Chapter 22: Calculated risks
"Merlin I'm knackered," Fred groaned after the last of their guests had finally left the burrow. It was a long evening and the discussions went on for several hours into the middle of the night. And they hadn't even been able to discuss half of the stuff they wanted to.
"Let's head home then. Mum will be happy to get rid of us," George said and pointed his head in the direction of Snape's portrait. The man was sitting in his wingchair again and hid himself behind a rather ancient looking book. Hermione nodded and walked towards the frame.
"Professor Snape? Would you like to move to your other frame in the headmaster's office before we leave? It might get a bit bumpy for you otherwise."
The man scowled at her darkly. "I'm sure I'll manage. Just don't drop the frame if you please."
She nodded with a gentle smile. "I'll be careful, Sir." And she was. Fred would have used the chance to bump the portrait against some corners on the way, just to annoy the infuriating man. But his wife seemed to have developed a soft spot for the professor and carried him with the utmost care.
Fred almost felt sorry for the guy himself. He could tell that Snape had disliked being in the spotlight during the meeting and having his actions exposed and explained by Harry and Hermione. But he had suffered through it with a stoic calmness that he had also kept up when Minerva and Filius asked for his forgiveness while cradling his frame. Fred had been weirded out by this display at first but now he assumed that there must have been something like comradery or friendship between the professors before their fall out. What would he himself feel like, if he was forced to let everybody think he had betrayed them and see them easily believe the worst of him? Not something he would like to imagine let alone experience. But he hopefully wouldn't have to.
It took them about half an hour to finally sink into their own bed and even though Fred was dead tired he cuddled against his wife and asked: "Love? Are you alright?" She had seemed fine later that evening but he still kept remembering her face, when she had seen Ron and his new girlfriend.
She yawned tiredly. "Just tired. Things did go quite well I think and I'm quite satisfied with what we achieved today."
He smiled fondly and saw his brother do the same behind her. "Yeah, this could have gone much worse, but that's actually not what I meant. I'm asking because of Ron."
At that understanding dawned in her eyes but she still said. "What about him?"
George cuddled closer from behind: "Well, you were close to him once, so close that you expected him to take our place. It would be quite understandable if you were upset seeing him with a new girlfriend."
Hermione sighed tiredly. "Is that what they are? They are together?"
Fred nodded warily. "That's what he told me earlier, I'm sorry."
But Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Why would you be sorry? I'm glad that he found somebody that makes him happy."
"You are?" George asked from behind in a surprised tone.
"Sure. It would be kind of selfish of me to begrudge him his love and happiness, when I already found it myself."
Fred grinned at her happily. "Quite right. And why would you be jealous of ickle Ronekins if you secured yourself his two much more charming brothers."
Hermione snorted. "I'm not confirming that one, you know? No need to feed this big head of yours."
Fred kissed her soundly on the mouth. "No need, love. Just kiss me already. I know I'm right anyway."
Hermione giggled and swatted his arm playfully. And then she kissed him - thoroughly.
Hermione threw herself into her training and studies with renewed vigour. She could tell that the time for their final confrontation was creeping nearer, or at least she hoped it did, as her slowly swelling tummy reminded her that time was running out. If she wanted to participate in a fight, it would need to happen soon. And Hermione wanted to be prepared for that occasion.
Luckily the other's seemed to share her opinion that they shouldn't wait too long to approach Voldemort.
"We mustn't wait until he has cemented his place in society," Neville said and sipped at his tea at the kitchen table in Spinner's end. "It will only make things more difficult afterwards."
Harry agreed with him. "Yeah, we can't risk a big battle were he brings all his followers, the dementors, giants and whatnot. We wouldn't stand a chance against such a force."
Hermione agreed. They couldn't risk a big offensive, but this would mean that his followers would still be around afterwards. "Then we'll have to be sneaky, lure him out or trap him somehow. The problem is we also need to take out the snake, preferably first."
The twins nodded solemnly. "Are you sure he'd bring the snake along, Harry? Maybe he just hid her away somewhere? If she really is another horcrux then he wouldn't risk her getting hurt."
Harry sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's something that Dumbledore said to Snape. The headmaster was sure, that he'd keep her close as soon as he realized the other horcruxes were gone. I mean, think about it. He hid the other one's in places, that he deemed safe or with people he believed to be trustworthy. But those pieces of his soul are gone anyway. So who is left? Whom does he trust the most?"
"Himself," the other four answered in unison and Harry nodded.
"Exactly," their friend agreed. "Which means: if we get him, we also get the snake."
Hermione hummed thoughtfully. "But he hasn't shown his face much in public, has he? And I can't help but wonder, why not? What is he afraid of? He's convinced he won the war, isn't he?
Fred shrugged. "Maybe he isn't one for big public appearances? I wouldn't want much publicity if I had such a face. I mean honestly, missing an ear is bad enough. But missing a nose?"
George snorted next to him. "Maybe he's working on a glamour for himself."
At that they couldn't help themselves and erupted into a round of laughter. It was a much needed release of the tension that had slowly settled on all of their shoulders. Hermione giggled helplessly for several minutes but calmed herself more quickly than the others, who were still holding their bellies with laughter. She cleared her throat to focus their attention back on her and said: "Well, who was the only one that You-know-who feared except Dumbledore?" She waited a moment until everybody got on her train of thought. "What if he doesn't believe Harry's dead? I mean, we never found a body and neither did they. Remember how it was back when we were 11. Even though you-know-who was declared dead, not everybody believed in it. And he certainly wasn't. He knows that you don't necessarily have to be dead, even though you are declared so." She let the words hang in the room for a moment and saw the boy's faces sober one by one.
"You mean he knows I'm alive?" Harry asked her urgently. She shrugged.
"I think he at least suspects. That's why we need to be careful. He knows we are your friends and I wouldn't be surprised, if they are watching us." The twins nodded solemnly and instinctively moved a bit closer to her. Hermione couldn't help the smile that bloomed on her face at such a show of protectiveness. "Eventually we can use this to our advantage. Maybe we could set a trap for him with Harry as bait. But therefore we'd need a really good plan, first."
Neville and Harry nodded darkly. "We can't afford to make a mistake here. We'll all think about it. And until we have a good plan, we train. Even if he comes alone with his snake, we still have to kill them. And this will be hard enough."
They all nodded in unison and looked at each other. "Let's make sure he doesn't kill us first." Neville said and even though Hermione expected the twins to make a funny remark about that, they didn't. Instead they looked at each other solemnly and Hermione couldn't help but feel that they just had a silent conversation. And she couldn't help but wonder if they were talking about her.
Time was running out even faster for them than they thought. It was the mid of August when they were made aware of the ministry's newest move during breakfast. The three of them had just sat themselves down at the table and filled their cups with tea, when their floo roared and Mrs Weasley and Ginny stumbled through. It took one look at their faces to recognize, that something was wrong.
"Mum, Ginny, are you alright?" Fred and George asked at the same time and leaped from their seats. Their mum smiled at them tiredly, while Ginny threw herself at George and hugged him fiercely.
"Have you seen the prophet this morning?" the older woman asked seriously and Hermione shook her head. "Not yet. I assume there are bad news?"
Their guests sighed tiredly and sat themselves down at the table. "School is starting soon," Ginny said and looked at them solemnly. "They are making us all go back, well not all of us. Muggleborns are still forbidden to attend, but all purebloods and halfbloods without NEWTS or a regular job will be forced by law to return.
The twins looked at her with raised brows. "You didn't plan on going back, did you?"
Ginny smiled sadly at them. "You don't know how it's been last year. Detention with Umbridge was child's play compared to what they did to us. Neville got it the worst, but…" She didn't finish the sentence, but she didn't have to. They had all heard about the dark things that had happened during that year.
"Ginny'll still have to go back next year, if she doesn't want to end in Askaban," Molly said darkly and the twins swore loudly. "They just established a new law that leaves us no choice in the matter."
Hermione nodded darkly. "It might get even worse this year I fear. Last year Snape was headmaster and he assigned most of the detentions himself to avoid the use of torture as much as possible. I don't think Lucius Malfoy will have any qualms about that."
Ginny shuddered and tried to supress a sob, but it escaped her lips anyway. George was on her side instantly and pulled her protectively in his arms. Fred glared into his teacup instead and looked, like he was about to blow something up.
"We can't let them hurt her," he murmured darkly and George nodded fiercely. Hermione looked at them solemnly but her head had already started thinking. She had to admit, that it was a clever move from the ministry. By forcing everybody back to Hogwarts they could keep them under their thumbs and make sure, that Harry would have difficulties to reach out to his friends. Because Ginny wouldn't be the only one who would be forced to return to the school. Ron and Luna were in the same boat.
"Don't worry Ginny, we won't let them put a finger on you," Hermione promised before looking at the twins inquiringly. "Isn't that right boys?"
At that both of them looked up to her, before a devilish grin spread on their faces. "Why do I get the idea, that our Hermione's got a plan?" Fred asked towards his brother, before nodding towards her encouragingly.
George laughed. "Probably because she's got that look on her face."
Hermione sent them a puzzled look. "Which look?"
Fred grinned at her. "The look that tells us, that the others are in big trouble."
Hermione laughed. "They are."
Compared to the break-in into Gringotts or their coop at the ministry the operation Hermione had planned out seemed almost safe. But that didn't say much of course. There were still a hundred or so things that could go horribly wrong, as Molly pointed out during one of their next meetings. But Hermione and the twins didn't let themselves discourage from that. In stark contrast to her last endeavours, this new plan was a group operation and not just the desperate attempt of three teenagers to do the impossible. Because if everything went like they had planned, their targets would be quite outnumbered. The plan as easy enough: slip into Hogwarts after the welcome feast, stun and disarm Lucius Malfoy, throw him into the darkest dungeon of the castle and use the enormous stock of polyjuice from Snape's lab to substitute him with a more suitable person. Fred and George had volunteered to do the deed, but they had agreed to take turns, so that either of them could be still regularly spotted in their shop in diagon alley.
"And you're sure this will work?" they were asked more than once, but Hermione didn't seem fazed in the least and simply replied, that the exact same thing had already happened during their fourth year with Mad Eye Moody and nobody had been the wiser. This year half of the staff would be supportive of their endeavour and ready to help out if need be. So what could possible go wrong?
"Merlin Hermione, stop running a hole into the carpet," Fred complained while they waited in their living room. Harry and Neville were already there with them, as they had agreed to accompany them into Hogwarts, once they would activate their portkey into the headmaster's office. Ginny, Luna, Ron and Lavender would be also back in the castle, but they were already sitting at the welcoming feast in the great hall.
Hermione groaned and threw herself back onto the sofa. "I just don't know what takes him so long. The feast should be long over and he should be back in his office by now."
George shrugged. "Don't worry, love. Who knows what a long speech he's prepared for the students. Do you remember the year Umbridge taught at school? It was the welcome feast with the longest speech ever."
"To right. We should be happy they didn't bring the cow back into Hogwarts. Can you imagine one of us would have to play her and sit in her pink, cat-picture-infested office?" Harry said and made a gagging noise.
Fred grinned. "Well, you'd have to grow fond of bows, that's for sure. Otherwise you'd try to strangle yourself with one of them by the second day."
They all laughed, but suddenly George raised his hand and motioned towards to large sphere, that was floating in the middle of the room. It showed the headmasters office from an angle, that allowed to watch the door and the desk at the same time.
"He's back," George murmured and suddenly their laughter died down and was replaced by concentrated silence.
"Let's wait another minute and see if he's getting a visitor," Harry proposed and they all stepped around the orb to keep an eye on their target. But the minute was over much faster, than they had expected.
"Alright boys, let's do this," Fred grinned and Hermione couldn't help but scowl at him. Merlin, she wanted to come with them so badly. But they had argued back and forth in the last days and Hermione had finally accepted that the four of them would be enough to take down Malfoy.
"Don't fret, Hermione," George whispered into her ear and pressed her hand. "I'll be back in no time, while the other three take their positions in the castle."
She sighed. "I just can't help but worry about you. It's my plan after all. What if I get any of you killed or captured? I want to be there to help, if things go pear shaped."
Fred nodded. "We understand, Hermione. And you can come at any time. Keep your eyes on the sphere and take the portkey on the table, if anything goes wrong. Just please be careful."
Hermione nodded. "That's fair enough I guess. I hate that you won't let me come with you but I get it. Don't worry. I'll stay put and call for help with the others in the castle first, before I rush in myself."
They grinned at her with a pleased smile, before Fred extracted something from his back pocket. It was the portkey that Fred had designed like an old-fashioned golden key. "Well then, everybody ready?" The boys stepped closer to him with a silent nod. "Here we go, hold on tight." He activated the portkey with a tap of his wand. And a moment later they were gone.
Hermione sighed tiredly. Merlin, she hated waiting. But that's exactly what she had promised to do.