Puzzles and Mirrors

A huge thank you to my alpha reader, Arabellabloodgood, for reading this over for me and to thedoughymatron and Dandru for combing through this and helping me clean up my mistakes. I really appreciate the beta help. Thank you very much.

Also, smooches and a big thank you to DuchessOfArcadia for my lovely banner! I really love it, doll.

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~o 29 o~

Puzzles and Mirrors

Hermione woke up, stretched, and looked for Severus. Apparently, he’d risen earlier, but had allowed her to lie in a bit. Taking advantage of the time alone, she turned to retrieve her book from the bedside table and was surprised that it was gone. She quickly reached into her pillowcase and pulled out Ginny’s wand and the mirrors, feeling a sense of relief, then glanced around, wondering if Severus had moved her book. She’d read Transaudient Charms, Reaching Across Distances the Magical Way the day before during her revision time, comparing it to her notes on Conjointment and Protean Charms, and again before bed. Ginny and Jenny had come up to see her after dinner Friday, and Ginny had lent Hermione her wand to try to link the mirrors. Try as she might, she hadn’t been able figure out the right combination of the spells to make it work. Ginny had left her wand with Hermione when the girls had left at curfew, telling her to slip it to her at breakfast. She’d worked on the mirrors all evening, until she heard Severus coming up for bed, and had slipped the wand and mirrors into her pillowcase and deposited the book on the bedside table before he’d entered the room.

“Peren, where is the book I had on the bedside table?” she asked, turning to look at the house-elf.

Peren clutched her hands together and looked up at her as if she might have done something wrong. “I’s puts it in your trunk, Mistress. On the shelves, Mistress.”

“Thank you,” Hermione said as she scrambled from the bed and knelt in front of the trunk.

The fourth latch clicked and opened at her touch. She pushed up the lid and peered inside. She knew that the fourth compartment was where Peren hid most of her things that didn’t pertain to school. Under the old broom were her magical hats, some scraps of parchment, old Daily Prophets, and her things from Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. She dug around, smiling at the Hand of Glory that had been hidden in a sock, the Decoy Detonators scurrying around, the two mini Swamp canisters, and Peruvian Darkness Powder capsules – everything that had been in her pockets the night she’d been captured. Peren had saved them all – or she’d retrieved them. That was possible as well. But everything was here. Even the magical parchment was tucked under one of the issues of Gobstone Gazette.

She fingered the parchment that had dumped her at Severus’ feet and that was responsible for her current situation. She felt the slight tinge of magic and jerked her hand away. She didn’t trust the magical parchment; there was nothing she’d found in any book she’d read in the library to explain it, and therefore, had no idea how the parchment actually worked, let alone the fact that it reminded her too much of the diary Ginny had, so she left it alone. Hermione closed the lid.

She opened the first latch and looked more carefully at the books on the shelves in the lid of the compartment. All of her schoolbooks from her first year to her current year were lined up by subject, alphabetically, just as her notebooks and magical composition books were. Her finger stopped on the old, outdated Charms book – the one with all the Dark Arts charms – then on Snape’s old Charms book. Beside it was one of the books she wanted, Transaudient Charms, Reaching Across Distances the Magical Way. The Practical Magic of Transilient Transfiguration was with her Transfiguration books. She smiled. She still had them.

Hermione ran her finger along the bindings of the books in the third shelf, smiling when she realized that it held all her other books from her old school trunk on subjects that didn’t pertain to her classes. Her finger stopped on the short, thin brown journal that she’d pulled down off Snape’s bookshelves in his bedroom back at Spinner’s End. Eileen Prince’s Journal!. Next to it was The Rise of Darkness, Fastosus Opinio Praeiudicata Defendo by Myles Stanridge and the dark brown book that had fallen off the shelf when she’d tried to get Eileen Prince’s journal down.

Hermione dropped her hand to her lap and stared out of the window. Slytherin was playing against Gryffindor that afternoon, and from the way the trees were waving, it was exceptionally windy, not the best weather for the Quidditch game. She finished dressing, carefully hiding Ginny’s wand in her sleeve, and walked down to Severus’ office. Severus set down the parchment he was reading and looked at her, his eyes narrowing as he stood. “Good morning. I’m ready. Are you?” she asked, her hands clasped together, casually.

“Yes,” he replied. His gaze swept her appearance, stopped on her hands and then jumped to her face. “Do you have anything to say to me, this morning?” he asked casually, his stare boring into her as if about to perform Legilimency on her.

“Er, good morning?” she said uncertainly, calmly preparing for the invasion of his onslaught.

“You already said that.” He moved gracefully around the desk, scowling, and he escorted her to the door.

He remained very quiet as they walked, and she wondered why. She didn’t think it was the wand. Surely, he would’ve taken it away from me if he realized I had it. And she didn’t think it was her books. Although they’re not Hogwarts library books, that didn’t mean they came from Grimmauld Place… Besides, he couldn’t know where I got them; I could’ve gotten them from anywhere – anyone. He doesn’t care about my DA coin, not that I’ve used it recently…

The students in the corridor parted, rushing past them as they made their way down to breakfast. “Am I in any way being unfair to you, Hermione?” he asked without looking at her.

“No,” she replied as some third-years ran around her. He’s been quite fair. Why…?

“Hermione!” Jenny shouted. She turned and smiled. Jenny, Charlene, and Janilynn hurried to catch up to her.

“Ginny is going to be late for breakfast. She wanted to talk to the team before the game. Are you going? I was hoping you’d be sitting with us,” Janilynn said.

Severus’ lips pulled back into a scowl, and he placed his hand on Hermione’s lower back as he closed the gap between them. “She will be with me in the faculty stands, today.”

His hand felt warm, even through her school robes. “But I’ll be rooting for Gryffindor, of course,” Hermione stated, ignoring Severus’ apparent bad mood.

Severus glanced down at her, his face expressionless, and she shrugged slightly. As they made their way to the Gryffindor table, the girls chatted happily, excitedly about the game. Hermione sat next to Jenny and watched Severus walk away, his robes billowing behind him and his back rigid.

Jenny leaned close to Hermione as she reached for the pumpkin juice and whispered, “Ginny asked me to get her wand from you… Do you have it?”

Hermione slipped Ginny’s wand from her sleeve under the table and passed it to her quietly as Cillian sat down across the table from her.

“Any luck?” Jenny asked casually as she poured some pumpkin juice in Hermione’s goblet.

“Thank you. No,” Hermione replied, helping herself to the toast and bacon. She had managed to connect them with the Protean Charm, and then with Conjointment Charm, but the second charm just canceled out the first one. She’d then tried binding the Conjointment Charm with the Protean Charm again, but the Protean Charm canceled out the other, instead of the spells binding.

The owls flew in with the post, and Hermione glanced over at the paper Jenny received. “Here,” she said, holding the Daily Prophet so she could see it, too. Hermione chuckled softly at the weather report on the bottom of the front page:

A strong cold front from Siberia is upon us, (brrr!), and has attacked the British Isles, ironically dumping snow in the South of England but not in the Scottish Highlands. So, although the Muggles are trudging through the snow, our kiddies up at Hogwarts are all safe from being snowed in, thankfully, and Amanda Coontz, owner of Flowers For All Occasions, said her blooms are doing fine. But for those of you caught in the early snowfall, let me give you some helpful hints to beat back the cold: warming spells and turning ordinary firewood into ever-burn logs: see page two.

Tildon Toots offers some helpful hints for defrosting your geraniums and preparing your Flutterby bushes for the cold: see page four.

After breakfast, Hermione begged Cillian to let her go to the library before the game. He relented and sat at the tables as she browsed through the books for an hour. She looked up references on binding charms together, hoping to find out why she’d had problems on the mirrors. Since casting one charm immediately after the other while still holding the magical flow of the first charm hadn’t worked at all, the only other solution she could find was the probability that she’d need to use two or more wands simultaneously to make the charms bind. Giving up, she went back to the tower to change for the game.

That afternoon, Hermione sat in the stands between Severus and Cillian with Professors Vector and McGonagall separating them from the Carrows. The security wizards were stationed across the field, each seated with the house they were assigned to, and there were five other men in the stands. Hermione tried not to stare, but the men, they looked familiar to her, only she couldn’t place where she’d seen them before.

When Madam Hooch released the Quaffle, her attention turned to the game. It was freezing in the stands, even bundled up as Hermione was in her warmest jumper under her robes. But even though she was freezing cold during the whole game, she had refrained from cheering too much for her friends because each time she did, the Carrows glared menacingly at her.

The Slytherin-Gryffindor game was, in Hermione’s opinion, the most brutal game she’d ever witnessed. Goyle hit Demelza Robins with a Bludger on her left arm, but she stayed in the game, even though it was apparent that she could barely use her arm. Crabbe smacked Gryffindor Chaser Andrew Kirke with his bat as he flew too close to him, which made Kirke’s face swell up nastily. Jimmy Peaks managed to hit the Bludger back at Crabbe, catching him in the shoulder blades. But Aston Bole, one of Slytherin’s Chasers, body slammed Peaks into the side of the pitch and punched him in the face, which gave Peaks a bloody nose and almost made him fall off his broom. Ginny was knocked off her broom by Crabbe ramming into her, even swatting her arms with his bat, and she was out for a while, but returned to the game a short while later. Andrew and Urquhart, one of Slytherin’s Chasers, was in a rough tangle for half the pitch, fighting over the Quaffle, shoving and slamming into each other really hard, and both crashed into the goal posts.

The Slytherin’s Keeper, Malcolm Baddock, flew down to get the Quaffle and kicked Andrew, but Andrew managed to get the Quaffle back, rolling around Slytherin to score. Baddock tossed the Quaffle to Urquhart, but he was hit with a Bludger Goyle had aimed at Andrew. Demelza nabbed the Quaffle, flew back to the goal hoops, and was kicked in the face by Baddock when she tried to score. Later, when Demelza had the Quaffle again and was heading for the goal posts, Aston and Merkle both body-slammed her with full force as Bole flew off with the Quaffle, scoring for Slytherin. Keith Kleith managed to hit Goyle with the Bludger, knocking him squarely on his shoulder, but he was immediately winded when Bole slammed into him with his broom handle, which made the Gryffindor Beater fall off his broom. Professor Hooch gave Bole a foul, and Demelza made the free shot, but Slytherin still led Gryffindor by one hundred and twenty points. Bole scored two more times, giving Slytherin a lead of two hundred seventy points.

Ginny was knocked off her broom again when Malburke, another of Slytherin’s Chasers, intentionally collided with her and smacked her injured wrist, but she got back on and continued to play anyway. Finally, Ginny managed to catch the Snitch just after Jack Sloper, the team Keeper, was hit with the Bludger and knocked unconscious. Gryffindor won, two hundred and eighty to Slytherin’s two hundred and seventy. However, the entire Gryffindor team had to go to the hospital. Crabbe and Urquhart were also escorted to the hospital by their teammates. Since Ginny only had a fractured wrist and multiple bruises, some the size of Hagrid’s hands, she was released after Madam Pomfrey healed her wrist as long as Ginny promised to use the Bruise Paste again before bed.

Cillian reluctantly allowed Hermione to go up to Ginny’s room in Gryffindor tower until dinnertime.

“So, did you manage to connect the mirrors?” Ginny asked as Hermione sat beside Ginny on her bed.

“No, I apparently can’t do it by myself,” Hermione said with a sigh. “Either that, or it’s too complicated to do with your wand, but I doubt that, since your wand seems to work all right on everything else I’ve tried with it.”

Ginny smirked at her. “Okay then, so, we need another wand.” Ginny pulled her Galleon out from her pocket and with a few flicks of her wand, sent out a few messages.

Moments later, Janilynn and Jenny came running into the room. “What’s up?” Jenny asked.

“I need your wand,” Ginny told her friends.

Jenny shrugged and handed her wand to Hermione.

“So, what do we do?” Ginny asked.

Hermione called for Peren. The elf appeared instantly, bowing with her nose to the floor. “Peren, I want my Charms composition book, the books on the bedside table, and the one I have under my pillow.” The elf was gone and back in under a minute. She thanked Peren and showed Ginny all her notes. “The Conjointment Charm is Interbipatentis, which opens the mirror in two directions. The Transaudient Charm I found in Transaudient Charms, Reaching Across Distances the Magical Way is Interbivium bipertito, which creates an audible link, but a reciprocal charm has to be added to allow someone to talk to each other through the mirrors. I think the Conjointment Charm will work. Possibly. The Protean Charm on the DA coins seems to reach Harry all right, but I think the Extending Distances Charm should be added because I have no idea where Harry is or how far the Conjointment or Transaudient Charms will reach. The only thing is, I don’t know the order,” Hermione admitted. “I think the Protean and Conjointment Charms have to be done at the same time because they keep canceling each other out when I use them separately.”

Ginny rubbed her thumb on her lip, staring at the mirrors in her hand. “I remember Dad showing a new order member a Transaudient Charm when he was teaching her how to use her Patronus to send messages the summer before last,” Ginny stated and looked up. “She had to bind her voice to her Partonus as soon as it appeared, and he said that the Extending Distance Charm is done after, when she told the Patronus where to go.”

“I can do the Protean Charm – I’ve done it with you, and Ginny has been practicing the Conjointment Charm for weeks now,” Jenny said with a huge smile.

Hermione smiled at the younger girls. “Binding Transaudient, Protean, and Conjointment Charms by casting them at the same time… Yes, this might work!”

“So, if Jenny does the Protean Charm, and I’m doing the Conjointment Charm, and you do the Transaudient Charm, who does the Extension Charm?” Ginny asked Hermione.

“Gin, the Extension Charm has to not only hit both mirrors simultaneously, it has to be really strong; so, you do that one,” Hermione suggested, knowing that since she couldn’t use her own wand her spells weren’t full strength. She looked over at Jenny.

Jenny held up her hand and smiled. “I’ve seen her Bat-Bogey Hex and her Reductor Curse – she’s much stronger than me.”

Hermione stared at Jenny’s wand a moment before reluctantly handing it back to her. “You’ll need this, which still leaves me—”

“Try mine,” Janilynn suggested, handing Hermione hers.

Janilynn’s wand felt foreign in her hand, too light and wispy, and somewhat listless. She also had to tighten her control on her wrist movement because it was swishier than her own. Hermione did manage to turn a book into a boot, a shoe into a vase, then a quill into a fork, and then turned everything back. But she couldn’t do them easily and they were easy, OWL-level spells. She looked around the room, frowning. She needed to do some complicated magic to be sure that Janilynn’s wand would work all right for her before she tried the Transaudient Charm.

“What?” Janilynn asked. “Is there something wrong with my wand?”

“No, I just need to…” Hermione looked at Ginny. “Do you mind if I try changing you into something?”

“Sure,” Ginny replied, smiling. “Do a squirrel. I like being a squirrel.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the comment, but let it pass. The first time the wand didn’t respond well, and Hermione couldn’t do it. It didn’t the second time, either; Ginny didn’t change. The third time she did the spell, it worked; Ginny was now a squirrel, happily climbing up her bedpost, but it took tremendous effort and concentration. She had to concentrate even harder to do the spell to return Ginny to her human form after failing the counter spell the first time.

“Merlin, that is fun!” Ginny exclaimed as she scrambled to sit crossed-legged on the bed. “So, you can use hers, right?”

“No, something’s off,” Hermione said, looking at the wand. “I don’t know what’s wrong?” She turned to look at Jenny and Janilynn. “Janilynn, I’m sorry, but your wand feels off to me. I don’t know why, but it’s…”

“No problem, use mine,” Jenny said, handing hers to Hermione. “I’ll use Janilynn’s. I had to once, and it works fine for me.”

Hermione gave Jenny Janilynn’s wand. Jenny’s did feel better, and she knew she’d had no problems with it before.

Jenny levitated her trunk over between the beds as Ginny opened the compacts and then set them down side by side on her trunk. The first time, Jenny had hesitated and it didn’t work. The second time the girls cast the charms, the mirrors glowed, but the reflective surface didn’t shimmer as Hermione had expected them to. “It got canceled out,” Hermione said as she examined one of the mirrors. “I had that problem before.”

Ginny picked up Hermione’s book. “You said that the Protean Charm cancels out the Conjointment Charm. Which reciprocal charm were you considering?” Hermione showed her. “Let’s try this, I’ll cast the Conjointment Charm when you cast the Transaudial, then you bind it with the Reciprocal Charm before the glow starts to fade. Both pairs of charms should bind to the Transaudient Charm, and then I’ll cast the Extension Charm.

Hermione shrugged as she set down her Charms composition book. “Ready?” Hermione asked, and Ginny nodded. They cast their spells, making the reflective surface of the mirrors blaze as if reflecting the sun, and Hermione immediately added the Reciprocal Charm as Ginny cast the Extension Charm. This time when the light faded, the reflective surface shimmered, and the images seemed to undulate once; then the reflective surfaces became still. Both mirrors now looked completely normal.

Ginny picked one up, and Jenny grabbed the other. “How does it work?” Ginny asked the same time Jenny asked, “Did it work?”

“I thought I was supposed to see you,” Jenny said and then gasped. “I do! I see you, not me!”

“Go down to the common room,” Ginny suggested.

Jenny scrambled off the bed and ran out of the room.

“It’s working – I see the stairs. Can you hear me?” Ginny asked the same time Jenny’s voice came from the compact, “It’s working! I still see and hear you!” Janilynn reached for the mirror.

Ginny looked up at Hermione, beaming with excitement as she handed the mirror to Janilynn. “So, now how do we get it to Harry?”

Hermione let her lower lip slide out from under her front teeth as she contemplated the question of how. “We have no idea where he is, and it’s too dangerous to ask him through the coin… Peren!” Hermione exclaimed with an exuberant smile. “She can hear me—”

“Mistress calls Peren?” the house-elf asked, bowing low, holding a dusting cloth in her hands.

“Er, no, but,” Hermione stammered, surprised by the elf’s appearance, as Jenny’s voice said, “No, we’re just playing around,” through the mirror.

“Peren, how is it possible that you heard me?” Hermione asked.

“Peren listens for her mistress,” she replied, smiling proudly. “I’s hears you alls the time.”

“All the time?” Ginny asked, her brow creased in confusion.

“Oh, yes, Miss, alls the time,” Peren affirmed.

“You can hear her from anywhere in the castle?” Ginny asked.

Peren cocked her head to the side. “From anywheres, Miss,” she said, her ears drooping a little.

“Anywhere?” Hermione asked. “How far away? I mean, is there a specific extent to how far?”

“I’s do nots knows.” Peren started to twist the dusting cloth in her hands as she stared at the bed hangings. “Peren listens to you when Mistress rides in the magic car to go to school. I’s hads to; Peren had to waits until you gets to school to follows you. Peren did not knows where to go until the stern professor who teaches changing asks Master Snape where my Mistress would be sleeping.”

“If Peren can hear you, do you think Kreacher can hear Harry?” Ginny asked as Jenny bounded into the room.

Hermione turned to Ginny. “I’ve one better,” Hermione said. “Dobby, will you please come here?”

Dobby arrived with a loud pop. “Miss, Harry Potter’s friend, call Dobby, so Dobby comes,” he said, bowing before the girls.

“Dobby, if Harry were to call you, would you be able to hear him?” Hermione asked, crossing her fingers.

“Yes, Miss,” Dobby said as he stood up. “Dobby hears Harry Potter alls the times, Miss.”

“And can you go to him?” Ginny asked excitedly, crossing fingers as Hermione asked, “Dobby, can you leave the castle like you left the Malfoy’s five years ago?”

“Dobby is a free house-elf. If Dobby knows wheres to go to, yes, Misses, Dobby can,” he said proudly.

“Right, all Harry has to do is call for Dobby! Brilliant!” Ginny said, and she grabbed her DA coin. Ginny tried twice to connect the coin and then smiled.

Dobby’s ears perked up the same time Ginny looked up at Hermione. “Did it,” Ginny said the same time Dobby said, “Harry Potter calls for Dobby! Dobby can goes to Harry Potter!”

“Dobby, take this mirror to Harry. He really needs it,” Ginny said as Jenny handed her mirror to the house-elf.

Dobby swelled with pride. “I can do this for miss! Harry Potter is calling for Dobby so Dobby can goes to him!” As soon as he had the mirror firmly in his hand, he disappeared.

Ginny asked Janilynn for the other mirror.

They waited.

Ginny didn’t tear her gaze from the mirror. It seemed to take a very long time, and Hermione was worried that either Dobby wouldn’t get there or that Cillian would send for her before she knew if Harry got the mirror or not.

“It’s Harry!” Ginny exclaimed after the longest wait. “It’s really him!”

Harry’s voice rose from the mirror. “Ginny?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said as Ron’s voice could be heard from the mirror, “Ginny, is that you? Are you all right? How is—”

“I’m fine. Things are all right. How are you?” Ginny said, tears welling in her eyes as Hermione scooted over closer and looked at the mirror, too.

“Hermione! You’re all right!” Harry exclaimed, the relief in his green eyes almost palpable. “Ron, it’s Hermione! I can see Hermione and Ginny!”

“Yeah, Harry, I’m all right,” she said with total relief. He looked shaggy, his hair was longer, his glasses had been broken and poorly repaired, and he looked thinner than normal, but he’d never looked better to her. Tears welled in her eyes as Ron’s face appeared when he held his head close to Harry’s to see them in the mirror, too.

“Ah, ‘Mione, don’t cry,” Ron said.

She laughed, wiping a tear away as Harry added, “Yeah, Hermione, we’re okay, really.”

“So, the locket?” she asked.

“Have it, but can’t destroy it,” Harry said as Ron blurted, “Umbridge had it.”

“Yeah, we had to break into the Ministry to get it, and almost got caught,” Ron said and explained what they did.

Hermione was impressed. “Ron, that’s great—”

“The locket, it’s wonky and downright evil, makes us think all sorts of things,” Harry stated. He explained how it affected them.

“That’s how the diary was, this constant whisper in my head, these suggestions that I didn’t really want to do, but I was compelled to… it was horrible,” Ginny said, her voice solemn. “You have to fight it, Harry, Ron. Don’t listen to him, don’t believe what he says.”

Stephanie Adams, the girls’ other dorm mate, entered the room. “Hermione, Mr. Gwynek says you have to come down,” she said from the doorway.

Hermione had looked up, and she nodded in understanding. “Gin, give me the mirror at dinner. Harry, I’ll try to find what I can about how to destroy a, er, the you-know-what.”

“Hermione?” she heard Harry say as she walked away. She heard Ginny tell him that she was under certain restrictions as she left the room. She fervently hoped that Ginny would be discreet about her living arrangement. Harry and Ron wouldn’t understand, and they might try to rescue her.

“Everything all right?” Cillian asked when Hermione walked up to him.

She forced herself to smile. “Yes, of course it is.”

He nodded, but he was scrutinizing her. “Aren’t your friends coming to dinner?” he asked when they were in the corridor.

“Ginny has to finish something first.” Hermione said with a shrug, hoping she was convincing, but Cillian’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned at her.

“What were you doing in Miss Weasley’s room?” he asked, his eyes cold as he glared at her.

“Talking,” she stated, keeping her gaze forward as she headed for the Great Hall.

His face twisted into a sneer. “Talking,” he repeated. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

“It’s nothing. Something Ginny said,” she said, and he grabbed her arm. “Ouch!” she exclaimed, trying to yank her arm free. “You’re hurting me.”

His hand tightened, and his expression became even darker. “And you’re lying to me,” he growled at her.

“Am not!” Hermione protested.

He stopped and made her face him. “Then what were you doing in Miss Weasley’s room?” he asked, his brown eyes glaring at her with obvious fury. “Who were you talking to? Why are your eyelashes clumpy, like you’ve been crying?”

“Sometimes my eyes tear up when I laugh… I wasn’t crying,” she said, and Cillian’s expression darkened dangerously.

“You’re lying; I know you’ve been crying,” he snapped in a less than scathing tone. He dragged her all the way to the Headmaster’s tower, Hermione struggling to keep up with his longer stride. “Here,” he snapped, shoving Hermione into Severus’ office as soon as the door opened, and Severus rose to his feet. “Put your things away. You’ll be staying here tonight,” he snarled at her and then turned to Severus. “She’s up to something, her and her little friends.”

Hermione backed up, afraid. “I am not!” she implored.

“What happened?” Severus asked Cillian, coming around the desk.

Cillian glared at Hermione. “Ask her,” he snapped as Hermione ran across the office. “Maybe she’ll tell you the truth,” he yelled after her as she ran up the stairs.

Severus was standing at the window when Hermione came down for dinner. He turned around slowly and looked down at her, his dark eyes boring into hers dangerously. “Cillian said that Miss Wang was talking to Miss Weasley and then to Miss Waithe through a mirror. He described one of the compacts that I saw in Miss Wang’s possession,” he said, his tone sharp.

She couldn’t lie to him, he’d know, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either; he’d take away her mirror and then she’d not be able to help Harry. “Might’ve been, I was helping Jenny with a project for—”

“Do not lie to me!” he snapped, his eyes narrowed into a scowl as he loomed over her threateningly. “Do you honestly think I didn’t know about Potter’s and Black’s little mirrors?”

“How?” she asked, taking a step backwards.

His expression became even darker. “I saw them using them; how do you think I know?” He stepped forward, and she backed up, finding herself trapped against his desk. “You will show me. Legilimens.”

The attack was brutal. He searched randomly through her memories, flashes of images, moments of her day and week. “How…?” he snarled and pushed harder. Hermione couldn’t control the onslaught, the images from the morning coming and changing so quickly that she was getting nauseous: asking Peren for her book, searching through her trunk, the view out of the window at the trees waving in the wind, Jenny pouring her pumpkin juice, the owls delivering the post, browsing through the books in the library, seeing Cillian across the table from her, meeting Severus in the Entrance Hall, the huge oak doors that led outside… then nothing, just the clear blue sky.

“The game, the Quidditch game,” he snarled and pushed. He paused at the memory of the doors opening, the bright blue sky, and… nothing. Sky. Bright, clear December sky. “Show me the game.”

Hermione blinked. Where did I put the Quidditch game? Which door? She’d been practicing her memory palace every night, carefully putting every memory into place, concealing the ones she wanted hidden, until it became a habit, as natural to her as placing memories in books had been.

“You were at the game; show me it,” he growled, his voice echoing in her mind. He pushed again, so hard it hurt. She focused on the game, and finally the images came forth: the release of the Quaffle, the Chasers racing for the goal with the other team’s Chasers right behind them, beside them, ramming into them, Kirke’s face swelling up nastily; Crabbe ramming into Ginny, even swatting her arms with his bat, making her falter and fall. Andrew getting the Quaffle back from Baddock, rolling around the Slytherin to score; Ginny was knocked off her broom by Malburke, and Ginny finally catching the Snitch…

When he broke contact, Hermione nearly lost her balance. “So, why wasn’t I able to see that before?”

“I-I don’t know. I may have – I put it behind the wrong door,” she managed to say, clutching the edge of the desk behind her.

Severus’ expression relaxed somewhat, but he was still staring intently, his eyes boring into hers. “Door? What doors?” he asked.

“My memory palace, the castle in my mind,” she replied, gasping for breath. “I can’t empty my mind like you can, so I have been placing… things… behind – what?”

Severus looked down at her curiously, his eyes moving side-to-side as he studied her face. “Show me,” he said softly.

Hermione braced herself for the onslaught of his invasion.

“No, Hermione,” he said softly, a strange glint in his eye. “Show me. Legilimens.” He slipped into her mind.

This time she felt a light headiness, so different from his usual invasions. She let him look, taking him along corridors, past doors, tapestries, paintings, and even into a few of her rooms.

“The private stuff, how do you hide it?” he asked, his words a soft echo in her mind.

“I have smaller doors, hidden ones,” she replied, feeling him mentally running a hand on the walls she showed him, sending shivers coursing through her.

This time when the contact broke, Hermione missed his presence.

He was standing before her, arms crossed, his eyes narrowed, and frowning. “We’re doing this again after dinner,” he said and pulled her out of the room with him.

Hermione didn’t understand. I’ve blocked him, and he’s angry about it? Isn’t that what all these lessons were for – to block stuff so he – the Dark Lord, won’t see it? Severus maintained his grip on her arm all the way to the Great Hall, depositing her at her usual place at the Gryffindor table.

Neville moved a book off the bench as she sat down. “You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine… Oh, my God!” Hermione exclaimed as she turned to look at him and gasped at the bruise on his face. “What happened to you?”

“VanHalal slammed me into a wall because I was caught loitering in the dungeons.” He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, “Filch had some kids in those chains of his. Seamus, Ernie, and the kids got away, but I was lookout and got caught. Filch was furious ‘cause he knew why I was there and called for VanHalal. But, by the time VanHalal arrived, of course, everyone was already gone – the office was empty. VanHalal tried the rough approach to get me to say who freed them, but I kept saying that that’s why I was there – to save them. Never knew the guy was so strong.”

“Neville, you have to be more careful!” Hermione hissed back.

He shook his head. “You should have seen them, Hermione. Victoria Frobisher and Ritchie Coote, you know them, right, they’re in third year? Coote had wet himself and his face was all messed up, and Frobisher, her were robes torn, and she had bruises and a cut lip. Melissa Waithe, Janilynn’s little sister, she was chained to the wall, crying,” he said and reached for the roast beef. “Janilynn is in the hospital with her now. And there were three Hufflepuff fourth-years down there, too: Owen Cauldwell, Kevin Whitby, and Laura Medley.”

Hermione looked up at the staff table and saw Severus watching her as he ate. His dark eyes met and held hers. She looked away, realizing that Cillian hadn’t arrived for dinner. She glanced up at Severus again; he was still staring at her, his expression unreadable. Nervously, Hermione turned to her friends as she ate.

~*~

Severus stood watching Hermione with his back rigid and his arms crossed as he regarded her. He had known for a while now that she was trying to create a façade to block her memories, misleading him, but nothing had prepared him for what he’d discovered before they’d gone down to dinner. But she had blocked him from seeing what he’d wanted, even the entire Quidditch game that had happened just that afternoon.

She stood by the bed waiting, worrying her bottom lip. He hadn’t understood why she’d been having such a hard time controlling her feelings, and it exasperated him. She still wore her heart on her sleeve like any Gryffindor, and her emotions played out in her expressions completely unguarded as if she hadn’t been trying to learn Occlumency at all. Considering what a swot she was, her lack of trying and her ineptitude had infuriated him. However, the only reason he’d continued with their lessons was because of what was at stake. So, today’s lessons really threw him, something very few people could do.

He hadn’t found anything in her memories that he didn’t already know about, and nothing that hadn’t been reported to the Dark Lord. He’d tried to find the memories of her times in Miss Weasley’s dorm room, but none of them were there. There were no memories of her activities with Dumbledore’s Army, either from the past or present, except for Charms Club. All her memories were those of a studious young student trying to achieve good marks.

He’d wondered before if he wasn’t missing the truth behind the façade, and had assumed she was doing something few who tried to learn Occlumency could do – mislead. But that had its weaknesses, weaknesses the Dark Lord could penetrate. Even those who tried using a shield like a placid lake or a blank wall could only block a mediocre or average Legilimens. But rooms, hidden doors within the castle, that even he hadn’t been able to see, that took an amazing amount of organization and concentration to achieve. “Hermione, come here.”

He watched her expression change from satisfaction to confusion as she made the tentative steps toward him. He reached out, grasped her head, tangling his fingers in her hair and kissed her savagely. He leaned forward slightly to unbalance her, smiling as her hands grasped the front of his robes as she struggled to maintain her footing. She moaned, her hands gripping onto him tightly as she pushed back, and her tongue tried to tantalize his. Oh yes, he liked how responsive she could be, but this was not one of those times to give in. He let go of her, making her sway on her feet. He only allowed her a second to stand before he entered her mind again.

She’d reacted immediately; the walls of the castle, the stone corridors, even the paned glass windows were locked in place. He withdrew, and entered again, delving hard, searching specifically for any connection in her memories with Longbottom. What he saw were flashes of routine events: meals in the Great Hall, Herbology, Muggle Studies, and Defense lessons, moments talking in the library or waving at him from across the corridor, the Gryffindor common room… all innocuous. Benign. Safe. Expected.

He pulled back and tried again, this time he tried to see any memory of their Occlumency lessons. Nothing. He saw Hermione reading in bed, himself changing clothes, which gave him a view of his own body as he stripped in front of the wardrobe, sensing her feelings of fascination and curiosity, and he tried to read any other emotion in her but only felt her amazement and lust. With a smirk, he tried once again to push her, seeing some of their intimate moments, and a few of his sexual advances, but none of the incriminating activities. It was as if she tried to hold onto her memories of their intimate times, or hadn’t tried to suppress them, which amused him. He found one rather enjoyable evening when she’d… He wasn’t looking for images of their sex life.

“You’re allowing me to see this,” he snarled without any of the vinegar it should have, trying to find anything specific and saw a view of his body, semi erect, silhouetted by the light from the bathroom door.

He withdrew and now understood. She was suppressing what she didn’t want him or the Dark Lord to see. Somehow, the chit managed to Occlude most of her memories. It was a huge risk, but if he kept at her, he wondered if he’d break through. “How long?”

“I don’t know, months now,” she admitted.

Every time he’d probed for the events that he knew happened in the bedroom, she’d shown him their sexual encounters; he knew that would irritate the Dark Lord and keep him from seeing anything else of import. His lips twitched, but the next instant he was smiling. He couldn’t help himself; she’d done it her way and it worked. A deep chuckle escaped his throat. “So, you managed to do it.”

“Yes,” she said. “You told me that if I could Occlude you, you would tell me everything.”

Severus’ smile faded, and he raised an eyebrow. “No,” he said and then grasped her chin gently when she frowned. “I don’t know what you expect to know, Hermione, but some things are still too dangerous for me to tell you.” He looked at her thoughtfully and then amended his statement, “However, I will not have to be as careful around you. Tell me how you did this.”

Hermione collapsed onto the edge of the bed, and he sat down next to her as she began to outline exactly how she learned about memory palaces.

~*~

Hermione woke slowly, stretching her arms up and her left arm accidently bumped something above her. Her eyes snapped open as a firm hand grasped her wrist. “Oh my gods! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean—”

“I know you didn’t,” Severus said with a smirk as he pinned her hand down firmly on the pillows and leaned down to kiss her. His free hand slid up her side, holding her as his mouth did tantalizing things with hers.

She wrapped her free arm around him, holding him close, savoring the rare morning intimacy. “You’re usually gone when I wake up,” she said when he pulled back to look at her.

“Yes,” he said, his hair falling into his face and concealing his eyes from her. She reached up and brushed one side away, and he moved his head before she could tuck it behind his ear. “No, don’t.”

“Why?” she asked, lowering her hand.

“I don’t like it,” he said.

She reached up again, saying, “I just wanted to see your eyes,” as she ran her fingers through his hair, brushing it back again. “I can’t see them when your hair hangs in your face like this.”

“Don’t,” he said, well growled at her as he pulled back. “I hate my ears.”

“You hate your ears? There’s nothing wrong with your ears.” Her hand stilled, holding his hair back so she could look him in the eye. “At least be honest about this,” she snapped.

“Lily used to tuck my hair behind my ears,” he snapped angrily and sat up, turning away.

Hermione sat up quickly, saying, “I’m not Lily,” as she grabbed his arm. He turned to look at her. “I know about you and Harry’s mom. Well, some of it. Harry said she stood up for you in the memory he saw. You were friends, right? I mean, you knew her. Slughorn told me about your friendship during one of his parties.”

“That bloated braggart,” he snarled.

“He’s not,” she started to say then amended by saying, “I like your eyes.”

He turned to face her. “Hermione, I have to ask you. Do you know where Potter is?”

She shook her head.

“But you’ve spoken to him, haven’t you?”

She wanted to deny it, but knew she was a horrible liar and that he was expert at reading people.

“So you have,” he said and she hung her head. “I wouldn’t put it past you to find a way to communicate with him.” She looked up at him through her sleep-messed fringe. “Bloody hell, witch, trust works both ways. How can I trust you, if you don’t trust me?”

“I really don’t know where he is. Honestly,” she said, crossing her legs under the blankets. “He’s in hiding. We were going to hide until he could – until he was ready to face Vol-er, the Dark Lord.”

He sat still for a long time, and she waited. “What did he ask you?”

“If Ginny and I were all right,” she answered him.

“What else have you been hiding from me? How much of what’s going on with the DA are you involved in?” he asked, staring at her intently.

She shook her head, saying, “I’m not,” and then shrugged. “I’m not doing any of the defacements, vandalism or hanging any of the flyers.”

He sighed. “I already know that.” He looked at the door to the loo for a few heartbeats and then back at her. “What about the meetings? Do you know when they plan things or who is involved? Who is doing these things?”

“I don’t know for sure.” She shook her head again. “I mean, I could guess, but I’d have no proof of anything. I know they are meeting. I don’t know when or where. What are you going to do?”

“Whatever I can,” he said and rose. “Get dressed; I’ll take you to breakfast.”

~o0o~

Severus didn’t question her again about the DA, but he watched her constantly. He attended both Muggle Studies and Defense, and stared at her during meals, but he was very quiet when they were alone in the sitting room together. She could feel him watching her as she worked on her class assignments, even though he gave all outward appearances of reading the book in his hands.

Alecto and Amycus stormed over to Hermione and Severus in the Entrance Hall Wednesday morning, just as they were exiting the stairs on their way to breakfast. For some reason, the Carrows looked slovenly this morning: their robes were stained a muddy grey-brown on the lower half and hung on them as if they’d been wet and they’d tried to dry them with their wands. Alecto’s hair was plastered to her head, and there was a twig stuck under her collar as if she’d slept outside all night in her robes.

“There is a swamp in the corridor!” Amycus snarled at Severus in way of greeting. Amycus, never one to look well groomed, did look like he’d used the swamp water for his bath.

“Yes, there is one under a window on the fifth floor of the east wing,” Severus stated as if bored.

“No, it’s on the firs’ floor outside of Alecto’s classroom!” growled Amycus, glaring at Hermione. “She can’t git ter her classroom.”

“It fills the entire corridor,” Alecto snarled. “And there is a tree – a tree – in my office!”

Hermione tried extremely hard to hold back the chuckle that threatened to erupt. She knew about Fred and George’s instant Beech tree; one only made a hole in whatever place you wanted the tree to grow, put in the pill-sized canister and added water, or urine if you wanted the tree to smell, which was too gross to think about. The ‘seedling’ grew into a fully-grown tree in five minutes with huge roots and wide spread branches.

“It takes up the entire room!” Amycus added, holding his arms out wide as if to demonstrate the effect.

“He planted it in the very center of my office!” Alecto snarled, and a bit of spittle landed on her chin. “I had to climb over the roots to get out of my office this morning, and my desk is stuck between the roots, my chair is demolished, and the branches have broken all the windows.”

“He?” Severus asked, crossing his arms. “He whom?”

“Longbottom, that’s who!” the Carrows both shouted.

“Not possible,” Severus said coolly. “Mr. Longbottom was escorted to Gryffindor tower by Professor McGonagall after his detention last night before curfew. After the students were all accounted for, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was sealed closed by Professor McGonagall, and it couldn’t be opened until morning by except by Professor McGonagall or myself, unless there was a dire emergency. Mr. Longbottom’s name is on MacCavish’s list. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms were sealed closed as well after a similar check had been made.”

“Well, then that Weasley girl got out and did this, and her two dorm mates,” Amycus stated, crossing his arms. “They weren’t in the common room at curfew, I checked. They aren’t on the list.”

“Not possible. Miss Weasley, Miss Wang, and Miss Waithe spent the night in the hospital after they had been questioned by MacCavish, Rowle, and Travers yesterday for an infraction,” Severus stated, staring down his nose at him.

Hermione inhaled in shock.

“Madam Pomfrey assured me they would be locked in for the night,” Severus added smoothly.

“It was one of them,” Alecto shouted, stamping her foot, and then pointed at Hermione. “Or she did it!”

“Don’t be absurd. I’m tired of your insinuations and your ineptitude, Alecto. Either ask Professor Flitwick or Professor McGonagall to remove the swamp for you or remove it yourself.” Severus placed his hand on Hermione’s elbow to steer her away. “Otherwise, request Mr. Filch to punt the students across the swamp to your classroom.” His grip tightened as he led her away. “Damn.”

Hermione looked over her shoulder at the Carrows. By the way the Carrows were glaring at her, she dreaded being in Muggle Studies and Defense classes today. Then she caught his softly grumbled, “—plausible excuse from class.”

“Excuse me?” she asked. The students were parting to allow them through the doors, more afraid of Severus’ dark scowl than anything else.

“I need a plausible excuse to keep you out of your classes today.” His voice was so low, as his eyes scanned the Great Hall, that she barely heard him. Hermione followed gaze to where Professor Slughorn was sitting beside Professor Sprout. “I’m afraid, my dear, you will be in the hospital with food poisoning this morning,” he mumbled softly as he guided her to her usual place at the Gryffindor table.

She stopped short, exclaiming, “I’ll what?” but he yanked on her arm, forcing her to walk with him.

“Hermione, please trust me. It will be mild, a few moments of discomfort, but you’ll be in the hospital today,” he said softly so that only she could hear.

She looked up at him, and even thought he was scowling, she could see the concern in his eyes. She swallowed nervously, turning her head to look at the Carrows as they stormed in. “Okay,” she replied nervously, seeing both of them glaring daggers at her as they strode down the center of the hall.

The corner of his mouth pulled back into a smile. “I’ll be watching,” he said and walked away, grumbling to himself.

She looked down the length of the table, noticing that there were more gaps at the table than normal. Parvati Patil and Breanna Enfield sat together as usual, but today, fifth years, Ofelia Tredwell and Andy Flockhurst, sat next to them with sixth years, Wilberforce Wodehalle and Ernie Coppersmith sitting next to Neville and Seamus on the other side of the table. Hermione ignored the looks as she sat down next to Parvati and helped herself to some toast and bacon as Cillian got up and changed seats. She turned to face the guys. “Where is everyone?”

“Ginny, Jenny, Janilynn, Ritchie Coote, Brianna and Henry Hamleton, Andrew Kirke, Euan Abercrombie, and Jimmy Peaks were all playing on the Quidditch pitch yesterday after dinner, and they were all hexed off their brooms,” Neville said and stared at Cillian as he sat down next to him. “I think they’re still in the hospital.”

“All of them? Hexed off their brooms?” Hermione asked gobsmacked, almost choking on her bacon. “By whom?”

“MacCavish, Travers, and Rowle, who else?” Breanna sneered as Hermione picked up the pitcher of pumpkin juice to fill her goblet and found it already full.

She glanced quickly at Severus, wondering if he was really going to poison her. He was talking to Professor McGonagall but Hermione had the distinct feeling that he was watching her intently.

“Something wrong?” Parvati asked, taking the pitcher from her.

“No. I’m fine,” she replied, sipping her juice. It tasted normal. She drank a little bit and set the goblet down.

“Apparently, we aren’t allowed to play Quidditch anymore,” Seamus sneered, ignoring the glare he received from MacCavish from down the table.

Hermione ate her bacon and her toast as Seamus leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Jonathan Walsingham, Demelza Robins, and Jimmy Peaks were hexed leaving the changing room after their last practice, so Ginny had arranged for a pickup game with the younger years to give them some practice and evaluate their techniques in case she needed back-up players. But MacCavish, Travers, and Rowle had broken up the game by hexing them off their brooms. No one was too badly hurt that Madam Pomfrey can’t sort them out, but Jimmy, Jenny, and Janilynn had confronted them about it and had been forcibly dragged to the dungeons.”

“So, now it’s against the rules to question the Death Eaters about attacking your friends,” Parvati sneered softly behind her goblet. “Not only that, but they were all given detention with Filch when they get out.”

Hermione started to feel queasy. She looked into her goblet at her juice. She glanced up at Severus again, and their eyes met. His dark eyes, even from halfway across the Great Hall seemed to bore into hers.

“Hermione, are you all right?” Parvati asked

“I’m fine,” she replied, sipping her juice again. It tasted normal, but her stomach felt like it was knotting up, and she felt like she was gasping for air. Hermione set her goblet on the table, making some of the juice splash a bit, her stomach feeling queasy, and she felt dizzy. The shadows on the table seemed to be moving… stretching… Suddenly she threw up on her plate.

“Oh, my god!” Parvati screeched as Cillian jumped up and actually jumped onto the table to get to her.

“She’s been poisoned!” Neville cried out, on his feet, looming over the table.

“Hermione,” Cillian cried out, grasping her as her body began to convulse.

People were milling around her, pressing in on her and Cillian like huge, black bats, even though someone was yelling for everyone to get back.

“Move aside, you imbeciles,” Severus snarled as he shoved his way through and knelt down by her.

“I didn’ poison the chit!” Hermione heard Amycus snarl as Severus examined Hermione’s face, his eyes staring at hers intently. She stared at him; he had a halo around his head like an angel. He shoved something hard into her mouth and clamped his hand over it.

“Don’t swallow it, Hermione,” he was saying but he sounded so far away even though he was leaning over her.

She relaxed, leaned back, cradled in Cillian’s arms. The wrong arms! I shouldn’t be in Cillian’s arms! “Let me go!” Hermione struggled to sit up, but he held her firmly as Severus tilted up her head as he looked in her eyes, about to kiss her. Why is he?

“Hermione, hold still.”

“Will you all back up, please,” Professor McGonagall shouted as Amycus snarled, “I wasn’ me! I didn’ poison the chit!”

Severus reached out and scooped Hermione up into his arms. “Cillian, with me. Professor McGonagall, get everyone off to class,” he demanded as he carried Hermione out of the Great Hall. His movements made her vision blurry.

“All of you either go back into the Great Hall and finish eating or go to your classrooms. Now,” Cillian shouted, sounding far away.

Although Hermione felt really weak, she was already feeling better by the time they reached the fourth floor, and she rolled the hard stone in her mouth with her tongue as she snuggled into Severus’ embrace.

“Keep the Bezoar in your mouth and don’t swallow it,” Severus instructed as he hitched her up to adjust her in his arms. “And stop squirming,” he admonished her, although his tone was soft, velvety, not curt as if he was angry.

“Good thing you keep a Bezoar in your pocket,” Cillian said, falling into step as they climbed the stairs. “I have her plate and cup.”

Severus smirked. “Sixteen years of teaching dunderheads; I’ve learned to anticipate anything. It was in her cup,” he stated.

“How do you know it was in her cup?” Cillian asked. “I didn’t see anyone slip anything into her cup.”

Several of her friends sat up as Severus carried her to an available cot. “Her goblet was switched when she sat down,” he stated, pushing her fringe up and placing a hand on her forehead as he stared into her eyes. “You’ll be fine,” he told Hermione softly, stroking her cheek. He stood and turned to face Madam Pomfrey as she approached. “She’s fine now, just a mild poisoning. She has a Bezoar, but she’ll need some of the Fox-Crane antidote.”

“Fox-Crane?” Cillian asked as the Healer hurried to her stores. “You know what she was poisoned with?”

Severus nodded. “Crane’s foxglove and horse chestnut concoction,” he said, leaning down and cupping her face with his hand. Hermione looked up at him, lost in his dark eyes. “You’ll be here for the day. I’ll come get you tonight.”

“All right,” Hermione said, lying back against the pillows when he let go of her face.

Cillian glared at Severus and forcefully drew the curtain around her bed, adding a spell on them for privacy. “Crane’s Concoction – how in the blazes did that get into her goblet?”

Severus stood and crossed his arms. “I put it in a goblet and told the house-elves to switch it.”

“You?” Cillian gasped and then glowered. “Why? Why poison her?”

“Alecto and Amycus,” Severus snarled back and uncrossed his arms. “They will take their anger over the swamp and tree out on her, and I won’t have it. So, I wanted her here, but I needed an excuse. Besides, I know that Amycus has some vials of Crane’s Concoction in his office among his more interesting poisons.”

“So, that’s why he’s denying poisoning her? You took one,” Cillian said and then started to laugh. “Oh, man, he’ll be in trouble if the Dark Lord hears.”

“Oh, he’ll hear about it,” Severus said with a smirk. “MacCavish, Travers, Rowle, or VanHalal will inform him, if I don’t. The Dark Lord is getting pretty fed up with her frequent visits to the hospital, considering orders are she isn’t to be harmed. How can he convince Potter that she’s abandoned him, switched sides if only to get her education, if she’s always being beaten and tortured?”

“He cannot really believe that I’ve abandoned him or that I’ve switched sides!” Hermione exclaimed, sitting up.

Severus’ eyebrow arched up, and he smirked at her. “No?” he asked. “Pray tell what have you done to help your friend? Hermione, you’re being here is part of his plan, away from Potter, unable to help him, unable to think for the boy.”

“Harry can think for himself,” she snapped back.

“Hardly,” he said as Madam Pomfrey entered to give her the antidote. Severus turned to Cillian and said, “Go finish your breakfast. I’ll wait till you return.” Cillian nodded and left. Severus sat down next to her bed when the Healer left. “Exactly how much help have you been to your friends, huh? What have you been able to do for Potter – nothing. You don’t even know where he is.”

She crossed her arms and looked away from him. Lowering his voice and leaning slightly forward, Severus murmured, “You really think that you’ll be able to help him through the mirrors?”

She refused to answer him.

“I know about them, so you might as well tell me,” he insisted, staring at her intently. “Don’t lie to me. Do you know where he is?”

She shook her head, not trusting her voice.

He looked at her thoughtfully, and then he leaned back slightly. “So far he’s been lucky. He’s avoided capture, but he was nearly apprehended in the Ministry of Magic, recklessly trying to rescue about two dozen Muggle-borns facing trial. He was seen in London, twice, apparently searching for something, and he was nearly captured in Cotswold. The Dark Lord knew that he’d go to the place where he was born and had someone watching.”

Hermione gasped. Cotswold? “He’s – the orphanage.”

Severus raised his eyebrow, and his mouth twitched. “So, do you know what he’s looking for?”

“Of course,” she said softly.

“And how many of them has he found?” Severus asked, his dark eyes narrowing. “No one can hear you, and I know about the quest.”

“Do you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him, not sure whether to believe him or not.

Severus’ face relaxed and he snorted. “The Dark Lord’s book, Hufflepuff’s cup, Merope Gaunt’s ring and her locket – that may have belonged to Salazar Slytherin – possibly Nagini, and another one, but Dumbledore had been unsure as to what it might be,” he said, and then his lip curled up slightly. “I know that the book and ring were destroyed. Which leaves Ravenclaw’s brooch, circlet or coronet as a possibility, or items rumored to have belonged to Godric Gryffindor: a tankard, his vambrace, a buckler, stirrups, even a belt buckle or a plate – there are a number of items said to have belonged to the founders.”

“The brooch isn’t, it was found to have been made in the thirteenth century. The buckle and buckler turned out to be from the twelfth century, according to Adolph Francis Foucher and Charles Thurstan Hirschfeld, curators of the wizarding museum in London,” she said. “The plate and the tankard came from Hogwarts, and looked like the early pewter trenchers and tankards used by the students in the twelfth century, except that the coat of arms on the tankard had the mantling and supporters that were added in the mid-thirteenth century. We went to see them after the funeral.”

A deep chuckle escaped his throat. “I know; I was there,” he said, and she gasped at his statement. He let out a sharp bark of laughter. “They were on loan to the museum so I went to look at them. But they are not what you seek. T I know that the only true artifacts of Gryffindor’s are the Sorting Hat and the sword.”

“You were there? But you didn’t stop us?” she asked, surprised, and he shook his head. “Why?”

He rose to leave just as Cillian parted the curtain. “Think about it. Why would I have wanted to?”

~~o0o~~

Author’s Notes:

Any mistakes in my Latin are entirely my own. I used an online translator from Nortre Dame: http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl

Interbipatentis- Inter: to open it. Inter + bipatens –entis: doubly open, open in two directions

Interbivium bipertito: again using Inter with bivium:

bivium: having two ways or passages

bipartito or bipertito: in two parts, in two ways