It was three days before the opening feast, and the Order of the Phoenix was assembled in their base at 12 Grimmauld Place. Hermione and Ginny weren't official Order members, but were welcomed to the meeting due to all their efforts and the fact that the Order would need someone inside the school during the battle.
McGonagall was the leader of the Order and called for the beginning of the meeting. There was an air of uncertainty and anticipation as the meeting began. All the Order was present for this one, in addition to the members who had been frequenting the base; there was Mad-eye Moody, and Horace Slughorn (who had joined in the wake of the tragedy at the end of the sixth year) among others.
"I thank all of you for coming," McGonagall began, "I don't need to remind you of the absolute necessity that these proceedings be kept secret. The Dark Lord has many spies, and this plan relies largely on confidentiality. I have been in contact with the parents of the Hogwarts students and am delighted to say that I have been able to convince them that their children will be safe."
The members of the Order were allowing McGonagall to speak, knowing that there would be time for questions later.
McGonagall continued, "I would now like to turn the time over to Bill Weasley for an update on Harry Potter."
Bill walked up to the front of the gathered Order members and cleared his throat before he began to speak.
"I have been corresponding with the man looking after and training Harry. I received another message from him the day before yesterday."
Bill read what would be Sean's last letter before the end of the conflict. Bill was especially careful to specifically mention that three Knights who specialized in werewolves would be coming to aid the Order of the Phoenix. Remus was not happy about being left out of the fight, but Tonks helped convince him that it was for the best and that the rest of them would be fine. Bill ended with a tone that welcomed questions as he returned to his place in the gathered members.
Hermione was the one who broke the silence, "how will we know if Harry succeeded."
McGonagall had a look of concern on her face as she answered.
"We will just have to have faith in Harry and his guardian…"
"His name is Sean!" Ginny blurted out from where she was sitting. This immediately attracted several sets of eyes, which rested on the usually quiet young girl (she was quiet during the meetings). Her face turned a bright crimson to match her hair, and then McGonagall continued, trying to divert attention from Ginny as well as continue the meeting.
"How right you are," she stated, "we must have faith that Harry and Sean will succeed in infiltrating the feast. Once Harry arrives, You-Know-Who will be drawn to him and move to destroy him. Now, we must have a plan of attack and evacuation for the students."
The next hour was spent formulating plans of how to evacuate the students and how the Order members would divide up to fight the different creatures.
Hermione and Ginny wanted to stay and fight, but McGonagall convinced them that since they would be among the students they would be ideal to perform the evacuation.
They agreed, realizing that it was best for them to evacuate the students…there really wasn't anyone else. After another thirty minutes of everyone going over their assignments and McGonagall assuring herself that they all understood, the meeting was adjourned.
Hermione went up to her parent's room to be with them and tell them however much they wanted to know.
"Oh darling," Mrs. Granger said to her daughter, "if it were up to me I wouldn't have you going back to that school."
"But mum," Hermione interjected, "Hogwarts is my life, my future is there, and I've already invested so much into it…six years of my life, and Harry is there."
As she finished, she fingered the bracelet Harry had given her, Hermione had told her parents of her feelings for Harry and that he had returned them. Her mother was ecstatic, and her father expressed a desire to have him over for Christmas so that he could chat with him.
Mr. Granger began to speak; "You know that I want nothing but the best for you. It is a shame that you are in a situation where that can only come with tremendous risk. I wish that you could have had a normal life for a witch, and if doing this can give you that for just one year…then I say go through with it."
Hermione hugged and kissed her parents good night and thanked them for supporting her in everything. She then went up to say good night to Hedwig, clean her cage, and go to bed.
Ginny and Hermione had come to an agreement, Hermione would take care of Hedwig and Ginny would care for Regal. Regal's perch had been moved into Ginny's room to allow her to be ready if Regal required any special needs. It turned out that Regal was very self-reliant. He would hunt for his food and would relieve himself outside the house. The only real reason for moving his perch into Ginny's room was to let her have a little bit of Sean in her room.
Ginny had also been meeting with her parents, who had assured her that they would not be at Hogwarts to help Bill and the others fight off Voldemort's forces, they needed to stay with Lupin. They were more concerned about Ginny and her safety, but Ginny assured them that she and Hermione were clear about the escape route and that they would be just fine.
"Oh we hope so," Mrs. Weasley said, "you have so much to live for. And we hope that you get to see Sean again, and in a peaceful time."
Mr. Weasley spoke at this point. "Just remember what McGonagall said and stick to the plan. You can be very headstrong and independent, but this is one time when you absolutely must conform and obey."
Ginny nodded to show her understanding and then hugged and kissed her parents good night. When she got back to her room, she saw Regal peacefully settled on his perch. She went over and began to stroke his head and feathers. Regal had warmed up to Ginny over the past few weeks and would now nip at her affectionately when she stoked him.
"I hope I can give you back to him in person" Ginny said to Regal. After that she settled into her bed and went to sleep.