The next day found Severus (no longer Professor Snape after three years of camaraderie), Sirius and Moody pinning me to the kitchen table while Remus carefully inserted an implant into a small cut in my ribcage with the tip of his wand. I gritted my teeth, trying not to cry out.

"These are the latest in magi-bio tech," Remus explained, "Fred and George invented them if you can believe that. Always knew they couldn't be as big of idiots as they acted. This one is a tracking implant. It's linked to the one on Snape's pocketwatch."

"He gets a watch, I get to be the victim for a game of Operation", I bit out.

"And you know why. Dangerous though his job may be, Severus gets to keep all his clothes on", Sirius joked. I chose that moment to not-so-involuntarily twitch and kick him between his legs.

He doubled over clutching himself. "Fuck, babe," Sirius wheezed "guess you didn't need that shield implant after all".

I hissed as Moody changed his grip, brushing against the implant that had already been inserted in my upper arm. "And that one?" I asked, gesturing to it with a nod.

"That one," Remus explained with an entirely too gleeful twinkle, "is a pheromone emitter. They're all controlled by touching that constellation of freckles on the inside of your wrist. One whiff of that one and you'll be beating them off with a shitty stick".

I cringed at the image. "Lovely."

"Not that you need it, of course," added Sirius solicitously, obviously trying to pre-empt any more violence on my part.

"And done!" Announced Remus, closing me up with a flourish of blue light.

The hands released me and I sat up slowly. All the implant sites were tender, but not uncomfortably so. Then again, I have a very high pain tolerance.

"Now don't go over-testing that Shield," Moody warned. "It will lessen the effects of most major curses, but obviously it would be too suspicious to negate them all together. And we're not sure yet to what extent it really works on non-magical attacks."

"Noted. So now it's just on Severus to lay the bait?"

"Already seen to," the aforementioned wizard confirmed, "After last night's meeting I let slip some interesting details regarding Miss Granger's parentage that we'd recently discovered. Namely that she is not, in fact, a muggle-born at all but was fostered out to her muggle parents during the first war after Emmeline and Gerald were killed. Ergo she is actually a pureblood of house Vance."

"And did the Dark Lord seem interested in this information?" Remus inquired.

"Indeed he did. Apparently he has been getting quite desperate to find pureblood mates to carry on his Death Eaters' houses. Turns out," he added with a derisive snort, "Nice European families don't want to get anywhere near a Death Eater. And as we all know, the inbreeding in England's pureblood community is reaching crisis levels".

I gulped and willed myself to speak in a calm, measured voice.

"So all is in place, then? In that case I think I'll get some sleep".

Everyone nodded uncomfortably, and the little gathering broke up. I drew my sweater closer around myself as I climbed the cold, drafty stairs up to the dark bedrooms. I was bone tired, but had a feeling that it wouldn't prevent the nightmares from waking me up in a few short hours. What I wouldn't give for a night of uninterrupted sleep! I was sure I'd be about ten times smarter, and nicer to boot.

I paused uncertainly on the third floor landing and contemplated Harry and Ron's bedroom. I knew Harry was still knocked out with a dreamless sleep potion to prevent him from causing mayhem and trying in interfere with our plan. But I wondered if I should speak to Ron. What do you say to your ex-boyfriend who's still furious at you? What about when he's also your childhood friend? And when you're still more than a little scared of him?

Deciding I couldn't handle a fight of that magnitude at this time of night, I continued up towards my room. As I passed Sirius's door, I considered going inside for a little bit of physical comfort. I stood with my hand on the wrought-iron door knob for a moment, but decided against it. He'd never shown pity for me before, and I really wanted it to stay that way.

The next morning, I stared at the gray, pre-dawn ceiling of my room. It was still early, but I knew I wouldn't be getting any more sleep. I rolled out of bed with a groan and threw on a dressing gown. I glanced in the mirror and wished I hadn't- my hair was so frizzy that it encircled my head like a caramel-colored cloud. Deciding I'd deal with that later, I padded quietly down the stairs to get a cup of tea.

When I entered the kitchen, I almost backed right back out. Molly was at the stove, her back to me. I froze for a moment, wondering if I could bribe Kreacher to send up tea. Have a spine Hermione, I told myself, just deal with it head-on. I took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen.

"Tea, dear?" Molly asked in a fragile voice.

"Yes, please," I replied in an equally stilted tone.

She handed me a cup and I sat down at the table. I craned my head around her ample waist and saw bacon and eggs on the stove.

"Looks delicious," I offered.

Without warning, she turned around and flung herself at me. I nearly hexed her, but managed to fight the impulse in time. To my surprise, she was clasping me to her breast and hugging me tightly. I thought I felt tears splashing into my hair. "Oh Hermione, darling, I'm so sorry!" She wailed, "I know we haven't always gotten on well, especially now with you and Ron, but I can't believe you're being forced to do this!"

"Molly, I chose." I said in a muffled voice, wanting to extricate myself without hurting her feelings.

"Chose?! When they put it like that what choice did you have? It's just not right sending a young girl off to do something like this, and after everything you've already endured. You know you can still back out, don't you? I'll make sure nobody treats you the worse for it."

"Molly, really..."

"Oh Hermione, darling, be careful. You're on the potion, aren't you?"

My face turned red. I stammered, "Muggle birth control, undetectable and it lasts five years"

Luckily Remus chose that moment to enter the kitchen and Molly was forced to release me. She turned sniffling back to the stove and heaped 9 portions of bacon, a dozen eggs and a huge stack of toast onto my plate.

A short while later, with my pants feeling much tighter, I took one last look around my room. It was still decorated in the iconic Black family style of heavy velvet and gaudy brass on every corner, but strewn on top of that was my own personal detritus of favorite books, improving books I'd been meaning to read and books I'd been using for research on the Dark Arts. I couldn't pack anything of course, and I wanted to imagine I'd be coming back.

Deep down I knew that even if I came back, I wouldn't be the same. At the end of the war, would the woman in my body even find joy in cracking open a fresh book's spine? I sighed heavily again.

"Not very ladylike, all that moaning and groaning," the mirror snarked.

"Oh shut it" I retaliated, glad to have something to snap at.

At the bottom of the stairs Moody was waiting for me.

"Everyone's in the kitchen. Go say yer goodbyes."

"Best not," I said quietly "Let's just go. Make sure Harry takes care of Crookshanks."

Moody snorted, "As if that beast needs care-taking from anyone".

We stepped out into the crisp, inappropriately beautiful fall air. We turned on the spot, and the whip-like crack of dis-apparition brought us to the entrance of Diagon Alley. Checking that we were alone in the early morning sunlight, I turned to Moody and took his arm before he could tap the brick.

"Remember," I said "Go down easy. Snape planted the idea to snatch me in Malfoy's head, but he didn't suggest what to do with anyone escorting me."

"Don't ye tell me the rules of my own game," Moody growled back, "I've been doing protection details since before you were thought of."

"Yes," I retorted, "but you've always been aiming to succeed."