AN: Thank you to all my readers. I know I've been prolific and I feel like it's a bit intimidating so I might space out postings a little more from now on. So maybe I can gain some more readership and I can make the chapters longer.

Severus had spent his whole life honing his ability to stay in control of his emotions, magic, and physical reactions. He was a spy who duped the greatest dark wizard of this century. His accomplishments spanned skilled Occlumens and Master of Potions. But with his arms filled with a beautiful young woman who was kissing him passionately and the bond between them bursting forth, enveloping them in what could only be euphoria, he was left with only his baser instincts.

He buried one of his hands in her mane of curls and his arm wrapped around her waist to pull her flush against him. Severus should be the adult, he should pull away or push her away, but he couldn't. The feel of her lips pillowed against his, accompanied with her signature scent of parchment, vanilla, and cinnamon filling his senses was all consuming. He felt her shift them so that he was pinned between her body and one of the classroom tables.

The sound of Filch calling out for Mrs. Norris somewhere down the hall traveled through the open door of the potions classroom. Startled, Severus pushed Hermione backward and gripped her at arm's length by the biceps. She looked thoroughly snogged which spurred him to release her and step towards the doorway. He slashed his hand through the air, slamming the door and warding it. How could he have lost his self-control so easily? Weak, despicable, old man!

The girl was standing in the room chest heaving, hair a mess, cheeks pink, and looking utterly mesmerizing. Merlin, have mercy.

Severus rushed past her to stand behind his desk at the front of the room, putting space and obstacles between them. He should say something but was overwhelmed by the bond begging for more contact with the witch. He hated himself a little bit when he noticed the tenting in his pants. His mind flashed with a fantasy of her. A fantasy he had forced behind so many walls in his mind that he had forgotten about it completely.

His mind flashed back to a night at Grimmauld Place early that summer.

Severus had stumbled into the blasted house of Black late in the night. He had been summoned and forced to witness the death of his colleague, Professor Burbage. Nights like this one were almost worse than those when the Dark Lord allowed Bella to 'play' with him. His scars this time were mental rather than physical. Though Bella had still seen fit to send a slicing hex his way as he walked out of Malfoy Manor.

He didn't know what compelled him to choose Grimmauld Place over Spinner's End that night but he had been greeted by a fussy Molly Weasley and for once had not stopped her when she plied him with tea and food. Knowing that revealing his wound would only result in even more motherhen-ing from the Weasley matriarch, he had slipped himself a few potions until he could get some privacy.

By the time he was able to get to the room he normally occupied, he was barely standing on his feet. He did not notice that the bedroom door stood ajar as he slowly peeled his cloak from his body. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for the damnable buttons he had to undo. Even with magic it took longer than he liked. Dropping the frock coat to the ground revealed the white dress shirt with a bright red blossom of blood on his side. The bleeding had stopped and the drying of the fabric meant that it would be horrible to rip off.

Severus managed to get his right arm out of the shirt but hesitated to do the rest. The left side of the shirt was already dried to the wound, pulling at his skin as he delicately tugged at it. A gasp came from behind him and he whirled around. In the door was Miss Granger, in dark red pajama bottoms and a strappy tank that left her arms and shoulders bare.

"Are you going to add impeding upon my privacy to your long list of skills, Miss Granger?" He turned, too tired to be self-conscious about his state of undress. "Turn around and do not speak of this to anyone."

He watched the young woman step into his room and shut the door behind her. He raised a brow at her questioningly, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping a stubborn man," She replied with a clipped tone. With a wave of her hand she summoned a basin, water, and a washcloth. If he weren't so exhausted he would have questioned her ability to do magic outside of school. As far as he knew she wasn't of age yet.

"I'm of age, sir. I'd rather not explain it while you stand there half dressed, bleeding out," Miss Granger stepped up close to him and gestured for the desk chair close behind him, "Let me help you, Professor. I'm sure you've been through enough tonight."

He found it in himself to accept her compassion, which was more quiet and non intrusive than the Weasley matriarch's had been. Once seated, the girl knelt to the side of him, placed the basin of water next to her knees, and gently began dabbing the dry blood. He stared at her openly as she meticulously pulled the stained fabric from his skin. For the first time he noticed how elegant her hands were, how very controlled and without even a tremble to them. The girl's signature mane of hair had settled, somewhat, into manageable thick curls. He focused on a tight spiral in particular and imagined how long it would stretch if he pulled it taut.

Then he grew distracted by her bare shoulders. The thin straps of her top doing nothing to hide her freckles and soft skin. He could see the beginnings of a familiar scar below her collar bone that disappeared between her breasts into the thin top. Dolohov had made a comment at the summoning just that night that had he not been hit with a silencing charm that night at the Ministry, 'Potter would have had to pick up the Mudblood in two chunks'.

"Does the scar bother you, Miss Granger?"

She startled from her examination of his wound, having finally removed the ruined dress shirt. He was bleeding again as he waited for her answer.

"It bothers me in a way only a disfigurement can bother a young woman, Professor. I may not be as vain as Lavender Brown, but it has taken getting used to," She didn't look him in the eye as she spoke. With a wave of her hand, a bottle of dittany he had stashed in the bedside table flew towards her. He couldn't hide the expression of surprise at her easy wandless and non-verbal magic.

Before applying the dittany she began humming a spell he had never heard as she slowly ran her wand along the open wound. The humming was melodic and relaxing. For the first time in a very long time, Severus felt like he might fall asleep in the presence of another person.

"All done, Professor," Her voice was soft, yet lacked the pity he expected. He ran a hand down his side and found it healed and washed clean. The girl looked at him from her kneeling position. Without thinking he tilted her chin to get a better look into her honey eyes. Severus swallowed, which drew her attention to his Adam's apple. Her cheeks, which had been a light pink during the whole encounter, were now bright red as she licked her lips.

I wonder how those lips feel. The thought threw him off guard and he stood abruptly causing the girl to stumble backward. The spy pinched the bridge of his nose but didn't say anything as he held a hand out to her. With him standing and her back in a kneeling position his mind dove straight into the gutter. He wanted to thrust his hand into her curls and guide her head.

"Get up, Miss Granger," He snarled, grabbing the girl's hesitant hand and yanking her upward causing her to stumble into his chest. Vanilla and pistachio filled his nose. His eyes zero'd in on her bare shoulder. Time seemed to slow as he lifted a hand and delicately moved her strap back into place. The feel of his fingers against her skin made her gasp softly. When he met her eyes he found them dilated. Finding his senses he stepped back abruptly, "Get out."

Obviously, hearing the steeliness of his tone, the girl nodded wide-eyed and left the room with a slam of the door. Severus stood there for a moment, cursing the tenting of his pants as the vision of her eyes looking up at him played out in his mind's eye.

The subsequent self pleasuring that followed, and the erotic fantasy he had conjured through it were banished deep into his mind when he woke up the following morning. The guilt of thinking of his student in such a way had made it impossible for him to stay there any longer. He had left Grimmauld Place and had not spent another night there the rest of the summer.

He had completely forgotten about the night until now.

"Severus," Her voice broke through his reverie.

"You should go back to your dorm, Miss Granger, it's past curfew," He tried valiantly to return to his 'bastard of the dungeons' persona but faltered when she stepped closer to the desk that kept them apart.

"Severus," Hermione said again, looking apprehensive.

"Professor," He said, closing his eyes.

"What?"

"Say it."

"Professor?"

"Again."

"Professor."

"You will continue to address me by my appropriate title, Miss Granger," He straightened his back and sent her a cold look. "I apologize for taking such liberties with you tonight and before this."

"Liberties? Professor Snape, we are bonded. That bond saved my life and granted you freedom. This is what we are supposed to be doing!" Hermione was angry.

"I am still your Professor! I am 17 years your senior! I am a horrible man who has done unforgivable things but I do not plan to keep you trapped. I have to break the bond. We will find a way," He was vehement, meeting her glare with his own.

"Why are you fighting this? I know it's 10 times stronger for you. I know you feel how amazing it is when we are together," Hermione moved to the side of his desk and he circled around the other end.

"Why aren't you fighting this? You have had every right to hate me since you were 11 years old! I know that everything you think you feel for me is due to this bond!" Severus yelled. "It's not real. I will not encourage something that you have no say in."

"It's not a compulsion or else I would have shagged you in the Room of Requirement the other night, when we were alone and there was a bed!" Hermione countered but stayed at her side of the desk.

"Haven't we already agreed that I am the one taking the brunt of the symptoms? You should continue to resist. I am sure I can hold my own as long as I am not ambushed like I was moments ago." Severus tried to be angry at her. To convey to her how much it bothered him that her affection was not of her own choosing.

"Exactly! I am choosing to adhere to the bond. I want it. I want you and I know you want me too," Hermione closed in on him.

He put a hand up to stop her progress, "You are feeling the bond forcing your affection. That is all!"

"It's doing the same to you, right? So if we both just go with it because it's better than denying it, no one would blame us. It's expected of us," The girl still looked at him with more affection than anyone else had ever looked at him before and it only made him angrier.

"No! It is different for me, Miss Granger. I assure you that you would never touch me let alone kiss me as your Professor, so this," He gestured between them, "your 'need' for me is all manufactured. But the feelings I have for you began before this bond ever took hold."

She looked stunned at his confession.

"I refuse to accept your affection when it is not real. When it is a result of the blasted ritual. It would all be lies and I am tired of being lied to," Severus looked away, walking to the classroom door and opening it for her. "Leave. Now."