Summary: Disagreements and insecurities.

A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone!

Chapter 16

Severus had taken to dining with the Gryffindors as well as spending his study time with them. He'd been doing it for about a week. Draco had actually suggested it, to ensure his acceptance and trust-building with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. That's why when he was late, they all had something to say.

"Severus, what happened?" Harry asked.

Severus sat down on the bench heavily.

"Geez, Snape, you look like death warmed over," Ron added.

Hermione's hand was on his arm as she gave him a look of concern but said nothing more.

"I exploded my potion," Severus confessed.

Hermione gasped and her hand squeezed even harder.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He nodded. "I just came from the Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey fixed me up."

"You probably shouldn't be brewing alone, mate," Ron remarked. "What if you'd been hurt so bad you couldn't get to the Infirmary or couldn't cast a Patronus for help?"

Severus' eyebrows knit together. "I have never exploded a cauldron before. I didn't even think that there may be a reason to be extra cautious."

"Why did the potion explode?" Harry asked.

Severus looked at his empty plate while he thought about it.

"It blew up right after I added the tar to the Boomslang venom. It shouldn't have done anything volatile. I'll have to research and see why."

He was looking at Hermione as he told them all what had happened.

"We'll figure it out, Severus," she told him.

Turning to look at Ron, he gave him a thoughtful look. "Ron, you're right. I should have someone there while I brew. Would you mind?"

"Yeah, mate, would love to," Ron agreed.

Hermione's lips thinned. She dropped her hand from Severus' arm and gathered up her books. She rose and stormed away without saying a word to anyone.

"What's with her?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged, but Severus' eyes followed her out of the room as he looked on with concern.

"I think she's upset I didn't ask her to help."

"Oy, mate. You better go after her," Ron advised. "She just gets angrier as time goes on."

Severus nodded his head.

"Would you guys save me a plate? I get the feeling I'm going to miss dinner totally."

"Just go with Hermione to the kitchens. The House-Elves will take care of you, and Hermione will appreciate being included," Harry offered.

Severus nodded at him and rose, quickly exiting the Great Hall. He frowned as he did so. He wasn't exactly sure where to find Hermione, and he was perturbed that she was making a big deal out of this. He decided to try the library first and was lucky to find her there. She was sitting at a table with a book open in front of her, but she didn't have her nose in it as usual. She stared out the window absently.

Severus came up to her and sat down in the seat next to her.

"You all right?"

She jumped a little bit before glaring at him. Ignoring him, she hunched over her book and began to read, burying herself in the text.

"Hermione, why did you run out without saying a word?"

She didn't look up or even acknowledge he'd said anything.

"Hermione?"

She ignored him a bit longer.

"Hermione, would you please answer me?"

Finally, she sighed and sat back, looking at Severus.

"I would think you'd be fully aware why I did."

Severus ground his teeth together. "I'm not here to play twenty questions. Just tell me."

Hermione gave him a withering look. "Why didn't you ask me to help you with the potion? We've been working on the theory. I'm the logical choice. Do you think I'm not capable of watching you?"

"No, that wasn't it at all!"

"Severus, just go! I don't want to talk about this right now," Hermione ground out.

"But…"

"Go!"

"You know what? You are being totally ridiculous!" Severus said caustically. "I told you before, I don't want you in my mind or have any memory of you while working on this potion. That still stands. Of course, I wouldn't ask you to watch me. How am I supposed to block you from my memories when you'll be right there in the same room as me?"

He stood and glowered at her. "So be angry all you want. Be a bloody harridan for all I care. I will protect you nonetheless, and you will not, I repeat, not watch me brew this. I will not have you in danger."

He turned and was about to storm off when her voice called out to him.

"But it's fine to have Ron there."

Severus balled his fists and turned, moving back to her.

"Yes, of course it is! Of the three of you, he is the best one to do so. He's the least known of you all. I don't have strong feelings for him, so I will be able to hide his presence easier than I would you. If he's seen in my memory I can easily explain it away because my feelings aren't wrapped up in the thought of him." Severus leaned in toward Hermione. "My feelings for you are too strong for me to be able to hide you from him. I'm afraid he'd see right through my Occlumency and false memories." He frowned. "Or should I have Draco watch me, who will question everything I do to make sure I'm following the Dark Lord's directions?" he whispered tersely.

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but he held his hand up to silence her. He wheeled around and this time stalked down along the tables and stormed out of the library, leaving Hermione looking after him forlornly.

Exiting the library, Severus rushed through the halls like a whirlwind until he reached his dormitory and flung himself on the bed. How dare she question him! All he was doing was trying to protect all of them. And her glare had been so accusatory. As if he was the worst human being on earth. Well, if that's how she felt, she could just… she could…

He closed his eyes and sighed.

He was angry, but he couldn't just think that they would be done because of this disagreement. That seemed incredibly petty. He would work it out with her, but not right now. Now, he just wanted to feel rejected and misunderstood.

Turning over, he threw the covers over his head and sulked. His mind replayed their fight over and over again as he felt worse and worse.

He had been sulking for a while when an owl pecked at his door.

He lifted himself up and glared at the offensive door. Flicking his wand, the door opened, allowing the owl to swoop into the room and land on his bed, extending his talon. Severus took the small note from the bird, who immediately swept out of the room. Severus watched its speedy exit and closed the door again with a spell. He looked down at the note.

ROR 15 minutes. ~HG

Severus frowned, although he felt a tiny bit of relief in her note. He wanted to gather his thoughts longer, but the fifteen minutes would have to do. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom, looking in the mirror. He really did look like shite, he noted.

To Ron's point, at least he hadn't been injured worse in the accident. His face had been cut severely, and it was still a bit puffy from the healing process. He turned on the faucet and put his hands under it. The water filled them, and he splashed his face with it. Looking back in the mirror, he watched the rivulets run down his cheeks.

He magicked a towel to him and wiped his face dry. He needed to go, or he'd be late–having to climb all those stairs. He glanced once more in the mirror. The water had helped a little bit, and he didn't look quite as puffy as before. Turning, he left the bathroom and headed up to the Room of Requirement.

A few minutes later, he was there. The door was already formed, so he knocked and immediately opened it. Hermione stood close to the entrance, wringing her hands. She turned and gave him a relieved look.

"I wasn't sure if you would come," she said.

He frowned but said nothing.

"Severus, I'm sorry. I overreacted. I had been so worried about you when you said you'd been hurt, then all I could think about when you asked Ron to help you was that you had decided that you didn't care for me."

He gave her an incredulous look. "Are you serious?" he asked as his eyes went wide.

"Yes! I keep waiting for you to come to your senses and just break it off with me."

"Why would you think I would do that?"

She shrugged. "Ron…"

He closed the distance between them.

"Has Ron been talking about me?"

She shook her head. "No. No, if he says anything, it's something wonderful. He feels very close to you."

"Then I don't understand."

Hermione began to bite her lip. "I was attracted to Ron for a long time. He always made me feel… inferior. He was amazed that I had found a date for the Yule Ball. He thought no one had asked me and that I was lying about having someone to go with. He always made snide little comments about me never being able to get a man… that no one would ever really want me." Her eyes filled with tears. "I guess the badgering dug deep and stuck."

He had her in his arms before she could even take a breath.

"Hermione… I should hex him."

"No!" She shook her head vehemently and locked eyes with his. "We've gotten past all that. He was younger, and quite a bit more immature. He's grown–in the last year especially, and he wouldn't say things like that anymore."

Severus wiped the tears from her eyes again.

"But his words and actions made lasting impressions on you."

Hermione nodded. "I'm so afraid that one day you'll just wake up and realize you can do so much better, and then you won't want to spend any more time with me. When you completely ignored me and asked Ron to help you it triggered something within me, and I thought you had already come to that conclusion."

He pulled her to him and hugged her furiously. "I thought you knew how I feel about you."

"I do. I just got insecure, Severus. I know you care about me."

He pulled back. "Hermione, I love you. I'm not going to change my mind about that. I think you're beautiful, brilliant, caring… you are everything I have ever wanted in a partner. That will never change."

Hermione smiled through her tears, as they'd started up again. "I love you, too."

Severus grinned. "Brilliant."

"I'm sorry I was a harridan," she told him.

"It's all right. I understand where you are coming from now. Thank you for being vulnerable with me."

"You are always vulnerable with me. I thought I should do the same."

He leaned down and kissed her softly. "I love you," he said again. "I want you to always remember that. Please don't ever think that you're not good enough. You are. You're magnificent. You're everything to me."

Her eyes searched his before she blushed and nodded. "Thank you for saying all of that. It helps a lot."

"I will say it every day if it will help you to know your worth."

She kissed him tenderly. Pulling back, she gave him a shy smile. "I love you, Severus. You are everything I want, too. I want you to always remember that."

They kissed again, this time more urgently. Hermione's hand came up, and she laced her fingers through his hair. He reveled in her before pulling back.

"I'm glad we got that taken care of," he murmured.

"Me too." Hermione looked into his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair some more. "We should figure out what happened with your potion."

"I may know what we need to do."

He reluctantly pulled back and made his way to the couch. Hermione flicked her wand and a fire started in the fireplace. She cuddled up to Severus as he pulled out a potions text and began flipping through it.

"Here we are: Using Tar in Potions."

He read silently for a few minutes with Hermione reading over his shoulder.

"Look there," she said as she pointed to the page.

He nodded. "I was just mulling over that."

"So, to prepare the tar to mix with something volatile, you have to mix it with Pear Dust to make it more stable so it combines correctly with the Boomslang venom."

"Yes. I've not worked much with tar before. I wish I had known that before I started this."

"Well, you're brilliant with potions, but you can't know everything… yet," Hermione joked.

He smirked at her. "Just give me some time."

She kissed his cheek and gave him a saucy look.

"When will you try again?" she asked.

"I bought a good amount of venom and tar, so I should be able to redo the potion tomorrow after class. I'll get with Ron on a time to meet."

"Okay. I am happy to help if you'd like."

"Hermione…"

"I know, I know."

"I would like you to help, but I wouldn't want to see you hurt."

He leaned in and kissed her then. She fell into him, and they enjoyed each other for quite a while on the sofa. At long last, they pulled apart.

"It's almost curfew," Severus mused. "We should probably head back to our dormitories."

Hermione shrugged. "Mine is just down the hallway."

"Well, mine is not."

Severus stood and held his hand out to Hermione. She placed hers in his as he helped her up. They meandered to the door. He pulled her close one last time and kissed her lovingly.

"Good night," he whispered in her ear.

"Good night," she said with a smile.

Leaving the room, they separated and Severus headed back to the dungeons, stopping quickly in the kitchens and asking the elves to make him a sandwich. As he went down to his dorm eating quickly, he wished he could just retire with Hermione. Being close to her was like manna from heaven.

Ron sat and watched Severus make his second attempt with the tar and Boomslang venom.

"So, you figured out what happened before?"

Severus nodded. "I hadn't prepared the tar properly before adding it to the venom," he explained.

"Geez, you're brilliant at potions. I'm surprised you'd make such a mistake."

"I have used tar only once before, and it wasn't being mixed with something dangerous. I was unaware that it needed to be prepared this way before I blew myself up."

Ron chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you didn't lose an arm."

"Me too. Or worse."

"Looks like you patched things up with Hermione," Ron said as he watched Severus mix the tar with the Pearl Dust.

Severus spared him a glance. "We did."

"She can get snippy when she's angry. She's scary, mate."

Severus smirked. "She is, but she explained herself, and I was able to understand her outburst better."

"Why was she so hacked off?"

"I'd rather not go into it," Severus said. "It has to do with something in her past, and I don't want to destroy her confidence by discussing it with you."

Ron nodded. Severus looked at his friend and quietly and quickly brushed through his memories so that Ron didn't notice. He was glad to see a more mature Ronald Weasley than the one depicted by Hermione. He noted how he was courteous to Lavender and didn't seem to be jealous in the way Hermione had described him.

Severus sighed internally. He'd been quite angry with Ron, but Hermione had said he'd changed. He wanted to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, but he hadn't been sure. He was glad things had changed because he didn't like the way Ron had acted in his youth. Granted, they were all guilty of doing stupid things as youngsters.

He put it out of his head as he checked the color of the tar. It now had a pearlescent sheen to it.

"Perfect," he said.

The Boomslang venom had been added to a cauldron of hot water. Now he placed the tar into the brew, stirring and stirring while it combined with the poison. This was where it had exploded before, and Severus held his breath as he combined the two. Finally, the ingredients were combined correctly. He pulled the stirrer out of the cauldron and smiled.

"There," he said. "It is combined perfectly."

"Great," Ron said. He'd pulled out his homework and had been working on it while he watched Severus.

Severus waved his wand over the cauldron, placing a cover over the brew.

"That has to sit overnight. I can add more items tomorrow evening after class."

Ron got up. Severus eyed him. He came up to his friend.

"Ron, Hermione had told me that you were a bit of a git a couple of years ago. I'm glad you're not that git any longer."

Ron smirked. "Yeah, I was an arse, especially to Hermione. Once we decided we weren't going to get together, we talked about it. I feel bad for being so awful."

"She holds no ill will toward you," Severus offered. "And I wasn't here when it happened, so neither do I. I just wanted you to know I was aware."

"I'm glad you both are okay with me. I have worked hard to not be that git."

"Yes, well, I can't say you're not a git, but I can see you're not the arse you used to be."

"Very funny, Severus."

He smirked as they left the Room of Requirement.