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The Morning After	By : Queeny Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 58833 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 30
- 31
Chapter 31 - Where in the World is
Carmen Sandihorcrux?

Author:
Queen Celestia

Betaread
by: Momof3dogs

Disclaimer: I
don�t own Harry Potter. This is just drivel. Nor do I claim to own anything of
the old kid�s show Carmen Sandiego.

Warnings:
Mentions of violins... I mean
violence in this chapter. But I mean, if you�ve got this far, this mention is
nothing compared to some previously.

AN: This
chapter turned out a lot different than I thought it would, which alters my
vague outline� Sorry for the delay!
I thought I had posted this chapter AGES ago, but when I went to check.. it
wasn�t posted!!!

+++++

Narcissa straightened
her gown. There, she looked professional. Her stomach churned in knots as
thoughts of the upcoming permanent resident of the manor ran around in her
mind.

It seemed the Dark Lord
had gotten tired of his own private home and had decided to impose upon one of
his most faithful followers, since he did get him out of jail.

That was another thought that had her
stomach in knots. Lucius was out of jail.

As ashamed as she was to admit it, she had
been so happy with him in jail. Angry with him for getting their family into
this situation, and then being bamboozled by mere kids. This man who so
dominated her life, and pretended to be so invincible... well she would not be
fooled anymore. Unconsciously she touched her abdomen, still seeing the bruises
he had left her with more than a year ago.

Her body had healed, but her mind and heart
had not.

When they had been
courting he had treated her as if she was glass, and the marriage between their
pureblood families was met with approval. Within a year of their marriage, he
had started to take her for granted, his thoughts turning to the darker aspects
of life, as he finally officially joined the Dark Lord.

Within a few months he began to mentally
torment her, before finally cracking down and smacking her.

Violence had escalated,
until it had become a daily part of their marriage. However, Lucius� pride kept
him from smacking his heir, for of course his male heir would be held in greater esteem than his wife. No one in
their circle of friends knew, or if they did know they didn�t bother themselves
about it, for truly all of their friends were used to such shows of violence,
be it in the revels or in their own marriages.

The only woman that she knew of that wasn�t abused as badly as the other Death Eater wives were
was Bella. Rodolphus Lestrange had learnt his lesson early on that the only one able to physically
harm Bella and get away with it was the Dark Lord himself.

Narcissa was too scared to go to Bella
about her abuse, and when Bella had been confronted with the site of her
bruises one day, she had laughed it off as Lucius having a �mighty fine
pureblood temper� and that �she should learn how to
control him better�.

Only one person had
shown mild concern for her well being throughout her entire marriage, and that
person had been Severus. He had provided her with the bruise balms, he had
helped repair her innards, and he had wiped the blood away from her bruised
lips. Whenever she had been questioned about her absolute faith in him, she
could never tell the real reason why, she could only reply with, �The Dark Lord
trusts him, so shall I.� Which gave the impression of
undying loyalty to the creepy snake god her husband worshiped, but validity to
her loyalty to Severus.

So when she had learned that Severus had somehow become married to the Mudblood, she had been rather
shocked. He had never shown any interest in anybody
in that way for as long as she knew him. She had supposed he was too much of a
loner to ever let anybody into his life, never mind a wife. Never mind a
Mudblood.

She wasn�t in love with
Severus, that she was certain. He was only a very good friend. She wasn�t sure
if she could ever love anyone other than her son again, the years had taken
their toll on her heart, and she knew she was in a dead end situation with her
being trapped on all sides by Lucius, the Dark Lord, the Ministry, and society.

It would just not do to
leave Lucius now. Maybe� if the Dark Lord was ever
vanquished, but no, it was blasphemy to even let the thought enter her mind.

In fact she had felt
an unreasonable concern for the Mudblood girl. Severus, despite him
showing some kindness, was not all kind. She had seen him �let go� so to say at
the revels, torturing and harming others. During the past years he hadn�t been quite as exuberant, but what she had
seen had shown her a temper that she would never want to be married to ever.
And now some young girl had to put up with it � she was almost glad that he had
murdered Dumbledore if it meant that his young Mudblood wife would get a
respite from him.

She also knew that if Severus did not play
the Dark Lord right, the Mudblood would become a free for all. Shuddering, she
once again thanked the heavens for the purity of her blood, making her the perfect trophy wife.�
No one would spoil a trophy wife, other than a husband. The Mudblood
was a different matter. More like a pet to be played with and shared amongst
friends.

So when she had spotted them in Muggle
London like she had, she was surprised to see the
Mudblood seem so� normal. Surely Severus would have broken her down by now,
well, unless she was free now that he was gone. That must be the explanation;
she had regained her sense of self ever since his exile from the greater
Wizarding Community.

Like Narcissa had when Lucius was in jail.

But now he was back.

Ensuring that she looked proper, she left
her room. Time to face the music.

++++

�What do you mean you don�t have a solid
plan?� Ron grumbled, looking accusingly at Harry. �We�ve been out in the sticks
for over a week and we�ve made no progress whatsoever!�

Harry flushed. �Look, all I know is what
Dumbledore told me, I don�t have a GPS or something
that can point out the exact location of each and every Horcrux!�

�GPS?�

�A Muggle navigation
system,� Hermione cut in.

Ron still looked mildly
confused, but from the looks on the others faces decided to let it pass.

�Look, lets go through
this logically�� Hermione began.

�But we�ve already done
that approach!� Ron cut in.

Reigning in her temper, Hermione breathed
hard through her nose. How the hell had she stood
them for this long she would never know. A small part of her missed Snape�s
cool logic in the face of adversity. He at least had a brain. As for her
friends however, she was beginning to have her doubts. Thank goodness
for Ginny. Ginny was the mediating force between them all. Without her they
would for sure have killed each other off by now. �Look,
we need a locket.�

�We know that Hermione!�

�Augh! I give up!� Hermione threw her hands
in the air and stomped off. Not too far though, for she didn�t want to leave
their protection circle, but far enough to put a reasonable distance between
Ron and her.

Rubbing her face she looked out into the
small wood surrounding them. There had to be something she was missing! It was
so often the simplest answers that lead to the solution... gosh! What was she
overlooking?

Logically she knew that killing Ron
wouldn�t solve the situation� but some days. Ohh! It was so tempting!

Everything was not
going to Hermione�s plan, it seemed all that extra time spent with Snape had
driven an invisible wedge into her friendships, and camping only seemed to
further illustrate the point that, well, Hermione was not entirely one of them
anymore. She seemed to lose patience more easily for their antics, and they
seemed to treat her a little bit warily.

Perhaps she should tell
them about more of her plan. But they needed to find a whole Horcrux first for
it to work. Sighing, she frowned. She hated to admit it, but sometimes she
missed Snape�s logical solutions. Glancing at her ring, she wondered why she
didn�t have the heart to remove it. Her heart still held out hope for him.
While the others were convinced of his guilt, Hermione wasn�t. Although she
never said as much, they were able to pick up on her doubt.

She wasn�t sure why she
wanted to keep so much information from them, at first she was ready to spill
all, but when it came time to spill it all, she found she couldn�t. It had
almost felt like a betrayal if she were to tell them all.

How she hated this�
secrecy�� between her friends. Her time with Snape had changed her, had made her more
cautious. With those who she should be completely
open, she wasn�t and conversely with the one person who she shouldn�t have
been, she had.

An idea sprang to mind,
and she felt like a right idiot for not thinking about it before.

Hermione entered the tent; she really hated to call
it a tent, since it actually had a working sink inside of it. Turning to find
Harry, she spotted him staring moodily at the tent ceiling and approached him
radiating excitement.

�Harry...� She began.
He looked over, slightly startled.

�What is it, �Mione?�

Taking out a pad of paper and a pen, she
sat on the edge of his bed. �Can you draw for me what each item you know for sure
about looks like?�

�Alright,� he sat up,
taking the items from her, �I just won�t promise you a grand work of art...�

�No problem. Just try
to draw them as accurately as you remember.�

Harry set to work, and
after a half hour, had drawn the Horcruxes as he remembered.

Hermione took the
pictures, and looked through them, her eyes falling onto the last picture with
a start. �Harry� are you sure this is how the locket looked?�

Harry frowned, �Pretty
sure, yeah.�

�Shit.�

Looking startled, Harry
leaned forward, trying to see what Hermione was seeing.

�What is it, Hermione?�

�H-Harry�. We�ve seen
this locket before.�

�What?!�

�At... Sirius� house.�

Harry�s eyes suddenly
widened in comprehension. �Shit.�

�So, I suppose we
should take a chance and visit the old Headquarters,� Hermione said, trying to
keep her tone light.

+++++

Getting into HQ looked
like it would be tough work. According to Harry, Moody had set up extensive
protections incase Snape bothered to return.

However, since the
curses and protections were set up against Snape, after facing the eerie Moody
gliding towards them, and asking his question of, �Did you kill Albus
Dumbledore?� their tongues, which had momentarily stuck to the roofs of their
mouths, released and they answered truthfully � no, they hadn�t � said curses
and protections proved not to be a problem.

The Moody disintegrated
before their eyes, and they warily checked the rest of the house for more
traps, only to find that the Doxies had returned as well as some more creepy
crawlies. Satisfied that there were no more traps, they had met up in the
kitchen (which surprisingly seemed to be the cleanest room in the house) and
decided to call Kreacher.

++++

Kreacher hated
Hogwarts.

He hated the other
elves. They were way too happy and didn�t seem to care about blood purity.

He hated Winky, always
whining about her former Master and how she had failed him, but most of all, he
hated Dobby.

Dobby, the Savior of
all Elf-Kind.

However, despite all of
these drawbacks, it meant that he didn�t have to face his new... Master, he thought the word in contempt
for he-who-the-title-belonged-to, now being fated everyday to serve him in a
simpering, respectful manner. His Master
� a shudder of undisguised loathing flowed involuntarily through his tiny frame
at the injustice of it.

So when he was unwillingly summoned to his old home, he was not pleased, for it could
only mean one thing. His new Master
wanted him.

What he didn�t expect
was to be struck with a scent that suddenly brought back memories of his old,
dear, departed Mistress. After bowing low to his Master, all the while gracing Harry with a contemptuous look, he
surreptitiously sniffed and was shocked and appalled to realize that the scent
was coming from the Mudblood.

The scent that Kreacher
smelled, which we humans confuse with the physical smell of objects around us,
was more of the scent of attitude. House-elves are able to use this scent of
attitude to great advantage in their line of duty. If the Master was depressed,
get him his favorite drink, if the Master was happy, try to sneak by house
duties that needed to be done that the Master for some strange irrational
reason didn�t want to be done. You get the picture.

Her scent, which so
strongly resembled his late, darling, beloved Mistress� scent, seemed to say to
him, �I�m surrounded by idiots, who I have to put up with against my better
judgment, and if any one of them sets a toe out of line, one of them will most
likely die so help me, Merlin!�

When she greeted him with
a smile and a sweet, �Hello, Kreacher� he almost felt himself falling into a
deep adoration of her.

Almost.

He quickly reminded
himself, that she was still a filthy Mudblood, and what his late, dearly
beloved Mistress would think of him if he started fawning over one would think,
and kept himself in check.

Her scent also had a
spicy smell, mixed with the scent of embalming fluid used on dead bodies, the
smell young Master Regulus had when he became a Death Eater, before Lord
Voldemort had disposed of him, something that Kreacher had never quite
reconciled himself to, since young Master Regulus was such a nice young man,
with the proper views on life. Sniffing again, he decided that the Death Eater
smell wasn�t coming from Hermione, instead it seemed to be a smell that lingered around her, gently caressing
and pulsing against her scent, as if there was another part of her elsewhere.

He knew the other part
had to be male, since the pink pulse scent of her virginity wasn�t there
anymore. From the rumors down amongst the Hogwarts� elves that he had tried not
to listen to, he had a vague recollection of the fact that she had become
recently married to� ah, Severus Snape.

He had always been fond
of Snape, for in his day he had been a friend of young Master Regulus, and when
that infernal Order had declared his house �headquarters� � well, Snape was the
only one who had treated him as a house-elf.

He knew the Mudblood had tried to befriend
him under some false delusion that he was beleaguered underneath his situation
as an elf, but that only had served to make him hate her more. However, now she
was a Snape, perhaps she would be more tolerable. Perhaps the Professor had
taught her how to behave properly.

�Kreacher, Kreacher are
you listening to me?� Harry interrupted Kreacher�s thoughts.

�Stupid elf doesn�t
even know when he�s being spoken to,� Ron muttered.

Hermione�s hot, �Shut
up Ron!� quickly won over Kreacher�s affections, whether she was a Mudblood or
not. It seemed the Weasley brat held the highest stakes in getting killed on
Mistress Snape�s list.

�Kreacher,� Harry began
again, hesitantly.

Kreacher turned his
scornful attention to his Master.
�Yes, Master?�

�Do you know where this
locket is?� Harry held out the picture he had drawn.

�That-that�s young
Master Regulus� locket!� Kreacher shied away, �Why do you want that? It�s
mine!�

Mistress Snape
interrupted this time, hopefully the lovely Snape would tell Kreacher why Master wanted young Master Regulus�
locket.

�Kreacher,� her voice
was kindly, but also carried hints of exasperation towards himself, and perhaps
to her two idiot minded friends, �We need the locket for Order Business,� she
paused giving Harry a glance, silently communicating, �How much to divulge?�

Harry hastily cut in,
�You must not tell anyone about this in any form of communication, be it
writing, speech, sign language, telepathy, stick art, or any other form.�

Kreacher immediately
felt the magic kick in. �Oh, Kreacher understands, sir,� before muttering,
�Understands the little blood traitor worthless son of young Black who broke
his dear mother�s heart��

�We need the locket
because it holds a piece of soul from the person who murdered Regulus, and we
plan to vanquish him, Kreacher, and we can�t do it without your help,� Hermione
finished up.

Kreacher felt an
intense gushing of affection for Mistress Snape. She was no longer annoying
Mudblood Hermione, nor the ill conceived, horrible Granger, but Snape. Mistress
Severus Snape. Mistress Severus Snape who wanted to avenge young Master
Regulus.

�Oh, Mistress Snape,�
his voice gushed with his overwhelming affection for her, his voice cracking
from age, �To avenge young Master Regulus I would do anything,� before
muttering, �and you... anything for the lovely Mistress Snape, oh yes, not at
all like her nasty, blood traitor friends�.�

Ginny noticed the look
between Harry and Ron, as well as the chill descending into the room at the
mention of Snape. The fleeting look
of guilt and apology on Hermione�s face was not hard to miss either, Ginny
sighed internally. She knew how much Harry hated Snape, and how it had only
been added to with Snape killing Dumbledore. She had also thought that Hermione
had taken the entire situation way too calmly, which had led her to suspect
that perhaps not everything was the way it appeared. Especially since she could
sense that Hermione had been keeping some things quiet from them. It seemed she
had to step in once again, and take the role of mediator.

Hermione seemed to take
charge of the situation, trying to ignore the tension in the room that had
suddenly appeared. �Well, will you please fetch Master Regulus� locket for us?�

Kreacher groveled at
Hermione�s feet, adoration etched upon his features. �Oh, yes Mistress, right
away, Mistress,� his stooping frame made it out the door, as he muttered under
his breath, �Why must Mistress associate with nasty, blood traitors? Not nice
company at all, no, not nice at all.�

The silence in the room
was awkward and clumsy, as the four friends looked at each other. It seemed
that everything that they had been burying their heads in the sand about had
been roughly brought to the fore with Kreacher�s actions.

Hermione stood there,
still, looking at her friends.

Harry�s eyes pointedly
looked down at her wedding band, still on her hand, unspoken accusations in his
eyes.

�He�s right,� Harry
began quietly, �You are different.�

Ron took a breath of
air in sharply, giving Harry a concerned glance.

�Well, if you�re going
to say I�m Professor Snape polyjuiced, or possessed by him, then you�re sadly
mistaken Harry,� Hermione replied acidly.

�No, but you never
believed me that he was a traitor, have you? Not even now,� Harry�s voice
quivered, �Even after he� killed Dumbledore.�

�Harry, I��

�No! You still wear his wedding band, even after the fact
that he�s proved to be a murderer and traitor! Hermione, you�re not the best
friend I knew,� Harry�s lip trembled. �I don�t know if I can trust you anymore,
especially since I sense you�re keeping things from us.�

Harry�s words seemed to
cut into Hermione strong and deep. Her own thoughts seemed to be speaking out
in Harry�s voice, with Ginny and Ron as witnesses, each not knowing how to
react to this situation, since deep inside, they had been thinking the same
thing Harry had.

Kreacher�s shuffling
feet disturbed the room as he came in, reverently holding the locket. �Oh,
Mistress Snape, here�s young Master Regulus� locket.�

Hermione, with a nasty
look at Harry, quickly took the locket, before reaching for something in her
pocket. Pulling out a box, she clicked it open, revealing a dark maroon
crystal, on a black rope of silk.

�What are you doing,
Hermione?� Ron asked cautiously.

�Making finding these
things infinitely easier, Ronald,� she replied tersely, touching the locket
against the crystal. A wail filled the room, and a slight breeze picked up, as
they felt a distinct pressure of unpleasantness surround them. The crystal
glowed a piercing red, before settling into a murky hue like blood, not fully
dried.

Smiling in
satisfaction, Hermione placed the necklace back into the box and slipped it
into her pocket before turning to Harry. �Before you ask, that pendant is now
attuned to Voldemort�s soul fragments and will act like a compass for us. It
may not give us the exact location at times, but I figure being in the general
vicinity gives us a much better chance of attaining the Horcrux than following
your plan.�

The barbs in her words
hit home, as Harry visibly flinched.

�And since I�m not a follower of Voldemort, contrary to
the opinions that seem to be flowing through this room at this current time, I
am rather determined to see him defeated, regardless of the personal cost.�

�I�m not saying you�re
a follower of Voldemort�� Harry spluttered.

�But you seem to be linking
my not being full of hate for Professor Snape as tantamount to me indirectly
supporting Voldemort, aren�t you, Harry?� Hermione cut in coldly.

�HE KILLED PROFESSOR
DUMBLEDORE, HERMIONE! WHAT MORE CAN SCREAM �TRAITOR� TO YOU?� Harry exploded,
his face red, his disheveled hair becoming even more disheveled.

Hermione�s voice was
calm, chilly, and Ron and Ginny drew closer together as if in avoidance of the
arctic chill emitted from her. �Not everything may be as it seems, Harry, and
if you decided to drop the hate you seem to carry around with you like a
favorite stuffed toy, you may realize that sometimes people have to die for the greater good!�

Harry coldly looked at
her, hatred etched across his face. �You know, Kreacher�s right� you really are
a Snape.� With a growl, he turned
away, leaving the room.

Turning a cool gaze
upon Ginny and Ron, Hermione seemed to be asking �Well? Are you going to be like Harry as well?�

Ginny looked steadily
at her friend. �Look, Hermione� Harry may be right about you being different,
but you�re no Snape to me.�� She smiled
at her friend to take some of the unintended bite from her words.

Hermione�s reaction was
immediate � her face crumpled in on itself as tears started to freely flow. Ron
looked startled � he hated it when
girls cried � he had no idea what to do! Thank goodness for Ginny.

Ginny immediately went to comfort Hermione,
whispering reassurances, until Hermione eventually calmed down. �Look, Harry is just being a first class prat,� Ginny
said matter of factly.

�But it�s true, isn�t it?� Hermione
dolefully asked. �It�s what you�ve all been thinking but been too afraid to
ask.�

�Don�t be silly,� Ginny retorted, �We don�t
need to think you�ve changed, you
have changed. But just because you�re growing up differently suddenly doesn�t
mean that you are not Hermione.�

Hermione felt relief course through her,
thankful for her friends, she looked over at Ron who nodded his confirmation.

Approaching Harry was a whole different
matter. Hermione had waited until later on in the day, to let them both cool
off. Each had said pretty hurtful things to the other.

She waited until after dinner.

From a tip from Ginny, Hermione found Harry
still locked in his room. Standing outside his door she stared at it while
gathering her courage up, as well as trying to stem the sudden flow of anger
that seemed to rise up at the knowledge that Harry was steering clear of her on
the other side of this door.

Raising her hand, she firmly knocked.

No reply.

She knocked again.

No reply again.

�Harry James Potter, open the door up this
instant!� Hermione shouted, as she knocked loudly again.

The door swung open quite suddenly,
revealing a sullen looking Harry.

�What do you want?� he hissed, his eyes narrowed. Harry looked awful, his clothes
were rumpled and his face had the impression as if he had been trying to sleep,
with no luck.

Hermione looked squarely into his eyes, �I want to explain things to you, so if
you�ve decided to stop being such a pig head, I�ll tell you all you need to
know!�

�Excuse
me? Who are you to call me names?
You�re the one who suddenly closed off and stopped being our friend! You�re the
one who suddenly became Mrs. Snape after some horrid potions accident! You�re
the one who�s keeping so many secrets it�s painful to look at you! You�re the
one who�s defending the man who killed Dumbledore! You�re the one who doesn�t
bother to inform us that you have a plan to find the Horcruxes! You�re the one
who ��

�Stop,� she said it quietly at first, but
when he seemed intent on ignoring her, and went on she shouted, �STOP!�

Harry�s mouth snapped shut, as he silently
dared her to actually speak.

�I know
I�ve been keeping things quiet Harry� I�m sorry I have. I should have trusted
you more. But� I also know that if I tried to talk to you, you would have not
listened to me, you would have blown up � like you are now � and not listen to
reason!�

�Reason? What reason is there Hermione?
You�re off your rocker, you are!�

�HARRY, IF HE WAS SERIOUSLY A TRAITOR HE WOULDN�T HAVE LEFT BOOKS OUT
THAT TOLD ME HOW TO FIND AND DESTROY HORCRUXES!� Hermione snapped.

He stared at her, in awe at her actually
shouting at him, her face red with fury.

�Wha... books... left?�

�Yes, Harry! When I went back to our�
rooms. I noticed that a few books were misplaced, or haphazardly shoved into
the bookshelf, which was unlike him. So I took those books down, and after a
few moments reading, realized he had marked out passages about Horcruxes. Harry
I never told him about Horcruxes, don�t
look at me like that, so it must have been D-Dumbledore who told him about
them. If he was the traitor you like to make him out to be, he wouldn�t be
leaving evidence around that would tell us how to destroy his Dark Lord.�

�Oh? Then why does he have to act like such
a bastard?� Harry replied snidely, his arguments suddenly running out under
Hermione�s careful defense of Snape.

�Well if you were treated like shit for
most of your life, I hardly doubt you would be a fun-loving, carefree type of
person,� Hermione replied.

Harry paled, sudden memories of his failed
Occlumency lessons with Snape coming to the fore, where his father and friends
had tormented him.

He hadn�t told Hermione about that at all�
yet�

Suddenly he felt ashamed, his anger seeming
silly.

His hand moved against the wood of the
doorjamb as he focused on the grain, unsure what to say.

�Wh... How do you destroy a Horcrux,
Hermione?�

She knew this was his way of trying to make
up for his distrust for her, and she felt grateful, �By stabbing it with
something infected with the most deadliest of poisons��

�Huh?� he stopped staring at the doorjamb
and turned his full attention to her.

�That�s what I thought, but Snape had left
a convenient little note, saying things infected with poisons� such as from a
Basilisk would work��

Harry still looked confused.

��such as the sword of Gryffindor.�

His face lit up, �Hermione! We have to go
get the sword!�

Her smug expression pulled Harry up short
as Hermione replied, �What for? I already packed the sword up before we left.�

Gratitude rushed through Harry as he pulled
Hermione in a tight hug, �I�m sorry for acting like such a prat... you�ve
clearly thought of everything.�

�You mean Snape clearly thought of
everything. I�m just the message carrier.�

�No, Hermione. Without your brains, we
would have just been stuck with some cryptic message. You were able to figure
it out and help us��

Hermione smiled, tears running down her
cheeks. �I suppose.�

She knew it would take time to go back to
the type of trust they had had before, but now they were on the right path.
Things would get better.

++++++

Severus had been rather surprised at
Voldemort�s sudden removal to the Malfoy Manor, but he couldn�t claim to be
displeased.

Being Voldemort�s most trusted consort, he
was able to have full reign of Lucius� libraries, without any permission from
the owner of the house himself. Due to this turn of events, he found himself
lazily spread out on a couch, in the library, flipping through a rather ancient
text on the Founders of Hogwarts. Not exactly thrilling reading, but necessary
nevertheless, if he were to help out in finding possible Horcruxes.

Hearing Draco approach him, Severus didn�t
bother to hide the text � it would be sure to set off any alarm bells, and instead
lingered on a page featuring Rowena Ravenclaw.

�What are you looking at, Uncle Severus?�

The boy, after the incident, had suddenly
grown more respectful and wary of him, not that he didn�t mind � the boy�s
impudence could be a real pain to deal with � but it made Severus be on his
guard even more whenever Draco was around.

�A book on the Hogwarts� founders,� he
replied truthfully.

Draco leaned over, his eyes traveling
across the picture of Rowena. His eyes widened. �I�ve seen that tiara before.�

Severus tried not to show his excitement,
�How could you have? It says right here it�s been lost since close to the
founding of the school.�

Draco�s forehead creased in concentration,
�No, really I have� it was in the room I used, to fix the cabinet!�

Severus watched Draco carefully, the boy
wasn�t lying � in fact he looked as if he had won a big prize.

�Well, I suppose it will stay there,�
Severus replied affecting boredom.

Draco�s eyes gleamed, �We could always
fetch it, imagine the worth of what Rowena�s tiara would be.�

�Hmph, as if they�d let you back into
Hogwarts.�

�Well, no one but us knows,� Draco studied
Severus coldly, �So we shouldn�t worry about anyone nipping in before us.�

Severus got the message, �nipping in before
me.�

�Do you have any news on the whereabouts of
your Mudblood bitch, uncle?�

Draco�s sudden shift in conversation
startled him � but he didn�t let it show. �Are you mad? No, I do not know,
otherwise the Dark Lord would know it. Anyways, I hardly think after what I�ve done
she would suddenly be sending me owls laden with chocolates � do you, Draco?�

Draco�s cheeks flushed, and Severus
wondered why he would be bringing her up at all.

�Why are you so interested, Draco?�

Draco noticed the gleam in Severus� eyes,
and felt worried, maybe he was picking up on the fact that Draco was having
second thoughts about being a Death Eater.

�No-nothing. Mostly bored.� Draco drawled,
looking away from his uncle, and looking around the library.

�Oh?� Severus narrowed his eyes at the boy.
Draco was surely up to something.

�Here it is,� Draco took down a book,
pretending it was what he had come into the library after. �See you later.�

Watching the boy exit, Severus thoughtfully
rubbed his chin. Something was suspicious.

++++

Book still in hand, Draco made it to his
room without running into anyone.

He was unsure why the Dark Lord wanted to
come reside in their house, but he didn�t like it. He was certain that the Dark
Lord was suspicious of him, and it frightened him. The Dark Lord could read
minds, and he was no accomplished Occlumens.

He had taken some training, but not enough
to withstand the Dark Lord.

But Hermione�s offer�. He couldn�t think of
her as Granger anymore, neither could he think of her as Snape.

Help� to switch sides.

Was it too late?

They would all think him a traitor. He had
allowed himself to be led up to the moment when Dumbledore was killed.

However, despite everything, Draco was sure
of one thing.

He did not want to follow the Dark Lord.

He had thought about it, and realized that
he had absolutely loathed the fact that the Dark Lord had manipulated him by
using his family to get what he wanted done.

What sort of leader was he? Using the
feelings of his subordinates who obviously worshipped him in order to get what
he wanted done, even going so far as threatening to get rid of them � despite
the fact that they had been loyal.

It enraged him.

And so, book forgotten, Draco sat there,
carefully planning what he should do in order to help bring about the fall of
the Dark Lord.

++++

AN: Whew. Sorry for the long wait. :] But here it is! Chapter 31.
Things are rolling forward faster now... [well, I hope faster!]. Thanks for the
reviews, it lets me know that if I don�t update some people would be very, very
annoyed with me. SO, in order to prevent that, I continue to update.

Special thanks to my beta reader, who
ensures that I�m sticking to the flow of the story, and not going off the
rails!

The very last part to get added to this
chapter was Harry and Hermione�s reconciliation. My betareader actually wrote
her own version, to help probe my lazy self into writing the reconciliation
part that I felt content just glossing over. So give her lots of thanks for
probing me into writing an important scene in the story!
- 30
- 31
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The Morning After