Chapter 4- Little Plans

They wound through the classroom directly into what she could only describe as tunnels through the walls, made of the same rough wrought stone that all of the dungeons had, but much more closed off and claustrophobic. Torches lit themselves and put themselves out as they passed by, the speed of which leaving blinding lines of light in front of her eyes in their wake. If they were going this route just to confuse and disorient her, it was working.

At last, they emerged through a door that promptly ceased to be once she'd crossed into the professor's living room, sealing itself into a sold undisturbed wall before her. Panicky though she was at the thought of one of her exits into the main castle being blocked off, Hermione whipped about to face Snape instead of pondering it any longer, panting a little.

"You'll need to get into shape" He commented once he had her attention. She flushed angrily, opening her mouth to retort, but he was already slipping away, crossing the floor to the kitchenette, waving his wand to begin preparing tea. She shut her mouth with an audible clack, and threw herself into the armchair she'd occupied only the night before, fuming silently.

"How am I supposed to get back into your rooms from the castle? Assuming you're not around to lead me through a maze of secret tunnels?" She asked him as soon as he began to approach her again, trying to cut straight to the point. She needed answers from him, the more the better.

Snape had stopped at about 20 feet away from the armchair, his lip curling unpleasantly as he looked at her. A dainty tea pot floated by his side, looking very out of place with a design of soft vines curled up along delicate cream. He held two cups.

"Out of my chair." It came out in a quiet hiss, menacing even in its lack of volume.

The tea pot continued floating unabated, and settled on the most Spartan looking coffee table she'd ever seen, but Snape himself did not move until she dragged herself out of the comfortable armchair and onto the decidedly less comfortable loveseat. The pieces of furniture did not match, she noted, and it wasn't hard to place the chair as a more recent addition, a luxury amid the plain and stern rooms. Snape wasted no time swooping into the seat, setting down the teacups almost forcibly on the table as he moved. He faced her head on, squaring off across the expanse of cheaply stained wood.

"After tomorrow it's very likely that you won't be leaving these rooms." He said it without preamble, without warning. The words landed like a punch to her gut.

"What do you mean?" she forced the words out, feeling herself half-choke on them as they made it past her lips.

"Power is about to shift in a variety of places. Hogwarts used to be a sanctuary, now it is not. A bid will be made, Miss Granger, and you and your little friends will be… highly sought after commodities."

"But how will we re-group if I'm here! Harry can't be seen entering and leaving the castle at will! It's a death sentence, broadcasting his location like that!" The words burst forth, made shrill by her panic.

"You are precisely right. Which is exactly why he won't be." Snape looked at her with no change of emotion, not even gloatingly. He just looked tired.

"That's not fair! He needs me!"

He didn't say anything at that, but poured himself some tea from the pot, sipped it slowly, and watched her.

The silence pressed upon her.

"He'll die! He'll do something stupid like charge off or get himself into something where he won't have the knowledge to deal and he'll die! "

"Then he will be saving us all an awful lot of time."

She couldn't believe him, sitting there smugly, drinking his tea, telling her it would be better off if Harry died.

"I- you-" she sputtered, feeling her magic and anger rise up as twin entities, her hands grasping ineffectually at her skirt, twisting it.

Something shifted as words failed her, although Snape's face remained infuriatingly neutral, he turned his gaze inwards towards his tea, and his voice seemed milder as he spoke.

"All of us will be doing our best to keep the three of you in contact, both as a group of handlers, and as the Order collectively. We are well aware that you work best as a team, Miss Granger. We are also well aware of Potter's reckless tendencies. Rest assured that Bill Weasley is not the type to allow him to just wander off, no matter how wild a streak he himself possesses."

"Now, are you ready to listen or do I have to wait for your supposedly formidable brain to catch up?"

"Yes, sir." She was dying to snap back, to not let his insults pass unchallenged, but he was giving her a lot of information that she desperately needed and she was loathe to stop him now.

"After this meeting, you will be returning to Gryffindor tower for the rest of the day, and staying there. Someone might notice if you're missing for another night. You will pack your things and appear as if you are leaving on the train after the funeral. You will join your friends for the proceedings, and you will be boarding the train to King's Cross Station. The younger students will likely need the prefects aboard, and there will be people watching you and Potter closely for your whereabouts. It is of the utmost importance that you are seen on that train."

He paused, and poured her a measured cup of tea, sending the now full china to rest directly in front of her. She picked it up, but ignored the contents.

"When you arrive at the station, you will join Auror Tonks. If all goes according to plan, you will lay low with her for a few hours before you are escorted to an Order meeting. If all does not go according to plan, you will be delivered directly back to these rooms instead. Your parents have already been notified not to—"

Here she felt forced to interject. "Actually sir if I could just talk to you about my parents for one second, I have a bit of a plan I'll need help with."

He raised an eyebrow, clearly displeased with her interruption.

"They won't be safe. With everything that's happened they'll need protection and—"

Snape dismissed her with a lazy wave of his hand. "We will send Order people to gather them up into hiding then. We've done it before and we'll do it again. Now if that's the end of your concern—"

"It's bloody well not and you'd know that if you'd let me finish! Sir!"

She ploughed ahead resolutely, not waiting for him to interrupt again. "Going to school with everything that's been going on has been difficult enough as it is. They don't even know that Voldemort is back, let alone that he's actively hunting muggleborns. They literally wouldn't have let me come back if they did. And they won't go willingly into hiding without me, which isn't an option, not really. I'd do it myself Professor, I was planning to even before I found out that my actions had been so severely restricted, but the only way I can know they'll be safe is to alter their memories before I send them into hiding."

Silence followed her laying out her plan, Snape betraying no outward reaction other then to continue staring at her. She had just began to fidget, trying not to say anything else in case another flood of words came out, continued to clutch at her china ineffectually, ignoring the tea within.

"Alright, Miss Granger. You will meet with me instead of Tonks at King's Cross."

"What?"

"You have informed me that you need to preform an illegal memory charm, using magic on muggles against their will. This is the sort of thing that Tonks would be unable to let you do, due both to her legal and moral obligations. I have less… shall we say, conflict, about the situation, and so will accompany you to your parents' house instead, and from there you will be escorted to the Order meeting as planned."

"You would do that?"

"You have left me little other choice." He said this so coldly that she formed no response, not even a thank you, until he continued on.

"At the Order meeting, we will do our best to determine what needs to be done to reach the end of this war. Minerva and I are in agreement; we need a fast end game now. We need to minimize loss of life and we need to all be on the same page collectively. This meeting will be about gathering as many of the missing pieces as possible, and executing them summarily."

Hermione was taken aback. Did he know about Horocruxes? Or was he speaking about pieces in general terms? She wasn't sure how much she should disclose. If he did know, he could be a great asset, and she'd have less trouble asking him for access to research materials. If he did not, she could risk betraying Dumbledore's entire plan. She finally took a sip of her tea, and was summarily surprised at the way it seemed to warm and buoy her. Part of her suspected it was not just regular tea. She decided to wait until the meeting before revealing all she knew.

"Alright sir."

"Still, separating the three of you this way does seem to have at least some merit to the Order. I will do my best to facilitate you meeting up together, but others want to follow the Headmaster's Will to the letter."

"I still think it's stupid." She muttered into her tea.

"Even the most unexpected outcomes can have their merits, especially when problem solving Miss Granger, surely you know that by now." She personally thought he was just playing devil's advocate at this point but knew better than vocalize it.

"I'll need to do some research. Will I have access to materials here?" she tried to keep her gaze from flickering to the bookshelves. He did have a fairly impressive collection.

"Within reason. If you allow me to know what exactly it is you're looking for then I may be able to procure books for you." He allowed, his voice mild. "I cannot believe I'm giving you an opening like this, but I'll ask it anyhow. Do you have any other immediate questions?"

"Nothing that can't wait. I'd like to return to my friends now." She finished her tea—it really was quite good and she'd not give up the remaining liquid— then pushed the delicate cup back towards him.

"You may go." He nodded curtly towards the Floo before proceeding to ignore her entirely, turning inwards on himself so completely it was like she'd never been there at all. Hermione hurried towards the comfort of the flames, turning away from the hollow-looking man as she went.

SSSSSS~

Tomorrow would be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to face and he knew he should be mentally preparing for it, but instead Snape fixated on all of the things he'd have to change if he was to have the girl living with him permanently. Certain books would have to be secured, wards would have to be modified. He would be inconvenienced at best, seriously uprooted at worst. Whole sections of his lab might have to be moved off-site if he was going to risk having her enter, and she might have to if an emergency came up while he was brewing. Still, it would be easier, and safer, to have her here with him than gallivanting about especially if a price came down on the heads of muggleborns the way he anticipated. He would accept his fate with a modicum of grace, though she would have to respect his rules.

It would have to be enough.