Chapter Eight

Harry could tell that Severus was angry with him.

"Did you listen to what she had to say," Severus was asking him.

"Yes, I did," Harry answered. They were in the antechamber, a room just behind the high table in the great hall. There were a few stragglers in the Great Hall from the feast and Harry nodded to Severus to join him. The conversation had started out about Daniel.

Harry stood looking at the man with a furrowed brow. He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Severus, you know Daniel better than anyone. You also have been with the kumpania long enough to know that making him an example is the worst possible thing to do to him."

"Perhaps it's time for him to learn to let go of the Rom ways," Severus replied. "It's time he learn that he can show his skills to others and not be embarrassed by them. It makes sense that he train with older students, too. He doesn't have Jonas anymore" he raised a hand "…and I'm not saying that was a good situation, Harry. But there are no High Senseve to guide him now. He is on his own."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Harry asked dumbfounded. The issue that had brought them into the room was forgotten. "Or are you listening to that woman!"

Snape stood straight and towered over Harry. They both stood at the fireplace in front of the roaring fire.

"That woman your talking about is a teacher that you employed," Severus said loudly. "If you do not trust her to give you her assessment of the situation you should not have hired her."

"Don't tell me what I hired her for," Harry was arguing back, "I hired her to teach, not to put on a show with my son as the dancing bear!"

"She is hardly putting on a show," Severus began.

Harry interrupted, "No? Then perhaps you should talk to your godson, or have you forgotten about him?" Harry was getting angrier. "Is it so easy to forget your feelings about him and give them up to win the affections of this woman?! You've seen with your own eyes what it's like for him."

Severus set his jaw, and his face turned grim. "What are you accusing me of Mr. Potter?"

"Don't do that, Severus," Harry hissed. "You wall away your heart and turn to stone whenever it's time to have a feeling. We are your family!"

At that moment, a voice drew their attention. Hermione stood in the doorway, "Settle down boys, I have bad news."

------------------

She sat before the fire and looked at both of them. "Dumbledore is dead. I received the news this evening before I left for home. It's obvious neither of you have heeded my advice nor have you talked to one another." She sighed and tapped the edge of the soft chair. "The body was retrieved before I could reach it and verify that it was him. I intended to put an armed guard on him night and day so that I could be sure a switch was not made. But I was too late. Aberforth, or whoever claimed to be Aberforth Dumbledore, claimed the body and whisked it away. Of course, we will have a State funeral, since Albus was a famous heroic figure for many, many years."

Harry sat listening to her, stunned. Dead, Albus dead? he winced at the thought, couldn't quite grasp it. He turned and looked at Severus who sat in a chair across from him. He looked shocked.

"I have two Aurors, Macklebee and Springly, that I had snooping around, Thank goodness," she said. "They should be reporting to me shortly. Hopefully, one tracked Aberforth and the body. We still may be able to catch them when they make the switch."

"Switch?" Harry jabbered, "what switch?"

"Hermione's theory is that Albus has not really died, Harry." Severus was speaking in a low voice, "That there are a group of men who have a secret society, their purpose yet unknown. That they will replace the living Dumbledore with a dead person who looks like Dumbledore. It was easily done with you when you faced Voldemort for the first time and Jolie and the Roma tricked him and others into believing he had killed you."

Harry remembered. It was the year he'd run away from the Dursleys, ended up in the Rom camp and had planned an escape from Voldemort. For a year he lived under another name and had even attended Hogwarts. He watched his friends, Hermione and Ron grieve for him, until he was able to reveal that he was alive.

Snape continued, "The theory is that he will continue to live out another life with a new identity and has, in fact, been doing so for generations." His voice was deepening and cold.

Hermione leaned in and looked at Severus with a gentle loving face, "Severus, I would never put you through this if I didn't think it plausible. I know that you loved him. I would never make a mockery of his death if I wasn't sure of my theory." She stood and walked to him and leaned down and slowly and gently picked up his hand that rested on the chair arm. He looked up and stared at her with his dark eyes and suddenly the face began to soften. "I would never hurt you in that way," she said.

Harry watched the transformation as Hermione knelt and placed her arms around his neck. He lowered his head and buried his face in her hair, his arms coming around to tighten around her. Harry knew exactly how he was feeling. Only months before he had done the very same thing, overwhelmed with despair and grief.

The man dressed in black finally released her.

"If I'm right Severus, he is not gone. I don't know why they do this but we can find out…find him," she whispered to him. He was looking at her, his forehead creased in a frown. "Don't you think we should do this?" She was looking back.

Harry thought that they looked like two lovers contemplating each other. Hermione had a gift for finding the place that hurt and healing it with her kindness.

Severus was nodding. Their gaze was broken when Hermione turned to Harry. "We must go tonight. Both of you are the best-trained men I know. You are the only ones that can find him, find out what is going on." She let go of Severus' hand and stood to meet Harry as he rose from his seat. "Let me explain what I've already told Severus. We have time, only just. Then I think we need to act, and very quickly." She stared deep into his face. "Harry this concerns you and Daniel and Nadya. I can feel it, like it's happening to my own child. Does that make sense?"

Harry stared back and the words that Nadya had spoken to him drifted back, 'My heart is in your hands, Harry… I knew that you needed me, it just came to me. We are now joined to each other. My heart is in your hands and his; and yours are in mine.' He thought he was beginning to understand.

------------

"I think they have retained their name, The Order of the Phoenix. It's purpose has changed over time, but the members remain the same. They are people who have lived very long lives." Hermione was back in her chair sipping tea. "We heads of state, as they are called in the muggle world, are endowed with keeping secrets when we enter office. Cornelius Fudge told the muggle Minister that the wizarding world existed. There are things I know about the muggle world that cannot be talked about," Hermione studied the floor. "I know that I can talk to the both of you, but it would surely mean my life if anyone knew. There are groups of men who run the world. They do it without their names being put in print. No one knows them and that is the way they wish it to be. I became aware that we also have witches and wizards in our world who do the same thing. They remain anonymous, above and away from our daily woes. They don't concern themselves with evil wizards that will live a lifetime and are gone; like Voldemort."

"What do they concern themselves with Hermione?" Harry asked

She shook her head. "I don't know, Harry. All I know is that it involves Dumbledore. He is a Guardian. You, more than I, knows what that means. I think both of you know." She looked at Severus who sat quietly in his own chair watching the fire burn. "I think Hogwarts is a central point, although I don't know how that fits in. They work behind the scenes, playing at it like a game of chess. They make a move and that move affects generations of people's lives."

She stood and moved to the fire, still dressed in a traveling cloak. "I began to receive emissaries about a month ago. These were men who requested meetings with me. At first they started with letters, and then messengers and finally I had a meeting. It started because the book went to print- Hogwarts: A History, Revisited." She turned to them.

"You see no one ever really read the first one. No one but me." She looked at them suddenly looking very fragile and frightened. "Then, I wrote the revision and someone did notice."

Severus seemed to regain his energy when he saw her fear. Harry nodded as he watched. There was nothing like having someone he cared about in danger. Severus would fight a lion bare-fisted to protect someone he cared about. "What were the letters and the meetings about?" he asked.

She dropped into a chair. "They were very pleasant," she laughed and then frowned, "at first. The basic message was, 'leave us in peace, do not interfere with something that you can't begin to understand. Then, it was, 'due your duty as a servant of your people. You are obligated to keep these things from them so they are not hurt'. Finally," she looked at them both, "they sent Dumbledore to me."

Harry found himself leaning in and holding his breath. "Dumbledore?"

She nodded. "They knew I was suspicious. A thorough reading of the book would do that, plus I had become Minister and I was privy to a lot of information hidden in the Department of Mysteries. They knew that I cared about Dumbledore, that he was our headmaster, that he was head of the Order and I was a member and I think finally, he told them that we had a relationship together. How all of us had become close to each other. I already knew what he had done to you Harry and to your father."

Harry sat back and considered what she was saying. He had stopped talking to Dumbledore after finding out that he and the other Guardians had set him up to be Voldemort's assassin. Was this connected? he wondered.

"Some plan has been put into action. It began with Albus' death tonight. I know that we must follow his body and not lose sight of it. I am only praying that Macklebee and Springly have done just that. If they have failed then it will be very easy to silence me so that the secret remains safe."

Harry was stunned at the implication. So that was it. Whatever else was happening, Hermione's life was at risk. He glanced at Severus who also looked stunned. "Hermione, I am so sorry!" Harry was on his feet in an instant, Severus was not far behind. "I never thought for a moment that you were talking about being in danger. I…I'm just so sorry!"

"Well, a Minister's life is always a bit at risk," she managed a smile at both of them. "I am after all a muggle. The purebloods have half a mind to do me in anyway. The house elves hate me, and there's any number of other people and creatures that would like a say in how I end up. It just seems that this groups is a little more...lethal," she finished.

"What can we do, Hermione," Severus asked. He also looked alarmed.

"Come with me tonight and talk to the Aurors. If we find Albus' body we need to keep watch over it. That will be easy enough, since we can all act like mourners. We have to force him to reveal himself or for them to reveal themselves and find out what they want.

I will put everything into place that needs to be in place for a real funeral and all of that. I can act the part," she said and sat her cold tea down. "Now is about time to find the Aurors. They should have returned to my office minutes ago." She stood sandwiched between them and had to look up into their faces. "I know he is not dead, I know it in my heart."

Harry stared back and nodded.