Draco Malfoy was not at his best. He had spent a painful afternoon watching the torment of a helpless child and trying to control his own reactions to the sight. Then the miserable experience of hauling that child around, desperate not to splinch either of them, terrified that the Ministry would trace his not-entirely-licensed Apparition, and having to beg aid from a smug, bossy Mudblood who would clearly have enjoyed taking revenge for the girl's condition out on him. He'd had to relive the events and his own actions before the disapproving glare of his old professor, and then a Weasley, of all people, had driven him to tears with her revelations about the true nature of the Dark Lord.

And now Snape was smiling at him.

Was it any wonder he was lost for words?

"You did take the girl to Hogwarts, did you not?" Snape continued.

Draco swallowed. "You - you wanted me to help her?"

A small frown gathered between Snape's brows. "Try to keep up. If she was meant to be killed, she would have been. The girl was to be used as an example, a reminder that the Dark Lord could strike at any target. She is therefore left alive and terrified, infinitely aware of her own helplessness. And you are delivered to Hogwarts, with the perfect proof of your defection."

He might be having a bad day, but Draco was not a fool. "That's why no one told me what to do. To set the scene."

Snape nodded. "I told you before - some things you would not be allowed to see, so that you could not report it. The reverse is true. Anything that is shown to you is done knowing that you may reveal it." He stepped away and opened the door behind him into Draco's cupboard. "We needed something to convince the Order that you were on their side, something that would hold up to scrutiny, and we could not risk having you disrupt any important operations at this point."

"It was all a fake."

Snape slapped his hand against the wall to command Draco's attention. "It served a purpose. Several purposes. Planning, Draco! You are no longer a schoolboy. Everything that you do must serve many masters. Your actions, your thoughts and feelings - they are all tools. Use them, or they will be used."

What response could there be that would not illustrate his point? "I see."

"You will have doubts," Snape continued. "You will come under strain. But you must hold these thoughts inside yourself. Trust no one. Unburden yourself to no one. Anyone who appears to be your friend could be spying on you as you spy on them. You must learn this, and quickly."

Rather than ask a question, Draco chose to sound confident, to make it a statement. "You have something planned for me soon."

"Not I," said Snape, twitching the hem of his long black robe away from a gathering of dust in a corner. "Your mother."

---

"The indexes are right over there," the curly-haired Muggle woman behind the desk said. "You can have a look for yourself."

The General Register Office was made up of ugly, low-ceilinged storeys stacked on top of each other. The overhead lights were a bit too yellow, the wall's painted trim a bit too brown, and the faint smell of old tea and boiled swede lurked in the hallways. For Hermione, it was a less welcoming place than her parents' dentistry had been, even in her worst childhood memories. What did Lupin make of this Muggle dreariness?

Hermione looked at the old paper file folders being flipped through by slow-fingered pensioners and decided she would rather not keep either of them here longer than necessary. "Could we - I mean, could you look it up for us?" she asked hopefully. "I could give you the information. I'm sure you'd able to find it much faster than we could."

"Well, then," the Muggle adjusted her glasses. "That'll be eight for the search, and ten for a copy of the certificate, love."

"Do we need a certificate?" Remus Lupin asked, looking worried - or perhaps that was only his natural expression. He had near-enough Muggle ancestry to wear the turtleneck and corduroy trousers without looking entirely mismatched, but there was still a sense of something out-of-place about him. Most Muggle men would have dyed their hair to hide the premature grey.

"All you'll find in there is a reference number," the woman explained. "If you want any information, you need the certificate."

"And that will tell us his address?"

"That will tell you where he died," she corrected. "May not be the same as where he lived. But that's the best I can do for you."

"All right." Hermione pulled some pound notes out of her pocket. "When should we come back for it? We're only in London for the afternoon."

"Usually we only do orders like this in the post, but I think I can get it done in the afternoon for such a sweet young thing like yourself," the woman smiled. "It's so nice to see a young girl taking an interest in geneology. And so sweet of your father to support you!"

"Er, right," Hermione said blushing. But then, Lupin was the same age as Harry's parents, so he was really old enough to be her father. She just didn't think of him that way. He was - not a peer, of course, but not like the Weasleys either.

They stepped out into the noise and murk of Muggle London after promising to return before five to pick up Tobias Snape's death certificate. Remus's nostrils flared at an unpleasant scent - this city was full of them, especially in summer, and Hermione suspected his sense of smell was better than hers was.

"Thanks for coming with me," Hermione began, leading the way towards a green square she remembered seeing on the way up. Not quite a park, but at least a nice place to sit and feed the pigeons. "I could have made it on my own, but I wouldn't want Harry to get any ideas about rushing off by himself."

Remus smiled tightly. "I may as well enjoy my freedom while I can. Soon I won't be able to go anywhere at all."

"Huh?" Hermione asked distractedly, pushing the button on a crossing signal. "What's - oh, no." Her thoughts suddenly caught up with themselves. "You mean, they are going to do something about the... unleashed pets?" she asked, trying not to say 'werewolves' on a busy street where anyone might hear her.

"You might as well say 'wild animals', since that's what they think they are," he sighed.

"But - wait, we have to get over." She grabbed Lupin's wrist and pulled him across the street beside her. Wizards tended to be careless about road safety, expecting that as with the Knight Bus, everything would just work itself out somehow or other. Well, he probably would be able to save them if a car came their way, but she'd rather not have to find out. "What will they do?" she asked quietly.

"'Protective custody', I believe," Remus said.

"They'll just lock you up?"

"For the children, it may actually be protection," Lupin sighed. "They'll be away from their families, who don't know how to deal with their problem, and away from the others who might try to claim them."

"But what about you? You're not dangerous!"

"Hermione, I am dangerous." He stopped on the pavement and turned to look at her, deep brown eyes full of sadness. "I left the school because I was dangerous to you."

"Harry's dangerous to us. He could be possessed by You-Know-Who, or just snap one day and attack everybody - It could happen!" Hermione argued. "That doesn't mean we should lock him up."

"It's not our decision to make." They continued across another road into the square of greenery and sat on a small wooden bench. The pigeons made a tentative approach, but as soon as they got close to Lupin, they scattered, taking to the air and leaving the park to the wizards. "You see? They know what I am." Remus rested his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. "It's the Ministry. They've decided it's one risk factor too many. I just hope they hold out long enough for me to attend the wedding."

"But that's only a few days from now!" Hermione blinked. "Does Tonks know?"

"No. Not yet."

"Why not? She could do something - she could help you get away..."

"Run?" Remus asked. "If I run, who would be assigned to catch me? The Aurors. My girlfriend. Even if I didn't tell her where I was going, they would believe she knew. I can't let her be punished because of me."

"She could run away with you."

"Then you and Harry would lose us both. These are bad times. You need our help. We can't afford to be selfish." He stood, taking a few steps to lean against a tree. "And if we went on the run together - what would we do when the full moon rose?" He shook his head. "I can't risk that. I've lost so many people in my past. The only chance I have for the future is to accept this."

"It's just not fair," Hermione said stubbornly.

He sighed. "If life were fair, we would have James and Sirius with us now, instead of Severus and Peter. Nothing is fair."

Hermione rubbed her hands together, desperately wanting to find out more information but not wanting to cause more pain to this man, her friend, who seemed to have nothing but pain in his life these days. "You said... you and Snape were never friends. But you never... you never did anything bad to him yourself, did you?"

Remus was silent for long moments. "I can't say that I never did anything to him," he admitted at last. "We were schoolboys, and sometimes there were fights."

"But you didn't go out of your way to hurt him, right?" Hermione broke in quickly. Making Lupin feel guilty wasn't what she was after. "So if you weren't friends and you weren't his special enemy... if he didn't think you were important... why was he so interested in you that night? Interested enough to listen to Sirius, who was much more an enemy than you were?" This had been bothering her for a while. There were so many things they didn't know about the Marauders' school days, and so often their ideas had turned out to be completely wrong.

Lupin closed his eyes and tipped his head down, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "Lily," he said at last. "It was because of Lily."

"I don't understand."

"The mother lion defending her cubs," he said. "Lily was like that. She always wanted to look after people. For a while, it was Severus she was defending. She even stood up to James over him. But Severus... he took it badly. His pride was hurt. He needed to prove that he wasn't weak, that he didn't need a Muggleborn girl to fight his battles for him, and so the fights only got worse. And after a while, Lily gave up on him. It wasn't worth the pain to try and help someone who wouldn't be helped - especially when there was someone else who did appreciate her sympathy."

"You," Hermione guessed where this was leading.

Remus nodded. "When she found out my secret, Lily became very supportive of me. Actually, I think it brought her closer to James as well. Before, she'd seen him mostly as an arrogant, trouble-making Quidditch player. Which he was, of course. But he was also a loyal friend with a good heart, who stood by me and helped me with my 'furry little problem'." His fists clenched. "They were both good people," he murmured. "They were so young. We had so little time, and I missed out on it..."

His voice began to choke up, and he turned away. Hermione sat, frozen. This wasn't what she wanted to know. But how could she stop him now?

"There was a month or so, there, when I thought I loved her," Lupin continued. "She was a girl, and she was beautiful, and she was nice to me even though she knew what I was. She couldn't change form and come with us, but she knew, and she wasn't afraid of me. We were just kids, we didn't know what love was. I realised what a fool I'd been, and I was glad I never told her. But I told Peter, and then James didn't believe me, didn't believe it didn't mean anything... he thought he couldn't trust me..."

His shoulders were shaking, and despite the difference in their ages, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Hermione to slip up behind him and wrap her arms around him. He was so thin - too thin. She gave him a quick squeeze and released her grip. "You've got to talk to people," she insisted. "You should tell Tonks about what you're afraid of. So you don't miss out."

Remus was shaking again, but now she could hear quiet chuckles. "Ah, Hermione." He turned and gave her a proper hug, her cheek turned against his bony chest. "You're such a brave girl. I wish you could have known her."

It felt nice to be held. There was no embarassment, no awkward desire, no worry about what the other half wanted. Even Harry she couldn't have held like this. He would always have twitched away after a moment, full of the need to do something, even if it was the wrong thing. With Remus, she could just stand there, holding on.

They parted after a moment, smiling at each other. He trusts me, Hermione thought to herself. I'm not a child. I'm his friend. "Well," she said cheerily. "We've got plenty of time before we have to get back to the office. Let's see what we can find to look at in London. I'll buy you some crepes."

If this was going to be the end of Lupin's freedom, then Hermione was determined to make sure he enjoyed it. She hadn't spent much time in London since she was a little schoolgirl, but she still knew a few interesting sights and sounds to show off. Today would be a happy day. No more awkward questions.

Of course, she couldn't help but think a few of those awkward questions to herself. So Snape had been so curious about Lupin, curious enough to take foolish chances to find out the truth - because Lupin had gained Lily's sympathy?

That sounded a lot like jealousy.

---

"You wanted to see me, Mother?" Draco's appearance this day was neat and proper, all signs of trouble hidden. The dutiful son.

Narcissa placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him. "So strong and handsome. My perfect child. You were the most beautiful baby, you know. I told your father I didn't want another one. How could any other child match up to you, my shining dragon?"

"I'm sure any child you had would be a credit to our line," Draco said diplomatically.

"Our line," Narcissa repeated, and now she released him. "Our line is in jeopardy. I know that there are things that you must do, dangerous things. I would never try to hold you back. But I must act to preserve our line. You are my only child, the only pure child of Black."

"What are you proposing?"

"You must marry and father a pureblood child," Narcissa Malfoy said. "Immediately."

---

Hermione returned to the Gryffindor commons with Lupin and a photocopy of a faded death certificate for one Tobias Snape, died October 29, 1981. Two days before his wife. What that meant, if anything, neither of them knew. Many people had died or disappeared in Voldemort's final days. Whatever had become of the Snapes, Lupin had not heard about it at the time.

The certificate had also included an address - Spinner's End, in Yorkshire. There was no way to know if this was really the Snapes' old address, or whether it was still in use, and both Hermione and Lupin had agreed it was too late in the day to investigate it now.

Still, she felt it had been a good day. She had a good lead on Snape and more evidence for her theories about his past. She felt accomplished.

Which was why it knocked the wind out of her sails a bit when Ron's madly-grinning face appeared in the fire. "Hermione!" he crowed. "We got the locket!"

---

Author's Note:

While I did a little research into the subject of looking up deaths in England, I am mostly making things up. I could only find a tiny photo of the entrance of the GRO which made it look like the sort of horrible place I am describing, but I have no idea what it's actually like.

Coming up - Another encounter between Hermione and Snape, and this one will be lasting a good deal longer than just 'Stupefy'. :)