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Alright, on to the next chapter

Recap:

Snatching up his wand, he tiredly limped out of his rooms. Determinedly, he ignored the pain throbbing through his body. He couldn't afford to let it slow him down. He had a Gryffindor to catch.

Chapter 8

It wasn't hard to track down Miss Granger. In fact, it was easier than Severus thought it would be. He barely had to put any thought into his search. Anyone with half a brain would know that the first place to look for an insufferable know-it-all would be the library─ and he definitely possessed more than half a brain.

So it was only a matter of time, scouring through the stacks, before he spotted the girl's familiar bushy hair at one of the tables in the back of the library. Only one book lay open on her left and to her right; a long piece of parchment was rolled out before her. Thankfully, her back was to him, so she had no idea that he was coming.

Had his back and leg not been painfully stiff, Severus would have been able to sneak up behind the witch to read the, no doubt, gossip-filled letter she was writing to her idiotic friends. Unfortunately, his body was still throbbing, causing him to noticeably limp his way over to the Gryffindor's table, alerting the girl to his presence.

"What?" Miss Granger's head popped up at the sound of his approach. Turning around, her eyes widened as she finally spotted the dark wizard making his way to her table. Her chair screeched as she quickly pushed it back, standing up and maneuvering herself so she was blocking his view of whatever it was she was working on.

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Severus tried to glance around the girl, but before he could get a proper look at the parchment and book, she had tapped both with her wand. The book snapped closed and the parchment neatly rolled up, hiding away her secrets.

While doing this, the young Gryffindor tried to appear casual, as if she wasn't trying to hide something from her professor, but Severus knew better. He could smell a lying student a mile away, even the most deceptive ones, and Granger was far out of their league. The girl had no talent when it came to lying, though she had gotten better with age. Still, it was easy enough to spot the cues. A bite on the lip, a shuffling of her feet and an inability to look you in the eye, all signals she was exhibiting now that screamed: 'LIAR'. It wasn't often that Hermione Granger lied, but when she did it was painfully obvious.

I was right, she was trying to write to Potter! Why else would she be hiding the parchment from me? Severus looked over at the rolled-up parchment and felt a stab of disappointment that Granger had proven to be just as juvenile as the rest of his bratty students. He thought she, with her false airs of maturity, was at least a little bit better than that.

That disappointment, however, was quickly overwhelmed by the growing anger he felt at his hard-earned privacy being violated. What right did this impudent girl have to stomp her way into his personal affairs and then go spreading them around like an owl?

Well, he wouldn't allow that to happen. Pinning the girl with a glare that let her know that he was on to her, Severus took a menacing step forward. His leg only slightly buckled under the stress.

Catching his limp, Granger looked nervously at his leg, then, as if she was worried she asked, "Sir, are you okay? Shouldn't you still be in bed? Madame Pomfrey said that you would still be on bed rest for a couple of days."

If Severus hadn't just caught her spreading his business around like a gossip columnist from the Daily Prophet, he might have believed that she was concerned, but he knew she wasn't. Probably just trying to deflect my attention away from the fact that I caught her red-handed.

"I don't believe that's any of your concern Miss Granger," he snapped, sneering at her obvious ploy.

She snapped her mouth shut, blinking in surprise.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here," he added, taking another step so he was towering over her, his nose only centimeters away from hers. A whiff of vanilla and cream tickled his nostrils, momentarily distracting him, before his contemptuous sneer was back in place.

She took a nervous step back, whispering uncertainly, "Sir?" Severus followed her. Oh no, witch, you won't be getting away until I say so.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Miss Granger. What's on the parchment? And don't lie to me," he practically growled at her.

"The parchment? It─It's just…" the witch looked away, biting her lip, "um, it's just notes, for my charms project," she finished, lifting her chin with growing confidence. "I wanted to use the break to get most of it done."

Severus scoffed at the terrible lie. As if he would believe something so unimaginative and transparent. "Oh," he purred dangerously, and the Gryffindor shrank back, "then you would not mind if I see it, would you?" Before the witch could react, Severus held out his hand and silently called the rolled-up parchment to him, catching it easily.

"What!" the girl squeaked, clearly panicked, as she looked at the roll now in the wizard's hands.

Not so confident now, are you, Miss Granger? Severus smirked down at the witch. "Did you really think that I wouldn't know, Miss Granger? Did you think that I would stand by and allow you to so blatantly disrespect me?!" His ire grew with each passing second.

"Sir, what are you talking about?" she asked. She had the gall to act innocent and confused, but Severus was beyond caring. He was furious again and more than ready to show the little Gryffindor exactly who she was playing with.

"I have a better question for you Granger. What did you hear last night?" Severus demanded. The witch paled at the question.

"I─I─I didn't─ I mean, it was…I didn't hear anything," the witch stuttered, frightened.

The potion master's cheeks flushed with anger. "Do. Not. Lie. To. Me," he threatened. His wand hand twitched.

Brown eyes skittered away from his. She licked her lips nervously before finally muttering something under her breath.

"What?" Severus snapped impatiently.

"I said, brown eyes," she repeated, this time a little louder, and Severus felt his stomach drop.

Shit! Please, Circe, don't let me have shared that story with her. Granger wasn't finished, though, and her next words managed to calm some of Severus' rising anxiety.

"All you kept saying," Miss Granger continued, "was 'brown eyes', and that you didn't want me to die. That's it─ I swear."

Severus closed his eyes in relief. He could tell Granger was telling the truth and though he wasn't thrilled that she had witnessed any of his drug-induced ramblings, he was grateful that he hadn't given away much. He was lucky the girl hadn't witnessed anything worse.

Most of his anger ebbed away at her confession, and Severus found himself relatively calm once more. He stepped back to give her space.

The girl let out a relieved breath, then gave him a tentative smile. "And I promise, sir, I'll keep it to myself."

Just like that, his sneer was back. His fist clenched around her parchment, crinkling it. "A little too late for that, isn't it Miss Granger?" he taunted her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Severus cut her off, talking over her. "Even if I did not say much, I will not allow you to spread my business to those imbeciles you call friends," he spat, shaking her parchment in front of her. "You are lucky that I don't drag you to the headmaster right now!"

"What are you─", Miss Granger began, looking between the parchment and her professor in confusion. Finally, it all seemed to click, and when she realized what he had been talking about, her face contorted into a mask of pure outrage.

"You think that I went behind your back and told Harry and Ron what happened, like some─ some gossiping biddy? Is that what you think that parchment is? A letter!" The witch's voice rose. She looked both furious and disgusted as if the very idea of what he was saying was repugnant.

Severus stepped away, taken aback by the vehemence in her tone. He had never seen the Gryffindor so angry before. Had he misjudged the situation?

"I would never, NEVER, disrespect you or your privacy in such a way, sir!" Miss Granger finished, stomping her foot for emphasis.

Severus stared at the witch, at a loss for words. He could see she truly meant what she said and that she was genuinely offended that he didn't trust her. An unsettling feeling stirred in his gut that felt suspiciously like regret, but he quickly suppressed it. He might have been wrong about her telling her friends, but she WAS lying about the parchment and hiding something from him.

"And the parchment? You were trying to hide it from me," he accused stubbornly.

"Notes!" Miss Granger huffed, "They really are just notes!"

"Why would you try to hide notes?" Severus asked, and when the witch's eyes shifted nervously away, he nearly crowed in triumph. He turned his back on the witch and moved to unfurl the paper when it suddenly flew out of his hands and into the girl's.

How dare she! Turning sharply, Severus snarled out, "Miss Granger! We may be on break, but I am still your professor, and I will not stand for such disobedience! Now hand over the paper!" He was nearly seeing red, he was so mad.

The witch rebelliously kept the paper behind her back. "I can't!" she insisted, "It's for Professor Dumbledore, and no one else is supposed to see."

Severus gripped his wand, as he glared at the Gryffindor. He stopped himself from snatching the paper away, but only just. There was a possibility that Albus had sent the girl down to the library to do some research for him. If any other student had told such an implausible tale, he would never have believed them, but this was Hermione Granger. She was the one student who could get away with such a claim. If Albus were to ever send a student to the library to research something for him, Granger would be that student.

So, gritting his teeth, Severus allowed the witch to keep her notes. "Very well, Miss Granger." When she went to leave, he stopped her, grabbing onto her wrist. He bent low, invading her personal space. "But know this, I will go to the headmaster to verify your claim, and if I find out you're lying to me, you'll be scrubbing cauldrons for the rest of the year."

Miss Granger nodded stiffly, still looking offended as she grabbed her bag and stomped out of the library. Severus watched her progress with a frown. It was only after she left, that he let out a breath, sinking into a chair and finally letting his leg rest.

Well, that didn't go as I thought it would, he thought, dropping his head down onto the table, exhausted now that his anger was no longer driving him forward.

True, Miss Granger had not gone off to tell her friends about what had happened. That much was obvious from her strong reaction, but she was still hiding something that was supposedly for Dumbledore. Although the fact that the headmaster was involved should have put him at ease, it only made him more edgy. The old man's scheming was never a good sign, never mind when that scheming involved any of his beloved Gryffindors.

Rubbing his face, he prepared to leave when he spotted the book Miss Granger had left behind in her haste to leave. Severus brought the book closer reading the title aloud. "Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry: Academic records for the 1700s." Why on Earth would Albus be having her research student grades from the 18th century?

Before Severus could open up the book and leaf through the pages, a robin-shaped patronus appeared in front of him. Its beak opened, and Poppy's shrill voice came out. "Severus Snape! I distinctly remember telling you that you couldn't get out of bed until I gave you the go-ahead. You cannot just leave whenever you bloody well feel like it! If you don't get back here and rest, I will find you and have you moved back to the infirmary. Don't test me, Severus, for I can and will do it."

Just as quickly as the robin had appeared, it disappeared, leaving Severus alone in the library once more.

"Bloody tyrant," the wizard muttered as he got up from his seat and hobbled back to his rooms as fast as he could. He was in no mood to test Poppy's determination today. With the luck he was having lately, she would most likely strap him to an infirmary bed and hold him there for a week.

Miss Granger's book lay, once again, forgotten on the table.

Hermione was still livid after she left the library. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that she had to get away before she did something disrespectful.

"Impossible man!" she ranted, turning randomly down another corner. "I can't believe he thought I would do something like that. Who does he think I am? Rita bloody Skeeter?"

A small warm body pressed against her legs, halting her rant. A furry ginger face looked up at her curiously.

"Crookshanks, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, bending down so she could properly pet her familiar.

Crookshanks mewed quietly, quirking his head to the side as if he were wondering the same thing about her.

"Oh well, I just needed a bit of a walk. I had to get away from one of my professors before I did something I would regret," she told him as if he had really asked.

"I know," she continued, sitting on the floor beside him, "he has some vendetta against Gryffindors and, well, all students outside of Slytherin, but when have I ever given him reason to think I was some airheaded gossip? I just…I wish he didn't have to be so vile about it." Hermione sighed. "Especially since I was only worried about him."

Crookshanks nodded in understanding, nudging against her hand when she stopped petting him. The witch chuckled and continued lavishing attention onto the cat. "But maybe, that's just him acting out the whole Death Eater persona," Hermione suggested hopefully.

Crookshanks made some scratchy noise in his throat and gave her a look that suggested she was a simpleton. Hermione sheepishly looked away. "Yeah, that was a little naïve, even for me." She paused, a thought suddenly popping into her head. "Hey, I wonder why he didn't take away any points? I'm surprised Gryffindor isn't in the negatives by now…"

With a shrug, Hermione rolled to her feet, brushing off her jeans. Maybe he just forgot. Thank God for that too. The other Gryffindors would've killed me. The young witch turned back to her familiar. "Come on, Crooks, let's go back to the dorm. Thanks for listening to me by the way. You really─"

Before Hermione could finish her sentence, the ginger feline shot up to his feet and ran down the hallway.

"Crookshanks! Wait! Where are you going?" Hermione called, rushing to her feet and running after him. Crookshanks led her on a merry chase around the castle, turning sharply down a different hall whenever she caught up to him. He became nothing more than a blur of orange in the distance, no matter how fast the Gryffindor witch ran after him.

So busy chasing after her familiar, Hermione paid no attention to where he was leading her. It wasn't until the feline stopped in front of a familiar door that she realized just how deep into the castle they had gone.

Hermione looked around the old corridor in confusion. "Crookshanks, where…" she trailed off as she realized where she was. It was the same corridor from the other night. She was back at the mystery room.

The witch looked at her cat suspiciously. "How on earth did you know about this place and why did you take me here?" she demanded.

Crookshanks simply stared at her expectantly, his tail twitching behind him. He raised a paw to scratch at the door, then turned back to her with another pointed stare. His message was very clear: 'go inside'.

"Fine," Hermione relented, twisting the doorknob and pushing into the room.

The room was just as she had remembered it. Dusty tomes stacked up into untidy piles and were shoved against the walls and into every corner, cobwebs dangling from every surface and papers strewn about the floor. Of course, sitting in the middle of the room, was the lone pedestal, holding that bizarre leather-bound book. The only difference that Hermione could see was that the book was no longer in chains and was now resting innocently on its stand.

As Hermione stepped farther into the room, her left hand began to tingle. Suddenly, heat spread through the appendage as she cradled it to her chest. Swiftly unwrapping the bandage from her hand, she spread her fingers to get a better look at the swirling words still on her hand.

"What?" Hermione gasped as she looked at the now glowing words. Magic hummed in the air around her, swirling in a warm breeze. Voices echoed in the room, their familiar words reminding the witch of the dreams she had experienced during the past weeks.

"I shame no one! Your unfounded prejudices blind you!"

"Hello?" Hermione cried, looking around the room for the source. "Is someone there?"

"Ungrateful girl! They are scum! Filth! Entirely beneath us. You would have done well to have remembered that…"

"Ben, I beg of you! There is time─ come with me!"

"Ben…please…"

All of a sudden, a white light emanated from the open book; the magic in the air grew heavy as the book rose above the pedestal. Its leather cover creaked as it slowly opened for Hermione.

Silence fell in the room, as time seemed to stand still. "Amante sanguis signaculum confringetis. Rex maledictio levare oblitus. esse custos vestibuli," a dark voice that Hermione recognized as Colten Rosier's intoned.

"Blood of the lover, you break this seal. Kin of the forgotten, you lift this curse. Be the keeper of the door," Hermione recited the words she had translated yesterday. The same words that were etched onto her left hand.

A curious calm settled in her, washing away her panic the closer she came to the open book. She felt a pull much like the other night, urging her to touch the book. The sensation caused her to pause. Wait, what am I doing?

Hermione blinked, her mind beginning to clear. Realizing what she was about to do, she took a hasty step back. "What?" She snatched her hand away, dumbfounded that she had nearly touched an unknown enchanted item. Mr. Weasley would kill me if he knew what I almost did…and what on earth just happened to me?

Sweeping a strand of curls away from her face, the Gryffindor took a shaky breath. "That was close, wasn't it, Crooks." Hermione gave a weak chuckle, looking back to her cat…who was no longer there. The door to the room was now closed, and there was no sign that her familiar had ever been in the room with her. "Crookshanks?"

Moving back to the door, she tugged on the handle, ready to start her search for her cat again, but the door wouldn't budge. Another, harder tug on the handle didn't help. Oh no.

Fumbling into her robes, Hermione pulled out her wand, swishing it in front of the door and yelling out, "Alohomora!"

When that didn't work, the witch lost her composure and began pounding on the door, hoping someone might hear and come to her rescue. "Can someone hear me? Please, the door is locked! I need help!"

"Come," someone, who sounded a lot like Fera, whispered behind her. Hermione stopped banging on the door and turned to look at the floating book. "Come," the voice beckoned again.

"Fera?" Hermione meekly asked, stepping forward despite her rising fear. "Come where?"

"Come…"

"The book? Will the book take me somewhere?"

"Come, keeper…"

"Keeper?" Hermione asked, looking around unsure. "What do you mean, keeper?" Her left hand burned, and Hermione looked back at the black words pulsing with energy. "Be the keeper of the door," she murmured, then looked back towards the book startled. "Me? I'm the one this tattoo is referring to? I'm the keeper? What am I keeper of?"

There was no answer, but Hermione persistently kept her questions going, hoping they would eventually be addressed. "Is this why I've been having those dreams? Because I'm the keeper of…whatever it is I'm keeper of?"

A thought suddenly popped into her head as she remembered her conversation with the headmaster. He had told her to watch out for an opportunity dealing with Fera, an opportunity that would eventually help with the war. Had he meant this moment? Did he want her to take the book?

Swallowing, she attempted to talk to the voice again. "Why do you want me to take the book?"

Nothing; the room remained silent. Hermione sighed. "Of course you won't answer me." Pacing across the room now, she snuck suspicious glances at the open book that was waiting patiently for her to act. "What do I do?" she asked herself, wringing her hands.

On the one hand, when she had talked about the other night with the headmaster, he had assured her that she had nothing to worry about from the room or the book. Well…he had hinted that it would all be okay in that enigmatic way of his, but she knew what he meant. He had also warned her that something like this would happen and that it would be very advantageous for her and possibly Harry if she went with the flow.

On the other hand, this book could be cursed, like the journal Ginny had found her first year. Touching it could end with her being cursed, possessed or even worse, killed. So the important question really was: should she take the risk anyway?

What if the answer to beating Voldemort, really was in that book? Could she really pass up the opportunity if it was? Wasn't the risk worth it?

"It's completely worth it," Hermione muttered, looking at the book with a new determination. Straightening her robes, she squared her shoulders and went back to the book. Her heartbeat doubled as she stood in front of the pedestal, she squeezed her eyes shut, and prayed that Professor Dumbledore had been right as she snatched the book from the air.

She didn't even have a chance to scream as a force tugged at her navel, sweeping her away to some unknown place and knocking her unconscious in the process.

Hours could have passed, or minutes, or even seconds. Hermione had no idea. Groaning, she slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the harsh light of whatever room she was now in.

"Where am I?" She pushed herself up on shaking arms, and grabbed at her aching head.

"Who are you?" someone asked from behind Hermione, startling the young witch.

Snatching up her wand, Hermione turned sharply at the sound of the intruder only to drop her wand in shock. The Gryffindor's eyes widened, as she took in the blonde woman standing behind her. Hermione stuttered over her words as she asked, completely dumbfounded, "Fera?"

A/N: and there it is. Oh and just a little note; I know the latin phrase that's on Hermione's hand has changed. It was brought to my attention that google translate was, not surprisingly, completely unreliable. So, I'm in the middle of fixing it up so that it actually makes sense.

Next chapter: We finally find out why Fera was locked away in the book, what her project is and….is Hermione stuck?!

We'll find out next Friday….or maybe sooner, I'll try my best to get the next chapter out before then-we'll see.

Thanks for reading, and please review! I would love to hear what you think :)