disclaimer: No...I do not own any of the characters from Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling is a genius!)

Hey all! So...it's been awhile! ) Sorry for that...lots of other stories to write at the moment...but I certainly have not forgotten about this one! Thanks again to all you fanfic friends out there for continuing to read and review my story! I appreciate the support! Also- for those of you who have supported my latest poetry manuscript and have visited my site- thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Anyway...here it is...chapter 20...enjoy...more to come soon...for real. )

-boots26

The sun was beginning to rise over Black Lake and light danced over the dark water like frenzied fireflies nearing their descent into the shadows. Sunlight spilled through windows and under doors, illuminating the darkest crevices of the castle. All around the grounds, the warmth of the sun licked the frost and settled along the snow caked window sills as if it were trying to blanket the tyrannical cold with its bright beams.

The dawn had come and gone for all at Hogwarts, all but two souls; two darkened shadows lingering in the Slytherin dungeons, silent and motionless as the night itself.

Hermione's face was very still, but her eyes wavered and glistened as the tears welled up but stayed hidden. Severus had turned away from her and had begun reorganizing the shelves of his classroom. He could kill himself for telling her, but somehow he felt that it had been his duty. He looked over his shoulder at the scared and bewildered witch sitting in a heap on the floor and wondered what she would do next. Surely she would cry and then, he predicted, the questions would come pouring out. But for nearly two hours, Hermione said nothing and not a single tear escaped her perfect eyes. The ends of her straightened hair had begun to curl and individual pieces regained their wiry presence around the crown of her head. She exhaled deeply and Severus caught himself listening to the patterns of her breath with the greatest attention. He cared- not because he cared for Hermione Granger, the insufferable know-it-all that made his skin crawl every time she raised her hand in class; he cared because she was Katrina's child- a child that he believed was dead. She intrigued him.

Hermione closed her eyes and at last, a single tear slid down her left cheek, but she wiped it clear in silence and fingered the serpentine pendant around her neck. Severus returned to his bottle sorting, though his thoughts remained solely on the one person who, in his mind, required his utmost attention. What was she thinking? It was driving him mad; her silence. Hermione bit down on her lip to keep from bellowing. The last thing she wanted was for Professor Snape to see her crying. He would think she was weak and she simply couldn't have the only key to who she was thinking that.

Harry rubbed his eyes and sat up, utterly disoriented as he and Ron had both fallen asleep in the common room.

"Bloody hell, what time is it?" Ron groaned from beneath a throw pillow.

Harry was still reeling from Hermione's story of lost parentage and deceit as he looked around the floor at all the dead ends they had come to the previous night. Nothing made sense. Who were Hermione's parents? Why had this all been kept from her? Was it possible that it had been concealed because of the Dark wars? Harry knew from his history classes that many families had been torn apart during that time.

"Ron- what if Mione's a pure blood?"

"It would certainly explain a lot" he yawned.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on Harry- None of the other muggle borns here can do magic like Hermione! She's brilliant!"

"Wonder what Malfoy would think of that?" Harry chuckled, picking up his father's year book and carelessly flipping through the pages.

"What are you two doing here? Did you sleep here last night?" Neville queried as he approached the fireplace.

"It's a long story Longbottom" Ron yawned again, stretching his arms up over his head. Neville looked around at all the scraps of paper and pens strewn about the floor. His eyebrows arched and a look of disbelief spread across his narrow face.

"The two of you couldn't have possibly been studying….were you?"

"Research project" Harry mumbled.

"Oh I see…so, are you two coming to breakfast then?"

"Yeah, just a minute- I…" Harry's eyes locked onto the yearbook. A gangly youth with greasy black hair and eyes like concrete raised an eyebrow and smirked, practically lunging at Harry from the page.

"What?" both boys asked in unison.

"It's a picture of Professor Snape"

"Let's have a look" Ron laughed and sat down on the floor next to Harry.

"By Merlin- do you think he's ever been happy?" Neville shuttered, observing the well-known frown on the young man's all too familiar face.

"Are you daft? I don't even think Snape knows the meaning of the word!"

Pillars of light streamed lazily through the arched windows of Albus Dumbledore's office. The heavy curtains, which had always been kept closed by the previous headmaster, hung against the cold stone walls like the guarded secrets of ghostly children. Fawkes, the crimson phoenix of certain notoriety at Hogwarts, rested on his golden perch and observed his oldest friend with the greatest precision. Dumbledore was a particularly interesting wizard to watch when he was in deep contemplation; not because he was terribly stern or focused- quite the contrary, he was rather prone to distractions and would often indulge in Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans just to keep himself on his toes. His pale weathered face looked sometimes as though it was only being held in place by his enormously impressive white beard and Fawkes chuckled inwardly as he continued to watch the elderly wizard pace the room.

Albus grabbed a handful of jelly beans and eyed them with immense scrutiny before closing his eyes and popping one in his mouth. At first, his lips curled in such a way that it seemed he had chosen wisely, but after another minute or two his cheeks flushed red and his eyes began to water.

"Molten rock!" he gasped, "Accio water glass!" A chalice of water flew across the room, nearly knocking the Sorting Hat off its shelf and barely missing his head as it crashed against the wall behind him. The droplets of water, however, hung in the air – suspended only by his immense need for them, assembled themselves in the shape of a water glass and approached his scorched tongue. As he drank, little spurts of steam escaped through his nose and his skin glowed with a luminous pink color.

Fawkes and the Sorting Hat exchanged knowing glances and tried not to show their amusement with what they had just witnessed, but after a few minutes, the Sorting Hat let out a loud guffaw "Hot enough for you ole friend?"

Dumbledore chuckled and crossed over to the window nearest Fawkes. "I suppose you'll be burning up soon too, eh?" Fawkes bowed his somewhat frail head and looked out at the gray sky. Albus ran his slender fingers through his beard and turned his attention to the pensieve in the corner. Katrina Malfoy had been on his mind for some time. She had been one of the brightest and most talented witches he had ever seen come out of Slytherin house and though her death had not been a tremendous shock, it had been painful to hear of it nonetheless. It had been reported that she committed suicide, but Dumbledore rarely believed what he read in the Daily Prophet or any other Quibbler-esque literature for that matter. Katrina Malfoy, he was certain, had been murdered.

A flash of flames startled Albus from his thoughts and he turned to Fawkes only to see a fresh pile of ash.

"Yes…I suppose it is about that time again…" he sighed, "and perhaps it is time for Severus as well" the old wizard grinned and approached the pensieve.

He fixed his wand to his head and pulled out the moments of time he longed to review. The little stone basin danced with silver exuberance and glowed with a blue radiance as Albus leaned over it; a smile spreading across his wrinkled face and a tear forming in his owl-like eye.

Thomas Crowe sat at the Slytherin table, picking his teeth and scanning the Great Hall for the bushy haired Gryffindor he had been told to observe. In truth, he had been observing Hermione since the start of the semester; but it worried him a little that the Dark Lord had suddenly set his sights on her too. Thomas was about ready to give up when he noticed Harry and Ron enter the hall with Neville in tow. But where was their pillar of strength? Where was their tag-along encyclopedia?

"Where's Granger?"

Ron jumped, a little startled by Thomas's sudden appearance behind him.

"I haven't seen her since yesterday" Neville gulped. The boys didn't know Thomas Crowe well, but a Slytherin was a Slytherin and that was enough to know to be tight-lipped.

"Crowe- right?" Harry inquired.

"Thomas" the young Slytherin smirked and stared at the tip of Harry's scar that was visible through his shaggy brown hair.

Harry could feel him looking at it and brushed his hair aside to cover it up.

"Just what business do you have with Hermione anyway?" Ron puffed up his chest as he said this and tried his hardest not to be himself.

"I…I wanted to ask her a question about…divination"

"Nice try Crowe, Hermione abhors divination."

"Did I say divination? I meant…muggle studies" he grinned.

"Well, none of us have seen Hermione since last night" Harry confidently replied.

A slight look of panic mixed with curiosity came across Thomas's face and he turned to leave.

Ron exhaled and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Creepy- that one is"

"By the way…Weasley…" Thomas whispered as he apparated behind Ron "next time, why not try puffing up that tiny brain of yours!" He then made once more for the door and Harry watched him slink out of the Great Hall before turning his attention to a very frazzled Ron.

"How does he do that? Did you see that?!"

"I can't even apparate my whole body!" exclaimed an equally impressed Neville.

Harry said nothing as the three sat down to eat, but couldn't help wondering what Thomas was up to. As he poured himself some pumpkin juice, he happened to glance up at the head table where he spotted a black crow perched on the headmaster's empty chair. The crow seemed to be staring at him but Harry tried to ignore it.

"Ron- do you believe in omens?"

Hermione felt more alone than she ever had in her entire life. True, she now knew what she had been aching to know for the past month, and she now had a real family to call her own; but she cringed every time she considered being related to the one person who had been the bane of her existence since the day she started at Hogwarts; Draco Malfoy. It didn't seem possible that the young girl Hermione had come to know through her mother's old postcards could be related, let alone the twin sister of someone as wicked and warped as Lucius. Hermione continued to clutch the necklace charm in her sweaty hand, as if some secret strength might emanate from it and give her the power to get up from Snape's classroom floor. But no matter how hard she held the little necklace, it just lay there in her hand- delicate and silent.

"She was never without it, you know"

Hermione whipped her head around to see Professor Snape watching her intently from behind his shelves.

"It's beautiful" was all Hermione could manage, holding back yet another wave of tears.

"The chain is made from an unknown metal and the snakes are constructed of crushed black diamonds and volcanic opals". He continued to restock bottles but couldn't help staring at Hermione's sad smile behind the curtain of her hair.

"It's a rare combination- I doubt if you could find it anywhere else". Why did she have to be so beautiful? She looked just like a pre-Raphaelite painting; heartrending yet vibrant. Severus felt that pang in his heart he had felt when Hermione had been petrified in her second year. He had spent the loneliest hours of the morning next to her hospital bed for fear that the monster might return to finish the job. But now, all of that worry seemed rather irrelevant, knowing that Hermione was not in fact the muggle he had once thought her to be. Still, it was hard for him to look at her and not see the same spunky know-it-all that had enticed his concern time and time again. Like her mother, she had made Severus feel needed.

As he placed the last bottle on the shelf, he caught a glimpse of Hermione's flushed face and it intrigued him to see her holding back so much emotion. Restrain had never been one of Hermione's strengths and yet, here she was; without tears and even more astonishingly…without words.

"It belonged to your grandmother at one time"

"I'm sorry?" Hermione looked up to see Professor Snape standing before her with a hand extended to her.

"It's been in the Mal- that is…it's been in your family for centuries"

Hermione took Snape's hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"Thank you" she nodded.

"I suppose you should be heading back to Gryffindor Tower, no doubt- those two dunderheads will be hunting you down soon enough." Severus withdrew his hand quickly and turned on his heels towards his desk. Hermione could barely speak above a whisper. She didn't care about Harry or Ron or anything else for that matter- as painful as it was, she needed to know more.

"Professor?"

Snape halted his step.

"I…I can't thank you enough for…for being so forthcoming…I…" Hermione bit down on her lip till it began to bleed. "I wonder if you might…if you might tell me a bit more about my mother"

"Miss Gr.." he began, turning to face her "Hermione, you would do well to guard your identity. These are strange times and I hardly think you are ready to attend any family reunions yet." His words were as cold and unfeeling as his eyes.

"I know sir…it's just…" Tears cascaded over her face like a fairiefall melting at springtime. "I'm not so strong as all this" she mumbled between cries. Severus cautiously approached the trembling witch and before he knew what he was doing he reached his arms around her as she collapsed into his chest. Severus held her awkwardly as her sobs stabilized to a soft weeping.

"You are" Severus reassured her. "You are".

Another storm was brewing off the shores of Black Lake. Darkness rolled across the sky like a blanket and thunder resonated off the water; mimicking Hermione's cries. Something sinister was looming over Hogwarts…something that few knew anything about and perhaps only one knew the answer to. Albus stared into the incandescent little pensieve and watched his memories play before him as if they had happened only moments ago.From the window of his office, a somewhat younger Dumbledore observed a very young Severus Snape as he skulked down a sloping hill toward the lake's edge, kicking away the fall leaves with his worn boots. His oil black hair licked the sides of his face as he walked. His school robes appeared to be ripped at the collar and a small scratch was obvious on his right cheek. In his hand, there appeared to be a single white lily. The pale and slender Slytherin stared with detached eyes out at the water before dropping to his knees in a heap of tears and pain.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?" Katrina Malfoy stood close behind the downcast little boy. He didn't turn to look at her- but ceased his sobbing and kept his eyes on the ripples. Katrina examined the collar of his robe and noticed how roughed up he appeared to be.

"Severus…what…what happened to you?"

He said nothing.

"Severus- you tell me! Who did this to you?" As she placed her hand on his shoulder, he swiftly turned around and scowled at her.

"Leave me alone!" His shout echoed off the surrounding mountains. "Why are you always trying to help me? I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" Tears welled up in his angry eyes and once again, he stared out at the water- trying desperately to keep himself from crying.

"Severus…I'm sorry- I just- Dumbledore sent for me from the ministry and I've been looking for you…"

Severus snapped the lily in half and let it fall to the ground.

"This came by owl today" he choked and retrieved a torn paper from his sleeve and tossed it to the wind. "Potter grabbed it and I set my wand on him" he sniffed " but that mangy mutt and Pettigrew…I hate them" he cried.

Katrina approached him cautiously and sat down beside him. His eyes were fixed on the motion of the water, but his mind was a million miles away…his mind was at Spinner's End. Katrina picked up the small tattered paper and noticed that it was an obituary from the Daily Prophet.

Today the Wizarding World grieves as memorial services

were held for Eileen Snape, formerly of the well known Prince

family. She leaves behind her muggle spouse, Tobias Snape and

her only son, Severus, age twelve. The Prince family has barred

entry to the service by all half bloods and those of muggle descent

in order to honor pure blood traditions.

Katrina tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder and before long, the icy little wizard melted into her arms.

Severus said nothing the rest of the evening, but slept as soundly as he had ever slept in Katrina's arms, with the sound of the lake slapping against his mind and Katrina's heart beating beneath his head.

A knock at the door broke Dumbledore's concentration and he pulled away from the pensieve at once; the memory dissolving away like a dream.

"Enter"

A cloaked figure crept in and took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"Ah- you've returned...anything new to report?"

"I can't seem to locate Miss Granger today, sir"

"Not to worry, I'm sure she is in most… capable hands" the old wizard smirked in his all knowing way. "Cockroach cluster?" he gestured to a bowl on his desk.

"Um…no thank you, sir."

Albus crossed over to his desk and sat down in his overstuffed velvet chair.

"How's your arm?"

"A bit better I suppose…Madame Pomfrey gave me some medicine- but it's just awful tasting stuff!"

Albus chuckled and stared deeply at the young man before him.

"He's asking questions about Hermione Granger"

The elder wizard's eyes twinkled as though he had expected this news.

"You must be careful Mr. Crowe…this double life you lead is about to get more complicated. Remember…we often do not see things as they are…we see them as we are. Do not let revenge cloud your true motivations"

Thomas nodded and both were silent as a small chirping came from the ashes.

"Welcome back Fawkes" Albus smiled and popped a chocolate cockroach into the tiny phoenix's mouth.