Camp was particularly hectic for the next couple of days being that it was the end of the month and as the head of the orders safe places, the end of the month meant people arriving and leaving regularly. This resulted in both Hermione and Neville being pulled into hello and goodbye conversations that lasted way longer than the simple wave Hermione would have preferred and stopped them from being able to sneak off to the outhouse like they had planned. Her tolerance for any amount of human interaction and fake pleasantries was non-existent but in order to keep people from growing too concerned and asking questions she had to plaster the smile on her face and fake it until the bustle died down and everything settled again.
Finally four days after the death eater mission everything was settled to the point that they could escape under the pretence of going into the woods to train in the self- defence they had learned from Charlie. They had planned to do just that after breakfast when Remus and Kingsley called an emergency order meeting for half an hour's time, derailing their plans yet again. Given that there was a weekly scheduled meeting to take place tomorrow, Hermione's curiosity peaked. It couldn't be good if it needed a meeting to take place so quickly.
An hour later and all the members of the order currently residing in the camp were collected around the table in the base of the operations tent. Hermione took her seat near the top of the table with Neville and then Luna to her left. After Harry had died at the final battle Hermione and Ron had both automatically assumed high ranks within the order, due to both their efforts at destroying the horcruxes and their closeness to Harry.
Ron sat facing her and when she lifted her eyes and they connected with his, he gave her a small uncertain smile. She couldn't bring herself to return it and simply turned her head and ignored him. She noticed his head bow and his shoulders slumping out the corner of her eye. She had thought about trying to mend their friendship before but she just couldn't trust him anymore, couldn't even frein the effort to pretend. He and Harry had kept her in the dark about what they had seen in Snape's memories and they had kept the plan for Harry to sacrifice himself knowing she would never have let him go through with it. She would have stunned him and portkeyed him away from the battle if she had to and they knew this, knew she would do anything to keep Harry alive. She had felt the same for Ron, still did in fact. She would do anything to keep him alive and well, but the trust they once had was broken and they had lost Harry as a result of the lies. Hermione had long since accepted that although she loved Ron, it would probably be years after this war was over and trust was no longer the biggest protection that was needed in order to survive everyday life (as was the case when one was in the middle of a war), for her to even think about trying to rebuild the friendship they once had. It would never ever be the same without Harry of course, but she had told Ron that she just couldn't pretend the hurt and betrayal hadn't happened. If she was being honest with herself, she had no intentions on coming out of this war alive, she was perfectly okay with allowing her anger and need for revenge to run her actions. She had long ago accepted that she was so broken and beyond redemption for the things she had happily done since the battle of Hogwarts and she knew there was no place for her in the world that would come after if they finally won this war. She had made the decision long ago that she would do whatever it took to exact her vengeance and make the world a better place, but she did not see herself within this new world, completely willing to lay her life down for it.
Kingsley entered the room with Severus and they took two of the three seats at the top of the table. It was several minutes before Remus finally entered, arms filled with notes and took his seat in the center of the other two men. He and Kinglsey had been the obvious choices for leaders following the battle of Hogwarts. Minerva had elected to take charge of education and care of the younger members amongst their safe places, unwilling, in her words, to have anything to do with sending young people out to fight any longer. Harry's death had affected her deeply. She had sat by Albus's side, trusting his intentions completely while she watched Harry grow into a young man. Unbeknownst to her she had been watching the young wizard she cared deeply for, be raised as a pig to slaughter. Watching Harry die and later finding out Dumbledore's true intentions had broken the fighting spirit of the woman. She was tired of watching children and barely legal adults die under her protection and couldn't face being in any decision making capacity for the orders war front any longer.
Remus stepped into the role of leader along with Kingsley naturally. They were both highly trusted, high ranking members of the Order and had the natural born ability to lead. Kingsley, having belonged to the Slytherin house, brought the tenacity of being able to take the time to step back and look in depth at all possible outcomes for every move the Order made. Remus, a Gryffindor through and through, thought more with his heart. Following Harry's death he became even more adamant against the use of any magic that wouldn't be considered as anything other than magic of the light. He felt that Harry would have wanted them to win this war without compromising their souls or tainting themselves with dark magic. Hermionie had tried to persuade Remus to reconsider, as fighting against an army who relished in the use of the dark arts with only light magic was never going to allow them to defeat their enemies. She had even pointed out Harry's use of the Imperius on Travers and a goblin when they had broken into Gringotts, and his attempts to use the cruciatus on both Bellatrix and Snape and successfully casting it on Amycus Carrow. He had shot her down stating that Harry had let his emotions and anger cloud his judgment and they could not allow themselves to do the same. She was positive that had Kingsley been solely in charge he would have been more than willing to allow the use of whatever magic they needed to in order to win this war, but as it stood Remus's words and opinions held more power within the Order. It wasn't long after this last instance of being shot down that she and Neville had decided to take matters into their own hands.
Remus cleared his throat, bringing the room to attention and stood to address the members of the Order gathered around the table.
"I'm sure you're all eager to hear why I have called this emergency meeting so I'm just going to cut to the chase. Riddle has unfortunately finally made his move to gain control over the muggle prime minister and has done so successfully. As of this morning we are all wanted fugitives in the muggle world as well"
He threw down copies of the Daily Mail and The Guardian newspapers into the center of the table, pictures of Remus, Kingsley, the Weasleys, Hermionie and Neville plastered on the front page of both. The headings read 'Dangerous terrorists walking among us' followed by a subheading 'see pages 2-20 for full list of names and pictures as well as suspected crimes. Assailants are armed and dangerous. Orders from the government to kill on sight.'
Several people around the table reached for copies of the papers to look through. Hermione and Luna looked on with Neville at one he had lifted and she could see that the purpose of the write ups were to create mass panic, hoping that they would be spotted and killed by the muggles. Every one of their members in high positions and any that had been able and willing to go on supply runs were mentioned by name with an accompanying picture meaning that supply runs going forward were going to be impossible without the use of polyjuice potion, for which their supplies for were almost exhausted. Without the use of their magic, glamors were also not an option. Severus wasn't listed but he wasn't an option either due to the fact that not only was he believed to be dead, but following the necessary removal of his left arm to ensure his survival remained a secret from Voldemort, he wasn't exactly in the position to be going anywhere without the ability to use magic and only one arm.
Once Remus was satisfied everyone had gotten a look at the papers and were fully cognizant of the seriousness of their situation he rose again from his seat to continue.
"The need for constant vigilance is now more necessary than ever. We cannot afford to lose any more members. The loss of the camp headed by Hestia Jones last week after one of the children came across their parents wand is proof that we can not afford to make mistakes, lest we cause the death of every person within this camp in one moment of forgetting to display the required attentiveness to our every action. We must always remain in a state of constant vigilance even in the mundane of everyday life."
The fall of Hestia's camp had been a massive hit for the order. Not only did it contain several previous Aurors, who were some of their best fighters, but it also contained more than a few families who had been promised safety and protection. A father had left his wand upon a shelf in the family tent, not thinking that one of the children would climb up to get it in curiosity. The moment the child had gripped the wand the contact had caused an accidental bout of their magic and alerted the death eaters to their location. By the time the message had gotten over the radio that they were under attack and members of the Order had managed to get to the camp by use of the emergency portkeys that had been made when they first learned of the wand magic tracking, the entire camp had been slaughtered. Even Hermione, who was numbed to death, relished in it even when it was her causing it, had paused at the sight that met them. Bodies of men, women and children were strewn all across the camp site. The strongest fighters had obviously been taken out first and quickly as their bodies lay intact. The weaker members hadn't been so lucky, especially the children who were completely defenceless. Their bodies had been bloody and mostly in pieces. They had even taken the time to mount the heads of some of the camp's casualties on pikes which were placed throughout the camp. There were no survivors.
"There is also the matter of these vigilantes and their continued violent attacks. While they may be taking down our enemies, we, as fighters for the light, cannot condone the death and destruction they are leaving in their wake. I want you all to keep your eyes open for any clues as to who these vigilantes are and report anything back to Kingsley or myself. If they are hiding amongst us then they will have to be exiled as we cannot fight this war in two seperate ways. Winning this war is important, but ensuring we don't destroys our souls in the process is even more so. They need to remember that our fight is with Riddle and his inner circle and there are many innocent people that had no choice but to declare loyalty to the dark side. Fear makes people do terrible things and fear for ones life and the lives of their loved ones can make them go to ends they would never have fathomed they could. We cannot allow ourselves to be tempted to fight evil with evil and killing without really knowing who is on the dark side because they want to be or because they feel they have no other choice. Even those who we see as the villains, can prove us wrong and be one of the biggest heroes in the end. Sirius thought his brother Regulus a villain and spent his life haunted by his betrayal. He died without ever knowing the truth about how brave his brother really had been. I know more than most what it's like to be in a situation where you have no choice in the brutality and pain you cause and to wake up and have to face those you have hurt. I wish more than anything that none of you ever have to feel that guilt." Remus looked around the table meeting every member's eyes in turn, as if trying to mentally push his point into every person before finally sitting back into his seat before speaking again. "One final thing. Charlie Weasley will be returning to the main camp in six weeks time should any of you wish to take up his combat training. The meeting is adjourned and you may all get back to your day."
Hermione kept her demeanor unaffected as she excited the tent followed by Luna and Neville. They made their way to the edge of the camp to finally set off for the outhouse to get back to work. The other camp members did not question where they disappeared to anymore, assuming they were always going further into the forest to continue to train the way in which Charlie had taught them. Nobody else could see the benefits of learning hand to hand combat, which quite frankly Hermione found ridiculously stupid, therefore no one else ever asked to join them and she very much doubted anybody would partake in his lessons when he returned to camp. She , however, was very much looking forward to having Charlie return. Apart from Neville and Luna, he was the only other person in her life who she trusted without doubt.
They had made it only a few steps past the trees that obscured the camp when Hermione felt a hand around her wrist. She immediately spun around and was met by the sight of Severus Snape. While to anybody else he would appear indifferent, Hermione knew him well enough to see the concern and what looked like slight desperation in his eyes. She looked down at where he had a grip of her wrist and lifted one eyebrow in question as she looked back up to meet his eyes. He dropped her wrist and took half a step back, running his hands over the front of his robes, straightening out none existent wrinkles.
"I think it would be wise for you two to lay low and not go out on any of your vigilante missions for a couple of days, lest you raise any suspicion of your identity. Lupin's little speech in there will surely have everyone paying more attention to the comings and goings within the camp."
Hermione folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "You know as well as I that nobody questions where we go everyday. After all, who would expect Hermione Granger, resident swot and bookworm and Neville Longbottom, the boy whose greatest fear was his potions professor, to be the ones out killing death eaters and very successfully at that?"
"And what would that boy and girl think if they could see what they have grown into? I brought the information to you two because I thought it may help steer you away from the amount of bloodshed you two had been racking up, and help give more direction to what you were doing when you went out. All it has done is get you in deeper. I am well aware that killing is a necessity in war, and with Lupin and the order unwilling to put their precious souls in jeopardy it has fallen to the two of you. You need to remember your other task. Getting yourself killed before accomplishing it will all but assure the Order's demise."
Hermione scoffed. "Yes well that girl still had her two best friends and wasn't an orphan. She hadn't watched as Harry died, been betrayed by Ron and had to literally pick up the pieces of her parents. If she could see what has gotten me to this point, I think she would be pretty damn proud. As for the boy that was terrified of you, well he's not afraid of anything now is he? He was broken to pieces and he has risen above it and stitched himself back together into an assassin who will never cower in front of anyone else ever again. You're right it may not be fair that we are having to pick up the order's slack, but when we are out there, when we can see the life leave those bastard's eyes at our hands, it truly feels freeing."
Snape flinched at her words, but she wasn't deterred by his discomfort, adamant she would finish her piece and he would listen.
"It feels like we are finally proving to them that you shouldn't underestimate blood traitors and mudbloods. The moment of recognition on their faces when we reveal ourselves before slaughtering them. That moment makes me glad that we get to be the ones to do it so if you think we are going to stop just because the last mission didn't go to plan, I'm afraid, Severus, you're fighting a losing battle." She made sure to emphasize the use of his given name, further driving the point that they weren't those children he was referring to anymore. No, what they were now may not be what they thought they would become, but they were stronger, more resistant and more lethal than Hermione would ever have dreamed of becoming.
Snape pinched his nose between his eyes in defeat. She knew that he was more than aware that he couldn't force them to do anything. He dropped his hand, letting out a sigh and looked back up to meet her gaze. The pleading in his eyes was almost enough to startle her, it wasn't very often he allowed his emotions to show so obviously on his face. "Please just give me time to reach out to my informants. Last night was a disaster to say the least and I want to make sure that you won't be walking into any more traps on my information."
Her face softened. "You have 48 hours. After that we are going back out there, with or without your information." She turned and walked away, signalling she was very much done with the conversation.
Neville and Luna were waiting for her about 15 yards away. Neville had obviously been listening and she nodded at his piercing glare to let him know she was okay. Luna on the other hand was busy inspecting a nearby tree for Merlin only knew what, and Hermione knew better than to even ask lest she have to listen to another lecture about the dangers of tree dwelling flatlids or whatever the last insane creatures she was rattling on about was. Luna, for all her quirks, was an essential member of their team and Hermione had grown much closer to her since the battle of Hogwarts. She was the only other person besides Neville and Charlie and perhaps sometimes Snape that she felt she could trust. Without Luna, it was very likely that she and Neville would still be going around in circles trying to figure out a starting point for the task they were working on down in the bunker. Hermione smiled affectionately at her as they walked, remembering the day Luna had become a member of their team.
It had been weeks of sitting in the outhouse, scouring through all of their combined books trying to find some clues as to what the ritual Neville had come across in one of the herbology books while researching the magical plant seeds that had been passed down through his family for generations. The seeds had been a gift from some old acquaintance of a very old and long dead ancestor. Seemingly his family had always had a gift for herbology, but there had barely been any seeds used over the following generations due to the difficulty of growing them and the fact that there didn't seem to be any known practical uses for the plant and details about what it actually did were scarce. Neville had told Hermione that he only found one passage on the plant in all his research since his grandmother had given the seeds to him the summer before he started hogwarts. He had read every book in the library in the school, trying to sate his curiosity and had come up empty handed. It was only when he had been going through some old boxes in the attic at home before 6th year for his Gran, and had found some very old battered herbology books did he find any mention of it.
With the difficulties of that year and the complete nightmare that was 7th year, the war and battle, it hadn't crossed his mind until after Voldemort had come up with the wand and user register. Having his followers and supporters register their wands to themselves had been a genius move. It meant that any wand used that wasn't registered or anybody using a registered wand that wasn't the witch or wizard that wand was registered to set off a trace alarm allowing for the death eaters to find them. It had basically rendered them all muggles. Even in scrimmages, the more magic cast unregistered, the more death eaters that were sent out to the point the order fighters would become vastly outnumbered.
After this rule was implemented the Order was forced to find places to hide that would not be easily discovered without being protected by magical means, and they had to cease all plans to try and gain back some footing in the war. The Scottish highlands ended up being the most sensible option for the oOder's main base due to the vast amounts of mountains and woods, with nothing whatsoever around them meaning it would be unlikely they would be accidentally discovered by anyone. They had worked tirelessly to physically make a clearing and stationed a rotating guard schedule to ensure someone had a view a mile or so from camp in each direction. It had worked out for them so far but they had been at a stand still since, unable to do anything to try and take back control of wizarding Britain from Voldemort.
By the stage Neville had remembered about the passage mentioning the plant, he and Hermione had very much lost all faith in the Order and had been overcome with their need for revenge and their anger at the Order for rolling over and accepting their fate - rather than putting more effort into finding other means, bar the magical ones for taking down their enemies. He had searched through the books he had stored in his trunk, and when she had seen the mention of the ritual for which the plant was intended she knew they had to find out more. Admittedly there wasn't much to go on, with the passage only referring to a ritual that had been used by the first generations of wizards to fully connect with their magical core and the earth's magic before the creation of wands to act as conduits. It gave no further information on the ritual except to state that it had been lost to time. Hermione's refusal to accept defeat in gaining knowledge, even supposedly long extinct knowledge, had led her and Neville to going through every single magical book they could find since then, trying to find any mentions of said ritual.
They had begun to go stir crazy being in the outhouse everyday and getting nowhere with their research and had decided a change of scenery would be beneficial, which was why they were splayed out on the floor of their tent reading their respective book piles. Hermione slammed her book shut and launched it at the tent entrance in frustration, narrowly missing Luna's head as she poked it in the entrance.
She barely flinched and just turned to Hermione with that always present dreamy look in her eyes. "Oh is this a bad time? I can come back later instead?"
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes together feeling a headache coming on, she waved a hand, signalling Luna it was okay to come in.
Luna smiled and made her way towards them to sit down. "Both your wrackspurts are very eccentric today, perhaps some horseradish and nettle tea would help. Oh are those Nexum plant seeds? Where did you find those?"
Hermione and Neville's mouths both dropped open as they stared wide eyed at the girl. Shaking his surprise, Neville stood and went to sit beside Luna on his cot.
"Luna, what exactly do you know about the Nexum plant?" He asked her as Hermione prayed to every deity she had ever heard of that they might actually get some information to go off, and not just a spiel of nonsensical stories.
"Haven't you heard of the stories of the old ones?" she asked them as if it was impossible they had no idea what she was talking about. They both nodded their heads in the negative and Hermione gestured for Luna to continue.
"Well the old ones were the original welders of magic. The gift was imparted onto them by mother earth. She imbibed their bodies with magic in their core and allowed them to tap into the magic of the earth and nature around them. They could cast without words and without the need for a wand, unlike the magical folks of our time. Over the years the gift would pass naturally along through the generations, but not to every child born. Any child that showed signs of having the gift would take part in a ritual using the Nexum plant on their 10th birthday and that would allow them to fully connect with the magic inside them and harness it. Unfortunately over the many years that followed, the people began to feel that they were too good to participate in this ritual that had been deemed necessary by mother nature to fully connect with their magic and sought other ways to do so. That's when the first wands were created and after that, the ritual was abandoned and the magical people used the wands as a conduit for their magic instead. They lost the ability to connect with the earth magic as well as that inside them without a wand as a conduit and the ways of the old one was lost to time and evolution, although if you ask me, it seems more like they devolved don't you think?"
Luna looked off into space, obviously lost to the thoughts in her head and completely unaware that she had just dropped exactly the information Hermione and Neville had been tirelessly trying to find into their laps.
"Do you know exactly what this ritual entailed Luna?" Hermione asked, bringing the girl back out of her own little thought bubble.
"I don't know the specifics but I do know that magical runes are involved and it has to be conducted under a full moon. I have a book somewhere in my bag that my father gave to me that has been passed down through the generations. Let me just have a look." she reached deep into her bag which very obviously had an extension charm placed upon it. This surprised Hermione as she had thought she was the only one of her friends that had figured out how to cast the illegal charm when she came across it in a book in the restricted section during some of her light reading. "Ah yes here it is. Unfortunately it's all written in different ancient runic languages and I haven't ever translated it, only the first few pages have ever been, which tells the story and shows a picture of the plant. I know it contains details of how to properly grow the plant from the seeds and some specifics for the ritual, although my father did tell me that it isn't very clear on how exactly the plant is used, only that it is combined with the person in some way, but that could be by many different means. It could mean rubbing it over the body or eating it or any number of other ways."
Luna held the book out to Hermione, who immediately opened it hoping for obvious explanations, but Luna was right. Only the first few pages had been translated, and upon flicking through she could see there was a vast array of different runic languages used. Thankfully they had a fast array of books on the subject in the bunker at the outhouse, and she turned on her heel and made her way out the entrance only taking her eyes from the book to tell Neville to bring Luna with them."
Luna had been a member of their team ever since. The only people who were aware of what they were doing was Hermione, Neville, Luna, Charlie and Snape. Charlie had been an obvious choice to tell as he shared the same fierce, call to arms personality as Hermione and Neville and had trained them. Upon discovering they had been taking action into their own hands, he had not only kept their secret, but joined them on their missions to take down death eaters before he had been ordered by Remus and Kingsley to travel around some of the other camps to train anybody else who wanted to learn hand to hand combat skills. Snape had been clued in after he had started slipping them information from his informants, whose identity was kept a mystery to everyone but him. They had decided to ask if he had any knowledge about the Nexium ritual, but unsurprisingly, as it seemed the story really had been lost to time, he had never heard of it. He had however provided them with several more books on ancient runes to help with the translations, the translations that Hermione was currently sat at the table in the bunker trying to decode, while Neville was tending to the plant he had successfully grown from the seeds and Luna was helping to pot up some cuttings to grow more.
Hermione's mind kept wandering back to the meeting this morning as she worked, and her conversation with Snape. Luna wandered over and sat down beside her, reading over the part she had just translated.
"Um Hermione are you okay? It's just that I'm pretty sure that the ritual doesn't require a horse like you've written here, and the rune for Ehwaz may mean partnership in this case."
Hermione took the page from Luna and realised she had, in fact, made a stupid mistake in her translations and crunched it into a ball. "Yes Luna, thank you, I'm just tired is all."
She gave a sad smile and Luna reached over and squeezed her shoulder in comfort before heading back over to help Neville.
Hermione realised that the Order's instance in refusing to fight back, and Remus's words when talking about the death eater attacks had gotten to her more than she thought. Someone was bound to figure out it was them eventually and she was sure that all hell would break loose, and if they refused to show remorse or cease their killing they would probably be exiled. What bothered her more was that she couldn't help but think it would be a relief to finally have an excuse to walk away from them all and continue to do things the way they had been doing. She was finally one hundred percent sure that even if they figured this out, turned the tide and won this war, there would be no place for them after and she decided she was perfectly okay with that.