Chapter 1: Swallow

Hermione was enjoying a little peace after the storm. The quiet of the house helped her racing mind find a little solace. The soft ticks of the clock on the mantle were her only company as she slowly stirred the sugar into her cup of tea and looked over the Prophet.

After escaping from Malfoy manor, Harry and Ron had stayed at Shell Cottage while she followed Lupin back to Grimmauld Place where he was staying with Tonks and their newborn Teddy. Harry and Ron had wanted to run directly to Gringotts without a plan, but Hermione had disagreed. The argument that resulted became a bit too heated, and Hermione just needed to get out.

She sighed and turned the page as she took a sip of the steaming tea. She winced at the heat, and set it down on the table again to let it cool.

She had a bad feeling about what would happen if they went looking for the horcrux without all the information. It was a dangerous mission, and they had almost no plan. She needed to do more research, but the boys wouldn't leave her alone.

Harry couldn't seem to understand that courage alone is not enough to take down Voldemort. Dobby's death had affected him, and he couldn't stand the thought of sitting still. He would talk to her at every moment he could find and explain how guilty he felt, and how important it was they act quickly. She tried to comfort him the best she could, while still staying strong in her conviction that he was making hasty decisions. She quickly became short tempered in her replies, and eventually stormed out spitting words like "immature" and "selfish" before locking her door and barring anyone from entering for a full day.

Looking back, the nightmares were most likely the culprit of her unusual lack of emotional control. She had hardly slept at all in those days at the cottage.

Ron caused her to snap in a completely different way. Whenever he was with her, it was like he was walking on eggshells. He asked her if she was doing ok, and if he could get her another cup of tea, and if she needed help. It was sweet, and he really did care, but she couldn't stand feeling any more helpless than she already did. Ron started acting possessive, and Hermione had had enough. She needed to deal with what happened to her on her own terms, without someone treating her like a child. She had even less patience to deal with whatever romantic feelings they may or may not share, and told him so in no uncertain terms. He saw that as hope for something in the future, but even if they both made it out of this, Hermione just couldn't see that happening. She didn't have the heart to tell him that much yet.

When Lupin said he was heading to Grimmauld Place, she immediately asked to join him. She had been here for only a couple days, and there was only so much that tea could do to calm her nerves, but the time away was doing her good. She loved her boys, but if they wanted to live, they needed to be a little smarter in how they went forward. Bill had promised he wouldn't let them do anything rash until Hermione had contacted them with details, and so until then, she was back in her element - in the library doing her research.

Lupin stepped into the kitchen, and Hermione looked up from her paper. "Good morning," she said, and he and nodded in greeting.

"Teddy is sleeping soundly finally," Lupin said, looking through the cupboards for something to eat. "Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can." He found an apple near the back, and turned it over before taking a bite. He smiled and shuffled over to the table.

"Teddy is really no trouble," Hermione replied. "He is such a sweet kid."

"I've been meaning to thank you for all the help you've been-"

"No, no, I've hardly done anything." Hermione cut him off. "I wish I could do more."

"Well, Dora thanks you too." He said, mouth half full of fruit. "Anything interesting?" He said, gesturing to the paper.

Hermione looked over the open page. "I guess I wasn't really reading it," she realized. Hermione took another sip of her quickly cooling tea. She played with the handle and swirled the dark liquid around. She opened her mouth to begin talking but Lupin cut her off.

"It will be alright, don't beat yourself up about it" he insisted. "Harry and Ron know you're right, they just have trouble sitting still. You can trust them to be careful for now."

"I know, but I don't have all the answers. All the books and time in the world can't prepare us for what's coming. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting for the worst. I'm sitting here playing strategist while Voldemort is killing more and more of us." Hermione put her cup down with a little too much force, and some tea splashed on the paper. "I can't save anybody by reading… maybe I should have listened to Harry's plan."

Lupin shook his head, "No, I felt like rushing into things was a bad idea as well. I think-"

Suddenly there was a loud POP and and crash from the hallway. Hermione and Lupin turned toward the door, suddenly on high alert.

"Wand out," he whispered, and stepped silently toward the door. His hand didn't shake, but Hermione noticed her's was. Lupin listened for a moment, ear hovering close to the dark wooden grain, before swinging it open. As he strode into the dark hall, his expression turned from to one of alarm rather than fear. "Merlin…"

Hermione followed him out of the doorway and saw a crumpled figure in the middle of the hall. She couldn't tell if they were breathing, but she did notice the slowly growing pool of blood on the hallway floor. A list of friends connected with the war started flashing through her mind as she ran up to help.

"Stop!" Lupin warned, and held her back. "I don't know of anyone who was out on any missions, and we don't know who this is yet. We have to keep cautious."

"I know but, look they're dying." Hermione insisted, pulling them closer to the victim. Her heart was thumping so strongly in her breast it was painful. "We have to help now." Lupin hesitated, but silently agreed. He kept his wand out, pointed at the unmoving figure while Hermione stepped closer and pulled the cloak covering the figure's face back. She gasped and let go, taking a half-step back.

"It's… It's Draco Malfoy."

Lupin approached him, wand still at the ready. "It doesn't look like he is any threat to us now," he said, after quickly checking for unfriendly spells. "We should treat him while we try to understand how he was sent here. If anything we can get some information from him." He paused as he noticed Hermione was handling something small in her hand. "What is that?"

"He was holding it," she answered. "I think this is how he got here - it looks like Snape's portkey." She handed Lupin the object. It was a seal of some type, intricately carved with runes along each facet. They both recognized it as belonging to Snape, who was revealed by Dumbledore to be a spy for the Order before the Death Eaters entered Hogwarts last year. Although it took some time to convince Harry of the professor's allegiances, he had eventually earned their trust and was an invaluable resource to their cause.

Hermione had seen Snape use this Portkey before, as he could not apparate in and out of Malfoy Manor or Hogwarts. Snape had a habit of playing with it in his fingers as he reported to the Order, as if he he needed to remind himself that he could return to Voldemort's side in a moment's notice if needed.

"He won't survive much more blood loss," Lupin said, studying the rest of Draco's body. "We need to get him upstairs and start healing him." He carefully picked him up in his arms, and started heading up the stairs. Hermione started to follow before eying a small silvery vial lying where Draco's body just was. She picked it up and wiped off the blood to get a better look.

"Memories…" she realized. She ran up the stairs to the room she knew Lupin must have taken Draco. She stopped abruptly at the door as she took in what she saw. Lupin had stripped Draco of his outer cloak, and the damage was more apparent. The blood had soaked through his clothes, and his skin was so much paler than she thought was possible.

"You studied some healing, right?" Lupin asked, hands already stained red. Hermione nodded weakly. "I think it is mostly internal damage, so we need to start with that. Go get the potions you need from my room, and explain to Dora what is happening. Quickly!"

"Y-yes sir" she said, and turned on her heel.

She carried four bottles back to the room, three from Lupin's stores, and one she kept in her travel bag. She had to magically force them down Draco's throat before focusing on healing the gashes down his chest. Her hands were stained red in minutes.

Hermione and Lupin worked side by side for a couple hours, until they found Draco to be somewhat stable. His breathing had steadied, and even unconscious his features seemed to relax slightly. A little bit of color came back to his cheeks, and he looked almost peaceful. Hermione sighed with relief. His forehead was still beaded with sweat from a fever he was running, but at the moment it was in control. Whether or not he was still her enemy, she didn't know, but she would blame herself if he had died in her hands. Like this, in the bed like he was only asleep, it was the most open she had ever seen him. She watched him simply breathe in and out for several more minutes before she heard a noise from behind her.

"Why is he here?" A question came from the door. Tonks stood holding a lightly fussing Teddy. Hermione remembered the vial she had brought up to the room.

"He had memories with him," she explained as she fetched them from the shelf she had hastily placed them. "I'm not sure if they are Snape's or his, but we should look at these before he wakes up."

Lupin nodded. "I'll look with you. We can use my pensieve." He turned to Tonks. "I have given Mr. Malfoy some dreamless sleep. You wouldn't mind watching him for now?" Tonks agreed, and Hermione thanked her as she followed Lupin out of the room.

Hermione watched Lupin pour the contents of the vial into the pensieve in his room. The memories swirled and separated, something Hermione had never seen before. The eddies of liquid followed two distinct paths, one on each side of the large basin.

"Interesting," Lupin said. "They must be from two different people. Snape and Malfoy I presume, however its unusual to store them in this way."

"Why is that, sir?" Hermione asked, watching the memories dance and swim.

"They're not usually compatible in one vessel," Lupin explained. "Snape must have asked for explicit permission from Malfoy. In this case he must have known what they were to be used for. It is at least some indication of where Malfoy's loyalty lies."

Hermione was still unsure. Schoolyard taunts and cold sneers were all she could remember of Draco, and she found it hard to imagine a situation in which he would defy the heritage he seemed so proud of. The skull on Draco's forearm she studied when she healed him indicated these loyalties, but thinking of Snape, she knew that an ugly tattoo was not all a man could be.

"Stop trying to guess," Lupin said, studying her expression. "We can see for ourselves now." With that, he dove into the pensieve. Hermione nodded, and followed close behind.

The world ghosted into existence around them, forming a familiar stark room with a singular occupant. Hermione unconsciously fingered the still healing scar on her arm in a nervous motion. She recognized this as Malfoy Manor.

Severus Snape paced the room - this must be his memory - then proceeded down a hallway and up the stairs.

"He started the memory here on purpose," Lupin observed, pointing at the portraits of Malfoy ancestors staring down at them from the walls. "Snape is telling us where Voldemort's headquarters are. But since you had figured that out for yourselves when you were captured, this must have been a memory from before that time." As he kept up the pace with the memory Snape, he looked around at the rooms that passed by. "No indication of a date though, so it's hard to tell how long ago this was."

Memory Snape paused outside a room and muttered a spell at the door before entering. A startled noise came from within, and Hermione and Lupin hurried in after to see what was inside.

"What are you doing in here!?" an angry Draco cried, stepping in front of the desk at which he was working.

"I could ask you the same question," Snape retorted, and wordlessly locked the door and put a silencing charm on the room with a flick of his wand. "Do you know how careless you've been?" He said in an angry half-whisper, despite the charm on the room.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Draco replied, standing his ground. Snape huffed, and pushed him to the side, grabbing some papers from the desk. He shoved them in Draco's face.

"The Dark Lord knows someone is giving out information," Snape drawled, and Hermione gasped. "Be happy you aren't in any high circles. He can't exactly narrow down where the leak is coming from when its all basic intelligence that all followers know."

Hermione knew about the letters that the Order had been receiving from an anonymous source. They had been quite useful when avoiding major attacks and preventing some revels, but the information didn't go much into the details of Voldemort's plans. Until of course, the last cryptic message she received that had solidified her stance against charging into Gringotts. The vault no longer holds it it had read. No explanation, but she had known what it meant. She couldn't risk the mission if the horcrux wasn't going to be there.

Draco was the source? How was that even possible? They had been receiving information since their sixth year, while Draco was still at school as well.

Memory Draco froze and opened his mouth as if trying to find words, but nothing came out. Snape kept speaking.

"Luckily for you, you are not the only spy for the Order. If I wasn't the one who had found you out, you would be dead by morning." He picked up a few papers that had tumbled to the floor, and handed them forcefully back to Draco. "But what you are is a risk to me. And to my entire operation. Because I am in no position to stop you, for whatever reasons you do this are your own, I am going to help you." Draco opened his mouth to protest, but Snape was quicker. "No arguments. You are a liability on your own and you will do more good with me by your side. You need more training in Occlumency, and I can give you more information that I cannot pass on myself. I will also be your insurance if you have to be taken in by the Order."

"Why?" Draco finally spoke. "I hardly think the Order will welcome a Death Eater into their compound or wherever with open arms. I am not exactly friends with them. I knew what life I was choosing when I betrayed the Dark Lord, and I've come to terms with that. I don't need your help."

"Stop acting like a child. I'm not only here to protect you, I need to make sure the Order has the information they need to defeat the Dark Lord. I can do that best if you cooperate." He took a breath, and his dark eyes softened a fraction. "Why did you choose this path?" It was half accusatory, but there was also a sadness in the question. Like he was afraid to learn the truth.

Draco turned his answer over in his mouth before answering slowly, "My father is a coward. I am choosing not to be."

Snape seemed to process the answer for a moment before nodding and heading toward the door. "You will wait to consult me before acting like an imbecile. We will start lessons tomorrow," he ordered. With his hand hovering over the door handle he turned back to Draco, who had been staring at his un-owled letters. "And…" he started, like it pained him to speak. "I am… proud of you Draco." Snape left too quickly for them to see what Draco's reaction would be, taking long strides down the hall. The world dissolved into smoke around the two observers.

Hermione and Lupin exited the Pensieve and turned to one another.

"You don't look that surprised," Hermione noted. Lupin shook his head.

"I couldn't be sure, I had him as a student many years ago, but I thought I recognized the handwriting on those letters. I needed more proof to really know it was him."

"I guess that was your proof. I just can't believe he had done that by himself, for all that time." Although chronologically, it started to make sense in Hermione's mind. The first letter - the one that made the Order pay attention to the legitimacy of the informant - was the one detailing the attack of the Death Eaters on Hogwarts the day Dumbledore died. The very attack that Draco had orchestrated. He had attempted to sabotage his own creation. "I just can't think of why. He never seemed to care for our cause."

Lupin glanced back into the pensieve. "He can tell us himself soon," he said. "Through his memories, or through his own mouth. For now though, we must check on him. We know whose side he is working for, and it is our job to keep him safe."

Hermione agreed, and walked back to the guest room behind Lupin, lost in thought.

A/N: The story is done, and I'm just editing now, so expect quick updates!