Merry Christmas, my dear readers!
Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, I feel like you will all appreciate this particular gift. ;)
Not so many reviews for the last chapter... try to change that with this one?
Also, shout out to disillusionist9 who has been reviewing EVERY CHAPTER. I love you.
Okay - on to the chapter!
Chapter 51
The alarm sounded at three in the morning, rousing both Severus and Hermione from deep sleeps. Slowly candlelight suffused through the room, trying gently bring them into wakefulness.
Severus sat up immediately, alert in an instant. He quickly took in and cataloged his surroundings. The fire had gone out after they had both fallen asleep, leaving the room slightly chilly. There was a lump in the other bed, which Severus knew was Hermione. As the alarm continued to sound, the lump squirmed and Hermione's head poked out from under the covers.
Her hair was a mess, absolutely everywhere, and her eyes were bleary. "Is it time already?" she asked, her voice low and husky.
"You can continue sleeping if you want," Severus told her. "I can tend to Dumbledore on my own."
Slowly she sat up, yawning and stretching at the same time. He hated himself for it but he couldn't help but notice the slice of skin as her shirt rode up, then the way her breasts pushed at the fabric, how her nipples had pebbled from the cold and were visible, there, straining against the thin material of her shirt. "No, I'm awake now," she said. "You get first dibs on bathroom, if you want."
Severus got out of bed, knowing her eyes were on him and trying to ignore it- he had just done the same to her, after all. He had lost weight since she had seen him half nude last, from stress and simply forgetting to eat. It was easier during the school year, when there were regular meals he had to attend. He gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom, hearing her emerge from her bed as soon as the door clicked shut behind them.
They were both dressed and ready in fifteen minutes. The fire was roaring away again, and Hermione was frowning at a wall mirror as she tried to tackle her hair.
"I shouldn't have slept with it wet," she grumbled. "My judgement was impaired."
Severus snorted. Her hair really was a mess, standing out from her head in a bushy tangle. "Isn't there a spell you can use?"
"My hair doesn't like magic," Hermione answered ruefully. "That's why I always tie it back in potions- it looks like this if I don't, with all the potion steam in the air."
As she wrestled with her locks, Severus began to talk. "We need to plan how we are going to approach this, Hermione," he said carefully. "I have a very strong feeling that things are going to be very different now."
Hermione frowned at him, meeting his eyes in the mirror. "In what ways, exactly? I've thought about this too, don't think I haven't, but I want to hear what you're planning."
Severus traced his lips with a finger as he ironed out his thoughts once more before displaying them to Hermione. "Dumbledore is going to be weak," he said finally. "His mind might be addled by the curse, although I think I was quick enough to avoid that. For the time being, anyway. I did as much as I could, but even so I've only halted the spread of the curse, I haven't banished it all together. He has some time left, but not much. Albus Dumbledore will be no more in twelve, eighteen months maximum. His mind will be mush sooner than that though, and his magic will be reduced to almost nothing within a year." He made real eye contact with her as she turned to face him. Her honeyed eyes were worried, surely, but there was a strange surety to them. "Dumbledore is the leader of the Order and the symbol of the fight against the Dark," he said finally. "And that is going to change."
"But we are at the crux of it," Hermione said, determination in the line of her chin. "We are the first to know, so we can be the first to act."
Of course she wasn't wrong. "But how we act is the question," Severus said wearily. "There are too many directions we could go."
"The question is what do we want at this point," Hermione reminded him. "You were the one who taught me that- don't make any decisions or plots without knowing exactly what you want your outcome to be. So what do we want from this situation?"
He hesitated before answering her. "Hermione, have you ever considered that what I want might be different from what you want? We aren't a- a team."
Immediately he knew he had made a mistake; there was real and true anger in her eyes. "I want one thing, and that is for this war to be over. It would be nice if you made it out alive, if I did, if Harry did, if my friends did. But there is little I wouldn't sacrifice to end it all. Are you telling me that your goal is different from mine?" As she spoke those words he could clearly see exactly how he and Dumbledore had stamped this worldview on to and in to her, until she believed it with such conviction, until it had become a part of Hermione Granger.
"I am slightly less invested in saving the bleating sheep of the wizarding world at the expense of certain lives," drawled Severus. "Yes, I want the war over, but there is one person whose wellbeing I prioritize above the rest of the wizarding world and if it comes to it, yes, my priorities might differ from yours. I know Dumbledore and I have been feeding you lines about the Greater Good for most of your life, but it doesn't mean I necessarily believe it."
There was something not quite disgust in her eyes. "I thought you were half convinced you weren't going to make it out alive."
How on earth hadn't she realized it? "That person isn't myself, Hermione," he hissed.
She blinked. "Oh," she said softly.
"We are getting off track, anyway," he said coldly. "In the short term, what is most important to me is solidifying my position at the Dark Lord's side, insuring that Draco's position is shaky enough to keep him reliant on us and sure enough that he isn't in any real mortal danger, and keeping the Order calm enough to fight back in a reasonable manner. Long term, I want the Order to expand from an information collecting organization to a group dedicated to actually fighting Death Eaters, trying to reduce their numbers. I want to forestall the takeover of the Ministry and of Hogwarts for as long as possible. Also, taking down the Dark Lord himself. Destroying Horcruxes, weakening his physical form at the moment, getting Potter in a position to kill him."
Hermione still looked a bit sidetracked, but she nodded. "Ok. In the short term, I need Harry safe. I want to make sure that Dumbledore gets us all the information we need before his brain gets too addled. I want to locate the other Horcruxes and destroy them. In the long term, I want both you and Draco to be able to provide reliable information, and be in good positions if there is a takeover of the Ministry or- godforbid- Hogwarts. I want to find a way to kill the Horcrux in Harry's head without killing him, and I want the Dark Lord vanquished and the Death Eaters punished in some way."
Severus nodded, thinking hard. "So, we both want Dumbledore to do something he doesn't want to do, that is, hand over information. We want to cement my place in the Death Eater ranks. And we want to bring down the Dark Lord. How can we use our present situation to our advantage?"
Hermione chewed on her lip, her mind working equally as fast. "The hardest part of this is that we need information from Dumbledore and he likes being the one to hold all the cards. How do we make him show his desk?"
"We force him to," Severus said grimly. "Blackmail."
Hermione's lips pursed. "I don't like it," she said slowly. "Blackmail is dangerous. We should start by trying to impose upon him how precarious our situation is if he is taken out, the need to make sure that information is not lost. The hard part is that we can't trust him to give us all the information if we just ask for it."
"I can put something in his potion that will make him suggestible," Severus offered. "He'll need regular attention to make sure the curse doesn't spread. Potions, and me to check it. Once a month, at first, and then probably once a fortnight and then once or even twice a week after the first year. I'll have regular opportunity to dose him with a potion that makes him extraordinarily open to suggestions from one of us, coded with sample- like Polyjuice."
Hermione sat on her bed, rubbing her temples. "It feels so wrong," she said mournfully. "We need the information, but we also need his wits clear. Can't he be reasoned with? He won't take it kindly if he is able to detect it and throw it off."
"We need to offer him something in exchange," Severus said slowly. "Not just medicine- we'd be holding his health hostage and he wouldn't take kindly to that. No, what we need to give him is control. Control over his fate, control over the fate of the Order, and control over the information he dispenses. We need to make him want to give over the information."
"Who do we want to take over the Order from Dumbledore?" asked Hermione. "Harry wouldn't be the best choice, nor would you or I. Remus would be level headed enough, but he has the problem of the full moon. Moody would be a bad choice…"
"Kingsley," Snape interjected. "He would be a good leader, and a good Minister for Magic in the future. But neither one of us is close to him."
Hermione smiled sadly. "I used to be, when I was younger. He taught me about Magical Law. I think I could be again. If I play it right, I could be again."
Severus was unprepared for the wave of jealousy that swept through him. "Play it right?" he asked scathingly. "How do you plan to play it right? Fawn over him-"
"Shut up," Hermione said, not a trace of warmth in her voice or in her eyes. She rose from the bed, the dangerous grace of an assassin in her movements.
Severus couldn't help himself, he felt the words dropping from his mouth without his usual precision and control. "He taught you Magical Law- you have a thing for teachers if I remember correctly-" He stopped on his own when he saw tears in her eyes. Shite.
"I knew you weren't a nice person, and I fell in love with you anyway," Hermione said furiously. "Because you were always- well, you weren't always nice to me either, but at least you weren't mean. You weren't downright nasty, Severus, like you're being now. I've tried to explain it away to myself, but this- I-" She turned away from him. "I thought that I meant something to you, that there was something about me that was special and that you liked and that was why you weren't nasty to me." He could only see her shoulders and the tense line of her back. Inside, his heart was sinking fast, making him nauseous. "Turns out that was my boobs, right?" she said with a hollow laugh. "When you could get something from me, you were nice-"
"Stop," Severus croaked, feeling his throat close with guilt.
She whirled to face him, the tears gone. There was a slightly mocking expression on her haughty face, one that he hated seeing on her face. "So you're allowed to accuse me of being a slut who is hot for teacher but I'm not allowed to point out-"
"Please," he begged. There must have been something on his face that told her how wretched he was feeling.
The mocking expression was dropped, and just weariness took hold of her features, aging her beyond her years. "Why is it always like this, Severus?" she asked him, her voice breaking. "Why? Oh, we spent the night in the same room and didn't fight right away, so you feel the need to distance yourself, to make me hate you by making some rude comment designed to hit me where it hurts? Just to force distance?"
How on earth did she read him so well? He worked the muscle in his jaw for a moment before replying. "Yes," he said shortly. "I'm an open book after all. Happy?"
"No," said Hermione sadly. Her arms were wrapped around herself, as if she was holding herself together. He noticed the dried blood from her nosebleed on her shirt almost as an afterthought. "One day you're going to say something I can't forgive, Severus. Do you really want that?" Her eyes pinned him in place, as if he were a butterfly she had skewered to a board with a sewing needle. "I am so tired of being the bigger person and forgiving you for trying to rip my heart out of my chest. One day it'll be too much and it'll cover all the good that we once had, Severus, and I won't try to stop it because I. Am. Not. A. Saint. I'm human, just like you, and I have my limits."
There was a deathly quiet in the air, a quiet filled with memories of Lily and of mistakes made and promises broken. He was unable to meet her eyes, large and brown and full of questions and emotion. No, he couldn't face her. He wasn't worthy of her. Every single damn time he tried to push her away she responded like this, being the goddamned bigger person, proving to him again and again that she was not on his level, that he did not deserve her, that she was a goddess among women and he was not fit to be kicked by her.
He hated himself more in that moment than he had in a long time.
"I'm-" he hesitated, but pushed through, bowing his head. "I'm sorry, Hermione." He sat down hard at the foot of the bed he had slept in, rubbing his temples. "I'm sorry for everything I've ever done to you and I'm sorry I'm not half the man you deserve."
He was surprised beyond belief when she moved closer to him, rested a hand on his cheek, tilted his head up so that he was looking at her.
"I forgive you," she told him, her eyes filled with tears. "This time, Severus. Why do you keep trying to hurt me?"
Her words from before flickered through his head. I am not a masochist, Severus. "You deserve so much better than me," he said, tearing his eyes from her gaze and covering his face with his hands. "Let me push you away. Let me say the thing that makes you hate me so much you can go into the arms of Krum or Diggory without a whisper of regret."
Hermione knelt before him, her hands smoothing his hair, the back of his hands, his arms. "I deserve a man who loves me, who trusts me, who is loyal to me, and who is open with me," she said quietly. "You can do those things, Severus. You are a good man."
"I am not," he hissed, looking directly into her eyes. "I have killed Hermione, I have killed in cold blood. I have put you in danger by not being able to control myself and my urges, I have hurt you time and time again, I have lied to you and I have broken every promise I've ever made to you-" She laid a finger over his lips.
"I won't tell you I don't care about those things, because that would be a lie," Hermione said in all seriousness. "But I can look past those things, Severus. You are a man who puts his life in danger every day to end a war. I can look past what you have done to try to win this war, because I've killed too and you can do the same for me. I can forgive you for putting me in danger, because I put myself there. I can forgive you for hurting me, I can forgive you for your lies, I can forgive you for the broken promises. All I want to know is why. Why you would do all of those things, why you would give up what we had, why you would lie to me and hurt me and break your promises, because there is a reason, Severus. There is a reason you haven't given me, I know there is. And something tells me your reason is one you think is good, something tells me you are doing all these things to try to protect me from- from-" She shook her head, tears falling. "You are a good man, Severus, and I won't believe the worst of you if you don't make me."
Their eyes met, sunlight through whiskey and grey so deep it was almost black. She stared into his eyes, holding his face to hers. "Show me," she whispered "If you can't say it out loud show me."
There was no need for spoken spells to drag her into his mind, no, the pathway that she fell into was familiar beyond words. He was pulling her into his mind, dragging her along with him into a painful spiral of memory.
She watched, horrified, as Dumbledore had showed him the memory of Order members protesting her more ruthless tendencies, as he began to lecture Severus about his involvement with her. She felt nothing but rage toward the Headmaster as he mercilessly used every single one of Severus' insecurities to persuade him to distance himself from her. She watched as Severus snarled and walked away, as he fled to his chambers, as unacknowledged tears rolled down his face as he showered away the taint of the Dark Lord's meeting hall. Through his eyes she saw her own face as he broke her faith in him, her trust in him. She hadn't realized that she had borne his mark on her neck that night and seeing it had made his chest ache. She hadn't realized that her face had such a glow to it, that her voice sounded so musical even when she was sad, and then she realized that it was how he saw her.
Hermione watched, horrified, as Severus grabbed jars of floating goop and animal parts out of the air in his office, hurling them against the stone wall in a raging fury. She listened to all his thoughts as he got shitfaced drunk. Her face, prettier than she had ever seen it, looped over and over again with the reminder that she deserves better than me she deserves better than me she deserves better than me repeating incessantly until it was drowned by the drink. And as an undercurrent running through it all: I need to keep her safe.
Slowly Severus released her from his memories and his mind, until once again she was kneeling in the Room of Requirement, staring into his eyes.
"Do you understand, now?" he asked, his voice rough.
Hermione rocked back, pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes as her head spun. "Dumbledore," she breathed. "He- he-" Her anger ruse out of her in a flash of magic, that she was barely able to direct away from them, at the mirror on the wall. It shattered, sending shards of mirror into the air. She barely felt the cut on her cheek as she stood, staying angrily.
"If he doesn't die, I'll kill him myself," Hermione said through gritted teeth. "Is there one good thing in your life that the old bastard hasn't tried to take from you?"
Severus looked up at her. "Or you?" he asked quietly. "He controls everyone and everything, Hermione. As long as he was suspicious, as long as I didn't do exactly as he said, you were in danger. And he was right- I put you in danger from the Dark Lord, from distraction-"
"Shut up," Hermione said, whirling to face him. "Those things aren't true. You weren't protecting me by breaking my heart, you were- you were-"
"Driving you to suicide missions? I realized," Severus said dryly. "But his threats against you still stand-"
Hermione shook her head as he stood. "No, they don't," she said, a new light coming to her face. "No, they don't Severus. He's too weak now. He's too dependent on you. He can't threaten me, for fear that you'll leave him to die of the curse."
It felt like the world came to a screeching halt around them. There was just a crunching sound- it was Hermione's unrealized footsteps over the broken mirror, as she moved closer and closer to Severus.
Time started again, it felt like, when her lips were on his, and she was pressed tightly to him and he to her, their mouths open and their tongues twining in what was at once the most effortless thing in the world and the most difficult. Their bodies took a moment to remember what kissing the other was like; Severus' height and Hermione's small stature made it difficult to kiss comfortably, she had forgotten the way his large nose pressed against her cheek and how she had to angle her head, their teeth bumped as they tried to figure it all out again. Then, in a moment, it clicked and Severus hoisted her up and against the wall, her legs locked behind his back and their hands tangled in each other's hair as their lips moved together in harmony.
Gods, she had forgotten the sheer intensity of Severus when he kissed her. It wasn't half-arsed, it was all unrestrained, almost violent passion. The wall was hard and unyielding against her back, Severus himself was hard and unyielding against her front, and the only softness was his hair under her hands and the smooth slickness of his tongue in her mouth.
The shrill alarm Hermione had set broke them apart. Both Hermione and Severus were breathing hard, taking in each other's air as they stared into each other's eyes.
"What does this-"
"Where do we-"
Hermione unwrapped her legs from around his waist, and carefully he set her on the ground, disentangling his hands from her hair. "We aren't done talking about this, not by far," she said quietly. Her mouth felt heavy, but in a good way. In a satisfying way.
"I understand," Severus said, his gaze consuming her as he spoke. It was enough to make her struggle to draw breath.
To break away she checked the time. "We need to move," she said, tapping her head with her wand and shivering as the spell trickled over her.
Severus did the same, and silently the two left the Room of Requirement, turning the corner just as their counterparts entered the corridor from the other side.
When Albus Dumbledore awoke, he found himself facing two rather unsympathetic faces. Hermione Granger set aside the book she had been reading, peering at him.
"Welcome back, Albus," she said shortly. "Severus, he's awake."
Severus approached from the other side the room, raising his eyebrows at Dumbledore. "You don't understand how lucky you are, old man," he said coldly. "If you phoenix didn't like you as much, you'd be dead and the Order would be in chaos."
Dumbledore coughed weakly. "I didn't mean to trigger the curse-"
"I would hope not," Hermione said tartly. "Nevertheless, there was a very dangerous curse on that ring."
Dumbledore lifted his hand with a grimace of pain. "Well. It's not fortunate, of course, but-"
"You have a year to live, maybe eighteen months," said Severus sharply. "That's a little more severe than 'not fortunate,' I would say."
The Headmaster looked to Hermione, almost as if he was expecting her to reprimand Severus for his harsh words. Rather, she gave him a steady gaze, aloof, almost too polite. Suspicious, he glanced back at Severus, then laid back on his pillows, closing his eyes. "I see that the two of you have reconciled."
Since his eyes were closed, he missed the glance that Severus and Hermione exchanged. Hermione was the one who spoke. "It was over your prone form, so you might as well be grateful," she said sourly. "We need to talk about the future of the Order, and sooner would be better than later."
Dumbledore sighed, opening his eyes. "Who have the two of you chosen as my replacement?" he asked bitterly. "I hope you know that they would never accept either of you-"
"Of course not," said Severus, his voice scathingly cold. "The Death Eater spy and a chit who isn't supposed to be seventeen yet? No. Kingsley, on the other hand could actually lead the Order."
"Mad-eye," Dumbledore said quickly. "Mad-eye and Minerva-"
"You would be just as foolish to think we would take your puppets as our new leader," snapped Severus. "Kingsley is fair ground. He's just, he's smart, and he's not beholden to either one of us. He'll take down the Dark Lord for the sake of it, and he won't put up with any of your manipulative bullshit."
Hermione made a small noise, bring the attention of both men to her. "Not that Kingsley will have any real power," she said, meeting first Dumbledore's eyes, then Severus'. "He'll act as the figurehead and run the meetings, but things really should be decided by a vote of the Inner Circle. Everyone who has something to say says their piece, and then we vote."
"And the dirty work?" asked Dumbledore, frowning at her. "You know we keep the Order from what really must be done-"
"And that is absolutely ridiculous," Hermione said firmly. "Either they need to know, or the dirty work stops. To be perfectly frank, it might give them a bit more respect for Severus and the things he does. Information needs to be freely shared, Albus, to all of our benefit."
The Headmaster's eyes betrayed his horror. "The first person to be captured would spill all of our secrets and the Dark Lord would know our plans."
"And what if they didn't?" Hermione asked. "We have some of the most powerful witches and wizards in Great Britain. We can devise a spell, a potion, anything to protect our secrets. But the information about the Horcruxes, about what we need to do to defeat the Dark Lord, needs to be shared with the Order. One of them might know something, for heaven's sake! Look what happens when you don't tell us what is going on! You went out on your own and now you're dying, Albus, you're dying when we arguably need you the most. When Harry needs you the most. He's going to die to, Albus, unless we figure out a way to get that Horcrux out of his head. You have a plan, I know you do, and you need to share it with us."
Albus stared at her for a long time, and then his eyes flicked to Severus. "It's not safe to say these things around-"
"Severus is probably the best Occlumens in the world," Hermione said flatly. "What if we just adapt a spell- the Fidelius charm, perhaps- to the secret of the Horcruxes?"
Severus tilted his head, tracing the outline of his lips with one hand. Hermione looked away quickly, feeling her ears heat. "She has a point, Albus," he said finally. "We could get Flitwick on board, try to adapt the spell. It is supposed to work for all secrets, not just locations, and if we get the Secret Keeper to tell the Order the Secret, then no one else can speak of it."
"And if the Secret Keeper dies?" asked Dumbledore. "Then everyone who knows also holds the secret."
"Charlie Weasley," Hermione suggested. "He's not embroiled in the war here. He has a reason to stay in Romania, far away from any chance of being captured by Death Eaters."
Severus snorted. "The man works with dragons for a living, Hermione. There's a decent chance he goes up in flames and dies that way. Dragons aren't a particularly safe hobby."
Hermione scowled at him. "Fine. Someone else then. Someone who lives far away, someone who won't be hunted." She thought for a moment. "I know someone- my pen pal, Charlotte Baudoin. She's French, she speaks good English, and she's one of Fleur's friends. She comes to visit Fleur, and there's nothing out of the ordinary. We share the secret with her, secret keep it, she attends an Order meeting and tells everyone, and then she goes home. Simple. Then we bind her with an Unbreakable Vow not to reveal the secret without our permission."
Dumbledore frowned. "You adapt the spell, and then we can talk about it," he said shortly.
"We'll have a lot to talk about, Albus," Hermione said, gentling her voice some. "Things are going to change."
To her surprise, instead of reacting angrily, Dumbledore simply patted Hermione's hand. "But do not hasten them too much, my dear girl. Too much change isn't good for an old man."
"You need to take your potions and rest," Severus said, reaching for the vials on the counter. "Who would you like us to inform of your accident?" He uncorked one of the brews he had made, and handed it to the Headmaster.
Dumbledore sighed and sniffed it, almost suspiciously. "Minerva, for now. How long will this put me to sleep for?"
Severus' expression was dour. "I expect until tomorrow morning. It is currently-" he checked his pocket watch, "half past nine in the morning."
Hermione rose, and stretched. "Until tomorrow morning, Albus," she said. "I have a meeting with my team in an hour and I need to prepare." She gave him a hard look. "Any more news you'd like to share with us?"
"No, I am not keeping anything pertinent to your quest from you, my dear girl," Dumbledore said blithely. He tipped the vial into his mouth, swallowing the potion without a word of complaint.
Severus and Hermione left his quarters to go back up to his office, where Hermione could use the Floo and Severus could contact the Deputy Headmistress. The Headmaster's quarters were not attached to the office, as many of the teacher's quarters were. Instead, Severus could command the stairs to take them down instead of up to the office. They were halfway up, Hermione in front of him, when she felt his heat on her back, and knew he was leaning closer to her.
"When can we talk?" he asked in a low voice. Gooseflesh peppered her arms at the wash of his breath over the shell of her ear.
Hermione, not turning to look at him, answered. "Come tonight, if you can get away," she replied, her voice just as low.
"Ten?" he suggested.
"Yes," she breathed.
He returned to his former position, and Hermione let out a shaky breath she hoped he hadn't heard. It was getting more and more difficult for her anger at him to fight the rush of need that pooled deep in her belly, and to her that wasn't the best of signs. They needed to talk, really talk, and jumping his bones the minute he entered her room wouldn't bode well for the future of their relationship.
Hermione walked into the sitting room of Safe House Three a tad late, a blush on her face. "I'm sorry," she said to her waiting team. "I fell asleep at my desk." Although she couldn't see them, an ink stain on her right cheek and a wrinkle from falling asleep on too many rough edges on the side of her face corroborated her story.
Laughter greeted her. "You work too hard, Hermione," Tonks told her. "How late were you up last night?"
Hermione flopped down in her chair, pushing her bushy hair out of her face. "Too much happened last night," she said, making a face. "You'll probably hear about it at the next Order meeting."
Bill and Cedric exchanged glances. "Is everyone… okay?" asked Cedric eventually. "There wasn't an attack, was there?"
Hermione shook her head. "Don't worry," she told him, lying through her teeth. "There was no attack, just a small mishap, and the Headmaster is handling it."
There was a visible relaxing the room, a small but powerful sign of the trust they all had in the Headmaster. Hermione felt ill for a moment, like her stomach would rebel against her in front of all of them.
"Well, then," Bill said, giving Hermione a rougish smile. "I put together a list of possible curses we'll find at the Gaunt shack. If-" He frowned as Hermione held up a hand. "Wasn't that what you wanted me to do?"
Hermione nodded. "It was, yes, Bill. But we've had a change in plan. We'll no longer be looking at the Gaunt shack. We need to turn to our other leads."
"What other leads?" Bill asked angrily. "That was our best one, Hermione! We can't just leave it- you and I were both there, we could feel the Horcrux-"
"That Horcrux has been dealt with," Hermione said quietly. "Sit down, Bill. I know- before you jump down my throat, I know that we were the best ones for the job and it shouldn't have been taken from us without talking to us."
Bill sat back down in the armchair, still visibly angry. "That was bullshit."
"It was," Hermione agreed. There was a steely glint to her eye. "And he's paying for it, don't worry."
"Well then," said Tonks. "What other leads do we have?"
Hermione handed each of them a folder. "We've found and taken care of the diary, Slytherin's locket, and the Gaunt ring. So, currently it looks like we are searching for the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, the similarly lost cup of Hufflepuff, and Nagini the snake."
Viktor opened the folder, frowning. "But we are having leads on none of those items," he said. "The snake is always with You-Know-Who, and we are losing the trace on the cup after Ms. Smith."
Nodding, Hermione elaborated, more for her own benefit than for that of the group. "Hepzibah Smith died in 1946, two days after showing a young Tom Riddle that she possessed both Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup. Her house elf Hokey was thought to have accidentally killed her, having mixed poison in her tea instead of sugar." Her tone let the room know that Hermione was fully aware of the implausibility of the situation. "Both the locket and the cup were not among her possessions, to the bewilderment of her family. Tom Riddle was never suspected of her murder. In fact, he left Borgin and Burkes shortly after, to disappear for several years."
"But where did he go?" asked Cedric. "If he made the Horcruxes, he had to have hidden them in places before he left, or wherever it was that he fled to. He hid the locket in the cave, but what about the cup?"
Tonks glared down at the sketch of the cup in the folder. "It's a damn shame he turned something that was so lovely, that was used for healing, into a Dark Object," she said with disgust. "Where did he go, Hermione?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I don't really know," she admitted. "Neither does Dumbledore. The only reports we've heard of were from the depths of a forest in Albania."
"Then we go there, and see what we can find," suggested Cedric.
Viktor nodded. "Dumbledore must have known- I have an aunt and uncle who live in Albania. When we were talking at the Yule Ball I mentioned them- remember, Hermione?"
Straining her memory, Hermione found that she did indeed remember a brief mention of family in Albania. "His mind must never lose any information," she muttered. "How soon can you arrange for us to visit them?"
"We need to be careful, Hermione," Tonks said quickly. "The Ministry hasn't been taken over yet, but we don't know who is watching what. If we all of a sudden pick up and go to Albania, it'll be suspicious if that information gets back to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We need a cover story, or not all of us can go."
Bill nodded. "That's smart, Tonks," he said, determination on his face. "I can find an interesting site in Albania to go to for work, get an official approval form and everything for my sabbatical," he said.
Hermione shook her head. "You're a Weasley- they'll be watching you. Do northern Greece instead, and meet us in Albania when it becomes relevant. What about you, Cedric?"
"I can't think of any reason I'd be able to go," admitted Cedric.
"Me either," Tonks said grimly. "Which was why I brought it up. It would be too suspicious."
Viktor rubbed his head, looking at the ground. "You won't like it, Hermione, but we have a reason to go."
"What would that be?" Hermione asked. "I'm trying to think of something, but I know I'm under watch and if I go then he would know for sure."
Viktor hesitated, then forged ahead. "Most of England was sure that we were a couple at one point, Hermione," he said awkwardly. "If we leak that we are a couple again, and you are coming to visit me in Bulgaria- from there we can make a few Apparitions to Albania."
"Oh," Hermione said faintly. It was brilliant, it really was. "That… that works." Severus is going to hate this.
Bill looked at Hermione and then at Viktor. "How do we leak it?"
"I have Rita Skeeter under my thumb," Hermione said, snapping back to herself. "Viktor, you'll have to leave the country quietly then, to be back in Bulgaria."
"Or not," said Cedric. "You arrange for someone to see you and Krum out somewhere, say that he was in England just to visit you, and then you go to Bulgaria to visit him. He has an excuse for being here, you have an excuse to leave if the paps won't leave you alone."
Krum nodded eagerly. "It would be good for my excuses for being here, Hermione," he said, his voice persuasive. "And I could finally get out of Headquarters."
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, okay," she said, giving them a smile. "I am so excited to have my love life splashed all over the tabloids again. My fake love life, I mean." She didn't want to give Krum any ideas, after all.
"Then it's decided?" asked Bill. "We track down the cup first?"
Hermione nodded. "And try to hear what we can about the diadem while we're at it," she added. "Agreed?"
A chorus of "Agreed!" answered her.
"Then Bill, Viktor, and I will go to Albania and see what we can find," Hermione said, with a definitive nod. "Cedric, Tonks, ask around about the diadem, cautiously, mind you. Although I'm sure your Ravenclaw friends would be more than happy to talk about esoteric artifacts with you." She checked the calendar that she had brought with her, and bit her lip. "We need to do this fast, before school starts," she said with a sigh. She had wanted more time to talk to Severus. "Tomorrow I'll get in contact with Rita Skeeter, so be ready to put on a show the day after tomorrow, Viktor. The article will be out by the day after that, and we can leave by the end of the week. We can spend a week in Albania, and then I'll need to get back for school. Bill, can you be in Albania by then?"
"I can start the paperwork once I leave here," he said, nodding "Getting a Portkey will be the hardest part, but Gringotts will help with that."
Hermione bit her lip. The Weasleys weren't rich, and Portkeys weren't cheap. "Come here tomorrow and I'll have some funds you can use for the trip," she told him. "The Order has a fair bit of money for things like this." There was no need to mention that a lot of the money came from the personal savings of Order members killed in the first war.
"Thanks," said Bill gratefully. "I'll get right on that."
It was the signal for the meeting to disperse. Bill and Viktor left right away, and Cedric retreated up the stairs to his room, leaving Tonks and Hermione in the sitting room.
"You look… happy," Tonks said suspiciously. "Like, you smiled and it didn't look like you were miserable behind the smile."
Hermione beamed at her. "My love life is looking up," she said happily. "He finally, finally talked to me and now I know why he broke everything off, and I think we can get past it."
Immediately she was enveloped in a hug. "I'm so happy for you," said Tonks, her voice muffled in Hermione's hair.
"It's not all sunshine and roses, and with him it probably will never be sunshine and roses," Hermione admitted, "and it was only a promise to actually talk about it, but I feel so light, Tonks."
The other witch leaned back, and caressed Hermione's cheek. "You deserve it, Hermione," she said, a kind seriousness on her face. "If anyone does, you do."
Hermione grinned back. "I hope it all works out."
And so ends Chapter 51.
I hope you liked the surprise beginning toward reconciliation... you'll see how that unfolds in a bit.
In fact, when I post the next chapter! I don't know when that will be, but it will be a Friday and and it may not be until the end of January. We'll see. Your excerpt:
Severus sighed, bracing his elbows on his knees. He looked up at her, meeting her eyes with an open vulnerability. "When I start speaking, don't stop me," he said tiredly. "Please."
Wordlessly, Hermione nodded.
So. If you don't want to hear about my RL, stop reading here and go review or read another of my stories. If you do... read on.
Remember how last time I updated I had just kissed my roommate for the first time? Well, it was only supposed to happen once. But then it happened again. And again. And now we are trying to figure out if we're best friends who dearly platonically love each other or best friends who dearly romantically love each other and just didn't realize it despite everyone in our lives thinking we're perfect for each other. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that she is casually dating a boy right now, that we're sharing a small room, and that we don't know exactly where we stand. So it's messy and if life continues the way it has in the past, I'm probably going to get hurt. But I love her and she loves me, but we just don't know in what way yet.
So, wish me luck. Hopefully, next time I'm writing to you all, I'll know what is going on in my love life.
As far as school goes though, another good semester! And I'll be studying abroad in Toulouse in the spring!
Thanks for reading, please, please, please review! Think of it as a Christmas present to me. Also, if you're in the mood for a Christmas-y story, go check out To Love and All it Entails, which is one of my favorite things I've written. Have a good holiday, and Happy New Year!