A/N: Whew, I did not just drum this up after I got home from work, did I? No, of course not *whistle* Anyhoo. Here we go.

-0-

The amount of homework Hermione had to do to feel even remotely prepared for her exams was profound. She was already on her way to a full-blown panic as she made the list in her head when a voice interrupted their trudge back to the Tower.

"Mr Potter, sir, the Headmaster requests your urgent attention. You are to go to his office at once."

Hermione frowned as she looked sideways at Harry, who seemed just as confused as she was, so she turned back to the Portrait that had called out to them.

"Did he say why?"

"He did not," the Portrait winced. It hesitated then shrugged, but Hermione did not elaborate. "My apologies, my Lady."

"No matter. You can tell him we'll be there shortly."

"As you wish."

She turned to the boys and looked at them carefully.

"Harry, do you have your knife on you?"

"No," he muttered. "I haven't been carrying it with me."

"Fair," she mused. She looked up towards the tower and back at Harry. "Ron?" He nodded. "Can you take our books? If Harry needs something, I guess we'll come back up but," she suddenly felt like the feeling of dread she'd been carrying around with her was about to come to fruition. "In the meantime. Here, let me -" She took out her wand and shrunk down both sets and gave them to Ron who put them in his pocket. "Listen to me," she said seriously. "If you don't immediately go to our corner and put both of them in my bag I will be seriously unhappy, okay?"

"I got it," he protested.

"Says the guy who put his newspaper clipping in his tea two days ago."

"Yeah, alright," he chuckled. "I will."

"This is my entire schoolwork. Put it away in my bag. Harry's too."

"I will!"

She gave him a look and turned back to Harry. He'd gone a peculiar grey colour as she and Ron had been arguing and she rubbed his arm.

"Come on, I'm coming with you."

The look of thanks he gave her was enough to make her smile and she made sure Ron knew what he was supposed to do with their books, and what he should tell Ginny and set off back down to the central Castle beside him. They didn't speak but she could feel the trepidation rolling off him in waves.

"It'll be alright," she whispered.

He was about to reply when someone tumbled out of a side corridor and nearly collided with them.

"Whoopsy Daisy," Professor Trelawney said with a chuckle. "Terribly sorry, I didn't see you there."

Hermione frowned at her and rolled her eyes, but Harry was slightly less dismissive.

"Are you alright Professor?"

"Oh, yes, you know," she glanced back the way she came and shrugged. "The Magic works in mysterious ways."

Hermione couldn't help but scoff.

"Did you need help with something Professor?" Harry asked. It was clear he wanted to do anything he could to prolong the arrival at Dumbledore's office.

"Harry -"

"Oh, no dear. Nothing really. I was just trying to dispose of some," she glanced around. "Libations in a place I know of. There's a rather ingenious cupboard on the Sixth floor, did you know? Open secret. It's used to lose quite a number of things."

Hermione blinked and looked at her.

"Sorry, Professor," she asked, shocking Trelawney. Apparently, the woman hadn't realised she was there. "Are you saying you tried to get into the Room of Requirement?"

"Oh, what a delightful name. Yes, I was just about to place my things down when I heard some sort of dreadful noise and when I called out for the noise to identify themself," she made a face. "Because not all voices have faces, you see -" Hermione rolled her eyes hard enough that she winced. "I was thrown out."

"Wait," Harry said. "Someone was in there with you?"

"Yes indeed," she smiled. "It is not unusual. But the voice did not elucidate why it was hovering, but then," she sighed. "Some of us do truly have The Gift."

Hermione reached forward and squeezed the woman's hand. She pulled away sharply as she realised that her emotions were calm and collected and it suddenly occurred to her that Trelawney was giving up the drink and had gone to hide the bottles.

"I believe you should tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said absently, trying to get the woman walking before she could refuse. "Did you happen to see where the voice came from? Did you see anything?"

"No," she sighed. "But once I was outside, someone was hooting and laughing and sometimes the stress does do that to people."

"Like they were excited about something?" Hermione asked insistently.

"Oh yes," she smiled. "Quite excited."

Hermione felt clammy all over.

"We're on our way to Professor Dumbledore," she said purposefully. "Won't you join us?"

"Oh," she smiled. "Don't mind if I do. You know," she said quietly as they walked. "I do not care much for wizards who do not understand The Ways but Albus Dumbledore is a man of honour.

"Oh?" Hermione asked, trying to pick up the pace.

"He was the one that interviewed me when I first applied for the job. I recall," she chuckled. "Because I felt so odd that afternoon. Such funny business going on in the ether." Harry glanced at Hermione purposefully but she didn't need it to realise that Trelawny was talking about Prophecy that Dumbledore had told them about earlier.

"I only mention it," Trelawny chuckled. "Because we were quite interrupted. Severus was caught eavesdropping at the time -"

"Wait," Harry said. He grabbed the woman's arm and they all stopped abruptly. Hermione tried to distract him a little by reaching for him, but Harry wasn't having it. He stared up at Trelawny and asked again. "Snape was? He was there?"

"Oh yes," she smiled. "Dumbledore threw him out. It was rather a different world," she sniffed. "I don't recall much more than that."

They set off again but Hermione's brain was racing. At the same time, she could feel something prickling at her and she glanced over and saw Harry marching beside them with his hands curled into fists. His reaction bothered her, but they were not in a position where she could stop them and ask so they carried on to Albus' office. When they arrived, she nodded to the Gargoyle and they rode up the spiral staircase in silence.

"Ah -" Dumbledore paused. "Sybil, welcome, dear lady."

"The professor was in the Room of Requirement," Harry growled. "She heard someone shouting and laughing." Hermione watched on. "Like they were happy about something."

"Oh, well," he chuckled. "It is always nice when one master's something we try to teach. Good evening, Sybil, I am glad to see you down amongst us."

"Oh," she said airily as she turned to go. "It is only fair that I walk among the people from time to time."

She turned and seemed to float away but it wasn't until Albus heard the door at the bottom of the stairs click that he turned back to them.

"Harry -"

"She was there," he said angrily. "She saw Snape eavesdropping."

Albus paused and glanced at her. Hermione stared at him and shrugged but didn't comment. Harry was angry enough that he would probably do okay in this particular instance.

"He was," Albus agreed. "But that is all we can speak of -"

"Draco has completed whatever it was he was trying to. He's done it. And Snape's helping -"

"Harry -"

"Why won't you see?!"

"I trust Professor Snape implicitly. Whatever Mr Malfoy is doing is nothing to concern yourself with. Professor Snape remains in my trust. For now," Albus said in that way of his that brokered no argument. "That is all I will say."

Harry was seething and she reached out to take his hand. He pulled away and glared at the Headmaster.

"You are purposefully ignoring the facts."

"Harry -"

She held up her hands when he turned to her but Albus did not have the patience to let him finish.

"Harry, I will not speak on this further. I need you to go and get your Invisibility cloak and meet me by the front doors."

That shocked him and the wind fell from his sails as he stared.

"What? Why?"

Albus glanced at the two of them and picked up his hat.

"I have found the Horcrux. We must retrieve it at once and I did warn you that you would be coming with me."

"I -"

"I leave the Castle in Minerva's hands," he said almost jovially as he turned to Hermione. "And yours, of course. Will you convey that to her, for me?"

"I will," she said quietly. The realisation that Harry was about to leave the castle made her gut twist and she tried to bite back the next words but she couldn't. "Albus?" she said quietly.

"Yes?"

She looked at Harry for a long time before she met the Headmaster's eyes.

"You will bring him back or you will not come back at all."

His eyes widened just a little before he could school his features though Hermione felt no glory in it. He stared at her for a long time and she wondered how many people who could use Occlumency peered into people's minds unannounced on a daily basis. It was that thought that caused her to recall the fact that her mind was impenetrable.

Albus bowed his head and then turned to Harry.

"Quick as you can, please."

She pushed Harry out of the office and they ran up and up and up until they arrived at the Tower.

"I don't have time, let us in," Hermione instructed. The Fat Lady swung outwards in a hurry and they ran over to their corner where Ginny and Ron were chatting quietly.

"Hey," she muttered. "So Harry's leaving and we're not."

"What?" Ron asked.

Ginny got up and hugged Harry tightly.

"It's alright," Hermione whispered. "Harry, go get your cloak."

He left and she turned back to the other two. Do you have your DA coins on you?"

"No?" Ron muttered. "It's by my bed though."

"Go get it," she instructed. "I'll tell you once you've got it."

She and Ginny shared a look and Ginny took a deep breath and rolled her neck.

"Be calm for him," Hermione muttered as Harry leapt down the last four steps. "He needs calm."

Ginny nodded and attempted a smile as Harry joined them. His hands were twitching and she grabbed one of them before he could protest and met his eye.

"Calm," she whispered. "It's going to be alright."

Ron came back down and they put their heads together under one of Hermione's silencing spells to make sure they weren't overhead.

"He's going with Albus to retrieve something we were searching for. We're staying here but I have to go and tell Min. Use your DA coins, I warned Neville a few weeks ago to start carrying his around again so use him if you need to. We are also pretty sure that whatever Draco was trying to do?" Ron blinked at her. "He has done. So we have to be on our guard."

"Use the map," Harry said, pulling the Marauder's map from his pocket. "Keep an eye on things."

"Good luck," Ginny whispered as she hugged him a final time.

"You got this," Ron muttered as he shook Harry's hand. Hermione walked with him out of the Tower and back down towards the doors.

"Hermione," he whispered. "I -"

"I know," she nodded. "It's going to be alright."

"But," he hugged. "If he trusts them, what does that mean," he asked. He stopped and turned to her. "Can I trust him?"

"That is up to you," Hermione said softly. "What you can do, Harry, is trust me." Harry looked at her in desperation. "You can rely on me because I will not ever let anyone hurt our family."

"I -"

"We've been practising," she whispered. "We've been preparing you for this moment for months. And I'm so sorry I haven't been as diligent as I should have been."

"You've had a lot going on," he mumbled. "We did it," he shrugged. "Ginny and me."

"Good," she smiled. "So you're ready," she clarified. "You can face anything that comes at you. You can do this, all you have to do is stay calm. Think clearly. Take deep breaths when you feel like it's going to overwhelm you."

He nodded and then hugged her hard before he turned and ran off towards the doors. She didn't follow, knowing that some of how he dealt with things was on his own. Instead, she turned back towards the corner of the Castle where Minerva would be and set off for there instead.

"Afternoon," Michael said jovially as she walked up to him.

"It is," she nodded. She stopped him before he opened the portrait and he stared at her carefully. "I do not know what is going to happen, Michael, but I need every single portrait on the lookout. Every suit of armour. Can we do that?"

"Aye lass," he said with a grim nod. "We can do tha'."

"I have to tell her, then I guess we'll figure it out."

"Be careful," he said quietly as he opened the portrait and disappeared out of the frame.