It had been a strange week for Hermione. On Monday evening, a grinning Lucius Malfoy had visited her and for once he hadn't hurt her too badly. He seemed to be gloating about something and referred to her as 'my precious' (which she found stomach-churning), and hadn't really put his full effort into things. On Wednesday, Draco had visited. He had thrown a tantrum about her being his property and behaved like an immature and spoiled child, after which he commenced throwing furniture around the room like he was a rock star strung out on drugs. He didn't even try to do his usual worst to her. It sometimes seemed to her that his favourite thing in the world to do was to humiliate her but this time it seemed like his heart wasn't in it. At his request, she had spent the night sitting on the bed--the only thing he hadn't overturned in the whole room--stroking his white-blonde hair and crooning soothingly as he lay with his head cradled in her lap. Was he angry with her? She didn't think so as he hadn't hit her once, but his behaviour was puzzling none-the-less as he was definitely angry at someone. Had Hell frozen over? Was it snowing Pound Notes? Although she was thankful to have been spared two usually violent encounters, their actions had unsettled her. Even Lavender had sat with her mouth agape when Hermione reported the lack of usual abuse at their hands. The more she thought about it, the more she worried she'd been chosen as the next girl for Voldemort to visit. She paced the room she shared with Lavender, stopping every once in a while to look out the heavily warded window to the cliffs and the crashing sea below, the worried frown between her brows deepening and an inexplicable feeling of fear building in her with every circuit of the floor she made.

***

Severus had read over Lucius' reply a number of times, looking for a catch or any hidden meaning in the carefully couched reply. He could find none, but that didn't lessen his suspicion at all. Malfoy had cheerfully agreed to allow another visit with Miss Granger and had even scheduled it for the coming Friday evening. Okay, if it was Friday, he'd have enough time to finish the Vestigium Teneo potion he'd started on Monday, but just barely. Professor Sprout had sent the rare ingredients to his personal potions lab and he'd worked into the small hours on getting it started. He really hoped it would work, as he'd never heard of it being used in the way he was planning to use it and he didn't really have the time to test it. He had replied to Lucius, thanking him for scheduling a time for him to see 'the girl' again and mentioning he had a little fantasy scenario he had wanted to play out for a few years now and asking if there was any way it could be accommodated. As he wrote of his requirements, he hoped Malfoy would chalk it up to a deviant personality and nothing else. Satisfied with the state of things in his lab, he locked and warded it and decided a visit to the resistance headquarters was in order. He wanted news of their search and wanted to let them know what was planned for the coming Friday.

He had apparated from the gates of Hogwarts to Snape Castle, the ancestral seat of the Snape family. Even though he was rarely in residence there, the place was warded as heavily as Hogwarts itself. It was a cold, brown-gray Tudor Gothic stone affair set in the middle of the Yorkshire countryside, its threadbare elegance maintained by a skeleton staff of elderly house-elves. He gave a rare smile as he thought of the location of the resistance headquarters, hewn out of the rock several hundred metres under his home. He walked into the library and touched the portkey, carefully hidden within sight on one of the bookcases, that would take him below ground.

It was Fred and Ron's turn to stay awake and act as sentinels. They both jumped as Snape materialized in front of them in the Hall. "Gods, Snape!" Fred clutched his chest--he had been nodding off as the headmaster appeared.

"I apologize for the intrusion at such a late hour, Mr. Weasley, but I have news."

"I'll go get Harry." Ron said, turning on his heel and striding out of the Hall. Severus sat down at a table and waited quietly, seemingly hypnotized by the dancing flames in the fireplace.

"Is it true?" Fred broke the uncomfortable silence after a couple of minutes.

"Is what true?" Severus asked shortly. He was tired and the veneer of what little patience he possessed was thinning.

"About Hermione and the others…" Fred trailed off as there was no delicate way of posing the question. Snape merely nodded in reply and watched as the young man's shoulders slumped.

"Headmaster, you have news?" Harry asked as he entered the hall rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Lucius Malfoy is letting me see Miss Granger this coming Friday and I have an idea, so I was wondering if your search had turned up anything I should know about."

"Hmm, Friday, huh?" Harry did some mental calculation before continuing, "Well, Remus and Sirius both led teams around the northern coastline and turned up nothing that matched your description. By Friday, we should have most of the rest of the coast scouted and will hopefully have something to go on."

"I would suggest you send someone to scout the coastline of the Isle of Man, Ireland, the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Channel Islands and the Hebrides, Shetlands and Orkney Islands. There is no guarantee we flooed to a location in mainland Britain."

"You have a point. I'll get a third team in on the action. You said you had an idea?"

"It involves using the Vestigium Teneo potion." He looked around at the three Gryffindors as they racked their brains and suppressed a sigh. If Miss Granger was here, she'd be waving her hand in the air within a second, bursting to tell him a complete ingredient list and the every single one of the applications of the potion. Even though she had been annoying as Hell in school, he never had to worry about whether he was reaching her or not. He finally decided to put them out of their collective misery and answered for them in a tone that showed his disappointment.

"It's a tracing potion, quite difficult to make--it's only covered in the Advanced Potions curriculum… usually you mark an item of worth with it so that if it's ever stolen, it leaves a trail that can be keyed into and tracked." He watched the comprehension dawn on their faces and continued, "I'm going to try using it a little differently though. I've never heard of it being used to track a human, but it's worth a try."

"And how are you going to use it?"

"I'm going to mark Miss Granger and then try to track her, that's why I'd really appreciate it if we could pinpoint a suspected location for the brothel. The closer I am to her, the stronger the pull of the Vestigium Teneo and the more accurate."

"Will they let you take a potion in with you?" Ron wondered.

"They won't know I've got it and I will be handing over my wand into Malfoy's keeping." Snape answered as he stood up, "I'll take my leave now. I want to check on the potion and catch up on some sleep."

***

Time dragged. Even though it seemed he was busy morning, noon and night, he felt like Friday evening would never come. When Friday finally rolled around, beginning with the breakup of an illicit duel between a group of Slytherins and Ravenclaws, he knew he was in for another long and trying day. He had bottled and stoppered the potion this morning and it sat in his lab, silently mocking him for what he was going to attempt with it later. He had no appetite and wasn't hungry enough to eat supper but, as Headmaster of Hogwarts, he was expected to be present at all meals. He pushed his food around his plate and made small talk with Professor Sprout and Poppy Pomfrey. He could tell by the way Sprout looked at him that she was worried about what he was up to, especially when he informed them he would be visiting with Lucius Malfoy that evening. He was so glad when he was able to escape to his rooms and prepare for the night ahead. He shrank the potion down and slipped it into a small pocket on the inside of his shirt, donned his winter cloak and walked to the gates to apparate, a route that was becoming very familiar this past week.

***

Hermione was alone, locked in the room she shared with Lavender. Lavender had already been called to the Blue Room and Hermione was puzzled as to why she had not been called to service someone yet. Fridays were usually busy here. She tried not to dwell on it, but it was hard not to let her imagination run away with itself. A faint popping announced the arrival of the house elf who delivered the costumes. Hermione sat up on her bed, wondering what he had brought her to wear this time.

"You are to put these clothes on and await Master Malfoy in the Grey Room." he told her, disappearing before she had found her voice. She felt a surge of relief when she heard him say she would await Malfoy, let out a long sighing breath that ruffled her fringe and bent down to inspect the clothing he had left for her.

"What?" she asked, puzzled as she realized he had brought her a Gryffindor uniform and standard charcoal-grey school robes, complete with a Head Girl badge. "What the Hell is this all about?" she wondered aloud as she dressed. What was Malfoy Sr. up to? She found it a little unsettling to be back in uniform and tried to repress a shudder as she knocked on the door to signal she was ready.

The furniture in the Grey Room had been transfigured so the place gave the approximation of a classroom. Well, that's interesting, she thought to herself, there's no bed. Hermione pulled out a stool and sat down for lack of something better to do. She was sitting, elbow on the desk and chin propped in hand, staring off into space when the door opened to admit Lucius Malfoy.

"Ah, Mudblood, nice to see you're warming to the role." At his words Hermione slid off the stool, stood up attentively, and waited for him to continue. He crossed the room to conduct a closer inspection and she waited quietly as he walked around her, sizing her up. Her fingernails were free of polish and she wore no makeup. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she looked exactly as she had as a Hogwarts student. "Very good, very good indeed… not what I would consider fodder for a fantasy but to each his own, I suppose." Hermione was glad he was standing behind her as her eyes widened at his comment. "Now, I don't have to tell you twice to put everything you have into tonight's entertainment, do I?"

"No, Sir." He found Hermione's answer satisfactory and motioned that she could sit back down.

"Do not disappoint me, Granger." Malfoy admonished as he swept back out of the room.

Oh, Gods. Who is it then, if it isn't Malfoy? she asked herself, worry creeping back up her spine as she waited, dreading the moment the door opened again.

***

Severus was relieved things were going according to plan so far. He had engaged in the requisite small talk Lucius valued so highly and even discussed the Dark Lord's latest potions requirements, even though the fine points of potion brewing were lost on Malfoy Sr. Lucius was in extremely rare high spirits which set off Snape's internal sneakoscope, but he buried his suspicions and never let on anything was amiss, going through the motions of asking after Narcissa and Draco instead. When it had come time for him to hand over his wand, he did so with the bare minimum of grumbling and was pleased when Lucius sympathized, "Everyone here, myself included, has to follow that rule." Severus filed that little tidbit of information away for future reference.

Hermione jumped about a foot off her stool when the door of the Grey Room slammed open and Professor Snape strode in, scowling unpleasantly at her. For a moment, it was like she had used the time-turner and she almost forgot this was a brothel, swept away by the familiarity of the situation. While she was glad it was Snape rather than Lord Voldemort or someone else, she was a bit confused at seeing him again and even more confused about the uniform she was wearing and how the room was laid out. What was he up to?

"Five points from Gryffindor for daydreaming, Miss Granger." She snapped to attention at his words, sitting up straight on her stool and giving him her undivided attention.

What in the name of Merlin is going on? she wondered, studying him as he continued speaking.

"Let's start today's lesson with some revision."

"Yes, sir." she replied, humouring him and assuming her role.

Over the course of the next half hour, she was quizzed six ways from Sunday about potion ingredients and their uses. The questions got more and more advanced as the session continued and soon he was testing her knowledge of the Advanced Potions curriculum in depth. Even though war had interrupted her final year of school, she had memorized the course from start to finish. She was glad to know her mind hadn't become dull over the course of her imprisonment. So was Snape, but he wasn't about to tell her. He walked over to the desk where she was sitting and, palms braced on the edge of the tabletop, he leaned forward until his face was mere inches away from hers and raised an eyebrow. She was trapped in his glittering black gaze and was surprised to see humour dancing there.

"Now, Miss Granger," his voice was low and dangerous and sent little darts of anticipation skittering down her back, "Gryffindor is going to lose the House Cup unless you do something about it. Let's see if the Head Girl can't earn 100 points."