This was my entry in the SSHG summer promptfest 2014. I hope you like it. The prompter was Dragoon811 and it was an honour to write this for her!

I don't own JKR's wonderful characters but am grateful she lets us play!

Warning: This story deals with PTSD and contains a discussion of physical abuse and rape. Please read this chapter carefully if you are upset or this is a trigger for you. I will star (*) the portions you can skip. You won't lose too much of the thread of the story should you need to.

"So we are in agreement then?" the headmistress asked, and several heads around the table nodded. "Now, we just need to choose someone to confront him." Minerva's gaze shifted to Hermione.

"Not me!" Hermione gasped as she realised the implication of Minerva's statement. "No way!" she spluttered. "Absolutely not. Do you think I have a death wish?" Now she knew why Minerva had scheduled a staff meeting while Severus was at St. Mungo's. The man had survived the ravages of the snake bite rather well, but he still had some residual effects that required regular examinations and follow-up treatments.

"But Hermione, you seem to know him best, surely—"

"I'm his apprentice, that's why!" she nearly shrieked.

Filius piped up, "I can't imagine the smell when you are brewing in such close quarters." He shuddered comically, causing Professor Vector, seated beside the diminutive man, to chuckle.

Hermione started to say that she didn't notice his smell because of the often overpowering odours of brewing, but she had to admit, there were times when she knew what a potion should smell like, but couldn't figure out what seemed off about it. She shrugged, but said nothing.

"Well," said Minerva briskly, "that's settled. Hermione will talk to Severus about his bathing habits. Now, on to the next item on the agenda..."

Hermione sat shell-shocked throughout the rest of the meeting. She had noticed Severus seemed to have less than strict hygiene habits, no matter the obvious obsessive cleanliness of his lab. And, however much their relationship had changed—they were friends—it did not mean that she was close enough to him to tell him that he, frankly, smelled. Before she realized it, the meeting was over, and the other professors were quickly gathering their things and heading for the door.

"Hermione," said Minerva. "Hermione!"

"What?" she responded dazedly.

"The meeting is over, dear. I believe you have a class, do you not?"

"Erm, yeah, a revision class." She rose from her chair and made her way out of the door. How the hell was she going to tell Severus Snape he needed to take a bath?

It wasn't until a week later that Hermione finally, albeit reluctantly, got her chance to speak to Severus. The school had just broken up for the Easter term, and the pair had drawn the duty of seeing the students off on the Hogwarts Express.

Late April was very warm, and as they walked back up to the castle, Hermione pulled off her cardigan, huffing about how hot it was.

"Severus, how you stand to wear all your layers in this heat is beyond me." The pair approached the lake as they walked.

"I am used to it," he replied glibly.

"But don't you get hot and sweat?"

"There are cooling charms."

"They aren't always strong enough."

"They are strong enough," he insisted.

They reached the shore, and Hermione conjured a bench for the pair to sit and enjoy the sunny afternoon. She placed it to take advantage of the occasional breeze that blew. They sat side by side, knees touching, and just gazed at the lake. Occasionally the giant squid rose to the surface, slapped at the water with a tentacle, and then went back under.

Hermione turned her head toward Severus when she realised the wind was most definitely not blowing away from her. She moved over as unobtrusively as possible.

Another few minutes went by when she realised the smell still lingered, so she moved over again. This time, she was not as unobtrusive.

"Are you all right, Hermione?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You seem to be sliding farther and farther toward the edge. Do I repulse you in some manner?"

"No, never; you know that." She hesitated and then asked, "We are friends, are we not?"

"After a fashion, I suppose," he said. They both turned to look out at the lake.

"Severus," began Hermione, "may I, erm, be honest with you about something?"

Severus answered, "Of course."

"Well, the thing is," she stammered, "it's like this. You weren't at the last staff meeting and well—"

"Just spit it out, woman! You know I hate it when you stammer," exasperation flavouring his reply.

"You smell."

Severus huffed in annoyance. "There's no need to be childish. Just tell me what it is you need to tell me."

"Well, that's just it. You, erm, smell."

Severus' reaction did nothing to further endear his already grumpy countenance to Hermione. With dignified offense he rose, his robes snapping about him and stalked off.

Hermione had only a moment to react before she was off the bench and chasing after him. "Severus! Severus, wait! Please!"

He stopped and she ran into him, falling on her backside. Quickly leaping up, she dashed in front of him so as to keep him from going further.

"Please, Severus, just listen to me."

He folded his arms, and Hermione took that as a good sign. Whenever they argued, if he was unwilling to listen to her point of view, he would just stomp off, but if he was willing he simply folded his arms and waited for her to continue. "Look," she began, "I know you have a reputation for, erm, being a-"

"Greasy git," he supplied.

"Well, I wouldn't have said that," she answered.

"Get on with it, Miss Granger," he sneered.

The return to her surname made her nervous. "Please come back to the bench," she pleaded. "There is something I need to say to you, and it would be easier if we could do it more...peacefully."

They turned back toward the bench and as they sat, she made sure to be upwind.

"Pray, Miss Granger, say what you need to say."

"Professor Snape...Severus...I don't know what your grooming habits are, but they seem to be...sketchy. There are days when it is obvious you haven't had a bath in a long while. The staff have noticed."

"Oh, they have, have they?" he drawled. "Perhaps they take bets on how long between hair washes? Wonder if I bathe before bedding a woman?"

"No! That's not it at all!" She closed her eyes in the hope of removing the image of him bedding a woman from her retina, unless it was her, but she was not going there. "But they have noticed and well, as we work so closely together, they asked me to, erm, speak to you about it," she finished in a rush.

Severus was very angry. "I use cleansing charms and Scourgify religiously."

"Well, that's fine for the odd occasion, but surely you bathe at least weekly?" Hermione watched his face closely for his reaction. She knew that Severus still practiced Occlumency, and she recognised the signs of him retreating behind his protective walls. "Severus, please talk to me. We've become friends haven't we? You certainly have gotten me through quite a few emotional upheavals...Ron, for instance."

"Mr. Weasley was a fool, I will always say that."

"And I thank you, but that isn't what this is about, is it?"

Severus sighed. "Come; let us get a drink at the Three Broomsticks."

He offered no other explanation for his abrupt behaviour, but Hermione knew from experience that he would not speak until he was ready.

The Three Broomsticks had modernised a bit since the war; they now had patio seating and lighting along the side of the building. The removal of a few trees at the back of the property allowed for a clear view of the Black Lake. As a result, business in the evening picked up, and Rosmerta had plans to increase the number of tables outdoors.

Hermione and Severus stepped inside and gave their drinks order, asking that they be delivered to the patio.

They settled themselves, rearranging their chairs to face the lake. Rosmerta brought out their drinks and after a bit of small talk, left the couple with their drinks. They sat quietly, drinking and chatting about inconsequential things.

Hermione's initial bravado seemed to have fled because she could not bring herself to speak of the issue again. Finally resolving to do so, she turned her in chair to face Severus, her elbow knocking her drink over, landing it right in Severus' lap.

The reaction from her colleague stunned her. Severus leapt from the chair, frantically slapping at the liquid as it soaked into his trousers. A strangled sort of noise came from his throat, and as Hermione reached toward him to help clean up the mess, he visibly flinched and begged, "Please don't! Please don't touch me!"

"Severus! Severus, it's only me! Calm down, it's all right!"

Severus seemed to come back to himself, but he was still panicked. His breathing was rapid, and his eyes rolled in their sockets. Without another word, he fled.

As soon as Hermione processed what happened, she started after him. "Severus! Wait! Stop, it was only me, Severus!" She finally caught up with him and grabbing his elbow, forced him to face her. "Severus, please...it's me, Hermione. I am not going to hurt you. It was only a spilled drink."

Severus stared at her for a long minute before speaking. "I am sorry. I don't know what happened. I know it was only a drink, but when you reached for me..." he broke off, unable to go further.

"Let's get back to the castle," Hermione said. "We'll go to your rooms and have some tea and talk. Or not, whatever you'd like to do."

Severs nodded his head in agreement and allowed Hermione to lead him back to the castle.

The fragrant scent of tea reached his nose, and he welcomed the cup that Hermione handed to him. "Thank you."

Hermione settled down on the sofa beside him and took up her cup. "Would you like to talk about what happened?" she asked.

After several minutes, Severus spoke. "Do you know I've never been swimming in my life?"

Blinking at the apparent non sequitur, Hermione remarked, "Never? Not even as a student?"

"Never. Tell me, Hermione, have you ever seen me go out in the rain, even on a Hogsmeade weekend when I've had duty?"

"Now that you mention it, no. You always seem to get someone to cover for you. Me usually, you rat." She smiled at the man beside her and punched him lightly on the arm.

"Besides getting water from the tap to use for potions, have you ever seen me use water to clean the lab or cauldrons?"

"Well, you usually save the cauldrons for detentions, but you're right, I don't see you use water that much." A light popped on in Hermione's brain. "Severus, are you afraid of water?

The dark man did not answer for a moment. Very quietly, he responded, "Yes, I am. I haven't touched water since I was six years old."

*Hermione's mind filled with curiosity, wondering just what did happen that sparked this fear. On occasion they spoke of their childhoods, and in light of Harry Potter's revelations at the end of the war, Hermione was aware of certain aspects of Severus' growing up. "What happened?" she asked as tactfully as she could; Severus would not always answer personal questions if she seemed overeager.

"When I was six, my father had come home from a pub, drunk again. I was having a bath in the kitchen; we had only toilet as far as an indoor privy in those days, so my mother would set the tub in the kitchen and magically fill and heat the water.

"I was just learning to control of my magic, and my mother would help me practice whenever my father was out of the house. When he saw me floating a few toy battleships above the water, he was furious. In his fury, he screamed that he would drown the magic out of me and held me under the water."

Severus shivered at the memory. As he continued to speak, his voice was flat, as though he sought to repress the actual horror of the moment he was remembering. "My magic reacted instinctively, and a white light rushed from me and threw him across the kitchen. My mother snatched me from the water and was checking me over when my father recovered and rushed toward us. He threw me aside and began to beat my mother, screaming how it was all her fault he had a useless, gormless, ugly freak of a child for a son."

Severus was silent and Hermione placed a hand on his arm. "Oh, Severus, I am so sorry."

He continued, "He beat my mother so viciously she needed to be hospitalised. I haven't touched water since. My mother tried and tried to get me to bathe, but to no avail. I think she understood why. She taught me Scourgify, Tergeo and a few other miscellaneous cleansing charms.*

"With a bit of Slytherin cunning, I was able to avoid activities at my Muggle school involving water, and at Hogwarts, I would hide in the library until curfew and then stay up in the common room so that none of the other students would realise I didn't shower. After a while, it was second nature for me to avoid water situations and bathing, so I never thought about it. Even Lily never knew, and we spent a lot of time together in the summers, as you know."

"But as you grew and you understood the reasons, couldn't you overcome your fear?"

"Oh, I understood, but like so many others with psychological fears, I could do nothing about it. I still can't."

Hermione was quiet for a long while. "It must be time for supper. Shall we go up?"

"You've nothing to say? No nuggets of know-it-all wisdom?" he asked sarcastically.

Hermione looked him directly in the eye. "Severus, you have just shared one of your deepest secrets. I believe it would be rather immature of me to blow it off or offer contrite platitudes. I would like to think on it for a bit."

"You plan on making me your next project, don't you?" he asked in a resigned manner.

"Not a project, no, but I would like to find a way to help you."

"Let it be, Hermione."

"I will for now. But just to let you know, I always help my friends...Always."

In her true know-it-all approach to any problem, Hermione spent the next few days researching in the Hogwarts library. She even popped into Edinburgh to visit several of the libraries there. She was frankly surprised he did not suffer from any number of the classic psychoses given his history, but she did conclude that he seemed to be suffering from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. She even chatted with her parents who dealt daily with patients who had a fear of the dentist. They offered some very good advice about re-acclimating her professor to water, but urged her to take it very slow; he was not a child that could be bribed with toys.

One evening, the pair was making potions for the hospital wing in preparation for the spring term. The quiet bubble from the cauldrons was soothing as was the rhythmic noise of the pair chopping ingredients.

"You're quiet tonight," Severus began. "Everything all right?"

"Yes and no," she answered. Severus only raised an eyebrow at her, prompting her to continue. "Yes in that I've got all my grading done, had a nice visit with my parents, and finished my Master's project for the apprenticeship."

"And no in that..." Severus prompted.

Hermione sighed. "And no in the fact that I haven't found a spell or potion that would help with your 'issue'."

"Ah."

"The only way to cure you is to reintroduce you to water."

"Hermione," he said hesitantly.

"No, really, Severus. My parents deal with fear in their practice every day." She giggled and continued, "Although they did say bribing you with a toy wouldn't work."

"No, it won't," he said crisply.

"But, they did give me some other tips and I did some-"

"Research," he finished. "Can't you just leave it be, Hermione?"

Hermione stopped chopping and looked at Severus compassionately. "No, I can't. Not in this at least. Look, I could do it slowly, over the course of months, if you'd like, but the fact of the matter is, you need to bathe. Even if it's just using a basin of water."

"Months, you say?" Severus asked, continuing their conversation.

"Yes. We would start slowly...perhaps just learning to wash your hands. We would do it in a very safe area for you...we could use a clear basin so you could see everything your hands are doing."

Severus looked at his hands as he considered this. "Your suggestion has some merit. May I think about it?"

"Of course, Severus. We'll go at a pace that is comfortable for you, and we'll make sure to do it privately."

"Thank you, Hermione."

"But..." she began

"Yes?"

"We need to do something sooner rather than later about your—"

"There's no need to say it!"

"Well?"

"I know a way to increase the strength of Scourgify. That will have to do for now." With his eyes on the cutting board, he began to chop again. "Do you really think you can help me?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I do, but I'd rather think of it as both of us helping you."

"You are better to me than I deserve, do you know that?" he murmured somewhat reluctantly.

"You've always had my respect, Severus. And you deserve far more than you've gotten. We'll start tomorrow by washing your hands, all right?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice, but I think that on this occasion, I will help you make the choice."

"We shall try tomorrow, then."