Author's note: Tra-la-la I own nothing :)
Albus Dumbledore looked out of the window in his office and smiled at the young woman who had become very important to him and to the entire wizarding world. She was being chased by young Mr. Black and this made the twinkle in his eyes grow larger.
Both of these students had endured more than they should have at their age and Dumbledore was glad that they had found each other.
Sirius Black was too young to be exiled from his own family, but he knew that the Potters were more of a family to Sirius than his own had ever been. He had watched the little group of misfits get closer to each other and was thrilled that they had become such good friends. They were each others family, and Albus knew they needed each other badly.
He looked down at the blackened ring in his hand and clenched his fist around it. Finally he would be able to ensure the safety of the children at his school and that was more important to him than anything.
As he watched Sirius haul Hermione down to the ground next to the others in their little group he knew that he had to do everything in his power to protect this young woman. He did not want her to have to deal with any more tortures in her life and wanted to protect her above all else.
"Tippy", he called and a small house elf appeared in front of him.
He handed the elf a note, "Could you please make sure that Ms. Hermione Granger receives this note, Tippy?"
"Yes sirs, Mr Headmaster, sir." The little elf took the note, bowed and popped away.
Hermione and the marauders were eating supper in the Great Hall when a house elf popped in and handed her a letter.
With one look at the elegant scrawl on the envelope, she ripped it open excitedly.
Dear Ms. Granger,
I thought it would interest you to know that the ring is no longer a problem. It is currently in my possession and will be taken care of shortly. I knew this information was important to you, thus I thought it best to inform you striaght away, and will be informing the other Order members at out next meeting. It may also interest you to know that a raid will be occurring later this week on the house that we discussed. Please rest a little easier tonight and know that our goal is closer than ever.
Yours,
Albus Dumbledore.
Hermione beamed while reading the letter and though Sirius kept questioning her about what was in the note and who it was from, she ignored him and looked to the head table where Professor Dumbledore sat.
He acknowledged her huge smile with one of his own and a brief nod before going back to his conversation with Minerva.
"What is it Mione" Sirius's whining finally cut through the happiness that was fogging her brain.
"Oh," she replied, "It's from Dumbledore, about the thing that we discussed a while ago." At their blank looks she continued, "About who-know-who and the who-know-whats."
"Oh!" James exclaimed, "has he found another?"
"Yes!" Hermione happily grabbed a large slice of cake and dug in, "with another to possibly come soon!"
The group was ecstatic and began to question her further, but she wouldn't discuss it here in the Great Hall.
Just knowing that there were only two horcruxes left and that one may be found as soon as this week, made Hermione's head spin.
The year was almost over, but everything was on track. James and Lily were more in love than ever and now she knew why they got married so soon after graduation.
It seemed to be a trend among young couples lately. The looming war and numerous attacks were making people panic and many were getting married very young lately. She knew that James was only waiting until graduation to ask Lily because he thought that is what she wanted.
She knew that, providing she hadn't messed anything up, Harry would be born in two years, which meant that Lily and James would be married within this year. The thought of being in their wedding and holding Harry as a baby were what got Hermione through the awful times.
She would do anything to hold baby Harry and to see little Ron Weasley grow up with his brothers. She was asked to attend the next order meeting at the Weasley's house this weekend and was very excited at the thought of seeing her surrogate parents again, even if they didn't know her that well.
She had kept in contact with Molly, especially after the Hogsmeade incident. Molly had nearly come to Hogwarts herself after learning that Hermione was in the hospital wing again, but once Hermione had told her that she was only in for a night and she made a full recovery, Molly had backed down, but kept writing weekly.
Ron would be coming along in exactly two years and then Ginny shortly after. Thinking of seeing all of her friends as babies and watching them grow was rather frightening, but she knew that their lives would be so much better this time around.
"Ready to go, Hermione?" McGonagall asked as she came into the parlour of her rooms.
"Whenever you are. I can't wait to see everyone again!" Hermione was extremely excited to see everyone that she had met over the holidays.
So far she knew that at least one death had been prevented. Since Benjy Fenwick had been tracking down the Gaunt ring for Dumbledore, he was not in the small muggle village when it was attacked. The attack on this little village, in her time, lead to the capture and subsequent torture and death of Benjy, but now he was alive and happy and she would see him soon.
Upon stepping out the fireplace at the Burrow she was immediately assaulted by two excited red-heads.
"Hermy! Hermy!" the little Weasley's were chanting.
"Mom said you were coming, but she said I had to wait for 3 sleeps and they took forever!" Bill Weasley was talking a mile a minute, but Hermione was glued to every word.
"William Weasley, give Hermione a chance to breathe!" Molly came into the kitchen holding little Percy in her arms and smiling at Hermione.
"Hello dear," she came forward and, passing Percy off to Arthur, wrapped Hermione in a huge hug.
"So glad to have you back with us, you must promise to visit more often. The boys haven't stopped talking about you since Christmas. When they overheard Arthur and I talking about you being hurt, Bill tried to sneak off through the floo to visit you."
As Molly was talking, Bill had already climbed into Hermione's arms and was now comfortably sitting in her grasp and talking a mile a minute. Molly looked at him with a smile on her face and laughed, "He's developed quite a crush on you, Hermione. You'll have to tell that boyfriend of yours to watch out because he has competition
Bill's ears perked up at the word 'boyfriend' and he immediately pulled back from Hermione to look at her, "You have a boyfriend, Hermy?"
At his heartbroken voice, Hermione sadly smiled and kissed him on the cheek before explaining, "Yes, honey. His name is Sirius and he loves Quidditch just like you. I bet you two would be best friends. You'll get to meet him soon, I promise."
Bill jumped from her arms and crossed his, "I don't like him." That was all he responded before running off into another room.
The adults merely laughed and went into the kitchen to join the other Order members.
Hermione immediately noticed two people that she had not met before, the Potters.
Charles and Dorea Potter were a lovely older couple who were so clearly in love that it almost made the room a happier place. James was an exact younger version of his father, which must be a trait among the Potter boys as Harry was always told how much he looked like James.
"So this is the girl that my son never stops talking about!" Dorea was in front of Hermione as soon as she entered and had her pulled into a hug.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Potter. James is one of my very best friends. He has almost been like a brother to me since I arrived," Hermione replied.
"I've also heard that you've stolen our other son's heart" Charles cut in with a smirk.
Hermione felt her face heat up and she turned red, "Charles, leave the girl alone, you've made her blush," Dorea chastised with a laugh.
"Hello all!" Albus Dumbledore came through to the kitchen and everyone stopped socializing and began to take their seats around the table to start the meeting.
"Well as you all know, we have found another horcrux and now only have two left to find before we can finally face Tom and defeat him once and for all."
Everyone's faces became excited and people began whispering back and forth. Minerva patted the back of Hermione's hand as she saw her get excited as well.
"As I'm sure you have noticed, Alastor isn't here today and that is because he is currently with a group of aurors conducting a search on the Malfoy home. We believe that another horcrux is hidden there and hope to be in possession of it very soon."
Dumbledore's face became solemn as he continued, "It appears that Tom is becoming more desperate and bold with his attacks and another muggle village was destroyed last week. I am becoming concerned that he can feel these pieces of his soul being destroyed, so I have refrained from destroying the ring and when we obtain the last two pieces we will not destroy them until right before we attack."
"As you all know, our 7th years will be graduating in a few weeks and I am beginning to think that Tom will be planning an attack during our graduation ceremony. I would appreciate some of you joining me at the castle during the ceremony for extra security at this time."
Several members volunteered right away and Dumbledore continued, "I would like to add extra wards and would appreciate some escorts for the parents of the muggleborn students that are attending."
"I am expecting a report from Alastor sometime soon and will keep you all informed of how the raid went and how close we are to finding the final piece. For now, I would like to ask Gideon and Fabian to please follow me back to my office as I have an assignment that I would like you two to complete for me."
Everyone began talking amongst themselves and Dumbledore came to Hermione, "The correct date is approaching and I am so very thankful that you've supplied me with the information to save these men," he whispered into her ear.
Hermione's face lit up as she watched Gideon and Fabian rise, place kisses on their sister's cheeks, and follow Dumbledore out into the fireplace. They're going to be alright. Fred and George will have two great uncles to get prank advice from. She laughed a little to herself and went back to listening as Minerva was taking names for security at Graduation.
"Molly?" Hermione asked as she watched Percy being fed, "Could I ask you a favour?"
"Of course, dear. I've told you that Arthur and I will do anything for you."
"I was wondering if you would come to graduation as my guests. Minerva is going to be there of course, but she will be handing out the diplomas and be sitting with the rest of the professors. Listening to others talk about their parents coming has made me realize that I really want someone in that audience. I know that I'm not your daughter and that you barely know me, but all of our letters and the time that I've spent at your home has made me feel so at home and I love you both so much that it would mean a lot to me if you could be there."
Hermione spit all of this out very fast and barely took a breath during her little speech. She was trying to not get emotional, but with classmates talking of parents, she began to realize how much she missed her own and though Minerva has been the best guardian she could ever ask for, the Weasley's have always held a special place in her heart.
Molly Weasley began to tear up and grabbed Hermione into a breath-stealing hug, "Oh you foolish girl, of course we will be there! Arthur and I would be honoured to get to see you graduate and I'm sure Bill would love to see you again so soon." She responded with a wink.
"Those three days before you came here were filled with endless questions about where you were and when you were coming. I'm sure he'd be thrilled that he doesn't have to wait too long again."
Hermione watched Bill chase Nymphadora around the house and smiled, "Maybe I could introduce him to Sirius," she laughed.
Once everyone had gotten their assignments for graduation, the Order began to part ways.
"We'll see you soon darling," Arthur said as her hugged her goodbye.
"Make sure you study hard, Hermione. NEWTS are coming up and they're very important, but apparently you're top of the class, so I'm sure that you'll do fine."
With another round of hugs and congratulations being extended to Benjy for his work on finding the ring, Hermione and Minerva left.
Benjy was safe, Gideon and Fabian were on a mission that would keep them safe and they only had two pieces of Voldemort's soul left to find. Graduation was coming up soon and Hermione was excited to finally sit her NEWTS and officially join the Order.
In a few short months, she was hoping to be able to face Voldemort and destroy him before he could affect Harry's life. Hopefully the diary and cup will be coming along soon and we can end this as soon as possible. She was more confident in finding the diary than she was in finding the cup.
Breaking into Gringotts was nearly impossible the first time and they had had Bellatrix's wand and Griphook's help. This time, she was hoping Dumbledore could come up with some other way to get into the vault.
Moody had a very detailed description of the diary. Everything that she could remember about the diary, she had told him, and with his magical eye she was sure that he would find it.
Now that Dumbledore thought that Voldemort could feel the destruction of the pieces, he had told Moody to make a copy of the diary and place it back once he had the original. Hopefully, Malfoy would tell his master that the diary was still in place and he would not panic and cause more death and destruction before they could destroy him.
When she walked through the portrait hole and into the common room and saw her boyfriend immediately look up and smile at her, her heart lifted. She had a great life here now and, unfortunately, she just needed to play the waiting game and hope that the pieces would be found sooner than later.