Chapter Two: An Improbable Alliance

Disclaimer: see prologue.

Thanks to Somigliana for correcting my mistakes and giving her input in this story.

When she woke, Hermione found herself seated on an old chair, tied with ropes, in what looked like a basement. By the look of it, it was probably the basement of the orphanage. Only two candles were lighting the place, giving it the dim and fearful atmosphere of a horror film. She thought that she wouldn't be surprised to see a masked man holding a big knife suddenly appear in front of her. Indeed, a man appeared in front of her, but he wasn't masked – he was holding a wand.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," Severus said in that silky voice of his.

Hermione's eyes grew as big as saucers, showing her fear to her captor. He was going to extract information from her, then kill her and her friends, and she couldn't do anything to prevent him from acting. She remembered what she knew of Legilimency, and she averted her eyes. Her ex-professor cupped her chin with a bit of brutality and forced her to look at him. She shut her eyes in hope that he would only kill her ... she didn't want to be tortured – she had no idea if she could keep Harry's secrets in such circumstances, and she wasn't eager to find out. She heard him sigh deeply.

"I'm not going to kill you, Miss Granger, unless you leave me no other choice. We don't have much time, so I'll get straight to the point. I want to make an agreement with you, one that would be beneficial to both of us."

He sighed once more; her distrust in him was so blatant.

"Don't even think to scream for help. I put an Imperturbable Charm on the door; no one outside the basement can hear us," he told her, when it was obvious that she had regrouped enough and was thinking of this. "I know why you and your friends are here. You want to get the Dark Lord's Horcruxes and destroy them. I know what they are, and where they are. My information could help you to gain some valuable time in your quest, don't you think?"

Hermione was horror-struck. If Snape knew what they were doing here, then Voldemort also knew. And it had taken them nine months to find only one Horcrux while the tyrant wasn't in the know. Her mind became frantic. On one hand, they could do with Snape's information, but on the other hand, he could be misleading them. It struck her as odd, however, that he hadn't killed her, or tortured her, or tried to extract information from her. She wasn't in a situation where she could make demands; she was at his mercy. Perhaps she could stall a bit ...

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing much, Miss Granger. If the Dark Lord is defeated, I want you to testify in my favour in front of the Wizengamot."

"That's all?" she asked, incredulous.

"It is more than you think. You are one of Potter's best friends, and you will be a hero; your word will weigh heavily in the decision of the court. You will help me to spend as few years in Azkaban as possible."

"You don't want to escape, hide, or something?" She really had a hard time believing that he would content himself with something so easy, so undemanding.

"And pull a Pettigrew? I think not. I want to walk in the outside unimpeded – and as myself." He realised then and there that power wasn't as important as it used to be to him.

A slight trace of weariness could be heard in his voice. That and her weak position of the moment made Hermione accept his terms. Yet she wouldn't let him know of her decision too quickly.

"I still need reassurance that you're not going to betray us." The words 'like you did with Dumbledore' were hanging in the air between them.

"That won't be too difficult, Miss Granger. The first proof of my good-will will be to allow you to leave alive. But before that, I'll have to duplicate Rowena Ravenclaw's codex and take it to the Dark Lord. It will be your responsibility to give me access to the object for five minutes, and to keep your friends otherwise occupied while I do so. If I let you leave alive AND with the original codex, will it be proof enough?"

"I think so," Hermione said slowly. "However, how will you explain the lack of a piece of soul in the codex to ... You-Know-Who?"

The question was a very valid one. How indeed? The Dark Lord would have a way to check. He'd have to do some quick research before he went back to his master.

"I'll find a way. That question shouldn't bother you, Miss Granger," Severus answered quite abruptly.

Hermione then did something very impulsive: she volunteered information to a Death Eater.

"I know the incantation to check if there's a soul or a piece of soul in an object or a living being. It's the same to make a Horcrux."

Later, she would call it 'gut instinct'; her rational mind would never wrap itself around the fact that she had told him this, although he'd had no idea she was in possession of such knowledge. She would always be satisfied, however, to have rendered him speechless and gobsmacked. He managed just in time not to look like a fish.

"How such a prim and proper girl like you could ever know such foul magic?"

"The library at Grimmauld Place," she whispered.

Trust the swot to put her nose in any library, no matter how unsavoury it might be.

"And what would this incantation be?"

"Anima Dispergere. The only difference between making a Horcrux and checking if there's one somewhere is the wand movement. You speak the incantation while moving the tip of your wand from your heart to the object to make a Horcrux, and you tap the object with your wand to check for the presence of a Horcrux."

Severus had listened to her intently and memorized what she'd said. It was now time to set her free.

"Well, Miss Granger, I will now let you go. Do you agree to testify in my favour, should the Dark Lord be defeated, in exchange for information from me to help you defeat him?"

"I agree," she answered simply.

Severus wished a third person was with them, so that he could have bound the girl with an Unbreakable Vow. He would just have to trust her Gryffindor tendencies of honour instead. He waved his wand, and the cords which were tying her fell apart. He literally thrust her wand into her hand and took a step back from her. She got up slowly, unsure if she would be able to stand, and she found she could feel her limbs. She didn't quite turn her back on him when she reached and climbed the stairs. She went into the room where she had left the boys not a moment too soon, for they emerged from the staircase leading to the upper floors a few seconds after. Harry was holding Ravenclaw's codex in his right hand.

"Where've you been?" Ron asked without preamble, an accusatory edge to his voice.

"Sorry, I've been taking in the enchantment on the paintings, it was so fascinating ..."

"Never mind, we could have been killed, and Madame was examining an enchantment."

'That was it,' Hermione thought. Ron would be back to his place as a best friend no later than tonight.

"You can't exactly reproach me for studying something that could be useful to ward us against Death Eaters!"

Harry felt it was high time that he intervened.

"There's no need for quarrelling. Actually, it was a good thing you didn't come with us, Hermione. I had a hard enough time keeping the Runespoors away from Ron. The codex itself wasn't that well concealed; it was more of a game compared to that expedition in the cave last year."

"Harry," Hermione said, "don't you think it'd be a good idea to search Voldemort's old room, just in case? I can stay here and check the codex for any further traps. You shouldn't need more than a few minutes, and then we'll go."

"That's a very good idea, Hermione. Ron and I will just do that."

Ron sent her a dark look before going with Harry.

The boys had barely disappeared from the room, when Severus was at Hermione's side. He snatched the old book from her hands before she could say anything and put it down on a dusty table. Silently, he waved his wand above the codex, chanting some spell under his breath, and a duplicate appeared next to the original. It was nothing more than a dim whitish light at first, then the light darkened, became solid and took the form of Ravenclaw's possession. He checked the copy and put it in the inner pocket of his cloak.

"I will now take my leave, Miss Granger. I'll let you know as soon as I have useful information for you. For now, I can only tell you that Bellatrix Lestrange is responsible for the safety of Helga Hufflepuff's cup."

Hermione blinked, and he was gone. 'What a strange meeting,' she thought. She looked at the innocent-looking codex on the table; it was an illuminated Bible. Even though the current wizarding world wasn't very religious, she remembered that it hadn't always been the case. The proof was the existence of a monk's ghost at Hogwarts. She gingerly poked the sacred book with her wand and uttered the dreadful incantation, "Anima Dispergere". A rainbow-like light emanated from the object; the Bible was proved to be a Horcrux.

Ron and Harry arrived just in time to see the light fading into nothingness. Hermione had told them about the incantation, and they knew at once what she'd been doing. Harry shivered at the idea of the spell escaping his best friend's mouth; Voldemort had intended to speak it, had he succeeded in killing him all those years ago.

Ron stammered, "So, this is a ...?" He couldn't bring himself to speak the word, as if the reality of it had just sunk in his mind.

Hermione nodded. "Perhaps we shouldn't linger, now that we've found what we were looking for?"

A few minutes later, they were at Grimmauld Place. The Horcrux was tossed in the hearth where it burnt quickly. Hermione felt a pang to destroy such a fine artefact, but so many lives were at stake; she couldn't afford to be sentimental. She had some thinking to do, especially how to use the information she got from Snape without raising the suspicions of her friends.

For his part, Severus was in a quandary. He had to bring his master the fake codex before the night ended if he wanted to live, but it lacked something essential: a piece of soul. How to pull off this charade?

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