Five Months Prior

February was a dreadful month. The weather seemed to match Hermione's mood perfectly; dreary, grey, cold, dismal. Severus and Hermione seemed to skirt around one another since their altercation in the Staff Lounge the month before. They exchanged nothing more than polite pleasantries, but did not go into any further conversation than that. As much as she tried to ignore him, she couldn't help but to still notice him. And she would have been lying to herself if she said she hadn't seen him peer at her from the corner of his eye from time to time, as well. Severus was hiding more than he had admitted that evening they had last spoken. Hermione was sure of it. She felt it deep in her bones.

She hoped that her feelings for him would have waned over time, but unfortunately they had not. She couldn't explain it to herself; why she had become so infatuated with Severus. Although, when she really thought about it, she knew why. He was extraordinarily intelligent, someone who could keep up with her in a conversation, of course. Before they had their falling out, there were times when Hermione and Severus would fall into deep discussions over different methods for potion making, spells, government or life in general. He had a different way of looking at the world than most people, not unlike herself, actually. The logical and almost methodical way he approached everything in his life was one of the things she admired about the man.

As usual, Hermione could not sleep, and wandered the castle before dawn. The sky was turning from black to grey - the sun would be risen before the hour was through. With her wand providing a small sphere of light around her, she found herself making her way to the dungeons of the castle, towards Severus' living quarters.

When she passed the Potions Classroom she decided to enter and took the seat she occupied while she was a student. Back then, she never would have imagined she would one day become heartsick over the grumpy man who ran the class.

She rested her head between her hands as stared at Severus' empty seat at the front of the room; a loud sigh escaped her.

A door opened. She froze.

"What are you doing here?"

Hermione jumped upon hearing Severus' angry voice. She hadn't thought she would wake him.

"Miss Granger? What are you doing in my classroom at this hour?" He asked again.

"I - erm… I," she stammered.

She kept her back to him and felt the air move as he came up behind her. Chills ran all throughout her body as her heart pounded in her throat.

"Is this why you're here?" He purred in a silky baritone. Hermione's entire frame quivered.

Without warning, Severus placed his hands on Hermione's shoulders; he grasped firmly and began to slowly knead her muscles. Hermione nearly purred from the sensation. Slowly he began to work his hands up and down her arms, taking care to let the tips of his fingers softly brush the side of her breasts as he did so. Pushing her bushy mane to the side, he leaned in and traced his tongue along the curve of her neck.

"Severus!? What are you-"

Before she could finish her question, he wrapped her hair around his hand and pulled, lifting her out of her seat. When he spun her around, her pupils dilated; he had a fire in his eyes she had never seen, prior to that moment.

As she trembled with anticipation, he trailed the back of his free hand from her cheek, down her neck and all along the length of her torso. Hermione's eyes fluttered shut as she let the feeling of his fingers wash over her. Then before she knew it, he tilted her head back and his lips crashed onto hers, forcing a small moan to erupt from her.

Hermione's eyes opened wide; she sat up and it took her a moment to realize she had not been in Severus' classroom, but sound asleep in her bed.

"It was just a dream," she panted.

It was not the first time she had dreamt of Severus, but never before had she had one that felt so real. She could almost still feel the ghost of his finger tips gingerly tracing her body. Her entire being ached with a yearning unlike any she'd had before. It was painful.

"Get ahold of yourself, Hermione," she chastised herself with a shake of her head.

She looked at the time and saw it was half past six in the morning. She hadn't planned on waking for another hour, but knew if she had fallen back to sleep, she'd risk oversleeping altogether. Since she was awake, she figured she'd have her shower and get an early start to her day.

During breakfast in the Great Hall later that morning, Hermione felt herself blush each time she glanced at Severus. The dream was still fresh in her mind.

"Feelin' alrigh' Hermione? Yer lookin' awful flushed," Hagrid said loudly, taking Hermione out of her embarrassing thoughts.

Curse Hagrid and his non-existent subtly, she thought sourly.

"I'm fine, Hagrid. Thanks," she lied with a smile.

Hagrid smiled back. "Still hard ta believe yer up here at the staff table," he chortled. "Seems like jus' yesterday you lot were goin' ta Hogwarts."

Hermione chuckled softly. "It really does feel that way sometimes, doesn't it."

Severus, she noticed, glanced her way as she spoke with Hagrid. When she made a move to acknowledge him and potentially bridge the gap that had formed between them, he rolled his eyes and immediately looked away. Hermione felt her shoulders slump in disappointment.

For the rest of breakfast she was rather reserved. She just wanted things to go back to how they were before that dreadful mistletoe incident.

After she taught her morning classes, Hermione had an hour free after lunch, before her afternoon classes would begin. Although it was freezing outside, it was not raining, so Hermione bundled up and decided to have a walk around the grounds. It had been a while since she'd been anywhere near the Forbidden Forest, and fancied feeding some of the baby Thestrals. For such frightening looking beasts, Hermione had become quite fond of them after learning of their gentle nature.

When she entered the Thestral clearing it was empty. Shy creatures that they were, they required a bit of coaxing at times to appear. Before Hermione left the castle, she'd made a stop in the kitchens and acquired a few pieces of raw chicken to bring down with her. She reached in her pockets and slowly placed a slice on the ground before her. It didn't take long for one of the small animals to poke its head out from the trees and slowly walk towards her. Hermione smiled.

After the first Thestral began eating, three more young ones, and what Hermione assumed to be the mother approached her. She emptied her pockets of the food she brought with her and sat down cross-legged on the ground, then began to gently stroke the head of the baby nearest to her.

They had an odd texture to them. Somewhat scaly, like a lizard, but also with a small amount of fuzz, sort of like a peach. The methodical petting of the animal soothed her. It was extraordinarily relaxing.

As she sat she began thinking of Severus, as she had been quite frequently that term. There were times when she'd catch him looking at her, almost with a hint of longing in his eyes. Of course the moment that he'd catch her watching, his expression would quickly change to that of mild disinterest, or flat out disgust, but even that was not able to get the initial look on his face from her mind.

Had he been attracted to her as she was to him? If so, why would he fight that? It wasn't as if he hadn't known she had developing feelings for him. He was the one who had called her out on said feelings the month before. Had he been that hurt in his past that he was frightened to do anything that made him happy? That was a possibility, she thought. She knew of his past with Lily Evans and everything James Potter and Sirius Black had put him through. Harry was her best friend, of course he had confided that information with her. It was that information that forever changed Harry's opinion of Severus Snape. It was that information that cleared his name after the war.

Severus had been through so much in his life. Hermione desperately wanted to see the man happy and she was determined to be the woman who saw to it that he was. There was a definite connection there, she knew it. And she was not going to let Severus Snape deprive himself of living his life any longer.

"I'm going to talk to him," she said to the little Thestral she petted. It responded by gently nipping the tip of her index finger.

After she left the clearing and made her way back into the castle, she was on a mission. She had exactly forty-five minutes before her next class, and knew that Severus was free at this time as well. It used to be a time they would spend in the staff room together. Either silently working on their own projects, or discussing a number of different topics. It felt like years instead of weeks since the last time they had done that.

Just as she turned a corner in the hall leading to the staff room, she found herself collide with a dark, cloaked figure, before landing painfully on her backside.

"Her- Miss Granger! Watch where you're going!" Severus hissed, yet she saw concern for her flash briefly in his eyes.

Well, you did want to speak with him, she thought as her face grew pink due to running into him that way.

"I'm sorry, Severus," she said while standing back up and straightening her robes.

He snorted.

"Actually, you were just the person I wanted to see," Hermione told him with a shy smile. Severus arched an eyebrow. "May I have a word, please?"

Here goes nothing, she thought as she looked into his black eyes.