Without Wand or Wire

Rudolphus awoke to find his front much chillier than his backside. Rastaban slept with his back to his, but Bellatrix, who had been sleeping in front of Rudolphus, was missing. A quick scan of the room found her kneeling before their lord and master, a strange old house-elf at her side. Rudolphus smothered the rising flame of jealousy; he was never really sure if it was Voldemort or Bella that he was feeling envious of anyway.

Rudolphus crawled tiredly over to the trio, his still-fuzzy mind trying to absorb what was being spoken between them.

"Capturing Potter and that old fool, Dumbledore, is of the utmost importance, of course, but feel free to kill anyone who gets in your way -- particularly that traitor, Snape," Voldemort added.

"And my nephew?" Bella asked, licking her lips in anticipation.

"He is yours, of course, to do with as you please. I should like very much to watch whatever you have in store for him, though," he added with a smile, the one that always made Rudolphus shiver -- though he was never sure if it was in delight or fear.

This was it, the moment Hermione Granger had been waiting for all day. All summer. Hell, her entire Hogwarts career, if she was truthful with herself, though she hadn’t really been conscious of the fact her first or second year. Third year, she'd been too busy arguing with Ron to act on her feelings. Their fourth year, she'd made an effort, but, well, girl's matured faster than boys, so what could she do, beyond trying to make him jealous? Their fifth ... well, there was something there, but it was superceded by their worry for Harry, she supposed. And their sixth? Would there even be a sixth year, at the rate things were going?

She was tired of waiting.

She stood on tip-toe; he leaned his head down to meet hers. She closed her eyes, heart racing as she waited for that first contact--

"There he is!!" Ron shouted, letting go.

Hermione nearly fell; once she caught her balance, she turned, indignant, and found Ron cornering Crookshanks down the hall. Her mind lingering on what had almost happened, she followed after -- but the cat actually ran back the other way when she came near! For the first time since procuring him, Hermione was ready to strangle the orange furball! She and Ron chased the feline up and down the hall a total of three times, before the cat suddenly vanished -- and a door opened in the wall.

"I have a feeling they're going to take a while getting Crookshanks," Ginny said, Harry and Draco nodding their agreement. "We might as well get started with the questioning," she added.

"Why bother, if we don't yet having a way to see if she's telling the truth?" Draco asked.

"All we have to do is ask if everything she's told us was the truth later, when the cat gets here," Ginny explained.

Harry grinned. "That's my girl," he said, then kissed her.

Draco made a gagging sound, but winked when the pair turned to scowl. Snape seemed more sincere in his disgust.

"Fine, let's just get this over with," Fae insisted. "I'm getting' claustrophobic in this bindin' circle!"

"Fine," Snape snapped. "Are you, or have you ever been, a Death Eater?"

Fae scowled. "You did ask already, yeh ken, but to reiterate, no, I am not, nor have I ever been, a Death Eater. I told yeh, Sevy, I thought you were! Lucius told me to watch yeh and report yer actions." Her face softened. "An' as I watched yeh, I came to realise yeh were really a good man. How could I not fall in love?" she asked quietly. Then she laughed, a bitter sound. "I wrote back to Lucius that yeh most certainly were not a Death Eater. Which I guess was actually bad for you, but I couldnae kenned that at the time -- hindsight bein' 20-20 an' all...."

"You did love me?" Snape whispered, eyes shining and wary, while it was clear he wanted to believe. The kids wondered if he'd even heard anything beyond that.

She nodded, a tear making it's wayward way down her cheek. "I still do," she said, a hopeful note in her voice.

He turned his back, and her shoulders sagged. He went to his potions store, and took a small bottle off the shelf. He turned back to her, and held it up. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled, nodding.

To the kids' astonishment, Snape broke the binding and stepped close to Fae. He unstopped the bottle, covering the mouth of it with his finger, tilted it, and, hesitating a moment, glossed his now-wet finger across her lips. She waited patiently, eyes closed. He repeated the action with his own lips, then brought his mouth against hers.

The kids were caught in "Gaper's Block", grossed out but unable to tear their eyes away. Harry and Ginny both reflected that it was a good thing Ron wasn't in the room.

A faint, sparkling pink glow surrounded them, growing stronger by the moment. Then it faded. The pair pulled apart, with great reluctance, each of them breaking into a slow-eyed grin.

Draco grinned himself, while Harry and Ginny stared in astonishment at the former Potions Master. No Gryffindor had ever seen the man give anyone a genuine, happy, loving smile; Ginny thought he suddenly looked ten years younger. And now she thought she could see how Fae could find the man attractive. A little bit, anyway. She felt Harry squeeze her hand, and smiled at him. The hope was growing behind his eyes, shining at her with a phoenix-like warmth.

"What the bloody hell ..." Ron breathed as he stepped through the door. It lead to the Room of Requirement; he'd realised that as soon as the door had swung open and he'd finally noticed what hallway they were in. But even so, he barely recognised it!

It now resembled something like how he imagined a bedroom might look if Madam Puddifoot had decorated it! There was a bed in one corner, with fluffy pillows strewn across it, and filmy drapes hanging all about. A poofy loveseat sat in the middle of the room, facing a cozy fireplace that framed a cheery fire. A plush ottoman sat before the couch. Tapestries and paintings of romantic scenes graced walls painted a deep burgundy. Candles were strewn about everywhere. Bookcases lined two walls, with Grecian-style busts of lovers embracing dotting the tops of them. Crookshanks sat among them.

Ron walked over to a case, intent on catching Crookshanks, but the cat ran across the top and jumped over to the bed. A bright book spine with gold letters caught Ron's eye and, knowing that the cat wasn't leaving the room since Hermione had closed the door, he pulled the book out. It had the word "Sutra" in the title; he remembered Parvati talking about Sutras once and figured it was a spellbook from India. After flipping through a couple of pages, though, he dropped the book on the floor and shot Hermione a panicked look, putting his hands in the air.

"I had nothing to do with this!" he yelped.

Hermione was staring at the contents of the room with a horrified expression, her face pale as a ghost against the dark walls. There looked to be three candy bowls on a small table next to the couch. One held mints, another chocolates, and a third wrapped candies of some kind. He watched her reach down into the bowl of wrapped candies and examined a piece. She dropped the strange, flat, square wrapper with a sharp cry. She covered her face in her hands and let out a sob. Ron, noting a thin, circular ring in the wrapper's surface, realised then what the little package contained: it wasn't candy.

Swallowing hard, Ron lowered his hands and approached her. "Hermione, I swear I didn't ask the room for any of this! I-it's gone barmy or something!"

"I did this!" she wailed. "Me, all right!? I'm the ... the ..." She sobbed again, dropping down onto the loveseat and burying her face in her hands.

Oh. This was all a dream, then? Sure it was! The Burrow wasn't destroyed, Fae wasn't related to Malfoy and wasn't in love with Snape, Malfoy and Snape were still gits, and Hermione Granger did not harbour wishes that would cause the Room of Requirement to manifest the things he was looking at now! He began to laugh.

Hermione stared at him, her face a mix of shock and hurt. "What exactly is so funny, Ronald?"

Uh-oh. That was like the real Hermione. Still, if this was a dream, maybe he could nudge it in a better direction. He grabbed a mint and popped it into his mouth, then handed her one.

"Sorry, 'Mione," he apologized around the candy. "I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at me for thinking this day was real. Of course I'm dreamin'. Thank Merlin -- I'll still have a home when I wake up!"

Snape gently brushed a stray lock from Fae's forehead, tucking it back behind her ear. "Roses and peppermint," he said. "Guess we don’t need the cat after all."

She bit her lip shyly, nodding. "Not for that question, at any rate."

The kids exchanged glances. "Come again?" Harry asked.

"That was the love-test potion," Fae explained distractedly. "'If thy lover's heart be true, roses shall be thy garden, and mint shall flavour thy love.' In other words, if yer wearin' the potion and the person you kiss truly loves yeh, yer lips will tingle with the taste of peppermint, and yeh'll smell the scent of roses in the air."

"And if they don't love you?" Ginny asked, eyeing the vial thoughtfully.

"'If thy love's heart be duplicitous rather than divine, the taste of hell shall poison thy tongue, the scent of it fouling the air.' It means you'll get the smell and taste of sulphur," Snape revealed. He glanced at the vial in his hand, then held it out to Ginny, with a challenging glint in his eye. "Go on, get it over with; you can't let yourself be distracted by curiosity once we leave this room."

Hesitant, Ginny looked to Harry.

Harry smiled and nodded encouragingly. "I already know what answer we'll get; I'm not worried."

Grinning, she snagged the vial. As she touched the potion to her lips, though, her heart pounded with trepidation; what if it turned out it really was just some lingering effect of the spell she'd cast in the Mirror of Erised that made him think he loved her?

One way or another, she'd eventually find out, she decided. Better she did now than after she'd lost the last bit of her heart to a man who didn’t love her. Hand shaking, she reached out and dotted his lips with the potion.

She would have been hesitant in kissing him, but Harry didn’t give her the chance to be, sweeping her up in his arms. His lips on hers burned, hotter than peppermint: he was cinnamon! Even the scent of roses seemed accentuated by exotic, hothouse flowers. The room seemed to spin a little when they finally pulled apart; Ginny wasn't sure if it was a result of the spell, the kiss, or the lack of oxygen. The look on his face said he was similarly afflicted, that her love for him had proven true as well. As if she'd had any doubt in that regard!

Draco sighed with bored affectation, but Ginny could tell now that it was something of an act. She felt a pang of sorrow for him, with his ladylove lost. Which reminded her ....

"So, Fae ... where were you flying off to? I mean, I believe you when you say you're not our enemy, but is there ... well, any chance you know where You-Know-Who is anyway?" the Weasley girl asked.

Fae shook her head. "I was just goin' to fly back to the Leaky Cauldron to get a room." She stopped suddenly, staring hard at Harry. "Waitaminute. Didn't yeh say back in the Room that the vision of Pansy told Draco to come find her? And then yeh saw Voldemort with her?"

Snap flinched at the use of Voldemort's name. Harry nodded.

"And Pansy dinnae happen to say where she was before ol' Moldy-Voldie interrupted?" Fae continued.

Draco spoke up. "She said 'Look for me in the white forest, hiding in a hollow tree.' But I have no idea where that is."

Fae shared a look with Snape, remembering the white trees they'd seen during their search. "Do you think ..."

"That the Dark Lord never actually left Robert's Grove? It certainly sounds like it," he replied grimly.

Hermione gave Ron an apprehensive look, tinged with pity. "Ron ... this isn't a dream. I'm sorry, but ... The Burrow is gone." She looked around, and the helpless air she wore broke his heart. Dream or no, he wanted to make her happy again. He sat on the ottoman before her, drawing it close, so that their knees intermingled. He then took her hand, squeezing it, trying to think of something comforting to say.

She didn't give him a chance, speaking first. "When we were chasing Crookshanks up and down the hall, I was ... well, I was thinking about what nearly happened out there, I guess. About what I ... want to happen ..."

Ron felt simultaneous, conflicting urges to crow for joy and to run and hide. He wasn't imagining it! She really was interested in him! And he loved her -- so why was he suddenly so scared out of his mind? If they both wanted to be together, why was he finding it hard to breathe now? Shouldn't he be relieved?

He looked around the room. Oh. Maybe it was because they hadn't even kissed yet, and here her mind had gone and apparently set the Room's stage for a lot more to happen between them .... But this was his dream, wasn't it? Just because she said it wasn't a dream didn’t actually make it so. And that meant that this was really what he wanted. The real Hermione might not want any such thing ....

Crookshanks apparently could read his mind just as well as the Room could, giving him a nip on the ankle.

"Ow! You crazy cat, what the bloody hell do you think--" He stopped. That had really hurt. Then this ... wasn't a dream...?

"Crookshanks, what's gotten into you?!" Hermione chastised the feline. "Bad kitty! Sorry," she added, looking at Ron, who stared at her in wonder.

"So does this mean you really ..." How could he say it? What if she hadn't mean that at all? But can you really keep going like this? You have to know one way or another, no matter what might happen! He wet his lips and tried again. "You really love me?" he whispered.

She swallowed hard and nodded.

He smiled wide, laughing in relief. "Oh thank Merlin! I don’t know what I'd have done if you'd said no!"

She laughed then too. "So, to be clear on this, you do love me too, right?"

"Yes!" He put a hand over his heart. "I, Ronald Billius Weasley, love you, Hermione Jane Granger." He grew serious, though his eyes smiled with obvious affection. "I'm sorry it took me so long to say it." Now that he had, he wondered why he ever thought it would be hard to do.

"Me too," she admitted softly. "I mean, I've wanted to -- all summer. But it seemed like every time I would try--"

"--something would get in the way," he finished with a wry grin.

She nodded, grinning back. Neither noticed that they were slowly leaning closer together. "But I'd rather you show me than tell me, anyway," she said.

"So ... shall we pick up where we left off out in the hall?" he asked, blushing a little.

She only nodded, closing her eyes, lips parted slightly, as she slid her arms around his shoulders and drew him nearer.

Ron tilted his head slightly, closing his eyes as well, his hands slipping around her waist. He'd always been a little terrified of the idea of his first kiss -- especially given that he intended it to be with Hermione, and half-feared she'd already kissed the likes of Viktor Krum! But now, for once in his life, he didn’t feel any doubts. Pressing his lips against hers, skin brushing skin, teeth kneading flesh, and, ultimately, tongues dancing, hearts beating so that it seemed they shared one pulse between them -- it all seemed as natural an instinctual as breathing. Like they'd done it a thousand times already. And yet, even while it felt comfortable and familiar, it was immensely enjoyable, too. Like eating chocolate. He didn't want to stop anytime soon.

Crookshanks, though, had other ideas.

Rudolphus looked as green as the Slytherin wallpaper when Kreacher brought him, Rastaban, and Bellatrix into their old common room. Elfin Apparation wasn't all that different from the wizardly variety for all intents and purposes, but he felt even queasier than he normally did.

Well, maybe that was just the mission that had him feeling that way.

"So where to?" Rastaban asked, looking a bit green around the gills himself. The poor guy had just been woken up with barely an explanation of what they were doing.

Bella looked thoughtful for a moment. "The Head of Slytherin's rooms are nearby -- we might find something useful there."

"Might even find ol' Severus himself," Rudolph said with a grin that his lovely wife immediately mirrored. That sickly feeling started to fade in anticipation of the potential mayhem to follow.

"Do you really think they would have gone to Ye Olde Dungeonmaster's office?" George asked as the super-sized search-party made their way down to the lowest level of the school.

"As crazy as this day has been, you have to ask that?" Bill retorted. "We already know they went off with Snape -- and Malfoy! -- to find Faelyn. Why shouldn’t they go to his rooms, at this rate?"

"But why would Fae run there in the first place?" Fred pointed out. "Her room's in Ravenclaw Tower, isn't it?"

"Oh," George said in sudden understanding, Fred nodding a moment later. "It's the last place anyone would look," they said together.

"If they're even still here," Shacklebolt pointed out. "If Fae was running, isn't it more likely that they've left the grounds altogether by now?"

"Well, if that's the case, there's no way to know where to look next," Tonks replied. "But we haven't looked down there yet, so we may as well eliminate it as a possibility. Who knows -- they may have caught up with Fae and brought her there for questioning with Veritaserum."

Kingsley nodded thoughtfully. Sarah squeezed her girlfriend's hand encouragingly, proud to watch her Nym at work.

"I think maybe I'll wait outside, in the hall," Neville muttered nervously, half wishing he'd chosen to wait on another level altogether.

No one noticed that Viktor was missing -- and had been for some time.

"MRR-OOOW-OW!" Crookshanks yowled, drawing the kissing couple's reluctant attention.

For a long, glorious moment, Hermione had allowed herself to forget responsibility, and she wasn't the slightest bit sorry. In fact, as far as she was concerned, the moment wasn't over yet.

Unfortunately, Ron chose that moment to grow up.

"Come on," he said, resting his forehead against hers. "He's right, we gotta go." He made no effort to rise.

"They can wait," she insisted. "Ron, the Room arranged this for us -- why waste it?"

He gaped at her. ""M-Mione, I'm not ... I mean, we just admitted how we feel love -- don't you think doing anything more than kiss is rushing things just a tad?" he added, voice beginning to crack. Not that he didn't want to do more -- quite the opposite as far as a certain part of him was concerned. But he could think of quite a few reasons to refrain -- four of the best being their parents, who, knowing their luck, would probably walk in any moment now!

She rose to her feet, pacing. "Haven't we waited long enough? Ron, there might not be a tomorrow -- this might be the only chance we get!"

As if in emphasis, they heard the sudden strains of a pop ballad, and realised that the wireless -- the one Fae had supposedly broken -- was restored and playing for them. Crookshanks sat beside it, his tail swishing.

Despite every fiber of her being fighting against it, Hermione found the words pouring from her."Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by? We never get to stop and open our eyes!"

Ron smiled, shaking his head, thinking of their first kiss. "One minute you're waiting for the sky to fall; the next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all!" he told her, the golden aura of his Bardic power surrounding him.

For a moment, she could feel how he felt about her, how he'd been afraid of what was to come, until the moment he kissed her. She could almost believe that everything would be okay ...

Then a chorus of voices from the wireless called them, "Lovers in a dangerous time ..."

"That's what we are," Hermione insisted, looking from the radio to Ron. "Lovers in a dangerous time!"

"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight," he pointed out. "We just gotta kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight ...."

Then the music changed, becoming far less tense and oppressive.

Hermione felt more hopeful now, as she pleaded, "Can't we leave the world outside, just for a while? Rest for a while? Spend some time, you and I, beside this bright, glorious fire?" She came close to him, reaching out to cradle his cheek. "It's been so long since I first saw you, but I still love that smile in your eyes ...."

He smiled, nodding. "It's been so long since I first met you. And now we're in love -- you know how time flies .... But despite all we've been through in all that time, we're still here, aren't we? Here to be in love. 'Mione, you've got to have faith that we'll get through this, too! Would we even be having this conversation if You-Know-Who wasn't around? I mean, you'd want to ... well, wait with that, wouldn’t you?" He gestured to the bed with his head.

She bit her lip and nodded.

"We can't let the enemy force us into doing anything we wouldn’t normally, can't let fear run our lives! We have to have faith that there will be a future! What was it that McGonagall told us once? Something like 'Magic is 90 percent intent and only ten percent actual spellcasting'?"

Hermione nodded, shocked that Ron remembered that. "And 'A prayer is a kind of spell where simple hope and faith are the key ingredients to bringing about positive results,'" she recited.

"Exactly!" Ron said. "I can't even count how many times we've brushed with death, but we believed in each other and in Harry, and we lived to tell about it! Well, I for one still believe in Harry -- and everyone fighting with us! But most of all," he grabbed her arms for emphasis, "I believe in you, Hermione Jane Granger! Brightest witch of our age!"

"Me?" she squeaked, tears starting to fall.

He nodded. "You're brave, and smart -- and wicked with a wand! And I've never known anyone with a kinder soul. Pretty baby, it's true, right from the start, I believed in the church of your heart! Yes it's you that make me be part of and believe in the church of your heart ...."

His voice was soothing, his words compelling; she didn't doubt his faith in her for an instant. She felt his love wrap around her like a warm blanket. But there was a hard, cold lump of uncertainty chilling her within, a spot even his Bardic magic didn’t seem able to reach. "Ron, even I fail sometimes! You don't know that we'll survive this. In fact, the law of averages suggests we won't--"

"We can't know what the future brings," he sang to her. "But I know that this much is true: we'll make it through." His conviction seemed unshakable. Where had her self-conscious, doom-saying friend gone? "And when it's all over, I hope you are the one I'll share my life with. And I pray that you're the one I build my home with. I know I'll love you all my life," he promised.

Did he just ... propose? For a rare moment, Hermione was speechless.

"MmemNOW!" Crookshanks said.

"Oh, would you please shut it?" Ron pleaded to the cat, half in jest.

So intent on the cat were they, that they had failed to notice the door had opened.