Moody and Kingsley played along by allowing the Resistance's policy against Dark Art to remain in place in accordance with the Weasleys' and Harry's wishes. The public face of the Resistance was still Goodness and Light.
Hermione wondered just how many things Moody and Kingsley were doing without most of the Order knowing. Things that Hermione had also grown complicit in. Such as how Kingsley intercepted some of the snatchers and Death Eaters that Hermione was occasionally called in to heal before they were interrogated. How Bill and Fleur kept the the Order's prisoners. How prisoners were sometimes interrogated. Where certain supplies came from.
There were so many logistical details that the rest of the Order never seemed to ask about. Much in the way they never asked about where all the new information was coming from. How, after so many months and years of decreasing intel, they suddenly had much better information regarding Death Eater prisons, impending attacks in Muggle Britain, and raids against the Order. How they'd known to evacuate Caithness or that Voldemort was traveling.
Everyone seemed eager to ignore details like that.
The only thing they couldn't ignore was having Severus as a spy; even after five years, they still hated it. There was a recurring argument put forth by Charlie or Ron or Harry to have Severus cut out.
Hermione sighed and went to find Padma. Even if she could sleep, it was going to be a long night.
Late the next morning she placed the final enchantments on the healing spells she used to repair Ginny's face and then administered a vial of Wiggenwald potion.
That room in the hospital ward was currently empty. Hermione had kicked everyone out over the furious objections of Harry and Ron.
Ginny's body was still for a moment and then gradually stirred. She cracked one eye and glanced around blearily.
“Ngghhh,” Ginny groaned and rolled over and buried her head in her pillow.
After another moment she lifted her head and glanced around. Her hand immediately darted up to touch her bald scalp and then moved to her face. She fingered the wide scar that now lay there.
“What happened?” Ginny asked. Her voice sounded dry.
Hermione handed her a glass of water.
“Lucius Malfoy hit you with a necrosis curse on your cheek,” Hermione said as gently as she could. “Ron saved you by cutting it off before it could reach your brain.”
Ginny's fingers ran along the length of the scar. It started near her hairline. The gash's topmost edge began at the top of her forehead and all the way down to her jaw. It was wide and cruel looking, and it caused certain spots on her face to divot and pucker slightly.
Ginny sat up slowly and put her hands in her lap. Staring down at them as she clenched them into fists and then opened them. She was quiet for a minute.
“Can I have a mirror?” Ginny finally asked.
Hermione had a mirror ready for Ginny, but she paused before handing it over.
“It will fade. In a few months, with treatment, it will fade to silver.”
Ginny's lower lip trembled, and she pressed her mouth into a hard line. She held her hand out for the mirror.
“Do you want me to go while you look? Or stay with you?” Hermione asked.
Ginny hesitated. “Stay…” she finally said.
Hermione handed the mirror over and said nothing while Ginny took a deep breath and then turned it over to survey her face.
There was a long silence.
Ginny stared, growing paler, turning her head slowly to take in the entirety of it. Her fingers rose up slowly, tracing over it, as though she couldn't believe it was her face she saw reflected.
After a few seconds, Ginny pressed her lips together and jerked her head as her eyes welled up with tears. She stared for a moment longer, running her fingers along the scar before pushing the mirror away.
Then Ginny took a sharp breath in through her nose like she was trying not to cry. Her lips twisted slightly and she kept pressing them together harder as she rocked in the bed.
Ginny kept drawing sharp, quick breaths through her nose. Her head jerked up with each one.
Finally her shoulders slumped.
“Oh Merlin, I'm so shallow!” she said with a slight sob. “I'm alive but I'm crying because I've got a scar."
Hermione felt her own jaw tremble as she rested a hand on Ginny's shoulder.
“Scars are hard…” Hermione said, and her voice faded away as it tightened in her throat. “Anything that changes how we see ourselves is hard. You can be sad about it. You're allowed to grieve for yourself. You don't need to pretend it's okay.”
“I know,” said Ginny in a thick voice. “I just want to be. I want to be fine with it. I don't want to care. Or see it as changing me. But — I feel like part of me has died. Like I'm ruined somehow. And that feels so shallow and selfish. George lost his whole leg and I'm crying because I have a cut on my face.”
Tears streamed from Ginny's eyes and she smeared them away with the backs of her hands.
Hermione waited for several minutes and when Ginny's breathing and trembling finally started to ease slightly, she reached out and took Ginny's hand.
“Harry and Ron are waiting outside,” Hermione said. “But you can take as long as you want before you see anyone.”
Ginny jerked.
“Have they — did—, Ginny stuttered and shifted uncomfortably. “Has Harry already seen it?”
Hermione nodded.
“Harry has been with you the whole time. I forced him to leave. I thought — you might want some time.”
Ginny nodded.
“Maybe five more minutes,” said Ginny after a moment.
Hermione sat down on the edge of Ginny's bed.
“You're still one of the prettiest girls I know,” Hermione told her.
Ginny snorted. “Shut up. You'd say that even if Ron had cut off my nose.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “I wouldn't. The redness will fade. If you let me treat it regularly. And use a few potions. It will become more elastic so you won't feel it. And it will fade a lot. But if you'd like, I can help you glamour it.”
“It's fine. I always wanted to be a badass when I was little. Can you imagine how scary I'll look now on a battlefield? All bald and with this crazy thing on my face,” Ginny joked weakly. The frozen hospital smile curled across her face for a moment. Then the forced humor faded from her expression and she looked almost childlike.
“I miss Mum,” Ginny said in a small voice.
Even when her children were injured, Molly could rarely afford to come see them.
Hermione hugged Ginny and Ginny sniffled into her shoulder.
“Do you want to go there today?” Hermione said.
“No. She'll just feel awful,” Ginny said, shaking her head. “I'll go see her when it's faded a bit. Do you have a hair regrowth potion?”
“Sorry. Not on hand. I had Padma start brewing some though. It will be done in the next hour.”
“Well, that's a relief. At least I won't have to be both bald and ugly forever.”
Hermione shook her head and hugged Ginny again. Ginny always tended to break out terrible jokes about herself when she was in the hospital.
When Hermione departed, Ginny was fully ensconced in the attentions of Harry and her brothers and under the watchful eye of Poppy and Padma.
Moody sent word that Severus would be home at two o'clock so Hermione apparated there a few minutes early and then approached Spinner's End carefully. How any place could be so dreary even in summer never ceased to baffle Hermione. It was as though Severus' personality were contagious.
The door was shut. Hermione rapped quietly and then waited. Since he was no longer a professor, even Severus' most basic courtesy had entirely vanished. He would occasionally leave Order members waiting at his doorstep for an hour. Fred and George had once tried to just break in and came back to Grimmauld Place sporting boils across their entire bodies.