Disclaimer: The usual that you've been reading for a dozen chapters now…

Chapter 13

July melted away, though the heat of it went unfelt by Hermione who spent all of her time in either Prince Manor or Grimmauld Place.

Life went on with little event; well, perhaps event wasn't right, a lot did happen. Nothing surprising though. The Chudley Cannons lost match after match, and parents sent letter after letter demanding that Dumbledore, unalterably eccentric and senile in his old age, step down from his post. Which was, of course, exactly what the Ministry intended. It was also exactly what Dumbledore intended, and so it was that, a week before Harry's seventeenth birthday, Minerva McGonagall stepped up as Hogwarts new headmistress.

She even succeeded in appointing the three new teachers chosen by Dumbledore. The governors had no qualms about any of the suggestions. Within twenty-four hours, however, a new policy was submitted to them that matters of school positions was to be conducted on a higher level and, from now on, finding new staff was a responsibility which rested solely in the hands of the governors, though the sitting headmaster or headmistress was free to submit recommendations. Which meant, of course, that Voldemort's puppets would be in charge and they would be directing the governors on who to hire. Happily, Dumbledore had known what he was doing, and had headed off this less-than-desirable circumstance.

Hermione was disappointed in the way in which her relationship with Snape had almost completely reverted to what it was last summer when he had first brought her to Prince Manor. They saw each other when brewing, but that was nearly the extent of it. He was either extremely busy all of a sudden, or avoiding her like the plague, because he never emerged for meals as far as she could tell. Sometimes, he would go to Grimmauld Place for dinner if Dumbledore had some matters to discuss with him, or among the five of them who were aware of the horcrux scheme. On these situations of forced interaction, he would treat Hermione the same way he had always treated Harry and Ron: like a complete dolt of a student who wasted his time with silly questions. She often caught Dumbledore's exasperated looks when this happened, but she was pretty resigned to it by now. He had several sporadic mood swings over the past year when she'd been working more closely with him, and this was just the latest (albeit longest and most pointedly directed at her) of those.

Feeling decidedly secluded at Prince Manor from the general goings-on with her friends, she decided to spend the night of Harry's birthday at Grimmauld Place. At the stroke of midnight, he promptly took out his wand and began casting random little spells, levitating and summoning books and the like just out of sheer enjoyment of the fact that he could.

Hermione spent that night in Ginny's room, enjoying the opportunity to just sit up late and talk, giggle, and gossip- not something she usually considered a favorite pastime, but it was good for relaxing and stress relief once in a while. She was surprised to hear that Ginny still harbored a liking for Harry, but Ginny made her swear she wouldn't tell Harry. Hermione was glad for this; the last thing Harry needed as he approached the final stages of defeating Voldemort was a girlfriend to be distracting him. Deep down though, she thought that, under different circumstances, Harry might confess an attraction for Ginny as well. It was hard to say. She was never very good at recognizing these sorts of things.

They woke up early on the morning of the thirty-first and snuck into Harry and Ron's room, scaring them awake with more choruses of 'happy birthday!' and presents for Harry.

As they sat eating last night's leftover cake for breakfast, Dumbledore and Snape dropped by.

"Happy birthday, my boy!" Dumbledore exclaimed.

"Thank you, sir," Harry grinned. "Would you like a piece of cake?" Snape scowled and looked impatient as Dumbledore heartily dug in, praising Molly Weasley's baking skills.

"Well, we must be on our way," Dumbledore indicated himself and Snape. "Some last-minute business to attend at Hogwarts, things to pack up and the like," his eyes twinkled and Hermione wondered what the ulterior motive for going and taking Snape along was. She couldn't ask though- Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were both in the room.

The opportunity did present itself soon after, however, for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to discuss the matter of horcruxes alone and uninterrupted. Mrs. Weasley left with Ginny to go to Diagon Alley to get her school shopping done. Mr. Weasley had insisted that someone else accompany them, and so Remus and Tonks were going as well.

They walked out the door, and Mrs. Weasley gave Ron a shrewd glare. Hermione hadn't witnessed it, but she understood that there had been quite the row between the two the week prior. Mrs. Weasley had been infuriated by the prospect that Ron would drop out of school before his last year; Ron had pointed out that Fred and George had not only dropped out during their seventh year, but had disrupted most of the school in the process.

In the end, Ron won, a fact which surprised Hermione on some levels, but not completely. Mrs. Weasley cared a great deal for Harry and knew that Ron would stick by him regardless. All-in-all, it was probably Ginny who was the most annoyed by the arrangement, as she had no real excuse to leave Hogwarts and wasn't of age and, therefore, couldn't use Ron's argument of being her own guardian. Therefore, it was a rather disgruntled duo which left to go shopping that morning.

Once they were alone, Harry seconded Hermione's suspicions that whatever Snape and Dumbledore were up to at Hogwarts had something to do with the horcruxes.

"Why else take Snape, after all?" Harry mused. "It's got to be dangerous, I mean, Hogwarts isn't exactly teeming with people right now, but there could always be someone around who would see Snape who isn't supposed to know he's alive."

Ron shrugged. "S'long as it gets Snape out of here." He paused, seeing Hermione's incredulous expression and Harry's disapproving glance. "What? He's been downright snarky lately- snarkier than usual this summer, anyway." Hermione could not argue with that. He had been unpleasant since…well, when? Finding out about the horcruxes? She supposed that made sense, but it still didn't explain the lapses in behavior…he'd be nice to her for a few days, and then they'd have a big altercation like the one before he went with Dumbledore to the cave. Or the one where she'd inadvertently reminded him about alienating Lily. She winced inwardly at the thought.

"He has been rather unpleasant lately," she agreed quietly, "but I don't think it's really fair to judge him for it. His lot is pretty bad right now; most everyone thinks he's dead, he's confined to the same places all of the time…"

"But so are we," Harry pointed out logically.

"Yes, but let's face it, we have a lot more company in general. I know Snape keeps to himself on purpose, but that's all he's been able to do while being a spy- he wasn't able to form close friendships and relationships. I don't think it's unreasonable that he be less than thrilled with life in general at the moment."

She didn't voice all that she thought- that Snape should, theoretically, have been freer of mind after the event in the cave. He certainly had seemed more open and friendly when she'd first woken up.

Her musings were cut short, however, by the apparition of a grey, ghostly daschund patronus. The three started as it began speaking.

"…don't know how they found us, but we're trapped! I've barricaded the muggles upstairs, but I don't know how long I can hold them off…Again, I require immediate assistance from the Order…"

The message was choppy and done hastily. Still, Hermione had little doubt from whom it came, and who the muggles in question were. Judging by the deathly pale shade which Harry's face had taken on, he had reached the same conclusion as her.

"Who's here?" he asked croakily. "They've all left…Snape, Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks…I have to go!"

Hermione put out a hand to slow him down. "Let me go alone," she said quickly. "If something happens to you…" but she trailed off at the look on his face.

"If this were your family, would you listen to someone tell you that?"

She came to a quick decision. Standing up, she drew her wand and saw Ron do the same.

"Wait," Harry muttered, pulling a vial from a pouch around his neck. "Here- Dumbledore made sure I always had some of this on me." It was a dose of the potion to block the killing curse. "If we all take a drink, it should last a couple of hours, right?"

Hermione nodded, and the flask was passed around. Harry returned it back to the magical pouch which shrank all of its contents, and drew his wand.

"Lead us," Hermione calmly told the patronus and reached out her hand.

They apparated with it back to the 'secret' hideaway to which Dedalus Diggle had taken the Dursleys. They heard screams and turned, wands drawn- but only the Dursley's were in the room, and all three were pale and shaking.

"What…?" Petunia Dursley's exclamation went unheard as the three quickly departed the room to find Diggle. Hermione turned and re-shielded the door, adding on to the hasty defenses already placed upon it.

They went down the stairs, following the sounds of the bangs and bursts of magical energy. They found Diggle standing in the back doorway of the house, fighting off three death eaters at once, and looking decidedly the worse for wear. He was bleeding from multiple cuts and his left arm hung limply by his side. Nonetheless, he had thus far been successful at preventing them from entering the house, but it didn't look like he could last long.

Harry crept stealthily to the opposite side of the doorframe. Diggle saw him and his eyes widened, but Harry held a finger to his lips. He waited while Diggle blocked one, two, then a third curse, and then flung himself from behind the wall.

"Stupefy!"

The foremost death eater never even saw his attacker. The other two quickly redoubled their efforts, crouching down and surveying the area, realizing that, if they'd managed to acquire one reinforcement, there may be more on the way.

"Harry! I thought- Albus, or Remus…" Diggle looked helpless. "If something happens to you…"

"It's alright, Mr. Diggle," Hermione moved next to him, avoiding the sightline of the door. "Why don't you send a message to Hogwarts- Professor Dumbledore is there- and then move upstairs and look after the Dursleys? Harry, Ron, and I can take care of these two."

He squeaked, looking torn. On one hand, he was injured and could use the reprieve to take care of his wounds. On the other, he'd be leaving the fate of himself and the three muggles upstairs with whom he'd been charged in the hands of three seventeen year old wizards.

Hermione, however, had faith in her dueling abilities.

"Please," she said hurriedly. "You'll do little good down here, you're badly hurt." He nodded and scampered to the stairs.

Taking advantage of his departure, one of the death eaters shot a curse into the house- it missed Hermione by inches and smashed against the far kitchen wall, shattering the glass panes of the cupboards. She took a deep breath.

"Alright," she took charge of the situation again. "Here's what needs to happen- Harry, they know where you are, so you'll come out first and start trying to stun them. Once they're distracted by that and give away their positions, I'll stun whichever is the easiest shot for me. Ron, that'll leave you to cover mine and Harry's backs in case he doesn't get one of them when he first comes out from behind that wall. Got it?"

Harry and Ron both shot her semi-incredulous looks, but nodded quick assent.

With a deep breath, Harry took a step from behind the door frame.

He shot off a quick spell, shielded, and dodged. Hermione took advantage of spells against him to judge the relative locations of the two standing death eaters. Eyeing one, she aimed, shot off a stunning spell wordlessly- and the masked figure dodged out of the one in the nick of time, and she cursed quietly. Having revealed herself, she found herself now the target of both death eaters' spells. She ducked back quickly in the doorway, shielding herself just in time against a curse. Ron, however, started forward to defend her, even though she was already hidden again from their view.

"No, Ron!" she inadvertently stepped back into the line of sight of one death eater as she motioned him to remain hidden. There was a flash of red light- and Hermione was on the ground in the most intense agony she could ever imagine.

She'd never been hit with the cruciatus curse before, and Harry's descriptions couldn't possibly do it justice. It couldn't have been more than five seconds that she was under the curse before Harry managed to stun the death eater who had cast it, but it felt like hours. She groaned, rolled over- and her heart nearly stopped.

The last remaining death eater had his wand pointed straight at Ron, who, seeing Hermione tortured and on the ground, had moved directly into his line of fire, forgetting the duel to make sure that she was alright. There was a flash of light- green this time- and Ron was struck in the chest. He staggered backwards and fell at the blunt force of it.

But he rolled over right away, and had the sense to stay low. He crouched on the ground and took careful aim- Harry and Hermione both momentarily forgot the death eater, fearing Ron was dead despite the potion- and the death eater, too stunned to see him alive, was unable to react quickly enough to avoid the stunning spell sent his way.

There was dead silence until a pop signaled the arrival of Dumbledore.

It was one of those moments where Hermione's emotions took three turns in quick succession. First, relieved at the positive outcome of the fight. Second, elated that the potion had passed its second test with no apparent adverse side effects. Third, paralyzing fear at the look of thunderous fury on Dumbledore's face.

"Where is Dedalus?" he seemed to be speaking with forced calm.

"Upstairs, with my aunt, uncle, and cousin," Harry said without a trace of abashment for being caught where he most decidedly should not be. "He was injured, but not life-threateningly." His words seemed to ease Dumbledore's anger- a little.

He waved his wand and cords shot out of it and proceeded to bind the three stunned death eaters. He spun as new footsteps approached, but it was only Diggle, venturing forth from upstairs now that the sounds of dueling had subsided.

"Albus!" he exclaimed, relief audible in his tone. "Thank Merlin!" he said faintly, seeing the stunned bodies.

"I had little to do with their current state," Dumbledore said. "They were like that when I arrived. Perhaps you could explain?" He addressed this to all four.

"I don't know how they found us," Diggle sounded nervous now, realizing why Dumbledore was angry. "But I didn't have time to specify my message- I was busy trying to hide the muggles away. I never dreamed that if I sent a request for help to Grimmauld Place, these three would be sent!"

Dumbledore turned and raised an enquiring eyebrow at Hermione, Harry, and Ron.

"Sir, no one else was around," Harry explained simply. "Shortly after you left with Professor Snape, Mrs. Weasley, Remus, and Tonks all took Ginny to Diagon Alley. Mr. Weasley, Charlie, and Bill are all at work. The only other individual I know was in the house was Percy, and he was no where to be seen." He didn't mention that they hadn't tried to find him. "All due respect, Professor, I don't know what else you would have had me do. I could hardly ignore the call for help. Nor could Hermione or Ron."

Dumbledore's gaze eased further upon this explanation. He looked carefully at Hermione and Ron, as though offering the chance to add or detract from this explanation, but neither took it.

"Well, I can hardly let it go without saying that putting yourselves in this kind of danger, almost completely unknown- it could have been a trap, for all the message seemed to have said- that was very unwise. However, I am willing to overlook this lapse in judgment given the somewhat extenuating circumstances."

Harry did look humbled at his words. None of them had considered the possibility of a trap, which was remarkably stupid, Hermione reflected, when that's what had lured them to the Department of Mysteries a year earlier.

"You will return to Grimmauld Place at once, all three of you. Dedalus and I shall remain to decide where to go from here- obviously the only barrier which separated the Dursleys from Voldemort was your seventeenth birthday, Harry."

Hermione was disturbed at this; were more death eaters attacking her parents, even as they spoke? Dumbledore seemed to read some of this on her face, however, and spoke gently.

"I will contact Emmeline as soon as possible and have her and Tonks work to relocate your parents, as an extra precaution."

She nodded her thanks, and apparated with Harry and Ron.

There were few things which could have frightened her more than seeing Dumbledore as angry as he'd been upon arriving at the Dursley's hideaway. Seeing an absolutely livid Severus Snape was one of them.

And that's exactly what they found as they walked into the kitchen.

There was silence for a long moment- the three who had newly arrived were surprised at being so quickly encountered by another angry former professor of theirs. Said former professor was surprised by their quick return.

"Well?" he hissed.

"We subdued the death eaters," Harry told him shortly. "Ron was hit by the killing curse- the potion was quite effective. Professor Dumbledore is planning new arrangements for my family with Diggle, who was injured but not severely."

"I see," Snape snarled. "Was there anything else?"

"Hermione was hit by the cruciatus curse, but as you didn't spend a year developing a block to that, I wasn't sure if you'd care."

Hermione would have given just about anything to stop Harry from saying that. First of all, it was downright scathing on Harry's side, and would only serve to fuel Snape's wrath. Second, she didn't like the piercing look Snape gave her now, trying to ascertain any lasting damage from the curse.

"I see," Snape whispered. He turned to her. "Miss Granger? Might I have a word privately?" Hermione groaned inwardly, but tried her best to not look like she dreaded the prospect.

"Of course," she acquiesced, giving Harry and Ron looks to assure them that she'd be alright and they needn't send out a search and rescue team if she didn't return soon.

Snape escorted her to the front stoop of the house and, without a word, seized her arm in a painfully tight grip, apparating both back to Prince Manor.

They appeared in Snape's own room and when he released her, she shot him a questioning look. He said nothing, but walked to a cupboard on the far side of the room, opened it, and grabbed a vial of a deep purple liquid. He thrust it at her. She looked at it doubtfully.

"It prevents the headaches and other less frequent side-effects of being subjected to the cruciatus curse," he bit impatiently. Hermione was still skeptical- the last time he had given her a draught for her head, he had drugged her and put her to sleep. She was about to protest, but the look on his face stopped her. "Drink," he hissed, and she complied. After that, she stood and looked at him, waiting for him to speak. He was silent for a long time, and his anger was brewing visibly.

"Sir?" she finally managed, cringing against the onslaught which was sure to start soon. "Did you have something else-," he cut her off.

"Are you a complete and utter fool?" he asked dangerously softly.

"I'd prefer to think not," she bit back sharply.

"Then act like it!"

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes. "Sometimes life requires sudden choices that can not be analyzed and reanalyzed. I have little doubt that Harry's family would be dead or in You-Know-Who's hands by now had we not interceded."

"The cost of the death of Potter himself is a poor price to pay."

"For their lives?" Hermione exclaimed. "No one was hurt! There was never even the slightest fear of Harry being killed or captured!"

"You're missing the bigger picture here," he was angry and exasperated. Not a good combination for Snape. "It is obvious that it will be far too easy to bait you when the Dark Lord decides to take the opportunity to do so. You can not rush headlong into any situation and trust that it will work itself out!"

"There was no one left in Grimmauld Place," Hermione spoke slowly and measured, trying not to lose her own temper. "We worked with what information we had."

"You could have easily gotten a message to myself or Albus first. You Gryffindors trust so implicitly in your noble-hearted intuition-," but Hermione had enough.

"Is that what this is about?" she asked. "The same argument we've had already- emotion versus logic, brave versus rational?"

"You haven't quite seemed to get it yet," he pointed out savagely.

"To get what?" she demanded. "That if I wait until I have absolute confirmation that my sources are good, my parents could be dead or captive just as Harry's aunt and uncle could easily have been today? Sometimes, our basest instincts are what enable us to survive and help others around us, not some clinging hope in the higher logical order of the system." A thought occurred to her. "How much time did you spend considering and reconsidering the repercussions of coming for me last summer?" she asked quietly. "Did you weigh the benefits of saving Harry Potter's best friend against the drawbacks- drawbacks which, I might remind you, nearly did cost your own life!"

Snape was stony-faced. "The situation was analyzed. My actions seemed practical at the time."

"And now? Now that you're 'dead' to most of the world, your job impossible, all because of that one decision…now does it seem practical?"

Snape's eyes flickered, but he did not answer.

"You know what separates Harry from You-Know-Who, makes him his utter opposite? His ability to love, to feel pain for others. But you…" Hermione spoke slowly, deliberately. It was harsh and cruel. She knew that before she said it. But it was something that she finally realized that Snape needed to hear. "You don't have that, do you? Years of work of duplicity to everyone around you have jaded you so deeply…and you lost the ability to love a long time ago, didn't you? Your ability to feel anything besides all-consuming guilt was erased with the death of Lily Evans."

With a snarl, he started towards her, and she backed into the wall, startled. He raised a hand and she flinched, prepared for a blow that never came. Instead, he seized her by the upper arms, and she'd not have been surprised had he physically removed her from his room. She was surprised by what he actually did though.

He kissed her.

She was too stunned to move or react at all.

He released her and backed away quickly, looking horrified at what he'd done. She opened her mouth, not even sure what she'd say, closed it again, re-opened it… he beat her to it though.

"Get out."

"I…what?"

"Out, Granger, out! Leave!"

Mind a jumble of confused thoughts and emotions, and feeling tears start to form in her eyes, she obeyed his command in the most absolute of ways; she disapparated from the very spot where he'd kissed her just half a minute earlier.

SCENESCENESCENESCENESCENESCENE

A/N: Um. Yeah. 0;-) Do review, please.

Cheers!