A/N: I apologize for the belated update on this. Please forgive me.

A big thanks to me readers, reviewers, followers and such. I hope this chapter is enjoyable and will quickly get started on the next chapter. I very much want to tie up this story, so I can get crackin' on the prequal.

I'm sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but it's still good, I think. Read and review, please and tell me your thoughts and feelings. :)

"It was you, wasn't it?"

Severus halted his work of grading assignments and peered despondently at Draco, the young man storming into his home office, red-faced and enraged, with a bit of Floo powder specks on the shoulder of his shirt. The elder wizard raised his eyebrows at the intrusion and carefully set his grading quill aside and intertwined his fingers, preparing himself for whatever was coming.

"What are you going on about?" Severus inquired in an enervated tone.

"Hermione," Draco spat out and leaned over his Godfather's desk and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You were the one that brewed that potion for her. Memoria Obscurare." He shook his head and bitterly said, "I should've known. How could I have been so blind? Right in front of me all this time. This is exactly like something you would do! It has your traitorous stench all over it!"

A cross between exasperation and bemused intrigue flared up in Severus' eyes as he attempted to speak. "Draco-"

"Why?" susurrated Draco. "I know you didn't like her, but I have a right to know why!"

"Draco-"

"-no reason you should have-"

"Draco-"

"I can't believe you did this!"

"Draco-"

"I demand that you brew the counteragent immediately!" Draco exclaimed, slamming his hand on the desk and then bursting into a fit of coughs. A small bottle of ink toppled over from the reverberations and leaked over some of the parchment spread across the mahogany. Severus sucked in an irritated breath and tossed a withering glare at him, waving his wand to clear up the mess.

"Sit," Severus commanded, and Draco weakly composed his hacking and feebly sneered at him.

"No," the he said. "Do you have any idea-"

"I know you don't. Sit!" the older wizard icily demanded. A chair came up behind Draco and knocked the back of his knees, making him fall onto the cushion. He tried to get up but couldn't budge, feeling as though his trousers were stuck to the stuffed seating of the chair. He cursed and wiggled in the seat before giving up and glowering at Severus.

"Release me!" Draco barked, his Godfather exhaling in annoyance.

"It's seems," he paused to set down his wand and interlock his fingers, "that you have reverted back to your glorious, petulant days. I do not and never did have the patience for your childish temper, Draco. Now calm down and begin again. Tell me what is upsetting you."

Draco wanted nothing more than to reach for his wand and cast a hex on Severus for the man's betrayal but refrained and explained, "You were the one that made the potion for Hermione. You made her forget me."

Severus gave no indication that the younger wizard's accusations were true or false but simply crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "And what, pray tell, makes you think it was me?" he asked, his voice elevating in interest from Draco's allegation.

"It takes a skilled hand to brew Memoria Obscurare, and there are few willing to produce a vial for Hermione. Let's not forget your well-stocked supply of illicit ingredients you have in the lab closet downstairs."

"Anything else?"

"It's only obvious it was you who did. You had nearly cast Unforgiveables on both of us upon discovering my relationship with Hermione. You loathed that we were together. Just because you didn't get your Muggle-Born…"

It was a low blow and beneath Draco, but if Severus was perturbed by his words, he made no indication of such. He replied in an eerily cold, vacant voice, "No, I didn't. But if I had, I would have not let her go. Not for anything."

Slitting his eyes, Draco glowered at his Godfather and said nothing.

"I did not brew the potion, Draco," claimed Severus. "Until you came to me a few days ago, I truly had no idea Miss Granger could not place you in her memory. Though I understand why you thought it was me who assisted her, I will regretfully inform it was not. I would have never brewed Memoria Obscurare for her or anyone." The man said 'anyone' sharply and then continued, "There are reasons as to why it is illegal, and it's not because of the possible dire consequences if brewed incorrectly. It's the deathly consequences one should worry about if brewed superbly. I hope you took to heart what I said to you last time. I hope you stayed away from the girl."

Hesitantly, Draco replied, "And if I didn't?"

Concern and then anger washed over his Godfather. "I think...I should have told you sooner, but I wasn't positive of the reasoning as to why Miss Granger could not remember you. I had considered the woman was acting petty and dishonest but dared to hope you would listen to me for once in your pitiful life. Have you been feeling any pain? Sporadic discomfort in your abdominal and chest regions at all since seeing Miss Granger again?" He stopped, his eyes narrowing pensively. "Coughing?"

"Yes, but it's just-"

"Then it may be too late," he said, more to himself than to Draco.

"What are you talking about?" asked Draco, dread building up inside of him. The annoying pangs inside himself were nothing, just pestering, emotional stress due to Hermione's changes. Right?

"Have you studied the potion at all since I told you about it?" Severus asked. "This history, I mean?"

"No, just the ingredients and the counter potion's ingredients," Draco said with a creased brow and a dry throat. "Please tell me what's going on."

"The potion Memoria Obscurare was first brewed over four hundred years ago in Spain by a wizard who discovered his wife unfaithful. Heartbroken, he wanted to forget her but knew a simple Obliviate or extracting memories would not suffice. He set out to discover the perfect potion in which a single person could be forgotten and eventually discovered there wasn't one. If he desperately wanted to forget his wife's existence, he had to make one.

"The ingredients he had needed were controversial, and he had put no thought as to why they were so. Once brewed, he drank it and forgot everything about his wife. However, when the potion was consumed, it latched on to that negative feeling of betrayal. You see, Draco, the potion merely covers the memories. It does not rid them of the mind nor does it erase the emotions. The concoction locks them both away unnoticeably inside the brain by the consumer. The Dark Magic created from mixed elements links itself to those buried feelings and the person who has forgotten unknowingly creates a failsafe. This ensures that person who has been forgotten can never properly enter the drinker's life again and repeat the same damage." Severus paused and gave Draco a look, hoping the young man understood where this was going. "Since the wizard and the witch lived in a small village, they always were near each other. Being around him caused her an incurable illness, an illness unresponsive to treatment, and she died. You understand now as to why I would never brew that potion, Draco. I ask again, do you ever feel any pain or discomfort?"

Numbly, Draco gently nodded and Severus curled his upper lip in distaste. It was his way of showing how perturbed he actually was.

"I'm going to die if I don't see a Healer, right?" whispered Draco.

"It's a curse," Severus reminded.

"Then I need a Curse Breaker." Draco nodded again in understanding and made a move to get up because he needed to go and do just that, but was unable to leave his seat. "Severus, I need to go find one. Release me."

"A Curse Breaker may not be able to help you with this. This is a potion based curse, yet you were not the one to even drink it. We will consult one if necessary, but we must keep this away from the public. Remember the potion is illegal, Miss Granger willingly drank it, and most Curse Breakers have to report to the law. Unless you feel like she needs to be arrested for something she has no recollection of, then I suggest you do what you can on your own. I will assist you the best I can, though. Tell me, how much time have you spent with Miss Granger?"

Guiltily, Draco cast his gaze elsewhere and closed his eyes tightly, not bearing to see the disappointment in his Godfather's eyes.

"Some," softly replied Draco.

"Define 'some'. How long were you in her presence?"

"Hours," Draco replied vaguely, thinking of the entire night he spent with her two days ago.

"According to my last Legilimancy I performed on you. There was an eight week reprieve you had from her, did you feel any of kind of pain related to ulcers during that time?"

"Ulcers?" Draco blanched. "Yes, I suppose, but it started to go away towards the end. The pain had become less and less, especially if I didn't think about her. When we saw each other again, it came back."

"It is too late," Severus mumbled and Draco's breath hitched at the news. "Now the question is, how long do you have? Maybe we can-"

"Severus…" Draco pleaded and then let out a dry and disheartened chuckle and muttered to himself. "Hermione killed me. Bloody should've known that's how I'd go."

The older wizard shook his head from side to side. "If the girl knew she would be risking your life when drinking that potion, she would have never done it. It does make one wonder, though, about the one who did brew Memoria Obscurare. It causes me to wonder if he or she knew of the effects or if they were equally ignorant."

"Would the counteragent work? Could it possibly reverse the effects?" Draco inquired hopefully, and Severus stroked his chin pensively.

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. It may cause even more problems, but the risk might be worth it. I'll consult to my library and do some research. I suggest you do the same. I also suggest you find the one who brewed the potion for Hermione in the first place. Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"No." Draco shook his head. "I really thought it was you. Who else could it have been? All I know is that Ron Weasley had found someone to do it."

"Ron Weasley." Severus' touched his fingertips together, forming a pyramid and confidently said, "It most certainly was not him who did it. Potter would be unlikely, as well, I assume."

"It wasn't him." Draco shook his head, remembering what Ginny told him earlier, how upset she and her husband had been when Hermione had chosen to go through with partaking of the potion.

"Weasley," Severus said once more, like he was testing how the word sounded on his tongue. "Not the girl? She could have successfully brewed it."

"No."

"Definitely not Pansy. She may be capable but would never do it and certainly not for Miss Granger. There are only a few people Ron Weasley knows who are capable of brewing Memoria Obscurare and at the same time be ignorant enough to do it."

And then something clicked behind the older wizard's eyes, and his mouth set into a grim line of annoyance and ire. "George."