6. UNBREAKABLE

"Well I feel like three-headed dog shit" Lavender said as she buttered her toast.

Hermione sat as she did most mornings, at the back of the great hall, with the other trainees. Their table was behind the teachers' table, raised just high enough on a platform to see above the array of tall and pointed hats. Many of the students who, with Hermione, had been a member of Dumbledore's Army, were now working for The Order of The Phoenix. There were some like Lavender Brown, Katie Bell and Susan Bones who were working in the infirmary, learning healing magic. Many like-minded others had set out for St. Mungo's to learn to become healers, but for those like Hermione's friends, they were doing their bit for The Order, here at Hogwarts.

Some, like Hermione, were training to fill vacated or soon to be vacant positions. The first Battle of Hogwarts in her seventh year had killed off many a talented teacher. And others, old or injured, simply didn't feel up for the job anymore. Parvati Patil had returned to work under Professor Trelawney. Trelawney had foreseen her own violent death if she remained in the position of Divination Teacher for much longer, and so it had been she who had first approached the ministry, to demand that the younger generation be trained to take their place if such a time came. The decree had come through almost immediately.

Angelina Johnson sat in the place where Madam Hooch had once sat; a casualty of the First Battle of Hogwarts. Neville Longbottom sat in the chair that once belonged to Pomona Sprout, who had so nearly survived. He glanced up at Hermione and smiled. She nodded at him, kindly. He was so busy these days; he hardly had a spare moment for her. She understood, of course, that he had classes to teach and ingredients to grow. He had to send them to the hospital wing, Shell Cottage, and to Slughorn in the Potions office. Occasionally he would leave notes for Hermione saying 'hopefully catch up soon' or 'hope Snape isn't doing your head in'. He had become so over-encumbered with work, that he'd had to hire an apprentice and an assistant. Just graduated Dennis Creevey sat at the far right side of the table next to another recent graduate - a Hufflepuff student that Hermione didn't know. Hermione sat on the left with Lavender, Katie and Susan. Life had thrown her friends and old classmates all across the country. And by 'life' Hermione realised, she meant Albus Dumbledore.

The Order had needed new members, and so everyone was tasked with recruiting someone they could trust. Lee Jordan would later recruit his father, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinett to The Order. Ron would find the Patil twins and induct them into the fold. Hermione would bring Susan Bones, Lavender Brown and Cho Chang on board. Lavender convinced her parents. Cho quietly brought in her teammates on the Tornados. Ginny Weasley encouraged Dean Thomas, who in turn recruited his best friend Seamus Finnegan and Seamus' mother. Luna Lovegood secretly brought onside dozens of witches and wizards who had been loyal to her father, through a cryptogram in The Quibbler. Harry Potter would be the one to recruit the centaurs, who they had not managed to get on side last time. Hagrid persuaded the acromantulas; another unlikely ally they could not get to fight with them in the first battle. Arthur Weasley had to be told that no he could not! put an advert seeking able-bodied fighters in the muggle newspaper, no matter how badly he wanted to. The crowd of The Order was a young one, which only served to remind them all that many of their predecessors were dead.

As the leader of The Order of the Phoenix, Albus had become, by all rights, the leader of the opposition. Though Voldemort had failed in his first attempt to destroy Hogwarts and gone into hiding once more, Dumbledore had made it perfectly clear to all those he trusted, that he would not stay away forever. It was Severus Snape who had confirmed this with words straight from The Dark Lords' mouth.

3 Years Earlier
One month after The First Battle of Hogwarts
July 1st 1998
Shell Cottage

Hermione sat in a transfigured armchair in the living room of Shell Cottage. To her right was her boyfriend, Ron Weasley and to her left, her best friend Harry Potter. This was how it had always been, the three of them together, all through their years of schooling. They had been through so much together but the hardest by far had been The Battle of Hogwarts. So many people had died; they counted their lucky stars that they got to be here together in the safety of this secret kept house. Bill had learnt from the mistakes of Harry's parents and become his own secret keeper, and so there was not a safer place on earth, Hermione thought. In the room with her were the remaining - and new - members of The Order of the Phoenix.

Remus and Tonks were cooing over their blue-haired baby boy on the cream leather sofa. Kingsley Shacklebolt sat in front of the child and he flicked his wand, swinging a little paper dove back and forth like a pendulum much to Teddy's amusement. Angelina Johnson, a new recruit, sat with her new husband, George Weasley, at her side. He had lost his twin, his other half, and he looked the worse for wear for it. They had not wanted to wait to be married. Life was so painfully short, after all. Lee Jordan perched on the arm of the sofa beside George. He had joined The Order shortly before the first battle, along with Fred and George.

Arthur and Molly Weasley stood behind the sofa, chatting with Aberforth Dumbledore, each with a cup and saucer in their hands, while Fleur Weasley bustled about beside them, laying out food and reheating it with a graceful flourish of the wand. Hestia Jones and Minerva McGonagall chatted in the doorway. Rubeus Hagrid, Charlie Weasley and Horace Slughorn - another new recruit - talked about dragons and other rare magical creatures, each holding a glass of Firewhiskey. Ginny Weasley sat on the floor with her back to Harry's legs. Neville sat to Ginny's left, his hand in Luna's by way of comfort. Her father was in St. Mungo's; a casualty of the war and Neville knew better than anyone what it was like to have parents who lived but were not present.

All of them had lost so many friends, family members and loved ones, and they clung to his bit of normality in the wake of such grief. It seemed that the worst of it was over, so why had Dumbledore summoned them here under these circumstances? Why were they to arrive in the dead of night? Why were they to tell nobody outside The Order? Hermione, Harry and Ron, as well as Ginny, Luna and Neville had all been officially inducted shortly after Sirius' death. The only person who did not see it fit that they join was their mother Molly Weasley. Because she was mother to all of them, wasn't she? Even to Luna and Neville who she did not know well. She had opened her arms to these orphans in the way she had opened her arms to Harry and Hermione. All four of them were without parents. Eventually however, Molly too had conceded that they had done more to face and fight Voldemort than any of them had. With the exception, of course, of Severus Snape, who went between two 'masters' when he was required, to great personal sacrifice. Still he was distrusted by The Order. It was only Dumbledore who would stake his life on Snape's loyalty. And so it was Dumbledore who relayed the news.

"I suppose you wonder why I have called you here under cloak and dagger?" Dumbledore asked and they each nodded, saying nothing. "I said in the wake of the battle at Hogwarts that Lord Voldemort was gone but not forever. It seems that I was not mistaken. I have it on good authority that the Lord Voldemort has gone into hiding but that he has called those he calls Death Eaters to his side. Many have remained loyal unfortunately. In fact I believe that the majority of them still stand with him. The only exceptions I am aware of are the Malfoys who have fled the country and-"

"On whose authority do you have this information, Albus?"

The cynical voice was that of Aberforth Dumbledore, who it seemed, still didn't think too highly of the way his brother conducted himself.

"Mine", hissed Severus Snape, who had appeared in the doorway behind McGonagall and Jones- the latter of whom jerked forward in fright and spilt her tea.

"Of course", Harry muttered under his breath.

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and flashed him a look of deepest irritation.

"Anyway", Dumbledore continued. "He is not gone; he bides his time until he is ready to strike again. This could be months away but more likely it will be years until he has an army big enough to try again. And mark my words, he will try again."

"And you believe this because Snape says so?" Harry said, unable to keep the disdain from dripping out his mouth.

"Yes, Potter", Severus snapped "I say so. And I know it to be true. The fire in the dark mark pulsed just three days ago and it is still black on my arm. If he was gone it would have faded. He called to us, and so we went to him. If I sh- "

"Whip it out then, Snape!" Ron interrupted with a whoop.

Hermione's eyes bored into the side of Ron's head before he turned to face her and blanched under the severity of her stare. She had about had it with these two boys. Because that's what they had reverted to in the last month- children. Something in the freedom from danger had changed them. Hermione caught Severus' eyes and urged him to go on, even though the prickle of his stare was like a thousand stinging hexes. The bat-like figure moved past McGonagall and Jones in a flurry of darkness and stepped into the centre of the room to address them all.

"He has is making plans to first infiltrate the ministry by stealth and then to attack Hogwarts again by force. When he has defeated you, he will move into-"

"Hang on. When he defeats us?"

"Yes, Potter. That is his plan. When. He will not strike again until he is ready. Do you understand me? He has been fooled by a few good wizards, a bunch of house elves, one pitifully gormless giant, a-"

"Hey now!" Hagrid protested.

Snape repeated, his voice thick with impatience.
"One gormless giant... and a gaggle of school children. Do you really think that he wants to be humiliated in such a way again?"

"No."

"Right, then Potter", Snape spat.

He turned back to face Dumbledore.
"You should continue, Headmaster. I don't think they will like what we have to say and so it is better they hear it from you."

Dumbledore nodded kindly
"I believe Severus. He will return. I knew that he would not stay hidden, just as he could not do so before. The call of power is too strong for him to ignore. This time, I believe, as Severus has stated, that he will infiltrate the ministry. There he will have access to the dementors and a host of clueless witches and wizards for him to imperius."

"Then we should warn them!" Harry snapped.

"I am afraid that we cannot, Mister Potter. If we tell them, then we lose our best weapon against Lord Voldemort. The element of surprise."

Dumbledore allowed The Order members to mutter a moment, before silencing them.

"I think that the best course of action is to fool Lord Voldemort into a false sense of security. I want him to believe that we think we have won. I want us to hold a victory party, this weekend, a month exactly to the date. He needs to think we are vulnerable to attack because we do not suspect one. We do not know who we can trust except the people in this room, and I would venture, the children who joined young Mister Potter in, so called, Dumbledore's Army. I believe they are now old enough to fight, if they so wish. That said, I want each and every one of us to go about our business as usual."

He smiled politely as the muttering began to rise back up. Then, again, he silenced them.
"Does anyone disagree?"

Nobody said anything. Even Aberforth and Harry sat quietly.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

A surge of voices from all around the room talking over one another, frantically caused the little Teddy Lupin to erupt into tears. Lupin took his son from his wife's arms and cradled him. The sound of the baby's cry brought everybody back to room and again, they fell silent.

"One at a time perhaps" Dumbledore said.

It was Lupin who spoke up first.
"So, you would like us to carry on our lives as normal, and we do what? Nothing?"

Dumbledore's response was undercut quickly by Ron.
"I don't know about you but I can't sit around on my arse, waiting for shit to hit the fan", Ron said. "I've already lost one brother to Voldemort; I'm not going to lose another because we didn't do anything. Is that really what-"

Another voice interrupted his speech; Minerva McGonagall.
"I trust the headmaster. I imagine that he has something planned; some trick hidden up his sleeve. You do, don't you, Albus?"

Every face in the room shot to Dumbledore to await his response.
"Right" he said "I will answer each question in due time. For now, however... To answer your question Remus... I would ask that you carry on your lives as normal and for the most part, yes, I want you to do nothing. You in particular have something far more important to tend to than Lord Voldemort. You hold in your arms a reason to lay low."

Albus moved backwards, and held his hands tightly as though comforting himself.
"I must confess something... Before this battle, I was foolish. I did not trust you all as you deserved to be trusted. I had information that could have saved people, I'm sure of it. Yet the only people I had dared to give any of it to are Severus, and Harry here. I thought that I was learning from the unfortunate mistake of his parents - our dear friends, James and Lily - I thought that because they had put their faith in the wrong person, that I should put my faith in nobody, except those who I knew were so devastated by their deaths that-"

Snape shot Dumbledore a harrowing glare and Albus swallowed.
"Never mind" he said "... So many people have died in the name of the fight against Lord Voldemort; I will not have anyone else die because I failed to trust you. So know now, that each and every person in this room has my complete and earnest trust. I hope that you will give it to each other. You will all need to learn occlumency; and master it. There is not a person in this room, save perhaps for little Teddy, that I believe cannot do it, and do it well."

"Pfft!"

"Yes even you, Hagrid. You are all, each of you, capable witches and wizards. You must learn to protect your mind, and what you know, in case we are not able to convince Lord Voldemort that we are not readying ourselves for a fight. If you are suspected, you will be questioned. I also fear, I should add, that you could well be tortured for information, if someone thinks that you have it to give. So I warn you now, that we must all be dedicated to convincing the world that we believe we have won the war, when in reality we have just won a single battle... If you wish to leave - if you do not want to carry this responsibility - then you are more than welcome to. Not a soul here will judge you."

Not a single person moved from their place.

"I will give you time to think" Albus said.

"What is there to think about?" Harry asked. "Every single person in this room has given something of their life already to fight him! We are here because we know the risks."

Dumbledore stepped forward and his emerald robes swished around his ankles.
"I understand Mister Potter; however it is unfair to expect everyone to make this decision so quickly. It is not to be made lightly. Therefore I will give all of you the night to think on it. I need you to know that what I intend to tell you is knowledge that Voldemort would kill us all for having. I will ask you therefore, to make an unbreakable vow..."

The room fell to absolute silence.
"... You are under no pressure at all to take it. You will, if you wish, remain trusted members of The Order even if you do not choose to take the vow. However there is information I have that is so sensitive, that I would expect that you would die before revealing it. But!"

Dumbledore cracked a smile.
"To answer Minerva's question. I do indeed have a trick up my sleeve and if I am correct, it will lead finally to the defeat of Lord Voldemort, once and for all. And he will, much to his dismay and our triumph, finally die. It is this information that I will give you."

His face fell once more.
"For those who choose to take the vow, we will all be bound by it. I too, will take it. Again, I reiterate. If you choose not to take the vow, you will still be Order members and you will still be trusted by every person here. Now. Go. Return here after sunset tomorrow. Sleep well, all of you. And please, think long and hard before you make your decision."

Many of The Order returned the next morning to take the vow. For Hermione, Harry and Ron there had been no question. Whatever it was that Dumbledore knew, they needed to be in on it as well. They had not come this far to be kept out of the inner circle now. Everyone who had been present the night before arrived shortly thereafter with the exception of Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Horace Slughorn, Angelina Johnson, Hestia Jones and Aberforth Dumbledore. Ginny - and of course, Teddy - had been excluded immediately because she was not yet of age. Ginny loathed being lumped in with a baby. She took Teddy in her arms, and sat on the staircase while the grownups took their vow.

Dumbledore took to the centre of the living room again, as he had the day before and encouraged the others to stand in front of him, one at a time, and make their vow, not to Albus himself, but to Harry. First he turned to Severus.

"You are aware that I don't need to take a vow, Albus? If The Dark Lord or any of his supporters find out that I know about the... about this secret, and I have not told him, then I will surely die anyway. And since I already know and I have not told him..."

"Then you may as well take the oath, Snape" Remus said gently.

Snape sneered and looked Remus up and down. Then he looked at Harry and his eyes rolled and he exhaled sharply. He looked as though he considered saying something, but then snapped his mouth shut and turned back to the headmaster. Harry held out his arm, and Severus took it, grabbing his wrist a little more tightly than he needed to.

"Go on..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Will you, Severus, keep the secret that I will share in this room regarding Lord Voldemort and the way in which we can destroy him?"

"I will."

"And will you, to the best of your ability protect us... never letting it be known to anyone that we, The Order of Phoenix, know of this secret?"

"I will."

"And should it prove necessary, will you submit to pain, insanity or even death before revealing it?"

"I will."

Each, in turn took their vow to Harry; Harry made his to Dumbledore. They sat in a somber quiet, none willing to say the first word. It was Dumbledore, who finally spoke.

"Mister Weasley" he said, in an animated fashion that spooked a couple of those present. "To answer your question yesterday... No! I don't imagine that you will be able to - how did you so elegantly phrase it? - sit around on your arse. Quite rightly not. You will all want to do your bit and so you shall. However I cannot afford for any of you to appear missing from your regular life. I do not want Lord Voldemort to have even a smidgen of suspicion that we are on to him. Do you not think that it would be a little concerning to Lord Voldemort if members of The Order vanished and showed up in Romania?"

"Why would we show up in Romania?" Ron asked, skeptical.

"Because, Mister Weasley, we will be searching."

Harry sat forward in his chair and put his hand on Ginny's shoulder. He squeezed it. Ron, in a show of support, placed his hand on Hermione's knee.
"Professor, what is the secret? What are we searching for?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore quickly glanced at Snape and then his eyes met Harry's.
"Horcruxes, Mister Potter."

Harry's stare was blank as he waited further explanation. Hermione, however, did not require any.
"That's how he's still alive then?" Hermione asked, "... because he can't die?"

"Oh he can die, Miss Granger," Snape said, his words thick with venom. "And he will."

"You intend to kill him".

It was a statement, not a question. Hermione could see the truth in his black eyes. Snape gave a whisper of a nod in response.

"According to the prophecy, I have to be the one to kill him, Snape", Harry said, coldly.

"I know all too well about the prophecy, Mister Potter."

He spat the word 'prophecy' as though it tasted bitter in his mouth.

"But you are not the only one with a grudge against The Dark Lord." Snape continued. "I, perhaps as much as you, have reason to wish him dead. If I have an opportunity, you had better believe I will take it."

"He killed my parents!" Harry snapped. "He's tried to kill me multiple times. He is the reason Fred is..."

Nobody had dared say it yet. Dead.

"You're his most trusted spy, aren't you, Snape?" Harry mocked. "What could he possibly have done to you that is worse than what he has done to us?"

"I hardly believe it is any of your business. Suffice it to say, Potter; I have much unkindness to repay."