A cloaked figure swept silently down a path into the Forbidden Forest. The new moon made identifying the individual an impossibility. Severus Snape needed no light to know who was traveling to a huggermugger location, deep in the forest. As the figure approached him, he smiled.

"You're late," he accused, shaking a chastising finger in front of the visitor's face. He watched as the person removed the hood of their cloak revealing the face of a familiar young woman. She shivered, his rich timbre sending tingles down her spine. She quickly regained her composure and got back to business.

"I had to sneak past the Fat Lady," Hermione replied. "You don't have to sneak past anyone, and if you don't stop shaking your finger at me, I'll bite it off." She gave a token bite at empty air as the offending member was snatched away.

"Feisty, aren't we. If you don't behave, I'll have to make you wear a sign."

"Severus, behave, this is neither the time nor place, we are here for a purpose."

"Which would be? You're stunning beauty has entranced me, sending all other thought from my mind."

"Severus, stop it this instant. We are going to gather dragonsbane, which as you very well know can only be gathered between midnight and one o'clock AM on the night of the new moon. That is a very small time window and this is a very large forest, so unless you can behave yourself and keep your hands to yourself, you are going to go back to your dungeons to take a cold shower and go back to bed."

"Do I need to remind you who the professor here is, Miss Granger?"

"Of course not, Professor Snape, I just wanted to make sure you remembered," came Hermione's pert reply.

"Then let's get to work young lady," he instructed in a slightly mocking tone.

They did as he instructed, searching the dank and dusky forest floor for the dragonsbane leaves. It was difficult work, finding dark green foliage on an unlit night, but within their hour time period they had gathered enough dragonsbane to fill a small basket.

"Thank you, Hermione, you have been of great assistance to me." Severus gave a gallant bow and swept into the darkness blending into the trees. He was already gone when Hermione let out a startled gasp. It would have done no good had he been near, for someone or something had grabbed her and was covering her mouth and nose. That gasp was the last breath that she ever took.