Chapter Sixteen

"And things we're all too young to know" – Peter Gabriel

A weird feeling came over Severus as his senses came to him, he quickly realized that he was in his room, judging by the temperature and the smell. He could hear a beautiful piano piece playing somewhere behind him, not very fast, slowly rising and falling. He opened his eyes and was confused as the world came to him in swirls of color, reminiscent of a Van Gogh painting. A figure stood before him, a whirlwind of colors and no face to place, though Severus knew she was beautiful. He could feel it, along with a sense of elation and playfulness. A laugh escaped the figure in a symphony of tinkling and a flurry of green swirls, his own baritone laugh to follow with deep blue swirls floating from him. His figure ran around the room and the playfulness bubbled within him as he chased after her. He reached his arms out and caught her as she tried to jump over the couch, she yelped and giggled again, "Severus!" her tinkling voice seemed to say. His fingers assaulted her rib cage causing a storm of green swirls to escape her mouth as she laughed uncontrollably. He pulled his figure to his chest and buried his face in her hair, breathing deeply, his figure always smelled of grapefruit and roses, his new favorite scents. He pulled back and crushed his lips to hers, tasting the grapefruit he'd smelt just seconds ago. Severus broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, "I love you," He said. His figured smiled, "I love you too, Severus." She responded.

Severus startled awake and sat up quickly, he realized that he was still in the Infirmary, slumped over in the chair he had been sitting in. The papers he had been reading were sprawled across the floor, sighing he got off his chair and started picking them up. They were Slughorn's lesson plans for the next two months, Severus had been looking over them, deciding whether to continue using them or not. While restacking the papers he noticed a potion name, the potion he normally didn't teach as it was dangerous in the hands of hormonal teenagers. Amortentia. Why would Horace attempt to teach them this, he was going to have them make it too! That was just asking for mass outbreak of teenage poisonings. The Potions Master hung his head, he decided that he could teach it to them, it would be useful to know it's properties, but it definitely would not be a practical lesson.

Only a few minutes after Severus finished looking through the lessons the infirmary door opened to reveal Hogwarts' Mediwitch, returning to her domain. "Severus, you're here late." Poppy said as she walked up to him. "Yes, well I've spent more time here over the last week then I hope to ever have to again." He responded. The seasoned healer didn't even react to his sass as she set her stuff down in her office. "So you kept it standing and I don't have full beds, which tells me you did well, running it by yourself." She commented

"Well I wasn't completely alone." Severus admitted, Poppy nodded "Yes, I assumed Albus would call in an Order member to help you." The dark haired man grinned at this, "Actually, your apprentice was my assistant while you were away." The healer looked shocked, "Miss Granger?" She asked. Severus nodded, Poppy gasped "And she's still alive and sane?" she teased. He frowned at her, taking the teasing lightly, due to the fact that she was the only one who never meant harm. "I'll have you know that Hermione and I worked just fine together while you were gone." He said crossing his arms across his chest. Poppy turned, one eyebrow cocked. "Hermione?" she repeated. Severus felt a blush creep up his neck at his mistake, the older woman's eyes widened. "Severus Snape on calling a student by their first name? A student in Gryffindor none the less?" She asked. Severus stood there for a minute, trying to think of something to say, before choosing to flee to his rooms at the sound of the Mediwitch's chuckle behind him.

Once he reached his room, he retrieved his Pensieve from its storage cabinet. He extracted the dream from his memories and dropped it into the basin. He dove in and noted as much as he could, trying desperately to figure out who the woman was. When he exhausted himself watching the memory over and over again, he finally retired to his bed. Falling asleep easily with images of his blurry figure in his mind.

~*HGSS*~

Hermione stretched, waking up slowly, breathing deeply as the world came back to her. She sat up slowly and ran her hands through the rat's nest that was her hair. Noting that her roommates were still asleep she thanked that fact that she woke up so early because that meant that she had their shared bathroom to herself. She brushed her teeth and hair and applied the minimal make up that she normally wore. She dressed in her uniform and grabbed her cloak and books and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Hermione walked into the nearly empty hall and took her seat at the Gryffindor table. Most of the Ravenclaw table was full, a few Hufflepuff students were sitting at their table, still half asleep with bedhead. She started to fill her plate when, out of the corner of her eye she saw someone sit down next to her. When the person started stealing the bacon from her plate, she knew who it was. "Good morning, Harry" Hermione said while removing his hand from her plate. Harry smiled at her and started making his own plate. "What are you doing up so early?" She asked. "Well I didn't want you to spend your first breakfast back by yourself." Harry told her. She leaned against him for a second, "You're so sweet." He laughed lightly and started eating his breakfast. More students started filing in as Harry and Hermione finished, Ron joined them soon after and they waited for him to finish eating before walking down to the dungeon together. The golden trio took their seats at their assigned tables, Daphne was already seat at their shared table. "Welcome back, Hermione" she greeted. Hermione thanked her as she sat and took her text book out she laid her cloak over the back of her chair and the chilled air of the dungeon made goose bumps rise across her skin. Soon after taking her seat, Neville and Blaise join the table and slowly all the other seats in the room were filled.

The doors hit the wall in the normal Snape entrance, Hermione kept her head down as her professor passed her. She felt the wind from his robes as he approached his desk and did her best to fight the blush rising in her cheeks. Sev- Professor Snape stood at the front of the class, Hermione looked up to him, in his element her professor was a sight to behold. Confidence radiated from him into the rest of the classroom, he held his face strong, he looked down his nose at them all, daring them to screw up. Hermione found herself staring at him and completely missed whatever he had just told them all. She looked around and everyone was taking their books out, she leaned over and pulled her book out, then leaned towards Neville. "What are we doing? I wasn't paying attention." She admitted. The boy looked at her like she grew a second head. "It's a lecture today, Page 249, Cloaking Potions." He told her, "Are you ok?" Neville asked. Hermione nodded and pulled out a piece of parchment and her quill. She listened to Snape talk and read along with him, every so often she would take notes and always did her best to not look at him. His voice was distracting enough as it is.

Severus was surprised at how much he liked being back in the classroom. Though he didn't really miss the children, he missed teaching. There was something about passing on the knowledge of your trade that was so rewarding. Every now and then he would look towards the student he had spent so much time with the past week. It was a little funny to see her get right back into her old habits. Keeping her head down and furiously scribbling at her notes. Severus thought back to the conversation he had with Poppy that morning.

"Severus, I have a favor to ask of you." The healer said. Severus assumed something was up when the woman called him to her. "I know that you will be apprehensive about it but I feel that it would greatly benefit the other involved party." She explained. The Potions Master almost immediately knew what she was going to ask of him. "What's the favor, Poppy?" He asked. "Miss Granger needs to be taught how to brew healing potions." She said, "While I was visiting my sister I was made blatantly aware that most healers have no clue how to brew a simple calming draught, let alone something important. She needs to know how to do that on her own." Poppy explained. "So you want me to mentor her? On top of my apprenticeships?" He responded. "Please Severus," Poppy scoffed "If you give her the recipe and directions she will do just fine by herself. You could give her a little corner during the nights you mentor. Just check on her progress every so often." Severus considered the proposal for a minute, he realized that Hermione wasn't as insufferable as he thought, and Poppy was right about her needing to know the information. The man sighed, "She will practice on Wednesdays, seven to eight, after dinner." He said, Poppy smiled brightly, "Thank you, Severus." The man grunted in response before leaving the room.

Severus watched the classroom as he continued his lecture. Somewhere above them the large clock tower chimed, signaling the end of class, he dismissed them. "Miss Granger," He called. The girl looked to him, "A moment." He said while gesturing to his desk. She sent the boys on their way and approached him. Severus pulled a note out of his pocket, "Madame Pomfrey wanted me to give this to you." He said handing it to her. "Oh, thank you, sir." She said while reading it. "You may go now," he said when she lingered for just a minute to long. Hermione grabbed her bagged and nearly ran from the room, heading for the infirmary. Severus silently prepared to see more of her than he thought was healthy for him.

A/N Never take A/C for granted! Or bathroom lights! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I really liked writing the dream in the beginning. Let me know what you guys think is going to happen in future chapters! Also please review! *Love hearts*