Chapter 6

Hermione laid awake in bed that night long after the thunderstorm had passed, her mind working overtime. The rain outside was pounding a fierce rhythm on her window. She thought about the now blackened trees right outside the cabin. She thought about Hope, outside alone and frightened. But strongest in her mind was Severus Snape. The lightning had flooded the room, despite the curtains covering the window, and he had seen it! He had seen the light and not suffered torturing pain! How could that have been?

She rolled onto her other side, frustrated that sleep would not come, and frustrated that she could not figure this curse out. There had to be someone, somewhere, who could tell them what to do to lift it. She sighed and put a pillow over her head in an attempt to quiet her thoughts.

What was Lestrange doing in Hogsmeade? And dressed as a St. Mungo's healer. . . Lestrange. . . She shivered. Bile rose in her throat as she remembered the feel of his touch on her face. She groaned in agitation and sat up. She hugged the pillow that had been over her face and brought her knees to her chest. Lestrange. . . Lestrange. . . She was missing something. Something important. . . What had he said? Something about the Dark Lord and the curse. She sighed and climbed out of bed. She paced the length of her room, chewing a fingernail in thought. Her thoughts were all jumbled. She siphoned through them, reaching for the one she needed and pushed the rest of them to the back of her mind.

It came to her then. . . 'The Dark Lord tried this curse on me, and the pain the light caused was worse than the Cruciatus.' Voldemort had used this curse on Lestrange. Lestrange was just fine, which means that there is definitely a counter curse! She felt elated. Snape's condition didn't have to be permanent. If only she could find the counter curse. . . She doubted that the counter curse would be in a book, Voldemort himself had invented it. She sighed and stomped to her bed and sat down heavily. She rested her elbows on her knees and placed her head in her hands. She couldn't just ask Lestrange the counter curse. Could she trap him somehow? And maybe give him veritaserum, because there would be no way he would offer the information willingly.

She yawned and looked at her clock. It was nearing 4:00. She had been up for over twenty-four hours with only a short nap in the afternoon and it was beginning to catch up to her. She ran a weary hand through her hair and lifted her feet onto her bed. She pulled the coverlet over herself and lowered herself onto her pillows. Her mind was finally beginning to slow, or at least her thoughts weren't being quite as loud. At last sleep found her.

The sun streamed through her window a few hours later. She rubbed her eyes and yawned sleepily, almost more tired than before she went to sleep. She curled herself into the fetal position and hugged her pillow tightly. The epiphany she had had last night floated to the forefront of her mind again. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up. She climbed out of bed and put on her fluffiest, sea foam green bath robe and slippers and bolted down stairs.

"Professor!" she called loudly. She stopped as she reached the landing. She could hear water running. She padded to the bathroom door to listen, he was in the shower. She turned to go into the kitchen to start breakfast. She started the coffee then pulled bacon and eggs from the refrigerator and retrieved a pan from a cupboard. She cut up a couple of potatoes and threw them into a pan to fry. Before long the sounds and aroma of coffee and frying bacon filled the air. She put some bread in the toaster and filled a couple of plates and two mugs of coffee, one of them black, the other with cream, sugar and a tablespoon of chocolate. She buttered the toast and put them on the plates.

She opened the door and stuck her head into the main room to see if Snape had finished in the bathroom. "Professor?" she asked.

"I'm here," he answered softly.

"Good, I'll be right back." She picked up his breakfast and coffee and stepped into the darkness. She walked to the armchair that seemed to have been adopted by him and placed the steaming plate and coffee on the end table next to it. "Your breakfast," she said quietly.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She hurried as quickly as she in the darkness, she was getting much better at maneuvering in it, and fetched her own breakfast. She would breakfast with Snape this morning. She had to run her thoughts by him, and if she didn't do it soon she felt she would explode. "Professor, do you have any idea why Lestrange was in Hogsmeade yesterday? I thought he was in Azkaban."

"I have no idea why how he came to be in Hogsmeade. The last I had heard he was in Azkaban. Of course, breakouts have happened in the past. And now that the dementors are no longer guarding it. . ." He let his sentence trail off. It didn't make sense. Kingsley Shacklebolt had other methods of preventing breakouts. They had a way of striping criminals of their powers, and the rumors were that they were more powerful than the dementors could have ever been. So how? How did Lestrange escape? Severus knew that there were still Death Eaters at large. The ministry was still on the look out for the handful that had avoided capture that fateful night. It could be possible, he supposed, with years of serious planning, to aid a fellow Death Eater in escaping. But they had had years to plan. Six years to be exact. But surely the Daily Prophet would have said something had there been an escape. "Miss Granger, have you read the Daily Prophet recently?"

Hermione took a sip of her mocha, savoring the rich flavor and allowing it to warm her insides.

"Er. . . well, no. I haven't." She chided herself, she hadn't thought about the wizarding newspaper since the day before yesterday. Yesterday had all happened so fast and it hadn't even crossed her mind. Of course it would be in the paper that Lestrange had escaped.

She ran upstairs and opened her bedroom window. She had a perch there for the owls along with a bowl of owl treats and a bowl of water. There were two rolled up papers lying there. She quickly unrolled one and looked at the date. Having opened today's first, she opened the other.

She gasped. A large photo of Lestrange's face was laughing out at her. It reminded her of when Sirius' face had been plastered there. She had hurried out of the cabin yesterday before looking at the paper. She hurriedly read the article.

Convicted Death Eater, Rudolphus Lestrange, escaped!

Ministry officials have given report that the husband of the late Bellatrix Lestrange, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's most loyal follower, Rudolphus Lestrange, has broken out of the wizard prison, Azkaban before sunrise this morning. Guards found his cell empty when they entered to deliver his breakfast. There is no news of how he escaped. Lestrange is highly dangerous and witches and wizards would do well to take caution until he is once again apprehended.

Hermione chewed lightly on her bottom lip. How did he get out? She shook her head to clear her thoughts and picked up the other paper.

Three 's Healers found dead in an alley in Hogsmeade!

Three Healers from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries were found dead in an abandoned alleyway in Hogsmeade yesterday afternoon. The healers were stripped of their clothing and hidden behind large rubbish barrels. It is believed to be the work of escaped Death Eater, Rudolphus Lestrange.

Eyewitnesses have said that they saw three men in white coats at the gates of Hogwarts yesterday morning, talking to none other than Harry Potter's good friend, Hermione Granger along with Severus Snape, ex-professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The whereabouts of Miss Granger and Severus Snape are unknown. As is the location of the three other men.

"I went out to see what was going on," states an eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous. "But as I stepped out of my door, they disapparated. I'm positive it was Lestrange. But I don't know who the other two were."

If anyone knows of the whereabouts of any of the above mentioned people, please contact the Ministry of Magic.

Hermione jumped in alarm as an owl flew through her open window and perched on her shoulder and stuck out its leg. She recognized the owl as Harry's. "Well hello there, Percival." She scratched his head and untied the scroll. There were only three words on it.

Are you safe?

Hermione took a quill from her desk and quickly scrawled her answer.

Yes

She retied the parchment onto Percival's leg and said, "Give my love to Harry and Ginny." The owl gave a soft hoot and nibbled lightly at Hermione's ear before taking flight.

She rose from her seat, dressed herself in faded jeans and a light t-shirt and started back downstairs to share her information with Snape.

"Professor?" she called.

"Yes?"

"The Daily Prophet has reported that Lestrange has indeed escaped Azkaban, but they don't know how. They also said that the bodies of three St. Mungo's healers were found in an alley in Hogsmeade yesterday."

She saw the shadow of Snape nod once, acknowledging that he had heard her. She decided that she would run her thoughts past him now. "Professor?"

"Yes?" he said again.

"I was thinking last night. Well, I was thinking, well. . . er. . . Do you think there would be anyway I could trap Lestrange and get him to tell us the counter curse?" The moment the words escaped her mouth she heard how foolish they sounded.

"Trap Lestrange?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, it's foolish, I realize it. There is absolutely no way it could be done," she said it dejectedly, embarrassed that she could even have thought it plausible.

"Tell me, Miss Granger, why would you think that Lestrange would know the counter curse?" he asked, curious now.

"Well, he said so, sort of. He said that Voldemort had used the curse on him. He was obviously not in any pain, therefore there must be a counter curse. Perhaps Lestrange knows it."

Severus scratched his chin in thought, but shook his head again. "The same thought occurred to me. But it is doubtful that Lestrange knows the counter curse. It was probably done non-verbally."
"Is it possible that he told someone? Anyone?" she asked without much hope.

"Anything is possible, Miss Granger."

"Do you remember the curse? What Voldemort said?"

"Like it was yesterday," he said sadly. "Lumen exoculare morsus."

"Light blinding pain," Hermione said, mostly to herself.

"Yes."

"Tell me, Professor. Who might know of the counter curse?"

"The only ones that would even possibly know it are Death Eaters, and they would be more than unlikely to help."

Hermione chewed her fingernail, thinking. An idea came to her. But surely Snape had already thought of it. "Reformed Death Eaters?"

Snape's head snapped up. "What was that?"

"Are there any that may know the counter curse that are no longer loyal to the dark arts? I mean, there are several that were close to Voldemort that are no longer practicing the dark arts. What about the Malfoys?"

Severus shook his head. "Lucius Malfoy wouldn't know it. And even if he did, I don't think he would give it freely."

"Why? Didn't he swear off the dark arts? Wouldn't he want to help his old friend?"

"From what I've heard, yes, he swore them off, again. But it is highly unlikely that the Dark Lord would have given Lucius the counter curse."

"Hmm. . ." was all she said. She wasn't going to rule the Malfoys out. "Professor, would you mind if I stepped out this afternoon? I need to go to the library. There are strong safeguards around the cabin. You will be safe. I will darken the entire ground floor so you don't unwittingly go into a lightened room, as long as you don't go upstairs. Please make yourself at home. I will be back as quickly as I can." Then remembering her plate of food in the fridge from last night, she said, "The kitchen door is just to the right of the bathroom. There is a plate of left over chicken and potatoes from last night in the refrigerator." She quickly entered the kitchen and darkened it.

She returned to the main room and stepped to her fireplace she quickly built a small fire, one so small that it wouldn't give enough light to hurt her guest. "Have you any theories as to why you weren't hurt by the light from the storm last night?"

"A few, but they are vague. Go, but Miss Granger, do be careful. Your kindness is undeserved and if anything happened to you I don't know if I could ever forgive myself." The words had slipped out before he could stop them. What was he thinking, telling her that?

Hermione smiled shyly. "I'll be careful, Professor. I promise. I'll be back soon." She grabbed her jar of floo powder and sprinkled it in the fireplace. She stuck her head in and said, "Headmistress office, Hogwarts!" Her head spun dizzily when it stopped, she was looking up into the round office. McGonagall was sitting at her desk. "Professor!"

McGonagall jumped and turned to her fire. "Oh, Miss Granger, you gave me a fright. You're safe! Thank heavens!"

"Can I come through your fire?"

"Of course, of course."

Hermione's head disappeared for a moment then her entire body stepped neatly onto the hearth of her old professor's fireplace.


I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 6. Please review. All reviews are greatly appreciated.