-Begin Chapter 8- Oct 22

Hermione watched her Professor fade into nothingness and took a big breath to steady herself. With that thought in mind, she stepped into the hospital wing. Giving a cursory glance of the wing, she understood that Madam Pomfrey was not there, and probably in the potions laboratory she had at St. Mungo's.

Hermione had used the one at Hogwarts simply because it was easier, but the Mediwitch liked her personalised laboratory more.

She noticed that many of the other patients in the wing were either asleep or unconscious – one of the reasons they had chosen to do this at night – and let out a sigh of relief. All was going according to plan.

Then, Hermione turned into Severus' area, pulling the curtain back. She pulled out her wand and, with butterflies fluttering in her stomach, murmured the reversal incantation to the stasis spell she had cast all those months earlier. She waited for something to happen, hoping that it would all work out the way it was meant to.

Soon enough, her wishes were fulfilled, for Severus opened his eyes. She took off the spells that regulated his breathing, choosing to let him be free. He looked at her, eyes cold and detached. Hermione shivered at the gaze, hating the hollow look that filled it. She had not expected him to start talking, but the emptiness was chilling.

She took a few steps toward him, slowly, speaking in a low tone. "It's all going to be alright, Severus. Come here. Stand up, there's a good patient," she had unknowingly shifted into her Healer voice, the same soothing timbre as the one Madam Pomfrey used. "Come here."

She wasn't sure if it was the stiffness borne from months of lying in the same position or the mechanical way each action was delivered, but Hermione felt a deep urge to help him. She thought he would be sore after weeks and weeks of doing nothing, and didn't rush him.

As he stood, as per her instructions, Hermione looped one arm around him, disregarding the cool skin that her hand brushed, and cast the Disillusionment charm. She felt the unique sensation that told her they were being turned invisible, and began to make her way out of the hospital wing.

The door swung open with no prompting from Hermione, and she wondered if her Professor could see them or if he was just guessing their location.

The trip down to the Potions classroom was uneventful save for an almost-mishap involving Filch and his cat, but Hermione's heart pounded anyway.

The door once again swung open and she maneuvered them inside. She sat Severus down at his desk, one that had been occupied by some Professor or another for the few months Hogwarts had been open. It looked right with him in it, though he was out of place with no menacing cloak on and the empty look.

She began talking to him about potions, urging him to converse. He did nothing, unresponsive until she got right up in his face. At that, something sparked in his eyes, and Hermione thought she recognised irritation.

Hermione began yelling and started doing the things she knew truly angered Severus. She started talking about the theories of potions – making sure to get each and every fact wrong – and bragged about stealing potions ingredients from his stores.

She leaned over the desk at him, catching the momentary furrowing of his brows. She panted, the shouting being an exerting exercise, and waited for a moment.

She got a wild idea just then, one that had never occurred to her and that she knew her Professor would kill her for. She wasn't sure what had prompted it, but she was worked up and knew a way to get rid of that.

Wicked smile on her lips and something shouting at her that she shouldn't go through with it, she leaned in even closer.

She whispered, "Oh, Severus-Poo. I love you, my sweetums," knowing it could only rile him up, and then placed a kiss on his unresponsive lips.

Despite the fact that she was getting a minimal reaction, Hermione continued. She used her limited skills to get his lips to give, just a little, using her height advantage to push him back further. Her tongue met his and she felt stirrings of movement within him.

Heady with excitement and victory, Hermione pressed harder. She detached their lips to place kisses down his exposed neck, biting down hard and leaving deep, purple-red marks. She pushed him back and crawled over the desk, sitting on his lap.

Inside of her, a battle raged. One side of her protested fully that this was wrong, that she would get everyone in trouble, that her Professor would murder her brutally for it, and that she was going completely overboard and practically molesting a man that was all but brain-dead…

And yet another side of her was blind with eagerness to succeed, a part of her that had been well-hidden and yearned for him to respond to her advances. That part shouted at her to continue, to get him to do something, anything.

Her hands roamed his bare chest, using her nails and leaving red marks as she scratched down his back. She used her teeth to tease his skin, laving over the exposed and reddened skin with fervor.

She stopped, grappling with indecision for a second, but upon seeing his brighter eyes she continued. He was responding slightly to this carnal desire and need, not needing his soul to want it.

She pressed the heel of her hand to the noticeable bulge in his trousers, using her nimble fingers to trace the outline and tease him further. He made no sound but pushed up into her palm, making Hermione grin into the crook of his neck. Still using her hands to stimulate him, she shouted over her shoulder.

"Do it now, Professor!"

It was the right moment, and the room was filled with a dazzling white light. She stopped her actions and watched as the apparition that was her Professor locked gazes with Severus. She watched the tension between them increase, air between them crackling with energy and magic.

There was a loud 'pop' and the ghost that she had gotten so used to disappeared. White light shone through Severus' eyes and Hermione sat, transfixed. This was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and she tried to keep track of everything that was happening.

Severus was almost shaking, magical power rolling off of him in waves that stung Hermione like little electrical shocks. The air was still everywhere else and a deafening silence filled the room. She waited… and waited, and waited.

The light began to dim and the room was thrown back into darkness. There were a few candles burning, but it was nothing. Hermione blinked a few times to allow her eyes time to get used to the dark, and felt stirrings of activity beneath her.

With a start, she realised she was still sitting atop Severus.

Scrambling back, Hermione waited for the explosion. Instead, Severus looked beseechingly at her, arms held out.

Mystified, Hermione leaned into the hug.

"Thank you so much," his voice was hoarse and rusty from a long time of being unused. The words were said into her wild hair, mumbled straight to her. She was still puzzled beyond belief, but let herself relax into the embrace.

Too soon, he pushed her away.

"We have much to talk about," he said. "But I must thank you."

Hermione nodded, eyes sparkling with tears. They had done it! Rescued Severus, saved him! She had done it.

He stood, eyebrow rising as he saw her position on his desk. "Kindly get off of my desk and straighten your clothes. I'll get back to the hospital wing; I thank you once again for everything."

She watched, eyes wide with disbelief, as he retreated from the room, looking almost comical in his half-dressed state.

Throwing caution to the wind, Hermione ran after him. "Don't you dare," she warned.

"Excuse me, Miss Granger?"

"Don't you dare try to go back to the way things were; everything is different now."

"Nothing has changed. I am your Professor, you are my student."

"No. You're not," challenged Hermione. "You saved my life, I saved yours. We are equal, and I would even go so far as to say that we are friends. As such, we will walk to the hospital wing together, so that we can both explain to Madam Pomfrey how you woke up. "

Severus was at a loss for words, or so it seemed. "Very well, Miss-"

"Ahem," Hermione cleared her throat, pulling herself up to full height and taking on an arrogant look.

Severus rolled his eyes, making Hermione believe that not all was lost, and continued, "Very well, Hermione. Let us go."

She nodded, satisfied.

It was past midnight, she knew, and Hermione knew Madam Pomfrey would be doing her final rounds of the hospital wing. The woman would be terrified if she saw that Severus was missing, so Hermione was determined to make it back before that discovery was made.

Things were not to go in her favour, however, because they encountered a wandering student almost immediately after exiting the Potions room.

"Draco," Severus called out, looking shocked and unprepared. Hermione watched as he pulled on his usual mask of disdain, striding down the corridor intimidatingly. "Mister Malfoy," he called again.

Malfoy, who had been looking out the window, whirled around. His eyes were red and his arms were crossed. He looked more vulnerable than Hermione had ever seen him.

He looked disbelieving at Severus and her, blinking a few times and going so far as to rub his eyes. "No!" He sounded hoarse, and Hermione knew he had been crying. "You're dead."

"Obviously," said Severus. "I'm not."

"But… I saw your ghost." He trembled, looking weak.

"That was not, as I tried to prove to you that night," reminded Severus. "My ghost. That was my soul, and Hermione helped me link my soul and my spirit – using my magic – back together. I am back, Draco… be frightened."

The joke fell slightly flat, though Hermione found it amusing, because Malfoy launched himself into Severus' arms. Hermione wondered if two hugs in one day – her and Malfoy – would be the thing to send him back into a coma, and waited.

She heard the soft murmur of words that were said to quietly for her to make out; a short conversation took place between Malfoy and Severus. Malfoy nodded and Severus continued, in his brisk pace, down the corridor. Hermione made a move to follow, but Malfoy caught her arm.

"Granger," he said. "I owe you an apology – several, if memory serves. He told me to tell you that he would handle things at the hospital wing." Hermione nodded at that, though her eyes still followed Severus until he disappeared from view, turning a corner.

"Will you walk with me?" He asked, nose sounding stuffed up and making his voice even more nasally than usual. Hermione took pity on him and nodded, following behind him. She'd seen the way Severus had embraced him, despite what Draco had done to her, and decided to trust Severus' judgement.

"See," he began. "I was the one to curse you… on Friday? I was going to do something worse – a variation of the Cruciatus I read about in one of father's notes. I couldn't do it, though, so I sent you to sleep. I see you're awake, though." That was said with an apologetic smile.

Hermione wasn't placated, however. "And I'm supposed to be grateful you didn't use and Unforgiveable, only something that might have put me to sleep forever?" Her voice was tight.

"No!" He shouted. "I would just like to tell you why I did what I did. My entire family is in Azkaban, Granger. All of them except for Severus, my godfather. You have to understand that my life is a mess right now. I have no friends,"

Hermione scoffed at that, "Serves you right, evil bastard," she muttered unfairly.

He seemed hurt but continued. "I have no one and nothing. Everyone hates me and the only person I thought I could count on was Severus. Even after learning he was in a coma, I believed he would wake up; I practically prayed! I saw how tired you always were, and I guess that led me to feel resentful. If you were tired, you obviously couldn't take good care of my godfather."

She nodded.

"The past few weeks have been hard on me – with my Father's birthday came… so many Howlers. I have not been feeling my best, and they even wrote a terrible article about him and me in the Prophet. That, added up, is what left me so tetchy and angry."

"It's no excuse for cursing me," she said.

"I know that! However, I hope you don't hate me, and can understand that there is a lot of pressure on me to live up to everything people tell me I'm not. When the one person I thought I could count on showed up as a ghost – or what looked like a ghost – I went mad." His voice had gotten stronger, less scratchy, but it was still vulnerable. "You don't have to forgive me, but try to understand. The only person I care about right now seemed dead!"

Hermione cocked her head to the side, thinking hard. If anyone she truly cared about was in mortal danger, and she had no one else to go to, she might have also reacted in anger. It was still no excuse, she thought.

"I read up on ways to get revenge – because everyone and their grandmothers seem to think I am some evil incarnate and I was too tired to want to keep proving them wrong – but I decided against it at the last second."

He was pleading by then, "I really am sorry," he said. "I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm tired of everyone believing the worst in me… I scared myself, Granger. I've never done that before. I can be evil, do terrible things, but recent years and events have taught me not to act rashly. I've developed, if you'll believe it, a conscience. I was angry, really angry, and wanted to apologize. Please."

"Malfoy, I don't know if I can really forgive the intent with which you acted, but I will forget the action and give you a second chance. I think you have the potential to be a good person, and I would feel terrible if I condemned you for crimes you didn't commit – your father did."

He looked grateful. "Thank you," he said, relief flooding his voice.

"That doesn't mean I'm your best friend," she said. "And it also doesn't mean that if you convinced me to want to forgive that you will get everyone else to do the same. I understand you have struggles and that most were not brought upon you by your actions, but I will not bail you out of things you have done."

"I wasn't expecting anything, just to hear that you will think about forgiving me."

She nodded. For a minute, the only sounds in the corridor were the sounds of their shoes. Somehow, they had made their way back to the hospital wing, from which Madam Pomfrey's astonished-sounding yelling escaped.

Hermione turned to Draco. "Goodnight, Malfoy."

He nodded, and then winked. "Good luck with Severus," he said. Then, he turned and left, leaving Hermione absolutely gobsmacked, standing in the corridor.

What was with crazy Slytherins?

Hermione pushed open the doors to the hospital wing, readying herself for the storm that was to come, positive she would come out of it unscathed.

-End Chapter 8-

The End!

Thanks for reading, I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me to write. Leave me a review (and, possibly, tell me if you'd still like the mild lime ending I also have, though I would probably upload it as a seperate fic)?

Thanks again!