Needing solitude and a place to think, Hermione headed for the Astronomy Tower. No-one would be there that night; it was Tuesday and too close to the NEWTs for her classmates to be pairing off in search of moonlit pleasures. She settled into a spot which allowed her a twinkling view of the stars overhead. They teased her, falling this way and that through her tears.
Life was too hard. She thought she could handle it, even fought to, but she could feel her control slipping away with every breath she took.
She'd won the battle in getting this far, but the war had just begun. Only here, in the safety of Hogwarts, could she find any semblance of a normal life.
To her friends and teachers, the change in the studious seventh year was barely noticeable. Most people put it down to grief at the loss of her parents or stress from the upcoming exams.
But it was so much more than that. Like the tapestries lining the Arithmancy corridor, she felt as though her sanity was unravelling as time slipped by.
Her Gryffindor bravery put up a good fight, but in the end, her desired to escape was strongest.
Watching the misty liquid swirling inside the slender phial she clutched, Hermione Granger made her decision.
Severus Snape smirked gleefully at the sounds of muffled sobs coming from the top of the tallest Astronomy turret. Climbing stealthily, he savoured the prospect of discovering a student to punish.
'Probably a Hufflepuff,' he mused, 'Whinging over some idiot boy. How perfectly maudlin.'
Slamming the door open with a flick of his wand, the unnerving glare of the Potions Professor fell on the resident Gryffindor Know-It-All. She met his gaze blankly for a few moments before the tubular bottle in her hands dropped to the floor with a crash and she fainted.
"Ms. Granger!" Snape thundered, shaking the unconscious girl. Under his grip, she seemed to be getting slowly thinner.
'Not thinner,' he realised with growing horror, 'Younger.'
Twenty minutes later found Professor Snape rapping on the Headmaster's door frantically, a curly-haired baby under one arm. A curious Dumbledore pulled it open a few moments later, peering bemusedly at his irate visitor.
"Headmaster, we have a problem." Thrusting the little girl into the other man's arms, Snape stalked into the room.
"Indeed Severus, it would appear so." Taking a seat at his desk with the baby dandled on one knobbly knee, Dumbledore fixed Snape with an intense gaze. "Could you explain further, m'boy?"
Stiffly, Snape began. "I was on my rounds a usual when I heard noises in the Astronomy Tower. Upon investigation, I found Miss Granger and this."
From his voluminous robes, he pulled the almost-empty phial and brandished it across the table.
"I'm not as adept at recognising potions as you, Severus. What did it contain?"
Snape took a deep breath. "A Fountain of Youth Draft. The strongest Youthenesia there is."
Looking to the child on his knee, the Headmaster sighed. Then this would be…?"
"Miss Granger, yes." Snape's upper lip curled in disdain.
"Can you do anything for her?"
Snape found little joy in dismissing whatever hopes Dumbledore still clung to. "Nothing whatsoever, I'm afraid. The effects are irreversible."
"Oh Hermione," the older man sighed again. "What have you done?"
The child on his knee clapped happily and stretched out chubby arms to Snape.
"There is another minute detail, Headmaster," Snape murmured, awkwardly grasping the proffered baby. As Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in askance, Hermione beamed up at the scowling man holding her carefully and carolled, "Papa!"