Warning(s): Prejudice; Discord

AN: A white supremacist troll left a review on this story again, if y'all could help me report the review until it's taken down, I'd appreciate it.

~o0o~

Hermione smacked off her alarm and rolled over to go back to sleep. Something she hadn't done in a long time. Maybe she just really needed the sleep. She buried her face in the warm, furry thing next to her, eyes glued shut. She was roused when she sensed a wave of magic. Not entirely though. She half opened her eyes, the sunrise was still a watery grey. Though that could be due to an overcast.

Cedric shivered and tensed up, his fur melting into his skin, his snout shrinking back to a flatter human face. It sounded painful. She could hear the crack in his joints and bones as they returned to his human frame. Rather than scream like he did when his transformations were new, he simply groaned. It was a low, deep, pained sound.

Transformation complete, he went limp, his hair falling into his face and his body shivering. Hermione tucked the blankets around him and got up to retrieve the after potion. He swallowed it with some difficulty and accepted that chocolate drop she offered to chase away the taste.

It wasn't her turn to cook breakfast. Which usually meant everyone had cereal or toast. She was so tired. Curling up, she drifted off dreaming of odd things, but nothing that would scare her into wakefulness.

The sun woke her a few hours later. She stared at the beam of light on the wall and tried to decide if she should bother getting up.

Cedric whimpered softly and shifted. He muttered a curse under his breath and got up. Hermione closed her eyes while he stumbled around and got dressed. The simple act sounded like agony. Though she supposed she would have a hard time moving too if she went from a biped to quadruped and back again in a single night.

"God, Cedric, just lay back down," she said.

"Hermione!" he gasped. "Er… I'm sorry. I mean, I am there, I have my mind but without the medication I have no impulse control. That's, er, that's why I acted like I did."

She sat up and looked at him. He looked awful. Pale and shaking. Like he had a really bad bout of flu.

"Lay down," she insisted.

He hesitated and went back over, laying down. Hermione used a warming spell on the blankets and wrapped him up.

"I'm going to get you something to eat," she said and got up, pulling on her dressing gown. "Rest. Don't worry about a thing. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispered.

She went downstairs to the kitchen and put together some scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and tea for him.

"Morning," said George. "How is he?"

"Hurting," she said, "Do we still have a mob?"

"No, Lee and I went out and bought some booze. Calmed them right down."

"Well, that's good. As soon as I get what I need from Sirius, we'll start moving them out." Hermione picked up the tray and carried it upstairs.

"Oh, so the beast gets better food than we do?" Reginald Cattermole spat as she passed.

"Reg…" said Mary. "Shut up."

"Mary—"

"I said shush!"

Hermione didn't acknowledge him. She didn't have the energy to get into a fight. She entered her room and set her food down on the table before bringing the tray to Cedric. She set it down next to him and helped him sit up to eat.

"If it makes things harder on you, you don't have to take care of me," he said. "I can manage."

"Hey…" she rubbed his back. "It's fine. You can just do the same when it's my time of the month."

He huffed a soft laugh.

"Nia? Are you there?"

Hermione got up and went over to her desk, answering the mirror to Sirius.

"Hello, Sirius," she said. "Got the stuff?"

"Yes, I'm sending it over to you now. All you need to do is take pictures of everyone and swap them with the paper in the passports," he said. "Make sure you seal it with Arithmancy. I've got passports, identification numbers, and backgrounds for them."

"Great. Do I want to know how you accomplished this?"

"Nah. It's alright. The Delacours know my contact in case something happens to me. I'm sending them to you now."

"Okay, good. Thank you." She opened the chest and lifted out the file box. "I'm just going to do a comparison check. I'll let you know when we're taking the first batch."

"I'll be ready," he said.

Hermione went through each file, double-checking for spelling errors or smudges, or anything that would raise a red flag at a glance.

"Mimi?"

"Hm?"

"You haven't been using magic," Cedric noted. "I just realized it. Since Monday. I would have… well, last month when I transformed you sat with me for a bit in your otter form until I fell asleep, but that didn't happen."

"No," she said. "I can't cast any magic at the moment. I used up too much during our rescue mission, see."

"I never… I didn't know you could run out like that," he said.

"It's difficult to do." She rested her arms on her desk and sighed. "Of course, most people can't wield the amount of magic I do. Not without years of training anyway. But wixen have a finite amount of magic they produce, they just don't notice because they've never done five days worth of magic in what was technically two hours."

Cedric hummed and she knew he was withholding a lecture. He knew that she had weighed the cost and decided it was worth the risk.

Since he said nothing else, she made a list of who was going where, making sure she kept families together and kept track of who was willing to take how many. When that was done, she stacked it all up.

"I'm going to distribute these," she said. "Call me if you need anything."

"You know I won't. I'll just suffer in silence."

"If you insist." She went downstairs and found Fred. "Hey, mate, can you get everyone to the library? I have an announcement."

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Can't you just send a patronus?"

"No."

She turned and headed to the library to set up. She brought out the whiteboard and drew out the order in which they would leave.

They gathered fairly quickly, but were all wrapped up in their own conversations and complaints. Hermione raised her hand, touching her middle and ring fingers to her thumb while her forefinger and pinkie stuck straight up.

"Quiet Coyote!" she called. "Shh! Quiet Coyote."

That baffled them enough to get them to settle down.

"Right. I've got everyone's new identities," she said, holding up the box. "I also have your new locations. These identities will ensure that you cannot be tracked down. We don't know how far the Death Eaters' grasp is, so it's safer to put all of you who don't want to join the resistance in witness protection essentially. I have given it a lot of thought and I think it's safest if we move you out five or six families at a time."

This brought up a wave of protests. Hermione waited a moment then made the hand gesture.

"Quiet Coyote. Quiet Coyote." She waited until they settled. "Thank you. I know it isn't fun, but can you imagine the red flags it would send up if all of you interspersed from our secondary location at once? They'd be able to track you down easily.

"The Death Eaters may be idiots, but they aren't stupid, they'll know something is up. Now, Draco, Cedric, and I will be smuggling you out undercover in our cars. We can't move too much or the No-Maj governments might get suspicious, but rest assured we will be moving you out as quickly and safely as possible."

"Why can't we apparate or use a portkey?" someone asked.

"Because those would draw members of magical government to our location and they would send you back and tell you to apply for sanctuary."

"Why don't we apply for sanctuary?"

"We did, they denied it due to no official threat being announced by the I.C.W."

"Well that blows," said Lee.

Hermione nodded. "Exactly."

"What if some of us take the train?" asked the No-Maj partner of a wizard. "They wouldn't expect that."

"But you would still need someone who can get you to the base," said Hermione. "Someone our base master recognizes and can verify the identity of. We'd also need money for train tickets. Though would we save money in the long run?" She pressed her fingers to her mouth. "I'll have to run the numbers."

"What's the cover?" Draco asked. "If it's those Canadians you can count me out."

"Our main cover is a music group by the name of the Piranha Plants."

"That's a silly name," said Derrick. "What imbecile came up with that?"

"I did," said Hermione.

"Ah, what I mean is… you'd have to be an imbecile not to see what a great name that is!" He laughed nervously.

"Nice save," she said. "It's too late for notes anyway. We already got the merch.'

She opened the second box and lifted out the shirt.

"I didn't request it," she said before a lecture could start about money. "Sirius just loved the name so much that he sent us a box with t-shirts and buttons. It's probably good to maintain the cover."

"Problem," said Draco. "I only play classical music and based on the style of that print, I doubt what you have in mind is not something I could play."

"That's alright," she said. "I doubt we'll actually perform. Our other covers will include documentary crew, indie filmmakers, university kids on a road trip, or, and this is only if we've exhausted all other options, Mormons."

"Granger, should you be giving away all our plans?" asked Mad-Eye.

Hermione set her jaw. What did it matter? They were being moved out, they would see the covers.

"Alastor Moody, you asked to be on my team," she said. "I would appreciate it if you would allow me to lead rather than question my objectivity—or sanity—at every opportunity. Or, at least, not undermine me in front of everyone."

"You're young, girlie," he said. "You have knowledge, but not experience. There's a way of doing things."

"Remind me how that worked out in the last war?" Fleur asked cattily.

"If we didn't have Nia, we never would have known about the trials until it was too late," said Fred. "And she's run several successful missions already, she knows when something should be kept quiet."

"'ear, 'ear!" said George.

"Boo!" Hermione gave him a thumbs down.

He grinned and winked at her.

She turned back to the whiteboard. "In order to keep suspicion down, I'd like us to have a rest between… let's call them deliveries. If we move too much, we run the risk of getting caught. I'd say it will take us about three months to get all of you out, but staying here will get easier as time moves on and I already have new rooming assignments for some of you at our in-country safe houses. Now, it seems only fair we move you in Alphabetical order by last name."

Cue the protests.

Ignoring them, Hermione finished writing down the estimated dates.

"Again, you're welcome to leave on your own terms," she said above the noise. "You just won't have access to our safe houses. I don't want to force anyone to do something they don't want to do, I just recommend making use of our resources. Erm… I still have to put your pictures on passports, but I'll be setting up my camera just over there. This all shouldn't take more than two days to get done. We'll get the first group moving out by Friday. Saturday at the latest." She nodded. "That's it. Please line up over there. I need a blank curtain and a stool."

Draco set it up for her and stood by to make notes on the order of photos so she could put them with the correct i.d.

"Smile," she said. "It's a passport photo not a mug shot."

"Don't tell me what to do!" said the man.

She rolled her eyes, snapped the picture, and waved him along. It wasn't forever. Just a few more months. She wasn't expecting a legion of yes-men or to be put on a pedestal, but some respect or at least a filter on their bad thoughts would be nice. She had hoped their adoration would have lasted at least a few more days, but she supposed if you were crammed inside shoulder-to-shoulder with nothing to do then you were allowed to be a little bit bitchy.

Still irritated her.

That evening when she brought Cedric some dinner, she found him sitting up on the couch and scribbling in a notebook.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better," he said, "A lot better. Anything I can help you with?"

"How late do you want to stay up?"

He made a small jerk with his head and she realized her words came out wrong. Still, he didn't draw attention to it."

"However late you need me to stay up," he said seriously. "What's the agenda?"

"I need to develop photos, dry them, snd then swap them with the blank papers in the passports," she said. "Also, we need a song for our band. I don't think we'll need to perform, but I'm sure we can find a place for gigs just in case."

"I love the name by the way," he said, admiring one of the t-shirts. "It's just ridiculous enough that they'll think it came from a Muggle."

"That's what I was thinking," she said and looked at him skeptically. "You didn't look into my head to compliment me did you?"

"What? No. Why do you ask?"

"Just checking."

Cedric stirred his dinner thoughtfully.

"If my still being in love with you makes you uncomfortable, I can tone it down."

"I really don't care." She looked at him and winced at the kicked puppy look. "Sorry." She sat down on the floor, facing him. "I still care about you, Cedric. I just… things are complicated right now. I don't see how I can act without somebody getting hurt, and if people are getting hurt, then that breeds resentment and I really don't need anymore enemies right now."

"I understand."

She had a feeling he didn't really, but was taking her at her word and respecting her wishes anyway.

She leaned against the couch and rested her chin on her knees with a heavy sigh. She loved him, she was just still dealing with everything and her emotions were still too big for her body.

"I won't resent you if you never want to get back together," he said. "I won't pressure you into anything you don't want, I just don't see me falling out of love with you anytime soon and it's hard for me to hold my feelings in."

Hermione stared at the embroidery on her jeans.

"I know. Are you done eating?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Let's develop these photos and get these people out of here."

~o0o~

A knock came at her door. Cedric. Hermione hurried over and answered it.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Problem," he said. "I'm using Ari'el Khan for our college kid cover and Carlos Vergara for the news crew cover, my tertiary identity for the Piranha Plants is Vanessa Ravencroft."

"Oh?" She thought about it and realized she had gotten a male i.d. with her stuff. "Oh. Well, there's still some time to fix it…"

"No, I'll roll with it," he said. "I just don't really have any feminine clothes and…"

"And we're closest to the same size without dipping into our guests' clothes," Hermione finished. "I doubt my jeans will fit you, but my skirts got a bit of elastic in them for weight fluctuations. And if they're too big, well… duct tape is your best friend."

She let him in and led him over to her closet.

"You know… I think this would look amazing on you," she said, taking down her lace blouse and her black circle skirt. It had the belt that looked like the lower half of a waistcoat with silver buttons. "Try this on for size. Oh and there are stockings in the top drawer. I assume they won't be looking close enough for underwear."

Cedric snorted and changed in the closet while Hermione finished packing up a go bag. Emergency kit, potions, torches, radio, protein bars. Anything she thought they might need in an emergency.

"So, what are your covers?" Cedric asked.

"Selena Garcia is the college student, Minnie Mosher is the filmmaker, and I guess Inigo Gonzales will be the band member. Do you need makeup? There's time to run out and get some in your shade."

"I'm going to have to," he said. "My scars are rather noticeable."

"That's alright. We'll buy some new brushes too so you can use my eyeshadow palettes. You're also welcome to my lipsticks."

"Thanks." Cedric stepped out in the outfit. "How do I look?"

She lost her words for a second.

"You look amazing," she said in the end.

"Yeah? It fits really well considering it's tailored for you," he said, smoothing the shirt. "I think the ruffles are enough that no one will notice how flat my chest is."

"Yeah and I've got this binder that flattens my chest, so we can probably get some fake boobs for you," she said. "And look, you're welcome to my closet until I can get some dresses that fit you."

"I'll think about it," he said. "I don't want to put you through any trouble."

"There's a lot of downtime between missions," she said. "And I don't want you to feel like you have to hide. You wanna wear dresses? Fine. If anyone takes issue, they can fight me. You can even change your gender and your name if you want."

"That's comforting to know," he said. "As of now, I am a boy and I like my name. My last name I'm willing to change. If I change my mind, you'll be the first I tell. I just like wearing frocks."

"I mean, they're a good piece of clothing," she said. "Hardly different from wizard robes except for the hemline. Want to try a wig?"

"Sure." He selected one of the seven wigs she had on a shelf.

Hermione showed him how to put on the wig cap and fasten it down before putting the wig on and securing the gentle lavender curls. She fluffed it and messed with the fringe to frame his face better.

"Very cute," she said. "It makes your eyes pop."

"I don't have to worry much about five o'clock shadow," said Cedric, rubbing his smooth cheek. "Some with lycanthropy suffer from an excess of body hair while others struggle to grow it. I fall into the latter category."

"Why is that? Cause it all goes under your skin?"

"I suppose. I think it depends on how it affects hormones and you know lycanthropy often has the side-effect of a hyper-metabolism. It's a bit like having a tapeworm in a way. All food, and therefore fuel, goes to the… condition."

"I see. Are you starving, Cedric? Do you need more food? More frequent meals?"

"No. No, I'll be alright," he said. "At least until our resources aren't so strained. I'll let you know if I start thinking about eating the cows."

"Alright. Well, let's go get you some makeup before I have to get dinner going. Go get your shoes on."

"Er… should I change?"

"You can if you want."

He shrugged slightly. "I suppose this is alright."

Hermione got her shoes and jacket on, Cedric came back down when she exited her room. They headed downstairs and she found Draco in the parlor.

"Duckie, Ced and I are going into town in disguise," she said. "We'll be alright, we're just getting some supplies for more disguises."

"Do we have the budget for that?" he asked.

"Yes. Don't worry. It's not a lot, I have most of what we need… Actually, you better come, too. I need to be ready to change your features at a moment's notice. Once I have the exact shade of your skin, I can order cheaper stuff in bulk, but it's hard to guess."

"Oh, makeup." Draco cringed. "Mm… well, I've seen how you could change your face and… I look too much like Father. They might recognize me if I don't change."

He touched his hair, which had grown out and was already fading back to blond.

"How agreeable you're being," she said. "We'll walk into town. It'll do us good."

"Fine, let me get my coat."

While he did that, she let Cecilia know where they were going."

"While I'm gone, can you get a few people to peel and chop potatoes? I need about two bags done. Put them in water so they don't turn brown."

"Yeah, okay."

Draco came back down and did a double-take at Cedric.

"You're dressed like a girl?"

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, then shook his head.

"Whatever."

The trio went into town. There was no official makeup store in town, but they were able to find a decent selection at a corner store. Nothing in Hermione's shade, but she was set in that department. She got them each their own set of brushes, which she found in an overstock bargain bin, then spent time with the samples finding their shade. She could technically use eyeshadow for the contour, but wasn't sure how far she could stretch it. Cedric was just a bit too dark and so his brand options were very limited.

"I don't think I've seen you lot around here."

Hermione glanced over her shoulder. Local boy. Non-magic. Nothing but a possible nuisance.

"Duckie, you have to change your hair," she said, going to the dyes, "You're a roadie for an alternate, experimental duo. What color hair do you have?"

He looked at the hair swatches and shrugged, tapping a dark green. She placed it in the basket.

"I think this is everything," she said. "Know what? No, I need something else."

"Like a date?" the stranger asked.

He was still here?

Hermione ignored him completely and moved over to buy some baking chocolate and mini-muffin tins from the baking aisle as well as red, pink, and white tissue paper.

"Can we afford this?" Draco asked.

"I can," she said. "I have a bit of spending money. What else am I going to use it on?"

"I don't like how that bloke is staring at me," Cedric whispered.

"It's okay," said Hermione. "He's annoying. A gnat. But I don't perceive him as a threat."

She carried the basket to the checkout counter and froze upon recognizing the cashier. Cousin Julia.

"That all for you?" Julia asked.

"Pack of camels," said Hermione, pulling out her fake i.d. and changing her accent.

Julia barely glanced at it and set it down on the counter instead of handing it back. Rude. Hermione paid for everything.

"You three look like you know how to party," said the stranger. "I've got a get together with some mates down at the pub. You should come by."

"That's nice," said Hermione. "But we can't make it."

"Aw, come on, you can take a few hours, can't you?" he said and stepped closer to Cedric. "I'd sure like to get to know you better."

Hermione felt a sting of jealousy and grabbed Cedric's hand.

"Come on," she said. "Lots to do. Much to prepare. Thanks for the invite."

"Yeah. I work at the pub on Reed Street if you ever want to stop by."

Hermione ushered them along and they headed back home.

"Was that Julia?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah. I didn't want her recognizing me so I wanted her to have a fake name." She tapped the cigarettes. "I'll just set these on a countertop somewhere and let whoever wants them take them."

She didn't get any crap about leaving the house. Frankly, she doubted anyone noticed they were actually gone. It had barely been an hour. Even so, she walked into the kitchen and was furious to find that the potatoes hadn't even been washed, much less peeled and chopped up.

Cecilia was skilled at many things but household management wasn't household management.

"I can help," said Cedric. "Just let me go change real quick."

"Okay."

"I'm going to dye my hair," said Draco. "Can I use your stuff for it?"

"Sure, it's in my bathroom. Don't forget to put the vaseline on your ears, too."

"I won't."

Hermione got to peeling potatoes, figuring she could wash them after they were chopped up. Maybe she should have done this before they left, she could've had them soaking in water.

Cecilia walked in and opened the fridge to get a juice box.

"Ceci, why didn't you peel the potatoes like I asked?"

Her cousin looked at her. "Oh. In my defense, I forgot."

Hermione sighed.

"Sorry, prima." Cecilia grabbed a peeler and got to helping.

When Cedric returned, it went by way faster, and before long she had massive trays of shepherd's pie going so she could get started on dessert.

"Ah, chocolate cupcakes," said Cedric.

"Yes. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so I wanted to make sure everyone got a little taste of chocolate," she said. "I'm making a batch of sugar cookies for the chocolate haters."

"That's sweet of you," he said. "The tissue paper is for flowers?"

"That's right. I thought I'd make them while everything is baking."

"I'll help, I'll get the stapler."

She liked crafts. She liked how focusing on them kept her mind busy. She had taken up crochet, preferring how things turned out compared to knitting. She liked bedazzling and scrapbooking. She couldn't draw anything beyond a doodle to save her life, but she liked having her hard work bring something tangible.

They ended up with more flowers than they needed, but that was alright.

"I have the steadier hands, I can frost the cupcakes," Cedric offered once they were cooled.

"If you're sure," said Hermione, heaving the huge bowl of frosting onto the counter.

"Yeah."

While he did that, she put the trays of shepherd's pie into the oven. She still felt antsy. Her hands needed to move. She found twist ties in the junk drawer and attached them to some of the smaller flowers. Cedric hummed to himself as he frosted the cupcakes and cookies, tapping his heel against the stool he was sitting on.

Hermione took the flowers and stood behind him; she fluffed his hair and made an elaborate plait with tiny braids, tying them off with some rubber bands from the junk drawer. She adorned the main plait with the flowers.

"How do I look?" he asked.

"Very pretty," she said.

"When did you learn to do hair?" he asked.

"Mm, I helped Renata out at the shop," she said. "I can't do a professional cut, but I learned to trim and shape hair, style it, apply makeup. Just basic stuff."

"Mm, though to someone who doesn't know how to do all that, you're a professional."

She smiled slightly. "I also had a bit of practice with plaits. Char let me play with her hair."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Hermione got out the plates and readied the trays, cups, and pitchers.

"All done," said Cedric, placing the last frosted cookie on a tray.

"Brilliant, and the pie is ready, too."

She rang the dinner bell and everyone started lining up. Hermione and Cedric passed out trays with dinner. Shepherd's Pie, a salad, a drink, plus their choice of cupcake or cookie. Cedric made sure to put the flowers on the trays.

Most didn't really make note of the treats, but some were tickled at the little gifts.

"Valentine's is tomorrow?" George squawked.

"Yes," said Hermione. "Why?"

"Did you forget to buy me a present?" Lee teased.

"Er, no, but I just remembered—completely unrelated to this—that I need to run out after dinner."

"Mind if I go with you?"

"Er, this is deeply personal."

"It's okay," said Cedric. "We all know about the rash."

Hermione snorted and pressed her hand over her mouth while George swatted at him.

After getting her dinner, she set up a movie in the library. She intended to make it an early night, so she was keeping it to a showing of The Princess Bride and then reminding the first group to have everything packed and ready to go in the morning.

Even with all the planning and the energy she expended, she had difficulty falling asleep. She just worried.

A lot.