Chapter 11: Hermione's Theory.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Ron didn't answer. He was distracted rubbing his right arm.

"Ron?"

"Those damn cuts are finally gone." He rolled up his shirt sleeve, discovering a fully healed forearm.

"Let me see it." Hermione had been pondering an idea for some time. If it was true, the reaction had to be almost immediate.

Ron held out his arm in front of her. "See? Perfect. As always, the cuts disappear without a trace."

Hermione held his wrist and with a wave of her wand, she caused a cut again, superficial but deep enough to bleed.

"What the hell! Why did you do that? First, you say it's better to do nothing and let them disappear on their own, and now you're the one cutting me." Ron tried to remove his arm, but Hermione was holding it firmly.

"I've changed my mind, I have to check something."

"Cutting my arm? As if I don't get enough cuts."

Hermione didn't respond but stared at the wound.

"Well, how long am I going to have to bleed out?

"Don't be silly, it's just a little cut. Just wait a few minutes." She had barely finished speaking when the cut disappeared on its own.

Ron looked at his arm in amazement. "How did you know...?" Before he could react Hermione had wound his arm again.

"Fuck! At least warn..." He didn't finish the sentence. The wound had disappeared again.

"Just once more. The last one."

"Merlin!" Ron sighed irritably but offered his arm again as he clenched his teeth. Hermione wounded him a third time. The cut disappeared immediately.

Hermione stared at his arm thoughtfully. "It's the only coherent explanation... I can't think of anything else."

Ron covered his arm. "The only explanation for what?"

"I can't be absolutely sure yet, but the next time it happens to you, let me know immediately. I'll have to write a word on your arm, but I'll use a spell first so that it doesn't hurt. Okay?"

Ron shrugged. "You're going to do it anyway. At least I hope it's worth something."

"It will. Trust me." She kissed him gently on the lips. Ron bent over her and deepened the kiss.

A few minutes later, a blushing Hermione was trying to fix a much bushier hair than usual. "I think we should continue with what we were doing, don't you?"

An equally blushing Ron sighed and leaned on the headboard of the bed. "If we have to..."

Hermione waited a few seconds. "And?... What's the last thing you remember?"

"Yes... The last thing." Ron closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I think it was Halloween. Although I'm not sure... The whole Order was holed up at Hogwarts. Although all the Horcruxes had been destroyed, the Dark Lord ruled over the entire magical world."

He opened his eyes and looked at Hermione. "I don't have very clear memories, but I think we were losing the war."

Hermione nodded. "Yes. It was only a matter of time before Hogwarts fell. Don't you remember your kidnapping, or the battle in the forbidden forest, or anything after that?"

Ron shook his head. "Nothing at all."

"Well... a few days after Halloween, you disappeared. We didn't hear from you until several weeks later, when we received an owl with a note from you telling us that we had to meet you immediately in the forbidden forest, in the clearing where Grawp used to live."

Ron remembered his dream. "Yes. It was the ambush that failed because of the Acromantulas!"

"Yes. You know how Harry is. Despite my protests, he decided to go there without missing a beat. In the corridors, we met Dumbledore. At the time I thought it was pure luck, but now I know that someone had warned him. He sent some Patronus and insisted on joining us. When we arrived, there were a dozen Death Eaters waiting for us. Dumbledore managed to keep us alive until help arrived. The confrontation grew, with more and more forces on each side, until hundreds of acromantulas appeared and forced us all to flee."

"I remember that. The Dark Lord almost killed Dumbledore... but Harry got away again."

"Yes, we all thought Dumbledore was badly wounded, including Voldemort who, thanks to you, decided to take the opportunity to attack Hogwarts. While, on the surface, his army of creatures tried to break through the defences, he and most of his Death Eaters slipped through the tunnels into the castle."

Ron's eyes opened wide. "The dream of the tunnel... Malfoy... And Dolohov."

"Yes. I suspect Dumbledore was never wounded. And just as he knew Harry was going into the forbidden forest, he now knew what to do and exactly when: He reinforced the castle's magical defences, blocking the tunnels, and leaving Voldemort and a few followers locked inside Hogwarts, while most of his army was trapped in the tunnels, unable to move forward or backwards."

"Yes. In my dream there was a magic shield blocking the tunnel and closing the way to Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore only had to send a few Aurors to the entrances of the tunnels to prevent the Death Eaters from retreating. Most of them ended up surrendering... Except in one tunnel, where they only found bodies. We never knew what happened there."

Ron decided that it was better not to think about all the atrocities he had committed. "So the Dark Lord made it to the castle?"

"Yes, and that was his undoing. Although his best Death Eaters entered with him, they were unable to hold out against the Aurors, the whole Order, the teachers and over a hundred students. They may have been very powerful, but against a proportion of one to twenty, they didn't stand a chance. Some tried to flee, like Lucius, others gathered around their Master to defend him to the death... In the end, it was Harry who destroyed Voldemort, as the prophecy said".

"Did Harry attack Voldemort and defeat him?" Ron asked amazed.

"Actually it was Ginny who attacked first. I guess no one realized what the diary really did to her. As soon as she saw Voldemort she went after him without worrying about anything else - and you know how powerful she is. At first, it looked like she might defeat him, but as soon as Voldemort recovered from the surprise the tables turned... In the end, it was Harry who defeated him by defending Ginny's life. I guess that was the power the Dark Lord knew not: The power of Love."

Ron couldn't help but think fleetingly of Hermione. He too would do anything for her.

"Well... That's all great. In the end, Harry managed to fulfil the prophecy... And survive! But what do I have to do with all this?"

"Who do you think informed Dumbledore that Harry was going into the forbidden forest, or where Voldemort was infiltrating? And who convinced Voldemort to attack Hogwarts through the tunnels? And who warned Dumbledore when to raise the castle's shields to isolate Voldemort from his army?"

Ron scratched his head, overwhelmed. "You really think that it was me?..."

"Dumbledore knew exactly what Voldemort was doing at every turn. I'm almost sure he planned it all: your betrayal, the battle in the forest, the acromantulas, the attack through the tunnels... Everything!"

"But if I was the spy, how could I deceive the Dark Lord? He looked into my mind. How could he not see I was a spy?... And how was I able to communicate with Dumbledore? Snape had the excuse of being a teacher, but I only left the Dark Lord's headquarters to attack Hogwarts."

"The two questions have only one answer: Dumbledore. He used a lot of magic on you... You remember being in his office and he did something to you. Even now you have an unknown and very powerful enchantment that blocks certain memories. The ministry assumed that Voldemort would have done it, but that doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that?"

Ron just shrugged. He was the prisoner, no one had told him anything. Although he thought he remembered that his defender had said something about him having a very powerful spell that it was falling apart on its own.

"Dumbledore needed another monster to replace Snape. So he built one. He manipulated your memories and your personality. He hid your good and decent side and left your dark and cruel one exposed... He turned you into what he needed to set Voldemort up."

"A bit too convenient... Isn't it? Dumbledore casts some strange spells that are exactly what it takes for me to be innocent."

"And exactly what it took to win a war that was lost. It could only be you, Ron. You're pureblood. You'd had enough arguments and issues with Harry and me. You could give Harry to Voldemort, to prove your loyalty. You knew about the tunnels, so you could suggest to use them without looking suspicious. You were the perfect trap!... And the spells? It's not so strange: He only removed all the inconvenient memories with some memory charms and did some variant of the imperius to force you to be..."

"A brutal killer." Ended Ron.

"Dumbledore probably made the Raknarok spell not only to protect you, but to cover up all the spells he had cast to change you into the perfect spy. Voldemort never understood love or friendship, so he only looked for hate, grudge, envy... your black part. And you had more than enough reasons and darkness to justify your betrayal. Dumbledore hid your white part, but most likely Voldemort didn't even look for it... He was blinded by his own hate."

"That's it? Voldemort simply did not suspect anything..."

"Unfortunately, defections weren't unusual in these times. Quite a few wizards fled or changed sides when they saw that the war was lost. You were only another wizard trying to save his family. The only thing special about you was your friendship with Harry. I guess they took that as a sign that the Order was finally crumbling."

"And how do you know I didn't really desert?"

"No. It can only be you... You told Voldemort about the prophecy, but not that we had destroyed all his Horcruxes, because the prophecy was perfect for attracting Voldemort without him knowing that he was already mortal... And the communication to be able to warn at what moment Voldemort had entered Hogwarts, had to be a very fast and totally safe method. Can't you think of one?"

His head was spinning with so much information. "No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me right now."

"Your arm. I think it's linked to Dumbledore. Like the Blood Quill that Umbridge gave Harry, instead of writing on a piece of paper and appearing on the hand, you write on one arm and appear on the other."

Ron looked at her, not too convinced. "Do you think so?"

"You don't realize, it's the typical irony that Dumbledore would have loved. One arm with the spell of the dark mark to communicate with Voldemort and the other with this spell to communicate with him - the right hand with the light and the left hand with the darkness."

"So you think it's Dumbledore who's sending the messages?"

"I can't be totally sure, but I think it's most likely. He is in San Mungo. He was seriously injured in the last battle. He is probably too weak to send a clearer message."

Ron thought to himself. "Dumbledore is sending me messages asking me to come and see him. So strange!... And why do they disappear?"

"I suppose a healer heal them, thinking they're just cuts... You saw how they disappeared."

"It's all so complicated."

"If it was simple It could never have fooled Voldemort. Don't you think?"

"How can you be so sure?" His tone was a mixture of question and astonishment.

"Do you think the smartest witch of her generation could fall in love with someone evil?"

Downright boring? Or confusing?... I tried to explain everything and make the chapter as clear and light as possible, but honestly, I don't know if I succeeded.