Title: Order Of The Dragon

Part: Prologue

Author: Svelte Rose

Fandom: Harry Potter

Couples: ???

Disclaimer: I stole the characters from JK Rowling- only for a short while. Mwehe. Doesn't completely follow the books so I'm going to need help from you guys in spotting any technical errors.

Snagov, Romania -- 5:13pm

Brushing a lock of curly hair out of her sweaty face, Hermione leaned back from the railing from which she had been emptying her lunch and took a quick swig from her water bottle. Swishing it around in her mouth a couple of times, she spat it back out into the grassy plains where it met the same demise as her masticated luncheon from hours before.

"You alright?" Tonks asked in a concerned voice as she rubbed the younger girl's back gingerly.

"Just a bit of motion sickness, otherwise I'm fine," She replied before smashing a rather ugly hat on her messy bun.

"Too bad we couldn't apparate here," Tonks sighed as she watched the bus drive away and then glancing at the expanse of land surrounding them. "Where are we?"

Hermione pulled out a ratty map from her back pocket and glanced at it, "We're a couple kilometers away from the lake, it'll take us about twenty minutes to walk there."

The purple haired woman gave her partner a sigh and patted the sleeve that held her wand. "Well, we've got an hour or so before sundown, we should get a move on it."

Hermione grunted in agreement as the two of them set off down the dusty road. "For such a popular tourist area, I'm surprised they don't have a proper transportation system in place,"

A look of confusion was thrown her way, "I say Hermione, one usually wouldn't call those moving clunks of metal proper transportation."

"They do their job, funnily enough," The brunette chuckled.

Tonks snorted, "They do, indeed."

Despite the carefree banter the two of them were exchanging, neither could ignore the importance of the situation that they were in. Having stepped out of a fireplace in a shady locale somewhere deep in the heart of Bucharest a few hours ago, Hermione realized she had barely been able to come on this mission due to various pleas made by Harry, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley. Others had voiced their concerns, claiming that they needed more than two people to tend to this mission. However, those were the ones who shut up immediately when Tonks voiced her opinion.

"Many of you forget that we are in a time of war. While it is my earnest wish that Hermione not accompany this trip- not because you are not capable, but simply because you are too young-," The auror began shooting a quick glance at the irritated brunette, "She is the best one here capable of taking us through the muggle village."

"She is too young, I'll not allow it!" Mrs. Weasley fretted, wringing her hands as she stood up.

Tonks shot the matron a stern look, "Believe me, I know what you feel, but also understand that these three-," she waved a hand over the Golden Trio, "are at the crux of the war. We've already let Harry and Ron go out on a couple of missions; I refuse to believe the Order will not permit Hermione to do the same."

Harry chose this point to speak up, "Then let me accompany the both of you,"

"No!" Came the various shouts.

Tonks winked at the boy, "Come now Harry, you know that's not possible,"

"Why not?" Came the frustrated question.

"The more people we have, the easier it is for the Death Eaters to find us," Hermione quietly said, her eyes on Harry.

Harry turned his head to her, "But Hermione-,"

"I'll be alright. I promise." She grinned.

Albus Dumbledore rose from his chair slowly and nodded, "Then it is settled."

Not contrary to popular belief, Hermione's greatest wish was to go back to school. Atleast in school, there was nothing to worry about besides finishing the latest potions homework or worrying whether or not she had enough ink to last her until the next Hogsmeade visit. However, since the Death Eater attack a couple months ago, the three of them had been scurried off by the Order to Grimmauld Place while the remaining students at Hogwarts (those who had not been withdrawn from the school by parents) were closely guarded by Aurors.

Wiping the perspiration from her forehead, she knew that while unlikely, perhaps this place would contain something of a clue as to where one of the horcrux lay or even the horcrux itself.

But she was no fool- like the other places they had checked out over these last few months, it was probably just another dead end. However, the large concentration of magic the Ministry had reported being there was not to go unchecked and in the end, any clue was better than no clue at all.

About twenty minutes later, the two weary ladies rested at the trunk of a tree, hidden from any prying eyes as they munched away at a bag of goodies Hermione had pulled out of her pocket. Tonks transfigured a leaf into a rather comfy blanket to sit down on while both kept their senses keen and alert for anything out of the ordinary.

"Looks like we'll have to apparate," Tonks explained as she brushed the crumbs off her pants and turned to stare off into the distance at a stone building placed in the middle of the lake on an island.

"Snagov Monastery is it?" Hermione asked more to herself than of Tonks.

Snagov Monastery, Romania – 12:22am

Despite the invisibility cloak, Hermione and Tonks couldn't help but wince at the loud 'cracks' of their apparition. Pulling out their wands slowly, Tonks quickly surveyed the dark surroundings with only the help of the moonlight.

"It's rather silent, don't you think?" Hermione whispered to the tense Auror.

Tonks nodded, "I'm going to step out of the cloak, you stay under and follow closely behind."

Her nerves unsettled, Hermione followed closely behind as they neared the forbidding stone building, her hands gripping her wand tightly.

"Stop," Tonks hissed and Hermione obeyed immediately. They stood there for what seemed like a couple of minutes in tense silence.

Honing her ears, Hermione heard the audible crunch of a branch and was just about to turn around before she was knocked to the ground by Tonks as they dodged a spell shooting over their heads.

"Come on!" Came Tonks urgent cry as they both dashed for the dark doors of the monastery.

The cloak clutched tightly around her body, Hermione shouted various spells from under the cloak trying to shield the two of them from the various curses being thrown at them. The advantage of being invisible confused many of the Death Eaters as to why there was another voice besides Tonks', but only shortly before the clear voice of Avery shouted out, "Accio cloak!"

Fully revealed, Hermione dashed through the doors behind Tonks before slamming it closed.

"Come on, that won't hold!" She ordered as they headed deeper into the dark monastery.

Hermione scrambled ahead only to catch her foot on something and go sprawling, her wand went flying from her hand as her head hit the corner of a bench. Stifling a groan, she held her bleeding head, quickly feeling for her wand on the floor. "Oh god!" She cried when her hands pulled out of a warm sticky substance. Having a sure idea of what it was, she gulped down her screams while searching even more frantically for the wand.

"Hermione!" Tonks called out in the dark before the door burst open, splinters of wood flying everywhere. The Auror fell down and quickly muttered a 'portus' spell on her shoe. Having placed a '15 second' waiting spell on it, she used the new source of light to search for the young witch. Having spotted the bobbing head of curly hair, she moved quickly towards the girl. Leaping over the prone body of who she suspected to be the caretaker of this place, Tonks swore under her breath as her socked foot slipped on the blood. Five seconds had already passed.

10…

9…

Moonlight escaped into the dank building, lighting up the mutilated body Hermione had been feeling around. Horrified, the brunette clenched her jaw, her eyes flying over the stone floors before coming across her wand.

8…

7…

Dashing even deeper into the monastery towards a large stone tomb, she closed her fingers around her wand relishing in the feeling of security and barely avoided a curse as it hit the tomb behind her instead, chunks of stone flying everywhere.

6…

5…

"Hermione!" The frustrated Auror called as she chased after her, gripping her shoe. From the corner of her eye, she saw the Lestrange woman throw a bright red curse at her and she quickly ducked behind the benches. The spell having nicked her in the leg, the auror winced as a burning pain shot through her body.

4…

3…

Hermione moved behind the tomb quickly and while she knew it was foolish, she muttered a quick and sincere apology to whomever lay in the tomb while she wiped the blood from her forehead. Wincing, she peered over the tomb, laying her hand upon the intricate inscription of the tomb. With barely a second to blink, she felt a familiar tug at her navel.

2…

1…

"No!" Tonks screamed as she saw the young witch disappear before her very eyes. But soon, relief pumped through her as realization settled in and her own portkey was activated. Of course Hermione would know how to create a portkey…

12 Grimmauld Place, England – 1:10 am

Tonks landed in front of a very surprised Remus before she glanced around frantically for the young witch. "Hermione?" She yelled. "Where's Hermione?"

Sirius came from behind and asked quietly, "Wasn't she with you?"

"We were attacked," She quipped before throwing the parlour doors open and limping down the hallways. "Hermione?"

Remus and Sirius shared a worried look before they went off after her.

"You're hurt, what happened?" Remus questioned as they followed her into an empty dining room surveying her injured leg.

"Death Eaters attacked, we ran into the monastery to hide, Hermione and I escaped by means of portkey," She quickly listed off before limping into the kitchen where Snape sat sipping his tea.

He was annoyed at the intrusion but upon seeing the three members' frantic faces, he glanced at Tonks and narrowed his eyes, "Where's the girl?"

Tonks all but snarled, "She's suppose to be here, where is she? She should've gotten back here! She disappeared before my very eyes so it must've been a portkey! Hermione!"

"What's going on?" Dumbledore asked as he stepped through the small entryway into the kitchen.

Tonks went past the wizard and dashed up the stairs regardless of her injured leg, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Hermione!" Throwing open the first door, she saw the sleeping bodies of both Molly and Arthur Weasley. Opening door after door and seeing no sign of a bushy head anywhere, she couldn't help the burdening feeling of dread bubbling in her stomach.

"BESMIRCHER OF FILTH!" The portrait of Mrs. Black started screaming as the ruckus Tonks made roused her from her sleep.

Dumbledore, having hurried up the stairs after Tonks quieted the noisy portrait but not before a groggy boy with a messy head of black hair came wandering out of his room.

Sticking his glasses on, Harry yawned before asking, "What's with all the noise, Professor Dumbledore?"

Tonks chose this moment to come limping out of a room, "She's not here! I've searched everywhere for her, she's not…she's not…" She stopped talking as soon as she saw the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Who?" He asked confused, looking between her and Dumbledore. "Who are you talk- wait, where's Hermione?"

Unknown – 1:10 am

Hermione fell with a loud thud on the stone floor, coughing as dust filled her nostrils and lungs. Her head was pounding severely and she had to shut one eye because blood kept getting into it. The wound on her head refused to stop bleeding and it hurt too much to press a hand to it. Glad she had not lost her wand in the process, she tried to look at her surroundings to the best of her abilities but her attempts were for naught as she realized she couldn't even see her own two hands.

The problem with the lumos spell was that it gave your enemies an advantage in seeking out your hiding area. Especially since she didn't know where she was and who might be with her, Hermione quieted her breathing as she tried listening for any indication of a living being other than herself. She ignored the coldness settling into her very bones but couldn't help shuddering. Confused as to why her body seemed to be shaking in fear, she gathered whatever courage she could and whispered a soft, "lumos!"

To be continued…

Notes: Please don't be fooled by the title, it is in no way, an indication of who Hermione will end up with. The title has a historical reference to it and it's going to be the premise with which this fic will be played out upon. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter out soon. Please review!