You Know What They Say about Necessity...

A/N: Ok, I know there isn't much Snape is this chapter, but the next one will make up for it. Not sure when I'll be posting the next part, either. It might be a few days. I know the chapters aren't very long, but they have a mind of their own.

Thanks to all my reviewers, please keep it up! Reviews are the only "payment" a fanfic author gets other than personal satisfaction. Support your favorite writers!

The title of this chapter is a song by Connie Francis. The lyrics don't fit the section, but the title does.

Disclaimer: JKR owns HP. i'm borrowing. I'm not making a cent, shilling or knut off of any of it, honest.



Chapter Four: My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own

Hermione closed Snape’s door with a sigh. He had taken some painkiller and was now sound asleep in his bed. She had gotten a little surprise as she helped ease him from the wheelchair into the bed: as soon as he lay down his shirt and trousers had shifted into a long dark green cotton nightshirt. It had happened so fast she didn’t see any skin, and between the shirt and his casts he was completely covered, but it brought a grin to her face as she tucked the covers around him.

“Do not mock my bedtime attire, Miss Granger,” he murmured.

“No, professor,” she answered, smoothing her hand over her face to wipe away the smile.

“Insolent,” he said, his voice no longer reflecting pain but drowsiness. He sighed. “I shouldn’t be doing this…”

“Actually, you should sleep as much as you want right now,” she told him. “It will help your body heal itself faster.”

“Should be doing work… so much to be done… Death Eaters still at large…” he whispered.

When Hermione would think about it later, she wouldn’t be able to explain what had possessed her. But some instinct, the healer in her, perhaps, caused her to slowly reach a hand up and brush his hair away from his forehead.

“Shh,” she soothed. “You have done more than enough. Now you need to rest.”

“I should…” he protested, voice trailing off and eyes closing in spite of himself.

“Sleep, professor,” she told him quietly. “You should sleep.”

He made no more sounds of protest, and after a few seconds Hermione could see the lines of his face relax. He looked different in his sleep, she mused. Softer, more vulnerable. Almost... human.

She scolded herself as she carefully rose and tiptoed to the door. Of course he was human. What, did she give any credence to those ridiculous rumors that he was a vampire? Or some other kind of monster? No. She barely knew him as a person. But already she knew enough to know he was very much a member of the human race.

She knocked on Harry’s door, but got no answer. She went into the living room in time to see him step away from the fireplace, putting down the floo powder as he did.

“Everything ok?” he asked.

She nodded. “He took something for the pain and he’s out like a light.”

“I heard him yell at you, couldn’t quite make out what he said, though.”

Hermione gave him a mock frown. “And you didn’t come to help me?”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “It wasn’t you I was worried about needing help.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and they both laughed. “Who were you talking to?” Hermione asked.

“Professor Dumbledore first, he wants me to check in twice a day even if nothing is going on. He said he’ll be coming to visit in the next day or so. Wants to give us a chance to ‘settle in together,’ he said,” Harry snorted. “What he really means is he wants to wait for us to get some of the screaming at each other out of our systems before he floos in.”

“I can believe that,” she answered. “And who else?”

“Ron and Ginny,” he smiled. “They’re going to come round later tonight. Ron can’t stay long: he’s got training in the morning. He takes his auror tests in six months, you know. Plus he wants to see Luna before bedtime.”

“I’m sure he does,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

“Ginny, however, is on holiday from the Ministry right now, and she might be staying rather late tonight,” he grinned.

“So late it’ll be early?” Hermione asked. Harry laughed.

“Don’t worry, Mione, we’ll be quiet so Snape can get his beauty sleep. I do know how to cast a silencing charm.”

“Too much information, Harry. Way too much.” But there was a sparkle in her eyes.

He grinned again, but it slowly faded as a question formed in his mind.

“Mione… why haven’t you dated anyone since Ron?”

Hermione gasped. It was the first time Harry had ever asked her this, and she was taken completely off-guard by it.

He started shaking his head, thinking he’d angered her. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that. I’m just… I worry about you, Mione.”

She sighed. “I’m not angry, Harry. I’m just not really sure how to answer that.” She closed her eyes, not wanting to be at the mercy of yet another intense gaze today. She felt Harry take a hand and squeeze it, and she looked at him.

“I’ve been so busy studying and training to be a mediwitch…” she began, and he made a face.

“You’re bloody brilliant, Mione. You could’ve passed that exam a long time ago if things hadn’t needed to be put on hold. I know you could’ve. Hell, you’re two years ahead of where you should be. You could’ve made time and you know it.”

“Maybe,” she admitted in a small voice. “But come on, Harry. Who was I going to go out with?”

“Lots of guys like you,” he protested. “Neville, Dean… I could name a dozen.”

“And all of them are my friends, just like Ron was,” she said gently. “Harry… I know you wanted it to work with me and Ron. So did I. But we’re too different. It was better that we realized it when we did, or we might not still be best of friends. And Neville and Dean, and those others… it would’ve been the same. I’m a bookworm, Harry, not a sex goddess. That doesn’t exactly make men line up at my door.”

Harry sighed. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy, Harry,” she assured him. “Don’t worry, soon I’ll be a mediwitch and I’ll meet all sorts of smart dull men. Then you’ll complain about how you never see me anymore and tell me I should be single again.”

He laughed. “I’ll never do that! And I’ll never abandon you as a friend, either. No matter what happens with Ginny or any other woman. You know that, don’t you?” his gaze looked forlorn again. “You and Ron will always be my best mates.”

She hugged him tight. “Of course I know that. We still see Ron, don’t we?”

“Sometimes I almost wish I saw less of him, he beats me so badly at wizard’s chess,” Harry groaned.

“You could always stop playing him,” she said teasingly.

“Are you kidding? Some day I’ll actually win!” He moved back and smiled at her. “They’re going to be here at seven. I need to erm… do a few things before then.”

“Like put your stuff away?” she asked.

“How did you know?” Harry frowned.

“I don’t have to be your girlfriend to know you’re a mess, Harry James Potter.”

“Not all of us are neat freaks, Hermione Jane Granger.”

She raised two fingers in his direction, and he laughed and called her a hussy before heading for his bedroom.

Once he was gone, she sat down and closed her eyes, willing the tears not to fall. It wasn’t that she had no interest in love. She just didn’t seem to have any luck with it. Where everyone else seemed to be making the transition from student to graduate to employed and dating/engaged/married/expecting babies, she felt trapped in the limbo of her intellect.

It was true: she was a bookworm. She’d often been thought of as one of the boys. Only Ron had seen beyond that. And when their relationship ended, so had her hopes for having love. She wasn’t ugly: she had, much to her surprise, grown up to be fairly lovely. But it was her mind that was her stumbling block. She couldn’t find a man who could satisfy her on an intellectual level. And that was what truly mattered to her. To have someone who could hold an interesting conversation as easily as he could hold her heart. He was out there somewhere. Hopefully she would find him.

She shook her head out of her musings. She had forgotten all about lunch, and soon it would be time for supper. She would fix a sandwich to tide her over and, pushing her unhappy thoughts away, decided to first see what Harry thought they should cook.