Here's a new chapter for you, it's quite short so sorry about that but figured you'd rather have something updated than nothing at all. I reckon we're drawing towards the end, unfortunately, probably 3 more chapters and maybe an epilogue. I do have an idea for a sequel though so let me know if you want that! As always leave a review please :))

- HermionesPolyjuice xoxo

Chapter 20

There were a series of loud pops behind them and the Weasleys and Harry all whipped around, their wands drawn pointing at the people who had just arrived. A sigh of relief escaped Charlie's lips when he spotted the distinctive purple robes in the eerie light.

"That was quick," Ginny said, surprised that those standing in front of them had arrived so soon.

"We have our ways," Kingsley said with a wink at the only Weasley daughter.

"Well, shall we get on with this then," Bill interrupted turning back to face the small bungalow. A silence spread through the group. But no one moved. Bill was finally the one to do anything as he took the few steps forward and tentatively pushed the gate open. It creaked open, sending shivers down everyone's spines. Charlie felt as if they were about to enter a haunted house on Halloween. Bill began to walk down the short path towards the front door and everyone followed him, a few steps behind. Bill reached the door and went to raise his hand to knock when the door just opened in front of them. Apprehension filled the air. Tentatively Bill crossed the threshold taking a step into the building. He took another step and another. And nothing happened. Charlie hadn't noticed he was holding his breath but he let out a sigh of relief when Bill turned around and beckoned for everyone to follow them. Slowly the rest of the Weasleys, Harry, Kingsley and the Aurors followed the eldest Weasley child down the path and through the door, slowly to begin with but speeding up as they realised nothing was happening.

"Well, well, well," a drawl echoed around the stone entrance hall, loud and clear so as everyone could hear. There was slam and everyone spun around to see the front door now closed. They were trapped. They weren't getting out without a fight. And they weren't getting out without Hermione.

"I could have guessed you lot would be here at some point," the same drawl surrounded the group huddled together. They were all turning their heads, their eyes screwed in the semi darkness to try and locate the source of the voice; it almost looked comical. Then suddenly a bright flash of red sparks shot towards the group. Kingsley acted the quickest and just in the nick of time his protective shield spread out protecting everyone, the red sparks bouncing off and hitting the wall just above them.

"Quick reactions, I'm impressed," the voice sounded once again.

"Whoever you are, show yourself," Charlie shouted, sounding a lot more confident than he actually felt. There was a cackle but then the lights brightened and through his blinking eyes Charlie could finally make out the layout of the room they were standing in. It was large and oval a stone staircase leading both up and down running around the room. Large, stone pillars held up the upper floors. It seemed a whole lot larger from the inside than it did from outside. How they were going to find Hermione any time soon, Charlie didn't know. Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and everyone's heads turned to watch the feet, the legs, the torso and finally the head appear. There was only one person it could be: Antonin Dolohov. Charlie had to resist the urge to lash out and start hexing him right there and then. Bill obviously knew what he was thinking and gently put his hand on Charlie's shoulder as if to tell him no.

"My, my, I wasn't expecting this many. I guess that's just more to die during the attempt to save a petty, useless mudblood," Dolohov sneered. Charlie tensed, as did everyone else. Charlie was gripping his wand so tight he hand had gone white and his fingernails were cutting into his palm.

"If she's useless, why did you take her?" Harry asked, his voice strong and confident sounding. Little did everyone know he was shaking with anger and just like Charlie was resisting the urge to fight.

"You obviously misheard me, didn't you? She wasn't useless, but she is now. I mean what can you do with a dead mudblood," Dolohov said with a laugh. That was the last straw for Charlie.

"Stupefy," he yelled pointing his wand at Dolohov. But in his anger he misfired the spell and it hit the wall a few inches above Dolohov's head. Chaos ensued. There was an onslaught of spells fired at the group who all dispersed rapidly to avoid getting hit by one of the jets of light. Charlie dived to the ground still fuming at Dolohov's comment. But unlike a while ago when he had been told Hermione had died and believed it this time he didn't. Dolohov was just provoking them. Hermione was here and alive, she had to be. From the ground, Charlie looked around and saw multiple flashes of lights being sent in all directions. Lanterns had been lit and the hall was now a flood with light and Charlie could now see that they were easily outnumbered, at least 5 to 1. It was going to be a lot harder than he had initially thought. But that didn't mean they were going to be unsuccessful.

{-/-} [-\-] {-/-}

A loud crash came from above and she huddled herself further into the far corner of the room. She was trembling, not just with cold as her naked body lay in contact with the cold stone but also from fear. What were all these loud noises and bangs? What was going on upstairs? Maybe he was having a fight with someone? Or maybe he was rebuilding it? Maybe she was coming to her end? Secretly she hoped it was the latter. She was sick and tired and in so much pain she could barely move from her huddled position. Her eyelids were screwed shut but she didn't miss the footsteps outside the door. The door opened. She flinched, knowing exactly what was about to happen. But it wasn't the same. The door wasn't flung open. But rather opened more slowly.

She managed to open her eyes a slit and looked over at the door. The man who had just entered was tall and muscular, his blonde hair pulled slickly to one side. He walked with purpose towards her, his footsteps echoing around the hall. She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified of what might happen this time. When he reached her, however, he didn't turn to hit or beat her but rather gruffly grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her feet. She let out a shout as pain coursed through her body at the sudden movements and strong grip around her upper arms. She was practically dragged out of the door and down the corridor. Where on earth was she going? When in the corridor the bangs and shouts became much louder echoing down the stairs to their level. But he led her away from the noise further and further down the corridor. The further they went the darker it go as the lanterns slowly disappeared in number.

He suddenly stopped and let go of her. Her legs crumbled and she fell to the floor, another bruise to add to the hundreds she already had. She heard a click of a lock and a sliding of a door as it opened. The next second she was being dragged along the cold floor, the stone grazing her back. She was then pushed with a fair amount of force. But rather than sliding along the floor she began to feel herself fall. She had been pushed down stairs. Her body bumped and hit each step one at a time. She had no strength to stop herself and just had to wish the staircase wasn't too long. She finally landed with a thump at the bottom, more pain radiating through her body. But she was unable to move. Something warm was falling down her face. The door above slid shut and she lost all consciousness.

{-/-} [-\-] {-/-}

Charlie heaved himself to his feet and immediately cast a protective spell upon catching sight of the flash of yellow light heading his way. They bounced off and hit the sender right in the stomach. They grabbed their stomach momentarily before collapsing to the floor, unmoving. Mentally praising himself Charlie hurried over to Ron's side and began firing spells to and fro with a handful of Death Eaters. He was reminded distinctly of the time immediately before Hermione was first injured back during the battle at Hogwarts when he, Fred, Percy and Hermione were all fighting a bunch of Death Eaters, especially successfully he must admit. He felt a pang of guilt that it had taken him this long to help her. He shook his head as he sent a particularly well-aimed stunning spell to the chest of one of the Death Eaters causing them to tumble forward. No later had that Death Eater fallen but another sprang up just behind them and sent a rapid flash of green light. Charlie threw himself at Ron, knocking him onto the floor but safely away from the killing spell. He wasn't going to let another family member die on his watch.

The noises and flashes of light kept Charlie occupied for a long time, battling his way through the huge number of Death Eaters. Every now and again he would do a quick head count of red hair to check everyone was still standing. He knew a few Aurors had fallen having tripped over some of their bodies but as selfish as it was to think it a part of him was secretly glad it was them rather than a Weasley or Harry.

It wasn't long before Charlie found himself dueling Malfoy. It took even less time until his legs were dancing along to some kind of quickstep having not got away from Malfoy's firing of 'Tarantallegra' quick enough. Charlie stumbled around trying to aim a spell at Malfoy at the same time but with no success. Each time he went to send a curse he would suddenly jerk and the spell would miss and bounce off the wall. But for now he had managed to keep on his feet. But he did know he wasn't going to be able to last much longer. He needed to try and get someone's attention to reverse the spell. He was beginning to feel rather vulnerable as Malfoy kept on firing a spell unknown to Charlie that would cause scratches to appear on his body, it was beginning to hurt quite a bit. Charlie was surprised Malfoy wasn't aiming to do anything worse. As he tried to avoid a stunning spell he tripped over and found himself lying flat on his back his legs waving wildly in the air. He heard footsteps getting closer and he tried to heave himself up but to no avail.

Malfoy now stood above Charlie, sneering down at him.

"Looks like you're in a bit of trouble here, Weasley. Sham your girlfriend is no longer around to help you," he taunted. Charlie's eyes flashed with anger. His wand was much steadier now he was lying relatively still so he was able to send a much better aimed stunner. But Malfoy was quick and jumped out of the way.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Weasley. Wouldn't want my master knowing it was you who knocked down her second-in-command," Malfoy said. Charlie hesitated for a fraction of a second considering what Malfoy had said. But why did he care what Dolohov thought? He was going to be Azkaban or dead by the end of the night. Charlie hesitated for a second too long and Malfoy raised his wand and uttered "Cruc-". But he never finished his curse but rather fell backwards and lay motionless on the floor. Charlie felt his legs go back to normal and sat up to see Bill staring over at him, his face grave. Bill walked over and lent Charlie a hand.

"Thanks," Charlie muttered.

"Don't mention it," Bill replied. "He's a filthy git, it's what he deserved."

"You…you didn't kill him did you?" Charlie questioned.

"Merlin, no. He deserves to suffer in Azkaban, not get the short route out with death," Bill responded.

"How are we doing do you know?" Charlie asked, having been occupied with Malfoy for a fair while.

"I think we've got more of them down than we have down. Fred smashed his leg but it managing to fire some spells from a hidden corner and George has the nastiest gash by his eye but is fine. Everyone else is doing well. We've lost about 10 Aurors I think but I don't know how many are just stunned and how many were actually killed, I daren't check," Bill explained. Charlie was relieved that the Weasleys had suffered a broken leg and a gash near an eye at the worse. But they still had a lot to do.

Suddenly a body flung themselves over Bill and Charlie throwing them to the floor. They were trapped underneath whoever it was but it didn't take long for Charlie to realise it had been Ron who had knocked them over.

"Maybe spend a little less time talking and a bit more time focusing and you might avoid getting hit by Unforgiveable Curses," Ron muttered angrily as he stood up. Bill and Charlie shared a worried look.

"Yes, I just saved both of your lives. Now I'm sure we wouldn't say no to you helping out," Ron said huffily before storming off and hitting the Death Eater fighting Ginny with a stunning spell right in the face. Bill and Charlie clambered to their feet and headed off in opposite directions to continue their fighting.

"Have you seen Dolohov recently?" Charlie shouted over the continuous noises.

"No he disappeared off not long after we started fighting," Kingsley replied after hitting one Death Eater and turning to face another. There were so many of them and Charlie had no idea how the numbers didn't seem to be going down.

"I think I need –" but Charlie didn't manage to finish his sentence as one of the pillars came crashing to the floor. He leapt out of the way but not quite quickly enough and he felt his foot getting crushed under the immense weight of the pillar. He noticed the arm of one of the Death Eaters he had just been fighting and knew they had been even less successful. He tried to wriggle free but he couldn't move. He was well and truly trapped and he didn't know how he was going to get out of it. He spotted a Death Eater creeping up behind Ginny but was able to stun him before he had even raised his wand. At least from here he was able to spot Death Eaters who were taking the unfair route and trying to attack from behind. He had managed to hit at least 5 before Harry was by his side.

"Charlie? Are you OK? What are you…oh…right um…ok, how do you reckon we get this pillar off you?" Harry stuttered upon noticing why Charlie was on the floor.

"Levitate it I reckon. But could you do it like now please? I'm quite useless down here," Charlie said, a little angrier than he had meant. Harry nodded and stood up. He pointed his wand at the pillar and managed to levitate it enough so Charlie could pull his foot out from underneath. He knew the bones were crushed and he was going to have trouble putting any weight on it.

"Can you get mum over? I reckon she knows a bone healing spell," Charlie asked Harry, who hurried off and reappeared a minute later with Mrs. Weasley.

"I'd better be off. Hope it's OK Charlie," Harry muttered and ran off to join Ron in battling three Death Eaters.

"Mum, stop staring around and please fix my foot," Charlie said rather forcefully. Mrs. Weasley was brought back to her senses and quickly cast a healing spell over Charlie's foot. He felt pain at first and then relief. He was now able to move the toes and knew he would be able to bear at least a little weight.

"You're still going to have to get that checked out at St Mungo's though," Mrs. Weasley said. Hee voice seemed a bit off to Charlie and he was worried something was bothering her. He didn't ask her though.

"Thanks, mum. How's everything going?" Charlie asked quickly wanting to start moving again.

"Fine. We're all fine. I had better go back and join your father. And Charlie, maybe you should think about finding Hermione so we can all get out of here whilst we're all still alive," Mrs. Weasley said rather tartly before turning her back and hurrying off. Charlie felt a pang of guilt. It's not like he had forgotten about Hermione but rather that he had been so preoccupied with fighting the Death Eaters he hadn't wanted to leave everyone else to battle them by themselves. Groaning he heaved himself and gingerly put some weight on his foot. It stung a bit but it held steady. He quickly ducked a flash of orange flames and sent a stunning spell in the direction they had come from. He noticed where the stairs were and hurried around the pillar and towards them, on a mission to find Hermione. But he stopped suddenly when he reached the other side of the pillar and noticed a sight he never wanted to see. There, lying the floor, his legs crushed by the pillar was Kingsley Shacklebolt still and unconscious.

(A/N: again sorry it was short but hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Definitely not my best so will probably come back and edit it when I have the time! please please please leave a review, i lover every single one of them!)