To say that she was happy would be a huge lie. Living under such pressure couldn't be pleasant, but Hermione never expected it to get this bad on such short notice. Her head ached, her limbs felt heavy and her eyes stung from the lack of sleep she had been experiencing these past few days.

Peter seemed even more distraught and she knew he had a very good reason to be that way; even though the Order had agreed to help his parents, they weren't going to do it just because it was the right thing to do. No… Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for Peter, even if a part of her heart was filled with anger. Anger at the boy and his foolishness, anger at Snape for being completely blind and, most importantly, anger at the Order for forcing Peter to take the Unbreakable Vow.

The girl understood their reasoning perfectly. The Order had no guarantee that he would keep his resolve to stay on the right path; the Death Eaters had more than just one way to terrorize their opponents and Peter had become an easy target, after all. Making him swear on his life, in a literal sense, was an easy solution to the Order's doubts. Wormtail seemed to understand that as well, since he agreed to meet Dumbledore without even a trace of hesitation.

Hermione couldn't have been present at that meeting, solely for safety measures. Someone had to distract the Marauders, so that Peter wouldn't have to come up with another set of lies to misguide them. Hermione never considered herself to be particularly entertaining, so she decided on a different route; she had simply forced them to study, claiming that she had had enough of their slacking and ever-present laziness. Lily supported her idea wholeheartedly and even joined their studying session, which caught James' attention almost instantly. Sirius didn't want to make her angry, especially after their last fight, so he agreed without discussion as well. Remus, though… Well, she didn't even have to persuade him. He was a prefect and a future professor at that.

She had been torturing them for the entire evening, not allowing them to get distracted even for a minute. They didn't even notice that their friend went missing and Hermione really wanted to simply roll her eyes at their ignorance, even if she felt really grateful for it at that moment.

By the end of their session, all of them had been so tired that Hermione didn't even need to come up with a clever excuse to leave the Common Room. When she had announced that the Library awaited her, everyone looked at her as though she was mentally ill and let her go without a single word of protest, simply to get rid of her. Even Sirius waved her goodbye with a relieved smile on his face, making her sigh internally.

The Library greeted her with its usual silence and the smell of old books, something she appreciated almost every time she walked into that place. Right now though, the tension held such a strong grip over her entire body that the silence enveloping her senses made her feel weary and even more nervous.

According to their plan, she was supposed to wait for Peter at that exact table they chose to have their first conversation. Surely, they could have picked a better spot, but nothing would make the Marauders less suspicious than seeing Peter and Hermione in the Library together, after she had been torturing them for the entire evening. They would simply nod their heads in a compassionate gesture and let them be, not wanting to even get near that awful place filled with evil books. Their plan was as safe as possible, but it wasn't perfect by any means.

The waiting had been its biggest flaw. Hermione knew how to be patient, but when every minute turned into an hour in her mind, even her usual composure started to falter. She almost couldn't stand the huge bile rising in her throat and the tightness in her stomach, but she knew she had no other choice, but to clench her teeth and simply wait. After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally opened and Peter stepped inside quietly as a mouse. He looked around and smiled upon spotting her, making relief wash over her body in a blink of an eye. She didn't need to hear the entire story to know that everything went well. Even so, she opened her mouth and spoke:

"How did it go?"

Peter sighed tiredly, making himself comfortable in his chair. He met her gaze a moment later and smiled sheepishly.

"I don't think I can thank you enough, Hermione," he said in a hushed tone and shook his head slowly, almost as if he didn't believe their plan had actually succeeded.

"Tell me everything," she smiled and urged him to speak.

"Professor Dumbledore was really nice, you know?" the boy started and scratched his forehead. "He offered me cookies. A-and tea!"

Hermione's smile turned into a forced one, as she tried not to snap at him. Her nerves drove her mad and Peter's statement did nothing to soothe her. Of course, she couldn't blame him for trying to blow off some steam by simply talking about pleasantries rather than his actual problems, but she really needed to hear the entire story.

"That's nice," she said and raised her eyebrows. "What happened later?

The way she stressed the last word must have gotten Peter's attention, as he realised that listening about cookies and tea hadn't been her main goal for their meeting. He blushed slightly and fidgeted with his fingers.

"He explained how the Unbreakable Vow worked and then asked if I was sure I wanted to do this. I agreed and then we waited for someone. A member of the Order, I guess. Someone had to serve as the Bonder."

Hermione nodded eagerly, letting him know that she understood his words and he took a deep breath before continuing with his story.

"I don't know his name. Safety measures, they said," Peter explained and furrowed his brows. "He looked scary, though. I was afraid he was going to curse me at first."

Ah, so it had to be Moody. That man had many faces, but most of them were unpleasant and terrifying, she could attest to that.

"The questions, Peter," she said quietly, not wanting to waste any more time. "What did they sound like?"

The boy looked down to his hands and paled considerably, making her sick with worry.

"Pete?" she asked, almost afraid to spoil the silence enveloping the room.

"The first one was about the Order. I have to keep its existence in secret," he started and closed his eyes for a moment. "The second one was about my allegiance to the Order. I had to swear to stay faithful to the light. The third…" he hesitated and looked at her with an uncertainty,that got her insides twitching with nervousness. "The third was about my connections to the Death Eaters. Dumbledore wanted me to swear, that if the Order ever needed a spy, I'd be willing to offer my services to gather information."

Hermione's mouth fell open with pure shock, as she stared at Peter with her widened eyes. Suddenly, she knew why her body failed to relax completely, even after she learned that the Order had agreed to help her friend. How could Dumbledore do this? Why didn't he tell her? Was that the only way to convince the other members to her idea? She had so many questions and the answers eluded her mind completely. Her eyes started to water up and she bit her bottom lip, trying to stop it from quivering.

"Hermione, it's fine, really…" the boy tried to cheer her up, but she shook her head and covered her eyes.

"No, it's not, Pete. I promised you safety and this is the opposite of it."

"You promised to keep my parents safe. There's a difference, don't you think?" he corrected and Hermione looked at him sharply.

"You can't possibly think I'd send you to Dumbledore if I thought that he was going to force you to become a spy. Especially if Mulciber figures out that you must have gone to the Order for help."

"He didn't force me," Peter protested and she raised her eyebrows. "My parents will never be safe as long as Vol-Voldemort lives. If I can help to defeat him, I will."

She wanted to scream at him, but her throat seemed to have stopped working. Peter made the right choice and she knew it. He acted like a grown-up, someone willing to take responsibility for his own actions. It should have made her proud and impressed, but somehow, she found herself almost desperate to talk him out of it.

"Let's assume that you would be able to convince the Death Eaters to take you back in. Peter, do you have any idea how hard it is to be a spy?" she asked in a strained tone and he huffed in response.

"Yeah. Dumbledore warned me that I will have to work really hard to make it even possible."

"Is he willing to help you, at least?"

"Well… He said something about talking to you about that matter," Peter murmured and Hermione let out a shaky breath.

Of course. It wasn't like she wanted to keep this entire thing a secret, right? She would undoubtedly have no troubles explaining their training sessions to the Marauders. Ewan would probably love the idea of spending his time with Peter as well.

The boy must have noticed her expression, as a frown appeared on his forehead. She tried to mask her feelings with a small smile, but Peter had seen right through it.

"It's going to be a problem, isn't it?"

What was she supposed to tell him? She had enough problems as it was, she didn't need another batch. But how could she simply leave him alone, after going through so much effort to help him get out of this terrible situation?

"I… I'll have to think everything through," she said evasively and sighed. "I'll make it work. Somehow."

Peter didn't look convinced, but he stayed quiet. This entire situation must have taken its toll on him, so she could hardly expect him to come up with a plan to help her. He probably didn't even realise how hard it was manage everything and not go crazy.

"Don't turn yourself into a martyr, Hermione," he said, surprising her completely yet again. "You tend to do that quite a lot and we all hate it. I get that we are nowhere near as mature as you, but… We're not children. Don't treat us as such. You don't have to do everything alone, because you're afraid that the whole world is going to simply collapse on top of us."

She simply stared at him in awe, not knowing whether to be hurt, offended or maybe pleased. His words stung, a little too much for her to simply shrug them off, but she knew better than to let her pride get in a way of acknowledging a very important thing; Peter had actually been right.

Hermione smiled weakly and nodded. It didn't ease the moral conflict raging inside of her mind, but she didn't want Peter to think that she had simply ignored his words. The boy looked at her cautiously, but after a minute he simply nodded, accepting her inaudible answer.

"We will have plenty of time to talk about it tomorrow," he said and stood up, fidgeting with his fingers. "It would probably be best if we didn't make them wait any longer."

He clearly meant the Marauders. As tired as they all were, they weren't dumb. Hermione agreed that all the details would have to wait until later, even though her mind already started to work its way through all the problems that arose today.

"Let's go," she agreed and followed Peter outside of the Library.

They walked in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Both of them had a lot on their minds and talking about it in the corridor was rather risky. It wasn't hard to figure out that Peter tried not to be scared, but Hermione could easily spot the fear roaming deep inside his blue eyes. She really hoped that he would be able to act freely when they have reached the Common Room, because there was no way that the remaining Marauders were going to believe that she had scared Peter with her lectures.

"Do you think you can keep this a secret?" she asked with hesitation and the boy tripped over his shoes, as he clearly didn't expect her to speak so soon.

"I don't know if I want to keep it a secret, Hermione," he replied after he managed to steady himself once again. "They deserve to know and well… I don't want you to be forced to lie to them, especially to Sirius. Making them hate me is one thing, but allowing them to hate you as well is not an option."

Before she could have responded, four figures appeared on the corridor and Hermione felt shivers running up her spine. Peter stopped abruptly and opened his mouth in surprise. The fear she had seen in his eyes previously had now become visible on his entire face and Hermione understood his reaction completely, as her own heart started to race.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" Mulciber's voice sounded in the air, as the group stopped in front of Peter and her, with vile smirks glued to their faces.

Hermione wasn't surprise by Mulciber's or Avery's presence, but the remaining two got her feeling incredibly disappointed. She could understand Regulus' presence… Even though he had turned out to be better than everyone had thought at the end of his life, she'd met the guy before and it wasn't a pleasant meeting.

Severus, though… For the past few days she had started to believe that he may actually side with her. He had clearly told Mulciber about her scar, as the vile Slytherin kept watching her like a hawk, clearly trying to do everything in his power to catch her all alone and confront her about it. She thought that maybe, just maybe Severus would do everything else she asked of him. Her hopes were destroyed almost instantly as soon as she had noticed that smile full of contempt on his face.

"What do you want?" she asked in a hollow voice, sending Severus a hurt look.

His smile faltered a bit, as a shadow crossed his face, but that was the only reaction she received from him. With raging disappointment, she turned her focus back to Mulciber, who clearly noticed her expression full of pain and smiled even wider.

"Just to have a little chat with you, Mudblood. Both of you, actually," he said and took a step forward, making her even more alert. "It has come to my attention, that you are trying to help our little friend here."

Peter winced and clearly wanted to say something, but she raised her hand, calming him down immediately. She understood this urge to protect her, to explain himself rather than let them attack his friend, but his nerves could only make things worse. In fact, anything either of them could have said would make things only worse, so she just furrowed her brows and waited.

"Don't you understand, Mudblood? Peter was just about to make the greatest choice in his life by joining us. And you stopped him from doing that," he clicked his tongue with disapproval. "I can't tell what hurts me the most… The fact that you dared to interfere with things so important, or the fact that someone I believed to be a potential ally turned out to be a coward."

His voice became ice cold in a second and Hermione felt Peter wince once more. She wanted to do the exact same thing, as the memory of that one night in the Library resurfaced in her mind and made her stomach twist with fear. But she knew she had to stay strong, so she clenched her teeth and met his gaze with force.

"If anyone is a coward, it's you. You had to bring your friends along with you, just so you could outnumber us. A mark of a true hero," she spat and Peter drew in a sharp breath, clearly not liking her bravado.

To be honest, she regretted her words as soon as they had left her mouth and that feeling only intensified .

"They all insisted on coming with me, Mudblood. Not because I need them, but because they wanted to see how I take care of trash like you."

At that moment, Hermione realised that nothing could help her avoid the fight. She didn't even know why he wanted to fight her in the first place, but the hatred shining through his eyes left no doubt as to his intentions. The fact that he had started to play with his wand didn't make her feel any better as well.

"Not only are you a Mudblood, but you're also bringing disgrace to my family," Regulus joined their conversation and Hermione shot him an angry glance.

How could he speak that way about her relationship with his brother, the only one in their family that wasn't barking mad and full of hatred? It baffled her to no end, but she chose to simply sneer at his words, not wanting to get herself all riled up. She needed to stay focused if she wanted everything to end well.

"Not only have you interfered with our business, not only have you brought disgrace to the Black's name, but you have also tried to take our faithful friend from us," Mulciber added and Hermione glanced at Severus, who shifted slightly at his friend's words.

"Oh, is that what he told you?" she snapped and shook her head. "No, I was just trying to remind him that he had a mind of his own and if he didn't start to use it soon, he would end up just like you - rotting in Azkaban, where you belong."

This time, Peter not only jumped at her words, but also grabbed her hand, wanting to stop her from doing anything more foolish. A second later the three of the Slytherins pointed their wands at her with furious expressions. Only Severus seemed to hesitate, but after a moment, he joined his friends.

Hermione reacted as well, grabbing her own wand in an instant, to Peter's horror. He looked around nervously, trying to find a way out of this situation and she realised that he was in no shape to help her. His fear of those people standing in front of them was simply too great and their threats too fresh to simply get over it and act brave.

"Go, Peter," she ordered him, causing Mulciber to laugh maniacally.

"He's not going anywhere. Neither of you are. You don't simply betray the Dark Lord. You're stupid to think that we will let you get away with it."

Hermione clenched her wand harder and looked Peter in the eye.

"Run. Just run!"

The boy blinked a couple of times and then spun around and did what she asked of him. As soon as he made up his mind, Mulciber stopped smiling and pointed his wand in his direction. Hermione acted on impulse, shielding Peter with her own body and blocking the spell that exited the Slytherin's wand. Unfortunately, the others didn't seem eager to simply stand there and watch their leader fighting her on his own, despite Mulciber's earlier words.

Soon, spells were flying left and right, making Hermione realise that duelling four of the Slytherins was going to be much more difficult than she had originally thought. Another flashback appeared in her mind, this time taking her to the Final Battle. She had managed to come out of it alive, but… Even someone who had managed to live through the war and had been trained by Moody couldn't face four Death Eaters all alone. And Hermione was about to learn it the hard way.