Hermione knelt next to Harry's very still body and shook her head in exasperation. "You know, I am convinced I am just here to heal you when you run off and do stupid things."

She pulled out her wand and murmured the counter curse to the body bind he was under. As soon as she released it, his nose began gushing blood as he sat up. "Fuck! Fucking Malfoy."

Hermione shook her head again. "Sit still." With a wave of her wand and a cracking sound, his nose was healed but continued to bleed. He was trying to staunch the flow with the sleeve of his robes, and that would have to do for now. Before she could say anything further about Harry's stupidity, the train began to move. "It's going back to London, we have to get out of here."

Hermione jumped up, Harry behind her, still holding his robe sleeve to his nose. They ran out of the compartment to the closest exit, pried the door open and jumped off onto the platform, landing thankfully on their feet. Luckily, Tonks was checking the Platform for any stragglers and happily escorted them up to the castle.

When no one else was looking and Harry's nose finally stopped bleeding, she whipped out her wand and washed his face. He sputtered and took off his glasses.

"Couldn't you have been more gentle? That scourgify just ripped my top layer of skin off."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "You lost that privilege when you decided to be a dumbass." Harry's eyes widened in shock hearing her curse—she didn't do it often and especially not at him.

Their conversation was cut short before Harry could respond when Professor Flitwick and Auror Tonks walked them into the castle and the Great Hall. It looked like the sorting was over and the students were digging into the feast. Harry and Hermione quickly made their way to the Gryffindor table, ignoring the leering gazes of the Slytherin students and Malfoy's comments as they walked by.

Hermione noticed Professor Slughorn seated at the head table next to Professor Snape. Dumbledore had come calling halfway through the summer asking for Harry's help in recruiting the man to resume his post as Potions Master. He had refused without Hermione and Hermione refused unless Dumbledore was completely transparent about the situation and all situations going forward. He had no choice but to comply if he wanted the position filled.

Throughout dinner, Hermione noticed that most of their peers were upset by Professor Snape now being in the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. She would have said the same ages ago, but now, she could care less what position he was in as long as he was qualified.

Hopefully, this first day wasn't any indication of how the rest of the year was going to be. If so, they were in for a whole lot of trouble.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts the next day, Harry received detention almost immediately for mouthing off to Professor Snape. She didn't know what had gotten into him, but disarming the teacher in front of the whole class was uncalled for.

"Mister Potter, Miss Granger, please stay behind after class. Everyone else, you are dismissed."

Hermione frowned at why she was being asked to stay behind as well. "Professor?"

"One moment, Miss Granger." They waited until the last student exited the classroom and he pulled out his wand, closing the door and putting up several silencing charms.

"Well done following instructions as I asked, Mister Potter. I felt this was the best way for a cover when I needed to speak with both of you. It's easy enough to see the Chosen One getting riled up."

"I feel like I am being insulted and thanked all in one sentence."

Hermione laughed. "Because you are."

"I want you both to meet me in my office this evening. There are some things we should discuss, especially now that we are back at school."

Hermione nodded. "Fine. What time?"

"8 o'clock, after dinner. Miss Granger, you come under a dillusionment charm as it would be odd for you to be seen accompanying him to his detention."

"Yes, sir." Harry and Hermione then bid their goodbyes to their professor and talked in hushed voices on their way to lunch about what he could possibly want to talk about.

"Maybe something with Malfoy!" Harry said excitedly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Please, maybe it is something to do with Madam Pomfrey or Voldemort's followers."

"Which still includes Malfoy."

Hermione just shook her head and let the subject drop as they entered the Great Hall. The rest of the day passed relatively normally, and Amortentia was the subject in Potions.

As soon as Hermione entered the room, she could smell several things that reminded her of her favorite things. Harry's cologne she recognized immediately, along with freshly mown grass, and new parchment. The scents calmed her and brought a smile to her face.

When she looked at him, he was smiling goofily at her. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered. "Smells like you."

They worked side by side for the rest of class, each determined to beat the other out to win the prize Professor Slughorn had shown them at the beginning of class—Felix Felicis. Hermione won—to the surprise of no one. It was the cherry on top that Malfoy looked extremely put out by the situation, Slughorn having frowned at his potion earlier in the class.

Later that evening, Hermione was still on that high as they traipsed towards the dungeon for the meeting with Professor Snape. Instead of casting a disillusionment charm like he requested, she was underneath Harry's invisibility cloak. It seemed much safer and still made it look as if Harry was alone.

When Harry knocked on the door to Professor Snape's quarters, he opened the door and quickly shuffled the two of them in before shutting the door behind them.

Hermione quickly threw off the cloak and placed it over the back of the leather sofa. The dungeons were quite drafty and Hermione was grateful for the roaring fire. She took a seat on the sofa, Harry sitting next to her.

"So, what did you want to chat about?"

Professor Snape waited to speak as a house-elf popped in and left tea for the trio. He gestured for both Harry and Hermione to prepare tea for themselves. Once they had their steaming cups in hand, he spoke.

"This first part may be quite upsetting...for the both of you."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and nodded her head.

"What is it?" Harry asked, leaning forward. "Is this about someone becoming a Death Eater?"

Professor Snape frowned at him. "Not necessarily. But we will come back to that."

Harry nodded and Hermione once again rolled her eyes at how much effort Harry was putting into figuring out if Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater. If he put this much effort into his homework over the years, he would have received higher marks in all of his classes.

"The Dark Lord knows about you being half mermaid, and now being Daughter of the Sea, hailing over all the colonies on Earth."

Hermione pursed her lips and looked at her Professor. "Well, we kinda knew that he already knew, right?"

Professor Snape inclined his head slightly acknowledging what she had just said. "This just confirms it, but that isn't all. I found out during a meeting that somehow Dolohov and several other high-risk prisoners of Azkaban escaped. The Daily Prophet hasn't reported on it yet because the Ministry is keeping a tight hold on the situation, not wanting to scare Wizarding Britain or the rest of the world."

"That's horrible! One of them killed Ginny!" Harry shouted.

"Mister Potter," Professor Snape said, a little bite to his tone. He pulled out his wand and waved it toward the door. "I didn't think I would need to cast a silencing charm, but I stand corrected."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled sheepishly, falling back onto the sofa. He had spilled some tea on himself during his outburst and Hermione cleaned it up with a wave of her wand. "Thanks."

Hermione gave him a soft smile and turned back to Professor Snape. "So it was Dolohov that told Voldemort?"

"Yes, though that's not all. It wasn't difficult for them to track down someone you had shared the information with. He was more than willing to spill and join the cause against you."

"Three guesses who."

Hermione shook her head, trying to clear it. He wouldn't would he? "I don't want to believe it."

"Believe it, Hermione. We already put two and two together. Out of everyone on the list, he was the most likely," Harry told her, setting his teacup down and placing a hand on her shoulders.

"Viktor Krum sold you out, confirming what Dolohov had already said," Snape finally admitted, saying what Hermione couldn't.

She bit her lip in an effort to keep it from trembling. How could someone she trusted betray her so? Harry pulled his hand away from her shoulder and instead wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to him. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she spoke. "Why would he do this?"

Professor Snape pressed his lips together and shook his head, his hair falling briefly into his eyes before pushing it back behind his ear. "People will do things out of the ordinary when they feel threatened or they are unhappy. Sometimes...revenge."

"I turned him down," Hermione whispered.

"What?" Snape asked, looking from her to Harry and back to her again.

"I turned him down, remember, Harry?" She looked over at her boyfriend and he nodded. "I barely even got the words out and he said it was okay. He said that he understood and he already knew that I was with you."

"Maybe he played it off as being okay, but he really wasn't. Remember we mentioned Durmstrang too?"

Hermione looked to Professor Snape for his reaction. "As loathe as I am to admit it, Mister Potter has a point. Many of his friends are joining the cause as well. Perhaps he felt pressured but then saw an opportunity to be trusted and he took it. Otherwise, they could think him a traitor for having gone with you to the Yule Ball during the Triwizard Tournament."

"I guess over a year has passed since we spoke last. He's had time to let things mull over inside his head and become angry," Hermione admitted.

Harry nodded in agreement and rubbed his hand over her back. It was nice that he was attempting to comfort her, but she just wasn't feeling comforted, though she appreciated the effort. How were you supposed to take the betrayal of someone you called a friend?

"Be on the lookout for correspondence from him. He will likely try to reach out, fishing for information still pretending to be your friend."

"I can't just ignore him."

"You're right, you can't. I think you should give slightly altered information. Mostly truthful, but leaving out key details and replacing them with ridiculous notions."

"You think that will work?" Harry asked. "Won't it get him killed when the information is wrong?"

"Do you care?" Harry shook his head in response and Snape continued. "Very well then, I think that is the best course of action. Are you okay with that?"

Hermione shrugged and stared off into the fire. Eventually, she spoke. "I don't want him to die, but I don't see any other choice. If I just ignore him, he'll know that something is up."

"Just correspond with him normally, with your day to day life," Harry suggested. "Then if he brings up anything to do with your mermaidness, you can deflect."

"That could get him into trouble too if that is what you're worried about," Professor Snape chimed in. "No news is bad news, the Dark Lord will badger him until he grows impatient. He'll likely have some cruicos sent his way."

"Viktor told me that they used to practice on each other at school. I think I am okay with that, and if he betrayed me, I guess his death wouldn't be a tragedy. Does that make me a bad person to think that?"

Harry shook his head and Snape didn't say anything.

She spoke again. "I am just upset that I have lost a friend."

Snape drained the rest of his teacup and placed it back on the tray. "That's the real world, Miss Granger. People change and it sounds like the boy you once knew is no longer."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "That is the least of my concerns right now to be completely honest. I need to find a way to protect at least the main colony, if not all of the colonies across the world."

"Perhaps you can speak with a magical creature expert."

"Hagrid," Harry immediately suggested.

"Not exactly who I had in mind." Hermione had to keep from laughing because the look on the professor's face was one of pure horror at Harry's suggestion before he masked it back to indifference. He would never consider Hagrid an expert and to be honest, neither did Hermione. Sure, he was good with magical creatures, but he was blinded by the fact that he thought dangerous creatures were fluffy and cuddly and should be pets.

"Hagrid isn't back yet from wherever he is," Hermione reminded them all. "I am sure he would be a fine choice, but I think I will send a letter to Charlie Weasley. He deals with dragons and large enclosures with enchantments on the regular."

"I believe I could find some resources for you as well if that doesn't work out. I have colleagues across the world that would be willing to assist, though it would need to be done carefully."

"I appreciate that Professor." She glanced down at her wristwatch and realized it was close to curfew. They had been talking for several hours. "We should go." Hermione placed her half-full teacup back on the tray, Harry following suit.

"Don't come to speak to me unless necessary," Professor Snape told them as they gathered their things and Hermione disappeared underneath Harry's invisibility cloak. "Send a charmed note if you must."

"Stay safe, Professor," Hermione whispered as Harry opened the door and they walked out into the hallway. When he shut the door behind them, Harry and Hermione quickly made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, making sure not to talk to each other in case someone was listening. Hermione wasn't supposed to be with Harry in detention after all.

Right before they approached the Fat Lady, Hermione took off the cloak. Harry frowned at her. "What? I will just claim I was doing some research in the library if anyone asks. That's not out of the ordinary."

Harry nodded as he gave the password to the Fat Lady and she swung open to reveal the portrait hole. When they arrived in the common room, it was bustling with activity, curfew just moments away. It wouldn't be long until it cleared out thankfully. Hermione and Harry joined Seamus and Dean who were playing a game of chess.

"Where have you two been?" Seamus asked as Dean moved his knight across the board.

"Detention," Harry replied.

"Library," Hermione said, simultaneously.

Hermione looked at Harry and grinned as Seamus and Dean just nodded their heads and continued with their game.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked looking around. "Curfew is soon and he'll get detention if he's caught."

"Oh, he's in our dormitory...with Padma," Seamus said, a smirk crossing his face. "Lucky bloke."

Harry's eyes went wide and Hermione covered her mouth as she giggled. "He is?"

Dean nodded. "That's why the rest of us are down here." He nodded to the other side of the common room where Neville was seated, poking and proding at an odd looking plant.

"How did he sneak her in there?" Harry asked.

"He just led her through the common room and up the stairs. Girls aren't banned from the boys' dormitories like we are from the girls...which is sexist by the way, but no one ever talks about it."

Harry nodded in agreement and Hermione just smiled and shook her head. She wasn't looking for a debate, but she could argue the affirmative or the negative on this topic.

"I am surprised no one has said anything." She looked around and noticed most of the students still loitering about were 4th year or older, most of the younger students already in bed.

"No one our age or older is going to say a word," Dean said, moving his final piece to take the victory. "Because they were all wishing they were doing the same thing. The boys are commending Ron on doing what they don't have the balls to do, and the girls are wishing a boy would man up and sneak them upstairs."

Hermione scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Why would anyone wish that? Trapped in a dorm where four other boys sleep with curtains the only thing separating them? No thank you."

Harry agreed with her.

"Well, we are in Hogwarts," Dean said, standing up and stretching his arms above his head. "There aren't a whole lot of options for being romantic."

Hermione just nodded her head in agreement. She missed sleeping in a bed with Harry again, she felt much safer and less anxiety-ridden with his arms around her. It was something she craved, especially with everything that was coming their way.

Perhaps they would have to utilize the room of requirement once more, for more personal reasons, of course.

Thank you to HeartOfAspen — this story wouldn't have made it this far without her!