Out of Time

Chapter 31

Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot

"Severus had to tell them the date," Lupin insists wearily, for the eighth time. His fingers massage his temples with increasing intensity. "But he didn't tell them about the polyjuice."

This all makes sense to Hermione, who is growing rather tired of hearing Lupin's repetitive argument. She's not alone. She knew Snape's membership in the Order was contentious, that Dumbledore was his biggest advocate - and now Dumbledore is gone. But she hadn't expected the level of vitriol people are spewing now in his absence.

The aftermath of the mission is brutal. Harry would have been upset enough at the loss of George's ear on his behalf - but Mad-Eye Moody?

Tonks attempts to soothe this wound by emphasising that it was Mad-Eye's plan. He knew the stakes. And if anything, his own protégé saying that should count for something, but it doesn't to Harry.

No one will say it out loud, but they all know it's another layer of unfair guilt that Harry is piling on top of what he already feels about Dumbledore's death.

Privately, Hermione thinks they're better off letting Harry alone until he wants people around. As it is, everybody's fussing over him and his knuckles are turning whiter by the minute. His jaw might be locked shut. He stopped arguing his culpability long ago, his eyes burning holes into the floor.

* * *

Molly helps quite a lot. Hermione can't tell whether or not it's intentional, at first. She keeps them so unbelievably busy with wedding chores they barely have time to breathe. Her lack of subtlety (if it was ever deliberate in the first place) vanishes as the next couple of days pass.

It's a good thing Hermione already has everything packed that she can think of - and several things she hadn't, thanks to Arthur. In her extremely limited leisure time, she's perfected the undetectable expansion-and-weightlessness charm on very small bags and delights in keeping them on her at all times.

It gives her a very slender sense of victory that she has it all ready to go right under Molly's nose. This has a vindictive tinge to it at times, but Molly's become so incredibly interfering and difficult about their impending departure that it's hard for Hermione to avoid.

None of them know exactly when that's going to happen, but if Hermione had to make an educated guess, it will likely coincide with their non-arrival at Hogwarts on the first of September. It will probably take the month they have left to cobble together some concrete plans, although Molly's sure to come up with new vital chores to keep them separated (or too exhausted to do anything but collapse into bed) even after the wedding is over.

She can't help softening at the matriarch's diligent persistence to make Harry's birthday special. It takes a lot to break through to Harry just now, and she can see him making a genuine effort for Molly. It's touching on both sides.

His birthday is the day before the wedding. They already have a crowd, thanks to the recent arrival of the full Delacour battalion. But Molly (eschewing any sort of help in either prep or cooking, preferring to send her chore-mongers far away from her kitchen) produces a gorgeous meal they're going to have outside in the lovely evening weather. The tension finally feels less, and maybe they're going to just... sit down and enjoy it.

It's a novel idea, but of course it's interrupted at the last second by an egregious flock of owls flying in a perfect V formation - flanking an unmistakable phoenix. They emerge through a shimmering boundary in the air, an effervescent glow that could be from the Burrow's protective enchantments or something else entirely.