It was always Severus who spent his time away. Severus had far greater freedoms, and had other places to go—Hermione’s leash was very short. She hadn’t been outside on the grounds since before the holidays, and that was a short, supervised stroll to the Quidditch pitch and back with Severus. If he didn’t want to see her, he didn’t have to. Hermione took his absence as outright rejection, and nursed her wounded heart with books, calming her racing anxieties with memories of their frantic, charged encounters. 