Disclaimer: It's not mine, it's all J. K. Rowling's.

A/N: Annie Talbot and Machshefa are the lovely ladies who beta-read this fic! : :hugs: :

Chapter 6: Bargain

Hermione had taken the ring with her when she left for work the Monday after sending her response to Snape. She was very conscious that she was disobeying Snape by doing so, but she was an adult now and Snape was blatantly lying to her, wasn't he? Besides, she wasn't wearing it, just keeping it close by.

Hermione wanted to inspect it more closely, run some lengthy tests, and maybe even ask for opinions, since she would be visiting the French Division for Defense Studies today.

That had been before actually meeting the wizards and witches who worked there. How they could perform any serious studies in such a messy department was beyond Hermione! Then again, maybe the individual talent of some of their researchers compensated for the lack of organization.

Francis Bonnet was a good example. Hermione had even contemplated showing him the ring, but decided not to in the end. She'd asked some purposeful questions, though. He was very intelligent and knew a great deal about casting curses out of people and objects. What had held Hermione back was his young age; he couldn't be much older than she was and he reminded her too much of Harry.

She had more opportunities to exchange ideas and discuss theories with the researchers during the following days. She had at least a period of her day to spend discussing defense studies. It was a welcome break from the demanding Molyneux. She'd always been more inclined to the intelligence branch of the Law Enforcement, and Molyneux was all about physical drills and hex exchanges.

She'd had little time to think about Snape or the ring while she worked, but at night, when she was finally alone in her hotel room, her mind would drift that way. It had been what, four days since she'd sent the last letter? Maybe Snape had actually given up and had chosen another victim for his spurts of bad temper.

Maybe not.

Thursday evening Hermione found a letter awaiting her on the nightstand. Curious, Hermione opened it.

Miss Granger,

Irritating or insulting me will get you nowhere. Doubting me, on the other hand, can be alarmingly more dangerous. Presuming the ring is not acting on you doesn't mean it's not evil.

You want to know why I need you to send the ring to me, and although I don't know why I bother to answer, I'll just say that I'm a researcher when I don't have to deal with moronic students, and the Dark Arts is one of my fields of expertise.

I would be willing to offer you an amount of Galleons for it or any other form of payment you might propose.

And before you ask, no, you can't join in the research.

Severus Snape
Defense Against the Dark Arts Master

He wants to buy the ring? Hermione frowned, confused. This whole story got more and more confusing with every letter. It seemed that the more information she had, the more she needed.

Maybe he was just playing mind games with her. His first words were pretty indicative of it. He insisted on saying that the ring was dangerous, but unless she had proof of its Darkness, the ring was innocent. Because if it wasn't….

Hermione frowned again, then sighed. She liked the ring because it was something beautiful she'd found in the chaos of those sad days. She liked it because it was proof that things would be better from then on, that she had something to remind her that love had won.

She wanted Snape to be wrong. She wanted to keep the ring, her trophy for surviving that sad day. She wanted its beauty to be exactly what she had always believed it to be: innocent, simple. Snape was ruining it!

Snape….

What was wrong with him? Was he really opening negotiations for the ring? This was…. She didn't know what to think!

But she knew he was wrong. The ring was innocent, even if its simplicity was being spoilt by this absurd situation. How could Snape confuse her so? He'd been tying knots in her mind since she met him as his student. Granted, he was the most complicated man she had ever known, but should he be complicated about everything?

She was tired of this puzzle, and she would let him know exactly that. Hermione took a piece of parchment, a quill and ink from her satchel and started wording an answer. When she finished, she sealed it in an envelope and went down into the hotel lobby to ask for an owl. The sooner she solved this, the sooner she would be able to concentrate on matters that were, in fact, important and leave the ring to be what it was: a ring.

Coming next… Snape is offended by Hermione's feelings.