Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews, I know I haven't replied yet but I thought you'd rather have this chapter out instead. Summer holidays are always manic in our household - the good kind though.

As Snape strolled along the road towards Hogwarts, having just apparated into Hogsmead, he thought about the mornings dealings. Vampires! Really, was there any need to keep them still in existence? It was just as bad as allowing werewolves to teach. Of course no one ever listened to his opinion on these things and so he kept quiet - well relatively quiet, for him, a few snide comments didn't really count. And he was truthful with himself enough to admit that the vampire doctor would come in very handy in protecting one of the very few people he had come to actually give a damn about, not that he would admit that openly - after all he had a reputation to protect and that stupid Potter boy had almost ruined it when he spouted off to all and sundry about his past with Lily. It was tempting to bring the brat back from the dead if only so that he could throttle the boy himself.

He sighed heavily as he approached the castle, he didn't really want the boy dead, in fact his life would be much easier if the boy were alive. But in killing *shudder* Voldemort he had managed to also get himself killed and no one had seen it coming. Far to many innocent people had been destroyed during the war and Snape knew it was his duty to protect one of the only good things to come out of it - Hermione.

Insufferable, nagging, interfering little girl that she was!

Never bloody left him alone any more!

Even his scowl didn't work on her.

This was what happened when you let women into your life, or so he had heard, he'd not really had much personal experience with females. Not unless you counted insane witch's who liked to kill and torture innocents. Although it could be said that all women had some ruthlessness about them.

The door slammed behind him as he finally reached the dungeons, unsurprised to find a welcoming committee.

"Severus! How did everything go? Did you manage to find a solution? Have you eaten yet?"

"Do you ever do anything except ask questions?" he drawled with one eyebrow arched high, "and its Professor Snape to you."

He watched in amusement as she huffed, brushing a strand of bushy hair from her face, "You're not my Professor any more, you're my friend and I will call you by your name."

"Insufferable," he exclaimed making his way towards the small chair nearest to the fire place, "I don't know why Minerva insists on giving you free reign to come and go as you please."

"Yes, yes, insufferable, but you like me anyway and don't pretend that you don't, as for Professor McGonagall, well I guess she felt I was doing some good," she grinned at him knowing that she was speaking the it was truth. Though their friendship seemed odd to many it was perhaps something that he could now view as inevitable. After all they were both quite intelligent (himself more so obviously), liked to read, study etc….

Adding to that the girl simply wouldn't leave him the hell alone once she had recovered him from the shrieking shack.

They were rather different too, his mind continued, Hermione was much more outgoing, bold, brash, unsubtle…

"So?" she asked him.

"You have a place to stay, not that it will be enjoyable unless you want to go to muggle school…"

"School?" she interrupted, an intrigued look over her face.

"Yes, a place of learning…"

"I know what school is!" she huffed.

"If you'd let me finish?" he asked, waiting for her to be silent before continuing, "you will be staying with a …family….in America,"

"Why did you say it like that?" she asked, "'Family'…"

"They're vampires…"

"Are you mad? I can't live with vampires! They…..they eat people!"

"I assure you, these vampires will not 'eat' you. They survive on animal blood and like to keep up the appearance of a normal human family, presumably that is why they attend school. The leader owes me a favour," he continued, "and you will be safe there, well hidden."

"America?" Hermione sighed quietly as she served the tea that the house elves had delivered. After handing Snape a cup she resumed, "it's so far away. Will you be there too?"

"No, Draco and I will be heading for a different location for a few years until this ridiculous law is repealed. I have no wish to be saddled with an unknown wife to appease the ministry."

"And I have no wish to be saddled with Lucius Malfoy. Why won't they leave us alone? After everything that…."

"Because, they need to make themselves look better, although how marrying you to one of the most depraved Death Eaters is 'for the good of the magical community' I will never know. The only way to avoid it is to disappear entirely," he sighed. He knew how she felt, but this was for the best. He himself had no desire to leave the only home he had ever known but he was long past the desire to serve anyone, even if it was just marriage.

"Won't they be able to find me even there?"

"Not if we go about it in the right way," he told her, "you, of course, are their biggest priority for the time being and they will not let you go without a fight, but with the right precautions…."

"And what precautions might they be?" Hermione asked wearily, wondering what was going to be expected of her now.

"Travelling the muggle way, a permanent disguise, no contact with anyone for at least two years…"

She sighed heavily again knowing that there was no point in arguing.

"I've made all the necessary arrangements for you including a potion," he trailed off unsure as to how she would take that bit of news and waited for the explosion that was sure to come.

"Potion? Why do I have to take a potion?"

"To disguise you of course and before you ask, no I do not mean polyjuice," he wearily ran a hand over his face, knowing that it would take a lot of convincing to get her to take the potion, "it has to be something permanent, something that will not be able to be lifted by anyone. I've already told you about the lengths a 'person' will go to in order to find someone, even with you travelling the muggle way you will be watched, they will not let you leave the country easily."

"You want me to….permanently change my looks?" she asked quietly already knowing the answer.

"Your hair is very distinctive, it's a small thing really, witches are known to change their hair all the time…"

"What else aren't you telling me?" she whispered.

"You are being looked for already, I would be surprised if someone doesn't announce themselves here shortly," he stated with honesty, however he had not revealed the full truth to her, he really couldn't believe that she had accepted the asinine marriage law as a proper excuse for going into hiding "once we get you to safety you will not contact anyone you know for at least two years, and yes I include myself in that."

"But…."

"Two years Hermione, it is for your protection and I'm sure the time will pass quickly," he hurriedly continued, "After that time you may try to ascertain whether the law has been repealed."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"There is a magical community not to far away from where you will be staying, newspapers shouldn't be that difficult to get hold of."

"Will you find me? In two years I mean?"

Snape sighed heavily, the last few weeks were beginning to take a toll on him more so than the past twenty years, at least then he had thought he was going to die at the end of it and would be able to rest for eternity. It seemed that living was much more difficult than dying, "I make no promises Hermione, you must now live out your life as best you can, try to make the most of it and be…normal for a while. You missed your childhood, why not try to enjoy some of it now."

"No one will understand me like you do," she said quietly.

He was not one for affection and even at this he did not break but merely stated, "And no one will allow you to move on quite like a stranger."

The evening passed in relative harmony from there on. They discussed mundane things, both knowing that they would not be seeing each other for quite some time, if at all. Both also knowing that even though they would be in hiding their lives would still be in danger, Hermione's more so even if she was not fully aware of the situation. Severus hoped he'd be able to solve the problem before the two years were over, he had no intentions of going into hiding himself, he merely needed to know she was safe whilst he prevented, or rather killed, the person most bent on destroying her.

It was not until the next day that plans were finalised, Hermione readily agreed to take the potion that would disguise her human scent (the thought of smelling tantalising to seven vampires she would be living with made her gulp it down quickly) and reluctantly drank the permanent disguising potion.

"What will I look like?" she asked just before she swallowed.

"Like you, but with better hair and a slightly different eye colour," he smirked, "which can only be to your advantage, that mop should have been changed long ago."

"Hey! I happen to like my hair, thank you very much!"

She let out a startled squeak as she glanced in the mirror noticing the flaming red hair that now fell in curls to her waist, and eyes that were almost as black as his, "What the hell?"

"I thought it fitting that you have Weasley hair seeing as you are already an honorary member of that illustrious family," he sneered, although a small hint of a smile could be found in his eyes (if you looked very carefully).

It truly was amazing how a simple change of hair and eye colour could change a persons appearance even though the facial features stayed the same, he thought to himself.

"This is really real isn't it?"

"That sentence didn't even sound grammatically correct, let alone make any sense," he drawled, "and of course it's real, but you've dealt with much worse than simply going into hiding. Think of all the new things you get to learn at that muggle school, that should keep you happy for quite some time."

"Your such a….a…."

"Bastard? Bat? Git?" he finished for her.

"Ugh! You make me so mad sometimes, you should think yourself lucky I like you or I would hex you into next week," she spoke indignantly.

A small chuckle escaped him at her outburst, "That could prove rather interesting, on a different note all your things should be packed and ready to go at a moments notice, if you look on my desk you will find two locations written down. The first is where you will be living and the second is the location of the small magical community, I suggest you memorise them as I will be destroying all evidence of your potential whereabouts."

He heard her muttering as she went to find said items but chose to ignore her mumblings, it was for her own good after all and one day she would thank him - maybe.

"When do you and Draco leave?" she suddenly blurted out, biting her lip worriedly.

He glanced up at her briefly, "Soon after you have left I should imagine."

She glanced up at him one last time from the doorway, "What kind of favour did you do for the…..vampire?" she asked.

He paused for a moment, it was not something he really wanted to hide from her, but rather that it would lead to all sorts of other questions that he didn't want to have to deal with for the moment, "That's a story for another time, it's rather long and a simple explanation will never suffice for you," he finished with a knowing look.

Silence filled the room as he watched her leave, her shoulders hunching dejectedly and he reminded himself that it was better for her to be safe and dejected than in the hands of Malfoy Sr, or worse. He should have been unsurprised when moments later she ran into the room and gave him a quick hug, whispering 'bye' as she left once more. But in truth any small amount of physical contact, or to be correct any friendly physical contact was always a surprise to him. It had taken him weeks to get used to her friendly embraces, but she seemed to know instinctively that he could only tolerate a certain amount of affection before he retreated behind his carefully cultivated mask of indifference.

He had prepared everything as best he could for her future safety, in a world that was still recovering from the loss of so many great wizards it was perhaps inevitable that the Ministry was at a loss as to how to move forward. They never had been able to do anything properly in the first place, let alone now. She would be safe from them and Lucius, if only he could now put his plan into practice. The vampire had no idea just how useful he was going to make himself to Snape.