Lying in bed the next morning, she made a decision. Albus, are you awake? Her mind called out to her mentor.

Dear, I think I am always awake. What's on your mind?

I spent some time with Remus yesterday, reliving the capture and the time up to where Severus put his plan into motion. I am terrified of going past it.

I was aware you needed to go down this path, and I'm glad you spent some time with Remus. He is your friend and can help. But let me suggest an alternate path. I believe you need to walk down the valley with Severus. You both need it.

Remus suggested that too. I can't picture it. She could admit it to Dumbledore, because after all, he knew her better than she knew herself.

He is just as frightened, though like you, he'd never show it.

Have you talked to him, you sneak?

He came to see me already this morning.

Really? Do tell.

I can't betray a confidence, but I believe he would be willing to open a dialogue with you about the events you both suffered under those years ago.

I still cannot imagine this happening. Albus, we've built so many walls. It would take time to dismantle them enough to speak plainly enough to get through to each other and absolve one another of this angst. But I'm really tired of it, so I'm ready, I'm a bloody Auror after all so I should be able to face this, right?

May I make a suggestion?

You're going to anyway.

You have the ability to open your mind to him, as you do to me. You can't show him your thoughts, or see into his mind, but you can hear each other's words without speaking. I think this would afford the intimacy to break down the walls, so to speak.

She shuddered for a moment. I would have to explain this gift to him and blow your cover as well as mine. And you know full well that I would have to be in constant physical contact to make it work with someone who doesn't have our gift.

This presents a problem?

Physical contact with him is the crux of the problem, and you know it, Albus.

He would have gladly slit his throat before hurting you if it had been wise. He truly had no real choice, and by doing the right thing – to live and bring you along for the ride... You'd both be dead if he had made any other choice.

I used to be tougher than this.

Liar.

Too true. I wish you didn't know me so well.

We are one, in a way, and I'll never stop caring deeply about you. But I care deeply for him too, as if he were my son. Your presence here is vital in terms of creating the potion to relieve him of the responsibility of spying for the Light, but it is also vital in healing one of his deepest wounds. Look at it as a mission of mercy.

Humph. You are cruel. You know how I feel about mercy missions.

Go do my bidding, woman. She knew he was teasing, and said goodbye before collapsing into tears on her pillow.

It was Saturday morning, the day before the spell would be ready for testing again. Better now than never. She dressed in one of her more attractive outfits, put on some makeup and actually brushed and fixed her hair. She needed to make herself feel worthy, and this seemed to help somewhat.

As she ran out of the door, Sir Cadogan called out to her, "Professor Snape, the cur, was outside your door this morning. I would not let him in, of course."

"Oh, Sir Cadogan. As noble as that is, please let me know if Professor Snape is here again. It is all right to let him in."

So, he had come to see her first. She headed down to the Great Hall to eat a spot of breakfast before beginning the journey back into Hell. Upon arrival, she saw that Severus, Albus, and Remus were all sitting together at the Head Table, studiously avoiding speaking to one another and looking in opposite directions from each other as she approached. Taking the "keep them off balance" tack, she sat next to Remus and began buttering toast as if nothing were at stake, and started talking about her Slytherin DADA student. "Such a great mind…if we can keep him on the right side, he will make an outstanding Auror." Remus grunted, and Snape said nothing. She looked to Albus. Help me, here, old man.

You're on your own, buttercup.

"So, Professor Snape. How does the boy do in your classes? I think he's quite the credit to your house, as difficult as it is to say something nice about a Slytherin."

Snape raised one eyebrow. "He is acceptable. Potions really isn't his strength. To your other point, I cannot foresee his path. He is from a very old family on the father's side, but has a Muggle mother. Very unusual, that, in Slytherin…at any rate, I work with him and all my Slytherins in my own way." Snape stood up and said, "Now if you will excuse me, I am retiring to my quarters for the day. Good day." He stalked off purposefully, leaving Hermione to ask Albus, Do you think he means me to follow him? I don't even know where his quarters are.

I'll show you the way. "Hermione, dear," he said aloud, "I wonder if I might have a word with you outside…" Remus seemed to be in on the joke and said nothing at all, as Flitwick joined him.

Albus disappeared after depositing Hermione at Severus' door, suddenly remembering an urgent appointment. With his lemon drops, no doubt, Hermione thought. Well, tough girl, here you go… She knocked.

Nothing.

She knocked again, and the door swung open. "Hermione."

"May I enter? I know you intimated that you were busy, but it's time we talked."

"We talk every day." He was determined to make this hard on her, but he wasn't sure why he was doing this. He should be down on his knees thanking her for her grace. A better man would have done so.

"Don't play coy with me. You know why I'm here. Lupin and Dumbledore are rather transparent."

He considered her carefully. "They are, at that."

"What you don't know, is what I can do for you. For us. We need to get past this, Severus, and I think it's time you knew the whole truth of what happened. Albus gave me a gift when I decided to live rather than take the easy way out and die, and I am going to share it with you today. Unless the rest of your life is more pressing, that is." She looked around for the first time and noticed the gorgeous tapestries, exquisite furniture, and bookshelves in the room. Given his nature, she would have superficially suspected a spartan apartment with no charm, but she could see that he did have the taste and class that deep down she knew he possessed.

"I'm not sure what you are babbling about, Dr. Granger, but…" She cut him off as she inwardly groaned about her assessment of class, which clearly escaped him right now. "Don't start with me. Just listen."

A wall came down unbidden. He gestured towards the sofa and set the teakettle boiling. As she settled in next to him, she rubbed her temples briefly and began. "As you know, and this is skipping ahead in the work that we must do but is necessary, I was more or less among the land of the ghosts when you brought me to Hogwarts. Albus saved my life."

"Yes, and no one was really certain how. I assume you are about to expound upon this miracle."

"Albus has a reputation of being omniscient. While this is not quite accurate, he does possess the ability to enter someone's mind if he so chooses. He is telepathic. Most of the time, he does not choose to use this gift because it is one that can be alluring, addictive, and perverted to bad effect; he only uses it in cases of danger. Or so he says, but of course, I think that he is not impervious to the thoughts of those he cares about and at some level always possesses awareness of us and our needs and cares."

This explained much to Severus. Telepathy was so rare, but it didn't really surprise him that Albus possessed the gift. What did surprise him was the fact that Hermione knew when no one else seemed to.

"I can see by your reaction that you didn't know, but aren't surprised. I guess I wasn't either when I came to the full realization. At any rate, Albus entered my mind to find me; to see if I was still there, and believe me, he nearly found me gone. I had packed my bags for the journey to Hades, and wasn't coming back. I felt I had been through one too many indignities to live; when you told me Ron was dead, that was the last straw. But when Albus found me inside my mind, he convinced me that I needed to stay. That Harry couldn't handle the death of both of us, and he was needed for the war…"

"Always looking out for Potter. How sickeningly Gryffindor of him."

"I could do without the snide remarks, though I suppose I wouldn't recognize you any other way. At any rate, he told me of all the reasons I was needed. He nearly didn't convince me, but he told me… I can't believe I am confessing this, but you need to know everything. He told me your soul would die if you believed yourself responsible for my death. After everything you had gone through to regain your spirit from the clutches of Voldemort, I knew he was right; it was too selfish of me to die after you had sacrificed yourself on my altar. He was right. So, I returned into life with him, and as a bonus, his journey so deep into my mind produced unexpected results. I now too had the ability to communicate with others using only my thoughts."

Severus breathed in sharply. That one long revelation was very possibly the most soul-rending mass of words he had ever heard. She had lived because he had needed her to. She cared enough to live for him. And, damn her, she was telepathic. Was she reading his mind right now? Gods, he hoped not, because his pulse had quickened with the realization of how his actions to free her from her captor, as abhorrent as they might have been for her, did not cause her to wish to die.

"Hermione, I know you are aware of the walls between us. We've both put them there. I say to you now, and this is harder than you will ever know…" his voice broke. "I am honored that you chose to live in small part because of me. I wish I had known this before…now."

"I wish you had, too," she said in a relieved voice. "But I couldn't tell you."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I want to take the journey through our rememberances of the events together with you using the telepathy I have inherited from Dumbledore."

Clearly, she was mad. He'd never allow her into his mind.

"I realize you think I'm mad," at this his lips twitched, "but before you say anything, you should know that I cannot hear anything you don't want me to hear. Unlike Dumbledore, I can't just go in and take what's not wanted, not that he'd ever do that. I only have a fraction of his power. I can speak to you, and you to me, but no more than that. I can't see your memories, I can only hear your retelling. Before you ask," and she anticipated nicely, he thought, "there is a reason that Dumbledore thought this would be…beneficial…for both of us to do it this way. He knows us, and knows that you and I put up our walls with words. We snipe and jab at one another, or we put on the professional mask, but our real words don't come shining through. In our mind's eye, those walls fall away. You may think sarcastic thoughts, but I will be able to ascertain your true meaning, and vice versa."

The impact of all she had said sunk in. What she was proposing was incredibly intimate, and certainly a jar and another half from the way they had gone about their relationship since that fateful night. Perhaps, though, the old man wasn't that far off in his thinking. He was absolutely right that they needed to get past this with one another to be of use to each other in the project they currently shared. He just feared the repercussions of such intimacy. He had sworn never to be close enough to another human being to care, and here was the last and greatest object of his misguided, painful caring asking to be let in.

"I need some time…to process…this."

"You have five minutes. I'll get the tea."