Hermione woke early the next morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so she cast an illumination charm and reread the lists Dumbledore had given her over and over. The first was in a long, flowing hand that might have been Professor McGonagall's. It read:

Site-animals, Quidditch pitch, grounds, environs
(Currently there are two possible sites, one in Scotland and the other in northern England.)
Castle- architecture, classrooms, dormitories, kitchens and dining hall, etc.
Library
Classes- reworking, addition
Recreation- rooms, grounds
Security- wards, guards
Transportation for students
Housing for professors and students

The second list was really a contract, and it was in Snape's spiky hand. She could actually see the malice in each scratched letter. With a pettiness characteristic of him but odd for such an otherwise great man, he had written the list in emerald green, and he never referred to her by name. Since he had clearly had to create a fresh contract for her, she was meant to take it personally.

DUTIES: THE APPRENTICE SHALL
-attend any and all staff meetings.
-be available on weekends and school holidays, excepting personal breaks.
-take clear and accurate notes regarding all work done, progress made, and setbacks suffered.
-keep a full record of any and all expenses incurred in the performance of his/her duties.
-be ever respectful and obedient to his/her superiors.
-maintain strict standards of discretion regarding knowledge that he/she gains in the process of doing her duty as an apprentice. If asked about his/her duties, the apprentice shall demur, and shall if pressed claim to be a mere teaching assistant.
-serve as a teaching assistant for any Hogwarts professor requiring aid.
-enter into no other employment or apprenticeship during the apprenticeship here formed.
-fully master the principles of wandless magic.
-assist in the preparation of materials required by professors for the performance of their duties.
-take an exam at the end of the apprenticeship. Said exam will take the form of a defense of the work the apprentice has done.

RIGHTS: THE APPRENTICE SHALL
-know no curfew or forbidden areas within the grounds of the workplace (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), save the private quarters and offices of professors and other students.
-receive a monthly stipend of twenty (20) Galleons.
-retain the rights to all his/her professional discoveries and inventions.
-have food and housing provided by the Masters.
-spend at least one (1) week of each school break with his/her family.
-be released from all normal classes, assignments, and exams.
-receive at the end of his/her apprenticeship a private evaluation by each Hogwarts professor and Master.

The apprenticeship shall end upon the completion of the construction of a the new Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This contract may be terminated at any point, for any reason, by any of the parties involved. If the apprentice terminates the relationship, he/she shall be permitted to resume the role of normal student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and to sit for the applicable exams.

Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall had all signed, but the other professors had not. Hermione suspected this meant that they were not as intimately involved, but she couldn't be sure without going to the library, which she intended to do immediately after breakfast. She had no idea what was standard for wizard contracts, and she was concerned by the lack of a time frame. Dumbledore had said that they would be operating under time constraints, but that wasn't particularly specific.

She took comfort in the fact that although Snape might find it funny to tether her to a project for ten years, Dumbledore would not. And she could get out of it whenever she wanted. Still, she'd really have to read up a bit on wizarding law.

Hermione didn't know how long she sat there, reading and rereading. Then light stabbed her eyes as someone she couldn't see drew her bed curtains back. The willowy outline of Ginny Weasley appeared, limned in the pale gold of morning. Hermione's faint Lumos almost disappeared in the much brighter light, and she finally ended the charm.

"What're you looking at?" Ginny asked, reaching out for the contract.

Hermione jerked it back before it occurred to her that she ought to have tried for nonchalance. When it did, she shrugged a little. "Lists of school supplies." Technically she hadn't signed the contract requiring her to lie yet, but she doubted Dumbledore would appreciate her giving his plans away, particularly given that Hermione thought the reason he had given her for the move was a load of nonsense. Dumbledore wasn't one to bend to Ministry pressure. If he abandoned this building, it was because he knew it had to be abandoned.

Ginny looked a bit suspicious, but withdrew her hand. "You should get ready. Breakfast is in a quarter of an hour."

Hermione nodded and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She was dressed and ready in ten minutes, and she preceded the other girls down to breakfast. She had been criticized for not taking care with makeup or her hair, but this negligence had its benefits. Hermione usually slept in later than the other girls, and she never had to spend hours in the bathroom redoing her eyeshadow after a steamy day in Potions.

When she got down to breakfast, Hermione had stowed the papers safely in her bag. She tried to look as though she was experiencing nothing out of the ordinary, but she couldn't resist a glance at the staff table. Professor McGonagall caught her eye and she smiled. Snape was glaring into a mug of what she assumed was tea. She wondered if it was growing cold from the ice in his gaze. What did he have to be upset about?

Having eaten hastily, Hermione excused herself to Ginny and a fifth-year girl whose name she couldn't quite remember. She was at the library door moments later, for she had always grown wings if there was a chance to roam among the books.

Hermione pushed the door open and took two steps in. She stopped thereafter, gasping at what she saw. The shelves nearest her (Fiction: Historical and Romance) were completely empty. She could where the books had been and where they hadn't through the thickness of the dust that covered the shelves, but also because she had walked past those shelves a hundred, a thousand times. Madam Pince was nowhere to be seen, and Hermione frowned.

Unnerved, she continued deeper into the room. She knew exactly where to go because as Harry's life had grown in complexity and danger, magical law had comprised a large part of his friends' research. Yet none of them had ever had cause to look into private contracts. Ron probably knew something about them, but it wasn't a topic that came up in everyday conversation. She almost wished she could have simply asked Ginny, but that would have been indiscreet. Besides, she had missed this library over the summer.

At last the shelf she wanted came into view, and she ran her hand over the books until she came to a dark red book on an honourable wizard's private and public obligations. A mere glance in the index told Hermione that the tome was overly flowery and self-important, but there was a section on employment contracts.

Hermione had been half expecting to find that Snape had slipped a secret wizarding loophole in the document, so that he owned her soul and could torture her for eternity, but she was surprised to find that the contract actually seemed to be unusually generous. Muggle apprentices were never paid, she knew, and it seemed that wizarding apprentices usually paid for the privilege of working under Masters. Wizarding apprentices also counted themselves lucky to get three days of break per year, and here she had two weeks. She hadn't thought one week per break particularly generous, but evidently it was.

As for the concept of a "Master," the title had originally referred to the head of a studio. Hermione supposed that Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were analogous to head artists, but she didn't quite understand how she related to the other professors. The nearest situation she saw was one in which senior apprentices had control over junior apprentices. Apparently Masters had the right and the responsibility to regulate interactions among their apprentices.

Nowhere could Hermione find anything that justified either a requirement of deceit, which at least she understood, or a wandless-magic clause, which she did not. She resolved to accept the former and ask Dumbledore about the latter.

A few minutes into her research, Hermione had firmly decided to take the apprenticeship under some form of the contract, so she wasn't worried about missing Transfiguration. She fully intended to audit as many of her classes as possible, but Professor McGonagall would know why she was absent. It had also occurred to Hermione that the class would be depressingly small, consisting of all the remaining seventh-years interested in the subject. She wasn't sure that she wanted a reminder of how many people she knew had died or abandoned their studies.

Hermione spent a long while researching apprenticeships, and then shifted to wizarding architecture. It seemed to be an almost paralyzingly broad topic, but she found an overview. It assumed a bit more knowledge of Transfiguration than she had, but she was able to follow most of it. She rapidly became absorbed in her work, and by the time she thought to cast a Tempus charm, it was lunchtime. She had only gotten a few dense chapters in. Hermione went to Madam Pince's desk to check out her book, but the librarian was still mysteriously missing. She returned the text to its place on the shelf, rolled her contract up into a neat cylinder in her hand, and went off in search of Dumbledore.

When she arrived at the foot of Dumbledore's staircase, Hermione greeted the gargoyle nervously. Wizarding researchers were of very different minds on the sentience of gargoyles, with estimates ranging from that of a small beetle to slightly smarter than a human. Hermione made a point of being polite to them, just in case. Yet if this gargoyle was listening, it gave no sign. It remained in its usual position until she said "blood lollipops." Dumbledore must not have seen the need to change his password, because the gargoyle turned, if not obligingly, at least quickly.

Had there been a bell, Hermione would have used it, and she wished there had been one. She felt somewhat guilty for barging in unannounced, but after all, if Dumbledore had really wanted to remain undisturbed, no doubt he was capable of locking the door with more than the name of a (completely unappetizing) sweet. This suspicion was confirmed when she walked into the office itself. The headmaster smiled at her from his chair behind the desk and said, "Ah, Miss Granger. When I heard you had missed your classes this morning, I thought I should see you soon. The last time you spoke, you were eager to participate in our project. Have you confirmed your decision in books?"

Hermione took the chair to which Dumbledore gestured, and almost jumped out of her skin when she realized that the shadows behind her and to her left were actually her Potions professor. Snape didn't say anything, but some slight movement made his thick cloak ripple. Trying to ignore his presence, Hermione said, "I have. I want to do the apprenticeship. But, sir... The contract..."

Snape made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. "No doubt she's going to want to spend breaks at home with Mummy and Daddy."

Over the summer, Hermione had sometimes wondered if Snape was nasty by nature or as part of his spy's facade. She was beginning to think he was exactly the bitter old misanthrope he seemed. Thanks to Occam and his razor for that one.

Her throat clenched up as she said, "No, Professor, it's not the breaks. It's this point, here." She unrolled her contract and pointed unnecessarily at it. "Why do I have to learn wandless magic?" She hastened to add, "Not to be disrespectful, sir, but I only wondered..."

Dumbledore didn't seem annoyed. "Why it was relevant?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well, Severus, that was your addition. Why don't you explain to Miss Granger why she has to learn wandless magic?"

Here again Hermione couldn't help herself. 'I can do a little," she said. She wished she could see Snape's face, but then it was probably a mercy that she couldn't.

He said softly, "Because, Miss Granger, wands are fragile, and they have a tendency to get lost. Because, Miss Granger, the enemy is not going to let you retain your wand. Because, Miss Granger, it is a secret you can use to your advantage. And because, Miss Granger, there is no better way to develop overall magical strength than to remove your crutch.

"By the end of this year at the latest, I will expect you to be fully functional without your crutch. That means, Miss Granger, that you must be able to do everything you can do with your wand, and some more besides, since, really, to call you functional as you now are is a disgrace to the art of magic." "Mudblood" was a pet name compared to her name in his mouth.

Hermione didn't know quite where to fix her eyes when he had done, so she looked at Dumbledore. His own blue eyes seemed sad, but he just said mildly, "Come now, Severus. To call Miss Granger merely functional is a disgrace to honesty."

Hermione snuck a look over her shoulder and immediately wished she hadn't. Snape glowered.

"I had another concern, sir," she said. "There's no time frame for the construction, and I'm concerned about tying myself to one commitment for too long."

Dumbledore seemed, once again, to understand. "Very well, then. Please give me the contract, Miss Granger." He ignored Snape's mutters about coddling and took out a quill. "Does two years, beginning today, satisfy?"

Hermione nodded. Dumbledore added a sentence of his own below one of Snape's and showed it to Hermione. She would now be released either with the completion of the school or with the end of two years, whichever came first. Taking the quill from Dumbledore, Hermione signed her name on the line designated by the word "Apprentice." She tried to hand the paper to Dumbledore, but he shook his head.

"Keep it, Miss Granger. We have a copy already, and you may want to reference it at a later date. Take also this piece of paper." He pulled a sheet of parchment from the many on his desk and held it out to her. Hermione took it nervously. "It's a schedule," Dumbledore explained. Your professors and I will post notices here about things like staff meetings, and if you're needed for a specific part of the project on a given day, it will appear on the schedule," Dumbledore explained.

Hermione looked down at the parchment. Staff meetings were every Monday and Thursday, directly after dinner. It seemed that on Saturday, she was spending time with McGonagall and Snape doing who knew what.

"Now, Severus and I were about to go to lunch. Would you like to accompany us?"

Hooray. Quality time with Snape. Hermione tried to smile. "Certainly, sir."

At dinner, Neville asked why she hadn't been in any of his classes. Hermione didn't answer for a moment, struck as she was by his lack of nerves. Physically, Neville was much the same as he had always been, but he was much more confident. She realized, even without ever seeing him in Potions, that he wouldn't need her to whisper instructions anymore. Snape couldn't scare the boy who'd saved the professor's life by killing Nagini just before she struck.

"Hermione?" Hermione blinked.

"Oh, sorry, Neville. I was just thinking. No, I may not be in class a lot of the time. The professors have asked me to help them, and in exchange I can work around the NEWTs."

A moment later, she wished she hadn't said anything. She was swamped in questions about the arrangement, and she made up answers left and right. She tried to stick as close to the truth as possible, but even so, the lies started to blur together. Every so often, Hermione caught sight of Ginny's face. The youngest Weasley was staring at Hermione with narrowed eyes. For all his new-found confidence, Neville wouldn't dream that Hermione was lying to him, but Ginny Weasley wasn't to be fooled so easily.

Draco drummed his fingers on the cool wood of the Slytherin table. Granger had her back to him, so he couldn't read her lips, but he could see the people around her, and they were agitated and confused. Newts-NEWTs or the animals, he wasn't sure which. Something about "it makes sense."

Reading lips was his father's game. Draco had a box full of such inherited tricks. His mother could hand-decorate drugged cakes; his father had been a whiz at intercepting owls. The Malfoys had never been a domestic family in the traditional sense of the word, but they had always tried to help their son.

The train of thought was not a pleasant one, and only reminded Draco that he had promised to write his mother at least twice a week. He tried to focus back on Granger, which just made him think of his father. Anyway, the conversation seemed to have turned to a gentler course. Shifting his gaze slightly, Draco caught Ginny Weasley's eye. She was staring straight at him without flinching. Willing his hand not to shake, Draco raised his goblet to her and drained it.

She enunciated clearly, slowly, and silently, shaping each word carefully so that he could read her lips without any trouble. Bugger off.

Draco got himself more pumpkin juice and went to toast her again, but she'd looked away. Pursing his lips ironically, Draco drank to himself.

A/N: I'm trying not to bore you with too much setup, but the building of an entirely new school is a very, very complicated process, so it's vital that Hermione (and the readers, and the author, if we're being honest) understands exactly what's going to have to happen.

Also, I find it impossible to imagine Hermione not doing research before she made a decision.