There were nearly a dozen small points of light in the room where Hermione stood. She could probably clearly see each one and who it belonged to from her position at the back of the room. Right now, staring back at her from her desk, was the only light in the room that mattered. After a second of her heart pounding in her chest, she closed her eyes hard and begged Professor Snape to redo the spell. He indulged her but the outcome was the same.

"Miss Granger, I really think you ought to open your eyes." He said slowly.

She forced herself to inhale and slowly opened them. What was it doing? She thought. She watched as the glowing dot of blood rolled this way and that way, forming inky spirals and sweeping lines. A crest she had never seen before glowed on the parchment. It was a harsh Gothic letter 'S' held in the jaws of an old English style wolf hound. The hound seemed to mock her as she lost her breath and all sense of gravity, and total blackness engulfed her.

"That went well." Severus mumbled as he and Pansy sank to Hermione's side.

"How did you expect it to go, exactly?"

"Miss Parkinson, please take your friend to the hospital wing." He said clearly as he stood and straightened his robes.

"Yes, Sir." Pansy levitated Hermione off of the floor and carefully guided her out of the room.

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Pansy was at Hermione's side when she woke in the crisp white bed for the second time in the school year. "Hey," Pansy said, laying aside her homework. "how are you feeling? How's your head?"

"Fine," Hermione responded. She cast her eyes to the other side of the room and bit out a lie. "I must have fainted from the fumes. I'll have to redo the assignment, I don't think I got to finish testing my potion."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "You passed out from shock because you finished it. Don't lie to me, I'm your potions partner and your friend, and I saw what happened."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come off it, Hermione. Where's that Gryffindor curiosity? Don't you want to know? I mean.. you have family, Hermione, alive somewhere! What if it's a cousin.. what if it's someone in school? And don't think for one second I didn't see the glowing! Do you recognize the crest?"

"Pansy, stop! Please, it's too much! My whole life has been a lie! I can't deal with this right now!"

Pansy lowered her head and nodded. "You'll have to eventually, you know. Even if just for the assignment's sake."

"I'm almost willing to get a bad grade if I could just pretend it wasn't real."

"I undersand, Hermione. I just think, you could find something you've been missing if you tried looking into this." Pansy stood up to leave.

"Wait, Pansy?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay and read with me? From the journal?"

Pansy smiled and pushed Hermione to the side of the bed with her hip and settled beside her with her mother's journal. "I thought you might like a distraction, so I brought it with me."

"Hermione smiled as Pansy opened the book and they began reading.

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I've found it! There's a book of ancient earth magic in the Parkinson family library. I would have thought a book like this would be in the Malfoy library or in a long forgotten vault in Gringotts somewhere. The book seems to be made of earth itself. The pages are stone and the binding is all vines and roots. Dirt and magic come off the very pages. There are no spells, no potions or incantations. It simply tells of the connection between symbols and the earth and the magic that lives within it. With these instructions I can build a spell. Any spell. I think I know exactly what I have to do now. I need to find more on symbols and the earth. I've changed my course studies to herbology, astrology, and runes. My head of house is very confused as to why I would pick classes that have very little to do with each other. I told him that I was dealing with a lot of stress at home and that I wanted to study things I enjoyed for a while. I told him I would get back to more serious studies after the Christmas break. He seemed very understanding and didn't ask any questions. I hope to have my spell created by Christmas. My brother is at my side in my plans and he is bringing me people every day who share my desires. If there are enough of us, we can truly change the tides, I think.

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Pansy closed the back cover of the journal. "On to the next?"

Hermione looked up. "Do you have the next one with you?"

"No, I didn't realize how far into this one we already were, but you really need to sleep any way. So do I for that matter, we have class in five hours. I can't believe we read through nearly the whole night!" Hermione nodded and covered a yawn. "Yeah, I think I'm just gonna camp here. The place is empty. I'm just gonna take this bed over here. Good night, Hermione. Hope you feel better about everything in the morning."

"Thanks, me too. Good night."

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Severus stood by the door to the hospital wing listening to Pansy read to his daughter. She may not want to face things tonight, but it wouldn't be long before her nature compelled her to find the owner of her family crest. He hoped for the best and went with the shadows back to his quarters. When he got to his chamber, his master sat in an elegantly carved wing backed chair in the corner of the room waiting for him.

"Good evening, Master." Severus bowed his head dutifully.

"Hello, Severus. I know things are moving along for you in regards to your daughter. She'll be fine, don't worry. She will face this. It is up to her how she fairs, though."

"Yes, Master, I understand."

"I have a mission for you, Warrior."

"Anything."

"One of my grandsons isn't behaving as he should. He is a danger to my plans."

Severus raised a brow. "Are you particularly fond of this grandson?"

Lucifer smiled for a second as understanding passed between the two. "Not particularly, no."

"It shall be handled, Master."

"Very good. I believe you know this one, actually. He's named after me, you know. I don't understand it, Severus. His father, my son, knew what was expected and dutifully upheld my rule on this earth. I'm sure his son was raised in my ways, but yet he follows after some madman like a lost pup." Lucifer shook his blond head.

"Sometimes, Master, children have their own ideas about things. Nothing to be done, but send the dogs on them." Severus smirked knowing exactly who Lucifer had referred to. He found it odd that he was, though no one really knew it, a passive and understanding person. In the presence of his master, however, he felt darker.

"This needs handled tonight. I fear, Lucius is planning something quite disruptive to my plans involving your daughter. This is something neither of us can allow. Go now." With a wave of Lucifer's hand, Severus was taken away with a swirl of black smoke.

Lucifer sighed and looked around Severus's chambers before tapping his cane on the ground and disappearing, himself.

a.n. sorry I'm a little late with this, fan fiction decided it didn't want me to save my docs over the weekend, but it's up!