A Shadowy End

Hermione and Ginny both woke up to pounding on the door. Ginny rolled over and looked at the alarm clock, it was 8:30 am. She rolled back over and nudged Hermione.



“Someone’s at the door.”



Hermione groaned, “what time is it?”



“8:30”



“But it’s Saturday.”



The pounding continued.



“Fine,” Hermione got out of bed, wand in hand and went to the door. She yanked it open, “WHAT?!”



A stunned Ron and Harry stood on the other side of the doorframe.



“Hermione you’re here!” The boys rushed in at her.



“Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?” She said sarcastically.



“Well you weren’t here last night, you were in Hogsmeade.” Ron retorted.



“How come you didn’t tell us about your special privilege of being able to go into town at night?” Harry asked.



“Because there is no such privilege.” Hermione replied. She rubbed her hands over her face vigorously to try and make herself wake up.



“But Dumbledore said there was.” Ron looked confused.



Hermione sighed, “because I asked him to. Ginny and I went into town to celebrate our anniversary.”



“Anniversary for what?”



“For dating Harry,” Ginny appeared out of Hermione’s bedroom dressed in her girlfriend’s robe.



“WHAT? You guys are LESBIANS?” Ron looked mortified.



“More bisexual than anything else.” Hermione said as she shrugged her shoulders.



“Bullshit. You’re having us on.” Ron said.



Hermione grabbed Ginny by the waist dragging her to her and pressed her lips against hers. It was meant to be a chaste kiss but Hermione slipped her tongue into Ginny’s mouth and swirled it around savouring the taste of her. Ginny relaxed into her and sighed. Hermione pulled apart from her and looked at the boys who were starting at them in shock. Ron looked a bit green but fascinated at the same time and Harry looked like he had fallen into his most amazing fantasy ever.



“See, we’re not having you on.” Hermione replied.



“Are you guys okay with that?” Ginny asked as she stepped closer to her brother.



“Does mum know?”



“No! And don’t tell her.”



“When are you going to though?”



“When we’re both ready,” Ginny looked at her brother. “Please don’t tell anyone.”



“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone that my sister is a lesbian!” Ron looked at her in mild disgust.



Hermione looked at Harry who was regarding her thoughtfully.



“Well, it does explain why you two are always off some place together. I think it’s okay. Whatever makes you happy.” Harry said.



“Thank you.” Hermione gave him a big hug.



“Well since we’re all up, do you want to join us for breakfast?” Ginny suggested.



“Food?” Ron’s eyes lit up and everyone laughed.



The gang spent the rest of the morning in the Head Girl’s rooms laughing and catching up.



* * * *



The girls didn’t have much to do in the closing weeks of Hogwarts. Albus had decided that they should spend time with the boys so they didn’t become increasingly suspicious of what the two were actually up to.



Hermione and Ginny sat through their exams again, not really paying much attention to what they were writing as they had already graduated. The girls though were quite busy trying to bring Ron and Harry up to scratch for their exams so they could at least pass with enough marks to get into Auror training.



And thus their days went up until graduation where Hermione received her fake diploma and Ginny sat in the audience with muted annoyance of having not been recognised for her accomplishments although having received several awards from the Headmaster for her accomplishments in Charms and Medicine.



The girls went about packing up for summer and dreading the next few hours before being initiated to the Order of the Phoenix. They were not looking forward to telling Mrs. Weasley what they had been doing for the past year.



As all of the students were milling about the girls went up stairs to start packing for leave. They had all their weapons stashed away except one handgun each, which they tucked into their robes as a precaution before heading to the Burrow.



They arrived as the others were and went inside to say hi to everyone.



“Hey guys, what’s up?” Hermione asked as she entered.



“Not much, we’ve just been told that we’re going to be initiated to the Order tonight. Except for Ginny though since you’re to young.” Ron said.



Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.



“Cute.” George said.



“Well let’s go to Grimmauld Place and set up before the meeting.” Hermione said.



“Yeah, sounds good,” Harry added.



The girls downsized the trunks and flooed to their destination. They went upstairs to unpack and set up their rooms bunking together.



The headmaster came to them before the meeting.



“All settled in?”



“Yeah.” They replied in unison.



“Have you seen this yet?” He said as he walked over to the fireplace and pressed the emblem of the lion and the doors appeared that slid back revealing their very own potions/charms lab and arsenary.



“Wow, this awesome. Thanks so much.” Hermione gushed as she went to inspect.



“I think, girls, when I introduce you to everyone that they might better grasp the situation if you’re in your hunting gear.”



“You want us to wear our uniforms?”



“Yes.”



“Alright.” Hermione said.



The headmaster left so the girls could dress. They pulled out their clothes and weapons and began to suit up. As they were braiding their hair into French plaits, Ginny looked over at Hermione, “this is going to be interesting.”



The girls made their way down the deserted hallways to the kitchen.



* * * *



“Now that everyone has been initiated, I have another announcement.” Albus said. “We have two new members that no one knows about but myself.” He looked at the people around him and sighed. “Has everyone read about the unsolved deaths in the profit?”



“Yes,” everyone muttered.



“Well I’m going to introduce you to the two people who are responsible.”



“Albus?” Minavra asked, “you know about this and didn’t turn them in? Why?”



“Because all the people that were killed were known death eaters.”



There were whispers around the table.



“So who are they Headmaster?” Harry asked.



“You can come in now!” Albus said in a raised voice. All heads turned towards the kitchen door.



* * * *



The girls heard Albus calling them and looked at each other.



“Well this is it.” Ginny said.



“Yeah,” Hermione sighed, “I hope they don’t hate us too much.”



Ginny grabbed her hand and squeezed, “we’ll be fine. We can survive anything.”



Hermione smiled. They both took a deep breath and reached out to push the kitchen door forward together. They entered putting on their best bland faces. They stared at everyone who stared back.



“Hey guys,” Ginny said with a slight grimace.



All hell broke loose. Everyone was yelling at the girls and at the headmaster. The girls remained silent and regarded everyone with cool eyes. Albus was holding up both hands and was backing away from an irate Molly Weasley. Harry and Ron were looking at the girls as though they had grown another head. Meanwhile Severus was looking at them with a newfound respect. The girls looked at Professor Snape and smiled slightly who returned their look with a scowl. The girls looked around and couldn’t help the bubbling laughter that spilled over their lips. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared.



“What the Hell are you laughing at?” Molly yelled at Ginny who sobered up immediately.



“It was our choice. Albus didn’t make us do it.”



“But you killed people! All fifty of them, that’s twenty-five each!” Molly looked at her baby horrified.



“Yes,” Hermione said, “and for the record it’s more like ninety than fifty.”



“Ninety-one,” Ginny said to Hermione, “you forgot Alexander Ramsey, they guy from a few weeks ago.”



“Oh yeah. The screamer.” Hermione smiled.



“That was you?” Severus looked mortified.



“What Severus? Why do you look so grossed out?” Remus asked.



“He was horribly disfigured and badly beaten. He looked as though…” He trailed off.



“Oh yes, about that,” Albus looked at the girls. “What did you find out?”



“The hideout is the sub-dungeons of the Malfoy Manor.” Hermione responded.



“How did you get him to tell you that?” Severus asked. “He would sooner die than tell you that.”



The girls looked at each other and sighed. “Torture.”



Severus sputtered, “but he endures plenty of Crucio’s. That would not have broken him.”



“Yes we know that. We used torture without magic. You know, removing fingernails, breaking toes with hammers, chainsaws, castration…” Hermione trailed off as Ron started turning green.



“ALBUS! I can’t believe you talked them into this!” Minerva yelled.



“Professor please!” Hermione said. “Albus didn’t have to persuade us to do anything. We’re doing this to thin out the cannon fodder. Honestly, do you think we have a chance of fighting that many death eaters at the Final Battle? I mean really have a chance? They would kill us all. And everything that we stand for and have trained for would be for naught. Harry needs help defeating Voldemort; he can’t do it by himself. And as much as the prophecy says that he will be the one to defeat him we need to all be prepared to fight to the death for our world. Yes, maybe there was a better way to go about this instead of running a rampage for death eaters but honestly, would we have had the same kind of effect? We did what was necessary and it has proved bountiful. What have you done that could be classified in the same realm as us?” Hermione took a deep breath.



“Well Miss Granger, for one, I have not killed anyone.”



“Yes, but how long will you be able to say that?” Ginny asked.



Minerva sat down with a scowl.



“Ginny Weasley, how? You haven’t even graduated school yet.” Her mother asked.



“Actually I graduated last year with Hermione. We’ve been going to school to keep up the rouse of being unthreatening students.”



“Albus thought of that one. It’s worked pretty well so far.” Hermione added.



“I just can’t believe that all the killings have been you guys.” Remus said.



“Get used to it. I don’t mean to be blunt but we have to figure out a way to get into Malfoy Manor and kicked Voldy’s ass. I think we should sit down tonight and brainstorm about how we should go about it.” Hermione said while seating herself at the head of the table.



“I’m in agreement with Miss Granger,” Professor Snape said while still leaning against the wall.



“Thank you professor. Now let’s get down to business. You can all bitch at me later about my actions but right now we need a good plan to defeat Voldemort. Any suggestions?”