I Will Always Find You

AN: I believe that last chapter I forgot to thank my lovely Beta Sunflower, so double thanks this time hunny!!

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

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firewall: Thanks. I\'m glad you think so. Here\'s the big chapter. LOL

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Ch. 23 Calm Before the Storm

The battle was nearing. It would take place the next day. Hermione had never been so nervous in her life.

Every member of the order was now sitting, or standing around at the large table at Number Twelve Grimwauld place.

Dumbledore was sitting at the head of the table, and the meeting was just about to begin.

His and Hermione\'s plan had been discussed and agreed upon before most of the members had shown up. Hermione felt like there were snakes crawling around in her belly, biting her when the thought struck them.

She kept sneaking glances at Severus using her love for him to calm her shattered nerves. He would glance back at her and give her the tiniest of nods, trying his best to reassure her without being obvious.

She was seated beside Harry with Sera on her other side and Ron to Harrys other side. Hermione was holding on to Sera and Harry like she would never let go.

Sera turned to her. \"Are you all right?\"

She nodded, not trusting her voice, and relaxed her death grip on Sera\'s arm.

Dumbledore finished his confrence with Minerva and cleared his throat, looking over the table at the amassed group.

At once all attention was fixed on the headmaster.

\"Thank you all for coming tonight. I thought we could discuss some battle plans and strategies tonight. And then we will pay our respects to those who have already given thier lives for this cause.\"

There was a frightening stillness in the air in the silence between his words.

\"I know that you all fear; but standing up to that fear is the most important thing you will ever do. \" His gaze managed to touch every person as he spoke. \"This is the summit,the crux, the apex of everything we have done in past years. This, as they say, is the Big One.\"

There were few laughs; but nearly everyone smiled. Hermione took a long look over the table at everyone, her friends, mentors, and her lover. They would come out the victor, they had to.

Dumbledore turned to Severus, \"Severus, I believe you had something to say?\"

\"Yes, thank you headmaster,\" Severus replied. He turned to reguard the rest of the room. \"The Dark Lord will not show mercy. He is not capable of it. Nor are many of his death eaters, as you well know. He is prepared to kill any who dare stand in his path.

\"His plan is to attack though Hogsmeade, which will be evacuated quietly tonight with the help of Rosmerta. However, the Dark Lord wishes me to bring down the anti-apparition wards so that many of his followers wll be able to apparate directly into the school.

\"He will know that I am a traitor as soon as he steps into the school and finds it deserted. We will be strategically placed within the school, and prepared to take him on. Headmaster.\" He nodded to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded gravely to Severus. \"As Severus has said we will be strategically placed within the school. And as most of you know we will not only have the assistance of Hagrid\'s brother Grawp; but also the house elves of the castle, and the centaurs, whom I have persuaded to our cause.\"

Hermione was surprised at this. She\'d never expected that anyone could have done this. The centaurs were quite stubborn and pigheaded; but then she supposed that Dumbledore had used the, \"What will Voldemort use you for?\" trump card.

The centaurs would be free and left to their own devices if the light won. They had as much to lose as anyone else if Voldemort won.

Dumbledore continued when the surprised mutterings faded away. \"I will be assigning you all to posts with four other people. I expect you all to watch each others backs carefully.\"

He proceeded to assign everyone carefully, making sure they knew where they were to be and who they were to be with. He himself would be with Harry, Severus, Hermione and Ron in the room of Requirement.

Harry had expressed anger at this plan when it first had been brought up to him; but Dumbledore had silenced him with one of his patented looks. He said nothing now; but looked very preturbed.

Nearby, would be stationed Remus, Minerva, Luna, Neville and Ginny.

The plan seemed to be airtight, and no one outside of those who would be there knew what was going to happen inside the Room of Requirement.

When they were done going over the plan for the third time, Dumbledore cleared the table with a flick of his hand and with another everyone had a glass of wine either in their hand or in front of them.

\"Let us all give our respect and love to those who have given their own lives so that we could live on and fight. They made more sacrifices that we can ever know.\" His eyes rested on Harry as he said this last bit.

Everyone raised their glasses,murmered, \"To those who have given thier lives,\" and drank deeply.

Hermione knew the wine was a very expensive, lovely bouquet, because she had gone with Severus to pick it up from the Three Broomsticks; but at that moment it tasted like bitter vinegar. She choked it down and gripped Sera\'s arm determinedly.

Dumbledore looked around the room once more. \"I thank you all for joining me here tonight, and many nights before. You have all sacrificed your time and safety to fight for a better tomorrow and I can think of no way to thank you all properly for this. I wish you all the best of luck in whatever may come. You honor me with your friendship.\"

Glasses around the table rose for the second time and everyone around the table drank deeply.

Dumbledore raised his hands. \"You all must go and rest now while you can. I shall see you on the morrow.\"

The wine glasses disappeared, and everyone shook their heads as if waking up from a daydream.

Hermione kissed Sera on the cheek and took Ron and Harry\'s hands as they made their way out of the confrence room. She remembered back in the summer before fifth year when none of them were allowed inside this room during meetings and wished that she could go back there. It hadn\'t been the best summer of her life; but it had been better than this.

She nearly smacked herself after thinking this. How cowardly was she? Wanting to hide in the past? She sighed and stiffened her spine, standing all the straighter and taller she could. Whatever happened the next day would happen and she would face it like the Griffindor she was.

~'

Hermione woke up in her own bed shivering in terror from some unknown dream, that was still lingering in her head, just out of reach. Today was the day. This thought didn\'t chase the dream away; but brought it to the front of her mind and tormented her with it.

Hermione closed her eyes and forces away the images of her friends and her lover falling in front of a shadow that seemed to suck the light into it like a black hole. Now was not the time to let herself crumble.

She got out of bed and went to the bathroom, feeling strange as she went thorugh her normal routine on what would turn out to be the most momentus day of her life.

She\'d always thought that day would be the one where she graduated from Hogwarts, or more recently, the day she married Severus; but now she realized that this day would hang over them all for the rest of their lives.


She cautiously made her way to the common room after showering. She found Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville there waiting for her.

\"Hi \'Mione,\" They said one by one, and she almost burst into tears at how very sad they all sounded.

She took a seat beside Ginny and stared into the fire for awhile. She finally roused herself enough to ask where the others were.

\"They went down to the great hall; but none of us felt like going,\" Harry replied. \"I feel too sick.\"

Hermioine nodded. She felt uncomfortable sitting there so silently, so she got up and moved toward the portrait hole.

\"Where are you going \'Moine?\" Asked Ron.

\"I want to speak to S... I mean Professor Snape,\" she replied.

He nodded and went back to staring in the fire. Hermione sighed in relief that they hadn\'t caught her slip. She didn\'t want them distracted by her and Severus during the battle.

She slipped out of the portrait hole and the fat lady wished her luck for the fifth time that week. Hermione thanked her and set off for the dungeons.

She knocked softly on his door when she got there, and it was opened and she was dragged inside uncerimoniously and snogged senseless for about an hour.

When they finally stopped to breathe, they were sitting one Severus\' couch where most of it all had started. He looked into her eyes, and she ould see the tears shining in his.

\"What is it?\"

\"I should not have done this to you,\" he whispered, stroking a finger down her cheek.

\"And what have you done that you regret? I regret none of it.\"

He gathered her to his chest. \"I should not have taken advantage of you. That\'s what I have done, though I love you more than I love anything in this world.\"

\"I regret nothing you have done to me, Severus,\" Hermione said smugly.

He sqeezed her even more tightly as he laughed.

She wiggled out of his grip and stood up. \"Want to do some more things to me?\" She asked, holding out her hand.

\"I most certainly do, my pet.\" He grinned rakishly, taking her hand and allowing her to haul him to his feet.

AN: Okay two more chapters coming after this one. The battle and the Epilouge.