[HG/SS] Hermione Granger saves Professor Snape from being brained by a flying stone egg that Myrtle flung at him. That would have been fine on its own, had it not been a dormant basilisk egg pillaged from the Chamber of Secrets.

A/N: I'm not sure where this came from. I'm blaming my QLFC team… somehow.

Beta Love: fluffpanda, who deserves more coffee

A Tip of the Scales

Severus swallowed hard as he stared off into the gloom. Years had passed since he had a chance to stare over the grand spectacle that was known as Hogwarts, and much time had passed by him since he watched the regiments of Hogwart's students pass below him while under Voldemort's reign. The past always had some way of reminding him of the worst things first, not that he had many in the ways of positive memories to hang on to. Perhaps that was why the Dementors showed him no interest. There were no sweet memories to feed on back then.

Movement on his neck startled him, and his hand went up to his neck where the slight brush of warm scales touched him, and the soft, hot lick of a forked tongue flicked against his hand. He gently touched the hidden serpent's head and under the chin.

A dark black snake curled around his neck. Her scales sparkled in the dim candlelight, obsidian reflecting into his eyes as the serpent constricted its musculature. Baleful orange eyes unblinkingly stared out from his hair. She took his long finger into her mouth, gently worrying on it with her fangs, but he was not worried.

"Hermione," he whispered softly, rubbing her scales with his free finger.

Like most things in Hogwarts, gifts and help always seemed to come with odd packages and even more strange timing. A charmed gem Dumbledore had pressed into his body one night when Severus had come crawling back to Dumbledore's feet, bleeding out from a hundred slashes to his body at Voldemort's whim, had saved his life. After delivering his memories to Harry Potter, Severus had died, or so they had thought.

Two months later, after the war was done and his name cleared, Severus Snape had returned to Hogwarts from St. Mungo's alive… and grumpy.

Albus had, in concern for Severus' safety, put a very special stone of his own creation into Severus' body. It lay set in his spine, sending tendrils of magic throughout his body. A shimmering red and orange phoenix lay emblazoned on the stone's surface. Later, Severus had asked Dumbledore's portrait "what in bloody hell did you do to me, Albus?" with his typical tact.

The portrait had only smiled, eyes twinkling. "Saved your life," those twinkling eyes had said.

Aggravating old man, Severus had thought, many times and in many different levels of profanity.

Hermione yawned in his ear, her serpentine tongue tickled his earlobe. He uncoiled her form his neck, stroking her body with his hands and inspecting her health.

As always, she was perfect. Her scales were shiny with health. Her eyes were as brightly distinct as sulfur and stared into him with warmth.

Basilisk. Hermione Granger had been turned into a very dangerous and illegal basilisk thanks to a long-buried magic nestled very deep in Hogwarts. The Chamber of Secrets, secret no more, had been scoured and inspected for both dangers and knowledge. Many things had been taken out, but the team that had caused the chain of events had been innocently carried out by some Auror. It had been a stone shaped like an egg with the crest of Salazar Slytherin on it.

The Auror, to his credit, had scanned it thoroughly for Dark magic. It had tested negative. The Auror himself had carried it around with him for hours before he had come up to deliver it to the "curious artifacts that probably won't kill you" pile Harry Potter was collecting up in the girl's haunted lavatory.

Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley had been there to assist in various capacities. Hermione, of course, had been there as the resident know-it-all of miscellaneous factoids, though, to be fair, Severus admitted when Hermione was doing her job, whatever that might be, she made those around her look like blathering idiots by default.

Granger and he had been forced to work together, scanning the piles of things brought up a second or third time to make sure they were "most likely not going to kill you, pretty sure this time." That was the thing about magic, especially ancient magic… even the non-Dark magic could do very bad things.

Myrtle, as it turns out, had been cackling gleefully now that the reason she was a ghost was now truly dead. She flitted around the lavatory, jumping in and out of the toilets, causing things to roll off around the floor. Part of Severus had wondered if it would have been better if she had been the one petrified by the basilisk while it was running around petrifying people. Nearly Headless Nick didn't go around bemoaning every little thing, perpetually stuck as an emotionally distraught teenager.

Myrtle had decided boredom was overrated, and she began to influence the objects on the table. Stones, chalices, papers, and books went flying off the table, but as her ectoplasmic body went through the egg-shaped stone. It had thrummed with a magical pulse that had Severus and Hermione immediately looking at each other in silent concern.

Myrtle had punted the egg at Severus's head, screaming that she only wanted Harry to keep her company forever. Severus had lifted his arm to shield his head in the instinctive need to protect his face. Hermione had lunged forward and wrapped her hands around the stone.

Her scream had been piercing, but it ended as a large black egg slammed into Severus' body, pulsing with magic.

Hermione Granger was gone.

Severus had dropped what he had been holding and flung his arms around the egg as it had slammed into his body. He landed on the ground with a pained grunt as the sound of cracking filled his ears.

As Aurors had poured out of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the obsidian egg in his arms burst outward in a flurry of broken shell and moisture. A small, black serpent with sulfurous yellow eyes had stared at him, unblinking, tiny red tongue flicking out to touch his crooked nose.

As those eyes stared into his, he had felt a warmth press around him. At that moment, he had never felt so loved in his life. He had felt needed. He had felt as though he would never be alone. He was petrified, but not in the way that required Mandrake juice. At that moment, he knew what nonjudgmental love was.

"We have waited hundreds of years to be born," the serpent had hissed at him, as his hand went to stroke her head. It was a she, he knew. He just knew even before she said her name. "At last we are together. At last, we have found you."

Severus could only stare into the serpent's yellow eyes. There was so much adoration there; it was almost painful. It was the faith of a child who had never been harmed. It was the faith of a lover, who had never been betrayed. It was so much more than that.

"Miss Granger? What of her?" Severus had whispered.

"We are Hermione," the serpent had answered. "All that she is and all that I am are joined that we might find peace together. We will be your Familiar—your eyes, your ears, your instrument—if only you will accept us, teach us, let us bind ourselves to you. We will never be lonely again."

A tear ran down Severus' cheek. "Yes," he whispered. remembering the tang of the love so genuine that even he could not deny it.

For the second time in his life, he had felt fangs bury into this throat as a burning hot venom spread through his arteries and veins. This time, however, he had welcomed it. When darkness swallowed him up, he felt the warmth of the serpent's embrace around his neck as the bond of a Familiar joined his mind to hers.

Severus had woken in the hospital wing, again, groaning softly as the sun blinded him from the open window. "Must you inflict your sun upon me, Poppy?" he had hissed aggravatedly.

"I like it," the serpent's soft hiss replied. The slow movement of coils around his next reminded him of what had happened.

"Find a sun beam and bask in it, then!" Severus snapped, loudly, which summoned Poppy from across the room.

"But, the sun is here, and I like being here," the basilisk had complained, sounding very like Hermione Granger's voice complaining in class that he just docked points from her for answering his question.

Hermione Granger had been… sucked into a magical egg and reborn… as a basilisk. He could sense her personality in the mind of the more foreign, if not alien, mind of the basilisk. They were merging, changing, evolving and becoming something different. Even stranger, he could sense it happening. He could feel her inside his head, her mental coils wrapped around his mind as her physical ones surrounded his neck.

"Professor Snape," Harry Potter had greeted just in time to startle Snape out of his shock.

"Potter," Snape replied automatically, sans the venom he one automatically injected into the name.

"Are you alright, Sir?" Harry asked, his brow furrowed in genuine concern.

When had the relationship between he and Potter switched to this? Severus wondered.

"He knows the truth," the newborn basilisk hissed into his ear.

"Which is?" Severus said out loud.

Harry looked at him strangely.

"You're not the big git he thought you were growing up," the basilisk answered, tickling his ear with her tongue.

Severus' eyes widened, and he quickly put his hand over her head, blocking her eyes as Harry came closer. Just want he needed would be for her to murder her best friend first day out of her new shell of rebirth. How was she so calm anyway?

"She's not going to petrify me," Harry said with amusement.

"What?" Severus replied, baffled. For that matter, why didn't I die the moment she looked me in the eyes?

Harry looked at him with an awkward grin. "I can hear her."

"That's great, Potter. Why can I hear her?" Severus mumbled to himself.

"Don't be thick," Hermione's mind-voice admonished. "I'm your familiar. What good would it be if you couldn't understand me or I you?"

Logical, this one. Why wasn't he freaking out? Why wasn't she?

"I've never been so peaceful," the basilisk answered. "At that moment, there was this agony, but in that flash of pain, I was given a choice."

Harry touched the basilisk's head, and she flicked her tongue out at him. "Was it bright? So clean that it seemed unreal?"

The serpent nodded in an oddly human action. "I had the chance to guide a life into something more… or move on. She needed me—to guide her. Teach her. Basilisks are born when a compatible soul touches their soul-egg and wakes it up. Depending on the soul, the basilisk can come out… wrong."

"Murderous," Harry speculated.

Hermione nodded.

"Salazar Slytherin bonded to to the original basilisk down in the chamber," Harry said. "It learned to kill because Salazar did. It murdered Muggles because he believed it was necessary."

"No, Harry," Hermione hissed, curling back around Severus' neck. "It learned to kill because Salazar was banished from Hogwarts, and it was trapped in the Chamber for a thousand years. No one could understand it. Salazar hadn't bonded to it completely. He was too paranoid, untrusting. She was alone, and then, one day, a boy came to her. For the first time in hundreds of years, she wasn't alone anymore. He could understand her. He taught her… to kill."

"Tom Riddle," Severus said.

Hermione's small serpent head bobbed.

"But, Hermione, why choose this? Being a basilisk?" Harry asked. "Couldn't you have just…"

"We were lonely," the basilisk replied. "She was lonely. We were lonely. He was lonely. Now we are together. Not lonely." The basilisk flicked out her tongue.

"Why aren't you killing people?" Severus asked. "With your eyes?"

The basilisk gave a mental shrug. "I do not wish you to die," she replied.

"Is it that simple?" Harry asked.

"Think of all the people who try to illegally breed basilisks, Harry," Hermione said. "They are not the most compassionate of people."

"Hermione," Harry said, cradling the young basilisk with his hands. "Are you really okay with this? I'll settle the questions with the Aurors, but I need to know. Is this what you really want?"

Hermione smiled at him, a strange look on the muzzle of a serpent. There was a warmth that radiated from her body. There was a love there, contentment, and peace. "In that flash of time, Harry. I had more than just a few seconds to decide. I had weeks, maybe months. I made my choice— the right choice."

"I'll have to arrange for a team to come and examine you, Hermione," Harry said. "This is bigger than me. I watched my best friend get… hatched as a basilisk."

The small basilisk set her head down on his nose, flicking her tongue out to taste the bridge of his nose. "I have faith in you, Harry."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Teams of Aurors and healers and specialists had come to poke, prod, and interrogate "Hermione" the basilisk, and the only thing they managed to prove was that she wasn't as instantly fatal as her brethren. To be safe, they gave her a wrap around set of magical sunglasses to cover eyes but still allow her to see. It was more for the protection of innocent bystanders than anything else. Filius Flitwick charmed what may have been the very first anti-rooster crowing charm ever, and Hermione became the very first basilisk that had her own stylish set of earmuffs that filtered out the sound of poultry. Flitwick said it was easier just to set it to poultry rather than five hundred types of chicken both foreign and domestic. Hermione was appreciative, and Severus was glad that his very first familiar wasn't going to keel over the moment a rooster crowed.

Severus, in true Slytherin style, told Filius to market a human version of the earmuffs for farmers who wanted to be able to sleep in from time to time, and the half-goblin professor started getting fan mail from around the world for his invention. Equally promising was his very nice deposit in Gringott's every month for his ingenuity.

Severus was bestowed the very first license to own a basilisk that the Ministry had ever granted. They had tested the Familiar bond between them and determined it strong and genuine. It was considered unethical to separate a true familiar from their partner, and since Hermione was deemed "a rather difficult specimen to categorise," she was given back to Severus.

Harry had confessed later that had they not done what the did, he would have brought up every single time they had allowed, forgiven, and supported Hagrid's chain of dangerous creatures on the ground of Hogwarts where children were being taught.

Oddly, neither Severus nor Harry had any problem understanding Hermione. Most people just looked at her strangely like she was some normal, if there was such a thing, magical serpent that hissed at them in Romanian. Ron only managed to hear his name. Minerva, however, heard Hermione in song. Her wizened face turned up in pure joy as she held Hermione in her lap, and Hermione had laid her head on McGonagall's chest and stared up at her with adoration.

Every so often, Severus would catch Minerva sharing a sunbeam with Hermione. The grey tabby would sprawl, and Hermione would coil around her with what could only be described as a smug serpentine grin.

Minerva was the only one Hermione would "hang around" with short of Severus. The bond between the elder Gryffindor had always been strong in Hermione, and Severus found no jealousy in his heart. He felt her genuine affection for him and her hunger to learn everything he could teach her. He speculated that had Dark Lord had one person like Hermione on his side, he would have won the war. Bellatrix Lestrange didn't count. She was mental and being mental severely cancelled out loyalty and replaced it with fanaticism. Such things were not the same. Even Barty Crouch Jr. had been three knuts short of a sickle, and a sickle really wasn't much to write home about.

There were some nights when Severus and Minerva sat together and read through monotonous paperwork for the running of Hogwarts, and Hermione would curl up on the table in between the scrolls, her tongue flicking in and out as she read the nearest scroll. Every so often either Minerva or Severus would reach over and turn the page, allowing Hermione to get her fill of boring paperwork to her heart's content. She would often yawn widely and curl back around Severus' neck, content to leave Snape and McGonagall to whatever boring work they had to do.

Feeding time was always an interesting practice. The house-elves would bring her large quantities of meat for her to eat, but Severus was always the one to feed her. Every mealtime, he would sit with her, tenderly extending bite-sized pieces of raw meat. She would take them from his fingers gently until she was full and then snuggle around his neck for a siesta. The rodent population of Hogwarts was reduced to very few and far between within a few months. When Minerva had tapped the young basilisk on the nose and asked her if she had anything to do with it, Hermione's sulfurous eyes stared at her as she licked Minerva's finger.

"Pfff," Minerva had exhaled, scratching Hermione under the chin. "Well, thank you… unofficially."

Severus had managed to prove Hermione's "worth to society" for those who weren't paying attention by going on regular walks with Hermione around his neck. He made sure to walk right into the Acromantula infested forests. It took all of a week to drive all the giant spiders out of the Dark Forest and into the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' containment traps. All of the invasive Acromantulas were shipped off to Southeast Asia where they were native and struggling due to hungry Muggles having discovered they were exceptionally tasty. Everyone but Hagrid practically gave Severus a medal. Wizarding agencies from around the world paid him exorbitant amounts of galleons to "walk through their homes, properties, parks, and everything in between. A state in United States of America even paid him to drive an infestation of brown recluse spiders out of seventeen summer camps for kids. Minerva had laughed when she heard about it, telling the pair that they need to take a real vacation together now that they weren't suffering for extra income.

Severus had dragged the silver tabby with him and Hermione when they took a vacation during the summer months. Their bonds of friendship seemed much more stable and healthy. Minerva, no longer plagued with thoughts of Severus' true allegiance, proved to be the stalwart friend Severus only wished they could have had before, had he been able to tell her. Such thoughts, however, were water under the bridge, and Minerva admonished him saying they had plenty of time to be friends in the present instead of worrying about the past.

Severus exhaled softly, allowing his breath to be carried off in wisps of white vapour. He realised that unlike so many times in the past, he was at peace with his life. The stone embedded in his back thanks to Dumbledore was the first bit of evidence. The second was the warmth of a young basilisk curled around his neck. The third was the fact he had true friendship with Minerva and a number of the other professors. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere.

Warmth came from Hermione's mind, and he felt her mental coils wrap around his mind as her body wrapped around his neck.

"Every wonder why Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth?" Hermione asked, her tongue tickling his neck.

"Hn?" Severus grunted. "I supposed I figured he was born that way since it was passed down the line of blood."

Hermione nudged his neck with her head. "No. It was because he was marked by a basilisk. It was the start of a the Familiar bond. It was a gift to his bloodline when the young basilisk believed they would be together for her lifetime. He… and his family that came after."

Severus removed Hermione from his neck, stroking her scales as he held her in his hands. She stared up him affectionately, tongue flicking.

"He built that chamber to house the basilisk and keep her safe," Severus said, suddenly understanding. "Free to travel up in the walls of Hogwarts to be near him without her gaze accidently petrifying someone. It was to protect her and to protect the students of Hogwarts."

Hermione nodded her serpentine head.

"And then they banished him from Hogwarts," Severus continued, "and the one connection she had to the outside world was gone. They never knew because Salazar Slytherin was a man with many secrets."

"The biggest secret of all," Hermione said, laying her head against his hand.

"What serpentine wisdom shall you bestow upon me, Hermione?" Severus asked.

"A prophecy," she replied, "whispered by the statues in the Chamber of Secrets."

Severus stared into her eyes. "Show me."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hermione slithered up the space of one of the sculptures as Severus extended his hand. Harry and Minerva stood by, bristling with curiosity. Hermione struck out with her fangs on a knob on the top of one of the serpent heads, letting her venom drip down into a collection pool.

Suddenly, all of the statue's eyes began to glow, and a series of hissing language filled the chamber, echoing off the walls.

When the Muggle mixes with the Pure, the destroyer shall be born.

He will fill the world with Darkness. He will tear asunder the world of Magic. He will set brother upon brother. He will set family against family. He will kill his own father. He will turn friend against friend. He will set House against House. He will set the Founders against each other long before he is born. Beware the joining of bloods. Beware!"

A spectre materialised in the air and spoke.

I, Salazar Slytherin, must do something I loathe. The prophecy is clear. Muggle-borns joined with Pure-bloods, something we should encourage for diversity, I must shun. The prophecy demands it. I must keep Muggles from joining our school, or the Destroyer will be born. I cannot risk such a birth. I will bring up at our next meeting that I wish there to be strict acceptance guidelines to Hogwarts. I must ensure that Muggle-borns do not mix with the Pure Magical lines.

Nagana is worried that I will be banished. I soothed her, telling her I was a Founder. They could not banish me. Still, just in case, I have reinforced her chambers to insure that no one but those blessed with serpent speech can access the chambers. She will know if they can enter, that they are of my line. If I cannot return, I pray my bloodline can and will save her from her vigil. I regret not having allowed the full bond to take when I could have. I was afraid, and now, she will pay for my inaction. If I do not return within a month, the chamber will allow her to sleep until I or one of my blood can return to her. I can only pray that the wait does not drive her mad.

I can only hope that Godric, Rowena, and Helga trust my reason for banning Muggleborns from our school. I hope our friendship will be enough, but I fear… just as I could not trust a basilisk just born from her shell, they will not trust my judgement without a thousand questions. Chief amongst those will be how I came about the Prophecy and how I was experimenting with chicken eggs incubated by toads in the bowels of Hogwarts. How could I tell them I don't believe all basilisk to be inherently evil? How could I tell them that the reason all there are murderous basilisk out there is because murderous wizards hatched them and corrupted their souls as they hatched? Who would believe me… me, who was too afraid to allow Nagana to bond with me as I should have? I am such a hypocrite, and soon, I fear I must appear as one again. This time, it is the right to do. I just hope it isn't too late.

The apparition stared at them.

If you see this, pray take care of Nagana. She relied on me to protect her. I am relying on you to guide her and not forget the trust she once wished to give me. Take care of her. I beg you.

The apparition faded, leaving Severus, Minerva, and Harry alone.

"Well this changes Hogwarts: A History," Minerva said dryly.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Secrets of the Chamber of Secrets Revealed!

Thanks to a long-buried confession recorded by none other than one of the founding fathers of Hogwarts, the truth of the war between Pure-bloods and Muggle-borns has been revealed.

Experts have poured over the recorded prophecy, said to have been chanted during the birth of Salazar's hidden familiar, Nagana, upon her hatching. The prophecy revealed, without a doubt, the birth of the Destroyer born of the mingling of lines. Many believe that prophecy was actually a prediction of the birth of Tom Riddle—the boy would become Voldemort.

Many uproars have arisen with this latest news, none louder than from the Sacred 28. Fortunately, thanks to last two Wizarding Wars, the war between Muggleborn and Purebloods has been trickling away in a steady stream, being replaced by a tolerance that was apparently far more accepted back in the Medieval times than we were led to believe.

Teams of researchers have been authorised to explore the opened Chamber in Hogwarts. Due to the scarcity of finding a genuine parselmouth, Professor Severus Snape and Auror Harry Potter have volunteered their services as translators as the need arises. Head researcher and archaeologist Chase Mayburn expresses the hope that the new knowledge will shed some light on a long-buried past of the Medieval period. He hopes that within the year his team will be able to publish some groundbreaking research to the public.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Mione," Ron said, looking frustrated "Don't you want to be human again?"

The female basilisk turned her head away, slithering down the lab table. She had a beaker in her coils, and it was dragging it down the length of the table. She didn't stop until she brought the beaker to Snape, who took it from her without a sound.

His pale hand extended and she slithered up his arm to curl back around his neck.

"Ron," Harry sighed as he put his hand on his mate's shoulder. "Mate, look, Hermione made her choice."

"A choice between death and coming back as a snake is not a choice!" Ron snapped. "Whose side are you on?"

"I'm not on a side, mate," Harry said as gently as he could manage. "I want Hermione to be happy, just like I want you to be happy."

"There is no happy without Hermione!" Ron said with a scowl. "This is a farce. You never got along with Snape in all the years we grew up, and now, because you found out he had a thing with your—"

Harry gave him a very cold glare. "You be very careful how you finish that sentence, Ron."

Snape's hand went perfectly still, frozen over the cauldron he was working on.

Suddenly his hand went up to his neck, and he grasped Hermione as she tried to launch herself off his body, fangs exposed as a loud hiss came from her throat. Snape's hand went over her eyes, perhaps to make sure that her gaze didn't become deadly through the custom eyewear. He crushed Hermione's writhing body against his chest.

"Potter!" Snape spat venomously. "Deal with this before—" he snapped, cut off as he struggled to control his pissed off familiar.

Hermione was infuriated; her fangs flashed as she struck out in the empty air, her obsidian scaled body thrashing in Snape's arms.

"I'm fine," Snape said evenly. "Just words. Just words. He's an idiot. Be at peace. Hermione!" Snape cradled her in his arms and crashed into the nearby cabinet, sliding down it with a grunt of pain.

The moment Snape moaned, Hermione's body went limp. She hung from his arms, her tongue flicking out to lick his nose, perhaps in apology.

She meekly slithered back around his neck and into his hair.

Harry let out a sigh as he released Ron from the grip he had them in.

"She can't want to be with Snape," Ron whispered despondently. "She can't possibly want to be a bloody snake."

Harry shook his head. "Ron, since when has Hermione ever let anything or anyone keep her from what she feels is right?"

Ron hung his head. "Never."

"Come on, Ron," Harry said. "Let's get a cuppa. Give Hermione some time to calm down."

As Harry led Ron out, Severus sighed softly, slumping against the cabinet. "That's it," he whispered. "We're enrolling you into anger management therapy in the morning."

Hermione laid her chin over Severus' nose, her tongue flicking out to lick his forehead.

"Bad, bad, basilisk," Severus rumbled, rubbing his face against her nose.

Hermione bonked her head against his forehead and hissed softly, radiating warmth and smugness.

"Hnn," Severus sighed, drawing the serpent to his neck. "I suppose I love you too."

Hermione's sulfur orange eyes glowed softly as she curled around his neck.

Severus absently stroked Hermione's scales. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For defending my tarnished honour."

The delicate nip of basilisk fangs touched his ear.

Severus closed his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "It's a good thing I'm immune to you, beast, or you would have murdered me a score or more."

Hermione whispered into his ear, causing his lips to curl up a little more.

"Chocolate covered meat?" Severus chuckled. "That sound disgusting."

Hermione hissed at him, sending him a mental snort.

"Fine, menace," Severus said, standing on his feet once more. "As a thank you for not murdering your best friend and getting me thrown into Azkaban, I will find some way to make chocolate dipped meat for your hungry stomach."

Hermione licked his ear with her tongue.

"Hn," Severus replied. "Why did I agree to bind myself to you, again?"

Hermione's coils tightened around his neck, amusement radiating from her mind.

"Right," Severus answered. "Serpentine duress."

As the Potion Master locked his classroom and walked down the halls of Hogwarts, students were too busy scrambling to get out of his way to notice the subtle smile his face.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: I'm not sure if I meant for this to be a one-shot or a continuance. It was just one of those what ifs...