~~~ Chapter 11: Too Little, Too Late ~~~
"Are you sure about this?" Moody asked as he followed Hermione into the potion room. She nodded.
"It's time for them to know. Beside, I'm nearly finished," she told him. Moody nodded.
"Do you want me to contact Dumbledore?" he asked and Hermione shook her head.
"No, I don't want you to give yourself away just yet. I will need you to spy on them after I have told them truth. I need to know if they will try and stop me from completing my goal."
"If you wish," Moody muttered. "What about the twins?"
"They know that I am telling the Order but I will not be saying anything about the twins helping me. I will inform the Order who helped me to torture and kill some of the Death Eaters but nothing else. They will be protected."
"What about those who helped you?"
"They will be protected as well. Once I give the reasons, they will not be able to prosecute anyone. Besides, they won't want it getting out that I'm going around killing purebloods. It's not in their nature to do that." She came to a stop in front of the large bookcase filled with potions.
"What shall I do with the body?" Moody asked as he pointed to the sheet covered body lying on the table in the corner.
"Nothing," Hermione peered closely at the labels before she picked up the jar of dried herbs she needed. "I will deal with it when the time is right. Besides, I will need something from the body when I have Voldemort." Moody nodded.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" Hermione smiled as she picked up a piece of paper and handed it to him. Moody took it, scanned it before raising an eyebrow. He looked at her once more and nodded before he left the room.
Hermione turned back to her shelves and frowned. She had tried to contact Harry a few times over the last two weeks since she had seen him last but he had stayed stubborn, refusing to see her. She understood Harry better than anyone. He had always blamed himself for anything that went wrong and he was blaming himself for putting her in this position. She didn't know how she could make it clear to him that it was her choice; that she wanted to do this.
She sighed sadly. She hated the Dursleys so much that she wished she hadn't gone so far by killing them. She never meant to kill them, just torture them but unfortunately, they had been her first torture and she had been a bit…angry. They had managed to piss her off by insulting Harry that she lost her temper.
Hermione took a deep breath, thinking of calming thoughts as she fought to prevent her temper from rising. She couldn't lose her temper. They were dead and it was in the past. She needed to move on. Dwelling on it wasn't going to get her anywhere.
She thought back to her nights. She could swear that Harry was coming to her when she was sleeping. That she could feel his fingers caressing her cheek and hair, his lips brushing against her lips and forehead. The whispers of `I love you' in her ears. But whenever she tried to wake up, there was something preventing her from doing so.
It frustrated her to a no end. All she wanted to do was grab Harry and kiss him until he forgot everything and allowed them to be together, to stop having doubts and to believe in himself for once. Hermione sighed, shaking herself.
This wasn't the time to linger on it. She had a meeting to get to and she needed to be sharp if she was going to make sure that Albus Dumbledore didn't get in her way.
~_HxH_~
Nearly everyone was assembled in the Dumbledore's office; he had it expanded so it would fit everyone. Everyone apart from Snape, that is. No one had been able to summon him for the last few days and Dumbledore was beginning to worry about the spy. He needed Snape nearby so he could monitor Voldemort's movements. Molly and Arthur were running a little late.
Hermione sat in a chair near in the middle of the room. She looked calm. She looked in control. It was strange for Dumbledore to see her like that. Ever since Harry's death, she had been detached, unresponsive to any of them. They had tried so much to get her out of her shell but she disappeared shortly after the funeral and they had despaired. They had truly believed they had lost her only for her to show up again, looking well and alive.
They had believed that by coming back and attending to Hogwarts, she was moving on from Harry's death, that she was healing. But she did the opposite; she removed herself from the student body. She wasn't sleeping in the girls' dormitory, the girls had reported to McGonagall, believing that they had let Hermione stay somewhere else.
The teachers had all reported that while she kept up her attendance in her class and essays, she didn't put her hand up in class anymore. Something that troubled Dumbledore greatly as Hermione had proven herself to be a skilled young woman who thrived on her education.
The door opened, interrupting Dumbledore's thoughts and he lifted his eyes to see Molly and Arthur hurrying in.
"Sorry we are late," Arthur apologised. Dumbledore dismissed it as the two of them moved over to their seats only for Molly to stop when she spotted Hermione sitting in a chair and her face turned red.
"What is she doing here?" Molly demanded as she looked at the Headmaster. "She shouldn't be involved!" Dumbledore sighed and opened his mouth only to be interrupted.
"I'm the one who asked for the meeting," Hermione informed the older woman. Molly spun around to face Hermione with shock on her face.
"Why would you do that, dear?" she asked.
"Please sit down, Mrs Weasley, and I will tell everyone," Hermione told her. Molly made to sit down only to stop when she spotted her two youngest children in the room and her anger came back.
"No! I will not have my children here," Molly informed Dumbledore with a hard glare.
"I asked for them to be here," Hermione cut in. "Please sit down or I will force you." Molly opened her mouth but Arthur placed his hand on her arm and tugged her down. Getting the hint, she sniffed huffily before sitting down next to her husband while glaring at Dumbledore for allowing her children to be there.
Dumbledore looked around to see if anyone else had any objections and saw none. He looked at Hermione and nodded.
"You can speak now, Miss Granger," he told her. Hermione nodded.
"It has come to my attention that you have been sending nearly half of your order on finding out who the `Black Rose' is," Hermione told him. Dumbledore arched an eyebrow, wondering how she knew about it. "May I ask why?"
"What does this have to do with anything?" Dumbledore asked.
"I'll answer your question if you answer mine," Hermione assured him.
"This is Order business, it has nothing to do with kids like yourself," Molly was unable to hold herself back.
"Mrs Weasley, I will not remind you again," Hermione looked at her. "Please refrain from speaking out when someone has not asked you anything. And for your information, I am 17 years old. An adult in your world." Molly huffed as she opened her mouth but once again, her husband squeezed her arm in warning. Satisfied that Molly wouldn't be interrupting again, she looked at Dumbledore, who sighed.
"I assume you have been reading the papers." Hermione nodded. "Then you can see our reasons." Hermione arched an eyebrow.
"They are killing Death Eaters. I would have thought you would have been…relieved." Hermione pointed out. "After all, it means justice has already been given out. There will be no need for a trial."
"Never-less, they are killing people," Dumbledore reminded. "They deserve a fair trial where they will receive the correct punishment for what they have done." Hermione nodded.
"And tell me, what will happen to those who claim they were under the imperius?" she crossed her legs as she waited for an answer. "Lucius Malfoy claimed he was under the imperius yet there was no evidence to back it up. He was never fed the truth potion nor did he give up his memories off the event."
"I assure you they will have to provide evidence," Dumbledore told her and Hermione smirked.
"Just like you could have assured Sirius getting a fair trial?" she asked. Dumbledore flinched lightly, just enough for Hermione to catch it. "Yes, I did my homework." Remus frowned as he looked between the two of them.
"Again, I will ask. Just what does our attention on finding the `Black Rose' have to do with this meeting?" Dumbledore asked, carefully directing the conversation. Hermione leaned back in her chair.
"Because I am Black Rose," Hermione announced; her facial expression serious. They all stared at her before chuckling started, first from Dumbledore then to the rest of the Order with the exception of Moody, Remus, Tonks and Ginny, the latter staring at her with a pensive look.
Hermione just glared and crossed her arms as she waited for them to get their heads out of their asses. Ron was the first one to stop when he saw the seriousness on her face and knew that she was telling the truth.
"You're the one who had been killing everyone?" he demanded, startling everyone. The chuckling died as they looked at Hermione, realising that she hadn't been joking,
"Yes, and if you wish, I could provide you with the details on how I killed them," she promised them. They realised that she was deadly serious and the implication dawned on them.
"It was you the entire time?" Molly gasped as she slumped against the back of her chair.
"Yes," Hermione, finding it fascinating how everyone was reacting. It was one of the things that made her curious. How would people react to finding out that Hermione Jane Granger, the perfect bookworm student, was walking the dark side and killing off Death Eaters as she did.
"Why?" Dumbledore asked as he leaned forward, his fingers pressed against each other as he peered at her over his glasses.
"Why do you think?" Hermione asked him bitterly and he looked like he had bitten into a sour lemon.
"Do you really think Harry would be happy to know what you have done?" Dumbledore asked. Hermione shrugged.
"Before we broke up for the summer holidays, he made me promise," Hermione told him.
"Promised what?" he asked.
"If anything was to happen to one of us, we would use that to drive us on and bring down Voldemort in any way we could. You haven't done anything but put on a united front for the Public. I did what I had to do," Hermione informed him.
"All those people…" Dumbledore trailed off as Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"They joined Voldemort willingly. Make your excuses. I know better," she warned him. "I forced fed them the truth serum and I got everything on what they did and how they were initiated. Trust me when I say they felt no remorse for what they did."
"They could have seen the light, they could have redeemed themselves!" Dumbledore argued and Hermione sighed.
"I am not getting involved in a moral argument with you," Hermione informed him. "I did what I had to do."
"They are purebloods…" Dumbledore started but Hermione shook her head.
"Who are raping, torturing and murdering muggle-borns and half-bloods. Don't preach me to me about anything," Hermione snipped. "You divided your attention; you sent most of the Order on my tail when you could have been making sure that the Muggle world was protected. You didn't, thus I had to come forward."
"So, you're saying if we had spent more time protecting the Muggles and less time looking for you, you wouldn't have come forward?" McGonagall asked.
"I have more important things to be doing. This isn't one of them," Hermione assured the head of her house. Most of the Order looked scandalized, Ron just looked furious and Ginny looked thoughtful.
"Tell us, just how did you manage to get Bellatrix? It took a team of Aurors to take her down the first time," Arthur asked and Hermione smirked.
"It didn't take me long to get my hands on Bellatrix and she proved to be quite useful. She was part of Voldemort's inner circle thus she had a lot of information, which proved crucial to my plan." Remus frowned. "Let's just say, I had some smart people on my side that helped me."
"How did you know Bellatrix was one of the people who killed Harry?" Remus asked. Hermione's eyes took on a far-away gaze.
"They sent me a recording of what they did to him that night," Hermione told them. There was a collective sharp intake of breath. "I heard her laughing as she tortured him. She was the one to kill him too. When I received the recording, my body went into shock and I lost our baby."
"Baby?!" exclaimed Ron, shocked. Ginny paled even further at the confession before she looked at Ron with a wary expression.
"Harry and I shared a night shortly after Sirius' death. We were both upset and naturally, we turned to each other for comfort. Unknown to us, I had conceived. Due to the shock and stress over what I saw, I miscarried. I didn't know I was pregnant until my parents took me to the hospital where I got the news." Her features darkened. "Do you know what that did to me? First, I got the recording of Harry being tortured then killed, and then I lost our baby, all in the same night."
"You slept with Harry?!" Ron stood up, his face turning red with anger. Hermione glared at him from where she was sitting.
"Yes, I slept with Harry. I gave my virginity to him and he gave me his. Now shut up and sit down!" she snarled. Ron sat down with a heavy thud as he stared at the woman he once considered as his best friend. "It is funny how I say that I'm a killer but you are more concerned about the fact that Harry and I slept together. Grow up and get over it."
"You didn't have to do this," Dumbledore protested. "You could have come to us before you disappeared. If you had given us the sphere of Harry's murder, we would have arrested the people who did this." Hermione laughed bitterly.
"Arrest them?" she spat out. "Azkaban is too good for those murdering bastards. You need to get off your high horse and start seeing the world from a mere mortal view. It's not black and white; it's all shades of grey."
"Hermione, we would have helped you to deal with your feelings…" Molly started.
"I tried to take my own life after Harry's funeral," Hermione interrupted. "That's how far gone I was. There was nothing to live for. Harry was dead."
"What stopped you? Arthur asked.
"Harry. He reminded me of the promise we made. If anything was to happen to one of us, and we knew that the Death Eaters wouldn't take being beaten by a bunch of kids easily, we would use that emotion to drive us on, to bring the war to an end," Hermione explained.
"Harry's dead," Ron gritted out and got a glare in return.
"I know Harry's dead…but when I thought he broke our promise, he hadn't."
"What promise?" Molly asked.
"In our fourth year, when everyone had turned their backs on Harry," Ron looked away ashamed as Hermione made it clear who she was talking about, "I made Harry promise me that he would always be there, no matter what. When he died, I felt he broke our promise but he hasn't. He has been appearing me…not as a ghost but not as a real person either. It's like he is in a limbo."
"Can we see him?" Dumbledore asked. He didn't believe that Harry was in a limbo but merely a manifestation of Hermione's mind. She obviously had a hard time dealing with the fact that Harry was dead and her mind created an image of him.
"He won't come," Hermione told him. Dumbledore frowned. "He needs to recharge in between visits. It takes a lot of energy for him to appear to me." She wasn't going to tell him the truth.
"Miss Granger, I must confess, I do not believe that Harry…" Dumbledore started but Hermione waved it off.
"Believe me or not, I don't care. This isn't reason of this meeting. Leave me to worry about my sanity." Dumbledore looked frustrated that she was cutting him off every time he tried to speak.
"Either way, I refuse to believe that Harry had asked such a promise from you," Dumbledore informed her. "He would have never gone down this route. He's not a killer." Hermione stared at him before laughing. The sound was hollow and scared the order.
"Harry's been a killer since he was one year old when he managed to vanquish Voldemort all those years ago. He spent 10 years of abuse at the hands of the Dursleys. He killed Quirrel in his first year, a Basilisk in his second year, he nearly died himself in third, fourth and fifth year. Harry wasn't the little innocent golden child you all liked to believe he was. He lost his innocence and he never got it back," she listed heatedly. "He watched Sirius die, then I was nearly killed and he was nearly killed while being possessed by Voldemort." She growled as the group, apart from Dumbledore, flinched at the name. "Believe what you want to believe, but believe me on this, I knew the real Harry Potter, the boy who just wanted a normal life instead of this crap you shoved on his shoulder."
Hermione sensed Ron was about to open his mouth and turned her glare on him. "And keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you. Don't think I have forgiven you for turning your back on him in our fourth year." She hissed at him. Ron flushed before slouching in his seat, embarrassed when the members turned to look at him.
"That is no excuse to go around killing people off," Dumbledore shot back, unsettled her claims that Harry wasn't as light as he believed. Hermione stared at him before an amused smirk crossed her face.
"You are under the impression that I did all of this on my own," Hermione told him. "I wasn't the one who killed Lucius Malfoy, or Wormtail or Bellatrix."
"Who else did you involve?" Dumbledore gritted out. Hermione chuckled.
"You make it seem like they didn't have a choice in the matter when that wasn't the situation at all. I approached them, offered them something what they really wanted and told them I could get it for them…providing they kept silent about my…job," Hermione explained.
"No," Dumbledore whispered, refusing to believe that people had kept silent when Hermione was going around murdering purebloods, even though they were Death Eaters and had done many bad things, they still deserved a chance at redemption.
"Oh yes, I have more allies than you, the Ministry and Voldemort put together. You'd be surprised how fed up people are with the Death Eaters claiming they were being threatened, under the imperius curse or they were scared. They helped me out," Hermione shrugged.
"But…how did you manage to capture them?" McGonagall asked, confused. "You captured and killed Umbridge, Malfoy, Peter and countless of other Death Eaters. You even tortured them, proven when Umbridge was revealed to have the scars from a blood quill."
"I have my sources," Hermione informed her. "Draco killed Lucius Malfoy."
"Wha…why?" asked McGonagall, confused.
"Because daddy dearest decided that he wanted to have his fun with Luna. He raped Luna in front of her father before killing her father in front of her before taking her again. She eventually told Draco, who wanted his father dead. I tortured him to make sure that he didn't know anything about Harry's death and to find out more of Voldemort and his plans before I handed him over to his son," Hermione explained with a shrug. "Peter…well, I had my fun with him. After all, he was the one who gave up James and Lily's hiding place. He was the reason why Harry had no parents at all. But, I wasn't the only one who wanted him dead and I gave him to someone who wanted him so badly."
"But…Sirius was the only one," Remus spoke up but Hermione shook her head.
"Cho Chang. After all, her boyfriend was killed because he was a `spare' that shouldn't have arrived with Harry." The room was silent as they tried to digest the information they were being given.
"Bellatrix?" asked Tonks.
"I tortured her because I knew she was the one who killed Harry and I wanted information on who else was there with her. Took a while to give up the information but then again, I knew the incentive. After all, who would like to be tortured by the son of the parents she tortured to insanity." Understanding dawned on Dumbledore and the original members of the Order.
"Neville, you gave her to Neville," Dumbledore croaked out and Hermione nodded.
"You should have seen him. He was more than willing to take up his wand and torture the bitch. He even went without the wand when I showed him my method of torture. Let's just say she was more than willing to give up any information afterward. Of course, I couldn't kill her and I wouldn't let Neville either."
"You sold her out to Voldemort," Arthur caught on and Hermione nodded.
"She was his most faithful follower. She adored him, worshipped him. She was more than willing to carry out his orders so I took him away from her. After all, what's the worst thing that can happen? Death by the hand of a girl whose boyfriend had been stolen from her…or being killed by someone you worship more than your life? To see the pure hatred on his face just before he takes your life? That's the best revenge a person could possibly have."
"You have gone mad," Molly uttered out as tears came to her eyes over the loss of the young girl Hermione used to be.
"They killed Harry and sent me a recording of his death. I lost our child because of them. If that means I have gone mad, then yes, I agree with you. But when Death Eaters are walking about like they own the place, I will damn well do whatever it takes to bring them down. You and the Ministry may like to make excuses for them but we know that they all but begged Voldemort to mark them. All I did was cut off Voldemort's circle before slowly making my way in."
"You can't kill him," Dumbledore spoke up, convinced. Hermione grinned.
"Actually, I can. After all, Harry isn't alive. There was a statement saying `neither can live while the other live'. Harry is dead; Voldemort isn't immortal as he likes to believe he is. `The power he knows not' - well, the power was always going to be Harry. I die; Harry uses the power of his love for me to bring down Voldemort. Harry dies; I'm using my love for Harry to bring down Voldemort."
"Then why haven't you killed him?" Dumbledore asked.
"Because Voldemort has a very important part to play," she informed him. "It's not the right time."
"You just said that you want to take down You-Know-Who!" Ron shouted, "Why are you taking so long?!"
"Because I have something else I need to do. Beside, Voldie doesn't like being scared and I want to keep him there. Beside, when I do finally get to him, I want him to know that he is alone and no-one will save him." Hermione informed them. Not even Dumbledore could counter her statement. She was giving them a chance to bring down Voldemort, a mad man who had terrorised their home and killed countless of people. Those who still protested at the thought of her killing Death Eaters couldn't fault her logic.
There was a warm buzzing feeling against Hermione's hip and she realised that she had spent too long with the Order. She had to get back to her mission. She was close to her goal and she wasn't going to be side-tracked now. "Oh, just to let you know. Each torture was a…tribute to them," Hermione told them as she stood up. "Umbridge used a blood quill on Harry when she was our DADA teacher in fifth year. All I did was returned the favour." Everyone paled as Hermione left the room and they began to wonder…just how much had they played in the role of Hermione turning dark.
TBC
There we go; the Order now knows about Hermione…
And this is only Part 1 of Dumbledore vs. Hermione. One more part and there is one more part of Ron vs. Hermione
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