Prompt: Mischief Managed

Chapter 28: Expose

Hermione led Minerva into the cabin. The headmistress had released Lilith and was guiding the witch in with the threat of her wand. Holding the door open, Hermione finally made eye contact with the woman she thought had been protecting her and her son. It was such duplicity, her mind was trying to come up with some other explanation. She pointed Lilith to a chair. "She can use wandless magic," Hermione warned before opening a small closet next to the stove. "Liam, mischief managed."

Revealing the secret words in front of anyone didn't sit entirely right with Hermione, but her life as she currently knew it was over. Wherever they ended up next, they'd have different enemies and a different home. With a small pop the wall in the back of the closet disappeared to reveal a scared Liam. He peered around his mum and clearly wasn't convinced the danger was over. "Who is that?" he whispered in the direction of Minerva.

Hermione forced a smiled. "Do you remember when we talked about Hogwarts? The castle you saw?" When he nodded, she continued, "That's the professor in charge of all of it." McGonagall hadn't confirmed that entirely; however, if she was permitted to see the book of admittance it was the only answer. "And she's an old friend of mine." Taking his hand she led him to the stern woman who was looking on with interest.

Trusting his mother, Liam followed and stuck out his hand, "Liam Granger. I like the towers on your castle," he said confidently.

The corners of Minerva's mouth curled upward as she took his hand. "Professor McGonagall. It's nice to meet you Liam. I quite like the towers myself."

"Why don't you go to your drawing table. We need a minute," she told her son. Once he was settled, Hermione put a shield around him and a silencing charm. "I wanted his last name to be Potter, but I worried it would give him away," she said quietly as she watched him glance over at the three women occasionally. He sensed there was something still wrong but knew enough not to push the issue yet.

"The book knew he was a Potter," Minerva supplied.

"Harry is really alive?" Hermione choked around the words. She looked from Minerva to Lilith. She wanted answers but was afraid of all of them.

Lilith understood she was the one with those answers and spoke up. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I was asked to protect you and I did."

"Oh you did more than that," Hermione shot back. "Who asked you to do this?" When Lilith didn't answer, Hermione stepped closer. She knew who it was. She always suspected she knew who saved her. She thought he did it to help her and never pushed the issue. "It was Snape. Just say it."

At the declaration, Minerva let out a small breath. "Severus did this?"

Lilith's attention was divided between the two witches. One was emotionally hurt, the other had demonstrated they weren't opposed to using offensive spells. "He didn't know the war would last this long. I was meant to heal Hermione and keep her safe until Voldemort was destroyed," she explained, then addressed Hermione directly, "And it was important to him to make sure you and Liam had a chance to have a happy life."

"Which is it? He wanted to keep me safe until Voldemort was destroyed or he wanted me to have a happy life? Those don't sound like the same thing," Hermione shot back, feeling the anger building. Minerva stepped closer to her, rested a hand on her shoulder. "What's that?" Hermione asked sharply, brushing off the headmistress and pointed at a piece of parchment peeking out of a pocket Lilith had her hand in. "Accio," she cast. The small square parchment flew into her hand.

Lilith started to stand in protest. A glare of warning from Minerva had her sitting back down. "What is it?" McGonagall asked, looking over Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione read the two words. Her stomach dropped. She knows. "You sent this to Snape? You're still helping him?" She wanted to lash out. Desperately wanted to unwind everything.

Minerva took the note, read it for herself. "Miss Granger, we need to get word back to the Order. If the Death Eaters find out about you before Harry does, it could go terribly wrong."

"We can't just send him a message. He can't find out like that. We can't do that to him," Hermione pleaded, noticing that Liam was no longer drawing. He was watching the scene. Even though he couldn't hear what they were saying, any pretense that the three adults were just catching up was over. "I can't bring Liam back there. It's too dangerous."

"He can come to the school. It's the safest place in England. Harry has seen to that," Minerva offered.

Hermione wasn't ready for any of this. She had to prepare Liam to go out into the world on his own. She thought she had years to figure out how to do that. Taking him with her into a war she left behind hadn't entered into the equation. She couldn't leave him in the states either. Finally nodding, it was clear her secret life was over. The safety she felt was gone. "We're bringing her with us. How do we travel to Hogwarts from here?"

"Carriage. It will take several hours. I can send word to Remus and Ron. They're closest to Harry and can intervene if the news spreads too quickly."

Remus and Ron. Hermione thought about the visions Liam had. It made more sense now. He saw the interactions through the horcrux in Harry. She swallowed hard. She thought she had a way to destroy the soul fragment within Liam. She didn't know if it could save Harry too. "I need to pack some things," she said, faced Lilith. "I might need you. Are you coming willingly?"

The dark haired witch spread her hands out, palms up in supplication. "I've only ever wanted to help you. I'll come."

Not trusting herself to say more without hexing the witch, Hermione lowered the shield around Liam. She knelt down to eye level, took both his hands in hers, "We need to go on a trip. We're going to go to the castle."

"We are?" he asked, trying not to sound too excited. He'd never left the land protected by the enchantments but he understood about the world. His mother had made sure of that. He wanted to see all the things they had read about.

Hermione wondered how she'd explain to him about his father. How Harry would react to learning he was a father. The uncertainty of it all gripped her throat. She pulled out the letter Minerva gave her. The invitation to attend Hogwarts. Turning it over, her fingers traced the name, Liam Granger-Potter. "This is yours. You can open it in the carriage and I'll try to answer all your questions. Pack some things that are the most important to you. We might not be back here for a while." Or ever, she finished in her head. Grateful she made another bag with an undetectable extension charm, Hermione got to work packing up her life as small as it was.