Chapter Thirty-Four
It was Ron's turn to check on Hermione. Harry had gone to the library hours ago but Hermione had been tight-lipped about her progress. She had told Harry she wanted to be sure about it before going and getting their hopes up.
Ron had been secretly hoping she would return to the common room so he wouldn't have to make the trek down to the library. But when the clock showed it was almost midnight and she still wasn't back, he started to worry and went looking for her. He didn't care how safe Hogwarts was supposed to be. It obviously had its vulnerabilities if Dumbledore had felt it necessary to close the school.
He quickly discovered the reason Hermione was in the library so late. She was slumped forward in her chair with her face literally buried in a book while she slept.
Standing behind her, he swept her hair to the side and kissed the back of her neck. She stirred and gave Ron a tired smile.
"You didn't have come here. I was going to head back to the common in a bit," she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Sure you were," he said, rolling his eyes. "Come back with me now. I know this stuff is important but you'll be able concentrate better after a good night's sleep."
"You sound like your mum," said Hermione, a smile tugging at her lips while Ron made a face.
"That's an insult and you know it," he said. He loved his mother but she could be scary when she wanted to be and was the worse nag he knew – far worse than Hermione.
"I've got some news that should make you feel better," she told him. "I think I was able to figure out how Harry can have a chance to defeat Voldemort because of you."
Ron blinked. "I did that?"
"Don't look so shocked. When you decide to apply yourself to something you can be quite brilliant."
Ron looked quite pleased with himself. "So I'm brilliant now, am I?"
"Don't let it go to your head."
Deciding to put the subject of his supreme intellect aside for the moment, he said, "are you going to tell me what it is that you found?"
"I wanted to wait until I ran it by Dumbledore to make sure that it would work, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain the basics of it to you." She closed the book still open in front of her and pushed it aside. "All this time we've been looking for a way to defeat Voldemort by using some massive or powerful spell. We've been going through books from the Restricted Section thinking that we need some kind of dark magic in order to fight him equally. After you said that bit about using the sacrificial spell I started thinking and realized we'd been going about this all wrong. You can't beat Voldemort with magic that's on the same level as him. The only way to fight him is with the one type of magic he can't defend against – love. Friendship, selflessness, loyalty and about a million other things are all a part of something much bigger, which is love. We know he can't defend himself against it because that's how Harry's mother was able to save him. Her love was so powerful it protected Harry when Voldemort used the killing curse on him and it backfired onto himself."
"So what do you plan on doing? Brewing him a love spell?"
"Not in the strictest sense, but Harry would have to be the one to do it. I'm just not sure if Harry will be able to do it without killing himself. "
"We both know Harry. Even if you explain all the risks to him he's still going to want to do it," said Ron, his features grim.
"That's why I think it's only fair I explain it to the both of you at the same time. It's too late now, so I'll go see Dumbledore first thing tomorrow and discuss this with him. If he thinks this will work, I'll explain everything to you and Harry."
Ron just stared at her amazed. "I think you've got things backwards. You're the brilliant one around here," he said and she blushed.
"Ginny broke up with Harry," she told him a few moments later.
Ron's mouth fell open at the news. "When? Where was I when this happened?"
"It happened yesterday. Harry told me about it when he came to see me earlier."
Ron looked slightly hurt. "He didn't say a word to me."
"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you reacted so well when they finally got together," she said to him in a knowing voice. "He was probably afraid you were going to pummel him or something."
"I wouldn't hit him unless he did something to her," Ron clarified. "But you said Ginny broke up with him, yeah?" He had never expected that to happen. He had always worried it would be Harry to break his sister's heart, since he had already done it so many times in the past, though unintentionally.
"I think Ginny's realized that Harry isn't ready for that kind of a long-term commitment."
Ron just wished Harry could have figured that out on his own without having to use his sister to realize he wasn't ready for a relationship. "Are you going to come to bed now?" He asked a minute later.
"I was thinking I might take a shower first."
Her eyes sought out his and he caught the suggestion loud and clear. "I think the Prefect bathroom is unoccupied," he suggested, grinning mischievously. "And don't even think about putting away these ruddy books," he ordered, pulling her to her feet. "We can do that tomorrow."
For the second time that day Hermione didn't argue with him. Ron could get used to this more agreeable side of her.
The Prefect bathroom was just as Ron remembered it. It looked just like the rest of the school, as if someone was maintaining its appearance to keep dust and other things away. He didn't say anything to Hermione because the last things he wanted to think about were cleaning charms and Filch when it was just the two of them alone in the massive room.
While Hermione was running the water for their shower, Ron came up behind her and laced his arms around her waist. "At this pace, we could probably do it in every room in the castle within a week," he whispered in her ear.
He saw her blush. "Even Snape's office?"
"Oh yeah, that would be a real turn on with all those disgusting things in jars staring at us."
She laughed and began to take off her top, which Ron gladly helped her out of. They stripped quickly and jumped in the shower. Ron immediately jumped away from the spray of the water, swearing.
"Holy shit, this water is freezing!" He cried.
"Don't be such a baby," she tutted. She reached for the hot water tap and turned it on more. "There, better?"
He stopped pouting. "Yeah, but the next time you decide to haul me into a bloody freezing shower warn me first."
"Watch your mouth," she growled before sending her lips crashing against his and pushing him back against the shower wall.
Ron liked it when she was aggressive. Being the control freak that she was it was probably only natural that it transferred over to the bedroom. But Ron couldn't let all that power go to her head. She wasn't the only one who liked to dominate. He reversed their positions so she was now the one pinned against the wall before capturing her lips in a bruising kiss and wrapping one arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.
"I don't think we're going to have too many chances to be alone for the next little while," she said, breathing heavily as she stroked his face. She knew once she talked to Dumbledore and he agreed to do what she was suggesting, they would all have little time to do much else then get ready for what was to come.
Ron felt her start to shake in his arms. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I'm scared, which is silly really, considering everything we've been through a finally showdown with Voldemort should be nothing."
"There's nothing wrong with being scared," he told her, holding her closer. "He is the darkest wizard of all time."
"Are you scared?"
He considered using the normal male bravado but realized he was well passed that with her. "Well, yeah. A little. But don't go telling anyone I said that."
She laughed a little and seemed to stop shaking, so Ron saw no reason to start her worrying again by saying what he was actually scared about was something happening to her.
Harry had been awake and fully dressed since shortly after dawn. He wasn't having nightmares. Nightmares required more than an hour's sleep at a time. He had tried his relaxation exercises but nothing seemed to calm his mind long enough for him to fall into a deep sleep. Feeling restless, he had gone for an hour-long run through the grounds until he felt he had expended all his extra energy. He didn't think he was supposed to be wandering around out in the open, but if Dumbledore really wanted them to stay inside he should have charmed the front doors shut.
When he returned to Gryffindor Tower, he was just about to head up for a shower when he heard the portrait hole open. He reached for his wand, which was hidden in the deep pocket of his trousers. He had heard Ron and Hermione come back late last night when he had been lying awake in bed. He didn't think even Hermione would be up by now and no one else knew the password except Dumbledore.
Relief and surprise washed over him when he saw Arthur Weasley appear in the common room.
Mr. Weasley beamed at him. "All right there, Harry?"
Harry managed a small nod and Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice his shock. He was too busy gazing around the common room, looking reminiscent.
"It doesn't look a bit different then when I was here. Amazing," he murmured, shaking his head.
Harry was trying to figure out a way to ask what Mr. Weasley was doing there without sounding rude, when footsteps on the stairs behind him told him his friends were coming down.
When they reached the bottom landing Ron still had his arm around Hermione's waist and was whispering something in her ear that was making her giggle. When they realized someone else was in the common room besides Harry, Ron detached himself from Hermione and they both turned bright crimson.
"Dad?" Ron said in utter disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"Dumbledore wanted me to fetch you three. He thought you'd want to know what's going on out there. But I can see I may have come at a bad time," he said, raising an eyebrow at Ron and Hermione.
"We were just heading down for breakfast," said Hermione, feeling completely mortified. She didn't want to even think about what Mr. Weasley thought she and Ron had been up to.
"It's perfectly all right," said Mr. Weasley, not the least bit embarrassed. "Molly and I were young and in love once."
That was too much for Ron. "Dad, that's gross. Harry and Hermione don't want to hear about you and mum."
Mr. Weasley chuckled softly and turned towards the portrait hole. "Let me show you what's going on."
Ron passed by Harry, being sure to shoot him a dirty look. He could have at least warned him that his dad was standing in the middle of the common room.
Once out into the hallway, Mr. Weasley began leading them down several sets of staircases until they arrived at the landing overlooking the main hall.
They had a clear view of the castle doors opening and shutting as people moved inside, most dragging a trunk or carrying several bags with them. They recognized Kingsley and Tonks walking in and even picked out Neville and Lavender among the small crowd.
Hermione turned back to face Mr. Weasley. "What's going on?"
"What does it look like? We're moving in," George announced, bounding down the stairs alongside Fred.
"It's only a temporary arrangement," Mr. Weasley began. "Dumbledore felt that as the final battle will likely be fought here that we needed to begin making preparations."
Ron gestured below. "What are all these people doing here then?"
"Many of them are Order members. There's probably about half of them you've never meant because they've either been away on deep undercover assignments or their job is to simply report on anything suspicious they hear or see going on in the Ministry. The others are those we felt could be trusted and would want to accept such a dangerous role."
"Wait a minute. I haven't even gone to see Dumbledore yet with my idea. Isn't it a bit soon to be making preparations like this?" Hermione asked, feeling like they were all jumping the gun a bit.
"Dumbledore's expecting you as soon as you're ready," Fred piped up. "We just saw him."
"Best not to keep him waiting," Mr. Weasley said to Hermione. "Dumbledore's going to be a very busy man these next few days."
"I'm going back to the common room," Harry announced and didn't wait for anyone's response before beginning to climb the stairs.
"Don't mind him. He's just going to brood," said Ron and it earned him an elbow in the side from Hermione, causing the twins to snigger.
"Could you imagine what they'll be like when they get married?" George snickered.
"We already know who will wear the trousers in that house," said Fred.
Ron was too focused on how his brother used the word when and not if that he forgot to tell the twins to shut their traps if they knew what was good for him.
The twins comments didn't seem to faze Hermione at all, who left with his dad up the same stairs Harry had vanished from minutes before.
Fred's usual jovial expression disappeared as he looked below. "Whoa. What's he doing here?"
Ron followed his gaze and felt his fist involuntarily clench at his side. Draco Malfoy had just entered the castle and was slinking away into the shadows as if he didn't want to be seen.
"There's no bloody way the Order would allow him to stay here," George said.
"They let him stay at Lupin's for awhile, didn't they?" Ron pointed out. "But Malfoy would never risk his own neck for anyone, so what the hell is he doing here?"
"Dunno," George shrugged. "But Fred and I promised to help Angelina and Alicia unpack, so we'll see ya later," George finished with a wink.
"And when it comes to Malfoy, don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Fred called out to him as he and George climbed the staircase.
Ron didn't plan to do anything to Malfoy – yet. But he did intend to watch him like a hawk.
Harry was already waiting in the Head Girl's room when Ron and Hermione showed up. He didn't look happy to be kept waiting and Ron was only just able to restrain himself from saying something.
Hermione shut the door behind her and Ron before casting a silencing charm around the room. With Gryffindor Tower now full of people she didn't want to chance being overheard. Not everyone needed to know the plan they had come up with to defeat Voldemort. Only a handful of Order members would be told about what Harry was going to in order to maintain absolute secrecy. It might also cause a bit of a panic, which was another reason Dumbledore wished to keep things low key.
Hermione got right down to business. "I had us looking in the wrong direction for a spell or some kind of magic to defeat Voldemort," she started as Ron toook a seat on the bed beside Harry. "I thought all we had to do was find a spell more powerful than him and we'd at least be able to make him weaker, if not destroy him. But when you get right down to it, Voldemort is the true essence of evil. Throwing powerful magic at him, won't slow him down. His body would likely just absorb it. As I said before we've been looking in all the wrong places for answers when we already know what his only weakness is, or at least the only one that's ever been discovered."
"And this would be what exactly?" Harry asked.
"Love," she answered. "Harry, when your mother died to save you, it was her love that protected you. Dumbledore even explained that to you back in first year. It worked because Voldemort couldn't comprehend what love was."
"Hermione, we've already been through this. Whatever that protection spell was, it doesn't work anymore."
"But it doesn't matter, don't you see? If one person's love was powerful enough to reduce Voldemort to such a pathetic state that he needed to share a body in order to survive, imagine what the love of a hundred people could do to him? He would be obliterated."
"Okay," Harry nodded, catching on, "but how are we going to do this? You're not planning on having a hundred people sacrifice their lives are you?"
"No, of course not, but there's also no need for it. You would be the one to channel all that emotion to Voldemort," she told him, watching as his face suddenly turned much more serious. "Harry, your empathy and telepathy are a direct result of your link with Voldemort, and your link with him is a result of your scar. If you were able to go into everyone's mind and take any feelings related to love, loyalty, friendship, and so on, and then throw it back at Voldemort through your scar it should be enough to destroy him. Remember what the prophecy said, a power the Dark Lord knows not? I think it was talking about love. It makes sense though if you think about it. No one has ever been able to harm Voldemort except you when you were under the protection of your mother's love - both when you were a baby and when you faced Quirrel in first year."
"How would I go into everyone's mind here in the castle and then be able to feed it through to Voldemort?"
"That's the tricky part. You've used your empathy on groups of people before but it was nowhere near this size and you didn't have to hold onto it for that long. I really don't know how long you'd have to hold the connection with Voldemort for it to work. You're usually pretty weak after you use your powers for a prolonged period of time and this is going to be much worse then that. Harry, you could die,' she said, a lump forming in her throat.
In typical Harry fashion he said unflinchingly, "I'll do it."
"Hang on, mate. Did you hear what she just said? You could die!"
"I heard what Hermione said," he said, looking at Ron. "I also know if there was another way you would have found it," said Harry, turning his attention back to Hermione.
"Harry, you should at least think about it," she said to him.
Harry looked grim. "What's there to think about? I know that I have to be the one to kill him. It's what the prophecy says, and I'm not going to drag this war on any longer while we try and find another less risky way to destroy him. More people will die and there's been too much death already."
There was nothing Ron or Hermione could say to convince him otherwise, and one look at their faces told him they felt the same way, though they would never say it.
A tiny part of Hermione was glad Harry was willing to do this, but an even larger part of her worried about what was going to happen to him. "You're going to have to practice," she told him. "On smaller groups of people first, to build up a tolerance, and then gradually increase the number of people you're trying to collect the emotions of. It's going to be difficult because you're going to have to sort through all the other emotions first. It won't be so bad now, but the day of the battle people are going to be frightened and angry, you're going to have to filter through all that. You'll also have to separate their minds from the Death Eaters that will be here that day. Voldemort's not going to stand around and allow you to concentrate. You'll have to do this quickly," Hermione finished, already sounding fretful.
"Let's say I'm able to touch everyone's minds and take out the positive emotions – "
"No, Harry, positive emotions are not enough," Hermione interrupted. "You need to find the love in everyone's mind. It doesn't have to be romantic love either. Love comes from many different things – friendship, family, the willingness to give up one's life for another – these will be some of the strongest feelings you'll come across. They're what you need in order for this to work."
"Okay, I take all those feelings you just talked about, and do what? Just project them at Voldemort using my mind?"
"Yes. You've done it before. You've projected things into Ron's mind and mine. You've also used it against Death Eaters. It's just you've never used it on this scale before but I believe you can do it. Since your scar is your magical connection to Voldemort, that should help make it easier as well."
Harry just nodded because he wasn't sure what was left to say. He had already made up his mind when he had walked in the room that he would participate in whatever plan Hermione had come up with. He wasn't going to change his mind just because it seemed near impossible to do.
"There's one more thing, but it's not about this," she said to him. "If Voldemort tries to possess me, Ron's going to try using the sacrificial spell to bring me back. I know it didn't work exactly the way it was supposed to but it did link our souls together. Harry, you're going to have enough on your mind without worrying about me too, and I think it would stand a better chance of working if it was Ron. Our bond is probably stronger."
Since Hermione had started explaining her plan to him he had forgotten about the risks she was also taking. He looked at Ron, who had a resolute expression on his face that nothing would get between him and Hermione.
"Are you okay with that?" Ron asked him.
"There's no one else I'd trust Hermione's life with," Harry answered unwaveringly.
Ron looked kind of embarrassed by Harry's response but he appreciated it all the same.
"So is that it?" Harry asked, turning his attention back to Hermione in an effort to end the awkward moment.
That was it. The only thing Hermione didn't add was she had no idea how much time they had to prepare before Voldemort attacked. She would start using that night the Pensieve Snape had prepared with the false memories. Chances were Voldemort wouldn't wait long to attack once he saw there was another part to the prophecy.