A/N: First, let me say thank you to everyone that has reviewed, sent me emails and everything else. The response on this little ficlet has been great.

Second… to those not exactly thrilled with where this is going… well… I can only say that I hope you stick it out. A lot of what you think might happen is not going to occur, while some will. I also hope to have a few twists thrown in for fun as well.

Last, I've already gotten a few unhappy people that I'm skipping over the hunt for horocruxes and the horror of the war. And to that I can only say that I've read a LOT of really good horocrux hunt fics out there and I didn't really have any new ideas on the matter. Instead, I'm focusing on the people… I hope that you'll agree. Besides, isn't it fun to make up your own parts for that? Good. Glad we agree.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me and hopefully there will be some more massive updates coming soon.

Later…

O X O X O X O X O X O

A POSSIBILITY

"What!" Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice was barely above a whisper. "Malfoy? Draco Malfoy was here? At Hogwarts? And you just let him stroll right on out the door?"

Minerva watched as the intimidating auror turned away in disgust to stare at the closed door of her office and ran a hand across his smoothly shaven head, his wide shoulders tensed tightly at the thought of a conspirator in Albus' murder having escaped judgment. She waited patiently, taking his non-observance as her chance to take a calming breath and to straighten her hands from the fists they had become at his questions.

"How could you do that?" He asked, still not looking at her. "He took down our greatest chance of defeating him." No reason to ask which him he was referring to. "The Order is falling apart… the attacks, though there haven't been any as of late, are soon to rise… and we've got nothing. Nothing!"

She met his gaze when he finally turned around, the gold hoop in his left ear catching the torchlight situated strategically about the room, the precious metal winking at her. The newly inducted headmistress of Hogwarts and the interim leader of the Order of the Phoenix sat quietly, allowing him the chance to compose himself.

It had not been an easy decision to bring him into her confidence, Shacklebolt, but he'd been a staunch ally to Albus for many years, even during those early dark days after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had first returned three years ago. Just as Albus had taken a chance to bring her in as a second, Minerva hoped that Kingsley could become hers.

She narrowed her gaze as she watched his knuckles tighten on the back of the chair across her desk from where she was sitting, the skin paling. "There was so much that we could have gotten from him… a child Deatheater… so much…"

"We still can." She slipped her words in as he took a breath. "Harry Potter is speaking to us again, and while he's not brought us in fully on whatever it is he's doing, we can at least take hope in that we're not still shut out."

"Another boy…" Kingsley literally growled. "You're pinning your life… all of out lives, all on the idea that he knows what he's doing."

"Dumbledore believed in him." She retorted, pleased at how in control her voice hadn't wavered.

"Yes… he did." The large black man's tone was less accusing. "And I understand that Harry is important, but I do not get why Dumbledore would send this boy on some hunt and find mission, not when we have fully trained wizards and witches with years of experience under their belts."

She smiled sadly as he continued to rant. "I had been against his inclusion in the Order… him and all of his friends. They're too young… and after the events at the Burrow, I think my fears were proven true."

"And I tell you again that you have never been more wrong. The… well… with what happened at the Burrow, the Order suffered a harder blow than even Albus' passing." At the look the man standing across from her was giving, she sighed. "Kingsley, Harry is our hope. He is the one to defeat Voldemort. Not Albus. Not you. Not me. Harry Potter."

"I just don't…"

"It was in the prophecy. It is his destiny."

Shacklebolt closed his eyes as he fell into the chair. After shaking his head, the idea of a seventeen-year-old boy having to carry the weight of such was too much he leaned forward. "Does he know?"

Minerva nodded. "Oh, yes. He knows, as do many of his friends… those same friends, children you called them, that we inducted into the Order."

"I never knew." He sounded apologetic. Minerva shrugged.

"I had hoped that having Harry reveal what he was planning, we could integrate his ideas into what we needed to be doing. All was fine until someone created this whole… fiasco. Now, we have Harry depending on an auror that the Ministry fired for dereliction of duty and an accomplice to a murder, a newly initiated Deatheater."

"How did it go so wrong?"

She laughed, a hard and almost scary sound in the quiet of the office. "Cookies. Spelled treats."

His dark eyes bore into her. "What do we know about this? Was it a plot on his part?"

"No." She shook her head, the bun holding her gray hair not moving at all. "This was an… inside job. Miss Weasley has been looking into it for us, her offer allowed for me to keep the rest of the Order and the few aurors that you could get for us onto other tasks. So far, she's amassed an amazing amount of information… though none of it adds up."

He frowned. "Like what?"

She shrugged again as she leaned back in her own chair, her gaze turned to the empty perch where Fawkes used to sit. The phoenix had not been seen since Albus' death.

"No one snuck into the Burrow. Molly confirmed that there were no cookies or milk at noontime when she went up to prepare a room for Harry. That was double-checked using a pensive. The last people to enter or leave the Burrow in the time frame of when the cookies could have been put there before Miss Granger and Mister Weasley went in after dinner were all trusted completely."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know." She snapped. Closing her eyes, Minerva silently counted to ten. "Miss Weasley can be accounted for where she was at all times, never once going near the room, as can Ronald Weasley."

Kingsley looked sick. "Who does that leave?"

She took a breath. "Well, in the pensive memories we've been able to study… everyone has cooperated except for Miss Granger, and she's above suspect at the moment… that leaves Charlie and Bill, his fiancé, Fleur, the Weasley twins… Miss Lovegood was there. All of these people could have done it but we can find no motive."

"None?"

The transfiguration professor pursed her lips. "The only one with any real motive according to Remus was Ginny Weasley, and from what we can tell, there's no way she did it."

"Ginny?" He asked.

"Yes. It seems young Miss Weasley is quite taken with Mister Potter and had her sights on getting for herself."

Kingsley laughed aloud. "Merlin and Circe together!" He wiped at his eyes. "We're at war… the fate of everything literally hangs in the balance, and we've got teenage hormones to deal with."

Minerva cracked a quick smile. "It would seem so."

"Not that it matters… there's no telling where Harry Potter intends to go now. Maybe back into that house. We'll never get anywhere with him."

She leaned over and picked up a small vial, the contents the remains of a pulled memory saved to be viewed in a pensive. "I've got a few ideas up my sleeve… we might get Harry to come back out sooner than you might think."

O X O X O X O X O X O

The redheaded boy sat in the living room, his eyes haunted. Normally, no matter how many times he'd visited, he'd be staring off towards some item or another, his father's fascination with all things muggle having somehow trickled down into him.

He could still remember the time he, Luna and Harry had all visited last summer… the idea of a double-date to see a moobie… no. Movie. To see a movie. They'd had so much fun, sitting in the darkened auditorium, some giant moving pictures like a long photograph with sound playing before them. It had been… well, magical. They'd seen a show and then gone for dinner.

All that seemed gone now.

Absently running a hand through his hair, the wayward thought that he needed to ask his Mum for a trim slid by, as he took in the girl across from him. Where he was sitting on the couch he so loved, she was curled up in her father's chair. Her clothes were mismatched, something that Harry would have immediately teased her about, but was now a subject her dared not mention aloud.

Hermione was crying softly, nothing new according to everyone he'd talked to. Her shirt was a pale blue button down, some design printed along the sleeves and hem. A nice shirt, but one that looked way off compared to the stark lavender of her shorts. He noticed that all of the rumours were right… something he'd ignored when he'd brought news of Harry's whereabouts earlier. She looked like she was slowly dying, wasting away.

Pulling his gaze away from her, Ron looked over at her mother… her father having decided that he had to go in to work. Hermione's mum looked almost as bad as her daughter, though to a much lesser degree. Her face was stained with tears as well, though even in looking bad, Dianne Granger looked healthy.

Things had been tense ever since returning from Hogwarts… no one quite sure what to do after watching Harry and Tonks leaving together, trailed by a figure that they didn't know until after they'd all left. Professor McGonagall had informed everyone that it had been Draco Malfoy. That had been the straw to break Hermione… that Harry had turned to a hated enemy to aid in Dumbledore's quest instead of facing what had occurred at the Burrow two weeks ago. She'd broken.

So, now Ron and Ginny were here, along with Hermione's mother to make sure that she didn't do anything drastic. His father had pulled Ron to the side, anger at having to hear in an argument that there had been talk o not going to Hogwarts this year still fresh on his face, using words like "suicide" and "hurting herself." It had been too much for Ron alone, so he'd enlisted Ginny the first chance he got.

Together, the three of them had accompanied Professor Lupin back to the Granger's house before excusing himself, apologies to Dianne but citing a promise to Roger to tell him immediately upon return on what had transpired.

The kitchen door opened and Ginny walked out carrying three bottles of soda and a bowl of popcorn. In truth, she didn't look much better… the implication that Harry was with Tonks breaking her heart a little bit, too. Ron knew had hard his sister had fallen for his best mate, but Harry had only had eyes for Hermione… well… until recently, apparently.

Reaching for a bottle once Ginny had sat down after already handing one to Mrs. Granger and setting the other in front of Hermione, Ron twisted the top and took a quick swig. He loved muggle drinks.

"Ron?" He brought the bottle down quick, his eyes moving over to Hermione. He raised his eyebrows up in silent response.

Hermione pushed a stray lock of her frizzy brown hair from her face. "What do you think?"

He glanced over to Ginny who was no help, then to Dianne. Desperately, he wished that there has been time to get an idea of the older woman's thoughts on how to deal with Hermione. He had apparently taking too long.

"The truth, Ron." She pressed. "You were there… tell me I'm being silly… something."

He hung his head. It was apparently answer enough as Hermione started crying earnestly again. Looking at the other two women, he saw that they seemed as lost and confused as he was.

If Ron had learned mind reading, he'd be shocked at the desperation running through his friend's head. Hermione tried to not think such thoughts, but everything was too much… to painful.

Maybe I should have pushed harder to make love with Harry, she chided herself mentally. Morganna below, there had plenty of times that they had been together… things heating up in ways that she would later remember when she was alone, each both but a heartbeat away from crossing that line they'd set for themselves.

Hermione remembered Harry's hands on her skin… her jumper tossed aside and the coolness of his fingers compared to the heat radiating off of her own skin playfully, dangerously dancing along the corners of her bra. How she had wanted him, the ache so deep she could taste it… the memory of the saltiness of his skin cooling on her tongue afterwards.

They'd always pulled back… usually with each slightly red and panting, usually from the rush of emotion, though more often later from the embarrassing state of things… the obviousness of Harry's desire for her straining for release.

Her eyes closed, she wanted to wish into existence the memory… to scream at herself to reach over and make it happen. She couldn't say that anything like that would have changed the cruelness of the cookies and her having had sex with Ron, but at least then she'd have known the pleasure of what was lost… though the hard self-accusation that if maybe it being Harry to take her virginity rather than Ron could have lessoned the sting.

As it was, Hermione blushed as the realization that Ron sitting across from her had seen her naked, had touched her in ways that she had fended off Harry… and the tears she was crying fell even harder.

"Baby…"

"No, Mum." She held her hand out to stop her mother from getting up. "I-I'm okay… I guess. I just don't know what to do…"

Dianne Granger sighed, respecting her daughter's request to not being comforted, turned and looked at the brother and sister that sat on he couch. Silently to herself, she congratulated herself on her control not to throw the boy out on his ear… the boy that had slept with Hermione, no matter the reason or cause.

Taking a breath, she only darted a glance at Hermione before turning her attention back to the pair of redheads. "Not that I want to keep bringing this up, but you're saying that Harry was with Tonks?" At their nods of ascent, she grimaced. "The woman that was protecting Harry last year?"

"Yes, ma'am." Ginny offered silently.

"And you all think that she and Harry are…" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Together?" Ginny shrugged, shooting a sympathetic look towards where Hermione sat hunched in on herself. "It looked that way… but I really don't know. Harry was always hard to get to open up… well… for everyone except Hermione."

"Ain't that the truth." Ron muttered under his breath, bringing a brief smile to Dianne's lips.

Ginny shot a glare at her brother before looking back at the other woman. "The idea of Harry now being with her… is… well…"

"Hard to believe." Ron finished. Ginny only nodded.

Hermione's voice was a whisper. "But he and Tonks shared a bond. A connection. I was even jealous of it at Hogwarts."

"Maybe." Ginny sighed. "They did spend time together, but Hermione. Only when he wasn't able to be with you. You did take some different classes last year. Tonks had to stay close by."

"But he's hurt, now." Hermione met Ron's gaze and Ron flinched from the darkness he saw swirling in there. "And we all know how Harry is when he's in pain."

"He shuts everyone out." Ron looked confused.

Even Ginny rolled her eyes this time. "Harry's worst fear was to lose everyone. We both promised to always stay with him… but now we're the ones that he feels he's lost. The fact that Harry's talking at all means something happened."

"Like what?" Ron asked, his mouth running ahead of his brain once again.

"What indeed, Ron?" Hermione curled up into a tighter ball on the chair. "What has he done?"

Hoping to change the subject, though it wasn't a great one, Dianne desperately reached into the cushion of the chair she was occupying and pulled out the letter she had hidden there after it arrived not even an hour ago.

"Honey?" She waited until her daughter looked at her. Pressing onward, she held up the pale envelope, the heavy red-waxed seal easily discernable. "What are you going to do about Hogwarts? Your letter came today."

Hermione barely acknowledged her mother, her eyes unfocused. "Just open it… what does it say?"

Dianne ignored the lack of enthusiasm that Hermione usually held for the school letters. Carefully breaking the H seal, she pulled the parchment open, a golden object falling into her lap. Her eyes scanned the lines, an act that looked so much like her daughter that Ron wanted to point it out, though he remained silent.

After a moment, Dianne looked very thoughtful, her brow scrunched in worry. Hermione, knowing the letter was open, shot a look at her mother. "Well?"

Her mother set the letter down and picked up the object. A badge. "You were named Head Girl."

Normally, there would have been a celebration at the honor, a trip to their favorite restaurant and then a shopping spree from their girl. Now, it seemed like there was a sense of dread.

Sensing that there was more, Hermione lifted herself from the char until she was sitting upright, her eyes never leaving her mother. "What else? What aren't you saying?"

Dianne shook her head and handed the letter to her daughter. Ron and Ginny watched in continued silence as Hermione took the letter and started scanning the page. She apparently found what had her mother so concerned, because they could see Hermione stop and reread the same part over and over.

Eventually, the suspense became too much. "Well?"

Hermione looked up, her eyes blinking rapidly. "Professor McGonagall says that she is willing to offer all assistance we require to help in aiding us in whatever Dumbledore has tasked us to do."

Ginny looked between Hermione and Ron. "So?"

For once, Ron got it before his sister. Comprehension dawned on his face as he stared at his friend. "You mean…?"

She nodded as she held the parchment over for them to look at. "They named Harry Head Boy."