In The Arms of an Angel

Warning - minor character death

Chapter 11 Orders Given

As the next three weeks passed, things changed, yet things stayed the same, as they are want to do. Ron had finally gotten over his shock of Harry and Hermione's fling, and now acted exactly as he always had around them, and was even starting to warm up to Draco, though very slowly.

Harry was still sulking, but far less suicidal, and had moved back into Grimmauld Place, letting Hermione and Draco know what was happening every day. He did not avoid seeing them, though he made sure only to see them in small doses. It was a sanity thing. It still hurt him that Hermione wasn't with him, but he could see that she was very happy, and he started to come around. Still, though, there was no chance of friendship between him and Draco beyond the truce they had forged.

Hermione and Draco were continuously becoming closer and closer, particularly emotionally. For the time she had had her period (much to her relief), she had refused to let him touch her at all below the waist. He had put up a fight, trying to convince her that he was fine with it, but she wouldn't budge on the issue, though that didn't mean that she just left him high and dry. Instead, they spent much of the time on conversations, and Draco was now comfortable enough with her to open up, telling stories about his childhood.

Hermione had worked on Harry enough to agree to tell Severus and Draco about the horcruxes, though only after each took an Unbreakable Vow of silence on the subject. Even though their conversation explained so much, the subject was terrifying nonetheless. This information disturbed Draco, in particular. While he didn't exactly wish Harry dead, it bothered him a lot more to think of the dark arts his girlfriend had to dabble in to destroy them.

Knowing the purpose helped the two of them with figuring out the potion, though Draco did most of the work as Severus had other things to occupy his time. He mostly looked over the younger man's work to check that the basic principles would work out.

It took Hermione just over two weeks, but she was confident that the spell she created would do the job to separate Voldemort's soul from Harry and force it back into his own body while leaving Harry in tact. Since that time, she had been helping Draco with the potion, which was coming along. Some of the ingredients necessary were rare and very expensive, but both Harry and Hermione were willing to pay the cost.

Draco ran into the kitchen and pulled Hermione to him in a spinning hug, putting her down with a kiss, interrupting her cooking. "What was that for?" she asked, one eyebrow arched.

"I think I did it."

"You mean ..."

"Yes, I think I have the potion figured out. We just need Severus to come over and verify it." To this news, Hermione squealed and jumped on Draco, wrapping her legs around him so that he had to hold her up as she kissed him.

"You are brilliant," she told him, punctuating each word with a kiss.

"Of course I am," he responded haughtily.

"No more compliments for you, mister," she told him, kissing him gently on the tip of his nose. When she tried to take her legs back and stand on the floor, he growled at her and walked her over so that she was sandwiched between him and a wall. "Let go," she demanded.

"Or what?" he asked, whispering in her ear.

"Or your dinner will burn." He thought about it for a moment before deciding that he did not, in fact, want a burnt dinner and so let her down. As she walked away, she stuck her tongue out at him and in return, he gave her bum a light smack.

After they had eaten, Hermione read over everything that Draco had written and agreed that she thought he had figured it out. They then went into the living room where Hermione threw in a dvd, though they didn't really watch more than the first five minutes of it.

When Harry apparated into the room, he was accosted by the sight of a (thankfully) fully clothed Hermione straddling an also fully clothed Draco on the couch. They were snogging like there was no tomorrow, his hand was making its way under her shirt and hers was rubbing his covered erection. When they heard the 'pop' of his arrival, they pulled apart, but it didn't stop the sight from engraining into the back of his eyelids forever.

Hermione looked over to him, her face flushed, as she sat onto the couch properly. He wasn't sure if her coloring was from embarrassment or from her arousal of what she and her ... boyfriend ... were doing, and he didn't want to know. Really, he didn't. "Um, hi, Harry," she said, smiling up at him as she smacked Draco on the arm for the nasty look that she just knew he was sending her former lover for interrupting.

Harry slumped down into the chair closest to Hermione, and she noticed for the first time how weary his face was. "What's wrong, Harry?" she asked tenderly, positioning herself closer to him.

He put his fingers to his temples, massaging away the beginnings of a headache; it would seem the potion he had taken earlier was wearing off. "Dudley's dead. He lived off-campus; they killed everyone in the building, even the pets. There was a message for me in his flat, but at least it wasn't in his blood this time; they used the Avada. I'm telling you guys. I'm about ready to just go after the bastard, kill him, kill the snake, and kill myself. Then this would all be over, and they'd stop killing people just because they knew someone who knew someone who knew me. I thought it was supposed to get better when Voldemort started getting regular reports from Snape of my whereabouts."

"Oh, Harry," Hermione sighed, taking his hand in hers and bringing it to her lips. She looked up at him with unshed tears glimmering in her eyes. "Draco figured out the potion today. We just need Severus to look it over and we need a couple more ingredients, but it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Really?" he asked, looking up to Draco, hope in his eyes for the first time in longer than Hermione would care to remember. When Draco tilted his head in affirmation, what happened next would haunt him until the day he died. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, flew out of the chair he was in and wrapped his arms around the blond, tears falling down his face. "Thank you, Draco," he whispered brokenly into the other man's ear, his head buried into the crook of his neck.

Draco looked over to Hermione, his eyes wide in a mixture of concern, disgust at having another man latched onto him, and happiness at finally having been able to do something to help the light side that others may not have been able to do. She just gave him a watery smile in return.

"We still have to brew the potion, Potter. Assuming that we can get the last couple things we need within the week, it will still be another couple weeks after that before the potion will be finished," Draco told him with a half-hearted pat on the back, squirming the longer the raven-haired boy stayed attached to him.

"Um, sorry, Draco," Harry said, pulling away from his former rival.

"It's okay, Potter," came the reluctant response as Harry sat back down on the chair he had vacated.

"So you think the potion will work on Nagini?"

"Yes, we do. Hermione had to come up with two separate incantations, but the potion should work for the both of you."

"How are you coming along with the pronunciation, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I'm doing okay. That program for my computer arrived the other day, so I've been listening to the pronunciation and trying my best to learn it. I've found that recording myself and then listening to the difference between the two helps a lot," he answered, running his fingers through his already tousled hair.

"That's good," she said, relief evident in her voice.

"And you?" he returned. The plan was that while Harry was fighting Voldemort, Ron, Neville, and Ginny would back him up, keeping all spells away from him, Hermione and Draco would find Nagini and dispose of her. When they were done, Hermione would activate her necklace to let Harry know that the deed was done and he could make his move whenever. The rest of the Order would be there as well, but they would be busy with the other Death Eaters that were sure to be there.

"Coming along swimmingly," she replied with a grin.

"So this could all be over by the end of the month?" Harry looked from one of them to the other, a tinge of desperation clouding his bright eyes.

Hermione got off the couch and onto her knees in front of him, holding his hands in hers, resting them on his lap. Draco was very bothered by this, despite knowing logically that she was with him and would never make a pass at her former lover in front of him. When he looked down, trying to avoid her gaze, she positioned her own head where he was still looking at her.

"Harry," she said softly. "No, I don't think this could all be over by the end of the month, and you know it as much as I do. We might be able to kill Voldemort off, but the Death Eaters will still be around and probably wanting revenge."

"Plus, they might think that Lord Bastard will come back again," added Draco. "And it's not exactly like you want to tell them about the horcruxes to convince them since I'm sure that more than one of them would then go out and try to make their own."

"That's not very comforting," Harry sniped, letting go of Hermione's hands and leaning back in the chair again.

"No, but it's a more likely reality," she replied as she sat back in her place on the couch, Draco resisting the urge to touch her.

"So, what do you need to finish the potion?" Harry asked strongly, changing the topic.

"Let me get you a list," answered Draco, standing to go to the potions room.

"It'll get better someday," Hermione told Harry, her voice filled with compassion, as Draco left the room. Harry gave her a nod in response, trying to avoid the subject as much as possible.

"Thanks," Harry said as he took a small roll of parchment from Draco, who then sat back on the couch, slightly closer to Hermione than they had been after jumping away from each other.

"So, um, what else happened at the meeting?" Hermione asked.

"Not much. They're all just trying to come up with more ways to try to protect the people and can't think of anything. The Prophet is doing its best to drag my name through the mud again, what with the new wave of attacks, and now all of my relatives dying and it seeming like I'm not doing anything about it."

"Well, that's just stupid of them," Hermione told him defiantly, sensing that on some level he agreed with the paper that was even more of a rag than an actual news source. "Like any of them would have the bullocks to go against Voldemort and the Death Eaters themselves. They really shouldn't expect you to do it for them," she hummphed.

It actually brought a smile and a chuckle made its way out of Harry. "Yeah, too bad I'm just going to have to prove them all wrong and kill the bastard."

"Here, here," called out Draco, approving Harry's use of his word. When Hermione had told him about the truth of the name a couple weeks back, he had been rolling on the floor in laughter for almost a whole five minutes. She had spent the time rolling her eyes at him, but it had been wonderful stress relief.

Soon enough, Harry left for the evening, happy to be able to give the good news of the potion to Ron the next time he saw him. Severus didn't show up until late the next morning, looking tired and weary, but still going strong. It took him almost two hours to go over Draco's potion notes and instructions with a fine-toothed comb, but he eventually gave them the good news that it should work out quite well. When he left, it was to go see Harry and find out if there was anything to do; he could help with the purchasing of ingredients, knowing some of the more unsavory characters who sold some of the darker elements they were looking for.

It took four days for everything they needed to be located, purchased, and brought to them. Once they had everything they needed, they started up two batches of the potion, one by Hermione and one by Draco, to see if any variances occurred.

The potion was going to take about two weeks to brew. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had decided that now everything was underway, they were going to have to prepare the Order for the final battle. Therefore, on the third day of brewing the potion, Harry waited outside Grimmauld Place for Hermione and Draco to apparate in, wearing glamours that had been pre-arranged. Draco was able to see the house because Harry had taken a page from Hermione's book and made himself secret keeper when they had put the house back up under Fidelius.

When Harry walked into his home with the glamourized couple, everyone was outraged about new people allowed in the headquarters for the Order without telling anyone beforehand, never mind procedures such as taking a vote and such.

Harry motioned for them to sit at the table, which they did, sharing a glance. Harry looked over to Remus, who nodded his head minutely. Harry stood at the head of the table, glaring at everyone. When that didn't shut them up, he cleared his throat. When that didn't work either, he bellowed out, "Will you all just be quiet!" Every face turned to him, some in fear, some in shock, and some with distaste at the boy who was want to disappear for weeks on end, never seeming to do anything to help the cause that lay at his feet.

As everyone sat down at the magically enlarged table, Harry began speaking in normal tones. "Everyone, this is Jason and Amy. They have been invaluable to me, and before you ask, no, I will not tell you why. I had Remus call this meeting because in two weeks, we are going to strike against Voldemort, and I am going to kill him."

At this pronouncement, a murmur went throughout the crowd; almost all of the Order had made it to this meeting, knowing that it was extremely important that they be present. Once again, the reaction was mixed, varying from: disbelief, to relief, to being completely flabbergasted. This time, when Harry glared at them, they all promptly closed their mouths, though Moody did it with a snort.

"Okay. Here's what's going to happen," he laid out. "Myself, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Amy, and Jason are going to apparate with Snape to Riddle House. Snape is going to disable the wards so the rest of us can get in undetected. Then, we're going to split into two teams, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and myself on one; we'll be know as Team Dogma , and Hermione, Amy and Jason on the other; they'll go by Team Clerks. Snape is going to go on his own because it wouldn't really be questioned by anyone who saw him there."

Team Clerks will be on a secret mission, and if they don't succeed, everything will be lost. Meanwhile, Team Dogma will try to find Voldemort, where I will invoke an ancient spell against him, and then I will kill him. The others will be my backup, but we will need for everyone possible to be ready to apparate in, should it be necessary. It all depends on how many Death Eaters are there, and how many show up."

Most of the table was gobsmacked at the plan. One was not. "Potter," started Moody. "Why should we put the fate of the entire Wizarding World into the hands of seven teenagers?"

"With all due respect, Moody, everyone already did that when they decided I was their saviour at the age of one and then expected me to live up to that image when I came into the Wizarding World at the age of eleven," Harry answered coolly. Over the years, he had come to dislike Moody more and more, as the man had made it clear that he didn't believe that people so young could do anything, especially without the proper training. Training which he was not willing to give.

"Now, Moody aside, who is willing to help?" Harry demanded without demanding. More than three quarters present raised their hands, most following the Boy-Who-Lived to whatever fate be it, if there was the chance for the destruction of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Though a few wanted a more detailed description of what the plan was, which Harry could not give.

By the end of the meeting, all but three members were willing to follow Harry into the bowels of Voldemort's home. Two of them were the ones who left the room for the news about Draco's return. This was a fact that they were still in the dark about, the other members having kept their word not saying anything. It was with slightly lighter hearts that Hermione and Draco went home that night; finally seeing that there was, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel. They celebrated that light the second they landed in the bed.

* thanks to buffyxo (heather) for betaing and thanks go out to all who reviewed... avanell, paigeey07, linmo, lady ryu (you may be right, and i'll still love you, but damn you for pointing out the emoness of harry. i hate emo, lol.),and gryffindor blood traitor