"Now," Algie eyed his new daughter shrewdly. "We've really not spent much time together."

Her eyebrows rose sharply, "I've been here all of three weeks."

"I know. Which is why it's time to get some things in order."

"Pardon?"

"Other than work and that one trip out with Frank you haven't left the house since you got your wand. You let Augusta pick your clothing, despite, and do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it not being to your taste." Hermione pulled a face, her eyes darting down to the old-fashioned robes Augusta had chosen, making Algernon laugh. "Exactly. So. Today we're going to add you to the vaults and set you up one of your one."

"Oh! You don't need to…"

"You have always been a Longbottom, do you understand me?" he cut her off. "In an ideal world, we would have known you before, you were originally my great-niece, now, you are my daughter. It is not up for discussion, Hermione. You have as much right to the vaults as Frank."

Hermione sighed heavily, "I feel like I'm taking advantage." she mumbled.

"How?" he demanded, "You are, were, my brother's granddaughter. Whatever they made him change his last name to, he is a Longbottom. Your mother was, is a Longbottom. And therefore you, before, now, have always been…can you guess, dearest?"

She rolled her eyes at him with a sigh. "I never knew though," she murmured, "Frank's son was my first ever friend and he…we never knew."

"And that should never have happened," he sighed, "The laws regarding squibs and muggleborns are not as enlightened as they should be. If nothing else you are living proof that magic often returns. I cannot imagine you are the only one, but we never know because often, squibs are cast out and forgotten and those are the lucky ones."

"I know," she mumbled.

"And it is hard," he continued seriously, "your grandfather resents our magic, and his lack of it. Some of it is jealousy and some of it is through years of conditioning that means squibs are viewed as lesser. Even our parents, as moderate as they were, fell into the expected pattern and removed him from their lives. If Hector had not been of age when Lenny was banished, we would never have known where to even look for him. As it was, Hector was involved in the discussions of where to place him,"

"He was?"

"Yes. However wrong you think it is, our parents were a product of their upbringing, they truly believed they were doing the best they could for him. And…they were seen as benevolent and loving for allowing him to live."

"Jesus Christ" she muttered, her face screwed up in disgust.

"Yes," he sighed, "I don't know how to change centuries of thinking, but, perhaps it's something you can consider looking at."

"Me?"

"Why not?" he shrugged, "You have first-hand experience of it, and, importantly, this time, you have a name that will ensure that people will listen. It's wrong, Hermione, but the old names carry more weight. Perhaps use yours? I imagine Frank and Alice will help." He gave her a minute to process that before he stood abruptly holding out his hand, "Now. Shall we go shopping dearest?"

"Must we?"

"Do you wish to continue to dress like your Aunt Augusta?"

With a sigh, Hermione stood, "Fine," she muttered with ill grace.

He grinned triumphantly in response.

Two hours later, he eyed her over tea, her robes changed to something far more fashionable at his insistence, a new Gringotts vault key hidden in her pocket. "Now, I imagine you'd prefer some less…obviously wizarding options?"

"Yes," Hermione admitted reluctantly, "It's not that they're not…pretty.

"But they are not what you're used to." he finished. "I imagine Alice would indulge the request. She's rather good friends with more than one muggleborn who can advise."

"I dont think I'm ready to face them.," she murmured.

"Who?" he frowned.

"She's friends with Lily Potter isn't she?"

"Yes," he agreed.

"Well. Harry…the Harry I mentioned. He's her son."

"The Harry who was held responsible for the entire world, that Harry?"

"That would be him," she mumbled.

"Lily died," he murmured softly.

"Yes. She did. There wasn't a person in our world who didn't know the Potters story. I…it's like a dream and a nightmare rolled into one. Because I know the stories, but being here, it turns them into real people. And I've already lost all of my people, I don't know how to allow myself to get attached to more. If I can't change things, or I don't change them quickly enough, these people die. And…and that's on me."

"It is not on you!" he barked. "All you can do is your best. And, after your meeting with Albus in a few days, you'll have people to help. Hermione, you cannot make yourself responsible for absolutely everyone! You'll drive yourself mad."

"But I know more than anyone…"

"And yet everyone else still has free will. You cannot always change the actions of others. You can advise, do your best to mitigate disasters, and still , you are only one person and not a God."

"I hate it," she whispered miserably.

"I imagine you do," he agreed, "That doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"I don't know how to live with it."

"By knowing you tried your best. You've given one young man an out already, you've saved hundreds that would have had excruciating deaths and we are going to begin working on saving as many of the rest as possible"

"What if it's not enough?"

"It's all we have," he replied gently, reaching out hesitantly to squeeze her hand, allowing the silence to fall, neither entirely sure what to say next.

"Do I get to know why I've been summoned?" Severus asked lightly, noting the way Frank was glaring at him from the corner of the room. He tried desperately not to fidget, utterly uncomfortable in the opulence of the Longbottom library and still not sure what to make of this haridian of a witch who was turning his life on its head.

"We're seeing Dumbeldore tomorrow, I thought you might like to come to the Order meeting after that."

"You thought I'd what?" he checked incredulously.

"To come with me."

"To an Order meeting?"

"You're on their side now, Severus!"

He groaned, "Why are you such a fucking nightmare?"

Hermione grinned, ignoring Frank's exclamation, "Nonsense,you like me." she dismissed.

"I don't think I do." he muttered.

"Course you do." she patted the seat next to her, "Now my ridiculously overprotective cousin is going to find his wife."

"He is not!" Frank retorted sharply, interrupting her.

"He is or I'm going to have one of the elves make him," she countered, keeping her eyes on Severus. "And you and I are going to have a chat about Lily."

"No we are not!" Severus argued sounding so like Frank that Hermione laughed at him,

"We are. I don't know if she'll be there but James, Sirius et al will be. You need to be prepared for the possibility of her being there and even I know you don't do well without prior preparation. So…"

He swivelled to look at Frank, "How do you manage her?"

"First, you don't talk of managing her at all," he replied with a bite before he slumped under Hermione's glare, "You don't. You just sort of…go along with most of it or she makes you."

"Right," Severus muttered with a sigh. "Fucking wonderful."

"So. Lily." Hermione prompted as Frank left reluctantly before she sighed, "Look I won't actually force you to talk about it if you really don't want to but you know I know it wasn't good. And she's likely to be there. Merlin knows how much I'm dreading that possibility, I can't imagine how much worse it is for you."

"I don't know what you want me to say." he groaned.

"You could start with what on earth possessed you to use that word," Hermione replied bluntly, wincing when she realised she'd spoken aloud without any filter.

He flinched. "I didn't mean to."

"No, I got that. And I do understand that the situation was far from acceptable and you were…well, I imagine you were furious and rather humiliated to be honest. But for it to come out it had to be a word you used."

Shame infused his face as he stared at the fire. "Slytherin House for halfbloods is not a pleasant place to be. Poor halfbloods have it worse. I imagine you have some inclination as to what my home life was like?"

"A little," she admitted.

"My father is an abusive alcoholic who beat the magic from my mother and who tried to do the same to me."

"Oh Severus," she whispered, ignoring the way he tensed when she reached for his hand.

"I don't need your pity!" he snarled.

"It's not pity," she contradicted sharply, "It's empathy, so settle yourself down before I hex sense into you."

He froze, staring at her incredulously, "You bloody would, wouldn't you?" he muttered, his shoulders dropping.

"Yes. Continue."

"Of course, Your Majesty," he snarked, she ignored it given that he had not yet dislodged her hand. "Black and his gang were relentless. It was..all too like being at home. And Lily made excuses for them. Slytherin were evil after all, not the precious Gryffindors." he sighed heavily, "Maybe she was right. But I was watched, always watched and if I was with people Black and his gang couldn't get me. And so it crept in. I started just trying to fit in, I wanted to be able to walk down the corridors without being hexed. I'm not stupid, I know Lily had been pulling away for years. And I don't blame her, not entirely. I was too intense, too reliant on her. I imagine it was rather overwhelming."

"Is that why you joined?

"He promised me a place to belong." he replied so softly she almost didn't hear it. "I've never had that."

"And he lied."

A defeated look stole across Severus' face, "And he lied." he agreed.

"Did you ever agree with him?"

"No." he sighed, "Oh I wanted the power. I never wanted to feel powerless again. And yes I do appreciate the idiocy of that now, but he's rather good at not appearing insane. He also offered me a means of education. I wouldn't have been able to afford my apprenticeship without Lucius Malfoy's sponsorship, and that came with conditions." he gestured to his arm, "Obviously. And he spoke of political power. I don't imagine any insane dictator starts by telling new recruits he's a ruthless murderer but once you're in you're in. So far, I've been lucky. I'm not someone worth noticing so I haven't been asked to participate beyond ensuring my duelling skills are up to scratch and focusing on my apprenticeship. He wants a Potions Master on site. I don't know what I'll do when that changes."

"Hopefully we can get you out before then," she soothed, her mind whirling with possible plans as the silence lapsed, not yet brave enough to dare voice her opinions on Lily Potter. Neither of them commented on the fact he still hadn't let go of her hand.

Albus' eyebrows rose sharply when he arrived at Longbottom Hall to find all the remaining Longbottoms waiting on him.

"Good afternoon."

"Albus. Do sit down." Hector invited briskly, gesturing to a seat.

Complying, he glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Hermione with interest, "I don't believe we've met," he offered a bland smile "Albus Dumbledore.

"I know," Hermione agreed shortly. Algie sent her a censoring looking for her rudeness that she completely ignored.

"My daughter, Hermione." he voiced into the silence, "We've…well. The last few weeks have been an adjustment."

"Your daughter?" Albus' eyebrows rose in surprise, "I wasn't aware…."

"Well," Hector sighed, "It's quite the story, however we are waiting on two more."

"Two?" Hermione frowned.

With an exasperated look, Hector muttered, "Your Uncle doesn't like to be left out of anything."

A flash of amusement travelled over her face," Indeed he does not," she agreed fondly.

"And why should I?" Alastor argued, stepping into the room, and running a critical eye over his niece. "You're not sleeping." he accused bluntly.

She flushed, "Thank you for pointing that out," she muttered.

"You're not?" Algie demanded, scanning her face, finally picking up the edges of a carefully applied glamour.

"I haven't slept a full night in over a year," she retorted, "It's fine."

"It is not fine!"

"It's as fine as it's going to get! Look, it'll…settle down into something manageable shortly."

"Will it now?" he grumbled.

"Well, it's going to have to."

"Or you could take dreamless sleep." Saul pointed out from behind Alastor.

"No I could not." she barked, sounding so like her Uncle for a moment that he snorted.

"Might I ask why?" Augusta enquired lightly.

Hermione sighed, "Deep sleep was a weakness we couldn't afford. We needed to be able to wake at a moment's notice. I…I can't take it. "

"Ah," she murmured, "I see. Which, I imagine, brings us to the point of this meeting." she turned to Albus, "You will take Professor Croaker's vow and you will listen. Any attempts to justify or to dismiss and I cannot guarantee you will walk out of here with your mind intact."

He blinked back at her stupidly as even Frank turned to look at his mother in shock. Augusta arched a sardonic brow back at her son, "Your cousin is not prone to extended grudges, nor is she as angry as quite frankly many would be. It leads me to believe that the reasons behind her issues with the Headmaster are rooted in genuine rather than petty concerns. So…"

"Sweet Merlin," he muttered as his mother stared his former headmaster down.

"I will agree to the vow once you have told me the terms," Albus agreed slowly, his eyes trailing over the room's occupants one by one, seeing the tension in their frames. He had no doubt Augusta would do exactly as she threatened. "However…I must confess that I am perplexed as to what I could possibly have done to a witch I've never met."

"You will not inform anyone of what we are about to tell you without our express permission," Saul answered, ignoring his confusion. "You will aid where you are able and if you feel like you cannot, you will not work against us."

"You will not turn school children into soldiers or expect them to solve issues that are best left to adults," Hermione supplied.

"Soldiers?" Albus spluttered, "I would never!"

She stared back at him, her face utterly blank, and while he would never admit it, he found himself unsettled by the witch. "Then you should have no issues agreeing."

"Very well," he murmured softly, his face pensive.

"Splendid," Saul gestured for him to stand, "Hermione, if you would bind us."

She nodded, leaving her wand in its holster, making Saul smirk as she complied with his request wandlessly, obviously discomfiting Albus.

"Well, am I to ask questions or will you be forthcoming?" Albus checked once the vows were complete and silence fell.

Saul glanced at Hermione, "The floors yours, kid."

"Great," she muttered, turning her eyes back to Dumbledore. "I was born in September of 1979." she began, ignoring his disbelieving spluttering. "I started Hogwarts in 1991 and each year something happened that you manipulated to be so."

"Pardon?"

"In a few months there will be a prophecy that will be given to you while you are interviewing for a new Divination teacher. Originally it was overheard by a junior Death Eater and partially relayed to Tom. It resulted in him hunting down a baby. The Death Eater threw himself at your mercy once he realised that he might have caused the death of his childhood best friend. You agreed and he turned spy. He remained one until his death in 1998. We have fixed at least part of that problem. The Death Eater has already turned and is partially responsible for the Prewett twins still being alive."

"Who?" Albus murmured, clearly turning names over in his head.

"Severus Snape."

There was a moment of stillness as he contemplated her, "Lily, I assume, was his motivation?"

"Yes. The prophecy mentions a child born as the seventh month dies. Not the most clear of prophecies, no year was mentioned but it was decided that it potentially referred to two families and you sent them into hiding for their own protection. Which would have been fine if it had been done properly or if there were any vows limiting what those in the Order could say. You have a spy Headmaster."

"We know, or certainly we suspected" he sighed looking suddenly very old, "But we don't know who."

"And yet you have done nothing to prevent people from passing on information where they shouldn't."

"We are an illegal organisation…."

"And at sixteen when I helped run an illegal organisation, I ensured we'd know if someone was a danger to us by jinxing the signup parchment," Hermione cut across him. "It worked, funnily enough. There is no excuse."

He visibly paused, scrutinising her as if he wasn't convinced she was real. Only when his eyes travelled to her tense family did he force his posture to relax. "Very well," he murmured finally. "You know who the spy is, I presume?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"No!" Alice shouted. "

Yes," Hermione agreed calmly. "On Halloween of 1981, Peter led Tom directly to the Potters, where he murdered James and Lily. Their son Harry survived, leaving Tom as a wraith. Everyone believed that Sirius was their Secret Keeper but they'd switched in secret thinking Peter was the less obvious choice. Realising what happened, Sirius hunted Peter down and in response, Peter cut off his own finger, sent a blasting curse that murdered 12 muggles and transformed into his animagus form and escaped. Sirius spent the next 12 years in Azkaban. And you let him. You offered no trial. No confession was given beyond grief-stricken ramblings at the scene and Harry was given to abusive muggles. Now, I'm rather of the opinion that those muggles deserve to be murdered slowly and painfully, despite that, even I can acknowledge were at least partially right to be angry having been given no choice in the matter. You left him on the doorstep with a note."

"I did what?" He checked faintly, his face ashen. Despite desperately not wanting to believe her, he knew that there was no way Saul or Alastor would be supporting this if they hadn't already checked she was being truthful.

"You heard me," she scoffed. "Harry appears at Hogwarts the same year as me, he knows nothing. His aunt has told him his parents died in a car crash. And that year in your infinite wisdom you hid the Philosopher's Stone at Hogwarts, under quite frankly laughable protections. You also failed to notice a complete personality change in your previous Muggle Studies, now Defence professor. He had the shade of Tom on the back of his head." She eyed him critically. "I want to believe it wasn't deliberate, but unfortunately I don't. Three first years, having already defeated a troll that should absolutely not have been able to get into the castle unnoticed, broke through those protections and Harry came face to face with Quirrel, murdering him in the process. He couldn't host Tom and have Harry touch him without crumbling. And still. You explained nothing."

"Crumbling!" Frank exclaimed, "He made a person crumble?"

"Lily's protection meant that someone consumed by that much darkness couldnt be touched by Harry, who was protected by love, blood and sacrifice."

Her eyes travelled sadly to Alice who was sobbing in the corner, "Tell me that's not going to happen?" she begged, spotting Hermione's scrutiny.

"I don't intend for it to, no," Hermione agreed.

"You said something happened every year," Augusta prompted.

Hermione sighed, "Second year was…well. There's a basilisk hiding under the school. Dormant, currently, but Tom is the last Heir of Slytherin."

"A basilisk!" Alastor demanded. "You cannot be serious!"

"Unfortunately, I am," Hermione murmured, "Lucius Malfoy slipped Tom's old school diary into Ginny Weasley's school cauldron during an altercation in Flourish and Blotts. Which would have been questionable enough if it hadn't been his first horcrux. He made it murdering Myrtle Warren while he was in school."

Dumbledore blinked slowly, several things clearly clicking into place. "With the basilisk, I assume?" he checked softly.

"Yes. When the diary possessed Ginny, she began writing messages about the Chamber being opened. Several people were petrified, and eventually, Harry and Ron went down to the Chamber to rescue her. I was thirteen. I worked out what the monster was and how it was getting around. You cannot tell me I was more intelligent than all of Hogwarts staff and the Ministry. It has to have been another set-up. Harry slaughtered the basilisk and the diary. Ginny was eventually fine. However, had he been any later Tom would have succeeded in draining her life and coming back."

"Where were you when the boys were killing giant snakes?" Augusta checked shrewdly.

"In the hospital wing waiting on the mandrakes to mature," she muttered. "Although on the subject of second year, Gilderoy Lockheart needs stopping. He steals stories and obliviates the real heroes. I don't know if he's a thing yet but keep an eye."

"He's just about to start fifth year," Dumbledore replied faintly.

"Well, as I said. Keep an eye on him. He's a vapid arsehole but I don't think anyone can deny the potency of his obliviates."

"Of course," he agreed with a pained smile.

"Third year," Alastor prompted with a sigh, mentally committing the name Gilderoy Lockheart to memory.

Hermione mirrored it, her eyes moving to Alice. "It won't happen again," she whispered, watching the other witch tense. In a stronger voice, she began. "Sirius escaped Azkaban."

"How?" Alastor howled.

"He's also an animagus. Sirius, James Potter and Pettigrew became illegal animagi to help Remus during the full moon."

"They're still unregistered?" Alastor growled.

"Ah yes. I believe so anyway."

"We'll be doing something about that," he grumbled. "Stupid little arseholes."

"I'll let you have that conversation," Hermione returned with an insincere smile that was met with a far more sincere one from her uncle.

"I rather think I'll enjoy putting the fear of the Gods into Potter and Black."

Even Alice managed to look faintly amused at the malicious glee on his face. "I imagine you will," Hermione agreed, "However, before you get lost in daydreams, back to how Sirius escaped as it's a concerning weakness in our only prison. Dementors can't really sense animagi and Merlin knows prisoners are hardly well-fed. So he transformed and was thin enough to fit through the bars of his cell. He came to Hogwarts with the express purpose of murdering Peter after seeing a picture of the Weasleys in The Prophet. Arthur won galleons and took them all to Egypt to visit Bill. In the picture was Ron's pet rat."

"No!" Alice howled.

"Unfortunately." Hermione grimaced. "It's…well… it's a rather long and utterly irrelevant story, to be honest. That year was not pleasant. However, what you need to know is that Sirius revealed himself to Ron, Harry and I and Peter escaped. We managed to save Sirius from the Kiss with a time turner but Dumbledore told us no one would believe us if we said Peter was alive."

The room stilled. "All of you?" Algie checked in a carefully modulated voice.

"All of us." She agreed, "Snape had a grudge against Sirius, understandably quite frankly. They got away with bullying him for years and then Sirius tried to use Remus to murder him in their fifth year." Alice flinched.

"That's why Sirius and Remus didn't speak for months."

"Yes. I don't know if murder was his goal. I don't think so if I'm honest, I think he did what Sirius does best and reacted without thinking it through. That being said, if James had not stepped in Severus would be dead so I don't know that it not being his intention is an excuse." Her eyes swivelled to Dumbledore who looked both guilty and remorseful. "Although I appear to be one of the few."

"You knew," Hector stated flatly, his eyes on Albus.

"Oh he more than knew," Hermione scoffed, "He bound Snape in a vow and threatened him so Remus' condition remained a secret. Which I can almost sympathise with. Werewolves are heavily victimised and that particular set-up had nothing to do with Remus; it affected their relationship their entire lives from what I understood from their older selves. However, there was no compassion for Severus, no ensuring he wasn't utterly traumatised, and quite frankly, he was. And then Sirius got what? A week's detention, a fortnight, I can't remember."

With a look of shame, Albus dropped his head into his hands. "I can offer no excuse," he admitted. "At the time…at the time I thought I could justify it. A Black on the right side, a boy who had few choices through the actions of others, and another who seemed hellbent on following a certain path. I just wanted Remus to be allowed to remain at Hogwarts and so I…I did not think through the consequences."

"No. You did not." Hermione agreed, her tone hard, "But when it comes to Slytherins and Gryffindors you never do. You condemn an entire House based on nothing more than their green robes. It's…it's abhorrent. Even as an adult Sirius didn't realise the severity of his actions. He…he'd had a pass his entire life when it came to Severus. He was…with everyone else, I'd say he was a good man. He was thoughtful, enlightened, a bit of an arse but in a way that was often amusing. With Severus, he reverted back to that hateful teenage boy who got away with attempted murder."

Albus flinched. "So third year ended there?" Hector probed, still looking disturbed.

"No, there was a prophecy, about Voldemort's servant returning to him. It's why Peter's escape was all the more devastating." she sighed, "Fourth year brought the Triwizard Tournament."

"The Triwizard Tournament?" Algie demanded, looking at Dumbledore. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

His entire family stared at him in shock. "Language, Algie," Agusta chided faintly, her heart clearly not in it.

"I confess I have no idea." Albus admitted, "It seems ill advised."

Hermione snorted derisively. "Let's not pretend it wasn't a ploy, Headmaster," she mocked. "Harry's name came out of the Goblet despite being fourteen. Someone had placed him under a fourth school. That was the year we had Uncle Alastor as a teacher. Or well…we had a version of him. It's funny don't you think that a man you've been friends with for decades can be impersonated right under your nose and you don't notice."

"What?"

"Barty Crouch jr is a Death Eater or will be. I truly don't know how old he is. He was caught and sentenced and then his father snuck his dying mother into Azkaban and snuck him out using polyjuice. He kept him imperiosed but he broke free, caused chaos at the world cup and then with the assistance of Peter, imperiosed his father before he murdered him. Harry, against all odds, done reasonably well in the tournament. Crouch helped, to be fair, he needed him to actually win so he touched the cup. The last task was a maze so it was easy for him to help guide Harry to it covertly, after all he had Uncle Alastors eye so he could see through the hedges, and they were rather tall, sheilding him from view. Whoever came up with the tasks hasn't a clue about entertainment by the way. They opened with dragons and then had us stare at water and hedges for the last two tasks." Frank choked on a laugh at how put out she looked, ignoring him she continued, "Harry, because he's a noble idiot, had Cedric Diggory take the cup with him, they'd been neck and neck I gather Cedric helped him escape something and then he helped Cedric. It's...I can't quite remember what exactly happened to be honest, it was rather chaotic following the end of the Tournament and by then we had rather more to worry about than Harrys reasoning for taking Cedric with him. The cup turned out to be a porkey which took them to a graveyard. Peter murdered Cedric because he was superfluous to requirements and Tom was reborn in a cauldron using Harry's blood. He escaped. Obviously, because there's a bloody pattern. And Fudge had Crouch kissed, declaring him mad and then denied Tom's return."

"Mother of Merlin," Hector murmured. "I'm almost frightened to ask about fifth."

Hermione's face darkened ominously. "The reign of the Pink Toad," she all but growled. "Dolores Umbridge will have her reckoning soon."

"Ah…Hermione. Cousin. Your hair is sparking." She turned to look at Frank, making him shiver at the expression on her face. "What did she do?" he whispered.

"She is responsible for the most restrictive of the werewolf laws," she spat. "She took over the school, tortured students with a blood quill."

"A what?" Alastor exclaimed, interrupting her.

"You heard me. And then, after Harry had had a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius, she threatened to crucio him for trying to find out if Sirius had left the house." A small vicious smirk stole over her face. "So I left her to the mercy of the centaurs."

"You did what?" Alice exclaimed.

"They didn't kill her," she dismissed, muttering a soft, "More's the pity" that they all pretended not to hear. "We left Hogwarts on thestrals and ended up in the Ministry. It was a set up of course, Death Eaters ambushed us, wanting the prophecy so Tom could hear all of it. Harry broke it, he managed to head the prophecy in its entirety but not before Dolohov almost murdered me, and Sirius died." She swivelled again to look at Dumbledore. "Harry would never have gone hunting if you'd been honest. He should have known your theories about the connection between him and Tom, Snape should never have been the one to teach him occulemcy there was too much hate. And you should have known that. I honestly think you did. He taught me with no issues, after all. Having him teach Harry was a lesson in torture for both of them. But more than that, Harry should never have felt he had no one to turn to, that he had to take matters into his own hands. We got Sirius murdered that night. Bellatrix might have done it, but he came to the Ministry because Harry was there, because we went with him and backed him up. We all had to live with that guilt."

"It wasn't your fault," Alasor whispered.

She shrugged, "Logically, I know that. I tried to stop him, but Merlin knows none of us were going to let him go alone. He was distraught. Sirius was the only family he had, the only way he had a tangiable link to his parents and his only means of escape from his Aunt and Uncle. He was desperate not to lose him and it wasn't like he didn't have precedent on his side. He had saved Arthur Weasely's life the Christmas before following a vision of him being attacked. That, funnily enough, would have been the perfect time to have a chat with him about Tom potentially manipulating the connection, or I don't know, giving him a way to get in touch with someone he trusted but wasn't terrified he was going to put in more danger if he used it...like say...Remus. Or Andromeda Tonks or her daughter Nympadora...or Uncle Alastor. So many options...Ultimately, logic defying or not, emotionally, it is far harder to rationalise. If we had found another way, if we had a better explanation, if we'd just, I don't know…locked him in a broom cupboard. Something. Anything that would have bought Severus time to get back to us, Sirius would be alive. But we didn't."

"Still not your fault. Merlin, lassie you were all of sixteen!"

"Our ages never seemed to matter," she murmured, "Harry was expected to fix things and Ron and I were always right next to him. It was a well known fact. Harry was responsible for saving the world, Ron and I were responsible for Harry."

"That's not…" Algie looked horrified, "That is not how it works! You were children!"

"We're we?" she mumbled, not looking at him. "I'm relatively certain we were nothing more than pawns."

There was a heavy silence as they all looked at her in pained horror, the cracks she had hidden so well beginning to show as she visibly forced her emotions back under control. With uncomfortable clarity, Albus saw the damage his older self had inflicted on the witch and he wondered at the decisions he made. Hearing them laid out in such stark terms only made them more baffling and he wondered if he'd already begun down that path, and he started second-guessing his decisions with the Order. He cleared his throat, not sure he truly wanted to hear what came next. "Your sixth year?"

"My sixth," she repeated, choosing her words carefully. "Draco Malfoy was tasked with murdering you. Punishment for his father's failure at the Ministry. He…he was visibly falling apart and no one did anything. You knew exactly what he had been ordered to do and you just...left him. You just allowed him to continue, growing more and more desperate as Tom dangled his parent's lives over his head. As a result, two other people nearly died due to his attempts. That's on you. In the end, you had Severus murder you. You were already dying, the horcrux you'd gone to retrieve had a withering curse on it and you thought it would cement his place with Tom. And it did, however, you didn't tell any other person that you had ordered it. We all thought him a traitor. His last year alive was so beyond miserable, I truly do not want to contemplate it."

"I see." he whispered, his face ashen.

"You spent that year telling Harry about Tom's childhood. You did not give him any indication of what or where the Horcruxes were, nor did you warn him he was one. Which I suppose leads on nicely to the camping trip from hell. You left us a snitch, a copy of Beedle the Bard and your deluminator in your will. With…can you guess? No instructions. Tom took over the Ministry. We ran. I won't bore you will all the details but we eventually found all the Horcruxes. It was…not pleasant. We were being hunted, Delores had set up a delightful little committee called the muggle born registration committee and they snapped wands and sent muggleborns to Azkaban after telling them they'd stolen their magic. She was in her element. Groups of snatchers travelled the country and Tom put a taboo on his made up name. Which was…unfortunate. Regardless, the last battle happened at Hogwarts. Many died." She met Albus' eyes squarely. "I hold you personally responsible for every student that died."

"Hermione!" Hector protested but Albus held up a hand.

"You did nothing to prepare us. Put nothing in place that meant the Order could continue after your death. You left your spy to rot, what information could he have gotten to us if anyone had trusted him! You didn't let the Order help us and expressly forbid us from mentioning it. We were barely of age. You could have dealt with Tom, you could have manipulated Harry's confrontation with him to ensure that children, were not caught up in a war their parents and grandparents were responsible for, you could have researched how to remove the damn horcrux from his head and allowed him to be a child! All of it. All of their blood is on your hands! None of my generation slept without nightmares. Almost all of us know what it's like to take a life. To see death. We all saw our classmates' bodies. There was not one student at Hogwarts when I left that could not see a thestral. Not one. And that's on you."

Albus swallowed harshly into the resulting silence, his eyes on the hard eyed broken soldier in front of him and wanted to weep. "I offer you no excuses," he began softly. "I…I can only apologise for the decisions that version of me made. And it's not enough. Tell me what we need to do."

"That's it?" she scoffed.

"You do not trust me," he paused before sighing, "And I do not blame you. But I will do whatever I can to ensure that the future you came from does not come to pass. I hope that one day I will earn your forgiveness. So. Tell me what we need to do."

Hermione blew out a sharp breath. "Call the Order, bind them, ensure they cannot tell your secrets. Or, you know, actually tell them your secrets. They risk their lives on your say so and you only ever tell them half a story. After that, we need to deal with Peter."

He nodded, "And will you be attending?"

"Yes. Someone needs to keep you accountable, Headmaster."

"I would expect nothing less," he nodded, his face drawn. The lines on it were stark in a way that wasn't usually apparent. "I will take my leave of you now. You have…given me rather a lot to consider. If you are amenable, following the meeting I would like to meet to discuss the current planned missions. Perhaps you have some insights that have been lacking."

"Fine." she agreed briskly.