. No matter what he tried to think of to distract himself, a big pair of chocolate brown eyes would eventually rise to the forefront of his mind and would refuse to leave. They were so deep, he felt like he could get lost inside of them. They shone with intelligence and spoke of a bright life force within... For Merlin's sake! They were just eyes! Blasphemy, a small part of him whispered, and when the eyes would make another appearance, he couldn't help but agree.
Of course, Severus was accustomed to sleepless nights. Ever since the end of the war, nightmares of the Dark Lord rising again had plagued him, even though he knew it to be impossible. He just couldn't believe that he was finally free. But was he really? He indebted his life to someone, he just didn't know to whom. Such a debt was not freedom, surely. He kept thinking back to the end of the final battle, when he had woken up on his own in the Shrieking Shack, surrounded by blood. He had been so sure that he would die, but there he was, alive. He had felt his neck and had found that the wound had been healed, roughly and not with the dexterity Madame Pomfrey would have applied, but it had been enough to stop the bleeding and close his wound. He could also taste the remains of a bezoar in his mouth. Someone had clearly stuffed a bezoar down his throat in order to save him from Nagini's poison. Successfully, it seemed. Whoever it had been had saved his life.
Sighing, Severus heaved himself out of the bed. Sleep would clearly not come to him soon. Instead he went into his private laboratory which joined his living chambers, and opened the books he had been working on recently. He was trying to invent cures for a variety of curses the death eaters had used on their enemies during the war, many of whom were currently filling St. Mungo's. The worst of all the curses was the Cruciatus curse. Severus was determined to find a cure for the after effects the victims of a prolonged Cruciatus curse had to suffer. He felt so guilty for being the cause of the sufferings of several of the victims in St. Mungo's. He had been forced to do it; he couldn't have avoided inflicting pain if he had wanted to keep up the pretence which ultimately won the war. However, the guilt still ate away at him every day, every night. He couldn't escape from it.
But he had. Just for a short, quick moment in the dining hall that evening. His eyes had met those of Miss Granger, and his soul had felt at peace for the first time in many, many years.
...
Hermione woke up suddenly, sweating, tangled in her sheets. She was breathing heavily as she wiped the strands of hair from her eyes. Merlin, that dream had been intense. It had started as all the others had, with Hermione rushing back to the Shrieking Shack after Voldemort had fallen, trying desperately to save Severus Snape, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. But this time it had been different, his eyes had shot open when she reached him and suddenly he was healthy, looking younger and less pallid, just as he had seemed that evening in the dining hall. In the dream he had pulled her into his arms as soon as she had reached him and had begun covering her face with kisses while holding her so tightly to his chest, that she had felt she couldn't breathe... and she had loved it. She had gripped his collar with her hands while kissing him back fiercely, and then moved her hands into his hair, feeling the silky smoothness of it caressing her fingers. In response he had rolled her over, and had laid himself between her legs, her responsive hips grinding into him in return, causing him to moan out loud... "Harry... Harry... HARRY!"
And then Hermione had jerked awake. Harry and Ginny were clearly at it again. She would have to talk to them about it tomorrow morning, making sure to embarrass them in the process to punish them for interrupting her wonderful dream. And, Gods, it had been wonderful... for the first time in her young life, which had been too interrupted by war, Hermione felt a knot of desire deep in her stomach, the heat unfurling throughout her whole body, slowly heating her up. She should have been shocked that the cause of it was none other than Severus Snape, her teacher and twenty years her senior, but for some reason it felt only natural that it was for him.
Unfortunately, she knew nothing could come of it. There was no way he could be interested in her, a student! All the same, Hermione was determined to get to know Severus Snape better during her last year at Hogwarts. And with that thought in her mind, Hermione Granger succumbed to sleep again, her dreams full of piercing black eyes and silky black hair.