A/N: Woot! I made it time for a February update. it is significantly smaller than the previous chapters, but I had writer's block on this so bad, and actually thought I wouldn't make it in time for an update this month. But I did, feeling that it wrapped up nicely leaving room for a host of scenarios for the next installment. Thanks to all who read and review and I hope you all enjoy.

Draco, was incensed when Severus had relayed his request. As the other spy in the ranks of his deranged aunt, he knew what Severus was trying to hide. He knew where his friend was, and whose care she was in. Which is exactly, why he was pissed as he entered the floo over there. He was so mad, he was seeing red, and he didn't pick up on any of the warning cues as he burst into the library at Grimmauld Place.

"I've got a message from Severus," he began in his aristocratic, holier than thou tone that he used to mask his fury, "He seems to think Hermione here needs more protection. Either of you care to explain to me why that is?"

In reply, he was met with two loud groans as the wizard's muttered "fuck" quietly. Then he noticed an irate looking Hermione sitting on the sofa right before she stood up. As she did, Draco immediately realized his mistake in speaking too fast. Of course, He had not been informed that time had caught up, so how could they blame him really? He was now looking at the girl who not long ago, had gone back in time twenty-five years to warn these wizards of their future. It wasn't the witch he grew up with. It seemed that his elder cousin's (once removed) had not as yet gotten around to telling her the scoop.

"Protection?" Hermione intoned the question in an eerily flat voice. "Just what are you not telling me? What exactly do I need protection from?" the witch huffed at the males in the room. Silence. All she received was silence. Holding in a frustrated groan she added,"start talking, now!"

"Kitten, why don't you let us talk to Draco a moment?" Sirius began and even Regulus looked at him in annoyance. As if that would work... It didn't. Hermione growled at them like the lioness she was and folded her arms across her chest.

"Answers, now!" She demanded.

"Well, you see, the thing is," Sirius said in a small voice, "we've been keeping a rather large secret from you."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I got that much, Sirius. I want to know what that secret is, exactly."

"Ummmm…" Sirius wasn't able to find the words, much to Hermione's annoyance.

"Regulus?" she asked, though it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it wasn't a question.

"Hermione, when you came back in time, and warned us about the dark lord, we did follow your advice and yes, Voldemort was defeated." Regulus explained. "What we didn't tell you was that Bellatrix rose up as the new dark lady in his place." He finished. A look, none of the three wizards in the room could distinguish crossed her features briefly. It was similar to one of fear but fear didn't quite fit to describe it, loathing, hate, resentment and rage seemed present as well.

"And?" she prompted, knowing there was more, something even worse.

"Bellatrix is after you." Sirius informed. Hermione sank back down into the sofa cushions. Of course she was, the witch thought.

"Why?" Hermione asked. "Why is she after me?" Draco took the opportunity to speak up.

"We don't really know. We can only guess, but we think it is a couple of reasons." He said.

"One reason is your blood," Regulus continued. "She knows you were adopted, that your birth parents were muggles, and she was and still is a blood purist. She never liked you because of that, but she resented you and your blood more when we agreed to the betrothal. She believes you are tainting the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black."

"We also think that she wants you dead because she blames you for the death of her lord. She doesn't know about the time-traveling but she feels that your adoption never should have happened and it somehow created a shift that caused the demise of Voldemort. We know that is true, just not in the way she thinks. She is crazy, and because she loved the dark lord, she wants revenge for his death. You became the target." Sirius completed.

"Add to the fact that Snape is your father, and well, she hates Snape so by association, you never really stood a chance." Draco finished up with his two-cents.

"I guess changing time never really made a difference then." Hermione replied sadly. "Bellatrix is still deranged and the world is still threatened by darkness. We only traded one sociopath for another."

"In any case, it became quite clear when she gained power a couple years ago, that you needed to be protected. So we brought you here and created an elaborate backstory to protect Snape as well, since he continues to be a spy in her order." Sirius said.

"Why does Severus feel she needs more protection, Draco?" Regulus asked finally, addressing the whole reason for this information session.

"Well," Draco said. "I've just come from a meeting, and Aunt Bella was torturing him for Hermione's whereabouts, so I bet that has a little something to do with it." By now, Draco knew why his godfather felt that Hermione needed more protection. Since time had caught up to her she had no idea what was going in or just how dangerous it was out there for her right now.

"Severus was tortured?" Hermione gasped.

"He's fine, Hermione, as fine as one can be at any rate. Yes, he was tortured, it is a common occurrence for him."

"Why does Severus serve her, if she hates him? I know he hates her, so it can't be because he wants to."

"No, but he needs to serve her because he needs to keep you safe." Regulus replied. "And besides, he is too much of a genius to be killed, so she does have use of him, even if the despise each other."

"He's a spy then?" Hermione asked. "Just like with Voldemort."

"Yes. He is. So am I." Draco answered. "He wanted me to help watch over her. Keep him in the loop. I don't think he will be able to come for a while, it was pretty intense tonight."

Regulus and Sirius shared a look with the younger wizard and nodded their heads.

"Oh Gods." Hermione whispered, misinterpreting Draco's statement. She thought he was talking about how bad the torture was. She wasn't wrong, it was bad to watch, but Draco had a suspicion that with all of the times he had been under Bella's curse that Severus had found a way to detach himself from the pain. What Draco had meant was that that things were taking a toll for the worse as far as Hermione's safety was concerned. Bella was on the hunt and she was determined to figure out the location of her target.

"I've never been more grateful that this place is unplottable." Sirius drawled.

"Agreed." Draco replied.

"Now kitten, I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but you do realize that you can't leave here right? This is a safe house, one of the few ones that Bell doesn't have access to in some way."

"I figured as much." Hermione replied. "I understand. I won't leave."

"Good." Sirius said.

"Why didn't you tell me this from the start?" Hermione suddenly shouted in an outburst. Sirius looked ashamed even as Regulus directed an 'I told you so' glare in his brother's direction.

"Sirius thought it best not to reveal too much to you at once, he didn't want to overwhelm you. He was trying to avoid upsetting you as we didn't know how well you would take the information." The younger Black sibling explained.

"I see." Hermione simpered. She supposed it made sense. She might have been concerned if she was in their shoes. They didn't know her, or how well she would cope with traumatic news. She couldn't fault them for being cautious. "However, I would like to know more about this elaborate plan you all came up with," She added.

"What elaborate plan?" Sirius asked, looking at the witch strongly.

"The big cover-up you made to protect Severus as well as me. Considering if I get caught, I had better know it, I'd like to be filled in."

"You are not going to be caught, kitten, but of course I'll tell you." He replied and patted the spot next to where he just sank down into a couch. Hermione crossed her hands over her chest and glared at him, not moving to sit down. He wasn't going to talk himself out of this one. He just smirked and returned her look, challenging her. "But not until you calm down."

Hermione did not like that answer, and shot him a look of contempt but she maintained her outward cool. She wanted answers more than she wanted to beat her fists on his chest, which could come later in any case. "I'm calm." She replied and moved to sit down next to him.

Sirius smirked at her because he knew she was very far from being calm, but she was sitting pretty like a good girl and not trying to hit him currently so he didn't dare point that out. He just made himself comfortable beside her an began to explain.

"As far as the backstory goes, you were obviously raised by Snape. When Bellatrix was first rising to power, we realized we needed to hide you, and although he was against it, Snape was the only spy the order had trained, and he was assigned to being our eyes and ears from Bella's ranks. He trained Draco here to assist as well. So, before Severus official joined rank we staged a very public, very angry falling out between you. It was presented as though you had just found out about what he did exactly under Voldemort. You screamed at him that you never wanted to see him again and you ran out in a tizzy. Regulus and I refused to join Bellatrix's ranks, and vanished in plain sight. It is widely assumed, correctly I suppose, that the three of us ran off together. As far as Bellatrix and the rest of the wizarding world are concerned we are far away and not in contact with anybody here."

"So that's why it's dangerous for Severus to be here, it doesn't only risk me being found, but it destroys his cover." Hermione concluded.

"Correct." Regulus confirmed. "Of course, nobody wanted it to get to a point where you would be at risk of being captured, hence the fidelus harm on an already unplottable residence. But it would be detrimental to lose the advantage of Severus on the inside."

"Okay." Hermione replied before looking at Draco. "Would you make sure he is okay please?" Hermione said the dreaded worry nagging in the back of her mind. The blond wizard nodded and retreated back towards the floo, leaving her alone with Sirius and Regulus. She gave each of them pointed looks now that they were on their own.

"I, for one wanted to tell you from the start." Regulus cleverly stated outright. Hermione accepted this and directed the brunt of her annoyance at Sirius as she rose to her feet once more. Regulus, smartly left her to it by slowly inching from the room.

"Hermione, I did what I thought I had to." Sirius began. "Please don't hurt me."

"I'm not going to hurt you, you dummy." Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Don't you know I couldn't ever hurt you?" She asked him, thinking of all the times in her original timeline that Sirius had teased her mercilessly, gotten on her nerves or whatnot and despite being annoyed, how it only made her love him more. She remembered also how heartbroken she was when he died. She told herself it was for Harry's sake, but in truth she had felt the loss of a crush and friend herself. For all that she was pissed at his not informing her of the situation from the get-go, she wasn't harboring any violent inclinations towards him.

"Do I know that?" He inquired. She whacked him playfully on his arm.

"Sirius, you should know by now, that I like you. Do you really think I would have gone back in time to save just anybody?"

"You went back to save my brother," he protested.

"Yes, I did, because I learned that he had been killed for betraying the dark lord, defecting and wanting to do right, something nobody ever gave him credit for. I believed he deserved a second chance. I didn't have to save your ass to, or Severus's for that matter. But I missed you…"

"You missed me ay?" He smirked. She went to hit him again, but he caught her wrist and tugged her towards him. She lost her balance, landing over his lap, quickly attempting to scramble up, but he wrapped his arms around her keeping her there. She looked at him with a mix of confusion and annoyance, seeing the cogs turning in his brain before his eyes darkened. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

She returned the kiss, immediately open her mouth to his prodding tongue and shifting to straddle him. His body felt good against hers and as they snogged all of the tension vanished from the room as they took out there frustrations on each other.

Before he could even reach under her shirt, Hermione broke the kiss and stared at him.

"Sirius, I uh, I can't. I'm sorry, but this is too confusing," She said wrenching free of his hold on her and stumbling out of the library, down the hall to her room and locking the door. She left behind a bewildered, hard, and distressed Sirius.