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Finding the door, she stumbled inside before quickly shutting it behind her. Hermione couldn't say she wasn't expecting to see him standing there, but the sight was still intimidating.

"I'm sorry I'm so late, I lost track of time," she instantly said.

"Do you have any idea, whatsoever, of what I've had to go through?" he asked coldly, making her press against the door.

"It won't happen again," she offered weekly.

"Damn right it won't! You won't be leaving this house again!"

"You can't keep me here!"

"Is that a challenge?" he asked.

Hermione instantly turned for the door, but heard the lock click.

"Are you going to keep up this locking every door when we fight? I want to leave, now let me leave!"

"If you would stop running away from your problems, I wouldn't have to constantly lock doors in front of you,"

Hermione whirled around, angrily, but quickly calmed down upon seeing the look on his face. Severus leaned on the wall as if he couldn't support himself, and then she could see the pain clear in his eyes.

"What happened?" she cried darting to him in an effort to help.

"Nothing, stop trying to change the subject," he snapped.

"You're hurt," she said taking his arm and pulling him into the sitting room. "Just lay down and you can yell at me all you want,"

She watched as Severus stretched across the couch, closing his eyes and taking deep breathes. Hermione sat on the floor, near his head, unsure of what to do.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Bellatrix,"

Hermione gasped and saw the muscle working in his jaw.

"Was she here?" Hermione asked, scared that she was.

"No…I went to talk to the Dark Lord after last night…I ran into her, and when my back was turned…well, let's say that she has a slight inclination to curse people when their backs are turned,"

"That's horrible!"

"I've had worse," he muttered, his lip lifting in a sarcastic smile.

"Still," she muttered, peering at his pale face.

Instinctively Hermione reached up and gently brushed a piece of his hair from his face, causing his eyes to slowly peel open, peering at her. She held his gaze for a short moment before pulling her hand away and looking into her lap.

"I didn't think that you were coming back," he said quietly.

Hermione raised her eye to his in shock, and saw that he was desperately trying to hide his emotions.

"Of course I was going to come back! I would have never thought otherwise," she said studying his face. "I'll always come back, no matter what," she added quietly.

His eyes flashed at her, and Hermione's heart began to beat quicker. Severus pulled himself into a sitting position, staring down at her.

"Why?" he asked quietly.

"Why what?" she asked standing and sitting beside him.

"Why would you come back? You could go with your friends,"

"I promised Dumbledore-"

"He's dead; you no longer have to keep that promise,"

A moment of silence passed, and Hermione swallowed deeply.

"I care about you…you mean a lot to me,"

She was never more grateful to have her hair hiding her face. The silence in the room was nearly killing her, so Hermione made a move to leave the room, but a hand suddenly locked on her wrist. She froze, midstride to the door, and turned to face him. Hermione repositioned herself in front of him as he held her hand in between his own, nearly engulfing it. She was sure he'd be able to feel her pulse.

"I don't deserve this," he said, allowing some of his agony to seep into his voice.

Hermione allowed her free hand to gently brush against his cheek, soothing his discomfort.

"You deserve more than you know," she replied tenderly.

She watched as he lowered his gaze, clearly displaying his self-loathing to her, and Hermione ran her fingers once through his hair before gently pulling away and leaving the room, her heart pounding in her chest. Hermione instantly made herself a strong cup of tea while she heard him go…to the cellar? She had expected him to come up soon after, but he remained down there for many hours.

Hermione made dinner, and called him up, but he didn't immediately come up. Only after she was finished and browsing his book collection did he emerge. Immediately a smell of smoke filled the house, suggesting he had been brewing for a while. She struggled with finding a book that was going to help her with breaking in to the Ministry, so she poked her head into the kitchen and looked at him.

"You wouldn't happen to have books with blueprints of historical sights, would you?"

Hermione watched as his eyes rose from the plate and settled on her face as if the reason she wanted the book was written across her forehead.

"Should I even ask why you need such a book or will the reason want to make me lock you up for the next month?"

"I'm curious," Hermione replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Just like you were curious about Transfiguration?" Severus said leaning back in his chair.

"Well, do you have a book or not?" Hermione asked becoming impatient.

"If I do?"

"Then I would like to look at it,"

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll need to find someplace that does, which would require me to leave the house, which could potentially result in my death, as I'm lead to believe,"

"Why don't you go to bed instead of getting yourself into more trouble, which I'm assuming will happen if you get a book like this,"

"Please?" she breathed out.

Instantly, she saw him crumble. Severus dropped his fork, allowing it to clatter harshly on the plate before standing up abruptly.

"Follow me," he snapped, taking on his 'teacher tone' and heading towards the basement.

Hermione did as he said, and began descending the narrow cellar stairs, into a room filled with smoke. Near the bottom of the stairs, there were boxes, boxes filled with books. She watched as he immediately began shoving some boxes aside, muttering words under his breath. Finally, he straightened up with a leather-bound book clutched in his hands.

"Perhaps this can help," he said handing her the book.

Immediately she began flipping through the book, finally coming across the prints that she needed, making sure he couldn't see.

"Thank you, it's perfect," she said closing the book while beaming at him.

"What do you plan to do with such a book?"

Her face immediately fell, and his cold demeanor reappeared.

"I suppose you can't tell me?"

"I'm sorry, I can't,"

The spent the next moment staring at one another, before he spoke.

"This is not going to work if we have secrets between us,"

"Dumbledore made us swear not to tell," she said, pleading desperately with him.

"Seems Dumbledore made you swear quite a few things," Severus bit out.

Hermione instantly recoiled from his tone, clutching the book to her chest in an effort to shield herself.

"I'm here by choice you know, I can just as easily walk away,"

"Ah, but then you'd be breaking your precious promise to Dumbledore, now wouldn't you?" he sneered.

Hermione couldn't understand him. They had been…okay. He had stopped recoiling from her touch, and was even starting to be more open with her, what had changed? Her heart was pounding in her chest as she glared at him. Without another word, she fled up the stairs, slamming the door behind her.

For the next few days, Hermione buried her head in the book, carefully searching for all of the ways in and out of the Ministry. She desperately wanted to tell Severus everything, pour out every secret she had been keeping from him, but that would not help anyone.

Only when she heard a cry from the cellar did she pull herself away from the book, and went running down the stairs.

"Severus?" she asked as she stumbled down the last few steps.

"I've done it!" he cried, rushing around the room that was filled with boiling cauldrons.

"Done what?" Hermione asked looking at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Do you understand what this can do?" he asked, showing her a vial.

"No,"

"Here, look,"

Hermione stepped forward and looked at the vial.

"Watch,"

Severus pulled back his sleeve, revealing his pale hand, covered with scars. Hermione watched as he slowly tipped the vial, allowing one small drop to fall onto his hand. Immediately, his skin began to bubble, and in the blink of an eye, the area was clear and smooth, as if it had never known the hardships of war.

"Oh," Hermione said, her eyes widening.

"It'll heal anything that it touches. Hospitals everywhere will be looking for it. Hermione, this could change people's lives forever,"

In a flash, Hermione pulled him into a hug, completely overcome with happiness.

"It's fantastic! Completely brilliant!" she cried.

She went to pull away, but couldn't. Severus had locked his arms around her waist, pinning her body against his. Her happiness quickly drained, replaced with the same feeling she had the night at Grimmauld Place, and she was met with the same look in his eyes. Hermione knew what was going to happen next. It was unavoidable. And Hermione knew she didn't want to avoid this. She thought about that night all the time, wishing she was back in the moment, reliving it over and over again.

Slowly, his head lowered, leaving their lips mere inches apart, allowing their breath to intermingle. Hermione instantly moved to tangle her hands in his silky hair, enjoying the feeling of it between her fingers.

"We shouldn't," he mumbled, staring at her lips.

Hermione pulled a little at the locks she had trapped between her fingers, causing him to release a small sigh. She didn't know what he was waiting for, but the wait was nearly killing her. She thought about this moment for the past seven months, and it was right in front of her, teasing and taunting.

Hermione watched as the will crumbled in his eyes, and his lips finally descended on hers. Immediately she shivered, feeling the goose bumps rise on her skin as she arched her body into his.

This kiss was drastically different from the first one they shared. They were both calm, testing each other instead of frantically attempting to get a small sliver of contact before he disappeared into the dark night.

Severus pulled away from her, but she refused to let him pull away anymore. They were going to have this out right now, they'd been fighting it since the night of the wedding and he had taken to locking himself in the cellar, brewing unnecessary things. Well, besides the potion he had recently come across.

Severus tangled his hand in her hair, before kissing her more fully on the mouth, displaying his confidence clearly. Hermione could still feel his hesitance, and when he pulled away, she made sure to keep a tight hold on him. With little effort, Severus extracted her hands from him, and gently pushed her away. Hermione desperately wanted to be close to him, and frowned deeply as he dropped her hands and began moving around his lab.

"That's it?" she asked, slightly hurt by his sudden coldness.

"What do you mean, 'it'? What more do you want?" he snapped without looking at her.

"I don't know, something, anything," she said taking a few steps towards him.

"I know you Gryffindor's always expect to be rewarded for your heroic endeavors, well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," he replied in a tone that suggested he was anything but.

"So now what? Are you going to disappear for another seven months because we kissed again?" she snapped, feeling her anger boiling.

Severus whirled on her with fire blazing in his eyes.

"Are you calling me a coward?" he asked, keeping his voice dangerously low.

"That depends, are you?"

Hermione watched as a muscle worked in his jaw and his knuckles turn white with rage. His breathing had gone ragged, suggesting that he was trying extremely hard to keep himself in check.

"Forget it. I'm going to go check on Harry and Ron. I don't know when I'll be back so don't wait up for me,"

Hermione quickly lowered her head and darted to the stairs. He didn't follow her, and she was thankful for that because the moment she slammed the door shut, she burst into tears. Whether he had meant it or not, Severus had hurt her deeply. She understood that for him to show even a shred of kindness was extremely difficult; Hermione wished that he would put in extra effort where she was concerned.

She grabbed her bag, making sure to take all of her belongings with her, making it seem as if she had never been at Spinner's End. Her eye caught the small glimmer of silver on her finger, and her heart felt like it weighed ten extra pounds. Swallowing, and wiping her eyes, she flew down the stairs, just as the cellar door opened.

Hermione hoped that if he had an ounce of feeling for her, he would feel pain at watching her leave. She knew it was a vicious thought, but she was quite certain that she was falling in love with him, and she hoped that he, in turn, would care for her.

Hermione suddenly remembered that she had forgotten some books that she had marked for Harry and Ron, and with a wave of her wand, she summoned them from her room. Due to her anger, she put extra force behind the spell, causing the books to fly down the stairs at an alarming speed.

"Hermione," Severus began, just as the books crashed into his back.

Gracefully they landed in her out stretched arms, and she stuffed them quickly into her bag before throwing the door opened. She stormed into the night, leaving the door wide against the wall. Hermione knew that leaving was a pointless action; he knew exactly where she would be going. But still, she wanted to make a point to him.

Turning around, she looked into his eyes once, before disappearing in a whirlwind of color.