5: Trouble in Class

Thanks to everyone who has left me a review. I appreciate the feedback and hope you'll continue to enjoy the story.--Vivian B

Chapter 5: Trouble in Class

Keeping the secret of her soul mate from Harry and Ron hadn't been easy for Hermione, though she admitted it was completely necessary, given Harry's feelings towards the professor. After meeting with Severus, she had gone to the library and hidden to study in a corner, coming out when a reasonable amount of time had passed. When Harry asked what Snape had made her do, Hermione only shrugged and snorted. "His favorite detention is cauldron scrubbing. What else would he assign? Unfortunately I let my emotions get out of hand and have to go back Thursday." She muttered under her breath so they would think she was angry about the return trip.

"Greasy git was just looking for excuses," Harry said with a glower. "Making you meet him to discuss your private mail that you got during breakfast. It wasn't like you were disturbing his classes. What was the letter, anyway? You didn't say."

Hermione shrugged and shook her head. She had spent a considerable amount of time in the library trying to figure out how to explain the meeting after avoiding the question all day. "I sent a message to a potion maker asking about a theory I've been playing with. He was angry I hadn't brought the question to him, though he'd probably have told me to quit asking so many questions."

"Too right. Well, sit down and pull out your Transfiguration homework; I'm sure you're feeling way behind." Harry indicated a squashy armchair beside him. Hermione doubted his motives were entirely pure. She was well aware he hadn't gotten to the two-foot assignment yet.

Still, if it took everyone's attention off her business that night, she couldn't complain. She glanced across the room to where Ginny sat with Dean and wished she could confide in the girl. They had grown fairly close while spending summers and holidays together.

Hermione was desperate to tell someone, but had no one with whom she dared discuss a subject like this. She was in love, even if it was the greasy git who now taught Defense. Just what was it that Severus...that was the only way she could think of him now...had meant when he said I would soon hate him? It took a great deal of self control to keep her focus on homework instead of letting it float wherever. Most of wherever pertaining to the man living in the dungeons.

*****

As the time for her DADA class approached the next day, she grew more and more anxious. I have to keep my feelings for him tucked away. No one must guess, she told herself. She worried even the interminably clueless Ron would have no trouble sensing something was off. Hermione bit her lip as she entered the classroom and only allowed her glance to slide over Severus before focusing on her chair and putting one foot before the next.

Silent spell casting had been a challenge, but Hermione was doing better than ever with it. At least she had been during the previous lesson. Now she wasn't sure she could focus enough to cast Wingardium Leviosa aloud, never mind complicated dueling silently. It had taken everything in her to make it through that morning's Transfiguration lesson, and having him so close would only exacerbate the problem.

Severus slammed the door across the room closed with a wave of his wand. "Bring your homework to the front, then separate into groups. We will continue with casting the Jelly-Legs Jinx again, silently. Anyone who manages that feat repeatedly will move up to Bat-Bogey Hex. After the abysmal performance of last class, I hope to see some improvement. Get to it."

Harry was paired with Seamus and Hermione with Ron. She managed to cast her shielding charm a few times, but Ron had only successfully produced the jinx once without muttering the words under his breath. When they switched, Hermione found Severus circling around behind her. She could practically feel his breath in her hair, though she knew he wasn't that close. Her concentration was shot with just his presence behind her...not that she'd much to begin with. Sweat slicked her hands and made it difficult to grip her wand, and the longing to touch him seemed to be spiraling upward and out of control.

"Come, Miss Granger, does the little Miss Know-It-All have trouble from time to time? You can't recite this out of a book, can you?" His voice was low and seductive with the cutting edge of taunting to it.

She gritted her teeth, but couldn't see straight; her attention was not on Ron.

Severus grasped her by the shoulders, allowing his right thumb to trail down the side of her neck beneath her hair where no one would see. He turned her and pointed to her opponent, Ron. "Hex him, Miss Granger. Quit going easy on him." The combination of his hidden caress and his snarky professor attitude gave her chills. Then in a much lower tone intended only for her ears she heard, "Just imagine he's one of the twins."

His silky tone and the centering power of his touch, coupled with that image, helped Hermione to focus. Ron didn't stand a chance. Unfortunately, what came out was not the Jelly-Legs Jinx, but a far less comfortable itching jinx. Hermione let it fester on Ron's skin for several seconds before realizing what she had done and ending the jinx. "Sorry Ron." He's only been out of the hospital wing for a couple of hours as it is. Poor guy, probably thinks I sent him itching because I was mad at Severus. She had to hold back a grin at that thought. The feeling in her chest seemed to grow warmer until she had to bite the inside of her lip to keep her smile at bay. Severus removed his hands with another soft touch across her skin and moved away.

"That was . . . acceptable, though it wouldn't hurt you to stay within the syllabus, Miss Granger." His voice had returned to its usual acerbic tone. "But don't imagine in a real duel you will have time to plan and focus. There is no room for mistakes, even for Potter's friends. Back to work, everyone."

Hermione glanced around and realized half the class had been watching. How humiliating to be used as an example in class. Of course, she wouldn't have been able to catch Ron out at all if Severus hadn't touched her, so maybe the humiliation was worth it. She returned her attention to Ron and repeatedly hit him with the correct jinx. It was amazing how much easier it was when she pictured Fred or George's face in his place.

******

Hermione found herself walking those familiar steps back to Severus's office again the next night, trepidation and anticipation both rising inside her. Since the DADA class the previous day, she had been unable to speak to or get near him, and she had felt the growing tug on her psyche as the day continued. Now she was almost frantic with the need to see him.

When she arrived at the classroom, she stopped in the doorway and blinked. There was a student already scrubbing cauldrons at the sink. Her eyes flit over to her professor as she wondered how on earth they would manage to have a private discussion in the midst of a detention.

"Come here, Miss Granger, or don't you wish to borrow that book after all? McGonagall insisted I lend it to you." He sneered convincingly, and she made her way to his desk, from which he rose and headed toward his attached office. "I'll only be a minute, Robins, and I expect to see you still working hard when I return. Follow me, Miss Granger, it's in my office."

Hermione followed him into the office and nearly gasped aloud when he shut the door behind them, then pulled her into his arms for a desperate kiss. His fingers slid from where they gripped her shoulder so that one cradled the back of her head and the other raced down her back to pull her body fully against his. The power of the connection was turned way up from the previous kisses, though Hermione would have sworn that wasn't possible, but the length was lamentably shorter. She had only delved her fingers into his hair when he ended it. He pulled away and lifted his hand to her hair, running his fingers down to rest them on her shoulder. "I wish it could be more, but I forgot about this detention tonight. You don't look too mussed."

She may not have looked it, but she felt it. She lifted a hand to her kiss-swollen lips and couldn't quite hold back a smile, though she felt herself panting. "Yes, sir." She really didn't know what she was saying; between the power of the kiss and the shock of the almost tenderness in his voice, she felt like her world had turned upside down.

He reached for something small and book-shaped that was wrapped in brown paper. "Take this with you; there's a note inside that will explain everything. But first, lay your palm on it." His voice was flat and controlled now, the complete opposite of a few seconds earlier. Reeling from the inconsistency of it, she followed his directions, and he whispered something under his breath, touching the back of her hand with his wand. She felt the tingle of magic ride through her system, then looked back at him.

"Well, don't just stand there, my dear, take the package and leave before I lock us both in here, and Mr. Robins is left to wonder what happened to us." His voice was harsh, but when she looked up into his eyes, she could see he was fighting the enchantment at least as hard as she was. After only a second's deliberation over whether to follow directions or follow her own desire to reinstate their kiss, she grabbed the book. Before she could turn away, however, he placed a hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close for one more, firm kiss.

Released, she blinked at him for a couple seconds, then turned and left the office, heading back through the classroom where the student was making good progress on the nasty, stained cauldron.

Moaning Myrtle, the ghost who haunted the first-floor girls' lavatory, was thankfully absent when Hermione arrived. She secluded herself in the stall where she had made the Polyjuice Potion in her second year, then opened the package, finding a diary and a parchment covered in Severus's spidery writing.

Miss Granger,

SS

Hermione was puzzled and concerned about these additional hints about how she would grow to hate him. She couldn't imagine a circumstance that would bring that on, not if he was really on the side of right. He swore he was fighting for their side. She returned to the library and sat down with the boys to study, secreting the note in her robe pocket with the intent to burn it at the first opportunity...if she could bring herself to do so. It wouldn't do for anyone else to see it, even if it was her first missive from her soul mate.

That evening after completing her Transfiguration homework, Hermione pulled out her copy of the diary. Harry and Ron sat nearby discussing their Charms assignment, which they had predictably put off until the last possible moment. Ginny was by Harry's side with her own school work propped on her knees.

"Come on, Hermione. You've finished your work, so you can help us," Ron whinged as Hermione tucked her feet beneath her and settled into the corner of the squashy sofa.

She didn't look up as she spoke, but opened her diary to the first page instead. "It's not my fault you chose to waste your time with games of wizard chess instead of studying when you had all that free time recovering." She wasn't sure what to start out with, never having owned a diary of any kind, never mind one that Severus Snape would be reading. Then the worry niggled at her: what if something was wrong with the charm or if she had misunderstood Severus? She resolved to write a few innocuous lines first, to make sure it was working properly, but nothing that looked like more than notes to herself. And if they had the bonus of raising Severus's blood pressure a little, that might make things interesting, anyway.

The study of Potions is one of the senses, And much like personal relationships. The student must employ every sense: the feel of the ingredients in her fingers as she prepares for the potion, the fingertips smoothing, caressing, testing. The scent of ingredients making a chemical reaction...sandalwood and myrrh combined. She paused for a moment when she wrote that, analyzed her memory of his personal scent again to determine if she had caught it, then continued on.

The taste of melding flavors on the air, picking them up on the skin. Sight is used to determine doneness, readiness for the next step, and the sound of the potion coming to a boil, bubbling in the pot slowly, then faster until it gradually reaches completion.

Wondering if what she had written would draw the attention she had hoped for, she re-read it. It was rather cheesy, but under the circumstances, she didn't dare be more bold. Then she passed it to Ginny and asked for her opinion.

"I don't know why you're taking notes on the Crumpled-Horned Snorkack, but I suppose that's your choice." Ginny shook her head and passed it back. "Are you feeling OK? You've been acting strange lately."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hermione tried to look like she knew what Ginny was talking about, then looked back at the diary as more writing appeared in the book. This time in his handwriting.

What is that inanity?

Sorry, I was checking it out. Ginny thought I was taking notes on the Krumpled Horned Snorkack though, so it looks like we're working well. She wondered if what she'd written had affected him. Glancing back at her words, she felt slight arousal of her own.

Did you doubt my Charms abilities? I'm really very offended, Miss Granger.

Romantic nonsense. When did I ever say your name?

She blushed at the memory. During that first interview. I don't believe either of us was thinking clearly at the time.

In your dreams, she wrote with a snort. It seemed unreal that Severus Snape could possibly have joked with her, but his response confirmed that he had.

Precisely. But the rest of the time I suppose you may call me Severus. If you slip up in front of anyone else, you'll be scrubbing floors with Filch for a week. Do you understand me?

Completely. Severus.