(A/N: There are only 3 chapters left after this one, so this chapter really starts the big wind-up.)
Chapter 10
[Mon - Sep 22]
There had been multiple conversations between Harry and Ron, who then talked to his father and Moody, over the last week working out details. Then there had been the distribution of Portkeys, with questions and counter-questions to confirm identities, not to mention keying the Portkeys to the individuals so only they could use them. Harry thought Mad-Eye's paranoia had hit a new high, but in the end he appreciated the security of it.
Once that was worked out, Harry sent Dobby to spy and they waited. He was quite concerned for his little friend; but honestly, Dobby was the one most able to escape if seen. In the end, it worked to their favor that Riddle, Malfoy, and the others generally overlooked house-elves and the work they did.
The Friday before, Harry and Ginny pushed Hermione out of the kitchen and gave her the day off, and a cake, since it was her birthday. Presents were delayed but Hermione understood.
Soon after lunch on the fifth day of waiting Dobby popped in with Kreacher arriving a breath behind him - as always happened whenever Dobby came over. "Now is the time, Master Harry. Snake man left this morning and old master and friends just left. Only old mistress and son and big snake is in the house, along with a prisoner. Snake man will be gone for several days, but I don't know about the others," he said worriedly.
"Don't worry about it. Are you sure you weren't seen?" asked Harry, worried as this was a potential weakness.
"I'm certain, Master."
Harry told him, "You've done well. Go tell Ron it's time and the meeting should be at…" he looked at the girls who were looking at their watches.
"One," Hermione said only a little faster than Ginny before the brunette added, "That's only a minute more than the fifteen we agreed upon."
"One o'clock. Go my friend and we'll see you a little after that in the copse of trees as planned." Harry watched Dobby nod and leave. "Go to the bathroom and get anything you need and meet at the back door in twelve minutes."
The situation could change before they arrived and they did have one chance to call it off before they were fully committed, but they had to have time to assemble everyone, Harry knew and thought about this as he raced upstairs with the girls on his heels. As usual, he grabbed all three of Death's artifacts, though he thought he'd only use the wand today.
He was ready except for…he saw Ginny come out of the bathroom and he entered to take care of that last need, knowing that "going" wasn't going to possible for the next hour or so. When he came out, Ginny stood by the door with her wand in her hand and her hair up in a bun so it couldn't get in the way. He grabbed the Portkey off of their dresser and then headed toward her and she led them downstairs, where Hermione was already waiting.
"Might as well go and we can help secure the area," he said as he noticed they still had six minutes based on the clock in the kitchen. Holding out the old wooden spoon, he waited until each girl was touching it before he activated it.
Unsurprisingly, Mad-Eye was already there with wand out and magical eye swirling; they were the first after him though. "Potter, Granger, Weasley, let's see it," he said in his gravelly voice, his wand generally pointing in their direction.
Harry held out the Portkey for Mad-Eye, who scanned it and then nodded. Lupin and Tonks arrived next, then Shacklebolt, Bill and Fleur, then the rest of the Weasleys minus Molly who was staying with her aunt, and Lee Jordan who came with the redheaded family. With Harry's three, that made fourteen total.
Now that all were present, Mad-Eye looked them over. "Arthur, you take the twins to the second floor. The elf said there's no reason for anyone to be up there, so it should go quickly. When you're done, go down and help those on the ground floor.
"Tonks, Bill, Shacklebolt, and myself will take the first floor, with Tonks impersonating Lucius since that's where Narcissa and her boy should be.
"Granger, Jordan, and Mrs Weasley, you are to search and hold the ground floor. Be careful, that's where the snake should be.
"Potter, you and two youngest Weasleys and Lupin go to the basement. Besides looking for the snake, there is supposed to be a prisoner there to rescue."
"And we must find the snake," Harry impressed on them. "Don't take any chances with it. Stun it if that's easy, else a good Slicing curse that you can draw a line over an area would be best. Don't forget," he couldn't help the quick glance towards Arthur, "it's highly poisonous."
"Very much so," Arthur agreed, not looking bothered about the reference to his being bitten by it nearly two years ago.
As Moody pulled out a small boat oar and enlarged it, he said, "Do your work as quickly as you can while staying quiet. When you're done, return to the front door and we'll all leave together, Apparating away once we're outside of the wards. Now, grab hold."
Once everyone had, Moody activated that Portkey and they landed in a copse of trees, where he vanished the oar. "Grab your partner, if you have one, and apply your Disillusionment charm."
Harry and his crew had been working on that and learned the spell. He felt Ginny's hand on his shoulder as he applied his charm. As the cool feeling ran down him, he saw Hermione with her hand on Ginny's shoulder start to fade out top to bottom, just as Ginny did a breath later.
Dobby appeared right in front of them. "Master Harry, nothing has changed. You be needing to hold my hand for me to bring you in. I do that for each group." He grabbed Harry's hand with his right then both girls with his left and started going forward, out of the trees and towards the large manor house.
Harry knew this charm didn't make them totally invisible, like his Invisibility Cloak did, but it was good enough for their purposes as they crossed the large expanse of open ground between the edge of the wards and the house. They could be seen, but someone would have to be staring right at them for an extended period of time, which was highly unlikely.
He could feel passing through the wards and hoped that didn't trigger any alarms. Dobby didn't think it would, but the little guy didn't really know for certain. As he popped back to get the next small group, Harry again considered how much faith and hope he was putting in his little friend and his abilities.
It wasn't long before he heard the voice of Mad-Eye from not far away say, "Lead on Potter."
Harry took the lead, with Ginny's left hand on his shoulder and he was sure Hermione's left hand was on Ginny's shoulder so they could all have their wands out and ready to cast.
He had heard the stories from Dobby, but to see the peacocks that Malfoy owned strutting around the front garden made him shake his head. He was wondering what path to take around them so the group wasn't detected by the birds being frightened when the birds suddenly squawked and hurried over to a spot where the sound of something hard was being dropped into a metal pan. With a grin, he realized that was Dobby clearing the path by feeding the birds.
Harry slowed and then stopped as he reached the front door. The door opened slowly with no one being there, but he heard Dobby say quietly, "I go take Darla away to safety." That was the elf's last task, Harry knew. From here on, they were on their own.
As they entered the house, each cancelled the Disillusionment charm on him or herself, lest they hit another person accidentally. Each also put a Silencing charm on their feet.
At the first main hallway, Harry carefully peered down to the right as well as straight ahead. Not seeing anything, he looked over his shoulder and whispered very softly, "Clear, and be careful." That was passed backward to the others in the line.
Harry turned right, thankful for the map Dobby had drawn for them, and headed for the door to the basement and dungeon, passing multiple doors to other rooms - places those staying on the ground floor were to check out. Ginny and Ron followed directly behind him; Lupin brought up the rear.
Finding a key hanging on a peg next to the door he wanted, he pulled it down carefully so as not to drop it and he did his best to unlock the door quietly, wincing when a very audible metallic squeaking was heard. Unlocking it and keeping the key so they couldn't easily be locked in, he opened the door and advanced downward.
It didn't take long before they found Ollivander, of all people, in a real honest-to-goodness old-fashioned jail cell. The old man looked very surprised, for which Harry couldn't blame him.
Harry held his finger to his lips and then asked very quietly, "Is anyone else down here?" The man shook his head no.
Fortunately, a simple Unlocking charm was all that was needed to open his door. Ron hurried in and helped the man to his feet and slung a thin arm over his shoulder to help the older man walk. The others looked around but found nothing of interest or dangerous, so they all started their trek back towards the front door. Harry led the way with Ginny close behind; Ron and Ollivander did their best to keep up; Remus brought up the rear.
They hadn't found the snake.
— — —
Arthur, Fred, and George headed up the main staircase after the group who was taking the first floor. At the top of the stairs, they spread out, each taking a different room to speed up the search.
The father noticed one of his sons slipping a small something into a pocket as he exited the room and he hoped it wasn't a cursed object. Seeing another door to what was probably another storage room, he hurried on, mentally making a note to find out later what his son had picked up.
They finished the floor in a few minutes and started down the stairs to help those on the ground floor. A small noise attracted their attention from the first floor, probably from Narcissa based on what sounded like a protest in outrage. They stopped for a moment and looked around, in case Draco stuck his head out from a room the other group wasn't watching. After a moment and no one was seen, Arthur waved the boys onward after him towards the ground floor.
— — —
Tonks morphed herself to be as tall as she could and was still a little shorter than her uncle. More importantly, she took on his face and hair, holding her wand behind her leg so it was ready to be used in an instant. She was going first, as Moody hoped that if either of the Malfoys saw her, they'd think it was Lucius and that would give the invaders a couple of extra seconds in order to cast the first spell.
Kingsley Shacklebolt and Bill Weasley split off to search for Draco, with Kingsley first going to the room Dobby's map had shown was the boy's while the rest kept watch and waited. Opening the door and sticking his head in, he was disappointed to find it empty; it also put him on edge since they had no idea where the boy was now. Coming out, he shook his head, causing the others to nod acknowledgement and continue on - slowly.
Just before she reached the master bedroom, Tonks heard a noise and held up her hand. Moody, the only one with her now, took only one more step and his magical eye whirred around and looked through the door. He nodded, held up one finger, and pointed.
Tonks gripped her wand a little tighter before she knocked lightly and opened the unlocked door, stepping in. "Narcissa," she said in a perfect imitation of her uncle's voice, causing the woman to look up just as "her husband's" wand came up and summoned her wand. Her eyes went wide as the stick flew out of her robes.
Catching the wand, Tonks released her morph and gave a cheeky grin. "Good afternoon, Auntie."
"How dare you…" The woman's protest was cut off by a spell from Moody as he entered the room too.
He closed the door to keep the conversation from carrying. "Show your forearms. If you don't have the Dark Mark, we're prepared to take you to your sister and let you live with a few conditions." When Mrs Malfoy just stared angrily at him, he growled, "Show me or I'll make you."
She gave them both a silent angry retort, but held out her arms and pulled her sleeves back to show pale unblemished skin.
"Thank you, Auntie," Tonks told her kindly. "Now the decision. Shake your head if you want to be sent to where we're holding the captured Death Eaters and stand trial with them at the end, or nod if you want to go see my mum before leaving the country without contacting anyone here until the war is over. Oh, and that will be enforced with an Unbreakable Vow."
The woman pointed at her mouth in angry gestures.
"No screaming or I'll assume you want to be treated like a Death Eater," Moody threatened before removing his Silencing charm.
"Draco will come with me," Narcissa demanded. "He was forced into this and didn't want to be a Death Eater. You will also treat me with respect, young lady."
Moody snorted at the respect part, but it was Tonks who replied, "Draco can be included in the deal, but the same conditions - including the Unbreakable Vow - would apply. If it helps you to decide, your Dark Lord will probably be dead not too long from now, so your banishment may not last long if you're lucky."
Narcissa glared at them, but she could see the writing on the wall. "He's not my Dark Lord," she spat. "I must get some things before we go."
Tonks looked at her partner. "Told you she was pragmatic." She pulled out a trunk from a pocket and enlarged it as she set it down. "You have two minutes to pack. Tell us what you want and we'll summon it and pack it."
She did not look happy, but Narcissa said as she rose, "Get my clothes; I'll get my jewelry."
"Where's the boy?" Moody asked.
"Anywhere but the ballroom," the woman said as she held out a large box for her niece to shrink down before it was put into the trunk.
At the other end of the hallway, Bill closed the last door and turned to Kingsley and shrugged.
— — —
Lee Jordan was taking his time in looking around. First, he'd never seen such a house. After a few moments, he decided that the word "opulent" really was the best word for this. Spying some really nice quills just lying on a table, he picked them up and stuffed them in a pocket without a pause in his looking or slow walking. Second, he was scared to death he'd turn a corner and the big-arsed snake he'd been told about would be right there and bite the crap out of him.
Personally, he hoped he found Draco Malfoy so he could hit the arrogant little plonker in the face with a Stunner.
Fleur left the dining room and moved to the next room. It was a tense search for her and she could feel her Veela magic stirring just under the surface. There were so many ways this mission could go wrong.
Opening the door, she looked in to see a very elegant room with lots of warm looking wood, only a few chairs around the edge of the room, and a truly huge crystal chandelier in the center, making this the ballroom. At the far end was a large piano in the corner. In the center at the far end was a gaudy looking high-backed chair, a throne she decided. She laughed quietly at the audacity of the so-called Dark Lord.
Perhaps it was a bit foolish, but she cast a low-level Blasting hex at the chair, sort of her strike against the "monster". The noise of it wasn't loud overall, but in the completely silent room, it was louder than she expected.
Far more concerning than the noise she wasn't supposed to make was the fact that a very large snake that had been hiding behind the chair was now slithering towards her at an alarming rate. Silently, she cast a Stunning spell since she thought she had time. That missed as the snake slithered to the side surprisingly quickly and kept coming.
The Veela in her reacted and she partially transformed and threw a fireball right in front of the snake, which was already over half way and nearing fast. The fireball hit true and caused the snake to hiss angrily and move to the side around the burning spot on the floor. The area right behind the head looked sooty now.
Realizing she had little time, Fleur calmed just enough to allow herself to cast a powerful Cutting curse, moving her arm back and forth in a "Z" pattern, which sliced the snake into three parts. She heard a very brief scream as from a child who'd hurt himself before the room was silent again.
"Merde! What was that? That was not natural," she muttered. She was still trying to get her breathing back to a normal rate when footsteps raced into the room. Spinning, she saw Lee Jordan standing there and looking at the dead snake with wide eyes and an open mouth.
His mouth worked a few times before managed to squeak out, "B-big s-snake." Fleur completely understood that reaction.
— — —
A few minutes earlier while Fleur was heading for the ballroom, Hermione opened the next door in her search and stood gaping before she said in a slightly raised voice, "Merlin that's a lot of books." She'd seen more books in one place before, the London main library as well as the Hogwarts library, but this was in a private home. In addition, she knew what Harry was going to do shortly and then all these marvelous tomes would be gone forever.
As she contemplated how she could save them, a dreaded voice made her spin around and stare like a deer caught in sudden bright lights.
"What the bloody hell are you doing in my house, Mudblood!" Draco Malfoy pointed his wand at her. "I don't need my father for this. Avada-"
Hermione knew she was a dead woman. There was no place to hide, she couldn't conjure something fast enough, there was no shield spell to stop it, and Malfoy was maybe four steps away - he couldn't miss. She closed her eyes and thought, 'I'm sorry', to all those she knew she'd let down today - especially Harry.
When she heard a large thump and not "Kedavra", her eyes flew open to see Harry standing behind where Malfoy had been with his wand pointing at her, or really had been at Malfoy. A quick glance down showed Malfoy sprawled on the floor with his wand at her feet. Looking back up, she saw a sight she wished she hadn't.
When she'd met Death, it had scared her, but Death had been bearable because it wasn't personable. It was a very scary power, but only that. However, in front of her was a very angry Harry Potter who seemed to be looking right through her. She'd heard other girls joke about his "killing curse green eyes". Right now, she wished that was true, or that Malfoy had succeeded so she didn't have to see her friend's righteous and very hot anger directed at her.
"What the bloody hell were you doing that he caught you unaware?!" he hissed at her, almost going into Parseltongue so she barely understood him. He summoned Malfoy's wand to himself but his anger at her didn't abate. To her dismay, she saw his anger rise even more when he looked into the room behind her.
"Books?! You let yourself almost be killed if I hadn't come along at that moment because of a few books? That is the stupidest thing I've ever seen by anyone!" He took a deep breath and looked to his left.
Hermione chanced a look at Ginny, who was a little behind and to her boyfriend's side. The redhead was shaking her head slowly. Ron and an old man, who she took a moment to recognize as Ollivander, came into view, with Lupin a step behind them.
Running footsteps caught everyone's attention and Harry took off at a run also.
Ginny cast an Incarceration spell at Malfoy and then ran after Harry.
Hermione looked over and saw the team for the first floor coming down the staircase with Narcissa Malfoy. The mission was all but over and the other excitement was almost certainly about the snake. Knowing she was in a load of trouble, but deciding she might as well finish what she had been about to start, she called, "Dobby?"
The elf popped in. "Mizz Her-my-own called?"
"Dobby, please bring any extra trunks in the house to the library and hurry."
The elf left and Ron looked at her and said, "Really?"
"Might as well," she said as she forced herself to stand tall, despite what she knew was coming, and started casting a continuous Shrinking spell as she walked into the room.
Dobby popped in with what looked like a school trunk, probably Draco's she thought. Glad it was already empty, she did another spell and the already shrunken books started to stream into the trunk. Understanding what she was doing, Dobby started to snap his fingers and each time an entire shelf of books shrunk.
Harry stormed back into the main area where the rest were gathered - Fleur, Lee, and the Weasleys following. Moody's team and Narcissa joined them; she had a foul look and a small box in her hands. "You're taking the deal to leave?" he asked as he glanced into the library and frowned.
"Yes," she ground out angrily.
Harry nodded. "Tonks, you have guard duty for her. Remus, Draco is yours. Fleur got the snake so we need to go right now. Quickly!"
Shacklebolt led the group at a fast walk towards and out the front door.
Turning to Ginny, Harry said, "Get her," he gestured towards the library, "out of here, whatever it takes." He turned to Mad-Eye. "I'm ready for the lesson; I think I'm even in a good destructive frame of mind."
Mad-Eye actually laughed. "Come stand near the front door, lad. We want an easy escape."
Looking into the library, he saw Ginny casting Stinging hexes at their friend and shouting at her to run, which he approved of right now. "Dobby!" he shouted. "I order you to leave now!"
As he and Moody were reaching the front door, Hermione raced by him with Ginny hot on her heels shouting, "Faster, Granger!"
Moody laughed again and then said, "Remember what I told you. Think of unquenchable fire and wanting everything to burn. Now cast what I showed you."
Harry pulled up his hatred of Riddle and anger at Draco for what he tried to do to Hermione; he also added some anger at his friend for almost getting herself killed and cast, "Fiendfyre!" A large, very hot, and very angry looking Griffin shot out of his wand and headed deeper into the house.
"Hold the magic and direct it," Moody encouraged him. "It'll try to fight you but make it follow your intent."
It was a struggle, but Harry managed to make the magical fire move as he wished. When he was sure he understood it, he let the magic go to burn whatever it wanted and turned for the door; Moody was already on the front porch. Harry closed the door and started to jog forward to catch up.
Looking ahead, he could see Tonks and Lupin along with their charges were near the wards, with Shacklebolt, Bill, and Fleur already outside them and waiting.
He started to smile as Hermione started stumbling in her jog to leave, but instead his expression changed to horror as she literally ran into Bellatrix Lestrange, with her husband, brother-in-law, and Lucius Malfoy right behind - the four having Apparated in right in front of Harry's group. Hermione fell to the ground face down and was still while Bellatrix stumbled back a few steps. The four arrivals wore looks of shock at the invaders.
Harry's shock was shoved aside and he yelled, "Help back here!" at the others, knowing those outside the wards couldn't get back in, but he hoped some of the others still on this side would return. These Death Eaters were the ones he didn't want to face, but now he had no choice. Hoping for the best, he cast his favorite Piercing hex at Bella, since she was a little off balance. If he could kill her quickly, they might live through this.
Unfortunately, she moved just enough as she regained her footing and the hex missed. Fortune smiled on Harry however as the hex went on and caught Lucius Malfoy at the base of the throat. He dropped to his knees and fell over with a gurgle and spitting up blood. He didn't move after he face planted into his manicured lawn.
While he'd missed Bella, taking out Malfoy had been the next best thing, since he could control the wards. Harry shoved that thought aside and cast a Blasting hex at the insane woman in front of him, with Mad-Eye joining him in that fight.
Ginny cut Rabastan Lestrange on the shoulder as he moved just fast enough to avoid having his head taken off. He yelled in pain but sent a curse back at her. The girl managed to save herself by flinging herself to the side and raising a shield as soon as she could to protect herself from Rodolphus.
Arthur, Ron, Fred, George, and Lee came running back and fired spells as they did. Their distance was far enough the Lestrange brothers had no difficulty dodging the spells, but the most important result was that Ginny didn't have two adult wizards focusing only on her and she could back up hastily to give herself more reaction time.
Rabastan turned back to her since she was near while his brother started on the arrivals who were running at them.
Harry had already known Bella was good, having heard the stories plus seeing her in the Department of Mysteries, but she was - unfortunately - in top form today. She easily defended against him and Moody and even sent off the occasional offensive spell. She wasn't bothering with the Killing curse, but she had no problem casting the Torture curse.
Not knowing what else to do while knowing they had to end this quickly, he moved to his right for a better angle and cast a Fireball spell at the mad witch. Again she moved to the side so his hex missed and she only cast at Moody, but Harry's real purpose had been accomplished. The Fireball had continued and hit Rabastan on his left side, setting his clothes and hair on fire.
As he screamed, Ginny cast a Piercing hex at the man and Hermione rolled over suddenly and cast a Blasting hex. The two spells hit simultaneously, causing him to scream as he was flung backward.
Rodolphus yelled obscenities and cast a barrage of curses and hexes that had nothing to do with his insults. The emotional energy in his magic took the approaching Weasleys by surprise and caused them to have to only defend. As he cast a Killing curse, that thankfully went wide, George caught the Death Eater with a curse that made his head start expanding before it burst open and he dropped to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.
Meanwhile, Ginny had turned to Bella and was casting Piercing curse after Piercing curse because they were so good at breaking shields, which Bella was having to use now that it was three on one. Hermione joined the others too to make it four.
Four on one was just too much, even if the insane witch was the best fighter there. One of Ginny's curses slipped in and hit Bella on the hip. That distracted Bella just enough for Harry's Cutting curse to take her head off.
As the bloody head now with shorn locks fell to the ground and rolled, Harry looked around. Their enemies were defeated, but several of their own were on the ground too. His anger at Hermione ran hot again.
"Help the wounded and get out of here!" Harry wished with all of his might there was not a death among his side.
Using a few spells, he picked up each dead body of the Death Eaters and banished them through a window and into the burning house; Mad-Eye helped. Pulling out a full-sized piece of parchment he'd prepared earlier, Harry cast an Impervious spell on it, then laid the head of Bella on top of it instead of the rock he'd planned to use.
Everyone else was making their way towards the wards, with Ron limping and two others being carried. Only Ginny was still standing there and waiting on him. He looked at her and said, "Let's go," then they both started jogging and reached the wards at the same time that Moody limped through them.
He noticed that Tonks and Lupin were both gone, as were their charges. Harry hoped that was before the fighting began. Fleur and Ollivander were also gone. "Who's hurt?"
"Mine's not bad," Ron told him, "but Fred's hurt and Lee…" he couldn't finish and Harry feared the worst.
Arthur did a spell on Lee, who screamed in pain. "He's in a bad way, but I'm sure Molly has the potions we need if we can give them to him in time." He grabbed the normally jovial boy and Disapparated away.
"Everyone else go home," Moody said before he glared at Hermione with both eyes and then left himself.
Harry looked at Ginny, received a nod and then left. She arrived only a heartbeat behind him.
By the time he had the door open, Hermione arrived. Harry grabbed her upper right arm and pulled her in roughly and thrust her towards a chair in the kitchen.
"Ow! That hurt!" she told him crossly and glared at him.
"Sit!" he roared and pointed at the chair. "Sit and shut up and listen."
"But-"
"Sit!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and she found herself shoved backward such that she fell into the chair. It took her a moment to realize he had never touched her nor did he have his wand out.
"Why?!" he continued to yell at her. "Did you think your job was beneath you? Did you think you didn't have to protect anyone else or even yourself?
"You had two very simple responsibilities. One," he held up a finger as his rampage continued. "You were to search the rooms looking for Malfoy and a snake, which means always being aware of what's around you. Two," another finger came up, "you were to protect anyone else who needed it if they found Malfoy or the snake first. But you couldn't do that, could you?"
Harry watched her hang her head, but his anger still burned at her irresponsibility. "No! You found some books and had to go on holiday with them. If I had been five seconds later, or very probably even just a couple of seconds later, I'd be having to explain to your parents why you were never going to see them again. And why?" His voice went back to full volume. "Because of some books that weren't yours and you don't need."
"Merlin!" he exclaimed as he threw up his hands in exasperation. "I know we all give Ron grief for some of the stupid stuff he's done, but he's never done anything like that. Your lapse back there almost got you killed, and it delayed us getting out of the house for long enough that the four Death Eaters I least wanted to fight showed up.
"I truly can not tell you just how lucky none of us were killed and I hope I didn't just jinx Lee by saying that. Besides what you almost did to yourself, I am so angry at you right now for getting the others hurt."
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, her hair covering her eyes, but her cheeks were wet.
He wasn't moved by her tears. "Yeah, well, maybe you need to tell that to the ones who were hurt and try to make it up to them." Harry growled and then sighed. "I need to leave before I say something we'll all regret." He left with very loud crack.
As Hermione sobbed and realized her action really had almost allowed another to be killed, she also realized there was another pair of shoes in her sight. Looking up, she saw Ginny glowering at her.
"Go ahead and yell too, I deserve it."
Ginny took a deep breath before she let it out and shook her head slowly. "I would, but I think he's said all that needs to be said, plus I really need to go calm him down, then maybe take him back to that Muggle pub to really get his mind off of what happened. He's right that you really need to go make it up to Lee, Fred, and Ron. However, I think I will add this. Next time we're on a mission, you better keep your focus and if Harry says jump, then you jump right then without questions."
Hermione broke down when Ginny Apparated away, sobbing even harder. The impact of what might have been drove her grief for nearly half an hour. She'd finally cried herself out, almost making herself sick in the process. Gathering her strength, she managed to push herself up and make some tea. With care, she sipped the hot drink and worked at breathing normally again as well as trying to get her emotions completely under control.
After two cups that had been sipped slowly, she was breathing almost normally, though she was sure she looked a fright with reddened eyes, tear stained cheeks, and wild hair probably with grass still in it from when she'd been on the ground.
While it was Harry's week to cook, given that Ginny would probably take Harry to a pub again, she knew she'd be on her own for dinner. Not that it really mattered, she decided. It might be time for dinner soon, but she wasn't hungry.
The backdoor opened and Remus Lupin walked in. He raised an eyebrow at her before grabbing his own teacup and taking a seat on the other side of the table.
"Are you here to yell at me too?" she asked quietly, hoping he said no but knowing she deserved whatever he said to her.
He made his tea and said nothing for the minute or so he needed to steep his tea. The quiet during the waiting made it all worse.
"No," he said almost as quietly as she'd spoken. "It looks like enough yelling has already happened. James was always a pretty easy going person. Oh, you could rile him up and doing something to Lily was the easiest way, but he wasn't the one to watch out for. No, that was Lily."
Remus drank some of his tea. "They say not to anger redheads, or that redheads have a temper. I can vouch that was certainly true for Lily, with her dark red hair. I can't say that I saw Harry ever truly angry during the year I taught at Hogwarts, but Harry's intensity and temperament reminds me more of Lily than of James. Lily was the sweetest person most of the time, but her wrath was terrible to suffer."
Hermione nodded. "He was frightfully angry at me, and I … I deserve it. He's right, I almost got two people killed and possibly four, or maybe more." She put her forehead down and rested it on the table, appreciating the cool wood at the moment as the guilty thoughts hovered around her.
"Did you learn anything?" the man asked casually.
"Yes! I will remain focused when on a mission and be responsible. I will also follow Harry's orders; he is our leader," she replied as she raised her head in time to see him nod.
"Good, see that you do and I think it will work out," he prophesied.
"How's Lee and is there anything I can do to help him or the others?" she asked.
"I think a heartfelt apology would be good for both of you," he said with a wan smile.
"Oh yes!" a girl's voice screamed from a distance.
Lupin almost dropped his teacup as he looked up, as if he could see through the ceiling like Mad-Eye could. He asked, "Has this happened before?"
"How embarrassing. I think I'll come with you," she said, standing suddenly and anxious to go.
"Has it?" he repeated.
Hermione looked away for a long moment before she answered, still not able to look at him. "Not like this no. They're normally very good about minimal displays of affection around me, but…"
"But what?"
It took a moment, but she finally said, "Sometimes when they've been out, like to Gringotts, or when we went to Hogwarts. When they came back, they," she paused for a moment before she said in a rush, "they couldn't keep their hands off each other and immediately went to their room."
"Interesting," he said, which made her look at him. "So after times of excitement or stress?"
"I guess so," she answered.
"Have you ever heard of the term 'adrenalin junkie'?" he asked with a hint of amusement.
"Uh, yes." Hermione stopped and looked at him hard. "You think they…" She gestured lamely upward in the couple's direction.
"I don't know them well enough," Lupin said, "but it's one explanation. They get all pumped up from dramatic and possible stressful situations, and they - uh - release it with each other."
At his grin, she realized he was making a sexual innuendo and turned away again. Her embarrassment returned full force when they heard Ginny scream, "Don't stop!"
"They say they're not shagging, but…" she gestured towards the couple again as if helpless to explain the situation any other way.
Lupin rose, held his hand towards the door as he really didn't want to listen to that either. "Hermione, you do realize that there are things short of shagging that can create those responses too, right?"
"Where are we going?" she asked in desperation as she hurried out the back door.
"To Aunt Muriel's, but this also seems like great teasing material." At her look of surprise, he added with a grin, "Don't forget I was a Marauder."