"Did you have to completely destroy it?" Severus was now ankle deep in water from the pool that had suddenly exploded through the magical protection of the suitcase. Water spilling out in torrents from the fractured side filling his chambers in seconds.

"You shouldn't have locked it." Hermione was doing absolutely nothing to aid him in the clean-up. Sitting on top of their bed with her legs crossed while she casually worked on stitching her coat.

"Now who's being insufferable?" Severus was beyond exhausted at this point and all his pleasantries where the woman was concerned were completely gone. His tone was sharp and had it been anyone else he was sure it would have sent them running for the farthest room in the castle to be away from him.

"Don't blame me for your actions." Hermione let out her own sharp-tongued retort, pulling the needle she'd been working with up to her teeth to break the thread. A soft sigh flopped her arms down over her coat where she leveled her still magically charmed red eyes on the man, " Even a caged lion has claws. Just be glad I didn't break the expansion charm completely."

"Small favors, that." Severus snarled at her one last time before leaning down to pick up some of the paper that was starting to float by, "You've destroyed our notes."

"It was a useless endeavor." Hermione leaned back against the pillows holding up her jacket to check her work.

Severus wanted very much to lash out at the flippant witch, a childish want indeed, yet he felt himself wounded by her words. Why couldn't she see that everything he had done was for her safety? Why couldn't she see the thin line he walked? Why was she constantly seeing to jumping on the thin cord?

"Besides, I have a better way of getting in."

"Such as?"

"Right through the front door." Hermione leaned over, pulling a long lock of his black hair from the pillow into her fingers, "I suspect you have your own vault?"

Severus' brows furrowed deeply and with a sharp flick of his wand the water that was growing disappeared in a small puff of smoke leaving the entire room waterlogged, "You can't very well expect to impersonate me?"

"Why not?" Hermione raised her chin, "All you need to do is make sure you're somewhere where you should be. With witnesses, reliable witnesses."

"Standing before the Dark Lord without reason is suicide."

"Then we'll give him a reason to hear you." Hermione slipped her legs over the side of the bed, her eyes running over the rather impressive bruise she'd left on his jaw, "What does the Dark Lord want now more than anything?"

"Potter."

"And?"

"To understand the power inside the elder wand."

"The latter of which I just happen to hold knowledge of." Hermione's cocky smirk quickly disappeared when the dark man covered the distance between them quicker than she could blink, his hand covering her mouth in a tight grip.

"Do not speak it." His words were sharper than ever, his dark eyes intense like the fires of hell, "You are not so clever."

Hermione's eyes widened when she realized that he too, held the precious information the Dark Lord sought. Of course, it shouldn't have really been a surprise. After all, she'd found the information inside one of the books in his rooms. It was then the pieces of the last few hours started to fall into place. She didn't know the particulars but she understood the man before her well enough.

Severus' hand snapped back when she'd stuck her tongue out to lick his palm. His face showing how uncomfortable he was by her action before he wiped his hand on his slacks.

"That's why you've kept him alive. Why you went—Don't deny it—with him tonight. How you know Luna's alive."

"Silence!"

Hermione jumped to the volume of his bark, her body jolting slightly before her brow furrowed deeply. Her mind was turning, processing her past, the present and the unforeseeable future. Everything she'd known about the war, about the sides taken. It was such a mess, so many tangled webs and in the center of it all stood the one man before her now. How much of the complication was his? She wondered but really it didn't matter.

"I'll bring you Harry."

"You'll do no such thing." Severus turned away with a sharp snap, his wand pointing to the windows barring them with magical bricks, "You're now officially my prisoner."

"The hell I am." Hermione jumped off the bed with speed she shouldn't have been capable, her hands grabbing hold of his arm to prevent him from sealing another window. She grabbed hold of the end of the wood ripping it from his hand before turning on him, "I'm not going to let you do this alone! Why can't you just accept that I'm here to help you! Let me help you!"

"I should've let you die!" Severus regretted the words as soon as they'd left his mouth. His eyes widening to show the horror of his misstep. His hand that had come out to call his wand back stayed frozen in the air while his chest heaved with his childish temper.

Hermione couldn't have felt a more painful blow, even if the Dark Lord himself had cast the cruciatus curse on her. The world around her was growing dark around the edges, "Yeah? Maybe you should have..." A small tear had escaped her narrowed eyes but she didn't even notice.

Severus' mouth moved but no words came out, his eyes turning down to his wand that fell to the floor, carelessly tossed aside. His throat felt as though a noose had been wrapped around it when she squared herself up with him. Everything inside his body was screaming at him to say something, to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness but his fear held him in place.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him, curse him, or punch him; her chest heaved, "But you didn't..." Hermione lowered her head and crossed her arms around her waist holding, herself tight. Her eyes rose to stare him down. The fear so clear to her on his face. As much as she wanted to accost him, she knew he had already taken responsibility for his outburst.

They stood squared off, neither one speaking. The weight in the room so heavy that it could have collapsed the whole castle.

oOo

"Come on...come on..." Ron gritted his teeth as the static on his magical radio filled the tent. They'd set up camp in the woods once again, on the pursuit of the cup though neither he nor Harry knew what direction to go in. They'd overheard some reports from some snatchers at a pub that a mysterious rogue was causing trouble and that a bounty had been placed on their head. It was information that seemed useless.

"What if we could find this rogue? Maybe they could help us."

"Doubt it mate, the way it sounded they were out for themselves." Ron jumped slightly when a low voice finally came onto the radio.

"-Aptured and taken to an unknown location. Sources believe that You-Know-Who was behind this unprovoked attack leaving one of the light unable to carry on the fight."

"Sounds like something has happened." Harry sighed heavily and looked down at the two-way parchment he'd just managed to find in the bottom of his bag, "Do you think Ginny knows anything about it?"

"Maybe? If Mum was involved she probably heard something..." Ron sat himself up scratching at the small bit of scruff that had formed at the bottom of his chin, "Attacks are becoming more common...it's almost impossible to keep up with them all..."

"He's angry...but happy...it's weird...since we've destroyed the necklace I can only feel him sometimes."

"Well, that's probably good. That locket did awful things to the both of us. I'm just glad we have a way to destroy them now."

"It's not going to do us any good unless we can find them." Harry let out a heavy sigh before noticing the ink on the parchment had begun to change.

"Luna's been taken to Malfoy Manor."

oO 2 Weeks Later Oo

Luna woke to the soft smell of porridge. Her eyes opening to the dim light cast off by the only lamp lit in the damp dungeon. She'd gained a cellmate; Mr. Olivander, a man worse off than she when he'd first arrived. She'd shared her rations with him and even gave him the blanket from her make-shift bed. She had tried to give him the meager mattress but he had refused to take it.

"They brought us an extra bowl today." Mr. Olivander hadn't much moved from his position on the wall but he did lean closer to offer out the modest bowl.

"That was kind." Luna smiled graciously at Olivander before pulling the bowl into her lap. She'd healed slowly, her body still aching in some places if she'd sleep awkwardly. Thus far she'd not seen another soul at least not consciously. She was sure her captors had come to see her but she couldn't recall any of their meetings.

"Something big is happening today. I heard a lot of shuffling overhead."

"A party?"

"No way to know. They don't realize their voices carry if they're too loud."

"My head hurts too much to think about it."

"Still?"

"Yes. But I imagine the waxspurts will move on soon."

"Quite right." Olivander gave her a kind smile before taking a bite of their breakfast. It wasn't much but it kept them alive.

Luna settled back against the wall rubbing the scar that was along her hairline. She had spent most days quietly mourning the loss of her father. She had felt him leave her, to join her mother. It was both sad and heartwarming to know that they were together again.

oOo

The line between Severus and Hermione had been deeply drawn in the sand. While she hadn't actually 'left' him, her absence had been heavily felt. She had been on the trail of Harry and Ron since their fight. Having taken provisions but left behind her ear cuff and necklace stating that she hadn't wanted to distract him.

Hermione now found herself sitting inside a rather tall tree directly above the protections the boy's had made around their camp. Using a location charm on her journal that they still miraculously carried. She'd been there for two days now listening, watching. Her heart growing heavier with every passing hour. Her focus had shifted to how she could possibly ambush her friends.

"What if we just go after Voldemort now? I mean, we could kill him it's not like he came back quickly after last time?"

"I don't think we're strong enough, he's got a way bigger following than he had before and he controls the ministry. How could we possibly get close enough to even try?"

Hermione snarled when loud cracks of apparation were heard just over the hill. If she'd been beside them she surely would have slapped Ron upside his head. How didn't they know about the tracking curse? It wasn't like it was much of a secret! Whether by fate or curse the deed was done and Hermione had to act to ensure that the boys wouldn't be outright killed on the spot.

"What was that?"

Hermione jumped from her perch, tearing the boy's attention away from the more pressing matters. She moved like a shadow quickly and silently until she'd leveled up a shot with one of the snatcher's who had come to the call, "Imperio." Her whispered curse flew straight into the leader, her whispered words making the man's eyes glaze over for a fraction of a second before he was moving after his men.

"Snatch'em!"

"Run!"

Hermione landed gracefully in the treetops, moving after the men. Her eyes looked out over the scene unfolding in front of her. She could easily see Harry and Ron's tent in flames and the two of them scrambling through the dead leaves towards the ridge. Her wand was in her hand in a second and a spell leaving her lips in the next.

The snatcher she'd aimed for went down with a hard crunch over a log he'd been meaning to jump over. The other's leaving him behind for their pursuit. She pushed herself forward, using the dense trees as a way to stay above it all when a weak branch brought her down with a sharp yell on top of another snatcher. Her wand pressed into the back of his head as they, landed his body bucking her own up like a wild horse before the spell she'd cast sent him into unconsciousness.

"There's another! Spread out!" The leader of the group fired behind him blindly but didn't stop his chase.

Hermione ducked his wild spell before pushing herself up with her hands and feet. There were three others that were now getting further out of sight. Hermione snarled and pushed herself as hard as she possibly could, the burn in her side spurring her on as she took the ridge. The smell of spells filled her nose as she turned, planning to outflank the remaining snatchers.

Her own heavy breaths filled her world as she ran parallel to the entire chase. Her keen eyes watching every spell that was cast at her friends' backs. Not wanting to give her position away just yet, she prayed to any fates that were listening that she'd be able to head them off.

The three of them were fast, faster than the half-drunk men who attempted to take them down. Hermione turned her path closer to the boys' own; her wand coming out of her sleeve to begin her defense. She knew once she cast she'd reveal herself completely not only to the snatchers but to the boy's as well. She had no way of telling them she was on their side other than with her actions for if she spoke she'd surely reveal her identity and everything Severus had worked for would be lost.

With a sharp animalistic snarl, Hermione apparated mid-stride appearing with a skid at least 20 yards in front of where Harry and Ron had been running. A small hollow in the terrain, it took away her high ground but secured her amenity. A sharp pull brought her hood down over her eyes and she braced herself as the boys came barreling over the top. Ron tumbling head over arse with a chain that one of the snatchers must have cast while Harry ducked a rather explosive curse that took down half of a tree.

"Oh shite!" Ron was the first to see her, standing there cloaked in blackness, only her mouth and tip of her nose visible. She truly looked like a demon from his nightmares. "Harry!" Ron renewed his efforts to try and pull the chain around his ankles free just as one of the snatchers caught up with him and gave him a rather stiff punch to the jaw sending his world spinning.

Harry had come to his own stop, slipping and falling onto his arse in his haste to keep his distance. He was very sure this was the same woman who had come to his supposed aid in the house. The same familiar feeling of knowing her welling up in his chest before his eyes snapped to the wand she'd raised. He knew he had nowhere to run and tightly closed his eyes to brace himself for the hit.

Hermione winced when she sent her spell directly into his face sending him into the dirt from the power. Her head jerked up when the first of the snatchers made it over the ridge, his wand raised.

"Well, it looks like it's my lucky day."

Before Hermione could understand his meaning a large arm came around from behind, pressing her tightly to a man that severely outsized her. Her head fell back when a wand was pressed painfully into her throat making it difficult to swallow. She kicked out but found very little ground beneath her feet to gain purchase. Her arm was trapped beneath the man's that held her and her other had come up to claw at the wand pressed into her throat.

"Wonder what they'll pay for you?" Scabior was cocky in his walk as he came to stand beside Harry, his wand lazily pointing down at the young man to keep him in place. It was in this moment that Hermione made her move.

A sharp crack of her skull against the man's jaw loosened the hold he held her in just enough for her to move her neck out of the way and to grab her dagger. A quick turn of her fingers plunged the blade deep into the man's stomach. It took only seconds for the man to release her completely, his mouth open in a horrific scream of pain as his body began to burn.

Hermione was gone in the next breath, nothing but smoke in her wake.

Scabior stood horrified as his partner collapsed down into dust, "Well...two out of three ain't bad..."

oOo

Severus sat straight-backed at the long banquet table. His eyes turned towards the head. He was not alone, all those whom the Dark Lord found use in had come to answer the call. No one dared to speak all awaiting the reason why they had been called.

"Our bloodlines are thin. Those who oppose us will not join us willingly. Yet, there is hope for the youth." Voldemort raised his wand, the doors at the far end of the room coming open to his command. A body held aloft by his spell moved forward though they did not speak.

Severus knew instantly that the time had come for Ms. Lovegood's torture and eventual role in their master's plan. While he kept his face solemn he could see an uneasiness building in those around him. As she was placed in the center of the table, her head rolled towards him, her eyes closed as if in rest.

"Those of you among me now have no heir, if we are to succeed in this war and in the world, we must assure our numbers our pure." The Dark Lord leaned back into his chair resting his wand over his lap while his red eyes took in the men in front of him, "The strong must survive."

oOo

Hermione felt awkward, more than awkward as she stood before the mirror. Of course, she had memorized his body, his form, his smell, his touch but to be inside it was an entirely new sensation. She almost felt dizzy at the height in which he stood, not because he was exceptionally tall but merely because he was taller than she.

Walking was a completely new experience. Her previously understood anatomy of the male form not lining up with reality. Before taking the potion she had slipped on a pair of his boxers and removed her other clothing. Now she found herself pressed for time. Severus had not been in the castle when she'd returned, though a small cryptic message told her that the time was right.

She had tried not to become distracted by what she saw but it was impossible. Tearing her eyes away from the mirror saw to her dressing. A quick precise endeavor that had her ready to leave the rooms in a few short minutes. She knew time was of the essence but she had promised herself that her 'exploration in the pursuit of knowledge' could be had when her task was done.