The day after Harry had spoken to Dumbledore, Hermione headed home to attend a Death Eater meeting. Unlike Harry, who was stuck at Order headquarters, Hermione was free to come and go as she pleased. She did try and spend as much time as possible with Harry, knowing that he was all alone among the Order when she wasn't there, but she also liked to try and spend time with her family.
While the main Death Eater meeting was going on, Hermione stayed out of the way as only a very small selection of her father's followers knew of her existence, and Harry's true allegiance. Only once the main meeting was over and Hermione knew only the inner circle was present, did she enter the dining room where her father was holding court. Although as it turned out, Voldemort only had two older Death Eaters present, and a trio of younger Death Eaters, who had just left Hogwarts the previous summer.
"Now we're all here, let's begin," Voldemort announced as Hermione entered the room and took her seat at his right hand side. "I'm bored."
"Bored?" Lucius Malfoy questioned.
"Maybe bored isn't the right word, more like impatient," Voldemort clarified.
"Impatient for what?" Bellatrix Lestrange asked.
"The end of this war," Voldemort replied. "I've been forced to play the long game since my return, and now I'm bored. I want to end this."
"Don't we all," Lucius grumbled.
"But to end it you need to be able to get to Harry and enact your final plan," Draco Malfoy pointed out. Draco was part of the young trio of trusted Death Eaters, and he was the most confident and outspoken of the group.
"Indeed I do," Voldemort agreed with a nod.
"And he's been forced to keep a low profile," Draco continued. "We know he can't leave Order headquarters without Dumbledore."
"Unless he goes to the den of Weasels, and that hovel has also been protected so we can't get to him there," Lucius added. "Let's face it since he left Hogwarts, Potter's been nigh on impossible to get to."
"And we couldn't get to him before that because of all the charms Dumbledore had on him," Bellatrix remarked.
"We didn't want to get to him before he left school," Voldemort reminded Bellatrix. "We agreed that he and Hermione could finish school before we struck. We weren't to know Dumbledore would protect him so fiercely once he'd graduated."
"To be fair, we should have seen it coming," Lucius remarked. "We should have acted differently when we found out he knew about the Horcruxes."
"Maybe," Voldemort agreed with a reluctant sigh. "But I decided it would be good to have him thinking he had the upper hand. Besides, it was too much fun to watch him destroy the Horcruxes, thinking he was weakening me, when really he's been restoring my soul."
"It will be fun to watch when he realises the truth," Bellatrix declared with an evil cackle.
"But how long will that be?" Draco questioned. "He knows Harry can't kill you until they've destroyed all of the Horcruxes. Which means he won't let Harry face you until they're ready."
"Unless we force his hand," Voldemort said. "We force him to let Harry face me."
"How?" Lucius asked with a frown. "I don't have the highest regard for the old idiot, but even I have to admit Dumbledore isn't a complete fool when it comes to you. He won't let Potter anywhere near you. Unless we take Dumbledore out of the picture first."
"There's no need to go to extremes, Lucius," Voldemort replied with a shrug of his shoulder. "You know I want Dumbledore to witness the final act. I want to see his face when I kill Harry. But more importantly, I want to see his reaction when Harry gets back up and stands by my side. I want to see the old man realise he's lost."
"But that still leaves the problem of getting Potter to face you," Bellatrix pointed out. "How are you going to get Dumbledore to allow such a confrontation?"
"I've got a plan," Voldemort declared.
"Excuse me?" Hermione said sharply, speaking for the first time since she'd entered the room.
"Correction," Voldemort chuckled. "Hermione has got a plan."
"Actually, Harry and I have a plan," Hermione said.
"Finally," Bellatrix remarked cattily. "I was beginning to think the pair of you were having a bit too much fun with the Order and were reluctant to leave."
"You need to have patience, Bella," Hermione chuckle, smirking at the older witch. Despite appearances, she was actually fond of Bellatrix and could understand her frustrations as they were all rather tired of having to adjust their plans thanks to Dumbledore's schemes to supposedly keep Harry safe.
"So what's your plan?" Draco prompted.
"We lure Harry into facing my father by targeting the rest of the Order," Hermione explained. "We know we can't get near anyone at Order headquarters or The Burrow, as Dumbledore has both places too well protected. But he's provided no such protection on other properties. Nor can he protect everyone as they go about their normal lives. Harry and I can provide accurate information as to where to find the members of the Order, starting with one Ronald Weasley."
"You're going to lead us to Weasley first?" Draco's best friend, Blaise Zabini, questioned in surprise.
"I am," Hermione replied with a smirk. "We think targeting Ron will be the perfect way to supposedly grab Harry's attention. With his best friend in danger, Harry can insist on doing something. Of course, I'm sure Dumbledore will stop him from acting too rashly at that point, but when more people are targeted and he realises just how much danger the Order is in, he'll capitulate and let Harry do what is needed."
"Will he though?" Lucius questioned warily.
"Eventually," Hermione replied. "Even Dumbledore won't sit back and let people be killed just to protect Harry. Not when everyone is demanding action. And of course Harry will be leading those demanding action."
"With some backing from his best friend," Draco guessed with a low chuckle.
"Of course," Hermione said with a smirk. "You can trust me to stir the pot."
"Devious to the last," Bellatrix chuckled.
"I try," Hermione replied. "Now, what I need now is a group ready to take down Ron," she said, turning her attention to Draco and his friends. "How about some volunteers?"
"We'll do it," Draco offered, gesturing to himself, Blaise and Theo Nott.
"Perfect," Voldemort said, clapping his hands together to signal the meeting was almost at an end. "Hermione, you sort a plan with the boys. I'll let you handle this first stage, and providing all goes well with the young Weasley, we'll carry on and target some more of the Order."
"Don't worry, this will work," Hermione said confidently. "You can count on me."
"I'm sure I can, Hermione," Voldemort said as he rose to his feet and announced that he, Lucius and Bellatrix were off to have a drink with Severus Snape, who had been forced to miss the earlier meeting due to his duties as a spy with The Order.
While Lucius and Bellatrix left with her father, Hermione remained seated along with Draco and his friends. Once they were alone, she briefed them of the plan she and Harry had come up with and they spent an hour going over details. When she was sure they all knew what needed to be done, she thanked them for volunteering and dismissed Blaise and Theo. Draco had remained behind with a pout on his handsome face, and Hermione was sure she knew what was bothering him. As well as being one of her oldest friends, Draco was also her boyfriend, and she liked to think she was one of the very few people who could see past his stoic exterior and see what he had on his mind.
"Out with it then," she ordered as they left the room they'd been meeting in and headed to the stairs to go up to her bedroom.
"Out with what?" Draco grumbled, following his girlfriend.
"You don't like the plan," Hermione stated.
"I think the plan is great," Draco replied. "I don't like your part in it."
"It can't be done without me," Hermione pointed out as they entered her large bedroom. "We need a witness to pass a message onto the Order."
"But why does it have to be you?" Draco questioned with a pout. "I'm sure your father wouldn't like what you're planning."
"He's well aware of what I'm planning," Hermione retorted.
"All of it?" Draco checked.
"All if it," Hermione confirmed.
"Well, I don't like it," Draco spat.
"Tough," Hermione retorted. "It's what we're doing, Draco. If you can't handle it, say now and I can find someone else to take your place."
"No way. If you're doing this, I'm going to be there," Draco insisted. "I just don't want to see you hurt," he confessed in a whisper as he pulled Hermione into his arms.
"It'll be fine, Draco," Hermione reassured her boyfriend. "Everything will be fine. How about we forget about the plan for the rest of the evening? I'm due back with the Order tomorrow morning, and I won't see you before the big day."
"In that case we better make the most of our time together," Draco remarked as the couple tumbled onto the bed together to make the most of the little time they had before Hermione had to return to her act as the innocent muggleborn member of The Order.
Harry was ensconced in the kitchen, drinking tea and nibbling on a freshly made pumpkin muffin when Hermione returned from her trip home. Since other people were around, Harry couldn't ask Hermione how things had gone with her father, so he had to contend himself with listening to her answering the questions other people asked his best friend about her time at home.
Finally, people began to drift off to do their own thing and when Hermione headed off to her room, Harry subtly followed her. Checking that no-one was around to see him, he slipped into Hermione's room behind her and closed the door.
"Are we on?" he asked in a low voice, even as he silenced the room.
"We're on," Hermione confirmed with a smirk. "Once we know where we're going, one of us needs to send word to Draco so he can check the place out. He'll then be lying in wait with Blaise and Theo, and they'll take Ron."
"And the other part of the plan?" Harry checked. "Draco won't like that."
In fact, he wasn't keen with the second part of Hermione's plan, but she'd convinced him it was necessary to complete the picture. Even so, he couldn't imagine her protective boyfriend being happy with the plan, not to mention her father.
"He doesn't," Hermione admitted with a wince.
"And your father?"
"He wasn't keen either, but like you, he can see the sense in it."
"But Draco can't see the sense in it?" Harry asked.
"He can, he just doesn't like it," Hermione replied.
"I don't think any of us like it, Hermione," Harry said. "But it's the only plan we've got."
"It may be the only plan we've got, but it is a perfect one," Hermione said with a smug smirk. "Not only will we thin the Order out before the big showdown, but it'll bring a quicker end to the war. Soon, we can get on with living our lives. Soon, we'll be free."
"I can't wait," Harry said with a grin, eager for their plan to get going so they could end the war and start their new lives away from the interference of Dumbledore and The Order.