Hermione was so entangled in the line of probabilities that she herself had built that she had been living in a blur for the last three weeks. And she was going mad. The ball, the search, and destruction of the Horcruxes, the service in Auror's Department, which no one canceled, Master Orion unexpectedly put in a good word for her, and Moody just as unexpectedly agreed. It was not known what Black promised him, but only the sphere of influence of purebloods increased every day. Sirius, to whom the venerable mother promised her parental blessing for his marriage with Marlene if he remembered his duties and accepted the obligations of the Head of the Family, set to work with the passion of a hound dog.

Remus was sent to the very lair of Greyback - to recruit werewolves to go over to the side of Good, Light, the Alliance, and purebloods. As a bribe, they were offered samples of Wolfsbane, on which Hermione, Severus, and Lily worked in their free time. That is - a couple of hours before bedtime and a couple of hours at dawn, before the start of the working day.

Lily and James were present at all meetings of the Order of the Phoenix, but Dumbledore's persuasion and exhortation to start field practice was answered with a polite refusal, infuriating the old intriguer. He poured speeches left and right about the importance of their cause, but what use was in what cause, he never bothered to explain. Unlike all the same Master Orion.

It was believed that the elder Black possessed the gift of Divination, one of the hundreds of other skills that magic awarded the Ancient and Noble Family. And Sirius did not hide anything from what he saw in Hermione's Pensieve from his father. Orion talked with Hermione and made sure that her dark and bloody past was true. It was decided not to let it become their future. It was then that the nobles entered the arena, bound together by blood kinship, the power of magic, life debts, and the ability to weave first-class intrigues.

If children foolishly followed either Dumbledore or Tom, who equally suck magic, strength, and common sense out of them, then it was necessary to revive pureblooded Clans and unite without prejudice to halfbloods and Muggleborns.

With grief in half, Hermione figured out the ornate outline of family ties and the work of magic, called herself a fool, drank a couple of bottles of ale with a portrait of her husband, and began to act. She began to write speeches to Sirius, which he happily dragged to speak at the Wizengamot. Ancestral magic, family connection, strong patrons, the revival of former greatness, a strong leader, and a wise mentor... The older generation listened to these eulogies, nodded politely, and a week later they sent letters to the Blacks with courteous requests to accept the Longbottom family, the Greengrasses, the Rookwoods, and others, and others in the Alliance created by the Blacks. Sirius beamed like a polished basin.

Lily Potter was completing her advanced training and preparing to work at St. Mungo's Midwifery as a senior specialist. Narcissa Malfoy, who traveled all over Europe and returned home with nothing, looked at all this action with the despair of a drowning man. Her friend, Alice Longbottom, who had suffered from a fetus retention problem no more than three months ago, had been praising Lily and Hermione's modified fertility potion in every way and was pregnant with Neville. Narcissa had no reason to doubt that both witches were Muggleborn, if Uncle Orion was fine with them, then who was she to argue?

Maya Granger and Lily Potter had the opportunity to hang on the Black family, and specifically on Narcissa, the Debt of Life. And there, you see, there would be an opportunity to get to the Hufflepuff Cup... And this meant minus another Horcrux.

"At least I could have taken it and at night, in a roundabout way, sneak into Hogwarts, to destroy the damned diadem!" Severus stuttered a couple of times about wanting to go to Dumbledore for a job interview. The post of Defense teacher was still vacant. Hermione, with all her strength, dissuaded him from such an event.

"You hate children, teaching, and Dumbledore in general! Why would you want to do this nonsense?" She exclaimed, circling the room.

"Well, yes, by your and Black's mercy, I already missed two interviews! Meanwhile, the Horcrux, which is literally two steps away from us, is still not destroyed!"

"How do you know it's there? It's all the guesswork of Master Orion and the Marauders!" Hermione lied desperately. Without telling Severus, really, that she knew all about the damn tickets to immortality because she came from the future! So far, she'd managed to fool him somehow.

"I don't understand you, Maya, why did Hogwarts and specifically Dumbledore, whom you don't even know, annoy you so much?"

Hermione sank into a chair and began to lie with a bitter expression.

"My husband was a Slytherin…He was from a dysfunctional family, from poor parents, and he never commanded the respect of the Headmaster or Slughorn. He had to fight tooth and nail for his place under the sun. You know what the attitude is towards those who are not Gryffindor, or not from other, politically correct Houses."

Severus nodded in agreement. "Maybe I know him?"

"We were victims of an arranged marriage, my family needed help, Sev...Sebastian needed protection. He was fifteen years older than me, therefore, it is unlikely that you caught him."

"Then yes, of course ... I'm sorry that it happened. You don't deserve this life, Maya."

Hermione sighed and surreptitiously shook her fist at her husband's portrait to keep him from giggling. Be that as it may, over the years she has learned to lie perfectly, and after all, she told the almost pure truth!

"Sorry or not, life goes on. And you still don't have to go to the interview. This position is cursed, and then, Remus was going to get a job at Hogwarts as soon as he returned from the werewolves."

Severus choked on his coffee. "So, you worry about me but are ready to send Remus to the wolves?"

"Well, he's a werewolf, he's immune to Legillimency, no curses can take him, and I would like to destroy Tom and the Horcruxes before the curse of the teaching position takes effect."

"That is, we have exactly a year ... Haven't we aimed too hard, Maya?"

"I know that it's worth the risk while there's still time. And we're not too busy."

"Not busy, you say? We brew potions all day long, you write speeches, I prepare projects for sale, Reg is a goner, still depends on us, Death Eaters to be caught are still around, The Black's Ball, again, but when to live? I still have to teach you the waltz!"

Hermione dropped her head into her hands. "I don't know when to live, Severus, for starters, we all need to at least survive."

"You're crazy, do you know about it?"

Hermione was staring at him. "Did you think you were in an amusement park? Hey, Severus, we have a war at our doorstep, in case you forgot, and we're talking all sorts of nonsense around here, like working at Hogwarts!"

"I would like to object to you that by tormenting yourself, you will not bring victory closer, but I am no better."

"That's it!"

Severus got up from his chair and held out his hand to her. "We need to clear our minds."

And so it went on day by day.

Snape's portrait watched very carefully what was happening between his wife and his young alter ego and knew that soon, very soon, he would have to let her go.