"Oh, for heaven's sake," Hermione said, looking over the note Harry had just handed her. She was sorry for Hagrid, he'd raised Aragog from an egg, but it was an Acromantula not a dog.

"He's mental!" Ron said. "That thing told its mates to eat Harry and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"

"It's not just that," said Hermione. "He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

It was all she could do not to give Harry a significant look, one that would say Don't you dare, young man.

"We've been down to see him by night before," said Harry, and she wished she had given him the look.

"Yes, but for something like this?" Hermione asked. "We've risked a lot to help Hagrid out, but after all—Aragog's dead. If it were a question of saving him—"

"—I'd want to go even less," said Ron firmly. "You didn't meet him, Hermione. Believe me, being dead will have improved him a lot."

Hermione smirked at Ron, glad he was backing her up (more or less), but then she caught the look Harry was giving the note.

"Harry, you can't be thinking of going," she said. "It's such a pointless thing to get detention for."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said, sighing. "I s'pose Hagrid'll have to bury Aragog without us."

"Yes, he will," she said, relieved she didn't have to fight him on it. "Look, Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests… Try and soften Slughorn up a bit then!"

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" Harry asked, almost bitter.

"Lucky," said Ron suddenly. "Harry, that's it—get lucky!"

"What d'you mean?"

"Use your lucky potion!"

"Ron, that's—that's it!" Hermione couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. She wouldn't have brought it up if she had thought of it, but… "Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"

"Felix Felicis? I dunno… I was sort of saving it…"

"What for?" Ron demanded.

"What on earth is more important than this memory, Harry?" Hermione asked, slightly more sharply than she'd intended. He didn't answer. He'd glazed over, and she had a feeling she knew where his mind had gone: He was thinking about Ginny.

"Harry? Are you still with us?"

"Wha—? Yeah, of course." He was almost flustered; it made her want to punch him in the arm and tell him he was her favorite little brother in the world. "Well… okay. If I can't get Slughorn to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."

"That's decided, then," Hermione said, glad to have it sorted. That would keep him busy while she Apparated for the Ministry. Mockingly, she spun as she stood. "Destination… determination… deliberation…"

"Oh, stop that," Ron said. "I feel sick enough as it is—quick, hide me!"

"It isn't Lavender," Hermione said, officially tired of him hiding from the girl. She had to share a dorm room with the little idiot, and she was tired of the glares. From both her roommates, actually. She'd been avoiding them anyway, but now it was worse.

"Cool," Ron said, peering over her shoulder at the girls he'd been hiding from. "Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"

"They're the Montgomery sisters and of course they don't look happy, didn't you hear what happened to their little brother?"

"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest."

There was something cold in the pit of her stomach. For a moment, she missed Severus so badly that she ached from her hair to her heels.

"Well, their brother was attacked by a werewolf. The rumor is that their mother refused to help the Death Eaters. Anyway, the boy was only five and he died in St. Mungo's, they couldn't save him."

"He died?" Harry asked. He looked stunned. "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"

"They sometimes kill," said Ron. She didn't think she'd ever seen him look so serious. "I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away."

"What was the werewolf's name?"

"Well, the rumor is that it was that Fenrir Greyback," said Hermione.

"I knew it—the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Lupin told me about."

She could only look at him, bleak. Welcome to the real war, Harry. It's not just us at this school, working up to a fight at the end of the year.

"Harry, you've got to get that memory," she said. She was beginning to think that, even if it led to him finding out about the Horcruxes, it would be good to have the information from Slughorn. The history of Tom Riddle and such. "It's all about stopping Voldemort, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to him…"

The bell rang, startling her so badly that she almost pulled her wand.

"You'll do fine," Harry told them, and she remembered that she and Ron were off to take their Apparation Test. Ron looked decidedly green. "Good luck."

"And you too," she said, giving him a look.

\\

When Harry returned to the common room very late that night, well after midnight, Hermione was in a panic. Ron had gone to bed long before, leaving her with an awkward pat and his most steadfast assurance that Harry could take care of himself. She had the horrible feeling that she should have Disillusioned herself and followed Harry out to Hagrid's.

Idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot. She wasn't sure if she was thinking about Harry or herself.

Finally, he dragged himself back through the portrait hole. He looked… shell shocked.

"Harry?"

"Can we talk in the morning? I'm… really tired."

"We don't have to talk." She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his ribs and squeezing. He was taller than her, but not as tall as Severus. And his shoulders were much narrower.

Harry was smaller, younger. Still a boy in so many ways, but grown-up, too. Much more grown-up than he should have been. She could see the weight in him, see that responsibility settled behind his eyes.

He didn't cry. He didn't seem angry. He was still so young—it would probably be years before he realized how Dumbledore was using him. Or maybe it wouldn't. He was as likely to die as she was in the coming years. Actually, he was just as likely to die as Severus.

She sent him up to bed before he could see her cry.

\\

Hermione spent more time in the next month with Severus than she probably should have. First because she was upset, and then because he almost died. If Harry's little stunt in the bathroom had killed Malfoy, Severus would have died for not protecting him. It had shaken her to the core.

And then came the day they'd been dreading.

She hadn't thought anything of it when Harry was called to Dumbledore's office again. He'd left, and she'd stayed in the common room with Ron. Ron had tried to get her talking about what Harry might have in store, the excitement of the evening; she talked about their upcoming exams, asking Ron about his revision until he went off to play Exploding Snap with Seamus and left her to stare into the fire.

Ron had just come to sit by her again when Harry burst in.

"What does he want?" Hermione asked, then saw the look on his face. "Harry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, racing through the room and up the stairs. She had time to exchange a look with Ron and begin to think about getting up to follow him, but then Harry was back.

"I've got to be quick. Dumbledore thinks I'm getting my Invisibility Cloak. Listen…"

He gave them the details in brief. Dumbledore had located a Horcrux and he was bringing Harry with him. That was good. Dumbledore wouldn't bring Harry along if he didn't have a good idea of what to expect, if it wasn't a relatively safe Horcrux to retrieve.

What the hell was she thinking? A relatively safe Horcrux? There was no such thing! What the fuck, Dumbledore?

"…so you see what this means?" Harry asked, bringing her back to the moment. "Dumbledore won't be here tonight, so Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to. No, listen to me!" he hissed. Hermione pinched her lips shut, noting that Ron had been about to interrupt, too. "I know it was Malfoy celebrating in the Room of Requirement. Here—" He handed her the Marauders' Map. "You've got to watch him and you've got to watch Snape too. Use anyone else who you can rustle up from the D.A., Hermione. Those contact galleons will still work, right? Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school, but if Snape's involved, he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it—but he won't be expecting the lot of you to be on the watch, will he?"

"Harry—" she began. She didn't even know where to start. She didn't know how to tell him that a bunch of teenagers were no real match against Death Eaters, not if they had a plan of attack.

"I haven't got time to argue," Harry said curtly, cutting her off. "Take this as well—"

"Thanks," said Ron. "Er—why do I need socks?"

"You need what's wrapped in them, it's the Felix Felicis. Share it between yourselves and Ginny too. Say good-bye to her for me. I'd better go, Dumbledore's waiting—"

"No!" She was looking at the potion, suddenly full of dread. Harry had to take it. He was leaving the castle to go after a piece of Voldemort's soul, for God's sake. "We don't want it, you take it, who knows what you're going to be facing?"

"I'll be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore." The sheer blind loyalty of it almost physically hurt. She'd been like that once. Back so long ago, when he'd come to her house just before New Year and asked her if she'd be willing to use a special Time Turner to study and do some research that would help Harry. "I want to know you lot are okay… Don't look like that, Hermione. I'll see you later…"

And then he was gone, dashing out the portrait hole.

There were quite a few words that Hermione wanted to say, and all of them would make Ron's ears turn red.

"Well," Ron said, looking from the socks in his hand to her and back.

"Well," she repeated back to him with a bit more conviction. "Do you have your Galleon on you?"

"No."

"Me neither."

They went up to the boys' dormitory and Hermione spread the Map out on Harry's bed while Ron rummaged around in his trunk for the D.A. galleon.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

Malfoy was nowhere on the map. Still in the Room of Requirement. Severus was in his office, the dot with his name still behind his desk. He'd be doing his marking, more than likely. They'd had a tentative plan to spend some time together tomorrow night if they could; she'd spent the afternoon finishing her homework.

"Nothing yet," she told Ron. He nodded, screwing his face up in concentration as he pointed his wand at the galleon. Hermione shoved the Map in her pocket without clearing it, and dashed down the stairs then up the girls stairs. Ginny had gone up to get ready for bed shortly before Harry had come running back.

"Hi, sorry," Hermione said, poking her head into the fifth years' dorm. Ginny's roommates gave her annoyed looks. "Hey Ginny?"

"Hermione?" Ginny pulled her hangings open. She looked like she might have just lain down. "What's going on?"

"Get dressed, okay? Meet us in the common room and bring your wand."

"Is everything okay?"

Hermione winced instead of answering and closed the door behind her. She wished Dumbledore had given her more information. Protecting Harry had been her sole mission since term began, and she'd done it. He'd been in and out of the castle, and she hadn't protested his lack of communication once.

Harry had said there was more security in place tonight. What security measures? What had he done? Who should she contact? There was no way Dumbledore would know Malfoy had been celebrating; Harry wouldn't have told him after Dumbledore spent so long dismissing his warnings.

Desperate, she conjured her Patronus and sent it to Minerva: Harry has the D.A. out of bed. What's going on?

She didn't get a response. When Ginny joined her, fingers pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she walked, they went back to the common room. Neville and Luna were with Ron, Luna looking vacantly around the common room. Neville and Ron both looked excited, but also like they might be sick.

Okay, she said to herself. Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville. Four to keep track of. Four to keep safe.

God, had she ever been that young?

She wished she'd sent a Patronus to Severus, too.

They passed the Felix Felicis around, and Hermione felt a plan solidifying in her mind. She sent Luna to tell Minerva what was going on, then told her to meet her down at Severus's office. Ginny went to the entrance hall to keep a look out for Harry and the headmaster. Ron and Neville headed for the Room of Requirement.

They parted ways immediately. Ron and Neville took off in one direction, Ginny flew down the stairs, and Luna took a direct right to go to Minerva's office. Hermione went down part of the way with Ginny, but then kept going.

"Severus!" she cried, throwing the door open. She heard him in the bedroom, the rustle of blankets pulled jerkily off, the creak of the bed. He wrenched the door open before she was three steps into the room, wearing only his sleep pants but with his wand held in front of him.

"What is it? What's happened?"

"Harry heard Malfoy celebrating in the Room of Requirement not an hour ago."

"And the headmaster has left?"

"Yes. He took Harry with him."

"You're joking."

"I wish I was."

Severus turned around and began dressing. The room was cold with his Occlumency shields, and she raised her own to keep from bursting into tears.

Hermione looked down at the map in her hand. Luna was still talking to Minerva; there was time.

"It's too soon," she muttered, and realized her shields had slipped. Frowning, she wiped the tears off her face and focused.

"What's happening, then?" His voice was cold. It helped her center on her own blankness.

"I don't know what measures Dumbledore put in place before he left, just that he took some steps."

"He didn't condescend to share that with me, either."

Hermione nodded. Judging from the fact that Severus had been asleep, Dumbledore hadn't even told him that he'd be leaving the school.

"I see Lupin and Bill on the Map, down by the gate."

"Practically outside the school. What the hell are they thinking?"

"Probably that nothing is going to happen. They've been called in for extra support so often this year and nothing has happened…"

"Shit." Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. His shields crumbled, but he put them back in place before he opened his eyes again.

"And there will be Aurors in Hogsmeade. That's standard by now."

"Send your Patronus. Mine won't do."

She nodded and did so, then watched the dots for Lupin and Bill begin to move toward the castle proper. A dot labeled Nymphadora Tonks appeared a moment later.

"Minerva will get the staff up, lock the students in their dormitories."

"Ron, Luna, Neville and Ginny are out," Hermione said, pointing to their dots on the Map. Luna was on her way to the dungeons; they were running out of time.

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," he said under his breath. I don't want to do this. The thought reached her clear as day.

"There," Hermione said, her knees almost giving out. A dot labeled Fenrir Greyback had just appeared in the corridor outside the Room of Requirement. The dots for Ron and Neville were reacting. A dot for Bellatrix Lestrange joined them in the hall. Then Alecto Carrow.

Hermione sent a Patronus to the Heads of House, telling them that there were Death Eaters in the Room of Requirement.

She turned and headed for the door, but Severus caught her before she opened it, pinning her to the wall beside the door with his body. He kissed her roughly, desperately plundering her mouth.

"Try not to die," he growled, black eyes pinning her in place just as surely as his body was.

Before she could answer, he'd turned her out in the hall and closed the door on her. According to the Map, he was pacing on the other side. She jogged down a bit and hid herself, more or less, in an alcove just as Luna arrived.

"Here," she whispered, hoping the girl wouldn't be able to tell how thoroughly she'd just been kissed.

"Professor McGonagall says we should go back to our dormitories," Luna said, but she didn't seem inclined to follow the order. The two of them stood in the shadows, watching the dot labeled Filius Flitwick approach the office at what could only be a dead run.

"Severus! Severus!" he was shouting. He flicked his wand and the door flew open; he darted inside. "Death Eaters! Death Eaters in the castle, Sever—oof!"

Luna darted out of the alcove, Hermione quick at her heels. Severus appeared in the doorway, face blank and cold. He looked at Luna, barely sparing Hermione a glance.

"Professor Flitwick has had an accident. See to him."

Luna dashed into the sitting room, falling to her knees beside her Head of House. Hermione stayed in the hall, meeting Severus's blank eyes with her own blankness, and then he was gone in a swirl of black robes.

Hermione stepped into the sitting room and cast a diagnostic on Flitwick. He'd just been Stunned; easily remedied.

"What? What!" Flitiwck cried, blinking up at them.

"We've been betrayed," Hermione said, feeling the cold radiate off her, wondering if either of them had had Occlumency or Legilimency training, if they'd be able to feel it.

"Oh no," Flitwick moaned. "Severus…"

Hermione stood and turned away, then set off for the Room of Requirement at a run. The Map was harder to read when moving, but a staircase forced her to stop while it shifted and she took a good look. The fighting was centralized near the Astronomy Tower. She started moving again.

She heard the fighting before she saw it. Then there were students running through the halls, in pajamas and dressing gowns, confused. She rounded a corner and there were Death Eaters everywhere. The Order was there, too, and the professors.

Hermione wished she had her knife, the wraps for her hands and wrists. She felt naked in a fight without them. She didn't even have her wand sheath; she was in her school uniform. She shed the robe, freeing herself from the drape of it around her legs and the overlarge sleeves. The skirt and blouse that remained weren't ideal, but at least they wouldn't constrict or impede movement.

First a small gray-haired wizard with a cruel smile; she hit him with a nonverbal Reducto that tore away most of his rib cage. The tall witch who had been beside him turned to avenge him, and Hermione treated her to a left hook followed by Incarcerous.

And so it went. Hermione never stopped moving. Curses flew everywhere, but she had the Felix humming through her, nudging her. She ducked and weaved. She conjured bindings where she could, leaving a trail of Death Eaters wrapped in rope. She collected wands, tucking them into the waistband of her skirt.

When she finally reached the corridor by the Astronomy Tower, she was only just in time to watch part of the ceiling fall in. She cast the first charm she'd ever learned, Wingardium leviosa, catching the huge chunks of stone before they could crush Ron. She flicked her wand, sending the stones careening into the masked Death Eater he'd been dueling instead.

There was dust everywhere. People were screaming, shouting curses and counter-curses. The air was heavy with the smell of blood and smoke.

And then Severus came careening down the stairs from the Astronomy Tower, dragging Draco by the collar. A stream of Death Eaters followed, all of them smiling. Hermione's heart clenched in her chest, but her Occlumency held.

"It's over, time to go!" Severus shouted, his voice penetrating the fighting.

The Death Eaters fell back, beginning to follow Severus. Harry appeared at the base of the Astronomy Tower, looking around, honing in on Severus, then taking off again at a run. Hermione found herself engaged in a duel with a huge masked Death Eater before she could follow Harry. The Death Eater's spells were silent and quick; he almost got her a few times. She got lucky in the end. One of his spells ricocheted off her Shield, blasting back at him. His Shield wasn't quick enough and he stumbled back, giving her time to cast Sectumsempra. She didn't stay to watch him bleed.

Hermione tore through the school, following the trail of destruction left by the retreating Death Eaters. They'd run out of people to duel when they'd moved away from the Astronomy Tower, but they'd kept causing damage. Portraits were scattered across the floor, their occupants crying in different frames. Several tapestries were on fire. Curtains ripped to shreds. Windows shattered.

Her Occlumency almost slipped again when she made the grounds. Hagrid's hut was burning, and Buckbeak was swooping down on Severus. Oh, God. No! But then Severus was gone; no more Death Eaters.

Hermione ran for Hagrid's hut. It wasn't Fiendfyre, thank goodness, but it was burning hot. There wouldn't be much left, even if it wasn't cursed fire.

Hagrid himself burst out the door with Fang in his arms, then rushed over to a dark spot on the grass Hermione saw to be Harry. Nobody was screaming, so she figured they would be okay for the moment and focused on the fire. She cast suppressing charms and then conjured water, directing a jet of it at the burning house.

"Yeh all righ', Harry? Yeh all righ'?" Hagrid was saying "Speak ter me, Harry…"

Hermione thought she might be sick. All she could smell was the burning house.

"I'm all right," Harry panted. "Are you?"

They kept talking, but Hermione had moved closer to the hut and couldn't hear them over the crackle of the fire. A moment later, two more jets of water joined hers. At last, the flames were extinguished.

"S'not too bad," Hagrid said behind her. "Nothin' Dumbledore won' be able to put righ'…"

Hermione turned to look at Harry, watched him go still, watched the horror crawl over his face. She closed her eyes.

"Hagrid…"

She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't. Not for him. Not after what he'd made Severus do, after what he'd made her do.

"I was bindin' up a couple o' bowtruckle legs when I heard 'em comin'," said Hagrid. "They'll've bin burnt ter twigs, poor little things…"

"Hagrid…"

"But what happened, Harry? I jus' saw them Death Eaters runnin' down from the castle, but what the ruddy hell was Snape doin' with 'em? Where's he gone—was he chasin' them?"

Hermione turned away, looking back at the smoldering wreckage of the hut so they wouldn't see her tears. It was too awful.

"He…" Harry cleared his throat. "Hagrid, he killed…"

"Killed?" Hagrid's disbelief struck her to the core. Again. So many things tonight were cutting her to the quick. Would anything be left in the morning? "Snape killed? What're yeh on abou', Harry?"

"Dumbledore," Harry said. "Snape killed… Dumbledore."

Hermione was on her knees in front of the hut. Harry and Hagrid kept talking, Hagrid not believing. She couldn't seem to move. She couldn't breathe. She wasn't sure her heart was beating anymore, and her brain had certainly ground to a halt.

Pull yourself together, you fucker, she ordered herself. It didn't work.

They left her there. She wasn't even sure they'd noticed she was there, actually. Hagrid hustled Harry along to the castle, patting him along like he was a confused child.

Dumbledore is dead, it echoed in her head. My husband has fled the castle.

She put her head in her hands and cried.