Authors Note: Thank you very much to neverest and krista04 for your reviews. Hope everyone else who is reading is enjoying. Now then, let's have a look and see about what's happened since our last visit - Bee


Hermione looked all around her, searching for something that was familiar. She was ready to take anything, but no. None of it rang a bell within her misty memory. She was in a large room, larger than any she had seen before. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves, and they were filled with so many tomes that her fingertips began to ache at the mere sight of them. The knowledge contained within them must be fantastical. There was a heavy sense of the forbidden about them, and that made her want to touch them and read them all the stronger. There were wooden ladders leant up against the shelves at regular intervals, she assumed it was for convenience, to make it easier to access the books.

"Do you like what you see?" A man's voice called out, startling Hermione. She whirled round, her hand flying to her heart. There was a young man, he looked no older than she did, leaning against one of the shelves, his arms folded across his chest. He had dark hair, and dark eyes, with features that Hermione could acknowledge were handsome. He was thin but not too thin and he was tall. He had an amused smile playing about his lips. She looked into those dark brown eyes and flinched back a little at the utter lack of warmth within them.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She asked, her voice wavering a little. She took a few steps back, her curiosity at her situation quickly changing to discomfort. She did not want to be here.

"You are asking a lot of questions. Why don't you take this for what it is?" He replied, pushing himself off the shelf and unfolding his arms. He moved towards her with slow, deliberate steps. Hermione moved further back as he advanced on her, until she collided with one of the bookshelves.

"What is it?" Hermione questioned, tipping her head back a little and raising her chin. She wanted to at least appear strong and confident, even if she wasn't quite feeling it at the time. He chuckled darkly, shaking his head as he reached her. He stopped right in front of her and placed his palms against the books, effectively trapping Hermione in her place.

"Whatever you want it to be." He leant in, his face mere inches away from her own. His breath brushed against her skin and a shiver crawled up her spine.

"That's not an answer." Hermione replied, thankful that she hadn't tripped over her words.

"A dream. Nothing more and nothing less." He retorted with a sigh. Hermione instantly felt much better when he had finished speaking. She could escape from a dream, and they were her dreams. They meant nothing. She did have to wonder why she was dreaming of this place, of this man and not of Ron.

"If this is my dream, who are you then?" Hermione asked, recalling the former of the two questions she had asked earlier. The answer to that one had yet to be revealed to her.

"That is for me to know and you to find out." His voice seemed a lot less clear than before. It almost seemed as though he were far away from her, even though she could see and feel that he was so close, too close.

"What kind of an answer is that?" She demanded, a note of annoyance in her voice. He chuckled again and moved away from her. As he did, Hermione noticed that her surrounding appeared to becoming more and more fuzzy.

"Infuriating to one like yourself. I will be seeing you again." He said. Hermione was about to open her mouth to speak again but suddenly he began to fade along with the room around her.


As soon as he had returned from the Death Eater meeting, rather than reporting straight to Dumbledore as he usually did, Severus had hurriedly made his way down to his Potions Lab. Whilst there he had began extensive testing to see exactly what the vial of potion was that the Dark Lord had given him. He was more than relieved to discover that it was not harmful in any way at all. So, he had made his way up to the Headmaster's Office, vial in hand, and gave him a full report of what had transpired at the meeting.

"What potion is it then Severus?" Albus asked, his wrinkled old face creased even further with worry and perhaps pain.

"It is a Dream Elixir." He replied simply, placing the vial on the desk before him. The older man picked it up and examined it with his thin, bony fingers. It was only in the recent few months that it had struck Severus how fragile the older man actually was. He had called him a meddling old fool on several occasions, and was more than happy to reference his age. Still though, it was obvious that it had never fully registered in his mind exactly how old Albus Dumbledore was.

"What game are you playing now Tom." He muttered quietly, his eyes glinting over his half mooned spectacles. He sighed and held the vial out for Severus to take hold of again.

"What am I to do Albus?" He asked, for once willing to do whatever it was the Headmaster asked him to without any arguments. It wasn't because his life was at risk because his life always was. It was because an innocent young woman was involved, once again.

"There are no harmful properties contained within it?" Albus questioned. Severus inclined his head in the older man's direction to indicate that there was indeed nothing harmful present.

"If Tom has said he will know if you have not given Miss Granger the potion, then you must give it to her." Albus passed his judgement, and Severus could see exactly how much the decision pained him. To put any student at risk was against everything he believed in. To make it even worse, it was Miss Granger, and she was more than valuable to their organisation.

"We cannot give her to him Albus." Severus said firmly. He believed in his heart and his soul that he had been the reason one young woman had been destroyed by the Dark Lord. He was not going to be the reason for it happening to another. He had no doubt in his mind that if he delivered Miss Granger to his other Master that she would be tortured to within an inch of her sanity, before being killed.

"We may not have a choice my dear boy." He replied. Severus shook his head in disbelief and stood up.

"There is always a choice!" He exclaimed, beginning to pace up and down the Headmaster's Office, as was common practice most of the time that he was there. He occasionally glanced over to see what Albus was doing, and when he caught sight of the sickeningly sympathetic expression on his face, he couldn't help sneering.

"Sometimes certain individuals must be sacrificed for the Greater Good." Albus said softly, coining the phrase that should be his motto. By this time Severus was standing facing the wall, his forehead pressed against it's smooth surface.

"The Greater Good? How do you know what the 'Greater Good' is?" He questioned, his voice soft and deadly. Before Albus could reply, Severus slammed his fist against the wall before whirling round to face the older man.

"Is Miss Granger to be sacrificed for the Greater Good? Just like Lily!" Severus shouted out angrily. He would not stand for it to happen, not again. His conscience could not bear the guilt of another young woman, with so much talent and promise, being destroyed. Another muggleborn witch as kind a heart as any that could be found anywhere.

"Severus, do not blame yourself." Albus replied, standing up from his chair behind the desk. He held his hand out to Severus, and he moved away. He didn't want to hear another word on the matter.

"I don't want your sympathy old man! I will not hand her over to him, and that is final." Severus stated before whirling on his heel and throwing the office door open, his robes billowing out behind him.

Ronald Weasley was scheduled to have a detention with Severus. He could not stand to be around the nuisance boy though. There were far too many Weasley's for his liking. They spread like a disease of idiocy, or that could just be Ronald. Ginevra seemed to have a flare of talent and even though they had driven him mad during their tenure at Hogwarts, and their products continued to do so even now, Severus had to admit the Weasley twins were adept.

The latest and thankfully, last for now, offering however, was nothing like the previous one's sadly. However, this detention would enable Severus to get to Miss Granger and slip the potion to her. The most effective way he could think of was to do it in her sleep. She would not be able to stop it, and she would not know that anything had been done. It was the perfect way for the potion to be administered, and it did not surprise him in the least that he had been able to think of it so quickly. It was a sad fact of his existence that he knew these avenues of possibility.

After the Weasley boy's detention was finished he would follow him back to the Gryffindor Common Room and slip inside when he entered. He would steal his way up to the Girl's Dormitory and slip the potion into Miss Granger's mouth when she was sleeping.

Severus threw the doors open to his chambers, not even bothering to shut it behind him. He pulled a bottle of firewhiskey and a glass from his drinks cabinet. He unscrewed the cap and poured a healthy, or unhealthy depending on who was looking at it, measure and tipped half of it down his throat. The familiar burning sensation reminded him that he would need at least one other glass before the Weasley boy turned up.