The Mentor

Hello Again Fans!
Well I never expected to be in the position to update every day, but it is starting to look like that might just happen! It was rather late when I finished chapter two, and as I was reading it tonight, made some minor changes – mostly grammar, spelling and flow of the read. But it turned out to be a great idea to re-read that chapter! Not only did the muse come to visit, she hit me over the head with an idea bat!

I want to take a moment to thank Elen_Sila; chyara; catysmom; meankitty69; chloe37 and Sureves Epans for taking the time to review. I want to write you a good story and the feedback means a lot.

I am still thinking of a title. What about ‘Mentor of the Heart’ – to cheesy? Let me know what you think. I am always open to suggestion.

Let the story continue.


Before the meal was finished, Severus excused himself with a flurry of black. His excitement at the thought of mentoring Hermione caused him to develop ‘a rapidly growing problem’ he needed to take care of before the first class of the day. At the same moment, Hermione was rushing up to the Great hall, hoping to make an appearance so that Minerva would stop pestering her about missing meals. Honestly! She loved Minerva like an aunt, but she did start to get on Hermione’s nerves when she hovered.

Hermione often took multi-tasking to a new level, and today was no exception. She was taking advantage of the walk from her room to the Great Hall to finish some reading on her research project. She was so engrossed on the restorative power of dandelion root, that she did not notice the black figure turning the corner in front of her.

Walking so quickly that she was practically running, Hermione collided directly in to a solid, warm surface. Before she could fall back far enough to lose her balance completely, a pair of hands reached out, catching her roughly by the elbows. Hermione gently shook her head to get over the impact; slowly looking up to see whom she had run in to, although her body seemed to know who that person was before her mind. Taking a deep breath, Hermione tried to control the butterflies that were fluttering around in her stomach. As she inhaled, the unique scent of sage leaf, cedar and must almost overwhelmed her.

‘Oh my’, Hermione thought to herself, overwhelmed be the man standing in front of her. She took another deep breath and then made eye contact, almost taking a step back at the intense look in his smoldering black eyes.

“Profffessssor,” Hermione started to stammer. “I am so sorry! I was rushing to breakfast and trying to read at the same time. I know better but there is so much to do that I have to take advantage of every moment and with the Head Mistress constantly nagging at me about not eating enough and spending too much extra time with the students and doing my research…” Hermione stopped talking when she realized that Snape had not blinked the entire time that she had been speaking. Knowing that she had sounding liked a blithering idiot; running off at the mouth was even more embarrassing for the normally composed and confident young woman. A soft rose blush started to bloom along her cheeks, and she lowered her eyes to stare at the row of buttons marching up his chest.

Although it took all of his restraint to keep from pulling Hermione in to his chest, the urge to hold her close almost overwhelming, Severus could not help but chuckle inwardly at her nervousness. His inner chuckle soon evaporated as he watched her blush deepen and could not help but wonder what other parts of her body had taken on the same rosy glow.

‘Deep breath old man’, he sternly coached himself. ‘Keep it together or you will scare the shit out of her.’

“Well Miss Granger, or I mean Professor Granger”, Severus drawled, his tone reminding Hermione of the many times in the past when he had been so angry with her or one of her friends that he could not even bring himself to yell. “I would think that someone of your intelligence”, he continued, the words dripping sarcasm, “would appreciate the wisdom of keeping ones eyes where one is going.”

Hermione felt her panties dampen at the silky drawling sound of his voice. During her last year at school, she began to appreciate just how sexy it really was. She almost did not even care that he was reprimanding her as though she was still a student, almost. Flicking her head in a haughty manner that caused the ends of her hair to tease his fingers still wrapped around her elbows, she stood straighter, took a deep breath and proceeded to let Severus know exactly how she felt about his attitude.

When Severus felt her hair rub against the back of his hands, he dropped them from her elbows as though he had been burned. He took as step back and noticed the fighting look that had entered Hermione’s golden brown eyes.

“Professor Snape”, she began in her classic know-it-all tone. “I do not appreciate the way that you just spoke to me. I am a colleague now, not one of your students, and I did apologize. I did not mean to walk in to. You have my word that it will never happen again!” She turned, intending to stalk haughtily away when the feeling of his hand gently catching her arm made her freeze.

“Hermione”, Severus began in a gentler tone. “I am sorry for speaking to you that way. It was not my intention to belittle you or your position at this school. Had you gone another ten steps without running in to me, there is a good chance that you would have taken a nasty spill down one of the moving staircases. They have been especially mobile the past few days. I was startled, that was all.”

Hermione turned her head, finally looking around and noticing her surroundings for the first time since running in to Snape. Her eyes rounded in a moment of shock as she realized how closely she had come to falling. Her eyes rounded even further as she realized that Severus had just called her by her given name, and the sound of it made her toes curl and her stomach tremble.

“Oh professor”, she began in a thankful tone, making eye contact with him again. “I should not have snapped at you either. I think that my first year of teaching is more of a challenge than I thought it would be.” As she saw his expression harden, she hurried to explain herself. “Do not get me wrong, I love teaching and the opportunity to access Hogwart’s library for my own research is a gift, but I wonder, how do you find the time to do everything that you want to do?”

Snape looked thoughtfully at Hermione, wondering what answer would be the best to give. After he realized that she was starting to look at him awkwardly waiting for an answer, Severus decided to lay the groundwork for their upcoming mentoring assignment.

“Well Professor Granger”, he answered carefully. “There is only one thing that I can say to you about that: balance”. At her puzzled look he continued to explain. “When I started teaching, I had the same difficulties that you appear to be having. I wanted to plan the perfect lessons; maintain the cleanest classroom; instruct the most successful student; and I wanted to continue working on my own projects. After almost collapsing at the end of my first year, a wise old man told me that one word: balance. The truth is that you cannot do everything that you want to; there simply are not enough hours in the day.”

Severus became worried at the thoughtful look on young woman’s face as she gazed up at him. “And do not even consider using a time turner”, he added. “Not only are staff prohibited from doing so while students are at the school, if you think about it you will realize that it will not solve your problem.”

“Shoot”, Hermione muttered. “How did you know what I was thinking?” She was disappointed that he did not continue to address her by her first name as she loved the way that his saying it made her insides tremble, but she was grateful for the advice. She was also rapidly coming to the conclusion that he was right; she was going to have to slow down a little bit.

“But not to worry Professor Granger”, Severus hastened to tell her. “Minerva has observed you, and some of the other teachers. She has a plan to help.”

Hermione was intrigued. What could Minerva do that could possibly make a difference.

“Far be it from me to steal Minerva’s thunder, but I may as well tell you anyway. Our venerable headmistress has decided that Hogwart’s needs a mentoring program for the junior teachers.”

“Mentoring program”, Hermione parroted back. “And do you happen to know who will be my mentor?” she asked with a little trepidation, part of her already aware of what his answer would be.

Severus was watching her very closely, and could tell the moment that she knew his answer. Yet again, he called on his considerable self-control to mask his excitement at the thought of mentoring Hermione.

“Indeed, I know exactly who is going to mentor you, in fact this person wants you specifically”. He continued looking in to her eyes, wanting to catch her expression when he finally told her that it was going to be him. “It is me, and you should be grateful that I have offered my service. I am very knowledgeable, and I can teach you some incredible things.”

Hermione’s eyes widened at his last comment. It sounded like a double entendre. Was Snape really flirting with her? Was it her overactive imagination? She watched his face carefully, hoping that some shift in expression, no matter how small, might betray his true feelings. His expression did not change, and Hermione convinced herself that she was reading more in to what he had said than was meant.

‘This is what happens when you go so long without male companionship’, Hermione thought to herself. ‘You start to see things with people that are not there.’

Severus smirked inwardly at her obvious discomfort. He did not doubt that she interpreted his comments exactly the way that he meant them. He could also see the doubt in her eyes as she questioned her own judgment. Wonderful – he wanted to leave her with something that would really keep that wonderful mind of hers spinning. He leaned in closer, so that his breath gently tickled the lose curls falling in front of her ear.

“I cannot wait to get started with you. You will find that I am exceptional at what I do, and I mean more than just teaching.”

Hermione thought she was going to swoon. Before she could gather her wits to reply, Severus turned sharply, his black teaching robes flying out behind him as he stalked away from her.

“Oh my!” Hermione fanned herself. “I think that I just might enjoy having Severus Snape as my mentor”.