Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Hermione aimed her wand at her face and tried fruitlessly to charm her glamoured hair into have a slight curl. She had never really needed to curl hair before, since her normal hair was usually a curly mess that she piled on the top of her head in a messy bun, so the incantation sounded foreign on her tongue. She skimmed her finger over the page in a book she had borrowed from the library and tried the charm again. Her glamour held strong and her hair remained stick straight. She sighed, Dumbledore had really wanted to make sure this glamour stuck, obviously.

Hermione turned from the mirror in a huff of frustration and pulled out her beaded bag. Her hand dove into the inside and riffled around until she pulled out a small bag of muggle makeup. She normally never wore makeup or charmed her face to look like she had it on as many of her friends in her time did. Instead, she preferred to use the morning to sleep in since they usually followed a late night of reading.

She pulled out the eyeliner and pulled at her lids, applying the black liner as quickly as possible before her eyes started to water. She then applied two coats of mascara, poking herself in the eye once with the wand and cursing the small, poky instrument. She patted a stain of rouge on her cheeks before swiping a nude lipstick over her lips.

She stared at her reflection and sucked in a breath. She looked so off with the blonde hair, she missed her normal color terribly. She grimaced at the thought of how much her straight, blondish white hair reminded her of the Malfoys. She shook the thought from her mind as she pulled on her healer’s uniform. Hopefully, Severus would like the small bit of effort she had put forth. Her stomach was already flipping at the thought of seeing him that afternoon.

She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous, other than the fact that he had grown to be a friend…of sorts. However, she didn’t like the idea of him slithering through her mind which is what he had been doing so often lately. But she liked spending time with him. He had grown on her. His acerbic sense of humor had taken some time to get used to, but she soon found herself quipping back to his sarcastic comments with ones of her own. He seemed to enjoy their banter as well; since, occasionally, a small smile would tug at his lips and he would look away from her to hide behind the curtain of black hair that hung around his face.

Hermione was not daft. She knew that Severus was a dangerous person in this time, but she couldn’t come to demonize him like Harry was so quick to do in her time. She understood his need to fit in and she really didn’t see him as believing in Voldemort’s cause. And she knew, sometime soon, he would switch to Dumbledore’s side. She just hoped that her talk with him a few weeks ago had helped sway him.

She took one final look at herself in the mirror before pushing away from the mirror and heading out the door to get to the infirmary. The sun hadn’t come up yet as she walked down to the hospital wing and started her rounds. She kept a low light in the large room as she started her rounds, knowing that getting started before Madam Pomfrey arrived would please the older witch.

She dutifully went about her day, now completely on her own in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was around for her to ask questions when needed, but otherwise she was alone. She kept herself busy by checking on her brewing in her downtime. This was still not enough to keep her occupied though, and Pomfrey must have noticed because at lunch time an owl delivered three monstrous books to her desk in their shared office.

Hermione removed the paper wrappings and saw they were all advanced healing books on wounds from dark magic. Her brows furrowed together as she paged through the thin pages. She wondered why Pomfrey had gotten those books for her. Pushing the odd feeling she got aside, she spent the rest of her afternoon reading the thick tomes.

“What are you reading?”

The deep, quiet voice startled her into closing the book as she jumped. Her hand flew to her chest as she looked up to Severus leaning against the door frame to her office, watching her. “Severus! You startled me!” She laughed and looked over at the book, “It was a gift from Madam Pomfrey, I think. She knows I’ve already read the entire library’s collection on healing books.”

Severus pushed away from the door jam and took a few slow steps towards her. Her eyes followed him as he drew near, forcing her to tilt her head up to watch as he stooped over her desk to examine the books. “Pretty dark material for a school healer.” His eyebrow raised in question and his dark eyes met hers.

Hermione nodded, “I guess she thought it could be useful with the events that are happening right now.”

Severus’ eyes narrowed, “What do you mean?”

She shrugged, “There has been a lot of talk about a wizarding war coming about soon. It seems to look like the events that lead up to one are happening. It would be better to be prepared for the worst than go into it stupidly optimistic, don’t you think?” She gestured to the books.

Severus’ face went stony as he stared at the book. Hermione saw the haunted look in his eyes and quickly grabbed the book from her desk and shoved it into her bag, concealing it from his lingering gaze.

She gave him a small smile as she stood and tucked her hair behind her ear coyly. “Did you want to head off?” Severus nodded curtly and she slipped her arm through his. She noticed the look of surprise on his face, but he didn’t shrug her away.

He lead them out of the castle and down the trail to hogsmeade. It was beautiful at this time of year, everything was painted in bright oranges and yellows. The leaves crunched beneath their feet as they trekked to the small village. She asked him how his classes were going and he gave her an exasperated answer, stating he was more than ready to graduate. It was funny hearing how much he wanted to leave Hogwarts when she knew he was destined to teach there as an adult. It seemed like such a…teenage conversation to be having with someone who she regarded as very much an adult.

“What do you want to do when you’re done with school?”

His brows drew together and he stared at the ground. His eyes shifted quickly to her in embarrassment as he said, “Promise not to laugh.”

Hermione’s lip turned up into a half smile as she rolled her eyes, “I would never!”

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “I want to be an…auror.” He winced, looking at her as if expecting her to laugh. When he saw her face stay unchanged he continued on, “I-I am good at getting into other people’s minds. And Defense Against the Dark Arts is my favorite class. I think I would be good at tracking down dark wizards….all things considered. I know how they work and think rather well.”

Hermione’s thoughts went to the dark mark imprinted on his forearm. Becoming an auror would be nearly impossible with that on his skin. Aurors had to be trusted with sensitive information about the ministry and a death eater would not be trusted with anything. A wave of sadness washed over her as she listened to him talk about how he thought he would be qualified. The sad part about it was that he was right. He would’ve been a very good auror. He had proved that in her time spying for Dumbledore. In a twisted sort of way…he got what he wanted. “I think you’d make a great auror, Severus.”

His face changed from uncertain to surprise, “Really?”

“Truly. You’re a talented wizard, they would be crazy to not take you.”

His face softened and his lips quirked into an uncertain smile that he quickly hid behind his hair as he looked down at his feet.

They trudged down the path together in the brisk highland air until they reached the bustling village. Hermione watched as the younger students zoomed around the town in little packs of overly-sugared excitement. Severus led her to the bookstore first and she could barely contain her thirst at the sight of all the books lining the shelves.

She ran her fingers over their spines appreciatively. She noticed Severus had fallen behind her and she turned around as her fingers brushed over the books and gave him a heart-felt smile. He stopped, staring at her for a moment before hurrying to catch up to her as she rounded the corner to the next floor to ceiling aisle.

The smell of the place was amazing. She stopped and picked up a huge book on vampires and their culture and fanned the pages, breathing the scent in as she did. She felt her back warming and turned to see Severus was reading the page over her shoulder. “Vampires? You certainly have a strange array of tastes in books, Cresswell.”

Hermione shrugged and gave him a small smirk, “I guess I like things that hang out in dark dungeons.”

Severus frowned at her, “I think they live in normal homes for the most part. They just need to sleep in dark areas shielded from the sun or they’ll burn, but other than that they’re just the same as us.”

Hermione laughed at him and shook her head. The joke was lost on him, of course, since he technically didn’t know just how much time he had ahead of him spent in a dungeon. She shelved the book and moved on to more healing books. She stopped at one book on antivenoms and couldn’t seem to pull herself away from it. She added it to her stack of books she was planning on purchasing and saw Severus looking in quiet astonishment at her haul.

As they exited the store and walked in silence together towards the three broomsticks, she pulled one of the books out of the paper bag and handed it to him. It was dark blue with silver letting embellishing its leather bound surface. “Delving into the Layers of the Psyche: A Legilimens’ Guide to Reading the Mind?” His dark eyes met hers and narrowed a fraction, “How did you-?”

Hermione’s eyes tore away from his and she tucked her hair nervously behind her ears, “I can feel you in my mind sometimes. I-I thought you would maybe find it interesting.”

She felt his hand firmly grasp her upper arm to stop her in the middle of the sidewalk, his dark eyes burned down into her amber ones. “I didn’t mean to intrude, please, Acacia. You have to understand-“

Hermione shook her head, “I’m not angry, Severus. Really, its okay.”

“No, its not.” His voice hardened as did his grip. She glanced down at the hand that was wrapped around her arm and tried to quiet the racing of her heart. “I would never- I didn’t want to-“ He ran a hand through his hair angrily and looked around at the kids scurrying around them. “Not here, its too public.”

He jerked her down a deserted alley and into a small, cramped potions shop. A small, elderly wizard came out of the back and greeted them. “Anything I can help you find today, Mr. Snape?”

Severus’ deep voice boomed around the small walls of the shop, “Nothing today, Mr. Habbertash.”

The small wizard walked towards them frowning, “What?”

Severus’ eyes went up towards the ceiling before he just about yelled at the small wizard, “Just looking today, Sir.”

“Okay, just let me know if you need anything.” The ancient wizard disappeared back behind the counter at the back of the shop and Severus turned to her.

“Where are we?” Hermione asked, looking around at the strange ingredients lining the walls in their glass jars.

The small shop was filled floor to ceiling with ingredients of different kinds in dusty jars. Some suspended in liquid and others dried. Some of the ingredients looked rather questionable. They had hand-written labels under each one, the handwriting almost impossible to read. Hermione reached out towards one of the jars and Severus snatched her hand and held it close to his chest. “Do not…touch that one.” He dragged out his sentence which made her gulp. He sounded very much like her professor in this moment. “You’ll lose the feeling in your hand if you touch it without the proper protection.”

Hermione nodded, wide-eyed.

He sighed and let her hand go, the welts disappearing from their connected hands. “I brought you here because I wanted to tell you that I wouldn’t intrude on your mind if I had the option.” Hermione’s face contorted in confusion. He seemed to wrestle with how he wanted to say what he was going to say to her for a moment, “The dark lord is a legilimens as well, Acacia. Usually, I have nothing to hide from him when he enters my mind, but he saw you in my thoughts. He saw that I noticed that you wear a glamour and he told me to find out why. He thinks that you have been sent to Hogwarts on a mission against his cause since Hogwarts has never taken a student healer on, especially since you are doing your apprenticeship in such a short time. He thinks that the timing of everything is too coincindental and that you are really here to get information on the students who are turning to his side. Which is why you didn’t turn me over to Pomfrey when you saw my mark. Because you need to get close to me to get information from me. It all sounds so ridiculous, doesn’t it?”

Hermione’s heart was pounding in her chest. She could barely hear him over the roaring of blood in her ears. She was sure all the color had drained from her face. She gave him a nervous little laugh, “It does sound outlandish.” The thought of Voldemort being suspicious of her in this time sent a chill down her spine. The last thing she needed was to draw attention from him.

“Don’t worry about it, Acacia. There’s nothing to his theory, so you’ll be fine.”

Hermione shook her head and smiled at Severus, “Of course. I just wish you hadn’t taken that mark, Severus. I’m worried about you…”

Severus looked shocked, “Worried? About me? What for?”

“I just don’t want you getting swallowed up in their ideals. You’re different from them, Severus.” She looked down at her feet, “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Severus snorted at her, “I can handle myself. And you don’t need to worry, they would never do anything to me.”

“It looked like they did plenty to you the night I found you in the corridor.” She sighed and shook her head, “All I’m saying is, be careful. Okay?”

Severus stared down at her before changing the subject and leading her around the small shop, pointing out some of the more rare ingredients before they left and headed for the three broomsticks once again.

His hand brushed hers as they walked and she felt a spark travel up her arm at the contact. She carefully brushed her pinky against the side of his hand and felt the spark of magic run through her again. She glanced up at him, making sure to hide the fact that she was looking at him, and saw no reaction from her touch. She tried it again, this time lingering a little longer and his eyes flicked down to their hands ever so quickly before snapping back to the road and continuing on his story about hexing James Potter in Defense Against the Dark Arts last week.

They reached the bar and took their seats. They both ordered warm butterbeers and talked for a while, their conversation starting off stilted before easing as the butterbeer warmed them. Hermione giggled at his sarcastic comments and absently touched his hand from across the table. She saw his eyes dart down to where she was touching him and pulled away quickly.

As the time drew near for them to part, he helped her into her jacket and walked with her out of the three broomsticks, leaving a tip on the table for Madam Rosmerta. They walked back to the castle, laughing and chattering as they climbed up the steep trail. The walk was significantly colder than it had been a few hours ago going down, and Hermione’s cheeks were getting rosy in the wind. Severus had just the slightest tinge to his and she saw he was shivering from the cold. The jacket he wore had several holes in it and looked thread-bare. He shoved his hands into his pockets and pushed on against the wind.

Hermione stopped them and pointed her wand at the pockets of his jacket. “What are you-?” She shushed him and muttered a spell under her breath, then smiled up at him. His face changed from suspicion to astonishment as his pockets warmed his hands magically.

“It’s a warming charm, but it should stay in your pockets permanently.” When his eyes narrowed at her, she began feeling a bit foolish, “I didn’t mean to overstep, its just that your coat looks thin and you looked so cold so I-“

Her words died in her mouth as he took a step closer to her. He was just mere inches from her as he towered over her. His hand slid up to her neck and his thumb brushed her cheek softly. She felt like her eyes were going to buldge out of her head as her heart sped up and her stomach tossed inside of her. He leaned down and his lips met her softly. She stood there perfectly still as his lips brushed over hers in a feather light kiss. Her eyes closed and she felt herself leaning into his hard body.

She craned her neck to keep contact with his lips and opened her eyes when her lips met nothing but chilly air. His dark eyes drilled down into hers. “Thank you.” He murmered.

Hermione’s voice was breathy and light, “Anytime.”

He pulled away from her and started walking up the trail once more, leaving her dumbstruck behind him. “Keeping up, Cresswell?” He threw over his shoulder as he got further up the hill.

Hermione shook herself out of her reverie and quickly followed him towards Hogwarts.