Chapter 40
It was mid-April when the students finally poured back into Hogwarts, and when the DA began the Spring Term with their first meeting. Hermione felt forlorn as she stood before the rows of eager-eyed students with Neville at her side. She couldn't help thinking of Luna and Ginny, so conspicuous in their absence; she would join them in absence soon. She turned to Neville and nodded. He stepped forward and opened the meeting cheerfully.
"Welcome back, everyone! You'll notice straight away that the Room has changed, and I'll say it now before everyone starts asking at once: yes, it WILL change again as needed, possibly today. Possibly every day. Expect lots of changes in general this term, folks. We've got to keep up the fight against the DEs, and that will mean lots of adapting, and lots of careful planning. Luckily, Hermione here," he jerked a thumb sideways at her, "has plenty of contingencies and stratagems and Merlin only knows what else, so we should be ready for just about anything the DEs might bring to bear against us. Now," he cleared his throat slightly, "you'll notice quite a number of absences here tonight. I want you to know that every missing student has been accounted for, and we will continue to maintain a close watch on everyone."
Neville carried on leading the meeting, calling on students from the various houses to report on their statuses, making plans for the first week of term, and going over the DA's various plans. Hermione declined to participate in the gathering, keen to position Neville firmly as their leader. If the DA members noticed the change, they did not say so, but many of the older students took obvious note of Hermione's promotion of Neville. Finally, Neville divided up various tasks amongst the fighters and the brain chain, and then briefed the younger students on the newest safety measures.
"Right you lot," he said, glancing at the clock, "time to get back to your common rooms. Remember that we're stepping up our DA defense classes – Hermione's posted the schedule on the notice board outside the brain chain. Keep one another safe, people! Have a good night!"
The large group of students exited two at a time, Lavender and Parvati closing the Room between pairs so that it let out at different points throughout the castle. When everyone had gone, Neville briefed Lavender and Parvati on taking over Ginny's position as heads of the brain chain, and Hermione retired to her small bedroom, already missing the Marauder's Map. She'd decided to make good on her earlier promise to Ginny: the Map now belonged permanently in the brain chain, even though it was no longer the redhead who would use it. They would monitor it throughout the day, and anyone needing to navigate the castle could ask Neville's permission to consult it during the night. She would miss the freedom and safety it had afforded her, but this was clearly the most strategic use for it.
Finally, Hermione stood alone in her tiny room, uncertainty mounting as she flicked her eyes at the tall mahogany door. She hadn't seen Severus since he tried to take her back to Spinner's End, and now she couldn't even track his dot – or the lack of it – on the Map. She turned to the empty portrait on the opposite wall, already inhaling to call Phineas's name, but… she stopped herself. Do I really want Phineas nosing around in every communication between Severus and me?
Shaking her head, Hermione scratched down a quick note in case Neville came looking for her, left it in a visible spot on her bureau, and then approached the mahogany door.
She hesitated for a moment. Severus knocked when he came to see me here…
But her desire to see the dark man overcame her hesitation, and Hermione swung the door wide and stepped into the dim sitting room. She felt the previously unnoticed tension in her shoulders relax at once as she stepped forward to peer out of the underwater windows and into the blackness of the lake. She stood there for a moment, staring into the watery depths before she waved her wand to draw the curtains across the windows. The sitting room looked different to the last time she'd been here; the desk wasn't as messy and the couches, so squashy and comfortable, looked like they hadn't been sat upon in ages. Hermione sighed, deciding to check the other rooms, just in case.
She started with the office at the top of the tall staircase: pristine, empty, horribly perfect. The lab was next: elaborate, contained, tidy. Finally the bedroom: cold fireplace, bed made up with unused sheets, just the faintest smell of woodsmoke and herbs. Hermione sank down onto the deep green coverlet and looked around at the wall-to-wall bookshelves, at the empty fire grate, at the doorway leading back to the sitting room, and at the mahogany door beyond that. Kicking off her shoes, she crawled up the bed, scooted down in between the sheets, and ,without quite meaning to, without really knowing what she did, Hermione slipped seamlessly into sleep.
The scent of woodsmoke and herbs was familiar but faint, trapped within the sheets. Hermione turned over, sighing in contentment. It felt like the mornings during the Christmas holidays, when she would awaken in Severus's old bedroom at Spinner's End. There had been something immeasurably comforting about that place, that bed, and Hermione could feel the same serenity filling her now. It didn't last, of course.
"Granger!" a voice barked from without.
Hermione sat up at once, coming fully awake and looking around in some astonishment to see that she was, indeed, in Severus's room once again, albeit at Hogwarts this time.
"Granger!" the voice came again, and Hermione scrambled from the double bed and into the adjacent sitting room to see Phineas staring at her owlishly from a painting perched on the desk.
"There you are," he said, eyeing her beadily. "It's nearly six in the morning, you realise. The castle awakens."
Hermione ran a hand through her hair, which had gone from wild to completely insane overnight.
"Right. Thanks, Phineas.
"A proper alarm might be in order next time, Granger, as I'm not always in the mood to perform a wake-up call."
"Noted."
She ducked back into the bedroom, and straightened the bedclothes with a quick flick of her wand. As she walked back into the Room, intent on beginning her day, Hermione realised that she felt better than she'd done in weeks – since Harry and Ron's capture, in fact. Sleeping in the dark man's chambers had proven an effective remedy for her continual exhaustion. Smiling gently to herself, she prepared to face the morning. It would be a busy one: she was on the roster to oversee breakfast in the Great Hall, and to hex Amycus Carrow before the first class of the morning – a tall order, but one she looked forward to completing.
The following days unfolded easily enough: the Carrows were subtly but consistently disabled by hexes, Filch was effectively neutralised by unyielding (and maliciously gleeful) attention from Peeves, and the Junior DEs were continually checked by Neville's fighters, who tracked them throughout the castle, preventing conflicts from erupting. This term at Hogwarts was a type of siege, just as Hermione had initially conceived of it, and it wasn't all perfect. Seamus was cornered by Amycus Carrow one day, and had to spend the better part of a week in the hospital wing; Neville fought a terrible two-against-one duel against Crabbe and Goyle, which ended in all three of them knocked out; and Hermione herself was targeted repeatedly by Alecto Carrow, who seemed particularly intent on catching her alone.
But the DA held its ground. Parvati and Lavender did an excellent job of managing the brain chain, and Neville's fighters were teaching all of the younger students extensive defense techniques in the evenings. Hermione delegated many of her usual tasks to other students, intent on forming a new line of leadership by the time she had to leave Hogwarts. The only duties she had yet to discharge were the ones to do with Slytherin House.
To that effect, she marched down to the dungeons at the end of the second week of term. Making her way down a dark but familiar corridor, Hermione slipped behind a tapestry and into a small recessed alcove. Malfoy was there already, perched on a stone outcropping, staring down at his fingernails in the half-light.
"Granger," he said in a bored voice.
"Malfoy."
"Well?" He looked up at her. "What do you want?"
"Plans have changed in light of recent events, and it's time you were updated. I was hoping to wait until I saw Sev – Professor Snape, but he seems to have disappeared altogether lately."
Malfoy didn't react to her slip-up, but he did hop off the ledge to face her squarely.
"How interesting," he said, putting a careful emphasis on the word, "do update me, then, Granger."
Hermione told him that she would be leaving soon, and that she was delegating the majority of her tasks to other Gryffindors, with Neville poised as the new leader of the DA.
"So you're saying I'll have to meet with Longbottom from now on?" Malfoy's mouth curled. "Forget it."
"It's best you learn to deal with him sooner than later, Malfoy. He'll be your best chance at keeping the Slytherin members of the DA out of trouble."
"He's unsuitable for dealing with Slytherin," Malfoy returned haughtily. "He's laughably transparent, consistently clumsy, and particularly disagreeable to those from my house. You, at least, I can stomach enough to meet with. Him…" he flicked his hand in the air in a dismissive gesture.
"I get it," Hermione asserted, despite the anger she'd had to quash down at his words. "I know you've gotten used to me and my methods. But I promise you, Malfoy, Neville is the person you'll want to get to know better when I'm not here any more. He'll vouch for you, and he's a lot cleverer than you're giving him credit for. Most people haven't cottoned on to that yet, and so Neville uses it to his advantage. Just watch him during our next Dark Arts class. You'll see."
Malfoy sighed, reluctance evident in every feature, before he suddenly eyed her sideways.
"So what about Severus, then?" he asked, smirking.
Hermione longed to revisit old times and hit him round the face.
"What about him?"
"I'm surprised you're not here to question me regarding his… what did you call it last time? Ah yes, his disappearance of late? Don't you want to know where he's been?"
"I do know."
"You think you do, I suppose, but I doubt you know any of the particulars. And I know how eager you were to have updates on him last time he disappeared." Malfoy eyed her sagaciously. "What are you willing to trade?"
Hermione felt herself starting to redden. Calling upon her Mind's Eye, she dispersed her embarrassment, and raised her chin defiantly. She knew, right then and there, that she would never again allow Malfoy to insert himself in her dealings with Severus – personal or otherwise.
"Nothing," she spat. "Severus will come back, and I'll be the first to see him when he does."
With that, she turned on her heel, and left Malfoy in a brooding silence.
No sooner had Hermione left the dungeons to make her way back up to the Room of Requirement than Phineas Nigellus waved at her from one of the gold-framed landscapes in the Entrance Hall.
"What is it?" she asked him quietly.
"Our perspicacious Headmaster has returned." The little man smirked in a self-satisfied way. "I believe he would like to see you."
Hermione felt her heart leap in her chest; she'd meant what she'd said to Malfoy about being the first to see Severus, but she hadn't thought she would be right so soon.
"Wait a moment." Her Mind's Eye snagged on something Phineas had said, and she scrutinized the painted man. "You believe he would like to see me?"
"I do. I have deduced it to be so, based on many months of observing the pair of you both together and separately. My observations lead me to conclude that you are the person Severus most wishes to see after finally arriving back at Hogwarts. Off you go." He made a somewhat rude shooing motion with one hand.
"You had best keep your observations to yourself, Phineas," she told the portrait in an undertone, crossing her arms across her chest, making no move to follow his instructions. "I appreciate the help you've given me but –"
"Stop jawing at me and go to him, or I won't bother answering the next time you call."
Hermione sent him a swift glare, but turned to start up the stairs towards the Headmaster's office. The portrait cleared its throat significantly, and she halted.
"Yes?" she asked, summoning all of her patience. First Malfoy, now Phineas. Slytherins were certainly trying her patience this evening.
"He is outside, walking in the grounds."
"I see," Hermione said, longing for the Map for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd given it up. "Do you know where he is exactly, Phineas?"
"He entered the grounds by the eastern gates. I should think he'd be close to that edge of the forest by now."
"Thank you," she said, and the sharp little man swept her a mocking bow from within the landscape.
Hermione opened the heavy front door, and set off across the lawn towards the forest at a brisk walk. Evening had fallen some time earlier, and the grounds were dark, but she hesitated to light her wand. Without the Map, she couldn't double-check her surroundings, and she felt awkward and unsure as she stumbled through the dark.
So it was that the dark man found her. She'd been walking at the edge of the forest, hesitant to plunge in without knowing which direction he'd gone when –
"Granger?" a deep voice said, startling her badly. She spun around, and there he was, stepping out from between two tall elm trees. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was looking for you." He frowned, peering down at her empty hands. "I left the Map for the DA to use," she explained, answering his questioning look. "I think they'd best learn to use it effectively whilst I'm still here… you know, before…"
"Indeed."
He came nearer, and Hermione saw that he was hollow-cheeked and tired-eyed in the faint moonlight streaming down from the cloudy sky.
"How are you?" she asked him.
"I've always asked you that question." He gave her an assessing look. "And I have no need to tonight…" He reached out and plucked at her sleeve, and Hermione suddenly realised that she wore only a thin jumper. "You're cold."
"I didn't have time to get a cloak," she explained in a rush, "Phineas told me to come and see you, and I – "
"Do come along, then," he said, holding out a hand.
She smiled and took his warm hand, which wrapped around her palm before quickly brushing up her arm to her shoulder. Hermione suppressed a shiver of pleasure at his touch – and then had to bite her lip to keep from yelping in surprise when the dark man swept her up into his arms without warning and, after a quick glance that showed pure mischief alighting his eyes, he leapt into the air.
"Severus!"
The rush of night-time wind stole her breath as Snape hurtled them both into the sky. A low murmur, and Hermione felt a strong heating charm surround both of them as they flew upwards, higher than she'd ever been on broomstick or thestral.
"So high up!" she babbled nonsensically, clutching at the front of his robes. "We are so high up! If you drop me I swear I will murder you! Slowly and painfully!"
Severus chuckled darkly, and Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, hiding her face against his chest.
"If I'd known there was a way to cease your interminable questioning," he said wryly into her ear, "I'd have done this ages ago, Granger."
"So high up," she continued nonsensically, "I'm ready to come down now. Definitely ready. It's official. I am completely over flying in any form!"
It was true: even pressed against Severus, even encircled by low clouds and shimmering moonlight, even with all of Hogwarts and the forest spreading out beneath them… even this was not enough to quash her wretched fear of flight. But they were losing altitude already; Snape was gliding towards the castle, which came up so quickly that Hermione had to close her eyes again as they hurtled towards the tower containing the Headmaster's office. The wind blew past her ears in a crescendo before cutting off suddenly as Severus stepped through one of the tall windows and into the office.
"You can open your eyes now, Hermione." His voice held more than a hint of laughter, but she obeyed, glaring at him. He smirked in return. "Perhaps I'll give you fair warning next time – you might make less of a scene."
"Fair warning, daylight, a flightpath, beginning and end times, and my consent in writing are what I require for there to ever be a next time! And I will absolutely make a scene!"
"Done."
The smirk turned into a genuine smile, and Severus released Hermione, setting her down gently on her feet. She turned away for a moment, attempting to tame her hair, which had gone from mildly tousled to downright dishevelled within the last few minutes. By the time she turned back to look at him, Severus's smile had faded, and she could see the exhaustion once more in the set of his shoulders, in the shadows beneath his eyes.
"You never answered me," she said gently. "I haven't seen you in nearly two weeks. How are you, Severus?"
He shook his head, and dropped down heavily into one of the two chairs that dragged themselves obligingly forward.
"I'm fine, all things considered."
Hermione took the other chair and faced him, as she had always done.
"Really? Because you look like you're on your last legs."
He sent her a mild glare.
"You don't look especially bright-eyed and bushy-tailed yourself, Granger." One of his brows arched up. "Bushy-haired… that's another matter entirely."
"Exhaustion makes you obnoxious, Professor."
"And it renders you vexatious, Miss Granger."
"That makes us quite a pair then, doesn't it?"
She couldn't help the delighted smile that erupted. It was so good to sit here with him, to banter casually… she knew it couldn't last. Sure enough, Severus's relaxed posture shifted to something more formal, his back straightening, his left ankle coming up to cross over his right knee. She decided to pre-empt him.
"How are things coming along on your end?"
"My plans are nearly complete. The exhaustion you are so eager to exacerbate was caused by my casting an extremely complex charm on Hogsmeade today."
"On Hogsmeade," she repeated, "you can't mean… not on the entire village?"
He looked down at his fingernails nonchalantly before shrugging one shoulder.
"The charm – which is indeed on the entire village – can now be renewed with a simple incantation every twelve hours, a task which will be undertaken by Amycus every morning, and Alecto every evening. They begin tomorrow, which means that the routine will be established by the time you follow Alecto Carrow to Hogsmeade on the evening of April 30th, when you will disarm her, stun her, take one of her hairs," he reached into a hidden pocket in the sleeve of his robes and withdrew a small jar of brown, mud-coloured potion, "and impersonate her whilst you trigger the Caterwauling Charm. You will then Disapparate." She accepted the Polyjuice Potion, and Snape leaned back and laced his fingers over his knee, regarding her keenly. "Well? Let the interminable questioning begin."
Hermione stared at him as her mind went up several gears, racing over the plan, trying to find holes, problems…
"It's brilliant," she said, after a long moment. "It will account for my absence, absolve you of suspicion, and strike a blow against the Carrows, all at once." She contemplated for a moment longer, her thoughts racing ahead of her as they so often did when her instincts and intuition moved faster than her intellect. Her Mind's Eye came up to help, but Hermione consciously cast it aside – sometimes the muddle of her untempered thoughts brought her to just the right conclusions. "What about You-Know-Who? Will you have to report my absence to him immediately?"
"That is one point for you to decide on. If you execute the plan as it is, yes – Alecto will return to the castle eventually, where she will doubtlessly report your escape to me. I will, naturally, go to my master," he sneered at the honorific, "and inform him in turn. However, you can take one simple step to buy yourself extra time."
He raised his eyebrows expectantly, and Hermione produced the answer as her mind made the leap forward.
"Obliviate. If I erase her memory of my escape, you'll have nothing to report except my absence, which won't be particularly remarkable until at least a few days later."
"Precisely. It is up to you whether you take that added measure or not, whether you want the Dark Lord aware of your escape sooner, or later."
"But…" Hermione thought over the plan she, Harry and Ron had been labouring over these last weeks, "if things don't go to plan with the boys, and we're found out, you would be in a real pickle."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. It will depend on how… distracted the Dark Lord were to become at that point."
Hermione stared at Severus, who tilted his head knowingly at her. He hadn't done this for a long time, not since the days of their lessons together: He'd set a tidbit of information before her, tempting her to follow his line of thinking, and to give up information simultaneously. Deciding carefully, she took the bait.
"Distracted?"
"Dumbledore," the dark man glanced sideways at the empty portraits above them, "told me that there would come a time when the Dark Lord would seem to fear for the life of his snake. I would imagine such an occasion would prove quite distracting to him, no?"
And suddenly his casual gaze sharpened, his eyes deepening into dark tunnels. Hermione didn't look away, and she didn't call upon her Mind's Eye to protect her. Instead, she stared into those eyes.
"Severus."
It was a complete sentence, a formal address, a signal that the dark man recognized immediately. He leaned forward, both of his feet on the floor, his face betraying his eagerness. He dropped the Legilimency and, suddenly, his eyes shone.
"Hermione," he answered.
"Nagini is a Horcrux," she said slowly, carefully. "You-Know-Who made six Horcruxes in all. We have disposed of three. Three remain, including the snake. It will hopefully be down to two after the first of May."
Snape sat motionless except for his chest, which rose and fell rapidly. Hermione gave him a moment, and watched as he tried and failed to calm himself.
"Jesus Christ," he said, a Midlands accent creeping into his voice, disgust painted vividly across his features, "Jesus fucking Christ."
He stood so abruptly that his chair overturned, but he paid it no mind as he began to pace restlessly.
"The ring," he said feverishly, "the cursed ring Dumbledore – the idiot – put on that night. And the bloody diary that Lucius gave the Weasley girl."
He stopped suddenly when Hermione stood up to face him. He cut his eyes to her. Months before, such a look would have sent her into a tailspin of panic. Not anymore.
"Who else knows about this?" he demanded.
"Dumbledore of course. Professor Slughorn knows. Regulus Black knew as well…" she trailed off for a moment, "Harry, Ron, and me… and now you."
Snape's eyes flashed furiously.
"I had an idea of what Nagini must be, and I had some theories on how he'd returned after so many years – there are only so many ways to – to… " he stumbled over the words in his agitation – "but SIX, Hermione…"
He made to resume pacing, but Hermione stepped into his path. She gripped his shoulders tightly, forcing him to stop. His eyes were anguished, but Severus took the comfort she offered and lowered his head so that their foreheads touched. She could feel the magic within him fairly boiling against her skin, so unlike his usually cool, dusky power.
"I know," she told him, cupping his face in her hands, "I know. But we will finish him. And now that you know, I think we're one step closer."
He looked at her. This close-to, his eyes filled her entire world.
"You were right to keep it from me, Hermione," he whispered.
"And I'm right to tell you now."
Severus raised a tentative hand, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. He pulled back a little, his eyes trailing down her face to focus on her lips. He glanced at her eyes quickly before leaning forward and, giving her plenty of time to step away, he pressed his lips gently, tentatively to hers. The kiss ended before Hermione could savour it.
"I will never give you cause to regret it," he said.
"I'm so glad you're with me, Severus," she answered. Her voice came out heavy with the emotions surging through her, "I…I'm just…" she trailed off, unsure of how to say it. She had more than wanted him fully on her side in this; she had needed him, desperately.
The dark man didn't let her flounder. He stepped close once more and kissed her again, his lips more demanding. Hermione threw herself into the kiss, melting against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. A deep, approving rumble rose in his chest, and he drew her even closer. Hermione wanted to stay here, to keep kissing him, to enclose them both within this space and pretend that the rest of the world had ceased to exist.
But she couldn't; nor could he. Before Severus could deepen the kiss further, Hermione pulled away.
"I have to go." She didn't bother to hide the regret in her voice. Severus still held her to him, his chest rising and falling against hers. "I have to report back to Neville and the DA, and I'm teaching the fourth years Defense tonight. They'll come after me if they see me here on the Map for longer than a few minutes at a time, especially when I'm supposed to be with them."
Severus sighed and let her go, taking a long step away from her. He suddenly looked defeated, his shoulder slumping, the exhaustion he'd felt earlier clearly deepened by what she had told him.
"I'll tell Phineas to meet you in the corridor below," Severus said, straightening his shoulders, "he and the other Heads can see you back to the Room of Requirement safely, as you do not have the Map."
"Thank you." She turned to go but hesitated at the door. Part of her wanted to throw her arms around the dejected man, to continue taking comfort from him and to offer comfort in return… and yet… "When will you have to leave again?"
He shrugged one shoulder.
"Ten minutes or ten hours from now… I don't know."
"And will you come back…?"
He met her eyes, and Hermione saw a smouldering light within, despite the fatigue suffusing his face. He crossed the space between them in two long strides and gathered Hermione into his arms before she knew quite what was happening. His voice, when it came, was muffled by her hair.
"Nothing in this world or the next could keep me from returning to you, Hermione."
A/N: Thank you all so very much for your reviews. I love them. More, prettiest please. The next chapter should be up within the next week or two.