AN: There's been a bit of a time jump - this chapter takes place in the summer after Hermione's sixth year, so after Snape killed Dumbledore.

Chapter Two

She had only just knocked on The Burrow's front door when it was thrown open by a tired-looking Molly Weasley.

'Ah, Hermione,' the Weasley matron greeted her, 'there you are. He'll be glad to see you. Please come in.'

Hermione stepped over the threshold, into the cluttered hallway and up the stairs. Ron's room was almost at the top of the house, and as such she was slightly out of breath when she finally reached his door. She took off the spells that were meant to ensure Ron didn't escape from his room and, after knocking (not that she thought he would be aware of it, but it seemed rude not to) she entered the room.

Ron's room was still as orange as ever, courtesy of the posters of the Chudley Cannons. The room was oddly neat, the usual stacks of comics and wizarding games having been put neatly onto several shelves. Ron himself was sitting on a chair next to the tiny window, gazing outside. He hardly ever moved from that spot nowadays.

'Hi, Ron,' she said, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite him. 'How are you doing?'

Ron didn't reply. In all honesty, he hadn't even looked at her since she had entered the room, prefering instead to stare outside. She gave him a warm smile anyway. Perhaps her presence would remind him that he wasn't alone.

'I'm doing quite well,' she continued, her eyes never leaving Ron's face. 'Mum and dad are being a bit difficult though. They found out some of what is going in our world – I stupidly left a Daily Prophet lying around – and they don't want me to go back to Hogwarts. Oh, well, I'm sure that, given some time, they will come to see reason.'

Ron was still looking impassively out of the window. She followed his gaze and stared down into the garden.

She sat in silence with Ron for quite a while longer, lost in her own thoughts as she stared outside. At length, she turned her attention back to Ron and took a deep breath.

'I'm going to try and save the wizarding world, Ron,' she said. Ron continued to look outside, and she could feel a laugh welling up at the ridiculousness of the situation. She quickly forced it back. This was not something to laugh about. 'I know it sounds insane, but, you know, Dumbledore left me a mission. Me and –'

She stopped abruptly, biting her cheek. It wouldn't do to tell anyone about Snape just yet, not even if it was Ron. She couldn't be certain who he might accidentally pass the information on to.

'Anyway, I think I'd best be going,' she concluded, getting up. 'Mom and dad will be furious with me if I'm not home before dark.'

She pushed the chair back to where she had taken it from and marched towards the door. She only looked back when she had opened it.

'Goodbye, Ron. I'll come see you again soon, okay?'

Silence was her answer. She closed the door and warded it again, leaving Ron next to the window.

She dashed down the stairs and poked her head around the kitchen door. Mrs Weasley was standing at the stove, cooking dinner.

'It smells great, Mrs Weasley.'

Mrs Weasley jumped at her words and spun around. Seeing it was only Hermione in the door opening, she visibly relaxed.

'Thank you, dear. Won't you stay for dinner?'

'No, I have to be home before dark. Thank you for asking, though.'

'No problem. Perhaps you can come over for dinner sometime soon?'

'I would love that. Goodbye, Mrs Weasley.'

'Goodbye, Hermione.'

Hermione made her way back through the cluttered hallway and stepped out into the garden. Though it was already past five o'clock, the day was still quite warm. She walked out of the garden, past the anti-apparition wards, and then disapparated back to her own front garden.

Feeling rather smug that she had managed to get back home on time, she darted up the few steps that led to the front door, fished her key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. She then kicked off her shoes and headed into the living room.

She was greeted with a rather unusual, no, impossible sight.

Severus Snape was sitting in her living room, talking to her fatherand sipping tea. Tea!

She noticed she had remained frozen in the door opening and that both her father and Professor Snape were looking at her rather curiously. She swallowed thickly.

'Er, hi ...' she said, and silently berated herself as soon as the words left her mouth. Er, hi? What kind of greeting was that?

Her father didn't appear to be bothered by her baffledness. 'Hello, Hermione. This man came to speak with you – he says he's your teacher?' Her father looked inquiringly from Snape to her and back again, apparently trying to discern if the man had been telling the truth.

'Yes, yes he is,' she confirmed, finally managing to shake some of the confusedness off of herself. She made her way to the only unoccupied seat in the room – on the couch, next to Snape.

'As Mr Granger said, I have come here to speak with you,' Snape drawled. At her nod, he turned towards her father and said: 'Would you mind leaving us for a moment?'

'Not at all,' her father promptly said, gathering his tea cup and his paper. 'I'll be in the kitchen if you need me.'

She stared after her father, feeling something of uneasiness at the calmness with which he had handled Snape's visit. It was ... unlike him.

Snape waited until her father had disappeared into the kitchen and had closed the door behind him before addressing her.

'You seem surprised to see me, Miss Granger.'

'Well, I am,' she retorted. 'What are you doing here?'

Snape appeared to resist the urge to roll his eyes. 'I would say that is blatantly clear. As you are very well aware, Professor Dumbledore is no longer among us – dead, as you know, at my hands. I trust you do remember the task he set us?'

She only just managed to bite back a sharp retort. 'Yes, sir. We have to find the Horcruxes. That still does not explain why you are here.'

'I have come to discuss the details of our current predicament with you. You should know that I have been appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts. This, of course, is the Dark Lord's doing.'

'So you're returning to Hogwarts. Why can't we discuss the details of this task at the school? Certainly that would be much easier for the both of us.'

'I am afraid that is not possible. You see, Miss Granger, I cannot allow you to return to Hogwarts.'

She couldn't keep the surprise and frustration from showing on her face. Who did he think he was to boss her around? 'And why, pray tell, can't you?'

'Because I know things that you don't,' Snape snarled. 'Because I am not the only Death Eater who will be stationed at Hogwarts. Because I do not want you to fall prey to those Cruciatus-loving monsters.'

That shut her up. For a moment, in any case.

'But what about the others? Won't they be in danger?'

Snape sighed. 'Yes. Unfortunately, I cannot openly warn them, or the Dark Lord would know what I was up to straight away.'

She bit her lip. 'I want to go back.'

'You cannot. It is dangerous.'

'I don't care if it's dangerous –'

'Miss Granger!' Snape barked. She involuntarily jerked back. 'You will not go back! To start with, having been Potter's friend, they would treat you worse than any other student! You'd be lucky to still know your name when they're finished with you!' Snape took a deep breath, apparently willing himself to calm down. 'Secondly, you will need all the time you can get to investigate the whereabouts of the Horcruxes. I will, of course, assist you as much as possible, but I cannot leave the school unsupervised at day.'

She nodded slowly, finally beginning to understand what Snape was trying to make her see.

'You're right. I apologize.'

'Apology accepted.'

'But we will need a place to do research, won't we?' She frowned, immersed in thoughts. 'And we can't use Hogwarts ... My home wouldn't be ideal either, being situated in the middle of a Muggle neighbourhood ...'

'Yes, that indeed poses a problem,' Snape agreed. 'Fortunately, I believe I have found the solution to it. What is your opinion on reinstating Grimmauld Place as our headquarters?'

'Grimmauld Place? But it's not safe anymore now that Sirius has died, is it?'

'There are still more than enough protective enchantments on the house to ensure that no ordinary wizard will stumble upon it. As for the Dark Lord and his followers, I am quite certain that they will not try to break in. I have told the Dark Lord that the place is boobytrapped, and he does not want to risk losing people to a cause he doesn't deem very important. If we place a few extra wards, we should be perfectly safe.'

'But won't they notice I'm not at school?' she wondered out loud. 'And if they do, won't they come looking for me? Because in that case, we should make sure my parents are safe.'

'Yes.' Snape was quiet for a moment, looking at a blank point on the wall in front of him. He looked as though he was trying to find an easy way to say the next few words. 'I am quite familiar with the Dark Lord's searching methods, and I have a concluded that there is only one way to keep your parents safe.' He still did not take his eyes off the wall in front of him.

'Which is?' she asked, feeling a slight apprehension at Snape's odd behaviour.

'We will have to alter their memories and send them someplace far away,' Snape said stoically. 'I was considering Australia.'

'WHAT?' Without realizing she had moved, she found herself standing next to the couch, looking down on Snape. He quickly got to his feet.

'Miss Granger –'

'Do you have any idea what you're asking? You –'

Her angry tirade was interrupted by the opening of the kitchen door. Her father and mother appeared in the door opening, looking exceptionally agitated. Belatedly, Hermione realized they had forgotten to cast a silencing charm.

'What on Earth is going on here?' Her father's voice sounded torn between anger and betrayal. 'What is all this talk about altering our memories and sending us to Australia?'

Snape took a few steps towards her father, seemingly trying to decide on the best approach. 'Please, Mr Granger, it would be in the interest of your own safety and that of your wife.'

This served only to anger her father even more. 'Safety? And what about our daughter? Should we just allow her to roam about on her own? She isn't even of age yet!'

'She is in our world,' Snape said calmly.

Her father looked as though he was about to give Snape an angry retort, but she managed to beat him to speaking.

'Dad, please,' she said, taking a cautious step towards her father. 'I know what this sounds like, but really, it would be in your best interest. And no,' she added as her mother opened her mouth, 'I know that you think you can look after yourselves, but you don't know what these people are capable of.'

'Your daughter is right,' Snape agreed. 'These are not just ordinary people, they are monsters that will not shy away from using any means to achieve their ends.'

'Please, sit down,' Hermione pleaded. 'We'll explain everything. Just don't – don't get angry.'

Her parents still rather looked like they were, but they did do as she had asked and sat down on the couch she and Snape had previously occupied. Snape had now sat down on the only other chair in the living room, and as such she lowered herself onto the table.

'Mom, dad,' she began, wondering how she was ever going to explain everything to her parents, 'you remember about this evil wizard I told you about?'

'That you-know-what fellow?' her mother asked, frowning.

Hermione nodded. 'He is on the rise once more. I ... I haven't told you yet, but ... he killed Harry.'

'Your friend?' her mother asked. 'Harry Potter?'

'Yes, him,' she confirmed. 'You see, Harry was supposed to be the only one who could defeat You-Know-Who, and know that he's gone ...'

Silence dawned upon the room. Snape was the first to break it.

'The wizarding world is in a rather grave state. Left and right people are disappearing. If we do not act, I fear the same will happen to you.'

Her father looked confused. 'But why would they target us?'

Hermione looked at Snape for support, but the man had fallen silent. She swallowed. 'Because I was Harry's friend, dad. It's only natural that they should come after me and my family.'

'And so you propose to ... to alter our memories?' Her mother's voice was oddly high-pitched.

Snape nodded solemnly. 'It is the only way to keep you safe.'

'But what about Hermione?' her father addressed Snape. 'What will happen to her?'

'Mr. Granger, I promise you to do my utmost best to keep her physically safe.'

Hermione sighed. Physically safe?She should have known better than to expect Snape would be worried about her mental state of being. Luckily, her parents seemed not to have realized Snape's promise was a rather dubious one.

'So ... what will happen to us?' her mother asked.

'I will erase all your memories and replace them with fake ones,' Snape said neutrally.

Her mother gasped. 'Erase our memories?'

'You won't notice a thing, mom,' Hermione said soothingly. 'Professor Snape is more than capable of performing a memory charm. You will be perfectly happy.'

A sob escaped her mother, and her father put an arm around his wife's shoulders. 'Is there no other way?'

'No,' Snape said decidedly.

Her father breathed in shakily. 'Very well, then ... do it.'

Snape nodded and got up. Hermione followed his example and moved to a corner of the room, regarding her parents quietly: her father, regarding Snape quite calmly now, and her mother, still sobbing quietly – but, she knew her mother would follow her father in anything –

Snape began the incantation and her parents immediately went blank-eyed. She felt a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach when she realized they had not bothered to say goodbye to their daughter.