I apologise in the delay of this Chapter. I will endevour to get chapters up more frequently. But as any person knows real life can be a pain. Anyway Read and Review.

Chapter ten: The Teller of Tales

Two weeks soon disappeared for Ron and Harry, although the Dursleys had treated Harry with the usual distain, ignoring him at meals and pretty much any other time. He wondered that if they ignored him, would it not be classed as mistreatment? He banished the thought to the back of his mind while packing his trunk. Soon he would be home, as the Weasley's had offered to collect him on route to headquarters. Harry lugged his trunk down the stairs, going back for his broom and Hedwig's empty cage. He had let her out the night before, telling her where he could be found the next day, she hooted fondly as she swept out into the night. The following morning Harry waited in the front room along with his Aunt and Uncle. Dudley had gone out with his friends, to avoid the twins after what happened last time soon the time approached, a knock at the door interrupted the bitter silence. Harry stood up to answer the door, expecting Aunt Petunia at least to stop him, but she remained in her seat as if she was ignoring it. Seizing the opportunity, Harry answered the door. Sitting outside was a black shaggy dog, which he recognised immediately.

Leaping towards his Godson, Sirius pounced, licking Harry all over his face.

It was believed that ever since the Incident at the Department Of Mysteries. Sirius was dead, lost through the veil, never to be seen again. But then one day he turned up at Hogwarts barking frantically. Eventually captured, he was taken to Dumbledore's office, where the headmaster had verified who the large dog actually was. Sirius had come back alive, but trapped as his Animagus form.

Harry had been called up to the headmaster's office, where surprisingly reunited with his lost Godfather, it had been the happiest day of his life. But no one could quite work out how or why, this had happened to Sirius. All Harry cared about was that he was well.

Once Sirius had stopped licking his godson, he allowed him to remove a letter from his neck. Harry broke the seal on the letter, not unexpectedly it was from Dumbledore.

Dear Harry,

It seems that your beloved pet Snuffles has missed you so very much, that he insisted on coming to meet you. Unable to restrain him any further I agreed. Have fun with him and I hope to see you as arranged.

Dumbledore.

Harry smiled as he led Snuffles back into the house, with Harry's school things already down the stairs all he had to do was carry them. So rubbing his hands together at the challenge Harry and Snuffles set to work.

When Ron arrived at headquarters with the rest of the family, a change in the plans had ensured they arrived earlier than expected and chaos soon descended on 12 Grimmauld Place. His mother soon set up in the kitchen, sorting out dinner while his father ushered Ginny and Ron upstairs with their belongings. Fred and George were still a work in their joke shop, so they would not arrive for a long time yet; No doubt with a batch of their latest concoctions.(this is a descriptive paragraph and yet you have a personal observation in it… who is making the observation? Ron or 'his mother' are mentioned but in the third person so the only person could be the author and that breaks the fourth wall a bit) Ron and Ginny quickly unpacked their trunks, making themselves at home. It wasn't long before Harry arrived with his things, a big black dog at his side. Arthur greeted Harry like a lost son, while at the same time stroking the dog at his side. Harry carried his trunk with help of Ron, while Ginny carried the Hedwig's cage and Harry's broom. Within no time Harry had settled at his home. Snuffles followed Harry everywhere he went, which was highly amusing to anyone else in the house, except Molly who shouted at Sirius each time he went in to the kitchen.

Eventually Harry, Ron, Ginny and Sirius all went out to the back garden, where they played with Sirius, until a shout from inside called them back in. As they stumbled back inside a forlorn Headmaster greeted them. Whilst outside had been laughing and giggling, the atmosphere inside had taken a turn for the worse, Molly was crying into a hankie, Arthur was doing his best to comfort her. Dumbledore's face was etched with sadness. Ginny and Ron looked questioningly at both their parents, seeking an answer to their tears.

Dumbledore looked at his students "Harry, Ginny and Ron… I suggest that you all sit down."

Molly pulled away from her husband, so she could see her children. Tears stained her face. "Albus, you can't tell them, they're too young,"

Harry, Ron and Ginny all sat down at the kitchen table, at their Headmaster's request, Sirius walked over to his Godson, resting his head in his lap.

Dumbledore looked at each of them in turn, returning his gaze to Harry. The silence seemed endless. Harry was becoming desperate.

"Will someone please tell us what is going on?"

Dumbledore spoke with utter sadness. "Hermione has died."

Molly collapsed again into tears, while Harry Ron and Ginny just stared dumfounded at Dumbledore. Each struggled to come to terms with what Dumbledore had said. Harry stood up, a mix of emotions on his face.

"When did this happen? How did this happen? I don't understand. She was meant to be here…here…waiting for us…"

A silence had descended on the kitchen. Ron held Ginny tightly, tears streamed down her face. Ron seemed to be in shock, his best friend and his unrequited love had died and there was nothing that he could of done to prevent it. Why do I have to be so bloody useless, standing up Ron, bolted from the kitchen up the stairs to the room Hermione shared with Ginny. He threw himself on the bed, crushing the pillow under his form crying

Ginny cleared her throat, breaking the silence "Was it peaceful?"

Dumbledore slightly startled by the question looked up. "Yes… yes it was. I blame myself, I should have brought her back to Hogwarts."

Harry could see the pain in his eyes, remembering that look from before. When he had been told about Sirius, it choked him to recall such thoughts… But then again Sirius had come back. "Maybe, maybe Hermione could still come back," Harry muttered.

They all sat at the kitchen table for a long time. All but one was trapped in their person grief. Staring across at each other, yet no words were spoken. Albus sat there with the others, tears rolling down is face. To anyone else in the room it seemed that Albus had taken this particular death very personally. But secretly, he cried to conceal the fact he had lied to the very people; he swore to help. While trapped in his thoughts he realised how Severus felt, constantly lying to those close to him, so that the facade continued. Then and only then did Albus understand why Professor Snape did what he had to.

The silence continued, tea was sipped and tears were wiped away, with hands and tissues.

Harry just looked into Sirius's eyes, who sat obediently head in his lap. "What happens now?"

Dumbledore snapped out of his thoughts, wiped away a few stray tears. "Now… Now we carry on. We cannot allow this tragic incident to stop any plans we have. Voldermort must not be allowed to win, Harry, no matter what happens."

Harry stood up so fast that Sirius scuttled into a corner "You think that I don't understand that!"

Albus looked at the boy who lived. "The order will be informed of the change in circumstances as will the school…"

"The Order, the school! They won't miss her, love her like I," he looked toward his best friend and his sister "Like we did."

"An obituary has been placed in the Daily Prophet."

Harry kept pacing. "The Daily Prophet, Hermione hated that rag of a paper. She would never have allowed herself to be associated with it…"

"Harry," Dumbledore pleaded. Although it seemed that Harry was too much in a rant to care. Albus stood up and walked over to the grief stricken boy, holding out his arms to try and comfort him. "Harry… Hermione will not be walking through that door, she is never coming back and you harm yourself by thinking she will," Albus wrapped his arms around him.

"She might, we could…"," Harry whimpered into the headmaster's robes.

"I am afraid not Harry."

They held on each other for a very long time, as the rest of the room just faded away.

As the summer holiday progressed another two weeks, the air of melancholy around headquarters still pervaded. Harry's way of dealing with the situation was to shut himself away. A few times Ron had tried to coax his best friend out of his room, but unable to admit defeat and leave him alone. Ron would stay with him, they remembered all the fun times the Golden Trio had got up to. How Hermione had inadvertently added cat hair to the Polyjuice potion, thinking it was Pansy Parkinson's. On top of that she then had to spend three weeks in the hospital wing overcoming her feline features.

They both laughed when recalling these memories, more often than not Ginny would join in adding another side the stories. Many a time the group would be found sitting on Harry's bed all huddled together, Ginny being held by her brother, but also holding Harry's hand. It was during these times that the summer holiday improved for all those around.

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Severus sat comfortably in his favourite chair, a good book in hand and a mug of strong coffee to one side on a small table. He had just started a new chapter on the uses of Hellebore, the author had the idea that it would make a suitable replacement of Sleverns skin. Slowly but surely the author was convincing Severus into this new way of thinking. Mulling the idea in his head his thoughts were interrupted by a whoosh of flames in his fireplace. Oh dear.

Continuing to read he responded to the only person left in Hogwarts with a floo network. "Good day Albus," he greeted with a little annoyance.

"Ah Severus, I was wondering if you could spare me some time. In my office?" the cheerful Headmaster responded.

"Of course Headmaster. Is there any particular piece of my spare time your were after…Or just a moment in a few hours time?" Severus hoped it would be the latter as he wanted to at least finish the Chapter.

Albus paused, ignoring his friend's sarcasm. "I was thinking now Severus. If your not too busy…Oh I see your reading Timothy Possmore, he has some interesting theories on Hellebore. I remember talking to Elizabeth about it just the other day. She quite agreed that using Hellebore as a replacement for Crownsbane in the Mediva Potion was an ingenious idea."

"I'll be up in a minute Albus," he interrupted.

The flames died away immediately and Severus was left with his own company once more. He shut the book with a distinct thud while muttering under his breath.

"I swear he does it on purpose!"

Gulping down the remainder of the coffee he stormed of in the direction of the Headmasters Office.

Once Severus sat down in Albus's office. The Headmaster began by explaining what he wanted Severus to do.

"Are you sure you want to do this Albus?"

Albus tried to ease the conscience of his friend. "I understand that you are a little unsure, but if this charade is to be believed, we have to link the two."

Severus looked straight at him, the only person to have truly understood who he was over the years. "By telling the order… If it was later found out that the whole situation had been manipulated to give us the upper hand. I doubt they forgive either of us, I am use to such, but are you Albus?"

"I will take the risk for it is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss."

The Order carried on as they had each been informed of this most recent loss. But tonight Professor Snape would be telling them of his last Death Eater meeting. It took only ten minutes to explain what had happened. The look on each members face was enough for Snape to realise how far Dumbledore was willing to go for the cause.

Professor McGonagall was the first to speak. "You mean to say that He arranged for all this, that her parent's deaths were nothing but a means to an end. Hermione died because of He-Who-Must –Not-Be-Named."

Snape spoke bluntly "Yes."

"But was there anything we could have done. When Hermione was last here, well she was…" McGonagall paused

Interrupting again, realising he would have to spell it out to them. "Alive,"

Snape lied with his usual ease. "Hermione may well have been alive, Minerva. But she had already realised it was too late. Watching her parents die had pushed her, unwittingly over the edge."

"Did you not realise what frame of mind the poor girl was in?" Minerva asked rather scathingly.

"I am afraid that during my course as her guardian. I had an inclination that she would die. My meeting with the Death eaters was long after I had been relieved of the duty. So there was nothing that I could have done to prevent it."

The questions continued to roll and the lies kept replying as answers. By the end of the evening the members of the order of the phoenix, had no doubt the Voldermort and his followers were the cause of Hermione's death.

When he reported back to Hogwarts, Severus felt relieved that the night was over. Although lying was part of his nature, betraying those who he thought of a friends, did nothing to tame his uneasy stomach. Walking the familiar corridors at Hogwarts reminded him of why he was doing all this. Not for her, but for them. Although she would defiantly be more grateful, he mused. Professor Snape nearly missed the entrance to Hermione's new chambers, the only reason he did stop, was that he noticed the door was ajar. Peering through he saw the classroom, but at the far end a small stairwell was lit. Curious he walked through.