AN: This story is so fun to write! It's a lot faster moving than The Remains. I expect it will probably be around 40k words by the time I am finished with it. Let me know what you're thinking of it so far! Reviews inspire my quicker updates.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything!

Part Three: Runespoor

Sirius woke up sometime in the early hours of the morning to the feeling of a shivering form pressed tightly to his side.

Wearily blinking his eyes open, the first thing he noticed was the mass of honey curls springing out all over the place right in front of his face and the tinkering of dishes by the kitchenette. Hermione's entire body was shaking so violently from tremors, that he wondered how he'd slept through it at all. His arm moved from where it was trapped under her to wrap carefully around her back and pull her closer to him.

The room was warm from the still crackling fire, but Hermione was shaking like it was freezing temperatures. Her small body was curled into him like she was trying to sap up all his body heat, and when his other hand reached up to brush the curls off her face, he could see that her the blush from the night before was a violent red. His dainty hands curled against the skin of his torso were creating ripples of goosebumps that he really didn't want to think about too hard. She was unwell, and he was on a mission to save her. Not to think about how nice her cold skin felt flush against his.

He hadn't noticed that the noises from across the room had stopped until a hushed voice broke his concerned focus, "She gets worse. You leave immediately." Sasha was studying the girl against him with a motherly expression. Sirius suddenly wondered just how many details about their predicament she'd been told.

Sirius nodded grimly to her before carefully shifting her form off of him and pulling himself off the bed. Donning his shirt and jacket from the day before, he pulled his map from the bag and laid it out on the table. He could sense a deep change in the witch's attitude toward him in comparison to just the night before, and though she offered no explanation, he wasn't planning on questioning it anytime soon.

Sasha explained how they would have to travel up the mountain to get to the checkpoint where they could floo to the prison. She also briefly told Sirius how regretful she was of the fact that she'd disconnected her floo network years ago in an effort to close herself off from the Wizarding World. She gave no further details than that, but Sirius could only imagine the kind of life a witch would need to live to turn herself away from something that was so deeply a part of her.

As soon as he knew his route, he thanked Tetya Sasha sincerely for her help before turning to the shivering witch in bed. He quickly laced up his own boots before taking a careful seat next to her on the old mattress. Moving the curls off her sweaty forehead, he pressed a hand to her burning cheeks and leaned down.

"Hermione," he whispered. She gave a violent shiver beside him, and her face twisted like she was in pain. "Hermione, we have to go."

She stretched her body with a groan, and Sirius regretted having to wake her up at all. When he gently nudged her ribs with his free hand her eyes shot open with a surprised gasp.

He watched as her eyes darted around her before landing on him. He felt her relax against him and give him a small relieved smile. "Time to go?" She asked sweetly.

He tucked her hair behind her ears as best he could and whispered back, "Unfortunately." When she pouted and sighed, he couldn't help but smile at her, "Don't worry, kitten. You can sleep on me the whole time again if you want. I don't mind."

Somehow, her blush spread, and he grinned at the nervous way she averted her eyes. When she didn't say anything, he carefully pulled her up to a hunched sitting position before pulling on her jacket and lacing her boots. She made comments about not being useless, but he waved them off in favor of braiding her hair just as Ginny had done the day before.

"You're too slow right now," he jibed, and she reluctantly snorted.

When he finally had both their bags strapped on them, and Hermione was up and standing shakily, the older woman came forward and placed her weathered hands on Hermione's cheeks.

"You take care of yourself, child." Hermione's eyes widened at the unexpected kindness before her expression melted into a soft smile. Sasha continued, "And once you're better, you take care of Florenti. Tell him to visit more."

Hermione laughed. "Thank you for having us, Tetya Sasha. I will repay your kindness when I am well." Sirius felt a modicum of pride at the way she said when she was well rather than if. Sitting in front of all those Unspeakables and hearing them say that she didn't have much time had never sounded right to him. This was Hermione Granger they were talking about. Hermione doesn't die.

The woman waved her off with a scowl before ushering the two out of the door. She stood silently right under the entry as Sirius helped Hermione onto the broom, but right before they took off, she said something that had Sirius's nerves standing on end.

"Don't stop until you reach the checkpoint. Enemies lurk in the mountains."

Sirius looked down at her with a startled expression, but the woman simply frowned and glanced around the clearing before shutting herself back in the cottage. He made a discontented sound before kicking off and pulling Hermione impossibly closer to him.

The entire flight, Sasha's warning echoed through his skull, and he found himself holding Hermione as tight as he could and flying faster than he had the night before. It wasn't until they reached a high altitude and snow started to come down on them that Sirius had to slow down. One glance at the map made it known to him that they had barely made it halfway.

He didn't want to stop. A cold fear that Sasha had instilled in him had his adrenaline running at an all time high, and he knew that his determination would get them there in record time, but Hermione's small fingers squeezing his forearm had him second guessing things.

"We should stop," she said weakly, and Sirius pulled the broom to a halt.

"We have to keep going. You heard what she said back there, Hermione."

The snow was coming down harshly around them, and the warming charms that Sirius put on them were failing. He was cold down in his bones, so he could only imagine what it was doing to Hermione's weak health. He could barely see anything ahead of him, and the trees that had previously blanketed the ground had thinned out to just a few here and there.

"Please, Sirius. You'll get sick too, and then what good would you do me?"

Her attempt at humor was lost on him as he warred with himself over what to do. They had been on a broom for the majority of the day, and the fact that they were now in that odd twilight that he had flown in yesterday was doing nothing to aide in his sight.

Despite his better judgement he acquiesced by nodding once against the side of her head before checking the map and seeing that there was a cave detailed not too far from where they were. If they were going to stop, he was going to make damn sure it was safe.

He had difficulty finding it, but once he did, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved to not be out in the weather anymore. When they landed the snow that covered the ground was nearly up to Hermione's knees which resulted in him pulling her onto his back like a child to walk the ten feet into the cover of the odd cavern they'd found. Using the light from his wand, he quickly surveyed the area and found that there was only one point of entry, the way they came in. Satisfied, he set Hermione back on her feet. Once he'd pulled a sleeping bag from her satchel and set her up in it against the wall, he immediately set about making a small fire for her before setting some meat that she'd brought along with her to roast above it. As the food cooked, he quickly started to set up wards on the entrance to the cave.

They were completely silent as they ate and sat as close to the fire as they dared.

He didn't know how long it was before the urge to piss was too much to bare. He looked up at the drowsy witch sitting across the flames from him.

"Kitten, don't move. I'll be right back."

Her eyes darted up to him before narrowing slightly. "Where are you going?"

He gave her something resembling a cheshire grin and said, "Gotta piss. Fancy watching?"

She scrunched up her nose in an adorable way, and he let out a barking laugh as he got to his feet. He looked down at her and his grin faded to a more stern expression.

"Seriously, Hermione. Don't go anywhere."

She gave him a withering look and said sarcastically, "Because there are so many places to wander off to here."

He narrowed his eyes, and she sighed.

"Don't worry, Sirius. I couldn't get far if I tried anyway."

He nodded in satisfaction before slowly walking out of the cave. Sasha's parting words were affecting him much worse than he ever expected when he found it physically difficult to make any move to part for her. He didn't dare go far. Really just a couple feet out from the entrance with his eyes scanning the area in front of him madly, and as soon as he was done, he hurried back inside.

"You missed quite the show, Her-"

His words died on his lips when sitting in the place where Hermione had been was an empty sleeping bag. Panic set in like he'd never felt before.

"Hermione!" He called out and when there was no response, he added, "This isn't funny, come out!"

He lit his wand to light the cave better than the fire, and upon closer inspection he saw her wand sitting just a foot away from where she'd been on the rough stone ground. Despite the fact that her magic wasn't working, she had refused to part with it for even a second. That was how he knew she wasn't playing tricks on him. It was then he accepted this when he felt that pull that had been there since he'd stepped out of the veil like it was a physical, tangible thing. It was pulled tight, and he just knew that the distance between them was growing.

"Hermione!" He yelled. The cave was small, and he ran his hands along every crevice to make sure there was no place she could be hidden before running back out into the snow.

There had been no sound of struggle, no screams for help, no indication whatsoever that anything had gone wrong in the minute he had had his back to her, but somehow she was just gone.

Hermione didn't know what had happened. One second, she was trying very hard to tune out the sound of Sirius peeing in the snow, and the next she'd been silenced and blinded with hands pulling her every which direction. She hadn't felt the telling feeling of apparition or portkey, nor the biting cold of the outdoors, but somehow she knew she was traveling a greater distance than the small cave had to offer in the arms of a silent stranger.

She couldn't scream or really move too much as the grip the person had on her was tight beyond words. She couldn't even use any magic.

She'd never felt so hopeless in her life. Not even when she'd had Bellatrix Lestrange pressed on top of her with a blade to her wrist. At least then people had known where she was. But right now she was in the middle of an endless mountain range with only Sirius Black, and even he didn't know anything about where they were. She'd watched him inspect the cave herself. There was no exit.

It took her less than two seconds to work out that whoever had grabbed her must have put up some heavy warding magic to keep a tunnel hidden from sight. Sirius was way more intelligent than anyone knew, so her one hope was that he would be able to work that out.

She struggled as much as her weak frame would let her before she tired out and realized that whoever it was that was taking her deep into the mountain was much stronger than her. She felt fear gripping her and angry tears forming in her eyes. She hated being weak like this, and to make matters worse, without Sirius there as her physical pillar of strength, she could feel any little amount of energy she had, filtering out of her system slowly. It made the pain sharper, the tiredness stronger, and her fear deeper.

She didn't know how long they'd been carrying her before she was unceremoniously dropped onto a smooth stone ground. The pain that went rocketing through her body, left her soundlessly gasping on the ground. She could hear hushed voices echoing off cavernous walls and the sounds of multiple pairs of feet shuffling around her. Her hands reached out as she blindly tried to crawl away from all the noise, but another arm wrapped around her waist and carried her back before she'd made it very far at all like she was simply a baby crup that had wandered too far.

Seconds later, whatever spell they'd used to blind her was lifted, and she had to blink her eyes multiple times to clear her swimming vision.

She tried to speak only to discover that she was still silenced.

Standing in front of her was a regal looking woman. She stood proudly with multiple people flanking her on both sides and a staff like the Durmstrang students had used all those years ago gripped loosely in her fist. The first impression Hermione got from her, was that this woman was very powerful, and the next she begrudgingly admitted was that she was probably the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

She had tanned skin and nearly black hair that was braided tightly down her back, but what really drew Hermione up was the brightness of her eyes. Icey blue in color, and staring sharply at Hermione as if just by looking at her, she could learn every secret Hermione had ever kept. It was unnerving, but Hermione found she couldn't look away. The woman's words threw her even more off guard than she already was.

"Sorry if my men scared you, tsvetok," her english was smooth, and her accent slight. The apology did nothing to quell her anxiety.

Hermione opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The woman turned sharp eyes on the men and barked out something in Russian, and one of them promptly raised their wand and released Hermione from the silencing charm.

"Who…" Hermione managed to croak out before she was taken over by a sudden coughing fit. The woman looked her up and down before saying something else in Russian and stepping forward. As everyone slowly filed out the way Hermione had been brought in, she stepped up to Hermione and crouched down to where Hermione was on the ground. Her hand landed on Hermione's forehead and she tutted under her breath.

"You are unwell, tsvetok."

Hermione flinched back when she moved her staff and muttered something that had a very bright corporeal patronus appearing between them. It was a manx cat which Hermione knew to mean that whoever this woman was, she was fiercely protective and loyal.

She muttered something to it before gently touching it under its chin. Hermione watched wide eyed as the cat bound from the room before turning back to her. At least she knew this woman couldn't be completely evil.

"Who are you?" Hermione finally managed.

"My name is Zoya Vasiliev."

Zoya's eyes traveled up and down Hermione's muggle attire before moving back to her face.

"I think that it is I who should be asking who you are."

Without hesitation Hermione said, "Hermione Granger."

Zoya tilted her head to the side in contemplation. "And what is Hermione Granger doing in the Russian mountains in the middle of a snowstorm?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed suspiciously and righteous anger boiled up. "I think that it is I who should be asking why I got snatched in the mountains in the middle of the snowstorm!"

Zoya's face completely transformed when she suddenly let out a burst of laughter. "Oh! I think we will get along just fine, tsvetok!"

Hermione twisted her mouth into a scowl and said, "And what, may I ask, is tsvetok?"

Zoya smiled at her. "It means flower. You set off our wards, and when I sent Alexei to investigate, he returned with what he called a small flower."

Hermione's scowl deepened, "I am not a small flower."

The woman laughed and said, "Certainly not."

"And I need to get back because I promised Sirius I wouldn't go anywhere, and he's going to absolutely panic when he finds I've been taken!"

Zoya's smile dropped. "This Sirius… he is your friend?"

Hermione huffed. "I don't know why I should tell you, but yes he is my friend!"

Zoya rocked back on her heels and muttered something in Russian to herself. Before standing and yelling out a name. A blonde and huge man came back into the room instantly and a conversation passed between the two in which Zoya gestured to Hermione and the man paled.

After a few minutes the man ran back out of the room, and Zoya returned to her perched position in front of her.

"I apologize. It seems Alexei did not just make a mistake in assuming you were a flower, he also assumed that the man you were with was more foe than friend."

Hermione's mind raced for a moment before understanding dawned on her. "He thought Sirius had kidnapped me?" The more she learned, the more confused she was about the entire situation. It was giving her a pounding headache just trying to discern if she could trust her or not.

She nodded regretfully. "He says when he got to the cavern the man was commanding you not to move and making lewd comments."

Hermione's flush spread down her neck, and she felt the oddest need to defend Sirius's offensive nature. "That's just who he is! And he was only telling me not to move because Tetya Sasha said that-"

Hermione cut herself off and squeezed her lips together.

Tetya Sasha had said that enemies lurked in the mountains, and not even twelve hours later, Hermione had been taken from her sleeping bag while Sirius had his back turned. She couldn't believe she'd let her guard down even for a moment. Perhaps, all of this was a ploy. Perhaps, Zoya was just trying to earn her trust before doing something terrible that nobody would ever discover because Hermione was in the middle of the bloody Ural Mountain Range. Hermione's eyes narrowed, and she daringly looked back up at Zoya only to find the woman giving her a shocked expression.

"You said Tetya Sasha?" Zoya asked disbelievingly.

Hermione hesitated a moment. There was no use denying what she had said, so she just nodded. The vigorous movements of her head left her even more dizzy than she had already been. Her body was getting warm and her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she couldn't mistake the emotions that took over the Russian woman's face.

Zoya's eyes grew sad then. Like the mere mention of the woman had brought back unwanted feelings and memories.

"Do you…" Hermione paused for a moment before finishing breathlessly, "Do you know her?"

Zoya didn't answer, and instead asked with watery eyes, "Do you know Florenti?"

Hermione was going to answer. She really was. But her vision got worse, and she swayed in her seated position, and seconds later she was falling to the ground completely.

Sirius didn't know what to do.

His first reaction had been to get on a broom and scower all of the land surrounding them, but there had been no tracks. Nothing to indicate that Hermione had ever stepped foot outside of the cave. He'd landed again and found himself sinking to his knees on the harsh floor and gripping his hair with his fists. He was so panicked, he couldn't think straight. He found himself thinking that Hermione would know exactly what to do. That thought had his brain running a mile a minute to figure out where she possibly could have gone.

She had disappeared in the time span of under sixty seconds without any sounds or tracks through the snow. This left only one option.

She must have been taken deeper into the caves.

This thought had him retracing every square inch of the cave in a desperate search for any sign of a tunnel or opening. After he'd done this three times, he was growling in frustration.

Wards then. There had to be some kind of wards up which meant that whoever had taken Hermione had magic. Sirius wasn't a curse breaker by any means, but he did know one or two things. He lifted his wand to start with some diagnostics spells when there was a shimmer right in front of him and a flushed and large man appeared in front of him. The man was huge. Nearly seven feet tall and built like a muggle bodybuilder. Sirius took one look up and down him and raised his wand menacingly.

Just as he started to utter a spell to disarm him, the man held his empty hands up in surrender and yelled something in Russian. Sirius growled at him and held his wand study.

"Where is she!"

Sirius could tell the man didn't understand him as he narrowed his eyes and grew a look of frustration.

"Hermione! Where is she!" Sirius yelled. He watched as the mans eyes lit with recognition at Hermione's name, and he gestured with one of his hands at everything around him. Sirius eye's darted at all of his stuff before returning to him as he gestured close to him and then waved his hand in the direction he'd come from. Sirius's brow wrinkled.

"What in the bloody hell are you trying to say?"

"Her-moe-nee!" He pointed behind him, and Sirius's eyes flashed in understanding. His wand arm stiffened.

"You took her!"

The man made the same gestures as before, and Sirius stood frozen. He didn't seem to be posing a threat, but Sirius knew this could all be a trick. But if he said they had Hermione, Sirius didn't exactly have much of a choice. He waved his wand and all of their things flew back into his bag, and Hermione's own bag flew to his own shoulder. He kept his wand pointed at the man and gestured for the man to go forward.

The man had to grab Sirius's wrist to get him through the wards, but after that he moved quickly through the small tunnel that was lit by bluebell flames strategically placed along the walls. Sirius's anxiety seemed to grow the deeper they went and the more times the man turned to make sure Sirius was still behind him. Sirius's wand didn't waver until the tunnel's ground suddenly became more even and they were walking down a manmade corridor that reminded him vaguely of medieval dungeons. Not long after that Sirius was ushered into a room, and the first thing he noticed was a woman leaning over an unconscious and violently shaking Hermione.

"Hermione!"

He pushed past the large man and dropped to his knees in front of her, pulling her seizing form from the arms of the woman.

He held her tight as she continued to buck and tremble against him. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her breath was coming in horrible ragged heaps. He held her until her body came to a stop and she lay limply in his arms. He didn't know how long it took for her to come back to him, but when she did his body was arched over hers with his forehead resting against hers whispering quiet words of encouragement.

He felt her long lashes ghost across the tops of his cheekbones, and he pulled back quickly to study her face. Her eyes were pained, but when he leaned forward and pressed his lips lightly against her temple and then her cheeks, she seemed to relax against him.

"They found you," she said hoarsely. Her fingers tangled in his shirt when she was shaken by another contraction of her muscles.

"Don't ever do that again, Hermione," he growled.

Her eyes seemed to float across his face before landing on his grey eyes again. Her forehead creased, and he pressed a thumb against the skin there. "What happened?"

His lips thinned, and he subconsciously held her closer. "You had a seizure, I think."

Echoing footsteps sounded behind him and for the first time, he looked away from her to glance at the woman in front of him. Her eyes were darting between Sirius and Hermione in a way that had him tightening his already white knuckled grip on Hermione's waist.

An elderly man dropped beside them with a tinkling bag of supplies and gestured to Hermione. "I help."

Sirius bared his teeth at him, but the woman across from him placed a hand on Sirius's elbow. He flinched away from her and jolted to get her to release him.

"He is our community's healer. He will help her."

Sirius was fully prepared to tell them to bugger off when Hermione interrupted his thoughts with a soft, "Thank you, Zoya."

His eyes widened, but before he could protest the wizard was waving his wand over Hermione's body and muttering under his breath. After a few moments where Sirius refused to release her from his arms, the man spoke quickly to the Zoya woman before pulling multiple potions from his bag and handing them to her.

When their conversation ended and Zoya turned to him, the expression on her face made Sirius's heart clench painfully.

"What is it?" He already knew she was dying, but he hadn't quite believed it. Not really. Not until what the witch said next.

"He says her magical core is being weakened, and without that her organs are failing. He doesn't believe she has much time."

Sirius looked down at Hermione to see her eyes closed peacefully in sleep. "How much time?" He choked out.

Zoya looked down at the witch pityingly. "He says a few days at most."

AN:

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