So I wrote a new chapter, I'm sure no one was expecting that. I apologize for the hiatus. I had other projects that captured my full attention, not to mention all of my free time.

I participated in NaNoWriMo, entered a contest and won. So I'm being published.

If anyone wanted to check out what I was writing while this puppy sat lonely in the corner, you can go to my tumblr blog .com

or to my Pubslush .com

For anyone still reading. Thank you for bearing with me. I hope to have a flurry of updates the next few days, because the muse is with me.

and onto the show.

Hermione wandered through her parents old home for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She'd been there for a week now waiting on the ministry, she'd been given numerous books, but hadn't picked up one. She constantly relived that moment, opening the door, finding Severus, being helpless in the face of his impending death, she tortured herself every second of every day. If she was the drinking type she'd have been half-pissed the whole time, unfortunately her parents had never been keen on liquor and she couldn't bring herself to leave the house incase something came through.

She had yet to receive anything from Minerva since that initial note. This waiting was killing her, she paced, and bit her lip, and paced some more. Two more days passed in this fashion. Hermione showered and got dressed, paced for a few hours, then she would fall asleep on the couch in front of the small fireplace. Even though it was technically winter outside it wasn't too bitterly cold, and Hermione left the kitchen window open for owls.

Another week, and Hermione was at the point of having almost no finger nails, from all the biting, and starting to eye up her hair for pulling in her spare time.

Another week passed and Hermione was in her bathroom chopping off great clumps of hair with an old pair of scissors. She didn't cut all of her hair off, but she did chop it to her shoulders. She took a shower to get rid of the stray hairs that had tried to hide in her shirt collar. After that she sat down on the couch and stared at the fireplace hoping she hadn't been forgotten by everyone.

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The green flames that heralded the arrival of someone by floo woke Hermione.

"Hermione you need to get up and get decent, the ministry official is coming," Harry's voice brought Hermione to her feet in an instant. "What did you do to your hair?" He asked in a horrified voice.

"I cut it," Hermione threw over her shoulder as she rushed upstairs to get dressed.

"I'll just clean up a bit while you get dressed," Harry called after her turning his wand on the dust that was coating most of the house.

Hermione found her most professional looking robes threw them on, she then charmed her hair into low braid. She looked at a mirror and quickly glamored away the bags under her eyes, the hollowness of her cheeks, and the paleness of her skin. When she was done she looked healthy and happy.

Perfect.

Hermione flew downstairs and noticed that Harry had cleaned up the place rather nicely.

"Thanks," she said to him as she gave him a quick hug.

"No problem, now remember we've kept some details under wraps," Harry said looking Hermione in the eye and making sure she paid attention. "We didn't tell Kingsley about either time he tried to hurt you."

"Wait how did you?' Hermione started asking.

"Minerva spilled the beans, but only to me, and I agree it should be kept that way." Harry said, he had a look that told Hermione this wasn't the end of the conversation.

"I'd expect you to be angry about that," Hermione prodded.

"Oh I'm furious, but now is not the time for that. Also it seems you care for the greasy git and I don't like seeing you in this kind of pain." Harry said ending the conversation.

"Thank you Harry," Hermione breathed to him before the fireplace lit up again and a short prim woman walked through clipboard in hand.

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"Hello Miss Granger, my name is Isabella Roseburn, I'm sure you know why I'm here." The short woman took a step forward and shook Hermione's hand. Hermione motioned for the woman to take a seat in one of the two arm chairs that shared the living room with the large purple couch.

"Please have a seat, shall I get us some tea started?" Hermione asked.

Isabella Roseburn shook her head, "I'm fine," She said in a clipped tone. "I actually have another meeting after this, and am on a limited time frame."

Hermione nodded and sat down.

"Good, now I'm sure you are fully aware of the situation at hand?" Roseburn asked.

"Yes, I am," Hermione said in her most polite tone.

"That makes things easy," Roseburn said looking down at the clipboard. "Now, do you think you are still fit to be in charge of your former ward Severus T. Snape?"

"Yes," Hermione said instantly.

Roseburn wrote something on the clipboard. "Are you afraid at all about your life coming into danger because of this arrangement?"

"No," Hermione responded.

"Do you fear for the safety of others due to this situation?" Roseburn asked without looking up.

"No," Hermione said again.

"Excellent, now, Mr. Potter do you agree that Miss Granger is still fit to take charge of Severus Snape?" Roseburn asked turning towards Harry who had stationed himself in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Yes, I do." Harry said.

"Do you think that her life is in danger in this situation?" Roseburn asked, her voice becoming bored with the repetitive questions.

"No," Harry said after a slight hesitation, that Hermione was sure only she noticed.

"Now, do you think anyone else is in danger if this situation persists?" Roseburn asked .

"No," Harry said.

"That's all, I need you both to sign these papers, and when Severus T. Snape is released he will be brought here as arranged, correct?" Roseburn said standing.

Hermione was already signing her name and sputtered a bit as she heard the rest of her sentence. "Oh, yes of course. Do you know how long that will take?" Hermione managed to ask around her shock.

"Could be a few hours, or a few days. Depends on how fast the paper work goes through." Roseburn answered taking the paper after Harry had signed and walking back through the flop without a second glance.

"Well that was easy," Hermione said shocked.

"It's all stupid bureaucracies. You also had a lot of strings pulled." Harry said, coming to sit across from Hermione in the chair Roseburn had vacated.

"Now, I'm back to waiting." Hermione sighed.

"Sorry about that, it can't be helped." Harry said. "You know we will have to talk about what happened eventually right?"

"I know, I just don't know what to say yet." Hermione said turning away from Harry's piercing green eyes.

"I get that I do," Harry said putting his hands in the air. "I just don't want to see you hurt Hermione."

"I know Harry, I'm fine though, truly. He ends up the worse for wear most of the time." Hermione said laughing a little, nervously.

"Yes, for now, but if you intend to make this a truly long term thing, when that charm is removed he could hurt you." Harry said worry coloring his words.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Hermione said quietly.

"Alright, just see to it that you keep him in your sights from now on. This took a lot of man power to manage and I don't think we can do it twice." Harry said going to the fireplace and throwing flop powder into the flames. "Take care Hermione send an owl when you have a chance." Harry then stepped into the flames disappearing.

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Hermione got back to pacing, though she would clean first, make sure everything was in order, everyday then pace. It had been three days since Isabella Roseburn had interviewed Hermione, and the anticipation was killing her.

She'd gotten in touch with Minerva, and had Severus's wardrobe brought over. Minerva also insisted Hermione keep a house elf around. Hermione had of course said no at first, but she'd been worn down rather quickly by the worried headmistress.

Hermione had just swept the kitchen floor for the second time today when heard the flop activate.

Hermione was in the living room in a flash.

Through her fireplace came two people and two dementors. Severus was flanked by the shrouded nightmares, and in front of them with his patronus, a raccoon, stood a ministry official.

"You are Miss Hermione Granger, correct?" The official asked.

Hermione nodded her eyes fixed on Severus. He looked awful, worse than before. His hair was matted and dirty, his prison uniform was also dirty and had holes in it, that showed it hadn't been new when it'd been given to him. She couldn't see his face because it was turned down towards the carpet, but Hermione had a good idea of what it looked like.

"I'll need you to sign here, and hold still." The official said in a dull tone.

Hermione signed the piece of parchment he held out to her, feeling like she was signing for a package from the post office. Hermione then held still and felt a strange tingling spread through her body. She hadn't been conscious last time they'd been bound, so this feeling was a new one.

She watched Severus shiver, then the dementors let Severus fall to the carpet. Both dementors and the ministry official walked back through the fireplace without another word.

Hermione instantly knelt beside Severus. She lightly brushed away his hair to reveal his face.

He looked worse than she could have ever imagined.

Not only was his face thin and pale, bags under his eyes, as they were under hers, but he had a large infected gash on the left side of his face.

Hermione put a hand out to touch him, and he recoiled, like he'd never recoiled from her before.

"Shhh, It's alright it's just me." Hermione whispered.

Severus's eyes snapped up to hers. He apparently hadn't been able to pay attention to what was happening when the dementors were there, but now he could see she was there in front of him.

"Hermione," He croaked. Then he feebly crawled forward landing in her lap, his arms around her waist.

Hermione put a hand on his head as he shook in what appeared to be relief.

"Severus," Hermione whispered to him, after a few minutes. "I need to see to your face."

Severus flinched as he had before, but eventually nodded and slowly sat up.

Hermione took his face in her hands and gently turned his head so she could see the angry red mark. "It's a very shallow cut, and the infection doesn't seem like it's too bad yet."

Severus sat completely still as she spoke, he seemed to be holding his breath as she examined him.

"All the fattening up I'd been doing has been thoroughly undone." Hermione tsked looking at his once again skeletal frame. "Do you think you could get up the stairs to the bathroom?" Hermione asked.

Severus shook his head.

"Would you rather I helped you or, levitated you?" Hermione gave him both options hoping he wouldn't be too stubborn.

"Help me up," He said hoarsely.

Hermione did as instructed and took his weight onto her own as they made their way upstairs. She got him into the bathroom, and left him for a second, while she went to find her dittany, and medical supplies.