Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Hogwarts universe, I earn nothing. I am just playing - with a loving heart and neverending joy.

Chapter 28

The time had come.

Without showing any emotion, Severus Snape had watched the slaughtering of the goblins. At Gringotts, Potter had layed his hands on the fourth Horcrux and Voldemort still didn't seem to realize that, among other things, it was himself who provided him with the necessary information. As before, the Dark Lord, in his arrogance, thought it to be out of the question that the attacks on Potter's head were not just a one-way street.

And as his apparently loyal servant, Severus always had supported his master's belief in the uniqueness of this power.
Very believably supported, in fact, for he himself hadn't given a penny on Potter's abilities; it was Hermione who made him realize the extent to which there was a hole in the Dark Lord's grand scheme.

Reluctantly, he had to admit that she might have been right.
Obviously, Potter wasn't like his father.
And obviously he seemed to have used his time well.
Before any sense of guilt could get into his head at this inconvenient time and place, however, Snape cut off any thought in that direction and focused on what was
happening.

What a show they had put up at the bank! Snape wasn't entirely sure who had been who, but he strongly suspected that Hermione had made the appearance as Bellatrix Lestrange.

The original Bellatrix stood across from him at that moment, fuming about the fact that Hermione had obviously stolen not only her wand but also the hair she needed for a polyjuice potion. She was so angry that she reminded Snape of an old Muggle tale in which an angry dwarf tore himself apart in his rage over a failed plan.
It was actually a shame that it was just a fairy tale.

After the massacre, Voldemort seemed to be absent, far away in his thoughts. Snape hoped that these thoughts were about the remaining Horcrux and that Potter was aware of that. Nagini did not move from his master's side and since there was obviously another piece of soul hidden in this treacherous beast, which the Dark Lord always kept close to him for safety reasons, there was only one horcrux left.

And Potter.

Yes, the time had come.
The boy had to know.

Back at Hogwarts, he took the Pensieve from the cabinet in the Headmaster's office and took the vial containing the memories of Dumbledore's explanations about the unwanted Horcrux and the sacrifice that had to be made for it. He could only hope that Potter had now learned to separate his mind from the piece of the devlish soul within him so that he would have a chance to survive.

That was the reason he, Severus, had survived and endured the past seventeen years for.

He held the vial with the silvery shimmering memory up to the light and looked at it while other memories came into his mind and filled his heart with sadness.
This is it, Lily," he whispered.

Severus closed the cabinet door and his gaze fell on the small mirror on the front. For the first time in a long while, he was really looking at himself. His gaunt and prematurely aged face with the ridiculously big nose, the dark, suspicious eyes and the thin lips with no sign of a smile - no wonder that everybody approached him with suspicion.
No wonder she hadn't wanted him.
Lily.

He paused thoughtfully when he suddenly realized that there was no one else around except himself and Lupin who had been close to Lily; and even Lupin had only known her when she was at Hogwarts. With his own disappearance, which the world would soon be able to notice with a relieved sigh, most of the memories of Lily Evans also would be gone.

It was a painful realization, but if he did everything to enable Lily's son to survive, then Lily should also be able to live in him. He had to give Potter his personal memories.
He sighed and opened the bottle again.

Following Neville, Hermione, Harry and Ron hurried through the secret passage into the castle and were greeted happily in the Room of Requirement. The level of enthusiasm went down a bit when they revealed to their friends that Harry's last move had not only directed Voldemort's rage directly at Hogwarts, but that they also had no idea what the next Horcrux might be. 'Something about Ravenclaw' wasn't exactly a full item description.

When Luna suggested that they go to the Ravenclaws common room to look further, Hermione saw her chance."Harry," she whispered in her friend's ear, "there is a shortcut on the way, to the dungeon. Let me try to get supplies. Polyjuice potions, healing potions, Veritaserum - who knows what is lying around there and they are certainly not expecting a burglary at the moment. "
Harry doubted.

"Mione, if you run into God knows who, maybe even Snape ..."

'That's exactly the plan. 100 points for Gryffindor.' Hermione thought dryly and reassured him.
"Give me the marauder's map. I promise you, I won't take any bigger risk and I'll be back in a few minutes."
Harry handed her the map, somewhat unhappy, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief that that would make it impossible for him or Ron to watch her footsteps apparently doing a kind of slowfox with Snape. Now she just had to get hold of him somehow.

She turned unobtrusively into a small corridor with a steep spiral staircase and called for reinforcements in a whisper.
"Winky, I have new orders!"
It took a little longer than usual, but suddenly the little lady was standing next to her. "Miss Captain Hermione! Winky so glad nothing happened to her. Winky was very worried! Haven't heard from Captain Hermione since ... since ... Dobby left." The misfortune could still be heard in her voice and it touched Hermione deeply. She was a little ashamed of not having thought of Winky after Dobby's death and knelt down to hug Winky, who was now sobbing helplessly.

"Oh Winky, I'm so sorry. He was so brave, Winky, so courageous. He saved my life and without him we would all have been lost." Tears came into her eyes and she felt again the anger and grief over the senseless death of this unique little elf.

But there was no time for that now and she pulled herself together.

"Winky."

She looked intently at the house elf, who also visibly forced herself to calm down. "Here, take this note to Headmaster Snape. He will know what to do." On a small piece of paper she had written down just two words, which hopefully made sense to no one except him.

"He's in the headmaster's office. Hurry up, please."

Winky nodded tearfully and disappeared like a breeze. Apparently there were different methods the house-elves used to move around in Hogwarts, Hermione thought briefly, then curbed the distraction of her mind. She walked cautiously, keeping a careful eye on the map.

Snape had just resealed the vial when he heard a sniff next to him. He looked down and saw Winky, who with clearly reddened eyes held out a small piece of paper while she blew her nose with a scruffy piece of cloth and looked at the floor in embarrassement. Amazed, he took the paper from her hand and immediately the little lady turned around and was gone again. Shaking his head, he unfolded the tiny sheet of paper and was suddenly electrified.

"Mandrake room".

He would recognize this handwriting among thousands.

Snape burned the note, put the vial with the memories in his pocket and went as quickly as possible towards the dungeon to the place where he was defeated by Miss Granger and a flower pot over two years ago.

Hermione hid in the empty Potions classroom in a dark corner; the office next door was secured and a bombarda spell might not be exactly the cautious behavior she had promised to Harry. Severus would find her. She saw his footsteps on the map coming closer and her heart began to race in anticipation to see him again, to feel the security again when she was with him, when he puts his arms around her again ... damn it, what was she thinking?

Amidst this confusion, Hermione noticed another movement on the map and looked closer in the dim light to see more. A small trace of footsteps followed Severus; at some distance, but clearly on his trail. Damn it! Who the hell had such tiny feet? The name was correspondingly small and she cursed softly, trying to decipher it, when the door opened and Severus entered. She hastily pocketed the map.

When Snape saw Hermione coming out of the shadows, obviously unharmed, he felt a spontaneous sense of relief and already opened his mouth to address her. However, with a warning look she put her finger on her lips and pointed to the door with the other hand. He looked around in surprise; he would have noticed if someone had followed him, that was ...

The next moment he felt Hermione so close to him that he could feel her breath on his neck. How did she do that? It was downright absurd how she, in contrast to all other people, wasn't seen as a threat by all of his senses. Her sudden closeness and her familiar scent forced him to suppress the impulse to take her into his arms. This utterly wonderful memory of this feeling, which had been new to him, was still stored like a treasure in his mind even after all the months.

With some effort he recalibrated his concentration and focused on what she was whispering in his ear.

"The last Horcrux must be here at Hogwarts, after that there's only Nagini. Someone is following you." He felt her warm hand on his left, a brief squeeze of her fingers and then she slipped back into the shadows behind a massive column. Severus turned back to the door and when he saw a small shadow on the doorstep, he snorted in annoyance.

"For every hair in my potions, I'll deduct 20 points from Gryffindor, Minerva. Would you please explain to me why you are following me in this ridiculous disguise?"

You could read from the cat's face the annoyance of being caught and this facial expression did not change even after it had transformed back into human form.