Chapter 13: On the Brink

Well, well, never thought you'd see an update on this fic again, eh? Well, here it is, hope you enjoy it.

Lots of people helped me get back from my writer's block during the course of the past year, sadly I don't remember them all, but their help was greatly appreciated. This chapter is for all of you, but especially my pals who let me and Izzy stay with them last year during the summer of cons, Lady_Karelia, SouthernWitch69 and Geminiscorp and my lovely Betas, lux_astraea and luvsev.

Now, on with the show. :)

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Chapter 13: On the Brink

After it had been banged shut, an ear was pressed to the door in an effort to hear. To hear what was not clear, just that it was immensely important. The effort was superfluous however.

That pain, those electric shocks pulsing through the body made it impossible to hear anything except the rushing of blood through veins and arteries. It also caused the body sliding down the wood of the door very slowly till it was lying awkwardly half against the door, half on the floor.

It didn't matter at all. The eyes were now not closed from the pain, but from lack of awareness. It was lost in a sea of dreams, illusions and hallucinations.

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"She seemed very upset about something."

That was the first thing Severus Snape heard when he stepped out of the Floo in the kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, a mere fifteen minutes later.

Amid the aghast looks from half a dozen Order members he dusted himself down nonchalantly.

"What are you doing here, Snape?"

"Why, Hestia, I believe this is still Order Headquarters, is it not?"

"Why, yes, but..."

"Severus, it's Harry's birthday and his party is going on in the parlour," Remus added, looking at him strangely. Remus moved toward Snape, his head brushing past the low-hanging banner hanging from the middle of the kitchen ceiling. That and the remainder of the birthday cake on the kitchen table were unnecessary clues as to what was going on in the adjoining parlour.

"Should that interest me? As you've surmised I'm hardly here to congratulate the boy," Snape said with an arrogantly raised brow.

"Is your business very urgent, Severus?" Lupin asked.

"I'm here, that should be sufficient to answer your question, Lu..."

"It's just... we're looking for Hermione," Remus interrupted him mid-rant, obviously concerned.

Snape's hesitation was miniscule but visible enough for Remus to notice. He had, after all, known him the longest.

"So look for her. I don't care what Potter or any of his little friends get up to outside of school. Perhaps I am wrong, but one should think a wagon-load of Order members at Headquarters would be enough to keep even those three out of mischief."

"I just wondered if you could help us. After all, you seem to know the house much better than even good old Sirius did," Remus continued as if Snape hadn't interrupted, the hard glint in his eyes only emphasising the implication that was made.

Snape surveyed the room in a split-second, then drew his wand unobtrusively and merely uttered a low "Confundus".

All at once every occupant save Snape, Remus and Kingsley, left the kitchen totally convinced they had important business elsewhere. Most headed through the kitchen door into the parlour where the birthday party took place, noises of everyone in the parlour having lots of fun echoed into the kitchen before the door shut close behind Hestia.

Once they were alone, Kingsley exclaimed, "Snape! How could you?"

"You saw me do it, didn't you, Kingsley?"

Remus' lips curved upward a little. "I think he meant the wards, Severus."

"The wards only give alarm if an Order member is harmed, Kingsley, not if an Order member is hit by a spell. One of the many improvements of Order Headquarters I have relayed to the Headmaster," Snape finished his correction of Kingsley's assumption and turned to Remus. "Now, what is this business with Granger?"

"She was out of sorts all day, and then at the party she wore the strangest..." Remus stopped himself when he saw both of their expressions. They confirmed pretty much that brevity was the best approach in information relay at the moment. "Well, ah, anyway, earlier she ran through the house like a madwoman and then simply vanished. That was about twenty minutes ago and we've been unable to find her since."

Snape didn't reveal through any change in expression that this information interested him. It was more the lack thereof - that his expression was frozen - that alerted the two men that the situation was even more grave than they had realised. That, and the fact that Snape seemed to contemplate the situation at all.

"Severus?"

"Kingsley, you will find Nymphadora and Molly. Then you will proceed to tell Molly that the 'party'," he said it with nothing less than total disdain, "is over now, that the plan has been changed and that we're running out of time. Just tell her that, she will know what to do. Then send them on ahead. They are to wait for us on the seventh floor in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. They will ask no questions. No one else is to know what is really going on."

"Not that I know what exactly is going on!" Kingsley muttered under his breath. Noting Snape's glare he stopped immediately, squaring his shoulders and looking quite mutinous. "The one in which he tries to teach Trolls how to dance ballet?"

"That's the one."

"Do you know where..."

"I do. Now go," Snape interrupted him, motioning with one hand toward the door.

Frowning, Kingsley did as he was bid, grabbing a glass of indeterminate content and striding off in the direction of the parlour as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Severus..."

"Remus, I need you to leave for Hogwarts and go to the Potions storeroom," Snape interrupted him brusquely. "You know the password. Bring me the vial of blue-coloured potion that is lying disillusioned in the top drawer of my office desk to the Room of Requirement. It's important." Snape added the last because Lupin looked like he was about to protest again.

It worked. Remus nodded, and then left through the Floo, leaving Snape to stare at the fireplace.

But only for a second, then Snape took out a piece of parchment, waved his wand over it in complicated movements, never uttering even a word. Writing appeared on it, and then he quickly folded it and sealed it with his wand, sending it through the Floo with some Floo-powder.

When that was done, he hesitated only for another second before rushing through the kitchen door and up the stairs leading up to the attic as fast as he could.

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A mere half hour later and the seventh floor corridor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy was very busy indeed – considering it was still the summer holidays.

While the remainder of the castle was merely dimly lit by a sconce now and then and almost deathly quiet, this passage was quite the opposite. The air was rank with the scent of freshly lit wick and wax and burnt dust and echoed with conversations.

The Headmaster was sitting calmly on a footstool he had conjured some time ago, sucking on some indeterminate sweet and was seemingly ignoring the hokum that was going on around him.

Molly Weasley paced a little, wringing her hands. Occasionally she answered a question with a nod or shake of her head, agitating her puzzled companions even further.

Kingsley, Nymphadora and Remus kept discussing quietly what this could be all about. Or rather the two men were discussing it, feeling completely left out.

They were badgering the two women for information but clearly were not getting any and were growing more and more frustrated by the minute. Tonks just kept shrugging and avoiding their eyes, while Molly merely muttered one-word answers when she absolutely had to. Kingsley maintained a modicum of calm, leaning against a wall, while Remus was openly frantic, much more concerned about his student than was normal perhaps.

They were all still in their party clothes, which didn't say much about Remus'; he had gotten the old-fashioned robes and suit second hand from some nice old lady in the past year. Compared to Remus, Kingsley cleaned up very well in a stylish robe and suit underneath. Tonks always maintained her own fashion statement, dressed in a pair of low-riding jeans and a belly-revealing, tight t-shirt of a wizarding indie band. Molly meanwhile was wearing her best dress, adorned with tiny flowers and much more stylish than one would give her credit for perhaps, as a mother of seven with a tight budget. She was a good seamstress, however, which should explain a lot.

This had been going on for a few minutes when Severus Snape appeared from around the corner carrying an unconscious Hermione Granger.

"Hermione!" echoed four voices at once in astonishment.

As Snape walked toward them, his robes once again billowing dramatically, he raised a brow and muttered, "You mention secrecy and suddenly the whole Order is present. Perhaps we should use this method for our weekly Order meetings when certain people don't feel inclined to show up." That last was said with a glare in Tonks' direction, earning him a look both guilty and mutinous.

"What is going on here?" Remus demanded, concerned when he saw the condition Hermione was in. Pale and drawn, Hermione was no longer the picture of youthful health as usual with her rosy cheeks and typical alertness. She looked rather ill instead and curiously as if the last few hours had aged her several years. They didn't make her look more physically mature however, but rather like a wizened old woman in a moderately young body.

Tonks shifted from foot to foot, quickly looking away from Remus and wrapping her arms around herself.

"I hardly think this concerns you, Wolf." Snape glared at him and shifted his load a bit.

Dumbledore got up from his comfy footstool and glanced down at his student with an indeterminate expression on his face.

Then he focused on the one holding her. "Now, Severus, be kind. They are only concerned for their friend."

"If things had gone according to plan there would've been no need to draw in more than needed."

"Planned? Needed? I want to know what's going on right now!"

Snape glanced at Remus and then to Dumbledore pointedly.

"Remus, we know what needs to be done. We've got it all in hand," Dumbledore finally said and laid a hand on Lupin's shoulder. After a moment, Lupin nodded in resignation and didn't say anything else. "How is she?" Dumbledore asked Snape.

"As expected, but her condition deteriorated much more quickly than I had anticipated."

"It's not too late yet, Severus."

"No; not yet. But time is now of the essence." Snape turned to Lupin once more. "Did you get what I asked you for?" Snape asked quietly.

Lupin threw him a side-long glance and nodded, handing the opaque vial containing an azure blue potion over to Dumbledore as Snape's hands were definitely occupied.

"Good, good. Now please, Remus, Kingsley, go back to Order Headquarters and make sure that the story we told is believed, that everyone heads to bed, and see to it that no one disturbs us," Dumbledore said and motioned for them to leave.

They both nodded reluctantly. "Should one of us stay behind in case... help is needed?" It was Kingsley's turn to ask.

"I will stay behind, Kingsley," Molly piped up. "Don't worry, you two, it will be all right," she said in her best calming tone while holding fiercely onto her wand.

They nodded again, though rather half-hearted this time and looking rather worried, and left, their footsteps echoing in the silence of their departure.

For a moment Tonks and Molly eyed the two remaining men uncertainly, looking increasingly concerned the longer the silence lasted. Then the bundle in Snape's arms whimpered and brought them all suddenly back to the task at hand.

"We should prepare quickly. We don't have much time left," Snape said, Dumbledore and the others agreeing with decisive nods.

Snape juggled the weight in his arms gently to make holding her a little more comfortable, then walked up to the wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, striding in circles past it three times with an intense expression on his face.

Suddenly, after the third time, an intricately ornate door appeared right in the centre of the wall. Tonks quickly stepped forward and opened the door, letting Snape stride right past her quickly into the darkened room.

As Tonks peeked inside and her eyes got accustomed to the blackness, it became clear quickly that the room wasn't just dark per se. It was actually a clearing in a forest just when the sun had set, leaving streaks of orange, pink, violet and even a little yellow in the sky, illuminating the scene slightly.

When she had taken in the scenery, her eyes followed Snape to his destination, a stone altar in the centre of the room. It was surrounded by large monoliths, reminding her of one of the temples of old, like Stonehenge. Snape laid Hermione down on the altar gently, a finger coming dangerously close to touching her cheek accidentally. He removed it quickly back to his side. He then looked back at his companions for this... ritual.

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Well? Am curious what you think about this chapter that was so long in coming.

Chapter 14 is almost finished as well, so the wait won't be as long now, I can assure you. *hugs* Thanks to all of you who stayed with me and to all of you who are new to this fic.