"So, what would I need to do, Severus?"

"Just don't make me regret the decision," Severus muttered, massaging his temples.

Hermione scowled at him and hit him playfully on the arm. "You only said I am not bad in potions. Questioning yourself, now?"

"No," Severus answered, "Just my lapse of judgement."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Hermione commented. "On a serious note, though, why are you making such an advanced potion? Is that some assignment in Potions that I have forgotten?"

"No, no," Severus waved her question off, without slowing his stride. "I usually work on difficult potions by myself. Just to test myself."

"What a nice way to spend your holiday! No wonder you wanted to stay back."

Severus slowed down in front of the Potions lab. "I don't have many options," he whispered slowly, before entering the lab.

Professor Slughorn had given him special permission to use the lab during the holidays because Severus had slogged hard doing the inventory, arranging the shelves, helping place orders for finished products and cleaning the laboratory. His good potions skills were an added advantage too.

"Have you ever thought of working on anything other than Dark Potions?" Hermione asked as Severus took out his notes and started placing the ingredients on the table.

"Like?"

"Something for werewolves, perhaps? Or blood boils? Or-"

Severus shuddered at the mention of werewolves, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.

"No, thanks." He cut her off, a bit sharply.

"Alright, then," Hermione shrugged, as she started looking at the notes and help Severus. "Death Freeze, it is today."

James had always been restless. He could never sit still for long and never quietly. This was a constant in Sirius' life, something that always made him find James easier.

Not anymore, it seems, Sirius thought, as he backed out from another empty room. He had been looking for James for an hour now for a round of flying.

Another hour and Sirius gave up. The sun was shining too much now for flying. Perhaps, a lap around the creek? With that, Sirius walked determinedly towards the creek which was half a kilometre from the house, muttering about idiotic messy-haired boys.

He was stunned to silence, though, when he reached the creek. There was James, sitting under a tree, beside the creek, throwing stones in the water, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Oh Merlin!

Sirius hadn't paid much attention to Remus' concern about James' interest in the new girl. She was interesting, mind you. Not enough for Sirius, though. Anyway, Remus was too serious. He even took detentions seriously. So, brushing off James' obsession about the girl, because Remus suggested it, had been easy.

Now, it seemed difficult, when the proofs were screaming right at you.

Time to bust the party!

"Hey, Mate!"

"Wh- Oh… Hi, Sirius," James stuttered.

"So, the girl again, huh?"

"Yes," James sighed.

This was new. James wouldn't easily admit to daydreaming about Lily.

"So, what were you thinking? I spent two hours searching for you, you know?"

"Sorry," James said, sheepishly. "I was just trying to work out why I am so interested in the girl. I haven't talked much with her. I barely know her. Hell! Snape knows her better than I do. But I am infatuated with her."

"Well, you have always liked a bit mystery. Perhaps, that is the reason?"

"I don't think so."

"Look, mate," Sirius said seriously, "It's about time you figure this out before you get into any mess. You do know that Lily likes you, now that you have turned a new leaf. Let this not be a mess."

James raised an eyebrow at the mention of Lily. "Lily likes me?"

"Samantha told me," Sirius shrugged. "She will get over it. Just don't give her any signal, she'll be fine. But, this new girl... be sure about yourself before you jump in, alright? I would suggest getting to know her. Remus talks to her... you talk to her too. I am sure Remus wouldn't mind helping."

"That's a great idea," James said happily. "Will help me get over the infatuation too." James mumbled the last part, though Sirius heard it anyway, but, wisely, chose to stay quiet.

Hermione sighed as she placed her lenses back. The lenses would work for a day, at least. But they hadn't worked today. And they had failed without any warning, whatsoever. This wasn't working out. This could lead to horrible accidents. Since, she was working with Severus these days, and that too in a setting where the lenses had failed, it meant harm to him. Not something she wanted happening. Severus was her only friend here.

Not a day went by when she wouldn't think of the promise she made to her mom and the cost she had paid, so far, to that promise. That promise had cost her everything... her whole family, her house, her sanity... her very identity. She was living as a refuge!

A tear escaped as she closed her eyes. She always had been expressive and emotional. Something her father was proud of... since he himself was horrible at it. But he always encouraged her because that was what made her lively. Ironical, the same thing was causing her a problem now.

The tears were coming faster now as the memories flooded her mind.

She let them be... for now.

Severus was never an inquisitive person or so he believed. His mother, however, had different opinion, not that it mattered. He knew he wasn't. Mainly, because he solved most of the mysteries, big or small, quite easily. And quickly.

So, no, not a nosy person.

There was only one mystery that took quite longer than usual for Severus to solve. The werewolf mystery and that too happened because he was in denial. The situation was too absurd to be true. He really hadn't expected Headmaster to be that much of a crackpot than he already was. Endangering thousands of students to let one werewolf study cannot be a sane idea, even by Dumbledore's standards. Right?

No, of course not. That was the day, Severus stopped expecting anything from the Headmaster. He was way too unpredictable. And biased. And old. And fool.

Digressing. Now, there was another mystery. One Miss Hermione Jane Granger. Till today she was just another girl, albeit an under-informed girl, but normal nonetheless. Till 4 pm, that is.

They were working on a potion. He already had notes, ingredients and process developed... in theory. He just needed to do it in practical to see whether his changes to original potion would hold out or not. He wasn't expecting anything useful from Hermione's part, but couldn't refuse when she asked to accompany him. He enjoyed her company, not that he would accept it to anyone.

She surprised him; she didn't comment on his choice of potion, despite it being obviously dark, neither did she asked him useless questions during the brewing. Rather, she prepared the ingredients as he had written in his notes, very precisely too. They hardly talked, just worked quietly. And finally, came the time when he would know whether it had worked or not. The potion needed to be boiled for fifteen minutes, after which it would turn out to be clear shimmering potion.

Something went wrong there. Instead of turning out to be a shimmering potion, it released mauve coloured fumes at the end of fifteen minutes. Luckily, the fumes weren't poisonous or irritating. In fact, they were nice, lavender-smelling fumes. But somehow it affected Hermione. Her eyes started watering and she hyperventilating. He tried helping her but she was making it pretty difficult, by not remaining still. The moment his grip on her arm relaxed, she ran away to the door. Severus, obviously, followed. He tried grabbing her and stopping her; he feared she might fall, but she was quite determined. He only managed to get a look on her face, before she ran out of the door. And that was when she turned into mystery.

Her eyes were closed, but there was a tear-drop below her eyes. It wasn't a tear exactly; it was denser than that. And it was chocolate brown in colour – the same colour as her eyes. And he wasn't sure if he had imagined the slight reddish glow in her eye sockets.

Remus was working on his project, the one which Hermione had helped him with before the school closed down for the holidays. Those few sessions had helped them bond since both were bookworms, as Sirius loved to call them. Hermione was also a fan of literature and they had exchanged few books on their favourite authors, with a promise for more.

He heard an owl picking at his window as he was putting final touches to his project. He grinned once he saw the owl. Grey, brawny, haughty like his master. Sirius had sent him an owl! What a surprise!

The mail was longer than Sirius usually wrote, though never over Christmas holidays. Running away from his home and staying with Potters seemed to work for him, judging from his mail.

Hermione was mentioned in the mail. So, finally, Sirius had understood Remus' concern. Thank Merlin for that! But James was still obsessed. Remus had hoped that time away from Hermione would clear James' mind. Alas, no such hope! Well, James could be really determined when he wanted to be.

Remus shook his head. Sirius needed his advice and he had none to give. Hermione was an intelligent and mature girl, more than her age. She wouldn't tolerate nonsense, even from the most popular boy of Hogwarts.

Voldemort was never a patient person. He got what he wanted. So far, he had worked alone and his success rate was hundred percent. But the goal he was aiming at was big and he needed people to achieve it. There was no lack of wizards who believed in his ideology. None too soon, he had gathered quite a following, who were ready to do whatever he commanded.

The only problem was that they weren't as competent as he was. He was staring at yet another failure. How his minions failed to complete simplest of tasks was beyond him.

Their stupid mistake was going to cost him a lot, something he wasn't ready to let happen yet. He needed a plan and soon.

He needed his weapon. The human weapon.

A/N: Please review.