The Things We Do For Love

THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE CHAPTER 6

When Hermione fell, she fell hard.

One might think that such a simple and sweet thing, such as an innocent kiss, might not be enough for someone to fall in love or realize that they're in it; this person would be proven wrong.

Hermione Granger was falling; falling for Harry Potter. And she had no intention of picking herself up anytime soon.

With each greedy breath their kiss deepened, filled with unfamiliar emotions, hidden messages and secret meanings. Both were incapable of any thought, save the one that told them that they *had* to keep kissing. It was as if time had slowed and stood still for this exact moment. This was a turning point; they were making history and creating the future.

It seemed gullible to believe that this simple kiss would alter the future as they knew it, but Hermione knew that it would. She knew that this wasn't supposed to happen and she knew that she shouldn't let it happen, but she did. She drank it all in, cursing conformity to the devil.

It was in this life altering moment that Hermione Granger fell in a very different type of love with Harry Potter. This was why she became Lily Evans, because she loved Harry enough to do so. Before, it was a brother-sister love, like the way she now loved Ron. But now, now she really, truly, *loved* Harry. Perhaps she had always been in love with Harry; after all, when asked by Sirius why she became a spy she had answered, 'For Harry.' Not for Ron, not for her parents, not for the good of the world and not for herself. For Harry; it was *all* for Harry.

She was in love with Harry. It was enough to make her want to laugh, sing and cry all at once for the sheer joy of it.

Hermione began to kiss him harder and with more desperation. She had to put all of her feelings for him in this one simple kiss, because she would never be able to voice them. Now that she knew her true feelings for Harry, she had to be careful. All he had to do was ask her why she was depressed one more time, and she would tell him everything for she could deny him nothing.

Deeper and deeper, Hermione led herself into the storm of unspoken emotions. She didn't want this moment to end; it was so perfect. It was too perfect.

As if he had sensed her joyful happiness and wished to put an end to it, he summoned her. Ah, pain beyond pain. Her Dark Mark burned a white hot flash of heat shooting up her arm, causing her to pull away from Harry with a gasp of pain.

Her eyes began to water up, but she refused to let Harry see the tears.

"I-I- I have to go," she stated breathlessly.

Harry frowned in concern. "Hermione, please don't go. I-I'm sorry I-I kissed you. I won't do it again," Harry proclaimed earnestly.

A twinge of guilt tightened her heart. Somehow, she managed to smile at him through the havoc her Dark Mark was reeking.

"Harry, it's not that. I-I- I just *have* to go," she claimed, emphasizing the word 'have.'

He looked at her, a new emotion creasing his brow. "Why?"

Dammit, this wasn't exactly the perfect time for Harry's perception to kick in. She just couldn't stand that plaintive, defeated tone when he apologized to her; she just had to react.

"Please, Harry. I can't tell you. I just have to go," she pleaded with him to understand.

He narrowed his eyes at her, the confrontation she had been so afraid of now beginning to stir. 'Can't this wait?' she asked to herself. Why now, of all the God damn times, why did he have to confront her after she just realized she loved him?

"Where are you going, Hermione?" he asked in his calm, smooth voice that warranted no objections.

She straightened herself stubbornly, forgetting the pain of her Dark Mark. "I can't tell you."

Harry, too, could be really stubborn at times, Hermione realized as he repeated, "Where are you going, Hermione?" to her once again.

"Oh, you know, around," she stated vaguely.

This only served to anger Harry, which was not a good thing. Forcefully, he grabbed her to him when she would have retreated. He tightened his death grip on her forearms, causing Hermione a new flood of pain.

She had cried out in the agony Harry was unknowingly causing. The tears that had been threatening to spill, did, much to her annoyance. Harry's anger quickly faded, replaced by a new level of worry and exasperation.

Ron and Elisa were there now, giving them both dubious looks of concern.

"What's going on?" Elisa dared to ask.

Hermione straightened herself, still in Harry's firm, but gentle grip. "I was just leaving."

Harry seemed to think otherwise. "No, Hermione. I'm not letting you go, not until I know where."

The pain was coming sharper now, more persistent. If she did not hurry, her master might suspect something. But what was she to do? It was a good thing she was already at Hogsmeade, she would be able Apparate sooner, but she couldn't with Harry holding on to her.

"Where are you going?" Harry's redundant question came again.

She had reached her mind's limit, hissing in exasperation, "Will you force me to lie?"

Harry's unrelenting gaze softened as he pleaded, "Just tell me the truth, Hermione."

Hermione jerked out of his grasp with uncharacteristic roughness. "The truth," she sneered. "The truth is only what we make it to be. You want to know Harry?" she asked in false sweetness.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. He had never seen Hermione so venomous. Suddenly, he doubted if he really wanted to know the truth. Still, he nodded in a decisive move.

She smiled at him then with the same sickening charm. "Go to Sirius and tell him that it is my wish that you all," she cast a cold glare over Ron and Elisa before turning it to Harry. "Tell him that it is my wish that you all await my return in Dumbledore's office, for I have information to impart."

She did not give them a chance to respond, turning her back to them and Apparating before their very confused and worried eyes. ***

"You have called, my Lord?" Hermione obediently addressed.

Red, piercing hot eyes bored into her. She was pinned down by the evil suspecting glare. "What have you of Hermione Granger?"

Lily's lips curled upward in a sardonic smile. "The pathetic little Mudblood is useless. I have observed her and Potter," she was sure to spit out the name 'Potter.' "Noting their routine and behaviors. The Mudblood is stupid and wistful; she will be easy to capture."

This did not satisfy him. He drew closer to her, staring deeply into her eyes as if seeking something hidden there. "If this is so, why have you not captured her?" he asked in a dangerously calm voice.

Hermione easily hid her frown of confusion. It was not like the Dark Lord to question his little flower, but something was different.

Having Apparated from the Three Broomsticks pub, Hermione had arrived in the same Celtic ruins that served as Headquarters for the Dark Forces. She had been escorted to the Dark Lord, which was highly unusual for she had never had an escort before. Something foul was afoot, but she did not know what.

"She is constantly flanked by Potter and others; the opportunity has not yet presented itself."

He narrowed his eyes at her knowingly in his anger. "You are to kidnap the Mudblood at *my* convenience, not yours. I *need* that Mudblood, perhaps I didn't make that clear enough for you," he smiled at her here, a slow sadistic smirk that held no warmth, only a freezing cold hatred. "Perhaps you need a little reminder..."

She swallowed her fear. Clear enough? He made it pretty damn clear with that Cruciatus Curse. So clear that she still had some bruises on her arms. What had she done to enrage him so? Something was not right. The Dark Lord had rarely used any of the Unforgivables on his little flower, but recently, he seemed to have had a change of heart.

Whatever brought out these sudden acts of violence towards her would have to be pondered about later, for the Dark Lord was *very* eager to give Lily Evans her reminder. ***

Harry sat anxiously in a deep, squishy chair in front of Dumbledore's massive desk. His right toe tapped incessantly, one of the many visual signs of his worry.

Harry was confused. Scratch that; Harry was *very* confused. There were about a hundred different emotions coursing through him right now. There was worry, for Hermione had been gone for three hours now and it was nearing 1 a.m. in the morning. Suspicion, for Dumbledore and Sirius refused to say anything about Hermione until she arrived. There was concern, for Ron and Elisa hadn't said much on the walk back to Hogwarts. Harry himself had only asked one thing on their trip back, and that was whether or not Hermione was supposed to be allowed to Apparate. Ron had responded with a negative shake of his head, his brow creasing in confusion.

The minutes went by like hours until finally, Harry could take no more.

He shot up in his chair and confronted a very weary Sirius Black who had been keeping to himself in a small corner.

"Where is she?" was all he said.

There was no need for Sirius to ask where who was. Every one in that room was there waiting for one single person.

"I don't know," he answered honestly with a sigh.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What is going on? Something is wrong; don't bother denying it."

It was Dumbledore who now spoke from behind his desk. "Mr. Potter, please calm yourself and re-take your seat. We have not denied that something is wrong. She has been gone for far too long."

Harry ran a frustrated hand through his already tousled jet-black hair, still remaining standing. "Gone where?" he sighed.

The Headmaster kindly smiled at him in an understanding sympathy. "I am sorry, Mr. Potter, but even I do not know where it is Miss Granger goes."

Harry opened his mouth to ask yet another question that would no doubt be left unanswered, when quite suddenly the office door swung purposefully open, admitting a very pale Severus Snape carrying a small, quivering Hermione.

"Good God, what happened to her?" Sirius asked, immediately coming forward to help Severus to place Hermione's huddled form in the chair Harry had vacated.

Severus gently wrapped his cloak around Hermione before answering, "I don't know. I saw her making her way across the grounds; she wasn't making that much progress."

Harry stood rooted to the floor. His hands were balled into tight fists and his face was ashen white. A thin line was visible from where his lips usually were. His eyes took in her condition.

Her right eye was black, deep gashes ran up and down her arms, a nasty yellow bruise was forming on her right cheek bone and her lips, the same sweet, smooth lips that he was kissing just hours earlier, were dry, swollen and crusted with her own blood.

A red haze clouded his vision. His breathing grew more rapid as he could only stand there and stare at her while Ron, Elisa and Snape saw to Hermione. Sirius and Professor Dumbledore both wisely seemed more intent on keeping an eye on Harry.

"Who did that?" Harry was able to get past his tight lips.

Hermione frowned and opened her eyes for the first time. Light poured into her eyes, making her blink back tears. She was able to make out Elisa's worried face beside her, Ron's flaming red hair, Severus's anxious expression, and Professor Dumbledore and Black both keeping a steady gaze on a little too quiet Harry.

When Hermione met Harry's eyes, she winced in dread. This wasn't the way she planned to greet him. The intensity of his stare was quite overwhelming, causing her to break the intimate contact to meet the steady, comforting gaze of Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was informed immediately after Hermione had accepted the offer for training to infiltrate the Dark Forces. He had been openly against the idea. He tirelessly tried to dissuade her from her choice, but she had remained stubbornly inclined. After admitting his defeat and the uselessness of trying to change her mind, he did the only thing he could do. He had supported her and accepted his defeat with a superior grace. In an odd way, Hermione felt that her determination had earned her a new level of respect from her long time mentor.

As she bravely met his gaze, she saw a small, reassuring smile tug at his lips. The small nod of his head was all of the encouragement she needed to face the unavoidable.

With a deep, fortifying breath, she plunged into explanation. "Perhaps you all should sit down. What I am about to tell you is, well, is very unsettling."

Ron frowned as he pulled away from Hermione, who had resigned herself to keeping a steady gaze on her feet. He took Elisa's hand into his and pulled her to sit in the chair beside Hermione. Ron knew from experience that Hermione was not being melodramatic.

Blood was roaring through Harry's ears. Finally, he was going to know everything. No more secrets, he would protect her from the danger she appeared to be in. He continued to stand before her though, adopting a serious expression.

She took a deep breath. "There is no easy way to explain this. I have only been doing what I have to do," she began. "In a way, we all play a part in the war against the Dark Lord."

Harry frowned at the direction this was going in. An intense and charged energy seemed to fill the room, leaving every person in it hanging on every word Hermione was saying.

"Some of us are fighting just by openly being against him," here she glanced at Dumbledore and Sirius. "Some of us fight him by being friends with his enemies," and here she cast a meaningful look to Harry and then Ron and Elisa. She sighed deeply as she continued, "And there are some of us who play a more decisive factor. Some of us who risk their own lives to protect those we love," she closed her eyes to briefly remember that sweet kiss she had shared with Harry. This was harder than she thought it would be. "Those people are the ones in most danger for they are usually the ones running with the darkest crowds," finally her gaze rested on Severus, who was standing beside her chair with a protective hand on her shoulder.

The significance of that strange look that past between Snape and Hermione was not lost on Harry.

"Some might refer to me as an Auror," Hermione was now saying, giving a meaningful gaze to a wide-eyed Ron, a stricken Elisa and a shocked Harry. "Others might call me an Unspeakable, and they would be more correct in that term. I suppose the easiest way to label my profession would be, well, a spy. I am a spy for the inner circles of the Ministry against the Dark Lord," she seemed oddly professional now, detached from everyone in that room. "I go to him, under the identity of the name Lily Evans," she looked at only Harry now. "And I act as any faithful Death Eater would. While I perform all tasks asked of me, I uncover useful information involving his plans to kill Harry Potter, and have so far been successful in preventing twenty-seven attempts on your life. So, to answer your question Harry, *he* did this to me because I have not yet captured Hermione Granger," she bravely met Harry's level stare. "Does that finally answer your question?"

(A/N): OH!! Can we say cliffhanger? The big revelation! Well, kiddies, I have finally finished this story (10 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue) And I will be posting the remaining chapters over a spread of time...don't worry, I won't leave you hanging for long! Special thanks to two of my reviewers who managed to review my story, and mention absolutely nothing about it! I think we ALL know who they are and they may be weird....but you must admit, they are entertaining! Thanks you guys and I miss you both!