Summary: A time travel story. When fifth-year Severus Snape tries to create a forward time-travelling elxir to prove his worthiness to Lord Voldemort, he is disappointed to find that his creation is worthless. Or is it?

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and fictional places do not belong to me; I am merely borrowing them for playtime before (respectfully) putting them back. Thank you, JKR, for allowing such things to happen.

Pairings/Main Characters Hermione Granger and Severus Snape, the other Severus Snape. A cast of other canon characters and couple of OFCs as well.

Warnings: This story is rated NC-17/MA, and it is not suitable for children under age 18. It is Alternate Universe, and includes strong language, lemons (graphic sex), violence and mention of violence/torture, unresolved sexual tension, and major character death.

Thank You: To the village that has raised this baby over the course of several chapters: Roo, Tom Without, Allee, Lauren, Nathaniel Cardeau and ThornedHuntress. Additional thanks to my current amazing "Team Tyche," who have listened to me bounce ideas and have cleaned up my writing, making this story so, so much more than it would have been otherwise: Dragoon811, BSC_AG, AdelaideArcher and Stgulik.

A thousand further thank yous to the extremely talented SusanMarieR, who created the official banner and cover art for this piece.


SEVERUS, REDUX
By: TycheSong


Chapter Twelve: (In which Hermione frets and then eavesdrops with Severus)

Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, 23 July 1996, 1:36 PM

Hermione glared, unseeing, at one of the bookcases of Number Twelve's library, a book forgotten in her lap. Starting a…whatever she was doing…with Severus was quite probably the worst decision she could possibly make, Hermione fretted. There were more than a few reasons not to and all of them were fairly good. Even setting aside the fact that it would no doubt horrify her potions professor, causing no small amount of awkwardness in class, it was still a terrible idea.

Her best friends would no doubt hate him based on his last name alone; if Ron's behaviour toward her last boyfriend in fourth year was anything to judge by, their opinion would only go down from there. Not to mention, there was a war brewing outside. The world seemed to have gone absolutely insane in the last two-and-a-half weeks; a new Minister had been installed, shops had been destroyed and plundered, Dementor sightings were becoming commonplace and people by the dozens were turning up murdered or vanishing entirely.

No doubt this year would be the most dangerous yet for her and her friends. Death Eaters and those in their control had infiltrated Hogwarts three out of the last five years—and that wasn't even including second year when Voldemort's pet basilisk had gotten loose, or third year when an alleged murderer had been running about the grounds unchecked. People liked to claim Hogwarts was the most secure place in the UK, but so far Voldemort had proven that breaching its walls was almost laughably easy.

As if all that were not enough, it was undeniable that she was in a rather vulnerable emotional state right now, as well. Weren't people always saying that the worst time to begin a relationship was when one was emotionally unstable? She was sure she had read as much somewhere.

Her three afternoon meetings with the professor concerning mental guards and enchantments had been both interesting and worrisome. If one was to hypothetically alter someone's memory so that it might eventually be retrieved, she had been informed, there was no earthly reason why, if they were caught, those same memories would not be retrievable by Voldemort. One might as well skip the idea entirely if one was going to go into hiding either way.

On the other hand, if one were to Obliviate the memories entirely, and then enchant new ones in their place, they would never be retrievable again—by anyone. She would be more or less losing her parents forever, and that was if she got it right. If she didn't…the thought had made her blood run cold. She could give her parents brain damage. It would be no better than murder.

Hermione considered herself an accomplished witch, especially for her age, but having spoken to the professor about it, she knew she wasn't skilled enough to keep her parents safe. It would take years of study and mental practice that she just didn't have. The bone-crushing fear and desperation must have shown on her face, because amazingly, he'd taken pity on her.

Something had flickered briefly in his eyes—a past regret, perhaps?—and then Professor Snape had said quietly, "You will be returning home tomorrow, Miss Granger. You are well enough that it is time. I, too, am to return to my home, and Atreus to Number Twelve. In one week's time, however, I shall come to your house, and you will tell me what you have decided." His gaze was steady, unflinching.

"I will arrange for a Portkey, to take them into hiding. Whether or not they go with their memories intact will be your choice. If you decide that they would be better off if they had no knowledge of you or the magical world, I shall do the Memory Charms myself, and you will likely never see them again."

Hermione's lip had trembled. "May I ask sir…what…what would you do?"

He responded evenly, "I would relieve them of their memories, were it me, but I am not considered a sentimental man by most."

Hermione had left his office then in tears and had fought with herself the whole week over what to do. When he had arrived, appearing rather suddenly a week later in the middle of the night, Hermione had merely nodded, tears leaking down her face. It had been kind of him not to make her say it out loud. When he had informed her that he would be taking her to the Burrow to spend the rest of the summer, Hermione had found herself shaking her head rather viciously.

"No! Please…I don't want them all feeling sorry for me. I hate being pitied and Molly has enough to worry about as it is. I don't want to explain that I chose to orphan myself. Please, can we just…not tell them? I can just stay here and then someone else can take me there later in the summer for school supplies and a ride to the train platform?"

He had studied her silently for several long moments and then finally, "I'm afraid I cannot just leave you here by yourself for a month, Miss Granger. I'm sure you consider yourself to be quite grown up, but I'm rather unconvinced that we would not find you in a shambles when we tried to retrieve you for school. I do not believe, however, that there would be an objection if you stayed at Number Twelve, instead. There has been someone stationed there at all times, of late, to keep an eye on Atreus."

If she lived to be a thousand years old, no one would ever be able to convince Hermione Granger again that Professor Severus Snape was a bad man.

Which brought her back to her Severus and whatever-it-was they were doing. She was feeling overly lonely and lost; needy of approval and comfort. She was a textbook case for being at a Bad Time, especially when everything else was thrown in. She couldn't quite manage to convince herself to tell him that, though.

She really did like him. He was clever, sarcastically funny, and he had the most incredible hands and voice. When he smiled, his eyes seemed to actually light up, despite being so dark it was difficult to tell where the pupils of his eyes ended and the irises began. He was graceful, too, and smelled really good. Harry and Ron had always just sort of…smelled.

Hermione chewed on her lip, thinking about it. She wished she did know what she and Severus were defined as. She desperately wanted to ask him, but she just as desperately didn't want to be that girl. The clingy sort that was always needy and pestering a man about how he felt. Hermione dropped her face into her arms with a groan. Gods, she was turning into the worst sort of clichéd ninny. They had only kissed twice yesterday, had hardly spoken since, and she was probably over-analysing again.

Of course, he chose that moment to suddenly reappear after abruptly leaving her to her own devices after lunch. "What's wrong?" he asked casually, dropping into an open armchair.

"Nothing," Hermione answered, slightly sullenly. "Where have you been?"

His brows lifted in surprise and he said cautiously, as if afraid of an explosion, "My room."

Feeling her grumpy mood firmly take hold, Hermione shot him another Look. "Doing what?"

To her surprise, his cheeks tinted with the faintest colour. "Nothing. What do you care?"

Frustrated, Hermione burst out, "I don't know! It seemed an appropriate question for polite conversation! What are we doing, anyway?"

Severus' eyes widened in what appeared to be confused trepidation. She had seen that expression before. It was the exact look that Ron adopted whenever he was in trouble with his mother. Excellent. Hermione mentally rolled her eyes. That was so exactly the feeling she wanted to generate in the boy she fancied.

"Ahhh…sitting in the library?" He finally answered, still looking a bit scared of her. Clearly he knew it wasn't the right answer but wasn't sure what else to say.

Hermione had to forcibly tell herself to calm down and not make it worse. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'm just…tired of being cooped up, I suppose, and—"

"Hermione? Atreus?" Tonks stuck her head into the library and nodded shortly, stepping the rest of the way in. "I should've known the two of you would be in here again. There is going to be an Order meeting here tonight and I am to inform you both that you are not invited. You will be staying above stairs the entire time, or you will be in a lot of trouble, is that understood?"

Hermione felt herself nod obediently along with Severus. A look in his direction revealed a smooth expression, but she could almost see the wheels turning in his head. He was obviously going to try to listen in, anyway. Tonks, however, seemed to be completely oblivious, and took their nodding at face value.

Not that her inattention was surprising, really. Something was clearly on her mind, of late. She had spent the majority of the last week with them and had been uncharacteristically quiet and…well…ordinary the entire time. Her hair had remained a rather mousy-brown and her eyes had taken on a melancholy, haunted cast to them. Hermione had tried to ask her about it once, only to have Tonks wave her off and mention vaguely that she was "fine," and Hermione should "not worry."

Perhaps someone had gone missing, or died? Perhaps whatever had been bothering her the last week or more would be discussed tonight. Hearing that the meeting was to be unequivocally closed to them had only convinced Hermione more fully that it was one she wanted to sit in on. She just wasn't sure how. There wasn't really a place to hide in the kitchen—they would have to listen at the door and hope that no one would suddenly come up the stairs. What she wouldn't give for Harry's invisibility cloak, she thought, frustrated.

After Tonks had retreated back into the room she had set herself up in lately, Hermione looked at Severus again. "We're going to at least try to find out what's going on, right?"

He nodded, his expression determined. "Of course."


Number 12, Grimmauld Place, 23 July 1996, 5:40 PM

Severus and Hermione crouched underneath a table near the top of the kitchen stairs, peaking through the tablecloth at the shimmering barrier that separated them from the promised meeting of the Order.

"Damn, that's a silencing ward. We won't be able to listen in with that," Severus intoned quietly.

Hermione tried not to feel disappointed. "Well, I guess we should have expected as much. I mean, Dumbledore's no fool; he had to know we'd try. What I'd like to know is what or who is so secret and dangerous that he's taking these sorts of precautions to keep it from us?"

Severus lifted a cynical eye-brow. "You don't believe that he might be upfront about wanting to keep the 'children' out of it?"

Hermione snorted. "No. I don't. He's been giving Harry, Ron and me rules and then leaving conveniently available ways to break them since our first year. We've been practically shoved into breaking them 'accidentally-on-purpose' more than once. If he's honestly locking us out this time, and not just putting on a show of being a good headmaster, something serious is happening at that meeting."

Severus' expression darkened slightly. "I knew he favoured Gryffindors when they got into trouble—that's never been a secret, but you're saying he actually encourages you to break the rules he sets?"

"Well, not all of the rules, and never in so many words. He just has a habit of making a point to say that we are specifically not to do something, but then doesn't ward things properly to keep us out, and then makes it rather clear that he never expected us to listen in the first place. What are they going to talk about, I wonder?" Hermione's voice rose nearly out of her whisper.

"Well, looks like we don't get to find out," Severus hissed back, "and we should probably get out of here before we get caught."

Taking a disappointed breath, Hermione nodded and started to crawl out from under the table, only to duck back behind the hanging tablecloth hurriedly as she heard the front door open. Severus let out a frustrated sigh next to her. Their escape would have to wait another few minutes, it seemed, as what had to be the last few Order members trickled in. Hermione felt herself shrink back slightly and then her mouth fell open as Professor Snape came into view.

Walking with him was a figure in lustrous, thick, midnight-blue robes with such a deeply-set cowl that the person's features were nearly completely obscured. They moved to the side slightly, revealing an identically dressed figure behind them. Unspeakables! She recognized the dark blue robes instantly from her research on the Ministry. The book she had taken out had been incredibly unhelpful about the Department of Mysteries, but it had included a picture of the traditional concealing robes that the Unspeakables wore.

The professor had brought Unspeakables to the Order meeting! Hermione clutched at Severus' arm, her eyes wide. Perhaps they were here about what had happened in the Department of Mysteries three weeks ago? Maybe they knew more about the prophesies, or how to bring Sirius back from the odd archway? There was no doubt in Hermione's mind that they were what Dumbledore was trying to keep her and Severus away from.

Professor Snape was speaking quietly with the one next to him, his head bent closer to the side of her cowl and his voice magically muffled. It was a woman, Hermione was almost sure of it. The way she moved, the way her head tilted towards him and nodded slightly in understanding. Judging by the more purposeful stride and broader frame, the Unspeakable a few steps behind, however, was male. A few moments later, he threw the hood of his cowl back, confirming her suspicions.

He was very pretty, she decided, more pretty than was really fair for a man. He had thick, curling dark hair and very straight, patrician features. His natural expression, even just standing about, seemed to be an easy, self-confident smile that made it clear that he was probably well aware of his good looks. No doubt he thought himself to be horribly charming, as well.

His partner's hand suddenly snaked out from her robes—it was a small, slender hand, encased in a feminine leather glove—and gripped Professor Snape's arm. Her head tilted towards his as she said something to him, her stance urgent.

The professor listened, a look of concentration on his face, than his gaze suddenly lifted and locked precisely on where she and Severus were hidden. There was no mistaking that he knew they were there—she could feel his gaze boring through the tablecloth at her. Now Severus was clutching her hand, too, radiating horrified tension.

For a long moment, the professor stared at their hiding place. Then, surprisingly, his head gave the barest of tilts and, with a sweeping motion, he ushered the Unspeakable on his arm down the stairs. The male Unspeakable started to follow at a lazy stroll, drawing his wand almost idly and twirling it about his fingers as if bored. He paused at the door to the stairs, waiting until he was the only one left in the room, and then flicked a knowing smirk in their direction.

Hermione's breath caught. He hadn't missed a thing! The professor had, for unknown reasons, decided to not punish them for trying to spy, but who knew what this man might do? The man arched a brow and continued toward the stairs. Almost idly his wand flicked towards the door frame and the silencing ward disintegrated. Humming softly, still twirling the wand through his fingers, he descended, leaving the door cracked in a clear invitation.

Her mouth still open, Hermione turned to look incredulously at Severus. He shrugged minutely, then crawled out from under the table and made for the doorway, leaving her to scurry after him to listen.


A/N: I wonder what they will hear...? I know, I know, I'm mean and evil. You'll find out next chapter, which doesn't end on a cliffie, I swear! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing everyone! I really appreciate it so much!

PSA: I'm going to be holding off on posting the next chapter until this story all caught up on Granger Enchanted (where it's hanging out on chapter eight). So it should be showing up in about three-four weeks. Just a reminder, I always post on The Maple Bookshelf about two-three days ahead of anywhere else, then FFN, Live Journal, and Granger Enchanted get updated together. AO3 is trailing woefully behind-I tend to only update there sporadically.