It had been three days since Hermione had woken up to the house elf and the lotus flower and with no small amount of frustration, she found herself once more right back where she started.
The evening before, just as Minerva had predicted, she had collapsed in front of the fire in her room, dropping her book onto the marble hearth, her head narrowly missing the same fate.
When she came to this time, however, the house elf stayed put.
"Miss Hermione is awake, Dea is pleased. Dea was told to pass on a message to Miss Hermione if she should awake; Mistress Minerva would like Miss Hermione to dress and join Mistress Minerva in her office as soon as Miss Hermione feels she is able. Master Severus is awake."
Hermione blinked a few times to clear her head. She had forgotten to ask Professor McGonnagall why Snape would be the one to talk to about such an issue as hers. "Thank you, Dea. I'll be there shortly."
The elf flattened her ears back and beamed before disapperating.
Hermione ran her fingers through her hair and suppressed a yawn. For the third night in a row the little sleep she had managed had been somewhat disturbed by dreams of the eldest black sister.
The young witch pushed the thoughts from her mind and dressed as quickly as her slightly aching limbs would allow, wondering what the potions master would have to say to her. It would be strange seeing him once again after all that had happened.
The Scottish professor straightened up from the desk she was hunched over as Hermione knocked and entered her office.
"Good afternoon, Miss Granger."
Hermione smiled. "Good afternoon, Professor. I didn't realise it was so late in the day."
"Ironically, your sleep seems to be knocking off your sense of time. It matters very little, there are only three students left at Hogwarts including yourself, and neither are from your house."
Hermione frowned. "Where's Harry and Ron?"
"Mr Potter and Mr Weasley have both opted to begin their auror training. They assumed seeing you was off limits seeing as how strict the rules had been around seeing you over the last three days and I felt it would be odd if I said any different. I could hardly explain your sudden recovery with the truth."
Hermione sighed. She knew it wasn't their fault, but it still hurt that they hadn't said goodbye.
"I see. The house elf told me that Professor Snape was awake?"
"Yes, that's right. He would like to speak with you urgently, about... Recent discoveries."
"I shan't keep him waiting, then." Hermione said heavily, feeling slightly apprehensive about what was to come.
Snape looked worse for wear. He was looking out of the window at the back of his new office with his back to the younger witch as she entered.
"Miss Granger." He acknowledged slowly. He had lost his old sneer.
"Professor." Hermione nodded, feeling like this day was getting terribly circular.
"Sit."
The witch did as she was bid and sat in an arm chair, watching as the pale potions master turned to face her. There was scarring across his throat that was still purple, and Hermione assumed he must be taking a break from the healing spells he'd likely been submerged in since the battle.
"Miss Granger, the main reason I wanted to talk to you was to warn you."
Hermione began to fiddle with the ends of her sleeve; the tone made her anxious after all the trouble the trio had been through over the last few years, and warnings never seemed to lead anywhere good.
"About Bellatrix?"
Snape chuckled quietly and wearily. "No," he sighed "No, not of Bellatrix."
"You mean there's something worse in all this than her?"
Snape smiled sadly down at the desk beneath him as he leaved heavily on it to sit himself down. "Bella isn't all that bad, Miss Granger. Especially if she comes to care for you."
Hermione gawped. "Not that bad?"
Snape held his hand up, knowing how it must sound to someone from the outside.
"I know, I know." He took a deep breath, apparently with some difficulty. "I know you'll reject the idea. But we'll come to that in time. I needed to warn you not about Bella but about the Order. The Ministry. Your friends. They are not what they seem to be."
The way the man called Bellatrix by such a familiar shortening made Hermione equally uncomfortable an curious. She supposed he must have lived in quite close quarters with her at times.
"I don't know what you mean, professor."
The recovering professor took a long while to think. "Don't get me wrong, Miss Granger, the Order believe in what they say entirely. When they say they are the light, they believe it. When they say they are salvation, they believe it. When they say they are your friends, they most whole heartedly believe it. But living my life has allowed me to see both sides of the war. After all, without seeing both sides of the story, how can one really be sure they are with the good guys?"
Hermione wasn't really sure what the man was implying. Upon sensing this, he continued delicately.
"What I mean to say is, I have lived with both sides during this war; one was cruel, unforgiving, and quick to turn their backs on me. The other was kind, lenient, and treated me like family. There's no easy way to admit that it was not the Order nor the ministry that behaved as the latter. I found my home amongst the people who you regard as the most evil to ever have walked the earth."
Hermione wasn't often left speechless, and found it a rather frustrating sensation.
"Why tell me this professor?" She asked eventually. This sort of confession could get him into serious trouble with all the suspicion still lingering around his loyalty, surely?
"Because, Miss Granger, in just over three weeks from now there's a chance you will be using your time turner to save you soul mate's life. If Bella lives, the Order will have no choice but to leave you alone- that symbol on your wrist means you are almost untouchable. If Bella were to be presented to a judge now, they will have to view you as one person. They cannot kill her without killing you, which would create an outcry. They cannot send her to Azkaban without inflicting the same pain on you- which would also create an outcry. They cannot do anything to bind or limit her magic without doing the same to yours- you see where this is going. I'll be straight with you, Miss Granger. I want you to seriously consider saving Bellatrix and yourself rather than letting yourself die out of honour as I know you plan to now. Once Bella is back with us, I wish to, with both of your collaborations, go back further and manipulate events so that the opposition wins the war."
Hermione stood up suddenly, not believing what she was hearing and not feeling in the slightest bit safe.
"Miss Granger, please. Hear me out." He could see she was afraid and she glanced nervously at the door.
"I merely want you to be with all the knowledge you can have at this time. Marching to your death on half the facts doesn't seem your style."
Slowly, Hermione sat back down. What can he do? She thought, shakily. He can't do anything to me whilst I'm in the castle.
"Thank you. As I was saying. I wish to change history so that the 'dark side' is victorious. I know to you that seems an abhorrent thing to say but there is so much more to this war than just black and white. The order winning does mean the end of our society. And our world. Not because 'half bloods' or muggleborns will attend hogwarts as the propaganda suggests, but because muggles will meet this new world with aggression. If we show ourselves to them on a wide scale, there will be a war to kick this scuffle between the Dark Lord and the Order into the dust. Muggles have always met change with war. Change, the unknown, the new. You must understand this?"
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, afraid she was being manipulated into agreeing with 'dark' views. However, Snape had a point. Muggles did meet all three of those things with aggression a lot, she had never thought of the situation turning nasty between muggles and the magical. She supposed she had been infantilising muggles to a point. They did, after all have weapons of mass destruction that witches and wizards could never comprehend- a protego wouldn't protect them all from being nuked.
She wetted her lips. "You can't know it'll go like that. It could go very well."
"The only way it would go well is if the muggle leaders realised that magic was a source of free, clean energy. We would be slaves at gun point."
Hermione shuddered to think.
"Then I'll tell McGonnagall. Anyone. I'll make sure that we don't put ourselves in that situation."
"Hermione it is too late for that. The Order is too caught up in its pride, its victory. At this rate, you only have a month at most to live and you still might see the start of this new war. I'm not asking you to decide now. All I want you to agree to is to let me try to convince you. I'll tell you everything you want to know about anyone you want to know. I'll tell you about the death eaters, about the real agendas, about the Dark Lord, my time with them. About Bella. You must be at least a little curious as to Bellatrix- to know the real person you very soul is reserved for?"
The prospect of unlimited knowledge about so many things she was admittedly very interested in was extremely tempting.
"Worst case, you spend your last month gaining knowledge you never would have otherwise known. Best case, you use it to save a lot of lives. All I'm asking is for you to allow me to try. If you don't want to hear any more then I will say no more about it." Snape put his hands flat on the desk and Hermione chewed her lip anxiously. On one hand her reasonable side was telling her this was an awful idea and that she should leave right now and forget about it. On the other hand, the images of Hogsmead post-nuclear bombing and the insanely annoying idea that she might be missing a lot of important information told her to let Snape try. All he could do was tell her everything she wanted to know, after all. She still didn't have to act on it.
"Okay, fine. You can try to convince me. But I want to know everything and the truth. Ive spent years on this war and we won. It's going to take a sickening amount of persuasion and facts to make me tamper with that."
Snape nodded deeply. "I understand, of course. The majority of the students have been sent home whilst the castle is being repaired. Apart from you there are only two other students, two second year hufflepuff sisters who lost the remainder of their family in the war and have nowhere else to go. Come and find me when ever you are ready." Hermione nodded and with a final good evening, left the office. She breathed deeply as she walked as quickly as she could away from the room and down the quickest route to get her outdoors. Once out on the grounds she sank to the grass and leaned her head back, unable to think clearly.
She couldn't believe what she had just agreed too. Was she seriously considering this? Even seriously considering considering this? Changing time completely? Was it even possible?
She lay back on the grass and stared up at the sky, thoughts running through her mind. Every so often, her left wrist would twinge and her thoughts would be drawn back to the dark witch that shared her mark.
Shes not all that bad. Snape's words drifted through her head for the 100th time since she had heard them. How could anyone thing that Bellatrix Lestrange, or Black, now, she supposed, was 'not that bad'?
After more than a few hours contemplation, Hermione found herself with more questions than she could cope with and, getting up, she shook herself off and made her way back into the castle to find Snape.