Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable character.

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Author Notes: so guys the next chapter is up. Once again I would like to thank those who reviewed. Plus guys please do review. It really means a lot to me and is very encouraging for a writer.

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Hermione stayed in the cave for a couple of hours. Initially she was crying, thinking about the war and all those people she had lost, as she looked at the various books on the ground which were separated and labeled according to their subject, which of course had been done by Hermione, and the various magical objects that lined the shelf that was carved out of the rock by Harry with a little help from Ron. Then she pulled out a book from the section labeled 'transfiguration'. She decided she could do some light reading.

After half-an-hour she put the book away. Then she pulled out a couple of fresh parchments and a quill, from a sac lying around, and sat down on the hard, damp ground.

She tore the first parchment into two. On the first half she wrote down the names of all those who had died fighting for the light. On the other half she wrote the names of the dark wizard who had also died during the war.

On the other fresh parchment she wrote the names of all the death eaters. She then realized that the number of people who opposed Voldemort were far outnumbered by the ones who supported him. Then, she made a detailed plan of TDLR slave camp from what she knew. She also made a rough sketch of the Hogwarts grounds. She used her extensive memory for this. But she could not phantom what lay beyond the forbidden forest. She deduced that there were hills on the other side but she wasn't so sure. She knew that there were unicorns, threshals and centaurs, but other than that she did not know of what creatures lay in that forest.

She sat there thinking hard. There were still a couple more horcruxes left. Boy was she glad that Voldemort didn't know about the trio hunting down his horcruxes.

Hermione looked down at her battered old watch and realized that she had just an hour to be at the slave camp. She looked around the cave, scrutinizing every bit of it. As she stepped towards the entrance of the cave she remembered that Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's spare wands were kept in the back of the cave. As if by some force unknown to her, she started moving towards a small portable safe box placed in the far end of the cave.

With every step she took, her surroundings became darker and she suddenly started having apprehensions. She had always made sure that she was with either Ron or Harry every time she went to the back of the cave. A tear slid down her cheeks, if only they were still around...

But she a Gryffindor and a stubborn one at that. She stopped for a moment and took a long breath, calmed herself and moved ahead with grit. Soon she found that the safe was wedged between two rocks. She then opened the safe carefully, and pulled out her wand. Immediately there was a warm feeling tingling down her arm. She was sorely tempted to clean herself with the wand. But that would only raise doubts. And it will not do to give away this place.

It was then that she saw a sac lying in a corner near the safe. She quickly turned to it. She pulled out the contents of the sac and found loads of fresh parchments, quills, ink, a few maps of underground London, hogsmeade and a few places she couldn't figure out which place they represented. These were given to them by Dumbledore, though no explanation was given. Hermione had assumed that they were just given to them as precautions. Then she found an old and frayed parchment.

She pulled it out eagerly. It then hit her. Of course it was the marauders map! How could she have forgotten??

'Whats wrong with me these days? I need to pull myself together. I cry when ever I get the opportunity. Stupid me. Come on Hermione, we've got a lot to do. No time to grieve, at least not now.' She thought.

She dug further into the sac and found a picture of her and her best friends laughing at the camera. It was taken a couple of months before the war. She held it close to her for a few moments; draining in all the peace she could possible get from the picture. She dropped it into the sac again and picked up the marauder's map. She then pointed the wand at the map and muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The map came to life with millions of tiny dots, with the name of the person they represented, gracing the halls of Hogwarts. She quickly scanned the grounds, and simply looked at the random dots moving around. The map would be of immense use in the near future. She muttered again, "mischief managed." The map became lifeless once again, and just looked like an old useless piece of parchment.

She pulled out a parchment from the pile and this time did some serious thinking before she put down the following:

The phoenix!

I swear in earnest that I will help the lightside fight the shadows of the dark. I will NOT rely any of the information I know regarding the light side - its supporters, its objectives, its dealings and any other piece of information related to it – to anyone else who has not signed this agreement, which includes kith and kin.

I will not do anything that will endanger The Phoenix and its cause(s). I will stand by the members and fight shoulder to shoulder with them if need be.

She pointed her wand at this parchment and muttered an assortment of spells. Anyone, other than those who signed on it can not read the matter on the parchment. It would just be a useless piece of parchment. She also muttered a few of the spells she had created. 'Nihilum Evidens'. Followed by 'Ne Deprehensio', which was to make sure that previous magic could not be detected anywhere on the parchment.

These spells were followed by many more. She knew she was being paranoid. But it was better to be paranoid than to be over confident in anything or anybody for that matter. All she knew was that none who sign on the parchment could ever betray her. The phoenix and data about it will be taken to the grave by all those who knew about it!

Quite pleased with herself, she quickly but reluctantly replaced the wand into the safe along with the map. She tucked the parchment and the quill well into her clothes. And walked towards the entrance of the cave. Once outside she pushed a rock to cover the entrance of the cave although it was unnecessary. Now she had to get to the camp as soon as possible. She then ran in the general direction of the lake. From there she sprinted to the place where she had left Ginny, Michael and Parvati.

She slowed down to a trot and turned to her right and walked for about five minutes. She took a deep shuddering breath. She picked up a few tree barks lying around and stuffed it into her clothes as well. She carefully shut her mind to any unwelcome probing. She schooled her face to look pained, hurt and broken. She walked slowly to the entrance of the camp. When she was about 10 feet from the gates, she feigned a limp and pretended to drag her self with great difficulty.

As she passed through the gates she noticed the two guards look at her suspiciously. One of them was tall and lean, the other was had an average height and weight and slightly older than the taller one.

The taller of the two halted her, "Where have you been? Don't you know that you were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago? Or is it that difficult for you lot to remember such simple things?"

Hermione looked at him with what she hoped was a scared face and stammered purposefully, "I… I d-didn't rea-realise the t-t-time. I-I'll make su-sure to be he-here on time from no-now-on." Ah! She could be a damned good actress if the situation called for it.

And the guards did not need to know of that minute detail. They scrutinized her face carefully. She was glad she had cried back in the cave. She knew that her tears were now dry but she also knew that they had left clear tracks on her dirtied face.

"What do you have on you?" barked the older one.

Hermione quickly pulled out the tree barks from her clothes. But left a few, along with the quill and parchment in her clothes.

"Why are you carrying them around?"

She forced her lips to tremble as she replied, stammering once again, "I-it is an m-mug-muggle belief, keeping tree ba-barks in your cl-clothes is a way to keep oneself happy. My m-mom told so." She said, looking the guard in the eye. She had learnt ages ago that it was far more convincing when you lied looking straight in the person's eye.

The guards gave a short bark of laughter. One of them pointed his wand at her and said, "Crucio". She was loath to cry out. She knew she could've easily stood up and laughed at the weakness of the curse. Maybe he was a new recruit. Anyway, she pretended to scream out and forced tears to stream out of her eyes.

The guard laughed, "I wonder if the bark kept you happy through that!"

Hermione didn't say anything, she badly wanted to do something rash, but she contained herself determinedly.

The one who had questioned and unnecessarily crucio-ed her tried to probe into her mind. Instead of blocking him completely, she led him through a maze to a fake scene in which she was crucio-ed by Suille; she carefully left out Dennis, the others, the sectumsempra cure, dittany and all those things that the guards had no business knowing. Then she showed the guards of the scene of sitting on a stone in the forest, not far from the gates, crying her heart out and then stuffing her clothes with barks.

Once the guards saw this they were satisfied. Though the taller tried to delve further, the older one said, "Come on sonny, we know she wasn't up to anything. Plus what use is reading such an impure, worthless book?"

The other looked like he wanted to probe more but he let it go. Hermione might've bristled at the older guard's remark, at any other time, but now she was more than just glad!

She took a couple of quick steps towards the poor excuse of a hut in which the slaves were supposed to live. She felt the guards staring at her back. She suddenly stopped still. Without turning back she quickly pretended to moan out in pain and then she slowly dragged herself to the shack where she and the other girls stayed. On the way she berated herself for being so careless.

Finally she reached the hut, walked in and quickly moved towards the far end of the hut. She sat down exhausted.

Ginny and Parvati looked at her curiously. "What?" Hermione asked.

"Is your leg really hurt?" Ginny asked.

"No, and the guards need not know that." Hermione replied. The other girls grinned at this.

"I – we saw them trying legimency on you," Parvati stated.

"I just fed him with some rubbish about me crying my eyes out."

"Where have you been?"

"Oh! Just wandered into the forest" Hermione answered convincingly, well at least convincing enough for Parvati. Ginny gave her a funny look, but did not press the matter any further.

"The others will be here after dinner." Ginny said, "Michael said he'll inform the guys, we informed the gals." She said pointing to herself and Parvati.

Hermione nodded thoughtfully but remained silent.

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Dinner at the slave camp went on without any major incident. After dinner the girls had to clean the dishes and the guys had to clean the tables and clean the already clean grounds. While doing the dishes Michael passed her and whispered, "Its not possible to meet at your hut. How about the store room behind your hut? I know it is not safe, but it is the best we can do for now. Shtrawog"

Hermione nodded, but didn't look very positive about it. "Be discreet, and do not come in more than twos." She cautioned.

Michael nodded looking elsewhere. He walked off in the direction of the middle of the ground where Justin Finch-Fletcheley was working with Neville Longbottom. He quickly informed them of the plans and went on to tell the others.

After all the chores, the slaves went to their respective huts. As the clock struck 11 o' clock, 10 of the slaves woke up. Hermione made her way to the back of the hut towards the store room, which was actually a place where they brought the chopped logs. It was quite dark but it gave a lot of places to hide. It also had a trap door, which Seamus and Michael had discovered in the third week after they were brought to the slave camp.

Soon, after a couple of minutes, Hermione went to stand by the door and opened it when Ginny and Parvati arrived looking quite spent. They muttered the password "shtrawog". They were followed by Justin and Hannah Abbot. Who were also admitted after they recited the password. Next were Dean Thomas and Nancy Hustler, who was in Ginny's year from Ravenclaw, followed by Seamus. The rear was brought by Michael and Neville.

Neville quickly moved forward to hug Hermione. Which Hermione gratefully returned. "I heard you got into trouble with Suille. Are you alright?" he asked with a brotherly concern in his voice.

Hermione smiled, not realizing that it was dark and it did not matter whether she smiled or grimaced, and said, "Yeah I'm okay Neville. Don't worry."

"Okay guys lets get to business. But, I'll need you to sign here in this parchment before we start anything." She pulled up the quill and the parchment in which she had drawn the agreement. After all, she could not afford to have any more traitors.

The others except Ginny and Neville looked at her warily. They knew what had happened to Cho Chang's best friend when she had tried to betray the Dumbledore's Army. Only this time the curse that was used previously would be a joke compared to this.

But no one said anything as the parchment was read out by Hermione and signed by all the others. There was a tense silence in the air. After everyone signed Hermione pocketed the parchment and handed the quill to Justin, who took it confused.

"Keep it with you; if they find it with me along with the parchment, I'm done for." Hermione said.

"Oh! Alright." He pocketed the quill.

Hermione started off in her usual bossy voice with more excitement in her voice than she felt. "First, when are your Hogwarts shifts?"

"Nancy and I have it on Mondays mornings and Fridays" said Ginny.

"We- Neville, Hannah and I have it on the Saturdays and Thursdays." Said Justin.

"Michael, Dean and Parvati have it on Tuesdays and Sundays, I believe?" Hermione asked.

"Yes" came three murmured answers.

"And that leaves us - Seamus and I are on Wednesdays and Monday evenings."

At Seamus murmur of assent she continued, "Gather as much information as you can WITHOUT giving yourself away. I want all of you to bear in mind that the information, no matter how valuable it is to our cause, is completely worthless if you get caught in the process of finding it. We will need to start collecting necessary potions for future use. Though, I must warn you not to take anything from Hogwarts when you are there, yet. I have to work out what potions we will need. I want all of you to think of all the useful potions that might be required."

"Okay, but don't you think, we should start procuring all the necessary stuff, as soon as possible," Parvati asked.

"Yes, but after giving a thought to what all are necessary and what all are not. Plus where will we store all the stuff? We need to think of a place to safeguard it. Where no one will think to look. Someplace charmed not to allow people other than us."

"How about somewhere in the forest? We can burry it somewhere and mark it for future" Nancy quipped. Nancy was a nice, witty girl but she had her annoying moments.

Hermione shook her head. She did not understand how Nancy could so nonchalantly suggest a place that could easily be found by the others. Wasn't she supposed to be in Ravenclaw? God help her! Ginny laid a warning hand on her shoulder to remind her to get her irritation in check. Hermione was grateful to her. "No, it will be simply foolish to place it some where so noticeable. It won't take them much time to track the place down, plus everyone has access to the forest around here."

Nancy looked a bit put out, but kept her peace. She admired Hermione, but she wanted to contribute too.

"How about someplace a little far away from the lake in the forest? None goes there. I'm sure there will be someplace there." Michael intoned pointedly looking at Hermione.

"I told you, already. It is simply not secure enough. I agree that it is not somewhere the death eaters from here go. But we need a place far, far away from here." She said slightly exasperated. "We will think of some place then. Until then no procuring the materials." She felt uncomfortable with Michael pressing the matter. She knew he already suspected something. Suspecting each other was something they had to avoid at all costs. But she knew that mutual trust and understanding will take some more time. "Keep your eyes and ears open. If you get a chance to read the headlines of the daily prophet, go for it. But you should not be caught dead with the paper in your hands. And do not bring it to the camp. We need to know whats going on outside. We need to know who survived and who hasn't."

"Okay stay safe. We'll find a way to contact each other." Seamus said.

"Hey! Hermione, what about those coins we had for D.A? They were amazing and useful. Can you manage to make some again?" Neville said unexpectedly, Dean nodded.

"Yes, but it'll take some time too. Until then guard you secrets safely." Hermione warned.

"I think we should get going." Hannah said speaking for the first time since the meeting commenced.

"Yeah I think we should get to bed. That's it guys, for now." Hermione said.

They all hugged each other and left one by one. Michael, Ginny, Seamus and Hermione were the last one left. Michael and Ginny left together.

Seamus turned to Hermione, and pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely. "Hermione I know I can never be what Harry and Ron were to you, but Dean and I are always here for you. Don't hesitate to ask for any sort of help. Don't worry, we all will share the work. We will make it. We will have a bright future. We will fight for it if it is the last thing we do. Don't worry your pretty head over it." Seamus said softly.

Hermione smiled at him gratefully with tears shining in her eyes. She hugged him back. "Thanks Seamus. You'll never know what this means to me. Thanks for being there. Thanks for the support, thanks for everything."

Seamus smiled at her with warmth in his eyes. He bent his head and kissed her cheeks. "Well, good night."

"'Night"

With a nod Seamus walked out to his hut.

Hermione made sure that she had the parchment safe. She walked to the door and stood there looking out into the dark. She thought of Harry and Ron, and silently wished them a good night hoping they could hear her all the way from heaven.

She briskly stepped into the dark. And walked towards her hut. As she reached it. She felt a human presence. She could distinctly hear footsteps. She deduced that the foot steps were at least a 25 feet away from her. She tumbled over a stone on the way and went crashing down to the ground. The footsteps stopped abruptly. She heard shuffling of feet. She quickly stood up and tried to silence her uneven breathing.

She waited there for a few seconds. A voice, Suille's voice, broke the silence of the night, "who is there?" this felt like déjà vu. Coming to her senses, she realized she didn't want to be caught with the 'homenum revelio' again. She made haste and silently ran the few steps to her door and pushed open the door and closed it behind her as silently as possible and dove straight for her corner which had a bed made of hay.

Suille, mean while, looked around in suspicion and walked off assuming it was probably a cat or something.

Hermione heard his footsteps fall away. She closed her eyes. It started to rain. There was thunder, lightning and heavy down pour. Water seeped into their hut. But Hermione sighed, comforted by the rain, thunder and lightening. The weather outside reflected her torrent of a soul. She fell into a fistful sleep, something nagging in the back of her mind.

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Author Notes: Hey guys! I hope you like the chapter. I hardly had any reviews for the previous chapters. Please do review. And I really want to know what you think of the story so far. I welcome criticism. I would love to know how I can improve on my writing and narration.

Those two spells used by Hermione in the cave were invented by me. Its basically direct Latin.

The next chapter has Draco-blindingly hot- Malfoy's entrance!!! Look out for the next chapter. It will be up as soon as I can post it. It'll take a couple of days or something.

Love,

Azea!