A/N I started writing this story after HBP and thus some of the characters do not reflect JKR's later descriptions. Part of the reason it took me so long to publish this is because I wondered whether to go back and change them. I decided not to. Besides that, enjoy an epic story from the point of view of some female character's that I don't often see (except Hermione).

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling, not me.

The forest at the edge of Hogsmeade was dark, foreboding, and exactly what she needed. Hermione Granger sat at the base of a tree with her legs crossed, wand in hand, and a book in her lap. Bushes on either side obscured her from view although she had disillusioned herself for extra protection. Her fingers tapped silently against her thigh as she forced herself to not check the time, again. The boys were only a few minutes late so there was no need to panic… yet. At every bird chirp, bug buzz, or rustle, she gripped her wand firmer; she had laid warning spells on the ground around her, but she was dealing with wizards more experienced and powerful than she.

Crack!

Hermione twitched and held her wand at ready, slowly standing so that she could see over the bushes, trusting her Disillusion spell to keep her hidden. The bushes next to her rustled and shock of red hair appeared above it. She lowered her wand in relief as Ron came through, his wand moving in front of him, his eyes scanning his surroundings. She waited until he had almost passed her.

"Ron!" She hissed.

He jumped and twirled to her, his wand almost hitting her in the face. His eyes widened as they registered her in a place that had just seconds ago been empty. "Hermione?" He made no other move.

"You're late." She tapped her watch. His eyes followed the motion. "What was the name of the thing that we got in trouble for helping Hagrid out with in first year?"

"Harry got detention in the Forbidden Forest helping with Norbert." His wand remained trained on her. "What did you make in second year to help us with the problem in the pipes and what was your issue with it?"

"Polyjuice potion is what I made and my issue with it was grabbing the wrong DNA to put in it."

Ron nodded then pulled her into a hug, the force nearly crushing her. "Thank Merlin! Harry's not here yet?"

"No, but he was suppose to arrive after us anyway. Hold on a sec." She disillusioned them both and they moved back behind the bushes. "I already scouted out the area and people-"

"You what? I thought we agreed to meet here before doing anything else!" Ron leaned on the tree next to her.

"Well, I realized that I had more time on my hands than I'd thought since I spread out the arrival times, so I figured I'd make sure we weren't running into any sort of trap."

Ron was shaking his head. "And you have the nerve to lecture me about caution! You might be brilliant but-"

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but shut it at the look he gave her.

"But you are dealing with wizards who have time and experience to lean on. I doubt any of them could pull off the Doppelganger spell but they don't need complicated magic to torture and hurt."

She nodded impatiently. "So it definitely worked then? No hitches?"

"It went bloody perfect as I knew it would." He began scanning the surrounding area. "How long before Harry arrives? Has it been five minutes yet?"

"No, but you were late so he should be here any second." She sat down and motioned for Ron to join her. "I have spells set around here that will show if anyone else arrives. Remus said that this stretch of forest should be empty of anything that we couldn't incapacitate so we should be fine."

Ron hesitated a moment, then took the offered seat. "'Should'? I guess those are the best odds we can get. But pity Remus didn't say anything more useful like 'I guess your six years of experience fighting Volde… he-who-must… thingy more than qualify you for admittance into the Order'. Dumbledore might have said to keep it a secret but he never said we couldn't use resources."

"Let's not focus on that right now." She couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. Keeping them out of the Order was, in her mind, just another example of backwards Wizarding world thinking, the same type of logic which allowed adults to promote a teenage boy as their savior. "They will see their mistake. We just can't compound their mistake by doing nothing." She looked at her watch again. "He is at the Dursley's right? The Order didn't move him elsewhere? It shouldn't affect the portkey unless they have better wards or-"

Crack!

Both of their heads turned to the sound. Ron shot to his feet while Hermione rose to hers more slowly. They couldn't see anything, but the bushes and branches a few feet in front of them moved like there was someone there. Their wands held at attention, Ron motioned for Hermione to move round the tree and she carefully placed her feet as she moved into position. She examined the surrounding forest again, cursing herself for picking such a vulnerable spot.

What had she been thinking? There were other places where they could have gone that wouldn't have added wild animals to the list of people out to kill them. Sure this was the last place anyone would think to look for them, but-

The top of the grass in front of her was disappearing and reappearing and the branches behind that section were broken and bent. She struggled over whether to cast a stunner since it would give away her position and because this could probably hopefully be Harry.

"Petrifuclus Totalis," Ron said, taking the decision out of her hands. There was a thump and suddenly shins and feet came into view clad in dingy jeans and two worn sneakers.

After waiting a moment, Ron motioned for Hermione to cover him as he went over to the fallen body and drew the cloak off of a petrified Harry Potter. Hermione sighed as she walked over. Her redhead friend handed her the Invisibility cloak and nudged Harry. "You reckon it's him?"

"No, it's our other friend with an Invisibility cloak. Release him." Hermione kept scanning the forest. This was one thing less to worry about, but it didn't mean that they could release their guard.

Harry held his hands up when Ron released him. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have worried so much about you guys taking this seriously. How did you know I was there?"

"You might be invisible, but the effects of your presence aren't." Hermione pointed at the way he'd come. "Branches and bushes don't bend and snap themselves. Not these species anyway, although Neville told me that supposedly a little de-"

"No time for lecture right now." Ron rolled his eyes.

The Boy-who-lived chuckled. "You are definitely Ron and Hermione. I don't suppose my cloak is enough to prove my identity?"

"Humor us." Hermione's wand was no longer pointed at Harry; Ron's was. He was giving Harry a sheepish grin but his wand remained trained on him. "How did we help our furry friend back in third year?"

"The same way we're about to get some extra training here. And Buckbeak helped too."

Ron shrugged. "Good enough." He grabbed Harry's hand and hauled him up. "You were late."

Hermione sniffed. "And you weren't?"

"That's different."

"How?" Harry brushed the leaves and dirt off of himself. "Because late is late."

"That doesn't matter." Ron crossed his arms. "Besides, Hermione thinks everything not early is late."

"Right Ronald, because being on time for things is a crime."

They all stared at each other, then Hermione was hugging both of them and they were laughing together. And although their laughter was subdued and quiet, it was no less genuine. After a few minutes they pulled away. Harry balled up his cloak under his arm and Hermione put the book she had been reading back into her bag. Ron scanned the area as they did so.

"You have the maps?" She asked. Now that both her boys were here she could move onto their next priority.

Her brunette friend pulled out the worn parchment given to him by the Weasley twins. "Of course, I'm grieving, not a half-wit."

"What?" His response hadn't been angry, but she didn't know why her simple question meant more to reassure herself had engendered it.

Ron chuckled cautiously, eyes on Harry. "The Prophet's been having a go at him again. 'Dumbledore's Chosen' was one of their favorite appellations for him."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know why as I preferred 'The-Boy-Who-Cried' complete with exclusives on me about how I'm holding up using excerpts from Skeeter's interview with me."

"And that cow?" Hermione didn't like to speak ill of people but Rita Skeeter had more than earned that title. "She hasn't been writing has she?"

"Nope." Harry grinned. "There are even disclaimers mentioning that any quotes from her used are from old article. Course it's so small that the normal person would ignore it, but it is there."

"And you're fine with it?"

Once more, Harry smiled. It was a sad sight to behold but it still was a smile. "I'm use to media treatment by now, and I shouldn't have expected them to let me have anything sacred."

She hugged him again. "You shouldn't have to worry about them at all." Tears pricked at her eyes as she though about the injustice of it all. Dumbledore's death, Harry's, no, their situation with Voldemort, the fact it was necessary for them to be here, in the woods outside Hogsmeade during summer hiding from the Ministry, the Order and the Death Eaters when they should be doing summer homework and enjoying their vacations and trusting in adults to take care of the problem.

Ron put his arms around both of them and Hermione pulled herself out of her morose thoughts. Thoughts that were not helpful and detracted from their goals. Harry cleared his throat and they broke apart again, Hermione wiping her eyes. No tears had escaped but she could feel moisture.

"Okay, now that we've gotten our emotions under control," Harry began. He and Ron both looked at her. She scowled. "Ron, you have your map?"

His map was already rolled up in his hand. He unfurled it, a poster-size map of the town of Hogsemeade, and they all stood in front of it with Hermione grabbing one end and Harry in the middle. "Let's get started. We are here, I think." He pointed to a section of trees a few millimeters away from a row of houses at the edge of the town.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." Harry compared the Marauder's Map to the Hogsmeade one. "There's a tunnel into the castle about 2 miles from here. Or we could go into town and take the one in Honeydukes."

"It's too risky to go into town." Ron traced his finger along the path they would have to take to go there. "Your cloak can't cover all of us and everyone's so paranoid that anything out of the ordinary will immediately be noticed."

"And, Aurors are patrolling it, regularly. Especially in front of the shops." Hermione moved her wand along the route the Aurors she'd seen had taken. "And they are specifically looking for disillusioned people."

Harry raised his eyebrow at her. "How do you know?"

Ron snorted. "Ms. 'Be careful and don't take risks' scouted out the town before we got here."

"What?"

"Relax, Harry. I was prepared and nothing happened." His glare did not die down at her words. "And someone had to do it. I'm less noticeable than both of you so it made sense that it had to be me."

He still looked like he wanted to strangle her. "Hermione, add a talk about responsibility and partnership to the list of tasks to be done at Hogwarts that you have undoubtedly made. Make it a priority."

She glowered at him. "Done."

"Let's go then. It's a straight shot from here and if we linger much longer we increase the risk of getting caught." Ron rolled up the map and began walking.

Harry fell into step behind him and Hermione followed. It was a trial, the first of many to come she was sure. They were both taller than her so their strides were longer, and Ron, with the largest stride, was leading. Ten minutes in, it was just walking through bushes and over fallen branches and the occasional tree. Then Ron abruptly stopped. Harry crashed into his back and Hermione examined the forest around them, her wand aiming for every sound.

"What?" She whispered.

"Did you hear something?" Harry had recovered and he too was scanning for a threat.

The youngest Weasley male groaned. "I'm such an idiot."

"What?" She focused on him. "What's wrong?"

"Ron, are you hurt?" Harry eyed the ground Ron was standing on.

Ron shook his head and pointed in Hermione's direction. She and Harry whipped around with their wands out. She stupefied a tree trunk. "You sense something?" Harry asked.

"No, and great Hermione," Ron sighed. "Look behind us."

"We are." She'd been doing that since he'd pointed. "I don't see or sense anything."

"Neither do I." Harry shifted closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"The trail."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "Ron, there is no trail. We've been walking through unadulterated nature. It doesn't look like a human has ever been here."

"Before." Ron tapped his head and started pacing. "I know I remember it. Charlie and Bill have mentioned it."

"Remember what?" Harry was frowning. He looked back the way they'd come again. "Something about the forest?"

She wanted to frown too. Before? This was why she got so frustrated with Ron; he didn't think in a linear process sometimes. Of course it had looked like no one had been there before, no one had. That was part of the reason she'd chosen this area to portkey to. To her, it still looked like no one had been through here. Sure, some branches had broken off in places where one of them had used them for balance, and… okay, so the grass where they'd walked was matted and things crushed by something anyone could tell was a shoe, and large clods of dirt were among the grass from where she'd tripped over a root and it had ripped up out of the ground. In conclusion, it was obvious to anyone who looked that people had been here.

"You think other wizards would be able to track us?" Harry voiced her thoughts.

"I think a drunken house elf could track us from the trail we left." Ron retorted. "I know a spell that can erase our passing but I can't remember it. Charlie taught me it when I visited him on the dragon reserve one year."

"And Bill?" He was a curse breaker so Hermione didn't see how Ron would have observed him use it in the course of his work.

"Bill told me three days ago. I forget how it came up, but he said if you ever need to hide a trail in the woods, the incantation is fivear, feiver, fe-"

"Fievariumus?" Harry supplied.

"That's it!" Ron walked around them. He flicked his wand in five different directions. "Fievariumus!" An orange light shot out the end of his wand back the way they'd come. Hermione could see all the details she'd noticed about their passage vanishing. "And." He faced them. "Carileviumus." The light that enveloped them was also orange. "That should take care of things as we move. Good thing you knew Harry."

"Dumbledore mentioned the spell to me, not in context, but you know how he talks. And Bill… he just told you those?" They had resumed their walk and Harry asked the question as he climbed over a log.

"Yep." Ron was a few feet in front of them. "I thought it was strange at the time, but I still tried to memorize it for later use because I knew it could come in handy. And it did."

Harry glanced back at Hermione, his mouth turning down, then back at Ron. "He didn't suspect did he? You do-"

Ron whirled around. "I didn't tell him if that was what you were about to suggest."

The boy-who-lived's eyebrows shot to his hairline. "No, I was just thinking that maybe Ginny overheard us and told him. She didn't act weird… did she?"

Ron met Harry's eyes and then Hermione's, long enough that she knew he was making sure their trust in him wasn't shaken. She sighed internally; sometimes Ron's inferiority complex was annoying, but at least he had gone beyond childish temper tantrums before he believed they weren't making fun of him. And she couldn't help but wonder from Harry's tone if this was the first time he'd thought about Ginny since they'd got there or if he'd been holding himself back. She'd made the decision to put her possible romantic relationship with Ron on hold until the war was over; she hadn't told Ron that, but from the way he'd treated her she guessed that he'd made a similar choice. Harry had decided the same thing, but she'd expected to have to deal with a little more depression over it; Ron and she might not be dating but they were together, Ginny and Harry were not.

"No, Ginny's been fine considering the circumstances." Ron gave Harry a pointed look and started walking again, slow enough that they could keep up. "And she couldn't have overheard any of our conversations. She was never near them and Hermione's spells would have let us know."

The way he said her 'spells' made her give him a look.

"No offense Mione, but you and your spells were kind of terrifying. It was like six years of knowledge poured out at once after you dragged us into that room and started dictating." Harry shivered.

"Okay." Her voice was clipped. She hadn't been that bad. It was just that she'd been determined to make sure that they had total privacy and after fighting with Death Eaters and the Headmaster's death, she might have been a little overzealous. "So Ginny couldn't have, but that doesn't rule one your other brothers overhearing in the hall or something."

Harry was shaking his head even as Ron said, "no. I thought of that but again, you drove the point of secrecy into me very well and we didn't talk about it anywhere that wasn't secluded and warded."

"Then why do you think that your brother would randomly teach you those spells. He has to suspect something." Harry kicked a branch out of their way.

"Those weren't the only spells he taught me." Ron said quietly. "Bill is a big picture kind of guy as well as being detail oriented. He's told me before that he thinks we should be inducted into the Order. I think that the spells were because he knows the kind of trouble we've gotten into before and that lack of admittance won't stop us from fighting and he's trying to help us out without getting Mom and Dad actively suspicious."

Hermione nodded. That made sense.

"If only more members would be like him." Harry's green eyes narrowed.

"If they were, we wouldn't be in this mess." She ducked to avoid a branch that Ron accidentally sent swinging back to her after he passed it. "Although ultimately, I blame Headmaster Dumbledore, if he'd included us this wouldn't be an issue at all."

Neither of the boys argued with her. Whether it was because they agreed with her or were tired of the argument, they kept their mouths shut. She had not been pleased upon learning what their esteemed headmaster had been hiding from them. She had also not been happy about the fact that the special training she'd been hoping Harry would get was memories of Riddle's life. The memories, while important, could not substitute for decent combat or defense training on the same level of the wizards that they were facing. The old man had left the savior of the wizarding world armed with sixth year magic skills, better than average reflexes, and luck. For a brief moment she'd wanted to resurrect him and kill him herself. She was sad and angry at his death, but part (read: most) of that anger was at him for failing to put his all in helping Harry. She and the boys had had words over it before agreeing to disagree although as more events came to light, she suspected that they were seeing her point of view more and more.

They walked in silence from then on, sometimes stopping for a breather or to help someone, usually Hermione, over an obstacle. When they finally reached the entrance, Ron and Harry were breathing a little heavy and Hermione was almost panting. In her defense, they'd underestimated how far they'd have to walk by about a mile and a half, but even still getting winded like this after walking at a moderate pace for 3.5 miles was not a good sign.

She mentally moved up physical conditioning on the list Harry had been correct in assuming that she'd made. Then she followed the two of them into the tunnel.