Butterfly Effect

by Nekolvr11

Butterfly Effect-small causes have large effects. Hermione is ship wrecked and the wizarding world takes a turn for the worse. Attempting to stop the war, she goes back to when it all went wrong. Full Summary on Profile. Older War Hardened BAMF Hermione, Time Travel:PoA, AU-Alternate Timeline(past), Grey Hermione. Eventual Snamione Some RemusXHerm and DracoHerm-Frienemyship

25. Yesterday We Were Just Children Playing

The tricky thing,

Is yesterday we were just children.

Playing soldiers,

Just Pretending,

Dreaming dreams with happy endings.

In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords,

But now we've stepped into a cruel world,

Where everyone stands and keeps score.

Keep your eyes open.

Everybody's waiting for you to break down,

Everybody's watching for the fallout,

Even when you're sleeping, sleeping.

Keep your ey-eyes open.

-Eyes Open, Taylor Swift

---

Chapter 24: Yesterday We Were Just Children Playing Soldiers.

September 1995-Hogwarts

Morning came earlier than she would have liked and Hermione groaned as her body's internal clock decided it was time to get up while her mind sluggishly tried to deny any attempts at wakefulness. She shifted and stretched as best she could with arms folded under the pillow her face was currently buried in. Her attempt was hampered by the closeness of her headboard and the fact that Crookshanks had made himself a comfortable nest in the blankets sprawled over the backs of her knees.

Taking that as a sign that she should just lay there and go back to sleep, then remembered that she wanted to be up in time to meet Ron before breakfast to see how his tryouts had gone. Apparently the times she had spotted him sneaking off on his own all week was because he had been training to try out for the Keeper position. Harry had told her so over dinner the night before when Ron had been running late. She had to leave before the red-head had shown up but had Harry pass on that she wanted to be there when the results were posted.

Dislodging Crookshanks from her legs, the brunette pulled her curtains open and slipped out of bed; her cat immediately seeking out her still warm spot in the blankets to make his new napping spot. Unsurprisingly, Parvati and Lavender were still in bed as she made her way to the bathroom for a shower, they usually were even when she slept in the extra hour on weekends.

By the time she came back in, dressed in her casual weekend muggle clothes; her two roommates were just stirring. Toweling her hair dry, she ran a brush through her curls into some semblance of submission before tossing it in the hamper.

"I think he is going to ask me out tonight." Lavender squealed from her spot next to Parvati on the other girl's bed, where the two had been chatting quietly since Hermione had entered.

"No," the olive-skinned girl gasped grinning, "I thought you said he was ignoring you?"

"Well, yes, but that was only because he was trying to keep himself focused for tryouts. Now that they are over, I am sure he will want to spend time with me." Lavender stated knowingly as she finished braiding Parvati's hair into a long plait and bouncing off the bed to go to her own wardrobe.

"You're seeing someone?" Hermione asked curiously. She did not spend much time with her roommates outside of classes; usually gone before they rose in the morning and not coming in till long after they had gone to bed.

"Of course, you must have noticed." Lavender stated shocked; Hermione merely shrugged and shook her head as she sat down on her bed to pull on her socks. "I am sure he has mentioned me at some point. You are his friend after all." at Hermione's still clueless expression the girl let out a small sigh before breathing out in utter adoration, "Ron Weasley."

Hermione was quiet for a long minute as she tried to recall if Ron had mentioned that he was interested in someone. Coming up with very little, apart from his fan-boyish adoration of Victor Krum and his failed wooing of Fleur Delacour she tried to think of anytime he had shown any real interest in anyone.

"You went to the Yule Ball together, right?" she asked remembering seeing Ron at the party seated with someone but couldn't recall specifically who. Most of what she remembered of that night had involved Malfoy's humorously snarky monolog about their table companions, a confrontation with Ron before the events that had left her to retrieve the locket currently hanging around her neck. After that she had not really been on the best of terms with the red-head for a number of weeks when she had holed herself up in the library researching for the second task.

Following that she had not paid much attention to who Ron hung out with in his free time, she had been so focused on the third task and Harry's possible abduction and or death. Had she really become so absorbed in her mission that she somehow missed something like Ron possibly having a girlfriend?

"Yes, it was a wonderful night." Lavender snapped quite venomously at her, causing Hermione to take a mental step back to try to get things in perspective; unsure why mention of the Ball brought up such a vicious outburst from the girl. "wonderful that is until you ruined it by showing up with that, that Snake!"

"Sorry?" Hermione said half heartedly deciding now would be a good time to retreat to the common room before she found herself in some soap opera moment. It was too early and she was in no mood to deal with this sort of drama, anyway she wanted to hear Ron's take on all of this. She would not put it past Lavender to exaggerate or even make up her relationship with Ron.

Leaving the dorm and her roommates, Hermione headed down to the common room with her school bag, she had some time before the boys would be up and a Runes essay that needed doing. At a sound from the stairs she saw Harry coming down with a reluctant Ron in tow.

" 'Tis a shame dear brother." Fred said somberly to his counterpart, catching sight of the reluctant Ron from their position leaning languidly on either side of the bulletin board like bookends.

"True shame brother of mine, but then all us Weasleys can't be talented at Quidditch." George added.

"Of course, we are," Fred quipped.

"The best in the bunch." Fred acknowledged. Ron took one look at the notice board between the pair and turned to head back up the stairs.

"I really don't need to look , I already know I failed. I'll just be in my bed, pretending I don't exist until Monday." he muttered before Harry caught him with an exasperated eye roll and pulled the red head into the common room fully. Looking around for the third member of their trio. He found her sitting with Ginny on one of the plush maroon couches she so frequented. She waved at the boys before putting her work aside so she could get up. Ginny went with her as the twins helped Harry navigate Ron to the notice board, only for the twins to continue to haze their youngest brother. Ron let out a relieved sigh at the list; he thought he might have a chance at getting reserve Keeper but was pleasantly surprised to find he had made it onto the team! The twins congratulated him before pressuring him with expectations left by Wood's vacancy.

The cheerful attitude continued down to breakfast where Hermione read over the Prophet in between bites of breakfast, there apparently had been a break in at the Ministry but no mention of where it had occurred. Turning a page a letter fell out on her lap. Recognizing the handwriting she excused herself from the table. Leaving the hall she headed into the nearest bathroom, locking herself in a stall after checking that the room was vacated.

Sirius's letter filled in more information as to where the break in had occurred and his frustration that Dumbledore insisted on placing a guard. Hermione speculated that she should at least check things out before making any final decisions. She had been in the Ministry before but only in the places she had needed to enter before coming back, the Death Chamber and the department where all the time turners had been distributed from. Skimming the letter Hermione noticed a comment at the bottom that seemed to be added almost offhandedly. Peaking her interest, she read over the letter again for good measure.

"Dracarys," she whispered, waking the sleeping dragon draped around her neck, she extended the letter toward him and with a breath the page was ablaze. Flushing the ashes down the toilet for good measure.

'-I'm planning on taking Mooney out for a walk, he's getting restless and could use a good romp in his favorite place.-.'

It had been a risky move sending such information in a letter where it could easily be redirected and miss delivered. He was sure to get an earful when she saw him next, which would be sooner than she previously thought. Sirius was setting up a meeting at the shrieking shack with him and Lupin at the next full moon. They were to meet tonight.

---

Slipping out of the school was easy enough with the added advantage of the Marauder's Map and a Prefect Badge should she run into a teacher-unlikely with the Map in hand- but it was never a bad idea to have a back up excuse. Bypassing the Whomping Willow and taking the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack was quiet.

"Hermione, there you are, just in time." Sirius said happily as she entered from the cellar door into the dreary living room. A fire had been lit in the hearth, giving off a cheery light to push back the somber shadows in the abandoned house. Sirius was seated on a moth eaten raggedy sofa before the fire, Mooney curled up contentedly on the cushion next to him.

"Didn't give me much heads up," she snapped tugging off her cloak. "What were you thinking, sending me mail? Harry could have recognized the writing if I hadn't left the hall. The Ministry has got its eyes on the school and Umbridge is not too pleased with me as well. Not to mention there is a good chance everyone's mail is being monitored."

"Hence the coded message and using my house elf to slip it into your paper." Sirius retorted back flippantly.

"You could have sent the meeting place through your ring and told me all that here." Hermione scowled, taking a seat on the sofa opposite the Dog.

"You know it has a word limit, there was too much to tell you that way." Sirius stated rather reasonably.

"Well you could have just told me to meet here with the ring."

"I could have," Sirius agreed but did not bother continuing the argument, he picked up immediately that most of her rant was not genuine. She wasn't that angry about the letter, still it did not mean they should not tread with caution in the future. "What have you all worked up?"

"Had a bad week," she admitted tiredly coming to sit down on the other end of the couch scrubbing at her face with her hands, a cold nose bumped against her wrist.

"Hello, Remus." She greeted tilting her head to look at the wolf, he wuffed at her before placing a paw on her arm, mindful of his claws. "I'm fine, just tired." She said patting his paw in thanks before looking over at Sirius. "What did you want to discuss?"

"How are classes going?" He asked resting his foot on the opposite knee, "Harry says Umbridge isn't teaching you anything, giving you in particular a hard time."

"It is a complete waste of time," she snapped, rubbing her scarring hand in irritation. "She expects us to learn the spells on theory alone and be able to pass our O. W. L's. If that isn't bad enough, she is a closet sadist in private. Had me writing lines all last week with a Blood Quill! Think she got off on it all, the pink bitch."

"Let me see," Sirius demanded, instantly alert, turning in his seat and holding out a hand expectantly. Hermione held out her hand, it was still red and beginning to heal over into scars but the murtlap essence had done its job in closing the quill lines and numbing the pain.

"Doesn't look too bad, have you been treating it?" Sirius asked, releasing her hand with a scowl.

"Yeah, murtlap essence. Might see about slipping some to the twins, they have connections throughout the student body. If she does this to anyone else they could get it to those that need it. Doubt she would go so far as torturing those from families with standing in the Ministry, but there are still many Half-Bloods and Muggleborns she can take advantage of." Remus settled back onto the couch cushions, a low growl rumbling out of his chest, lips pulled back in an unusual show of aggression outside those nights he went without his potion, the fur along his back standing on end.

"Aye, we can do that. We will also be checking in with the Order on this matter. See if there is anything we can do to get her out of Hogwarts any quicker." He agreed with a nod, "From our information on the inside of the Ministry; Fudge doesn't want you lot trained in combat, but torturing students is a big jump from neglecting their education. I doubt he knows about that little tidbit of her teaching criteria."

"A little late for that, if he that is what he is worried about." Hermione scoffed using a hand to flatten Remus' fur back down. "I'm guessing you mean normal students."

"I don't think even Fudge's paranoia could plan for the likes of you," Sirius said with a chuckle, digging around in a bag beside the couch and pulling out a bottle of fire whiskey. "but yes he is more worried about the students, especially those loyal to Dumbledore like Harry. You want some Mooney, I brought a bowl." Sirius offered passing a glass to Hermione before pulling out an obnoxious dog bowl from the bag. Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head in answer. With a shrug Sirius dropped the bowl back in the bag before pouring his own glass.

"He is afraid we might form some sort of militia?" Hermione asked after downing half her glass, grimacing at the burn of the liquor as it ran down her throat before reclining back on the couch to sip more slowly at the rest. She did not get the opportunity to drink much outside her home, during the summer she would usually enjoy a glass of something a good deal stronger than butterbeer while working in her office in the evening before bed.

She usually did not drink in excess apart from that one Christmas break she had gone out with Sirius; she had not repeated the experience again until the previous summer. Without Sirius this time, she had taken an evening to head off into muggle London, forgetting for a time the responsibilities she had taken upon herself. Letting herself act her age for once after spending most of her year under the persona of a teenager.

"That is exactly what he thinks you are doing or rather-that's exactly is what he is afraid Dumbledore is doing―forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."

"So," Hermione mused, "their preventing students from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is worried we might try to overthrow the Ministry."

"Yep," Sirius nodded, "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid by the day. Especially with what happened this summer, all the trouble Dumbledore stirred up trying to spread the word about Voldemort. It's only a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped up charges and removed from the school."

"That is just what I was afraid of," Hermione said darkly, "once he finds enough proof, and he will even if it's fabricated. He will get Dumbledore out of the way so Umbridge can take his place. If that happens then Hogwarts truly might fall again."

"You can't mean that!" Sirius startled, "She's Fudge's lanky but surely she wouldn't turn the school over to Voldemort."

"She is very focused on her own agenda; from the stories I heard she was against anything or anyone that could be labeled 'half-breed'. While not strictly speaking is she pro-Purebloods she is sympathetic toward their views of Muggleborns and Voldemort's agenda. She was more than willing to follow his dictation when he took over the Ministry, until he moved to purge the school of undesirables." They sat in silence for a while after that ominous declaration, sipping at their whiskey as the fire crackled in the hearth.

"I see your point," Sirius finally said breaking his silence, "she needs to go."

"I would be more than happy to make a teaching vacancy," Hermione stated blandly, "but that might just make things harder to deal with Fudge. For all we know he could use her disappearance as reason to remove Dumbledore sooner."

"We'll think of something," Sirius reassured.

"There is something else I wanted to talk to you about." She said digging in her pocket, pulling out a clipping from that morning's paper. "What is this about a break in at the Ministry?"

"Ah, that, well apparently Voldemort has been sending out feelers to get into the Department of Mysteries. No one made it in but that doesn't mean they won't try again."

"Any chances of me being able to get in and have a look around?"

"You want to go in to get the Prophecy?" He asked curiously.

"To have a look around at the very least and destroy it if I can," she acknowledged.

"Dumbledore has two working guard duty at a time and he hasn't been placing us at the same time. I'm usually paired with Moody, don't think Dumbledore trusts me to not just go in and smash the thing myself after all my complaining at the last meeting. It would be hard to slip you in unnoticed." The marauder stated, "but I'm sure we can work something out to sneak you in. Can't really call ourselves proper pranksters if we couldn't accomplish a little high security infiltration." Hermione left shortly after that, crawling exhaustedly into bed well after two in the morning. It was going to be a long year if her first week was anything to go by.

---

Monday there was quite a stir when the Prophet arrived with a headline, that the one and only Delorus Umbridge had been made High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. With her fancy new title came a whole arsenal of new powers in which to throw around; including the ability to sit in on other Professors classes in order to grade their conduct and teaching ability, with the bonus of being able to remove said teacher from their position among the schools staff if she so chose.

The first person on Umbridge's list of people to dig up dirt on had been Trelawney, the Divination Professor. According to Harry and Ron's retelling of their class, things were not looking well for the eccentric Professor's future prospects at the school.

To top off Umbridge's rise in power came a whole slew of decrees limiting the freedoms of students and teachers alike. The most prominent being the banning of all group activities and clubs, namely all Quidditch teams. Apparently to have any hope of forming any groups they needed to have at least one teacher's sponsorship as well as Umbridge's own seal of approval. It caused quite a big outburst in the common room Monday morning when the notice was posted for all to see.

"She can't do this, I only just got on." Ron raged on the way down to breakfast.

"I've already been to McGonagall,"Angelina said, butting into the group that had formed heading to the Great Hall, most of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was already present. "She is going to go speak to Umbridge after breakfast but it wouldn't hurt to be on your best behavior in her class."

"We can do that," Ron stated adamantly, eager to do anything that would get the team back together faster, "can't we Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed nodding his head, "we can do that if it gets the team back."

Despite claims of behaving in class, even going out of his way and trying to be friendly to the woman; Harry was not prepared for the High Inquisitor's uncanny skill at getting under one's skin especially when she was going out of her way to get a rise out of the scarred boy. Before she had much chance to think about what she was doing, Hermione had drawn the woman's focus on her by calling attention to herself in a manner befitting the Know-It-All-Of-Gryffindor.

Hand waving in the air in a manner that demanded attention and proceeded to spout off every question, hypothesis and observation that popped in her head while rereading the chapter they had been instructed to read at the start of class; as a result a number of other students voiced their own observations, some of which were rather tactfully malign and Hermione could not help but gain a bit more respect for Seamus Finnigan. It seemed Hermione was fast in becoming one of Umbridge's least favorite students if the growing look of contempt behind her ever present mask of decorum was anything to go by.

She wasn't sure how but by the time Umbridge had put her heeled foot down and got the class back into order it was time to leave and she had yet another week's worth of detention to look forward to.

"Why did you do that, Hermione?" Harry demanded in a low hiss as the Gryfindors rushed from the classroom. "Now she is never going to let the team reform." Hermione eyed him consideringly before pulling the dark-haired boy into a side hall where they would have more privacy as their fellow students dispersed.

"And the fact you were on the verge of making a scene yourself was going to prevent that fact?" She questioned giving him a skeptical look.

"I wasn't-" Harry denied but Hermione cut him off.

"You were, she was baiting you and you were walking right into it." she snapped, jabbing a finger in his chest.

"Why don't you just stay out of my business." Harry retorted, the fine trigger on his temper finally snapping and letting loose on the only outlet available. "You are always doing that, butting in on things that don't have anything to do with you!"

Hermione was caught off guard by the remarks, a heavy weight settling in her throat. He didn't understand that everything she was doing, it was to keep him safe. "I'm sorry it seems that way, Harry." her voice was unusually neutral and without inflection, "I'm not trying too, I just want to make sure you stay out of trouble."

"I don't need your help!" Harry snarled, "I don't want your help!" He let out a frustrated growl and rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes, now that he had finally let loose he found he could not bottle it up anymore. The unreasonable anger that had been slowly building was burning like an ember right behind his eyes, only worsened by the poor nights of sleep he had been getting since returning to school. Nightmares of red eyes, endless corridors and an ever illusive door plaguing his unconscious mind.

"Harry," Hermione started, realizing now that she wasn't going to be able to continue protecting him like she had been in the past few years. Keeping him in the dark and shielding him from everything. He had seen a new side to life last year and he wasn't the child he once was. Looking at him now she suddenly realized, he wasn't a boy anymore and he wasn't going to sit back and abide being treated like one. "If you can't keep your temper in class, you certainly wouldn't be able to control yourself in detention alone with her. I really am trying to help."

"It's just lines, you said so yourself. It can't be any worse than answering Lockhart's fan mail." Harry argued, lowering his hands from his face, feeling both frustrated at Hermione's insistence to meddle in everything he did and relieved that he had finally been able to vent.

"I lied," she stated bluntly, deciding maybe it was time to start being honest with the Boy-Who-Lived.

"What," Harry retorted confused.

"I didn't want you or Ron to worry about it, I thought―" she cut herself off before she got ahead of herself, it was the first time she had admitted to lying to her friend and it would have been all too tempting to let slip one of her many other lies. To be herself with him for once, the one she knew deep down he would never accept, and not the Hermione she was expected to be. "Please just try to keep your head around her, for my sake as well as your own. I've already told a teacher and Dumbledore should know by now but there isn't much they can do, now that she is High Inquisitor. Please Harry," she implored.

Things were still tense between the pair through lunch but Hermione was grateful that Harry spoke to her compared to the tense silences between her and Ron when they were at odds when not verbally attacking each other. Part way through lunch the Twins came by to make a request Hermione was more than happy to carry out.

"What's that?" Ron asked as Hermione stuffed the small item in her bag before he could get a good look at it.

"Patience dear brother, no need to spoil the surprise." George chided with a conspiratorial smirk.

"I promised them I would test out some of their pranks on certain people, that is if I want to keep my immunity to their pranks." Hermione supplied a pointed glance at a particular woman at the head table. As the day progressed it did not seem to have any intention of turning for the better, or maybe fate had simply wanted to move things along, as following lunch Umbridge accompanied them to the dungeons and their Potion's Class.

"We are continuing with our Strengthening Solutions today," Snape said entering the room, outright ignoring the pink stain seated in the back of his class, with a wave of his wand and the previously locked cupboard holding the cauldrons of unfinished potion from Friday opened itself. "You will find your mixtures as you left the last lesson, if correctly made they should have matured well over the weekend. Instructions―"he waved his wand again and the chalkboard flipped revealing the instructions Hermione had meticulously written out Friday evening while cleaning the classroom."―are on the board. Carry on." The class seemed to be waiting for the next move, as they hurried about gathering their potions and scurrying back to their tables, all the while darting glances from Snape to Umbridge.

In the back of the room, Umbridge stood and made her way through the aisle of working students with a look of dissatisfaction on her face as she peered down at Pavarti's cauldron before moving on.

"Well, the class seems fairly advanced for their level," she said briskly to Snape's back, missing a red scaled critter slipping between feet and tables to the back of the room. A small tin of the witch's preferred brand of face cream in his teeth, the contents of which was a unique and volatile concoction of the twins making. "Though I would question whether it is advisable to teach them a potion like the Strengthening Solution. I think the Ministry would prefer it if that was removed from the syllabus."

Snape straightened up slowly and turned to look at her. She seemed absorbed in her clipboard, missing the dark look that was shot her way.

"Now," she continued unperturbed or simply too ignorant to notice that the man she was verbally poking might not be the best course of action. "How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" she asked, her quill poised over her clipboard expectantly.

"Fourteen years." Snape replied curtly in the voice he used with his most simple minded students.

"You applied first for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?" She prodded more and the students continued to watch the exchange covertly.

"Yes," said Snape simply.

"But you were unsuccessful?" Umbridge asked, earning a round of cough suppressed laughter from a select few Gryffindors.

"Obviously." Snape drew out with such blatant disdain that Hermione was surprised the Potion's Master had not given into the urge to dump something both unpleasant and well deserved down her throat. Under her table, she could feel Dracarys slip back into her bag by her feet.

Professor Umbridge continued to scribble away on her clipboard.

"And you have applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position regularly since you first joined the school, I believe?"

"Yes," said Snape quietly, lips barely moving but a tightening of his jaw betrayed the snarl he was only barely suppressing at the woman's nerve to insult him by performing such an interview in front of the students.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to appoint you?" asked Umbridge.

"I suggest you ask him," Snape shot bitingly.

"Oh I shall" said Professor Umbridge with a sweet smile.

"I suppose this is relevant?" Snape asked, his black eyes narrowed toward Harry and Ron's table where the former's cauldron was beginning to send out vile fumes.

"Oh yes," said Professor Umbridge. "Yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers'―er –backgrounds..." she supplied before moving off to speak to Pansy Parkinson who was more than happy to supply any answers the woman wanted. Snape on the other hand had set upon Harry, who in his complete distraction watching the interaction between the two professors, had ruined his entire potion.

Hermione let out a sigh as she added in the last few ingredients to her own, Harry was going to be in a right mood that night with Snape assigning him even more homework.

---

Severus didn't look up from the potions he was currently testing when there was a knock at his office door a half hour after the last class of the day ended. Punctual as always, a wave of his hand in the general direction of the door behind him sent the large wooden barrier swinging open soundlessly. Granger entered without a word, setting a paper on his desk in passing before moving to set her things on a small table reserved for her use in the corner of the room.

In previous years the table had been stacked in piles of parchments; tests and essays waiting to be graded and handed back. Sometimes the surface was cluttered in racks of potion vials that needed examining for their potency and efficiency or lack there of when he truly got behind in his work but this was rare as he made a point of grading them as soon as possible. Not every potion was susceptible to decay over time but he was a firm believer that most potions were in their prime quality soon after they had finished brewing; apart from a select few that seemed to become more potent with age, like a fine quality wine.

On the rare occasion he managed to get caught up in his teaching duties; usually in that brief period when he had managed to finish grading all that had built up from current work and past holiday assignments but had yet to begin designating extra in preparation for another break or end of year exams. If he managed to muster up the energy, after weeks of late nights trying to catch up, to pursue his own experimentation into his specialty, he would use that so convenient table as an area to keep his personal research away from his everyday work but still close at hand should he find himself struck with inspiration or a few hours of free time.

This year however has found that so often useful table to be cleared off for the sole use of his aid.

Severus had to take a moment and let that sink in; the girl that had managed to invade his mornings for the past two years had once again found a way to invade herself into his personal time when most of her peers would be doing their best to avoid him, Gryfindors in particular. His lack of aids in the past were evidence of that fact, even those from his own House. Now though he had a new incite, a glimpse behind the curtain.

There was a very good chance that she was feeding information to her guardian and by association Nemo; had been for years. It had been well known around that Granger's beast of a cat had been out for the Weasley family rat, a creature that had been mentioned in passing as quite the curiosity over the years among the staff, it's longevity even gaining enough interest to be the topic of one of the faculties betting pools that started up over the years. Now looking back at the actions of the girl's cat, one could pick out things that did not quite fit.

Nothing unusual or even overly suspicious, simply-given what he knew now-a hint at something more. The feline's persistence to stalk the halls as if on the hunt even weeks after it had been known that the rodent had been presumed dead―eaten by said cat if the rumors were to be believed. Something that would have been viewed as odd, had one taken the time to make note of the occurrence, particularly after the rat had reappeared so conveniently. Trapped by an unknown party and delivered, neatly packaged to the werewolf.

Another thing that he had noted in retrospect; something he had been too wrapped up in his own perception to take note of, was Granger's indifference toward the werewolf's condition. She had recognized immediately what he had been brewing in her detention with him but had made no remark on why, almost as if she had already known the answer; any one that could recognize Wolf's Bane on sight would also have known that it was not a potion that was brewed on a whim without an intent to use, it was expensive for one thing and had a very short shelf life.

Sending the last rack of vials, studiously graded for their potency or lack thereof, off to a cabinet where they would be disposed of by Granger later. Severus moved to sit behind his desk as his aid began cleaning up his private workstation where he had been testing potions on dragonflies. It was not a station he preferred to use, barely more complex than the ones the students used in his classroom through the adjoining door; but it did allow him to brew and keep an eye on students serving detention. While he preferred to work in his private and far more professionally stocked lab, through a separate warded door that led downstairs, he made a point to only test any potions in his office. Given the odd students' penchant for botching their brew and as a result damaging his property, he would rather replace the less valuable equipment of his office lab.

As Granger disposed of the insects and washed down the granite counter, Severus took the time to look over the paper she had left on his desk. Eyebrows arching up near his hair line as he read over the official document, somehow despite having been subjected to a rather dark artifact last week, Granger had still managed to get herself yet another week worth of detention with the newest Defense Instructor and even more recent High Inquisitor. It made him wonder if the woman's outbreak in a vile and messy case of pussy boils all across her face at dinner, had any connection to the paper he was currently holding. It seemed something the Weasley pair would have pulled, but then a week's exposure to a blood quill is enough to push any one out of their usual methods.

"Granger," he inquired, turning slightly in his seat and holding the paper up, demanding an explanation without a word. She paused in her work briefly before replying.

"Better me than someone else," she offered vaguely, "I am sorry Sir, it will not happen again." She assured, before continuing in her work.

"I should hope so," he retorted, "you are no good to me if you are only here half the time you are supposed to be."

The next hour passed by uneventfully as Granger finished what she could in the limited time she had before having to leave to spend the rest of the evening with Umbridge. Severus was just finishing up the fourth year's essays on the three ways to neutralize a poisonous potion known as 'Tears of the Dead' when soft footsteps approached his desk from across the office.

"Sir," Granger asked tentatively after waiting for him to finish on his current roll of parchment decorated in a large number of red ink comments. "Can I ask you about something not class related?"

Setting his current parchment roll aside with the rest of the graded papers, Severus leaned back in his chair and took his time in answering; curiosity peaked.

"You may," he said finally, waving his hand in a gesture to continue, she sat down in the chair across from him.

"It's Harry you see," she started shifting in her seat in an unusual show of unease and rubbing a hand against her temple as if fighting off a headache. "his temper has been very short recently and it's beginning to make me worry."

The dark haired man sat forward abruptly in irritation, obviously the girl was being overly sensitive about something Potter had said. It wasn't unusual for close groups that formed in first and second years, to become upset in later years as hormones began running rampant and personalities clashed. He could vividly recall a particular incident in his own later school years that had shattered one of his oldest friendships. He wasn't in the mood to hear about what a Potter had or hadn't done, these where things she should go to her own Head of House for; she wasn't one of his."If that is all-" he started but she cut him off before he could get far.

"I'm not talking about teenage outbursts, something is off with him since Voldemort came back!" An aching numbness seeped its way from fingertip to shoulder with a sharpness of an electrical shock that made his joints seize up painfully. A feeling he had grown used too in his years of working for the Headmaster; it did not make the feeling any less unpleasant. Flexing the fingers on his left hand, relieving some of the lingering pins and needles; Severus leveled his coldest glare at the girl. She paused as if about to say something, then she surprised him as her eyes flicked down for the briefest of glances at his left arm. For a moment she looked like she might say something but then seemed to think better of it because she closed her mouth and sat back, waiting for him to speak almost sheepishly.

"There are reasons we do not speak his name aloud Ms Granger, it is not all irrational fears." He ground out with a forced calm; thankful that the Dark Lord had not started up the old habit of tracking down those that used his name so flippantly and making an example of them. The taboo had weakened over the years, doing little more than alerting the Dark Lord with a pathetic pinging when his name was spoken aloud but nothing else. The tracing charms that used to track down the culprits had long since decayed from years of neglect, but that was made irrelevant when a Dark Mark was only a few feet away. The Mark acted like a beacon, reporting back to it's Master anytime the taboo was invoked in close proximity. Luckily, though he was loathed to admit it, Dumbledore had a habit of using the name quite frequently, the end result after years of unanswered notifications was that his particular Mark garnered about as much attention as a prank caller. Though he still had to deal with the unpleasant effect it had when invoked, regardless of if anyone was listening.

"That does not change the fact that something is different with Harry since Riddle came back!" she retorted, changing the subject while choosing not to mention the discomfort she somehow managed to see through his cool demeanor.

"Riddle?" he questioned in surprise, there were only a handful of people alive that knew that name in association with the Dark Lord.

"That was the surname on his diary, the one Harry found in the chamber with Ginny." She said before continuing, "from what I've been told and from what I have seen, he hasn't been sleeping well. More so than usual; it isn't unusual for him to lose sleep over a dream that makes his scar burn but now it's more than just the occasional dream. Even over the summer; Ron mentioned that he has started speaking in Parseltongue more than a few times and it is getting worse. His scar has been irritating him a lot recently, you can tell. It gets all red and inflamed; it used to get like that first year when he was around Quirrel." That was something new; the most he knew of the cursed scar was what little Dumbledore had learned in his dealings with the boy. A few times he had caught the Potter boy rubbing at his head when he thought he was unobserved, particularly during his first year and now more recently. He had not realized the cursed scar had been so active over the years, it was highly unusual even for a cursed scar, especially after so many years since the wound had been inflicted. He would have to bring this to Dumbledore's attention; if the boy's scar was acting as some sort of conduit between him and the Dark Lord then it might be best if the Headmaster got him started on some sort of mental defenses before things got out of hand. Granger paused in her speech to shift uncomfortably, her eyes focusing away from him. A sign he had picked up that she wasn't wanting to share something but was going to do so anyway.

"He and I had a row earlier, we have had them from time to time and I'm not saying he did not have a right to be angry with me but I've never seen him quite so," she paused in thought trying to find the proper word, "so explosive, I would expect it from Ron, but Harry has always been more contained with his temper; he has never exploded like that before and I'm worried about Umbridge taking advantage of it." A very valid worry, the last thing they needed was Potter making their situation worse; especially now that Umbridge had taken up the title of High Inquisitor and had set her sights on undermining the Headmaster's faculty, before going for Dumbledore's position.

"Have you brought this to the Headmaster?" Normally Potter would go running to Dumbledore as soon as something happened, he was predictable that way.

"No, I was hoping to try to help him myself first. Harry tried to talk to him over the summer, but Professor Dumbledore was too busy to talk and it hasn't helped Harry with his temper. I don't think having him talk to Dumbledore is going to help at this point."

"What exactly do you want, Granger. If you're expecting me to offer to speak to Potter on the need to control himself then I am afraid you are going to be sorely disappointed." Granger had the nerve to snort at that, like she found something in his statement amusing.

"No, I doubt that would help anyone involved. What I wanted to ask was; would Occlumency be something that might help block whatever it is that is going on between Harry, Vol―Riddle and his scar?" Severus rested his mouth against his fist, an elbow propped on his desk. He could not help the rye smile that pulled on his lips hidden by his knuckles; of course she would come to the same conclusion as him. Had he not known better, he might have begun to wonder if the girl was a Legilimens.

"What do you know of Occlumency?" He asked deliberately avoiding her question; curious to see what she knew of the subject. He knew she was not a Legilimens or had at least never attempted to infiltrate his mind. He had not thought her to have any skill in Occlumency, not after he had so easily managed to see into her mind; not that he thought she was before then.

"I did some reading up on it back in third year, to help Ginny. She had been having some trouble with what had happened with the Diary. It helped her and I thought it might help Harry as well." she gave a shrug, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I figured she might be able to give him some pointers."

"You don't want to do it yourself?" He asked mildly surprised and not bothering to hide the condescending note to his voice.

"No," she bit back haughtily before giving the briefest hesitation, something he noted she had a habit of doing before sharing information, like she had to gather all her facts before sharing. A habit that was almost fitting of Granger who tended to absorbed facts like a sponge. "I doubt Harry is going to be in any mood to accept help from me after today. Even so, while I brought up studying Occlumency to Ginny, she is the one who has been keeping up with the practice. I just wanted to know if it would be of any use before I go pestering Ginny's help."

"In theory it could help," he answered finally after some thought. If Granger's information was right concerning Potter's scar and it usually was, then Potter would definitely be in need of Occlumency training. Once Dumbledore hears of this he was more than likely going to ask him to tutor the boy. He had not been as subtle as he thought he was being in avoiding the boy it seemed, but apparently for good reason. If there was a connection between Potter and the Dark Lord and it was now being amplified the avoidance had been a good precaution. "but it might not. Cursed scars are finicky things, not always following the normal laws of magic. Potter's scar is no exception." The brunette nodded, seeming to become lost in her thoughts, Severus glanced at the clock before pushing back from his desk.

"You best gather your things, I believe Umbridge will be expecting you soon." Granger blinked, brought out of her musing before going to gather her things. In the end she seemed reluctant to leave, not that he could blame her, with another week of literal torture filling her evenings to look forward too.

---

Near the end of the week Hermione got another first hand seat in another one of Umbridge's inspection failures in action. She had heard from other students of the inspections going on during the High Inquisitor's free hour. She had come into her transfiguration class on Thursday to find Umbridge perched in the corner like an unwanted vulture waiting for a chance to sink it's sharp and intrusive beak into a vulnerable patch of tender flesh.

The Ministry worker was less than prepared for the Head of the Lion House, when she was firmly put in her place in the hierarchy of the Transfiguration classroom. Which left her silently fuming on her stool scratching away at her clipboard. Hermione would have given the woman a standing ovation if it would have not drawn unwanted attention and that it would more than likely simply land her in yet another detention.

She made due with vanishing her mouse on the first try, a simple thing when she had learned to vanish far larger things with the luxury of a wand and then spending the rest of the class helping out those around her. Neville, surprisingly, had caught on to the spell with only a few pointers from the witch. Surprising both of them when his mouse disappeared without so much as a whisker behind. Neville had always excelled at Herbology and was passable when it came to classes that focused on wand work, not to mention his atrocious potions work. It was a pleasant surprise to both of them when he managed to be one of the first few people in the class to cast the spell correctly.

Their next class for the day had been Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Grubbly-Plank. The Substitute Professor had been more than happy to speak highly of the school and Headmaster, though she had little to say on Hagrid's teaching which was understandable.

That was until Umbridge began to question student's on Hagrid, particularly on whether there had been any injuries in the class; this question seemed to be directed toward Goyle. He seemed caught off guard by the inquiry. More than likely having been spouting out whatever dirt he could when asked at the time but having not thought his actions through.

"What was the nature of the injuries?"

"Ah-" Gregory floundered looking to Malfoy to cover for him. Malfoy glanced at Hermione, gauging her reaction. She watched him back with mild interest, eyebrow quirked in interest and arms folded as she waited for his answer.

Nothing worth noting unless you count the time Finnegan lit his robes on fire while sketching salamanders, but then that is nothing new. Right, Finnegan, eyebrows are coming in nice and even I see." This brought in a round of shouts from Seamus and Dean who spoke up in his friend's defense.

"Well that was unusual," Ron said as the class headed back up to the school; Harry on one side and Hermione on the other. The pair were on speaking terms but things were still awkward when Ron was not around between the pair. "I would have thought Malfoy would have brought up that time when he was nearly turned into bird food when that hippogriff attacked him."

"Probably just didn't want to bring up the fact that Hermione saved his sorry ass." Harry sniped back glaring at a cluster of green robed students that were talking further down the path. Hermione made the wise decision and remained silent as they headed into the castle for dinner.

It took some time but finally Saturday she was able to speak with the youngest Weasley. Enlisting Ginny's help had been a little harder than first planned; Hermione had expected some resistance from the red-head, after all what she was asking was not a simple thing. It required a great deal of trust from both participants as well as cooperation from both teacher and student; while it was clear Harry and Ginny had grown comfortable over the summer spent at Grimmauld Place, it did not mean that convincing Harry to voluntarily participate in the lessons would be an easy task.

Ginny had agreed, but only after some begging and negotiating on Hermione's part; she now not only owed the girl a secret-rendezvous-look-out but also additional muggle defense lessons. In addition, the Weasley girl had been persistent to learn why Hermione was not teaching him herself and she wasn't taking their recent fight as a good enough reason.

"Come on Hermione, you can tell me." Ginny pestered seated at the table opposite Hermione's extensive stack of textbooks, they had been working on homework together in a secluded corner of the library. Ginny had finished her's a while ago and was keeping Hermione company as she tried to catch up on her work, it had been piling up with her evenings being taken up by the company of a pink psychopath. "If not that then tell me something else; like you're mystery date," she commented with a cheeky grin.

"Ginny," Hermione gave an exasperated groan, "can we not do this now? I have three essays to get done and a test to study for." she pleaded setting aside her charms essay to dry and picked up another to begin on her Ancient Ruins.

"And don't think I forgot that you did not want me to tell them about you knowing Occlumency back when you first taught me. I get it, sort of, but don't think I didn't notice that you avoided telling me why you felt the need to learn it. You are going to have to start giving me some answers if you're going to keep wanting me to cover for you." Hermione paused in the middle of writing down a line before setting her quill down.

"I know I owe a lot of people a lot of answers, Gin, including you," she acknowledged, "but I can't tell you, I'm sorry, not now anyway." she could see Ginny's disappointment plainly. "Someday I will tell you, but I can't." Ginny eyed her speculatively.

"Alright, I won't pry for now but I will want some answers." the redhead said with a pointed finger.

"Starting with every excruciating detail about my 'mystery date'." Hermione swore with no shortage of humor coloring her tone, a hand over her chest. "though I think in the end it will not be quite as scandalous as you have imagined."

---

Hermione tapped her quill against her chin in thought, something was going to have to be done about Umbridge. With the woman in charge of the Defense class, the body count was going to be devastating if things progressed as they had in her time. If she could not get the woman out of the school, then maybe she could do something to undermine her.

Harry entered the common room chatting animatedly with Ginny and Ron; it had been about a week now since Harry had been talked into learning Occlumency with Ginny. Even this early she could already see an effect on the scarred boy.

"Hey," she called catching the attention of the trio who came over to sit with her on the sofa in front of the great fireplace.

"What have you been up to Hermione," Harry asked, settling back into the sofa comfortably.

"Thinking," she remarked, her Care of Magical Creatures essay spread out mostly finished on her lap.

"What about," Ron asked sitting down with a wooden box between him and Harry on the couch, unfolding a portable chessboard as the pieces hurried to take their places.

"Seeing as we all know Defense Against the Dark Arts is just a waste of time." She started hesitatingly before voicing the idea she had been mulling over since her talk with Sirius. "What if we started studying defense ourselves?"

"Come off it, Hermione." Ron groaned as he took one of Harry's pawns.

"I'm serious," She said, dropping her voice down to a whisper. "Remember our talk after Umbridge's first lesson."

"No," Ginny said even as the boys nodded.

"Basically, we need to not make a spectacle of ourselves trying to prove he is back, you saw what happened to Dumbledore over the summer; but that is not where I was going with this." Hermione elaborated for the other girl before getting back on topic. "I have been wondering if maybe we should start learning Defense ourselves. Like we did over the summer."

"Who would teach us?" Harry asked skeptically, moving his knight and taking Ron's bishop.

"Well I was hoping you would, I mean you and the twins got the most magical training and I could help keep tutoring you guys in muggle fighting. It would not be that different from what we were doing over the summer, only with a few more people."

"How much is a 'few more' exactly?" Harry watched as his king was run through by Ron's knight, ending the game.

"I don't know, I have not really asked around but I bet there are lots of students that are unhappy with Umbridge's teaching and-" she paused before continuing in a voice filled with genuine uncertainty as the damaged pieces across the board gathered themselves up to become whole again and the board was reset. "I'm just worried; the only way I can see the Ministry finally believing that he is back, is if he shows himself. If that happens, then it will mean he is confident enough in his standing that he doesn't feel the need to hide. If it gets to that point; I think things might go bad very fast. I just want us all to be prepared for whatever is coming."

Her friends were quiet for a time thinking over what she had said. The common room was rather empty as their housemates drifted off to the dorms. When one of them finally spoke up, it was Ron much to her surprise.

"That is why Umbridge is here," he said, rolling a pawn in between his fingers as he focused on the reset board. The pieces moved across it in a manner only he could see.

Ginny and Harry looked at him confused but Hermione was internally proud at his conclusion; of her friends she had known Ron would be the first to see past the current situation, to where it was headed. She had been worried that he might not put in the effort to work it out like when she had presented him with the mystery of why Sirius Black had escaped from prison.

Like in chess; you could not play move-for-move, if you wanted to win you had to see three moves ahead and play accordingly, to out maneuver your opponent before the moves had even been made.

"Voldemort doesn't want us trained, I bet you a bag of galleons that he is behind Fudge placing Umbridge here. Voldemort wants this; with the teachers being interrogated and Dumbledore being harassed in the papers. Even us sitting in Defense with our thumbs up our noses. He is destabilizing everything inside Hogwarts."

"Why," Ginny asked, "Why is he targeting Hogwarts and not the Ministry?"

"Where else can you find the two wizards he wants dead the most?" Harry said with a grave look.

"He gets Dumbledore out of the way; the only wizard who's power he fears," Ron knocked over the white queen, much to the pieces' displeasure. "-and you, the only other person our side might rally around." He knocked over the white king. "After that there would not be much else to stop him from taking over the Ministry."Nodding his head before looking up from the board and at the other three people in their group.

"What," he stared as Harry and Ginny looked at him with a mixture of shock and impressed.

"Who replaced my brother with someone who has a brain." Ginny commented loudly.

"I can have ideas sometimes." He snapped, flushing red.

"Yeah once in a blue moon." Ginny sniped back, "Mum will be so proud to hear you actually have more than just Quidditch facts stuffed between your ears." Ron threw one of the random sofa pillows at her in retaliation.

"Hermione, do you think forming a Defense group will help." Harry asked "not that we would be able too with Umbridge mediating all organized groups in the school."

"It couldn't hurt." She said shrugging, "I think they were expecting us to form some sort of group in response to Umbridge's methods; that's why they were so quick to get her in as High Inquisitor and start dictating decrees. I've been working on a plan and if it works we might just be able to slip it by her and get it approved. If not then we could always keep the group on the down low. Regardless of if we do or not I think she is going to suspect we are involved in something, might as well get some training out of it."

"What was it," Ron muttered, scrunching his eyes up in thought.

"What was what?" Harry asked watching his friend pull at his hair in thought.

"I read something in a book," he muttered, still scrunched up in thought.

"Hey, isn't that my line?" Hermione said in mock offense and Ron scowled at her.

"Don't you start too." He warned, " it was something like 'Engage people with what they expect'. What was the rest?" He muttered.

"Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirm their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment ― that which they cannot anticipate." Hermione quoted curiously.

"Yeah that's it," He agreed.

"Ron, I'm pleasantly surprised by you." The brunette praised, "never thought you would read anything not required for homework."

"You know you're not the only one here who knows how to read right." He shot back.

"Ron has the right idea though," Hermione said, finally stowing away her Care of Magical Creature homework, she wasn't going to get much more of it done with the current topic of discussion. "The best move we can do right now is to do what they think we would do and wait to turn it to our advantage."

"It's a good idea I suppose." Harry agreed, "but I'm not sure about me teaching, you're more of a teacher type than me."

"You don't have to do all the teaching, like I said I could do some muggle defense lessons or something, we could all help out some; especially if we get a lot of people wanting to join." She glanced around the group at Ginny and Ron. Giving them time to back out of the offer she had made for them; they did not, "but if we are going to be learning magical fighting it would mean a lot more coming from you. You've seen a lot more of him over the years."

"I'll think about it." Harry finally said; he did not mind the idea of tutoring a few of his friends but if there turned out to be a lot of people wanting to join the group, like Hermione had implied there might be. He was reluctant to put himself in a position of leadership over a large group of his peers.

---

Over the next few weeks the group of Gryfindors began meeting up to discuss the possibility of starting up a defense group and what would be required to actually run the group. Harry and Hermione were poring over possible lesson plans while Ron and Ginny came up with supply lists to send discretely off to Sirius. Harry was even gradually getting used to the idea of teaching and was starting to get excited at the prospect of beginning lessons.

By the middle of October things were coming together nicely and all that was left was finding a location, something that had been put off until a teacher had been chosen. While practically all the teachers would be up to supporting a group to learn proper defense, it was quite a dilemma to narrow down a teacher that could manage to convince the current Defense teacher to let the students form a group and be tactful enough to make it sound like they were not going to be teaching what she should be. It would definitely have to be one of the four Head of House Professors, as apart from the Headmaster they had the most power over the managing of Hogwarts.

McGonagall, while the groups unanimous first choice, was quickly dismissed; the woman had already undoubtedly had to pull some strings and favors to get the Quidditch team back together. A development both boys had been happy about, despite the set back in forming their group. It was unlikely she would be able to get yet another more controversial group approved so soon.

The next best teacher to ask had been the Head of Ravenclaw; not only was Professor Flitwick a phenomenal duelist in his own right, but as expected from the Head of a House who favored knowledge over all else he was very well read. He could, no doubt, find a way of phrasing their agenda in a manner that slipped right through any convenient loopholes in the numerous decrees. Unfortunately, the man was undoubtedly of goblin blood, only slightly less obvious than Hagrid's giant heritage. Despite any loopholes, there was a good chance Umbridge would deny him on principle alone given her outspoken disdain of Half-Breeds.

That left only two options; Professor Sprout the Head of Hufflepuff and Professor Snape the Head of Slytherin. In the end It was seeming like Professor Sprout was going to be their best bet at forming the group. Despite her personal opinion of the Head of Slytherin House, Hermione knew; not only would her friends loathe the idea but also she doubted she could convince the man to sponsor them, at least not without some sort of incentive for him. The man would have no interest in sponsoring a group that would do nothing to further his own House; given House history, no Snakes were likely to join a group headed by Lions.

Harry and Ginny had approached the Head of Hufflepuff to speak with her on the subject only to find the woman in quite a frazzled state after her own inspection. Neville had been there, aiding in tending the plants that made up the numerous greenhouses and had filled them in while coaxing the pair out the door, apparently Umbridge had been bitten by a rather rare and sensitive plant. It reacted badly to negative feelings and had lashed out at the clipboard wielding woman. Apparently the Professor was in a bit panicked trying to calm down the plant and convince the High Inquisitor to not decree all her plants be disposed of.

By the end of their most recent group meeting in one of the more secluded sections of the library; Ron and Harry had hurried off as soon as their meeting was over for Quidditch practice. They had not thought that, with Hermione's persistence to get on the woman's bad side, she might hold it against the girl's house and deny them a team. It seemed their Head of House had pulled through for them in the end, as the team had immediately started up practice as many times a week as they could get. The lesson plans were mostly complete, but they still needed a place to hold their group meetings before they could unpack the supply package Remus and Sirius had sent. It looked like Professor Sprout was not going to be an option for a sponsor until things calmed down for the Herbology Professor. It looked like their best bet was going to be to move on to their back up plan of running the group in secret. They had enough supplies but it was going to be difficult getting word out to any who would want to join and still keep it and any future meetings secret. Taking her leave of Ginny who was heading off to find some books for her charms assignment, Hermione gathered up a stack of defense texts to put back. Deliberately heading to an adjacent alcove and startling the occupant when she dropped the books on the table with a loud thump.

"Learn anything interesting?" She inquired as Draco righted his chair, having been leaning back against the shelf that divided the two alcoves. The blond scowled at her as he pushed the chair back up to the table where he had placed out a half finished potions essay and text that had served as his alibi.

"Are you going to ask me to keep your little group's secret?"

"I could," she supplied, taking a seat across from him, a stack of books pushed to one side. "Or I could make you a deal."

"A deal," Draco repeated intrigued, as she knew he would be. One of Umbridge's most recent decrees had been the forming of the Inquisition Squad; a group of students that acted as the Inquisitor's eyes and ears around the school along with a slew of privileges to go along with the title. It was unsurprising most of the members were old family Slytherins. "I'm listening."

"Join our group."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"To spy on us of course," Hermione smirked knowingly as she rested an elbow on the table top, cradling her chin in her palm. "That is what Umbridge wants you to do, snoop out undesirables. What a better discovery than a bunch of Gryffindors doing something they undoubtedly shouldn't?"

"Let me rephrase my previous question; why would you want me to do that?"

"Because you are a skilled wizard and despite our history I would hate to see such talent stagnate under Umbridge's tutelage."

"Are you trying to win me over with flattery and compliments Granger?"

"Depends, is it working?" she replied cheekily, to which he replied with an exasperated shake of his head.

"You are going to have to do better than that, I'm afraid."

"Then how about this; you know what happened at the end of last term, what happened to Harry. You may have even seen him in person." She did not elaborate more on who she was speaking of, the paling of his already fair complexion and the look of dread that passed across his eyes was enough to confirm he knew full well what she was speaking of. "There is a war coming, we both know this and regardless of whose side who's on Umbridge is doing none of us any favors in denying us proper teaching. While I know most would think having you in the group would be a bad idea, I can not help but see the advantages." she started laying her cards on the table, if she tried to manipulate him into doing what she wanted he would undoubtedly pick up on it and break off whatever shaky friendship they might have formed over the past two years. "Umbridge trusts you, and in turn would believe whatever information you might choose to share regarding the nature of our group. If you happened to pass on less than useful information to the High Inquisitor to keep her satisfied and manage to pick up some defense skills along the way. I see it as a win-win for the both of us." Draco was quiet for a long time in thought, when he finally spoke it was with a resolved tone with a trace of his usual arrogance.

"Potter and the Weasels won't agree to this," he pointed out with no lack of glee at the thought of riling them up.

"I doubt they will like it one bit, but them liking it and them agreeing to it are two different things, after all when else would Ron and Harry get the chance to use you as target practice without getting in trouble." she jibed back in defense of her friends.

"I'll think about it, Mudblood." He said gathering up his things and moving to leave the table.

"That is all I can ask Wonder Ferret."

---

Hermione let out a sigh; after weeks of preparation they had finally finished their first meeting. Hermione and Ginny were moving the desks and tables back into place, in one of the rooms designated for the use of clubs. The room was shared with the chess club that had also been allowed to reform, despite the shared space it had been a great relief that they did not need to keep the group a secret.

The creation of the Comparative Muggle Magical Protection Club had been a test in Hermione's ability to convince multiple opposing personalities to coexist in the name of rebelling against the Ministry's involvement in Hogwarts. Malfoy's joining of the group had been the first of many upheavals. Despite Hermione's insistence that having him there would be a key to keeping Umbridge off their back, after all with one of her spies there feeding her information, despite how inaccurate that information might be, she would be less inclined to pay attention or interfere in their club and it's members. Surprisingly, Ginny had sided with Hermione, much to her brother's disbelief. Since then the red headed girl had been sending Hermione knowing looks whenever her and the blond boy were in the same room.

Though he would insist it was for his own benefit and having the opportunity to torment Potter, Draco's presence in the group had opened up another door to them that had been previously closed. Hermione, with some negotiating, finally convinced the Potion's Master to sponsor their group. Apparently, but unsurprisingly, the group they were trying to set up had been quite the after meeting talk among select Order members, so it did not seem to surprise him much when she had brought up the group and it's intent. He did not seem pleased at being selected as the group's sponsor. Only after Hermione laid out her reasoning did it become clear that he was their only option.

Three days later, news came in by owl that their group had gotten approval and they were free to set up dates and times for meetings. Word went through the Houses, and soon they had a sizable group set up, though as of yet only one Slytherin was in attendance. Most seemed put off by the name as just another version of Muggle Studies class, or as it had so delicately been worded toward the High Inquisitor. A wizarding versus muggle club that focused on promoting wizard methods of handling mundane things.

"I thought we were going to learn defense magic." spoke up a Ravenclaw sixth year as they finished going over the basics of what the club would be covering.

"We are learning defense, magical and muggle." Harry corrected.

"What good is muggle defense going to be on our exams."

"These lesson's are not to just prepare you for O.W.L's and N.E. but to teach you to defend yourself from any real threats you might meet."

"I have my wand, what good is it knowing some worthless muggle defenses?" the Ravenclaw spoke up to his friends. "pointless." he scoffed and seemed ready to leave.

"What is your name?" Hermione finally spoke up, Harry was the head of this meeting and as such had been handling most of the discussion.

"Marcus Belby."

"Step forward, Marcus.'' She said, gesturing for him to come out of the main group of students, he did so and much to her amusement a few of them even took steps back to be clear of whatever was going to happen. After all despite her being a fifth year; they all had gotten a first hand look at her fight with the dragon in her fourth year, who knew what spells she had picked up in the last year.

"You think just because you have a wand, muggle ways of doing things are useless to you?" she asked, drawing her wand.

"Well yeah eh-"Belby started only to be silenced in surprise as she flipped it in her hand, offering it handle first to Ron. He watched her curiously until she nodded at her wand, he took it from her and she turned back to Belby. "What is going on?"

"Draw your wand," she said, gesturing at him with a hand and he did so. Marcus watched her as she began to slowly walk a circuit around him, alternating her attention between him and the gathered students. "This is our first lesson; you seem to feel that a wand is your first and only option when it comes to defending yourself. While we will be learning defensive spells we will also be addressing other aspects that can be just as useful as a stunner or shielding. Sure spells are useful when a situation comes up that you might need to defend yourself. What would you do if you were disarmed or your wand breaks; unless you have somehow mastered wandless magic then your options are limited." Her circuit had brought her back around to her starting point and she stopped facing Belby.

"Being a sixth year I'm sure you know a few good spells, take your best shot."

Marcus hesitated before scoffing, "I'm not going to hit you, you don't even have your wand."

"Of course I don't, if I had my wand there wouldn't be any point to this lesson." she said taking a step closer and then another.

"And the point is?" He asked, shifting agitatedly.

"To attempt to incapacitate me before I put you on the floor." Off to one side a pair of identical red heads could be heard quietly taking bets.

"That's not much of a-" his voice was cut off when his feet were knocked out from under him. A chorus of laughter echoed from the crowd as Marcus lay flat on his back on the floor. Hermione made to grab his wand from his limp grip but merely tapped it with a finger before backing off.

"That is me disarming you without a wand."

"That doesn't count!" Marcus snapped, pulling himself to his feet. "I want a redo."

"Very well," the witch acknowledged. Over the next fifteen minutes; Marcus Belby spent the remainder of their class time attempting to stun, curse and jinx the curly haired witch only to wind up flat on the floor no less than five times.

Following their first lesson in the practice in muggle defense, they moved onto Harry's branch of expertise. Starting off with a review of spells from previous years. Splitting into pairs to practice the Expelliarmus spell. A good call in the end given even most of them, even the older years could barely cast a passable disarming spell, let alone one that would actually do more than tug lightly at an opponent's wand. Surprisingly Neville had managed to perform the spell successfully on Harry, though in truth it would more than likely not have worked had Harry actually been paying attention rather than snapping at Malfoy. The Slytherin had just successfully finished disarming a sixth year Hufflepuff without much effort.

It had been an interesting end to their first meeting and seemed to pass on the lesson to the rest of the members. More than a few of them were excitedly chatting about learning; not only to properly cast the spells, but also the other aspects that the club entailed.

---

December finally came all too quickly and soon it seemed that they were already beginning to prepare for the end of term. As extra work was being handed out and students began to get ready to leave for the holiday.

Hermione had been busy with other preparations; a few weeks back Sirius had sent her a list of the watch rotations on the Hall of Prophecy. She had been hoping for an opportunity to slip into the Hall when Sirius or Remus were on guard but since Sirius seemed permanently assigned to rotations with Moody. Remus, on the other hand, tended to be paired with Kingsley for the most part. It would simply be too risky to try to slip by either Auror even with help. After some debate and going over the guard rotations, she decided to slip out of the school the next time Arthur Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher were on duty. Mundungus was sporadic in his attendance to watch duty, while Mr. Weasley being far more attentive than his partner also would be coming off of his usual day job. They were the weakest link in the protection of the Prophecy and she was going to take advantage of it, not just to get into the Hall but also to point out this weakness to the Order.

Slipping off on her nightly Prefect rounds she made a detour out onto the grounds toward the Whomping Willow. On any other evening she would have simply slipped out through the One-Eyed Witch passage rather than risk being spotted out on the grounds, but tonight she had a pit stop to make before heading to the Ministry. Slipping out of the school she was greeted with a flurry of cold white flakes coming down from the sky; the snow was unexpected but not entirely unwanted as it provided some cover from anyone looking out a window and would fill in her footprints soon enough.

Entering the shack she looked around for the occupant who had lit the fire in the hearth. She found him choking down a rather large bottle of potion in the bathroom, it appeared even after many uses it did not make the potion any easier to take.

"What are you doing here," Remus asked, capping the bottle with a grimace and sticking it back in the small overnight bag on the bathroom counter. "I thought you would be leaving right away."

"I wanted to come by and see how you were doing before I headed out." She said moving out of the way as the werewolf exited the room.

"Are you sure about doing this, I mean this is the Ministry of Magic we are talking about." Remus said with the resigned demeanor of one who had made this argument many times in the past months and had it shut down.

"I need to do this, things will be better if that Prophecy is destroyed." Hermione said dispelling her glamour and undoing her school robes, slipping them off as she headed into the back bedroom and tossed them on a chair. This room, apart from the living room, was the most fixed up given it was the room Remus usually slept off his transformations in, when he did not have company. The room also had the only window on the ground floor that was big enough she could fit through without removing all the boards. It also faced the backyard where her comings and goings would be shielded from anyone who might brave a look at the haunted house of Hogsmeade.

Digging in the duffel bag she had brought with her, retrieving her dark leather jacket and putting it on over her t-shirt and jeans. Remus entered on shaky legs and sat down at the foot of the bed, checking his watch he let out a resigned sigh and undid the clock from his wrist, followed by his charmed silver ring. Placing both on the night stand and moving to undo his shoelaces.

"Do you want me to wait to leave until after moon rise?" she asked as he struggled with the laces before they were set aside, socks neatly folded inside them.

"I would rather you didn't, if it is all the same." he stated bitterly as he braced a hand against the foot board to keep from collapsing as a pained groan escaped him. The spasm passed after a minute and he straightened to begin fumbling with the buttons of his shirt.

"I'll be back soon," she said resting a hand on his shoulder before moving to climb out the window, fasting her voice altering choker and pulling the hood of her jacket up.

"Be safe." Remus called after her before another spasm of his transformation made words impossible.

The trip to the Ministry was a quick one; Apparating to London before taking the Flu straight to the Ministry. The main hall was deserted save the odd paper plane darting around to and from the few workers on the night shift. An elevator ride followed by a complex route of hallways, found a disillusioned Hermione rounding the corner on a dosing Mr. Weasley. He was seated at one of the desks in the medium sized office that handled the running of the Time Room and the Hall of Prophecy. Mostly handling the distribution of the time turners and cataloging the prophecies, though this was slow and tedious business given very few could actually hear the prophecies stored in the room beyond. Two doors led off from the office; one on the far side that must have led to the Time Room and the one closest to Mr. Weasley that led to the Hall of Prophecy.

As expected Arthur Weasley looked as if he would keep dozing off, only to jerk awake and look around before nodding off again. Unsurprisingly, Mundungus Fletcher was nowhere to be seen. Hermione slipped silently by the red head and into the hall with only a whisper of sound.

The Hall was immense, shelf upon shelf of orbs of different radiance. Some glowed a bright white while others were barely a glimmering yellow. A glance around at the shelves gave the impression that they were all ordered by the date the Prophecy had been made. Moving deeper into the room, brown eyes scanned the shelves quickly looking for the correct year. She found it well into the room, seated on a stand and covered in dust from years of disuse.

1980

S.P.T. To A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord and (?)

Harry's name seemed to have been written in at the bottom at a later time. This was it, this little thing had caused so much trouble for so many people and it wasn't even much bigger than a baseball. Raising her hand as if to grab it, she stopped just shy of touching it.

"Reducto," a blue light engulfed the ball and in an instant all that was left was a pile of dust and with an exhale it was scattered amidst the thick layer that covered the shelf, as if it had never been. "Well that wasn't so hard." she said relieved, dusting off her hands and heading back the way she had come. When she was almost in sight of the door, a hushed whisper on a nearby shelf drew her attention. It was one of the few brightly glowing orbs, though this one was barely bigger than a marble and was seated on a velvet cushion rather than a stand like the larger ones.

Curiosity getting the better of her she took a detour and picked up the label.

1994

S.P.T. To S.T.S.

Dark Lord, Peter Pettigrew, (?) and Severus Snape.

Suddenly the label changed, with the scrape of an invisible quill the question mark was scratched out and a new name was written out across the bottom. Hermione inhaled sharply as her name appeared on the label before a shout from the room outside snapped her back to the situation at hand. Snatching the label and marble sized prophecy up in one hand she stuffed it in an inner pocket before running to the door, not seeing the scaly tail that disappeared into the shelves of the Hall only moments before she got there.

The office was in chaos, Arthur was exchanging spells with four death eaters and was quickly being overwhelmed.

"Confrigo," Hermione shouted, blasting an upturned desk into the two closest to her, wood and papers flying everywhere. Her entrance seemed to surprise everyone in the room for a moment before the spells were flying again.

"Oppigno," Arthur cast, sending a collection of small office items sailing toward one death eater where they proceeded to beat at him relentlessly. "I don't know who you are, but I hope you're on my side."

Hermione did not reply as she grappled one of the two she had hit with the desk to the ground, dislocating his wand wrist in the process. His partner had managed to get to his feet after shifting half the desk top off himself. One leg had a large piece of wood jutting out of it but that did not seem to bother him as he sent a sickly yellow spell at the grappling pair only to manage to hit his partner.

Throwing up a shield, buying time to shove the dead death eater off of herself, the Entrail-Expelling Curse was never a spell you wanted to be close to when it hit. Across the room Arthur had stunned one of his attackers but the other, who she recognized as Antonin Dolohov, seemed to be quite enjoying himself as spells of all colors flew from his wand.

Jumping to her feet as her shield fell, Hermione jumped forward into a roll, avoiding another yellow curse and slamming a fist into the man's injured leg. Driving the wood in deeper before yanking the piece out, he collapsed yelling as he attempted to cover the wound. It made no difference, something vital had obviously been nicked, like removing a plug from a dam. In seconds he had already begun to bleed out.

Arthur let out a desperate scream and Hermione whirled to see something out of a nightmare. A huge snake that was easily twelve foot long and as thick as a small tree. It had struck at the Weasley Patriarch repeatedly, bite marks littered his arms as it's teeth latched onto Arthur's leg, dragging him to the ground.

"No, Confringo!" Hermione shouted and began to panic as Arthur's struggles began to still. Her spell did not even make contact with the serpent, even having been aimed right at its coiled form. She threw another spell and it too glanced off as if it was nothing, the snake released Arthur, turned and hissed, coiling in tighter on itself. Hermione was still too far for the snake to attempt a strike, but the threat was there should she try to approach. Something purple caught her attention in the corner of her eye, she dodged too late as it caught her side and sent her backwards over a desk. Hermione let out a sharp breath, her side felt strange; like someone had numbed the skin before sticking something in and was moving it around excruciatingly slow. There was no pain, a side effect of the adrenaline flooding her system more than likely.

Using the desk as a prop Hermione pushed the discomfort away and pulled herself up, scanning the room. Dolohov and the snake were gone, Arthur lay on the floor unmoving. Dragging herself over the desk she stumbled through the debris toward the man.

"Mr. Weasley," she called, bending to check his pulse, he was barely breathing.

"Levicorpus," she hissed gripping at her side as a mist gathered under Arthur and he rose into the air. Hermione moved as fast as she could toward the entrance of the Ministry and the Flu that would take them to St. Mungo's. She did not have to look back to know that both she and Arthur were leaving a trail right to where they had been.

"No no no," the cloud of mist was slowly lowering to the ground, as it's caster's concentration wavered. What had been a small nick on her side was opening a little more with every passing minute. By the time Arthur's body had finally hit the ground in the main hall as the mist dissipated, Hermione was sure she had a dangerously large gash opening up across her side. Had she been fully hit by the spell, there was little doubt she would have been dead at this point.

"We are almost there, Mr. Weasley. Just hang in there a little longer." she gasped, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him the last few feet to the fireplace.

"Please," she begged, heaving herself and the limp body another step.

"Please just hold on." another step, "I won't be able to face them if you die." Arthur's face had gone a deathly pale, his eyes glassy and vacant. Another step found her lunging forward for a fistful of the precious powder, knocking the bowl and its contents all over the floor.

"St. Mungo's," she shouted, throwing the whole handful into the fire and throwing them both into the flames.

Hermione slumped against the mantel as Mr. Weasley was rushed off, shielding her side from view as she took a moment to catch her breath. She couldn't stay here, her own wounds were going to need immediate attention and she couldn't risk getting stuck in the hospital. Pulling out her locket she sent a message to Sirius, 'Alert Order A.W. Mungo'. Then with a deep breath Apparated away and prayed she wouldn't splinch herself.

Mooney was pacing his room in the Shrieking Shack waiting for Hermione to come back, he had not been able to sleep at all so instead had taken up pacing to relieve his nerves, he had a bad feeling about tonight. A shuffle from outside the window caught his attention and he paused attentively, focused on the window that was missing a few boards, tail swaying hopefully. That was until a body dropped through the window onto the floor in an unmoving bloody heap.

---

Severus had not been expecting to get woken up with a rather violent summons tonight, not the day before classes were to end. The Dark Lord tended to leave him out of all but the most important of meetings, seeing as being constantly called away was a threat to his cover in the school. Tonight's summons had been particularly aggressive and demanded his immediate attention. Throwing on his robes quickly, he sent a message to Dumbledore who surprisingly was up and about in his office; something to do with Potter and the Weasley's but he had not the time to see what had happened. Not with the Dark Lord's displeasure burning into his arm like a corrosive acid.

The meeting, as it turned out, was less of a meeting and more of a way for the Dark Lord to spread around his displeasure at not only the failed attempt at retrieving the prophecy and the loss of three of their members; but also the fact that Nemo had interfered with their plans once again. Severus had been called forward and questioned thoroughly on whether he had found anything new of Nemo's identity. Dolohov received the brunt of the Dark Lord's displeasure; he had been the leader of the team and had not only failed in carrying out his mission but lost most of his team that had been on strict orders to keep Nagini from harm.

The snake, as his familiar, Voldemort had felt confident that she might be able to retrieve the orb. No one, Severus in particular, seemed in any hurry to contradict the man. Regardless of the reports of people forming close, almost magical bonds with their familiars, it did not make her somehow an extension of himself and therefore would not give her the ability to retrieve the prophecy.

Later in the evening or was it early morning now, Severus had finally been allowed to leave, even as Voldemort started on a new round of punishments on Dolohov. The man's pleading following him out of the abandoned house that was his current hideaway.

"Please, have mercy My Lord! I have not failed you, I swear, I hit him. I hit the bastard, gutted him like a fish for you, My Lord. He'll be dead for sure by now. Please-ah!" screaming rang through the room but Severus had already gone and was heading to the nearest Apparition spot.

Arriving outside Hogsmeade, Severus let out a relieved sigh as the brisk winter air filled his lungs after being subject to the Dark Lord's scrutiny for the past few hours. Digging in his pockets he pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes and a cheap battered lighter. He had thought he had broken the habit a few years ago, but being in the Dark Lord's presence last may have brought it back.

He knew he should get back to the castle, and find out what exactly happened tonight, but at this point he needed a breather before being thrust at yet another master and subject to questions he had already been asked multiple times and was still unable to answer.

Severus let out a deep breath, smoke indistinguishable from the cold air that was making his breath visible. The snow that had been falling heavily earlier in the night had let up to a light flurry in the early morning hours. Shaking the flakes from his hair the Potion's Master began walking through the silent village, stepping out the cigarette before wrapping his dark cloak tighter around him.

His boots crunched lightly in the snow when something on the white ground brought him up short. On later recollection he was not sure what had caught his attention, maybe a break in the clouds casting moonlight in just the right place, maybe it had been shear dumb luck. No matter the cause; something had caught the man's attention enough to warrant a second look.

Pulling his wand, Severus lit the tip enough to get a view of the shadow in the snow. It had been partly covered in the recent snowfall, but he could still make out the crimson stain of blood in the snow. Scanning around he caught sight of another dark spot following a trail of indents that could have been footprints but had been filled slightly by the fallen snow.

It could have been nothing, an injured animal from the forest or one of the locals and yet Dolohov's words came back to him.

" -I hit him. I hit the bastard, gutted him like a fish for you, My Lord. He'll be dead for sure by now."

So he followed, a trail leading straight to the Shrieking Shack. The building was still boarded up tight, the front door inaccessible and windows covered with weathered boards as it should be. The trail angled left bypassing the door and moved around back, Severus followed. Catching sight of a more visible trail of blood smeared along the wall, where it came close to an old snarled tree forcing him to turn sideways in order to fit in the gap. The backyard was surrounded by a huge hedge wall that merged into the wrought iron fence around front. There were a few lumps in the snow that were most likely some form of overgrown shrub or another, but what was off was the light spilling from one of the lower back windows through a large gap in the boards.

Dousing his wand, Severus slipped up close to the window, out of the range of spilling light and listened. There was the sound of claws scraping on wood as if pacing and an animal like whine. Dark eyes glanced up at the overcast sky and scanned until he saw what he needed. The barest glimpse of a full moon behind the cloud cover. Per Dumbledore's orders he still was asked upon each month to brew a cauldron of Wolfsbane for Lupin; he knew his potion was brewed to perfection so that left three explanations to the situation he had just walked into. Either Lupin had neglected his potion and escaped his confines in the shack, killed someone and dragged their body back to the house; unlikely given the lack of markings of someone being dragged in the snow. Second, Lupin had left the shack of his own direction and subsequently gotten himself injured before limping back to lick his wounds. Considering the fact the village of Hogsmeade was still peacefully silent this too was unlikely that the werewolf had gone out for a romp in the moonlight which left the third and more likely option.

He had suspected before last summer that Black, Lupin and Nemo had been in contact. The revelation that Black had in fact been living in a home with Nemo's contact along with visits from Lupin only strengthened the connection that they were all in contact. With the knowledge that Nemo was injured by Dolohov's attack, it was not unlikely that he went to one of his allies. Black was inaccessible with his house under the Fidelius Charm and if what he had gathered could be trusted, then De Vincent was traveling the better part of the year. There was only one likely place in recent years one could find Lupin like clockwork.

"Damn," an indistinguishable voice grunted painfully followed by a chorus of whines and more claw scraping. "Shut up Remus," the voice said again and this time Severus recognized it though it held more emotion than the few times he had met with Nemo, most likely due to the claims of Dolohov of having gutted him. "Please, you're not making this any easier." there was the sound of sloshing liquid dripping on the wood floor inside followed by a silence filled with the sound of labored breathing and the agitated panting of a wolf. Casting wandless Notice-Me-Not and Silencing Charms for safe measure, Severus slunk closer to the window frame, careful not to touch any of the still wet blood smeared on the wood. Peering around the frame he scanned the room; somewhat tidy and the furniture was in good condition, given the monthly use it got that was not unexpected. A familiar torn and bloodied coat was tossed on the floor in a puddle of red tinged melted snow. Lupin was lying in the middle of the floor; body tense and ears back worriedly as if he might move to stand but then with each pained exhalation he would relax and his ears would flick forward briefly only to tense again a moment later. He surprisingly remained silent and still given his earlier racket.

Snape's gaze followed the wolf's to a chair and a pair of blood stained jeans. Further up revealed a T-shirt clad torso that had been torn up one side revealing a large gash courtesy of Dolohov that was currently being stitched closed in a very muggle fashion. His eyes seemed stuck there at that spot watching the figure tense right before the curved needle passed through skin and pulled the two pieces of flesh together. It was transfixing, watching the needle tip disappear and then reappear so smoothly it was easy to forget it was attached to someone.

The final stitch was tied and a bottle of whiskey was suddenly there as the contents were poured over the seeping wound.

"What a waste," Nemo hissed in pain, the bottle resting on one knee while the other tossed something thin and black to the side out of sight. Snape froze in shock at the smooth lilting voice of a woman. His eyes broke away from the wound and drifted up in a quick cataloging scan; the distinctly feminine black bra blatantly visible through the remains of the shirt, the brown curling locks tied up out of the way of an almost familiar face.

Snape felt his jaw slacken even as his grip on his wand tightened to the point the popping of his knuckles were threatening to become audible.

The woman stood tenderly after applying a healing salve and began bandaging her torso. A wandless Scourgify and Reparo saw the shirt mended and rid of most of the blood but it still bore a visible stain. The jacket on the floor received the same before being stuffed in a bag as she tugged a set of distinctive red and gold trimmed robes on over her stained clothes. Lupin caught a mouth full of the robe, giving a light tug and concerned whine and he stood to follow her out of the room.

"I'll check in with you in the morning I promise, but you need to go see Sirius as soon as you can. There was an incident, he can fill you in on some of it." she said running a hand over his head while the other held at her side in an effort to relieve some of the lingering pain. "I need to get back, I need to be up early. I have classes in the morning and I would like to get at least some sleep tonight." The wolf licked her hand but stepped back and sat down. The woman moved to leave the room, bracing herself on the door frame as her hand moved in a wandless gesture and a glamour settled about her figure.

Severus Snape ripped himself from the window and leaned his head back against the side of the shack. He had hoped to find some form of answers and he had found them only to get a great deal more in the process, dozens upon dozens of questions and theories swarmed his mind but one kept repeating. Over and over he asked it and had no answer; who was Hermione Granger?

---

Author's Note: Well here it is finally! 18k! OVER 18,000-FREAKING-WORD COUNT! I hope your happy! This will have errors in it, DON'T POINT THEM OUT, it is being sent off to my betas but I wanted to get it out. I'll post the edit when I get it in. So we are finally here, the big reveal. Who is excited?

I wanted to do more with the DA but in the end I just had too many ideas to fit in this; so I made the decision at some point I will take all these other ideas I had and do a small mini series like I did with Hermione and Snape's Detentions in third year.

I pose a question to you the readers now that we are at the reveal; Would you rather A) Get right into the Snape's confrontation of Hermione or B) Let him stew for a while with this information before confronting her. I have had so many ideas for this part of the story that I am looking opinions or even what you guys and gals hope to see coming in the future.

For more information or discussion PM me or check out my forum on my profile.

Next Chapter 25: How Did You Hide It All For So Long, A Fallen Angel? - Hermione deals with the repercussions of her trip to the Ministry and Severus comes to terms with this new view of the girl he believed to be Hermione Granger as the school lets out for Christmas break.