Hermione groaned softly, a soft buzzing slowly filling her ears like static on an untuned television. Her body felt oddly heavy and sore with a sharp pulse of a headache around her right temple. Something felt terribly off but her swiss-cheese brain was having trouble trying to sort out what it was when something warm touched her hand sparking her survival instincts into overdrive. Like a bolt of lightning, the world came alive in dizzying color.

"Mal wait!" But Ron's panicked warning was much too late.

Malenda let out a sharp squeak when she suddenly found herself thumping back into the wall beside Hermione's bed. Her wide eyes looking straight down into the brunette's own. The hand on her throat wasn't painfully tight but it wasn't Hermione's hand that worried her but rather her own wand pressing into the underside of her chin. Malenda had never seen anyone move so fast in her life. One moment she was checking the poultice on her arm the next moment that very hand was pressing into her throat.

Malenda swallowed thickly though out of the corner of her eye she could see Ron drawing his wand obviously conflicted on the entire series of events. Malenda very slightly raised her hand for him to hold off before her focus went back to the woman in front of her struggling to see her.

Hermione could feel her heart pumping furiously inside her rib cage, desperately trying to keep up with the adrenaline that had flooded her system. Her eyes and brain hardly communicated properly as the face in front of hers slowly took on a new appearance. Her brows twitched as her vision started to tunnel. The dark eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange slowly turning softer, brighter like shining sapphires.

"I di-idn't ta-ke...anything..." Hermione's chest arched when she spoke on the inhale. Her words so soft that Malenda was almost sure she hadn't heard them at all. The next moment her eyes rolled back in her head and her body started to collapse.

Malenda moved quickly, her arms that had been down at her sides wrapping around Hermione tight, pulling her close. Her own weight shifted as she slid down the wall with the shorter woman. One hand cradled the back of her head under her chin as she settled awkwardly on her folded legs, Hermione's body resting over them. Malenda's head tilted down to Hermione's once more peaceful features before her hand ran through her hair.

"It's okay..." She soothed, keeping her arm wrapped tight around Hermione's waist, "I've got you..."

Ron swallowed thickly, his eyes slowly blinking, "I didn't..."

"I know..." Malenda lifted her head offering a brave smile, "She passed out."

Ron clenched his jaw nodding only slightly, "I told you she was jumpy..."

Malenda huffed through her nose with a tight smile at his attempt to lighten the mood, "Yeah..."

However, Malenda didn't think that Hermione was jumpy. Far from it. What she had seen in her eyes just now screamed at her on an entirely different level. Her previous concern almost tripled now. She definitely had to contact Madame Pomfrey, she only hoped that the woman in her arms was not yet beyond help.

oOo

Antony sighed heavily, checking his watch once more before looking at the still empty desk near to his own, a deepening frown growing on his lips. In all the time he'd worked in the ward department he had never seen Granger seriously late and without word. He had tried their two-way notebook but hadn't received any response. His nerves were somewhat on edge from the deepening feeling in his gut telling him something was wrong.

"Antony?"

"Ah... Luna I mean Miss Lovegood..." Antony sputtered, "What can I do for you?" He tried to force a carefree smile on his face.

"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find Hermione. I've got a few questions about time turners I'd love to get her opinion on." Luna gave him a gentle smile, her arms shifting over the stack of papers in her arms.

"Time turners?" He gave her a curious look.

"Oh, yes." Luna smiled brightly," She used one in her third year to take extra classes. I wanted to pick her brain about the experience."

Antony's mouth opened and closed in stunned silence for a moment before he found his voice again, "She's done everything hasn't she?"

"Well, not everything." Luna chuckled softly, "But a lot for sure."

Antony chuckled softly before the humor gradually fell from his face, "She actually hasn't reported in today. I'm sort of worried."

"Have you checked with Harry and Ron in the Aurors department? They live together, if anyone would know anything surely it would be them." Luna offered kindly setting her bundle of papers on her hip.

"I didn't know that, thank you." Antony pushed himself up to go there straight away.

"I'll walk with you." Luna moved to walk beside him, a disarming smile on her lips.

oOo

Harry sighed deeply as he adjusted his robes. As much as he hated to go to the ministry that day he knew there was much work to be done. Thankfully, Molly had agreed to stay at the house with Hermione meaning that everyone was much more relaxed about the sudden circumstances.

With a final comb through his hair, he made his way out into the hall. Ginny had left the night previous, her team set to travel for the next six weeks. She had offered to stay but Harry had assured her that everything would be handled and that he'd update her often.

Malenda had updated everyone early in the morning when they'd woken for breakfast. He had been startled to hear what had happened during the middle of the night but she had assured them that she was fine and Hermione had just reacted to being woken by a stranger. While he could tell she was twisting the truth a bit he didn't want to press too hard at the present time, trusting that her letter to Madame Pomfrey would sort out the rest.

Harry paused by Hermione's door, straining his ears to hear anything inside. She hadn't put up her wards which both concerned and comforted him. She had still been asleep when they'd eaten breakfast so he had decided to let her rest but his heart desperately wanted to see her up and about before he left.

He knocked gently on the door before taking the handle and peeking inside. A glance to her desk brought a deep frown to his lips and he hurried his way inside letting the door knock against the wall in his haste causing Hermione to jump and turn in her chair, wand pointed straight for him.

"Harry! I almost cursed you." Hermione barked but the man did not stop his approach until he was at her desk, his hands quickly going for the journals laid over top, "Hey!"

"You're meant to be resting," Harry growled low, stacking the books harshly in the center.

"Harry, stop!" Hermione tried to make a reach for them but Harry pushed her hand away and pulled the journals up to his chest.

"Give them back Harry. " Hermione rounded on him her wand clutched tightly to her side, her fingers flexing around the hilt.

"No." Harry's tone was final, his eyes narrowed as he squared himself up to her aggressive posture. Had this been three years ago he probably would have dropped the books and ran but this was not the Hermione he remembered, this was not the same woman who fought the forces of darkness right beside him. No, this was a pathetic mockery of her former strength, hidden behind fear, pain, and anger.

"You're not my keeper! Give them back!" Hermione reached for him but her body was still out of sorts causing her to stumble. She sneered at herself while she straightened back up, Harry now a few paces back.

"Hermione I'm worried about you, we're all worried about you." He tried to reason with her, his harsh tone softening when he'd seen her stumble. He wanted nothing more than to have her actually have a go at him not that he'd fight back but at least then she'd have had the strength to do so.

"I'm fine." Hermione tried to subtly support herself on the back of her chair, her head pulsing making her voice sharp and her eyes narrow.

"You're fine?" Harry exasperated, motioned to her leaning frame, his voice unwittingly raising in pitch, "You passed out and knocked yourself unconscious, that's fine to you?"

"I was just tired." Hermione's chest was already beginning to heave with her anger, her hand holding tighter to the chair.

"Tired? That's what you call that?" Harry shook his head in disbelief, this was beyond stubbornness this was complete denial, "Hermione..."

"I don't need a lecture from you Harry just give me the journals!" Hermione did not appreciate the pity in his tone. Her anger once more came to the surface to give her another burst of strength.

"Why are you self-destructing over Snape?" Harry couldn't help the words that slipped from his mouth so desperate for any way to reason with his friend.

"He's a good man." Hermione's jaw twitched and her chin raised.

"I know that..." Harry's own face turned soft, his eyes lowering in respect for a brief moment. When he raised them again nothing but love shone through, "But is he worth dying for?"

Hermione could hardly stand to look Harry in the eye. She knew she'd been slowly building a time bomb within herself. It wasn't like it was hard for her to notice how the days had become increasingly more difficult. It was one of the reasons she'd accepted the supervisor post in her department that had practically taken her out of the field. She had tried hard to deny it, solve it, cover it up. Snape's journals were just one in a long line of distractions that she'd used to keep her mind off of everything that threatened to bring her down. While they weren't wholly responsible for the bomb inside they'd most certainly lit the fuse.

"Maybe..."

"Hermione!"

"What is all this racket?" Molly came to the doorway, hands on her hips, "Harry dear you're already late. Get going."

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Harry spoke but didn't take his eyes off Hermione. They stared at her other for a long moment the air so thick that a slicing hex wouldn't have gone through. When Molly cleared her throat Harry finally turned, slipping around her and towards the stairs to the attic determined to hide the journals before he left.

"I want those back!" Hermione called after him but didn't move an inch, wisely respecting Mrs. Weasley's impression of a door.

"You'll get them back when you start taking care of yourself!" Harry sniped back before he was too far gone.

Hermione pursed her lips and clenched her jaw, the excitement of their fight draining from her quickly. With a slight roll of her eyes along the floor, she slipped back into her desk chair before she found herself prone on the floor.

"Right then. Cup of tea?" Molly offered hands leaving her hips. She'd lived in a house full of redheads her entire life, this little tantrum was hardly disabling.

"Not hungry..." Hermione mumbled shifting to brace herself on her desk, her arms shielding the one journal Harry had missed, possibly due to its blank pages.

"Did I ask if you were hungry?" Molly's tone was perfectly clear.

"No ma'am..." Hermione tried not to shrink under the elder woman's gaze though she did brave a side glance through her messy hair.

"Right, back in a moment." Molly smiled softly and subtly called Hermione's wand from her lax fingers, "There shall be no wards in this house today." She pointed the tip of the confiscated wand at Hermione receiving a mumbled response before turning her way back towards the stairs.

Hermione sighed heavily, running her fingers under the cover of the journal on her desk. On a hunch, she reached into her drawer pulling out a quill and some ink. With a glance towards her open door, she dipped the quill into her ink and dropped some onto the page. There was a moment where nothing happened and her shoulders sagged. Then, just as she was about to put her quill away, the ink disappeared into the page.

Her brow cocked curiously and with a more fevered glance to the door listening for Mrs. Weasley's return, she dipped her quill again. This time she went to the top of the page focusing as best she could and wrote.

Snape? Can you hear me?

The ink slowly faded away into the pages and she set her quill aside. Her eyes intensely focused as she waited. Gradually, a response appeared.

Yes.

A mischievous grin caterpillar-ed across her lips and with another side glance to the door, she heard the stairs creaking. She pushed the ink and quill to the corner of her desk and turned slightly so that her body would cover any response she might have gotten.

"Here we are, dear." Molly toddled into the room, a modest tray in her hands and a bright smile on her face, "Just a little pick me up, yes." She transfigured one of Hermione's stools that sat in the corner into a small table and sat down the tray. It was filled with an assortment of wonderfully smelling baked goods, muffins, bagels, and the like.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley..." Hermione gently took a small blueberry muffin into her fingers, lightly picking at the wrapper, "I'm feeling much better already..."

"Yes well, I'll be the judge of that won't I?" Mrs. Weasley gently pat her arm before pulling out a small vial filled with a bright yellow potion, "I was told that you should take this as well. It should help you get back on your feet faster."

"Told by whom?" Hermione furrowed her brows a little, taking the potion into her fingers and turned it in the light that came through her window.

"Malenda." Mrs. Weasley said gently, trying to gauge Hermione's reaction. She herself, had been nearly heartbroken when Ron and Hermione had decided to break off their romantic entanglement she had hardly seen Hermione thereafter unless she invited all three of them over for dinners.

"Oh..." Hermione said with an air of surprise, she remembered meeting her last night but not much else, "It looks like a nutrition potion." She added almost as an afterthought, she pulled the cork and smelled the sweet honey scent, and nodded her head. If Snape had been impressed with her potions abilities who was she to question the competency of her brewing? She took down the entire vial in one sickly sweet swallow making a small face at the light aftertaste, "Well that's done..." She wiped at the corner of her lips handing the vial back.

"Right, yes." Mrs. Weasley smiled a bit more, "You eat up now, I don't want much left on this platter when I come back up here." She pushed herself up with a soft sigh, "I'm going to be doing some cleaning downstairs please come and join me if you feel up to it."

"I will, thank you." Hermione relaxed slightly but her eyes shot to her wand that was tucked into Mrs. Weasley's apron, "Um...could I please have my wand back though? Not having it sets my teeth on edge..."

Mrs. Weasley gave her a critical eye to which Hermione's response was to take a proper bite of her muffin, "Well...only if you promise not to ward yourself into your room."

Hermione swallowed down the bite with a growing smile, "I promise." She eagerly reached out for it just now noticing the poultice on her arm, something she would investigate after the lovely matriarch had gone downstairs.

"I'll be back with lunch soon enough, I want to hear that shower running within the hour, do you hear me?" Mrs. Weasley started towards the door, her teacup in hand obviously wanting to busy herself.

"Yes, ma'am." Hermione gave her another gentle smile and took another bite of her muffin suddenly ravenous. She turned back to the journal once the elder woman was out of sight. She was desperate to ask one of the many questions that had rampaged through her head the night before.

Though she'd had her wand returned to her she couldn't risk going to actually see him while being kept under such close watch. She had no idea how time worked inside there and it would have been impossible to predict when she would be 'looked in on' again. No, for know she had to settle for speaking to him as she was.

She dipped her quill again writing as quickly as she could manage and still be legible.

Who was watching you that day at the lake?

There was another pause as the ink settled into the pages and Hermione straightened herself trying not to look like she'd stuck her hand in the cookie jar.

Anwir Avery II.

Hermione pursed her lips, she would swear she'd heard that name before. Rather recently as well. Perhaps an article in the paper...It was hard to recall.

Was he a friend?

I had once believed him to be, in my ignorance of youth. Dangerous at the best of times. He had a special knack for the imperious curse. He would do all sorts of horrible things or rather control others to do it for him. Unfortunately for him, I was immune to its effects so he'd decided to use a more underhanded method for getting what he'd wanted from me. A method so complex it had taken years to decipher what he'd done to me. I'd also later found out that he'd been tasked with keeping an eye on me. Purposefully bending me to the cause.

Hermione furrowed her brows before writing once more.

Who was he keeping an eye on you for?

My cousin, Elsa Prince. She was in her fourth year when I arrived at Hogwarts. She had instantly known who I was but it wasn't until my mother had passed did I learn who she was.

Hermione quickly did the math in her head. Severus would have lost his mother at the end of his fourth year. Assuming he'd learned about Elsa somewhere after that they would have at least four years to shape his young mind to their want. He didn't strike her as easily impressionable but certainly vulnerable with an extremely limited support base.

What did she want from you?

She was embarrassed by me. She hated me from the moment she'd learned of my existence. A lowly half-blood in her pristine family line. She wanted me dead though she didn't have the stomach to kill me herself. She had hoped one of the Mauraders would do me in for her but as my skills grew I'd gathered the attention of her lover, the fact of which only infuriated her more. Still, as beside herself by him as she was, she still made sure that Avery and Mulciber did their job at making me just like them. Just as hateful and spiteful at the world as she had been hoping that I'd give up and eventually take my own life. She almost succeeded in that as well but I had been found too quickly.

Hermione slowly put down the muffin she'd been attempting to eat. A sickening roll of her stomach making her mouth water. She took a cautious breath and tried to calm herself. She honestly didn't know what to think about what she'd just read. It hurt on too many different levels to possibly process all at once. So instead, she tried to focus on something smaller. With another breath to give her strength, she lifted her quill again.

Who was Elsa's lover?

Lucius Malfoy.