"A fighter is not ambitious. They don't seek glory. Being a fighter is first and foremost a matter of nature, with a mind of steel and a heart of gold."

Patrick Louis Richard

Hermione held her wand firmly in her hand and took the time to observe her surroundings. Three corpses were scattered around the room and seven people were on the floor. Five muggles and two wizards. They were all in bad shape, but Hermione hoped that the battle would be quick enough for them to be taken care of as quickly as possible.

She could hear the sounds of fighting a few metres away and naturally headed towards them. She had to climb a staircase, which she did cautiously, and she was right to do so, as a body sprang up and tumbled down the steps before coming to an abrupt halt on the ground. The Death Eater did not get up and James, at the top of the stairs, smiled with satisfaction. Hermione joined him, and they both saw Sirius fighting three Death Eaters at once, who, against all odds, seemed to be doing rather well. He sent them to the ground one by one, then looked up at James and Hermione with a smirk.

"How many are left?"

"Two. I killed five on the ground floor and three on the first floor. The meeting room was already in this state when I arrived, so I suppose it was you who got into the fight. Any news on Regulus, Mad-Eye and Alice?"

"I haven't heard anything."

"Nothing either. Is it worrying?"

"Not yet."

Today, Europe was in a critical situation. Today was 9 January 1987, and the Death Eaters were striking seven countries with the aim of destroying their respective heads of state. As soon as Severus had warned them of the imminent danger, a race against time had begun. The members of the Order had had to warn each government of the countries that were likely to be affected, and although they had an idea of several of them, they were not entirely sure that they were exactly the countries they had first thought of, so they had had to warn more countries than there would be attacks. The aurors in the various countries had all taken the threats very seriously, much to Hermione's relief. Even countries where the risk was lower had deployed their best aurors to protect their head of state.

In the UK, members of the Order had deployed a team of nine, which was relatively small given the importance of the situation and the repercussions it could have, but it was huge given the number of them. Alice, Regulus and Moody were in charge of protecting the British head of state, and ensuring that the operation was carried out safely, without any deaths. Hermione, Sirius and James, accompanied by three aurors, had to take down the Death Eaters present, while preventing them from achieving their objective of killing the Prime Minister.

And it was fair to say that they had succeeded. The members of the government were safe, and they needed Moody's confirmation before they could leave. But for the moment, they had nothing.

"Did we lose anyone?"

"John. I saw him get hit by the avada" said James, his face neutral but his voice trembling.

"Will and Jack were down when we passed, but I don't know if they are still alive."

Hermione nodded, then the three friends went down to the floor below and made their way to the wounded. Unfortunately, the Muggles present had all succumbed to their wounds, but the two wizards on the ground were still alive. Neither of them knew each other very well, they were more war comrades than friends, but of course, during the Order's meetings, they had talked, and neither of them was disagreeable, they even got on quite well with Hermione, which was rare enough to be worth mentioning. Sirius and James sat down next to Jack, where they studied his wounds before doing their best to soothe him. None of them had any medical equipment, but they could manage without it. Everyone learned on the job, when the wounded overflowed and as many people as possible had to be treated quickly and effectively. Rarely everyone. There were too many wounded to be able to save everyone. Sirius started by stopping the bleeding, while James summoned bandages and thread.

"Helena! Have you got any painkiller potion?"

Hermione shook her head, without taking her eyes off Will. He was in bad shape. She felt panic coming over her, but tried to breathe in and out to keep her calm. Never panic in front of an injured man. She had to keep her wits about her. Will was unconscious, but his heart was still beating and he was breathing. She had to stay focused. His body was covered in blood, and given the state of his left leg, Hermione feared amputation. She quickly cleaned off the dried blood, then dressed his wounds. She made two tourniquets, one on his left arm, one on his left leg. She knew she had to clean the wounds, but she could see the infection starting to spread, and she knew she didn't have the equipment to do it.

James carefully stitched up Jack's eyebrow while Sirius disinfected the wounds and wrapped them in bandages. Then, finally, they felt their pockets heating up: that was the Mad-Eye signal, they could go back to Hogwarts. Hermione had suggested this technique, which dated back to the DA, and which she found much more practical, and more discreet, than patronus.

"We're packing up! What's his condition?"

"He's conscious. I think we can apparate without too many problems."

"All right, then. Sirius, go with him and take him to Pomfrey for examination. James, stay with me, I'm going to need you."

Sirius complied as James approached her.

"Condition?"

"Unconscious. Breathing. Weak heartbeat. Infection spread over entire left leg and lower half of arm. Amputation expected."

"Crap. He's not transportable, is he?"

"I'm afraid apparating will reopen his wounds and spread the infection to the other limbs. The portkey is out of the question, too violent, the broom too long and risky, not to mention the floo powder, it would be far too dangerous to open a chimney in the castle…"

"Damn! At least for now the infection isn't spreading, but we've got to act fast if we want him to survive. Think James, think! Aren't there special stretchers that can be used to transport the wounded, apparating, without their physical condition changing?"

"I've never heard of such a thing."

"I read an article about it last month! Didn't I show it to you? I was sure I had."

"Where did you read this article?"

"I can't remember."

"Think about it, was it a newspaper written in English? Did you have to use a translation spell?"

"In France. I think it was in France."

"You think or you're sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Then go! Go to the wizarding hospital in France and borrow one of those stretchers."

"But I can't just barge into a country like that without permission, least of all in those days! And you know the French will never lend us their equipment."

"I don't care, James. We're in a critical situation, and this is the only solution. I don't care if we see you or not, if we've got the permits or not, you're apparating to France and getting me one of these stretchers as fast as you can. If you have to use your wand to do it, that's no problem, they'll only have themselves to blame."

James nodded, then moved off without a word, apparating out of sight, he didn't want to be noticed. Few people were likely to still be around, given what had just happened, but as he'd learned, you can never be too careful. He headed straight for the Place Cachée, the French equivalent of Diagon alley.

He didn't know exactly where the hospital was, but he knew it was nearby. He asked the first person he came across, a blond man in his fifties, for help finding his way around. He got no answer, but the man glanced at him disdainfully, before walking away, cursing those damned English.

The second time, he didn't make the same mistake. He addressed his interlocutor in French, although he must certainly have had a strong English accent, having not spoken the language for several years. The woman was kinder than her compatriot and willingly showed him the way to his destination. He thanked her and started running, as time was running out and he had no idea how Will's condition was progressing. He entered the hospital unnoticed, glanced around the entrance, but saw nothing resembling a stretcher. There were a few patients, but mostly outsiders who had come to see their loved ones. He naturally headed for the emergency room, where everything was perfectly signposted, saving precious time and keeping a low profile. Admittedly, he'd just come out of a battle and was naturally bruised, but he blended in quite well with the surrounding scenery.

The entrance to the emergency department was more chaotic than the general entrance, but chaos was always profitable when you wanted to steal something. He jumped sharply to the side as a team of paramedics came within inches of him. He saw them transfer the patient to a conventional hospital bed and take him elsewhere, probably to the operating room. James seized the opportunity and grabbed the stretcher, glancing around carefully. With a conscience, and remembering that the French, too, were in wartime, he duplicated the stretcher and left the copy where the original should have been. He couldn't apparate directly from the hospital, and made his way naturally to the exit, stretcher under arm.

He was stopped a few yards from the exit by someone asking him what he was planning to do by stealing hospital equipment. He didn't bother to answer, and followed Helena's advice by casting a spell of confusion. He then disappeared from France, landing in Great Britain, where the battle had taken place a few hours earlier. He entered the room, and was surprised to see it empty. He hoped this didn't mean he was too late, and that Will had succumbed to his wounds, thus solving the transport problem.

Fortunately, a voice called to him and he made his way to the side room and found Hermione, kneeling beside Will, checking his pulse and wounds.

"Why did you move him? I thought we had to avoid the slightest movement."

"We were out in the open. I couldn't leave us there, it was much too risky. I see you found what we needed. Put it there, we'll have to be careful to get it in there."

The two wizards took their time, knowing that rushing was never a good thing, and when there was an injured person, it only made his condition worse most of the time. They coordinated, James carefully following Helena's recommendations, who seemed to know a lot more about stretchering injured people than he did. It took them over twenty minutes to completely secure Will and the stretcher, but once they had done so, everyone rushed off. They apparated in a three-person escort, and entered the shrieking shack, then passed through the secret passage linking them to Hogwarts.
In just a few minutes, they reached the infirmary, which appeared to be full. There were far too many people in the room who had nothing to do at this hour.

"Step aside! Those who don't belong here, get out of the way!"

Hermione and James placed the stretcher on a bed; they knew they'd have to transfer him after a while, but first they had to find Madam Pomfrey for one and evacuate the infirmary for the other. The roles were easily divided.

Hermione shouted the visitors out, but her blood ran cold when she saw the people who weren't obeying.

"Raphaël! Harry! Neville! Come here, now!

The three boys complied grudgingly and headed for Hermione, who was stamping her feet in fury. She motioned for them to follow her. She then closed the infirmary doors and cast a soundproofing spell so as not to be heard.

"What did I tell you? You've got to be kidding me! I've forbidden you to go to the infirmary on battle days. You three know that. And there's not one of you to catch up."

"Mom…"

"There's no such thing as "Mom". This is a goddamn infirmary! Where we treat the wounded! War wounded!"

"But we just wanted to see Remi!"

"I don't care, Harry. You and Neville are six years old. It's out of the question for you to see such horrors at your age. There are a lot of injured people, some of them may not survive. You know that. You're aware of it. You're already too young to be aware of all this. I don't want you to have any more nightmares than you already do!"

"Daddy wouldn't come home."

"Harry, look at me. Look into my eyes, please. What did I say to you? I didn't hear you."

"That Daddy would always come back. As long as you're here, you'll protect him."

"Have I ever once failed in my mission? Louder, Harry, I didn't hear you."

"No"

"There you go. You've got to be kidding me, the three of you. It's not the first time I've seen you hanging around the infirmary for no reason, and no, going to see Remi is no reason, you go there every day for several hours. If you go on like this, I'll block access for minors."

"Mum! No!"

"I'm not saying this to punish you, but to protect you. Even if it doesn't look like it, this is a dangerous place. And nightmares are one of the worst things. We all have them. And I want to keep yours to a minimum. Now go to bed, it's already far too late. "

"Will Mummy come and say good night to me?"

"I don't know, Neville. You know your mum had a very important mission today, and she still has to give us information and maybe help with the wounded, but I doubt it."

"What about Daddy?"

"I'll tell them both that you've gone to bed, and they should be able to come and say good night and give you a kiss. But it's Raphaël who's going to put you to bed and read you a story, okay? Is that okay with you too, Harry? I'll talk to James. "

Both children nodded, even though they both looked pained, and Hermione could feel it through the Link, they were worried about their parents, and sad. Hermione could see that Harry had tears in his eyes, and tried to feel his emotions. Then she cursed herself for speaking loudly about Alice while Harry was there. It was never a good idea to mention the word "Mummy" in his presence at night. She hoped Raphaël could handle it.

Her son turned to her and whispered in her ear if he could sleep in the same room as her tonight. Hermione replied in the affirmative and kissed him on the forehead, while advising him not to wait up for her; it was going to be another long night for her. She watched them walk away, Harry and Neville each holding one of Raphaël's hands. When they disappeared around the corner, she turned away and entered the infirmary.

The visitors had left and the infirmary had emptied, but there were still plenty of people milling around the wounded. Those with advanced nursing skills gave the orders while the others obeyed and Madame Pomfrey took care of the finer points. Hermione noticed as she made her way to Will's bed that surgical equipment was laid out around him and that Remus was putting up curtains to hide it. The amputation was no longer in doubt. She saw Frank helping in the middle of everyone and went over to him, then asked him to take Neville upstairs to bed and to warn Alice to do the same; he hadn't seen them all day and Neville needed to see that his parents were all right before he went to sleep. The wizard though was tempted to protest, he had to make himself useful, the wounded had to be kept alive, but it was his son he was talking about and he knew he needed to see him, as much as Neville needed to see him. He nodded and set off in search of Alice, while Hermione searched for a way to make herself useful while trying to find James with her eyes.

"Sirius!"

The wizard was sitting next to Jack, checking the infusions that had been set up. He turned around when he heard Hermione calling him. He thought she was going to ask him about Jack's condition, but it was not to be.

"Have you seen James?"

"He just went under the curtain, he's going to help operate on Will."

"Crap. I guess the place is sterile and we can't go in until it's finished."

"Why would we change protocol? You and Madam Pomfrey set it up, I'll have you know. "

"It's for Harry. He needs his father. I think he's been worrying all day and to make matters worse I mentioned Alice in front of him, saying mummy, and I'm pretty sure he's going to rehash Lily's death and Raphaël won't be able to deal with his distress on his own."

"I'll go and look after him. I'll warn James to come and see him when he's finished, even if Harry's asleep. You should do the same. Raphaël's been worried too, and I think he needs to talk to you. "

"There are still people hurt."

"And they're all taken care of, so you don't need to worry. You've done more than enough for the day, you're allowed to rest too. "

Hermione nodded, but couldn't help going round the infirmary to make sure that all the wounded were being looked after, and that their treatment was appropriate to their injury. When she was assured of this, she wished the remaining people well and walked to her room, where she found Raphaël sitting in an armchair, looking preoccupied.

"Oh, you're here already. I thought you'd be longer."

"How did it go with Harry and Neville?"

"Alice and Frank came quickly. Harry cried a lot and I tried to console him, but I don't think it worked very well. Sirius arrived and told me he was going to look after Harry."

Raphaël had spoken in a detached tone, but Hermione had heard the tremolos in his voice, and she sensed that he was about to break.

"There's something wrong. Do you want to tell me about it?"

Raphaël was silent for a moment. He didn't know how to say things without sounding stupid or five years old. He felt like his emotions had been on a rollercoaster lately, and he didn't know how to fix it. Not that he didn't love Harry and Neville, in fact, he loved them, they were part of his family, but sometimes he felt that was all he was appreciated for by others. With Hermione, it was always more complicated.

"I... I think I was scared today. It wasn't like any other mission, and I didn't see you coming back. I was afraid you'd die, that you wouldn't come back, and that I'd be alone again... "

Hermione wanted to talk, but didn't want to interrupt him. He was finally confiding in her, and she hoped it would make him feel better.

"And I still don't feel legitimate calling you Mum, even though it's becoming more and more natural, being so scared for you, simply being here, when I'm nobody. I feel like a burden to everyone, but at the same time I feel good, like I've finally found my family, it's all so confusing."

Raphaël had looked away but Hermione could make out the tears streaming down his cheeks. She approached him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Raphaël, look at me. It's okay to be scared. I was scared too. I was afraid of seeing James and Sirius die before my eyes, afraid that the mission would fail. And of course I was afraid I wouldn't see you again. But it's possible that one day I won't come back. And I don't want you to stop living if that's the case. You'll have to keep going. And you'll be surrounded. Regulus will always be there for you. You're his brother, you know. Just like Sirius. He loves you, even though you may not know it, he loves you, and he'll do anything to help you and protect you. And the others love you too. James, Sirius and Remus, they're part of your family, aren't they? Harry and Neville too. You're not a burden. Whatever happens, you'll never be alone. Never. But I don't intend to leave for a long time. Not anymore. And we've already talked about this, Raphaël. I'm your mother, and you're my son. From this moment on, you can call me whatever you like. You're my son. You have the right to call me Mum, and you're entitled to do so. Never forget that. You have a family Raphaël. And one of the most beautiful.

Hermione was sitting in a chair in the infirmary. She was staring at Remus, lips pursed, and according to the wizard, her posture was the spitting image of Minerva.

"You know things can never go back to the way they were."

"I know that, Hermione. I know you won't be able to trust me like you used to, that…"

"It's not a question of trust. Seeing you lying in that infirmary bed, practically lifeless, your body lacerated by silver, was one of the worst moments of my life. There was such an emptiness inside me. I thought my own heart had stopped beating. I can't blame you for hiding the fact that you were a horcrux from me, I don't have the right, it would be unfair. But I thank Morgana every day for putting Severus on to the creation of this potion."

For it was partly thanks to Severus that Remus had survived. Ever since Hermione had told the wizard about the silver infection during their meeting at the Shrieking Shack, he'd been desperate to find a way to save Remus. And he'd succeeded. He'd taken a potion he'd already created and modified it. The potion was designed to remove all poison from the body of the person who drank it, and all Severus had to do was modify it so that silver would be considered a poison, and it had worked.
Hermione knew she'd never be grateful enough for that, and she'd never be able to thank him enough. So Remus was alive and well, and in pretty good health considering what he'd been through. But Hermione still hadn't completely forgiven him, and the wizard understood this perfectly.

"Hermione, I understand your anger, and I'm not going to spend hours justifying myself, it would be pointless."

"What I don't understand, where I'm having the most trouble, is that I was the one doing everything on my own, and it was you who taught me the importance of not being alone, of not carrying everything on your shoulders, of sharing the load, and in the end you don't apply it to yourself! You've taught me how to live again, and I don't even know what to say, I feel like the more I talk, the more confused I get, and…"

"Mione, calm down. Take it easy. We're going to make it, you and I. We're going to rebuild what we've lost, and I promise you, we will. It'll probably take a long time, but we'll help each other. We're both tired from years of war, but I can see it, you're better, you've been better for months. You've regained hope, you're eating again, real meals, three times a day, you're carrying less on your shoulders, and even if you're still struggling, you're increasingly able to delegate the Order's tasks to others."

"I don't know what you're getting at."

"What I'm saying is that you're going to learn to trust me again, and that this damn war, we're going to win. And soon."

"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday Raphaël, happy birthday!"

Raphaël blew out his fourteen candles and everyone applauded. It was eight o'clock in the morning, and Hermione was cutting a chocolate cake in her apartments, surrounded by the closest members of the Order. They were all celebrating Raphaël's birthday in the morning, you never knew what the day would bring, and were trying to make the most of the good mood. Raphaël opened his presents one by one, thanking them each time, and often wondering how they had all managed to find such original gifts, and especially where they had found them, given that they hardly ever left the castle, except during battles.

Raphaël could see that Hermione was anxious, and that she glanced at Remus every thirty seconds, even if she tried to hide it. Remus was stressed too, but he was better at ignoring it than Hermione. When everyone had gone about their business and the three of them were back in the room, he tried to tell them how he felt.

"You don't have to put on a brave face just because it's my birthday. I know it's a hard day for you, there are a lot of bad memories coming up and if you want to spend the rest of the day in bed, you can, if you feel like crying, cry…"

"Don't worry, it's okay. It's hard, as always, but don't spoil your party. We're happy to be here with you."

The day worsened around noon. That's when everything went wrong. No one could have imagined what would happen during the day. How could they? It was a mild May day, just like any other. The alarm sounded, warning members of the Order that there was an explosion of fighting in the country's largest cities. Moody formed different groups to defend London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Hermione and Remus inherited the latter city.

"I'm not feeling it, I'm not feeling it at all."

"What's the matter, Grace?"

"It's May the 2nd."

She didn't continue and quickly apparate onto the battlefield. As always in a battle, it was chaos. Muggles were running everywhere, trying to find shelter where the Death Eaters couldn't find them, Death Eaters were firing spells blindly, but as the battle progressed, she wondered.

"Why are there no known Death Eaters? There are only inexperienced ones here!"

And Hermione was sure it wasn't just a trick of her mind when she saw Raphaël's patronus arrive in front of her.

"Mum, we've got a very big problem. Hogwarts is under attack."