A Heart After All

This is my first attempt at a HG/SS fanfic and i`m kind pleased with the way this one has been going. Addictive this writing lark innit!!!

now have a beta... snapesbbwlover... shes brilliant and I love her... just sorry that ive taken so long to get the beta`d version up! I currently live in Japan but i`ll be returning home very soon... after i do i dunno how often i`ll get time to write, so i`ll try and finish before i leave.

Anyhoos... enjoy... reviews are soooo appreciated. Cheers.

love Sev xxx

Disclaimer - I own none of these characters... I just hope their rightful owner doesnt mind me borrowing them for a bit of non profit making fun... she can have them back, unharmed of course, afterwards!


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Imagine yourself in this position... you`re seventeen years old (well, mayightighteen, you`re not really sure) and someone who you`ve known since you were eleven, and who has been the bane of your existence all this time, suddenly starts being nice to you... and you only.


This was the situation that Hermione Granger found herself in. The worstperepered, meanest teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the one who hated anyone and everyone, had suddenly started being nice to her. Why? Hermione didn`t know. He had never ever been nice to any of the Gryffindors as long as she had been at the school... so why? It wasn`t outright, sickly sweet niceness, but the subtle kind, like complimenting her on her perfect Wit - Sharpening Potion, or awarding a few points here and there for \"somehow managing to keep Longbottom from making yet another mess on my classroom floor\". It was unnerving to say the least, but Hermione was glad to see that maybe a certain someone was starting to loosen up a little.


The teacher in question was, of course, Professor Severus Snape, the potions master. The one that most people hated, everyone feared, and quite a few of the girls (although they`d never admit it to anyone) had a crush on, Hermione included. She hadn`t at first, in fact she had hated him tha than anyone... well... that wasn`t entirely true. Hermihad had always admired Snape. He had one of the sharpest minds around and, although he wasn`t exactly easy to get along with, he was a teacher well worth paying attention to. His personality, on the other hand, was not something that Hermione liked. He had many flaws... his favoritism was the one that irked Hermione most.


Despite his personality, Hermione still couldn`t help but imagine lying in his arms. He was tall and looked well built, although he always wore bat - like black robes and so she couldn`t tell for sure. His eyes were dark and inviting, his long fingered hands elegant and his movements graceful. From a distance his hair did, indeed as Ron and Harry often said, look greasy, but up close, it looked fine and silky. Hermione loved gazing at him in potions class, although she was careful never to let him catch her, or it would be points from Gryffindor.

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Damn it, Snape thought as he sat hunched over his desk, quill in hand and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff third years` latest essays on the use of chopped daisy roots in potion making. He scrawled a spiky \"D\" on a paper before flinging his quill down and sliding down in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He to sto stop thinking about her like this. She was a student for Slytherin`s sake, and head girl to boot. Even if she did like him back, which he told himself was very unlikely, she always followed the rules closely. Nothing would happen betweenselfself and Hogwarts` own Hermione Granger.


He had noticed how pretty her eyes were one day during potions class. He had snapped at her for some reason, and she had looked up startled. Her eyes were like pools. Puppy dog eyes, his mother would have said. He frowned. His mother would have liked Hermione.


He had gone on to notice how her bushy brown hair wasn`t all that bushy anymore. It seemed to have tamed somewhat, losing is wildness and now curled into soft ringlets that framed her freckled face. Her girlish figure had filled out and every time she removed her school robe in potions class he caught glimpses of a very womanly figure through a school uniform that was definitely too small for her.


Her mind had been the thing that had attracted him most though... the only student who he had ever considered even in the same league of intelligence as himself. He sniggered. Yes he was a stuck up git, but what the hell.


He glanced at the clock... nearly elevee wae wasn`t going to get any more of this done tonight, he could finish it in his free period tomorrow morning. He stood up and stretched, his muscles protesting. He needed some exercise.


He pulled his wand out of the pocket of his robes, replacing his long, black school robes with a black tracksuit top and sweat pants. He hastily stuffed his feet into a pair of graying trainers before grabbing a towel that hung on the hooks by the door and departing.


He headed for the disused tower room that he had used as his bolt - hole ever since he had started teaching at Hogwarts. The one good thing that had come from his days as a hardcore Death Eater had been his knowledge of kickboxing, and he kept it up, more as a way of staying in shape than a means of self - defense. God how the students would laugh if they knew. Most out of character of him.


As he arrived at the small wooden doornotinoticed that it was unlocked. Puzzled he opened it to find none other than Hermione Granger, curled up in the old leather armchair by the window, wearing navy blue pajama bottoms, a white tee shirt and fluffy white slouch socks, a baby - blue fleece robe wrapped tightly around her. Saspeasped as he opened the door.


\"I... I... I`m sorry Professor. I know i`m out after curfew... I....I...\" she stammered. Snape forced himself to remove his trademark glare from his face. Not smiling though. He opted instead for a deadpan _expression as he said.


\"No matter, Miss Granger. I expect you would like some peace. I shall leave you to your thoughts.\" He made to close the door. She rose slightly from her armchair.


\"Don`t, Professor.\" she said in a small voice. \"This room is big enough for us both. I won`t get in your way, I promise.\" she smiled, \"please.\"
Snape nodded.


\"Very well, Miss Granger. All I ask is that you don`t tell any of your silly Gryffindor friends about what I use this room for.\" she nodded.
\"I won`t.\"


\"Good.\" Snape pulled his wand from the pocket of his tracksuit top. He cast a warming spell on the room, instantly taking away the chill that the stone walls afforded and replacing it with a glowing warmth. Hermione sighed and relaxed her grip on her robe, snuggling down into the warmth.
With another flick of his wand a punching bag and mats appeared. Snape unzipped his tracksuit top and removed it, to show a tight white tee shirt, stretched tightly over taut muscles. Hermione gulped.


He tossed the tracksuit top, along with his wand and towel, onto the floor beside Hermione`s chair. He kicked off his trainers and stepped lightly onto the mats, stretching his long limbs. When he had stretched out, he started to warm up on the punching bag , beginning with simple punches and kicks and progressing to more complex ones.


Hermione watched in silence as her potions master beat hell out of the leather of the bag, his well muscled body rippling as he moved. She was amazed, firstly because of his body. She had thought that he was probably toned, but not buff like this. His biceps, although not gigantic, were impressive, and she could see his chest pushing against the fabric of his tee shirt. She had never known that he was into a martial art like this, nor imagined that he would be the type. She thought he would have kept in shape through lots of hard Quidditch practice with the Slytherin team or something of that nature, but kickboxing... never. She watched as he performed a perfect roundhouse kick and stepped back, swinging his arms to loosen his shoulder muscles.


He continued like this for an hour or so, changing between punches and kicks, occasionally using both. Hermione stayed silent and observed. When he had finished, he had dried himself off with the towel and collapsed into the armchair opposite Hermione`s, looking completely and utterly exhausted. Hermione dared to say something.


\"That was awfully impressive, Professor.\" He glanced up at her.


\"You think so?\"


\"Yes. I doubt Ifd even be able to throw a punch. I`m not very strong you see...\" He sat up quickly.


\"You mean you don`t know how to defend yourself without the use of your wand, Miss Granger? I thought that you of all people, being a muggle born, would understand the importance of at least a basic knowledge of self - defense.\" Hermione shrugged.


\"My parents` house is in a very safe neighbod. Id. I never went anywhere after dark... I just never saw the need...\" her voice tailed off. Snape sat up straight.


\"Do you wish to learn, Miss Granger?\" Hermione gaped.


\"Yes! I really do want to!\"


\"Then I shall teach you.\" he said with an air of finality.