Woah, okay I'm so sorry for the wait but I was out of inspiration, every time I tried to write my stupid brain stopped functioning and gibberish came out of my keyboard. I'm predicting maybe three more chapters until the end and I WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE A COMPLETE STORY! One thousand words on the dot Enjoy…..

Chapter Ten – The Plan

The three residents of the cottage awoke early to yelling from outside, "Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry!" Hermione yelled as she bolted through the door, not bothering to knock, "HARRY!" She called everyone down into the living room. She must have been excited; she was perched on the edge of the leather seat and bouncing but had an anxious look on her face. Ron jogged in behind her, red-faced and out-of-breath, "Bloody hell, Hermione. Since when could you run so fast?" He flopped down onto the other leather armchair and attempted to catch his breath. Snape stomped downstairs, "What is all the noise about?"

"Sorry, Professor but I have an… idea, of sorts." Hermione gestured for him to come further into the room.

"And is it worth coming in and shouting about it this early in the morning? I was busy, I'll have you know." He took three strides into the room and looked quite disappointed that not just one, but two of his Master's annoying sidekicks had come for a visit.

Malfoy sleepily walked downstairs rubbing sleep from his eyes, "Jesus, Granger, don't you own a watch?" He occupied the last armchair, leaving Snape standing. Not that he minded, the curse would make him rise and bow when his Master came in anyway.

"Where is Harry?" Hermione said impatiently, bouncing in her chair again.

"Stop it, the noise is annoying." Malfoy whined. Hermione made a face at him, but did stop.

Finally, the last resident of the cottage half-fell down the stairs also rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Hey, Ron, Hermione, what are you shouting about?" He smiled and literally leapt from the stairs to hug them both. Snape and Malfoy were both bowing but Harry let them up as soon as he could, Ron and Hermione was obviously uncomfortable with this. It probably didn't help that Draco got up from his seat and gestured for his Master to sit. Harry ordered Malfoy to sit back down and got on with the conversation.

He started to discuss Christmas with them but Ron interrupted, "That can all wait Harry," He turned to face Hermione, "Can you tell me this bloody plan of yours now? She made me wait until we got here." Hermione agreed and everyone listened intently.

"Well, this curse, albeit difficult, can be broken in three different ways. The first doesn't break the curse, simply alter it. If some else was to buy the slave, the bond between the Master and Slave would change but it wouldn't be as strong as the first bond was and would wear off-"

"You're going to sell us off?" Malfoy asked, obviously not aware that Hermione's plans only made sense if you listened to the whole thing.

"No." She replied curtly, "As I was saying, the bond would wear off depending on how many times the slave is sold, it usually lasted around 45 times. Like hinges on a door when you first put them on, the door glides easily but eventually it begins to toughen and squeak. Unless, of course you were to oil-"

"Hermione?" Harry interrupted, "Your plan?"

"Oh right, sorry." She cleared her throat and continued to explain, "But, that would take far too long and be very straining on Harry's energy. So I researched the second way. I thought I was in luck when I discovered that there was a counter-curse for this thing, but, sadly in the 16th century when slaves were commonly finding out the counter-curse and performing it on themselves, it was abandoned. No-one wrote it down, passed it on or even ever spoke it aloud. That way slaves couldn't free themselves."

"Could we get to the point, Miss Granger?" Snape sighed impatiently.

She scowled but hurried along her speech, "The final way, is the method I plan to use. If the Master was to die, then-"

"Wait, you're going to kill me?" Harry cried.

"Yes but no. Not exactly." Hermione said, as if that explained it all.

"What so you'll just hand me over to Voldemort and let him do it?" Harry said sarcastically, "Hermione, you have to explain what 'Not exactly.' means." Hermione pulled a piece of parchment out of her bag and read the title, "Delayed Death. This potion, when drank, well Harry, it-it kills you, really. For thirty seconds your breathing slows and then you heart stops altogether but for another twenty-three seconds, you have a chance to live. If you are given the correct potion to counter-act the 'Delayed Death' you will live, with no side-effects."

"And if not?" Hermione was silent, Harry got the message.

"But," She handed him the parchment, "It will count as you dying and therefore break the curse." Snape and Malfoy brightened up at that part but Harry was still sceptical. There was a good chance of him dying in this plan of Hermione.

"I suppose it would work but this potion looks insanely hard to make." Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Gee," She mocked, "If only we knew a potions expert that would be willing to make this for us." She did a very dramatic sigh. Harry caught on quick enough. The parchment was given to Snape, he read the Delayed Death potion, which seemed easy enough to him but then the other potion (which was creatively named, "Guess What? I'm Alive!") was as easy. "I can't guarantee that this will work, the potion to revive him looks difficult. Let me practice first."

"No time," Harry stated, "If you want to get this done before we have to get back to Hogwarts, it needs to be brewed tomorrow."

"But-" Snape began to argue but fell silent. "Ok, then I will need to take a trip to Diagon Alley today, Master." Harry nodded and Snape apparated away.

"Do whatever you want Malfoy, we'll just be in here." Malfoy hopped off of his chair, bowed once more and skipped upstairs

Ron and Hermion had just decided to pretend that Snape just hadn't said Master.