A/N: Here's the second Chapter!

If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything. -- Marva Collins

The hearing was in one day and the friction between Ron and everyone else was mounting as the hours grew shorter. Though Hermione had not had any more episodes, she was still begging the guard to let her go. Ron was still trying to get back into the hearing but his temper was still getting the best of him.

"What do you think is going to happen to her?" he asked softly, staring out the window.

Ginny glanced over at Ron then back down at her book. "I don't know, Ron…" she answered.

Ron turned away from the window and looked over at his sister. "They're going to put her back in Azkaban," he whispered.

"Don't talk like that," Ginny said, setting down her book and getting up from the chair.

"What else am I supposed to say?"

Ginny bit her lip and sighed. "I don't know, Ron… you still think she didn't do it."

"You think she did?"

"I don't know, Ron! Things are so confusing right now… Everything-"

"Points to her," he interrupted. "Yeah, I've heard."

Ginny was about to respond when someone knocked on Ron's door. She glanced over at Ron then went to answer it.

"Hey, Harry," she greeted, letting him in, noticing his slightly taken back look. She cocked an eyebrow. "Were you expecting a snide remark?"

Harry shrugged, taking off his jacket. "I don't know what to expect from you," he responded.

Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to the small living room where Ron was still staring aimlessly out the window.

"I was able to get into the files of several wizards who were from the Caribbean," he told them.

Ron turned to Harry. "You still think it's a ghost?"

"Ron, it's the only possibility aside from assuming Hermione did it herself," Harry replied grimly.

"Why the Caribbean?" Ron asked.

"Nick said that the person, who ever he was, came from there," Ginny said.

"Did you find anything?" Ron asked Harry.

Harry pulled out a few files and put them down on the coffee table. "There are a few Death Eaters in there," Harry said. "But most of them didn't prove to be any threat."

Ron picked up one file and flipped through it, his eyes traveling over the picture of a young man with dark eyes. Ron frowned and went to a different picture, his eyes growing.

"I know this man," he whispered.

Ginny got up and took the picture from him. Gasping, she looked down at Ron.

"This isn't him, is it?"

Ron looked up at her, surprised. "You know about it?"

Ginny nodded her head, her eyes on the picture. "Hermione told me what happened," she whispered.

Harry frowned. "What? What happened to Hermione?" he asked impatiently.

Ron glanced down at the picture then up at Harry. "You were busy trying to find Voldemort. Hermione and I were sent to get some information on a certain Constantine Raden."

Harry's frown deepened. "The Constantine Raden?"

"Yep. The same git who cut up all those little girls for fish food."

"Ron!" Ginny scolded, appalled at his choice of words.

"What? It's true."

"Yeah, but a little respect would be nice," she snapped, glaring at him.

"What does this have to do with that guy?" Harry asked, cutting in before Ron could lash back at his sister.

"This guy," Ron said, pointing at the picture, "Ian Herman. He was Hermione's partner…"

"What?" Harry asked, snatching the file and looking through it. "This says he was a Death Eater…"

"Ian Herman was Hermione's partner while she worked with the Ministry and the Order in intelligence. The Ministry thought he was clean. You and I were out of town when she found out he wasn't. Hermione walked in on him talking to Constantine himself. Turned out Herman was supplying Raden with Hermione's information. Raden disappeared and was never found," Ron said. "Rumors spread that Hermione, feeling betrayed, might have actually killed him, but since there was absolutely no evidence that theory went down the drain."

"Did Hermione know what really happened?"

Ron shrugged. "If she did, she never told anyone. The Ministry suspected her for a while; since the two were close they thought she might be up to something. The details of the whole thing are fuzzy. Even I don't know the whole thing."

"How do you two know and I don't?"

Ginny looked over at Harry. "I know because Hermione told me…" She turned to Ron. "I don't know how you knew," she added.

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. "The same day, I had gotten information that Constantine would be in London. It was the same day I left without saying anything. Moody said you already had enough to worry about without adding Hermione to that list. Technically, the Intelligence sect was supposed to be a green zone," he explained.

"Does this mean?" Harry asked. "Herman's the voice Hermione's hearing."

Ron shook his head. "I doubt it. No reason for the bugger to stay here."

"But Hermione might be hiding something that she's not telling us. She might know something about what really happened to this Herman guy than anyone else-"

"She does."

They turned to see Remus Lupin standing there, watching them. Ginny got up and went over to him.

"What do you mean?"

Remus glanced over at Ron then sighed. "Hermione's done more than any of you really know. Ian Herman was a rat. Worked for both sides and Hermione got pulled into working with him." He turned to Ron. "Though the rumors about the affair aren't true, the two did get a little too close for Dumbledore's liking. He sent me to look over the whole thing and keep an eye on Herman. Make sure he didn't do anything while you were gone. Herman had a rather interesting… obsession with Hermione."

Ron stared at Remus. "What did she do?"

Remus sighed and looked out the window. "Hermione regrets what she did…"

"Granger, wait!" the Auror screamed after her before she disappeared into the building.

The Auror, Jason Hanaway turned to Remus Lupin and pointed. "Follow her! Constantine is a dangerous man and I sure as hell don't want to be on the receiving end of an angry Ronald Weasley's wand," he ordered, turning back to several other Aurors who were trying to think up a plan. He then turned back around to Remus. "Oh and Lupin. If you see Herman… He knows too much…" He left the rest hanging.

Remus pursed his lips and nodded silently, grabbing his wand and ran into the abandoned factory after Hermione. The only good thing about this was that it was high noon so there wasn't a shortage of light coming through the broken windows as he passed by old Muggle machinery.

"Hermione," he whispered. There were some footsteps and murmurings, but it was all echoing off the metal and making it hard to tell where it was coming from. Remus went up a flight of stairs to the second floor where papers littered the floor as retired machines sat in neat rows, the eerie grave yard casting a foreboding feeling around the werewolf as he moved silently across the vast room.

"Ian!"

Remus froze, looking around and ducking behind some sort of printing contraption. Peering out from behind it, his eyes grew when he saw the sight before him. Hermione was standing there with her wand trained on Ian Herman, her partner, while he and another man, Constantine Raden, Remus guessed had their wands on her. Constantine didn't look to pleased with the situation, while Ian looked slightly pale. Constantine looked between the two and then turned to Herman.

"Take care of her, Herman or I'll take care of you," he growled before disapparating.

Herman and Hermione now faced each other. Hermione was biting her lip while shaking her head in disbelief.

"Ian… how could you?"

Ian shook his head. "You don't understand… you'll never understand what I've been goin' through," he responded in his thick Jamaican accent.

Hermione's eyes were tearing up. "You've been working for him the whole time… How long were you working for him?"

"It doesn't matter, Hermione. I got what I wanted and now I'm getting' paid extra," he growled.

"You bastard!" Hermione screamed. "I… You stole all of my information! I told you things…" Hermione suddenly slapped her hand up to her mouth, a horrified look on her face. "Oh my God… I told you about Harry…"

Ian smiled. "And I thank you for that. The time we spent together meant everything to me."

Remus decided now was a good time to make himself known. Standing up, he pointed his wand at Ian.

"Expelliarmus!" he said.

Ian's wand went flying and they both turned in surprise to see Remus.

"Remus!" Hermione gasped.

"Avada Kerdava!"

"REMUS!" Hermione screamed.

Remus ducked out of the way and soon the large room was filled with curses flying everywhere as Hermione took cover under some piece of equipment. When the dust cleared, Ian was on the floor, leaning against the wall, his wand lying just a mere inches away from his fingertips. Hermione looked around and found Remus in a similar situation. He was leaning against a machine, cradling his arm. His wand was no where to be seen. They were both bleeding badly. Hermione stood up, gripping her wand with both shaking hands. Remus glanced over at Ian then at Hermione.

"Kill him, Hermione," he whispered.

Hermione's eyes grew wide in fright and she looked over at Ian as he watched her carefully. He smiled, his teeth stained with blood.

"What are you going to do, Hermione? Kill me?"

"Kill him, Hermione. He won't survive even if you let him live so kill him now," Remus whispered.

"Hermione's not a killer. She couldn't kill someone she loves."

"I DON'T LOVE YOU!" she screamed.

"But you can't kill me," Ian sneered.

"Kill him, Hermione!" Remus yelled.

Hermione closed her eyes, trying to block out all the words. This wasn't happening. She had just betrayed her friends… Ron…

Ian smiled. "She can't do it. She'll never be able to do it," he mocked.

"Hermione!" Remus called.

Hermione opened her eyes, her hands shaking even more. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him…

Ian closed his eyes and made a painful grab for his wand. "See you in hell!"

With that, he disappeared.

"Lupin! Granger!" Hanaway called out, coming up the flight of stairs, backed by ten other Aurors.

"Over here," Remus responded, his eyes on Hermione.

Hanaway looked around and then at Remus. "What happened to Herman?"

"Herman got away," Hermione quickly replied, wiping angry tears from her eyes before pushing past the man and going down the stairs…

When Remus was finished, the room was silent. Ron was staring down at his hands while Harry and Ginny kept a wary eye on him.

"Why would she lie?"

"Because, Ron… the next day, the Auror camp you and Harry were at was attacked by men following her information. She slipped up. She allowed Herman to get the better of her and that landed you in the hospital for two months with no one knowing if you would live or not. She couldn't let you know her mistake. Because to you… and to everyone else who didn't know about it… Hermione Granger doesn't make mistakes. Hermione Granger isn't… weak…" Remus answered quietly.

Ginny looked around then turned to Remus. "You don't think Ian Herman's doing something like this, do you?"

"It's certainly possible. There's still certain types of magic we haven't figured out yet. If this thing is from Herman, then there's no doubt he's back again," Remuse answered.

"We need to tell the Ministry about this. This could help, couldn't it?" Harry asked.

Remus shook his head. "The Ministry already knows about Herman. They won't contribute that to her new state of being. Even if she's acting normal."

Ron looked up. "You saw her," he whispered.

Remus nodded. "This morning, actually…"

"Why did you never say anything about this?"

Remus sighed and stood. "I dealt with my rat from my past… Hermione has to deal with hers…"

A/N: This was really interesting to write, not because of the fact that Hermione's now become a much more interesting character, but because reactions haven't always been my strong point. Hermione's reaction to Herman's betrayal was hard to write because on one end, I wanted her to be her kick ass self, but on the other hand, she had made herself vulnerable to this man and he had betrayed her. She still had some sort of feeling for him and killing someone isn't as easy as it may seem. I wouldn't know personally, but Hermione, unlike Ron and Harry, who have been fighting ever since they got out of sixth year, has never actually killed a man. So being ordered to kill someone who she had gotten very close to was something hard for her and hard for me to write. I hope you all liked it.

ronandmion4ever: That's exactly right! I don't do anything of the sort! ;-) Your response made me laugh as well. As for Hermione. Her trials are just starting to get worse.

mione-ron-4ever: Sorry it took so long!

Coconut Girl: Not nessecarily a Dark Lord... Technically, we don't even know if she's telling the truth about seeing things. She could be making this up.

GTKari-123: Don't worry. Once we hit the trial, the temperature will sky rocket.

NairobiDawn: Well, my friend, we are in for a lot of angst!

sballLuvr5: Oh gosh! Ron and his temper tantrums are what I live for! That and the fact that he's incredibly sexy. But that's just a bonus:-)

Chapter Tease:

"LOOK OUT!" Hermione screamed.

Flashes of light could be seen through the smoke as people tried to hit the thing that was bent on getting at Hermione. Something hit the bars and Hermione whirled around.

"Harry!" She gasped, moving over as he blasted open the keyhole and opened the small grated cell Hermione was in. She stumbled out and pulled him into a hug, sobbing.

"It's ok... It's ok... I'm here..." he whispered, stroking her hair as she sobbed.

She pulled away. "Where's Ron?"

They looked around the desolated room and Harry pointed, eyes large. "There!"

"RON! BEHIND YOU!!" Hermione screamed.