Beta love to the lovely CarbConnoisseur.

They went to bed that night with a sense of trepidation. Their week of dreamless sleep was up and now they had to face the night without it. If the aches they felt in the morning were anything to go by, it was not going to be pleasant.

"Bottoms up," Hermione murmured, drinking the concoction of nerve potions Madam Pomphrey had prescribed in a long gulp. It really was vile. She missed Severus even more then. He'd have figured out a way to make it palatable or at the very least he'd have tried.

"Ready for this, Princess?"

"No," she snorted before she looked at him with something nearing fear. "Draco? Perhaps we need to cast a silencing charm,"

Draco sighed but nodded. "I'll do it. Get into bed."

She hummed, snuggling down underneath the covers as the beginnings of pins and needles started in her hands and feet. "Fuck, this is going to be fucking awful, isn't it?"

"Probably," Draco shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance, unwilling to let her see how bothered he was. She cuddled into him once he was settled, both of them desperately trying to ignore the pins and needles as they morphed into burning.

A few hours of fitful sleep later, Draco jolted upright as a scream tore through the air, regretting it immediately as pain slammed into his body. Frantically, he reached for his wand with clumsy fingers, casting a shaky Lumos. Beside him, Hermione was thrashing, her back bowed like she was being crucioed. If her screams were anything to go by, that's exactly what she was dreaming about.

"Princess," he murmured, shaking her gently, "Princess, you need to wake up."

It was slow going. His body didn't seem to want to obey his commands and the pain made him want to vomit. When she finally woke, she shoved her wand so hard under his chin that he yelped.

"Fuck! Fuck, I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, once she realised what she had done, dropping the wand immediately.

"It's ok," he murmured, rubbing his jaw with the hand that wasn't holding her to him.

"It's not ok! Fuck, I could have really hurt you!"

"But you didn't."

"But I could have!" She gasped, as pain shot through her body.

"You didn't though. Stay with me, Princess. Go back to sleep."

She let out a laugh that was mostly a sob. "Fuck, this hurts. How are you so calm?"

"I've had worse," he muttered, refusing to look her in the eye. He knew what he'd see and he was barely holding it together as it was; he couldn't handle her pity as well. Neither of them slept again until light began to force its way through the curtains, both of them finally giving in to the exhaustion.

Several hours later, a still tired Hermione looked up from the book on warding she was reading when she sensed someone entering the library. It took all of her willpower not to reach for her wand as she did so.

"Remus," she smiled, noting that he looked more uncomfortable than she had ever seen him. "Is everything alright?"

"I was the werewolf, wasn't I?"

"Pardon?"

"The wolf you escaped from. It was me, wasn't it?"

"Ah. Well yes, but there were….extenuating circumstances."

"How can you stand to be in the same room as me! I could have killed you!" If possible, he looked even more wretched than before her confirmation.

"But you didn't. Sit down Remus, let me explain." He sat with ill grace, clearly berating himself inside his own head as Hermione fought the urge to sigh. One day, he was going to have to stop hating himself. "There is…or will be, I'm not entirely sure when it was invented, a potion. It's called wolfsbane, Damocles Belby creates it. It allows you to keep your mind during the transformation." Remus' jaw dropped. "It's vile apparently, and you have to take it every night for the week leading up to the full moon. That night, you saw Peter on the map along with Sirius, with Harry, Ron, and I in the vicinity. You had no idea what to believe, and so you ran, forgetting the potion." She held up her hand when he went to interrupt. "Yes, it was stupid. Yes, you should have known better but…you hadn't seen Sirius in almost thirteen years, the friend you thought was dead was magically alive, and the boy you thought of as family was beside them both and likely in danger. Under the circumstances, it's not unforgivable. And Remus…." She paused wondering whether this was her place.

"What?"

"How long have you been with Sirius?"

Remus froze. "I... what?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "An awful lot more makes sense now that I've seen you in this time. How long?"

"Since fifth year," he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.

Hermione smiled gently, "I have no idea what happened when you were sent to the packs. You never admitted your relationship and to my knowledge, you never resumed it either. He's asked you to go already, hasn't he? None of you seemed surprised when I mentioned it before."

"Who? Dumbledore?"

"Yes."

"Yes. A couple of weeks before you came, actually. He thinks…"

"He's wrong. The only wolf who'll have any impact on this war and the next is Greyback. Refuse."

"Are you sure?" he asked carefully.

"Yes. Yes, I'm sure. Your talents are better served elsewhere and it makes you hate yourself."

"Ok," he exhaled heavily, trusting that she wouldn't lie to him. "I don't see that conversation going well."

Hermione snorted, "No I imagine not. He does not like being told no. Treat him as you would a particularly spoiled toddler and you should be fine."

Remus looked momentarily scandalised before he laughed. "I owe him," he said softly.

"Not this," she argued gently. "I understand he allowed you entry into Hogwarts when most would not, but for that, what you owe him is making sure to use that education as best you can. That is not by infiltrating the packs who will see that you live in our world, not theirs. They don't like it and they won't trust you."

He nodded slowly, "Ok. I guess I can try. Hermione? The potion…."

"Can I brew it?" he nodded again. "Probably, although Draco is probably a better bet. He is, annoyingly, better at potions than I am. I blame it on him having access to Severus for his entire life, although he says that makes me petty."

Remus laughed. "The Severus you talk about seems so very different to the one we knew," he said softly.

Hermione sighed. "I'm not sure what about bullying him four to one made you think you knew him at all," she replied pointedly.

Remus flinched. "Fair point."

"Perhaps next time you meet you'll see beyond the preconceived ideas you had. Perhaps, by some miracle, he'll even do the same."

Remus snorted. "Ah, so you are aware he has flaws. I was beginning to wonder," he teased.

"We all have flaws, Professor," she replied primly, her lip twitching into a reluctant smile.

"What? No! For the love of Merlin don't tell Sirius that, you'll make him cry. That man thinks he's perfect."

Hermione laughed. "That he does."

"The meeting tonight has been postponed," Charlus announced over dinner.

"Why?" Hermione asked, startled.

"We managed to convince one of the people you wished to speak to to meet with you," he replied carefully, watching her face.

"Which one?" she asked curiously.

"Severus Snape."

Hermione froze momentarily, not entirely sure she was ready to see him and have him not know her. Their relationship had been hard won, but at least they had both been coming at it from a place of not really knowing the other; to have to start over again now when they were so unequal made her want to cry. "I see," she replied eventually. "Where are we meeting him? I assume not here?"

"No. He has a home."

"He's letting us into his home?" Draco asked incredulously. "What on earth did you say to him?"

"Lily wrote to him. She'll be joining you."

"Ah," Hermione replied softly, taking in James' thunderous face. "Very well, what time?"

"Seven. Lily knows where it is."

"So do we," Draco muttered. "Up for some more decorating, Princess?"

Hermione snorted. "No. Christ, it was hard enough to convince him the first time and he bloody liked me then. We both know there's no chance in hell this time around. Not currently anyway."

Draco laughed as he was expected to, reaching for her hand under the table. Tonight would be hard. The image of Severus being murdered by that damn snake played through his head and all he had done was listen to the retelling. He couldn't imagine how much worse it was for Hermione who had witnessed it. They had so many memories of Severus, most of them good ones. He hadn't been lying when he said that Severus had loved Hermine. He had, and in return she had adored him, loving him wholeheartedly in a way that Severus craved and Draco's upbringing had prevented him from attempting. For him not to know her at all tonight was going to devastate her, regardless of how well she prepared herself. He just had to hope that she was able to pull herself back from it.

They left after dinner, apparating to the location that hadn't changed in twenty years. Lily met them in the abandoned alley before they all began walking towards the dilapidated Spinners End. Severus had clearly been waiting on them, likely not believing Lily would come; the door was wrenched open the minute they reached the gate outside his home. It struck Draco immediately how young his godfather was. It was more than a little disconcerting. Some of his presence was missing. He wasn't stupid; the man staring them down was clearly Severus but perhaps…not quite.

"You look like Lucius," Severus said the moment the door was closed. Hermione's grip on Draco's hand was painful, her spine ramrod straight as she stood beside him. He knew without looking that she was crying. On his other side, Lily just looked awkward.

"We need a vow before we say anything," Hermione demanded thickly.

"And you are?" Severus sneered, before recoiling at the devastation that he read on her face. "Do I know you?" he asked hesitantly wondering what on Earth he'd done to make the girl look at him like that. He had never met her before; he was sure of it. If nothing else he'd remember that hair.

Hermione shook her head, the tears falling faster. "I know you though," she whispered.

Severus looked from Hermione to Draco, to Lily before he sat down heavily on the tattered sofa. "What is going on?"

"We need a vow," Hermione reiterated.

"No." She nodded, clearly having expected that. "Very well. The letter Lily sent means you won't be able to tell anyone we were here. I enchanted the parchment. When….when things seem like they cannot get worse, when he crosses a line you cannot ignore, send Lily another letter. We'll talk then."

"Wait!" he demanded when it became obvious they were intending on leaving. "Are you a Seer?"

Draco couldn't contain the snort at that, hearing the echoes of a much younger Hermione rant about the uselessness of Divination. "No," Hermione replied, her lip twitching slightly.

"What are the terms of the vow you require?"

"You cannot discuss what we are about to tell you with anyone we've not approved. In case I've misjudged you completely, you cannot work against us and you cannot help others to."

Severus frowned, his eyes darting briefly to Lily. "Very well…I am sufficiently curious."

Hermione blinked, clearly unsure. "You're agreeing to this? Right now?" she checked.

"Why come to me at all if you didn't expect me to agree?" he grumbled in response.

"Honestly? Because you're fucking paranoid and I thought it would have to stew for months before you gave in to the curiosity."

Severus let out a startled laugh clearly not having expected that answer. "I'm not entirely convinced I'm not fucking hallucinating to be honest. Lily and a Lucius lookalike are in my living room. It's more than a little strange. I'll admit to not being sure where you fit into it. You don't look like anyone I've ever seen before. I think you might be more hair than human. A human, pygmy puff hybrid perhaps. I wonder if that's possible."

"Oi!" Draco interjected. "I like her hair!"

Severus blinked. "OK…Lucius-a-like," he drawled. "Although to be fair, paying for a human pygmy puff hybrid would be something Lucius would do with his galleons. You speak remarkably well for a pygmy puff."

"Are you high?" Hermione demanded sharply.

"I'm not sure," Severus replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps."

"Oh my God." She growled exasperatedly, before turning to Draco, "Check him for substances. I can't tie someone into an unbreakable vow if they're high regardless of how fucking much he'd deserve it."

Draco raised his wand and began casting, Severus sat watching with interest, clearly not believing any of this was real. "I never imagined pygmy puffs were so foul-mouthed," he mused.

"He's clean" Draco reported, barely containing his laugh.

"Fuck really? That's…actually more concerning. Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure, Princess."

"Princess? Princess of what? Do Pygmy puffs have royalty? It must be dreadful when the pet shops steal your subjects."

"Oh my dear God." Hermione groaned. "Seriously, he's clean?"

"Yup," Draco replied, grinning.

"Right. Up!" Hermione commanded. "You'll be bonded to me."

"I don't want to be enslaved by the Pygmy puffs."

"Oh fuck right off you fucking wanker. Are we doing this or not?"

"Very well, your fluffy Highness," he poked her hair and she growled.

"Draco?"

Biting his lip to stop himself from laughing lest Hermione actually snap and hex him, Draco took Severus through the vow, wondering what on Earth was going through his godfather's head. This behaviour was odd, even for him.

"Right. This is Draco Malfoy and I am Hermione Potter. We're from the future."

At that Severus started laughing until he cried. Hermione closed her eyes praying for patience, while Lily, sensing her increasing struggle to hold on to her control, decided that leaving the room before someone was cursed was wise. Moving to the kitchen, she busied herself making tea.

"I have no idea what the fuck I've taken but I will figure it out. This has been the most entertaining night I've had in years," Severus grinned.

"Severus Tobias Snape!" Hermione shrieked. "I swear to fucking Merlin I am going to fucking hex you! This is not a fucking dream you utter arsehole!"

"Not a dream?"

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"For fucks sake!" At that Hermione sent a stinging hex towards his arm.

"Ow!" Severus yelped before he stood abruptly and reached for Hermione's hand, pulling her up and studying her closely. "You're real!"

"No fucking shit Sherlock!"

"I'm not hallucinating?"

"No!"

"Oh. Well, fuck."

Draco snorted. "I think this is the point where you apologise to Hermione…Godfather."

"Godfather?" Severus said faintly, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

Draco shrugged. "Yes. I'm not going to lie, I don't entirely know what magic still stands or if you'll be able to feel it but we used to be able to. I can try the spell."

Severus shook his head, his face completely blank. "Veritaserum," he finally rasped. "I, fuck, this is unbelievable."

"Trust us, we know."

Severus stood abruptly and swept from the room. "He's always done the dramatic exit thing then," Hermione mused. "Where did Lily go?"

Draco inclined his head. "I think she was hiding in case you hexed him for being a ridiculous arse."

"It was fucking close," she muttered as Severus returned, slapping a small bottle down on the table.

"Prove it's veritaserum," Draco demanded. Rolling his eyes, Severus placed one drop on his tongue. "Three, I know the Dark Lord is building up your tolerance. One won't do anything."

Severus' eyes widened before he did as he was bid, wondering if this was a test sent from the Dark Lord. He wouldn't put it past him. The man was fucking insane…and paranoid.

"Full name."

"Severus Tobias Snape"

"Who murdered your father."

"My….fuck,...my mother."

Draco nodded. "Fine. Working veritaserum."

Taking the antidote, Severus glowered. "How the fuck did you know to ask that?"

"Because you told me once. I knew that currently, it's not something you'd voluntarily admit," Draco replied coolly.

"You had no right!"

"Given what we're about to share we had to be sure."

"Enough," Hermione cut in. "Lily, you don't have to stay. If you want to speak to Severus then we'll arrange it for another time,"

Lily hesitated in the doorway of the kitchen. "I…"

"Go. The wards have been adjusted; we'll get back." Nodding, she apparated out before Severus could voice the objection he very clearly wanted to.

"Explain. Now," he growled at them instead.

"You know, you're much more imposing in our time. It's…sort of like a puppy trying to be a guard dog currently," Hermione said lightly, ignoring the glower on his face.

Severus' jaw dropped, and Draco decided to intervene before wands became involved. "Right. As Hermione said, we're from the future. 1998 to be specific. It's…it's fucking brutal." Severus flinched. "Voldemort won. He won and he fucking destroyed everything. We've been on the run together for months, although Hermione left before me. She's been on the run for just over a year. He's fucking insane. He doesn't give a fuck about any of his followers or magic or anything but fucking power and total control, and even then his focus wavers so no one really knows where they stand. Everyone was just too scared of him to do much about it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we're going to destroy him, and in our time you were on our side. We had to give you the option this time."

"In less than a year there is going to be a prophecy," Hermione said softly. "You'll overhear half before you're kicked out of the Hog's Head. You'll take him that half. In return, he'll hunt and eventually murder Lily."

Severus went impossibly pale. "I kill her?"

Hermione sighed. "There's more to it, so we'll go with you contributed to her death. You repented and threw yourself at Dumbledore's mercy. You were a spy until the day you died."

"I'm dead in your time," he stated blankly.

"Yes," Hermione replied, the tears resuming.

"Who are you?"

"No one really. I'm muggleborn."

"You said you were a Potter!"

"I'm an adopted Potter. Lily's son adopted me when we had no family left. We needed it. Before, I was a muggleborn Gryffindor who drove you fucking insane for three years. You warmed up to me in fourth year when Draco forced you to."

"You're together?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes. Since fourth year. My father was as thrilled as you're imagining he would be when he eventually found out. My mother knew, and it eventually cost her her life. Bella killed her when she allowed us all to escape after I couldn't handle watching my Aunt Bella torture Hermione."

"Fuck," Severus hissed, his eyes wild. "Fuck! What am I meant to do with this?"

"He's made Horcruxes. Five, we think, in this time. We intend to destroy them."

"Horcruxes?"

"Yes. We also intend to reach out to Regulus Black. Perhaps you can help with that. You told us once that you were friends?" Hermione asked with a tilt of her head. If you didn't focus too much on the subject matter, it was almost amusing to see him look so unravelled. She had always envied his ability to control his emotions. She was shit at it, and it was reassuring that he had been once too.

"You…you can't just drop it on me that he's made Horcruxes and continue on like it's normal!"

"I was hunting them for almost a year," Hermione shrugged. "Harry destroyed one in our second year….Dumbledore in our fifth. It's not, not normal, I suppose."

"Why the fuck were you hunting them and not a fucking adult? Are you even of age?"

"Yes. We're of age. And because Dumbledore is an arse?" Hermione offered.

Severus glared. "I was asking a serious question!"

"I was giving a serious answer. The man knew so much more than he ever told us. He gave us fucking nothing to go on and now they're all fucking dead. All of them bar us."

Severus flinched at her tone. "Everyone?"

"Everyone," she agreed. "I think I may hate him more than I hate Voldemort. At least he was fucking upfront about his murderous tendencies."

"I can imagine," Severus said slowly. "What do you want from me?"

Hermione sighed. "We want you on our side. I understand you won't believe us but we fucking miss you. You were about the only adult in our lives who didn't fucking patronise us or deliberately keep us in the dark. You'll loathe this but Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were the other two. I don't need you to like one another. I just need you to manage some level of polite civility until we end this."

"And are they promising the same thing?" he sneered.

"Yes."

"And you trust them to stick to it?"

"I trust them to not want to be on the other end of my wand. I've been fighting since I was fucking twelve."

"Twelve?" he asked, aghast.

"Drawbacks of being friends with the Chosen One," she replied dryly. "We managed to not battle Death Eaters until I was fifteen, which quite frankly given our school years feels like some sort of miracle."

"You battled Death Eaters at fifteen," he repeated faintly.

"Yes, inside the Department of Mysteries. Not somewhere I'm in a rush to go back to funnily enough."

"Why do I feel like I've missed half the story?"

"Because you have," Hermione responded cheerfully. "I'll see if I can convince them to let you into the next Order meeting. We're covering fourth, fifth, and sixth year."

"Fucking hell," Severus groaned. "No one is going to let me into an Order meeting! What the hell makes you think I even want to?"

"You've not kicked us out yet. You're also not stupid. I know you don't believe in this mindless violence he's advocating now that you've got that lovely tattoo on your arm. I know you know it's not right and I absolutely know that you don't fucking hate Muggleborns. As for the Order, I think they will. I'll need some sort of additional vow from you to appease them; some of them aren't the most rational and you'll need to sign an enchanted parchment despite the vow because they'll panic if you don't and we don't need to give them reasons to distrust you. I assume He'll ask what you're up to and you'll need to spin it. Maybe tell him before he asks, actually. Oh, and Hogwarts is looking for a potions professor. It'll give more credence to your story, assuming you go with the whole 'spying on Dumbledore' angle."

"You want me to teach?" he asked, horrified.

"You're shite at it, but yes," she laughed. "Perhaps work on being less of an arse to your students and you'll be better. We understand that you're stupidly intelligent and can't understand why everyone doesn't grasp concepts as quickly as you, but, from experience, terrifying your students to the point they can't think straight is not conducive to them learning anything."

Severus let his glare speak for him. He truly couldn't think of anything worse than teaching potions to incompetent brats. Someone would be dead within the first week. Him, most likely.

He watched the strange girl talking animatedly on his sofa next to Lucius Malfoy's doppelganger and wondered what the fuck he was doing. He'd just allowed two total strangers to tie him into an unbreakable vow that would be his cause of death should his Lord ever find out because he had been convinced he was hallucinating. The things they were saying were utterly unbelievable. But for some reason he trusted them, which was fucking insane. He didn't trust anyone. But that girl with her ridiculous hair had looked at him like she not only knew him, but that she liked him. He couldn't remember anyone since Lily looking at him like that.

And to give their story legitimacy, they looked like they'd be fighting. It was a sobering thought. She was right about him regretting signing up, about him not enjoying the mindless violence and fear that some of his brothers in arms seemed to thrive on. If she was right about that, perhaps she was right about other things? He wanted out; he had since the Mark was branded onto his arm. Perhaps these two strangers would be the key. And if they managed to get Lily to speak to him again, if they kept her safe, he'd agree to just about anything they wanted.