Here's chapter two. I was going to send it to DZMom to beta it but I just had to get it out to the public. Hopefully she forgives me. *waits nervously for a positive response* Maybe she'll be placated if my readers took a look at her HG/SS "Salubrious Snape Oil"? Help me out, guys and go review her fanfiction! Lol

Things in my life are very topsy-turvy right now, especially my love life so writing about romance kind of annoys me. However, personal feelings aside, I've got a great vision for this story and I don't want it to suffer due to my own romantic issues.

Moving past my blubbering, I've got a lot of great ideas for this sequel and, of course, prepare for another long fanfiction from me. I take the finals for my summer courses tomorrow morning and then I'm free until September. Sure, I have work but other than that, I'll be spending most of my time writing. My readers can look forward to updates every few days. Yay! lol

Anyway, here's my next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!

I don't own Harry Potter. Clearly.

While the meeting with Dumbledore had gone well, Hermione couldn't help but feel very out of place after leaving the Headmaster's office. She walked beside Snape at a brisk pace through the corridors and she knew that there were stares boring into her from curious students. Severus hadn't been on campus for a month's time. Finally, he's seen again in the company of the school's brightest Seventh Year, looking alive and well, like he had never left.

The rumors had been many. One, he was deathly ill. Two, he was sacked. Three, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named called him back into service. Then, here he was, walking through the hallways again.

Severus fully ignored the stares that were coming his way. When the two parted ways to head back to their respective homes, Hermione couldn't help but feel clingy. He gave her a soft smile and moved like he wanted to embrace her, then stopped, thinking better of the idea in a public setting. Instead, he set his face to a scowl and skulked off in the direction of the dungeons.

In her room, Hermione began the tedious task of putting away her clothing. For some reason, Dumbledore had thought it prudent to send all of her belongings to the place in Godric's Hollow. He must have decided that "finding the antidote" would have taken many weeks… That or he packed more like a woman than a man.

She could have just waved her wand to put her things away but she found it almost soothing to do it the Muggle way, the way that her mother had taught her. Mum… I haven't written to her in such a long time… I should let her know what's going on but… what would she say to me about it?

As her mind mused over hypothetical conversations with her parental units, a frantic knock sounded at her door. She opened it without hesitation and Ron and Harry stormed in, locking the latch behind them.

"Harry! Ron! How are you?" She smiled happily at the sight of the two of them before fetching her wand from the dresser.

"Hermione! Where did you go? We've been trying to find you for days now!" Harry's voice was stern but laced with worry.

"Yeah, you just up and left with no note or anything!" Ron's voice echoed his male friend's.

She bit her lip as she waved her wand at the clothes on her bed. They disappeared into their proper places. "I… was sent out by Dumbledore. I didn't have time to leave a note for anyone. I was gone before I could protest."

"Sent out for what? You're not a member of the Order. And even then, he should have sent the two of us with you! It would have been safer." Harry's green eyes sparkled with jealousy as she spoke as he probably assumed that she had been given some kind of important mission and that they had been looked over.

"No, no." She shook her head and her bushy hair fluttered. "It wasn't for the Order. It was… kind of a personal mission for him."

Their looks grew darker and she rephrased her sentence. "I mean, he wanted a favor from someone who knew a lot about potions."

Ron scoffed. "Well, if he wanted that, he shouldn't have sacked the Potions Master. Nothing against Tonks but she just didn't know what she was doing, eh?" He looked to Harry for confirmation.

He nodded but Hermione interrupted before he could add anything. "Snape wasn't sacked, you guys. He… was poisoned. While out on work for the Order."

"Poisoned? By who? One of Voldemort's Death Eaters?"

She shrugged and tried her best to continue with the lie. "I don't know. I wasn't told. But that's what Dumbledore wanted me to do. He asked me to find an antidote for Snape so I did what I could."

Ron's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows disappeared under a nest of red, flaming hair. "Albus Dumbledore asked you to find the antidote to some poison? You? Why didn't he do it himself? He's supposed to be the most brilliant guy of the century, right?"

Hermione just shrugged again. "I don't know. I didn't really ask."

Harry crossed her floor to sit on her bed. "Judging by Snape's reappearance today, is it safe to say that you found the antidote?"

Nodding, she told him that she had.

He thought for a few moments, looking like he was going to say something but no words came.

Ron chimed in with "Does this mean that he owes his life to you or something?" Then he shrugged. "Probably wouldn't stop him from being a right git in class though. You could have just let him die, you know. He wouldn't have been missed."

Hermione tried not to let her distress at his words show and settled with giving him a stern look with her arms crossed over her chest. He wilted a little and went to join Harry on the bed.

"Are you going to supper, Hermione?" She blinked at Harry's sudden topic change, nonplussed.

"Well… yes, I guess I am. Why do you ask?"

It was Harry's turn to shrug this time as he shifted his weight on the comforter. "Just curious. Ron and I were hoping you'd meet us during dinner and then we'd get together afterwards in the common room. You've missed some work."

Ron obviously wasn't following what Harry was saying. Hermione grew a little suspicious but hid her feelings to the best of her abilities. "Thanks for the offer, Harry, but I'm rather exhausted. I'll need to eat supper but I was thinking of turning in early tonight. Maybe we could meet tomorrow over our empty third block? I have missed some work that I should make up."

"Or you could do it and I could copy it?" Ron's answer made the three of them laugh, breaking the odd tension that had formed from out of nowhere.

"You'll never pass your N.E.W.T.S if you keep copying my work, Ron." Her voice came out sounding much like Mrs. Weasley's and she quickly pursed her lips shut. "But I suppose I can help."

His face brightened at her words and the trio agreed to meet tomorrow morning in the third block slot. After the boys left her room, Hermione went about straightening the bed. She was bent over the comforter when a small tapping sound at her window made her turn.

A great Barn Owl sat out on the ledge, a piece of parchment attached to his leg. She let the bird in and it allowed her to take the mail. She conjured up a bowl of water for him.

Unrolling the scroll, she read the crisp, clean handwriting to herself with a smile. Her mother had written to her after all, asking how her daughter was and saying that she was worried about not hearing from her.

Putting the cleaning of her room aside for now, Hermione sat down and went about writing a letter to her mum.