Chapter 12: Fiendfyre

Once Viktor caught up with the other three, he gave Hermione back the portrait of her father.

"Thanks for the save," she told him, kissing him on the cheek.

"Any time," he murmured into her hair, simply holding her close for a minute.

Sirius opened his mouth to comment but Hermione put him back in the bag before he could say anything. His muffled complaints could be heard briefly before he grumbled himself into silence.

"Let's keep moving," Harry decided. "The more isolated we are when we do this, the better."

"Good call, Harry," Susan agreed. "I don't want any muggles getting dragged into this insanity."

The quartet eventually came across the clearing Hermione remembered, which is now a closed campground. Hermione took out the locket and cup and set them in the firepit.

"Is everything ready?" Harry asked.

"No, wait a moment," Hermione instructed as she began casting wards around the firepit. In particular, she put a disguise ward up so that the spell would look just like a regular campfire if anyone happened to be walking by. "Okay," she announced when she was done, surveying her work and nodding to herself in satisfaction.

"Now I'd say ve're as ready as ve are going to be," Krum shrugged.

Harry nodded. "Right well, last time someone opened a horcrux, the diary possessed her, tried to steal her body and damn near killed me. I don't know what's in this one but it's probably not friendly either, probably even more dangerous since this isn't his first horcrux and he would have had practice making the damn things. I don't know what, if anything, is going to happen, but be careful, okay? We don't want anyone in the way if something nasty happens when the hocrux opens up"

The other three seemed to agree with Harry's unease because they looked like they wanted to take a step back but didn't.

"Stand back," Harry ordered, "Open." He ordered in parceltongue.

Harry commanded the locket to open, upon which Krum and Susan immediately released fiendfyre at the thing. The locket and cup both shrieked but didn't seem to be able to do anything else as it quickly burned to a crisp.

Hermione gasped. "Oh no," she whispered, seeing the green flames the color of the killing curse. She had just remembered that Fiendfyre is a controlled spell and that it would be trackable by the Misistry. Snatchers would be here any second now! She quickly put up anti-apparation wards but it was too late.

Upon the Fiendfyre ceasing, dark robed wizards apparated into the area.

"Run!" Viktor shouted.

"Obviously!" Susan snapped back, scrambling to her feet on her still-injured leg. Harry quickly ran in and grabbed the remains of the Hocruxes before taking Hermione and Susan's hands as they started running towards the edge of the wards.

There was a lot of running and shouting as the heroic quartet sprinted through the woods, ducking and dodging spells in the process. Susan knew she wasn't keeping up very well. The cut on her leg was burning like fire and she couldn't make her pace match the others. She knew they would slow down and come back for her if she called out. She also knew calling out would summon the Snatchers directly on top of her. Calling for help would inevitably drag her friends into the line of fire.

Susan hid behind a thick tree trunk for a moment, panting as she watched Hermione's bushy hair dart out of sight and listened to Krum's lumbering form snap through the bushes. Harry's voice cut through the forest as he cast spells back at their pursuers.

"Damn you Harry," Susan whispered. "Your saving people thing is contagious."

She didn't start running again. Susan Bones was captured by the enemy.

Her friends would only realize she wasn't with them when they stopped running.