Mid March

Hogwarts

The events at the Hog's Head had shaken her. It was very likely that Voldemort still got to hear the prophecy, this time via Pettigrew rather than Severus. She'd tried to stop it from happening but her efforts hadn't been enough. Now the question was also what to do about Severus and his position with Voldemort, since he wouldn't get any credit for the prophecy. She really didn't want him to be hurt, it had pained her to see him pale and shaking after the Cruciatus curse. At least he had committed to her side, now. It was a huge weight off her shoulders, knowing that he would support her. Somehow he had become the most important person in her life, even if she hadn't really cared much for Professor Snape the older. This version of Severus, though… she needed him.

Well, there wasn't much she could do about all that, she decided. Instead she started spending more time in the library, not only for the Hufflepuff study sessions. The Horcruxes… there had to be some other way to destroy them. The odds that Harry would have stumbled upon one of the only methods while more or less accidentally killing a Basilisk were too slim to make sense. Gryffindor's Sword wasn't a real option either as the reason it had worked the first time around was due to the basilisk venom. Fiendfyre wasn't an option she was keen to try, either, although she would if it really came down to it. She really, really didn't want to end up having to carry the locket again for months.

At least Professor Vector had given her a permanent pass to the Restricted Section. She began scouring the shelves for anything and everything that might mention a Horcrux, not that there was much to begin with. Given that Tom Riddle had learnt about them from Professor Slughorn, however, the knowledge couldn't have been too esoteric or Dark as to be completely inaccessible. After all, she couldn't exactly see Professor Slughorn stealing down to Knockturn Alley to purchase the Darkest books he could find on Horcruxes and the like. That wasn't really his style.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

The Arithmancy sessions up in the tower with Professor Vector were still one of the highlights of being at Hogwarts. Their equations and plans had swelled to cover most of the available spaces in the room, crowding out the Professor's own private work, but she had said she thought what they were doing together was more important. The increasingly complex visualisations with colour-coded threads for various factions, people or events were becoming harder and harder to make sense of, but hopefully it would result in added clarity. Soon, at least. She'd added several new people to the Arithmancy web. The whole Order as far as she knew it from Headmaster Snape's notes and her own memories, the Hufflepuffs, Regulus Black and others on the other side such as the Malfoys. She'd added all the Hogwarts teachers too although some were blank slates to her, such as Professor Scrimgeour.

Hermione had dispatched owls to Amelia with some of the information they had found out, or read about in the Headmaster's notebook. It was just hard to know if that led anywhere. Amelia Bones was reasonably well-positioned in the Ministry, but she didn't have a direct line to the Aurors and Mad-Eye wasn't keen to trust her word only. As such, several of the tips she'd sent off had been dismissed, with gruesome consequences for the persons involved in some of the cases.

She sank down in a chair, feeling tired and uninspired. They'd just updated their calculations based on events reported in the Prophet, and it wasn't looking good. "What does it matter if we know all this? We can't change it anyway, we can't take this info to someone who can do something about it and we can't push the other side to do something. We can't tell the Headmaster and we don't know anyone else in the Order with enough influence."

Professor Vector was tapping her lips with the chalk she used for doodling on the board, making her look as if she had white lipstick. "For now, let me deal with Albus. He is sharp but he's never been one to understand Arithmancy so I should be able to handle him."

With a flick of her wand the Tensor visualised itself in a colourful mess of lines, linking the various nodes. Various factions were depicted in different colours, leaving herself as a white node near the middle, the Order in a flashy gold, Death Eaters in black and Ministry employees in red. Future events still seemed relatively unchanged from the first go around, however. Hermione guessed they hadn't yet made enough changes to the actual events, such as destroying Horcruxes, saving people who died in her original timeline, and so on. Merely having knowledge about it apparently wasn't enough.

However, she couldn't do it alone. There was no way she could manage that. Flicking her wand she tried to figure out who were the most important players, aside from the obvious ones.

"We need to set up a counterpoint to the Order," Hermione said finally. "There are some key people here that need more information or who can help share what we know with others."

Professor Vector frowned and looked at the equations as well. After a while she nodded slowly. "Who are the key people in the Order? Can we influence any of them?"

Hermione moved closer and zoomed in on a cluster of nodes. "There's an error here somewhere," she muttered, pointing at the Hogwarts sector of the matrix. Zooming in on it she started to remove the ones she was certain of. "Hold on… Professor McGonagall, I thought she was in the Order but it doesn't look right? Could you please take a look?"

Professor Vector leaned closer to look at Professor McGonagall's node. "Yes… I see. She's tightly connected to the Ministry, however, perhaps that was what you saw? But you're right, she's not in the Order."

Hope bloomed in her chest. If they could get Professor McGonagall on their side she could surely handle Professor Dumbledore. "Do you think she'd be willing to join us, Professor?"

The Professor frowned and looked out the window, thinking. "I'm not sure, to be honest. She's not close to either Pomona or myself, and she's very close to Albus. I'm surprised she's not in his Order, yet."

"I'm thinking of bringing in a few other students," Hermione said. "It's just… they all seem so young. Could I really do that to them?"

Professor Vector looked at her oddly, and nodded after a while. "I see what you mean, I don't think of you as one of the students in that way. How old are you by now?"

Hermione shrugged. "It's a bit hard to say. Nineteen? Going on thirty-five, it feels like. I haven't exactly had a normal upbringing." She thought nineteen was correct, more or less. Considering that she'd gone from May to September when being flung through time, but also considering her misuse of the Time-Turner earlier, she figured she'd be able to continue using September 19 as her birthday date without being too far off. She'd told the clerk at the MLE she was eighteen, but that was mainly to be allowed to finish her schooling.

The dark-haired witch snorted. "Sounds about right. Well, let's hold off a little before you do that, but you probably need to act before leaving here."

Hermione nodded and soon they were deeply immersed in work again.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

After Hermione's outburst before Valentine's, the mood had been a bit tense in the Hufflepuff dorms. It was clear that Hestia and Evie sided with Hermione, as did June if a bit less overtly, but Fidelma and Rhea pulled away from the others very demonstrably. Hermione still thought Fidelma might not be as happy with the situation as she seemed, though. The Irish witch had gone quiet, not participating much in class and not really joining in the discussions during meals or in the common room either.

About a week before they were due to leave for Easter, Fidelma sidled up to Hermione during Charms class and asked if they could talk later. Hermione frowned but agreed, not wanting to alienate the Pure-blood witch but unsure of her motives. Once classes ended for the day, Hermione made her way to an unused classroom in the Transfiguration corridor, and carefully Warded the room once Fidelma arrived.

"I know what you meant," Fidelma said quietly. "I hear lots of things from back home, they see the Dark Mark over town all the time, the Muggles think it's just the other faction. Catholic and Protesting? I don't know what they're about but it's bad there. People disappear, get beaten up and the daughters… it's bad, Hermione."

Hermione nodded. Fidelma was Irish, that much she knew, but not in more detail. She looked pale and worried, her hair was matte and frizzy and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Da said I'm to marry this summer, to an old guy he does business with. I'm almost certain he's a Death Eater, or as good as one anyway."

"Who is it?" Hermione started to run through her mental list of names, Death Eaters from her own time and from the Headmaster's notes. There were so many of them, though.

"Corban Yaxley."

Hermione winced, that one was easy to place at least. "Yes, he's a Death Eater. Quite high up? He's bad news, I know that much."

Fidelma started crying, silently. "I know I haven't been a good friend since you arrived, I'm sorry. Rhea… she's been my friend for so long, but she's changed. I don't think she understands what she's saying but she won't back down, not until it's too late."

That much was obvious. Rhea reminded her of Draco sometimes, of the way he'd been all swagger and boasting until reality hit and he started to understand exactly what his father had signed him up for. That much had been clear after the disastrous events at the Ministry, through her sixth year and later, at least in retrospect with the knowledge she now held about what had happened.

"You want a way out?" Hermione asked quietly. She wasn't sure what she could do, with her limited power and influence.

"They will fetch me from King's Cross. Then I'm off to breed good little Death Eater babies. I wanted to be a Healer, or something else that would help people."

Well, there was no way she'd let that happen, not if she could stop it. "I'll try to help you, but only if you're ready to leave all your family behind. If you go back to them…" She had the beginnings of a plan, but hoped someone else could step in to help.

Fidelma dried her tears on her sleeve and looked up again. "Would you? I don't have anything to offer in return but please, I need help."

"Are you going home for Easter? Because if you are, don't go. Come on, now. We're going to see Professor Sprout."

Hermione coaxed the Hufflepuff girl up, and together they made it to Professor Sprout's office. The door opened easily, but the office was empty. A young witch in a painting ran off somewhere when they settled in the comfy green chairs to wait, and it didn't take long before their Head of House showed up. She took one look at the pair of them and promptly called for the elves to bring a pot of tea.

"What's the matter, dears?" Professor Sprout asked, looking more at Fidelma than at Hermione.

Fidelma looked at Hermione. "Could you tell the Professor?"

Hermione nodded and quickly recounted what Fidelma had told her. When she was finished, Professor Sprout looked grim, sitting up straighter in her chair with her hands clasped on the table.

"I agree with Miss Granger. It's not safe for you to go back to them, they'll force you into marriage the moment you step off the Hogwarts Express. You should stay here over Easter as well, I could always use a hand in the greenhouses. You could tell your father that you have a terribly important Herbology project to work on, so you can't go home. I'm cultivating a new type of Fanged Geraniums, they will need repotting and an investigation into what type of nutrition they prefer, I've ruled out Hippogriff and Thestral dung so far and plan to try Mooncalf dung next."

"Thank you, Professor," Fidelma said, looking teary again but smiling weakly. "I'd be happy to help."

The Professor rooted around in her bookshelf and pulled out a small, scruffy book. "Here, read this. I do want you to actually work with me over Easter so it's best you catch up beforehand."

Fidelma was visibly happier once they returned to the dorms.

"Try to act like before," Hermione warned her. "Don't say anything to Rhea."

"Thanks again," Fidelma whispered, before walking in ahead of Hermione as if they had come from completely different directions.

Crookshanks looked up from Hermione's pillow when she pulled the drapes back. "I hope I made the right choice, Crooks," she said quietly to the cat who flicked his ears at her in reply before butting her palm with his head.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

Friday, mid-March

The Workshop

Severus was working late on his Apprenticeship project, the mood-lifting potion, even though it was a Friday night. He'd taken note of his older self's advice but still wanted to test it for himself to make sure it was correct, and that he understood the reason for it. At any rate, it was nearly complete and ready to be patented. Warrington had left for the evening but Vulchanov was still in the building, reading some of the reference tomes he needed to know for his own upcoming test at the Guild.

Suddenly pain lanced his left arm and he hissed, barely managing to put the vial he was holding down safely before hurriedly donning his robes. The pull of the Mark took him to Lestrange Manor again. Severus shivered and pulled his cloak up higher when approaching the dark Manor, wondering if this meeting would go better than the last. There was something sinister about the place, something out of place among the rose hedges and red brick facade of the building. Most of the windows were unlit except for a few on the ground floor. Severus was ushered inside by a house-elf who directed him to the Lord's study. There was a fire in the hearth but no other light in the room, and it took him a moment to locate his Master. He was standing by the large bay windows, looking out over the park despite the darkness outside. The room was empty otherwise, not even Bellatrix was around. He bowed his head and waited in silence.

"I want you to speed up your Apprenticeship," the Dark Lord said, still turned towards the windows with his hands clasped behind his back.

"My Lord?" Severus felt confused, that wasn't at all what he had expected when coming. Not that he'd expected anything in particular, of course, it was safest not to.

The Dark Lord continued as if he hadn't spoken. "You should prepare to finish this autumn, not next summer."

"May I ask why?" He didn't understand the rush. No matter what, the quality his work would suffer from being completed more than half a year ahead of schedule. He didn't mind being fast but above all he wanted it to be perfect.

"No, Severus. Just do it, I know you are capable of it."

"What should I tell my Master?"

"I am your Master, Severus," the Dark Lord snapped, finally turning to face him. He looked annoyed. "Do as I tell you."

Severus took a deep breath. "Certainly, my Lord. It will be done." Bowing his head he waited for a long moment to see if the Dark Lord had any more orders for him. When none came, he bowed again and left the room silently. Relief coursed through him when he made it to the Apparition point without being hexed.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

The first thing he did when he returned to the workshop was to send Menace off to Hogwarts again with a note. Speeding up his Apprenticeship would take a lot out of him but if the Dark Lord wanted him to do it he didn't have much of a choice. He couldn't help but to wonder why, though.

Master Pyrites had never spend a lot of time instructing him. He expected his Apprentices to sink or swim on their own, and to learn the trade through punishment when they made mistakes. At least he gave them good insight into the business side of things by letting them handle the day-to-day management of potions inventory, handling ingredients, invoicing and sales, and he did give them access to a half-decent Potions library full of reference texts. As such, he wouldn't lose out on much by taking the final Guild tests early in terms of instruction. Apprentices were required to take a test at the Potions Guild, with an oral part and a practical brewing session, and the best of them would also present a newly-created brew to the Guild Masters. Those that passed the test would gain the title of Potioneer, while only the best, the ones that passed the presentation, would be allowed to call themselves Potions Master.

Luckily his older self's notes would also undoubtedly give him an edge and there were still a lot of good ideas there that he hadn't pursued yet. He would never cheat by trying to steal another Apprentice's ideas, but he did think it was completely different when the other person was, well, himself.

Menace returned the next day with a scroll from her which cheered him up before he'd even read it, for some reason. The black bird cawed in an almost encouraging manner and flew up to the rafters to observe what was happening.

Severus

I'll help if I can, of course. I'll check the Arithmancy web to see if there's anything in it that can explain why he wants you to take it early. Does he need another Potions Master for something? Is your other Master in trouble?

There's another thing I'm working on, I'm leaning towards needing a potion to break a strong Dark Magic curse in an object, do you think it's possible to do that? I've done some calculations, do you think you could take a look at them? And have you heard anything at all about the prophecy or Pettigrew?

I'll be back for Easter, of course. We get the week before Easter off so I'm taking the train on Friday. Will I see you then?

Hermione

Having her on his side made him feel oddly warm inside, which also made him a bit uneasy. He didn't want to rely on anyone else, time and time again had he learnt that the only one he could trust was himself. I'm with you, he'd told her earlier, but that wasn't exactly true when he thought about it. He wanted to keep her safe, and to do that he needed to take down a certain Dark Lord. But strictly speaking the only side he was on, was his own.

It was just… what would the future hold, if he opposed the Dark Lord? He'd seen first-hand what the man did with traitors to the Cause, and suspected that several of those had been unwarranted. Staying with the Dark Lord would be fine if the man won, of course, unless internal politicking in the Death Eater ranks got to him first. The higher up in the ranks one got, the more volatile the position was.

Shaking his head he tried to come up with a plan. There were probably others that were disgruntled with the Dark Lord, but if he opened up to another Death Eater they'd just end up in a game of chicken to see who betrayed whom first.

At any rate, Vulchanov was probably a relatively safe bet for someone who wasn't a true supporter, and coming to think of it, perhaps the Malfoys — the younger ones — weren't that rabid either. Lucius had never gotten along with his father, who was the one to drag him into the Death Eater folds and get him branded as soon as he'd quit Hogwarts. Then there was Regulus… he honestly wasn't sure what Reg thought anymore. At Hogwarts he'd been among the ones talking about joining the Dark Lord, about the coming of a new era, where wizards would reign, but of late he'd been quiet and subdued and he most definitely didn't seem to enjoy the raids, staying in the background. But would he really take the step to oppose his father, his family and his Lord?

The Malfoys were on his mind also due to the potion and Narcissa. Pregnancy had been rough on her, even with Severus' potion, and he was immensely relieved that he'd never have to undergo it himself. The chances of him ending up in Lucius' position were also slim, but that seemed more a blessing than a curse considering his own shitty childhood. He had no idea whatsoever about how to be a good father.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

End of March, Friday

Hogwarts Express

Finally the end of March arrived and everyone was eager to go back home for Easter. A few would stay in the Castle over the break, including Fidelma and Ernest from Hufflepuff, but otherwise most of them would take the train back to King's Cross again. Once again Hermione got to share a compartment with June, Hestia and Evie, plus Sturgis and Martinus. Martinus and Hestia would have to patrol the train a couple of times, being Prefects, but otherwise they all stayed in the compartment, watching the landscape zoom by and eating sandwiches and snacks Evie had asked the House-Elves in the kitchen to prepare. Hermione participated in the discussions and banter but was also content to watch the others while idly reading a book on Charms that Professor Flitwick had talked about in class. She had Crookshanks in a carrier by her feet but the half-Kneazle was currently asleep, curled up on one of her t-shirts.

Most of the others had plans for the holidays, to see friends and family in various constellations. Hermione would simply Apparate to Spinner's End and hoped to see Severus already that evening, but he hadn't confirmed when he would return. As they neared London the compartment filled with activity again as everyone started to pack their belongings.

"Isn't someone coming to meet you, Hermione?" June asked.

She shook her head. "No, who would that be?"

"Oh… right. Sorry." June looked apologetic, as if she'd forgotten about Hermione's supposed orphan status. Well, it was even true, in a more roundabout way.

"It's okay." She twitched a smile at the blonde girl and went back to her books but couldn't focus, so she ended up staring out the window at the countryside passing by. For some reason, that day it really wasn't okay. She missed them, everyone she had known, even those she'd met again in this time. Her parents, Harry, Ron. Her Professors, Mrs Weasley, Tonks and even Lavender Brown as a roommate. Well, maybe that was taking it a little too far.

Taking a deep breath to clear her mind a bit she looked at her new friends, and hoped their lives would be better this time around. Perhaps she could even save some of her old friends from the various fates that had befallen them earlier, and perhaps she could even get to know some of them again, although under completely different conditions.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: I've had some bad personal news recently but hope to keep up with posting nonetheless. Working on Ch 19 and what comes next so I do have a bit of a buffer, but not sure if I can stick to a regular posting schedule.

Stay safe, everyone! /AA