Epiphany

Epiphany

"Wait."

Hermione slammed her book shut, causing everyone in the Common Room to jump. "But, if he already knew, then..." She jumped up, looking suddenly and inexplicably panicked, and hurtle out of the portrait hole before dashing through the hallways at a mad speed, heading for the Room of Requirement where she knew Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna had been practicing their dueling techniques.

"I swear, that girl gets loonier and loonier every day," muttered Pavarti to Lavender as they watched Hermione's retreating figure in the distance, before getting up to shut the entrance after her.

Hermione arrived at the Room of Requirement panting and red-faced, wheezed out the password she had installed herself after the Umbridge debacle of last year, and tumbled in, narrowly missing a Tickling Charm that shot her way.

"Hermione!" The five ran over to where she had fallen. "What?"

"No time!" She said, startling them by sitting up abruptly. "Hurry, Snape, explain on the way!" And with that she leapt up and grabbed Ron's arm and dashed off again, the others trailing confusedly behind.

"Harry," she gasped out as the made their way past (and through) several very perplexed-looking ghosts. "Remember in first year, when you saw Snape threatening Quirrel in the Forest? He made it very clear exactly where his loyalties lay, wouldn't you say?"

"Yy-yes," said Harry slowly, as he jogged easily behind Ron, who was still being dragged along.

"Well, don't you remember? Voldemort- oh, get over it, Ron- was in Quirrel at the time! He knows that Snape serves Dumbledore!"

This time Luna spoke up. "So what does that mean?"

"Don't you see? If Voldemort knows that Snape is loyal to Dumbledore, Snape can't be a very effective spy can he? Why isn't he dead?"

Harry paused, causing all of them to stop directly in front of the entrance to the corridor that led to the dungeons. "I knew it! I knew he couldn't be trusted!"

"No, Harry! I mean, we cannot possibly believe that Snape is a traitor after all he's done. What I'm saying is, maybe he's spying on the Order against his will."

"Wha- oh!" Comprehension slowly dawned on the five faces. Finally, everything clicked, and all at once, they broke into an all-out sprint.

"So where exactly are we going?" Ginny panted, catching up with Harry at the front.

"I haven't the foggiest where Snape's quarters, are, so I was thinking Slytherin common room. Maybe they'll know?"

"Yeah, like any of them would tell you," Ginny snorted, which was an impressive feat considering that they were still sprinting through the labyrinthine dungeons at top speed.

"Blackmail always works," Harry retorted. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I know about Malfoy!"

Luna, who was sashaying behind, let out a breathless giggle, before nearly bringing the entire group to the floor when she grabbed Harry's and Ginny's wrists and screeching to a halt, directly in front of Ron and Hermione.

"This is it."

"Right. So, anyone want to guess a few passwords?"

"Oh, honestly! Has no one bothered to read Hogwarts: A History yet? There's a chapter by the Marauders, and there's a universal emergency spell to get into any place in the school. Here, let me," Hermione swept the others aside and performed a complex twirling motion with her wand, muttering under her breath. "There."

The stretch of bare, damp stone wall slid easily aside and Hermione smirked as the others (excepting Luna, who was matching Hermione's smirk with one of her own) gawked at her. The gawking was rapidly put to a stop, however, as the six realized that the wall had opened to reveal a very indignant looking Draco Malfoy.

"Wah--?" he managed before being grabbed by two Weaselys and dragged roughly from the doorway.

As Hermione quickly locked the wall again Harry glanced quickly around. "You know, at this point I'm thinking kidnap's going to be a lot faster than blackmail. Shall we?" he said as he and the others once again broke into a slow run.

"Lovely," said Hermione before turning and jogging briskly backwards so as to face the now furious blonde, who was still being carried along by Ron and Ginny. "Now, I do hope you know where your esteemed Potions professor is, because he's in mortal peril and we rather fancy saving him."

"What? You're all barking mad! And you're mussing my hair! And ouch, goddammit, turn left here!"

The band skidded around the corner and again accelerated, the Weaselys dropping Malfoy so that he had to immediately start running so as not to be trampled by Neville and Luna, who were bringing up the rear.

"Right! Left! Left! Nearly there!" Draco could barely muster the breath to shout over the echoing footsteps, now pounding through the mossy dungeons at, once again, breakneck speed.

"Stop!" he shouted suddenly, sparking what must have looked like a row of human dominoes, leaving the seven in a heaving pile with Luna sitting calmly on top, filing her nails. They were in a soggy stretch of hallway, lit only by one sputtering torch, and empty except for the grimy tapestry depicting a gruesome beheading.

"Right, wands out everyone, we don't know what Snape'll do if he's cornered," ordered Harry from under Neville's elbow.

"Why exactly would I be taking order's from you, Potter?" huffed Malfoy as he extricated himself from the tangle of limbs. "And I though you said we were saving Snape, so why would he attack us?"

"Imperious," said Hermione shortly, helping the others to their feet.

"And do any of you bourgeois buffoons have even the faintest inkling of how to break it?"

"Oh. I hadn't though of that," Hermione sighed, slumping against a dank wall. Draco and Harry simultaneously slapped their foreheads in exasperation.

"Um," came a small voice from the shadows, making them all jump.

"Yes, Neville?" said Ginny kindly.

"Wouldn't, just, that spell-ender thing work? Finite incantatum?" Neville stuttered timidly. Hermione's head snapped up.

"Yes! Yes, of course! Oh my goodness, thank you Neville!" she squeaked, alarming the poor boy by leaping at him and throwing her arms around his neck. "Now," she said, as she stood up, her tone suddenly business-like. "This is obviously a very strong curse, so we'll need a lot of power. How about I open the door, and we immediately rush in and do the spell together, on three. Ready?"

The others nodded, and she crouched in front of the tapestry, again wiggling her wand intricately and muttering. The tapestry sprang open to reveal, in the middle of the most morbid bedroom any of them had seen, Snape, wearing a bright pink tutu and balancing delicately on point. His eyes were glazed over, and he appeared not to have noticed them, for he continued to prance about to music that only he could hear.

The group stared at the sight, entranced, until their reverie was ended when Neville sneezed. They snapped back to attention, wands at the ready.

"Three!" Hermione shouted, and there was a blinding flash of blue-white light as seven voices yelled one thing. The light reached Snape, and he toppled over from his precarious pose.

Madam Pomfrey, in all her years, had never seen a stranger sight than five Gryffindors, a Ravenclaw, and a Slytherin carrying the Potions Master, still in his tutu, into the ward all of them sweating profusely.

As the students dumped the professor on the nearest bed, Luna turned to the nurse.

"He's all yours. When he wakes up, if he asks about the tutu, tell him that that is why one should never get a tattoo at the age of sixteen. And that Lulu sends her love."

And with that they all turned and walked away.