The First Summer and Summer Series

Hermione stood in the lowest pit of the dig. It was the one that had caved in on Ron and Severus the summer before. Work had been done on the site to clear it and now the painstaking task of recording all the ancient symbols was going on. She found it fascinating.

“They still haven’t figured out what this room was used for yet,” Hermione explained to Ginny. “None of the symbols have ever been seen before and they are defying all translator spells.”

“Amazing!” Ginny breathed.

“Amazingly dangerous is how I’d put it,” Severus growled. “In my day, students weren’t allowed to touch unknown artifacts. Only experts handled them. And you, my dear, are rather overworked and run down at the moment. You should take a few days to rest before tackling something like this that requires your full attention. One wrong move and you could end up with three heads.”

“All the more for me to kiss you with,” Hermione joked.

Ginny giggled. Severus shot her his most contemptuous look and silently climbed back up out of the pit.

“Uh-oh! Is he angry?” Ginny asked.

“No,” Hermione answered lightly, “He’s just hot and tired and wants a drink back at the hotel. Then he‘ll go upstairs and read until dinner. I know him too well now.” She gave Ginny a smile. “It’s rather comforting really.”

“I’ll never know Harry that well,” Ginny commented.

“Oh yes, you will! Give it a while. Severus and I have been together over two years. It’s scary, sometimes it feels like we’re one person split in two.”

Ginny smirked, “I don’t think I’d ever want to feel like Professor Snape!”

“Good thing he’s mine then!” Hermione replied airily.

To Hermione’s delight, she was immediately granted permission to work on symbol decoding. She asked Ginny to help hTo hTo have an unstudied bit of ancient writing all to herself was a huge thrill for Hermione. All of her notes were being carefully recorded for a thesis later on. She hoped that she would be the one to uncover the purpose for this underground chamber and the meaning of the symbols. She could hardly get ready to start.

“I might be able to make my name doing this,” she thought as she climbed into bed that night. She snuggled into Severus and fell asleep, dreaming of academic glory.


The alarm went off abruptly in her ear. Hermione leapt up and dressed then leaned over Severus and kissed his brow. It was only 6:30 but she and Ginny wanted to get an early start.

“Hmmm...” he murmured, “Come back to bed and let me make love to you.”

“Sorry. I promised to meet Ginny at the excavations. We’re going to get going on those new symbols.”

“Mind yourself,” he muttered, “I told you those things can be dangerous and you‘re over tired. Don‘t cut corners!”

“I know! I know! You’re going to mother-hen me to death.” She patted his shoulder.

“I just want you to be safe,” he growled.

“I will. See you later.”


“Ginny! Come look at this!” Hermione called.

She had just realized something. Every symbol on the waad aad a small slot or indentation to the right of it.

“What do you suppose these slots are for?” she asked.

Ginny shrugged. “To put something in I suppose.”

“I wonder what?” Hermione commented. “A wand maybe?”

“Try it,” Ginny suggested.

“And maybe I’ll grow three heads!” Hermione joked. “We’re supposed to decode before we touch them. Still...”

Throwing caution to the wind, Hermione pulled her wand out of her robes and reached forward.

“No don’t Hermione!” Ginny started but it was too late. Hermione had inserted her wand into a slot on the frieze and immediately was sucked into the wall. Ginny, who had grabbed her to pull her back, was also sucked in. There had been no sound, no indication of what had happened. The girls were gone.

Severus had gone back to sleep for another couple of hours. When he awoke the sun was shining brightly. He got up to shower and shave. He had just pulled his robes over his hwhenwhen he felt an odd burning on his chest. At first he was surprised. He couldn’t think what it could be. Then an awful thougtructruck him. He pulled the communi-charm out of his robes. It was the amulet that he wore around his neck connecting him to Hermione, letting him know whenever she needed him. It was glowing so hot that it burned his skin.

Severus seized his wand from the bedside table and ran. When he reached the excavations there was no sign of trouble.

“Hello Professor!” Neville called cheerily. “What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Hermione!” he demanded.

“She’s in the deep pit. Why what’s the problem?”

But Severus was already gone and swiftly descending the ladder into the deepest portion of the dig. This was the area in which he and Weasley had nearly died the year before. The pit was empty. He looked around. Hermione and Ginny’s knapsacks were still lying on the floor but there was no sign of the girls.

Neville stuck his head over the ledge.

“Where did they go?” Severus shouted up at him.

“They’re down there aren’t they?” Neville asked. “They haven’t come out.”

“They must have!” Severus insisted. “Damn it Longbottom! Start asking! Find them!”

He grasped the communi-charm tightly, ignoring the burning that was scarring his hand.

An all out search of the excavation site revealed nothing. No one had seen or heard them. Weasley and Potter had joined the search by now.

“How did you know they were missing?” Ron asked suspiciously.

Severus indicated the glowing crystal around his neck.

“Is that a communi-charm?” he asked.

“No Weasley, it’s a little light bulb!” he snarled sarcastically. “Of course it’s a communi-charm!”

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Harry said. “How could they have gotten out of the excavations without anyone seeing them?”

“Unless they disapparated,” Neville suggested.

“Where and why?” Severus asked.

“Or a port key? An ancient port key?” Harry offered.

Severus nodded slowly. “That’s the best suggestion yet.”

“But then they could be anywhere!” Ron whined.

“And wherever they are, Hermione needs me.” Severus added grimly. “Well, what are you all waiting for? Down in that pit and start translating. There may be some clue to tell us what they might have touched.”


The men worked late into the night trying to come up with a clue as to what might have happened. Severus couldn’t feel. He was totally numb, focused only on the problem. It wasn’t until he got into bed alone that the enormity of her disappearance hit him. He reached out and grabbed Hermione’s silk robe that she had left on the bed. He clutched it tightly, smelling her perfume, her scent. He reached down to the glowing orb that continued to leave blistering burns on his chest as it’s heat scorched him. He squeezed it tightly and felt power. Wh. Wherever she was, he couldn’t help her.

“Damn! Damn! Damn!” Hermione groaned. “He’s always right! Severus is always right! Why don’t I listen?”

“Where are we?” Ginny asked.

“I have no idea!” Hermione moaned. She looked around herself. There were crumbling ruined walls. They were on a small windswept island, barren but for the ruins. The sea was visible from both sides and the spot on which they stood was obviously the high point.

“It was some sort of port key,” Ginny noted. “What do we do?”

“Nothing!” Hermione said, “I’ve already done too much. We wait here until Severus finds us.”

Ginny gave Hermione a look. “And how do you think he’s going to do that?”

“I don’t know,” Hermione admitted, “But he’ll find a way. He always comes if I need him. Besides, that’s what this is for.” She swung the communi-charm’s chain on her finger.

But after several hours, Hermione had to admit that Ginny was right. Maybe he didn’t know how to find her. Maybe the charm didn’t work.

“We could try apparating,” Ginny suggested.

“Without knowing where we are?” Hermione asked, “Or how far we’re going? We don’t even know if we’re in the same time that we started. We could have gone back centuries or something.” Not to mention the fact that apparating was something Hermione wasn’t particularly good at or fond of.

Ginny put her head in her hands.

After a moment or two of despair, Hermione took charge.

“Right! Let’s get organized. There had to be civilization here at some point to leave these ruins so there must be a water source. Let’s find a well or stream then go scavenging on the beach and see what we can find that‘s edible.

By the time darkness had fallen the girls had conjured a cooking pot and a fire. They had a rustic but edible mussel soup cooking and their outlook wasn’t quite so bleak as it had been.

“It’s obvious that these symbols with the slots are all port keys of some kind. There are matching ones on the wall here.” Hermione commented. “As one of them got us here, another should get us back. The only question is, which one?”

“If we choose the wrong one, who knows where we would end up? It‘s as bad as apparating into the unknown,” Ginny warned.

“But if we choose the right one?” Hermione smiled. “We‘ll have to be cautious and mark down each symbol we try. With any luck we‘ll be back tomorrow but right now, I‘m going to sleep.” They conjured a couple of blankets and bedded down in the ruins under the stars.

“You know something Ginny?” Hermione asked as she fingered the communi-charm, “I feel pretty confident about this. We’ve already figured out more bcidecident than the rest have figured out all year. It’s going to be a great addition to my thesis! And Severus is going to be so proud of me. We’re managing on our own, I don’t really need his help to get out of this one after all.”

Severus must have dozed for an hour or so. He awoke with a start. Something was different. Something had changed.

“Hermione?” he said aloud, hoping beyond hope that she might have returned. But there was no reply.

It was then that he realized what it was. The communi-charm had gone dark and cold against his skin. It no longer glowed and burned. He slowly held up the small orb in the moonlight. Perhaps it had malfunctioned? Burned out somehow? He squeezed the cold orb in his hand, willing it to light once again. It stayed dark. He stared a moment, refusing to accept the proof of his eyes.

The fact of what the darkness probably meant hit him like a bludger and left his senses reeling. He had failed her. She was now beyond the need for help. Dead. Suddenly everything seemed very surreal. Was it only that morning that he had asked her to come back to bed and make love with him? It seemed a thousand years ago. She had promised him she would be careful. Was it only that morning? Was this emptiness real? Or had it always been there?

Then reality began to creep over him like a fog. She was dead. She would never come to hiain,ain, never get angry at him or love him. Or wear the kimono on the bed beside him. She would never be his wife. She was gone. The emptiness, the reality, hit him hard. For the first time in over twenty years, Severus Snape put his face down into his pillow and wept.

Hermione awoke out of her sleep with a start. Something was burning her. She looked at her communi-charm with dismay. It was glowing hotly. Somewhere, Severus needed her.

“Ginny? Ginny, wake up!”

“What is it?” Ginny asked sleepily.

“We have to get started finding our way back now!” Hermione urged.

Ginny wiped the sleep out of her eyes and yawned. “It can’t wait until morning?”

“No! Look!” Hermione held up the glowing m.
m.

Ginny’s eyes met Hermione’s “Severus needs you?” she asked.

Wordlessly, Hermione nodded. In spite of the darkness they began surveying the symbols on the crumbling ruins by the light of their wands.

“Let’s try this one.” Hermione suggested. “It looks most like the one I originally prodded.”

Ginny held onto her as they were transported away.


One of the few blessings of heavy grief is the feeling of numbness that accompanies it. Call it shock or what you will. It enables those left behind to carry on. Severus walked down to breakfast the next morning in complete control of himself. His face was grey and his eyes blank, but there was no sign of the brutal emotion thad tad torn him apart the night before.

“About time you got here!” Ron snapped. “We were just going to come up and get you.”

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked sharply. He alone realized that there was something changed about their old potions master.

Wordlessly, Severus pulled the communi-charm out from his robes and showed it to them.

“It’s not glowing any more?” Neville asked. “What does that mean?”

Severus sat down mechanically and poured himself some coffee into a nearby cup. He didn’t answer. Just drank it silently.

“It means...she’s not in need of help anymore.” Harry answered in a shocked voice. “We’re too late.”

There was a long silence.

“But Ginny might still be alive.” Ron whispered. “We have to keep looking.”

“We will keep looking.” Severus answered flatly. “I want to find out what happened.” He looked at Harry. “Will you take over here, Potter? I need to go see Hermione‘s parents, tell them what I know, then I‘ll be back.”

Harry nodded.