Chapter 9

Brought to Light

Her two friends sat staring at her in anticipation. She could see clearly on Ronald's face that he wanted to prompt her to share, but he had enough of a sense of self-preservation not to make the attempt. The feeling of punching at him at their initial encounter came back to her and she straightened, as if drawing on residual energy. Harry was suddenly very still and she couldn't read him.

"Professor Snape is on our side..." she started slowly, "and never left it."

While she had been anticipating a more intense reaction, all she got was a loud, "What?" in Ron's signature confused tone. The question hung in the air for a moment as she waited for Harry to speak. He did not. He leaned forward slightly and narrowed his eyes. He needed more.

Now knowing she would not be interrupted by a cacophony of confusion she was used to, she continued. "Professor Snape is truly a double agent who has remained loyal to the Order since the end of the last war. He's pretending to be working for him, but he's probably actually Hogwarts' greatest defense. The school is fine with him."

"But he killed Dumbledore! You and Harry saw him!" Ron clearly not believing her.

Harry met her gaze and could tell that she could see the pain on his face from discovering the truth about their once-beloved Headmaster. He hadn't really had an opportunity to process everything. They had moved camp locations immediately after. The had been here a few days, but everything was just a haze of white snow. His sense of time, and really his sense of everything he knew was skewed. He had been replaying memories with the headmaster over and over again, trying to sort reality from fiction. And now he's mother's Patronus and the Sword and the Horcrux. It was almost disorienting. But he could see that just like Dumbledore, Hermione knew more than she had shared with them. He was caught somewhere between being devastated once again and being grateful that she was sharing. Relieved that she may have had more than what he had believed was at their disposal - more than what they'd been going off of. The hope that maybe his brilliant friend might have some knowledge that could help them out of what seemed to be and endless abyss of nothingness. He had spent a lot of time in the past year thinking about Hermione. Witnessing changes. Feeling something shift. He had watched his friend go through such agony with Ron, then eventually joy, then more agony, then becoming hollow. And in between they saw these moments. Flashes of magic that were intense and raw. And all this time, he just wanted to understand what was going on with her. Something told him he was about to find out. "What do you know, 'Mione?"

She didn't know that she had been holding her breath until he asked that question. She exhaled and inhaled deeply again wondering where to start. "Professor Snape was instrumental in helping Draco and me last year. He wanted to protect us."

"Protect you from what?" the red head asked.

Her heart felt heavy suddenly, "From everything," she said quietly. She cleared her throat and poured some more tea before continuing. As she sipped, flashes of meetings between she, Draco, and their now beloved Professor flashed before her eyes. She thoughts of the pain she could feel when he talked about Lily. She thought about the pain he must be going through watching history repeat itself and trying desperately to keep Draco and herself from suffering a similar fate. "When Draco and I became involved... after the Christmas party... I found out that Draco had taken the Dark Mark. You were right," she scoffed and smiled weakly at Harry. "You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters had taken up residence in his home and turned it into his headquarters. You-Know-Who was angry with Lucius and made it very clear that he viewed Mr. Malfoy as disposable - along with his wife and son. So Draco took the Dark Mark and began working for You-Know-Who to protect his family."

"He was assigned to kill Dumbledore."

The witch nodded as confirmation.

"And you knew?"

She opened her mouth to speak - then closed it. She would tell as much of the story as she could. If they were going to ever understand or forgive her for keeping things from them, she would need to.

"I knew that I cared about him," she drew the focus back to her story. "At that point, we were connected. I-"

"Is it really necessary to share all of this?" asked the man who had just abandoned and returned to them.

Hearing the tone of angry indignation in his voice, she said sharply, "It is, in fact! And you're a big reason for why any of this ever happened. So while one day in the future I might thank you for it, for now I'd really like you to shut up so that I can continue with my story."

Though clearly annoyed, the red head threw his hands up in surrender.

"I had been going through a difficult time," she paused and gave Ron a pointed look, "and so had he. And now I knew why. He had been coerced into working for You-Know-Who and given an impossible task that he was almost certain to fail. And once he had, that would be all that was needed to eliminate him and his parents. Before we returned to Hogwarts, Draco's mother made Professor Snape make an Unbreakable Vow to help and protect Draco. If he broke it, the professor would die. So since I knew, I needed to be let in on everything so that he could protect Draco since being involved with a Muggle-born who happened to be Harry Potter's best friend would raise red flags.

"We made a plan to make our relationship seem like a plot to drive a wedge between us," she moved her hand in the space between them to clarify she meant their friendship, "and make it seem like I was easily manipulated. That was the Slytherin perspective and it's what You-Know-Who got fed. It made him grow more fond of Draco to think that he was so sinister to devise such a plan. I've known this whole time who Draco is, his reasons, and his feelings."

She took another sip of tea, readying herself to finish her story. "That night before heading to the Astronomy Tower, Professor Snape filled me in on something else. Dumbledore knew about Draco's task. He knew Draco would have to kill him..." She exhaled. She felt the sting of tears and inhaled as if trying to dry them before they could fall. "But what no one else knew was that Professor Dumbledore was already dying. The Horcrux he destroyed had infected the Headmaster when he put the ring on his hand. Dumbledore knew his time was coming to an end." She recalled the night Severus had told her all this. He needed her to know everything before she went to find Draco. "He knew that Draco was meant to kill him and that it was just punishment for the Malfoy family. And he knew Draco wasn't a killer. He didn't want him to have to become one... so he asked Professor Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to." Whatever Albus Dumbledore was or was not, whatever was or was not true about his past, he did care. He had to have.

"And you got this story from Snape?" Ron asked slowly.

The witch could tell he wasn't convinced. "Yes. And before you even go there, Ronald Bilius Weasley, it was not a lie."

"And just why not?" he demanded. "He made an Unbreakable Vow to protect Malfoy! He would do and say anything to keep that vow. He has to!"

"Because Draco made him make an Unbreakable Vow to protect me!" she snapped.

Both men looked stunned.

"Believe whatever you'd like." She lifted the wand that was still in her possession and brought it to her pendant, removing the charm. "But Draco loves me. We love each other. I've been communicating with Professor Snape using the portrait. It was Professor Snape that brought the sword to us," she explained and nodded at the sword.

"Why did I see a doe?" Harry asked after a beat. "Hermione, if it was Snape who brought the sword to us, why did I see my mother's Patronus?"

She had been waiting for this question. "Professor Snape and your mother were best friends, Harry. They were childhood friends, they came to Hogwarts together, and then... they drifted apart. And he hurt her. He was her best friend. He called hurting her blasphemous. He loved her, Harry. They were just as close as we are - closer. And her death devastated him. He defected and never looked back after losing her." She would leave her professor as much privacy as she could. But if they were ever going to believe her, she needed to share something.

"What did he do to hurt her?" Harry asked.

"He called her the worst thing one can call a Muggle-born." She continued to echo the professor's words, recalling the night he shared his past. "It was blasphemy. He took his best friend in the world and the best person he knew and called her filth." She looked up at her newly returned friend and added sadly, "He made her feel wrong."

The young Weasley's expression lost its edge and he shifted under her gaze.

Hermione continued, "He's spent every moment of his life trying to make up for it." She shifted her gaze to her friend, The Chosen One. She reached out and grabbed his hand gently. "I know he's been unfair to you, Harry, but he's always tried to protect you. For her. I think he took it too far, but he believed that he needed to be harsh with you so that his loyalty would not be questioned. People who went to school with all of them would know about his previous friendship with Lily, including You-Know-Who. It was never a question of 'if' he returned. It was always 'when'. And when that happened, there needed to be as few things to scrutinize as possible - including his treatment of the Boy-Who-Lived who happened to be his ex-best friend's son."

Suddenly the Boy-Who-Lived felt not for the first time this evening that he was The-Man-Who-Knew-Nothing.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before, I really am," the witch pleaded as she met his gaze. "But Professor Snape didn't share this with anyone besides Dumbledore. Anyone else who knew would become a liability. But I'm telling you now because you two need to know that we can trust him."

Harry began to recall bits and pieces of memories and interactions from the past six years. Things were starting to make sense. Dots were connecting. He didn't know everything but he thought about what he did know. They were much better off than they had been mere hours ago. They had destroyed the locket. They had the Sword of Gryffindor. They had help. His body felt heavy and he placed his elbows on the table to support himself.

He knew that Hermione was hardly ever wrong. He knew that she loved him and Ron and had proved it their entire lives. He knew that she was brilliant. He understood what she had sacrificed to be here with him. He knew that she was finally giving him what he wanted - for her to let him in.

The witch looked at Harry with bated breath. She knew this would be monumental for him. She just hoped he wouldn't hate her.

"So where do we go from here?"

Hermione sighed in relief.

"Harry..." Ron started.

"I know, but it's our best shot, Ron. We have to take a chance. And we can always bet on Hermione."

The newly returned wizard looked over his two friends. His eyes turned sad when he looked at the witch and then he gave a weak smile. "Yeah. We can always bet on Hermione."

A/N: I'm a liar. Shortly after the last update, I lost several people. None to COVID-19, thankfully. But there's been a lot of death and a lot of grief for me the past months. And then came all the social justice issues - watching all the hatred everywhere. It was draining. I was going through the motions.

And then Jo had to go say some stupid shit and it made me feel a certain way about the series. But I know the fandom has almost completely and totally rejected her views. And my writing is for us, not her.

So just in case anyone is reading this and is unsure - Black Lives Matter, BIPOC Matter, trans women are women, I am an ally, I'm against Voldemort (Trump), and I am an indigenous Hispanic woman and the U.S. border crossed my family four/five generations ago (paternal/maternal sides). The Harry Potter fandom is one of the best and most diverse fandoms and that's what makes us beautiful.