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The silver glow of moonlight trickled through the dusty window of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The soft glow illuminated the pale round face of Hermione Granger.

The bed creaked as she turned over onto her back, her long golden brown curls falling across her pillow. She pushed some errant strands out of her eyes with a clammy hand and stared out the window into the inky black night. She sighed quietly to herself and blinked back the sheen of tears in her whiskey colored eyes.

She had been sharing a room with Ginny for the summer at Headquarters while her best friends Harry and Ron had shared the room down the hall.

Hermione had barely slept the past week with constant thoughts of what was to come running through her mind. The next day all the students would board the Hogwart’s Express for the start of term as normal and Hermione would be among them. Although her two best friends Harry and Ron would not be joining her.

This would be her 7th year at Hogwarts and it should have been her best except for the fact that at the end of last term Headmaster Dumbledore had died at the hands of Snape, Malfoy and the other Deatheaters.
Hermione wiped at the tears that finally fell across her cheeks.

Hogwarts would no longer be her home. Hermione would be returning without her two best friends and with a new secret identity. While Harry and Ron were on a quest to destroy the horcruxes, Hermione would be masquerading as a new transfer student in order to spy on the newly instated Headmaster Snape and the other Slytherin Deatheater students.

With Voldemort gaining power within the Ministry things were getting worse everyday and it was imperative to the Order of the Phoenix that they have a spy inside the castle. Therefore, Hermione would be risking her life alone without the aide of her friends in an attempt to sway the war to the side of the light.

Hermione had come up with the idea after an Order meeting where it had been discussed how much of a disadvantage their side was at without good intelligence. She had brought it up to Harry and Ron who hadn’t liked the idea at first and both had insisted that it was too dangerous. But Hermione had swayed them with her persistence. After all having her along destroying horcruxes was just as dangerous.

They had taken the idea to Lupin who had also balked at the idea. It was surely a sign of how horrible things had gotten that they were able to persuade him as well. With Snape as headmaster and plenty of Deatheater children in attendance at Hogwarts it was a good chance for the Order to garner some information to get ahead of Voldemort’s plans.

No one was to know of Hermione’s plan. Harry and Ron would sneak out in the wee hours of the morning on their journey and Hermione would secretly make her way to King’s Cross Station. Everyone would wake up and assume that Hermione had left with them but at that point she would have her glamour in place and be settled onto the Hogwarts Express.

No matter how many of her friends returned to Hogwarts, including Ginny, none of them could know who she really was. She had to leave all inhibitions behind so she could fill this role completely.

Hermione glanced at her watch she had set on the crooked bedside table and it read 3:00 AM which meant it was time. She rolled out of bed still dressed in her blue jeans and a t-shirt. She pulled on a heavy wool sweater and glanced over to make sure Ginny was still fast asleep.

It would hurt to leave the red-headed girl behind without a word but sacrifices had to be made. Hermione grabbed the heavy bag enchanted to hold her trunk, books, and clothes and slung it over her shoulder. Stuffing her wand in the front pocket of her jeans, she cast sweeping glance around the room for any forgotten items and snuck out the bedroom door careful not to step on any loose floor boards.

She crept down the stairs into the kitchen where she knew Ron and Harry would be waiting for her under the invisibility cloak. Next to the dinner table tell-tale crumbs seemed to be falling out of thin air and Hermione grabbed a hand full of the see through fabric. Two teenage boys appeared one with shaggy black hair and the other a red-headed boy who was devouring left-over biscuits.

“Oh, Ron. How can you eat at a time like this?” asked Hermione in a hushed voice but there was a joking look in her eyes.

Ron has the grace to look guilty and wiped crumbs off his mouth onto the floor. “I can’t help it, ‘Mione. You know I’m always hungry.”

Hermione’s eyes welled up with tears as she realized that this might be the last time she got to scold her ever hungry best friend for his constant eating. “Oh come here you two.” They embraced each other which was made difficult by the bulky bags each of them carried. “I love you both. Please be careful. I made sure to pack anything you might need in those bags.”

“We will, ‘Mione. Don’t worry about us. We’re worried about you. Won’t you please just come with us? It’s not too late.” Harry pleaded with her but Hermione just shook her head.

“No, Harry. You know I have to take my place at Hogwarts. It’s for the Order.” Harry nodded and looked down at his shoes to hide the tears in his eyes and Ron seemed to find the kitchen wall more interesting than usual as he blinked rapidly.

A loud creak came from upstairs and it shocked them all out of the moment. They shared one last hug goodbye. Harry and Ron were going to be the first to leave. “We'll try to check in on you, Hermione. Please be safe and steer clear of Malfoy as much as you can. He's trouble.”

“Yeah, ‘Mione. Stay away from that git. You know he’s got his head up Voldemort’s arse,” said Ron with a frown on his face.

“Harry it’s not safe for the two of you at Hogwarts anymore. And you know I will have to deal with Malfoy but I’ll try my best. I’ll be sending reports back to Professor Lupin secretly. I love you both. Be careful.” Harry and Ron made their way out past the wards and with a long sad glance back at their best friend they both apparated away.

With one last look back at the place that was like a home to her, Hermione stepped and turned as she apparated to a hotel room near King’s Cross that she had paid for the previous day. She would put her glamour in place and take a taxi to the train station when it came time.

Hermione surveyed the room with weary eyes. There was a shabby bed that had seen better days, a beaten up wooden dresser with a tiny TV on top, and a small bathroom that smelled moldy. The room wasn’t much but it would work for the short time she would be occupying it.

She laid her bag across the bed and turned the shower on hot. She stripped out of her clothes and her nipples hardened instantly in the cold room. She quickly stepped under the hard spray of the shower and closed her eyes as she tried to let the hot water work some of the kinks out of the tight muscles in her back.

She lathered her hair with cheap hotel shampoo and thoroughly rinsed it. She unwrapped the small bar of soap and set the damp wrapper onto the side of the tub. She rubbed the bar across her taught stomach that was tied in knots from nerves and soaped the rest of her body. Hermione stood in the shower until the water started loosing its heat and quickly wrapped herself in a towel.

Still dripping wet she looked in the foggy bathroom mirror and grabbed her wand out of her jeans lying on the bathroom floor. She pointed the stick of wood at her face and whispered the words for the glamour she had been practicing.

Her face slowly changed. Her slightly upturned nose dotted with a few pesky freckles was still the same as was her pale skin but her whiskey eyes were now a pretty emerald green. Hermione had always secretly envied girls with bright green eyes. Her chin was more round and her generous lower lip had evened out into a perfect bow shaped mouth.

The biggest change was her mass of curly brown hair. Now it was a sleek sheath of shiny black hair that reached to the middle of her back. Small traces of the old Hermione were still there for keen eyes but the glamour would fool even the most slippery of Slytherins.

Hermione dried off and walked over to the bed where her bag lay. She pulled out a white off the shoulder cashmere sweater and a black knee length pencil skirt with a small slit up the thigh. She slid on the clothes and stepped into a pair of black wedges. Surveying herself in a mirror leaning up against the far wall, Hermione flicked her hair over one shoulder and pointed her wand at her face once more to apply a light coating of mascara and lip gloss. If she was going to fit in with the Slytherins then she would have to start dressing like them.

Hermione was too restless to sleep any so she waited painfully for time to pass. She called a cab when it was time to leave and checked out of the room. She made sure to take her trunk out of her bag so as not to look suspicious when getting on the Hogwarts Express. The driver eye balled her in the rear view mirror but Hermione just looked out the window at the cars passing. It seemed like only an instant before the yellow cab was slowing down and the familiar sight of King's Cross loomed outside of the smudged window. She paid the ogling man and walked briskly towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10 with her trunk in tow.