What if Hermione found a way to prove to the Order that Professor Snape was on their side, before the final battle broke out. This was just something I thought up, since Hermione always seemed to take up for Professor Snape when someone criticized him. I try to keep the story true to the way the characters are in the movies. I research to make sure I am phrasing things correctly, and some things are straight from my imagination. All characters and everything related to Harry Potter, belong to J. K. Rowling. I am glad that I get a chance to play a little in the world she created. Please be kind in your reviews, you can give constructive criticism without being nasty. Thanks for taking the time to read!

Hermione placed the small vials in her bag and prayed they would have the chance to use them. She explained the basic plan to Harry and Ron. They both agreed it was a bit risky, however they knew if they were to be victorious tonight, they needed to know what Professor Snape knew. Ron and Hermione had just begun speaking to each other again, but their relationship was still strained. Two days ago, Ron had told her that they were meant to just be friends, nothing more. Hermione had held her tears in as she agreed with him.

Hermione stood outside the door to the Great Hall with the other remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix. She heard Harry give the codeword and they pushed the heavy doors open and entered the Great Hall. Harry was facing Head Master Snape, and had just finished telling him that Hogwarts had a security problem.

Hermione held her wand at her side controlling her breathing...waiting for the right moment. Harry was yelling at him, but Professor Snape just stood there looking at Harry as if confused about what to do. He had definitely not expected Harry to enter the castle.

Finally, Professor Snape whipped out his wand, but Hermione was faster, and pointing her wand at Professor Snape shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Professor Snape flew backwards as his wand flew out of his hand twirling over Harry's head, landing in Hermione's outreached hand.

Harry and McGonagall hit each of the Carrows' with a spell that rendered the Carrows unconscious.

Hermione ran over to the stunned Professor Snape, still laying on his back, and poured the contents of a red vial into his mouth. Harry took Professor McGonagall's hand and pulled her into a circle with the rest of the Order Members surrounding Professor Snape. To Hermione's dismay, Ron grabbed Lavender Brown's hand and pulled her into the circle with them. Hermione quickly handed out small blue vials that they passed around until everyone in the circle was holding one. Harry gave a nod and they simultaneously uncorked their vials and drank the bitter liquid inside. Professor McGonagall and Lavender weren't sure what they were doing, but they followed suit. Stunned, Professor Snape sat up and looked at the group.

Harry pointed his wand at the Professor Snape and yelled, "Legilimens!"

Instantly they were all viewing Professor Snape's memories which played out like selected scenes from a movie.

Snape as a boy meeting Lily Evans for the first time, Young Snape saddened that young Lily was put into a different house than his, all the times young Snape showed by words and actions that he loved Lily, brief snatches of the many times James Potter and his friends tortured a teenage Severus Snape, and Snape begging Lily's forgiveness for calling her a "Mudblood." They jumped to scenes of Snape as a young adult confessing to Professor Dumbledore that he had found out about the prophesy and passed it on to Lord Voldemort not realizing that the Dark Lord would think it was talking about Lily's son, Harry, and later Snape begging Professor Dumbledore to keep Lily safe. Then his memories moved to the night Harry's parent's died. They watched in horror as Snape slowly climbed the stairs of the Potter's home, passing James Potter's dead body and continuing further up the stairs and entering baby Harry's bedroom. Tears were streaming down several of the groups faces as they witnessed the heart wrenching memory of Snape discovering Lily's dead body and they way he pulled her into his arms and held her as he wept bitterly. The scene jumped to Snape weeping openly in Dumbledore's office accusing the older man of neglecting to keep Lily safe. They watched as Dumbledore spoke of the baby surviving and needing protection, then adding that baby Harry had his mother's eyes. Snape declared that Harry didn't need protection because the Dark Lord was gone. Then Dumbledore saying, "If you truly loved her…" and Professor emphatically saying, "No one must ever know why I'm helping him," then the scenes sped up briefly touching on all the times Snape had kept Harry safe over the years. The memories then switched to Snape trying to heal Dumbledore's hand and failing. Everyone in the circle gasped when they heard Professor Dumbledore make Professor Snape promise that Snape himself would kill him, saving him from a long painful death, and also to save Draco's soul. "Did it ever occur to you that you ask too much of the people around you? Or that maybe I want to move on with my life and don't want to do this anymore?" Snape was saying to Professor Dumbledore in the tower and then they all witnessed that fateful night when Snape killed Dumbledore. The memories showed a remorseful Professor Snape standing alone in the tower many times after that day. The memories started to fade with Harry seeing the Patronis that had guided him to the sword…a beautiful doe. The memories sharpened briefly as if something important was about to be shared. In Snape's memory, Dumbledore was saying that Professor Snape must wait until Voldemort kept the Snape near him because that would mean he had become weak. At that point, Professor Snape was to tell Harry that a part of Voldemort lived in Harry and that was why he could speak to snakes and could see into Voldemort's mind and that in order for Voldemort to be destroyed, Harry had to die and Voldemort had to be the one to kill him. In his memories, Professor Snape appeared stunned that Professor Dumbledore had been raising Harry just to be killed at the right time. Dumbledore asked Professor Snape if he had began to care for Harry. Professor Snape produced a Patronis, a beautiful doe, the same one that Harry had seen in the forest, and it flew around the room before disappearing. Everyone in the circle including the Dumbledore in his memory was flabbergasted as they realized Professor Snape was still in love with Lily and was still intent on protecting her son. The memory finally faded with Dumbledore asking Snape if he still loved Lily and Snape saying he always would.

The memories completely faded and everyone took a deep breath to clear their minds. Hermione wiped at the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. She heard Lavender Brown softly weeping and looked over in time to see Ron put his arm around her and comfort her. The other students in the great hall could just watch because they didn't know what the group had seen.

Hermione turned to look at Snape and saw that he was now on his knees opening weeping and Harry was there beside him, his arms around the Professor's neck. Professor Snape wrapped his arms around Harry and they wept together over the mother and first love that had paid with her life to save Harry.

Hermione walked over to the pair and pulled on Harry's shoulder. "We know what we need to do, Harry. I'm sorry, but there isn't much time."

Just then, a girl screamed and everyone in the room heard Lord Voldemort speak to them and demand that Harry come out and face him. With dread Snape heard the Dark Lord call for him to join him, if he dare. Snape knew that since Harry had seen his memories, the Dark Lord probably had as well. Voldemort said Harry and Snape had one hour to meet his demands.

The voice faded and Hermione sprung into action. "We have to destroy the goblet and you still have to find and destroy the tiara of Ravenclaw."

Luna stepped forward and told Harry that she knew how to find the tiara and Snape said he wanted to help. Hermione suggested that Harry and Luna find the Ravenclaw Tiara.

She turned to Professor Snape and said, "I think I know of a way to destroy the goblet, if you'll help me."

Ron stepped forward and said, "I don't care what we just saw, Mione…you can't trust him." Snape got to his feet and glared at Ron.

Looking at Snape, Hermione said, "He won't hurt me. I'm the only one who kept saying we could trust him. If Dumbledore trusted him than we can too."

Snape wiped his tears away and looked at her with gratitude written all over his face.

Ron huffed at Hermione and then taking Lavender's hand said, "Fine! Lavender and I will help Harry find the tiara. You and Sniveles have fun."

Professor Snape stepped towards Ron but Hermione grabbed his arm pulling him away. "We don't have time for this…let's go."

Throwing one more nasty look back at Ron, Professor Snape ran after Hermione trying to keep up as she ran down the corridors and several sets of stairs.

"Could you at least tell me where we are going, Miss Granger?" Snape asked as he tried to catch up to her.

Breathlessly, Hermione said, "We'll find what we need in, The Chamber of Secrets." Hermione went down one hallway only to turn around and head back the other way.

"Are we lost?" He grumbled.

"No, I just need a minute."

"Miss Granger…"

Hermione suddenly pushed him up against the wall and placed her hand against his mouth. She'd pressed her body up against him and Professor Snape couldn't remember being this close to a girl, well woman…Miss Granger was a woman now. He saw a troll walk past them dragging his club behind him. Hermione was shaking and Professor Snape wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. She relaxed against him taking her hand off his mouth and wrapped her arms around his waist laying her head on his chest.

"You okay?" He whispered near her ear.

"Yes, Sir." She said, pulling herself out his arms, "bad memories."

Snape remembered that she had been cornered by a troll during her first year at Hogwarts and reached out and rubbed her back.

Hermione looked at him quizzically. She had never known Professor Snape to show a kind gesture, ever. He dropped his hand immediately as if he just realized what he was doing and a small frown appeared on his face. Hermione smiled, and then gasped, suddenly thinking of something. She pulled a folded piece of parchment from her bag and handed it to Professor Snape to hold. He recognized it immediately as the parchment he had confiscated from Harry one night on his security rounds. He had given it to Lupin, since dark magic was Lupin's area of expertise.

"How did you get this?"

Hermione tapped it with her wand and said the special phrase that enabled the map to show it secrets. Professor Snape sucked in his breath and surveyed the map, "Well, that little…"

Hermione took one end from him and indicated that he hold the other end. They located their position on the map and then located where they needed to go.

Hermione took the map back from him and managed to keep it out of his grasp as he tried to snatch it back from her. She whispered something and the parchment went blank again.

"My, you are full of surprises, Miss Granger." He said almost sarcastically.

"Hermione."

"What?"

"Call me Hermione, please. We're on this life or death quest. I think we should be on a first name basis." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Fine, Professor, but please just call me Hermione. Miss Granger makes me feel ancient."

She turned and raced in the direction they had seen on the map. Snape followed managing to keep up this time. They finally came to the large double doors that opened onto the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Snape recognized it immediately.

"What are we going to find in here?" He asked sounding as if he feared their whole trip had been a big waste of time.

"A Basilisk Fang," She said looking at the doors in dismay. "Harry used the snake's fang to destroy Tom Riddle's diary…so I figure it should also destroy the goblet.

"And I'm sure you know how to open the doors?" he asked sarcastically.

Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Tell me again why you came with me…oh that's right…you wanted to help. Well, being bitchy isn't helping me. If you really want to help…wait I know." She turned and looked him in the eye. "Do that Legilimency thing on me. Harry told me the word that opens this door. It's in Parcel Tongue, but if you can extract it and repeat it, we should be able to open the door."

Snape seemed to mull this over in his head and said, "You know, Miss Gr…Hermione, you may just be smarter than you look."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and said, "Gee, thanks…listen can we postpone the 'I hate Hermione Granger because she's a Miss-know-it-all little bitch…oh, and by the way, smarter than all my Slytherin students put together'…and get on with this? I for one want to help Harry destroy all the Horcruxes so he has a fighting chance."

"Touchy…" Snape said with a gleam in his eye. "I never said you were a bitch, although I must say you are being a little bitchy right now."

Hermione dropped her head back and looked at the ceiling in frustration.

"Okay, okay." Snape said sounding a little frustrated himself. "Think of that memory, hold it in your mind and I will pull it out."

"Okay…wait, is it going to hurt, I mean for you to enter my mind and see my memory?"

He closed the gap between them and leaned his mouth to her ear. "Why Hermione, you didn't seem to care whether your little memory gathering stunt back there would hurt me." His breath tickled her ear and sent a tingle down her spine. "By the way, how did you manage to enable everyone in the circle to see my memories? I saw you all in my mind, but I could not stop you, no matter how hard I tried." He gripped her right elbow like he thought she might run.

She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "Veritaserum...I'm much more skilled in potions than you'll ever know."

Suddenly, Snape wrapped one arm around her and pulled her forcefully against him. With the other hand he threaded his fingers in her hair and yanked her head back so that she was forced to stare into his angry, black eyes. She placed her hands against his shoulders trying to push him away, but his hold on her was too tight.

"No!" She cried as he entered her mind.

He spent several minutes sifting through the memories in her mind. Random memories of all her years at Hogwarts; passing a note to someone in Transfigurations class where she signed her name as Mrs. Hermione Snape, briefly seeing all the times she had taken up for Professor Snape. He saw some of the adventures she had with Harry; riding Buckbeak, riding a blind dragon, and crying on Harry's shoulder every time Ron broke her heart. He witnessed all the times she took up for her friends and her willingness to forgive them no matter how many times they hurt her, her time with Harry traveling in the forest and private times when she touched herself; crying out when she brought herself to orgasm. Shocked that he had stumbled onto this memory, Professor Snape briefly pulled himself out of her mind and was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"Miss Granger, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to see everything…it was not my intention to invade your...er…private moments."

She was pushing against his chest but he refused to release his grip. He pulled her hair again making her look back up at him and reached into her mind again. This time, he saw all the recent moments that had brought her to tears. He saw Bellatrix torturing her and saw her weeping over the death of Dobby. His heart ached at the amount of recent sadness this young woman had suffered but he pressed on further back until he reached the moment where Harry was telling her about the word he used…the memory switched to Victor Krum kissing her and the thought filled him with a jealous rage…where had that reaction come from? Why should he care who was kissing her? Suddenly he was afraid of the answer and forced himself to calm his emotions and focus once again on the word. He whispered the word and the Snakes on the door slithered around the circle and the doors swung open.

Pleased at his success, he released Hermione and stepped back. She swung a punch at him but he managed to duck it and grabbed her around the waist from behind, carrying her into the room. She struggled and fought against him, but he just stood in the middle of the room and held her against him.

"I said I was sorry, Hermione. We don't have time for this." She grew limp in his arms and he sat her down. She turned around and pushed him. With a smirk on his face he stepped back two steps and held his hands up in mock surrender. She had her hair pinned back but some of it was starting to fall down into her face. Professor Snape was hit with the sudden realization that Hermione Granger had grown into a very lovely young woman…she was even lovelier when she was angry.

She spun on her heels and headed for the skeleton of a Basilisk that lay on the chamber floor. One fang was missing; she proceeded to break off the other one and handed it to him; he reached out tentatively, as if deciding whether or not to take it.

"Take it, I'm not going to stab you with it…fine I forgive you for raping my mind, now take it."

"I did no such thing, Hermione; I only saw what you wanted me to see."

She narrowed her eyes at him and offered him the fang again. He took it from her carefully.

Suddenly, the doors slammed shut and she could hear them sealing. She ran over and tried pushing on them. Snape raced over and whispered the words again but the door remained shut.

"Oh great! We're trapped." Snape said shaking his head in disbelief.

"Oh, you just noticed that, did you Professor?" Hermione stated smartly.

"Smart ass," Professor Snape muttered heading back into the center of the room and sat down, placing the fang on the floor beside him.

"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded, quickly crossing the room to where he had sat down with his legs stretched out in front of him, and leaning back on his hands. He had closed his eyes and looked almost peaceful.

"I'm resting, Hermione. It's been a stressful few days. I suggest you rest for a moment and put your brilliant mind to the task of finding a way out of this room." He said without even opening his eyes.

Hermione stared at him open mouthed, then shook her head in disbelief and sat down cross-legged across from him. They rested for a few minutes, Hermione watching him and chewing on her lip.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "What is it, Hermione? You're dying to ask me something…out with it."

"Did Lily ever forgive you…I mean after you called her a Mudblood?"

He looked away and for a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer.

"No, she never did. I spent the rest of her days trying to make up for it." He stared off into the distance, lost in thought.

"She didn't deserve you, then." Hermione said matter of factly. "Love doesn't hold grudges or keep score. She apparently did both. She didn't try hard enough to take up for you against James."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Hermione." He said with a sneer.

"I once punched Draco in the face. Did you know that?" When Snape shook his head no she continued, "There comes a time when the talking's over. No one hurts my friends." She smiled thinking to herself that it had actually felt good to punch him. He deserved it after what he had done to Buckbeak.

"Lily wasn't strong like you, Hermione. She would not have been able to withstand the torture you suffered at the hands of Bellatrix."

Hermione absentmindedly rubbed her left arm where the word, 'Mudblood' was carved into her skin beneath her sleeve.

Suddenly thinking of something she said, "How does it feel now, I mean knowing that the Order knows what I suspected all along; you're not the bad guy or the Boogey Man."

"Boogey Man?"

"You know the monster that comes in the night and scares little children. You protected Harry all those years at great risk to yourself. You even risked your life to save me…I never forgot that, you know."

At his look of confusion, she rolled her eyes and said, "The night outside the Whomping Willow when Professor Lupin changed into a werewolf, you stood in front of me and shielded me from him. Then when I tried to chase after Harry, you held onto me and kept me from running after him. Buckbeak finally chased him away and that's when Harry and I saw all the Dementors."

"If I was holding you, how did you see that?"

Hermione realized her mistake and looked away.

"Hermione? Look at me."

"No."

"I'm not going to use Legilimency."

Hermione looked at him and he asked his question again.

"Professor McGonagall loaned me a Time Turner. I used it to take several classes at once. It allowed me to go back in time and give the wolf howl so the werewolf would chase me instead of Harry." She laughed at the memory. "It also allowed me to save Buckbeak from execution and save…" Her smile faded and she looked over at Snape who was glaring at her.

"It was you! You used Buckbeak to rescue Sirius from the tower? I never could figure out how he escaped from there…you released him."

Hermione looked away quickly and swallowed. "That sounds about right."

"Who are you?"

"What?" She asked looking back at him.

"I thought little Hermione Granger was Miss Prim and Proper, follow-the-rules Granger."

She raised her chin and looked at him defiantly, "Like I said, no one hurts my friends."

"Does that include me now, too? We're friends now, right?" He sneered as he shook her black hair back out of his face. Hermione started into his dark, smoldering eyes and considered his question.

"Yes, if you are my friend then that includes you."

He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He'd never had a friend that didn't demand something in return. He had learned early on that friendship wasn't free. "So," he said nonchalantly, "What else has Miss Granger done to protect her friends?"

She clamped her mouth shut and just stared at him, refusing to tell any more of her secrets.

His eyes suddenly narrowed, "Someone set my cloak on fire at a Quidditch match."

Hermione suddenly became interested in one of her buttons.

"No…it was you?"

"I'm not proud of that, Sir. I thought you were trying to jinx Harry."

He started thinking of other odd occurrences, "Ingredients for Poly Juice Potion went missing from my storeroom. You don't happen to know…"

At her refusal to look him in the eye he said, "I don't believe it! All this time I thought…Wait what did you need the Poly Juice for?"

Hermione sighed, "We knew Draco was up to something so we used the Poly Juice Potion to look like his best friends and question him."

"But you couldn't have had the knowledge or experience to brew…"

"They don't call me the brightest witch of my age, for nothing, Sweetheart…I mean, Sir." Her face colored and she looked away. She had just called him Sweetheart…could the floor just open up and swallow her now?

"Well, you did figure out where all the Horcruxes were and how to destroy them. Dumbledore didn't figure out half the things you did."

"How do you know that?"

"I had someone watching you through the bit of mirror Harry carried around with him. That's how I knew you were in trouble at the manor and I sent Dobby to get you."

Her breath caught on the mention of Dobby.

"I'm sorry about Dobby, he was a loyal elf." Snape whispered and she smiled at him as she wiped at the tears that slid down her face.

Changing the subject Hermione asked, "Did Lily know you still loved her, I mean even after she married James…did she know…did she care?"

I don't appreciate what you're implying, Miss Gr…Hermione. It did not matter that she did not love me the same way she loved Potter. She..."

"Did she ever kiss you?"

"What does that matter? Not that it's any of your business." Snape hissed with a sneer and turned away as his face reddened in embarrassment.

"I didn't see you kiss her in your memories. A first kiss is something special…you never forget."

Professor Snape still wouldn't look at her.

"Wow that seems kind of sad."

"I don't need your pity, Hermione. I didn't need a kiss to know that she cared."

"Really?"

Determined to prove him wrong and perhaps show him what he had missed out on, Hermione got up on her knees and crossed over to him. He looked at her suspiciously until she straddled his lap, at which time he grew alarmed.

"Miss Granger…"

"Sit still," she commanded and then pressed her lips to his.

He sat frozen as she began kissing his lips, sucking on his bottom lip, and then sliding her tongue inside his mouth. He moaned, wrapped his arms around her waist and began kissing her back, experimenting with sliding his tongue in her mouth which she promptly began sucking on. He moaned and she intertwined her fingers in his black hair, which wasn't greasy at all, just over conditioned, and held him in place so she could kiss him more fervently. His kiss went from nervous to passionate and hungry. He lay back pulling her with him never breaking contact with her lips and then rolled over so he was lying on top of her. Hermione wrapped her legs around his waist and moaned when his hardness pressed into the spot between her legs. Snape began pressing harder pumping his hips against her open legs causing delicious waves of pleasure to shoot through her entire body. She leaned her head back and cried out in pleasure. He suddenly came to his senses and realized he was kissing and practically dry humping a student. He broke contact quickly and rolled off her.

"Shit, Hermione, what the hell? You're a Student…I'm your Teacher."

"Sorry, Professor, I lost control. Merlin…that has never happened to me before, I never had that reaction before when kissing anyone." She was fighting to regain control of her breathing.

Snape smirked when he thought about how she had responded to his kiss. His first kiss and he practically had her begging him to take her.

Hermione saw him gloating and shook her head in disbelief. She hoped none of her friends found out about this. Thirty minutes alone with Professor Snape and she was snogging him.

"Uhmm…" Hermione said, "Maybe we should destroy the goblet now. It is one of the Horcruxes."

"Are you sure that's what you'd rather be doing right now?" He purred.

Suddenly Hermione was feeling very brazen, "No, I'd rather be snogging the hell out of you, but seeing as how your hung up about me being a prior student and you a Professor, I think we'd better move on to the goblet."

He couldn't hide his shock at her saying she'd rather be snogging him. He thought about the Granger he thought he knew and realized that he really didn't know her at all. She was rather exciting. He suddenly wished she had been his friend back when he was in school instead of Lily…Damn, he probably would have married the girl.

Having regained her composure, Hermione removed something from her bag and was kneeling in front it. Professor Snape saw it was the goblet and he picked the fang up off the floor. His lips were tingling from her kiss and he was hoping the feeling would never go away.

Hermione was struggling to hold the goblet still as it started to vibrate when Snape kneeled in front of it with the fang.

She looked at him and said, "I just want to warn you. When you stab it with the fang, part of his spirit will be released. It will play havoc with your mind. Try to keep your mind clear and don't let it get to you."

Professor Snape gave her his familiar sneer and said, "I think I am more of an expert than you at the subject of controlling one's mind, Hermione."

"Okay," she said shaking her head, "Just thought I should warn you."

Professor Snape drew back the fang and stabbed the cup. Blood started pouring from the cup and she released it and stood up. He dropped the fang and stood as well. A great cloud of black smoke came out of the cup in the form of Lily's face and she was screaming insults at Snape. It was Lily's voice, yelling that he was nothing…no one would ever want him…no one would ever love him. It continued insulting him and Hermione saw, to her horror, that he was severely affected by it.

"Don't listen!" She yelled to him. "It's all lies, a girl would be lucky to have you."

He had turned pale and was backing away from the cloud in horror, practically weeping at the words the cloud was still yelling. Hermione made a command decision and threw herself in his arms. She forced his head down to hers and began kissing him with abandon. He resisted at first and then wrapped his arms around her and began returning her kiss fervently.

The cloud turned into a great wall of water and knocked them down, then disappeared. Snape never released his grip on her and continued kissing her. They both suddenly became overwhelmed with the need for each other's comfort; struggling to undress each other, never breaking their kiss. Snape lay back on top of her and entered her with one thrust. Hermione cried out in pain, but begged him to continue when he realized he had just taken her virginity and tried to pull out of her. He began to pump his hips slowly, trying not to cause her any more pain than necessary. In his mind, he was making love to his precious Lily and he only wanted to give her pleasure. Hermione felt the sting of losing her virginity at first, but then it was followed by the feeling of being stuffed full and finally a delicious tingle. He seemed to be reaching all the right places inside her. He was grinding himself against her causing her to cry out in immense pleasure. He began thrusting with abandon, making grunting and growling noises which proved the immense pleasure he was taking from her body. He could not believe how amazing it felt to be inside a woman. She was so tight and wet; it was beyond anything he had imagined sex would be like. He felt he was close to exploding when she wrapped her legs around his waist making it hard for him to pull himself out of her. His thrusting began stimulating a special spot inside her and she cried out as she orgasmed around his manhood. The pleasure was too much for him and he cried out emptying his seed deep inside her, crying out her name, "Lily!" He felt her freeze underneath him and realized with horror that he had just climaxed inside Hermione Granger and cried out Lily's name.

"Oh, Hermione, I'm so sorry…I didn't mean…"

"I give you my virginity and you call out her name."

"I'm so sorry…I don't know what happened…I was just thinking this was something she never gave to me and in my mind, I was making love to her…"

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to hers and kissed him tenderly.

"It's okay. Believe it or nor…I think I understand."

He adjusted his position so he wasn't crushing her and she reached out to wrap his cloak around both of them. Hermione had just gotten comfortable when she heard his gentle snoring. Really? She thought…he couldn't even stay awake long enough to talk to her? She wondered what was happening elsewhere in the castle. She hoped and prayed that Harry was doing okay.

Actually, Harry was doing better than okay. He had already destroyed the tiara, had the Horcruex living inside him destroyed, and was being carried back to the castle in Haggard's arms. Harry was waiting for his chance to leap up and show everyone he was alive. Voldemort had tried to kill him but it had only resulted in Voldemort bringing himself that much closer to mortality.

Hermione fell asleep in Professor Snape's arms as Nagini was closing in on Ron and Lavender. Ron shielded Lavender's body with his own but Neville leaped out and cut off the snakes head before it could attack.

Outside, Harry was battling with Voldemort and won…he watched as Voldemort disintegrated. Cheers went up all over the castle.

Hermione stirred in Professor Snape's arms when she heard the doors to the Chamber unlocking. It took her several attempts to wake him up, as he was sleeping so soundly. Snape opened his eyes and smiled at her, "Lily?" He saw her staring at him and said, "I was with Lily last night."

"No, Severus, you were with me the whole time."

Snape remembered what had happened between them and began cursing.

"Wow that really makes a girl feel special…thank you."

"Hermione, I…"

She rolled out of his grasp, located her clothes and proceeded to put them back on, never looking at him. She heard him struggling to put his clothes back on as well, since they were still a little damp from the wave of water that had hit them. Fully clothed, she reached down to grab her bag and headed towards the door when he grabbed her arm and spun her around. He was now fully clothed as well.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry…But I'm a teacher, you're a student…"

"Prior student."

"Whatever, I'm old enough to be your father. I had not right to take…I mean do what I did last night. I…"

"Forget about it…It never happened, okay?" She shook her arm free but he grabbed the other one.

"I need you to understand…"

"I understand Professor Snape," She said stepping up and looking him in the eye, "Last night was the most incredible night of my life. You made love to me and now you want to take it back…"

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration as she spun on her heel and called back over her shoulder.

"Don't use so much conditioner and your hair won't look so greasy."

He stared after her in shock and cursed at himself again. He knew he could have handled that a lot better. What did she expect? He had never kissed a girl before and all of a sudden he's making love to Hermione in his confused state, he wasn't…in his mind he had been making love to Lily the whole time. He had to stop her, to convince Hermione not to tell anyone. As far as he was concerned…no one must ever find out what had happened, last night, in the Chamber.