A/N: Happy Tuesday guys! Knowing that I update this story on Tuesday's has been one of the few things to help me keep track of what day it is at the moment. Sooo... 30 chapters! Appropriately, but entirely coincidentally, there is some important stuff happening this chapter and I'm very curious to hear what you guys think of it. Speaking off, thanks so much for the reviews (and thank you Lucyole for all of your virtual cookies - they feed the hungry author and also inspired me to bake actual cookies :P) as well as all of you who have favourited/followed. It means a lot that you guys are reading this. I know I say something like this pretty much every week, but I feel like you deserve to know how happy I am to get any kind of notification regarding this story and any kind of feedback is always appreciated.

Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer - here is the new chapter. Let me know what you think and most importantly, enjoy! - Note xxx

As she meandered along a deserted corridor back towards her rooms, Hermione had to grudgingly admit, that whatever Cruz was really planning, she was certainly very good at acting innocent.

"Psst!", someone said to her left. Even caught up in considering how she might get more information about Cruz' motives as she was, her wand was in her hand instinctively and she had nearly cast a spell when she realised that the person addressing her actually a portrait.

"Psst! Over here.", said a witch in a purple nightgown. Going by the disgruntled mumbles along the corridor she had been rushing through other portraits to try and catch up with her.

"Headmistress wants to see you.", said the witch after glancing up and down the corridor for a moment. "Password is still the same. Go now, quickly, before you're seen!"

Relief washed through her and she smiled. "Thanks!", she whispered and hurried off.

"Pincushion.", she told the Gargoyle, as she came rushing up to it, casting another glance over her shoulder. Thankfully, this corridor was deserted too, as most students would either be in their common room or the library at this time of night.

Impatiently, she stood at the top of the stairs waiting to rise to the office door. She heard voices inside and knocked softly. The door swung open and there was Harry, a big smile on his face. Before she could even say anything he had rushed over to her and wrapped her in a hug. She tensed up in surprise, but then wrapped her arms around her best friend and relaxed. "Hi Harry.", she said quietly. He pulled back and looked her over.

"No offence, Hermione, but you look terrible." The curly haired witch gave a bitter laugh and greeted the Headmistress with a nod before sinking down into an armchair near the fire. Clearly her attempts at putting an effort into her appearance had been futile.

"What did you expect, Harry?", she asked, as her friend and the headmistress sat in armchairs across form her. McGonagall poured tea for them and Hermione wrapped her fingers around the warm cup appreciatively. She felt unusually cold and the continuing pain in her arm had been joined by a headache.

Harry continued to look at her, then ran a hand through his hair and gave her a crooked smile. "I mean, usually I just want to assume that you are doing well, but given the situation I guess I should have expected it."

Hermione felt a pang of guilt at the worried look in his eyes. She missed Harry a lot, and wished she had made more of an effort to join him and Ginny in Hogsmeade over the last couple of months.

"I must say Potter has a point, Miss Granger. You look even worse than when I saw you last week.", McGonagall added.

"Well, Cruz is sending me for a checkup with Madame Pomfrey on Thursday, so we'll know then if there is something wrong with me.", she said defeatedly and took a small sup of tea. It tasted similar to Severus's brew and she wondered briefly if he had gifted a tea blend to McGonagall at some point.

"She can do that?", Harry exclaimed and both Hermione and McGonagall nodded.

"She most certainly can. In fact technically speaking as Miss Granger's guardian it is her duty to ensure that her charge is physically healthy.", she turned to Hermione and continued. "I enquired into the legal aspects of the situation as per your request and as we expected Cruz has gone entirely by the book. There are only two ways of reversing her status as your guardian. One, through an evaluation by a Ministry appointed healer, which typically takes place every six to twelve months and may include a repeat of the PTSD test. If the healer is satisfied that the individual witch or wizard has made enough progress, the guardianship is revoked. The other option is to provide strong proof that the appointed guardian is abusing their position of power. In this case however, it is likely that a new guardian would be appointed."

Hermione put down her cup and dropped her head in her hands. "Uuuuugh, I knew it.", she groaned. "Knowing Cruz, she will delay the evaluation for as long as possible, and even then there is no guarantee I would pass. In fact if I have to be under her thumb for a full year, I will probably be worse than when I started and we will never be able to prove that she is abusing me, because she hasn't really done anything." Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. He seemed to be unsure of what to say.

"All is not lost, Miss Granger.", McGonagall stated confidently. Hermione looked up at her, questioning.

"If we can find out whatever Cruz' ulterior motives are, her guardian status will definitely be revoked. I'm not saying it's going to be easy.", she added when she saw the dubious look on Hermione's face. "But if the war has taught us anything, it's that everyone has a weak point. I'm sure between all of us we will be able to find something."

Hermione took a deep breath and pushed her hair out of her face as she sat up straight again. She was sure they would find something eventually, what worried her was the time scale. Granted, she was holding up alright for now, but she was in no way confident that the insomnia wouldn't take its toll on her at some point soon. Needing to change the subject, she turned to Harry. "Have you been able to get any updates on Severus' suspension? I know you've been crazy busy but you did say you'd try and help."

He grinned. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. It seems to be going surprisingly well, all things considered. They have nothing solid on him, because your relationship wasn't even illegal to begin with and other than Cruz' statement, there is no proper evidence that he is brainwashing you or anything. They were trying to argue that your… relationship was non-consensual because of your PTSD, but because he was suspended pretty much immediately after it got diagnosed they put themselves in a very grey area. Basically, between what I've told the Ministry and some stern words from Professor McGonagall he's going to be fine, it's just going to be a little while because they are doing everything they can to stall."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Harry, Professor. That's one less thing to worry about at least."

"Indeed.", agreed McGonagall. "I also appreciate the update, Potter, they wouldn't give me any more information after I went to speak with them." She seemed disgruntled by this. Harry grinned ruefully. "Yeah, well I had to call in a couple of favours and Kingsley has been doing all he can to keep me as much in the loop as possible. He's also been helping with the case, so that was massively in Snape's favour."

He looked at Hermione carefully then. "But that's not the only reason you wanted to see me is it?"

"Can't I just want to see my best friend given that I'm having a hard time?", she asked playfully and he laughed.

"You can, but let's be real you wouldn't have risked asking me here if there wasn't something up."

She sighed. He knew her so well. "First of all, I am trying to be better at letting my friends back into my life-"

He waved a hand to stop her. "We had this conversation when we met up in Hogsmeade. You have nothing to apologise for, Hermione. I wish I could have helped you more, but from everything I've gathered you just really needed someone else's perspective. I'm glad for whatever you found with Snape, even if it was a bit of a shock to find out."

She nodded. There was a lump in her throat. "I might have been a little worried that I pushed everyone away a little too much…"

He looked at her in genuine shock. "Never.", he said, green eyes blazing. "I will always be here for you."

There were tears in her eyes then and only McGonagall clearing her throat stopped her having a full-blown meltdown.

"I hate to interrupt this conversation, but we do not have a lot of time left. We need to be sure that Hermione returns to her rooms soon, or else a report will be made to Cruz that she was out too late."

Hermione stared at her, mouth agape. "She monitors when I get back to my room?"

The Headmistress nodded, lips pressed into a thin line. "Unfortunately. I tried to prevent it, but her powers as your guardian override my powers as Headmistress in that regard. No matter, I believe you wanted to talk to Potter about curse scars. I also have some research results on the matter, once you have detailed the issue."

It was Harry's turn to gape.

Hermione nodded. "That's great news, Professor! Actually it's gotten worse since I was here last, so I was hoping to get Madame Pomfrey to look at it, but I don't know if she will have to tell Cruz."

She folded up her sleeve, careful to not brush the scar any more than necessary. "You remember the scar Bellatrix gave me?", she asked Harry who nodded, worry written all over his face.

"Well, it's been giving me some trouble recently and I figured since you know a thing or two about scars you might have an idea if it might be some kind of magical… connection."

Both McGonagall and Harry gasped as she revealed the angry red scar to them. As calmly as possible she told Harry what she had told McGonagall and Dumbledore's portrait last week.

"Blimey, that looks bad, Hermione.", Harry finally said. "It's also definitely not like my scar. It never itched, it only ever prickled or hurt really badly. And it definitely didn't get inflamed like that. Sorry, but I don't think I can be of much help with this."

Hermione nodded and began rolling her sleeve back down. "That's fine, I just figured that when it started getting pretty bad I would check with you. Not that I thought I had suddenly been turned into a horcrux or anything, but it's pretty strange anyway."

At that moment, Dumbledore's portrait pushed itself into a nearby frame, thus waking the sleeping former Headmaster whom the frame belonged to. The rather diminutive wizard reluctantly shuffled out of view, muttering something about privacy and young people.

"Pardon my interrupting the conversation.", said Dumbledore ignoring the other wizard. "But I believe what you are telling us now, along with what you said before confirms some suspicions that Severus wrote to Minerva about over the weekend."

Hermione glanced between the current headmistress and her predecessor with mild surprise.

"You're right, Albus. Hermione, along with the note for you, Severus sent me some research notes that he wanted me to discuss with Albus and then with you. Based on these notes and everything you've told us, we believe you might be on the right track when you think this is some form of magical connection. There are many different connections that can be created through magic, accidentally or intentionally, and often they manifest in areas of our bodies that have been more affected by magic than others, such as curse scars. If what Severus found is to be believed, and we all know that he would never think to suggest it if he wasn't fairly certain, a very rare kind of bond is forming between the two of you."

Hermione's heart was thumping in her chest. What had Severus found? Not trusting her voice, she merely waited for McGonagall to continue.

"As far as we can tell, it is not a harmful bond, but it would be best if you and Severus were in the castle together again as soon as possible. In the meantime, I am not sure how much of the details we should share with you, given that you will need to hide this information from Cruz."

Hermione's magic flared a little at being refused information pertaining to herself. "Last I checked, Cruz has no skills in Legilimency. We have established that I can do very little about my situation with her, but it would be nice to at least know what I am facing in other parts of my life."

Dumbledore's portrait looked as though he was about to disagree and prevent McGonagall from telling her more, but Harry spoke up before he could say anything. "With all due respect, Professors, Hermione is right. She should know. We all saw how well it went when people kept things from me and I'm sure Hermione would feel no different than I did."

Dumbledore looked vaguely guilty and McGonagall let out a deep sigh. "Right you are. I just thought we should consider it for a moment before jumping into anything. Albus, you are the expert on this outside of Severus, would you mind explaining the basics to Miss Granger?"

The portrait nodded, fixing Hermione over the rim of his painted half-moon glasses.

"You are aware of course, that there is a careful balance in the magic we wield. Every spell, every potion, every ritual, everything is in equilibrium. To each piece of magic there is a counterpart, another side of the coin so to speak. In fact, you were not all that off topic when you mentioned horcruxes."

Hermione paled, and Harry looked somewhat faint, but Dumbledore held up his hands.

"You are of course not a horcrux, Miss Granger. But even such an abominable piece of magic as a horcrux, has its counterpart. I believe, that the collision of magic during your duel inadvertently catalysed the formation of something referred to as a Duodax bond, which is the exact opposite of a horcrux. It is a joining of two souls that happens slowly and can never be instigated intentionally. On the rare occasions that this kind of bond forms, it can often take years of a relationship before the process is complete."

It was Hermione's turn to feel faint. She clasped the edges of her seat with clammy hands and simply stared at Dumbledore. A soul bond would certainly explain some things that had occurred between her and Severus, but still. She had read about them of course, but it had always seemed such an abstract topic for her. Never once did she imagine it could actually happen to anyone she knew, never mind herself. On top of that, her relationship with Severus was such a newly fledged thing. They had barely had any time to explore it with everything that had been going on. No matter how committed she felt to him, an actual soul bond was - simply put - a lot. And she couldn't even talk to him about it. She suddenly found it hard to breathe and she hastily got out of her chair, bolting away from their little gathering and towards the window. Pressing her forehead against the cold glass she breathed deeply and counted down from ten. Slowly, her panic subsided and her ears stopped ringing.

"Give her a minute, Potter.", she heard McGonagall say and Hermione felt a rush of gratitude towards the Headmistress. Taking another deep breath she turned and fixed Dumbledore with a steely resolve in her eyes. Ignoring the concerned looks from Harry and McGonagall, she addressed the portrait. "Let's assume Severus is correct in his assumptions, which as you said is likely. How does this bond explain the pain in my scar?"

It was McGonagall who answered her. "Severus was a little vague on this matter and said he would need to search further, but his guess is that because you have been separated during the formation process, the continued attempt of your souls to join is manifesting as an itch and now a pain in your scar."

Hermione nodded slowly. "So it would be safe to assume that the longer we are apart the worse it is going to get?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"Have you ever heard of such bonds just… fizzling out because of this kind of separation?"

"It is possible, but difficult to say, Miss Granger. Soul bonds, and especially Duodax bonds are rare magic and very difficult to study so unfortunately there will be only so much any of us will be able to find through research. There will be enough in the literature to help you navigate the situation a little, but the rest you two will just have to figure out as you are going."

She nodded again and paced the office slowly, magic crackling in the air around her. "Either way, we will need to resolve this whole mess as quickly as possible, not only because we cannot afford to give Cruz any more time to plan but also because if this pain is only going to get worse then I will be pretty much incapacitated within the next couple of weeks. And I can't imagine Severus will be faring much better."

Harry seemed to have been stunned into complete silence and kept glancing between Dumbledore's portrait, McGonagall and Hermione.

It was McGonagall who finally broke the silence. "It changes very little of the current situation. Our actions will remain the same, even if the time pressure has increased. As a last resort we can always confront Cruz."

Hermione nodded and focused on her breathing once more, trying not to become overwhelmed and keep a hold of her magic.

"There is a bottle of Veritaserum hidden in the bedside locker in my room.", she revealed after a moment, pausing in her pacing. "If things get too out of hand, I'm sure between all of us we can… convince Cruz to drink it and tell us the truth. As much as I would prefer to catch her in the act, we cannot risk Severus and I becoming incapacitated by the draw of this potential bond. It would make us too vulnerable."

McGonagall nodded. "That seems a reasonable course of action. I will inform Severus of what we have discussed." She turned to address Harry. "Maybe you and I can try to call in some more favours at the Ministry in order to expedite Severus' reinstatement at Hogwart?"

Harry did not respond to this but frowned. "How are you so calm about being told that you are going to be soul bound to Snape? I freak out when anyone even so much as hints at me and Ginny getting married at some point in the future.", he finally managed to get out.

Hermione let out another bitter laugh and looked her friend right in the eye. "Harry, if I don't remain calm about this and try to stay as much in control of this absolutely impossible situation, then Professor McGonagall is going to have to renovate her office."

Only then did her friend notice the barely reigned in power that pulsed around her. "Merlin, Hermione! When did you get so powerful?"

She took another careful breath and felt her magic begin to settle a bit. "I wish I knew. All I can tell you is that it's bloody difficult to control."

He laughed a little at that. "Just don't go inflating anyone.", he teased, trying to lighten the mood a little by reminding them about the time he blew up Aunt Marge.

Hermione smiled weakly. When she was sure her magic had calmed sufficiently, she moved towards the office door. "I should get back now, it's nearly curfew, but I did have one more thing to ask you, Harry." He motioned for her to go on.

"I know you're not directly involved with the Death Eater attacks, but I was wondering if you could have a look through all the information that has been gathered? I have a feeling that Cruz might be involved." She hastily explained what a Silent Follower was.

Harry frowned. "If she is, that would be bad news, but it also makes a lot of sense. I do wonder what it is she wants from you. I've been involved with the cases a little, so I'll see what I can do. But you better go. Come on, I'll walk you back.", Harry responded, sounding anxious. He pulled out his invisibility cloak before she could voice concerns about him being seen.

"Oh, wait a moment, Miss Granger, I almost forgot." McGonagall pulled something out of a drawer in her desk. "Severus gave this to me for you, and I thought it would be safest to give it to you here."

Intrigued, Hermione took the item from her. It turned out to be a small charm in the shape of an otter attached to a fine, silvery chain. Wrapped around it was a small piece of parchment covered in Severus' handwriting. "This will allow me to come to you in an emergency. Similarly, it will be able to take you to me if I am in trouble."

Hermione smiled and thanked the Headmistress before placing the chain around her neck, overcome by a sense of comfort as the cold metal settled against her skin. Bidding the headmistress goodnight, she hurriedly led a cloaked Harry back towards her rooms. As they arrived she felt his hand squeeze hers briefly. A whispered "Thanks, Harry", and she closed the door behind her just in time for curfew.

Feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, she changed into her pyjamas. Collapsing on her bed, she memorised the instructions for use of the Otter charm that had been scribbled below the brief note and then spent the night meditating and coming to terms with the fact that it seemed she was going to be soul-bound to Severus Snape.