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A/N: Hello! This chapter is rather short, but I needed to get it out of my system. I promise that the next chapter will be at least twice as long, with lots of lovely things and emotional musings and a few surprises! Please review!

Chapter 8

He wasn't entirely sure when it all started.

Perhaps it was the night her parents were killed. As he held her sobbing form in his arms, something deep inside him had awakened, a primal need to protect. At first he brushed it off as just that – a surplus of adrenaline mixed with hormones, nothing more. But slowly but surely, the same thoughts and feelings would return. He found himself studying Miss Granger constantly. He knew that when she disagreed with something she was reading, she would pull her bottom lip between her teeth and furrow her eyebrows. She always trailed one hand gracefully along the banister when ascending or descending the stairs. Occasionally she would hum when she worked, and she would pop her knuckles when she was tired – always starting with those on her left hand. When the lab got too hot, she would twist her hair up and away from her neck, securing it with elastic, or sometimes her own wand. And that curl. There was one damned curl that always seemed to fall in front of her face, and it taunted Severus. He felt his fingers yearning to brush it away, to tuck it gently behind her ear.

"Shit!" He yelled, throwing the contents of the ruined potion into the fireplace. He brought the dirty cauldron to the sink and began to scrub it, cursing his wandering mind. The potion he was working on wasn't horribly complex, and so his thoughts were mostly filled with Miss Granger. However, it was extremely volatile, and he couldn't afford such carelessness. So, he did what he always did when he began to think of these new feelings. He talked himself out of them.

First of all, she's far too young. Wizarding customs be damned, twenty years is a considerable gap. Barely an adult – It would be a heinous crime to saddle her down with an old man like me. Secondly, she's my student. One of my least favorite students, at that. And a Gryffindor. Everything I've despised. Thirdly, I have a job to do. I'm a damned good spy because I have no weak spots, and getting involved with Miss Granger would be dangerous for the both of us.

The heat in the room was unbearable. He should have finished this potion hours ago, but because he had to keep redoing the potion, the burners had been on for hours. Severus quickly unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged out of it. Miss Granger had already said goodnight to him, so there was no chance of her walking in on him. He, of course, knew that Miss Granger was interested in him. She had been watching him too, out of the corner of her eye. And that stunt she pulled in the kitchen a few minutes ago? If he had just leaned in a tad bit further, their lips would have met. He convinced himself that he only stood that close to confirm her feelings for him, but if he was honest with himself, there was just something magnetic about her. Maybe it was her supreme intelligence, or the way she handled her parent's tragedy with such maturity, but something about her kept drawing him in.

"Damn and blast!" He muttered under his breath. He was thinking about her again, and nearly added the wrong ingredient. If that had fallen into the cauldron, it would have caused an explosion that would have thrown him into the wall. No matter, no harm had been done. He closed his fist over the cauldron and reached with his other hand for the container he needed.

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing Miss Granger carrying a rather large slice of cake.

"Professor! I know I already said good night, and it's getting rather late, but I you might have a bite of this before the day's out, and…what are you doing?"

"Miss Granger." Severus whispered. Before he could stop himself, his hand over the cauldron opened and dropped the ingredient into the bubbling liquid. The next thing he knew, there was a bright light, a flash of heat, the solidness of the wall, and darkness.

Hermione opened her eyes as she lowered her wand, thanking whatever Gods that were listening that she got her protego up in time. The right side of the room was completely ruined, and half of its contents were on fire. Her heart dropped to her stomach, however, when she saw Professor Snape. Or, rather, what was left of him. She ran to his side as fast as she could, putting out the remaining flames with her wand. As carefully as she could, she turned him on his back and tried desperately not to vomit.

His torso and head, which were completely unprotected, were burned beyond recognition. His hair had burned completely away and his skin was already forming into large blisters. She was happy the man was unconscious, because if he were awake, the pain would be absolutely dreadful. It took only a few minutes for her shock to wear off and her instincts to kick in. She had been studying mediwizardry since her second year, in preparation for when the boys finally did something to themselves in a situation where Madam Pomfrey couldn't sort them out. She cast a few basic numbing charms on the worst of his burns, and levitated him up to her room, laying him gently on her bed. When he was settled, she immediately began her work.

Luckily, the worst burns were limited to the areas of skin that was already exposed, so there were no awkward situations that required her to remove any more clothing. She focused most of her efforts on healing his burns while he was still naturally unconscious. It was slow and tedious work, re-growing the skin in small patches, but it was working, and that was enough to keep her going. Hours later, most of the damage had been taken care of. She cast a few diagnosis spells and grimaced at the results. His arm was broken, along with two cracked ribs. As she began to heal those, she couldn't help but chide the unconscious man.

"What on earth were you thinking? Holding such an ingredient over that potion so precariously? You knew what would happen if you added it! And working without a shirt on? I know it's hot down there, but Merlin, do you have any common sense? Do you have any idea how valuable you are? The Order needs you, and you almost blow yourself up over some potion! What were you even working on? Was it even remotely important? Merlin, man. You need to take better care of yourself!"

She prodded the newly fixed ribs with her wand for good measure, and was surprised when she received a grunt from the man.

"Miss….Granger…." he breathed, the words sounding labored. Hermione leaned in close to his face, willing him to open his eyes, to give her some assurance that she had actually healed him.

"Yes?" She whispered. "Yes, what is it?"

"Shut…up…."

Hermione threw her hands up in the air with an exasperated noise as Snape slipped back into unconsciousness.

That man is completely impossible.

A/N: Hey all! I hope you liked it! Please review!