When she met her friends outside the Three Broomsticks, Hermione had hoped they would be happy to see her.

She hadn't expected Ron to rush over to her dramatically, yelling, "Darling!" and literally sweeping her off her feet in an enormous hug.

"Ron! What on earth..." she hissed over Ginny's giggling.

"Help!" he whispered back, frantically. "She won't leave me alone!"

"Who?"

"You should not let heem touch you!" shrilled a high French soprano. "He ees a pervert!" The dainty blonde Gabrielle Delacour stalked over to them, followed by a smirking Fred and George.

Ginny laughed. "Ron, what have you done to that little girl?"

"Nothing!" Ron insisted. "Hermione's the only one I want!"

He gave her a tighter squeeze, causing her to yelp and thump him. "Ron, put me down!"

"You see?" Gabrielle sniffed. "He does things that are not wanted!"

"She caught him peeping at her while she was changing," George explained. "She's been giving him hell for it ever since."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, working free of his grasp. "She's only thirteen!"

"It was an accident!" he defended, his face turning as red as his hair. "I didn't know she was in there!"

Hermione could see Molly, Arthur, and Harry approaching, with Lupin and Tonks close behind them. All together, they made quite a crowd, which wasn't helping Ron. A few folk wandering around the village were now stopping to stare at all the commotion.

"You wair staring at me!" Gabrielle insisted. "You have been staring at me evair seence!"

"I can't help it, you're a Veela..."

"And you're a pervert!" she stomped her foot.

Hermione sighed. "Look, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Ron's not that kind of boy. He's harmless, really."

"Oh, thanks a lot!" Ron complained.

She elbowed him quickly. "You're practically family now anyway. These things will happen. I'm sure Ginny's walked in on her brothers in the bathroom at some point." Ginny snickered. Hermione took her friend by the shoulders and nudged her towards the little French girl. "Why don't you two and Molly go and have a nice girly day shopping? You can help them find things your sister would like. I'm sure you have better taste in clothes than I do."

Gabrielle hmphed, but allowed Ginny to lead her away.

"Phew!" Ron breathed, waving Harry over to them. "I thought I'd never get her off my back."

He tried to put his arm around Hermione again, but she sidestepped. "Ron, you have got to get over that Veela effect. You've had Fleur around for AGES. And now with her family - You can't let them get to you. What if You-Know-Who found out you boys are completely helpless when faced with a Veela?"

"I am over it!" he protested.

"Then why WERE you staring at her?"

"I wasn't, really," he said, running a hand through his hair. "She's just oversensitive. And we're both embarassed. And you know how it is when you've gotten on someone's nerves and you just keep rubbing on each other..."

"Rubbing her up, were you?" Fred hooted.

"Argh!" Ron tugged on his hair. "C'mon, Hermione. You know I'm not interested in a little girl like that. We can go have a nice time, right?"

Hermione sighed. "We have things to do, Ron. You and Harry and the twins need to go talk to Aberforth and find out what Mundungus might have done with that locket."

Harry blinked. "Why the twins and not you?"

"Because he's a weird, sneaky old man, and they're better at sneaky than I am," Hermione admitted.

George grinned. "Just don't ask me to buy him a goat!"

"But..."

"Business first," Hermione scolded. "If you find the locket by lunchtime, we can have the whole afternoon to play!"

"She's got a point, Ron," Harry said. "We should at least try."

"What are YOU going to do, then?"

"What I do best," Hermione tossed over her shoulder as she walked towards Lupin and Tonks. "Research!"

---

As the boys went off on their mission, Hermione was swept into a big hug by Nymphadora Tonks, purple hair tied into dozens of tiny pigtails. "Hey, you. How have you been? Not too lonely out there on your own?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm very busy." She shook hands with her former Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, whose hair was still gray, but whose clothes were looking more tidy than usual. "Hello, Professor Lupin. How are you?"

He smiled. "Please, Hermione, call me Remus. I haven't been your professor in years, and you're not a child anymore - none of you are."

"Remus," she tried, and smiled. "It's true, I still feel like I'm going to be docked points for that. I was always reminding the boys to say 'Professor' Snape, even in private..."

The faces around her fell at the mention of that name. "Yes, well," Tonks ventured. "That's behind you now, too."

"Not really," Hermione explained. She turned to Lupin. "I had questions I wanted to ask you, about Snape. Since you went to school together, you know him better than any of us."

"I didn't exactly know him..." Remus demurred.

Hermione shook her head. "Even people in other Houses, even people who aren't my friends, I know things about them. Not everybody, maybe, but most of them. Like, about their parents. I know plenty about Draco Malfoy's parents, and he certainly isn't my friend. Did you know anything about Snape's family? Did he hate them? Did he spend holidays at the school?"

Lupin shook his head slowly. "I don't think I ever met Snape Senior... I remember his mother at the station once. She was not a very impressive-looking woman."

Having seen school pictures of Eileen Prince, Hermione was not surprised.

"She was very affectionate to her son - proud, even," Remus continued. "I wouldn't think there were any problems there. And Severus always went home for the holidays." He smiled kindly. "Were you looking for an unhappy home life to explain why he went wrong? If he had secret trouble at home, he certainly wouldn't have told me. All I saw was a young boy who was weak and poor and thought he deserved better."

"Did you ever try to make friends with him?"

Remus spread his hands. "Not for more than a moment. I wasn't interesting enough for him. Ambition is the key trait of Slytherin house, remember. Severus was very clever, but he wanted power most of all."

Hermione glanced around to be sure Harry was nowhere in sight. "What about... Lily? Was SHE ever friends with him?"

Lupin nodded slowly, and Hermione cheered inside. She had been right! "They used to study together. I don't know how it started. She never said. Only that they used to work on potions together." He smiled fondly. "Lily was quite good at Potions, you know." He shook his head, returning to the present. "They had a fight and never really patched things up. She always felt bad about it. Guilty, somehow, even though he was the one who told her never to speak to him again..."

"I know Lily was very pretty and popular," Hermione started. "Was it really just friendship? On his part, I mean?"

"You mean, was he in love with her?" Lupin smiled vaguely at Tonks. "I don't know. Severus never seemed to be the romantic type. He didn't attend balls. I've never seen him with a woman - or a man."

"There's no room in that heart for love," Tonks said disapprovingly. "He's a bitter, nasty old - " She blushed. "Well, he's not that old. But he always acted like he was."

"I know you want answers, Hermione, but sometimes there aren't any," Remus laid a hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes people just turn out wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it. Lily always felt she should have done more. But it wasn't her fault, and it isn't yours."

Hermione shook her head. "I think we're all dismissing him too quickly. He..." Again, she looked around. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone else?"

Lupin blinked. "I don't know that I can promise that. Not if it's dangerous."

"If you need to tell, you can," Hermione agreed. "This just isn't something I want gossiped about."

"All right," he allowed. "What is it?"

"I saw Snape," she explained, watching their eyes widen. "He came to the school to get supplies from his office."

"And he spoke to you?" asked Tonks.

"Well, no," Hermione smiled ruefully. "He Stunned me. But you can't blame him for that - I would have attacked if he hadn't. He knocked me out, brought me into his office, and put me on a chair. He was very careful. I didn't even fall off. He didn't hurt me at all, and he could have. He could have killed me or kidnapped me and nobody would have known."

Tonks frowned. "Just because he didn't kill you on sight doesn't mean he's on your side. An Unforgivable Curse requires energy and emotion that he might not have been ready to spend."

"But there's more!" Hermione explained, as best she could, her theories and discoveries about the secrets between Snape and Dumbledore. "I know there's a lot of answers I'm still missing, but it all makes so much sense. If we assume that they had a secret plan, everything fits."

Lupin's eyes were dark with worry. "Hermione, be very careful. There's only one truth we can be sure of: Severus Snape has lived this long because he is very good at making people believe what they want to believe."

"Oi! Hermione!" Ron's voice called from the distance. They turned to see Harry and the three Weasley boys jogging back in their direction.

"Borgin and Burke's," Harry said, gasping for breath. "It's totally obvious, isn't it? They love to buy heirlooms from wizards down on their luck!"

"Aberforth helped Fletcher move quickly around the country," Fred filled in. "He's a Squib, he needed a real wizard's magic to get from place to place."

"But Aberforth didn't go on the jobs, and he didn't see the merchandise," George continued for his brother. "That's why he didn't get caught when Mundungus did, and why he never noticed the locket."

"But..." Hermione blinked. "Borgin and Burke had the locket before. They would recognise it. Shouldn't they have told Dumbledore?"

"Not for free!" Harry exclaimed. "I bet they couldn't believe their luck, getting Slytherin's locket on the cheap not once, but twice!"

"Good thing Harry's rich," Fred joked. "It may take your whole fortune to buy it back!"

"Technically," Hermione said, "it's Harry's anyway. It was stolen. They should have to return it."

Harry shook his head. "Those people care a lot more about galleons than about what's right."

Tonks slammed a fist into her other hand. "Good thing you've got an Auror with you, then!"

---

This time the meeting was not in the dead of night, in mysterious and isolated surroundings. This time it was only mid-afternoon, in an ordinary clearing in an ordinary wood, on the outskirts of an ordinary village. There were jogging paths nearby. It would be easy for a Muggle bystander to wander past and see what was going on.

Draco knew that the hypothetical Muggle wanderer would not survive such a discovery.

This meeting was not about reporting schemes to the Dark Lord and receiving new orders. This meeting was about... playtime. And the toy was currently struggling in the grasp of a large man whose hood had fallen back enough to show his ginger hair. Draco's mask and hood, of course, were firmly in place. She could not recognise him, but he did recognise her.

Rose Zeller. A harmless Hufflepuff, only a second-year, and a pureblood. Perfectly good lineage. Her family weren't even Muggle advocates or opposers of the Dark Lord. She'd never done anything wrong. Yet here she was, being "made an example".

Rose's pretty little heart-shaped face was less pretty now. One cheek glowed red where Bellatrix had slapped her before stealing her wand. Her dark ringlets were tangled and marred with leaves and grass. And her pale skin had gone a sort of greenish-white from terror.

Voldemort watched her wriggle with a sort of amused detachment. "Now, now," he chided. "Is this any way to treat a guest?" He walked over to the captive and tipped up her chin with a gloved hand. "Do you know who I am?"

It was hard to tell, with the child already trembling, but it appeared that she nodded.

"Say my name."

She shook her head frantically.

"Go on," he coaxed. "I won't bite." A chorus of muffled laughter all around. "Let's play a little game. You say my name, and I will give you your wand back."

Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for help. Draco could only watch. "V-Voldemort," she whispered at last.

The Dark Lord's gloved hands slapped together in slow, deliberate applause. "Very good." He reached out his hand, and Bellatrix LeStrange passed him the confiscated wand. "Now, I'm going to give you a chance." He gestured, and the redheaded man dropped the child and stepped away, the Death Eaters forming a circle around the pair. Voldemort handed her the wand. "Go ahead. Take your best shot."

Rose lifted her wand, hand shaking. She took a deep breath. "Stu-"

"Expelliarmus."

Rose's wand flew away and was grabbed out of the air by a member of the faceless dark circle. She spun around, trying to see where it had gone, and continued turning in place until she came once again face to face with Voldemort.

"Tsk, tsk," the dark wizard said. "Not much to show for your education, are you?" He tapped his wand against his palm. "You know, I once applied to become an instructor at your fine school. I wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. But your headmaster didn't think I would be a good enough teacher."

He scraped the wand along his arm. "Abrasus!"

Rose yelped and grabbed at her arm. The skin had gone red.

Voldemort shook his head. "If you were my student, I would have taught you to defend yourself better." Now the tip of his wand twitched in a circle. "Tarantallegra!"

Rose's feet kicked out from under her, tap-dancing to their own beat until she lost her balance and fell over in a heap of robes. She huddled silently on the ground.

"Of course," Voldemort mused, "you did have an interesting instructor this year, after all. Perhaps you were just a very poor student." He smiled at his audience. "Severus, remind the child of a little of her homework."

Snape spoke not a word, but flipped the end of his wand sharply upwards. Rose suddenly flew into the air, hoisted aloft by her left ankle. Her robes fell down over her face, revealing her lacy pink-and-white bloomers to the crowd.

All around, the Death Eaters began to laugh. Even Voldemort joined in with a terrible hissing chortle. There he was, the most powerful and feared wizard in the world, laughing at a little girl's underwear. The petty absurdity of it was enough to drive Draco to laughter as well.

Faintly, beneath the cacophony, he could hear Rose crying.

Voldemort raised a hand for silence. "There are many dangerous beasts you should learn to protect yourself from." And now it was the hulking Fenrir Greyback that he motioned forward. Draco cringed and started to turn away, only to find Snape's hand latching firmly onto him.

"You must watch," the older man hissed.

Fenrir's ragged yellow nails traced a path along the pale flesh of Rose's leg, tugging the bloomers to expose a bit more thigh. "So tender and juicy," he rasped. His tongue fell out and he panted like a dog before licking her skin. Still helpless and suspended in mid-air, Rose twitched and whimpered. Then, the werewolf sank his human teeth into her leg, and she screamed.

Draco felt Snape's hand loosen on his shoulder, and the invisible force holding the little Hufflepuff in the air vanished. She tumbled to the ground, her weight tearing her bloodied flesh away from Fenrir's bite.

Voldemort raised his wand. "Next!"

And so it went on, in an array of curses and torments, as various Death Eaters each had their little bit of fun with their helpless doll. At last, the Dark Lord reclaimed the semi-conscious Rose and held his wand close to her tear-stained face. "Obliviate."

Her eyes slammed shut.

With a crack, Voldemort apparated away, and other snapping sounds soon followed. Draco looked around desperately for Snape - what am I supposed to do now? - but he was gone. Soon the clearing was empty of all but the blond Malfoy and the fallen little girl.

---

Of course, things were never that simple, Hermione sighed to herself as she and Ginny walked back from Hogsmeade. First, they'd had to finish buying the wedding gifts and break up an altercation between Gabrielle and Gregory Goyle, who she claimed had stepped on her foot while she was browsing the perfumes. (What exactly had Goyle wanted with perfume, anyway? Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to know.)

When they'd managed to reach Knockturn Alley, Mr. Borgin had insisted that he had no knowledge of the locket, had not purchased it from Mundungus Fletcher, and would not have bought the thing even if it were offered to him, proclaiming the object to be cursed beyond his own powers to control. "That piece did for the one that sold it, and it did for Burke as well," he muttered darkly. "Well, it won't do for me. I wouldn't touch it."

He had admitted to buying other items off Mundungus, and offered to sell them back to Harry - "for a fair price!", he insisted under Tonks' glowering. "Otherwise I'm out all the money I spent on them, and how was I to know they were stolen?" But Harry hadn't been interested in the other pilfered Black heirlooms, and now it seemed they were no closer to finding the locket than they had been before. Unless Borgin was lying, which was always possible. The locket could have already been repurchased by a Death Eater who was threatening the shop owner to keep him quiet.

Of course, if he honestly believed the locket had killed his partner... What had happened to Caractacus Burke, anyway?

Ginny, beside her, was rather subdued. Being Harry's not-really-at-the-moment girlfriend meant that she was now getting shoved out of the way all the time while the others pursued their quests. Hermione knew that Ginny would much rather have been shopping with Tonks rather than her mother and Gabrielle, and after a whole day of the little blond, probably wished she had stayed at the castle.

They were almost at the Hogwarts Apparition boundary when suddenly a black-robed figure appeared on the road. Both girls had their wands out in a flash, but before they could strike, realised that before them was not one person but two. Draco Malfoy, face unmasked, eyes haunted, stood there cradling the unconscious body of a young student.

"Please," he said. "You have to help me. I don't have anywhere else to go."

---

Note: Phew! And there we stop. This got a bit long, but I wanted to get through both the shopping and the Death Eater gathering.

A lot of people are fond of Dark Revels full of rape, rape, and more rape. Well, I don't think Voldemort is exactly against rape, but it's not very high on his list either. So rest assured that while horrible things happened to Rose, that wasn't one of them.