Yep, A/N's are on the top today instead of the bottom. Anyway sorry about the long wait for the chappie. It's been a hard month. A very hard month. Lots of stuff going on with my family that basically killed any desire I could have ever had to write. Anyway, it actually took a lot to finish this chapter up and I'm not too happy with it but I knew I had to get something out before the 7th book came out. Now on that note, I just wanted to let you know that just because the 7th book is coming out and my favorite character might just die doesn't mean that I will be giving up on BV or any of my other fan fics. I will continue to write. Now I think that's all I really want to say for now. I hope you enjoy and please review!


Her second week of school was turning out to be one of the best second weeks Hermione had ever had. As promised, she had met up with Benjy and Caradoc by the lake and they had introduced her to the other 7th year Ravenclaws in her potions class. Granted there were only three of them, it was still slightly intimidating. Alice, Frank, and Gwen. She never was told their surnames.

Studying was fine and Hermione quickly earned their respect with her vast potions knowledge, but she was bothered by how familiar Alice and Frank were. She was convinced that there was no one she knew from her time with those names, but still she knew she had seen them somewhere before.

It wasn't until her next potions class that she realized who they were. Professor Slughorn was naming off partners for the end of the year project. Sirius was paired with Caradoc, and Benjy was paired with Frank, Frank Longbottom.

The realization hit like a ton of bricks. Alice and Frank were Neville's parents! It was unbelievable. Now she was not only getting to know the parents that Harry never knew, but she was getting to know poor Neville's parents as well.

Her train of thought ended there, however, because her name was called up next on the list. Her heart dropped when she heard the name Severus Snape called with hers.

Of all the people in the class to be paired with, he had to be the worst. Snape was the one person she wanted to avoid more than anyone else, save for you-know-who, but it looked as though that was no longer an option. She glared at the back of his head while Sirius snickered next to her.

She elbowed him to shut him up while the Professor went on with the pairs. The only consolation about being paired with Snape was the assurance that she would certainly be getting an A on the project. With their combined intelligence there was no other possible outcome. Unless, of course, she murdered him before the due date.

When all the pairs were assigned, Professor Slughorn dismissed the class and instructed everyone to go to the library and spend the rest of the class time discussing a research topic which were to be ready for approval by next class.

The rest of the class filed out of the room, but Hermione sat in her chair and waited for Severus to come over toward her desk. The look on his face was one of pure loathing and she could tell that he was just as unhappy with this arrangement as she was.

"Let's get to the library," she said to him as she grabbed her bag and hopped off the stool.

Jaw set, he hardly even grunted before stalking out the room. Without the billowy robes he looked a lot less threatening though the look in his eyes was still sure to frighten. In silence they walked towards the library, following the other students.

Hermione wondered if perhaps she should say something to break the ice. After all, she couldn't hold this boy accountable for the actions of his future self just yet, could she? And she was going to have to work with him on this project for the next couple months so it would be necessary to talk eventually and knowing his future character, she figured it would be up to her to start the conversation.

But she couldn't think of anything to say on the way up to the library and the only words she spoke to him were directions towards her favorite table before they sat down.

They stared at each other from across the table with arms folded. It must have looked odd to onlookers, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, willingly sitting at a table together and staring at each other. It wasn't until her eyes started to dry that she finally blinked and uncrossed her arms.

"Any ideas for a topic?"

"No," was his first word to her.

So he speaks, she thought with a small smile. "Well I hope you don't expect me to come up with one all on my own."

He just stared at her. That was answer enough.

"Right then, I'm not sure why you dislike me exactly but you're going to have to get over it. See? Look at me, I'm not to fond of you and I'm talking. Not that hard now, is it?" She said testily.

His glare darkened before he opened his mouth. "Perhaps we should look through some books before discussing a topic."

He got up and walked towards the shelves before she could respond. If his behavior kept up like this, then it would be a long few months. Reluctantly, Hermione got up and walked towards the Potions section of the library. It was quite crowded so Hermione just grabbed two random books and started walking back to the table.

She spied Sirius and Caradoc at a nearby table and waved. They gave her sympathetic looks and Caradoc mouthed, "Sorry," before she sat back down.

The two she had grabbed were all but useless, nothing but biographies of obscure potion masters, Alfred Willinger and Geoff Kruger. Never-the-less, she opened the first and began to thumb through it. When Severus came back fifteen minutes later, she hadn't found a thing that they could use and she was halfway through the book.

Severus had brought back around twenty books and the noise they made as they hit the table top caused the whole library to turn their direction. "Got enough books?" Hermione remarked without looking up.

"At least these are useful." Severus defended as the took the one off the top and opened it.

"As are these, we are allowed to do projects on people."

Severus snorted and it sounded incredibly odd coming from him. So odd in fact, that Hermione was forced to look up. "What's so funny about that?" She asked.

"I doubt Professor Slughorn wants a project on men who ended up in Azkaban. Willinger was a convicted Death Eater, one of the first, who died four months ago. Kruger was sent there after the Ministry caught him using live muggles for potion ingredients." Severus explained.

"Well you certainly seem to know a lot about them." Hermione accused.

"Last time I checked, being well read was not a crime." He growled.

Ignoring his comment, Hermine turned back to the book and kept flipping through it. The words Time Travel caught her eye and she started to read. She was so absorbed in reading that she jumped almost out of her chair when Sirius came up and touched her on the shoulder.

"Merlin Sirius," she panted as she placed her hand over her heart, "you nearly scared me to death. What were you thinking?"

Finding it odd that Sirius would come over while she was working with Severus, she looked over to the other side of the table and found it empty.

"I was about to head out to lunch, thought you might want to come with me."

Lunch? Merlin, she thought, I must have been reading for hours. No wonder Severus left. Hermione nodded her head and grabbed the two books to check out.

"More books? I don't think you have enough room in that bag of yours."

"Which is why I'm glad I'm a witch," she smiled, "I can't tell you how many times the shrinking charm has saved my life."

"You know, instead of lugging all of those around you could just keep some your room. Its not as though you use most of them during the day."

"I like the back problems they cause," Hermione joked before switching the subject, "so did you and Caradoc get anything done?"

"You kidding me? Of course not. We were to busy watching you and Snape and betting who would kill the other first. The looks the two of you were giving each other were deadly." Sirius told her as they took their seats in the Great Hall.

"Well he started it." Hermione defended herself, "I don't understand why he hates me so much."

"Not to be too blunt," Sirius began as he spooned some potatoes onto his plate, "but you're muggleborn. It's rumored that Snape's already a Death Eater so he's sort of obligated to hate you. Not to mention you hang with me and James. That alone is enough to get you on his hitlist."

"Well then , this is certainly going to be a fun term," she replied sarcastically before digging into her food.

"Why's it going to be fun?" Lily asked as she took her seat next to Hermione with James only a few steps behind.

"Hermione's got Snape as a partner for the potions project."

A snicker came from the mouths of James and Peter as they too sat down.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Remus assured her as he sat down on her other side.

"Yeah, and I'm sure we could think of something that would keep him in the infirmary for the next few months." James added, only to get elbowed in the ribs by Lily.

"That's Ok James," Hermione laughed, "besides I'd rather do the project with him than without him. He's the smartest person in the class and working with him I'm sure to get good marks."

"I wonder what else you'd be willing to do for a good grade," James answered jokingly

Hermione turned the topic of conversation from her potions assignment to the transfiguration essay that was due that week. When the talk died away, Hermione's eyes moved about the Great Hall. She wasn't looking for, or at, anything in particular, she was just looking. She spotted the back of Snape's head and glared at it. Based on the way they interacted in the library, she could tell that it was going to be a long, hard assignment.

But they would eventually have to become civil if they were going to get any work done. She wondered if Snape had found anything they could use for a topic and she considered suggesting time-travel potions. Too bad there wasn't enough research in the field for a decent topic. It would be nice to have his brain helping her figure out this puzzle. The few bits she had found in Kruger's biography were interesting and, once more, they suggested that a way of time traveling had been found though it offered no information on how that was to be done. But she had deduced that since Kruger was such a potions fanatic that the answer had to be a potion.

The downside was that he only worked with dark potions, ones with ingredients banned by the ministry and that no respectable and moral person would consider using. Now there was no way of knowing if the means of time traveling actually required the use of the Dark Arts, but Hermione had very little hope that it didn't.

It was getting frustrating, finding little bits in books that hinted at some way of time traveling, but not being able to find more than the smallest bits. Hermione thought that perhaps it was time to go visit the headmaster again. The day before she had sent him an owl saying as much, and he had told her to come at eight thirty that night to chat. This time she had the password so there was no reason to schedule in more time to sit and try to figure it out.

She planned on asking him if perhaps he had the resources to find something with more information. Though she doubted he knew anything about it. He would have said something already, wouldn't he?

That night she made her excuses to Remus and said that she'd be back later so that they could study. Holding the letter, and the metions of the solutions to time travel, in her hand Hermione stepped up to the stone gargoyle. With confidence she said, "Sherbet Lemon," and smiled when it allowed her entrance.

Too busy digging through her bag to find her time travel research, Hermione didn't even notice when she arrived at the Headmaster's door until it opened up for her and he ushered her in.

"Thank you sir," she answered still half distracted.

She took her seat in front of his desk and sat her back in her lap as she continued her search. She could hear Dumbledore chuckling near her and she couldn't help but blush.

"Sorry sir, I'm usually much more organized."

Sitting down at his desk, Hermione could feel his smile. "Perhaps, Miss Granger, you could let me in on what you need while you search through your bag."

"Oh, yes, of course," she continued with an even greater blush. Normally she wasn't so absent minded. "Well Sir, it's just that I've found a few brief and extremely vague references to time travel in a number of books from the library. Granted most of them are from the restricted section. But as I was saying, all the mentions are vague and I'm beginning to doubt that even the restricted section has the information that I need."

"And you've come to ask me for better books?" He asked with his normal twinkle.

"Yes sir." Then, finally finding the papers she had been looking for, she let out a triumphant cry and handed them over. "This is a list of books that I think might have the answer, or at least might lead me closer to one."

The slightly reprimanding look he shot her was to be expected. The list had to be over three feet long and she had to admit, two or three of the books on the list had nothing to do with possible time travel, but where books she had been dying to get her hands on.

"I don't expect you to just hand them over to me, Sir," she quickly chimed in, "I'm sure there's something I could do to help pay for them. I just might require your connections to get a few of them."

"Are you suggesting that in addition to your studies and your research, you wish to have a job here at Hogwarts?"

"Some of those books are expensive and I don't want you to simply hand them over. So yes, I want to work."

It was obvious that this Dumbledore had no idea who she was really, because he gazed at her a long while before he nodded his head. It was as though he was trying to figure out how she was going to do all of this and still keep her grades up.

"Professor Slughorn has told me of your aptitude of Potions so I think that is where I will place you. You will be his teaching aide. You will grade papers and exams for the lower years and aide him in making the proper potions for the Hospital. Now I should warn you, this is not a light job. You will have to work hard."

"I understand that Sir." She said with her head held high.

"Good. I'm sure Professor Slughorn's other aide will be quite pleased to hear that he will have helper."

She had been packing up to leave, but Dumbledore's last bit stopped her cold.

"Other aide?" She asked.

"Yes, Mr. Snape has been aiding Professor Slughorn for the last three years."

Hermione's heart dropped for the second time that day and for the briefest moment's she considered begging for a different job but thought better of it. Dumbledore was already doing so much to help her, rejecting this offer would be like spitting on everything he had done so far.

But he must have noticed her lack of enthusiasm. "I see you have already become acquainted with Mr. Snape. A word of advice Miss Granger, I would not dismiss Severus so quickly, you might find him to be quite an asset."

"Yes Sir," she answered politely, though inside she was rolling her eyes.

She finished packing up and was about to head out the door when he stopped her one more time. "I will send you the list of those books you can pick up at Hogsmeade next weekend."

Hermione smiled and thanked him before walking out the door and heading back down the stairs. It was getting late, almost curfew, and so she hurried towards her room. Remus was sitting on the couch when she arrived, his head buried in a book.

The common room was empty except for him and so she let out a great sigh and threw herself down on her end of the couch.

"Meeting not go well?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head. "It did, I'm just exhausted. From now on I'm going to be helping Professor Slughorn with his tedious work to help pay for my schooling."

"You're going to kill yourself," Remus exclaimed, "you already do to much as it is."

Shrugging, Hermione replied, "I'll figure something out. But I hope you don't mind if I go on up to bed without studying."

"Be my guest," Remus half laughed.

Saying goodnight, Hermione left her bag by the couch and shuffled towards her room. Two minutes ago she had been running towards the dorm and now she could hardly pick up her feet. Wave upon wave of exhaustion had enveloped her and she found that she didn't even have the strength to pull down her covers or even take off her shoes.

Lily made a comment or two but Hermione was too tired to listen so she just shook her head and mumbled something that could have been taken as an answer before she fell on top of her bed and remembered no more.