Re: Trio, Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Peter Pettigrew
Hermione felt bad about leaving Hogwarts after the news that there would be an attack. Extremly badly about it, actually, but that really didn't make much of a difference. She repeated in her mind the same story she'd given to Harry and Ron when she'd either of them was planning to argue the point with her - The entire Order would be at Hogwarts, the DA had been mobilized. It wasn't likely that Voldemort would actually be at the attack when he'd been weakened and when he knew, from Harry's connection with him in the cemetery, that they had the Horcrux. The castle was as defended as it could be with the Order and, besides all that, it might actually keep the death eaters from attacking if they thought somehow that Harry wasn't there.
It wasn't a very good argument, as arguments went. Hermione's were usually much better. But she hadn't had much time to think of it, and the horcrux around her neck had kept her from thinking it through completely. Still, it had been convincing enough, especially when coupled with the fact that she knew she was right this time.
The problem was, they needed Gryffindor's sword. The sword Harry had weilded once before so well. The sword Dumbledore had tried to give them with their gifts this summer, but the Ministry had kept him from doing so. She'd found a spell that would help them to locate it once they were in the Ministry, and they could be back before anyone knew they were missing as long as they stayed out of sight.
Luck was with them. The path from their entry point at the Department of Mysteries to the room where her spell showed the sword to be was clear. She and Ron forced Harry to stay under his cloak anyway, though. They'd be recognized, maybe, if they were seen, of course. But Harry definitely would be, and they couldn't all fit under the damn thing any longer.
Sword in Harry's hand, all it took was for them to get back to the Department of Mysteries, and then back to Hogwarts.
Ron felt strangely calm, considering the way his heart had been threatening to burst out of his chest as they had left the school. It might have been that they had come through here once before - and the Department of Mysteries had been something else, too, more of a riddle than the corridors they'd gone darting through tonight (and with rather more Death Eaters, of course). This was almost easy. He could imagine them popping back into school to join the fight, if there was anything left to be done, practically before curfew. He could hope, anyway.
... Of course, they still had to pass through there. The place gave him the creeps, but seeing how smoothly the rest of the evening had gone made him a little more confident that they might be able to push by it without encountering quite as much disaster as they had last time. it couldn't possibly go any worse than that had, after all. Still, he kept glancing over his shoulder, trying to make sure the three of them were keeping close together - harder than usual, even, when one of them was invisible. "I hate this bloody place," he muttered, glad at least that he wouldn't have to remember which door was the right one. This time they had a way to navigate - vast improvement. He halted at an intersection of two corridors, and waited for Hermione to point them the right way. It felt like they were getting close, but it had been two years since he'd been there. And would hopefully be ten before he came back.