Lost

Chapter Four:

"You're late Miss Granger," Snape said icily, "take your seat."

Hermione blushed, she was never late, and it wasn't her fault that she was late today. She had barely slept the night before, the reason being that she had spent a good part of it thinking about George, and naturally when she finally fell asleep she was so tired that she had overslept.

"I'm sorry Professor, it won't happen again," she said staring at a crack in the wall

"Take your seat, I'm sure that you would rather not stand for the remainder of the class."

Hermione scowled and sat in her usual seat in between Ron and Harry, as she took a glance around the room she noticed that Fred and George were sitting one row to the left, and other seventh years were scattered throughout the room.

"As I was saying before Miss Granger decided to grace us with her presence, this arrangement will last for a short time, you will be participating in a project with someone from the opposite grade as yourself. What you're assigned to do is research a useful potion, write me at least three feet of parchment, which will discuss its history and of course how the potion could be improved. Then you will create both the original and revised potions. I will except NO late work, and I hope that you can learn to cooperate within your groups, because there is absolutely no switching partners. I will inform you of who you will be working with the next time you have class. For the remainder of class we will discuss the Wiggenweld potion, does anyone know what it was used for?"

Hermione raised her hand into the air as high as she could, Snape looked around the classroom, but seeing no other hands he called on her with a sigh.

"Yes Miss Granger."

"The Wiggenweld potion is to help heal people who have been wounded in fights. It was created in 1423 for use in the Dark Wars which began a year later."

"That is correct, five points to Gryffindor," he said, she beamed with happiness while the rest of the class sat there, mouths hanging open.

She glanced back at George who smiled at her, she blushed and turned around feeling satisfied. Harry nudged her with his elbow and slid a note to her, it read 'Am I going deaf? Did Snape just give us house points? I think I'm going to have a heart attack.'

That class seemed to go on forever, Snape went on for what seemed like hours, finally the class was dismissed, "Miss Granger, please stay here for a moment."

The rest of the class looked at her with sympathy. "We'll wait for you," Ron told her quietly.

"That's okay," she assured them, "go to Herbology, I'll be there in a second."

They accepted this knowing that she would argue with them until she got her way. They turned and walked out to their next class, which Hermione would inevitably be late for. She gathered her things slowly and placed them in her book bag, then after a few deep breaths, walked up to his desk.

"Would you care to explain why you were late for class this morning," he asked, the edge in his voice that he usually had during class was toned down slightly but still evident.

"I overslept," she said sounding slightly embarrassed. "It won't happen again."

"I hope not, the other Professors and I expect the best from you. They seems to think that you've witnessed some horrible things this term, and don't want to see your grades drop. You are a very brilliant witch, and I don't plan to go easy on you, you are going to see much worse in your time. Now hurry to your next class," he said shooing her out of the room.

She walked slowly through the halls, Professor Sprout favored her, she needn't worry about being late, she would simply say that she ran to the Gryffindor tower for some forgotten supplies. She closed her eyes in though, she was quite sure that Snape was being supportive, it was most likely because of Neville, everyone was still cautious around her. She could see it in their eyes, they were nervous, trying especially hard to be nice to her, it made her sick to her stomach. As she walked around the corner, eyes still closed, strong arms enclosed around her, and she was led into a dark, empty classroom.

"You were incredible, I've never seen Snape give house points to a Gryffindor before," George said kissing her forehead.

Her heart stopped momentarily and he felt her shiver. She was stunned, George had just kissed her, not romantically, but a kiss nonetheless. Her mind was running in circles, and she was sure that he could hear her heat slamming against her ribs, she blushed becomingly.

She looked into his eyes, searching for a trace of what he had been feeling when he had kissed her, when she found none she cautiously raised her hand to touch his face. She let her fingers trace over his cheek, then over his jaw, it was his turn to shiver. Her fingers slid to his lips, tracing the upper then the lower, and letting them rest there.

George returned to his senses and kissed each of her fingers sending little jolts of electricity through her arm. His breathing had turned deep and she could feel the heat they were creating through her thick robes, she felt a small smile tug at her lips, but she ignored the eager feeling bubbling inside of her. He lowered his head so close to hers that he could almost taste her, then, she caught him off guard by pressing her lips to his softly. She pulled back to look into his eyes, but before she could he caught her mouth with his and began to kiss her again. As he bit her bottom lip she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he deepened the kiss.

"George," she whispered as his lips slid over her neck, "we have to stop."

He ignored her, he had wanted to do this for too long to stop. He felt her hands slide into his robes and run gently up his chest, then to his shoulders, and finally back around his neck. As he brought his mouth he heard her muffle a sigh.

"Where do you think she is," they heard Harry say from outside the classroom they were in.

"I don't know, but Sprout seemed really nervous, why else would she send us to look for her." Hermione recognized it as the voice of Ron.

Hermione and George slid apart just in time, "Hermione, is that you," Harry asked. "What are you doing in this classroom?"

"I was finishing up an assignment," she lied.

Harry looked over at George, "I see."

"Well good," Ron said obliviously, "let's go, before Sprout sends out someone else to look for us."

Hermione walked out of the classroom behind Harry and Ron, both of whom were bombarding her with questions, she turned around to take one last look at George, but he was already gone.

Fred stepped out of the shadows with his jaw clenched, he watched Hermione look back for George but he had already left for Transfiguration.

"Damn it George, why don't you listen to me."