"Expensive american doctors." Mr. Granger sighed. There hadn't been a problem until they'd started consulting overseas for treatment, and he hadn't the credit to look into wizarding treatment. On the bright side, however, when he went to the bank this morning he found that all his debts had indeed been paid off. Arnold shuddered to think what that meant for Hermione. The ward of Lucius Malfoy? But it appeared Malfoy was true top his word, for in angry scrawls his signiture was over several papers covering debts both fresh and ancient. Some Arnold had forgotten he even had.

He would be lying if he said that part of him was not actually a bit excited at this turn of events. Hermione always came out on top, she always did..she would find a way through. And he had said she would never have to worry about schooling again. And the Malfoy's, despite their well deserved dubious reputation, were exceedingly well-off. Lucious was brilliant. Hermione might even enjoy herself. Might. Arnold swallowed. That was the catch, wasn't it? Even if things turned out all right in the end, there was going to be a huge fallout.

As Mr. Granger stepped through his door, a black owl nearly took his head off. "Of all the luck!" He caught the falling letter, somewhat surprised that the bird flew off without waiting for a reward, tip, or payment.

"Honey?" His wife called from the hallyway.

"Home, dear." He said resignedly.

"That bad?" She looked so worried it was heartbreaking.

"No...and yes." Arnold sat down beside her. "We don't have to worry as much financially for a while. And I've given up gambling."

"Really?" Mara would have been more hopeful had it not been something she's heard a dozen times before.

"Well, it wasn't much of a choice." He ran his hand through his hair. But I crossed a line..." Mr. Granger filled her in, and the scolding that followed proved that Mrs. Granger had a good deal of strength left in her after all.

Hermione frowned at the nursery rhyme book. She didn't want to read it, but it looked like she had to. Snape had probably memorized it, or most of it, when he was young, and she didn't want him to have any sort of advantage in such a situation. But more than that, it also seemed to be where most of their clues were coming from. Still, the illustrations were so...disturbing. Many of them moved, like wizarding photos. But then, she had seen many disturbing things in her time at Hogwarts, and in her fight against Voldemort. She couldn't let a book defeat her. Pulling out fresh parchment, she began to take notes. She found some spell on the book refused to let the poems actually be copied, but a certain degree of summarization was allowed.

'Nightingale sings inside its cage Nightingale trills a merry tune "Docent" says the boy with key Nightingale sings no more'

"This nightingale poem uses symbolism to perhaps detail a silencing spell. In the illustration the nightingale's beak is closed, but it does not die. (Death being the other possible meaning that comes to mind for a silenced bird)." Hermione looked up from her quill, finding a fly buzzing about the room. She held out her wand at it. "Docent!" The blast of power surging from her wand nearly knocked her back, but the fly kept buzzing. She put her wand down. Maybe it was some form of wandless magic? "Docent!" Another jarring blast of power left her, but the fly still buzzed, louder even. "Docent!" She pouted, changing the pronunciation. Her power shot out at the fly and it finally stopped buzzing. "All right!" She smiled, then frowned.

It had stopped buzzing because it had fallen to the floor, quite fried. Hermione turned back to her paper somewhat miffed. "In the poem, the caster is the owner of the bird. Perhaps only the guardian can cast this spell rather than any wizard. He has no wand in the poem or the picture. Could this be wandless magic?" Hermione turned a few pages, looking at the poem Snape had read earlier.

'Bought by Bone Bought by Blood Yet we are not Complete Mad by the Hour Bonds turn Sour Power Grows Replete Dare not spurn Or deeper burn But rather two crests meet'

The image was troubling her. Certainly, contacting their bonds had worked. But if that was all that was needed, why were the two in the picture so much more...amorous? Hermione blushed. And wearing significantly less clothing.

She moved to a different poem.

When things settled down, as much as they were likely too, at the Granger residence, Arnold finally opened his mail. "Honey..." He called, a bit shocked. "How would you feel about a trip to Hogwarts?"

"Why dear?" She asked, still unsettled and wondering how she would get in contact with Hermione to make sure she was safe - and furthermore, how to convince Lucius to give her back.

"Apparently Madam Poppy has a program for the study of rare muggle conditions for some of the more advanced students. You could stay there for a while and you could be examined by one of the best mediwitches the wizarding world has to offer!"

"What's the catch?"

"Maybe Lucius feels bad."

"Malfoy AGAIN!"

"Just think about it dear. It is your best shot, and it was kind of him to suggest it. Pomfrey only has a few openings a year, and constantly apparating to appointments in America is hard on you."

"And selling my soul to the Malfoy's isn't?" Mara shook her head. Things were going from bad to worse.

Lucius and Snape might have been interested to know that they both were sitting in the exact same posture. Both had claimed firm chairs by their respective firesides, though the rooms were kept cool. Both were drinking: although while Lucius was sipping at a refined wine, Severus was sipping at a firewhisky 'potion'. (Which he was sure Hermione would disapprove of highly, and hence was why he had her taking noted in the other room. Both men had one leg crossed over the other, and had donned a fine deep green evening robe, so deep it was almost black. And both were reading a special edition of the Wizard Post.

A strange house was splayed across the cover, looking thoroughly uninviting. (And they both knew, it was far more uninviting than it looked.) Cages with trapped animals lined the front lawn, some dead, some animated in some imitation of life, and some clearly alive. Some had obviously been tortured, but others looked quite content and were preening themselves. The door was a massive bolted and barred affair, and the whole mansion had one too many gargoyles. The headline simply read 'Graner Mansion Awakens'.

The article was big on hype and low on substance. Graner had been a powerful wizard of his time (and the article hinted in a very bold read between the lines DARK), but disappeared one day, managing to wipe out most records of his existence. His imposing mansion he made unplottable, vanished out of practical existance. No heir ever stepped up to continue the line. While he had been a prolific author, his books faded into mere rumor and disappeared from circulation. Both men finished their drinks, and sent the glass into his respective fire.

"Voldemort take him." Lucius was infuriated. His plans would have to be modified, and how he could proceed as it was he was still unsure. The Graner mansion was no trifle. And for the mansion to awake meant that Snape was proceeding faster than he thought he would, which meant that Snape might know more than a Potion's Master ought to. Lucius might have to deal with the threat more quickly than first planned.

"Merlin's Beard." Snape hissed. What was that man thinking, to awake something like that? Graner was far to self-occupied to be a threat like Voldemort, but dark wizardry was bad business in general. And Snape had no doubt on the timing - the article gave the mansion's awakening at exactly the time when he 'completed' the bond with Hermione. His day just kept getting better and better.

How I love thy summer locks

Thy pearl sheened nails

Thy glassen tears

Boiling in a Cauldron hot

That I might keep you seven years

From "Every Love Potion, Portent, and Charms Ever Made" This book was censored and restricted many centuries ago by the High Council of Wizards. Anyone caught with it will find themselves with a one-way trip to Azkaban. Strangely, excerpts from it aren't forbidden, and the contents are not hard to dig up for a lovestruck teen.