A/N: I'm thrilled to be getting in another chapter before preparing for my university finals. I'm sure it will be a hectic couple of weeks, so my posting schedule will be interrupted yet again.
Thanks again to s and h forever and to all of you reading this. Reviews would be lovely distraction from my tedious course work!
"I don't like the things you don't say. Leaving it for such a long, long time. Why do you show me those sad, sad eyes each time you decide to pass on by?" (Sad Eyes, by Bat for Lashes)
Only a few tense minutes had gone by since Hermione and Kingsley had arrived at the Weasleys', yet the small group stationed in the living room felt as though they had been waiting for an eternity. Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from the next room; another pair had returned. Hermione rose sluggishly from the couch on which she had been sitting while everyone around her sprinted to the kitchen, feeling as though she had to pull herself through the dreary, never ending slow-motion sequence her life had become since the night on the Astronomy Tower. She finally made it into the kitchen to see Harry staring at the wall while Hagrid told Molly of what had happened to them.
"Hermione!" Harry yelled once he saw her out of the corner of his eye, running over to where she stood.
She had seen the same look of bewilderment in his eyes on a night not too long ago; she knew immediately that something had gone wrong.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry latched onto her arm. "You can talk to me. What happened?" She paused for a moment, considering the possibilities in her head. Nothing had happened to Hagrid or Harry; they were both fine. Each pair flew in a different direction, so there couldn't already be news about anyone else. He could have seen Voldemort, but that had never really surprised Harry before; he even seemed to be used to his yearly run-ins with the Dark Lord. As she thought of what could have possibly made him so distraught, the most reasonable explanation came to her: Severus. He could have seen Severus. Normally, Hermione couldn't care less about what happened between Harry and Snape, but things had changed since the end of the school year. She knew Harry was determined to kill Snape for what he had done to Dumbledore, and in those brief moments of consideration, she all but convinced herself that was what had just happened. What else could put Harry so on edge? Hermione started to panic but was soon brought back to reality as she realized that the pressure of Harry's hand grasping her arm was gone. He looked her sadly in the eyes and spoke the words he had been choking back since arriving with Hagrid.
"Hermione, Hedwig is gone. I had to let her go. The Death Eaters… they hit her. She's… gone. And Voldemort… He was there. He can fly, Hermione. He can fly."
Hermione's moment of relief was soon overshadowed by the shock and sadness in Harry's voice as he told her what happened. Her heart broke for him as she thought of all the family he had lost over the years. Hedwig had always been a constant in Harry's life, and there was no doubt that they would all miss her.
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. But thank goodness that you and Hagrid are alright. Here, let's go sit and wait for the others." She took him by the hand and began to lead him back to the living room, but their plans were cut short by a quick burst of light. The two turned around quickly, still hand in hand, watching as Lupin and George fell into the room. Neither could fully register what they saw before them until they heard Molly Weasley's piercing scream. She ran towards her son, who was being supported by Lupin as blood rushed out from him. Hermione gasped in shock as she saw where the constant flow coming from; George was missing an ear. Leaving George in the capable hands of his now crying mother, Remus walked over to Kingsley.
"They knew," he stated soberly if not quietly enraged. "How the fuck did they know?"
"I couldn't tell you, Remus," Kingsley replied. "No one in the Order would have betrayed us, not since Snape. He left before the plan was altered. Unless he's devised some extraordinary means by which to maintain access to our information, it couldn't have been him. Someone else must have -"
"Is George going to be alright?" Harry interrupted, too worried about the well being of all those he had already put in danger to focus on why the attack had happened.
"I believe so," Lupin began. "However, it's highly unlikely that we'll be able to replace his ear, seeing as it was removed by a curse. Snape was always quite handy with his Sectumsempra spell."
"SNAPE! HIS WHAT?"
Fortunately for Hermione, Harry's bust of outrage was loud enough to cover her less than subtle gasp upon realizing that George's pain was Severus' doing. She began to panic again, thinking that it was partially her fault that George had been hexed, but was quickly distracted by Lupin, who continued his narrative.
"He created it when we were students together. Ordinarily, it causes deep, bleeding gashes over your enemy's entire body, as if the person were being slashed by a sword, but apparently, Snape's figured out a way to focus its properties to deliver a more exacting form of mutilation. Crude, yes, but highly effective." He looked over at George, satisfied to see that the bleeding had finally slowed.
"He's bloody brilliant," Hermione whispered to herself unwillingly, hoping that Harry's sideways glance hadn't meant he heard her. There was no time for awkward silences, however; another thud was heard by everyone present, this time coming from the field outside. The quickly growing group turned towards the door as Mr. Weasley and Fred walked into the living room, hugging the rest of their family before rushing to where George was now resting. Arthur stood to comfort Molly as she related the story of Snape's hexing, watching as his twin sons laughed together as if one of them weren't missing a vital appendage.
But even before the newly arrived pair had been able to assure the rest of the Order that their own story was, in fact, uneventful, Ron and Tonks also walked through the door. They were greeted most enthusiastically by Harry and Hermione, who were glad to know that the Golden Trio was restored at last.
"What on earth took you so long?" Molly Weasley screamed at them in desperation. "You should have been the first to return! You missed your Portkey! Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
Ron rolled his eyes while Tonks tried to reason with his overly dramatic mother.
"Molly, everything was fine. Ron was excellent. He managed to Stun several Death Eaters. It just took us a little longer to get to safety than planned. It seemed that killing Sirius wasn't enough for Bellatrix Lestrange. She apparently wants to finish me off, too. Go after the whole family of traitors, as it were. Other than that, we're both fine! Do we have everyone?"
"No. We're waiting for Mad-eye and Mundungus as well as –" Hermione began to answer but was yet again interrupted as the couple she had yet to mention fell into the living room where the group was standing. Bill and Fleur collected themselves quietly, casting an almost deafening silence over the room. After several minutes, Bill finally lifted his eyes from the spot on the floor his gaze had been fixed upon and addressed Arthur.
"Mad-eye's dead," he stated bluntly. His declaration was met with very little in the way of emotional reactions; most of the group hardly understood the words he had just spoken.
"Did you hear me?" he continued, increasing the volume and desperation of his tone. "He's gone. We saw it happen. Voldemort had tracked him from the very beginning, right when we took off. He never gave up the chase either. He just kept flying at him. Voldemort… he can fly now. Hexes and curses started flying, and soon enough, one hit Mad-eye straight in the face. He fell off his broom. We don't know what happened after that, but Mundungus is gone as well. He ran."
A painful moment of silence fell over the room as the group realized the magnitude of Mad-Eye's death. Tonks and Mrs. Weasley could be heard sniffling across the room, trying their hardest to hold back the tears stinging in their eyes. Mr. Weasley stood behind Bill with a reassuring hand on his shoulder while the twins sat stunned, too taken aback to even think of coming up with a quick-witted joke to lighten the mood. It was almost as if time had stood still. Eventually, Harry broke the painful silence and spoke. "Do you think he -"
"No, Harry," Bill interrupted. "I don't think Mundungus is the one who leaked our plan. You know how he didn't want to be involved in the first place. I'm sure he was just looking for any opportunity to get the hell out of there. I have to go. I can't let the Death Eaters find Moody's body." He headed for the door without waiting for anyone to stop him. Harry followed quickly behind, hoping that it would look like he was going to help Bill. In reality, he was trying to make his escape.
"And where do you think you're going, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, seemingly appearing out of thin air as she took hold of Harry's arm, keeping him in the house.
"I can't stay here anymore," he said simply, looking over at Ron and Hermione, who automatically assumed he was implying their impending search for Horcruxes.
"Well, if you think I'm going to let you leave this house you should bloody well get rid of the notion. You're not going anywhere!" Molly dragged Harry to a seat at the kitchen table while the rest of the spectators remained oddly silent.
"Mrs. Weasley, I need to leave. I killed Mad-Eye! It's my fault. Everyone is dying because of me. I can't let people continue to be hurt. I have to do this on my own." Harry stood again but not before Hermione let out the anger that had been collecting within her psyche all evening.
"This isn't all about you, Harry. Do you really think Voldemort will leave any of us alone just because we're not right there with you? He'll think we know where you are and torture us until he finds out. Get a grip! You can't get us out of this. You can't make the targets on our backs disappear." She sighed heavily, exasperated, and ran up the stairs to the room she had been staying in while at the Burrow, tears already at the corners of her eyes.
Hermione's outburst quenched the fire in Harry's eyes like a brimming bucket of water. He turned to follow her up the stairs, but Ginny caught his hand, pulling him down to the hall. She knew that Hermione needed space. Sure, Harry wasn't the brightest, but Ginny was certain he would figure out what had happened between Snape and his best friend if he saw Hermione in her current condition; if she was distressed enough to tell off Harry, she was certainly capable of letting something slip about her relationship with their professor. Still, Harry resisted.
"Ginny, not now, I need to talk to Hermione. I didn't mean it like it sounded. I didn't mean to upset her!" He tried to twist out of her grasp, but Ginny held fast, being trained well by her years growing up with five older brothers.
"She won't want to talk to you, Harry. I don't think she's upset with you. Not really. Don't take it personally." She and Harry sat on the stairs as he looked up towards Hermione's room.
"Then what the fuck is she upset about? She hasn't been our Hermione recently… don't you think?"
Ginny cursed mentally, wondering how she was going to explain herself out of Harry's probing questions. After brief consideration, she finally responded. "You're right, Harry. She hasn't been herself. But think of it this way… Remember how betrayed you felt when Snape killed Dumbledore?" She felt a pang of guilt as she watched him tense uncomfortably the moment she brought the event up; she almost wished she hadn't tried to stop him from talking to Hermione.
"Of course I do! If I had seen that bastard tonight, I would have killed him in midair!"
"Okay good." Ginny continued abruptly, hoping to prevent Harry from ranting too long. "Well, you never really trusted or liked Snape to begin with, right?"
"Right."
"Exactly. Well, as you and Ron both know, Hermione had been spending a lot of time with Snape because of her independent study. Obviously, they never developed a healthy friendship or anything…" Here Ginny paused, laughing to herself as she recalled the night she had walked in on the pair having more than a healthy friendship on Snape's desk. "But regardless, she actually trusted him and thought she was helping him do something good for the Order. So although you might be furious with Snape, imagine how horrible Hermione must feel. She thought she knew him much better than you did." She smiled softly as a look of recognition flashed across Harry's face.
"Shit. I never thought about it like that."
"I know," Ginny responded quietly.
"I'll talk to her tomorrow, I guess. We have to figure out our plan to leave, anyway. Gin, I'm really going to miss you. You know… when we leave."
The pair stood up together and turned to face each other.
"I'm going to miss you too, Harry. So much." As if drawn by a magnetic force, Ginny suddenly leaned up towards Harry, her lips touching his softly as if to offer comfort. She stepped back quickly, beaming at the shock displayed plainly by his features before leaving for her own room.
"Goodnight, Harry," she called over her shoulder as she entered her room and shut the door behind her. She giggled as she climbed into bed, thrilled that she finally had the courage to make her first move.
She could have run to Hermione's room to tell her the news but decided to sleep instead. There would be plenty of time for discussions, and tomorrow was going to be a very long day.
Meanwhile, Hermione spent another sleepless night with tears steadily tracing a path from her eyes to the already dampened cotton of her pillow. She couldn't move past Severus' betrayal and the feelings she still held for him. The evening's events made her feel like a failure, like she was letting Harry down. And as she finally drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, she wondered where Severus was, what he was doing, and if he was thinking of her as well.