Hermione found herself standing with the rest of the school around Dumbledore's body, tears sliding down her face. As she looked around she saw Harry openly sobbing as he looked on at his mentor. McGonagall's eyes were teary, but the witch refused to let them fall. She raised her wand and shot up a stream of light to dispel the dark mark from the sky above. Slowly one by one everyone gathered, raised their wands in a similar fashion. Soon the mark was gone and all those gathered stood in silence mourning the man in front of them. Hermione felt as though her head was underwater. She vaguely remembered seeing McGonagall speak to everyone and the professors jumping into action, immediately sending all the students back to their dorms. Hermione walked with Harry, Ginny, and Ron in silence. The silence was never broken throughout the entire walk even when they made their way to their respective dorms.

The next morning the group met in the common room and quietly greeted each other before they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. When they walked in they were met with deafening silence in the Hall. Only the softest of whispers were heard and the scrapes of silverware against dishes. Hermione sat down quietly, put some toast on her plate, and slowly buttered it. Harry looked like a mess. It looked like he hadn't slept a wink the night before. Hermione looked over at Ginny, who was sitting next to her, and fixed her with a worried glance. Just as Hermione opened her mouth to ask if he wanted to talk about it, McGonagall stood up and cleared her throat.

"Students if I may have your attention for a few moments." The little noise that was heard in the Hall immediately stopped and everyone looked up at the newly appointed Headmistress.

"Thank you. Today will be free of classes and you will be sent home on Sunday as a result of a tragic event," there was a long pause, "As many of you are aware our beloved Headmaster passed away last night. Now while this is devastatingly sad news, I know our Headmaster wouldn't want us to be sad on this day. So today we will celebrate the good times, the good memories, and remark on how many times we've been offered lemon drops."

A small wave of laughter was heard rippling through the Hall.

"Enjoy the good memories today and treat yourself to some lemon drops in honor of our Headmaster's ever present sweet tooth," bowls of lemon drops appeared on the tables as McGonagall sat down with her final parting words.

A round of applause was heard as the atmosphere immediately lightened up in the Hall. Hermione finally managed to take a small bite of her toast after hearing the comforting speech. Harry looked slightly more aware of his surroundings and he looked at the bowl of candy with a sad look on his face. He then suddenly looked up at Hermione with a slightly angry look on his face.

"Hermione you owe me an explanation."

Ron and Ginny looked at the two confused out of their minds as to what was going on. Hermione looked down at her plate briefly before looking up at Harry.

"I know and I'll give you one, just not here."

Harry nodded his head and popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

"Will someone please explain what's going on here?!" asked Ginny as Ron nodded his agreement.

"I'll tell you when there aren't as many prying ears," muttered Hermione. Suddenly a large black owl landed next to Hermione and offered it's leg to her. Hermione's eyes widened as she realized who's owl it was. She quickly untied the letter, shoved it into her pocket, and fed Nyx before sending the owl off. Hermione took one last bite of her toast and motioned for the others to follow her. Hermione didn't answer any of the questions they were bombarding her with as she led them through the halls and outside to the shrieking shack. She tapped the knot on the tree and quickly motioned for the others to enter the passage.

"Hermione, why are you taking us to the shrieking shack?" asked Harry.

"Because the room of requirement is currently under investigation and I know this is one of the few areas that doesn't have prying ears," explaining Hermione, sitting down on one of the chairs in the shack.

"When did all of the furniture get replaced?" asked Ginny looking around.

"Just over a year ago, but this isn't the time for that. I believe I need to explain some things."

Ron and Harry immediately perked up and sat down in the chairs across from Hermione, Ginny sat down in the chair next to Hermione.

"Hermione what's this about?" asked Ginny.

Hermione sat for a moment and tried to gather her thoughts, "Well I haven't been completely truthful about everything I'm involved with…"

Ginny quickly caught on to what Hermione was getting at and looked at her in alarm, "Hermione what are you doing?"

"Ginny I have to be truthful, they deserve to know. Harry I know you saw me with Draco and Bellatrix last night-"

"WHAT?! Why were you with her?!" Ron's temper got the best of him when he heard that.

"Ron, please, let me explain. I promise it isn't what it sounds like," Ron silently nodded, "Bellatrix and Draco aren't working for Voldemort no matter how it may seem. They are spies for the Order and you know that Dumbledore wouldn't have let Draco in unless he trusted him. Bellatrix was let in about two years ago. You know her as Mulligan which is a glamour Bella uses to disguise herself. If you don't believe me about Bellatix, you can talk to McGonagall and she'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you. Bella wasn't working with the Order at the time when she was here teaching at Hogwarts, but when she left she had changed allegiances and joined the Order disguised as Mulligan to try to draw less attention and to secure her position as a spy. Bella recently got Draco and Narcissa to join the Order. Please believe me when I say that Bella and Draco have changed. They don't want to serve Voldemort anymore and they truly want to help us win this," Hermione took a deep breath and waited for Ron or Harry to say something.

Harry sat silently as he absorbed all the information that had been more or less thrown in his face. Ron was the first of the boys to speak.

"Wait so you're saying that Bellatrix Black was teaching here at Hogwarts in our fourth year?" Ron asked in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Yes she was," answered Hermione.

"Well I think Dumbledore needed to do a proper background check before hiring DADA teachers," said Ron leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair.

Hermione was shocked at the sudden change in Ron's temperament and stared at him for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"I guess he really did."

"Hermione, how did you find out about all this?" asked Harry.

"Er well you see I was the one to figure out that Bella was masquerading as Mulligan during our fourth year."

"How'd you do that?" asked Ron.

"I noticed that her glamour charm would weaken when she got distracted or her feelings got the best of her and er well I may have snuck into her office when I was checking in with Neville and I found her wand in her desk. And then later when Olivander was at the school I asked him about the wand and he told me that it belonged to Bellatrix," Hermione looked away sheepishly after admitting that she looked through Bella's desk.

"Blimey Hermione! You should be a detective!" said Ron in awe of Hermione's sleuth skills.

"Well this is a lot to comprehend right now, but if you trust her then I'll trust your judgement," said Harry, rubbing the back of his neck.

Hermione launched out of her seat and pulled him into a hug, "Thank you Harry."

"Of course Hermione. I'll always trust you."

Hermione smiled at him, pulled away, walked over to Ron and pulled Ron into a hug too.

"Thank you Ron."

Ron just grunted his acknowledgement and awkwardly patted Hermione on the back.

"Gin? How come you don't seem to be surprised by this?" asked Harry.

"Hermione? Do you want to take this?" asked Ginny looking at Hermione unsure if she was allowed to talk about Bellatrix and Hermione's relationship.

" Uhm sure. Well after we went to the Ministry in our fifth year Bella showed up to check on me in one of the spare classrooms. Bella was hugging me without her glamour on when Ginny walked in," Hermione edited her story, not wanting to tell the boys yet about her relationship with Bella, "I explained everything to Ginny after that."

"How come you didn't tell us sooner?!" exclaimed Ron.

"Well it didn't really come up in any conversations so I didn't know how to bring it up."

Ron seemed to accept the answer and suddenly his stomach growling broke the serious atmosphere in the shack. The four of them burst out laughing.

"How bout we go get something to eat?" suggested Harry, patting Ron on the back.

Ron and Ginny quickly agreed with Harry and made their way over to the exit before pausing and looking back at Hermione who was standing in between the sitting area and the exit.

"Are you coming?" asked Ginny.

"I think I'm going to stay here for a bit. I'll catch up with you later," smiled Hermione.

Ginny realized that Hermione needed some space and said, "Okay, see you later then."

Ginny and the boys then walked out of the shack excitedly talking about chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes. Hermione let out a long sigh and collapsed in the nearby chair, letting the stress and exhaustion from the previous conversation finally catch up to her. The crinkle of paper in her pocket pulled her from her thoughts and she remembered that Bella had sent her a letter earlier that morning. She hurriedly pulled the letter out of her pocket and cast the necessary spells to view the message.

My little lion,

Meet me tonight in the shrieking shack at seven. I'll be waiting.

Always,

B

Hermione cast a quick spell and figured out that it was an hour seven already. Hermione couldn't see the point in leaving to go back to the castle just to walk all the way back so she settled in her chair and resolved to wait until seven. When she would be reunited with her dark haired witch.