She gnawed at her fingernails and twisted at the collar of her shirt.
Finally she swallowed hard. Draco wasn't coming. It had been nearly ten minutes.
She was out of time.
She conjured a piece of paper and scribbled a note for him with the the relevant details. Location. Strategy. Her suspicions. So if he came, he'd at least know why she'd called him.
She used a sticking charm to place it in the center of the floor where it was impossible to miss and headed to Grimmauld Place.
She sprinted up the stairs to her closet and pulled out her healing kit. It was almost identical to the one she'd given Draco but with a few more specialized potions and bandages and splints. She shrank it down and stuffed it into her pocket and then pulled up a floorboard and snatched up her knives; strapping one onto her left arm under her shirt and then the other onto her calf under her trousers. She started to reach for her cloak but drew her hand back. Too obvious. It could raise questions.
She stood up and rushed back out the door.
Harry and everyone else was standing in front of the Tonks cottage when she appeared.
“Wotcher, Hermione, we thought you split,” Tonks said.
Hermione shook her head. “No. I just had to make sure I had everything. I don't usually heal outside of the hospital ward.”
Tonks nodded. “Alright. Grab on. I'm apparating everyone since I did the scouting.”
Hermione gripped Tonks' arm, and the group vanished with sharp squeezing sensation and reappeared in a forest. A large, derelict, stone house stood in a nearby clearing.
“There's an anti-apparition ward about halfway across the field. Once you've got Ron, Hermione, get him past the wards and take him back to the cottage. That way we can make sure he's not tagged or traced before we go to one of the safe houses,” Harry said quietly.
“Alright,” Hermione said, nodding as she stared at the building. Her heart was beating so hard it hurt. She fidgeted with her wand and felt through her shirt to reassure herself that her knife was still there.
Harry, Remus, Fred, and Charlie started constructing an intricate detection spell while Hermione and Tonks kept watch.
They cast the web of magic off their wands, and it slowly drifted out of the forest, barely visible unless it was being looked for. It floated across the field toward the house, shimmering slightly at different points to indicate the various wards. As it phased through the building there were small flashes of red light…
“Two at the door,” Harry said.
“Four upstairs,” Fred added.
“More than ten in the basement,” Charlie said. “Bet that's where they've got Ron.”
“We go fast,” Harry said. His wand was clenched in his fist, and his eyes were glittering as he stared at the building. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “With the detection wards in there, we've got ten minutes tops before reinforcements show up. Hermione, all you do is get Ron out.”
Flashback 27
March 2003
It's a trap. It's a trap. It's a trap.
It was the only thing Hermione could think as Harry vanished under his cloak of Invisibility to set out across the field toward the house.
They watched the door open, and there were quiet flashes of spellwork before Harry's head appeared, and he beckoned them forward.
They moved toward the house under heavy disillusionment.
Hermione watched the ripples of Fred and Charlie move soundlessly up the stairs while Harry signaled toward a door that led down to the basement.
She could feel Tonks behind her as they descended the narrow stairs and heard muffled spells and falling bodies as Harry and Remus reached the bottom. They had been in the house for less than a minute.
Hermione heard a door blast open.
“Clear,” Harry's disembodied voice called softly.
They worked down the basement hallway, forcing the doors open. The quiet felt deadly… it was broken only by the faintest shuffling of feet. Her heart was beating in her ears, louder than the sound of Harry breaking into room after room.
They were halfway down the hallway when the door at the far end flew open. Dozens of spells shot out. Hermione dove to avoid a cruciatus streaking down the hallway. Several curses ricocheted off the walls; the air was filled with magic.
Everything was simultaneously slower and faster. Hermione focused on keeping her shield up and dodging as rapidly as possible. As she spun away from an acid curse that would have caught her in the face, the deadly green of a Killing curse raced toward her.
“You need to have the instincts to just move.”
She threw herself to the ground, shot up to her feet on the other side of the hallway and proceeded to machine-gun stunners into the room down the hall.
Nothing lethal. If Ron was there, she might hit him.
Finally, the spells stopped. There was a pause.
“He's in here!” Harry shouted.
Hermione moved forward quickly into the room, removing her disillusionment. Harry was breaking through chains that had Ron hanging from the ceiling of the room. There were eight unconscious Death Eaters on the ground.
Ron had been beaten. His face so swollen it was almost unrecognizable. He was clearly shouting, but no sound emerged. His wrists had deep cuts in them where the shackles had sunk into his skin while he'd been hanging. Harry broke through the chains, and Hermione and Tonks caught Ron before he fell.
“Finite Incantatum.” Hermione waved her wand over Ron's face as she whipped out her healing kit.
“Harry, you fucking idiot!” Ron exploded as soon as he was un-silenced. “Get out of here! Why the fuck did you bring Hermione?”
Too easy. It's been too easy. The words repeated themselves in her mind as she started healing Ron. She worked as quickly as she could; not everything, just enough, just enough to get him out of the house and able to fight if necessary.
“Verify it's him,” Remus said.
“It's him,” Harry said.
“Verify it,” Remus snapped.
“How did Quirrell get past Fluffy?”
“With a bloody harp.” Ron tried to push Hermione away and stand. “We have to get out of here.”
“Swallow this,” Hermione forced a potion to counter his internal organ damage down his throat, followed by a restorative and then a strengthening potion.
“We need to go now,” Ron said as Hermione smeared bruise paste down his face to reduce the swelling so he could see.
“Let me fix your wand hand,” she said, pushing back the shackle still encircling his wrist in order to drip Essence of Dittany into the deep laceration that cut to the bone. She repaired the fractures as fast as she could.
As she was performing the spells, the ring on her hand suddenly burned red hot. She gave a choked gasp as she kept working. The sensation had barely faded before it burned again.
“That's enough,” Ron ripped his hand away from Hermione with a wince. “We have to get out. Did you bring me a wand?”
Harry pulled one out, and Ron gripped it limply and made to stand. He got halfway up and then sank back to the ground.
Hermione pulled his arm over her shoulder. “You're with me,” she said. “My job is to get you out.”
“You bloody idiot, why the hell did you let Harry talk you into this?” Ron sagged against her, and she helped him down the hall.
“You keep Harry alive,” Hermione said quietly, “and you're my best friend. Of course I came.”
She got him up the stairs as her ring burned again. And again. And again.
Fred and Charlie were at the top of the stairs, waiting for them.
“Nine minutes, we need to go.” Charlie's voice was practically vibrating with tension.
Charlie, Harry, and Fred went out first, followed by Hermione and Ron, with Remus and Tonks covering the rear.