Warning: This story does include violence, allusions to sexual assault, abuse, miscarriage, and some major character deaths.

I own none of it. I just like to play with the characters.

Chapter 4 – For Your Protection

September 10, 2006

At first, Hermione thought that she hadn't heard Harry correctly when he announced to the party that Dolohov had managed to escape. Her right hand moved to her collar bone where the top of the scar that Dolohov had given her in fifth year poked out over the hem of her dress. She felt Ron stiffen, his face filled with fear, as he wrapped an arm around the back of her chair. She knew that he would be upset about this but something felt off with the way that the Weasley brothers, Remus and Sirius were carefully watching her. She shook off her shock and met Harry's eyes.

"Well, then we need to get back to the Ministry and start to look for clues. Do they know how he managed to escape yet?" Hermione fell back into work mode.

"Yes, they do." Harry's voice was flat, his eyes flicking to Ron. "He had outside help. Hermione -"

"Okay, let's get back to the office. Who's on the task force? Sirius and I can help look over the files and the mode of escape. We'll have to - "

"No."

Hermione turned quickly to the venom in her husband's voice. "What?"

"I said no. You aren't helping with this case. You aren't going anywhere near this case." He ignored her stammering protests as he looked to Harry. "We assign her a full body-guard, strengthen the wards on the Cottage, Grimmauld, and the Burrow. We'll tell Finnigan that their office is to be moved to Grimmauld, it's the safest location."

"Why on Earth would we have to do all that? This is ridiculous Ronald. And why wouldn't I be on the case? You know that my office helps run high profile cases like this, it's my job." Hermione began to get angry as Ron continued to ignore her, discussing with Harry and Bill the types of protection wards they could place around her that wouldn't affect Rose. Then as the twins glanced at her, a dark twisting began in her stomach. "What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing, love, I just don't want -"

"Don't lie to me!" Hermione yelled, her magic pulsing. She stared at her family, not surprised when none of the men met her eyes. Of course they knew. And of course, like the over-protective, slightly (ha) old-fashioned wizards they were, had deemed it not important to inform the women what was going on.

"Harry? What's going on?" Ginny asked her husband.

Harry closed his eyes, sighing before looking at Ron. "We have to tell her."

"No." Ron forced through clenched teeth. "Absolutely not."

"Tell me what, Ronald?" Hermione's voice cracked as she looked between Ron and Harry. "Ron? Goddammit, look at me!" She let out a small gasp when he finally turned to her, his eyes filled with desperation, fear, and anger. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Ron, it'll be better if she knows," Charlie said softly. "She should know why she needs to be under protection."

"Under protection? From what? Dolohov? Just because he attacked me over a decade ago?" Hermione huffed. "If it's about previous grudges, I'm pretty sure that Harry would be at the top of his list."

"Hermione it's not that -"

"And not to be smug but my team is one of the best at research when it comes to helping the Aurors. Quite honestly, I should have been called in immediately when it occurred." Hermione glared at Harry.

"Kingsley did want your office called and I chose Seamus to represent your team," Harry quietly admitted.

"I'm the lead!" Hermione growled, standing up angrily. "This is bloody ridiculous. Is this another one of those instances where the big pregnant lady needs to be protected from the horrible evil wizard? I don't do field work, I'm not personally going after him, I'd just be -"

"NO!" Ron bellowed, standing forcefully, his chair falling backwards as he turned to her. "You are not on this fucking case."

"And why not?" Hermione demanded. "Dolohov is a dangerous Death Eater. He needs to be captured quickly and in order for that to happen, we need the best task force to be working on it. And as much as it might piss you off, your wife is one of those people."

"Please," Ron begged, grasping her hands and putting his forehead against hers. "Please don't. Just listen to me."

Hermione ripped away from him. "Not if you're going to be keeping secrets from me."

Ron cursed, closing his eyes and running his hands through his hair, pulling at it before kicking his chair out of the way. He took a deep breath before finally speaking to Hermione. "Dolohov was the one writing the letters to you."

It felt like the ground was ripped from underneath her as her mind registered what Ron was telling her. She fell hard back into her chair, her breathing staggered as the words of the letters raced through her head. All the threats, all the demands, all the accusations, the damage to the kitchen, the night of crying after the bleeding had started, the fears of losing her third baby. "They stopped."

"N-no," Ron's voice shook. "I warded the house so you wouldn't get anymore. I was worried about Rose."

"How many?"

"Thirty or so."

Hermione swallowed. "And what did they say?"

Ron sighed. "Basically what he had been. It got progressively more detailed and violent. He wants me dead, he thinks you're his soulmate, and he says he'll stop at nothing to get you."

"Why didn't I sense the change to the wards? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I confunded you to ignore them." Hermione gripped her wand tightly at the admission. "After the last one you read caused the magic flair and the bleeding, I didn't want to chance it. As I said, I was worried about losing Rose. I was worried about losing you."

"You confunded me?" The family flinched at the pain in the simple question.

"Yes." Ron pulled at her hands, trying to get her look at him, to understand why he had done what he had. "I'm so, so sorry. I was scared and I didn't want you hurt. Harry and I have been trying to figure out how to get the letters to stop. I would've told you after Rose was here."

"You've been lying to me for weeks. No!" She stopped the few voices trying to defend Ron. "You have, you've been lying to me. You weren't going to tell me the truth today until I forced you. You confunded me! Your wife!"

"I'm sorry, 'Mione. I have to keep you safe. Don't you understand?"

"No, honestly I don't. Yes, it would have been hard for me to deal with but I'm a grown woman, a powerful witch. And I'm your wife. We're a team. You don't lie to me, not about something like this." Hermione wiped the tears from her cheeks as she stood from the table. "Harry, I want a copy of the case as soon as you can. And I don't want to hear anything about not being on the team. I'm doing my job." Hermione ignored the rest of them as she began to walk towards the house.

"Where are you going?" Ginny's quiet voice stopped her.

"Grimmauld, if that's alright with you. I've been told it's the safest place for me." She stared at her husband's tear streaked face though she still addressed Ginny. "Gin, will you go to my house and pack me a bag?" Ron's face contorted with pain, a long arm stretching out to her.

"'Mione, please, don't."

God, how she wanted to just run to him and wrap her arms around him, feel the comfort that he gave her, the safety. However, the betrayal of his actions cut her deep and she knew that she needed the space. "I can't be around you right now, Ron. I'm sorry." Wiping her cheeks again, she turned to the house, moving as fast as she could to the fireplace and tossing down the floo powder, collapsing onto the sofa at Grimmauld before losing herself to her sobs.

oOoOoOoOo

"FUCK!" Ron bellowed, pulling at his hair again, trying to fight the urge to follow after his wife. He knew Hermione. He had known her for years. He knew that if he gave in and went to Grimmauld after her before she was ready to talk to him all that would happen would be a nasty fight, filled with multiple creative hexes towards himself, and the possibility of Hermione's magic losing control. As much as he wanted to explain himself to his wife and get her to understand that he was only thinking of her safety he knew that it would be safer for all of them, especially for his unborn daughter, if he gave Hermione the space that she needed. Hot tears fell from his eyes as he collapsed into his chair, resting his forehead onto his arms.

He heard as Ginny stood, her disgusted sigh audible above those still trying to understand what had just happened. "Mum, maybe you and dad could take the little ones down to the village for some ice cream?"

"What? Oh, yes dear, of course. How about it? And maybe, if you're good, we can bring some bread to the pond and feed the fish." Molly tried hard to force excitement into her voice as she talked to her grandchildren. "You too, Teddy. Here, Roxy, let papa tie those shoes." She met the eyes of her sons. "We expect to be fully informed tonight about what is happening."

"Yes mum."

Ginny waited until their parents had all the kids put together and left the ward boundary before she gave a nasty glare at the men in her family. "I want to know what you idiots have been keeping from us and I swear, if you leave a single thing out you'll find out how exactly it feels to be castrated without sedation." Her husband and brothers flinched.

"Should one of us check on Hermione?" Audrey asked softly.

"Give her a few more minutes alone," Ginny replied. "If we go now, we are more likely to be hexed or cursed out, no matter who it is. She's not the best witch to betray." Ginny felt a bit bad as the comment slipped from her lips before she could stop it. "We'll need you at least, 'Drey, to check on Rose," she said to the healer-in-training. She turned to Harry. "Start speaking Potter, or you'll find out how comfy our sofa is."

Harry spared a quick glance to Ron, the latter still with his head in hands, his shoulders moving harshly. He sighed before stealing Remus' glass of whiskey and slamming it back before beginning to tell the girls about Dolohov and what he had been doing for the past three years. By the time he was done, Ginny, Angelina, Fleur, Tonks and Audrey were livid.

"You've kept all of this from us for three fucking years?" Angelina demanded, lips in a thin line. They had known about the first two letters but as with the others had assumed that they had stopped after Hermione and Ron hadn't mentioned them.

"Hermione didn't want you to worry as it occurred so infrequently at first." Harry told them. "We let the guys know the night Ron and Hermione told us about the pregnancy."

"And because we don't have dicks we don't get to know something this fucking important?"

"It's not that, Gin, I swear. Ron was worried that the more people that knew the more likely Hermione was to find out about it."

"And zhe zhould know!" Fleur declared, her nostrils flaring. "Vous êtes de stupides putains de sorciers." Bill tried to calm the French part-veela but she jerked her shoulder from his hand. "I 'ope that dis does not 'urt your marriage. Dis iz zomething you deal with together."

"Did you really think that Hermione would thank you for this?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"It was better this way." Ron's voice was quiet and shaky. He lifted his head, his eyes red, cheeks blotchy and stained, looking at his sister. "You guys didn't see how 'Mione would cry herself to sleep after we lost the first baby. Or how she called herself broken and a useless, shell of a woman when we lost the second. You didn't see how much she hated herself for being jealous of James and how guilty she felt when she held him. Or how she would cry each time another pregnancy was announced. You weren't there when we got the letter that caused her magic to flare and nearly destroy our kitchen. You didn't see the blood that stained our sheets or the fear in her eyes." Ron closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as the others took in everything they had never heard before. "I had to protect her. I had to protect Rose. I will do anything for them, anything to keep them alive and healthy – even if it hurts my marriage. They are everything to me."

"We know. And I guess, I kind of understand why you did what you did. It doesn't make it any better or make me less pissed off but I can understand." Ginny sighed. "Give her a few days and I'm sure Hermione will understand as well. Harry, you said they knew how Dolohov escaped?"

Harry nodded. "If I say anything here about the case, you have to make a Wizard's Vow to not discuss outside of this group." At the fiery glare of the five females he quickly added. "Everything I have to say will be included in Hermione's copy of the case." Those at the table nodded, quickly vowing on their magic before turning attention to Harry. "Like I said, he had outside help. Yesterday, at around two in the morning, he had a visitor. His aunt, Anna Korishiv. We are assuming that the visitor was using polyjuice potion as the real Anna died three months ago from dragon pox."

"And the guards didn't think it strange that a dead woman was visiting her disowned nephew?" Percy asked. "Didn't they check her wand?"

"That's the thing, no one knew that Korishiv had died. Her death hadn't been registered. We had to use a strong summoning spell in the records room to even get her death certificate that is automatically filed when your magic dissipates at your death. Someone had spelled it to remain hidden." Harry explained, rubbing his face tiredly. "The guards swear that they checked, registered and contained the wand of his visitor. The visitor had another wand hidden on their body – we can all guess where they had it hidden. Once they got to the high security ward where Dolohov was placed, they stunned the guards, changed positions with the real Dolohov, and one Anna Korishiv walked out of Azkaban at two-thirty in the morning."

"Wait, his accomplice willingly took Dolohov's place in prison? Why? And who was it?" Bill asked surprised.

"And why the hell is it ok for someone to visit Azkaban in the middle of the fucking night?" Charlie demanded.

"Anonymity." Percy answered Charlie. "You know that you now have to secure a portkey from the Ministry to visit Azkaban. That portkey must be triggered within the MLE offices. We have a lot of – uh – pureblood socialites that do not want many people to know where they are traveling."

Harry nodded. "Our records show that the real Anna Korishiv did the same when she visited Dolohov in 1998. Her original visit was at one in the morning. As for the accomplice, he had already been interrogated under Veritaserum."

"Who?"

"Thorfinn Rowle." Harry paused as the others cursed and slammed things on the table in anger. Some of the Weasley brothers had known Rowle and his older brother from school and while they knew he had been on the other side of the war, none of them had thought he would do something as heinous as this.

"Why would Rowle do all of this? Wasn't he released in 2003?" Ron asked, his mind whirling at the information.

"Dolohov was only moved to the high security ward after he started with the letters to Hermione, at our request." Ron nodded at Harry's statement. "Turns out that his previous cell neighbor was none other than Rowle. Rowle said that Dolohov spent the majority of his time in prison talking about Hermione. The two grew close. Right before his release date, Dolohov signed over access to his father's vaults to Rowle and Rowle promised Dolohov all the information he could find about Hermione. Rowle has been delivering it to the prison disguised as Daily Prophets. He charmed the ink in these newspapers to allow Dolohov to use his finger to write the letters to Hermione."

"Fucking hell." Fred exclaimed, leaning farther back into his seat, his hand tightly gripping Angelina's.

"Rowle said that they've been planning the escape for years, hence why only a few letters arrived at first. Dolohov was using the spelled Prophets to converse with Rowle." Harry ran a hand through his chaotic hair. "The plan changed six months ago. Rowle was supposed to get close to Korishiv in order to get her to cooperate with them but she didn't tell them about the dragon pox. By the time that Rowle discovered he had been infected, the disease had already killed Korishiv and mutated in his own body to be incurable."

"So he took Dolohov's place," Ginny said softly. "He was already dying."

Harry nodded again. "He sees Dolohov as a father figure and he'd do anything to help him."

"And what happens to Rowle?" Bill asked.

"A healer has already looked him over. He's been given two maybe four weeks at most to live. Since Dolohov was already in a high risk cell, Rowle wasn't able to pass on the infection to many other inmates. The ones exposed to the disease are being observed and treated as we speak." Harry told them. "Rowle has been moved to a high security insulated warding cell. He'll die in Azkaban by the end of next month."

"Did he say anything about where Dolohov has gone?"

Harry shook his head. "Once the plan changed, they both knew that Rowle would be interrigated as soon as we realized that he was in Dolohov's cell instead. Originally the plan had been for them to return to Korishiv's house but now he has no idea where Dolohov is going."

"And his goal?" George asked.

"The same as in the letters. He wants Hermione as his and plans on killing Ron."

Muttered curses around the table before Sirius finally spoke. "Then we hide them away. Use the Fidelus charm."

"Hermione's not going to like that."

"I don't give a flying fuck what Hermione likes right now." Sirius said forcefully. "All three of them go into hiding. She can still work on the bloody case but from their home. If I have to, I'll put the witch into a full body bind until Dolohov is caught." The Weasley brothers nodded in agreement.

"Alright, but we'll have to talk to Hermione about all of this. And we need to find out if the rest of the family needs to be under protection."

"Harry, we can't put everyone under the Fidelius, we don't know how long this is going to last for." Bill pursed his lips together.

"Yes, but we can put Grimmauld back under. Molly watches the kids with Fleur during the day – there is plenty of room at Grimmauld for them to do it there. The adults can still work – we'll increase wards around houses, offices and places of business. The Den and Grimmauld are both unplottable already, as is Weasley Cottage." Harry paused. "Even so, most Death Eaters know of Grimmauld's general location thanks to the war. Ginny and I haven't told anyone yet but we've been working on Potter Manor, my grandparent's ancestral home during our free time with Sirius and Remus. I'd much rather the kids stay there than Grimmauld – I don't know of any of our generation that even know of its existence."

"Harry, the Manor still has a lot of work to be done before it's safe for children," Ginny disagreed.

"That's alright, Gin, we can all work on it when we have down time," Charlie assured her. "I'd rather the little gremlins be safe than have to worry about an evil wizard watching the house." His brothers agreed.

"And we already have it under the Fidelius," Harry told his wife. Noticing the looks his in-laws were giving him, he explained. "We were tired of the constant press outside of Grimmauld and whenever we go out. We wanted somewhere that we could go and no one would be able to find us and the kids. I found out about the Manor four years ago going through all of my family vaults and properties and it's taken a lot of work to get it to where it is. We still have a bit of construction to the west wing and the greenhouses to do but it is livable. Of course, once it was done being fixed, Gin wanted to have you all over for a housewarming party." Suddenly, his amused grin turned to fear, his eyes going to Ginny and Sirius, all three with their hands going to their wands. "The wards."

"Hermione is there!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Gin, you and the girls stay here and wait for Arthur and Molly to get back. Take them and the kids directly to the Manor. We'll get to Hermione." Harry commanded as he stood up quickly, starting to rush to the boundary. He distantly hoped that just maybe they'd also be able to apprehend Dolohov as well. "Everyone else, get to Grimmauld, someone is attacking the wards!"