Black eyes glittered down at Hermione with fiery anger that made her heart pick up its speed. She was cornered between the wall and Severus Snape, who was bare from the chest up, his newly healed skin still pink and glistening in the dim candlelight of her rooms.

Her head was buzzing from the alcohol which made her feel more confident than she normally would have. She gently pressed her palm flat into Severus’ chest, his hot skin moist against her palm, and pressed him back away from her. “I see you’re finally awake, Severus.”

His eyes burned into her hand that was pressed into his chest still. He looked up at her with an odd expression on his face. “You’re drunk.”

Hermione smiled up at him, “And you’re hot.” His expression twisted into confusion and Hermione’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “I mean its hot in here.”

She pulled her hand away from his chest, realizing she was still touching him, and went over to her window and cracked it open. The chilly night air rushed in, and she saw goosebumps spring up over Severus’ skin. He turned from her gaze quickly, searching for a shirt to cover himself with. He pulled the material over his head and hissed as the cloth scratched at his tender skin.

Hermione crossed the room to him and lifted the shirt, looking at his hip bone where a nasty burn had been the previous night. Severus grabbed her hand tightly and Hermione looked up at him with a smile, “Oh, please. Let me see it. I’ve already seen everything once before. I need to make sure its healing properly or you’ll never get out of here.”

Snape’s grip on her hands loosened, but he didn’t let go, so she pulled his shirt up with his hands still around her wrists. Whatever he needed to do to feel in control enough to let her look at his injuries was okay with her. She examined the pink skin and traced a finger over the slash in his ribs, making him shiver. Hermione forgot who she was touching for a moment and giggled at the reaction her touch caused.

He shoved her hands away sending her stumbling back a step and pulled his shirt down roughly, “That’s quite enough.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, “It looks like its healing well. How are you feeling?”

“Like I want to be anywhere other than here with you.” He sneered at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She caught his quick glance down at her chest and then back to her face. It was so quick, she thought she had imagined it. “You’re just angry with me because I went out for drinks with James, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter.” She spat the last wizard’s name which got her a questioning look from Snape, but she continued, “I’m allowed to make friends even though I’m here for my apprenticeship, you realize?”

“Is that what you call that display in the hall? Friendship?” Severus snarled at her.

Hermione was taken aback. “How did you know about-“

“About you and Lupin? You two weren’t exactly quiet coming down the hall, Cresswell.” Snape’s eyes burned with fury at the mention of the incident.

“You were spying on me!” Hermione laughed.

“No!”

“Severus Snape are you jealous of Remus?”

A look of utter shock morphed Severus’ features. This was the most emotion she had ever seen from him. And so what if the alcohol was making her more forthwith than she normally would have been? She was interested to know his answer.

He stalked towards her, towering over her so that she had to crane her head back to keep his gaze. “Why would I ever be jealous of him? If you’re low enough to sleep with dogs, I don’t want anything to do with you.” His nose wrinkled up at her as he spat the words out.

It was Hermione’s turn to be shocked this time. She held his gaze, frozen in astonishment. His gaze was a look of disgust, but she could see something else in it too. Sadness? They glared at each other for what felt like forever before he brushed past her and flicked his wand at the wall, letting himself out of her rooms.

Hermione’s head was pounding in anger and confusion. How dare he say something like that to her? Its not like she chose to kiss Remus! And he couldn’t just decide that she wasn’t allowed to be friends with the marauders just because he didn’t like them. She crossed over to her bed and ripped the covers back angrily. She was hoping that coming to this time would give her a leg up on her impending marriage to the man, not make him even less attractive as a future husband. Hermione changed out of her clothes and flopped heavily into her bed. One thing was for certain, though she hated to admit it to herself, he did look good without a shirt on.

- - -

Hermione moved through her week slowly, distracted by thoughts of Remus and Severus. She didn’t know what she should do about the whole situation. The only thought that kept her sanity was the fact that she glamoured herself, so her identity would remain a secret and neither of them would know it was actually her that they were interacting with. She couldn’t imagine what Professor Lupin would do if he knew he kissed her when he was a teenager. She was sure he would never be able to live with himself. Not to mention the fact that he was trying desperately to get her attention whenever they ran into each other in the halls or at meals. She could feel his gaze on her all the time.

In exact contrast to that was Severus. He went from trying to get into her head every time she saw him, to respecting her boundaries, to pretending she didn’t exist. She stared at him from the head table in the great hall as she picked at her food. At least when he was interested in her, she got some interaction with him. Now, she was completely ignored, like he didn’t know who she was at all.

She glared at him as she stabbed a pea on her plate rather forcefully. “Are you alright, dear?” Minerva McGonagall asked her, looking worriedly at her peas.

Hermione shook herself from her reverie and gave the older witch a small smile, “Yes, I’m fine. Just not very hungry tonight.”

“It looks like you have a personal vendetta against those peas. Are you sure everything is going well?” Her thick accent and knowing look made Hermione sheepishly put her fork down. She put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly.

“I think I’m just going to head to the library for a while. Thank you, though, Minerva.” She patted the witch’s hand and then got up to leave.

She walked down the great hall’s long tables, passing Severus as she went. She stared at him as she walked by and his eyes met hers before dropping to his food. She continued on her way out of the great hall and to the library to pick out a few books before bringing them back to the shared office at the hospital wing. She checked on the two students who had been in the hospital wing for a few days before going into the office and charming her chair with a cushioning charm. She opened the first book and nestled into its pages. Pomphrey came to check on her and the two students before retiring to bed, leaving Hermione on her night shift to quietly read in the peace of the night.

The hours dragged on and Hermione’s eye lids were getting heavy, but she continued to read. She needed to finish her studying before she could go to bed, and her time was slipping by quickly. She shifted in her chair, trying to get comfortable but she had been there for hours and her back was cramping.

She heard a shuffling and some commotion coming towards the hospital wing and rushed to meet the noise before the doors, not wanting the students who were fast asleep in their beds to be awakened by the disturbance. She quietly shut the doors to the infirmary behind her and came face to face with Mr. Filtch, the caretaker with a procalvity for finding students misbehaving past curfew, and McGonagall. Filtch pushed forward Remus and Severus, both looking guilty and irritated.

“What’s going on?” Hermione asked quietly, trying to keep the noise level down.

“I caught these two ‘ere trying tuh hex each ofer’s bullocks off, is wha’appened.” Filtch said proudly.

McGonagall frowned at the caretaker in a disapproving way before clearing her throat and turning to Hermione. “Dumbledore thinks it would be wise to start using detentions as a way to learn. These young men were caught dueling and are getting detention once a week for a month. Since they are both gifted students and are top of their class, I think having them help you brew potions for the school would be a fitting punishment.” She glared at the boys, “Since they seem hellbent on ending up in the hospital wing, they can help restock it.”

Hermione looked from Remus’ shamefaced expression to Severus’ outright fury. “Top of their class, Professor?”

Minerva smiled, “Oh yes, they’ve been fighting with each other for the spot of highest in the class since their first year here. They will be more than happy to help you brew for the hospital wing, wont you?” She pressed them.

They both nodded and agreed. Remus looked much more pleased with the prospect of spending more time with Hermione than Severus did. Severus’ lips twisted into a scowl and she knew he was not looking forward to the extra time with her.

Hermione dragged her gaze from the boys in front of her and to the head of house. “That seems like a fair trade. Friday nights after dinner would work for me.”

Both boys looked upset at the loss of their Friday night, but McGonagall wouldn’t hear any of it. She agreed for them and helped escort Remus back to his room, leaving Severus with Filtch. Hermione watched Severus’ form retreat down the hall until it was engulfed in darkness.

- - -

Hermione bent over her herbs growing in her window sill. She touched one of the leaves and it turned black and reduced to a powdery ash. Her brows knit together in confusion and she lightly rubbed another leaf on the plant between her two fingers. Immediately, the plant went from a healthy green to black ash at her touch.

“What in the-?”

“Acacia.”

The deep voice murmured just behind her made Hermione jump and turn around quickly. She was soon face to… well, chest, with Severus Snape. She craned her neck to look up at him with an angry expression, “How did you get into my rooms, Mr. Snape?”

Severus smirked, “Your wards are much easier to get through when you’ve already been on the inside of them.”

Hermione’s face flushed with anger, “You shouldn’t be here-“

Severus’ hand caught a stray hair and he brushed it behind her ear, bending slightly to look into her amber eyes. “Do you really mean that?”

He was so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating off of him. She could smell his woody scent and the mint of his toothpaste on his breath. His dark robes seemed to engulf her and she soon felt the wall pressing into her back as he drew closer to her. He inhaled her scent and his eyes closed as he breathed in, his chest brushing against hers.

“You always smell so good, like gardenia and jasmine.” His eyes opened and drilled into hers. His hand pressed into the wall beside her head, cornering her into his frame.

Hermione’s breath hitched and she glanced at the hand inches from her head, then back to his deep eyes. She felt like she was floating, her body betraying her as her stomach did somersaults with the close proximity to him.

“Can you tell me something?” His free hand traced a finger lightly down the side of her face and Hermione was so scared, she felt like moving was an impossible feat. She now understood why prey froze when they suspected they were in danger. “Why did you help me the other night? You saw my mark and you kept it a secret instead of reporting it. Why?”

“I would expect you to help me if I needed it.” Her tone was much more breathy than she cared to admit.

“But you know what the dark mark means. You know what kind of person I am.” He said, his fingers trailing across her collarbone.

Hermione swallowed thickly, “I know what kind of person you are, Severus. You haven’t figured it out yet, but you are a good man.”

His dark eyes glittered dangerously, “Is that so? How would you know what kind of person I will be?”

“Because you’re not a death eater anymore in my time.”

Severus jerked back in surprise, “In your time? What does that mean?”

Hermione’s heart sped up. Shit! She said too much! Her eyes widened in horror and she pushed away from him. “Get out, Severus!”

He caught her by the wrist and jerked her to him, and she fell out of bed into the pitch black of her bedroom. She gasped for air and blindly searched for her wand in the dark until she found it, shouting, “Lumos!” and searching wildly around for Severus.

Nothing was out of place in her rooms and the plant at her windowsill looked healthy once again. She crossed the room quickly to the small arrangement of herbs and she touched the leaves, nothing happened. No ash or crumbling to be seen. It had all been a dream.

She cast a couple extra warding spells on her door before returning to her bed. The dream had felt so real, she could’ve sworn he had been in the room with her. She pulled the covers up to her chin and willed her mind to stop spinning. Thank goodness it had only been a dream.