Disclaimer: Not mine as you know.

A/N: please oh please review. Oh yes, one thing with this chapter: I know in the books that Severus did not place himself between the children and Lupin as the werewolf, but for the sake of my fanfic I am taking that little scene from the movie instead. Hope no one objects. Please let me know what you think.

Chapter 20

True North

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
'Cause we'll never be wrong
Together we can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time
(All of the time)
I don't know what to do
I'm always in the dark
Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
(Forever's gonna start tonight)

Once upon a time I was
I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

--Bonnie Tyler

The ballroom was full of people Hermione did not recognize. She remained at Lucius' side without talking or drawing attention to herself. Lucius wondered if she were trying to hide in his shadow. Standing off to the side, Lucius watched the partygoers dancing. The spirit of the holiday season had set everyone in such a mood that laughter and merry talking could be heard throughout the ballroom. It was as it was when Lucius was young. His eyes shifted next to him to Hermione. He remembered wanting to bring her home with him to experience this festive ball with him in his seventh year.

Hermione watched from the shadows of Lucius as a girl who appeared to be about her age walked across the ballroom toward them. Her deep emerald gown set off her pale skin and sleek black hair. She wore the most unpleasant look on her face as she approached. With a slightly softened face, she bowed respectfully to Lucius in greeting.

"Mister Malfoy."

He nodded his head.

"Miss Parkinson."

She turned a scowl toward Hermione.

"Granger," she spat.

Hermione's eyes widened. How is it that so many people seemed to hate her? What kind of person was she? The girl eyed Hermione up and down.

"You really have lost your memory?"

Hermione nodded mutely. A small smile broke out on the girl's face. Her features softened as she held out her hand.

"Well then, my name is Pansy Parkinson." Hermione shook her hand, which Pansy kept a hold of and began leading her away. "You must come with me and meet the others. Standing here with him," she nodded her head toward Lucius, "will surely bore you to death."

Lucius watched Pansy lead Hermione across the ballroom where some of the Hogwarts students were gathered. She looked back at him halfway across the room. Her eyes swam in his own as if pleading for security, for help, for her memories. Pansy led Hermione to the small group and noticed Draco among them. He smiled in greeting at her and from the look of those surrounding them, she got the feeling this was something out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later Hermione noticed two familiar faces. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They approached her with a strained smile and a disconcerting eye toward Draco.

"Well if it isn't Potty and the Weasel."

"Stuff it Malfoy," Ron said turning red in the face already.

"Not now Malfoy," Harry said. "We came over to see Hermione."

Draco's eyes shifted between the trio's members.

"Well, you are out of luck then, mate. She owes me a dance."

Grabbing her hand, Draco led her to the dance floor where he pulled her toward him as close as he could while smirking at Harry and Ron. Hermione waited a couple seconds before pulling away to put a bit of space between her and Draco. She surveyed him for a moment and then glanced over at Harry and Ron.

"We were never friends were we?"

Draco wasn't expecting that question, but being raised as he was by Lucius he gave nothing away.

"No."

Hermione felt the urge to recoil from his touch, but didn't.

"Why," she asked wondering if she really wanted to know.

"You were friends with them," he sneered in response.

She sighed in exasperation.

"Why do you hate them so?"

His eyes narrowed as they pierced her own.

"I offered my hand in friendship to Saint Potter the first day of school and he refused it. I wouldn't have been forced to take this mark if not for him." He rolled his sleeve up, shoving the Dark Mark under her nose. He saw fear flicker in her eyes. Her memories had not yet brought up Voldemort, but the academic knowledge she contained could recall the facts of whose mark that was and what its implications were. Shoving his sleeve down, he continued his dance with her.

Hermione remained silent for a moment as if absorbing what Draco had just shown her and wondering who else carried such a mark.

"Did Harry make you get the Dark Mark," she asked.

"No."

"Did he hold his wand on you and threaten you in any way if you did not take it?"

"No," he snapped at her. "What is your point?"

"Draco, how can you blame Harry? You made the choice to receive that mark. You have no one to blame for that but yourself."

She turned away from him and left the dance floor. Draco followed scowling along behind her. Hermione's eyes wondered the ballroom as the boys tried to carry on a relatively civil conversation. Her mind wandered from person to person wondering if they too possessed the same mark as Draco. Her eyes fell on Lucius and his figure doing nothing more than mingling with people, but never dancing.

"Draco, does your father ever dance?"

All talking within their small group stopped. Draco shook his head.

"Rarely."

They all watched Hermione in awe…Pansy with a delightful glint in her eye. Hermione stood up from the chair she was sitting in. Determination shone in her eyes like beacons of light. She marched across the ballroom like a woman with a purpose. From across the room, the group watched.

Lucius saw her coming and stopped walking. With an eyebrow raised in curiosity, he looked down his nose, watching her approach. She stopped in front of him and looked up into his eyes. Uncertainty swam in hers. He watched her waiting for her to say something. She remained quiet. Instead, she reached her hand out into his. Lucius felt her small hand slide itself into his larger ones. He ignored the strange chill that overcame him, suppressing the urge to shudder. She led him to the dance floor.

With his usual stiff stance, Lucius danced with Hermione. When his arms encircled her everything around her seemed to fade and for a moment, she saw herself dancing with a mysterious masked man…a man that was Lucius. He twirled her around and when he brought her back, they were the same age. He dipped her back, his eyes caressing the skin of her neck. He pulled her up and he was the masked man again. The memories rushed to her and through her like a torrent river thrashing against rocks and stone. He twirled her out and the song and dance ended as he pulled her back against him…eyes locked.

Lucius felt her breath coming to her in quick succession. Her eyes were wide and full of recognition.

"You," she whispered. "It was you. All these years later…you came to the masquerade and danced with me."

Lucius nodded his head politely.

"Miss Granger, enjoy the rest of your evening."

He turned and left her standing in the middle of the dance floor. Gathering herself, Hermione walked back over to where Draco and the others were watching in awe.

Lucius remained on the other side of the ballroom after the dance. Despite who he stood talking to, his eyes would wander beyond his companion to Hermione. It was as if he could hear the slightest bit of laughter come from her from clear across the room. His attentions would travel to those around her in search for the source. Despite outside appearances, Lucius grew nervous when he noticed Jacoby had joined the little group Hermione was in.

Lucius continued his turn around the ballroom, mingling with group after group. The conversations were all the same: politics, Dumbledore's death, Voldemort's rise…Hermione destroying a horcrux at the cost of her own memory.

"Its no wonder the girl was placed in Gryffindor," the ministry official was saying. "Quite the brave young woman…"

As the official continued to ramble on about everything he had heard about the young Gryffindor, Lucius' eyes wandered to the girl in question. His jaw clenched when he noticed Severus Snape standing before her holding out his hand and bowing slightly. The sneer on Lucius' face rose unexpectedly as Hermione smiled and accepted Severus' obvious invitation.

Hermione found the silence surrounding her when Severus asked her to dance rather disturbing. It wasn't the silence that she left when asking Lucius to dance. This was different. Harry's face looked ready to burst into flames. The silence was not filled with a feeling of shock so much as a feeling of utter fear. That is when she knew…when it hit her like a ton of bricks. Severus Snape was the feared Potions Master.

As Severus took her hand and led her to the dance floor, her mind came clouded with different memories.

Professor Snape's rather dramatic entrance into the dungeon classroom with robes billowing out behind him…

"…Fifty points from Gryffindor…"

…his robes on fire…

"…Insufferable know it all…"

…Professor Snape placing himself between a werewolf and Hermione and the boys…

…Professor Snape holding her back from possibly running to her death…

Severus turned to face her on the dance floor. Hermione's head cocked to the side a bit looking at him as if for the first time.

"You never really hated me," she said.

Severus moved her smoothly across the floor looking at her with a rather bored look upon his face. He was not going to respond to that. Hermione reached up into his ear and whispered.

"If you truly hated me you would never have placed yourself between me and the werewolf…you would never have risked your own life."

Standing normal again, they continued their dance. Severus leaned down slowly. His hair fell forward brushing her cheek gently as he whispered with his deep voice into her ear.

"Are you sure about that? I found it much more pleasurable to torment you in the classroom…questioning your intelligence, your abilities, and every Gryffindor quality you held dear."

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Lucius held his crystal goblet in his hand so tightly that his fingers had turned white. When Hermione leaned up whispering into Severus' ear he did not feel threatened in anyway…Severus would shun such contact from her. But he didn't. When he saw Severus leaned down to whisper into her ear in return, when he saw Severus' hair caressing Hermione's cheek, Lucius was ready to hex him into oblivion.

Slamming his goblet on a side table, Lucius stormed from the room.

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Hermione was not sure, but it looked as if a smile was playing at the corner of Severus' mouth. Their dance continued. Questions were turning in Hermione's head…questions she figured Severus of all people would have an answer to. In every interaction with Lucius, he always looked down his nose at her. She had to know.

"Why does Professor Malfoy never look me straight in the eye? He is always looking down his nose at me as if I am beneath him."

The dance stopped and Severus stood there debating whether to tell her. A sneer appeared on his face.

"That is because you are."

"Pardon," Hermione asked.

"You are beneath him. He is a pureblooded wizard where as you are a witch born of muggles…a Mudblood as they say. He will never look at you in such a way. You are and always will be an inferior in his eyes." He leaned in closer and whispered. "Always."

Severus walked off leaving Hermione in the middle of the dance floor. More memories invaded her. She heard Draco's voice in her mind…calling her a Mudblood over and over. Her heart began to pound furiously in her chest. His face looking at her in disgust filled her mind. Then it came to her. Did Lucius ever look at her like that too? Was Severus right? Her memories were of a younger Lucius Malfoy, yes, but a kind Lucius…a Lucius that was her best friend.

Looking around her, she quickly left the dance floor and headed out the doors toward the gardens. She rushed through the gardens until she found herself on a path lighted by the moon. She paused when she noticed the darkness up ahead. Either the path would continue or it would veer off to another path. She stood there debating continuing or turning back. It was just so dark ahead. She felt her heart began to pound in anxiety of what possibly lay ahead. Taking in a deep relaxing breath, she took her first step toward that unknown.

Out of the darkness, like some apparition, walked Lucius Malfoy. She stopped for a moment when she noticed him. The conversation with Severus returned. Her memories of "Mudblood" returned. Lucius walked toward her stopping about a foot in front of her.

"Miss Granger," he greeted her looking down his nose as usual.

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The gardens looked like a winter wonderland. The ground, hedges, and dormant shrubs were covered in a pristine white snow. Ice sculptures sat at various intervals reflecting the moonlight. Lucius walked the paths of the gardens deep in thought. He continued mumbling "Mudblood" to himself to remind him of what exactly that young woman dancing with Severus at the moment was.

He tried to prevent her trek into the past, to stop the memories, to erase the past. His very effort to stop her is what sent her back. The irony was not totally lost on Lucius; he just found absolutely no humor in it. Her memory was clouded right now. Her memory of him seemed to cover only the past and moments in this time period, but nothing of what their relationship really was, nothing of how much hate flowed between them…how much he hated every kind like her for their mere existence. It was only a matter of time.

Reaching into his robe pocket, he pulled out the compass. The silver shone in the moonlight. He glanced over the inscription again and wondered how long before she regretted giving him such a gift. It didn't matter how long it would be because it was bound to happen eventually. Perhaps he should tell her the truth instead of allowing her to continue under the belief that they are friends. He needed to set her straight and push her as far away as possible. She was everything he hated…despised even. She was now his student and nothing more…a classmate of his son's…a Mudblood.

His thoughts settled onto what he had to do when he came across a fork in the path. He stood there with his compass in hand. He had a choice to make. He had to choose a path. There was no middle ground…a large stone wall stood in the center, cutting off the chance of another path. He had to choose. He eyed each path. The left was shaded from any moonlight. Trees behind the stone wall hung over the edge casting the path in pure darkness. He knew what was down that path as he had traveled it many times. To the right the moon shone down upon the path casting it in a sublime illuminated shadow of light. It was still dark down that path, it was night after all, but the darkness was not complete…it held light within its walls. He knew not what was down that path having never fully traveled it. That path held the unknown.

With his compass in hand he shifted slightly to do nothing more than face the lighted path. His eyes remained on the compass. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked at the charmed compass. The needle pointed toward the words Hermione had charmed to always be in the appropriate place…true north. Slowly, his eyes looked up to the path…where true north lied. Hermione Granger stood on the path. Looking back toward that dark path behind him, Lucius began walking down the lighted path toward Hermione, stopping about a foot from her. The image of Severus whispering in her ear crossed his mind again.

"Miss Granger," he greeted, looking down his nose at her with a sneer.

It was that look. The same look Severus said Lucius gave her because she was beneath him…inferior. She couldn't take it. This view of Lucius did not match the Lucius she could remember. Perhaps there were still parts of her memory involving him not yet there? She rushed forward unable to take it any longer.

Lucius saw her rush forward. The moonlight illuminating her, giving her the appearance of an angel out for vengeance. He felt her fingertips gently caress his face as she grabbed his face and pulled him, forcing him to look at her. He was no longer looking down on her. Her eyes scanned his own frantically as if searching for something.

"Why do you look down on me like that? Is what Severus said true?"

Slowly, he removed her hands from his face and stood straight looking down his nose at her.

"I do not know what Severus said in order to respond to that."

Her chest heaved in anxiety as her breath quickened.

"Stop looking down on me like that. He said you do it because I am beneath you."

Lucius didn't miss the inflection in her voice…the one that screamed out denial and hurt. It was his ticket to show her who he really was. Perhaps it would trigger some memory. He took a step closer and looked down his nose at her. Her eyes remained steady, looking up at him with defiance in her look and stance. Taking a finger, he gently drew it down her jaw line, her neck, her collarbone, her shoulder as he spoke very softly.

"Yes, well…the inferiority of your birth cannot be denied." He leaned down moving toward her ear. She could feel his breath caress her cheek as he barely touched her on the way. "A shame really," he whispered. "So dirty and yet so…"

He didn't get to finish what he was going to say. Hermione…the old Hermione kicking in, shoved him away and slapped him as hard as she could. Lucius' face jerked to the side. As he placed his hand on his reddening cheek, he caught a glimpse of Hermione running off onto the darkened path.

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She ran through the darkness. Her world was a myriad of images…incomplete and incomprehensible. She ran until she saw the lights of the manor. The voices and laughter wafting from the manor had died down. Most of the guests had left. She ran, trying desperately to reach the door and put as much distance between herself and Lucius as possible.

As soon as she reached one of the smaller back doors, she rushed through it only to find herself pushed against the wall behind the stairs. It was dark. No light shone behind the grand staircase. Her captor held her there, against the wall, unable to move. She recognized him. She met him earlier. Jackson Jacoby. Where as moments ago her heart pounded from being upset with Lucius, now it pounded in anxiety about why the young man was assaulting her and what she was going to do.

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Lucius, cursing himself, ran after her. What he was going to do once he caught up to her he did not know. All he knew was something deep inside screamed for him to go after her…to chase her to the ends of the earth if necessary.

He heard her scream.

Slowly and as quietly as any Slytherin, Lucius entered the manor. He could see her in the dark…frightened…pinned against the wall…eyes wide in terror. She couldn't get to her wand. Jacoby had her hands pinned to the wall in one of his large hands. Jacoby had taken out his wand and was caressing various parts of her exposed skin with it…parts that Lucius had laid his fingers on…parts Lucius had touched and longed to touch again despite his own protestations. Anger flared in Lucius with a dash of possessive pride. Stepping forward ever so quietly, he pulled out his wand.

Hermione heard his voice…detestation and fury lacing his unnaturally calm voice.

"Let. Her. Go. Jacoby." His eyes shifted over Jacoby's shoulder to look at Hermione. He saw fear overlapping relief and she saw a fire burning in his normally icy eyes. "Miss Granger, leave us. I have much to discuss with Mister Jackson Jacoby."

Feeling Lucius' wand tip on his temple, Jacoby said nothing as he let go of Hermione. She ran as fast as she could up the stairs. Lucius' eyes, though aware of Hermione's whereabouts, did not leave Jacoby. Once Hermione was out of sight, Jacoby spoke.

"What are you doing Malfoy?" Jacoby turned around, looking Lucius up and down. The laugh that escaped Jacoby grated on Lucius' last and final nerve. Reaching his hand out, he grabbed Jacoby by the throat, throwing him against the wall. Jacoby struggled to talk. "Malfoy, let go…no…" A sickly smile formed on Jacoby's mouth despite his lack of oxygen.

"You can't save her Malfoy." Lucius let go and he fell to the ground. Standing up, he looked at Lucius looking for a reaction, but got none. He didn't need it though. He saw them dancing…he noticed the little subtleties in their behavior toward one another. "If I don't do it the Dark Lord will simply send someone else. Your little Mudblood will serve her purpose to the Dark Lord and then she will be disposed of. You know this."

Lucius kept his eyes and wand on Jacoby. Anger building up even farther, about to boil over.

"The Dark Lord will have your head for this. He will acquire her one way or another."

Lucius smirked.

"No, he won't Jacoby."

In a flash of green, Jacoby lay on the floor as still as death.

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Lucius rushed up the stairs of the manor in search of Hermione. In her room, Hermione sat on the end of her bed. The adrenalin and fear was rushing from her body. Why was this young man trying to assault and kidnap her? She couldn't understand it. What kind of person was she? Lucius had saved her though. And as she thought of this, her bedroom door burst open.

She looked up in surprise as Lucius rushed across the room kneeling down in front of her. His hands reached up into her hair making her look at him as he looked her over in the closest thing to a panic a Malfoy would show.

"Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?"

With his position, Hermione was forced to look down into his eyes. She lifted up her wrists. Taking her wrists in his hands he observed the bruising forming in the shape of Jacoby's fingers. Standing up, he walked swiftly to Hermione's bathroom coming out with a jar of a pink lotion looking substance. Gently he rubbed the lotion on each wrist and watched the bruises slowly fade from their purplish black color. She looked at her now healed wrists and down at Lucius.

"It's because I am 'dirty' as you put it isn't it?"

His hands reached up for her once again. One hand snaking up her neck into her hair. The other gripping her waist. Leaning up and toward her, she began to lean back in an effort to back away from him. As soon as her back and head fell against the bed, she saw Lucius above her closing in. His mind screamed out to him that this was exactly what he was trying to avoid in the garden…to stop now. Merely an inch from her lips, Lucius took a deep breath closing his eyes. His voice barely controlled; he spoke softly, his words broken.

"Goodnight Miss Granger."