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Rising Above	By : Dryad Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 4323 -:- 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.

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As always, I don't own it; I just like to play with them and mess with their heads.
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Chapter Six

Hermione was sitting in the Three Broomsticks across from her old friends, Harry and Ron. She nursed her Screaming Banshee, while the guys were sharing a bottle of Ogden's.
It was funny, really. There wasn't a whole lot they could talk about. They discussed Ginny's upcoming wedding to Seamus, Ron's conquests, and Harry's on again off again relationship with Luna. They avoided work, as the only one who could openly discuss their job was Ron, who was working for the company that made Cleansweeps. They couldn't discuss Order business, and certainly couldn't discuss her relationship with Severus.
Which suited her just fine.
She knew she was going to have to tell them. And since they'd graduated, they were at least able to stand the potion's professor, but there certainly wasn't any love loss between the three.
Since the boys were discussing brooms, which inevitably led to quidditch, she let her mind wander. In her mind she made lists, mentally going over the trials they'd done. Perhaps they were going about it wrong. Sev was even faster than she to discount the prophecy; but maybe it was important.
In the time since he had explained soul rendering, she had studied the whole procedure diligently. The soul used would have to have an overabundance of whatever effect you wanted in the potion. She had found an ancient volume that offered the actual spell that would remove the small part of the soul. What was it exactly that they wanted him to feel? Remorse...or better still guilt.
Hermione's eyes widened. She knew exactly who.
Harry. He felt guilt for everything. In some ways it was his greatest fault, but it was also his greatest quality. Everything, from being well known, to having money when Ron didn't; to Dumbledore's failing health and Sirius' death. Hermione even imagined that he blamed himself for his parents' deaths. After all, if it weren't for the prophecy, they never would've been singled out.
"Harry, I need to speak with the headmaster. Would you like to come and see him?" she asked, giving him the don't-argue-with-me look.
"Um, yeah. I haven't seen him in ages. How is he doing?" he asked, purposely ignoring the fact that he had indeed seen him just the previous weekend.
"Hale and hearty. And I STILL don't get how he seems to catch everything," she laughed.
"You coming, too, Ron?" she threw over her shoulder, since he hadn't gotten up yet.
"Sure 'Mione."
They all tossed a handful of coins on the table, and jaunted out the door into the brisk spring afternoon.
The boys tried to get answers from Hermione as they walked toward the school, but after a quiet, "not here," they let it go and chatted cheerily about inane top Her Hermione knew she was often watched when she was with the boys; and there were Death Eaters who certainly did not like how quickly she had climbed through the ranks, who would love to pull her back down in the trenches.
Once inside the school, she quickly dragged them up to Dumbledore's office.
"What was the Order's biggest problem with Severus' and my plan?" she asked the guys quickly before entering the headmaster's office.
"The fact that you totally ignored the prophecy. Okay. We KNOW what you think of Trelawney...but she has made honest predictions in the past," Harry answered.
"So you need to be the reason Voldemort falls, right? Is there anything saying that you have to be present? That you gotta kick his arse in a wizard's duel to the death?" Hermione laughed.
Harry stopped for a moment, and looked at her thoughtfully. "No. There isn't," he murmured, then spoke up. "What do you have in mind?"
"Watch."
Hermione knocked on the headmaster's door, and opened it a the cheery "It's open," that issued forth.
"Harry! Ron! Lovely to see you! To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" he asked, reaching out to shake their hands.
"Ask Hermione. She got a bee in her witch's hat, and dragged us away from a bottle of Ogden's," Ron laughed.
"Come, come. Let's sit," he said as he waved to some chairs against the wall. They danced their way across the floor to sit in front umblumbledore's desk. Hermione chuckled, he's so flamboyant. They settled into the seats.
"I haven't discussed this with Severus, but I have an idea," she started, "When we put forth our idea to the Order last week, what was the biggest complaint?"
"Ignoring the prophecy. I know how you feel about divination, but it would be detrimental to ignore it entirely."
"Well, does the prophecy say HOW Harry is to vanquish him? Does he even need to be there? No sense in sending him to face him if it's not necessary."
Albus looked at them thoughtfully. "Fair enough. But how does that fit into your plan?"
"I found in Quaeri de Animus that to make soul rendering as potent as possible, the person you take the piece from must exhibit the characteristic you wish to convey. The more the better."
She looked gently at Harry. "I've watched you for nearly ten years. I watched how you felt guilty over your fame, over your wealth, over Cedric, over Sirius...not to mention the fact that I know how guilty you feel that you didn't defeat him in our seventh year, since the whole wizarding world was expecting it. Albus, Harry has the characteristic we need in spades. Harry WILL vanquish the Dark Lord...by giving him his own sense of guilt."
Albus' brow furrowed. "I want to see your research on the soul rendering. I want to make sure that the risks are minimal." It was then he took in Harry's shocked look.
"You didn't discuss it with him?" Albus asked.
"I was too excited, and it's not like I could discuss it in the Three Broomsticks, now could I?"
"Very well. But there will only be one opportunity."
"You're sure about this, Hermione? It's going to work?"
"I wouldn't suggest it otherwise, Harry. You know that. But think about it. You would still be the reason Voldemort falls, but you wouldn't become a murderer. I think that is a noble enough reason, don't you?"
As she spoke softly, she felt Albus' eyes on her. She looked up and saw them not twinkling as usual, but glistening...full of unshed tears.
"Thank you, Professor Granger. Thank you."
* * *

The guys had left Hermione in her study, highlighting pages from the Quaeri de Animus by tapping the relevant pages and turning them blue. Her focus was such that she did not even hear the door to her chamber open. Severus stopped inside the shadow of the arch and watched her fierce concentration. It was one of the things he loved about her. Anything that she truly cared about, she would put all her energies into. With a smirk, he remembered the last time he had been the focus. He quietly slid up behind her and nuzzled her neck.
Hermione squeaked and turned the page a rather shocking puce rather than blue.
"Sev! I've come up with a new angle!" she looked at him with bright excitement as she outlined her new plan. It was valid, and he was surprised that he hadn't considered it himself before.
He squeezed her and murmured into her hair, "My brilliant witch."
"I think I found my own bit of new angle. Remember we were looking for a few more samples to play with? I think I found a new one." He looked as though he had swallowed a lemon.
"What would be so bad about a new angle? You look like you've licked a toad!"
Severus choked, "not too far from the truth I'm afraid. I got the information from Mr. Longbottom."
Hermione quickly swallowed a chuckle.
"We're going to try moonwart."
"What's so special about that? We use it all timetime in different potions; it's one of the additives in the Wolfsbane potion."
"Like Aconite, it has more than one name. Its other name is Honesty," he said as he raised his eyebrow.
Hermione was stunned.
"I think it's time we get down to the lab and get to work don't you?"
"Indeed."
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A/N: Yes there is such a plant call Moonwart, and yes it really does go by the name honesty as well (and yay me, it does grow in England).

Quaeri de Animus = loosely translated from rather bad latin...Search (quest) of the soul.
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Rising Above