DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and
owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros.,
Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is
intended.
(Author Note: Please give a quick review when you're done reading, I need feedback! Thank- you! Also, there's major spoilers to OotP if you haven't noticed that yet, sorry for not saying earlier. If you notice any mistakes in the plot in corresponding with the books please let me know, I wrote this before book 5 came out and I had to change a lot of things and may have forgotten in some parts.)
"HERMIONE!" she heard a familiar voice shout. "HARRY!" She screamed in joy, spinning around. She saw him standing there in his Gryffindor Quidditch robes, which she had always thought made him look handsome. He was grinning at her, and she flung herself into his arms, hugging him as she had long ago during their quest for the Sorcerer's Stone, as though he may soon be gone forever. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, he disappeared.
Hermione woke up in near tears. What a cruel dream she had had. To see Harry, only for him to disappear. Yet she hadn't seen recent Harry, she had seen Harry from four years ago. He'd be 19 now a whole lot taller probably, and more mature looking. She tried to picture his face but failed miserably. Hermione had tired everything to get over the loss of her best friend, as had Ron. She had wept, plenty of times she had wept, often with Ron along with her. Often they had gotten angry, downright furious, blaming Voldemort, blaming Dumbledore, blaming Harry even. If Harry had valued their friendship as much as they'd valued his, he would have come back. However, they knew it was false reasoning. Sometimes, time would pass, and it would all be okay. She would be able to make herself relax about the situation. However, it couldn't last. It wasn't like overcoming the loss of a loved one, for they did not know weather he was truly dead or not.
Hermione could hear Ron in the kitchen, though it was one o'clock in the morning. They shared a flat in Hogsmede, so they could be near Hogwarts and towards the center of the wizarding world, despite the risks. They had witnessed many attacks on their hometown. Even the Weasley Wheezes joke shop had been demolished once. Poor Fred and George had to start from scratch, though they had gotten much support. People loved their joke shop, which had gotten its real boost when they were given a bunch of money just before Harry's disappearance. The twins refused to tell anyone where the money had come from.
Hermione headed to the kitchen to see Ron. He stood staring out the window, his red hair a ruffled mess, still clothed in his pajamas (a knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a pair of flannel pajama pants.) "Bad dreams Ron?" Hermione asked, sympathetic. Ron nodded. "I just miss him, you know. Especially with Christmas coming up. Did I ever tell you about our first Christmas at Hogwarts? Harry was so surprised to get presents, you should have seen him. It was priceless." Ron smiled just a bit, and Hermione handed him a warm mug. "Do you. think I should be over it by now Hermione?" Ron asked sheepishly, has eyes on the floor. Hermione shook her head firmly. "Harry was- is your best friend Ron. It's just. hard, that's all. Us three were inseparable, and the thought of him still being out there, its hard to live with." Ron resumed his gaze out the window. "Are you over it Hermione?" He asked. "Not at all Ron. Not at all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron spent long hours surveying maps, formulating plans, and preparing the aurors, as Hermione spent long hours in the library, researching spells and other important charms and potions to help with the mission. A week had passed, and there had been two meetings. The death eaters had made no attacks yet, they were probably too busy preparing the prison camps. The fact that the death eaters were planning prison camps was both surprising and not surprising. The fact that Voldemort had control over enough government officials and enough of an army to pull it off came as a shock to the order who though his murders and raids had been pulled off by a relatively small ring of death eaters. Prison camps of such magnitude would require an impressive force. The fact that they planned to kill off muggles and muggle borns was not at all surprising. They would kill off all enough to cause the world to crawl to them in fear once they realized no weapons or battles could end the carnage.
Jaques Farrier was French, and Fleur had helped dig up information on him. He had been raised in a wealthy pure blood family, similar to the Malfoys, and his parents had supported Voldemort in the old days. His manor, La Noir Maison, was formerly unplottable, and few had known of its location, before the Aurors had managed to get the scoop on it. Now that they had the location, the plan was to use revealing spells once they arrived at the coordinates, and then bring in two teams from the North and South, leaving one team to secure the perimeter. They would cut off the floo network before hand, and apparition would be no problem, as Fleur had assured them it was protected by anti apparition charms anyways. The rest would be a battle. They suspected many guards and death eaters would be there, and numerous traps as well. Every single person involved looked upon the day with dread.
The three teams met at Hogwarts the morning of the attack, and clearly, no one had slept. The commanders wore the golden robes of the order, the crest of a red phoenix embroidered to them. The aurors wore the auror's uniform, black pants, belt, and shirt, their supplies fastened in the belt, as well as in the strap that crossed their chests. They wore high black boots, and together the group of 21 looked fit for the job. They just hoped they were.
Dumbledore was the first to step into the fire place. "La Chateaux Delacour!" He shouted, and disappeared. Fleur's home was the closest friendly location to their destination, and the planned to fly from there. One by one they climbed in, well knowing it was too late to back out. As they arrived they reassembled, and headed outside to fly. It would take several hours to get there, and taking down the concealing charms put on the manor would take hours as well. They didn't plan on entering until night, which Ron was very glad about, for had assured everyone that they needed the cover of night.
Hermione watched as Ron stepped onto his broom, a firebolt like Harry had once owned. Fred and George had bought it for Ron with their summer business earnings, as a congratulations present for his making the Gryffindor team keeper. In the later years, Ron became the captain, however, while he was pleased, the position saddened him. Everyone had always thought that Harry would be the captain. Third year Richard Bright had had quite a job of filling Harry's robes, so to speak, and while he had been a good seeker, he could never match Harry's breath taking game of skill. Most everyone missed Harry, if for no other reason, quidditch wasn't quidditch without him.
Hermione on the other hand, hated to fly. She'd never been much good at it, and had always maintained that fear she'd had since second year when she and Harry flew on Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. As she mounted her own broom, a slow but dependable Silver Arrow 2000, she kicked off hard, and joined Ron. Luckily, he had promised to fly slowly beside her, which relieved her anxiety.
As they flew they tried to talk of anything but the upcoming mission. Ron tried to talk about Quidditch, which, despite the danger surrounding the wizarding world and the murders which spotted the globe, had not shut down just yet. Ron was blabbing on about rumors that when the winter season ended in a week quidditch would shut down. Hermione didn't really care to listen, and tried shifting the conversation to the goblin rebellions, however, this just led to a fight, and they continued in silence. Though Ron was her best friend in the world, they couldn't always seem to carry a conversation together, both being easily angered, stubborn, and impatient. Harry had always been an important middle ground in these aspects. He loved to talk about quidditch with Ron, but could deal with discussing other things with Hermione as well, and of course, being the boy who lived, always had some problem or other to work out with her, which kept her over working mind busy.
When they finally touched down, preparations went underway, which led them into night. Before they knew it, they were preparing to head into the most dangerous situation yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry had always been the most courageous of the three, and had kept their heads straight under tough situations. However, now that he wasn't there. It was all up to Ron and Hermione to stay cool on their own. It wasn't going too well. Ron kept biting his nails as they waited for Remus' signal which never failed to annoy Hermione. Of course, her nerves fueled her annoyance, and they began to bicker once more.
The concealment charms had been removed, and now they could see the tall black towers and walls of the castle that was La Noir Maison scraping the starlit night sky. The plan was for Tonks to shoot red sparks from her wand, and at that signal, they would cast spells to take off the anti intruder spells. Of course, as soon as they took down the charms, an alarm would sound, notifying Jacques Farrier of their intrusion. Then it would be a mad race. As Dumbledore's squad covered the perimeter, they would also cover the backs to the advancing squads. Any wrong moves, and people would die. Such a thought was a heavy burden.
The sparks flew. The mission had commenced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone has those split moments when you can barely comprehend your surroundings, when everything moves so fast, you can barely remember it afterwards. For some, it's while giving a speech, for others, its while playing a game, or taking a test. Whatever it is, it is an occasion which we both love and hate. It's both a wonderful rush and a horrible one. Right then, all 21 people were feeling it.
They dashed towards the walls of the manor. They stopped, backs to the wall, prepared, using it as a barrier to the curses they had set off which were flying as them. No one noticed that the wall was entwined in not ivy, but Devil's Snare. They noticed soon enough, as the plant began to wrap around them. Hermione and Ron nearly laughed at the surprised yelps about them. "Where'd this come from?!" One auror screamed. "Helios Lumos!" Hermione shouted, causing the plant to retreat. "It only comes out at night. It hates sunlight." She explained. They began to cast spells to stop the barrier charms atop the wall, and then flew over them on broom stick, only to hit an invisible wall on the other side of the wall.
Hermione felt her broom crash hard, and she fell ten feet to the ground. Two others had fallen as well, one was out cold, and other groaned loudly. Ron and the other three aurors had stayed on their broomsticks, and Ron quickly landed besides her.
"Hermione!" he yelped desperately. "Hermione! Are you okay?!" It had been a long fall, but she had been quick to use her brain, and had cast a cushioning spell. The wind had just been knocked out of her. "Mmm hmm" she muttered, gasping for breath. The aurors rapidly saw to their partner's health, and soon they were up and moving.
Then came the chimaera. The creature was some of the most vicious known in the wizarding world, and all they could do for the time being, was run as fast as they could. "Who is this guy?!" Ron demanded loudly, running besides Hermione. "Enough security you think?!"
They were rapidly approaching the doors, the snarling animal on their heels. Before Hermione could stop them, one of the aurors reached for the door handle, and was thrown back ten feet, right in the path of the Chimaera. Hermione's mind raced madly. Ron was on top of this one though. Literally.
Lunging at the creature, head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon, he managed to startle it for long enough for the auror to get up. "FORCE THE DOOR!" Hermione yelled, knowing it could be opened no other way. She had to save Ron. His face was now bloody from a swipe of the dragon tail, and he was desperately loosing the fight. Hermione personally knew that only one wizard had ever defeated the Chimera, and had died shortly afterwards. She needed to devise a plan, and fast. She couldn't defeat it, but she could drive it back. With all the strength she could muster, she shouted, "REPELIOUS!" sending the creature back in midair, just as it was about to land on Ron. It didn't go very far, it was much too strong, but it was stalled long enough for them to retreat through the now forced door.
Slamming the door behind them, Ron, who had strategized a plan through a rough sketch of a map, led the way, his face still bleeding profusely. Hermione felt greatly drained from her last spell, and trudged along. The hallways were surprisingly quiet. One could only wonder what was happening on the other side of the manor, where Remus and Remus were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had gotten across the wall with the same obstacles as Hermione's team, though they did not know that. They had made it to the door without the attack of a Chimera, and were attempting to force the door when a much more terrible opponent came to them.
Quickly, they were surrounded by death eaters, their masks hiding their faces. Remus felt his heart beat rapidly. "I'm too old for this" he thought, his mouth going dry as the aurors bumped into him, all backing up from their opponents, who slowly closed in on them. Wands were pointed straight at them.
"Oh god" Remus thought, "this is it. This is the end. I'm coming James, Lily, and Sirius."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione, Ron and their squad madly raided the hallways. "Let's split into two groups" Hermione suggested, but Ron shook his head. "I have a feeling the corridors change here. We'll never find each again." "Good point" Hermione agreed, and they continued to search the walls for secret passageways, and sweep the corridors for clues that people were there, or that they had left.
"What do you make of this?" An auror asked Hermione in a hurried whisper. She took a crumbled piece of parchment from him, and gazed at it for a few moments. It had part of an address on it, it appeared to be unfinished. Pointing her wand at it, she whispered, "Reveleo." The ink formed the words, "Jacques Farrier, December 2, 7:47 PM." "Farrier wrote this just ten minutes ago!" She whispered excitedly, looking up at Ron. "He's still around!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as Remus prepared to hear, "Avada Kedavra" he instead heard, "ARE THERE MORE OF YOU?!" In a rough and demanding voice. Remus slowly opened his eyes to peer at the masked face. "Maybe I can stall" he thought hurriedly, and pretended to whimper and fall to his knees. He knew if he could stall enough time, Ron and Hermione would find him.
"WHO'S THE LEADER HERE?!" the voice demanded. All the aurors were too shocked by Remus' response to react. Tonks knew what Remus was up to however. "He is." Tonks said slowly, stalling as well. All the aurors knew was that everything was becoming fairly ridiculous.
"Sorry excuse for a leader." A man said, a thick French accent laced in his words. He kicked Remus hard in the ribs, and Remus doubled over in a pain that needed no faking. "Answer ze question!" The man said loudly.
"I am the leader." Remus said slowly. As the man with the French accent drew his wand, Remus began to speak quickly, "there are no others here! I swear! Look at me, I'm a cowardly old man, I just wet myself, do you think I have the courage to lie! Just don't hurt me!"
"Why waste time hurting you when I quick avada kedavra will do the job?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The search had intensified. Now that they knew he was here, they grew more determined to find him, shaking off their prior fears. "Stop." Hermione demanded. "We need to find Tonks and Remus' squad. We can search much better together, that is, if they've made it this far. They'd be entering from the north." Taking out her wand, she used a simple "point me", and began to head in the right direction.
Several corridors later, they had found the north entrance. They went to charge on forward, when an auror stopped them suddenly. "Wait!" The woman demanded, peering ahead. "There's death eaters out there! I think they have the others circled!"
Hermione bit her lip worriedly. "Ron! What now?" Ron looked as though he was thinking so hard he might hurt himself. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers loudly. "I've got it!" he cried. "Each side of the house has three doors. We split in two and follow the northernmost wall in opposite directions until we find the doors. Perhaps, we can sneak up on the death eaters from either side and stupefy them right there and then!"
Hermione looked skeptical, but as it was the only plan they had, they decided to follow it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remus was feeling shaky all over. He had stalled the best he could, and racked his brain now. He'd only really gained a few minutes, but at least no one had been killed in those minutes. He wondered what chances he had of making it out alive.
The Frenchman raised his wand at Remus. He felt every muscle in his body tense up. His heart stopped. His ear drums pounded. "Avada Kedavra" he heard, but he did not die. He remained kneeling there, alive. He opened his eyes in confusion, and the Frenchman merely laughed. Remus suddenly realized the man had aimed his wand at the auror behind him, and not actually Remus himself. A weeping auror hovered over his fallen comrade, who looked to be no more than thirty years of age. Remus recalled that the young man's name had been Evan Smith, a good man and auror, who was supposed to wed after the war. It wasn't fair.
He gazed at the Frenchman with a vengeance. "Who's next?" The man asked jovially. Then came brilliant flashes of light, and the world went dark.
(Author Note: Please give a quick review when you're done reading, I need feedback! Thank- you! Also, there's major spoilers to OotP if you haven't noticed that yet, sorry for not saying earlier. If you notice any mistakes in the plot in corresponding with the books please let me know, I wrote this before book 5 came out and I had to change a lot of things and may have forgotten in some parts.)
"HERMIONE!" she heard a familiar voice shout. "HARRY!" She screamed in joy, spinning around. She saw him standing there in his Gryffindor Quidditch robes, which she had always thought made him look handsome. He was grinning at her, and she flung herself into his arms, hugging him as she had long ago during their quest for the Sorcerer's Stone, as though he may soon be gone forever. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, he disappeared.
Hermione woke up in near tears. What a cruel dream she had had. To see Harry, only for him to disappear. Yet she hadn't seen recent Harry, she had seen Harry from four years ago. He'd be 19 now a whole lot taller probably, and more mature looking. She tried to picture his face but failed miserably. Hermione had tired everything to get over the loss of her best friend, as had Ron. She had wept, plenty of times she had wept, often with Ron along with her. Often they had gotten angry, downright furious, blaming Voldemort, blaming Dumbledore, blaming Harry even. If Harry had valued their friendship as much as they'd valued his, he would have come back. However, they knew it was false reasoning. Sometimes, time would pass, and it would all be okay. She would be able to make herself relax about the situation. However, it couldn't last. It wasn't like overcoming the loss of a loved one, for they did not know weather he was truly dead or not.
Hermione could hear Ron in the kitchen, though it was one o'clock in the morning. They shared a flat in Hogsmede, so they could be near Hogwarts and towards the center of the wizarding world, despite the risks. They had witnessed many attacks on their hometown. Even the Weasley Wheezes joke shop had been demolished once. Poor Fred and George had to start from scratch, though they had gotten much support. People loved their joke shop, which had gotten its real boost when they were given a bunch of money just before Harry's disappearance. The twins refused to tell anyone where the money had come from.
Hermione headed to the kitchen to see Ron. He stood staring out the window, his red hair a ruffled mess, still clothed in his pajamas (a knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a pair of flannel pajama pants.) "Bad dreams Ron?" Hermione asked, sympathetic. Ron nodded. "I just miss him, you know. Especially with Christmas coming up. Did I ever tell you about our first Christmas at Hogwarts? Harry was so surprised to get presents, you should have seen him. It was priceless." Ron smiled just a bit, and Hermione handed him a warm mug. "Do you. think I should be over it by now Hermione?" Ron asked sheepishly, has eyes on the floor. Hermione shook her head firmly. "Harry was- is your best friend Ron. It's just. hard, that's all. Us three were inseparable, and the thought of him still being out there, its hard to live with." Ron resumed his gaze out the window. "Are you over it Hermione?" He asked. "Not at all Ron. Not at all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron spent long hours surveying maps, formulating plans, and preparing the aurors, as Hermione spent long hours in the library, researching spells and other important charms and potions to help with the mission. A week had passed, and there had been two meetings. The death eaters had made no attacks yet, they were probably too busy preparing the prison camps. The fact that the death eaters were planning prison camps was both surprising and not surprising. The fact that Voldemort had control over enough government officials and enough of an army to pull it off came as a shock to the order who though his murders and raids had been pulled off by a relatively small ring of death eaters. Prison camps of such magnitude would require an impressive force. The fact that they planned to kill off muggles and muggle borns was not at all surprising. They would kill off all enough to cause the world to crawl to them in fear once they realized no weapons or battles could end the carnage.
Jaques Farrier was French, and Fleur had helped dig up information on him. He had been raised in a wealthy pure blood family, similar to the Malfoys, and his parents had supported Voldemort in the old days. His manor, La Noir Maison, was formerly unplottable, and few had known of its location, before the Aurors had managed to get the scoop on it. Now that they had the location, the plan was to use revealing spells once they arrived at the coordinates, and then bring in two teams from the North and South, leaving one team to secure the perimeter. They would cut off the floo network before hand, and apparition would be no problem, as Fleur had assured them it was protected by anti apparition charms anyways. The rest would be a battle. They suspected many guards and death eaters would be there, and numerous traps as well. Every single person involved looked upon the day with dread.
The three teams met at Hogwarts the morning of the attack, and clearly, no one had slept. The commanders wore the golden robes of the order, the crest of a red phoenix embroidered to them. The aurors wore the auror's uniform, black pants, belt, and shirt, their supplies fastened in the belt, as well as in the strap that crossed their chests. They wore high black boots, and together the group of 21 looked fit for the job. They just hoped they were.
Dumbledore was the first to step into the fire place. "La Chateaux Delacour!" He shouted, and disappeared. Fleur's home was the closest friendly location to their destination, and the planned to fly from there. One by one they climbed in, well knowing it was too late to back out. As they arrived they reassembled, and headed outside to fly. It would take several hours to get there, and taking down the concealing charms put on the manor would take hours as well. They didn't plan on entering until night, which Ron was very glad about, for had assured everyone that they needed the cover of night.
Hermione watched as Ron stepped onto his broom, a firebolt like Harry had once owned. Fred and George had bought it for Ron with their summer business earnings, as a congratulations present for his making the Gryffindor team keeper. In the later years, Ron became the captain, however, while he was pleased, the position saddened him. Everyone had always thought that Harry would be the captain. Third year Richard Bright had had quite a job of filling Harry's robes, so to speak, and while he had been a good seeker, he could never match Harry's breath taking game of skill. Most everyone missed Harry, if for no other reason, quidditch wasn't quidditch without him.
Hermione on the other hand, hated to fly. She'd never been much good at it, and had always maintained that fear she'd had since second year when she and Harry flew on Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. As she mounted her own broom, a slow but dependable Silver Arrow 2000, she kicked off hard, and joined Ron. Luckily, he had promised to fly slowly beside her, which relieved her anxiety.
As they flew they tried to talk of anything but the upcoming mission. Ron tried to talk about Quidditch, which, despite the danger surrounding the wizarding world and the murders which spotted the globe, had not shut down just yet. Ron was blabbing on about rumors that when the winter season ended in a week quidditch would shut down. Hermione didn't really care to listen, and tried shifting the conversation to the goblin rebellions, however, this just led to a fight, and they continued in silence. Though Ron was her best friend in the world, they couldn't always seem to carry a conversation together, both being easily angered, stubborn, and impatient. Harry had always been an important middle ground in these aspects. He loved to talk about quidditch with Ron, but could deal with discussing other things with Hermione as well, and of course, being the boy who lived, always had some problem or other to work out with her, which kept her over working mind busy.
When they finally touched down, preparations went underway, which led them into night. Before they knew it, they were preparing to head into the most dangerous situation yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry had always been the most courageous of the three, and had kept their heads straight under tough situations. However, now that he wasn't there. It was all up to Ron and Hermione to stay cool on their own. It wasn't going too well. Ron kept biting his nails as they waited for Remus' signal which never failed to annoy Hermione. Of course, her nerves fueled her annoyance, and they began to bicker once more.
The concealment charms had been removed, and now they could see the tall black towers and walls of the castle that was La Noir Maison scraping the starlit night sky. The plan was for Tonks to shoot red sparks from her wand, and at that signal, they would cast spells to take off the anti intruder spells. Of course, as soon as they took down the charms, an alarm would sound, notifying Jacques Farrier of their intrusion. Then it would be a mad race. As Dumbledore's squad covered the perimeter, they would also cover the backs to the advancing squads. Any wrong moves, and people would die. Such a thought was a heavy burden.
The sparks flew. The mission had commenced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone has those split moments when you can barely comprehend your surroundings, when everything moves so fast, you can barely remember it afterwards. For some, it's while giving a speech, for others, its while playing a game, or taking a test. Whatever it is, it is an occasion which we both love and hate. It's both a wonderful rush and a horrible one. Right then, all 21 people were feeling it.
They dashed towards the walls of the manor. They stopped, backs to the wall, prepared, using it as a barrier to the curses they had set off which were flying as them. No one noticed that the wall was entwined in not ivy, but Devil's Snare. They noticed soon enough, as the plant began to wrap around them. Hermione and Ron nearly laughed at the surprised yelps about them. "Where'd this come from?!" One auror screamed. "Helios Lumos!" Hermione shouted, causing the plant to retreat. "It only comes out at night. It hates sunlight." She explained. They began to cast spells to stop the barrier charms atop the wall, and then flew over them on broom stick, only to hit an invisible wall on the other side of the wall.
Hermione felt her broom crash hard, and she fell ten feet to the ground. Two others had fallen as well, one was out cold, and other groaned loudly. Ron and the other three aurors had stayed on their broomsticks, and Ron quickly landed besides her.
"Hermione!" he yelped desperately. "Hermione! Are you okay?!" It had been a long fall, but she had been quick to use her brain, and had cast a cushioning spell. The wind had just been knocked out of her. "Mmm hmm" she muttered, gasping for breath. The aurors rapidly saw to their partner's health, and soon they were up and moving.
Then came the chimaera. The creature was some of the most vicious known in the wizarding world, and all they could do for the time being, was run as fast as they could. "Who is this guy?!" Ron demanded loudly, running besides Hermione. "Enough security you think?!"
They were rapidly approaching the doors, the snarling animal on their heels. Before Hermione could stop them, one of the aurors reached for the door handle, and was thrown back ten feet, right in the path of the Chimaera. Hermione's mind raced madly. Ron was on top of this one though. Literally.
Lunging at the creature, head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon, he managed to startle it for long enough for the auror to get up. "FORCE THE DOOR!" Hermione yelled, knowing it could be opened no other way. She had to save Ron. His face was now bloody from a swipe of the dragon tail, and he was desperately loosing the fight. Hermione personally knew that only one wizard had ever defeated the Chimera, and had died shortly afterwards. She needed to devise a plan, and fast. She couldn't defeat it, but she could drive it back. With all the strength she could muster, she shouted, "REPELIOUS!" sending the creature back in midair, just as it was about to land on Ron. It didn't go very far, it was much too strong, but it was stalled long enough for them to retreat through the now forced door.
Slamming the door behind them, Ron, who had strategized a plan through a rough sketch of a map, led the way, his face still bleeding profusely. Hermione felt greatly drained from her last spell, and trudged along. The hallways were surprisingly quiet. One could only wonder what was happening on the other side of the manor, where Remus and Remus were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had gotten across the wall with the same obstacles as Hermione's team, though they did not know that. They had made it to the door without the attack of a Chimera, and were attempting to force the door when a much more terrible opponent came to them.
Quickly, they were surrounded by death eaters, their masks hiding their faces. Remus felt his heart beat rapidly. "I'm too old for this" he thought, his mouth going dry as the aurors bumped into him, all backing up from their opponents, who slowly closed in on them. Wands were pointed straight at them.
"Oh god" Remus thought, "this is it. This is the end. I'm coming James, Lily, and Sirius."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione, Ron and their squad madly raided the hallways. "Let's split into two groups" Hermione suggested, but Ron shook his head. "I have a feeling the corridors change here. We'll never find each again." "Good point" Hermione agreed, and they continued to search the walls for secret passageways, and sweep the corridors for clues that people were there, or that they had left.
"What do you make of this?" An auror asked Hermione in a hurried whisper. She took a crumbled piece of parchment from him, and gazed at it for a few moments. It had part of an address on it, it appeared to be unfinished. Pointing her wand at it, she whispered, "Reveleo." The ink formed the words, "Jacques Farrier, December 2, 7:47 PM." "Farrier wrote this just ten minutes ago!" She whispered excitedly, looking up at Ron. "He's still around!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as Remus prepared to hear, "Avada Kedavra" he instead heard, "ARE THERE MORE OF YOU?!" In a rough and demanding voice. Remus slowly opened his eyes to peer at the masked face. "Maybe I can stall" he thought hurriedly, and pretended to whimper and fall to his knees. He knew if he could stall enough time, Ron and Hermione would find him.
"WHO'S THE LEADER HERE?!" the voice demanded. All the aurors were too shocked by Remus' response to react. Tonks knew what Remus was up to however. "He is." Tonks said slowly, stalling as well. All the aurors knew was that everything was becoming fairly ridiculous.
"Sorry excuse for a leader." A man said, a thick French accent laced in his words. He kicked Remus hard in the ribs, and Remus doubled over in a pain that needed no faking. "Answer ze question!" The man said loudly.
"I am the leader." Remus said slowly. As the man with the French accent drew his wand, Remus began to speak quickly, "there are no others here! I swear! Look at me, I'm a cowardly old man, I just wet myself, do you think I have the courage to lie! Just don't hurt me!"
"Why waste time hurting you when I quick avada kedavra will do the job?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The search had intensified. Now that they knew he was here, they grew more determined to find him, shaking off their prior fears. "Stop." Hermione demanded. "We need to find Tonks and Remus' squad. We can search much better together, that is, if they've made it this far. They'd be entering from the north." Taking out her wand, she used a simple "point me", and began to head in the right direction.
Several corridors later, they had found the north entrance. They went to charge on forward, when an auror stopped them suddenly. "Wait!" The woman demanded, peering ahead. "There's death eaters out there! I think they have the others circled!"
Hermione bit her lip worriedly. "Ron! What now?" Ron looked as though he was thinking so hard he might hurt himself. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers loudly. "I've got it!" he cried. "Each side of the house has three doors. We split in two and follow the northernmost wall in opposite directions until we find the doors. Perhaps, we can sneak up on the death eaters from either side and stupefy them right there and then!"
Hermione looked skeptical, but as it was the only plan they had, they decided to follow it.
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Remus was feeling shaky all over. He had stalled the best he could, and racked his brain now. He'd only really gained a few minutes, but at least no one had been killed in those minutes. He wondered what chances he had of making it out alive.
The Frenchman raised his wand at Remus. He felt every muscle in his body tense up. His heart stopped. His ear drums pounded. "Avada Kedavra" he heard, but he did not die. He remained kneeling there, alive. He opened his eyes in confusion, and the Frenchman merely laughed. Remus suddenly realized the man had aimed his wand at the auror behind him, and not actually Remus himself. A weeping auror hovered over his fallen comrade, who looked to be no more than thirty years of age. Remus recalled that the young man's name had been Evan Smith, a good man and auror, who was supposed to wed after the war. It wasn't fair.
He gazed at the Frenchman with a vengeance. "Who's next?" The man asked jovially. Then came brilliant flashes of light, and the world went dark.