The shock of what she saw entering Hux's memories nearly drove her out in an attempt to cope. She just managed to keep him in some specific, seemingly inconsequential memory as she took a moment to adjust.
Focus, she told herself. What do you know so far?
She decided to make a mental list, something she could tick off for Harry and Severus when she was done looking in Hux's memories.
First- Hux was a General. Ren was... she wasn't really sure what Ren was. The memory she was in had the two talking, something about a droid somewhere called Jakku. From the way Ren talked to Hux it seemed he did not answer to him, no general would let an underling speak like that to them, and Ren lacked any of the uniform and rigidity of those around them. Something she would need to ask about later.
Second- Ren was extremely threatening. People gave him a wide berth and even Hux seemed cautious about how far he was willing to push him. She saw a flash of a report that Ren had wrecked a room in his anger, so there was some instability in him as well. Hux, on the other hand, was everything you'd expect from a military commander- poised, decisive, and strict.
Third, and most impressive, they were in space. Traveling from one planet to another like people would get on an airplane. This was the part Hermione needed to process the longest, so she took a few seconds to wonder at the stars beyond a giant window before letting the memories continue.
It quickly became apparent that Hux and Ren were on the same side of some war. She decided not to delve into the complexities for fear of staying in the Muggle's mind too long, but managed to get that they both took orders from a giant, holographic image that Hermione immediately and involuntarily nicknamed 'Space Voldemort'. Between Ren's hostility and Space Voldemort she was sure that whatever side Hux and Ren were on was not her preferred side. The military was predominant in Hux's mind, his father was a General as well, he went to military academies as a child, and was brought up with the expectation of being a leader. Once or twice she caught sight of a flash of dissonance on his face when his father, a teacher, or higher-up was talking, but it never lasted more than a fraction of a second. Soldiers do not question the commands of their leaders. Hux would not either. He was given command of the Finalizer (there's an endearing name, she thought) and tasked with building some kind of giant weapon. Everything she saw was fascinating, and if she weren't afraid of driving Hux insane from the experience she'd happily stay for hours and try to figure out what the war was about. A memory came up, and she immediately felt Hux panic and try to think of something else, but a quick flex of her own mind stopped him. She knew this must be important, something that might explain the exile, if Hux was so desperate to hide it from her.
The sight was impressive. Thousands of soldiers, most dressed in identical all-white uniforms, stood in perfect rows. Ships stood on the outside of the group like giant, deadly sentries. It was a massive display of prowess, and Hux was in front of them all, on a massive stage populated with officers standing statue-still, speaking passionately. Hermione was standing next to a tall soldier wearing a chrome-coated version of the armor. Looking around, however, she didn't see anyone who looked like Ren either with or without his helmet. She was in such awe of the spectacle of it all that she wasn't really paying attention to what Hux was saying, and had to force herself forward to listen.
"This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand..." he was saying passionately.
Hermione looked around, even going so far as to walk to the edge of the stage and look down, expecting a large bank of canons or something, but she still could see no weapon. She could feel Hux fighting her, trying to get her away from the memory, trying to show her something else, but she couldn't leave, she had to see this weapon...
"FIRE!" Memory Hux commanded and the troops did an about face, and for a few seconds she thought nothing was going to happen. She even looked around, wondering if it was just an act, but then there was a loud rumbling sound, and she looked at where the troops were looking at the rumbling became a roar and a beam of red light suddenly burst from the ground. She knew then that the weapon was much larger than she could have ever imagined. They had weaponized a planet. She looked behind her, and saw Hux watching the light with a proud and excited expression cut into his features despite his attempt to look composed. She turned back to watch the light and it streaked away from the planet. Ice ran through her veins just imagining the damage that was about to be wrought, and she squinted, trying to find the target. To her horror the beam of light split into five and, as the breath was stolen from her lungs and her heart dropped, she watched as the beams made contact with their targets, leaving the nearly imperceptible remnants of five explosions behind. She didn't need to ask to know what had been hit, and she tore herself from Hux's mind as her stomach threatened to empty itself.
Severus just got the bin under her as she leaned forward and lost her lunch. In front of her Hux had slid to the ground, the violence of her exit from his mind had knocked him cold. Harry crouched by her, rubbing her back as she was sick. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Severus looking between her and Hux, unrest clearly written on his face. Ren studied her face and swallowed hard.
"Kill them, Severus," she managed when the vomiting subsided.
Harry's hand stopped, and Severus' eyes widened.
"Kill them?" he repeated slowly.
"I saw what they did," she replied, breathing heavily and trying not to be sick again. "It was horrible! They had this weapon..." she trailed off, unable to stem the tears falling down her cheeks.
"What kind of weapon?" Harry asked.
"Huge," she managed. "Oh, God, Harry, they blew up, they destroyed five..." she trailed off as she was sick again from the memory.
"Five? Five what?" he asked cautiously when she stopped. "Five people?"
"Planets," she answered.
Harry's jaw dropped and he looked up at Snape, who was staring in shock at Hux's limp form.
"I wasn't paying the best attention," she continued softly. "He was saying something about stopping some resistance. They had turned an entire planet into a weapon. And he's the one who gave the command to fire," she finished with a harsh nod at a still unmoving Hux.
"Where was the other?" Severus asked softly.
"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "I know they were on the same side, they both took orders from Space Voldemort..."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"This giant holographic projection that greatly resembled him both in appearance and manner," she replied.
"Hermione?" Snape said softly.
She looked up, biting her lip.
"Do you really wish me to kill them?"
She was on the verge of nodding when Ren interrupted with a soft, "Wait."
The three turned to look at him, but he was looking at Hermione.
"Enter my mind," he said.
"Why?" she asked, disgusted.
"You only got part of the story. If you're going to condemn us to death, at least get the whole thing."
She looked at Severus.
"Do it," her former professor ordered. "If you request that I kill them again I will, but I agree, you need to hear the whole story."
She exhaled loudly, but slowly moved her chair so she was sitting in front of Ren.
"You're blocking me," she muttered. "You have to relax or I'm not going to even try."
Ren scowled, but lowered his guard enough Hermione felt as though she could enter his mind safely. "Legillimens," she whispered.
The room was obviously some sort of living quarters, though at first Hermione thought it might be a futuristic prison cell. Ren stood, mask in hands, staring out a small square window, seemingly lost in thought. There was a bed that looked hard and uninviting, a couple sparse shelves with only the occasional book or electronic looking device upon them, and to one side a tiny bathroom. There was, however, something out of the ordinary- a table of sorts that held the twisted remains of a charred helmet. She moved to examine the thing closer when the door slid open and Hux stepped in without a word, waiting until the door slid shut behind him to speak.
"I heard you were back from your training," he said cautiously.
"I have my orders, General," Ren replied, his voice monotone.
"As do I," Hux nodded, looking around almost nervously, his eyes lingering on the saber that hung from Ren's belt before continuing. "Snoke wishes me to build another."
What 'another' meant seemed to go without speaking, and Hermione was sure they were talking about the planet-weapon. Ren shot him a glance over his shoulder.
"I remember once, in the Academy, hearing a quote that went something like 'Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results'," Hux continued slowly, carefully gauging Ren's reaction. There was a long, tense pause before Ren broke the silence once more.
"Seems apt," he muttered.
"Indeed," Hux replied, a hint of relief in his voice. "Is it safe to assume your orders are along a similar vein?"
"They are."
Hux moved away from the door, as though it was capable of hearing him, and stood with his back against the wall with the window, only looking at Ren out of the corner of his eye. "I am finding difficulty in following my latest set of instructions," he admitted in a voice barely above a whisper. "Three times something of that nature has been built, and three times it was brought down. While we may not have accomplished everything it was designed to do, we did enough with Starkiller Base to weaken the rebels that the time it takes to rebuild would do nothing but give them a chance to rebuild as well, and learn from our past. And that is not to mention that a fair number of our already limited resources were destroyed with Starkiller, and we simply do not have the ability to construct anything else of that caliber until we can secure more."
"Did you mention this to him?"
"He was... quite insistent that we continue with the plan."
Ren swallowed, but did not respond.
"Am I correct in assuming that your orders involve the girl?"
A curt nod.
"You are loathe to follow them," he added. "I can't say I understand why, but I am sure you have your reasons. It seems we both are unhappy with our assignments."
Ren didn't move.
Hux turned and looked out the window and watched a small cargo ship passing by. "I believe in the Order, Ren," he said. "And I believe that our orders could be detrimental to the future of the Order in our current decimated and barely structured state. I fear more troopers will consider going the route of FN-2187 if they have any similar feelings. These orders... they will do nothing but strengthen the rebels."
"And what is your proposal?"
Hux's jaw tightened, and he carefully drained any hint of emotion from his face and stance before replying in a soft but firm voice, "The Order will not survive Snoke. I am loathe to sacrifice more men and resources following his idea of power for the sake of power only. He has lost the vision that made me believe in what we are doing. I fear it is already too late, though if it is not the longer Snoke is in power the closer we get to crossing that line."
"And you know you have no ability to kill him yourself, so you have come to me, admitted to thoughts of the highest treason, in order to convince me to kill him for you," Ren guessed coldly.
"I..." he hesitated. "I do not think even you could do the job by yourself."
There was a long, weighted pause, and Hermione knew that the men knew what had just been implied, even if it was lost on her.
"She will not listen. None of them will. You know what happened just before Starkiller was destroyed," he turned and Hermione could see the light catch the angry pink of the new scar crossing his face. "They will never listen to me."
"It may be our only chance..."
"There is no chance!" he shot back. "In ninety-nine scenarios out of one hundred this ends with our deaths or imprisonment..."
"But there is that one chance out of one hundred," he interrupted. "Whereas right now there is none. If I wish to have any chance of the Order actually being a success where so many others have failed we cannot have a madman at the helm. There is no way of doing that ourselves, we must turn to them to help us destroy Snoke so we can continue the path we are supposed to be on."
"And if we do wind up dead or imprisoned?"
"We have given the others a chance. There are worse things than giving up our lives for the Order."
Ren's eyes squinted and he looked down at his helmet. Something on Hux's belt began to beep insistently, and he scowled.
"I have a plan to get away at least long enough to make the attempt," he finished. "I will send word," he added before striding from the room.
Hermione became acutely aware that there was more than one Ren in the room, though the one who had just come up next to her looked more hardened than the one still at the window.
"Let me guess," she said softly, "It turned into one of those ninety-nine scenarios."
"My m... General Organa was too smart to fall for any of his manipulations, though I'm not quite sure it would have mattered at that point. By the time I killed Snoke the Order was already so destabilized from rebel attacks that we were captured within the day, tried within the month, and exiled within a year."
"You killed Snoke?" she raised an eyebrow.
"With their help," he nodded. "Hux was right, I never would have gotten close enough without them."
"You said you didn't think they'd work with you," she pointed out.
"Sometimes you can forgive someone long enough to get what is needed to be done finished," he replied. "They made sure I was arrested shortly after Snoke died, and Hux was already imprisoned at that point."
Hermione bit her lip and studied the memory Ren. "What happened on Starkiller before it was destroyed?" she asked.
The words caused his mind to wander, flashes of memories zooming by, until she caught a snippet of a large, dark room, Ren crossing a perilous looking walkway, and a voice calling out "Ben!"
"No!" Ren snapped, and the memory was forcibly cut off, plunging them into darkness.
Hermione opened her mouth to ask who Ben was, but thought better of it. "You helped them destroy this Snoke and they still exiled you?" she asked instead.
Another couple flashes of memories came before he could stop them, the longest of which Hermione could see bodies littering the ground, and she couldn't help but hold in a gasp as she saw how young many of the bodies were.
"I've done too much," he said as darkness overcame them again. "So many called for my execution, it was only the... compassion of those at the head of the resistance which saved my life."
"Do you regret any of it?" she asked, unable to stop the words from forming.
"Does it matter?" he shot back. "Hux and I did what we did. We only realized too late that we were under the influence of a madman, and by then... you saw what happened."
"But you turned on Snoke," she pointed out. "And you seem realistic enough to know you weren't returning to the Order after doing that."
"I thought I would be dead," he confessed. "I thought she... but it doesn't matter. I didn't turn on Snoke for what he did to the Order. That was Hux's concern."
There was a pause where she looked at him expectantly. "Then why did you?" she prompted.
He glared at her. "I want you out of my mind," he ordered.
She blinked and found herself sitting back in the chair in Severus' house, eyes still locked with Ren's. They stared each other down for several long seconds before a groan caught her attention and she saw Hux slowly starting to stir.
"Hermione?" Severus asked softly.
"They live," she said firmly. "For now. Any indication that they're going back to their old ways and I'll kill them myself," she warned.
"What are you going to do with them?" he asked.
She bit her lip as she thought. "I can't just let them out into the Muggle world, they have no idea... I guess I'll have to teach them myself. They can stay with me for a while."
Severus snorted. "I wish you luck in telling Minerva."
"When I present the alternatives of letting them out on their own I'm sure she'll see reason. Besides, who better to teach them how this world works than me?"