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┄┄ .•* 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟓 *•. ┄┄

𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕

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Hermione and George met Harry and Ginny as they headed to the hospital wing, the former in a state of shock as Ginny softly led him to the hospital wing.

"Mimi!" Ginny gasped as she looked over Hermione, making the latter roll her eyes.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth. "It looks worse than it is."

Ginny was about to say something else when she caught George frantically shaking his head, urging her to not say anything unless she wanted to be at the end of Hermione's glare.

George opened the doors to the hospital wing, letting them pass by him. Hermione looked around and saw Neville, Dean, and Seamus, and Theo already asleep on a bed—though the latter too seemed rather still to be just asleep, probably unconscious—, and further down the ward a group of people surrounding a bed Hermione was sure was holding a mulled up Bill Weasley.

The sound of the door opening caused everyone around the bed to snap their heads towards them, just as Hermione was swatting George away as he tried to help her, and Ginny was leading Harry towards the group.

"Mia! Harry!" Sirius was the first one to call out as he moved forward and simultaneously hugged both of them, causing Hermione to wince as she hugged him back.

"You're all soaked, Mia!" Sirius said with a frown and he pulled away, his eyes widening when he saw what was in fact blood. "Poppy!" Sirius called the matron urgently, leading Hermione to a bed next to Bill's.

"I'm fine," Hermione whined as Sirius pushed her to lay on the bed, "Bill needs Poppy!"

"You're not fine, Mione," George finally snapped.

Hermione rolled her eyes and watched Ginny and Harry moving over to Bill's bed, while Fred and Blaise came over to hers, the latter showing signs of not feeling welcome in the room, but still wanting to be there for Hermione.

"I am fine," Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Blimey, Mimi," Fred said with his eyes widen in worry, looking frightened by her appearance. He made his way over to her, kneeling down next to her on the floor and unwrapped the scarf from around her arm, a gasp leaving him when he saw the wounds. "Tell me this is the only one," Fred pleaded looking up.

"It is," she said with a not-so-convincing tone, making Sirius growl under his breath.

"POPPY!" Sirius called again making the matron huff as she moved over.

"I'm here, Mr. Black," she sighed and moved over to Hermione, pushing Fred away from her, making space for her to take a look at the wound. "Oh my, that is a lot of blood, Miss Black."

"It's barely anything," Hermione waved her off, prompting everyone in the vicinity to roll their eyes.

Madam Pomfrey moved over to her hip, opening the zipper in her jeans and pulling its side down and her shirt up, gasping when she saw three deep gashes, about four inches long, along with another two shorter ones.

"Was it Greyback who did this to you, Miss Black?" Madam Pomfrey asked concerned, looking over her wounds as she cleaned the blood around them with a damp towel, not wanting to use magic before knowing what she was dealing with.

"Yes," Hermione winced as she grazed over a wound.

"Is she. . . ." Harry trailed off. He looked over at Hermione and back to Bill, his eyes finally settling on Remus.

"Hermione was not bitten, so she won't be a true werewolf. And, I don't think that Bill will be a true werewolf," said Lupin, "but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and—and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on. Hermione on a lesser scale, but will probably be craving rawer meat."

"I was never one for fully cooked meats," Hermione shrugged off-handily, as she let Madam Pomfrey treat her wounds, urging herself not to roll her eyes at Sirius's and Fred's concerned looks.

"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron said. "Where is he? Bill sought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state—"

"Ron—Dumbledores dead," said Ginny.

"WHAT?"

"No!"

Sirius and Remus looked wildly from Ginny to Harry, to Hermione, as though hoping the latter two might contradict her, but when they did not, Remus collapsed into a chair beside Bill's bed, his hands over his face, and Sirius shakily sat down on the foot of Hermione's bed.

"How did he die?" whispered Tonks. "How did it happen?"

"Snape killed him," said Harry. "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back at the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was. . . Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realized it was a trap when we heard footsteps running up the stairs. He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak—and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him—"

Blaise clapped a hand to his mouth and Ron groaned. Luna's mouth trembled.

"—more Death Eaters arrived, Greyback holding Hermione—and then Snape—and Snape did it. The Avada Kedavra." Harry couldn't go on. 

Madam Pomfrey burst into tears, as she continued to bandage Hermione's wounds after having dabbed some dittany on them and cleaned her clothes with a charm. Nobody paid her any attention except Ginny, who whispered, "Shh! Listen!"

Gulping, Madam Pomfrey pressed her fingers to her mouth, her eyes wide. Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way they had never heard before: a stricken lament of terrible beauty. And Hermione felt that the music was inside her, not without: It was her own grief turned magically to a song that echoed across the grounds and through the castle windows.

How long they all stood there, listening, they did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little to listen to the sound of their mourning, but it felt like a long time later that the hospital door opened again and Professor McGonagall entered the ward. Like all the rest, she bore marks of the recent battle: There were grazes on her face and her robes were ripped.

"Molly and Arthur are on their way," she said, and the spell of the music was broken: Everyone roused themselves as though coming out of trances, turning again to look at Bill or Hermione, or else to rub their own eyes shake their heads. "Harry, what happened? According to Hagrid, you were with Professor Dumbledore when he—when it happened. He says Professor Snape was involved in some—"

"Snape killed Dumbledore," said Harry.

She stared at him for a moment, then swayed alarmingly; Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have pulled herself together, ran forward, conjuring a chair from thin air, which she pushed under McGonagall.

"Snape," repeated McGonagall faintly, falling into the chair. "We all wondered. . . . but he trusted. . . . always. . . .Snape. . . .I can't believe it. . . ."

Hermione didn't know what to do. On one hand, she wanted to tell them everything, about how Snape was on his side. But on the other hand, she knew they would never believe her, the wound was too fresh. So she just kept quiet, not saying anything on the matter.

"Snape was a highly accomplished Occlumens," said Remus, his voice uncharacteristically harsh."We always knew that."

"But Dumbledore swore he was on our side!" whispered Tonks. "I always thought Dumbledore must know something about Snape that we didn't. . . ."

"He always hinted that he had an ironclad reason for trusting Snape," muttered Professor McGonagall, now dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes with a tartan-edged handkerchief. "I mean. . . .with Snape's history. . . . of course people were bound to wonder. . . .but Dumbledore told me explicitly that Snape's repentance was absolutely genuine—Wouldn't hear a word against him!"

"Dumbledore was a fool, then!" Sirius said angrily, his jaw set as he glared into nothing in particular. "Snivellous was always a slimy git. Never trustworthy."

"I'd love to know what Snape told Dumbledore to convince him," said Tonks.

"I know," said Harry, and they all turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry that they were dead."

"BULLSHIT!" Sirius roared, making everyone flinch.

"And Dumbledore believed that?" said Lupin incredulously. "Dumbledore believed Snape was sorry James was dead? Snape hated James. . . ."

"And he didn't think my mother was worth a damn either," said Harry, "because she was Muggle-born. . . .'Mudblood,' he called her. . . ."

Nobody asked how Harry knew this. All of them seemed to be lost in horrified shock, trying to digest the monstrous truth of what had happened.

"This is all my fault," said Professor McGonagall suddenly. She looked disoriented, twisting her wet handkerchief in her hands. "My fault. I sent Filius to fetch Snape tonight, I actually sent for him to come and help us! If I hadn't alerted Snape to what was going on, he might never have joined forces with the Death Eaters. I don't think he knew they were there before Filius told him, I don't think he knew they were coming."

"It isn't your fault, Minnie," said Remus firmly. "We all wanted more help, we were glad to think Snape was on his way. . . ."

"So when he arrived at the fight, he joined in on the Death Eaters' side?" asked Harry.

"I don't know exactly how it happened," said Professor McGonagall distractedly. "It's all so confusing. . . . Dumbledore had told us that he would be leaving the school for a few hours and that we were to patrol the corridors just in case. . . . Remus, Bill, and Nymphadora were to join us; but then Sirius and Messrs. Weasley also showed up. . . . and so we patrolled. All seemed quiet. Every secret passageway out of the school was covered. We knew nobody could fly in. There were powerful enchantments on every entrance into the castle. I still don't know how the Death Eaters can possibly have entered. . . ."

"I do," said Harry, and he explained, briefly, about the pair of Vanishing Cabinets and the magical pathway they formed. "So they got in through the Room of Requirement."

"I messed up, Harry," said Ron bleakly. "We did like you told us: We checked the Marauder's Map and we couldn't see Malfoy on it, so we thought he must be in the Room of Requirement, so me, Dean, Seamus, and Neville went to keep watch on it. . . . but Malfoy got past us."

"He came out of the room about an hour after we started keeping watch,"continued Ron. "He was clutching his Hand of Glory," said Ron. "Gives light only to the holder, remember?"

"Anyway," Ron went on, "he must have been checking whether the coast was clear to let Death Eaters out, because the moment he saw us he threw Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder in the air, everything went pitch black," said Ron bitterly. "Fred and George's," he added looking at the twins, whose faces were pale, "You need to know who you're letting buy your products."

"It's not as if we knew what would happen, Ronniekins," Fred snapped at him.

"We tried everything, Lumos, Incendio," said Ron, cutting their banter short. "Nothing would penetrate the darkness; all we could do was grope our way out of the corridor again, and meanwhile we could hear people rushing past us. Obviously, Malfoy could see because of that hand thing and was guiding them, but we didn't dare use any curses or anything in case we hit each other, and by the time we'd reached a light corridor, they'd gone."

"Luckily," said Lupin hoarsely, "Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville ran into us almost immediately and told us what had happened. We found the Death Eaters minutes later, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. Malfoy obviously hadn't expected more people to be on the watch; he seemed to have exhausted his supply of Darkness Powder, at any rate. A fight broke out, they scattered and we gave chase. One of them, Gibbon, broke away and headed up the tower stairs—" 

"To set off the Mark?" asked Harry.

"He must have done, yes, they must have arranged that before they left the Room of Requirement," said Lupin. "But I don't think Gibbon liked the idea of waiting up there alone for Dumbledore, because he came running back downstairs to rejoin the fight and was hit by a Killing Curse that just missed me."

"I went to find Blaise and Theo," Hermione added to the story, glancing at Blaise, "telling them to go warn the other houses not to get out of the dorms. After I left the Ravenclaw tower, I ran into dear cousin Bellabitch—" Tonks and Sirius stiffened, looking worriedly at Hermione, knowing how bad Bellatrix was, "—we had a nice chat. Apparently, Tommy wants me. She eventually split from the group and I was beasthandled by Greyback as they dragged me along to the. . . Astronomy Tower," she said.

"So if Ron was watching the Room of Requirement with Dean, Seamus, and Neville," said Harry, turning to Hermione, "and you and Zabini and Nott were warning the houses," Harry turned to Ginny, "were you—?"

"Outside Snape's office, yes," whispered Ginny, "with Luna. We were there for ages and nothing happened. . . . We didn't know what was going on upstairs, Ron had the map—It was almost midnight when Flitwick came sprinting down into the dungeons. He was shouting about Death Eaters in the castle, I don't think he really knew that Luna and I were there at all, he just burst his way into Snape's office and we heard him saying that Snape had to go back with him and help and then we heard a loud thump and Snape came hurtling out of his room and he saw us and—and—"

"What?" Harry urged her.

"I was so stupid, Harry!" said Ginny looking mortified. "He said Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of him while he—while he went to help fight the Death Eaters. We went into his office to see if we could help Professor Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor. . . . God! I was such a moron! Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"

"It's not your fault," said Remus firmly. "Ginny, had you not obeyed Snape and got out of the way, he probably would have killed you and Luna."

"So then he came upstairs," said Harry, "and he found the place where you were all fighting. . . ."

"We were in trouble, we were losing," said Tonks in a low voice. "Gibbon was down, but the rest of the Death Eaters seemed ready to fight to the death. Neville had been hurt, Bill had been savaged by Greyback. . . . It was all dark. . . . curses flying everywhere. . . .The Malfoy boy had vanished, hemust have slipped past, up the stairs. . . . then more of them ran after him, Hermione with them apparently, but one of them blocked the stair behind them with some kind of curse. . . . Neville ran at it and got thrown up into the air—"

"None of us could break through," said Ron, "and that massive Death Eater was still firing off jinxes all over the place, they were bouncing off the walls and barely missing us. . . ."

"And then Snape was there," said Tonks, "and then he wasn't—"

"I saw him running toward us, but that huge Death Eaters jinx just missed me right afterward and I ducked and lost track of things," said Ginny.

"I saw him run straight through the cursed barrier as though it wasn't there," said Lupin. "I tried to follow him, but was thrown back just like Neville. . . ."

"He must have known a spell we didn't," whispered McGonagall. "After all—he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. . . . I just assumed that he was in a hurry to chase after the Death Eaters who'd escaped up to the tower. . . ."

"He was," said Harry savagely, "but to help them, not to stop them. . . .and I'll bet you had to have a Dark Mark to get through that barrier—so what happened when he came back down?"

"Well, the big Death Eater had just fired off a hex that caused half the ceiling to fall in, and also broke the curse blocking the stairs," said Lupin. "We all ran forward—those of us who were stillstanding anyway—and then Snape and the boy emerged out of the dust—obviously, none of us attacked them—"

"We just let them pass," said Tonks in a hollow voice. "We thought they were being chased by the Death Eaters—and next thing, the other Death Eaters and Greyback were back and we were fighting again—I thought I heard Snape shout something, but I don't know what—"

"He shouted, 'It's over,'" said Harry. "He'd done what he'd meant to do."

They all fell silent. Fawkes's lament was still echoing over the dark grounds outside.

"You knew," Harry said, looking over at Hermione, as it finally dawned on him. This caused everyone to turn to her with frowns and Hermione to swallow and nod. "YOU KNEW!"

"Watch it, Prongslet," Sirius said sternly, not liking where this was going.

"She knew!" Harry said incredulously. "You knew he would die! You knew what would happen! Did you even tried to stop it?!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "I did try to stop it," she hissed, "but Dumbledore was a tad suicidal this year."

"What?" everyone asked, turning to her again.

"He was already dying," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"His hand," Blaise was the one to point out. "He was cursed."

"He didn't have much more time," Hermione sighed, "a couple of months the most."

"He knew he was going to die?" Tonks whispered.

"I told him everything," Hermione said, "he was adamant to let it pan out. He would rather have Snape kill him instead of Draco. That meant Draco didn't have to."

"He's a Death Eater, anyway," Harry snapped.

"Not everyone has a choice, Harry," Sirius said with a sigh, making the specky kid look at him bewildered. "The Malfoy boy was probably struggling. You forget not everyone is a Gryffindor. Not everyone is brave enough."

"Dragon was paying for his father's actions," Hermione explained after her dad. "He either killed Dumbledore or died. Either way, Tommy was happy."

"Is Tommy—" Blaise started but George nodded, causing Blaise to shake his head in disbelief.

The doors of the hospital wing burst open, making them all jump: Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were striding up the ward, Fleur just behind them, her beautiful face terrified.

"Molly—Arthur—" said Professor McGonagall, jumping up and hurrying to greet them. "I am so sorry—"

"Bill," whispered Mrs. Weasley, darting past Professor McGonagall as she caught sight of Bill's mangled face. "Oh, Bill!"

Remus and Dora had got up hastily and retreated so that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could get nearer to the bed. Mrs. Weasley bent over her son and pressed her lips to his bloody forehead.

"You said Greyback attacked him?" Mr. Weasley asked Professor McGonagall distractedly. "But he hadn't transformed? So what does that mean? What will happen to Bill?"

"We don't yet know," said Professor McGonagall, looking helplessly at Moony.

"There will probably be some contamination, Arthur," said Lupin. "It is an odd case, possibly unique. . . .We don't know what his behavior might be like when he awakens..."

Mrs. Weasley took the nasty-smelling ointment from Madam Pomfrey and began dabbing at Bill's wounds.

"And Dumbledore. . . ." said Mr. Weasley. "Minerva, is it true. . . . Is he really. . . .?"

As Professor McGonagall nodded, Fred moved closer to Hermione, now that Madam Pomfrey wasn't hogging her, and sat down next to her, causing Hermione to lean against him, careful not to hurt her wounds.

"Dumbledore gone," whispered Mr. Weasley, but Mrs. Weasley had eyes only for her eldest son; she began to sob, tears falling onto Bill's mutilated face.

"Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks. . . . It's not r-really important. . . . but he was a very handsome little b-boy. . . . always very handsome. . . . and he was g-going to be married!"

"And what do you mean by zat?" said Fleur suddenly and loudly. "What do you mean, 'he was going to be married?'"

Mrs. Weasley raised her tear-stained face, looking startled. "Well—only that—"

"You theenk Bill will not wish to marry me anymore?" demanded Fleur. "You theenk, because of these bites, he will not love me?"

"No, that's not what I—"

"Because 'e will!" said Fleur, drawing herself up to her full height and throwing back her longmane of silver hair. "It would take more zan a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!"

This caused Hermione to let out a breathy laugh, a smile forming on her face at the amount of love Fleur had for Bill. She absentmindedly entwined her fingers with Fred, and her smile grew a bit when he kissed her cheek.

"Well, yes, I'm sure," said Mrs. Weasley, "but I thought perhaps—given how—how he—"

"You thought I would not weesh to marry him? Or per'aps, you hoped?" said Fleur, her nostrils flaring. "What do I care how he looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave! And I shall do zat!" she added fiercely, pushing Mrs. Weasley aside and snatching the ointment from her.

Hermione looked around and watched as Remus and her dad shared amused glances, making her shake her head.

Mrs. Weasley fell back against her husband and watched Fleur mopping up Bill's wounds with amost curious expression upon her face.

"Our Great-Auntie Muriel," said Mrs. Weasley after a long pause, "has a very beautiful tiara—goblin-made—which I am sure I could persuade her to lend you for the wedding. She is very fond of Bill, you know, and it would look lovely with your hair."

"Thank you," said Fleur stiffly. "I am sure zat will be lovely."

And then, both, women were crying and hugging eachother.

"You see!" said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Remus. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten! She doesn't care!

"It's different," said Lupin, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely—"

"But I don't care either, I don't care!" said Tonks, seizing the front of Lupin's robes and shaking them. "I've told you a million times. . . ."

"That's why you were bloody sulking all the time, Moony?" Sirius asked baffled and facepalmed. "For the brightest Marauder, you can be quite daft."

"It's not the same. I've told you a million times," said Lupin, refusing to meet her eyes, staring at the floor,"that I am too old for you, too poor. . . . too dangerous. . . ."

"Oh, dangerous my arse," Sirius huffed, "you fold your socks, Remus."

This caused many around them to let out strained laughs.

"That's right, Sirius," Mrs. Weasley nodded over Fleur's shoulder, as she patted her on the back. "I've said all along you're taking a ridiculous line on this, Remus."

"I am not being ridiculous," said Lupin steadily. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."

"Unless your cock isn't there, Moony, you're whole," Sirius snorted, making Mrs. Weasley roll her eyes, and Tonks laugh.

"And she wants you," said Mr. Weasley, with a small smile, ignoring Sirius. "And after all, Remus, young and whole men do not necessarily remain so."

He gestured sadly at his son, lying between them.

"This is. . . . not the moment to discuss it," said Lupin, avoiding everybody's eyes as he looked around distractedly. "Dumbledore is dead. . . ."

"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world," said Professor McGonagall curtly, just as the hospital doors opened again and Hagrid walked in.

The little of his face that was not obscured by hair or beard was soaking and swollen; he was shaking with tears, a vast, spotted handkerchief in his hand

"I've. . . . I've done it, Professor," he choked. "M-moved him. Professor Sprout's got the kids back in bed. Professor Flitwick's lyin down, but he says he'll be all righ' in a jiffy, an' Professor Slughorn says the Ministry's bin informed."

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall, standing up at once and turning to look at the group around Hermione's and Bill's bed. "I shall have to see the Ministry when they get here. Hagrid, please tell the Heads of Houses—Slughorn can represent Slytherin—that I want to see them in my office forthwith. I would like you to join us too."

As Hagrid nodded, turned, and shuffled out of the room again, she looked down at Harry.

"Before I meet them I would like a quick word with you, Harry. If you'll come with me. . . ."

Harry stood up, murmured "See you in a bit" to everyone, and followed Professor McGonagall back down the ward.

Hermione sighed as he disappeared through the door, and let herself sink further into Fred's embrace, finally letting exhaustion catch up to her, and letting sleep consume her.

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