Tied up and huddled together, the prisoners looked defiantly at the British Aurors who just captured them. Proud of themselves, the half dozens of men and women laughed at their sullen expression. Remus stood over them and looked down at the four doppelgangers of Hermione, even though he was disappointed by the woman's resistance, he was also impressed by what she put up against his whole team. The wisest witch of her age almost got him, she could be proud of herself, but now the game was over.

"You fought well my friends, now tell me who is the real Hermione!"

Teeth clenched, the little group refused to obey.

"We're not your friends Lupin!" Muttered Ioan. "So don't expect us to help you."

"You're very brave Mr. Krum, but resistance is futile. Now, let's try again, who is the real Hermione?"

A small smile spread Ioan's lips. "What makes you think she's here?"

"Simple mathematics Sir. You and your wife have three sons and if we count Hermione since you took her under your wing, you are a family of six and I have six prisoners here. Look, if you want to do it the hard way..."

"Who do you think we are exactly?" Andreï asked. "We're not British Aurors! We are the Krums! We wan resist your magic all day long."

Remus looked at the eldest of the brothers with an eyebrow raised.

"If you are implying torture young man you are far from the truth. No, I was thinking about a great spell Harry here stole from Hermione. It's really useful, it allows us to extract the potion you took out of your system."

Remus stopped talking and got closer to him.

"In case you don't understand, as soon as the polynectar will be out of their system, they will take back their original appearance. It's over, Mr. Krum."

Ioan scoffed, not impressed by Remus' assurance. Irritated by the Bulgarian family, Remus yelled at his Aurors to take out their wands and start taking the potion out of their system. Obeying, they used Hermione's spell and soon, a strange liquid started coming out of every Hermiones' mouth, except for one.

"What's wrong Ronald?" Remus asked.

"I don't know, the spell isn't working."

Snickering at the young Auror's attempt, Ioan tried really hard to scream with laughter. "I see you're still as pathetic as you were at Hogwarts, no wonder why Hermione chose my son over you."

Tightening his grip on his wand, teeth clenched, Ron tried to resist the urge to punch the Bulgarian. What he was referring to was that night at Hogwarts, during the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore announced the incoming Yule Ball and Ron took his time gathering the courage to ask Hermione to accompany him, but Viktor asked her first and she accepted.

Turning his head, Ron glared at him. "What do you know about her Krum? You never met her!"

Ioan looked back at him, a sly smile on his face. "I know her more than you can imagine. During all those years, my son and she never stopped messaging. I know how bad you made her feel for having chosen Viktor for the Yule Ball. I know what kind of 'friend' you and Potter were. I know that when she needed help, she turned to us and didn't turn to you or Potter, why? Because she knows she cannot trust you! Face it, Mr. Weasley, Hermione needs a man, not a boy."

As Ron and Ioan kept glaring at each other, the Hermiones were starting to change and ultimately, took back their original appearance, revealing Sophia, Nikolaï and Viktor.

"Finally!" Remus laughed, applauding. "You put up quite a fight Hermione, but it's over."

"Damn, you're right!" Answered Sophia.

Surprise by the excess of confidence, Remus looked at the matriarch's eyes, but she wasn't looking at him. Turning around, he was wizards and witches rushing towards them. Suddenly, apparating among them, the Bulgarian Ministry yelled at them to put their wands down.

"What does that mean? We are sent by our Ministry to capture Hermione Granger! Why are arrested?"

A man, who seemed to be the leader of the group walked towards Remus. "Mrs. Granger is your target, correct! So maybe you can explain to me why is there an innocent Bulgarian family, on the ground, tied up like prisoners?"

"Our Ministry allowed casualties as long as we capture her!" Remus answer proudly.

Scoffing, the Minister was expecting this answer. "That would've been true if you had captured her."

Frowning, Remus pointed at Hermione behind her. "What do you mean? Look at her, she's here!"

"For an Auror, Lupin, you really are naïve." The Minister answered, shaking his head before looking at her. "Show them."

Hermione cringed under the watchful eyes of the whole crowd. She expected it to happen, after all, it was the plan, but she didn't like it. Behind her, someone freed her hands and the woman snapped her fingers. Balls of light started turning around her, blinding everyone. The lights died down, revealing...

"Nissy?" The whole Krum family stated, shock clear in their voice.

The house-elf bend her hand down, not ready to break the bad news.

"What's the meaning of this? Nissy, where is Mina?" Viktor asked.

"Sorry Master, Missy begged Nissy to help."

"Where is she?" He asked again, more firmly this time.

"She knows it's trap, but Missy said it was only way to freedom for her. Nissy knows why freedom is important. Nissy just wanted to help."

Closing his eyes, Viktor cursed Hermione for the first time. "Ginny Weasley sent Hermione a letter. It was a trap."

Viktor's family looked at him incredulously while Remus and Ron started laughing. Turning their face towards them, everyone glared at the pair.

"I can't believe Ginny's plan worked!" Ron snickered. "I told her she was too smart to fall for it. Good job, little sister!"

"How dare you..."

"Don't!" Sophia interrupted her husband, looking deep in thoughts.

"What?" Ioan looked at his wife, stunned by her lack of reaction. "What's wrong?"

Looking around, she met dumbfounded expression. She sighed before looking at her husband. "Can't you see what she did?"

She was hoping Ioan had understood but he was as lost as anyone here. Turning her head, she looked straight at the Aurors who had stopped laughing. "She used us." She stopped and looked at her family. "All of us."

"You're lying," Remus muttered, afraid that if he didn't deny it, it might be true.

Shaking her head, Sophia laughed at him. "Wisest witch of her age. I know now why you call her that. She fooled two governments, our family and the whole unit of Aurors."

Wounded in his pride, Remus couldn't help but ask how did Hermione defeat him and his unit?

"Pretty simple. She spent days looking through local and international laws and didn't find a single law that could help her. It was at that moment she knew she couldn't win legally and Ginny's letter came at the right time."

"How come Ginny Weasley's trap arrived at the right time?" Nikolaï asked.

"Ginny offered her the opportunity to come closer to her real enemies. Her future husband and the Ministry who doomed her to be a housewife."

"But why would Hermione want to get closer to them?" Iona wondered.

Remus, who was now as pale as a ghost, answered. "She wants to destroy them."

"But the Aurors were on her way and she needed to get rid of them so they wouldn't interfere. But she couldn't do it alone, so she used us. She came up with a big plan, pretending it was her only way out. And it worked, thanks to us, you're out of her way now."

Looking at her with a mix of fear and disbelief in his eyes, Remus started laughing nervously. "No! It's insane! She hasn't enough power."

He wanted Sophia to consider the question and to agree with him, but judging by the serious look on her face, she won't agree. "You're not that naïve, Remus. You saw what she did at the wedding! She almost did it again not too long ago."

"That girl is dangerous! Let us go, we need to warn our government."

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Are you seriously doing this? This girl is dangerous!"

Ioan took a step forward, ready to strangle him, but his wife calmly stopped him. "Hermione is like a lioness. And your government is about to see what happens when you try to put a lioness in a cage."

"Mom, I hate that idea but maybe he's right." Viktor objected. "We all saw what happened in the basement, she lost control."

Putting a hand on his cheek, Sophia smiled at her son. "I know you're worried about her, so am I. But this is Hermione's battle. There's no turning back now."

And Viktor knew that too well.

Exchanging a knowing look with his father, they silently nodded. At that moment, Viktor and his father hoped and prayed for the young witch to win this war, because their ultimate alternative was something both men were not ready for.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Keeping her head up as she walked with Ginny through the forbidden forest. She tried her best not to glance sideways as she felt people following them. Tightening the side of her coat around her, she tried to hide her shaking hands, her enemies must not see her tremble.

"You did the right choice, Hermione!" Ginny reassured her.

Hermione nodded briefly, making her believe she swallowed anything. Or maybe Ginny knew Hermione wasn't buying anything and kept pretending anyway.

The forbidden forest remained the same, dark, cold and yet familiar to the young witch. She spent some time here, creating spells and training to be better than Harry, Ron and basically anyone in Hogwarts. During all her years at this school, people always underestimated her because of her blood status. But today, she was gonna change that.

After a good hour of walking through the forest, the got out the emerald land.

"Here we are!" Ginny said before turning around, jumping in surprise when Hermione extended her hands at her, silently asking her to do what she was asked. "'Mione?"

"I'm not a fool Ginny. I know why we're here. So do it!"

She barely had time to react that solid ropes wrapped themselves around her wrist.

"You did take your time, Mrs. Weasley." Minerva McGonagall said, walking slowly towards them.

Closing her eyes, a small smile appeared on Hermione's lips. "So it was you I sensed back in the forest. Should've known it was you."

"I'm not doing this on my own free will." She defended herself.

Opening her eyes, she glared at her former teacher. "That's what every coward says."

"Hermione Granger!" A man's voice came from behind her. "I'm so glad we finally meet!"

Not knowing who that was, she decided not to turn back and kept her head high. "So you're the owner of that fetid odour back there."

Taking more steps forward, he placed himself in front of her. The man was as tall as Viktor, brown hair, blue eyes, a square jaw and a cocky expression plastered on his face. "I heard you had a bad temper, I'm gonna have fun taming the beast in you."

"And who do you think you are? A tamer? I faced real creatures who would make you wet your pants." She ended her sentence with a snicker before looking up and down.

"My name's Andrew Jack and soon you'll be known as Mrs. Hermione Jack."

"Not if I kill you first."

"I'm afraid the Aurors who captured you won't let that happen."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's why I took care of them before coming. If they're not dead by now, they're probably rotting in a cell."

Andrew's smile faded. Extending his right arm to the side, two men apparated. "Well then, these gentlemen will escort you to the dungeon where you will wait for the wedding. And here I was thinking about allowing you to sleep in my room."

"Such a tragedy." She said pretending to be hurt by the punishment.

"Take her out of my sight!"

"Gladly!" She answered before the men.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sitting on a bench in her cell crossed legs, Hermione waited patiently for the night to fall. Her plan was working perfectly. This idiot locked her in the dungeon thinking he was safe now, but no one could save him.

Inspiring deeply, she tried to touch her power again, just like Sophia taught her… before she lost control and almost destroyed her house. Thinking back about the accident, she realized that fear was the spark that exacerbated her powers. Fear and anger. They were powerful triggers and she was tempted to use them again. But the rational part of her brain was trying to identify the other side of the coin, the other trigger who allowed her to touch her power without losing control. She was wise, she could discover this secret, if only she had more time.

"Here I am!" Yelled Enny who apparated in her cell.

Reacting quickly, the young woman covered his mouth with her hand and looked at the dungeon's entrance. No one seemed to have heard him. Sighing out of relief, she released her hold on him.

"Enny! I'm so glad you heard me." She exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

"Miss Granger is still a good telepath."

She huffed. "I was scared not to succeed. Now, destroy the chains I need to get out."

Snapping his fingers, Enny freed Hermione from her chains and then opened the door of her cell.

"Where are you going?" Enny asked.

"I need to get more power, so I'm gonna head to the library, I can steal some power from the dark arts books."

"Very interesting!" A deep voice came from the entrance.

Turning around quickly, Hermione clenched her fists at the sight of Andrew Jack.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to let my guard down with you? I know everything about you and your liking for these creatures. I knew you would have one of them to help you."

Too stunned and unprepared, Hermione didn't dare to move.

"Such a shame! I wanted to keep you and break you but the Ministry insisted they wanted you dead."

Taking a knife out of his coat, he held it by the blade and in one swift movement, threw it towards Hermione who put her hands in front of her and closed her eyes.

Nothing hit her. She heard something fell loudly on the floor in front of her. Opening her eyes slowly, her heart skipped a beat. Laying on his back, the knife planted in his chest was the small house-elf.

Dropping to the floor, a hand over her heart, the other on her mouth, she watched life leaving the tiny creature's body. The knife had pierced his heart. It was too late.

Eyes closed, teeth clenched, she fought harder than ever not to cry out of anger and pain. Then it happened. Her whole body started to shiver uncontrollably, lightly at first as the power start to bubble inside her. The more her powers grew, the stronger the spasms got as it burned her from inside. Unable to stop the pain, she started screaming in agony, up until she accepted to unleash this new force, breaking its cage.

The spasms stopped. Opening her eyes, they were entirely coloured dark red. She turned to Andrew a gaze full of hatred and slowly got up.