Asking For Help

She squeezed his hand tighter, threading her fingers through his as they walked along the garden path. The air was heady with the scent of blooming flowers, and the low buzzing of insects could be heard over the soft padding of their feet on the earth as they walked along. \"Severus, this is too good to be true. It must be a dream.\" He smiled at her and shook his head. \"Wake up Hermione.\" She tilted her head and looked at him, her face a mask of puzzlement. He smiled at her again. \"Wake up, now, or we\'ll be late for the train!\" She struggled out of her dream and glared at her mother, who glared back. \"Honestly, Hermione. You\'ll miss the train to Hogwart\'s.\"

She groaned and rolled out of bed, slipping her robe on and beginning to pack hurriedly. Hogwart\'s again, but this time not as a student. This time as a Professor...his equal finally, or so she thought.


She saw to her trunks herself, managing finally to get them to her rooms, which were thankfully located central to her classroom. Muggle Relations. Professor Dumbledore had recommended her highly for the job, and she would be forever grateful to him, but ever since she had received the letter confirming her position on the staff, the dreams that had only occurred occasionally during her seventh year, began again...this time every night. She shook herself out of her thoughts and began to unpack her belongings, and soon had her rooms neat and orderly.

It was a month before school was to resume, but she had come early, always wanting to be prepared ahead of time. With Harry training to be an Auror, and Ron busy with Neville odd pairing that, but they seemed genuinely happy she didn\'t have too much to do anyway. So what better then do what she did best? Work.

The next few days were busy ones, as she prepared her lessons and went about setting her classroom up so it would be ready when the first day of classes began. She hadn\'t seen Professor Snape so far, and that suited her just fine. The dreams were just that, just dream, and they meant nothing. Did they? Her fourth day there started out as the others had.

Quick check she hadn\'t missed anything she\'d need for lessons for the first few months, breakfast in her rooms, which she planned on continuing until school resumed. Just to get used to the idea of being here as a Professor, not because of him. Then she would go for a walk in the gardens for an hour, meandering aimlessly through the twisted paths until she knew it well enough to take occasional midnight strolls. When the dream wakes me up and I can\'t sleep.

Having finished breakfast, she set off from her rooms and soon found herself once again strolling the gardens. She rounded a corner and came face to face with - him. He scowled at her and nodded his head slightly. \"Ms...Professor Granger. I need to speak with you.\" She nodded and crossed her arms in front of her, trying to ignore the snatches of the dream that instantly popped up in her head.

\"Professor Snape.\" She said, trying to be as calm as possible despite the frantic beating of her heart in her chest.

Still just as infuriating as ever. \"As you know, after the last battle, Professor Lupin was reduced to a state of catatonia. What you may not be aware of, is the fact that while technically true, there is an exception to this. He is non-responsive except when he transforms into a werewolf. I have been working on a potion, at the request of both Professor Dumbledore and the Ministry to hopefully make him more...lucid when he transforms, and possibly be able to reverse the catatonia permanently.\"

She listened to all of this in stunned silence, and when it was clear he was done speaking she cleared her throat. \"Professor Snape, why are you...telling me this?\" Poor Remus. She was glad Harry didn\'t know the truth, because it would have destroyed him. Bad enough to know he was unresponsive, but to only be responsive when he transformed... She shuddered slightly without being aware of it.

He sighed and shook his head. \"I need - help.\" He nearly spit out the last word, and it still irked him to not only have to say it, but to say it to her of all people.

She forced away the amuse grin she felt coming, and nodded, trying to look bored and disinterested. \"Of course. But perhaps we should call each other by our surnames, since we will be working together on a regular basis?\" She ignored the both the arching of his brow and the look he was giving her and continued speaking. \"Because, Severus, one can assume this is a complicated formula and will take awhile to prepare, so I feel it would be more comfortable this way.\"

He snorted softly and after a moment nodded his head, trying hard not to roll his eyes at her. \"Of course, Hermione. Now, since school doesn\'t begin for some time, perhaps you can begin assisting me today?\"

She shouldn\'t like the sound of her name coming from his lips so much, should she? She supposed not, but she found herself wishing he would speak it again all the same. \"When would you like to begin?\"

When he gave her a dirty look, she almost went back on her agreement to help him, and then reminded herself this was for Remus, not for him. It didn\'t matter what feelings crept through her body at the thought of working closely with him. This was to try to save one of the people decimated by the war.

He shot her a nasty look, and bit down on his tongue to stop himself from saying something patently, well, himself. \"I\'d prefer to start working now Gra...Hermione.\"

She nodded and when he began to walk back toward the castle, she followed suite. they finally reached his labs, housed deep within the dungeons, and he pointed her to a work table, and then grabbed a smock off a hook set deep within the stone walls and tossed it to her. She caught it and raised her eyebrow at him, but slipped it on and waited for instructions on what he needed her to do.

They worked closely together for two weeks, from early morning directly after breakfast, until the sun had been hidden from sight for hours. They spoke little, other then instructions he gave her, or the occasionally murmured question from her. It was the closeness, physically anyway, that she had wanted, but that was all.