Storm In A Teacup.
Stuck in Gryffindor Tower, Hermione Granger had been trying for an hour to get away from her supposed best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. However, every attempt to leave had been met by protests from the pair. They were both complaining that since she became Head Girl they didn't see as much of her now she had her own living quarters which she shared with the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy. Not that Hermione could argue with them there as she'd taken every advantage of living away from Harry and Ron and always had a handy excuse as to why she couldn't spend too much time with them.
However, with a day to go before the Easter holidays, her excuses were not really working. Normally she'd claim she had to do homework or do head duties, but the last of their homework had been handed in for the term and there was only hours left at school before the Easter break began, so any head duties she could claim to need doing couldn't be classed as urgent. As far as Harry and Ron were concerned, she didn't have a valid excuse to leave early so she was forced to stay in Gryffindor Tower for far longer than she'd intended.
Finally, Hermione was able to get away as curfew drew nearer and even Harry and Ron couldn't argue when she said she needed to patrol to make sure everyone was back in their correct dorms. However, what neither boy needed to know was that instead of heading on patrol when she left Gryffindor Tower, Hermione headed straight back to the head dorms.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologised as she burst into the dorms to find Draco was sitting with the head of Slytherin, Severus Snape. "I just couldn't get away."
"Better late than never," Severus drawled. "Sit down, Hermione."
Hermione rolled her eyes, but she did as Severus asked and settled down on the sofa next to Draco. Draco flashed her a quick grin, and Hermione couldn't help but wish they were alone. She was about to spend her Easter break with the Order, so every second spent with her secret boyfriend was precious.
"I've got what you're going to need, Hermione," Severus announced, carefully placing a box onto the coffee table.
Hermione sat forward and opened the box. Out of it she pulled a delicate cup and saucer with an intricate red and gold design. The cup was an exact match to the cups Albus Dumbledore kept at The Burrow and Grimmauld Place for his own personal use. The headmaster was a creature of habit and he always used the same cup to drink from.
"And it's an exact match?" Hermione checked. She couldn't see a difference to the cups Dumbledore always used, but she knew the headmaster would spot any mistakes.
"Perfect," Severus confirmed. "The cup is coated in the poison, and one drink from it will be enough to kill a man."
"Instantly?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"No, it will take about an hour to work," Severus answered. "Are you sure you can do this, Hermione? One wrong move and you'll be caught."
"I can do this," Hermione replied with confidence.
"Then let's go over the plan again," Severus said.
"Really? I don't need to go over the plan," Hermione whined. "I know what I'm doing."
"Even so, we go over it again," Severus replied, unmoved by Hermione's pleadings. The girl in front of him might be the daughter of The Dark Lord, but in school she was his responsibility and the plan they were about to put into action was one of his making.
"Fine," Hermione conceded with a sigh. "I take the cup with me over the holidays, and wherever we end up I switch it for Dumbledore's cup. After he's used it, I switch it back to the original one."
"And don't forget to give the poisoned cup to Draco," Severus said. "You have to have that cup out of your possession before Dumbledore has been dead for very long. It's going to look like a heart attack at first, but tests will soon show he's been poisoned. Once that happens a full scale investigation will begin. If they then find the cup, they'll know how he's been poisoned and it might eventually lead back to you."
"But what happens when they don't find the cup?" Draco asked. "There'll be no traces of the poison in the cup they think Dumbledore drank from, so how will they think he was poisoned?"
"Either by something he's drank or consumed," Severus answered with a sly smile. "A poison in a drink doesn't always leave traces in a cup, so the fact the cup is clean won't prove anything. And by that time they can't prove where the poison came from. It might have come from his tea, or it might have been ingested with anything else he might have ate."
"But then surely everyone is going to be under suspicion," Draco said with a frown. "I thought we wanted to keep Hermione above suspicion. The reason you're not doing this at school is so that you're not suspected of doing this."
"But Hermione won't come under suspicion," Severus said. "The person under the most suspicion will be the person who makes the tea and provides the food. Someone who just so happens to be rather fussy and more often than not refuses help in the kitchen."
"Molly Weasley," Hermione announced gleefully. "If anyone is going to get the blame, it will be Molly."
"But will anyone believe she would poison Dumbledore?" Draco asked.
"I don't know," Severus replied. "But it's going to be fun finding out."
Hermione laughed in agreement as she carefully packed the poisoned cup back into its box. She was eager to see the fallout of what would happen over the holidays, but she was even keener to see the end of Dumbledore. Her father had been trying to get rid of the old man for years, so it would give her great pleasure to finally be the one to help kill the troublesome headmaster. Then once Dumbledore was gone there would only be Harry left to stand in Voldemort's way, and without Dumbledore to point him in the right direction, Hermione knew Harry was clueless and wouldn't prove difficult to take down. Dumbledore was the real threat, and thanks to her and Severus that threat was about to be dealt with.
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Hermione found herself at The Burrow for the Easter holidays and she was rather pleased by it. Grimmauld Place was a lot harder to sneak around in as there was always someone about. However, at The Burrow not as many people called in and Hermione felt as though it was easier for her to sneak around. It would certainly make meeting Draco to dispose of the cup easier as all he had to do was apparate to just outside of The Burrow's boundary line and she could hand him the cup without ever having to break the wards that surrounded the house.
Once she was sure they would be spending the entire holidays at The Burrow, Hermione sent a message to Draco via the enchanted necklace her father had given her when she'd started Hogwarts. Initially she'd used the necklace to keep in touch with her father but when she'd gotten involved with Draco, Voldemort had changed the charm so that she could communicate with both her father and boyfriend. She just had to be careful as to not get them mixed up as she didn't want her father reading some of the more provocative messages she sent to Draco.
With Draco on standby, Hermione focused on swapping the two cups. Knowing that she couldn't risk even been seen looking at Dumbledore's cup given what was going to happen, Hermione waited until the middle of the night a couple of days into her stay to instigate the switch. Even though Hermione shared Ginny's room when she stayed at The Burrow she wasn't overly worried about the younger witch as she knew from experience that Ginny was a heavy sleeper. Hermione had witnessed her sleeping through alarms, so she was confident she wouldn't be woken up by her sneaking around.
On the night in question, Hermione waited until she was sure everyone on the house was sound asleep before she crept out of bed and removed the box from her bag. She then carried the box containing the poisoned cup downstairs and carefully exchanged it with Dumbledore's cup. Now all she had to do was hide the real cup back in her bag and sit back and wait for Dumbledore to come calling. With a smirk on her face, Hermione tiptoed back to the bedroom she was sharing with Ginny and stashing the cup back in her bag, she settled back into bed and drifted off into a contended sleep.
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It was actually a long wait for Dumbledore to turn up and as the last few days of the holidays arrived, Hermione began to worry that he wasn't going to show up. Fortunately before she had a chance to consider what a no-show would do to their plans, Dumbledore arrived at The Burrow to discuss some Order business with Molly and Arthur Weasley.
When he made it clear that he wanted to talk to Molly and Arthur alone, Harry and Ron weren't happy, but Hermione was delighted as it meant she wouldn't even be in the house when Dumbledore fell ill. With a grumbling Harry and Ron in tow, as well as an unbothered Ginny, Hermione left The Burrow to enjoy the spring day just as Molly put the kettle on to make a pot of tea. She'd also just made a batch of pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins and Hermione witnessed Dumbledore plucking one from the plate before they left the house.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Ron asked as the foursome settled themselves on the lush green grass at the bottom of the garden.
"Me more than likely," Harry said with a sigh. "Dumbledore's been dropping hints that he wants me to start training."
"Training to do what?" Hermione asked with a puzzled frown.
"Fight," Harry answered. "We all know I'm the key to defeating Voldemort, and Dumbledore wants to make sure I'm ready. He doesn't think we can rely on the connection our wands have to keep me safe. He thinks that Voldemort will likely just use another wand, and I don't think he thinks I'd be able to survive a battle with him."
"Maybe we all need to start training," Ron said thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I could hold my own against a Death Eater. In fact I know I can't, we were all nearly killed at the Ministry that time we were fighting."
Hermione had to stop herself from grimacing at the memory of the disaster that had been the battle at the Ministry of Magic at the end of their fifth year. Hermione, with the help of Draco, had spent the entire year luring Harry to the Ministry so that he could retrieve the prophecy about him and Voldemort for her father before Lucius captured him. But then everything had gone wrong when the Order had turned up too early and Harry was still at the Ministry. Even though people had been hurt, including Ron, Harry had escaped with his life.
"I think that would be a great idea," Ginny enthused. "I really want to learn how to fight."
"You're too young to fight," Ron said to his younger sister.
"You're forgetting I was there at the Ministry, and I'm a year younger than you, Ron," Ginny argued. "I'm ready to fight."
"We're going to need as many people as we can get to fight with us," Harry said. "Voldemort's numbers are growing by the day, and you can bet that come the end of the year Malfoy and his friends will all take the mark."
"I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?" Ron asked Hermione. "Is Malfoy already working for the dark?"
"Surely you don't expect him to confide in me," Hermione said with a dismissive laugh. "Come on Ron, you know we barely tolerate each other. We ignore each other as much as possible and if we do have to talk it's only about head duties. I have no idea about his plans for the future, but I think Harry's right and he's more than likely going to join the dark and take his friends with him."
"See, that's why we need to start preparing," Harry said.
"Maybe we should have kept Dumbledore's Army going," Ron remarked jokingly.
"We could restart it," Ginny suggested eagerly. "Only this time we could focus more on fighting."
"I think the whole point is that someone is teaching me how to fight, not me teaching other people," Harry pointed out.
"All you have to do is repeat the lesson back to us," Ginny said.
"Or we could all just see if we could learn together," Ron said. "I bet Sirius would be an excellent teacher. He knows how to fight, and more importantly, how to fight dirty."
"Yeah, that would be fun," Harry agreed with a grin. "Maybe we should go and ask Dumbledore if he can arrange something. We're nearly finished school, so we should be looking towards the future."
Just as Harry decided they should go and see if they could grab a word with Dumbledore before he left, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from The Burrow. Exchanging scared looks, the four teenagers bolted to their feet and pulling out their wands they went flying towards the house. Harry crashed into the kitchen first, but the others were right on his heels and almost ran into him as he froze in shock as he took in the scene before him.
Dumbledore was lying collapsed on the kitchen floor with Molly hovering over him. Arthur was nowhere to be seen, but his voice could be heard coming from the front room and it was clear he was barking instructions at someone.
"What happened?" Harry demanded, charging over to Dumbledore.
"He clutched at his chest and then he collapsed," Molly answered tearfully. "I think it's his heart."
While the others expressed their concern, Hermione's eyes darted around the kitchen, searching for Dumbledore's cup. Finally she found it sitting on the draining board with the two mugs Molly and Arthur had been using. Obviously Molly had washed up before the poison had taken affect and caused Dumbledore to collapse.
"The emergency medi-wizards are on their way," Arthur announced as he re-entered the kitchen. "Stand back everyone, given Albus some air."
Hermione made sure she kept completely out of things as the medi-wizards arrived from St Mungo's to deal with Dumbledore. No-one pronounced him dead at the scene, so Hermione was assuming he was still alive as he was rushed off to St Mungo's with Molly at his side. Arthur remained at The Burrow, but he promised to follow on as soon as he'd sorted everything.
Arthur's sorting of things was to try and get the four teenagers to go to Grimmauld Place, but Harry and Ron insisted it wasn't necessary. In the end it was Hermione promising to keep an eye on things that had Arthur relenting and following his wife to the hospital. Left alone the four teenagers did their best to come to terms with what had happened, and amidst all the grief and worry it was easy enough for Hermione to slip upstairs and retrieve the untainted cup. With Harry, Ron and Ginny so focused on waiting for news of Dumbledore and what might be happening at the hospital, Hermione was easily able to swap the cups back so that the cup on the draining board was Dumbledore's original cup.
"I'm going to step outside for a breath of fresh air," Hermione told her friends once she'd swapped the cups. "Let me know if you hear anything from the hospital."
"Will do," Harry vowed from his position beside the fire in the front room.
Slipping out the back door, Hermione used her necklace to contact Draco and let him know she was ready for him. Making her way down to the bottom of the garden she settled herself on the low wall that ran around the Weasley property and waited for Draco. She didn't have to wait long before her boyfriend appeared on the narrow country lane than ran past The Burrow.
"Did it work?" Draco asked as he approached Hermione, although he was careful not to get close enough to set off the wards.
"Like a charm," Hermione answered with a grin. "Dumbledore was rushed to hospital less than an hour ago."
"Is he dead yet?" Draco questioned.
"We haven't had word yet," Hermione replied. "But it could come at any minute, so we need to be quick."
Double checking that no-one had left the house behind her, Hermione passed the box over the wall and across the wards to where Draco was waiting. Draco took hold of the box and he promised it would be destroyed before the night was over.
"I wish I could stay, but I best get back," Hermione said regretfully as she got to her feet.
"I understand," Draco replied with a nod of his head. "Let me know when Dumbledore's gone."
"I will," Hermione promised, and blowing her boyfriend a kiss she turned and headed back towards The Burrow.
By the time she reached the back door and looked back over her shoulder Draco was gone. Knowing her boyfriend wouldn't let her down and he would destroy the evidence of how Dumbledore was poisoned, she headed back into The Burrow just in time to witness Harry collapse onto the sofa, sobbing loudly. With tears falling down his own face, Ron explained to Hermione that they'd just had a message from Arthur to say that Dumbledore had died.
"It's so terrible," Hermione said as she sat down next to Ron. Ginny was already comforting Harry so at least she didn't have to deal with his distress. "Do we know what exactly happened?"
"Dad says it looks like a heart attack," Ron answered.
"But they'll do more tests just to be sure," Ginny added.
"They suspect foul play?" Hermione asked.
"It's just routine," Ron replied. "Considering he was here, I don't think anyone is suspecting anything untoward. It's just a tragic occurrence."
Hermione nodded, quietly wondering just how long it would take before foul play was indeed suspected. And when it was confirmed to be death be poisoning, would people really suspect the Weasleys? Would any of them stand accused of murdering Dumbledore?
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Dumbledore's official cause of death remained a straight forward heart attack for two days, and then on the very morning that they were due to head back to Hogwarts for their final term, news arrived at The Burrow that Dumbledore's death was being investigated by the Aurors and they suspected foul play. Sadly no more news had arrived before Hermione and her friends were forced to leave for The Hogwarts Express, and they spent the day nervously wondering what was happening.
By the time they reached Hogwarts the entire school knew about Dumbledore's death and everyone was gossiping about it. Several people already seemed to know that the Ministry were now looking into the death and were saying he'd been murdered. However, it was no surprise to anyone that it was Draco who knew the most and he was telling anyone who would listen that his father had connections at the Ministry and he had it on good authority that Dumbledore had been poisoned just an hour or so before his death.
"Lying bastard," Ron spat when the rumours reached his ears just as they were entering The Great Hall.
"How do you know he's lying, Ron?" Ginny asked. "We heard with our own ears this morning that the Aurors have taken the case and suspect foul play."
"But Malfoy is saying Dumbledore was poisoned just before he died, and he was at ours just before he died. He's basically accusing our family of killing him," Ron pointed out.
"I'm sure no-one will believe such rubbish," Hermione said loyally. "There has to be some other explanation."
"Of course there is," Harry snarled, glaring hatefully at Draco who was sitting at the Slytherin table sharing his gossip with even more people. "If Dumbledore was poisoned, someone on the dark side did it, and if the Aurors don't find out who did it, I will."
Hermione played her part for the rest of the meal and agreed with everything Harry and Ron said, both in regards to Dumbledore's death and Draco's accusations. Of course between the conversation they were having and Draco's gossiping it soon became common knowledge that Dumbledore had been with the Weasleys before his death.
Within twenty four hours Hermione heard several people suggest that the Weasleys themselves had to have played a part in Dumbledore's death. The only problem was, no-one could come up with any sort of reason why they would kill Dumbledore. Everyone knew the Weasleys were part of Dumbledore's inner circle of supporters and even the most ardent of Slytherins found it difficult to come up with a reason why they would turn on the Headmaster and kill him. Not that Hermione thought it would stay that way for long, and she wouldn't be at all surprised if someone did eventually come up with a reason for the Weasleys to want to kill Dumbledore.
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Two days after she'd returned to school, Hermione found herself summoned to McGonagall's office along with Harry, Ron and Ginny. McGonagall was acting headmistress to the end of the term, but rather than taking up residence in Dumbledore's office, she was continuing to use her own office. The foursome had hoped that they'd been summoned to receive an update on Dumbledore's death, but instead they'd been summoned so that they could each be interviewed by Aurors. Even though Ginny was the only one still underage, McGonagall still sat in with all four of them during their interviews.
"That was intense," Hermione said as the foursome waited in McGonagall's classroom for their head of house. Instead of being dismissed, McGonagall had asked them to stay while she had a quick word with the Aurors.
"Did they ask you about Mum and Dad?" Ginny asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes," Harry answered quietly, as he took hold of Ginny's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the Aurors think Molly and Arthur are guilty."
"How can they?" Ron exploded, jumping to his feet and pacing the classroom. "Mum and Dad would never do this. What are they going to claim is their reason? Why would they kill the wizard who've they've been fighting alongside for decades?"
"You don't need to convince us, Ron, we know your parents are innocent," Hermione said gently.
"Why can't everyone else see it?" Ron questioned with a weary sigh as he slumped back into his seat.
Before anyone got a chance to reply, the door to McGonagall's office opened and she called the foursome back inside. The two Aurors had gone, but the sombre mood in the office remained as McGonagall settled them down in front of her desk.
"It's not good news," she said gently as she sat down. "Ron, Ginny, I'm sorry to tell you this but the Aurors plan on charging your parents with Dumbledore's murder."
"No," Ginny wailed and clung to Harry as Ron cursed loudly and demanded to know what evidence the Ministry had.
"They've been able to tell the exact time Albus was poisoned, and it happened while he was at The Burrow," McGonagall explained. "Even with no traces of the poison elsewhere in the house, they've concluded it was administered either via the tea or the muffin he ate."
"And what about motive?" Harry demanded as he continued to comfort Ginny. "Or does it not matter that Molly and Arthur had no reason to kill Dumbledore?"
"The Aurors believe they were paid to do so," McGonagall said, the disbelief of what she was saying evident in her voice. "They discovered a large deposit in the family's bank vault made a few weeks before the incident. A second payment then went in within hours of Albus's death becoming public knowledge."
"They think someone paid them to kill Dumbledore," Hermione whispered, just as shocked by the suggestion as everyone else as she had no idea her father had planned anything of the sort.
"They do, and that is the case they will argue in court," McGonagall said. "Ron, Ginny, if you want to go home you can do. Your brothers have been awarded guardianship of Ginny until she turns seventeen."
"I think I would like to go home," Ginny sniffed. "Can Harry come with us?"
"I think I can allow that," McGonagall said with a kind smile. "And don't give up hope. Your parents are not alone in this. We know they're innocent and everyone in the Order will do everything we can to prove it. We won't let the dark win."
Hermione also promised her support, although she politely turned down the offer to go home with the Weasleys and Harry. Leaving them in McGonagall's office, where they would leave the castle, Hermione headed back to the head dorms, hardly able to believe what was happening. When she entered the head dorms she found Severus was present yet again, and both he and Draco had smug smirks on their faces.
"How did your interview with the Aurors go?" Severus asked.
"You knew I was being interviewed?" Hermione questioned.
"I did, but I'm not really in any position to demand to be present while you were interviewed. Although I trust Minerva was on hand in case the Aurors tried to pressure you," Severus replied.
"She was with us the entire time," Hermione replied. "Not that I could tell them much. I doubt anything any of us said made a difference in the end. The Aurors had already made up their mind."
"And have they decided to charge the Weasleys?" Severus asked eagerly.
"They have," Hermione answered. "They think they were paid to kill Dumbledore. Two large deposits of money have mysteriously made their way into their vault at Gringotts. I don't suppose they'll be able to trace them, will they?"
"If they're smart they might be able to eventually," Severus answered with a shrug. "But even if they do, it'll only confirm what they suspect, that the money came from The Dark Lord."
"Why didn't you tell me what my father was planning to do?" Hermione asked.
"It wouldn't have made any difference to what you needed to do," Severus answered. "You were still at risk, and knowing we were setting the Weasleys up for the fall wasn't going to help you any. If you'd been caught, you would have been the one in trouble and no-one would have even thought to check the Weasleys bank account."
"Even so you should have told me," Hermione said with a pout. "I was so stunned when McGonagall told us what was happening."
"I think it's great," Draco said with a laugh. "People are already ready to believe the Weasleys were guilty, and this just gives them the motive they've been missing. Only their most ardent supporters will believe their innocence."
"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," Severus warned. "We've achieved a lot over the last week, but we're not done yet. Dumbledore may be gone and the Weasleys are hopefully going to be torn apart, but we've still got Harry to deal with. He might not be much use without Dumbledore, but he stills needs taking out."
"If Molly and Arthur are found guilty, he won't need much taking out," Hermione predicted. "If he loses the people he thinks of as surrogate parent's just weeks after losing Dumbledore, I don't know how he'll cope. If we can keep the pressure up on him, we can break him. If we're good, we can have this war won by the end of the year."
"That sounds good to me," Draco said with a grin.
"Me too," Hermione agreed, smiling at her boyfriend.
She could feel it in her bones that the end was nigh. Dumbledore was dead, Molly and Arthur had been arrested for his murder and the Order and the rest of the Weasleys were in pieces. As for Harry, without Dumbledore, Molly and Arthur, he was more vulnerable than he'd ever been before. Hermione knew the time was ripe to take him out and end the war once and for all. It was time for her father and strike and reign victorious as after years of trying the dark had finally squashed the light and now it was their time to shine.