AN: Hello, everyone! This is Severus' PoV. I hope it's to your liking. Everything should be right now. If you find some mistakes or some sentences that don't make sense, just let me know and I'll correct them! ;)

I have another story in mind, it's a kind of sequel. I'm currently working on it. As soon as it's ready, I'll publish it!

Let me know what you think about this chapter!

Severus PoV

He was in hell. There was no other explanation. Having to kill one's mentor and only friend couldn't be described differently. And he knew it was coming, it was a matter of hours, of minutes. Bellatrix had been jumping with joy at the meeting they held yesterday and Greyback hadn't stopped grinning since.

He shuddered. He couldn't do it, he was not strong enough to survive this.

'Maybe if I jump?' he thought, looking at the ground below.

Well, everything would be over, and he wouldn't have to become a murderer, but what of everything? What of the years spent spying, trying to protect HER son? It would all have been in vain if he killed himself, and he did want Voldemort dead. Oh, yes, definitely. Even if that meant protecting Potter.

He sneered. As if the boy had a change to survive by himself. If not for the Granger girl, he and his ginger friend would already be dead.

'Granger? Don't you mean Hermione?' said a voice in his head. 'That's what you've been calling her in here.'

'Shut up!'

'Did I touch a sensitive nerve? Admit that you've grown quite fond of the girl.'

'I won't do such a thing.'

Fantastic, he was arguing with himself now.

'Now? If I'm not wrong you've been denying this since the beginning of the school year,' continued the voice.

He grunted. So maybe he had noticed that she had grown. Who hadn't?

'Well, McLaggen certainly have.'

McLaggen. A strange feeling grew in his chest at his name. What did she find in him? He was just one of those muscled boys with no brain. She deserved an intelligent partner, someone with whom she could argue about academics, someone that would make her feel like she was the only woman in the world, someone…

'…like you?'

Silence stretched around him for long minutes. What was the point in denying it anymore? She was going to hate him either way after tonight. His shoulders hunched forward.

He cared for her. He had been thinking about her non-stop since the beginning of this year and seeing her around with that boy had stirred feelings in him that he didn't know he had anymore. He was jealous. Oh, yes. He wanted to be the one to talk with her, to hold her when she was feeling sad, to dance with her at balls, to kiss her when she needed love.

Love? Surely not. It was too soon to call anything love, was it?

He admired her. She was brilliant and belittling her this year had been harder than ever. She was still insufferable, she wouldn't be herself if she wasn't, but it seemed that he had learned to be more patient. At least, with her.

'You know, maybe you don't want to admit that you love her, but you can't say you don't desire her. It's been pretty evident every night,' whispered his brain, that seemed to be particularly against him tonight.

Wonderful, he felt like a lecherous bastard even without his brain remembering him of the various dreams he had. But now, the image that had been plaguing him the entire day, was on the front of his mind.

She had stayed behind after class. Something to do with their essay, she told her friends. As the door closed she took the steps towards the podium where he sat behind his desk. Severus was writing furiously on a parchment, trying to distract himself from the delicious jasmine perfume she emanated.

"Professor Snape?" she asked nervously, looking at his bent head.

"Do you need something, Miss Granger?"

"I… well… I'm having some problems with non-verbal spells and I was wondering if… if you could help me."

The Professor raised his head, meeting her brown eyes. Having made his decision, he stood up and rounded the desk.

"I believe you should put down your bag and get out your wand, Miss Granger," he said, waving his wand to move the desks against the walls and conjure a mannequin.

"Oh, now?" she asked, bewildered that he had accepted.

Severus simply raised his eyebrow as the young woman got her wand.

"Now, Miss Granger, keep your eyes on the target," he began, circling her until she couldn't see him anymore. "Think the spell, don't say it, just think it. But you have to mean it."

The Professor could see that she was too tense to perform, so he reached his hand around her and grabbed her wand hand with his own.

"You have to imagine the magic flowing through you. There's no need to say it out loud, your magic knows what you want, you just have to accept it, too," he whispered in her ear.

Hermione fired the spell without speaking, turned around and looked at him in the eyes.

"I know what I want. You."

And they were kissing. Desperately. One of Severus' hands was in her hair, keeping her near him, while the other was caressing her back. He could feel her arms around his neck and…

Snape came back from the dream and tensed. Someone was watching him, he could feel it. A gust of wind from the corridor entered the classroom and the perfume of jasmine that had been plaguing him, filled his senses.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, Miss Granger?" he whispered in the silence of the castle.

He heard her fearful steps as she entered the classroom.

"Hem… yes, I fell asleep in the library waiting for Harry… I was heading back to the Tower, I swear… it won't happen again, Professor..." she babbled nervously.

"Nevertheless…" he said, turning around and staring at her. She really looked like she had just woken up. 'But that doesn't make her any less beautiful,' he thought. "It is well past curfew and if I'm not wrong it's not your patrol duties, so you shouldn't be strolling around the castle."

"I wasn't strolling, Professor. Really, I was just heading back to the Tower…"

"You've already said that, Miss Granger. I heard it the first time," he snapped, turning his back on her and looking at the sky outside.

What was she doing around at this hour? And tonight, of all nights? It was not safe to be around, and she had to return to her Tower as soon as possible. However, he also wanted her to be there with him. One last time before she began hating him. This realization made his shoulders hunch forward. No one would believe him anymore, not even her.

"Anyone else would have left by now, Miss Granger," he said, sensing her staring.

"I am not anyone else," she replied taking the last steps that were separating them. Shoulder to shoulder they looked at the clouds that were becoming denser.

"It's coming, isn't it?" he heard her ask. The question did nothing to relax him. His jaw tightened and his lungs filled with a deep breath. He didn't have the strength to be a bastard tonight.

"I was right to call you an insufferable know-it-all," he replied sighing, but without a hint of venom in his voice, hoping that she would understand that he was not insulting her.

"I'll have to agree with you, Professor. I've been quite insufferable."

The Potions Master snorted, turning his head toward the young woman. He saw that she was smiling. Was it at him? Well, there was no one else in the room. It was such a sweet smile that his own lips moved a fraction to return it. Merlin, he really couldn't remember the last time that he smiled.

He saw her hand move towards his face and he wondered what she was going to do. Part of him was shouting at him to leave, that this was completely wrong, the other part wanted to stay in order to understand this beautiful and strange creature before him.

A thunder startled them, turning their attention back to the black sky.

"You should go back to your dormitory, Miss Granger," whispered Snape.

"Yes, sir," he heard her reply. Severus could feel her staring at him, again. She had been doing that a lot tonight.

Then he felt her move and, thinking she was leaving, he turned his head towards her. He didn't expect to feel her soft lips against his. Such a quick kiss and yet, his own lips were left tingling and Severus had to resist the urge to raise his hand to his mouth.

'What is she playing at?' he wondered. 'Kissing a Professor? Kissing me?'

He heard her mumbling something, trying to leave the room.

"I'm so sorry, sir… I didn't mean to… well…"

Coming out of his stupor he reacted, moving quickly towards her and catching her before she reached the first line of desks.

"What was that?" he snarled, thinking that she was playing with him. Why else would someone try to give him comfort, let alone kiss him?

"Sir, I'm really sorry. I swear, I just… I just wanted to give you a kiss on the cheek and then you turned and…" she stammered. She wasn't even looking at him.

'That's because she knows that if she does you'll find out she's been making fun of you,' he convinced himself.

"Look at me, girl!" he cried. "Why would you want to kiss me?"

He was so angry. Here he was, not giving her detention and she repaid him by laughing at him? Hermione raised her head, trying to stare him out and he saw so much determination in her eyes.

"Because I care for you, sir. I have for a while."

What? She could have said anything. He was ready to hear that it was a prank set up by Potter and Weasley, that it was revenge against the way he had been treating her, anything really. But not THAT.

She cared for him? How long had it been since someone had told him so? He couldn't remember. Maybe Lily. He didn't even think she was lying. She wasn't able to and the look on her face showed that she was really saying the truth.

Wait, she had said something else. What was it? Something about thinking about him and looking at him.

"…I wanted you to know that you're not alone in this. I trust you."

Trust? Not only she cared for him, she trusted him too? It was really too much. In a few minutes he was going to break her trust and she was going to hate him like everyone else.

'This is your last chance, Severus,' said the voice in his head. 'Give her something to think of. She said she had been thinking of you, she must have some kind of feelings.'

'But this is wrong. She's my student and it's against the rules,' he argued.

'Rules? You're going to kill the Headmaster in a few minutes and you're afraid to kiss her?' sneered his brain.

That was true. He was going to be a murderer. Maybe if he gave her something to believe in, she wouldn't hate him. She would try to understand.

'And I want this. If this is my only chance with her… hell, I'm going to take it,' he decided, pulling the young woman in his arms and kissing her with all of himself. Trying to show her what he was feeling, all his passion and desperation.

She didn't react at first, but when he moved his arms to her back he felt her small hands shyly moving on his chest and clasping firmly behind his head.

'Merlin, I'm in heaven' he thought, moving towards a desk and helping her to sit on it.

His brain was not functioning anymore, he could only think about kissing her and never stopping. He had never felt so alive. He didn't want to leave this room, to leave her arms.

But they needed oxygen, so they had to part.

Severus rested his forehead on hers and kept his eyes closed, afraid that if he opened them, she would disappear or worse, he would see the disgust on her face. If he could he would stay there forever, her hands in his hairs trying to ease his tension. But she had to go back to Gryffindor Tower, now more than ever.

"You really should be going back to your tower, girl. It's not safe to be around, trust me," he whispered, raising his head and looking at her to judge her reaction.

He didn't expect her to abate his fears by kissing him again and saying: "I do trust you."

He saw her hop down from the desk and pick up her bag from the floor ('How the hell did it get there?'). He stared at her back as she headed towards the door and there, she turned around, smiling at him. He understood what she wanted to say: she didn't regret that night.

As the young witch left the room, Severus collapsed on the floor.

He loved her.

Merlin, he loved her, and she was going to hate him. Funny how story repeated itself.

In that moment, just a few minutes before the Headmaster's murder, Severus Snape promised to himself that if he ever survived the war, he was going to tell her everything because that was what she deserved. Everything.

He was going to treasure this night for the rest of his life because, somehow, he had been able to find a glimmer of heaven in the hell that was his life.

AN: Thanks to some of your reviews I realized that I didn't put a note saying that the sequel is ready. Sooo.. take a look at CHANCE AT HAPPINESS and let me know what you think!