"We have to go right now!"

Luna rubbed her forehead with a small wince. The two of them had been going back and forth for at least 45 minutes. Neville had taken her side but even his resolve was starting to wain against the fiery redhead's temper.

She'd kept herself out of it after Ginny had blown up on of the chairs in a wild burst of magic. Neville too was trying his best to calm her down. Possibly out of fear of losing a limb or something else. He had retreated, putting the large map table between them.

"And if we get caught by the Carrows? Then we'll all be captured and of no use to Harry or anyone else!"

Luna took a slow breath and turned her head towards the clock, it was growing closer to midnight. She wondered if she should just let them be, it was a rather interesting way to pass the time. She understood both of their sides implicitly but something that neither of them seemed to be concerned about was the way Hermione and Snape had interacted with each other.

Luna herself found it rather curious. She had been focused on the room at the beginning before having turned her eyes towards the man's face. She was certain neither Gryffindor had even bothered to turn their eyes towards him. He had looked so sad, it wasn't easy to see, but she had seen it many times before through the years she'd spent in his class. It was a sort of weight he carried on his shoulders. A slight tick near his temple.

"We can take them! There's three of us!"

"Correction." Luna unfolded her legs, "There is three of us and an untold number of others that would come to their aid."

"What do you mean?" Ginny rounded on her then, her chest heaving as she tried to keep herself calm.

"The Carrows are not the only marked followers in our halls." She came to her feet slowly making sure she looked as unintimidating as possible, "We need to wait. We need to be ready and rested." She looked at Neville who looked a bit tired from all the screaming already. "It will serve us no purpose to rewrite a plan that we all agreed to."

Ginny let out a deep breath through her nose. She itching to go. Hermione was so close, just one floor above them. If they could get her to the room they could get her to Aborforth and to the safe house where Harry and Ron were.

oOo

A heavy groan filled the otherwise quiet room. Snape had finally figured out which Slave spell would be most suitable to replace the one Voldemort had placed on Granger. It was a rather brilliant loop-hole. He was still a little sore that he hadn't been the one to find it but his ego had been soothed by the fact that she hadn't really understood what the spell implicated either.

They had wasted countless hours searching for a counter curse to a spell that was so dangerous that even slave makers strayed away from using it. He was starting to think that the missing page might have even been torn out by Voldemort during his time at Hogwarts. He would also suspect that it was that particular spell that had inspired the megalomaniac's dark mark. He was just grateful that he'd removed the death clause.

There was a heavy pause in his internal thinking before his eyes widened considerably. Had he removed the death clause? After his first fall, the mark had lost its color but it hadn't fully gone away. Neither had Voldemort for that matter. His body was gone, yes, but his soul had lived in through his Horcruxes. What would happen if he truly died? Would all of his followers 'worthy' enough to bear his mark perish too?

Severus turned his arm slowly, glaring at what he knew to be held in the tight fabric of his sleeve. He had long accepted his death but could he really sit by as others too young to even understand perished with him? What could he even do about such a circumstance? He was only one man.

The large grandfather clock let out a heavy gong, pulling him from his mind space. He couldn't solve the world's problems in one night, that was for sure. He had to focus on his own and work outward. A heavy sigh pushed him from the desk and a smart flick of his wand turned out the lights. He needed rest.

His body went on autopilot, banishing away his outer layers on the way to the bed. He pulled on his sleeping pants forgoing a shirt and slipped under the covers. He set a charm to wake him at 5 am knowing he'd need the extra time before his current 'house guest' would wake. He hoped she would sleep through the night but he wasn't going to count his eggs.

With a heavy sigh and another flick of his wand, the lights of the room turned low. He never did sleep with the lights completely off. He wasn't afraid of the dark but rather what could be hidden in its shadows. He tucked his wand under his pillow coming to rest on his side.

His brain was still turning. Fitfully turning over things well outside his control. Insomnia wasn't a new thing to him but he knew he needed to rest. He hadn't had a proper rest in some time and it was starting to weigh on his senses.

A deep grunt pushed him over the edge of the bed where he pulled his own supply of modified Nightdrop. It quieted his brain without leaving him vulnerable to attack. It would allow him to rest but still be alert enough to cast at least a protection spell. He pulled the vial flicking off the cap before taking a small drink. He didn't need a lot to sleep for five hours.

oOo

"Are you ready?" Ginny was thrumming with energy. She could hardly contain herself as she waited for Neville to cast his disillusionment spell. Luna was already at the door watching the hall. The pin on her shirt was still and her eyes confirmed her charm.

"Yeah, let's get Hermione..." Neville tucked his wand into his pocket before coming beside Ginny.

"Let's go..."

The three of them moved out silently. Keeping their bodies close to the wall. Luna took point with Neville taking up the rear. They moved with almost military-like precision through the hall and up the secret staircase.

As they came around the bend Luna could feel a sort of weight in the air. The sort of heaviness that came with extremely powerful wards. She scanned the hall and walls but couldn't see any runes shining against the stone. Her exceptionally astute sense of direction and her extra little gift of sight led her down the hall towards the room they had marked on their map as a lead point. When they passed it without seeing another door Luna paused causing Ginny to bump into her.

"Sorry..." Luna whispered her apology while stepping around her. There was no door between the abandoned classrooms. Just a wall. She pressed her fingers against the stone and closed her eyes. She could feel the wards. Surely, they were in the right spot.

"Where's the door... isn't there supposed to be a door?" Neville too had become confused, unable to see what Luna was doing clearly he backed himself up against the opposite wall turning his head to look between. Did they make a mistake?

"It's gone... he must have removed it..." She hadn't seen one in the mirror either and seeing the hallway just confirmed her fears, "We'll have to open the wall..."

"I know how to blow up a wall..." Ginny cast a small charm around the area protecting them from any possible intruders, she wasn't sure what good it would do but it was better than nothing.

"We can't blow it up... the room is connected to Snape's and I'm pretty sure, no matter how hard you sleep you're not going to sleep through that." Neville removed his disillusionment charm when the last of Ginny's wards were in place. He liked it much better when he could see who he was talking to and suspected the others did too.

"Do either of you know a charm to make walls disappear?" Ginny gave Neville a small look that didn't really have any heat to it. She was just tired and frustrated; they all were.

"I might know one..." Neville scratched the side of his head before looking over at Luna. She had also removed her charm but was pressing her cheek into the wall as if listening for something. There was a small pause as both Gryffindors turned their heads to watch her move down the wall. When she stopped they moved closer, concern on their faces.

"You should try your spell here, Neville..." Luna stepped back but kept her hand on the wall marking the place.

"Right." Neville moved to her side and softly cleared his throat. "Discoperiet..."

Luna smiled softly when the mortar holding the stone in place vanished. The stone gave a soft thump in response to being dislodged and she easily pulled it from its place with a simple levitation charm. Neville and Luna both leaned in to look into the hole, their heads bumping lightly sparking a soft series of apologies before Luna leaned back out of his way.

"We found the right place..." Neville could see Hermione on the bed. Her back was to them but she was there, really there. He tried to see more of the room but the stone wall was so thick that it made it nearly impossible to see everything. One thing he could tell was that she seemed to be alone.

"Keep going, Neville." As excited as Ginny was that they'd done it, she was also aware of how dangerous a situation they were in. There was no conceivable way they could explain tearing down a wall, even to the most liberal of minds. Though she was certain as long as the Carrows or Filtch didn't catch them, they'd be rewarded for their efforts instead of brutally tortured.

Neville worked quickly making a rather large hole, he was just about to start on the stones around his waist when Luna's hand stopped him. "Wha..." His question died in his throat when the blond woefully raised her hand through the hole only to press up against an invisible ward. There was a small flash of yellow where she touched before it dissolved back into nothingness.

"He's protected the room..."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ginny's harsh whisper turned both of their heads but their faces told her that they very much weren't lying. "What do we do now?"

"Maybe we can still talk to her... give her hope?" Luna looked between the two of them, a deep sadness in her voice and on her face. She leaned down breaking off a small corner of one of the bricks. Yellow meant living things, maybe they could still reach her.

She lined herself up with the hole before giving the rock a hardy toss. She felt Ginny at her back having left her lookout post to join them in seeing into the room. The rock made it all the way to the bed before bouncing off the edge of the mattress onto the floor.

The sharp unexpected noise startled Hermione from her restless sleep. She blinked her heavy eyes open trying to understand what she wasn't even sure she'd heard, when a second noise rang out through the room. It almost sounded like... rocks? Hermione turned herself slowly her eyes going wide. Surely she wasn't seeing what she was seeing. She was dreaming or hallucinating from all the stress she'd been under.

She blinked dumbly at the three faces looking back at her from the hole in the wall. They each looked very happy to see her and her heart gave a heavy thump to the familiarity of their faces. She turned her eyes down to the floor for a moment seeing two bits of stone. If they could get in, could she get out?

Her head spun a little as she pushed herself to her feet and she had to use the chair to keep her balance. A quick glance at the door that led from her rooms stilled her for a brief moment before she threw caution to the wind and closed the distance to the wall. As soon as her hand made to reach through the hole she felt the ward. Her brow furrowed slightly before she saw a yellow ripple extend down into the floor. She knew what it meant but it only added weight to her heart.

Luna stepped a little aside to let Ginny and Neville take the spotlight, someone needed to be watching their backs anyway. Neville gave Hermione a soft, if concerned, smile and leaned in a little closer.

"Hermione? Hermione, can you hear us?" He frowned when she moved her lips but no sound came through. He slowed his speech and exaggerated his mouth, "We can't hear you." He pointed to his ear and shook his head. It pained him to watch the light that had come to her eyes grow dim. She was so close...so...close.

"Are you okay?" Ginny mimicked Neville's movements but gasped when her words appeared in red in front of her. She glanced at Luna who was tucking her wand back behind her ear and turning back to look down the hall.

Hermione blinked slightly when she saw the words appear under Ginny's face. Like subtitles, they were there for only a moment. The question brought ambivalence to her face before she pushed it all down to give them a brave smile.

'I'm okay.' She kept herself silent unsure if Snape had any charms to let him hear inside the room. She pressed herself even closer to the wall desperately wanting to touch either of them.

"What has Snape done to you?" Neville's words appeared before him too and he had to thank Luna internally.

Hermione pursed her lips with a furrowed brow. Something about the entire situation was eating away at her logic driven mind. As excited as she was to see a familiar face, her experiences over the last few days had left her a bit wary. How did they even know she was being held by Snape? How did they know where to even look for her?

She wrapped her arms tightly around her stomach taking a step back. The hurt on her friends' faces was very convincing but she had to be sure. She turned her head away from them unaware that the raised skin of the brand on her neck could clearly be seen in the shadow of the overhead light.

She moved on still wobbly legs over to the small table in the far corner. There wasn't any parchment but there was the medical book he'd left her. She chewed her lip before opening it to the title page, it broke her heart to do it but it needed to be done.

As carefully as she could she tore the back page from the book, it was mostly blank on the back and would have to do. She pulled the small pencil she'd managed to keep with her all this time from the top of the table and started back towards the hole. She wrote her question small in the top corner before holding up for them to read.

What did Ron get me for Christmas last year?

"He gave you perfume. I helped him pick it out. You gave him a study journal..." Ginny pressed herself closer, curious to why she would ask that of all questions.

Hermione looked seemingly satisfied with her answer and looked down again to write. When she finished she held the paper up again.

How did you find me?

"They saw you on the map. Harry's map." Neville was a bit concerned when she had gone away, he thought for a split second that she might have gone to alert Snape fearing that she had somehow been brainwashed.

Hermione read his words furrowing her brows even more. If Neville and Ginny were coming to rescue her, then she could only assume something very bad had happened to Harry and Ron. She knew that the Harry and Ron had been in the office but she'd never gotten what happened to them afterward clearly from Snape.

She lowered her head back down to the paper hastily scribbling, when she put it back up she looked at Ginny with worry.

What happened to Harry and Ron?

"They're both fine...they're at..." Ginny winced when Neville elbowed her in the side. Ginny quickly realized her mistake and looked back with the same sadness that Hermione was giving to her. "They're safe...What about you? Your back?"

Hermione pursed her lips, how did she know she was injured? She was still dressed and she was certain that the shirt she was wearing wasn't see through. She did glance down just in case before shaking her head. She was becoming increasingly uneasy with the amount of information they seemed to have about her.

Neville made a small face to her confusion, "The ROR gave us a mirror...it let us see you...we saw Snape...tie you to a chair...then we saw...your back. Ginny said she'd seen you somewhere else, that someone was beating you."

Hermione shook her head,
her brow lightening slightly. However they were seeing into her life, it wasn't showing them the full picture. She had no idea how long nor how much they'd seen. The very idea of others being able to see her without her knowledge left an odd taste in her mouth. She pushed the thought aside for now and focused on the more important issues in front of her. She hastily scribbled her words down and raised the paper back up.

It's not what it seems.

"He wasn't hurting you?" Neville looked at Ginny for a moment, "What was he doing to you?"

Hermione waffled her head slightly and glanced at the door again. What could she possibly tell them? It was dangerous enough to know what she did, it didn't seem like a good idea to start spreading the word of his 'goodwill'. She made a small face before turning her eyes away choosing to say nothing.

Hermione glanced between the two of them from under her lashes before taking a slow breath. She glanced back towards the door to her room before down at her paper. She was grateful to Ginny for holding her tongue. She didn't need any more information floating around in her mind for Voldemort to get a hold of. That thought led to another and her heart leaped into her throat.

"Hermione...we'll get you out of there..." Ginny pressed herself closer to the bricks, "We just need to figure out how to dismantle his wards..."

Hermione hadn't seen her words since her eyes were down on the paper she was writing on. She looked up just in time for the last few words to fade out but she shook her head. She folded the paper she'd written on and took a slow breath. She pressed her hand flat against the ward between them trying to show them her bravest face.

Ginny raised her hand pressed it over Hermione's own, they couldn't feel the other but the emotion behind their action could be felt through the ward. Hermione's eyes were starting to shine with unshed tears when she pulled her hand away. She looked down at the letter she had in her hand before taking a calming breath. She pushed the paper through the hole watching the ward bend around it.

Ginny took the paper with trembling fingers before carefully opening the folded paper. Her brow furrowed even deeper, looking at the bottom where her missive had been written. She showed the cryptic message to Neville before looking back through the hole.

Hermione was backing away from them now. Her face brave but her arms curled tightly around her waist. She looked so small inside Snape's shirt. So fragile, so worn. She looked directly into each of their eyes for a long heartbreaking moment before one of her hands uncurled taking hold of the chair that had been used to torture her just a few hours prior.

Ginny let out a soft sob from the back of her throat, the symbolism of the gesture was undeniable. She sniffled softly trying to put on a brave face, "We'll come back for you..."

Hermione shook her head slightly and lowered it down. Her teary eyes staring pointedly at the floor. She needed them to go, they had to warn Harry. It was truly the only way any of them had any hope of surviving the war. She knew as soon as she'd done it how foolish it was but there was no turning back now.

She closed her eyes tight and turned away completely.