Disclaimer: I disclaim.
Especially for pickles, who is losing sleep.
Chapter Ten
"Severus?"
Severus opened his eyes, and sat up quickly as soon as he remembered the identity of his visitor.
"What are you doing here?"
The man watched, a little confused, as the proud woman that he was beginning to grow accustomed to hung her head.
"You were right."
What on earth did she think she was talking about?
"Hermione, unless you want something, I must ask you to leave."
That's right, Severus, you're doing well. Don't let her get to you.
"Severus," she repeated, sounding –could it be?- desperate. "Please, I need your help. You were right about who I am, about my past. Please take me somewhere safe, anywhere but here."
This had to be some kind of joke. She could not seriously be expecting him to trust her!
"I was right about who you were. Yes. The Hermione I thought I knew truly is gone. I understand that now. All that is left it you," he said bitterly.
"No, no, you don't understand. I heard them- well, Draco and my father. No, not my father..." Hermione appeared to catch herself, and shook her head as if trying to clear it. "You were right about my past. They mean to kill me. Please..."
At this, Severus leapt out of bed.
"Why are you doing this now? I don't need any more lies. Haven't you done enough already?"
The man watched as his former student's face crumpled. She moved towards him, and he automatically stepped back, toppling onto the bed that he had forgotten existed.
Hermione sat down on the bed, next to but not touching Severus, and put her head in her hands.
Severus watched silently as a curtain of hair slowly fell over her face.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. Severus got the impression that she was not actually talking to him. "Everything has fallen apart..."
In spite of himself, Severus could not help wanting to comfort the lost woman sitting beside him.
He then gave himself a slight shake and a mental slap.
She's probably not even sad. She's probably working for Voldemort, and just wants to get inside the Order so that she can spy on us and then turn again at the last moment, he reminded himself. I can't let my feeling blind me to what must be true. I can't-
Severus's musings were cut off as Hermione began to sob.
What had happened to the poised woman that he had been hurt so badly by this morning? Such a change... it couldn't be real. It could only be a trick.
"This isn't going to work, Hermione. I know I am a fool, but not this much of a fool. Your acting isn't up to its normal standard. I suggest you leave now and practice a little more."
She looked up at this, and Severus caught himself noticing every teardrop clinging to her eyelashes.
Even as he reminded himself that Hermione was certainly not one of the lucky people that could look lovely even while crying, all that this fact made him want to do was chase the hurt away.
No. Its not real.
Hermione stood up. "Severus. I'm sorry. I..." She shook her head.
The woman then pointed one of her fingers at the man still sitting on the bed. Severus immediately jumped up- what was she doing to him?- and landed on the ground.
It took him at least a second longer than usual to complete this task, simply because his legs were no longer the length that they had been a moment before.
He opened his mouth to ask Hermione what she thought she was playing at, but all that came out was a squeak.
Hermione leant down and picked up the black mouse that was now looking dazedly around from its new perspective, and lifted it to her face.
"Behave, and I'll explain everything in a minute."
She then walked out of the room, with the mouse safely tucked in a pocked in her robes.
As Severus managed to peek out of the top of the warm black pocket, he heard her mutter the spell that gave entry to her private rooms. Hermione walked to a cupboard and opened it, taking out a wand.
His wand.
She held it in her hands for a moment, and watched as it shrunk under her gaze to a bendy strip of wood. Hermione then lifted Severus out of her pocked and tied the strip around one of his legs.
Hermione tapped the mouse on the nose as it immediately turned to try and get to the wand.
"No. You can't use it now. Be patient. Now pay attention."
Severus, interested, forgot about his wand for the moment. It did not appear that she was going to take it away again- he was just unable to use it.
"I'm going to let you go outside the entrance to the quarters. You are going to run from here for a day. It doesn't matter where- just go as far away as possible. In a little less than twenty-four hours, you will become human again and your wand will return to normal. Go back to wherever you were before this all happened. Do you understand all that? Nod or shake, please."
Severus, unable to believe his luck, nodded. Hermione gave him a weak smile in return, and then he found himself alone in the tomb in the graveyard.
Instinct kicked in. The Slytherin sense of survival woke once more, Severus could think of nothing but his new-found freedom.
He ran.
Albus Dumbledore had been hit hard by the loss of Hermione Granger. Nobody had been expecting it, so there had been no way of being prepared.
The fate of Severus Snape had been expected. Everyone knew that one day, he would be caught.
But that had not made losing him any easier.
As the old man sat in his office, musing over possible plans for the future of the Order, all that came to his mind was that he was getting too old for this.
Sometimes things just became too much...
He sat up with a start as the door to the office slowly swung open.
Albus could do nothing but stare at the bedraggled figure of his spy and Potions Master that was currently leaning against the doorframe.
As the man murmured something along the lines of, "Hermione.... alive.... saved me... memory..." and collapsed to the floor, the older man turned mechanically to the fire and called for Madame Pomfrey.
He suddenly felt more tired then ever before.
Albus knew he should be happy... But sometimes things did simply become too much.
"Severus, do forgive me for seeming a little slow here, but I would just like to make sure that I have the story straight."
"Go ahead," said the man, lying back on his bed in the infirmary.
"Hermione is alive. She identified you as a spy. She proceeded to save you, then acted in a very un-Hermione like manner to you. After this, she managed to gain your trust, then betrayed it, then attempted to regain it and get your help in running away. And then she just let you go. Just like that."
"In short, yes."
Dumbledore sighed, and rubbed his eyes.
"And where is she now?"
"Where she was before, I assume.Your guess is as good as mine."
"And which side do you think she is now on?"
"I don't know. She just kept changing- but something tells me now that she was telling the truth. Why else would she let me go?"
"I don't know. I suppose that-"
Before Albus could finish speaking, Blaise Zabini walked into the infirmary. Severus looked at the dark man in confusion, but was taken no notice of.
"Albus, Hermione is at the Malfoy's manor. You asked me to keep you informed."
Apparently, thought Severus with a trace of annoyance, it wasn't too difficult for Albus to move on and find a replacement for me. Not that it matters.
"Yes," Albus said slowly, "I did. Severus, what do you think?"
"Think? Think about what?"
"Should we do anything?"
Severus thought for a moment, then said, "We have to go and get her."
He immediately got out of bed.
"Severus," Dumbledore started, "are you sure that this is sensible?"
"Of course. Why not?"
"You are tired and weak..."
"I can take a potion for it." Severus paused and looked at the distressed man looking up at him. "Albus, there is nothing you can say that will stop me coming. Don't even try."
Hermione sat in the manor's garden with Draco, Lucius and Narcissa, running her fingers along the fragile rim of her teacup.
She was, to be honest, bored almost to death.
Once she had found out that all the affection that everyone around her seemed to feel was false, Hermione was no longer able to take pleasure in anybody's company.
She had amused herself for a few hours bywatching the Malfoys for any tiny cracks in their acting. There were a fair few, but nothing that she could play on and exploit.
She knew that there was no point in trying to run away. Without a secure place to take refuge in, she would be caught and killed in a matter of hours.
None of the magic that she possessed was anywhere near strong enough to counter that of Voldemort.
Hermione looked around the garden. It was lovely, in an orderly, controlled way.
The flowers stood perfectly upright in their beds like soldiers; colour coded and clearly too frightened to droop. The trees were perfectly pruned, without a twig out of place. There was not a weed in sight- what weed would dare show itself here?
Like everything else to do with the Malfoys, the garden seemed artificial and somehow wrong.
As Hermione contemplated crushing the delicate teacup and throwing the pieces at Draco just to see what he would do, a loud screeching filled the air.
At once, all of the Malfoys jumped up and whipped out their wands.
"Hermione," said Draco, "go back into the house. That was the alarm. There are intruders in the grounds."
Now that was an interesting development.
"Don't worry, I can help you look after them. After all, I am much more capable than you are."
Hermione gave the man that had turned to glare at her an innocent smile, then surveyed the grounds for the intruders.
A moment later, there were a series of 'pops' and a group of twenty odd people were standing before them.
At the head of the group, next to an old man that was currently glaring at Lucius Malfoy, was Severus.
There was a moment's pause, then chaos broke out. There were a series of shouted hexes, and a moment later a few of the intruders and the three Malfoys were lying unconscious on the floor.
Hermione was surprised to find herself still standing, completely unharmed.
"Severus? I don't understand."
The man, however, seemed so busy looking at Hermione that he was unaware of her actually speaking.
"I think," started the old man standing next to him, with a slight twinkle in his eyes, "that he has decided for the first time in his life to give someone a second chance."
A slightly longer offering to make up for the extremely short previous chapters and cliffies. What do you think of it?
I have re-written my responses to the reviews twice. I am tired. Basically, love and hugs to everyone who has reviewed and I will thank you properly when this site gets it act together! You asked for a quick update and here is is (well, quick for me!). Lots of reviews DOES make me update faster!