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Hermione Undaunted

Chapter 3

The next couple of weeks proved to be rather uneventful. Dumbledore was still missing from most meals, and Harry was constantly complaining that he'd only seen the Headmaster in the school twice. Hermione tried to assuage Harry's fears that Dumbledore was going to leave Harry out of some big plan, but it was to no avail. She was more worried about the amount of time Harry spent poring through the pages of his potion's book. She'd tried to get it from him a couple of times, but she imagined he would rather strip and hand over his clothes than the book if he found himself in a pinch. Even Ron had started muttering about the relationship he was having with the book; complaining that he was starting to resemble Hermione, reading in bed and all that.

Hermione kept on the front that Harry should not be using any of the charms he found in the book. She went so far as to refuse to speak if he used the Muffliato charm which suited him just fine. Secretly she was memorizing the hexes herself. They could be quite funny, yes, but they were also created by a clearly clever mind that could very well be deranged. She refused to believe that the Half-Blood Prince was merely a clever prankster like Fred and George were. There was something very serious about the nature of the scribbles in the book that she found oddly frustrating. It was as if they were familiar to her. The spiky handwriting resembled handwriting that she'd seen somewhere else.

"You know, Harry," Hermione reprimanded over breakfast. "If you would spend as much time concentrating on nonverbal spells for class instead of the ones in the book your grades would improve significantly."

"Stuff it, Hermione," Ron said. He was agitated because Hermione had already spent the better part of the walk to the Great Hall pointing out how dangerous it was to try an unknown spell on a person. Harry was just upset that he knew the Half-Blood Prince probably was not his father, and that Hermione's assertion that he could very well be a Death-Eater was all too possible.

After breakfast the trio trudged through the wind and sleet to Hogsmeade. Harry was surly because Ginny had brushed off an invitation to join them to go with Dean. Hermione could not help but notice that every time Ginny waved him off, Harry's longing for her appeared to grow. Hermione had spent the last few dinners with Slughorn at least engaging Cormac in some sort of conversation. He was still a bossy prat, but then again, bossy bint was a name she was quite familiar with too. His grades in school were good, but he was way too full of himself for Hermione to really like him. He was no challenge whatsoever. She still had yet to figure out what he saw in her, but she could learn a lot by taking advantage of it. Ron was a challenge in a different way because he seemed to find offense to anything she said or did that was not favorable to him, but he only had eyes for Lavender Brown. Hermione wanted someone who would challenge her, physically and intellectually, and realistically she knew that neither Ron nor Cormac fit the bill but her insufferable teenage hormones were not cooperating with her head.

Slughorn's parties were not all bad though. The food was good and sometimes there was entertainment. It gave her and Ginny a lot of cover to talk about all things feminine without any eavesdroppers because there was always plenty of mingling. She even let Cormac throw an arm around her a couple of times and she didn't seem to mind as much as she thought she would when it happened. Hermione had begged Ginny to not let on to anyone that she was leading Cormac on. Partly because she knew it was not really nice, and partly because she wasn't ready to use it on Ron yet.

Needless to say, they ran into Slughorn at Honeydukes where he invited them to yet another Slug Club party. Harry was able to wriggle out of it because he had a meeting with Dumbledore on Monday night, but Hermione had nothing. Ron was seething because once again he had been ignored. Hermione pretended to be interested in the new sugar quills on display, but the truth was she hadn't touched any of the candy he had given her for her birthday and had already relinquished all the chocolate frogs back to Ron.

After their hands were loaded with more sweets from Honeydukes than they really should reasonably have the made their way through the crowd to go to the Three Broomsticks for a butter beer. Outside of Honeydukes the crowd was sparser. However, there was one man outside and in no particular hurry that all three of them recognized.

"Mundungus!" Harry approached the man upon recognition and bent to help him pick up the things he dropped out of his suitcase when Harry startled him by yelling his name. Scattered on the ground was silver with the Black family crest on it. Silver that now belonged to Harry.

The next thing Hermione knew Harry had Mundungus Fletcher pinned to the wall of the nearest building by the throat. Harry really was frightening sometimes and impressive. Hermione wondered why she never really liked him that way and then quelled the thought immediately. Ew. He was like her brother, and besides, how was she ever going to concentrate on the impending war with thoughts like that constantly popping up in her head?

Hermione had just started pleading with Harry to let Mundungus go when he Disapparated leaving Harry empty handed and scathing. Hermione quite agreed that Mundungus was a stink thief, but there was nothing they could do about it at the moment. Even Tonks, who had appeared out of nowhere didn't think it was worth getting into a brawl about. She shooed them into the Three Broomsticks.

"What's gotten in to her?" Ron muttered.

Hermione shrugged, but she wondered too. Harry thought she was sad about Sirius' death, but Hermione was sure it was something else. They weren't even that close even if they were cousins. Harry was still shouting about Mundungus when Hermione brought three butter beers to their table.

Ron made a rather disgusting display of checking out Madam Rosmerta behind the bar and Harry continued to fume. The trip was rather ruined for all of them. Hermione was wondering how she could give them the slip and go to Gladrags unnoticed. She excused herself to go to the bathroom and bumped into Draco Malfoy and Katie Bell in the little hallway that held the toilets. If Hermione didn't know any better she would guess that it looked like Malfoy had come out of the girl's room and she glared at him suspiciously.

"Get out of the way, Mudblood," he snapped at her and pushed his way along. Katie didn't even pause when Hermione went through she just kept on walking which was slightly odd.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Hermione replied and went into the bathroom. There was nothing odd about running into fellow students near the Three Broomsticks bathrooms on a Hogsmeade visit day. Hermione gave up on Gladrags and joined her friends outside so they could leave.

It was on the way home that Katie Bell got cursed by the necklace. Harry claimed it was a necklace he saw in Borgin and Burkes and that Malfoy knew all about it. Hermione tried to shush Harry up about the accusation it was Malfoy, but inside she was becoming increasingly suspicious. She would never be as hasty as Harry and flat out accuse a student like that, which is exactly what Harry said to Professor McGonagall. He told her everything about Malfoy's suspicious behavior related to Borgin and Burkes. The real shocking thing was that McGonagall insisted that Malfoy wasn't even in Hogsmeade because he had detention with her! She had definitely seen him there and now things were really beginning to get strange. Uncharacteristically however, Hermione kept the information to herself until she decided what to do with it. Until she decided who she wanted to tell. In the meantime she figured it would be dangerous to tell Harry.

Snape had more reason than anyone to believe Harry Potter about Malfoy, but he could not say one word to defend the boy. For once, he really wished he could. If only Draco would stop being angry with him and let him help him in his mission. Dumbledore would be dead without him having to be implicating and both of his Unbreakable Vows would be fulfilled. Dumbledore was irritatingly nonchalant about his impending demise and more worried about Draco hurting another student than anything else. It was all very noble, but not satisfying. To make matters worse, Dumbledore seemed to be on a mission to find the darkest artifacts he possibly could. He was extremely secretive about his missions, but if he returned with one more item as deadly as the ring was, Dumbledore might solve everyone's problems and off himself.

Snape filled his glass of whiskey and settled deeper into his desk chair. He was supposed to be grading papers, but he knew he was going to be summoned soon, and the alcohol would take the edge off. Two fingers for relaxation, nothing more. He could not risk even one shred of mental faculties being out of form for his performance with Voldemort.

Snape pondered his predicament as objectively as possible. Help Draco succeed to save himself from Narcissa's vow, or kill the man himself to save him from Dumbledore's. Either way he would be sufficient to keep him alive, but the costs were so great he could barely breathe when he thought about it. It was all just a horrible game. It was an unending waking nightmare that only his death would end the torment. He was the only one with a choice. He could choose a side and stop spying and find a way to survive this, but it was a choice he knew he could not make. He was so fed up with being a bully. He didn't have the energy anymore. He wanted to help Draco and renew the boy's trust him. He even wanted to help Potter. Whenever he looked into Potter's eyes and saw his mother behind all the pain he wanted to help him even more. Dumbledore had a plan for Harry Potter, that much he knew, but what was it? Beyond the prophecy claiming that Harry must defeat Voldemort, what else was there? What did that man know? And why wouldn't he tell him. Severus knew the answer to that. Because if he had the information and Voldemort pulled it out of his head, it would mean certain death for him. Being a spy meant he was only allowed to know so much. He belonged in a grey purgatory between both worlds, neither wanted nor fully accepted in either.

Snape felt the mark on his arm burn. He swallowed the liquor and set the glass on his desk. Carefully he pulled his mask on his face and used the floo from his office into his house on Spinner's End. He took a momentarily glance of his old and familiar living room before touching his wand to his arm and answering the summons. It would do no good to delay.

Severus arrived inside the large formal dining room of Malfoy Manor were Voldemort liked to hold court on most days. Narcissa was sitting at one end of the table with her sister. Wormtail was cowering in a corner and Voldemort sat on the other end of the table with Nagini wrapped around his shoulders. He was stroking her and whispering to her in Parseltongue. Severus had a brief thought of preparing antivenin and then quickly killed the thought. He could not let something like that become privy to Voldemort when he began his inevitable snoop through his mind.

Snape strode quickly to Voldemort and dropped to his knees in supplication.

"My Lord," he said to the man's distinctly ugly feet.

"Rise, Severus," Voldemort in a sibilant tone barely discernible from the Parseltongue he was using with Nagini. "This visit will be brief."

"My Lord," Severus repeated as he stood up. He cleared his mind of all but a few thoughts that would keep Voldemort satisfied, but this time it was not necessary.

"Rumor has it, my boy that Draco Malfoy made a foolish and weak attempt on Dumbledore's life today." Voldemort continued to stroke Nagini. "Do you think the boy will succeed, Severus?"

"I have confidence his future attempts will prove less foolhardy," Severus replied tactfully.

Voldemort glared at Snape with his snake like eyes. He instantly put up his mental shields, but the probing was very mild. Indeed, Snape was telling the absolute truth because if he had anything to do with it, Draco would not make another obvious attempt again.

"It has been brought to my attention that if Draco does not succeed, you have agreed to take on the happy task for him," Voldemort snapped out.

Severus risked a glance at Bellatrix and Narcissa. Narcissa looked terrified, Bellatrix gleeful. That bitch sold me out, Severus thought and then squashed it, but too late. Voldemort reached out and without actually touching his skin enclosed his long cold fingers in a pincer grasp around Snape's throat.

"Why did you keep the secret from me? We are not supposed to have any secrets now, are we?"

Naturally Snape could not answer. His lungs burned for lack of air and the skin on his throat felt like it was shredding under Voldemort's grasp. He feared his windpipe was within an inch from being crushed. As suddenly as he took hold, Voldemort released. Snape tried to maintain his composure as his lungs expanded too quickly and caused him to cough violently.

"My Lord," he sputtered. "I wanted you to have confidence in him."

"Is that so? Then you have not helped him at all?" With that Voldemort delved deeply and painfully into his mind. Images of mundane happenings around Hogwarts flipped through his head. Voldemort paused twice, once to note Dumbledore's increasing absence, and another to view Hermione Granger battling the boggart. The rest, Snape managed to keep under his shields. Voldemort still had not discovered that Dumbledore had a curse blackened arm. Dumbledore was especially insistent that Snape not reveal that information. If Voldemort were to discover it, it would have to be by someone else.

"I see that you are telling the truth." Voldemort stood and began to pace the length of the table. Nagini coiled herself in a pile on the chair Voldemort vacated and watched her master pace with rapt attention. "Dumbledore tells you nothing of his disappearances either."

The last was a statement.

"Who was that girl? I did not see her face. The one who fought a boggart that looked like me. I was taunting her. Who is she? Why does she fear me?" Voldemort asked. His curiosity was genuinely piqued and Snape could tell.

He swallowed thickly and resisted wincing at the pain in his throat. Whatever he said next could place Hermione Granger in considerable danger.

"She is Hermione Granger," Snape said quietly. The pain in his throat masked the hesitation he had in saying the name aloud.

Voldemort smiled. "Ah yes, Harry Potter's Mudblood girlfriend. She should fear me. How very wise of her. Clearly she knows me not at all if she believes that taunting is all I do."

Voldemort casually flicked his wand and Pettigrew screamed from his corner. Snape did not feel the need to point out that in boggart form he was indeed planning to strike.

"Is she useful to Potter?" Voldemort asked.

Extremely, thought Snape, but that would be a dangerous thing to say out loud, instead he said. "She helps him cheat on his homework. She is the top of her year."

Voldemort shook his head in mock sadness. "Pity then she is a Mudblood and I will have to dispose of her. I do admire ambition of any sort. Why was she facing a boggart in your presence?"

"She was in detention cleaning out my cupboard," I answered.

"For?" Voldemort queried.

"Cheating," Snape replied simply. "She cast a Confundus charm on a player during a Quidditch trial to cause him to make a mistake."

"I like her more and more," Voldemort scraped out a dry high pitched laugh. "Tell me Severus, did she succeed against the boggart?"

Severus could feel his Adam's apple working in his searing throat. "Yes, my Lord."

"Let me see," Voldemort said and he delved back in Snape's mind. Snape brought the memory forth from the point the boggart Hermione pulled the wand out of her sleeve and cast the hex.

Voldemort looked angry. "Am I that laughable?"

Snape said nothing.

"I said, am I that laughable?" The next thing Snape knew he was writhing on the ground in agony.

"No, my Lord!" he managed to scream.

The pain stopped and Voldemort returned to his seat. Nagini slid from the chair to his shoulders to make room.

"Perhaps we will have to do something to make the girl find me less funny." Voldemort said to no one in the room, but Bellatrix cackled audibly in response.

"In the meantime, maybe she would benefit from a few detentions that are less, shall we say, easy. Draco is to do his chore on his own. You may go." Voldemort dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Once Snape was back at Spinner's End he immediately prepared a poultice and applied it to his throat. It was late, but the swelling and bruising would be gone by morning. The poultice was still in place when Severus arrived in Dumbledore's office to make his report. He gave the report in detail taking down three fingers of whiskey and a pain potion as he did so.

"His interest in Granger is not inconsequential, but not a priority either. As long as she stays near Potter it will not be difficult to keep her safe," Dumbledore commented. "Although she would make good bait, and we cannot let that happen."

"Agreed," Snape replied. "How exactly, do you plan to keep that from happening?"

"Not me," Dumbledore replied carefully flexing his blackened hand. "You."

Snape shook his head. "I have enough to do already babysitting Draco and Potter. I don't have time for that brat too."

"She is hardly a brat, Severus," Dumbledore chided. "She is a prefect, a top student, of age, and most importantly one of the very reasons Harry is still alive. Her role in this war is quite central to its outcome, but I will tell you more of that later. For now get some rest. You clearly need it, and so do I."

"That is all then?" Snape demanded. He wanted more answers, more information. He told Dumbledore everything, and got nothing in return but more duty.

"Well, I believe you have detentions to figure out. I have it on good authority that Miss Granger has been visiting Hagrid lately studying dangerous magical creatures and helping him nurse his dying Acromantula, and visiting his giant brother. Perhaps you could find some fault with that, particularly if she were to be caught out after dark," Dumbledore supplied in what Snape imagined was supposed to be a helpful tone, but it came out as condescending instead.

"I'm sure I can find a multitude of reasons to give Granger detention Headmaster, but thank you for the suggestion," Snape replied snidely and strode out of the room.

Snape walked through the halls of the castle absorbing its sentience and enjoying the hollow clicking his boot heels made in the otherwise silent halls. He passed a seventh year Slytherin prefect on rounds near the dungeons but that was all. He loved the castle for it had been a special kind of home to him, but if the job was cursed and this year was to be his last in the beloved halls, he would not be sorry to see them go. It would be like saying to goodbye to a dying lover after a long and tragic affair. Bittersweet. Lonely and painful, but a relief to be free.

A/N: Here is another chapter! And so soon! I plan to do my best to update regularly. I really am trying! I am not a fisher for reviews, but they do help prompt me to write more often because then I know people are really interested. We are slipping a little bit more away from canon here, then it will float back, etc. I can get my page breaks to work anymore, help!