“If we tried using another 500 millilitres of water then the belladonna would be diluted enough for the curse to be deactivated.” Harry pushed his paper under Hermione's nose.

Hermione groaned and took the paper. “Harry, I don't think we're going to find the cure tonight. Let's got to bed. When was the last time you slept?”

Harry pushed his hair out of his eyes and pulled his gloves back on. “Don't remember.” He took a cauldron off the fire and set into a bucket of ice. “There's no time Hermione. I need my father. He's got the answer to defeating Voldemort.”

Hermione looked over the paper and pulled another piece out of one of the many stacks surrounding her desk. “Harry, we already tried this. The water didn't work. Remember? You're too tired to think straight. We really should go to bed.”

Harry shook his head. Snape's body was lying dormant in the Castle, he was the one they needed to solve the problem. His potions skills and experience. It seemed as if everything was falling apart since he'd been taken out.

There had been more attacks and more losses for the Order to the Phoenix. Hermione was standing in as Potions Professor, but she was fresh out of school herself and she couldn't feel the place as the Head of Slytherin House. Hermione and Harry had spent most of their nights together working on finding a cure. Harry rarely stopped working, McGonagall had barred him from teaching Transfiguration because he couldn't concentrate and focus on the task at hand. She took her classes back, in addition to being the Headmaster.

“Jut give me a little longer Hermione. I've got to find this.” Harry picked up another of the musty tomes and flipped it out. His desk was filled with piles of parchment, same as Hermione's. Only none of his were school related, they all focused on finding a cure.

Hermione put her papers down and adjusted her new glasses. All the stress on her eyes from potion fumes had damaged them incurably. She hadn't found out that there were protective eye drops to use until it was too late. She got to her feet and headed across the room to Harry's desk. “Harry, we're going to bed now. You'll work better after some rest and food. A shower too. Come on.” She grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the laboratory.

Harry let Hermione pull him out of the lab. He was too tired to protest and he was out of ideas. Starring at pieces of paper didn't help him or his father and that was all he wanted to do. It was all he'd been trying to do for the past year and a quarter. Mad-Eye kept complaining that the Order didn't fight any more. All they did was work on finding a cure.

The quarters that they shared were just down the hall. Professor McGonagall had been scandalized at the thought of them living together before marriage but she got over it. The rooms were small, but they were close to the lab and Snape's shrine room. Neither of them was home long enough to need larger rooms and it was easier to keep clean.

“Harry.” Hermione let go of his arm and dropped onto the couch. “You can take the first shower. I've got some marking to finish up.” She waved an arm and summoned the fifth year Potion tests to her.

Harry nodded and stumbled toward the bath, anxious to relax in the hot water.

Hermione made another comment on the margin of the test in red ink and scowled at the paper. When she'd first taken over the job most of the students were expecting easier classes and comments that weren't rude or scrawled in an unreadable hand.

Sadly that wasn't what had happened. Hermione was just as much of a perfectionist as Snape and after reading the wrong thing in five essays she started to get angry and her comments became rude. She saw it as a stress relief tool. If essays caused stress than they should get rid of some of it too. Writing wasn't an issue for Hermione. She still marveled that she could write at all after completing so much marking, let alone if it was readable.

“Your turn.” Harry stuck his head into the living room. His eyes were already starting to drift close and Hermione helped him get into bed in a comfortable position before finding her pyjamas and getting into the shower. The smell of calming bath oil was overwhelming and she used the plain soap, so as to not hurt her nostrils any more.

At first the night was peaceful, Hermione was relieved to have the space to stretch out in her dark bedroom. The camp bed she'd been using in the lab was not the ideal sleeping surface. Mattresses were a wonderful invention.

But the quiet was cut short at half past three in the morning. Harry woke up with a scream and fell out of bed. The blankets had gotten all tangled up and it felt as if he was locked in a body bind. He squirmed and thrashed about in the bed covers, unable to free himself.

“Harry?” Hermione walked sleepily into the room and flicked on the lights. “You all right?” She looked at the bed and almost fell over the figure on the floor. “Oh, Harry.” It took her a moment, but Hermione managed to manually remove Harry from the mess of blankets he was trapped in. “That better?”

Harry nodded and picked the blankets back up. He wrapped them around his shoulders and settled next to Hermione on his bed. The nightmare had left him shaky and nervous. “Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up.”

Hermione shook her head and put her arms around Harry. “It's all right. I'm used to it. Want to tell me what this one was about? It had almost become a ritual for them, Harry waking up and Hermione sitting with him until he was ready to return to sleep.

Harry drew in a shaky breath. “It was the battle again. The one where Severus was. . .hurt. I saw the curse hit him and I tried to get the potion into his mouth. But it wouldn't move quickly enough. I could see him dying and then he opened his eyes.” Harry stopped for a moment, slowing his breathing down. “He accused me of not liking him. That I let him die because I would rather be James Potter's son.”

Harry leaned back into Hermione and relaxed as much as he could. “Hermione, I don't want it to end like that. I barely know Severus and I want to know him. I want him to be at my wedding, see his grandchildren. I want him, I need him!”

Hermione nodded and slowly let her arms fall back to her sides. “We'll find the cure Harry. Even if it takes twenty years, or a hundred. I promise I won't stop until we've found a cure. I know we will.” She stood up and stepped away from his bed. “Stand up, I'll fix your bed.”

It didn't take long for Harry and Hermione to straighten the blankets on Harry's bed and tuck him in gently for the second time that night.

Hermione was thankful that the rest of the night passed peacefully, both for her sake and Harry's. The nightmares tortured him and Hermione knew that he often didn't fall back asleep. And the peace meant that she could catch up on her rest and have the energy to function for the next few days. It was almost like the times that she, Harry and Ron had lived together in the tent while hunting for horcruxes.

If only they'd been able to find all the pieces of the Dark Lord's soul. Then Snape wouldn't be cursed, Ron wouldn't be dead, and Order would be a group of friends who gathered to tell stories of old times instead of at funerals.

“Hermione, I'm heading to the lab now.”

Hermione was woken up by someone shaking her shoulder. For a second she thought it was Ron. The short months that they had spent dating had been amazing and she was only beginning to get over him almost a year and a half after his death.

“Wait Harry. I'll come with you. And we'll eat in the Great Hall first.” Hermione sat up in bed and brushed her bushy hair out of her face. “Give me a moment.”

Harry nodded and stepped out of the room, he wasn't hungry. In fact, he'd found it nearly impossible to eat since his father was cursed. He'd been surviving on nutrient potions that he took every few days. His stomach could barely handle food and he was loosing weight that he couldn't afford to loose.

“All right Harry, let's go.” It only took Hermione thirty seconds to wake up and be ready to leave. It

was just another skill that she'd developed due to the war. Spells for her hair and to exchange her clothes. Another to clean her teeth and make sure that all of her things were in the working lab.

The two set off together towards the Great Hall, moving quickly after their night of sleep. And with new ideas of working on the cure.

The portraits greeted the two happily, they all knew that story of what had happened and since Hermione and Harry rarely left the dungeons and even less frequently ate in the Great Hall. They were so secluded and alone and no one tried to impose on them any more.

“Hermione. . .”

Hermione turned to look beside her, but Harry wasn't there. She looked down and gasped. He was lying on the ground, shaking and shuddering as his body went through convulsions. “Harry! Harry!” She shook him by the shoulders. “Get up! What's wrong?”

Harry didn't notice but within a few seconds he'd stopped moving at all and lay there on the cold, stone floor like a corpse. Hermione didn't know what was worse, the convulsions or the stillness. She scrambled to grab his wrist.

There was a pulse. A very faint one, but it was there. She drew her wand and sent out her patronus to get help. Harry needed help, and he had to recover fast.