Chapter 13: Mind Mapping

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.

A big thank you goes to VIVAvivacious for her help with the beta of this chapter.

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Fenrir Donovan Greyback...

Hermione stared at the three words scrawled in her neat script floating just above Glasgow. Her map had been completed for three days, and the one person she had been on the hunt for was finally revealed to her. Unable to think of a reason why he would be in Glasgow, she rubbed her sleepy eyes. She had waited for Greyback to finally appear on her map. For some reason or another, he had not been anywhere in the UK or Western Europe, and she had been unable to locate him until he returned. She thought perhaps she should have stretched the boundaries of her map even further, but she had to concentrate her focus.

Besides, she had been pretty confident he would return to somewhere on the map sooner or later.

She traced his name with the tip of her fingernail, skimming it just so. She would take great pleasure in what she had in mind for her prey. Dropping the map on the end of her bed, she left what had become her bedroom and went downstairs to join Snape in the study. Over the last couple of hours, since her discovery of Greyback on the map, he had become a little withdrawn from her, and she knew it was because he did not approve of her task. She didn't want his disapproval.

As she descended the staircase, she heard Snape's voice from the front sitting room and went to investigate, peering around the door that was slightly ajar. Snape was sitting in a chair before the fireplace, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. The flames in the fireplace were green, and from what she could make out, he was having a conversation with Dumbledore.

'Headmaster, you may have my loyalty at this time, but I can assure you that you will not be allowed to question my judgement as far as Miss Granger is concerned,' he said firmly. 'She had been a great help to me with this potion you commissioned. Just because she left the Order does not make her an enemy.'

'Just as long as you are aware I will not tolerate confidential Order information being passed to those who are not supposed to be privy to it,' Albus replied gruffly.

'I am aware of my responsibilities,' Snape said curtly. 'I have a lot to be getting on with today, so if you don't mind, I will be going.'

Hermione watched as the flames died down to nothing in the fireplace once more, and Snape sat up, resting his head against the back of the chair and sighing. Deciding to make her presence known, she pushed the door open further and entered the room, heading over to Snape and sitting in the armchair adjacent to him.

'How much did you hear?' he asked.

'Oh, just the part where you were telling Dumbledore that I was assisting you and I'm not the enemy,' Hermione answered with a small smile. 'You don't have to stick up for me where he is involved.'

'That's not really the point,' Snape murmured quietly. 'The point is Dumbledore has become increasingly senile and paranoid over the past few months, and no one in the Order is willing to acknowledge the fact apart from myself, Arthur Weasley, and Lupin. His vendetta against you has become ridiculous, but so many are willing to follow him that it has spilled over to influence everyone else.'

'I have certainly noticed, but what good will it do to stir up trouble for yourself with Dumbledore on my behalf?' she reasoned.

'Very little, I suppose,' he grumbled. 'I dislike it when you are correct.'

Hermione laughed at that. 'Not many people do like it,' she replied kindly. 'How about we forget all about this for now and go have some lunch?'

'When do you intend to act upon what was revealed by your map?' Snape queried cautiously.

'Does that really matter?'

Snape shook his head, but his eyes belied the truth – it mattered to him for reasons Hermione was unable to grasp.

They left the sitting room, and Hermione bade Snape to sit at the table while she prepared some sandwiches for them. He complied and perused the newspaper he had neglected that morning. She returned to place a small platter of egg and lettuce sandwiches on the table before heading over to put the kettle on to boil. Once she had a pot of tea ready, she sat down across from Snape and they ate and drank their tea together in silence.

Once they had finished, Snape waved Hermione away when she tried to clear the table and sent everything flying towards the sink himself with a flick of his wand. A second flick and the sink filled up with hot, soapy water and began washing themselves. He gestured for her to follow, and they adjourned to the study where he sat at his desk and gestured for her to sit in a chair he had moved to sit opposite him.

'Where is your map?' he asked.

Hermione flung her arm in the direction of the door and Summoned her map to her. It was clutched in her hand mere moments later before she handed it over to him. Watching as Snape spread the map out over the table, she wondered what it was he wanted it for. He tapped it with his wand, showing Greyback's name in Hermione's neat script and cast the charm to zoom in on Glasgow. He pointed at the area the wizard was currently in.

'Summerston,' he murmured under his breath. 'That is the district he grew up in. He's obviously breaking in his family home for a while – biding his time while he waits for the next mission he is sent on by the Dark Lord.'

Hermione frowned. 'How could you know that?' she asked.

'The Dark Lord once suspected Greyback of defection and sent me, along with Lucius Malfoy, to keep an eye on him while he was there,' he answered. 'I had forgotten about it until you mentioned you had seen him in Glasgow. His family had a couple houses throughout the UK. I recall his house, but I do not know exactly which street it is on. We had tracked him using one of his belongings. It was after your fifth year.'

'I suppose you already thought to search for it,' she said, and he nodded. 'I don't suppose I can get upset with you for misplacing something from ten years ago.'

'In any case, I did think about it this morning and came up with three possible areas I believe he might be in,' Snape said.

'I was under the impression you did not approve of my task,' she said shrewdly.

'I don't, but I refuse to allow you to go in unprepared. I would like to know what you are planning so I might be able to assist you in completing what you have to do as efficiently as possible,'

Hermione stared at him in disbelief. An hour ago, she thought he was going to try and stop her from going in search of Greyback; now he was offering to help her get to him. All she had to do was tell him what her plan was. But, she didn't really want to. For some reason, telling him she intended to seduce Greyback in order to get close enough to kill him felt like a betrayal. She wanted Snape to respect her, but she felt that if she went about her revenge so underhandedly, she would lose it.

Her head spun. She felt her magic soar to the tips of her fingers as her nerves became frazzled. She saw Snape look at her with a question in his eyes. She shook her head, pursing her lips a little. She reached out to Greyback's name and traced it with her fingernail before dropping her hand.

'I can't tell you exactly what it is I intend to do, but I can tell you I will be able to do this on my own,' she said quietly. 'If you can direct me to those locations, I will be able to take it from there.'

'Miss Granger, I... I would be very regretful should something happen to you,' Snape said, his voice strained. 'My conscience would be very difficult to live with.'

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked up at him and was surprised to see no small amount of concern in his dark eyes. She was hit with a pang of confusion. Why should Snape care? Why was it whenever she looked at him these days she felt something stir deep within her? So many questions rattled through her mind, most of them revolving around the man that had taken her in when all others had abandoned her. Certainly, she was grateful for all he had done for her, but it wasn't just that.

She forcefully pushed aside her internal musings. She didn't have time for any distractions at the moment. Sighing heavily, she looked at the map again. She would need to strike before Greyback had a chance to leave again on another of Voldemort's insane missions outside of the UK and Western Europe.

'I won't get hurt,' she said, looking him dead in the eye. 'I will be as careful as I possibly can. After all, this isn't about me being hurt or killed. I have more that I want to do with my life afterwards. This is about Greyback.'

'I certainly hope you know what it is that you are doing,' he said, holding her gaze. 'Because this whole thing is beginning to look increasingly hazy to me.'

Hermione nodded. 'I know what I am doing, Professor,' she said softly. 'I just need you to give me the means to do so.'

Snape sighed heavily and grabbed his wand, marking three magical circles on the map. 'He lives within one of those three circles there,' he told her. 'As you go to them, the circles on the map will disappear if Greyback is not present in the area.'

'Another one of your mother's spells?' she inquired.

'A magical tracking circle,' he answered with a nod. 'It's all very specific magic, so the spells themselves could not be recorded for everyday use. My mother was never one for practical magic.'

'In some ways, I am glad she thought about things the way she did,' Hermione admitted sheepishly. 'I could never have come this far without her or your help.'

'I'm sure she would be glad to hear you feel that way,' Snape replied.

Hermione nodded and decided to take her map upstairs. She still had much she needed to plan before she went to drop in on Greyback for a visit and very little time in which to accomplish it. She stood and folded the map into a neat rectangle, nodding at Snape and heading towards the door to leave. She was about to close it when she heard him call out to her, and she paused with her hand on the doorknob.

'Just ensure you try and let me know when you're going to leave so I don't worry that you've been kidnapped or the like,' he told her, not looking up from a book he had open on the desk before him.

Hermione nodded, knowing he could still see her through the dark curtain of his hair. Without a word, she slipped the rest of the way out of the room and closed the door behind her. Making her way up the stairs in silence, she entered her room and flopped onto her bed gracelessly. Rolling onto her back, she stretched out the hand holding the map to one side and dropped the folded parchment onto the nightstand beside the bed. She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her magic was white-hot, like molten lava coursing through her veins. Greyback was an Apparation away, and she was sorely tempted to strike while the iron was hot.

But the way Snape had been acting lately gave her pause. She would try and be more cautious now, if only because he asked her to.

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A/N – Next chapter will hopefully be a Snape chapter.