Dilemma

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Many hugs of thanks must go to Sequana for the beta-ing of this chapter.

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Chapter 6: Dilemma

The clock in the hallway downstairs struck one in the afternoon, sounding all the way up the stairs and into the library. Hermione sighed at this and began piling her notes into her briefcase, snapping it shut with the ease of practice and walking with it down the stairs. On reaching the coat hooks in the hall, she grabbed her black robes and shrugged into them, buttoning them at the top and then Apparating away. She reappeared at the Hogwarts gates where a light shower of rain was falling. Her sigh was heavy as she started the trek back up to the castle.

Even though she was sick of travelling back and forth, she found that Severus' help so far had been invaluable. He had become important to her research with the potion to cure Michael and had even managed to contact an old colleague of his who dealt with the Ministry to assist them in finding leads for the other search. Wrapping her arms tighter around her body, she walked onwards, the castle looming closer as she did. On reaching the doors, she entered and headed straight for the Dungeons.

She knocked on the door to Severus' office. It was quiet, and the halls were empty due to the fact that it was both Saturday and a Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione heard a muffled voice beckon her inside, and she opened the door, slipping inside to find Severus sitting at the desk, head bent down as he marked the essay in front of him. He looked up briefly when she cleared her throat to gain his attention and gestured for her to sit down before looking back at the essay and marking a red cross on it.

'Albus and Minerva asked me to suggest you take a room here,' he said, not bothering to look up at her as he spoke. 'There are a few empty chambers on the fourth and fifth floor that can be cleaned and furnished should you decide to stay.'

'Oh,' she exclaimed softly, feeling a little awkward. She was about to nervously clasp her hands in her lap when she realized that he was looking at her. 'Well, I suppose I will have to head up to see Albus about that some time today.'

'Yes,' he said curtly. 'I apologise, but I have only a few essays left. I should be finished in about half an hour or so, and then I will be free to assist you – I have a few interesting ideas for the search for your tormentor.'

Hermione's interest was peaked by that. 'What ideas do you have?' she asked.

'If you have been sent any direct mail from the person, it could be helpful when used with the correct tracking spells,' he murmured as he marked another red cross on the essay. 'If the parchment has picked up anything in its initial vicinity, like a seed or something similar, it is possible that we will be able to track it back to the area it is from.'

Hermione felt a smile lift the corners of her mouth. She was intelligent – but Severus was on a whole different level of intelligence than most. His brain went faster than that of anyone else she knew – not even Albus Dumbledore would have come up with such a plan so quickly. As soon as the smile formed, however, it was gone again. The last thing she needed was for him to see that she wasn't over him; she knew for certain by that point that she had never truly gotten over the man.

She swallowed and nodded silently, standing from the chair. 'That is a good idea,' she said, holding back the thanks she wanted to give him for his ingenuity. 'I'll j-just go up and see Albus about those rooms.'

As she walked through the door, Severus sighed out a deep, shaky breath. One of his hands went into his hair while the other covered his eyes as he sat back in the chair, tilting his head backwards. Being in the same room as her was maddening and delicious all at the same time. His heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest and throw itself in her lap as a sacrifice. His screwed his eyes together even tighter, willing the images of her face out of his head.

Thumping his closed fist back onto his desk, he opened his eyes and stared down at the essays before him. They weren't going to get finished with him just sitting there, so he picked up his quill and got back to work, pleased to have something to distract him from his thoughts. He was finished in a little over half an hour and left his office to go in search of Hermione, wondering what had become of her during the time since she had left his office. He went up to Albus' office and knocked on the door.

'Come in, Severus, my boy,' Albus called.

Severus rolled his eyes, pushed the door open and walked in to see Minerva, Poppy and Hermione sitting in the chairs before Albus' desk with the old man himself seated on the other side. Grumbling, he entered the office and pulled the door closed behind him, taking the spare seat beside Hermione – the only seat that was left. It just figured that it would be the only place for him to sit.

'Has it been decided as to whether or not Ms Granger will be staying in the castle or not?' he asked, looking around at all of them.

'Hermione has agreed to stay in the spare set of quarters on the fourth floor for the duration of your research,' Albus answered for the young woman, who simply nodded curtly. 'She will be bringing her things over when she returns to us tomorrow.'

'Very well,' Severus murmured quietly before turning to Hermione to address her. 'Are you still agreeable to discovering if this tracking spell might work?'

Hermione nodded, and after bidding goodbye to the three older people in the room, she left the office with Snape and walked down the hall to the nearest staircase. On reaching his office once more, she opened her briefcase and pulled out a stack of letters that had not been burned. She tossed them in front of him on the desk and sat down in the chair across from him. He picked up the stack and untied the yarn around it, opening up some of the letters and running his wand over them.

'There are some grass seeds here, and we should be able to cast the charm over them to enable us to Apparate to the location from which they came,' he murmured, using a pair of tweezers to pluck a couple of the seeds from the letter and place them on the desk in front of him.

'Well, I suppose we could get that done with this afternoon and just hope that, somehow, wherever it takes us will lead us to the people we're tracking,' she said, poking idly at the seeds with her wand.

Severus picked his wand up and spelled a sheet of parchment to turn into an envelope, dropping the seeds inside before standing and walking around the desk. 'Right, then let's get a move on,' he said gruffly, offering her a hand to haul her out of the seat. Once she was on her feet, he released the hand and turned his back on her to walk towards the door. 'We can take the dungeon exit and Apparate from the edge of the forest.'

Hermione felt her anger flare slightly, watching his back as he strode out of his office. He was just so bloody arrogant, and it drove her crazy. It was just another thing to add to the list of reasons for her not to like him. However, her heart was treacherous, and she still found herself drawn to him in a way that she could not logically explain. This lack of reason was something that was so foreign to her, considering that she was a woman who had been born and raised to think logically. Perhaps that was how she knew that she was in love with him – because she couldn't explain it.

Dutifully, she followed him out the door, closing and warding it behind her. She knew those wards like she knew her own. He walked briskly ahead of her, forcing her to lengthen her stride in order to keep up with him. Luckily for her, she was not such a short person herself and her legs were long enough that she didn't need to struggle to maintain a fast pace. When they reached the end of the hall, they walked through yet another warded door and, once that door shut behind her, were plunged into darkness. This was one of the strange halls in the castle – one that could not be lit by either magical or Muggle means.

'Take my hand, and I will lead the way,' he said, pushing his hand against her and accidentally brushing her stomach. 'The hall cannot be lit – I assume you understand why.'

Hermione nodded, then realised he wouldn't have seen. 'Of course, sir,' she said, sounding sarcastic. Severus smirked, knowing that his sarcasm must have rubbed off on her at some point. She had never been that sarcastic as his student.

He grunted softly in reply and walked ahead confidently. He knew the hall like he knew his own chambers. It had been the exit he had needed to use to Apparate from the castle in order to attend Death Eater meetings as a spy. They walked in silence, and Severus revelled in the feel of her smaller, slender hand clasped within his own. It thrilled him beyond imagining, being able to touch her at all.

'We are nearly there,' he informed in a gentle tone that caused her stomach to do a turn.

She hated it when he threw her off-balance that way. 'Have you ever considered tapping into the magic in the stones of the castle and altering them so this hall can be lit?' she asked quietly, as though being in darkness signified the need to whisper.

'I don't have a need to use this hallway much these days,' he murmured, releasing her hand and putting both of his on the bolt of the door in front of him.

With a sturdy tug, it came free and opened to the overcast afternoon. They walked down a narrow pathway that led to the edge of the forest and walked in. If anyone had been looking out the window, it was unlikely that they would see what was happening. Once hidden by the foliage, he pulled the envelope with the seeds out of his pocket and drew his wand from its place tucked beneath his sleeve.

'Positus Locus,' he murmured, touching his wand to the seeds before grabbing her around the waist without warning her and Apparating them while the seeds were still glowing gold.

They reappeared in a vast grass field, the sky darkened by clouds and the long grass being blown about wildly by the wind. Hermione was still startled and trembled a little from being so taken by surprise when Severus had pulled her to him. He could feel her shaking slightly, but knew she was alright when she shrugged her arm out of his grip and began to look around. Snape decided that it was safe to do so himself and turned around. He immediately found his attention diverted back to her and the direction she was looking in at Hermione's sharp intake of air.

There was an old, rickety-looking shack that sat at the light crest of a hill with an apparent cliff nearby. The ocean was obviously at the bottom of the cliff, as the wild waves could be heard crashing against the rocks. Hermione drew her wand and began a cautious approach towards it with Severus walking right beside her, his wand also drawn. The shack didn't look particularly dangerous, but appearances were often a deceiving thing.

'Doesn't really look like the kind of place people would inhabit, does it?' she asked Severus, looking to him from the corner of her eye.

'Sometimes places such as these are the ones that people who are plotting things that are not exactly legal go to,' he murmured, looking back at her, and for the first time in a long time, their eyes actually met and held.

'Did you ever?' she asked softly, afraid of prying.

'Yes, I did,' he said curtly, his armour reasserting itself. He hated to be constantly reminded of the kind of man he had once been. Inwardly, however, he knew that it would always be a small part of him at least.

Hermione heard the tone of his voice change and pushed aside the feeling of hurt before walking up to the nearest window. She peered in and saw that it was empty. Growling softly in frustration, she walked to the front door and pushed it open easily before striding over to the table and picking up a letter with her name on it. She turned back to Severus, who stood in the doorway, and showed him the letter.

Someone was playing a very serious game with her.

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A/N – Please note, the English translation for Positus Locus is roughly "Locate Position". Please feel free to review!