Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I do not own the rights to these characters; I just play with them. I'm no Jo.
Hermione groaned quietly and struggled to open her eyes. She felt like someone was pressing her eyelids shut and had to struggle to move them.
"Hermione?" a voice asked quietly that could only belong to Harry.
In response, Hermione groaned quietly again and tried to turn her head towards the sound of her best friend. Her back was killing her and she had the mother of all headaches.
"Hermione, I'm right here," he said, and she felt him grab her hand.
Slowly, so slowly, Hermione pried her eyelids open. The light hit her like the force of a truck and she quickly squeezed them shut again.
"Is she waking?" came the voice of Madam Pomfrey. "You should have called for me straight away! Her eyes are completely dilated; the light is probably killing her. Here you are, Miss Granger."
Hermione felt a pair of arms helping her into a sitting position while the mediwitch handed her a potion. She tipped it into her mouth and swallowed, feeling the heaviness in her head diminish considerably. She attempted once more to open her eyes.
After blinking a few times, her eyes focused on the worried, pale, and tired face of her best friend.
"Oh god, Hermione," he sighed, and leaned forward to gingerly hug her. Her arms slowly came up around him as she forced her mind to force her limbs to move. His embrace tightened on her and she felt him slightly shudder. She was happy that he was hugging her upper body since her lower back hurt like hell.
"What-," she cleared her throat, "what happened?" Harry slowly let her go, and moved to fluff the pillows behind her so she could sit up.
"What's the last thing you remember, Miss Granger?" She looked up to see Dumbledore standing at the end of her bed.
Hermione strained as she thought, trying in vain to dig up a memory. "I remember talking to Draco and Harry and relaying the message you gave me." Dumbledore nodded. "Then I remember saying I was going to find Severus, and Draco and Harry went off to get the Prefects. I saw Severus and then…nothing. I remember pain though; lots of pain. And screaming, I think. What happened?"
Dumbledore sat on her bed and stared at his hands for a few moments. "It seems," he started, "that…someone…decided to make a…scene…at the ball. We don't know for sure if it's Lucius' spy or-," he was cut off by Harry.
"Who else could it have been?"
"We told you, Harry, that we would like some more concrete proof," Dumbledore said tiredly.
"Please continue, Headmaster," Hermione said, cutting Harry off as she saw his mouth open to retort.
"As I was saying, it seems likely that it could be linked to Lucius, seeing how you were the one hurt," Dumbledore continued. "The screaming you say you heard were students experiencing a shock from the person who orchestrated this. It seems he or she used a spell to go into their minds. It is another reason why we believe it points to a person working for Lucius. Severus knows the spell well, as it is one that Voldemort used to use. When cast, the caster can make it feel as if they're raking nails across your brain, and it can be cast on several people at once. Severus says that long-time exposure to it can make one go mad."
"Where is Severus?" Hermione asked, after she digested the information.
"Here, Hermione. I'm right here," she heard him say, and saw Snape step out from behind the curtain.
"What were you doing over there?"
Snape looked uncomfortable for a few seconds before Draco stepped around him.
"He thought you wouldn't want to see him, the big git," Draco said, and came over to hug her tentatively. When he pulled back, his eyes had a haunted look she couldn't place; she was fine, so he should be looking happier. "I'm glad you're ok."
"How long was I out for? A few hours?"
Dumbledore's face softened. "My dear, you have been laying here since the ball…which was five days ago." Hermione's eyes shot wide open. "We've been giving you potions to provide you the nutrition you needed; Severus has been working non-stop."
Hermione laid her head back to think about what he said and felt everyone stir after a few minutes.
"Maybe we should come back in a little while; there is still much to discuss," she heard Dumbledore say and she nodded wearily. Harry and Draco both gave her a hug and then she felt them leave. When she opened her eyes again, only Snape remained.
"Why would you think I wouldn't want you here?"
Snape walked slowly towards her bed and sat down in the chair Harry had been occupying.
"I…thought you would be upset…when you learned that I was unable to save you," he finally got out. "You say you remember making eye contact with me, but I don't remember seeing anyone behind you. I just remember you falling." Snape wasn't looking at her, but rather, looking down at his hands.
Slowly, still trying to get her body to react how she wanted it to, she took one of his hands.
"You can't see everything, Severus-," she started, but stopped when he jumped up.
"Yes I can! I'm supposed to! That's my job! I survived for over twenty years because I was able to see the whole picture! I'm supposed to protect you! And instead…I watched it happen!" he hissed out the last part. "You looked straight at me, took a step, and then fell. Your eyes got wide a fraction of a second before you fell, and your mouth opened in surprise. Then…you were writhing on the floor…," he broke off.
"What happened to me? Dumbledore didn't explain."
Snape sat down by her bed again and sighed. "It's another arrow pointing to Lucius: the spell used on you is one I remember distinctly. And one that Draco has first-hand experience with." He stared hard at her, looking like he wished he could avoid eye contact but was forcing himself to look.
"What did it do?" Hermione's brain was in a whirlwind; Draco had never gone into depth about his home life with Lucius, so she wasn't sure what curse Severus was talking about.
"The best thing is that we were able to stop the curse before it did…extensive damage. You fell and cracked your head on the floor, which caused you to pass out," Snape continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Albus, Harry, Draco, and I all set off loud shots from our wands to get everyone's attention, and it seemed to have distracted the person doing the casting."
"What was the curse?" Hermione asked again.
"I got to you in less than a minute, although I tried getting there faster. I grabbed you and disillusioned us before running for the Infirmary. Albus, Harry, and Draco stayed to help the Prefects corral the students back to their Houses-"
"Severus! Please," she said, cutting him off and looked into his eyes, pleading, "what happened? What did it do?"
Snape stared at her for a few seconds before sighing and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and grabbing one of her hands. "Draco told me that he has told you some stories of his past." At her nod, he continued hesitantly. "The evidence of one such story left a…scar…on his arm…," he trailed off as Hermione's eyes got wide and her breathing hitched.
"Where?" she whispered. "How bad?" Now Draco's look as he hugged her gingerly made more sense.
Snape closed his eyes briefly. "It's on your back; mainly, the lower half of it. The…scar…stretches almost from one side to the other." His voice cracked, and he tried to clear it as Hermione let out a sob and lifted the hand he still held up to her mouth. "It's height in the center, where we think the curse initially hit, is the highest at around three inches. After that, goes from two inches and downward, ending with the edges being only a half inch high. It's healing right now, still, so it's very red. Eventually, it will fade to the color of Draco's. I know this curse well and there is no cure for it. I'm so sorry, Hermione."
Hermione started crying silently, shaking with sobs she tried to suppress. If anyone else had been in the hospital wing at the time, what Severus Snape did next would have given them a heart attack: Snape moved his chair back and got to his knees. He was at a better height level with her now and he leaned over to hug her to him the best he could without moving her too much.
At once, Hermione's arms came around him and she started to cry in earnest.
XXX
"We've checked every wand in the castle with priori incantatum; no wand has yielded the spell used at the ball," Harry said in a defeated voice the next day after dinner.
Harry, Draco, Dumbledore, Snape, and Hermione were all in an isolated containment room in the hospital wing. Poppy had refused to let her patient leave and told Dumbledore that if he had pressing matters then they could discuss them here. The room had been given amazing wards and now the group all sat around Hermione's bed.
"Just the years that were at the ball?" Hermione asked.
"No. We decided that it was perfectly plausible that the person could have either snuck into the ball or had stolen an underage student's wand," Draco said. "How's your back?"
Hermione tried not to stiffen; after all, Draco knew about her pain more than anyone. "It hurts, but not as much as yesterday. It's more of a dull throb. Madam Pomfrey still won't let me look at it. I can't wait until I'm allowed to take a shower again. Honestly, these cleansing charms aren't doing much."
"Poppy said that you should be able to leave tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest," Severus told her. He was seated in a chair next to the head of her hospital bed.
Poppy was as good as her word and discharged Hermione right before lunch the next day. Her back felt much better but she noticed it throbbed a bit when she tried to quicken her pace, so she had to settle for a slower one. Because she had to walk slower than usual, the school was already seated at lunch when she arrived.
Opening the doors, a hush fell over the student body and she tried not to notice several heads that were craning to see her. She did, however, see Harry and Draco walking briskly toward her from the senior table with broad smiles on. Upon reaching her, they both offered an arm for her and she linked her arms with theirs happily.
Together, they marched back up to the table, ignoring the students watching. When both boys put a hand on her chair to pull it out for her, she laughed and sat down.
For the rest of lunch, she was happy. She forgot about the madman after her; she forgot that one of the students in that very room was helping said madman; she even forgot, briefly, about her back.
She was with her friends in her true home; life could be worse.
XXX
"But what I don't understand is how does magic exist?" Hermione asked Snape. They were in the middle of one of her "potions lessons" which had turned into less of a class of lectures and essays and more of just practical applications and discussions. Today, they were discussing the subject of magic while they brewed various potions.
"That's a very broad question, Hermione," Snape answered, peering into his cauldron which held his experiment on altering the Wolfsbane Potion. "What about magic, exactly, do you not understand?"
"Well, the first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The total sum of energy and matter in the universe remains unvarying, simply changing from one form to another. So, how do we, as witches and wizards, simply use magic, which is concentrated energy, to create more? How do we create the magic in the first place?"
"Ah, but wasn't that law proved wrong in theory by the muggle Einstein? The atomic bomb put it into practice. Now, the muggles know that matter can be created from energy, and energy can be created from matter," Snape answered, still stirring.
"Well, yes, but that's what I said, isn't it? If it's being created from matter, then isn't that just changing forms?"
"Hermione, I don't have all the answers. Some things we just aren't meant to know. Why are some wizards more powerful than others? Look at you and your friends. You, Harry, and Mr. Weasley all started together and took the same classes. Compare grades and actual knowledge. Other than your study habits, why did you excel? You were more powerful," Snape shrugged. "Harry came into his power later on in his years here, and to be completely honest, I've always believed that Voldemort transferred some of his powers to Harry the night he tried to murder him, thus giving Harry the ability to talk with snakes and giving him the raw power that he shows. If it were truly his power it would be easier to control, but you and I have both seen how hard it is for him to rein in his raw energy when his emotions are up. And Mr. Weasley was just bad in school," Snape finished, frowning at his cauldron as he tried to figure out why it was green instead of the yellow he thought it would be.
"That's not entirely fair, really. I mean, think about it: you learn your basics the first two years you're at Hogwarts. To learn any other spells, you need to know your basics so you can build from them. Ron was doomed from the beginning because he didn't have a wand of his own. He was forced to use Charlie's old wand, which not only wasn't Ron's but it was chipped and had unicorn hair sticking out. He was finally able to get his very own wand in his third year, but by then he had already learned with a faulty wand," Hermione said, trying to defend her late friend as she stirred the fever reducing potion she was making for the hospital wing.
"That may be so, but he should have been able to run with the basics he should have had in his head from the first two years and channel it into his new wand, but he did not. In fact, his third year grades should have excelled from what they were previously because he now had a proper wand."
Hermione sighed. "I suppose."
"You can't have all the answers, Hermione," Snape said, laughing. "Like I said, some things we just weren't meant to know. You're already miles ahead of other people your age anyway. Maybe all that time turning added maturity." He smirked when she glared at him.
"After third year I was thinking that I should be older than I was because of the time turner. I kept thinking I would have to calculate when my new birthday was and stuff," she laughed. "Then I realized that getting petrified in my second year counter-acted that. I was petrified for weeks, frozen in that stage. And with my hour or two here and there with my time turner, I think I balanced it back out."
"Time is also another subject that we, as mortals, will never truly understand. For instance, just because you were petrified, does that mean you would have stayed that way for thirty years? We don't know. Now, are you finished with that potion?"
XXX
Hermione received an owl from Lucius two days after getting out from the hospital wing:
Hermione,
How's your back?
-Lucius
"Arrogant bastard," Hermione mumbled and stowed it in her cloak. It was Sunday and she fully expected to take advantage of that fact. Thanks to her study habits, there wasn't much catching up she had to do from being in the hospital wing for the time she was, and she was content to just lie about and relax.
After lunch, the three friends went for a walk on the grounds. The ground was covered in a blanket of snow from the storms they had been having recently.
"Now this looks like the stereotypical winter at a castle," Hermione told Draco and Harry as they walked outside. Students were clustered around making snow figures and having snowball fights. Of course, going to a wizarding school, no one made a snowman by hand; there were snow hippogriffs, dragons, centaurs, and unicorns.
"Hermione! Draco! Harry!" The three friends turned to see Remus walking towards them, waving.
"Hey Remus! How are you?" Hermione asked.
"I should be asking you that, Hermione. Dumbledore told me about it. I'm so sorry Hermione. We'll get him," he told her.
The four friends continued walking around the grounds, talking about anything and nothing all at once.
"Hey Hermione, I was wondering…you know that picture you have in your room? Of you, Ron, and I? Do you think you could make me a copy?" Harry asked, looking at his shoes as he walked.
Hermione had finally decided to take her picture out of her trunk that she had hid while she was still home. It now had a place of pride on her dresser.
"Of course, Harry!" No sooner had the words left her mouth than she was caught up in a hug.
"Speaking of pictures, I actually have a few I found and wanted to show you! Some are one I've taken, but most were ones I've acquired from other people, since I only taught here one year, not counting this one." Remus told them. Hermione transfigured a couple rocks near the lake into stone seats and benches that all faced each other in a triangle.
"Here's one of you, Ron, and Hermione in your third year when I first met you," Remus began, and started to pass pictures to his right where Harry and Draco sat. When the picture got to her, Hermione laughed out loud.
"Good lord, look at my hair! And my teeth!" Her friends laughed at her.
"Here's one of Harry catching the snitch his third year when Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup," he continued, and everyone ignored Draco who pretended to gag. "Here's one of Harry in his Twiwizard Champion robes, and here's one of all the champions. Here's one of you and Sirius, Harry."
Harry blinked down at the picture, a small smile touching his face. "Sirius looks like such a prat in this one," he said, making everyone laugh. Hermione was happy to note that when he passed the picture on and waited for the next, the smile on his face didn't look forced and she could see it reflected in his eyes.
"Ah, here's Draco here during his second year with the rest of his House team!" Remus said, and when he passed it over, Harry laughed out loud while Draco grimaced.
"Look at his hair!"
"Ok, give me that! It doesn't look that b-…oh. Well, yes, I guess it does look that bad. Why did I think slick back hair was cool?" Draco said, laughing as he passed it to Hermione.
"Here's one of Dumbledore's Army. Luna actually gave me a copy of this one. I had no idea a picture of you all existed, but I'm glad you took one," Remus said, smiling down at the large group of students, some of which who were no longer alive.
"Yeah, it was risky to take one, but it was Neville's idea. We had that picture of the old Order that I had copied from the one Mad Eye had tacked up for motivation and Neville said we should take one as well so if anything happened to us…we could be remembered for what we did," Harry said as he accepted the picture. "Hermione, do you remember trying to teach Ron the patronus charm? Or better yet, do you remember trying to learn it?" Harry started laughing as Hermione scowled.
"I don't get it," Draco said, his bemusement reflected on Remus' face.
"It's the only spell I've ever seen Hermione have an issue with," Harry explained. "But when she finally got it, she had the cutest little otter." He kept laughing.
"I think I remember seeing it a few times during training," Remus said. "It is an awful cute otter."
"I want to see!" Draco said; he hated being left out of anything. He felt he had years worth of inside jokes and knowledge to catch up on with his new friends. "I mean, mine is a lion so it can't be worse than that."
"Hey!" Harry said, a fake look of hurt touching his face. "I happen to think it's an awesome lion and it looks a lot like me, actually. I mean…oh," he trailed off as Draco's cheeks reddened.
"Yes, well, I did explain to you earlier this year that I have liked you for some time, and I never had much reason to learn the patronus charm until my sixth year after I left the death eaters, so I'm sure you were a driving force behind my animal," Draco said, clearly uncomfortable. He wasn't quite used to Remus yet, but their professor was carefully looking down at his photographs with a tender expression.
"You're amazing, you know that, right?" Harry asked. "You always know just what to say." He pulled Draco in for a quick kiss. "Ok, so, next picture!"
"Wait! I still want to see the otter!" Draco said huffily.
Hermione sighed. "Fine! Expecto Patronum!" Four pairs of eyes widened when her patronus shape emerged.
Draco was the first to talk, unsurprisingly. "Now, I may be wrong, but I thought otter's were smaller. I may not be an expert at patronuses like Remus over here, but that looks very close to a panther. It looks very close the panther that Severus changes into, actually."
Remus coughed. "Well, you have been under a great deal of stress this year and Severus has stepped in to protect you. It's natural that your mind feels strongly for him as a protector, which is in essence what a patronus is. You should get your otter back in no time."
Hermione just blinked a few times and watched as her panther stalked up to her and stared at her with eyes that looked intelligent even for a patronus. Finally, the animal vanished.
The group was silent for a few heartbeats. "Alright, what's the next picture?" Draco asked, breaking the tension.
"This one is one of the few we have of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and you, Draco. It was taken while you were all training. Here's one of Draco and Ron playing chess and not sneering at each other when you both thought no one was looking. Here's one of the whole Weasley clan a few weeks before the final battle. Ah, here we go, Harry. Here's one of your dad." He handed the picture over.
"Wow, how old was he here?" Harry asked.
"Actually, he should be about your age, really. This was taken probably almost a year after they were married. They married quite young, right out of school, when they were 17. Your mom had you when she was about 19. So I'm guessing he's around your age."
"Wow, Harry, you look a lot like your dad," Draco said.
"So I've heard."
"I do too, but I'd rather not," Draco joked.
"Here's one of the 'Marauders'," Remus laughed and handed over the picture, thumb on the face of Wormtail. "I think we were at the end of our sixth year here. Here's one you've seen often, Harry. It's your parents at their wedding, and here's another at their wedding with Sirius, then another, but with me. Here's one of Lily at school, her fifth year. I don't think anyone has ever seen this picture other than me."
"Is that…Professor Snape?" Harry asked. And it was. Snape and Lily were sitting at a library table across from each other. In the picture, Lily and Snape would silently converse, with Lily gesturing towards a book and then they would look down, only for Snape to peek a look up again with a small smile on his face. "This must have been before the O.W.L.s."
"Why do you say that?" Draco asked and passed the picture to Hermione.
When Hermione looked down and watched it play out, her heart clenched painfully. She couldn't understand why, but she figured it was because she knew that by the end of that year, they weren't friends any more.
"My mum got into an argument with Professor Snape after one of the tests," Harry explained evasively while Remus looked much too interested in shuffling his pictures that had made it back around to him. "And honestly, she was a bitch about it for the rest of her life."
"Harry!" Remus said, pictures forgotten. "Have some respect!"
"I have respect, Remus, but I also have honesty and I honestly believe that she overreacted," Harry replied fairly calmly.
"I'm confused," Draco said.
"It's nothing," Remus said quickly, but Harry cut him off.
"My dad was an asshole to Severus. I'm not saying Professor Snape didn't deserve it every time, but I know from what I've heard, and seen, that my dad was a bully to him and initiated a lot. This time, it was after the DADA O.W.L and all the students were outside enjoying the end of the test. Sirius said he was bored and because of that, my dad decided to mess with Severus. It was kind of a reverse relationship that you and I had back in school, with you in my dad's shoes," Harry explained and Draco nodded slightly, trying not to look too abashed for Harry's casual reference to how he used to act. "Anyway, they saw Severus sitting under that tree over there, actually, and my dad started trying to hex him, so of course Severus tried to cast back."
"Naturally," Draco said, nodding.
"Well, then my dad used a spell that Severus actually created to hoist him up and showed his underwear to the gathering crowd."
"What? What an asshole!" Draco exclaimed. Then he paused. "Sorry."
"No, it was an asshole thing to do," Harry told him, patting his hand.
"So what did your mom do?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowed. Draco gave her a swift look before looking back at Harry.
"My mom walked over and told my dad to leave him alone and put him down. When he did, dropping Severus on his head in the process, he told him that he was lucky Lily was there to save his ass. Then…Severus said he didn't need help from a mudblood," Harry said. Draco's eyes got wide while Hermione and Remus just sat there. "My mom got upset, naturally, and walked away. It turns out that later Snape tried apologizing to her multiple times."
"Eventually she forgave him, Harry!" Remus said, sounding upset.
"Yes, but after how long? What would be different now if she would've just gotten over herself sooner? That was in their FIFTH year, Remus! She didn't forgive him until AFTER SHE WAS MARRIED. He saw me as a baby twice, and then she DIED. She was his ONLY FRIEND," Harry shot back.
"How do you know all this, Harry?" Remus asked.
"I asked him. It was a few days before the battle. Draco and Severus had already told us the date and it was a waiting game. One night, I was in the training room having a couple muggle beers I had smothered in. Severus came in during his rounds and saw me. I don't know what made me ask, but I asked him if he wanted a beer. Then we got to talking. He told me about my mom, probably thinking that one or both of us would die."
"And he continued to love her? Even after all of that? After her not forgiving him for one thing he said?" Hermione asked incredulously. She had no idea; she had only heard the story up to Severus calling her a mudblood.
"Hermione, calm down and stop overreacting," Remus snapped uncharacteristically.
"No! That's horrible! How can you defend her like that?"
"I can defend her because I knew her! She was a good person!"
"And good people don't make mistakes?" she shot back at him. Harry and Draco watched the scene unfold with wide eyes, not sure if they should step in. These two never fought.
"Of course people make mistakes!"
"Well you're acting like the sun shone out of her fucking ass!" Hermione snapped at him.
Remus' eyes widened until they almost hurt. "She was hurt! What would you have done?"
"I would've forgiven him! Oh wait, I have done that! Or have you not noticed that Draco and I are best friends now? And he said it a lot more than just once! Or Ron! Ron called me so many things and I stayed his friend! She was just stubborn!"
"Everything she did was with the best intentions!"
"You think that makes it ok?" Hermione gave a derisive laugh. "Some of the worst things have been done with the best intentions! Have you ever heard of Adolf Hitler? He thought what he was doing was right and did it with the BEST INTENTIONS!"
"Sit down, Hermione," he said, glaring at her as she stood up incensed. "You're just getting upset because you're his new girl so you automatically hate the old one!"
"How dare you! I'm upset because, while I may be his 'girl', I'm also his friend," she told him.
Remus was now standing in front of her, clearly pissed off.
"How dare you talk about someone you don't even know!" he yelled back at her.
"I dare when I find out that one stupid word might be the reason behind Severus' fucked up life! I dare when I hear about the pain the man I love went through because one female couldn't come down off her high horse!"
In a split second there was a wand pointed at her face. She didn't mind, however, since she had seen him going for his and had hers leveled at his chest in the same instant.
"Put those down!" Harry yelled. "Remus! You just pulled your wand on Hermione!"
"Hermione! Lower your wand! Come on now!" Draco said to his friend.
"Don't think for one second, Remus John Lupin, that I would hesitate to hex you," Hermione said in a low voice, ignoring her friends.
"Nor would I."
"Shit," Harry mumbled. Draco looked at his godfather who had just materialized.
"Lower your wand, Hermione," Snape said, his own pointed at Lupin. "Now."
She hesitated for a second longer before stowing her wand back up her sleeve.
"Now lower yours, Lupin," Snape ordered, but Remus had shifted his wand to Snape now.
"I'm sorry, Severus, but she pissed me off. I lost my temper," Remus started trying to explain.
"So you felt that was just cause to pull a wand on a student?"
"Don't act so mighty, Snape! You tried to choke Harry earlier this year!"
"After he already hurt Hermione. You're lucky you didn't fire a spell or you would be laid out right now."
"You don't even know what we were arguing about…-," Remus began again but was cut off by Snape.
"And that matters? As a matter of fact, I do know. You were discussing Lily. I've been standing here for a little bit, Lupin, just disillusioned. Harry must have been too concerned with what was happening to notice. I felt Hermione get agitated through the ring I gave her and the feeling flared quickly. Seeing how she just barely left the Hospital Wing the other day, I felt the urge to check on her. I got here in time to hear the end of Harry's lovely story."
"Hermione wasn't even yelling at that point," Remus pointed out.
"It doesn't matter. Perhaps the story was upsetting her. All I know is that my ring alerted me. Lower your wand…now," Snape said, glaring at Remus. "You forget, Lupin, that she was my friend too, so I understand you wanting to defend her, but I can't allow you to pull a wand on Hermione."
Slowly, the crazed light seemed to leave Remus' eyes and he dropped his wand as if it burned him.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry Severus. I don't know what came over me."
"Get out of here, Lupin, and take those pictures with you," Snape answered.
"But-," he started.
"Leave. Now."
Remus bent to retrieve his wand, grabbed his pictures and walked away.
"Severus," Hermione started but he glared at her before he stalked off too. She walked as fast as she could after him trying to get him to talk to her.
"I wonder if anyone noticed that she said she loves him," Draco murmured to Harry. His boyfriend just shrugged and grabbed his hand before setting off at a much more leisurely pace up to the castle.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Sorry everyone! It's been crazy with work and school trying to find time for this. Everything is heating up now…not too much longer, actually. As Hagrid would say, what's coming will come and they'll have to meet it when it does.
One comment I got made me want to squeal in excitement because it made me feel like I was doing my job correctly. So, Darque Hart, thank you. They said that I did a good job keeping the guilty party/parties a secret and basically confusing everyone until you start to suspect every single character. That's what I want. I want you all to really think about every character it could be. This story has been so much fun to write, but it's even more fun now that I decided to post it before I finish. The reviews I get are simply amazing and they make me want to leave work or school so I can go home and write more just to please you all. Sometimes after reading some I get scared that some people will figure it out before I finish but I guess it happens. I mean…there were a fair share of people who realized Harry was a horcrux before DH came out too lol.