Saturday, Mid June

Hogwarts

In one of the latest notebook comments Severus had asked her to meet up again in Hogsmeade, despite her misgivings about him getting caught. As usual his notes had been short, but he did say there was something he needed from the Forbidden Forest for the Horcrux neutralisation. She'd agreed of course, and made her usual excuses to the Hufflepuffs. Professor Sprout had been hesitant to letting her take the tiara but Hermione had insisted, carefully levitating it into a drawstring bag and sealing it with several charms before putting it in her usual bag.

Severus was pacing outside the Shrieking Shack when she made her way there. It was early in the morning, at least for her dormmates who preferred to sleep in on weekends, and drops from the night's rain glittered in the Scottish summer sunlight. His Apprentice robes fluttered in the wind, as did her heart when she first spotted him. She really needed to do something about that, but had firmly told herself to wait until after Hogwarts.

He stilled when he saw her, waiting for her to come to him. "How is your arm?"

She pulled her sleeve back and cancelled the glamour she wore habitually. She had pushed the state of it back down in her mind, burying it deep and hardly ever looking at it. It was irrational, obviously, but it still felt as if it might go away if she didn't think about it.

He frowned and traced the cuts with a finger. "Getting worse. I'm trying but…" He broke off, releasing her arm. "I think I've found out a way to neutralise the… the diadem. We need to try to find freely given unicorn blood but not sure they'll come out if I'm around. You're looking pale, have you been eating?"

"Yes, mum," she said sarcastically, feeling a bit annoyed by his scrutiny, but it backfired when a pang of longing for her own mum washed over her. She pushed it down, she didn't have time for temporally displaced homesickness. "I've only met Hagrid's unicorns but they seemed to accept me then. I'm still…" She broke off, feeling her cheeks heat up in a blush again. Discussing her lack of sexual experience with him, of all people, was not what she'd had in mind when agreeing to meet him.

His eyes snapped up to hers and after a moment, understanding dawned. "Oh… well, let's go then. From what I've read, we just need to find a spot where they usually go and then… think about what we need. The book was a bit unclear."

She took a deep breath. It did sound a bit like a wild goose chase. "And this is for the Horcruxes?"

Severus nodded and as they made their way to the Forest he told her the details. Since coaxing it into another host didn't work, he wanted to try to purify the object instead. Hermione felt a bit guilty for him having to do all that work on a problem she should have assisted with, but he waved her off by saying he was used to working alone. It didn't help though, she still felt guilty and even slightly hurt by it, didn't he trust her by now? She shook her head to dispel the thoughts, but it wasn't very effective.

They went deep into the Forest. Hermione didn't feel the need to talk, letting the stillness wash over her and take some of the stress away. She thought she spotted Fawkes once, flying high up near the tree tops, but he disappeared before she could point him out to Severus who was walking two steps behind her.

Although the day was bright, only some of the sunlight filtered down through the canopies of the trees. The forest was full of sound, from birds chirping, wind rustling the tree crowns, small animals moving about their day as usual. She hoped they wouldn't run into Centaur or Acromantulas, remembering her other encounters in the Forest.

After maybe half an hour's walk they found a clearing next to a small stream. A large oak stood alone near the bank of the stream, sunlight illuminating branches and causing the water to glitter. There was something about it that looked just right for a unicorn, and then Severus found some strands of unicorn hair that had snagged on a bush.

"Right, I'll just get on with it," Hermione muttered. It had been a bit embarrassing, having to divulge her status like that. He'd seemed equally embarrassed when he admitted he wouldn't be able to join her. It chafed at her for some reason, but she didn't want to think about it, the girl he must have slept with. Was it Lily?

With a shake of her head she cleared her mind and tried to focus only on her need, the reason for her coming out to the Forest. She closed her eyes and listened to the forest sounds, letting her thoughts drift where they wished.

After a long time, although she wasn't sure how long, she became aware of another presence in the clearing. Something large, but not menacing, that huffed and snorted nearby. When she opened her eyes she had to stifle a gasp at seeing the unicorn only a few steps away.

It snorted and took another step forward. A mare, she thought, but she couldn't see any foal nearby. Hermione rose slowly so as to not startle the large animal, and held out a hand tentatively towards the white mare. The unicorn snorted and lowered her head to sniff Hermione's hand, nipping at it with large lips. Something was reaching out to her mind, too, an alien consciousness gently touching hers, a soft presence that seemed to ask what she wanted, what her purpose for visiting was. She tried to show her need, the desperate hunt for something to stop Voldemort's plans, to avoid all the pain and misery and grief that had happened earlier. Images flashed by her mind, of Harry and Ron, of Professor Lupin as a werewolf, the miserable tent, Bathilda Bagshot, Bellatrix and Malfoy Manor, the Shrieking Shack, the final battle.

The unicorn tilted her head to look at her again and pressed deeper into her mind.

"Oh," she breathed. Acceptance and warmth flooded her, almost making her dizzy.

Without warning the mare threw her head around and slashed Hermione's throat with the sharp horn. The world shrank and went black just as she fell to the ground.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

Birdsong filled the clearing and slowly the world grew brighter again. Something dark was falling over her face, tickling her neck. When she blinked a bit the darkness resolved to Severus' hair, falling into her face when he leaned down above her. She must have fallen. With some effort she sat up again, causing Severus to take a step back and sink down on his heels next to her. She felt lightheaded, dizzy, and had to take a few deep breaths to try to clear her head.

"That was… I could see it leave you, the Darkness," Severus said, almost stammering. "The unicorn slashed at your arm too and then she licked your wounds. The Darkness just poured out, look."

On the ground, roughly where her neck and left arm had been, patches of grass were seared away as if by fire. Hermione felt nauseous again when thinking about what had been inside those wounds. She pulled the tattered remains of the sleeve back and looked at her arm. The word was still there, but now pale and looking as if it had been healing for a year already. There was a strange feeling to her magic, too, an alien sensation humming under her skin, lending her strength and something more. Was it just because her own magic had been cleared from the Dark influence or was there something more?

Severus reached a hand out and traced the skin of her arm with two gentle fingers. The touch made her shiver and he quickly snatched his hand back, leaving her feeling oddly bereft. "I think I can get rid of the scar for you, I just need to fine tune the recipe."

In his other hand he was holding a glass beaker full of a viscous, red liquid that seemed to shimmer in the stray sunlight.

"Is that…?"

"Blood, yes. The unicorn slashed her flank after she cleansed your wounds. She let me collect blood even though she was nervous about me being near her. Did you bring the tiara?"

With a nod Hermione pulled out the drawstring bag. Even through the bag it hissed and vibrated, humming just below hearing range. In her earlier timeline it hadn't reacted much at all so she wondered if the changes were due to the fact that Voldemort hadn't fallen yet, or if time had caused it to calm down last time around.

Severus pulled out a black cauldron from his pocket and expanded it to normal size with a tap of his wand. He brought out a couple of potion vials, and poured a colourless liquid in the cauldron. It smelled herbal and fresh but Hermione couldn't figure out what it contained. He added a few drops of the unicorn blood and stirred a few times.

"Okay, place it in the cauldron."

Carefully Hermione opened the bag and held it upside down over the cauldron. With a slight shake the tiara fell in. The liquid started bubbling around the tiara as if the cauldron was set over a flame. More and more bubbles appeared, the liquid rising to cover all of the tiara. A dark cloud rose, shapeless at first but then gradually taking shape. It was Voldemort, distorted to look almost the way he had back in her own time, with more of a nose but no hair. She pulled out her wand, just in case.

Voldemort's voice started to hiss at her. The voice was everywhere and nowhere, she wasn't exactly sure where it came from. "Failure, you're a failure, Hermione Jean Granger!" His face appeared in the cloud before the vapours hid it from view again.

It reminded her of that horrible year on the run, with the Horcrux necklace whispering in their minds, for months. Panic warred with despair, filling her mind with hollow misery. Would they never be free?

Hermione looked at Severus. They needed to get this to work. "It's not enough, what do we do?"

The Voldemort face leered at her. "Your friends will die because of you, again! I killed Harry then, I'll kill him again, do you want to watch?"

"No!" It wasn't true, wouldn't be true, not this time around. She wouldn't, couldn't live with it.

The face turned to look at Severus.

"And who is this, are you sleeping with your Professor? Does he know you're thinking of him fucking you in his classroom? Bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses? He's using you, Hermione Jean Granger. He'd never want to kiss a Mudblood, he'll dump you as soon as Lily looks at him again, you know that? Pure perfect Lily, you'll never live up to her even after I kill her. Again."

More images assaulted her. Harry and the obstacle course Professor Dumbledore had put together. The first part of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, when she'd spent ages teaching Harry the Accio charm and he actually managed to Summon it when facing a dragon. The Time-Turner and using it to save Buckbeak and escape both Remus and Dementors. Dumbledore's Army and defying Umbridge, the only Professor she didn't call by their title, and teaching everyone spells, the Protego and the Patronus charm… An idea formed in her mind and she pushed the insidious voice aside, bringing forth every happy memory she could find.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Joy filled her as the otter leapt forward and spun as in excitement. She directed it towards the dark cloud and the voice seemed to get distracted, stuttering and repeating itself, but even the otter wasn't enough to stop it completely.

"Cast yours, Severus!" She kept her eyes on the cauldron, willing her otter to defeat the Horcrux.

"I can't!" He had his wand out but wasn't casting anything.

"Yes you can, I know you can! I've seen it, your Patronus! Think of a really happy memory!"

He frowned at her but cast the spell anyway. A white mist appeared, but no Patronus formed.

"Again! I know you can, I trust you, Severus! Please!" It felt almost like back in her third year, when Harry cast his Patronus only because he knew he could since he'd seen it before.

He closed his eyes and focused. Some of the pinched frown left his face and he looked calmer. When his eyes snapped to hers again, the intensity of his gaze made her blush.

"Expecto Patronum!"

He waved his wand in a wide arc but where Hermione had expected to see a doe, a bird appeared. It looked very similar to Menace and opened its beak at her in a silent caw before flying over to where the otter was batting at the fumes. The otter bounced in apparent joy when the bird started fanning his wings at the black smoke and hacking it with his beak. The face shrieked and fought back, engulfing the animals in smoke as if to suffocate them.

She almost lost focus when a third Patronus came stalking into the clearing, an antelope by the looks of it. It sniffed the other two before batting at the dark cloud.

"Patronus Liquefacio!" a deep voice rang out from behind them, and the three Patroni melted into the cauldron. A high-pitched shriek rent the air, and white vapour rose from the cauldron, dissipating the black cloud. When the cloud had cleared, the cauldron was dry again and the tiara lay on the bottom of it, looking peaceful and harmless.

Hermione grinned at Severus. It had worked. For a moment everything felt great, almost perfect. But where had the third Patronus come from?

"Stop right there!" The voice sounded familiar, a male.

"Hermione, go!" Severus shouted, but Hermione was already turning towards the voice.

She cast a flashy Bombarda at a nearby elm which fell with a slow groan, and then almost immediately a non-verbal Stunner which, to her surprise, hit Professor Dearborn square in the chest. He fell in an uncomfortable heap over a mossy log.

"Good aim." Severus moved closer, cautiously, and prodded him with his boot. "Who's this?"

Hermione kept her wand on him but the Professor didn't stir. "It's Professor Dearborn, he teaches DADA this year. I'll take care of him, please leave now. I don't want you caught out here, not after Professor Dumbledore."

"Are you sure? I don't like leaving you alone like this."

"Please, I'll contact you through the notebooks. Take the tiara, I don't want him to find it. I'll… I'll Obliviate him, if I have to. I'm pretty good at it." Memories of her parents rose up, unbidden. Shipping them off to Australia had been another of those things she hadn't had the time to process.

Severus looked at her for a long moment before nodding. He quickly pocketed the items and melted into the shadows.

Hermione waited for the longest five minutes she'd experienced since crashing through time before casting a Rennervate, keeping her wand trained on him. The Professor groaned and sat up gingerly, holding a palm to his temple. He blinked when he saw her standing nearby, wand out, but didn't try to attack or even get up from the ground.

"Miss Granger. Was that… I thought I saw him in the smoke? You-know-who?" He coughed a bit, sounding a little rusty, and leaned back against the log.

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said with some satisfaction. "If I may ask, what are you doing here?"

The Professor grimaced and Summoned his wand which had fallen next to the log. Hermione flinched. She should have pocketed it when she had the chance. Were her instincts really that rusty?

"I just need some water." Professor Dearborn Transfigured a leaf into a goblet and filled it with Aguamenti. He drank deeply and then wiped his mouth with his sleeve before looking up at her again. "I didn't expect the boy to take you to the unicorns. I was tasked by Albus to keep track of you while you're here at Hogwarts, to find out more about Snape and what you know about You-Know-Who and the war. I trailed you to Hogsmeade and then here but something stopped me from interfering. What were you doing here? That was Dark magic if I ever saw any, what are you involved in, girl?"

The alien magic from the unicorn still buoyed her, giving clarity to her thoughts and magic. It was time for her to take charge again, to stop running and begging forgiveness for everything she knew she needed to do. She straightened, her wand still pointed at her teacher.

"I can tell you some, but I want an Oath. You will not take this to Professor Dumbledore, not until I say it's okay. This is important, Professor, not just for myself but for the outcome of this whole war."

Professor Dearborn stilled, apparently thinking. He put his wand away. "Why don't you trust him?"

"That is between the Headmaster and myself. Maybe I can tell you about it, later, once we've dealt with You-Know-Who."

He nodded, apparently thinking about something. He seemed calm, not at all worried about having a student point a wand at him, having just Stunned him. "I'll give you an Oath. May I get up?" When she nodded he rose slowly, holding on to a nearby branch.

After reciting the Oath he sat down again on top of the log. "You have a good aim, Miss Granger. I knew there was something about you right from the start. Albus doesn't usually get requests for transfer students, there hasn't been one in at least fifteen years, and when you showed up in class it was clear you've seen more than most. You startle easily, you use spells in a way no one does if they haven't been exposed to life-or-death situations. When you arrived you were thin as a stick and had this haunted look about you, as if you'd seen things you never should have. Do you have nightmares, still?"

Hermione nodded, almost against her will. He was perceptive. His class had always been the one she was the most wary about, but she couldn't deny he had been a competent teacher. "Let's keep to the matter at hand. I'll tell you some, and maybe later I can let you know a bit more. I'm here because I have to fight You-Know-Who, and there are certain things that need to be neutralised or destroyed before we can have any chance at winning against him."

"And that was what you did, here. In the Forbidden Forest. With Snape." He sounded a bit sceptical.

"Obviously, Professor. Have you heard of Horcruxes?"

"Gods…" The Professor paled and if he weren't already sitting down, Hermione suspected he'd have lost his footing. "He made a Horcrux?"

She nodded. "Horcruxes, Professor. Plural. I know what they are but I don't know all of the locations right now. Some of them are hidden or heavily guarded and I can't tell the Headmaster until we've destroyed at least two more. There should be four others out there, plus the one we neutralised today."

He looked stunned and pale, and she could see beads of sweat pearling at his temples. She hoped, a bit guiltily, that she hadn't given him a concussion.

"I believe you, I'll help you with what I can. You have to tell Albus at some point, you know that? I can't keep this from him indefinitely."

Hermione sighed with relief. "Thank you, Professor."

They made their way back together in silence, him leading the way through the forest with his longer stride. So much had happened in just a few hours, she wasn't sure she understood it all. The Horcrux, Severus, the unicorn, it was a lot to take in. Shaking her head she pushed the thoughts aside, focusing on following her Professor back, her wand still pointed at him just in case.

Once they were at the edge of the Hogwarts lawn, right in front of the greenhouses, he turned to face her again. "Let me know what I can do to help. I'll do what I can, I'm reasonably familiar with Dark artefacts after all."

Fawkes came soaring down towards them again, a bright red flame on wings. He landed nearby and started singing, filling her heart with joy. The Professor smiled at the bird and nodded at Hermione before leaving, but Hermione stayed until Fawkes decided to fly off again.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

The following day Hermione received a summons to the Headmaster's office via a note delivered by a second-year Gryffindor who must have been in his path.

Pulling up her shields tighter around her mind she knocked on the door which swung silently inward. Professor Dumbledore sat by his desk but put aside the scrolls he'd been reading as soon as she entered. Fawkes was preening his feathers on his perch, not sparing her a glance. Brass gadgets and clear crystals swirled, twirled and ticked on the shelves, sometimes chirping at what felt like irregular intervals.

"I have been thinking, Miss Granger. Since we last met here both Dilys and Heliotrope have been yelling at me every chance they get, and I do trust their judgement. If you say you are working against Tom, I will accept it."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I appreciate it, very much. I never wanted to end up in a conflict with you."

"Likewise, Miss Granger. After all, I have been working on the best way to defeat Tom ever since he first showed his true colours."

Hermione nodded, not sure what to say. The early history was a bit hazy to her, with details Harry had told her mixed with other information and it was hard to know what was real. "Why did you take Sybill Trelawney to the Hog's Head? Why did you want someone to overhear the prophecy?"

The Headmaster didn't look at all surprised. "Information you control, Miss Granger, is worth its weight in gold. I wasn't sure Sybill would deliver but some Suggestibility Potion in her elven wine made it work. If I know what he knows I can figure out his actions. However, I'm not sure anyone took the bait. Would you know?"

Hermione shook her head. "I really can't say, Headmaster." It was difficult to play word games with the Headmaster. She did trust him to work against Voldemort, but after the comments his portrait had made when she was asked to Turn she wasn't sure she could rely on him. She had too much at stake, too much information in her head, and worried that he would try to push history back onto the same path she'd left behind if she allowed him access to what she knew.

He hummed noncommittally and stroked his bushy beard. "What are you doing, then, if you say you're working against Tom?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "I'll do all I can to bring him down, that's my only reason for being here. He took everything from me, I'm here to stop it from happening again."

"But then you should have no problem entrusting me with the information. After all, we are allegedly on the same side here." The Headmaster leaned back in his chair.

Fawkes took the opportunity to interrupt their discussions by singing a short but happy tune. The simple melody filled her heart with joy and felt as if it strengthened her mental shields as well.

"I would like to meet with the Order of the Phoenix this summer, Professor Dumbledore."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? You know about the Order? I don't think I can allow you access to them without some show of trust from your part."

She decided to grant him some information. It was reasonable, in its own way. "I was working closely with the Order previously, although never a full member. I don't know very many of the current members since most of them had died by then."

The Headmaster hummed but didn't comment. He didn't look surprised, either, but that didn't necessarily imply he was unaffected.

"There's something I have to do," Hermione said slowly. "I'll tell you afterwards, sir. I'll try to let you know about raids and such but there's one thing you absolutely must know. Don't trust Peter Pettigrew. Please, Headmaster. He's a Death Eater, he betrayed the Potters last time around and was responsible for getting Sirius Black falsely accused of murder, getting him thrown into Azkaban for a decade."

"Peter?" The Headmaster looked away, frowning. "I didn't think… I wouldn't have expected it. I shall look into it."

"Please keep him away from the Potters," Hermione tried again.

Professor Dumbledore hummed noncommittally and returned to his papers. She held her breath, waiting to see if he'd say something, anything more, but when it was clear he wouldn't speak she turned and left, silently closing the door behind her.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

Mid June

The Workshop

Severus was insanely busy at the workshop. Master Pyrites hadn't taken it well when the Dark Lord informed him of Severus' accelerated Mastery, and had taken it out on Severus when he returned from the meeting by pushing even more of the grunt work on him. He kept his research as private as he could, both from his Master and the other Apprentices which now included Warrington and Bernard Martin who had just arrived from Beauxbatons. Another one was due to arrive in a few weeks once he'd left Hogwarts. Edmure Nott, a Slytherin whom Severus hadn't really interacted with much at Hogwarts since he was two years behind, but vaguely recalled as someone who kept his head down and didn't cause much trouble.

Vulchanov had left a few weeks earlier and was staying in a shared flat in London, trying to get a job at St Mungo's in their potioneering department or with one of the apothecaries in Magical London. He'd passed the tests, albeit with small margins, but he could now call himself a Potioneer and start earning a salary. They'd stayed in touch via Menace and owls, and had also been sent on a raid together, again to Belfast where they were supposed to wreak havoc and threaten a local Muggle sympathiser. The raid hadn't gone well, however. The Aurors had arrived within ten minutes. They must have been tipped off somehow, and Severus was trying to figure out who was behind it and if he could spin it to his advantage, or rather who he could frame for it since he did slightly suspect that Hermione had been behind it.

He tried to meet up with Reg but had only managed to have time for two more Occlumency sessions. They were getting better, both of them, but Severus wanted to be absolutely certain his secrets would keep. Reg was busy too with work and with errands for his father who apparently had told his heir to stop playing at being a regular wizard and take up his Pure-blood responsibilities.

He'd seen Pettigrew once more since Lestrange Manor, but had deliberately not spoken to him. The Gryffindor was twitchy and seemed to keep to the background. Severus wanted to figure out what he was up to, if he was spying on Dumbledore's little group for the Dark Lord or if he'd defected openly. It was more likely the former, he had decided, considering the little coward's attitude at Hogwarts.

The Dark Lord had called on Severus again to request some novel poisons. Severus had tried to push back, respectfully asking to be able to finish the Apprenticeship first. Surprisingly enough it had actually worked. The Dark Lord had stared at him for a very long minute before suddenly smiling at him and agreeing to the request. They'd even spent half an hour discussing the latest world events and Severus' plans for the future, just the two of them. The Dark Lord had plans and visions, painting a picture of a new world order where wizards like Severus would flourish. Had it been a year earlier, Severus would have been elated at the attention. Now, however, he spent most of the time trying not to let his mental shields slip without alerting his Master to the fact that they were there. The Dark Lord was a good leader, in every sense of the word, charismatic and passionate about what he believed in but good at listening to his subordinates, whenever he felt like it.

"I sense great things in your future, Severus," the Dark Lord had said just before he let Severus go. "You need to work for your place in my ranks, but you'll go far unless you start taking your position for granted. You will brew Veritaserum for me now and then work on the poisons this autumn."

"Certainly, my Lord. I won't disappoint you." Severus bowed low, hoping he didn't sound too smarmy.

When he got back to the workshop half his potions were overdue for attention. It was a relief to focus on his work, even if the hours were long and his working conditions abysmal.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

Mid June

Hogwarts

The NEWTs were upon them, finally.

It had been a bit of a relief to allow herself to focus on her studies for a little while, instead of trying to solve all the other problems she encountered. She needed top marks to make a name for herself in this new time period, but unlike before she didn't feel the same need to prove to herself or her teachers that she knew everything. Her magic had matured a bit over the past two years and she was starting to get used to the way her turning through time had amplified it, when the original Hermione Granger no longer had magic. There was an edge to her spells now, a sharpness that hadn't been there previously, and she no longer had any trouble with offence in DADA after surviving a war. She had also found the Hufflepuff study groups to be very useful, to her surprise. Everyone was focused on their studies but still helped each other out. It was rather different from Gryffindor where competition, not cooperation, was the most important.

Hermione hadn't known what to expect from the NEWTs but they were organised similarly to the OWL exams, which made sense she supposed. In the subjects where it made sense to have a practical demonstration, they had that and the theoretical part the same day. Since she had skipped a few courses there were some gaps in her exam schedule, but otherwise they had two weeks of non-stop testing to endure. She'd always known she was odd, ever since Muggle school when she was the only one looking forward to the testing days, but this time around she didn't feel the urge to fret as much.

The tests were, indeed, nastily exhausting, but after the first few days she felt she was getting the hang of it. They'd started with Herbology the first day, followed by Charms, Potions and Ancient Runes the same week. Those that took Divination and Astronomy also had those to deal with during the first week, with Muggle Studies scheduled on Saturday. The Hufflepuff common room had a section earmarked off for the seventh-years, with some of them studying frantically while others ended up in post-exam coma, but overall it seemed Hermione's house-mates were doing reasonably well on their exams.

She'd written to Severus after the Potions test, asking about a couple of the questions. To her relief he confirmed her ideas, so she thought the test must have gone reasonably well. There was something in her Charms essay that kept nagging her, but she hadn't had the time to go visit Professor Flitwick or head to the library to investigate whether Protean Charms actually were of a Dark origin or not.

It was hard to stay focused for so long, but the breaks from not taking certain subjects like Divination helped a fair bit. The second week started with DADA and ended with Transfiguration, with Arithmancy thrown in the middle along with a few subjects Hermione wasn't taking.

To Hermione's surprise there was apparently a tradition in Hufflepuff that on the day of the final exam, the whole House came together to party in the common room, hosted by the sixth-years. Even Professor Sprout showed up to congratulate all of them and deposit several crates of Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. The Professor had mentioned the Badger Network again, telling them to help each other out and to look out for other Hufflepuff alumni, or to reach out if they needed help themselves.

It felt good, being accepted as part of the group like that. She'd gained a few friends, people that accepted her even when they didn't know of her complicated history.

~oo~oo~oo~oo~

End of June

Hogwarts

Finally the day came, the day she'd hardly thought she would ever get to experience, once all the NEWT examinations were finished. As it was a Sunday, most of her dormmates slept in late and took it easy. Hermione spent most of the day in the library, wanting to make sure she'd extracted as much as she could from the Restricted Section texts, but June and Hestia also made sure she got some sunshine by taking her on a walk around the lake. Hogwarts was showing itself from its best side, with bright sunlight reflecting off the surface of the lake, the calmness broken only by the Giant Squid which waved a tentacle at them as if in greeting.

The Leaving Feast was scheduled for that evening, and they would leave the Castle by train the following morning. On her way to the Great Hall from the library she ran into the one person she hadn't really connected with in the Hufflepuff dorms. Rhea was pale and didn't look all too well.

"Are you alright?"

"Leave me alone," Rhea snapped, turning away.

"Look, Owl me if you need help, we haven't been close but I don't want you hurt," Hermione said.

Rhea nodded once, stiffly, and stalked off.

Hermione sighed and continued down to the Great Hall. There was no helping some people, not if they didn't want to be helped.

The Entrance Hall and the Great Hall were decked out in flowers and leafy vines, with golden and silvery bands hung between the various pillars and wall sconces. Charmed flowers emitted some sort of glittery dust that wafted over the Hall but thankfully didn't reach the tables, stopped by a protective layer of charms. Looking back at her previous Hogwarts years, she'd missed the Leaving Feast about half the time. She remembered her first year, when Harry had snatched the House Cup from the Slytherins through Professor Dumbledore's machinations. Third year had been relatively normal, as much as was possible after they nearly got eaten by the DADA professor. Fourth had been awful, after the Tournament and Cedric's death, but the Leaving Feast had been held although without House Cup awards.

The Headmaster spoke about the importance of hard work and the great future that lay ahead of those that were due to leave Hogwarts, which Hermione felt to be slightly ironic considering the war. They'd been sheltered while at Hogwarts, much in the same way as she'd been her last time around, but once they left there were no guarantees any longer. Professor Dumbledore mentioned choices, and how actions might have other consequences than intended. The Headmaster was looking at the Ravenclaw table, but Hermione wasn't sure if that was because it was the most neutral option considering herself in Hufflepuff, Slytherin being too infiltrated by Death Eater sympathisers, and Gryffindor as usual being favoured by him, or if it was because he considered them to be a potential threat.

It would feel strange to leave, Hermione thought, but it was time.