A/N: Thanks for everyone's kind reviews! Also a huge thanks to RenitaLeandra who is making this story so much better than it otherwise would have been.
Chapter 2
"Well, what have we here?" Snape said, his voice cold and cruel. "I would think that Potter's remaining sidekick would have more sense than to wander out on her own."
Hermione could do nothing but stare up at him, her heart hammering so hard in her chest it was difficult to make out his words. What would Harry do, she wondered, if he lost both his best friends in one week? She stared in horror as Snape raised his wand, and wondered if the Avada Kedavra hurt or if there was another manner of death he would use on her that might be a little more painful. Before he could curse her, however, she heard the sound of someone else approaching. She desperately tried to break the body-bind so she could call for help, but to no avail. That's when she heard a voice, close behind her.
"Really, Severus, let her go. That isn't very funny," Minerva McGonagall said from behind Hermione.
Snape didn't seem surprised by her appearance, Hermione noticed, and as he followed through with his spell, she felt herself begin to move. She scrambled to her feet, putting as much distance between herself and the former professor as possible.
"I was just giving her a little warning," Snape said coolly, putting away his wand. "She is putting people in danger wandering around like that. How typically Gryffindor of her to never think of the consequences."
Professor McGonagall gave him a stern look. "And what are you doing out here where everyone can see you? You are putting people in danger yourself. There could very well be Death Eaters close by."
"What… What is going on?" Hermione managed to gasp out, while staring in dismay at the two people in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Professor McGonagall said, looking distressed. "I had planned to explain this under different circumstances. We really must get inside first, though, before Severus is seen."
Before Hermione could protest, McGonagall had pulled her by the arm and they were walking quickly toward the castle. Rather than go directly in, however, Hermione realized they were heading toward Hagrid's hut. Hagrid, she knew, was not there as he had once again set out with Grawp in the hopes of convincing other giants to revolt against Voldemort.
Arriving at the hut, Professor McGonagall quickly pushed open the door and motioned for them to join her. As soon as they were inside and the door was shut, Hermione turned on the Headmistress.
"What are you doing?" she nearly shouted. "Why are you allowing him at Hogwarts? He is a traitor! Didn't I tell you that he was there at Riddle Manor? He was standing right next to Bellatrix Lestrange!"
"Hermione, please, calm down," McGonagall said quietly. "I understand that this is a shock, but…"
"Shock? Shock? A shock would be discovering Dumbledore is alive. This is complete insanity!" She stopped for a moment giving McGonagall a wary look. "Dumbledore isn't alive is he?"
McGonagall sadly shook her head in response. "No, Hermione. However it is important for you to understand that the situation regarding his death is not quite what it appeared to be. Sometimes we are required to make extraordinary sacrifices for the good of our cause."
"Are you claiming that Snape did not murder him? Because the last time I checked there was a witness who said otherwise. And I'm fairly sure that this kind of cold blooded murder is exactly what the Order has been fighting to prevent."
"Of course…" McGonagall began to reply, but Snape cut her off.
"I don't know why you're bothering, Minerva," Snape said speaking up for the first time. "She is clearly influenced by Potter's way of thinking. Subtleties are lost on people like them."
"We need to get the Order together," Minerva said, deciding to ignore Snape's bating. "All of them, especially Remus. He's going to need to be there to calm Harry down. He will be completely out of control considering recent… events. Hermione, I need to ask you to keep this quiet until we can talk to everyone."
"We don't have much time," Snape said quietly. "The Dark Lord is in a fury over the rescue. I need to speak to you Minerva. Alone." He looked pointedly at Hermione, whose confusion was growing by the minute.
Professor McGonagall also looked over at her. "Hermione, could you please go back up to the castle. Don't say anything to anyone about this until I get up there. Not even Harry. He would never understand."
"I don't understand," Hermione said through gritted teeth.
"Everything will be explained in time. I realize this is all very difficult for you, but you must trust me on this." Hermione gave her a look of disbelief and McGongall grabbed hold of her shoulders, forcing her to meet her eyes. "There are more than just our lives at stake with this. If word gets to the wrong people that Severus has been seen here, this will have devastating consequences for the Order. Do you understand me?"
Hermione swallowed hard and mentally weighed her trust of Professor McGonagall against her distrust of Snape. Finally she gave sharp nod. "This had better be explained soon. Harry would never forgive me for keeping this from me."
Snape gave an impatient sigh but McGonagall's expression was one of relief. "Please, you must go now. I'm sure Harry is wondering where you are."
Hermione nodded again and, after giving one more glare to Snape, hurried out of the hut.
As soon as she left, Severus turned to look at Professor McGonagall. "Can she be trusted?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"She is upset and confused, but she will not say anything," Minerva said looking out the window and watching Hermione walk back up to the castle. Then she turned back and looked at the younger man. "What has happened?"
Hermione felt her heart pounding with anger and hurt as she made her way back up to the castle. 'How could she be talking to that traitor? I saw him there in Riddle Manor. He had been involved in their trap. What if he has put her under the Imperius Curse?'
By the time she reached the castle she was nearly sick. In her haste to put as much room between herself and Hagrid's hut, she had run into Harry, nearly knocking him down.
"Hermione!" he said grabbing hold of her arms. "What's wrong? You look all pale."
Hermione stared at Harry for a long moment, debating if she should say something. She opened her mouth to tell him what had happened, but when she thought of Professor McGonagall, she paused. She had always been the most trustworthy teacher, next to Dumbledore. Although she wasn't as all certain that McGonagall was not under the Imperius curse, she could not bring herself to betray the professor's trust.
"Sorry, Harry. I'm just still so upset." She felt as though anyone would be able to see past her poor attempts at hiding her true state of mind, but Harry seemed to accept it.
"I'm sorry Hermione. I shouldn't have even asked. I feel miserable too. I just keep replaying what happened. Why was I so stupid? We never should have gone to that warehouse without letting someone else in the Order know." He paused and swallowed hard. "Especially after Sirius… How could I make the same mistake again?"
"Don't blame yourself, Harry. Ron and I didn't think to tell anyone either," Hermione said patting him comfortingly on the back. They stood in silence for a moment as Hermione tried to think of a way of wording her next question.
"Harry," she said slowly, "after the Death Eaters took you, who… who was responsible for your imprisonment and… torture?"
Harry had not said much about the few hours he had spent with the Death Eaters, and until now Hermione had not asked. He did not answer right away, taking a few moments to compose himself.
"Mostly Voldemort, but sometimes I was left to Bellatrix Lestrange. She seemed to enjoy it," he said with a cringe. "There were a few hexes from some Death Eaters that I didn't know as well."
"But that was it?" Hermione asked, hoping she didn't sound too eager. "What about Snape? I would have thought that he'd have been excited to get his hands on you after all this time."
"Yeah," Harry said looking puzzled. "I would have too. It's funny, though. I don't really remember seeing much of him."
Hermione quieted, deciding to refrain from saying anything more on the subject. It filled her with some hope though, that perhaps McGonagall had not lost her mind after all.
"Why don't we go in?" Harry said after a few more minutes of silence. "Ginny just got back a few minutes ago. She said she couldn't bear to stay at the Burrow any longer than she had to."
Hermione followed Harry into the Entrance Hall where she saw Ginny talking to Tonks, who had been forced by the Ministry to take some time off from her Auror duties to recuperate. All Hermione wanted to do was go back to her room, so that she could think over the afternoon's shocking events in privacy.
Hermione made her way up to the Gryffindor dormitories. Although they had finished their seventh year and completed their N.E.W.T.S., Professor McGonagall had arranged accommodations for various Order members, including former students, in the different dormitories for the times when the Order was meeting at Hogwarts. Other times they still met at Grimmauld Place, however it was not large enough to accommodate everyone at once. Often, Hermione felt like a nomad with no real place to call home. Her parents were on an extended holiday at the insistence of the Ministry, so Hermione had been dividing her time between the Burrow, Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place.
Currently, Hermione was sharing a room with Ginny, Luna Lovegood (who, as the only Ravenclaw had taken to staying with the Gryffindors) and occasionally Tonks. She was glad, however, that the room was currently empty so that she would not have to talk to anyone. She collapsed onto her bed and thought about what had just happened.
Never in a million years would she have guessed Professor McGonagall was in contact with Snape. Yet, as she laid thinking about it, she remembered something else the professor had said during their brief conversation.
"We need to get the Order together. All of them, especially Remus. He's going to need to be there to calm Harry down."
Hermione thought about that statement for a long minute. Especially Remus. He's going to need to calm Harry down. That made it sound as if Remus was in contact with Snape along with McGonagall. Although her first reaction was to reject this idea, she conceded to herself that at this point nothing should be assumed.
'So,'she thought reasonably to herself, 'if nothing should be assumed, then perhaps I have been basing my beliefs on false notions of Snape being guilty.'
Yet still, she could not change the fact that Snape had killed Dumbledore and he had been at Riddle Manor.
'But I never saw him actually hit any of us with one of his curses.' Her head was beginning to hurt. If Snape was not a traitor, then they had all been working under incorrect assumptions for the past year. No, not everyone; Professor McGonagall hadn't, nor Remus. Yet they also hadn't seen fit to enlighten the other members of the Order either. Of course, the one time it would have been useful for people to know-- when Harry had been captured-- Remus had been in his werewolf state and Professor McGonagall had not been made aware of the rescue attempt.
Now her head was really starting to throb. She wished she could just fall asleep, but the nervous jumping in her stomach prevented that. Yet even more than the sleep, she wished she could tell someone what had just happened, but if McGonagall was telling the truth, there was no way she could let anyone know. If Harry found out, he would immediately seek vengeance upon Snape for Dumbledore's death. Slowly, the afternoon slid away into evening and the room began to darken. She knew she should get up and find something to eat as she had not eaten anything at all during the day, but she couldn't get her legs to obey her mind's wishes. Just as she had finally convinced herself to get up, she heard the door creak open.
"Hermione? You awake?" she heard Ginny ask, poking her head through the door. For a long moment Hermione considered not answering, but she was going to have to face people eventually.
"Yeah," she said tiredly pushing herself into a sitting position. Ginny came all the way into the room and lit a candle by the bed with her wand. She sat down next to Hermione, the bed groaning under her weight.
"Are you okay?"
Hermione shrugged her shoulders trying to find a noncommittal response. Finally she settled for the truth, or a version of it.
"No. I can't sleep, I don't want to eat and I feel like I'm going to be sick." She tried to give Ginny a small smile but failed miserably.
"Yeah, me too," Ginny said quietly. "Harry's a mess. I finally got him to lie down for a while. He's staying in the Hufflepuff dorms with Ernie. I don't think he can bear to go back into Gryffindor's quite yet. I know he's not been sleeping either. At Grimmauld Place he kept waking up with nightmares. I could hear him from my room."
Hermione had been able to hear him as well, but she didn't say so. Together the two sat in silence for a long moment before Ginny spoke again.
"Professor McGonagall is calling a meeting. She won't say what it's about, but it must be important because everyone from Grimmauld Place and the Burrow have been flooing in. Even Mum and Dad are here.
Hermione felt her stomach drop and her heart sink. She knew she couldn't tell Ginny what the meeting was about, but she felt sick at what her friend's reaction was going to be. She sat for another minute and then nodded and stood up, trying to comb her tangled hair with her fingers.
"Well, we had better get going then," she said walking toward the door. "Is it in the Great Hall?"
Ginny nodded and the two left the room. They made their way down to the common room where she saw Fred and George coming in.
"Hey, we were just coming to look for you two. Everyone else is down in the Great Hall already," Fred said trying his hardest to smile. They climbed through the portrait hole and made their way downstairs. By the time they got there it appeared that Fred was correct and they were the last to arrive. Even Harry was already there, sitting and talking quietly to Remus. Hermione and Ginny went over to join him and Hermione took a quick glance around the room.
Further down the table from them sat Molly and Arthur with Bill and Fleur. Molly looked pale and somehow slightly shrunken and Arthur had his arm around her, comforting her. At the next table she saw Hestia Jones, Sturgis Podmore, Tonks and Dedalus Diggle whispering quietly together. Every now and then Hestia would reach over and pat Tonks's hand. Elphias Doge was also sitting with them, but he appeared to be dozing. Further down from them was a group of former DA members who were now all of age and had been allowed to join the Order. Neville was chatting with Luna, Seamus and Dean. While Susan Bones, Angelina Johnson and Ernie Macmillan appeared to be deep into a conversation of their own. While she was watching, Lee Jordan came over and sat next to Fred and George. It amazed her how many more Order members there were just because of Harry and the DA. Then, far in the back, her eyes fell on an old man, a grey pointed wizard's hat pulled far down onto his head. She could not make out his face and, although she thought he looked vaguely familiar, she was sure she had never seen him at Order meetings before.
As she sat watching the Order members around her, Professor McGonagall came out of a small door by the Head Table. Hermione recognized it as the one Harry had gone through when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire. She motioned to Remus who also came up to join her.
"We have called this meeting because there has been a crisis of sorts that we will need to deal with immediately," Remus began. "There is a very delicate situation that until now has only been dealt with by Minerva and myself. Well, the time has come that everyone present needs to be made aware of the situation. This is going to be very shocking, perhaps even upsetting, to many of you," his eyes rested on Harry, "but I am going to ask that you remain calm and with your wands put away."
He then glanced toward the door Professor McGonagall had just come out of, and seemed to give an imperceptible nod. Hermione found she couldn't witness what she knew was going to happen so she turned her head down to stare at the table in front of her. After several long seconds, she heard a collective gasp before the order and calm disintegrated into chaos.
