Chapter 14: Unexpected Twist

Disclaimer: we've been through this already. :)

If she had been expecting anyone in this room, it had certainly not been her Potions Master. She knew that she was even with the Slytherin common room, but not Professor Snape's quarters. To make matters worse, he was just as shocked to see her as she was to see him. That was, until he pulled his wand out of his robes and pointed it directly at her.

"Miss Granger, kindly explain to me how you got in here and why you are out of bed passed curfew."

She was still in shock, but as her mind cleared it all slowly made sense. Who else would be living in Salazar's library? Who else would be able to give her the information she needed regarding the Slytherin family? Feeling like an idiot, she raised her hands in surrender hoping he would lower his wand so she could explain everything.

"I had no idea I would end up in your private quarters Professor. This is all a huge misunderstanding."

He lowered his wand slightly and motioned for her to walk into the sitting room, which she did without complaint. His wand was still trained on her slightly, but not with as much ferocity as it had been. He directed her towards an Earth brown sofa and motioned for her to sit. It wasn't until she had and a tea tray appeared on the small coffee table in front of her that he relaxed completely, well as completely as Snape could.

"You still have yet to answer my question, which surprising to say the least."

He sneered at her while pouring himself a cup of tea and one for her as well. When the small green cup and saucer were in her hands did she notice that she had been shaking and concentrated on relaxing so she wouldn't spill. He peered over his own cup and took a sip out of it while he waited for what he assumed was her gathering her thoughts. It wasn't until another minute later that she opened her mouth and the entire story came out.

A half an hour later, and he set the cup he had been holding down onto the tray to refill it for the fourth time. After a practical word vomit that she had just ensued all over him, it was then his turn to gather his thoughts. It was as he had feared, and if he had any hope for Draco to succeed in his endeavor, he would have to give her a false spell, one that showed his godson as her true soul mate.

Standing, he went back into his bed chamber and grabbed the book she had wanted, he had rifled through the pages once before but had no idea on the true author. He flipped through it again now, searching for the page he knew held the spell she wanted and changed only one word. With that one word though it caused the entire thing to only show one person as her soul mate, a Malfoy. He only hoped she did not put two and two together before she had tried it on all three of her suitors.

He returned to her with the closed book in his hand and opened it to the page he knew would have the text. A part of his mind was telling him he could not let her leave with it, so the only logical thing to do was have her copy Morgan's spell and leave with it. No sooner had he thought it, a quill and parchment fluttered in front of her for her to write upon.

"Since this a very rare book, I cannot let you have, so you must copy what you need and be on your way before you get caught by Mr. Filch."

She nodded, understanding that she would have never have been able to study the full book once she knew it was with Professor Snape. She grabbed the quill and started to write the full charm down while he went about tidying up their tea things. She had finished by the time he had sent the tray to the kitchens, and was quickly stuffing the parchment into her robes. She stood and walked towards the door that she assumed held the corridor on the other side and when he didn't correct her she placed her hand on what she would hope be the last handle like that.

"Thank you Professor for understand. I will tell no one of what I have learned today down in the chamber."

"Your welcome Miss Granger. Also, thank you for giving me the knowledge of where the rest of Salazar Slytherin's belongings are. Professor Dumbledore will want be happy to know about it."

She nodded in return, and opened the door to return to the rest of the Magical World. Hermione could not help feeling slightly different since being down in the chamber, almost as if she had grown magically and understood more about the new world that she lived in.

By the time she reached the Great Hall, she noticed that there was light already filtering in from the high windows. It was already sunrise, meaning she had been traipsing around under the school all night. It was still a bit before curfew was lifted, so she rushed up to the seventh floor. It wasn't until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady that she remembered that both Harry's map and invisibility cloak were still tucked into her robes.

'Figures, I go through all that trouble to not get caught and I forget that I have two of the items that would ensure it.'

She arrived just as curfew lifted and the early risers were on their way to breakfast. They nodded to her as they passed, the only thoughts going through there head was that they had missed breakfast already if she was on her way back up. Hermione just hurried inside the portrait hole and up the stairs to her dorm where she took a much needed shower, wanting to wash away as much grime and slime before classes started.

Seated in between Harry and Ron, the twins across from her and Ginny across from Harry, Hermione started to feel the affects of the night before taking a toll on her. The shower had relaxed her, and breakfast was making her full and lethargic. She was just happy that today was a homework due day so there would be no new notes for her to copy down. All she had to do was arrive for the first few minutes of each class to turn in her work and then hurry away to the Room of Requirements for an hour of sleep each.

"Uh… Hermione!"

She had been staring at George without realizing it, her eyes not completely closed but enough that she knew it looked bad from the way Ginny was snickering. She shook her head to clear the fog that was clouding her brain with images of sleep and looked back at the Weasley twin again.

"Sorry, dozing off, what did you say?"

"I asked if you were feeling alright, but given your statement I'd say I got my answer. Did you get any sleep last night luv?"

"A bit, but not much."

George knew that she had left the common room the night before, because he had come down to check on her after making sure everyone would shut up about the day be fore's events. So far, with Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex threat, not a peep was made from the other houses, but several stares were aimed at the Gryffindor table. George was just glad that the damage control seemed to be working, now if only Cameron would break off their date and if she didn't see Draco, everything would work out the way it was supposed to.