It just...happened...

\"Honestly Granger, if you were going any slower you\'d be going
backwards.\"

Along the way to save Harry Snape\'s insults had gotten less and less
creative, and now he was just trying to throw out random facts about
Hermione\'s faults. She had long since been ignoring them.

\"I\'m coming.\" she muttered through her teeth, it was
freezing again and it was almost midnight. They had been walking, all
BLOODY day and again, she was silent about her pain. She was trying
to prove she too was strong willed. So far it was failing.

She had been holding back tears since they started and now they
almost slipped down her cheek when she heard a deep yelp in front of
her...from a tall, dark Potion\'s master.

\"Oh...God.\" Snape cried out suddenly, grasping his forearm and squeezing tightly. Hermione rushed up beside him, looking to him in horror. \"Are you alright sir?\"

Stupid stupid stupid question..

\"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT?\" Snape snarled, as Hermione flinched and backed away a bit.

\"No sir.\"

They continued walking along, looking at the birds and wildlife occasionally until Hermione could take it no more. \"Professor Snape?\"

\"What?\" the back of his head brooded. Hermione continued with gusto,

\"Why didn\'t Voldemort-\" Snape whirled around, looking trmiormione with fire in his eyes. \"You shall never call him by-\" \"I\'m sorry, he-who-must-not-be-named,\" Hermione hurriedly went on, \"Why didn\'t he just kill Harry? Why is he keeping him prisoner?\"

Snape looked to the young girl shrewdly, \"Finally a question worth answering.\" he let Hermione wait a while as they continued their trek to Voort\ort\'s.

\"The Prophecy.\"

\"Sorry?\"

\"The Prophecy. That\'s why Voldemort has him locked up.\"

\"But Voldermort already knows the Prophecy-\" Snape snorted, \"Of course he does you silly little girl...but...\" he trailed off, looking around them and assuming that they weren\'t being spied upon. He lowered his voice anyway, causing Hermione to walk closer to him. He looked rarely uncomfortable at this and stuttered a bit before continuing.

\"The Prophecy like anything magical has its rules, Miss Granger.\"

\"Rules for a Prophecy?\"

\"May I continue?\" Snape snapped as Hermione nodded, not wanting to vex him. \"The Prophecy can only be bound to truth if the two encased in its hold repeat a certain spell at the same time.\" The two of them passed over a fallen oak tree and continued on while Hermione was baffled.

\"Well, why would they want to do that?\" Hermione said confused. Snape rolled his eyes, clearly she wasn\'t as bright as one would hope.

\"When the other dies, because of this pact,\" Snape said looking ahead, \"The other will inherit their opposites powers.\"

\"So what?\" Hermione almost scoffed, \"Harry\'s not that magically inclined, what would Vol-...err...he-who-must-not-be-named, want with Harry\'s minimal powers?\"

Snape came to a full stop now, looking at her with a bemused expression. \"You think you know so much, don\'t you Granger? When really you don\'t.\" He began walking again, his point being made and made no efforts to continue speaking...and while this normally would have phased her, she now welcomed the silence.
___________________________________________

\"LET ME GO!\" his green eyes flashed, \"I SAID NOW!\" the Deatheater’s around him merely chuckled, looking to the pathetic boy with no mercy. The beatings never stopped, and when they did they let Harry scream a while until he could not more and then they would start again.

Suddenly their noise ceased and Harry blearily looked up, his glasses were on the floor in front of him, one lens broken. He was getting weaker by the moment and it was a horribly pride-shattering cycle.

He saw a thin figure in front of him pick the glasses up and move over to Harry, placing them on him. Harry blinked a moment, getting used to them once more and when he finally did open his eyes once more, he yelped in surprise.

\"You.\"
______________________________________

\"Did you hear that Professor?\"

Snape didn\'t answer, but kept making his way through thedscadscape they were covering. They were close...too close. Hermione\'s heart gave a leap as he looked back to her...no...just looked back to see if they were being followed.

Hermione was getting tired, and as far as she could see Snape was being an utter prat. She had tried to be kind, to be helpful but instead here he was ordering her ad and and not letting her. He was still holding his forearm and Hermione couldn\'t help but feel a pang of sympathy...it was wrong to be cross with him...at the moment.

A sudden snap of a twig raised both their heads up, Hermione looked to Snape with a frantic worry as did he. Before they could panic, Hermione lifted the Invisibility cloak, as Snape drew her to him suddenly knowing, and it settled on to two involuntarily embracing figures.

\"I don\'t see anyone.\" came a smooth voice moments later, and was accompanied with one of the same candor. Hermione and Snape tried to conceal their worried breathing, so far it was moderately successful.

\"Neither do I...tsk tsk...Voldemort will not be pleased.\" \"That\'s true.\" Silence now, more shuffling, closer to Hermione and Severus. Hermione wrapped her arms closed around Snape, until he found it almost hard to breathe.

Hermione looked up to him a moment, unseen and saw the terror in his eyes. With every twig snap, Hermione pressed herself closer and closer to Snape, thinking that if she did he\'d never be able to leave her here alone.

\"Well, I suppose there\'s only one thing left to do.\" Said that first smooth voice. Hermione listened intently, what were they going to do?

\"VAPINOS!\" there was a burst of light that Hermione could faintly make out, and she saw a lump of a figure fall to the ground. Her eyes remained open, out of mere shock.

\"Don\'y yoy you worm.\" The tall figure said venomously, \"This is for the best.\"

\"Bu-..but.\" came the strangled cry from the lump on the ground. The taller offender kicked him, embarassed at his actions. If there were spies about they most certainly would not be intimidated by a crying little whiner.

\"With you dead,\" said the figure, crouching next to the lump on the ground, \"Voldemort surely cannot punish me. I\'ll tell him we were fending off...Snape, yes. We\'ll use Snape. Voldemort\'s furious with him.\" at this Hermione looked up to Snape who had an increasingly somber look about him. \"And when he asks what happened,\" the tall figure concluded, \"I\'ll tell him you stepped in my line of fire, Severus got away because of it and the rest is how do the muggles say it? History?\"

There was no answer. The Deatheater on the ground was dead. The tall figure waved his wand about and after a muffled incantation that Snape couldn\'t hear,was was gone.

Hermione prepared to lift the cloak, and felt Snape draw her back to him. He shook his head, and leaning until his lips accidentally grazed her ear he whispered almost silently,

\"We\'re not off the hook yet, Granger. There may be more spies.\"

Hermione nodded, knowing full well what he meant. He saw that she was growing weaker by the moment and he allowed them to surreptitiously sit down in the grass, still covered by the cloak. He saw that the dead body was in clear yet blurry sight, and also that Hermione was trembling now, her tears silently falling down her cheeks and drying on his dark robes.

She felt his sculptured hand caress the back of her head, calming her, and she was genuinely moved. She wanted to thank him, to apologize for all those times that she had been mean to him behind his back, for all the accusations for all the cruelty...she wanted to thank him for being him.

He had given up his youth to Voldemort and his age to Dumbledore. He was never truly his own man, always someone\'s follower. And before she could stop herself she looked to his dark eyes that had found themselves resting on her a brief moment and uttered a soft, \"Thank you.\"

He nodded and a few minutes later, she fell into an exhausted sleep, her head on his chest and the sound of his rapidly beating heart sounding in her ears. A while later she awoke to see him looking down at her, still under the confines of the Invisibility cloak. He looked away, still not speaking.

Hermione felt his hair brush her cheek just then, and she realized this was such an intimate moment without meaning to be. It was growing stuffy under the Invisibility cloak..damn this was too small.

Hermione could still feel his arm around her waist, drawing her close to him, her own arms around his waist, clinging to him. He hadn’t moved even when she was sleeping. She looked up to him again. It was wrong to think of a man this way, a man who was much older, meaner and her Professor. But as she gazed up at him through increasingly damp fringe, she couldn\'t help but see him as something much more.

She felt him shift as he looked down a bit and over to her, his dark eyes linking with her own. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and before she could help herself she had pressed her welcoming lips against his own.

She didn\'t see his eyes go wide a moment, his heart pounding as he viewed what had happened...but as he did his own eyes fell shut, and he captured her soft mouth with his, crushing her with all his fears and anxieties and so much more.

It was so hot under the blanket, but all Hermione could feel or smell or hear was him. He was pressing his lips harder against hers, she was sure for the same reason she had done it to him. He was safe. She was safe. They were safe together. His tapered fingers were busying themselves in unruunruly hair and she shifted until she was kissing with more ease, her hands on his hard chest.

She waited for him to protest, to say anything that would demand she extract herself from his lips…but he didn’t. Instead his kisses became more and more hungry, forcing his sleek tongue into her welcoming mouth as she pulled his hands to her chest, urging him to explore her.

He was a not a man to be told twice, verbally or not. He backed her against the grassy floor that had been there solace for so long, and in a mad whirl of buttons had removed her shirt, and it now lay open with one very aroused Hermione Granger sporting what appeared to be a small white bra. He didn’t seem to care that she was already moaning as his hands slipped over her stomach.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly then, pulling herself to him, as he buried his face in the crevice between her breasts, sucking on each one through the flimsy fabric of her bra. Her hands fell victim to his hair, almost bondaged as he continued kissing his way up, and Hermione felt just how excited he was, warm against her leg as he kissed the hollow of her neck, then her jaw then those exquisite lips of hers.

They were still kissing madly enraptured by each other, increasingly becoming aroused when the cloak was whipped from them, and they stared into the cold, gray eyes of a Deatheater.
_______________________________________

\"Yes Harry.\" Voldemort said with a wry grin. He was about to say more, but turned angrily around and with a wave of a bony hand, the Deatheaters were gone with a slam of the door. He was head to toe in black and dark green, making Harry\'s stomach lurch as he saw him. \"I\'ve come for a chat.\"

Harry turned from him, not meeting the eyes of the murderer of so many. It was queasy just to smell that death on him. He moved soundlessly so Harry didn\'t even realize when Voldemort stood almost directly next to him.

\"Look at me.” Harry didn\'t. Instead Voldemort leaned in, looking to Harry with digust. \"I can smell the fear on you Potter. Don\'t deny it. You should be afraid.\"

Harry didn\'t answer, his eyes were growing glazed over and he didn\'t move much. Suddenly his dark green eyes were alight again and he glared at the calm Voldermort.

\"You know the Prophecy boy?\" he rasped, his rancid breath invading Harry\'s nostrils as he tried not to choke.

\"I\'ll never tell.\" Harry sneered back, if he was going to die he was going to do it the Gryffindor way.

\"You know it. Tell me now.\" Voldemort looked to his nemesis and smirked, how pathetic. \"Tell me or die.\"

\"Never.\" Hours of beating ensued, Harry could barely move by the time Voldemort was tired of him. \"The prophecy.\"

\"Then you know what must happen.\" this wasn\'t a question.

\"Give me your best shot you pathetic coward!\" Harry screamed with angry hot tears falling down his cheeks as his face almost turned purple. With a sudden burst of energy he spat into the face of evil as it howled and kicked him.

Harry screamed out in agony with every kick presented at his stomach, his legs, his head, his arms...it ate away at him until he thought he would die. He wished he would.

Voldemort raised his wand suddenly, \"I am sick of your insolence! You Potter are goin-\"

He was interrupted by the opening of a door, and a small fat man...Wormtail running into see Voldemort, his fat face shining with pride

\"I assume you justify your intrusion Wormtail?\"

\"Yes master!\" He said gleefully, \"We\'ve done it.\"

\"Done what?\" came the raspy, irritated reply. There was a baited moment of anxiety as Harry looked to a maliciously grinning Wormtail.

“We\'ve captured Severus Snape.\"