Promise to the Past | 🐾 ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀs ✓

14 | Blindsided

It was the very brink of dawn when Molly stirred Hermione awake from her very unsettled slumber. She'd had come back to the Burrow and spent the majority of the night lost in her own memories of the past and eventually drifted into a restless sleep.

Hermione blinked her eyes open blearily, only taking a second before processing Molly's grim gaze. Dread settled into her gut like a heavy stone sinking in water.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, immediately reaching for her wand.

"Dumbledore called an emergency meeting right now," Molly said in an anxious tone.

Hermione didn't need to be told twice; she was out of bed in a heartbeat, grabbing a comfy wool cardigan to cover up her light shorts and camisole before following Molly downstairs.

The Weasleys floo'd to headquarters with Hermione only to be surrounded by numerous loud cracks from people apparating in. The entire order was in an anxious frenzy, everyone alarmed and confused at being woken so early. Hermione searched for Harry with panicked eyes, releasing a sigh of relief when she spotted Lily and James with two toddlers in their arms.

She made her way over to the couple, embracing Lily with Neville squished between them.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked James curiously. "I thought you were meant to be with Remus?"

James shrugged. "Didn't feel comfortable leaving my wife alone for the night with the two most wanted children on Voldemort's radar."

Hermione nodded understandingly. "And the others?"

"Padfoot and Wormtail are with Moony. Though I suspect they'll be here soon too, the sun's almost up."

"Does anyone know what happened?" Lily whispered on edge.

"No," Hermione said. "The Weasleys didn't seem to know."

The entire room dimmed to a charged silence and the group turned to see Dumbledore and Moody standing near the mantle of the fireplace. Both looked equally disturbed.

"It is with a heavy heart that I tell you the Longbottoms were discovered dead earlier tonight at Augusta Longbottom's estate." Dumbledore announced in a somber voice.

The entire room seemed to hang in a moment of disbelieving silence. Hermione's head began spinning. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. The Longbottoms weren't targeted until after the Potters' death and Voldemort's fall. Even then, they'd been tortured to insanity, not killed.

"Their son was not found with them," Dumbledore continued.

"W-we have him!" Lily spoke up, her voice cracking from emotion. "A-alice and Frank had left him with us for the night," she whispered brokenly.

Neville was still sleeping peacefully in her arms despite the buzz of the room from earlier, and he was entirely unaware of how irrevocably his life had changed in that night. A look of relief crossed Dumbledore's features as he nodded in acknowledgement at Lily before continuing debriefing the details.

"My patrol tonight went out to investigate when the wards on the property were triggered," Moody said gruffly. "But when we got there, the dark mark was already in the sky and the death eaters were long gone."

Hermione's eyes flew to the Prewett twins, who were standing near Moody but seemed incredibly tense. Their hands were clasped in front of them, and Hermione could see the residual blood staining their skin and clothes. They were on the patrol, she realized. 

"Who was their secret keeper?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"The secret keeper of their home was Frank himself," Dumbledore assured. "But the Longbottom estate wasn't under the Fidelius charm."