Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series.

Chapter 3

Images of Diagon Alley, red hair, and dark eyes haunted her dreams. She tried to turned away but found herself immobilize. She tried to break away desperately. She was dreaming. She must be dreaming. She thought hard and tried to pull her eyelids open.

Rough fabric scrapped against her skin. Everything was hazy as she surveyed her surroundings with groggily eyes. Hermione quickly realized that something was wrong. The bed she was sleeping on was wrong. The light was wrong. Everything was wrong. She sat up quickly and was smacked by a noxious headache.

"I see you are awake, Ms. Granger." She recognized the familiar oily voice.

The world was still spinning. Spots of pink and green marred her vision as she swerved her head toward imposing silhouette; she squinted to erase the blurry lines.

She stopped breathing. "Snape." Sudden fear drenched her body with cold sweats.

She tried to rub her temples to get rid the vicious pounding when she realized her hands were locked together. She shot her former professor a menacing glare or as menacing she could be when the world was pink and green.

He advanced toward the sofa and flicked his wand; her hands separated but she still couldn't move her legs. "Drink," he thrust a glass of suspicious looking liquid under her nostrils.

Hermione craned her head away but the headache pound against her head violently. "Why am I here?"

Snape looked at her condescendingly. "Drink," he insisted again. Exasperated at her refusal, he explained, "It will clear the headache."

She glanced at potion and was dreadfully aware the pain was beginning to worsen. She reached for potion tentatively and seeped it. She swirled her tongue and other than the resemblance to sour lemons, it seemed fine. The headache disappeared and her eyes decided to work properly now. She took in her surroundings. Snape might have touch for potion but obviously not for homemaking, she thought wryly.

"Why am I here?" she asked again, unsure how to address her former teacher. Hermione squelched those ridiculous thoughts; this man was a murderer.

"Don't flatter yourself. We had no intention of bringing you here," Snape sneered.

We!

Alarm went off, she looked wildly at the rather small sitting room. "Mr. Malfoy is not in the room." He watched amusingly at the way she looked like a frightened fowl unlike her usual obnoxious confidence in the classroom.

Malfoy.

She remembered now.

She remembered her fight with Ron. She remembered browsing through books in Flourish and Blotts to flushed out her angry thoughts. She remembered the purple-faced Uncle Vernon. She remembered Ginny's trying to cheer her up. She remembered seeing a flash of platinum hair near Gringotts. She remembered Snape's billowing cloak and hushed argument. She remembered a struggle. She remembered losing her footing and hit something sharp.

Then darkness gleefully claimed her. All the images were in jumbled and vague. They made her head hurt.

Her hand flew to the forehead; she could feel a bandage.

"You hit your head."

She bit back a sarcastic remark. "What are you planning to do with me?"

"I assure you, Ms. Granger, I will think of something."

Now with the knowledge that the man in front of her was capable of murderer, she felt nauseous. He was no longer just an unjust teacher who made Potion an impossible class to enjoy. She was treading in foreign territory without her wand and no book facts were going to help her with a bloody murderer. She suppressed the run in circle like a headless chicken (she couldn't anyway since her legs were bound together) and called to her well-honed logical mind.

She was blank. Maybe it was the hit on the head, whatever it was; she hoped she could come up with a plan fast and soon.

Hermione blinked out of her reverie when the bookcase moved apart and Draco Malfoy emerged.

A million neurons were firing at the sight of her nemesis in less-than-good shape with a faint crescent scar at the corner of his eyes and his usual immaculate robes were wrinkled.

Draco Malfoy was different, her lethargic mind concluded.

He walked down the rickety stairs with a grimace. He thought of the amount of dust and spider webs that had been collecting; he could not understand how anyone could live without house elves. He twisted a knob and strode into the sitting room. He was almost joyful when he saw that Granger was finally awake; he was so tired of making healing potions and looking up obtuse information about the gauntlet.

"Mudblood," he eased back into his usual demeanor. He almost felt alive. "Do you know that your face can stay that way?" He mocked her expression of a flopping fish.

"Shut up, you stupid ferret," she jeered at him. Draco itched to wrangle her throat just to put an end to her shrilly voice. "You can't run to daddy anymore so you run to dear old Snape. How precious." If she were a Slytherin and not insulting him, he would have been nod approvingly at her perfect sneer. But she wasn't and what she said hurt more than her puny mind could comprehend.

He pounced. Draco was so closed to her throat that she could feel the shift in the air but Snape intervened and placed a firm on his shoulder. He shrugged the hand off. "Stop this childish display. They may not be house points to deduct nor detentions to be serves, but I am sure that I can find something equally unpleasant to do."

Things nearly felt normal.

Draco seethed with anger. Draco Malfoy might be many things: a bully, a prat, a spoiled brat, but he was Malfoy through and through. He carried the Malfoy name with honor and pride no matter what happen.

One thing he learned from his family other than Dark Arts was family loyalty.

Hermione wringed her hands together nervously and sneaked at a look at Snape's exasperated look. She hoped that she showed no signs of Malfoy's insult had remotely touched. It was ludicrous that she should care for his opinion when she disliked him so intensely. Yet, it still aggravated her when Malfoy acted like he was a prince. She wanted to drag him back to ground with the rest of the people and beat him to pulp.

"Harry and Ron will look for me!" She suddenly remembered that she would be missed, that Ginny would noticed she was not at Flourish and Blotts, that Harry and Ron would come swooping in and save like the way they saved her from the troll.

"Potter and Weasley will not be able to find you, Ms. Granger." Snape turned his attention back to his potion after Malfoy sat in the armchair, away from Hermione.

"We could oblivate her and sent her back," Malfoy drawled. "She is of no use to us anyway."

Snape gave Malfoy a look silencing him. If she were back at Hogwarts, she would've whooped with joy that Malfoy was finally put into his rightful place. "Actually, Ms. Granger will be useful."

Her stomach dropped and felt like puking again, instead her stomach grumbled. She flushed and avoided Malfoy's smug look.

"Hungry, Granger?" he taunted.

"Draco, go get some bread and cheese."

"I am not a servant, Severus."

"Don't be childish," Snape snapped.

She watched that exchange with interest. Malfoy obviously did not like his former potion-professor and mentor but Snape was being tolerant despite Malfoy's bratty outburst.

Something was going on. Hermione trusted her logic more than her intuition but with her legs bound together and wand taken away from her, she could do nothing but think, speculate, observe, and store all the information in her mind.

Malfoy slammed a plate with several slices of bread and cheese on the table and stalked away.

Hermione stretched her arms to fullest extent; the food was barely out of the reach. She fumed, refused to meet the eyes of Malfoy. She swung both of her legs off the couch, righted herself, and tugged the plate toward her. Her throat burned with humiliation. The bread tasted like stone. She refused to cry and bit her tongue.

She didn't even notice when Snape sent Malfoy back to whatever he was suppose to be doing.

"Ms. Granger," Snape said softly.

She scrambled away but almost toppled over when she lost her balance swinging her legs onto the couch. Snape flicked his wand and the binding came undone. She lifted her chin and stared straight into Snape's dark eyes. She ignored the inferno of fear and put away those thoughts forcefully.

"Snape," she sneered. She was expecting a smack on the face, a curse, something cruel from him. But he did not give her the satisfaction and only looked at her like it was the first time seeing her.

"Ms. Granger," he tried again. "Silencio. You will listen to me whether you want to or not. I had not intention of bringing you here. You dragged yourself into this predicament when you unwittingly followed Draco into Knockturn Alley and decided injured your head. I assure you that you would've been in a worst situation if we have left you at the alley. I brought you here against my best discretion. You will help me, Ms. Granger." He flicked her wand and she could talk again.

Hermione glared hatefully into Snape's skull. "I will never help you," she spat. "I will never help Voldemort." She suddenly reminded of Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. Harry did not deserve to be betrayed by Peter Pettigrew; Hermione may be a insufferable know-it-all but she was not a traitor.

Snape flinched at the name. "Don't jump into fickle theories," he growled.

"Harry saw you kill Dumbledore." She refused to allow her voice to wavered. She reached deep for the Gryffindor's courage.

"He saw?" Snape looked thunderstruck. "How?"

"It doesn't matter. He saw you. He saw you do it! You can't deny it, Snape. You killed Dumbledore," she choked. "You killed Dumbledore and he trusted you so much. He trusted you, you bastard. No one trusted you but he did. He believed that you are worth something and you killed him."

Large drops of tears cascaded down her cheeks but Hermione paid them no mind. She was doing this for Dumbledore, doing this for her pain, doing that for all the children who might never have the chance to experience the joy she did at Hogwarts, doing this was Harry who had already lost too many people.

She never thought she had seen Snape paralyzed. It wasn't fear but self-loathing and rage that were smeared across his face. She did not care.

"I will never help you. I rather die. You… you… coward."

"I am not a coward!" he bellowed. This shook Snape out of his stupor. His face loomed over her.

She shrunk away and squeezed her eyes tight; she was waiting for the pain. She remembered Harry once saying that all he could remember was a neon green light. The pain never came, she cracked her eyes open and saw Snape stumbled into the table. He looked at her with bewilderment.

"You think I wam going to kill you," he said breathlessly. She didn't answer. She couldn't utter a word with her throat clamped tight so she bobbed her head. "You think I am going to kill you." He placed his hand on his forehead. His protuberant dark eyes made him look like a dead goldfish.

Hermione was unsure of what she was witnessing. She found this side of Snape more frightening than the Snape that resembled a resentful old bat.

"Professor Snape," she stuttered.

Snape regained his usual facial expression. His eyes shrunk back into his skull. "Ms. Granger," he said softly. It was the same careful soft voice that promised danger and consequences. "I need your help. You must help Draco find one of the Horcruxes."

She stared at Snape as he regained his sanity. Her mind whirled and tried frantically to make sense of her situation. With each passing minute, the more flummoxing she became. "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

He quickly waved his wand; a complicated glow appeared and disappeared.

Hermione recognized it as a highly protective ward. It was suppose to prevent eavesdropper; she glanced at the bookcase. She had never seen Snape indecisive. He always executed everything with confidence from taking away house point to… killing Dumbledore. She forced herself to remember that. She forced herself to hold onto that righteous anger.

"Draco received another task." Who gave the order went unspoken. "He was to find a gauntlet. It was a relic owned by Rowena Ravenclaw. It was taken before it was hidden properly. No one knew who took it but it occurred the night after the murder at Godric's Hollow."

"It is a blind shot then," mused Hermione. The anger was slipping. She was intrigued; she silently cursed her curiosity.

"It was rumored that it was removed from the continent and hidden in America."

"America!"

"Yes, however, I can assure you that the rumor was wrong."

She scolded petulantly. Snape was not telling the whole story. "So where is it?" After she found out where the Horcrux, she would escape and tell Harry. She leaned in eagerly.

He handed her a feather. "This will help you."

Hermione stared at the feather in shock. She recognized it immediately as an eagle feather. The length, width, and shape of the feather all matched the typical eagle feather. But the texture was smoother than most and the tip was dyed red. It looked strangely like dried blood. The rest of the feather was bronze.

"How, it is just a feather?"

"That will be where Mr. Malfoy comes in," Snape said smoothly, ignoring the disappointed look on her face. "You need a book and only Mr. Malfoy knows where to find the book."

Hermione burned with anger and shame. She should have known that Snape would not tell her the location of the Horcrux. Her mind was already spinning, thinking of ways to get the book without the help of Malfoy.

"You will help him find it, Ms. Granger," He watched her carefully; she could feel his eyes contemplating each and every one of her facial expression.

She almost laughed at the absurdity. "You want me to help Malfoy find a Horcrux and bring it back to Voldemort. I will never do that. I will never betray Harry."

"Stupid Gryffindor heroic antics," Snape snarled distastefully. "I am sure Potter is already in the process so finding another Horcrux. If you find it, Ms. Granger, you can destroy it and you will help your sweet Golden Boy."

"You want me to destroy it," she gasped. She couldn't hide the surprise.

He leaned in close to her face. "Draco will be trading the gauntlet for the life of his mother."

"But you want me to destroy it," she sputtered.

Snape waved his wand again. The ward evaporated.

"I am sure a clever girl like you, Ms. Granger, will think of something."

Snape strolled back to his work, leaving a rather flabbergasted Hermione.

Author Notes: I apologize the slowest of the first two chapters. But this should get interesting from here on.

Please review. I am debating on whether continue this story. Should I?

Question: Your honest opinion concerning Snape? I found him the most difficult to write. Do anyone want me to address the time between the Burrow and the capture in more details?

Icy