10.

Secret-Kept Location - October 1997

"I have this."

Hermione pulled a vast tome from her bag and dumped it on the only clear space. Snape had offered it with a sharp smile that did rather strange things to her belly. And a reaction that told her that she needed to widen her circle of people if she was getting all hot and bothered over Severus Snape.

Salazar —the utter git— had laughed all the way back to the flat.

Harry groaned. "I'm going to need a new prescription with all this reading. Eye strain?"

"Your glasses are magical, Harry, and adjust to any vision changes."

He slid her a green glare, his mouth pinched, before he hefted the huge book in front of him…and his pinched look turned to a frown. He ran his fingers over the cover, the candlelight picking out indentations in the ancient leather. Tilting the book, his frown deepened. "Fuck me, I've seen this before."

"What?"

"That"—he drew his fingers around the shadow of a shape in the leather—"is a diadem. Rowena's Lost Diadem. But…I've seen it before." He wiped a hand over his mouth, sank back into his chair and shut his eyes. His breaths came out slow and measured. "I…was in a hurry. I wasn't paying attention." He snorted. "Story of my life that, isn't it? And…I. Merlin, I picked it up. I've held it. It felt...strange."

He stared at the fingers of his right hand, flexing them.

"Where, Harry?"

"When I was hiding that…fucker's potions book." He gritted his teeth and a line of red cut across his cheeks. "This has to be it, Hermione. And it's fitting, isn't it? His book is by his master now. Bastard."

Hermione caught her fingers in her hair and willed down the flush to her face. Her heart thudded. If they'd found the Ravenclaw horcrux, then…then it would be time to tell Harry everything.

"So, we have to break into Hogwarts." Harry scrubbed at his face and groaned. "Couldn't it be something simple, like, I don't know, breaking into Gringotts?"

Hermione snorted. If only. Who else had Salazar planned to bind with a potion? And how many had succeeded? Merlin, had he made aphrodisiacs for the house-elves too, to bind them to the school as a personal favour? She gave an internal shudder. No, that was an image she did not want.

Salazar's soft laughter chased over her mind. "House-elves bind to a place, to a duty, to the wood and stone and earth and fire. We built Hogwarts…and they came in their droves."

"They're not—"

Gods, it wasn't time to lose hersellf in the intricacies of house-elf emancipation—

But…she blinked. Oh… Who better than the house-elves, bound to the castle through whatever ancient magic it was, to know where this relic hid?

"Hermione?"

She frowned at Harry. "What?"

"You have that look. The…I'm Hermione Granger, and no problem is beyond me…look."

"Oh, Harry…" She shook her head. He really did have entirely too much faith in her…but this time he was right. "The house-elves. They can find it. Then…" And the warmth in her belly at his faith died just a little. Now he had to know the truth. About her…and about himself. "Then, you have to trust me. We can end this fight against…" She waved her hand. "Against bastard snake-face far more quickly than Dumbledore planned. Or wanted."

Harry frowned at her. "Dumbledore?"

Hermione pulled out a chair and sat. She drew in a breath, her heart still a drum as she linked her fingers and placed them on the crowded table. "He…he sent us out with so little information. A single book left to me. A snitch to you. A deluminator to…to Ron."

She pressed her lips together. They didn't talk about him, though she knew that Harry listened to the wireless, scared that his name as one of the Undesireables would flash from it.

"He wanted us to run around lost, confused, he wanted us delayed…when…"

She closed her eyes, not yet ready to admit Severus' role in the fiasco. And how pulling that wizard in had two horcruxes destroyed in a matter of weeks.

"Why?"

"I don't honestly know. There is something, something under this that isn't right. Yes, the fewer people that know of these things, the less likely it will get back to Snake-face and therefore he wouldn't rush to hide the objects from us. And yes, we're basically children. Who would think we could take this on?" She shook her head. Merlin, when had she last felt like a child? "But…a book that, I think, has nothing to do with horcruxes…and offering no way to destroy them?"

Her heart was a drum. She'd have to write to Severus, have him instruct the house-elves to hunt out the diadem…and work out a way to tell him about the potions book. She winced. That would not go down well.

"And now, you'll have to trust me, Harry. Truly." She pulled in a long breath. "If you do, I think, I fully believe we can end this before Christmas."

Harry dragged his hands over his messy hair. "When…when I don't listen to you, everything turns to shit. You, you have me safe here, with food and with a horcrux gone—"

"Two. I… The cup. Dealt with."

"Fuck, Hermione!" He stared at her. "What…?"

"And the reason is a large part of why you have to trust me."

"Okay." He shook his head and lifted his hands in surrender. "All right, what are we doing?"

"I have some things to get in place first."

Severus. The hunting house-elves. Severus.

The wizard had her mind and…and her heart —she admitted it, see, Salazar?— looped into wild twists. Everything about him felt…right. As if she'd just been waiting to catch up with herself. Those bloody falling tumblers to open an ancient lock. He clever, darkly funny, and with him, she had the luxury of being able to be herself. Not to suppress anything about who she was or what she could do in the worry that he would snub her, or laugh at her or…or reject her. Oh, there was little chance of her succeeding in her affections, but as so-very-odd as it seemed, Severus Snape was a much better prospect that any other man —and certainly boy— she knew.

Harry! Harry was still looking at her, still waiting, still a little gobsmacked that two horcruxes had been destroyed whilst he'd had his head buried in Ravenclaw books and the bag of plenty…

Focus. She had to focus.

Hermione sank back into her chair and gave him a sharp smile. "But, soon, very soon, we're sneaking into Hogwarts."

No post tomorrow due to family commitments. All being well, I'll post the next chapter on Saturday.