Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters that the lovely J.K. Rowling has created for us.

This is my first fanfiction. If you like it great, if you see a problem tell me, and if you hate it I respect that. Hope you like it.

Severus Snape was angry. No, scratch that, Severus Snape was furious. How the hell did he find himself in a situation far worse than his servitude between the Dark Lord and Albus Dumbledore? What unspeakable acts had he committed to deserve this horrible fate? Who did he kill to deserve this small hell on Earth? What first year had he made wet his pants to deserve this nightmare!? Severus had no clue, for he must have done something unspeakable to constantly be on guard to a fate worse than death. It was not even six hours ago that he had escaped once again, from France for crying out loud, to the small sanctuary of his beloved dungeons at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and finally bite the bullet (as the Muggles say) and write to the last person he ever wanted to be in contact with and ask for help. It was bad enough that he was in this situation, it made it even worse that he now had to...

"Hello Godfather. Broading I see."

"Draco, I see you received my letter."

"Yes. It was rather surprising to read that you needed my help in, how did you put it, 'A delicate situation far worse then the bowels of hell itself'.", Draco said with a grin.

Severus steepled his fingers and closed his eyes trying to draw every ounce of strength he had to try not to hex the boy in front of him. He needed the boy alive and conscious for that matter so a plan could be formulated to rid himself of his rather maddening problem. The Potions Master slowly opened his eyes and looked at the boy in front of him. Draco had grown to be almost the spitting image of his Father. Though the time of servitude to the Dark Lord had left a slightly haunted look in the boy, no he corrected himself, young man's eyes, he still held himself in a proud stance just like his Father and carried himself with the same elegance and dangerous grace the Malfoy's were so well known for.

"Draco, I will only warn you once, wipe that silly grin off your face before I hex you into the next century! The situation I find myself in is no laughing matter. It is a fate I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, well maybe James Potter and Sirius Black, but not anyone else!"

Draco let out a low whistle. For the calm Potion Masters to be that up in arms it had to be an extreme situation. Severus Snape never lost his cool, even during the Dark Lords second rise Snape carried himself with a constant level head that only a master spy could hold. To see such a calm man fluster and at his wits end was disturbing.

"What is it you need from me Godfather?"

"For now we must wait. You are not the only person I have written to requesting for help. I don't know when she will be along, but hopefully it will be soon. Not that I gave her much choice when I wrote to her superiors requesting her immediate assisstance."

"Who are you-" That was all Draco was able to say before the door to Severus Snape's classroom slammed open and a very angry Hermione Granger stormed in slamming the door behind her causing the very frame to shake.

"Severus Snape! Explain yourself! Why the hell was I ordered here by the head of my department to help your sorry arse!? You have some nerve demanding my assisstance, especially after your smart mouth caused me to be put under investigation by not only the Ministry of Magic, but the damn Potions Board as well!"

"Miss Granger, calm yourself!"

"Calm? You want me to calm myself after my boss all but demanded I come here and offer my 'gracious assistance' to the man that made my life a living hell for six months. Thanks to you I was put under investigation because you decided to be a bastard by telling not only my boss, but the entire Potioneers Committee that it was a miracle that a walking text book such as myself was capable of not only having independent thought, but also an original idea to create such a ground breaking potion! If it wasn't for the small miracle that I recorded everything during my research and Veritaserum my potion would have been stolen by three seperate individuals who claimed that I was the one who stole their idea on the Wolfbane Extension Potion!"

"I clearly remember sending a letter of apology and explanation to both the Ministry and the Board about the matter."

"Only after Minerva threatened to transfigure you into a red and gold fluffy teddy bear and pass you around to all the lonely first year Gryffindors!"

Draco couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of his Godfather being tranfigured into a teddy bear, much less a red and gold one to boot. Clearing his throat to the fighting duo, he couldn't help but ask, "Not that I want to interupt this very interesting fight, but what exactly is the Wolfbane Extension Potion? I've never heard of it."

Hermione Granger out of habit was the first to answer. "The Wolfbane Extension Potion is a creation of mine designed for people to stay, I guess you can say more humanlike during their transformation during the full moon."

"Isn't that what regular Wolfbane does?"

Before Hermione was able to answer Severus was the next to respond. "It is true that Wolfbane does help an individual keep their mind during the werewolf transformation, however that is all it can do. To put it blankly, you are putting a human mind into a crazed animal with only limited control. The control only being the ability of restraining the creature. Miss Granger's potion offers the individual not only complete mental control, but physical control as well. Witches and Wizards with Lycanthropy would not only have the ability to keep themselves from turning into a raving monster but also be able to utilize their curse to help others as well. Miss Granger's potion is still undergoing further testing, but once its existence is released to the general public it will also help open jobs to I believe a specialized section in the Auror Department."

"You almost sound impressed Snape. If it wasn't for the fact that I know how much of a hateful bastard you really can be I would almost take your explanation as a compliment."

"Miss Granger, if it wasn't for the fact that I am in dire need of your assistance I would do the Wizarding World a favor and permantly seal that fact spouting mouth of yours. As it is, you possess important imformation that I am in need of and must, unfortunately, let you retain the ability to speak."

After the declaration, Granger could not help but stare at him, wondering what the hell type of information that she had that Snape needed. As if the Gods were listening to her question the very answer to it swiftly came into the room.

"Severus Tobias Snape, where have you been!? I thought we agreed after our vacation in France that we would visit my Mother. She is so looking...Oh, am I interupting something?"

It was at that point that the three occupants in the room stared in complete shock at the newest arrival. Malfoy and Granger could not help but be puzzled at the person who was now standing in the doorway of the potions class while Severus Snape couldn't help but groan. 'How the hell did she find me again? I was sure I covered my tracks well and made sure I had no tracking spell or charms on me. She's like a damn bloodhound!'

Romilda Vane stood in the door way taking in the scene in front of her. It had taken her awhile to find her beloved after he left their flat in Paris and was happy to see that her assumptions were right. He had abruptly left during their shopping trip through Wizarding Paris and left no message as to his whereabouts with the clerk at the shop or at their flat. She figured that he had an important meeting of some sort with either the Minister or someone important and was all to happy to charge a few new robes to his vault to make up for his absence. She knew that she wasn't supposed to use his vaults at the moment, after all they were only dating, but it was only a matter of time before they would take the obvious step and she would be the wife of the dark war hero and be forever known as the one who was able to win the unobtainable heart of Severus Snape and replace the eternal beauty of Lily Potter. It was a lovely dream, one of which she had worked hard to obtain and she was happy to see her careful planning was working out. That was until her eyes fell on Hermione Granger.

Romilda eyes narrowed. "Granger, what are you doing here?"

Hermione took in the scene before her. At first she had been completely baffled as to why Romilda Vane had made a sudden appearance, but after she had caught on to what Vane had said it didn't take a genius to figure out the situation at hand. 'Oh, this is too good. Serves the bastard right. I should be sorry for him and help him, but I think a little payback is in order.' A huge crocodile grin spread across her face and a plan quickly formed.

Severus watched the address Vane had given Granger and knew that the information he had gained about the two had held true. Now all he needed to do was rid himself once again from his problem and gain the information he needed from Miss Granger. He was quickly pulled from his musing when he saw the grin that Granger was giving him and knew something horrible was about to happen. Severus needed an excuse and he needed an excuse quickly before-

"Romilda, I am so glad you're here." Granger said with a grin.

"You are?", Romilda couldn't help but be puzzled with this response. It was all too obvious amongst the Gryffindors that the two of them hated one another, especially after a certain incident that still made her blood boil. She just hoped that Granger wasn't going to interfere in her life again. She deserved her Dark Prince and she was going to get him.

"Oh yes! You see Snape called Malfoy and I to help give him some ideas on certain pieces of jewelry. He said that he wanted it befitting for a Malfoy while at the same time held a Gryffindor touch. I honestly don't know why I was chosen for this task and was just about to recommend Parvati Patil since she does co-own that popular dress robe shop 'Divinely Yours', but I'm glad to see he invited you as well. You know me, I'm the Bookworm of Gryffindor, not the Beauty of Gryffindor." Hermione quickly turned to Snape, her grin widdening at the obvious look of distress and anger. "Professor, you really should ask Romilda on what design you should choose for a ring. I bet she has plenty ideas."

With those last words, Hermione quickly caught a final glimpse at Romilda's dreamy look, Draco's clueless look, and Snape's look of pure rage. With a smile she quickly walked out the door and closed it. Once the door closed with a resounding click Hermione didn't look back and ran as fast as she could back to the Headmistress's Office where her friends were waiting for her. She was clearing the first floor when she heard Snape roar, "GRANGER!" and quickly picked up the pace. As she cleared the second floor Harry and Ron came into view casually talking as they walked along. When they caught sight of her they both gave her a curious look. All she did was scream "RUN" and they knew that whatever it was that had her running they better follow suit.

They quickly cleared the third floor when Harry shouted, "Why are we running? Voldemort coming after us again?"

"Worse! We're running from Vane and Snape. We need to get to Minerva's office and quick."

Ron turned to Hermione and paled, "Holy Hell! Hermione what did you do!?"

"Run first, escape second, and explain later."

As they came across to the gargoyle entrance, Hermione quickly shouted the password and ran passed the leaping gargoyle barely missing him and took the moving stairs two at a time. To say the Headmistress was shocked when the Golden Trio burst into her office was an understatement in and of itself. She immediately jumped up from her desk about to demand an answer when a roar interupted her. "GRANGER!" Concern came across her face. She knew that roar and watched in disbelief as Harry, Ron, and Hermione shoved themselves into her fireplace and quickly screamed, "THE BURROWS!" and disappear in the green flames. Not a moment later did her Potion Master burst through the door looking like dearranged animal and made his way towards the fireplace.

Quickly collecting herself the Headmistress screamed, "Severus Snape! What the blazes is going on around here!? Why are you chasing Hermione, Harry, and Ron?"

Professor Snape stopped in his place and gave the Headmistress his trademark scowl.

"I am not after Potter and Weasley. I only want Granger."

"What do you want with Hermione?"

"Other than to wring her neck out, I need information concerning a one Romilda Vane. Usually your precious cubs can't keep a secret to save their on neck, but it seems that any information about Miss Vane is a guarded secret amongst the Gryffindors. I even went as far as tracking down some of Miss Vane's old paramours. The moment her name was mention they either started crying, begging me to keep her away or ran away screaming. I was unable to gain any clear information other than the fact that she has destroyed anyone she has attached herself to. Do you know anything about Miss Vane, Minerva?

Minerva did indeed know a little bit about what he was talking about and she knew why Severus was unable to gain any answers from her Gryffindors. Romilda Vane was a closely guarded secret in her house. She had tried many of times to gain any information from her cubs concerning Miss Vane after she had caused one of Pomona's Hufflepuffs to suffer a nervous break down and was unable to gain any answers from them. She had threaten detention, suspension, and even threaten to hand them over to Severus and Argus if she did not get a straight answer. She finally gave up when one finally spoke and told her that they would gladly face Snape if it meant they were kept safe from Romilda. After that she gave up. She figured if Severus and Argus couldn't scare them, then nothing could other than Voldemort himself and he was thankfully dead.

Taking in Severus's appearance she noticed that the once cool man seemed dishelved and slightly dearranged. Could it be that Miss Vane was the cause of Severus's change of appearance? Seeing that he was still eyeing her, waiting for an answer she decided to take pity on the poor man and told him of her own experiences.

"I remember Miss Vane from her years here. However, she is quite the enigma when it comes to her experience with her past paramours. Do you remember a boy the name of Malcolm Preece?"

Severus had to dig deep in his memory, but was able to remember the boy. "Yes, I believe I do. Tall, medium build, dark hair, dark eyes, chaser for the Hufflepuff team?"

"Yes, that would be him. He took over as quididtch captain after, um, well you know. He was a year above Miss Vane and apparently became her beau sometime after the Christmas holiday during his seventh year. No one is sure what happened, but apparently sometime after Valentine's Day poor Mr Preece suffered a nervous breakdown. It was the strangest thing if you ask me. He was found in the Hufflepuff common room hunched over in a darken corner mumbling some nonsense about not being safe. At first we believed that one of Lord Voldemort followers had approached him about joining and had threatened him at every turn. But we later found out that Miss Vane was a constant presence to the young man's life, even in the confines of the Hufflepuff common room. We had questioned her whether or not they had been approached to join Voldemort's rank and she stated that no one had approached them being as that was impossible for they spent every waking moment together and were hardly around any of their peers. She was then asked if she knew what caused the poor man's breakdown and she simply shrugged her shoulders stating that they had broken up on Valentine's Day after he threw a fit about their plans.

I did question the other members of Gryffindor house and was met with nothing but silence. And before you ask, yes I did try everything to get a straight answer. I threatened detention, suspension, I even threatened to hand them over to you to decide their punishment. I gave up when one of my cubs stated that he would rather take his chances with you rather than to face Miss Vane. I gave up after that and decided to keep my ears open for any related gossip."

"Did you hearing anything?", Professor Snape said hopefully.

"Yes, come to think of it. Mind you I was only able to catch a few short phrases but I believe it does shed some light on what had happen. Although it doesn't completely answer why the entire Gryffindor.."

"Minerva! Stop your ramblings and tell me what you heard!"

"Well!", Minerva said in a huff, "If you must know I heard something to the effect of "Poor bloke", "Never stood a chance", and something about claws. That is all I heard and now can you please tell me why you are asking about Miss Vane? She graduated I believe five years ago."

Quickly, some of the missing answers were falling into place. Though he did not have an answer to his problem, he was beginning to get general idea of why he was met with either tears, running, and silence. Seeing Minerva's inquisitive look, Severus explained; "I will not go into the details of how I met Miss Vane, but I will inform you that for the past four months she has been a constant nightmare since the moment she entered my life!"

Minerva was shocked by her colleagues words. What could have Miss Vane done cause such disquiet in Severus's life?

"Severus", Minerva asked tentatively, "What has Miss Vane done?"

"Done!? You want to know what's she's done? I'll tell you what she has done! She has turned my entire life upside down since the moment she came into it and latched herself onto me. At first it started off slow with an owl once a week telling me about her week and so forth, then after a month it turned into a owl everyday sometimes even twice telling me how glad she was that "we" were in a committed relationship and could not wait for the school year to end. I wrote to her several times that I was 'Not' interested in her week nor was I in any relationship where it concerned her. However she didn't stop. She claimed that my scathing letters were nothing more than a test to prove her worthiness to me and that my little tests would not deter her love. To make matters worse two weeks before school ended I found her in my rooms, rearranging my private quarters!"

"Severus, how can that be? Your quarters are heavily warded."

"I know, that's the problem. When I asked how the hell she got into my private rooms all she told me was that she was making it more homely for whenever she moved in. I immediately kicked her out, but I found her in my rooms the next day and the next all resulting in the same manner of myself kicking her out. Finally I contacted the DMLE to see if I could charge her with stalking or trespassing. They said I needed substantial evidence in order to press stalking charges, but all Miss Vane would receive was a restraining order and community service. As for the trespassing charges, they claimed that only you had the ability to file the charges and ban her from the school grounds. After seeing my hard earned galleons at work with the mindless dunderheads they employ at the DMLE I decided to take matters into my own hands. You do not need to know the full details, all you need to know was it didn't work."

"Severus, what did you do?"

"I didn't harm her physically, I just leaked a certain story to the Daily Prophet is all."

Understanding came to Minerva. She remembered the news article concerning Romilda Vane. Although it was old news to the school, the general public was in a uproar when it was discovered that she tried to poison the Boy-Who-Lived with a love potion and steal him away from his one true love Ginny Weasley. It was rumored that she had to go into hiding after the many death threats she received from the public.

"You're responsible for the love potion article. That poor girl could have been killed from the uproar that it caused."

"Poor girl? Trust me Minerva when I say that Miss Vane is not a poor girl. She claimed that the article was nothing more than a test to prove her love for me and that she would hold strong. During her few weeks of exile she wrote me everyday about her love for me, plans for our future, and our supposedly upcoming wedding. They were far more disturbing then the Dark Lord himself. Thankfully I used her days in hiding to gather some information. As you know, I had a number of dead ends. However, I got lucky. A Gryffindor, surprisingly enough, took pity on me and told me that the only person Miss Vane never crossed was Miss Granger. When I pressed further, he got nervous and stated that if I wanted answers I needed to see her. At first I was angry and wanted nothing to do with the little know-it-all and decided to keep my diginity intact and left for summer vacation once the holidays started. I told no one of my location. She found me, in two short weeks she found me! She believed that my sudden trip to Paris was a secret rendezvous and thought I was finally showing my romantic side by having us vacation there. It only took a couple of days to flee from her, but thankfully I was able to. I came back here and decided to call upon Draco and Miss Granger for assistance."

"Miss Granger? Severus are you out of your mind!? After what you did to poor Hermione I'm not at all surprised now when she, Mr Potter, and Mr Weasley crammed themselves into my fireplace to floo their escape."

"Oh she will help me get out of this situation, even if I have to drag her all the way back to Hogwarts with that bushy mane of hers. Do you know what that little chit did? She actually had the nerve to give Miss Vane the impression that I was looking to buy an engagement ring. AN ENGAGEMENT RING! And before I could wrap my hands around her neck Miss Vane started spouting wedding ideas to me. As you can see I left Draco to deal with that mess, for all I know she is still down in the dungeons planning. I need to escape again. Do you know where Miss Granger could have gone?"

"I believe I will stay out of this one Severus."

"What! Why? Do you have any idea what hell I am going through right now? I am begging you Minerva tell me where Miss Granger has gone or so help me I will pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower."

"And you say Gryffindors are so dramatic."

"I am not being dramatic, I am flat out telling you the truth!"

Minerva took in Severus appearance in once again and could not help but feel sorry for the poor man. True, she had been angry at what he had done to her little cub, but at the same time she could not help but feel sorry for him. Finally taking pity on Severus and coming up with a pleasant revenge on her own she came to a decision.

"Alright Severus, I will tell you their floo destination, however you must do something for me in return."

"What is it?", the Potions Master said wearily.

"Do you remember some time back I practically begged you to attend the War Heros Ball to help generate future donors for our school?"

"Yes.", Severus drawled.

"Well, I want you to attend. With conditions. That you stay there til at least eleven o'clock and you are somewhat pleasant. I'm not asking for nice, just not your usual snarky self. And I will be there to monitor you so that I can make sure all the conditions have been met. And believe me when I say, if they are not all met there will be hell to pay. What do you say?"

"That's blackmail!"

"Yes, I know. Now choose Severus, I am a busy woman. You either attend the ball, hopefully a bachelor, find Miss Granger yourself, pitch yourself off the Astronomy Tower, or plan your wedding to Miss Vane. If it is the latter, might I suggest a winter wedding. I always believed snow to be a beautiful back drop to a traditional white wedding, that is if the bride is still pure or you wish to give the illusion. Either way it's still beautiful. And I believe gold and green will go well together. Maybe I should offer my assistance-"

"ALRIGHT I"LL GO! I'll go to your stupid ball, meet all the conditions just please give me the damn address!"

Minerva didn't even bother to the cheshire like grin spreading across her face.

"The trio flooed to the Burrows. However, I do not believe you will find them there so it will be best to either wait or ask Molly. And since you are being so kind I will write Miss Granger personally asking for her assistance. No further conditions needed."

"How magnanimous of you. If Miss Vane is looking for me, tell her I died. If it is Draco, tell him where I am and that I will meet him back at his family Manor later on tonight."

"No problem Severus. Happy hunting."

And with that Minerva watched Severus walk to her fire place and floo to the Burrows. Right behind her she could hear the soft chuckling coming from her long time friend's portrait.

"I have to say Minerva," Albus Dumbledore said, "I have a feeling this will turn out to be quite amusing."

"What do you know Albus?"

"Oh, something I was able to pick up on after Miss Granger's second year."

"And what would that be?"

"Simply stating the muggle quote, 'I guess you will have to watch and see'"