Hi, short new story. Doesn't mean i have given up on 'Love & Strife' just decided to go with this one for now... Hope you enjoy :)

"Private lessons?" asked Ron and Harry together. Hermione nodded. She couldn't believe it either.

"And this was Dumbledore's idea?" asked Harry. She shook her head this time and took a bite of toast, she chewed thoughtfully before answering.

"That's the weird part. I don't think it was." She said.

All three heads turned to look at Severus Snape who was positioned at the head table. He was surveying the students laid out in front of him, looking for trouble, while McGonagall tried to engage him in conversation.

Hermione sighed and stood up. "Whether it was Snape's idea or not, I've got to go. This could be something vital to helping you defeat Voldemort."

"Hang on." Ron stood up too. "If Harry is getting 'private lessons' from Dumbledore and you're getting them from Snape – shouldn't I be getting some too?" he demanded on Hermione angrily.

"Oh. Shut up, Ronald." She said. She couldn't be bothered to deal with his childish ways anymore.

Hermione knocked on the dungeon door and waited patiently. It was freezing cold and she shivered. The door opened in front of her and she looked up into Professor Snape's usually cold eyes...but now they seemed different…warmer somehow.

"Miss Granger." He drawled, and suddenly all the coldness and misery was back.

She couldn't find the energy to speak so merely nodded and walked into the empty classroom. She sat down at one of the empty desks and looked back at him. He closed the door slowly and walked over to his desk with long strides. Instead of sitting behind it, he merely rested against it and looked intently at her.

A blush crept up her neck as she remembered that dream she had had about her said professor all those months ago. "So?" she asked. "What do you think I need learn?"

He laughed at her. It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh. It was more of a chuckle. "Miss Granger, I do not think you need to learn this, I know it. The question is, do you?"

She was confused. "Do I know what?"

He stood up and towered over her before placing his hands on the front of her desk. "Do you know that you have so far to go before defeating the Dark Lord becomes even a possibility? Do you know that the odds are against you a thousand to one? Do you think you can do this? Do you think, if faced with him, you would be able to withstand torture of the highest degree? Do you think these lessons are a good idea, if you value your life?" he asked, leaning closer with each point.

Eventually they were nose to nose and he was breathing deeply. They froze at the proximity of it for a moment before both pulling away.

She thought for a moment before answering his questions. "No. No. Possibly. Yes, absolutely. Yes…probably." She finished defiantly. He stared down at her for a moment, calculating what she said.

"Probably? If you think these lessons are not important in helping your little friend succeed then please leave." With that, the door swung open. He didn't even use his wand.

She drew her wand from her sleeve and slammed it shut. "I didn't say that, sir."

He leant back on his desk. "You think you can withstand torture? You think you can survive the Crucio curse, or even worse?" he was puzzled by this, she did not seem the type…and she had never experience torture before, that he knew of.

"Yes. I think I could cope with anything, if it was worth it." She raised an eyebrow at him in a manner that was so like his own he could not help but smirk. She smiled back at him, pleased she could make this cold, heartless man show emotion. He turned around quickly and the smile slid off her face.

He walked behind his desk and started to take off his cloak. He did it slowly, revealing his body to her. It was like stripping, for she had never seen him in anything less than formal attire. Beneath, he was wearing a loose fitting black shirt and black trousers that showed off his long lean legs perfectly. She suddenly found it hard to breath, as the beginning of her previous dream played out exactly in front of her.

He looked at her sharply, his way of asking if she was okay, and she quickly regained composure. "What do you actually know about torture, or pain for that matter?" he asked silkily.

"I know it hurts." She said, trying to joke but it just earned her a peculiar look. "Umm…" she fought for something else to say but he cut her off.

"For example, the most painful experience of your life?" he prompted.

She racked her brains. "Physically, the most pain I have ever been in was when I was a little girl, living in a muggle town. My mother was baking a birthday cake for my Dad. She went outside into the garden and the buzzer went off. I thought I was being helpful, so I went and took the cake out of the oven for her. My hand stuck straight to the metal tin. I pulled my hand back obviously but a good layer of skin stayed behind. I was in hospital for a few days." She looked up at him and he looked a little pale…most people didn't like that story either. "And emotionally…I don't know." In her mind, images of Ron grabbing her, pushing her up against a wall and sticking his tongue down her gagging throat flashed up. She shuddered and tried to forget them. "Probably leaving my parents to come here." She lied.

He nodded again, ignoring the fact he sensed this wasn't the truth. "What about sex?" he asked.

She spluttered and turned bright red. "What about it?"

He shrugged, trying to act indifferent. "Are you having it?"

"I don't see what difference that makes to-" she began.

"Answer the question!" he snapped harshly.

She shut up. "No. I am not having any." She pouted and folded her arms across her chest.

"You are eighteen and have never engaged in any act of sex? Whether that is masturbation, sexual intercourse or oral sex?" He asked, pretending to be thorough with his investigation, but actually just being curious. Why not…she wasn't unattractive…not at all…

Her whole body lit into flames. Just to hear him say it made her insides turn to lava – how could this man have this affect on her?

"Well…" she hesitated. She couldn't look up anymore and instead stared down at her folded arms.

"Masturbation?" he asked softly as a bulge swelled in his trousers.

She nodded still without looking up.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about." He tried to make her feel more at ease.

She snapped. "That's easy for you to say! Everyone knows you get it on tap at the Death Eater meetings! Must be a perk of the job, eh? I bet you've never turned down either. The Bat of the Dungeons must always be a randy son of a-"

Before she could utter another word she was heaved up from her chair and slammed up against a wall. She cried out and he put a hand over her mouth.

He pressed the length of his body heavily up against hers and put his face next to her ear. "Do you really think it is good like that?" he barked. "Is that really how you would want your first time to be? Screaming, and fighting against it but ultimately the worst thing ever is about to happen. Would you want some sweating, brutish, evil man thrusting about inside of you?" with this he thrust his crotch against hers and she gasped.

"No." she whispered. "No, I wouldn't want it to be like that. But I bet you're not always like that." And suddenly it all came spilling out. "I imagine you can be gentle, and teasing, and tantalising and passionate. In fact, I know you can. I've seen you be that way in my dreams."

He released her and stepped away as the realisation of what she had said hit them both. An uncomfortable silence descended…

Thanks! Please Review!