Story: The Mirror of Erised
Author: Pitry
Rating: Mature (please see warnings)
Summary: The only way to be certain you can defeat ultimate evil is when you've already done it before. AU
Characters/Pairings: Hermione Granger/Ron Wealsey, Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Anthony Goldstein, Luna Lovegood, Parvati Patil, Padma Patil, Dean Thomas, various other Potterverse characters.
Warnings: violence, torture, character death
A/N - This fic is a sequel for my fic The Rewards of Perseverance. Like its predecessor, it's an alternate universe in which Voldemort won the Battle of Hogwarts. Some of the events of the Rewards of Perseverance are explained in this one, but others are only mentioned in passing. It should be possible to follow the plot without reading the first part, but I'm not sure how well...

This fic follows more than one alternate universe. I hope the marking of what happens where is clear and not merely confusing.

Second A/N - The main characters of this fic are Harry and Hermione. That is, the story mainly focuses on them and from their POV. Therefore, they are listed as the two main characters in FFN's system. Yes, FFN's system could use a overhaul. I doubt it's going to happen.

Part 1: I Show Not Your Face...

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Mirrorland

24th December, 2010, 11:55 p.m. X' removed to S'':

The corridors of the school were quiet. The classrooms and teachers' offices were dark and abandoned, locked for the Christmas holidays. Except for a precious few, almost all teachers preferred to stay away from the school during this time of the year. Of the few teachers who stayed, an even smaller number was on patrol duty, making sure that the equally small number of students who stayed in the school were not out of bed after hours, and that no danger from outside had made its way in.

These were dangerous times; the students all knew that. It would have stood to reason, then, that there would be no need for patrols - the students should have been careful and listened to their teachers' instructions. But the times had been dangerous since before most of the students were born. The oldest of them, perhaps, heard stories of how things were better back then, in the first years of their lives - but none of them were old enough to remember it.

No, all they knew, all their lives, was the danger outside, where He Who Must Not Be Named lurked. And the children, as children do, took it for granted. And so they still travelled the corridors at night, breaking school rules and - at times - being punished by the teachers.

On this night, however, only one person walked the corridors. He was not a student, nor was he a teacher. Had any of those seen him, they would have known he did not belong there. He had dark hair, that was starting to go grey around the edges. Underneath his glasses, he had green eyes, which surveyed the empty corridor nervously. His face was lined with years and worry and pain. On his forehead was a scar, shaped like a lightning bolt.

He paused as he walked past the Neville Longbottom memorial corner. When he leaned closer to the glass case that sheltered the display, it shattered underneath his fingers. He jumped back, then continued to walk through the corridors, downstairs, past the kitchens and into the dungeons. There, he could see a lone light, shining in one of the teachers' offices - the Potion Master's office, Professor Severus Snape's. But despite the light, the room was empty. The room's occupant had left it in a hurry, not bothering with locking the door or turning off the light.

The unexpected guest walked into the room. He looked around the room - at the jars, full of slimy and unidentified creatures; at the pile of spell books and potion guides; at the walls, full of pictures. There were pictures on the desk too, pictures that depicted people moving and laughing. The man walked closer, and took one picture in his hand. The people it showed were Severus Snape's family: his wife, Lily, her eyes green and bright and laughing at her surrounding, and their son, Harry, who looked so much like his father, with his long dark hair, crooked nose and dark eyes. But his smile was his mother's - happy and gentle. He was obviously thoroughly enjoying the joke he shared with his parents.

One of the jars behind the intruder exploded. He paid it no had eyes only for the photographs.

After the first photograph, he turned to the other ones. Those showed Professor Snape's friends, since childhood and well into adulthood. Most of his childhood pictures showed a handsome boy, with a somewhat haughty expression and lazy smile - Sirius Black. The oldest photographs showed them both, in their Slytherin colours, running around and laughing in the Hogwarts grounds. Other photographs from that time showed Severus with Lily - when she was still called Evans, he in his Slytherin green-and-silver, she in her Gryffindor red-and-gold; and often, the three of them together. As they grew somewhat older, another face often frequented these photographs - the slightly confused, surprised expression of Remus Lupin, who looked amazed to be included and loved, he too in Gryffindor red-and-gold.

All the photographs showed the signs of a happy childhood.

The last of those, the newest one by the age of the people in it, was at the centre of the desk. It showed Severus with Lily and their son, surrounded by their old friends - Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, and their new friends - there was Ginny Weasley and Fred and George Weasley and Mad-Eye Moody and Horace Slughorn and even Albus Dumbledore was there. It was a party, and everyone wore their best robes and looked so happy. The young man, Severus Snape's son, was holding a huge cake. The sign on the background read, Congratulations Sev & Lily, 25 years of marriage!.

The uninvited guest took the photograph in his hand. Behind him, another jar exploded, but he didn't even seem to notice. His eyes never left the photograph. In the silence, alone in the room, he sat down on the floor, leaned on the wall, and stared at the people in the photograph over and over again.

-X-

The green light hit Mad-Eye Moody straight in the chest. He fell to the ground with a resolute thump.

"No!" Ginny cried out. It couldn't be... not Moody...

For a moment, she forgot all about Dolohov. Only Moody mattered. He had been right in front of her, battling Crouch. She could see him all that time, see that Moody, who was no longer as young as he used to be, was having difficulties fighting the younger Death Eater. But she couldn't get to him... couldn't shake off Dolohov... and now Moody was gone, gone, and she -

Dolohov's burst of green light almost hit her too. She ducked at the very last second. She couldn't afford losing her concentration, couldn't afford focusing on Moody when she still had Dolohov in front of her. But it didn't make losing Moody any less of a shock. In her rage, she sent curse after curse at Dolohov. Nothing could bring back Moody, but perhaps she could stop Dolohov from inflicting even more damage.

So focused she was on Dolohov, that she did not notice that Crouch had recovered from the last curse that had hit him. He did not stand up, did not declare himself - instead, he creeped forward, right by the wall, and progressed towards her from the side.

The green jet of light would have hit her - should have hit her - had it not been for the person who jumped over her, moving her out of the way at the very last second. She only became aware of the danger she had been in when, a second later, the green light smashed into the next wall, breaking it into pieces.

She looked up to thank her unexpected saviour - and realised she didn't know her at all. It was a woman, somewhat older than Ginny, with long, bushy brown hair and a determined expression on her face.

"Who are you?" Ginny demanded, rather than thanking her.

"Never mind that now - stupify!" the woman sent a jet of light towards Crouch, who was hit square in the chest and toppled back again. She then turned to Dolohov, and hit him with another spell.

Around them, the members of the Order of the Phoenix were slowly gaining the upper hand. The Death Eaters, who realised they would not be able to execute their plan tonight, were Disapparating one by one. Soon, the only people left were the tired warriors, the strange woman - and Mad-Eye's body.

Remus was the first of the others to notice their fallen friend. "No!" he cried, rushed to the body that lay forgotten on the ground, and knelt beside it. "Alastor!" he called. "Alastor!"

The old Auror did not reply.

Ginny could only stand above him and stare. She knew he would not reply - she knew he couldn't - but she couldn't get the words out of her mouth.

"Alastor!" Remus cried again.

"He's dead, Remus," Sirius said hoarsely. "He's gone."

Remus sat down on the ground, shaken. Sirius looked for a moment as if he was going to go to him, when he noticed the stranger. "Who's this?" He asked, his voice still hoarse. In a second, he aimed his wand at her; another second, and every wand in the vicinity was pointed directly at the unknown woman.

Funny, Ginny thought. She didn't seem too worried about that.

Now that Ginny had the time to study her properly, she saw that the woman looked shaken herself. Not from the wands; she didn't even seem to register that so many wands were pointed at her. No, she was looking at them, from one to the other, her mouth slightly open, and all the while she was shaking her head slightly, almost imperceptibly.

"How is this possible?" the woman whispered.

"Who are you?" It was Remus who asked her now, Remus who took charge.

"But - Remus - " the woman started, and Remus was taken aback. She knew his name, and when she said it, her voice was full of affection. "Oh, this can't be good. This is bad. This is very, very bad."

"This will turn even worse for you, lady, if you don't tell us who you are," Sirius half-said, half-barked at her.

She turned her eyes from Remus, to Sirius - to Sev, Ginny noticed, and then her eyes locked on Lily. Only Ginny didn't earn as much as a second glance from her. Ginny, whose life the strange woman had saved.

"What year is this?" she asked all of a sudden.

"What - do you realise what danger you're in right now? You should be answering our questions!" Sirius did not take kindly to her question.

"I will, I will, but please, I have to know - what year is this?"

Next to Ginny, Remus and Sirius exchanged looks. Remus looked defeated, almost uncaring. If Sirius was hoping to get any sort of a sign from him, he was disappointed. Slowly, Sirius turned his glance to Sev, who shrugged slightly.

Sirius gave a theatrical sigh and nodded. "Fine. It was 2010, last I checked. Almost the end of it, actually. Now will you tell us who you are? Please?"

"2010... but that can't be!"

It was funny - she reminded Ginny a bit of a school girl, who had handed in a paper she had thought would guarantee a perfect Outstanding, and got Exceeds Expectations instead.

The rest of them, however, seemed to think this made her behaviour more suspicious, not less. "Incarcerous!" Lily shouted, and thick ropes wrapped around the woman. "We need to decide what to do with her," she said shortly.

The woman had lost her balance and fell to the ground, looking more surprised than anything. The woman might not have recognised how dangerous her situation was, but Ginny recognised the look on Sirius's face, together with the determination on Lily's and Remus's grief. She knew where this was going.

"Wait," she called, then crouched next to the woman. "You saved my life," she said.

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" said the woman angrily. She fussed around and tried to sit up, despite the ropes that bound her. With all the fussing around she had plenty of reasons not to look at Ginny, but Ginny had the vague impression she was avoiding looking at her on purpose.

"Well, you could have let me die," she said jokingly.

That did not get the reaction she expected. The woman didn't laugh, she didn't look shocked, she didn't protest. She just stole a glance at Ginny's face - at last - then turned her head away. Ginny thought she saw the hint of tears in her eyes.

Quickly, she grabbed the woman's wand, then stood up and turned to the others. "I say we get Dumbledore. He should soon be here for George, anyway - they'll probably be back, if not today, then tomorrow." She looked at the woman again. "Let's not make any rash decisions. Let's wait for Dumbledore to see her."

Remus nodded absently. Sirius looked grim and unhappy, but jerked his head once in consent. Lily said, "Very well." Sev, however, said nothing, just helped Ginny get the woman up and put her inside the house they had been protecting. They left the rest to bring Mad-Eye's body behind them.

-X-

Someone was knocking on the door. James jumped, startled.

They weren't expecting any visitors. Even on Christmas Eve, none of their friends would come without announcing themselves first, whether James's friends from the wizarding world, or Penny's Muggle ones. They all knew better, even if not all of them knew why.

Another knock was heard, just as violent as the first. Was today the day? Did the Death Eaters finally decide, tonight of all nights, to take care of what they surely thought of as a travesty?

He'd have to open the door - that was the only way to fend them off, and who knew, maybe it wasn't them after all.

"Penny," he whispered. Penny had already realised something was up - where earlier she was sitting in front of the television, laughing at the screen, she was now standing up, looking worried. She said nothing, but he knew she was listening to his every word. "Take Emily. Go to the cabinet. Stay there."

"Shouldn't we go through the kitchen?"

He shook his head. "They could have noticed the back door."

She nodded. He could see her shaking, and brought his hand to her face. "I'll come and fetch you in no time," he tried to smile, and couldn't help but think it must have looked more like a grimace.

"What if - if you're - " she bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence. Outside, the knocking continued.

"They won't do anything. I'm pure-blood. If I don't fight, they won't do anything." Technically lies, but not the kind of lies he wanted to explain to Penny - not now. If worse came to worse, he knew Albus Dumbledore would take care of his family. "Go."

Penny kissed him, grabbed Emily, and together they disappeared towards the cellars, where the cabinet was hidden, the best escape route - and the only one that was also available to Penny, James's Muggle wife.

Now reassured that they were safe downstairs, he walked towards the door and opened it defiantly, his wand pointed directly at the unknown visitor.

The first thing he did was breathe a sigh of relief. There was only one person at the door, and his face was completely visible. The Death Eaters did not come tonight.

The second thing he did was stare at the man in surprise. After the first wave of relief, he actually stopped to look at the face in front of him - and realised he knew him.

The third thing he did was Stun the man and drag him into the house.

He made sure to take the man's wand and bind him properly before he called Penny and Emily back from the cabinet. Then he went upstairs, and took a small bottle from a shelf. Inside was a transparent, odourless liquid - Veritaserum. He could have waited until the Polyjuice Potion wore off - or whatever it was the unexpected intruder had taken to hide his identity in such a horrible manner; eventually, inevitably, the man who was now bound in James Potter's small living room would reveal himself. But he didn't feel like waiting. Not when the man had chosen such a grotesque disguise. He wanted to see right now who could possibly think it was a good idea to impersonate his dead godson, to impersonate Ronald Weasley.

"James," Penny called from downstairs.

"Coming," he said. He closed his hand around the small bottle, and rushed down the stairs.

Penny was pale and bit her lips in visible nervousness. James was not surprised. The Weasleys had been their good friends almost since James had married Penny - what with Arthur's obsession about Muggles and all - and Ron in particular had always been around. They saw him grow up. They saw him become a man. And then - they saw him die.

James remembered that day as if it were yesterday. The battle in the Ministry, Ron fighting Bellatrix... and then her curse had hit him, at the exact same moment as his hit her.

"How can it be?" she whispered. "You said... death is permanent... and..."

He hugged her. "It's not Ron. It can't be - it's some sick trick. I don't know what they're trying to achieve, but I'm going to find out," he said and faced the man. He tipped three drops of the potion into his mouth, then reversed the spell to wake him up.

"Wha - " said the man. He even sounded like Ron Weasley. He moved his head, this way and that, until he focused on James. "You look familiar," he said.

"This isn't about me," James said roughly. "I'll be the one asking the questions. Who are you?"

"Ron Weasley," the man answered immediately. "You really look familiar, though."

James looked at the potion, making sure it's the same one he meant to fetch - yes, it was Veritaserum. It might take some time to take effect. Or, he knew, perhaps the man was immune to it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Hell if I know. We were in the Ministry, see. Where am I?"

James stared at him. It sounded like the Veritaserum was working. The man didn't sound capable of stopping himself. But everything he said was wrong.

"You're in Godric's Hollow. You couldn't have come here from the Ministry. I'll ask again - who are you?"

"Ron Weasley - that's why you look familiar. You look like Harry."

"Who's Harry?" James asked irritably.

The man closed his mouth all of a sudden, and looked around.

This was going nowhere. James raised his wand and sent a message to Albus Dumbledore. With this, he would need some advice. In the meanwhile, he sat down in front of his prisoner, and waited for whatever magic he had used to look like Ron Weasley to wear off.

December 25th, 2010, 02:05 a.m.

Remus was sitting in the kitchen of the Burrow, looking blankly at the decorated walls. He had no idea where everyone else was. He didn't much care. He felt too empty to care.

Someone sat next to him - Sirius, he could tell without looking. Sirius had a distinct smell, a kind of odour that was only and specifically his. Usually it was harder to tell, especially now when the moon had waned and could barely be seen in the night sky, but with Sirius, Remus always knew.

"George seems better," Sirius said. He didn't sound very happy, even though he was bearing good news. Remus nodded.

"Molly reckons we'd have to move him tonight - move the entire family, more like it. They're bound to try again."

"Of course they are. If he really saw what we think he saw..."

"I'll tell Dumbledore when he gets here. It was irresponsible of him to let George back in the Burrow."

"He's Molly's son. She wanted him at home."

"Hogwarts is more secure."

Remus sighed. They had the same discussion - or was it an argument? - five times in the past three days. Yes, Hogwarts was more secure. Yes, if George really did get the information they thought he did - and the continuing attacks by Death Eaters had suggested as much - they would need to hear it as soon as he woke up. Yes, they were all worried about George, and more than that, they couldn't put any more of the Weasley family in danger. But George had been unresponsive for almost a week, ever since Lucius Malfoy's curse got him, and Molly wanted to be next to her son. Remus couldn't blame her.

"Any more information about that woman?"

Now it was Sirius's turn to sigh. "Nothing. She stopped cooperating at all, won't even tell us her name. Only thing she does say is 'This is bad'." He made an ugly sound. "If she keeps on being uncooperative, things will certainly turn bad for her."

"Sirius," Remus said, half in exasperation, half in warning. "Let Dumbledore deal with it."

"Fine, fine." Remus didn't need to be in his wolf form to feel Sirius's resentment tonight.

They sat there in silence for a while, waiting - even though they weren't sure what they were waiting for. Every once in a while, Remus opened his mouth - he wanted to say some of the things on his mind, the words about Alastor, but none of them came out. Other times, Sirius looked as if he was about to speak, then thought better of it. Remus couldn't help but wonder whether Sirius wanted, like him, to speak of Alastor, or perhaps he had something completely different in mind.

When Sirius did speak, it wasn't to mention Alastor - at least, not by name. "Where is Dumbledore?" he asked after a while. "He was supposed to be here hours ago. This wouldn't have happened had he been here, like he said he would!"

Remus didn't answer. It was hard enough, dealing with the knowledge of Alastor's death, without looking for the blame, without putting it on Dumbledore.

After five more minutes of silence - or was it fifteen? - Remus had enough. Sitting there and waiting was driving him mad. Absently, he reached for the plate of pies Molly had prepared for dinner, the pies they never had the time to eat because of the Death Eater attack. They were delicious, of course. Molly's cooking always was.

"Maybe we should offer them to everyone," Sirius said.

He didn't take any of the pies himself - Remus had known his old friend well enough to know he couldn't even think of eating at the moment. But he was right - handing out pies will give them something to do.

Everyone greeted the sight of the pies enthusiastically - in a night like this, there was nothing like Molly's cooking to cheer up the crowd.

Once he finished with his friends, Remus turned to look at their prisoner. At first, he thought she looked defiant, upset, or just angry - angry at the world, which, as she had continued telling them, made no sense. Now, he rather thought she looked mostly tired, tired and confused, and perhaps a little bit scared.

He walked to her, carrying the plate. She couldn't take anything, of course, as she was still bound by Lily's spell. Remus looked across the room - with so many wizards and witches around, and her wand in Lily's possession, it was quite impossible she would be able to escape. He waved his wand, and the ropes were gone. "I hope this is better."

"Yes," she said, and then, as an afterthought, added, "thank you."

"Please don't try to escape," he said pleasantly. "I'm afraid we can't allow that."

She snorted. "Don't worry," she said.

"Would you like some water?" he asked her. "Or something to eat?"

She looked at him in surprise, then smiled. "No, thanks," she said. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Molly's pies are world famous."

She laughed. "Yeah, I reme - " she stopped in the middle of the word. Her laughter was wiped from her face, replaced with a stoney expression. "No," she said stiffly. "Thank you."

He raised an eyebrow. "I haven't poisoned that pie, you know," he said. He meant it as dry sarcasm, to admonish her for her stiff reply and cold demeanour, when he had done his best - under the circumstances - to help her. Instead, she reacted in a completely nonsensical manner: she started to laugh, a real and hearty laughter, full of mirth. In no time at all, she had tears in her eyes, and everyone was staring at her - Remus included.

Once she had calmed down, she nodded - still biting down a smile - hesitated for a moment, then took a pie. Her attempt to eat in a dignified manner lasted all of the first bite. After that, she devoured the rest of the pie before anyone else had even finished half of their own.

"Thank you," she mumbled. When he offered her a second helping, she took it without further comment. He sat down on the chair next to her, and watched her eat in silence.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he said once she had finished her second pie.

"I know," she said. She didn't offer anything else.

"Okay, let's try this again. Hello, I'm Remus Lupin. What's your name?"

Next to them, Sirius and Ginny had stopped talking. They were not looking at either of them, but Remus knew them well enough to know they were listening their hardest.

"I'm not sure it would be a good idea to tell you - oh, alright," she said in an irritated tone. Remus had done nothing but raise an eyebrow, of course, but it seemed his message was clear. "I'm Hermione Granger."

Something about the name rang a bell in Remus's mind. He shot a glance at Sirius and Ginny - none of them seemed to have recognised the name, they did not react in suspicion or surprise - or anything, really. But Remus was sure he had heard it before.

"Alright, Hermione Granger. How did you end up here at the Burrow?"

It took her longer to answer that question. "I don't know," she finally said.

Remus sighed. "Look, Ms Granger, surely you can understand that showing up out of the blue, especially when we're under attack by Death Eaters, is going to be a problem for us."

She looked at the carpet. "Problem," she whispered with a small laugh. "You don't know just how big the problem is." A moment later, and she seemed to have picked herself up from whatever thought that had occupied her mind. Now she was calm and composed again. "I'm sorry, Remus. I would have liked very much to give you answers. I just don't know. One moment I was at the Ministry with two of my friends, the next - I was here. And a Death Eater was about to curse Ginny and I couldn't let him do that."

"Why?" Unable to stop herself, Ginny now joined the conversation. "We've never met. Why would you care about a Death Eater cursing me?"

"But I - " Once again, Hermione wanted to say something, then caught herself. "I wouldn't want to see anyone cursed by Death Eaters," she said carefully. Remus was sure that was not what she had originally intended to say.

"Or maybe you're a Death Eater and you're trying to gain our trust to get to George," Ginny said darkly.

"Why would I - what's happened to George?"

Ginny snorted in disgust. Remus, however, thought it couldn't hurt to tell her. If she were a Death Eater, she already knew; if she weren't, they still didn't have to be wary of her telling the Death Eaters - because they already knew.

"He came by some important information," he said finally. "The Death Eaters cursed him. They attacked the Burrow three times already, trying to get to him."

"How is he?" she asked. And now Remus was sure - she was no Death Eater. There was real concern in her voice, real care for George. Why would she care about this man she had never met, he didn't know, but he couldn't imagine a Death Eater thinking that way.

"He's slowly getting better - that's why they're getting more and more desperate, we assume. Hopefully, he'll fully recover in the next few days." Remus looked at the fire for a while. "We'll stay here and defend him with our lives. Not because of the information - although, hopefully, it will help us turn the tide of the war."

"He's your friend," Granger said softly.

Remus nodded. "More than that - Molly doesn't need any more children killed. After Ron - "

He never finished the sentence. Granger gasped in horror and slumped on her chair, white as a sheet.

He looked at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Ron?" she whispered. "But... it can't be... he was... Ron's alive!"

Perhaps that was where he knew her name from? Perhaps Ron had mentioned her once? Perhaps she was his friend? He shook his head in sadness, the memory of that terrible day at the Ministry still fresh in his mind, even though it had been two whole years already. "I'm sorry," he said. "Ron's dead."

"No," she curled on her chair, crying in earnest now. "He can't be... after everything, after all this time... he can't be..."

Even Ginny's expression softened now, when she saw the way the strange, unknown woman mourned in earnest for her brother.

"I'm sorry," Remus said again. He reached to comfort her, but she recoiled from him, drawing into herself. He knelt in front of her chair, looking for some word of comfort to give this clearly distraught woman - over the news he so unwittingly gave her - but she turned her face away. After a moment she buried her head in her knees.

Remus looked helplessly at Ginny and Sirius. Ginny looked touched; Sirius shrugged. After all that time, Remus knew, Sirius had stopped believing in sentimentality over lost friends. Ron, Alastor... it didn't matter. Sirius simply accepted it and moved on. Remus wondered whether that would be his reaction if Remus died, too - a grim face and a shrug.

He shook the thought from his head, and turned back to Granger. "Hermione?" he tried again.

Someone coughed behind them. Remus jumped and turned around - it was Arthur.

"I just talked to Dumbledore," he said. "Something's detaining him, he didn't say what. He said we should take George ourselves to Hogwarts, and he will meet us there."

"Why can't he come here?" Ginny demanded.

"I don't know, Ginny," Arthur said testily, "but I'm sure it's important. Our biggest problem now is how to get George to Hogwarts."

"We can't Apparate to the castle," Remus agreed.

"We'll just have to Apparate to the gates," Sirius said, but Arthur shook his head.

"No, Sirius, I thought about it. It's too far from the castle, and who knows what we'll encounter on the way - and I'd rather not move George around more than necessary."

"How about the Floo?" Lily asked, and again, Arthur shook his head.

"It would take days to connect the Hogwarts grates. By then - "

"By then the Death Eaters could attack a dozen more times, yes," Lily finished the sentence grimly.

To Remus's surprise, the strange woman on the chair made an impatient noise. "You have a suggestion?" Remus asked.

"Portkey."

"You can't make unauthorised Portkeys," Remus pointed out.

"No - you're not allowed to make unauthorised Portkeys. Not the same thing at all."

"The Ministry - "

"The Ministry weren't here to protect George in the first place," she cut across him. "You're allowed to do magic that's otherwise prohibited in life-and-death situations, that's always been the case. And even if the Death Eaters at the Ministry think - " the rest of her sentence was swallowed by a shower of protests and horrified exclamations.

"Death Eaters - in the Ministry?"

"Death Eaters?"

"The Death Eaters got to the Ministry?"

"What on earth are you talking about!"

She looked at them in confusion. "I - what?" she asked. The protests started again.

"You said the Death Eaters were in the Ministry!"

"I know that the Ministry haven't been the most helpful to our cause lately, but really! That's no reason to call them Death Eaters."

"But - Malfoy - "

"Oh, Malfoy," Sirius snorted. "Yes, he's a big man with the Minister. He hasn't taken over the Ministry, though, even the Minister isn't that stupid."

Now she got up, flushed and shocked. "What are you talking about?" she demanded from Sirius, then looked at the lot of them. "What is going on here?"

"Whatever it is, we can work it out later," said Arthur, ever the voice of reason. "Ms Granger does have the right idea, I think. Portkeys might be illegal, but they would work, and we can always point out to the attack. The only question is how to bypass Dumbledore's defences - surely he would not allow a Portkey through? I'll go and send him a message."

Hermione collapsed back to her chair. Ginny leaned towards Remus and whispered, "Are we sure everything's alright with her?"

"Like Arthur said," Remus answered, "we can sort this out later."

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. Remus didn't want to say anything - he was no longer sure what would trigger another outburst from their prisoner-turned-guest, or what would be the next subject of one of her preposterous comments. Remaining silent seemed... safer.

The rest felt the same way. Sirius communicated with him mainly by incredulous looks; Lily and Sev were whispering in the corner. Ginny just stared at the woman, mainly in curiosity. In the silence, Remus's mind turned back to Alastor. He buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes. Another great man lost, another landmark to their inevitable defeat.

Sirius must have felt what was on his mind - he felt his hand on his shoulder and raised his eyes. "You know what Mad-Eye would have said," he said with a smile.

"What am I doing feeling sorry for myself when there's a suspect person in the house," Remus whispered.

"Constant vigilance!" Sirius said in a surprisingly loud voice, and they both laughed, Remus without real mirth, Sirius with a laughter that sounded a bit like a bark.

Ginny pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey. "He wouldn't want us sitting here in silence," she said. Remus nodded and handed out glasses, and they all drank in Alastor's memory. Sirius's words, when he raised his glass, were - once again - 'constant vigilance'. This time he got smiles from everyone around, including - Remus had noticed from the corner of his eye - Hermione Granger, who did not get a glass.

He downed his firewhiskey in one go, letting the drink burn its way down his throat and warm him up. Constant vigilance, indeed. What would Alastor think about them trusting a strange woman who insisted she knew them?

"I just heard from Dumbledore. We've created the Portkey. Time to go." Arthur was speaking from the doorway, but everyone was on their feet in an instant. Remus made sure to hold Granger's arm - her presence there could still be the result of an elaborate plot. He was more and more certain it wasn't; she was too genuine to be a fake. But still, he thought... constant vigilance.

They didn't go to the kitchen; instead, they found themselves going up to George's room. George, as Arthur had said, was too ill to be moved. It was safer that way.

He was lying on the bed, pale and unmoving, still unconscious. He looked almost dead. Molly was sitting at his side, holding a cold towel to wipe his face. Once again, he heard a small gasp from their unknown guest, but this was not the time to ask her for the meaning of her strange behaviour.

"Molly," Arthur said quietly. She turned to them, a worried expression on her face, but nodded. "The Portkey will take us directly to the Hogwarts hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey has already been informed of our arrival."

The Porkey was an old bottle of Skele-Gro. The all held on to it, and then Arthur tapped his wand. They left the Burrow in a familiar swirl.

The Portkey brought them, as promised, to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was upon them as soon as they arrived. With a flick of her wand, she guided George to a nearby bed, and started looking for various potions to use on him, despite Arthur insisting that Dumbledore had already examined George and that everything that could be done had been done.

"I think we better leave the Weasleys here," Sirius muttered. Remus chuckled - Sirius hated hospitals, and Remus had the impression he was somewhat afraid of Madam Pomfrey. Well, he wouldn't put it past her to put terror in the bravest of souls - she was a terrifying woman.

"Come on, then," he suggested. "We can check if Albus has returned to his office by now - and wait for him if he hasn't."

"We'll come with you," Lily said, and Sev nodded.

"I just need to pick up something from my office first, something I need to give Dumbledore."

"Very well - we all know the dungeons are right on the way," Remus said, and earned himself an appreciative laughter from the rest.

He nudged Granger. She didn't seem to even register them now, but was staring at Madam Pomfrey and the hospital wing in amazement. "What?" she said, then realised they were all waiting for her. "Oh. Right. Sorry. It's just that... it looks exactly like I remember it."

"You were a student here, at Hogwarts?" Lily asked, and all of a sudden, it came back to Remus - Hallowe'en, so many years ago, and a small first-year girl, trapped in a bathroom... now he knew where he knew the name Hermione Granger from.

On Sev's face he saw a similar look of shock - Severus, too, had remembered the name at last. They should have realised it before - Hermione Granger was the first girl to have died at Hogwarts for fifty years. A snap decision was made when the two old friends caught each other's eye for a moment - they will let Dumbledore handle this. It was now obvious that the woman had lied to them about her identity - and, perhaps, about everything else as well. She looked genuine, but she could very well be a Death Eater, Remus thought grimly and tightened his grip on her arm, aiming his wand at her quietly. Next to him, Sev made sure his wand was covering her as well. Her wand was still in Lily's hands, but they were not going to give her the chance to escape or to get another's wand. As for how they will learn the truth about her aims and identity - they would leave that to Albus.

"Go on," he said, more roughly than he had done until now. She must have noticed the change in his voice, as she gave him a surprised look. She said nothing, though, just kept on walking.

She knew her way around Hogwarts, that was for sure. She didn't need to follow Sirius in order to find the way to the dungeons. Remus considered telling Sev to meet them later; giving her more time to stroll around the castle could not be a good idea. But then, he did not want to alert her that they had realised she was lying to them, and Sev was the only other person who knew to keep alert. Better this five minute complication, Remus thought as they walked down the stairs.

As it turned out - he was wrong.

The first clue was the small memorial corner for Neville Longbottom. They passed it without a second thought, but on hindsight, Remus should have noticed the big crack on the display glass.

Then they had reached Sev's office.

Or rather, Remus thought grimly at Severus's horrified yell, what was left of his office. Shards of glass from his many jars and rare potion bottles covered the floor of the office and the corridor leading to it. By the time they reached the door, their shoes were all but covered in the various slimy things that were once held by those jars.

His personal belongings suffered a similar fate: some of the parchments were burning, his neatly-stacked books had pages missing, and his many photographs were thrown all around the room.

At the centre of the mess sat a man. The glass did not spare him - the exposed parts of his body had many scratches on them, and some of his robes were bloodied. With or without blood, he was covered in shattered glass. And yet, he did not act bothered by it all. He was sitting on the floor of Sev's office, leaning on the wall, photographs spread all around him. He was holding firmly on to one of the photographs, so strongly that he had injured his finger on the broken glass frame. Droplets of blood were collecting at the corner of the frame. It didn't even look like he noticed.

"Harry," the woman - Granger, for lack of a name - breathed next to him. Remus turned sharply.

"You know him?" he asked.

"He's - he's one of my friends."

"Get - him - out - of - my - office!" Sev said, trying hard not to start shouting. Granger gave him an alarmed look.

"He didn't mean to do all this," she said.

"I don't care! Get him out or I'll do it myself!"

She bit her lip. To Remus's surprise, she didn't walk into the office, but stood at the doorway. "Harry?" she asked tentatively.

"We're at Hogwarts," the man answered. He didn't raise his head from the photograph.

"I know," she said.

"It looks just like I remember it."

"It's not exactly the same," she said, "but yeah, it does look like it did. Harry, I need you to - "

"This is Snape's office, Hermione," he said, as if he didn't hear her talking.

"I know," she sounded miserable.

Finally, the man lifted his eyes from the photograph. Remus was taken aback. Behind him, he could hear Sirius swear.

He had never seen the man before, but that didn't stop him from looking so very familiar. In fact, he looked almost exactly like James Potter. Almost exactly, because the messy hair - much like Potter's - had much more grey in it, the lines in his face so much more pronounced. And there were other differences, too: James Potter's eyes were hazel, but this man's were bright green. Remus wasn't quite sure why he had noticed the eyes so readily. Perhaps, he thought, because that had been the main difference between this man and Potter - the main difference, that is, other than the fact he looked older. Yes, he thought, that must be it, even though something nudged him that it wasn't all there was to it.

"I don't understand, Hermione," the man - Harry - said simply.

"I don't either. Dumbledore's here too... they're taking us to see him. If anyone can explain, it's Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore..." Harry repeated the name, and above him, one of the last picture frames exploded without warning, showering them all with glass.

Hermione didn't try to escape the glass. She stood her ground at the doorframe, not getting any closer, but not moving away, either. The rest of them swore and jumped back. Now Remus was starting to understand what had happened in that office - the man, who was in obvious emotional turmoil, was unable to control his magic. Even eleven-year-old children controlled their magic better than that.

"Please, Harry... we need to go to his office."

Harry nodded. He got up, still clutching the photograph in his hand. Remus could see now what it was - a picture of the Snapes, taken at a picnic a few years ago. Sev and Lily and Harry, so happy together. Funny coincidence, he thought, that this man was called Harry, too.

This Harry finally put the photograph down and left the office, shedding small pieces of glass all around him. He stopped at the doorway - Granger, for some reason, took a step back, not forward - and stared at all of them, one after another, in obvious shock.

"Hermione..." his voice shook.

"I don't know, Harry. I really don't know. But Dumbledore is here," she repeated. "Dumbledore will know."

Harry took a shaking hand and wiped his face. Remus noticed for a moment a scar on his forehead, but the messy black-and-grey hair covered it again almost immediately. He took a step forward, towards Hermione.

Sev took the opportunity to run into his office, and started swearing.

"Calm down," Lily said. "We'll worry about that letter. Get what you wanted, and let's go see Dumbledore." The sooner we dropped these two on him, the better. She didn't say it, but she didn't have to say it.

"I can't find it in all this mess! Maybe he smashed it too, that idiot man..."

"Leave it be, Sev," Sirius said.

Harry looked from Sirius to Sev, to Sirius again.

"I know, Harry, I know," Hermione said again. Remus really wanted to ask her what it was she knew. "Please," she said. "Dumbledore."

"Okay."

"We'll need his wand," Remus said shortly.

"Remus, do we really need to - "

"Yes," he cut off Granger before she finished her sentence. "We still don't know who the hell you people are. His wand."

Harry just stared at the two of them. "Remus, it's me!" he said, clutching his wand.

Three wands now were aimed at him - Sirius, Sev and Lily all covered him with their wands. Remus was keeping his firmly on Granger, in case she tried anything.

"They don't know us, Harry."

Harry then did something curious - he looked, not at Remus or Granger, but at Sev and Lily. All of a sudden, looking from one to the other, Remus had quite the odd idea that his eyes, behind the glasses, looked exactly like hers.

"Yeah, I guess they don't," he said, and handed his wand to Remus.

"Let's go," Remus said.

Hermione walked forward, falling into step next to her friend. She didn't hold his hand, or try to encourage him in any way. They just walked silently, keeping a small but noticeable distance between one another.

Finally, they reached the entrance to the Headmaster's office. It was obvious this man, Harry, knew his way around the castle just as well as Granger did. He stopped right in front of the gargoyle, and waited patiently for one of them to speak the password. "Cockroach cluster," Sev murmured, and the gargoyle came to life. The small group climbed in, and the steps rose slowly.

Dumbledore was already in his office. He answered with a strained "Enter" when Sev knocked. Once again, Remus pointed to the two prisoners to walk in first, and followed them close behind.

Dumbledore was not alone in his office. He sat at his table, a curious look on his face. In front of him sat two men. The first, none other than James Potter himself. Seeing the man there gave Remus a split second to appreciate just how similar Granger's friend had been to him - definitely a relative.

Only a split second was given to James Potter, though, because next to him, he had already recognised the tall, wiry man with flaming red hair whom he had last seen two years ago, falling, falling...

"Ron!"

He wasn't sure who it was who said the word so loudly. Perhaps he, perhaps Sirius, next to him, or Lily and Sev. Perhaps it was all four of them together. But any thought of Potters and Grangers left his mind in an instant, with this apparition of a dead friend, sitting casually in front of Dumbledore.

"Please, sit down, everyone," Dumbledore said pleasantly but firmly.

"Ron..." Sirius said again, and now Remus's mind was thrown back to Granger - the girl who died 19 years ago.

"Albus - how could it be Ron?"

"I promise you, Remus," Albus said quietly. "I have checked the man in evry method possible. I am not sure how - but it is Ron Weasley. There is no doubt about it. Please sit down," he repeated, but now it was hopeless, because of their prisoners - or guests - or whatever they were.

Granger gave a small, strangle cry. Ron turned and caught her eye, looking relieved. She ran to him and he caught her and swirled around with her, raising her feet from the ground. She kissed him with passion and need and relief.

"Ron - God, Ron, they said... I thought... they said you were dead and I thought I'd never see you again, and - oh, Ron!" Ron kissed her forehead, and drew her even closer to him.

"I'm here, Hermione, I'm here, it's alright..."

Dumbledore smiled indulgently. Remus wanted to say something, but Dumbledore caught his eye and shook his head. Give them a moment, Remus understood from his gesture. Instead of talking, he went back and sat next to Sirius.

A moment later, and Dumbledore must have thought they had enough time, because he said, gently still but firmly, "Please sit down."

Hermione and Ron broke their embrace, then sat down in front of Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid we find ourselves in quite an... unusual situation," Dumbledore opened. "I will have to ask you some questions."

Hermione nodded.

"What is your name?"

"Hermione Granger."

Dumbledore, it seemed, remembered the name much better than either Remus or Sev. "Hermione Jean Granger?"

"Yes," she said.

"Born 19th of September, 1979?"

She nodded.

"Parents William and Mary Granger, both Muggle dentists?"

"Yes."

"Died 31st of October, 1991," that was not a question. Hermione stared at him in confusion.

"Hallowe'en?" she asked in a whisper.

"The troll," Ron said next to her.

"Quite," Dumbledore agreed. "You see, that year, we had... a professor whose loyalties were not solely to the school."

"You mean he had Voldemort under his turban," Ron said savagely.

"Yes. Quite." Dumbledore didn't seem much surprised that Ron had said Voldemort's name, although Remus couldn't remember him ever speaking the name out loud. "I had been foolish, and did not appraise just how urgent the situation had been," Dumbledore sighed. "On Hallowe'en, Professor Quirrell had let a troll into the school, hoping to create a diversion. The troll proceeded into the girls' lavatories. I must ask - please indulge an old man, Ms Granger, but what were you doing in that bathroom that night? I clearly remember giving the students clear instructions to proceed to their dormitories, and while my memories of Ms Granger are vague, I remember she was very... uptight about following school rules."

Both Hermione and Ron burst into laughter at that last sentence. "Uptight," Ron repeated. "I like that. Describes you well, Hermione."

"Oh, shut up," she said and beat him playfully on his arm. After a moment's smile, she returned to Dumbledore. "I wasn't at the feast that evening," she said. "I, uh - well, if you must know, Ron here was being a prat and insulted me earlier that day."

Ron now laughed again. "Yeah, I was a bit of a prat, wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were," she said, laughing as well. "I went to cry in the toilet... and I never heard that there was a troll in the school."

"I see," Dumbledore said gravely. "Thank you. That was one riddle that had bothered me ever since. But, you see, what happened afterwards has bothered me much more. The troll proceeded into the girls' lavatory, and killed a student," he now looked directly at Hermione, "a promising, talented young witch named Hermione Granger."

"But that didn't happen like that!" she said angrily. "Ron and Harry remembered I wasn't around and came looking for me and defeated the troll!"

"Harry?" Dumbledore asked, puzzled.

Remus had forgotten for a moment the strange man who had trashed Severus's office; he did not sit down with the rest of them. Remus now looked around and located the man, still standing, looking at them from the doorway. Dumbledore had noticed him at the same time, and was now studying him in an interested expression. Harry was looking straight back at Dumbledore without blinking.

Odd, Remus thought - if he understood Granger's words correctly, he was the same age as Ron and her; but he looked much older, almost the same age as Remus or James Potter.

"Oh, yeah, I got his wand here, too," Lily said and waved the man's wand around.

"Watch it, you'll poke someone eye's out," Remus said in a joke - but no one seemed to think it was funny, and least of all Albus.

Albus had acted in a manner so unlike himself, that Remus was left shaken. He jumped on his feet, staring at the wand. He then rushed towards Lily and took the wand from her in such force, that he almost yanked it out of her hand. Lily was about to say something, but changed her mind. Albus in such a mood was a terrible sight to behold, much scarier than any Death Eater. And all because of a wand?

He then rounded on Harry. There was no indulgent smile on his lips, no kind questioning this time. The man was being interrogated, with no kindness and no pretence, but with an urgency that Albus had not shown before.

"Name."

"Harry James Potter."

"Your parents."

"James and Lily Potter."

Remus stared at James Potter in surprise - and saw an equally incredulous look. If this man was James Potter's son, that was news to Potter. And who was Lily -

"Your mother's maiden name."

"Evans."

Sev now rose to his feet, Lily after him. Remus and Sirius did the same. What was going on here?

"Dumbledore," Lily started, but Albus raised an arm to silence her.

"Day of birth."

"31st July, 1980."

Now Albus took a step back, studying the man in shock, and then - what was going on? Albus stretched the wand forward, moving the hair on the man's forehead, to reveal a scar. The man seemed to shiver - or perhaps, shake - but remained in his place, breathing faster and faster. He was clearly upset - and just as in Sev's office, one of Albus's glass instruments shattered with a bang. Albus didn't even seem to register it.

Finally, he lowered the wand. Potter was still shaking, but no more glass instruments exploded, which Remus assumed was a good sign.

"Dumbledore! What the hell is going on?" Lily demanded, but Albus only looked at Potter.

"How did you come by this wand?" he asked.

"It's mine. I won the wand's allegiance."

"From whom?"

"Draco Malfoy."

Dumbledore looked back and forth, from Potter to the wand to Potter again. "Malfoy?" he repeated. "How did he ever get the wand?"

"That's quite enough, Headmaster" a new, sharp voice was heard - Granger's. To her friends she turned with a much softer voice. "I don't think we should give any more information, not until we figure out where we stand with them. They may still think we're Death Eaters."

"Agreed," said Ron. Potter nodded too, not removing his eyes from Dumbledore.

Dumbledore, however, didn't seem to care about the understanding between the three. "What's wrong with you?" he asked Potter bluntly.

Potter froze again. "How d'you mean?" he asked.

"Have you ever been a student at Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Potter answered slowly, suspiciously. "Six years."

Dumbledore didn't answer at first, but simply gestured at the shattered instruments. Only once he had been satisfied that his point was made did he say the words on his mind: "At Hogwarts, or, at least, the Hogwarts that I know, we teach our students to control their magic."

Potter opened his mouth. Then closed it again. Then opened it. When he next closed it, Granger spoke. "That would be because Harry had been Voldemort's prisoner for ten years," she said in a mournful voice. Remus's mouth opened in shock - ten years, at the mercy of Voldemort? No wonder...

But Granger didn't seem to want to discuss this at the moment. "That's one of the things we'll talk about in good time, Headmaster," she said, slightly more hostile than before. But Potter seemed to want to say something too, for he opened his mouth a third time.

"Professor," he started, but Granger shook her head.

"Later, Harry," she said.

So it was at that exact moment, of course, that someone else burst into the room.

"Regulus!" Sirius called in surprise - and everyone's attention turned to the man who had entered - Sirius's brother, Regulus.

He didn't even pay them a glance. He just rushed to Dumbledore, panting, and started talking fast. "I don't understand how it's possible - Dumbledore - he has him - I don't know how - what should we do - we can't let him - I saw him! In my own eyes, I saw him - Dumbledore!"

"Regulus," Sirius said again, rushing to his brother's side. "What's going on? Calm down. Who did you see? What's happened?"

"He has him! The Dark Lord has him! He's alive and at the Dark Lord's mercy! Neville Longbottom is alive!"