''Miss Granger, are you with us?'' Professor McGonagall said briskly, raising her eyebrows.
''Sorry Professor, I was miles away,'' Hermione murmured, still gazing out of the window. Ron looked surprised, but Harry was also looking at the blackboard in a stupor.
''What is it with you two at the moment?'' Ron grumbled. ''You'd think I was talking to myself half the time.''
''Sorry mate, I've been a bit busy with......well, stuff,'' Harry whispered. ''Dunno what's up with Hermione, though, she's been acting weird all week.''
Hermione appeared not to have heard. She was doodling idly over a piece of parchment, the same letters over and over again, encircled in a small red heart. Ron grabbed it.
''What's this?'' he said angrily. ''HG for SS? Who's SS?''
''Give that back!'' Hermione hissed. ''It's none of your business.'' The colour had risen to her cheeks.
''Who is it? Who's this SS, eh?'' Ron snarled. ''What's happened to Vicky then?''
''Oh grow up Ron,'' Hermione snapped.
''Wait, you've written a poem - ''
''Don't! That's private!''
''My heart swells and my spirit soars
As SS takes a giant pause
And strides manly to my desk
Smiles and winks, nonetheless
He lays a palm upon my shoulder
I feel at least
“- wait, who is this?''
''Stop reading that now,'' Hermione cried, trying to grab the parchment off him. ''You're just disappointed that it isn't you.''
Ron blushed. ''I don't want you writing soppy little poems about me thanks,'' he retorted childishly.
''Oh shut up, you two, you're doing my head in,'' Harry said angrily.
''My sentiments exactly, Mr. Potter,'' McGonagall replied from the front of the classroom. ''If Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley cannot behave, I shall be happy to see them in detention tonight. You have been warned.''
Hermione and Ron shut up. The threat of detention was too much. Ron had Quidditch practice, and Hermione....well, Hermione had a meeting with Snape.
She had been so confused about her feelings towards him since their last meeting in the Dungeon. Sometimes she met his eyes in the corridors, and he blushed visibly and turned away. Often if they were going in the same direction, he would take an elaborate detour to get away from her. Did he hate her, or was his passion too great for him? Hermione could not decide. Sometimes she wondered if she had imagined his gaze upon her the week before. Yet in the Dungeon, straight after it had happened, she had been so sure.
Transfiguration ended, and she hurried down to Potions, anticipation flooding her stomach. She saw Ron storming his way to the Great Hall in a vile temper, and felt a small twinge of regret. Yet she couldn't help it if she didn't like him in that way. It wasn't like she ever led him on.
Thoughts of Ron vanished from Hermione's mind as she entered the Dungeon. Snape stood adding Phoenix feathers to the potion, wisps of electric blue clouding his pale face.
''Good evening, Miss Granger. I hope we will not have a repeat of last week. Otherwise we may have to postpone working together.'' Snape's lips were curled in a cruel smile.
Hermione felt bitter. She had been wrong, she must have been wrong. How mortifying, when she thought of what she had said! Nevertheless, she would be calm and mature - he would not have the satisfaction of seeing her cringe.
''Good evening, Professor. Rest assured, what happened last Thursday will not happen again. I am not as desperate for your attention as you seem to think.''
''No? I didn't look at you in a certain way then?'' Snape said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. And yet, his eyes fell on her body, and lingered there, and the cruel smile left his lips.
''No, Professor,'' Hermione said stiffly, although she could feel his gaze. ''You didn't. And if I were to develop a 'school-girl crush', as you so charmingly put it, it would not be on you.'' Liar! she thought to herself. When you've been writing poetry about him for days.
''I'd rather not talk about who you do and don't have crushes on, Granger. I am not remotely interested in your petty little love life. All I wish to know is whether you have found the incantation for the Legalitus Potion. If you have, I would be grateful to have it. Then we need not spend any more time feeding your little fantasies.''
''Fantasies? Oh, you sad, arrogant little man. As though I would have fantasies about you!''
''I am a skilled Legilimens, Granger. Do not try to lie to me.''
''So you've been reading my mind? I thought you weren't interested in my 'petty little love-life'. Why bother?''
Snape paused. ''You are so annoyingly bright, Granger,' he said, all the while looking her figure up and down. ''Why bother, indeed, to read your mind if I wasn't interested? Perhaps, against my will, I am. I thought it wasn't possible, to actually like a woman after all this time. Do you know that I haven't, haven't so much as looked at one since I was eighteen years of age? I've kept the bitter taste of her leaving me, of her choosing that-that arrogant Potter fool, of them both ending up dead. I've kept it with me throughout my entire adult life. And now it's too late for anything else. And for the only woman after all that time, for that woman to be you! A Muggle born, something I have been taught to hate since infancy, and a know-it-all at that. A firm friend of Harry Potter's, the son of a man I despised - oh, how many reasons I have to hate you Granger! One of my students, to cap it all - it is too ironic. It cannot be, it is not meant to be.”
He was white with passion. “I just can't help myself, Granger. And when I finally succumb to what I feel, I will be risking my career, your future. And not just that, if the Dark Lord conceives of my disloyalty, my life ends there. You of all people must know he shows no pity. I cannot fall in love; it will give me something to live for. It is better that I die, sad, sardonic, and so envious of everyone that they cannot help hating me. These meetings are too dangerous, I cannot halt my urges towards you...''
''But Severus,'' Hermione whispered. She did not quite know what to say.
''It's Professor Snape to you. Remember that.'' His lips were drawn into a thin, narrow line.
''Severus, I'll leave school soon....,'' she trailed off. ''I like you.''
''And your parents will rejoice, will they, at you setting up with a man old enough to be your father? Oh Hermione, you are naive.''
He had turned away from her; he would not look at her.
Hermione turned his face towards her in her hands, and kissed him. At this, he couldn't stop; he kissed her back, pressing her against him. She was wrapped inside his robes, they were almost, they weren't going to....
''NO!'' Snape pulled back, pushing her away. ''We can't,'' he said severely.'' Give me the incantation, then go.''
Tears started in Hermione's eyes. She gave him a scrap of parchment wordlessly, and ran out of the Dungeon. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of bright-red hair, a person scrambling up the staircase. Her heart sank within her. She knew it could only be Ron.