4. Secrets
Hermione entered lounge, scanning the room for the wooden panelling that Snape had spoken of. She found that it covered one wall of the dingy little lounge. She moved towards it, looking for anything that may resemble a door. She let her fingers move over the area, and then she saw, between to overlapping panels of wood, what looked like a hinge. She stood back, pointed her wand at the area and sent sparks flying towards the 'door'. The hinges creaked and the door fell open for her. Behind it lay a set of steep, twisting, stone steps. Hermione cautiously stepped down them and found herself entering a large, dark cellar with walls of stone. The room would not have looked out of place at Hogwarts, which surprised her considering the style, décor and age of the rest of Snape's home. She concluded that it must have been some kind of magic that created this place, probably invisible to the Muggle eye, like Hogwarts.
As daunting and scary as the room was, it was magnificent at the same time. There were cauldrons of every size and shape propped up on various stands, shelves and shelves of various ingredients, everything from nutmeg to 'finger of giant'. One wall was covered entirely with packed bookshelves. At the far end of the room there stood a large oak desk with various pieces of parchment scattered everywhere, with an abandoned quill discarded on top. In the corner stood what looked like a large, stone bowl. Hermione had a quick glance inside and assumed that it must be a pensieve; she had never actually seen one before. She had only heard Harry speak about Dumbledore's.
Hermione reached into her robe pocket and pulled out her recipe for her healing potion. She located a size one cauldron and began scanning the shelves for the specific ingredients. Thankfully they had been arranged in alphabetical order so searching didn't take too long. Once she had collected her ingredients she began brewing her potion, being extremely careful with her timings and sizes.
She had finally added all of the ingredients and all she had to do now was wait for it to brew properly. Whilst she waited she had a little wander, looking at Snape's book collection. She strolled around, had a quick glance at the parchment on the desk and was rather sad to discover that the last thing that Snape had been writing was a lesson plan for his Defence Against the Dark Arts class. She then moved on to have a little look at the pensieve. She would never dream of entering one without the owner's permission, but a little look wouldn't hurt. She looked down and saw several little silver wisps floating around in a sea of blue liquid. Snape's darkest and deepest memories, Hermione hated to imagine what the pensive contained. She moved away from the pensieve towards her potion to see how it was doing, when she was startled by a loud squeak. A large rat ran at her feet from beneath a pile of old robes. Hermione tried to quickly move away from the rat, but stumbled and fell backwards, the small of her back crashing against the pensieve. Before she had realised what was happening, Hermione seemed to be falling from the sky. She landed on her feet, remarkably unscathed, in what seemed to be the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.
It was night-time and she could hear voices, apparently coming from behind her. She turned around to find Snape and Dumbledore standing less than two feet in front of her. Startled by their close proximity, she took a step back, and could do nothing but listen to and watch their conversation.
"Severus, do you understand what I am asking of you?" asked Dumbledore with a very solemn look upon his face.
"Yes but I cannot say that I will carry out what you suggest. I simply can't. I have undertaken many assignments for you over the years but I am afraid that this is too much." Replied Snape, trying to uphold his dignity although Hermione could see that he seemed upset.
There was a deep rustle in a not so far away bush followed by a loud, heavy cough.
"Who is there?" demanded Snape, with his wand poised at the ready.
"I believe that it is our game keeper doing what he does best." Dumbledore chuckled.
Snape glanced around suspiciously whilst heavy footsteps could be heard disappearing into the night.
"Severus I am afraid that you have no choice, you have taken an Unbreakable Vow"
"I know magics Albus, deep, dark magics that can go beyond that…"
"Yes Severus I am sure that you do but that is a place which I do not want you venture, for I fear you may never return."
"There must be another way Albus, surely."
"I am afraid there is not Severus. We predicted the possibility of this outcome several years ago, and we planned for it. It is now time to follow through with that plan."
"You do not seem to fear death Albus, why is this?"
"I am old now Severus, very old. My only reason for living would be to ensure that Voldemort does not have his day. It would now seem, ironically, that it would be my death that would help provide this insurance. I'll let you in on a little secret Severus… I look forward to the peace. Before the time comes I will have Harry Potter prepared for the times ahead. He has youth on his side."
"As well as ignorance." Snape scoffed.
"But most importantly Severus, you must not let Draco carry out the task that Voldemort has set him. His soul still has a chance of being saved."
"Yes, of course."
"And when I am gone, the order must not know of your true alliance until the time is fit to tell them, or they have discovered it for themselves. As honourable as their intentions are, this is a secret that must be very closely guarded. Discovery of our plan would likely jeopardise the efforts of the order, as well as put your own life at risk."
"I understand. When the time comes that Draco Malfoy should kill you, I must step in and carry out the task for him." Snape closed his eyes as he said this, as though the thought caused him pain, "and then I must appear to be and have had been faithful to the Dark Lord in order to destroy his efforts from inside his own closed circle, as well as do what I can to protect those in the order."
"Particularly Harry Potter."
Snape sighed, "Yes, particularly Harry Potter."
Hermione looked on, stunned at what she had just heard, yet slightly relieved that her instincts had not been completely wrong. Suddenly she felt a sharp finger tap her on the shoulder. Filled with dread, she slowly turned round to see a very pissed off looking Snape glare at her.
"I don't know what it is about you and your little friends that makes you think that you can go prancing around in other people's memories but it does not amuse." He said very sternly. He looked a lot better, and was wearing a fresh set of black robes. His face was still slightly swollen and bruised but it did not hide the stony look of deep anger, and he had definitely found his voice again.
"S-s-sorry sir, it was an accident I swear, I would never…" Hermione stammered, nerves pulsing through her body.
"It was an accident you say? So say you accidentally fell into a three foot high pensieve, what was it exactly that made you accidentally stay there?"
Hermione had no response, but she had a brief moment to think. Who was he to be angry with her for discovering that he was not the evil bastard that he had claimed to be? She had helped him! She had believed in him! She had no reason to be sorry or afraid. Amidst these thoughts she discovered that they were back in the cellar.
"Well, Miss Granger?"
"You are certainly looking a lot better." She piped. Hermione knew exactly why Snape was looking better; he had had a nip of her potion before coming to get her from the pensieve. She only wanted him to admit it, to admit that she had helped him.
"Yes well, I could hardly go leaping into a pensieve in the condition that I was in, so I was forced to take your potion before hand."
"And it worked?"
"If you are looking for a pat on the back Miss Granger, I suggest that you go elsewhere. Anyway I believe that you did not answer my question."
"Because I was curious of course, I have spent the past several months contemplating your motives for killing Dumbledore, suddenly I have the answer literally staring me in the face, and you expect me to ignore it? Anyway, why keep it a secret? You can now prove to everyone that you hadn't turned against Dumbledore and the order!'
"That brain of yours is going to get you into trouble one day Granger, pity that your common sense is lagging seriously behind."
"Excuse me?"
"Come with me."
Snape swept up the stony steps of the cellar and Hermione followed. As they reached the top he gestured for her to take a seat in the lounge. She obeyed and Snape sat opposite her.
"I need you to do something for me." Snape said in a very steady, assured voice.
"Yes?" Hermione replied, quite uncertain of what to expect.
"I need you to take an Unbreakable Vow that what I am about to tell you will go no further."