So here's a really long A/N to precede a really long chapter.
Tammy was once again my super-quick reviewer. How about orange chocolate chip cookies this time?
Lil, Fiona McKinnon: Here's more for you, ladies. Update Fairy attacks!
Avery Goodun: I'm glad you could envision her power; that was my goal and I'm very excited that it turned out well!
SlytherinsDarkAngel: Love might be a bit premature, but they're definitely feeling the attraction!
LovetheLab: The road trip is ahead…as is a crash course in the history of harps. Your road trip comment made me realize that it was a perfect opportunity for that!
Karen: I loved your beautifully detailed and thorough review! Thank you very much for it!
Here's the next chapter. Again, I'm trying to beat my previous review record so leave me some love. Also, anyone who wants further resources for harp info (don't know why you would, but hey, whatever floats your boat) go ahead and email me. I've got tons of references. Tons.

--aimes


Hermione woke up warm. It was rather surprising, actually, considering the fire had died down in the night and temperatures in Siberia tend toward the ludicrously freezing. Even with a heating charm in place, she wouldn't expect to be this warm. She opened her eyes with a soft sigh, wishing she could sleep longer. The source of her warmth shifted against her with a low rumble and she felt her hair move with his breath.

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she realized she was securely enfolded in the arms of Severus Snape. He was lucky—she'd flipped out when she'd woken up in Ron's arms. But that had been soon after Viktor. She'd felt trapped in Ron's arms and the feeling of confinement had invaded her dreams making her wake up screaming and struggling. But then, she was a different woman now than she had been a year ago.

"Sir?" she said softly. She put her hand on his arm, which was locked around her waist, and patted him gently. Snape awoke with a start and gripped her more tightly, body tensed and ready to react.

"Air!" Hermione gasped as the arm around her chest tightened. He released her immediately, confused.

"Hermione?" he asked, voice gravelly.

"It's morning," she replied. "We should leave to stay ahead of Gina." She felt him stretch slightly as he rolled away from her and she sat up in bed, running a hand through her hair.

"It's hopeless," Snape said snarkily, as she tried to tame her curly locks.

"Thanks ever so much for that amazing insight," she shot back, making a face. She shrugged, deciding it would be hidden under her beanie anyways.

"Erm…Miss Granger," Snape said hesitantly. She looked over at him and he avoided her gaze. "I'm sorry about…" he gestured at the bed.

Hermione laughed. "There was no jumping involved and you kept me pretty warm. I think I can find it in my heart to forgive you," she said wryly. "I'd probably be angrier if I'd woken up with frostbite because you refused to touch me."

Snape seemed relieved as he walked past her to the bathroom. Too late, Hermione realized that his apologetic speech had been a distraction to enable him to hijack the bathroom. She let out an indignant noise and glowered powerfully at the closed door. When he emerged, fully dressed and showered twenty minutes later, Hermione was wrapped in the heavy blankets from the bed, dozing as she waited. She stopped long enough to give him an impressive glare (which only won her an amused smirk) before proceeding to the bathroom herself.

Thirty minutes later, she too was showered and dressed. She'd found a small trunk in the corner of Vasili's closet that had odd clothes she'd left behind on the occasions she'd stayed the night. A few quick transfigurations and she wore jeans, a long sleeved turtleneck shirt and a long sleeved sweater. Her hair was dried with a quick spell, and she pulled on socks before walking back into the bedroom.

Snape glanced up from pulling his boots on. "It's barely four in the morning, Miss Granger," he said pointedly.

"Yes, well, I'd like to be as far ahead of Regina the Unstable as possible, thank you," she retorted mildly as she grabbed her own boots. She went over to the bed and pulled the Palm Pilot out from under a pillow. Snape gave her an odd look and she shrugged.

"I didn't want it to freeze or anything," she said a bit defensively.

He snorted inelegantly and concentrated on wrapping his scarf securely around his neck. Hermione stuck two fingers up at him while his back was turned and proceeded switching on the Palm Pilot.

"I could remove points for that sort of insolent behavior," he told her without turning, voice amused.

"Oh bugger off," she replied as she exited the bedroom with him behind her. They stopped briefly in the living room to grab their bags and Hermione took a moment to cover the harp.

Another fifteen minutes was devoted to breakfast. Hermione dug through the cupboards and quickly tossed together some chicken soup while Snape sliced bread and cut fruit. After a short and fairly silent meal punctuated by satisfied sighs as they worked through three cups of coffee each, they cleared the dishes. Hermione smiled slightly as she thought about how her mum would react if she knew that Hermione was eating soup for breakfast. Probably similarly to how she'd react if she knew that Hermione had slept in the same bed as her tall, dark, and snarky professor.

Snape noted the faint air of amusement and briefly wondered what was so entertaining but made no comment. After the dishes were washed and put away, Hermione dug the keys out of her bag and they went out to the car.

They got in the Land Rover after a brief argument about who would drive. Snape eventually deferred to Hermione, who argued that she actually had a valid international license (as though it mattered), and she hopped in the driver's seat, switching it on and adjusting the mirrors. After that was done, she pulled out the Palm Pilot and plugged it into the navigational system of the Land Rover, lining up the coordinates. She was grateful that Norman had left a file describing how to link the Palm Pilot up to nearly any navigational system. Hermione herself was fairly unfamiliar with the devices and rarely had occasion to drive. With the route guidance loading, she dug around in her bag for her CD player and popped a disc into the car's sound system. Within a few moments she was singing along cheerfully to Bush.

"What is this hideous cacophony?" Snape grumbled.

"The chemicals between us, the walls that come between us, lying in our bed…" she sang, undeterred. He groaned and leaned his head back against the seat. It promised to be a long ride with quite possibly the most hideous music he'd ever had the displeasure of hearing. It rather figured that she wouldn't actually listen to the beautiful music she played.

For the next hour or so they drove, with Hermione occasionally singing along and bobbing her head with the music and Snape dozing in the passenger seat. She made minor course corrections using the navigational system, which led her unerringly into the thick, snowy forests. Hermione idly reflected that the forests of Siberia had enough wood to build Noah's Ark a hundred times over. She fingered the pendant at her throat idly as she drove. Out of the blue a question entered her mind and she turned down the music abruptly.

"Why did she choose the harp? How did she know about it?" Hermione asked.

Snape didn't open his eyes. "Pardon?"

"I mean the harp is not something you can learn quickly and I was led to believe by Iliana Postrov, one of the examiners, that Regina can also play Celtic. That means she's played for a long time. Why did she choose the harp? At what point did she take it up? Is her ability magically enhanced?"

"Hard as it is to believe, Miss Granger, wizards also appreciate fine music. And Albus is quite familiar with the Muggle world, including its music. However that is beyond the point—harps, if I am not mistaken, played an integral part in the ritual music played in ancient Egypt to invoke magic. Regina and I discussed the uses of harpistry in ancient magic."

Hermione looked over at him, a bit startled. "It never even occurred to me that the harp might play a role in the magical world. Although it is logical. I mean, the oldest known depictions of the harp do occur in Egyptian tombs. But that was a long time ago and the harp has changed drastically since then. Ignoring the Celtic or lever harps, which can't play the fiddly bits with the rapidly changing keys that are so integral to much of Western classical music, you're left with the double action pedal harp, right? Why would Professor Dumbledore want his daughter to play that? It's so far away from the Egyptian harp."

He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at her, which she took as a sign to continue speaking.

"Okay, so the Egyptian harp was bow-shaped and had maybe half a dozen strings or so. The range of sound was pretty limited, but that apparently didn't make a difference for its use in ritual magic. Presumably because there were other instruments accompanying, but whatever, it's incidental, right? Today's double action pedal harp can have forty-seven strings and seven octaves, not including half-seventh at the top or base zero, depending on the harp. It has an independent sound box and a support column, as well as a resonating baseboard. It's also got seven pedals with three positions for flat, natural, and sharp. Hence the double action—the strings get tightened twice between the rotating double bracket and get pulled into sharps. One half-rotation leaves you in naturals, and no bracket rotation gives you flats. The Egyptian and the double action pedal harps are completely different instruments, by all rights. I mean the Celtic harp is a bit closer to the original Egyptian. It doesn't switch octaves and the original had ten strings. Later versions had almost thirty, but you never see forty-seven string Celtics. Lever harps are just intermediates between pure Celtic folk harps and small pedal harps." Hermione took a breath, wondering if she was talking too much, but one glance at Snape said he was absorbing everything she said intently. "Right, so what I'm saying is that I don't understand what would possess Professor Dumbledore to introduce his daughter to an instrument that diverged from its alleged magical roots well over three thousand years ago. The Egyptian harp was around 2500 BC and Irish harps began their slow evolution in 800AD. The double action pedal harp, which is what Regina and I play, was invented in the early 1800's."

Snape opened his eyes and looked at her seriously. "Interesting. When I asked Regina why Albus had chosen the harp for her, she merely mentioned its magical roots. And its roots are powerful indeed—the Egyptian harp is the only instrument I know of that was capable of invoking Dark Magic, which they called 'netherworld magic.' She also mentioned a name, a friend of Albus' if I'm not mistaken, though I don't know from where. Lily Laskine. He has a Muggle picture of himself with her in front of a harp. I know only because it is the only Muggle picture I've seen in his chambers."

"Lily Laskine…" Hermione racked her memory as she drove on autopilot. A quick glance at the clock would have told her that they'd been talking for over half an hour. "Lily Laskine. Paris Conservatory! She was a prodigy, or so I'm told. One of the most gifted individuals to ever touch an instrument and a professor at the Paris Conservatoire—the best school of harpistry in the world. Well, there was Salzedo's school, but the Conservatoire is better. Some of the most prodigious harpists of our time have taught there—Hasselmans, Laskine, even Tournier, if I'm not mistaken. Madame Laskine died in the late 1980's. I suppose that's why Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall chose the harp for Regina. And it's not impossible that Madame Laskine was a witch, though I've never heard anything along those lines." Hermione shrugged thoughtfully. "If Regina had Madame Laskine as her teacher from the time she was a child…well, it only makes sense that she'd be so good. She has talent, mind you, and lots of it, but she's not a virtuoso if you know what I mean. But I've heard that Madame Laskine could teach a deaf man how to play the fragile pieces of Ravel."

"Regina named her cat Ravel," Snape said. He sounded distracted and Hermione knew he was processing this new information.

"Makes sense then, doesn't it? How ironic that something so…non magical would end up being one of the most powerful bits of magic Regina could run across. Just goes to show what sticking with an instrument can get you," Hermione said dryly. She switched the music back on and turned her attention back to driving. They were approaching the outskirts of the Temple area but that could mean they would arrive in mere minutes or another hour. Hermione went back to singing along with the music as she drove.

"I have climbed highest mountain, I have run through the fields, only to be with you, only to be with you…" Snape looked over at her, knowing he'd heard the song a long time ago and trying to place it. Probably in some Muggle café in London. He avoided excessive contact with the Muggle world but found that it was a nice place to escape and be anonymous. Hence the apartment in London.

Hermione grinned, not looking at him as she sang but directing the words toward him.

"I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls, these city walls, only to be with you…but I still haven't found what I'm looking for. But I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I have kissed honey lips, felt the healing in her fingertips…It burned like fire, this burning desire…" Snape closed his eyes, listening to her sing off-key but with enthusiasm. An errant thought of what else she might do enthusiastically with that mouth flitted into his head and he decisively squelched all such images. He was now past Deep Shit and heading full speed into Very Deep Shit.

"I have spoke with the tongue of angels, I have held the hand of a devil…It was warm in the night, I was cold as a stone," she winked at him teasingly, now carried away with the need to belt out the song at the top of her lungs. "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for…But I still haven't found what I'm looking for…" She threw her head back as she tried to harmonize with the line. Her attempt was close but unsuccessful and Snape was about to ask how she could play the harp so well and have such an instinctive feel for music whilst being unable to sing on key for the life of her. He supposed that it was unrealistic to expect her talent in harpistry to carry over into all types and aspects of music.

Before he could speak, Hermione suddenly grabbed the wheel tightly while the navigational system beeped urgently at her. She slid a hand into his shirt, and Snape felt the music flow into him, vibrating like a living being. Hermione's foot was firmly on the brakes as she murmured quietly; her free hand shifted the gears into Park. Snape felt something slam into him and he blacked out. A shockwave of magic hit Hermione and she fought to stay conscious. She managed to kill the engine before slumping against the window, breathing shallowly.

Hermione snapped out of it with a headache. "Shit, I've spent the last few days with a perpetual headache," she groused.

"And now I too share that particular joy," Snape responded as he came around. He looked at her with concern. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," she said softly. He took her hand and replaced it on his chest, allowing her to draw the power back into herself. Hermione took only part of it, leaving some with him and shrugged when he shot her an odd look.

"I don't want you to get violently thrown out if you no longer have any of the power within you," she said with a slight smile. "I'm not as bad as last night because you weren't pulling."

Snape nodded seriously even as he scanned her face. "How long have we been unconscious?"

Hermione checked the nav system and realized it was no longer functioning. With a grunt of displeasure she shifted to check her watch, sitting up straight in the process.

"Ten minutes, near as I can guess. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say we've entered the magical zone."

"Brilliant deduction," he responded caustically. "Does the vehicle still function?"

Hermione found the key and tried to turn over the engine. It sputtered twice before kicking in.

"Apparently it does." She picked up the Palm Pilot from where it had fallen and switched it on. "And the nav system on this lovely little piece of technology is also still working." She handed it to him. "You're going to have to direct me," she told him.

Snape raised an eyebrow as he familiarized himself with the device as quickly as possible, taking note only of what was vital to his task.

"According to this, we're on foot for the last two miles," he said, hoping that he was examining the readout correctly.

"Yeah, the Rover can't go there," Hermione responded distractedly. "Check out the terrain."

It was huge and blindingly clear…and barren.

"Are we in a desert?" she asked disbelievingly. The Land Rover powered up a sand dune and Snape felt himself thrown against the seatbelt.

"The presence of copious amounts of sand would seem to indicate that, yes," he replied. Hermione abruptly braked and put the car into park. She silently peeled off her coat, gloves, and scarf before moving on to her sweater as Snape watched.

"Enjoying the show?" she asked, voice a bit defensive to hide her embarrassment at the fact that she was stripping down layer by layer in front of him. Each previous time, she'd had her back turned to him. She had known he might be watching then but it didn't bother her because she couldn't see him. Hermione turned her head boldly to look him in the eye as she tugged off her shirt, leaving her in her bra and a cotton camisole. She was startled to see his black eyes burning. The look in his eyes sped up her heart rate and she was unable to break her gaze. This time he looked away, tugging off his own outer clothes and rolling up the sleeves and unbuttoning the top few buttons of his shirt. When his gaze returned to her it was normal but for a vague flicker in its depths.

Hermione cleared her throat, trying to shake herself out of her trance, and tossed her extraneous garments into the backseat before starting the vehicle once more and proceeding.

"We should hit the limit of our journey in the car within an hour," she said quietly. The sun was not yet at its zenith, but glowed brightly, warming the cockpit of the car. Hermione switched on the air conditioning, turning it to the highest setting. They drove on in silence, without even the music, atmosphere broken only by Snape's occasional instructions for course correction.

As Hermione had predicted, they reached the edge of their ability to traverse within the hour. A dense jungle lay in front of them, looking lush and forbidding. Hermione and Snape looked at each other for a moment before unbuckling their seatbelts. The pulled together their things and got out of the Rover.

"Should've brought machetes," Hermione commented.

"Well now that we've traveled through just about every sort of terrain possible, ranging from snowy forests to thick deserts, jungle is the logical choice, I suppose." Snape fastened his pack securely and began to walk, Hermione next to him. Or perhaps walk wasn't the right word. They found themselves climbing over huge roots and trying not to stumble through the dense foliage. The pair proceeded in silence for about ten minutes before Hermione spoke.

"This should take us about an hour as well," she told him as she struggled through some vines. "If we continue at this rate, that is. Then we'll be at the temple. At which point, we deal with the Gate Keeper."

Snape stopped short and turned to her, his expression surprised and annoyed. "Gate Keeper?"

Hermione looked up at him. "Well you didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"

"I was hoping," he sighed. "What will this Gate Keeper do?"

Hermione leaned against a tree and pulled out some water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They'd had the foresight to make a couple and pack them for the trip. She took a sip of water before answering. The constant shifting between atmospheres was probably wreaking havoc on her skin, she noted wryly, as she drank. The humid air pressed in around them, pulsing.

"Question us. Thoroughly. You see, it is normal for current holders of the Eternal pendant to make pilgrimages here at any given time. They do it for a variety of reasons, ranging from a need for spiritual comfort to a desire for inspiration to plain curiosity about what the temple looks like. Generally the Gate Keeper will let them pass without comment. We could be stopped for two reasons. Although I have the ability, I don't have the pendant. The Gate Keeper may want to know why. Also, the Gate Keeper may want to ask why I shared my powers."

"What are you going to say?" Snape asked as he sipped at his own water.

Hermione snorted. "That I needed your help to stop a psychopathic blonde with aspirations toward godhood," she responded acidly. "Or goddesshood, in her case." She shrugged. "I'm going to say that we're lovers and hope it works." She looked up at him with a moment of sudden panic. "You're not a virgin, are you?"

Snape did his level best to glare at her. "At nearly forty years of age, I should hope not, Miss Granger. Are you?" he asked slyly, turning the tables.

"No," she replied simply. "One time, bad experience, don't want to discuss it." She frowned as she recalled it. Snape watched the frown settle into her features and was hit by a sudden anger on her behalf. He mentally winced, realizing that the one time had probably been Krum, before he'd lost it and beat the hell out of her.

"I'm sorry to bring up bad memories," he apologized, so softly that she almost didn't hear it.

Hermione looked up at him, startled. It suddenly occurred to her that he might think that Viktor had…

"No don't worry. It wasn't Viktor and it was consensual and everything. It was just…bad. Like he was bad." She furrowed her brow. She was not communicating what she intended. "As in he was not good in bed," she tried to clarify. "Wouldn't know what to do for a woman if an instruction manual hit him in the head," she mumbled. One look at his face made her blush. She hadn't intended for him to hear that.

Snape smirked openly, amused by her flustered reaction. His amusement quickly turned to fear as he registered that something on the tree behind her was moving.

"Hermione," he said in a low voice. "On your shoulder…it isn't a vine," he said urgently.

Hermione stiffened slightly and her eyes widened as she registered what he meant. "It's not poisonous looking, and it's not too large for a boa constrictor, but it's capable of crushing your throat, I should think."

Hermione took a deep breath and moved slightly, holding out her arms and letting the snake twine around them. She hummed soothingly, letting the vibrations calm it (or so she hoped) and allowed it to slide around her waist. She walked over to a tree branch and gently extricated her arm. The snake agreeably slid onto the tree and Hermione went limp with relief. Snape touched her shoulder and she jumped slightly before turning and hugging him tightly.

"I hate snakes," she whispered into him.

"I take offense to that," he teased gently, rubbing her back soothingly. "You handled it extraordinarily well, Hermione. You're fine now." She nodded against his body before taking a deep breath and pulling away. She grabbed her water and bag and rejoined him.

"Okay, let's get out of this damned jungle as quickly as possible. Soon we're going to see big spiders, at which point you're going to have to carry me. I dislike snakes: I'm terrified of large, furry arachnids."

He took her hand reassuringly. "Calm down, Hermione. We'll get out of here as quickly as possible." Hermione nodded, taking a bracing breath, and they proceeded at a faster pace.

An hour and twenty minutes later they had hit the temple complex. It was huge, constructed of marble, limestone, and granite. The architecture was unidentifiable, but beautiful. The pair gazed at it in awe for a moment before climbing the first step into the temple complex.

Hermione yelped as they disappeared.


Additional Info: Okay, for the record, all the info I gave you on the harp is true—although there is a lot of debate on whether the Egyptian harp was played for purposes of ritual magic. It is more than possible, since it is firmly established that music played a strong role in ritual magic in Mesopotamia. Some of the reliefs in Egyptian tombs suggest that there may have been similar practices in that culture.

Also, Lily Laskine was an actual harpist who taught at the Paris Conservatoire and made many recordings. She was known as a prodigy with a gift for teaching. Similarly, Hasselman, Salzedo, and Tournier were all legends of the harp world. Vasili Barokov, Iliana Postrov and Antonin Leoretti are all characters of my own invention.

The songs are: The Chemicals Between Us by Bush from the album The Science of Things, and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2 from either The Joshua Tree album or their Greatest Hits 1980-1990.