Previously: "That was foolish, Miss Granger." Said Snape quietly. "What if it had been someone other than Dumbledore? Mad-Eye Moody, perhaps? Or one of my Slytherins, even."

Hermione brushed it off. "No harm, no foul, Snape. It won't happen again, you just surprised me." She took her customary seat in the black armchair near his desk. It wasn't until Snape had poured their drinks – Earl Gray, as always – that Hermione wondered if it was a coincidence, that Dumbledore named it earlier.

"What did you need to talk to me about today, Miss Granger? Do you require more advice on maintaining the timeline?" Snape said somewhat sardonically.

She sat back in her chair, using magic to swirl the honey into her tea. "Not quite, Snape. I'm pleased with how events are transpiring as of now. What I need is your knowledge of the horcrux. Where is it located? How is it protected?"

"Why must you suddenly know this?" Snape said icily, "I have offered my knowledge and my assistance already."

"My plans are banking on every horcrux being destroyed before Voldemort comes back." She said the name deliberately, knowing that every death eater – past or present – would flinch. Satisfyingly, he flinched at the name, and she grinned.

What she really needed was proof of Snape's honesty. Draco had sewed enough doubt in her mind about him, they couldn't just trust he would give her the details about the cup when the time came. Even if his intentions were to stay on their side, something could happen to him before he could tell her. Shit would really have to hit the fan for that to occur, but she didn't want to take any chances. "Listen, Snape, I need to know where the cup is. Now that my time won't be taken up by Hogwarts drama until Christmas, it's time for me to focus on the important things."

"But you haven't reached your majority yet. You can't hope to capture the cup without using magic, and that will surely get you caught."

"That's true. It's just safer, you know, if we both have an idea of why. What makes you want to conceal it, anyway?"

Snape sighed. "It is… a difficult story to tell."

"Oh?" Hermione leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Why is that?"

For the first time, Hermione thought she noticed discomfort in Snape. Something about the stiffness of his back, or the way his scowl froze on his face like it had been hit with a permanent sticking charm. "If I tell you this tale, you must also tell me something."

"What do you mean, Snape? That's not how this works."

"I think you'll find that I have the information you need, which means I have you at a disadvantage. Tell me what happened between you and Draco, and I will be pleased to tell you about the cup."

Hermione hesitated. She knew Snape took his word very seriously, and she just might find herself losing an ally if she didn't uphold her part of the deal. But the information was too important to lose, so finally, she sighed and said, "Oh alright, Snape. I'll tell you, but you'd better tell me first."

"Severus." He said all of a sudden.

She blinked owlishly, and he expanded, "Call me Severus. You're an adult, it's ridiculous to address me as you have been."

She was taken aback, but agreed all the same. "Very well, Sn- Severus. Then it's Hermione."

"Good." Snape (she didn't know if she'd ever think of him as Severus in her mind) gave a weirdly satisfied look, and Hermione once again bemoaned the strangeness of Slytherins. "I am aware that you know of my previous… affiliations with the Dark Lord, and that I reported to him quite loyally before seeing the error of my ways." Hermione kept herself from snorting, because Snape's 'error of his ways' was realizing that he damned his crush to an avada kedavra.

"Nevertheless," Snape continued quickly, perhaps because she wasn't as good as she thought at keeping the smirk off her face. "I was rewarded with the dubious honor of protecting one of the Dark Lord's most precious artifacts. From your description, I am assured that this artifact is Hufflepuff's cup, his fourth horcrux.

"It was a week after I had informed the Dark Lord about the prophecy. I hadn't even heard from Lily yet, so I was quite pleased when the he informed me he was trusting me with an extremely sensitive assignment. It was the completion of this assignment, combined with reporting the prophecy, that got me into his inner circle of Death Eaters." Snape paused, and Hermione could tell he was less than comfortable speaking about this. She would bet that she was the only person he'd told outside of Dumbledore.

For the first time, Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for Snape. What a lonely life he led, with no one to confide in besides a somewhat doddery, sometimes manipulative headmaster from the last century. She decided she'd give him a Christmas present, for she was certain he didn't get many.

"The assignment was simple and challenging all at the same time. I was to transfer the cup from it's original hiding place – the orphanage he grew up in, I believe – and move it to a more… suitable position. Namely, the gravestone of his former boss, Mr. Caractcus Burke of Borgin and Burkes. It is in the London cemetery where the cup now lays, unless the Dark Lord removed it since."

"How did you protect it?" Hermione said after a moment.

Snape scowled. "I used quite a clever number of wards, all dark and quite suitable to the Dark Lord's taste. But you won't find any of them there." He set his tea down with far too much force.

"Why ever not?"

"Because the Dark Lord found them inadequate to his uses. I believe he returned to the graveyard and put his own protections on the stone." Throughout the tale, he had been buzzing with a sort of anxious energy, clearly uncomfortable by the conversation. But now, he relaxed, returning to his normal dour self. "As we agreed, I will take you to the Hexayard Cemetary during yule – although I will be busy chaperoning during the night of Christmas."

"Oh yes, I will be busy during the yule ball as well." Hermione said idly. Snape gave her a piercing look, and then seemed to settle back down.

"Ah, so you've already experienced this travesty once before. Is it as gaudy as I fear?"

Hermione chuckled. "The Yule Ball? Probably worse. We really pulled out all the stops, even a few of the Beauxbatons students were impressed I think. Victor certainly was."

"Krum?"

Hermione gave a rueful smile. "Ah yes, didn't I tell you? I'll be attending the ball with Victor Krum."

Snape lifted an eyebrow. "Interesting. And you don't think you've made changes that will inhibit this?"

"It's always possible. But I honestly doubt it. He's been following me around in the library already, I can tell because he has a possee of fangirls that trail behind him like lost puppies. It's really aggravating."

"Indeed." He said, looking quite done with the turn of the conversation. "I have told you my tale, Hermione, now you must tell me what happened between you and my godson."

Hermione, who still had the Yule Ball on the brain, looked at him incredulously. "Me? And Draco? Oh please, Sn- Severus, we're friends. Allies, partners, yes, but there's no sort of hidden romance you need to concern yourself about."

"I'm well aware there's nothing between you and the boy, foolish girl. I'm asking about the events of yesterday."

Hermione colored slightly at the misinterpretation, and then again at the implications of his question. Snape was not supposed to know about Draco's return to this time, not until they could be certain of his trustworthiness. According to Draco, that would be never, but Hermione had a little more faith in the bat of the dungeons. Quickly, Hermione decided to say only a small portion of the story to Snape. Namely, she would omit his full return.

"Draco has been having dreams of the future." She said simply. "Not some sort of Trelawney shit, either. It seems my Draco's half-landing in the Veil allowed a few of his memories to return, but not all of them. From what he said, he only gets about a year ahead of time, so we shouldn't have any issues from him."

Snape looked at her in disbelief. "Are you certain of what he knows?"

"I performed legilimency on him. It's true. And we'll be killing Voldemort off before he even knows enough to try and stop us."

"Don't underestimate my godson, Hermione. He is a sycophant of his father, and as he gets older he becomes ever more cunning. I wouldn't let your guard down around him, even if you believe he won't interfere."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. Slytherins. Did none of them trust a soul besides themselves? "I'll keep an eye out, but I hardly think he's a match for me."

"Very well." Snape gave a placating nod, dropping the conversation, although she could tell he wasn't satisfied with it. "Have you considered the seventh horcrux further?"

Hermione knew he was talking about Harry; last time, he had insisted she see if she could be the one to kill him, and that would be that. But Hermione knew this was unlikely to work, it was Harry's willingness to sacrifice himself that saved him. "I don't think it merits any consideration."

"I realize you do not wish to perform the curse on him, but it is arguably the simplest solution. How could it hurt to run the arithmancy equations?"

She realized it probably rankled for him, not knowing enough to run the equations himself. "Even 0.1 percent chance that Harry dies for good is unacceptable, Snape. I need a better solution."

"You are being foolish," he said once more. "There is more harm in the unknown than to your sensibilities." Snape was getting irritated at this point, she could tell.

"Listen, Snape, I've thought long and hard about this, despite what you seem to think. It won't work, it could never work." Hermione hoped this was enough to satisfy him, and for the next minute it seemed that way. They sat in silence, both simmering in irritation.

Finally, Snape spoke again. "I don't recommend you trust me completely, Hermione, but you can greatly benefit from my assistance. Your situation is far too dire to fail due to arrogance." Hermione must've looked offended, because he continued imperiously. "The life of a covert agent is not glamorous, nor is it forgiving. You'd best keep both of your eyes out, and not just for enemies you know."

"Thanks for the advice, Severus, but I'm unfortunately all too familiar with keeping my eyes open," Hermione snarked back. She was a bit annoyed, if she was being honest with herself. Keeping Draco's secret meant making Snape think she was little more than an overconfident teen. "Goodnight." She said shortly.

Snape nodded curtly in return. "Before you go," he said, much more mildly than before. "The ridiculous ball is being announced tomorrow. Enjoy the influx of teenage hormones."

Hermione groaned. She really couldn't catch a break.

She stomped back to Gryffindor tower, knowing she was over-reacting and yet not quite caring. "Balderdash." She growled at the Fat Lady, who gave her a slightly affronted look but obligingly moved aside.

"Mione!" Ron yelled out from across the mostly-empty common room. "Where the bloody hell have you been?"

Hermione scowled at him, unintentionally looking quite like Snape. That's right, this was one of the only days she wasn't going to double back – no point in it, really. Except she wasn't there with her boys, and apparently that was enough to upset Ron.

"Oh I had a few things to look up in the library." She said, keeping her voice quite calm.

Ron looked strangely upset by this, for some reason. "You weren't in the library, Mione, we looked for you. What have you been doing?"

Hermione was quite fed up at this time. "Can't I have a bit of time to myself, Ronald? I've been helping Harry for two months straight, it's about time I got to do something for myself. What have you been doing, anyway?"

Ron's ears started turning red, and he snapped back at her. "Don't pretend you were the only one helping him, Mione. I've been helping just as much as you!"

She shook her head in disbelief. "Ron, what is going on with you?"

"What's wrong with me? I'm not the one lying to their friends! What have you been up to, huh? Sneaking around in the dungeons, disappearing off the map, talking with Victor Krum?"

It hit Hermione like a ton of bricks. The Map! The Marauder's Map, Ron must've looked at it and seen she was in the dungeons. "Ronald, did you tell Harry about this?"

"Hell no!" He said vehemently. "He's got enough on his plate without learning that you're betraying him! Fraternizing with the enemy, you are!"

Hermione sighed, sliding her wand out of it's holster.

"I do love you, Ron," she said softly. Ron looked at her, completely dumbfounded. "Like a brother. So I'm really sorry I have to do this."

Fast as a bullet, she lifted her wand and cast, "Obliviate!"