Hermione wasn't sure she had even been to sleep when it was finally time to head to breakfast the following morning. Her night had been spent tossing and turning.
"Morning Mione!" Harry greeted her as she stepped into the common room. Both boys were sitting on the couch nearest to the fire waiting on her.
"Morning." She gave a half-hearted reply back as she ran her fingers through her unruly hair.
"We didn't see you after your meeting last night. What did Dumbledore want?" Ron asked.
With her being half asleep, she answered before she could even regard how the boys would react. "Oh, he asked me to join the Order." Followed by a yawn and still wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"What?" Her friends yelled in unison.
This seemed to wake Hermione fairly quickly.
"Oh, um, yes. He asked me to become a potions apprentice. I accepted obviously. Potions isn't my strongest subject, but I'm thrilled that the Headmaster has noticed my hard work." She smiled gently, hoping both boys would be excited for her, rather than lashing out.
It would seem that luck wasn't on her side this morning.
"You get to join the Order while, what, I sit around and do nothing? I'm The Chosen One!" Harry roared.
"So because you're 'The Chosen One' the rest of us doesn't matter? Tell me Harry, how are your potion skills?" Hermione snapped.
"That doesn't matter! I need to be in the loop so I know all of Voldemort's moves. I'm the one who has to defeat him!" Harry's face was red with anger.
"Maybe Harry's right Mione. He does have a right to know everything." Ron said quietly.
Of course Ron had to jump in to take Harry's side.
"I don't disagree. I do believe that Harry should know everything, but that's not my call to make. That is Headmaster Dumbledore's decision. What was I suppose to do? Tell him I wouldn't join unless you two joined as well?" Hermione was almost begging. It was way too early for this. Plus she hated fighting with her best friends.
"Yes! You should have told Dumbledore that as important as I am, that I needed to be an Order member more than you!" Harry screamed.
Hermione felt her face fall. Did Harry just say she wasn't important to the cause? She wonder if he thought she didn't matter. As much as she had done to get her friend this far, it hurt that he would say these words to her. She thought she had meant more to him.
She took a deep breath. "I'm not going to respond to that Harry because we're both upset. I don't want to say anything that I will regret, like you just did. So I'm going to breakfast." And with that, she turned and left.
Hermione didn't speak to her friends the rest of the day. She ate breakfast alone, sat next to other classmates during lectures, had lunch with Neville, and ate with Ginny at dinner. The younger witch had helped Hermione feel better, even if she didn't understand why Hermione was upset with the boys. It was so hard to stay upset about anything around Ginny. "Want me to hit Ron with a bat-bogey hex?" As funny as that would have been, Hermione declined. All in all, it wasn't the worse day, it just felt weird not having her best friends around.
She knew that her day was about to get much worse. She had exactly 20 minutes before her first meeting with Professor Snape.
The walk to the dungeons was a very slow one. She wasn't looking forward to this. Professor Snape hadn't been at dinner, but he had looked to be in a foul mood at lunch. Well, more foul than normal.
She knocked hesitantly.
"Enter." A deep voice called.
Hermione hesitated as she pushed the door open halfway. It wasn't too late to run, was it? Maybe Headmaster Dumbledore had been out of his mind last night suggesting this. Honestly, how long could a wizard hold onto his sanity? Poor Albus wasn't getting any younger. That had to be the answer. Did muggle Alzheimer's medicine work on wizards? She would have to do some research.
"I have no plans on biting you Miss Granger, so get in or get out. Either way, hurry up." His sarcasm made Hermione want to roll her eyes. What an ass.
"Good evening Professor." She greeted as she stepped fully into the classroom.
"Don't bother sucking up Miss Granger. Let's get straight to the point." He spoke as he walked from behind his desk. "Tonight we will be going over what you can brew and what you cannot." Severus pointed to a chair in front of his desk.
Hermione sat down in the uncomfortable chair and laced her fingers together in her lap. Her backpack leaned awkwardly against her chair's leg.
"Let's begin with Amortentia. Can you brew it? He quesioned.
"Yes."
"Draught of Peace?"
"Yes."
"Pepper-up potion?"
"No. We've not covered that yet." She answered.
"That's stopping you? I don't recall teaching you about Polyjuice in your second year, yet you knew how to brew that." He smirked.
Hermione's face flushed. The thought of herself half cat still made her cheeks go red. How could she have been so stupid?
"I've stopped reading so far ahead in potions. I was reading a grave level above my own in the pervious years, now I only read the following weeks lesson." She informed.
"Very well. Next week we will work on brewing all of those. I need to know that your brewing skills are up to my standards. Not my class standards." He sneered slightly.
"I understand." She answered.
"Do not disappoint me Miss Granger. Now, has Albus told you what the little 'side mission' he has for you is?" Severus asked.
A flash from the pervious night flashed in Hermione's mind. Professor Snape grabbing her arm and pulling her into the darkness, demanding to know what the Headmaster's plan was. Something in her gut told her that something was going on. Why would Professor Snape care what the Headmaster wanted her to do? He usually had zero interest when it came to Hermione.
"No. I've not spoken to him since last night. He told me not to come to him unless you have been summoned by Vol.."
"Do not speak his name stupid witch!" Severus' large hand fell heavy on the desk in front of Hermione.
She jumped at the loud sound.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry sir. I didn't know!" She hurried to apologize.
"Obviously. Do not ever say his name. Ever. Especially in my presence." This time the potions master's voice was a lot calmer.
"I won't sir. I promise."
"I do not..." His words were cut short by the hiss leaving his lips. He backed away from Hermione. "I must go. The Dark Lord is summoning me. Return to your common room. I will see you tomorrow for your first Order meeting." He turned and strolled through a door that Hermione assumed was to his living quarters.
She had never been so happy to be back in her own room. The dungeons had always seemed so cold to her.
She laid on her bed thinking that her meeting with Professor Snape hadn't gone as bad as she was expecting. He hadn't yelled at her as much as she thought he usually would have. He hadn't given her detention, mocked her, or even been that hateful.
Finishing up her thought, she decided that doing a little extra homework before bed couldn't hurt. So she made a grab for her bag. Except it wasn't laying beside her bed.
Crap.
She left in it the potions classroom.
Normally this would be a big deal, but seeing as how Professor Snape was no longer there, it would be easy! A quick in and out.
The second walk to the potions classroom was a lot easier. Hermione supposed that it was the thought that her impending doom wasn't looming over her.
The plan was simple. Grab the bag, leave, and spend the rest of the night snuggled under her covers finishing next week's lessons in charms. Yes, a simply quiet night was exactly what she needs.
Luck seemed to be on her side tonight. Professor Snape had left his classroom unlocked in his hurry to leave. She opened the door and looked around before she entered. Score! He was gone and her backpack was in the same spot she had left it. She rushed over to the wooden chair and bent down to get her bag.
A voice stopped her dead in her tracks. Nobody was suppose to be here. Professor Snape hadn't came back so quickly, had he? It hadn't even been 15 minutes since he had left. So how had he gotten back so soon?
Shit. He would be upset if he found her in the classroom after he had told her to go back to her dorm. It wouldn't matter that she had only returned to get her backpack. He wouldn't care. He would give her detention for this. He would treat her as if she were stealing.
She stood still for a moment longer holding her breath before she realized that Professor Snape wasn't coming to catch her. He was, he was talking to someone? Where was the sound coming from? She knew she was too far from the classroom door for his voice to be carrying all the way from the hallway.
She looked around the room. That's when her eyes landed on the door that her Professor had left through earlier. It was cracked a little. That must be where the voices were coming from.
Hermione took a few steps towards the door and heard the sounds of a crackling fire. He was on a floo call. Probably updating the Headmaster of his very brief meeting with Voldemort tonight.
Except the longer Hermione listened, the more she realized that the voice she was hearing didn't belong to the beloved Headmaster.
It was deeper. Raspy. Almost as if the person was tired.
She took another hesitant step. She was now right in front of the door.
"Severus I expected more" Came a hiss from the person on the other end of the call.
She recognized that voice.
Voldemort. Shit.
That's who Professor Snape was talking to! This was bad. She needed to leave. She shouldn't hear anything that the wizards were talking about. However, her feet refused to listen.
"I'm sorry I failed you My Lord. I will see what information I can get from the Granger witch." Severus spoke more softly than she had ever heard him.
He had told Voldemort about her? Why? Like Harry had rudely said, she wasn't all that important. It shook her to the core to think that the darkest wizard knew about her, especially by name.
"Yes, you do that. Let me know what the girl has to say. When will the next Oder meeting take place?" The cold voice questioned.
"Tomorrow. The time has changed from 7:00 to 8:30." Severus informed.
"We can't attack then. It's short notice. Also the old fool will know it was you who told me about the changes in the time. It would be too obvious. We must be careful until he's dead."
Hermione knew that Professor Snape was a spy. He had told her as much last night. She didn't expect him to be so believable in his role. She almost believed that he wanted Death Eaters to attack the Order. That was just silly though. It just proved that the Headmaster knew what he was doing when he asked Professor Snape to be his spy. Dumbledore really should give him a raise for being so believable.
"I will continue to gather information, My Lord. The meeting tomorrow will provide more. I believe they mean to try and catch Rowle when he is coming out of the Hog's Head. I've told him countless times to stop going to the same places at the same time. Routine will ger him killed." Severus scolded.
"He will be punished for his ignorance." Was the simple reply.
Hermione shivered. She couldn't imagine what a punishment from Voldemort would be like, but she knew it wouldn't be good.
"Do you have the poison ready?" Voldemort demanded.
"It is in the final steps. It will need to sit for 12 weeks and then it will be ready." Severus answered.
"Very good. Will you do it yourself or have an elf put it in his food?" Hermione heard a bone chilling chuckle.
"I will of course do it myself. I don't trust any of the little nasty creatures to do it." The sneer in Severus' voice was clear.
"When you do this Severus, you will become Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Hermione had to throw her hand over her mouth to keep from gasping. The were planning on killing Dumbledore!
Then again she knew the Headmaster had backup plans for his backup plans. Surely he knew about this plot? Something in the back of Hermione's mind questioned it. Maybe Professor Snape was doing this behind his back and was planning on really killing him.
No. That was just stupid. It's Professor Snape's job to blend in with dark wizards and pretend that he hates the Headmaster. Dumbledore was probably sitting in his office right now laughing because Professor Snape had told him about the poison and was currently inventing a cure so the Headmaster could miraculously recover.
"You're too kind to me My Lord." Severus admitted.
"Nothing you don't deserve." He was reassured.
The conversation died down a little to just hushed whispers and quiet replies.
Hermione put her ear closer to the door trying to hear, but the pair were talking too quietly now. Maybe getting a little closer to the crack in the door would let her be able to hear.
Bingo! She breathed a sign of relief when she could understand Professor Snape's reply.
She hadn't realize that her body had been so close to the door during her sigh. She hadn't meant for the door to move.
"Ah, Severus, you didn't tell me you had company."
Hermione's heart dropped. This was how she would die. She knew she was about to be killed.
****So a little more about this story.. Severus is a Death Eater. He's gonna stay that way. He isn't going to turn to the light simply because of Hermione. Just like she isn't going to join Voldemort just because of Severus. It's a fine line that they're going to walk. So if you're looking for a fic where Severus really is spying on the Death Eaters and is truly an Order Member, then this one might not be for you. Don't forget to review!**