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

Mak is of course my beta; who is amazing.

Review please, it helps me get motivated to write…If I get at least 10 reviews I will very tempted to post Chapter Five tomorrow….

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Chapter Four

A Lost Prophecy

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Hermione had not told the Headmistress about finding her way into Professor Snape's rooms. For some reason she couldn't do it. Maybe it was because the former Headmaster had faith enough in her to burden her with this task. Or, maybe it was because she didn't think Snape was quite as guilty as he seemed. She felt horrible for lying to the Headmistress, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

Besides, she had already done the deed and she was currently on her way to Hogsmeade. During her walk she had plenty of time to think about what had happened during the day. Professor Snape's rooms had caught her a little by surprise. She could never imagine having such a poorly lit room. How could he do all that reading and research with no light. For that matter, how did he maintain good eyesight reading in that light? Shaking her head she stopped herself from thinking about that. Why does that matter anyways? She chastised herself for her silly thoughts.

She had more important things to consider during her walk. Who would have thought Severus Snape would have such remorse for what had happened? He never seemed to be someone who would care about his actions. He certainly never cared how he treated the Gryffindors in class. A Slytherin could get away with murder but a Gryffindor would practically be sent to the gallows for breathing incorrectly. No, what went on in the classroom was inconsequential to what was happening in the wizarding world. He was a spy. Hermione didn't know his exact role in the Order of the Phoenix but she could assume a few things. Passing information about the actions of the Death Eaters was most likely an important role. Spreading misinformation to Voldemort was probably just as important.

At the end of the summer she would push to be initiated into the Order. She was old enough, definitely mature enough, and she wanted to find out more about her Professor's role in the Order. Perhaps if she found out a bit more, she could get a more clear idea about what she was supposed to accomplish. Well, with or without the information from the Order, she was going to figure out what was going on. It was only a matter of time as far as Hermione was concerned.

Hermione had finally arrived in Hogsmeade and wasn't sure where to begin. She had never really gone "hiking" in the mountains around the village. Making her way into The Hogs Head, she decided on an early dinner. She had skipped lunch in her excitement and she didn't want to skip another meal, especially when she was about to go into the mountains to find a cave. Throughout her meal she thought about where she was going to start. During her fourth year, Harry had told her Sirius was hiding in a cave, but not the location. She couldn't exactly ask Harry about where Sirius had been without having to explain why she was asking. It would not go over well with Harry if he knew one of his best friends was trying to help the person he hated the most. Professor Snape might have even surpassed Voldemort on the most hated list.

Before she left, she asked one of the waitresses if she knew anything about the mountains. Apparently there was a little path at the end of town that led into the mountains. Well, that's probably the best place to start, she thought as she headed out the door and towards the edge of town. There was indeed a path at the edge of town. A little sign that was well worn pointed to the mountains. She would only have a little time to look around before it started to get dark. If she didn't find what she was looking for tonight she would have to come back tomorrow and continue her search. Striding confidently up the trail she headed into the mountains.

Half an hour later she was still wandering through the mountainous forest trying to find the cave. She almost gave up when she came to an overlook to her right. Looking down a little ways she saw an opening. That could be it! She tried to find a way down but nothing seemed plausible. Hermione thought about a broom, but she would have to go back to Hogwarts and get one. She could have conjured up some rope and climb down but that wouldn't work. There really was no safe way for her to get down there from her current location. Perhaps there is another way, she thought as she started to go back down the trail. She made her way around the mountain with ease before she was at the bottom of the valley. This time she was looking up at the hole. Perfect, there's no way to reach it from here either. She tried to look for a path up there but there was nothing.

The sun was setting and Hermione didn't know exactly what creatures roamed the mountains at night. She decided to go back to the school so she could develop a plan to get into the cave. She hoped that it was the correct cave. In her mind it had to be. It was the perfect hideout. No one could reach it by foot and Buckbeak could have easily flown in there.

Once she was back in the safety of the castle she once again made her way down to the dungeons. She wanted to look through the professor's books. Hermione had second thoughts about going through his personal things, but she knew he wouldn't be coming back and really she could always say she was doing it to look for more information. Hermione was absolutely enthralled with his book collection. There was a plethora of information and she couldn't wait to delve into it. She might as well take advantage of this since she might not get another chance. When it came to learning, she wouldn't hesitate to do so. Picking out about then books she set them on the coffee table in front of the lumpy couch and started a fire. She picked up the first book on the pile, a potions book from the sixteenth century that you could not buy anywhere in the world. It took her no time at all to get engrossed in the book, losing all sense of time. Eventually, she fell asleep on the chair with her finger stuck in the book, holding her place.

The next morning she woke with a jolt, forgetting where she was. It took a moment or two to remember she was in Snape's rooms. Rubbing her face with her hands she stood up and stretched, cracking her back in the process. Hermione went into the Great Hall and had breakfast before heading back to Hogsmeade. This time she came prepared; she was going to brave a broom to get up there. The hike took her no time at all. She decided she would rather fly up to the cave than down to it. Less scary. The flight up was little unnerving for Hermione but she got there unscathed. Landing a little uneasy, she stumbled off the broom and into the cave. It was gloomy and she had to cast Lumos to help her see through the darkness.

The first thing she did was walk around the cave to get oriented. Nothing stood out right away so she decided to look closely at the walls to see if there was anything written there. Not a thing. The bottom of the cave was the last thing she needed to search. Pointing her wand towards the ground she started to look around for anything out of the ordinary. At the very back of the cave she saw a rock that looked like it was recently moved to that spot; she could still see the tracks where it had been pushed. Using her wand, she banished the rock away and found a small hole the size of a Remembrall. The hole was dark and Hermione couldn't see what was at the bottom of it. "Accio," she said pointing at the hole. A small, dark orb flew into her hands. She turned it over in her hands, remembering where she had seen an orb, just like the one in her hands. It's a prophecy. Just like the ones in the Hall of Prophecy at the Department of Mysteries.

This one didn't glow like the one Harry had when he grabbed his prophecy; it was cold, dark, and extremely dirty. She knew the only way to hear the content was to destroy the orb. Hermione was a bit too paranoid to just destroy it in the cave where someone, though unlikely, could hear it. Stuffing the prophecy safely in her pocket she mounted her broom and took off, up to the cliff above her.

It was lunch by the time she made it back to the castle. Minerva had questioned her over lunch why she had gone to Hogsmeade again. Hermione had said she needed to look for a few things, which wasn't a lie, just a stretch of the truth. Throughout lunch she was constantly checking her pocket to make sure the prophecy was still safe. It wasn't like someone was going to walk by her and steal it.

Thankful that lunch was over, she made sure to chat with Minerva a few minutes longer than necessary, and quickly headed to her room. Once she locked her door, she let a long sigh of exhaustion pass before she secured her room with a silencing charm. Hermione sat on her bed and pulled out the prophecy, running the orb through her hands. She knew she had to break it and Hogwarts didn't have anyone around that would overhear it and tell Voldemort.

Without thinking about it one more time, she dropped it on the floor. The orb shattered into a thousand little pieces and a red fog lifted from the floor. The image of an old lady filled out the fog as she began to speak in a deadly serious tone.

From darkness with impending conation the dragon rises

A task he is set from the rising innominate

Compliance will mean the slaying of the beast

To remain in darkness is to choose the bitter fate

Volition his only saviour, aided by a doomed protector

Sinister obsidian will guide to an unlikely end

The one whose duty is to the chosen one

The image faded and Hermione was left to contemplate its meaning. Perfect. Something simple. As if things aren't complicated enough. Hermione's back fell to the mattress with a thump before she exhaled powerfully, blowing some errant strands out of her eyes. She stared at the ceiling for a while trying to begin the arduous task of figuring the prophecy out. This was nothing like deciphering Dumbledore's letter or Snape's missive. This was just chaos. She didn't have an inkling of where to begin. It was incredibly cryptic and the prophecy could apply to anyone. How am I supposed to know who this is about? It's insane. The only thing that makes sense is the chosen one, Harry, but other than that…Nothing. Albus Dumbledore why did you have to get me involved with this…this thing. I don't even know what this thing is! I shouldn't have gone looking around his chambers. This is the reason I didn't go with Harry and Ron; I wanted some time to collect my thoughts and figure out some things. Now, here I am, stuck in this mess. What mess, I don't know. Hermione continued with this train of thought for ten minutes before she wore herself out with thinking.

All she really wanted to do was nap; it would help her take a break from all the worrying she had been doing over this whole thing. Before she closed her eyes, she put the memory of the prophecy into a small pensieve that she had purchased in Diagon Alley before sixth year. Just to be extra careful she wrote down the prophecy on a piece of paper before sticking it in a book on her bedside table. Once her mind was somewhat at ease over the whole thing she snuggled under her covers and fell asleep hoping that her nap would give her a little boost of energy.

Hermione slept for five hours that afternoon. Looking at her clock she realized she missed dinner. Great another thing I will have to explain to McGonagall. For some reason, ever since Dumbledore's death, Minerva had been hounding almost everyone just to make sure they were alright and alive. Hermione had become her target recently, especially since she was staying at Hogwarts. It bothered her a great deal to always have to tell the old biddy her whereabouts but she would indulge the Headmistress.

Feeling a little refreshed, she walked down to the kitchens and grabbed a quick bite to eat. The whole time she replayed the prophecy over and over in her head. Still, the only thing that made any sense was Harry being the "chosen one." Hermione debated telling someone about the prophecy, but she really couldn't think of anyone who would be of much help. Harry and Ron didn't have the time for it and any adult in the Order would probably just dismiss her. Hmm, what about Ginny? She could help me. I can trust her and I know she won't write me off. Should I tell her? How much should I tell her? Oh hell!

Hermione was getting more frustrated than she had ever been in her life. There wasn't a book that could help her with this and she didn't have anyone to turn to; other than Ginny who was still an undecided option. Alright! I just can't think on this anymore tonight. I need a distraction. Perhaps a trip to Grimmauld Place would help to take this off my mind. Ginny will be there so maybe I can talk to her. Yes, that's it. I will just take the night off, go visit Ginny and then start fresh tomorrow.

And that's just what Hermione did; she told the Headmistress where she was going and apparated to the Black house. It was refreshing to be around the Weasley's again. She had missed them in the short time since she had seen them last. They did wonders on distracting one from troubling thoughts. It was all she could do to keep track of their conversations over the kitchen table. Towards the end of the night she felt exhausted and decided to stay the night. Ginny had been very excited to see her and was anxious to hear all about what she had done for the new Headmistress. It was difficult to tell her everything because really she hadn't done much; especially since she found the letter in Dumbledore's office.

Hermione fell asleep on the bed beside Ginny's a little before midnight. Sleep overtook her quickly and she didn't wake again until ten the next morning. By then, most of the Weasley's had gone to work, leaving Mrs. Weasley and Ginny to go about their business. After a quick meal, Hermione found Ginny in the Black library reading a large tome about the Dark Arts.

"What are you reading?" Hermione asked as she sat down beside Ginny on the couch.

"Just a little book I picked up about the Dark Arts. You can never be too prepared. Constant vigilance you know…" she said as she continued to read.

Hermione nodded her head and settled into the couch. She opened up a notebook and rewrote the prophecy again. After thinking about it she figured the best way to solve this problem was to take it one word at a time. It would take a while, but she knew she would eventually figure it out. Reading the first line she wrote down

Dragon – person

Innominate – define

She continued in this manner, writing down words she knew and could probably guess and words she would need to look up. Once she defined the words that she needed a few things started to make sense. From what she had she could assume a few things. "Rising innominate," or rising unnamed, could be He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Lord Voldemort. That helped her out immensely because now she knew what topic she was dealing with. She figured that the "Dragon", must be stopped from the darkness because he had a duty to "the chosen one." So, this person, Person A, comes from the darkness, but he is stopped by someone, Person B, so he can help Harry. Wow. "Sinister obsidian," is described as sinister obsidian and is the "doomed protector." Hmmm, very interesting. Now what?

She was farther along than she was an hour ago and she felt somewhat better knowing she was headed somewhere with all this. Taking a break from the work she decided to head back to Hogwarts to see if she could help the Headmistress with anything.

To her delight, the Headmistress was tied up in a meeting with Minister of Magic Scrimgeor. Taking the opportunity to return back to the dungeons she entered Snape's rooms and perused his bookcases. A few of the bookcases had little drawers on the bottom to store books. Opening one of them, she found stacks of composition notebooks; the compartment was full of them. There wasn't an inch of space left. She pulled out one and the title read:

First Year

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Book 5
Severus Snape

She opened the book and each page was filled with black ink. There was one curse per page and everything possible about it was written down. Proper pronunciation, wand movement, the word broken down into Latin, how to defend against it, and possible counter-curses; everything imaginable was on that page. It was hard to read some of it because around the edges of the paper things were written smaller and words were smeared or abbreviated. The whole book was like the first page, and it didn't stop. She set it down on the floor and picked up the next composition notebook, which was Book 6. She was enthralled at the detail he put into all of his work. In first year! The compartment was all from first year. Smirking to herself, she realized there were no books on Divination.

The next six compartments were filled with notebooks from each of his years at Hogwarts. I could simply study all of these and I would be ready to take the N.E.W.T.'s. How did he have the time to finish all of this? The next two compartments were all about his research in Potions marked from 1976-1979. Hermione didn't know why there was this much research in those three years but found an interesting passage in one of the books about a "Master X." Snape also referred to an apprenticeship. He must have been an apprentice. But where? And who?

As the books continued on, there was an increased scattering of Russian. Towards the end the books were all written in Russian. Perhaps he had an apprenticeship in Russia. I didn't even know you could do that? I need to do some research on apprenticeships. I could definitely use the information.

Hermione took a while longer to read though some of his journals and research during his years in Russia, or at least that's what she called it. There was so much more to Severus Snape than she ever could have imagined. His image, in her mind, had changed significantly over the past couple of days. What would she think of him when she saw him again? If she ever did.

The next cabinets were again full of notebooks filled with journal entries and research. It was difficult for her to read them because she thought it was an invasion of his privacy. If he ever found out she read them he would probably kill her. Well, there was nothing he could really do about it now, so she read just a little bit about his research. He had dabbled in every area of the subject. Hermione was shocked that the meanest professor Hogwarts had ever seen was such an academic. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, he is a Potions Master after all. He had to get there somehow. But the image of him researching and trying to find cures for the ill were hard to grapple with.

Hermione was so into reading the notebooks she lost track of time and before she knew it, it was eleven o'clock. She stacked the books on the desk and sat down. Opening the centre drawer she found quills, and to her surprise, ink pens. The presence of ink pens was a bit of a jolt, but she scolded herself because she knew he was a half-blood. It wasn't the first time she had assumed incorrectly about him and she was sure it wasn't going to be the last time.

Hermione looked in the drawer moving pens, quills, and other miscellaneous items around, just looking to see what else the professor had up his sleeves. She reached for the back but felt something rub against the top of her hand. A piece of paper was stuck to the top of the drawer. Carefully pulling it from its location, she read it, noticing the writing was not Snape's. The paper simply read: Hufflepuff cup Location: Stonehenge.

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Many thanks to Becca for basically writing the prophecy. The idea was mine but the wording was all hers.