Thank you to my few reviewers, specifically emikae, Whatanidea15, and (most frequent so far) madalinaelenago. I'm writing because I have the itch, not for the follows, but the reviews do inspire me to not give up. Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up.

Chapter 4

What You Need to Save a Life

Hermione did indeed end up circling back through the vital chapters of Medicinal Magic: A Helpful Guide for the Aspiring Mediwitch over the next few hours. When she finally decided that she knew as much as she could to prepare for being a healer in the middle of a war- one that she knew was sure to start momentarily- she put the book aside and thought of other ways to ready herself. She decided on light exercise to keep her nimble. After stretching, running in place, and doing a few basic workouts, she sat back against the dusty, boarded-up wall of the Shrieking Shack to rest and do what Hermione Granger did best. Think.

Snape was becoming something more to her than he had been just 24 hours ago. For 24 hours ago was actually almost two full years ago…in a way. Only 24 hours ago she had known Snape has the foreboding, bitter, sarcastic, cruel, and prejudiced Potions Master turned Defense teacher. He was the Death Eater that she knew was on their side and loyal to the Order even if he never showed it at all in his classroom manner.

She wasn't this Hermione that belonged in May 1998 with this Professor Snape, not yet anyway; however, she could start to see how that Hermione wasn't too far off. After all, hadn't she seen a different side to the sarcastic, hook-nosed Professor that she had known for five years? Here, he hadn't been unnecessarily cruel with her. In fact, he had been emotionally open, he had held an intelligent conversation with her about time theory, he seemed to understand her habits and reactions very well, and he had held her and spoken to her like she mattered deeply to him. She was a practical girl, never figured herself much of the romantic type, but all of this was hard to ignore.

There was a tiny fluttering sensation at the top of her chest when she thought of him now. It was similar to the feeling she had had in second year when she would sigh to herself and daydream about Professor Lockhart. They were vastly different men, of course. Lockhart was conventionally handsome, with the award-winning smile and perfectly coifed hair, while Snape was sallow-skinned and hawklike, with slightly crooked teeth and hair that usually appeared greasy.

Yet, it hadn't actually been the looks that had attracted Hermione to Lockhart. It didn't hurt to fuel her crush, of course, but the things she had always been drawn to in him were his intelligence, wit, bravery, strength, and magical prowess. Those were all lies and pretenses, she had found out later. They were simply inventions for his books and his legion of fans. Lockhart truly possessed none of those qualities…

…but Snape…

Hermione shook her head, curls bouncing. Focus Hermione. Focus on the facts, not the feelings.

The facts. What had she pieced together so far?

Well, Professor Snape was Headmaster this year and she wasn't attending Hogwarts. She was with Harry and Ron, if Snape's entreaty to meet with her future self was any indication. Most likely they were on a mission for the Order, as they would all be of age by next year. Perhaps that's where Dumbledore is as well. It explained some of Snape's reaction as well if they had run into danger along the way.

As for any relationship between her and Professor Snape, perhaps it wouldn't be taboo if she was away from Hogwarts and there was no student-teacher power imbalance involved? She frowned, wondering about that part.

There is something that has convinced him that time is inalterable and loops back on itself, she reasoned. She recalled his distraught reaction at first seeing her Time-Turner. It clearly has something to do with me appearing here in this time. My presence here has confirmed something for him…or changed his mind about something, but what?

"All this time and it began with me." He had said. "I hated you for so long, questioned your motives, but it was my doing all along…"

What could it mean?

Hermione was startled out of her thoughts by Beppy arriving with a dinner tray. He told her that he had been sworn to secrecy about her presence at the Shack ("by Headmaster, of course!") and she should call out the elf's name if she needed help with anything. She resolved to keep him in her back pocket for apparating to safety if called for.

After finishing supper and thanking Beppy for dinner, she decided to return to her book. Unfortunately, her thoughts often drifted to Snape and his not-at-all conventionally attractive appearance. His ink black eyes that shone and rippled like darkened water when he was heated, his tight jaw and thin lips, his hawklike nose, his expressive and distinguished brows…

Hermione found herself lost in thought for quite some time…

That evening, it began.

She heard the wailing alarm from Hogsmeade Village, followed by shouts and commotion. After a bit, that quieted down, but now she was on the alert. It would be soon. Snape had said possibly hours.

Disillusionment wouldn't be enough to hide her if she needed to be hidden.

Hermione walked up the stairs and found some wooden crates that could help. Slowly and methodically, she set up a barrier of wooden crates around her corner with the view of the tunnel entrance. After making her own hideaway, there were still a few crates left, so she decided to place a few in front of the tunnel entrance. It would delay anyone coming through from the Whomping Willow so she could have an extra few seconds to jump into place if needed. Hopefully, only friends would come from that way, she thought.

Who knows about that entrance? She thought back to third year in the Shack. Me, Ron, Harry, Lupin, Snape, Sirius is dead…shit, Pettigrew knows. She opted to cover that eventuality by connecting a Hair-Raising charm over the tunnel entrance into the Shack to her arm. There would be no audible noise alerting anyone else to an entrance through the tunnel, but Hermione would get a slight bristling, almost goosebump feeling running down her arm if the charm was tripped. Clearly, she should have done this before.

She set up some silencing charms and a Notice-Me-Not on the corner for good measure. Then, disillusioned and hiding in the corner behind the dusty wooden crates, she waited.

There were many sounds that night, most of them distant- bangs, flashes of light coming in through the slits in the boarded-up windows. She swore she even heard distant screams and she shuddered quite a few times, pulling out the sweater she had decided to transfigure into a blanket.

Is the battle coming here? Is that why I'm needed here? How far from me will the life I'm meant to save be?

Then, late into the evening, she was awoken by a loud whooshing noise and a crash.

Wand at the ready, she peeked out from behind her wall of crates and her heart sank to her stomach. Despite having never seen him in person before, she knew exactly who this was.

Holy crap, oh no no no.

Her mind didn't allow out rational thought apart from expletives and panic. She began to break out in a cold sweat.

I can't DO this.

"Ah my pet," the tall figure whispered. He stretched out a long-fingered white hand towards the large serpent floating in midair, swirling around him in a glowing, protective orb. "Still yourself. Soon you will feast." This was followed by a series of hisses back and forth between him and the snake as Hermione tried to still her frantic pulse, desperately praying to all the deities she had ever heard of that she wasn't meant to put herself between Voldemort and another person on this quest to save a life.

Professor Dumbledore better not have had thoughts of saving Tom Riddle's soul, she thought bitterly and with some concern. I am not using this Time-Turner to save Wizarding Hitler! Wizarding Stalin. Wizarding Pol Pot. Wizarding…

Interrupting her contemplation of 20th century homicidal, genocidal dictators was the arrival of another figure. She knew this one immediately. The long silvery blond hair gave him away, even if the dishevelment and cracking voice were decidedly out of place.

"Lucius."

"My lord." Malfoy knelt before the taller wizard, clothed in black robes. The snake was swirling above them, seeming almost to play in his floating sphere. The slit-nosed man did not even glance at the kneeling one but had pulled out his wand and was holding it above him, twirling it and examining it closely in the light.

"Bring Severus to me."

"My-my lord?" From the angle, Hermione could not see his face completely, but you could hear the questioning anxiety in his voice. "Will he-he not come when you summon-"

"Surely, Lucius," the snake-like man hissed, "I would not make a purposeless request of your much valued time." He raised his wand back behind him like a whip and Lucius jerked his head slightly, clearly flinching from the blow to come. The Dark Lord must have thought better of it, however, and merely smiled malevolently. "No. You must conserve your health as much as possible. After all," his sickening smile widened, "we are almost at the end. I know what must be done about Potter and the wand."

The wand, there's something about wands. She remembered Harry describing what had happened in the graveyard at the end of fourth year during the last task of the Triwizard Tournament. He said that his wand and You-Know-Who's wand connected. Harry's wand performed Priori Incantatem when the wands were linked. Does this give Harry some future advantage over You-Know-Who? I need to file this information away-

A quiet squeaking noise at the opposite corner of the room caught her attention. Lucius Malfoy had apparated away, apparently startling a rodent on the other side of the dirty floor. Despite trying to stop her mind from wandering to inconsequential thoughts, she realized that apparition must mean the wards on Hogwarts grounds had been changed or breached. The squeaking had also caught the attention of the tall, pale figure and the snake.

They hissed back and forth. Voldemort seemed to shrug, and a hole began to slowly form in the glowing, floating orb. The snake slid languidly out and made its way across the floor to the direction of the rat. The rat squealed loudly and dashed across the room, towards Hermione's wall.

She watched helplessly, heart pounding, as the serpent struck. It pierced the rat's body with its large fangs, and she heard a sickening crunch accompany the bite. At the quick lunge of the snake, she had flinched and turned her head, expecting the hunter to finish its meal, but it hissed violently and ejected the rat, spitting it out and ejecting it along the wall, mere centimeters from her. She bit down hard on her tongue to prevent herself from crying out in fear and disgust.

"See, Nagini. It is diseased. Patience." The snake hissed back and as it turned to go back to its master, its yellow eyes met hers.

Fuck!

The snake stared into her eyes, pausing its movement.

Was she caught in a trance or was the serpent? She couldn't breathe, couldn't move.

Their eyes were locked on one another's and she forced herself not to look away, not to blink, not to even think.

The snake slowly began to slither forward, inching towards the discarded prey and the potential new victim quavering behind it.

Oh, Gods no, Oh Gods no.

The great beast raised itself up, just as it had done seconds before striking the rat down. The yellow eyes narrowed, and the mouth opened. Voldemort's serpent seemed to move in slow motion as Hermione Granger's mind worked in rapid-fire.

I can't defend myself or You-Know-Who will see I'm here and then I'm even more dead- but I could apparate away I guess- but then I haven't completed the mission and someone else would be dying because I couldn't save them- but maybe this is meant to happen and- Oh no…maybe this is how I'm saving that life- and maybe I'm meant to die instead of someone else.

This is the end, I've failed. She braced herself. What about Harry? What about Ron?

She closed her eyes finally, not wanting to face the strike. What about Snape?

"Ah, Severus…" For one wild, frantic moment she believed that the dark dictator had heard her thoughts about Snape and answered them aloud. She flinched even with her eyes closed, still waiting for the blow to come.

The hissing sounded like spitting now and she felt the air in front of her face ripple with movement.

Hermione's face was burning, her heart pounding loudly throughout her entire body and echoing in her ears. She finally opened her eyes.

The snake had returned to its master and the orb had sunk to the floor to allow it entrance, encompassing it once more in shimmering magic. Voldemort was speaking, but she couldn't hear a thing. She had genuinely believed herself moments from death and this was not something that was quick to recover from. Hermione could face her death, to be sure. She was a Gryffindor after all. But to face it quietly, crouching in a corner? How difficult would it be to die unknown and unacknowledged like that, bleeding to death on the floor of the Shrieking Shack with no one knowing or caring you were even gone? She shuddered.

Hermione continued to shiver. She had goosebumps tingling up and down her arms as the adrenaline regulated. How long for her heartbeat to slow down?

Wait, no! The Hair-Raising charm!

She peeked through the slits in the crates. Voldemort had been speaking to Snape, who must have arrived while she was recovering from her almost-death. The snake was swirling menacingly in the enchanted sphere, floating above and around them both. The dark wizard toyed with a wand in his long-fingered white hand as he spoke. Inches behind Snape was the entrance to the tunnel, obscured by another wall of crates. The tingling on Hermione's arms indicated that someone was hiding there listening.

This complicates it, she thought. I have to be able to help heal the person hurt either without being seen…or if I'm seen then they have to believe I'm the future me. So, when Snape leaves, You-Know-Who will try to kill the person hiding behind the other crates, and then I can-

The cold high voice broke through her musings. "You are a clever man, after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant and I regret what must happen-"

Hermione watched in horror as Voldemort flicked the wand and the protective floating orb shifted over Snape and lowered onto his head and shoulders. A hiss and the great snake struck Snape, who cried out in pain and fell to the floor, bleeding profusely.

"I regret it." He shrugged. Then the cruel Dark Lord swept away, flying out through a broken window in the shack and dragging his floating, snake-filled bubble away with him.

Hermione jumped to her feet, but before she could rush forward, she saw the crates at the tunnel entrance move. Harry, Ron, and herself rushed forward to Snape, bleeding and choking on the floor. She saw Harry bend over Snape, who grabbed at Harry's robes and pulled him close while future-Hermione pulled items out of a bag she held.

Vials coming out- what are they giving him? He needs antivenin! Blood-replenisher, fluids… The Hermione hiding in the corner tried to rattle off everything she'd just learned while reading her mediwitch book while simultaneously paying attention to the scene before her. She did see that future-Hermione had put some cloth around Snape's neck and shoulder to stop him from bleeding out so quickly. I hope that was laced with dittany or maybe antivenin…For goodness sake, Hermione why didn't you communicate more about what I needed to do!?

She saw Snape's grip slacken and his arms fall to the floor. His eyes lost focus and he stilled. The three friends in front of her slowly disappeared behind the crates and down the tunnel.

Not even waiting or caring if they had left yet, Hermione rushed out from behind the crates with her satchel bag, slid to her knees beside Snape, and began working frantically.

The bleeding had already stopped, as future-Hermione had wrapped the cloth tightly around Snape's neck and shoulder area. Due to the lack of movement, she knew Snape must have started succumbing to the venom. She tried to shut off her emotions for right now. Otherwise, she might start crying and hugging him.

She checked his pulse on the uninjured side of his neck. Yes, weak, but still there. Low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, weakness, and numbness in the face and limbs…

Hermione forced the blood replenisher down his throat, massaging his neck lightly to make sure it stayed down. It was so bizarre to care for him this way, this normally strong and powerful man. It made the situation all the more frightening to her.

She opened a vein in his arm with her wand and using Salimenti Tarda, she gave him fluids to help with the low blood pressure. Extra oxygen came with a modified bubblehead charm, and she was relieved to see him breathing, though still too few times for her comfort.

I don't HAVE any antivenin and even if I did it needs to be made for the venom in THAT specific damn snake! If only there were a potions master who could help me out here! She looked down at her potions master then (hers, really?), his raven hair fallen around him, eyes closed now. And to think, he even fooled Voldemort this whole time. He must be the most intelligent man I have ever known…Prepared for every eventuality…. Wouldn't he have thought of this?

And then, almost moving on instinct, Hermione began rifling through Snape's pockets.

Of course, of course, you brilliant, brilliant man.

There was indeed a vial in his pocket marked "N. Antivenin" and the handwriting on the vial…No! Focus Hermione!

Quickly, she took the antivenin and spelled it to enter intravenously as the fluids had previously. As the vial slowly emptied into his body, Hermione knew there was nothing else to do but wait and hope that she had done everything correctly, quickly, and that his body was strong enough to endure.

"Beppy!"

A crack and the elf appeared before her. "Yes, Miss. What can I be doing- Oh MY HEADMASTER!"

"Beppy, it's alright," Hermione said, much calmer than she yet felt. "Professor Snape has been seriously injured. He's gotten the treatment he needs for right now, but he needs to be kept safe and stable. He can't stay at Hogwarts right now, can he?"

"No, not at all Miss. They is fighting. I must return and help the elflings leave…" The elf's ears were pointed out harshly and she noticed he was carrying a frying pan in one hand and a meat mallet in the other.

"Yes, of course, Beppy. I'm so sorry for calling you away. Please, is there somewhere you can take us where Professor Snape can rest and be safe from the fighting?"

"Yes, Miss. Beppy remembers when Headmaster needed some things-" The elf was interrupted by a bang not far away. This was followed by some distant shouting.

Hermione waited a few moments, listening, and the noises appeared to be getting closer. "NOW Beppy, please!" she cried. "We need to go now!" What if someone is coming back to look for him? What if there's a death eater coming to check that he's dead and finish him off?

Beppy shifted the meat mallet to be held inside the pan so that one hand was free. He placed a hand on Hermione's knee as she quickly grabbed ahold of Snape's hand. With a sharp crack, they apparated away.