There's Nothing Worse Than A Nagging Conscience

First, I want to give special thanks to Fictionlover_32, Snapesbbwlover, MelissaAdams, and Lady_Peeves for their support and helpfulness. It's much appreciated!

Also, this is my FIRST story, so please, be nice and helpful. Enjoy! :)

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Chapter 5: There's Nothing Worse Than A Nagging Conscience

"Now then, Miss Granger, if you know the answer, then what is it?"

Hermione placed the pink button on the edge of the desk and stepped back. Snape studied the button and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger, but a button is NOT the answer to the riddle," Snape said almost triumphantly at the thought of stumping the little Know-It-All.

"I know, sir," Hermione continued grinning as she took out her wand, "THIS is the answer..."

With a few flicks and motions of her wand, Hermione transfigured the pink button into the answer... a beautiful butterfly!

The butterfly fluttered into the air, Hermione watching with her little pixie face glowing with triumph while Snape looked on with a glare.

"Yes, Miss Granger, you solved it," he said reluctantly, "Congratulations." With a flick of his wand and a sneer on his face, the butterfly turned back into a button in midair and dropped onto the cold dungeon floor.

"Sir," Hermione began a bit nervously but still grinning, "Um, I'm not quiet sure how to ask this, but..."

"Miss Granger not sure of something?" Snape said dryly, "Oh I do believe the world is about to end. The little Know-It-All apparently DOESN'T know it all."

"Please, sir, I never claimed to know everything. What I was trying to ask you before was... Well, was there a reason you, um, wanted me to solve the riddle before detention? You did mention how it would be to my benefit."

"Ah, I see what you're saying," Snape smirked knowing what she wanted from eavesdropping on her conversation at dinner. "You're thinking of perhaps a reward, hm? I thought you were just excited about deciphering the riddle. Obviously you're just as materialistic as any other dunderhead."

"Oh no, sir. That's not true! It was a very good riddle, sir, but... Well, let's just say these hands weren't made for scrubbing."

Hermione held her hands out to Snape to show a couple of blisters that had begun to appear last night after scrubbing. Snape felt a slight tug in his gut as he glanced at her red hands, each with a blister forming on her palms. Snape's immediate reaction was to take her hands into his and rub ointment on them, but, of course, he resisted the temptation. He tried to ignore this feeling of guilt that was slowly over coming him. What was happening? When did he suddenly start giving a damn?

Looking up at Hermione with a sneer, Snape asked snidely, "Is that so? Then what were they made for besides scratching yourself and picking your nose?"

"Professor Snape!" Hermione gasped, "I do NOT under any circumstances..."

"Care? Neither do I, Miss Granger. You want a reward? Fine. You can have your reward."

"Really?" Hermione asked with a pleasantly surprised look.

"Of course. Would you like to know what it is?"

"Oh please, sir!"

"Was that a yes?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"Yes, Professor Snape!"

"All right," Snape said with a sly smirk, "Your reward is the satisfaction of knowing that you solved one of my riddles."

Suddenly, Hermione's face fell as she just looked at him with her mouth open and her eyes wide with shock. She couldn't believe it! She just couldn't believe it! The nerve of that man! That... that scoundrel! He lead her on! What a cad!

"What's the matter, Miss Granger?" Snape mocked, "Were you expecting something more?"

She moved her mouth to speak what she was thinking, but couldn't get the words to come out.

"Ah, another articulate Gryffindor," Snape said smugly, "Are you taking lessons from Potter too?"

"That was a dirty trick, Professor Snape!" Hermione said angrily.

"Now is that a way to say 'thank you' to someone, Miss Granger, because I KNOW you wouldn't be questioning my integrity unless you wanted another detention. Now, what do you say to someone to express your deep appreciation?"

Hermione gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she held back tears of frustration and anger. "Thank you for that lovely riddle, Professor Snape," she finally spat, "It was most intriguing!"

"That's better, Miss Granger," he said coolly in his silkiest voice, "Now I want you to grade these third year essays on the properties of Melissa officinalis in an anti-depressant potion."

"Yes, sir," she scowled snatching half the pile and sitting at one of the desks.

Oh, that dirty rotten bastard! How dare he get her hopes up like that?! Oh how her blood boiled at that moment!

'How stupid to think that Severus Snape would EVER give out an award!' Hermione grimaced to herself, 'Oh that prat! How could I have ever thought there was something about him that seemed anything but intolerable?!'

She sighed loudly and grabbed the first scroll from the pile and began to read, hoping the homework would get her mind off of Severus Snape!

'Well,' she finally thought to herself, 'at least I'm not scrubbing cauldrons.'

The Potions Master was trying to concentrate on the essays in front of him instead of the young woman in front of his desk. He was hoping that arousing her anger would cause her to keep her distance from him, much to his benefit. He continued marking scrolls, hoping his plan would work. As the minutes passed while they marked in silence he couldn't help but occasionally look up and steal a glance at her. She was angry, that was obvious, but he could see in her eyes that she was... Humiliated... Hurt. She had put some faith and trust in him and he laughed in her face. Any other time with any other student he'd be thrilled with that look, but for some odd reason he didn't feel that way at all. Instead he felt... Terrible.

'No, no, I DO NOT feel like some prat!' he told himself angrily.

"Are you sure about that?" the voice in his head asked.

'YES!'

"Really? Then why are you trying to justify your actions to yourself? It's because you feel bad for what you did."

'Not at all! I love that sort of power! I feed off of students quivering in my wake! I live for that feeling of sending someone's world crashing and burning into the ground!'

"Buuuuuut?"

Snape stole another glance at Hermione who had a melancholy look full of betrayal and sorrow. Suddenly, his heart felt heavy and that pang returned to his stomach.

He sighed quietly and thought, 'But not with her.'

He cursed himself as he opened a drawer and pulled out a blank scroll and began to write furiously. There had to be some way to get rid of that annoying voice, and he had a feeling this ought to do the trick... and perhaps even put a smile on Hermione's face.

Hermione was still cursing Snape in her head as she was finishing her last markings on the last essay in her pile. He was so full of himself! He was being so nasty to her, and for what? There was no reason! Well, she'd show him! She'd get him at...

"Here, Miss Granger!" Snape hissed.

Hermione looked up in time to see the scroll Snape had thrown at her. She dropped her quill and caught the parchment.

'Great, another essay,' she thought, 'he's going to keep me here all night!'

She opened the scroll to mark what she assumed was her final essay, thank God! She truly couldn't grade another! As she began to read her mouth dropped open in surprise. It wasn't an essay! This was... a homework pass?! She read the scroll again to make sure she wasn't delusional:

"I, Professor Severus Snape, have awarded this student, Miss Hermione Granger, a 'homework pass' for her quick intellect in solving a rather perplexing enigma. This 'pass' is good for receiving full credit for one assignment, however, this does not include examinations."

Hermione looked up at Snape with her face still in shock. He was marking his last essay while red in the face with anger and embarrassment for listening to that damn conscience of his. She was still watching him as she started grinning from ear to ear, hoping he'd look up at her, but he continued to focus on his markings.

Finally, as if he knew she was staring at him, Snape said in the silkiest voice while continuing with his grades, "You are not to tell anyone of your 'reward,' Miss Granger. If you do, the scroll will become blank when you turn it into me, making it null and void. Do I make myself clear?"

"Oh, yes, sir!" Hermione exclaimed, "Thank you, sir!"

She quickly tucked her pass in her robes and gathered the finished scrolls, putting them neatly in a pile on his desk exactly like she did at Grimmauld's Place.

"They're all done, Professor Snape," she said sweetly.

She couldn't help but inhale deeply next to him. Mmm, still smelled delicious. The way she was staring at Snape that moment, one would have never guessed that she was cursing his name only minutes ago.

"Fine, Miss Granger. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir, and thank you for the 'reward!' I promise I won't tell a soul, not even Crookshanks!"

"Crookshanks?" he asked while looking up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"My cat! I promise I won't even tell him! Thank you so much Professor Snape!"

Hermione didn't wait for a response as she turned tail and ran up the stairs. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around to face Severus Snape with a wide grin on her face. As she stood there Snape could feel her deep brown eyes burning into his head with a hard concentrated stare. Finally, he put down his quill and looked up at her with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, what is it now, Miss Granger?!" Snape demanded thoroughly annoyed, "Can't you leave me in peace for just a moment?"

"Sir, as a thank you, might I muse you with a riddle of my own?"

He raised his eyebrow in curiosity before scowling, "You're trying my patience, Miss Granger, but if you must... Just make it a good one or else I'll take back the homework pass."

"Oh no, sir, it's a good one! I wouldn't dream of insulting your intelligence!"

"Well what is it already? I don't have all night!"

"My life is measured in hours. I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick. Thick, I am slow. A gust of wind is my greatest foe."

Snape leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling deep in thought. He steepled his hands over his chest with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair. To Hermione's surprise, he smiled a true genuine smile! For a moment, she was afraid his face was going to crack under the pressure of that mysterious grin. He'd probably be sore tomorrow. Lord knows when the last time those muscles were used!

"Well, that is a good one," Snape continued smiling at her.

Suddenly realizing he was smiling in her general direction, the corners of his mouth dropped and he cleared his throat saying, "Ahem, yes, well, thank you Miss Granger. Now leave! The sight of you is making me weary. I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I gave you a month's worth of detention with me. God, I can barely stand to look at you during the day. Why do I torture myself by seeing you again?!"

"Well, sir," she said sweetly from the doorway, "you could always take away some of my detentions so you wouldn't have to see me so much."

Ironically, that was the last thing either one of them wanted to do, but they couldn't afford to let the other know that.

"Five points, Miss Granger, for tempting a professor!" Snape declared, "Good night!"

"Good night, Professor Snape."

Hermione turned and almost closed the door behind her until she stopped. She had no idea what possessed her to say such a thing, but she slowly turned around and added, "Sweet dreams."

Snape looked up in time to see Hermione dash away out of sight closing the door behind her. By the hem of Merlin's robes, what did that girl just say?! Sweet dreams?! He snorted at the thought. He knew they'd only be sweet if they were about...

He shook the thoughts from his head. He had to stop such thoughts and feelings now before they got too out of hand! It was stupid to let one's emotions get in the way of rational thinking, like some hormone driven teenager! Of course, he wasn't one to talk. After all, he changed her detention duty based on his culpable feelings, especially when he saw how sad her eyes looked. Truth be told, he actually HATED to see that pain in her eyes. How could he betray her like that?

Despite his concern towards Hermione, Snape was still a bit angry at himself for giving into his gnawing guilt. Good God, what was wrong with him lately? First he spends half the night looking for a riddle to tell her, then he takes pity on her poor sore hands and makes her grade essays instead, and NOW he was giving her a homework pass?! He's NEVER given ANYONE a homework pass, not even to a Slytherin! What made her so special?

"Oh, you know what it is that makes her so extraordinary," the voice chided in his head.

"Not this again," he groaned, "Go away and stop pestering me, Conscience!"

"Who said I was a conscience? Maybe I'm common sense!"

"That's highly doubtful since you are forcing me to have conversations with myself like some unstable crazy old bat like Dumbledore!"

"But you ARE unstable!" the voice asserted.

"Shut up!"

"Maybe she can tame you, soothe the wild beast inside," the voice continued, "If anyone could do it, she could."

"I'm not listening!"

"Maybe you should for once! After all, you did crack a smile tonight. Perhaps not all hope is lost."

"Is that what you are?" Severus asked with a puzzled look, "Hope?"

"Precisely," the voice chirped.

"Rubbish!"

"Obviously not. You are still speaking to me."

"Well not anymore," Snape declared, "because I'm going to drown you out in double shots of firewhiskey."

"I really don't think..."

"Exactly, don't think, drink!"

Snape gathered all his marked essays and put them in a neat pile on his desk before heading to his private chambers for a well-deserved rest, wondering if he would indeed have sweet dreams that night. It had been a very long time since he had one.

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Yea, there's chapter 5! I hope you all liked it!

- DADA Mistress