What Is Left When All Is Said and Done

Chapter 6

It was still dark and very early the next morning when Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of The Burrow.

"For the last time, Ron, I will not fly with you and Harry to Godric's Hollow!"

"Why not, 'Ermione? It's only about an hour away by broom," reasoned Ron.

"I've flown on a hippogriff and hated it. I've flown on a Thestral and hated it. And have you seen me fly on a broom recently?"

"But Hermione...," whine Ron.

"No, and that's final. What's the purpose of getting an Apparition license if you're not going to use it?"

"But you know Harry isn't licensed." Ron gestured back towards Harry, who was watching the two of them with an amused smile on his face. At Ron's pleading look, he finally stepped in.

"It's okay, Ron. The two of us will fly and have some male bonding time. Hermione can just Apparate and meet us there," he suggested.

"See? Harry can be perfectly reasonable. I don't see why you can't."

"But we're supposed to be doing this together. Not splitting up at the first instance!"

"It's not like anything's going to happen to me in the next hour. If anything, it's the two of you I'm worried about."

"There's nothing to worry about. No one knows where we're going and besides, we've both learned the Disillusionment Charm from Moody."

"When was this?" asked Hermione, indignant that he hadn't bothered to teach her.

"Last night, right around the time of the toast. After I told Ron about the locket, we talked about the plans for today and thought it would be a good idea to learn it from him while he was at the wedding. We looked around for you, but you were nowhere to be seen."

"Yeah, where were you?"

"I was keeping Luna company." There, that wasn't necessarily a lie.

"Luna? I didn't even see her at the wedding."

"Actually," admitted Harry, "I saw her in the beginning, but then she disappeared."

"Yeah, Fleur" -- she said the name with a certain ounce of derision -- "didn't want Luna there because she wasn't up to her high aesthetic standards."

"Are you serious? Wait, never mind. That sounds exactly like something Fleur would do. Can't believe she's my sister-in-law now."

"I think Fleur's little sister was hoping to get Harry into the family as well," teased Hermione.

"Yeah, well...," said Harry lamely. He was blushing, too. "Wow, look at the time. The sun's about to rise soon; we better get a move on it if we want to go before it gets light out." The lowest edge of the eastern horizon was almost imperceptibly lighter.

"Fine," said Ron, suddenly sounding very businesslike, "but I need to do something first. Harry, if you'll excuse us?" Hermione had no idea what Ron was talking about, but Harry seemed to have a clue as he edged away them.

"I'll just be getting our brooms from the shed then. Don't mind me." He whistled as he walked, and Ron waited until he was a distance away before confronting Hermione.

"What's this about, Ron?" she said suspiciously.

"Oh, there's just something I've been wanting to do since the fourth year Yule Ball." He took a step nearer to her.

"Oh, and what's that?" He was even closer now; only a few inches separated their bodies. She looked up into his eyes and held her breath without knowing it. He was looking down at her with that confident grin in which she paradoxically found so much exasperation and security at the same time.

"This." He kissed her then. Not an awkward, first time kiss (although this was their first time), nor the polite, chaste kiss between two friends. No, this was a back-bending, eye-closing, toe-curling, I-don't-want-to-be-anywhere-else-in-the-world-right-now kiss. When it was finally over, he helped her back into an upright position, but had to steady her to keep her from falling over. The grin was back.

"Wow." A million things flew through her mind then: Viktor never kissed me like that; was that what Cormac was trying to do under the mistletoe; Ron's certainly had a lot of practice; can we do that again? But instead of voicing any of these, she went up on tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and proceeded to do the last one.

This time, it was his turn to say, "Wow."

In the distance they could hear Harry saying loudly, "I've got the brooms, and I'm coming back now!" They quickly disentangled themselves from each other. Harry reappeared with Ron's Cleansweep 11, his own Firebolt, and a knowing look on his face.

"Everything settled then, mate?"

"Yup."

"Good, let's go then. You're absolutely sure you won't come with us?" he asked to Hermione. She nodded, still a little breathless.

"Fine. Then it's time to say goodbye to your wittle Won-Won," he said as he cast the Disillusionment Charm on the red head. As the spell crept over Ron, he began to disappear into the background until for all intents and purposes, he was invisible. Hermione then watched the same thing happen to Harry.

"Bye, Hermione."

"See you in an hour." Two broom sticks flew off into the sky.

"Bye, Harry! Bye, Ron!" she called out after them. And then she was all alone again. All alone but for a Personalized Portkey, a bottle of Polyjuice potion that she had nicked from the Room of Requirement on her last visit, and a determination to make the most of her one hour without the boys.

She opened the drawstring pouch that Draco had given her and peered inside. A large emerald set in a gaudily ornate gold ring sat inside. Hermione snorted. And Slytherins thought Gryffindors lacked subtlety. Knowing that her time was running out, she uncorked the bottle of Polyjuice, dropped in the strand of hair she had been saving, and watched the potion sizzle and froth. It turned into an almost pleasant shade of auburn. When it stopped bubbling, she looked at her watch, then held her nose and drank it all, hoping she wouldn't turn into a Kneazle, or worse.

The expected nausea and burning sensation came and went. She felt her face to see if any fur had sprouted but felt only skin. A check in the compact she had brought just for this purpose confirmed what she had hoped for--the green eyes of Lily Potter staring back at her.

At first, when the plan had come to her, it had seemed such a brilliant idea. There was no way she could have encountered Snape by herself without Draco by her side. Approaching him as Hermione Granger, best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived-to-Hate-Snape, he would either kill her outright, hold her as a hostage, or run away again. And she had no doubt that if he wanted to hide from even a Personalized Portkey, he would be able to. No, it would be much better to catch him off guard as the (maybe only) childhood friend he once had.

She had saved a single strand of Lily's hair before giving Harry his mother's locket, just in case. While she was pretty sure Harry would have disapproved of--among many other things she was planning on undertaking in the very near future--her taking on his late mother's appearance, she figured it was the best way she had of getting past Snape's defenses. Best case scenario: he'd still be asleep when she Portkeyed to him and she'd be able to make him think he was dreaming and garner some information. Worst case, he'd realize she was an imposter and at least keep her alive long enough to find out how she had managed to impersonate a woman now fifteen years dead, in which case she could use the time to convince him of her intentions. Just what exactly those intentions were she had yet to figure out.

She told herself it was to satiate her curiosity, to find out why Dumbledore had trusted him and why he had then killed him. And maybe, just maybe, Draco had been telling the truth, and she'd be able to prove his allegiance to the Order. But that was a long shot, she knew. And the chances of that happening were becoming even slimmer the longer she stood there reflecting. She glanced at her watch again. Only fifty-five more minutes left. Right, then.

She drew out her wand and steeled herself for wherever she might end up as she reached into the pouch and slipped on the ring. Her feet left the ground as she was jerked forward by the Portkey. When they landed again, she found herself still outdoors. What would Snape be doing outside at this time of night? Only then did she realize that she had never considered the fact that Snape might not be alone when she went to him. What if she had landed herself in the middle of a Death Eaters meeting? Or a raid?

Fortunately those fears were ungrounded as there was no one in sight--not even her former Professor--nor any sound except for what was customary in the countryside at night. She scanned the area to try and orient herself. The sky was just as dark as when she had left Ottery St. Catchpole and the stars appeared the same, so she was still somewhere relatively nearby. She appeared to be standing halfway up a low, grassy hill. She could make out a few cottages further down the way, but all the windows were still dark. On the top of the hill there grew a single tree. At the bottom of the tree were two white, equal shaped and sized stones. And--wait--was that someone next to one of the stones? After a few minutes in which both she and the other person remained completely still, she began to walk slowly and quietly towards it.

Even as she grew nearer it seemed as if Snape--and she was sure that the black-clad body was him now--still had not noticed her presence. This scared Hermione more than anything. The Snape she had known would never have allowed someone to come this close to him without detection. From just a few feet away, she called out.

"Severus?"

Immediately his pale, gaunt face snapped up.

"Lily?"

At the exact same moment he gasped that name, she read what his body had been covering on what she realized now was a gravestone. Lily Evans Potter.

Oh my God. We're in Godric's Hollow.