With a loud crack, a witch appears in the seemingly bombed out ruins of London, near the remains of the, now deserted, Ministry building. Hermione gazed sadly at the remains of the building's around the square, thinking back to the day the ministry fell.
In the early morning hours of New Years day, the Ministry had been invaded. About one hundred and thirty Death Eaters had Apparated into the Ministry despite Heavy Anti-Apparition wards, using the same orb's that had been used the night Harry was murdered. The Ministry had never prepared for a fight from inside, and withing three hours the Minister had been replaced by Voldemort.
The Order had captured one of these Orb devices that night, and despite a great loss in the Ministry, the order had largely been unharmed in this attack. After several day's of experimentation with the device by the Weasley twin's they dubbed them,"Ward Window's.", after there apparent ability to force ward's aside in there area of effect. They had a distinct advantage in the form of one could be used in a heavily warded area to Apparate in allies, but the main disadvantage was the fact that you had to physically carry the orb into the target area.
"HERMIONE!" A voice rang out, echoing into the darkness, as a young woman stepped out of the shadows. Hermione smiled as she took in the unmistakable Nymphadora Tonks.
Today the Metamorphmagus was wearing a Dark black cloak, with a dark red shirt hidden underneath. Her hair was shoulder length, colored a deep blue, slung carelessly over one shoulder.
The Ex-Auror gathered Hermione in her arm's before pulling away slightly, a small smile visible on her lips.
"I'm so glad you're ok!" She said, her voice bouncing off the walls of the building's around her. "We head there were Death Eater's in Gordric's Hollow!" she exclaimed, her hair taking on a slightly red tinge.
Hermione let out a sigh, before slowly speaking. "There were Death Eater's..." she trailed off slightly, her eye's seeing the bodies before her. "They trapped me in a Motel, and I had a plan to blow up a propane tank, but by the time I was in position to blow it, all the Death Eater's were dead. I don't know who did it, or how."
She could tell by the way Tonks looked at her that the young witch didn't believe her, but before she could argue with the woman, Tonks saw the burn on her hand.
"Oh my god Hermione! What happened to your hand?" The witch gently took Hermione's hand in her own, gently tapping the burnt skin.
The burns across the pale skin slowly receded, until the hand was a healthy pale again. Hermione flexed her finger's slightly, smiling as her hand stretched painlessly. The witch slipped her wand back into her wand hand, smiling as the feeling of strength swept don her arm.
"If your hand was burnt it couldn't have been you... So who did do it?" she asked, her voice hesitant.
"I honestly don't know. It had to be someone dark, but I don't understand why they'd attack Voldemort... unless it's a new dark lord." she summarized, her heart sinking at the thought of fighting a three way war.
Tonks didn't answer as she silently gazed into the darkness.
"Let's get inside, we have some new information on Death Eater movement's, and we'll also need reports on the Death Eater's that were present at the motel."
Tonks turned and stepped into the shadow of the nearest building, quickly lighting her wand as she wound her way through the buildings. They passed through a broken doorway, the trim of the door hanging from the wall, stepping into an old abandoned church, making there way through the decrepit pew's toward a door hidden in the shadows.
The smell of rotting wood filled the air as they knocked three times on the door, waiting as the door creaks open slowly. The pair didn't move as a wand is pushed through the small gap, pointing straight at Hermione's heart.
From inside the door, they hear a steely voice bark out, "Identify yourselves!"
"Hermione Jean Granger. Age 22. My wand is made of Vine Wood, with a 10 ¾ inch Dragon heart-string," The witch instantly responded, holding said wand in front of her.
"And your Patronus's form?" The voice commanded sharply.
"An Otter."
The wand deftly switched target's pointing dead at Nymphadora's heart.
"Nymphadora Tonks. Age 28. My wand is Hawkthorn, with a 9 ½ inch Threstal tail hair."
"Patronus's form?"
"A wolf." The witch replied, sighing from boredom.
The door slammed shut, a faint clicking making it's way through the thick enchanted wood. After a moment, the door slide's open revealing a giant of a man standing in the doorway. His electric blue eyes glinted dangerously, sweeping the room as the two girls make there way into the room behind him.
Shutting the door behind the two, he quickly fling's locking spells at the door, before following Hermione down the stairs into the bowels of the Church. He fell in step behind the two, nearly eclipsing them in his shadow. He stood at a towering six foot eight, dwarfing most of the people in the order. His short cropped blond hair, bangs just long enough to cover his left eye, gave the impression of gentleness, while his Vivid blue eye's, crackling with lightning gave off a deadly air.
He was in blue jeans today, a rip in the left leg from an intense spell fight several months ago. A black t-shirt was stretched across his muscular frame, the thin fabric almost pulled the breaking point. All in all, Cole McGrath was one hell of a dangerous man, one of the few that Hermione would want with her in a battle.
Hermione turned and glanced up at the large man as she asked, "Has everyone reported in from their missions Cole?"
"Everyone is back, except Mad-eye." he replied, almost running the smaller woman over as she skidded to a stop.
"When did we hear from him last?" she asked, steel entering her voice at the thought of losing another member, especially Mad-eye.
"Three days ago. He last reported in from eastern America." The massive man answered.
Her heart sank as her mind kicked into gear. Her feet carried her farther into the basement, making their way into the so called war room.
"If Mad-eye's been lost, we have to get someone over there immediately, We can't have Death Eater's running a muck in America, especially when there government doesn't know how easy it is to underestimate them." her voice dropped slightly, realizing that with Harry's death they might as well have thrown in the towel.
Stepping into the room, she saw her Ex-Transfiguration Professor McGonagall studying a wall length map of Britain, glowing red X's hovering over the map showing where they've searched before.
"Any luck Professor?" Her voice flat, lacking the emotion from previous months.
The elder woman sighed, before looking to Hermione. "No my dear, I'm afraid there is still no news." The teacher's voice lacked the sternness of precious years, replaced by the horror's of war. She had seen horrible things since the slaughter of Harry potter, including the attack on Hogwarts, the ministry's fall, and the loss of her left hand in the defense of the ministry. "I'm afraid we will not find young Ronald until he is ready to be found. I stick by my opinion that he is looking for his family."
Hermione sighed, hopelessness evident in her voice.
"Or he's dead." The young witch said, her voice so bleak the Ex-teacher couldn't find the word's to comfort her.
"How else could he go missing? He was inside the Catacombs with all of us, we turned around for a moment, and suddenly, He's gone... Even if he left willingly, how did he lose us so fast?"
"I don't know Hermione. Between you, Ronald, and.. My other student's I've seen many thing's I would have put down to impossible over the past years." McGonagall said softly, her eye's locked on her scrying map as she cast another X on the map of area's that had been searched. "You don't know the desperation that young man must have felt after hearing his family vanished, besides the twins."
" I just can't believe Ron would leave without telling anyone... Especially me."
The gray haired witch opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the large door's behind her being swung open so hard, dust drifted from the ceiling.
Everyone in the room turned to see Cole, his chest heaving as his eye's locked with Hermione, standing in the doorway. He immediately beckoned Hermione into the hallway, his eyes crackling with anticipation.
She turned and quickly strode out of the room, leaving McGonagall studying the map. Once in the hallway, the witch looked at the man before her, her eyes watching him, as he wrings his hand's.
"What's wrong Cole?" Hermione asked, attempting to sound calm, despite her voice betraying her unease. The man remained quite, evidently turning words over in his mind, hoping to explain what he was so worked up about.
She stepped closer slightly, her voice taking on the slight hardness of a leader.
"What is wrong, Cole?" She demanded, her voice causing him to blurt out.
"We found Ginny! Just outside Aberdeen.." He trailed off as her face lit up, a large smile accenting her face.
"I have to see her!" Hermione took off toward the infirmary, where three years of captivity by Voldemort would surely leave her.
"Wait Hermione! You won't..." his voice died away as she distanced herself from him, her mind solely on Ginny.
The young witch quickly snaked through the Headquarters, leaving Cole to struggle to catch up. Up ahead the Brunette saw the doors to the infirmary, looming closer and closer.
In front of her was a single body, laying on the farthest infirmary table, resting after a wayward spell took a chunk out of the unfortunate member's leg. Hermione looked around curiously, preparing to turn around to head into the rest of the building to find Ginny, but felt a massive hand gently come down on her shoulder.
The hand, which belonged to Cole, slowly turned her toward a unmarked set of doors that led to the temporary morgue. The witch stifled a cry, tears springing up in her eyes, as she slowly walked through the door.
"No.. Oh god No.." she whispered, a sob twitching through her thin frame.
She stepped through the arch way, seeing a mass of red hair splayed across a bed frame.
Distantly she heard Cole speaking. Focusing she asked him to repeat himself.
"I said she's not dead, She's in a Coma. We found her in the wood's just outside Aberdeen after an order member reported in with spell fire in the area. Bellatrix was near-by, and took out two member's who went to investigate. The last member brought her back. Pomfrey thinks she was hit with the Cruciatus curse until her mind withdrew into itself. We don't know when she'll wake up Hermione."
Hermione just nodded, her eye's locked on her friends broken body, tears streaming down her face as she thought of all the people shes lost over the past four years. Friends, Order members, and her family.. She couldn't help but think of all the people she stood to lose in the near future.
It wasn't a happy thought.
A/N: Chap 3 revised! Review and tell me how I did on the revision, I think I did much better, Added detail, elaborated on some plot line's and over all just made everything clearer hopefully :) Sorry if it's not going so fast, I'm having to write this between my College exam's so I'm stretched to the breaking point right now :) R&R!
