Bad, bad me. I suck. I'm a terrible person. But I can't say I'll never do it again, because I probably will. Unintentionally, of course. I always mean to write them up sooner, but then I always get stopped by some silly thing or other. I apologize profusely. But, well, I've got the next chapter for you. Yay.

Disclaimer: All to J.K. Rowlings, of course.

Chapter 12: Betrayal and a Punch

Hermione continued to run down the empty corridors of Hogwarts, her heart pounding somewhere in the vicinity of her throat. She could vaguely see the shape of her husband sprinting, ahead of her by at least 100 meters. She thought that she could hear the heavy footsteps of the Headmaster behind her, but she couldn't be sure. All that really seemed to connect with her was the feel of her heart beating and the sound of her gasping breath as she ran.

They passed many doors, many surprised professors, and many shocked portraits before they reached the outside doors. The resounding echo of huge wooden doors being open caught Hermione off guard, and she just caught her balance as she saw Remus continuing to run outside of the front gates. She followed desperately, finally catching him as he stopped against a tree right beside the gates.

"Wait! Remus, stop!" she called, clutching her chest in the hopes that it might make her breathing easier. "You can't just go to Grimmauld Place!"

He turned on her, his eyes blazing with fear and anger. "And why not?" he demanded, glaring at her, challenging her to come up with a good enough reason.

She fumbled for a moment. "There'sthere's a possibility thatthat some of the Death Eaters arewell, they could still be there and"

"Damn the Death Eaters!" he cried, flinging his hands in the air.

She glared at him for a moment, trying her best to keep herself under relative calm. He glared right back, but his eyes, she knew, were far more venomous than hers. Still, she was a woman and now was the perfect time to be as womanly as possible.

"You. Will. Not. Go." She ground out through clenched teeth, willing herself not to smack him 'round the head.

He leaned back from her, his eyes glittering half in danger and half in wry amusement. "Well, it's going to take a bit more than a tiny little witch like you to stop me when my daughter's in danger." His voice was like ice and all of a sudden, Hermione could not ever remember thinking him kind.

Before she had a chance to reply, Dumbledore caught up to them and slowed to a very dignified, if a bit uneasy, stop. He acknowledged Hermione quickly before turning to Remus. "I must insist that you do not leave Hogwarts grounds, Remus. Hermione may be right; the Death Eaters may still be lurking around Grimmauld Place. Even if Evie's in danger, it will do her no good if you manage to get yourself caught too." He gave Remus one of his ever famous glances from behind the half moon spectacles that were so easily recognizable as Dumbledore.

Remus turned to the headmaster, his eyes like fire, and surprised them all with his guttural, almost growling voice. "Bugger that." And he was gone with a slight POP.

Hermione stood shocked for a second, staring at the place that had once held her husband. She knew she'd have to follow. She gave Dumbledore an apologetic look before following Remus.

She reappeared on the street before Grimmauld Place beside a stock still Remus Lupin. She stared at him for a moment, wondering what could have him so unmoving. She followed his gaze towards the house and felt her knees begin to buckle at the sight that met her.

There was Grimmauld Place as it had ever been, old rundown and very depressing. But there was something different about it now. The bit of grass that was normally kept so perfectly trimmed by the perfectionist Percy was now trampled and flat from the fall of many feet. The normally restrictive and hugely ugly front door lay askew on only its bottom hinge. Worst of all, however, was the green skull floating five feet off the roof of the house.

She found herself as unable to move as her husband until he scared her out of her shock by running towards the door, shouting for his daughter. Hermione follows, at a slower pace, knowing that before she even gets in that the little girl will be gone.

"EVIE! Evie, where are you! EVIE?" She can hear his voice become more frantic as he goes through each of the rooms from the attic all the way back to her near the kitchen.

As he comes to her, his face a mix between horror and excruciating pain. She reached out to touch him, but he shrugs her off and gives her a sad deadened look before storming into the kitchen with only a slight touch of hope still lingering in his eyes to find his daughter within.

All hope vanished, however, once they were both inside. There was no sign of either Molly or Evie at all inside the ransacked kitchen. There were a lot of other people, though. A somber Percy and Fred stood side by side, their shoulders fallen even further at the loss of their mother, Snape stood at the table with a face grimmer than usual, the green haired Order member stood beside him with his eyes no longer filled with mirth, Harry and Hannah stood huddled together, Hannah nearly hysterical and Harry doing his best to comfort her. Remus turned from face to face, futilely trying to find anything that would tell him his daughter was still here. No one had the heart to tell him she was gone, but he knew it anyway.

He fell to his knees, breathing heavily. He clutched at his face desperately, almost to the point of injury, but did not cry. Hermione felt something contract in her chest and fell beside him, wrapping her arms about his shoulders and trying to coax his hands from his face. He will not be coaxed. She can feel the tears well up in her own eyes, tears that had been too shocked to appear until now. Just as she realizes that she's about to start sobbing, Snape speaks.

"They're gone," he says in a voice that is not snide or cruel, simply tired. "I saw them be taken."

Hermione looked up at him, her eyes threatening to spill at any moment. She tried to see any trace of emotion in the Professor's face, but he was simply still, like a carving of a sour and lonely man. "What happened?" she managed to croak out through her tears. Remus' body tensed, waiting to hear what Snape had to say.

"I had come to find out if there had been any new developments on our plan to find the rogue Death Eaters and other such trivial things. There hadn't been, but Mrs. Weasley had been kind enough to brew me a cup of tea before I left. I readied myself to leave, by Floo today, and stepped behind the fire screen into the fireplace. It was lucky for me that the screen had been there, or I don't think you would have had to worry about hearing this story, I'd be dead where I stand..." He trails off and everyone looks at him expectantly, but his face is a mask and Hermione thinks she can see a bit of regret in his eyes.

Harry, being the ever-impatient one, prompts Snape to continue. "Yes?"

Snape, being snapped back to reality from his thoughts, simply glares at the Boy-Who-Lived before continuing. "We were betrayed."

The simple sentence is enough to cause uproar in everyday life, but today, when the minds and souls of people have been so truly tested, it merely warrants a flinch. Then Hermione asks the unasked question in the silence that followed. "Who?"

Everyone turns toward Snape, awaiting the answer, hoping it is not someone they were close to, someone that had become not only their confidante but their friend.

He stares out at them with dull eyes and a grim set mouth. "A woman. A ministry worker. Marion Turner." The name was unfamiliar to everyone except, it seems, to Snape. He takes a breath and continues. "She's a few years ahead of you, Potter, a Ravenclaw. Pity she didn't use that brain of hers for something better than Death Eating. But even the greatest of minds have their weaknesses, eh, Lupin?"

Even Hermione, who always knew Snape to have a perverse joy of baiting those who could not stand it, felt herself shocked. Even Snape, greasy slimy evil Snape, shouldn't have stooped so low as to beat a man, an ally nonetheless, while he was the furthest down he'd ever been. Before she had a chance to react and scold the sour Potions Master, Remus leapt out of her embrace and stood before Snape, quivering in rage.

"You slimy bastard," Remus whispered, his nose mere centimeters from Snape's.

"Really, Lupin, I was only stating the fa" Luckily for everyone in the room, Snape was interrupted. Unluckily for Snape, it was by Remus' fist in his mouth.

"How could you just stand there and let them be taken! Why could you not try to stop them, try to keep my daughter here? If I or anyone else had been present, we would have fought, not hidden like some coward in the fireplace. You should have done something! You should have tried! Because of you, my daughter could be dead. Because of you, I could lose the one good thing that ever came out of this goddamned war!" He pulls back his fist for another well aimed blow at the Potion's Master, but is stopped by a sudden arrival.

Dumbledore strides in, as grave as he's ever been, and commands the attention of the entire room, just by being present. He comes to Remus and places a wiry hand on his shoulder and pulling the fist down to his side. Remus turns to the headmaster, ashamed at being caught stooping to physical force to get his point across.

With a look, Dumbledore subdues the apology that is about to come from Remus. "There is no need for us to fight amongst ourselves. There is time enough for fighting later. Right now there are more important things at hand."

With that said he turns to face everyone and beckons them to have a seat 'round the table before he begins.

Well, there it is. Hopefully you all won't wait very long for the next chapter, but who knows what will come up next before I have a chance to get it up, eh? Well, anyways, read and review, please!