All things Harry Potter belong to J. K. Rowling.

WHERE LOVE BLOOMS

CHAPTER 10

A LAST HOPE

Hermione appeared in the only uncluttered part of Hagrid's hut, glancing around she was relieved to see that he was not home. As much as she loved to see him she did not really need to be held up right now. They had asked Minerva if they could set up the secure apparation point so that she, Ron and Harry could visit Hagrid when they wanted.

Quickly leaving the hut, she made her way up the hill toward the school. The tall towers stood proud against the clear blue sky, anyone seeing it now would never have known the extent of the destruction that had happened there. The amount of work they had done to restore it to its former glory had been extensive.

Hermione realised as she climbed up the hill that it had been nearly six years since she had been inside it. The last time she had been in there had been for the memorial service for the fallen, just after the war ended. They had been to see Hagrid countless times but they had always stayed in his home. She wondered why none of them had ever suggested going up to the school on one of their visits. Perhaps it would have been too hard or maybe the attention they would have received just by being there would have been too much.

Looking at the clock tower before she went in, she was grateful to see that the students would be in lessons now so hopefully the corridors would be relatively quiet. As she made her way to the Headmistresses office the memories started flooding back to her. Passing by some of the places they would have frequented, ghostly voices floated around in her head. Each of them bringing up a memory of a conversation or an argument and even laughter. Despite everything that they had gone through there still had been lots of good times and laughter.

She stopped in front of the gargoyle, hoping that Minerva would be in her office.

"Sherbet lemons" saying the password out loud the stone statue began to rotate. One of the first things Minerva had done when she took the post of headmistress was to reinstate a password that was a tribute to the former headmaster. She had also vowed that while ever she held the post it would remain the same, she wanted her door to always be open to staff and students alike.

Knocking on the large oak door at the top of the stairs Hermione heard the soft, lilting tones of her former head of house.

"Come in." She pushed open the door. Minerva was sat behind a large desk, the latest edition of The Prophet in front of her. Hermione could see the fate of Draco was splashed on the front page, they had wasted no time in getting the news out.

"Hermione, my dear girl." Minerva rose from the desk and approached her, taking her hands in hers. "Such a terrible, terrible business, I've just been reading all about it. How are you coping?"

"I'm glad that it is all over, now maybe we can all finally start to move on." Hermione gave a small smile.

"Yes, we have to learn to live with the pain but life can't stop." Minerva moved back towards her desk. "I presume that there is a reason I am seeing you today, what can I do for you?"

"Actually, I was wondering if I may have a word with Professor Dumbledore." Hermione glanced up at the portrait of the former headmaster sleeping on his chair.

"Ah! I see. Albus, you have a visitor." Minerva turned to the portrait. "Stop pretending to be asleep. I know you are listening. Now Hermione I will leave you to have a chat while I go organise some tea and sandwiches."

"No, please don't bother on my account." Hermione replied as she shook her head.

"I won't take no for an answer, my dear. You look like you need a good feed and it will give us a chance for a proper catch up." She gently squeezed Hermione's arm as she passed her and left the room.

"Has she gone?" Dumbledore slowly opened one of his eyes. "Now then Miss Granger, what can I do for you?"

Hermione smiled at the fact Dumbledore called her by the name he would have done at school. It seemed appropriate as he would always be Professor Dumbledore to her, she could not imagine calling him by his first name.

"I need to find Professor Snape and I was wondering if you might have any ideas of where I could look for him." She said.

"I take it, seeing how you have come to me, he is not at Spinner's End?" He looked at her over the top of his spectacles.

"No, that is the first place I went. It is virtually derelict, no one has lived there in years." she replied

"Are you sure my dear, appearances can sometimes be misleading?"

"I am very sure, I did a series of detailed sweeps over the house and I detected that no magic had been used there for about four years." Hermione explained. "Everything I could think of that may lead me to him has been a dead end. I even went to the library to check his card out and the address was blank. He must have used some kind of delayed concealment charm on it."

"I'm afraid, my dear girl, if a man with Severus abilities doesn't want to be found he won't be found. You may have to accept that you will never find him."

"Is there nothing you can recall that may help me. Anywhere you used to meet or someone I could ask?" Hermione was desperate and as far as she could see Dumbledore was her only hope.

"Severus was always available to me, if I needed him he came to me." Dumbledore looked at her kindly. "The only other person I could think of that may be able to help you has just been incarcerated in Azkaban."

"Lucius?" She knew that there was no way that Lucius would ever speak to her about anything.

Perhaps Dumbledore was right she should give up looking, Severus obviously did not want to see her. Harry had told him she wanted to see him and she had heard nothing from him. Maybe it was time for her to give up?