The Fight Back Begins
"I was thinking" Hermione said.
"About…?" Harry looked up from where he was creating a potion for Dreamless Sleep.
"When we go and raid the house. You said to kill everybody inside"
"I didn't explicitly mention killing, but I know what you mean… go on" Harry set the wooden spoon to stir on it own.
"If it comes down to killing people, do we kill the children?"
"A tough question" Harry said. "If we just go in and leave the children alive, we'd be letting Voldemort know who carried out the attack. If we kill them, then Voldemort will take out an even greater revenge then what he is doing so now"
"So what do we do?" asked Hermione.
"We'll have to come up with another way of carrying out the attack" Harry said. "We'll have to do it at night because that will give us the best chance of success. The only problem is our vision"
"I have been thinking of that"
"I thought you might" said Harry and was rewarded by a narrowed glance by his fiancée.
"I was thinking of throwing Instant Darkness powder around" Hermione said. "That way, everything would be confusing to the enemy"
"And how do we see?" Harry asked, not getting what Hermione was talking about.
"Have you ever heard of night vision goggles?"
"Things soldiers wear to see in the dark" Harry nodded. "But they will not work in magical areas"
"I know that, Harry" Hermione said patiently, "But there must be a way for us to charm them in such as way that they will work"
"If you can do that, they'll never know what will hit them" Harry said. "I, too, have been thinking on our little intelligence gathering mission"
"Oh?"
"If they know of that passage under the ground, they might have it guarded quite well. I was thinking that, assuming we can steal a broom from somewhere, you fly backwards on it and cast spells at the attackers while I get us out of there"
"You are the better caster, Harry. You have power that others simply do not"
"True, but I am also a better flyer then you, Mione" Harry told her. "If I fly the broom, I can dodge incoming spells and fly us away and get us out of the shielded area before they realise we've escaped"
"You're right, Harry" Hermione sighed. "I'm not happy about flying on a broom, but I know it's the only way"
"Look at it this way – if we hit the ground and die, at least you won't know it. I'm just worried about putting you in harm's way…"
"Why?"
"The baby"
"Harry, I am carrying your child – I am NOT disabled" Harry cringed at the shout and curled into a ball. Hermione immediately felt sorry for him and rushed over to comfort him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you" she whispered as she stroked his head and back. Harry still had trouble with people raising their voices in anger at him. "Lets forget about this for a while" she offered. "What would you like to do?"
"You!" Harry scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom at the run – Hermione just giggled. "Remind me to marry you soon – before the baby comes"
"Alright" Hermione said, getting placed on Harry's bed. She was about to say something else when she saw Harry frown. "You won't hurt the baby" she said.
"Not that. I was wondering if you believe in sex before marriage" and Hermione shook her head at the question. They had already had made love – the result of which was Hermione becoming pregnant with Harry's child. Still, Harry was expecting some kind of answer…
"If it delays the service, then I would have to say no…" and started to take off her clothes.
#
"More fish" said a boy, rather glum sounding.
"Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day" another boy said.
"Teach a man to fish, and he can open his own chain of chip shops" a blond girl said.
"If Luna is like this sober" the first boy said, "I'd like to see her pissed"
#
"Are we set?" asked Harry.
"I think so" Hermione said. "I would prefer to try these out first, but I suppose we'll have to work on those things as we go along…" she handed Harry a set of night vision goggles that had been charmed to work in a magical environment. It had been hard to find two of the sets, but they had managed to slip some out from a local Territorial Army barracks without being seen. Harry was thankful that he had given Hermione his cloak to wear, though he had been worried about sending Hermione out on a mission by herself. He knew that she was more than capable of doing anything she put her mind too, but he also did not want to put herself or his unborn child in danger. Tonight, however, he had no choice in the matter.
"I'm worried" he said at last.
"About what?" Hermione asked.
"About getting captured" Harry replied. "We don't know what kind of numbers we are talking about inside the manor, or what kind of charms and wards are over the grounds. We could have a million Death Eaters on us the moment we fire our first spells"
"Hardly a million" Hermione frowned.
"You know what I mean" Harry replied, retying his boot laces.
"I know what you mean, and I know that you mean well enough…" Hermione sighed. "I worry about you just as much as you worry about us" she patted her stomach gently. "Promise me one thing, Harry?"
"Of course"
"We either get out of there together and alive - or not at all"
"Wouldn't have it any other way" Harry said, straightening up. "Wait a minute - if you get yourself killed by accident, does that I mean I have to turn my wand on myself?"
"Yes"
"Bugger"
"We better get going" Hermione said, looking at the clock by the wall of the tent.
"Onwards, Mon Ami, to Moscow" Harry said. "Or Cheshire at any rate"
#
They spent an hour in the darkness of the forest in order to make sure there were no last minute changes that would upset their plans. Nothing, however had changed and they were able to creep around the grounds and get to the hole in the ground. Tying a rope around the strongest of the bars, and testing their weight on it, Harry and Hermione climbed down into the passage and lit their wand tips – casting small beams of light wherever they were pointed.
"This way" Harry said. They moved quickly and quietly to the end of the tunnel – ending up facing a wooden door that was locked.
"Nobody in the room on the other side" Hermione said, casting a detection spell.
"Any charms on the door or anything else that would alert people?" Harry asked.
"No" Hermione studied the spell's results. Harry sighed in relief and cast an unlocking spell and the door moved almost imperceptibly as the lock was undone.
"We're in" Harry said, leading the way into the house. Checking that the coast was clear, Hermione ensure that the door could not be closed with them knowing about it. "Point me Lord Crabbe" he hoped that the spell he had learned for the Tri-Wizard would help him in this moment of need. The wand rose almost a half inch before turning on its end and pointing upwards.
"Asleep in bed" Hermione said.
"Or having sex"
"Unless he is forcing someone to do it to him" Hermione shuddered. They slapped down the night vision goggles and threw some the instant darkness powder that the Weasley Twins had given to them as part of Christmas present. The entire hall, where they had exited to from the passage way, was plunged into total darkness – only the goggles gave them the ability to see in the pitch blackness. Taking it slowly up the stairs, and throwing more powder when needed, they got to the floor that the Point Me spell indicated that the head of the Crabbe family was at that moment in time.
"When we go in, I want him awake" Harry's low voice sounded forceful. "I want him to know who is going to end his life the way that he ended the lives of others"
"Are you sure you want to kill him?" Hermione asked. "Once we do that, there is no turning back – you know that, right?" and she could see Harry's green coloured form nod once.
"You just make sure that you get his Mark once he is dying" he said to her, scanning the floor for anybody. "We might have seconds to get back into the tunnel, out the hole and to the cave!"
"I have the knife ready to cut it out of his skin" Hermione said, feeling the knife in the sheath on her jeans belt.
"Lets go" Harry said, moving off and entering a bedroom on the right of the landing. It was just as well that they wore the goggles as the bedroom was dimly lit and they heard the sounds of moaning. When they reached the bed, Hermione pulled back the curtains to reveal Crabbe engaged with raping Daphne Greengrass. Harry sent the girl spinning out from under the overweight man before casting Crucio on her several times
"What are you doing?" Hermione exclaimed. "She is our friend"
"And if we just left her alone…?" Harry replied, making sure that Crabbe was bound up, gagged and ready to be dealt with. "They would torture her more then what they have already done so. By making it seem as if they played with her a while, it appears that Crabbe's attackers had no plans for Daphne. This is as much as for her protection as it is for ours. In the state she is in now, she will not be able to hear our voices or know who attacked her" and Hermione conceded the issue.
"I still don't like it" she said, pulling out the knife and bringing it towards the man who shook and screamed through the gags and binds.
"War is a dirty business" Harry said, "And we're just the cleaning ladies" he turned to look at the figure tied up before him. "Before we begin, I would just like to thank you for your help in our work. You might know of it, but this is going to help us in our plans – and all down to you" he heard, without turning to see what caused it, the sound of metal sliding on leather. "We've never tried this before" Harry said, noting Hermione moving to his side, "But they say you could last a short period before dying…"
The knife slashed down through the air and made contact with flesh and bone…
#
Harry's first reaction was to be sick the moment they reached the cave. Although he knew that he would be forced to kill in order to be free, it was the first death that he had seen like that. Cedric Diggory's death, and that or the others he seen in person or through the connection he shared with Voldemort, had been clean deaths by way of the Killing Curse.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked gently.
"I will be" Harry replied, washing out the acrid tang of vomit from his mouth. As he stepped outside the toilet, Hermione pushed a large glass of Firewhiskey into his hands.
"For medicinal purposes" she told him. "I will help to administer the dose" Hermione indicated another glass that she had nearby.
"I would hope that we never have to do that again, but we shall have to again" Harry sipped the drink. "That was the first death that I ever saw terror in the dead" he remarked.
"Oh?" Hermione replied.
"I don't remember the death of my parents, Quirrell's death I can't remember because of Voldemort's ghost, Cedric and Sirius both got hit by the Killing Curse and they never felt anything…"
"I have seen terror on somebody about to die" Hermione said. "The only thing is that he didn't die and I am going to marry him"
"You are talking about me – right?" Harry asked after a short pause.
"No… I was referring to some other person who has saved the magical world three times already" Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"If that is what it takes to save people, they can find another hero – I'm going on strike" Harry swallowed a mouthful of the Firewhiskey – feeling it slide down his throat like a liquid fire. "I wonder how long it will take for them to find the body" he wondered.
"I don't know" Hermione replied. "If somebody came into his room, they might have found in him with enough time to save his life"
"I hope not" Harry muttered darkly. "Anyway… What have we actually demonstrated?" he asked.
"Even if we did kill a low ranking Death Eater" Hermione said, "Voldemort will divert resources to find his killer and punish them. At the very least, we gave people enough time to find a place to hide or to run away out of the country"
"And, if we're lucky, regroup for a counter offensive" Harry said, "But we've not been lucky at all. Over the last two months, Voldemort and the Death Eaters have taken over every single part of magical Britain, killed hundreds – if not thousands, and are now starting their plans on the Muggles. We've found out that some of our friends have been captured and maybe killed. We lost not just the battle, but, perhaps, even the very war"
"I was looking over the papers we grabbed before leaving" Hermione said, "And some of them are battle orders for raids and such. Crabbe was told to take seven new recruits and test them against so called Mudbloods and Traitors in the Yorkshire Moors"
"So?"
"Except the orders are repeated on several different days" Hermione said. "I'd have to guess that there is some kind of group trying to fight the Death Eaters. If there is, then we will have to make contact with them"
"Does it name anybody?" Harry looked a little cheerful at the news.
"No"
"Well at least we know one group is still out there" Harry said. "But it all depends on how many actually survived the various attacks – and we don't know where they are"
"I have a theory on how we can find out" Hermione paused, thought a while before continuing on. "You share a connection with Voldemort because of your scar. It connects you to him when he is angry or his mind is open" and Harry nodded.
"But he has to be either very angry or badly exhausted in magical terms" he said.
"I know" Hermione told him. "You, and don't take this the wrong way, are not unlike the Death Eaters. You both, through marks on your bodies, share a connection which Voldemort can make use of"
"But their Dark Marks are there as a symbol of their service to him" Harry said. "He uses it to call them to him for gatherings"
"And now we have a mark of our own" Hermione pointed to the ragged skin on which was the Dark Mark – the symbol of the Death Eaters' service and loyalty to Voldemort. "I've read everything I know about these sorts of things, Harry, and I think I know how we can turn it into an advantage for us"
"How?" Harry finished the last of his Firewhiskey and thought of going to bed.
"To use the connection, he has to use the mark of a Death Eater"
"Right"
"But to call some, or all, to him he has to open up his mind" Hermione said. "I'm guessing that, so long as you are touching the mark and think of being in Voldemort's mind, we might be able to gain some useful information. We might not be able to use it too many times, but we might be able to make a difference in the fighting"
"The only problem" Harry hauled himself out of the armchair, "Is that my mind will be open to Voldemort. If he knows that, he could let me sit in his mind whilst I am turned into a mindless hulk"
"There was that one little issue" Hermione winced.
"We'll talk about this in the morning, but I really would like to go to bed" Harry said. After wishing Hermione a good night, or what remained of it, Harry went to his bed wondering why he felt he could live with causing the death of another human being…
#
"What is it?" Voldemort said, beginning to aim his wand at the follower who had run into the throne room.
"My Lord, we had not heard from Crabbe after we knew the mission had been a success" the follower said quickly. "I thought he must be drunk and went to get his report in person. But, My Lord, I found Crabbe dead"
"From drink, I suppose?"
"No, My Lord"
"No?" Voldemort raised an eyebrowless eyebrow. "Then continue…"
"Nobody in the house could open the door to his private bedroom, and we ended up having to demolish it with a blasting hex. We went inside to find Crabbe and the Greengrass girl there"
"And?"
"I regret, My Lord, to inform you that Crabbe is dead"
"Killed by the Greengrass girl, one presumes"
"No, My Lord"
"Oh…?" Voldemort gave off a short laugh. "It seems that today is one of surprises, does it not? How" he asked the follower, "Did Crabbe die, if not by the actions of the Greengrass girl?"
"We found the Greengrass girl under the effects of a number of Crucios, My Lord. We thought that Crabbe was in red bed sheets, but we found the sheets soaked in blood and his Mark had been cut out"
"Out?"
"Yes, My Lord" the follower said, calculating the time needed to dodge the killing curse. "It looks like he was alive when it was taken, but we know not whom it was from. None of the wards had been triggered and none of the elves said they had felt anything out of the ordinary"
"Any type of message left by the murderers?"
"Just one small sheet of parchment, My Lord" the follower handed it to the man he had pledged his loyalty and service to. Voldemort read the note and presumed it to be in some kind of code. There was no way that anyone could tell by the handwriting because it appeared to have been stencilled. As he looked at it again, he was certain that it was all in code.
We got one back… Means that we shall have to arrange a rematch. Pools panel say no score draw
"Go and see the others on the raid last night" Voldemort commanded. "Find out if they are still alive and if they know anything about what happened. When we discover who has done this, I will crush them like ants…"
Yes, My Lord" replied the follower. Severus Snape thought that, as things went, he was doing pretty good for the day.
#
It had been one death, Hermione knew this, but it was a death that was greatly appreciated in the greater balance. As she sat and watched flames in the tent's fireplace dance around, Hermione wondered how Harry would be in the morning. Even though he knew the death was needed, he still thought it was a step to becoming like Voldemort. She, on the other hand, reasoned that it was an evil thing that they needed to do. It was, anyway, the right thing to do for the girl.
In killing Crabbe, she knew it was one step closer to freedom…
And, above all else, one step closer to protecting Harry…
