"I know! Harry, don't!" She called the same time Harry screamed the same curse he had used on Malfoy. Snape blocked it and blasted Harry back, swooping down upon him. Hermione couldn't hear the quiet exchange from here but she was so close now. Snape straightened and his eyes locked with hers again. This time she saw a funny flicker in his eyes which she didn't understand. Suddenly he was gone, billowing after a sing-songy Bellatrix, dragging Malfoy by the collar again. Hermione made to go after them but she couldn't allow herself to leave Harry. Cursing, she knelt by his side and watched as Snape's form disappeared into the trees. Now what?

…

CHATPTER SEVEN – GOODBYES

In the aftermath of the invasion, it was a relief to find that no one was gravely injured, except Bill who had taken a fair beating by Greyback. Lupin warned him he might turn and offered his support. The only death was Albus Dumbledore. Grief permeated the whole castle. No one seemed to know what to say or do. Several felt that all was lost that surely now Voldemort would win. Hermione surveyed the hospital wing from her perch by the door. She too felt lost, but not wh9ley because of Dumbledore's death. She felt like she had failed a mission she had been given. Though she wasn't sure what the point of it was; to prove Snape's innocence? To help him now that surely no one else would? She didn't know, and now she had no idea where to find him. Checking in one last time with the Weasley's and Luna, who was also slightly injured, Hermione left, wandering to the Great Hall. It took effort to push open the large double doors, and what she saw inside knocked the breath out of her.

No one had been in to clean up yet and the room looked raw. The floor to ceiling windows behind the head table were shattered in most places. Tables and benches were splintered and scattered everywhere. Goblets and plates littered the floor, most of them no longer whole. Hermione's stomach clenched at the sight of the beloved Great Hall in such a condition but also for her professors. A dueling Snape and McGonagall had to have been a nasty sight, both very powerful. Suddenly, Hermione felt a surge of concern for them both even though last she had seen either of them, they had been perfectly healthy. Hermione turned away, shutting the doors and made her way back to her rooms. She felt the little bulge in her pocket where the shrunken beaded bag was and decided to keep it there. She collapsed onto her bed and gratefully fell asleep.

It was a fitful sleep. Full of dreams about battles and fire, the Great Hall exploding, Dumbledore's lifeless body tumbling off the tower, and Snape's expression as he locked eyes with her for the last time. She woke feeling only marginally more rested and decided she ought to leave her rooms to find out what was happening. But when she got up, sitting idly on the table by her bed was another note. She had not expected one ever again. She sat up and held it a moment, feeling the parchment between her fingers before she unfolded it.

After the funeral, take a walk along the lake.

Hermione pinched her eyebrows. Was she going to meet her mystery writer? Was this another chance to see Snape? Or find him? She wanted both. She hid the note with the rest on her person, stretched, and made her way to the Gryffindor common room. Harry and Ron were there, looking somber, most of the house seemed to be there, determined not to be alone. Hermione went to sit with her friends.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"The professors are discussing when to have Dumbledore's funeral."

"Oh."

"They'll come tell their houses."

"What about…" Hermione paused. "The Slytherins?"

Harry scowled. "Madam Pomfrey said she would tell them."

"Kind of her."

"Not that they deserve it."

"Harry!"

His scowl deepened but he didn't say anything else. Everyone waited in relative silence, with only a few low murmurs to be heard around the room. Finally, McGonagall entered the common room; she looked around at each of her cubs, checking on them all. Hermione thought she looked like she had been crying. Slowly, shakily, their head of house told them the plans for the funeral, the day and time. She explained notices would go out to trusted friends and it would be held here, on Hogwarts grounds. A few students ran up and hugged McGonagall, which started her crying again.

SHSHSH

Harry, Ron and Hermione all stood facing each other in a corner of the common room, adjusting each other's robes. Discomfort and sadness had permeated the castle again, now that it was the day of the funeral. Hermione thought the pair looked handsome and she was proud of their stoicism the past couple of days. She had the passing thought that Dumbledore would approve.

"I think we are ready," Hermione mumbled.

"I need you two to know that I'm not coming back to Hogwarts next year."

"What?" Ron gaped at Harry. "I know with Dumbledore—"

"It's not about that. Not directly at least. Dumbledore told me everything about Riddle and the horcruxes so that I could destroy them, so I'm going to go find them all and do just that."

"Then we are coming with you, mate."

Hermione smiled at Ron. "We are Harry."

"But—"

Ron shook his head. "We've been through this, mate, where you go, we go. Besides, you won't last a minute without us."

Hermione smirked and Harry sighed, pulling them each in for a hug. "Fine then, we all go."

The funeral was packed with witches and wizards. More than Hermione could ever remember seeing. And it was beautiful. She thought the ceremony honored Dumbledore in the way he deserved. With class and a little bit of pomp. There were many teary eyes at the end and quite a few people outright sobbing. When Harry and Ron were distracted, Hermione dabbed her eyes and took off around the lake, quickly casting a water repellant charm on her flats. She hoped, as she began on the winding path, that she was going the right way. She froze when she saw Snape just up ahead, a shadow in the trees. She followed his line of sight to the funeral, where the gathering and the white coffin could just be seen in the distance. She looked back at the man who held his wand in front of him. It let off a little glow and she saw his mouth move. That pained expression slid across his face and disappeared, then he was starting off through the trees. Hermione tried to follow him for a while, but suddenly he vanished and Hermione stood, looking out into the creepy expanse of the forest for a long time before she finally turned around.

SHSHSH

Severus sat in the dilapidated chair in the living room of his home at Spinners End. He pinched his nose with one hand; the other held a class of firewhiskey by its rim. He had known better than to creep onto Hogwarts grounds to see the funeral, but he had wanted to torture himself one more time. It was effective. He sighed through his nose and took a swig of the firewhiskey. Suddenly he leaned forward and dropped the glass on the table in front of him. Freeing his hands, he went routing around in his pockets. Ah. There it was. He held up the slip of paper and looked at it a long moment before he worked up the courage to unfold it.

tempore remittam

What was that supposed to mean? Severus had never seen the spell before. He tried it and nothing happened. He observed the spell again, trying to remember the little Latin he knew. Supposedly this spell was important to him, or to Dumbledore. But those things had become a little indiscernible to him. Severus put the paper back in his robes and polished off the glass of firewhiskey. Maybe in a few days when the Death Eaters raided Diagon Alley, he could get another bottle. He sighed, took the glass to the little kitchen, scourgified it, and put it away. He went up the small staircase to his bedroom and one by one, took off each of his items of clothing.

Something strange had happened as he stood there by the lake at the end of the funeral, he had felt like he was being watched. Not in a threatening way that would cause him to prepare an onslaught of hexes, but it felt like those times when Miss Granger had been staring so openly at him. It was odd and he couldn't fathom why he had gotten that sensation, surely she had been up on the hill with the rest of the mourners. Sighing again, he pulled on black flannel trousers and a white shirt. He stared at the old bed a moment before he slipped between the sheets, practicing occluding so he wouldn't have any more nightmares. Not that it always helped.

SHSHSH

Hermione triple checked for the beaded bag in her pocket, slid her wand up the sleeve of her sweater and slipped out the door of the Burrow before anyone would notice. She had gotten another note, sometime last night, telling her to go to Diagon Alley, to be careful. It seemed an odd suggestion since before the notes had only told her to trust Snape and to be where he was. The note was secreted away against her person, just like the others, and she was acutely aware of the building stack as she jogged towards the apparition point. With a pop she was gone, appearing in a dark side path of Diagon Alley.

She began to wander the streets, not exactly sure where to find Snape, suddenly the most wanted man in the wizarding world. Her question was answered when the Alley was filled with black smoke and a flurry of robes and screams. Hermione stepped up between a child and her parents, tossing a hex at a Death Eater, giving the parents enough time to grab their child and disappear. Hermione raced through the streets, doing her best to fend off Death Eaters from shoppers without accidentally hexing Snape. Suddenly she saw him, trailing after another Death Eater who was hauling Olivander into a dark side street. Hermione raced after them, a crack as the first man disapperated and Hermione reached forward, her fingers brushing the robe of the man who had to be Snape, no one else walked that way. Suddenly her body stiffened and her limbs snapped together while at the same time she saw the same thing happen to Snape, their bodies thudding to the ground at nearly the same moment.

Hermione recognized the wild, untamed curls of black hair before the witch's face appeared within her line of vision. Bellatrix cackled and aimed her wand at Hermione's chest.

SHSHSH

Molly huffed as she bustled about the kitchen, setting up dinner for her clan. "Dinner's ready c'mon then everyone." The majority of the Weasleys sat at the table, Harry kicked off his dirty boots as he stepped inside the house. "Someone go get Hermione out of her room! Thank you!"

"She's not in the room." Ginny mentioned as she stepped off the last stair.

"Where is she then?" asked Ron.

"Dunno, she was here when we went to play quidditch."

Slowly everyone came to a halt, all looking at each other. Harry was the first to turn and run to look at the clock on the wall where his and Hermione's pictures had been added. "Shite." Harry mumbled. Molly didn't even scold him as she stepped in place behind him to look at the clock face as well. Hermione's picture pointed at mortal danger.