The Hunt
Chapter 53
Mysteries of Magic
"Sorry Kingsley, old habit you know." Scrimgouer called out over the noise. He had been the previous Head of the Auror Department before replacing Cornelius Fudge as Minister of Magic.
"Not at all, Minister." Kingsley called back with half a salute. He himself had led the first foray of Aurors into the Chamber instead of following as he should have. "I understand old habits. They are hard to break, are they not?"
"That they are Kingsley. That they are." Scrimgouer smiled ruefully as he took another dozen steps deeper into the Chamber and directing another group of Aurors to a pair of young wizards who were a part of Dumbledore's Army. They were having some difficulty dueling against five older wizards. They were doing rather well in Scrimgouer's opinion but a few extra wands wouldn't hurt either he mused.
He nodded appreciatively at these younger enforcers of Dumbledore's. They seemed well trained and he had to hand it to the older wizard. Teaching these youngsters under the very eye of the once Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Dolores Umbridge. "He-he, the old relic had a trick or two constantly up his sleeve." Rufus had to laugh at his remark as he continued to stroll casually through the turmoil having had to flick his wand twice already to deflect spells aimed in his direction. He was not afraid of battle nor of the battle scenes having been involved in many of them for many long years during Voldemort's reign of terror, when he was but a young Auror.
He noted Ronald Weasley as he left though some passageway behind the stage that was set in the back of the Chamber and he spotted Harry Potter. Another hand sign flicked at his remaining Aurors that had been following him sent them in an arcing circle towards Harry Potter with him in their center.
I know that man. Rufus flashed another hand sign and they all stopped just as he realized who Harry had been facing. Dumbledore defeated him. I was there in the aftermath! Outwardly, Rufus Scrimgouer was as calm as a flat pond of water but inside, Adrenalin was roaring through his veins and his thoughts were screaming at him.
"Steady men, steady. Make no sudden moves." His arms were outstretched as if to hold his Aurors back.
Crack!
The sudden sound of a dis-apparating witch or wizard caused Scrimgouer's head to turn. This is all I need now. He thought to himself. he steeled himself to watch Grindelwald kill without remorse. He would do it without turning to see who it was h had killed but the man did not turn. His attention was focus on…,
"Merlin's beard!" It was young Mrs. Weasley who had his attention and she was on the floor with her leg pointing in a very grotesque angle. He's not even focusing on Harry Potter.
Scrimgouer blinked his eye's and then blinked them again in disbelief. The Weasley's little daughter was standing in front of her mother and she has a wand!
"Don't nobody move I say. Not until I give the word!" Rufus commanded his guards.
Although the noise of dueling witches and wizards surrounded him, Scrimgouer heard nothing. His focus was on what was happening in front of him. It was his old Auror training at its pinnacle. He had tuned out everything but what he wanted to see and hear and the events slowed as well. His awareness studied every possible angle with detailed minutia. His mind raced with scenarios and possibilities to save the situation with blinding speed and the sums kept adding to zero. Scrimgouer realized that he was powerless to do anything other than to look on. To look upon this tiny little girl. This little girl with the fiercest look upon her face. Her face as red as her hair and her wand held level and steady. She was prepared to defend her mother to the fullest and every nuance of her body and stance said that she would succeed.
The fluttering of wings caused him to look upwards at a mass of the largest owls he had ever seen. They were carrying a large object beneath them and that object looked vaguely familiar to him too. As they set it down everything seemed to happen at once in front of him.
The owls dropped the veil just feet behind where Grindelwald stood and then several more owls dropped an elf. It was Winky. Winky went immediately to Hermione's side and then she was what was happening and moved quickly.
Scrimgouer watched as Harry first look at the veil with a look of understanding and then look back to the little girl. It was as if this had been planned but he knew the presence of the young lass was not a part of it. He could see the calculations taking place in Harry's head from where he stood and it was then that the sums within his own head added up and totaled its solution. He had to admire the quickness of how Harry thought out the plan while talking and pleading for the girl. Stalling for time. Scrimgouer thought. That's what all that was about.
He watched on and saw that Harry had seen that Molly was ready to make good on her promise to hex the man and as she began to speak he lunged forward. Time seemed to slow to an eternity as he dove through the air to knock Grindelwald through to the other side and in that time, fear seized his heart. Grindelwald had cast the killing curse. If only he could reach him before the finishes the curse.
Rufus held his breath as several things occurred at the same time before his very eyes. A red jet of light came form somewhere behind Mrs. Weasley and intersected with the red jet of light from the little girls wand and at the same time Harry Potter had flung himself at Grindelwald's mid section as if to tackle him. The two spells hit Grindelwald at the exact same time as Harry Potter connected but something else happened too. A blurred streak of White and a blurred streak of green both intersected Grindelwald's midriff just as Potter and the two spells hit and together they all fell through the veil.
Horror struck him when his eye's flicked back to the little girl just as Grindelwald's killing curse struck home. It was more than he could witness and he turned his head away from the scene just as he heard Hermione's first wail of anguish. He gritted his teeth and balled his fist tightly. A rage unknown to him filled him to bursting and he wanted to let it out. With each new sob of Hermione Weasley's, Scrimgouer wanted to rip somebody's head off. With each wail he wanted to point his wand at one of Grindelwald's followers and let them feel Hermione's pain. With each convulsive and audible shutter of that poor girls mother he had to hear, he steeled himself and bit back his other urges. He had to be solid, he had to be strong, he had to be the leader, and for the first time…, he did not want to be the Minister of Magic He wanted to kill, he wanted to avenge the child and her parents.
He opened his eyes and almost closed them again at what he saw. He had always admired the Weasley family for their strength even at the loss of their father, a brother, and of their younger sister. He had never seen them crumbled as they were now. It was as if life had been taken from all of them at once. His Under Secretary, Percy Weasley had slid down the wall he had been leaning against, Bill Weasley had sunk to his knees with his head in his hands, Fred Weasley was down on the floor and his twin brother had his head laid across the others chest. Scrimgouer wanted blood but the restraint of his office held him firmly by the tiniest of hairs. The image of that little girl flying backwards and then lying there lifeless in her mother's arms was too much for anyone. He noticed that some of his guards wept openly yet he had to be firm and strong. He wiped the back of his hand across his face drying the wetness that wet his cheek and took several long and calming breaths. He had to give orders and start directing this mess.
"Healers! Now!" Scrimgouer barked out his commands still refusing to turn his head to witness the scene behind him and so he was able to see two of the Aurors sprint across the chamber to its opened doors. Snapping fingers sent another pair of Aurors from their moment of despondency rushing towards a group of Grindelwald's followers that were being held captive by the younger enforcers of Dumbledore's. He still had not turned his head. Shacklebolt stepped towards him but a shake of his head stopped Kingsley short in his tracks and the look on his face told Kingsley to be somewhere else.
"RO-ON! OUR BABY!"
The blood curdling scream from behind him caused him to spin on his heel. It was a sound of anguish mixed with horror and it froze his very bones. He looked straight at Hermione's face and it was as white as a ghosts, and fear held her eye's wide open. Rufus's own eye's followed to where Hermione's was looking and he saw nothing. The child was gone!
He was by her side in less than a second and Shacklebolt was just two steps behind. As Rufus knelt and touched Hermione she screamed again.
"She's gone!"
Signals from Kingsley's hands brought a ring of Aurors immediately around them and a whispered word into one of the Aurors ears sent him running only to return moments later with a Senior Healer in tow. The Minister of Magic stood within the protective ring of Aurors looking down at Hermione's panic stricken face and watched as he body heaved with each sob. His jaw was set firm and his face held no emotion. In fact, there was nothing to be read on his face other than his jaw being set. Kingsley had seen this of the man before. He was studying the events as they happened, in his mind. Playing and replaying each step. The child was there, dead, unmoving. I turned my head all of about one whole second, and then she was gone, and her mother searching the ground where she should have been laying.
Scrimgouer stopped after each statement and replayed what had just happened and then studied that event and then did the same again and again and again, and still he noticed nothing that his trained eye did not see the first time. Less than 10 minutes had gone by from when the spells hit, he reacted at the same time Potter made his lunge which was just the barest measure of a fraction of a second, sooner than the spells left their wands and the child was there until just less than two minutes ago. My head was turned only for the blink of an eye!
The Healer seemed to appear from nowhere and as she knelt before Hermione her knees gave a loud crack. Grey ran through her hair as she swept back the hood of her cloak. Lines of care crossed her forehead and crow's feet were just beginning to appear at the corners of her eyes. She placed her bag near her left knee. It was where she always placed it when working in the field. Her bag held vials of tightly corked potions which were strapped neatly along the insides of the covers and the sides of her bag. And, un its center, that held a large wooden box with small compartments that held ingredients to prepare more potions and a small cauldron should she need to prepare a special potion. The outside of her bag contained pockets of all shapes and sizes, filled with the various instruments she might use to perform a thorough examination or a more specific type of examination. One pocket was very long and narrow. It was nearly as wide as the bag itself. From that pocket, Alyse Hiller withdrew a stethoscope and placed the tops in her ears and then placed an ice cold metal disk against Hermione's exposed chest and listened to her heat beat.
Alyse Hiller was not only one the leading Healers ever trained at Saint Mungo's, she was also a muggle trained Doctor who not only held a private practice in a large American city, she was also a member of the original Order of the Phoenix and was present immediately after every major raid or rescue mission the order performed.
Alyse replaced her stethoscope back into its pocket, satisfied the Hermione's heart was as strong as ever. The deep gulps of air Hermione took between wails and sobs and the volume of her terror filled shrieks of "Where is she!!?" gave evidence that Hermione was breathing quite well. A practiced hand slid down the side of the bag to a square shape medium sized pocket and opened it while her eye's swept over Hermione and this time, she took in every detail of Hermione from head to foot and paid close attention to Hermione's strangely positioned, broken leg. In that short time, she had already placed a black cuff around Hermione's left arm and her own left hand trailed once again back to her bag.
From a long slim pocket located next to the bag handle, Alyse withdrew her wand and brought it up to the cuff she had place on Hermione's arm and tapped it once. The cuff began to fill with air and it squeezed Hermione's arm tightly. A gauge located on the cuff began to display numbers. Alyse frowned; Hermione's blood pressure was extremely high. But that's to be expected, she thought to herself. She tapped the cuff once again and it slid from Hermione's arm and coiled itself up and slid slowly by itself back to its pocket.
"Minister, I'll be setting her leg and mending the bone, other than that she's as healthy as a fully grown dragon." She was about to say "A fully grown Ox," but had to remember where she was and doubted that the Minister of Magic would know what an Ox was. Her Impression of Rufus Scrimgouer wasn't a good one.
Rufus only nodded at her, still wrapped deep in thought as his mind replayed every event leading up to the disappearance of young Molly Weasley.
As events began to turn towards a mop up operation Kingsley turned his attention to the small pockets of one to one dueling that still continued.
"Protego!"
Kingsley's slow and deep voice shouted out the protection charm casually though loudly enough to cause heads to turn in his direction as an errant spell arrowed its way towards his staff surrounding Hermione and the Minister. The circle of protection tightened closer around the pair without word.
"Let me by you Mertlap sucking Doxy dropping.! That's my wife and my baby!"
Remus lost his grip on Ron's shoulder as he pushed passed the startled Aurors who in turn looked to Kingsley for approval which he gave immediately.
Ron knelt by Hermione's side and whispered quietly, "Where is she? Have they taken her already?"
He looked at Alyse as she withdrew a needle like object from Hermione's arm and it was she who answered his question.
"It's called a Tranquilizer. It's a muggle type calming draft but a bit faster in action. She might not be able to answer you but she knows you're here."
"She-she's gone Ron. Gone! I-I want my baby back" Hermione's voice was weak and it wavered as she spoke.
"I know." Ron said softly as he pulled Hermione tighter into his arms, "But where is she? Did the Healers take her?
"She-she just disappeared. Winky…, Ron y-you have to find her" Hermione's eye's closed and her body went slack in his arms.
Ron looked to the Healer Alyse, who said, "I gave her a stiff dose. Her vitals were a little higher…, you are her husband I suspect?" Alyse had just caught herself discussing Hermione's situation with someone she did not know. Ron nodded and so she continued to explain.
"Her vitals, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and the like were a little too high for my liking so I boosted the dose a bit and she'll most likely be out of it for quite sometime."
While she spoke she had tapped Hermione's leg with her wand and it slowly stretched itself out into a more appropriate position and then she tapped the leg again before continuing to explain. "Her leg was broken, but I've just set it and she should be off of it for a day or two and after that it'll be right as Hogwarts." The snap of her bag said that she was finished with her task
"Now I'm sure there are others that will be needing my services. And…," She smiled at Ron before going on and placed a hand on his shoulder, her voice became softer, "The baby is just fine. I'd like to see her in two weeks…, twins I suspect but I'd like to be certain." Her voice trailed off as she removed her hand and stepped away.
Ron laid Hermione carefully back down on the ground and stood slowly. His face turned purple and his visage was blank yet determined. His hand raised his wand and his knuckles were white with the grip he held on the wand. Ron faced the Archway, he knew where his daughter was, he knew where her murderer was too.
"Ron, no you can't, you must not." Remus said softly and he took hold of Ron's arm to stop him.
Ron stopped and turned mechanically and when he spoke in measured sentences, there was ice in his tone. "Remus, if you value your arm and your life you'll let me go."
Remus held on for a second longer and sadness shown dully in his eye's and he watched as Ron turned and begin to walk towards the Arch.
"'Ere now, where do you think your going Mister Weasley?" Scrimgouer had watched as Ron approached the Arch way. "I'll not have you…," his words were cut off as a jet of light issued from Ron's wand and blasted the Minister backwards and out of his way. Kingsley swung around with his wand held high and ready but raised his arms as Ron turned his wand onto him as well.
Ron stopped short as the Archway began to shimmer and he nearly dropped his wand when he saw Harry step through supporting his sister.
"We're alright." Harry said with a mixture of emotions on his face. He wanted to laugh, to cry, to shout…, he had Ginny back and in his arms and he did not know how to feel. Weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, weight so heavy that for the past three years he felt as if it had bowed his back, and sadness as he had to leave tow of the most important people in his life, behind. In his mind he knew that Sirius was right, Sirius had been in there too long to be able to return to the world. He had changed but his love kept his sanity if only for Harry's sake, but Dobby… Dobby was as true a hero as Harry could not possibly express.
Ron reached a tentative hand out to Ginny's face and touched her tenderly and then took it back quickly. "Harry, thank you for Ginny, but step out of the way mate, please!" His resolve had returned and he raised his wand to point it at his friend.
Harry could only stare at Ron, his smile slowly slipping form his face as his own practiced eye swept the scene before him catching every minute detail and forgetting nothing that he had witnessed before falling through the veil.
"Ron, where's Missy Molly, and Winky?" Harry asked carefully.
Step out of the way mate. Don't make me move you."
Harry understood why Scrimgouer was laying on the ground. "You moved him out of the way then?"
Kingsley had taken three small steps towards Ron while his attention was focused on Harry and stopped in his tracks as Harry's own wand took aim on him.
"Stay right there Kingsley, I don't want to have to move you out of the way. I expect you'll want to be controlling yourself eh?" Ron's eye followed to where Harry's wand suddenly made its own appearance.
"You're not going to stop me then?"
"She's not in there mate, but I'm not going to stop you either if you promise to wait a second."
Harry helped Ginny to where Hermione was laid down. Ginny's legs had gathered their strength but she wasn't about to let Harry go. She had wished for this moment for ages and she was about to lose Harry again. She knew it in her heart and as Harry set her down she squeezed his hand and mouthed the words, "I love you.," and then let him go with tears in her eye's.
Harry turned away from her and his face held its familiar look of determination and he spoke. "Well we had better get started then."
Ron nodded and together the two of them stepped back through the arch into the Forbidding.
Ron stumbled as they stepped through into a land and sky with no color. It was as if time had sped up or slowed down, or was uncertain what to do and for a moment he felt clumsy. He noticed that Harry was still at his side watching him.
"I-I have to do this Harry, I-I have to get my baby back."
"I know, but you won't find her in here."
"You didn't have to come with me. You could have stayed behind with Ginny. I know how you feel about her…, Harry I'm sorry for how I acted when you and Ginny…, She was my sister and well…, you know how brothers are supposed to be…, don't you?"
Harry looked at Ron and he knew what his pain felt like and he knew that Ron had to do what he had to do or he would never know, never be able to forgive himself, never, never know for sure.
"I know." Harry replied. "But you must know the rules here. Two must go in for one to be able to come out…, I've no family to go back to, and you do." His voice didn't crack when he spoke but it sounded odd, resigned.
Ron's face turned white and he stammered, "Y-You aren't coming back then?"
"If I do, then you can't" Harry was terse when he spoke and he added, "You lot have lost too much and I…, well you know what I mean."
They stood and surveyed the land where they stood and then began to walk in no certain direction. Hours seemed to have gone by when The two of them began to notice movement in front of them and Harry gripped his wand tighter in his hand and noticed that Ron had done the same. They continued to walk towards the movement that they had seen meanwhile Harry kept turning to look behind them as well as to their sides yet he saw nothing that would alarm him.
It was hard to see what it was they were walking towards because for every two steps they took it seemed that they were gaining only one step but they were gaining ground and they were able to make out the shapes of two individuals walking in the same direction as they.
Ron raised his hands to his mouth to call out but Harry stopped him by saying "I wouldn't do that, not in here least ways. You don't want to meet up with what's in here.'
"MASTER HARRY!"
Dobby rifled his way towards them and nearly knocked them down when he caught up.
"Master Harry, Master Ron what is you dong here, you need to go, you is needing to go back now." Dobby tried desperately to pull on their hands to turn them around when a snarl caused the three of them to spin on their heels. A misshapen black dog stood only a few steps away and white foam issued from its massive jaws.
"Master Sirius is not having a good day. You must go back." Dobby pleaded earnestly.
"A good day?" Harry asked.
"You and muss Ginny have been gone nearly a week now." Dobby answered still trying to pull Harry and Ron away.
Ron began to say something but Harry motioned him to be quiet. And looked towards the two figures ahead of them and saw that they had stopped too, no they were coming towards them now.
"Master Ron you must stop!!" Dobby shrieked.
Harry turned to see Ron trotting towards the figures at a fast pace and blinked his eye's in disbelief. Missy Molly and the elf Winky were standing there waiting, but it wasn't missy Molly, it was Ginny!
Harry dismissed the snarling black dog and ran full speed after Ron barley hearing a loud crack behind him and Dobby's commanding voice shouting "No! That is Master Harry and Master Ron, not food! Now sit and stay or Dobby won't find any food for you."
"You see Winky, I told you daddy would come for me, I told you."
Ron pulled up short not knowing what was going on. Before him stood a fully grown woman with the voice of his daughter and she was calling him Daddy."
Ron reached for her tentatively as Harry shouted out, "Ron no, we don't know."
Missy Molly took Ron by the hand with incredible strength and pulled him to her in a crushing hug. It was the same type of hug she used to give him but the strength of it, her size, her age…, he wanted to fight her off but his instinct stilled his mind and his heart and he swept her off her feet as if she were still his little girl and he returned her embrace.
Harry had reached them and he held his wand tightly ready to use it if necessary and it was Winky who stepped in front of him as if to shield them causing Harry to look down at her with a questioning look. Winky only held a finger to her lips to silence any words.
"I-I have to take you back Molly, your mum…,"
"I cannot come back with you daddy. I have to stay here. There is a reason."
The words did not sound like those of a child yet they still held that lilting sound that harry remembered hearing when he met her just a few days earlier and she wasn't more than three years old if that old. They sounded regal and commanding.
Ron began to argue but Molly held a hand to his mouth to stop him and held it there as she began to speak.
"You are my daddy and mummy is my mummy, but I am so much older than you can know. I was born to finish a purpose and the Dark Lord Grindelwald recognized me only too late. He thought mummy was me."
I-I don't understand." Ron stammered out.
"Daddy, I was born three ages ago and I was in charge of the safety of the Crystree…,"
"You, what?" Ron didn't let go of her, he couldn't and he struggled to understand what it was that Molly was saying to him. Harry began to see though and it was he that took over the explanation.
"Ron," Harry began, "Three ages ago, there was a battle between the darkest of armies with creatures, monsters, the most hideous and evil of the kind, so long ago that the history of magic doesn't even know it had happened. I know because I was there and do was Hermione and Dobby."
"You, you couldn't have been!" Ron blurted out. "That's impossible."
"It wasn't actually us but we are direct descendants of those that were involved in this war. The return of Grindelwald woke the memories that were in our blood. I had dreams that were so real. Muggles joined the Magical world to help fight this war and the losses were heavy."
Harry continued speaking to a stunned Ron who still had not let go of Molly and Harry noticed that she had not let go of Ron either.
"The Crystree, that tree that was in the Room of Requirement where the House Elves healed me, was a lock to this place."
"What is this place anyways?" Ron asked.
"It's a magical prison, that's nowhere." Harry answered.
"Well anyway, when something became so evil that it could no longer be kept in our world…, they, it was placed in here, in the Forbidding. Grindelwald was already in here when he learned of a weakness in the wall and he slipped out. He somehow enticed one of the keepers of the tree to slowly poison the tree and its hold on the prison began to weaken letting out creature only nightmares could describe and the war began. Hermione, U mean her ancestor stood guard over the tree when the battle came to the very spot where the tree stood. All Grindelwald needed to do was kill the tree and the Forbidding would fall completely."
Ron gulped at the image that stood in his mind. He remembered some of what Hermione had told him about nightmares that she had had shortly after Dumbledore was killed.
Molly picked up the story from there and said, "I was born to the one guardian that did not fail. By her hand, Grindelwald was forced back into the Forbidding and the breach was sealed until his return. When the great wizard Albus Dumbledore defeated him the second time he escaped all was well yet he was not returned to the Forbidding and when Dumbledore was killed…, the balance was changed again. Winky here," and she looked down at the house elf, "Is my guardian. She brought me in here before I was killed."
"I saw you hit by the killing curse, I saw you fall!" Ron blurted out.
"I tripped over mummy just as the curse was to hit me and I hit my head." Molly explained. "When Uncle Harry pushed Grindelwald through the Arch, Winky brought me in here too. This time the key is on the other side and I am that key. If I am killed then the forbidding will be sealed forever."
"But, but how? Why,? You were …, you can't be your too young you're my baby." Ron fought to keep the tears from coming. He understood but at the same time he didn't understand.
"You must go back to mummy now, she will be needing you more than ever daddy." She smiled and a twinkle shone in her eye as she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "I have given you and mummy a gift."
Molly took Ron by the hand and then raised her own hand and to Harry's astonishment the Arch appeared feet from where they stood.
"Molly," Harry began, "The rules…, I can't go."
"Yes you can Uncle Harry. Winky and I came here freely and so two may leave freely. Daddy, tell mummy that I love her more."
Ron fought back his tears and she embraced him one more time and then took a necklace from her neck that wasn't there before and placed it in his hand and said, "Give this to my sister when she turns three years old and give this to my brother when he turns three."
Ron looked down to see her wand in her hand and when he touched it golden sparks emitted form its tip and Ron could feel the power that radiated inside its core.
"What is the core?' Ron asked behind a tightened throat.
"It is Holly with three hairs from my head, two from mummy's and one from yours. One from Uncle Dobby's and one from Winky's. Seven hairs in all. And for you Uncle Harry, I have given my body so that you and Auntie Ginny could be together and share your dreams."
She took Harry's hand and he could feel a power so great, a power that emanated from the purest of love and then he and Ron stood rooted in shocked as her form changed form that of Molly to that of the fairest and loveliest of anything they had ever seen. Harry had seen it before but only in his dreams, she turned into the highest of all elves and both Dobby and Winky fell to their knees and bowed their heads. Harry didn't notice until that moment that Snuffles had come up to them and sat before her as if to guard her from even them.
Harry turned to the Arch but Ron remained where he stood. Harry knew what was going through his mind, he had to go but he didn't want to leave. It would be like leaving his heart behind. Harry knew that feeling more than anyone except for his own mother and now Ron.
After a long moment Ron reached to her and kissed her whispering that her birthday will be celebrated every year. She smiled knowingly as Ron let her go and turned his back.
"Is this how it feels?" Ron asked as they walked slowly towards the shimmering Arch.
"Mine was worse I think," Harry replied. "I had nothing to look forward to, but after seeing Ron's face he quickly added, "But, I have no idea what its like to leave a child behind either so maybe yours was even worse."
Ron nodded, and together the two of them stepped into a chilling tunnel without looking back.
Chapter 53 completed
