A/N: I wanted to apologize for the massive delay. My computer crashed and I lost many of my files. The typhoon made my part delivery delayed. Hopefully, however, we'll be back on track now! Sorry to make you all wait! Kind Regards, R.

Severus groaned deeply, a soft chime disrupting his dreamless sleep. He'd been up until near dawn with Albus trying to come up with a plan that would fit into all the others that were currently at play. There was something to be said about too many cooks in the kitchen.

His head turned heavily, his hand coming up to wipe the sleep from his eyes. The weight that had lulled him into rest was still present making it even harder to pull himself around. A soft sigh tilted his chin down into soft curls and for a moment he felt solace. Lowering his hand down, he took a moment to just appreciate how far the girl had come.

Her face was full but the rounded edges of her features were gone giving way to the more refined features of maturity. Her hair had finally grown back to the length that he was accustomed to seeing her have and the curls had grown soft, like chestnut waves. It wasn't the tangled mass he'd always assumed it to be, it was thick but silky soft. He couldn't count the times his hand had found its way through when bringing her comfort but it felt nice all the same.

The dark circles under her eyes were nearly gone, removing the heavy sunken in appearance. Her lashes were long, longer than he had ever seen. She had just a small dusting of freckles right under the scar over her eyes and he wondered idly if they had covered more of her pale skin before she'd been cursed.

A small shift turned her head to the other way and when her body adjusted to the change Severus suddenly became very aware of a heat between his legs. It was her heat, pressing down on his biological response to mornings but the sensation of her adjustment ticked something in his brain causing him to frown.

Sure it was a natural response, nothing that a healthy man wouldn't have had but it a was the circumstance if the situation that felt like a bucket of ice water. He was very grateful that even in his sleep-heavy haze he was able to retain his control but he was agitated that he'd had the response at all. Biology or not he was not the sort of man to find himself in bed with a woman half his age junior.

A quick throat clearing brought his hands under her arms and a careful, though a rather painful adjustment, moved her off of him and onto her back beside him. He paused to catch his breath before feeling Mother Nature pulsed through his body and so—with gritted teeth, he pushed himself out of bed.

oOo

Hermione woke to an odd feeling of clarity. A most welcome if curious feeling. The small whispers that had been plaguing the quiet moments of her day seemed to have gone away. A deep sigh brought her hands up to her face where she rubbed gently against her heavy eyelids. Her stomach was empty and rather vocal about it but the call to the bathroom was much stronger.

With caution, she opened her eyes to find herself still in his bed. Her eyes told her that it was very much into the late morning and for a moment she almost questioned it before she remembered what had happened the night before. Was he alright? Had he gone somewhere to seek more medical attention? Was he...gone?

A low whine turned her onto her side and towards the door where a small note appeared to be tacked to it. Her brows furrowed as she pushed herself up carefully. Her shoulder and were stiff but lacked any real pain. This observation brought a small—if sad—smile to her face as she was able to recognize the side effects of his bruise salve.

Slowly, she brought her legs over the edge of the bed before something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. As her head turned her brows furrowed deep. A cat, there was a cat sitting at the very foot of the bed. Not her stuffed cat either. This one was real, very real and its eyes were looking so directly into her own. A frown curled over her lips as she slowly put her feet down onto the floor, her eyes never leaving the feline.

"Professor?" Her voice was thick with sleep but it carried a heavily worried tone. It had been in her experience that unexpected things in her world never meant anything good.

With only silence as her answer, and her feet steady enough, she started to back herself towards the office door. When the cat slowly came up to its feet her head shook on instinct and her hand clutched at her empty stomach. Where had it come from? She'd never noticed him having a pet before. She was almost certain he was not a pet owner of any kind. The niggling feeling she had expected was oddly absent as well as though all of the clutter in her mind had been taken away.

When her back thumped against the door she glanced down for only a second to the handle before the corner of her eye caught on the page that had been stuck there. With another nervous glance to the cat that had now leapt down from the bed, she pulled it down quickly to read what it said.

"Knock before you enter."

Hermione had never been so appreciative of her ability to read as she did in the moment. With another glance towards the cat that had come to sit on the floor beside the bed she gave the door behind her a rather heavy knock. The seconds it took for the door to unlock felt like a lifetime.

She pushed herself through rather hurriedly only to miss step on the small step. Her startled squeak as she caught herself brought the man who had been sitting rather contently in his chair to his feet. She threw him a anxious smile before pointing helplessly behind her.

"There's a...a..."

"Cat?"

The voice that answered her came from well over her head and she took a few nervous steps towards Snape while turning her head up to find the source. Her heart didn't calm until her hand wrapped around the arm at his side but her brow did furrow when she looked; giving a face to the voice she surely remembered from when she hadn't been able to see.

"Hello, Miss Granger. It is lovely to see you up and about." Albus smiled kindly, his eyes shone with curiosity over Severus' reaction to her hold.

"It was suggested that perhaps you would enjoy the company of a real feline," Severus glared at the not so hidden twinkle in Albus' eye, "Might put you at ease during my absence."

Hermione tore her eyes from the painting to look up into the man whom she had taken hold of her brows lined with worry, "You're leaving?"

"Not today but soon." Severus wasn't about to speak openly with another set of ears present. He didn't trust Minerva to keep her promise of not trying to take the girl away. She wasn't ready to be on her own, not yet.

"You...got me a present?" Her head turned up to look fully into his eyes. Her own were mixed with an odd feeling she presently couldn't give a name to. His face showed nothing, not a hint of care, rather he looked upset by something.

"Today we will be doing mental exercises." Deciding to ignore her small comment, Severus pulled her hand free from his arm to turn back towards his desk. He picked up the small orb he'd been examining all morning and brought it closer for her to see, "Do you know what this is?"

Hermione blinked slowly bringing a hand up to rub the sleep from her eye. When her vision cleared she looked at the small orb closely but could find no answer to the man's question. A small shake of her head turned him away and she felt herself feeling very much like a lost puppy in the heavy silence that had begun to fill the room.

"Get dressed, I will be waiting for you by the fire." Severus gave her a gentle turn, guiding her back into the room. His eyes immediately sought Minerva who was presently sitting on a small table near the door. He gave her a surreptitious warning glare before releasing Granger to make her way to the walk-in closet where he'd given her a small section of clothes that he had transfigured to fit her.

oOo

"Fine then! Go! I don't need you anyway!" Harry's voice echoed off the trees filled with the fog of early morning. The sharp crack of apparation didn't even reach his ears over the pounding of his own skull. Ever since they'd found out that Hermione was dead they'd done nothing but pick at each other.

The constant hum that had filled his mind and set his teeth on edge went silent and a strong sense of anger filled his entire being. He felt responsible, yet helpless. A sharp wipe of his eyes preceded a deep scream filled with anguish that shook the surrounding area.

He didn't need Ron, no he'd just die anyway. So many people were already dead because of him. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He never wanted any of this. He never wanted this life. All this magic. Sure it was fun at first but now...now he just felt betrayed. Betrayed and alone. So alone. What was he even fighting for? What good could he possibly do for a world so cloaked in darkness?

oOo

"Relax. This won't hurt." Severus adjusted himself to try and ease some of the pain Granger's weight was giving him.

He'd quickly read through the book the restricted section had provided. It was an easy task for someone of his natural ability though he wasn't exactly sure what to expect. The spell he was going to perform would expose her inner thoughts and memories into the world around them, giving him complete control of what they saw. Sort of like a pensive but with immediate control over what was being seen. Instead of pulling out memories they were going to flow seamlessly through them.

"What...what are we going to look for?"

"Didn't you want answers?" Severus pushed her elbow out from his side and over her chest. Body contact was very important for the spell to remain strong and though he wasn't so much unaccustomed to having her in his arms, his present injuries were making the experience more unpleasurable than usual.

"I did..."

"Then that is what we are going to look for." Another adjustment brought out his wand and a deep breath readied him for the unknown. A small glance to Minerva sitting in the opposite chair. Part of him wanted to show the insufferable woman what exactly this war was about. Scare her off, as it were. Another part of him wanted to bring home the point that her wont to act before thinking was going to get someone killed.

"What do...do I need to do?" Hermione closed her eyes slowly, her heart was racing with all the possibilities. She, of course, was aware of her thoughts but allowing someone else to see them was unsettling.

"Relax and keep still."

Hermione nodded just so and closed her eyes to the feeling of his fingers pressing into her temples. A slow breath released some of the tension building in her stomach. The heat of his body was soothing on its own but the pressure of his arms resting against her shoulders helped to release what was left inside her.

"Specta omnis."

The world around them exploded with silent darkness. Severus felt as though he'd walked through a fridged waterfall. His own mind felt the call of her thoughts and he pushed his inner eye towards them. It didn't take long before he was hearing soft whispers of her present observations about his person. While partially enlightening to hear her logic it wasn't what he was there for. Sifting through her thoughts felt like trudging through water. Disorganized sounds, sensations, and emotions washed through his frame as he searched for the beginning of it all.

Beautiful early evening light flooding the entire room. The image forming around them was hazed and dark around the edges as though it weren't complete. The walls and details of the room fluctuated, shifting back and forth as Severus tried to bring more focus onto the memory. His own mind trying to overlay what he had seen with what was part of the girl's memory making it flash grotesquely between.

"Hermione? Tea's ready!"

"Coming mum!" Hermione's form appeared out of nowhere, materializing next to the desk that was just starting to become a solid shape. She turned her head towards the door, a heavy weight darkening her eyes and lowering her shoulders.

Turning her head back down to the journal that sat on top she pressed her wand into the leather but the words that she spoke were muddled as though she couldn't recall what she'd said. The book glowed gold before going still once more and Hermione opened the front cover checking the pages.

"There..." She had needed a back up if she'd ever lost her bag, she didn't trust carrying the original around with her in the event that she became captured. It made sense to her that if anyone came looking in her house that they'd see nothing unusual about a book merely laying on a desk. After all her room was filled with them. Hidden in plain sight.

A slow breath filled the room as she nervously wiped her palms jeans. She pulled her small beaded bag from her bed and looped it around her shoulders. Another check that her room looked mundanely normal she pushed herself through the doorway and down the stairs. She knew what she had to do, it was much too dangerous for her parents to remain in that house. She was sure the ministry was going to be infiltrated soon, after all it was a perfectly logical move. The smell of tea filled her heart and soul with love and care, the backs of her parents coming into view.

The memory glitched slightly, as another thought tried to force its way through. Shifting the room from its clean and organized appearance to one of disarray. The smell of tea turning to iron. Severus gritted his teeth as Granger started to struggle against his hold, her head arching back nearly breaking their connection.

"No...I don't...I don't..."

Her words were drowned out as Severus forced his will over hers, bringing the image around them back into sharp focus.

"Iacet facti veritate." Hermione took a slow breath as the dark blue light weaved between the backs of her parents' heads. The emotion that she felt for that moment was nearly overwhelming but she held her focus. The spell once more drowned out as the specifics were lost in time, or pushed away. Erased.

The scene shifted slowly, opening up to a clean muggle street lined with cookie cutter houses. Not a bad neighborhood a modest, safe looking street. As Hermione walked, the strong feeling of being watched crawled up her spine and the memory was forced to slow down.

The first spell that came from behind turned the entire room red, but there, just beyond the arch, a face could be seen. There was a heavy pull as Hermione's vantage took a sharp turn forcing the memory to restarted at nearly double speed. She was running now, more cracks of apparation and shouts of spells turning the would into a rainbow of colors.

Every time she would face an attacker Severus would force her to stop, to try and remember their features. It made the memory skip, and restart at different parts of the chase. It was hard for either of them to follow. It wasn't until she had burst through the back door of her own home that the entire memory started to catch up.

Severus kept his focus away from the two bodies laying on the tile floor, instead, his inner eye was turned to the man who stood just at the corner of Granger's vision, something the brain would not have processed at the time but would have stored regardless. It was amazing as what the brain often missed.

"Mum...? Dad...?"

The man from the corner became clearer as the Hermione became aware of his presence, in the time she'd not been quick enough but as this was merely a memory she was finally able to see the face of the man who had murdered her parents in cold blood.

"Well, aren't you a beauty?" Words she hadn't heard at the time suddenly echoed inside her skull, pushing forth many other memories that the voice had become attached to.

The coldness of his eyes burned a hole into her heart, even though she couldn't have possibly seen them in real time, they bored into her now. She wanted to end this man. Kill him. Remove him from the face of this earth. The feeling was so strong, it was as though she'd never wanted for anything else.

Severus jumped as the flame that had taken her vision rushed towards them. His hands jumping from her temples breaking the connection and making his head pound. Who was that man? That wasn't Marxan. Was he merely a grunt? It didn't seem likely. His spell work was too complex. How deep did the rabbit hole go? Was there even a point of going down it?

Hermione sniffled heavily pushing weakly on his hands that had falling down to her shoulders. Her body trembled with so many emotions she felt as though she were set to explode. She'd never seen that man before, though certainly heard his voice. He was the one...he was the one who took her to hell. Yes, he was the start of it all. She needed to know more...see more of their faces...

"More...please...I...I want to see more..."