A/N: Character deaths in OotP and HBP are non-compliant; Pre-DH.
Reviews are always welcome. Enjoy! :)
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July - Summer before their 7th year at Hogwarts
Hermione arrived at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, for the summer holiday. There she met up with Harry, Ron and the rest of the Weasley's, and the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
"Hermione, dear it's good to see you…the rest of the children are all upstairs. Go on up." Mrs. Weasley said.
Hermione smiled, "Thanks for having me Mrs. Weasley. I'll go find them." And she walked up the stairs carrying her bags and levitating her trunk. When she got to the first floor landing, she felt a little chilling sensation come over her. She passed it off as a cold chill, and proceeded to the room she always shared with Ginny Weasley.
Knock Knock
Hermione slowly opened the door, and when she walked inside, she heard a shrill voice.
"Hermione! Oh, thank Merlin you're here!" Ginny ran to her, and hugged her.
"Hey Gin, I didn't know I would get this welcome of a reception…thanks!" Hermione joked with her. "Just let me put my stuff down, and we can chat."
Hermione put her trunk down at the foot of her bed, and put all of her close in the wardrobe. Finally, putting her journal on the nightstand beside her bed; she turned to Ginny and smiled. "Now, what's going on? Why are you so…frazzled?" she asked Ginny.
"It's Harry…I know he has a job to do this year. That's no secret, but truth be told…I'm scared for him. I'm scared for me… I'm just…well, scared in general. I don't want anything to happen to him, but I don't want to act like a scared and weepy girl in front of him. I need you, Hermione, to keep my strong." Ginny finally admitted.
"Gin, I completely understand what you mean. But you know that Harry is not the reckless type. He will only do what is asked of him, and don't forget he will have help. I will be helping him, Ron will be, and Dumbledore will be helping him too. We're just lucky that Dumbledore and Snape were in on the plan together…or we would probably be in big trouble." Hermione told Ginny.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean it's not as if he is going out on this mission alone… Dumbledore will be with him. And everyone in the Order and Dumbledore's Army will be helping him. I guess I'm just scared to lose him…what if something happens?" Ginny asked, scared.
"Listen Gin…I know you might not want to hear this, but what you need to do now, is spend as much time with Harry as you possibly can. Just in case. Because you don't want to wake up one morning wondering if he knew that, you loved him. And just trust in him, and Dumbledore." Hermione told her.
Ginny nodded grimly, she understood what Hermione was saying to her. She quickly thanked Hermione and gave her a hug. "I'm going to go find Harry…" and Ginny left the room.
Hermione smiled to herself, and decided to go find the boys. She walked out the door of her bedroom she shared with Ginny, and walked up to the boy's room. She was about to knock of the door, when she heard the commotion inside the room. "What the…?" she said and quickly opened the door. There was Ron and Harry, wrestling around on the floor, like a pair of lions fighting over food. "What are you two doing?" She screamed at them.
When they heard her voice they stopped, "Nothing Mione, Harry was just showing me some of the ways that Muggles like to duel. It's actually kind of fun…" Ron said to her, as he tried to get himself out of the position he was in.
"Well, it looks like you're losing…" Hermione laughed. "And why are you showing him this, Harry?"
"We were bored." Harry said.
"Well, Ginny is looking for you, Harry. She wanted to talk to you or something." Hermione told him.
At the sound of Ginny's name, Harry sobered up. "She's looking for me? Where did she go?"
Hermione told him that she went downstairs, and that was it. Harry took off like a shot to go find Ginny.
"Blimey, the way he ran you would think that You-Know-Who is in the living room dancing with her." Ron joked, and Hermione laughed.
"Where's everyone else? I only saw your mum when I arrived." Hermione said.
"Oh they're in the meeting. Order meeting. They were secret about this one. We didn't even know they were all coming over tonight. We tried to listen in on the conversation, but they're hip to our ideas now. They used a lot of different spells to keep us out." Ron informed her.
"Really? This must be an important meeting. Do you think it has anything to do with You-Know-Who?" She asked.
"Probably…that's they only thing I can think of. Actually, since you're here…" Ron smirked.
"Let me see what I can do. Go to Fred and George, see if they have and Extendable Ears with them. We may need some. Meet me down stairs when you have them…I think I know what to do." Hermione smiled and her and Ron hurried out the door.
She quietly hurried to the top of the stairs and ran down to the landing just above the room the Order was in. She quickly did a revealing spell, to see what protections were used, and she noticed that they were somewhat complex. "Hmm, all I really have to do is take the Anti-Eavesdropping spell off without them noticing…hmm…this should do it." She said to herself, as she flicked her wand, and muttered the counter spell. She waited for a few minutes to make sure that no one noticed, and came out to see what happened and who cast the spell. No one came out; Hermione took that as a good sign.
Just then, Ron came down the stairs with the long pink, fleshy strings in his hand. "I got them…but I couldn't keep Fred and George from coming to see what we were up too…" Ron said, as Hermione looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, baby brother…we want in on this too." Fred said.
"Not getting anything past us…" George chimed in.
"Alright, alright…but be quiet…if we can hear them…they can hear us." Hermione whispered, and put her finger to her lips. She held out her hand to take one of the Extendable-Ears, and lowered hers down.
"No! Absolutely not…it is much to dangerous. She could be hurt…or worse…" Mrs. Weasley shouted.
"I think it is a good plan, but maybe we should think about using someone else…" Sirius said, "If something was to happen to her, I don't think he could forgive us."
"The time has come for us to take extreme action…I think this is a glorious plan. Don't forget…I will be there too. She will be okay." Dumbledore said.
"I cannot permit this…I will not let you be so careless with her life…" Mrs. Weasley said.
"My dear, Molly, I think it is time for her to make up her mind about such things… I believe that she can do it, and I have complete faith that she will think the same." Dumbledore assured her.
Meanwhile, on the landing…Hermione and the rest of the kids, joined by Harry and Ginny, were still listening to the conversation. Hermione gave a confused look to them, "Who are they talking about? Did anyone catch it?" she whispered.
Everyone shook their heads, 'no', and continued to listen.
"…How are you going to introduce this idea to her, and everyone else that's not in this room?" Lupin asked.
"I don't believe that will be a particularly hard thing to do…seeing as I think she already knows…" Dumbledore said, and you could hear the twinkle in his voice. "I think it's time to call an end to this particular meeting."
And the sound of that comment, they dropped their Extendable-Ears and ran into the nearest room, and acted like they were having a conversation with each other.
Then they heard someone knock on their door and open it, "Come on…" Sirius said, and ushered everyone out of the room, and down stairs.
They were all shocked that everyone from the Order was sitting in the living room waiting for them. Hermione was starting to sweat bullets, "They know I took the spell off…they know we were listening." She thought to herself. She knew she was looking a little worried, but she couldn't help that.
"We have called you all down here because we have something to discuss with you, particularly you, Hermione." Kingsley said.