Severus watched as Harry fled the room. Their meeting had actually gone rather smoothly. Hell, Harry had even spoken of his fears of Quirrell. It couldn't be a coincidence that Severus himself found the man to be acting oddly. Quirrell had been a completely different man ever since his return to the school. Now the fool acted as if he was afraid of his own shadow.

He had spoken Dumbledore about his suspicions. He had a gut feeling that something was off as soon as he had seen Quirrell at the first staff meeting of the year. The headmaster had blown him off only saying that Quirrell had faced hardships that would change any man during his travels. It was one of the many things that Severus had complained of that Dumbledore had just not taken seriously.

Now what was Quirrell up too? At first Severus had only thought that the man might be after the stone but now he also believed that the man might be trying to kill the boy-who-lived. The only question in his mind was why? Quirrell had never been interested with learning the dark arts and had never been associated with the Dark Lord in the past.

Someone in the school had now sent multiple cursed letters to Harry and it was plausible that Quirrell had been behind them. There wasn't enough evidence though and that would prove to be a problem. Severus would need to keep a close eye on the stuttering man.

SHSHSHSHSH

Harry was very busy the next few weeks with all of his schoolwork and finding ways to meet up with Hermione without getting the others upset with him. With Snape was always pulling him aside for meetings and his friends taking their body guard position very seriously he had barely gotten a chance to even wave to Hermione.

He had a plan though. Harry had sent a note to Hermione using Hedwig and she had agreed to meeting up with him anytime besides after curfew. It had taken some convincing but he had finally gotten her to agree to a midnight meeting. They were going to wait until everyone was asleep and meet halfway between their common rooms. It wasn't the ideal plan but Harry needed to catch Hermione up. He knew that she loved to read and he wanted her help in researching his own history. He needed to try and figure out if Quirrell could really be the one behind the attacks and while he knew his friends would love to help they didn't have the skill Hermione had with books.

The major problem they would have would be Snape. His professor had been taking his safety very seriously and would be beyond angry if he found Harry wandering the corridors alone in the middle of the night. An entirely different problem would be that if he was caught his Slytherin friends might not forgive him. He knew they all had good intentions but besides the fact that he needed Hermione's help he also was aware of her own house's treatment of her had only gotten worse as time went by.

He checked his watch and saw that he only had ten minutes before he was due to be at the designated the meeting spot. Harry figured it would be safe to take her to the Room of Requirement and they could talk there. If he was lucky he might even get the room to turn into a library.

He closed his eyes and listened to the other boys in the dorm. They all appeared to be snoring away so he gently pushed his comforter off and left the room without closing the door all the way. The common room and corridors was completely deserted so he easily made his way to meet Hermione.

When he caught sight of her she looked as if she might call out to him so his put a figure over his mouth and shook his head. She nodded in understanding and followed his lead up the stairs to the Room of Requirement.

As soon as Harry closed the door behind him he plopped down into the nearest chair. The room hadn't taken the shape of a library, instead becoming the same room Theo took him to.

"What is this place?" Hermione whispered.

"Theo and Draco call it the Room of Requirement. You don't need to whisper no one can hear us," Harry explained.

"Are you planning to tell me why we had to meet now instead of just continuing to send letters? I mean if we got caught do you know how much trouble we could be in?"

"Yes I do and don't worry it is important," Harry said before informing her of his suspicions of his defense professor.

"Harry that's terrible!" Hermione had exclaimed. "I know Snape said to be on your guard and everything but do you truly believe that a professor would be trying to hurt you?"

"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "But every now and then when I'm in class I get pains in my scar. Not as bad as that one day but still."

"I don't exactly know how you want me to help though? You said you wanted me to research you but what does that have to do with Professor Quirrell?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Harry started. "I don't know even know my own background as other people do and I know that by basically killing Voldemort I made some serious enemies. I just want to see if he is connected to me."

Hermione nodded and Harry continued, "Look it's getting really late and we should probably head back. Just help me research and if you find anything send me a letter telling me when to meet you."

"Okay," Hermione yawned. "I'll start tomorrow but no more of these night meetings. We'll have to find another way to keep each other updated."

Harry agreed and they walked out of the room and down the hall in silence. They had just turned the corner why Harry collided with another person. Harry fell back and when he looked up to see who it was he knew he was in for it.

McGonagall stood in front of them and she looked murderous. He glanced over to Hermione and saw that she had gone completely white. Looking back at the professor Harry wished it had been Snape who found him. He was fairly certain now that Snape really wouldn't hurt him but McGonagall was a whole other story. She was strict and had no love for the Slytherin house. She had never been mean to Harry in particular but she hadn't gone out of her way to be nice either.

He had heard that some boarding schools allowed caning and was really hoping that Hogwarts wasn't one of them. Sure, the transfiguration professor was old but she had magic on her side. As these thoughts swirled around his head the more lost in a panic he became.

He knew that someone was calling his name but he was finding it hard to breathe. His chest began to hurt and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. The harder he tried to breathe the more difficult it became. He kept his eyes closed and tried his best to focus on just taking a breath.

"Harry," a voice called. He couldn't respond though. Hands gripped his shoulders. "Harry listen to me. Open your eyes, okay? You're safe. You are at Hogwarts."

Harry would know that voice anywhere. He opened his eyes and found himself staring Snape right in the face.

"That's it," He told him. "Take deep breaths now."

Harry did as he was told and slowly began to regain his composure. He glanced up to see McGonagall a few feet away not seeming angry any longer. Hermione was on her side trying to get a look at him around Snape.

Keeping his hands on Harry's shoulders, Snape turned around gave McGonagall a nod. She gazed at Harry for a moment before taking a protesting Hermione back toward the Gryffindor common room.

"Are you okay?" Snape prompted. At Harry's nod, he helped the boy to a standing position. He didn't ask any more questions, just guided the boy back down to the dungeons.

Harry was confused by Snape's silence. Surely the man was furious with him and yet he seemed bizarrely calm.

"Sir?" he asked.

"Hush," Snape commanded. "We will discuss this in a moment."

Harry didn't speak another word the rest of the way. He was puzzled when they walked past Snape's office and stopped at an empty portrait. Snape opened it with a wave of his hand and motioned for Harry to follow.

Harry let his jaw drop when they walked into what had to be Snape's person quarters. They had walked into a living room full of warm colors. There was a couch and two grand armchairs that surrounded a small coffee table.

"Sit," Snape said.

Harry did as he was told and took a seat on the couch. It was even more comfortable than it looked he noticed as he leaned into the cushions.

"Now," Snape practically purred, "tell me exactly what you were doing when McGonagall found you."

"I was going back to the common room, sir." Harry admitted.

"What were you doing before that?"

"Talking with Hermione. I needed to tell her something." Harry tried defending himself but he knew it was a lost cause. Snape might be able to try and control his anger but he couldn't hide it.

His professor gave him a long look before summoning a tray from the kitchen. Two steaming mugs landed on the coffee table in front of them.

"Sir?" Harry questioned.

"Drink some hot coco," Snape said simply. "You're still shaking."

Looking down at his hands, Harry could see that the man wasn't lying. He took a mug after Snape had sat and taken his own. Taking a long sip he waited for Snape to continue.

"What sent you into a panic attack?" Snape asked.

"I didn't know what Professor McGonagall was going to do to me." Harry practically whispered as he remembered how terrified he had been. "You won't let her cane me will you?"

"Of course not," his head of house reassured him. "No professor in this school practices caning and if anyone, that includes your professors, tries to hurt you what have I already told you to do?"

"Come to you," Harry replied. "But what if I couldn't get away?"

Snape sighed before saying, "All of the professors know that if they touched a hair on any of my Slytherins' heads they would answer to me. I can assure you that Professor McGonagall would never want to hurt you."

"What about professor Quirrell?" he asked.

"I have already told you to never be alone with the man so he should not be a problem." Snape countered. "Has anything else happened?"

"No, sir," the boy answered but then thought of all the pains he had gotten in his scar. "Except sometimes when I'm in his class my scar hurts."

Snape paused. "What do you mean?"

"It prickles sometimes but usually it's a sharp pain." Harry said as he absent-mindedly rubbed the spot.

"This only happens in Professor Quirrell's class?"

"Uh-huh," Harry verified. At that moment a loud ringing started going off.

"Stay here," Snape said. He put his mug down and started towards the door. "Someone needs me in my office but I will be right back. We still have much to discuss. Don't think I have forgotten about your little escapade."