Alright readers, in the near future, I will be starting a new story titled "Watching Time", which will follow Ron and Rupert through their time in Sunnydale. Keep an eye out for that. Seeking Time will continue along side it, as Watching Time and Seeking Time's timelines overlap. Enjoy the chapter!

"You need to take over as Head of the Order," Severus stated, trying his best to look compassionate but still firm. Merlin knew Remus wasn't coping well with the losses, Molly and Arthur in particular. The Weasleys had never once treated him like a lesser man because he was a werewolf, and had been some of the few who could claim that. They'd meant the world to him.

"What?" Remus yelped. "No! Severus, I can't do… that…"

"You can, and you will," he urged. "Who else could take the position? I cannot, with my other duties, nor can Minerva. Arthur's gone, as are Shacklebolt, Moody, and Dumbledore. September is right around the corner so I cannot ask Filius or Pomona either. Patrick has stepped up as Head of Gryffindor and taken all of Hermione's classes, and while you do have Transfiguration, that's the limit of your responsibility. We're running out of people who are qualified, capable, and trustworthy."

"What about Leland?" Remus asked. "He fits the bill."

"And he's a bit busy trying to keep Minerva together, and has effectively taken over as Head of Hogwarts, on the downlow, of course. He has no desire to have the position officially. He's just helping until Minerva gets back in gear," Severus countered. "It has to be you."

"Bugger."

"You'll do splendidly," Severus offered an uncharacteristic encouragement. He believed it, too. While it was no secret that there was little love between him and the self-proclaimed Marauders, of the four of them he'd always found Remus to be at least tolerable, and now that they were adults and Remus was mostly free of his friends' influence - bloody mutt being the exception - he actually found Remus to be decent company.

"No, no… what about Lucy?"

Severus shook his head. "No, Remus. Lucy doesn't know the members of the Order well enough for them to trust her. She may be Hermione's daughter, and she may be known to our society as Perenelle Flamel, but end of the day no one really knows her. Except for you, perhaps, if the rumors are right."

The werewolf blushed. "It's... new. That bit."

"Anyone else you want to try to convince me is more qualified?" Severus inquired, smirking.

"No," Remus sulked.

"Good," he replied, unshrinking the large stack of parchment he'd been hiding in his pocket and handing them to Remus. "This is what I could find in Hermione's office that seemed to be Order related. Minerva keyed you into the wards of the Head Tower, as well, so if you need space to work or want to have a look around her office yourself, you're to let yourself in."

"Wonderful," he deadpanned. "You do know you've just handed me a world of problems, right? With Hermione being gone, the Serpent Accord has certainly failed, and at this very moment our enemy is regrouping and recruiting from a pool of players that Hermione spent months getting off the board. How do I even begin to do damage control?"

"I may have a bit of news on that front," a new voice said, entering the room. Narcissa Malfoy greeted them with a curt nod, as did her husband Lucius. "Merlin knows how or why, but the Serpent Accord remains in place."

"What?" Severus gaped, truly surprised. Like Remus, he'd been certain the magical contract which had kept many of the dark families neutral in the war would have failed in the wake of Hermione's death. "How is that possible?"

"It's not," Lucius said. "Which means that Madam Slytherin can't be dead."

"Minerva watched her body basically explode," Severus countered. "I'm not sure how we can look at it any other way."

Remus looked thoughtful. "The wards. What if she's simply in the wards?"

Narcissa seemed to understand what he was getting at. "Like Apparation? How we become nothing, travel as energy, and then retake physical form?"

He nodded eagerly. "Wards consume magical energy, and then project a predetermined protection. If Hermione's energy was simply taken by the wards… the wards being her destination, her determination being to end the battle in our favor, and her deliberation was to do so by creating a new and powerful ward that, as far as we can figure it, targeted anyone with an active Dark Mark."

"Leland's mark and mine are both deactivated," Severus remarked. "And Lucius, you were on a mission at the time, right?"

"Correct," he said. "However, my sense of self preservation wants to know if I should be concerned for my welfare now."

Narcissa shook her head. "I don't think so. The energy that it took to pull that off was enormous, and without another sacrifice like Hermione made, I don't believe it's possible that the effect would linger."

"I agree," Remus said. "That said, this theory hinges on the use of Hermione's magic as a means to activate the ward. We had already figured that, and assumed that her magical energy was spent on the spell, and resulted in her death."

"So if the Serpent Accord is holding," Severus chimed in, "then perhaps it didn't require all of her magic, but enough that she cannot retake physical form. That's not unlike the base cause of splinching, which is why children aren't allowed to do it. It's too dangerous."

"So are we postulating that she is simply stuck in the wards?" Narcissa asked. "If yes, how do we get her out? Presuming we should."

"Of course we should!" Remus snapped, taking offense that was even a question.

"Easy there, my friend," Severus said, touching Remus' shoulder. "I believe Cissa is asking if we'd even get the same Hermione back, or if there isn't enough of her left to reconstitute."

The blonde witch nodded. "If too much of her magical core was spent, then we could bring her back as a squib, best case, or in pieces like a splinch gone extremely bad. Or we could get her body back but not her mind. Further, we have to consider that if this all works like we believe it does, then her magical signature is now part of the wards, which means pulling her out may very well dismantle the wards entirely, requiring them to be recast from the ground up."

"Which would be an exceptionally bad thing," Severus added, "As the very foundations are held together with magic. If the wards fail in totality, Hogwarts could crumble around us before we'd had time to reset them at all."

Remus nodded in understanding. "Of course. I'm sorry. I suppose at the very least we should be grateful that for now, the Serpent Accord is holding. We do need to research this, though, because if there's a chance to get her back…"

"Then we'll find a way," Narcissa said. "We'll need a team, though."

"Not me," Lucius grunted. "I may be an able handler for Umbridge, but I'm admittedly bad at research."

"Well, I can head the team," Narcissa offered. "Severus, Remus, you two obviously can pitch in where and when you can, but you're both busy with other duties so we need at least another one or two people if we expect to make any headway."

"Only people who can keep a secret," Severus urged. "I do not want Minerva and the children to hear about any of this. I will not give them hope until we're more sure."

"Agreed," Remus said. "I'd have suggested Rupert before, but he's leaving today, right?"

"In a few hours," Severus replied.

"What about Lucy?" The werewolf asked. "She knows Hogwarts better than any of us. She'd be helpful, and can certainly keep a secret."

"And you'd enjoy spending additional time with her, no doubt," Narcissa said slyly, eliciting another blush from Remus. "Yes to Lucy. While Hermione is her mother, she's more than able to set aside emotion."

"Leland as well," Severus suggested. "Wards are his specialty."

"I think that's enough to start," Narcissa said, looking thoughtful. "No, one more. I assume Filius can be trusted to keep a secret?"

"Right," Remus said, nodding. "Absolutely for Filius. Charmswork is the basis for warding, so he'll be an asset for certain. The sooner we get this sorted, the better."

"You may also want to consider bringing Galahad into the loop. And Remus, we mustn't rush something this delicate," Severus smirked, "even if it does feasibly get you out of Heading the Order in the long term."

"I'll just be keeping her seat warm," the werewolf said, grinning. "No big deal, that."

Severus rolled his eyes, and Narcissa voiced the thought in his mind. "Gryffindors," she scoffed.

Emma looked up as Draco and Harry walked into the tower, followed a moment later by Luna, Dudley, and Helena. It was still so very odd to see Helena walking instead of floating, but Emma supposed that was the least of her worries, adjustment wise. "Funeral over?" she asked her brothers.

Dudley nodded. "We figure Mum would have wanted someone to represent our family, and Mother isn't up to it, obviously. It's not like the Ruehl kids have a lot of family support. Their dad isn't around, and now their mum is dead."

"How is she today?" Harry asked. "Mother?"

"No better than yesterday," Emma replied. "But Vala seems calmer so long as I don't let Mother fuss with her too much. She seems to sense Mother's pain."

All five teens nodded sagely at her assessment.

"Mother won't arrange a funeral for Mum," Dudley commented, looking at the floor. "I tried talk to her about it, but she seems to think that since there's no body to bury, then we can't be sure Mum's really gone. I want so badly to believe her, but…"

"That's the grief talking," Draco whispered. "I mean, Merlin knows I wish Hermione wasn't gone, but… she's done a lot for me."

Dudley nodded, and put a hand on his friend and dorm mate's shoulder. Emma knew how much Mum had advocated for the other Slytherin, much to Harry's initial protests. She thought perhaps Hermione was to Draco how Sirius was for Harry - an extra parent.

"She'll never forgive us if we push it," Emma remarked. "So until she's ready, we'll just have to wait."

"Ron's leaving today," Harry said bitterly. "He should have been able to be at her funeral - Rupert as well - but Mother's stubbornness…"

"None of us were the love of Minerva's life," Luna commented. "We haven't the right to tell her how to grieve, or how quickly. Also, her stubbornness has saved us more times than I can count, so perhaps it's best we just trust it now."

"I may be able to get through to her," Helena offered. "I mean, I was dead, so if anyone understands how it feels to be separated from loved ones that way, it would be me."

Emma shook her head at her sister. "That would be asking her to see reason, Helena," she replied. "At this point, I don't think she can. Not yet."

"So we give her time?" Dudley asked.

"We give her time," Emma agreed. "After everything she's given all of us, I think we owe her that much."

Rupert walked with Ron toward the gates of Hogwarts, and toward the apparation point that would be the end of his time at Hogwarts for the foreseeable future, and the beginning of his appointment as the Watcher of Buffy Summers. Remus had told them that anyone wanting to see them off - they'd already said most of their goodbyes - would be waiting at the gate, and Rupert wondered who would show up, if anyone. Ron had already told him he and Harry had said their farewells, and the boy was having a hard time so much as looking at his brothers and sisters right now. Rupert surmised that he felt guilty for leaving them so soon after their parents had died.

"And because I was there, but couldn't save them," Ron said mutely.

"Excuse me?" Rupert asked, not having thought he'd spoken.

"Occlumency," Ron replied. "Sorry. You were really projecting. Blame Severus."

"Ah," the elder man said. "There was nothing you could have done, Ron. Surely you know this."

"Knowing a thing and feeling it are two totally different Hippogriffs," came a sharp reply. "Like knowing we're walking to the gate to apparate, and that making perfect sense, but feeling like we're trespassing on hallowed ground because the gate is where Hermione died."

Rupert looked ahead of them, and saw the large obelisk looming just in front of them where Hermione had met her end. He was right. It felt like walking over someone's grave. "It is what it is," he said gruffly. "We can't exactly move the front gate."

Flowers and other trinkets had been left at the base of the obelisk, he noted as they got closer, in memoriam. Minerva had yet to arrange a funeral, so he supposed people were saying goodbye to the Head of the Order in their own way in the meantime.

"Was starting to think you'd gotten cold feet."

Just ahead of them, Rupert spotted a gaggle of redheads. It seemed like, sans baby Vala, all of the Weasley siblings had come to see their brother off. To Rupert's surprise, he also saw his own brother standing off to the side, looking oddly humble. Humble was not something that Robert Giles could often be accused of being.

"Sorry George," Ron replied to his brother. "Got held up saying goodbye to Harry."

"Was there snogging?" the other twin - Fred, Rupert reasonably assumed - teased.

"Of course there was," Bill concluded.

"Give the man a break, guys," Charlie chastised his brothers.

Ron lit up a bit at how Charlie had addressed him - as a man. Rupert hid a small grin, remembering how his own younger brother had lit up the first time he'd addressed him as a man, rather than a boy. That memory in mind, Rupert patted Ron on the shoulder and then moved to where Robert was standing a few feet away.

"I'm surprised you came down," he admitted. "But glad."

"I had to say something to you," Robert said, shuffling his feet nervously. "Before you left."

Rupert nodded, and resisted the urge to go into defense mode. Historically, any time Robert had something to say to him, it was critical and demeaning, but Robert's body language now sent an entirely different message, so he gave his brother the benefit of the doubt. "Alright then," he invited.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore, Rupert," he said after a pause. "With Hermione gone, I know I could go back to being a prick toward you, but I don't want to. I shouldn't have needed her order to treat you like a brother, and I'm sorry I did. From now on, I want to love you regardless of if I agree with you, because life's too damn short for regrets, and I don't want one of us getting killed to be the thing that makes me realize how important family is."

Rupert was beyond moved at the statement, finding that he couldn't think of a single thing to say in response. "Oh, Rob," he choked out, moving forward quickly and grabbing his brother into a tight hug. They'd never see eye to eye on a number of things, but Rupert had long felt much the same as Robert had just stated. He never wanted to be his brother's enemy. "Me, as well."

Robert returned the hug, and then the two men pulled apart and looked at each other awkwardly. "You'll write, I trust?" Rupert said after a moment.

"Of course," his brother agreed. "I'll be sure to make Ethan write as well. I know how you care for him."

"That would be nice."

Silence ensued. For as much progress in their relationship had been made in the last few minutes, they were still a far cry from comfortable with each other. They knew very little of each others' lives, and Rupert made a mental note to, in his letters, be forthright about his past in hopes that genuine honesty might help his brother open up to him.

"Well," Robert finally said. "We best collect Mister Weasley. The two of you have quite a journey ahead."

Rupert nodded in agreement, and the two moved back toward the Weasleys just in time to see Ron put his hands on his brother Percy's shoulders. "I know we haven't always got on well, but you're my brother, and I love you," he said. "Mum and Dad would have wanted us to work past our differences. I'm willing to try if you are. We can write, though it'll have to be muggle post. Smart as you are, I'm sure you can manage that."

Percy looked on the verge of tears. "How can you just open up like that? How can you trust me after how often I've been a complete arse? I don't think even Mum and Dad trusted me to… see what I had to lose. And I didn't, till they were gone, and I feel like a total fool."

"They trusted you, and had faith in you, Perc," Bill interjected. "Why do you think they chose you to be Ron and Ginny's guardian until they come of age? They updated it from me to you the minute you turned seventeen, you know. It's not that they didn't trust me, but they knew you'd do better at it - seeing those two were brought up right and cared for, without coddling them too much."

"And if my opinion matters, I'm glad they did that," Ginny put in. "Of all of you guys, I've always known that no matter what, you'd put my interests before your own. You'd protect me, even if it made me mad. That's how Mum and Dad were, and how they'd have wanted me to be treated."

Ron nodded in agreement. "And Perc, ya big dope, I know that even though I'm going away, you'll make sure that I have a home to come back to. We've all got our things to do and places to go and duties to see to, but you've got the most important job of all - to keep us together, and Mum and Dad, and all of us, trust you to make that happen. Got it?"

Percy wrapped Ron into a tight hug, which Ginny joined into, and then Bill, and then the other three boys. They stayed like that for a moment before Ginny, who'd been squished into the middle of the huddle, let out a muffled plea. "Can't breathe guys!"

This, unsurprisingly, had all of her brothers laughing as they pulled apart, shaking Ron's hand in turn, and wishing him good luck before they headed down the path. Percy was the last to leave. "I won't let you down," he promised his youngest brother.

"I know," Ron smiled, before pulling Percy into one more hug before he waved goodbye and returned to Rupert's side. Neither man said a word as they walked to the edge of the wards, and began the series of apparations needed to get to America, and then to Sunnydale.

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