Severus Snape

"You wished to see me?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore looked up from the papers he was examining. The ministry loved to send him all this paperwork, the handiwork of Lucius Malfoy he presumed. "Yes, Severus." Dumbledore grabbed the locket from an enchanted drawer in his desk. He stood up and walked over to Snape, putting the locket into his hand. "This is for Hermione. Make sure she wears it at all times."

"Is this…" Snape trailed off.

"It is." Dumbledore nodded. "She will need it for what is to come."

Snape rose a brow. "And what exactly is to come?"

"You know better than I to meddle in fate." Dumbledore chastised.

Snape rolled his eyes but asked no more questions. "How shall I give her the locket?"

"Perhaps a Christmas gift from young Harry?" Dumbledore suggested.

"The boy would ask questions," Snape argued.

"Nonsense." Dumbledore waved his hand quickly. "You can leave, I have too much work to do to be standing here arguing with you."

"As you wish." Snape conceded. The old fool will tell him when he feels it's necessary. Snape made his way to Grimmauld place, once again, why couldn't the old coot give the locket to Harry to hand over to Hermione? He sighed as he walked out of the fireplace, brushing off soot as he went to look for Harry.

"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, walking out of the library. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Have you given your sister a Christmas gift yet?" Harry shook his head no, Snape shoved the locket into his face. "This locket is from Dumbledore, he suggested you give it to her as a gift."

Harry scrunched up his nose, "Why can he not give it to her himself?"

"If you have not noticed," Snape drawled, "Miss. Potter does not like Dumbledore. If he were to present her a gift, she would not accept it, or if she did she would throw it away when he wasn't looking."

"What is it for?"

Snape rolled his eyes, "Besides the obvious, it was crafted by the goblins to protect her."

"Protect her from…." Harry trailed off at Snape's glare.

"Will you give it to her, or not?"

"No reason why I shouldn't. I haven't exactly bought her a Christmas gift yet, so this will work great."

"If we are lucky, she will never take it off after she receives it from you." Snape nodded and turned on his heel. "Good day Potter." He called over his shoulder and entered the fireplace, disappearing into green flame moments later.

He walked out of the fireplace at Spinner's End, noticing Hermione lounging on the couch with a book in her hand. She looked up at his entrance, giving him a small smile then went back to her book. Ignoring her, he made his way into the kitchen. Prepping the coffee machine, he waited for the pot to brew, not noticing Hermione walk into the kitchen.

"Christmas is tomorrow." She stated, Snape continued to ignore her. "Will I be able to go to Grimmauld Place to spend it with Harry and Sirius?"

Snape lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. "I do not see any problem with that. Why are you asking me permission?"

"I wasn't sure if the Dark Lord planned anything for it or not."

"The Dark Lord does not celebrate mundane things like Christmas." Snape sneered.

"Oh." She muttered. "I will go over first thing in the morning then."

"Fine." Snape agreed.

Hermione left the room, leaving Snape alone with his thoughts, his hand subconsciously fingered the tiny box still stuffed in his pocket. Sighing, he prepared his coffee and retired into his lab. He had many potions to finish and the holiday was almost over.

Hermione

Snape didn't come out of his lab for the rest of the day and most of the night. She had heard him climbing the stairs and go into his bedroom sometime after 3 a.m., she stared across her dark room where a single wrapped present lay. She wasn't sure if she wanted to give it to him, after all, she already gave him a present. She sighed and rolled over, one more couldn't hurt, and she went to sleep.

The next morning, she awoke before dawn, showered and dressed and left the present in front of his door. She made her way down the stairs quietly, thankful they fixed all the creaky stairs. She grabbed her coat and entered the fireplace. "Grimmauld Place," She whispered, staring at the empty living room before the green flames engulfed her. She slid out of the fireplace at Grimmauld, feeling arms wrap around her she looked up to see Harry beaming at her.

"Morning Hermione!" Harry grinned. "Happy Christmas!"

Hermione couldn't help but smile back, "Happy Christmas Harry."

"I hope you're hungry, Sirius and I have been up for hours preparing breakfast."

Hermione rose a brow in surprise. "When did you start cooking?"

Harry shrugged, "I had a choice between learning how to cook or to keep eating Mrs. Weasley's cooking."

She grimaced, standing up straight. "Good choice." She followed Harry into the kitchen. "What did you guys make?"

"You'll see," Harry smirked, leading her towards a chair.

"Morning Hermione." Sirius greeted from the stove. "It is almost done, so I hope you brought your appetite."

Hermione looked at the spread already on the table, there was enough food on the table to feed a large army. She spotted differently sized pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, hash browns, French toast, and an assortment of fruit. "Are you expecting anyone else?"

"Only Remus," Sirius answered. "This is your first Christmas with us, we wanted to make sure it was perfect."

"Just being here is perfect," Hermione replied.

Sirius beamed, putting a huge ham on the table. "This is for later." He answered her confused look. "Many people from the Order will be joining us for lunch."

"Anybody in here?" Remus shouted from the front room.

"In the kitchen Moony!" Sirius yelled back.

Remus walked in a few moments later, his eyes going wide with all the food. "We having a party?"

"This is just for us," Sirius answered, shaking his head. "You look skinny; have you been eating?"

Remus rolled his eyes in irritation, "Yes, mother."

Hermione and Harry giggled but at their glares, they instantly stopped and started dishing food on to their plates. "This is delicious!" Hermione moaned with a mouthful of pancakes.

Sirius puffed out his chest with pride. "Good to hear, now eat up."

After they were done eating, they moved into the living room, getting ready to exchange gifts. "We have a little tradition with Christmas." Harry began. "The first Christmas I spent with Sirius, he kind of went a little overboard with the gifts. So he let me open them all before he and Remus opened theirs. Somehow it became a tradition of sorts."

"So you get to open all your gifts first?" Hermione clarified.

Harry glanced over at Sirius and back to Hermione. "This Christmas, we decided you should be the one to open yours first."

"Really?" Hermione asked surprised. "I didn't expect to get anything."

"Why wouldn't you? You are a part of our family." Sirius argued.

Harry handed over a small rectangular box. "Open this one first."

Hermione eyed it before smiling. "From you?" Harry nodded. "OK." Hermione tore into the paper excitedly, she admired the navy blue box for a moment before opening it. She gasped loudly as she pulled out a golden locket. "This is beautiful." She breathed in amazement. She looked closer at the locket and noticed a small design on the front of the locket, roses with vines wrapping around the entire thing.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked shyly.

"I love it!" Hermione squealed, giving her brother a quick hug. "Thank you so much. Can you put it on for me?"

Harry nodded. "Promise me, you will never take it off. No matter what."

"I promise," Hermione vowed. "Wait, what about when I'm showering?"

"It has many charms on it to protect it from water and other things," Harry explained.

"I love magic." Hermione smiled.

"Mine next." Sirius bellowed, shoving a wrapped box with a golden bow on top.

Hermione laughed as she tore the paper. Opening the box, she noticed three volumes of Wizarding History. "You got her books?" Harry asked in disbelief.

Sirius grinned. "Do you not know your sister? She loves books, and those volumes go all the way back to Merlin."

Hermione's eyes glazed over in excitement. "Thank you, Sirius. I love them."

Sirius gave a proud smirk in Harry's direction making the boy glared at him. Remus ignored them both and handed over a small bag to Hermione. "It's not much." He admitted.

She opened the bag and pulled out another necklace, this one was gold and in the center of the chain was two gold bands, surrounding a gold plate with an hourglass in it. "Thank you, Remus." Hermione smiled at the battered man. "What is it?"

"It's called a time turner."

"Remus, you didn't actually steal that from the Ministry, did you?" Sirius asked angrily.

Remus put his hands up in defense, "Relax, the headmaster gave it to me years ago. I don't even know if it still works or not."

"What's a time turner?" Harry and Hermione both asked.

"It's a device that lets you travel back a few hours in the past," Sirius explained.

Hermione's eyes widened, thinking of all the possibilities. "Why did Dumbledore give it to you?"

Remus shrugged. "It was useful for the fourth year. Helped me a lot." Remus smiled. "With my… condition, keeping up in class was difficult when I missed a week or sometimes longer."

"That is how you kept your grades up?" Sirius bellowed, and Remus nodded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Remus gave him a blank stare, "Are you serious? If I told you and James, you would have wanted to use it all the time for your pranks."

"You are a horrible person," Sirius grumbled, turning away from him.

"I think that is all the presents I have." Hermione declared, "Harry, why don't you open yours now?"

Harry agreed, grabbing the present Hermione offered him. He opened it and grinned, a broom cleaning kit for his Firebolt from Sirius. "Thanks, Sirius, I was running low."

"You're welcome pup."

Harry opened one from Remus next, it was a book on Quidditch history. "Are you actually going to read that?" Hermione inquired, Harry shot her a glare.

"It's about Quidditch, of course, I am going to read it."

Hermione giggled, "Just thought I'd ask. I would offer to read to you, but Quidditch bores me."

"Because History is so fascinating," Harry muttered, rolling his eyes.

Hermione shoved a box into his hands angrily, "This one is from me."

Harry tore off the wrapping, curious as to what Hermione could have put into such a tiny box. There were two items in the box, he pulled out a golden signet ring. "Is this…?" Harry choked.

Hermione shook her head, "No, I tried to find it, but apparently, our parents owned a lot of family homes. Of course, we are assuming the actual ring was destroyed the same night they died."

"It's heavy," Harry observed, slipping the ring onto his finger.

"Yes, it's the new Potter heirloom now." Hermione beamed. "I found the descendants of the goblin who created the first one centuries ago, and they actually had some notes on it. Not all of them, but enough to recreate the ring."

Harry stared at the ring in awe, "Thank you, Hermione. This is incredible."

Hermione smiled and gestured to the box. "The other thing in there is a bag with a nondetectable extended charm. I have one of my own, but I thought it might come in handy. You can even fit your broom in there and no one would know."

"That's brilliant, Hermione." Remus praised.

"Our gifts kind of pale in comparison, don't they?" Sirius asked Remus.

"I appreciate all of the gifts I have received."

Sirius looked at the time, noticing it was close to 12. "Would you look at the time, members of the Order will be arriving soon."

"Already?" Hermione asked sadly. "You two didn't get to open your gifts yet."

Sirius smiled, standing up and ruffling Hermione's hair. "There will be time when everyone leaves."

Hermione pouted, but nodded and followed the three of them into the kitchen. Of course, the Weasleys arrived first, Harry and Ron disappearing up to Harry's room. Hermione got stuck with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley brought platters of food as well, it looked more like a banquet than a simple dinner.

"There was no need for you to bring so much, Molly," Sirius said, staring distastefully at all the food.

Mrs. Weasley shrugged, "At least you will have leftovers for a while."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "As I have mentioned before, Molly, I know how to cook. I am not going to starve."

"For now." She muttered under her breath.

Sirius glared at the rotund woman and Hermione decided to step in. "Everything looks splendid. I am sure there will be no leftovers."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her and nodded. "You are absolutely right, Hermione."

Dumbledore chose that moment to walk in, staring directly at Hermione. "Might I have a word with you, Miss. Potter."

"I guess so," Hermione replied, walking towards him.

"I will not be needing your presence, Sirius," Dumbledore announced, Hermione looked back to notice Sirius frozen in mid-step.

"It's OK." Hermione mouthed at him, before turning to follow Dumbledore again. He led her into the library and Hermione let out a small gasp as she saw Snape sitting in the chair, and he was wearing the robes she had gotten him for Christmas. "Professor Snape."

"Miss. Potter." Snape nodded his head slightly in her direction. The robes she had gotten him were navy blue, figuring he wouldn't wear them unless they were black.

"Why am I here?" Hermione asked Dumbledore.

"Just checking in." He replied cheerily, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"The Dark Lord has also requested our presence tonight."

"I thought you said he didn't celebrate Christmas."

Snape snorted while rolling his eyes, "He doesn't, Hermione. He wants to talk about your upcoming assignment."

"Oh." She replied meekly.

Snape rose a brow in interest, "Nothing to be nervous about, from what he has told me, it is an easy assignment."

"You already know?" He nodded slightly, "Then why can't you tell me instead of me having to face that monster again?"

Snape sighed and stood up, he glared at Dumbledore before making his way over to Hermione. "You can do this, Hermione. His bark is worse than his bite." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed slightly. "He will not harm you, I swear in my life that he will not."

Hermione gave him a small smile, "I believe you."

The next morning, Snape and Hermione got dressed and made their way to the Malfoy's mansion. Hermione was all jittery, she couldn't seem to shake off the bad feeling she was felt in her stomach. She glanced over at Snape, who looked as shut off as always.

"Severus!" Narcissa Malfoy exclaimed happily walking into the room. "Miss. Hermione, so glad you could join us today. I hope you had lovely holidays."

Hermione smiled politely, "I did, thank you Mrs. Malfoy."

"Ah, good. You are both here." Lucius interrupted, walking into the room. "The Dark Lord is ready to see you."

"Lead the way," Snape replied.

They followed Lucius down the familiar, winding hallways leading to the drawing room Voldemort favored so much. He knocked twice and then opened the door when the gruff voice of Voldemort bid them entrance. Lucius sat down in one of the chairs, leaving only one left. Hermione flushed at the thought of sitting on Snape's lap. Unfortunately, he opted to stand while she took the chair.

"Thank you for coming, I have a job for you, Miss. Potter." Voldemort started, "As you know, I have a job for you to do once you go back to Hogwarts. At first, I figured you would be able to obtain information about Potter that no one else could." He paused, a smirk slowly appearing on his face. "But I have decided you are more suited for another task."

"What do you wish for me to do?" Hermione asked quietly.

"I want you to kill Albus Dumbledore."

A/N: Well here is chapter seventeen. Hope you guys like it. Sorry, it took so long to update. My life is abnormally busy, don't even have time to sleep apparently. As always, please review. I love to hear what you guys think. Until next time…..

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