Chapter Fourteen
When Hermione regained consciousness, she first noticed the darkness of the room she was in. She couldn't figure out where she was, and the last she remembered, she had been walking into Headquarters. So what happened?
As she tried to sit up, she realized that her wrists were uncomfortably and tightly tied in front of her, with the other side of the rope attached to a clasp on the ceiling. The door swung open and Hermione finally realized where she was. The prisoner room, or as Harry and Ron more affectionately called it: the torture room.
Suddenly, people were swarming into the room as though they were being chased, and the lights flickered on so Hermione could see the people that had crowded into the room.
Harry and Ron were in the front of the group, glowering at Hermione. Behind them was the rest of the Weasley family, along with Lupin and a few other people. Ginny was among them, looking smug as she stood next to … Snape? He's not apart of the Order anymore, Hermione thought, confused. She heard a squeaking noise, and saw Fred Weasley using their bizarrely Muggle contraption of a pulley system to hoist the prisoners into the air with their arms above their heads. In moments, Hermione's feet were suspended in the air, and she thrashed around slightly trying to free herself as everyone grew nearer to her.
"Why would you do this, Hermione?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing, "What, you decided to target Malfoy as your next conquest?"
"And what about Lupin, then?" Ron snarled, obviously forgetting that he was in the room, "since you're all about older men, have you slept with Lucius too? What about You-Know-You--"
"Yeah, how's your master doing? Killed any innocent people today?" George snapped, his disgust obvious on his face.
Hermione was determined to remain silent, knowing that anything she would like to say to them would only make matters worse.
"And trying to drag Ginny into your little operation?" Ron said, protectively soothing Ginny by putting an arm around her shoulder.
"What are Voldemort's plans, Hermione?" Remus said quietly, looking up at her for the first time, his eyes full of obvious pain. Oh come on, how can you already care that much about me? We barely did anything! Hermione thought, rolling her eyes, which wasn't unnoticed by the rest of the Order.
"If you honestly think I'm going to tell you, you're blindly hoping for something that's not happening," she said shortly, keeping her eyes trained on the stone wall behind the group.
"Crucio," it came from the voice she had been expecting it would. Harry. She writhed as a milder pain than she was used to rushed through every inch of her body. But she knew that if there was ever a time to show her power against the curse, it would be now. As her body flailed around, she clamped her mouth shut, almost drawing blood from where her teeth were biting down on her tongue.
But then, it was over. It wasn't as bad as she had been through before, and she was planning on telling them all exactly that. In the meanest way she possibly could. Obviously her keeping quiet plan was over with.
"Was that supposed to be painful?" She scoffed, smirking down at Harry, and then glancing over to see Ron's face getting redder with anger, "Let me tell you this, when the Dark Lord finishes his brilliant plan, you all will fall. People who naively follow some boy with no extraordinary magical powers obviously aren't strong enough to face even a minute in the presence of my master."
She continued, noting the livid faces of her audience, "And when that moment comes, I'll stare down at your dead bodies and laugh. For when you had me on your side, you didn't use me to my full purpose. You must have known then, that there was a prophecy?"
No one looked shocked. So she had been right in her guess. They had been leaving her out to keep her away from the Death Eaters, and her destiny.
"And you thought you could stop it from happening?" Hermione smiled, sweetly, "Well, sorry to say, but your attempts were fruitless. In case you can't see my hand--it is rather hard over the chains I'm in, but I'm wearing an engagement ring. Can't stop what's meant to happen, can we?"
"We can stop it right now actually," Fred stepped forward, wand raised.
"One moment, if you please, I'm not quite done," Hermione mocked, "You're all bloody hypocrites, you realize that, right? These chains are barbaric, cruel, and well, what am I thinking of? Right, they're practically what we have at our mansion. So, how are you any better than us? You walk around free while practically every one of us stay hidden away, and you kill families and innocent people, just like us. That--"
"Fine, you don't want to be chained to the ceiling?" Ron said angrily. With a flick of his wand, the chains broke and she plummeted a few feet down to the ground. Smirking at his stupidity, she quickly and stealthily placed a finger on her wedding ring, whispering a spell in Latin, one that would immediately inform Draco of her danger. She would have to count on another one of their spies to give away the whereabouts and allow the Death Eaters to enter and save her.
Once Dumbledore had died, everyone who had known about the Headquarters location had become the new secret keeper. It was dangerous, of course, and stupid of them to keep staying there when its location could so easily be compromised. It was then she realized that she could have given the Dark Lord the exact position of Headquarters, anyone could have. Hermione supposed that no one had realized that once the secret keeper dies, anyone can tell the location. Lucky they had her now, weren't they? Now all Hermione had to do was keep them talking until her saviors got there.
"So," Hermione started, as Fred shot blue sparks out of his wand, making ropes appear and tighten around her, "not very friendly."
"You might get that impression now that you're looking from the other side of things," Ron snapped. Hermione ignored him,
"I'm curious. How is it that Ginny is still alive?"
"Do you really think we're going to tell you? Just what we don't need: Death Eaters finding out how to break Unbreakables."
"I thought you had no intention of letting me out alive," Hermione said, slowly, struggling to sit up while tied.
Everyone in the other exchanged glances, "Well, I suppose…" Fred muttered to George.
Ginny stepped up until she was in front of the group, "I'll tell her. I've always wanted to out-smart Hermione Granger, and what's the fun if she doesn't know how I did it?"
Hermione smirked, "Continue, by all means."
"Well, at first, all I needed was a Death Eater who was actually with the Order, to help out. Snape."
"I thought Snape wasn't apart of the Order anymore," Hermione cut in, not able to hide her curiosity.
"Oh, well he is. He's still a spy for us, but no one really knew about it, except Harry and me of course. But anyways, I went to him and told him about wanting out. You see, since he wasn't specifically an Order member at the time, I was warning a Death Eater, like one of the rules."
"Yes, but anyone who breaks one, don't they die?"
"Not right away," Ginny told her, smugly, "so that gave us some time to research a way out of that part. Of course, during that time, I was having some trouble with the other parts, like having to kill five Order members, and sometimes the urge was so bad, that Severus had to tie me down or stun me. But we found a way, it just required a potion. In case you didn't remember, Severus is very gifted at making potions. That, is how I finally outsmarted you. It's nice, really," Ginny continued, "to see you chained below my feet. Karma, in a way, right?"
"Not in my opinion," Hermione spat.
"Oh, well we've long given up caring what you think," Harry cut in, "So. I guess we have to finish this."
"Aw," Hermione mocked, smirking, "Are you really going to kill your best friend? Think of all the good times we had."
"Hilarious," Harry deadpanned.
Suddenly the door burst open, and in came both Lucius and Draco Malfoy, along with Bellatrix and a few other of the less important Death Eaters.
"Surprised to see us?" Lucius snarled, and sparks began shooting through the air.
Hermione felt strong arms pulling her to her feet, and couldn't tell if it was one of the Order or of the Death Eaters. She hoped for the latter, of course. Glancing around the room, she saw Draco avoid a jet green spell and saw that all the other Death Eaters were currently in battle. Meaning the person dragging her from the room was…an Order member.
"Hermione," Bellatrix called, and with a swipe of her wand, Hermione's bonds were cut and her captor was on the ground. Bellatrix threw a wand to Hermione, which she caught and quickly joined the battle. With a glance around, she saw that the Order was still greatly outnumbering the Death Eaters.
She looked for Lucius, and once she caught his eye, she motioned for the door, and he nodded, then tried to get Bellatrix's attention.
Once all the Death Eaters were ready, they chanted loudly in Latin, until they disappeared from the Order Headquarters in a cloud of black smoke.