Mrs. Walton was a simple woman who had lived a life full of all she had ever wanted. Modest in her dreams, she had found her peace in the small village she had called home for nearly 87 years. A kind woman by nature, she had spent her years as a homemaker. Happily caring for her late husband and raising her two beautiful children. With the passing of time, she had slowly become the caretaker for the whole village. Not that there were many to care for.

A small town on the border between the magical and muggle countryside. It stood in the shadow of a large derelict castle from which it had gotten its name. The magical Pure-blooded family who had owned and lived in the castle having been believed to have lost all its heirs during the Great War. At least, that was what was written in the town's history. Though some still remembered the family as they had been before they had suddenly disappeared.

Baile Prionnsa had been a rather popular stop for farmers and traders both muggle and magical back in its time. Now, it saw only the occasional wary traveler. Making their way in one direction or another. The pub and inn saw its occasional outsider but for the most part, kept the current residents as its continued patrons.

Yes, it was a quiet place, a homely place. Nothing interesting ever truly happened there. Even it's new residents seemed content with keeping the quiet place undisturbed. Though many rumors had run their course during and after their relocation to the small village, Mrs. Walton had never let such idle things stop her from doing what she did best.

She turned up the small walk that led to the modest house, adjusting her basket on her aged arm. A small two floored whitewashed building with almost no character that had been restored from its derelict manner. It had once served as the servant's home for those who'd had the pleasure of working in the castle and had sat empty for many decades.

The only feature the house truly had was the wildly overgrown orchard of apple trees that had taken over the large property. The man and woman who had moved into the home had been steadily trying to bring it back into some semblance of order. She had seen them on more than one occasion from her own house that stood nearby. Her own property large enough to give both of them the privacy otherwise unafforded in such a small town. Her home, theirs and one other, stood on the outskirts of the main street leaving them more often than not undisturbed. The bulk of the town's residents preferring the convenience of living much closer together.

Her deep blue eyes turned catching a flash of white gleaming in the sun. A soft smile forming on her face as she recognized the bent back of the man she had only seen on one occasion. Intimidating to some, his tall lean stature and dark eyes that almost felt as though he were looking through you instead of at you, had no effect on a wise witch such as herself. She could tell from the moment she had seen him that the world had been most unkind to him. She had made it part of her mission to bring at least a flicker of hope to the man's eyes. A promise to herself to show him that not all that lived in the world were so unkind.

She adjusted her stride towards the small garden he was working in. She had already met the other who had been staying in the house. A most fascinating woman, she didn't seem to share the same bitter outlook though there was an odd weight to her shoulders as well. She didn't smile, but her eyes were truly her most striking feature. They sparkled with hidden knowledge that even she had felt beyond her years. She hadn't asked their relation when she'd first had introduced herself and welcomed them to the neighborhood. She had only spoken with the woman at that time and only later learned, from looking out her window, that she hadn't been living alone. Though they were much too similar in appearance to have been lovers, she didn't find it her place to ask for clarification. It wasn't her business to know.

"Good Afternoon." Mrs. Walton put on her best smile, first impressions and all that.

The man who had been bent low pulling out the weeds from the small vegetable garden shifted slightly to give her his attention. His hair had been pulled back from his face and his white shirt sleeves had been rolled to the elbow. Personally, he didn't look properly dressed to be handling such a dirty task. In fact, he rather looked like he was much better suited to be standing at the front of a classroom.

"Afternoon."

The man came to his feet slowly, partially coming to shadow the much smaller woman. She eyes took him in slowly without judgment or fear. He truly did had a natural ability to give off a feeling of unease but Mrs. Walton had lived far too long to let someone's appearance be her jury. She came just a step closer pulling around the basket she had been carrying.

"I hope you don't mind, but you see I've had a rather abundant harvest of tomatoes this year and I was wondering if perhaps you would care to take some of the bounty off my hands. I would hate for such a gift to go to waste." She opened the lid to her basket pulling out a rather large jar of freshly preserved tomatoes. "Just jarred this morning."

The man gave her a critical look as though he were searching for some hidden trap to suddenly spring. She remained as she was, the kind smile still crinkling the skin around her eyes. Then, slowly he came forward and accepted her gift. A soft sigh passed her lips as she reached into her basket again pulling out a jar of her own special pasta sauce. Smaller than her first gift it was still more than enough to serve the two living in the house a couple of wonderful heartfelt meals.

He took the second jar without a word turning it in the sun for a moment before tucking it under his arm to free his hand. He reached into his slacks and pulled out a small vial before turning his eyes back to her.

"Galia mentioned you." His voice was deep and edged. Not with anger nor irritation but rather as though it was difficult for him to speak. Mrs. Walton's eyes turned up to his neck noting the discoloration just under his collar.

"She is a lovely woman."

"Indeed." He looked down at the vial for a moment before offering it out, "For your heart."

Mrs. Walton took the vial without question, tucking it into the basket. "You are most kind."

The man said nothing more, merely adjusting his hold over the jars. Taking the cue that their brief if the cordial conversation was over, Mrs. Walton turned back down the path from which she had come. She felt his eyes watching her as she made her way back to the road but didn't feel worried. If anything, she felt safe.

oO July Oo

"Wow, Hermione you're looking rather-, "Ron searched for the words that would keep him from being cursed into the next room. "Professional today."

"Thanks, Ronald." Hermione gave him a small unimpressed look but decided that it wasn't worth even addressing, instead she turned her eyes towards Harry who was trying to finish off his morning toast. "I actually wanted to go with you to the ministry today. See if maybe...there was something I could do there... Something someone like me could possibly be useful for."

Harry swallowed down hard. It had been a couple weeks since he'd talked with Ginny about what he'd witnessed. Hermione had been rather reclusive in that time and it had been starting to build to a climax that was ready to push him towards confronting her about it.

"Anyone at the Ministry would be lucky to have you." Harry spoke wholeheartedly watching her face for any sort of reaction, "What department were you thinking?"

"Something light? Record keeping maybe?" Hermione visibly relaxed when Harry seemed to accept her wishes. She had been so sure there was going to be a fight about her trying to 'push herself' too far. There had been off-sided comments made while she was studying for NEWTS but so far nothing had been directly addressed.

She actually felt better, truly better. She'd been sleeping through the night without a single nightmare ever since the night she had opened the box from the hospital. True, she'd done something completely out of character and made a habit of having Snape's cloak in the bed with her when she slept at night. She kept it folded under her covers but would always find herself wrapped tightly in it by morning. Partially ashamed, she kept it out of sight of Ron, Harry, and Ginny hoping to keep its very existence a secret as long as possible. Thus far it had worked better than any dreamless sleep potion her Therapist had given her.

"That sounds reasonable." Ron nodded his head licking a bit of jam from his finger while he looked at Harry, "I'm sure there's someone we could talk to. I don't think there's many who would object to having the brightest witch of this age on their team." His compliment had had the opposite of his desired effect but as he'd looked away he hadn't seen the shadow falling over her masked confidence.

"Yeah, right." Harry nodded his head but did take note of how badly Ron's attempt had gone. Instead of bringing light to it, however, he merely pushed himself up. "Come on, let's get going. Don't want to be late."

oOOo

"Oh my God!" Hermione gasped dropping her bag down to the floor to cover her eyes. She could hear Ginny and Harry scrambling off of the table and back to their feet. She couldn't even believe what she'd accidentally walked in on. That was the table where they ate! This was getting out of hand. She'd already caught them in the library, Ron had nearly lost his head when he'd caught them sharing a shower together and now she'd caught them in the kitchen.

"Sorry, Hermione!" Ginny's apology didn't help ease the blush rising over the brunette's cheeks.

"We thought you were out with Ron, a movie?"

"He wanted to get a drink after, I wasn't feeling well so I came home!" Hermione peeked through her fingers watching her two friends adjusting their clothes to hide their shame. "That's where we eat, Harry!"

"Why is this my fault?" The boy squeaked putting his hands to his chest. "She started it!"

"Oh yes, blame me!" Ginny smirked and smacked his chest, "You said no one would find out!"

"Okay enough!" Hermione truly did feel sick to her stomach, possibly from the dinner she'd eaten at the restaurant Ron had taken her out to before the movie. She'd wanted to try something new, obviously, it wasn't sitting well. "Both of you...just...ugh!"

Hermione turned away a hand on her stomach as she went up the stairs. She couldn't really be angry with them, not with Ginny scheduled to go back to school so soon. She knew they'd tried to keep their obvious happiness out of everyone else's business but they hadn't been as sneaky as they believed they were. The house was old, and the walls as beautiful as they were, were still rather thin.

Hermione shook her head as she came to the second floor, her hand over her mouth to try and keep her dinner from making a reappearance. Her skin felt clammy and her body felt dreadfully cold. She was sure her nausea wasn't caused by what she'd seen but it didn't help either. She made it to the bathroom just before her stomach gave its final warning.

Ginny made a face when the sound of Hermione's retching reached the downstairs. She looked at Harry with a bit of worry.

"I didn't think I was that ugly..."

Ginny shook her head with a small roll of her eyes, "I don't think it was us."

"Should we..."

"I'll go. You...mmm yeah just...stay here..." Her eyes ran down his exposed chest, the love bites she'd left behind darkening even more. "She's probably just got food poisoning. I warned Ron about that restaurant wasn't a good choice."

"They do have good chips though..."

"Chips are not a date food, Harry Potter." Ginny shook her head and pulled her shirt straight making for the stairs. "You best remember that!"

Harry smirked as he listened to her head back up the stairs.

Ginny ran her hand through her hair trying to make herself somewhat presentable when she pushed open the bathroom door. She gave Hermione a compassionate look coming to her side. She pulled a towel from the rack and turned on the water. The worst of it seemed to have passed and Hermione leaned back against the tub to take a breath.

"What did you eat?" Ginny moved over to give her the wet cloth.

"Just...some...I honestly don't know...it tasted fine going down...I think maybe it could have been the wine actually...I've never been one for alcohol really..."

"How much did you drink?" Ginny closed the toilet after flushing it and rested her arms on her knees.

"Maybe half a glass? It tasted funny from the start..."

"Well, it's definitely not the alcohol. Let's just hope it is just food poisoning. Wouldn't want you to get sick before you get the chance to take your NEWTS."

"Don't remind me..." Hermione let her head fall back against the tub, her mouth felt cottony, as though she'd taken a potion. She couldn't remember at present what potion had that sort of side-effect, her head pulsing too much to give it any proper thought. "Do we have any headache relief potion?"

"Yeah, let me look." Ginny stood again opening up the medicine cabinet, they'd all had a small supply of basic household potions. She and Hermione had made a rather nice stock while practicing their skills for her upcoming NEWTS. "Yep, here we are." Ginny pulled the bottle down and came back to sit beside her. After Hermione had taken it she took the empty vial into her hands, "Sorry for...well...downstairs..."

"It's alright...I'm happy for you...really..." Hermione looked out from under the cloth she'd put over her forehead, "Just...can you keep it to the bedroom please?"

"Will do." Ginny took a small breath, "Do you need help getting to your room?"

"No, I think...I'll just take a bath...I feel gross..."

"Ron didn't try anything did he?"

"Not really...He did put his arm around me during the movie, but I think he was more fascinated with the actual movie than me."

"Harry promised to take me to one before school starts."

Hermione had almost forgotten that neither Ron nor Ginny had grown up with such muggle things. "You'll like it I'm sure, just don't let him convince you to see a horror film." Hermione nodded with a small grin, "Always push for the romantic comedy. That's how you know if he's a keeper."

"I'll remember that." Ginny giggled softly relaxing to Hermione's obvious if a little poorly delivered humor. "You sure you're alright?"

"I'm feeling better already. It was probably just the food." She pulled the towel down from her head and gave Ginny a small smile, "Now to go your room."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ginny pushed herself up making towards the door, as she was just about to turn the corner she heard Hermione call out again.

"Don't forget the silencing charm!"

"Yes, Mom!" Ginny chuckled and came to the stairs smirking down at Harry who had come to listen in. She gave him a crook of her finger before turning up to go to the next floor.

oOo

Ron looked down at the page he'd torn out from the book he'd found in the library. The house was still dark at the early hour, having woken before everyone else on that Sunday. He just couldn't understand why it hadn't worked. He had followed the instructions carefully. He was sure he wasn't that inept at potions.

"Ron?" Ginny let out a deep yawn rubbing her eye, "What're you doing awake?"

"Could ask you the same." His voice was a little tight as though he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. His back had gone stiff and his hand shifted to try and cover what he'd been reading.

"Came down for some water..." She glanced at the clock, it was 4:15 am. What on earth was he doing up so early, late, whatever? "What are you making? It smells weird..."

"Just uh..." Ron hastily up the lid on his cauldron casting a quick stasis charm, "Trying to uh...you know help Hermione..."

"With what?" Ginny came over now, her curiosity peeked. Ron had moved his hand away from the torn page to cover the cauldron and she'd looked down at it. Unfortunately, her sleepy brain wasn't able to understand much of what she was reading.

"Studying...and...stuff..."

"Well, she can't take this..." Ginny rubbed her eye setting down the paper, "She's allergic to Pearl Dust." Ginny said her words with a heavy yawn setting the paper back down before turning away to get a glass. She'd found out that little bit of information from the large sheet of curses the healer had made when she'd run a diagnostic on all of them at the safe house. She'd snuck the paper out, wanting to give Harry some sort of way to help Hermione before she had had to return to the school.

"Right...better think of something else then..." Ron watched his sister take her water and sleepily make her way back upstairs. He barely managed to cast the silencing charm over the room before he knocked over his cauldron in a fit of anger. The sickly pink potion inside spilled out and over the edge of the table.

oO August Oo

It had been only one week since she had decided to move out of Grimmauld Place and in with Ron. The decision had been made when she'd walked in on Harry and Ginny in the living room. This time she had definitely seen more than her fair share. Neither one of them had even noticed her hasty retreat back upstairs. The water she had come down to get completely forgotten. Ron had asked every day until the day he'd actually moved out. The incident occurring not four days later and so, with her tail and her pride tucked firmly between her legs she had asked him if the offer was still available.

He had been so elated by her asking that she had almost felt obligated to stay longer than the few months she had originally planned. Her thoughts being that she'd stay until she could find a suitable place of her own with the money she was presently saving. She had managed to get a job in the records department like she'd wanted. Her job merely to update and file information regarding who lived where and what children were being born to which families and make sure all the information was filed in the proper places. It was a menial job but it kept her busy.

Their work and schedules kept them apart for most of the day, though at night when she would be reading she'd taken to letting Ron relax against her while she continued to study for her upcoming test that was a mere week away. He'd usually fall asleep with his head in her lap but had otherwise had not disturbed her.

"Ms. Granger?"

Hermione's head lifted slowly bringing her out of her mental musings, "Ah, yes?"

"I know it's a bit of a touchy subject, and you're more than welcome to object but...I was wondering if I could have a bit of help with these?" The elder man, Mr. Weatherborn who she shared the small department with slowly set down a small stack of files on her desk.

Hermione tilted her head slightly looking at the name on the top file, her brow furrowing just a bit: Collin Creevy. "Sir?"

"They're...from the war...I've been trying to sort through them and put them in their proper place but...well the Minister wanted them properly handled by last week and I-I just didn't have the heart to ask..."

Hermione felt her heart beating a little faster in her chest as she slowly pulled it from the stack, her fingers flipping open to the bright smiling picture of the boy she had known. The large red stamp over his information felt like a nail shot straight through her chest. She swallowed down the pain before raising her head, "I'll do my best..."

"You really are a saint...I don't know what I would do without you... Please, if you need a break at any time today...don't even ask..."

"Thank you..." Hermione watched him toddle off with his own stack of heavy files. She straightened her back and tried to put on a cool detached demeanor. The war was over, it was time. It was time.

She closed the file and set it aside, she would do it in the same order she always had. The large file room was organized by birthdate, leaving the youngest to die farthest in the back, a least a 10-minute walk into the deep caverns. It was always easiest for her to work through the days work from oldest to newest. Deaths, then births. It was the most efficient way.

She pulled the next two files down, looking only at the date of birth and nothing else. Aurors, students, common wizards and witches, their names never made it into her inner eye. That was, until the very last. Her fingers lingered over the dark brown file for a long time, her eyes stuck on the name printed on the tab: Snape, Severus Tobias.

With great trepidation she pulled open the cover, her eyes lingering on the picture staring back at her. It wasn't moving, not because it wasn't magical but rather because the man inside the frame hadn't moved during the exposure. He looked young, younger than she could remember him being. His dark eyes and sharp features looking straight through the camera into her very soul. She'd almost forgotten what he actually looked like. Remembering him only in wisps of darkened memories.

Her finger lightly traced the line of his jaw before her eyes turned down to the stamp that rested just under his picture. Unlike the others, it was smaller but no less bold. The letters M.I.A. printed in bright blue ink. Her eyes turned to the left where his basic information was written.

Surname: Snape

Given Name: Severus, Tobias

Blood Status: Half-Blood

Blood Descendent: Prince, Eileen Alexandra

Date of Birth: 1960, January 9th

Residences: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Spinner's End: Cokeworth

Honors: Order of Merlin: First Class (1998), Masters of Herbology (1982), Masters of Arithmancy (1981), Masters of Alchemy (1980), Masters of Defense (1980)

Crimes: The entire section had been completely redacted.

Hermione looked down further, she had learned that the older records of magical witches and wizard didn't include the name of the father unless they were also magically inclined. This led her mind turning in most curious directions. She hadn't realized he had been so accomplished in the academic fields. At least not to the point where he would have been awarded a 'Master' status in each field. That usually took years to accomplish. She'd recognized that name from when she had been filing other records away. Pure-Blooded wizards had a different section of the vault; their descendants, and subsequent family lines paradoxically much more complicated than the average witch or wizard's.

Hermione pushed herself up from her desk taking the file with her. There was a reference number at the bottom of the page, meaning that his file already had a place to be. Setting aside his current status, she turned down into the dark oddly chilled stacks. Large bookcases filled with rows and rows of similar files all protected by a preservation charm. Prince. Where had she seen that name before?

Hermione felt her steps moving faster as she looked up and down the rows. The more 'noble' families had entire rows devoted to their heritage. The Malfoy line alone was at least 4 meters long with the Black family being nearly the same. Female Pure-bloods didn't lose their 'house name' when they got married, at least not in the records. It was always at the top of their file followed by their 'married' name. Children were always filed under their mother's 'house name' regardless of who their father was.

It was the most archaic system, but it was easy to navigate once you learned the system. There weren't so many Ministry recognized Pure-blooded wizards left. Only about 30 names were even officially classified as pure blooded anymore. Though less than 20 were active now they had remained in their place. She had been mildly surprised to find the Potter name at the very outskirts of the section as though someone had made to move it before leaving it where it was. It was like having access to the entire wizarding worlds dirtiest secrets. The dark underbelly to the reason why everything had even happened. All this hate, all this regimented segregation. That was a battle for another day.

Hermione turned down another long pathway, she was so deep now, she wasn't even sure she'd find it. Then, just when she was about to admit she may have been mistaken, the large family crest shined under her wand-light. There it was, Prince. The shield was large and beautifully designed. A Raven sat at the top, perched upon a tome. The crest beneath had four distinct designs inside, with two large silver Eagles as crest supporters the motto: Gloria et Virtus written beneath.