You guys are amazing. The reviews I've been getting and all of those follows and favorites are amazing!

Some of you thought there was a hint of Drarry. Muahaha. Well, let's just say that I love that pairing.

Other's appreciated the mention of the girl Severus met in his seventh year. Was that Hermione? Was it someone else? Who knows?

Well, I do. :D Keep reading, and you'll find out soon, too!

Here's the next chapter! Two in two days! I'm on a roll!

Please enjoy!

Allons-y!

-Rayne

Hermione didn't take him to the Common Room. She took him back to the Room of Requirement instead. He didn't say anything as she guided him inside. He sat heavily in the chair he'd been lounging in earlier. He stared at the ground and didn't move another muscle.

She watched him in silence for a moment before deciding to break it.

"You knew about Lily."

"Couldn't find a book about Harry that didn't say something about the way that Lily died," he said softly.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why should I have?" he snapped back.

"You can talk to me."

"I hardly know you!"

"That doesn't matter. Severus, you have to talk to someone. You just got thrown out of your time. You met yourself, were sorted into your rival house, and found out that the girl who was your best friend for a while and whom you had a crush on died! You have to at least have something to say about all of that!"

"Yes. Leave me alone."

"Severus."

"Stop acting like you know what's best for me."

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "And if I do know what's best for you?"

"Trust me. You don't. You don't know anything about me."

"I know that this must be extremely difficult for you."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do, Severus."

"That's right. It's because your a bloody Gryffindor.

"You're a bloody Gryffindor now, too."

Severus stood up abruptly and stormed up to Hermione. He pointed accusingly at her. "But I'm not a bleeding sap. I'm not a stupid bint who can't mind her own business and has to put her nose where it doesn't belong. I thought you said you try not to pry? This is prying."

"I'm sorry if I've done something to offend you," Hermione tried, suddenly realizing where this conversation was going.

"Get out," he snarled, crossing his arms and taking a step away from her. "Get out and leave me alone."

"Fine," Hermione spat. "Do what you want. Sit in here and sulk. I don't care."

"Just get out! Merlin!"

Hermione turned and started towards the door. "I'll still be here when you decided you need to talk to someone, Russ."

"Don't call me that. And don't expect me to suddenly start spilling my guts to you."

"See you later, Severus," Hermione said. She stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind it and leaning against it with a huff.

A snivel from the hallway made her look up. It was Ginny. She was desperately trying to mop up her tears as though she didn't want Hermione to know she'd been crying.

"Ginny!" Hermione said, hurrying forward and taking her friend into her arms. "Ginny, hun, what's wrong?"

"He... He told me it's over! He never planned to ask me out again." Ginny whimpered and buried her face in Hermione shoulder, trying to muffle another round of rather loud sobs that racked her body.

"Oh. You ran into him, did you?"

"Yes! In the hallway. With Draco bloody Malfoy of all people."

"What did he tell you? Did he give you a reason?"

"He met someone. Someone while he was travelling with my brother. A girl."

"Oh, Gin, I'm so sorry."

"Not only that," Ginny stuttered, "But she's a v-vampire!"

Hermione froze. "She's a what?"

"Vampire! Harry Potter is dating a bloody vampire!"

Hermione began stroking Ginny's back. "Oh, Merlin."

"Where's Russell?" Ginny asked suddenly. "Did Russell find you?"

Hermione sighed. "Yes, he did. And I think... Well. We had a bit of a spat."

Ginny sighed. "I really think that Russell is more like Snape than anyone I've ever met before. Are we sure he isn't actually Snape's son?"

"Pretty certain," Hermione muttered. "Now I think I need to go talk to Harry and figure this all out."

"Do you think he's finally gone crazy? He kept going on about how this vampire was different than any other one on the planet."

"I'm sure that not all of them are all that bad."

Ginny sighed. Tears started streaming down her face again. "He chose a vampire over me, Hermione!" She clutched to Hermione again.

Hermione sighed. "Yes, I'll go talk to him. Go find Luna, alright? Go find Luna and go down to the kitchens. I think you deserve a bit of chocolate ice cream."

Ginny stepped away from Hermione and nodded slowly. She looked lost, like she wasn't sure what to do. Hermione pointed her in the direction of the Ravenclaw Common Room. "Thanks," Ginny murmured. She hugged Hermione one more time and started down the hall.

Hermione glanced back at the Room of Requirement and, thinking that Severus maybe really did need a bit of time to himself, started down the hall in search of Harry.

She found him just outside of the Gryffindor Common Room, talking with Draco still. They were discussing the most recent Quidditch season.

"Harry James Potter," Hermione snapped. "You have some explaining to do."

He paled when his eyes fell on her angry expression. "She told you."

"Of course she did! She's torn up! You broke her heart!"

Harry's shoulders slumped. "It wasn't a choice. It just sort of... happened."

"A vampire?"

Draco's eyes widened and he turned to Harry. "A vampire?" he repeated. "You know what vampires are, right? They are the undead. Necrophilia. That's really, really disgusting."

"She's not like them, though! I mean, she's got the fangs and all. She can't go out when the sun is up. But she's not like the others. She doesn't have the blue skin or black eyes or any of that. She looks just like you or me. She's quite beautiful, actually. She acts like us, too. She's got a great sense of humor and is extremely kind and understanding."

"So she's a half-vampire," Draco said.

"No, because even part-vampires have white skin. They still are dead. Just not... as dead, I suppose," Hermione said. "Like Lorcan d'Eath."

Draco snorted. "The singer?"

"Right," Hermione said. "That's not the point. The point is, Harry, how is she a vampire if she doesn't look like a vampire?"

Harry frowned. "Who cares what she is or isn't? I love her. I have since I first met her. And that's that. Nothing you say will make me think any less of her."

Draco and Hermione glanced at each other suspiciously. Something's not right, Hermione thought. It was clear that Draco was thinking the same thing.

"Where's Russell?" Draco asked in an obvious attempt to change the strange subject.

"In the Room of Requrement. Would you mind talking to him? I think I offended him."

"You tried to get him to talk, didn't you?"

"How'd you guess?"

Draco shrugged. "I could see it in his eyes, too," he said softly before turning and walking in the direction Hermione had just come from.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I said something that upset Russell. It's no problem. What is a problem is the fact that Ginny is absolutely heartbroken. You know, when we were at the Three Broomsticks, with all the comments you were making and whatnot... well, I thought you were-"

"Gay," Harry finished for her, blushing slightly. "Yeah, I realized that it may have sounded that way. Especially with my comment about Ron and the way I was avoiding the subject of why I wasn't taking Ginny back. Well, that's not really the case. I really did fall in love with a girl."

"Vampire," Hermione breathed. "What's her name?"

"Rose. Rose Obitus."

"That's Latin."

"That's neat."

"Harry, that's Latin for death."

"Yeah, right. And my name actually means 'Boy-Who-Lived," Harry said sarcastically, waving her off. "It's just a family name. The meaning doesn't actually apply."

"Harry! This could be very serious!"

"She's not that bad, Hermione! She's actually quite wonderful! I'd expected you of all people to be understanding about this, Hermione!"

Hermione shook her head. "You're right. I'm sorry. If you love her, you love her. End of story. I hope she's good for you, Harry."

Harry smiled. "She is, I promise."

Hermione nodded. "I have to go find Russell. I'll catch up with you later, yeah?"

"In Severus' office at seven!" he said. "Is he wanting me to help you on the potion you and Malfoy are working on?"

"Well, we haven't started. And you know, at the beginning, he said it would just be him and I. It makes me wonder what he's thinking and planning."

"We might never know," Harry said, grinning.

"Very true," Hermione mused.

She never got back around to seeing Severus. She knew Draco was there, though, and figured that Russ was probably in better hands than he would be if she went back in and tried dealing with him. She was frustrated and confused and didn't want to deal with a moody Slytherin on top of it all. Instead, she made her way back down to the kitchens where Ginny and Luna sat, both eating out of the same ginormous tub of chocolate ice cream. After consoling Ginny one more time and discussing the latest issue of the Quibbler with Luna and eating lunch with the pair of them, she started up for the library.

She met Draco on the way there.

"Granger!" he said, frowning. "He's not quite right."

"I figured he wouldn't be."

"And you weren't exactly helping."

Hermione sighed as they started down the hall again, side by side, drawing a wide variety of strange glances. "Yes, I realized that afterward."

"Just because he was sorted into your house doesn't mean he can be dealt with the way you deal with the rest of the Gryffindors. You need to be careful with him. We get... well, we aren't always the most emotionally stable people. He in particular hasn't exactly had it easy."

"I know. I need to apologize to him. I'll do that later. First, I need to do a little bit of research."

Draco grinned and nudged her. "On Harry's vampire, right?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah."

"And I thought for sure he had just decided to come out of the closet."

"You were hoping for that, weren't you?" Hermione asked, smiling a little despite herself.

Draco flushed. "What's her name? Clearly you have one. You wouldn't just start browsing the library for random vamps."

"Yeah, I have a name. Rose Obitus."

"Wait, doesn't that mean death?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Hermione breathed. "I'm thinking that she probably changed her name from Rosa to Rose, too."

"To keep up with the times," Draco agreed.

"Right," Hermione said. "They live for a really long time, so maybe she's much older than she looks?"

"And maybe picked up some cloaking tricks along the way."

Hermione nodded. "Exactly! Some part-vampires have been known to have magical abilities."

"Full-vampires, too, you know. They are magical beings, after all. Some really powerful full-vamps have been known to harness their magic and use it just like wizards and witches."

Hermione frowned. "That's not good. I was willing to believe that a half-vampire could maybe right their ways."

"But full-vampire?" Draco said. "Not a chance. That goes against everything a vampire is."

Hermione hummed. "Anyway," she said, "Rosa means rose, obviously, and Obitus means death. That has to be important, don't you think?"

They reached the library and, after pulling a few books on vampires, found a table towards the back. They read in silence for a few hours with no luck.

"Anything?" Hermione asked Draco when students began getting up and leaving for dinner.

"Nothing," he said. "I want to check the Restricted section, though."

Hermione nodded. "That's a good idea. We can ask Snape for a pass. I bet he'd give us one. Especially if it's for Harry's safety."

Draco chuckled. "It's worth a shot, I suppose."

"I'm sure of it," Hermione said confidently.

They headed to dinner after a little while, Hermione joining a still tearful Ginny and Draco striding off towards the Head Table, where an extra two places had been set on either side of Snape, one for each he and Harry, who was already chatting away happily in the ear of an annoyed Severus Snape.

Hermione noticed that Severus wasn't at dinner. She wasn't the only one who did, either. She noticed that Snape kept glancing regularly at their table. She met his gaze. His eyebrows quirked slightly in question. She shrugged her shoulders in answer. He frowned and returned to his meal. She felt bad telling him she didn't know where Severus was, but felt that Severus wouldn't be pleased with her if he got a talking to from his "uncle".

After the meal had finished, Hermione hurried to the Head Table, where Snape, Draco, and Harry were already softly talking. When she approached them, Snape nodded to her in greeting. "Perhaps we should finish this in my office," he mused.

The walk there was completely silent. Everyone was obviously lost in their own thoughts.

Hermione's were stuck on Rose and Harry. She wondered if she really had any reason to be concerned or if maybe Harry was right. It was possible that this Rose girl was as harmless as Harry thought her to be. But then again, she was a vampire.

She also wondered what Harry and Draco had to do with the potion that Snape had told her they were going to have to prepare. She didn't ponder this too long, though, because she knew she'd be getting answers soon.

As soon as they were in Snape's office, the door shut behind them.

Snape sat behind his desk, leaned back casually in his chair, and steepled his fingers, resting his chin against the tips of them. He looked more relaxed than Hermione had ever seen him. He sighed and began to talk.

"Harry, that boy you met today... that wasn't my nephew."

"I knew it," Harry said, grinning. "You have a son."

Snape's lips quirked up at the corners. "Hardly. I've been very careful to not grace this world with any of my own offspring."

"We don't need to hear that you've been practicing safe sex, Severus. Just get to the point," Draco drawled, dropping himself ungracefully in one of the chairs on the opposite side of Snape's own.

Snape glared at him. "He's me," he said.

"Draco? I will admit that he's like you in some ways, but-" Harry cut off and his eyes doubled in size. "Oh. Oh, my Merlin. Holy fucking shit that explains so much."

Snape nodded. "I had a bit of an accident with a potion. Hermione has been put in charge of 'Russel Snape'. He was sorted into Gryffindor and is my brother's son."

"Potion accident," Harry said, nodding. "Not surprising, I guess. You want the four of us to develop a potion to send you back with."

"Wrong," Snape said. "I will admit that you and Draco are very good at potions, but you're job is going to be very different. Hermione and I will be working on the potion. Draco, gathering the ingredients is going to take as much work as creating the potion. As I recall, your father mentioned to me one day that you were rather adept with collecting ingredients."

Draco shrugged. "Yeah, I'm alright."

Snape turned to Hermione. "I haven't exactly told you everything."

"What do you mean?"

Snape sighed. "The presence of my younger self in the present will have a rather horrible effect on the past, obviously, therefore effecting the present itself."

Hermione caught on immediately to what he meant. "The Dark Lord."

Snape nodded carefully. "Yes. Harry will have never destroyed the last few horcruxes and the Dark Lord will be able to return."

"Shit," Harry said again.

"Yipee," Draco said sarcastically. "Voldie's coming back!"

"Shut up," Snape snapped, leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk. "Harry, this is important information for you. They won't be the same objects this time around. It's rather complicated. The horcruxes that you did destroy were destroyed for good. That means in the present, future and past."

"So he can't use those same objects."

"Precisely."

"Damn." Harry collapsed in the seat beside Draco. "That's not good news."

"Death Eaters will be returning to life. Some will wake up one morning, mysteriously outside of Azkaban. Dementors will be returning. Vampires and Giants and Werewolves and everything of the sort will once again find themselves pledging their loyalties to the dark side. And, eventually, if we don't send me back in time, the Dark Lord will, in fact, return."

"And people said you didn't help during the war," Draco scoffed. "Merlin, Severus! It sounds as though you were the one who won it for us!"

"No, that was definitely Harry," Hermione said. "Severus helped out enough, though, that he had the ability to make or break the war for us. He's here now, which means that we will inevitable lose the war."

"I'm glad you understand this, Hermione," Harry said, "because I don't."

"Severus is here, not there. The sword? All of the information that we got from Severus? We won't have ever received. All of those lives he saved? They will all die." Hermione paled in realization, glancing at Snape. "Oh, my god," she whispered. "Harry."

"What?" he asked.

Snape only nodded. "The night he was moved. I was there. The Death Eaters knew would have known right away that Harry was with Hagrid had I not drawn their attention away from him."

"You mean I'm going to die?"

"Possibly," Snape said softly. "You might die before then, though. You might die by broomstick when you're eleven. Or by werewolf attack when you're thirteen. Or perhaps by Barty Crouch Jr. when you're fourteen."

"Have I ever told you thank you?"

Snape shook his head. "Now is not the time. I need you to go talk to Dumbledore. He'll have more information on the horcruxes. Hermione, stay here. Draco, I'll call you back when we need you again."

"Alright," Draco said. He stood and, after helping a shaking Harry up, guided the Gryffindor out of the office.

"You saved me, too," Hermione said when they left. "The night Lupin turned. And I'm sure that's not the only time something you did affected me in a very positive way."

"Let's not think about that," Snape muttered. "Let's go down into my lab. I have some ideas that you may be able to add to."

"Alright," Hermione said softly, head still reeling with the importance of what she had just been told.

A/N: Rose Obitus? The past is unravelling? Harry's life, and possibly even Hermione's, hangs in the balance? The Dark Lord might return? Harry has to find more horcruxes? What?

So much going on! Please review and let me know what you think! Ask questions! I may or may not answer them! :P Really, though. Ask and I will answer what I can.

I am already starting on the next chapter, so expect that to go up in the next few days!

Thanks so very very much for reading, all you lovely people out there. :)

-Rayne