Hope and Pray that you'll never need me,

But rest assured I will not let you down.

I'll walk beside you but you may not see me,

The strongest among you may not wear a crown.

-Citizen Soldier, 3 Doors Down.


Chapter 22: I'll Walk Beside You But You May Not See Me.

June 1995.

Things had been slow for Hermione for her first two weeks home from school. In the few days following her return home, she had kept in touch with Sirius, as he debated where to set up the Order headquarters and how Harry was handling events since the last task. Sirius had let her know before school let out that he had a meeting with Dumbledore while the students were riding home. He came over the next day to discuss Dumbledore's request, it was agreed that Grimald Place would become the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and she stopped receiving mail from her friends shortly after.

The second week back, Sirius came over for lunch and passed on an update on everything that had been done to prep Grimmauld Place to function as headquarters. Apparently Harry had woken him several times with nightmares of Voldemort's resurrection.

This only made Hermione feel worse; she was sure she shared a role in his nightmares, even if Harry didn't mention it to Sirius, or Sirius was being too polite to tell her so. She knew what she was and what she was capable of and it only made her feel worse, knowing, if Harry or Ron found out what she had done in her lifetime, they would find her as bad if not worse than how they viewed the Slytherins.

Pulling out the fake locket from a drawer, she studied it; she had not been able to handle the ring much as the curse on it was still active, but she hoped that the locket would help her figure out why Riddle had chosen the items he had. His diary had been a personal object, something from his school years. The ring and locket did not seem like something that he had had from his childhood, having grown up in an orphanage. The locket looked antique, she assumed; if this one was made to look exactly like the original, it must have been a real antique.

The other day she had taken it into a small shop of a Muggle man,who ran a market stall part time, selling trinkets and such, but also crafted some simpler jewelry. He had studied the locket and informed her, despite its rather simple style the materials it was made from, were rather high quality. The stall owner had not been able to identify the dark metal that made up the main faces of the locket, but he did say that the silver-white metal decorating the edges and inner panels, where pictures were meant to sit, was rhodium and the small stones on the front were green jadeite, set in the shape of an 'S'.

Regardless, the item must be of some importance to Riddle and she needed to find out why. With the diary destroyed, the ring locked away and locket identified; that made three. She had guessed in the beginning, that there would be either three, four, seven or ten of these items. She had hoped that the number was three, that would mean she only had to find the real locket and a way to destroy these Horcruxes. It was simple and yet, seeing as nothing in her life ever seemed to go simply; she had to be positive that she had them all before moving forward. Keeping her identity and search a secret was necessary until either she had destroyed all of the items, or there was no other choice.

Now that she had openly interfered with his plans, keeping those secrets was even more important; with her interference in the graveyard she had likely just hit close to the top of Voldemort's to-kill-list. For now, she would rather take the extra time to make sure that she had all the items. It would be detrimental if she revealed herself too early and found out she had missed one, or worse yet, seven. If that happened all Voldemort would need to do is tighten his security or move them altogether, her best asset in this fight was secrecy.

Which brought up, what was a Horcrux? She had checked through what she could of the library, but even in her frequent trips to the Restricted Section she had been unable to find out anything about the term. She feared that was going to be the result no matter how much time she scoured the library. She was sure now that was what Dumbledore had been trying to point out in the book list; that the book he had marked, the one that she had lost to Lucius Malfoy, held the information she desperately needed. She had made a few more trips to Knockturn Alley in hopes of finding another copy, but she guessed that she was as likely to find another as she was to find another person at Hogwarts who was as fluent in Parseltongue as Harry was.

A tapping at her window drew Hermione from her thoughts, she slipped the chain of the locket over her head and stood to open her office window. A large eagle-owl flew in and landed on the back of one of the chairs that were stacked high in books. She was surprised by the owl, it wasn't her usual Prophet owl, and she had stopped getting letters from her friends since Sirius had let Dumbledore set up his house as headquarters. She had gotten a few short messages from Sirius and Remus's charmed rings, but nothing very informative other than that Dumbledore was restricting owls from leaving and going to the house.

Pulling her hair out from under the chain so that it sat more comfortably on her neck, she walked over and took the letters from the eagle-owl. Just then Dracarys flew in and settled himself on the back of Hermione's chair, as she sat back down to read the letters. The Horntail hissed and exhaled a stream of smoke at the post-owl who promptly ignored the reptile in favor of preening its wing feathers.

"Hush you," she chided, patting the dragon's side from his perch beside her head, as she read over the letters in turn. He was rather touchy about any owl that came to deliver her mail; with her unable to send letters to her friends, the vain little dragon was feeling rather unhappy he was unable to flaunt his new status as post-dragon.

The first was addressed to Hermione from Sirius on behalf of Harry, inviting her to stay the summer at his place. It was a rather general invitation; he must have been worried his mail was being monitored, or Dumbledore had told him to not tell her much until she was there; as far as anyone knew Hermione was unaware of the existence of the Order. A little note at the bottom informed her that Dumbledore was the one who would mail the letter from Hogwarts, given the no mail service from his home.

The second letter was surprisingly from Dumbledore to Emma. Hermione checked it over thoroughly for any tampering or monitoring charms before opening it cautiously. It was a request to meet her, at her convenience. Dumbledore informed her that the British Wizarding World was on the brink of a very dangerous time and that he would like to meet with her to discuss the situation, given that he had been informed that she had only recently moved into the country in the last few years. He also informed her that her ward, Hermione, was entangled in the growing threat due to a number of her friends having family involved. He implored that they needed to meet as soon as she was free, for Hermione's safety as well as her own.

Hermione scoffed at that; he wouldn't have bothered with informing her guardian or even her parents about the situation, had she still been living with them, unless he had something to gain from it. He was digging for information on Nemo, just like Snape. She had not known the Potions Master had made the connection to Emma, had she not heard from her nosy neighbor about a man stopping by, looking for a school friend of his. She was comforted in the fact that he seemed to still think that Nemo was a man and didn't seem to not have much else to go on, but things were getting too close for comfort. She had had a feeling earlier in the week, a gnawing feeling at the back of her mind, that she was being watched; her neighbor confirmed her suspicions, but she never actually saw him hanging about. Since then she had been extra cautious to keep her blinds closed and to be vigilant when leaving her house; she had not had that feeling return, so either he was getting sneakier or hadn't come by again.

It seemed, having Dumbledore meet Emma was going to be the best way to eliminate any suspicions connecting Hermione and Emma to Nemo, and hopefully dissuade anyone else from digging further into her life. Besides, she had been through all of her books, she could use the time to look through any books Sirius had. She recalled reading books at his place, and that he had a lot of them, but since Harry moved in she had not been able to look through many, even if she couldn't recall, specifically where she had been reading or even any details of the room.

So she quickly wrote out a reply to Sirius, saying that she would love to come over for the summer. In her letter to Dumbledore she informed him that she would be traveling for work, given that Hermione would be staying with a friend for the summer, but she would let him know as soon as her schedule cleared up. She wanted to find out what had been going on from Sirius in person before going to meet Dumbledore, and would have to see how easy it would be to slip out of headquarters before she could set up any kind of date to meet.

Two days later found Remus stopping by her house to deliver a note from Dumbledore and escort her to Grimmauld Place.

"Sorry, you're earlier than I thought you'd be. I'll just be a moment," she said, taking yet another stack of books down to her storage room, as she tried to tidy up her office before she left.

"Don't worry, we're not on any time schedule," Remus replied with a smile. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Ah, yeah," Hermione grunted, wandlessly adding another two books to the tall stack that was teetering in her arms. "Could you just stack up those papers and stick them in a drawer, any place will do." She nodded her head toward her desk, papers were scattered in haphazard piles, before maneuvering herself and her stack of books out the door and toward the stairs.

Remus watched after her for a moment with a fond smile, as he waited to see if her attempt to navigate the stairs was going to end with her in a pile of books at the bottom; when no crash came after a minute he deemed that she had made it down the stairs safely before turning to her desk and stacking the scattered papers into more orderly piles. Checking through the drawers, he found one that was the least full and set the papers in there, looking around to make sure he had gotten them all he noticed a small picture frame on one corner of the desk that he had not seen before.

Picking it up, he looked over the worn and faded photograph. Under the protective glass the picture was revealed to be very worn; it was torn along one side and had a crease running down the middle like it had been folded for a long period of time. On closer inspection he could see traces of something brownish-red staining the edge and a slight warping to it, like it had become wet and then dried slowly. It was a photo he had seen before, although less worn, on Harry's bedside table. A photo of Harry, Hermione and Ron, taken at the end of their first year.

"You know," came Hermione's voice softly from the doorway; Remus jumped, nearly dropping the frame in his hand, having not noticed her come back into the office. She walked over and took the frame from him, looking at the stained and worn photo before continuing, "For the longest time, it was that picture that kept me going. Knowing, even though my parents were gone, I still had a family waiting for me." She gave a rye smile, returning the frame to its place on the corner of her desk. "To say I was mistaken, was an understatement; Voldemort made sure even that hope was taken from me."

"Hermione," whatever he had been going to say he cut himself off, frowning in frustration. Running a hand threw his hair. "You still have a family here."

"Remus," she began, but was cut off.

"I know, Hermione," he said with a sad smile as he cupped her cheek, tilting her head so that he could place a single kiss on her forehead. "I know, you don't feel the same way that I do about you. I just want you to know; you have a family here with us, even if it isn't the way I had hoped, we are still your family."

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Don't be," he said with a rueful chuckle, "It's not the first time I've fancied someone who didn't reciprocate my feelings. You can't help the way you feel, I'm content with just being friends; most don't even give me that much once they find out about my furry problem."

"You're too kind, you know that?" She placed her hand over his much larger one, giving it a gentle squeeze before breaking the contact.

"What's bothering you?" he asked, searching her troubled expression and she seemed reluctant to say more, so he pressed. "You can tell me, you know?"

She sighed and backed up out of his grip so that she could sit on the edge of her desk, wringing her hands on her lap self-consciously, as she stared down at them.

"I'm scared, I guess," she finally admitted with a humorless chuckle. "We saved Harry and we're finding the Horcruxes. Despite Voldemort coming back, I actually am finding myself hoping again. Hoping that things might turn out differently this time, that we might actually come out on top."

"You didn't think so before?"

"I thought anything would be better than what happened in my time, but things have changed; more than I ever thought they would. That hope scares me," she admitted in a harsh whisper, "I've let myself hope before and had it crushed. I can't do that again!" She remembered that moment clearly, after years she had finally found herself in the Weasley's kitchen at Shell Cottage with her world crashing down around her. She coughed, swallowing down the lump that had formed in her throat, lacing her fingers together to keep from continuing to ring them. "Some things have come up recently, that have forced me to think about what will happen when I stop hiding who I really am."

She picked up the frame resting beside her, looking sadly at the picture again as she spoke softly. "What Harry and Ron will think of me when they find out that I have been lying to them for years? What about the things I have done? Ron and I are already on shaky ground from my friendship with Draco, and Harry is scared of me after what I did in the graveyard. When the time comes, I don't want to keep lying to them, but what they will think of me when they find out the things I have done." She paused and took a shaky breath, before setting the frame back on her desk. "I've lost count of how many people's blood is on my hands."

"Hey, don't talk like that," he said soothingly, "Once they find out what you have done for them, they will understand. I'm the monster here, after all, remember?" he said, rubbing melancholically at a faint self-inflicted scar running down his cheek. He wasn't expecting the blow to the head when it came, and he was left gobsmacked as he looked back at Hermione.

"What?" he gasped out shocked, wide-eyed, as he gingerly touched the back of his head.

"You are not a monster!" she snapped rather viciously, pointing a finger at him, nearly poking him in the nose, as she glared sternly at him. "Werewolves are not monsters; without their human consciousness they are animals, doing exactly what wild animals do. I spent years being hunted by them, I should know. You would never hurt someone if you had the choice, would you?"

"No, never, but I―"

"But nothing, Remus Lupin," she said, jabbing her finger hard into his chest with each word. "You are not accountable for what you do when you are not in control, not to mention that you go out to take precautions to make sure you are not a danger when you aren't in control. Fenrir Greyback is a monster, not because he is a werewolf, but because he chooses to attack people. Voldemort is a monster for reasons I doubt I need to explain. You take pity on flea-bitten kittens you find in the gutter, for Merlin's sake you silly man. Not even the half the decent people I know would take a second glance at a stray, let alone clean them up and find them a new home." Remus seemed lost for words at her sudden and vicious outburst.

"Hermione, really, was that necessary?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"Yes, I can't have you going around, spouting of stupid things like an idiot. That's what we have Sirius for," she said, losing the harsh tone in her voice for a moment, before having the hard tone return along with her glare. "Don't make me start treating you like Sirius, because I will if you keep saying stupid things like that." she threatened.

Remus let out a put upon sigh, he was never going to understand this stubborn woman. Always willing to see the best in those around her, while only acknowledging the worst of herself.

Letting go of Remus's arm, Hermione looked around, they had just Apparated in an out-of-the-way alley across from a cluster of densely squashed houses. Hermione rolled her shoulders in discomfort, it was always a less pleasant experience when one was Side-Along-Apparating compared to when one Apparated themself. Dracarys gave an unhappy squawk from his place draped around Hermione's neck, he seemed to not like Apparating as well. Crookshanks gave a yowl from the crate in Remus's hand. Setting the cat crate on the ground. Remus dug around in his trouser pockets, pulling out a crumpled empty chocolate wrapper and a few knuts. Growing slightly panicked he turned his pockets inside out before rifling through his jacket pockets, still not finding what he was looking for.

"Don't tell me I dropped it," he said a little panicky, going through his pockets again with the same results.

"What are you looking for?" Hermione asked, not bothering to hide the mischievous tone in her voice, and Remus looked up at her suspiciously. Hermione was innocently leaning against the alley wall, chewing on the remains of a piece of chocolate, as she read over the scrap of paper in her hand.

"The address," Remus said with a resigned sigh, "that you already have it seems. Will you stop doing that?" Hermione smirked at his reprimanding tone, offering him the paper back after reading it.

"Sometimes I just can't help myself," she admitted, slightly apologetic. "Come on, I'm sure everyone is waiting." She pulled a shrunken trunk from her pocket and returned it to its normal size with a flick of her fingers, Remus picked Crookshanks back up as he followed Hermione out of the alley and across the street to the now visible House of Black. Remus knocked on the door and waited. Behind the barrier of polished wood there was a sudden clamor and the chaos of several raised voices. A male voice cut across the rest and things quieted down again before the door was opened by Sirius, looking flustered.

"Ah, good, finally," he greeted, looking quite relieved, "Remus, can you help me with Molly? I'm begging you, she's in quite a state."

"What have they done now?" Remus asked with a rye smile, as he walked into the entrance hall and loosed the half-cat from his crate; Crookshanks gladly leapt off to explore the new environment.

"There was just a little incident at lunch, involving a cherry bomb and a slime that makes whatever skin it touched fluorescent." He held up an arm and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a patch of skin, glowing a lovely shade of indigo. "The colors appear to vary from person to person."

"I'll see what I can do," the werewolf said, heading off toward the kitchen, "no promises, though."

"I quite like it," Sirius said with a roguish smile, admiring the glowing patch of brightly discolored skin of his arm before rolling his sleeve back down. "But I'd like to know if it will wear off though. The Weasley twins have quite the talent for the finer arts of mischief and mayhem. They should go into business."

"Don't tell Molly, but they're trying to," Hermione confided, "they simply lack the funds and free time to set it up properly, but they've been making due with mail order requests since last summer."

"Is that so…" Sirius said rather thoughtfully before shaking his head and gesturing her further into the hall, "Where are my manners? Come on in, I hope you don't mind, you will be rooming with Ginny. Since the Weasleys arrived, we have had to double up some of the rooms to accommodate everyone."

"That's fine with me, I'm used to rooming with teenage girls and I find Ginny to be far more tolerable than my school dorm mates," Hermione replied with a look of distaste; Pavarti wasn't too bad on her own, but you throw Brown into the mix and the two became quite intolerable. Lavender was a gossip and would always criticize Hermione when she refused any offered makeup or accessories to pretty herself up for the sake of the attention of the male population. She had actually walked into the room one time early in the previous year to hear them discussing whether she might be gay or not, given her lack of attention to any of the boys in their year and her hostile refusal of Cormic, who in Lavender's books was quite a catch, considering he was from a higher year.

"So for your official tour," Sirius continued with a conspiratorial wink, "second landing is your room, Molly and Arthur are on the first, the twins on the third and Ron is with Harry in his room at the top. My room is on the hall off the third floor landing, along with Remus's. Library and back bedroom are down that way," he continued, gesturing down a side hall as he led her through the house; pointing out the living room, dining room and kitchen as they went. "I would stay clear of the back room, Kreacher is held up there and has pretty much sealed the door, he pops out every once in a while to do a chore or two if I directly tell him too, but for the most part he stays there. Can't tolerate the house full of blood traitors." Hermione nodded understandingly; the few times she had seen the house elf in her visits he had been fowl in his near constant mutterings, but tended to stay out of everyone's way.

"Did you make sure he won't mention," she lowered her voice, "anything about me?"

"Yes, he is forbidden to say or even write anything, your secrets safe," Sirius said just as low, before going back to his normal tone, "I got a new elf as well, he was a Hogwarts elf and came by to deliver something for Dumbledore. He was quite displeased at Kreacher's level of work and asked if he could come to work for me―ah, here we are," he said, stopping at the base of the main stairs.

"Harry and everyone are waiting for you upstairs," he said and took the opportunity to Levitate her trunk so that it headed upstairs on its own. "Dinner will be a little early tonight, is a meeting afterward. We can talk after that if you can slip out without Ginny or Molly noticing." He added the last part in a low voice before heading further into the house and leaving Hermione to make her way upstairs.

Entering her room, she found it empty so she maneuvered her trunk to the foot of the obviously unused bed and headed further up the stairs. When she got to the topmost landing, she could hear voices inside; knocking before opening the door, she found Harry, Ron and Ginny all seated on the two beds in the room.

Harry and Ron had gone through some obvious growth spurts from last summer, it was more noticeable now that she had been away from them for a few weeks. Ron had gotten considerably taller, though not quite as tall as her unglamoured self; she was sure he would soon pass her up before he finished growing if her memory of his older self was anything to go by. His shoulders were broad and stocky, giving him a sturdy build, obviously from all the Quidditch practice he had been doing with Harry last year; she recalled hearing him mention wanting to try out for the team. His hair had been cut since he had returned home, only furthering the effect of making him look older; even with the different hairstyles she could see he was slowly becoming the man she had seen in the bed at Shell Cottage.

Harry on the other hand was still quite a bit shorter than Ron, but his change in living arrangements for the past two summers had had an astounding effect on the young man. He, like Ron, had benefited from their regular Quidditch practices if the definition in his arms and torso were anything to go by under his T-shirt. Unlike Ron he was still rather thin and short, but now it was more from his natural slight frame than from lack of sufficient food. His hair had grown out longer than she had seen it before and was currently tied back out of the way in a manner that reminded Hermione of the day she had taken Sirius to the mall and had tied his hair back. His bangs fell over his forehead, effectively shielding his trademark scar from sight, but not obstructing the view of his uniquely green eyes.

Ginny had grown as well, as she was beginning to take on the form of a strong young woman. Hermione was sure she was going to have the boys chasing her this year. She hoped Ron wouldn't take it too hard when he found out his innocent baby sister was starting to take an interest in boys.

Her friends all looked fit and healthy, save one very hard to not notice thing. It seemed they hadn't been able to escape the results of the twin's prank anymore than Sirius had. Ginny had brightly pink splatters all over her face like large pink freckles. Poor Ron, despite his utter dislike of the color, had a large maroon handprint smack across his face. The culprit wasn't too far, along with a few splatters on his face and neck, Harry was sporting a very guilty looking green hand.

At the sight of her in the doorway, Ron immediately grabbed the pillow from his bed and buried his face in it, Ginny stood from Ron's bed and enthusiastically came to give her a hug, while Harry waved a greeting.

"Hey, Mione, you finally made it," Harry called, a broad smile on his face.

"It's so good you're here." Ginny squealed, as she squeezed Hermione tightly.

"Gin, I can't breathe," Hermione wheezed out, indicating that Ginny should let her go. The younger girl moved back to sit on her brother's bed as Hermione took a seat next to Harry on his bed. Hermione tried to stifle a laugh as Ron did his best to smother himself in his pillow rather than face her.

"Awe, come on, Ron, I've already seen it and it's not that bad, so there's no point in hiding." Harry made no attempt at reigning in his laughter, as Ron peeked over the pillow. Hermione gave Harry an exasperated look that told him she knew what he had done and he needed to apologize now.

"I regret nothing," Harry declared defiantly, "serves him right for constantly insisting he's going to go easy on me when we play chess, and then thoroughly trouncing me every time."

"You could just refuse to play," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"He makes it sound so fun at the time, I can't help myself despite the fact that I haven't ever beat him since that time he was half out of it from the flu." Ginny rolled her eyes and mouthed 'boys' at Hermione who could only nod her head in agreement.

Suddenly there was a loud crack in the room and Hermione was buried under something heavy and warm; she went for her wand, only to find she couldn't move under the weight.

"George, get your fat arse off," Harry grumbled, shoving the twin onto the floor in a heap.

"Now that's just rude, right, Freddie?" George asked, picking himself up off the ground and making a show of dusting off his trousers. "Freddie?" he inquired at his other half's silence.

"Not that I don't find this flattering, Fred, but don't you think you should buy a girl dinner before jumping her?" Hermione said with a sly smirk, as Fred had expertly managed to Apparate himself on top of her on Harry's bed, leading them to quite a compromising position.

"I've never been one to follow the rules," Fred said with a cocky grin, "but if the lady wishes it, I suppose I would just do this once." With that he picked himself up off of her before offering a hand to help her back up, bowing at the waist over her hand in a dramatically gallant gesture.

"Oh, you're terrible," Hermione said, smiling good naturedly.

"On the contrary, I have often been told how easy I am." He replied with a wink.

"Oi, leave her alone," Ron said, finally forgoing his pillow mask, and his face turning nearly as red as the handprint on his face.

"Awe, isn't that cute, Ronikins getting all jealous," George cooed, causing Ron to sputter unintelligibly. "Come now, Freddie, down, boy. You're going to cause our dear baby brother here to die of embarrassment," George declared, pulling Fred away from Hermione by the back of his belt.

"I―You―What are you two even doing here?" Ron sputtered out.

"Why to get you all for dinner, of course, keep up with the conversation, Ronikins." Fred said with a not so subtle wink toward Hermione, who snorted in suppressed laughter, before pulling out a jar from his pocket and passing it to Ginny, "and to give you this, it should take off any of your lingering colors." Ron growled, but the pair Disapparated before he could do anything.

Dinner was an interesting affair, as there were a number of extra guests in attendance due to the Order meeting afterwards. There was a dark haired witch with rosy cheeks who indulged herself in Sirius's wine selection, introduced as Hestia Jones, and a square-jawed, blond wizard who on more than one occasion would share whispered comments with Sirius and Arthur before being reduced to roaring chuckles.

Bill seemed more reserved than the last time Hermione had seen him; she guessed he was still recovering over the fact that less than a month ago he had found out that his girlfriend was, in fact, a guy and a slightly mad, high-ranking Death Eater at that. She could only guess that the incident had left him rather paranoid of anyone new at the very least; depending on how serious and involved the pair had been she figured there were other things that were bothering him about the incident as well.

Another new face at the table was a young woman a year older than herself; Hermione could only watch in mild fascination at the Metamorphmagus who was equally entranced by the color patch on her arm, a result of the twin's prank. Unlike the others she had seen, Tonks color patch seemed to pulse and fade between different colors on its own accord, as the woman seemed to have no control over it and it was this fact that had her watching her own arm with great interest.

She was brought back to reality when Remus sat down beside her and offered her a jar of what looked like the same paste the twins had brought up to Harry, Ron and Ginny. The two carried on a conversation that ended with Tonks taking the jar with a beaming smile, her hair turning gold before it shifted to a bright pink on the tips.

Dinner progressed in the loud chatter that accommodated most Weasley meals. Hermione got a pleasant surprise at the sight of the familiar face of Sirius's new house-elf, Dobby, who popped in with new dishes, proudly wearing a mismatched sock on each bat-like ear and a long scarf wrapped around his slim body like a toga.

Too soon dinner was over and Hermione found herself, along with Harry and the younger members of the Weasley family, being coaxed out of the dining room and back upstairs, so that the Order could have their meeting. As Molly shooed them toward the stairs, Hermione caught a glimpse of the entrance hallway and the arrival of Dumbledore and Alastor Moody. The ex-Auror was talking with Dumbledore irritably, but their voices were too low for her to catch anything. Dumbledore waved off Moody's words, as he moved to greet Arthur. Alastor scowled, leaning on his staff as his magical eye swiveled all around. Hermione ducked her head, as Ginny walked up beside her and struck up a conversation with the girl. She had never actually met the real Moody before, but she was sure his eye could not see through her glamour or Barty would have noticed. His paranoia on the other hand could be a nuisance; she had heard tales of the lengths he would go to uncover secret plots and conspiracies, she didn't need him sticking that scarred nose of his in her secrets.

"This is so unfair," Ron complained, flopping on his back on his bed next to Harry, as the two girls settled on Harry's bed.

"I know what you mean," Harry said with growing irritation, until he was nearly ranting, as he stood and began pacing the length of the room. "I mean, it's not like Voldemort wants to kill me or anything. It's not like he had me kidnapped just a few weeks ago. I don't need to know anything." Ron nodded along with each of his sarcastic remarks.

"Harry, getting angry about it isn't going to change anything," Ginny said placatedly, it seemed in her absence Ginny had taken up the position of the voice of reason in the group. Hermione found it quite amusing and surprising, it seemed Ginny had grown a great deal more confident around Harry, given that she used to be rendered speechless just from being in the same room as him.

"Have you asked Sirius or Remus about it?" Harry nodded with an exasperated sigh and cast a cautious look over at Ron and then Ginny. "I tried once, but Mrs. Weasley came in before Sirius could answer; I think if she hadn't come in he might have," he griped sullenly, flopping back on his bed. Hermione nodded, she could understand the woman's motivation in trying to protect Harry and her children, but the woman just did not seem to realize how much damage her actions were causing. She needed to talk with Sirius now more than ever; they needed to know what was going on even if it meant she passed information on from the meetings, but she would much rather find a way for them to get the information themselves rather than risk them questioning her methods.

Suddenly there was the crack of Apparition and thankfully this time Hermione did not find herself pinned under either of the ginger twins. George was rolling up an ear-like contraption on a long string before sticking it in his pocket.

"Any luck?" Ron asked, sitting up hopefully, only to flop back down at the mirrored head shakes.

"Still some issues―" Fred began.

—can't get a clear transmission―" George continued.

—a little more tweaking and we should have it ready," Fred finished, fishing a box out of his pocket and handing it to Ginny.

"What is this?" Ginny asked, her voice making it clear she wasn't going to open it until she had a satisfactory answer.

"Don't worry, dear sister," George said, a grin on his face, though, if it was friendly or impish was up for debate. Fred mirrored his look, as he sidled up to seat himself between Ginny and Hermione on Harry's bed, throwing an arm over Ginny's shoulder and opening the box in her hands with the other. Inside was a selection of animal-shaped cookies.

"They're perfectly safe. Just a variation of those candies we made a couple of years back."

"They're not going to give me tails or ears or anything strange, right?" she asked, picking up a frog shaped cookie.

"Nope, same as the candies, we just saw a similar Muggle treat and decided that they looked better this way," George answered, pulling out two boxes, one was red and had a number of animals roaming across the front, while the other blue one had vehicles of different types. "We kept the train and other sounds as candies, but separated out all the animal ones into cookies." He handed the blue box to Harry and the red to Ron. Ginny sifted around in her box before selecting a cookie and popping it in her mouth.

"Well, how is it?" Ron asked, watching his sister chew thoughtfully before she opened her mouth and let out a full blown lion roar, startling Ron and causing him to jump back on the bed with his knees up to his chest. Harry started laughing heartily until Ron pushed him off the bed.

"My turn," Ron said giddily, pulling the first cookie in reach out and popping it in his mouth without looking; he had a smug look as he glared up at Ginny until he opened his mouth and was met with the obnoxious 'hee-haw'. Ron looked most irritated, as he let out a string of assish-brays. Everyone in the room was laughing now, as Ron glared at his box of animal cookies. Harry opened his own box and selected a red candy, he had no sooner eaten the treat before he was emitting steam from his ears and whistling like a train.

"Come on, Hermione, try one." Ginny said, offering her the box of cookies; Hermione shook her head.

"I'll pass this time, I'd much rather see that ear-thing you had. What is it?" she asked, looking at George where he sat on the edge of the nightstand.

"The Extendable Ear," George supplied, pulling the Ear on a string out of his pocket. "It's supposed to allow you to eavesdrop on conversations, but we are having some trouble with it. It seems to malfunction when out of normal hearing range, which isn't useful at all."

"Anything I could help with?" she asked curiously, a magical eavesdropping tool would be very useful. The twins shared a look before sharing a unanimous nod; George moved to her side, bending down he linked arms with her, as Fred did the same on her other side before standing and taking her with him.

"Come along, Granger."

"We have work to do." The pair lead her to the door, intending on leaving the room.

"Hey, where are you going with Hermione?" Ron asked, his voice back to usual now.

"Don't worry, Ron, I did offer to help them after all. You go back to your fun," she managed to call back before being led from the room altogether.

Over the next few hours Hermione got a tour of the twin's latest products, including the Skiving Snackboxes and Self-Inking Quills. She had even been given a number of the quills along with a Comb-a-Chameleon before sitting down and brainstorming the issues they were having with the Extendable Ear.

"Is there a way to separate the transmitting and receiving parts?" she asked, stretching the Ear out, checking the maximum distance it could go. It wasn't a distance she found acceptable for what she would be using an item like it for, but it had gotten her thinking about the Muggle version of listening devices.

"What are you thinking?" George asked, watching Hermione roll the ear back up. Fred was over in one corner tending to a cauldron they had set up there.

"Muggles have these devices they use for listening in to a conversation in another room or even in another building, sometimes even further. They are a bit like Omnioculars, but with sound instead of sight. You can listen into what is currently going on or you can replay it later." Fred put the stirring rod he had been using down and came to sit next to George, intrigued. "With those bugs, they call it bugging, a device is placed in the room. Usually very small," she explained, holding her fingers up in demonstration of the size in comparison to the ear, which had almost three times the size. "Their size makes them easy to miss, especially if they are placed in an out-of-the-way spot. The part you listen to isn't attached to the bug, but you can still hear it as it happens." She held up the part on the ear that was held up to the listener's ear, drawing attention on how they were attached.

"Are you saying it might work better if we separated them?" George asked. Hermione thought for a moment, looking over the ear before shaking her head. "No, I think with some tweaking this would be a good product for your shop, but if you're wanting to do some serious snooping into Order business you're going to need something a lot more high-tech."

"Like a bug," Fred stated.

"Hey, if it works," she said, tossing the Ear in Fred's lap. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but last year… You know how Rita kept writing about things she should not have been able to find out, like—"

"You and Snape?" George added innocently.

"No, like—"

"You and Malfoy?" Fred added smirking, Hermione paused and glared at both of them.

"Like Hagrid's parentage," she continued, as if they had not interrupted her twice. "She was an illegal Animagus with the form of a beetle. Small and easily overlooked, perfect for spying." The two seemed to consider the information for any attributes that they could adapt to their products. "Look, it's getting late, I'm going to head off to bed," Hermione said, standing; Ginny had stopped by nearly an hour ago to let her know she was heading to bed. "Oh, you might try talking to Sirius and Remus, they might be able to help with some of your side projects." She waved a hand in the direction of the bubbling cauldron.

"Why them?" George asked curiously. "Sure, Sirius is a good sport when it comes to pranks and Remus is good at calming mum down, but I don't think they are much of the prank sort, right, Freddie?"

Fred gave her a calculated look. "I think Hermione knows something she isn't telling."

Hermione smirked. "I just thought you two would like to learn from some seasoned pranksters like Padfoot and Moony," she said innocently.

"The Padfoot—"

"—and Moony." Hermione's smirk widened into a full blown smile at their looks of awe and reverence.

"What about Prongs?" Fred asked, finally finding his voice.

Hermione's smile faltered a bit. "Harry's father."

"I always knew he had a bit of a Marauder in him."

"And Wormtail?" George asked, as Fred jostled him in excitement.

This question caused her smile to vanish completely. "You recall the incident with Scabbers, Peter Pettigrew? He was Wormtail." This sobered the twins up. "Just talk with them, I'm sure they would love to share some tales with you."

Hermione left them and headed down stairs, pausing in front of her and Ginny's room and pulled the fake locket from the collar of her shirt and sent a message to Remus and Sirius to see if they were free to meet. She had put it on a few days back, she found she rather liked it and decided on a spur of the moment to transfer the spells connecting to the Marauders rings to it; despite her better judgment telling her that she shouldn't be risking it being spotted and reported back to Voldemort. A minute of waiting later she got a reply.

Creeping down the stairs she paused on the next landing and watched the hall below. Tonks went by talking animatedly but in hushed tones with Bill, only for Tonks to trip over her own feet and was sent teetering sideways and went head first through the living room doorway. There was a crashing sound followed by a yowl before Chrookshanks came bounding out of the room; he paused at the base of the stairs with his tail arched, the tip twitching as a sign of his agitation. Tonks came out a minute later rubbing her head sheepishly as she rejoined Bill and left down the hall, presumably out the front door.

Hermione sat down on the step of the landing and picked Crookshanks up as he came to greet her. A few other Order members passed by without much incident and Hermione stood, her cat in her arms when someone paused in the scattered flow of people. Glancing down over the banister brown eyes locked with black; they stood there watching each other. Hermione broke the contact as a potbelly Wizard pushed his way between the black robed figure and the stairs. She turned her back as if heading back upstairs but put her cat down and stepped into the bathroom across the hall from Molly and Arthur's room.

She waited in there for a good ten minutes; listening to the sounds downstairs as they finally quieted down, two sets of footsteps climbed to the first landing, one continuing to head up stairs. Another two minute and the second set came back down and entered the room across the hall, she heard the door click shut and waited another whole minute before slipping out of the dark bathroom, she had not dared turn on the light for fear of drawing Molly's attention. Heading down the last flight of stairs, Hermione slipped into the drawing room to wait for Sirius and Remus.

The meeting was short but informative. Sirius had been making good use of the trace blocking device she had given him and been giving Harry private lessons in combat spells including offensive, defensive and even some magical first aid given how much he tended to get himself hurt when he was off on his own. Once the Weasleys came, Ginny, Ron and the Twins had started sitting in on Harry's lessons; much to Molly's disapproval but she could not fault them so long as Ron and Ginny were not breaking the no magic outside school rule. The twins she could do nothing about, as they were of age and much as she disliked it; Harry was not under her care and so she could not forbid him, only scold Sirius for his poor parenting choices.

As for the Order, it had been rather busy since the last task of the Triwizard Tournament. It seemed despite Ludo Bagman's statements that she would wander back; the Ministry had finally decided to look into Bertha Jorkins' disappearance. After some investigation into Jorkins and the family she had been visiting in Albania turned up her remains, previously unidentified, in a Muggle morgue. Apparently just the day after she had gotten Harry back, Hagrid had been sent off in some top secret mission that had to do with the Giants. Remus said that next week he was going to be traveling off and on to go meet different werewolf packs and trying to negotiate alliances. The Order was gathering it's allies it seemed.

In the following days Hermione spotted Fred and George, talking in hushed tones with Remus and Sirius. She had asked both the Twins and Marauders, separately, what they had been talking about but was only given vague replies that she would be told later and suspicious smiles. She could only assume that the Twins had finally confronted the older pranksters about their school year shenanigans.

Bill she learned had permanently moved back to London from Egypt and had taken up a curse breaking job at Gringotts. It was a surprise to learn that he was working alongside her once Tournament rival, Fluer Delicore, who had gotten a job there to improve her English. According to Bill she was becoming quite a nuisance, constantly distracting him from his work and interrupting him at crucial moments when he needed to focus. He had even gone so far as to have Moody check her out to make sure that she wasn't another Death Eater trying to use him like Jessica. He had been even more disturbed to find out that Jess's body had been recovered by Muggle police a few days after Harry had been kidnapped in the basement of the Riddle House. From the reports the Aurors had copied from the Police reports for their own records; Jessica was a Muggle who had been reported missing after the unusual death of her parents half a year ago, local Police believed that she had been in the cell for the majority of that time before her recent death. Meaning that he had probably never even met the real Jessica Bradbury.

Hermione flipped a knife in her hand, inspecting the weight and quality as she sat next to Ginny while Sirius showed Harry the proper casting of a slashing hex on a straw dummy. They were in a large room, likely once used for large social parties, that had been cleared and warded just for the activity. Harry finally came and sat down heavily beside her as the dummy reassembled itself and Fred took his place. Dobby popped in with a glass of water, passing it to a very grateful and sweating Harry.

"You could train with us, you know. I mean it's not like your guardian is here to say you can't." Harry offered gesturing to Fred and Sirius. Hermione shook her head and passed the knife back to Harry, it had been a Christmas gift from Sirius last year. "No offense," he added glancing at Ginny.

"None taken," Ginny remarked bitterly, " it's not your fault my mom's being unreasonable."

"You know, you might not be able to train using magic, but I could show you some Muggle fighting moves." Hermione offered, "I started learning a while back and I could teach you."

"Would it even be useful?" Ginny asked skeptically. "I mean against fully trained wizards."

"Yes, if applied right it could," Hermione said with an odd smile remembering how well Muggle fighting had been against a certain Pureblood, "and it would not be anything your mother can complain about since it's not against school rules or anything."

"Alright," Ginny said, more enthusiastic since she could not participate in the magical training.

"I could show you how to use that as well," Hermione said gesturing at Harry's knife, "with your seeker reflexes and hand-eye coordination you would pick it up quickly."

So began Hermione's summer tutoring of her friends in the art of Muggle fighting. Ginny caught on quickly enough and pretty soon she was pinning her brothers on the floor regularly in their sessions, while Sirius was doing his one on one with Harry or the Twins. Ron was a little slower in catching on but after talking for a bit she found a style that fit him. Hermione's own style involved stealth and striking right where it would do the most damage and then retreating. Ginny, she found, was quite a spitfire, reminding her much of herself at that age when Halt had taught her to fight. Getting up again and again no matter how many times she was knocked down or who she was fighting until she won. Ron was different, slower than her or Ginny but had quite a punch when he managed to land one. It took her a little research but she came across a southern Chinese fighting style that seemed like it would suit him. She got the gist of it, even if she wasn't familiar with the style, and found a way to adapt it to Ron's strategic mind. Harry caught on quickly to using his knife, he wasn't as adept at the close range fighting as Hermione was but he hit the training dummy pretty accurately when throwing it.

It was a comforting thought that her friends were at least somewhat competent at hand-to-hand, giving them an extra chance if they lost their wand. Things were going well, but it was only a matter of time before something went wrong and it did. One afternoon Sirius had called a halt to their usual training session early; they all had sat down to some refreshments on the couches, normally occupied by whomever wasn't participating in the current training sessions.

Sirius had finally had enough and decided to forgo Molly's wishes and let the teens in on some of what the Order was doing. He, Remus and Hermione had talked in length about it several times and came to the conclusion that while they didn't need to know all the Order's secrets they did need to know that something was being done. What dangers they needed to know about, such as Voldemort's current activities in trying to win over the Giants and Werewolves, was a growing threat, as were the reports of rogue Dementors about.

It seemed only fitting that the one time Molly would enter the room while they were using it, would be then. She was furious, as she hauled Harry and Ron by the arms and led them to the door.

"Up to your rooms this instant," she scolded as the boys protested and Ginny followed wordlessly not wanting to draw the attention of her mother's wrath.

"Mum, you can't keep us in the dark like this!" George shouted venomously.

"We are a part of this too!" Fred added as Ron and Ginny sulked toward the stairs. Harry looked livid and was only stopped from voicing his anger by a look from Sirius and a gesture to follow Ron.

"I may no longer be able to stop you from using your magic as frivolously as you do now, but I am your mother, and so long as you are still attending school you will not be a part of the Orders business. That is final, now up to your rooms!" She pointed out the door, and as a last defiant gesture, rather than using the door the brothers disapparated from the room with mirrored scowls on their face. Molly gave an agitated huff before closing the door with a bang and rounding on Sirius ready to unleash her full wrath, until she spotted Hermione still seated on the couch, eyeing the partly full glass of water in her hand.

Molly checked herself, before addressing the girl with a calm she obviously was not feeling, "Hermione, dear please head upstairs with the others. Sirius and I need to have a talk."

"They have a right to know." Hermione said calmly and Sirius began to look slightly panicked between Hermione's facade of calm and Molly, who was slipping back into angry mother mode; he backed up slowly.

"You're children, you don't need to worry about these things. Now off to bed and I will hear no more about it." Molly stated in a tone all of her children had learned at a young age to obey right away, Hermione was not one of her children. Something finally snapped and Hermione stood up in an uncharacteristic rage that could rival the Weasley Matriarch. Glass shattered against the wall where Hermione had thrown her cup. In a moment of what must have been insanity, Sirius tried to insert himself between the two women but backed off at the look in Hermione's eye and moved to stand to one side. Molly was momentarily shocked by the outburst from the usually collected and obedient girl.

"You think Voldemort cares about what age anyone is!" Hermione spat out coldly, Molly flinched at the sound of the name but Hermione's anger was still rolling. "Do you think he thought twice when he possessed Ginny, a defenseless and lonely eleven-year old girl, for a year and nearly killed her―planned on killing her."

"This is completely different―." Molly said trying to gain back control of the situation but Hermione continued on.

"Do you think it bothered him in the slightest to try to kill Harry, an infant, in his crib or when he kidnapped and tried to kill him just a few months ago. He doesn't care, he is going to hunt down anyone even remotely connected to the Order whether we know anything or not. Then he is going to kill them, if they are lucky; more likely they're going to be tortured for information on their parents or this place and then they may get the luxury of a quick death."

"You kids are not a part of this, you should be safe at Hogwarts where you can finish your schooling and let us adults handle this." Molly shot back hands on her hips, glancing at Sirius for back up but received none as he tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, not wanting to get in between the two women.

"School, you think we are safe at school." Hermione laughed coldly, she was through being treated like a helpless child "In our first your Voldemort possessed a teacher the whole year," she listed out holding up a finger, "had he had enough strength at the time he would have killed us then; hell he nearly killed Harry in the forest had the centaurs not interfered. In our second year your daughter was possessed and nearly killed and a number of students including myself were nearly killed by his pet basilisk." she held up a second finger before continuing on. "For all of those years your son was rooming with a murderer who could have killed him at any time had it even proven slightly beneficial to him." She held up a third followed by the rest of the fingers on her hand with a wave before dropping it. "Last year I was tortured while simply walking down the hall to my dorm by a Death Eater and Harry was kidnapped, used in a dark ritual and nearly killed right under your very nose." She spat out pointing a finger at the red haired woman. Molly looked as if she was warring with exploding in a fit of rage or bursting into tears as all the dangers the children had faced over the years were shoved in her face, bringing up the worries that had been plaguing her since news of Voldemort's return and the Order had been reestablished.

"Voldemort is back and things are only going to get worse. We are all part of this; from the moment you and Arthur joined the Order back when it was first formed, your children were a part of this. From the moment I met Harry on the train, I was a part of this. Denying us information we need is like turning a flock of lambs loose in a forest of starved wolves and telling them there is no danger."

"You're too young to be fighting in this War. You should not have to worry about this." Molly said softly.

"What should be and what is are rarely the same thing." Hermione said just as softly, "I'm not asking you to spill all the Order's secrets, we don't need to know everything; but at least tell us enough that we know what to look out for."

"Okay, Okay" Molly said even as she shook her head, wiping at a few stray tears on her face. "When did you get so mature."

"It happens to all of us at some point." Hermione supplied with a shrug, before glancing at Sirius. "Sorry about the glass."

"Don't worry about it." Sirius breathed in an impressed tone, as he looked from Hermione to Molly who seemed to have been properly cowed.

Dumbledore rarely showed up at headquarters outside Order meetings; he had been busy trying to convince the Minister of Magic of Voldemort's return. Fudge had been particularly vocal in the press that there was no need to worry and that the current rumors going around, that there may or may not be a spike in Dark wizard activity was just that, a rumor. Even with photos transferred from the captured images, from a certain pair of Omnioculars, Fudge was adamant that the images were fabricated or created from someone's false memory to discredit him and his ability to run things at the Ministry. As he so liked to boast, Dark wizard activity had been nearly nonexistent in the last six months; he seemed to think it was all due to his influence over the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Dumbledore attended an International Conference of Wizards in hopes of spreading awareness throughout the Wizarding community, but even then Fudge refused to acknowledge Dumbledore's efforts. Then began Fudge's smear campaign toward Dumbledore to prevent him from stirring up more trouble by revoking his positions as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump.

"Fudge is an idiot," Hermione declared, folding the paper she had been reading and passing it to Lupin, as they along with a few of the other early risers helped themselves to breakfast courtesy of Dobby. "He is only making things worse by keeping everyone in the dark."

"He's probably worried about sending everyone into a panic," Molly chimed in, serving a plate of pancakes to Tonks who was dozing against her propped up fist. She had stayed in one of the reserved Order rooms when the meeting the night before ran particularly late; the clatter of the plate in front of her caused the Metamorphmagus to jerk upright, knocking over a bowl of fruit and sending them rolling across the tabletop. Molly had been a lot more amenable to letting her and her friends in on more of the goings on of the Order. Not anything top secret, but enough that the teens now knew something was being done to handle the Voldemort situation.

Hermione made a noncommittal sound, as she took a bite from her bowl of oatmeal, Harry and Ron came into the dinning room a few moments later. She watched as Harry was rubbing at his eyes tiredly while he sat down, scowling at his plate of eggs, as if they had offended him in some way. She had asked what was wrong earlier in the week after noticing he didn't seem to be getting enough sleep, it was making him rather irritable and his temper short when he wasn't working himself to exhaustion. Concerned, she had asked him if he was sleeping alright, he had said that he kept having these weird dreams about a corridor and a door he just could not reach.

The summer was passing by in a blur of people coming and going from Grimmauld Place. Tonks had been a regular visitor of the House of Black, as had Bill. Bill would come by most days to visit, as they had been dealing with Percy's recent estrangement from the family; Molly was taking the news particularly hard. Tonks had been acting as a go-between for Kingsley and the Order, passing information. The latest news from the Ministry was that Scrimgeour had been acting awfully suspicious and asking questions about certain areas he had no business digging in. The current theory was that Voldemort was sending low ranking members snooping in the Ministry for something, a weapon of some kind or information. According to a certain spy, he was after a prophecy, a very particular Prophecy.

"Dumbledore has members rotating guard positions on the Hall of Prophecy, it should be safe from anyone sneaking in," Sirius said in one of their rare late night meetings that Hermione managed to attend in private.

"That is a stupid plan," Hermione scoffed, indulging in a glass of Firewhiskey she had stolen from Sirius's liquor cabinet without his permission.

"How so?" Remus asked, leaning back in his chair crossing an ankle over his knee.

"There is no point to it. First off, the first rule of all prophecies is that they can only be retrieved by those involved in it, in the case of this Prophecy in particular, Voldemort and Harry. So there is really no point in guarding it; none of the Death Eaters can get it and if Voldemort decided to finally break cover, a guard or two isn't going to stand much of a chance," she stated plainly.

"So you know about the Prophecy, what it says?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Yeah, I know it," she said, before taking a drink from her glass, "as does Dumbledore and Snape. Don't ask me what it says; unless you have suddenly developed a knack for Occlumency then it's safest that you don't know. If it got out, Harry would be in even more danger than he already is. Which makes his guard duty plan so stupid. He already knows it so there isn't any point in keeping it around. Just destroy the damned thing already and be done with it. Unless it's some plan to draw him out, which would be great if it wasn't a death sentence to whoever is on guard duty. Seeing as Dumbledore hasn't let anyone in on any type of plan should Voldemort come a-calling, my guess is that he doesn't have one." Sirius and Remus shared a look and came to the decision to bring up the issue at the next meeting. They shouldn't be risking their members so needlessly; Dumbledore would either give them a satisfactory reason for having the guard on duty or they would take matters into their own hands.

As the summer was getting closer and closer to its end, Hermione decided that she was going to have to sneak out of the house and just deal with the consequences when she got back once her absence was noticed. There was simply no way she could fool Ginny; she could tell everyone she was tired and go to bed early, but the girl would notice that she was missing from their room and go for the adults. She sat on her bed rereading the letter from Dumbledore with their meeting arrangements, Remus had sent off the letter for her while he had been out meeting with some local werewolves and then stopped by her house to pick up the reply.

She folded up the letter before flopping back on her bed, an arm behind her head. Ginny came in from having gone on a pre arranged trip with her brothers, Harry, Sirius and Arthur on his day off. They had gone to the Burrow for the day to play Quidditch and just get out of the house for a while, Hermione had politely declined due to her dislike of anything involving a broom that didn't involve sweeping the floor.

She watched the girl move about the room to put up her Quidditch gear before she settled herself on her own bed, sprawled comfortably on her belly with a recent copy of Witch Weekly. "Ginny," Hermione said hesitantly, getting the girl's attention, "I need your help with something."

Ginny set her magazine on the bed and looked over at her room mate curiously. "What do you need?"

Hermione hesitated again, trying to think of a way to make her request without letting slip too much and in a way that would convince the girl to help. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes," Ginny said quickly, eager to know what the older girl was hiding; she had noticed Hermione had been distracted since getting the letter in her hand the morning before.

"I kind of promised someone we would meet up over the summer, but since coming here I haven't been able to get away."

"Why don't you just ask one of the adults? I'm sure they wouldn't mind as long as you went with someone," Ginny suggested, not seeing the problem, since they had just spent the day at the Burrow with no issue. She vaguely wondered who the brunette could be meeting that wasn't already at the house. She did not really socialize with many people outside their group other than polite conversations, Luna and Draco being the only others that she seemed to seek out and talk with outside their house, and she didn't think Hermione and Luna would hang out much without her around.

"That is the problem," Hermione said, picking her words carefully, she always found it was best to use a little truth and let others draw their own conclusions, then just go with it. Given Ginny's teenage mind, she knew exactly the conclusion the girl would jump to and she let her, even throwing in a sheepish smile just for effect. "I wanted to meet with him in private."

"Him." Ginny sat upright on her bed, abandoning her magazine, as she practically squealed, "Do I know him?"

"Yes, and no, I am not telling you," she cut the girl off before she could question her more; the girl, given her reaction, probably thought she had a date with some mystery man. She was slightly amused at the girl's reaction if she knew she was not going to meet some hot mystery man, but their old, wrinkly and slightly insane Headmaster. "Look, I wanted to slip out and go see him for an hour or so, and I was wondering if you would cover for me in case anyone comes looking?"

"All right, but you owe me," Ginny said, folding her arms over her chest, agitated that Hermione wouldn't tell her who her mystery man was.

"I promise, if you ever need a lookout for some secret rendezvous, I'm your woman," she offered with a sly wink, causing Ginny to blush.

"When are you planning on going?"

"This evening after dinner," Hermione said, sitting up and slipping off her bed to rummage through her trunk at the end of her bed, muttering to herself, as she pulled random items out and set them aside. "Maybe I should have cleaned out this mess before I left home."

"What is all of this stuff?" Ginny asked, moving to the edge of her own bed and peering over to the small growing pile of pricy looking knick knacks.

"Oh," Hermione said, picking up a small wooden box and sliding the lid open to reveal a number of magical creature figurines, milling about the bottom of the box, much like the Muggle version of animal toys, "most of it is Malfoy's," she said, closing the box and beginning to stick all the items that were not originally her into a bag she usually used for her 'Nemo' attire.

"He gave you all of this?" Ginny asked, picking up a bag that turned out to hold a number of marbles that were practically vibrating.

"Not exactly." Hermione sat back on her heels and smiled awkwardly, taking the bag from Ginny and put it away with the others and storing it in the trunk.

"You stole it!" Ginny scolded in a chastising tone.

"I have every intention of returning it, most of it." Hermione said defensively, pulling out the book she had been looking for and closing her trunk. "I just like to take something from him when he is being particularly foul. He's been better recently, so maybe I'll start giving it back this year."

Hermione excused herself from dinner early and headed upstairs, glad Moody wasn't there that evening or he might have tipped everyone off to what she was about to do. Sirius had already been informed she was going to be slipping out so he would not be caught off guard, when she slipped through the wards, when she came and left. Heading upstairs to her room, she slipped on a cloak, pulling the hood up and climbing down and out of the window. Once she was clear of the wards, she Apparated to her house to change. Removing her glamour, save the one that hid her scars and tinted her hair a slightly more reddish tone than her natural dark caramel, she pinned her hair up in a neat bun, obscuring her natural curls in the tightly wound and secured bun before putting on a pair of glasses to obscure her eyes that were changed to bright blue through the use of contacts. She changed into a pair of tan slacks and a simple white blouse before pulling on a set of brown robes. She did little in altering her physical appearance other than her hair color. If she had to appear before the Headmaster again, it was better to keep her disguise simple and involve magic as little as possible for the same reason she had insisted that Sirius used Muggle means to change his appearance; a simple Priori Incantatem would ruin the whole thing or she could forget a detail if she had to use it with the man again and risk him becoming suspicious.

Changing done, she Apparated to Hogsmeade and walked up to the school gates; they opened at her approach. She used the long walk as time to sort through her thoughts; anything concerning Nemo or Hermione was shoved to the back of her mind. By the time she made it to the Headmaster's office she was confident that her mind was clear and her shields strong.

"Ah, welcome, welcome, Ms. De Vincent, thank you for coming," Dumbledore greeted her warmly, as she entered his office and sat in the offered chair.

"It iz good to finally meet you, Directeur Dumbledore," Hermione greeted in a reserved tone, her voice taking on the french accent that accompanied her 'Emma' persona. Over the next hour Dumbledore informed her in more detail of the current events of Wizarding Britain and how Hermione was involved in the current events due to her friendship with Mr. Potter. Emma made sure to act properly, surprised at the right points and concerned at others, given the Ministry's refusal to believe the proof they had been given and the danger her ward was in.

The rather informative meeting, informative that is had she not already known most of the information in far greater detail already, ended with an offer to join the Order. Emma seemed to ponder the offer over, even though Hermione had already come to a decision as soon as Dumbledore had requested a meeting.

"That iz a generouz offer, but I am afraid I must decline," she said finally, while Dumbledore watched her over his half-moon glasses a little disappointed but unsurprised. "I have other rezponzibilitiez to zee to, above other thingz, and theze would not mix with your Order."

"I am sad to hear that, I am sure Hermione would have enjoyed seeing you around Headquarters." Hermione nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"I travel a great deal in my work and hear a great many thingz, if I hear of something useful I will pass it on," she offered in compromise for not joining. Dumbledore seemed lost in thought for a long moment before shaking himself, coming back to the present and seeing her to the Entrance Hall as they said their goodbyes.

After a quick stop at her house to change back and replace her glamours, Hermione made her way back to Grimmauld Place, scaling the wall to her bedroom window. The room was dark, but the window slid open easily and she slipped in soundlessly, as to not alert the Weasley parents downstairs.

"Hermione, is that you?" Ginny's voice came from the direction of her bed.

"Yeah," Hermione whispered tiredly, slipping into her pajamas in the dark and crawling into bed, after shoving Crookshanks over to make room.

"So…" Ginny's voice came laced with expectancy. Hermione rolled her eyes, even though the girl could not see it. There was a scraping sound from her headboard, as Dracarys shifted in his sleep, claws scraping loudly against the wood.

"It was nice, we went out, we talked, I came back, end of story." Ginny made a disappointed sound of protest at the lack of detail. Hermione smiled and curled up on her side, Crookshanks' comforting weight against her back.

The summer was finally beginning to come to a close and the younger members of the household were preparing to head back to school. Over the past few weeks Hermione had begun noticing a rather interesting development going on and had a little chat with Sirius to make sure she was not the only one noticing it. It seemed that Remus had an admirer in the form of the ever changing Metamorphic Tonks, Remus, she noticed, seemed oblivious to her attempts at gaining his attention or, at least, he gave no sign of noticing. Sirius and Hermione unanimously decided that this would not do, and so began the pair of Animagus' attempts at playing matchmaker. Hermione was able to do little seeing as she was going to be leaving shortly for Hogwarts, but she did what she could to subtly prompt the pair into interacting. Sirius on the other hand was anything but low-key in his attempts at hooking his friend up with the ever-changing woman.

In a moment of pure coincidence, Sirius on a spur of the moment idea decided to order Kreacher to attend one of the trio's late night meetings to find out more about Regulus's last days, as it was long after Sirius had been disowned and banished from the house. It was this line of questioning that led them to a truly miraculous discovery; after catching sight of Hermione fiddling with the locket that she usually kept hidden in her shirt, the elf began furiously spitting insults at the Muggle-born before being reduced to a babbling, sobbing, snot-covered mess as he proceeded to smash himself in the head with a candelabra.

It took Sirius's intervention, wrangling the candle holder away from the bony elf's hands and orders to not punish himself unless directly ordered, that finally calmed him enough to speak intelligibly. So began Kreacher's revealing tale of the last days of Master Regulus; with some specific prompting from Sirius. How Kreacher had been used and discarded to test the lockets defenses. Regulus's anger at Kreacher's treatment and the discovery of Voldemort's secret. How Regulus had gone through the trials of the cave and taken the locket, but due to his injuries from the tasks had ordered Kreacher to take it and leave without him. The last the elf had seen of him, his master was being grabbed by hands from the darkness of the lake.

Sirius sat with his head in his hands as Kreacher finished his tale, Remus sat beside him, a comforting hand on his shoulder, as his friend finally grieved for the loss of his little brother.

"What happened to the locket, the real one?" Hermione asked, drawing the elf's attention on her. Kreacher scowled at her, having directed his story at Master Sirius and the Werewolf, content to ignore the stain in the room.

"It speaks to Kreacher, Filth, why is it speaking to Kreacher?" the elf spoke more to himself then actually acknowledging Hermione.

"Because I'm trying to destroy it, and have a better chance at it, given you haven't managed it in all these years, have you? I have others like it and I plan on destroying them all."

"Kreacher tried to destroy it, he tried, oh, he tried," Kreacher moaned, clutching his head and curling in on himself at the memory of his failed task, but Sirius's order kept him from harming himself in repercussion. "So Kreacher kept it secret, kept it safe. Master Sirius was going to throw it away, like trash, but Kreacher saved it."

"Did Master Regulus tell you anything about what it was, what a Horcrux was?"

"Nothing—nothing, Kreacher does not pry into Master Regulus's affairs, not his place. Master Regulus told Kreacher nothing about Kruxes."

"Bring it here!" Sirius ordered, finally breaking his silence. Kreacher grumbled loudly before disappearing, a moment later he reappeared, clutching something in his hands close to his chest. With some prodding and finally some yelling Sirius managed to pry the locket out of the elf's clutches. It was dropped in the bag Hermione provided that had once held the ring when she had first brought it into the house.

It was then passed on to Remus who offered to make another hex box to seal it away, until the time came to destroy it. Hermione cast a quick spell on a galleon before passing it to Remus, who was leaving for her house to make the box.

"What's this for?" he asked, catching the coin she tossed at him; it shown with a faint glow.

"I charmed that to allow you to pass the wards on my store room, it will allow you to enter for the next 12 hours, so you can leave that safe with the others. I can't slip out again until school starts at least," she said, gesturing at the bag in Sirius's hand, holding the locket. Remus left soon after that and Kreacher disappeared as soon as the locket had left the house, leaving Sirius and Hermione alone.

"He's quite a strong fellow, that elf," Hermione mused, eyeing the spot Kreature had just vacated, "you should not be so hard on him, he's been through a lot more than even most wizards could survive. All those years alone, with the effects of that potion and that—that Horcrux. Ginny barely lasted a year under the influence of one, he has lasted fourteen years at least, with at least some of his sanity and viability intact." Sirius did not say anything as he sat there on the sofa, staring at his hands.

Finally, the day before they were supposed to leave for school their letters came with a few surprises, the first being the golden badge that fell out of Hermione's letter loudly in the middle of breakfast, drawing the attention of everyone there, even as she tried to shove it in a pocket.

"We should have known," Fred said, as he moved to sit on one side of her, while George slipped up on her other side and took the Prefect badge from her hand before she could pocket it.

"Why didn't we ever think of that, brother?" George said, inspecting the badge, before passing it to Fred.

"All the mischief one could get up to with this, and no one the wiser," Fred added, as Hermione snatched it from George before he could take it.

The second had been not so good news, once again she had been denied the use of a Time-Turner and Hermione finally made the call to fully drop her Muggle Studies class, even though she had been keeping up with the work. She had a feeling this year was going to have enough excitement in it that she wasn't going to have time for the extra work.


Next Chapter 23: I'll Be Your Guardian Angel, Watching Over You Back to school and enter Umbridge. Snape finds himself caring more than he thought he should when he finds a certain Gryffindor in yet another less than fit state.

Edited-02/22/19

German Translation by the wonderful and patient Alea Thoron.