We land by the rose bushes, scaring off a couple of gnomes who curse at us and scurry off. The Burrow is even odder than I last remember it, with new additions at weird angles, all of it clearly defying both construction guidelines and the laws of physics.

Potter casts a Homenum Revelio and holds up one finger in confirmation before he quietly moves across the lawn to the front door. I follow a step behind, a bit surprised. Has he grown up? He knocks on the front door while I stand in a spot that should be hidden when she opens the door. It works as intended. The door opens carefully, just enough to see who is outside.

"Harry! Come in, come in, I didn't expect you here on a weekday like this? Is everything okay?" She sounds concerned.

Just as she is about to close the door I step into her line of sight, and her smile falls. "Snape. Severus. What are you doing here?"

"Not happy to see me, Molly?" I raise an eyebrow and close the door behind me, ushering her inside.

Potter helps by distracting her with some story about his wife and their latest Quidditch game. Her hosting genes take over and she ushers us into the kitchen, putting on a kettle. I have no intention of drinking anything in her kitchen, and cast a very localised Muffliato to tell Potter as much. His eyebrows hitch up but he nods in agreement.

I'm feeling jittery. We need answers, fast. "Molly. Sit."

She turns and whips her wand out, but I'm faster and have her disarmed before the hex has left her lips. I hand the wand to Potter, and direct the Weasley matron to sit on the nearest kitchen chair.

"Why did you curse Hermione?" Potter blurts out in a most Gryffindor fashion.

I shoot a glare at him but he's looking at his mother-in-law and is thus immune for the moment.

"She deserved it," Molly spat. "She was cheating on my poor Ronald, I know she was. She wasn't worthy of him so I made sure everyone forgot her."

"Ron cheated, Molly!" Harry said, exasperated. "She broke up with him because he was found with another witch in their bed, not just once!"

Molly shakes her head. "No, not my Ronniekins. She was bad for him, bad news."

I sigh, pinch the bridge of my nose and make up my mind. Pointing my wand at her from my lap I look in her eyes and dive in. She doesn't notice, obviously. Her mind is full of Weasleys, Weasleys everywhere. Weasleys eating, Weasleys arguing, Weasleys all over the place. Potter is talking about something I barely register, and it helps since it makes her think of Hermione instead. I catch a strand of thought and reel it in.

A snippet of a conversation. Molly sits at a round table in what appears to be a café. Someone comes up to join her. "We're almost finished, we just need to wait for the full moon. Are you ready? We'll make her pay." Molly nods and looks up at the woman. "Good. I'm ready. We're meeting at Stonehenge?"

Rita Skeeter nods and smiles a sharp smile. "Good. See you then."

Well, although I hadn't expected to see that odious face again I cannot deny it's not a surprise. I dig further, following the strand of guilt and excitement…

Three witches sit on the grass in the middle of Stonehenge. The sun is low but it must be summertime, and they are wearing less clothing than they should. Molly is easy to spot but the others… Rita is there, and is that Dolores Umbridge? Another face I didn't want to see ever again, especially not this underdressed. There is a vague mist moving between the columns.

"Fae mother, grant us our plea," they chant. "Fae sister, hear us out. Fae maiden, Fae elder, come help our plight."

After a while, the mist thickens and suddenly the Fae appear, as if they were always present. Perhaps that is true, I think fleetingly. The Fae Queen is beautiful to look at, her features alien and strange but the magic swirling around her is strong, powerful, and elegant. She looks at the three witches and smiles, if that is what it is. There is a whole group of them, surrounding the witches.

"I see you are gathered here in accordance with the Treaty," she begins, looking them over one by one. "The Maiden," this is directed at Rita Skeeter, "the Mother," well this one is obvious. Molly nods. The Fae Queen's gaze falls on Umbridge. "The Crone." Umbridge simpers but is clearly annoyed by the title.

I think about this for a moment, Umbridge was married once, a political marriage that never led anywhere, thankfully, and her husband is either dead or ran off. Rita being called a Maiden is probably due to the fact that she's unmarried, without children; I doubt it's literal. Trying to shake off that thought I bring my attention back to the scene .

"What boon do you seek, what cause do you have to call for us?"

"There is a witch that must be forgotten, by everyone," Molly begins.

"And she must forget!" Rita interjects.

"Make her blind, too," Umbridge says.

"An outcast, alone, no one will recognise her," Rita continues.

The Fae look between themselves. "What has she done unto you, to warrant such hatred?" one of the other Fae asks. "And what else do you seek?"

"She's evil and vicious," Umbridge says promptly. Rita nods.

"She seduced my son, used him and cast him aside," Molly says. "I want my sons to succeed."

"I want my past to be hidden," Rita says quickly. "So that no one knows of my status and I can be a famous journalist."

"I want to run this country, even if it is behind the scenes," Umbridge says slowly.

The Fae behind the witches sigh and shake their heads, but they seem to confer between themselves. A few of them smile, and then the Queen nods.

"We will grant you your wishes, but there is a price to be paid and concessions to be made. Are you willing to do so?"

"Yes," all three of them dutifully chanted.

"What concessions will you grant her?" The Queen looks stern, all of a sudden, and Molly and Rita back away from her a bit.

"Her hair is atrocious…" Rita says. "Let her work as a hair stylist."

"And make shampoo for them," Molly adds.

The Fae whisper among themselves. It doesn't sound as if they're speaking English. After some time they nod in synchrony and start talking, almost like a chant. "The witch will forget and be forgotten, by all and every being. Her face will be hidden and she will not see. She will work with hair, granting people their innermost wishes through her craft, and the Geas will be lifted once her true name is spoken by her true love, who kisses her with pure intentions."

Rita snorts. "As if that would ever happen. We accept."

Molly nods as well. "Yes, no way she would find her true love, she's already thrown our Ron aside."

Umbridge, too, nods her assent. "No one could know her identity if she's forgotten by all. We accept."

The Fae don't look too impressed. "Now, for payment. Maiden, from you we require the finest mead, delivered in seven casks on the eves of the four days symbolised by the Turning of the Wheel. Do you accept?"

Rita looks surprised but does, indeed accept.

"Mother, from you we require your youngest son, to take as mate for the Court."

Molly flushes red but nods tightly.

"Crone, from you we require the gift of magic. Not yours, for that is not pure enough, but from what you gather around you. It will be siphoned on the four days symbolising the Turning of the Wheel."

Umbridge, too, nods sharply. I wonder what this implies, have they somehow stolen magic from the whole Ministry? The country? I have no idea.

The Fae leave, with a couple of them shaking their heads at the witches, but others are laughing. It doesn't sound very pleasant.

I pull out of her mind only to find Potter having restrained her with thick conjured ropes in addition to a fresh Petrificus.

"She was getting a bit out of hand," he says apologetically. "Did you find anything?"

She starts to draw breath to shriek something, undoubtedly insulting. I silence her with another twitch of my wand.

"Call for an Auror you trust, if any. She's in league with Skeeter and Umbridge, they struck a deal with the Fae out of jealousy and anger."

He gapes but quickly pulls himself together without asking a million questions, and sends a Patronus to Kingsley. I nod in approval, he's probably the best choice of the lot. While we wait I tell him what I've learned, after a quick Muffliato.

"How come you left the Aurors, Potter?" I have to ask. He seems almost competent in the role and he must have been close to the finish line of his training.

He shrugs. "Partly because of Ginny, partly because they were getting way too corrupt and wanted to use me as a figurehead without changing anything for real. It seemed better to play Quidditch for a while. Maybe it's time to give it a try again."

Kingsley arrives quickly, along with a colleague of his whose name might be Savage. Kingsley appears a bit surprised by the gathering but quickly collects himself. After ascertaining that Savage is trustworthy enough I again recount the details I have learned so far.

"So you're saying we get to take out Umbridge, the Ministry and Skeeter all at once? Count me in, Snape," Savage says and grins, well, savagely.

I nod but personally have another destination in mind. "I'm not joining you. Go back to York, I suspect some people will gather there, and then take out the rot in the Ministry. Gather those you can trust. The witches will help out, I'm certain, if you contact Madam Longbottom. Potter, come with me, I'll hand you some potions."

The Aurors take Molly Weasley into custody, for questioning over unlawful tampering with Fae magic and just being a vindictive shrew, and I take Potter along back to my shop.

Two wands meet me when I enter the Apothecary, but Lovegood and Mrs Potter quickly stow them away when they see us. I quickly pull out several potion vials for Potter, including a special batch of Veritaserum which will last longer and be much harder to resist. I doubt Molly has any tolerance to it but wouldn't put it past Umbridge, and who knows what Skeeter is up to. I also give him a few vials of Polyjuice and some standard healing potions just in case, and send him off to join Kingsley. His wife goes along with him, she was always quick with a wand so hopefully she will be able to help out.

"Now the Wrackspurts at the Ministry will go away, I hope," Lovegood says with a pleased smile. "I should be off, I'll tell Augusta hi from you both. Have fun."

She waves vaguely in my direction and heads out the door without further comments, and I am alone with Hermione again. She's standing off to the side, arms hugging herself, and looks at me warily.

I have no idea what to do, and thus resort to the most English of solutions. "Tea?"

Thankfully she nods and follows me to the sitting room upstairs where I busy myself with the kettle and pot while she browses my books.

"I've missed this, I think," she says, half to herself. "I didn't know I missed books."

The ones she is looking at are pretty safe. "You may read any you like on these shelves, I presume I don't have to tell you to be careful with them. Some of my other books are dangerous though so ask first."

"Of course." She shoots me a brief smile.

We settle in the couch and armchair by the fireplace and I light the fire and pour tea, grateful for something to do. The silence is uncomfortable. I have no idea what to say, what to do about all this.

Luckily she seems to know at least where to begin. "I don't remember exactly what happened," she says slowly. "I know I was mad at Ron again and told him we were done. A few days later they must have done the rite, and I found myself in York of all places."

"So Molly was driven by jealousy, but what about the others?" I ask over my cup.

"Umbridge… she had it in for me since her year at Hogwarts," she admits. "I lured her out to the Centaurs, if you recall. And Rita, well it's more or less the same there, I blackmailed her into writing a story on Harry using the truth for once. She's an Animagus and unregistered so I had some hold over her."

I snort and coax a few more details out of her, surprised by her viciousness even at such a young age. The dual heat from the tea and the fire is gradually allowing me to relax, a little, and her company is surprisingly nice.

The hour is growing late, I notice with some surprise later. "Do you… would you stay here? Or is there somewhere else you'd rather go?"

Tears well up in her eyes and I curse myself for being insensitive and immediately swoop in to sit next to her on the couch, rubbing her shoulders. "Let me rephrase that. For some reason, despite our shared past, I would very much like for you to stay."

She shakes her head. "I told you, I don't see you like you think I do. Do you really mean it?" She's leaning back a bit to be able to see my face better. I wipe her tears with my thumb, and she seems to lean into my touch.

I raise an eyebrow which elicits a giggle, for some reason. "Do you think I have the habit of saying things I don't mean?"

Taking a deep breath she meets my eyes again. "I want to stay, here. With you."

My heart soars and I cannot understand it, how come this witch has become so important to me in such a short time? In order to distract myself I show her the bedroom and bathroom, with her shampoo in it, and hand her an old Muggle t-shirt to sleep in.

"You can stay here, I'll take the couch."

She slips off to the bathroom and later after I've done the same I hear her calling from the bed.

"Severus?"

"Yes?"

"Please… stay here? I don't want to be alone and I didn't mean to throw you out from your own bed."

I mean to protest but to be honest I don't want to. I merely nod and climb into bed after her, waving my wand to turn the lights out. I settle in near the edge to give her space but she shuffles closer, and I fall asleep with her head on my shoulder, my arm loosely on her hip.