Luna lifted her face to You-Know-Who, her eyesight marred by hair that looked like spun gold in the dark, and she breathed in heavily.

"I don't know anything." she said mildly. "And even if I did I won't be able to tell you. It's alright, you can kill me now."

Crucio.

"You are not in any position to dictate what I can do, girl." he hissed when her screams stopped ringing from the walls.

"It's alright." Luna said again, trying to face him once more. She had been tortured for days and days but it was nothing, nothing to this, this was madness, he was madness, his curses hurt so much more, and she just wanted to sleep for a very long time, or even an hour, that would be okay, and Harry-

Be brave, Hermione used to say. Like Harry, be brave like Harry. And clever, like Hermione herself. And faithful, like Ron, who had lost so much. She wouldn't betray them now, even if she could. But Luna could resist. And all through her mind, as Lord Voldemort sifted through it with the skill and ease of a practiced Legilimens, he could only find one, unifying thought: "friendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriendsfriends-"

"It's alright!" she cried, sobbing. "It's alright, you won't be able to find anything, the mental wards have been strengthened everyday."

He retreated from her mind. "Mental wards? What band of teenagers know how to create mental wards?"

That gave her the strength to straighten from her kowtow on the floor, now sitting on her heels. "If you think we're just a band of teenagers, after all this time, you're very wrong." Luna said, her voice slightly hoarse from screaming. "We have the brightest witches and wizards-"

A cut slashed across her cheekbone. Voldemort hadn't even blinked, he simply willed it to happen. Luna swallowed, fear finally setting in her bones like a dead weight. "The brightest-" she tried again. "The-oh, bugger." Luna exclaimed softly. Voldemort raised both his eyebrow and his wand, a bad sign.

She had always known this was a possibility. Luna had been at Bellatrix Lestrange's mercy for months before Harry rescued her, and there were moments in which she truly thought she was going to die. And eventually, Luna accepted it. She was burdened with the inevitable fact of her death, and she embraced it wholeheartedly. But Bellatrix hadn't broken her-Luna's fire hadn't gone out. She constantly threw their words back in their face the only way she could, by being herself. The rebellion would live on, the D.A. would prosper in Hogwarts, and Harry hadn't been caught, would never be caught. She lived in hope, not fear. Somehow, it was the purest form of living, Luna was in constant meditation, nearly starved to death, but hope sustained her. Maybe she would die, but that was okay as long as she took something from her captors. Even if it was as menial as their time, the time it took for Luna walk slowly up the steps of the dungeon, that was enough. It was her own small rebellion.

Hope, not fear.

This was nothing like being locked in Malfoy Manor. This was true, pure fear, and this hurt. There was no hope. There was no Hogwarts, how could there be hope? Harry was locked in his ivory tower, committing sins his noble self could never bear. Her first friend, stuck in a shell of self inflicted pain and responsibility. Morals meant nothing if survival was compromised. It was all in vain, Luna knew. Her friends were dead. Their light, the light Luna held in her chest during her stay at the Manor, had been estingushied by what Hermione called 'the real world'.

Luna, tears hanging off her eyelashes, looked up at her torturer. "I don't want to die."

It's alright, it's alright! She still had her light, she still kept it locked safe in her chest, even if it was small it was enough! Enough to save her friends!

Lord Voldemort pointed his wand at her almost lazily. Fitting last words, he thought.

A flash of light, and Luna crumpled to the dirt floor, her long hair settling around her like sun stroked dust.


Hermione roughly shook Ginny awake. "Come on, Gin, we have to move."

Neville was doing the same the Malfoy, as he shouldered his pack. Hermione felt her bushy hair spring back from Luna's glamor charms, and felt slightly relived. At least she looked relatively like herself.

The redhead groaned loudly, swatting at Hermione and turning over. Hermione shot a glance at Neville, who sighed, walked over, and began tickling Ginny in the ribs. Hermione automatically jumped back-Ginny had a reputaion in the girls dorms for violent outbursts for anyone who even skimmed her there. She, however, proved Hermione wrong. Instead of madly flailing, Ginny let out a single short punch to what would have been Neville's face if he hadn't dodged, her eyes flying open, as she rolled out of his arms, onto her feet and into a dueling stance. Neville as not the only one ho had changed.

"It's alright, Gin, it's us." Neville said, placating hand out. Ginny relaxed at the sight of him, and tensed up again while spotting Hermione.

"Hermione?"

"I haven't got time for explanations." Hermione said after a warm embrace. "We have to reach camp before they send the noon patrols out. They're probably already waiting for me...or think I'm dead. Either one." She tightened her beaded bag to her thigh and set off through the familiar forest path, Neville, Malfoy, and Ginny trailing behind. She could hear Neville quietly explaining the situation to Ginny.

"Sorry for the Stunner, Ginny." Hermione called back. "Heat of the moment, and you didn't look like yourself."

"I'd apologize too for not recognizing you, but you looked pretty different. And you dodged my Bat Bogey, which is a first."

Hermione grinned as she pushed aside some ferns. "Harry's going to be glad to see you lots."

"Harry?" Ginny hissed, almost unbelieving. "He's still alive? And what, what's he doing?"

"Resistance, Ginny. It was his idea, and he's organizing it." Hermione glanced back just in time to see Ginny's face burst into sunbeams. She smiled so bashfully, Hermione could almost see the fifteen year old girl whom their leader had kissed for the first time.

"I knew it." Ginny said quietly. "I freaking knew it."

Smiling to herself, Hermione continued along the barely marked dirt path. They had evolved past the Fidelius Charm, ad their new wards had become more and more advanced. Not only was a modified version of the Secret Keeper charm used, but Hermione and Terry Boot had implemented mental wards. Because Terry had studied the most about such wards, which hadn't even been perfected yet, he contacted her for the possibility of creating a large scale ward. They spent weeks in what was left of the Black library, using every resource they could find. It was hard work without the Hogwarts library, and Hermione missed that place with all her heart. Some older Order members even helped out, and that sped the process up considerably. The way they had perfected the wards was so that each person had a blanket covering dangerous information in their head. Each person had a specific trigger that they could use to automatically stop a mind reader. To a Legimens, it would look like there was only a single thought in the person's mind. And if the user didn't have time to trigger the ward, Hermione had insisted on an introverted ward. The user would now be unable to speak if it meant revealing their secrets, so the Imperius Curse couldn't be used against them. It was still gruesome, and a length that most in the Resistance wouldn't like very much. It meant that it was possible for a person to actually bite their tongues out rather than give information.

The stronghold was hidden as well. It was obviously Unplottable, and the shields around it were strengthened every hour by patrolling wizards. The only way in was through the front gates, where people were subject to incredibly long processes, determining whether they were themselves or not. But Hermione had left herself a backdoor open. Most of the buildings were underground, and there was a simple air shaft that would get her to a seemingly remote location underground. Once there, all she had to do was lift a few charms and Apparate in. That way, if the Death Eaters found the shaft, they still wouldn't know where to go. Foolproof, Hermione thought.

The shaft was located a half mile away from camp, and Hermione walked the distance with purpose, a little faster than she ought to have. All the while, she talked, trying to catch up on Neville's story. They had attempted forming a Resistance of their own, but it was short lived. Otherwise, no news had gotten to them about the actual organization.

Hermione passed some bread back to Ginny, remembering she hadn't eaten last night. "Haven't you been listening to Potterwatch?"

Malfoy frowned. "The rebel show? It shut down at the Battle of Hogwarts."

She shook her head. "No. Lee Jordan is with us back home, he runs it. George and Kingsley still appear on the show too...but I guess it's a lot harder to get in now. It would have been hard for you guys to find it."

Ginny's eyes widened at the sound of her brother's name. "George is still alive?"

Hermione nodded. "They all are, well except..." she trailed off, not wanting to mention Fred's name. Ginny's face fell. "And Charlie was banged up pretty bad, but they're all okay."

Ginny hadn't seen her family in over a year, Hermione realized. Neville patted her shoulder and Ginny looked at the dirt, and moved to walk in step with Hermione.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"What exactly have you guys been...doing?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?" Neville winced.

"At Gringotts, you were stealing for money, right? That just...doesn't sound like a very Harry thing to assign."

"Hard times, Neville. We need money, and it's a small rebellion in itself stealing from Death Eaters. Harry's not exactly Mr. Gryffindor anymore. He's grown up." Hermione sucked in her cheeks. "We all have. It's not all we do, there are obviously raids and such-" she stopped, realizing that the Resistance's primary goal was to be a safe haven. The place that Voldemort could never find them, that was it. But they hadn't exactly been resisting his rule very much lately. Morale was way down, and though Harry tried to fight as ardently as he could, he knew that Voldemort had made new Horcruxes after the Battle of Hogwarts and spent most of his time looking for them. In a way, Harry being their leader was the best and the worst thing that could have happened. He always made sure everyone had enough to eat, and he was the most unprejudiced person Hermione knew, but he started neglecting the members out of desperation. Even talking about his problems to Ron and Hermione...he even stopped that.

"It doesn't matter. You'll see when you get there." she said, pushing ahead of Neville again.

"What's going to happen to me?" Malfoy called from the back of the party. "My name's mud these days, no matter who's crowd you're talking to."

"If your cover story checks out, Harry won't persecute you." she dismissed.

"I doubt Potter can see objectively." he grumbled. Hermione threw him a look.

"Listen Malfoy, you're lucky I haven't killed you yet, don't go antagonizing me." she said coolly. "But then again. Harry's not really in a forgiving mood lately. You better pray he agrees with your story."

Malfoy blanched. "This better be worthwhile. I did not leave the Death Eaters to join a losing side."

Hermione glared at him. "Stop talking and I won't hurt you."

Surprisingly, he obliged.

She pushed asde a couple of ferns. The entrance should be just around the corner. "Anyway, we'll get you a couple Healers and food when we reach camp. It's not too far now, just-"

"Through that gaping hole in the floor?" Neville asked dryly.

In the clearing where Hermione normally covered up her back door, the vent had been thoroughly excavated, leaving a gigantic hole in the middle of the forest. The entrance of the pipe's stairs could be seen through it, silver and shining and definitely messed up. Hermione gasped, running to the lip of the hole. "Someone's been through here." she murmured.

"You're intellect is befuddling." Malfoy said sarcastically. "A lot of someones, it looks like."

"Shut up!" Hermione swore loudly. "Luna hasn't been back-she couldn't cover the hole, we've been found out." She swung her legs into the pipe. "Come on. Death Eaters are most likely in base."

She pointed her wand at the pipe. "In, all of you. Glissio!" the pipe turned smooth, and Hermione pushed off hard, hurtling through the underground. At this point she didn't even care if the others were following her, or if Ginny had the presence of mind to cover the hole before getting in(she did), all she needed was to get underground in case a battle as coming up. No matter what, Hermione was wired for combat. The pipe opened up to a large underground cavern, and Hermione rolled off the impact and landed on her feet, running through the passage. The others weren't as lucky, tumbling to the ground in a heap, but recovered quickly. Soon, they joined Hermione in her dead sprint.

Neville was faster than she was. He jogged past her, yelling "Where do we go?"

Hermione swore again. The distance was too much. "Wait for a second! I can do this!" She skidded round a corner and faced a wall. "Reducto!" she screamed, dissolving the cavern wall to reveal a screaming huge fight. They were standing on a ledge overlooking the main enterance of the Resistance, and nearly all of the members were on their feet, fighting the thirty or so cloaked men in the center of the floor. Hermione narrowed her eyes, her gaze fixed on the dark haired man fending off four of them directly below her.

"Follow me." she said quietly. Neville looked at her in shock, but Hermione had already jumped off the ledge, firing curses at enemies as she fell. Ginny, with a whoop, took a running leap after her unsheathing her wand. Neville looked at Malfoy.

"There's nothing down there but rocks, is there?"

Neville shook his head and sighed. "Let's go." He grabbed Draco by the sleeve and jumped.

Hermione was already far loer than they were, but even she waiting until the last second to cast a Cushioning Charm on the ground around them. She hit the ground hard this time, but shot a quick "Confringo!" at one of the Death Eaters surronding her leader.

Harry Potter spun around at the sight of her on the ground. "Hermio-" he was cut off as a jet of green shot towards him. Harry conjured a golden shield to deflect the curse, then Charmed it to swing at the nearest attacker. He turned again, and helped her up. "How did this happen?" he demanded. "When did you get back, where's Luna?"

Ginny landed on her knees, her hair an arc around her. "That was kinda crazy, Hermione, gotta say." she laughed, stepping back in a dueling stance and freezing quite completely at the sight of Harry staring at her, dumbfounded.

"Ginny?" he whispered. Ginny's jaw dropped.

Hermione dove in front of Harry, casting a strong Shield Charm to deflect an array of hexes. "Can you guys do this later, please?"

Ginny looked around like she'd been shocked. 'Er, right." she said, as Neville and Malfoy landed behind her, both of them sweating.

"That was terrifying." Neville said.

"Neville? Malfoy?"

"Later, Harry, later!" Hermione cried, fighting her way to the middle of the cavern. Harry followed her casting a strong Shield around them. "i need time, Harry. I'm going to try out one of those Runic Charms I've been reading about."

"How much time, exactly?"

"Five minutes. Exactly." Hermione said, looking straight at Harry. "Where's Padma? Or Terry? Either one of them can do the spell with me, I don't think I can do it by myself."

Harry nodded. "Oi, Neville, Gin, protect Hermione. She's trying a-a thing. Hermione, start the charm, I'm going to find one of them."

Ginny nodded, taking a stance by Hermione's right side, Neville doing the same on the other side. "Nothing's getting past us."

Harry cast her a small smile before diving back into the fight. Hermione closed her eyes, trying to remember her Runes.

Runic Charms could be used in the same way that Dark Magic was used-widespread and with reckless abandon. In this purpose, she was trying to remember the rune for 'Immobolis'. It would act the same as the normal spell, but would affect the entire cavern and would be able to penetrate Shield Charms. After freezing everyone, she could simply unfreeze her team mates and dispose of the Death Eaters. With her wand, Hermione quickly traced in the air the root of 'immobile', before tacking on the rest of the complex accent arks marking the spell. Somewhere along the way, Padma Patil's warm hands grabbed hers, and added on to the trace with her own wand. The rune shimmered in the air, glowing blue and gold, before darkening to black.

The two girls slashed their wands down, yelling out the spell as it turned into a black ring, sweeping arcoss the entire cave. The fighting stopped. No one moved.

Padma fell to her knees. "Crap." she said. "That took up way too much energy."

Hermione, also panting, nodded and helped her up. "We have to work on the bigger spells. Come on."

She whispered the countercurse, pointing her wand at Ginny and Neville. "Find Harry. Unfreeze him, and then the rest, Harry'll know what to do about these guys." She pointed to the nearest Death Eater.

Ginny nodded and hurried off, scanning the crowd for Harry(or, Hermione suspected anyone with red hair), Neville close behind. Padma, behind her, grabbed Hermione's hand and tugged her down to sit beside her on the rock floor.

"I don't know if we just haven't been practicing enough-"

"Or if we literally don't have enough magic." Hermione finished. "I understand. But solitary wizards have been able to do Runic spells before, I just think we need practice."

"And a major power boost." Padma grumbled. "God, I don't get how Terry got it so easily. May have to corner him until he divulges his secrets." she grinned, nugding the other girl with her shoulder

"Don't feel too bad. He isn't even able to control it all anyway." Hermione smiled, more than a little aware that Padma cornering Terry on a regular basis. A faint cry of her name snapped her out of her conversation. She turned slightly from her seat on the floor, to see Ron, Harry and Ginny walking purposfully towards her. It was so much like old times she felt her heart ache, and she let out a small smile for senitmentality's sake. Then, quick as a flash, She got to her feet and nodded tersly at both of them.

"Got intel, as well as some newcomers. Gin and Neville here, I already checked if they were themselves, but they brought...a stray."

Harry nodded grimly, and Ron moved to Hermione's side. "Yeah, found him and Neville a bit back. Sent him to a spare room before the rest of these guys wake up and see him."

"Wise move. They might rip him apart."

"Did you get the goods, Hermione?" Ron wanted to know. "And where's Luna?"

She it her lip, and Harry and Ron's faces lit up with alarm. "Maybe we should talk inside." Harry said. He stalked past the frozen bodies to the main corridor.

"Padma, unfreeze a couple of others and have them help do everyone else. Leave the Death Eaters in a corner or something, just don't touch 'em yet."

Padma, combing her silky black hair back from her face, nodded. The rest of the party followed Harry through the winding dirt and rock to the main war chambers. He yanked open the door to the very first one and revealed Draco Malfoy, disheveled and dirty from the fight, sitting on the table.

"Potter." he said quietly, nodding in affirmation. "Weasel, Granger. Still thick as thieves, are you?"

Ron scowled, but Harry lay a hand on his shoulder. "Seems an explanation is in order."

"Yes, I rather think."


AN: Hello, friends! In case any y'all were wondering, update speed will probs be faster on this one, alright? Chapter's still unbetaed, I just wanted to get it out as fast as I could. But still, if you find any glaring holes, shoot me a message! Anything is appreciated.

Any thoughts on where this is going? I actually have it well outlined, so it's not going to be an everywhere fiasco. Of course, I'll change a couple things...

(seriously though, severely distracted because new Sherlock)

FF was being hella screwy with updating lately, so I technically finished this two days ago. I literally just got on the site without it error messaging me.

Please review, I love you all.

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