First, I'd like to apologize…I've been in the middle of a move to Northern California for a research internship and I haven't been able to update. My updates will be more sporadic from here on out, but I will be updating regularly.
Draccy was my super-quick reviewer last chapter. Woohoo!
SlytherinsDarkAngel: I adore that you quote your favorite lines. Thanks for the review, as always!
FionaMcKinnon: Lol, I hadn't even thought of Ron. I just assume that rational people find large, furry, 8-legged creatures rather frightening. However, I do have friends that rather like tarantulas…but I wouldn't necessarily call those friends rational.
AzalynAngel: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you love my story…I'll try to update more frequently.
Princessfiona: Thank you for the lovely review. I hope you keep leaving me love!
Chibimecools: You called it! Brownies for you—there is actually some action in this chapter. And not of the ass-kicking kind.
Reflection in Fire: Thank you for your fabulous review, Karen. I pulled most of the Egyptian references from the fact that I have an Egyptology minor. I brought up the idea of music in ritual magic at one of our weekly drunken Egyptology get-togethers and promptly had two professors and three grad students arguing over the concept.
ZandraNight: Thank you for your lovely review. I'm really sad that your parents are like that…I actually pulled the basis of Hermione's parents from a couple I know who were totally in love and totally unprepared to include their kids in that experience. It always made me unhappy to watch their little boy…he seemed so lonely. Made me want to kick his parents. Hard. Repeatedly.
Maeri San: I hadn't noticed the acronym, actually, but that's pretty funny!
Lil: Glad you're still with us. Any car ride I write will involve singing.
AveryGoodun: I think your words of praise are fantastic and always look forward to reading reviews from you!

Again, still trying to beat my record for reviews, which stands at 119 on one story, so if you're reading this…leave me love!
Thanks to all the fabulous people who have reviewed thus far and stuck with me in my long bout of silence. Another chapter will go up within a day or two.

--aimes


Hermione and Severus were flung unceremoniously onto the ground in a large chamber. Snape climbed to his feet and lifted Hermione up with an arm around her waist.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly as he looked around. The room was made of smooth white marble and the walls were curved in an undulating pattern, giving the illusion of white waves that made Snape somewhat dizzy. He absorbed all this within a split second before turning his attention back to Hermione.

"Quite honestly I'm really sick of being thrown around," she was responding. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Who are you?" a voice boomed.

Hermione cringed against Snape's side and he squeezed her reassuringly. They turned to look at the speaker.

A large man sat on a throne. Well, perhaps man wasn't quite the right word. His skin was ebony black and his eyes were silver. He wore a robe that blended seamlessly with his skin and he watched them with a rather unpleasant expression. Combined with the rather jarring way he set against the blinding white of the room, the effect was intimidating, to say the least.

"I'm Hermione Granger. This is Severus Snape," Hermione offered, wondering whether he could sense fear and hoping he could not.

"What is your purpose here?"

"I am here for the Chord of Dreams." Remembering her purpose made her stronger and she stood straighter, though she made no attempt to move away from Snape.

The silver eyes locked on her and seemed to stare through her.

"I sense within you the Gift. Yet you bring no Amulet of Eternity." He was silent for a moment, eyes closed. "But it is there. None but the strongest could share their gift, and the Music that courses through him is not his own." He opened his eyes to gaze upon them once more. "We shall handle things in order, then. Why did you share your Gift with him?"

"It was mine to share," Hermione replied with quiet determination. "And I chose to share it with him."

"It is truth." The Keeper turned his stare on Snape. "And you? Giving you her Gift was an act of love and faith. It was hers to share so I question her no further. But taking the Gift from her required no special fondness." He smiled. "Human men are notoriously bad at understanding the subtleties of life so I shall ask you directly: do you love her?"

Snape realized in an instant that the Keeper would know if he lied. The only option was whatever truth he had within him, given the short time in which he'd begun to realize his feelings for Hermione.

"I trust her with my life and my soul. If love is trust then I love her. I admire her intellect and her loyalty. If love is admiration and respect, then I love her. I enjoy her presence and could choose no better companion. If love is joy and companionship, then I love her."

He cringed internally, noting that this was not his ideal scenario for telling Hermione that he was interested in her. But then he rather doubted whether he would ever have built the courage or insanity to simply say it, so perhaps these oblique references to 'how he felt'—the phrase alone was enough to give him a bad taste—might make things easier in the long run.

The Keeper seemed to taste Snape's words. "It is truth," he said slowly. He seemed about to speak further, perhaps to point out the evasiveness of Snape's reply, but his brow furrowed suddenly.

"Another has entered this place with an Amulet that is not hers. I suspect it is yours." He looked at Hermione shrewdly. "You are here to stop her."

"Yes," Hermione said boldly. "She seeks the Chord to become a goddess."

"And why do you seek the Chord?"

"I do not. I wish only to ensure that it is safe from her."

The Keeper nodded. "I have protected this temple since the beginning of time," he revealed. "And yet I lack the power to stop her. Who would have imagined that humans would be strong enough to defy me? For your honesty, I give you a map. You can follow it without fear or obstacle to the entrance of the Chamber of the Chord. I cannot open the entrance for you; it is up to you from there. In return for my faith in you, I ask a favor."

Hermione nodded. "Please continue."

"For you to destroy the Chord would destroy the balance of the universe. It must remain safe. And yet the flaw of the present system is obvious. When you defeat her and regain your Amulet, grant me the power to protect this place more securely."

Hermione's brow furrowed. "Won't this place be destroyed if she tries to take the map with an Amulet that's not hers?"

"I can stop that from happening," he replied with a shrug. "The map is something I have control over."

"So why don't you just stop her from accessing it altogether?" Snape asked.

"Because there will be another just like her soon enough. Only this time it shall be someone who was granted the Amulet and did not steal it. To an Eternal Musician, a holder of the Amulet, I cannot deny the map. Even you could probably take it if you were alone and not sharing your Gift with him," he told Hermione. "And were you of the mind, you could obliterate existence with it."

"Yes," Hermione agreed. "I came here intending to destroy the Chord or the temple in order to stop others like Regina. It was rash of me not to consider the necessity of the Chord. Only a handful of us understand the Chord and we are charged with the secret of its power. The Chord does not exist for us, it exists for the rest of the world, who cannot see it in their everyday lives."

The Keeper smiled. "Humanity has come far, child, but only a select few have ever seen beyond their dreams to the magic within the ordinary. And fewer still have understood the power there, the solid reality of existence that is kept within the everyday moments. For the rest, the Chord remains. And when humanity begins to fail, when balance begins to falter, parts of the Chord ring out from this place and reverberate through the universe."

"And it restores balance," Snape finished. "It doesn't need a musician to play it, it plays itself."

Hermione had a random, fleeting thought about what this implied about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe before deciding that it was a complex metaphysical discussion that she would have with herself if she were ever locked in a nuthouse.

"As I said, Humanity has come far, but it is still arrogant enough to believe in its own necessity." The Keeper grinned. "That's why I like humans." His sharp silver teeth glowed brightly against his black skin and Hermione imperceptibly tightened her grip on Snape. He rubbed her hip gently in response.

The Keeper waved his hand casually. "I'll leave you back at the entrance. I'm not allowed to help you find your way other than to give you the map…sorry."

Hermione and Severus woke on the cold stone floor. Snape was half-atop Hermione and she groaned audibly.

"By the way," they heard the Keeper's voice, "There is one other thing I'm capable of…" Hermione felt an intense energy hit her and suddenly she felt her body relax. The energy subsided and she realized every aching muscle and throbbing bruise felt…fine. She moved experimentally and grunted as she realized Snape was still sprawled on top of her.

"I think I prefer being on top," she managed.

"I would love to indulge you if we manage to make it out of here without any life-threatening surprises." He clambered to his feet and automatically reached out to pull her up as well. "At least we're no longer on the injured list."

"Who makes these bloody rules, anyways? He can give us the map but not help us through the Temple but he can heal us but…whatever, you get what I'm saying." Hermione growled irritably as she pushed her hair back from her face. She looked up and noticed that Snape was avoiding her gaze. She touched his hand and he turned to look at her reluctantly.

"About what you said back there, to the Keeper…" he moved to speak but she put her hand on his lips quickly. "Thank you," she whispered before removing her hand and reaching up to kiss him on the mouth gently. Her mind started screaming at her, half of it cheering her on and the other half sending out danger warnings. She silenced the contentious half by arguing that he had made the colossal leap of speaking first, even if it was a forced confession. What he'd said was enough to tell her that an advance would probably not be rejected, so she kissed him before she could think better of it. And every cell in her body thanked her for doing so.

Snape had every intention of keeping it chaste until he felt her lips against his. With an animalistic growl, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hard. Hermione let out a soft noise of surprise that quickly turned into a moan as her lips parted and his tongue thrust into her mouth. Her arms gripped his shoulders before sliding around his neck. Her mental noise went silent and her instincts took over. She sucked on his bottom lip and pressed against him as her libido switched into overdrive. Severus pulled her tightly against him and bent his head, devouring her. Hermione lifted a leg to hook on his hip and whimpered when he pressed against her, grinding into her centre. Severus moved to kiss her neck, licking her ear and sucking on the base of her throat. Through the thin material of her camisole and bra he could feel her nipples harden and his body responded with enthusiasum. Hermione pulled his head back up to hers and sucked on his lower lip for a moment before drawing back and staring into his burning black eyes.

"We have to go before Regina gets too close," she said huskily. "We can finish this later."

Snape's eyes glazed over with shock for a moment as higher cognitive functions kicked in and informed him exactly what he had just done and to whom. He began to recoil, angry with himself and with her, but Hermione held him tightly.

"No you don't," she chided. "Stop being foolish, Severus. We're both adults, remember? And I assure you, it was mutual, so don't go thinking you pushed yourself on me. And I felt the way you just kissed me so don't try to say I forced myself on you. We will finish this later," she growled dangerously. "Or I will torture you to the brink of insanity." She darted her tongue out to lick his lips and smiled at his guttural groan. Hermione reluctantly pulled away from him, praying her legs would support her and both chiding herself and thanking the heavens for having to think that they might not.

Severus pulled back slowly, and Hermione's leg slid down his body. She leaned back against him for a moment before walking over and picking up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. A moment later she noticed the stone beneath it and bent to examine it.

"I'm going to guess this is the map," she said as she rose, handing it to him. Snape took it from her as he adjusted his own bag and scrutinized it. It was smooth and slightly curved, with a series of intricate lines engraved on it. The lines glowed blue and Snape was struck by how large the temple must actually be. Two dots glowed on the map, one red and one yellow.

"I shall assume that we are the glowing yellow dot at the entrance of the temple and the glowing blue dot is the Chord." He wondered how it was so easy to converse when he was fighting a powerful urge to pull her in his arms and prop her up against the nearest wall.

"A safe assumption," Hermione replied. She moved next to him and traced a finger lightly along the stone. "This would probably be the route we need to take, right?"

"Why do I suspect it's not that easy?" He asked rhetorically.

"Probably because it never is," Hermione responded wryly. "But let's go anyways."

They started off down the corridor, moving carefully but quickly through the maze and paying careful attention to the map. If Hermione stood closer than she needed to in order to consult the map he held and if Severus placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her just a little to frequently, neither of them made comment.


Two hours later, Hermione growled angrily as they hit another dead end. Severus was struck with a distinct impression of the tigress-like magic within her clawing a tree to shreds.

"This map is bloody useless," she spat. "Dead end after dead end."

"Endlessly," Snape deadpanned. Hermione shot him a glare and he gave her a mirthless smile. "Calm yourself, Hermione. We'll find it."

"Before Regina does?" she shot back. She stopped for a moment to sip at some water and nibble on grapes. Snape silently accepted her offer of food and water and they rested for a moment.

"If we are having this much trouble, Regina is probably not faring much better."

The pair began walking again, heading back the way they had come. They hit the fork in the corridor at which they'd gone left the first time and tried the right-hand passage.

"True," Hermione acquiesced. "Do you really have to be so damned logical though?"

"No," he responded, easily. "However one of us probably should be." Hermione made a halfhearted face at him as they approached a door. What had happened to the short-tempered Severus Snape she'd known and been able to hate? Logical, calm Severus was far more infuriating. Especially when his patience highlighted her own short fuse.

"You know, it'd be really useful if the Gate Keeper saw fit to provide us with updates on Regina's status. Anyways, what's behind door number one?" she mumbled, reaching for the handle. The door was set in stone with a brass ring in the center, which Hermione grasped and pulled. The doorway opened and was consumed with a blue light. Hermione stepped back, brow furrowed. A light musical tone echoed from within the light.

"Sounds a bit like Haydn, doesn't it?" Hermione murmured. Snape glanced down at her. Hermione paid no attention to him as she approached the light. Snape caught her by the shoulder before she touched it.

"Are you sure that's wise?" he asked sharply.

"No," she replied. "But I'm going to do it anyways."

Snape sighed. "Very well." He moved to stand next to her and they stepped into the doorway together.

It was warm and inviting, and in the center of the light was a violin. Hermione frowned.

"I can't play the violin. What are we supposed to do with it?"

Snape wasn't paying attention to her, instead listening closely to the music surrounding them. "Hermione, do you notice something odd about the music? It is a string quartet piece, but there's something missing."

Hermione looked over at him where he stood, head cocked, glowing with ethereal light. She listened more carefully. "Actually," she ventured slowly, "It sounds like the second violinist dropped off in this piece."

Snape nodded in agreement. "So presumably you're to take that violin and play second violinist to the quartet. Something that no master violinist or musician would be familiar with, since I assume they'd always play first position. At the very least, it would have been quite some time since they'd played second violin by the time they got here."

"Humility," Hermione murmured. "Everyone is important to the cohesiveness of the piece, but people seem to think only the first violinist is important. But I still can't play the violin."

Snape's brow furrowed as he stared at the violin for a moment before turning to her. "But perhaps you can," he said thoughtfully.