Well, i've finally decided how i'm going to end it! Can't tell how long it'll be, but hey, keep reading and reviewing and we shall see what happens! Love you my little squirrels!
The three panicky teenagers arrived in the same cold room Hermione had turned up in before. Thanking Merlin she knew what to do, Hermione clambered into the room above and lit the candle, before doubling back and helping Draco lift Astoria through.
It was little over thirty seconds after they were all inside the old room when someone arrived. They were surprised, but not unhappy, to see Arthur Weasley.
"Kids! What happened? Oh god, is that Ri or Hermione? Which of you is it?" the balding wizard asked, bending down to put his hand on Astoria's pale forehead.
"It's Astoria, Mr Weasley, she should be fine. Bellatrix Lestrange. She tortured her, but we stopped her, we need to see Kingsley!" Hermione explained.
He nodded his head and thought for a second. "I can only take one of you at a time."
Draco started helping Astoria to her feet without a word, and Hermione smiled inside as she realised how in tune they were.
"Take her first, she needs to lay down." she directed as she took some of the witch's weight.
Mr Weasley and Astoria disappeared with a pop, leaving Draco and Hermione alone. The intelligent witch didn't have time to speak before she was in Draco's arms, a tense kiss joining their anxious lips.
"I'm so, so sorry! That was really close, I can't believe I put you in that position!" he stuttered, still gripping her so tight she could hardly breathe.
"Relax, it's not exactly the first time something like that happened, I was best friends with The Boy Who Lived, remember..." she tried to comfort, but he was still internally kicking himself. "And anyway, it's hardly your fault! I want to know what the hell Astoria was doing in Diagon Alley!"
He jumped away from her as Mr Weasley returned to the room and held out his arm. Hermione took it with a consoling look towards her partner, and she too disappeared.
Bill Weasley stood at the invisible border of The Burrow, waiting for the new arrivals. His father nodded and left as soon as Hermione let go of his arm, and she was left to be ushered onto the protected grounds.
"Good to see you're okay, Hermione." he said as he led her through the grass.
"Thanks Bill, you too. Where is everyone?"
He sighed. "Most of them are inside with Astoria. We all got pretty close to her while she stayed. George and Charlie are still out helping with other things. Lots of stuff happened tonight. Me and Fred went out to track down Astoria earlier, we came back as soon as we found out what happened in Diagon Alley."
"What did happen? Things got hectic at the Manor, I didn't get the whole story."
The pair reached the door at the same time as Draco and Arthur crossed the enchantments. They didn't stop to wait.
The congregation was in the living room. Astoria lay on the sofa, surrounded by Weasleys: Mrs Weasley was bent over feeding her a warm drink, Ron knelt by her side looking tormented, Ginny next to him holding her hand. Fred sat blankly by her feet.
Upon their entrance, Bill wandered over to stand by Fred and the weak girl looked up.
"How're you doing, Ri?" Hermione asked.
She smiled shakily in response and let out a squeak, but nothing intelligible.
Ginny stood up and asked for a word with Hermione. As they walked through the door, they met the boys.
"Hermione, Kingsley will be here as soon as he can, but it could be a little while. Let us know if there's anything we can do." Arthur said as he passed to join the others.
"Should I wait outside?" Draco asked uncertainly with a glance into the quiet room.
"No, come with us, it doesn't matter." said Ginny confidently.
She led them through to the kitchen, where she perched on a surface and began to talk, rather casually. "So what happened with you? Dad said she'd been tortured, but I thought she looked alright until everyone started fussing over her."
Draco frowned but otherwise sat silently while Hermione answered her friend.
"Well, we first saw her with Bellatrix Lestrange, she didn't tell her anything so the psycho tried to torture her, so I disarmed her and no-one tried to help. She took out a knife and me and Malfoy stunned her. We left her with his parents and now we're here, and that's all we know- how about you? What happened and why was she in Diagon Alley in the first place?"
"Oh, well this is awkward," she said without a hint of awkwardness, "Ron found out about you two shagging and got all grumpy, like he does, she made a big drama over it, stormed out and disapparated before anyone could stop her. According to Bill and Fred, she turned up splinched (cut open her finger or something) and tried talking to some random, Lestrange saw her and flipped out and they apparated to Malfoy Manor, I guess. So basically, she overreacted to Ron overreacting and went and ruined everything!"
Draco and Hermione looked at each other, both in a huge pit of confusion.
"Maybe she did overreact a bit, but she was still tortured." Hermione said quietly.
"Yeah, but like you said, as soon as Lestrange went for her you stopped her! And all i'm saying is that I watched her arrive, she looked a lot stronger then than when Mum and Ron got to her. It annoys me."
Neither guest knew what to say to this, so they all sat in an uncomfortable silence, their minds on opposite ends of the Earth.
After a few long minutes, Ron and Fred joined them in the kitchen.
"Dad and Bill went to cover for Kingsley so he can come and sort this all out." stated Fred, pouring himself a glass of water.
Ron said nothing, but slyly gestured Hermione towards the garden.
"Draco Malfoy? Really?" he blurted out as soon as they departed the small crowd.
She blushed. "Ronald, please don't overreact."
"Overreact? Hermione, he's a death-eater, not to mention he's been our enemy since we first met him, he bullied us, he called you- oh you know what he called you! You were the girl who punched him, for Merlin's sake! And he's just an all-round prat, we all know that."
"Ex death eater," Hermione corrected with her nose in the air. "Reformed and working with us against You-Know-Who, and don't try and pretend you weren't starting to like him with all the time you spent together! Never mind all the things he used to be, I believe he's different and none of that matters to me. And he'll always be a prat, but if I wasn't allowed near prats then I would never have been with you. And anyway, he's a cute prat."
Ron grimaced.
"Oh, come on Ron!" she pleaded, "Astoria's a Slytherin, but it's okay for you to date her?"
"That's different!" he spluttered, going slightly red.
"It's always different! I don't think i've known you to approve of any relationship but your own, and we're all sick of it! We all put up with Lavender, maybe for once you shouldn't throw a strop when someone else gets a boyfriend they love and just think about other people's happiness!"
The red-head's eyebrows shot up. Before he could voice his shock, they noticed Draco himself standing awkwardly a metre away.
"Kingsley's in the kitchen." he announced, glancing to and from the friends.
"Good. There are more important things right now. We can talk later." Hermione concluded, before shoving past both boys.
The two wizards stared at each other silently. Ron's jaw clenched as Draco relaxed into his position.
"Problem, Weasley?" he asked with fake enquiry.
His face turned a deeper red than his hair. "I don't know what you're doing, Malfoy, but if you use this twisted manipulation to hurt her, I will personally kill you."
"Noted." he smiled menacingly, before turning to stride confidently inside.
The atmosphere in the kitchen was frantic, though no-one moved more than a few inches every minute. Draco and Ron arrived while Kingsley was addressing the whole room.
"- if this lead doesn't work out then we need to do immediate damage control. Speak of the devil, Mr Malfoy, will you be able to handle your parents if necessary? You can make sure they keep quiet and secure Hermione's cover, even if they won't help?"
Draco nodded importantly, taking his place by Hermione's side and resting a hand on the small of her back.
"Good. Let's just hope he won't need to. Right, does everyone know what they have to do? Team C, you can tell the others when they get here?" The whole room (apart from the late coming males) made gestures of confirmation, and Kingsley continued, "Okay. Be really careful out there. Don't panic if something goes wrong, and just remember: If this goes well, the war could be over by tomorrow morning."
The population of the room began shuffling about; Bill and Mr and Mrs Weasley followed Kingsley hurriedly off the threshold to disapparate, and Fred led the younger people through to the living room.
"What's going on?" Ron asked Hermione from the opposite side to Draco.
"They found a plan of how to kill You-Know-Who. The snake's unprotected again now that he thinks The Order's given up and we're launching an attack. The ones who just left are Team A, they're going to set it up. Reinforcements are being sent here to find out what to do, they'll head up as Team B to join the others as soon as it starts. We're team C, we have to hold this place up for Team B, and then when Kingsley sends the signal, we're sneaking in."
"Does that include me?" Draco interrupted.
"Yes, but you can say no if you want. I'm supposed to use a disillusionment charm on you so you can keep your cover if you do help. Ron, the others are only supporting us so we can get through and... do what has to be done. We have to be quick or they're going to die."
Ron nodded professionally. "We can do that." He squeezed her hand comfortingly as the fire turned green to emit the first visitor, signaling the action beginning.