Here's chapter 3 guys! But before you read it, I must apologize for the 2 chapters before, I hadn't noticed that the asterisks I had put between the different scene hadn't appeared at all, and so the plot wasn't very clear! I'm new here so, forgive me and I hope you enjoy the new chapter (hopefully the signs between the scenes will appear now!)

Cheers!

Chapter 3

"So, what say you Miss Granger?"

The girl was staring at the Minister's small blue eyes. She always seemed to her as if that man was hiding something very important for the mankind and he just wouldn't reveal to no one, even if he suffered the most painful tortures.

"I can…. Uhmm.. I can not see why it should be me that…" Hermione started but Cornelius Fudge stopped her smiling impatiently.

"Ha… don't be ridiculous my dear. Since the Council of Magic and the Minister of Magic himself finds you suitable, how can you ever doubt about this?"

"But I'm just an assistant in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I have no idea how to…"

"How to protect a small boy? Miss Granger, as professor Dumbledore informed me you were the best student that has ever graduated from Hogwarts and finds you very suitable for this mission"

"Professor Dumbledore? Have you talked about this?"

"Well… yes, of course. I mean, he's the Director of the School. It even seemed as if he craved for you to take this job"

"He wanted me to take the job…"

"He trusts you very much, Miss Granger. We all do…."

Hermione's mind traveled many years before, when she spent nights and nights studying, filling meters of parchment do as to please the expectations of her professors and graduate. It wasn't so bad after all, she had made a few friends –with whom, however, she didn't keep any contact afterwards- she admired her professors and especially Albus Dumbledore. Yes, it wasn't so bad at all. But then suddenly, her thoughts stopped in front of an obscure image of a man with long dark hair and dark eyes. She recalled how he looked at everyone, how he looked at her; with arrogance and pity. At first she was afraid of him, but then she realized she didn't have to attend all his lessons and so she decided to avoid him as much as she could. Strange thing, though, it seemed as if his dusk gaze overshadowed the whole School and the students wouldn't dare sneak around, even in the daylight, out of the fear that he would strike them.

She shuddered.

"Will you do us the honor then, Miss Granger?" Fudge smiled and gave his hand waiting for Hermione to shake it with hers.

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"If I have understood correctly, Professor, you are going to hire a secretary?"

"Yes, that is correct, Severus. I think I need someone to take care of all this paperwork I have to deal with every day, to receive my owls, to respond to my letters… to feed Fawkes… you know how unco-operative my dear Phoenix is when his rebirth is approaching". Dumbledore smiled innocently at Snape; the latter raised his eyebrow doubted.

"I presume I can not intervene to your plans. I am sure you are working for the best operation of our school". He opened his mouth as if he wanted to add something more, but then he closed it regretting. Dumbledore nodded encouraging him to go on.

"I did not intend to mention this issue to you Professor, but it seems I have no other choice"

"What is troubling you, dear Severus?".

"You know my opinion upon the assignation of Remus Lupin as a professor of Defense against the Dark Arts. It seems my worries have reached a point of confirmation. I have lately perceived that this person does not attend the Lunch in the Great Hall, nor does he patrol in the corridors after midnight, as he should be doing, according to Regulation of our school. I have also noticed that this behavior is more frequent when we approach the Full Moon…" he added stretching his last words.

Dumbledore leaned to the back of his chair, looked at Snape with interest and said "Please, go on. Tell me your assumptions"

"I presume, Professor, that Lupin is a warewolf and therefore a threat to our students"

Dumbledore frowned his forehead, hesitated, took a deep breath and said

"I appreciate your concern, Severus for the safety of our school and our students, but I will have to assure you that if Professor Lupin was a warewold, I would have known it first, don't you think? Besides, we have more to worry about at the moment; Sirius Black has escaped and he surely wants to meet Harry Potter under any circumstances and the rumors about Voldemort gaining back his powers become stronger every day"

Snape became pale but still rather indifferent before Dumbledore's words.

The Director sighed, changed his tone and said vividly:

"Now, tell me… How you get along with young Mr Potter?"

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As Christmas approached, Hermione had to take care of many things. First, she had to buy lots of presents to send to her parents and brother, since she wouldn't visit them for the first time during holidays. But, the most important of all the things she had to do, was the preparation of her installation at Hogwarts. As Fudge had informed her, she would appear as being Dumbledore's secretary, whereas in fact she would be a secret protector of Harry Potter. Hermione didn't know exactly what she had to do, but she assumed she just had to keep an eye on the young boy, maybe follow him sometimes and advise him as well. The Minister insisted it was a piece of cake and the girl had believed him, but when they shook hands, the man sighed relieved. "Honestly, my dear I don't know what I would have done if you rejected this proposal".

Sirius had reacted very surprised that the Ministry had trusted her, instead of many qualified and adept agents, but he didn't seem to mind it very much. He asked her a few questions now and then; generally, he had been very indifferent about her new assignment and was behaving like something else bothered him. Like he had a plan he was working on, and needed concentration. Most of the times, he wasn't even at her place; he decided to move to his own house, 12 Grimmauld Place.

"What's wrong with him?" wondered Hermione every time Sirius was acting like a stranger to her, but she didn't let her thoughts drift her, she had to focus on her mission.

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The office looked strangely cold and hostile lately. He hated Christmas; he considered them the most ridiculous and useless holiday of all. The only positive aspect that made him feel relieved was that the majority of the students and a few of the professors would leave for two weeks.

Snape sat down to his desk and looked around. He waved his wand and lit up a small fire in the fire place; it wasn't enough to warm the room over. He sighed. He suddenly grabbed his right arm and squeezed it. Tears appeared in his eyes. Tears of pain and anger. He raised his sleeve and gazed at the Mark. It had grown bigger and sent shivers of fire to his spine.

Things were about to change. He was feeling it now more than ever. He rolled his eyes and tried to forget the pain. He had to focus on important things. Something about the new secretary seemed very suspicious to him. Why would the Ministry and especially Dumbledore accept a non-professor work in the School? It was suspicious indeed. Snapes rattled his fingers and smiled to himself. "I guess I will have to kill that new intruder, won't I?" though to himself.

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It was a cold, rainy night... The sky was pitch black, the clouds were gathering even more threatening, suggesting that the rain would not end soon. Hermione was lying half sleeping on the bed, trying to focus her gaze to the window, counting the number of lightings that stroke the atmosphere. In the candle light she could barely see him sleeping deeply by her side. His long, curly hair was falling in front of his eyes. She removed it gently with her fingertips and then continued her touch on his breast groping his scars. She admired that man. He had managed to escape the most impervious prison of all, only to restore the truth and set himself free for the unjust rumors that haunted him. She wanted to protect him, to give him all those that were taken from him, but there are other times that she just couldn't understand him.

It would be New Year 's Eve in a week and at the same time, her first day at Hogwarts. She tried sharing her anxiety and worries with Sirius, but he only kept looking at his family tree for hours, without even talking. She had given up on him. Besides, he had the right to do whatever he wanted; it was his house after all.

Into this drowsiness, suddenly Hermione heard some noises from the down floor. At first she thought it was the house goblin, but after a few minutes she clearly heard men speaking in low voices. She looked at Sirius; he had already woken up. Someone tapped at the chamber door. "Sirius? Are you in there? It's me, Remus! We need to talk". Sirius silently said to Hermione "shhh" and replied "I'll be right there Remus. Wait for me at the living room".

In no more than 5 minutes, Sirius was down and as Hermione could hear, there were two or three more men talking to him. The girl descended and hid herself behind the door of the living room, trying to catch everything they said.

"I can't believe Dumbledore is naïve as to trust Snape in this operation".

"I mean, he's a Death Eater, isn't he?"

"He claims he's changed"

"Oh, give me a break. Can a man like Snape, with so much hate inside him, change just like that?"

"But Dumbledore is the wisest man on Earth. He can't be wrong about Snape, can he?"

"Don't forget my friend Sirius, he's more than 150 years old".

"Instead of complaining, we should try to find a solution"

"What do you suggest Alastor?"

"We need a spy. Dumbledore trusts Snape, but now that You-Know-Who resurrection is coming, how can he be so sure that he won't follow his old friends the Death-Eaters again?"

"It's only rumors. Besides the Death Eaters are in Azkaban"

"No they aren't. It's their duplicates that are kept in prison. I've been to the Leaky Cauldron the other day and a drunk Wizard was chattering about how Bellatrix had casted the Imperius Curse upon an employee in the prison and he makes them drink the polyjuice potion every single day. The real Death-Eaters are outside, free…ready to receive the callof their Master"

Silence…

"What if, we use someone else to play the role of the spy between us and Snape?"

Silence again…

"And who that might be?"

"Someone clever"

"Someone to be trust of. Someone that might be already in Hogwarts…"

Silence… "You can't mean…"

"Why not Sirius? She's the most suitable for this job. She has all the qualifications"

"You want her to be a double spy? He has already been assigned by the Ministry to watch over Harry…"

"Yes we know that, Sirius, have you forgotten I work in Hogwarts too?"

"We only want her to report any unusual behavior from the part of Snape and from that point on, we will handle it"

Sirius became silent.

"It's not up to you to decide Sirius!" Hermione appeared behind the door. She nodded to the three men that stared at her. Sirius ran to her side and said "Hermione, may I introduce you to my dear friends, Alastor Moody he is an Auror"

"Used to be an Auror" corrected the man with the fake scary eye on the right side of his face.

"Arthur Weasley, he works in the Ministry as you do"

"I've heard many things of your competence and willingness Miss Granger, I always wanted to meet you"

"Weasley… You must be Charlie's father, right?"

"That's right. Do you know him?"

"We were classmates in Hogwarts, but not in the same class. He was a Gryffindor too!" Weasley smiled.

"And this Remus Lupin, my very old friend"

"Don't exaggerate Sirius, not so old whatsoever. How do you do miss Granger? I am also professor in Hogwarts, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts"

"I presume we will be also a kind of colleagues then professor"

"You can call me Remus. My best friend's close friends are also my friends" "We owe you so much for keeping Sirius safe and protecting him". Alastor said. Hermione stared at Sirius and he smiled apologizing "I had to inform my friends I was back from prison" "So, Miss Granger will you think our proposal?" "It's a piece of cake Miss Granger, you won't have any problem and besides Remus will be with you in Hogwarts in case you need something"

Hermione thought she had heard enough of "piece of cakes" and "proposals"… There shoud be a trap around. It seemed alright to provide safety to a young boy, but spying on her most hateful and despicable man of her life, that was way different. She knew Snape was hiding something, and he had an ambivalent behavior but why should be her to reveal the truth around his true motives?

"Besides, my friend, this won't take longer than a few months and we will all take care of her from a distance".

Hermione smiled at Sirius. She touched his hand. He smiled back at her. He still seemed a little distanced. She examined his face. He wanted to protect his grandson, but he couldn't because he was a fugitive; he wanted to revenge Snape because he hated him; everybody hated Snape, including herself. She sighed.

"Well I guess I must he a very skillful Witch, to be trusted by the Ministry and Sirius's friends" she thought to herself.

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January the 1st, 1994, 01:27

He ascended the stairs, his cloak flapped behind him. He reached the door with the wooden Phoenix, tapped it smoothly and entered the Director's office sullenly.

"Ah! Severus, just in time to meet my new secretary"

Snape approached the Director with his eyes steady on the shadow behind him. He couldn't understand who it was.

"You must remember, Hermione Granger, I suppose…"

Review guys! Let me know if you liked it and whether you'd like to post chapter 4 soon! xD