Disclaimer – I own nothing, HP belongs to JK Rowling.

Mediator -

Hermione lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. She had gone through the facts over and over again; hell she even witnessed the manipulations of Dumbledore first hand. The all powerful wizard that left Sirius locked in that disgusting house for a year before he was sent to his death.

Why didn't Dumbledore clear his name?

Now, a little older and wiser she finds it difficult to believe that the Wizengamot would not believe the pensieve testimony of a minor. In fact she has heard of memories being used in criminal cases, opposed to questioning a child who has experienced any sort of trauma. She couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the Headmaster's death then met the eye, he has orchestrated so much why stop at his own death?

As she replayed the facts in her mind she couldn't help but recall an incident from when she was a little girl.

'Mummy, what's a metiaor?' Her mother eyed her up, trying to puzzle out what word her five year old was trying to say. Smiling at her daughter she asked, 'why don't you tell me how you heard the word, dear.'

'Jamison's mum and dad fight a lot and he said they are going to stop fighting because they are going to a metiaor.' She was really a sight, her faced scrunched in concentration.

'I think you mean mediator, and that is someone who helps people settle disputes. Sometimes when people fight they get very hurt or angry, and when this happens they become a bit wrapped up in themselves. You end up with two people, having the same argument, but who have two very different stories. The mediator can help, they ask questions and try to fish out the truth.'

She pondered what her mother had said a moment before asking, 'so a mediator picks who's right?'

Her mother gave her another smile. 'No, sweets, they say there are two sides to every story, and somewhere in the middle is the truth. It's the mediator's job to help find the middle.'

While Hermione had to agree there are two sides to every story, it would seem like there is no middle to this mess, the truth is firmly to the left, at least to the left of the diagram she posted on her wall.

Why did Harry have to go back to the Dursley's? A blood sacrifice does not require being around that blood for strength.

Why would Dumbledore force her and her mother to stay with her abusive father?

Why was she not allowed to tell Harry about her home life, what could Dumbledore gain by making her hold this information back?

If werewolves' never betray their alpha, how is Remus in the order? Everything she read stated Greyback, or the alpha and maker would never hurt his cubs.

Questions just continued to spiral through her mind. Swinging her feet over the side of her bed, she decided to go make herself a cup of tea, hopeful that would help relax her.

~oOo~

Evelyn Granger sat in kitchen staring at the abusive man she has been forced to share a home with for the last sixteen years. She drugged him, they were leaving tonight and he would not get in the way. Hermione would be of age tonight and the enchantments that kept her locked in the house and unable to fully protect Hermione would lift. She reached into her pocket and pulled out and antique pocket watch. Opening the face revealed it was a magical watch; a picture of Hermione was on the face with the date August 19, 1981 2:44am. There were three hands on the watch, a long golden hand that pointed to the date inscribed, this hand only appeared on the birthday of the person or persons the watch was enchanted to track, an hour hand and a minute hand; showing that it was 1:30 am.

Evelyn was not sure how to proceed, she knew once Hermione's birthday hit things were going to get dangerous. She was sure that both the Order and the Death Eaters would come for them. All she could hope for is that they can to get to a safe house, or the good guys get to them first.

Hermione quietly tip-toed into the kitchen, eyebrows raising at the site of her father drooling on the kitchen table. Her mother had her back to her and appeared engrossed in whatever she was looking at. She quietly walked over to her mother peering over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. She was quite surprised to see the watch her mother was staring at, obviously magical, equipped with a moving picture of Hermione on it. Hermione took notice of the date on the watch right as her mother jumped in shock, realizing Hermione was behind her.

"Hermione, Dear!" her mother huffed. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

Hermione eyed her mother suspiciously. "Mum, what is that? Where did you get it?"

Her mother sighed, "It's a ceremonial birth watch, it tracks the date and exact time a person was born."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "And why do you have one, mother? And why does it have today as my birthday?"

Her mother frowned, letting out a deep breath she hoped her daughter didn't press for answers, she had an hour before she could explain anything. Her daughter was smart though, she was sure if she answered carefully her daughter would not press.

"It's a ceremonial watch Hermione, there are certain rites that can only be completed on a witches or wizards exact birthday, naming ceremony for example. The rest of your questions will have to wait; we are leaving tonight at 2:30. We will be tacking the car; Jim next store is allowing me to use his. We need to get our things together, only a back pack Hermione. I have some pictures for you to look at, places we need to get to."

Hermione was shocked; she always hoped her mother would take her and run. But why now and why couldn't she just apparate? Her mother watched her daughters face, she could literally see the wheels turning in her expressive eyes. Evelyn opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink, and slipped some boards aside at the bottom of her cabinet allowing her to remove a long slender box.

Hermione gasped at the site of it. She recognized the box immediately, why does her mother have a wand box.

Evelyn stood and turned towards her daughter, opening the box she pulled out the wand and handed it to her daughter. "No one knows I have this, you will use this to apparate us at 2:44, not before. We are going to drive for about fifteen minutes, to try and confuse them."

Hermione was become a bit nervous and scared, while excited to be free of her father, she had the feeling someone was going to be chasing them and it did not sound like it was a muggle. The only reason she would give her a new wand is so they can't be tracked. You have to cast a tracking spell directly on the wand to track a person using their magic. She never leaves her wand unattended, advice both her mother and Mad-Eye Moody had given her. Her mother's reasoning being that it seemed like such a powerful tool to risk having it tampered with. The only conclusion Hermione could come to was that someone she knew would be coming for her. Her thoughts traveled to her diagram in her room; yes the truth line is definitely to the left.

Her mother continued to explain her plan breaking through Hermione's thought. "Get your things, and then you can look at these pictures. They will know as soon as we leave, we will have to be fast and work together. Hermione, dear, I need you to promise me you will trust me our safety depends on it, you cannot argue with me until we are safe."

Hermione took in her mother's grave expression, concern and fear clearly on display. With a deep breath and a nod she replied, "Alright, mum, I have always been able to trust you and I won't stop now…. Um, mum, what about dad?"

Her mother smirked she almost looked sinister. "I given him enough sedatives he's likely to sleep for a week."

~oOo~

Severus Snape walked into the grand dining room at Malfoy Manor, he knew this was going to be a large recovery mission but was still surprised at the amount of followers gathered. Tom Riddle sat at the head of the table quietly talking to both Rudolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange. Severus quietly approached them not wanting to interrupt their conversation but still needing to make his report.

Tom looked up at his spy's grim expression and sighed , "please, Severus, tell me what you have learned."

"Nothing much, I was able to find out there was a group of Order members gathering tonight, I was not asked to attend. I could not get any details on the meeting, but Lupin allowed me to place tracking spells on his person as well as his wand. I believe we are well aware of what they intend to do tonight, Lupin believes that Dumbledore already knows where she is."

Severus watched Bella's face contort in rage as she jumped up and slammed her hand on the table. "You must allow me to go Tom, it is my duty to retrieve her!"

Tom sighed, "Bella you need to promise me you will keep your head, I will be having a hard time keeping my own emotions under control… I need everyone to be on-top of their game."

Bella nodded eagerly, "I will Tom."

Tom Riddle stood to address the crowd, "Team leaders will be as followed: Team one Severus, team two Lucius, team three Rudolphus, team four Bella. Cissy you will lead the healers, Pansy you may assist her as needed. Gentlemen," he nodded his head towards a small group of young men, "you are on stand-by you will observe and not get in the way. I want you all to monitor the safe houses. We are hoping we will not need you to go out, I cannot promise that, if you do not feel up to it you are not obligated. None of you are fully trained and I have no desire to make you an easy target." The group of young men including Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and Gregory Goyle nodded and let out a chorus of yes sirs.

Tom sat down, waving for everyone to join him. The table sat about thirty and there were additional people standing in the back of the room. Severus sat to his right and Lucius on his left, everyone was waiting for him to continue. There was a lot riding on this mission, even though it was personal in nature, a lot was stolen from them the night Lord Riddle was supposedly defeated by an infant. The after effects of that night have left a bitter taste in their mouths.

Tom eyed up his group and was confident they would succeed. "Severus was able to make a potion, at 2:44 we are hoping to use the potion to track her. The order will be after her, there is inside knowledge that they already know where she is. The warding we believe used on her person will expire on her birthday, we can only hope that she is not with the Order and that she has the sense to run from them. Lucius has done a lot a research and believes that whomever-" he was cut off by murmurs of Dumbledore and the Order. "As I was saying, whoever has put these enchantments on her will not be able to approach her for 24 hours before her birthday, in fact the only people that could approach her during this time are muggles and blood relatives." He received a few strange looks at this announcement. He shook his head and gave a small smile. "I know, but we believe the warding used was a very powerful ward used to keep teenage daughters from eloping, in old times they would use the earth ritual on their birthday to elope and get out of arranged marriages. This side-effect of the enchantment used is a great boon to us, and we are hoping Dumbledore was not able to find a way around this. "

Tom nodded in Severus's direction, silently communicating with him to proceed. The potion's master's deep voice echoed throughout the room. "We have a candidate from each year, who we believe could be her. We are fairly certain they hid her in the muggle world, it would be easiest to pass her off as a muggle-born. We are assuming she is at Hogwarts, I don't believe that Albus-" he spat the name as if he tasted something bad. "Would take her, not to use her, he would want her trained, and France would be too far to keep her under thumb. Our candidates are as follows: Vivian Stales, a fifth year Ravenclaw, Lisa Vingelli, sixth year Ravenclaw-" he paused knowing his next candidate would likely cause an outburst. "Lastly Hermione Granger, seventh year Gryffindor." The room erupted in chatter, after this announcement.

Lucius raised his hand to the group, "Enough!"

Theo Nott was the first to take advantage of the quiet, addressing his question to his professor he asked, "Sir, Granger would is a year older and the Vivian would be a year to young."

His teacher nodded, " While we believe Vivian is not likely there is a chance he brought her in a year late. Hermione, however is a very likely candidate. Most magical schools want their students by time they are twelve this is because most magical beings from witches and wizards to fairies have a surge of magical power between the ages of twelve and thirteen. It is more likely that he would bring her in a year early rather than a year late. He also knows we would be scouring the sixth year class for her. Hermione-" he hoped that they understood his use of her first name, because he was fairly certain she was the one and Granger would just not fit. "Well, Hermione, has had a surge of power every year, suggesting that her power was bound." This drew out quiet murmurs from the group.

After everyone settled down he continued, "Minerva, questioned if I have ever seen it before, I believe she was trying to ascertain if I had a suspicions as well. I know she did not address it with Albus, fortunate for us Minerva 's first priority has always been her students, and would do nothing to jeopardize their safety."

Draco snorted in response, "It also helps that Granger is teacher's pet."

Severus smiled, "Yes, Draco, there is that too."

Draco's eye's narrowed in thought before asking, "what about that Julia girl, the sixth year Hufflepuff?"

Snape again acknowledged him with a nod, he was proud of his godson's deductive skills. He was expecting an outburst at the mention of Hermione's name, and again Draco surprised him with his maturity. He was sure Draco continued to harass Hermione just to pull her pig-tails so to speak, even though during his sixth year Draco finally stopped insulting the girl, he sure tried hard to rile her up without using harsh names. He was certain that the rivalry and competition between the two of them was very real, he also believed both of them enjoyed the competition. "I have been to Julia's home, while she is muggle-born her family is direct decedents of gypsies and was not a bit surprised at their daughter being a witch. Her family has been gifted for many generations, her mother is a seer. When I was there her mother informed me that the girl I was looking for was right under my nose, or more accurately a thorn in my side. I tried to question her further, she told me it was not the time for questions, and I could endanger the girl if I pushed."

Draco grimaced. "Lovely, so the girl who has beat me for top scores in almost every class is not only a year younger then me, she has had her magic bound." Shaking his head he continued, "Not a great ego boost."

Lucius laughed out loud, "Well, son, you have never been lacking in the ego department, I think you'll be just fine."

The group laughed, Theo interrupted, "Why are we not at Hermione's house now, it would be safe for me and my grandfather to go to her , and Uncle Severus."

Tom Riddle acknowledged his grandson, he watched Bella eye him up. Theo did not respond well to being told he would be in the stand-by group, and Bella agued his case incessantly for him. "Theo, her home has been warded by the Order, I already have someone watching the home, but we cannot approach it or enter without alerting them."

"She may run from us, direct into their arms." Theo added this quietly, the stress of the situation showing on his face.

His father laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly to his son. "We prepared the best we can for that, Theo. We must have a little faith, we are hoping our numbers will allow to get to her before the Order."

Theo losing his mother at such a young age had been hard, but he always had his godmother Cissy, who was more than willing to pick-up the nurturing role. Alex Nott may have been a gruff man, but he did understand a boy's need to be loved and coddled from time to time, and had no qualms with Narcissa Malfoy taking up that role in his son's life. Losing his sister however has been an unbearable burden for the boy, not knowing who or where she was, has been a strain on all of them. Mr. Nott shared a pained look with Tom Riddle. Tom lost both of his daughters that night, and honestly Alex was surprised that the man could maintain his composure.

~oOo~

A small group of men sat in the dingy kitchen in Grimmauld Place. Albus Dumbledore sat with Ronald Weasly , Arthur Weasley, Tonks, Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shackelbolt. Albus was feeling smug, he had the girl and there was no chance he was losing her. Severus was in his back pocket and informed him Riddle has given up hope in trying to find her. He can't wait to use the girl against him, maybe he could even put her in the line of fire. Before he began the meeting he had each man take a vow of secrecy, nothing discussed today would leave this room.

He addressed the men of the group, "We will be leaving shortly to retrieve Miss Granger." He paused before adding "if she or her mother puts up a fight we will use any means necessary to bring them with us. Her mother is disposable, I want Miss Granger alive and with minimal injury. I do not want her losing her trust in us, understood." He peered over his spectacles at the group, eyeing each man individually.

Remus Lupin was floored, Severus was right. He was sure Albus would not be so bold to bring her right under all of their noses. He did his best to keep his expression neutral.

Arthur cleared his throat before asking, "why not just bring her here, before the enchantments break?"

Albus quickly answered, "not possible, she can only be with blood relatives or with muggles for 24 hours prior to her birthday."

Kingsley interrupted, "surely it would have made more sense to take secure her before the twenty-four hours, tuck her away somewhere alone."

Albus shook her head, "no, I want her to trust us, I considered moving them, for their own safety of course, but her home is thoroughly warded, she believes I am dead and that Severus is a servant of Lord Voldemort" at this point he had a sinister smile on his face. "I will give her that she is quite intelligent, she would start with incessant questions. You must remember she and Harry both believe that the Order is in a state of disarray with my death."

Remus had to work hard at maintaining his calm, using Harry to punish James for his betrayal has always been a sore spot for him. He knew other Order members were appalled by it as well, Kingsley being one of them. Maybe there was hope for the Auror, then again the man had no problem using Riddle's granddaughter against him.

Ron Weasley looked at the Headmaster, he held a great respect for the man. He knew that when the war was over the Order would come out on top, and the Weasley's would be one of the most respected family's in the world. "Am I still to marry her?"

Albus nodded at him, "yes, Mr. Weasley, she will be yours. She will bring a great deal of power and respect to your family, tying future generations in with the founders of Hogwarts and maybe even back to Merlin himself. The Prince's and Nott's have always been quite secretive on the details of their family tree, I believe mainly to keep people from looking for certain artifacts passed down through the family line. No matter, when the war is over those details will be available to us."

Remus choked on his tea, he couldn't believe Albus was offering up the girl like she was an object. He highly doubted the girl would knowingly go for this, although Albus has always been a master at mind magic and manipulation. He really needed to warn Severus, dam oath. He glanced over at Kingsley, apparently he seemed a little uncomfortable with this information as well.

Arthur, who seemed non-pulsed by anything been said interrupted, "how do we know her mother will not try anything?"

Albus again smiled, "oh, I suspect she might, but fear can be a powerful motivator in gaining compliance. Also her father is firmly on our side, a muggle that had a vendetta against Riddle. We can track Hermione's wand, and any non-magical means they have out of the house, and I highly doubt Samuel Snape will let them leave if they try."

Remus almost gasped out loud, he could not believe Severus's Uncle was trusted with the care of the girl. From what Severus had told him the Snape's were people of the worst sort, mean and abusive, he wondered how much of her home life was an act.

"Who is acting as the girl's mother?" he asked . Remus could not help wondering what she was afraid of that kept her in line for so long.

"Ahh, that is the beauty of it Remus" Albus paused to allow himself a smug grin. "Her Aunt is actually. Evelyn Granger is Isabella Riddle, brilliant if I say so myself. I bound her magic of course, and she is a blood relative of the girl. Though the unbreakable vow I had her take was pure genius, it's not tied to her life but Hermione's, so if she brakes the vow in any way she risks the life of her precious niece."

Kingsley interjected, "so when Hermione reaches her majority the vow breaks?" Although it was a statement, the inflection in his voice suggested it was a question.

Albus nodded "Yes, unfortunately I have not found a way around the age of consent. Magical vows involving a minor dissolve when the witch or wizard turns of age that is why we must go tonight. I have no doubt Isabella will try to turn Hermione against us."

Remus was floored by this, why not just obliviate the women and be done with. All this to prove what? All this to punish Tom Riddle for opposing him, unbelievable. "Albus, what is Severus going to say when his sister and niece he believes dead turn-up?"

"If Isabella causes any problems we dispose of her, Hermione is young and can be handled using fear. We have no plans to tell Hermione I am alive and she will have no reason to approach Severus the Death Eater, or even allow him close enough to approach her." Albus spoke to Remus as if he was a child and this information should be obvious.

Remus couldn't help but believe that Albus underestimated both Hermione and her mother\aunt. He took notice how Hermione seem to hang close to himself and even Severus, no matter how nasty Severus was towards her. He prayed silently to any god that would listen that he was correct.

Albus stood abruptly. "The wards on her home have been breached, they are trying to leave." Quickly running to the other room to grab the magic mirror, he cast a spell on it and looked in it. He addressed the group, "their car is still there they must be on foot, they won't get very far. Eventually Hermione will use magic and we will track them, Moody is at the house I am sure he and Samuel are trailing them. Let's move. " He started towards the front door, never once did it cross his mind that the women would pose any challenge to him.

~oOo~

Alastor watched the two women get into the unknown vehicle all he could is follow for now. He nodded towards Gibbon's who was also watching the house.

~oOo~

The group sat patiently watching the clock at Malfoy Manor, the air in the room was tense , the waiting had been the worst part of this mess. Waiting for Tom to find a way back to them, waiting for the identity of his granddaughter, waiting for her to turn of age.

A patronus in the form of a chameleon burst into the room and approached Tom. "They left, using a friend's automobile. The Order has arrived, I am trailing them with Alastor."

Riddle looked at Bella. "You go, track Gibbon's"

a/n

Should I continue?