I own none of the characters. I only own the story. The

characters belong to J.K. Rowling.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



It began as a normal day, until the object of her affections

came into view.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Now, Hermione had never expected this to be the way her life

would be lived, but then again, she never expected to fall in

love with one of her professors. Granted, he was no longer

her professor- she had graduated a couple year before hand-

but it still felt wrong.


It was Severus Snape.


"It has always been Snape" Hermione found herself

confessing to Harry, "Always, ever since the beginning of our

first year. I can't help it, I've tried to ignore it, but I can't get

him out of my head."


"Snape...?"Harry asked in a confused voice, "Severus

Snape?" He was sure by now that they were talking about a

different Snape; surely there could be more than one person

in the wizarding world with that name.


"Yes, Harry. Severus Snape. The 'greasy git' that taught us

Potions for the past seven years. You can't possibly have forgotten

him!?" The sarcasm was impossible to miss, even for Harry.


"But.... Why? How?" He was at a loss for words, he just

couldn't believe that this could happen. "It just makes no

sense."


"I know, I don't understand it either, but it is what it is. I've

gotten used to it, why can't you?" Hermione looked hopefully

at her friend.


"Does he know?" Harry asked, dreading the response.


"No. I've never had the guts to tell him."


Relief soared through her friend’s body, but then he began to

think about Hermione’s happiness.


"Tell him.” Harry reluctantly told her, “He should know. Who

knows, it just might work out."


He's taking this surprisingly well, Hermione thought to herself,

I'm quite impressed about how grown up he

has become.


"I will tell him!" Hermione exclaimed "Just not yet," she

added quietly, more to herself than anyone else.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A month had passed since Hermione told Harry about he

infatuation with Severus Snape, and yet she still hadn’t told

the object of her affections.


The days had grown much longer as the summer months

approached, and Hermione was still debating whether or not

the love was true, or just a silly schoolgirl crush. True, it had

been two years since she had last had a class with him, but she

was still at the castle, having acquired a position as an

assistant to Professor McGonagall. With this position came

the task of trying to hide her emotions from Severus.


“Oh, how I wish I could just tell him!” Hermione cried out

hopelessly, “But he would never accept me, I’m just some

stupid little girl that he used to teach.”


Unknown to her, Severus was fighting the exact same battle

with himself.


Down in the dungeons, away from the prying eyes of the

students and staff, Professor Severus Snape was trying to

reason with himself over a crush gone wild.


“I don’t love her!” he yelled at himself. “I can’t love her!

She’s just a girl! That’s all! A young, inexperienced, annoying,

know-it-all, breathtakingly beautiful, young lady, whom I love

with all my heart.” Snape realized the full extent of his love,

the moment these words left his lips. “Damnit! Now I have to

go tell her, before I explode! I hate it when I’m wrong!”

Severus still didn't fully understand how he could feel like

this, but he let it slide.


And off he went, off to find the love of his life, and hope he

wasn’t horribly rejected in front of everyone.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Hermione sat alone at the staff table, lunch having just

started, and looked around for him. Out of nowhere, it

seemed, was Severus, striding towards her, looking oddly

nervous considering it was just lunch like every other day.


How wrong she was.


Severus walked towards her, and sat down right beside her.


In an instant, her heart started pumping madly, her pulse

going so fast she was sure that she was vibrating from it. But

these were regular feelings, they happened whenever she got

within ten feet of him. Nothing out of the ordinary, she said

to herself. It’s only lunch.


And then Severus began to talk.


“Miss Granger…”


“Please, call me Hermione, you know how I hate being called

Miss Granger by colleagues.”


“Fine… Hermione, I have something I have to tell you. But I’m

afraid of how you will respond.”


“Severus…” His heart pounded harder at her calling him

Severus…


“You know you can tell me anything you want. I won’t make

fun of you. I respect you.”


Oh good, he thought, she respects me. That’s not a good

sign, maybe I should just leave it… But then it hit him, that

he couldn’t just say nothing. Those innocent, gorgeous brown

eyes of his love couldn’t be ignored. Slowly, he began to talk

again.


“Miss…Hermione. This is so hard for me to say, it would be

hard for me to say to anyone, but to say it to you is the

hardest.” This isn’t so bad, he thought to himself. I can do this.


“What is it, Severus?” Hermione suddenly looked nervous.

What have I done now? He’s going to yell at me or

something, or say that he hates me, I can’t take it!


“Well, it’s just that… Well… Okay… This is the thing…”


Hermione had never seen him look so nervous. He was the

most feared professor that had ever taught at Hogwarts, and

now he’s stuttering over a simple conversation. This is

strange, she deduced. Something’s seriously wrong.


“Fine, I'll just say it then. Hermione, I love you.” Severus was

deeply disturbed at having been so open about his feelings,

as it was so unlike him to say anything about his emotions to

anyone. He had to protect his horrible, mean potions master

reputation.


The words hung like the hundreds of candles in the still air.


“You… what?”


Hermione couldn’t believe her ears. Could she have possibly

heard wrong? Or did the love of her life really say that he

loved her?


“Don't you listen?! I said… I love you! I have since you were

in sixth year. I saw the way you had grown up, from a child,

into a beautiful, intelligent, woman, and I fell in love.” The

Potions Master was shocked that he spilled this much to

Hermione. I'm going insane, he deduced. I'm never this nice.


“Wow… That’s unexpected.”


“Forget I said it! I shouldn't have said anything!” He made to

stand up, but Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him back

down. Snape was terrified that she was about to laugh at him…

wait, he was terrified of that? Maybe just terrified that she

would tell the whole school about his feelings that were

incidentally not hate or loathing, or tell him to get lost, but the

last thing he expected was the kiss she then gave him.


“I love you too, Severus.” Her quiet voice mixed with her soft

lips on his made his heart pound wildly, and he could tell that

there was a red flush creeping it's way onto his pale face.


“You're kidding...For... for how long...?” He asked tentatively.

This certainly was becoming more and more interesting.

She's noticed that I'm not all harsh looks and meanness. That

better not get out! he thought desperately. I'm going to wake

up at any moment! He thought to himself, This can't be true.

It's all a dream. How can I have these feelings? Severus was

still pondering how this happened. I'm supposed to be the

most feared teacher in Hogwarts history! What's happening to

me? Am I going soft?!


“Well... Truthfully... Ever since I first saw you. I couldn’t help

myself, and as I learned more from you, and got to know you

a little better... well... I guess it just hit me. I've been

spending so much more time with you lately... You know...

Now that I work here and everything... I mean, I wasn't sure

at first... Thought it was just a crush..."


Oh God! I'm rambling! Shut up, Hermione! Get a grip on

yourself! Hermione thought to herself, I must stay calm! She

waited for his response. But after a few minutes, in which he

remained incredibly silent, (Hermione thought he had stopped

breathing, or that he was catatonic, she didn't know that he

was still trying to figure out when he became a softy. He

honestly couldn't think of how it could have happened) she

continued.


"But now I know for sure. I love you. ” She spoke the words

quietly, as if to keep her feelings hidden from everyone else

but him.


“It’s always been you."