Chapter 19 – What does your heart tell you?

Hermione was proud of herself.

Without anyone's help, including Harry's, she had come up with a plan to save Ewan. And managed to come up with a middle name for Elizabeth in the process. She wasn't the brightest witch of her year for nothing, after all.

Her plan was brilliant. It wasn't fool-proof, but Hermione had thought of almost every scenario possible, nothing seemed too difficult to get out of. She only had to talk to Albus and pray he had what she needed, and would give it to her. She couldn't tell Harry. He would be against it 110, that was for sure.

Could she really risk her daughter's life like that? Did she have it in her to sacrifice her daughter to defeat the Dark Lord? She had to, she had no choice.

- - - - - -

(A/N: This scene takes place at the same time as the scene with Remus and Hermione in the previous chapter.)

'Are babies supposed to sleep that long?' Harry thought. Hermione had left on a walk for who-knows-what and Harry had decided to stay back with Elizabeth. She had slept the entire time Hermione had been gone, plus the entire time they had been in the hallway. About an hour, total.

'I must be over-reacting' Harry thought, sitting down on the bed with Elizabeth in his arms.

"Come on, wake up." He said gently, not expecting a response and not really trying to wake her up, "I just want to meet you and see those green eyes I've heard so much about."

To his surprise, he felt her stir in his arms and wake up.

"What's all this about, then?" he whispered, smiling, "Can read minds, can you?"

Elizabeth wiggled a bit in response and Harry's smile widened.

"Well we'll just have to put that as number 1 on the list of your amazing abilities." He said, leaning in close to her to place a small kiss on her nose.

- - - - - -

"What are you basing this on? Not my theory, I hope."

"Yes. After all the years I've known you, I've never known you to be wrong." Hermione said, trying to convince Dumbledore to let her act on her plan.

"I've made mistakes before," Dumbledore said quietly, thinking of when he had waited and not told Harry the truth until his 5th year, "I will not let you risk the life of your daughter and possibly yours, just because of a theory I have that is most likely wrong!"

Hermione sighed in annoyance.

"You don't have to worry about me." Hermione said, "I know my plan will work."

Dumbledore sighed also, knowing he could not convince Hermione to not do it. He turned his back to her, facing a shelf with different potions. He searched for a moment, then grabbed a vial that had a lumpy white potion. He handed her the vial with a grim smile.

"Five hours." He said.

- - - - - -

'A space 6ft by 11ft is not enough room for fourteen Aurors and a captured Death Eater' Ron thought, looking around. The Aurors and the Death Eater were all settled in a hallway under some stairs. Just moments ago, they had been running down the hallway, trying to outrun about two dozen death-eaters shouting hexes and curses. The one captured Death Eater had been gagged, to prevent him from calling out and revealing their position.

Every Auror held their breath as the sound of thundering feet approached, then a few stopped right in front of their hiding place.

''Quelle chemin vont-ils?" Ron heard one deatheater say.

"French?" an Auror near him whispered and Ron waved his hand to shush him.

"Je ne sais pas." A second voice said, a female, "Vous allez de cette façon, je trouverez ces Aurors."

Ron put his finger to his lips to indicate to the others not to move or make a sound.

"Venez ici." Ron heard a soft female voice whisper. He felt himself become dizzy and his vision was cloudy.

"Venez ici." The voice continued saying in a warm comforting voice.

Ron felt himself starting to stand up and head towards the door. He noticed others doing this too. One of the female Aurors grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him down, along with a few others.

Slowly, Ron began to come back to reality as the voice faded away. He waited until he heard the light footsteps of the female deatheater, Anne, before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for that." Ron said to the female Auror.

"No problem. Must have been part Veela or something." She said, smiling.

"Alright everybody. That was a close call but we can do this." Ron said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He looked at the band of Aurors around him. Some were bleeding badly and one was unconscious. At the sigh of this fallen comrade, Ron sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a gold ring with a lightning bolt etched on it.

Leaning over, he handed the ring to Anne, who was taking care of Jacques, the unconscious Auror. She took it hesitantly with a quizzical look on her face.

"Put it on his finger." Harry said, "Harry gave this to me, so long ago. It's incase of emergencies. It will transport him and you to the safest place, basically to Dumbledore."

"You're giving this away?" she asked in amazement.

"I don't need it." Ron said, his ears turning red. He stared down at his feet, "Plus, it's what Harry would do."

She nodded, then picked up her friend's limp hand, fitting the ring on his finger. The ring glowed blue, then disappeared along with Jacques and Anne.

"We could have used him if he woke up," an Auror said quietly, "He speaks fluent French."

"It's better this way. If we have to run, we won't have to worry about someone carrying him," Ron said, taking out his wand, "Scourgify."

He watched as the blood disappeared from the concrete. The Auror gulped but otherwise didn't look effected.

Ron looked at the frightened group of people around him and slowly stood. A thought flashed through his head, '13 people… first to rise is the first to die.' He quickly brushed that thought off and looked to his company. They were all standing, a few were still struggling, but all had a look of fierce determination.

"Let's go home." He said, heading out.

- - - - - -

Hermione paused outside the door to the room she now shared with Harry. She could hear him singing softly, to their daughter, she assumed. She took a deep breath, hoping she was brave enough to lie to Harry, and to have him believe her.

Slowly she pushed open the door, trying to not make a sound. Harry hadn't noticed her, and was still singing to Elizabeth, so she cleared her throat to get his attention. Harry immediately stopped singing and blushed.

"Have fun?" he said after regaining composure.

"I guess you could say that." Hermione said. She was trying desperately to not give anything away. If she did, it could and would destroy her plan, entirely.

"What did you do?" he asked, standing to put Elizabeth back in her crib, then sitting again.

"Oh nothing. Walked around a bit, talked to some of the others, saw Dumbledore."

Harry looked up when Hermione mentioned Dumbledore.

"What about?" he asked casually.

"This, that, and the other thing." She replied, moving to sit next to him on the bed.

Harry could tell she was lying but decided not to say anything. Hermione leaned in towards him, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes, relaxing, and quickly fell asleep; the rise and fall of Harry's chest and his rhythmic heartbeat comforting her.

- - - - - -

Albus was worried.

After Hermione had come to him with her plan, he had felt compelled to tell Harry. But she had made him promise not to. He did need to talk to someone, so he left his cramped office in search of Remus.

- - - - - -

SMASH

An intricate vase smashed against the wall, the noise echoing in the chambers. Not able to control his anger and sadness, Remus had started throwing prized possessions, starting with a glass figurine that his wife had loved. The reality of all he had just done caught up to him and he fell to his knees. He reached down and picked up the only whole piece of his wife's glass angel, and closed his hands over it.

A knock on the door.

Frantically Remus tried to clean up, his wand lie forgotten on the floor.

The door pushed open and Albus walked in, robe covering his feet.

"A-Albus, what a s-surprise." Remus said from the floor, trying to smile.

Dumbledore frowned, seeing Remus' tear-stained face and the assortment of broken pottery on the floor.

"I had come to talk to you about something, but right now I want to talk to you about you. Come with me". Dumbledore left the room, not even looking back as Remus slowly got to his feet and followed.

"This really isn't necessary Albus."

"Oh, but I assure you, it is. How can you be expected to assist the Order if you are not of sound mind?" Dumbledore replied

"It's nothing, seriously." Remus said as he shuffled down the hallway.

"My dear friend," Dumbledore said, stopping to turn around and face Remus, "I have known you long enough to know that it's more than nothing. Come, talk with me."

Remus sighed in defeat and continued walking after his long time friend and mentor.

- - - - - -

Harry and Hermione were both awake, having woken with five minutes of the other. They were lounging quietly, just enjoying the comfortable silence.

"You know I love you, right Harry?" Hermione said after awhile.

He turned to look at her, surprised, "Of course I know that, and I love you, too. But Mione… you are scaring me. You sound like you are saying your good-byes or something."

Hermione didn't answer.

'Maybe I am, Harry,' she thought, 'Maybe I am.'

- - - - - -A/N: I apologize for the long delay. I could give you a long list of excuses... or I could finish editing this and post it. I choose the second one. Just so you know:

Which way did they go?

I don't know. You go this way, I'll find the Aurors.

Come here.