Chapter One
Harry didn't want to think what he would do without Hermione or Ron. Hermione had once again proven her skills at tracking down anything by finding Snape.
"It's nothing," she said modestly when Harry sang her praises. "You just have to know where to look," she explained. "And have plenty of patience." They were sitting in Ron's room at the Burrow, away from prying eyes and listening ears. Harry had cast the Muffiato Charm just in case anyone decided to try and use Extendable Ears. It was vital that no one know of their plans.
"So where is he?" Ron asked.
"Living as a Muggle."
"A Muggle?" Harry said confused. Why would the right hand man of Lord Voldemort choose to live as a Muggle? Shouldn't he be killing them instead?
"There haven't been any sightings of him in the Wizarding world. And after they found the bodies of the Malfoy family, I assumed that he had gone into hiding. I don't think Voldemort is very happy with him at the moment."
"But he killed Dumbledore. I would think he'd be ecstatic with him," Harry said.
"No, she's right, Harry," Ron said. "Snape did the one thing that You-Know-Who couldn't. He might be happy at first, but later he would feel threatened."
"Which is all the better for us," Hermione interjected. "He'll be much more apt to help us fight against a man who wants him dead than a man who has rewarded him greatly."
"So then how did you find him?" Harry asked.
"His father, Tobias Snape, was a Muggle, so I figured if he were to go into hiding, then that would be the most logical place to start. I tracked him to his childhood home, and asked around for anyone fitting his description. No one remembered the Snapes, but one old man recalled selling his beat up car to a Mr. Smith. He must have been in a hurry at that point because he forgot to Obliviate him. But, once I knew what alias he was using, it was simply a matter of tracking his paper trail. Wizards forget that Muggles can track things like credit cards."
"He probably assumed that anyone looking for him would be clueless about Muggles," Harry mused. Hermione nodded her agreement.
"Well, now that we know where he is and what's he's doing, all we need is a plan," Ron said.
"RONALD WEASLEY!" they heard Mrs. Weasley shout up the stairs.
"Best go," Ron said, reddening. "The rehearsal dinner will be starting soon." The three of them made their way downstairs, relishing the last few truly happy moments before once again setting themselves to the task of defeating Voldemort.
&&&&&
The plan, such as it was, turned out to be simple. Ron and Harry would watch in the background as Hermione attempted to "persuade" the information that they needed from Snape.
"But what if he…y'know…he misinterprets my meaning," Hermione said, her face turning as red as Ron's hair.
"It would probably be better if he did," Harry said. Ron looked at him sharply. "We won't let it get that far, we promise," Harry said quickly, trying to reassure them both. "But it might help things along if he thought that…well…he might get something out of the exchange."
Hermione took a deep breath. "Right, okay. I can do this," she said. But it sounded more as though she was trying to convince herself than either Ron or Harry.
Neither of the boys needed much in the way of preparation, requiring only Harry's invisibility cloak and some Extendable Ears. Hermione on the other hand couldn't look like herself. She changed from a bushy brunette to a sleek blond. She wore a black Muggle dress that highlighted her assets with a pair of high heels that took a few trips around the room to get used to, and make-up, though inexpertly applied, that played up her new facial features. When she finally let them see her, both boys were astonished at the result.
"Very nice," Harry said, giving her a whistle. Ron punched him in the arm, but even he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
"You're…you're gorgeous," he stuttered.
"Well, don't get used to it," she snapped.
"I—I mean you're pretty normally. I like your hair and eyes the way they are, but it's just weird to see you like this," Ron said, trying to regain lost ground as Harry watched in amusement.
"I just hope Snape likes it," she said, playing with the necklace around her neck.
"He will." But Harry wasn't so sure himself. Snape was a dangerous man, and he wouldn't like it if he discovered their scheme. He hoped that Hermione in this form would be able to coax the necessary information without him ever being the wiser. The less contact they had with the man the better.
&&&&&
Two hours later, they stood outside a nondescript pub in a nondescript town. For someone trying to blend in, it was the perfect place to be.
"So this is it then?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded. He committed to memory the place. After he took care of Voldemort, he would want to return here and finish his business with Snape. Until then, he hoped they could wheedle from him any information about the Horcruxes.
"You're going to be fine, Hermione," Ron assured her, rubbing his hand up and down her back. She bit her lip and then took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she sashayed into the pub. Harry smirked at Ron whose eyes concentrated on Hermione's departing figure.
"Ready?" he asked. Ron shook his head to clear it.
"Yeah, let's go."
A bar patron glanced out the window, and then looked again. He could have sworn there were two blokes standing right outside getting ready to come in, but now there was no one there. He'd only had two drinks but maybe it was time to call it a night.
Under the protection of the invisibility cloak, Harry and Ron watched as Hermione sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. "I'll have what he's having," she said, pointing to Snape's glass. He stared ahead, not acknowledging her presence.
"Interesting game?" she asked, pointing to the telly on the wall. Several men had crowded underneath it and were watching a cricket game.
"Wouldn't know," he grunted. This was going to be just as hard as they thought it would. Snape wasn't any more personable outside of class than he was in it.
"Want another, Smith?" the bartender asked. Snape nodded, pushing his empty glass over. Hermione waited before he had his refill before trying once more.
"I never have understood cricket," she confessed. She needed to get conversation established before she could move on to more serious matters, like Horcruxes and how to destroy them.
"What's your name?" he asked, turning round to face her. This sudden interest surprised her.
"Gra-Grimer," Hermione stuttered. "Eliza Grimer."
"Well, Miss Grimer…it is Miss, isn't it?" Snape said. Hermione nodded, batting her lashes for good measure. "You would do well to leave me alone."
"But I couldn't possibly do that," she simpered, sounding only slightly panicked. They had known that this might be a possibility. It was after all Snape, not the most sociable man there was. "You're the only interesting bloke here tonight."
"Interesting? What brings you to that conclusion?" He took a swig of his drink, and then surveyed her up and down. Hermione reddened under his gaze. "You have just started talking to me. I could be a thief or a murderer."
"Both very interesting occupations," she remarked.
"Perhaps I am just an ordinary schoolteacher or a banker. Would you want to talk to me then?"
"That would depend."
"On?"
"On what you did in your free time. Maybe you live a double life," she said, returning his earlier look with one of her own. Snape pursed his lips at her appraisal, obviously uncomfortable with it.
"You're wrong," he said curtly. "I'm just an insurance adjustor who wants to drink a pint in peace before going home to his nagging wife." He turned his attention back to his glass, ignoring the girl next to him. But Hermione persisted.
"Maybe, maybe not, but you are a man of secrets, Mr. Smith. I can sense it," she said softly. She ventured out to rest a shaky hand on his knee. He looked down at it sharply, but he didn't remove it, and he listened to what she whispered in his ear. Harry and Ron strained to hear through their Extendable Ears the rest of the conversation, but the noise from the rest of the pub's patrons drowned it out. A few moments later, she had him convinced. Snape straightened up and stood, his hand at the small of Hermione's back.
"Perhaps we should retire to my room," he purred. Hermione gulped, but she nodded her assent. Harry had to restrain Ron from jumping out from underneath the invisibility cloak.
"No," he whispered. "He'll speak more freely alone."
"I don't think he wants to go up there to talk to her," Ron argued, the drone of the other customer's conversations drowning out his less than soft whisper.
"We'll follow them," Harry said. "But no jumping out unless there's trouble."
"The first sign of trouble," Ron stipulated. Harry agreed, nodding his head. With that decided, they quickly moved to follow the pair up the stairs. Snape ushered Hermione into a small room, pausing just long enough to allow Ron and Harry to slip through the door after her. As quiet as they could manage they scampered into the corner and out of the way. Snape shut the door, turning and leaning against it. With a calculating gaze, he looked Hermione up and down.
"Now tell me, Miss…"
"Grimer," she finished when she realized he didn't remember the name she had given him.
A small malevolent smile crossed his face, worrying Harry. Snape only smiled like that when he was deducting points or assigning a detention. "Right, Miss Grimer, what do you really want with me?"
"I know who you are," she whispered.
"Is that so? I think that if you did, you wouldn't be so foolhardy as to let me know it." He strode towards her, stopping only inches away.
"But I admire you for what you've done. No one else has managed it…n-not even You-Know-Who," she said very softly, almost as if she were afraid that Voldemort was in the room and could hear her blasphemous claims. Snape flinched the slightest bit as Hermione said it, but his countenance betrayed him for only a moment, returning quickly to a look of calculation. "You are the most powerful wizard there is."
Snape stared at her, carefully weighing her words. Then his hand came up, and he stroked Hermione's cheek with the back of his knuckles. Holding Ron back, Harry was amazed at her ability not to pull away. She stood there withstanding his touch, leaned into it even.
"You like powerful wizards, do you?" Snape said smoothly.
Hermione nodded. "Tell me how you did it. How did you convince him to trust you?" She stepped even closer, the distance between them now mere centimeters.
'She's done it,' Harry thought. He would tell her. They would have their answers. But in the next moment, in the blink of an eye, Snape went from caressing Hermione's cheek to spinning her around, grabbing her by the hair and pressing his wand into her neck.
"I did it by not falling for poorly planned schemes such as this," he hissed into her ear. "If you know who I am, then you know what I am capable of. Who are you?"
Harry couldn't restrain Ron any longer. "Let her go," Ron yelled, throwing off the invisibility cloak.
"Potter and Weasley, I should have known. That must make you," he jerked Hermione in his grip, "Miss Granger."
"Let her go, Snape!" Harry said menacingly, taking a step closer. He held his wand at the ready, but he hesitated throwing any curses, fearing they might hit Hermione instead. She was at Snape's mercy and it was because of him. He would not let Snape take another person he loved away from him.
"Not until you tell me what it is you're tying to pull. Frankly, I'm surprised at this level of subterfuge, pathetic though it may be. You're usually the throw curses, ask questions later type, Potter," he said with a sneer.
"We need your help," Hermione answered before Harry could respond.
"My help?"
"We found another Horcrux," she admitted.
"Hermione!" Ron said in alarm. She was giving out too much information. They needed something as a bargaining chip in this desperate situation.
"He can tell if we're lying, Ronald. And if we want him to help then he'll need to know." Her voice wavered as she spoke, and Harry could see her hands trembling, but she maintained her brave front.
"Indeed, Miss Granger. But how do you know I will listen? Why not just kill you?" His hand was fisted in her hair, and he jerked her head back to look at him, his wand still pressed to her throat. "It would only take two words," he taunted.
Hermione blanched. Harry's anger boiled up and he took a step closer, but Ron put out a hand to stop him. Any movement on their part and Snape might carry out his threat.
"Because you're intrigued," Hermione bit out. Snape glared at her but released his hold on her hair, though his wand remained poised and ready at her neck.
"Put your wands down," he ordered Ron and Harry. "Now!" he barked when they didn't move fast enough. They hurried to comply, worried for Hermione's safety.
"Sit down on the bed there." He pointed them to the double bed that sat in the corner. They sat.
"Where is your wand, Miss Granger?"
"In the right pocket of my coat," she answered.
"Take it out slowly and hand it to me." When she had done so, he released her, pushing her towards the bed. Ron caught her, pulling her instantly to his side.
"Are you okay?" he murmured softly, brushing the hair from her face. She nodded and let him wrap an arm around her shoulder before turning her attention back to Snape who now stood towering over them, looking very angry.
"Explain yourselves," he demanded. Hermione started, but he cut her off immediately.
"No, Potter will explain," Snape said, looking at her pointedly. "If you want my help then I want to hear it from your own lips."
It wasn't enough that he had discovered their plan, but he was determined to humiliate Harry as much as possible. Harry took a deep breath, trying to control his anger as best he could. They needed Snape. He understood that now. The only way to kill Voldemort was to get rid of the Horcruxes, and the only the way to get rid of the Horcruxes was to convince Snape to help them.
"We need your help," Harry started. Snape raised his eyebrow. "I need your help," Harry bit out. Snape waved his hand, motioning him to continue. "Dumbledore believed that V--,You-Know-Who split his soul into seven pieces. The only way I'll ever be able to kill him is if I first destroy the other six Horcruxes. We found one—Rowena Ravenclaw's medal. She awarded it to the top student in her house every year. The tradition went on until thirty years ago when the medal went missing."
"We found it in an abandoned castle in Wales," Hermione added. "But we don't know how to destroy it. You helped the headmaster after he destroyed the ring, and you were the first person he asked for after he found what he thought was another one."
"He asked for me?" Snape asked suspiciously. Hermione nodded.
"Yeah, and a lot of good it did him," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Do not speak of things you know nothing about!"
"I watched you kill him!" Harry said, standing. He wished he had his wand in his hand.
"You know NOTHING!" Snape said in a low dangerous hiss, spitting the last word with a vengeance.
"I know you killed Dumbledore. You can't deny it." Hermione and Ron scooted further back on the bed, nervous expressions on their faces as they watched the angry scene play out before them.
"I can't and I won't, but how did he come to be at the mercy of Malfoy in the first place, Potter?" he sneered. "He was admittedly a very powerful wizard. Certainly no match for a sixteen-year-old boy. And yet he managed it. Why is that?"
Harry didn't answer but clenched his fists, digging his fingernails into his palm to keep from killing Snape where he stood.
"Either you have to admit that Malfoy is much more powerful than you ever thought, or that the headmaster was much weaker than he would have liked everyone to believe."
One word--weaker--hit Harry with as much force as a charging hippogriff. He had been the one who had forced that potion down Dumbledore's throat, the one that had weakened him so that he could not defend himself against Malfoy and the other Death Eaters. And for what? Nothing. A fake Horcrux. Snape narrowed his eyes, his wand still pointed at Harry, and plucked the traitorous thought from the front of his brain.
"Ah, it all comes together now," he purred. "It seems I merely finished the job which you started."
"What is he talking about?" Ron asked.
"Nothing."
"Yes, I wouldn't want my friends to know either," Snape said, mocking him.
"Will you help us or not?" Harry said, changing the subject. This line of conversation would only lead to one of them killing the other, and unfortunately, both of them were needed to defeat Lord Voldemort.
"I will help you."
"You will?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Yes, Miss Granger. I have no desire to see a man bent on destruction ruling society."
"Bent on your destruction" Ron muttered under his breath.
"Exactly, Mr. Weasley." Ron snapped his head up and blushed. "I see we understand each other. I am not helping you because I like you, nor do I feel indebted to you in any way. But I value my life and am much more likely to keep it if you succeed. After you have all bets are off." He held out his hand. Harry stared down at it.
After...all bets are off. The enemy of your enemy is your friend. Or at least your ally. Until that enemy is gone. With a firm grasp, Harry took Snape's hand and shook it.