That night, Hermione was sitting on the staircase just above the front door, waiting on Harry's rescue party to return empty-handed.
Mrs Weasley had tried to force her to wait in Ron's room with him for Harry to arrive — after the older woman had finally decided to tell her, the twins, Ron, and Ginny that a group was going to pick Harry up that night, after the rescue party had already apparated away — but Hermione had already decided she was going to confront the leaders of the party for not making sure her boyfriend had been safe the past four days, instead of waiting for them to come tell her that they had lost Harry, because she honestly wasn't sure how long she would have to wait if she tried that route. And anyway, there was no way she was going to be forced into a room alone with the fellow fifth year redhead, even if she had decided to pretend she didn't know anything. So as soon as Mrs Weasley had told her and the others that the group was off to pick up Harry, she had immediately gone and planted herself on the stairs above the door to presumably wait on Harry's arrival, and pulled her wand out and pointed it at the redhead when the older woman had tried to make her move. So there she was, sitting there reading the book she'd brought along to pass the time, wondering how long it would be before the rescue party admitted defeat and returned.
She didn't have to wait long though, as she soon heard the bolts and locks clicking open, and the heavy door swung open. The nine witches and wizards of the rescue party stepped through, into the brightly lit entrance hall (Hermione had discovered some highly useful spells in a book in the Black library to increase the light from old-fashioned gas lamps, and with the twins help she had increased the intensity of most of the lights throughout the house to make the place brighter and more friendly and welcoming), as Hermione had refused to sit there in the dark while she was waiting on them.
Once they were all inside and the door was shut behind them once more, Hermione stood up, the creeks of the staircase as she did so causing them all to look up in her direction.
"Not find him?" she asked smugly once all their attentions were on her.
They all looked up at her in surprise, except Tonks, who looked at her shrewdly, like she could tell that the younger girl knew exactly where Harry actually was, and that she had known they weren't going to find him where they'd been looking. At the same time, Mrs Weasley came scurrying up from the kitchens, expecting to be able to pounce on Harry and drag him up to Ron's room and lock them in together.
"How could you—?" began Lupin, before Hermione cut him off.
"Because of course I know where my boyfriend is," she said haughtily. "And I've known he was missing from his relatives' house since thirty minutes after he left there, something you clearly didn't bother to check on in the four days since he was attacked and nearly killed — or kissed, I suppose.
"But we've been securely communicating ever since he was attacked, and so I also know that he is secure and well protected, and far happier than he will be here, with the exception of me not being there with him. Which means if you want to know where he is to bring him here, you have to tell me, and him, everything that's going on. I want us in on all of the meetings, since Harry's done far more to stop Voldemort over the past four years than all of you combined, defeating him three times since we started school, including out-dueling him a month ago, something I think only Dumbledore can claim he's ever matched. And Sirius would have been kissed by a hundred dementors thanks Snape if it hadn't been for Harry. So Harry deserves to know what's going on more than any of you, and I'd rather hear it first-hand than from Harry as soon he leaves the meetings. And Mrs Weasley's opinion over there be screwed, she's neither Harry's nor my legal guardian — if anyone is for Harry it's Sirius, and obviously my parents for me.
"And if you don't agree to my terms, Harry is more than capable of getting to his hearing and then the train platform by himself. And as for the Ministry hearing, you're going through all this trouble to get him here safely, without any of Voldemort's Death Eaters capturing or killing him on the way here, once he is here, and I'm sure on the way to the hearing as well, which means you have some kind of plan to guarantee he is rightfully declared not guilty and therefore returning to Hogwarts on September first, where you clearly want him. So I'm not worried about that even if he doesn't come here before the trial, because I know you won't leave him completely on his own at the trial out of spite to me for not telling you where he is — he's too important to you for that.
"So if you want his location to bring him here, promise me he and I will be allowed in all meetings from now until we go back to school on September first, and caught up on everything that has occurred and everything the Order's done to wage war on Voldemort and his Death Eaters since that fateful night in June when Harry brought back the report that he'd seen Voldemort regain a body with his own two eyes and defeated him in a duel to be able to bring that news and Cedric's dead body back to you."
"Absolutely not, young woman!" exclaimed the Matriarch from where she was lurking in the corner listening, since there was no Harry there for her to boss around like she'd been promised. "You are too young!"
At the same time Kingsley's deep voice said, "Ma'am — this is a matter of great urgency! Harry's safety cannot be left up to chance. You must tell us where he is!"
"Urgency?" scoffed Hermione scornfully. "You don't get to talk to me about urgency. It's been four days since he was attacked. You didn't check on his safety once in all that time, let alone bring him here. You left him at his abusive relatives' house for four entire days without even sending him a letter of encouragement and reassuring him that he did nothing wrong, and to hold in there and continue being brave until the best time for a rescue, and maybe send him some food along with since he's usually starved by his relatives, something I'm guessing you never bothered to find out either in the fourteen years he's been forced to live there. And yet you want to stand there and lecture me on urgency? I don't think so. And as far as his safety being left to chance goes, I honestly have more faith in his current safety than I would if he was here, given the fact that where he is now no one besides myself knows, and he wouldn't have to move at all, reducing the chance of him getting grabbed in transit."
Out of all the adults standing there in the hallway, only Lupin was beginning to guess where Harry probably was, being the only one of the present company to have ever been to Potter Manor. Sirius had as well, of course, having lived there after getting kicked out of this very house they were all currently standing in when his parents disowned him, but he wasn't with the group in the hallway at the moment, instead in the kitchen with some of the other members of the Order preparing for the night's meeting. But Lupin knew that if his guess was correct, not only was Harry just as safe or safer where he was than he would be at Grimmauld Place, but also that Harry and Hermione knew a lot more about Harry and his family and legacy than Dumbledore wanted Harry to know, or at least know at the moment — Dumbledore was very tight-lipped about whatever his plan was, and when he'd start letting Harry know things important to his life.
"If he's so secure, then why aren't you there?" shouted the Matriarch at Hermione, like she thought she had the muggleborn trapped.
"Because you won't let me out of this bloody house!" retorted Hermione, turning to glare at the redhead. "Else I damn well would be! While this place is actually halfway reasonable now thanks to my insistence on using magic to clean and de-dark artifact it, instead of doing it muggly like you kept trying to make us, this place is still nowhere near as nice as either my own home with my loving parents that you kidnapped me from, or the place Harry is living at right now — hell, I'd rather rent a room from the Leaky Cauldron and be able to visit Diagon Alley every day than live here, when it comes to it. Because I've been forced to clean like a slave the entire time I've been here against my will, and if you had had your way it would have been all muggle cleaning that would have taken the entire rest of the summer and we still wouldn't have been finished, despite the fact we're all bloody wizards here! And all for getting absolutely no information about the war against Voldemort in return!
"Now admittedly, like I said, I put my foot down on the muggle cleaning and insisted upon using magic, but the point still stands that you tried to make us all bloody clean a magical house like muggles despite knowing bloody well that the Trace can't be used here since there are adults around. Which means at best, it was an ill-advised stalling tactic, intended to keep us busy all summer so we would have no free time to get in trouble or something, while at its possible worst you were intentionally trying to hold us back in our learning and schooling by not giving us time to do our homework and practice magic before we go back to school in September.
"But all that aside, to answer your original question, if you'll let me just pop out for a leisurely stroll with my trunk tomorrow morning, I'll gladly be gone and with my boyfriend by nightfall."
She glared at the Matriarch defiantly for several seconds, before shifting her gaze to the rest of the witches and wizards there, to see if any of them would let her do exactly that.
Tonks looked like she wanted to squeal in excitement at Hermione standing up to all of the adults, but the rest of the crowd there looked much less pleased.
Finally, Lupin said, "Mad-Eye, Kingsley — if I could have a word in private with both of you?"
Mrs Weasley tried to follow the three of them, but Lupin refused to allow her to enter the drawing room Mad-Eye and Kingsley had entered, and threw up an Imperturbable Charm on the door as soon as he closed it behind him so she couldn't eavesdrop.
Turning to Mad-Eye and Kingsley, he said, "If we pretend to give her what she wants, but insist on one of us accompanying her for her protection, we can find out where she goes, and we'll know where Harry is. At which point we can determine the level of his security, and decide then whether or not to send a party tomorrow night to bring him here. She isn't going to tell us where Harry is, but she'll have no choice but to lead us to him."
"She's clearly a smart girl — Are you sure she'll fall for that?" asked Kingsley.
"It all comes down to whether she cares more about being with Harry than not revealing his location to us," answered Lupin.
"You taught her for a year — said she was the only one to ever figure out you were a werewolf. Do you really believe she won't be able to figure out a way to get to him without letting us know?" growled Mad-Eye.
"No, but if we want even a chance at figuring out where Harry is, I don't see any other choice, do you?" answered Lupin. "Miss Granger believes he's safe, and there's no threat or promise in the universe that can change her mind when she's positive she's right. And on that point, when she thinks she's right, at least to this extent, she usually is."
"Alright, then," said Kingsley gravely. "We try your plan and hope we get a lucky break. And if we don't, we're in no worse position than we are now."
Returning to the hallway outside where only Hermione and Mrs Weasley remained waiting, though about as far apart as they could possibly be and still be considered in the same general area, Mrs Weasley glaring at Hermione as Hermione sat calmly on the stairs reading her book again, Lupin cleared his throat to get Hermione's attention.
"Hermione, we have agreed to your request on one condition. You must allow one of us to go with you as security."
"Fine. But I'll only go with Tonks, who is after all, an active, qualified auror," replied Hermione.
At the exact same time, the Matriarch had shrieked, "Absolutely not! I completely forbid it!", but no one was paying her any attention any more.
Lupin sighed, glancing over at Mad-Eye and Kingsley, but he knew they didn't have a choice. It was rather doubtful that Tonks would tell them where Harry was, as in the few weeks since she'd met Hermione it seemed to him at least like her loyalties had probably switched to Hermione and Harry over the Order, but once again they really didn't have a choice. Anyway, he knew they could always have someone secretly following Hermione and Tonks, and still possibly get the information they needed.
"Deal," growled Mad-Eye, before Lupin could say it himself.
Hermione gave them a curt nod, before saying, "Then I will be ready to leave at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I'll let Harry know to be expecting Tonks and I, and I'm off to bed."
And with that she turned and swept off up the stairs, leaving Lupin, Mad-Eye, Kingsley, and a fuming Mrs Weasley standing in the hallway. As soon as she was gone, Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to start yelling, but Mad-Eye cut her off.
"We have a plan to follow her and find out where Harry is staying, so we can bring him back here," he growled. "Harry will be safe in your care tomorrow night if the plan goes without a hitch."
He of course failed to mention that none of the three of them expected the plan to be anything but hitches, but that was something for tomorrow's Mad-Eye, Lupin, and Kingsley to inform her about. In the meantime, there was an Order meeting to get to, and a report from Snape to hear.
Hermione, meanwhile, had immediately gone up to her room, to house elf Harry about her upcoming change of dwelling. She jotted down a quick note saying she had been granted permission to join him, so she and Tonks would be arriving by house elf soon after eight o'clock the following morning, if he wanted to meet them when they arrived. After sending it off to Harry with the normal mail-delivery house elf who'd taken most of their letters back and forth for them over the previous four days, Hermione walked over next door to Tonks' room and planted herself on the older girl's bed, so she could tell her the plan when the older girl got back up there after the meeting and supper.
Down in the kitchen, as soon as Mad-Eye, Lupin, and Kingsley walked in, Sirius hurried over to them.
"The others won't say anything about the mission — Is Harry okay, did you get him?" he asked anxiously.
Mad-Eye led them off to the corner so no one would overhear, but it was Lupin who actually answered. "We're pretty sure Harry's fine, but things didn't go as planned. Hermione insists she knows where Harry is, and that he's completely safe, but all we know for sure is that he isn't at his relatives' house anymore. And Hermione won't tell us where he is, but we came to an arrangement that she will take Tonks with her to wherever Harry is tomorrow morning, and we'll have some people tailing them, as I don't trust Tonks to tell us where he is once she finds out, either. Though given the fact it is Hermione we're talking about, Mad-Eye and I have our doubts she'll be so easily duped, and has a plan of her own."
Sirius nodded his understanding, but as they began moving back towards the table, he held Lupin back for a second.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked under his breath.
"I think so — and if it's true, then Harry is safe," answered Lupin with a nod.
"Dumbledore won't be happy, though," said Sirius.
"We've already nearly had our ears shouted off by Mrs Weasley, and only avoided it by promising her that if everything goes perfectly, she'll still have Harry by tomorrow night," replied Lupin. "Dumbledore can't be any worse. Though all the same, I would rather not be in the room when whoever has to tell him does so."