Previously: "It's a deal. But this is neither the time nor the place. I believe there's a party going on." She glanced out across the garden, where Madam Maxime was walking away in a huff. And finally, she let the privacy ward dissipate.

Viktor seemed to get her message, and stood up. "Vould you accompany me inside?"

"I would love to, Victor." She put her hand on his arm, and they started walking back through the gardens. There were still alcoves inhabited by students, but there seemed to be less than last time. The ball was winding down, and she was honestly quite happy to let the night end. It had been a long day.

Unfortunately for Hermione, fate did not allow her to go peacefully to bed. Instead, she and Viktor ran straight into Harry, Pavarti, Padma, and Ron.

They had gotten inside the great hall and almost out the door to the entrance hall, when Harry spotted her and waved her over. "Hermione!" He said loudly. Damn that boy. She sighed, putting off her dreams of sleep for at least another hour.

"Harry! Hello," she said warmly. "It's quite hot in here, isn't it?"

"Erm, if you say so," he said neutrally. "So," he ran a hand through his hair. "How was your night?"

Hermione looked up at Victor, who had followed and now stood silently next to her. "Oh, it was quite fun, I think."

Seeing her gaze land on him, Viktor took the cue to pipe up as well. "Ve had a very good night. Vat about you, Potter?"

Harry looked at Hermione nervously, as if she was supposed to tell him the answer in her tutorial on dances. "Erm, good. Yeah, we had a good time, I think. Right, Parvati?" Parvati, who had been sharing looks with her sister, nodded distractedly.

Hermione would've stayed to chat, but she saw Ron sitting sullenly at a nearby table and didn't want to be there long enough to cause an explosion. "Well, it's been a long night," she said hedgingly. "And I think I want to turn in for the night. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you," said Harry. "Actually, I think it's pretty late as well." He started to move away from the table, but Hermione gave him an angry glare, then glanced pointedly towards Parvati. "Erm, Parvati, could I escort you to the dorm?"

Pavrati looked over at Padma, who waved her onwards. "Yes, that sounds fine," she replied.

If Hermione was any less exhausted, she would've probably paid a bit more attention to Viktor on her way up to Gryffindor tower, but she was spent. He gave her a kiss on the hand and a very loaded, "Thank you vor tonight, Hermy-one," before leaving for the Durmstrang ship. As soon as he was out of sight, Parvati squealed in delight.

"Oh Hermione, I can't believe you got to go with Viktor Krum! How dreamy, he's such a good flier, and so famous, oh are you going to date him?" She asked at about the same speed Hermione would answer questions in class. Harry looked a bit bemused by the situation. Maybe he realized, just as she did, that the way Parvati described Viktor would also describe him.

"We didn't really plan that far ahead, Parvati," she said. "But we had a good night, I think."

"Oh, you'll have to tell me and Lav all about it," Parvati said excitedly, and Hermione forced herself to smile. There went another hour of sleep, she realized. She effectively had to leave out a whole chunk of the night, and if she knew Parvati and Lavender at all, they would fill in the details as if it were a soap opera – that is, lots of passion, romanticism, and a few events that were pretty much the opposite of what happened.

They split off from Harry very shortly after that. He thanked Parvati for being his date, and then left, rubbing his eyes. Hermione looked after him with a bit of pride. She really had made the night go a lot more smoothly, at least for Harry and Parvati. She certainly didn't, and the vote was still out for Ron and Padma.

And as she expected, Parvati chattered her ear off about the ball, how wonderfully fun it was ("Although Harry was a really bad dancer, Hermione, I know he's your friend, but really,") and about how she hoped her sister had fun. Hermione had to beg a few minutes peace so she could change in the bathroom.

It was a decidedly unpleasant thing, to strip herself from charms, clothes, and beauty products, only to be left with her scarred body. The injury ran horizontally across her chest, down her stomach, and curling all the way down to her thigh. The tissue was raised, looking like molten lava placed atop her skin, and very ugly indeed. She looked at it magically, staying incredibly detached for someone looking at her permanent disfigurement for the first time.

Looking at it with mage sight was a surprise; not because it looked even angrier, churning against her skin, but by the sheer amount of power behind the curse still. Viktor was right. It reeked of dark magic: it looked and smelled metallic, like rusted iron, and she was sure if it had a sound, it would be screaming like a book in the restricted section.

She sighed. She should've figured out how to shield this from the rest of the world before the ball. Anyone with half a mind for dark magic and decent mage sight would be able to tell that something was going on with her. That must've been why Severus looked so astonished when he saw her. He was probably wondering why she hadn't shielded, or perhaps he was amazed that his own spell had such a lasting effect on her.

She scowled to herself in the mirror. There was no time to mope – the last thing she wanted was for Parvati to wander in while she was still undressed, see her scar, and have to be obliviated. Which meant she had to shield the dark magic, contain it so that it didn't reveal to everyone around her that she was tainted with living dark magic – it was different than having a scar like Harry's, for his was already settled into his skin until it was re-ignited. It was almost like the curse was still active, it hadn't healed over yet.

She took a look at it, and realized that it was still active, just frozen. Whatever potion Severus had used on her, it trapped the curse so it wouldn't spread farther. With no more flesh to attack, it would eventually die down. But it hadn't yet, even twenty-four hours after the fact.

The only shield she knew that would stop magical residue was a containment charm. It was originally used to direct magic towards certain plants, and away from weeds that you wouldn't want to magically help grow (She had read about it in Advanced Herbology, Grade 7). But since it worked on all living things, not just plants, she would be able to use it on herself. It would take a certain amount of concentration, since it was an active charm, but it wouldn't drain her any more than lighting her wand with lumos. It would have to do.

"Rectacipleum!" She said strongly, circling her stomach three times with her wand. Then, under mage sight, she saw the curse start to recede.

A tiny, tiny bit of her energy was now focused on limiting the curse to the tiniest space around her skin. If no one touched her directly on the scar, they would never notice the dark magic still leaking out of the curse. If they did happen to touch her, though, they would feel it even more concentratedly than before. A tradeoff, Hermione knew, but a much safer solution than leaving herself unprotected.

The energy drain was really a drop in the bucket, especially considering she had been maintaining shields and personal wards – both mental and physical – for over a year in this timeline. Her magic was used to being utilized to this extent, and it would hardly tire her unless she were already magically exhausted.

Sighing, Hermione realized she could wait no longer. It was time to re-join Parvati, and Lavender too, unless she had decided to hook up with Seamus this time around. Rolling her eyes at their juvenile behavior (why would you ever choose to engage in a loose relationship with someone you had to live with for the next three years?), Hermione threw on her pajamas and a very forced smile.

Lavender had returned after all, and Hermione was spared hours of one-on-one time with Parvati. She sat back, letting them make the most of the conversation, and instead took stock over her own night.

Viktor was the second person she had revealed anything of a more… sensitive nature. Severus was an unplanned addition to their little crusade, but he was both a useful and a welcome one. Viktor, on the other hand, he may just be a problem.

She liked Viktor. He was a gallant man, who had been a good friend for years last time around. Hermione was confident that he was on the right side of this whole issue, too, and that made it all the harder. Because Hermione had to handle this security breach – and she knew it was dangerous for him to associate Hermione Granger and dark magic, however innocently – but she also had to stay close to him, so she would be a part of the second task. And that was two months away. She was sure if she asked Severus or Draco, they would first be quite upset and then demand to memory modify him. Either that, or she should put him under one of her specialized potions, so he couldn't share the information, even under veritaserum.

But for all that Viktor was a good man, he was more of a wild card than she was comfortable with. Upon reflection, there were a lot of wild cards she was uncomfortable with. For instance, Rita Skeeter hadn't tripped any of the many, many wards she kept around her, identifying transformed animagi within a twenty-foot radius.

It was a very fun personal ward to make, actually, because she had to specify the spell of an animagus and only identify it in its active form, ie. someone transformed. If she had spelled it for all animagi, she would feel an uncomfortable itching sensation every time she was around her head of house, Sirius Black, or Albus Dumbledore. Then she had to specify twenty feet, no more and no less. It was hard to make such a specification, because her magic was used to some amount of ebb and flow. But yet another ward limited people from hearing her clearly after twenty feet, and she wanted to know if that woman was starting to go after Hermione Granger.

Because for all intents and purposes, Hermione Granger and the Heroine of Sussex were very different people. And Skeeter, although she had some very good sleuthing skills, shouldn't be able to make a connection between them. If she did, and she came to a place Hermione would be without the draw of a big event – the second task, perhaps – she was in trouble.

As things went, she was going to use the second task as an opportunity to cage the meddlesome reporter. Hermione, or really, the Heroine, couldn't grab Skeeter out of the blue. But if Hermione Granger blackmailed her in the same way she had last time, well now they had a bit more freedom.

She wondered if Skeeter could've hidden the information better – an informational fidelus, perhaps. But no, she didn't have anyone else who knew about her bug form, as far as Hermione knew. And you needed a secret keeper for that.

Suddenly, Hermione had one of those lovely ah-ha moments she was prone to.

Skeeter was a loose cannon, looser than Viktor. If she could offer to be her secret keeper, and keep anyone from learning that she was an illegal animagus, well that was the perfect, permanent blackmail. She would have to brag about the plan to Severus and Draco.

"It would never work." Draco said in the squishy office created by the Room of Requirements, the next day. "There's too many reasons for her to say no to you. And then, if she can find someone she trusts, she would just use them instead."

Hermione frowned. "That's fair, I suppose. And if she used someone else, we would both forget through the magic of the fidelus."

"So you have to trap her, make her feel like she has no other options. Keeping you in her confidences as a secret keeper is not a fair trade. Unless she sees a pressing and present need for secrecy, she won't act. But she's a bit of an idiot anyway, if she hadn't concealed herself better this whole time." He sneered, and Hermione was reminded of his 'outside face.' The face he showed the world, not the face he used with her.

But Draco scornfully continued, "Much less had a better cover if she were found out. Maybe a friend in the auror department who could destroy the papers, or a lot of friends on the Wizagnamot. Which she doesn't have. My father wouldn't support her, nor would his allies."

She frowned harder, thinking. "You may be making this a bit more complicated than it needs to be."

"Oh? How do you figure?"

"Well, I have it on very good authority that Rita Skeeter will hide in my hair during the second task." She smiled darkly.

"How the bloody hell did Skeeter end up in your hair?" He asked, speaking of the last timeline.

She sighed. "It's about all of those love triangle stories, which still have to happen, by the way. But regardless, I figured out Skeeter's secret as a fifteen year old, and had her trapped in a jar for weeks. She lived off of grass and worms, and it was glorious." Hermione grinned her wickedest, and she saw Draco recoil slightly.

"Well, then." Draco responded slowly. "That does open up some options. Think about it for a moment, there'll be an opportunity for you to kidnap Skeeter and have her at her mercy. Well then, we can give her an ultimatum. Take her to somewhere she can't transform, and tell her to take an Unbreakable Vow to follow our guidance, never reveal our secrets or act against us, that sort of thing. If she says no, we obliviate the stuffing out of her and put her under the Imperius until further notice." Draco looked at her intensely, and met Hermione's eyes, making sure he hadn't offended her Gryffindor sensibilities.

"And if she says yes?" Hermione said in reply.

He grinned sharply. "If she says yes, we offer her a Fidelus to keep her secret safe, and may end up putting her under the Imperius anyway. You know, we could actually force her to work for us using a combination of a Fidelus and a few compulsions."

"I don't know about that last part, Draco, but I think you may be right. It's the best way to deal with her, and we definitely have to do something."

Draco nodded his agreement. "Do you think we should ask Severus's opinion?"

"That is an imbecilic idea." Snape said snidely, after Hermione and Draco described their plan for Skeeter. "You would be much better off simply demanding she work for you. In fact, have a sealed envelope ready to send to the Prophet and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with your insider information about Skeeter. Add a memory of you seeing her transform, for believability. You are both fools if you think to make her agree to a vow and a Fidelus. It is that or destruction by obliviate, similar to our dear old Lockhart's fate."

"You suggest we give her the options of an Unbreakable Vow to obey us, plus voluntarily put the information under a Fidleus for her, or become a mental vegetable?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Actually, I think I may agree with him, Draco." Hermione said reluctantly. Her ego was a bit bruised that her idea had been so summarily overruled, but at least the core of the Fidelus had stayed in the plan. And this plan had no room for ego, unfortunately. "Who benefits the most from a Fidelus with me as secret keeper?" She asked.

"Oh," Draco said voicelessly. "You mean to keep any other potential blackmailers from finding out?"

"Or remembering, were they to know of it before." Severus added. "The Fidelus erases the memory completely from the minds of all but the Secret Keeper. Which means Hermione, as Keeper, would need to share the secret with us before we would remember having this conversation."

"Hang on, even Skeeter wouldn't know the secret?"

"I have little experience with informational Fideli. But you can allow her to use it under out direction. It would be nice to be a spymaster instead of a spy for once."

Hermione sipped her earl gray. "That's all well and good, but I can't act until February anyway. I have to wait until Skeeter's already disappeared in her beetle form. What I really need your advice on is Viktor."

"Oh no Hermione, what did you do?" Draco moaned. "You bloody romantic Gryffindor, you didn't tell him, did you?"

She stiffened, insulted. "Of course I didn't, Draco! I may be a Gryffindor, but that doesn't make me an idiot!"

Draco and Severus shared a glance of such skepticality that Hermione couldn't even pretend to have missed it. "He cornered me in the gardens last night, called me a dark witch. I hadn't realized that my scar was still so… potent." Severus gave a wince at that, and she remembered that he felt a bit of responsibility for her injury. Funny, that. "Anyway, I showed him the curse I got. He used legilimency, and I thought it was easier to just let him see a plausible explanation for me having dark residue without being a dark witch."

"Why didn't you cast Rectacipleum?" Draco cut in. "Looks like you've got it now."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "An oversight. I realize you tried to alert me, Severus, but I just didn't think about the consequences." To be fair, the only other times she had cast dark magic were during the third war, and at that point it was useless to shield. Everyone else had the same residue, it became like a second skin for the entire Resistance.

"We obliviate him." Snape said calmly. "It wouldn't be difficult to replace the scene in which you revealed your secrets to him with a suitably romantic liaison."

"He's an occlumens," Hermione said sharply. "Not a great one, but just enough that he could probably retrieve the memories."

Draco scoffed at this. "Mione, you might not know, but Severus is the best legilimens in the last three generations. I highly doubt he could break an overlayed memory placed by him."

She lifted an eyebrow. "It seems you seem to be cleaning up my messes, Severus."

"I'm quite used to it, Miss Granger. Don't expect the same treatment after the Dark Lord is finally defeated."

"After the Dark Lord is dead, we won't have any messes in the first place." Hermione countered. But a part of her wondered if that was true.

AN: It was pointed out to me that Viktor is spelled with a K, so I'll eventually go back and fix all of those. In the meantime, I'll be writing it correctly from now on.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Real life has gotten busy for me, and my last year of school is starting soon. I unfortunately didn't reach my goal of 50 chapters by August, but 44 chapters is pretty close, so I'll consider it a win. This has been the longest work of fiction (or nonfiction) I've ever written, and I'm very pleased to have gotten this far. I will keep updating for you lovely people, but it may slow down again. This chapter was the culmination of a few days of writing, and is subsequently a thousand words longer than my normal chapters. Is it too long, or are you guys fine with it?