Yo! Sorry about the wait, but a fourteen month wait is a lot better than a three year one, so at least there's that. It's been a really shit year though, so I seriously AM sorry, but I got sick, and then stuff with my eyes got not great, and then my brother died, and then my mental health got even worse, which I frankly didn't think was possible. So, yeah. Not a particularly pleasant year.

I also found out I'd only written two paragraphs for this chapter over the last fourteen months, which also kind of sucked. Got lucky when I reread the fic and the plot bunnies came back, so at least I was able to finish writing this chapter a whole ten minutes ago. Thank you to all readers so far!

'Harry,

Now, I know what you're going to say. I realize what a terrible idea this is. Not that it's going to stop me. Even if it means you'll be questioning my sanity.

Never mind the danger, though. I've just realized something. No one else will ever believe me, but... Exams really are the worst.

Number one on every exam, I know. It doesn't matter. Nonstop studying is terrible. Expulsion is still worse, though.

Don't tell Ron I said that. Mum and dad let me have wine for the first time. I think I'm a bit tipsy. Oh well. Sorry if you get in trouble for this.

Lots of love!
Hermione'

Laughing, and glad he wasn't still with the Dursleys (because he absolutely would have gotten in trouble), Harry was about to set the letter down, only to pause when Hedwig hooted at him again. She nipped at his finger sharply and then flapped one of her wings at the letter he was holding before nipping at him a second time. Amusement vanishing, Harry frowned at looked at the paper again.

Curious, he read over the letter again, but he really had no idea why Hedwig seemed so agitated. The only thing he could think of was that Hermione had told her it was important that he read it right away, but the letter didn't seem to contain anything that actually came across as urgent. So, what was the problem? He read it a third time, and then a fourth, and it was when he was reading the letter for a fifth time that he noticed something a little odd.

A lot of the sentences started with the same letters, didn't they? Lots of n's, and e's too. "Let's see..." he muttered to himself. "N-I-N-E-N-I-N-E-N-I-N-E-D-M-I-O-S? Ninenineninedmios...? What the hell does that mean?" Was it some kind of code? Or maybe an anagram or something? He went over the letters a couple of times, trying to decode them, only to have it hit him right in the face.

Nine. No, not just nine. Three nines. ...Three nines? He inhaled sharply. He remembered this. He and Hermione had talked about this before.

It was only once, but a couple of years ago, they'd realized his aunt and her mum had watched the same crime drama. One thing in that drama was that two people had used nine nine nine, the emergency number, as a way to leave each other a message signalling they needed help. It wasn't necessarily that they'd needed the authorities, but more that there was some kind of urgent situation that they didn't want anyone else to know about.

Was that what Hermione was doing? Was she trying to tell him that something was wrong and she had to talk to him? It had to be incredibly important if she was using nine nine nine. There was no way she would use it casually. Letter still gripped in his hand, Harry rushed out of the room to find Tom.

He was positive now that something was wrong. It wasn't like Hermione to take risks like this. He'd been very firm when he'd told everyone not to write to him, and since Hermione knew at least a little about how the Dursleys treated him, he was sure she wouldn't have tried to contact him unless it was extremely important.

She'd probably tried to code the letter in case it got intercepted along the way. Hedwig was talented and a lot smarter than owls generally were, but there wasn't much she could do if someone used magic on her. And while a year older than him, Hermione was still underage and couldn't have used magic on the letter, so she'd clearly tried to hide the code in the Muggle way, no doubt hoping he'd pick up on it.

It was a good thing Hedwig had stayed in the room when he'd read the letter, because he hadn't noticed anything weird about it at first, and probably wouldn't have bothered looking at it again if it wasn't for her insistence. He'd just thought it was a funny little note. He hadn't expected it to contain anything like this.

"Harry?"

Relieved, Harry skidded to a stop halfway down the hallway. "Tom! I think something's going on with Hermione. I really need to meet her as soon as possible."

Tom frowned. "That would be...Granger, yes? The Muggleborn? What makes you believe there is a problem?" But when Harry explained everything, his frown only deepened. "I see... That does seem strange from what little I have learned about her." He cupped his chin. "Severus made no mention of any of your friends being a danger to you, so I expect it should be fine if you meet with her. I'll send Severus to her first to make sure Dumbledore hasn't placed any untoward spells on her."

"That should be fine," said Harry with a nod. It would probably surprise Hermione to see Snape so randomly, but since there'd been weird spells on him, and Ron and Hermione were his best friends, there was a chance they had spells on them too. It was better not to risk it, he figured.

Tom left the room, presumably to contact Snape, and Harry remained behind, waiting in growing impatience. Had something happened to Hermione? Was she hurt? What about her parents? Had something happened to them? But if something was wrong, why was she contacting him instead of an Order member? They'd be able to help her more than he could. It wasn't like she knew Dumbledore was a lying, manipulative asshole. Yet, anyway. He was going to have to tell her about it at some point, he knew.

"Harry," said Tom as he entered the room. "Severus has met with Granger and determined that she is safe for you to be around. He detected no spells on her. He is willing to take you to her if you'd like."

Harry nodded quickly. "Yes, please," he said, immediately following Tom back out of the room. Snape was already waiting in the foyer and one uncomfortable apparation later, Harry found himself standing in Hermione's sitting room.

"Harry!"

Before Harry could even reorient himself, he was grabbed in a tight hug and smothered by a lot of bushy brown hair. "Gah, not so tight!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Releasing him, Hermione looked at him worriedly. "But you're alright, aren't you? You didn't get in trouble because of my note, did you?"

"I'm fine, don't worry," said Harry, patting her on the shoulder in a way he hoped was comforting. "But what's going on? I caught the message in the letter, but everything here looks fine to me," he said, looking around the neatly decorated sitting room. "What's so urgent?"

Instead of answering, Hermione passed an uncertain glance at Snape, who, despite having moved a few paces away, was still in the room. Noticing this, Harry raised a brow. He was kind of surprised by the suspicion she was showing him. Wasn't Hermione the one who'd been trying to get him and Ron to trust Snape since their first year? Why the sudden change?

"I don't mind if he hears it," said Harry. "I mostly trust him." And he nearly laughed when Hermione stared at him with wide eyes that were filled with both shock and disbelief. "I did say mostly." He sobered quickly though. "I don't know how long it'll be safe for me to stay here," he admitted, "so..."

"Right." Hermione nodded, seemingly to herself. "Right," she said again. "Okay, so, I know this is going to sound incredibly strange and confusing, but, you see, the Headmaster came here earlier."

Harry started frowning almost immediately, and he noticed that Snape had stiffened a little as well. If Dumbledore was involved, this couldn't possibly be good. "What did he want?"

"He...well..." Hermione hesitated and worried her bottom lip between her teeth, looking like she was debating with herself. After a moment, she took a breath, and said, "Since first year, the Headmaster has been asking me all sorts of questions about you. They all seemed like very innocent questions, mostly about your relatives, and sometimes about whether you were doing your homework, or if you were doing well in Quidditch practice."

"...Were you answering those questions?" asked Harry curiously.

"I was," Hermione confirmed with a nod. "As I said, the questions were all innocent. I did think it was a little odd, but considering you're, well, you, I honestly didn't question it too much."

"Is that what happened today, too? He just came to ask more random questions about me?" Even if he was asking that though, Harry kind of doubted it. Dumbledore asking her random questions about him wasn't nearly important enough for Hermione to risk his safety by sending him a letter.

Glancing at Snape again, Hermione hesitated once more before saying, "He did ask some questions. He wanted to know if you were doing alright because no one from the Order had heard from you. But when I told him you said you didn't want anyone writing to you, he got sort of quiet and after a few minutes, he said there was something he wanted me to do when I saw you again in September."

When Harry didn't say anything, Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of light green liquid. "He gave me this," she continued, "and said I should put it into whatever you drink as long as it isn't milk. He said it's a potion-he didn't explain what it does, exactly, other than that it'll help keep you calm because you've been so temperamental since last year, and he said I can't tell you about it because he knows it'll upset you. He said it's for your own benefit, but I just can't-can't do something like this to you. Answering his questions was one thing, but something like this is just so-so-"

Harry's heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stared at the innocent little vial in Hermione's trembling hand, and it took conscious effort for him to stop himself from grabbing it and hurling it at the nearest wall. "He- Dumbledore's never told you to do this before, right?"

Hermione shook her head quickly, hair flying everywhere. "Never! He's only ever asked me questions about you! He never-never asked me to-to drug you like this! And I hesitated, but he made it sound like it would be a really good thing to do, and even though I told him I would, I knew I could never do something like that to you! And I had to warn you too, because I couldn't just-just let it all be without you knowing about it."

"Okay..." Harry swallowed hard, trying to push his anger and fear aside, and reached out, setting his hands on Hermione's quivering shoulders. "It's alright," he said. "I'm glad you told me. And frankly, I'm glad you told Dumbledore you would do it. I think it's better that way."

"It-it is? What do you mean?"

Harry smiled wryly. "Kind of a lot's happened over the last few days," he admitted. Releasing Hermione, he turned around. "Hey, Snape. Any chance you know what this potion is?"

Expressionless, Snape approached and without a word, took the vial from Hermione, who looked between them curiously, no doubt wondering why they seemed to be getting along. But Harry didn't say anything about that yet and watched Snape instead. The man held the vial up to the light, examining the liquid with narrowed eyes. Then he uncorked the vial and sniffed, only to frown.

"Snape?"

"...I don't recognize this potion."

"Well, hell."

That's it for now. Side note, for anyone getting fed up with FFN, I crosspost on AO3 as well, if you prefer using that site. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!