Albus Lives!

A/N: A rather long A/N this time, but please bear with me!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave me a review. I'm afraid that I am woefully behind in my responses, and I'm not sure that I'll ever catch up, but I cherish every one! I promise you that I'll respond to them as I have the time.

Getting this chapter posted was an obstacle course of delays and technical difficulties. Just as it was all straightened out, my work exploded and it wasn't until today that I've found the time to post it. I won't bore you all with the details, but I'm terribly sorry about the delay. The next chapter is already written, and should be up in a couple of weeks.

There are no alert reader notices for last chapter. My brilliant betas were far too clever for you! :D As always, if you notice a typo or an oopsie, please email me about it at plaidpooka@yahoo.com, and I will be sure to thank you in the next AN. I love my alert readers!

My charming betas, Vaughn and WolfMoonshadow, are the dog's bollocks. I don't know what I'd do without them. You guys rock!

On a personal note, I've been dieting and so far I've lost 20 lbs! Go me! If any of you HP fans are trying to lose weight, I've started a group for us, and you can find out more about it on my Live Journal. Just go to LJ and search plaidpooka and you'll find me.

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Part of being sane, is being a little bit crazy.

-Janet Long

The entrance to the headmistress' office was sealed when Hermione approached it. Before Hermione had time to fret about her ignorance of the password, the gargoyle guarding it gave her a saucy wink and nimbly stepped aside. It seemed she was expected. The moving stairs were a relief. Poppy had been right; she was completely knackered. The door at the top of the stairs was open, so Hermione stepped in.

She was greeted by the odd sight of Albus sitting in a large comfy chair with Minerva cradled in his lap. While Albus spoke conversationally to the others present, Minerva sat with her face buried in Albus' neck. Trying her best not to stare at her head of house acting like a smitten teenager, Hermione came quickly into the room and joined Ron and Harry on one of the sofas. It wasn't hard to catch up with the conversation.

"But were you actually dead, Albus?" Remus asked curiously.

"Oh, yes indeed. I was as dead as the proverbial doornail. The vow was very specific--if Draco was unable to finish me off by the end of the school year, Severus had to do so, or die himself. Now, I want it perfectly clear that Severus was more than willing to die in my place. Only my complete and utter stubbornness on the matter made him consider any other course of action. Luckily for me," and here Albus paused to chuckle, "the vow only said that I had to be dead, it didn't specify how long I had to remain so! Now Severus is free of his vow, I am back where I want to be, and old Tom is none the wiser."

"That was absolutely Machiavellian of you, Albus," Bill interjected. "I'm rather knowledgeable of goblin soul magic--for a wizard, at any rate--but I didn't suspect a thing."

"You weren't meant to. Believe me, there isn't a person in this room that I wouldn't trust with my life. I wanted very badly to tell you what we had planned, both to ease your minds and so that poor Severus wouldn't be left so much on his own, but it simply wasn't prudent. You are, every one of you, brave, honest, and intelligent, but there isn't an actor among you. If you hadn't displayed the honest grief that you did, Tom would have known that we were up to something."

"I think that we all understand that," Harry said. "It was hard, damned hard, mind you. But I understand why you did what you did."

"Good boy!" Albus said, smiling at Harry fondly. "And may I add that I have never been so proud of the three of you as I was when you invited Severus into your home. With or without Remus' vouching for Severus, that was kindly done."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all blushed furiously at Dumbledore's praise. When Hermione had calmed down enough to find her tongue, she joined the conversation for the first time.

"Sir, does that mean that you were aware the whole time that you were...er...living with Severus?"

"Firstly, call me "sir" again, young lady, and I'll hex your socks off," Albus said, giving Hermione a fierce scowl before winking at her in amusement. "I'm not your professor, I'm not your headmaster, and though we are at Hogwarts, you are not in school. My name is Albus, and you have more than earned the right to use it."

"Yes...Albus," Hermione managed to stammer as she blushed again.

"And how is Poppy's patient? He's had a rough time of it, poor lad. I trust that there isn't too much wrong with him?"

"Poppy said he would be fine with a little rest and food," Hermione said hesitantly. "But I'm worried about his mental state. Was his madness caused by...er..."

"By me?" Albus asked, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Yes, indeed it was. The human psyche was never meant to house more than one soul. Severus and I knew that he would likely run mad before we ever tried the spell, but we could see no other course of action. It's saying a lot about the will of that man that he was able to accomplish everything he set out to do despite his mental incapacity. He's a very strong willed person, our Severus."

"So will he be sane now?" Ron asked.

"Yes, certainly. But that isn't to say that he won't have lasting effects from his ordeal. You mustn't expect him to be exactly the same person he was before. Our experiences, both good and bad, do much to change us."

"A little change could only be an improvement, if you ask me," muttered Ron, who then immediately got elbowed in the ribs by an outraged Hermione.

"Now, to answer your earlier question," Albus continued, ignoring the commotion on the sofa, "I was somewhat aware of what was going on around me while my soul was taking up residence in Severus. But my sense of awareness was cloudy at best. It was more like dreaming than anything else, and there are definitely things that I missed that I'll have to be brought up to speed on. Draco is working for the Order now, is he not?"

This announcement was enough to bring Minerva's face out of Albus' neck for the first time since Hermione had entered the office. "Is he really?" she asked.

"Yes, he certainly is," Remus said. "He contacted me shortly after he and Severus had fled Hogwarts, which was very lucky for the Order. With Severus on the run--not to mention out of his head--we needed another spy very desperately. At the moment, only Severus and everyone present is aware of Draco's help, and I think it best if we keep it that way."

"Perfectly sensible," Albus said, stroking his beard. "And that isn't all that should be kept quiet. Right now, Tom thinks that I am dead, and I'm glad to let him continue to think so. I plan to hide away here with Minerva until the time comes when we are prepared to act against Voldemort directly. If that is all right with you, my dear?"

"More than all right. If you think that I plan to let you out of my sight for a minute, you're a right fool!" Minerva said, giving Albus' head an exasperated little shake before she pulled it forward to give him a chaste kiss on the forehead.

Hermione found herself blushing for the third time and rather distractedly wondered if there wasn't some sort of anti-blushing charm. Looking furtively around the room, she saw that everyone but Filius was fidgeting uncomfortably. Filius only smiled fondly at the pair snuggled up in Albus' easy chair. As Hermione continued to look at everything that wasn't Albus and Minerva, she noticed that the portrait of Albus had gone blank. It wasn't only that Albus wasn't in his portrait, the entire canvas had gone a flat grey. Nudging Harry and Ron to get their attention, Hermione pointed out the odd painting.

"Strange," Ron murmured. "Not much is known about how those portraits work, but it looks like they don't work at all if the subject is alive."

"Ah, Ronald, I see that you have noticed the portrait. That reminds me, Minerva, we'll have to hide it or the jig will be up. You'll have to make some excuse if anyone asks where it's disappeared to."

"Nothing easier. I'll just tell anyone who asks that you had become such a boring old windbag that I couldn't stand to listen to you anymore." Minerva teased drolly.

"None of your cheek, woman! I think it would be much more fitting if you were to explain to everyone how you were so heartbroken by my loss that you couldn't bear looking at my likeness."

"Oh, I suppose," Minerva said, giving Albus' beard a fond tug, "but I think that my explanation is much more believable."

"Just you wait, young lady," Albus said, his eyes twinkling when this made Minerva burst into a fit of girlish giggles. "Wait until these folks all go to bed and you have no one here to protect you!"

Minerva giggled even harder at that dubious threat, which made Hermione gape at her in astonishment. Looking about the room, Hermione saw that Filius, Remus, and Bill didn't look nearly as shocked by this behavior as Ron, Harry, and she herself did. It was very hard trying to adjust to these adults as people instead of teachers. Remus had been a colleague of the pair, and Bill had been out of school for some time, but to Hermione, it still seemed like she was watching her teachers as they snuggled in the chair and flirted with each other. On the one hand, it was very sweet. On the other hand, Albus, being twice the age of her own grandfather, made it all seem horribly wrong.

"Now then, you will have to wait, woman, while we get back to business," Albus said, giving Minerva a squeeze. "Was the cup destroyed? Severus left the house before we found out whether you were successful or not."

For the next ten minutes, Bill explained to Albus exactly how the cup had been destroyed.

"Ah! An excellent way to deal with the nasty little buggers. Trust Severus to come up with a way that doesn't leave anyone maimed for life," Albus said, giving his newly healed hand a telling look. "And what of the locket? I got the distinct impression that it had been destroyed, but everyone always seemed so sad when they spoke of it."

"It was destroyed, Albus," Remus said sadly, "but we lost Moody. He managed to destroy the locket, but the effort was too much for him."

The smile fled from Albus' face as he heard the news. "What a shame," he murmured, "what a shame. Oh, Moody was a paranoid old goat to be sure, but he was a good man...and a good friend. He will be sorely missed."

The group lapsed into silence for a moment. Hermione had never known Moody all that well. Most of what she knew of him was hopelessly mixed up with memories of the fake Moody who had taught classes during her fourth year. All the same, she had been hit hard by his sudden death and the spectacular manner of his demise had haunted her terribly when she had planned to take up the destruction of the cup herself.

"At least the cup was found, destroyed, and no one was hurt," Albus said. "Now we can focus our attentions on Voldemort and decide how best to take him down. Because of the mule-headedness of the Ministry, Tom has been allowed to become far too powerful. The sooner we force a confrontation, the better."

"But Albus," Harry began, his voice incredulous, "we know that Nagini is a Horcrux, but we have no idea what the last one is! How can we possibly think of any sort of confrontation until that item is found and destroyed?"

When Albus gave Hermione a sharp look, she was mortified to find that she was blushing yet again. Made extremely uncomfortable by Albus' perusal, Hermione dropped her head to stare at her hands.

"I had rather thought that at least one of you would have figured that out by now," Albus mused. "Hermione, would you look at me please?"

Reluctantly, Hermione raised her head to look Albus in the eye. At first, his expression was sharp and puzzled, but that soon gave way to surprise and then to fondness. "Oh, my dear girl! It is not nearly as dreadful as you think, I promise you. And in satisfying my curiosity I see just how tired you are, and little wonder. Look how late it is! Now, all of you, off to bed. There are plenty of empty beds in the castle if you don't feel like traveling. We'll resume this conversation after we've all had a good rest."

"But what does Hermione know?" Ron asked. "Does she know about the last Horcrux, and if she does, why didn't she tell us about it? We've been searching for some sign of it for weeks!"

"Now, now, none of that! And don't be hounding Hermione about it, either," Albus said a touch sternly. "I'll explain it to you myself in the morning, which is soon enough for anyone. Off you go now! Goodnight!"

Hermione soon found herself herded out of the room and down the stairs. Though Ron and Harry both gave her curious looks, they let her alone about the Horcrux. That was fine by Hermione. Too tired to Apparate, she was all too happy to find an empty guest room and go immediately to sleep.

And sleep she did, only to be plagued by uncomfortable dreams in which Severus called to her desperately while she was kept from reaching him by invisible hands. When she woke early the next morning, Hermione was fairly convinced that the dreams were a product of her frustration with the ward that had separated her from Severus the night before. Nevertheless, she hurried through a quick shower and left for the infirmary as quickly as possible. She was anxious to see how Severus was with her own eyes, and to see how his mental state was now that Albus wasn't lurking around in there.

When Hermione entered the infirmary, she was upset to find that Severus was nowhere to be seen. Poppy soon cleared the matter up. She had put Severus into a private room so that he would be hidden from any unexpected guests. When Hermione opened the door to Severus' room, she simply stood in the doorway for a moment to drink in the sight of him. He was dressed in a green flannel dressing gown, and sat propped up by a mountain of pillows as he read The Daily Prophet in bed.

"I said no more tea, Poppy," he growled. Then his eyes lifted from the paper and met her own. Later, Hermione would have no idea exactly how long they stared at each other, but it had seemed like an age. Eventually, Severus dragged his eyes away from hers long enough to fold the paper and place it on the table near his bed.

"Hermione," he said softly, and then again, "Hermione."

They both seemed rather lost for words. It was so strange. Only the day before, they had been so comfortable with each other. Now everything seemed forced and awkward. He had once told her that he would always care for her, but what if that wasn't true? What if he was having second thoughts now that he was himself again and found himself facing a girl that was, until very recently, one of his students?

Forcing a brave, if shaky, smile onto her face, Hermione closed the door and then sat down in the straight-backed chair next to Severus' bed. Placing a hand tentatively on his arm, she spoke.

"How are you feeling?"

"Passable," Severus said, his eyes searching her face. "I tried to leave the infirmary, but Poppy won't even consider releasing me until after breakfast."

"Good. You gave...us...quite a scare when you passed out last night. We were very worried about you."

"Were you?"

"Yes, very much."

With a sigh, Severus looked for a moment at where Hermione's hand rested against his arm. "Hermione, it occurs to me that I owe you several dozen apologies."

"Whatever for?" Hermione asked, incredulous. "Surely you don't think I would hold you responsible for anything you may have done while you were ill?"

"No, I suppose not," he said with another sigh. "But there's no getting around the fact that you did much to care for me while I was ill, and I did not treat you as a gentleman should."

Was he apologizing for kissing her? For holding her? Sweet Nimue, what if he really didn't care for her anymore? "Sir, I assure you that you did nothing that you should apologize for," Hermione said rather sharply.

At that statement, Severus narrowed his eyes at her. Shaking her hand off of his arm, he reached for the paper on the table. Returning to his reading, he said brusquely, "Very well, Miss Granger. If that's settled, perhaps you would be so kind as to leave me to my rest."

His manner had completely altered. At first he had seemed awkward but kind, now he seemed very much the old professor she had known. Startled at being so abruptly dismissed, Hermione rose shakily to her feet. "We'll be at the castle all day, I think," she managed to say. "Perhaps I could look in on you later?"

"If you feel you must," he snapped in reply.

Tears in her eyes, Hermione fled the room. She was so upset that she hurried through the infirmary and out into the corridor before she paused to lean heavily against a wall. Why had his mood changed so suddenly? Certainly things had been odd at first, it was an odd situation. But there they'd been, chatting clumsily but basically doing all right. Then the man had suddenly snapped at her and dismissed her with less consideration than most wizards displayed to a house-elf. He had gone from calling her by her given name to a very curt "Miss Granger." What was wrong with the man?

Frantically, Hermione replayed the conversation, word-for-word, until she reached the point that caused Severus' sudden change of manner. Her eyes went wide with sudden realization.

"Oh, dear! How could I have been so stupid?"