-Chapter 25: St. Mungo's-
Ginny stepped out of the fireplace in the sitting room of Grimmauld with Rose clinging tight to her. Luna greeted them. Hermione stepped out seconds later holding onto Snitch. She was shaking.
"'Mione, what's wrong?"
"Before I Flooed…s-something happened. There…there was a blast. It tore a hole in the side of the house. I'm not sure who was hit by the impact but at least three of them were."
"Why didn't the spells work?" Ginny growled. "Why do the spells never work?"
"Someone had to have found out about it, that's the only way."
Hermione sighed and sat down on the sofa. Ginny sat next to her, still holding Rose who was still half-asleep.
"Why don't the three of you try to get a little sleep?" Luna suggested.
"I doubt that's possible right now," Ginny said.
An hour later Ginny's head was at one end of the couch with Rose sleeping peacefully on top of her. Hermione was at the other end with Snitch on her stomach, the kitten purring. Neither woman was asleep. They just stared up at the ceiling. Luna was sitting in one of the armchairs staring at the fireplace. A silvery-blue Jack Russell terrier came running into the sitting room. Ron's voice spoke from it.
"Come to St. Mungo's."
……………
Just as Hermione stepped into the Floo there was a blast through the wall. Harry, Percy, and George were knocked to the floor.
"Who the hell are you?" Ron yelled.
"We only want the vampire," one of the figures said.
"There are no vampires here," Bill said. "Are you from the Ministry?"
"Your Ministry is a joke! Thinking that if they tell us they can turn us back that we'll surrender. We know what will happen if we step forward," the same one said.
"They really can help you," Ron said. "They can turn you back."
"Where is she?" the other cloaked figure hissed. "We know she's here. The one that killed the others! Where is she?"
"She turned back! She's the reason why the Ministry is saying you can turn back. I watched it!"
"Liar!"
One of the figures swooped down to Percy's body and held him up by the neck.
"Tell us where she is or he dies!"
"Tell us how you got here."
"We've been watching the other house. The one out in the middle of nowhere. It's amazing what people will say when they think no one else is listening. Your protective charms don't protect against sound, you know? Idiots." The one not holding Percy smirked.
"Fuck…" Ron muttered.
Percy screamed and a jet of red came from one of the wands of the men on the ground and the vampire and Percy flew back into the wall. Ron shot a stunner at the other one and Bill body-bound them on the floor.
George stood up and went over to Harry who was still unconscious. Bill walked over to Percy.
"Shit…that bastard bit him!"
"We have to get him to St. Mungo's now then. And let Audrey know, and Mum and Dad," Ron said. Out of his wand erupted three patronuses. He sent one to the Burrow, one to the hospital to retrieve Mediwizards and one to Percy's wife.
"What about Grimmauld?" George said.
"We'll wait until we all get to the hospital. We need Audrey and Mum and Dad there as soon as we can though. If we get them there while he's turning it will stop and reverse. There's not as much pain involved as a full turning-back."
"Hermione is in serious danger," Bill said. "I have a feeling these aren't the only ones that know."
"I vote we don't talk about it right now," Ron said, motioning to the two vampires on the floor. Bill nodded.
Four Mediwizards and Cho appeared outside of the house and stepped in through the giant hole in the wall.
"Hey, Cho. Thanks for coming with them," Ron said. "Two vampires, Percy is infected. Harry's unconscious."
"You all should go ahead, we'll take care of them." Cho scribbled on a piece of parchment and handed it to Ron. "Give this to the person at the front desk and she'll make sure you get in right away so you can come up to see Percy immediately."
"Thanks. We really owe you a lot, you know?"
Cho smiled and blushed slightly. "I'm happy to do it, Ron."
Ron smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "You uh…you think maybe I could buy you dinner sometime?"
Cho nodded. "I'll come find you when we get back and we'll talk about it."
"Yeah…yeah…that would be good. I'll uh…I'll see you there then."
George was laughing hysterically now. He, Bill, and Ron walked out of the house. The two older men poked fun at their younger brother. They Apparated to the hospital and Ron gave the parchment to the attendant at the front desk and the three were immediately taken into a room and had their cuts mended plus George's broken wrist.
An attendant came to retrieve them to go see Harry who was awake although his mind was a bit cloudy about what had happened because of a concussion. When Ron told him he was rather disappointed that he missed out on all the action. Ron sent a patronus to Grimmauld Place and within fifteen minutes Hermione, Ginny carrying Rose, and Luna were at the hospital.
"Ginny you go in with Rose and see Harry," Bill said when he met them. "Hermione, I need to talk to you." Both women nodded and Ginny shut the door to Harry's room when she went in.
"They were there for me, weren't they?"
"Yeah."
"Who was it? Ministry? Random angry mob?"
"Vampires. We subdued them and they should be getting taken care of now but there is a definite possibility that more out there are that would prefer to see you dead."
"Fantastic. How did they get through the charms? That house is supposed to be invisible except…"
"One of them said they had been listening at the Burrow. All we can guess is that it heard Harry talking about it to the rest of us which essentially let them in on the secret."
"So what do we do?"
"There are a couple of options. We can repair the house and you can move back in and we put the charms back up and choose a different Secret-Keeper and see if that works or you can move elsewhere. I know Harry and Luna wouldn't mind you at Grimmauld Place. I would offer you Shell Cottage but with the third baby on the way we're packed in pretty tight. Obviously the Burrow isn't somewhere you should be, either."
"I'll talk to Ginny. How is everyone else?"
"George broke his wrist, Harry got a concussion, Ron's okay, Percy…well Percy got bitten. Mum, Dad, and Audrey are with him right now."
"Damn…"
"I know what you're thinking and it's not your fault, Hermione."
"Well if…"
"No. Stop right there. I won't listen to it."
Hermione nodded. "What would you do?"
"You guys start running now you may never stop. You stay where you are and they'll try to keep finding you. Neither option is good."
"What if…what if I left?"
"Hermione, if you do that to Ginny I will find you and kill you myself."
Hermione's jaw dropped a little and she nodded slightly. "O-okay."
"I'm serious, Hermione. Do not do that to her. She'd rather die by your side than have you leave again. Please don't do that to her."
"I won't. I promise, I won't."
"Good."
Bill opened the door to Harry's room and they both stepped inside. Harry was sitting up in the bed asking questions about the incident of course. Ginny was holding Rose in an armchair on one side of the bed, Luna was sitting in bed with Harry. Ron was standing at the foot of the bed and George was poking at the portrait on the wall by the door and making it swear.
"George, stop that! Your niece doesn't need to pick up any more of those words from you!" Ginny growled.
"Blame this guy!"
"George," Hermione said. "Just remember that when Angelina has your guys' baby that Ginny and I will be able to pay you back for anything you teach Rose."
George looked to Ginny who smiled and nodded. He stepped away from the portrait and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Harry…" Hermione said, stepping closer to the bed.
"Of course you can stay at Grimmauld Place for a while, Hermione."
"Thanks."
"Just until the house is fixed," Ginny said.
"Are you sure, love?"
"Yeah, Gin, you guys can stay at Grimmauld as long as you want."
"We'll be okay. We've got Sneakoscopes in almost every room, plans in place. We can't just wait until every single vampire that witnessed Hermione killing others is turned. There's no way of knowing who knows what or how many of them there are. We'd be living at Grimmauld until the entire population is gone."
"What about Snitch? Will he stay with us?" the sleepy girl in Ginny's arms roused.
"Of course he will," Luna said. "He and Snorkack will have plenty of fun playing together."
"Mkay."
Hermione sat on the arm of the chair Ginny was in and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. Cho appeared in the doorway and Ron tripped over himself walking to the door to greet her.
"How are you?" he asked when he regained his composure.
"Is Ron drunk?" Hermione whispered to Ginny.
"He asked Cho out to dinner earlier tonight when she went to the house with the Mediwizards."
"So…his best friend was on the ground unconscious and his brother had just been bitten by a vampire but he asked out Cho Chang on a date?"
"Basically."
"Some things never change, do they?"
"Nope."
After Ron and Cho were done whispering in the doorway, Cho walked into the room.
"Percy's doing fine. He should be back to normal by morning but of course we'll keep him here for a couple of days."
"And the other two?" Harry asked.
"Working on finding out who they are and getting in contact with their families. Harry you should be able to go home in the morning. I've got to get back upstairs, I just wanted to check on things here. Ron, I'll see you Saturday night."
Ron turned bright red and grinned. "Saturday night," he repeated. He nodded and Cho smiled and left the room.
"Oi! I'm sitting here with a brain injury and you're making dates? With my ex-girlfriend, no less?"
"Sorry, mate. That was years ago, anyways. You're married. I'm taking Cho on a date."
Harry laughed and shook his head.
"Mum will go crazy when she finds out, you know?" George said. "She'll be asking Cho for grandchildren before the date happens if you tell her about it."
"Mum needs to settle down and enjoy the ones she's got."
"Harry, Luna, would it be all right if Ginny and I went ahead to the house now that we know everything is good here?"
"Of course," Harry said.
"Thank you," Ginny said. "Feel better, Harry."
Harry nodded. Hermione picked Rose up out of Ginny's arms and the redhead stood and followed the two brunettes out of the room to find a Floo connection.