RESCUE MISSION

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Percy Jackson belongs to Rick Riordan. Neither of them belong to me.

Previous:

They'd each taken up different jobs- Hermione and Annabeth as salesladies in the town bookstore, while Draco, Harry and Blaise worked in the café opposite the bookstore. Nico and Ron as delivery guys for a pizza joint, and Percy and Grover in the departmental store. Not all of them had any vacancy, of course, but with a well-timed Confundus charm from Hermione, they were all employed and their employers were extremely impressed with what he assumed they were doing these days.

Soon enough, they were set to hide in plain view.

Chapter 9:

2 months later:

"Hey, guys." Hermione said tiredly as she flopped onto the sofa beside an equally exhausted Percy. "Did you find anything new?"

Draco, who was seated at the dining table and poring over various books detailing the wards at Malfoy Manor, snorted loudly. "No, Hermione. I haven't found anything new." He bit out through gritted teeth.

Hermione, who knew how much fear and pressure was hidden beneath the snappish tone, chose to ignore it, and instead walked right out of the flat to see if Mrs. Wilson needed any help with the cooking.

After nearly two months, and still no closer to finding the location of even one of the remaining horcruxes, they had decided to rescue Narcissa, Ruby and Lucius from the clutches of the empousai first, and then worry about finding the horcruxes. Of one thing, they sure were certain, and that was the fact that one of them had to be someplace that Voldemort placed value in. Harry was willing to bet that at least one was at Hogwarts, but considering their little escape stint from Hogwarts, they decided to check on it later. They also had other theories where the horcruxes could be, and Hermione had made a rather big pro-con list for each place.

Draco had suggested asking his parents when they rescued them, because of his father's once-present-loyalty for the Dark Lord, and suspected that his father might know something, even if not the whole picture.

Now, he was busy learning and relearning all the numerous wards and protections that had been put around Malfoy Manor, so they could enter the place and possibly save them without getting killed in the process. What he'd learned so far was that most of them consisted of blood wards, and only a Malfoy's blood ever opened them. Furthermore, once the wards were opened, all the other Malfoys would feel a tingle in their spines, alerting them to the intrusion. There was a different type of tingle for every Malfoy, and one would always know who had opened the wards.

The day and time of their forced entry into Malfoy Manor had been fixed three days from hence. They were to go to Malfoy Manor on Sunday, and it was now Thursday. Draco had been having a bad feeling about this and kept trying to convince the others that something was just off.

However, since he was the only one getting the bad vibes, his protest had easily been overruled.

He was brought out of his miserable musings when a plate was banged in front of him and he looked up to see an irate Hermione, face flushed in anger and muttering curses under her breath. Barely glancing at him, she proceeded to bang everyone's plates on the table and then turned to glare ominously at Ron, who along with everyone else, had taken his seat at the table sometime during his musings.

Draco thought he could distinguish Hermione's harried mutterings which sounded suspiciously like 'bloody Weasley! Thinking he can force me to stay here when everyone goes to the Manor' and 'if I hear one more argument saying I'll be out of harm's way, I'll kick his skinny arse!'

It had become a daily occurrence since their plan had been chosen. Ron would wheedle Hermione to stay here while they went to the Manor and it would be better for her as she wouldn't put into danger. He hadn't, of course, dared to say it to Annabeth again, after his brief stint as a weasel, courtesy of Annabeth's transfiguration spell. Hermione, for her part, had been doing a commendable job of reigning in her temper, and not taking a leaf out of Annabeth's book.

They had their dinner in a tense silence, Hermione shooting glares Ron's way every two minutes, and then went into a fitful sleep for the rest of the night.

Sunday night had come too fast, according to Draco. After a hearty meal and a cheerful goodnight from Mrs. Wilson, the teens began to set their plans into motion. They were up at ungodly hours going through their plans again and again until they had been drilled into their brains, and even though now, their brains wanted them to catch up on the sleep they'd lost, they quickly shook their heads to rid themselves of this thought.

Finally, the time had come. Hermione grabbed hold of Harry, Ron and Grover and quickly, thinking about what Draco had asked her to, apparated to Malfoy Manor. Draco soon followed with Annabeth, Percy and Nico. Blaise apparated once he was sure they'd all gone. He'd been waiting for Hermione, in case she apparated to a different area and had to come back to their flat to retrace her path.

Soon enough, they were all standing in front of what appeared to be a barren area of land. There was not one tree to be seen for miles. Hermione looked quizzically at Draco, and he hastened to explain.

"It is protected by the Fidelius charm. See, what the charm does is-" he was cut off by Hermione who said that she knew what it was.

"Oh, alright, then. Just think, Draco's home is Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, England."

Immediately, wrought iron gates sprung up from the ground, nearly catching Ron's chin. Draco, without wasting any time, cut a small slit in his palm with the butter knife he'd brought, and dropped his blood onto the gates. As soon as he'd done this, the gates opened wide, and they all followed inside. Draco knew his parents had been alerted to his arrival, he'd felt the tingle that had gone up his spine, but he only hoped that they wouldn't come running to him, no doubt having been informed of his 'disappearance' by the Headmaster.

Luckily, no such thing happened, and their essentially forced entry remained uneventful. Hermione had tactfully disillusioned them and they went on, now invisible. They followed the lane to its end.

(This description is taken from Harry Potter wikia)

They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved with them, running off into the distance beyond.

A handsome house grew out of the darkness at the ends of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge, the sounds of a fountain could be heard.

(End of Harry Potter wikia description).

Soon enough, they reached the far wall of the manor, completely undetected. Opening her backpack with a snap, Annabeth removed a rather long rope, and with precise aim, managed to lasso it to one of the sills of a window thirty feet above ground.

They all carefully climbed the rope, Hermione letting out small squeaks as she gained height, and then they were all standing in a long corridor, numerous portraits glancing suspiciously in their general direction.

"Well, we're here." Percy whispered. "Draco, where to now?"

"Straight to the dungeons I say."

The voice that spoke definitlley didn't belong to any of them. It was a rich, silky baritone that spoke more than the words it uttered. Hermione, realising that she could see each of them, surmised that her disillusionment charm wouldn't work in the manor and that they'd been caught even befor they'd spent two minutes in the manor.

They gulped visibly, turning around to face the person with barely suppressed fear.

Now what?

Hey, guys. So, this was the 9th chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Please R&R.

Until next time….