Sometimes it paid to put up with Fred and George Weasley. This was one of those times. Hermione had an instant fever starter-thing – whatever they call them – at her disposal. On Thursday, when no one was looking – save Malfoy, but he always looks, he is supposed to be her "boyfriend" – Hermione slipped the snack in with the rest of her lunch. Within five minutes, she began to grow hot and cold and faint all at once. She didn't think that the fever would be this bad, but it did have to be believable. She would have passed out on her lunch plate if it wasn't for a pale hand that caught her head. With a few swift movements, Malfoy gathered her off the table and carried her out of the Great Hall.

It took Hermione a few minutes for the fever to subside and to realize that Malfoy was touching her, again. "That will do, Malfoy. I will return to my rooms to get better."

"As you wish, Granger."

"Thank you."

"Just keeping appearances, Granger."

Hermione stayed in her room for the rest of the day doing research on horcruxes. She needed to be able to relay information to Harry and Ron in case there was something they could use. It had been so long since she saw them last. What was she going to say to Harry? More importantly, what was she going to say to Ron? She had dated him last year and loved him with all her giddy heart, but that Hermione left when she had to brave her final year alone. That Hermione was too fragile without friends; a new Hermione had to take her place. The war had hardened her, and it had only begun. She couldn't be that little girl that Ron loved. She couldn't even love Ron anymore. All she had to fight for was the idea of good. All she had to love was the idea of keeping dark magic at bay.

She found her way to the usual apparation spot outside the back door of the Three Broomsticks. Harry had given her the use of the Maurader's Map, since he no longer had use of it, so the trip was short and smooth. McGonagall found her and used the side-along apparation to 12 Grimmauld Place.

Hermione knew she should have expected Harry and Ron to have already been there, but that didn't stop her shriek of excitement when she saw them sitting on the couch waiting for her. A good three minutes passed before either of the three could say anything coherent, or stop hugging one another.

"Harry, Ron, I can't believe that you are alive and well. Your last letter, you said one of you was with a 'lady friend' and I couldn't remember what that meant. I thought that one of you was in serious trouble."

Harry chuckled. "That would be Ron. There is no code for 'lady friend.' We were at the manor of a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw's when she kept trying to get Ron to – how did she phrase it, Ron? – to 'go see an heirloom of hers up in her rooms.'"

At this, a very red Ron proceeded to punch Harry in the arm. "Bugger off."

Hermione couldn't resist chuckling, too, but there was work to be done. "Why don't we get started? Everyone is in the kitchen."

The three went to the kitchen and sat at the table after briefly greeting each Order member. When everyone was seated, the door opened to a dripping wet Severus Snape, chased by a crack of thunder.

"Severus, how cliché of you. Please, sit."

"Minerva, it was raining, nothing sinister."

"Severus will be joining us tonight to assess the quality of the information we give to Hermione, as his life also depends on it. This is the only objective of the Order tonight." She waved her wand that cast a silencing spell and signified the start of the meeting.

Hermione turned to Snape. "What kind of information does the Dark Lord need?"

"Anything military. Where you are going to strike, when you are striking and the like."

"Now that's just foolish. How would Hermione be able to know this?"

"Draco could have heard a conversation with you and Granger."

"I would be more inclined to share a discussion about Quidditch with the girl than to talk about our infultrations."

Harry, who had been silent since he stepped into the kitchen spoke up. "Letters. Malfoy can take some of the letters I and Ron write to Hermione."

"Ron and I, Harry."

"Thanks, Hermione."

Tonks was perplexed. "What will the letters say?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Let's tell Voldemort that we know about his horcruxes. Tell him something along the lines of our pursuit of the horcrux from Ravenclaw. And how we already had got three of his horcruxes."

Severus quirked an eyebrow. "That should be enough to intrigue the Dark Lord. I shall develop a symbol code for your letters in the next room while you compose them here. Two letters should suffice. When you are done, I shall encrypt the two letters and seal them. Hermione will place them in a box in the defense against the dark arts classroom after breaking the seal for Draco to find. He will then deliver the letters with the code to the Dark Lord."

"When do we get our information?"

"When the transaction is complete, Minerva, Miss Granger can ask for any information she wants."

"Agreed. This Order meeting is over. Potter, Weasley, you may stay with Miss Granger as long as you like."

Hermione said her goodbyes to the other Order Members and went outside for some fresh night air. Within a few moments, she felt someone sit next to her. Ron.

"You didn't have to do it, Hermione." Dating a man of few words, Hermione learned to catch on quickly to what he was thinking. How long had he wanted to talk about her arrangement with Malfoy?

"Yes, I did, Ron. This war has changed me. It's changed everyone. You and Harry left me at Hogwarts and I couldn't just sit back as others were fighting the war. There's more than you and me out there."

"Hermione, we left you at Hogwarts to be safe, not to start fraternizing with the enemy."

"I'm not the same girl I was when I was dating you, Ron. There is more ahead of us, and we need to go through them alone. We are different pieces to the puzzle, and we each have a different purpose. You have to understand that."

A long silence passed between the two as the reflected their problems into the night air. The rain had stopped and the skies were clearing to show a starry night and a full moon. It still smelled like rain. Somewhere, Remus Lupin was wrestling with his transformation without a proper inhibiting potion. Hermione would kill to be in his shoes right now.

"Are you going to marry him?"

"Yes, he is proposing this Hallow's Eve."

"Do you love him?"

"Merlin, no. We have everything planned, from every touch, to every conversation. It looks real, but inside, it never will be."

"Did you ever love me?"

Those words pierced like a knife. "I did, with all of my heart, but the war changes everyone. I'm not the same girl. I can never be the same girl who loved you. Too much has changed for both of us."

Ron leaned over to Hermione and looked straight into her eyes. "I will always love you. You will always hurt me, because I can never have you like I once did."

Hermione broke the contact first, turning her head in shame. Ron silently went back inside to leave with Harry, who had written the letters partially because he had the best handwriting and partially because he knew that Ron and Hermione needed time alone.

Hermione waited outside until she could hear the faint pop of Ron and Harry apparating. She went inside to gather up her letters. Snape had just finished encrypting them when she entered the kitchen. He thrust the code in her hand and departed. Hermione gathered the letters in hand and went to Professor McGonagall. She felt a small tug on her robe pocket and saw a slight movement, but paid no heed to it as she did a side-along apparation. When she arrived at the Three Broomsticks, she checked her pockets. She found a short note in Harry's distinct scrawl:

We have actually destroyed five horcruxes. Just thought you should know.

Hermione's mouth twitched into a slight smile as she crawled through the tunnel to Hogwarts.

A/N: So I decided to break a long chapter into two shorter ones. Please Review. Criticism is welcome.

Dankalish