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An Attack and a Discovery



"Greg, I'm going to contact Dumbledore, but I can't say I trust this man. He could be anyone and we let him in," said Ron, rubbing his forehead with is index and middle finger. He held up a wand, "I took this from him, but I want to make sure he can't cause any trouble."

"No problem, I'll watch him," said Greg before entering the room.

Within minutes, Dumbledore arrived. "He's in there," said Ron, relieved to see the Headmaster.

Ron was pacing up and down the hallway when Dumbledore walked out of the room. "You'll wear a hole into the floor at this rate," said Dumbledore, pleasantly.

Ron looked at him warily. He was always awed by Dumbledore's ability to keep calm.

"I know the fellow, Ron, he is on our side but I am glad you took all the necessary precautions to keep Hogwarts safe."

Ron handed him the man's wand and asked, "What did he want?"

"Voldemort is planning an attack on the ministry tonight. Darrel," said Dumbledore, pointing towards the room, "Was attacked by a few death eaters after he overheard there plans."

"And they didn't kill him!" stated Ron, astound.

"Darrel believes that they thought he was dead…they were careless…by his description of them, I have come to believe the men who attacked him were Malfoy's friends, umm…"

"Those gnomes, they probably sighted food and got distracted," muttered Ron. "But the ministry, my father…what are we going to do."

"I am going to contact your father and Remus, we'll be ready for this attack," replied Dumbledore.

"Let me go. I can go with Remus and Harry," asked Ron, determined.

"No," stated Dumbledore as he walked down the hallway, towards his office.

xxxx

Harry panted as the last death eater was taken away. He smiled to himself. They captured so many death eaters during their attack on the ministry.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if we were not forewarned," exclaimed Remus as Arthur came back into the office.

"We would be shamefully outnumbered," said Arthur sadly. "This virus…it's handicapped us beyond words."

"Maybe you should place more people here," suggested Harry.

"There aren't anymore people. No one can afford to leave his or her positions. You should see Diagon Alley. It's deserted…no one is working there…too many people needed at the hospital and on the battle field. I'm not even here half the time. Needed in so many places," sighed Arthur.

"Dumbledore wants us at Hogwarts tomorrow night. He's holding an Order meeting there," reminded Remus.

"I'll be there," replied Arthur.

Harry and Remus returned to Remus' place. "It's a blessing Arthur is minister, created an invaluable alliance between the Order and the Ministry. At last we work together, as a team," said Remus as he took off his torn robe.

"Is he still a member of the Order?" asked Harry.

"Of course."

Remus sat down and began to patch up his robe. The needle and tread created even stitches as he flicked his wand up and down. "We have a lot of work ahead of us…little battles being fought as we speak. Remus draped his newly patched robe around his shoulders. "Come on."

xxxx

Ron paced up and down the room. It was in the middle of the night and he couldn't sleep. "Come on, someone give word that everything is ok."

The fire came ablaze and Dumbledore's head appeared in the fireplace.

"Ron. Everything is ok. We have captured many death eaters thanks to our warning."

Ron fell into an overstuffed couch and sighed. The room had beige walls, with each corner displaying a banner from the four houses. The two couches were deep purple, which faced each other with a huge rug, underneath a chestnut coffee table separating them. In front of the rug was the fireplace and above the fireplace was a portrait of the four founders of Hogwarts. The frame was empty at the moment, to Ron's delight. Backed against the wall facing the fireplace was a long table and two chairs. Against the two other walls stood two handsome cabinets and a bookshelf lined with books.

"I have to take leave now, Ron. We'll use the charmed classroom for tomorrow's Order meeting. All the others have beds, right?"

"Yes."

"See you tomorrow, then," said Dumbledore before disappearing.

Ron's eyes lingered at the fireplace for a few minutes before he heard a murmur near the entrance. Ron put his ear against the entrance. It sounded like someone was trying a password. Ron opened the door only to be faced with nothing. He put his head out and saw a figure moving towards the stairwell.

"Hermione," called Ron. Hermione turned around, looked surprised and walked towards him.

"I was trying out the old password, thought I would give it a chance."

Ron laughed. "Dumbledore changes it every year."

"I know that," huffed Hermione as she stepped into the room and landed in a couch.

"So I guess you have access to any room, then," inquired Hermione.

"Yeah, I like it here. It's quiet."

"Same reason I came. Last year I loved coming here. May have abused my privileges as head girl, coming to the head girl/boy office just to get away from everything."

"From what, exactly?"

"Hmm…you, mostly—after we fought," laughed Hermione.

"We did seem to fight a lot, didn't we? I wonder why."

Ron ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed.

"I think it I've always loved you but was too young to understand it…so I fought with you," said Hermione as she moved towards him, scooted in beside him, and gave him a kiss.

"We sure took a long time to realize it. How dense are we? Everyone seemed to have 'coupled' up before graduation except for us."

"We went together, as friends, we insisted," laughed Hermione.

"Even Harry and Ginny figured each other out. We thought that would never happen."

"Always thought Harry couldn't picture Ginny as anything but a child."

"Well, I must admit she grew up and I may have had some doing in their getting together," smirked Ron.

Hermione punched him playfully, "I thought so." They were silent for a while as they thought about Harry and Ginny. Ginny acted like nothing was wrong and refused to talk about Harry. Ron knew she was getting frequent letters from him and by the sound of Harry's last letter to Ron, he was all right, physically at least.

"You know who was the most surprising couple?" said Ron.

"Neville and Parvati, without a doubt."

"Exactly. Who would have thought that Neville could stand her? She's such a gossip."

"Hey, Parvati has changed," said Hermione, defending her former roommate.

"Yeah, I know…she's helping out in the less populated areas. Remember, Neville is my roommate and friend, so I know everything about her."

Hermione smiled and put her head on his shoulder.

"So, how is the dungeon treating you? Has being in Snape's haven rubbed off on you yet?" asked Ron.

"Don't make jokes about him…I respect him,"

Ron made a face. "Alright. Sorry."

"I thought I had come up with a solution but it didn't work on the patient. I think it is missing one important ingredient. But I can't figure it out," sighed Hermione.

"I have faith in you, Hermione. You'll figure it out. I'd help you but you know I'm hopeless in potions."

"You'd probably set me back," laughed Hermione, pushing him into the fluffy couch and locking her lips to his as she wrapped her arms around his head. Ron's reaction was delayed due to shock. The war does bring out another side in her," thought Ron. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed, wishing he could hold her forever.

xxxx

"He's the only person I can think of. The only person who could find an antidote, my Lord," muttered a death eater.

"Then who found the vaccine?" replied Voldemort, his thinning patience obvious in his voice.

"That is simpler then the antidote. Whoever it was couldn't even know were to begin."

"I WANT HIM FOUND AND BROUGHT HERE!" yelled Voldemort.

"Yes sir," said the man, trembling as he left.

Voldemort walked into another room and then into another. The room was empty except for one man who was chained to the wall. His head fell limp into his chest, his black hair covering his face.

Voldemort grabbed his head and slammed it against the stonewall. Blood began to trickle down the wall.

"Get up," said Voldermort as he waved his wand and muttered, "Enervate." The man's eyes fluttered open, reluctantly. He pulled at his chains, knowing too well that the chains wouldn't give way.

"Everyone is of the opinion that you are the only one who can figure out the antidote, Severus," hissed Voldemort. "It would have been nice if you were truly on my side, but as you are not, you will suffer."

Snape ignored him, lost in his own thoughts. Thinking of how he could escape. He was rarely awake, as Voldemort kept sending him into the unconscious world after torturing him.

"I believe that the only person who could find the antidote is someone who was taught by you. That seems to create a problem as you taught for many years. Care to enlighten me with who you think is most likely to find the antidote."

Snape could think of only one person—Hermione. He was sure Dumbledore had given her access to his dungeon and office for that purpose. There was no way he was going to tell him that!

"For years I fooled you. You cannot get into my mind and I will never tell! Not even a truth potion will work!" Snape tried to use force in his words but they came out as barely a whisper.

"Crucio!"

Snape shut his eyes and endured the pain without sound. He had felt so much pain that he no longer felt the difference.

"I'll kill your precious Dumbledore."

Snape looked up, alarmed. "You could not kill him. You fear him," said Snape, confidently.

Voldemort left, without saying a word. Snape knew there was nothing he could do to him that would get him to talk.

He had overheard many things over the few times he was awake. He knew that the antidote was almost impossible to find. There was this one special ingredient. Even without the ingredient, the potion was hard to make.

Blood trickled over his mouth. He hated the taste of blood but he had no means to stop it from flowing over his mouth. Then, as if hit by a heavy cauldron, the answer became clear. Blood. That was it. The special ingredient. It had to be. That ingredient fit in with all his clues. He had to get his message to Dumbledore. He hoped Hermione had figured out the rest of the potion…he knew it was difficult.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm so sorry for the massive delay. This is the chapter I liked the least but it was necessary for plot development. The next chapter will have a far bit of activity. From now one, I'll update once a week or so, maybe even sooner but any feedback would be greatly appreciated. It's really encouraging!

Reviewers: Thanks so much to, Jessie, nattieb, Greenpluff, starsmiles, jj, kRisTy, jouansn, crazychick, wHiRlyGurLiE and crraze!

Just replying to the wonderful reviews in general, I have to admit I got the idea from a course I took on plagues. One part of the course discussed how people (for centuries) have tried to use disease as warfare. It's a scary thought but I just see Voldemort doing something like this.

I'm also a huge fan of Ron! Weasley is my King, lol! There's just something about him that's so appealing to me…his loyalty, imperfections and insecurities…he seems so real.

I'm definitely going to continue. The story has already been written but I'm just trying to proofread everything as a post them here. It's almost in two parts. Ch 1-6 is part 1 and Ch 7-13 is part 2. You'll see what I mean, soon ;). I hope you guys will stick around,

Humbly yours :D,

Weasleygirl-ca