Pansy listened with rapt attention as Hermione told her tale. She had reached the Forbidden Forest after a few days of travel and had bravely plunged into it alone. Hermione had attempted to pick up Hagrid's trail, but with very little to go on, she had been reduced to wandering game trails and pathways through the forest. It was only when she happened to wander into the territory of a large group of centaurs that she made headway. Pansy's fingers tightened in nervousness as her girlfriend described being hauled off by some hot-headed centaurs who had declared her to be a trespasser, even though she knew that her girlfriend had come out of it alright.
They had taken her to their leader, an aged centaur named Magorian. Hermione tried to explain that she had no ill-intentions and had crossed into their territory by accident, but they had seemed disinclined to believe her. It was only when Hermione mentioned Hagrid's name that they relented. Some of the centaurs were still of the opinion that she should be punished, but Magorian decided to allow Hermione to leave their territory. As she was being escorted out, a younger centaur named Firenze had offered to guide Hermione to Hagrid's last known location, to the evident displeasure of his fellows.
That location was a large, lived-in cave that was unfortunately empty. Hagrid had departed a long time ago, but Hermione went through the cave with a fine-toothed comb until she discovered something curious. On the wall in the corner of the cave was an odd carving. It was a long line that snaked up and down, with a large X carved below the line off to the side. Below that was what looked like a carving of a strange bird.
At first, Hermione had thought that it referred to some path in the forest or a creek to follow. But something about the shape of the line triggered Hermione's memory faintly. The bird was a more obvious clue, but with her mind led astray by the more mundane birds chirping in the forest around her, it took Hermione a while before she realized what it had to be. It was a Phoenix. This had to refer to the Order of the Phoenix! Armed with that information, Hermione had finally realized what the carved line resembled in her memory. It was the picture she had seen of every original member of the Order of the Phoenix. The line roughly matched where the head of each Order member stood, with the X having to do with a particular member. Hermione's memory was excellent, but she couldn't recall where everyone had stood in it. The fact that they tended to wander around made it even more difficult, even if they generally stuck to the spots they were at when the photograph was taken.
Hermione had pulled out the notes she had made of the dossier Pansy had stolen for them. Hermione's strict attention to detail had paid off here, as she had copied down every scrap of information in the dossier. This included even their estimated heights, which allowed Hermione to narrow down the identity of whoever was given an X, as that person appeared to be easily taller than most people in the photo. That person, whom Hermione thought was almost certainly a man, was the same height as one other person, and both of them were second only to Hagrid when it came to height.
It only took a few minutes for Hermione to narrow down who it could be. It was either Albus Dumbledore or his brother Aberforth. And since the X was nowhere near the center, where Hermione remembered Albus stood, that left only one person it could be: Aberforth Dumbledore. Whoever had carved this here, whether it was Hagrid or someone else, had intentionally left a clue that only an Order member would understand. Or someone with connections to them and who was smart enough to get it, in Hermione's case.
The problem was that Aberforth had supposedly left the country. How was Hermione going to find him then? The only lead she had on Aberforth was that he had owned a bar in Hogsmeade. It had to be shuttered by now, but Hermione had no choice but to investigate it. She had Disapparated quickly after that and had Apparated just outside Hogsmeade. Hermione had waited until dark and had slipped in as soon as the streets were deserted, which happened very quickly after the sun went down.
Pansy took a moment to marvel at the brilliance and tenacity that her girlfriend had shown. Had Pansy been the one to attempt this alone, she would have failed miserably. Even assuming that she wouldn't have given up after a few miserable hours of hiking through rough wilderness, (quite an assumption) Pansy would have probably panicked and used her wand on the centaurs instead of keeping a cool head and reasoning with them as Hermione had done. Pansy would never have found Hagrid's cave, and even if she had, the cryptic clue there would have baffled her.
"You're amazing, love. Absolutely amazing." Pansy said warmly, looking at her girlfriend with earnest appreciation.
Hermione smiled in the honest way she always did when she was complimented. Her girlfriend's skill at keeping her face composed was learned after having taunts, slurs, and ridicule frequently thrown at her while she had grown up at her muggleborn orphanage. Compliments, however, were something that Hermione had rarely received growing up. Consequently, she had very little experience at hiding her pleased reactions to them. Pansy loved seeing that particular smile on her girlfriend's face, and privately vowed to find more opportunities to lavish Hermione with praise in the future. But for now, Pansy kept quiet, as she was keen to hear more about Hermione's adventure.
Aberforth's bar had turned out to be very much closed, and the sign had either been removed or had fallen off. Hermione had forced open a boarded-up backdoor in order to gain entrance to the bar. There had been a thick layer of dust on everything, which had been quite discouraging to her. Nevertheless, Hermione had traveled up the stairs to the main bedroom of the building. Dust was everywhere here, but it was clear that the last person to come into this room had searched it to the point of trashing it. Hermione could just imagine enraged Death Eaters tearing the place up, searching for any scrap of information that would tell them where Aberforth might be. No Death Eater seemed to be as patient and thorough as Hermione could be, however, so she hadn't lost hope. She had carefully sifted through the piles of old debris, searching for anything that might be a clue, when she had heard a small cough behind her. Hermione had wheeled around with her wand raised and had gaped in complete surprise. The large painting over the dusty bed, which had been empty when Hermione had entered, had been suddenly occupied.
A scared looking girl with blonde hair had been watching her from the painting. She didn't look terribly young and was probably only four or five years younger than Hermione herself. But she somehow gave the impression of someone much younger. Hermione had tried to engage the girl in conversation, but it wasn't easy. Although she seemed to understand what Hermione said, she wouldn't speak herself. It took some time, but Hermione eventually got the girl to understand that she was looking for Aberforth, and that she didn't mean him any harm. At that, the girl had walked off the edge of the painting.
Hermione spent many minutes talking to the empty painting, trying in vain to summon the girl back. It was only after half an hour of fruitless cajoling that Hermione had given up and returned to sifting through the trashed room. Unfortunately, even after examining every inch of the room, Hermione hadn't found anything worthwhile. It had been past midnight and Hermione had been walking most of the day. She'd been exhausted and finding it harder to get her brain in gear. No more ideas came to her, and Hermione had just about decided to plop down onto the dusty bed to sleep (a dumb, risky idea) when a barn owl had appeared at the window of the room with a letter tied to its leg.
Hermione had eagerly opened the window and read the letter. It was short and mysterious, telling her only to come to the cemetery in the wizarding town of Ottery St. Catchpole. Although Hermione had felt much more like sleeping for the next twelve hours, she had Apparated just outside there. Hermione had entered the darkened town to find the streets deserted. She had expected it, of course. Hogsmeade had been the same. The only living thing Hermione had seen was a cat with odd, spectacle-shaped markings around its eyes as she had entered the cemetery. Something about the cat had tugged at Hermione's memory, but she had been too tired to invest any mental energy into figuring out where she had remembered a cat from.
The cemetery had not been difficult to find, and as Hermione had entered it, she saw that one of the larger mausoleums had been open. A tall, hooded figure had stood in the entrance with their figure illuminated by a few candles inside of it. It had been an immensely creepy image, but Hermione hadn't hesitated to approach the figure. She had come too far by now and was tantalizingly close to making contact with the Order. Had Hermione been a little more clear-headed, she might have thought twice about the choices she had been making.
The mysterious person, who was definitely a man, had beckoned her to enter before going deeper into the mausoleum himself. Hermione had entered the small chamber to find the man standing behind a raised stone tomb. There had been a goblet resting on top of it. Hermione had begun asking questions about who the man was, but he had refused to answer any of them. He had simply told her to drink from the goblet if she wanted to have her questions answered. The man's voice had been rough and he didn't have a particularly kind or courteous air, but something about him had reminded Hermione of Albus Dumbledore. That wasn't quite enough for Hermione to drink whatever unknown substance had been in the goblet, however, so they had been at an impasse.
Their impasse had been broken after Hermione had heard footsteps behind her. Minerva McGonagall had stepped out of the shadows with her wand pointed squarely at Hermione. She had repeated Aberforth's instructions, with her raised wand silently demonstrating what the alternative would be. Although Hermione could have done without the wand pointed at her, the sight of one of the teachers from the dream world that she had trusted most was enough to allay some of her concerns. She had picked up the goblet in front of her and examined the liquid inside. The light inside the mausoleum was dim, but the thick purple liquid had looked precisely like the Sleeping Draught described in her Potions textbook. Considering that the alternative was likely being Stunned, Hermione had drained the goblet in one swallow and had passed out moments later.
The next thing Hermione had known, she had woken up in some unfamiliar, run-down building and had been immediately interrogated by Minerva McGonagall and Aberforth Dumbledore. The resulting interrogation lasted days, with Hermione having decided to tell nothing but the truth, no matter how strange it sounded. Obviously, they hadn't believed Hermione's tales of some alternate reality she had touched that had allowed her to gather information about Order members. Eventually, though, their disbelief seemed to buckle under the weight of detail that Hermione provided about everything she could remember. The information about Albus Dumbledore, in particular, had an effect on her interrogators. McGonagall had grown quieter and more pensive as Hermione told her what she had known about Albus in the dream world, while Aberforth seemed to grow angrier instead. Whatever issues he had with his brother hadn't had the same resolution here, apparently. But regardless of their differing reactions, both of them had seemed more inclined to believe Hermione after that.
Hermione had held practically nothing back. The one exception was everything that had to do with Pansy. However willing Hermione was to risk her life here, she had refused to put Pansy at similar risk with these people whose trustworthiness had yet to be established conclusively.
At this, Pansy scooted over on the top of the stairwell to embrace her girlfriend. All this danger that Hermione had braved alone, and she still had plenty of concern left for Pansy's safety. Pansy believed that she would do the same for Hermione, but was glad that she hadn't needed to yet. Deep down, Pansy was afraid that her inner cowardice would be something that she couldn't overcome. She was already a braver person because of Hermione's belief in her and encouragement for her, but Pansy had some small, private doubts that it would be enough to counteract her nature. But the way that Hermione hugged her back was helping to dispel those doubts, at least for now. Pansy released her girlfriend and stayed next to her, as Hermione's comforting presence was stronger the closer Pansy was to her. Hermione seemed to understand Pansy's sudden need to be next to her, as she scooted over a bit so that there was no space between them before continuing with her story.
McGonagall and Aberforth had released her on the third day of her interrogation. They still couldn't quite wrap their minds around what Hermione had been telling them, but they were convinced that she was no danger. They had gotten to know each other better over the next few days. It was enough for them to allow Hermione some limited knowledge of the people who were still resisting. So far, Hermione had also met Angelina Johnson, Remus Lupin, and Rubeus Hagrid. They had either met in random, slum-like areas of towns across Britain, or else places in the wilderness that were entirely out of the way.
Hagrid was now living in a long-shuttered mine on the edge of the Caledonian forest in Scotland where Lupin made his home. It was something of a base for Order members, one that showed evidence that there were more people resisting than the handful of members Hermione was allowed to meet. The fact that none of them had made any mention of Emmeline Vance, whom Hermione had known was still active, was yet more proof of that. Hermione hadn't gotten far with her questions with most of the group, however, with the exception of Hagrid. Hagrid had almost let something slip during a conversation over dinner, where he had referred to another, smaller circle within the Order. Hermione had been curious, of course, but Hagrid wouldn't elaborate. The huge man had said only that it was too sensitive to talk about right now.
"Sensitive? What could be more sensitive than what they're doing?" Pansy asked incredulously.
"I don't know. Maybe they'll share more with me when I have something more to offer them." Hermione answered, shrugging slightly.
Pansy knew that this was where she came in. Providing inside information about the activities of the Death Eaters would be crucial for Hermione's standing in this resistance group. Just because Pansy didn't have access to the particular information they wanted wasn't going to stop her here. Ever since Pansy had learned that they wanted to know everything there was to know about the Ministry's closely-guarded stockpiles of wands, her subconscious had been forming the outlines of a plan. That was something in which Pansy excelled. Coming up with complex ideas on the fly was not her strength. But if she gave herself time to mull it over in the back of her mind, Pansy would often surprise herself with the ideas that she came up with. Right now, Pansy was remembering that Draco Malfoy had been placed in the Office of Finance. And she had a plausible reason for meeting with him socially.
"Love, I need you to help me brew some Polyjuice Potion." Pansy said slowly, the plan beginning to come together in her mind.
"Polyjuice Potion?" Hermione asked curiously, her eyebrows rising.
"Yes. I think I have to way to find out what your new friends want to know. I just need to be someone else for a bit." Pansy remarked lightly, smiling at Hermione.