The bell rang as Hermione opened the door to Mr Olivander's wand shop in Diagon Ally early in August. The shop was dark despite the sun that blazed outside. She had brought her mother home three weeks after Harry, Ron and Ginny arrived. Hermione wanted to see her mother settled in her new home before she left for Hogwarts. Hermione had realised if she wanted her revenge to go ahead as planed she would have to return. The new house was near Diagon Ally, but this was the first time in her time home that her mother had allowed her to venture out alone. Hermione mentally noted that she would need to hire a wizard to look after her mother.

"Miss Granger?! Back so soon." Mr Olivander sounded shocked coming from the back of the shop, disrupting Hermione's busy thoughts. "I thought you would never need another wand."

"Unfortunately, it was broken by someone." Hermione bowed at Mr Olivander. She admired his memory. "May I have a new one please."

"Yes, yes of course. Have you got your old one?" He pondered, absentmindedly holding out his hand while looking for a suitable new wand. "You do have it don't you Miss Granger?" She shook her bushy head. Since she had found out about her father she didn't upkeep her straight hair. Although it was a little tamer. She supposed it was the water in France, it had been much softer. Everything there seemed softer. The calm before the storm. "My dear, do you know where it is?" Again she shook her head, clinging on to her summer bag that was clutched with both hands. He looked at her with those sad, thoughtful eyes. "I can't give you a new wand without the evidence that your old one is safe or destroyed. You know I would make an exception for you Miss Granger, however the Ministry have cracked down."

"What are my options? I can't do anything without my wand, and I have no way of getting it back." Hermione explained. Her hopes dashed.

"You can either, get one of your teachers to do a tracking spell on it. Go abroad to a wand making shop outside this ministry...." He paused, thought heavily upon what he was about to say. "Or, Miss Granger." He leaned in and whispered. "I believe you have the capability to make your own." He subsequently went missing for five minutes. Returning with a small pocket book. "This is all you need. Good luck Miss Granger." Hermione kissed the man on the cheek.

"Thank you." She left the shop, almost knocking over Remus Lupin in the process. "Professor." He smiled broadly. It still appeared that he could do with a good hearty meal. Which, Hermione thought, she would be happy to provide.

"It's Remus to you Hermione." He bowed elegantly.

"I have a proposition for you Remus."

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"You asked him to look after your mother?!" Ginny screamed. "You asked a man who became a werewolf every month to protect your mother? Were you mad?!"

"Only slightly." Hermione smiled wickedly. "Snape gave him a potion that makes him docile. We had a cellar. With a few wards that he placed before his transgression, it was perfectly safe. To this day, he hasn't harmed my mother."

"He still lives here?!" Ginny asked, wondering why this had never come up in conversation. Hermione inwardly smiled. "What?!"

"I think they are in love. She could do worse? And although I'm not condoning it, I'm not going to stop the course of true love am I?" Hermione explained.

"But you father?!" Ginny asked.

"He always said, everything happens for a reason. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's not love. Just mutual companionship. All I know is I haven't seen either of them happy in a while. I also had another use for him. Yes, I could go to Hogwarts without the fear of another attack. I also wanted him to come to my old house with me... I couldn't go alone and I needed something."....

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Hermione fell from the tree clutching a small and sturdy branch, eight inches long, perfect for her wand. It would be longer than her first. But it had more weight. Her core wouldn't require her to remove the insides of the branch.

"So why did you have to take a branch from this tree?" Remus helped the girl from the floor. It had been excruciating pain for Hermione to visit the house. So much so, Remus hadn't seen the worthiness of the twig.

"My father planted it the day I was born." Hermione explained. "I'm making the perfect wand. Everything needs to be relevant."

"I still don't understand why you need one of my werewolf hairs?" He probed walking her back to the house. She was once again consulting the book. All she need for her core was something from her mother.

"Innocence." Hermione answered swiftly. Remus giggled softly. There was something soothing in that giggle.

"How can a werewolf be innocent?!" He rhetorically remarked. "Wouldn't a unicorn core be better?"

"I meant robbed innocence. My wands main use is of vengeance and strength. My mother is my strength and I'm seeking vengeance on her behalf. I'm using the chain of the necklace of the chain she was wearing the night of the attack. It's feathered gold. You in the form of a werewolf represent pure strength. A hair of a werewolf is sharp but hollow." Hermione let herself rest for a small chuckle. "That's how I feel at the moment."

"And the last?" Remus asked glancing at the page in which she's gotten the idea. She needed a trinity. One of blood. One of love and one of gift. "I'm guessing I'm the....?"

"Gift!" Hermione answered, all to aware of him looking over her shoulder. She handed the book to him as they walked into the house for the last time. "Your protecting my mother. It's the best gift anyone could give me."

"I'm honoured Miss Granger. Who is the love? Ron or Harry?" Remus watched Hermione go from pick to white.

"Neither! I would tell you Remus. But, I'm bound to secrecy. He knows I love him." Hermione reprimanded herself. "He knew I loved him. I have something of his that I can put in."

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"What?!" Ginny asked. "What was is? What did you put in?" Ginny grinned. Hermione blushed. "What?!"

"The day we fell in the potions classroom. Once I got to my room, I found one of his hairs on my blouse. I put it inside my locket!"

"Then you put it into your wand?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded. "I'd Draco's hair in mine!" Ginny daydreamed. "I'd make it out of my broomstick! The one I score the winning goal when we beat Slitherin last year!" She glowed. "I'd have something to do with you in it!" She said in all seriousness. "You're my strength and my confidence."

"Oh hush.... Here. This is when I go to see Mr Olivander before I meet you on the train to Hogwarts." Hermione reverted Ginny's attention.

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"This is a very powerful wand Miss Granger." He held it carefully. "A vengeance wand if I'm not mistaken. it's Illigal for me to sell this type of wand."

"You are correct." Hermione smiled, dressed in her black uniform.

"Interesting. Feather gold, werewolf hair.... and hair of bat?" Hermione laughed.

"No. Human hair, although, I can see why you would be mistaken." Hermione giggled after handed the wand back.

"What's the varnish dear child?" He asked smelling his hands. The wand was black.

"My father's oil paint." She answered. "He loved to paint."

"Be careful with that wand Miss. That could be dangerous in the wrong hands." He warned as another customer came in.

"I'll put a security charm on it. Thank you for the book." She handed the small book back and made to leave.

"Miss Granger?" He questioned as she opened the door. "If you are wondering about a career after Hogwarts..." He implied. She grinned broadly and left the shop.

+_+_+_+_+

Hermione sat back in a seat on the Hogwarts Express. Alone in the Head's compartment. Draco was Head boy, so where was he? Hermione wasn't relaxed at all. Although she was glad to get back to Hogwarts to see Snape. She also knew it would be bad to see him, want him and know she couldn't have him. The rapidly speeding landscape was making Hermione's head spin. She closed her eyes for a second. Her nightmare's came back to haunt her immediately. His masked face towering over her as if she were her mother. How the bastard would die by her hands. Hermione had thought of killing him with a unforgivable, but that was not justified. Her mother had been raped because she was a muggle. So he would die by muggle means. She wanted blood. However she needed to speak to Draco.

Ginny knocked at the closed door. Hermione hadn't seen her as Hermione had gotten straight onto the train. Hermione smiled warmly and motioned for her to come in.

"How are you?" Ginny asked sitting opposite the pale woman. "You look like you could do with some sleep."

"I could and I will- Have you seen Draco at all?" Hermione questioned.

"No! I thought he'd be here. I hoped he'd be here!" Ginny pouted. "He didn't come back at the end of the year either. I've missed you both so much. How's your mother?"

"She's ok." Hermione smiled. "She said she's going to owl your mum. She really liked her."

"What about you and Snape?" Ginny asked, hoping to get the gossip about New York. "Anything happen in New York?" Hermione didn't want to lie to her friend and was thankful of the interruption by Harry.

"Can I have a word?" Harry asked timidly. "Private Ginny." He added harshly. At that Ginny left. Once the door snapped shut he began "What the hell is wrong with you?" Harry asked, Hermione looked at him. Shocked at his tone "I really need you here. You're being so distant. I had another face off with Voldermort at the end of the year. And you were nowhere."

"Considered I'm sick of being needed? Sick of being your crutch? Helping you! You're walking round as if my mum has stolen your thunder because the rumours going round that you not the only person who lived." Hermione shouted. "We are in the same boat. We lost family to the cause-"

"I've grown up with no family Hermione. My life had been much harder than yours. I never knew my parents." Harry was near to tears, as were the two girls watching. Hermione hadn't realised how bitter her words were.

"Shame. Least you don't have to see your mother relive the night she was raped and watch my father being killed." Hermione flopped down on the bed. Not only was she grieving over the loss of her father. But her friend and lover too. "For once I could do with you being here for me!"

"I didn't realise you felt that way Hermione." Harry said his heavy eyes closing.

"You wouldn't. You've never asked." Ginny felt yet another pang of guilt at that. She hadn't asked either. Hermione. Still sat upon Ginny's lap saw it and gave her a reassuring cuddle. At that Harry kissed her. A passionate kiss for him. Torture for her. She wanted Snape to be the last man to kiss her. Harry's just a child it doesn't count, she tried to tell herself but it didn't work. He'd ruined it. "What?!" She asked wildly after she had pried him from her.

"I love you Hermione. I want to protect you." Harry wrapped his arms around her waist. "I've had my eye on you since I first saw you."

"If you had your eye on me, you would have realised that I needed space. I needed help and equal companionship." None of it was getting through to him. "I'm sick of giving Harry. I'm tired, and once this year is over. I'm going back to muggle life. I'm done with your fight." Hermione looked at him. "I'm having my revenge on those people who attacked my family and I'm gone. There is nothing left for me here."

"You selfish little bitch! The amount of times I've saved you-"

"Only because it was your bloody fault I needed rescuing!" Hermione lost it. "Don't ever call me selfish. I've supported you over the last six years, without question. I've sacrificed a lot for you and your war with Voldermort! My fathers dead because of it." She was making reference to Snape, unknown to Harry. "This is the end Harry. I don't want to know you anymore."

Stepping off the Hogwarts express Hermione heard rumours that Draco had spent the summer at Hogwarts. Hiding in the dungeons with professor Snape, one fourth year student has heard gossiping. After a brief hello to Hagrid Hermione made her way to the invisibly drawn carriages. Ginny followed her into a carriage.

"Did you hear? Draco's been here all summer. The attack on Madison Square Garden has left him disfigured." Ginny sobbed. "Will I still love him Hermione?"

"You will!" Hermione hugged her friend. "Will you cover for me in the Great Hall? Say I felt sick and went straight to my room? I need to speak to Draco."

"Of course!" Ginny nodded. "They say he's been staying with-"

"Snape. I know." Hermione nodded.

"Are you nervous about seeing him?" Ginny asked, luckily her own worry prevented Hermione from answering. Truth was she was petrified. She didn't know how to act. Or for that matter how he was going to act. "You will tell me if he really is bad won't you?" Ginny asked in a frightened whimper. Hermione just laughed and hugged her friend.

Hermione slipped past the Great Hall with no bother. The it was a simple case of finding Draco. His Head boy quarters where down near Snape's anyway. Severus. She thought. I wonder if he's at the feast. It wouldn't be the first time he's have missed it. Hermione paused to fix herself. Her trousers were now creased and her blouse was crumpled. Her first attempt at straightening her hair again had gone wrong, resulting in her getting back first-year frizzy mess. She came to the potions classroom and could hear voices. She could have sworn it was Draco's She opened the door without knocking, her blood ran cold. Snape sat on his chair with a woman saddled upon his lap, her slender back to Hermione, sucking the life out of him. His nails scraped at her revealed back, deeper as his enjoyment grew

Both of them sensed someone enter the room. Their privacy had been interrupted.

"I told you to lock that door Sev!" The woman with long black wavy hair turned around and smiled wickedly at Hermione.....

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"Oh my lord!" Ginny gasped knocking the pensive to the floor, spilling all Hermione's memories onto the carpet.

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A/N Ok ok.... That was a deliberate cliff-hanger sorry. Hope this chapters ok. I think I can, hopefully wrap this up in about five, six more chapters. Question though, would you like to see the return of one or two of the three A's?

SiruisBlacksgirl4eva: awwww shucks. *author blushes* Hope you like this chapter. I want the school work to go away so I can concentrate on this. I just hope I don't have put this on hold, because then I'll get too many ideas and get myself all confused as to what's happening in the plot. And if I'm confused god help you the reader. lol

Kiddycat: Yep, chapter 10. It's pretty much been a chapter a day for me. Although school work is going to set me back. That and buying sex and the city season 4 on dvd. oops... revision.... I really can't be doing with the distractions! Never mind, writing is my life! lol Yep, that was why I was looking up love-chairs. lol

tall freak: It was very rushed that chapter. I'd had a bit of a telling off (*sobs*) so I wasn't really concentrating. I know what you mean about the serious thing, and don't worry I'm not easily offended. lol. My friends don't like to read my stuff unfortunately, mainly because they're not good friends. But C'est la vie. Also my teachers in school don't help as instead of going through my stories and commenting on the grammar etc. they comment on my imagination. *rolls eyes*

I think I'm going to carry on posting this and then updating it once its finished into a "special edition" kind of thing.

punkrock pixie: A little short I think. I'm going to go come back to this chapter once the story is complete. Hope I've pulled it off. Eagerly awaiting feedback. *super gluing eyes open to finish story*

Crimson Regret177: Very OCC! I agree totally. More of the normal bastard will be appearing. Hope you like this piece of angst! lol

Cianna Greenwood: *blushes* Daily!!!! Wow, I feel like I have fans!!!! Hope you enjoy this chapter.