Summary: *Last Chapter up!!! It's been awesome everyone!!! Over 4000 reads and 300 reviews!!! You guys are amazing!!!* It is summer before sixth year and everyone has gotten together to celebrate Harry's Birthday when something goes terribly wrong for Ron and Hermione. How will everyone handle this terrible event and how will everything turn out?!
*~*this fic is written pre HBP (see a/n on my pro for more info)*~*
Categories: Ron/Hermione Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 15
Completed: Yes
Word count: 20534
Read: 59082
Published: 02/15/05
Updated: 08/16/05
1. Summer Assumptions by Burrowbrat
2. Heated Discussions by Burrowbrat
3. Chores Are No Fun by Burrowbrat
4. Notes and Death Eaters by Burrowbrat
5. Where Am I by Burrowbrat
6. Answers or Exasperations? by Burrowbrat
7. Confusion and Comprehension by Burrowbrat
8. Serpent Root by Burrowbrat
9. Rows and Cups of Tea by Burrowbrat
10. Nods of Consent by Burrowbrat
11. Special Gift by Burrowbrat
12. Battle Tactics by Burrowbrat
13. The Draught by Burrowbrat
14. Incantations and Sleeping Draughts by Burrowbrat
15. Endings and New Beginnings by Burrowbrat
Summer Assumptions by Burrowbrat
--Hermione--
He didn’t even glance my way when we parted last June, thought a once bushy haired girl.
Hermione had come into her own all at once that summer and most of the “frizz” had grown out of her hair.
Oh, why do I care, he’s just my friend, just like Harry’s my friend. I wouldn’t have cared if Harry hadn’t looked at me before I left…
Oh, get a hold of yourself girl, he’s not even that good looking…
Yeah right, who am I trying to convince…
Oh, I must be going mad, all this talking back and forth to myself, what’s wrong with me…
I’m ok, I’m ok…
Oh, I get to see him in a couple of hours!
Why do I care...?
This is ridiculous, one person should not be causing me this much trouble…I’ll just stop thinking about it.
With that last thought, Hermione went to studying her lessons for the hundredth time that summer, attempting to squelch any lingering feelings that she might have.
* * * * * * * * * *
--Ron--
In the not too faraway distance there is a cottage that appears to be many smaller houses held together by what most say, “Has to be magic” (If you are one of those people who said this house has to be held together with magic, then you would be right.). This cottage is called the Burrow. It belongs to a very fun and loving wizarding family, the Weasleys. All of the Weasleys have red hair and a good sense of humor (well, most all of them have a sense of humor). The youngest Weasley boy was sitting up in his room muttering to himself:
“I wonder what she’ll get Harry for his birthday…
"I’ll bet she fancies him, that’s why she’s always helping him with stuff…
"...and that one time she even kissed him on the cheek.” His ears began glowing red at the thought of this last memory.
“Why am I getting mad with Harry, he’s my best mate and I know he doesn’t feel that way about her?
"...yeah, I’m sure, well... maybe.
"He doesn’t know how I feel.
"What am I saying, I don’t know how I feel…
"Get a grip Ron Weasley, you’re going off your rocker."
Ron fumbled with the wrapping on Harry’s present for a while, before having another thought: “Hey, she kissed me on the cheek once too, right before that first Quidditch match.
"I forgot. Why didn’t I realize it before?
"I cared for her then, I’m pretty sure, hummm…wait, am I saying I care for her now…"
He got a goofy grin on his face while he finished wrapping the gift, and then went down stairs for some lunch.
“What took you so long Ronald dear,” Mrs. Weasley asked as she busied herself placing food around the table.
“Er…just um…well, I didn’t know I was supposed to be in a hurry,” retorted Ron, trying to conceal his reddening ears.
“Oh it’s nothing, I just wondered,” smiled back Mrs. Weasley over her plate of food.
Ron shrugged down into his seat and ate his lunch, trying to forget his earlier thoughts.
Later that afternoon, the Burrow was full of the hustle and bustle of party preparations. They were planning to give Harry a big birthday party because from his letters it sounded as if he was in a fairly dismal mood and could do with a little cheering up. The party was to be held at the Burrow because they didn’t know how it would affect Harry to be back at number twelve Grimmauld Place after Sirius’ recent death. The headway on getting the house ready for the party was coming along nicely. All the Weasley’s had come home (except Percy of course) to be a part of this. Fred and George were decorating the kitchen with various, suspicious looking objects that were sure to explode at the least expected moment. Bill and Ginny were out fetching Hermione from her house and Ron had gone with Charlie to get Harry. Mr. Weasley was making preparations for the extra people that would be staying there until they thought Harry could handle a move to number twelve Grimmauld Place.
By the time Bill and Ginny arrived with Hermione, everything was ready and all they could do was wait and wait…and wait. Finally after Mrs. Weasley had done a fair share of worrying, they heard a noise outside. They had arrived. Harry walked in the kitchen ahead of Ron and Charlie; everyone shouted, “SURPRISE!”
“How did you keep from telling me this,” Harry said beaming at Ron and Hermione.
“It was supposed to be a surprise, mate. I am capable of keeping a secret you know,” Ron grinned back; but at the sight of Hermione grinning at Harry, he lost his happy feeling for a moment. He soon forgot to be glum though, as he got lost in the party festivities.
After a wonderful meal, cake, and opening presents, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley offered to clean everything up and let the others go outside to enjoy the magnificent summer evening. Everyone was taking turns having a go on Harry’s Firebolt, except for Hermione who didn’t much care for flying. Ron noticed her lack of participation and went to stand with her, watching her bemused expressions.
“Why don’t you like to fly Hermione?” he asked, still watching her face.
She pulled herself from watching George doing summersaults through the air to look at Ron, who she realized had been staring at her. She blushed slightly at this realization but recovered quickly. “Oh, I don’t know,” she answered, grinning mischievously, “Why don’t you like spiders?”
He just grinned back at her and they both turned back to watch Harry who was now doing tricks on the broom. Ron chanced another glance at Hermione. She doesn’t seem to be looking at him lovingly…no that’s a friendship look…yeah…yeah…that’s it.
I know it's just the first chapter but please let me know how you like it, thanks
Heated Discussions by Burrowbrat
I forgot last chapter to mention that these are not my characters and well, blah blah blah, you guys know the drill.
The next day was quickly growing to an end and no one had yet suggested a move to Grimmauld Place. Everyone was beginning to hope that they were just going to finish up the summer at the Burrow. Bill and Charlie had left to go back to their jobs and Mr. Weasley was at work before the sun rose until late into the night; due to the fact that Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, had remained flabbergasted and fairly incapable of intelligible thought after he saw Lord Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic the previous June. Everyone at the Ministry was having to work overtime for Fudge's lack of competency.
Late that night, Ron woke to the sound of his parents arguing loudly down stairs. He crept to the door of his room, which he was sharing with Harry, and cracked the door just enough to let the heated discussion going on down the stairs to drift in and fill the room.
"Arthur, this is ludicrous. You cannot accept. You have a large family to take care of. You're in enough danger already," half screamed Mrs. Weasley at her husband.
"But Molly dear," Mr. Weasley began, trying to keep his voice level, "Think of what a good position this is for an Order member to be in."
"Well let one of the others take the job then, you don't have to do everything," she bellowed back.
"I don't do everything," he started to almost yell back, but managed to keep his calm never-the-less.
After this statement Ron noticed an eye looking up at him through the cracked open door. He slowly pulled it opened to reveal Ginny and Hermione.
"We heard them yelling and wondered if you two were awake and listening too," said Hermione with reserved calm.
"Mum sounds really upset," stated Ginny as Ron moved over to let the girls into the room.
"Be quiet, Harry's still asleep," grinned Ron.
"No I'm not, now be quiet so we can hear what they're saying," came the sound of Harry's voice just behind Ron.
Ron jumped and they all took up listening to the argument downstairs once again.
"Well why doesn't Dumbledore just take over as the Minister of Magic," Mrs. Weasley half crying, half yelling retorted.
"He declined when they asked him Molly," Mr. Weasley said while trying to comfort his now hysterical wife.
"Then why c-can't you decline t-too," sobbed back Mrs. Weasley, "It's t-too dangerous now that V-V...well now that h-he's back and getting stronger b-by the day. T-Think of the c-children."
With this last statement the discussion was over and the four eves droppers looked around at each other thinking about what they had just heard. Ron rushed over to the door to close it before his parents had time to get there and discover that they had had an audience.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all sat up early into the morning talking about what they had over heard. They speculated whether Mr. Weasley would take the job, who else was eligible, and who would be willing to do the job until they eventually dosed off some time before dawn.
The sun was already streaming through the window onto the two beds in Rons room when Mrs. Weasley opened the door to wake them.
"What in the name of Merlin is going on in here," she screamed as she saw the four of them in the same room. Hermione and Ginny were on Ron's bed. Ginny was hogging the blankets and Hermione was all hugged up to Ron's pillow. Harry and Ron had slumped against the wall while sitting on Harry's bed.
"Wah...," yawned Harry, as Mrs. Weasley screamed.
"Oh, my neck hurts something awful," moaned Ron as he looked up at his mother just before realizing why she had yelled. He looked over at Hermione wrapped around his pillow and a huge grin smeared itself across his face.
"I said what's going on here, and why are you smiling like that Ronald Weasley," questioned Mrs. Weasley.
At this, Hermione and Ginny sat up stretching, looking rather confused. Suddenly comprehension dawned on Hermione's face.
"Er....um....the girls had a strange dream and they....er....got scared and had to come in here to calm down....I guess we fell asleep while they were telling us about it," finished Ron rather lamely.
"They both had a bad dream at the same time," questioned Mrs. Weasley, eyeing them suspiciously.
"No, er.....uh...help," Ron mouthed to the other three.
"No one's going to help, I want the truth," she began to scream again, her temper rising from being lied to. She looked threateningly to each of them.
"Well," started Hermione, looking down at her feet, "We over heard you and Mr. Weasley arguing last night and came in here to discuss what we heard," she completed in a very small voice.
Mrs. Weasley looked rather taken aback at having her private conversation with her husband listened to by uninvited ears, but dropped it after scolding, "the next time there is a discussion going on that you know you should not be listening to, just close your ears and go back to sleep." She then began ushering Hermione and Ginny out of the door and told them, "Really girls, I wouldn't have expected this from you. You're almost as bad as the boys."
"Hey...," Ron began, but Harry shot him a look that said drop it, it could have been a lot worse.
Ron decided Harry was right, so he let it go and strode over to his bed and picked up his pillow. He hugged it to his face and breathed in deep. "Brilliant. It smells like her," he thought.
"Er....what are you doing mate," asked Harry with a bemused expression on his face.
Ron's ears were glowing at the realization of how stupid he must look smelling his pillow like that. He turned around and grinned at Harry, "What, can't a guy miss his pillow," he joked as he laid the pillow gingerly on the bed. "I think I fancy some breakfast," he said still grinning like mad and walked out the door leaving Harry with a confused expression on his face.
Thanx to my two very prompt reviewers, you guys are great. Now for everyone else, please read and review. I love feedback, positive or negative.
Chores Are No Fun by Burrowbrat
I thought about putting the first part of the next chapter, "Notes and Death Eaters" at the end of this one but then decided that I'd just make you wait because I like the way I have the chapters set up. Sorry bout that ;) In the meantime I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think.
Throughout the rest of breakfast, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny kept throwing glances towards each other, all wondering if any of the others had managed to over hear any more conversations related to the argument from the night before. Mrs. Weasley still seemed to be in a huff over having her "private" argument overheard. She had retaliated on the four by giving them tedious chores to do around the house. Harry had still not quite gotten over his fascination with de-gnoming the garden, and had volunteered to do the job a little too enthusiastically when Mrs. Weasley read off the list of chores she had for them to do.
Ginny came strolling out to the garden to observe Harry's progress after she had completed her scrubbing of the dishes without the help of any magic, much to her dismay.
"So, how's the de-gnoming coming?" she asked while dodging a gnome that Harry had just launched over the garden wall.
"Oh, sorry about that," Harry offered as he noticed the narrow miss Ginny had avoided.
"Its fine, you didn't get me," she laughed.
"I think that was the last one," he said walking over to the wall to talk with her better. "So what did Ron and Hermione get stuck doing. I kind-of ran out before your mum delegated their tasks to them."
"I think they got stuck cleaning out the attic," giggled Ginny.
"What! They got to work together!" Harry shouted incredulously.
"Don't get over excited," Ginny came back quickly. "They're not having fun at all, trust me. We should probably go up and help them. I'm sure they're nowhere near being through yet."
"Er....is it really that bad," Harry asked apprehensively at the thought of yet another chore, this one not as enjoyable as the first one that he completed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Upstairs in the house, Ron and Hermione were battling the attic.
"I don't know what her problem is," Ron was bellowing vehemently. "This place hasn't been cleaned since before I was born. Why would she all of a sudden decide that it needs a bit of cleaning up?"
Hermione was laughing from a far corner of the room.
"What are you laughing at," Ron blared at her as he made his way over to where she was standing. When he got to where he could see her, he laughed too. "What are you wearing," he blurted out, still in a fit of laughter.
"I don't know," she responded still laughing at herself. "I found it in this old trunk over here."
Hermione was surveying herself in the mirror. She was wearing a moth eaten fringy hat, that would have gone well with Ron's old dress robes and an extremely old set of robes that had to be at least a century old. They both laughed at the outfit a while longer before Hermione broke the hilarious moment. "What were you bellowing about earlier?"
"Oh, I don't remember," stumbled Ron, coming out of his reverie of having an excuse to stare at Hermione for a lengthy period of time. They paused and looked at each other for a moment but then hurriedly went back to their cleaning. Hermione had just finished with the trunk of old clothes when Harry and Ginny came walking into the room.
"So how's it coming along?" Harry asked, walking over to examine a really odd lamp that Ron was moving around, unable to find a good place to put it.
"This could take years," whined Ron as he began fighting with an old chair that was broken into pieces. "If she would just let us use magic we could be through by now."
"You mean if you had minded your own business then you would be through by now," said Fred who had just entered the attic with George, unnoticed by the others.
"Oh right, like you weren't listening on a pair of the extendables," Ron said, surveying his brothers.
"What us, listen in on other people's conversations when we're not supposed to," grinned George sarcastically.
"You jest," added Fred, also grinning at the others in the room. "You see, the difference between us and you, little brother..."
"Is that we, unlike you, know how to go about it without getting caught," finished George.
Everyone laughed at the twins, except for Ron who had started to go red around the ears again.
"Oh, by the way," said Fred, "Mum said that you lot can come down for lunch now."
"She seems to be in a much better mood now, too," added George with a smirk.
"What do you know that you're not telling us?" questioned Ginny.
"You'll just have to come down stairs and find out," answered Fred.
"They always know everything first," Ron said with a grin as he filed out of the attic with the others.
When they arrived in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley definitely appeared to be in a much better mood. She was humming to herself as she set the table for their lunch.
"Oh good, everyone is here," she said beaming at everyone. "Since I know you all heard mine and Mr. Weasley's conversation last night," she began still smiling.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all exchanged confused looks at her happiness while she continued to utter, "I would just like to inform you that Arthur has declined the nomination for Minister of Magic. No, they haven't decided on who it will be, but we definitely do not have to worry about your father's safety in that area," she added, addressing the looks on everyone's faces. "And you four can be through with your chores," she said looking at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.
No one asked any questions about the matter through the rest of lunch, in fear of once again upsetting Mrs. Weasley. They had hurried conversations here and there about who could possibly be the new Minister, but got no where and eventually exhausted the topic by the time everyone was ready to go to bed. Everyone drifted off to sleep that night with no interruptions and slept peacefully until early the next morning.
...slept peacefully until early the next morning. *ominous music plays* What could it mean...humm...You'll have to wait and see. :-P
Notes and Death Eaters by Burrowbrat
Alright everyone, here's chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it.
Early the next morning, before the sun even peered above the trees, Ron jerked awake from a disturbing dream he had been having. He looked over at Harry, who appeared to be sleeping soundly, and thought about his dream.
“I remember something about the future or a prophecy or something…but what was it…”
What it was, he didn’t have time to remember because at that moment he thought he heard someone moving around somewhere in the house.
Not wanting to wake Harry, Ron quietly slipped on his sweat shirt, walked to the door and gently eased it opened. He almost ran into Hermione who was tip-toeing down the hall from Ginny's room.
"I got up to go to the bathroom and thought I heard someone down stairs," she whispered.
Ron nodded, letting her know that he had heard someone too. For a moment he thought that maybe he had just heard Hermione moving around, but the feeling in his gut told him otherwise. He put his finger up to his mouth to signal her to keep quiet. She nodded a small consent and they crept silently down the stairs together with Ron leading the way. When they approached the bottom of the staircase, they could make out a tall hooded figure rummaging through drawers in the kitchen and it sounded like another one was somewhere off in the drawing room.
"Oh no, Death Eaters are in my house. What are they doing here?"
He glanced back at Hermione, "Why couldn't she be up stairs and safe with everyone else?"
"I don't know what I will do if they hurt her," Ron thought as they stood there surveying the scene below.
After a few more moments of standing frozen on the stair and thinking about what to do next, Ron turned around and pulled Hermione down so that they were standing on the same step. She was close enough so that he could whisper in her ear as quietly as possible.
"Oh my gosh she smells so good...get a grip, your house is under attack...focus."
"Hermione," he whispered, "You run back upstairs and get my mum and dad. I'll try to keep them busy down here while you go."
"No," she hissed back in his ear, "We can't risk waking Harry. There's no telling what they'll do to him if they catch him. It appears as if they're looking for something. What would your family have that they would want?"
"I have no idea," said Ron, still whispering into her ear and crinkling up his nose while trying to take in all that she had said.
"What could they be looking for? It doesn't matter. I have to get Hermione somewhere safe," he thought to himself.
"Oh no!"
"What?" Hermione gasped, turning around to see what Ron was staring at.
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry awoke well past sun up to find that Ron was not in their room. He got dressed and walked out of the room where he met Ginny, Fred, and George who were on their way down to breakfast. The sight they beheld upon entering the kitchen was none to pretty. All the drawers and cabinets had been wrenched open and their contents were strewn all over the floor. Mrs. Weasley was standing in the middle of the room looking quite disheveled.
"Mum, what happened down here?" asked George after looking over the messy room for a moment.
"And where's Dad?" added Fred.
"Your father went into work a moment ago, after we observed this," she said gesturing towards the room. "None of you did this did you?"
They all shook their heads and she turned to stare back at the disarray of her kitchen.
"Apparently someone was looking for something," she said after a few more moments. "Are Hermione and Ronald still upstairs?"
"No," Ginny started slowly, "Hermione wasn't in the room when I woke up. I assumed she was already down here," she finished and looked over towards Harry.
"And Ron's not in his room either," added Harry, sounding a little worried now.
"What!?" gasped Mrs. Weasley, panic now in her voice. She whipped around to look at everyone standing at the foot of the stairs and then cast a fleeting glance over to her clock. Ron's hand was pointing towards lost. She clasped a hand over her mouth, unwilling to believe what she was seeing.
"Search the house everyone! Find them!" she said in a quavering voice much unlike her own.
Everyone took to frantically searching the house for any sign of Ron and Hermione. After about fifteen minutes of looking for them fruitlessly, Fred stumbled upon a letter in the drawing room.
"MUM!" he shouted, and everyone came running to see what he had found.
He handed the letter to Mrs. Weasley who stared at the envelope for a moment before ripping it open. She just stood there with her mouth opened and didn't say a word. Harry took the letter from her and began reading it aloud:
Weasleys,
Surrender the Draught of Prospicio
or say goodbye to your son and the Mudblood.
Lord Voldemort
Everyone in the room shuddered upon Harry's completion of the note and Mrs. Weasley broke down into hysterical crying in the middle of the floor. "Fred," she wailed, "Go tell your father what has happened."
With a pop, Fred was off to give Mr. Weasley the awful news. George, Ginny, and Harry somehow managed to coerce Mrs. Weasley out of the floor and onto the couch. She was still crying; however, more subdued than before.
"Oh, I c-can't b-believe this. What is the D-Draught of P-Prospicio? And why d-did they t-take them," Mrs. Weasley sobbed.
*Pop*
"I've been wondering that too," said Mr. Weasley who had just apparated with Fred and was looking extremely worried. "Dumbledore should be here shortly, I contacted him just before I left the office."
Everyone was just sitting around and staring into space for the next little while. The group was as grave as they had been the previous year when Mr. Weasley was attacked by Voldemort's great snake. Occasionally someone would glance over at the grandfather clock to make sure Ron's hand had not wondered over to mortal peril. As long as this did not occur, there was some hope that they were still alive.
Finally with a small pop, Dumbledore arrived. The sparkle seemed to be gone from his cool blue eyes. Mrs. Weasley looked up at him expectantly, but he just shook his head and went to sit with the family.
"Could I please see the letter that was left," Dumbledore asked Mrs. Weasley.
She nodded and pointed to Harry who still had the note smashed in his fist. Harry handed it to Dumbledore and after having read the note, Dumbledore seemed to frown more so than before.
Alright the last time I checked this story had been read nearly 1000 times but there had only been 20 reviews. You need to REVIEW!!!....or I will get my pet bat to come and kick you. :P (lol...sorry, had a cartoon moment)
Thanks goes out to all my wonderful reviewers. You guys complete me. lol ;)
Hermione awoke on a cold, hard floor. She sat up slowly and looked around her, not knowing where she was. Everything was dark and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. After a few moments had passed, she remembered what had happened.
"Ron," she whispered. There was no response.
"Ron," she said a little louder. Still no response.
At this point Hermione started getting worried.
"Where is he," she thought.
“Oh no, what if they’ve ki-kill…NO Hermione don’t even think that. He’s alive. He has to be,” she told herself.
Finally throwing caution to the wind, she yelled, "RON!"
Sinister laughing could be heard all around her.
“Who’s there,” she called.
Eventually a familiar, drooling voice came closer to Hermione saying, "Quiet down Mudblood, you will see your filthy boyfriend as soon as the dark lord is through with him."
"What," Hermione squeaked, unable to mutter a more audible sound at the thought of Ron being tortured by Voldemort.
"Now stay in there and be a good girl. You get to go next if we don't get what we need out of the weasel," the same bodiless voice of Lucius Malfoy continued as before.
"What could they possibly want from Ron and I?" frantically thought Hermione.
“And oh, why did I not go grab my wand before I went looking for the source of a strange noise?” She thought while shaking her head at her carelessness.
“How could I have been so thick? ”
With that thought she scrunched up her nose in concentration and gingerly rubbed the back of her head where a small knot had come up. Apparently she had fallen and hit her head at some point.
Her brain was frantically searching all the details of her and Ron's capture from earlier that day, or was it the day before? Hermione had no idea how long she had been out. The only thing she could remember was standing on the stairs with Ron and watching two Death Eaters rummaging through drawers and cabinets looking for something. Her last memory was two flashes of red light flying at her and Ron.
"They must have stunned us," she thought. "But what ever could they have been looking for at the Burrow?"
This last thought was interrupted by a rectangular light that emerged from the upper right corner of the room. The light was coming from a door that had been opened. Two dark, standing figures were coming down the stairs from the door dragging a third figure that was slumped over.
"Ron," gasped Hermione at the sight of his limp body.
With the light streaming into the room from the still opened door, Hermione was able to get a good look at the place where she was a captive. It appeared that she was in some type of crewed cage or prison cell that seemed to be a permanent piece of the room. There were no windows, which explained the lack of light anywhere. All around the room in various locations were at least half a dozen Death Eaters. There may have been more but the small amount of light was not enough to see.
The two Death Eaters had drug Ron over to the cell that Hermione was locked in and threw him in onto the floor at her feet. She bent down next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Ron, are you all right," she asked, barely above a whisper.
His eyes flickered and he slowly glanced up at her and groaned.
This was good enough for her. At least he was still alive. With this recognition, she flew to her feet, threw herself against the bars and started screaming at whoever would listen.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!" she blared. "AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US! WE'RE JUST KIDS! WE CAN'T POSSIBLY HAVE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD WANT!"
Hermione stopped yelling only at the touch of Ron's hand on her shoulder. She hadn't even noticed him stand up amidst all of her rage.
"Hermione, y-your only g-going to m-make th-things w-worse for us if you k-keep yelling," stumbled Ron.
Her rage turned into silent tears as she helped him to sit back down against the wall.
"He's so strong," she thought, as she sat down next to him to make sure he was alright.
"Well, well," came another all too familiar voice. "Isn't this a switch, Mrs. Granger flying hot and Mr. Weasley being the voice of reason? I would have never believed it if I hadn't witnessed it myself."
"P-professor S-Snape," Hermione fumbled with the words, not totally convinced whose voice she was hearing.
He walked over to the bars and pulled off his mask. Hermione and Ron could do nothing but gape at him, not wanting to believe this was actually happening.
A dark, ominous laugh echoed around the room. It was emanating from a tall figure that had begun descending the stairs.
"Yes, it would come as quite a shock I would think. You would have never thought that someone who works so closely with Albus Dumbledore could be one of my servants would you? Well, you were wrong."
Ron shuttered slightly and Hermione gasped as they looked up into the cold, red eyes of Lord Voldemort.
I know this chappie is a little short but I had to break it up this way so that the story would flow right.
Answers or Exasperations? by Burrowbrat
I have excellent reviewers. You guys are awesome! =) Thanks for being patient, I've been having troubles with this chapter.
Ch. 6. Answers or Exasperations?
After discovering that Ron and Hermione had been kidnapped by Voldemort, Dumbledore had all the Weasleys and Harry moved to number twelve Grimmauld Place. It did not matter whether Harry was emotionally ready for the move or not; everyone's safety was the more important issue.
Every time anyone would visit, Mrs. Weasley would hustle Harry and Ginny along with Fred and George (who had closed their shop until their little brother was found) upstairs so that they couldn't overhear anything. As an extra precaution she had also put an imperturbable charm on the downstairs door so that the extendable ears were of no use at all.
Fred and George had complained about not being able to become members of the Order. They were of age, and out of school, so technically, they should have been allowed to join, but Mrs. Weasley broke down into hysterics at the thought of two more of her children a step closer to death. Ron and Hermione’s disappearance had taken a toll on her, as it would any caring parent. Dumbledore had taken upon himself the task of delivering the terrible news of Hermione’s abduction to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. Mrs. Weasley had insisted on going with him because she couldn’t help partially blaming herself for the situation. She had been reassured countless times that it was no more her fault than anyone else’s, but mothers don’t generally listen to this type of reasoning. Due to their mother’s demeanor, Fred and George had relinquished their protests until their youngest brother was safe at home.
Three days after Ron and Hermione's capture, a big meeting was being held downstairs. More members of the order than had ever been seen in one place at the same time were gathered at headquarters. One member, however, was missing. This fact had not escaped the four moody teenagers upstairs in the house.
"Where is that old vampire?" grumbled Harry, his temper, rising more from not hearing anything about his two best friends, than from what he was actually saying.
"We were wondering that too," said Fred as he and George entered the room where Harry and Ginny were hopelessly attempting to do some homework.
"We haven't seen him once since we got here," George added.
"You know he has to go and do Death Eater stuff for you-know-who. He probably can't get away," offered Ginny with no real conviction in her voice.
"I know what he does!" Harry yelled back not trying to control his temper now. "That's why I want to know where he is; he should know where Ron and Hermione are and what all of this is about!"
"Try to calm dawn Harry," came the voice of Dumbledore behind him. No one had noticed him enter the room. "It is better that professor Snape is not here. He can make sure that Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley remain alive."
Sounds good in theory,”thought Harry with his emotions still stewing at the thought of the absent potion professor.
"I never thought about that," said Fred, sounding a little more at ease than he had the past three days.
Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Now I have a question for the four of you. Molly does not wish that I ask you what I am about to ask, but I feel you would know better than any of us old folks downstairs."
Harry, Ginny, Fred and George were all on the edge of their chairs with their breath coming in short spurts. They were starved for information.
"Do any of you know what the Draught of Prospicio is?" questioned Dumbledore.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Have you ever heard of it?" The questioning continued, but still no one had any answers.
"All right then," Dumbledore started again, "Do any of you know of a bottled liquid of some kind that either Mr. Weasley or Miss Granger would have?"
Again no answers.
"Well thank you for your time then," said Dumbledore as he turned to leave the room.
As Dumbledore was leaving, all of the Weasleys began protesting in raised tones about how unfair the situation was and that they wanted more information while Harry sat silently in thought.
"Professor," came the voice of Harry moments later, cutting through the outcries of the upset Weasleys.
Dumbledore turned around to face the room once again, silencing the mutinous red-heads.
"Er, I was just wondering if you could tell us what the Draught of Prospicio is," Harry started shakily but soon found his composure and charged forward craving answers, "Maybe if we knew what the Draught was then we could think of something that Ron or Hermione would have that might be it."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful and for a moment Harry thought that he would not be gaining any information, but then all of a sudden Dumbledore nodded again and started giving the explanation.
"The Draught of Prospicio is a very old; well let's call it a potion, because that is what it is most similar to. This 'potion' has a very unusual; however, pleasant smell. If it is taken internally, the drinker will undergo some unusual side affects. No one knows how it was made and everyone thought that all traces of it had been used up.”
Here Dumbledore paused, as if he was thinking for a moment, but soon continued. “Apparently, Voldemort has reason to believe that some form of the draught does still exist and that somehow it has come into the possession of your family." He finished by motioning towards the three Weasleys.
"What are the unusual side affects," asked George.
"And what would V-Vold...what would you-know-who want with it." finished Fred, looking expectantly at Dumbledore.
"I believe that this is all the information that you need at the present time," Dumbledore replied in his unnervingly calm voice. "If any of you can think of anything that could possibly be the Draught of Prospicio, please inform an Order member immediately."
And with that he was gone, leaving a room full of disgruntled teenagers behind.
"That didn't help at all," bellowed Ginny.
"Yeah, how are we supposed to think of something that could be the Draught of Prospicio," began Fred.
"When we still don't know what it is," finished George indignantly.
"Hey, you two haven't used some old liquid that you didn't know what it was in any of your experiments, have you?" Harry asked Fred and George desperately craving answers.
"No," George said a little bewildered. "We always know what we're using, so if something goes wrong then we'll be able to find a way to fix it."
"Oh," Harry responded half-heartedly.
"It has to be Ron then," started Ginny.
The others looked at her with quizzical expressions.
"Well, the rest of the family is in the Order, so they would have already been questioned about it. None of us know anything about it, and Percy doesn't live at the Burrow or ever come near the house, so I couldn't see them looking there for something of his." she finished looking rather pleased with herself for figuring all of this out.
"But why would Ron have some old potion?" said Fred, his anger rising dangerously at not having enough answers. "And how would V-vold...well you know, how would he know Ron had it?"
Now wonderful reviewers and those of you who haven't reviewed...go review. Let me know what you think. Go on, you know you want to. Increase the number of reviewers ratio. There have been more than 1800 reads and only 54 reviews. Come on, you guys can do it, it only takes a couple minutes! =)
Confusion and Comprehension by Burrowbrat
Alrighty here's chappie 7 and yes, Ron and Hermione are in it. Happy dance everyone! =)
Ron awoke from an un-restful sleep in a cold sweat. He looked around, suddenly remembering where he was.
I shouldn't have dosed off, he thought frantically. How long have they had Hermione? Panic was now beginning to grow in his mind. The only comforting thought he could find was the fact that they hadn't killed him, so Hermione had a chance.
Now what was it they were questioning me about...? but Ron's thoughts were broken off by the upper door opening. Within minutes, Hermione was thrown into the cell. He caught her before she made it to the floor. She was unconscious and trembling.
"Hermione," he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered for a moment causing a small surge of hope to spring into his chest. He didn't dare say anything for fear that they would finish her off. He just pulled her close and they relaxed against the stone wall at the back of their cell.
The Death Eater’s that had brought Hermione down disappeared back up the stairs and behind the door.
I bet she's freezing, Ron thought as he noticed her thin pajama bottoms and tank top sleep shirt. He was thankful that he had put on his sweatshirt prior to going down to the kitchen. He slipped it off over his white t-shirt, being careful not to let Hermione fall against the cold wall. Then, ever-so-gently he slid the shirt over her head and worked her arms into the sleeves and then took her back up in his arms. For a brief moment he thought that he felt her relax against him but was unsure the next minute. They sat there in dark silence for what seemed like an eternity before Ron drifted off to sleep once more.
Hermione awoke some time later, confused by her warm surroundings. It took her a while before she realized that the reason for her comfort was Ron's sweatshirt and the sleeping red-head himself.
She gazed up at his face, He is so gorgeous, she thought. Oh no, I can't think about that now, we're being tortured and held captive by Voldemort. What's wrong with me...?
She wasn't allowed to finish her frantic thinking because at that moment Ron woke up and looked down at her staring at him. They both went crimson before Ron asked her
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," she said sounding unsure.
"Were they the Cruciatus and Imperius curses?" Ron questioned with a grimace on his face.
She nodded.
Ron responded with a small, "Me too."
They sat there for a moment in deep thought about what had occurred earlier. After several moments had passed, Hermione broke the silence.
"So...er...did you have any idea about what they wanted?"
Ron shook his head, "I don't even know what the Draught of Prospi-whatever is. Why would I have it, and how would I know if I did?" He screwed up his face in concentration. "Do you know what it is?" he asked looking apprehensive.
"Well, I remember reading something about it in a medieval potions book, but I didn't think there was any of it left, if there ever was any to begin with," she started.
Ron just looked at her, his eyes pleading her to tell him more. She leaned her head over on his shoulder as she finished her explanation.
"The Draught of Prospicio is an ancient potion supposedly created during medieval times. Prospicio is Latin for "foresight". Legend has it that anyone who drank of the draught would have the ability of unlimited foresight."
"So they would be able to see the future or prophecy in a sense?" Ron interrupted.
"Exactly," Hermione continued. "I suppose that's why Voldemort wants it. He figures it's the next best thing to the prophecy. He probably doesn’t have any idea that Harry and Dumbledore know what it says. So he's having to resort to other methods of finding out what's supposed to happen."
They sat there in silence once more, Ron letting everything Hermione had just said sink in.
"I still don't know why he would think that we have this draught thingy," Ron thought out loud.
Hermione's lack of answer was enough to ensure him that she didn't know either.
"Another weird thing," she said, "is that they kept saying they smelled it on me. Why on earth would they be able to smell it on me?"
But they did not have time to contemplate the answer to this question because suddenly torches were lit all around the room and a pack of Death Eaters began filing down the stairs, followed by Voldemort himself.
The Death Eaters formed a semi-circle at the front of the cell and Voldemort stood in the center facing Ron and Hermione. In a cold, emotionless voice he addressed the two captives.
"Since you would not give up any answers when your own lives were threatened, we thought that we would try our little interrogation while you are together. Each of you will, in turn, have to watch the other suffer."
Hermione was trembling in Ron's arms but they stood up to face Voldemort bravely, despite their fears.
Ron's anger was mounting as he realized they were about to torture Hermione again; this time in front of him.
I will not let them hurt her again, he thought, gathering up all of his courage he took a step forward and began yelling at Voldemort.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THIS POWERFUL, GREAT WIZARD!"
Ron didn't hold back as he continued yelling, he hoped that Voldemort would focus all of his anger on himself and forget about Hermione.
"WELL IF YOU'RE SO GREAT, THEN WHY CAN'T YOU USE YOUR SUPERIOR POWERS TO READ OUR MINDS!? IF YOU WERE SO GREAT, VOLDEMORT, THEN YOU WOULD KNOW THAT WE HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE ABOUT THAT POTION YOU WANT! AND YOU’RE WASTING YOUR TIME!"
Ron was panting slightly from yelling so forcefully.
A small shutter had gone around the half circle of Death Eaters when Ron had used Voldemort's name; but it gave Hermione courage. She knew how difficult it had been for Ron to use his name. Drawing up her courage, she walked over to Ron and laid her hand oh his arm. He seemed to calm a little at her touch.
Voldemort had remained stationary throughout Ron's outburst; he stood there sneering menacingly at them.
"I will ask you once more," he began in the same chilling voice, "tell me where the Draught of Prospicio is or the Mudblood dies."
Fear shot into Ron's eyes, Maybe I can make something up...no he'd know I was lying...what are we going to do?
"Dark Lord," came the voice of Snape.
What's he playing at, frantically thought Ron.
"If you kill the Mudblood, then the Muggle world will be alerted to your return. Do you really want to risk it?" finished Snape; every word dripping with disdain.
The look of confusion on Ron's face would have been completely hilarious at any other time than this. He opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione shot him a warning before he could get anything out.
"You are showing weakness, Severus," shot the cold voice of Lucius Malfoy. "All those years of working along side that old fool aren't rubbing off on you, are they?"
"Enough!" Voldemort interjected. "Severus is right; we do not need to make the Muggles aware of my presence. Until they find a replacement for that oaf, Fudge, as the Minister, we do not have to worry about extra involvement. I would prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible."
After Voldemort had finished speaking; Snape and Malfoy stepped back in line uttering their apologies at having interrupted him.
"I shall just have to kill the boy then," Voldemort started again. "His family already knows about me and have gotten in my way one too many times. Besides, she is the one that smelled of the draught."
Now it was Hermione's turn to be afraid.
If I died that's one thing, she thought, but to have to remain alive with Ron dead... Her thoughts trailed off as her attention was held by the fact that she smelled like the draught.
At that moment comprehension dawned on her face.
Serpent Root by Burrowbrat
Ch. 8 yay!!! This one gave me some troubles. I would like to start out by saying thanks to my lovely reviewers as always and special thanks to Harriet Evens, fvweasley, Jenn Weasley, Evil Penguin, hp_fan_1992, Identically Opposite, and vanillasweety for consistently reviewing. (If I forgot anyone I'm sorry, please don't hate me)
Meanwhile back at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Harry and the Weasleys were waiting apprehensively for a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to begin. Harry, Ginny, Fred, and George were being allowed to attend. They were curious as to why they were given permission to attend this one as opposed to all the others but they didn't ask any questions for fear that Dumbledore or Mrs. Weasley would change their minds.
"What time is it?" questioned George for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Two minutes past the time it was when you asked the last time," answered Ginny, sounding a little irritated at having to continue giving the time.
They were all on edge from their lack of information and the prospect of receiving some news about Hermione and Ron. The fact the Mrs. Weasley wasn't running around crying seemed like enough to tell them that they were going to find out something good but they wanted to know what.
"What time is it now?" George asked again, sounding familiarly similar to a five year old child.
Ginny was in the process of removing her watch to throw at her brother, when she heard her father's voice from the doorway behind her.
"It's time."
The Weasleys and Harry almost trampled one another in the process of getting out of the door. After they managed to remove themselves from the door frame, they all dashed down the stairs and into the dining room where the meeting was being held.
No one had to worry with keeping quiet so as not to disturb Mrs. Black anymore, because upon the death of Sirius, her portrait had fallen silent. Not even Dumbledore knew why, but everyone was thankful all the same.
The dining room was filled with many familiar faces. Bill, Charlie, McGonagall, Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin, Moody, Mundungus, and several other people were filling the room. The four friends had become accustom to Snape not being there (they just hoped he was on their side as Dumbledore believed); however, Dumbledore wasn't present in the room. Several questioning looks were passed back and forth but soon Dumbledore walked in from the kitchen and answered everyone's fleeting glances.
"Ah good, I'm glad you all could make it," he said, gesturing towards Harry, Ginny, Fred, and George. "Especially you, Harry," he added with some of that twinkle back in his cool blue eyes.
"Me professor?" Harry asked, feeling a bit confused seeing as how Ron was the Weasley's sibling.
Dumbledore nodded and followed by addressing the rest of the room; not giving Harry time to question him any farther on the matter.
"We believe that we have discovered the location of where Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are being held captive."
Could this be true? Could Dumbledore really know where they are? Harry thought hopefully.
"We do believe them to still be alive," Dumbledore added, looking from one Weasley to the next. "Now Harry, this is where you come in," he said, his eyes resting on Harry.
Oh know. It can't be time for that yet. Can it?! Harry frantically thought to himself.
"Do not worry," Dumbledore started again, knowing of Harry's fears. "It is not time as of yet for the event that you are concerned about."
Harry let out a small sigh of relief at this statement while the rest of the room looked thoroughly confused because they did not yet know about the contents of the prophecy. No one questioned Dumbledore or Harry because Dumbledore suddenly began speaking again
"Now Harry, have you been trying to close your mind off from Voldemort?"
"Err...yes..." sheepishly started Harry ignoring the shudders from around the room at Dumbledore's mention of Voldemort. "...but I'm not sure how good I've been at it."
"Well," Dumbledore continued. "I want you to stop trying while you are here at this meeting listening to what everyone has to say."
"You want me to let him into my thoughts professor?" Harry asked looking as if the old man had gone off his rocker.
"Yes Harry," continued Dumbledore. "It is pertinent that Voldemort at least knows how you feel about the information that will follow. Everything will be revealed in time but now I must beg you let me continue without any more questions for we are running out of precious time."
Harry nodded and tried to relax while Dumbledore began addressing the room.
"Now as most of you know, we have several Order members patrolling around trying to discover the whereabouts of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We have checked many different locations but until early this morning, each place seemed as unlikely as the next."
Harry couldn't believe it. They have to know where they are!
"Around Dawn this morning, Nymphadora and two younger Order members, Vanessa Wallace and Pamela Diaz, were on their way to patrol their assigned area. Miss Wallace felt that the apparation area wasn't as safe as we believed it to be. Honoring her feelings, Nymphadora suggested that they apparate a few miles away and walk the remainder of the way."
Harry could feel his insides shaking at the thought of receiving good information.
"On their way, they had to cross through a wooded area known as ‘Ophidian Bosk." Dumbledore continued. "Nymphadora, why don't you finish the story from here? I believe that you are much more capable of describing the details than myself."
"All right, thank you sir," started Tonks. "Well, when we were walking through the forest, we came up to some sort of a clearing in the trees. There were two Death Eaters arguing at the base of a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. When we saw them standing there, we ducked behind some trees and continued to watch them. I was about to try and get closer to see what they were saying but they just disappeared. They didn't disapparate and it didn't appear that they had a port key or invisibility cloak. It was almost as if they had been suddenly sucked into the ground."
With this statement the whole room went into muttering amongst themselves but were quickly silenced by Dumbledore with a raise of his hand.
"Please continue," he said, addressing Tonks.
She nodded and proceeded, "Well, after a few moments and a couple of spells to make sure that the area was clear, we went over to the tree that we had seen the Death Eaters disappear by. Unfortunately we had to cross through some angry looking cabbage grass with violent purple, knee high thistles scattered about but when we got to the tree, we noticed it was very odd looking. The side of the tree facing the east was a regular tree color but the western side was white. The bark was very jagged and big chunks of it appeared to be eaten away which left cold bare spots. Then we noticed the oddest part of the tree. At the white side, there was a curvy root jutting out of the ground. Pamela thought that it resembled a snakes head and after we looked closer we saw that there was even a hollowed out spot that looked like its eye.”
Tonks ended looking to Dumbledore, letting him know that she had finished.
Harry was rocking back and forth trying not to explode at everyone in the room about this little story doing him no good.
Dumbledore smiled and nodded slightly before continuing with more information.
“I had heard tell of a similar tree many years ago. The tree was called ‘serpent root.’ It was said to be a magical tree that served as a fortress for dark wizards. This was very unusual because trees tend to be good in nature. Upon hearing Nymphadora’s report I could not help but to recall this information, so I did some researching into the matter and discovered the incantation that is needed to open the tree’s root so that one can go down into the fortress. Since the Death Eaters appeared to ‘disappear into the ground’ I have no doubt in my mind that this is the 'Serpent Root' tree. We are also fairly certain that this is the hiding place of Voldemort and that Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are being held there.”
Harry’s insides surged with excitement and the contempt that he had been feeling towards Dumbledore ebbed away. They know where they are! I have to go and save them!
“No Harry,” replied Dumbledore. “I am sending a group of Order members to go and fetch your friends. It is necessary for you to stay here and await their return.
Harry was too happy to even argue with Dumbledore or wonder how he was reading his thoughts as Bill, Charlie, Kingsley, Tonks, and Lupin all filed out of number twelve Grimmauld Place to go find Ron and Hermione.
Please don't kill me...I know Ron and Hermione weren't in this chapter but a lot of important information had to be given this way. Ron and Hermione are back next chapter I promise and yes still alive. Now don't you go anywhere until you leave a review =)
Rows and Cups of Tea by Burrowbrat
Standing ovations to my lovely, beautimus reviewers. Keep it up everybody, and if you haven't left a review yet come on you know you want to, it's sooooo much fun, everybody's doing it, lol...Was that enough pressure on you? =P
“What?” Ron whispered.
He had just noticed the expression of comprehension on Hermione’s face. They had some time to talk because at that moment, Voldemort was in deep conversation with a few of his Death Eaters. Apparently Snape was trying to spare Ron’s life, just as he had saved Hermione, for the time being.
Hermione’s eyes darted around the room, trying to determine if it was safe to convey to Ron what she had understood. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, so she chanced it.
“I know what the Draught is,” she whispered out the side of her mouth.
“You what?!” Ron shot back, wide-eyed and a little too loudly.
Attention was suddenly drawn back to the two teenagers.
“This argument must stop,” came Voldemort’s disdainful voice. “We are wasting time. The old fool will learn of our location if we continue to linger on superfluous topics.”
“Forgive me master,” said Snape and Lucius unanimously, as they bowed their ways back into place.
“Yes, well…” started Voldemort, but an odd expression suddenly spread itself across his cold white face. “The boy is entirely too happy about something,” he said with a twinge of fear in his voice.
“He doesn’t look happy master,” supplied the unmistakable drool of Bellatrix Lestrange.
“Not that boy, you incompetent fool! Harry Potter!” bellowed Voldemort.
“My servants, come with me,” he chimed as he began making his way towards the stairs.
“Lucius! Severus! Since the two of you are of different minds as per the fate of the two brats,” he said, gesturing to Ron and Hermione from the top of the stairs, “You stay here and see that they stay put. Oh, and try to be of some use while we’re gone and get some information from the girl. She knows something,” He finished, gleaming at the fearful looks on their faces.
With that he was gone, leaving the four solitary people alone in the torch lit dungeon cell.
“I still say we should dispose of them,” began Lucius, while removing his mask.
“I have already stated why that would be unwise,” spat back Snape while removing his own mask.
“Listen to yourself, sparing life. It isn’t our way Severus,” scoffed Lucius, while sweeping his long platinum hair out of his eyes.
“We do when it is to our benefit,” Snape added smugly.
With this last statement, Ron and Hermione tuned out the two quarrelling men. There was too much to contemplate and discuss.
“Why was V…Vol…Vold…” Hermione nodded, urging Ron to finish the word. “Oh, why was V…Voldemort talking about Harry?” Ron finished, looking at Hermione intently.
“I have an idea,” Hermione said while averting her eyes from Ron’s stare.
“Well…” whispered Ron, refusing to relent his gaze.
Hermione gave in and looked deep into his eyes but somehow managed to charge forward with the explanation. “Well, you remember how Harry could sense Voldemort’s emotions last year and at times even see his thoughts?”
Ron’s eyes widened with comprehension. “Oh right…V..Vol…Voldemort can do the same thing, that’s why they were so bent on Harry learning Occlumency. That makes sense.”
“Right,” Hermione began, being unable to contain the smile that was creeping its way onto her lips at seeing Ron look so pleased with himself despite their predicament.
“Now, we need to find a way out of here.” She finished as she tore herself away from those eyes and began scanning their surroundings for a means of escape.
“Wait,” Ron started jumpily, “You said that you knew what the Draught thingy was…well?”
She leaned in to tell him her discovery but was interrupted.
“What are you two whispering about?” demanded Lucius Malfoy.
The captives had been so deep in conversation that they hadn’t noticed that the men’s row had ended.
“Oh not much, just what an ugly git you are!” declared Ron, his irritation rising at having been denied the information that he yearned to know.
“Why you insolent little…” Lucius started while drawing his wand.
“Calm yourself, Lucius,” began Snape while maneuvering himself in between the angry Malfoy and Weasley.
“Why should I?” spat Lucius as he made an effort to remove Snape from his path.
“The Dark Lord said that the girl knows something. So we mustn’t be without information for him when he returns.”
With rage in his eyes, Lucius consented, “Let’s see if we can’t get her to talk by torturing the little Weasel. He has gotten on my nerves for the last time.”
“There will be plenty of time for that later,” Snape said as if he were trying to talk a small child out of a temper tantrum. “I’m sure it will be a while before they return. Why don’t we go upstairs for a cup of tea to relax us before we begin with the pleasantries, shall we?”
Ron and Hermione couldn’t believe their eyes. Snape was actually leading Lucius Malfoy up the stairs and out the door.
“Now why don’t you tell me how you escaped from Azkaban, Lucius…” Snape’s voice died away as the door closed behind the two men.
Ron chuckled at what he had just witnessed, before turning to Hermione. “Can you believe that?” he questioned still grinning goofily.
“I think we were very fortunate just now and may owe our lives to Professor Snape,” Hermione said with something of awe in her voice.
“No. You missed my point entirely,” Ron said still grinning like mad. “I was talking about the tea,” he laughed again as Hermione continued to look puzzled. “I can’t wait to tell Harry,” continued Ron, “All we ever had to do was offer Malfoy a cup of tea, if he’s like his father, and he would have left us sodding alone.”
Hermione began to smile at how stupid Ron was being.
“Just think Hermione,” he was saying as he put his arm around her unconsciously and made a wide gesture with the other hand as if he were reading out words in the air, “Tea, saving the world one cup at a time.”
The two broke into fits of laughter after Ron’s silliness, despite their situation. They were so happy about being spared for the moment that the joke seemed much funnier than it would have at any other time.
After the laughing had worn away, Ron and Hermione slumped down against the back wall to rest, his arm still comfortably around her, neither of them wanting to be apart from the other.
With a touch of the cold floor, reality set in and their situation suddenly came back into focus.
“Now,” Ron said looking down at Hermione, “What is this Draught of Prospicioso or however you say it?”
"Patience my love, patience. *gollum, gollum*"
Nods of Consent by Burrowbrat
Writers block finally over! *wipes forehead* A million thanks to Squeaky (Identically Opposite) for helping me threw it. *presents her with loads of gold star stickers for her badge* Thanks to everyone for being patient and reviewing. Enjoy =)
“Now Harry,” began Dumbledore after the excitement had died down. “I need you to accompany me to the Burrow.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” questioned Mrs. Weasley hesitantly.
“We discussed earlier that Harry will remain perfectly safe,” Dumbledore said, addressing the anxious mother sympathetically. “There will be a Portkey on hand for him to use the moment trouble arrives.”
She nodded but still looked rather fearful.
“Thank you again for letting us use your house,” Dumbledore added, still addressing Mrs. Weasley.
“Well what did you expect,” she came back, mustering up all of her courage and sounding more like her old self than she had since the capture of her youngest son. “Ronald is our son and Hermione is as good as a daughter. We’ll do whatever is necessary to get them back safe and sound.”
Dumbledore nodded, patting her on the back before turning back to Harry.
“Are you all ready to go then?” he asked with all the twinkle back in his eyes.
“But why are we going back to the Burrow?” Harry questioned with an extreme look of confusion on his face.
“I will explain everything once we arrive,” Dumbledore answered while holding out a tea cup which Harry suspected had been magicked into a Portkey.
Harry nodded with a little uncertainty and reached out to touch the cup.
Dumbledore started counting, “1…2…3…”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Alright, everyone we’re here?” said a troubled Lupin, looking at the group of people scattered about the kitchen of the Burrow.
“Why did we have to come home,” Bill asked.
“We had to come here so that Harry would think we were going to rescue Ron and Hermione,” said Lupin who was now looking about the kitchen for something.
“But we are, aren’t we?” asked Bill, sounding a bit more defiant than he had intended to.
“Part of us are,” said Tonks joining in the conversation, “Everything has to be timed perfectly for Dumbledore’s plan to work out correctly.”
“Ah, this will do,” said Lupin, holding up a saucer he had found in one of the cabinets. “Dumbledore is going to bring Harry here in a few moments. Two of us will then leave to retrieve Hermione and Ron while the rest of us remain here.”
“I still don’t understand,” said Charlie, who was now joining with his brother and voicing his confusion.
“Portus,” muttered Lupin while tapping the saucer before continuing with the explanation. “Dumbledore has had Harry to open his mind to Voldemort in order to draw him away from your brother and Hermione. If everything goes according to plan, Voldemort and most of his Death Eaters should eventually show up here. That will leave an open opportunity for two of us to get into his hiding place and make the rescue.”
“I’ll go get Ron and Hermione,” said Bill, not waiting to here any more explanation.
“Me too,” added Charlie, “He is our brother.”
“I agree that one of you should go,” said Kingsley, finally joining in the conversation. “But I also believe you should take an Auror along too, just in case things don't go exactly as planned.”
“I’ll go,” offered Tonks. “We don’t want poor Hermione to be stuck with all you men on the journey back,” she ended with a chuckle.
“You can go Bill,” offered Charlie. “You volunteered first.”
Bill nodded and Lupin began giving instructions more for Bill than Tonks who seemed to already know the plan.
“You’ll have to apparate a little ways from ‘Ophidian Bosk’ because Voldemort will more than likely have taken measures to detect any magic within a close perimeter of the Serpent Root. Go to the spot you apparated to the other day,” he said looking at Tonks, “and wait for our signal.”
Tonks and Bill nodded and with a pop they were gone.
Not a second later, Dumbledore entered the kitchen followed by Harry.
“Everything is ready, I trust,” he said walking up to retrieve the saucer from Lupin.
The prematurely aged man nodded and Dumbledore turned to Harry, “I assume that you heard enough of Remus’ explanation from our position in the dining room to have a grasp of what we are doing here.”
It was now Harry’s turn to nod his understanding.
“Good,” started Dumbledore again. “Now I am going to have you take a small amount of a happiness draft. After you have taken it, I need you to focus completely on the Burrow and the Draught of Prospicio.”
But professor,” came the voice of a still confused Harry, “I still don’t know what the Draught of Prospicio is.”
“It does not matter,” said Dumbledore with a smile. “As long as Voldemort believes that you know what it is and he knows you are here, that will be enough.”
“Alright,” said Harry still sounding unsure of the plan but willing to do anything to save his two best friends.
Dumbledore pulled a small vile from his robes.
“Now I want you to start concentrating and drink this.”
Harry gathered up his courage and took the vile from Dumbledore. The Burrow, he thought. The Draught of Prospicio. He thought harder, threw his head back, and drained the vile. A huge grin plastered itself upon his face as he continued to focus on the task at hand.
* * * * * * * * * *
Hermione suddenly realized how close she was to Ron but couldn’t figure out how to slide over without making things more awkward for herself. She decided to address Ron’s question instead.
“So you haven’t figured out why they keep telling me that I smell like the Draught?” She asked him, knowing very well he didn’t have a clue.
“I just thought maybe you smelled really bad and they know the draught thingy is supposed to stink,” he said smiling mischievously at her.
“I don’t believe you Ronald Weasley,” she said, her anger beginning to rise.
“Calm down,” Ron said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I was only joking. Don’t go mental on me, you know I’ll never be as clever as you are,” He finished with a smirk.
Hermione couldn’t help but smile at him now trying to look innocent. She decided this was neither the time nor the place for a fight.
“Fine I’ll tell you,” she finally managed.
“Good. Knew you’d see it my way,” Ron laughed while settling back down against the wall.
Hermione seized this chance to slide around and face Ron rather than be right up next to him. She found it hard to breathe that close to him.
“All right,” she started, “Do you remember that perfume you gave me last year for Christmas?”
“Yeah,” said Ron, his ears reddening slightly. “But what has that got to do with anything?”
Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
“You can be so thick sometimes.”
He just gaped at her waiting for an explanation.
“Well, that’s the only thing that I can figure out that I would smell like,” she started again.
“So you wear it?!” Ron asked sounding amazed.
He seemed to have missed the fact that Hermione had just told him what the Draught was.
She laughed at him while she answered, “Of course I wear it, that is why you gave it to me, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…er…right,” stuttered Ron who seemed to be coming out of some sort of reverie.
“Where did you get it anyway?” Hermione questioned with a smile, wondering how Ron had managed to stumble across an ancient potion for a Christmas gift.
There you have it. Congratulations to all of you who guessed correctly. All the excitement isn't over yet just because you know what the Draught is now...*motions fingers using jedi mind trick* so you must keep reading and reviewing...=D Go R/R my new fic "Yours to Break" while you're at it. Come on you know you want to. =)
Special Gift by Burrowbrat
Finally here's chapter eleven, I hope you enjoy
“W-where did I g-get it…” Ron began, unsure of himself. “Er…at a-a-a store.”
“What store?” asked Hermione while trying to remain patient.
“Well…er…” Ron continued to fumble his words.
“Just tell me,” she said while leaning in to look comfortingly into his eyes.
“Oh all right,” he began, mustering up all of his courage, “Everyone had already gotten you perfect gifts and I had no clue what to get you. So I borrowed Harry’s invisibility cloak and the Marauder’s Map and snuck down to Hogsmead to find you a present.”
Hermione drew in a small shocked breath but didn’t say anything and let him continue.
“Well,” he started again, “I went to several stores and nothing seemed right. After looking forever, I finally went into this little antique shop and saw the little vile. It was pretty but I didn’t know what it was. I was about to move on, when the shop keeper sort of popped out of nowhere and started talking to me about the vile. He said it had been in a storage room for ages but he had only found it hiding in an old chest a few days before. He told me that it contained a very special perfume for a very special person. So I decided that it was perfect for you.”
The red from Ron’s ears had crept onto his cheeks by the completion of his tale. Hermione had even started to blush a little.
“That still doesn’t explain why the Death Eaters knew to look at your house for it,” she stated with a quizzical look on her pink-cheeked face.
Ron’s entire face got lost in bright redness before he started to explain. “Well…I…I…I had to work out a payment plan with the bloke because I didn’t have enough money to pay for it all at once. I snuck down to his shop a couple more times to finish paying for it. He made me sign a written promise to pay back what I owed. Maybe he still had the paper on record or something and the Death Eaters tracked the Draught to his shop and then to me.”
Hermione was wide-eyed with awe and admiration. Wow, he sure did go through a lot of trouble for me, she thought to herself. Calm down…breathe…ok…you can do this.
She was trying to work up her nerve to speak. “Thank you Ron. You’ll never know what that means to me,” she finished lovingly.
She then collected every ounce of courage she had and leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Ron jerked a little out of shock when this happened. He hadn’t exactly been coherent the last time this had occurred. Oh just tell her man, now’s as good a time as any.
He finally got the words out, “Hermione, I didn’t just want to get you a dumb old book like everyone else. I know you like books but everyone buys you books. I wanted you to have something special that said you’re more than just a book-worm…”
Ron was speaking so quickly that Hermione had to concentrate on him intently to keep up.
“You’re my best friend, Hermione. You’re brilliant, you’re more than just my friend, you’re beautiful, I don’t want to lose you, and…”
Hermione put a finger up to Ron’s mouth to silence him. “I feel the same way.”
“What!” Ron asked in a charged whisper.
Hermione nodded her head and got lost in his eyes.
They sat there in the silence staring at one another until the space between them finally closed as their lips were drawn together by fear, passion and longing.
“Oh how sweet,” echoed the mock sugary voice of Lucius Malfoy. “I believe my tea is trying to resurface.”
Hermione and Ron broke apart. Holding hands they stood to face Lucius. They were afraid but at least they were together.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Bella, come here!” came the ominous voice of Lord Voldemort.
“Yes master,” she gasped as she made her way towards him from her hiding place near the Serpent Root.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters had stationed themselves around the Serpent Root in expectation of an attack and rescue.
“The boy is even happier now,” Voldemort seethed, “He is at the Weasley house with the old goat. You stay here to guard the entrance in case someone comes along. Now let me see your arm.”
She held out her arm that was branded with the dark mark and Voldemort touched his wand to the skull and snake just before disapparating.
Bellatrix stood in the clearing alone listening to little pops and cracks all around her as her fellow Death Eaters disapparated to join their master at the Burrow. Little did she know that two sets of eyes were watching her from a relatively close yet safe distance.
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry was still in a giddy stupor from his happiness draft. The Order members were watching him with suppressed laughter as he skipped about the Burrow singing to himself:
The Burrow is Ron’s house
He used to have a stupid mouse
And now he has this real odd Draught
The Death Eaters, I hope that they get caught
Then I can take out Voldemort
And rid the world of the evil wart!
*crack*
“So I’m an evil wart, Potter?” I thought I was much worse than that,” the cold voice of Voldemort echoed through the house as many other cracks and pops began to be heard.
Harry froze in his tracks as he began watching the Death Eaters appear out of nowhere all around the room. He couldn’t help but giggle, despite the dangerous situation that was unfolding around him.
“Harry catch!” Charlie shouted as he hurled the saucer/Portkey towards Harry.
Thankfully, the happiness draft hadn’t weakened his reflexes. Harry reached out and caught the saucer. The next thing he new he was being jerked from behind his navel away from the Burrow and the impending battle.
Alright another chapter down and just a few more to go. Despite the nasty log-in issues go review...it really does get kind of funny after you've logged in a million times (if you have an odd sense of humor) and don't forget to go R/R my other two stories 'Yours to Break' and 'I Was a Famous Child Witch or Wizard'. =)
Battle Tactics by Burrowbrat
Ch. 12 is up!!! Hope you're all still enjoying the fic. It's almost over only one or two more chapters to go. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and those who are going to review ;-)
Ron and Hermione gripped each others hands tightly as Lucius Malfoy loomed ever closer to them.
“So the little Weasel and the filthy Mudblood were sharing a moment?” he scoffed. “To bad it will be the last that either of you will be able to remember. Now who wants to go first?”
The two looked to one another and slowly both raised their hands. Neither one wanted to witness the other being tortured. It was easier to just take the pain themselves.
For a moment Lucius looked taken aback at their volunteering but slowly regained his composer and raised his wand to choose a victim. Before he made a decision, Snape appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Lucius,” he spat, “I thought we agreed that we would handle this together.”
“I’m tired of waiting Severus,” Lucius seethed, “and your…tolerance is making me suspicious of where your allegiance lies.”
The two men eyed one another for a moment before Hermione broke the silence. Her brain had snapped into gear and she was looking for a way out.
“Alright listen,” Hermione began with more confidence than would be expected given her situation.
The three men in the room looked toward her with curiosity etched on all of their faces.
She walked toward the edge of the cell and began addressing the two angry Death Eaters.
“Neither one of you like me very much so why don’t you just take me first and be done with it,” she finished without as much as a tinge of fear in her voice.
Lucius looked like Christmas had come early while Snape remained emotionless. Ron on the other hand was not taking this plan, if that’s what it was, very well.
“Hermione!” he whispered. “I won’t let you,” he continued his voice growing with every word.
“Take me, not her,” he stated looking defiantly at Lucius Malfoy.
“No,” said Lucius simply, “I like her idea.”
Lucius waved his wand at the lock on the cell door and muttered, “Alohomora,” unlocking it.
Hermione grasped Ron in a tight hug before she was removed from the cell and whispered in his ear, “When they take me from the cell, try to get out and go for help.”
The next second Lucius Malfoy spoke, “Accio Mudblood,” and Hermione was lifted off her feet and went speeding towards the door.
Ron also made his move towards the door and dived out of it just as Hermione was floating through the open cell.
Lucius was caught off guard by Ron’s sudden burst of movement and lost control of his spell. Hermione went flying off course and the angry Malfoy sent another random spell hurtling towards the now free Ron. At the same time Snape had sprung into action and was muttering a spell of his own.
At the hit of both men’s spells all of the torches in the room were extinguished and everything went silent and black.
* * * * * * * * * *
Harry had been port-keyed back to number twelve Grimmauld Place. He was still a little loopy from his happiness draft but it was slowly beginning to wear off.
“Harry! Are you all right?” came the voice of Ginny Weasley from a mass of red hair that had tackled him the minute his feet hit the floor. “I was worried that you wouldn’t make it back. Are my brothers okay?”
Harry was chuckling slightly at having fallen over and wasn’t answering her questions.
“Well, you seem to be okay,” she said in reference to the laughter.
“Yeah,” he said, still snickering. “Charlie tossed me this tea saucer,” he added, holding up the plate and trying not to laugh. “It ported me out of there before anything happened,” he managed through spurts of giggles.
“What’s so funny in here,” said Mrs. Weasley as she walked through the door of the kitchen into the front hallway where Ginny and Harry were piled in a heap on the floor.
“Oh Harry, you’re back!” she screamed with glee while running towards him. “Ginny get off of him. He’s just been through an ordeal, I’m sure,” she added before scooping Harry up into an enormous hug.
“I’m not sure what he’s been through,” stated Ginny with a bemused expression on her face.
“Harry dear, what has gotten into you?” asked Mrs. Weasley as Harry burst into another fit of laughter for no apparent reason.
“Dumbledore made me drink this draft thingy,” Harry told her while trying to contain himself.
“Ah, a happiness draft,” said Mrs. Weasley matter-of-factly as she turned to go back into the kitchen. “Just before it wears off, you go into this mad fit of the giggles. I suppose, I’ll have to wait and question you after this dies away,” she finished while scurrying into the kitchen with worry once again etched on her face.
“Hey Gin,” started Harry, still chortling a bit, “Did you know you have the cutest little button nose?" He couldn’t contain his laughter now.
Ginny just rolled her eyes as she turned to leave Harry to his random amusement. She wanted to leave before the draft wore off because her face had turned beat red. Had Harry just called her nose cute?
* * * * * * * * * *
“Okay, let’s take her together,” began Tonks as they observed Bellatrix attempting to hide herself near the entrance to the Serpent Root. “You go around to the left and I’ll come in from the right. We’ll try to stun her before she realizes what’s happening.”
“Alright, good luck,” Bill said as he took off in the direction he had been pointed.
Tonks took off in the other direction and the two slowly began to approach the hiding place of the watchful witch.
They were almost at a distance where a spell could be fired when…*snap*…Tonks stepped on a twig that broke in two.
Bellatrix began looking widely around for the source of the noise and finally spotted Tonks who was trying in vain to conceal her location.
Tonks dove wildly out of the way as the evil witch fired a spell at her. She then retrieved her own wand from inside her robes and fired a spell back at Bellatrix Lestrange.
The Death Eater became suddenly aware of Bill Weasley’s presence after dodging Tonks' spell and focused on trying to hold both of them off.
Bellatrix wasn’t ignorant about the art of dueling and stood her ground. Bill sent a stunning spell at her but she deflected it back to him. He barely had time to block it but managed to divert the spell at the last second.
The threesome dueled back and forth for what seemed like hours. After having just successfully blocked another of Lestrange’s spells, Tonks began to advance on her. She was making her way closer to the witch while her evil attention was focused on Bill.
All of a sudden Tonks' clumsiness came in contact with one of the many exposed roots in the bosk. This gave Bellatrix the opening she needed.
“Temporalis Pedica Letum!” she shouted.
Tonks’ sprawled form that had tripped over the root became suddenly limp and she did not move.
“NO!” Bill screamed as the spell hit, but it was too late.
The witch and wizard faced one another as Tonks remained motionless on the ground. Bellatrix smiled as they were preparing to continue the duel.
Before another spell could be uttered the Serpent Root began to open. Bellatrix and Bill waited to see who would emerge.
Alrighty now you know the drill. Go review and just ignore the log-in problem. I had to ignore it to get this chapter to you so you can ignore it to review, lol =) I'll give the meaning of Bella's spell in one of the next 2 chapters but I don't want to tell what it did to Tonks just yet. Now here's some publicity for some of my wonderful reviewers. There are several of my 'regular' reviewers that have really good stories on here so go read them...CraftySlytherin, Harriet Evens, Evil Penguin, Jenn_Weasley and fvweasley. If I forgot anyone I appologize. It wasn't intentional. =)
The Draught by Burrowbrat
Ch. 13 dun dun dun...did I say there were only going to be one or two more chapters at the beginning of the last chapter? Well I was wrong, there are three more (counting this one) 15 in total. Sorry about the miscalculation. Now...read on! lol =)
Information on all the spells that you see in this chapter was gained from The HPL Encyclopedia of Spells
The Serpent Root was dead center between the dueling witch and wizard. Their eyes were set on the opening ground, to see if friend or foe would emerge.
Within a matter of seconds red hair could be seen ascending from the ground, shortly after a brunette pony tail followed.
“Where do you think we are?” questioned Ron before seeing Bellatrix or his brother.
“I don’t know but…” Hermione trailed off as she noticed the halted battle that had been taking place on either side of them.
She grabbed Ron’s arm as Bill shouted “MOVE!”
They dove out of the middle of the fight just before Bellatrix bellowed “Stupefy” at them.
Without any wands, the only option Ron and Hermione had was to run.
Hand in hand they took off away from the fight. Spells continued to fly around them. Apparently Bellatrix decided that catching the escaped captives was more worth her time than continuing the battle with the older red head.
Bill was in hot pursuit on her tail but she was amazingly much faster than she appeared.
Ron and Hermione were tearing through the forest at top speed unsure of where to go as a spell whizzed passed Ron’s ear.
This is getting too close. We need to get off the main path, he thought to himself as he pulled Hermione behind one of the larger trees in the forest.
“What do we do next?” he desperately whispered looking at Hermione for an answer.
She had no answer for him. I have no idea what to do. Think Hermione think, she urged her brain on.
“Come out little weasel and I’ll let the Mudblood live,” Bellatrix taunted.
That’s right, thought Ron frantically. She doesn’t know that Hermione’s the one with the Draught. I could turn myself over to her and give Hermione a chance to get away.
“No Ron, you can’t,” whispered Hermione knowing what was going through Ron’s mind.
“Mobiliarbus!” shouted the angry witch before Ron or Hermione had time to react.
The tree they were hiding behind moved over to one side, exposing the two teens.
Bellatrix raised her wand to cast another spell but she had forgotten about the other Weasley that she had been dueling previously.
“Expelliarmus!” Bill shouted before Bellatrix could finish the incantation.
Her wand flew out of her unsuspecting hand and Hermione leapt forward to retrieve it.
The evil witch was trapped but she didn’t show any fear.
“Give it up, girl,” she seethed, “You’ll never be able to use my wand correctly. It’s much to powerful for your little Mudblood self.”
“She doesn’t have to be able to use it, the point is that you don’t have one,” scoffed Bill, “and I’m pretty sure she could handle it,” he added with a wink towards Hermione.
Bellatrix’s blood was boiling so hot that her face was a shade of red that could rival any Weasley’s.
“Incarcerous!” Bill shouted before the Death Eater had time to calculate another move.
Long binding ropes snaked out of his wand and wrapped themselves around her evil form, making it impossible for her to move more than a little squirm. She quickly lost her balance and fell forward onto the rough terrain.
“How dare you! You filthy unworthy Muggle lover! The Dark Lord will win in the end! Just wait and see! And the arrogant Mudblood will be first to go! Mark my wor….” Bellatrix’s loud bantering was silenced by a spell from Hermione with the evil witch’s own wand.
Hermione lowered the wand and looked down at the witch’s struggling form as Ron and Bill made their way towards her. The three embraced for a moment before asking the burning questions that had been on all of their minds.
“You didn’t come here to rescue us by yourself, did you?” questioned Ron sounding a little puzzled as to why his brother was there alone.
“No way…I’m not good enough for that.” Bill answered slightly smiling but with concern etched on the rest of his features. “I came with Tonks. She’s back near the Serpent Root. Bellatrix hit her with a spell. We need to go check on her.”
“Is she okay?” Hermione asked with a slightly shocked expression on her face.
“She should be fine in a few days. The spell she was hit with takes a while to wear off and there’s no counter to awaken her any earlier.” responded Bill.
“Did you say she was at a serpent’s boot or something? What’s that?!” Ron inquired looking rather perplexed.
“Root,” Bill said laughing, “I’ll explain later, but first I want to know how you two managed to escape?
“Long story brother.” came Ron’s answer.
“Well then, you can just tell me about it while we head back over to get Tonks” Bill grinned. “Mobilicorpus!” he said pointing his wand at Bellatrix making her body hover in the air and float a little ways in front of the trio as they walked back along the path they had sprinted earlier to find the fallen Tonks.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Ginny! I need your help!” said an overly excited, back to normal Harry as he burst into her room.
“What is it?” she asked as she looked up from the homework she was working on.
“You know how Dumbledore made me try to open up my mind so that Voldemort could see in?” he started.
Ginny nodded that she understood and allowed him to continue.
“Well I was down stairs sitting in the floor…I got tired from all that laughing and couldn’t think strait enough to go sit in a chair or anything,” he added after seeing the confused expression on her face when he said he’d been sitting in the floor.
“Finally all that mad laughter stopped and I got really still and peaceful like. Well while I was sitting there I started to hear this voice that I knew wasn’t mine. It was like I was having a dream, only I was awake. I realized that it was Voldemort and he was talking to someone. It took me a minute to figure out that it was Dumbledore that he was talking to. He was saying ‘You know where it is you old fool. The girl had the smell of it on her clothes. Tell me where it is or I’ll finish them both!’”
Ginny was wide eyed and looked terrified.
“He was talking about Ron and Hermione.” Harry stated, “He thinks that Hermione has that Draught thing that Dumbledore was talking about. Well that’s when things started to get bad because he realized that I was there in his mind and he started talking to me. It was really odd Ginny, let me tell you.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” she added ominously before he could go on.
“Right, er…sorry about that,” he continued not wanting to spend more time than was necessary on retailing what had happened.
“Well, I guess he was talking out loud to me, because one minute he was telling me to get out of his head and the next I heard Dumbledore telling me to close off my mind. I realized when I heard his voice that I should be closed off to him again because we don’t want him to see where we are right now, or learn anything else I know that he doesn’t. So I tried to make myself come back to reality and close my mind. Hopefully I was able to close him out enough that he didn’t see anything important.”
Ginny was still sitting on her bed taking in all that Harry had just told her.
“You said you needed my help,” she finally said, remembering when he had burst into her room at number twelve Grimmauld Place.
“Yeah I do. Does Hermione have some kind of perfume or something that she would be wearing that has a smell to it? Voldemort said that she smelled like the Draught. I was just wondering.” Harry said while looking around the room for Hermione’s things that had been brought with everyone else the day they had made the move from the Burrow.
Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment before she began, “Well, the only perfume I’ve ever seen her put on is the stuff that Ron gave her for Christmas last year.”
“Ron gave Hermione perfume for a Christmas gift?” Harry asked looking a little confused,
“Oh you are all alike, dense as a bored,” Ginny said exasperatedly as she walked over to Hermione’s trunk and opened it.
“What?!” Harry questioned as he walked over to help Ginny search for the perfume.
“Nothing,” sighed Ginny as she pulled a little vile of liquid out of the trunk, “I’ve found it!” she said joyfully. “Now what do we do?”
“Dumbledore said that the drinker of the draught would have some unusual side effects.” Harry said as he was thinking about what the headmaster had said. “So I’m betting in Dumbledore talk that means if you drink this then you’ll either get some weird powers or something, since Voldemort wants it”
“I think we should take it to mum and tell her that we think it’s the Draught of Prospicio.” stated Ginny looking a bit apprehensive.
“That would take too long,” began Harry looking a bit too excited, “Most of the Order is out fighting Death Eaters right now and Dumbledore is dueling Voldemort, so we couldn’t find anything out until it might be too late.”
“So what do you propose that we should do?” Ginny asked afraid of what that gleam in Harry’s eye could mean.
“We’ll just have to drink it and see what happens.” Harry said matter-of-factly.
“Oh Merlin! Are you crazy?!” Ginny exclaimed. “We don’t even know if this is the Draught or not. Are you suggesting that we take a sip of Hermione’s perfume that may kill us for all we know and just see what happens?!”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” smiled Harry. “Here goes,”
“NO WAIT!” She screamed. “You don’t need to be the one to test it, what if it does kill you or do something horrid to you. You have to stay here to keep protecting everyone else. I can afford to be lost, let me drink it.”
“I can’t let you do that,” he said holding the vile away from the fiery red head’s reach.
“Oh yes you can Harry James Potter, or I’ll go tell mum right now that we’ve found it and what your planning to do with it.” she scolded sounding a great deal like her mother.
“Alright you win, but if anything happens to you…” Harry started.
“I’ll come back and haunt you if it kills me alright,” she finished for him.
They smiled at each other briefly before Ginny threw her head back and took a sip from the small vile.
Thanks again to all those of you who have reviewed and special thanks to those who continually review, the list is so long at this point I can't begin to mention you all. Millions of gold star stickers to all of you. :-P Oh and I forgot to mention last chapter, if you haven't r/r my other two fics, you should...lol...go on you know you want to. Now that you’ve read HBP at least twice, you need to go criticize how what I’ve written could never possibly happen, lol…although Yours to Break could have taken place during HBP ok I’m through being obnoxious now. ;o)
Incantations and Sleeping Draughts by Burrowbrat
Only one more chapter after this. I hope the ending is to everyone's approval. Well here you go, second to last chapter, enjoy.=)
Ginny had a pained expression as she swallowed the liquid from the little vile.
“Are you alright? Do you feel any different?” Harry asked with concern in his voice.
“I still feel like me.” She answered unsure of herself, “I can’t tell that anyth…” she trailed off.
Her head flung back and she screamed a blood curdling scream. Seconds later her body curled up into the tiniest shape possible and didn’t move.
“Ginny!” Harry called out. “Are you…alright…can you hear me!”
Before he could find out if she were alright Mrs. Weasley came running in the room at having heard her daughter scream in such a fashion.
“What’s going on in here!” She demanded, “Ginny…Ginny dear…”
“I’m alright mom,” came a small meek voice from the balled up form of the young witch.
“Ginny!” Harry cried.
“Y-you, have to b-battle V-v…He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…” she stated quietly while motioning towards Harry.
Mrs. Weasley rushed over to her daughter and put her arms around her.
“Harry will be fine dear, there’s nothing to worry about. Now what was all that yelling about?” she asked her only daughter.
“W-we found the Draught of Pr-Prospicio,” said Harry in a guilty voice. “We should have brought it to you but…”
“You didn’t drink it!” Mrs. Weasley asked, shaken by what she had just heard.
“I-I did mum,” said Ginny. “I s-saw H-harry dueling V-Vol…You-Know-Who,” she began telling what she had seen. “It’s soon…” she finished looking up at Harry with tears in her eyes.
“A-and…w-who…wins?” Harry asked in a shaky voice.
She shook her head. “I d-didn’t see that, b-but there w-were b-bodies everywhere…so m-many w-will d-die.” She finished breaking down into fits of tears.
Mrs. Weasley looked as if she were going to pass out but managed to keep herself together.
“As s-soon as Dumbledore returns, I’ll send him up to see you,” she told her frightened child, “He’ll know what to do. Now, I’m going to go down and fix you a sleeping draught for dreamless sleep until he returns.” With her last comforting words, she turned to leave.
Harry rose to follow her but Ginny grabbed his arm.
“P-please don’t l-leave m-me.” She begged through her tears. “Y-you’re the only o-one who c-can unders-stand.”
He sat back down on the bed next to her and she leaned over and sobbed into his chest.
After several moments had passed and her crying calmed a bit he asked, “W-who d-dies, Gin?”
She shook her head, “I w-won’t tell you…y-you h-have enough to w-worry about already.”
He knew she wouldn’t relent by the look in her eyes so he gave up and just sat there for her to cry on until her mother arrived with the sleeping potion.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Snape did what?!” Bill asked with excitement in his voice.
“Well, old Lucius was conjuring Hermione out of the cell to do Merlin knows what to her and I dove out the door below her.” Ron was vividly describing their escape to his brother play-by-play.
“So then I went after him and…”
He-hem Hermione cleared her throat while smiling slightly and Ron came back to reality.
“Right, er…I didn’t exactly go for him,” he corrected himself, “He started to send some spell at me and Snape sent one of his own. I don’t know what he hit him with but all the light in the place went out and we couldn’t see anything. The next thing I know I’m being jerked up and dragged up the stairs. Only the weird thing is that it must have been magic taking me up because when I got to the top and into the light there wasn’t anyone there that could have carried me,” He finished looking slightly bewildered at not having the answer.
“The same thing happened to me,” Hermione shared, “Snape must have used the Occaeco Amotio charm on us.” She concluded.
“The what?!” Ron gaped.
“It is a means of removing something from a room or place,” Bill began to explain, “I wonder how he pulled it off without Lucius knowing what he was doing?”
“I don’t know,” began Hermione, “He must have used something else on Mr. Malfoy first, because I didn’t hear him anymore after that.”
“Yeah, now back to my story,” Ron butted in, having enough of this intellectual talk, “When we got dragged to the top of the stairs, or whatever happened, we ran like mad the only way there was to go. Then all of a sudden where we were running just kind of stopped. Hermione figured that it opened somehow but we didn’t know the spell. But before we could even try anything, the ground started rising and the ceiling or whatever started opening up and that’s when we found you.”
Bill had a puzzled expression on his face. “Dumbledore said there was an incantation to open the Serpent Root but he never said what it was.”
“Well we certainly didn’t say anything that could have opened it,” said Hermione who was looking thoughtful, “You were dueling just above us, could any of you have said the incantation?”
“I don’t know, we didn’t say anything that sounded like a spell to open a tree root, but then again, you never can tell with magic,” he said before spotting Tonks’ sprawled form on the ground.
“Come help me,” he said as they bent down to inspect the injured Tonks.
Hermione’s face lost all it’s color as she saw Tonks lying there.
“She’ll be ok,” said Bill, “Bellatrix hit her with a temporary death trap spell. She should be awake within a few days. We’ll take her to St. Mungo’s to recover just incase there are any spell complications.”
Hermione and Ron nodded.
Bill stood and pointed his wand south.
Within moments Mrs. Weasley apparated by there side.
“Oh thank Merlin you’re alright!” she screamed and through her arms around Ron and Hermione. “We’ve been so worried! Thought I’d lost you!” she continued to fuss over them before noticing Tonks lying on the ground.
“Oh my, what has happened to Nymphadora?” she asked through the joyful tears she had been shedding over the recovery of her son and Hermione.
“It was Temporalis Pedica Letum,” Bill explained, “She’ll be alright, I just needed help getting Ron and Hermione out of here so I could take Tonks to St. Mungo’s and Bellatrix to the Ministry. We’ll let them decide what to do with her.”
They had only been talking for a few minutes when they heard another pop and Professor McGonagall apparated in the middle of the clearing where they were all gathered.
“I arrived at headquarters and young Mr. Potter told me where you had gone Molly,” she stated while taking a tea kettle out of her robes. “Albus gave me this to use as a port key for Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. He’s only just arrived back at headquarters from the battle.”
“Thank you Minerva,” said Mrs. Weasley gratefully as she took the kettle from the professor.
“I see that you need some help,” McGonagall assessed as she saw the bound Bellatrix and unconscious Tonks. “I assume you’re taking Mrs. Lestrange to the ministry to be dealt with,” she added.
Bill nodded.
“Well I will take her, and you Mr. Weasley can take Nymphadora to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries,” McGonagall finished.
“And I’ll take Ron and Hermione back to Headquarters,” Mrs. Weasley added. “I have some dreamless sleeping potion left over, the two of you can take it when we get back and have a long rest before we discuss anything that has taken place.”
She held out the kettle for Ron and Hermione to take hold of, and with in moments the three were whizzing back to number twelve Grimmauld Place, leaving the professor and eldest Weasley sibling to their duties.
The Occaeco Amotio charm used by Snape roughly means a darkened or concealed removal and the other spell, I think was pretty well explained in the chapter but just in case, Bella's spell that she used on Tonk's means, a temporary death trap. Please review and let me know what you thought. It's never to late to start, lol.=)
Endings and New Beginnings by Burrowbrat
To all my awesome reviewers who have stuck with me throughout this fic and those who have just discovered it a million thanks it's been awesome. Here's the last chapter, I hope ya'll all enjoy it. Oh yeah and before you even get there and start complaining, Amelia Bones is in this chapter because it was written pre HBP and I didn't want to change it after the fact. Sorry for the confusion.=)
“Where am I!?” shouted Ron from amidst the jumble of his bed coverings. “Where’s Hermione?!”
“Calm down mate, it’s alright,” came the voice of a cheerful Harry Potter.
“W-wha…Harry?” Ron asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
“Yeah, you’re at number twelve Grimmauld Place,” he answered still grinning. “Your mum brought you and Hermione back here yesterday and you’ve slept the whole night.”
Ron sat on his bed trying to remember what had happened over the past few days.
“So everyone’s alright then, Hermione, Tonks…?” he asked his friend after he had collected himself.
“Everyone’s fine mate,” Harry answered. “Bill and Tonks beat Bellatrix who is now in Azkaban again, who knows for how long this time. Dumbledore and the Order dueled Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and you and Hermione are here safe. I’m a little worried about Ginny though.”
“Ginny? Why what’s happened to her?” questioned Ron with concern on his face.
“Well we figured out what the Draught of Prospicio was and she kind of drank some to see what would happen.” Finished Harry guiltily.
“She did what!” Ron exclaimed a little more loudly than he had planned. “You mean she just went and took a sip from Hermione’s perfume?!”
Harry only nodded.
“Well did she see the future then!” Ron asked his friend eagerly.
“You know what it does?!,” Harry almost shouted at him.
“Hermione told me when they started asking us about it,” he answered.
“Oh,” said Harry, “I don’t know what she saw exactly. She started screaming something awful and was saying something about people dying and me…” he trailed off.
“And you, what?” asked Ron, looking a bit apprehensive.
“It doesn’t matter, Dumbledore should be here after breakfast, he wants to talk to all of us.” Said Harry as he rose to leave.
“It does matter…wait, did you say something about breakfast,” said Ron, realizing that he hadn’t eaten anything in the past couple of days.
Harry grinned and they both went down to have a bite to eat before anything else was explained.
Hermione and Ginny were already sitting at the table when the boys arrived. Ginny looked rather pale and wasn’t eating very much. Harry and Ron went and sat down opposite them and Mrs. Weasley sat plates filled with delicious food in front of them.
“Gin, are you okay?” Ron asked his sister.
“I’m fine, Ron, don’t worry about it,” was her lame answer.
The concerned brother didn’t pry anymore into the matter and set in to eating like he’d never eaten before.
“Easy Ron, make sure you chew before you swallow,” playfully commented Bill who was having breakfast with them.
He ignored the comment and continued to gorge himself until his plate and those around him were emptied.
After the dishes were cleared from the table the room became noticeably more crowded than it had been at breakfast. Remus, Kingsley, Charlie, the twins and Professor McGonagall were all now present in the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
After a few moments, Dumbledore arrived. He was apparently the thing or in this case the person that’s arrival was being anticipated.
“Is everyone here?” the wizened wizard asked those around the room, looking to each of them and smiling.
“Arthur had to go into work,” offered Mrs. Weasley, “something to do with possessed tea bags.”
Dumbledore nodded and looked back to the others filling the room.
“You will all be pleased to note that Healer Strauss of St. Mungo’s has assured me that Nymphadora will awaken sometime with in the next 48 hours and she sees no complications that should arise whatsoever.”
There were sighs of relief that could be heard around the room at hearing this information.
“Also,” Dumbledore began again, “I’m sure that some of you wish to know the outcome of our encounter with Voldemort. We were successful in our endeavor to draw them away from young Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, but Voldemort along with most of his Death Eaters managed to avert us. Shortly after he spoke with you Harry, he and his followers began to disapparate from the Burrow.”
Everyone in the room turned to stare at Harry after this last comment until Dumbledore graciously went on with his story.
“Everything is fine, Harry was able to turn his mind off to Voldemort before he could discover anything that is of importance,” he said with a wink to Harry.
“I do however have some disturbing news to share with all of you,” the old wizard continued, “Bellatrix Lestrange, as you all know, was taken to Azkaban prison late yesterday evening. Unfortunately she found the means to escape sometime in the night. I am going to speak with the new minister about this matter as soon as our meeting here is over.”
“Wait a minute,” spoke up George ignoring the glare his mother was giving him. “When did they appoint a new minister?”
“Yeah,” joined in Fred, “Who is it? Why weren’t we notified?” he finished with a mock expression of shock on his face.
Dumbledore was smiling behind his sparkling blue eyes at the boys, “I am terribly sorry Misters Weasley, the next time a large decision needs to be made we will certainly remember to summon you to our aid.”
Most of the room broke out into silent giggles with the exception of Mrs. Weasley. Her mischievous sons ignored this fact and continued questioning Dumbledore.
“Well,” started Fred.
“Go on, tell us who it is,” finished George for him.
“For the sake of moving on I will tell you that Madame Amelia Bones has been appointed the Minister of Magic and is currently trying to right much of the wrong that has been caused in the last year. Now, then where was I before I was so amusingly interrupted? Ah yes, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, I’m sure that you are wondering precisely what went on down in the cellar of the Serpent Root. Professor Snape did indeed use the Occaeco Amotio charm to remove you from the underground room. The spell he used on Lucius Malfoy was the Arcanus Permisceo spell. It causes the victim to become deaf and mute for a matter of seconds while confusing them so that they are not aware of the things that are taking place around them. So no one knows how you escaped except those of us gathered here.” Dumbledore finished with his eyes twinkling.
“But I still don’t understand something professor,” Hermione interrupted, “How exactly did the Serpent Root open, when none of us said the incantation.”
“Ah, but you see Miss Granger someone did say the incantation, or rather two some ones for that matter,” Dumbledore began explaining, “Mrs. Lestrange and Mr. Weasley said a combined version of the incantation. The word used to open the root is Tumeo and the end of Bellatrix’s spell was ‘Letum’ which was followed by Mr. Weasley’s exuberant utterance of the simple word ‘no.’ Apparently they were said so close together that the tree misunderstood ‘-tum,’ ‘no,’ to be Tumeo, therefore opening the root and freeing you.”
Everyone in the room was dumbfounded but couldn’t think of a single question to ask.
“Now,” Dumbledore began once more, “That concludes the meeting but I would like to have a word with Miss. Weasley for a moment. Thank you all for your help.”
“Hang on!” started Fred and George followed by several other voices in the room. “What about the Draught of Prospicio, I thought that was what all of this was about!”
Dumbledore held his hands up to silence the room, “It was about the Draught of Prospicio. We have located it and it is now in my possession to be dealt with at a later time. I have not as of yet decided what is the most beneficial means for it. Now I must ask you again to allow me a moment alone with Miss Weasley.”
Everyone filed out of the dinning area not exactly happy with the information that they had been given but satisfied for the moment nonetheless.
Professor Dumbledore and Ginny had a long talk about what she had seen under the influence of the Draught of Prospicio. No one else was allowed to hear or overhear their conversation. The only thing anyone knows is that Ginny was sent to school with a large parcel containing unknown contents.
One evening after most of the Gryffindors had already gone up for bed, two sixth years could be found lounging on the couch in front of the glowing fire.
“Hey Hermione?” asked a red-headed Quidditch keeper.
“humm,” half answered half sighed the girl next to him called Hermione.
“I was just thinking…what if we had never been captured this summer and all of the things that happened hadn’t happened. Do you think we would still be here like this right now?” finished Ron looking down at Hermione who was propped comfortably over onto his shoulder and wrapped in his arms.
“I don’t want to think about that,” she answered closing her eyes.
“What!? Hermione Granger doesn’t want to think!” Ron teased with mock horror in his voice.
“Oh, shut it you,” she fussed back at him not really angry.
They chuckled amongst themselves until their laughter dyed away and only the flames of the fire could be heard blazing in the hearth mixed with their slow steady breathing. The couple sat there together soaking in each others presence content with just being together and knowing that that was enough…for now.
Both spells in this chapter are Latin. Arcanus Permisceo means to silently or secretly confuse and Tumeo traditionally means to swell but for this spell, i used another less often used meaning which is 'to burst forth' since it caused them to burst forth from the ground.
I know several of you are upset because I didn't explain what Ginny saw when she drank the draught. I didn't want to say who I had die in battle here at the end of the story. I thought it would be a little too much for everyone to process, without explanations of events surrounding the deaths. I've thought about writing a second fic to kind of follow after this one that goes into all of what Ginny saw, but I haven't decided if I'm going to or not. What do ya'll think?
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