Hermione stared at Voldemort blankly. "My Lord, that is quite a tall order for a new recruit." Snape objected.

Voldemort waved Snape's comment away, "She is completely up to the task." He smirked and looked back at Hermione. "Isn't that right, Miss. Hermione?"

Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat and masked her face to indifference. "I believe my terms for agreeing to becoming a recruit was that I was not to be ordered to kill anyone."

Voldemort nodded intently, "Precisely why I want you do this, Hermione." She stared at him blankly, waiting for him to continue. "A new recruit must always prove their loyalty by pushing their own boundaries and fears."

"I do not fear killing someone my Lord. I do not want my soul to be forever tainted by a death that I had willingly killed." She paused and looked at him pointedly. "Which, by the way, I refuse to do."

"If you refuse this task, Hermione, it mean's death." Voldemort threatened.

"Do what you must." Hermione stated boldly. "I know you will not do it, however, because of how valuable I am."

Voldemort chuckled loudly, making everyone in the room stare at him as if he had grown another head. "You are very right, Hermione. You are feisty, but you are still sane. That doesn't happen very often." He looked at Snape and back to Hermione. "However, you must still perform your task. Your wand does not need to be the one to kill the old fool, but you must be present."

"I am not sure I follow my Lord."

"You must kill Dumbledore, Hermione, but it doesn't have to be by your own wand. You can poison him, trap him, etc."

"I see." Hermione glanced over at Snape and back to Voldemort. "I accept your terms, my Lord."

"Your deadline is the end of summer." Voldemort glared at her. "Do not fail me, Hermione."

She nodded and stood up. "I never fail." She promised and walked out of the room with as much dignity as she could muster.

Once the door closed behind her, Hermione ran full tilt towards the sitting room where Snape and she entered. Ignoring the Malfoys as she passed them, she skidded to a stop inside the fireplace and screamed Spinner's End. The fireplace spat her out forcefully, making her slide and hitting the couch. She lay on the floor, breathing heavily for what seemed like an eternity before Snape came walking out of the fireplace.

He glanced down at her, "What are you doing on the floor?"

"Just hanging around." She muttered, slowly sitting up. "I think I was a little rude to the Malfoys in my escape."

Snape sneered at her, looking down his large crooked nose. "The Malfoys understand, Hermione. They live with the guy, after all."

Hermione let out a frustrated breath, "How does he expect me to kill Dumbledore?"

Snape sighed and sat on the chair across from her, he would never admit it, but he quite like how his home had turned out. "I will tell you a secret, one you must not share with anyone; not even your brother."

Hermione's eyes widened in curiosity. "I promise I will not tell a soul."

"Dumbledore is already dying-"Hermione gasped making Snape glare at her. "I don't know how much he has told Potter about horcruxes, but one of them is killing him." Snape sighed at Hermione's blank stare. "I am guessing your brother doesn't know then?"

"If he does, he has never mentioned it to me before." She clarified.

"Of course Dumbledore didn't tell him," He sighed again, "The old fool, has to leave everything as one giant puzzle."

"What's a Horcrux?" Hermione asked.

"It is very dark magic, Hermione." Snape explained. "In order to create a horcrux, you have to kill an innocent person and mean it. After the death, your soul breaks apart, you take that piece of soul and infuse it with whatever you wish."

"You are telling me that Voldemort made a horcrux?"

Snape looked grim, "I believe he made more than one. Potter destroyed one in second year."

"The diary." Hermione answered.

"Yes," Snape nodded. "And Dumbledore found another. A ring, that belonged to the Gaunt family, and I am sure there are plenty more that we know nothing about."

"Harry is a horcrux." Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

Snape rose a brow in surprise, "What makes you think that?"

I rose a brow of my own, in annoyance. "Don't tell me you and Dumbledore haven't discussed it before. Harry and Voldemort have too much in common, and we are not related by blood, so the only logical conclusion is that Harry is a horcrux. One, I am assuming, Voldemort did not mean to create."

"Bloody hell, you are too smart for your own good." Snape sighed but conceded. "You're right, of course. Dumbledore expects Potter to be an horcrux as well."

"How do we get rid of it?" Hermione demanded.

"Magic like that is very powerful, Hermione. We cannot simply destroy it."

"But you destroyed the ring and the diary." Hermione pushed.

"We got lucky with both of those. If Potter hadn't found the chamber of secrets, we never would have discovered that Basilisk venom can destroy horcruxes. Potter killed the snake with the sword of Gryffindor, and the goblin-made sword absorbs magic to make itself stronger."

"So, what you're saying is, that we need the sword in order to defeat the horcruxes." Snape nodded slightly, "How can we get the horcrux out of Harry without using the sword on him?"

"Last year, Potter and a few of his friends, broke into the Ministry and discovered a prophecy."

"Yes, Harry told me about it." Hermione confirmed. "He told me the prophecy as well. So if we were to go along with this prophecy, then Harry has to let Voldemort kill him in order to get rid of the horcrux."

"Correct…" Snape hesitated, not really sure where she was going with this.

"I believe this is what people call a self-fulfilling prophecy, this prophecy was never really going to come true until Voldemort accepted it as his and Harry's destiny."

"Yes, I am not sure what you're implying Hermione."

Hermione sighed, and got up onto the couch. "It's simple really. The prophecy won't come true, unless Harry and Voldemort make it come true." At Snape's blank stare, she glowered at the man. "Honestly, why are you being so thick-headed? With the prophecy not coming true, Voldemort will not be able to kill Harry, and vice-versa."

"I fail to see how this is a good thing. You said it yourself that Voldemort is a monster."

"Yes, he is a monster, and he deserves punishment for everything that he has done, but no one ever deserves to die Severus."

Snape suddenly looked guilty and dipped his head down, so she couldn't see his face. "If that were true, and Dumbledore didn't believe in the prophecy as much as he did…" He trailed off, looking up and Hermione gasped at the sheer anguish displayed on his face. "So many lives could have been spared."

"Severus…" Hermione trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age."

"Why?" She asked, confused.

"We could go back in time."

"Snape, going back 15 years is impossible." Hermione replied.

"If I made a potion that would guarantee me going back to before all this started, I could save her.. er I mean all those lives."

"Severus, you need to listen to what you are saying." Hermione tried to reason. "You cannot simply concoct a potion to travel back in time."

"Says who?" Snape argued, reminding me of a 5-year-old. "The Ministry spouts that nonsense so wizards and witches don't try to travel back in time."

"Exactly. They made us believe it was impossible so people wouldn't try. Going back in time, changing the past, you have no idea what kind of consequences will happen to the future."

Snape shrugged, he was already planning formulas and ingredients that he could use to create such a potion. He would have to find something to test his attempts on though. Maybe a mouse? A human wouldn't be able to survive the tests. His only problem was how he was going to know if the potion was successful or not. He would have to think on it more, later. He heard Hermione scream in frustration and storm out of the room when he never replied. He will succeed, even if it killed him in the process.

Hermione stomped her feet all the way up the stairs and into her bedroom. She was furious, agitated, hopeful, and downright convinced that Snape had finally lost his mind. A sharp noise drew her attention to her window, where her brother's owl sat impatiently. I hurried over to the window and opened it, Hedwig flew in and landed on my bed, cooing loudly.

"Sorry." She muttered to the bird, grabbing a treat out of the bag on her dresser. Hedwig grabbed the treat quickly, catching the tip of her finger with her beak. Hermione squealed in pain and put my finger in my mouth. "I said I was sorry." She just stared at me and chewed her treat silently. When she was done, she lifted her leg to reveal a small blue box. "Thanks." Hedwig hooted again and flew out the open window.

Hermione opened the box and gasped at the gorgeous blue diamond bracelet that rested inside the box. Blue diamonds, from what she could remember were very rare and expensive. She picked up the bracelet, surprised at how heavy it was. Hermione looked down and noticed a little note inside. She opened the note and another note fell out of it. She picked up the other one and stared at it curiously; she recognized the scratchy writing.

Hermione—

Don't go crazy, I did not buy this gaudy thing for you. I am just the messenger.

Harry

She chuckled at the messy scrawl before going to the next note.

Hermione—

You ran out of the mansion so quick today, I had no time to give you your Christmas gift. I hope you enjoy it, and no worries, it is a symbol of friendship and nothing more.

Draco

She smiled at the note, how thoughtful of Draco to think of her. She clasped the bracelet onto her wrist, feeling her wrist dip at the weight of it. It was a token of their friendship, did they really even have a friendship? They hung out at Hogwarts, and when she went to his house to visit him but did could she honestly say they were friends? She decided to think about it later, she was going back to school in a couple days and she had to prepare.

Sighing she packed her trunk and looked around her room, she was going to miss this place; she wondered if she would ever get to see it again. With the war looming and Snape's chance of survival rather slim, she doubted it. She put her packed trunk in the corner and made her way to the bathroom, she was in desperate need of a long, hot bath.

An hour and a half later, she emerged out of the bathroom, Hermione crawled into bed after putting on her pajamas. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Hermione awoke early the next morning. She pulled on come clothes and made her way downstairs to start making breakfast. She wouldn't admit it, but she was rather nervous to go back to school; after all, she only had 6 months to complete her mission from the Dark Lord. He would kill her if she failed, she had no doubt about that. Or at the very worst, torture her until she was close to death.

Snape emerged from his potions lab a few minutes after breakfast was ready. Hermione eyed his disheveled appearance but didn't comment on it. She had enough to worry about then trying to convince Snape to stop his crazy endeavor. Sighing, she placed a plate of food in front of him before grabbing herself some.

"Eat up. You need to take me to Kings Cross Station soon." Hermione reminded him.

He nodded, "I know, I have not forgotten."

She tapped her fingers on the table lightly, debating with herself. "How is it coming?"

"How is what coming?" Snape asked, annoyed.

"Your potion."

"It's coming. I should be able to start testing it in a couple months."

Hermione's mouth gaped open. "You have figured out that much in just one month?"

Snape rose a brow at her antics. "Are you that daft? This is not the first time someone thought to make a potion to travel back in time, Hermione." He sighed, "I have researched all night on the topic, evaluated all the formulas and then tweaked the ones I thought had the most potential."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose it makes sense. I mean, a lot of people probably had the same thought of going back into time every time something happened they regretted." She got up and put her dishes in the sink. "I'll be back down soon."

Twenty minutes later they apparated to Kings Cross Station. Hermione hurriedly made her way to the train and found an empty compartment. Putting her trunk on the shelf, Hermione sat down and watched as kids of all ages made their way onto the train. Eventually, Draco and his little crew of followers came into her compartment.

"Where did you get that gaudy thing from?" Pansy Parkinson sniffed, glaring at Hermione's wrist.

Hermione smirked at the pug-like girl, "Draco gave it to me for Christmas."

Pansy instantly paled and started back tracking. "Oh, it's beautiful. Where did you find it Draco? It must have cost a fortune."

Draco nodded seriously, "It did cost a fortune; after all, it is made with blue diamonds."

Hermione stifled her laugh as Pansy fixed her with another glare. "Aren't you lucky, Hermione?"

"Yes, I am very fortunate to have friends like Draco," She stated. Pansy continued to glared at her, and Hermione decided to ignore her. "How was your holiday Theo?"

The quiet, handsome boy shrugged. "It was ok."

She took that as a sign and returned to looking out the window. They were now on their way back to Hogwarts, and Hermione was feeling excited and anxious for their arrival.

After all, how does one fit killing their headmaster into their already busy schedule?

A/N: Here is chapter 18, sorry it is so short. Like I said, I believe I am just going to skip right to the end of the year and just do flashbacks when needed. As always, read and review. I love to hear what you think. Until next time…

Xoxstorii-gurrlxox