Hermione practically ran to catch up to Snape who was flying ahead of her completely heedless of the thirty foot boundary.

"Snape!" Hermione yelled breathless; she really couldn't keep this up. "Stop!"

She saw Snape stop then watched him turn toward her his eyes ablaze.

"How dare you order me about." He snarled stalking back toward her.

Hermione was helpless to get away, she was hunched over taking in great gulps of breathe trying to regain her equilibrium.

"I will not be screamed at by a child!" He was right in front of her now. Hermione's hair was back on end and she heard it crackling with the pent up energy.

"You just think you know everything. Always have. Insufferable know-it-all," He made an ugly frown of disapproval.

He seemed to be getting angrier the longer she remained silent.

"Well? The annoying chatterbox has nothing to say?" Snape growled. "By the cauldron of Cerridwen it is a miracle!" He exclaimed with the nastiest tone she'd heard out of him since her days as his student.

Hermione stood up her spine snapping straight. She would have cowered farther at his anger before, but now she would not stand to be treated thus.

"I will not put up with this!" She yelled at him. He seemed stunned at her fighting back. "You are the most ungrateful being I have had the displeasure of knowing! Yes people misjudge and make errors. News flash! Humans aren't perfect! So you just need to suck it up and stop being so very immature!" Hermione finished her rant and glared at him.

For a moment she thought he'd been struck dumb by her boldness. She was shocked though when he came at her his pale face brightening to a horrible deep red.

"You are more stupid then I have given you credit for, you think I am being childish? Truly you disgust me with your lack of perception." He was inches from her face his anger rolling off him in great waves of electric power.

She still wouldn't cower no matter how badly she wished to.

"I'm not the one with clouded perception here," She whispered fiercely.

She was aware he was raising his arm to strike her but couldn't seem to make her body move out of the way.

There was no need though because as his hand sailed toward her face it was stopped inches from her.

She watched in horror as his red face drained and he dropped to his knees before her.

He started to shake the minute his head hit the cold stones that made up the floor of the deserted corridor.

Hermione instantly fell to her knees beside his seizing form.

"Snape? Snape!" She was trying to help by rolling him onto his side so that if he retched he wouldn't breathe any of it in. "I don't know how to help!" She was aware she had a note of hysteria to her voice but she really couldn't help it.

"I'm going to send for poppy." She kept her hand on his shoulder in a vain attempt to steady his convulsing.

Hermione sent her glowing otter patronus off to get the mediwitch.

Hermione pulled Snape's head onto her lap; and continued to brush her fingers over his forehead keeping his hair from sticking to his sweat soaked skin.

Madame Pomfrey came flying around the corner her wand already floating one of the hospital wing's stretchers.

"Help me get him on here Hermione," Madame Pomfrey asked as she rushed over and began preforming diagnostic spells.

Hermione helped move Snape onto the stretcher then stepped back and let Pomfrey take over.

"What happened?" She asked Hermione as she began to rush back to the hospital wing.

"We...we were fighting, and he went to hit me; but his hand was stopped by something," Hermione managed to say. "Then he fell down and started shaking..." Hermione finished looking at Madame Pomfrey's face which was now livid.

"He was going to hit you?" She asked to clarify.

Hermione couldn't do anything but nod.

"He was stopped by the binding. Minerva told me what it entailed and this is one of the finer points of it. He cannot harm you; and if he were to try, well you see." She said.

Hermione was silent after that unable to come up with anything else to say.

Snape continued to shake on the stretcher. Madame Pomfrey seemed very unconcerned about him after hearing what had occurred.

They arrived in the hospital wing and Minerva was there waiting for them.

"What happened?" She asked Hermione as soon as they had him transferred onto one of the beds.

"He went to hit her and the binding kicked in," Madame Pomfrey cut in. "Theres nothing to be done for him, not that I'd do it anyway, he deserves punishment."

Hermione had never heard Madame Pomfrey sound so very angry.

Minerva looked pale and her mouth was pressed together tightly.

"When do you think the shaking will end?" Hermione asked finally finding her voice.

"Haven't a clue, could be a couple minutes or a couple hours." Madame Pomfrey said flippantly "I'll make a bed up for you dear so you can rest if he's here awhile."

With that she disappeared into her office.

Minerva looked at Hermione her expression unreadable.

"He truly tried to strike you?" Her voice sounded grave.

"Yes, but it was only because I riled him up," Hermione quickly tried to defend the man who'd been so mad at her earlier he'd tried to hit her.

"Hermione, dear, he can't be allowed to do anything like that." She sounded almost sorrowful, "I'll have to tell Kingsley, that the plan has failed. We can probably have him back in Azkaban by the end of the week."

Hermione's head snapped up to stare at Minerva in horror.

"What?" She croaked disbelieving what she'd heard.

Minerva blinked at Hermione surprised by her tone.

"No, no, no, he can't go back," Hermione said quickly. "I retract what I said, don't tell Kingsley!" Hermione sounded desperate now.

Minerva at a loss blinked at her.

"I...if that's what you want Hermione, I'll respect your wishes." She said surprised. "But, if he tries something like this again, I'll have to act." Minerva finished.

Hermione nodded her head in understanding and went to stand beside his bed.

Madame Pomfrey came back and put some clean sheets on the bed beside Snape.

Hermione stood for a good while watching Snape as he continued to shake. Hermione was worried he'd die from the exhaustion caused by being in this state for so long.

Eventually Hermione gave up her vigil and gave into exhaustion herself, crawling into the bed made for her she closed her eyes and fell into a light sleep.

Hermione woke up a couple of hours later. She wasn't anywhere near completely rested but her brain was apparently against allowing her to fall back asleep.

She stood up and stumbled over to Snape's bed sitting on the corner of it and leaning over to see his face.

He'd stopped shaking, thank Merlin, and was now sleeping fitfully.

Hermione moved her hand to smooth his hair back off his forehead. The minute her hand touched him his eyes jerked open.

Hermione froze as his black eyes found her brown ones. They stared at each other for a second Snape stunned to see her upon waking and Hermione at a loss completely after all the events of the evening.

Finally Snape's eyes darted down as he struggled to sit up. Hermione went to help him, but his hand went up to stay her.

She stopped and sat back waiting for him to become situated. Finally he sat his back ramrod straight, his hands folded, and his eyes glued to his lap.

"I am so very sorry Miss Granger," He whispered. "There is no way to convey the depth of how sorry I truly am." His voice sounded so desolate, Hermione reached out to place her hand on top of his.

He flinched when her hand touched his, and he withdrew his, closing his eyes.

"I know nothing I can say will stop the inevitable, but I do want you to know that my behavior was unforgivable but sorely regretted."

Hermione looked at him questioningly.

"What's inevitable?" She asked confused.

Snape's eyes went up then and looked at her confused.

"I will be sent back to Azkaban." He said it as though she seemed a bit slow to him at the moment.

"Oh, that." Hermione replied trying again to take one of his hands in her own. "I told Minerva it was unnecessary." She said it so matter of fact, that Snape's jaw quite literally dropped and he stared at her as though she'd grown a second head and started singing in Finnish.

"What?" His tone was soft but the question sharp.

"I told her it was unnecessary to do any such thing," Hermione replied looking at Snape to make sure he understood her this time.

Snape jerked away from her and seemed to curl into himself.

Hermione moved up so she was sitting directly beside him. She wanted to pull him into a tight hug like she would anyone else who seemed this distraught; but she knew Snape probably wouldn't appreciate that. So she settled for again taking one of his hands into her own. This time he gave up fighting it and clung to her hand.

He was shaking again, but for a completely different reason.

"It's all right," She said trying to soothe him.

"No, it isn't," he whispered back at her turning, glassy eyes boring into hers. "It is nowhere near all right. I almost hit you." He looked down at his free hand as he said it.

"I made you angry, it's understandable you lost control." She told him softly, bringing her other hand up to brush his hair back.

"I don't know how many times I watched my father strike my mother in the same manner," He said in a horrified voice. "I am just like him, a monster."

Hermione felt her eyes fill with sudden tears.

"You aren't a monster!" She said earnestly trying to catch his attention. "You had a moment of weakness, and I'm perfectly fine."

He continued to shake and curl in on himself.

Hermione leaned in even closer to him, and decided to take her chances.

She took her hand out from his, and wrapped both of her arms around his thin and shaking form.

He stiffened at the contact as she expected he would; but after a moment he leaned into her and even loosely wrapped his arms around her.

She rocked him a little as she felt her shoulder become wet with the tears he was trying so desperately to hide.