Hermione consulted her schedule again, a heavy sigh leaving her lips. She loathed when she had to clean the King's dorm. Not that it was too messy or anything, it's just that every time she went, the King would wait for her and order her around.

"Pick this up, useless mudblood," "Clean over there, you disgusting excuse of witch," and "This is still dirty, stupid girl," were some phrases she had to listen to on every occasion.

So, as she walked through the cold, wet corridor that led to the dungeons, she was not very pleased. She reached the bottom where an iron door waited for her. The only illumination came from a torch at the girl's right. She knocked three times and waited for Grindelwald to answer. When he didn't appear after a couple of minutes, Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. He was always there, for he feared she would try and steal something from him every time she was inside his dorm. She knocked once again, this time harder, but gathered no response from the inside. The girl pressed her face against the cold door, inhaling the strong smell of iron, trying to hear any movements inside the room, but the silence still remained. Grindelwald wasn't in there, oddly. Maybe someone had changed Hermione's schedule and didn't tell her? She took her wand out of her dress and with a flick of it a piece of parchment appeared in front of her, floating. Hermione grabbed it and read the words quickly, her eyes flying across the paper. No, no one had touched her schedule. It said clearly "15h30min: Clean the King's dorms."

Hermione bit her lower lip, and with another flick of her wand, the parchment disappeared. Well, she had to enter the place, sooner or later. She took a breath, and opened the door.

First, she was quite surprised the door wasn't locked; the King was famous for his unfounded paranoia. Then, she was relieved he wasn't inside sleeping. She furrowed her eyebrows, still concerned at why he wasn't there, but with a shrug of her shoulders she walked inside. Hermione had no time to think about the King's behavior at the moment, but she did save the thought for further investigation when she was alone in her room later that day. She added it to the list that included the incident with Lord Riddle in the morning and the information gathered in the Kitchens. Tonight, Hermione would have many things to worry about before she slept.

The girl had just made the King's bed when she heard a peculiar noise from behind the door, but when she turned nothing was there.

"Is someone there?" she wondered loudly, aware of how stupid the question sounded, yet unable to stop herself from asking it.

The only answer she got was a heavy silence. Hermione tried to turn back to work, telling herself it had been nothing but a drop of water or the wind, but her mind refused the options, making her more and more uneasy every second. Finally, she decided she would prove to her stupid brain that there was nothing to fear. With large steps, she reached the iron door that hung half closed, and with a swift movement she opened it widely. Before her stood a very pale boy with shocking red hair, smiling. Hermione jumped slightly, putting a hand on her chest.

"Ronald Weasley! What do you think you're doing scaring the living hell out of people?" She asked him in a hushed tone.

"Sorry, sorry," he answered, raising his hands as to show her he was not armed. "I just heard from Dobby that you would be down here, and Slughorn just gave me time off, so I thought why not visit you, right?" He completed, entering the room and throwing himself on the recently made bed.

"What do you think you are doing, Ron? The King could be here at any minute! Besides, I've just made this bed and now you've ruined it! Get up." She ordered him, her mouth set in a thin line.

"Why? You can make the bed with a flick of your wand, Hermione. And besides," he imitated her tone, coming to a sitting position, "the King isn't here, and I doubt he'll make it to dinner."

Hermione blinked slowly and opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but the boy seemed to know exactly what was inside her head, for he started speaking again.

"Grindelwald received an owl this morning. I don't know what was written in it precisely, all I know is that he took half of the Army and flew away as fast as he could. I asked Dean if he knew anything, since he's a great friend with Seamus, whom Grindelwald took along, and he said it has something to do with a rebellion in the North." Ron ended, crossing his arms with a happy expression on his face full of freckles. For once he knew something his friend didn't.

Hermione sat next to Ron. So, that was the reason the King wasn't there to make his daily insults. She felt her face fall while she sighed audibly. For a moment she had hoped the absence of Grindelwald meant something more profound, involving conspiracy or secret plans. Instead, all she got was a silly rebellion! How disappointing.

"Aren't you happy the King is facing a rebellion?" asked Ron, watching her carefully, his head tilted. Hermione looked up at him, half a smile on her face.

"Oh, it will end in nothing like it always does. The King will crush them like bugs." Her tone was plain, as was her expression. She had learned long ago that no one could defeat the King.

"Hermione, sometimes you are so pessimistic. You've got to have hope! After all, if we don't have hope, then what else do we have?" Ron said, jumping up and messing his hair, reminding her immediately of Harry doing the same thing, but in the other's case, trying to contain it.

She eyed Ron, thinking. Her friend hadn't faced the war as she and Harry did. Ron was from a pure-blood family, related to every other pure-blood family in the Kingdom and, legend was, to every pure-blood family ever. Sure, the Weasleys were known as blood traitors because at the beginning they had sided with the muggleborns and tried to bring down Grindelwald. Obviously, they were unsuccessful, and as a way of controlling the rebellious family, the King took Ron as one of his Army's soldiers (apparently an honor, but in truth it was a way of keeping his family in check, for if the Weasleys didn't cooperate, Grindelwald could easily kill the boy). Ron, though, didn't seem to fear the King as much as everyone else. He had always been treated kindly by everyone in the court, and he had a relative freedom that neither Hermione nor Harry had, so for him to have hope was an easy task.

However, his words stuck with her. If she didn't have hope, then what else would she have? She, too, jumped to her feet.

"Well, since you are here, you will help me clean this up!" She bossed him, lifting her chin and smiling while he groaned in disagreement.

She tried to clear her mind of any kind of thought as she organized the room, but the damage had been done already. She was hoping, and once she started she couldn't stop.

Tom was in the middle of a painting for the Parkinsons when he heard footsteps approaching and a timid knock on his door. He clenched his teeth. Everyone in the kingdom knew better than to interrupt him while he was working. He hoped the person behind the door had a damn good reason to be there.

He didn't bother to smile or pretend to be pleasant when he opened the door. On the other side, he found a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes standing on the other side.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Lord Dumbledore wanted me to give you this," she said with an odd voice, like she wasn't at all there. She handed him a piece of rolled parchment, and with a smile as odd as her voice, she disappeared again.

Tom had just sat down, and was about to open the message when he heard a loud crack behind him. He turned around, arming himself in the process. This time, in front of him was a tiny creature wearing a dirty sheet.

"I-I'm so-sorry sir. The K-King ordered me to gi-give you this message-e," mumbled the house elf.

Tom snatched the piece of paper from the tiny creature's hand.

"What is it? The 'give this to Tom and stop him from working' day?" He wondered angrily, shooting a glance to the shaking house elf.

"I do-don't… I just-t… Please…"

Tom squeezed his wand tightly, but instead of hexing the thing as was he wished, the boy simply dismissed it with a shake of his free hand.

After he was once again alone and sitting, Tom put both messages on the table. Which one should he read first? For sure, one had to be the consequence of the other, for everyone knew Dumbledore and Grindelwald had been having some strong disagreements lately. Tom scratched his neck. He chose Grindelwald's message.

In very careless handwriting, the King's message was as informative as it was short.

"Rebellion in the North. The McGonagall family are the leaders. May have to bring a hostage. Don't forget your little mission. I will be back as soon as possible. If in trouble, look for Sir Snape.

Your Highness,

Grindelwald"

Tom smirked. Well, it seemed he had made the right decision to open the King's letter first. With the King out, of course Dumbledore's special group would request an immediate meeting for planning the King's downfall. And, sure enough, Dumbledore's note summoned him to a meeting that same night.

"Lord Riddle,

As you are probably aware by now, the King isn't within the Castle's grounds anymore, and he may take some time to grace us with his presence again. We need to use this time as wisely as we can. Today, at midnight, a meeting will take place at Ravenclaw's Tower. No moves are meant to be taken, for the sole reason of this reunion is to plan and talk. I trust I don't have to remind you to not talk to anyone about it. No one is to be trusted.

Dumbledore"

Tom took both notes, and with a flick of his wand, made them burn slowly before his eyes. He couldn't leave any evidence of his double espionage. As he watched the ashes fall to the ground, his painting forgotten now, he thought about Dumbledore's words. No one is to be trusted. For once, Tom agreed with the old fool, but he didn't understand why the other didn't use a code on his message. If even half of those words reached the King's hand, everyone, including himself, would be damned! In that night's reunion, Tom would suggest a codename and code for their group. They couldn't be reckless if they were to successfully take the King out of power. He couldn't be reckless if he were to successfully take the King's place.

Oh wow, finally the 4th chapter is up! I'm sorry about how long it took, I just started college and things are a bit messy still. But don't worry, I have the next few chapter already written down or their draft at least, so I won't abandon it :3

Well, I hope you enjoy and review and favorite and what not!