Disclaimer: Only Emma, plot, and OC's belong to me
Chapter 25: The Hunters and the Prey
"Is it alright with everyone else?" Harry asked. He figured Ron would have a problem with it for sure, maybe Draco, but happily everyone nodded their head 'yes.'
"I think we need to enlarge the bedroom," Hermione said. She walked upstairs with Emma and Ginny. "I take it you brought your trunks?"
Ginny nodded. "Can they detect us doing magic here?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, we are protected from the ministry."
Ginny grinned and took out her trunk. She had decided to copy Emma and had shrunk it to fit in her pocket. She un-shrank it and placed it next to the bed they had transfigured for her. Soon, Luna joined them too.
"Any Metzi?" Emma asked. Luna shook her head.
"Amazing seeing as how no one has lived here for so many years," Luna said. She took her trunk out as well and enlarged it also. They sat on their beds and started to gab.
"How far along are you guys?" Ginny asked.
"We know Voldemort is planning on attacking a prominent Muggle neighborhood in London, and soon, but we don't know which one," Hermione said.
"Our plan is to find Nagini and attack her when Voldemort is otherwise distracted," Emma said.
"How will we know when to attack?" Luna asked.
Hermione shrugged. "It has to happen soon."
"I wrote to my father to warn him about the attack. Hopefully, the ministry will be able to find Voldemort and stop him before he can cause too much damage," Emma said.
"And still give us enough time to take care of Nagini," Hermione added.
They talked a little longer until Emma went down to make dinner. Luna joined Draco in the kitchen as Emma cooked.
'I think she feels more comfortable around you than Hermione,' Draco said.
'It's because I'm not as judgmental as Hermione. More open-minded is what she has told me,' Emma said.
'That, and the fact everyone is drawn to you,' Draco teased. Emma laughed.
"I gave Seamus the two-way mirror," Ginny said during dinner. "Is that alright?"
Harry nodded. "I'll get it back from him later." Harry knew he might still want to talk to Emma.
"I feel bad for leaving, but I told Seamus I might be, and he said he was okay with that. I'm glad he and Sinead are finally dating," Ginny said.
"Finally! I was so glad when I found out. I've been waiting ages for it," Emma said. "Are you missing them yet?"
Ginny nodded. "It feels so odd I was only on the council for a few months. I gave my spot to Deirdre. She is a fifth year, so someone will be on it for awhile at least," Ginny said making her and Emma laugh.
"We have been going through them a lot it seems like. Deirdre will be wonderful. I am glad you picked her since the last few people to join the council had been from our line."
That night Luna joined Emma and Draco in the parlor as Emma kept her vigil over Harry. 'We need to find out soon when Voldemort plans on attacking,' Emma said.
'I know, but I am not eager for you to do it again,' Draco said.
'Honestly, me neither. It is not a joy being in a psycho's mind, but it is the way to get the information we need,' Emma said.
Draco sighed. 'Tomorrow then. I want you to get some rest before you do it again. You were exhausted the last time.' Emma nodded in agreement.
The next night Emma slipped through the connection again. Even though this time she knew better what to expect, Voldemort's mind was still disturbing.
"Why is it taking her longer?" Neville asked worriedly. This time Luna, Ginny, and Hermione were there with him and Draco.
"How long did it take her last time?" Hermione asked.
"Fifteen minutes," Neville said.
"Maybe she is trying to learn something else," Ginny suggested. Ron stumbled down sleepily.
"What's going on?" He asked sleepily.
Emma finally stirred and her eyes were starting to return to normal. "Finally," Ginny said relieved.
"Are you alright?" Luna asked. Emma nodded.
"I . . . it was harder to find, but I finally found some information," Emma said. "He is going to attack tomorrow night." She told them the name of the street.
"We need to tell your dad then," Draco said.
"I know."
"Did you learn anything else about his bigger plans?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever he is planning he seems to be eager to execute. He is waiting for something, though, some sort of confirmation I think."
"What is this big plan of his about anyways?" Luna asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. He seems to want to find some information, some sort of proof. He is suspicious of something."
Draco got up and grabbed some parchment. He handed it to Emma who scribbled a quick note to her Dad. "Well, you need to sleep," Draco said.
"Draco, I'm fine. It wasn't as bad as last time, I knew what to expect," Emma said. Draco just scooped her up anyways making her laugh. "Fine, be overprotective and paranoid then."
The next morning they filled Harry in with the new information. "Well, then we better get prepared now. We need to make sure we get to Nagini and quickly."
They stowed their things away and ate lunch. Everyone was too preoccupied thinking to talk while they ate. By dinner everyone was too antsy to eat. As soon as it was dark they apparated to a warehouse in what appeared to be downtown London, hoping that Voldemort was already gone. Emma walked closer to the building.
'It is buzzing with magic. There has to be a lot of enchantments here– definitely a lair of Voldemort,' Emma said. Draco told the others.
She walked around to the back of the building. She touched her patronus tattoo and watched as it disappeared. A moment later they all knew the building was charmed with anti-apparition fields and that only Nagini and two death eaters remained inside.
'They probably aren't happy with babysitting a snake either,' Draco added. Emma nodded.
Their tattoos were a flurry as they traveled between all 8 of them. There were two on each side of the building (Draco/Emma, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, and Neville/Luna) and they waited to make sure that they were all in position. Emma used her wand to open the window and she and Draco eased inside quietly. She knew the others were as well. Their tattoos kept traveling amongst them bringing updates and tracking their progress.
"Someone's here," One of the death eaters said. "Someone's breached the charmed wall."
"The master was expecting this," the other said. They split up. One headed straight for Ginny and the other for Luna. Harry snuck around and was trying to get to Nagini who was now slithering away.
Luna stunned the death eater who couldn't see her. "What the?" The other death eater said and shot a spell off in Luna's direction.
Emma and Draco pounced on the death eater and both shot spells off at death eater. "Peters," Draco muttered. "Newbie. Not much older than us."
"Obviously age has nothing to do with intelligence," Emma said. "Where did Nagini go?"
"Harry went off after her. I think she is on the second floor," Ginny said.
A fraction of a second later their tattoos confirmed this and they started heading upstairs. Emma and Hermione were in the front rushing up the staircase when suddenly Nagini appeared—making Hermione scream and Emma jump—and started attacking them. The same time some cracks were heard outside and three more death eaters appeared.
Ginny, Draco, and Luna rushed down to deal with the death eaters leaving Hermione and Emma alone on the staircase with Nagini. Harry, Neville, and Ron appeared at the top of the staircase behind Nagini.
"Somehow having it cornered doesn't exactly seem to be working!" Hermione hollered.
Nagini jumped out at Hermione who shot of a stunning spell but the spell missed as Hermione dodged out of Nagini's way.
"What do we do?" Neville asked.
"Yeah, Harry's snake language isn't working," Ron said. Nagini plowed into the wall into the next room and Hermione and Emma rushed up the stairs after Harry, Ron, and Neville to find her again.
"Down here!" Ginny's tattoo appeared and they all rushed downstairs. Nagini had taken a passage down to the first floor and Ginny, Luna, and Draco had their hands full with Death Eaters and Nagini.
Emma shot a stunner spell at one of the death eaters who ducked. Draco saw another try to hit him with avada kedavra and a second later he collapsed, unconscious. 'Thanks,' he said.
Emma was dodging spells and rushing after the giant snake like Harry, Hermione, and Neville. Ron had gotten into a fight with one of the death eaters trying to help Luna.
Emma and Hermione both shot a stunner off at the same time but Nagini slithered out of the way. "Sneaky little beast!" Ron hollered as he and Luna joined them.
A second later the last death eater was knocked out as Ginny and Draco both sent off a stunner spell. "We need to get her surrounded," Harry hollered. A second later Neville was jumping out of the way as Nagini lunged at him.
"Is Nagini poisonous?" Ginny asked. No one knew. Nagini slithered out a hole in the side of the wall.
"Shit," Ron and Draco said at the same time. They all fled out of the house.
"How do we find her now?" Luna asked. Emma transfigured into her winged unicorn. She took off in the air trying to see if she could see where Nagini went. Ron, who had just learned to transfigure, transfigured into his jack Russell terrier. Between Ron following Nagini's scent and Emma flying above Nagini they found her.
"Surround her while we can!" Harry yelled. Emma continued to fly above her to try to distract her long enough to keep her in one place. Harry saw Nagini lash out a few times and hoped Emma didn't get bit. He saw Draco was alright and that reassured him.
Emma transfigured back to normal and in the split second it took her to gain her bearings Nagini lashed out again. Emma shot off the first spell that came to mind and shot off her Patronus. Draco, afraid for Emma, instinctively shot out a stunning spell.
Nagini slithered backwards as Emma's patronus plowed forward. "Now!" Harry yelled and they all shot off a stunner spell at the same time. All 8 hit Nagini at the same time. They watched for a moment as she lay completely still. "Now . . .well, someone I suppose has to,"
Ron said. Everyone knew he meant someone had to actually kill Nagini. Emma knew everyone was hesitant to do it.
Before anyone could say anything a shot of green light hit Nagini as Draco performed the Killing Curse. "Is it over?" Neville asked. Emma walked up to the dead snake.
She nodded. "She's dead. And I can't sense the Horcruxe either." Emma walked up to Draco and wrapped her arms around his waist. 'That was a wonderful thing you did,' Emma said.
'Wonderful using the killing curse?' he said cynically.
'No,' Emma said. 'Why you did it was wonderful.'
"Are we going back to your house, Potter?" Draco asked. Harry nodded and then Draco and Emma apparated back to the Potter house. Harry levitated Nagini's dead body and floated it to the house. He left it right in the middle of the room with the unconscious death eaters surrounding it.
"Let Voldemort see that," Ron said.
"Why . . . why do you suppose Draco did it?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know. I know I didn't want to do it," Hermione admitted. Ron nodded in agreement.
"Me neither," Ginny, Neville, and Luna said at the same time.
"I don't think he wanted to do it," Harry said after a second. "I think…I think he knew none of us wanted to." He apparated back quickly to his house and the others followed.
Draco and Emma were no where to be seen. "Where are they?" Neville asked. Everyone sat around in the parlor afterwards. Hermione went around and started to put salve and other medicine on their various wounds.
"Thankfully no poison," she said happily. Harry got up after Hermione attended to him and walked up to the attic. He had a feeling that was where Emma and Draco were.
He opened the door and found them overlooking the view from the window. He knew they knew he was there but no one said anything as he walked up to them. He stood on the other side of Emma.
"One more done," Emma said softly. "I hope everything went well with the Ministry."
"Thank you," Harry said. They all continued to look out over the scenery, but everyone knew he meant using the killing curse. "The others don't get why you did it, though."
"I don't care if they understand it or not. It makes sense if they don't," Draco said.
"I think they should know," Emma said softly. "But I won't say anything if you don't want me to."
Draco shook his head. "Ruin my image?" he joked. Emma laughed. They continued to look over the scenery. "Any plans now, Potter?" Draco asked.
Harry shook his head. "I have no idea. How do you defeat the dark lord?"
"I can tell you it is something he is afraid of," Draco said. "You could tell by the way he treated us all during the last year. He is afraid of what you might do. For those of us who knew to look we could see his fear."
"I just wish he let it slip in there how to defeat him," Harry muttered. Something Harry had noticed over the last few months was that talking about this with Draco and Emma was different than talking with Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione were good to talk with because he knew they were always optimistic for him and would do whatever and anything for him. Talking with Draco and Emma gave Harry a different perspective; he knew they had seen more of the dark side of the war than any of them and while they were optimistic for him, it was a dark, slightly morbid optimism. In a way, it was more realistic he thought.
"In an odd way it is nice to know you have my back," Harry joked. Draco smirked.
"Never thought that would happen, huh?" Draco drawled. Emma smiled to herself, enjoying the new, still strange camaraderie between them.
They headed back down later. The others were all relaxing in the parlor waiting on them. Hermione gave the medicine to Emma for her and Draco. They all decided talking about something random was better than addressing the major issue– how to kill Voldemort. Tomorrow would be soon enough for that topic.
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Author's Notes: The final battle is so close! It gets introduced next chapter. I started hinting a few chapters back in my author's notes that I had some surprises. Because of how this year ends, I ended up writing a sequel (something fun, totally different from anything else in the Emma series). My beta is encouraging me to put it up, so after the end of this year I think I will (since I am still working on the Deathly Hallows version)
special thanks to Year1989 (lol, Luna is awesome! I just had to include her as part of my ensemble), Jada (I love Neville and Luna too : ) BornBlue (True, Ginny isn't one to sit home, twiddling her thumbs. Plus, I like both of them D) AnimeCrazy (I think they could hear Molly screaming bloody murder all the way to the Atlantic seaboard, lol.) Cad2u (I will try to add some more fluff for Luna/Neville, I have more in my sequel than in this story, I think).