"Miss Longbottom," Severus sighed as he eyed the girl he wasn't sure what to make of. They'd been owling at her insistence that he get to know her; it left him feeling unsettled.

"Mr Snape," she mocked.

He rolled his eyes with a huff, "I have no new information for you."

"I didn't expect you to have," she countered, "I just thought you'd like tea."

"You thought I'd like tea,...in the Department of Mysteries."

"Well, I didn't think you'd be able to be seen with me without consequences or at the very least some uncomfortable questions. And I considered the muggle world but ah…I don't know where exactly to go in this time."

He sighed, "No I imagine you don't." he agreed. "I might have some suggestions."

"Do you?" she brightened and it struck him that she wasn't pretending. He had no idea why but she genuinely wanted to see him.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" she counted.

"This," he gestured between them. "Us being…friends," she snorted at the way he sneered the word, "is not a condition of my cooperation. Your vow saw to that. So why?"

Hermione's head tilted to the side as she contemplated how best to answer that, "I don't know anyone," she began, "Not really, and in my time you fascinated me. You were a miserable bastard, don't get me wrong, but you were also calculating, brilliant and intriguing. I've seen the adaptations you made to the textbook potions, and I've seen the results. I've also seen you duel. You're rather impressive you know."

He snorted loudly, "Are you hitting on me?" he checked warily.

"No!" Hermione couldn't hold in the giggle that erupted.

"Thank all the Gods," he muttered, "You're terrifying and I wasn't sure I'd survive letting you down gently."

"Gently?" she scoffed.

He looked back at her clearly amused but trying to keep his face under control lest he actually smile, "I would have attempted it!"

"Oh God I'm almost sad I don't get to see that!" she laughed. "Although I don't know if I should be offended by how relieved you were."

He made a low groaning noise. "I thought you said you knew me."

"I…I did. A bit." she agreed looking nonplussed.

"So…" he prompted.

"So?" she returned, baffled at what he thought she was missing.

He stared back at her for several seconds, "You have no idea what im talking about." he concluded.

"Ah. No. So do feel free to explain any time around now."

"Miss Longbottom I do not find witches attractive. I can objectively tell that some of them are…reasonably pleasing to look at." he paused. "Like art, I suppose. But they do nothing for me."

"But Lily Potter!" she blurted and then cringed.

"What about her?" he checked with exaggerated calmness.

"You…you were," she paused, "We'll you clearly weren't, but you gave her son the impression you were in love with her."

"I did?" he growled. "No. I love her. She was my first, for a long time, my only friend. I might not have wanted her to end up with James Potter but that's less about my wanting her and more about him being an utter arsehole."

"Huh," Hermione stared at him in surprise as things rearranged themselves in her head.

"Is it that much of a surprise?" he demanded, "How pathetic was I in your time."

Sidestepping that question quickly, Hermione shook her head. "So Severus, if not witches, what exactly are you looking for in a partner?"

"Oh absolutely not!" he retorted and turned the conversation to the far safer topic of potion modifications as she cackled into her tea.

"Did Saul say what the plan is?" Frank queried as he surveyed Hermione over the tip of his book several days after she'd traumatised Severus.

"Monitoring," she murmured, her eyes still scanning the text.

"Monitoring what?"

"The timeline."

"Hermione!"

What?" her head jerked up, making him laugh.

"How can you sound so disinterested talking about the timeline?"

"Oh. It's not the most exciting thing to monitor, truthfully," she shrugged.

"Hermione!" he whined.

"What?" she put her book down in exasperation.

"I'm bored. Liss is being tortured by your Uncle. Play with me, Cousin!"

"Oh, my God," she muttered.

"Nah come on! Let's do something fun!"

"Such as?"

"Dunno, you're weird and you don't fly. It's rather disappointing having waited so long for a cousin if I'm honest."

She snorted, "I'm so sorry." she returned wryly.

"You should be! Now. What are we doing?"

Hermione groaned, "Frank, I hate to break it to you but I have no idea what we can do. Not from here remember?"

He pouted, "how do you feel about swimming?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Where?"

"Well, there's a little hidden wizarding area in Edinburgh, just off the royal mile. I haven't been in years but they change it with the seasons. In summer it's a beach and a pool." he frowned, "I think there's also a park with premade picnic baskets, I can't remember it's been ages since I was there."

"And it's…safe?" she checked.

"As much as they can make it," Frank agreed before he sighed, "We are trying to remember that life can't stop. It's terrifying," he eyed her shrewdly, "Something I imagine you know better than most. But if we don't have the good moments, what's the point? I'm not saying be an idiot, keep your wand on you at all times. Remain alert. But if we all hide in our houses, they've won."

"And if they catch us in an enclosed space, we're dead."

He rolled his eyes, "Nonsense, I'm sure you'd protect me, baby cousin." She scoffed, and he continued. "In all seriousness, there are safety precautions in case of an attack. Everyone's assigned an elf if they don't have their own. There is no known magic that can block them."

Hermione frowned. "No," she agreed slowly. "Which is bloody terrifying if you think about it. Anyone can get anywhere!"

Frank blinked as if the idea had never occurred to him, "And thankfully, no one has yet come to that conclusion."

"How?" she demanded.

"Because people are stupid?" he offered with a shrug, "And elves are underestimated. Lets hope it remains that way for now."

"Jesus christ."

"And anyway we know they can get people out, but we have no idea what it does to those going in."

"I do," she mumbled, remembering the secret-kept Shell Cottage with a shudder.

"Oh?"

"Elves can get in and bring people," she muttered.

His eyebrows shot up, "Can they really?"

"Yes. Which is rather horrifying. ALthough….i don't think anyone had figured it out in my time…so."

Frank stared at her, a crease marring his face. "Well ... with that sufficiently terrifying thought shall we go do something fun?"

"You're not going to do anything with the information?"

"Truthfully I don't know what we can do." he admitted, "However I'm going to mention it to my father and your uncle and see if they come up with anything. Neither of which I can do at this exact moment. So. Swimming?"

She groaned. "Fine."

"Splendid. Ten minutes and meet me at the door, we'll need to take the bus!"

Hermione stepped off the Knight bus into the bustling Edinburgh street and tried not to vomit. The journey had been worse than she remembered, beside her, Frank was clutching a wall looking rather green.

"Well that was bloody awful," he muttered, breathing deeply until he looked less drawn. "Right. Let's go this way!"

She protested when he grabbed her hand, marching towards a steep set of stairs, feeling the magic enveloping her the moment her foot touched the first step.

"Good God," Hermione murmured, as the street faded away and sunshine hit her. Frank merely grinned, tugging her down the steps and into a large open space. At one end there was a beach filled with families, the water seeming endless, mimicking the sea. Slightly jarringly, next to it, there was a large grassy area, filled with picnic rugs and impromptu quidditch games. At the back was a stall renting equipment. And directly in front of them was an old-fashioned funfair.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

"Yes," Hermione breathed, spinning to take it all in. "I had no idea this existed."

"And now you do," Frank murmured. "I've always loved it here. I can't wait to have a kid of my own to bring."

Hermione blinked, her heart hurting at the thought of Neville. She wondered if his grandmother had ever taken him, despite knowing instinctively that she had not. It was a heartbreaking thought. "A kid you knew," Frank mused before brightening, "Which at least means I have at least one. Can you tell me about them?"

Hermione blew out a breath. "I could."

"But you won't?" he hedged.

She smiled slightly, "They were my first friend." she murmured.

"And you miss them?"

"Of course I do."

"This war…they lived?

"Yes," Hermione agreed, "They did."

"Good…that's good. We ah…we didn't, did we? Alice and I." Swinging around sharply to look at him she attempted to work out what to say, "You don't know us," Frank pointed out gently, "You knew Sirius and Remus, but not James and Lily. Alice said something about Peter made you tense so you'd at least met him. So. We didn't survive the war."

She swallowed harshly, not able to explain just how difficult she was finding knowing what their fate was. She'd only been here a few weeks and she already knew she'd do anything to stop Frank and Alice being destroyed as they had been. It had been sad before, devastating for Neville. But now, getting to know them, seeing them as people and not St Mungo's patients, it was horrifying in a way she didn't have words for. They were so…full of life, so kind, going out of their way to help her settle in here, even when she wasn't the most receptive, lost in memories and grief. It had been apparent startlingly quickly that despite not knowing them, Neville had inherited the best of them both. "In a week or so we'll know whether I can…manipulate things in my favour. It doesn't matter what happened," she mumbled finally.

He hummed, wrapping an arm around her, squeezing her tightly. "So we can all live happily ever after?"

Letting out a slightly incredulous laugh she sunk into the hug, "Something like that," she replied softly.

"Right Cousin," Frank prodded her side, making her yelp two hours after they'd arrived, interrupting her dozing in the artificial sunshine. "Picnic now?"

"But I'm covered in sand!" she whined.

With a snort, Frank pulled her to her feet, turning her by the shoulders to look at him, "Hermione. Cousin," he began with exaggerated slowness, "I know this will come as a shock, but…you're a witch!"

She shoved him, sending him onto his backside in the sand, making him laugh in his shock, his resemblance to his son so apparent she felt a sharp spike of pain, missing her first friend, the version of him that existed before the war stole their lightness.

"And you're an arsehole," she muttered, shoving it down.

Scrambling to his feet, he swung her up over his shoulder. And, ignoring both her shouting and her hitting his back, flung her into the water, making her shriek.

"Admit it, Cousin, you're at least a little fond of me." he grinned smugly as she fought to remove her hair from her face.

Her eyes narrowed, a move his son would have run from before she wrapped a hand around his ankle and pulled him down beside her, the vindictive part of her enjoying his spluttering.

Augusta blinked as her son barreled into the house well past dinner, arguing with his new cousin, her hair sparking in her annoyance even as he laughed at her. She stepped in when the witch actually growled.

"Do I want to ask?"

"Mother!" Frank grinned, running to hide behind her, "Save me! My cousin is a vicious witch."

"I can't imagine why," Augusta muttered wryly. "Is there a reason you're goading your cousin into violence?"

Frank shrugged, "It's fun."

"It's fun!" Hermione screeched.

"Yes," he nodded decisively with a grin from over his mother's shoulder.

"Have you no sense of self preservation?" Augusta lamented.

"Apparently not," he agreed blithely.

"Frank…Frank go and do something that's not here," Augusta commanded impatiently. " Hermione come and have tea."

"Tea?" Hermione checked.

"Quite."This way."

Hermione nodded her acceptance before she smiled an exaggeratedly saccharine smile at Frank, sending a slightly overpowered stinging hex his way as he made mocking shooing motions with his hands. Augusta sighed when he yelped, jumping.

"I'm going to get you back for that!" he threatened with narrowed eyes.

Hermione snorted, "I look forward to it, Cousin."

With a huff, he turned and stomped further into the house, calling over his shoulder, "When you least expect it! Your Uncle trained me!"

"He trained me too," she called back, missing Augusta's eye roll.

"Tea?" she asked pointedly.

"Of course, Augusta," Hermione agreed blandly, holding back a sigh. She still wasn't sure what to make of the witch that she was utterly sure she didn't approve of her.

With a sharp nod, August led her through the house into a small sunroom, calling for Mopsy to request tea.

"I feel like we haven't had a chance to get to know one another." she opened with, pouring tea.

"It's been a rather…jarring couple of weeks," Hermione murmured, fixing her cup.

"I get the impression that life has been jarring for more than that," Augusta murmured, holding her teacup primly. "I find myself struggling Hermione." Remaining silent, Hermione arched a brow, trying not to show how hard her heart was beating as she tried to preempt what was coming next. Augusta eyed her piercingly, "I'm sure you're lovely, dear but you…you know exactly what happens in the coming years. And I want to ask, while not actually wanting to know because it cannot be good news." she sighed heavily. "I know that you intend to fix it if you can. I am…scared that you cannot."

"Me too," Hermione murmured.

Blowing out a breath, Augusta nodded, "Yes, I can only imagine that it's worse for you."

"Well it's not fun."

"Is the monitoring going well?"

"As well as it can be." Hermione murmured, "Severus gave us some info that has…implications for next week. Saul seems to think we'll know for definite whether time will remain stable following that given the potential changes."

"Oh?"

"I really can't tell you," Hermione insisted. "Not until we know for sure that it has no detrimental impact."

"I see," Augusta murmured, looking displeased. "What can you tell me?"

"About what's happening? Very little. Assuming time remains stable, we're meeting Dumbledore in a week or so, and we'll join the Order and suggest some…safety measures."

"Just like that," August murmured.

"I was told that we needed him," Hermione shrugged, "Personally I'd bypass him completely but Saul insisted."

"You truly dislike the man, don't you?"

"Dislike?" Hermione scoffed. "Tom is at least honest in his intentions. Dumbledore pretends he's better than him but he's not."

"Tom?"

"OH. Voldemort's real name. Tom Riddle."

"I…I see. And you believe that Albus is worse?"

"Well he's certainly not better," Hermione grumbled under her breath.

"I..well…" Augusta trailed off looking flummoxed before silently adding another sugar to her tea with a shaking hand.

A week later, three tense Longbottoms straightened their spines at the roaring of the floo. "Frank, Alice." Augusta let out the breath she'd been holding before realising they were missing one. "Where's…where's Hermione?"

"She's fine." Frank sighed, sinking into the sofa, headless of the blood splattered over his robes.

"Where is she then?" Algie demanded.

"With Croaker. They…they knew about tonight. They need to see if its destabilised the timeline."

"What aren't you saying?" Hector demanded.

"I knew she had fought," he murmured. "Melrin shes been duelling me, how could I have missed it? But seeing her…."

Alice hummed, "She was quite clearly a soldier," she voiced softly. "She's…she's my age. But she fights like the old guard. And she takes no prisoners."

Frank let out a mirthless laugh, "She warned us that she learned the hard way that stunning didn't work. If she hadn't….well. Fabian owes the little witch his life, and he knows it."

"I think saving him was a bonus but not the aim," Alice mused hesitantly, "Dolohov…that was personal."

"Of course it was, he almost murdered her at sixteen," Algie retorted.

"Pardon?"

"What? You didn't think I'd spoken to the little witch?" he grumbled when he realised the rest of his family was staring at him in surprise. "Antonin Dolohov almost murdered her in the Department of Mysteries. She was left with quite the scar. Owes her life to that wizard you're not sure of."

"Snape?" Alice demanded.

"That's him." Algie agreed. "Apparently her healing involved specialised potions. He brewed them. She was on them for months."

"Mother of Merlin," Frank murmured. "Well…he won't be an issue now. She killed him."

"Again," Augusta murmured.

"Did she not have a choice?" Hector ventured

"Probably not," Frank sighed, "But I'll be honest, I think she'd have done it even if she did. It was personal. She was relentless. She didn't aim to kill with any of the others. Incapacitate, definitely. But not kill. I don't think she'd have let Dolohov walk out of there alive even if he had been shooting stunners and tripping jinxes."

"And that worries you?" Augusta hedged.

"Not as much as I think it should," he admitted. "I think if she'd murdered them all ... .but it was just him. I…I don't know."

Hector nodded, "You've not yet had to make that choice," he voiced softly, "This is war, I imagine one day soon you will. She's already done it. She knows…who these people become, the atrocities they commit, the choices they'll make. And I don't imagine it's an easy choice. None of us should have the right to choose who lives and who dies, but we're going to be asked to."

"You think she was right?" he checked.

"I think she has far more information than we do. Now, perhaps you're right and it was nothing more than revenge. But…she doesn't strike me as a witch who takes a life lightly. It makes me wonder why she thinks this Solohov was more of a threat than the others."

"No," Alice replied thoughtfully, "She has a list."

"A list?" Hector frowned.

"She learned the names of every life she ever took," Augusta answered, "She said they all did, so they never forgot how awful it was. Which makes me think you're right. Whatever this Dolohov did or would have done, I suppose, she viewed him as a bigger threat than the rest of them."

"Well then," Hector murmured, looking pensive. "The mission was a success?"

"Yes," Frank sighed, "I gather that originally the Prewetts died. They are very much still alive and we have four Death Eaters in our holding cells. Let's just hope that the timeline does not decide that it objects."

Hermione and Saul held their breath as they stood in the middle of the swirling mass of magic, small flashes of light bursting every few minutes. "It's adjusting," Saul murmured.

"Definitely?" she checked, hearing the desperation in her own voice.

"Yes," he blew out a breath, casting a series of complex charms, "Look at the numbers…they rose rapidly but they're evening out now."

"So I can fix it," she mumbled, "I can actually fix it?"

"It's looking likely." he agreed, "We'll watch over the next few days, but if it's going to object, it'll do it by Friday."

"Right," she sighed, her eyes moving back to the numbers Saul had spent the best part of the last week teaching her to understand.

"How are you?" he asked softly, not looking at her, "Tonight had to have been…difficult."

"Not as difficult as it should have been," she admitted.

"If everything you've told me is true, you made the right choice. You did a good thing tonight Hermione."

"I murdered a man." she retorted bluntly. "I went into that fight knowing I would. You can't…"

"You did a good thing," he cut her off. "The Prewett twins are alive, and Antonin Dolohov has been stopped from experimenting on hundreds of people. I can call that good."

She flinched, "At least I don't need to add another name," she mumbled.

"How are you?" Alice asked softly, eyeing Hermione with concern. Next to her, Frank seems to still, his book still up but clearly not reading. They'd avoided talking about it for the last couple of days, but clearly, Alice had decided it had been long enough, Merlin knew the bags under his cousin's eyes appeared to be darkening.

"I've been worse," Hermione murmured, "Which I think might make it worse."

"Did you not mean to kill him?" Alice hedged looking unsure.

"Oh no. I meant to kill him. I walked into that fight knowing I would."

"Why?"

"Why." Hermione sighed. "Antonin Dolohov is one of the most brilliant wizards I have ever met."

"What?" Frank demanded, all pretence of reading gone.

Snorting softly, Hermione moved to sit upright, seeing the curiosity on both their faces. "His skills with warding were well known in my time, so much so that he had a specialised cell in Azkaban; they thought he'd escape a standard one, even with dementors and without his wand. He invented spells like it was nothing. Horrifying spells, but original ones nonetheless. And he used muggles to do it. He kidnapped hundreds and experimented on them. And then he moved on to muggleborns and blood traitors to see if magic changed the outcome. He was brilliant. And he was also a violent, dangerous sociopath who needed to be put down for the safety of others."

"Sweet Merlin," Alice breathed, looking nauseated.

Frank swallowed audibly, standing abruptly from his seat and hauling Hermione into a hug, making her squeak. "Thank you for putting him down," he murmured.

Hermione sagged into the hug before she began to sob, with a pained grimace, Frank just held her tighter.

Hermione's leg was bouncing rhythmically only stopping when Alastor pressed it down. "He'll be in in a minute."

"I know! Which is why I'm nervous!"

They both tensed when Saul appeared. "Everythings stable," he announced. "Let's come up with a plan."