As The Falcon Hath Her Bells: Taking Flight

Chapter Seventeen

She was surrounded by mist, unable to see even her own hand in front of her face.It felt like being suffocated or buried alive.She closed her eyes, unable to bear the opaque wall of white, hearing faint whispers in the mist slithering around her body like a slippery eel."Sasha, na kukhnyu!" a young woman's voice called, she startled and wondering what language it was.A voice she recognized as a young Sirius Black sneering and taunting.An angry young Snape, "Would you have cared if he were Slytherin and I was Gryffindor, sir?"

Suddenly she heard somebody calling to her as the faint echoes of his memories swirled around her, teasing and taunting with mere hints of the story they contained."Hermione!"She was startled to recognize the voice, and even more startled that he referred to her by her given name.

"Here!" she shouted, desperate to get out of this choking fog.Fumbling towards where the voice had come from, she gave a shout of surprise as a hand grabbed her sleeve and began pulling her along.

"Had to go poking around, didn't you?" he said impatiently."Couldn't just sit and wait for me, oh no.Not you bloody damn nosy Gryffindors!"She faintly recognized that the voice was of a slightly higher pitch and didn't have the icy, biting quality she was used to.

Once the mist of his memories had thinned to tendrils drifting around, he turned to her."Welcome," he said, with a wry twist of the lips, "to my mind."She studied him.He was only a little older than she was: tall as she knew him to be but almost willowy, not yet filled out to match his adult height.The hair was even a little longer, the eyes not so cold and haunted, and the lines of care not yet in his face.He was wearing the robes of a Death Eater.

"All right," she said, giving him a nervous smile."Where to, sir?"

"This way."He turned and stalked off."And keep up, mind you.I've no patience to go find you again."Onward they marched, mist still shrouding most everything around them.So long as she kept his form in sight, she was safe.

After a time, she was suddenly hit by a blast of icy air and shivered, despite the fact that she was wearing thick woolen winter robes.She looked ahead and saw the gaping maw of a cave, dark and cold.Memory-mist drifted lazily in and out. But it was only in wisps, not the thick cloud they had emerged from.

"I try not to dwell much upon the memories you seek, so they're pretty far buried," he said with a wry smile, drawing his wand and whispering, "Lumos!"He gestured for her to follow him again, into the darkness, and this time he did not have to remind her to stay close by him.

The whispers of the memories echoed eerily in the cavern.Chambers off to the side glowed with mists of stored memory, some separating from the whole and lazily drifting out, others rejoining the mass.She was aware that they were descending, the path taking a steep pitch down beneath her feet.Twists and turns, keeping eyes fixed on the bright sphere of light atop his wand.Much as he said he didn't come to these obviously deeply buried memories often, he was quite sure-footed.

"There," he said, finally, pointing.In a chamber off to the side, the mist was pure black.She took an involuntary step back as one serpentine tendril came towards her, the voice of Voldemort coming from it.

"I cannot tolerate failure, Severus…"The high, hissing tones sent a shudder down her spine.

"Nasty," he muttered, banishing it back to its fellows."All right, give me a moment here."He closed his eyes and faced the mist, concentrating intently.Before long, a memory came towards him briskly, like an eager puppy frisking towards its master.He muttered a spell she didn't quite hear, and the memory formed itself into…a stuffed bear.He took hold of it, and studied it.

"It's a Portkey," he said quietly."Touch it and you'll be in the memory.Of course, you can only observe what was, not act to change it."

She smiled humorlessly."Wasn't that what you were just saying a spy did?"

"If it gets to be too much, just use the Finite Incantatum, and the Mind-Meld will be broken."

"You mean to show me only one?" she blurted.

"Hermione, there is much more where that came from," he said with atrace of sadness, indicating the mist hissing with malicious voices."I will show you the worst, as you asked, but I shall not show you everything.There will be more if you finish with that one.You'll be returned here once it's played out.Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," she said, reaching for the teddy bear hesitantly, barely touching a fingertip to it before she felt a jerking sensation and blackness.

* * * * *

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing outside a house, beside a willow tree.They came slinking through the night like shadows, the flat black of their robes blending with the darkness."Severus!" one hissed when he drew close, and she recognized Lucius Malfoy's voice.

"Yes?" she felt herself answer, and was shocked to hear Snape's voice.I'm seeing it as him… she realized suddenly."Is everybody here?" he added, and she felt his heart picking up pace.

A smirk from Lucius beneath his half-mask."Indeed they are.Shall we?"Three others drew closer, and Snape's mind supplied that they were Rosier, Lestrange, and Avery.

"Now," Lucius said, when the five stood together. "Severus and I shall handle Mister Meridius.Simon," he nodded to Avery with a smirk, "I'm sure you'll enjoy the pleasure," the word deliberately accented, "of Mrs. Meridius."Filthy rapist, Snape thought with a shudder, to Hermione's relief."Desdemona, Evan, you handle the brats," he said curtly."Three of them.Make certain you get them all.The Dark Lord was not pleased you almost let the LaFeber girl escape."

The woman, Desdemona Lestrange, smoothly assured him that all would go well.On the count of three, Lucius burst down the door with a silent Blasting Charm.They headed upstairs in search of the sleeping family.Lucius turned to Snape and smirked as he put his hand on the knob of the bedroom door and turned it.He peered in and gestured Lestrange to it, telling her to wait a moment, and then making Rosier lie in wait at the next door.The next one proved to be the parents.Lucius smirked and opened the door, silently slipping in.Snape followed, eyes involuntarily turning to the couple asleep in each other's arms in their bed.Business, Severus, business, he thought wildly.They are the enemy.They must be killed.Still, the humanizing image of the two peacefully asleep together burned into his brain.

Lucius shouted the Binding Spell, and the others took their cue.Within moments there was a terrified child's shriek of "Daddy!" from down the hall.Avery was suddenly with them.

"Good evening, Mister Meridius," Lucius said smoothly, to the two thoroughly-trussed adults."You know what to do," he said curtly to Avery."Don't make your fun take too long."Avery laughed while Lucius roughly grabbed Meridius and used Mobilicorpus to drag him into the corridor."Pity," he drawled."No useful information to obtain from you.Does somewhat dampen the occasion."

One of the children ran into the hallway, dressed in yellow pajamas and clutching a teddy bear.She was probably about four, he realized."Daddy!" she shrieked, racing for one of the two symbols of safety in her young life.Rosier cursed and leaned out the door after her, taking aim with his wand.

"You damn brat!Avada Kedavra!" he bellowed, and a flash of green light, before Meridius' daughter fell dead, her teddy bear coming to rest by Severus' feet.He stared at it, feeling sick."Stupid girl," Rosier spat."Tried to bite me," he laughed.

Meridius stared in horror down at the remains of his daughter, deaf to the screams of his wife suffering Avery's attentions.He was unaware of Lucius casually saying the Killing Curse, slumping over dead without realizing what had hit him."Mudbloods," Lucius smirked, leading them out of the house with a swagger to his step once Avery reappeared."Morsmordre!"The Dark Mark floated lazily above the house."Well, done, gentlemen," he nodded to Lestrange, "and lady.Until next time," he said cheerfully.Snape Disapparated, and…

* * * * *

…she was back in the cavern.Trembling a little in sick horror at what she had seen, but she met the younger Snape's eyes with something close to challenge."Show me more," she said.The scene had only fueled her rage and determination to fight the evil that Voldermort wanted to spread across the world.

He mutely turned another memory to an Auror's robe insignia.She grasped it, and fell into a memory of him torturing a captured Auror for information, feeling distaste, but telling himself it was all for the good of Voldemort's cause.She was there, hearing the screams of torture, seeing its effects first hand.There was almost pity in Snape's mind when the Auror whispered his secrets from between lips bleeding from being bit through in effort to keep silence, broken body drawn taut with pain.A touch of his wand, and he said the Killing Curse.It was almost a mercy by that point, and he was almost regretful for such a brave soul to be misguided to, as he thought it then, the wrong side of the war.

Memory after memory he wordlessly guided her to, she somehow surviving each intact.Rape, torture, slaughter, killing mere children, on the prowl to kill random Muggles for an evening of entertainment…it was a loathsome mural of the life of a Death Eater.Some small part of her was relieved to see that he had kept his involvement from the worse depravities.He killed because he thought they were the enemy tortured if they refused to give the information he sought to help his cause. There was a certain honor to it, however twisted.The abyss hadn't swallowed him and made him a monster as well.

"One last memory," he said, black eyes directly on hers."I want you to pay close attention to this one."She nodded, mouth dry.The Memory Portkey assumed the shape of a Death Eater's mask.She reached for it.

* * * * *

It was a gathering of Death Eaters, and Voldemort was present.He looked slightly more human back then, she noticed, but with the same hellish glowing red eyes.A woman stood before the Dark Lord, trying to restrain her trembling.Damn.MacIvor's been caught, he thought with an icy shock.Careful, Severus, else he'll catch you too…This must have been after he turned spy, Hermione realized.

"Perpetua," Voldemort purred, walking back and forth in front of her."My dear, what on Earth possessed you to turn against me?"

Her shoulders straightened, her head lifted proudly."Because I was never yours.I joined you only to gain your secrets."There was a slight twist of grief and pride within him at that--there was no use her denying it.She had been caught passing on information, but she would die on her feet, not begging on her knees.

"Very well.You know the price for those we capture spying," he said.

"I am ready.Kill me," she said defiantly, green eyes flashing in the light."You may kill me, but you cannot kill my cause."

"Oh, Perpetua," he sighed."Death…that's altogether too easy.No, I think for spies and traitors, I shall let your fellows amuse themselves first."The thin lips curved in a malicious smile."After all, you've betrayed them as well.Why should only I take recompense?"

Rough hands seized hold of her, ripping at her robes, knocking her into the dirt.What followed had been forever burned into Snape's memory, and now into Hermione's.Despite the rapes that followed, the beatings, the torture, her eyes met Severus', where he stood silent vigil at the back of the crowd while most howled and cheered.I understand, the gaze said.She knew he was a spy, but she did not betray him when asked to name her co-conspirators.Do nothing; you cannot.

She meant to absolve him of his inaction, but that calm acceptance of her fate, and his inability to save her, was even worse damnation for him.She had not revealed him, not betrayed him, but he had betrayed her in his helplessness.In grief, he wanted to turn his eyes, but in debt owed, he watched, so that he could go to her fiancé and tell him his love had died as proudly and honorably as she had lived.To love someone like that, he thought, he is a lucky man…Even if now he was a bereaved one.

After Voldemort finally ended the matter and calmly killed her, he ordered her body mutilated and sent back as a warning.The blood-frenzy dissipating, the Death Eaters slinked off, the consequences of betrayal all burned into their minds anew.He was last to leave, taking one last look at her battered body, whispering a prayer, setting his jaw, and Apparating away.

* * * * *

When she came to, she found herself sitting in Snape's quarters, hand still pressed against his forehead.He opened his eyes and their gazes locked."Now do you see?" he rasped.

She nodded, swallowing hard.Being caught meant a grisly death; even simple spying meant seeing horrors no sane mind could even imagine."I still want to," she said quietly."There's no honor done to those who…went before," unspoken was the word "died", but it was mutually understood, "if we are all too afraid to take up the banner and march on."She looked at his still somewhat-dazed eyes and thought sadly, He could use a rather large dose of my Memory Erasing Potion himself.She had never had any idea of the man behind the black robes and snarls.She had just the barest glimpse now, but it was wildly different from what she had known.

"Very well, Miss Granger," he said with a sigh."I will teach you.However, I will stipulate that you must do what I tell you.There will be no disobedience, no seeking glory.I know this game, filthy as it is, and if you are to…partner me, you will listen.One slip-up and it's off."

"Agreed."That was only fair.He understood this much better than she did, but she was willing--no, eager--to learn.She looked at him, sensing that conjuring up the old ghosts of his past left him wanting a little privacy to deal with them.He was trembling and pale, eyes haunted."Thank you, sir.It's very late, so I had best be going before I'm caught."She turned to go."Sir?"She turned back."Would it be asking a bit much to--to work on my potion Monday?That is, if you don't have…plans?"

He let out a somewhat quivering laugh."I look forward to it, Miss Granger.Good night."

Tosca gave her an approving nod as she went out the door.As she closed it behind her, her knees turned to water and she felt she could barely hold her own weight up.She had broken rules of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic, and even challenged a teacher.She smiled slightly.My, how things do change, she thought.

Chapter Eighteen

Hermione lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. While in his mind, she had shielded herself from anything but making it through without flinching--the slightest blanch he would have taken as a sign of weakness and surrender.That wore off quickly as she had made it to her room, and she was hit by what she had seen so hard that she didn't even hear Crookshanks yowling, Hermione?Are you all right?

She sat up abruptly, still shivering, despite Warming Charms and multiple blankets.He was a murderer.Her Potions teacher, her mentor, had been a cold-blooded killer when he was barely older than she was now.The images came back, swarming her brain.No, he hadn't raped; he hadn't killed children.But he had stood by and done nothing, a little disconcerted but trying to dismiss it as the fortunes of war until…until what?What had made him come to his senses and go to Professor Dumbledore?

She felt more frightened and alone than she ever had in her life.Before tonight, before what she had seen and experienced, she had clung to her illusions of the Death Eaters as merely misguided, able to be convinced to the right side.After all, she had reasoned; if Professor Snape had seen the light and come back to the right side, didn't that indicate that most Death Eaters were just…mistaken?

The security of those illusions had been brutally ripped away; the evil no longer distant and formless.She had been right there with the blood, the screams, and the pain.She knew exactly what they did, and the pleasure they took in it.They weren't misguided, they were monsters.And he had been one of them.

She had worked with Snape these past few months, begun to trust him, almost like him.But the same voice that calmly helped guide her through her potion had shouted the Killing Curse.She had never thought of herself as particularly sheltered, but she was shivering in shock right now, wide-awake in terror of what she had seen.

How could she face him again without the words of him calmly torturing that Auror ringing in her ears?Perhaps he hadn't been as depraved as the rest, but he had still been there, and willingly executed his duties.Some part of her had secretly believed that he had managed to avoid that, never killed, never caused injury as a Death Eater.Naïve, certainly, but she had hoped.

Nothing seemed clear right now.Brilliant, sarcastic Snape was a murderer.Irksome, whiny Draco Malfoy was a rapist.Sirius Black had been something close to a bully.And she, the Gryffindor genius, had turned to something darker.Everything was a muddled shade of grey instead of the black and white it had been before, and it was frightening.She felt like she was suddenly drowning in the morass of fear and terror, and nary a lifeline was in sight.

She still wanted to spy--she wanted to make her days count for something besides the Head Girl badge and perfect NEWTs. That she was determined to do.But did she dare admit it wasn't the Death Eaters she feared half so much now, as she feared the man in whom she would have to place her trust?He had betrayed the Death Eaters; would he betray her?

No, something said sharply.He turned back because he realized that his path lead to nothing good.Perhaps he did have his own peculiar honor, but it made her no less disturbed by what she had seen.If she wished to work with him, either in the laboratory or as a spy, she would have to completely rebuild what she thought she had known about him and start from true foundations.

Like gathering the pieces of a puzzle, she seized the few tidbits she knew of him.Sirius Black had been unkind to him.He had been a Death Eater.He had killed and tortured, but felt disgust at the excesses of his fellows.He had turned away from the darkness at great risk.He now wanted to defeat Voldemort, no matter the cost to himself.It's not much to go from, she thought.She still felt uneasy, trying to reconcile the young Death Eater killing with detachment to the man she had seen with eyes full of self-loathing and pain at the memories of what he was.

Still a little sick at heart, she tried to sleep, mind filled with the images she had seen that night.She could only go forward, though, not back to the innocent girl she had been.This would definitely take time.

* * * * *

Snape sighed as he awoke the next morning.She was a bloody stubborn idiot; he wasn't surprised if she had gone straight to her room and started screaming hysterically from what she had seen.But she had courage in spades; he'd give her that.Something in him had revolted at stripping away her innocence in such a way, but then he had grimly reminded himself, We cannot afford to shelter them.Not when they'll be facing such evil in just a short time.They must be prepared.And she had effectively demanded it.Not that it made him feel any better, or quashed the feeling of self-loathing that always came with the old memories.

He sat down in an armchair before the fire, staring into the heart of the flames and trying to forget, but the names and faces swam through his mind.Gerald Meridius.Perpetua MacIvor.Ben Saker…They were old deaths, but ones that hurt more with the passage of time as his regrets for his wasted youth grew and grew.

He was barely aware of the nudging against his legs until he looked down and saw that Hermione's cat--Miss Granger's cat, he corrected himself.In his mind last night he had called her Hermione, but she was yet his student.Well, whatever he would call her, "damn stubborn Gryffindor" yet being foremost to mind at the moment, her cat was here obviously trying to get his attention.

"Yes?" he said, trying not to sound impatient."How did you get in?"

I let him in, Tosca volunteered, landing on the perch by his elbow.

"Crookshanks, is it?" he said, staring down at the ginger-furred beast, noticing he was a somewhat pug-faced, smug-looking thing, with strangely bowed legs.

The cat noticed the scrutiny and said in a rather abashed tone, Hermione has an odd fondness for the…rejects of the world.Yes, I'm Crookshanks.

"I gather she did not pass a pleasant night," he dryly understated.

She sat awake for quite some time, Crookshanks agreed.She's determined to go through with it, and if you don't mind my saying so, it's rather stupid to keep thinking you can put her off.Once she takes to something, she does it all the way.

He smiled a little."What was it her fourth year…with the house elf liberation movement?"He tried to remember the acronym."She certainly took to that with a vengeance," he smiled wearily.

SPEW, Tosca spoke up, laughing.I remember that!What a mess.

Crookshanks pointedly cleared his throat and continued.Anyhow--do you mind if I call you Severus?You're not my professor; that's for certain.So, Severus, get used to her being around.She's not giving up on you, though she's going to tread a little more cautiously.I don't know exactly what you showed her, but she seems to have aged years overnight.

"Tread more cautiously?As well she should."He shook his head."Idealism without caution is what gets people killed."His voice dropped low in remembrance."She has that--or had it."

Yes, well, Tosca said.It was the girl's choice, Severus.You can't blame yourself for showing her.

She doesn't hold it against you for showing her, Crookshanks agreed, collapsing in a heap on the rug in front of the fire, looking quite at home.She's just…it's that youthful naïveté of thinking professors are really nothing less than perfect.She knew you had been with the Death Eaters, but I don't think she even remotely thought of what they--or you--had done.She knows now, so this is your fresh start with her.Don't waste it, he said rather haughtily.

About time, Tosca added dryly.He's so convinced he can't let anybody know who or what he was.Well, Sev, here's your chance to prove yourself wrong.She knows, and she hasn't run screaming in fear off to the next shire.

"What is this?" he asked impatiently."An advice session from bloody animals?"

Tosca would have smirked if she had lips, he was sure.Well, humans certainly haven't applied themselves to solving your problems since you don't let them near you.We're the best you've got.Get used to it.

He muttered something rather foul."I had no intention of treating her any differently," he said defensively, feeling like a small boy being lectured by his headmaster."Now, Crookshanks, thank you."

The cat padded towards the door, calling a flippant, You're welcome, over his shoulder.He shut the door behind the cat, startled to hear flapping wings behind him and Tosca calling a greeting.

Draco Malfoy's eagle owl, Icarus, perched on the back of his favorite armchair, looking exhausted after a long flight from Malfoy Manor.Master Snape, I have a message, he hooted.

Snape retrieved the letter from Icarus' leg and idly gestured the tired bird over to the table, conjuring some water.Icarus gratefully drank and filched a biscuit from the plate, messily eating while Snape broke the seal and opened the scroll.Told me to deliver it as fast as I possibly could, the owl said through a full mouth.

He scanned briefly, noticing the messy handwriting was even worse than usual, as though Draco had written with a very shaky hand.

Professor Snape,

My father is sending me back from the holidays early, since he was called away to…well, I won't say here. Mother really doesn't want me around, so I will be back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

Something occurred over the holiday that I must speak with you about, urgently.Please don't reply, sir: I don't want Father or Mother knowing I wrote this.I will come and see you when I am back.

Draco Malfoy

Did he dare admit relief swept over him at the note?Obviously young Malfoy was referring to what had happened the night before.He could save another of the Slytherins, thank God.

He looked at Icarus."How was he when he sent you?"

Oh, in a state, sir, Icarus said, shaking his head.Woke up screaming this morning, and he was jumpy as a grasshopper.Shaking like a leaf, and his eyes--well, if I never see that look again, I won't be too put out.My guess is that something happened last night.I was hunting, but Mister Malfoy had one of his--ah--gatherings.

"Thank you, Icarus," he said sincerely.Altogether too bloody bad that Draco couldn't understand Icarus, or he could have had the owl take back a message to relay orally."Keep an eye on him, and I will see you again tomorrow when he returns."

Icarus gave a hoot of acknowledgment and took wing, heading out the window.He turned back to Tosca.

What happened? the gyrfalcon asked, regarding him intently.Young Draco found being a junior Death Eater not to his taste?I'm surprised.She knew as well as he did how Draco Malfoy was.But she hadn't seen him last night.Snape knew how the boy must feel--he felt the self-disgust at his weakness in not resisting the evil nearly daily.

Wearily, he told her.She wasn't surprised, having seen some of the Death Eater's gatherings, but expressed hope that this would perhaps turn the Malfoy heir to a staunch ally.Considering the son of his top Death Eater was the closest Voldemort had to an heir of his own, this would be quite a loss to him.

He reached for the latest edition of the potions journals delivered that month, taking his mind from Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy to the simple, uncluttered world of simmering cauldrons.

* * * * *

She was down in the dungeons later that morning, trying to refine the Solventus Potion, figuring that perhaps the chemical interaction of one of its ingredients had reduced the potency of the anti-memory.The trouble was that there was nothing written upon the properties of a Pensieved memory's inverse.As far as she knew, she was the first to use the Inverse Charm in such a manner, so the matter was largely touch-and-go, unfortunately.She had drawn out the memory of him saying "Grey, warm, parrot" and inverted it, experimenting with the chemical properties of the anti-memory. She couldn't just create a new Solventus out of the blue and test it; it was more likely to poison her than anything else.

"Good morning, Miss Granger," came the quiet voice behind her.She spun so quickly that she nearly knocked over her cauldron.She hadn't expected him this morning at all: not until Monday, for that matter!

She took a deep breath, and reminded herself that he was a changed man.Give him a fair chance, Granger, now that you know where he's been."Good morning, sir."

He seemed a bit taken aback that she didn't seem afraid.There was actually a tentative hint of a smile on his lips for a moment."How is the potion coming along?"

"I'm trying to figure out the properties of the anti-memory so I know what I can safely react it with," she sighed."The composition of a Pensieved memory is known, but I'm not sure about its inverse."

"Keep at it," he nodded."You've made good progress."The words from Snape were becoming a bit more familiar.He was sparing in his praise, which meant she valued it all the more when he did dispense it.

They worked over their cauldrons in the familiar routine, he replying he was making a fresh batch of Veritaserum at the request of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Janney.She was sure he remembered what the Death Eaters had used the potion for."Sir?" she said."I need some sea cucumber gelatin.I think it's in your office?"Another fragile ingredient, sea cucumber gelatin needed to be kept in a pressurized container; much as the creatures it came from were under pressure in the deep sea.Otherwise it would basically turn into a sticky liquid.

He actually chuckled slightly."Fourth shelf, eighth row, front jar," he said."Black jar.I trust you won't filch anything this time?"

"No, sir," she assured, raising her eyebrows a little at his turned back.It was gracefully said: he would trust her.He had to, if they were to spy together.She went to his office and retrieved the sea cucumber gelatin, saying a quick greeting to Tosca.

Setting the heavy jar down by her cauldron, she peered over at the Veritaserum in his cauldron.It was in a smoky blue crystalline form now.He added dragon's blood gradually and it turned to a clear liquid.She decided to venture something bothering her."Sir?Aren't we required to--that is--shouldn't the authorities be informed about that girl?"And Draco? was the unspoken continuation.

"I have already spoken to Headmaster Dumbledore about the girl," he said quietly, "and young Malfoy.Don't get above yourself, Miss Granger.You don't know the game yet.Before you go and tear off on him, Draco Malfoy is returning to Hogwarts tomorrow."

Tomorrow? she stared at him.How could she stand to pass him in the hallways, eat at the same table with him, as inevitably happened at Christmas?A boy who had raped an innocent girl and watched her be killed?

"And before you get into a righteous Gryffindor huff," he continued in a voice almost too low to be heard, "I received a note from him this morning, and it indicated that he will be our ally from now on, Miss Granger."

She quietly reproached herself.If she was going to give Snape a second chance, she owed Draco that.Not that it would be easy considering how he had been to her over their years at Hogwarts."Are you expecting me," she said, unable to keep from a little sarcasm, "to be his friend?"

"No, Miss Granger; that would be quite suspicious, and would also prompt explanation of how you know his situation, which quite frankly is none of his business right now.I intend for him to finish his time here acting as he has for the past years.I would ask, however, that you not be…hostile towards him.His owl informs me that he is quite the wreck this morning."

"Yes, sir," she said.This gave her much more to think about.They turned back to their potions then, with no need for further speech: the master and apprentice hard at work.