Hermione kept a watchful eye on the boys as they practiced in the Room of Requirement. There had been a good turnout. Most of Dumbledore's Army had returned and they had even brought in a few new faces. They were all paired off in teams, practicing their dueling. Harry and Ron were dueling each other and Hermione was watching them for weaknesses while she nursed her stinging shoulder. Ginny had caught it with a stinging jinx while they were dueling, and it had irritated her healing shoulder.

She narrowed her eyes at Harry as she watched them. "Stop!" she called and everyone stopped practicing. She waved her hand at them, telling them to return to practicing and she walked over to Ron and Harry. "Harry, you use expelliarmus too much. I know it's a good spell, and you use it well, but it makes you predictable."

He nodded, "I know."

"You've been studying the list of spells I've left for you each night?" Another nod. "Try throwing one of those in every so often." He nodded and she could see him riffling through his brain to decide which spells he wanted to try first. She stepped back and Ron and Harry returned to dueling each other. She smiled as Harry let off only a few expelliarmus spells and a slew of others. And they did throw Ron off balance, so much so that she called for them to stop again. "Ron, you are too hesitant. You wait to see which spell he will cast, and then block it. You go on the offensive only rarely. You have to attack more. If there is more than one opponent you cannot block all of their spells. You have to be able to incapacitate someone easily. With no thought."

Ron shook his head, "I'd rather just deflect their spells." Hermione whipped out her want and let a curse fly at Ginny. Ginny crumpled to the ground and Harry and Ron looked from her to Hermione.

"Oy! Why did you do that?" Ron asked, his face stormy. The spell was relatively harmless, it was just a sleeping spell, but it would prove her point. Everyone had stopped dueling and was looking from Ginny to Hermione.

"You won't just be facing one person Ronald. You will be facing a battlefield of death eaters and Voldemort supporters. Every one of those death eaters will harm you if they have the chance. And they will like it. You have to be ready for a spell from anyone of them at any time. Sometimes more than one spell will be coming at you," she slipped easily into lecture mode. She knew how crucial it was that he understand this, that he train for this. His refusal to focus on more than one opponent at a time was what had killed him. "So you have to be cold, and calculating, and you cannot hesitate. You have to be able to cast at anyone, without warning. We are training to hurt. To kill. So if we want to survive, we had all better toughen up. You need to be able to do what I just did. Even if it is just a sleeping spell. A strong one will send your opponent to sleep for several hours. We all have to learn how to sense spells coming at us. Know how to identify them so we can repell them. Memorize the counter curses to every dark spell so we can help each other when we are hit with dark spells. We have to be ready. Not just children armed with a few spells. We have to become an actual army." There was a deep silence and Hermione removed her spell from Ginny who sat up, confused.

Harry cleared his throat and said, "Thank you everyone. That'll be all for today, see you in a week." They muttered to each other as they left the room, and then it was just Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Ron wouldn't look at her, but finally he said, "I'm not like that Hermione. I don't know how I'll act once the war starts, once the killing starts, but I cannot think like that now. I need to hold onto what little light inside me I have left. That no one can touch. Not even Voldemort." She nodded, she had been the same way before the war. She had never thought that she could kill anyone. But she had. And now she was tainted, corrupted.

"Come on you two, there is plenty of day left. Let's go get a butterbeer," Harry suggested, his smile too big.

Hermione shook her head, "I need to go see Professor Snape." She pocketed her wand and left without looking back.

She made it down to the dungeons, but the door to the classroom was closed. She pulled on it and found it locked. She was just about to leave when the door banged open and Malfoy strode through the barrier. He gave her a glare before moving past, but kept going for which she was grateful. She entered the classroom and shut the door behind her.

"Hermione?" Severus asked coming toward her, "What is wrong?

"I'm ready to talk about it now," she said, "If you have time." He nodded and picked up his wand, slashing it through the air. A door appeared and she followed him into his private quarters. He pulled out a chair for her and cleaned it of a stack of books. Then he sat across from her, waiting. "It first happened during the battle. I was fighting and losing to my…opponent. I was hit by a dark spell. I couldn't move, couldn't speak as he advance on me. And when he cast crucio on me something snapped inside me. And I broke free."

"Would you permit me to see what happened?"

She frowned, "I can't. It could change things if you knew the details about the battle."

He nodded, "It could change them for the better though. Just that scene though, to be safe. It would help me determine the spell he used on you."

Finally she nodded, "Do you have a pensive?" He flicked his wand at a bookcase and it drew aside to reveal an alcove with a pensive. Hermione targeted her memory and pulled it out, casting it into the pensive. Then Severus took her hand and they both leaned in.

They both were standing on the field where the final battle had taken place. Hermione had blurred the scenery around her so he couldn't learn anything about the battle. Hermione alone was visible, her hair windswept, tendrils coming out of her ponytail to ship annoyingly around her face. She had a gash beneath her collar bone that was bleeding freely, and the side of one of her arms looked badly singed, but otherwise she was unharmed. Then a death eater materialized next to her, his long blonde hair givint away who he was.

"Malfoy," Hermione said, her voice quiet, but strong.

"Miss Granger," he offered back with a mocking smile. Hermione wasted no time with sending a spell at him, but he deflected it easily. Then he started firing off spells, and Hermione protected herself the best she could. She couldn't send back any spells of her own, Malfoy moved too fast. They fought for several minutes, and then it happened. A spiral of purple-black came spinning at her and though she tried to deflect it, it didn't work. The spiral hit her full in the chest and she froze, the spell lifting her as Malfoy came closer so that she was eye to eye with him. "You've been an annoying little bitch," he said caressing her cheek. "I don't know how you did it, but you are mine now. And you can't move, so I'll have all the time in the world to exact my revenge for what you took from me. Crucio!" She stayed still, unable to move or even scream, but her eyes were wild with the pain. Then he cut off the crucio and came to look at her. "It's not as much fun when you can't scream for me."

Then he shrugged and cast crucio again. It went on for several minutes, but Hermione remembered it lasting much longer. Then her eyes widened marginally and Severus and Hermione could feel the magic gathering around her, wild and untamed. "What is this?" Malfoy asked, a scowl transforming his white-blonde brows, he obviously felt it too. Then Hermione's arms were thrown back as she exploded with light and Malfoy shielded his eyes. The two spells on her were broken and she drifted down so her feet were once again on the ground. The air was positively thrumming with whatever she had just released. Hermione turned to Malfoy who croaked, "How?" A shaft of green light arced into view, heading for Hermione, but she blocked it with a wave of her hand, her gaze still locked firmly on Malfoy.

Then she spoke with a voice not totally her own, "Omnia Mortifera." Malfoy froze, his mouth open slightly, the vein in his forehead bulging. Then the vein flashed black and he topped over on his side, dead. The fire faded form Hermione, and visibly shaken she took out her want to rejoin the fight.

Severus and Hermione were pushed out of the pensive, the memory now finished. Severus sat down, his forehead creased in thought. "I don't remember saying those words," Hermione said, sitting down as well.

"They were Latin. Roughly translated: All deadly. But if they are part of a spell, I have never encountered it." He tapped the table with his long fingers. "What did you do to annoy Malfoy? He planned that attack. He must have found that spell specifically for you, and had other death eaters protecting him while he was with you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "How did you know that?"

"It was rather obvious. Otherwise someone would have saved you, or at least attacked Malfoy."

She nodded, "It actually was you. You, Draco, and Narcissa."

He raised an eyebrow, "I remain a death eater during the battle?"

She bit her lip. She had already said more than she had meant to. Then she finally allowed, "For most of the battle. Then something happens and you visibly switch sides."

"You are not going to tell me what that something is?"

She shook her head, "You already know too much. But you'll know when it happens." He nodded, accepting her reply. "As for why Malfoy sought me out, I am not sure. We, Harry, Ron and I, do encounter the Malfoys next year, but I didn't really deal with Mr. Malfoy much. Mostly it was Bellatrix."

"Ah, Bellatrix," Severus said scowling, "Please tell me someone kills her."

Hermione nodded, "Yes. Someone kills her."

He nodded, "Good." Severus then stood up, his hands clasped behind his back as he paced.

"What is it?" she asked.

"The spell he used on you. The one that made you immobile?" She nodded, remembering vividly. "It's my spell. I don't understand how Malfoy got ahold of it."

Hermione shrugged, "It is still a long way away. Perhaps he reads it in a book of yours. That's the way Harry found your spells."

"What?" he asked startled.

"Has Harry not used Sectumsepra?" she asked uncertainly. A few small things had changed already because of her meddling with time. She never would have been friends with him otherwise. But this was a huge change if Harry had never used the dark spell on Malfoy.

"How do you know that spell?" he asked, his face thunderous.

"Your Potions book, Harry found it," she explained.

He shook his head, "I always wondered how he knew that spell. I didn't think you knew it too."

She let out her breath, relieved. She hadn't changed the timeline too much.

He cursed. "Now I know why you never wanted to see my spells. You had already seen them used by Harry."

She nodded, "I'm concerned that I am damaging the timeline too much Severus."

Severus shook his head, "Obviously you have changed a few things. But Dumbledore knew what he was doing when he sent you back. Trust that it was for some purpose." She nodded, though she was still unsure. "Now, he said, "Are you training the rest of the day or are you done?"

"Done," she said, "I lost my temper…that part of me took over."

"What happened?"

She blushed, "I hit Ginny with a sleeping spell to prove a point."

He frowned, "That's not bad. You must have controlled your temper well."

"I wasn't dueling her," she corrected, "I threw it at her while she was dueling someone else."

He smirked, "Trying to show them that attacks will come from all sides when fighting the big battle?" She nodded. "Well, you are right. They will figure that out. But since you are here shall we work a bit?" She nodded and followed him out the door that led to the castle grounds. Then they apparated to the spot Severus had brought her before. Hermione immediately crouched down. There was a muggle farmer and his dog crossing the fields.

"He can't see us," Severus said calmly. He smirked as he looked down at her crouching in the grass.

"Oh," she said blushing as she stood up.

"You seem to use your magic when you are angry. And you taught yourself to contain it, but the next step is to learn to use it."

She frowned, "Is it safe to be experimenting with this? We don't know what this is, or what I can do. It's unpredictable."

He grimaced, "I have an idea of what it is you can do." She sat in the dirt, waiting for him to continue. He sighed and sat next to her. "The spell I created is rather like the Draught of Living Death." She raised her eyebrows, that certainly didn't sound good. "It permanently places the person in such a state, but instead of sleeping, they are awake, unable to move or speak.

"But how did I break free then?"

"The spell along with crucio and your own powers let loose something inside of you. Your base nature, one that doesn't deal with morality or confines."

"Is that why I'm able to do wandless magic and magic not related to any spells?"

He nodded, "It is my best guess. But nothing like this has ever happened before, so I cannot be sure. That part of us usually stays locked down, but something about the combination of magic on you set it free. You have to learn how to wield it, not just suppress it. Because if it is too strong, it could make you hurt someone who you didn't want to hurt." He stood up, "So get angry, because your training starts now."

Severus walked Hermione through what she needed to do, throwing out a few barbs to get her angry. Then he levitated rocks and threw them at her. He watched as she siphoned her magic and used it to stop rocks he sent hurdling at her, her face pulled with concentration. Every so often though she would get excited about her accomplishment and lose control of her power. She was amazing. So passionate. So powerful. He cursed their age difference, for if she was his age again he would have a chance. A slight chance, but it was more than he had now. Now she knew all he had done as a death eater, she could see how the years had aged him, and it wasn't as though his personality would win her. He had always been prickly, and so he would remain. There was no way she would ever want anything from him other than this. So he pushed away his attraction to her, though it was hard especially while she was using magic. She positively glowed when she did. He locked away his emotions and concentrated on the task at hand.

A/N: I know it is slow going, but I promise some mushy will be in the next chapter. But no lemons yet. YET :) I hope you all enjoyed, I'll have another update by Friday. Thanks for reading! *muah*