The ceremony had been beautiful and the reception was certainly doing its part to keep the joyful atmosphere alive.
After Viktor sat at their table, Ron surprised Hermione when he asked her to dance. She, of course, knew it was only because he did not care for Viktor, but was pleased nonetheless.
Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at Harry (or Barny Weasley as he was tonight), who was engaged in what looked to be a tense conversation with Viktor. Sighing, she looked back towards Ron, who was glaring at Krum.
"I don't know what you see in that guy 'Mione."
She snorted derisively. "You worshipped him until the Tournament. Or did you forget how you drooled over him when he first walked into the Great Hall?"
"Well, that was before I knew what a wanker he was." He clenched his jaw and hissed the next words out, barely discernible over the music. "He looks at you like a piece of meat."
She rolled her eyes at that. Viktor had never been disrespectful or indicated that he valued her only for her looks, but she wasn't about to waste her breath. "Well, he's not the one dancing with me right now, so I'm inclined to say you have nothing to worry about." She shot Ron a shy smile and stifled the urge to giggle when the tops of his ears burned red. Hermione longed to close the space between them, but decided she would rather not ruin the moment. So, she settled for letting his warm hand rest on her hip and tried to commit the feeling to memory to relive another day.
They filled the next few minutes with idle chat and awkward swaying that was barely passable as dancing before Hermione had to go take a seat. She scanned the room for Harry and pulled up a seat next to him when she finally found him.
"I simply can't dance anymore," she said, taking off a shoe to rub her foot. "Ron's gone looking to find more butterbeers. It's a bit odd, I've just seen Viktor storming away from Luna's father, it looked like they'd been arguing—" She dropped off suddenly, noticing Harry's expression. She lowered her voice. "Harry, are you okay?"
He opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the lynx that fell through the canopy atop the dance floor. The patronus began to speak in a low, deep voice she recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt's.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
Hermione and Harry jumped to their feet, along with the other guests, wands ready, everyone seemingly in a trance —until someone screamed.
Cloaked and masked figures appeared, as if out of nowhere, and began firing in every direction. The two friends sprang into action, cutting their way through the hysterical crowd. Cracks of disapparation sounded throughout the air. Hermione frantically searched for Ron, attempting to yell his name over the commotion while flinging hexes at anyone who got too close to her or Harry. Panic bubbled inside her when she saw Harry dart away from her and she wished she'd thought to grab Harry's hand to avoid getting separated.
"Hermione!" She looked in the direction of her name to see Harry, a red-faced Ron at his side, holding his hand out to her. She choked on her relief and lunged towards them, nearly knocking over the frantic guest who darted in front of her as she was about to latch onto Harry. She felt the air pull around her as she grabbed for him once more and heard a pop as they disappeared… right before she reached them.
She fell to her knees in shock. The noise around her faded to a drone as she went numb. She had no idea where they would've gone and no way to get in contact with them. A scream of frustration and disbelief clotted her throat and she struggled to fight it down.
She was pulled back to reality when a spell whizzed over her head. The majority of the guests had gone, leaving the brave few behind to fight alongside the Order. Another spell flew past her, barely missing her ear. Her head whipped around and, upon seeing her attacker, she was filled with rage and she sliced her wand through the air with a silent diffindo.
She allowed herself a shameful moment of satisfaction as the masked figure sank to their knees and blood began to seep into the ground. She hardly had a second to register exactly what she'd done when she saw another curse barreling straight towards her chest.
"Protego!" She cast her shield charm and quickly followed it with a stunning spell. Hermione glanced around and saw their numbers dwindling, as Death Eaters overpowered the Order and took them alive. Bill and Fleur were side-by-side, dueling three masked figures. She noticed many of the other Order members holding their own in their battles, briefly noting as Fred and George incapacitated one man each, twice their size. Hermione finally ran across the floor to where she saw Ginny attempting to hold off a large wizard, but slowly losing the upper hand.
Ginny's eyes widened in surprise, only for a moment, upon seeing the older witch sprinting towards her, dodging hexes and casting her own, but it was enough. She was knocked off her feet.
"GINNY!" Hermione cried. She doubled her pace and aimed her wand. "CONFRINGO!"
She watched the Death Eater fly to the ground and then slid onto the floor next to her friend. She was getting ready to ask the youngest Weasley if she was okay when Ginny took her wand and aimed it directly in Hermione's face. She felt a look of confusion cross her features.
"You shouldn't be here," Ginny whispered.
Then everything went black.
Ron stumbled to the ground, and fought the urge to vomit.
"Geez, 'Mione, couldn't have made the landing a bit softer?" He glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings, and turned to face his friends. "Where... wait, Harry, where's Hermione?"
Harry's whisper was barely audible. "I- I thought that... I felt her grab my hand..."
Ron felt his face pale with realization. Hermione was still at the Burrow. Surrounded by Death Eaters. Alone.
"Ron." He barely heard Harry over the ringing in his ears. They needed to go back for her. They needed her. He needed her. She was the voice of reason, their guide.
"RON!" Harry grabbed his shoulder, shaking him out of his fog. "We have to go back for her!" he said, echoing Ron's thoughts. A hasty agreement almost slipped past Ron's lips, but something made him pause. It wasn't safe. Hermione was with the Order and she would want them to go on. His heart lurched at the thought, but he knew he was right.
"We can't. We've got to do this alone."
A/N (2020): Heavy changes in all the chapters! So sorry! I'm reposting all the chapters one by one with the updates. Happy New Year!