Chapter 15

Snape entered the Headmaster's office with a huff. What had been so important that he had been summoned to the room immediately, without so much as being able to finish his dinner? Upon setting foot into the room, he noticed that the lighting in the room was dark, and he was unable to see the face of Dumbledore right away. As he made his way closer to the desk, he noticed that Dumbledore bore a grim expression; something was very wrong.

"What has happened?" Snape asked in an almost hushed tone. There had been so much news lately of the war, and even though he wasn't directly involved, he still felt as if he were to blame. If he had never told Voldemort of the Prophesy, then Lily would still be alive. Who knows what could have happened then? For all he knew, Voldemort could have been vanquished years ago, and none of this could be happening now.

However, it was not the time for remorse. It was time to go and fix all the mistakes that his past had made. He only hoped that he would be able to set things right.

Dumbledore gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk, as if he were a student in trouble. Snape sat down without a complaint. He had long learnt it better not to question the great wizard, for he often knew things that the rest of the world hadn't known.

"I need you to do something for me Severus," Dumbledore said, with a pained look in his eyes. Snape knew that whatever he was about to be asked, that he would not like it one bit.

"What is it," he asked, in a guarded tone.

"I need you to kill me."

It was the sort of sentence that had Severus had something in his mouth, he would have spit it out. His eyes widened at the request, not completely sure that he had heard the man correctly. Dumbledore held up his hand, before Snape could question the bizarre request which he had just received.

"Hear me out Severus," he said in a firm tone which did not allow for questioning. "We've searched for months for a cure. We both know that I am already dying, and there is nothing left to do, other than bide out my time. I made a foolish mistake in picking up that right without some sort of protection, and I accept that. But I cannot change the past. So why should I want to wait out the last of my days in pain and agony?"

Severus masked his shock with a neutral front, "Do you want me to do it now, or?"

Dumbledore chuckled gingerly, "You don't need to be so bland all the time Severus. It's okay to say what you truly feel. You think it's a bad idea, that much I can tell; but there's more to it Severus. Ever since Draco came to me, I've been thinking for a way to get him out of his task. I am rather brilliant, as you are well aware, so I have thought up a million different scenarios, with ways that I could avoid death, but then both you and Draco shall be punished. However either way, I shall die. So if I can at least help secure both of you place as spies amongst his ranks, and grant myself a simpler death, should I not grasp the opportunity with open arms?" The man said in an annoyingly wise manner.

Snape closed his eyes. While he hated to admit it, it was a rather brilliant plan. This way, no one would suspect either one of them or their loyalty. And if something happened to Draco later on in a mission, it would be easy to fake his death, all while proving that the boy was still loyal to Voldemort's cause.

"And I suppose no one will know of this either?" Snape asked, as he rubbed each temple with a forefinger. It was a logical guess, seeing that few knew of their current arrangements, and none of them knew the exact depth of their bond.

Dumbledore did not need to reply for him to know the answer to his question.

"So they will all think that I've betrayed them. Dumbledore, if I go to Azkaban for you, then I swear to Merlin, I will bring you back, and kill you, just so I actually fit the crime I will be punished for," Severus said in a warning tone.

Dumbledore chuckled once more, "Oh Severus, you underestimate me. I take out every single one of my memories and store them away. If such a situation shall arise, then one only need to look at my memories to find out the truth behind our current predicament. In the meantime, let us hope that it shall not come to that."

Snape sighed. He knew what it was that he signed up for that day when he had begged Dumbledore to save Lily Potter's life. But it bothered him to know that Draco would think of him differently. Sure the boy had no idea of what Snape's role in all of this was, other than the fact that Voldemort knew that Dumbledore thought he was a spy for the light. But the boy would never know the true extent of what he went through to save Potter's life. Hell, Potter probably would continue to hate him, and never even know what it was that he had sacrificed for the boy.

He never asked for any credit. He could care less about what people around him thought. He had stopped caring the minute he had made the mistake of allowing the girl that he loved to slip through his fingers. From that moment, he was alone.

He knew that Draco probably was in a similar position at the moment. He had known the boy from the time that he was a tiny infant. He also probably knew more about him than his idiot of a father, and poor mother. He knew that Draco was fast on his way into being head over heels in love with Granger, whether the boy knew it or not.

"You're thinking about the young Malfoy, are you not?" Dumbledore asked him knowingly. "He'll be in safe hands. The intimate circle of the Order knows about him, and no matter what happens, they'll take him in and make sure that nothing happens to the boy."

"How can you be so sure?" Snape whispered. Lucius had been absent for most of the boy's life, and Snape had taken to acting as the father figure in his life. Draco had become like a son to him, and he had no idea what he would do if something happened to either Draco, or Narcissa for that matter.

He cared for Narcissa. Not in the way he loved Lily, but as an older sister. And if she got killed in the crossfire, then he probably would never forgive himself.

"Because I know Harry. I know that by now he views the boy as a prominent ally, and that he would do anything in his power to make sure that nothing happens to the boy. And if I am not mistaken, then I am sure that Miss. Granger also feels a similar sentiment for the boy, however slightly more intimate. You of all people, are not immune to the knowledge of the lengths one goes to for love."

So he was not the only one who had noticed a connection between Draco and the girl. If nothing else, it was very interesting.

"I just hope that you are right," Snape said. Sensing that their meeting was over, he promptly left the room, while mentally replaying the events of the evening.

Hermione made her way up to the boys' dorm. She had just spent the evening with Draco under the pretenses of going over a Transfiguration assignment, when in actuality they were going over how to fix the cabinet. Yes, that plan was still very much on. All they knew was that the intended plan would continue as scheduled. Neither one bothered to question their Headmaster. As Dumbledore had promised, the two of them had become partners in more than one subject, thus allowing for the two of them to be in each other's presence without attracting too much unwanted attention.

Harry and Ron had made a show of being fiercely against the idea of the two of them having to work together, however in Ron's case, she wasn't quite sure that it was a complete act. Ron had been cold to Draco ever since he had first come to them and told them that he wished to act as a spy for them. It had been about three weeks since the attack on Diagon Alley, and even though Draco had proved his loyalty, Ron seemed to be bent on the idea that Draco was pure evil.

As she walked up the steps to their room, she heard muffled yelling. She approached the door quietly, and listened outside the door to hear what the fight was about.

"How can you trust him Harry? It's clear that he's a bloody Death Eater, and here you are, opening your arms to him as if you were inviting him to a picnic. You can't trust him!" she heard Ron yell out.

Hermione looked around. She was thankful that there was few people upstairs at this hour, and that the few that were up here, were out of earshot.

"Ron, he's proved himself! He could have led us to Diagon Alley as a trap, then ambush us. If he was a spy for them, don't you think I would probably dead by now?" Harry asked him calmly; it was a first for him to keep his temper against someone.

"But don't you find it a bit strange? Why in the name of Godric, would Voldemort want him to kill Dumbledore? No one could kill the man. So why would he give Malfoy such a task? It's obvious that Draco made it up, and now that everyone bloody loves him, he's got access to all of our secrets. He's exactly where he needs to be to pass back important information."

"For Merlin's sake, Ron; why can't you just accept that the boy isn't evil? Even 'Mione trusts him," Harry asked him exasperatedly.

"Well it's obvious that she trusts him, innit? I mean with Malfoy laying on his smooth moves upon her, she's practically melted into his lap. Honestly, it's a miracle that we aren't all dead by now. Seriously, first back in fourth year she gets all cosy with Krum, and now Malfoy? It's as if she specifically picks guys that she shouldn't trust."

Harry was speechless to this, and Hermione knew the feeling. She was half temped to run away from the room, and then pretend that she never heard any of the things that he had said. But she had run away from the pain that Ron had caused far too many times, and this time she would face him. She took in a deep breath as she pushed open the door.

Harry looked surprised to see her, "Hermione! We were just er- talking about what to do next," he said, trying to cover up for the Ginger beside him. Ron's face had turned a shade of red, but it wasn't a colour of embarrassment.

"Save it, Harry. I know that you're trying to spare my feelings, but I heard everything that he said," she said coldly. However, her anger was not directed towards Harry. She knew that the boy was only trying to protect her from more pain caused by Ron.

"Then you should know that I meant every single thing that I said," Ron said, meeting her eyes, with an equally cold glare.

"Well then, it's good to know that my so called friend has so much faith in my ability to judge a person's character!" Hermione said in a bitter tone.

"It's bloody hard to believe you when you're practically drooling over him!" Ron shouted out at her. It caught her by surprise, though she wasn't really sure why. The two of them often bickered, and it was rare if they were actually getting along.

"I do not drool over him! And I don't know what it is that you have against him. He's changed. Draco's-" she started to rant, before he cut her off.

"Oh so it's Draco now? How long did it take Hermione, for you to become his little bitch?" he asked her.

She was appalled. She had never heard him use such a foul tone with her before. She blinked, before carefully replying in a steady tone, "Go to hell, Ronald," before stomping out of the room.

She didn't wait to hear anymore, but if she had, then she would have heard Harry yelling at the boy, before finally calming down and asking, "Ron, are you sure that you don't still have feelings for her?"

And if she had, then she might have seen the boy look down shamefully, before fruitfully responding with a, "I don't know, Harry."

Hermione sat in a corner of her abandoned classroom. It was the exact same spot that she had been sitting a few months earlier, the last time she had been crying over Ron. She couldn't believe the audacity of the boy, to actually question that she would go ahead and spill every single secret she had to Draco. Sure, she thought that he was unbelievably attractive. But it was no more than every other girl in the school thought. It was an unspoken rule, that every girl had a partial crush on the boy.

She was in her third year, when she had first begun to notice her attraction to the boy. It had terrified her at first but from the gossip she had heard in the girls' bathroom, she had learned that a considerable amount of the female population had a crush on the Blonde.

One night, she had been talking to Ginny Weasley in her dorm. Both Lavender and Parvati were busy on dates with some boy that they probably hadn't spoken to since that night. That gave the two girls a chance to bond over things, and inevitably boys.

Hermione Granger didn't have much close friends. Sure, most people viewed her as friendly and approachable. And she was definitely liked by almost everyone. But there were still few people that she viewed to be anywhere near a friend. On top of that, she had virtually no friends of the female gender. That is, until she met Ginny.

She had always known the girl to be Ron's little sister, but for her first two years at Hogwarts, that's all the girl had been to her. But somewhere in their third year, between all the fights she had with both of the boys, she had found Ginny. The girl had laughed at the stupidity of her brother and her long time crush. Ginny had become close to Hermione, and for once in her life, she had someone that she could bond over about things that she could never talk to either Ron or Harry about.

It was Ginny who she had first confessed her sin to. She told the girl that she felt so stupid for crushing on the boy who thought of her as trash. It wasn't as if she liked him; it was more like she was severely attracted to him.

Ginny had smiled at her, and told her that it was completely normal, and that she was doing nothing wrong. Together, the girls brought each other out of the shells that they had lived in their entire lives. Ginny slowly got over being shy around Harry and blushing every time he so much as looked at her, and Hermione had gotten over her fears that if Harry and Ron hated her, then she would be forever alone.

And while her fights with Harry had ceased, the ones with Ron never seemed to disappear.

She clutched her legs close to her chest, and she closed her eyes and allowed Ron's words to truly sink into her brain.

"Hermione?" she heard a voice call out from above her. She opened her eyes, and saw Harry sinking down to sit beside her on the cold stone floor of the dimly lit classroom.

"Hi Harry," she said, her voice croaking slightly.

"I'm sorry for him, 'Mione. I know no idea why he feels the need to spew out whatever he thinks. But if it's any consolation, I know that you would never reveal things to anyone that I didn't want you to," he said softly.

She looked at him fearfully, "But how can you know that?" she asked him. "What if I am too trusting and I tell him everything. And what if he goes and tells Voldemort, and I am the reason for your death?"

He looked in her eyes, with a steady expression, before replying, "We both know that Draco can be trusted. And we both know that you would never place all of your eggs in one basket, Hermione. So what is this really about?" he asked her carefully.

"No judging?" she asked the boy with the circular glasses.

"Never," he said with a smile. However, Hermione knew that what she was about to tell him would wipe that smile right off of his face.

"I think that I might have feelings for him," she said softly. She looked down. She didn't want to see his look of disgust and disapproval. She already felt so bad about liking him.

"I thought so," he said, much to Hermione's surprise. She looked up, puzzled, and saw an accepting expression plastered on his face.

"You're okay with it?" she asked him, disbelievingly. "He's been nothing but unpleasant to you, and you're fine with the fact that I like him?"

"You said it yourself, he's changed. And I know that I've never been that forgiving in the past, but I think that it's time for a change, now don't you?" he asked her, as he placed an arm around her shoulders.

She leaned into comforting embrace. "Ron hates me doesn't he?" she asked him, rhetorically, but he responded anyway.

"I think that he's just confused," he said. Seeing that she wasn't quite following, he elaborated. "Like you've liked him, he's liked you as well. But both of you have slowly been moving on from each other. And the two of you never acted upon your feelings. So he's unsure of whether the two of you might have had a chance if you gave it a shot. He knows that it wouldn't have worked, but now he senses that you have feelings for someone else, and there's a tiny piece of him still clinging on to the hope that you too will end up together," he told her knowingly.

She sighed, "I just wish it wasn't that complicated."

He squeezed her tighter, before responding, "We all do 'Mione."

A/N: Hey Everybody! I know I usually update on Sundays, but I'm not going to be at home tomorrow, so I decided to write today. Seriously guys, thank you so much for following me so far on my story. It's been great to receive all of your comments on my story. For those of you that have left constructive criticism: thank you. I appreciate anything that allows me to become better as a writer. I have a few ideas outlined for what is going to happen in this story. I know how I want it to end, and hopefully I can deliver my ideas in a way that meets what I have in mind for this story.