Back at Hogwarts, Hermione implored Snape to assist. She’d run to his portrait, heaving breaths echoing in the dungeon hall as she informed him what had happened. Hermione expected him to resist, but beyond a brief flash of annoyance in his onyx eyes, Snape had acquiesced rather quickly to her request.  They spoke briefly regarding the information from Andromeda, and Snape cursed, informing Hermione that he would need to visit two dozen properties and it would take time to observe and make the jumps from portrait to portrait. Snape had explained that not all magical portraits could be traversed. Instead, Snape was confined to only those that he had been painted into in life. He had also explained to Hermione that Dumbledore had greater access than he did. 