Hermione left her first detention really confused.

In all her six years at Hogwarts, she had never known Severus Snape to say a single, little compliment to a Gryffindor. Much less a compliment on something not even school related.

She didn't know if she should feel tick off, since he had performed Legilimens on her and had seen Ron and Lavender's kiss. Or if she should feel embarrassed because he now knew her feelings for Ron, and had seen her looking like, well, shit? Or, if she should feel thankful? For that… compliment? Was it even a compliment? Had he meant to say that she was worth more than Ron? Or had he meant to say that she shouldn't waste her time on boys in general?

Hermione didn't know what to think.

She returned to the Gryffindor common room still pondering. Inside, she quickly spotted Harry, who was talking animatedly with Ginny. She continued to advance in the room and saw Ron. He was lounging on a double couch, with Lavender on him, between his legs. They looked really happy there, sitting in front of the crackling fire. It seemed to have been a short interlude between their passionate snogging sessions, for they quickly started kissing again.

Hermione felt the all too familiar pang in her gut, but this time, it was fainter. Her thoughts were too occupied with what she had just witnessed. And so, she walked calmly through the room and up the stairs leading to her dormitory. She changed into her pyjamas, still thinking about her professor's (dare she say it?) kind words. The silky way his voice caressed her name was the last thing she thought about before falling asleep.

The next day passed rather quickly. It was a bit awkward at breakfast, Harry trying his best to keep a casual conversation going. Hermione made up a story on the spot about not feeling too well, throwing in a mention of cramps, just to see Ron and Harry blush, when they asked why she wasn't there during the afternoon lessons the day before. Lavender would vary between ignoring her and shooting her icy glares. Hermione chose to pass the least time in their presence (it wasn't really nice to see her and Ron snogging all the time) and to ignore Lavender all together. Her answers to Harry's attempts at conversation were curt and to the point, and she would excuse herself after having eaten rapidly, to escape to the library. There, she worked on her essays and some research on the Half-Blood Prince. She wanted to prove her point to Harry, that the Prince title didn't necessarily mean that the person known as such was male.

After a short dinner, and some more, well needed, library time, Hermione emerged and set foot towards her detention.

She was a bit nervous. All day, she had been wondering about the dark man and what he had said.

Hermione had always been fascinated by Professor Snape. She could still remember perfectly her very first Potions lesson during her first year.

She had sat there, a small eleven year old girl, wide eyes, buck-teeth and bushy hair, completely entranced, mesmerised by the man in front of her. He had spoke of such incredible things and her young mind had grasped them with all she had. His talk of bottling fame, brewing glory and stopping death had left her with the seeds of curiosity that could only grow.

She then knew that her Potions professor, who stood tall, imposing, dark and impenetrable, was to be for her a role model and that she would do anything to prove to him her worth.

And now, six years later, she found herself in front of the same Professor's door, who had told her the night before that she was worth more than the boy who she thought to be in love with. She knocked.

Severus had tried to push the events of last night out of his mind. Even his routinely Occlumency session, essential to maintain the Dark Lord's trust, couldn't rid him of his carelessly spoken words. He was a spy thought! If Voldemort, the most feared wizard in the land, wasn't able to have such effect in him that he'd blown his act, how could a simple student do so?

But Severus knew he was lying to himself.

He reasoned that he didn't lose his composure when in the presence of the Dark Lord because doing so meant sudden death.

He also reasoned that last night's words were the result of severe sleep deprivation, stress about Draco and stress about what Dumbledore had asked him to do.

Still, it didn't excuse the fact that Miss Granger wasn't a simple student.

He had noticed her when he'd first stepped into his Potions classroom all those years ago. Of course, he had spotted the Potter boy first, but the child was too much of a painful reminder of the union of the woman he loved and the man he hated. His eyes scanned the fresh faces all around, judging them as he loved to do at the start of each year, while he recited his carefully crafted start of term speech. His gaze was caught by a pair of doe brown eyes staring up into his with rapt attention, seemingly drinking in his every word. He had been taken aback by the look of intelligence in her eyes, for he had never seen it in quite anybody else before.

He scowled and stood up. walking purposefully towards her. She looked nervous, but still confident. He now stood directly in front of her, arms crossed and with a defensive stance.

'Two hundred lines stating : '' I must not come late to my Defence Against the Dark Arts class'', Miss Granger' he drawled, eyes never leaving her's. She nodded and looked around for an empty desk before heading for it. Since they were standing rather close, she brushed past him when she walked to the seat. The soft contact of her robes against his, almost inexistante, still sent shivers up his whole body. What the hell? he thought, surprised and confused, what just happened? Why the heck did I shiver?

Hermione on the other hand was now sitting down and had started to take her things out. She set off for the laborious task of writing lines. The only sound that could be heard in the cold and dimly lit classroom was the scratching of her quill. From time to time, Hermione would take a break to massage her hurting hand and would look up at her teacher. He was sitting in his chair, legs crossed comfortably as he read a book. His eyes scanned the page in a calm and almost relax manner. His graceful hands would turn the pages in regular intervalles, hardly making any noise. Each time, Hermione stared at him a bit longer than normal, thinking, would then blink, blush and turn back to her lines when she noticed. He didn't react thought, just kept reading as if she wasn't there.

A bit more than an hour had passed before Hermione rose and put her parchment on Professor Snape's desk. He didn't move, so she turned to go back to her desk, to put away her quill and ink in her bag. She was happy to be done with this detention, because it was the last one before her Christmas vacation.

She was almost done putting her things away when Snape's curt voice echoed through the room.

'Again'

She stopped and turned around to glance at him, rather confused. He hadn't stirred but her parchment, that was there only seconds ago, had disappeared.

'Pardon?' She asked, biting her lip. Professor Snape finished his page, closed his book while still looking at it and put it down on his desk quietly. He uncrossed his legs and leaned back into his chair with his hands placed softly on his knees. His face was impassive but his dark eyes looked sharp. He opened his mouth and enunciated clearly, as if she was daft: 'Again'.

Severus saw Miss Granger's brow furrow, a look of honest confusion on her face. She looked like she was leading an eternal battle, for she bit her lip with more ardor and hesitated before answering. 'Hum, again? Two hundred lines, again?' She looked straight into his eyes though, challenging him to back down. Severus curled his lip into a mocking grimace. 'Is there a problem, Miss Granger?' he asked with obvious sarcasm. Her face took on an expression of almost comical surprise but she said nothing, chose instead to shake her head. She turned and headed back to her desk. Severus was watching her carefully. Truthfully, she had surprised him, had accepted his unfair punishment to easily. Was that because she was still heartbroken because of Weasley?

He was about to think more of it, when he reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to care. He had too much on his plate without the petty troubles of one of his students. He picked up his book and emersed himself in it again.

An hour and a half later (it was harder to write the lines the second time!), Hermione put her things away, stood up, walked purposely up to her Professor's desk and put the parchment there. He didn't react. Of course, she thought. So she continued to stand directly in front of him. A minute passed in tense silence, Hermione standing and Snape sitting, reading. She was trying to formulate her words to tell him what she'd been thinking about for the past hour and a half. Snape sighed, closed his book with a snap and his eyes, rubbed them and drawled : 'What do you want Granger?' Her response came after a slight pause, low and uncertain. 'I just don't understand you Professor… One minute you're complimenting me, being almost nice, the next you're overly punishing me…' His dark eyes opened and he stared at her, no emotion displayed.

'And pray, Miss Granger… What made you think I was complimenting you?' Hermione had that answer ready. 'Well, what you said yesterday…'

'Yesterday? The comment about you and Weasley?' he asked, still not betraying any emotion. She nodded and didn't back down, feeling more confident now. Although Professor Snape wasn't surprised, she thought he seemed at least a bit curious, because he hadn't dismissed her yet. She started to speak when Professor Snape interrupted her. 'Miss Granger, I thought you had at least a smidgen of a brain more than your classmates.' She opened her mouth to protest, confidence now completely restored when he insulted her intelligence. 'I'm just not a nice person in general. Don't make the mistake of thinking so.'

Hermione might've imagined it, because it vanished the second she glimpse it, but she thought she glimpsed regret in his eyes.

Severus then motioned towards the door. 'You are dismissed', he said without feeling. He looked at her expecting her to leave. He just wanted to retire to his chambers. Curse the Granger girl! She was still standing there, still defying him, her bag slung across her body, hair in a messy knot on the top of her head. Her eyes were still fierce and determined, unrelenting, not willing to back down. Severus stood up, pushing his chair roughly backwards in the process. Leaning on the desk with his hands he menaced : 'Miss Granger, if you don't leave this classroom now, you'll be attending the double of the detentions.'

That seemed to smack some sense into her. She inhaled sharply, cocked her head and sighed. 'I understand that you need to act a certain way because you're a spy, but I don't think that your disguise', at this she waved her hand indicating his whole body, 'is the real you. I think-' Severus cut her off by lifting his hand and advancing towards her. He was breathing harder now, anger was starting to boil in his veins. How dare she make assumptions about him? Oh the Gryffindor chit! He was now a mere thirty centimeters away from her. She had closed her small mouth and looked a bit sad, almost pitying. He stared her down, willing her just to shut up and go away. 'And what makes you think, Miss Granger, what gives you the audacity to think, that I care in any way what you think about me?' his cold and deep voice rang through the dungeons.

Hermione was stumped. There was honestly no reason for Professor Snape to care about her opinion on him. And why did she start thinking about him in that way, anyway? It had started as she was writing and had really piqued her curiosity. It had taken all of her courage to tell him what she thought.

But why would he care?

Her brilliant mind was spinning, theories popping up, though none of them were plausible. Why would he care?

She couldn't take his eyes staring at her, dark eyes that knew she had no answer. He was too close; she could hear his labored breaths his angered breathing, could feel it on her face and could smell his particular scent, scent that she only now paid attention to, even though she must've smelt it a thousand times, a soft mix of freshly cut plants and potion ingredients. She could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, loud in her ears. She was so close to him, and she had suddenly a crazy desire to close the distance between them, to become lost in his strong, safe body. The idea was so strange that she broke the eye contact they had been sustaining, by shaking her head and blinking rapidly as if to chase away the thought. I'm tired, she reasoned, thought not totally believing it.

'I don't… Know, Professor.' Her answer was shaky, uncertain.

Severus was trying with difficulty to keep his emotions in check. What was it about the girl that made it impossible for him to control himself?

He needed to think. He needed to forget. He needed for her to get out.

'Get out.' his cold command were the last words exchanged between them, as Hermione turned at left.

Her regular footsteps brought her back up to her deserted common room. Again, thoughts of her Professor accompanied her to deep sleep.

Severus, on the other hand, got very little sleep that night. He stayed up to late hours, still pondering why Miss Granger had such an effect on him.

And why, when he had accidently slipped into her mind and he'd seen, why had she wanted to melt into him?

Author's note: Sorry for the late update!

Thanks to my reviewers : pianomouse, nonymouse OK, Amarenima Redwood and Sassyluv :D

And thanks to my readers :)