Chapter 10

The next two weeks seemed to fly by. Hermione and Severus had adjusted their relationship. They were friendly and enjoyed each other's companionship once again but never took things further. Hermione and Draco spent hours researching and talking. She could actually admit that they were becoming friends. Draco and Severus were bonding as well. They had been close during Draco's childhood, but when he started at Hogwarts, Severus had pulled back so as not to show favoritism. Hermione had walked in on a few late night drinking sessions and was pleased to see both men so happy.

The biggest disappointment for Hermione came with the news that she would not be able to attend Harry's birthday party. She was still in grave danger and would not be protected if she were to leave the house. The only place she was permitted was Hogwarts, and it was there that she was able to meet Harry to give him his birthday present. Severus had purchased it with her very precise instructions.

She Floo'd into the Headmistress's office with Draco and Severus right behind her. Harry had requested a meeting with Draco, and it had to take place at Hogwarts since it wasn't safe for him to leave the house either. Hogwarts was still secure. Draco quickly went with Severus to the hospital wing for what he hoped was his last check-up with Madam Pomfrey. Hermione sat patiently waiting when the Floo activated, and Harry stepped out. They were alone, and she had no problems with throwing her arms around him and holding him as tight as she could.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," she whispered through her tears. She had missed her friends so much.

"Thanks, 'Mione. How are you? How's the baby? You look amazing!" Harry stepped back to look at her.

"I'm good. I'm as happy as I can be without having you, Ron, and everyone else around."

"You feel safe? With Snape and Malfoy?"

"I really do. Severus would protect me with his life; I really believe that. As for Draco, I am enjoying getting to know him. He's smart and talented, and I think he might surprise you if you allow him to work with you. He's going to be an asset." She pulled Harry over to sit down next to her.

"That's what I hope to find out by this meeting. I don't hold much animosity towards him anymore, not after what he went through. Snape told us at the last Order meeting. He told us about the plot against you."

"I wish I could go to those meetings. I don't want to bring up difficult subjects on your birthday, but I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"I want to tell Severus about the Horcruxes. I really think he can help. I'm so close, Harry! I know I'm on the verge of figuring it out. I just need someone to bounce my ideas off of."

Harry looked at his hands. "I don't know, 'Mione. We agreed not to tell anyone. Just you, me, Ron, and Dumbledore."

"Please, Harry. This could change everything," Hermione pleaded.

"You really think it could?"

"I really do." She took his hands in hers. "You deserve a chance to live a life without Voldemort, not die trying to stop him, but live after he's gone. Nobody has deserved to live as much as you."

"If you trust him, you can tell him. Not Malfoy, though."

"Agreed. Okay, now on to other things. Better things." Hermione reached beside her and pulled out a wrapped box. "Happy Birthday!"

"How did you go shopping?" Harry asked, laughing.

"I didn't. I told Severus exactly what to get you, and he did. I hope you like it."

Harry carefully opened the package to find an empty photo album. It was bound in leather and was extremely well-made. On the front was an engraving on a small, gold plaque: "For My Future." On the back, was another plaque that said: "All Our Love, Hermione and Callina."

Hermione watched Harry and saw the confusion etch over his face. "I know it's not exciting like a new broom or anything, but I know how much you treasure your old album with pictures of your parents. I thought maybe a new album for those wonderful memories you'll create would be nice."

"You really think I'm going to have a future?"

"Of course. You have to fill your album."

"Thank you, Hermione. It's great. Callina? Is that her name?" Harry asked as he looked at Hermione questioningly.

"If that's all right with you. Callina was Severus' little sister. She was killed when he was a young boy. I thought about Lily, but I thought you might want to save that name for the little girl you have with Ginny. You need to pick her middle name, though."

"Callina is a pretty name. It's a nice way to honor Snape. I'll get back to you on the middle name," he said, finally smiling.

"Are you sure you are all right with all of this? I don't know how you feel anymore. I can't read you."

"Most of the time I'm fine, but sometimes it really hurts. That's my daughter growing inside of you, and I can't be a part of it. I love her. I'm not telling you this to back out of our agreement. I can tell that Snape is taking good care of you both, but it's going to be hard to keep my distance once she's born."

"You don't have to; you know that. You can be as much a part of her life as you are comfortable with. You make the call, Harry. You're the one with the most to lose."

"Thanks, Hermione. I'll give it some more thought." They relaxed into easy discussion, and before long, Severus and Draco returned.

"I'll just be going back now. You boys have your talk. No hexing, cursing, or killing each other!" she warned as she gave Harry another hug. "Are you going to supervise?" she asked Severus.

"Yes, I am. That was the only way Minerva would let us use her office. She doesn't trust these two," he said with a smirk.

Harry and Draco just grinned at each other. They had both caused their fair share of problems for the professors at this school. Now that they were presumably on the same side, they still weren't to be trusted. Satisfied that her best friend wouldn't kill her newest friend and vice versa, Hermione stepped into the Floo.

Four hours and twenty-three minutes later--Hermione had been counting--Draco and Severus practically crawled out of the fireplace. They were laughing and talking quite loudly. They were drunk.

"Where have you two been? It's been hours! You idiots! Drinking when you are supposed to be working on strategy? You've kept me waiting all this time. I've been worried sick." She was on her feet and waving her finger. Draco hiccupped and looked at her stupidly.

"You're scary. I'm going to bed. Night, Sev!" he called as he climbed the stairs on all fours.

Hermione turned to Severus and glared. He dropped into a chair and grinned. "Come here, darling. I'll tell you all about it."

"Darling? You're drunk."

"I'm a lovable drunk. Come sit on my lap, and talk to me."

"I don't think so." Hermione went across the room and sat on the sofa. "You can tell me from there."

Severus wasn't about to let her get away. Yes, he was drunk, but he also knew he wanted the woman in front of him. He leaned forward in his chair and dropped to his knees. Crawling towards her in what he imagined to be a predatory move, he reached her legs and ran his hands up her calves.

For her part, Hermione sat and stared. She was trying not to laugh, as she assumed he was trying to be sexy. The fact that he was wobbly even on his knees was pretty hilarious. When he grabbed her by her legs, she did giggle. He was adorable with that goofy grin on his face.

"Severus, please, you are drunk and don't know what you are doing. I want to hear about your meeting. Why don't you take a sobering potion and tell me about it."

"I don't want to be sober. If I'm sober, I won't have the courage to do this." He sat up higher on his knees and pulled her lips toward his. His tongue pushed into her mouth and his hands reached for her breasts. Hermione relaxed into his touch because it was what she'd been wanting and kissed him back. When he moved his body over hers, she realized what was happening, why it was happening, and pushed him away.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting back.

"I don't want you like this. All drunk and happy. You don't know what you are doing. If you want me, you come to me sober with a clear mind so that I won't worry about you regretting it in the morning. I want a full report tomorrow. Good night." She stomped from the room, leaving him sitting on the floor, completely confused by everything that just happened. Moments later, he passed out cold only to wake a few hours later so he could stumble to his bed.

***********

The next morning, Hermione made a point of being especially loud as she delivered hangover potion to the sleeping men. If they were going to get so drunk that they couldn't fill her in on what was going on, she certainly wasn't going to be considerate.

She opened the door to Severus' room with a bang. She'd never been in his room before, but she didn't feel bad at all as she pulled open the window shades and yelled out a good morning. The lump under the covers groaned and buried itself deeper.

"Good morning, Severus! It's a glorious summer day, and you are missing half of it." She ripped the covers off of him and only paused a moment to take in his shirtless appearance. She'd never seen his bare back before, and it was a well-sculpted one at that.

A bleary-eyed Severus stared at the crazy woman in his room. "What are you doing in here? Give me back my blankets, and close those shades!"

"Not a chance, 'Darling.' Get your ass out of bed, and come down to breakfast. Drink this first." She handed him the potion and left the room.

She heard him mutter, "Darling?" as she left the room.

Her next stop was Draco's room. Once again, she barged in with a bang and threw open the shades.

"Get up, Malfoy!" She pulled back his covers only to reveal Draco's naked ass. She quickly covered him back up but pulled the pillow out from below his head.

"Get out, Granger, or I'll hex your balls off."

"I don't have balls, Draco. Get your naked ass out of bed and drink this. Get dressed before coming downstairs please." She flipped on the lights and turned the wireless on high volume before leaving the room.

She waited patiently in the dining room, reading the Prophet and nibbling her toast. After about ten minutes, she heard them arguing as they came down the stairs. They both stopped talking as they came in to join her, looking as sheepish as she had ever seen them.

"Good morning, Hermione," Severus said as he sat to her right.

"Good morning, Granger," Draco said as he sat on her left.

"Good morning! Glad to see you finally made it down the stairs. Now, while you eat I expect a full report from last night." She smiled at them, unnerving them even more.

"Um, I didn't kill Potter," Draco started. "We had a good talk, some good whiskey, and that's all I remember."

"Okay, Severus, your turn."

"Yes, well the boys had a nice talk and were quite civil to each to each other. Draco will be attending the next Order meeting with me, and it will be determined at the time what his role will be."

"How come Draco gets to go and I don't?" Hermione asked.

"You are in immediate danger. Draco is thought to be dead. Voldemort is getting increasingly angry, and you know he is targeting you. He just can't find you. We can't risk you going anywhere except for Hogwarts."

Hermione knew he was right but hated being out of the loop.

After Draco had excused himself to go work in the lab, Hermione brought up the subject of Horcruxes. Severus was surprised at what she knew, but he wasn't surprised to learn what Voldemort had done. He had long suspected his old master of such horrific deeds. He was pleased to hear of their success and agreed with her ideas to save Harry.

"There are some books in the library, Hermione. Books that mention Horcruxes. They are in the collection that Albus gave me," Severus told her.

"I know. I've already found them. It seems that Professor Dumbledore knew exactly what he was doing when he gave you those books. We've got to find a way to get that part of Voldemort out of Harry."

"It has to be done at the right time. If Voldemort loses a connection with Harry, he'll know and get suspicious. He might start searching for the others, and then he would know the danger he was in," Snape told her.

"Exactly. I think the spell needs to be cast right before he faces Voldemort for the last time. Nagini needs to be out of the picture, and the piece of Voldemort's soul needs to be transferred into something easy to destroy."

"The first thing that comes to mind is a living creature. They can die, as cruel as it may be."

"I've thought of that, but we don't know how an animal might react. We know that Nagini isn't an ordinary snake. It helps that Voldemort is a Parseltongue, but that alone won't keep a snake loyal for long."

"True. The snake is more intelligent than any other of its kind. So an animal is out. Is there an object then?"

"I've thought about using another book. The way Harry destroyed the diary was with a Basilisk fang. If Harry could get back into the chamber, he might be able to get more fangs to use. We destroyed the cup, the diadem, and the locket with the sword of Gryffindor. We could possibly use that for the last Horcrux. The point is, we need something fragile, something easy to destroy with a magical object."

"Any object will do then?"

"Not really. It has to also be accepting of that piece of soul. I know that makes no sense, but I think the object has to have meaning. I'm not sure if it needs to mean something to Harry or Voldemort though."

"My guess is that it should mean something to the Dark Lord," a voice spoke from the doorway. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt or overhear, but I couldn't help it. The old bastard made Horcruxes, did he?" Draco joined them at the table.

"Draco, you weren't supposed to know about this."

"Maybe not, but I do. I can help."

"How can you help?" Severus asked.

"I can help perform the spell, along with you, Sev. Hermione won't be able to; she won't be in any condition to do heavy magic."

"Would you do that? Would you help Harry?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Of course. He's . . . well, he's not so bad. I also have an idea of what you can use to put the soul in."

"What would that be?" Severus asked.

"A photograph."

"A specific one or just a photo in general?" Hermione was skeptical.

"A specific one. The Dark Lord had few, if any, friends while he was a student. He does, however, consider members of my family to be his so-called friends. There is a photo in my father's study of Father with Voldemort, Aunt Bella, Mum, and me as a baby. It was taken right after I was born, and Father told me that Voldemort treasured the picture as a sign of the future. After he tangled with baby Potter, my father found the picture along with other possessions. Father hung it in his study."

"So this is a picture that belonged to Voldemort at one time?"

"Yes. It's a wizarding photograph, so it holds magical properties. I think it would work."

"I do too." Hermione smiled. "That might be exactly what we need. The picture can easily be destroyed. Thank you, Draco."

"Don't thank me yet. I still have to get that picture."

"How are you planning on doing that?"

"I'll contact Mother," Draco said with a smirk. "She's so angry about what happened to me, she'll do anything."

"Gentlemen, let's get to work!" Hermione smiled, feeling hopeful once again. She could have sworn her daughter did a little leap of joy herself.