October 30th, 1995

After Hermione got done with breakfast, she made her way out of the Great Hall and back to the common room. With Ginny having woken her up for the day, she had forgotten her wand. As she made her way out of the common room she was stopped.

"What do you want Peeves?"

"Where you are going?" Peeves smiled.

"Potions, Peeves," Hermione snarled at the poltergeist.

"You don't need to get snippy with me, Miss Hermione." Peeves paused, "A little birdie told me about your interaction with Professor Snape."

Hermione's eyes went wide, "W-what do you mean, Peeves?"

Peeves smirked as he moved closer to Hermione, "That birdie being me."

"I do not know what you're talking about, Peeves." Hermione folded her arms and smiled.

"I saw you and Professor Snape snogging," he whispered. Hermione tensed her shoulders and unfolded her arms.

"That is the dumbest thing you have ever said to me." Hermione chewed the bottom of her lip.

"I'm dead, Miss Hermione, not stupid," he said as he folded his arms.

"Why are you bringing this up?" Hermione clenched her jaw. She had no idea why or how Peeves knew about that.

"I need something from you." He smiled a devilish smile.

With a deep breath, Hermione opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"Since you're at a loss for words," he paused, "I will let you know what I want from you."

Hermione gulped and raked her fingers through her bushy hair.

"Help me pull a prank on Umbridge or the Weasley twins."

Hermione sighed in relief. That was all he wanted? She didn't understand but it could be worse. "What do you want me to do?"

"I will let you know when I need you." He smirked and flew away.

Hermione still wondered how he knew. Was he following her when she followed Professor Snape into his private chambers? Maybe she didn't want to know. Surely they would have seen him if he was in the room. The ghosts were easy to see as they weren't completely invisible.

Hermione sighed as she walked down the stairs and made her way to the potions classroom. This would be the first time she had stepped into the classroom since he had snogged her. She was nervous to be around him, but it wasn't like she would be alone with him.

To her surprise, she walked into the potions classroom to see that it was empty of students. "Where is everyone?" Hermione mumbled as she stared at her Professor. He was aggressively marking papers with his quill.

"They have not arrived at class," he paused, "but I think they have skipped. No surprise that the insufferable know-it-all would be in class though." As he looked up and smirked at her, she wondered what had crawled up his arse. Sure, Professor Snape was mean, but he usually said things under his breath. Hermione turned on her heel and started to walk towards the door.

"And where do you think you're going, Miss Granger?" His velvety voice sent chills down her spine, which caused her to stop and shiver.

"Back to my dorm," she snapped. She didn't know why she snapped but it felt needed.

"You will sit there," he pointed to the chair in front of him. "And you will finish cleaning the cauldrons. After you are done with that task you will help me grade essays."

"Pardon me?" She furrowed her brow.

"You heard me," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her.

Hermione didn't want to fight with him but he was right. She still had to serve detention and be his assistant. It wasn't his fault that she was irritable.

She walked over to the wall and grabbed a cauldron. She sat it down softly on the desk and started cleaning. Hermione looked at Professor Snape as she worked and wondered what he was thinking. He looked so calm and collected, not at all nervous around her. She wondered if she had dreamed that she snogged with him. But that wouldn't make sense as Peeves had seen them. Professor Snape suddenly looked up and stared at her, which made Hermione instantly go back to cleaning the cauldron.

After an hour of working in silence, Hermione couldn't take it anymore. "Are you going to the Halloween Dance?"

"Unfortunately," he stated.

"I assumed you liked Halloween." Hermione smiled and Professor Snape looked up at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Bold of you to assume," as he brought his hand to the bridge of his nose and looked at his work.

Hermione stayed silent as she could tell he was annoyed with her. She knew he viewed her as an insufferable know-it-all. Even her friends had told her she was annoying and never shut up. Most of the time she didn't feel welcome with her friends. She didn't know why she felt the need to succeed more than anyone else. Maybe it was because she needed to prove people wrong, to prove that she was a muggle-born witch. She wasn't like this in muggle schools, she was adventurous there, and that was probably why she was sorted into Gryffindor, even though she didn't feel brave.

She gulped and looked at Professor Snape again. His hair was in his face as he brushed one strand back, just as he had done a thousand times before. She still loved watching him work.

"Professor?" Hermione tried to sound confident but her voice cracked.

Professor Snape slowly moved his head to look at Hermione. He stared at her, "Yes?" He asked.

"Why did you have my sketchbook?" She bit her lip and stared at him.

"I found it," he said honestly.

"Did you look inside it?" She bit her lip harder and hoped she wouldn't make herself bleed.

To her surprise, he looked away instantly.

Severus didn't know what to say so he simply looked away. He hoped that she wouldn't bring up any of their interaction or ask about the sketchbook. He was ashamed of himself for looking at the book and kissing her even though he felt a sort of rush when his lips touched hers. He had been thinking of the kiss since it happened. It was all he thought about. Severus still wasn't sure if this was a sort of joke that Granger and the Weasley twins were pulling on him. There was no way that someone would like a cruel, ugly, unloved man.

They stayed silent for another hour as Severus couldn't look at her. "I'm done, Professor," Hermione said.

Severus nodded as he glanced up to see her walking away. As she held the handle of the door, he spoke. "Wait," he paused, "come here, Miss Granger." She turned around and walked towards him.

"Yes, Professor?" She smiled.

"I did look inside your sketchbook," he said.

Hermione gulped and stared at the ground.

"Did you draw them?" Severus stared at the girl as she slowly lifted her head.

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape, I didn't think you would ever see them and I am so embarrassed."

"Why are you embarrassed?" He smirked as he stared at the girl fidgeting with her fingers.

"Because you weren't supposed to see them," Hermione said.

"Oh," he paused, "because they are explicit sketches of you and me, Miss Granger?" he raked his fingers through his hair, which caused Hermione to shudder.

Hermione nodded.

Professor Snape moved closer to Hermione and he crossed his arms over his chest. "What am I going to do with you?" He moved closer and lifted his hand. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear, which made a spark of electricity shoot up and down her spine. "They weren't jokes that you and the Weasley twins made up?"

"No, sir," her voice cracked as he brought his thumb down to her cheek and softly stroked it.

He moved his head closer to her ear, "Has anyone else seen these explicit drawings?" He whispered.

Hermione shook her head, no.

"Use your words, Miss Granger," he softly whispered into her ear making her giggle.

"No, Professor ," Hermione said.

"Let's keep it that way," he brought his hand down to her neck and her shoulder.

She nodded again.

"I'm not a nice man, Miss Granger," he said, "I am a cruel, ugly man." This made Hermione look at him intensely.

"You are not ugly," Hermione smiled.

"You are lying," he said as he let go of her shoulder and walked to his chair. Hermione instantly walked over to him and grabbed his face, planting her lips on his.