Disclaimer: I own nothing, JK Rowling owns everything. Of course, she doesn't own the books that I mention, although she probably does own a copy of them…I digress, anyway, I don't own Pride and Prejudice, or Jane Eyre or anything else that I mention that you might recognize. If I did then I would be off making money or spending money, not writing this fanfic.

A/N: Yes, I really should be working on my two other stories. I swear I haven't forgotten about them, it's just that I had to write this! It's been on my mind forever it seems so forgive me but I really will update Babysitting With the Dragon and Room of Requirement. Just give me a week, two tops!

"I swear Blaise, if you don't get off of me this bloody moment, I shan't regret hexing you into oblivion!" Hermione shouted as she tried to pry the drunken boy off of her.

"With what hands, pray-tell?" He chuckled as he looked up at her hands that he had pinned against a tree. He smiled as he tried to kiss her again.

Hermione knew he wasn't going to go very far, meaning that he wasn't going to rape her. Even this damn Slytherin had some sense of decency but clearly not enough as she was trying to fight him off of her before his drunken lips actually touched hers.

"Oh, come on Granger, I'm not that bad! A lot of other girls would actually like this chance."

"Well then why don't you terrorize one of them?"

He merely smiled and tried to kiss her once again.

"For the millionth time, get off of me!" She screamed in frustration. If only she could get to her wand in her pocket.

"Mr. Zabini, will you kindly let go of Miss Granger?"

Even though he was drunk, Blaise still had enough sense to let go of Hermione in haste, seeing the cold look in Professor Snape's eyes.

"I-I," Blaise stuttered.

"No need to explain, I heard everything. Two months of detention with Filch and thirty house points. Now go."

Before Snape could stop her, Hermione had her wand out and was putting hexes on Blaise left and right. Blaise just stood there in shock, until he was knocked on his back by a rather powerful hex that was shouted at the top of Hermione's voice.

Snape looked in shock at Hermione, not really knowing what to do. She was always the one having to control Weasley and Potter, not the other way around.

Snape suddenly came out of his reverie enough to realize that he needed to stop Hermione. He placed a sealing charm on her mouth to get her to stop shouting hexes at Zabani; he then said all the incantations to take the hexes off.

"Go Zabini, before I let Granger go on you again." 'He would deserve it if I did,' Snape thought in the back of his mind.

"Did I stutter, Zabini?" Snape asked in a cold voice that reeked with disdain when Blaise didn't move a muscle. "Go back to your dorm before you get into any more trouble."

Blaise literally ran from Snape's intimidating gaze. Snape watched him go and then turned to the girl behind him and released the charm on her lips.

Hermione was leaning heavily on the tree where she was standing and looked like she was in shock over the events that had just happened. If Ron or Harry had been there they would've killed Blaise, but unfortunately they were sound asleep in their beds. She shuddered thinking about Blaise's hands on her body, she grimaced and slid down onto the ground, ungracefully plopping herself against the tree, hands slightly shaking. She was afraid that she was going to start crying and if there was anyone in the world she didn't want to cry in front of it would be Professor Snape. She wondered what would happen to her, she had done as she'd promised she'd hexed Blaise practically into oblivion.

"Bastard." Snape heard her whisper to herself.

He chose to ignore her profanity, acknowledging the fact that most other girls would have used a lot more obscene words in this scenario. "Miss Granger, I suggest you get back to your room."

Hermione didn't even acknowledge that he spoke.

"Did you hear me?" He asked coldly.

"Yes."

"Aren't you going to get up?" He said, getting more irritated by the moment.

"No."

"Have you forgotten who you are speaking to?"

"No," she looked up at him for the first time. "I'm just past caring at the moment." A tear began to form in the corner of her eye and slowly started making it's way down her cheek. She angrily swiped it away.

Snape stood staring at her. For once, he couldn't rebuke her for being upset since she actually had a valid reason for her tears. He felt uncomfortable, having never been in this sort of situation before. He was terrible at comforting people, let alone a teenage girl.

Hermione slowly stood up. She stood for a moment with her face turned away from him and her hand braced by the tree.

"What caused you to walk around outside after hours?"

"I couldn't sleep." She said simply.

"So you went traipsing through the grounds?"

Hermione chose not to answer. She shivered violently and started to walk to the castle looking only straight ahead, just wanting to get into her warm bed. All of a sudden she saw Snape's hand jut out into her vision. She looked over at him and took his cloak that he offered to her. After the cloak had left his hand, Severus Snape looked forward again and glared at the castle ahead of him.

Hermione wrapped the cloak around her front, not putting it on properly since her arms and face was colder than her back. She put the cloak up over her nose to protect it from the windy night. She breathed in deeply and let the warm air from her nostrils reverberate against the cloak and come back into her face. She let the warmth sink in and again breathed in deeply, this time not because of the lack of warmth but because of the wonderful smell emanating from the cloak. It was a gentle smell of soap, herbs, and spice. It made her feel wonderfully comforted, as if she was wrapped in someone's arms.

They entered the castle and Professor Snape said in that short, clipped voice of his, "I'll see you to Gryffindor tower, we don't know where Zabini might be lurking." He seemed to be doing it more out of duty than actual concern for her, but Hermione was still grateful.

They arrived at the tower and Hermione turned towards her Professor, "Thank you," she said to him. He nodded briskly and left before Hermione could give his cloak back.

***

Snape was infuriated. How could Zabini do this sort of thing? Something so despicable and so degrading…even though he didn't get around to doing anything to Granger, he had still hurt her, if not physically, then emotionally. He would have to speak to Dumbledore about this. And seeing the hurt in her eyes…Snape shook his head. Since when did he care about what the students did or felt? Well, even if he didn't care, he'd still have to talk to the headmaster about it.

***

Hermione slowly walked down to the dungeons. She didn't like having to deal with Snape after potions was over but unfortunately she had to return his cloak. She knocked on his office door and heard a gruff "come in" from somewhere inside. She hesitantly opened his door and stepped inside.

"What do you need Miss Granger?" Snape sighed.

"I just wanted to return your cloak, you left before I could give it to you last night."

He took it from her somewhat grudgingly.

"I also wanted to ask you if you wouldn't tell the Headmaster about this."

"That is not up to your discretion."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't"

"Why?' He asked her, his lips barely concealing a sneer of contempt.

"I just don't want Harry and Ron to make a bigger deal about it than it is. I-" She paused and looked down, "I wasn't planning on telling them about last night. If you tell Dumbledore than I'll have to tell them."

Snape contemplated this for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, I feel I must tell the Headmaster about this."

'At least he sounds sincerely sorry,' Hermione thought to herself.

"If you feel you must…" Hermione didn't finish. She smiled a sad smile and went through the door.

***

"Mr. Zabini," Dumbledore began, "I find you conduct inexcusable." There was no twinkle in his eyes. "I wish I could punish you more but I find Professor Snape's punishment will do, I hope you think twice before acting up again because I promise you, the next time you pull anything, and I mean anything, you will suffer far more severe consequences." Dumbledore stared into Blaise's eyes, and then dismissed him.

Once Blaise had exited, Dumbledore turned to Snape and Hermione.

"Miss Granger, I know that this must have been a trying experience for you, to say the least. Unfortunately you were out of bed after hours and you performed quite a lot of hexes on Mr. Zabini. Although a lot of these hexes were quite complicated and advanced for your age," His eyes flashed merrily at her, "and personally I think you were quite justified in using them, we can't have students going around performing hexes on other students, therefore you must receive a punishment. I don't feel you deserve detention but unfortunately it is something that I must do since I would have given detention to any other person who was out after hours. You shall receive two weeks of detention with Professor Snape. Since I lowered the detention from one month to two weeks I will also have you help Professor Snape organize the ball as part of your punishment for trying to harm another student."

"What ball?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Don't you remember from 'Hogwarts, a History?' Why you talk about that quite a lot, I figured you'd remember. Ah well, I'll explain. Every seven years a ball is held in honor of the four founders, it took them seven years to build the school, so to commemorate that, we have a ball every seven years."

"Oh, I do remember that now! I meant to ask you when our ball was going to be but it must have slipped my mind…"

"Each ball, a different teacher from a different house must organize the ball so that one year it's in Slytherin colors, the next in Gryffindor, the next in Hufflepuff, and the next in Ravenclaw, and they must do it with no help from any of the staff members. Since this isn't really Severus' forte, maybe it would be best if you helped."

"If I must," Hermione grimaced slightly. "But wait, I'm a little confused about something, why can't the ball just have everyone's colors in it?"

"That's what they tried to do, in the very first ball over a hundred years ago. But you see, the Headmaster at that time, had been a Ravenclaw in his day so it just so happened that Rowena Ravenclaw and the Ravenclaw colors were more celebrated that any other house's. So the school board came up with a new system so that all the founders could get equally honored. There are always descendants of the founders working at the school for their ancestor's house even if it's a distant relation. They are the ones that must plan the ball. Professor Snape here is Salazar Slytherin's great-great-great-great second cousin twice removed through marriage. So he must do the honors. Really it's kind of a silly old tradition but here at Hogwarts we like to maintain our traditions."

As this seemed to be the end of Dumbledore's speech, Hermione nodded in a glum sort of way.

"Albus," Snape sneered at the older man, "I really do think I'm perfectly capable of organizing the party on my own. I certainly don't need that Granger girl,"

"I'm right here," Hermione interrupted him. She hated it when people talked about her as if she wasn't even in the room.

Snape merely looked at her and then turned back to Dumbledore. "I don't want her."

"Well, I'm sorry Severus, but you're going to have to make the best of this situation because I've already made up my mind. You are both dismissed."

Hermione and Snape both clearly angry, left the headmaster's office.

"Your detentions will be every day these next two weeks starting at eight o'clock. After the next two weeks you will come to my office every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at precisely eight thirty. Don't ever be late, or you'll regret it."

Hermione watched him walk away and rolled her eyes. Somehow over the years, Snape had become less scary to Hermione, Harry, and Ron. She guessed that came with age, except for Neville who of course was still terrified by the man. He was so utterly dramatic! She sighed, 'I suppose I must get used to it…' she thought to herself.

***

"Why do you have detention Hermione?" Ron asked as she made her way to the dungeons.

"Yeah, you didn't get in trouble in Potions today did you?" Harry asked.

Hermione still hadn't told them what Blaise had done yesterday morning. Oh, and she was going to be late if she didn't hurry!

"Can't I explain this to you guys later?"

"No, we want to know!" They rounded the corner and appeared at Snape's classroom door. Hermione rolled her eyes at her two friends and proceeded to open the door. Seeing that Snape wasn't in there yet she waved the boys in and shut the door.

"Okay, really quickly I'll tell you." The boys looked at her intently. "Monday morning, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep. I guess it must have been just a stroke of rebellion because I then decided to go to the lake since I couldn't sleep." At this Harry and Ron looked totally astonished since Hermione never broke the rules just to break them. "So I went outside without getting caught. Blaise Zabini however, was outside and was completely smashed. He-" she looked down, embarrassed, "He started talking to me and I was trying to just get back to the castle because he was drunk. I was right in front of a tree so he took my hands and held them against the tree and was trying to kiss me-" the boys cut her off.

"I'm going to kill Blaise!" Ron looked as if he actually meant what he said.

"Just let me finish!" She gave Harry and Ron glares, "I yelled at him to get off quite a few times but he wouldn't. Finally Professor Snape evidently heard me shouting so he came over, gave Blaise detention, and then walked me back to Gryffindor Tower." She of course left off the part where he lent her his cloak and the part where she'd 'hexed Blaise into oblivion'

"So why did you get detention?"

"Dumbledore said that since I was out after hours I was to have detention for two weeks and I had to help Snape plan this ball thing."

"What! We're having a ball!" Both of the boys looked scared, remembering their fourth year and the traumatic Yule Ball.

"I'll tell you about the ball later, I think I hear Snape coming."

"We're not going to leave yet," Harry said. "We still haven't asked you if you're alright. Did Blaise hurt you?"

"No, be reasonable you guys, if Blaise had hurt me, I'd have killed him already, and then Dumbledore would have brought him back to life just so that he could get a chance to kill him. He didn't even kiss me. I blocked him."

"I swear, I'm going to kill him, still! That bastard." Ron had a particularly murderous look in his eyes.

"If you do anything to harm another student I won't have any regrets having you expelled," Snape's silky voice said behind the trio. All three of them jumped to high heavens before turning around and acknowledging the professor. "And Miss Granger, you left off the part where you hexed Mr. Zabini."

"You hexed him!" Ron and Harry said in unison looking proudly at Hermione.

"Several times actually," Snape said, his voice still as cold as ice. "I doubt he'll cross Granger again."

Ron smiled, "Harry old-boy, I think we've rubbed off on Hermione!"

"And it's a damn good thing too, if you hadn't hexed him, we would've!" Harry said with feeling.

"You guys should go," Hermione said and gave them a little half smile at their encouraging words. They left and waved good-bye to her.

"Such loving friends…" Snape said in that sarcastic, sneering tone of his.

"At least I have them."

"What's that supposed to mean Miss Granger?"

"Anything you want it to mean sir." Hermione had no idea what was coming over her. She never talked to professors like this! Over the past day, Snape had many opportunities to give her detentions, but he had refrained, which was unlike him. She expected that she was in so much trouble already that Professor Snape felt any more detentions with him would be rather superfluous.

"Miss Granger, I think you should start by polishing my floor." He waved his wand and a bucket of soap and water appeared with a towel next to it. "When the floor has passed my inspection you may leave." He sat down and started grading papers so Hermione figured that was her cue to start working. She sighed a heavy sigh and rolled up her skirt at the waist so as not to dirty the hem.

After working for a while her knees started to ache, she ignored the pain and kept on working. She moved on to a new spot on the floor, scooting the bucket over and shuffling her knees forward when suddenly a searing pain shot up her knee.

Snape heard a sharp intake of breath. He looked over at the girl and saw that she was rolling down her stocking.

"Is there something the matter Miss Granger?" He asked her coldly, his eyes demanding to know why she had stopped working.

"Professor, it seems that I have cut my leg on a jagged piece of stone in the floor." She said all of this through gritted teeth trying to be as professional as possible given the fact of how she must look; skirt a few inches too short, stocking rolled down past her knee, sitting on the floor of a dungeon.

Severus sighed and made his way over to Hermione. With unexpected gentleness he moved her knee so that he could see it clearly in the candlelight. He used his wand to summon over a small vile of something. He uncorked it and was about to pour it on her knee when Hermione interjected.

"Wait a moment! Before you pour that on me you must first tell me what it is!"

"Stop with your trepidation. It's nothing that will harm you, although it might sting a bit."

He poured the potion over her knee, not waiting for her response.

She hissed in pain, as the stinging sensation started to spread throughout her knee. Snape was kneeling on the ground beside her, his head bent over her knee, cleansing it of the potion with a cotton swab. His bent head was so close to hers she could smell his scent once again, that odd mixture of soap, spice, and herbs that she had smelled on his cloak. His smell could never have come from cologne. He didn't seem like the cologne type anyway. She had to stop herself from bending her head down and getting a closer smell, she must remember who this is! This is Professor Snape! Why would she want to smell him? Hermione was startled out of her thought process when Snape's head shot up, barely missing a collision with Hermione's head.

"You're all healed Miss Granger. I suggest that you get back to work since this floor isn't going to clean itself."

She wanted to thank him but she knew a rhetoric statement when she heard one.

Another hour of work and the floor was spotless. Hermione sat back and admired her work, looking over the shining stone floors in delight.

She walked over to Snape's desk. "Sir, I've finished."

Snape looked up, briefly surveyed the work and curtly nodded his head.

Hermione drew a sigh of relief as she walked out the door. First detention was over and she was still alive. Of course, she had a few months more of him to handle, what with the ball and everything but she had resigned herself to her fate.

***

The first week with Snape passed without incident. Her detentions were spent cleaning the entire potions classroom, including shelves, desks, cauldrons and many other things besides. Hermione wondered what there was possibly left to clean as she entered the potions classroom a week after the Blaise incident had occurred.

"Miss Granger," Professor Snape nodded curtly at her. "Since it appears there is nothing left for you to clean in here," he made a sweeping motion with his hand indicating the entire classroom, "you will now start to clean my private study." They walked over to a bookcase where Severus pointed at the floor beside the bookcase and murmured some sort of password or spell. The stones slid back to reveal a staircase. They descended the staircase and Hermione came upon a most magnificent sight. Books! So many books for her to peruse through! She gasped at the sight of it.

"Miss Granger, if you will kindly shut your mouth and pay attention to what I'm saying."

Hermione, embarrassed, closed her gaping mouth and turned her attention toward what Snape was saying.

"I would like you to organize those books." He pointed to a huge stack of books near a desk. "And put them in that bookcase. First sort them by genre, i.e. fiction, nonfiction, muggle, and magical. Then sort them alphabetically. Understood?" Hermione nodded her head in response, grateful to be doing something she'd actually enjoy. She carefully walked over to the stack of books and reverently ran her hand down all the spines, mesmerized by all the knowledge contained in their folds.

She sat down on the floor taking down books from the stacks and making stacks around her, planning to alphabetize them when she was putting them on the shelf. They both worked in silence for a half an hour, Snape grading papers and Hermione sorting books, and once in a while, surreptitiously browsing through the books she found interesting, making sure of course that Snape was engrossed in his grading.

Severus was grading papers but more often than not he was looking up, making sure that Miss Granger was doing her job properly. He caught her a few times sneaking a look inside the books but decided to let her look rather than reprimand her. He heard her let out a snort of laughter. "Is there a problem Miss Granger?" He asked her icily.

"Sorry, sir." She began to sort again.

"I expect an answer when I ask a question. Was there a problem?"

"No, I just never pictured you as a Jane Eyre kind of person." She pointed at the book while looking thoroughly afraid that he might add two more weeks of detention on for impertinence.

"I try to read all sorts of literature, so as to become a well-rounded person," he sneered at her, "Not that you would no anything about the endeavor to become more knowledgeable."

Hermione rolled her eyes, not saying anything that she would later regret. "I personally thought Jane was stupid."

Severus looked up at the girl, surprised. Most woman loved that book. "How so?" He asked her.

"Well, she didn't even talk to Mr. Rochester about his wife before leaving and becoming victim to a life of poverty! Any sensible woman would have sat down and had an intelligent talk with him."

"But he was asking her to be his mistress!"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean she had to be his mistress and it doesn't mean that she had to leave. They could have come to a compromise."

"But she didn't want to compromise."

"Maybe so, but she still could have done some things before just stealing away in the middle of the night with no money at all."

"I see Miss Granger, that you are not a romantic at all."

"That's not true. I love Pride and Prejudice you know, Mr. Darcy, so stuffy and arrogant in the beginning but ultimately so perfect for Elizabeth," she sighed in remembrance. "That book makes me melt every time I read it."

"I never did understand why people like that book. Jane and Mr. Bingley are so," he screwed his lips up looking for the right word, "flaky, vapid…I don't know just lacking somehow."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Jane, only sees the best in people, which in some cases, can cause blindness to a person's true character, and Mr. Bingley is so easily influenced by his friends. They're rather…dull, I suppose is the best way to put it."

"I actually agree with you on some points. But you have to see that that's exactly how Ms. Austen wanted to portray them. She didn't want them to be deep and grave. She wanted them to be rather frivolous. And just because Jane sees the best in people doesn't mean that she's blindsided."

"I think it does. If a student around here starts saying that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is just misunderstood, I think that they'll be startled and unprepared to say the least when the final battle comes."

"That is completely different and irrelevant."

"Is it?"

Hermione, having no response, began sorting the books again.

"Bring me the book you have in your hands."

Hermione obeyed and gave him the book.

"This is Krymostiv's 'Magical Theories for the Intelligent Mind'. Hermione gaped at him. She had only read about that book inside other books, she'd never actually seen a copy.

Severus had no idea what came over him but the next thing her heard he was telling the Granger girl that instead of detention tomorrow, she would have to read this book. It was a rather slim book, she could finish that it one night easily.

"Now finish that sorting before I change my mind." Snape said gruffly.

A/N: So that is the first chapter it looks like. I think it might take me a while to update, I want to finish one of my other stories before I write the second chapter. But believe me, there will be a second chapter, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth etc etc.

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