Azael's Chains

Revelation

It still read the date of the battle, and Hermione's pulse stampeded through her veins as it turned the mill of her mind. Her back was against the door and she half expected the wood to tremble in time with her heartbeat. The was a DA coin. Michael had handed her a DA coin.

More, it was not presented as a token of times gone. He'd been terrified when he handed it over, his skin clammy and cold and his eyes pleading with her to take it.

She held the precious gold as if it held all the secrets whispered behind the Veil. This coin... Was it even possible for the implication to be true? Or would her hopes once more be dashed against the rocks? He was living under Snape's watchful eye now, how had he been able to sneak it to her?

Hermione dropped onto her bed and pulled the book she'd set aside over her lap, slipping the coin between the first page and the front cover. And what been with Snape?

First at the Malfoys' he'd told her to think about the fact that Dumbledore was a dying man even before he'd killed him.

He'd also offered her contraceptives. "Fuck." She should have tried to tell him that she wanted them. However, if she'd tried to be too circumspect, he might spill all about it in front of Dolohov, who would not be pleased. And then he'd know she wasn't allowed.

Put that aside for now, Hermione. Focus.

Draco Malfoy had been trying to kill the Headmaster all year, but failing spectacularly. Perhaps they were the halfhearted attempts of a boy who didn't want to murder anyone. In the end the task had fallen to Snape. Trusted spy, Severus Snape, supposed friend of Dumbledore, and member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"This isn't a reunion of your Order, girl," Snape drawled. "Mister Corner is now my protege, no more your ally than I am."

Michael was never in the Order; he was a part of the DA.

Snape was friends with Harry's mom and apparently still in love with her, since he and Dolohov had apparently commiserated over their shared heartbreak. Lily Potter was a muggleborn, like Hermione. She was intelligent, gifted at Charms and Transfiguration, much like Hermione as well. Voldemort had mentioned that Hermione's face was often on the Potions master's mind, but was it because he had an interest in her or because she reminded him of Lily.

If he still loved her...?

She was on the precipice, tottering between sheer cliff and frozen abyss, and both sides were swathed in darkness. On the one side was more of her current misery and on the other...

Warmth permeated the book in a quick flash and Hermione's breath was stolen in the rush to flip open the cover and stare down at shining gold.

The numbers had changed. They were set to a future time and date.

She sobbed and closed the book to clutch it to her chest, sinking into cozy oblivion.

It both lightened the burden of her fate and enlivened the whirring of her mind, but she was also antsy. Having a date and not knowing precisely what it meant sent electrical flashes through her chest. It could just mean the next time she'd see someone from the DA. It could mean she would receive a message. Perhaps a rescue attempt.

No, that would be quite a lot, and the time was set for midday. It was not optimal for a rescue mission.

Hermione settled on transmission of messages. Just seeing someone was good, as it allowed her to know they were still alive, but the coin was too important a symbol to surrender for such a goal.

"Antonin?"

He looked up from his book, smarmy at her use of his name. "Yes, pet?"

She buried the instinct to fidget. "Could I have parchment and a quill? And ink," she added. "I would like to take notes."