Masquerade Act Two: When the Masks Fall
The Twenty Third Dance: Time to Plan
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. George S. Patton
Bellatrix hated coming back to Voldemort's Abode. She hated it especially since she knew she had to leave her friends behind to go over and be in his unpleasant presence. Even her anger at Hermione faded away as all her energies became focused on how much she hated it here.
The good part was that at least it would all end tomorrow before Voldemort could send his Death Eaters to attack the magical prison of Azkaban. She only had to withstand him one more day, one more, and then once he was good and dead she could finally get her body back.
"I must say, Gabriel can be really evil when he wants to be," Dorian said, his words so smug that if Bellatrix saw his face she was certain he would be smirking right now. As it was, he was just a detached voice floating in the confines of her mind. "I never expected him to switch your bodies as an incentive to ensure you killed Voldemort. For a proprietor of heaven he can be a downright devil. Makes me look like a pacifist in comparison."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at this. Over the course of the week Dorian had taken to occasionally popping up in her head and inserting comments or just plain up taunting her. It was very irritating. She hoped it wasn't a life long thing.
"Oh, I assure you it is. You'll forever have me as your brain buddy. We'll have the time of our lives!"
And that was another annoying thing he did-read her thoughts! Seriously, she couldn't get any peace! "How you wound me!" Dorian said with a fake pout. "And here I thought we were the best of friends."
"WE are not, I assure you," Bellatrix grumbled out as she made her way over through the thick foliage surrounding Voldemort's new headquarters of evil. "I'm merely here to fix my mistakes. I know you would still love to send me into the deepest pits of hell for messing up your hotel."
There was a thoughtful hmm. "I'm not the only one. Gabriel is still fuming although he won't do anything about it. He's much too noble for that." A sneer on the word noble. "It would interest me if you knew a way to retract that Fiendfyre spell."
Bellatrix shrugged in answer, opening the door to the small shack and entering the mansion inside. She spotted a few Death Eaters milling around, probably doing Death Eater things. Bellatrix didn't know, she didn't really pay much attention to them. She had taken to holing herself up in her quarters whenever she wasn't required to be down here and serving the evil lord. She made up the stairs to her room right now. "I don't see why I should help when you haven't been much help to me. You've tried to kill me several times, it was only smart of me to cast that spell."
"Talking to yourself?" A sharp voice stopped her as she was just about to head into her room, her hand hovering just over the knob. Lips tightening, she turned slowly on her heel, steeling herself. She knew who it was. The only person who had hounded her this whole time she was here. Rookwood melted out from the shadows by an open doorway to the right of her room. She briefly wondered if he knew that she wasn't the real Bellatrix.
"Or have you smuggled someone in here, that I can't see?" Rookwood approached her and she gave him a haughty look. He eyed the space around her, licking his lips. "Someone in an invisibility cloak?" He made a mad grab to the air next to her head. When his fist closed on emptiness he made another grab to her left, then to her right, twirling around on his heel and examining the whole of the hallway. "Accio cloak!" He cried out, whipping his wand out. When nothing came he frowned and turned back to her.
"Are you done making a fool of yourself?" Bellatrix hissed. "Although it was quite amusing to watch you prance around like a dunce."
"I'm not a dunce!" Snarled Rookwood, his face turning a bit red. "You think I'm dumb but I know you've done something to me."
Bellatrix arched a brow, trying to hide her brief flare of panic at those words. "Have you gone delusional? Why would I want to do anything to you? You disgust me, I wouldn't get within three meters of you." Shit, does he know about the oblivate spells I've cast on him?
"Hmmm, looks like someone is piecing things together," Dorian hummed. Shut up! Bellatrix snarled inside her head at him as she tried to maintain a calm outer appearance.
"I know something is not right, because every time I go on a mission with you, I lose track of time. And that can only mean one thing," Rookwood took a couple steps forward, wand leveled at her throat. She kept her eyes off of it, focusing on his face instead. She didn't want to let him know she was threatened by it. Her own wand was up in her sleeve and the cold wood of it reassured her. "You've been tampering with my memories. And why is that? What is it that you have to hide?"
"I've nothing to hide from you," Bellatrix said, her voice wavering a bit in the end. Well great, that's not going to convince him very much.
"You need to work on your delivery, that was pitiful. Even a child wouldn't be deceived by those lies."
Dorian, shut up! Now really wasn't the time for him to be in her head.
"Just trying to be helpful," Dorian's tone of voice was too smug and full of amusement for his offer of help to be authentic.
Rookwood wasn't convinced either by her claim because a twisted grin made it's way onto his lips. "What are you up to Bellatrix, that you don't want me knowing about? Are you hiding things from the dark lord? Are you betraying him?"
"Shut up! I don't need to take this from you! I am his loyalest, a position I achieved with hard work and dedication to the cause. I've never cowered down from any task set in front of me!" Her rising fear at him getting closer and closer to hitting the nail on the head was fueling the bite to her words.
He tilted his head in amusement. "Funny, because now it seems you can't even cast a simple crucio!"
Shit, he was getting to close to the truth. With a small flick of her wrist, her wand slide out from her sleeve and into her grip. "Stupefy!" The spell left her wand but Rookwood was ready. He jumped back and deflected it, the spell making a hole in the wall instead. "Behaving like the guilty would, by attacking me. But I'm prepared. I will bring you down and find out the truth!" Brandishing his wand he sent out more spells.
"Oh fun, fighting time!" Dorian chimed in. "Let him have it good, Hermione! Blast him away with your magical prowess!"
Bellatrix put up a protego, the spells rebounding off of it and back at the male Death Eater, who ducked into a room in the hallway to avoid them. Bellatrix needed to knock him out and cast a stronger memory charm on him. It turned out the ones she had done hadn't been strong enough. Either that or she had cast too many too closely and he had noticed his lack of memories. Typically memory charms were to be cast separate from one another and not meant to be done so closely to one another. She should have been more careful. She only had grievances that Rookwood couldn't have waited an extra day. Because that was when the order was coming along.
Rushing down the hall Rookwood had gone in, she was tripped up by a well placed tripping jinx, the man having hidden behind a wall juncture before coming out, his wand at the ready. Crashing down hard on her chin, biting her tongue and drawing tears into her eyes, ("Ouch, that looks like it hurt," Dorian remarked with a fake hiss of pain) her wand stayed thankfully gripped firmly in her hand, and she used it to blindly fire a spell in the direction the jinx had come from. There was a loud cry as it struck him between the eyes. Then scrabbling to her feet, she pumped her arm out hard and the magic that exited her weapon shook the house with it's force. Unfortunately, Rookwood had managed to defend himself partially from it. As it was half his body was struck. The clothes on the left side of his body were singed and hung around his arm and leg as rags. Half his hair stuck up, smoking as the fire in it died down by itself. The rest of the room he was in had been blown apart, the furniture in parts and chunks of the ceiling coming down.
"Wow, would you look at all that power. Come on, use some more. Knock him off of his feet, kill him," Dorian goaded but Bellatrix ignored him, in too much awe of what she had done. She was momentarily taken aback. How much power did the dark witch have in her body? Was she as strong as Voldemort?
"Looky, looky, what 'ave we got 'ere? A little tiff between lovers?" Alecto had appeared behind Bellatrix, whistling appreciatively at the damage that had been caused.
"Everyone knows Lestrange loves the dark lord and no one else," Travers muttered. He too had appeared in the crack of apparation. Bellatrix gave a quick scan with her eyes. Scabiors and Amycus were next to her as well.
"This is a serious fight," growled out Rookwood. "This bitch has been deceiving the dark lord!"
At this the four Death Eaters gave a look with one another. "Her, deceiving the dark lord?" Travers asked, wide eyed before his eyes narrowed.
In mirth.
One by one the Death Eaters began laughing at Rookwood.
"I'm not making this up!" he blustered, getting flustered by their blatant disregard of his beliefs. His grip on his wand tightened.
"O' please!" Alecto scoffed, coming out of her laugh and placing hands on her hips in a mocking posture. "Bellatrix would never betray t'e dark lord. W'at could ever 'ave put suc' a stupid idear in your 'ead? 'ave you fallen and 'it it somew'ere?"
Bellatrix couldn't believe there would ever come a time she would have been protected by a bunch of Death Eaters, but she guessed anything was possible now that her body had been switched. She was grateful for their support in discrediting Rookwood's claims.
"She's been tempering with my memories!" Rookwood's face contorted in anger, as the Death Eaters shook their head at one another in disbelief over his actions.
"Have you gone mad? Why would she do that?" Scabiors asked.
"Because she's hiding something on those scouting missions. Whenever we have to go out to find Hermione she tampers with my memories. She always does it. I don't know what she's hiding but it has to be something bad!"
"Listen to yourself," Bellatrix put on her best sneer. "The lies you're making up about me are getting more and more incredulous the more you spout them out. You've had it out for me ever since I came back. I have no clue as to why," at this she curled her wand around a strand of her hair, hand on her hip as she walked back and forth in front of him with slow purposeful steps, her heels thudding on the floor. He stood where he was, eyes flicking back and forth to her and the rest of the Death Eaters.
"And frankly it's pissing me off. Scum like you, who ran with their tail between their legs once the great lord was dead, doesn't deserve to question me or my loyalty! I'm so loyal I came back from death for him!" The Death Eaters behind her had grown quiet, watching eagerly for blood. "And what can you claim to do? Nothing. You've never once contributed anything useful to this cause!"
"Stop insulting me, you deranged beast! ("Haha, deranged beast, I love that insult, remind me to use it later," Dorian cackled and Bellatrix willed him to shut up) I will prove one way or another that you're up to no good, mark my words." It looked like it took a great deal of restraint but Rookwood put away his wand. He knew he was outmatched against an outright duel with Bellatrix. Despite her refusal to use the crucio curse she was still powerful. So she could do magic, but why didn't she want to deliver any of the curses? Something was up. He would just have to wait until the time was right to pull the secrets out of her.
The Death Eaters let out small disappointed looks at the lack of fighting. They wanted to see the first lieutenant let loose. It had been forever since they had seen her break something or someone. Her behavior had been different from her attitude pre-death. She was calmer, and less vile. They supposed that death had sobered her up a bit. Still, she wouldn't let anyone insult her and get away with it, would she?
" 'ey, you're going to let 'im go like t'at?" Alecto voiced, hoping to rile up the female Death Eater. Bellatrix arched a brow at her. " 'e slig'ted you. T'at's a downrig't duel in my book."
They wanted her to fight him? And here she had thought she had gotten away with not having to harm anyone anymore. She supposed she would have to buckle down and do it. Bellatrix's look of slight surprise faded away with the small curl of her upper lip. "I would love to give him his due-"
"-But you will not." Voldemort's voice brought everyone's attention to him. He stood in the entrance of the hallway, his black robes billowing around him. "What is this inner squabbling that is disrupting my peace? Shouldn't you all be doing something more constructive like preparing for tomorrow's raid?" His pointed look sent the four Death Eaters scuttling away back to their tasks. Bellatrix made to move away as well but the dark lord's order stopped her. "Not you, Bellatrix, and Rookwood, you stay as well."
"Yes my lord," the man gave a half bow. Bellatrix merely stuffed her wand back up her sleeve and tried to breathe. She hoped she wasn't in trouble with Voldemort. She did not need this so close to the Order's attack.
"Look's like the head honcho is here," Dorian whistled. "You messed up now."
"What is the argument about this time?" the dark lord questioned of Rookwood. The man paled. "It's...nothing. Just a slight disagreement." He cast a furtive glance at Bellatrix but did not say anything more.
I wonder why he's not saying anything to the lord now. Did he realize how ridiculous he sounded?
Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "There is something you are not telling me. And you know how I dislike when people, especially my subordinates, keep secrets away from me." Good then, Rookwood thought to himself. If I make him suspicious of me then he will look inside my head and see the corrupted memories for himself and then he shall know. He shall know the truth. I must hasten to act my part.
Rookwood paled even more at this. "I promise, it's nothing my lord." His voice shook and the dark lord stared at him for what seemed like quite a while before he moved his gaze away to Bellatrix although he still spoke to the man. "Very well. You are dismissed." Rookwood moved with haste to the exit, wondering if his plan had worked, and now it was just the evil lord and Bellatrix in the room. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. It was like he was looking at her in a new light, looking at her like an animal that he was about to torture. Would he torture her? He seemed to love doing that to his subordinates.
"Ooo, what do we have here? A romantic gaze between the two lovers who have not yet declared their love to one another-"
Stop that! Bellatrix almost mentally gagged at that idea. Stop trying to ship us together, Dorian!
"Hmm, I'll stop, but only because Voldemort's reading your mind and I don't want him to find me here. Later, my lovely lady and best of luck!" With that Dorian was gone and in his place was fresh horror and the slight sensation of pressure. Bellatrix's eyes flashed open wide. Voldemort was reading her mind! That's right, he was a legimens. He was going to find out everything!
A "No!" left her trembling lips and she took two steps back, trying to put up a mental block but she was untrained. It was too late. "Well, well," Voldemort clicked his tongue. He had already picked and prodded her mind apart, finding out everything he needed to in mere seconds. "What do we have here?"
The light in the hallway seemed to get even darker, the place even colder, as Bellatrix shook and backed up into the wall, Voldemort coming closer to her, one slow step at a time. "It looks like someone has been betraying me by working with the members of the Order. Isn't that right, Hermione Granger?" His sickening grin at the end, as his figure loomed over her, was enough to make her break out in a sweat.
He had figured it all out.
It was over.
The sun's early morning rays were just peeking in through the small apartment window, eager to wake up it's sleeping occupants. Well, trying to sleep, occupants. Harry sat in the kitchen, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand, the steam wafting up to his sleep deprived face. He had barely slept at night, Hermione keeping him up with her antics. She had insisted on trashing the place once more for good measure before she kicked him out of the bedroom, claiming the bed for herself. Since the apartment only had one bed, he was stuck with a small worn green couch that did no wonders for his back. He had gone to sleep there but the lumps made him wake up every couple of hours when it got too painful to remain lying that way. And if that wasn't bad enough then Hermione's screams and the noises of her breaking things woke him sporadically up as well. He swore, it was like she was trying to keep him up on purpose.
He had knocked on her door several times, worried for his own health when particularly loud crashes filled the air, jolting him out of bed so badly he thought the place was getting bombed and that his heart would jump out of his chest. He had no idea what was going on, or what she was doing there. But then again there was no point in trying to understand a madwoman's actions. He only hoped she wasn't hurting Hermione's body. But she had never opened the door when he tried to check up on her and so he had been forced to barge in and stop her from wrecking the furniture. She had taken to dismantling and tossing apart the parts of a wardrobe, a dresser, her closet and even her bed. Each time he came in something new had been broken. And he had fixed it, only to come back and find that she had broken it once more. How she did this without a wand was beyond him, but his sleep deprived brain did not question it. He was too pissed off by her constantly waking him and by the smirk she wore on her face as she sat perched on the windowsill and watched him put everything back together, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Don't forget that little piece over there," she had said arrogantly, jutting her chin over at a piece he had forgotten to include when he was rebuilding the drawer for the third time that night.
Mumbling unintelligibly under his breath he added it. "Now, for Merlin's sake, will you go to bed!" Harry was fed up with fixing up the broken things. "I can't sleep with all this racket! And you should be sleeping too. We have to infiltrate the Death Eaters tomorrow. Unless you really don't want to kill Voldemort."
Hermione's nostrils flared at that accusation. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that Potty boy. And if you are so bothered by my wanderings and going abouts then by all means place a silencing charm on the door."
Harry hadn't realized that he could have done this all along. He felt stupid for forgetting about that nifty little spell and the glimmer in her eyes told him she thought him stupid as well for not figuring this out before. "Because for some of us, we can't sleep peacefully oblivious to the world around us." With that Hermione shooed him out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Harry sighed, rubbed his face. Looked at the couch, looked at the time. It was already five in the morning. Not worth going back to sleep when he had to meet up with the other members in two hours time. He went over to the kitchen and made himself some coffee, hoping it would keep him up.
Hermione sat in her room, staring out the window. It was getting lighter and no doubt soon the day would break. But she couldn't sleep despite how much she wanted to. The memories of what she had done to people ran in her head, filling it with screams. Her hands dug through her curls. Breaking the furniture helped her cope with it when it was too much but it always came back and it was worst at night. She couldn't help but long for the days in the hotel when her mind wasn't tormented by the weight of her sins. Maybe she could bargain with the judges and they could fix this somehow? Now she understood why she had hurt others. It was partially because of her loyalty to Voldemort and partially because when she hurt someone, or destroyed something, it eased the voices in her head. But she wondered, had these voice always been in her head?
Sighing she closed her eyes and leaned her head on the window pane. The sooner to killing Voldemort, the closer to getting her body back, and when she did she was going to disappear. Naturally she'd check up on Narcissa once in a while and her son Draco but other than that she was going to keep as far away from others as she could.
The members of the Order were gathered in the Burrow, the safest place for their meeting before they stormed Voldemort's Abode. Arthur, George and McGonagall were helping themselves to some toast and tea that Molly had settled in the center of their table. The red haired woman still didn't want to join in the fight but she was going to make sure they were well fed before they left. George was putting jam on his bread. Kingsley had just finished a plate of eggs and bacon. Ron too had polished his off, belching appreciatively and Molly, who was putting down another stack of perfectly toasted bread, grabbed the two wizards plates to take to the kitchen. Billy sidestepped around her as he made his way from the kitchen, crunching on an apple.
"Is Harry on his way?" Arthur asked around the crunch of bread as he took a bite. He was glancing at the paper in his hands. The headlines said nothing about Voldemort. So it seemed the world still didn't know about him yet. And the Order was going to keep it this way. The world was still too shattered to face the threat of the greatest and evillest wizard of all time for the third time. They would lose all hope if they had to face him again.
"He should be," Kingsley said, looking at the watch on the wall that told the arrival of all the family members of the Weasley's. Harry and Hermione's faces had been added to it and as he watched the hands got closer and closer to the home symbol. There was knock on the door a second later just as the hands both moved to home. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He had been worried that something had occurred to the boy. He had felt bad about leaving Potter to watch over her but there was no one else he trust to be magically able to contain her or to outsmart her. The only other option would have been for Molly to watch over her but that was not going to work out well. Kingsley had dealt with Bellatrix, and while the witch seemed behaved for now, he knew she couldn't be trusted to not aggravate Molly into fighting her. She also couldn't be trusted to not go back on her word. But they would have to help Bellatrix so that Hermione could get her body back. And then he would make sure to punish the evil witch.
Molly waved her wand and the door opened up to admit Harry and Hermione into the house. "How good to see you Harry," she swept up to him, completely ignoring the brunette behind him. She had been worried for him too, afraid that the witch would do something to him. She couldn't stand to lose him either. She pinched his cheeks and frowned. There were bags under his eyes. "Did you not get any sleep?"
"Uh, no, had a rough night. I was stressing over the fight," Harry answered, covering up the truth with a white lie. He ruffled the back of his head sheepishly. He did not want Molly to go on a rampage against Bellatrix. The aforementioned witch, now trapped in the brunette's body, made her way over to the table and plopped down in an empty seat. She pulled the plate of toast towards her and began to devour it, hogging it all for herself.
Molly let go of Harry's cheeks to let the boy go and sit down at the table and eat. He responded to greetings of good morning from his friends and fellow Order members before eyeing the plate of toast Hermione had. One arm was thrown possessively over it, the other holding up a piece of bread to her mouth. His stomach growled in hunger and when he tried to reach out for some bread her free hand slapped his away. "It's my bread Potty, get your own."
"You will not be behaving this way, in my house!" Molly shrilled out. She had been intent on ignoring the girl but given her rude and abhorrent behavior there was no way this was going to happen. She could feel her blood pressure rising already.
Hermione's eyes grew big and she looked around the place. "This is your house? I thought I was sitting inside a zoo. I see Weasels, cowardly Gryffins and pigs everywhere." Hermione's voice was innocent but her words were barbs aimed at Ron, Arthur, George, Molly, Billy as well as Harry and McGonagall.
"So I'm the pig eh?" Kingsley said, leaning back in his chair, more amused than angered, the same time McGonagall started up, "We Gryffindors are not cowardly!"
However, all of their statements were lost under Molly's shriek of "Silenco!" The spell hit Hermione square in the nose, and knocked her to the ground along with the plate of toast. All the members of the Order looked at Molly, the housewitch's face matching her hair. "She does not get to insult me or my family in my own house," she explained as she thumbed her wand. Hermione stood up, brushing off the pieces of toast that had fallen on her. She looked pissed but knew better than to retaliate. She pulled out her wand to reverse the silencing spell. "I would strike you down now, but I know that unfortunately I need your help to save me and Hermione. Still, if I were you I would watch my back, because a wayward spell or two might just hit you one day."
"You don't get to threaten my mum like that!" Ron stood up, his chair scraping loudly behind him. Arthur and George also stood up, with Billy being the last to join. Their eyes were burning brightly in protectiveness.
Hermione rolled her eyes as she picked up her chair and sat back down. "I wasn't threatening her. Merely warning her about bad things that could happen to wizards or witches. You should be thanking me for the heads up."
"I don't-" Ron's retort was cut off.
"That's enough everyone. I don't think we should be engaging in arguments when we have a mission to focus on." Kingsley rose from his chair and stared at each of the rising Weasley family members until they relented and sat back down. "Molly, you may leave now." Molly sniffed angrily but went off to the kitchen, mumbling under her breath something about dark witches and how she was gracious enough to let the murderer into her house and yet here she was, making a mess.
Kingsley cleared his throat and began reiterating the plan once more. They had already gone over it extensively but it never hurt to go over it another time. When they were done, it was now half past seven and soon Bellatrix would be arriving to escort them to Voldemort's Abode. The mood in the room turned slightly anxious as they waited for her arrival. George took to magicking his salt and pepper to dance on the table tops, Ron and Harry bent their heads in discussion, McGonagall, Arthur, and Kingsley talked ministry affairs, and Billy sat quietly staring down at the table top, arms crossed over his chest. Hermione was the only one who was humming loudly to herself, a cheerful little tune. Her wand, which had been granted back to her to help in the fight, was twirling around in her hair.
"Do you think we'll be able to pull this off?" Ron asked, worried about the success of the mission. "Not only does Hermione have to kill Voldemort but she also has to get her body back. I'm not sure she can do it. She's more of a, you know, book girl not an action one."
"She'll be fine. She's already dealt with being around Voldemort for this long, I'm sure if she really wasn't clever she would have gotten caught by now. But she hasn't. So we have to believe in her that she can do it, that she can kill him. And the body switching will have to come later." Harry's stomach churned in anxiousness and he was glad he hadn't eaten anything yet. Otherwise he might not be able to keep it down. Killing someone wasn't an easy feat. While Harry had not directly directly killed Voldemort it was as close to the real act as he had ever gotten and it had chilled him to the bone. And now Hermione would have to actually kill him. How would that affect her soul? Would she change? Would she grow dark and bitter? He wished she didn't have to do it. He didn't want her to suffer. She still had so much going for her.
"But what if they can't switch bodies? What if their stuck like this forever?" Ron put his hands in his hair and let out a long sigh. This was a possibility that none of them wanted to consider, but Ron had to finally voice it, his darkest fear that Hermione would be forever trapped in the older witch's body. He needed to have his fears recognized and assuaged.
"It won't happen. There has to be a way to fix it," Harry said quietly, although he too feared such an outcome.
Hermione had overheard some of the conversation between the two boys, which wasn't hard since they were in front of her. Bellatrix had told her about how if they killed Voldemort then they would get their bodies back; that the body switch was some 'gift' the judges had given them in the first place. But the two girls never really got around to having a concise discussion on it.
Bloody judges and their stupid little gifts. I wonder what the third one will be?
A knock on the door stopped all conversation at the table and in silence they watched as Harry stumbled out of his seat to go open the door. Bellatrix had arrived. She stood on the steps, face sober and tired looking.
"Let's get this started," she strode into the house, shutting the door behind her. Harry was glad to see his friend look fine; he was more worried about her than he would like to admit. Ron and Ginny were worried as well. Harry had told his girlfriend about this whole situation and she had helped to soothe his fears. She was worried about Hermione, shocked that they hadn't noticed the switch before, and horrified that her best friend was stuck in an evil witch's body for the foreseeable future. Yet, she strongly believed that if anyone could cope with such a situation then it was the brainiac brunette. Hermione was tougher than others thought.
Luna and Neville had been kept out of the loop, mainly because of what had happened to Neville's parents and because Luna wasn't much of a fighter. They reasoned they would tell the two later, once everything was settled down.
"Alright, I need Hermione to come with me," Bellatrix stated and Hermione stood up with an annoyed sigh. "Then once I bring her to the dark lord, I'll drop the portkey in the house and all of you will come and ambush the Death Eaters, just as we planned."
"Here's the portkey," Kingsley handed the object, a spoon, to her. She weighed it in her hand before she pocketed it. Taking a deep breath she looked each of the members of the Order in the eye. "Alright. We can do this. I'll see you on the other side." Harry was surprised that Hermione wasn't saying more; he thought she would make some sort of speech or something about how appreciative she was for their help but he supposed she was impatient to get this over with. If Harry was trapped in Bellatrix's body, he'd be impatient to leave it too.
Bellatrix grabbed Hermione roughly by the elbow and the two of them left to go outside so they could apparate away. Harry and Ron watched the two go. Harry really wished Ginny had been allowed to join this mission but Molly didn't trust her daughter to be anywhere next to the evil witch as long as she was alive. His girlfriend would have been a great addition to the team and would have helped ground him during this whole experience. It was unrealistic how they were about to fight Voldemort for a third time. Shaking his head he caught Ron's eye. The boy too looked grim but he was ready. He wasn't going to back out of this. He was going to stay the whole way this time and save Hermione. Ron loved her and would fight for her sake.
And he was sure that everyone around this table loved and respected her too, that was why they had come back together even though they had disbanded. To help her get her body back and to destroy the dark lord once and for all. A small smile came onto Ron's lips as a thought formed in his head. "They do say third times the charm."
"What?" Harry furrowed his brows, not quite catching all that Ron had said.
"Nothing, nothing," Ron shook his head. He was now certain that this would be the last time they ever had to fight the dark lord.