Hey everyone. I'm extremely worn out right now, and I know that this chapter is going to be fairly short, by I hope that you enjoy and review anyway. Still looking for that 500 by the end :)

I don't know if I'll be able to update next week. Things are getting pretty crazy around here.

The next morning, Severus awoke before most of the others. Hermione was wrapped around his body and sleeping soundly on his chest. The two couldn't be seen together; he was well aware that neither of them could explain things quite yet. Slowly, Severus began trying to slide her off of him, but the movement woke her up.

"What are you doing?" she asked still half asleep.

"I'm going to talk with Minerva, go back to sleep,"

She didn't protest, and allowed him to get up before claiming the warmth of his spot for her own. Severus bent down and made sure she was properly covered due to the chill that was in the room. Weasley and Potter were still sound asleep, thankfully. Brushing her hair from her face, he set of to find Minerva.

Severus found Minerva with a few other adults standing in the Entrance Hall.

"Oh Severus, I'm glad you're up. We're going to start reconstruction today, and I think that you should take half of the volunteers, and I'll take the other half. How does that sound?"

"Fine," he grumbled, rubbing his face.

"Good," she replied, far too chipper for the morning.

By noon, a list of volunteers was complete, and then the list was divided. Severus found that he was in control of a large amount of people, most of whom were eyeing him warily. Minerva gave the instructions. Severus would start in the courtyard, and Minerva would start with the bridge leading to Hagrid's hut.

Hermione was assigned to Minerva's group, along with the two boys, and she gave him a small yet sad smile when they parted ways. Severus' group was finished early, and then set to repairing the Great Hall and the Entrance Hall. The large pieces of the wall needed to be handled by more than one witch and wizard, while others watched for unstable pieces on the verge of collapsing. On more than one occasion, many were forced to dive out of the way in fear of being crushed.

Severus didn't have a chance to see Hermione for the rest of the day. Minerva sent her Patronus to deliver her message, and the next time he got to see her was when the sun had set, and the tired crew came shuffling into the Great Hall, covered with dirt and dust. Hermione was the last one in, looking more exhausted than the rest of group. Her face was pale and drawn while having a large amount of dust on her skin. When her eyes landed on him, her shoulders visibly sunk in relief. She quickly said her goodbyes to the boys and headed over to him.

"Hey," she said with a sigh and a smile.

"Hello," he replied, taking in her tattered appearance.

"I know, I look terrible. We were working in the first floor corridor, it was demolished,"

"You look exhausted,"

"I'm fine," she replied with a smile.

As dinner was being served, Hermione made her way out of the Great Hall to wash up before eating. When she returned, she quickly took a seat beside Severus with a breathtaking smile. He felt like the world was staring at them, and she seemed to sense the same thing because she barely tore her eyes from her plate unless directly spoken to. Severus wasn't hungry. He hadn't had an appetite for a few days, he just wanted to work and sleep.

"Pushing your food around doesn't change the fact that you haven't eaten," Hermione mumbled quietly, not looking at him.

"I'm not hungry," Severus replied, placing his fork down.

For the first time since they sat down, the two looked at one another. Hermione was eyeing him as if the fact he hadn't eaten a full meal in days was written on his face.

"I'll be alright," he muttered, brushing off left over dust from her cheek before standing and leaving the Great Hall.

People milled about for an hour or so before they began finding their spots from the previous night and settling in. As people began settling in, Severus' eyes caught Weasley arguing with Hermione. His face was red, and he had a furious look in his eyes. Hermione spoke calmly, making sure that he caught every word. Severus turned and headed outside to stare up at the stars.

Reconstruction would take months, Severus was well aware of that. He wondered if they would be able to open for next year. Minerva would try her hardest, he was well aware of that. She loved the school just as much as he did, if not more.

Strolling forward, Severus took a seat on the recently repaired bench. Perhaps he'd sneak down to his private lab and read over the notes he kept for his own potion? Even after working all day, he wasn't tired. Physical labor did little to tire him; he needed mental work to exhaust him.

The courtyard had been repaired to its former glory, and Severus finally felt comfortable sitting in the school. It looked as if nothing had destroyed the school in the first place, but he was well aware that if he allowed his eyes to glance upward, he would find much more destruction, enough destruction that would take months to fix.

He was pulled from his musings as Hermione sat beside him with a sigh. She followed his eyes to the night sky and gave a deeper sigh.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Mm,"

"How are you holding up?"

He lowered his eyes to her face for a moment before smiling and looking back up at the sky.

"Always the worrier,"

"Only because people don't worry for themselves. If you lost an arm you wouldn't worry about it,"

They were silent for a few moments, breathing in the cool night air.

"What did Weasley want?" Severus asked casually.

"He's just a little upset," Hermione replied, playing nervously with the hem of her shirt.

The days passed in much of the same fashion as before. They would all sleep in the Great Hall, wake up so they could go to work repairing the school, before all returning to the Great Hall for dinner. Severus would often sit alone outside after eating very little of his meal and watching Weasley fight with Hermione. She would join him a short while later where they would briefly speak of the day they had. Then, they would restart the process. Severus was well aware that something was eating at her, but he knew better than to try and pry it out of her. The last time he had done that, she had shouted at him and they had ignored one another for almost a week. When the time was right, she would come to him, he knew that.

Severus often heard from Minerva that Hermione was always going off on her own and taking on larger projects than she was capable of handling alone. He mentioned this to her and she scoffed.

"I can do it if they would just leave me alone,"

"Don't endanger yourself trying to show off, this isn't a lesson where you can earn points if you get the answer right,"

"I'm not trying to prove anything! There are so many of us, we don't need just two groups. Each group can be split at least four times. Do you know how much ground we can cover?"

"This is what Minerva wants, and you are to follow her instructions,"

"Fine," she finally pouted.

Severus began to notice that she would be the first one awake in the morning, and the last to sleep at night. She thought she was being sly, pretending to go to sleep only to get back up forty-five minutes later to speak with Minerva and a fairly large group of people who often worked until sunrise. Mostly the people who worked through the night had things to take care of during the day and couldn't afford to get away, so they came at night, when everyone who worked throughout the day slept on the floor.

She was wearing herself down working so much, along with the help of a burden she seemed to be carrying alone.

Yet, while she wandered off in the middle of the night with Minerva and her crew, Severus often left to go down to his private labs to brew things to help settle his mind. He would brew for hours, getting only two hour of rest before having to go back to physical labor.

One particular night, Severus was disturbed in his brewing. He was sitting at his work station, leaning over a large book with his glasses on. The handle of his door was moved and he peered up to see Hermione's head poking through.

"I was wondering where you went," she muttered, sleep thick in her voice.

He watched as she stepped in and closed the door behind her, wrapping her sweater tighter around her thin frame. She shuffled over to him and sat in the empty stool.

"What are you reading at six in the morning?"

"Just theories that have been presented to the Potions community in the last ten years,"

"Are you working on something new?"

"No, I just like to see what other people think,"

"You're going to ruin your eyes by reading with only one candle,"

He gave her a look.

"I mean you're going to ruin them even more," she replied, rolling her eyes for effect.

Severus waved his wand at the cauldron which suddenly lifted and began filling bottles that were perfectly lined on the table.

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"Pepper-up. Madame Pomfrey asked me to brew another batch because she's nearly out,"

"At six in the morning?"

"I don't think that my early morning activities should be questioned,"

Hermione stared at him for a moment with wide eyes, subconsciously wrapping her arms tighter around her midsection.

"What are you talking about?"

"It takes me longer than forty-five minutes to fall asleep, just for future reference,"

She sighed and lowered her face into her hands as her elbow rested on the table. Severus shut the book in front of him and replaced it to the shelf. She shook her head before running her hands through her ruffled hair and sitting up.

"I can't help it," she said quietly with her hands between her knees. "If I'm not doing something, I just think…think about everything that happened and it drives me insane,"

"You can't go forever. Eventually, your body will take control,"

"I know. Minerva sent me back to bed tonight. Were you awake for that?"

"Yes. I don't sleep until you come back,"

She laughed quietly.

"Who was I to think that I could outsmart a double spy?"

He smirked at her before packing the bottles up and sending them off to the Hospital Wing. The two left the room together and slowly made their way through the hallways of the school. Hermione took his hand in the dark, and he flinched slightly before relaxing into her touch. She suddenly yawned and Severus peered down at her.

"Let's go back to bed," Hermione said quietly.

Slowly, the two made their way back to the Great Hall, and instantly fell asleep.