Aftermath, Traps and Plans

"What the hell happened here?" asked Harry. He and Hannah stood in front of a slightly smouldering Potter Mansion looking at the damage it had taken in some sort of fire fight.

"How did Voldemort find us?" Hannah was scanning the area with her wand – trying to find anybody still alive.

"No idea"

"This way" Hannah pointed towards an area where the roof had fallen down close to the bedrooms. The pair of them dumped their bags and clambered over the piles of debris into Hannah's wand pulsed strongly with the life of somebody trapped underneath.

"Can you tell who it is?" asked Harry carefully.

"No, but I don't think it is one of Voldemort's lot because I don't see any bodies or cloaks or even masks" his girlfriend replied. With Harry aiming his wand at the pile of debris, Hannah levitated and banished it – revealing a battered and bruised Lavender and Astoria. Their clothes were caked with dust and filth and patches of dried blood which meant one or both were injured badly.

"Harry!" Lavender croaked. "They… We… Loads…" the girl began to talk rapidly.

"Report!" Harry barked. He knew he sounded harsh, but concentrating on something would help Lavender to calm down.

"We were attacked by Voldemort's forces" she sniffed. "Krum is a traitor – bastard led them right to us"

"He is a dead man" said Hannah with certainty as she checked over Astoria's wounds. The smaller girl had not awoken since being uncovered so she assumed there was some head injury.

"How did you manage to escape?" Harry asked.

"Astoria was asking me about make up when they attacked us. We managed to hold our own together, but the Death Eaters brought the house down on us. They took prisoners, I know that, but they also took their own fallen away"

"So we couldn't do a trace" Harry spat. "Are you the only ones?"

"I don't know" she said sleepily. "The last I remember was Dean and Seamus still fighting in the west wing, but then everything went blank"

"Okay" he patted her gently on the shoulder. "You just rest up for now" and he looked over to Hannah. "I'm going to go and have a look around the place and see if anybody else made it through this alive"

"We've been here a day or two" whispered Lavender, "And I've heard nothing at all. We all know the search and rescue procedures, but nobody found us until you came" but Harry looked all the same. When he came back half an hour later, all he had to show was a small sack of dinted tinned foods, a few clothes, some shrunken cooking items and a note that had been torn from where it had been pinned.

#

"Why would they leave you a note?" asked Shah.

"It was left as a warning and as a message" Harry sighed and rubbed the sides of his head. "They'd assumed that any falling debris had caused death or critical injuries which would cause it… At this point, we were on our own and without much in the way of supplies as the attack had destroyed most of it other then what we spent another half day in salvaging"

"But what did the note say?" Shah asked as she wrote in her notebook.

#

Harry,

There was nothing I could do to stop this

But I did manage to save at least two.

Your friends have been taken to Hogwarts to be interrogated, tortured and then killed publically to make an example to anybody thinking of helping you. Meet me in five days at the outer edge of the Forbidden Forest and I will get you inside

Your Friend

"It's a trap" Lavender said.

"Of course it is a trap" said Hannah.

"I don't think so, but if they are being held at Hogwarts then to Hogwarts we will go" Harry looked at Lavender. "How is she?" he asked. In response, Hannah stood and led him a little bit away from the wounded Gryffindor.

"Not that good… I checked her over and I think she has injuries to her spine as well as the rest of her back, her left leg is broken, she has crushed and broken ribs, fractured skull and last, but not least, organ damage. Frankly, I'm surprised she is even alive"

"Can we move her?" Harry frowned.

"Not really, but we don't have a choice to be honest" Hannah replied. "If we can stay here until tomorrow, perhaps we could move her using the van with cushioning charms and such"

"Right… We're going to have to live like Muggles almost completely" Harry said. "We have enough money for fuel for the van, but food is going to be difficult to get hold of. I guess we'll have to sleep in the van and take turns in driving it"

"Har… Harry?" the pair turned to see Astoria stir from her sleep, sit up and rub her eyes.

"Take it easy" Hannah told her and gave her some water to sip from.

"We don't have to sleep in the van" she croaked. "I got the magic tent" and she weakly reached into her pocket and tried to withdraw the tent which was in its small storage size.

"I'll get it" Hannah said, but Astoria shook her head.

"Harry"

"Why me?"

"As Daph might have said, 'I might as well it be you brushing my bits'. I might as well get some fun out of this" and Hannah shared an amused glance with Harry as the boy reached into Astoria's right jean pocket and grabbed the tent.

"Story, if we make it through this, I promise to fondle your bits without the clothes on"

"That…" the girl coughed, "That gives me something to live for" and there seemed to be some kind of hesitation.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked.

"Oh…! Erm, nothing that you could really deal with right now – just a dream I had"

"Want to tell me?" Hannah asked.

"Maybe later… I kind of feel sleepy" and she dozed off.

"That was interesting… Look, when can we move Lavender tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"In the morning. I would say later, but I know that we have to move as quickly as possible"

"What have you given her?"

"What was left from her medical kit" Hannah replied, "But that's not much – most of it was smashed when she and Astoria were buried. I've managed to eke out what we both carried as well as Astoria's, but it is still not enough… I know what to do from reading the books – we both do – but its not the same as actually learning it! Lav needs specialist attention for the spine at the very least, and we can't exactly leave her at St Mungos, can we?"

"No" Harry replied. "We can't take her to a Muggle place either. The only thing we can do is to take her with us and hope for the best"

"But where are we going to put her when we go into Hogwarts?" Hannah asked him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it" Harry replied.

"That's… that's not always a good thing" his girlfriend chuckled. "Look, the pair of them are asleep for now… Lets have another look around for stuff we can salvage before we get some sleep"

"I'll take the first watch when we do"

"Okay" but Hannah had the feeling Harry would put herself above him.

#

"Harry…?" Astoria whispered as she awoke once more.

"Hey" Harry moved over to sit a little closer to her. "How are you doing?"

"Not too good" she muttered. "Is Lavender alright? She took quite a beating"

"She's… Look, I won't lie to you, Story – she's alive"

"Oh" the girl looked down at herself. "I seem to be much the same"

"You are far better off than she is" Harry retorted. "Look, we're going to make one final attack against Voldemort and Dumbledore… The plan is for me and Hannah to try and sneak inside Hogwarts, get as many students out of the place and then go hunting for the pair of them"

"Tell me when and where"

"Astoria…" Harry sighed. "Astoria, the things is that neither me or Hannah is expected to survive this attack. The only reason we are going to do it is mainly because we have run out of time, out of options and out of luck. We can not live like this and hope to win"

"So…? Tell me when and where"

"You could die"

"I know" Astoria replied, shifting slightly to sit up. "Daphne knew that when we joined up with you. I'm not as philosophical as some people might be, but if there is a fate for me, then it is to die facing my fear and my enemies on my feet. I promised to see this through to the end, and this is what I will do"

"That's a lot of courage you have"

"Well" Astoria giggled, "Maybe we could spare five minutes and see if the Sorting Hat would sort me into Gryffindor"

#

"Harry? Wake up… Its almost seven" Hannah's voice made Harry open his eyes slowly before he fully awoke.

"We alright?" he asked as he took in the cold morning air.

"I think so" Hannah replied as she handed him a cup of tea. "I've checked Lavender as best as I can using the few spells I know, and I think she's alright to move into the van. Astoria woke up an hour ago, couldn't get back to sleep so I sent her to the greenhouses to see what she can salvage in the way of fresh fruit and veg"

"Have you got the map?"

"Here" and the pair of them studied the map intensely. "We could take the A4103 and A44 to Worcester, take the M5 all the way to West Bromwich and then head north on the M6 as far as Stoke" Hannah traced the route with a finger. "Once we get there, we swing east and head towards the Peak District. We could rest in some caves for a day or two – it might be cold, but at least it would be dry"

"And we could light a fire – thank god magical fires are smokeless" Harry mused. "Thank god I insisted the sleeping bags were thrown into the van – otherwise we'd have nowhere to sleep"

"If there isn't enough bags, I don't mind sharing with you" Hannah batted her eyes at him.

"How long… How long until Story comes back?"

"Another twenty minutes – why?"

"Well Lavender's in a drug induced sleep, Astoria is away picking fruit and veg, my girlfriend is alone with me and completely defenceless…"

"Twenty minutes?" she raised an eyebrow at him in a manner that painfully reminded him of Hermione. "Challenge accepted, Mr Potter"

#

"WHERE IS HE?" roared Malfoy as he punched Hermione in the stomach.

"I… I don't know"

"LIES!" and she was hit by some kind of torture curse.

"Why bother with the Mudblood when the little Veela has already broken?" asked a smooth sounding voice. Hermione raised her head to look at Voldemort standing at the top of the steps to the dungeons. "I admit that I might be a little rusty in some areas, but breaking the little girl was most enjoyable" and he threw Gabrielle down the ten feet onto the floor. Her clothing was torn, she was filthy and blood was caked on her legs – Hermione knew how she had been broken… Rape was terrible to any girl, but was even worse for a Veela. "I look forward to seeing the expression on your face the moment I kill your precious Harry Potter in front of your eyes. Come, Lucius, we have work to do"

#

Astoria marvelled at the amount of traffic on the roads, Hannah sat in the back checking over Lavender and Harry drove for several hours before they pulled into a service station for a short time.

"I need a piss and a fag" Harry said bluntly, "Anybody else want to stretch their legs?"

"We both do" Hannah replied. "It should be safe enough to leave Lavender on her own for a while"

"Have we got enough money to have a burger?" asked Astoria.

"No, but that is no problem" Harry fingered his wand.

"I thought stealing was wrong" Astoria told him. "At least, that what it said in that book of Hermione's"

"But is it wrong to steal if you are desperate and also very hungry?"

"I don't know" Astoria admitted, "I never read that far"

"Neither have I" Harry shrugged and secretly snuck some money out of the bank machine. "But I can't believe in an all powerful bloke with a beard"

"Albus Dumbledore"

"I think she wins" Hannah giggled. "Alright, lets say that we meet up in ten minutes before we get something to eat and drink"

"Harry? Do you think they might serve soup here?" Astoria's question was tinged with sadness.

"I think so… Is something the matter?" he asked.

"It's Daphne's birthday"

"Oh… Sweetie, why didn't you say something?" Harry gathered the girl into his arms and held her as she cried a little.

"We were really busy and I didn't want to be a problem, and I knew we had to go to Hogwarts, and I knew…"

"You should have known we would have done something to remember her by" Hannah cut the younger witch off.

"I'm sorry" she sniffed. "If nothing had happened, I would have asked to go sit by Daphne's grave for the day with a picnic – we used to do that when were younger"

"Why?"

"We used to pretend that the dead could talk to us" said Astoria, drying her eyes with a small handkerchief that Hannah passed her. "But we never had a body to bury after she died saving us" she looked down. "I blamed Luna and I never even apologised… When I die, will you bury me somewhere near a lake with trees please?"

"Honey, you're not going to die for years to come" Harry kissed her gently on the head.

"I hope so too, but if something happens and we win but I die, I want that. I used to grow up in a massive place with fields of barley, fields of gold and big lakes lined with trees. When I was scared or upset or lonely, that's where I used to run away to"

"Sounds like you loved it very much"

"Mmm… My parents used to joke that the waters ran all the way to Hogwarts" and a frown came over her pretty little face. "Hogwarts… Hogwarts!" she said with a quietened squeak.

"What about it?" asked Hannah.

"Harry said that going to Hogwarts might be a trap the way they we're expected… My family has a big estate a bit of a way away from Hogwarts, but the lake we have is said to be filled by the water that comes from the lake there. I could key you into the wards, get us to the lake and we could swim into Hogwarts"

"That… that might just work" Hannah admitted.

"I was thinking about using the boats, but never about swimming – why didn't I think of that?" Harry exclaimed.

"Maybe because you are so old" Astoria said, forgetting her earlier upset and pain. "But its okay" she said consolingly and patted his arm gently, "I'll look after you and feed you apricot dessert"

"Hannah?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I kill her?"

"Oh oh" and Astoria wigged out of his hold and hurried away to the toilet.

"At least she has not been tainted by the war" Harry watched as she walked down the corridor and out of sight.

"She has" his girlfriend argued "But not as much as the rest of us… She can still be a cheeky little child" she looped her arm around Harry's left. "Say, do you think they will do you a pensioner's discount?"

A/N:

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Pixel