Hello, readers dear. I know you are eager to get to the resolution, so I will do more talking in my other AN.

Sorry about however long Chapter Seven was a repeat of Chapter Six... I have no idea what happened. I fixed it.

Chapter 8

The green bolt of Death passed a fraction of an inch from her chest as Hermione ducked out of the way. She retaliated with a Stunner and an Expelliarmus.

The short man in the heavy cloak stumbled back, giving Hermione enough time to try and pull Harry to his feet. The Boy-Who-Lived was, however, useless from pain, clutching his scar and whimpering. "Come on, come on, come on!" Hermione was saying, pulling him away and closer to the Cup. "It might go both ways, depends what Moody did to it-"

The cloaked man recovered before they could reach the golden Cup, the glint of the metal shining temptingly in the moonlight. "Expelliarmus," he gasped, Disarming Hermione as she desperately tried to reach the prize. Contrary to her expectation, he caught her wand, raising his own wand again, the hood of the heavy cloak falling from the top of his head to reveal his face.

"Wormtail," Hermione breathed. For some reason, she felt a swell of relief. What? Why the only time I've ever met him I almost killed him why should I- Oh! "Stop! You owe me a debt, Wormtail!" The pudgy man actually did stop- he kept his wand pointing her way, and glanced at the bundle he had carefully set on the ground before attacking her.

The bundle squirmed uneasily. "Is that true, Wormtail?" it hissed, the same high, cold voice that had ordered Hermione's death.

"It's true," Hermione shouted, mind working as fast as she could make it. "He pled at my feet for his miserable life and as much as I wanted him dead I lowered my wand." It was true- she could see the moment with sickening clarity, how he had begged her, 'sweet girl, pretty girl,' to give him his life. She had turned away in disgust and the rat had then crawled to Harry.

Before them, Wormtail nodded and cringed, clearly expecting the wrath of the ball of cloth on the ground. "Yes, my lord. The girl is Hermione Granger- the clever one. The ones the papers say Harry Potter loves."

Hermione glanced down at the boy at her feet. "Let Harry go- you can take me instead-" even as she said it she knew it was hopeless.

"Very well," hissed the still squirming bundle. "Tie both of them to the headstones. We will use his blood to revive me and then I will kill her and torture him with her death." He had her wand- but she had her knives- and she had been practicing directing spells through the wand cores. She wasn't great at it, but maybe she could manage something. As long as he didn't find those she would find a way to escape.

The two students were dragged to a smaller area of marble headstones. Hermione was bound to one that read Annette M. Riddle and Harry to one on her right, with the inscription, Tom Riddle. Hermione could remember a time shortly after second year when Harry had sat her and Ron down with a piece of paper, and written Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort.

Harry was being bound in tight ropes, from neck to ankles. He struggled for a moment against the cords, and received a blow from the Death Eater. Then Wormtail pulled out a piece of cloth from some inner pocket of his robes, shoving it in Harry's mouth.

Wormtail turned to Hermione. "Don't make a sound," he warned her. "Or I'll find something else to shove in your mouth and you won't like it very much." Hermione glared at him, but nodded and held her tongue.

Wormtail returned to the bundle, picking it up when it stirred fretfully. He was holding it strangely, like a child- but the child could talk and give orders to kill-

Below her feet, Hermione could barely detect a movement in the shadows, and the soft whiskwhisk of smooth scales on grass. The giant snake let out a long hiss, winding itself around her tombstone. Hermione let out a small moan, drawing the attention of the baby-creature. "Not yet, Nagini," he said slowly. "We will finish my regeneration, and then you may have the girl for a treat."

I'll give you a bloody treat, Hermione thought rebelliously. I will not be snake food. I will not die before I- before-

Her train of thought broke off as she analyzed what was happening- Wormtail had brought a cauldron full of what seemed like water to a boil. However, soon Hermione rethought that opinion when sparks began to leap from the water and gather on the surface, until it looked almost diamond incrusted. Harry was stirring slowly by her side, opening pain-reddened eyes and trying to turn his head to look at her.

The bundle on the ground was moving even more erratically, as if it was trying to free itself. "Hurry," it snapped at Wormtail. "It's ready now, Master," Wormtail wheezed, picking up the source of the voice.

It laughed, a hissing crackle. "Now," it said.

Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them, and Harry let out a yell that was strangled in the wad of material blocking his mouth. Hermione just moaned again quietly. It was unnatural- an abomination.

It was as though Wormtail had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy, and blind - but worse, a hundred times worse. The thing Wormtail had been carrying had the shape of a crouched human child, except that Hermione had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face - no child alive ever had a face like that - flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes. A demon child, the Anti-Christ, anything but a baby.

The thing seemed almost helpless; it raised its thin arms, put them around Wormtail's neck, and Wormtail lifted it. As he did so, his hood fell back, and Hermione noted the look of revulsion on Wormtail's weak, pale face in the firelight as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron. For one moment, Hermione saw the evil, flat face illuminated in the sparks dancing on the surface of the potion. And then Wormtail lowered the creature into the cauldron; there was a hiss, and it vanished below the surface; Hermione heard its frail body hit the bottom with a soft thud.

Let it drown, let it drown, please, please let it drown! Hermione was thinking frantically, looking desperately at Wormtail, who was steadying himself, and raising his wand. They had to get out of there before Voldemort was finished with his 'regeneration.' Her knives were close to her body- by her hips. She began to struggle with as little movement as possible to get to them.

"Bone of the father, unwillingly give, you will renew your son!" Wormtail said in a high wavering voice, dragging his wand in an arc. To her horror, Hermione could see fragile white-grey dust rising from the grave under Harry's feet, following the wand into the cauldron. As soon as it hit the surface of the water, it sparked and bubbled. The substance around Lord Voldemort was now a vivid, poisonous blue. She was close to the knives- Wormtail had not tied good knots and for a moment she was thankful to the repugnant man.

Now Wormtail was whimpering, throwing terrified looks at the cauldron and the beast-human inside it. With a cry of pain, he pulled a long, thin dagger from his cloak. Hermione stared at it for a moment, fascinated. It glistened alarmingly in the moonlight, and from experience she could tell it would be sharp.

"Flesh - of the servant - w-willingly given - you will - revive - your master." He stretched his right hand out in front of him - the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand and swung it upward. Hermione winced, turning away- Wormtail screamed into the night and she heard the quiet thump of the hand falling to the grass. She could still imagine the spray of blood, the four-fingered hand dropping to the ground. Wormtail had missed the cauldron. Sobbing, the man was kneeling on the ground, but he gathered his strength and picked up the hand to throw into the potion. It blazed a bright blood red into the night.

Hermione opened her eyes, hearing the ragged breathing of the traitor. He cut into Harry's arm, breathing heavily. "Blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will resurrect your foe." He lurched to the cauldron, and poured the blood in, then collapsed on the hard earth. Immediately, white smoke billowed out, over the lip of the cauldron and into the night of the graveyard.

Bone of the father- for a person is first born of the flesh. The parents are the framework. Flesh of the servant- the people who follows a man shows who he is, gives him his power, the force. But the blood of the enemy- those who hate a man give him his driving force, the energy, the life. No one is perfect, no one is loved by all. Oh god. It's really happening.

In the haze, she twisted her wrist and finally grasped the hilt of the knife Severus had given her. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, and began to maneuver to get the blade free.

A shadowy figure was rising from the depths of the cauldron, tall and skeletally thin, bald head thrown back in a laugh. "Robe me," he commanded, voice high and full of the lust of success. Wormtail, still sobbing at the base of a stone angel, stumbled to the black robes. Clutching his mutilated arm, he pulled the robes over his master's head.

The tall man stepped out of the cauldron, staring avidly at Harry with bright red eyes. His skin was skull white and stretched tightly over his cheekbones and eye sockets. His nose was flatter than Hermione would have thought possible, just a small bump with two snake-like slits for nostrils. The horrible red eyes had slits for pupils, lit with delight as his spidery hands caressed every part of his body.

Lord Voldemort had risen again.

Systematically, he went about the business of calling his followers, watching with careful eyes those who came at his call. As he walked among them, Hermione carefully cut at her bonds, remaining dutifully silent as she twisted on her massive headstone. He had just given Wormtail a glowing silver hand when Hermione freed herself. She kept one hand on the cords, however, sustaining the illusion she was a captive.

Harry noticed her work, staring at her with wide eyes. She winked at him to calm him, then nodded at the assembled Death Eaters with her chin. If the caught her at this stage of the game, it would not be pretty. Meanwhile, Voldemort was speaking at length on his journey to his new body, using his talents as a charismatic speaker to his advantage.

But when he turned and cursed Harry, Hermione screamed along with her best friend. "Stop! Stop, you're hurting him!"

Voldemort dropped the curse, leaving the Boy-Who-Lived slumped in his bindings. "Who is this child who defies Lord Voldemort?" he hissed. "Look at me, girl!" Behind him the Death Eaters shuffled uncomfortably. Hermione searched their ranks for a familiar form, recognizing Malfoy and Mulciber. Her heart sank as she realized that a tall thin Potions Master was nowhere to be found.

Hermione lifted her head, looking into the red, red eyes. Eyes that were drawing her in, black slits surrounded by crimson and ruby, eyes that wanted to come into her head and search out her secrets…

Legilimency, a voice told her. Give him your false images. Now! She did as the voice bid, allowing her flimsy false walls to break under the dark wizard's onslaught to reveal her carefully planned false memories. She could feel him riffling through them, pausing at a few, but just scanning the surface of others. She was weeping with relief inside her hidden mindspace, thanking the gods that he didn't bother looking further. For what chit of a girl could resist the Dark Lord?

"This girl," he said, turning to address his followers, "Hermione Granger, is a Mudblood. Do you want to show our dear guests what we do with Mudbloods?" He whispered a wandless spell to free her from her already cut ropes, and took her by the arm, dragging her to the open half circle. Above her head, Harry jerked frantically against his bonds.

He managed to spit free his gag, and Hermione winced, not just at the claw-like fingers digging into her arm. Harry was going to do something stupid. "No!" he shouted, straining with all his might against the ropes. "Not Hermione! Let her go and take me-"

With a flick of Voldemort's hand, he was Silenced. "It seems that the hero of the Wizarding World has some… affection… for our little Mudblood," Voldemort announced. Hermione shook off his hand and stepped very deliberately between Harry and Voldemort. "Poor Harry Potter. First his father, then his mother… and now his little girlfriend…" he heaved a great, dramatic sigh. "And then him. Crucio!"

The pain was unlike any Hermione had experienced before- rippling through her body and scourging her insides. Her skin was pulling itself off her muscles, her lungs were attempting to crawl out of her mouth, and her brain was liquefying and pouring out her ears- and then it was over. She lay gasping on the ground, strength draining into the effort of breathing.

Around her, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were watching, some following the Dark Lord's lead and laughing. Although her arms were shaking fiercely, Hermione pushed herself up on her elbows and spat at the feet of the Dark Lord. "Bite me," she croaked out. "I won't let you hurt him."

"Feisty," he murmured. "I'd love to have it beaten it out of you, but I simply do not have the time." He beckoned forward one of his men, one Hermione did not recognize in the pale light and heavy cloak. "Make sure she does not interfere. And you might want to Crucio her again. In my experience, it does Mudbloods good."

With a deep rumble of laughter, the man pulled her, kicking and screaming, to the side and did as his lord had bid. Decades or seconds of pain passed until she was once again breathing heavily, flat on her back. She was inside the circle now, 'her' Death Eater training his wand on her warily. She twisted on the ground to look up at what was happening, and her heart sank in her chest.

Harry- wobbling on his injured leg and holding his wand shakily, looking all the while like he was about to pass out. He was forced to bow to Voldemort, shooting worried glances at Hermione as his spine bent and his nose nearly met the ground. She smiled weakly at him, trying to reassure him. A normal boy might not last a minute against the Dark Lord, but if anyone had a chance, it was Harry Potter.

In seconds, Harry was writhing under the Cruciatus Curse, screaming at the top of his lungs. It looked a good deal more painful that the one Hermione had endured- Harry's scar had split open and trickles of red were dripping down his face.

"Did that hurt, Harry Potter?" asked Voldemort, a cruel smile playing on the cold white features of his new face. "You certainly were screaming like it hurt. Do you want to see what it looks like again? No? Maybe a demonstration of how it looks on your little Mudblood friend?" A simple flick of his wand brought the awful, blinding pain back to Hermione.

Fortunately, it was over in a few seconds. Hermione had bitten the inside of her cheek- blood was in her mouth and she couldn't help coughing it up. She flinched when she saw the worry and terror on Harry's face- this was not the time for him to be worried about her. "I'm fine, Harry," she said. "Fight him, fight him with all you-" and she was screaming and twitching on the ground again, courtesy of 'her' Death Eater.

When she was finally freed from the Curse, she couldn't find Harry. She tried scrambling to her feet, but was kicked down by the Death Eater behind her. She collapsed on the ground with a sharp exhalation, just in time to see Harry leap out from behind a gravestone and shout a spell at Voldemort.

The crackling green of the Death Curse met the sizzling red of the Disarmer, and golden light was flying everywhere. It formed a bubble around Voldemort and Harry, sealing them off from the rest of the Dark wizards.

"Should we attack it?" asked the one Hermione thought was Goyle. "Send a few spells at it, or something?"

Lucius Malfoy sneered at the man, but Hermione noticed that his grip on his wand handle tightened slightly. "No, you idiot. The Dark Lord has a one-on-one battle of the wands. He will defeat the boy, and then-" he stopped. "He will defeat the boy."

Hermione's Death Eater nudged her with his foot. "What do we do with her?" Hermione glared up at him, and he kicked her again. Hermione made sure to land with her hands under her back, just where her knives were hidden.

Malfoy gave her his best aristocratic death glare. "She's a bloody nuisance," he snapped. "If that's really the Mudblood Granger, then she punched my son in the face last year. You can do as you please with her for all I care, as long as I get a chance to give her a kick or two from Draco."

A few pointing fingers and worried murmurs passed among the men- shadowy figures were now circling the perimeter of the golden sphere. As much as Hermione strained, she couldn't hear what they were saying. A few seemed to converge on Harry's side, patting his shoulder and offering what appeared to be words of encouragement.

Finally, with a good deal of wiggling and squirming, Hermione got her knives free without attracting the notice of the Death Eaters. With a grunt of satisfaction, Hermione drove one knife into the thigh of 'her' Death Eater, pulling it down in one quick slash. As he went down screaming, she whirled around in a crouch, heading straight for Peter.

He met her halfway, reaching for her throat with his silver hand. Hermione slashed at it, darting forward to grab her wand from his robe pocket. "Come after me again, Wormtail," she sneered. "I will cut off that other hand of yours- what d'ya say?" Hermione ducked the spell she could feel aiming for her back, twisting out of the way and slashing at another robed and masked wizard.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Cup glow bright blue- the signature lightening blue of a Portkey. With a wand in one hand and her knife in the other, Hermione began to toss spells at the masked men as she fought her way to the Cup. Halfway there, she felt a searing pain across her shoulders, then warm liquid seeping down. Cutting Curse, Hermione thought, throwing a Stunner over her shoulder before ducking behind an angel for a moment. Thank the gods for adrenaline.

Hermione slipped out from behind the angel, clipping Mulciber on the arm with a vicious reaching slice, and Stunning the man behind Malfoy in the same moment. A weak red light shot from her knife as well, hitting another man and making him stumble. She moved closer to the Cup, watching the sphere of golden thread above their heads for any sign of movement. Just as she threw up a shield at three Stunners that were flying toward her, the gold filaments dissolved and Harry hit the ground running.

"Hermione!" he shouted. "The Cup! Get to the Cup!" Hermione doubled her efforts, giving up on harming any of them and dashing to the glimmer of the Cup. One more spell brushed her arm, cracking the bone with a pressure more intense than anything Hermione had ever felt in her life. She screamed and retched, but kept moving to the Cup.

"Kill them!" Voldemort was shouting. "Kill the girl and Stun him!" Hermione set up a shield as she reached Harry, grabbing on the boy's arm. Her legs gave out, and she crumpled against him. She could feel the pain encroaching on her senses, making her feet stumble as Harry dragged her along.

Harry didn't waste a moment, shouting, "Accio!" at the Cup, pulling Hermione's hand up with his to catch it. Hermione turned her head to look at the last moment before the Cup hit their clasped hands, seeing the determination on the Dark Lord's face before deciding to protect the boy next to her. Deliberately, she waited for the spell to start spiraling to them before stepping directly in its path and turning around. It hit her in the lower back- she felt a ripping, tearing pain start there as the hot stickiness of her blood spilled from her body. She screamed for a short second before she no longer had the strength.

The last image she had of the graveyard before the Cup reached their grasp and a hook jerked under her navel was of Voldemort's triumphant face morphing into a mask of outrage.

They landed between the stands and the maze, in pure chaos. Hermione had begun to shake, pain rippling through her exhausted muscles. Dumbledore's worried face was a blur, but she heard as a sound like a cannon's roar emerged from his wand. The crush of people started backing away, only a few familiar faces stepping forward- McGonagall, Flitwick, and perhaps the most relieving of all, Snape.

"He's back!" Harry was shouting, the Cup long since abandoned to the ground as he tried to support Hermione. "Voldemort is back, he's returned and he has a body now-"

All the color drained from Snape's already pallid face, but he carried himself well. "What happened to Miss Granger?" he snapped instead, as Hermione finally gave in and let out a moan of pain as her knees failed her and she collapsed in Harry's arms.

McGonagall's head snapped to her and Harry, hands fluttering to her face in shock. "Mr. Potter! All the blood- is it yours or-" She could not finish. Her eyes seemed to be transfixed on the image of the messy haired fourteen year old clutching a slip of a girl to his chest, red staining both his robes and her pale pink shirt.

"It's hers," Severus breathed, scooping Hermione's unconscious form into his arms. It was strange, Hermione wondered, before giving into the comforting blackness that was encroaching on her mind. He was so tall and thin, but so strong. "We need to get her up to the Hospital Wing- both of them!"

"Fawkes," Dumbledore intoned softly, lifting an arm. With a flash of fire, the phoenix appeared. "Can you take Severus, Miss Granger, and Mr. Potter to the Hospital Wing?"

The flame-bird chirruped comfortingly, turning to offer his tail feathers to Harry and Severus. Severus grasped two, to accommodate both his weight and Hermione's. Harry hesitantly took one, and the three were spinning through flames to the Hospital Wing in a way that was unsettlingly familiar to Portkey travel.

Fawkes deposited them in the Hospital Wing gently, Severus landing rather heavily due to Hermione. Harry, however, wavered on his bad leg before falling onto a bed. Madam Pomfrey rushed into the room, letting out a little squeak.

But she quickly recovered, ordering Severus to set Hermione down on a bed just as Dumbledore arrived in the room. "What happened to her?" the nurse demanded before returning to her diagnostic spells.

"I am quite curious as to what exactly happened as well, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, taking a seat at the base of Harry's bed. "Where did the Portkey take you?"

"To a graveyard," Harry responded, taking a deep breath. "We got there, and it was empty. Hermione and I got our wands out, and then Pettigrew came and he was carrying this- this thing that was Voldemort. He ordered Pettigrew to 'kill the spare' and so he tried-" Harry stopped at looked at Hermione, fear in his green eyes. "She dodged it. Then she told Wormtail that he owed her a Life Debt because she helped save his life last year. Voldemort said to bring her along so she could watch and- and he'd kill her after."

Severus, who was paying as much attention to the scans as he was to Harry's story, frowned. "That does sound like the Dark Lord when he wants to be theatrical. And then he resurrected himself?"

Harry described the regeneration ritual in as much detail as he could, glancing frequently over at Hermione's bed next to him. Madam Pomfrey was frowning, poking at one of the glowing numbers with her wand. "What spells did they use on her, Mr. Potter?" she asked.

"The Cruciatus," Harry said quietly. "At least three times, maybe more. And they kicked her and- Voldemort said that they could use her as they liked as long as they fed her to the snake when they were done. They didn't have a chance- something weird happened with my wand and Voldemort's-" Harry continued to explain to Dumbledore as Severus walked over to Hermione's bedside.

"How bad is she?" he asked Madam Pomfrey, voice low. "Do you need any potions?" The nurse had repaired Hermione's arm and closed the cut on her upper back, but was regarding the girl with a worried face.

"At least twelve minutes of Cruciatus," Madam Pomfrey told him. "This was her first bout of the Curse, poor child. And then the Bone-Crusher that grazed her arm, the Slicing Hex to her shoulders, and a Cutting Curse that hit her full in the back. It would have severed her spinal cord, but whoever did it wasn't at full strength. It goes deep, though. She'll need to be careful with that one."

"I shall get the Cruciatus Potion," said Severus. "Do not allow her to wake before I get back." He stalked to the door of the Hospital Wing, letting it slam behind him.

Harry didn't even jump at the noise, engrossed into the seemingly unbelievable tale Dumbledore was telling him. "Moody is an imposter?" Harry asked, aghast. "He was the one who put my name in the Goblet?"

"I'm afraid so, my boy," Dumbledore said gravely, folding his hands in his lap. "We have captured him, but with Voldemort in corporal form once again, you are in more danger than ever."

The door flew open again, Severus striding forward with a scowl on his face. At his feet trotted a large black dog. The dog padded over to Hermione's bed, licking her hand with a whine. He perked up again when he saw that Harry was sitting up and talking, hopping onto his godson's bed with a short bark.

"Look who followed me home," Severus drawled, shooting a glare at the Animagus and handing a small vial of blue potion to Madam Pomfrey. He wrinkled his nose at the dog, who was eagerly greeting his godson. "Now, now, Potter. Mutts are not allowed on the furniture." The Potions Master ignored Padfoot's growl, turning instead to the Headmaster. "The Minister will be here in approximately five minutes."

He thrust another vial of the blue potion at Harry. "Drink, Potter," he sneered. "While I am sure Miss Granger bore the brunt of your punishment, you seem to be suffering some of the after effects of the Cruciatus yourself."

Everyone in the room glared at him, but Harry drank the potion, blinking in surprise at the taste. "It actually tastes good," he said, shock evident in his voice.

"Of course it does," Snape snapped. "I made it for myself." Harry flushed when he realized why- Snape had not answered the call of the Dark Lord and would likely be facing punishment later. "I should go and prepare myself, Headmaster," Snape said quietly. "I need to go through my memories of the last fourteen years and hide what needs to be hidden." Namely, all my interactions with Miss Granger. He cannot find out her true purpose, not yet.

"Go, my dear boy," the Headmaster ordered. "Report to my office when you return."

One week later, Madam Pomfrey released Hermione from the Hospital Wing, sending her off with stern instructions not to overextend and injure herself. The first place she went was Snape's office.

"Enter," he called out from within, in response to the knocks on his door. When the door opened and closed on its own, he raised extra wards on his office and waited. Hermione removed her Disillusionment and her Glamour as soon as she felt the magic around her rise in a protective bubble.

They looked at each other for a moment. "You can take off your Glamour," Hermione said slowly, haltingly. "I don't care."

He started to sneer at her, but stopped, face only half contorted. "As you wish," he said, allowing the magic to drop. Hermione had to stop herself from wincing, noting the black eye and the large bruise on one side of his face.

"So he wasn't happy?" Hermione asked. "I figured he would be pretty unhappy considering what I did." She took her customary seat on the chair in front of his desk.

Severus opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. "Not here, Miss Granger," he said. "It is best if we do this somewhere I am absolutely sure no one could have infiltrated." He stood and walked to the back of his office where a door was half hidden in the shadows. Instead of using that door, he put his palm on the surface of one of the huge stones that made up the back wall. "The long shadow on the grass," he whispered. A second door appeared, and he beckoned her through.

"Hermione," Hermione said suddenly, rising from her chair. "Miss Granger feels too formal." She passed through the wall, emerging in a barren sitting room. Severus followed her, immediately crossing the room to a large display case that contained what looked like hundreds of Potions on shelves. It seemed they were all an illusion, however; he unlocked the door, locked it again, and unlocked it twice more before passing right through the shelves. Hermione followed, into a much more comfortable set of rooms.

Snape gestured at an armchair, which she sank into gratefully. "Tea?" he asked, already walking to the small kitchen area of his rooms. They were luxurious, but not lavish. Decorated in dark forest green and brown, with hints of slate grey and black, the rooms reflected the personality of the stern man. Even so, a fire crackled merrily in the fireplace and the atmosphere was welcoming enough. A winding staircase was tucked into a corner, half hidden by a large bookcase. Off to the side of the sitting room was the kitchen, complete with a small table. A desk was stationed on the other side of the room, apparently very well used. It was littered with papers, all viciously marked with bright red ink.

"Yes, please," Hermione answered. How surreal is this? she asked herself. The feared and loathed Professor Snape is offering me tea in his sitting room. She could hear him moving around in the kitchen area; curious, she stood and wandered over to one of the many bookshelves lining the walls. She let her fingers trail over the spines of the neatly organized books, recognizing some, but all of the titles. An Introduction to Astronomic Psychophysics and Polyatomic Ions in Their Different Relations to Potions, The Collected Poetry of Emily Dickinson, Advanced Biochemistry in Medicinal Potions, A History of Non-Magical Species and Their Alliances with Humans, The Hobbit, Pharmaceutical Herbs and Their Uses in Modern Potions, Gathered Works on Transfiguration of Potions into a Gaseous State. How on earth am I going to get Professor Snape to let me read all of these?

"Are you done snooping, Miss Granger?" Snape said darkly. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that curiosity killed the cat?"

Hermione turned around guiltily, ready to apologize before recognizing the half-smirk on her mentor's face as one of amusement rather than anger. "They also said that satisfaction brought it back," she quipped, returning to her chair. "And you can call me Hermione, Professor. It's one syllable more of a mouthful than 'Miss Granger,' but a good deal less intimidating." She accepted a cup of tea, stirring in one sugar cube.

"I think it is impossible for you to enter a room without immediately seeking out all the books," Snape grumbled, splashing a dollop of milk in his own teacup. "One day, you are going to get attacked by one of the more dangerous ones." And then what would Harry Potter do without you to save his neck?

She shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "The price I'd have to pay for my curiosity. Do you suppose it's a symptom of my unfortunate brush with Polyjuice?" She still retained some enhanced hearing, and she could see better in the dark than most people.

"No," Severus answered immediately. "You were alarmingly curious before you decided to experiment with one of the hardest Potions with legal ingredients. Your brief period as half-cat had nothing to do with it." He took a sip of his tea, sighing quietly. "But now to what we were discussing before. What did you ask me?"

"I asked if the Dark Lord was angrier than you had thought he would be," Hermione said again, holding her teacup with both hands. The warmth was comforting down in the dungeons. "Because of what I did."

Severus frowned, leaning forward slightly. "And what, exactly, did you do, Miss Granger?" His tone held an unconscious undertone of worry.

"Hermione," corrected the girl, throwing the man a long-suffering look. "I thought you knew. I blocked the last spell he sent at Harry." Hermione sipped her tea carefully. "I assumed it would be important because it was his last chance to injure Harry and I stopped it. I think it hit my back."

The Potions Master's frown deepened, the small furrow in his brow growing more pronounced. "He was extremely upset," he said slowly, swirling his tea in the cup. "I had to prove my supposed loyalty to him, then withstand several bouts of the Cruciatus, and then watch as others did the same. Some he believed, others he didn't."

"So he didn't say anything about what happened in the graveyard?" asked Hermione. "Nothing?" She was almost indignant, it seemed.

Severus shook his head. "That wasn't what I said," he drawled. "On the contrary. The Dark Lord was enraged at the fact Harry Potter escaped. You were mentioned briefly in passing, I believe. I know Peter, in particular, was punished for not checking you for Muggle weapons." They were quiet for a few moments, then Severus asked another question. "The Dark Lord tried to sever Potter's spinal cord. Do you know why it didn't work on you?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. "We were being pulled away by the Cup at that point. I know it hit me, though. I made sure I was between it and Harry." She shivered, tugging at a lock of her hair. "By that time, the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. And then we were safe and I collapsed in pain. So…" She let her voice trail off.

"So, indeed," Severus said with a sigh. "It must have been mitigated by the Portkey pulling you away." He gathered the empty teacups, Banishing them back to the kitchen with his wand. "Are you alright, Miss Granger?" he asked.

Hermione opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it with a sharp shake of her head. Her face smoothed, and it was clear to Snape that she was using Occlumency to tighten her grip on her emotions. "No. I keep seeing it. In my dreams." Without her teacup to hold on to, Hermione crossed her arms around herself.

I know, Severus told her silently. I see him in my dreams all the time. I see the dead body of my best friend, I see the bodies of people I watched him kill, and I see the bodies of the people I killed. At least you have no blood-guilt, Hermione. "Do you want Dreamless Sleep?" he asked brusquely. "I have some, should you desire it."

She raised her head, staring straight into his deep pools of shadowed grey, her own clear coffee-colored eyes troubled. "No," she said, voice shaking. "It's too easy to get addicted. Stop me, if I ever try that."

"As you wish," Severus replied steadily, allowing some of his admiration of her will to seep into his voice. Not many who faced the Dark Lord and lived to dream about it had enough strength to refuse Dreamless Sleep. "You should talk about it, with someone who understands. Mr. Potter, perhaps."

He was surprised when she shook her head. "I can't," Hermione whispered. "I- I think I killed someone. I couldn't tell Harry." With a flash, it came to Severus. Antonius Druggar had not returned from the graveyard- apparently he had bled out- his femoral artery had been severed.

He chose not to sugarcoat it. The Dark Lord was back- and unless he had an unfortunate accident or a sudden change of heart, it was quite likely Hermione would kill other people. "I am afraid you did, Miss-"

"Hermione," she said again. "Please." She was pleading with him, and he could see it even though she couldn't. She looked alone, worried, lost.

He conceded with a sigh. "Fine. I am afraid you did, Hermione. He was your first, and I can almost guarantee you he will not be your last." Her face paled dramatically. Severus waited a moment for her to come out of her thoughts. "He was going to torture you, rape you, allow his friends to rape you and torture you, then kill you," Severus said bluntly. "In the last twenty years, he has probably murdered at least three dozen people. You did the world a service tonight."

Hermione drew in a shaky breath, one that turned into a sob halfway through. "What am I?" she said hysterically. "What happened to me? I put myself between an evil Dark Lord and his enemy, I cut at people with knives, and I kill people. I'm Hermione Granger, I was going to be a doctor and I'm only in my fourth year of school-"

"Hermione Granger," Severus said as gently as he could- which wasn't much. "You are an adult. You have fought to save your own life. You have put the needs of an entire world before your own, and you have killed for one of those reasons. You may only be in your fourth year of school, but you are almost eighteen. Act like it."

She didn't look at him in shock, or start crying like he half expected her to. She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood, then took a deep breath. "You're right, sir," she said. "I faced down Voldemort, and I lived. I spat at his feet, I insulted him, and I survived his curses. A few nightmares won't stop me." Her determined expression was gratifying to the Potions Master.

"Severus," he said suddenly, astonishing even himself. This time, she did look at him in shock.

Her eyebrows raised, and her eyes widened. "What did you just say?" she asked. "I'm almost certain I didn't hear you correctly."

"I said 'Severus,'" he answered snarkily. "It's my name, as I am sure you know. You may use it, privately. Tell anyone, and you will wish the Dark Lord had been more affronted at your insults." What the hell did I just do? Severus wondered. I must be going mad. But she deserves it, he decided. Hermione Granger is no longer a child.

"Thank you," she said gravely, meeting his eyes again. "I-" The large grandfather's clock in the corner chimed the hour, startling both of them. "It's getting late," Hermione said wistfully, glancing at Severus' bookshelves. "Since I not taking the easy way out and using the potion, can I borrow a book to entertain me when I wake up?"

Shaking his head, he flapped a hand in her direction. "Take your pick," he said with a resigned sigh. "Any book from the shelf you were looking at earlier. None of those are dangerous."

She grinned cheekily at him, turning to consider her options. She took her time with the bookshelf, letting her fingers brush over the backs of one row, finally plucking one thick tome off the shelf. "Thank you, Severus," she said softly, as if she was unsure how the name was pronounced.

"You're welcome," he said. He rolled his eye when he noticed the slight reproach in her eyes. "Hermione."

She beamed at him, and he returned the brilliant smile with a dark scowl. He led her through the false cabinet, and back into his office. "Come see me when you finish the book," he ordered, knowing full well she would come whether he wanted her to or not. "I am interested to hear your take on the value of Transfiguring Potions."

"Of course, sir," she said. "And- thank you again." In the low light, she noticed all the shadows on his face. He looks so tired, she thought. His life is in danger every second of the day, now.

Severus' serious expression softened slightly. "If you need to talk, come to me, Hermione," he said smoothly. "Unlike Mr. Potter, I have killed before." His eyes glittered dangerously for a moment, looking off into the shadows before returning to her own. "The guilt does not dissipate," he said quietly. "But it does become less… potent… over time."

She nodded, her face regaining the rigidity it had lost for a while in his rooms. "I might not be any help," Hermione said softly. "But you might need someone to talk to. Or to be of medical assistance when you return from the Dark Lord's presence." She blinked at him, then smiled thinly. "You need not stand alone, Severus. I may not be able to do much, but I will do for you what I can."

He said nothing for a long moment, then inclined his head once. "We shall see," he said, voice almost a whisper. Their eyes met for another long moment, grey so dark it was almost black and a warm coffee brown.

"I'll be missed in my dorm," she said finally. "Goodnight, Severus."

She's grown now, he reminded himself. She's a child no longer. "Goodnight, Hermione."

And so ends Chapter Eight and Part One.

SO: About this chapter. I wanted Hermione to be involved in one way, and I wanted to save Cedric for reasons that might become evident eventually. Also, I believe in consequences and the Law of Equality for Fanfiction. Some of you were expecting Hermione to swoop in and save the day and win, but she couldn't. She needed to learn that she was vulnerable, that she can't take on the world, that she can be hurt despite her training. Also, it's made Hermione grow up. She needed to experience that kind of fear and terror and her own mortality before she could ever begin to understand Severus.

The first names are a big step for our two heros. Part One, Hermione growing up, is over. Part Two is about to begin. She is now an adult, who can make adult decisions and fall in love, like an adult. Of course she'd hate to admit it to herself and Severus is even more bothersome about it.

For those who care about the personal life of the author: So, I got the job. I'm a bit terrified, because this is my first ever job, and because it's seems hard and there are so many ways for me to mess up. I'm tutoring kids in math and if I make a mistake I might impact their future forever and... gah. The entire thing just makes me feel sick to my stomach. So now my vision of how the next year was going to go has changed and I don't even know how to deal and I'm just nervous and a bit of a wreck. And also I didn't get accepted to a program I desperately wanted to go to for a college and I feel like bit of a stupid little failure and so I've had a bad week. Curling into ball and crying did not help, so I stopped that and wrote a lot and moped.

Chapter Nine (the first chapter of Part Two!) shall arrive on Friday, as usual. I don't know how long I can keep up the regular posting, but for now you can count on a Friday update. Chapter Eighteen took a twist I wasn't expecting... the chapters are going to be longer from here on out. Part Two has longer chapters. But Eighteen is done! :)

And thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter (so many of you!) because your reviews made me smile and cheered me up. Hugs.

ALSO: There is fanart for this chapter done by tumblr user theloneliesttimeline! It is of Severus carrying Hermione off when they land and it is beautiful. You can find the link on my profile page.