AN: Wow! I can't believe all the support I've been getting. I love you guys way too much. Sorry this chapter took longer than usual. I had a bit of writer's block and I've been busy with personal things. I think I'm going to start posting one chapter a week now to give myself more time. I feel kind of overwhelmed with my old posting schedule. Maybe this will give me more time to go back and edit those old chapters like I've been saying I would? -laughs- I also have a deviantart where I post a lot of SSHG-related fanart. Totally check it out if you have the time. The link to it is on my profile. Aswell as a link to where you can find this story on AO3.

And again, here's a special thanks to my beta reader RPGgirl514. She is amaazing.

"Well," Hermione began, shuffling inside the classroom and locking the door behind her. She lowered her voice, worried someone might hear her, "Why are you interested in that sort of stuff? Not to criticize you. I'm just-"

"Understood." He answered, cutting her off.

She frowned, realizing it was going to be a lot harder to get anything out of him then she thought, although she was surprised. Professor Snape was as obstinate a man as they came, his pure unadulterated stubbornness rivaling with even Ron's. It was no wonder why the two loathed each other. "Well, um," Hermione exhaled, "I was wondering why you liked whips."

She flinched beforehand, half expecting his response to be just as sharp as the one before. "That's a stupid question. If you have anything else more meaningful to ask me please do, I don't have all day." He turned back to his desk, fiddling with something just out of her sight. His reply wasn't exactly kind, but because he wasn't shutting her down completely this time she took it as a good sign to continue.

"You're right, that may not be the best way to phrase it." She rubbed her knuckles uncomfortably, trying to think of a better way of rewording herself. Carefully, she started again, "I was wondering why you are interested in that kind of stuff."

He spun around to face her, scowling, he obviously did not feel the same way. "Granger, you do not choose the things you enjoy." Though that again wasn't what she had meant, she let him finish. "If I could have chosen to like something more conventional, like stockings, don't you think I would?" He cleared his throat, and she tried to forget that she was in fact sporting stockings. She didn't know if she should take that compliment or an insult but went with the latter.

"Then when did you first notice you liked, er, that?"

"Under what pretenses are you asking this?"

"Er," she bit her tongue, her face beginning to flush. She asked herself the same question, but answered to the best of her abilities. "I may be interested in the subject myself."

He rolled his eyes and continued anyway, "I do not recall. It's been a very long time. I have not actively engaged in it for many years, not that it's any of your business. If I knew you were going to do this I may have let you keep the book instead. Or perhaps not. Who knows what you would get yourself into." Snape's eyes darted away, and he began cleaning the room with a wave of his wand. She let his words sink in as he continued his business moving around the classroom. He wasn't giving her any new information, making her efforts to learn more fruitless.

"I do have one more question." She said, interrupting the silence.

"Speak."

"That night at Hogsmeade… why were you there?" She had only asked because it was something the boys had been suspicious about.

"Are you accusing me of something Granger?"

She shook her head vigorously in response.

Snape sighed. "We aren't stupid. Professor Sinistra and I overheard one of your nitwit classmates talking about the event just meters away from where we were standing. I swear, you all think we're deaf." Hermione muffled a laugh behind her sleeve. "Obviously upon hearing that we went there to catch you brats in the act. Though I didn't expect to run into you there. I thought you knew better than to get into anymore trouble. But it must have been your two hooligan of friends idea. I will never understand why you hang around those two."

"There really aren't that bad once you get to know them." She was mostly speaking for Harry, though she dared not specify. "Thank you for that," she stammered. He gave her a confused look and she specified, "for keeping me out of bigger trouble. You didn't have to do it, and I also had not been expecting that at all considering.-" She stopped herself before she said something to ruin the moment.

He hesitated on his response. "You're welcome, Ms. Granger. I expect more out of you in the future."

Thank you, she repeated the words in her head. They still sounded off coming from him, but she was starting to get use to it.

He excused her from the classroom and she ran off to the Great Hall. Her stomach growled as the smell of seasonal food filled her lungs. Warm autumn displays of multi colored leaves, corn and pumpkins filled the room, and bright orange hues shown brightly above. Time had passed by so quickly, she couldn't believe it was midway through October. She gulped, and that meant that holiday break was on its way and she would have to return home. She was never too excited about returning to the muggle world during break because of magic restrictions and having to adjust to normal life, but now more so than ever.

As she approached the table Ron was the first to shoot up. "He's letting you eat now?" Everyone looked as if they were just beginning to dig in, meaning she couldn't have been any more than fifteen minutes or so late.

"What, do you expect him to starve me?" Hermione asked sharply, sitting herself aside him. Harry greeted her with a short nod.

"He would if it wasn't considered abuse 'Mione."

She sighed loudly and began to serve herself. There was no use fighting with him, she thought bitterly. Ron would believe whatever he wanted to. It wasn't like he knew Professor Snape like she did. Professor Snape could be polite and agreeable, if given the chance. She thought back to the night she had spent in his quarters and how he had treated her. She mindlessly stirred her mashed potatoes. They couldn't just go back to normal after they had basically shared the same bed together, could they? Something about that thought made her upset.

No, she did not want to lose the closeness she had experienced with him and it would be dumb to continue to pretend she didn't know why she felt this way. Before she had told Ginny she was interested in him to keep her off her trail, but now she wasn't sure that was the case. Thinking about him made her cheeks heat up; it wasn't a coincidence. She forced down a spoonful of potatoes, not at all in the mood to eat. She couldn't yet say it was a crush, like what she had felt for Ron at one point, but it was the next closest thing to that. Unless she was just in denial about it.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Ginny watching her, and then quickly bobbing her head away when Hermione turned to check. Obviously Ginny hadn't said anything about what she told her to the boys or they would have already hounded her for answers by now, but Hermione couldn't help but feel like what prompted her to ask in the first place was the persistence of the boys. It would be dangerous for her to continue to confide in her, despite how much Hermione wanted to.

It wasn't long before Hermione excused herself from the table and ran up to the girl's dormitory. She pulled the curtains down around her bed, giving herself the most privacy she could in a room filled with other students. She picked up where she last left off in her thoughts. She had trouble sleeping that night.

xxx

To her relief, she had no unwanted sex dreams about her professor that night. If she was lucky it would continue being that way from now on so she could focus more on Potions than avoiding his eye contact. When it finally came time to attend Snape's class, Hermione felt unprepared. Now that she had somewhat come to terms with her feelings for him, it made being around him slightly easier than before.

She studied his appearance and was in awe with how attracted she found herself to him. He wasn't a bad looking person like everyone was somehow convinced he was. She found his odd quirks charming, in the sense they were all so Snape. He caught her staring at him a few times, probably questioning her sudden change in attitude, and she didn't blame him. Going from afraid to meet his eyes, to curiously staring him up and down overnight was a bit of a stretch. He responded to it by calling on her raised hand more often, and even shooting her a small smirk when she answered correctly. She swore he sounded almost proud of how much she retained from his after class lessons. In a strange way, she was happy she could occupy so much of his attention.

A wild thought appeared in her mind, something she found ridiculously out of her character. What if she unbuttoned her shirt just a bit? Or 'accidentally' let her skirt rise up too high? She was certainly no Lavender Brown but that would definitely catch Professor Snape's attention. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't think of doing such a thing, but still, she was curious. How would he look at her then?

Her top few blouse buttons were already loose as it was, it only took a bit of stretching before they undid themselves. She leaned forward exposing the plump cleavage of her breasts and crossed her legs to the side. Getting her skirt to ride up on its own was a bit of a task, but not wanting to come off as too obvious she abandoned the idea.

Ahead of her she heard a gulp, and she knew it was Snape. She pretended she hadn't noticed anything and stared at her notes, watching him from the corner of her eye and lightly tapping the tip of her quill against her lips. He pressed his own lips firmly together, the rest of his face too out of focus for her to see the rest of his expression, and quickly turned away. She looked back up and stared at his back as he continued on to writing notes on the chalkboard. Disappointed, she uncrossed her legs and copied the notes down onto her paper.

She didn't know exactly what she had been expecting to begin with. Knowing how Snape was, his reaction could have meant a number of things. Her mind drifted to Ron, reminding her how undesirable she was time and time again. She would be lying if she said his words hadn't damaged her self image. Suddenly she felt ashamed, wondering how someone like her could make such a show out of herself. She wondered how she would look in the mirror. She folded her arms across each other over her chest, her face growing hot.

When the bell rang, Hermione packed her things into her bag and stood up, planning to quickly head over to the girl's restroom and comb back her bird's nest of hair. She held her textbook firmly over her chest, hiding her unbuttoned blouse.

A familiar clipped voiced called after her.

"Granger, after class."

She sat back down and stared at her shoes. He waited for the rest of the class to empty the room before addressing her, and she tried to look busy in the meanwhile, flipping mindlessly through her notes

"What was that little display of yours earlier?" He finally spoke.

"What do you mean?" She crossed her legs nervously, unintentionally repeating the same position as before.

He pursed his lips again. "Is this some kind of joke?" He was furious, she could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. She gulped, realizing she had no other choice than to continue the charade. She didn't want to find out what he might do if he found out it had been intentional.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." She stressed her words, trying to sound annoyed.

"Button up your shirt Granger, or I will do it myself."

His words rang in her head, and strangely she was tempted to let him do just that. "Do it then." The words escaped her mouth before she was able to think them through.

"Do not test me," he growled low. He extended his arms toward her chest, and she held her breath. His long fingers wrapped themselves around the opening in her shirt, roughly buttoning it shut. In his haste the button below undid itself, causing him to come to his senses and retreat. He slowly dropped his arms to his side, staring momentarily at what was revealed underneath her blouse then back to her face. She felt her heart flutter, and she did something unexpected. She leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.

They both stood still, their lips planted firmly together. Just as Hermione began to regret her decision he started to kiss her back. Surprised, she tried to pull away, only to have him push her back against the wall and their lips meet again. She felt his tongue slide into her mouth, entangling itself with hers. She followed suit, wrapping her tongue around his and exploring. Snape's kiss was strong and wild, but so much more pleasant than what she had experienced seldom before. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in as close as she could. Hermione's head spun, her eyes unfocused. A soft moan escaped her, vibrating through their merged lips.

Snape abruptly jerked away, a flash of panic running through his dark eyes. He took a few unsteady steps back before turning away. "Leave now." He cleared his throat roughly, hiding the shakiness in his usually decisive tone.

Hermione bit her bottom lip. She fought the prick of tears welling up in her eyes. Her mind was still hazy, unable to comprehend what was going on. She was embarrassed, but more than anything confused by his actions. He had seemed to enjoy it also, but she knew better than to assume anything.

She ran out of the classroom, not bothering to collect her things.

Hermione wasn't one to skip classes but in this instance she felt it was necessary. She made herself comfortable at the back of the library, being as quiet as she could so no one would notice her hiding back there. The familiar dusty smell of the library comforted her immensely, as she tried to keep her mind off what she did. It had only been day two of skipping out on Potions but she felt like she almost had it all behind her. The incident from a few days before was beginning to feel like only a dream. She flipped the over-sized textbook she was resting in her lap over to the next page. With her nose placed comfortably inside these books she felt the strongest.

Recently she hasn't been spending enough time studying, not that she was behind, but she would like to get back to her normal studying schedule. Since she had already been planning to skip at least the next few months of Potions she had the perfect opportunity to do just that. She admitted her plan wasn't very well thought out,- or practical, but she didn't really have any other choice. There was no way she could show her face in that classroom again. If it was truly up to her, and her house head wouldn't get involved, she would never go back. She rubbed her temples. Oh how comforting was the thought of never returning.

Twenty minutes into her cramming session she heard chatter begin to break out at the front of the library. The library the day before had been dead silent besides Madam Pince occasionally sliding books back on the shelves. The librarian rarely ever did it by hand so she had not to worry about being caught. Curious, Hermione peeked through the nearest bookshelf to see what was going on. Out of the corner she could just barely make out Professor Snape's dark figure aggressively talk over something with Madam Pince. His eyes darted over to her spot behind the bookshelf, and he started in her direction. Hermione quickly gathered her stuff together and rushed in the opposite direction, only to run into Snape, who had been expecting her eagerness to leave.

"Granger." He hunched forward, towering over her.

"P-P-Professor Snape! F-fancy seeing you here!" She tried to sound casual, but she wasn't fooling either of them.

"And I would say the same to you." He took her by the shoulder, roughly pulling her along with him. "I do not want to hear a single word out of you until after class, understand?" She shook her head violently.

He held firmly on to her coat until they reached the classroom, dropping her off at her desk. He growled a vicious warning to the rest of the class of what he would do to anyone else if he caught them skipping his class, and returned to teaching. The class stayed dead silent, but their confusion filled the air and she could feel their questioning eyes on her back. It wasn't until the class had retired and his full attention was turned back to her that the pent-up emotions from the day before overtook her. She skittishly waited for Snape to address her, expecting the full wrath of her Professor.

"What were you thinking?"

She didn't answer him, her gaze resting on his shoes.

"I know you're not deaf. Answer me." Her eyes began to sting. She didn't want him to see her like this. "And not only today, but what you did yesterday was highly inappropriate."

She muttered gibberish under her breath. She couldn't fight the tears any longer. His eyes grew gentle, noticing her glistening eyes. "...Granger." She cupped her face in her palms, trying to muffle her cries, but to no avail.

"Don't cry." He slowly inched his arm around her and pulled her into a small embrace."I apologize for how I acted; you did nothing wrong. If I hadn't allowed any of this to develop in the first place you wouldn't have been pushed into the position you were in. I don't know what I was thinking when I let you stay in my room that night; I don't know what you must think of me now-"

"I don't think," she started in between sharp uncontrollable inhales, "-not what you think." Though because of her emotional state she wasn't about to fully articulate herself the way she had wished, he seemed to understand what she had meant. He wrapped his other arm around her, gently rubbing her back. He quietly held her in that position until her loud sobs calmed down into small huffs.

She rubbed her eyes, wiping her tears out of her face. "I liked the attention. And I don't care that it was inappropriate, or that you are my professor, or anything-"

Snape brushed her unruly hair out of her face and cupped her cheek if only for a second before sliding it away. "I understand." She didn't know what he meant by that, causing her to push away from his chest. He stared down at her, pursing his lips together, deep in thought. Hermione copied the action with her own, imagining his lips against hers. He said nothing, and instead met her forehead with a tender peck.

"We should continue this conversation somewhere else."

Hermione wiped her face with her over-sized sleeves, trying to look presentable enough before leaving the room, following closely behind him. He lead her down the hallway to where she only assumed was his office. The hallways were mostly empty, besides a few lone Slytherins heading in the opposite direction. Luckily they were too busy with wherever they were heading to bother paying her any attention. She must have looked like just another frightened student whom Professor Snape had pushed to tears - a common occurrence. She smiled a bit at the thought.

Upon entering the room Snape sat her down at his desk and rushed off to the familiar back door hidden behind the bookshelves. The dark eerie nature of the room did nothing to comfort her. She much preferred his bedroom to this, in here she felt like she was being stared at from all directions. She wondered if he purposely decorated this room to be intimidating. A few minutes later he reemerged with two mugs in hand and placed one of them in front of her. He sat across from her on the other side of the desk and stared at her. "Drink," he commanded, before taking a sip himself. Hermione did the same a few seconds later, too caught up in her thoughts.

Professor Snape kissed me, she thought. It was only on the forehead but it was enough to make her heart flutter. The hot but drinkable liquid went down her throat, warming up her entire body. It was the same pumpkin spice coffee he had served her that last time she was over. She would have picked up on the distinct scent if her nose hadn't been clogged from her tears. Despite that the drink tasted just the same as the last time she had it, if not the tiniest bit more bittersweet.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, setting down his mug.

Hermione nodded, staring wide eyed back at him. She didn't know how to respond.

He cleared his throat and turned his attention to the wall, absentmindedly tapping his fingertips against the ceramic mug. "You must be tired. When you're ready to go I will walk you back to the portrait hole."

She bit her lip. She didn't want to leave. Despite everything that happened, she still wanted to be around him. She was also scared if she left things as they were things would change between them. Hermione didn't know if she could bear it if the next day he pretended the kiss never happened. But if he insists… Hermione tensed her legs, preparing to stand up.

"Or you can stay here, if that isn't overstepping my boundaries."

Her heart nearly stopped. "N-no not at all. Actually I would prefer that." She unclenched her legs and wiggled into a more comfortable position. "Thank you."

He nodded, then collected their cups and stood up. "Come on then, you should clean up." He began towards the back door and she followed. "You know where everything is make yourself comfortable." The door clicked shut behind them.