Disclaimer: I still don't own harry potter…
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. She sat next to Severus again, across from Harry and Ron. They were acting strangely. Harry seemed like he was trying not to smile, and Ron seemed like he was trying not yell. Hermione was perturbed.
"Okay, what's going on?" Hermione asked.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Hermione stared him down.
"Now really isn't the place to discuss this," Harry told her, almost breaking into a wide grin.
Hermione stood from her seat, barely letting go of Severus's hand in time. "Then come with me," she demanded in her newly found Professor's voice.
Ron and Harry obliged, and Severus tagged along as well.
Once they were outside of the Great Hall, and Hermione had made sure there were no stragglers in the hallway, she turned to face them. "Now, what is going on?"
"I think that's a question we should be asking you, Hermione," Ron said, not meeting her eyes.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked.
"It's nothing, really," Harry said.
"I have a hard time believing that, Harry," Hermione said. "I'll ask you again, Ronald. What is going on?"
Ron finally looked her in the eye. "I saw you."
"You saw me what?"
"With him," he said. "Last night."
Hermione's pulse began to race, and she was sure all the color had drained from her face. 'Oh, God. I never wanted him to see that.'
"Ron, I can explain…"
"There's nothing to explain, Hermione. You're screwing the son of our ex-Potions teacher. What could there possibly be to explain?" Ron wanted to know.
"Watch you mouth," Severus warned.
"Or what? You'll hex me?" Ron laughed. "Please, feel free."
It was Severus's turn to laugh. "I was thinking more along the lines of kicking your ass."
Ron stood his ground.
"Boys, this is completely mental!" Hermione told them. "Stop it at once."
"Oh, come on, Hermione," Harry said. "Let them fight it out. It's the only way they'll ever settle this thing between them."
"You mean me," Hermione said.
"Well, yeah," Harry told her.
Suddenly, Severus doubled over.
"I didn't even touch you yet!" Ron yelled down at him.
"Severus!" Hermione ran to his side. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," he said, then clutched at his chest.
"I – I don't know what to do!"
He looked her in the eye. "Dumbledore. I need Dumbledore."
"Maybe we should take him to Madam Pomfrey," Harry suggested.
Hermione agreed.
"No, I need Dumbledore," Severus told her.
Hermione hesitated.
"Please, Hermione."
She nodded, getting Harry to help her carry him.
They burst through the doors of the Great Hall, and Ron ran to get Dumbledore.
Everyone seated in the Great Hall turned their heads toward them, confused. Some standing up from their seats to get a better look. Hermione paid no attention to them. The only thing on her mind was what was wrong with Severus, and how to help him.
Once the old man reached them, Severus's breathing had slowed.
"Professor," Hermione said worriedly, "what's happening to him?"
"Oh, dear," he said. "We must get him to my office immediately."
"Shouldn't we take him to Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione asked him, following behind him.
"Not if we want him to live," Dumbledore said over his shoulder.
Harry and Hermione walked faster.
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Hermione laid him down on the floor of Dumbledore's office. His breath was becoming ragged. She watched as Dumbledore pulled out his wand.
"What is going on, Professor?" she asked of him.
"Step aside, Miss Granger," he said.
Hermione didn't move. "It's Professor Granger, Albus, and I demand to know what's wrong with him."
He looked down at her, and his expression softened.
"That is Severus Snape," he said simply.
"I know that," she told him. "Snape's son…what does that have to do with anything?"
Dumbledore almost chuckled. "No, not Snape's son…Snape."
Hermione's heart stopped. She didn't breathe, she didn't speak. She just stood there, thunderstruck.
Dumbledore tried to walk past her, but she found her strength, and stopped him. "What do you mean?"
Dumbledore sighed. "It was a spell, to make him young again," he explained.
Hermione was shocked. And hurt. And dumbstruck.
"Please, Hermione, we don't have much time," Dumbledore said.
She nodded, not speaking.
Dumbledore walked past her, said an incantation, and while the lights in the office dimmed dramatically, Severus Snape the man lay before them.
Snape looked at Dumbledore. "Apparently there was a time limit, huh?"
Dumbledore smiled apologetically.
Snape looked at Hermione. "I'm sorry."
She wouldn't face him.
"Hermione?" he tried. "I never meant to -"
"To what?" she snapped at him.
Snape looked down.
Harry watched in amazement. He'd never known a student…a female student that could make Severus Snape shut up. That, and he was still reeling from the whole, Snape isn't Snape's son, he's Snape, thing.
"I can't talk to you right now," she told him. And without a word to Harry, Ron, or Dumbledore, she left Dumbledore's office and headed straight for her chambers.
Snape made to walk after her.
Harry got in his way. "Maybe now isn't the best time."
"Don't make me move you, Potter," Snape snarled.
Harry stood his ground. "Look, I know you care about her, and it's pretty damn obvious that she cares about you. But do you really wanna tango with that pissed off witch?"
Snape smiled. "More than ever."
Harry rolled his eyes, stepping aside. "Your funeral."
Severus ran out of Dumbledore's office.
Harry looked at Dumbledore, seeing that familiar twinkle in his eye. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Do you honestly think he would have made a move on his student? No matter how much he loved her?"
Harry smiled. "Good point."
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Snape caught up with her just outside her chambers. "Hermione, wait."
"For what?"
"Can I please explain?"
"Why?"
"Can you stop answering my questions with questions?"
Hermione whipped around as Snape entered 'her' chambers, right before she slammed the door. "How dare you?"
He started to speak, but she cut him off.
"Everything that you told me, everything that we…it was all a lie!" she shouted at him. "All of it!"
"No, it wasn't," he said. "Everything I felt for you, feel for you, it's all very much true," he said. "What happened between us…no lie."
Hermione slapped him. "Then why the hell didn't you tell me who you were? You told me you were his…your son."
"I never thought I'd change back…I was trying to live my life like I was…what good would have been done by letting everyone know I was Severus Snape at 17-years old?"
"I guess I'm not worth the truth," Hermione said, opening the door, motioning for him to leave.
"You're worth so much more than that, Hermione," he said. "Do you realize I had no memories of my life past seventeen…I didn't know who you were until I met you in the library."
"How can I believe that?" she asked of him, tears of anger and sorrow welling in her eyes.
"I'd say you're just going to have to trust me, but I'd get slapped again."
Hermione nodded in agreement.
He daringly took a step towards her, and she didn't back away. "I can only hope you'll believe me when I say this: I am deeply sorry for the pain I've caused you. I knew that I wasn't going to have any of my memories when Dumbledore cast the spell, and I should have taken into consideration my feelings towards you when he changed me. Never in my life could I have guessed that you would ever reciprocate those feelings. But now that I'm me again…I completely understand."
He took a step back, but Hermione followed him. He assumed she was going to pummel him, and he knew he deserved it.
Instead, she wrapped her arm around his neck, and pulled him into a kiss.
……………………………………………………………………………………
"How come you never told me how you felt about me?" Hermione asked him, running her hand across his arm. "I mean, before."
Snape smiled. "Same question for you."
"I asked you first," she teased him.
"You were my student, it would have been incredibly inappropriate…also, the mind-numbing fear of rejection."
Hermione stifled a giggle. "You were afraid of me? I am really that intimidating?"
"Yes," he answered. "Now it's your turn."
Hermione snuggled closer to him on their bed. After all, it was both of their chambers, technically. "I guess it's the same, just switched around. You were my teacher, and I never would have guessed that you felt the same."
"You know, for Potions teachers, we are both very dumb," Snape said.
"Yes, we are," Hermione agreed, kissing his nose and purring.
"You should really stop doing that," Severus warned her.
"Or what?" she asked coyly.
Snape grinned. "Or I'll have to give you detention."
The End
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A/N: in response to some of the reviews, just to answer some questions for the anonymous reviewers.
Snape Jr. Isn't put in with the rest of the boys, he's either placed with some other kids, or has his own room. I didn't feel it important to have a scene with him alone in his room, so it wasn't in there, although that certainly doesn't mean that he was sleeping in the common room, or as Ron wonders briefly, in the owlery.
Also, it was supposed to be "saw" an angelic brown-haired beauty, not "was". And while I agree, most would say that Hermione is not an "angelic beauty, and he would be more drawn to her intellectual side, but seeing as how it's my fic, I decided to write it so that he was drawn to her beauty, and fell in love with her mind.
And yes, as stated in the rest of the fic, the school finds the disappearance of Snape and apparance of Snape Jr. to be strange, as well, Ron is very suspicious of it…