Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything from his realm belongs to its creator, J.K. ROWLING. I make absolutely no money with it. Like you didn't know that already.

A/N: Thanks to my dear beta, Fredrika: she does a great job correcting my chapters, and even adding her two pennyworth to them! She does her fair bit of cheer-leading too, I wouldn't be writing half as much without her.

I love reading your reviews, it seems no one is guessing where all of this is going, which makes me happy :D

Chapter 8: WARTS

Hermione and Remus had worked every morning on the Patronus Totalus: the wizard throwing various charms and mild hexes at the witch in her ethereal form, most of them just shooting straight through her without so much as a tingle. Then, Remus had to argue every afternoon for her to rest and not try some of the more aggressive and potentially harmful hexes or curses until they had exhausted the more common ones. Throwing the simple repelling charm argument in her face was not something he was proud of, but it did calm her insistent nagging.

Instead, he convinced her to help him master his own patronus form, not that it had yielded any results as of yet. She usually monitored his meditation, answering the odd question he had, while doing incomprehensible arithmancy calculations for Dumbledore. Remus wasn't even frustrated about not making any progress, because he enjoyed too much spending all day long in the witch's company. He didn't feel too guilty about hogging all of her time, but he was starting to question the feelings he harboured towards her, and that did make him feel uneasy. She was so very young, and even if he did look younger than ever himself, he still couldn't acknowledge any romantic inclination towards her without feeling like a lecherous old man. So he pushed all of these disturbing thoughts to the back of his mind, hoping they would just vanish.

Saturday came all too quickly, and with it the rest of Hermione's pupils, including the most annoying and clingy Tonks. The auror was about six years older than Hermione but acted like a scatterbrained child making a tantrum. Remus could have looked over her clumsiness, she clearly did her best most of the times not to trip or knock anything over, although her lack of success was appalling. He could even have overlooked her outlandish appearance: for a metamorphmagus who could change appearance at will, she sure had a strange taste in hair-colour. But Tonks had the worst personality he had ever had the displeasure to meet, and it was only made worse by the fact she had redoubled her efforts after learning he was no longer a werewolf.

Talking of the devil... Tonks was just proving her point by strutting into the library, completely ignoring Hermione who was standing right next to her, while she greeted him with a too-sweet smile and tried snagging his arm like a devil's snare. Luckily, he had been watching out this time and managed to avoid her bold manoeuvre by casually ruffling his hair, causing the aggravating witch to lose her balance and fall forwards. Truly, this was getting ridiculous, he would have to talk to Tonks before she tried using love potions on him.

Once everybody had arrived, and Tonks was back to standing on two feet, they began with their meditative introspection, searching for that blissful state of mind that would trigger the Patronus Totalus. They had only been at it for ten minutes when Remus was startled by a feminine yelp that turned out to be Neville.

"You almost got it, Neville." Luna told him softly and Hermione nodded in agreement. "You needn't be afraid of change."

The young wizard blushed, flustered beyond help by all the attention. That was probably all the progress he would manage for the day. Remus had to be impressed by Hermione's personal choice of pupils, so far two of them had succeeded to partially transform, even if it was just the tip of their wand. Maybe the others would never accomplish as much. What did they have in common, Luna and Neville, to have managed as much? Remus peered over at the pair of them, sitting next to each other, although at a safe distance, in case of transformation.

Both were solitary, reserved kind of people, although perhaps not by choice. Neville was smothered by his grand-mother's over-protectiveness and Luna was too loony for most people to seek out her company. But shouldn't they feel more anger than love in that case? Ginny, Hermione's other chosen one, was certainly too enraged with Harry to get anywhere with the spell.

Was he failing the Patronus Totalus because he was too angry? Well, he was certainly irritated now, with the insufferable Tonks sitting too close to him and staring with a lewd expression at him instead of trying to master her patronus form. But he hadn't been angry when he had tried these last afternoons with Hermione nearby. Distracted would better describe his state of mind then, or maybe even elated, but not angry.

Remus sighed. Maybe it was something else then, something they would probably never discover, like being born when Mars was aligned with Venus, or drinking tea instead of coffee every morning. Chances were they would discover it by mistake, like the fact that the Patronus Totalus could be countered by a repelling charm.

Dumbledore suddenly appeared in a burst of flames and wind, a shrill musical cry resounding in the room. For such an extreme measure as to use his phoenix to apparate in headquarters, this was most assuredly a dire emergency.

"Death-Eaters in Diagon Alley. I need everyone to head there immediately." he announced gravely. From his state of disarray, Remus inferred he had been there and had come back for reinforcement. The old wizard turned to Hermione: "Has anyone else mastered your Patronus?"

"Not yet, sir." she answered promptly, all business.

"There are dementors there, prying on the civilians, too many for the rest of us."

"I'll take care of it." she assured him and was already off to put her cloak and shoes on. The others followed suit, Harry wearing a fierce scowl, but Dumbledore stopped him, a bony hand resting on his shoulder.

"Remus, I want you to protect Miss Granger if she drains her magic again, we can't let her fall prey to the Death-Eaters." he demanded.

Remus was a bit taken aback.

"Do they know it's her?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.

"No, but the dementors... they're not attacking as a group as they usually do. They're teamed up with Death-Eaters. I think they're trying to capture her, regardless of her identity."

"Then you're sending her into a trap?"

"I have no choice." He told him with finality, not open to discussion, and the next moment he had grabbed Fawkes' tail feathers and disappeared as flamboyantly as he had appeared.

With no alternative left, Remus rushed to the front door in an effort to catch up with Hermione and was just in time to wrap her in both his arms just outside the door, and side-along apparate the both of them to a dark ensconced porch he often used when he needed a discreet entrance into the wizarding shopping district.

"What the hell was that about?" Hermione asked, shaky on her legs and certainly feeling a bit sick from the unexpected side-along trip.

Remus hesitated. Should he tell her what Dumbledore had told him? Would that help her in the coming fight or prevent her from transforming altogether? The wizard finally decided he had no right to decide what she should know or not when it so evidently concerned her, and nor had Dumbledore.

"The Death-Eaters are out to capture you, or rather your patronus form. They're teamed up with dementors so they'll probably be scattered all over the place."

"Dumbledore told you this?" she asked but it felt more like she was stating a fact than asking a question, so he only nodded confirmation.

"Manipulating old fart." she muttered and then turned to him with a determined glint in the eye. "Thanks for telling me, Remus."

The witch's expression abruptly shifted from belligerent to worried, before she lay her hands on his chest and pushed him hard enough for him to stagger just out of the porch. He didn't have time to wonder about her odd behaviour as he now felt in his bones and soul what had probably alerted Hermione: a deathly cold and an overwhelming despair. Dementors were close by, looking for pray. Remus glanced back at Hermione who was already in full patronus form and gliding out of their not-so-dark-now hiding spot. Well, at least he knew anger was not major factor that prevented the transformation.

"Hermione, if you need help leaving, come to me. I'll try looking out for you out there, but I can't possibly follow you." She nodded gravely and flew off at an impressive speed. "Be careful." he breathed out to the spot she had just vacated and, gripping his wand tightly, he ran towards the sound of screaming.

Hermione was simultaneously shrouded in the delightful bliss that came with her transformation into patronus, and on the lookout for any of the Death-Eaters traps. Having her mind at peace and her wits sharp at the same time made for a very efficient combination: even if Remus had not warned her about the dark wizards plans to capture her, hey were so unsubtle that she would have guessed something was up. Several groups moved around Diagon Alley, each comprised of two hooded wizards in black and four shrouded dementors. They didn't move about the streets to destroy and kill, but to terrorize and gather attention. The resulting screams of horror and pains echoed from all directions and would have made her hair stand on end in her human form.

The witch sped to her nearest targets, which were using a crucio on a young man, and glided just out of reach of the Death-Eaters, as fast as a snitch, before reducing their dementor bodyguards to nothingness. Unfortunately, she would have to leave the foul wizards to the other members of the Order.

Before she could glide away to the next group of dementors, she saw spells soar right through her and whatever they were, they had no effect on her. She glared at them and was about to make a swift exit when the back tattoo of a dark mark on a pale arm caught her attention. The wizard to who it belonged was applying his wand to it. Blimey! They were calling Voldemort to capture her.

She was torn between the urge to flee so Voldemort wouldn't recognize who she was and punish Severus for his deception, and the need to fulfil her duty to get rid of the dementors. She finally settled on the latter, thinking she could out-fly the dark wizard as she annihilated the dementors, then discretely change back to her human appearance. But she had to act quickly, already, the air was getting thick and tasted of rotten eggs, the dark wizard would apparate any second now. She soared away at such speed the buildings appeared blurry and not once did she dare look behind her.

The numerous dementors were far apart and hidden by the lopsided architecture that hid the streets from high up, so Hermione was forced to whisk close to the cobbled roads, avoiding the moving fighters and prone victims and diving at the shrouded dark creatures that hovered around. She couldn't move as fast as she had wished and soon Voldemort was hot on her heels, trying to seize her himself as he threw spell after spell at her.

She had little doubt Voldemort would not be using a repelling charm, but she did fear maybe another, more dangerous curse may work, so she avoided his attacks as best she could, searching for dementors to destroy at the same time. She felt like a Quidditch player avoiding bludgers: a preposterous notion if she shared it with anyone, but it did give her an idea. According to Harry and Ron, two Quidditch fans that she sometimes had to listen raving about their favourite game, if only to be polite, there is a move called the Montrose Feint where players duck bludgers at the last minute so one of their adversaries gets hit instead. If only she could get Voldemort to hit his men by accident, maybe he'd stop trying to hex her, or maybe not, but at least there would be that many less dark wizards around.

Seeing her chance to carry out this improvised strategy standing near the entrance of an alleyway, half hidden in shadows but still recognizable as a Death-Eater by the silver glint at face-level, she manoeuvred to hide her target from her assailant's view and dashed right at him. Hermione noticed the Death-Eater freeze, unsure of how to defend himself from the glowing creature rushing straight at him, and when she saw a flash of light behind her, she feinted to the left sharply, pleased that the Death-Eater crumpled to the ground. Whatever the curse had been, it must have been pretty vile. The witch continued zooming though the streets, narrowly dodging spells so the enemy would get hit by their own master. The dementors made themselves sparse, whether they had fled or had been dealt with, she couldn't be sure. Voldemort was getting frustrated judging by his enraged invectives behind her, he couldn't even catch up, but she was tiring out herself, she needed to shake him loose or she would be at his mercy in her human form before long.

Harry must have been alerted by the Order members who had witnessed the chase because he was standing in the middle of the narrow street she was gliding in, visibly waiting for his arch-nemesis. Hermione gladly flew to him and hovered behind his back.

"You okay, Mione?" he asked in a whisper.

"Fine, but if you could get rid of him, it'd be great... I don't think I can hold my form much longer."

The dark wizard had slowed down and regained his footing on the cobbled street, cautiously advancing on the young wizard he wanted dead so much, just in case it was a trap. The luminescent witch seized the opportunity to order her tendrils of hair to hide her face and was relieved her unruly hair obeyed her for once. She was completely hidden from view, only one of her eyes peeking through the glowing strands. She must have looked like a ghostly palm tree or willow standing immobile and hidden by her curtain of hair that swayed lightly in the wind.

"Potter." Voldemort spat. "We meet again."

Hermione shivered at the sight of the dark wizard's glowing red eyes, she had never seen him up so close before. Harry was right, there wasn't much human left in him.

"Obviously." Harry answered easily, seemingly unfazed by the monster facing him that radiated power and evil as naturally as the sun emitted heat and light. "You should know by now you'll always find me in our path."

"Too cowardly to fight me alone, Potter?"

Harry shifted slightly to look behind him and Hermione did the same: she was relieved to see Remus rushing to them, he had kept his promise to look out for her. A few Order members were running towards their position from contiguous alleys, and other magical folk she didn't know but could only assume were inhabitants of Diagon Alley were approaching at a more measured pace but with a determined expression as they held their wands tight. Hermione felt a surge of pride and joy at their courage: ordinary people who were taking up their wands against the darkest wizard of their time, against the stuff of nightmares they didn't even dare pronounce the name of. For a moment her patronus form glowed brighter.

"Can't blame me for having friends now, can you?" Harry admonished, as if he was speaking to a particularly stupid child. "A pity I can't say the same for you."

Voldemort took in the crowd before him, threw one last glance at her and disapparated in a black swirl of smoke without another word. The people assembled there looked dumbstruck, unable to grasp the idea that You-Know-Who had fled, that he wasn't as invincible and almighty as they had imagined. A few cheers erupted, curious wizards and witches came to greet the Boy-Who-Lived and take a peek at his glowing protector, while others just left as quietly as they had come, probably off to tend to the wounded, or the dead. Hermione edged closer to Remus when the throng had thinned.

"Remus, I need to leave...I'm not even sure I can return to the porch to transform back."

The wizard looked around for a quiet dark place for Hermione to change back to her human shape, but too many nosy bystanders were still peering at the unusual sight she presented, clearly a creature of the light they had never seen before.

"Wait here a minute." Remus walked up to Harry manhandling his fans away and whispered in his ear. Harry glanced at her, nodded, and handed the older wizard a small bundle.

"Here, hover down a bit." Remus told her as he spread a cloth, holding it up, which fell in neat silky folds. The invisibility cloak! she realized. "I'll hold it up, you'll have to transform inside." he whispered.

"Can you see me?" She asked once she was under the cloak.

"No, go ahead and change." he said quietly, aware that he was drawing attention to himself after having vanished the creature of light hat had been standing next to him just a second before.

Hermione instantly regained her human form, her grip on the patronus had been tenuous at the best since her stunt with Voldemort. Unfortunately, she had not foreseen that she would be too weak to support her own weight once she regained a physical body and she fell forwards. Remus, on the other hand, must have been prepared for the eventuality because his arms broke her fall gently and he lifted her in his arms, careful to keep every part of her hidden. Luckily the cloak was tailored for a full grown man and it was ample enough on her small frame to cover her entirely.

"I'll apparate us to safety." Remus told her, and she knew he meant they were returning to Grimmauld Place. Hermione would have preferred staying by Harry's side, supporting him, or help the inhabitants of Diagon Alley return things to normal, but she could hardly keep her eyes open. In fact, she was going to nap right there in Remus's arms, whether she wanted to or not.

"Daft witch." she heard Severus' silky voice mutter from one side of her comfy warm bed.

"I couldn't agree more." replied Remus' huskier voice from the other side.

Both comments lacked the bite for their words to be taken seriously and she smiled at their lack of will to disparage her correctly. She knew they were worried, worse than mother hens the both of them.

"Maybe you should explain to the witch in question why she is so daft then?" she said groggily, with a mock-scowl directed at the two men. Remus looked a bit guilty but shuffled closer to check her temperature and pulse, whereas Severus merely smirked at her.

"I wouldn't know where to start." The raven-haired wizard answered.

Hermione smiled: if Severus was in the mood to tease, then there weren't any imminent bad news awaiting her.

"But I can try. There's the time you put my robes on fire, the one where you stole ingredients from my personal reserve, or when you knocked me out in the shrieking shack. And then there's..."

Hermione looked pleadingly at Remus, begging with her eye to make him stop the unbelievably long list of foolish things she had done at Hogwarts to her Potion's Professor. But her fellow Gryffindor, after a first wide-eyed look of disbelief, was now too busy holding back his laughter.

"...and I think I should add the mishap at graduation, I'm pretty certain Potter couldn't have pulled that prank by himself."

"Severus?" the witch asked warily. "Could we please skip ahead to the present?"

"Certainly." he obliged curtly. "It was the most imbecilic, moronic, dunderheaded thing to do to go after Voldemort by yourself."

"What? I never... who told you that?" she demanded, outraged. She'd have to be brain dead the day she decided to take Voldemort on, she was neither brave nor powerful enough to do such thing.

"Well..." Remus started but was visibly reluctant to give a name.

"Miss Tonks." Severus supplied.

"And you believed that scatter-brained hormone-fueled woman?" she inquired in disbelief.

"She is a good auror." the Slytherin pointed out. "She said you went after him to show off."

"Still can't believe you were convinced." she pouted.

"You did like to show of in class." Severus reminded her, and to her horror, she had nothing to retort to that.

"I'll get her back for this." Hermione said venomously.

"So what did happen?" Remus asked kindly, trying to steer the witch's thoughts away from a useless vendetta.

"Just after I left you, I found a first group of dementors I dispatched, the Death-Eaters accompanying them started shooting spells at me, and seeing it didn't work, one of them pressed his wand to his Dark Mark." she said that last bit with a grimace and an involuntary glance at Severus' left arm. "I flew off to the next dementors but it was too late and Vol... You-Know-Who was already on my trail. I didn't have much choice after that but to fly as fast as I could."

"I didn't know He'd go after you." the spy said sincerely, his already pale complexion turning a little whiter "I would have warned you had I known."

"No, you would have told Dumbledore, who in turn would have hidden it from me." she muttered. Too embroiled in her fury at the headmaster who just left her to walk in a trap unawares, she didn't hear Remus recount what had happened just before the battle, until she heard her name.

"...right, Hermione?"

"I'm sorry, what?" she blurted out, a bit embarrassed she had been caught not paying attention, as if they were still her professors and would take points off of Gryffindor, particularly Severus.

"We have to find a way around Dumbledore." Remus repeated. "We were lucky he told me this time, but he may not trust me again with that kind of information. He's probably doing the same thing to Harry and other Order member too, sending us into known danger without forewarning us. It's completely irresponsible from him."

Hermione and Severus shared a look. That same look they had shared in this same room, what seemed like years ago, when Dumbledore had decided to use her as a disposable weapon, same as his spy. A slight, almost imperceptible nod from the Slytherin and Hermione turned to Remus, extending her hand.

"Welcome to the WARTS." she announced happily.

"The WARTS..." Remus repeated, unsure he had heard correctly but letting her shake her hand nonetheless.

"Weapons Against the Rule of Tyrants Syndicate." she explained. "That's all we are to Dumbledore. Severus figured it out ages ago, I just became aware of it, and you're our third member."

"I won't have to wear a badge, will I?" Remus inquired suspiciously.

It was Severus who shook his head in the negative with a smirk.

"I forbade it." he announced smugly, winning an appreciative smile from Remus.

They plotted for a while, enjoying bad-mouthing their leader of the light. Severus and Hermione learned just how much Remus had suffered at the hands of Dumbledore, as the old man sent him on increasingly more dangerous missions amongst the werewolves, with nary a care for his health. Remus confided the old wizard had even been disappointed to learn he was probably not a werewolf any more, which had incensed Hermione, necessitating a dose of calming draught lest she storm off to Hogwarts to give Dumbledore a severe tongue lashing. After that, the first official meeting of the WARTS broke off, Hermione needing to sleep off her exhaustion some more.