A/N: Hey! Thank you all SO much for reading and for all your reviews! Sorry this update took a while, but the holidays and exams always get away from me. The next chapter should be out by next week, so you won't have to wait too long. Please leave a review to let me know what you think - they mean so much to me!

Enjoy.

"You apparated?" Snape burst out.

Hermione had woken once again in the Hospital Wing. Her skin was tender and stung in the same way it did had when she got a terrible sun burn two years ago while vacation with her parents. Professor Snape and Dumbledore had been hovering beside her bed, stoney-faced and wary when Hermione had woken, as though she had walked in on an important conversation. When she fully regained consciousness, neither man had hesitated to begin questioning her.

Dumbledore was calm and patient in his queries, but of course the Potions Master wasn't.

"No! I tried to, but it didn't work —" Hermione replied defensively.

"Of course it didn't work, foolish girl. You need magic to apprarate," Snape hissed back.

"I know that!" Hermione was shocked at the fury in his gaze. She knew she had been reckless and thoughtless, but she couldn't understand his level of anger at her actions.

"Continue, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, placidly.

"After it failed I was upset so I just started walking. The fresh air did help, honestly. As I walked — well I thought I saw something, just at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest—" Hermione continued.

"Let me guess, you saw a baby chipmunk you wanted to nurse it back to health." Snape hissed.

"No." Hermione bit out, then more softly she added, "I. . . I thought I saw my parents."

There was a collective intake of breath throughout the room.

"Your parents?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Yes, well no, well. . . I don't know. I mean I saw them, only it wasn't them. The closer I got, the farther they seemed to be. And when I finally got close, they weren't real at all. I'm not sure what they were. They were really just pictures, but they're edges were blurry and they began to fade. I only remember something cold coming over me, and then I don't remember anything else." Hermione hadn't meant to say all that she did, but it was too late to take it back.

"You do not remember seeing any other forms? Anything else that might explain what happened to you?

Hermione thought hard. Nausea came over her in a wave at the memories, but nothing revealed itself.

The pain on her face and the well of silent tears was answer enough to the two professors.

The room was silent and still. Hermione tried not to let her mind linger on the memories of her parents or the cold or the pain, but to no avail.

"Severus, if I might have a word with Miss Granger? Alone."

Hermione watched as Snape's body tensed and his eyes flared in anger. She was sure he would explode and refuse to heed the Headmaster's orders, but to her surprise he turned sharply and left in a billow of robes and anger.

"Miss Granger, the events of the past few days have been atrocious. It is deeply unfortunate that you have been forced to endure them, and it saddens me even more that I must ask you to continue to face down horrors."

Dumbledore's words were soft and his eyes were kind. Something pricked and tingled in the back of her mind. It was an unsettling feeling, as though she was being tricked.

"Sir, what will happen without my magic?"

"That is precisely what I wish to discuss, Miss Granger. You see, I must ask you to fight for your magical powers, to determine yourself to repossess them. At any cost."

An understanding of Dumbledore's words washed over Hermione and settled like angry flies in her stomach.

"You wish me to take part in the Binding Ceremony?" Hermione's voice was breathless, chocked.

Dumbledore did not reply to her question, but the sympathetic look he gave her said it all.

Hermione felt her body sink heavier into her bed. The hole that developed inside her earlier seemed to open it hungry mouth once more.

"You of all people should understand the precarious position that Severus Snape is in. He walks a very thin line between light and dark. One could say he serves two masters," Dumbledore said, and at the sound of Snape's name Hermione fought back rising hatred once more. "And you of all people should know, Miss Granger, where Severus' true loyalty lies."

Hermione barely nodded, her chest flaring in pain.

"The darkness is rising, Miss Granger, and I daresay that in the coming year it will rise to heights that seem incomprehensible to us now," Dumbledore's voice was stern but his face was lined. Did he always look this old? "It will be important to Tom that he feels he has secured Severus' loyalty once and for all."

Hermione felt her stomach twist itself into knots at the Tom Dumbledore referred to. The name was too human, to pure. Not at all fitting of the monster she'd encountered.

"Pardon me, sir, but what does my magic have to do with Professor Snape's loyalty?" Hermione wanted nothing more than a straight answer. Dumbledore gave her a long measuring look that seemed to age him before her very eyes.

"This coming year will test Severus. For the good of our world, Severus will be forced to abandon his farce of servitude. He will need to secure his place in Tom Riddle's ranks," Hermione did not understand how Snape would have to prove his loyalty as a Death Eater for the good of the cause, but she listened carefully to the Headmaster's words. She felt as though she had been granted access to some great secret.

"I must ask too much of you, Miss Granger, though I hope you will be willing to take on the challenge."

"I'll do it." As soon as the words were out, Hermione felt something, something that had lived inside her for so long, leave her.

"It is my hope, and my remorseful request, that you help to secure and fight to defend Severus' place in the light. The coming year will bring many trials, and when it is all said and done, I believe Severus should be allowed a chance at a normal life. A happy life."

"And how exactly am I to do that, sir?"

"I ask you to Bind yourself to Severus and for the two of you to work to strengthen that Bond. You must understand that he will be greatly tested, and that his loyalty must be believed to lay in the dark. However, if all goes well, after Tom is dead, it will be your duty to convince the Wizarding World that Severus Snape is truly a part of the light . . . whatever that may entail."

The sound of the doors to the Infirmary crashing open cleaned the look of secrecy off Dumbledore's face. Both Hermione and Dumbledore turned sharply to the source of the sound.

Snape had thrown open the doors and was hurtling toward them in a ripple of dark robes.

"I thought I asked to speak to Miss Granger alone, Severus."

"This is fucking ridiculous, Albus. We need to spend our time searching for alternate courses of action, not wasting our time trying to tame the whims of a sixteen year old girl to a cause beyond her means." Snape spat out.

"Severus!" Dumbledore admonished him and Hermione felt angry heat flush her cheeks.

"If I decide to do this, it won't be because you bullied me into it," Hermione said. At the look of shock that flitted through her professor's dark eyes, Hermione realized the weight of her own words. She dropped her head to look down at her hands folded in her lap, but not before glancing at the Headmaster and noticing his smirk.

"If I want my magic back, I must be Bound?" Hermione asked, and Dumbledore nodded, "And I will use that Binding to convince the Wizarding World, in whatever way possible, of his innocence?"

"There's no question of my innocence, Miss Granger, only my loyalty." Snape hissed, the ice in his voice sending chills down her spine,"Gryffindors, they're never as brave as they claim to be, especially if it doesn't serve them".

"Severus." Dumbledore admonished firmly once again, then turned to Hermione, "This is an immense decision."

Hermione was silent while considering the proposition. She couldn't help but picturing the small, scrawny eleven year old boy from the files. He was so helpless and desperate to prove himself- a feeling Hermione understood all too well. Merlin only knows how many mistakes he's made, but he's truly on our side now.

Right?

"How long do I have to decide?"

A shadow came over both Dumbledore and Snape's face. "Without magic, these wounds will take days to heal, and beyond that— I would expect you have about five days before more serious side effects of your missing powers will begin to appear."

Hermione didn't want to know what those side effects were. She stared down at her hands, caked in dirt, and at the bandages wrapped around her chest and middle. Each breath sent flares of pain down her center, but Hermione barely felt them.

"I'll do it," Hermione repeated much less confidently than she had before.

Both Professor and Headmaster set scrutinizing gazes on her.

"Are you certain, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked quietly. Hermione looked up into his compassionate blue eyes, and then turned to her Professor. His head was hung low, his dark hair covering his face.

"Yes, I'll do it." Hermione took a deep breath, ignoring the pain. "Can I have a few days, just to regroup?"

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled with sadness and sympathy, it was overwhelming. "Of course Miss Granger, the Binding Ceremony takes some time to prepare."

Hermione nodded. Snape still had yet to raise his head, to give any indication of his reaction at her decision. Though, perhaps that was a reaction in an of itself for the brooding Potions Master.

Hermione heard the rustle and shuffling as both Headmaster and Professor left, but she forgot their parting words as soon as they were spoken. The hole inside her had grown, so large she wasn't sure that her magic wouldn't just slide right out of her when she gained it back.

The Hospital Wing was silent and still. Hermione didn't remember going to sleep.

Dumbledore decided the Binding Ceremony would not take place until after dinner on Saturday.

It was Wednesday.

Hermione was dismissed from the Infirmary, after thorough inspection from Madame Pomfrey, and wasted no time in retreating to her Tower. She was lost in thought as she climbed the stairs to her room, wincing at the lingering pain in her side and chest. Hermione did not notice she was not alone in the room until it was too late.

She saw the streak of movement before she felt a weight settle on her chest, hard and firm and painful with her injuries. Hermione let out a shriek and tripped over the foot of her bed while trying to escape the embrace of her attacker. She landed, sprawled on her back with her eyes closed bracing herself for another attack, when she felt something slick and firm on her face. Opening her eyes and fighting back a gasp of pain, she was met with an unamused gaze from a pair of yellow eyes.

"Crookshanks!" She cried, too loudly. Hermione pulled her pet tighter to her and buried her nose in his ginger fur.

"How did you get here?" Hermione asked, half expecting an answer. Her cat had always demonstrated an unnatural knowingness and keenness for magic. As surprised as she was for seeing him here, she wasn't. McGonagall must have brought him, surely she's gone to my parents and gave them some sort of explanation.

At the first thought of her parents, Hermione couldn't stop the tumble of memories that followed in its wake. Summer vacations exploring new places together, her mum cooking breakfast while her dad worked in the garden, Christmas mornings in their matching pajamas. The pair standing at the edge of the forrest. The cold —

The thought of her family put a sharp pain in Hermione's chest, that was not from the curse, and her throat tightened. I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry. Hermione repeated like a prayer, It's only a few months until Christmas break, I'll see them them.

Hermione could barely stave off the storm clouds of fear and hesitation as she considered the Ceremony and all it entailed. Dumbledore had yet to fully explain the process, only that it was invasive in more ways than one. Ways that Hermione had yet to experience. Her face flushed as she considered the intimacy that would be required between her and her professor.

The Potions Master had always held a certain prominent role in her thoughts. He was the one professor who didn't appreciate her natural abilities and desperate pursuit of knowledge as her others did, in fact, he openly sneered at her attempts to please him or win his approval. But it only made it try harder. At some point, her feelings toward the Potions professor, while never fond, grew into a respect. He'd risked his lives, countless times, for his students -for them- and lived a quite, although resentful, existence devoted to one of the most subtle forms of magic. His wild moods, cutting remarks and seemingly impossible approval made him all the more interesting to Hermione.

But as she considered the thought of what was soon to be required of them, HErmione's chest grew tight and throbbed dully. How could she ever climb into bed with her professor? Of course, she would do it if it means retrieving her magic, but it went against everything she stood for. Everything she valued- the integrity of knowledge above all else.

Trying her best to stave off anymore thoughts, Hermione climbed onto her bed with Crookshanks. She wanted desperately to read, she'd even read about Quidditch if it meant relieving her mind of the painful loop of memory and loss and pain it played again and again.

Instead, she held her familiar more tightly to her and stared out the Tower's window until sleep claimed her

"She is a liability," Severus hissed out at the Headmaster who sat calmly at his desk. The Binding Ceremony was to take place in three days and Severus' anger and nerves were rising with each passing moment.

"She has proven her strength time and time again, I have no doubt she can be trusted." Dumbledore replied, firmly but quietly.

"I'm not doubting her strength," Severus spit out, "I'm doubting the fact that a sixteen year old student will be forced into a position of deception and duality."

"Seventeen," Dumbledore corrected, then at the look of angry confusion on the younger man's face, Dumbledore explained, "From her extended use of a time-turner, Miss Granger is seventeen now. Eighteen in September."

Severus swore under his breath.

"This will not be the first time someone so young has been forced to walk the line between light and dark," Dumbledore spoke softly, "And I have no doubt that under your guidance, she will walk with the same nimbleness that you do. Her encounter in the forrest is troubling though, it will take some looking into. "

Severus only scowled harder, but Dumbledore, having known the man for so long, could read the anxiety - and possibly fear - in the lines of the Potions Master's face.

"We must have hope, Severus. This is the best option for the both of you."

"The best option?" Severus roared, his anger coming to a peak, "How do you suppose the best option for her is being Bound to a man who will betray the Wizarding World? Or have you forgotten, Oh wise one, of your escapades with horcruxes and what you require of me? I will be killed before this war ends."

"We don't know—"

"We do, Albus! We both know I won't live through this war. If he doesn't get me than your bloody Gryffindor's will," Severus replied, looking both exhausted and infuriated.

"That is why the Binding is the best option," Dumbledore spoke softly, "Because the girl is your chance to live. If Harry is successful, it will be because of the skill and knowledge of Granger and her word will not be doubted by a wizard anywhere. She will provide you with an opportunity at the life you should have lived, the life you would have had if it wasn't stolen from you."

Severus strode to the window and stared out across the grounds, tinted by the setting sun.

"It wasn't stolen," Severus said, his voice stiff and low, "I sold it."

Dumbledore was silent and the weight of it settled over Severus, smothering and chocking. "She knows what is being asked of her, the same as you did."

"The Dark Lord will expect her to be of use to him. She will need to contribute information, about the boy."

"She will need to learn occlumency, I've no doubt you've already considered that, but you can teach her to reveal only what Tom wants to see. It should give you two time to work together, to grow the Bond."

Severus pushed back a shudder. "And how will it effect my magic, the Bond?"

"Only time will tell. As of now, your magic is unsteady, too much to be controlled. After the ceremony, the two of you will need to work out and adjust to the requirements of the Bond. It will be invasive, the mental connection alone will be enough of a change, but this ceremony is old, not much is written on it. Perhaps it will be that you two both draw your magic from one source, however, it could mean that the source, however plentiful, will be tethered to only you, Severus, and she must draw her powers from that. Until the Ceremony is complete, we can only guess the effects."

"And the other…changes. How often must the ties of the Bond be renewed?" Severus' question was barely more than a whisper. He turned in time to see the Headmaster's gaze flicker and dim.

"Not much is recorded, but depending on how frequently, and to what magnitude, Hermione uses her power will determine the frequency of the renewals. During the school year, some weeks may require more of her power, and depending on whether or not she has natural occluding abilities, any extra lessons she takes, I would expect her powers to drain every 3 weeks. But that could change as well."

"And what of the girl's parents, do we tell her the truth?"

Dumbledore sighed, long and warily. "Not until she can hid it. When the time comes, show her first the altered memories."

Severus's hands were shaking. The power thrummed and roared in his veins until he was sure he would burn from the inside out. The magnifying glass beside him exploded, the pieces spiraling down onto the floor, then collecting once more together.

Severus didn't respond, didn't give any parting as he quickly strode from the Headmaster's office. By the time he reached the dungeons, he turned into an abandoned classroom, not daring to go anywhere near his supply stores in his present state.

The wooden desks rattled and shifted around as Severus's excess of power trickled from him. The part of his mind that no longer belonged to him, the shape swimming around the surface of it, was silent. Not the silence of the night before when the girl had been found bleeding, but the stoic, breathless silence of sleep.

Good. Severus wasn't sure that he could handle hearing the girl's thoughts right now. Not if he wanted to retain any semblance of sanity. The power rushed from him as quickly as it came leaving him hollow and bare. He felt as though his bones were made of iron, each movement to carry him out of the classroom was slow and painful. The walk to his quarters was excruciating.

His quarters were dim, the fireplace containing only embers now that did little to warm or illuminate the room. Muscle memory had Severus casting a charm and the fire flared to life as he stumbled and dragged himself into his chair before the flames. His bedroom was only a stairwell away, but even that was too far.

Severus considered firewhiskey, the accompanying burn that would fill him up and melt away the ice that gnawed at him from within. Severus considered sleeping potion, the strongest he had, to carry him far away, if only for an hour or two. In the end, Severus settled for his own self-induced numbness.

All his life he had been hated, in one fashion or another, and it never bothered him. His father, his peers, his professors. Hatred had become the one exchange that he was accustomed to. But the hatred in the girl's eyes when she'd awoken, when she'd discovered the truth of her curse, it was pure and unyielding. It cut him down and left him bare.

How could he ever expect to see anything but hatred in them? For all she knew, he'd stolen her magic, all but enslaved her to him, robbed her of any chance at a future free of pain and lies, and she didn't even know that he was meant to have killed her parents.

For all his years spent in hatred, Severus had always considered that there would be an end, even if it was through death. But what if there never was. What if, worse of all, he lived through the war? He lived and was forced to endure the knowledge that he had forever robbed another - someone with unlimited potential and opportunities he would have sacrificed anything for - of their freedom.

The same way he had sold his.

No. If there was one thing he did right in his miserable existence, he would make this right. He would find a way, even if he had to sell it all again, Severus would find a way to free the girl from him and regain her independence, her life.

Yes. He would do it. And then he would die, once and for all, and gain his own freedom at last.

When Hermione woke once more, her room was dark and chilled. She shuffled atop her covers, wincing at the pain of her movements. The candle beside her bed flickered to life, then the fireplace as well.

Hermione started, but as the sight of her Head of House came into view, she calmed once more. McGonagall's hair was messy and in a loose plait down her back and she wore a thick robe and sleeping clothes. "I didn't mean to wake you, I only wanted to check on you."

"You didn't wake me." Hermione's voice cracked. She took the glass of water McGonagall summoned, and as she gulped it down, she tried not to think about how even the magic of the castle no longer responded to her.

Professor McGonagall moved to sit on the foot of Hermione's tall bed as she began to draw back the covers and slide beneath. "Dumbledore told me of your decision."

Hermione didn't meet her Professor's gaze. She didn't want to see the sympathy and sadness that she knew would lay within. "I need my magic back. I don't know what I'll do without it."

Firm fingers grasped Hermione's chin and drew her face up to meet McGonagall's stern gaze. There was no trace of sadness. "You can do anything you want, Granger. Your mind isn't great because of your magic, it is a gift in and of itself. If you chose to walk away, I have no doubt that you would do just as much greatness in the muggle world, perhaps more."

Hermione's eyes filled with hot, unbidden tears. "Hogwarts is my home. It's everything I've ever wished for. I can't walk away, no matter what."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "You know what the Ceremony requires, not just of you know, but the repeated sacrifice it requires?"

Hermione nodded, blinking back more tears.

"Have you ever—- have you and— did your mom ever— " McGonagall stuttered, uncharacteristically fluttered. "Damn it all, are you a virgin, Hermione?"

Hermione flushed, her tears forgotten. Slowly she nodded.

While there had been opportunities in the past, Hermione had never considered sex to be an important enough concern to warrant further exploration. And though she wasn't completely inexperienced, she had yet to go all the way.

"I am sure you know the basics, but you need to know Hermione that though the Ceremony and the Bond may require such activities of you, you are not without control. Severus can be horrid and frustrating and entirely deserving of a botched transfiguration spell at times, but he is a good man. And I expect him to treat you with the respect and dignity you deserve. I want you to know that if there is anything, I mean anything, you ever need to discuss or need to ask, never hesitate to do so."

The tears were back. Hermione's throat was tight and her chest ached, but the ferocity of her professor's gaze was grounding and steadying. She took a deep breath, deeper than she had in days.

"Thank you."

McGonagall pulled Hermione close, hugging her tightly to her solid frame. As Hermione wrapped her arms around her professor and was hugged tightly, she let herself cry. It was fierce and desperate, tears of pain and rage and sorrow, but McGonagall held her through it all.

Hermione barely remembered how through her haze of tears and exhaustion, but McGonagall had tucked her in beneath her heavy quilts and left the candle flickering beside her bed. As Crookshanks curled up beside Hermione, McGongall slipped through the room, mumurming a quiet "Watch her for me" to the cat before closing the door behind her.

Thank you so much for reading! Please review and let me know what you think!