Disclaimer: I obviously don't own it. It's all for fun.

Mak is of course my beta; who is amazing.

Please review and let me know what you think. The chapters should be coming pretty fast because I need to get this story done by November 3rd. So please, tell me what you think of each chapter. I would really appreciate it.

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Chapter Three

In the Snake's Lair

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Hermione sat on the worn couch rubbing her hands on the leather. It was well worn and in places ripped with the insides slightly poking out. In fact, the black leather didn't look black, but gray. She moved around trying to get comfortable, but, she couldn't. Her options were to sit in the valley where her bum was in contact with the wooden frame or the huge uncomfortable lump to her right. It was just too much for her to take and she jumped up disgusted that she couldn't find a comfortable seat to reflect.

It was then that she took a closer look at the dwelling of one Severus Snape. It was a dark and dreary room and the only light, other than the fire place, came from wall sconces with candles that never burned out. The remaining areas of the walls were lined with books. The books were in order and there didn't seem to be a gap of space anywhere for anything else. The furniture was all black; she didn't expect anything less really. Where the couch was worn and uncomfortable, a wingback chair to the right was very inviting. It looked well taken care of and there was no trace of a lump anywhere on the seat or the padding for the back. Looking down, she was standing on a Turkish rug with an intricate pattern of black, green, red, dark blue and violet colors. In the corner of the room, there was a mahogany desk with claw feet that looked just as worn as the couch. All the items on the desk seemed to be placed with precision, but there were a group of papers that seemed to be lying haphazardly on the desk.

The feel of the room was uninviting, cold even. He must not have done much entertaining, she thought idly as she started to walk around the room, looking at as many books as she could. There was a wide variety of books, ranging from Potions to Defense Against the Dark Arts to even Muggle literature. There was a whole bookshelf dedicated to Muggle literature. She was simultaneously shocked and unsurprised. Two conflicting emotions for the young Gryffindor, but they were still there in the forefront of her mind. She knew he was a half-blood so it wouldn't be amiss for him to have books written by Muggles. However, even with his lineage taken into consideration, he never seemed anything less than a pureblood.

Looking at the Muggle books they were just as varied as the Magical books. It seemed he read everything. She noticed that "The Canterbury Tales" was well worn and almost looked to be over a hundred years old. Hermione was itching to take the book out and check out which edition it was, but there was a feeling in the bottom of her stomach that told her it would not be in her best interest to take the book. On one of the upper shelves she noticed a small space. She wrinkled her brows in contemplation and looked at the books on either side of the gap. The titles were in Russian and the last name of the author was the same. Looking down at the book in her hand she found that the last name on the book in her hand was the same as the authors surrounding the space. Dostoevsky, she said smartly in her mind. Why was his book in the library? Was this a ploy by Dumbledore and Snape? If so, what's the significance of this book? Just to give me a clue to the password? There has to be more to it than that.

Hermione decided to keep the book with her instead of putting it back. It might be useful in the future. It took her another ten minutes to walk around the room and when she finally got back to the other side of the fireplace; she realized there were no other doors in the room. She walked back to the desk to take a closer look. Her vision had not failed her, and her first impression of the desk was correct. The papers were written in a combination of Russian and English with the distinct writing style of her Potions Professor.

"How does he know Russian?" she said allowed to herself in a hushed voice, as if someone would overhear her. She carefully picked up a few of the parchments, turning them in every direction to try and see if she could make sense of them. There were a few English words that she could read. His handwriting is deplorable! How did he make it through Hogwarts with writing like this? It's chicken scratch!

Giving up on trying to figure out what he was trying to do, she neatly arranged them and laid them on the center of the desk. Shouldn't there be a door to lead to his bedroom? His office? Something?

It didn't make sense to her and she had no idea where to go next. What good was a room with no other doors? She took a deep breath trying to relax herself before she got overworked on emotions. It wouldn't help her situation and she knew it. Sighing loudly she said aloud, "Alright, Severus Snape, what am I supposed to do now?" Her eyes widened as she realized what she just said. She had just said her professor's first name! Oh. My. God. She looked around quickly, just to make sure no one overheard her. It was silly of her, she knew, but still…

Rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, she started to think logically about the situation. There obviously has to be more than this to his rooms. There's no way he sleeps on that horrid couch. The desk might help, but not now. Maybe. Oh bugger! Looking around the room, all she saw were books. There has to be some help here.

She started walking back along the bookcases. She was on the left side of the desk looking at a section on Magical Theory. The book, Non-Verbal Espionage Techniques, was sticking out slightly more than the rest. Thinking that it looked odd, she decided to push it back so it was even with the rest of the books. She pushed as hard as she could, but, the book wouldn't budge. She took it out to see if there was something behind it that was making it stick. However, before she could see if there was anything on the back of the wall, the whole case suddenly jerked forward and slid to the left, over the other bookshelf.

Wow! Someone's full of surprises. The empty space before her lead into another room, just as dark as the one she was currently standing in. The room was dimly lit, with the same sconces and candles, but the room was distinctly different. There was a king sized canopy bedroom to her right, set against the wall. It was covered with a dark green comforter and it looked rather inviting. The only other furniture in the room was an armoire made of cherry. This is definitely not the room I need to be in! Turning around quickly she left the room and the bookshelf moved back into place.

Since that was clearly not the correct room she decided to continue browsing to see if anything else jumped out at her. She deduced that since the bookshelf moved to reveal his bedroom, then another book would lead her to another room; hopefully an important room.

Again, once she passed "The Canterbury Tales" the feeling in her stomach rose again. Hmm, she thought as she ran a hand over the worn cover. Taking it out slowly, she eased it gently out of its tight position. As soon as it was fully out of the hole; the bookshelf moved forward again, but this time covering the bookshelf to its right.

There was a large black hole in front of Hermione. It was scary and it reminded her of Professor Snape's black eyes. It had similar qualities too; it was dark, cold and seemingly endless, just like his eyes. "Lumos," she said in her mind, as she took her first step forward. Stepping inside the tunnel, the wall closed behind her and she jumped in surprise when a sconce holding a candle lit up beside her. Glaring at the candle she took a moment to regain control of her breathing before continuing on. Once she passed the glowing light from the candle another one glowed to life to continue lighting the way for her.

She followed the narrow and damp passageway for a little while noting that she seemed to be going deeper into the dungeons. Just when she thought the passageway would never end, it did. She passed the last sconce and the wall directly ahead of her moved open to reveal another room. The light was unexpected and she had to squint her eyes because of it. Blinking rapidly a few times to stop the tears from falling she turned around to see a huge portrait of Salazar Slytherin staring down at her.

"And who might you be?" the green clad Slytherin sneered down at her.

"Hermione Granger, sir," she said confidently.

"What are you doing in the Head of House's office? School has ceased to be in session…" he trailed off.

"I'm looking for something," she said as she started to turn around.

"So you broke in to steal something! And don't turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!" the founding father said irritably.

Hermione turned around and put her hands on her hips saying smartly, "I was sent here by Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape to look for something. Also, you are merely a portrait; so please, leave me be."

Salazar looked aghast at the young witch standing before him. How dare she! That little…she has some nerve. "Why you ungrateful little chit! How dare you speak that way to me! If I weren't in this portrait I would send you for punishment further down in the dungeons!"

"Well, it's lucky for me you are in the portrait! Now, if you don't mind." Hermione really was in no mood to be messed with. The more time went on the more she wanted to know what was going on. Even though this was Salazar Slytherin it didn't matter at this moment.

He continued to rant on and off; making smart comments under his breath that might have cut the fight right out of a first year Hufflepuff. Hermione ignored him completely. After having been caught between Harry and Ron in a fight over Quidditch she was able to quickly drown out unwanted noise.

The Professor's office was a typical office, she knew it rather well. She was aware of the office being dimly lit; she had made the mistake of thinking it was actually bright, but she had walked out of a dark tunnel. Opposite from the wall with Salazar Slytherin on it was his dark mahogany desk. In front of the large desk were two small uncomfortable chairs. She knew first hand how uncomfortable they could be; she had gone to the professor many times throughout her career as a student and it was not fun to be sitting in that chair with him glaring down at you. Downright frightening, she said to herself thinking back on a few instances in particular. The fireplace to her left had embers in it that had been burnt within the past couple of weeks. Not since he left. The lack of fire made the place even chillier.

Hermione didn't need to look at the walls, she knew what was held on them; glass jars filled will all sorts of animal parts that should never be on display. In her earlier years it was hard to stomach. Now, it was as if there was nothing on the walls but wall paper. In the corner of the room, between the fireplace and his desk, lay the infamous cupboard. She had stolen items out of it for the Polyjuice Potion in her second year. It had been a scary circumstance, but she had accomplished her goal.

For the first time in her life she was standing behind the desk of the most feared professor in Hogwarts. On the upper left corner of the desk was every book used by each year, stacked unevenly and out of order. On the right corner of the desk was a quill holder and three jars of red ink. How much of that stuff does he go through in one day? In front of the ink were stacks of parchments she assumed were written by students. A paperweight of a snake set to strike was in between the books and the quill holder. In the center of a desk was a discarded quill with dried ink on it. Several drops of dried black ink seemed to have been spilled, running from the surface down the side of the desk. She narrowed her eyes at the ink drops and let her gaze follow them down to the floor, where she discovered a broken glass jar surrounded by a puddle of dried ink. She knelt down and reached for the broken glass, but jerked her hand back as a shard of glass grazed her finger and sliced it open. Wincing in pain, she carefully inspected the wound to see how deep the cut was. Letting her eyes go a little out of focus she noticed a piece of parchment sticking out from under the desk. Abandoning her concern over a small, inconsequential cut, she reached out and gently tugged on the parchment, freeing it from its position under the desk. Taking a moment to shake some of the wrinkles out of it she stood up to get a better look at it. It was tri-folded piece of parchment and she wasn't sure what to make of it. It looked like nothing of consequence, but it was near the broken ink…Debating internally for a few minutes she decided she would look at see what the contents held. Pulling the chair up to the desk she sat down and unfolded the paper carefully.

There comes a point in a man's life where he has to make life altering decisions. Unfortunately for me, it came sooner than I expected. I know my life is forfeit; hopefully this will leave a brighter future for the world once this war is over. The tide is turning, I know this first hand. Dark times are here, but things are not going to get darker.

Hermione stopped reading, in shock, that this was written by her Potions Professor. The ink was grayer and after comparing it to the following paragraph she deduced that the first paragraph had been written some time before the second paragraph. Where the first paragraph was written as neatly as possible, the second paragraph was written in haste.

I regret what I am about to do, but I have no choice. Clues to quicken the end of the war can be found in a hole once occupied by a mutt and a feather duster. I'm so

The last word was not complete and there was a line of ink trailing off from the o. Hermione tried to imagine what had gone through Professor Snape's mind as he started writing what she had just read. It must have been difficult to write. This doesn't seem like Professor Snape, though. Ok, ok, ok. Think it through, Hermione. Alright, so he obviously wrote the first part earlier. The second part had to be written the night Dumbledore was murdered. From the look of the last almost sentence, it seems he might have been interrupted…by Professor Flitwick, perhaps? Right before the snake hexed the man no doubt. Makes sense. Now, as for the 'clues to quicken the end of the war'… Hermione sat and contemplated the letter. She cleared her mind and concentrated solely on the contents of the letter. A hole once occupied by a mutt and a feather duster…a hole…occupied…mutt…feather duster….a hole…mutt…mutt…dog? A dog. Sirius! So the mutt is Sirius. Feather duster? Sirius and a feather duster. Sirius and a…oh wait! A hole! The cave! Buckbeak! The cave where Sirius and Buckbeak hid during our fourth year! That has to be it! Oh, where was it? Where was it? Um…Hogsmeade! The mountains overlooking Hogsmeade! What am I supposed to find there? I need more information! There has to be more than this!

Hermione had kept a calm mind while figuring out the letter but towards the end her thinking became erratic and desperate. She needed more information. Flipping over the paper she hoped to find some more writing, but she knew there was nothing else written there. With frantic thoughts running through her mind she started to rummage through the papers on the top of the desk. There was nothing but second year potions essays. She tried the top drawer on her right next, still nothing; just extra quills and red ink in one drawer and old pieces of parchments in the bottom drawer. She started to look through them when she ran across a familiar looking essay, one from fifth year on the Confusing and Befuddlement Draught. He said he lost it! It's been right here the whole time. How could he have missed it? The GIT!

When she had written the essay, she felt confident beyond imagination that she would be given nothing lower than an Outstanding. When he handed the essays back, she had not received hers. After class, she asked him about it. He simply stood against his lectern and sneered down his big nose at her. "Perhaps it slipped out of my hands on the way to class. You could always check the floors in the dungeons if you must." Hermione had tried to get her grade out of him but he claimed he didn't remember.

Re-reading her essay she saw he had underlined all of her main points that seemed plausible. There were of course corrections, she had never gotten all perfect marks in Potions, still there weren't many. She had written about the ingredients used in the Confusing and Befuddlement Draught and their effects on the body. Taking it one step further, and two feet longer than required, she proposed a way to use the three main ingredients in the Potion, sneezewort, scurvy-grass, and lovage, to reverse the effects of the potion. If these three ingredients could help the body recover, then maybe they could aide in helping patients who have brain damage. It could change the medical world if research was done! To her utter surprise, he agreed! He even commented that it would be a great research study. Oh. My. God! He was going to use my ideas and take the credit! He better hope Harry gets to him before me! Stealing my ideas! I never!

Taking the note and her essay she left the office to go back to his rooms. She walked quickly past Salazar Slytherin, ignoring his last remarks about how disrespectful teenagers were. Idiot, she said to herself as she walked quickly down the hallway. One last look at his rooms then a little trip to Hogsmeade is in order, she said as the bookcase closed behind her.