Warning: I had to boost the rating on this story because of a scene that happens in this chapter. I hope that it doesn't bother you guys!

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling oddly happy. She had slept well, a dreamless sleep and was ready for the day. She sat up, stretched, then waited a few seconds, thinking in the privacy of her bed surrounded by her curtains.

Hermione then remembered that tonight was Slughorn's Christmas party.

She cringed, sighed and flopped back onto her bed. Closing her eyes, she remembered that in a fit of jealousy and fury because of Ron, she'd invited McLaggen to accompany her. Dear God! It will be a long night.

Resigned to her fate, she rose again, got dressed and headed down to Great Hall for some breakfast. She sat down, she was one of the first at the Gryffindor table, served herself, then started reading a book on potions. She had yet to crack the Half-Blood Prince enigma and it was starting to bug her. She was reading different potion books in hope to find alterations in the recipes and ingredients. So far, no such luck.

Severus had a bad night.

He wasn't able to shake away Miss Granger's words. They echoed in his head, sometimes being whispered, sometimes being yelled.

Questions were forming in his head, swirling around, always without answers.

Why did she care? What made her think of him in that way? Why had she wanted to hug him? But most importantly: why did what she say affect him so much?

He's spent a restless night tossing and turning, thus getting very little sleep. That, combined with the fact that he needed to assist to Slughorn's Christmas party, put him in a very foul mood.

By the time he was in the Great Hall for breakfast, he'd already taken twenty points from two separate Gryffindors, assigned a detention to a Ravenclaw and reduced a Hufflepuff girl to tears. Needless to say, he was feeling a tad better.

That all stopped though when he spotted from the High Table Miss Granger eating breakfast alone, engrossed in a book. Why is she alone? he thought sourly, scowling around the Hall. He also saw Draco and sighed. He would need to talk to the boy about his attempts of killing the Headmaster. He tried to keep his eyes away from the Granger girl, but somehow he kept glancing subtly in her direction. She was reading intensly and from his line of vision, could see that she had been holding her spoon with exactly the same porridge in it for about a minute. He almost let a small smile grace his lips when he thought better of it and scowled deeper. Why was he thinking about her all the time? He let out an aggravated breath then stood up, disturbing the professors on either sides of him, who looked at him with mixed confusion and annoyance. He nodded to them slightly then proceeded to exit the Great Hall. To do so, he had to walk next to the Gryffindor table, meaning right next to Miss Granger. As he started to walk, he was aware of the eyes of students on him. He kept his trademark stride and billowing robes even as he passed her, not paying any attention to her whatsoever. She was only a student, only another dunderhead, he repeated to himself as he strode confidently pass her. He didn't check if she had moved, he didn't care anymore. He had more pressing matters to deal to. He had to meet with Dumbledore to discuss Draco and was mentally preparing himself to a Christmas vacation filled with summons from the Dark Lord.

She was only a student and her opinions on him didn't matter anymore. She didn't matter anymore.

Hermione hadn't noticed Snape was in the Great Hall for breakfast until he strode past her. She knew it was him without even having to lift her head, his gait being so recognizable.

Suddenly, she remembered wanting to be held by him the night before. What was she thinking? Hugging Snape? She snorted while taking a sip of her water, which resulted in a few judging glances from those close to her. She didn't care though, she had been thinking of her Professor in a not very appropriate way, for goodness sakes! How old was Snape anyway? Like forty? No wait, she thought while calculating quickly. Harry's parents died around fifteen years ago, and they were about twenty-one by then, which would make Snape, who went to school with them, about thirty-six. She was seventeen. Well, technically eighteen if you factored in the year added by the use of the time-turner in her third year. Nineteen year difference! She rolled her eyes. What was she thinking? SNAPE! She shook her head vigorously, half chuckling, half grimacing at the thought of having entertain the notion of having any feelings for Severus Snape, that were more than the average student-teacher relationship. She finished her breakfast, stood up and left the Great Hall, internally laughing about her weird impulsive thought last night. Boy, she must've been tired!

She didn't regret speaking to Snape though. She was confident about her conclusions on him. Even if Harry, Ron and almost the whole population who knew Snape thought ill of him, she had always been convinced otherwise. There something about him that made her feel safe in his presence, made her trust him.

Pushing that out of her mind, she made her way to her first class of the day, already dreading having to assist to Slughorn's Christmas party.

Hermione had just returned from telling Ron and Lavender about how she was going to Slughorn's party with Cormac. It had felt amazing! The look on Ron's face was well worth it! She had to admit though that Ron and Lavender's entanglement still made her sad, but less than before. She considered this as she was putting on her dress for the party. Was she over him? She didn't have an answer for that, but she knew that the pain had lessened over the days.

She glanced at herself a last time before leaving the bathroom and going down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. She was wearing a simple pink cocktail dress with a short golden necklace. She had let her hair loose but pinned up to the side her front strands, for it was proving to be more manageable today, a fact she was thankful for. She was feeling a bit nervous, not about the party, but about having to walk through the common room all dressed up, in front of Ron. She was at the foot of the stairs now, waiting for nothing in particular, except maybe her courage.

Hermione took a deep breath, then stepped out.

At first, nothing changed. Everyone was still talking, messing around, doing some homework. Then, she heard some whispers and noticed some looks in her direction. That didn't matter to her though, she only wanted to see Ron and Lavender's reactions. Strangely, they were taking a break from eating each other's faces and seemed to be waiting for something. They saw her a bit after she spotted them. Hermione pretended to not look at them at all, but didn't miss Ron's stunned look and Lavender's scrunched brow. She smirk, satisfied, but still feeling strangely empty, as jumped out of the portrait hole, almost bumping into Cormac.

To say that the night wasn't going well was an understatement. Cormac, although very attractive, was incredibly self-centered and had absolutely no manners whatsoever. He had been showing-off to Hermione when he'd stopped talking and had just looked at her. She was a bit uncomfortable, because they were currently under the mistletoe, in a secluded corner and Cormac had a strange and almost hungry look in his eyes. She fidgeted and coughed slightly. Then she thought, whatever, a quick snog can't hurt. His eyes slid down to her lips and back up again, before he grabbed her by the small of her back and on the bottom of her head, yanked her towards him and shoved his mouth on her's in the same jerky movement. Their lips met, Hermione parting her's ever so slightly while closing her eyes.

Almost at once, she realized her mistake. Cormac lips on her's felt wrong, too wet, too mushy, too pushy. His bottom hand had traveled downwards to her arse and had started gripping it painfully. His other hand behind her head just contributed to shoving her face more into his mouth.

It felt all wrong. So very, very, horribly wrong.

Hermione having brought her arms up to wrap around Cormac's neck changed her path, and pushed him with great strength of her. His grip only loosened a bit, but she turned her head too, so that he was left there mouth open, standing awkwardly, arms still held up.

'Uh, I need a drink, I'll just be back, uh, don't look for me', she mumbled, walking backwards and looking around desperately around for someone to save her from this situation. Cormac opened his mouth to talk, but she turned and fled, leaving him dumbfounded in the corner.

Hermione sped up her pace, anxiously looking behind her to make sure Cormac was nowhere in sight. She saw a curtain and decided to hide behind it.

Hermione was still hiding from Cormac. She'd just finished a conversation with Harry behind the curtains and had escaped when Cormac had neared. Now she was meandering about, trying to stay out of his sight.

Suddenly, she saw Filch come in, dragging an irritated Draco Malfoy by the ear. She stopped hiding from Cormac to listen to this turn of events. It was bound to be interesting.

Severus night turned to the worst when Filch turned up, Draco in tow. He sighed then prepare to do some damage control. He wasn't tired of cleaning up after his godson, it was required for him to do so, for Dumbledore and for Narcissa. Still, he was clearly going to give him a good earful.

He advanced on Slughorn and Draco. Asking for a word with the boy, he exited the room to try to convince Draco to let him help him.

In the midst of the commotion surrounding Malfoy's appearance, then disappearance with Snape, Cormac caught up with Hermione.

He slid his arm around her waist and tugged her closer to him, possessively. The events under the mistletoe hadn't seemed to impact his determination. Hermione was feeling rather uncomfortable being held by him in that way, so she crossed her arms, setting up an unconscious barrier between them. Anyone looking at them would've found their position rather awkward, the girl not at all responding to the boy.

Maybe I should go talk to him in the corridor, just let him down quietly, Hermione thought, biting her lip. She turned to Cormac.

'Um, Cormac, let's go into the corridor, I need to talk to you about something', she said, looking at him confidently in his eyes. Cormac smiled arrogantly and murmured 'Sure, I was just thinking the same thing'. He took Hermione's hand and led her out.

They stepped out almost unnoticed into the corridor. McLaggen led her to an empty classroom on the left. They entered, Hermione first and Mclaggen shut the door behind him.

He turned towards her and advanced with a look in his eyes, a look that made Hermione grip her wand behind her back tightly. She was standing up but also slightly leaning on the Professor's desk. Cormac was closer now, a few inches maybe, starting to tilt his head when Hermione spoke.

'Listen Cormac, I really like you, but I don't have any feelings for you except for friendship. I'm- I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.'

Hermione voice was firm, matter-of-fact and left no room for misunderstandings. Cormac was still looking at her, the soft glow of the moon outside the windows reflecting on his golden hair. There was a small silence, Hermione's mind cringing at this awkward situation.

Then, Cormac's eyes flashed dangerously. He lifted his hand imperiously and said coldly 'You can't do that to a guy, Hermione. It's not fair to keep him hoping for something he won't get.'

'I know, and I'm sorry but-' Cormac interrupted her.

'I always get what I want, Hermione.'

She was about to say that he didn't get the keeper position when he swept forward, pushed her roughly back on the desk and slammed his mouth onto her's,

Hermione turned her head away, breaking the kiss and shouted commandingly: 'Stop Cormac!'

She tried to get her wand from behind her back, but he was holding her arm there with one of his arms. The one was wrapped around the back of her shoulders, forcing her mouth onto his again. She shook her head, trying to get away and tried to bring one of her legs up to push him, but he only pushed her more onto the large desk, so that she was on her back with her legs pinned painfully on the side of the desk by his and her wand arm stuck under her body. Panic was starting to flow through her, he was on top her, keeping her down, her body twisted in a agonizing hold. He had stopped attempting to kiss her and now his other free hand was working it was into the top of her dress, on her left breast. He started to grip it roughly, making all her muscles tense up, when she started to yell, her voice was high pitched, scared, hysterical and loud.'Stop Cormac! STOP! Someone! Help! HELP!'Cormac grunted 'Shut up' and slapped her across the face. Hermione screamed, but her voice was cut short when Cormac felt behind him, took out his wand and performed a silencing spell on her. Hermione tried to yell again, but no sound came out. She was panicking intensely now. Her thoughts were scrambled, confused, alarmed. Half of her was concentrating at fighting Cormac off, the other half was hyperventilating, scared like never before. She could feel a hard bump on her left thigh close to her knee. Cormac's hand had left her breast and had worked its way down, now lifting the top of her dress, gripping the edges of her underwear, starting to pull it down. He stopped, then reached down to unzip his pants. Hermione fought harder, squirmed one leg free and thrashed it out, striking hard on Cormac's side. She wiggled it erratically, trying to get leverage to push him off when Cormac was yanked off her by an unseen force. Hermione scrambled up, crying silently and saw Cormac be put in a full body-bind by someone who had his back to her. She was hyperventilating but found enough sense to take out her wand and perform a spell that unsilenced her voice. Her strangled cries rang out in the classroom and the person turned around, black robes swirling. His eyes were dark and distorted by rage, disgust and he was breathing heavily. Severus Snape stood in front of her, anger pouring out of his veins, staring at her.

Severus had just finished a discussion with Draco that ended in the boy storming out of the room. He was heading in the direction of the party when he thought better of it, and started to walk in the direction of his chambers. He was still going over the events with Draco, scowling at the boy's reluctance to accept his help when he heard a sharp, feminine and panicked scream. He swerved towards the sound, heart rate increasing ever so slightly in reaction to the event. The cry that erupted suddenly died quickly. Severus was thinking quickly. He located the three classroom doors in the corridor and strode to the first opening it with a bang. It was empty. He only stopped for a second before picking up his pace and going to the second. He turned the knob, threw the door open to another empty room. His gaze shifted to the last door and he ran towards it, pulse beating louder and louder as he approach. He instantly knew it was the right one, he could be thrashing about inside. He opened the door to a horrid sight.

In the front of the room there was a male body that was back to him. The man was pinning down a flailing individual. Severus could only see it's legs from his position. A mixture of grunts and thrashing could be heard across the cold classroom. He stood there for a split second, shocked, before striding forward and yanking the boy off of the girl and turning in the same time. McLaggen! He blinked, then felt the rage coursing through his veins. Severus stared at the stunned boy before cursing him. McLaggen fell backwards in a full body bind. Severus heard a loud sob from behind him and turned. Sitting on the desk, pushed up by her arms, shaking, crying, sobbing, breathing rapidly, was a disheveled Miss Granger. Her hair was disarrayed, clumped and everywhere. Her left strap was pushed down her shoulder, leaving a clear view of her breast. Her dress was pushed up, ruffled and Severus glimpsed a pink colored cloth. Her eyes were wild, scared, filled with tears. She looked all around, at McLaggen, frozen on the ground, at her rumpled dress then back at him. She shakily pushed herself up and raised her strap to cover her exposed breast. Her whole body heaved with choking sobs as she pushed her dress back down. Severus still was staring at her, him too breathing heavily, during the whole process. Then, he started towards her. His brain was racing, trying to figure out how to deal with her, reassure her. She had curled up on the desk and was softly whimpering now. Her whole body was shaking and her hands were clawing at herself, clearly traumatized. Severus reached out slowly, careful not to scare her and put a hand awkwardly on her bare shoulder. Instantly, she raised her head and looked at him, doe-brown eyes filled with trauma, before letting out a cry and falling towards him. Her soft, shaking body met with his and instinctively he brought his arms around her, encasing her in his heavy black robes. He wasn't thinking about anything apart from making sure that the girl in his arms felt safe.

They stood there for a moment, Severus arms holding lightly Miss Granger, who was still crying. He could feel every single place their bodies connected, as if ultra sensitive to her every touch. She was still sitting on the desk, her legs on the side, her arms around herself, holding on tightly. Severus arms were touching themselves, connected behind her, in the middle of her back, lightly. She was pressed into his chest, her face resting softly on it, ear pressed where his heart was.

He then spoke softly, in a voice he hadn't heard in more than twenty years.

'Miss Granger, I need to take you to Madam Pomfrey. Can you walk or do you want me to carry you?'

He felt her shake her head and let his arms fall. He moved backwards, giving her room to stand up. She rose slightly, lifted her legs from her side to in front of her and pushed herself off the desk and unto the floor. She wobble slightly and Severus, without thinking, shot his arm out to steady her, holding her softly on her arm. She was staring downwards, still jittery but calming down slightly. Severus then cast a spell. His doe patronus appeared blue and silver, and cocked her head waiting for his orders.

'Dumbledore, I have Miss Granger here, I shall be bringing her to Poppy. She was just assaulted by Mister McLaggen,' his voice turned from cold to disgusted when he said the name 'who I put in a body bind. You'll find him in one of the classrooms next to Slughorn's party.' Severus nodded and his doe turned and vanished.

Severus then looked at Miss Granger. She was still looking downwards.

'Miss Granger, we will go to the infirmary now.' his calm, safe voice calmed Hermione down. She took a deep breath and nodded again. She was thinking so much and wasn't at all at the same time. Her mind raced, playing back the events, making her relive them, Cormac's hand all over her body and her mind remained disturbingly numb also. She started walking, unsure, with Snape at her side, still holding her arm. His soft breathing, their steps and her heart pounding were what she focused on as they walked together. Later, she had trouble remembering how long the walk through the empty dark Hogwarts corridors took, was it a few minutes or hours? She didn't know.

As they neared the infirmary, Hermione who hadn't said a single thing since Snape rescued her, started to laugh. It was a high, crazy sounding laugh, that turned into a sob that tore through her whole body. She had stopped walking and just collapsed on the ground, in a ball, crying and crying and crying.

It only took seconds, but she felt strong arms go under her, then lift her up with a huff and then she was moving forward, being carried by her Professor.

Severus walked on, carrying in his arms, holding in his arms, such a fragile, such a strong young woman, held to his chest, one arm under her knees, the other supporting her back. Once again, her face was pressed into the area where was his forgotten heart.

Severus stared at the sleeping form of Miss Granger in on of the infirmary's beds. He'd just finished telling the story to Dumbledore, story he found out when he asked permission of Miss Granger to see the incident with Legilimency. He'd thought it was the only way to know the whole incident without her having to recount it. He'd witnessed the whole thing and felt more than horrible. She'd almost been fully raped. The only thing Severus wanted to do now was rip the sorry excuse of a boy into pieces. The boy was currently in the headmaster's office, waiting for the verdict.

Miss Granger hadn't spoken much. She'd nodded when he'd asked about Legilimens, then again when Poppy had explained the potions she was giving her, including a calming draught and a Dreamless sleep potion. She was asleep within minutes, after Poppy had ran some diagnoses which concluded that she'd suffered nothing more than psychological drama. Before Miss Granger fell asleep, she'd looked at Severus and her eyes had spoken the words she wasn't able to say out-loud.

Thank you.

Author's note: Thanks to those who review! It makes my day :) Hope you guys liked this chapter! I tried to update faster this time.