WHAT!?...There's Plot?

Well, you guys, I'm back; you've probably forgotten my little fic, but I am now here to continue it. I actually deleted half this chapter off my hard drive before saving it to disk *shakes head and sighs* (I'm going to blame it on post pregnancy syndrome), and then when I finally felt like nutting it out for a second time, we had a power surge and I lost it again! Just couldn't find the inspiration to re-write it once more...until now.

Obviously, after reading HBP, this fic is now completely AU, even though it wasn't really IU to begin with. You probably won't find any spoilers in it – just in case you haven't read HBP yet – so it should still be safe. The occasional spell or some such thing may make it in, but as for direct plot, you should be all right.

Massive, huge, enormous thanks go out to my beta, 'Nakhash Mekashefah', who took her scant spare time to clean this up and make it readable. Without her, it simply wouldn't be here ;).

WHAT!?... There's Plot?

It was mid-afternoon and Neville had been back from lunch for quite a while now. He was feeling very pleased with the way things had gone over the course of his meal, and was quietly humming a Weird Sisters tune he had picked up from somewhere while he washed up for a brief afternoon tea.

Neville's ears pricked at some slight sounds of movement coming from the main room, but he thought nothing of it, as surely it was just Hermione and Severus returned from lunch. Consequently, he was rather surprised and disturbed to find Lucius Malfoy turning swiftly from a filing cabinet and sending a full Body-Bind straight into his chest!

In the helpless position he found himself in, all Neville could do was watch as the elder Malfoy went through just about every nook and cranny he could find. He was then even more deeply disturbed to see Lucius pocket a few scrolls of parchment, turn with a triumphant gleam in his eye and stride confidently towards the elevator, throwing a Stunner and an 'Obliviate' over his shoulder for good measure.

If poor Neville could've remembered the encounter, he would've known from the look on Lucius' face that he had been successful in his reason for being there, and that alone did not bode well for anyone at all...ever.

**********

Bill Weasley had been recovering in St Mungo's for the last few weeks.

Being a curse-breaker for the goblins at Gringotts Wizarding Bank was in itself a rather dangerous choice of employment. Oh sure, it was interesting and adventurous: the surprise of a new assignment. Not knowing where you'd Portkey to next lent a certain air of mystery to the job. Coming up against some of the most interesting and inventive ward work ever seen kept a mind sharp and creative, trying to figure out how to get around or dissolve them without tripping any.

But for all that action and excitement, it was just plain dangerous!

There were an uncomfortable number of close calls and near misses that made Bill shudder just to think about. The last one included.

Basing his decision on the last encounter and a few other rather sticky situations, Bill had decided to take Severus (which is what he was asked to call him now) up on his offer, which in itself was a strange affair. He had been minding his own business (in between making the young mediwitches blush and giggle... In fact there was this one time...), when lo and behold the last person he'd expected to pay him a visit...did.

Bill couldn't have been more shocked when he saw his former Potions master/Death Eater spy stride into his room as he so pleased. Of course, he'd gotten along with the elder wizard fairly well during that whole Voldemort business. Sure, the wizard was strung tighter than a centaur's bow 80% of the time, but that was to be expected of any man who was trying to gather information that could turn the tide of the war in their favor without being caught. Not to mention the condition he usually returned in on his little field trips. No, Bill couldn't begrudge the wizard his impatience and acid tongue, what with everything else he had to deal with.

Still, he had never gone out of his way, exactly, to make Bill's life especially hard. Severus and he had even gotten along quite amicably, working closely together near the end of the war. They were the ones who had to figure out how to get past and dismantle all of the many layered wards and such that had been surrounding Voldemort and the Riddle estate.

If anything, Bill had to admire Severus' intellect; the wizard was sharp as a quill when it came to grasping concepts and solving particularly difficult problems. It was like his mind was already thinking three moves ahead, but he supposed in Severus' position he had to just to survive.

Bill hadn't at all been shocked to learn from Severus that he'd left Hogwarts and gone into research, though he had been surprised to discover that there was a whole department funded by the Ministry to do just that. When Severus had first made the offer, Bill had said he'd think on it and let him know, though he'd had no intentions of accepting. However...

After thinking on things for a few days, Bill was more inclined to change his mind; surely, he couldn't keep cheating death on a regular basis for a living. One day it was going to catch up with him for being so cheeky as to test the Fates. Again, the last job was proof of that.

The Galleons offered in wages was nothing to sniff at, either, especially since it was double what the tight-fisted goblins at Gringotts were paying him. Also, he wouldn't have to be away from home all the time, which was why he thought his mother would back this avenue all the way.

Wincing, Bill wasn't all that sure he wanted his mother to have such ready access to his person; the woman could be a tad overbearing at times. Thinking on it more, though, he reflected that maybe it wouldn't be too much of a problem, as his mum had decided to go back to work this year.

Yes. Yes, maybe it would be nice to stay in England for the time being. Who knows, maybe he'd meet a nice witch he'd want to spend his time with? Sure, his roguish looks and easy-going nature made sure he was never in want of a witch. But sometimes spontaneous, passionate sex with a different array of women, witch and Muggle alike, got quite lonely.

So, taking a deep breath to steel himself for such a big life change, Bill transfigured some parchment and he quilled his acceptance to Severus, letting him know that he still had a few weeks in St Mungo's before they'd give him the all clear and allow him to leave.

**********

Hermione's head, heart and body were racing wildly when Severus pulled away from her. And if Severus continued to pull away from her like that every time they shared a heated snog, she thought she'd just about pitch a fit! How could this man stir such lust within her from just a simple kiss? This tall, dark, intelligent wizard had managed to stir passions in her that she hadn't even known she held. Hermione had never looked upon Severus with anything but respect for his authority as her Professor, and he'd earned that in spades as far as she was concerned. Not only was the man's mind incredibly quick, but also the things he would've gone through as a double agent made the mind boggle.

Hermione felt extremely smiled-upon by the Fates now that she'd been shown another side to him. Not only had she discovered recently that he was actually a very pleasant person to be around and converse with, when one had something intelligent to talk about, he also held the reins tightly on a very explosive ardour he held for anything that interested him. She only hoped she was included in that category now she'd had a taste of what it was like to be the focus of his interest.

"Hermione, we need to talk about this," Severus started, as he grasped her hands tightly in his. "I'm not prepared..." he trailed off.

What? Hermione's mind screamed. What are you not prepared for? Not prepared to take things further? Not prepared for a relationship? How could he just trail off like that! Was this too much for him to deal with? Was he trying to think of a way to let her down gently? She'd never known him to be at a loss for words; he was all witty comebacks and scathing retorts.

She noticed he was staring off over her shoulder with his eyes narrowed and head cocked to the side. Following his gaze, Hermione turned to see an owl, about the size of a Quaffle, heading towards them.

Severus recognized the bland little creature as a standard Ministry owl. What in Merlin's name couldn't wait until they got back from lunch? For Circe's sake! How in Hades was he supposed to get Hermione where he wanted her (between his sheets) if every time he was getting somewhere with her, they were fucking-well interrupted!

Impatiently, he snatched the scroll from the owl and proceeded to read it with the most puzzled expression on his face. All Severus said was, "Come," and then the next thing Hermione knew, she was being held tightly as they Apparated to the front of the Ministry.

"Severus, what...?" Hermione started to question.

"We didn't even pay for lunch!" she squealed indignantly, mid-sentence.

Severus waved his hand at her in an offhand manner and said, "They have my Gringotts details," all the while pulling a very confused Hermione along by the hand through the entire Ministry checks and corridors.

She gasped Neville's name when they walked out of the lift into R.O.A.M and disentangled herself from Severus to rush over and see to her friend.

While Hermione went about discovering what had happened to Neville, Severus approached one of the Aurors on the scene that he knew from his work with the Order.

He had worked closely with him too, nutting out which revel attacks could be intervened upon and, sadly, which ones couldn't, so as not to blow his cover. Severus had found the wizard to be very levelheaded and quite the strategist; never once did the Auror demand to be able to save them all. To Severus, that spoke volumes, not even Albus had been comfortable playing God like that.

He'd been glad Albus had left those calls to himself and Kingsley; the ones that were spared had made things tricky enough for him as it was. Sighing to himself internally, Severus didn't really want to think about that time in his life. He did wonder occasionally, though, how he had managed to live through it all and not end up a wretch; he'd fully expected to die during, if not before, the final battle.

Pushing such thoughts from his mind, he turned to Kingsley to learn what had happened, exactly.

"The Ministry wards picked up some suspicious activity in your department. Of course, you already know that guests have to relinquish their wands before entering, so that leaves Ministry workers. Only the wand's signature isn't registered to anyone the Ministry employs."

At Severus' raised eyebrow, Kingsley continued. "The wards are layered to pick up different sorts of activities within the building. One of them recognises the wand in use and its owner; inbuilt into the wards is each employee's wand signature. Another ward monitors the kinds of spells, charms or hexes performed within the building. It sends an alert out when they are of a suspicious nature."

Severus was getting impatient with this long-winded explanation, and said so. After all, he already knew this information. He did what he did best before agreeing to work within the Ministry: Severus researched and tested all the safety measures. Even with Voldemort gone, one could never be too careful. If someone wanted to know Severus' every move, he was damn well sure that he was going to know theirs!

"The thing is, Severus, we had an alert come up for two powerful Body Binds and a Memory Charm in your department." At Severus' expectant expression, he went on. "The only problem is...the signature ward did not recognise the wand. Not only do we now have a Ministry member who was smart enough to be able to smuggle in an unregistered wand, but we also have no leads to finding out who it was or what they were after. They've gone and modified the memory our only witness and, as far as I know, there's no way to restore those memories."

**********

Lucius Malfoy was sitting in his rather large Manor, in his rather large study, stroking his rather large ego. He couldn't help but feel quite smug over a job well done as he gazed down upon the scrolls of parchment he had retrieved from Severus' disillusioned hidey-hole. The filthy traitor would get what was coming to him, that was for sure, and with the other unexpected parchments he'd found...the Mudblood bitch would get it, too.

He just couldn't understand how his one-time friend, and godfather to his only son, could have sided with a filthy Mudblood. Lucius and Severus had been crib mates. They'd done and experienced all their firsts together: flying brooms; experimenting with spells and potions; and sneaking out into Muggle towns, which had later turned into visiting their stuffy, dirty clubs and bars. Muggle women had been easier to woo and bed than witches back then. Pureblood witches wanted quilled and signed marriage contracts if you wanted to sample their wares, and they'd been too young and free to be worrying about that sort of thing, at the time.

Oh, how free they'd been! Both had been born into very privileged families and had never been in want for anything. So their home lives weren't exactly all warm and fuzzy, but everything they could've asked for was given to them with no questions asked. It had gotten rather boring after a while; hence the sneaky trips into the Muggle world. Being of true Slytherin stock, they had observed everything about such a forbidden place before even approaching the areas of interest.

Those were the days, Lucius thought fondly. If he were in the mood to be honest with himself, he could acknowledge the fact that joining Voldemort had been one of the most stupid decisions of his life. The Malfoy name used to be respected and feared; now, though, the looks of pure loathing directed straight to his face were a little disconcerting. The only thing that had kept him from receiving the Dementors' Kiss or a lifetime in Azkaban was the fact that too many Wizarding projects and services would lose all their funding. The problem with that was, everybody else knew it too.

Lucius knew what Severus had been up to when the war was in full swing; he knew Severus had defected and was betraying them all. But he couldn't bring himself to reveal this fact to their Lord and see Severus' life forfeit. Lucius had considered Severus the brother he'd never had. He'd been mistaken in believing that Severus had felt the same.

To betray him in such a way was just unfathomable. Lucius cursed a house-elf quite severely in his outrage. He couldn't believe Severus had just about beaten his own godson to a bloody pulp. Lucius' only son and heir!

Though, in a way, he was quite disgusted with his young progeny. Lucius was fairly certain his only child had fancied himself in love with the filthy Mudblood. Sneering to himself at the thought of the Malfoy name being tainted with such a thing, Lucius was just grateful that his son had had no idea how gain her affections. After all, brute force didn't always have the desired outcome.

Being expelled from Hogwarts had been a blessing in disguise for Draco, as far as he was concerned. Lucius had finally been able to send him to Durmstrang as an alternative. He should've gone there from the beginning, but he'd caved to his beautiful wife's only demand: to keep him close to home. Nevertheless, in the end, it had had the desired effect; Draco was now everything he'd hoped him to be. Without the mollycoddling of his fellow Slytherins to pamper and cater to his every whim, the boy had had to finally stand on his own merit and had become a man because of it.

In the end, Lucius had decided that since Severus had done him some small favor in that instance, he'd try and sway him into being the wizard he was meant to be, instead of this flowers and candy Gryffindor-hugger he'd become. If that didn't happen, then he'd crush him by destroying everything he held dear.

As he watched the sun sinking into the horizon from his study windows, he smirked and thought about how Severus would soon be coming across his first warning.

**********

After the Aurors left, Severus, Hermione and Neville seated themselves around the large jarrah table in the middle of the room and discussed recent developments.

"Do you trust me, Neville?" Severus asked quietly, looking into his former pupil's eyes.

Neville cast his eyes sideways to meet Hermione's; he must've found what he was searching for because he looked back to Severus and gave a small, but firm, nod for him to continue.

Severus straightened and brushed the hair from his eyes before he whispered, 'Legilimens,' and viewed the afternoon's events through Neville's mind. When he'd finished, Severus raised an eyebrow at Neville, who incidentally blushed a deep scarlet, leaving a very confused Hermione to look between the pair of them.

"Well? Did you find anything?" Hermione asked impatiently.

Clearing his throat, he gave Neville one last amused glance before answering. "I'm afraid not. The caster of the Memory Charm must have been a powerful wizard, indeed. He's managed to wipe the memory, from just after Neville heard a noise, completely from his mind. I think it would be best if we wait until the Aurors have finished with the Pensieve."

Just in case the fiend responsible was watching one of them, Severus had managed to talk Hermione into allowing him to see her home. Of course, he would have followed her home anyway, but he wasn't planning on leaving once they got there. If everything went according to plan, and he'd waited too long for it not to, then they were going to discuss what had been developing between them and, hopefully, end up in bed, the floor, against the wall or even over the table. Severus really wasn't that fussy where it happened, so long as it did happen.

Merlin, was Hermione in for a surprise when they got home...

AN: I had a beautiful baby girl Ashlee Elizabeth on June 10, an hour and a half after my water broke! With absolutely no drugs! (Simply because there wasn't time, not because I didn't want them... and boy did I really want them!) 'laughs' She weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 oz and is now starting to settle into some semblance of a routine. I'm still a little out of whack, but I'm getting there. You should see another update from me fairly quickly, as I'm already in the middle of writing it. Don't forget to REVIEW!

P.S. You can't even begin to believe how grateful I am to not have to run to the loo every five minutes now!