Disclaimer: All JKR's. (plot (mostly) excluded I suppose)

Chapter 10

Grimmauld Place was somber upon Hermione's return. News of the takeover had spread within the Order, and more people had congregated to hear the complete story from Percy. Those who worked for the Ministry were warned to be on their guard, as Voldemort's people probably had their suspicions regarding membership in the Order of the Phoenix. That evening, Dumbledore took Hermione aside.

"I think it is time, given the brazenness of Voldemort's move, to begin doling out what we have of the potion which you and Severus have been so diligently working on. I worry about those among us who work in close contact with the Minister's office."

Hermione pondered a few moments. "We have perhaps thirty doses."

"And a dose is effective for how long?"

"Six hours, definitely. We're trying to work out how to increase the potency for up to twelve at a time, but we had to delay our research for more tears, we didn't want to risk wasting any."

"Very well; if possible, I would like to provide Arthur with some, I worry most about his position; he is well known to be friends with Harry and myself, and Lucius Malfoy has long had a personal feud with him. Also, if she will consent to take it with little knowledge of its origins, Madam Bones. As head of the judicial dealings within the Ministry, ridding himself of her will go a long way towards enabling Voldemort to begin exerting his rule on the enforcement department as well."

"The aurors?" Hermione asked. "Would many of them work for him?"

"Kingsley is quite influential among them. Many would remain loyal to him when it came to an open conflict between Voldemort and the Order," Dumbledore told her. "Some, however, enjoy their power a little too much. Much like the dementors, they would change sides in a heartbeat, merely because Voldemort's Ministry would enable them to openly use their powers in new ways, against innocents, muggles, muggle-borns, and the like."

He paused and sighed.

"I fear that, should Madam Bones fall, the remainder of the Ministry will fall quickly behind. Until he has full control, Voldemort can not risk openly attacking her position through the Minister, which makes me believe that she will be the next target for assassination. I am pinning my hopes that, should that occur, it will be a swift attempt at assassination, not a kidnap and torture plot which is all too common for him. The potion is a wonderful thing, but will only help us if it is in that way that he attempts to have her killed."

"Was Professor Moody able to get in touch with her?"

Dumbledore smiled faintly at her use of the word 'professor,' considering she had never actually sat in a class with the man. "She has consented to meet him this evening, discreetly. I will not show myself until he gives me the go ahead; I don't want to give Voldemort any more incentive to rid himself of her by believing her to be an Order member."

"When should I bring you the potion?"

"Tomorrow morning?" she nodded. "If Amelia consents to use it, I will send some with Arthur tomorrow, he will find some way to get it to her surreptitiously."

Shortly after talking with Dumbledore, Hermione returned to Prince Manor, contemplating just how much less complicated her life would be had she never received a Hogwarts letter.

She woke early the next morning and carefully portioned five doses of the potion each into two separate vials. She then completed her necessary brewing tasks for the morning and headed to Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore was already there waiting for her, sitting smilingly at the kitchen table with Arthur and Percy Weasley.

"Good morning, Hermione," Arthur said warmly. "I appreciate what you're doing for myself and Madam Bones," he indicated the flasks in her hands. "I understand that soon you'll be able to finish vast supplies of this for everyone?"

"Very soon," she promised. "It's already started. We're just waiting on-," she eyed Percy, not sure how much he knew, "a few additional resources," she finished.

"Fabulous," Dumbledore regarded her kindly. "Amelia has agreed, and so Arthur will be delivering one vial for her use." Arthur stood up, they all said their farewells and good lucks, and he was gone. "And now, Percy has been very patiently sitting here in the dark for some time now, and so I will say this: Percy, this is the point at which you may turn away. I trust that the membership and location of this group shall remain secret with you if you should choose not to join us. But if you wish to remain, there are a couple of things which you need to know and understand before tonight, or you may be in for a nasty shock later."

Percy looked suddenly apprehensive. He considered seriously for several long moments, but he did not waver in his decision from the day before. "I'm in," he said. "I want to help."

"Very well. Then we shall start with this potion which your father has taken to Madam Bones. Miss Granger?"

She looked startled, but quickly fell into lecture and explanation mode. "It's a potion which protects the person who takes it from the killing curse. Currently, it has an effectiveness of six hours, maybe up to ten depending on factors like age, weight, and magical ability. Six, to be safe, however. It was over a year in the making, and was perfected in April shortly following our safe return from being captives of You-Know-Who."

Percy had listened to this entire explanation with his mouth hanging wide open. "You- you made this?" he asked, flabbergasted. Hermione shot a quick look at Dumbledore, who nodded encouragingly.

"Not quite- I helped in the latter stages mostly. The principal brewer was, of course, Professor Snape."

"Snape?" Percy's voice became higher pitched. "I thought he died a spy for You-Know-Who! Why would he spend all this time working on this potion?"

"He has been loyal to this side for sixteen years," Dumbledore interjected quietly. "And he is not dead."

"But- you gave a speech after it happened- and the Prophet…" Percy looked completely lost and confused.

"Think what we just told you," Hermione suggested calmly. "What he'd been working on for almost a year at that time. He knew his life was forfeit that night. His death was faked."

"Hold on," Percy held up a hand, thinking. "Hold on. Snape…what about all the other stuff the Prophet said about him? That he was killed for…hurting students…?" he looked decidedly uncomfortable now.

"We er…had to do a bit of playacting in between brewing the potion," Hermione said, "You-Know-Who sent Lucius Malfoy to ensure he was…you know," now she was uncomfortable. "As far as the death eaters knew, he was 'abusing' me and whatever else the Prophet said." Catching Percy's confused look, she elaborated. "Yes, the student in question was me, the paper just couldn't report it. We were able to complete the potion during the school year as a result of the situation though," she told him, "and he was able to sneak some to Harry, Ron, and myself the night we were to be killed."

Percy was silent and thoughtful.

"One last point," Dumbledore mentioned. "Draco Malfoy is on our side. He does not come regularly, but knows the location of this safe house should he ever need it."

Percy nodded. It didn't look like anything could shock him at this point.

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Hermione went to bed late that night, hoping that Snape might get home before she slept. At midnight though, she was too tired to stay awake, and she headed up to her room and went to sleep.

Some two hours later, she awoke to the sound of the door opening and closing, and a dim light filled the room. She blinked, eyes adjusting, and saw Snape approaching the side of her bed. She sat up.

"Sorry if I woke you," he murmured. "I thought you'd want to hear about the results of my trip though, and to know I was back."

"Absolutely," Hermione woke up a little more to those words, but yawned nonetheless. He raised his eyebrows.

"Perhaps it would be more prudent to catch up on things in the morning," he smirked at her. "Won't do me much good if you fall right back asleep."

She fumbled under the blanket, freeing her arm, and reached out and gripped his hand, preventing him from turning and leaving. "Don't go," she implored. "Please- I want to know how it went." He paused for a moment or two, judging whether or not she would stay awake longer than fifteen seconds. Seemingly satisfied, however, he conjured up a chair and took a seat next to the bed.

"I, of course, was forced to cut the last part of my quest short; however, the first part of it was successful enough to more than make up for it. Through a number of anonymous contacts, I located several apothecaries which deal primarily in rare and expensive, sometimes illegal, ingredients throughout parts of Europe and the Americas."

"And you were able to acquire more tears?"

"You remember how potent the one small vial which Albus gave me was?" she nodded. "All told, I have around ten times that amount. I've already stored it down in the lab."

Hermione gaped. "That must've been expensive!"

"Albus and I have our ways," Snape smirked furtively. "And it'll be enough for some…" he did some quick calculations, "five hundred doses of the potion, I think. Maybe more."

Hermione was wide awake now, grinning ear-to-ear. "That's wonderful," she said sincerely. "How long is it until the tears are added into the batch we just started brewing before you left?"

"Another four days," he assured her. "And in the meantime, we can begin another, even larger, quantity. I did not want to overestimate my chances when I began the new portion, but we now have more than enough to start at least twice that amount."

"And other than getting the tears- did the rest of the trip go alright?"

It was Snape's turn to yawn. "One of the apothecaries I visited the day you arrived was very suspicious and hard to convince about who I was."

Hermione frowned. "Phoenix tears aren't dangerous though. Why would he care?"

"Potions masters are very logical-minded people," he reminded her, "out of sheer necessity for what they do. If someone is going around, enquiring after large amounts of a particular, rare, expensive ingredient, it must be good for something, and if the person selling it doesn't know what it's good for, he's bound to wonder. Because of that though, I was even more paranoid when you knocked."

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly. He yawned again. "Now who needs to go to bed?" she asked wryly. He nodded and acknowledged the truth of her assessment.

"I need to get up early to go speak with Albus," he admitted. "It would be in my interests to get what sleep I can now." He frowned at Hermione's sudden look of anxiety, but did not comment. "Good night, Miss Granger."

"Good night, sir," she murmured softly as he retreated from the room, not sure if he even heard her.

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Hermione did not see Snape down in the lab the next morning; he was already gone to confer with Professor Dumbledore. She noted that he had already completed the essential tasks in the lab, and so she trudged back up the stairs and grabbed a quick breakfast from Harmony, brooding a bit about the direction in which that conversation was likely going.

It wasn't, in fact, until after lunch that Hermione saw Snape again. He returned looking weary and resigned, and he paid little heed to her attempts to engage him in a discussion of what the results of his conference had been. Finally, he snapped that he needed a couple more hours of sleep and she was left frustrated. She realized though, that he'd essentially changed over several different time zones in only a few short days and was probably very messed up on sleep, and then she felt bad for not considering this before.

In fact, when he reemerged later that afternoon, he did look physically better, but still had an air of avoidance to his speech, like he was skirting an issue that he needed to discuss, but didn't know how to go about it. Finally, she lost patience and said-

"You're going tonight, aren't you? After a horcrux?"

"Well ascertained, Miss Granger," his suddenly snide reply made Hermione frown. "And?"

"I- nothing," she snapped right back. "You seemed distracted, that's all. Thought you might have something you wanted to talk about."

A shadow passed over Snape's face and he paused. After a long moment, he spoke carefully. "The potion-," he began, but Hermione headed him off, temper running short.

"Professor Dumbledore already brought that up," she sighed wearily. Looking up, she saw a hard glint in Snape's eye, making him look fiercer than she'd seen in a long time.

"Good to see he has my affairs in order then." Hermione winced, realizing how her comment had sounded. Like Professor Dumbledore didn't expect him to survive.

"You know that's not why he mentioned it," she tried to backtrack, but feared it was too late. "He just needs to be sure that all of his bases are covered."

"His bases, indeed." Hermione had never heard Snape sound so bitter, and she was at a loss to its cause.

"He loves you," she spoke slowly. "Surely you don't think he'd throw your life away."

Snape eyed her for a moment, looking conflicted. But the look was gone so quickly, she thought she'd imagined it. He averted his gaze from her eyes. "Your naïve outlook on life is charming," he said mirthlessly. "This is a war."

Angry beyond measure, Hermione stood and made to leave the room. She paused in the doorway. "The abandonment of feeling in a time of crisis- what's left to fight for?"

And she turned and apparated, missing the stricken look on Snape's face.

Seconds later, she was storming into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, thoughtlessly and efficiently tearing down the protective charms which had been placed there to prevent just such an intrusion. As she walked in, Harry jumped to his feet.

"Hermione! Blimey, you scared-," she cut him off, staring directly at Dumbledore.

"Bring him back tonight, or I'll never forgive you."

Without waiting for a response, she turned heel and was gone.

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A/N: Okay, so massive amounts of homework couldn't keep me away 0:-) I'm very excited about this particular part of this story, so I'm having a hard time concentrating on other things (lucky for you readers- less lucky for my homework, haha)

Tell me what you think!

Cheers!