Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters. JKR's.

A/N: Hi all! Wow, my third chapter already. I'm sorry these first few chapters are so information-centered, I can't wait to get over them myself. But still, I can't have a fic without a good plot. Parts of both the third and fourth chapters are dedicated the building of the plot. After about the first half of chap. 4, we might start seeing some Hermione/Draco…well, you'll see.

Thanks to Icy Stormz, MORNiNg StAR, Landry Anne, Blanche Dubois, LuckyDuck, IcyFire, and of course Mikomi Kume and Pink Diary Girl.

LuckyDuck: Harry will show up…later. He plays an important role in the plot of course, but not to the Hermione/Draco element. Hermione might have interactions with Voldie, yeah, but any Voldie-slaying, in my opinion, should be left for Harry. The fluffy couples? They are there to annoy and be hated. We might have some fun torturing them later (hint, hint). And yeah, the descriptive stuff must get out of the way soon *determined look*.

Once again, thank you for sticking with me and reviewing! Reviews are a fan fiction author's best friend. Once again, don't give up on me. Hehe^^  

Chapter Three

Half an hour later, Hermione was in the front office, with all the owls sent fed, watered and thus quieted. She and the others were sitting at the large wooden desk, and sorting mail. A silver Sneakoscope sat on the desk, waiting for something untrustworthy to show up.

"Look, it's the Daily Prophet," Parvati announced, picking up their subscription newspaper from their pile. She surveyed it over, then passed it to Hermione. "Dammit, they won't stop reporting about that goddamned Russian Jobberknoll poaching case. How obvious can you be? It's not like no one knows about You-Know-Who…"

The headline read: HINOVITCH TO ATTEND TRIAL.

"Actually, I think we have some real news here," said Padma. She handed Hermione a brown envelope. News written by Harry and Ron was normally given to Hermione to read first.

How are you? We're doing really well and we miss you a lot.

We are all here in a muggle village named Torchensend (or what's left of it). Nobody's here but us investigators. We are keeping all the news quiet. Torchensend is mostly a muggle village, except that it was founded by a wizard. A few retired wizards live here among them in their cottages here for the peacefullness. Last week, a group of Death Eaters came and set it all on fire. No one survived, and most of the houses were burned to the ground. Among the magical people who were killed were Gen and Mina Chang, the parents of Cho Chang - do you remember her? She graduated a year ahead of us. If it weren't for Cho Chang and Snape, none of the other Aurors or spies would have known.

Hermione - Dumbledore wants you to go after Cho; we don't know why she left or where she's going but we need to warn her because the Death Eaters are after her. He'll be telling you about it later.

 This is a really important case because we've just found out that Torchensend was once a center for the Dark Arts. It's such a nice place, you wouldn't know from its appearance. We know what Voldemort wants – these Dark Books written by some dead Torch (the wizard founder) that will help him live forever. Snape's helped a lot by being a spy.

We can't write too much more, but Dumbledore has some assignments he needs you for. We haven't found anything yet, though. Dumbledore and them will be telling you more Saturday.

Don't bother trying to find us, Torchensend is Unplottable and you'll never find it unless you know. Alright, we think we're in Transylvania, but like said, don't try to find us. We need you there in Britain. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and Remus will be coming over there Saturday morning by Floo, but we're sorry we can't.

Hermione re-read the letter, then handed it to the others – after all, Harry and Ron hadn't put a single thing personal in there. The others read it and one by one, their mouths gaped open

"What do you suppose this all means?" Parvati asked first

"Are we powerless to help then, except to keep searching in London?" Dean.

"They're coming tomorrow morning?"

 "We can go to Flourish and Blott's to read on the history of Torchensend or something." Hermione suggested.

Soon, the six of them had left the post office and were entering Flourish & Blott's, a now-empty shop that once supplied them with writing tools and schoolbooks. None of them bothered asking Hermione why she had a spare key.

The rows of shelves of books brought a feeling of comfort for Hermione. Combined with the musty, mellow smell of wood, parchment, and cozy woolen upholstery, it was sheer heaven.

"Remember, you guys, we still have to check out my hunch on the muggle place before we do anything about this Torch thing." Seamus reminded everybody, picking up a book from the shelf (Useful Intelligence Charms, by Hengeldwin Norfinwald).

Hermione nodded vaguely at Seamus.

There was a lot of information that needed to be researched on this new lead. Not only the history of Torchensend but these Dark Arts books Voldemort was after. What did Dumbledore want her to do? Well, she'd find out soon enough. Saturday? So, Dumbledore and the others would be there the next morning.

I'll be there.

"So then, that'll give us tonight to check out that old factory before they come tomorrow, huh?" Seamus said from across the table. Seamus had become very keen on his work. They were enjoying a meal in a magically shielded parlor in the Leaky Cauldron, having spent most of the day in Flourish and Blotts. Hermione had taken out a large pile of books for reading, including European Wizarding Settlements by Odel von Huskin, Advanced Dark History by Thieman Vissu. As an afterthought, she had also taken Wooden Crosses, Fat Monks: A History of Muggle Religion Versus Magic, by Hildegard Bastian and Immortal Monsters: A Guide to Vampires and Defense Against Them, by Carmin Stoke.

"That's right." Hermione said, taking a bite of her garlic and herb schnitzel. She was grateful for a real meal. They weren't really supposed to eat out too often, though she didn't see much point in that, the soundproof parlor and Tom the barkeeper's guard seemed even safer than the post office.

"Mmmm," Lavender said, taking an indulgent bite of her chocolate scone.

"I could really get used to this," Parvati gushed happily. She was looking equally happy as Lavender, adding extra butter to her scalloped potatoes. "Could we go to Madame Malkins' later? I think she's still keeping it open part time. There's a really cute pair of fuchsia sandals there that would totally match my new tank top!" She giggled and bounced energetically in her seat.

"Hm? I thought Madame Malkins only sold custom school uniforms." Hermione replied absentmindedly, now sipping at her tomato soup.

"Hermione! Where have you been?" Parvati groaned.

"Don't think so, Parvati," Dean said evenly. "It's nearly dark, we shouldn't waste it."

Parvati groaned again, and pouted cutely at her sister's boyfriend.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

In about fifteen minutes, the six reluctant Aurors had left the bar and had gotten their Dark Detectors out. They had mutually agreed against Invisibility Charms so that they wouldn't have trouble seeing each other. Seamus was filling them out on what he had heard the night before.

The abandoned muggle factory was a large, dusty warehouse for making spare auto parts, surrounded by barred fences and No Trespassing signs. Seamus had picked up some sort of magic wave through a broken glass window. It made sense; the warehouse offered large open space that no muggles were interesting in entering. Looking inside with a Lumos spell from their wands, it looked empty except for large pieces of old debris.

"Put that light away," warned Hermione.

Five voices simultaneously commanded, "Nox".

Seamus took out his Sneakoscope, Curse-Wave Tracker and Foe-Glass and set them all out on the gravel sidewalk so that they were out of the Invisibility Charm's field. Four murky figures appeared on the Foe-Glass, the Sneakoscope started to spin, the antennae began to vibrate.

"We're onto something." Hermione whispered. She felt both excited and foreboded.

"What are we going to do?" said Lavender.

"Alright." Seamus said. "We don't know where they are, but we can be sure they're shielded, so Uncloaking Charms everywhere. If anything happens, Stunning Spells, Full-Body Binds, Impediments, whatever. Don't go in if you can do it from a window, and stay in your station around the building. I'll go northeast, Hermione, that window over by the fire escape. Lavender, take the alley…"

"And we should use a Welding Charm for the windows," Hermione added. "They're locked."

Shuffling of robes told Hermione that her friends were soon taking their places around the building. She ran to the edge of a window by the fire escape, as Seamus had ordered, and peered in, her heart pounding.

"Woldengeo!" she hissed at the window. A very thin jet of flame came out of her wand and immediately left a red-hot line on the glass. Carefully, Hermione maneuvered her wand around in a large circle so that a piece of the window came apart. "Accio!" gently, it came out and flew towards her, leaving a good clean hole.

So far, so good, Hermione thought. She looked around the inside of the warehouse. It was light enough to see her friends.

The warehouse was just an empty building, with only large room filled with old metal and concrete debris. Several cement pillars stood in the middle. If Hermione jumped in through the window, she would have to fall at least ten feet to hit the floor. It would be too loud. Now that her eyes were adjusting, she could see old machinery that had been abandoned with the building. She could also see a shape that was Parvati standing at a window on the northern side.

With a breath of trepidation, Hermione took out her wand and pointed at the ground. "Finite visibilis!" A stream of blue light shot down.

Nothing!

Her heart pounded louder as she cried the words over and over "Finite visibilis, finite visibilis, finitevisibilisfinitevisibilis…" as she weaved the light over and over each square meter of space. Nothing, nothing, nothing

Suddenly, a distant yell! More blue light was hitting every bit of space. What was the person saying? She couldn't hear over the yelling and couldn't see anything!

"Ahhhh!" a scream. A man had come out of thin air, a wizard, and he had a wand.

" Stupefy!" she screamed. Miss! A jet of brilliant light hit cement and left a dent in the ground. The man was running around now. She could hear other voices, all yelling the same thing she had. More dents in the ground!

And now another man had come out of nowhere!

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

He was down!

"Get inside!" shouted a friend. Right! Hermione pulled herself into the opening and leapt. Soft! Soft! A voice in her head screamed with instinct. As soft as possible, Hermione's shoes hit the ground with a thump. Immediately, she leapt back up and pointed her wand at the first man.

"Stupefy!" and then she ducked, getting herself low to the ground.

"Dammit!" he growled. I hit him?

She could hear more people yelling. Hermione cast a quick temporary shield around herself and tried to hide in the shadows. There were four men in black running around. An invisible force field was starting to lose effect from where it had been hit with the spells. She could see her friends sending Stunning Spells at the Death Eaters.

The man she had partially hit was running, clutching his arm. A jet of magic hit the ground where he pointed his wand. It was powerful, and sent him several feet into the air. He grabbed the windowsill with his good arm and hoisted himself up to the hole in the window.

Shit, he's getting away! Hermione ran after him. Let the others deal with the others.

She sent a powerful jet of magic to the ground and soon she was boosted into the air like he had. She scrambled onto the windowsill. He was outside already.

Hermione pulled herself out of the window and trailed him. He was fast, bigger than her, and had a wand.

"Get the hell out of there!" he was yelling. "They're Dumbledore's!"

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione screamed.

"Argh!" the man spun around and made a wild grab for his wand as it flew away from him and towards the Auror attacking him.

Yes! Caught it.

"Impedimenta!" she yelled.

His disarmed man hit the pavement. Another man dressed in black crawled out of a window.

"Impedimenta!" she screamed again. But this man was too fast. He left him friend and ran down the street.

Hermione started after him. But she stopped, looking at the Death Eater that she had hexed. He was tried in vain to get up, but his legs were too weak. He cursed at her. Hermione stared at him for a few seconds, her heart pounding a hundred beats a second. From the warehouse, she could hear yelling and could see, from the corner of her eye, flashes of light.

"Stupefy." She muttered at him, pointing her wand at him. He went limp and stop struggling. Hermione walked a bit closer. He was wearing muggle clothing and a dark mask. Hesitant, Hermione lifted it up to look at his face. He was middle-aged man Hermione didn't recognize. The tattoo on his arm showed that he was definitely a Death Eater. She grabbed the man by the shoulders and prepared to heave the unconscious body away. 

Then she froze. Someone was coming towards them, but not from inside the building.

A muggle?

A black caped figure swooped gracefully towards where Hermione was crouched. Get your wand ready! Screamed her Auror-trained conscience. But an odd feeling was filling her veins. Suddenly her arms felt as if they were made of jelly. The caped figure walked closer. She could see his face, taut, handsome and white as milk even in the darkness. His lips were very red and he was wearing all black. Something about him looked serene and calm and powerful. There was a strange power emanating from his very presence, a colorless glow. Hermione remained frozen, still gripping the Death Eater's shoulder.

Who is he? What is he doing here? She thought wildly. Ideas raced through her mind: run? Hex him? Ask him for his name?

Hermione felt as though she had been in his trance for a long time but did not know how long and whether she could pull herself out of it. Everything except for him was muffled and insignificant.

And then his lips parted ever so slightly, just enough to reveal a pair of very white, pointed canine teeth.  

Vampire?

He pulled his face close to hers so that she could look into his eyes. He lifted her chin with his black-gloved hands and his lips moved, but Hermione heard the words he spoke only as an echo in her mind:

"Pretty girl. Let the man go."