Author's Note: So very, very, very, very sorry that this took me so long. The insanity of moving and Christmas and New Years is finally behind me, so hopefully these updates won't be so long in coming again. If I have any readers left after so long, I hope you think the wait was worth it :) Thanks to all those who read and review. You guys rock and you deserve way better than me ;)
Disclaimer: You know the drill...own nothing...earning nothing...blah blah...blah blah.
War Stories
Chapter 6 Plan A
Hermione opened her eyes sleepily at the sound of her bedside alarm going off for the fourth time. She looked over at it, strongly tempted to hit the 'snooze' button again. Finally she just sighed and turned it off, then pulled aside the covers and climbed sluggishly out of the bed.
Ordinarily, Hermione would never have allowed her alarm to sound four times before getting up, but since performing the complex spells to retrieve Sirius, she seemed to need a lot of sleep. With another tired sigh, she headed for the bathroom, hoping that a quick shower would help to wake her up.
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Washed and dressed, Hermione went downstairs and found Ginny sitting alone at the kitchen table, sipping a mug of tea.
"Morning," Hermione smiled.
"Hey, how'd you sleep?" Ginny asked, noticing how tired her friend looked.
"Fine," she answered, her smile turning rueful. "It just doesn't seem to have been for long enough." She came to sit down beside Ginny and laid her head on her folded arms on the table.
Ginny frowned. Hermione had never been athletic in the conventional way, as Harry and Ron were, but she had always radiated a sense of life and energy – usually focused on the pursuit of knowledge. It troubled the younger witch to see her best friend looking so drained.
"Hermione, what exactly did it take for you to get Sirius back?" she voiced the question that had worried her since she had first heard the very brief explanation for the man's sudden return.
"Ah…" Hermione raised her head. "Well, that's a big question, Ginny. To be honest, I really don't have the energy to get into it right now. Ask me again in a week and I'll go through it all with you then, alright?" With an apologetic smile, she lowered her head to her folded arms again.
Ginny reached out and stroked Hermione's hair gently. "Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, seriously concerned.
Hearing Ginny's worried tone, Hermione sat up straight and made an effort to look more alert. "I'm fine, really," she smiled. "Just tired. I'll be right as rain in no time, I promise."
Ginny wasn't entirely satisfied, but she decided to let it go for the moment and just keep a quiet eye on Hermione, to make sure she was alright.
Hermione saw Ginny relax slightly, apparently accepting her reassurance, and thought that it was time to change the subject. "So, how is work? We haven't really had a chance to talk since I got back," she said.
"Well-" Ginny began, but broke off as the kitchen door opened.
"Morning," Sirius greeted them.
"Morning," Ginny smiled, while Hermione gave a small, friendly wave.
Sirius smiled at Hermione, before his gaze came to rest on Ginny. This was the first time he had really looked at her since his return; before now, he had always been too wrapped up in various conversations to consider how the girl had changed. He saw now, that she had not changed all that much. She was tall –perhaps four or five inches taller than Hermione – and with no scars (that Sirius could see, at least), she was beautiful. This was unsurprising, since she had always had that potential.
Wondering, in a vague and oddly paternal sort of way, if she had a boyfriend – since he was fairly sure that she and Harry weren't together – Sirius sat at the table opposite the girls. "Sorry," he said. "Did I interrupt something?"
"Just catching up after the month I missed," Hermione smiled. She turned back to Ginny, who explained to Sirius.
"I'm training to be a healer at St. Mungo's," she said. "A lot of us – a lot of people who fought in the war, that is – went through really basic field medical training, but it all seemed to come really easily to me. And after Hogwarts-"
"The battle?" Sirius clarified.
"Yeah," she nodded. "After that…I don't know. I guess I wanted to learn how to fix people, instead of blowing them apart for a change."
"So, how is it going?" Hermione asked, coming back to her original question.
"All good," Ginny answered. "Except that Bulstrode woman is getting on my nerves, as usual."
Hermione laughed. "Millicent isn't that bad, Ginny. She's actually really nice. You just don't like her because of that thing in your sixth year."
"I still don't know how you can like her now." Ginny shook her head. "You two hated each other with a fiery vengeance at school."
Hermione waved her hand dismissively. "That was nothing. We didn't even really know each other."
"Nothing?" The younger witch looked amused. "She had you pinned to a wall in Umbridge's office. And didn't she also have you in a headlock in Lockhart's duelling club that one time?"
"That was years ago. Honestly, everyone makes such a fuss!" Hermione said in an exasperated voice, as Sirius' shoulders shook with laughter.
He was about to ask exactly what 'that thing in Ginny's sixth year' was, when the kitchen door opened again. Neville walked in, with Luna wandering a few steps behind him.
"Morning," he said.
"Hi, guys," Ginny answered for the group.
"Listen," Sirius said after a moment, gaining everyone's attention. "Ginny, Hermione, I wanted to thank you for trying to save me that night in the Department of Mysteries. And Luna and Neville," he turned to where they were now sitting beside Hermione. "I especially wanted to thank the two of you. Neither of you even knew me, but you came to help me anyway. I'm glad that Harry has you both as his friends."
Neville had gone slightly red in the face at Sirius' words. He had always blamed himself a little for the events of that disastrous night. He had been the only student besides Harry to be present when Sirius had fallen through the Veil, and a small part of him had always wondered if there had been anything else that he could have done to help.
Meanwhile, Luna just smiled her vague smile, and said, "You're very welcome, Stubb…er…Sirius. I'm sorry you died."
Sirius smiled. Luna was definitely one of the strangest people he had ever met, but he had to admit, he liked her. A moment later, Harry and Ron arrived in the kitchen and took seats around the table.
Harry looked around. "Are Dobby and Winky working today?" he asked.
"No, Harry Potter, sir," came a squeaky voice from the corner. Everyone smiled over at the two house elves that had just appeared.
"Hello," Hermione greeted them. "How is work on the castle coming?"
"Very well, thank you, Miss Hermy," Dobby beamed at her.
Sirius raised his eyebrows at Hermione and mouthed 'Hermy?'. She just narrowed her eyes at him as the others tried to suppress grins. Harry quickly transformed his laugh into a cough, then turned to the house elves, who were climbing onto the two remaining chairs.
"So, do you guys have time to eat breakfast with us?" he asked them.
"Yes, thank you, Mister Harry," Winky squeaked. "Would you like that Winky and Dobby should prepare something, sir?"
Harry smiled. In the first months of living in Grimmauld Place, he and the others had all tried hard to convince the house elves to call them by only their given names. Finally even Hermione had given up the argument as a lost cause, the best compromise they had managed to reach being a 'mister' or 'miss' before their names, and only the occasional 'sir'.
"That's alright," Harry answered. "You two work hard enough at the school." He looked around at his makeshift family, saying, "Has anyone eaten yet?" At the sight of eight heads shaking, he nodded to himself and pointed his wand over his shoulder, causing cooking implements to jump into action.
Soon breakfast was ready and the group ate in companionable silence, until Sirius, looking around at the occupants of the table, asked, "So, um, not to ask a stupid question, but why do you all live together?" Everyone looked at him. Worried that he had somehow insulted them, he hurriedly said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just would have thought that you would want your own places…" He decided to stop himself, before he managed to jam his foot any further down his throat.
Hermione smiled, trying to ease Sirius' discomfort. "Well, it's because we have to. It's sort of the law now," she tried to explain. "You see, after Tom Riddle was stopped the first time, when Harry was a baby, everyone celebrated. With people in such high spirits, the reconstruction was fairly easily accomplished; everyone was just so happy to be able to rebuild their lives. Very few believed – or wanted to believe – that Riddle could possibly return."
"All those Death Eaters wanting to prove their loyalty to the Ministry helped a lot with the rebuilding, too," Ron interjected darkly.
Neville nodded. "This time though, it was different. After Riddle was destroyed, it took a lot of convincing to get people to accept that he was really gone, and even then, everyone was afraid that a new Dark Lord would rise up in his place. You can imagine how little reconstruction work was getting done in that atmosphere."
"Harry, Ron and Hermione – the three of them, together – had become a symbol for hope and safety during the war," Ginny contributed. "So, in the end, Scrimgeour preposed a new law, forcing them to stay together."
At the sight of Sirius' incredulous expression, Harry smiled ruefully. "Yeah, that was pretty much our first reaction when he came to tell us. But he gave us a couple of days to think it over. Obviously he needed our cooperation for the law to work." He shrugged. "We talked about it and decided that it really wasn't that much of an issue. I mean, we'd basically lived together off and on since first year, and we almost never left each other's side after we left school, so what's the difference, right?"
Sirius looked doubtful. "I don't know," he said slowly. "Maybe it's just the twelve years of curtailed freedom talking, but I think I would have resented some guy – even the Minister of Magic…or especially him – dictating who I could live with. And him doing it right after you three helped to save the world…" he trailed of uncertainly.
Ron grinned. "Don't worry. We definitely didn't let Scrimgeour lay down all the terms and conditions. All we agreed to was living in the same location, and we made sure that that's all the 'Guardian Law' would stipulate. That means we choose where we live, we can all have separate jobs and go on separate holidays. We aren't joined at the hip or anything. We can do whatever we want, as long as we can all call the same place home."
"Anyway," Neville picked up the explanation. "As soon as the law was made public, everyone seemed to feel safe again. There were no arguments, or even celebrations; people just nodded as though everything was exactly as it should be, and said things like, 'well, it's about time the Ministry did something right', before getting down to work on the restoration. It was uncanny."
"Huh," Sirius responded, trying to take it all in. After a moment, he said, "Alright, so I get why Harry, Ron and Hermione live together. But why do you guys" (he indicated Ginny, Luna and Neville with the fork in his hand) "live here, too? Were you included in the law?"
"No," Ginny laughed. "We're here to stop the heroes of the wizarding world from killing each other."
At Sirius' confused look, Harry explained with a smile. "Ron, Hermione and I, love each other dearly, don't misread. But really, we were still so raw from two years of fighting, we needed other company or we'd have been snapping each others' heads off within a fortnight." Ron and Hermione smiled ruefully, and nodded in complete agreement.
"Besides," Luna said. "Ronald fell in love with me."
Everyone smirked at Ron. Sirius, who expected the young man to flush red and sink into his chair with a sheepish expression, was surprised to see that Ron merely smiled, shrugged slightly, and said, "She's not wrong."
They all laughed and Sirius was about to speak when the kitchen grate blazed into green life, Professor McGonagall's head appearing in it a moment later.
"Good morning," she greeted them, then asked sternly. "Not continuing the story without me, are you?"
"No, Professor," Hermione smiled. "We were just explaining why we all live together."
"Good," McGonagall said. "We'll be through in just a moment." Her head disappeared from the flames before any of them could ask what exactly she had meant by 'we'll'.
They weren't left wondering about it very long however. McGonagall climbed out of the fire a few seconds later, stepping politely aside for the diminutive figure of Flitwick, then scurrying – along with everyone else – out of the way of the enormous figure of Hagrid, as both men followed.
Luna, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, having been sitting the closest to the kitchen door, quickly escaped the threat of being trampled in the confusion by slipping out into the hall. Turning back, they grinned and watched through the open doorway as Sirius was greeted breathlessly by Flitwick, and with bruising enthusiasm by Hagrid. The four of them were the only ones to hear the knock at the front door. Ginny winked at the others and went to let Remus and Tonks in.
A chaotic ten minutes later, the breakfast dishes were cleared, the parlour was rearranged to accommodate everybody, and they were all settled comfortably for the next instalment of the narrative, entitled by Ron as 'What Sirius Missed'.
Once again, Harry, Ron and Hermione had chosen to sit together on one of the couches. Harry looked around the room, before his eyes rested on Professor McGonagall and he smiled slightly. "Our audience just keeps growing and growing, doesn't it?"
McGonagall had the grace to look shamefaced, but only a very little. "Both Professors Flitwick and Hagrid were present when you gave your 'overview' of your post-school activities."
"We are both very interested in hearing a full account of your exploits, Harry," Flitwick said in his squeaky voice.
"Professor McGonagall told us wha' you told her, Harry. We'd like to stay, if tha's alrigh'?" Hagrid added from his magically enlarged armchair.
Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione, who nodded slightly. He turned back to Hagrid and Flitwick, saying, "It's fine. If you're both up to date with the story so far, we'll get started. Er…where were we?" he asked the group.
"We had reached the point when Ron and his father were about to enter the Dursley's living room," McGonagall reminded him, leaning forward a little in her chair.
"Right," Harry nodded. "Well, Ron and his dad came in. We all seemed to freeze for a second, then Ron dropped his trunk and ran over to us, asking what had happened. Now, I'd done some thinking while I was sitting with Hermione, and I thought that it might be better for her if she only had to explain about what had happened once. So, I just told Ron and Mr Weasley that Hermione's house had been attacked, then asked Mr Weasley if he could contact you." Harry nodded in Professor McGonagall's direction.
"Yeah," Ron picked up the story. "Harry wanted to know if you could be contacted quietly, so that the Death Eaters wouldn't know where Hermione was. You know, in case they came after her. Dad just nodded and said he'd be back in a minute, then headed back out to the yard."
McGonagall nodded. "Yes. Arthur got a hold of me, saying that I was needed in Privet Drive, but nothing specific," she said, mostly for Sirius' benefit.
"The two of you arrived at the house a few minutes later," Hermione spoke quietly. "I gave you both a basic statement about what happened. I know that I should probably have been more thorough, but it was still too fresh and I didn't really want to force those horrible images into your minds. It was bad enough that I had them in mine.
"Anyway, after that, Harry suggested that maybe I'd like to get cleaned up…"
"But what about all of you?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron softly. "What are you going to do?"
Harry exchanged a glance with Ron, then squeezed her hand and said, "I don't know yet. But we'll talk about it with Ron's Dad and McGonagall. You've been through a lot. Please, let us take care of this for now? Can you trust us to do that?"
Hermione looked into both boys' eyes and saw their concern for her. She knew that she could depend on them now, and that they wouldn't let her down. Her shoulders drooped slightly in exhaustion and she nodded.
The trio looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway, between the living room and the hall. Harry's aunt, Petunia, was standing there, and Hermione had the vague feeling that she had been for some time.
"The bathroom is upstairs," Petunia said in a neutral tone. "I'll come with you if you'd like. You might need some help."
Hermione looked at Harry. He was staring intently at his aunt with slightly narrowed eyes. After a moment, he seemed to come to a decision and looked back at Hermione, giving her a reassuring nod.
"Thank you," Hermione said quietly to Petunia, and stepped towards the door. She looked back at her friends once, before following the older woman slowly up the stairs.
Neither spoke until they reached the bathroom and Petunia said, "I'll help you remove your clothes, then you can have a shower and I'll be back with clean things when you're done, if you think you're up to it?"
Hermione nodded and soon she stood beneath the hot water, watching as it mingled with the blood on her skin, turning it red before it swirled down the drain. An odd sort of numbness had settled over her by now and she was grateful for it; it allowed her to scrub her body clean of blood and grime while she barely felt the sting of the bruises and still open cuts.
There was a knock on the bathroom door and in what seemed like no time, Hermione was sitting on the bench next to the sink in her underwear, as Harry's aunt used supplies from a first-aid kit that she had brought, to clean and dress her various wounds. Hermione watched her work with detached interest, until the older woman looked up.
"I suppose you're wondering why I'm helping you. I'm sure you've heard enough stories about us from the boy to make you wonder," Petunia said flatly.
Hermione, who hadn't actually been wondering anything of the sort, continued to watch her silently.
"Well," Harry's aunt said after a moment. "I don't hate the boy any less, so don't even think it. I heard what you told the others, about your house." Her voice was gradually losing its lack of expression as she spoke a little faster. "I…I can relate. I was the one the police called when those freaks attacked my parents' home, because my freak of a sister was with that freak of a husband, and getting involved in all sorts of things that they should have stayed well out of!"
Petunia had to stop at this point and take several deep breaths. Hermione remained quiet.
After a moment, Petunia went on in a calmer tone. "My mother and father weren't even allowed a proper funeral; some abnormal nonsense about such an event being the perfect opportunity to ambush Lily and James. So, I was left to deal with everything alone. Not that that surprised me; I was always left to deal with the real problems, while she was gallivanting about with that lot." Petunia fell silent as she wrapped the last bandage around Hermione's left upper arm. When she was finished, she stood up straight and said, in the same flat tone as before, "Some of these cuts could probably do with a few stitches, but this is the best I can do with what I have."
Hermione looked down at herself. Her exposed skin was now patched with bandages of varying sizes, stuck in place with medical tape. In addition to the bandage around her arm, there was also another around her right ankle.
"Thank you," the witch said quietly.
Petunia nodded. "I brought your pyjamas from your trunk. I'll help you put them on, then you should lay down. You can use Dudley's room…"
In the parlour of Black House, Hermione gasped slightly and turned to Harry.
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said. "I should have left it up to you to share those things if you wanted to."
Harry and Ron had taken supportive hold of her hands again as she spoke. Now Harry squeezed the one that he held.
"It's fine," he said reassuringly, before turning to the others. "Petunia never talked about any of this to me, but from what she told Hermione, we figured the reason she hated my mother so much at first, was that she felt abandoned. From her perspective, her sister just left her to deal with all the 'real world' problems on her own. Then their parents were killed in an attack. We looked into it, and found out that the Evans' house was hit because Riddle thought that my parents were there…which they were, but they got called away before the Death Eaters showed up. Of cause, you probably already know most of this, Sirius."
His godfather nodded. "I never knew much about Lily's life outside magic," he said. "But James told me about the attack on her parents' place." He frowned, and added, "Actually, after I was arrested, everyone thought it was me who told Voldemort the Potters would be there."
"It was Wormtail," Remus told Sirius. "That was one of the things he confessed to during his trial."
Sirius, who had already deduced as much, shrugged one shoulder and turned back to Harry, who spoke.
"Anyway, obviously Petunia blamed my Mum and Dad for the attack. She knew that they had been the real targets," he concluded.
There was a moment of thoughtful silence, then Remus asked with a slight frown, "So, why did you let your aunt take care of Hermione? You knew she hated you, and probably everything related to magic. Weren't you worried she'd say something upsetting?"
"Of cause, I was worried," Harry replied, frowning in thought. "But…I don't know. She looked at Hermione and in her eyes I saw…sympathy, I guess. I just knew that I could trust her, even if it was just that once.
"Anyway," he sighed. "After Hermione went upstairs with Petunia, we all sat down again, to talk about what should be done…"
"Well," Professor McGonagall said as she lowered herself wearily to the sofa. "Miss Granger will obviously need to go and make a statement for the Ministry-"
She was cut off by Ron, who said unexpectedly, "No."
McGonagall frowned at him. "This incident needs to be reported, Mister Weasley. A formal statement is necessary-"
"No," Ron interrupted again. He turned and spoke mainly to Harry. "They set a trap for her, right? They probably think she's dead, and as long as they do, she'll be safe – or as safe as anyone can be now - and we'll have the advantage." He gestured between them with his hand.
"What are you talking about, Ron?" Mr. Weasley asked.
Ron glanced at his father, but again directed his words to his best mate. "Do you think it's a coincidence that they went after Hermione first? Voldemort-" (he shot an impatient frown at Arthur and McGonagall, who had both winced reflexively at the name) "-must know that Dumbledore was planning something, and by now he probably knows that you were involved, too. He must also know that Hermione and I will be right there with you. Honestly, of the two of us, who is going to be the bigger help to you're mission? Certified-Genius-Hermione, or jealous, spider-fearing, wand-breaking Ron?"
Harry was surprised by Ron's matter-of-fact and not very flattering description of himself. He just opened his mouth to argue that Ron wasn't giving himself enough credit, when his friend shook his head.
"Relax," he said. "I'm not fishing for compliments here. I'm just telling it like they think it is. Whichever way you look at it, Hermione is a huge asset to our side. Naturally, they tried to get her out of the way and right now, they probably think they succeeded. As long as they do, they'll underestimate us."
There was a short silence, before McGonagall spoke. "Well," she said. "I had no idea you had raised such a master strategist, Arthur."
Ron's dad gave a rueful laugh and said, "You should try opposing him in a game of chess."
Ron was watching Harry's face. He apparently saw that his best mate wasn't entirely convinced, because he asked, "What have I missed?"
Harry frowned. "You're saying that we should pretend that Hermione died in the attack-"
"So that she'll be safe," Ron hurriedly clarified.
"Right. And so that she can keep helping me with the mission." Harry was unwilling to be more specific with Arthur and McGonagall in the room. "But, Ron, what if Hermione doesn't want to be a part of the mission after this?"
Ron's eyes widened. He obviously hadn't considered the possibility that Hermione might want no part of a war that had cost her parents their lives. Deep down, Harry didn't really believe that she would back out of helping him, but he also knew how loss could change a person, and tonight, Hermione had lost almost everything she had.
After a moment of thought, Ron said decisively, "I don't think it'll come to that, but if she really doesn't want to stay with us, then we should still make them think she's dead; she'll still be safest that way."
Harry finally nodded his agreement, then turned towards Arthur and McGonagall, both of whom were looking at Ron with a varying mixture of admiration and pride.
"So," he said to the professor. "Do you know if the school will reopen, yet?"
McGonagall shook her head. "The staff presented our arguments as best we could. The Governors are still deliberating, but I expect them to come to a decision by tomorrow." She gave Harry and Ron a shrewd look. "Would I be right in thinking that the three of you were not planning on returning to Hogwarts, regardless of whether or not it reopens?"
Arthur, having already been told of the trio's plan not to return, remained silent. The boys shared a look, before Harry spoke.
"We won't be going back," he said, deliberately unexpansive.
"Yes, I didn't think you would be." The witch didn't appear well pleased. "Can I assume the reason has something to do with what you and Dumbledore were doing?"
Harry just looked at her, not saying anything. He thought that she had heard more than enough already. Ron seemed to agree, because he decided to change the subject.
"We need to decide who's allowed to know that Hermione is still alive," he said.
As subject changes go, Harry thought, this was abrupt, but effective.
"Nobody outside this house," McGonagall said immediately.
"Minerva," Arthur frowned. "I can't let Molly think that Hermione is dead. You can imagine how badly she would take that; she considers Hermione to be part of the family. Ginny would be devastated, too."
Ron was nodding. "Dad's right. I don't think Hermione would want to put them through that. But could they be convincing, pretending she's dead?"
"They'd need to keep up the show all the time," Harry added, noticing – not for the first time – how unemotional Ron could be, when it came to strategy. "We never know who might be watching."
"Which is precisely why no one else should be told," McGonagall argued. "Do you really want to burden them with the responsibility of maintaining this performance?"
There was a slight pause, before Harry said firmly, "We shouldn't do anything tonight. We should wait until we can speak to Hermione about it. It's her life on the line, after all." He looked directly at the professor. "We won't report the attack to the Ministry either; it would only raise questions about how we knew. Besides, from what Hermione said, the house was pretty much destroyed, so one of the neighbours is bound to have called the police by now. The Aurors are probably already there, modifying memories and spreading some story about a gas explosion or something."
Neither Arthur nor McGonagall looked convinced, but they chose not to argue.
"I'll stay here tonight, obviously," Ron said. "We'll contact you in the morning, once we've had a chance to talk to Hermione."
"And I get the Prophet delivered," Harry added. "We'll see what the Ministry has to say about the attack in tomorrow's paper, and we'll go from there."
Recognising that the discussion was at an end, the group rose to their feet. Harry turned in time to see Crookshanks slinking out of the room. He frowned slightly, having thought that the huge cat had accompanied Hermione upstairs. But then, he reflected, if Crookshanks really was as smart as Harry had reason to believe he was, there would be no reason for him not to listen in on the meeting. He shrugged it off, and went to say goodbye to Arthur and McGonagall.
When the older witch and wizard were gone, Harry and Ron stood silently; each trying to prepare, in their own way, for what was to come. Almost in unison, they both heaved a sigh. Then, exchanging glances, they headed towards the stairs and-"
Harry was interrupted by the sound of a stomach growling loudly with hunger. The majority of the room turned to look at Ron.
"What?" he said, shrugging. "Wasn't me."
Very slowly, Professor Flitwick raised his hand. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I was so involved in the story, I didn't realise how hungry I was."
"I understand completely," Tonks sympathised. "Where's lunch? I'm eating for two over here." She grinned winningly at her hosts.
Everyone laughed and Harry performed his trademark wand wave in the general direction of the kitchen. They all tacitly decided to leave off on the narrative until after lunch, and settled down to enjoy the good food and great company.
A/N: Well, that's that then. It was some horrific hour of the morning when I finished and proof-read this chapter, so I hope you'll forgive any glaring errors.
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