Disregarding Reality

Harry and Ron sprinted the whole way to the dungeons to avoid being extremely late for potions, but were unsuccessful. They entered the classroom and saw that the class had already begun preparing the day's potion. Snape turned around from the chalk board to give them a penetrating stare.
"Potter and Weasley, what a surprise. You find yourselves completely incompetent of showing up on time so you decide to make an entrance unexpectedly as to draw people's attention to you."

"No sir, we were visiting Hermione in the Hospital Wing," blurted Ron.

Harry gave him a shove. He was going to just ignore Snape's remark, but now they were never going to hear the end of it.

"Oh, Miss Granger, how is she? I suppose she was ready to teach you what we are going to learn today since she has nothing better to do stuck up in the Hospital Wing, and since she is a insufferable know-it-all she has already done this," said Snape as his lip began to curl.

At this Ron made to say something, but Harry bet him to it.

"Yes sir, of course. She thinks that since me and Ron have been doing so poorly in your class that she would take it on herself, since you obviously can't handle us."

"That's what you think, is it?" Snape said loudly, quickly walking over to where Harry and Ron were standing. "Well, you are doing poorly not because of me. Get out of my sight right now. Leave. I do not care where you two go, just get out of here." Snape pushed both boys out of the classroom with force and slammed the door behind them.

"Well, that went well, didn't it?" said Ron.

Hermione awoke with a start. What had caused her to panic and wake up? Then she remembered. She had had a dream where Professor Snape penetrated her mind and found out what was going on with her and then went off and told Madam Pomfrey, then the whole school found out somehow and everyone was making fun of her, even Harry and Ron. But she reminded herself that dreams are only that, dreams.

She glanced over at the window across from her bed and saw that it was a lovely day outside, a blue sky with no clouds in sight. At that moment, she realized that today was her third day in the Hospital Wing. How she wished she could be outside with Harry and Ron, sitting under their favorite tree without a worry in the world. Maybe she would ask Harry to bring her his Invisibility Cloak so she could sneak out of the Hospital Wing and go outside. But Madam Pomfrey would definitely notice if her only patient went missing from her bed. Oh well, it was worth the thought, Hermione told herself.

She knew that she wouldn't be getting out of the Hospital Wing anytime soon. Her headache and fever was still present and her appetite was certainly not improving. Professor Snape had come last night and brought her to his office again, trying to make her talk, but she still refused to. It didn't look like it was annoying him though, which was odd.

She decided to write about the past few days in her journal, which Harry had brought up to her along with a few more of her favorite possessions. Just as she finished her entry in her journal, Professor Dumbledore entered the Hospital Wing, wearing magnificent navy blue robes with stars glistening all over. He strode over to where Hermione was and sat down on the end of the bed. He surveyed her through his half moon spectacles for a few moments before saying, "How are you, Hermione?"

For a second she forgot about the question. He usually referred to her as "Miss Granger", but she guessed this was due to the certain circumstances.

"I...um...good...," replied Hermione.

"My dear, if you were indeed 'good', you would not be here right now."

"Ok, fine, I'm not good, I'm rather miserable if you must know."

"That's better. Now, I understand that you have been in here for two days and this is your third. I am assuming that Madam Pomfrey told you what would happen if you were in here for longer than three days?"

"Yes, I'm getting a tutor," said Hermione grudgingly.

"That is correct. Now, as of first thought, I was going to be your tutor, but that has since changed. Professor Snape has requested to take this position; owing to the fact he says he has too much time on his hands."

Hermione took this news rather peculiar. Professor Snape always seemed to act as though the less amount of time he was around students the better, until recently.

"Oh, ok."

"Well, I'm glad you approve at any rate. I do not second guess that if it had been one of your friends, Mr. Potter or Mr. Weasley, they would not have agreed to it," said Dumbledore with a chuckle. "Professor Snape will be tutoring you for one hour in the night on weekdays, and a total of three hours on the weekends whenever he sees fit. I have been hearing things from your teachers about your view of school work lately and I believe that even when you get out of the Hospital Wing, that the tutoring sessions should continue on the weekdays, just to keep you on task. I will not pester you for the reason of this change, but I do feel that I should as anyway why it has changed for the worse."

"Oh well, really it's not that big... actually, it's nothing."

"If that is your answer, I will not ask for anything more. I must be off now, though; the Minister is awaiting my owl concerning the law against werewolves, best not to keep him waiting." And at that, the Headmaster rose from his seat on the bed and walked towards the doors. When he reached them he turned around and said, "Professor Snape will be up at seven o'clock to bring you to his office. He may keep you for longer that one hour due to the fact that you are three days behind. Good luck!" He threw open the doors and disappeared behind them, leaving Hermione alone in her thoughts again.

Why was Snape acting so strangely these past couple of days? It had started with that day after Potions, and then to him bringing her down to his office in the middle of the night, and now to him being her private tutor. But it's nothing, she told herself.