Hermione shivered and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. It was only the end of August, but the clouds above her and the large, heavy drops of cold water falling from them promised cold weather. She reached up and knocked on the great door before her, remembering when she'd been half as tall as she was now. A voice boomed, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Hagrid, Hermione!"

"Hermione?" The door opened and the half-giant's great form filled its frame. He took one look at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her inside and closing the door behind her. He had unintentionally lifted her off the ground and when he set her back down he patted her on the back, causing her to drop to her knees, though she stood up again quickly enough that he failed to notice. He pushed her into a chair at his large table and his great boarhound Fang came and set his head on her knees. Smiling, she petted his large head and looked up at Hagrid. She hadn't even heard Fang bark with the wind howling and the rain pelting down outside.

"What're yeh doin' here?" he asked, sitting down in another chair and making the entire building shake even more than the wind and rain had before.

"I needed to get away from the castle, and I realized I haven't come to visit you in a long time," she said, smiling at him again.

He grinned back, yellowed teeth showing through his tangled black beard as he nodded, looking pleased. "Yeah I missed yeh all this summer. How's ol' Snape doin?"

Hermione blinked in surprise. She had come with the intention of directing her thoughts away from the potions master. "S- Snape?" she stammered, looking as if she'd swallowed something awful.

Hagrid nodded, not noticing the expression on her face or the way she spoke. "How is he?"

"H- he's great," Hermione said slowly, "he's recovered completely and I- I don't see him much anymore."

Kind eyes looked at her from his wild hair. "Yeh see him at meals 'n such, don' yeh?"

Hermione nodded, not really knowing why she wasn't changing the subject, and said, "Yeah, I do . . ."

He set his elbows on the table and leaned forward, finishing, "But yer used to seein' him all 'o the time, ain't ye?"

Hermione blinked and said, "I- I suppose I am, yes."

"Yeh know," he said, tilting his head and staring at a dent in the table, "that ol' Snape's not as bad as most people think. He's a right ol' hero, 'Arry said."

Hermione nodded. She had no idea where this was coming from and why Hagrid was saying what he did, and she didn't want to find out where the conversation would go if they continued it. She abruptly changed the subject to Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother who was a full-blooded giant. He nodded and told her multiple stories about Grawp learning to talk and behave himself. Hermione was relieved at his excitement when he talked, and let him go on and on for a while. He eventually offered her hot water he'd boiled over the fire, and she took a mug of it, pretending to add flavoring—Hagrid's own recipe of herbs and spices—but leaving her water plain. The hot liquid was a comfort without flavor and she had learned long ago to eat Hagrid's cooking only when the alternative was death. Even then, death might be a better option at times.

They discussed classes, and teachers, Neville coming to be an apprentice—he was supposed to arrive the next day—more about Grawp, several of the different creatures living in the forbidden forest, and old times when she, Harry, and Ron had come to visit Hagrid. They talked for quite a while about memories, all of the way back to their first year, when it had all begun. Hagrid asked about her tearful exit from breakfast the day before and explained that she and Ron were no longer together and that he had written an unkind letter. She didn't mention that he and Lavender were engaged, because she knew Hagrid would fret over it and didn't want to give him too much to worry about. "I'm fine now, though," she finished. He nodded thoughtfully.

"Have you forgiven 'im?" he asked at last.

"Yes, but he doesn't know it yet because I haven't seen him. But I suppose he and Harry might come with Neville to say goodbye and visit me while they're here, and I can tell him then." Seeing the hopeful look on his large face, she added, "But I'm not interested in being anything more than friends. When we're friends we can make it, but when we're a couple . . . we just seem to have row after row. I don't like it. We get along better with Harry there, and we were always fine as best friends and nothing more."

Hagrid's face fell a bit at this, but he nodded. "I s'pose you're right. Well," he looked out the window, "We ought to get back then; I reckon dinner's 'bout to start."

Hermione nodded and they rose from their seats. She patted Fang on the head and pulled out her wand as Hagrid threw a large, hairy coat over his massive shoulders. Cleaning Fang's drool from the front of her robes, she tucked her wand away again and walked with Hagrid to the door. He threw it open and the wind and rain hit them immediately. It was very cold, and Hermione was drenched almost immediately. She pulled her hood over her head and walked behind Hagrid, who was like a wall and blocked the weather from hitting her with its full force. She followed him up to the castle and he closed the door in behind them. They stopped in the entrance hall and Hermione kindly turned to Hagrid with her wand and dried his clothes. He grinned at her gratefully while she dried her own.

They looked up when the headmistress and Pomona Sprout walked into the hall and turned, smiling to look at the gamekeeper and the transfiguration teacher before they entered the Great Hall. Hermione had just pulled her hood from her head and was drying her soaked hair and following Hagrid into the Great Hall when she caught sight of black behind her and realized that Severus was following them. Sighing to herself in annoyance at the sudden urge to turn and look at him, she made herself walk to the table and take her seat without glancing back once. Hagrid sat across the table from her in his regular seat, and only a second later Severus was in his place beside her.

The food appeared and they began to eat, most of them making conversation. Only Hermione and Severus were silent. This was quite normal for him, but Hermione seemed to have missed quite a few meals lately so her own quiet demeanor went unnoticed. She found herself subconsciously leaning Severus' direction multiple times during the meal, and was constantly reprimanding her own unknowing actions. Wishing she knew what went on in the potion master's mind while he was eating in silence, she turned back to her food and forced herself to remain sitting straight and not leaning one way or another for the rest of the meal.

She didn't know what was going on in Severus' mind, but it was in truth quite a lot. He failed to notice her leaning towards him for what it really was, though he was completely aware of every move she made because though it had been months since the war, he was still paranoid and constantly vigilant after his recent years of deception and caution with the dark lord. He saw when she leaned on one elbow, and then when she leaned down to brush something off of the hem of her cloak, and then again when she leaned slightly in his direction when she looked past him to ask someone a question. All he saw was a fidgety young woman who would eventually learn to sit still but as of the moment seemed unable to.

But he had noticed something in the entrance hall, and it was the reason for much thought at the moment. When he had entered and followed the half-giant and her into the Great Hall, Hermione had noticed his presence and stiffened considerably, though she did not turn and look at him. Perhaps she felt awkward after their encounter in the corridor the day before? But why had she been fine at dinner then? Severus could not piece together why she had been so upset in the morning, and then so happy and even smiling at dinner. And then at breakfast that morning she'd been tense, but not upset. Lunch had been like breakfast, and now she couldn't sit still but had tensed as soon as she knew he was walking behind her.

But it wasn't her actions that unsettled him most; when he'd walked into the entrance hall, Hermione and Hagrid had been facing the door to the Great Hall and he had approached from their side, though their attention was diverted and they failed to see him then. Hermione had lifted her hands and pushed the hood of her cloak back from her head and let it fall back over her shoulders with her hair, which, in the storm outside, had been soaked. What Severus found most disturbing was that he had expected to see her face as usual when she removed the hood, but when he'd first seen her after her face was uncovered, her cheeks had been flushed from the cold, her hair had been wet and dark with several curls framing her face, and she'd had a half-smile, half-smirk on her lips.

It was the same Hermione Granger he'd expected to see, and yet . . . different somehow. He had seen her looking almost exactly that way before, except for the smirk on her lips, only once; when she'd come to his aid the night he collapsed and when the dark mark had first begun to hurt him. He had collapsed and closed his eyes, having spent the last bit of his energy on conjuring a patronus. The next thing he remembered was being rolled gently onto his back, opening his eyes, and looking up into Hermione's face. Then, just as it had been tonight, her hair had been dripping wet, her cheeks flushed from running, and her lips set in a concerned line. Seeing her look exactly that way again had made something in Severus' gut twist, and he had, for a fleeting moment, relived memories of her leaning over him and bathing him with a wet cloth, memories of her crying and whispering broken, hoarse apologies, memories of her looking at him with so much regret and pain in her eyes while he lay dying . . . Severus had forced himself to stop.

He had tried to forget those memories, not allowed himself to relive them or think over them. And seeing Hermione looking that way once again had, for a fleeting moment, impressed one word in his mind; beautiful. It was the memories and the word that had disturbed him. They were the reason he kept stealing glances at the young woman beside him and telling himself to forget this as well. He had been too shocked to think when she'd come careening around a corner and run into him, and had only just enough time to grab her and pull her back so she didn't fall. But he had acted so fast that his movement wasn't calculated and he had unintentionally pulled her against him. Then he had been so shocked and surprised that he didn't push her back or step away himself, and had only stared down at her. She had looked up and stepped back, but had stood in his arms for maybe three seconds.

And now those three seconds were haunting him. Those, along with the experience in the entrance hall, were too much and he was trying to make sense of why his eyes suddenly felt so drawn to Hermione. And why was he suddenly noticing the way the light played on her unruly brown curls and made her skin seem to glow, how her eyes were the color of milk chocolate, and how her slender fingers played with the fork in her hand as she ate? And then she was laughing at something someone had said and it played like music in his ears and stayed in his memory. Why had he noticed how beautiful her laugh was? And why was he noticing now how simply brilliant her smile was when her teeth showed and her lips curled?

Rising suddenly, he nodded to the others and said, "I've a potion brewing that requires my attention," before walking away from the table. As he turned to exit the Great Hall, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Hermione was watching him go. He stormed to the dungeon and his familiar classroom, and began to pace. No. He would not let her do this to him. It was wrong. All wrong. He was a teacher, and she a student.

She's not a student anymore, he thought. But then he was reasoning with himself, battling his own thoughts, all inside his head. It's still wrong. She's hardly considered an adult in the wizard world, and not yet in the muggle world. He argued with himself for several moments.

At last the other voice—which he knew was his own—stopped and he took a moment to breathe, still pacing. He would not let this happen. There was nothing. He felt nothing for her. In fact, he was angry with her for saving him. No, that wasn't true. He had stopped being upset with her when she saved him again and showed that she actually cared and didn't want to torture him. But this, this was absurd. Perhaps she cared whether he lived or died. Perhaps. But those feelings were only there inside of her because she had saved him once and didn't want him to die. And now that he was recognized to her and Potter as a hero, of course she wanted him to live. There was nothing there inside of her. She felt nothing for him.

Satisfied with his own argument, he sat down behind his desk and rubbed his eyes. Yes, he must forget the things that happened tonight to bring him to this troubled state. He didn't know how long that he sat there, brooding behind his desk and carefully blocking his memories away again. When at last his mind was calm and at rest, he rose from his seat and stood near the door until the sound of feet—the other staff members entering the teachers' lounge—died away. When he was sure that he would meet no one, he left the classroom.

He turned the corner into the corridor where the secret entrance was and stopped in his tracks; Hermione was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, legs crossed, scratching away with a quill on a piece of parchment. Having successfully put his earlier thoughts away, Severus walked up and stood over her, leaning over slightly and saying loudly—because she failed to notice his approach—"You are aware, I'm sure, that there are comfortable chairs and places to sit inside the lounge?"

Hermione jumped and looked up at him. Her eyes widened. "W- what?"

He rolled his eyes as he straightened. "Why are you sitting on the cold floor when you could by in your couch by the fire or someplace a bit more comfortable?"

She signed her name at the bottom of the page and folded the parchment as she stood. "I was finishing a letter to Harry and wanted to take it to the owlery tonight. I thought it would be easier to finish it here and walk to the owlery before entering the lounge."

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Of course," before turning to enter the lounge.

Hermione watched him go and then turned away, walking up to the owlery and tying her letter to the leg of one of the school's owls. She was trembling, but it wasn't from walking quickly; Severus had leaned over her. He had been close. Close enough to catch, in full, his wonderful scent. And he'd just come from his classroom or his office, so the smell of potion ingredients was strong. However it still wasn't strong enough to completely overpower his own scent. Hermione walked back down from the tower, wondering which potion Severus had started brewing before dinner and had to leave for after. She made it back to her room and went to bathe, falling asleep in the bathtub, as had become a common occurrence lately. As she had before, she woke in the middle of the night and dried off, dressing in her pajamas and stumbling, half asleep, to bed after turning out the lights.

The next day she waited anxiously for Neville to arrive. She couldn't wait to talk to him and see him again. And she hoped that perhaps Harry would come along, just to see her for a bit. It was just before lunch when she was walking in the courtyard with the headmistress and the Minister of Magic, discussing the latest news, when three people walked onto the grounds. Hermione shrieked and ran, quite forgetting to act like a mature adult, towards them. McGonagall and Kingsley only smiled and watched her go.

Neville was leading the other two, and she threw her arms around him and hugged him first. He smiled and stepped back as she hugged Harry just as quickly, and then she turned to find Ron. To the boys' mutual shock, she threw her arms around him, too, and when she stepped back she said, "Congratulations, Ron!"

Neville and Harry looked bewildered, and Ron seemed genuinely amazed that she wasn't upset with him. "Didn't he tell you two?" Hermione asked, looking from Ron to Harry and Neville. They shook their heads.

"Tell us what?" Neville asked. Harry looked just as confused.

"'Mione," Ron broke in before she could answer, "It's a lie. It's all a big fat lie. I never did what I said, I just . . ." he faltered, but then went on, "I just wanted to make you jealous." He frowned and kicked the ground, "It obviously didn't work, though."

Now Harry and Neville were looking at Ron with expressions that demanded an explanation. "I-" Ron began.

"He wrote me and told me that he'd met up with Lavender and asked her to marry him and that the wedding would be next summer," Hermione interrupted.

Harry and Neville looked stunned. Harry spoke first. He turned on Ron, angry, but Hermione stopped him. "It's fine. Like he said, it didn't work. I'm actually relieved to see that it isn't real, though. All's forgiven, now forget it."

Ron looked to her hopefully. "Will you-"

"No, Ron, I won't. I think we ought to just go back to being best friends," Hermione answered before he'd even finished asking. He nodded.

"All right."

Hermione smiled and looked at all of them. Then she turned to Neville and raised her eyebrows. A slight smile played on his face but he shook his head, indicating that they could talk later. Now Harry and Ron looked bewildered. "It's kind of a surprise that I figure someone else will tell you two pretty quick," Neville said, looking at them.

Hermione knew what he meant; Luna and Ginny had become good friends and Luna frequently visited the burrow; she'd tell Ginny and Molly and Ron, and Harry would know soon enough that she and Neville were together. Smiling, Hermione nodded towards the school and they started to walk slowly. At the mention of lunch, Ron sped up rather quick. They made it to the table and everyone was happy to see the three boys. Hermione spent some time beside the lake, in the place where she had spent countless afternoons with Harry and Ron during their years in school. It seemed only too soon that they had to leave with Kingsley and she hugged them both, watching them walk back into the castle but not following.

She leaned against the tree behind her and closed her eyes, lifting her chin and resting her head against the trunk of the tree. She sighed; she could talk to Neville later, but right now she needed to think. First she actually let a wave of relief wash over her that Lavender hadn't actually been involved with Ron at all since the war and he wasn't using her. She was also relieved that Ron hadn't gotten too upset when she said she just wanted to be friends. And now Neville and Luna were together, and they just seemed so perfect for each other that she couldn't see anything coming between them in the future.

Then she flashed back to when she and the boys had walked into the Great Hall. She'd been looking at the boys, but had turned to see who was at the table already, and while everyone else was staring at Harry, Ron and Neville, one of the people at the table had been staring at her and hadn't given the boys a second glance. Severus had averted his eyes as soon as she looked at him, but she knew, somehow just knew, that he'd been watching her since they'd walked in. Wondering why he had done so, she opened her eyes again and was surprised to see Neville standing nearby, watching her.

"Neville?"

"Hey, I didn't know whether . . . if you don't want to be disturbed . . ." he said quietly.

"Oh, no! No, come here please!" Hermione pulled her cloak around her shoulders and smiled up at him.

He walked over and sat down beside her, leaning against the wide trunk of the tree. He turned and looked at her. They were quiet for a few moments, but neither felt awkward or uncomfortable. "I stopped by Saint Mungo's to see my parents again yesterday," he said after a while.

Hermione turned and smiled at him.

"I said I hi to your parents too," he shrugged, and then grinned boyishly. "I got the feeling they wanted me to tell you hi for them."

Her smile widened. "Thanks, Neville. I'm sure they liked seeing you."

They both nodded, and Neville looked up at the castle, standing tall and proud nearby. "Harry, Ron and I stopped by the burrow," he said quietly.

Hermione bit her lip and waited for him to go on. She knew that he'd never had a girlfriend before Luna and wondered if he was feeling awkward talking about it.

But Neville was fine. He trusted Hermione completely, not only because she and Harry and Ron had been part of the D.A., but also because she'd stayed in touch with him and Luna after they had left to look for horcruxes, which Harry and Ron had explained to him and filled him in on. He was actually wondering if Hermione was feeling awkward listening to him talk about Luna. "Luna was there," he said at last, "and we had some time alone in the garden." He watched as Hermione chewed her lip, grinning, and looked at him excitedly, "I had thought about it ever since I told you, but I had no idea what I was going to say. At the last minute I had this plan and it was going to sound really cool, but I forgot all about that and just asked her and . . . and she said yes."

Hermione stopped biting her lip and threw her arms around Neville, surprising him. He got over it and hugged her back, though. "Neville, that's so great!"

He smiled and when they let each other go he said, "She's close to Ginny, and Ginny's close to you, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, and I could get close to Luna if we saw each other a bit more often." She smiled as she thought about what a strange girl Luna was, unusual but perceptive and kindhearted. They sat in silence for a while longer, and then she asked, "Harry and Ron told you about why we had to leave? And about why you had to kill Nagini?"

Neville nodded. Then he shook his head and said, "I didn't realize how important it was that the snake died. I guess when the battle was happening and Harry told me to kill it, I thought maybe he didn't like it because of what happened to Mr. Weasley."

Hermione took a deep breath, but Neville continued, "And it killed—I mean, it almost killed Snape."

Hermione smiled; all of her friends still referred to the potions master as Snape, while she'd come to think of him as Severus. Then again, now that she thought about it, Severus would probably be angry with anyone who had been his student and now called him by first name and not last. "Yeah," she said, "Nagini tried to kill Snape. Harry, Ron and I, we thought he died right in front of us. He thought he was dying too."

Neville was silent for a few moments. "But you saved him and took him to Saint Mungo's."

She nodded. "I did."

"Who took care of him when he came back here?" he asked suddenly.

Hermione was surprised; she'd thought Harry and Ron would have told Neville. "Um, I did." She said quietly. Neville turned and looked at her, obviously shocked. She went on, "He was recovering from Nagini's attack, and then his dark mark kind of tried to kill him."

"How?" Neville asked.

"It made him hurt and burn everywhere, and he was weak and he couldn't move. He stayed in bed and I basically lived in a chair beside him and took care of him for a month before he started to get better, and then I started sleeping in my own room again and was there with him all day until he was strong enough to take care of himself."

"You fed him?" Neville looked impressed.

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, I fed him. And gave him water whenever he was thirsty, and bathed him with a wet cloth because no other remedies could work on the dark mark. It would reject all of them and cause him more pain."

"How did you cure him, then?" he asked. Now he looked awed that Hermione had been brave enough to do as she'd said.

Hermione felt herself blushing. "I started to care whether he lived or died, and I cried over him once while I was bathing him and he was asleep, and I guess my tears saved him, kind of like how Harry didn't actually die in the forbidden forest."

Neville nodded. "You saved his life twice, then?"

Hermione nodded back. "I guess I did. Never planned on it, but I guess none of us ever planned a lot of the things that happened to us, did we?"

Neville laughed. "You're right."

They talked for another hour, laughing and becoming silent and somber at different times, and Hermione hadn't felt free to talk about little things that didn't matter to anyone in a long while, so it was extremely nice and refreshing to have Neville around. He seemed just as happy to be talking to her, and would always blush whenever Luna was mentioned. Hermione thought it was sweet, how much he seemed to like her. Neville laughed once and said, "Oh, I forgot to show you. She was so impressed when I asked her that she gave me this," and he pulled a necklace from his pocket. A strange root or some kind of ugly object was hanging off the end. Hermione looked at him questioningly, and he smiled and said, "It's supposed to work as good bait for . . ." he trailed off, obviously thinking hard, ". . . I don't remember what they're called, but they're a cousin or something to the Crumple-Horned Snortkack. And I guess they're friendly and she wants to take one home and keep it as a pet or something?"

They both laughed. Eventually they walked back up to the school and Hermione gave Neville the tour of the school, as he hadn't seen it since visiting her earlier in the year, when the restoration wasn't finished. There were only minor changes here and there, and he seemed genuinely pleased that she had put Gryffindor tower back exactly as it had been.

He was thrilled with the teachers' lounge, and Hermione noticed how pleased he was to find an animal carved into his door. He looked around at the rest of them and asked, "Everyone's patronuses?" and Hermione nodded. Upon closer inspection, Hermione found that Neville's patronus was a lion. She was impressed, but it made perfect sense; he was a Gryffindor through and through and a lion was the Gryffindor crest. She smiled at him. He had then gone into his own room to explore, she was sure, and she went back to hers to give Crookshanks some attention.

She sat on the edge of her bed and thought of one of her many adventures with Harry and Ron during their second year at Hogwarts together. Then she whispered, "Expecto Patronum," and watched as a silver otter burst from the tip of her wand and swam gracefully through the air in her room. She was never bored with watching it, but eventually felt no need to keep the spell any longer and watched the animal dissipate into silver miss and then vanish completely. Then she cast various spells on a bowl of water, making the liquid rise from the bowl and float in elegant spirals above her head. She was so focused that when someone knocked on her door she turned quickly and the water fell into her hair. Mumbling a quick spell that dried her hair and her clothes, she went to the door. It was Neville. He said something about dinner and with a start Hermione realized what time it was.

They walked to the Great Hall together and sat down at the table at the same time, though he sat across from her, between Hagrid and Pomona. Hermione could see how relieved he was that he wouldn't be sitting next to Severus. She actually let out a soft giggle over it and noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Severus heard and raised one eyebrow at her. She pretended not to see, however, and joined the lively conversation going around the table as everyone served themselves and began to eat. Severus was the only one silent during most of the meal, though he did actually speak a few words to McGonagall at some point. The headmistress sat on the other side of Hermione, and Severus leaned back and looked past her to McGonagall. For the oddest reason, Hermione felt her face grow hot. She drank a quick gulp of pumpkin juice, which seemed to do away with the unwanted heat.

Severus noticed her giggle at the beginning of the meal and found himself stealing glances her way yet again. He had heard Minerva telling Pomona that Hermione and Ron had experienced a fallout and that was the reason for Hermione's odd behavior the day before. But Weasley had walked in beside her, and they had both seemed perfectly happy and at ease. Did that mean they were back together again? Severus was trying hard not to think about it. It was her personal life, and Merlin, he would not let himself become jealous of a teenage boy who had no brains! Then he considered how, after Potter and Weasley had left, Hermione had sat by herself outside for a while and then spent the rest of the day with Longbottom. They had talked for some time outside, and then Severus had seen her giving him a tour of the castle, and now they had walked to dinner together. But if Hermione and Weasley were back together, Severus was sure she would stay loyal.

Did that mean that she wasn't back together with Weasley? Or did it mean she was and Longbottom was just a close friend of hers? Or was there now something between her and Longbottom? Or was there nothing going on between any of them and she was just friends with Longbottom and happy to see him again? Severus sighed, setting down his fork to rub his temples. Teenagers. They were so damn confusing.

Without meaning to, Severus allowed his thoughts to drift back to what he felt for Hermione. There was nothing there. There could be nothing there. It was ridiculous to even think along any lines other than those. He began eating again and glanced out of the corner of his eye at the young woman beside him. He momentarily let himself admire how lovely those soft, chocolate-brown eyes were before he realized that they were staring back. Blinking, he looked back to his food and began to glare at his plate.

Hermione was laughing at something Neville had said and noticed that Severus had put down his silverware and was rubbing his temples, looking strained. She turned and looked at him, watching as he opened his eyes again and started eating once more. He looked all right, she supposed, just . . . a bit off. She had continued to look at him and was surprised when he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. She expected him to look away at once, but he stared for several seconds. He had turned slightly to face her and she noticed that his eyes had changed again; now they weren't black as usual, they were a dark, deep chocolate-colour. And then he seemed to realize he was staring at her and turned away, glowering at his plate of food. But before he turned away, right after he realized she knew he was watching, his eyes had melted into a softer shade of dark brown.

Hermione turned back to her food as well, forgetting to be embarrassed in her pondering of Severus' stunning eyes. Wait, had she just called his eyes stunning? No. She would not allow herself to do that. It was insane. And of all people, the cruel potions master . . . he was unkind, inconsiderate, unable to care, ungrateful, and just plain cruel and undesirable and . . . and he smelled good, and had stunning eyes. The last thought seemed to pop into her head all of its own accord. She became very thankful that she could think without others hearing and tried to focus on eating from there on out. The bad things about Severus outweighed the good. That would make her stop and rethink her motives any day, and she was sure that she wouldn't find enough good things to outweigh the bad, so she was safe.

She walked back to the teachers' lounge with Neville after dinner, but trailed behind Severus. This seemed to frighten Neville a bit, but he said nothing about it and talked about school starting in a week. Hermione nodded and talked just as excitedly, but her mouth was doing its own thinking and her mind was on Severus' eyes.

She bathed and sent her otter swimming through the room before going to bed. In the darkness, with Crookshanks curled around her feet, she stared into the blackness and wondered why Severus' eyes had changed the way they had. She'd seen them get darker and colder when he was angry or annoyed, but this was just the opposite; they'd grown lighter and warmer and been actually beautiful rather than dark and mysterious. Not that being beautiful took any of the mystery in them away; she was still wondering what he'd been thinking that had caused him not to notice that he was looking at her. Or, she thought with a smile tugging at her lips, it had caused him to forget to look away from her.

I am excited to know what you guys think of this one! Please review if you have time! Remember, any comments and advice or corrections you have are totally welcome! I want to write the best story that I can and if you give me feedback then it's easier to know how to do that! Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me this far! I love each and every one of you and hope you'll stay with me until I've finished it! I don't know just how long this will be yet but don't worry because the end is still a long ways off! Thanks again for reading! All my love! ~Taelr