Saving Grace

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters borrowed from JKRowling.

Author’s note: As always, I am sorry for the slow updates. I have been working on this same story for 5 years now, so while it is slow going, I can promise I wont give up on it. So please be patient. I will always be writing. Thank you to all who have added me to their favorites and alert lists. -Demos

oOoOoOoOo

Thursday came too fast for both Hermione and Severus. Hermione had spent the week camped in the library reading everything she could find on the Book of the Dead. Draco had gone on a reconnaissance mission on Wednesday and together they had made meticulous plans. They had chosen Friday night for their attack and Hermione was already so nervous she had had a constant stomachache for two days. Severus was equally anxious. His meeting with Bellatrix had not gone well at all; her ideas were darker and more evil than anything he had ever heard of and on top of everything she seemed set on seducing him. He had not told Hermione. He knew he did not owe Hermione fidelity, as theirs was a marriage of necessity, but on top of finding Bellatrix in particular repulsive, he could not deny the fact that recently his passions could only be aroused by his wife. Past that, however, he had not had time to consider his feelings towards the younger witch.

At ten till five Hermione stepped into the rooms she shared with Severus to find him staring pensively into the fire, waiting for her.

“Everything all right?” she asked. He had told her about Dumbledore’s plans and she had seen the way it was burdening him. She was so angry at Dumbledore she could hardly contain herself. She was sure he was running away, the coward, and she hated to see Severus suffer so.

He pulled his gaze from the flames with effort and locked onto her eyes. He found a warm comfort in her concern. “Is it ever?” She gave a small smile and went to deposit her bag in their bedroom before they left. He followed her and stood by the bathroom door waiting for her. When she joined him he turned to walk through the bathroom but she held his arm to stop him.

“Severus.” She put her hands on his shoulders and stood on tip toe to give him a gentle kiss, “Everything is going to be ok.” He only sighed and pulled her in for a deeper kiss.

After a few minutes let her go. “I hope so.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

With a pop they appeared outside Grimmauld Place. It was raining, naturally, so they hurried across the street and waited impatiently for the townhouse to squeeze itself into existence. When it finally rumbled to a stop they burst through the front door in a wet jumble. They stood for a moment, silent in the hall, shaking out their robes. Hermione cast a quick drying charm on both of them and Severus thanked her softly.

Eventually they both noticed they were being watched. Down the dark hall, light was being reflected off a pair of enormous round frameless glasses that sat perched on a soft round nose. The glass magnified the eyes so that the blinking irises looked massive and comical. The person was hiding just around the corner so only his small chipmunk face topped with a mop of black hair was visible.

“Morgai, stop lurking behind walls.” Severus said harshly. Hermione scowled at him and approached the timid face.

“Hello, My name is Hermione—“ she held out her hand.

The massive eyes looked up at her (she towered over the small cherub) and he merely held up one hand. She could now see that his hand was misshaped. His index and middle finger were fused together as well as his ring finger and pinky. He snapped these two thick appendages against each other and his light brown lips curled into a shy smile.

Suddenly the door immediately to their right burst open and Molly bustled out with all the force of a tornado. The little man, Morgai, jumped with a squeek and scurried up the stairs.

“Oh Morgy! I’m sorry! Please come back!” Molly yelled after the retreated back but he merely scampered faster. Molly turned to Hermione with a look of consternation. “I am forever doing that to him.” She sighed but then held her arms out to Hermione with a motherly smile. “Hello, my dear. It’s so good to see you.” She held Hermione hard for a long hug and when she pulled back her eyes were wet. She tossed a cursory “Hello Severus,” over Hermione’s shoulder. Severus didn’t bother to reply. “Come, Come, the meeting won’t start for a bit; we have to wait for some more arrivals. I just made some roast and potatoes.

Hermione was ushered into the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. It was positively teeming with people. The room had been magically enlarged to accommodate 6 huge wooden tables, each with bench seating for 10. People stood or sat all over the room and at Hermione and Severus’ entrance most either stopped talking or began whispering vehemently. Hermione was glad to spot a familiar face when Remus began to weave his way forward.

“Hermione! Welcome, welcome. How have you been?” He wrapped his long arms around her in a comforting hug and Hermione smiled up at her old professor. Her smile immediately wilted though when she took a closer inspection at his face and noticed how thin he felt under his robes. Black claw marks stretched up his neck from beneath his collar and oddly perfect puncture wounds clustered high over his left cheek bone.

“Remus…” she grazed the marks lightly with her fingers.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me. I’m a tough dog.”

“That you are, my friend.” Severus held forward his hand smilingly and Remus took it gladly. Hermione was glad to see that the two former enemies had finally come to a place of mutual respect and affection.

“Tough, and hungry I bet.” A playful voice spoke from behind Remus and he moved aside to reveal a positively glowing Tonks. Her hair was a short flame of golden red and her eyes twinkled over full and rosy cheeks.

“Tonks!” Hermione gushed, “You look fantastic!”

Tonks grinned brightly, “Getting pregnant can do that. Who knew? The one change I can’t control—“

“You are pregnant?!” Hermione said it louder than she had intended and half the room chuckled. To Tonks’ left, Remus blushed deeply. Tonks weaved her arm through his and smiled up at him.

“I am, I am. By this handsome rogue.” Remus dipped to kiss her briefly.

“But—Wha—I didn’t even know you two were…together...” Hermione spluttered.

Tonks’ eyes sobered slightly, “Well, things can happen fast. You know that.” She looked pointedly at the snake set diamond glittering on Hermione’s left hand.

Hermione nodded and turned the band nervously on her finger. “Indeed.” She looked up at the couple and smiled again, “But I am so happy for you two! When are you due?”

Tonks opened her mouth excitedly to reply but Severus grumbled from over Hermione’s shoulder, “Come, come, there’ll be plenty of time for that later.” Hermione gave an apologetic smile to the couple as she was pushed forward and steered toward a table where Kingsley Shacklebolt sat heatedly conversing with Arthur, Charlie and Bill Weasley. All four men stood, smiling widely when they saw Hermione and Severus and those within reach hugged her like family. Severus sat her to Bill’s left and bent down to whisper in her ear, “I have to go talk something over with Moody before the meeting.”

She nodded but grabbed his sleeve before he could move off, “Do you want me to save you some food?”

He stopped and looked at her deeply for a half-second. “No…but thank you.”

“Of course.” She smiled up at him and turned back towards the table. Severus stood for a moment longer and then ducked to press a gentle kiss to her hair before whisking off through the crowded room. All four remaining men pretended not to notice but they threw each other wondering stares.

“So, how is everything?” Hermione addressed the table. Immediately they fell back into their interrupted argument and Hermione quickly picked up the thread that Bill and Charlie had the idea of using dragons as a sort of sneak attack weapon on known Death Eater hide outs. They argued that it would reduce the need for wizards and witches to put themselves in immediate danger. Kingsley and Arthur were vehemently holding that dragons were far too wild to be realistically harnessed in such a way and that since dragons cannot be cloaked or hidden, the necessary exposure to the muggles would be reckless. This in turn angered Charlie, who heatedly declared that he knew dragons better than anyone and if he said they could be trained to attack, then they damn well could; and Bill who spluttered at the worry over muggle anonymity: “As if THAT is what we need to be worrying about now.”

Hermione stayed mum and tucked into her roast. Nodding in turn as each man made his point. Right about the time she was done eating and was looking for a polite moment to escape the table, a soft tap on her shoulder saved her the trouble. She looked up to see a shyly smiling girl with soft brown ringlets to her shoulders. Blue bird clips held stray curls away from her face and a generous splay of freckles dusted her rounded pert nose. She was pleasantly plump and pink and her moss green eyes shone intelligently from behind yellow rimmed glasses.

“Hi there! My name is Sarah Beth, and you are Harmony?” She held out a soft hand and Hermione took it, feeling calluses under the soft flesh.

“Her-My-Own-Eee, actually. But yeah, that’s me.”

The girl blushed, “Oh Lord, pardon me. I’m not very used to some of these names yall got over here.” She blushed softly and Hermione felt herself warm to the girl.

“Don’t worry about it. It happens all at time.”

The girl nodded and then tossed a glance over her shoulder. “Um, so I know this might seem kinda queer but I was hoping to talk to you for a bit before all the business starts…” She gestured mildly towards the door that let out to the library.

Hermione nodded, glad for the excuse to flee the debate, and followed the girl, depositing her dishes on the counter.

In the library were several small enclaves of people talking but across the room were two high-back captain’s chairs in green velvet and the girl led Hermione towards them. Sarah Beth sat down but Hermione hesitated, “I thought we could never get the Glumbumble infestation out of these chairs…” She looked at the velvet dubiously.

Sarah Beth smiled, “Oh they are some nasty critters but I was able to get them out a few days ago. I know some tricks from back home.” She patted the seat and Hermione sat down, now impressed. She, Harry, Ginny and Ron had struggled with these chairs for days.

“So…” Hermione looked at Sarah Beth expectantly.

“Well…I guess I’ll just…you know…come right out with it then.” She let out a nervous chuckle. “I’m guessing you know I’m gunna marry your friend Neville?”

Hermione sat back in her chair. “Yes, he mentioned it.”

Sarah Beth dropped her eyes quickly and picked at a loose thread on her robes. “Well…yeah. We are set to do it this Saturday but what with the war and everyone so busy, we haven’t actually, you know…met…exactly. So…I was kind of hoping you could tell me about some about him?”

Hermione quirked her head to the side and studied the girl in front of her. “Yeah, I can tell you all about him. But first, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you agreeing to marry someone you don’t know? I mean, you are a US citizen, right?…I don’t think the marriage law applies to you…”

Sarah Beth gave a weary smile, “That’s the big question right? My friends back home think I’m crazy but…see, here’s the thing: my family has a long history of helping the Brits in this fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Last time around my parents and five of my aunts and uncles came to help.”

Hermione couldn’t hold back, “But why?”

Sarah Beth furrowed her eyebrows, “…Because it’s the right thing to do.” She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione felt slightly shamed by the girl’s complete conviction. “Oh…well right, of course.”

“Anyway, see, during the old war, my Pa got in a real tight spot and Neville’s parents really risked their skins to help him. They saved his life really, and not just once, but a bunch of times. And so…afterwards, when they got…hurt…by that evil Lestrange woman, my Pa just felt awful beholden to them and I was raised hearing about how brave and good they were.”

Hermione could tell from the slight tremble in the girl’s voice that she was truly moved by the words she spoke.

“So yeah, now that it’s all come around again, my family geared up and I was just glad to be old enough to come. I don’t know what I expected but…being here. It’s just so real, you know? Back in America no one thinks about this war really at all. It’s just this far away problem. But being here, really in the shit, pardon my French, is pretty…intense. And yeah, it is scary, but, you know, this may sound weird, it’s also…exciting. I mean, having something to fight for, and actually doing it? Pretty crazy you know? So I just…I wanted to do it, really get in here and be a part of this, because I feel it’s what I should be doing.”

Hermione was taken aback, this girl was inspiring in her conviction. A smile started to form ever so slowly as Hermione was struck by the thought that the girl’s hopeful and passionate certitude reminded her strongly of a certain someone she knew…

“Anyway, when I got here the first thing I heard about was this stupid marriage law. I mean, I just can’t believe it! I thought y’all were democratic over here! But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. See Mrs. Augusta—Neville’s grandmother—got talking to my parents as soon as we got here, and she told ‘em about how Neville was gunna have to marry some girl right quick. And then…I don’t know…I heard them talking and it just…it felt right. It felt like it’s what I should do. So I told her I would do it. And…well…that’s about that.” She bobbed her head with confidence and smiled at Hermione.

“Well wow…that’s…pretty remarkable of you, Sarah Beth. Not many girls would be so open to an arranged marriage.”

“Well you were, and it seems to be working out for you.” Sarah Beth said bluntly.

Hermione gave her a sharp look but the open honesty behind the girl’s soft green eyes softened her. “Yes, I suppose you are right.”

Sarah Beth nodded with a look a keen perception. And then she waited expectantly, “So…Neville?”

“Ah,” Hermione smiled, “Well…to be honest, just from the little I have seen of you I think you two will get along great.” Sarah Beth beamed. “Yeah, well, Neville is just a great guy, really nice, very loyal and dependable…Umm, lets see what else, have you seen a picture?”

Sarah Beth shook her head, “No, all of Mrs. Augusta’s pictures were burned in the attack on her house a few months back. But I…well, I know about his…eye…thing…but I don’t think I’ll mind it.”

Hermione gave her a confused look, “What eye thing?”

Sarah Beth clutched her hands awkwardly, “oh well, you know…Fred and George told me about his…lazy eye…” She tapered off.

Hermione burst out laughing, “Oh Sarah Beth! You have to learn to never believe anything Fred and George tell you! Neville does NOT have a lazy eye. He is completely normal and even cute in a teddy-bear sort of way. Haha, oh, I’ll have to find a good curse for those boys, they should not have tricked you like that.”

Sarah Beth could not hide the relief from her face, “Oh thank god! Haha, so is it also not true that he has an extra toe and wears Eau de Hippogriff?”

So their conversation went for a while, with Hermione amusedly disavowing all the lies Sarah Beth had heard and reassuring her of Neville’s good qualities. Sarah Beth was particularly ecstatic to hear about Neville’s interest in gardening, apparently it is a big passion of her’s as well. Hermione quickly came to have high esteem for the quick and earnest American and was a bit disappointed when their discussion was interrupted by an announcement to gather in the meeting room.

The two stood and followed the crowd as the gathered wizards and witches all filed through the house and down the steps to the basement. As she passed through the unassuming doorway at the top of the warped staircase, Hermione could not help feeling a thrill. She had penetrated the inner sanctum.

The steps descended into a featureless gloomy room, magically enlarged to accommodate 50 odd assorted Order members. A mass jumble of miss-matched chairs filled every corner save a small space reserved for the speaker. Hermione caught Severus’ eye as he stood scanning the crowd for her. When he spotted her he waved her towards the front. She weaved through the maze of chairs to his side and he sat her in one of the chairs lining the speaker’s area. Sarah Beth followed and sat beside her.

Slowly and quietly the room filled until most seats were full. Arthur Weasley stood to speak first.

“All right, All right. Lets all get settled. I know we are all busy.” The room fell silent immediately. “Now the first order of business is to swear in our newest members.” Hemione felt the eyes of every person in the room focus on her. She had to stop herself from fidgeting nervously. “So, Hermione, Sarah Beth, can you stand up for a moment?”

They both stood and faced the assembled crowd, Hermione stone faced, Sarah Beth beaming excitedly. Hermione met Severus’ eye but his face was as blank as hers. Arthur pulled out his wand and continued, “Alright ladies, I’d like to thank you both on behalf of the Order of the Phoenix for joining with us in this noble fight. I know I don’t have to tell either of you about the danger and worthiness of this cause so I’ll just jump right to it then?”

Sarah Beth nodded enthusiastically. After a moment she nudged Hermione. “Oh, yes. Yeah, I’m ready,” Hermione blurted.

Arthur nodded curtly and brought up his wand. He gave a complicated flourish and muttered softly under breath. After a moment, tiny gold ropes of light seemed to appear, connecting everyone in the room to each other. Suddenly, the room was awash with the soft light of the shining web. Arthur turned to Hermione and Sarah Beth. “Now if you both will repeat after me? I, state your name, do swear to join in this, the Order of the Phoenix, in the aim of defeating He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

He paused expectantly and the girls repeated in unison. The web of light began to tremble. Arthur continued, “And by joining in this Wizard’s Bond of Fellowship, I swear to hold secret and sacred all information related to the cause and its proponents.”

As Hermione and Sarah Beth spoke the oath the web slowly and gracefully reached out for them. It spread itself through them in vague smoky tendrils, then solidified into solid connections. The rest of the Order applauded happily. After a moment Arthur waved them down and smiled at the girls. “Thank you girls, truly. You are part of something great.” There was a loud “Hear! Hear!” from the back of the room and the applause began again. Arthur shook his head bemusedly and waved his wand, making the golden web disintegrate. He motioned for the girls to resume their seats.

“Now that that’s done we can get down to business. Unfortunately it seems Albus is running late so I’ll just go ahead and deal with a few items of business until he gets here.”

At the mention of Albus’ name, Hermione felt Severus tense beside her. Without moving her eyes from Arthur she slowly reached for her husband’s hand. When she found it he held her fingers hard, betraying his anxiety.

For the next 30 or so minutes Arthur went down a list of items running from health reports of several injured order members, to status reports on foreign recruiters, to summaries of recent Order missions. Still, though he spoke with confidence, no one could feel anything but discouraged. His news was not generally good.

Finally, as he finished saying that Herbert Kennington had not yet woken up from his coma, a loud bang sounded from upstairs and Sirius’ Mother started screaming. Before she could gasp for more breath, however, the sound of Dumbledore loudly cursing over her could be heard. There was a small blast and the screaming stopped short. The assembled wizards and witches chuckled softly. The door at the top of the stairs opened with a rusty screech and in moments Dumbledore’s wet shoes were visible followed by his rain spattered, deep purple robes. Most everyone in the room could not help but smile at the long white beard, half moon spectacles and drooping wizard’s hat, but Dumbledore had no returning smile. Hermione merely glared.

He stopped a few steps from the bottom and stood looking out over the Order. Finally Arthur spoke, “C’mon everyone, lets make room for him to get up here.”

But Dumbledore quickly waved his hand, “No, no. Stay where you are. I can only speak for a moment.” Everyone was silent, waiting. He locked eyes on Severus who responded with a slight jerk of his head. Dumbledore nodded. He sighed and stepped down one more. For a long moment he just stood and stared sadly around at the gathered hopeful faces. Finally spoke, “It gives me great joy to look around and see you all gathered here…I...can honestly say that some of the proudest moments in my life, were spent with you, fighting beside you for everything that is good and right in this world. You all, and those before you, are and were the most courageous wizards and witches I have ever had the honor of knowing, and…and so…It truly pains me to have to…to have to leave you.” There was a soft gasp from the assembled Order. Dumbledore held up his hand, “I am truly sorry, but I feel in my heart what I need to do, and I must follow my path. I truly hope to see you all again when this is over. But I have dedicated my life to the side of good, and to fighting against the darkness that Voldemort leads, and in that course I must go beyond anywhere anyone could follow me.” He paused for a long heavy moment. “I…I must go now.” He hung his head and turned to return up the stairs. There was a loud confused clamor from the Order as several people jumped to their feet. Dumbledore stopped and held up his hand again, “I leave Severus in charge.” With that, and with speed belying his age, he moved swiftly up the stairs and before anyone could further react the sound of the front door slamming behind him was heard.

Complete silence followed the exit as every person reeled. Eventually everyone turned to stare with wide eyes at Severus. Arthur, seemingly in shocked, stumbled slightly to his chair and sat down, his face pale beneath his shock of red hair. Hermione squeezed Severus hand then pulled hers away. It was time for him to stand.

Severus took a long steadying breath then stood and turned to the waiting crowd. “I…expected him to say a bit more…”

From the back of the room a loud Scottish accent boomed, “What the bloody hell is going on?”

Severus turned towards the voice, “I will explain what I can, Macbain.” The room fell silent again. Hermione watched with pain as Severus tried to assemble the words to explain to those waiting that their leader had abandoned them.

An hour later the meeting was approaching chaos. Everyone was first shocked then angry at what Severus had to say, and no one was in any way satisfied by either his explanation or Dumbledore’s choice of replacement. Hermione kept silent as Severus tried to argue the riled crowd into acceptance, but most just seemed to think that if they merely rejected it, it would not come true. Finally, Severus sat down in defeat next to Hermione as the Order fought above their heads.

“I don’t know what more I can do. I still have to tell them about the death eater’s plans but they won’t listen to me.” He leaned over his knees and hung his head.

Hermione rubbed his back reassuringly but did not know how to guide him. She looked over his defeated form and scanned the crowed. Suddenly her eyes locked on Molly Weasely, who sat watching Chalie and Bill argue across the room with two middle-aged wizards. “Wait here. I have an idea.” She stood and quickly pushed through the agitated crowd until she reached Molly’s side.

“Molly. You have to help. All this doesn’t matter. The fact is that Severus knows there is going to be a massive death eater attack soon and everyone needs to listen to his plan.”

Molly focused her terrified eyes on Hermione’s face. “How massive?”

“Voldemort has put a hit out on your whole family, along with the Longbottoms and three others. Bellatrix to lead.”

Molly went ashen. Several times she opened her mouth to speak but could emit no sound. Finally she nodded resolutely. Hermione whispered her thanks and hurried back to Severus’ side.

She had only to wait a brief moment. In an abrupt motion, Molly jumped to her feet and shouted a spell over the cacophonous room. All the sounds were cut short as everyone found themselves muted and held still by her spell.

“Goodness gracious! Look at yourselves! I haven’t had to use this spell since my kids got their wands! You all are acting like squabbling children!” She waved her hand and the spell lifted, but her shaming words had their impact and everyone took their seats silently. “Now look here, I don’t know what in Merlin’s hat is going on, all I know, is that Severus is our most valuable source of information for the Dark Side and he happens to know that they are planning a huge attack. And as one of the goals of that attack is to kill my entire family, I would certainly like to hear if Severus has any thoughts on how to stop that from happening! So please, if you would all just hush your fighting for a moment to let the man speak, I would appreciate it!” She gave the room her best mother’s scowl, then turned to the front. “If you would continue, Severus.”

Severus stood and nodded his thanks. “Molly is right. I don’t know any better than you what Dumbledore is thinking. But I know there are things we must handle now and apparently he will not be here to help.” The room stayed silent as he paused for a moment. The anger had dissipated and all that was left was sadness and fear. “What Molly said is true, I have word directly from the Dark Lord himself that an attack is to be made on the families of Weasely, Longbottom, Chase, Tonks, and Ramsey, on the next full moon.” There was a sharp intake of breath. “Now fortunately, I have been made privy to the plans thus far and so, If you all will listen, I have come up with some preliminary measures that should be taken immediately to begin to defend ourselves from this attack…”

The assembled Order listened intently then, as Severus spoke of the plans he had carefully constructed to weave through Bellatrix path of destruction. Eventually, others raised their hands with questions or suggestions and the meeting progressed with order. For over two hours the Order conferred and conversed until most of those gathered had specific missions to accomplish before the next weekly meeting. Finally, Severus turned to Arthur with a pleading look.

Arthur stood, “Alright then, I think that is just about all we can handle tonight. Let’s call this adjourned. I know we are all tired. We shall resume next Thursday, but the five group leaders will meet here with Severus on Sunday to discuss the latest. Ok? See you then, Good Spirits be with you.”

With that dismissal, they all began to stream wearily up the stairs. Hermione’s eyes were drooping she was so tired. She could hear many people asking Severus for a word but with a look from her, he waved them all away. “I’ll come by tomorrow to discuss more.”

The crowd seemed to part for them so that they could be amongst the first to leave the house and within moments they were out under the rain and streetlights across the street. They turned to watch several other Order members hustle out Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Severus put his arm around Hermione’s shoulders and she hers around his waist. He lifted his wand to apparate them home but she stayed him with her hand.

“Severus, is everything going to be ok?”

He could not hold her eyes but pulled her close and pressed his lips to her hair. “I don’t know.” With that, he cast the spell and the world blinked into darkness.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author’s note – Hope you enjoyed, please review, I love feedback. Up next: Hermione and Draco in Egypt!
-Demos