Hope on the Horizon

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine. Neither bucks nor quid nor Euros nor any other currency are made from this, honestly.

Hope on the Horizon

Harry's arrival at the library startled Hermione out of her concentration. "Harry. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. Ron and Ginny went home with the rest of the Weasleys, so I said I'd stay behind and see if I can find you," he said. "What are you doing?" Then he grinned.

"Researching."

"Researching." He'd said it at the same time as her, and his grin widened. "Of course. What else would Hermione Granger be doing a day after the fall of Voldemort..." Then his eyes drifted to the Time-Turner. "Hermione?"

She was not quite able to meet his eyes. "Just saying, mate, you might as well try and save more than one life, you know? It would be kind of pointless going back in time to save one person if you can save more," he said casually, causing Hermione to swing her head up and look straight at him.

"What are you saying?" Her voice was no more than a whisper.

Harry drew a chair out and sat down, a deep breath escaping him. "You want Snape to be alive."

Hermione stared at him. "How... how do you know?"

Harry grinned again. "Grant me some brain, Hermione," he said tartly. Then he continued in a normal voice, "I've had my suspicions for a while that you aren't quite in love with Ron. Yeah, I know, you made a fuss when he came back to the Forest of Dean, but your heart wasn't really in it, was it? Anyway, yesterday, after we left the Shrieking Shack, I thought you were more upset about Snape's death than anything else that has happened combined. And I remembered how you always corrected us when we didn't refer to him in a respectful way. With Slughorn, you couldn't give a rat's arse what we called him. In fact, I'm pretty sure I remember you referring to him as walruss once." He looked at her evenly.

Hermione put her head on the table and groaned. "And I was so bloody sure that nobody...nobody...would ever guess!" The sudden realisation that Ron's language had coloured off on her made her shudder even more than Harry's conclusion.

Harry patted her shoulder. "It's okay, honestly. Thinking about it, I'm not even surprised. If you could coax some decent manners out of Snape and if you could Banish a good portion of his sarcasm, he could end up a really decent guy. Not just a good guy. We know he is that already. But yeah... At least he matches you in intelligence."

Hermione snickered. "Oh, no, I'd miss his sarcasm!" Then, when Harry's words connected with her brain, she threw him an incredulous look. "Where is Harry Potter and what have you done with him?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess we've all done some rapid growing up lately."

Hermione nodded emphatically, ignoring the inkling that having a silly, obsessive crush on a former teacher...dead teacher...was everything but mature.

"It's a brilliant idea, Hermione," Harry assured her. "Do you want help with it?"

Hermione, feeling somewhat ashamed that she'd never taken into account the possibility of saving more lives than just Snape's, sighed. "I have a vague plan, but nothing detailed yet. What I do have, though," – she looked smug now – "is a Time-Turner I hopefully tweaked according to this ancient text to go back approximately six months. Other than that, I don't know." She shrugged. "I don't know if six months is enough to convince Snape to prepare for a snake bite, let alone prepare any potions he might need. I don't know much about snakes, and I know nothing about magical ones like Nagini..."

"Six months ago or thereabouts," Harry mused, "we were in the Forest of Dean. Snape needs to be informed that you're coming to him to help him live. Or to stop him from dying. He will never believe either of us."

"Not unless I'm prepared to use Veritaserum. Or let him use Legilimency," Hermione said.

"Good idea. So you start off by what? Sending Phineas' portrait with a message to him?"

Hermione thought of that possibility for a moment before discarding it. There were too many risk factors involved. She shook her head. "How would I do that? I have to make sure I don't see myself when I go back in time, and I had my bag always with me. The risk is too great."

Another hour, and they had developed a rough plan. There wasn't much point planning out any details...Hermione would have to see how, when, and where she'd be able to give warnings to Tonks, Lupin, Fred, and Colin. She was not happy about so many unknowns, but it was better than leaving Snape dead by far.

They took a short break raiding the kitchens to find some food. Hogwarts might have received its share of war injuries, but it did not stop the house-elves from being their usual efficient selves.

On the way back to the library, Harry stopped Hermione. "Hang on. Let me get something. I'll meet you in the library. Won't be long."

He returned to the library a few minutes after Hermione, slightly out of breath. "Here," he said, throwing the Invisibility Cloak on the table, "you'll have use for that when you go into the snake pit!"

Hermione beamed at him. "Thank you so much, Harry! I'd never have thought of that!" She hugged him fiercely. Then her face turned a sheepish expression when she held up a second wand.

Harry gasped. "The Elder Wand! How...?"

"I Summoned it, how else." Hermione rolled her eyes. Did he think she'd quickly Apparated into Dumbledore's tomb itself?

"Right. I'll wait another half hour here. If, for whatever reason, you don't manage to come back here now, I'll be back around lunchtime tomorrow, alright? I'll spend the night at the Burrow."

"Okay."

Another hug, and Hermione rotated her Time-Turner, leaving Harry behind in the library. If all went well, he'd only have to wait a few minutes to see her again. For her, it would be six months or so before she would see her best friend again.

Headmaster Severus Snape did a double take when he entered his private chambers. The headmaster's living space had revealed some pleasant surprises, but the aesthetic pleasure of a silvery otter floating somewhere above the low coffee table had so far not been one of them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? Do you not know this place is controlled by Death Eaters now?" he growled. It was a good thing that the headmaster's private space was the best protected and best warded area of the entire school, he thought. If any Death Eater had been with him there now, the latest copycat of Muggle Adolph would not have been pleased to see a Patronus. Not that any one of the dunderhead Death Eaters trolling about the school was likely to recognise a Patronus...and the Dark Lord wasn't around to witness...but still.

"Professor Snape! I've returned from the future. Today is the 30th of June 1998, and, sir,"...the girl's voice hitched..."you died yesterday. Vol...your Dark Lord set Nagini on you in the Shrieking Shack because he thought you were the owner of the Elder Wand. He's dead himself now, but that doesn't help your fate."

He recognised that voice. An image of an eleven-year-old girl with a bird's nest for hair, maniacally waving her hand in front of his eyes, silently screaming, "Pick me, pick me, I know the answer!" floated to the front of his mind.

The headmaster used the Granger girl's pause in her speech to sneer. "Naturally, Miss Granger. And the earth is flat." What the hell was the girl on about?

"Sir, please!" Her voice sounded pleading now, as if in answer to his comment. "Please believe me. I don't want you..." her voice hitched again, "...dead. Nor the others. I will be atop the Astronomy Tower at midnight tonight. If you think it's safe to meet with me, please be there, and I'll give you any information you require." Her Patronus slowly dissolved.

Why am I not surprised it's the know-it-all who managed to send a message with a Patronus? And from the future, no less. Then he frowned.

Fuck. I haven't even lived yet. And death by snake bite? I don't fucking think so. He replayed her message in his mind. Others had died, too. Then he rolled his eyes. Of course. The youngest Weasley had probably died, and that interfered with her marital plans, so she'd decided to change his fate. That had to be it. He decided to forget the Patronus visit and retreated to the sofa with the latest copy of Ars Occulta and a glass of Ogden's, glad that another day was over.

Damn, fucking conscience! The closer midnight approached, the more terror visions of Miss Granger being found by the Carrows entered his mind. She'd be mince meat within seconds. Damn those idiot Death Eaters. He hadn't even noticed how bad language had snaked its way into his vocabulary, which had, until recently at least, been his pride. Dealing with the Carrow twins for hours every day seriously impacted its elegance. Just about every other thought started with fuck. Although it might be proof of sheer frustration of the physical kind.

He sighed, got up, and put a few Disillusionment charms on his person. Then he left the comfort of his chambers and headed to the Astronomy Tower.

A/N: I Imperioed Southern Witch to beta-read. Please forgive me. But you wouldn't want to read it without her skillful hand at grammar and punctuation.