Hermione sneaked up to the Room of Requirement one night when everyone was at dinner. She had felt better after her talk with the girls, like she let go of a fifty pound weight but she still wanted to make some kind of progress. The room materialized like she knew it would and went through the door it was exactly the same.

What she didn't know was that there were a couple of boys that just watched her disappear off a map.

The diadem, if she remembered correctly was on top of a troll. What she didn't remember was which one of the million aisles it was down. She moved as quickly and methodically as she could, keeping mind of the time so people wouldn't come looking for her. After an hour she still hadn't had any luck.

She used a clever marking charm so that she would know where to start next time and started her way back down towards the common room. It probably should have crossed her mind to Accio for an invisibility cloak. James and Remus were hanging out in the corridor and saw Hermione coming out of the door and then watched it disappear behind her.

"What the hell is that?" Remus asked as she left. They had never seen that room before.

"Didn't we hide in that broom closet before when Mrs. Norris cornereed us up here?" Remus nodded but how could that be if the door was gone. He pulled the cloak off.

"We both just saw a door here right?" He reached towards the stone and felt for a handle. It was smooth and cool as ever. James nodded.

"So weird, mate. You're going to have to ask your girlfriend about it when you finally grow a pair and ask her out." Remus threw him a look.

"She's not my girlfriend." He continued to feel along the wall, pacing back and forth. He didn't like not being able to figure something out. This room wasn't on any of the maps in Hogwarts: A History. He was on his third walk back when the door appeared again.

"Shit, Moony, look!" Remus looked up. He didn't waste a second and wrenched the door open, James right behind him.

"Well," James said looking into a bathroom, "that was anticlimactic." Remus had to agree. Something wasn't adding up here but he was just a little distracted.

"Yeah, but bloody convenient. Move, I have to piss."

oOoOo

"'Mione, can I ask you something?" Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration essay to see Pete looking just a little shy at his question. She put her quill down and motioned for him to take the library chair beside her. He had a book in his arms held closely enough to his chest that she couldn't make it out.

"Sure, Pete. How can I help you?" he still wouldn't let her see the book.

"I thought about what you said… about after Hogwarts," she smiled. This was huge. "I have something that I think I would really like to do but I didn't take N.E.W.T. potions." She grimaced. There were ways around this of course, testing that he could do. It would be difficult but she needed to know if it was achievable first.

"What do you want to do?"

"I think that I want to be a Healer." Hermione wasn't really surprised. Peter was way kinder than she had thought he would be. He was always tending to his friends and doting over Remus after a moon. "I know that I probably don't have the marks or anything but I thought with help I could maybe get into the Saint Mungo's Academy by testing out of the classes that I didn't take at Hogwarts. I know that in the Academy I'll be on my own-" Hermione held her hand up.

"I'll be more than happy to help you Peter. I'm sure Lily will too, that's what she's headed towards." He let out a giant sigh of relief and put his book down on the table. Healer's Magic. "Did you think I was going to say no?" She asked with a laugh. He opened the book with a smile, much more at ease now.

"No, but I didn't know if you were going to laugh at me." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why would you think that?" Did she give him that impression? He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know. I just don't think that anyone expects very much of me. The rest of my friends sure but I feel like I'll just jump at whatever opportunity presents itself." Hermione's heart started beating painfully against her ribcage. Well, there it is.

"Well then, let's make sure that doesn't happen, shall we? The Healer Academy will be lucky to have you."

oOoOo

"Miss Granger, please take a seat." Hermione found herself, yet again, in front of the Headmaster but this time, he wasn't alone. There were a few more faces in his office that she recognized. Professors Williams and McGonagall, Alastor Moody with two good eyes, two red haired men that had to be the Prewett twins, a younger but no less intimidating Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Arthur Weasley. She wondered how much he told them.

"Okay," she said slowly.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." She shot him a look. He really needed to stop looking into her head. "I assure you I got that information from the look on your face, my dear. I would like to introduce you to-"

"I know who they are." He smiled but nobody made any move to say anything.

"Ah, I guess you would. Well, everyone, this is Hermione Granger. She is to be inducted into the Order straight away." There was an immediate uproar.

"You can't be serious, Albus."

"She is a child."

"What help could she possibly be?"

"She is a child!"

He held up a hand to stop all the chatter and they all fell silent. It was almost unnerving how much power one man held over a room and then she realized that that was the problem. She couldn't let Voldemort have all that power just like she couldn't let Dumbledore.

"She has valuable information that will help put a stop to Voldemort. She will be at our meetings this summer but will not take part in missions until she graduates." If only he knew what she was doing at night in the Room of Requirement.

"And where did she come by this information?" Moody growled in her general direction. He looked significantly less intimidating without his eye though his peg leg still did something for him.

"War," she said deathly calm. He seemed to be thinking it over.

"She beat me in a duel," Williams commented from the corner, arms folded over his chest. "Pretty decisively too. I'm not sure what sort of combat she's seen but she'll be an asset."

"And how do we know she's seen combat?" Trust Moody to be like this. Nobody seemed to want to question his inquisition so she rolled her eyes and pulled up her sleeves. The blade Bellatrix used was cursed so the wounds never fully healed. MUDBLOOD was still red and raw against her porcelain skin, a daily reminder of why she was here and what she was fighting for.

"How's that?" she asked. A collective gasp came from everyone around the room except Moody who continued to stare at her. He nodded once and she pulled her sleeve back down. "I don't care if you believe me but I'll tell you this. It will be easier if you do this with me. I can help you, I already am."

She winced because she knew that Dumbledore wouldn't miss that.

"Any objections?" he asked the room. It seemed that nobody had anything to say to that. "Outstanding. Hermione, if you will?" She walked forward. In her time, there wasn't really a formal induction ceremony. That didn't seem to be the case this time. He held out his hand for her arm. It seemed that she had going to be making an unbreakable vow.

"Do you, Hermione Granger, vow to uphold all of the values of the order and swear to protect its members with your life?" If Hermione wanted to back out this was certainly time to do it.

"I do."

"Do you swear to keep all the secrets entrusted to you as a member of the Order?" Easy.

"I do."

"Do you and will you reject all of Voldemort's temptations into the darkness?" This vow right here was either going to make or break Pete in the long run.

"I do." Three tongues of fire encircled their wrists and sealed the vow as law.

"Welcome, Hermione Granger, to the Order of the Phoenix."