Pain is no evil unless it conquers us. -George Eliot
Moody moved through the halls of the Ministry of Magic and barged in to Dreyfus's office.
Dreyfus and two other officials looked up.
"Alastor, what the hell?!" Dreyfus growled, standing up at his desk. "Get out!"
"You lost Stephanie Warner," Moody snapped. Dreyfus pointed to the two officials.
"Get out, now," he hissed. They left and Dreyfus glared at Moody. "You want to tell me what the hell this is about?"
"You lost the telepathic," Moody growled. "And you lost Severus Snape… again."
Dreyfus shoved a finger in Moody's face.
"I don't account to you, Alastor," he growled. "So piss off and get out!"
"You may not have to account to me, but there's a whole room full of high-ranking officials who are pissed off because you got a telepathic hospitalized, then lost her and Severus Snape. Now we've got two hundred muggles who swear they saw a group of people fighting with wands near the London Bridge where Shacklebolt was giving a speech! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Don't give me that shit!" Dreyfus snarled. "Severus Snape is in league with Voldemort and he's brought Warner down with him! I will not let you stand there and tell me what I've done wrong!"
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!"
"What's going on in here?!"
Moody and Dreyfus looked over to the door to see Tonks standing there with Remus right behind her.
"We heard yelling," Tonks said, glancing from Moody to Dreyfus hesitantly. Dreyfus moved to the door and opened it wide.
"Get out. Now," he growled.
"You've grown power hungry, Dreyfus," Moody snarled. "You're going to kill half of this country before you get what you want."
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Dreyfus roared.
Moody snorted and left, motioning for Remus and Tonks to follow. Dreyfus slammed the door behind them, furious profanities escaping his office.
"What's going on?" Tonks asked, glancing behind her as they walked towards the elevator. "What was that all about?"
Moody glanced around.
"St. Mungos was attacked a few hours ago," he told them.
Remus hesitated.
"What?!"
Moody shook his head.
"It's fine now, but we have a bigger problem," he hissed.
"What's that?" Tonks asked.
"When Mungos was attacked, Severus escaped with Stephanie," he told them quietly as they got into the elevator. Moody focused a menacing magic eye on anyone else who tried to get in so that they could be alone. When the elevator doors closed, he continued. "Dumbledore's been unable to get into contact with either of them, not that he's had time. With Harry back, things are getting difficult and after that little stunt with Granger in London, everything's going to hell faster than we anticipated. With Ginny Weasley in Voldemort's control, he's gotten bolder in hopes that Harry will do something stupid and judging by the way he went out against orders yesterday, Voldemort's not far off."
Remus shook his head.
"Dreyfus is just trying to cover his arse up," he snapped as they got off of the elevator. "How does he expect to keep all of this under wraps? Everyone knows that Harry's here and the moment they find out about Stephanie-"
"MOODY!"
They looked around and caught sight of an Order member moving towards them quickly.
"Moody, we have a problem!"
"What is it?"
The man pointed behind him.
"Severus just popped up on the grid in Hogsmeade and it is not looking good!"
Moody glanced over at Remus and nodded at him.
"We'll go and check it out. I need you to go to Grimmald and warn Arthur Weasley-"
The man interrupted them.
"Sir, there's another problem that you need to tell the Weasleys about," he said quickly. "There was an attack at their sons' flat. The twins. We don't know everything, but we do know that someone was killed… You need to tell them to head to Mungos."
Remus paled.
The twins…
Oh Molly…
Severus placed Stephanie gingerly down on the ground, taking great care not to hurt her in any way. She trembled terribly in the freezing night air so he flicked his wand at her and she instantly started to warm up. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the tree, shivering still and trying to think clearly. The acid pain that had been flowing through her body since she'd woken up was still there, but she had been able to ignore it for the most part by focusing her attention on Severus. But now it was starting to become more prevalent and she knew she could not take much more of it.
"Severus," she whispered through chattering teeth. "We can't keep doing this…"
He looked through the trees into the town ahead, ignoring her. She watched him carefully, knowing that he was trying his best to avoid the fact that she was slowly beginning to understand her power. If she became stable, then there would be no need for him…
"Severus," she tried again. "I can't keep moving…"
Again he did not answer her, focusing his attention on what was ahead of him, instead of what was right behind him.
He waited for the light in the closest house to turn off before he reached down, picked Stephanie up carefully and ran as best he could to the house. Knocking on the back door, he waited until it was open and an extremely tall man stood. He was bald and pale with emasculated skin and dark blue eyes that seemed to know and see everything.
"Severus… I was wondering when you'd show up," he said in a deep monotonous baritone that made Stephanie shiver even more in Severus's arms. "Come in, you're letting in the cold."
Severus stepped in and quickly set Stephanie down on the small couch in the corner of the house near a coffee table that seemed to have seen better days. The older man set a tray of tea and cookies on the table, sitting down gracefully in an antique armchair, watching Severus as he dealt with Stephanie. The former Potions professor wrapped blankets around Stephanie, waving his wand over her body as he did. Her eyes drooped and the pain finally went away as her mind slipped away to a dreamland. Severus stood up and sat down across from the man, eyes remaining fixed on Stephanie.
"She's weak, Severus… extremely vulnerable," the man whispered.
"He pushed her too hard," Severus told him. "Her first death vision was of the Chelsea attack… she was never given enough time to get over it."
"Most would have died. She knows how to shut herself down. I'm assuming she learned from you."
Severus glanced over at the man.
"She needed to know."
The man did not respond. Instead he leaned forward in his chair and poured himself a cup of tea and took a couple of cookies. He sipped his tea pensively for a few minutes before speaking again.
"How much pain is she in?"
"She can't tell me."
"Can't or won't, Severus?"
There was a brief pause before Severus answered him.
"Won't."
"Hmmm…. Very unusual… a telepathic who won't talk to her Overseer," he mused. "How very strange…"
"You do not have to over analyze everything, Finneas. Some things should be left a mystery."
Finneas smiled.
"That rule applies to telepathics, Severus, yet you seek to explore her more than is necessary…" Finneas observed, watching Stephanie sleep quietly on the couch. "She's dreaming…"
Severus raised an eyebrow.
"You can see her dreams?"
Finneas smiled.
"Yes I can," he said. "I can see many things that are happening in the present…"
"I thought you weren't stable."
"And I thought you didn't fall in love," Finneas replied with a ghost of a smile on his face. "But I suppose even the best of us get things wrong."
Severus sighed and stood up.
"Now I remember why I don't visit," he whispered, moving out of the room and into the kitchen. Finneas smiled, eyes remaining on Stephanie's prone form.
He had spent years honing his telepathic abilities and he had always worked in helping other telepathics like himself better their abilities. And over those years, he had always seen one of his kind that had managed, either through outside stresses or by sheer will, to cross the bridge from instability to stable. He himself had been stable from birth, but had always had a fascination with the unstable telepathics that roamed the earth.
Most of them never lived long because they could not stand the death visions that bombarded them during times of war. He had seen many suicides in his lifetime and had always pitied them. His visions were always what he wanted them to be and if he did not like where things were going he was able to pull out at any time. But the unstable ones were forced to see everything through to the end. Though they had choices in some ways, in the end, it was all left to chance. On the other hand, stable telepathics were able to become stronger and in special cases, even enter into the dreams of anyone sleeping near by.
The girl sleeping before him intrigued Finneas. She was strong, that was obvious. But the fact that they were forcing her to become stable was destroying her from the inside. He could sense that one of the reasons for that was Severus.
Stable telepathics did not need Overseers since they were able to control what they saw. If Stephanie became stable, her connection with Severus would not only be cut but he would be completely erased from her memory. An unfortunate consequence for the unstable ones who were forced into stability by their governments.
He was one of the lucky ones. His parents had not registered him as a telepathic when they found out his abilities. They had sent him away with his sister to America. He had left the States when he turned seventeen and had then traveled the world after that.
"Severus, how long do you think you can keep this up?" Finneas asked suddenly.
"As long as it takes," Severus answered from the kitchen.
"If you continue to apparate around England with her without giving her time to reopen her mind, she runs the chance of becoming stable and you know that. She'll try to protect herself from the pain," Finneas whispered.
"If I stay in one place, the Ministry will detect her and I'm not about to let that happen," came the heated retort.
"She'll forget who you are."
"That's a risk I'm willing to take… Can you check the perimeter?" Severus asked, coming back into the living room. "I don't want to hurt her again by waking her up to quickly to apparate."
Finneas closed his eyes and thought quickly about the surrounding areas. He saw the Three Broomsticks, Hogs Head, the Weasley's shop and other shops that littered the small town of Hogsmeade. Nothing stirred. But he could sense something wrong. He went through the town again and then opened his eyes.
"Someone is in the town that does not belong," he whispered, standing up and moving to the door.
"You don't know who it is?" Severus asked. Finneas shook his head.
"I cannot sense people I do not know, Severus, you know that," he said slowly. "I see happenings and on the off occasion feelings, but I cannot sense people. I cannot tell you who it is."
Severus moved over to Stephanie and waved his wand over her body.
"Then we should go."
Finneas rested a hand on Severus.
"The girl should stay with me. She is not strong enough to survive anymore of this. Apparating will only hurt her more. She needs to continue sleeping so that her mind can reopen itself again."
Severus shook his head.
"I do not need anyone to find out that she is here," he hissed, watching as Stephanie began to stir restlessly on the couch, her eyes squeezing shut as the pain began to return to her toes and fingers. "She's strong enough."
Finneas watched in slight amazement as Stephanie finally opened her eyes, tears filling them almost instantly. Severus whispered something to her and she nodded slowly, blinking back the pain as he picked her up, blankets and all, and moved to the back door of the house. Finneas did a quick scan of the back of the house and instantly moved.
"Don't open the door, they're outside," he hissed, pulling them away from the door.
Stephanie let out a muffled gasp of pain before burying her face in Snape's shoulder, tears flowing freely as the pain suddenly got worse. Finneas frowned and grabbed her face, prying open her eyes.
"What the hell are you doing?" Severus growled.
Finneas pointed to her eyes, which seemed to be fogging over.
"She's having a vision, Severus," he said slowly. "They know you're here… it's too late."
Severus frowned.
"Too late for what?"
Finneas looked over to the back door, his eyes also fogging over.
"Get her to the basement immediately… they're planning on burning the place down," he said before turning to Severus. "I hope you plan on paying me back after this is over. This place was very expensive."
Stephanie let out a loud sob and Severus quickly placed her in the hands of Finneas. He pulled out his wand and pointed it to the window.
"Expecto Patronum!" he screamed. A bright doe appeared and sped out of the house quickly.
BOOM!
Stephanie screamed, clutching her head in pain as her vision continued. Severus grabbed her wrists.
"Stephanie, what do you see? Tell me!"
She looked up at him through terrified pain filled eyes.
"Us… they're coming to get us!"
When Hermione woke up, the first thing she noticed besides the fact that the pain had gone down significantly was the fact that she was not alone in the bed she was supposed to be sleeping in. The warm body and protective arm draped over her side only heightened her awareness of the person's presence.
She tried to think of the chain of events that could have possible landed her in bed with someone else and after going over the car crash and Knight Bus ride, she could not remember anything.
Biting her lip, she turned stiffly in the person's arms so that she faced them and gasped.
Ron was sleeping quietly beside her in a bloodstained shirt and pants that were also caked with dried blood. Even in his sleep he looked completely exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was wild, his lips were chapped from dehydration and his stomach growled every thirty seconds. His face was covered in sweat and dirt, accented by the tearstains that fell down his cheeks to his chin and neck. She could tell that he was not sleeping well.
Something had happened…
Hermione sighed and watched him as he slept restlessly next to her, murmuring her name occasionally before he'd unconsciously pull her closer to him. She wanted desperately to wake him up and ask him what had happened, but at the same time she could tell that he had not had a lot of sleep, if any, in the past few days that she had been gone and since she had gotten back.
"Hermione…"
She jerked and looked up at him to see him watching her through tired, pain-filled eyes. He bit his lip, uncertain of how to proceed. Hermione decided for him.
She leaned in and kissed him slowly. When she tried to move closer, he pulled away frowning. Hermione bit her lip, sensing his uneasiness.
"What is it, Ron?" she asked quietly.
He shifted uncomfortably before sitting up, forcing her to move away and sit up as well. The action, in and of itself, caused her to gasp as a quick jolt of pain shot from her ribs and up her spine. Ron stiffened at the noise and he watched her carefully. The way he was looking at her made her look down at herself and see why he was so upset.
Her entire right side was bandaged and she could feel bandages tightening around her chest. She had a feeling that her face did not look any better.
She ran her hand over her right arm before looking up at Ron, who had followed the action with a frown.
"Ron, what's going on?"
He was quiet for a moment before he responded.
"Harry's missing," he whispered.
She gasped.
"What?!" she shrieked. "When? How?"
Ron shook his head slowly, rubbing his tearstained face in exhaustion.
"I don't know. When we came back from London he was gone…" he said, glancing down at his shirt as if he had just realized that his clothes were covered with what she suspected to be her blood.
"What's going to happen?" she asked quickly. "Are they looking for him? Why the hell would he leave?!"
Ron grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down before she started hyperventilating.
"Hermione, you need to calm down," whispered.
Hermione bit her lip and took a shaky breath.
"Ron, tell me what's going on," she begged, taking a tight hold of his arms as she tried to get information.
Ron shrugged, his face growing paler by the second.
"I don't know," he muttered. "They're not telling me anything. Dumbledore doesn't want to report it to the Ministry, that's all I know…"
Hermione reached out and touched his face.
"Is everyone else okay?" she asked carefully.
He looked up at her and shrugged again, but his eyes said something else.
"For the most part yeah… your parents are freaking out downstairs," he added as if it was relevant. Hermione paled.
Her parents.
Had they seen her come in?
As if he had heard her thoughts, Ron shook his head.
"They didn't see you… they just know that you're here… They saw Curtis though, that's why they're freaking out."
If it was possible, Hermione went even paler and this bothered Ron a little… just a little.
"Curtis," she muttered. "Is he okay?"
Ron nodded slowly.
"His parents are with him downstairs… my mum and dad are trying to explain things to them," he answered, watching her carefully.
She placed her face in her hands, taking deep, calming breaths as she tried to digest everything that had been told to her.
Harry was missing.
Curtis was fine and so were his parents…
And judging by the increasingly unpleasant look on Ron's face, Ginny had yet to be found and nothing good had come from her little trip to Shacklebolt's rally.
"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked quietly through her hands, still trying to gain control of her emotions.
She felt Ron shift on the bed before he answered.
"Four days," he mumbled darkly. "We had to call a Healer in to look at you-" Here his voice seemed to crack a little, causing her to remove her hands from her face and look up at him. His head was down, but she could tell with a sense of dread that he was crying silently across from her.
For a moment she hesitated.
She had never seen him cry before. Not like this anyway…
Biting her lip, she reached out to touch his arm.
"Ron-"
Before she could say anything else he grabbed her and crushed her aching body to his, hugging her tightly as he buried his face in her neck, his shoulders shaking as he held her close. Hermione closed her eyes to stop her own tears, but that did not stop the sob that escaped her lips caused by not only the obvious pain his hug brought, but the pain of knowing she had hurt him with her absence.
"I thought you were dead," he whispered into her skin. "When they brought you in, I thought you were dead. You weren't moving and there was blood everywhere and…"
His words were covered up by his hard breathing and her skin as he continued to hold her. She pulled away a little so that she could look into his watery blue eyes.
"I'm here now," she whispered. "I'm here and I'm safe… please stop crying…"
At that, something flashed in her mind and she could not stop the giggle that escaped her lips. Ron looked at her and saw a small smile on her lips and that only seemed to annoy him.
"What the bloody hell are you smiling about?" he asked heatedly as he let her go.
She gave him an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry," she told him. "It's just… it's usually you who makes me cry… now you're crying because of me… it's just… funny…"
When Ron gave her an indignant look she broke out into more laughter, ignoring the pain in her ribs as she did. He let out a huff and got out of the bed, moving over to the door.
"If you're just going to insult me-"
Hermione clambered out of bed and moved as quickly over to him as she could, ignoring the pain that shot through her right leg and up her spine, causing her to wince and gasp. Ron turned around and frowned.
"Hermione, you need to get back into bed. You're still recovering and too much movement could make it worse," he hissed, grabbing her left arm and tugging her back to the bed. As he tucked her back in, she watched him carefully. She could tell that he was carrying a lot on his shoulders, with her, Harry, Ginny and just the fact that England was falling apart was slowly breaking him down and it broke her heart to see it.
"Ron, you need to take a break," she whispered, pulling at his shirt. "And a shower."
Ron shook his head, fixing her sheets and her pillow.
"I'm fine, Hermione. You need to get some rest," he muttered back.
He muttered some other things that sounded strangely like threats and she frowned.
Something else was bothering him. She could see it in his eyes.
Harry's disappearance was not the only thing that had happened during her absence. Something else had happened… or was happening…
"Ron, what's going on?" she demanded. "Tell me what's wrong!"
"Nothing's wrong," he muttered. "Just get some rest."
Why was he lying to her? What had happened?
She reached out and grabbed his arm with her good hand, tugging weakly on his bloodstained sleeve.
"Ron, what happened?"
She could see the tears in his eyes suddenly she wish she had not asked.
Something had gone terribly wrong…
Ron seemed to be barely clinging to strength as he stood by her bed, staring down at a spot on the sheets as he struggled to get the words out.
"The twins' place was attacked," he muttered.
Hermione gasped and grabbed Ron's hand.
"What happened? Did they make it out okay?" she demanded.
Ron seemed to be in another world as her questions slowly filtered through to his conscience.
"The twins are okay…but…" he whispered before looking up at Hermione. "Angelina… she…"
That was as far as he got before his voice cracked under the agonizing emotion that flooded through his body.
Hermione suddenly felt very cold and very sick. She let go of Ron's hand, her eyes roving his face for any sign that it was not true.
But the tears that came down his face only made the reality of the situation more painful… more unbearable…
"Oh my God… Fred," she gasped. "Oh my God…"
Finneas and Severus were arguing.
In the back of her mind, Stephanie could hear the words, muffled by the pain that still coursed through her body. The room around her was constantly shifting and swirling as the rooms above them shook from the impact of the curses the Death Eaters were throwing at them.
The arguing continued but Stephanie tried to block it out as best she could. She wanted so badly to go back to sleep. She wanted to get out, but all she could see were the Death Eaters moving outside and the dark basement where they hid.
"Severus," she cried. "Make it stop."
Severus stopped talking to look over at her. She looked so small and weak huddled in the corner of the basement, wrapped in sheets yet still shaking like crazy as tears ran down her face and whimpers escaped her parched lips. He walked over to her and ran a hand down her face. It was cold.
"We need to get out of here, Finneas. She won't last much longer."
"And how do you expect to get out. There is no way out of this place and the Death Eaters are upstairs," Finneas said slowly, eyes on the ceiling.
"Why the hell can't we disapparate?"
"You can't pull a telepathic from her vision. As long as she continues having visions we have to stay here. You'll kill her if you move her," Finneas growled.
"Severus," Stephanie whimpered again. He kissed her sweaty, cold brow, smoothing back her tangled hair.
"There's nothing we can do?" he asked quickly as she groaned.
"Not unless you want to kill her."
Severus stood up and moved over to Finneas.
"Then we're going to die here?"
Finneas frowned, eyes still on the ceiling.
"Perhaps not… there are people apparating on the outskirts of the town… they must be from the Order."
"The Order?"
Finneas turned his head to look at Severus.
"I alerted your little friends on your whereabouts. I wanted to be prepared."
"Couldn't you have just seen the meeting where the Death Eaters said, 'oh look, Snape's in Hogsmeade'?" Severus asked furiously.
Finneas smiled.
"Always the sarcastic one, Severus. No I could not have. No matter how talented I may be, I cannot have two visions at once. If I am to check the perimeter then I will check the perimeter. I will not check the perimeter and check up on various Death Eater meetings at the same time," he said calmly. "Besides, your friends are taking care of our problem. They've already killed most of them. The others are being arrested."
A bloodcurdling scream rent through the dank basement air like a knife.
They both looked over at Stephanie, who was clutching her head again and moaning something terrible. Severus moved to her side instantly and grabbed her face.
"What is it? Tell me what it is," he hissed.
She kept her eyes shut and shook her head, letting out a sob.
"I can't… he won't let me…"
Severus looked up at Finneas, but the man shook his head, looking extremely concerned.
"She's blocking me out," he whispered.
"Can she do that?"
Finneas shook his head.
"No… but her Overseer can…"
Severus frowned while Stephanie began crying harder.
"I'm not telling her to-"
"Not you… her new Overseer…"
There was a brief pause before Severus spoke.
"Her new Overseer? Are you saying she switched Overseers?" Severus asked furiously and Stephanie let out a sob, pulling away from Severus and pushing herself as far into the corner as she could, the pain growing stronger. Finneas frowned.
"I don't know, that's the problem… she's blocking me…"
"Blocking you? The only way she could do that is if she were stable or if I told her to," Severus hissed, watching Stephanie carefully.
Before Finneas could respond, the basement door finally exploded, but instead of Death Eaters running down, Moody and Remus showed up with Tonks and a couple others right behind her. Their eyes instantly fell on Stephanie, who was still crying in the corner.
"Severus, we need to get you out of here quickly. It's only a matter of time until Dreyfus catches wind of this and then there's nothing we can do for you," Moody growled.
Severus shook his head.
"We can't move her. Not yet."
Remus moved forward.
"Severus, we don't have much time. You'll get arrested if you and Stephanie don't come now!"
"NO!"
They all turned to see Stephanie struggling to her feet and staggering past Severus. He reached out to grab her but she ducked out of the way, continuing forward towards the basement steps. Tonks grabbed her by the arms but Stephanie began flailing around, screaming at the top of her longs.
"LET GO OF ME! I CAN'T STAY HERE ANYMORE!" she shrieked. "LET GO!"
Finneas snatched her from Tonks and stared into her wild eyes, his own starting to burn.
"We need to go," he whispered.
"What?" Moody growled.
Finneas let go of Stephanie and she dropped to the ground, sobbing hysterically as she clutched her head in unbelievable pain. Finneas backed away from her towards the stairs.
"We must go. Hogsmeade is not safe."
Severus was about to grab Stephanie, but Finneas shook his head quickly.
"Leave her! We must go now!"
Remus frowned.
"What the hell is going on? Why must we leave her?"
"Her Overseer… he's coming."
"What? What's going on? I thought that Severus-"
"WE NEED TO GO!" Finneas roared. "LEAVE HER!"
With that said he disappeared up the stairs. Severus ignored the man and picked Stephanie up, but she started struggling against him.
"No," she sobbed, trying desperately to get away from him. The pain got worse when he was close. She did not want the pain. "Don't! Leave me here! You can't take me! I'm not safe anymore!"
"Stephanie, what-"
"MOODY! WE JUST SPOTTED THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS HEADING THIS WAY! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO ATTACK VOLDEMORT NOW!" someone screamed from upstairs.
"Oh my God…" Tonks whispered, finally realizing what was going on. "She switched…"
"NOW MOODY! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"
Remus grabbed Severus and hauled him towards the door while Stephanie collapsed on the floor, a wreck.
"I'm so sorry, Severus," she started whispering over and over again as tears poured from her agonized eyes. "I'm so sorry…"
Moody pulled out his wand and pointed it at Stephanie. Tonks eyes widened and Severus made a lunge for Moody.
"What are you doing?!" Tonks demanded.
Moody pointed to Stephanie.
"We can't let Voldemort get her," he growled. "If Voldemort gets her, we lose!"
"You son of a bitch, don't touch her," Severus hissed, pulling away from Remus.
Stephanie let out a bloodcurdling scream, clutching her head as she tried to stop the visions. She had to stop as long as possible to give them time… She needed to give them time to live…
Moody rounded on Severus.
"You know what she's capable of! If a telepathic doesn't have a way to tell their visions they become violent! She's dangerous and we cannot let Voldemort have her!" he bellowed.
The woman on the floor sobbed harder, the fighting not helping her situation at all. With all the voices surrounding her, all she had to do was open her eyes and her Overseer would know everything.
She could not let that happen.
"You can't kill her!"
"We have to get out of here!" someone screamed from upstairs. "They're coming!"
Moody turned to the others downstairs and pointed to Severus.
"Get him out of here!" he growled. "NOW!"
They reached for Severus but he moved to quickly and darted over so that he was in front of Stephanie, blocking her from sight.
"You kill her and all of her memories will be transferred to her Overseer!" Severus snarled.
"If we give her to them then we're all dead!" Moody roared. "She knows too much and she'll find us all!"
"You kill her and they will," Severus growled, pointing to her. "She's fighting right now and she could still fight it!"
"BUT NOT FOR LONG!" Moody growled. "She's too weak and she won't last long against Voldemort's torture! We have to kill her!"
"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" someone screamed. "THEY'RE CLOSING?!"
Moody and Severus locked eyes and Severus shook his head.
"Don't do this… we could still get her back," he whispered, desperation evident in his voice.
Stephanie suddenly lunged for the steps, letting out a shriek, but Tonks and Remus snatched her and yanked her back, holding her down as she struggled violently against them, yelling out profanities before turning her rage upon Severus.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH, LET ME GO!" she screamed at him. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT! I HATE YOU!"
"WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"
But Stephanie was not done yet. With a strength that surpassed anything possible, she broke away from Remus and Tonks, launching them into the walls around them before she threw herself at Severus, knocking him down as she began to strike at him vehemently.
"EVERYTHING HURTS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU BASTARD! YOU DIDN'T STOP IT!" she shrieked before she was blasted off of him into the wall, crashing to the ground unconscious.
Moody hauled Severus up off the ground and shoved him to the stairs, eyeing the woman on the ground.
"We have to go," he snarled and before Severus could say anything else, they all went upstairs, leaving Stephanie to her Overseer…
A/N: Sorry it took so long. With Thanksgiving Break and finals coming up, I've been swamped. Papers and projects and tests. It's insane! My writer's block is getting better, so I've written a couple of other chapters, but please don't expect another update anytime soon. I've got two more weeks of school and have to focus on some other things beside Fanfiction, so bear with me. Thank you!
Snowwolf: I'll do my best. BTW, could you only review once. It gets really confusing when I'm trying to answer reviews. Thanks! :-)
cha cha dancer: This chapter I loved because it gives you a lot more information about what's going on with Stephanie and how her relationship with Severus is so dangerous.
jenny: Yes, Hermione is always hurt, but at the moment it's hard to find someone else to hurt because they're all being safe and stuff. Next chapter will be different though. Liked your joke! How do you drop a laptop down stairs? Very strange.... Oh don't worry about the whole Stephanie thing. As you can see, if Voldemort gets her, her attention is definitely going to change.
ronandmion4ever: You know, I was actually waiting a little between updates so that you could have a chance to review, but when you didn't, I was like, I have to update, so I did. I liked that part with Hermione also. I always like giving her un-Hermione things to do because she's always such a straight arrow. I hate it when Hermione's friends with a boy who likes her and she doesn't like him back he start's getting all annoying and stuff. (I think I've written a story about that) :-) But that guy wasn't annoying. He was just crazy and stuff. I love Curtis because accepts Ron as a necessary part of her life. Ron on the other hand... we'll just see how he accepts Curtis... I've been to London a couple of times, but never long enough to visit London Bridge and stuff like that. We saw the Wax Museum, and trust me, I am never going there again. I think I was seven years old and we had to go through the torture chambers down in the basement or something. WRONG!! I do not like wax museums... very creepy places... (As you can see, I have a few unresolved issues) BTW, I am not reading your review with a blank face. I was smiling when I first read it actually. I did have a very good Thanksgiving, thank you! I hope you did too!
nextbestthing: Yes, but like always, there's never a dull moment in these stories and of course Harry's missing and other bad things are happening... I have got nothing better to do...
ThEnAmEsGiGi: You know, I was actually thinking about killing off his parents... but then I decided that that would be too cruel to a character that everyone seems to have a genuine affection for. (I'm not that mean).
(I'm going to get a review back saying that I am that mean because I killed off Angelina, arent I...)
ICanCTheFuture: I tried to balance that last chapter out with minimal violence in this chapter.
Fyre of the Funeral Pyre: I haven't been to a McDonalds in a very long time. But I'm lovin' it that your lovin' it!
mgmve2008: Probably stole it from some Auror outside the room. As for the Knight Bus, I knew a lot of people were starting to wonder if Hermione was falling off the cannon wagon and losing every ounce of her J.K. Rowling invented self, so I decided to do something creative to show that, yes even though she has been knocked around and most likely has less brain cells now than she did to begin with, she is still the same smart Hermione that we know and love. As for Curtis, I think he's still processing.
wow60: I think Curtis is willing to put aside his unrequited "liking" for Hermione so that he can help her at any time.
OzDust: Or making himself sick with worry. Ron's got so much to worry about right now!
xMidnight Muse: We all hope Harry's okay. As for Fred, I don't think he'll be recovering any time soon.
x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x: Oh you're going to love the next chapter!
rhrshipper23: Next chapter's going to have a bit of action as well.
qt4good: The pace in this one was slowed down a lot, but I think next chapter the pace will quicken again.
Wow! There were a lot of reviews this time! Keep it up you guys! I love hearing what you all think about this story! It's encouraging and helpful!
R/R!
Chapter Tease: (Of course!)
"I'm going to make you scream for me to stop," hissed into her ear, pressing himself against her.
"Let go of me!" she screamed. "Let go!"
"Not until I get what I want," he growled.
Ginny spit in his face.
"There!" she snapped. "Now let go!"
Of course, Ginny's in trouble. She's with Voldemort, what did you expect?
