She wondered if Grindelwald had just been pretending to be unconscious. He was awake when she returned from escorting the ICW out and he was suspiciously aware. She threw herself across the room, only slowing at the last second so as not to hurt him as she pulled him into a hug. He let her embrace him and the way he remained unresponsive and stiff was almost comforting in its familiarity.

'You stupid, stupid man.' She scolded as soon as she pulled away, batting his shoulder lightly. 'I was so worried, and I couldn't find you because you broke the bond. I had no idea what had happened to you.' Suddenly she was crying and she leaned forwards to hug him again, burying her head into his shoulder.

'You're not angry?' Gellert croaked. Hermione just sobbed in reply. 'We can redo the oath if you want.' He offered and she sobbed all the harder.

She suddenly remembered that he was due another round of potions and she jumped up, turning quickly so that she could hide her face as she organised what he needed to take. She spent longer than necessary, feeling his eyes boring into her back, until she was confident that the blotchiness from her unexpected bout of tears was gone. Maybe the pressure of having so many people relying on her was getting to her. It took everything she had to not offload it onto the recovering Gellert at that moment.

He protested every potion she fed him, arguing that he was better and that he didn't need anything but without the strength to fight, he was forced to take them anyway. He levelled a glare at her that would have sent her running if she didn't know that he'd never hurt her. She glared right back, imagining that the slightly manic way that her hair surrounded her head made her look like Bellatrix. Grindelwald sipped his skelegro and pepperup with an expression that could only be described as sulky. He then had the gall to look amused as she rubbed the dittany into his wrists. Smugly, she dug her thumb into the gap between the tendons of his first and second fingers. She was rewarded by a hiss and flinch.

Then she unfortunately had to burden him with business.

'How long will the wards last under an attack?' She asked him. He jerked his head up to look at her.

'Who is attacking?' He demanded and she sighed.

'I will not return you to the ICW, so I assume they will try to retrieve you by force.'

'You can't put everyone here out of a home just for me.' He protested and she almost laughed. If anyone heard the Dark Wizard protesting against displacing a few civilians from his own castle...

'I'll inform them of the situation. Whether they choose to leave or not is up to them but I have a plan.' She said mysteriously.

'What plan?' He finally asked, and she smiled, glad that she had someone with experience to confide in.

She told him her idea as she waited for the Nurmengard residents to arrive in the auditorium. He seemed sceptical, but the Hermione was confident that nothing of the sort had ever been attempted in the wizarding world. She only believed it would work because she'd seen similar things work in the muggle world.

She forced him to remain in bed with a sticking charm on his legs and a complex but quick locking spell on the door. It would be simple for him to escape with a wand but she strongly suspected that he wasn't yet up to doing it wandlessly.

The auditorium was much quieter than it had been the last times she'd taken the centre stage, yet somehow it still felt packed. Everyone knew that this must be an update on the situation at hand and she could almost feel the nervousness in the air. She swallowed down her own nerves, knowing that this would be her first real test.

Silence fell as she stepped out onto the floor and fifty seven pairs of eyes riveted on her. She took a deep breath and thanked everyone for leaving their busy days to meet with her. Several laughs swept the room at this; most of them had nothing to do other than train in the duelling room, after all, the majority of them had grown up in a war.

She then began by reminding them of everything that Grindelwald had done for them; saving them at Hogwarts, then rescuing many of the from the dungeons, taking Malfoy Manor and saving them at the Battle of Grimmauld Place, then offering them a home in his personal castle. She spoke for the first time about the horcruxes, brushing over the details of how he'd saved Harry and therefore saved them all. Then she changed her tone, describing the cell that he'd been kept in by the ICW and telling the story of how he'd been kidnapped and torture, how someone was using his name and reputation to free dark wizards across the world.

Her audience gasped and cried out in all the right places, spurring Hermione to continue. She explained how Grindelwald had arrived a couple of nights ago, painting a picture of his injuries.

'He has saved my life more times than I can count and asked for nothing in return. I cannot stand by and repay his generosity by abandoning him in his time of need. I plan to refuse when I am asked to return him to custody.' Cheers of support met this declaration and she allowed them to continue for a minute before raising her hands for silence again.

'I warn you now, this will not be taken lightly. I believe the international community will come around to our beliefs but not before they launch an attack against us.' She carried on, shouting over the uproar at her words, her voice ringing out across the room. 'Nurmengard will not fall!' She cried, a couple of cheers met her cry. 'We have powerful wards and this castle was built to withstand an attack.' Finally the audience quieted, so she lowered her voice and met the eyes of everyone in the room.

'It will be dangerous, there is always the chance of defeat, anyone in this castle will be named an international criminal until our innocence is proven. I give everyone a choice now, to leave the castle or to stand up for what we know is right. I for one will not abandon the one who has saved my life for some politician's publicity!' She ended her speech emphatically, a roar greeting her words as everyone called out that they too would stay. Not a single pop of apparaition marked someone fleeing the castle and the roar slowly morphed into a chant of "Nurmengard, Nurmengard"

She turned to find Gellert standing in the shadows of the archway into their rooms. He wore a stunned expression as he watched the still chanting crowd filter out of the room.

'The wards will give you two weeks.' He said sombrely and Hermione sent him a wry smile.

'I think I might have an idea about that too.' She said as she joined him. They strolled back into the rooms. 'Have you ever read Hogwarts: A History?'