Love your devoted writers A/N
Hermione Granger woke up with a sore back and no idea where she was. She went to her pocket for her wand but it wasn't there. Hermione, however, had a spare wand but decided against lumos, she left it where it was. Standing up, Hermione could make out a puddle on the ground and she gripped the wall for support because of dizziness. Reaching a hand up to her head she found blood and almost threw up. She didn't know what had happened, one minute she was fighting a death eater back to back with her boyfriend Fred Weasley and now she was here. Just thinking of Fred made her want him desperately; they had been dating for six months.
Hermione knew one thing unfortunately and that was the fact that she had been trying to lure Voldemort to her so Harry could finish him. She had been but a new fascination Voldemort had and though she knew it never worked out for the bait, she hadn't expected this to happen. One thing was for sure, whatever she did, Hermione had to find a way home.
--
"Where the hell is she?" Fred yelled.
"Miss Granger knew very well the danger she was in when she agreed to be bait for Voldemort. The plan…" Dumbledore began slowly.
"What?" Fred asked angrily. "She was fish bait and no one bothered to tell me? I have a ring in my pocket and if it never gets on her finger there will be hell to pay," Fred finished yelling.
"Ring?" Mrs. Weasley looked up at her son.
"I was going to propose," Fred told the room. "And I better get the opportunity!"
"Okay Mr. Weasley that will be enough! I want every auror and order member on this case and I would like the Weasley family and Harry to stay," Dumbledore ordered, the familiar twinkle in his eye lost in the sadness of war.
"Goodbye sir," everyone who was supposed to leave, excluding Remus and Tonks.
"Um, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin…" Dumbledore started.
"Will be staying," Harry stated flatly. No one, not even Dumbledore, knew that Remus and Tonks had adopted Harry. They had had the lady at the ministry be the witness and had made her swear a wizard's death not to tell a soul.
"Here is what will happen. All of you, excluding Miss Weasley, are order members. You are our elite team - we will have Bill, Fleur and Mrs. Weasley on research with the rest of the order members in the field. Mrs. Lupin will remain helping at the castle due to her pregnancy and Mrs. Weasley will help Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary. Is this clear?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes Professor," everyone answer simultaneously.
"Good. On your way then." And everybody went where they should.
--
Hermione knew there were no windows and seemingly no door. There was a charm so that you could make a cell doorless from the inside but, unfortunately for Hermione, only the caster could undo it. The walls were made of plexi glass but she could see nothing on the outside - she had a feeling people were watching her. Hermione figured she'd better not give them a show and lay down on the hard floor.
She began to think about everything she'd ever read or heard about plexi glass. There was a certain way to break it but Hermione didn't remember what it was. Hermione knew though that it required a flat hard object and a pointy one - neither of which she had. She could use bumbardo, or at least try, but then her wand would be revealed and Hermione also didn't know what she'd do once out there.
Closing her eyes, her thoughts drifted to her three best friends and how worried they'd be, then to her boyfriend. Oh but he was so much more - he was her confidant, her strength, her weakness, her happiness, her anger and he was damn hot! She missed him so much and she would hate to think that she didn't get one last kiss. The battle had started so quickly they'd only had time to say I love you before being pulled into a fight. He was so there for her and he tried to stay back to back with her for the whole thing. He was her soul mate and she was his. Hermione Granger was in love with Fred Weasley.
Hermione woke up and immediately bit back tears. It hadn't changed. She wished everyday but two weeks later it hadn't changed. The floor of her cell was made of dirt so she dug a hole underneath her while she was lying down, so they couldn't see. In that hole she placed her wand and her earrings. Food was given to her once a day and she had been tortured 6 times. They had a schedule - every other day, except there would be a two day break that she assumed was the weekend. Hermione was scared… every time they took her she was scared for her life… the pain was unbearable. She had scares of whips on her legs, arms and back and Bellatrix had used a lighter to burn the Dark Mark on her arm. Now Hermione wouldn't even look there because it disgusted her so much.
Lately all Hermione had to do was think of Harry, Ron, Ginny or …Fred to make her start crying. She had had hope before but she was slowly starting to think that she would never see them again. Putting a hand on her stomach, Hermione took a deep breath. She had been feeling slightly nauseous lately and luckily her period hadn't come yet - even though it should have. In the back of her mind, she knew what it was but for the time being, she'd ignore it.
--
Fred paced up and down the hallway. He had blown up at his mother for trying to take him off the case and regretted every word. Ginny was with her trying to calm her down and Fred was miserable. It had already been two weeks since Hermione's disappearance and Fred hadn't been to work once. George had the shop under control and Lee helped out once in a blue moon. They had no leads but had made a lot of progress. They knew Voldemort hadn't initiated this, through visions from Harry, and the order had also found out that it wasn't Lucious and Draco, so they were going somewhere.
Sliding down so he was sitting against the wall, Fred cried for the 14th time in two weeks. He was so depressed and angry and worried that he cried every day. He worried for her safety and hoped that whoever kidnapped her wasn't…hurting…her. Fred suspected the Zambini family as Blarse had always hated Hermione left no one else thought this and…
"She wants to talk to you," Ginny told him, leaving the door open.
"Okay," Fred kept his head down as he wiped away his tears.
"It'll be okay," Ginny made an effort to say that to him once a day.
"Thanks Gin," Fred smiled and went into the room.
--
"The death eaters walk and seem to disappear about here," Shacklebolt stood at a line, "Am I on the tracker?"
"No," Fred replied, "Is anyone?"
"No," Shacklebolt told him.
"Then let's go find her," Ron moved forward.
"Not so simple. We need plans, assignments and we need to find it. We need people prepared to go on an excursion, if you will, we need to know the exact boundaries of the area and we need to find the damn place so any volunteers?" Shacklebolt explained.
"I'm used to the wilderness, I'll go," Charlie agreed.
"Fred and I would be," George began.
"Pleased to go," Fred finished.
"I'll be the auror," Shacklebolt told them, "And three of my men will come so seven guys should be enough. Remus Lupin is in charge whilst I'm gone. We leave in an hour."
"If your mom was here she wouldn't let you go but I'll just say be careful and come back. Please," Arthur told his sons, hugging them.
"Will do dad," Charlie told him confidently, "You guys shouldn't stay in the same place and if you do move leave nothing behind, not even a burnt leaf."
"Will do son," Arthur replied.
"Bye guys," Ron said hugging them.
"See ya little bro," Charlie ruffled his hair, hugging him.
"Bye," Fred and George said, hugging them together.
"Good luck," Harry told them.
"Same to you," Charlie hugged him, "You're just another brother to us."
"Bye," Fred and George hugged him, "What he said."
They all laughed. "What a way to ruin a moment," Arthur shook his head.
"We should get ready, suit up, meet the team," Charlie said and they quietly walked away. The atmosphere at the camp "Save Hermione" was a quiet one but everyone knew that the others supported them.
--
She could no longer ignore it, they were still hurting her and the smell in her cell of puke that they wouldn't clean up was atrocious. It was morning sickness; there were no two ways about it but from what? Hermione had a fairly good idea. It would have been about 3 weeks before she got here so that makes it 8 weeks ago now - Hermione was terrified. She was terrified at the thought of dying at and the thought of them killing her unborn baby - Hermione Granger was pregnant!
"Here you go Mudblood." Someone shoved a plate of food through the hole and left quickly.
Hermione rolled her eyes the word didn't affect her as much as it had when they had first called her that. After five weeks of being here she gotten used to it and no longer yelled at the person after they said it because if she did they would only torture her more. Closing her eyes Hermione didn't really feel like eating so she lied down on the cold hard floor and tried to sleep. But figuring that she would need all the nourishment she could get because of her child she sat up and ate a bit of the disgusting food not sure how much nourishment she was getting anyway. The stale bread and soggy vegetables weren't exactly very tasty and she was craving ice cream and pickles.
Sighing Hermione lay back down rolling over and trying to get comfortable on the ground. Not working she got up and moved as close to the wall as she could get leaning against it and closing her eyes once more. She took a deep breath and tried not to let her tears fall as she thought of what Fred would think of being a dad. He would probably pick her up and spin her around until she yelled at him to put her down. Then he would smile and immediately start shouting off weird names like Colgate and Apple. Then she would tell him no and that they'd think about it later and he would beam happily and run to tell everyone else. Hermione hadn't realized she had been crying until now and she hastily wiped the tears away lying down and once and for all trying to fall asleep.
--
"If we mark it every five feet than when we spread out everyone should have a fair idea of where the boundaries are." Fred suggested placing a marker right at the border and taking five more steps before placing another one.
"That's more like five yards, dude," George pointed out.
"Even if it is five yards, it's still smart. Let's split up so we can cover more ground. Make sure you're prepared. Charlie, Fred, George and Mac can go west and Jenny, Chris and I will go east," Shacklebolt said. "You guys," he said, pointing to Charlie's group, "should pass by the other group and tell them to move further south."
"Okay, let's go group. We'll meet on the other side after we're done. Move quickly, we have to get her out of wherever she is," Fred said starting to walk away.
"We should go," George pointed after Fred disappeared into the trees.
"Good idea," Charlie agreed and Mac followed behind silently.
"Hey Fred wait up," Charlie called.
"What?" Fred snapped, not slowing down.
"Are you okay? I think you need some rest," Charlie said, catching up.
"No I'm fine," Fred said, pushing a tree branch out of the way.
"Ouch!" Charlie yelled.
"Sorry bout that. Listen I'm sorry I've been so distant but I'm really worried about her. What do you think their doing to her?" Fred asked stopping to sit on a log.
"Listen, I know as much as you do and I know I'm not half as worried. But I want her back just as much as you do. I hate seeing you like this. You're all….sensitive," Charlie said grinning.
"Whatever," Fred laughed weakly.
"Hey guys," came George's voice, "We haven't been putting up the markers."
Charlie laughed and Fred smiled turning around. "Damn it. Let's go back and we got to pick up the pace."
--
Hermione sat huddled in the corner of her cell as far away from the door as she could be. Silent tears were running down her cheeks because just this morning she was really starting to show now. Her third trimester would start this week. She had been in this hellhole for just over five months. The door appeared and opened as Hermione pushed herself against the wall, trying to appear invisible. The masked death eaters' strong hands grabbed her and pulled her toward the door.
"Get off me Zambini," she said trying to pull away but the strong hands held her tightly.
"I'm not Zambini. Keep quiet," said the masked stranger.
"Charlie is that you?" Hermione whispered.
"Yes shut up," he whispered back.
Hermione clamped her mouth shut trying hard not to smile. She was trying to convey the look of terror she usually had when she was being led from her cell. Inside her heart was beating madly and her tears of joy were beginning to form in her eyes. She took a deep breath and held the tears in. The thought of seeing Fred made her want to jump with joy, but that might damage the baby.
"This is going to be hard. We have to get out of here quickly but make them think we are heading to the chamber. There are aurors and order members positioned around the perimeter but only three people at the building. We have to get to the south exit. Luckily we pass the chamber that way. After that we must run," Charlie whispered.
Hermione's hands flew to her stomach, her eyes conveying her fear and worry.
"Hermione, you're pregnant. Was it….." Charlie asked.
Hermione shook her head and whispered, "Fred."
As they turned a corner, a death eater appeared and Charlie quickly pulled her arm, "This way Mudblood and hurry up!"
Hermione bit her lip, her eyes watering. She knew he was only doing this for cover, but hearing a Weasley say that made her want to cry. They had always been like family to her. She quickly composed herself, looking to the floor. Charlie squeezed her arm reassuringly and they quickened their pace. "Sorry Hermione," Charlie apologized.
They walked passed the chamber and broke into the fastest run they could, given Hermione's condition. As they turned a corner they bumped right into a death eater. Charlie quickly fired an expelliarmus jinx which hit the death eater square in the middle of his forehead. The death eater was thrown into a brick wall, his head hitting it with a sickening crunch. "We have to move faster," Charlie said, "There will be more on the way."
"Right," Hermione said, speeding up.
Charlie followed as they rounded another corner, the door straight ahead. He looked back and saw a group of five death eaters closing in on them. "RUN!" Charlie yelled, half pulling Hermione toward the door.
They reached the heavy door and Charlie slowly pushed it open. "What's going on?" Remus asked worriedly.
"Death eaters! Right behind us," Charlie told them.
"Oh right." Remus said spotting them through the doorway in which a very pregnant Hermione stood.
"Hermione you're pregnant!" Remus said astonished.
"I just gained a lot of weight because of the all the feasts I got while being kept here." Hermione said sarcastically.
"We don't have time for this." Charlie said grabbing Hermione and pulling her away. The three order members stayed long enough to get the five death eaters down before taking off behind them.
--
"Hermione!" Fred yelled as he saw her approaching the boundaries, he went to cross the line but a hand grabbed him and held him back.
"We can't cross remember, pay attention to the markers." George told his brother and he put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I haven't seen her in six months, George. Let me go." Fred took stepped away from his brother.
"Fred no. She's almost here and you're putting yourself at risk." George said, "And her." George added when he saw his brother was about to object.
"Fred!" Hermione called and broke into a run, pulling away from Charlie.
"Hermione wait up." Charlie ran after her.
"Hermione…" Fred was excited to see her but as she drew closer he realized that something was off about her. She seemed different, bigger almost.
"Fred is Hermione, pregnant?" George asked loudly.
"Oh bloody hell." Fred said, "I'm going to kill those bastards."
"Oh." A look of comprehension dawned on George's face.
"Fred!" Hermione called again, rushing through the barrier and she didn't have to go far before she reached her boyfriend.
"What the hell did they do to you?" Fred asked.
"It's yours, you great prat." Hermione smiled widely.
"Wahoo!" Fred yelled picking her up and twirling her around…suddenly Hermione went limp in his arms.
"Hermione?" Fred placed her gently down on the ground, shaking her shoulders softly, "Hermione?"
"What happened?" Charlie came over from where he was giving his dad a detailed account of what had happened when he heard Fred calling her name.
"I don't know. But why is she bleeding?" Fred asked looking down at her…