Chapter 4

"Hi, Harry," Hermione said, pushing herself up. Before she could stand, however, Harry had backed up to keep Snape in his sight while pointing his wand at Hermione.

"You should have had your wand out first, Potter, if you suspected someone was in your friend's closet," Snape said, stepping out as if Harry's stance was of no particular threat to him.

Harry's face tightened. "I can think of no reason why the two of you would need to be Time-Traveling here and now, never mind together. Both of you are going to tell me things that only the two of us would know."

"It's alright; Harry's reaction is fair." Sitting on her heels, Hermione looked up at Harry. "You were unconscious for hours after Nagini's attack."

Harry hesitated, and Hermione reckoned he was considering whether they'd ever told anyone, including Ron, that much detail about their Christmas during the war. Then he nodded and redirected his wand to Snape, who still didn't look even slightly intimidated.

"As a child," Snape began, "I didn't believe a Muggle could mail a letter to Hogwarts."

Harry relaxed his grip on his wand, and then stowed it with a smile. "Alright. You two want to fill me in?" He held out a hand to help Hermione up, which she took.

"Are we safe from being discovered by Hermione's past-self?" Snape asked first. "If you heard someone in her closet why did you investigate on your own, without your wand out?"

"Oh, I uh…" Harry grinned at Hermione sheepishly. "Sorry, Hermione, but I thought it might be Ron. He knew I was going to talk to you at lunch today."

Snape scoffed and walked away from them.

"It's alright, Harry. Though I really shouldn't tell you anything too much. Yes, Snape and I used a Time-Turner to get here, so that we'd have an empty place to be. I forgot about lunch."

"Really?" Harry looked distracted. "I mean, I believed past-you a moment ago, but if you completely forgot that conversation, you really must be alright with Ron and his new girlfriend."

"You'll see tonight's evening out has no problems. At least, for us. Tonight is very important, though, Harry, in a bigger picture kind of way."

Harry ran his hand through the hair at the back of his head. Behind him, Hermione saw Snape cross his arms as he leaned against the wall. "Well, you are here now. Do you want me to try to keep, uh, you away from here tonight? I mean, I could also offer Grimmauld Place, but Ginny could come across you."

"I'm afraid that Grimmauld Place wouldn't do, Harry. We'll be here longer than a few hours. But for tonight, yes, that would be great." Hermione had gotten ready with Ginny, she recalled, but didn't remember how that came about. Interesting.

"Hang on." Harry was frowning at her. "Just how long did you travel back?"

"Five days and a few hours."

"Hermione! That's incredibly dangerous!"

"I know!" Hermione looked over Harry's shoulder at Snape. She could feel his disapproval, and attempted to explain as she talked to Harry. "It'll probably help that you know there will be two of us for that long. And we might need to ask you questions, to make sure things are going as they should be."

Snape gave a single nod of his head and looked away. Harry looked over his shoulder at him, and then back to Hermione. "Hermione, how did you end up doing this with Snape? No one's seen him for a couple years."

"Circumstances just lined up that way, Harry."

"Alright… So what else can you tell me?"

This was beginning to feel strangely parallel to a few hours ago. Looking between Snape and Harry, Hermione realized she was the only one present who had been a part of that conversation. That was a touch unsettling. "Just… to trust us, Harry."

"I do trust you." Harry looked at Snape, and spoke the next words almost fiercely. "I trust both of you. But I'm worried, and operating blind doesn't make it easy for me to know that you're safe."

"I can keep Hermione safe, Potter." Snape said, managing to keep his tone civil. "Not that she hasn't proven capable all on her own many times over."

Hermione made eye contact with Harry, a surprised smile spreading across her face. She looked over at Snape, but he had turned away from them again.

"Well, alright then," Harry said, but he was obviously wary. "Just let me know if you need anything, Hermione."

"I will."

==S==S==H==G==

Two hours later Snape and Hermione were deep into reading and comparing the Muggle Regulation Proposal that the Re-Assimilation Advisory Board had received, with the Proposal for Aiding Muggles in Their Imminent Energy Crisis that had been copied from the archives. Hermione sat on her sofa, parchment spread out before her, while Snape stood across the room from her, leaning against the wall between the kitchen alcove and the bathroom door. At first Hermione had wondered how Snape could read like that, but she figured to each their own. It would have been… uncomfortable, after all, if he'd sat beside her. Her focus on him hadn't lasted long before she became lost in the language before her.

Hermione brushed away some hair that was tickling her forehead and blinked. "A-ha!"

"What did you find?" Snape came immediately to her side, and then shuffled his parchments to match the wording visible on hers.

Hermione read aloud, a finger on each of the parchments. "'It is uncomplicated to recognize that the fuel resources pulled from beneath the Earth by the Muggle population and then burned into the sky, creating poisons which we all breathe, is, in the long-term, damaging to the Muggles, to ourselves, and to all our future progeny. We do not want a world created in which a Bubble-Head Charm becomes a daily necessity.'" Hermione straightened up. "They are word-for-word exactly the same. And it's not the only passage, look here…" She drifted her finger along his parchment, pointing out several more. "No wonder Nobby noticed the similarity!"

"Indeed," Snape agreed. "Now this proposal never saw the light of day. Wizardkind did not help the Muggles. So who would know enough to copy from it?"

"You're the teacher. How many students passing through do you think would have recalled it from their studies?"

Snape stared down his nose at her. "I can think of one."

Hermione almost flushed—almost. "Oh, do quit mocking me, please. Is there no one in the last twenty years who might have known about this through Hogwarts?"

"I did not teach History of Magic, Hermione, but I can say that you were one of the swottiest students ever to grace my classroom."

Hermione lifted her chin. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Snape broke the eye contact first and straightened. "Then do what you can to memorize those duplicate passages. I need to do some discreet shopping."

"Shopping?" Hermione was confused.

"Are we not going to a Muggle club to protect two of their celebrities tonight?" Snape arched an eyebrow at her, and then gestured to his robes.

"Ah, right." Hermione switched mental gears from archival contents to Muggle evening attire. She certainly didn't have anything to offer Snape out of her closet. She thought about advising him to stay out of wizarding areas, but she knew he didn't need to hear it. "Good luck, then. The wards will let you in when you're ready to return."

==S==S==H==G==

Hermione wanted to dress conservatively to not be too noticeable. Snape was able to do so, keeping hold of his monochrome fashion in a button down shirt and slacks. She, however, ended up in something a little less in sync with wizarding clothes.

"You look ridiculous," were the first words out of Snape's mouth after his initial eye-widening glare.

Hermione glanced down at her purple shirt. "It's what Muggle coeds wear right now, especially if they are going out for a night of fun. I had to concede somewhere. We don't have the hours that would be required for me to mess with my hair."

"What is a coed, and why should you look like one?" Snape still glared at her, not even slightly mollified.

"A coed is a Muggle woman about my age who attends a college that accepts both male and female students."

"So you're bearing your midriff in order to look studious to Muggles?"

Hermione harrumphed. "Never mind." In truth, her logic wasn't quite sound. But while she might stand out like a sore thumb in Diagon Alley, at Café de Paris she wasn't likely to earn a second glance.

"May I remind you, Hermione, that Nobby Leach died due to an Entrail-Expelling Curse? You are a walking invitation."

"As if it would matter whether I have robes on or not against that curse! Honestly…" Hermione hid the hurt in her voice with anger. At least, she hoped she did. She'd been there with Nobby and unable to save him. Snape might not be able to realize she felt guilty, but he was making her feel stupid. That was the last thing she wanted to feel after what had occurred in the closet earlier, while she now stood before him with her skin exposed and reluctantly attracted to the way Snape looked with the turned-down collar. "I don't intend to get on the wrong side of Verity's or anyone's wand tonight. This is what I'm wearing; I'm not going to stand out in the crowd. Be supportive—or just shut it."

Snape's eyes flashed and his nostrils flared. It was an expression she'd seen a few times as a student, though only once had it ever been directed at her. Now, unlike her fourteen-year-old self, Hermione wasn't the least bit intimidated by it. She lifted her chin and met his gaze head on.

Snape reached out and took hold of a lock of her hair, rolling the end in his fingertips. Startled, Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. "Your hair is fine as it is," he said, dropping his arm.

Hermione blinked. Then she mentally shook herself. "Let's go," she said, walking past Snape toward the door.

==S==S==H==G==

They used a Confundus spell to get into the club. Break one rule, you break a few more. This was something that both she and Snape were familiar with, though Hermione found it a bit intriguing to be partnered this time, rather than hoping to evade being caught by him.

Inside Snape scoped out the area and then made for the second level where some round bar tables were free on the balcony. It was an excellent idea, giving them a decent vantage point to view the main part of the club. A server welcomed them immediately.

"What is that?" Snape asked Hermione after she spoke the name of a drink.

"It's vodka and sour mango. I've wanted to try it for a while."

Snape addressed the server. "Then I'll have the same."

"You'll enjoy them. Be right back." With a smile, the server left.

Hermione grinned at Snape. "The staff here is known to be excellent."

He frowned at her. "Accommodating, at least, since you weren't corrected. Wouldn't it be correct to say vodka and mango sour, not the other way around?"

Hermione didn't bother answering, and looked down over the club. It consisted of two levels, and a long ovular shape helped create a touch of privacy for the rounded booths to the side of the dance floor. A small stage at the top of the oval seemed to be prepared for both DJ and musicians. The DJ was on now, but microphones were to either side of him. The music in the club was loud and heavy on the beat. Beams of light swinging across the dance floor matched it, coming from the ceiling not far above where she and Snape stood. The crush of dancers below was not nearly as intense as the Ministry Atrium, though it was plenty tight.

"Can you see?" Snape asked her, his voice a little gruff. Hermione looked over at him and wondered how comfortable he was in this environment. His attitude didn't really say either way, but she was hoping to learn how to read him.

"Yes, it's good!" She had to raise her voice against a loud swell from below. She leaned toward him across the small round table, only to lean back again when their drinks arrived.

Snape gestured toward the stage. "The Muggle we're looking for is a solo performer, correct? The stage isn't set for him, and I don't recall reading that he was singing tonight."

"Neither do I. I imagine he will be in the middle of the crowd," Hermione said, scanning the club. "Or in a private room."

Snape nodded in agreement.

Hermione sucked on her drink through the straw.

The music was loud.

Come on, baby, thrust me, trust me, get me off.

And annoying.

Snape continued to say nothing. He kept his eyes on the dance floor and didn't touch his drink after the first sip.

You're my poison and I cannot get enough.

"Tell me about Verity," Hermione broke the silence.

Snape fingered his glass. "Verity Burbage is very annoying—simple-minded to the nth degree. I've been considering this, actually. I wonder if she isn't more involved in what's going on than we think."

"How so?"

"Not intentionally, but being so weak-minded it would be fairly easy to push her toward her actions tonight. If the Daily Prophet is to be trusted—a stretch, I admit—then she truly believed the Statute of Secrecy didn't apply anymore."

"That's quite an assumption to make," Hermione agreed.

Snape continued looking out over the club. "Verity isn't the type to make assumptions on her own. She was always a follower."

"You think there may be someone goading her into this. Someone involved in Nobby's death."

"Why were the archives so important? If Verity isn't connected then our presence here is too random."

"The archives showed the connection between the two proposals. But it's just wording. It shouldn't matter that someone took a shortcut by sampling the phrasing of a similar matter. Apart from plagiarism, but it's not as though someone's stealing a copyright." Hermione's face slackened as she took on a thoughtful expression. "A copyright…"

"Care to share your thoughts aloud, Hermione?" Snape said irritably, but Hermione didn't hear him. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it could only have been a couple minutes at most. In the second she refocused her gaze she discovered Snape looking right at her.

"Brilliant," they both said at once, oblivious to the song's repetitive final verse beating around them.

Get me off… Get me off…

"You were trying to say that someone made Verity hex her famous Muggle boyfriend here tonight in a deliberate attempt to expose wizardkind," Hermione began, picking up where the conversation left off before she had her epiphany.

"And you just divined the purpose for it," Snape continued for her. "The Muggle Regulation Proposal."

"And not just regulating Muggles, but also the money involved when wizards get to sell magical services if the proposal goes through."

"A new business venture, with company stock owned by those with their signatures on the proposal."

"Filtered through other accounts, of course." Hermione grinned dryly, her expression dark. She took in her surroundings, examining those around the curved balcony as well as on the dance floor. There were too many people to easily count. "You think there might be someone else here tonight to make sure Verity follows through?"

"It is a distinct possibility."

Hermione's face remained dark as she looked over the crowd. Oh, she was angry. And she was determined. "It's the more modern approach," she said. "All-out war isn't the way to conquer a people anymore. Going corporate is, getting them to need you, putting you in a position of power so that you can oppress and fill your pockets at the same time. A cycle that begins when you have something they want."

"So first make Muggles want magic."

"Then use the government to get control in providing magic." If tone could be poisonous, then Hermione was spitting venom. Not on my watch! she thought.

"Hermione, your vodka and sour is steaming," Snape pointed out.

"Oh!" She looked down in surprise, and removed her hand from the glass. "Sorry," she said, more than a little embarrassed. What an immature thing to do! Losing control of my magic like that. That hasn't happened in years.

Snape sighed. It was the sigh of her old professor examining the disappointing contents of cauldron. "I suppose I should be grateful you didn't set the table on fire."

Hermione blushed and went back to watching the crowd. A few seconds later the sound of glass sliding over lacquered wood returned her attention to Snape. He had pushed his own drink toward her.

His face was expressionless again, but Hermione recognized his action for the gesture of peace it was meant to be. But then she second-guessed herself. Would Snape be further unimpressed if she didn't check it for tampering first? Or would doing that damage the accord they'd been experiencing up until now? She certainly didn't believe he had done anything to it while she was looking away, so why make the show? Hermione put her hand around the glass. Before she could indicate whether she was going to drink it or test it, Snape spoke.

"That's the new girlfriend, isn't it?" Snape gestured by inclining his head.

Hermione spotted the woman in question as she disappeared and moved into the side lines. "Let's go."

Together she and Snape swung around the balcony divider and set down the stairs, maneuvering through the tight fit of other clubbers.

"I've lost sight of her," Hermione said.

Without turning around Snape reached behind him and took her hand. "Keep with me." Linked, they moved through the crowd around the dance floor, Hermione letting Snape lead the way. They had just made it to the opposite side when Snape came to a halt.

A man was obviously walking toward them, his tied-back blond hair standing out much more than Hermione's midriff. More than a couple glances were sent his way as he reached his destination and stopped beside Snape and Hermione.

"My, my. How unexpected," drawled Lucius Malfoy.

(Two)

*Lyrics are from the contemporary UK club hit "Get Me Off" by Basement Jaxx.
*The use of the adjective "uncomplicated" in the proposals is meant as a tribute to Emma Watson's recent UN speech launching HeForShe.