A/N: Yo yo yo. So I know I promised this won't be a romance, and I stick to that promise. Just a heads up though: the main focus of the remainder of this story will be centered around a soon-to-be-introduced plot element that is much darker and p'raps a little disturbing to some of you. Not sure. I'm not changing the rating though, it's not that bad. But it will be a tad different, just to let you know.

Disclaimer: It's all JK's…zut alors.

Chapter 12

Hermione and Harry trekked wearily down to the dungeons for double potions the following morning after breakfast. Hermione was not looking forward to this lesson, partly due to the fact that she would have to deal with Malfoy and his cronies for the entire hour and a half, partly due to the fact that she was not yet awake enough to perfect her acting skills and make her seeming hatred of Snape convincing.

They were the first two to reach the room. Harry, already feeling Snape would hate him even more, since he hadn't even achieved two Os on his potions O.W.L.s, had desperately wanted to arrive on time. Subsequently, they even beat Snape to his own classroom.

They took seats a couple rows back from the front of the room and on the far side from Snape's desk. Hermione noted with curiosity who from their year had chosen to continue on with potions. There were so few students that they were all just combined in to one sixth year potions N.E.W.T. class. Terry Boot and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw entered and sat down together; from Hufflepuff were Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Ernie McMillan; Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini from Slytherin; and from Gryffindor, only herself, Harry, and Dean Thomas. A couple last minute stragglers, Ravenclaws Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein, of whom Hermione was not overly fond, finished off the roster. Snape entered the class at the last minute, class list in hand, peering menacingly at the faces before him.

Seemingly satisfied with the group of people, he began the speech that Hermione was getting sick of; the 'this is N.E.W.T. work now so get it together' speech that every teacher had given thus far.

"Welcome," Snape began in a quiet but commanding voice, 'to newt potions. From this point forward, you are finished exploding cauldrons. There will be no more daydreaming and misreading of instructions. One wrong move in here could get you removed for the rest of term. Another wrong move could land you in the infirmary for three weeks- if you are not already dead when you arrive."

He paused to give an ominous glare to all the students. "We shall be dealing with potions that are more dangerous than you could possibly imagine. There will be no more simple second year concoctions; you should be able to do such things in your sleep. To be accepted in to this class comes with great responsibility. When you enter your final year of Hogwarts, I expect five of you will not continue with this class; another three will be asked to leave. But we shall see; perhaps the fourteen of you will prove to be less of dunderheads than I believe you to be."

He shot a look that was primarily aimed at Harry that clearly said, 'but I doubt it.'

"Very well then. Everyone gather your things and stand up. I will be rearranging your seats as I see fit. Sitting how you choose will only encourage goofing off and that is not an option for this class."

He perused the roster and pointed with his wand to each set of two desks as he called off names.

"Goldstein and Parkinson here. Finch-Fletchley and Patil here. Potter and Boot, here."

He continued with the next set of work stations.

"Corner and Abbott over there. McMillan and Zabini next to them. Bones and Thomas on the other side." He paused again, glancing around the room. "Which leaves…Granger and Malfoy, in the back," he stated delicately. Hermione was floored. First of all, she expected Snape, if he was feeling vindictive as ever, to place Harry with Malfoy. Second…well, there wasn't really a second, but she couldn't understand why he put her with Malfoy. She stood in place for several seconds.

"Miss Granger? We haven't got all day now," Snape said in a mocking tone. Hermione blushed furiously as the Slytherins sniggered. She squared her shoulders and, with a grimace, took her seat beside Malfoy. He didn't say anything, just glanced at her and rolled his eyes. It was that moment she realized how difficult this would be for her. She just was not used to Snape being Snapey again. But, she supposed, if he had put her with someone she liked, it could begin to look odd that he hadn't at least tortured one Gryffindor. And Malfoy wasn't bad at potions; if he could keep his bloody mouth shut.

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Hermione was pleasantly surprised as the lesson drew to a close. Malfoy hadn't really spoken beyond what was necessary and, instead, focused intently on the front of the classroom. Snape warned them that the entire first three classes would strictly be a revision of technique and theory. They would not begin brewing until he was positive their minds hadn't completely rusted over from the summer vacation. Again, he shot a look at Harry who ignored him and continued copying notes. Hermione was proud of Harry who seemed to have realized that he would have to start ignoring Snape's jibes if he were to do well in class and not be kicked out after a month.

School fell in to its usual paces for Hermione. Lots of studying time outside of class, but she made sure to make time to hang out with Ron and Harry. The third week of school, Katie Bell approached Harry and Ron about quidditch practice and tryouts for the team. And so, Hermione spent a lot of her time reading and studying outdoors watching the Gryffindor team practice or just watching Harry and Ron fly around and toss the quaffle back and forth.

Before she knew it, two months of school had passed and it was Halloween time. She smiled fondly and she reminisced about five years prior with Harry and Ron, when the three of them faced the troll in the girl's bathroom. That was the night the three of them really forged their friendship and Hermione learned to loosen up a little about rule-breaking.

It was the night of the Halloween feast. Dumbledore, in his ever-constant attempt at making the feasts a little livelier, declared this year to be a costumed feast, for all who wished to participate. Hermione smirked as she thought of little muggle children who dressed up for Halloween, often times as a witch or wizard. Hermione had done so herself, at the age of seven. The irony of the whole situation made her burst out laughing. Fortunately, she was the only one in the dorm room still and thus was spared looking like a stark-raving lunatic.

She gave herself a last glance-over in the mirror and was content with her appearance as a devil. She had chosen a deep red set of velvety robes and her head was adorned with a very muggle-esque pair of horns on a headband. She had magically attached a pointed tail to the back of the robes.

She hurriedly descended in to the common room where Harry and Ron were giving each other a last look. Harry was a leprechaun. Ron was a vampire. Also a rather common choice among muggle children, Hermione speculated silently. She didn't particularly want to explain the madness of trick-or-treat to the muggle-ignorant Ron Weasley.

"Lookin' nice boys, lookin' nice," Hermione teased them. They grinned goofily and the three headed down to the feast. Hermione had always loved the Halloween feast. She loved pumpkin juice and pumpkin pasties and everything with pumpkin. So this was a good time of year for her to eat her fill.

There was a gaggle of students hanging around in the entrance hall, investigating each other's costumes or waiting for friends to come down. They spotted Ginny who had charmed her hair black and was sporting a pair of cat ears as well as Neville who had what looked to be a huge clear elastic ball around himself.

"What exactly are you, Neville?" Ron asked.

"A remembrall," Neville grinned and indicated his red robes, signifying he had forgotten something. There was a general chuckle and they continued in to the Great Hall. They reached the doors when Hermione gave a start as a low voice spoke quietly in her ear.

"A costume, Granger, or your true personality come to light?"

She turned and came face-to-face with Malfoy. She saw no malice in his eyes, merely amusement. Rather than become defensive as Harry or Ron would have done, if they'd heard, she gave a small quirky smile and a noncommittal shrug of the shoulders and proceeded to the Gryffindor table. The entire hall was decked out in Halloween colors and decorations rather than the usual house colors and banners.

It was an enjoyable evening all the way around. There was lots of food, there were crackers, many of which, Hermione noticed, seemed to come from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the ghosts provided some entertainment throughout the evening as was tradition (everyone always enjoyed the recount of how Nearly Headless Nick nearly lost his head, with the Bloody Baron playing the role of the evil axe wielding villain and the Fat Friar narrating), and they were just sitting down to dessert when a scene, unnoticed by the students, took place at the head table.

Snape, who had not been present the whole evening, came through the door behind the head table. Stumbled, more appropriately. McGonagall, sitting to Dumbledore's right, stood up in surprise.

"Severus, you're hurt!" she exclaimed. While there were no obvious signs of injury, he was practically gasping for breath and seemed to have problems walking. He waved away her concern and leaned down to speak confidentially with Dumbledore.

"We have a problem," he told him in a hurried whisper. "I need to see you and the Granger girl in your office as soon as the feast is over." Dumbledore nodded his assent and Snape left. The feast continued as though nothing has occurred. Dumbledore smiled grimly, wondering what Severus had gotten himself in to now.

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"A wonderful feast, I'm sure you'll all agree," Dumbledore declared warmly as people were finishing up dessert. "I ask the prefects and head students to take extra care while performing final patrol duties this evening, as the spirit of Halloween may encourage some students." His eyes twinkled.

"We'll meet you upstairs soon, mate," Ron said goodbye to Harry and, clutching his stomach, bemoaned his prefect duties for what must have been the hundredth time.

He and Hermione disappeared down different corridors, keeping an eye out for misbehavior and students escaping curfew. A voice suddenly called out from behind her.

"Miss Granger, how wonderful to see you performing your prefect duties diligently as ever," Dumbledore smiled. "However, I'm afraid I shall need to pull you away from your duties and speak with you in my office."

Mildly bewildered, but curious as ever, Hermione nodded and followed Dumbledore.

"May I ask what you needed to see me about?" she inquired.

"Just a…matter…that has come up," Dumbledore murmured evasively and Hermione understood. He couldn't talk in case there was a chance someone was listening in. She kept her mouth closed until they reached the stone gargoyle blocking Dumbledore's office. As they ascended the stone spiral staircase, Dumbledore told her.

"Professor Snape has requested both of our presence here. He did not say why but that it was urgent."

When he opened the door to his office, Snape was pacing it worriedly. It was barely closed before Snape launched in to a jumbled story of sorts, which Hermione could make no sense of.

"You were right, Albus, of course you were. I should have listened, my stupid pride got in the way and now I've created an impossible situation. I should have done what you said, you're always one step ahead, you know-…" Dumbledore cut him off.

"Slow down, dear boy, slow down. I can't make any sense of you. Explain what's happened."

Hermione had never seen Snape so confused and lost before. It frightened her.

"It's him. He saw," Snape emphasized.

"Saw what?" Dumbledore persisted, looking more worried with each passing moment.

"Her!"

Hermione stood bewildered as the two men stared at her.

Dumbledore stared hard at Snape. "You are telling us that Voldemort," Snape flinched ever so slightly, "saw Miss Granger in your mind?" Snape closed his eyes and nodded miserably.

"It was only a second, but it was enough. I had to make up a story to explain the image he saw. There was nothing else I could say," he said in what was almost a pleading tone. "It's bad, Albus."

"He knows now that you kept her over the summer?" Dumbledore asked. Snape shook his head. "What did he see, Severus?"

Hermione's mind raced through what memories he might have that would not be able to be explained from school. The food fight in his kitchen, her helping to heal his wounds, eating breakfast with her in a bathrobe…

"She had fainted. She was lying in my bed, I had just retrieved some calming draught and was preparing to wake her."

Hermione felt an unpleasant sensation working it's way through her body. How many explanations could one really make up for that? Not many.

Dumbledore's voice was calculating.

"So now, Voldemort believes…"

"That I've been summoning her to my rooms since the start of the school year to 'fulfill my wanton needs and desires as a death eater,'" Snape finished for him.

"And he became angry?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Not at my actions, but that I did so without his consent first," Snape spat, obviously disgusted by the entire thing. "I had to make it sound like revenge that she escaped last summer. Now he's positively thrilled about the whole thing." Hermione was really starting to feel woozy.

"There's a catch, am I right?" she asked. Snape seemed to have forgotten she was there and turned in surprise to look at her. "I mean…I visit you a few times, you blackmail me to silence, Voldemort never knows the difference if it's actually happening. Right? What am I missing?"

"You're missing the part where the Dark Lord doesn't entirely trust me," Snape said. "I'm too valuable to get rid of, but too suspicious to fully trust."

"What does he want you to do?" Dumbledore questioned, looking puzzled himself.

Snape grimaced. "He said to make sure she's there Tuesday night. He wants to send someone- Malfoy, I expect- to see for himself and report back."

"But even if you fool him one night…" Hermione muttered faintly.

Snape nodded. "He'll continue, just to make sure."

There was an awkward silence around the room. Dumbledore was staring off in to space, Snape would shoot periodic, furtive glances at Hermione, and Hermione was sitting in stunned silence. Finally, she spoke up.

"What do I have to do?"

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A/N: Well there we have another chapter! Two in relatively quick succession. Yay for me.

So…not liking this new element to the plot? Corny? Brilliant? Gross (well yeah, but that's death eater mentality we're talking about here)?

PLEASE review…I'm a little nervous about how this chappie went over.

Cheers!

Lexi