A/N: This whole story is just swerving somewhere I just cannot comprehend. We may not even make it back to school at this rate! Liverpool are currently playing so fingers crossed everyone.
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As they ran from Minerva's rooms, with Michael urging them to meet Filius at the doors, Hermione spared a glance at her lover. She looked resplendent and she grinned as she was caught when they dodged Mrs Norris and leapt onto the stairs.
"We're going to the Great Hall," Hermione instructed.
With a creak that revealed their happiness at being ordered to do something, the stairs stopped, slowly, and settled at the correct landing.
"Leannan," Minerva mumbled as she glanced down at the staircase. "You really are something."
"Later," Hermione chuckled. "Come on."
She glanced at Minerva again as they ran down the final corridor and admired the blush on her cheeks from the exertion.
Shut up, Leannan, I can hear you.
I don't doubt it, Hermione replied cheekily. I'm just admiring this youthful blush you're wearing.
Minerva sent back a rather rude swear word that made Hermione chuckle as they slid around the last corner to absolute chaos.
"FILIUS!" She yelled over the din. "What the hell is going on."
"The Ministry," he called, attending to a bleeding child. "The Ministry has ordered the Muggleborns rounded up."
Hermione's mouth fell open and she glanced at Minerva. They started for just a moment before Minerva drew herself up to her full height.
"Sonoros." Hermione winced over what was to come and leaned away as Minerva started the process of dealing with the, nearly hundred people, on the Front Lawn of Hogwarts. "MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE." Minerva's voice carried over the din and after just a moment, the crowd died down, except for a few small children that sobbed in their parents arms. "Please," she said gentler, this time, but still as loud. "Please help us accommodate your needs. Medical issues, over here. If you cannot move, please get your neighbour to let us know. Anyone else that is not in dire need, please, take your leisure out on the lawn. We'll have some chocolate brought to you as soon as possible. For the meantime please let us work."
Her well-known voice did the trick and a few sparks from wands went up and Filius glanced at them.
"We need them up here."
"I would prefer not," Hermione muttered. "I don't even know these people. It could be a ruse."
Filius stopped as he dabbed a bandage on a forehead.
"Merlin, I hadn't even thought of that."
"Do not let them in Castle," Hermione ordered. "Nobody."
There was a mumble of discontent as the Castle doors closed with a thump.
Our help is inside, Leannan.
And if they're Imperioused we do not need them in danger.
Minerva made a face and glanced around the lawn. Hermione followed suit and decided that they would have to deal with it as it happened.
"Do the most in need first. Separate them from the rest."
Minerva and Filius both nodded and Hermione stepped forward to do the same. One by one, they checked and cleared those that were the worst off and moved them closest to the Castle.
Leannan, I need you.
Hermione spun with her wand drawn and pointed it at the young man in front of Minerva.
"State your name," Minerva said softly.
"Mark Aarons."
Minerva looked up and glanced at Filius, who nodded. There was clearly something untoward going on but Hermione didn't interrupt.
"Mr Aarons, when you were fourteen, what is it that Professor Flitwick wrote home to your parents about?"
Hermione saw it coming before the others, but only a fraction before and in no time at all, three spells crashed into his chest as he drew breath to cast his own.
There were screams all around as two more stood up with wands drawn.
"Bloody hell," Hermione hissed as she took on the woman closest to her while she tried to avoid them aiming for the innocent bystanders.
"This was a marvellous plan," Minerva called as she stood by her side.
Filius was busy moving the innocents around the corner of the Castle.
"Filius?" Hermione called as she shot a rather specific set of jinxes so she could turn and help a couple and their baby. He took the woman's arm as the man helped her as well. "Take them to the Professor's garden, round the side. There's a hole in the wards at the back, closest to the floor. Get as many as you can into the Hallway and close the gap. Have Albus double check them. He's just inside."
"My Lady."
She scoffed as the woman she'd been duelling threw off her spells and shot a number at her as well.
"Alright, love?" Hermione asked over the din.
"Oh yes, an absolutely great end to a brilliant week."
Hermione snorted and did her best to hold off the woman as the stragglers made it around the side of Castle. She decided, now they were without an audience, that they needed to end it where it was. She palmed her wand and slid it back into her sleeve.
"Ready?" she called as Minerva managed to disarm the man and turned to her in preparation.
"As I'll ever be," Minerva shrugged.
"Good."
Her wings whipped up in an explosion of fire and she threw her magic at both of them together. They were blasted off their feet but neither of them got very far. Minerva's magic captured them and simultaneously captured them and gagged them. Hermione breathed out as they dropped back to earth with very little care as she turned to her love.
"Well, that was something."
"Good thinking, Leannan."
"Min? Hermione?"
They turned to find Albus and Poppy standing on the steps, looking at the carnage.
"Just a little hiccup," Hermione chuckled. "What a bloody morning. Poppy, they're around the corner. Albus, would you mind double-checking them all. These three were, at the very least, Imperioused. At worst, they're full-order Death Eaters."
"Where is Alec?" Minerva called.
"He's at yours," Poppy clarified as she slipped around the corner.
Albus gave them a funny look.
"There's something or someone called a Snatcher?" Minerva said as she glanced at Hermione. "They attacked Alec this morning and now this?"
"I will do as you ask and then I will go to the Ministry."
"Al -"
"I will, we need answers."
Minerva looked beseechingly at Hermione but she didn't argue. They did need answers and he was the best one to get them from there, at least.
"The minute you suspect something untoward, leave. And bring Alastor with you, okay?"
"Oh, Merlin, I'd forgotten about him."
"It's okay, Min," Albus said gently. "I'll get him."
She nodded and glanced back at the three perpetrators, two of which were struggling against their bindings and one who looked rather unwell.
"Is he dead," Hermione muttered as she stepped forward. She nudged the man with her foot but Minerva stopped her. She watched as the older woman knelt at his side and pressed her fingers to his neck.
"He is gone," Minerva whispered. She sounded rather sad about it and Hermione frowned until she remembered what Minerva had asked him.
"He was a Ravenclaw?"
"He was a good, kind, boy. A good family, a good background. Not an evil bone in his body."
"Then I am sorry, Minerva," Hermione said gently. "I am sorry that it came to this."
Minerva sighed and bowed her head. Filius joined her barely a moment later and lay his hand on the dead man's head. She left them to it and went over the two that were very much awake and struggling.
"You had better stop that before I decide to give you something to squirm about," Hermione muttered as she nudged the woman with her foot. "If I take the gag off, will you tell me what I need to know?"
The woman's eyes were so venomous, Hermione didn't even bother. She chuckled as she pulled the woman into a seated position.
"I wonder if -"
"Hermione! Minerva!"
She turned to see Lucia and Amalle join them and she turned back just in time to see a potion bottle in the woman's hand. Their eyes met for barely a second before by sheer force of will, she crushed it in her hand.
"DOWN!" Hermione screamed as she leapt from the woman's side and into her family, pressing them down against the grass.
It wasn't an explosion, as such, but the screams from two humans that were slowly and painfully dying was something she did not want to hear ever again.
She rolled onto her back and let a few tears fall as they looked up at where the two were laying. Instead, two scorch marks on the grass and smoke rising into the air.
"Bloody hell," Filius muttered as he put his glasses on. "Thank you Hermione."
"Are you hurt?" Minerva asked, as her hands searched her body.
"No," Hermione said quietly. "It's alright."
"Come, amore," Lucia said gently as she held out her hand. "Come inside."
"Is everyone else -"
"They're fine for the moment," Filius said gently. "It's alright."
Hermione allowed Amalle and Lucia to pull her to her feet and only waited for them to do the same for Minerva. Her lover's hand pressed against her cheek and then she turned and stormed around to the survivors with Filius to organise them, no doubt, into a better formation.
"That's my woman," Hermione chuckled sadly.
"Yes it is," Lucia smiled as she wrapped her arm around Hermione's shoulder. "Come, before they see us and ask questions."
"I need to help," Hermione argued.
"You need to shower," Lucia said gently. "And take a moment. You are still smouldering."
Hermione sighed as she was lead down to the Chamber of Secrets and took a very long shower, where she cried into the water. She had no idea how long she'd been in there when a body wrapped around her and held onto her as she sobbed.
"It's alright, Leannan. I am here."
"Why would they do that," Hermione asked over the water. "Why would they take their own -"
"Because to them, it is a better option than letting us capture them. He has filled their head with such evil, they could not imagine we would treat them with kindness, because they will not, mo ghaol." Hermione growled and scrubbed at her face. "Easy," Minerva chuckled, rubbing her thumbs under her no doubt bruised eyes. "Be gentle with that pretty face."
"It was so perfect, why?" Hermione asked. "Why does it happen like this? Is it our fault? Is our," she shrugged helplessly. "Our happiness for all that is fucked up in the world? Why is it always when we are -"
"It is life, as we know it, right now, my love," Minerva said softly. She scooted closer and sat entwined on the shower floor with the water pouring over them. She eased back the flow a little so they didn't drown and Hermione chuckled as she realised she really should have done that sooner.
"You were busy," Minerva said gently. "Now, look at me?"
Hermione did so and fell in love all over again. The light shining from Minerva's eyes was enough to make her pull Minerva closer and bury her face into her neck, sucking gently on an already fading bruise.
"Ack," Minerva squeaked. "Stop that. My collar is already going to have to be high, don't make it worse."
Hermione laughed and pushed her hair off her face to look at Minerva.
"I'm listening."
"It is not our happiness that is causing the evil in our world, mo ghaol. We are defying the evil to celebrate our love. As we should suggest to everyone else to do as well. There is no point living in a state of readiness and forgetting why we are fighting. We must live, as well. Of that, I am certain."
"My god, I chose well."
Minerva laughed and kissed her deeply before she pushed Hermione's hair back, this time.
"Come on, we have a Castle to empty. They cannot stay here."
"Why now," Hermione shrugged. "Why can't they stay."
"Because we cannot cope with the entirety of Wizarding Britain on the front lawn."
"We can't just patch them up and let them out of the gates again!"
"I know," Minerva argued at her tone. "I only said they cannot stay. We will patch them up, and then, perhaps we will send one of the family with them to make sure they are safe."
The scope of what they had to do suddenly hit Hermione head on and she breathed out into her hands.
"Bloody hell, what the fuck are we going to do with all these people."
"I do not know, Leannan. That is one idea I'm working on. For now, they are safe in the Hall."
"I think," Hermione muttered and looked around. "They all must be Wizarding folk, right?"
"Yes."
Hermione hummed as Minerva helped her up and they finally took a shower. There was a little chuckle between them as they rued not having one earlier but as they both emerged, clean and robed, Lucia met them with open arms.
"You smell so much better," she teased. "Now, I have an idea, but it will take a lot and Min, perhaps you might help us change our appearance."
"What is your idea," Hermione asked as Amalle passed her a plate of food. "Thank you," she groaned as she ate and offered Minerva mouthfuls between her own.
"We make them into our family."
"We, what?" Minerva blinked. "There's -" She glanced at Hermione. "There's probably a hundred people out there."
"I think you can do it. And what better way to prevent them from being, what is it you call it? Imperious?"
"That is the spell, yes," Minerva said as Severus and Narcissa joined them. Hermione watched with a smile as Minerva reached out and squeezed Severus' hand but nothing was said.
"They would, at least, be protected from that and perhaps more?"
"But I don't know these people," Hermione said quietly. "It was easy for you." She glanced at the two newcomers and shrugged when she realised it was for them too. "I love you."
Everyone stared at her and she made a face, but it was Amalle who stepped forward and cupped her cheeks.
"And we love you, Hermione. Is it not possible for you to extend that same love to all of the Wizarding World?"
Hermione bit her lip and stepped away. There was a parcel of chocolate on the coffee table by the fire and she picked a bit up and chewed it thoughtfully. She cast her mind back as she stared into the fire. The people upstairs were innocent. More innocent, even than those of her own, growing family. She sucked on her fingers and sighed as she extended her hand towards the flame. Like an animal it stretched towards her and curled around her hand. She played with it back and forth as she realised that she could not save the whole of Wizarding Britain. It was folly to even suggest, but perhaps she could save some of it and perhaps that would be enough.
"My beautiful warrior queen," Minerva whispered as she wrapped her arms around her middle. Her chin hooked on her shoulder and the comfort made Hermione sigh. "We do not have to save the world today. But you are right. We might be able to save just a bit of it. For a while. Today."
"Can you love those people upstairs? Those strangers?" Hermione sighed and let the fire go back into the hearth and glanced back towards some of their nearest and dearest. "Does it sully their positions if we just give it to everyone?"
"My love," Minerva said softly. "What do you think? You think they would ever doubt our love for them? You think they would think us weak for giving more people the same love we give them? You think their position would ever be usurped by the general populace?"
"Maybe you should have been First," Hermione said sadly.
"Don't do that," Minerva said quietly. "Don't sell yourself so short. You are doing just fine, Leannan. None of this is anything we could have prepared for."
Hermione sighed and rested her face on Minerva's shoulder. She traced her thumb over where she knew a new set of her teeth marks were and she felt the corresponding shiver.
"What happens when they get into trouble? Do we need to go and rescue them? What happens then, because I cannot be in 400 places at once." She scoffed. "I can barely be in two."
Minerva hummed and wrapped her arms tighter around her. They swayed for a longtime before Narcissa's hesitant voice called over them.
"Minerva, Hermione. I think I may be able to provide some clarity."
They looked up and Hermione was ashamed to realise she had been quietly crying. She wiped away her tears quickly before anyone else could see, but Minerva held her hand tightly as she turned to see what Narcissa was showing her.
"I agree that Lucia's suggestion is a good one, but I understand, too, the difficulties in the practicalities. I remember reading something in the journals that I bought you and remembered this."
She turned the book she had in her arms and Hermione leaned over it to read. By the time she was finished, she was even more confused.
"Help me out," she asked Narcissa.
"It is not an oath, per se. Not like ours." She held her hand up for inspection and Minerva took it and squeezed it gently. "It is more like a fealty oath. They pledge their loyalty to you, and have," she shrugged. "Some? An amount, of your protection over them."
"Is it specific?" Hermione frowned at Minerva's question before the woman clarified. "Apologies, is there a specific thing we should say?"
"If there is, it is not written."
"How will we know if it works then," Hermione mused.
They fell silent for a while, listening to the fire crackling happily in the hearth and lost in their thoughts. Amalle was the one to break the quiet.
"I think you would know," they said quietly. "I think you will know what to say when you ask it of them." Hermione mulled it over and realised what they were saying. "It's happened before, an innate knowledge of what you didn't know before."
"That's true, Leannan."
"We will try it. And once we have tried it, they will live as Muggles for the rest of the War."
"As -"
"Without magic," Minerva explained to Lucia.
"Without protection?"
"No," Hermione nodded as she realised she was right. "In plain sight. For now."
"What if he turns to Muggles?" Severus asked quietly. He hadn't said much, but she smiled when he did speak.
"I'm hoping we're going to be enough of a thorn in his side that he won't have the time."
Severus nodded thoughtfully and let it sit.
"Right," Hermione said. "Let's do that. Once they're gone, I want everyone out on the lawn. You are both as pale as ghosts. It is sunny out, let's enjoy it for a while."
The two of them blinked as she turned and walked away with Minerva shoulder to shoulder with her. As they exited the bathroom, they both giggled at her suggestion.
"You okay?" Hermione asked as they waited for the staircases.
"I am," Minerva sighed. "Mark was a bright student. I am -" She sighed as they stepped forward. "Mark was not necessarily remarkable but he was good and kind. The kind of student that would smile and say good morning as you walk by. An average, kind, pleasant, person. It is sad that whatever that was, occurred but I would do it again in defence of those who are innocent."
"Do you have any idea what I need to say?"
"No, Leannan, you are the brains in that department." Hermione snorted.
"Right."
