Ginny was past tears, past bewilderment, past it all. Now, she was angry. The whole Order was in the kitchen, having tea. Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore, and Mrs. Weasley were still upstairs with Hermione. Ron, Harry, and Remus had arrived some fifteen minutes ago, quickly filing in from another room.

No one spoke. Harry had sat beside Ginny and put an arm on her shoulder, but she soon shook it off. She glared at her tea dregs, stewing at the Death Eaters that hurt Hermione. Ron, Fred, George, and Charlie looked almost as angry. Mr. Weasley helplessly blundered around the kitchen for a while and finally sat down to stare at his tea cup.

Moody sat in a corner, sipping from his flask and grumbling at intervals. Tonks was nearby, changing her hair and nose every couple of minutes out of nervous tension. Silence reigned.

There was a noise at the top of the stairs; every head turned. Hermione descended, wrapped in a bathrobe. For a moment, no one moved. When they did, it was en masse. No one wanted to touch her though, she looked so fragile. She made her way into the sitting room in a bubble of friends, only one hand touching her at all, Ginny's in the small of her back. When she alighted on a couch, the redhead sat beside her and pulled her bare feet up into her lap to examine them. Dark smudges still stained her insteps, but the awful image was obliterated. Ginny checked Hermione's wrists to similar effect, then snuggled comfortably in beside her, an arm around her waist, as everyone took seats around them. "'Mione, babe, can you tell us? What happened?"

Mrs. Weasley, Madam Pomfrey, and Dumbledore entered last and took seats. Dumbledore looked about, then addressed Hermione. "Yes, Ms. Granger, if you could possibly."

Hermione nodded and threaded a hand through Ginny's. "I'll try. Where should I begin?"

Harry had grown very serious in recent years. His answer was serious, but not reprimanding. "The last we knew, you were doing a patrol run out by Hogwarts. The refugees reported your arrival and then lost track of you." If at all possible, he sobered more. "That was supposed to be my run."

"Did anyone find my broom?" There was a general shake of heads. "Oh, because I put it up against a tree just off of the grounds right before I stepped on that portkey. I was following some mysterious sparks."

Ron jumped in, powered by frustrated anger. "You should have been with a partner!"

Hermione flinched a bit. "No one thought it was anything important. I mean, we didn't think Voldemort knew Hogwarts was turned into a refugee camp. As far as we knew, he thought it was abandoned."

Tonks put a hand on Ron's shoulder. "So you stepped on a portkey?"

Hermione gratefully returned to the story. "Yes, and it took me to a cave, or a castle, perhaps a dungeon? I'm not entirely sure, but there was a ring of Death Eaters waiting there." She caught her breath for a moment.

"They didn't expect me. Harry, I think they expected you." He put his head in his hands. Ginny rubbed a circle in the small of her back.

Ron interrupted again. "Why didn't you put out a call? We could have been in motion days ago if you had alerted us!"

"I couldn't. They could tell every time I tried. They wanted me to. They were ready for you." Her grip tightened on Ginny's hand. "They told me to, and I refused. So they kicked me. A few of them just stood over me and kicked me over and over again. I tried to apparate out, but there were wards. And I just stopped paying attention to them and kept saying no."

Now it was Ron's turn to look guilty. He had developed the spell that bound them all with that calling ability. But he didn't know Voldemort knew so much about it. "I'm sorry, 'Mione."

"No, Ron, it's alright. I'm fine. But they weren't happy that I wouldn't call. I was nearly unconscious, I couldn't walk, so they dragged me off through, whatever it was I was in. It burned so badly. I wanted to scream, but I didn't. I bit my tongue so hard it bled. For a minute, one of the Death Eaters thought I was coughing up blood. Then they finished dragging me off on the other side. They threw me in a dark room and left me there, but there was always someone just outside. Always." Her grip tightened through al of this. "They didn't feed me or bring me water. I thought I was going to die there." She paused. "How long was I gone?"

Mrs. Weasley laid a hand on her arm. "Four days, dear."

"I didn't know. It could have been a week or a day. It felt like a year. Then, they came and took me out again. This time, I walked, as best I could. They bound me up in that hall, Voldemort was there. He used his wand to hurt me. When I wouldn't call, he put the Dark Mark on my wrist. It seared. So much. I said no again, so he did the other wrist. Then my feet, and my neck. He probably would have gone all of the way down my spine, but he stopped to try the unforgivable curses again."

Ginny sucked in. Fred breathed the single word on everyone's mind, "Again?"

Hermione nodded. "Then…then he left. I don't know why. He said he'd be back, but Ginny came while he was gone." She looked at her girlfriend and smiled a little, then leaned to whisper in the redhead's ear. "You're hot when you're kicking ass."

Ginny grinned and blushed. Harry, Ron, and Remus also wore grins. Hermione shot them a quizzical look and Remus answered, "We know why he left."

Hermione moved a bit on the couch, getting comfortable. Then she gave Remus a look that plainly said, 'tell on.'

"When the refugees reported you missing, we were all very worried. Harry here especially."

"Thanks, Rem." Harry looked at his friend, then at Hermione. "That was supposed to be my run. You should have woken me up for it."

Ginny jumped in in Hermione's defense. "Harry, you take shifts and runs off of people all the time. In fact, you were asleep then because you had just done one of Bill's shifts and two of Fletcher's runs. We could have split those up while they were on assignment."

Remus interrupted again. "Either way, they reported you missing. We didn't find your broom, but we did find a backup portkey they had planted. We traced it to get your location. Ron and I were assigned as your rescue team, but Gin here wouldn't have us go without her. Neither would Harry. He, however, was told to stay. We couldn't risk him at Voldemort's castle; yes, he is currently occupying a castle the size of Hogwarts over in Wales." Hermione wasn't surprised exactly, she just hadn't expected that. He continued.

"So, Ron and I told Harry to stay and Ginny to finish her assignment." He shot the redheaded woman a glare.

"I did!"

"That was no way to deal quietly with a collection of dark wizarding artifacts on the muggle market, blowing them all up in a warehouse."

"I made it look realistic," she insisted.

"All right, the point is, Ron and I did the first part ourselves." Ron nodded. "We covered the distance by broom and camped out nearby until we could figure a way in. Harry found us there." Another one of Remus' patented 'I'm older than you and should be mad' glares shot in Harry's direction.

Harry had to speak in his own defense. "I couldn't stand it that you got caught on my shift. 'Mione, you know that wild thestrals wouldn't keep me from helping my friends."

She nodded and Ron continued the story. "So, Harry here suddenly plopped out of the sky with his broom and refused to leave. He wanted to go in to get you, but we still didn't know where you were. The three of us did some checking around, but you must have been down in the dungeons. Then, this morning, they dragged you into the hall at the center of the castle. You didn't notice, but it had a huge glass ceiling. Remus, Harry and I began making a plan at the tent when Gin suddenly apparated in."

Remus interrupted him. "We all brought brooms for use's sake. The apparition wards only covered the building."

"Right." Ron confirmed. "So Gin here comes popping in insisting that we tell her where you are. So we did. Her answer was 'Create a distraction.'" He gave Gin a slightly reprehensive look.

Harry picked up the tale. "So we did. I swear on my parents' grave, Ron went up and knocked on the castle door. When one of the Death Eaters answered, he put on the best act I've seen in a long time. 'Oh, I can't live with them! They don't appreciate me! I'll bring you Harry! Voldemort is the best!' All he needed was a skirt and pompoms. That's why Voldemort left. I followed Ron in and the second they stopped watching him, I pulled him under the invisibility cloak. It took us a while, but we slipped out."

Remus told the other perspective. "While they were doing that, Ginny actually apparated up into the air above the hall and fell right through the glass. You saw what happened then."

Hermione grinned at Ginny. "My hero."