Heart, Mind, Body and Soul

"How long has this been going on?" he asked in a low voice. He didn't look mad.

"Over a year, maybe a year and a half. I don't remember exactly when my feelings of respect turned to admiration then to… uh, more. I saw how you worked for the Order. You could have truly turned back to Voldemort at any time, but you didn't. Harry really didn't have a choice but to stand up to him with the prophecy and all. I'm his friend; I wasn't going to let him go down. I knew he needed my help, but you did it alone. I so wanted to help you too, but I knew you wouldn't accept it. Sometimes, when you came back to headquarters battered from being in that monster's hands, I would watch as Madam Pomfrey, and sometimes some of the other professors, healed you of your wounds. I even sat by your bedside all night waiting for you to wake up once." Hermione knew she was rambling, but between the Veritaserum, and her need to let him know everything she couldn't help herself.

"I don't know if you remember, or know, but last summer, as the final battle began Harry, Ron and I saw what happened to you at the Shrieking Shack with Nagini and thought you were dead. It took everything I had to leave you there. Harry had to promise me we would go back for your body. After it was over, we did go back for you and found you alive. We brought you to the hospital wing. That's when I knew for sure the feelings I had for you were more..."

Hermione was crying by now at the memory and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. Professor Snape reached forward and took both of her hands in his to comfort her. She looked into his eyes and saw a softness there and his face wasn't frozen in the usual grimace he wore in the Potions classroom.

"I didn't mean to kiss you in front of everyone Professor. I didn't intend to embarrass you or make you look like a fool. I'm sure I'm the one who looks like a fool to the students, not you."

"Hermione," he started, speaking in the low, silky voice that was one of the things that got to her, "why me? There are young men, your age, who would be thrilled to go out with you. Even some you know who have graduated before you. I overheard Minerva saying that both Oliver Wood and Cedric Diggory were asking how you were doing."

"I'm just not interested in boys my age. They don't like to talk about things like potions or the newest discoveries in arithmancy. They want to talk about Quidditch or girls… like I'm not a girl!" she huffed.

She noticed he was still holding her hands. "You are the smartest man I know. Your eyes, they see things others don't. I'm surprised you didn't know."

"I did know. I chose to ignore it, dismissing it as a school girl crush that would go away. I didn't expect you to make your feelings known in the middle of an Advanced Potions class though. That did catch me off guard." He had started absently stroking the backs of her hands with his thumbs which sent shivers up her spine.

"It isn't a crush! I know what they feel like, and this isn't it." Her voice was shaky. She looked up from their hands and watched his face. "I didn't intend to kiss you in front of everyone though. I don't know what came over me. You were standing over me, and the way you smell is so intoxicating to me. And when you talk, your voice washes over me like silk."

"I'm 19 years older than you Hermione," he said flatly and started to pull his hands away from hers.

"I don't care!" she squeezed his hands, not letting him get away.

He sighed, "Hermione, I'm a… complicated man."

"If I wanted easy I would have stayed with Ron."

"Many people would not approve, including your friends."

"Again, I don't care." The way she looked at him, he knew she really didn't care.

"You are a student."

"Only for two and a half more weeks."

He smiled at her, and she felt she would melt. "I will be telling the headmaster that you got too close to the Felix Felicis potion, you weren't in a clear state of mind when you kissed me in class and that I gave you the antidote. I will also tell him I used Veritaserum and Legilimency to find out the truth." He stood up, pulling her up by the hands, and then let them go. "You should return to your common room and do the same."

"But…" Hermione thought her heart was going to fall out of her chest.

"The Veritaserum has had time to wear off. I expect a two foot essay on the Felix Felicis potion by class tomorrow, Miss Granger."

Hermione tried to hold her head up. "Yes sir," she whispered as she walked back to the classroom to collect her books.

When she had left, Professor Snape sat back down, staring at the door, and touched his lips.

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A/N:

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story. Thanks for letting me know!
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