Disclaimer: See chapter one.
When Hermione arrived at her flat the first thing she did was head over to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards to put her purchases in. She called it her "potions cabinet" for all of her potions and ingredients were stored there of course. Then she headed back into the living room and performed "Incendio" and her fireplace was immediately ablaze. She decided to change into something more suitable for her visit so Hermione walked from the kitchen through a door on her left where her bedroom was located.
It wasn't anything fancy but it suited her taste. The walls were beige; while a huge king sized bed took hold of the middle of the room with two small dressers on each side. On the opposite side of the bed was her closet which of course contained her clothes and an emergency portkey which would transport her right into Professor Snape's quarters at Hogwarts. In between her bed and closet was a window where you could just see the outskirts of London's St. James Park, right opposite the window was her bathroom which wasn't anything special but contained a shower, toilet and a sink.
When Hermione emerged from her shower she headed over to her closet and put on a pair of black slacks with a white long sleeved t-shirt and took her black cloak with just in case. As she was about to leave her bedroom she caught her reflection in a mirror which hung on the inside of her closet door.
Hermione of course was never one to care for fashion but she did realize that her hair wasn't that thick mass of her head anymore, like it was when she was little. Now it was tamed and much more attractive looking, her breasts and curves had filled out nicely too over the years managing to catch the attention of many men. You wouldn't hear Hermione complain about it though. She combed her hair one more time and let it fall loose over her shoulders, retrieved her wand and headed back into her living room towards her fireplace.
There the fire was still burning and even with the usual cracking of wood it was quiet now that Crookshanks wasn't around anymore. He had died in her fifth year and she never thought about buying another pet to keep her company. With so many years having past she really didn't want one and her job would just interfere too much.
She took a handful of floo powder from a bowl which stood above the fireplace, stepped into the flames and called out clearly "Severus Snape's quarters", and was greeted with his private rooms and him nowhere in sight.
Surprisingly his rooms weren't anything like the students had expected it to be, including her. There stood a brown leather couch with a small table facing the fireplace and on the left was a bookshelf taking up most of the wall with many of them already read by Hermione, one of them being Banned potions of the Dark Ages, the book that she found in Malfoys hands. Professor Snape had decided to add it to his personal library for it had helped tremendously with their research but obviously not enough.
The walls were a peachy color, one that Hermione was never quite fond of but received excellent lighting from a window perched high above the bookshelf. In the right corner was the bathroom which of course wasn't all that special to her but in the left corner was his bedroom, the one room she never had the opportunity to see. There were two other doors to her right, one which lead to the outer corridors and the other to his dear Potions lab.
"Well this is unexpected", Professor Snape's voice trailed in from her right the same time as he was walking towards her, "You weren't supposed to arrive until Thursday."
He still looked like his usual self, with his greasy black hair and hooked nose but he did not look as relaxed and well rested as usual. He was leaning more towards weary and paranoid. Although Voldemort was defeated, it didn't mean he could give up his job as a spy. There were still some ruthless Death Eaters out there that need to be caught some that he was still talking to on a regular basis.
"Change of plans. They didn't have one ingredient that I needed down at Alex's place in Diagon Alley, so I thought of you," she said with a small smile while approaching the couch and taking a seat.
"Oh let me take a guess, was it the vampire fang that they didn't have?" he asked while joining her on the couch as well, "because when I always go there he never seems to have them."
"No it was the werewolf hair. And I know with you helping out Professor Lupin every full moon…" Hermione said and that was truly all that needed to be said for Professor Snape responded almost immediately, "I will get them."
"Don't hurry yourself. I have nowhere I need to be until a couple of hours", she mentioned to his retreating back while closing her eyes and enjoying the sound of the fire.
Not even a minute after his departure the fire in front of her changed from its tranquil sound to one of distortion, which made her open her eyes abruptly, followed by the abrupt change from its natural golden hue to green and the man she hated with a pure passion stepped out of the fireplace and stood in front of her.
"You", Hermione said instantly standing up and inserting her right hand into her cloak to feel the safety of her wand.
"Well, well, well what do we have here? Ms. Granger, the know-it-all mudblood that went to school with my – son," drawled the menacing voice of Lucius Malfoy as he stood in front of Hermione dusting off his robes from any particles that might have settled on his robes during his voyage.
"What are you doing here", she asked in an unwelcoming tone.
"Oh are you the potions Professors watchdog now? I didn't know that you two were still – acquainted," he sneered while leaning his right hand on his black cane which she knew held his wand.
"We are still acquainted but I have no idea what he would want with scum like you," she spat in his face.
"I have no business with him, were is Severus by the way?" he asked.
"He stepped out", she responded hotly.
After a short pause Hermione looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Why did you do it?"
"What are you talking about," he asked clearly not disturbed by the question.
"Your son, Draco, why did you kill him?" she asked literally throwing the question at him and anticipating a truthful answer. But that was too much to ask.
"I didn't kill anyone… only the ones the Dark Lord ordered to have disposed which I did with honor of course. But he was not one of them," Lucius said checking his watch clearly bored with the subject.
"You liar! You say you killed so many others but not Draco? You can't even own up to it can you? Did he even mean anything to you?" even before Hermione registered just to what was happening, his wand was pointed directly at her left temple, surprise and fear evident in her eyes. While his showed fury.
"Don't talk about what you don't know. Wouldn't want the remains of your body found on someone's doorstep now would you?" he whispered dangerously.
Then the voice she really appreciated at the moment showed up, "What are you doing here?"
Lucius immediately dropped his wand from Hermione's face and slipped it back in its case. "Severus! Just the man I was looking for", Lucius said and headed towards Snape who held the vial with the werewolf's hair in his left hand. One she was willing to take and head home immediately, but not before she received some answers from Lucius and Snape.
"Hermione I think that you should go," Severus looking at Lucius started to say before Hermione interrupted, "But there is-" "Now!" That was all it took.
She walked over to Professor Snape and took the vial from his outstretched hand, and in the meantime never taking a cautious eye off of Lucius. She was about to say something else to Lucius but Professor Snape beat her to it, "Ms. Granger I do believe that there is something I have for you. It will arrive through owl later today, be sure to take extra care of it."
Hermione nodded in approval but she didn't really understand what Snape was talking about. Either way she headed to his fireplace and flooed home.
But as she stepped out of her fireplace she dropped her vial in fright.
The same man from the apothecary stood in her living room.
Wand pointed dead center at her.
"Hello again Hermione," he said, "I need you to sit down on your couch and keep quiet and I promise no one will get hurt." He nodded his head towards the couch directing her to sit down on it.
"Who are you? What do you want", Hermione asked trying hard not to show any fear in her voice.
"Now don't try anything. I don't want to hurt you. But there is a lot I have to tell you, with limited time," the man responded.
"Who are you," she asked again while taking her seat.
"Of course. It's been how long? Eight, nine years? That's an awfully long time. No wonder you would forget someone who's supposedly dead," he answered raising his eyebrow.
"What?" Hermione asked standing up, disbelief showing in her voice.
"I want you to listen to me. This may seem as a shock to you considering the events that have been taking place. But it is me, it's Draco."
She was expecting anything but this. "You can't be him, he's dead! And even if you were, you look nothing like him."
This is when he said a short "of course" raised his wand and cast away the concealment charm and there he stood in his true form. Draco. He in a way still looked like the boy she fell in love with so many years ago. He grew, that was the first thing Hermione noticed had changed. He still had that striking blonde hair from his youth and his eyes were still those icy grey depths like his father's. But unlike Lucius these held kindness, and including the all too familiar scar on his right eye.
She moved forward a step wanting to touch his face after all those years, but then it hit her. This person isn't Draco! Draco is dead! She stopped walking towards him and looked for a way out. 'Draco' noticed this and he moved towards her while Hermione moved back. "Please do try to understand," he said.
"Understand?" she asked in a shrill manner not noticing her choice of volume caused him to lower his wand. "What is there to understand? If you want money or - ." He put up his hand in understanding which caused her to stop and he said, "You require proof. Alright. My father was charged for my death and there was nothing found at the crime scene except a vial lying next to my body. Am I right?"
"Yes, but that could have been read in any newspaper that had written about that day," Hermione said.
"I agree with you. But was it also stated in those newspapers that the vial contained a potion, to which you can't seem to find the ingredients for. Or even to figure out what kind of potion it was? No matter how many times you've reread the same books and bought the same ingredients."
"How did you…" Hermione said and then all of the sudden something clicked. She needed to get out of there. She thought about her portkey in her closet but that might lead her to Snape and for all she knew Lucius could still be there. Another meeting with him wasn't something she was willing to repeat this soon, and if 'Draco' would follow her and Lucius would see him… Oh, questions would be asked that not even she knew the answers to.
Hermione looked over Draco one more time and that's when she realized that his wand was no longer pointed at her. So she whipped out hers and immediately apparated to where she knew she would always be welcome. Harry's home.
I did have some difficulty with this chapter but I am satisfied with the way it came out.
Please review :)