Black and White

Snape put his last shirt in the bag and closed it with a loud 'zip'.

He had given Hermione a head start. It had been two weeks since Hermione's 'runaway.'

She was so predictable. Always letting her emotions cloud her better judgment. If she could only get past that damn impulsiveness of hers, she could be one of the greatest Unspeakables ever.

Snape was not an idiot - apart from joining Voldemort, but that was when he was young, rebellious and angry at the world in general - of course he knew who was really responsible for the Tenacious Trio's continued survival (apart from Potter's seemingly endless luck). Anyone who could solve a riddle of his at the tender age of eleven deserved some credit.

But yet, the fact remained that Hermione Granger was irrationally emotional at times.

Snape wondered if it had anything to do with hormones.

Most Unspeakables came from Slytherin, which was no small reason why the name of the house was not yet totally disgraced. Their cold blood, cunning and talent for reading people - along with the ability to disguise one's true feelings - made them perfect for the Intelligence service. Since the first rising of Voldemort, however, Slytherins slowly became a synonym for 'evil' and 'untrustworthy,' and a suspicious wizarding world began to made excuses to shut them out.

It was near impossible for a Slytherin to achieve a position of prestige in this society, enter a club or have a good job. Unless, of course, by blackmailing, threats, bribes and the likes.

The fools!

Did they not know ambition is the soul of a Slytherin?

Did they not know how they felt rejected, how they were left with no other way to go.

Saying no other way is an exaggeration of sorts, but yet. Courage is a trait for Gryffindors, not Slytherins. Slytherins are cunning. We don't want to enslave ourselves or take the long and thorny path to heaven. We want power and glory now. If you can achieve it through hard word, then hard work it is, but if the path of honest, hard work is closed to him, then a Slytherin will seek others. Hell, sometimes he'll seek alternative paths without even trying the traditional one .

And there he was, one of their own that was great, and powerful, and full of knowledge, and promised not only freedom but also power and glory.

So tempting.

So easy.

So deadly.

And the wizarding world washed their hands clean of the House of Salazar Slytherin - of him, Severus Snape. One of the brightest wizards ever to grace Hogwarts. He who knew more about Potions and Dark Arts than the professors in his first year. He, who in spite of all brilliance and capability, would never be allowed in any of the organizations he coveted - the Alchemic Institute, The Department of Magical Research.

And then he came; Voldemort, and all doors were open.

He'd been such a fool.

And continuing their bigoted tradition, the Department of Mysteries was now at the hands of anyone but the ones who had the natural talent for it - Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws. Ravenclaws were the least incapable, since they were clever indeed, Snape thought idly, but yet they were scholars, and it took a rather long time for them to develop skills that would allow them to conduct field work with the level of mastery than seemed instinctive - almost natural - for the Slytherins.

And people really wondered why Voldemort had risen again with such feeble opposition? A handful of wizards, working in secret and without official blessing, against the greatest criminal mind of the twentieth-first century?

I'm digressing, Snape realized with a start. This does not bode well.

The past is what it is, past. He had a mission to accomplish. And that was turning that highly unstable girl into a real unspeakable, something that could shake the organization of the Death Eaters.

A killing machine that could not be traced, located or even identified.

That is, if she does not quit first. Pity, the girl does have talent.

But of course he'd be Sirius Black's lady-in-waiting before he admitted it with so many words.

Snape had found out where Hermione was the same day.

She had taken the primary precautions, of course, like changing her name. But her features had not been disguised, and that gave her away to anyone with skill enough to be a double agent and live to tell the tale.

A Knightbus saw him in the same city before her bus arrived, and he had rented a flat in the vicinity of her inn. Having known the girl as a bushy-haired know-it-all who just couldn't sit still until she had the answers to questions more complicated than any in her years should be worrying about, Snape was fairly certain Hermione would use that time to delve into Dark Arts - a skill an Unspeakable had to master - and to try to figure out all about dragon blood that Dumbledore had not said in his academic thesis.

After all, she did have a great investigative mind, with a marvellous talent to single out important details. And he had given her a pretty good clue.

But no. Hermione went up and about touring and dancing, shopping and flirting.

He was not jealous (that's ridiculous!); it's just that the waste of time unnerved him. He'd been overly patient already. It was time to bring the little girl back to reality.

Snape left his flat and went to the airport in a cab (he had learned to travel muggle style as soon as he went undercover, but was not yet used to the driving arrangements outside Great Britain...).

Hermione sat between her friends at the airport with a heavy heart. The trio was waiting for the departure call that would take Andrew and Matt away from her. She was also sick and tired of saying apologies - but honestly, what could she say?

"I told you, I sold my things and I do not have an address yet. When I return home, if I return, I'll look for a flat and then I'll e-mail you the address so you can come by," she repeated herself for the tenth time that day. The alternative was to say she was running from a crazy evil wizard with megalomaniacal world-conquering aspirations, but that wasn't truly a choice, now was it?

"Humph," Matt replied.

"I could live in Canada," she mused, pretending she hadn't heard Mathew, "and start over. Is it hard to get a Visa?"

"Not really," Andy answered, caressing her knuckles, "we could show you Alberta. It's amazing!"

"Prettiest piece of land in the whole world," agreed Matt enthusiastically.

The Airport Information Service called their flight in a bored voice, and the Canadian duo swung their bags over their shoulders as they strode to the corresponding gate. They both hugged Hermione tightly.

"We'll keep in touch, all right?" she asked. Andy nodded while Matt gave her one final wet kiss.

"You bet, beauty," the dark haired young man said, and they left, waving as they crossed the long hall and walked through the metal detector. Soon they were out of her sight and the other passengers had gone inside, and the gate closed, leaving Hermione standing out there.

"I guess I should thank you for not interfering before, but right now all I want is to know what the hell you're doing here," she spoke quietly.

She knew he was there.

Of course she knows, Severus thought, a bit torn between pride in her achievement and anger at not making a grand entrance. You trained her yourself, remember?

He simply replied, "I came to get my pupil back. Your training is only beginning."