Trust, Betrayal, and Destruction

Trust, Betray and Destruction

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Set in the trio\'s final year.
Hermione is given a curious and dangerous job by Dumbledore.
Snape has seemingly betrayed one of his masters and needs someone to keep an eye on him.
Angst, Romance, War, and Comic Relief to balance things out.
Rated R for now but later chapters may contain NC-17 material.

AN: JK Rowlings\' characters.
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\"Maybe she went to the bookstore.\"
Ron and Harry looked at each other and Harry smacked his head.

\"I\'m such a dumbass! How could I have not thought of it before? And you, what made you take so long to come up with it, huh?\" He pointed and accusing finger at the red haired boy who was physically a man, but mentally still a long ways off from becoming one.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone to Hogsmeade with the rest of the school the third weekend after their 7th year started.

Everyone was surprised that Dumbledore would even think about letting the Hogsmeade trips continue until Voldemort was killed. Minerva had thought it a bad idea and Poppy nearly had a heart attack when Albus posted the date of the first trip of the year.

Harry had been through several hells as of late. The war was already upon them (it had started during the previous year) and several battles had taken place, most ending with both parties too injured or overwhelmed to continue. But after the last battle (a few weeks before) came close to finishin the Serpant Lord off, Albus had felt it safe to relax slightly. At least for a few months. He knew Voldemort would be planning his next attack but that it would not be until he fully recovered and Harry had done quite a number on the full powered Dark Lord.

Ron and Harry had been searching for Hermione for nearly a half hour before Ron thought of the obvious. They hadn\'t had a real break from battles since the war started, so Hogsmeade was a welcome relief to them, even with all of the precautions taken to ensure the towns\' safety. The battles had worn everyone at Hogwarts out, but mostly the \"Golden Trio\" as everyone called them. Harry would either kill Voldemort or be killed by him. Everyone (mostly) knew of the prophesy now and Hermione and Ron flanked him at every battle. It was no wonder that both boys\' had a hard time concentrating on where to find the chesnut haired girl now.

They made their way to the book store, passing several Aurors and Ministry workers with wands at the ready. They saw Hermione through the window of the store and made to go inside when they saw something that made them think better of it. Snape. HE was in there. HE was browsing the same aisle Hermione was on. The boys ducked down under the window and peered over the edge. The tall man had his back turned to them and his large crooked nose was pointed up slighty as he skimmed the titles of the top shelf books. Hermione was only a few feet away from him, but he didn\'t pay her any mind and Hermione didn\'t even notice him. This was just as well, since coming across him without expecting it might bring her guard down too much to do her job...

Harry knew he had to do something. Leaving Ron, he went inside the store and energetically walked up to Hermione so as to keep her facing him.

\"Hey Hermione! We\'ve been looking all over for you! C\'mon, Ron and I want to show you something!\"

Snape looked down when he heard that all-too-familiar voice and watched as the bushy-haired girl reluctantly put the book she had been reading away and made her way to the clerk to purchase the three books in her hands.

\"Honestly, Harry, this is the first break we get in months and you won\'t even let me spend an hour in the bookstore!\" she sighed as she handed the clerk her sickles and knuts.

\"Sorry, Hermione, but it\'s really important.\" he shot a quick glance at the dark figure facing him and dragged Hermione out of the store.

Ron immediately caught up to them and led them to a bench on the other side of the street and several stores away from where HE was.

\"Alright, you too, what is it you have to show me that couldn\'t wait another minute?\" Hermione asked, obviously agitated.

\"Snape\" the boys said in unison.

\"What about him?\"

\"He was there,\" said Harry.

\"Right next to you,\" added Ron.

\"He...was?\"

They nodded their heads at her.

\"But, but he shouldn\'t be here. Albus made strict instructions for him to stay on the grounds today.\" Hermione seemed very confused.

\"We know that, but he WAS there!\" Ron sighed deeply and looked at her worried face. \"What do you make of it?\"

Hermione shook her head. \"I...I don\'t know. I really don\'t know.\"

Harry waited a few moments before talking. \"Well, do you think you should stay here or go back and tell Dumbledore?\"

Hermione hesitated. \"Er...both.\"

\"Sorry?\" Ron now looked confused.

\"What I mean is, YOU two go and tell Albus, and I\'LL stay here and watch...Crow...as long as I need to.\"

Harry and Ron didn\'t look too happy about the idea but they nodded in unison nonetheless.

\"Alright. Ron, let\'s go. Hermione, be careful.\" He reached out and touched her cheek in a brotherly manner before the two boys walked a few away and Disaparated back to the gate of Hogwarts.


~*~*~*~*~


Hermione watched them go and then headed back towards the bookstore. \'Crow\' had most likely seen her leave the store with the boys, so she would have to keep hidden until he left. \"Damn!\" she said to herself. \"If only there was a way I could find out what books he was looking at without losing him.\"

At that moment, the tall dark shape if her Potion\'s Master filled the doorway of the little store and she ducked behind a tree. She was still across the street from him, but she didn\'t want to take any chanced of him knowing that she was watching him. She followed carefully behind him as he made his way down the street. Several students did their best to avoid being even a a few yards from him, so he had no trouble stalking down the otherwise crowded street.

Hermione watched as he made a right turn down a smaller road and almost had to run to see where he was going from there. She stopped at the end of the small cobbled street just in time to see him look cautiously behing him and turn left down another...very dark...street. Devils\' Lane, a sister street to Nocturn Alley. Hermione swallowed hard.


~*~*~*~


\"Professor Dumbledore!\"

\"Dumbledor Sir! Sna- I mean Crow is in Hogsmeade!!\"

Albus opened his office door to see two very upset Gryffindors jumping up and down excitedly.

He bade them into his office and had them sit down. After giving each of them a cup a tea (which they impatienly set down on the table beside them) he sat down behind his desk.

\"Now, young men, what seems to be the throuble?\" he asked lightly, as if they had merely stopped by to report a leaky loo or something else to that effect.

\"It\'s Snape, sir. We --that is, Hermione, Ron, and me-- saw Snape in the bookstore in Hogsmeade!\"

Albus simply nodded his head and sipped his tea wordlessly.

Ron decided to give it a try. \"Sir, Snape isn\'t allowed to leave the grounds and yet he was there in the store, not five feet from Hermione!\"

At this Albus raised his head, but didn\'t holler and scream and curse as the boys thought he would --should-- have.

\"Sir, with all due respect, doesn\'t this prove to be a problem?\" Harry asked carefully.

Albus looked at the boy who had to turn into a man so suddenly. \"Is Hermione still there?\"

\"Yessir, but-\"

\"And did she tell you she would watch him until she recieved word from me?\"

\"Yessir, but-\"

\"Then I see no reason to be so upset, boys...excuse me...young men,\" he said with a fatherly smile directed at both of them.

Ron didn\'t seem convinced. \"Professor Dumbledore, wasn\'t it you who said it would be best for him to stay on the grounds because of what he di-\"

\"Yes, Mr. Weasely, it was. But I am quite sure Hermione is capable of taking matters into her own hands until I contact her.\"

\"When do you plan to do that? After it\'s too la-\"

\"Ssshhh!\" Harry abmonished his friend, \"she\'ll be fine.\"

Ron closed his mouth, but he still wondered and worried about his know-it-all friend who could very well be in terrible danger for all they knew.

\"If I contact her now, Mr. Weasely, I would risk alerting our... dear friend... to what she is doing. We wouldn\'t want that, now, would we.\" Albus said this with more gravity than before and not as a question. Harry and Ron nodded dumbly, not sure if Hermione would be alright without them there to protect her. Albus saw their concern.

\"You two needn\'t be worried for Hermione. She is a strong witch and will be perfectly fine on her own. Now, you two had best stay around here so I can reach you easily if I need you.\"

They nodded again and, with still worried faces, left the office and walked wordlessly to Ron\'s Head Boy room.


Once inside with wards up, the two sat down by the empty fireplace and stared lifelessly at the blackish-red bricks.

Ron finally cleared his throat and turned to Harry. \"Do..do you think she really WILL be okay by herself?\"

Harry rubbed his ear thoughtfully --or nervously-- and answered; \"I think---no, I KNOW she\'ll be alright.\" he said more surely than he felt.

\"But Harry, Dumbledor believes Snape\'s gone back to the dark side. I don\'t like Hermione being around him by herself, especially since no one else knows what\'s going on. Harry, he KILLED someone!\"

Harry slapped the armrest of the chair he was in and stood to his full six feet, two inch heigth. \"I KNOW what he did, Ron, but that doesn\'t prove he has really turned back to Lord Vodemort!\" Harry was shaking with anxiety, despite his words. In truth, he feared for his friends\' life more than Ron could imagine, but they were just going to have to trust Dumbledor in this one. If there was any hope that Snape was still on their side, they couldn\'t afford to lose him, his skills at potions and his knowledge of the Dark Lord.

Ron flinched visibly at Harry\'s words. Against his will, tears formed in the red-head\'s eyes. Harry quieted his look of rage and sank down next to his friend. \"Hey, Ron. It\'s going to be okay. Hermione will come back to us, you hear me?\" Even as he said so, Harry wondered if Hermione had managed to follow Snape so far without being found out.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To my first reviewer: I don\'t know if this helps. Please keep in mind that I write on a word program on my computer and copy/paste it to this site. I am not good with computers as other authors are. I understand that stories which can only be read by scrolling horizontally and vertically can be a pain, but I wasn\'t sure how to fix it. Also, it would be nice if the first review anyone gets for a story actually mentions something they like about it, not just the format of it. Please keep that in mind when you review other stories from different authors. I\'m sure if you are a writer on this site, you should understand. It really hurts.