The fire blazed a vertical line down the far side of the room. A flame chased around it creating a circle of fire, and finally with a golden flash a triangle framed it completing the symbol.

Hermione gave a breathless gasp of astonishment "The hallows." she whispered.

"You are remarkably good at stating the obvious." Snape commented weakly, while trying to regain his breath and keep his hand steady.
Taking out his own wand he undid the magic, sending the fire back up the elder wand or Akh. The energy surged back through his body, causing him to shake slightly as though an electrical current was being directed at him.
The room dimmed as the light from the wand vanished.
Snape allowed himself to rest against the back of his new sofa, closing his eyes to fight a feeling of nausea that had engulfed him.

"Professor? Are you alright?" Hermione was holding his arm and peering at him in concern.

He removed his arm from her grasp and stood. "I just need a moment." he said quietly. He left the room stumbling slightly, causing Hermione to stand in order to aid him. Before she could offer her assistance he'd left the room.

In the bathroom of his private quarters he splashed cold water on his face, and regulated his breathing. Gripping the sides of his basin he muttered, "I'm to old for this crap."
Once he felt his energy levels return to normal and the nauseous feeling dissipate, he returned to his study

Hermione was perched nervously on the edge of the sofa.
Snape sat opposite in the arm chair.
"Before you ask I'm fine, I just needed air. The energy was sucked from me and then pushed back, it wasn't a pleasant sensation."

"Do you require two sofa's?"

Whatever he thought she was going to say it wasn't that.
"I do not require one! Why should I desire two."

"Then sit next to me or your going to get two!"

The Professor refused to move, his sardonic smile yet again gracing his pale features.
Hermione raised her wand and directed it at the sofa.
Snape flicked his own wand with a non verbal disarming charm. Hermione's wand flew across the room to the professors out stretched fingers.
"I think not, we mustn't play with what isn't ours. " he drawled.

Hermione bravely walked forward.
"Give it back please."
"Not until you leave, I will not have you directing it against me or my possessions."
"Give it back, I promise not to do so again, not tonight anyway."
"No"
"I can make you give it back."
"I highly doubt that, Miss Granger."

Hermione decided to do what she always did with Ron and Harry when they messed about with each others possessions. She opted for force, coupled with close physical proximity. A brave decision when faced with an uptight repressed dungeon master with three wands on his person, or maybe just a foolish one."
She grabbed at the hand holding her wand trying to prise his fingers from the grip. He looked at her quizzically,
"What are you trying to achieve?"
"I am attempting to make you uncomfortable so that you will give me back my wand."
"Thank you for clarifying, I was slightly confused. Just to inform you, I'm not in the least bit uncomfortable, I'm mearly amused that you think your tiny hands have the strength to overpower mine."
Indeed his fingers had a vice like grip.
Hermione let go of his hand and contemplated the professor.

"So Miss Granger unless you wish to leave... and lets be frank that is perfectly fine by me, let's start researching how we use the three names we now know to gain mastery of the hallows. How do we unite..."
He broke off because at that moment Hermione leaned over him and kissed his cheek.

Snape dropped both his wands, they fell to the floor with a clatter. Calmly she picked them both up, transfigured the chair into a sofa and the opposite sofa she turned into a chair again. "That's called compromise. It's a noun, an agreement or settlement of a dispute reached by each side listening to the other and making concessions. I'm not sure it's a word you have in your extensive vocabulary. It's a good one to learn."
Hermione held her wand aloft and gave professor Snape his back. She sat next to him and levitated a book towards them. Pocketing the wand neatly when the book landed on her lap.
"Are we sitting comfortably? Then shall I begin?"
She opened the section on Egyptian death rites and placed it on his lap.

"You ... You.. infuriating witch! Your never going to leave me alone are you?" he spluttered.
"Not now I know you think I'm perfect, that was a little lapse in verbal judgement on your part. We are wasting time professor, let's study."

After a while the excitement of the discovery of the name, coupled with the adrenaline fuelled sparing, began to die down. All the words on the pages began to look the same. It was late, the strains of the previous night were showing.
Hermione's book slipped from her lap. At the same time her head lolled against Snape's shoulder. The loud bang of her book hitting the stone floor, jolted her awake, realising where her head had momentarily rested she apologised.
"I'm sorry, I'm tired. I didn't mean to..."
"That is probably the least questionable thing you have done tonight, and yet you apologise for it? It's the early hours of the morning, again! Of course your tired, it's only to be expected. You should go back to the medical wing."
"Please, don't make me. I will just come back."
Snape's dark eyes narrowed as he thought about what McGonagall's response to such a plea would be.
Deciding he was to tired to embark on another argument, he made a concession.
"You can sleep on this sofa. I will get you a blanket and pillow." he replied with a resigned tone.

He was gone only a few minutes. On his return he could see Hermione was fighting sleep, dozing gently against the arm rest.
Kneeling at the sofa he roused her, gently positioning her head onto the pillow. As he did so he saw the pearl around her neck glint in the fire light.
"Hermione? Who gave you this pearl? Wake up just for a second, who gave it to you?"
Hermione partially opened her eyes.
"My mother gave it to me, she said it came from Japan, sorry I meant to tell you... I think it might be connected." She yawned sleepily.
"Alright, go to sleep."
He then threw the blanket over her and tucked it around her.
"You called me Hermione. You do realise that gives me licence to call you Severus."
"You didn't appear to need it earlier."
Hermione ignored him closing her eyes and whispered, "Good night Severus."
"Good night." He answered raising himself to his feet and walking swiftly to his chair.

He levitated a book over from the diminishing pile and scanned its contents until he found the passage containing references to Kitsune stones. Hermione had previously read this to Harry and Ron. Snape began to read silently.

'Depictions of kitsune often feature round white balls known as hoshi no tama. Some stories identify them as magical jewels or pearls. When not in human form or possessing a human, a kitsune keeps the ball in its mouth. Jewels are a common symbol of Inari, and representations of sacred Inari foxes, without them they are rare stones.
One belief is that when a kitsune changes shape, its hoshi no tama holds a portion of its magical power. Another tradition is that the pearl represents the kitsune's soul; and it will die if separated from it for long. Those who obtain the ball may be able to extract a promise from the kitsune to help them in exchange for the stones return. Or it may be loaned for a short time as protection to a loved one.' Snape Stopped reading to think about the implications of this.

'That's why all those curses deflected in the school grounds. The pearl redirected the spells to attack the attacker. But that pearl is directly connected to a Kitsune's life. That's why Narcissa was affected by each curse, each one weakened her as she absorbed the hits. It's a personal protection. Hermione's mother would hardly have access to such an object? Unless, it wasn't Hermione's mother, the kitsune clearly can take the form of whom ever she pleases, or maybe she gave the stone to Mrs Granger. But then why would the kitsune have the desire to give such a precious and potentially dangerous object to Hermione?' Hundreds of questions flooded his tired mind as he worriedly tried to work out what it all meant.
'Why didn't Hermione mention this before? It's clear to me that the book she received was from the kitsune too, and that little statue. She was being primed for this battle months ago. But why her? The chances are her mother's dead. Please Merlin, if that is the case, let it not be me that has to tell her.' His eyes drifted across the room to the sofa where Hermione lay.
After a while, He drew his gaze away from her and continued to read. He poured himself a Fire whiskey congratulating himself that it was the first drink since the evening of the ball. Although actually, he realised that the ball wasn't long ago, it just felt like weeks. The books were unhelpful, the correct way to use the hallows was eluding him and he was running out of time. Tiredness, worry, and confusion enveloped him and his eye lids began to droop as he began to give up.

A muffled scream brought him back to the room with remarkable clarity.
Hermione was dreaming. Snape closed his eyes and entered her mind, he saw the grave and the coffin he heard the thud of soil, he felt the restriction of air. He pulled out, really it had been unnecessary to enter, he knew this was a dream that would probably re-occur for years.
She turned slightly and he heard her whimper.
He turned away and sipped at his near empty glass. 'She will stop in a minute' he thought.

She made a sobbing sound and Snape winced at the noise.
"Damn it!" he whispered as he realised the pull to protect her was going to make him act.
He swung round and walked to her side. Levitated her up and caught her in his arms. He sat down on the sofa cradling her on his lap, her face streaked with tears buried into his chest. "Your safe Hermione, your fine." He stroked her hair gently as he spoke softly.
Her breathing calmed, and her sobs subsided. A few minutes passed peacefully. Snape thought she had never woken up, maybe her subconscious just recognised the safety his presence represented.
All his comfortable thoughts about her unconscious state were suddenly dispelled.
"I'm sorry, it was a horrible nightmare, it's embarrassing how much it frightens me." she shuddered.
Snape remained silent in the hope she was sleep talking.
But her soft voice continued very quietly. "I am awake now Severus, there is no denying tomorrow that your hand was stroking my hair tonight. So don't bother."
Snape puffed in annoyance.
"Shut up and go to sleep."
"Please don't leave me."
"I won't."
She closed her eyes and fell asleep listening to the grumpy professor breathe slightly faster than usual.
Snape was weary, he knew he'd reached a point of no return and had no idea what it meant for the future.
He didn't know how to ask what this meant to Hermione. It all felt to complicated. He adjusted his position so he was semi reclining and positioned the blanket firmly around his burden. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.
The office was still and quiet for a few hours. The glow of the magical fire kept the room lit and warm.

A shadow loomed against the wall, pointed ears and a long snout moved slowly into view. The fox approached the pair and reached up to lick Hermione's hand resting on Snape's chest. Hermione sighed in her sleep and seemed to sink deeper into it.
The creature turned to sit in front of the fire, watching the sleeping couple.
No words were spoken but Snape stirred in his sleep as a voice urged him to wake up.
"Severus, shush, gently, don't move, don't be alarmed, Severus you must wake up."
Snape listened to the voice in his mind and struggled to open his eyes.
When he did so he turned his head to the side to see the kitsune staring back at him.
"How do you get in?" he whispered
"Magic undetectable by wizards." she answered smugly.
"What do you want?"
"Your help, you know that. I'm here as the Inari Kitsune, I think this form you will trust more than Narcissa. You make quite the romantic hero there Severus. Don't worry your little one won't wake up for an hour or more, I've made sure of it."
He growled gently back "I will never trust you, under any guise."
"You have to!"
"Why Hermione, why the pearl?"
"I see, your learning. I need you Severus, you are instrumental for my plans. I see the future, I am the present, I've been the past. I know you, you need a reason for your fights. You need a cause. Why would you help me? I need leverage, I felt a bond forged between you many months ago when you should have died. I tried to use this to my advantage I prepared the girl with knowledge and protected her to the best of my ability. It's not my intention to harm her Severus. Unfortunately, you seemed reluctant to acknowledge this bond, you were wrapped up in past ghosts. If you remember in desperation to achieve my ends, I used this to make you give me the Sekhem. I did not realise that the temporary gift of the kitsune stone, that I arranged to be given to Hermione, in order to keep her safe, would recognise you as a protector. Your bond has been strengthened by my magic. It is quite apparent that you have succumbed to it."
Snape's arms had tightened around Hermione, during this speech subconsciously protecting her from the fox in his den.

"Is it just magic then?" he asked almost despondently.

The fox inclined her head and regarded Snape with her sharp eyes.
"No, the magic only works with what already exists. It stops you ignoring what's there."
"Where are her parents? Did you kill them?" he whispered.
"No ... and here's the leverage, help me and I will return them to her. If not, well... it might just be your job to tell her what befell them."
"So you will kill them if I don't help?"
"No, if you don't help I can't stop what's going to happen. I am not the cause of it! I'm the solution."
"What do you want?"
"Get the cloak, get the wand... Bring Harry Potter and Hermione Granger to the department of mysteries. You won't find a spell in those books to tell you how to bring the hallows together, they do it themselves. Don't tell anyone about this conversation, it has to be this way, the Death Eaters must believe hey have won. They will be told that you are under the Imperio at my hand."

Snape scoffed.

"Yes ... the great Wizard thought to have misogynistic tendencies, falling for the woman's schemes, not that un feasible is it my dear, in fact I think I've influenced you in that way recently, or have you forgotten? Would you be happier if I did Imperio you? I could."

Snape swallowed his annoyance.
"How do I know this isn't a trick you have devised with Voldermort? And if you're genuine, how do I know this will work?"

"Because the moment that Harry Potter wields the akh, in the same room as the Sekhem and the khaibut there will be no doubt who is the master. And, because I am relying on you to kill Voldermort. "

"How do you kill a spirit?"

"By giving it life, what do you think I've been doing this for?"

"Honestly... I think your insane, I think your enjoying yourself."

The fox growled viciously.
"Voldermort died by his own backfiring Avada kedavra. From that death you can come back. If I didn't bring him back, then someone else would have. At least I want to send him back to a permanent grave! In future generations I foresaw achaos, a massacre of epic proportions in a world where the hallows were lost. I am preventing that."

"But why so complicated why this way?"

"You will see, your a great actor a good spy, you can know and not reveal. These youngsters wear there hearts on their sleeves. To be convincing they have to be convinced. You must not tell them your involvement with me. You must bring them at midnight tomorrow. Severus you must also bring my gift, you will need it. See the girl does not take off that necklace. It will all become clear soon. Try to trust me, there is no other option."
She silently vanished.

Snape cursed, she was right he could see no other options.