~~~ Chapter 3: Living on the Edge ~~~
Hermione made her way into the Great Hall the next morning. She had been disappointed that Harry hadn't been there when she woke up but managed to shake herself out of it so she could get washed and dressed in time for breakfast. Taking her seat, she picked up her plate and started filling it up before pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.
The Daily Prophet had already arrived and Hermione paid for her copy before reading the headlines of the latest Purebloods' deaths, including a recount of the other purebloods that had also been killed. She noticed that three Slytherin students were on the list, Vincent Crabbe, Greg Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. She lifted her eyes to see that the Slytherin were looking smaller this year. Most of the parents, who were Death Eaters themselves, had yanked their kids out of Hogwarts for safety.
Shaking her head, she turned back to the papers wondering if the Death Eaters had any idea of how much danger they were in. It was obvious the killer wanted them dead and was using whatever means available to them. She caught sight of a statement from the Minister and scoffed.
`When asked about the actions of `Black Rose' and the fear stemming from the deaths, the Minister had replied "Rest assure that we are working around the clock in order to bring this murderer to court. We shall find this person who thinks they are above the law and persecute them to the fullest extent. We are dealing with You-Know-Who effectively and we will deal with this mysterious newcomer the same way".'
Hermione wondered if each Minister ended up losing brain cells due to the power they gained. She remembered that Rufus had been the head of Aurors and had been a good one before he got the boost in power and seemed to lose all of his cells. Crumpling up the papers, she chucked it halfway down the table where it rocked back and forth and she turned back to her breakfast.
Ginny Weasley sat down across from Hermione and cleared her throat. Hermione lifted her eyes to see the 6th year sitting across from her and sighed softly to herself. She had a feeling why Ginny was there.
"Morning Ginny," Hermione greeted. Ginny nodded.
"I heard from Ron that he asked you out," Ginny said. Hermione gave her a short nod. "And that you turned him down."
"And this is important because…" Hermione asked. Ginny narrowed her eyes at her friend in confusion.
"Ron's really hurt," Ginny started but was interrupted by Hermione's scoff.
"I don't care. I'm not going to date him," Hermione informed Ginny bluntly. Ginny reached out, placing her hand over Hermione's.
"I understand that you are scared. After all, you and Harry were best friends when you lost him but you won't lose Ron. You'll be fine, Hermione…" Hermione slipped her hand out from under Ginny's and stood up.
"You understand nothing." She stalked off.
"She is right," Luna Lovegood hummed, appearing out from nowhere, startling the red-haired Weasley witch. "Just because Ronald wishes to date her, it doesn't mean she should. Beside, losing Harry has snapped her. No other man could ever compare to him and anyone who thinks they can, it will only push her away."
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked as dread built up in her stomach. She had noticed that Harry and Hermione seemed much closer toward the end of fifth year.
"They were very close before he died." With that, Luna walked off humming under her breath, making her way over to the Slytherin table. Draco greeted her while the other Slytherin shifted away from the crazy Ravenclaw. The implications of Luna's statement dawned on Ginny and she gasped.
Pain flooded through Ginny as she stood up and made her way out of the great hall, ignoring the fact that she hadn't had breakfast. She kept her head bowed as the implication ran through over and over her head. She had held out hope that Harry would see her for who she was instead of being Ron's little sister. She had planned, before that summer, that she would open Harry's eyes to her and hopefully become his girlfriend. But to hear that Hermione had gotten there first had hurt her deeply.
She wasn't blind; she knew how close Harry and Hermione had been. She rarely saw one without the other and adding in the fact that Harry had chosen Hermione over Cho Chang, the girl he had a crush on since his 3rd year, twice had made it very clear that any girl who wanted to date him had to deal with the fact that Hermione was in his life and wasn't leaving any time soon.
Even with him dead, Hermione was still loyal to him. She had left for an entire year because she couldn't face Hogwarts with the raven haired man by her side. Ginny shook her head as she remembered seeing Hermione's pale face as she clutched at Dumbledore's robes, begging him to tell her that Harry wasn't dead, that it was just a nightmare and Harry was still alive.
Ginny lifted her head when she heard the front door slam open and saw Hermione come running in, her eyes wild as tears continued to run down her cheeks. She met Dumbledore halfway and grabbed the lapels of his robes.
"Tell me it isn't true!" Hermione begged. "Tell me that Harry is alive, please! Tell me that Harry is alive!" She was tugging on the robes as hard as she could, her desperate brown eyes pleading with the dark sorrowful blue eyes of Dumbledore as he placed his hands over hers.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," it was strange to hear him say Hermione's first name, "Harry is dead. He died last night."
"NO!" Hermione wailed; her heartbreak clear in her body language. Ginny flinched as she turned her head, unable to deal with the waves of anguish that was coming from the woman before her. "NO! He's not dead!" she balled up her fists and slammed it into Dumbledore's chest. "Don't lie to me! Harry is not dead. You're lying! You're hiding him somewhere so I can't see him!" Everyone could only watch as they saw Hermione come unglued, her anguish taking over as she slugged the headmaster of Hogwarts. If it hadn't been such a heartbreaking scene, it would have been funny.
"Hermione…" Dumbledore tried to placate but Hermione's strength failed her as she fell to her knees.
"NO! Harry!" she screamed, her fists pounding into the floorboard as her tears took over. They could her hear sobbing. "He's not dead! He can't be!" she wailed before she curled up into herself and sobbed even harder, a hand pressed to her stomach. Everyone swallowed the lump that formed in their throat while Molly sobbed softly at the sight of Hermione Granger crying.
"Hermione…" Ron stepped forward before he stopped as tears filled his blue eyes. He didn't know how to comfort his best friend who was lying on the ground broken.
"Harry," Hermione whimpered. "You promised me, you promised," she broke down in fresh tears. Unable to help herself, Tonks had moved forward and embraced Hermione in a hug. Hermione just cried harder, calling Harry's name as if she hoped that they were still lying to her and that Harry would come out of where ever he had hidden to ease her pain. It hurt Ginny to know that Harry would never be able to comfort Hermione again and wondered if she would get ever get a fraction of her best friend back.
Ginny came out of her thoughts with a shudder and wiped away the tears that made its way down her cheeks. More than a year later and that scene still brought tears. She shook her head to get rid of the memory. At first, she had thought it was because Hermione had lost her best friend…but hearing Luna and re-thinking, Hermione had lost someone who had been close to her in everyway.
She wouldn't tell Ron this; it would break him to know that Harry had gotten Hermione first. Ron had made it clear that he had a crush on Hermione since the Yule Ball in her 3rd year. If he was ever to know that Hermione had chosen Harry and that the two of them had seemly gotten together before that summer…he would never get over it.
~_HxH_~
Hermione stifled a yawn as Snape droned on about defending themselves against the dark arts. He had been given the position of the teacher for the Defence against the Dark Arts the year before, much to the horror of the students, apart from Slytherin. Hermione knew if Harry was still alive, he would have dropped DADA to save his sanity.
She felt eyes bore into her head and she looked up to see Snape sneering in her direction. She made a point of bringing her eyes back down to her notes and continued to doodle. She had read through the books and was beginning to feel like she was in her history class where she was ready to fall asleep.
She knew it pissed off Snape that he couldn't get into her mind to find out where she had been last year or that she wasn't interested in listening to him during the lessons. At the beginning, he had spent most of his time mocking her only to grow frustrated that she wouldn't take the bait. She was practicing what she preached to Harry, ignore him and keep your head down. Unfortunately, it spurred Snape on even further. Now that Harry was dead and she had been gone last year, he didn't really have anyone to pick on. Now she was back, it was fair game.
Hermione looked at the paper she was doodling on and found that she had written most of the death eaters' names that she knew off, some of them had a line through them as if crossing them out and she realised she had been crossing out the ones who had been killed over the short time since she came back to Hogwarts. It was beginning to look like a death list and she hurriedly folded the paper before placing it into her book to prevent Snape from grabbing it and reading it out to the class. She didn't need him running to Dumbledore.
Before she knew it, class was over and the students were packing up. She got the message, standing up and gathering her stuff when Snape spoke up once more.
"Miss Granger, stay behind," Snape ordered. The students whispered to each other as they slowly left the classroom, sneaking looks at Hermione as she continued to pack her bag. Once the last student left, the door swung shut and she lifted her head to see Snape staring at her.
"Yes, sir?" she asked.
"I am curious to why you haven't been participating in the lessons," he told her. "Have we finally broken our little know-it-all's stubborn attitude?" he seemed positively gleeful at the thought. Hermione just snorted.
"No, I just stopped listening," she informed him, her brown eyes turning hard as she straightened up, facing Snape off. "After all, you are a death eater." Snape opened his mouth to say something but Hermione lifted her hand up to cut him off. "I don't want to hear your excuses. I know you weren't the one to kill Harry but I am betting that you knew about it. Just like you kept silent about Harry's dreams of Sirius being in danger and how you took so long in informing the Order just where we were." Snape's face turned dark as a scowl formed.
"You…" he started but was cut off again by Hermione snarling as she grabbed the lapel of his robes.
"You listen to me and you listen to me carefully. I don't care what Voldemort or his stupid minions think of me. You want to think of me like I'm some stupid powerless mudblood? Then be my guest. But I will not entertain any of you by pretending that this world isn't going to hell. Beside, I would like to believe that you have a much bigger problem on your hands instead of dealing with a little muggleborn girl like me not caring about her lessons." She arched an eyebrow at the fear that crossed Snape's face for a brief moment. "After all, this…`Black Rose' seems to have it in for you guys if the reports in the papers are correct." She shoved Snape away. "Take points off me, give me detentions…I don't care. I stopped caring when you stupid idiots took Harry away from me. For all I care, you can all go and burn in hell…you deserve it."
Hermione spun on her heels and grabbed her bag before slinging it over her shoulder and headed over to the door.
"What happened to you?" Snape asked, still stunned. Hermione just stared at the door.
"I died the night Harry died," she looked at him. "You may have seen him as a James clone, the world may have seen him as a saviour one moment and a villain the next, but me…I saw Harry for who he was, someone who just wanted to be normal and to be loved. And you all took him away from me." She tugged on the handle, flinging the door open and strode out of the classroom, leaving a silent teacher behind as he wondered if there was any redemption for him in the afterlife.
~_HxH_~
Hermione stood in front of the long mirror, staring back at the young woman in the reflection. Sometimes, she caught herself wondering who was it that was staring back at her before she realised it was herself. It was strange to see a difference. Oh, it wasn't completely noticeable, her hair was still wild, her eyes were still the usual dark brown colour - although they were a little dull, and she hadn't really filled out much in the chest area, maybe a cup size bigger.
It was mostly her actions that led her to believe she was staring at a stranger. She had done so many things over the year she had gone missing leading up to this moment. And she wasn't even finished, not by a long shot. Reaching out, she touched her reflection's cheek and sighed sadly for a young girl she used to be. Funny how fate likes to throw hurdles in shapes you would never expect them.
One of those hurdles had been Harry Potter, her best friend since first year. Yes, she was friends with Ron but their friendship was mostly arguments and insults. Harry had understood her the best he could considering they both had the same background but he had gotten her love for books, he understood her thirst for knowledge and never teased her about them like Ron like to do when he didn't need her help.
Then…he was taken away from her. Hermione shied away from the memory, she didn't like to think about it and she didn't have the time. She needed to get out of the castle while she still had the chance.
Hermione pulled on her long black cloak over her black jeans and black shirt. She tied the cloak up before spinning around to see Dobby was standing in the middle of his room, dressed in the same outfit she had seen him when she came back home. Dobby peered at her for a moment.
"Mistress going out?" asked Dobby.
"Yes, I am. Can you please make sure that no one tries to look for me?" she asked and Dobby nodded.
"Dobby can do that Mistress," he assured her before he looked up at her with hard eyes. "Is there anything else, Mistress?"
"Make sure our guest is uncomfortable," she ordered him with a smirk. "I do not want her getting lax. After all, I will be by later to get more answers."
"Yes, Mistress," Dobby disappeared with a crack. Hermione pulled her hood up and slipped out into the darkness, her steps sure and steady as she made her way to her destination. She had some…recruiting to do.
~_HxH_~
George Weasley sighed as he handed the kids the bags filled with pranks they had purchased. They giggled up at him before disappearing out of the door and he watched them go with a sad smile on his face. He remembered the will reading of Harry after the funeral. It had been a surprising turn of events. Harry had left them the books of the Marauders that they had created when they were at school and an order to make sure that they kept a smile on everyone's face in the threat of darkness.
Everyone had been stunned to hear that Harry had made Hermione his sole heir for a majority of his wealth…well, apart for him and Fred. They had a bet on when Harry and Hermione would realise their feelings for each other.
George lifted his eyes when he heard the bell ring to signal a customer had entered only for a frown to crease his forehead when he spotted that the customer hadn't removed their hood. Discretely fingering his wand under the counter, he watched as the customer browsed the shelves.
There was something familiar about the way that customer moved. George couldn't put his finger on it but he was so sure that he had seen the person before but due to the hood being up over their head; it was difficult to see their face. The customer seemed to be aware that they were being watched and walked over to the counter.
"Can I help you?" George asked cheerfully, his hand grasping his wand so he would be able to counter an attack if it came.
"If only if you can keep your promise that you can keep a secret," the voice replied with a chuckle. George frowned, that voice… "Hello George," Hermione greeted, throwing back her hood.
"Hermione!" greeted George, stunned to see Hermione Granger standing before him in his shop. "Have we died and gone to heaven that our lovely Hermione Granger is browsing our shelves for pranks?" Hermione chuckled as she shook her head.
"No, I need to talk to you and Fred, if he's here," she told him. George nodded.
"He's in the back, go on through. I'll get Lee to cover for me," he thumbed the door over his shoulder. Hermione nodded in thanks before she brushed by him and climbed the stairs that led the way to the workshop where Fred was hunched over a table.
"Hello Fred," Hermione greeted. Startled, Fred spun around on his seat to see Hermione standing at the bottom of the steps before a grin spread across his face.
"Hermione!" he greeted as he got up and gave the younger woman a hug before he pulled away, holding her at arms length. "Been a bloody long time since we saw you."
"Sorry, school kept me busy," Hermione apologised as George came down the stairs and closed the door so they wouldn't be interrupted.
"Speaking of which, shouldn't you be in school right now?" George asked as they walked over to the table and Fred chuckled.
"Don't tell me little miss stickler for rules is now breaking them!" he exclaimed. Hermione just gave them an impish smile.
"I'm actually here for a reason," she started. "Sit down," she waved her hand and both of them sat down. She took a seat across from them. "I have a proposition for you," she informed them as she leaned on her elbows. "I can promise you that you will be greatly rewarded."
"Just what are you up to?" Fred asked warily. He knew better than to jump in head first when it came to Hermione. Harry may have trusted her unconditionally, but the two of them were pranksters and knew better than to trust people straight off the bat.
"Taking down Voldemort and his little minions," she informed them casually like they were discussing the weather. Fred and George were stunned speechless as they stared at the brunette before them.
"You make it sound so easy," Fred muttered. Hermione shrugged.
"It can be, if you counter them with muggle ways rather than magic," Hermione explained.
"You sound as if you have been going around rounding them up," George noticed.
"While I was away, I met up with some people and they trained me in a lot of things," she started. "I only finished my training before the summer, which is one of the reasons why I came back. The other, I have a promise to keep."
"That's why you haven't told Dumbledore where you have been," both twins chorus together as understanding dawned on them. "But I still don't understand what you are trying to say," Fred continued. Hermione sighed.
"I'm the Black Rose," Hermione told them.
"You're…" Fred trailed off as his eyes widen before he looked at his twin, who mirrored his look.
"And I'm trusting you to keep your lips zipped on this little…secret. I don't want to see this on the front page," Hermione warned them, her tone dark.
"Hermione…" George started before he shook his head. "What happened to you?"
"I grew up," Hermione informed them. "Harry is dead and I want my revenge."
"You've been a busy little witch, haven't you," George muttered with a snort as he remembered all the deaths mentioned in the papers.
"Someone had to," replied Hermione. Fred shook his head, still trying to get his head around the fact that the young woman before him was now a killer. He just didn't know what to believe but he knew that they owned it to Harry to help her in whatever she needed to do. After all, Harry was the reason they even had a shop and he had been like a brother to him and George.
"If we were to agree, what would you have us do?" Fred asked.
"Gather some Intel, give me the locations of certain Death Eaters, help me to hide them," she listed off before she pinned them with a half smirk. "I'll even let your try out your new toys on them providing you don't kill them. Maim them, yes. Kill, no."
"Just Death Eaters?" asked George and Hermione laughed.
"I don't plan on taking over the Wizarding World," she assured them with a wave of her hand. "I just want my revenge and I want Voldemort dead."
"I understand you want revenge, Hermione," George started.
"But going this way…it seems cold, even for you," Fred finished. Hermione stiffened.
"They tortured Harry before they killed him and they took great delight in it," she informed them with a hard tone. "I lost something precious because of them and I want my revenge."
"How do you know this?" Fred asked, not even the papers had given them any details. Hermione pulled out a small gold ball the size of a snitch from the pocket of her robes and tossed it to Fred, who caught it.
"Let me know what your answer is." She pulled her hood up and walked out of the shop, leaving two solemn boys behind as they stared at the gold ball, wondering what was so significant about it.
~_HxH_~
Hermione stood in front of the window with her arms crossed under her breasts as she stared out of the pane as the rain pounded against the glass. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed, the wind howled and the moon was half, shining brightly in the night sky partially hidden by the dark thunder clouds.
On the bed behind her laid a piece of paper.
`Hermione,
We're in.
Fred and George,
Forever in your service'
Now, the world will learn its lesson and she was going to be the one to teach them.
TBC
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