A/N: Prompt: "Severus and Hermione had started a relationship at the end of her 4th year and doesn't die" via Claude Amelia Song. (Hey, so I'm assuming doesn't die refers to the relationship and not to Snape.) Also, I have decided to interpret this as a platonic-ish relationship. Meaning, that post 4th year, the relationship they develop is more a heightened awareness of the other person. You'll see once you beginning reading that the story opens fairly dramatically, and within this context the way these two characters perceive and interact with each other is altered. Since it's mostly from Snape's point of view, you'll see something of an attraction on his part, but I'm trying to convey as message of intellectual/personal curiosity rather than feelings of sexual desire.

Additional Prompts:

2: "You're too old for this world."

7: (object) zinc

11: (first line) I/He/She lives for disbelief

This is over 1,200 words long.

He lives for disbelief. This is probably a simplistic way of putting it. He doesn't actually live for disbelief, it's just that he keeps living and the disbelief keeps coming.

After the Triwizard Tournament, after Diggory, after that scum Crouch, after him, Severus lives for nothing but a dreamless sleep, which he is sure he won't get.

Thump, thump, thump. Disbelief.

The only person who would be disturbing him at this hour is Dumbledore, and Dumbledore's away at the ministry. Minerva and the others are patrolling the castle.

Thump, thump, thump.

Warily, he opens the door. Hermione Granger's unmistakeable bushy hair is the only thing that defines the figure to him in the dim light. His eyes adjust. She wears a grim expression and the same clothes he last saw her in, during his forced reconciliation with Black.

"Ms. Granger, it is five o'clock in the morning."

"Invite me in." He sneers at her impertinence, but her request, it would seem, is only a formality, as she has already ducked around him, and lit one of the lamps.

"Ms. Granger, what do you want?" She rounds to him, her expression fierce...threatening even.

"Swear to me you weren't there." He should have expected that to be her reason for intruding upon his privacy, but the fatigue is wearing him down. Still, he plays dumb. It's probably useless, but it's for her own good.

"You'll need to be more specific?" she pulls out her wand so fast, he only has time to reach for his own, and with a flick of her wand, it's in her hand. He's not sure whether he even heard her cast the spell. There's the faint sparkle of tears in her eyes, and a slight catch in her voice, though her tone never wavers.

"Don't be coy. We all know what you were," she's pointing her wand at his heart, "swear to me you didn't know. Swear to me you weren't there. Swear to me you've changed. Because I swear that if you don't, or if you do and you're lying, you will be very, very sorry." He almost laughs. Almost. He is an incredibly powerful wizard, but so is she, and she has his wand. He meets her gaze.

"Put down your wand Ms. Granger." She makes no move to do so. Internally, he sighs. "I played no part in Harry's capture, or Mr. Diggory's death. I am not responsible for the Dark Lord's return, and I do not sympathize with his followers." She'd begun to lower her wand when he said Potter's first name. It was a tactic, he is glad it worked.

"All right," she exhales the word, like she's been holding her breath, "I believe you." She drops his wand on the ground and turns towards the door. He grabs her arm, and turns her to face him.

"That was an incredibly stupid thing to do Ms. Granger, and rest assured should you threaten me again, I will not hesitate to report you to the headmaster." She nods. Her expression is disconcertingly unreadable, and she says nothing. He relinquishes his grip, and she leaves him alone with his thoughts.

Severus stands there with the door hanging open long after she's left. He's impressed. He should have considered his student more carefully. Confronting him was a ridiculously foolish thing to do, but it was certainly brave. He picks up his wand, and with a swish, his door closes.

The students go home not long after that night, and apart from seeing each other in the Great Hall, they have no further interactions.

The next time they see each other is at Grimmauld Place. She's standing on the third floor landing with a few of the Weasley brats, clearly trying to eavesdrop. His eyes flick up towards hers, and he sees that she's looking at him. Her expression is still unreadable. This shouldn't bother him, but he prides himself on his ability to read people, and he does not take defeat well. He follows Shacklebolt out the front door, that familiar feeling of disbelief resting on his shoulders.

When term starts again, when she returns to his class, he treats her no differently. He treats none of them differently, but he does feel that she treats him differently. She doesn't say anything, and neither does he, but if they pass in the corridors, she looks at him, always with the strange expression. He thinks he's beginning to unearth its meaning. She is looking at him with a new level of respect, and again, to his disbelief, he is regarding her the same.

After the battle at the Department of Mysteries, their dynamic shifts again.

He's searching his stores for an ingredient he'll need in a coming lesson. He feels someone draw up beside him. They are at least at arm's length, so he has to turn to face the interloper. Ms. Granger does not smile at him, but she doesn't glare the way her friends do. Instead she simply moves aside the bottles blocking his zinc from view, nods, and returns to her seat. Nothing about her countenance was friendly, but he thinks maybe she was offering her assistance out of gratitude.

Being the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor requires much more physicality and visual demonstration. He wishes he were happier in his new position, but each lesson all he sees are the looming battles.

When Dumbledore reveals to him the truth, disbelief comes once again. He cycles through the stages of grief personally. It's not until he has the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins in class again that it occur to him to actually think of what Potter's inevitable demise will do to the people who care about him.

When she knocks again on his door, it's to tell him that Draco has succeeded. He doesn't even give her a backwards glance, but as he's running, he hopes she survives this, because if Dumbledore's plan has a chance in hell of working, she has to be alive to help see it through.

In his year as Headmaster, if he thinks of her, it's because he knows she's the glue holding Potter and Weasley together. He knows that as much as the hopes of the world are resting on Harry, they're resting on her as well. He's angry at Dumbledore for all the variables, for all the possible mistakes in this plan. He comforts himself with the knowledge that she is up to the challenge.

After the battle, after all the dead have been buried, Hermione Jean Granger visits the grave of Severus Snape. She ponders the strange relationship of respect that had grown. He was callous and bullying, but in the end he had saved all their lives, probably more times than they can know, and that has left her feeling strangely beholden. Her mother had once told she was "too old for this world". She certainly feels it; but it can't really be true. She standing by the grave of someone that she should, by all rights, despise, waiting for closure she doesn't really believe will ever come. She doesn't believe she's too old, that she's moved on from the rest of the world. Not when there are still questions that need answering.