Disclaimer: Most characters and parts of the plot are JKs. Unrecognizable facets of either are mine. :-)

Chapter 12

Hermione slowly became aware of something touching the side of her face and then her forehead. She tried to shake it away, but found herself struggling to move at all. She froze at the sound of voices though.

"…starting to come around."

"About bloody time."

"Be nice, Severus, she's undertaken a lot of mental stress."

"And whose fault is that?"

Hermione finally managed to coax her eyes open, and her immediate thought was that this was all wrong. She wasn't supposed to be the one in the bed. Snape was. She frowned and fought the murky puddles into which her mind seemed to have congealed in order to ascertain what had happened.

Dumbledore was standing at her side, smiling brilliantly as ever. Snape sat in the chair which she herself had formerly occupied that night, looking perhaps paler than usual, but otherwise in good health.

"How do you feel, my dear?" Hermione blinked up at Dumbledore.

Well that was a strange question. How did she feel? Emotional, angry, bitter- she was alarmed as her mind went through a series of emotions that seemed to not quite be her own…but even as she began to panic, they slowly subsided and ebbed away. She was left with an odd sensation though.

"Full," she said slowly. "Like I've tried to cram too much into my brain."

Snape snorted. "Good heavens, is that was it takes to overwhelm that mind of yours?" Hermione just sneered at him and he paused, looking quite taken a back for a moment. Dumbledore laughed heartily.

"My, Severus, I hope her retention of your manners is not a permanent side effect!"

Hermione was finally able to fully wrap her mind around what she'd done. "How long was I out?"

"The better part of the night, actually. A good five or six hours, I would say." Hermione started.

"That wasn't quite what I was expecting," she admitted sheepishly.

Snape scoffed. "You probably could have killed yourself, you silly girl."

Dumbledore, however, held up a hand against Snape's rebuke. "No lasting harm is done and, indeed, Severus seems none the worse for wear after his experience." He gave Snape a stern look that might have been a reprimand for not expressing his own gratitude. Nonetheless, he let it go.

"I have to leave soon," he continued. "I am going to the Ministry this morning in the stead of yourself and Mssrs. Potter and Weasley."

"Do you think they'll try to arrest you again?" Hermione asked anxiously, but remembered the failed attempt to do so under Fudge and Umbridge during her fifth year.

"I daresay that may be their eventual design," Dumbledore acknowledged somberly. "But remember, the governors are still the same as before, despite the influence Voldemort is slowly extending over the rest of the Ministry. My guess (may I be proved wrong) is that they will convey the outcome of our meeting today to the 'minister,' and after that the events which will prove crucial to this coming term will begin to unfold."

"You think you'll be forced to leave Hogwarts?" Hermione read more into the statement than was said.

He smiled kindly. "What you must understand, my dear, is that my work now will lie with Harry; the events at the Ministry in the past week have proven that I can not afford to continue at the snail's pace with which I have moved for the past six years. It is in the best interests of most for me to relinquish my position to Minerva."

She frowned. "Why go through with this silly meeting at all then? Why not simply resign?"

"Ah, but then what would Voldemort think? If I suddenly and willingly abandon Hogwarts which I have fought so hard to protect for decades now…what could possibly be important enough to draw me elsewhere? Or would I merely be saving face in light of embarrassing circumstances regarding a traitorous teacher?" he glanced mirthfully at Snape, who scowled. "No, I will pretend to let the Ministry- Voldemort really- back me precisely where they want me. It will, indeed, free my time up remarkably to conduct some more, ah- personal business." His face hardened ever so slightly at the prospect of four more horcruxes to be hunted down.

"Well I wish you the best of luck, in any case," Hermione told him. "I'm sure no one will be happy when Harry doesn't show up today."

Dumbledore left shortly after that. He inquired after both of them once more, making sure that they felt fine physically and mentally, aside from Hermione's rather bizarre sensation of having a quite full mind. Once they assured him that they would be fine if left to their own devices, he took his leave and, with a twinkle of the eye as he regarded them, he turned and disapparated. Hermione and Snape were left alone.

He was watching her with a carefully schooled expression. It wasn't one of annoyance, per say- but it still made her a little uncomfortable. Did he resent the invasion of his mind which she had committed earlier today, even if it had potentially saved his life? Finally, he sighed.

"Whatever am I going to do with you?"

"I suppose a 'thank you' is out of the question then?" she asked wryly.

"It was dangerous," he said sharply.

"I'd do it again," she murmured quietly. "Without hesitation."

He was silent for several long moments after that. Then- "Why not tell Albus your idea? He's a trained legilimens." She shrugged uncomfortably.

"Somehow…it just didn't occur to me," she struggled to explain. "It just felt right that I should be the one, I don't know why. Maybe because you did the same for me recently; it was that, after my parents left, that gave me the idea, after all; and well…"

"Yes?"

"You reacted to me differently. You were raving when I got here but when I took your hand, you gripped it tightly, like you were aware of my presence here though you'd failed to acknowledge Professor Dumbledore's." She didn't mention what Dumbledore told her about eliciting a response from Snape in the cave by mentioning her and her threat. She shrugged again. "It was instinctive, I barely thought about what I was doing."

"That much," he said dryly, "is obvious." But the censure was gone from his voice, and his gaze on her was kindly.

"Can I ask you something, sir?" He motioned her to proceed. "Since my head feels oddly…full…does yours feel emptier than usual?" He stared at her dumbly for a few seconds before he let out a short bark of laughter.

"Lighter, I would say, not emptier." He seemed hesitant to ask his question. "What did you see?" he finally managed.

"Oh!" she hadn't even thought that that's what would bother him about her taking on his emotions. "Nothing really, at least not that I can remember. I felt more than I saw; fear, anger, hurt, guilt- and I still felt some of that when I woke up, but it's gone."

He seemed relieved. He left for a few seconds to go find something in the bathroom- when he returned, he handed her a vial. "I don't know if it'll help, but it's worth a try." She took it without question and drank quickly. Immediately, her head felt more normal, but a little fuzzy now. She fought to keep her eyes open.

"Oh, it's combined with a sleeping draught as well," he smirked at her expression of tired outrage. "You really should get some more rest."

She could do little but mutter indignantly as she drifted back into the realm of the unconscious. She was vaguely aware, however, of a blanket being tucked around her shoulders and a soft voice close by her ear.

"Thank you, Hermione."

SCENESCENESCENESCENESCENESCENESCENESCENE

Hermione woke up back in her own room. Her head was now completely back to normal and she felt extraordinarily well rested. She noted the time with a bit of panic before realizing that Snape would be more than on top of matters in his own lab and had, undoubtedly, already seen to the needs of their precious potion that morning. Nevertheless, she made her way quickly down to the lab where her suspicions were confirmed.

She watched him work silently for a few minutes; he was putting the finishing touches on his tasks for the morning. As he moved to cast the spells which would ensure the safety of the potion while it sat until the next step, he spoke.

"It's not polite to stare, Miss Granger."

"It's not polite to drug people, Professor Snape." He smirked and ascended the steps behind her.

"Sometimes when there is a foreseeable stubbornness with the patient, a bit of light trickery is necessary."

"You were the one who should have been resting!" she exclaimed. "Your night was a lot worse than mine!"

"And I did rest- much better, I suspect, knowing that you were safely unconscious and would not be watching me like a hawk for the rest of the morning." Hermione thought his tone sounded a little sharper than necessary, given the jesting nature of the conversation.

"Well…do you feel alright?" she asked quietly, afraid of angering him.

"Fine," he replied shortly. Pause. "You?"

"Perfectly well, thank you," she returned softly before retreating back towards the stairs. She could have sworn she'd heard him say 'thank you' even as she fell asleep; what happened? She sighed inwardly. In six years, she had never succeeded in remotely understanding the mental workings of Severus Snape, and she wasn't likely to start now.

She stuck to her own devices that day, antsy to know what was happening at the Ministry. She was more than relieved when she received a message via patronus from Dumbledore which requested her presence at Grimmauld Place as soon as possible. She apparated, walked into the parlor- and flushed to discover that everyone was already there, sitting and waiting for her.

"Sorry," she muttered as she hurriedly took a seat between Ron and Harry, "didn't realize I was late."

"On the contrary, the fault is on my end," Dumbledore assured her pleasantly. "Call it a bit of a…miscommunication." She caught his brief glance towards Snape and frowned. Had Snape purposely neglected to pass along the message, even though she was in the same house?

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Well, as surely as the Chudley Cannons are to finish at the bottom…" he trailed off, catching the withering glares from Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron Weasley. "Touchy analogy perhaps? Such as it is, there is little doubt that the Ministry shall soon be demanding my resignation as headmaster of Hogwarts." He said this all quite nonchalantly, and seemed surprised at the outrage expressed on many people's faces.

"It's a sham," Bill Weasley said disparagingly. "They're all fools to be so easily hoodwinked."

"Little has been done to dissuade them against what has been reported of me and the running of the school this year, however," Dumbledore reminded gently. "But that is as it must remain. And so I am here to tell you that Minerva will soon be assuming my position. I suspect that it will only be a day or two before the next harsh critique of my performance will come out, and those parents who have not already done so will soon begin writing letters, insisting the school be put under new management."

"That happened already," Hermione said wryly. "I think they all learned their lesson, no?"

"Fear and crisis tend to make people rash and thoughtless," Lupin shrugged. "It's not so unbelievable. But Albus- even with Minerva as headmistress, this gives the Ministry precedence to enact whatever regulations they want before the start of term." He shot a sidelong glance at Hermione.

"What?" she was confused, as others were starting to give her sympathetic looks.

Snape spoke up silkily. "It is…likely…that, with the Ministry increasingly under the Dark Lord's thumb, they will prohibit attendance by students with no known magical bloodline."

"Oh." Her stomach dropped, but she did her best to school the visible emotion. How had this not occurred to her before? "Right."

"If Hermione can't go back to school, we won't either," Ron pointed out fiercely, gesturing to himself and Harry. Harry nodded fervently in agreement.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore broke in, "that decision is most likely not a unilateral one for yourself," his eye twinkled as he glanced at the stern-looking Molly Weasley. "I have little intention, however, of allowing Harry to return to Hogwarts until our business is complete."

It was strange, Hermione reflected, the effect his words had. Five of them only understood what he meant, but the rest acknowledged it with a reverential silence. They all knew that Dumbledore and Harry were working to defeat Voldemort once and for all, and, when you got right down to it, they put their faith in them fairly blindly.

"It is my best hope that the Ministry's influence will be entirely an external one; they can make policies for the school all they want, but in the end, the hands in which those policies are held are the ones that matter. And this is why Minerva's first action as new headmistress will be to inform the governors that she has already filled the three open positions on staff."

"I have?" she asked wryly.

"I have," he nodded, "but am more than willing to relinquish the credit. Kingsley has most graciously agreed to take a leave of absence from the Auror department for a year so he can help maintain the safety of the students and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Horace Slughorn has reluctantly consented to resume his position as Potions master."

"And Transfiguration?"

"A man named Clark Everitt."

McGonagall frowned. "I've never heard of him."

Dumbledore chuckled. "I'd be surprised if you had. He's been teaching Transfiguration at a school in America."

"And you know him…how?"

"He is good friends with Chastity Burbage."

"Ah…why do I feel like there's a good deal you aren't telling us?"

"When isn't there?" Snape muttered quietly. Dumbledore ignored him.

"I spoke with Chastity recently and told her that there may be need to find new accommodations for our muggle-born students. She is, of course, very outraged at the prospect that they may be soon forbidden from attending, and set to work right away with some old contacts. Clark was one of them. He also spoke with his own headmaster and arranged a swap- Chastity will go with whatever students choose to attend school at Clark's school where she will resume their currently vacant Muggle Studies post. Clark will teach Transfiguration at Hogwarts for the time-being."

The meeting adjourned shortly thereafter; Hermione returned to Prince Manor, deep in thought. The more she pondered the likelihood that muggle-borns would be forbidden to return to Hogwarts, the more she realized that she wouldn't have returned to school anyway. The horcruxes took clear precedence, and only three were destroyed so far. Obviously she wasn't going off to some wizarding school in the United States, but she was glad that they had sought an alternative so quickly for what would inevitably come to pass. But no, she wouldn't go. She had more important work to do here. She smiled to herself. Who would ever think that Hermione Granger would consider something more important than her education?

A/N: Yay for new chapters. Boo for classes. Freedom after 3 tomorrow though. :-) Hopefully I will have a writing-intensive weekend, as I have much less to do this weekend than last.

Until next time,

Cheers!