Phillyactress: I'm glad you're proud of Herbert, I would be too! Hermione was upset not because Megan had died, but because she witnessed it, and couldn't handle it. I think I'd be upset too! Ron is smart in this story because…well…I love Ron! Lol, I just had to give him a chance to show it. Of course llamas drive motorcycles, how do you think they get from point A to point B? Lol. Question, I've decided to do a sequel to this, can I use Herbert again?
RainDateChick: Lol. Its ok, it happens to everyone! Herbert is a wonderful Irish character that Hagrid got to help out. He's absolutely wonderful, and it's all thanks to Philly, but you'll see more of him I promise!
Smurphy: Ah yes Emery, I told you I would. Wand less magic is great, but I'm afraid you did catch me on one mistake I didn't think about. I had Draco say a spell with a piece of wood, I guess I was so caught up in the story I didn't realize that Ron gave him the fake, not his own. So thank you for pointing that out, I appreciate it! Yes there is a penalty, but Herbert saved Hermione, so I think they'll forgive him…and if not…well, we can always get another minister right? Lol.
nobertthegreat: Lol, yeah I know it is, but I think that's what makes it so fun! Yeah, I wish he could be like that really in the stories too! Thank you for reviewing, and I hope to hear from you again!
ilovefireyredheads: Oh, I'm so sorry you've been grounded! It completely sucks when that happens, but I'm glad that you read my story once you got out! Lol. Thank you so much for the compliment, I take all of them to heart! Hope to hear from you again, and behave until the end of the story! Lol.

Disclaimer: I am not J.K.Rowling and everything that you recognize in this story is NOT mine. Herbert is the creation of Philly.

A/N: Sorry guys, I couldn't go to the library this weekend to update and I didn't get back home until this morning, I was planning on updating on Saturday, but oh well. There's going to be another ball at the end of the story, so the….fourth reviewer gets to pick Hermione's dress color. Also, thank you for the reviews, they mean so much to me!

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Hermione looked away from Herbert's chest, and looked at the lifeless form lying on the ground. Megan was dead, and she was glad. Still, she got teary-eyed and wept into Herbert's shirt again. His scarred hand patted her back in a friendly gesture, trying to get her to calm down.

"Shh, I know Hermione, I know." Herbert said softly as she continued to weep. She sniffled and choked back a little, "Oh Herbert," was all she could say.

They heard footsteps and Ron came running up to them, dragging a hurt Draco behind him. Ron grabbed Hermione from Herbert and hugged her tightly, not letting her go.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I should have been there with you, I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead and pulled back a little so she could see his face. Smiling, he held her hand and turned to Herbert who was smirking in the background next to Draco, who looked like he might throw up.

Herbert straightened up and cleared his throat. Limping towards the wall, he leaned on it so he could massage his leg. "We need to get out of here," he said looking behind him. "Ron, Draco, I want you to go block that entrance to the hallway okay? Hermione and I will be working on the vault door."

Draco huffed and said, "Why can't we just go out through the hallway instead of wasting time with that stupid door? Isn't that easier than trying to unlock a vault?" He crossed his arms and pouted, obviously tired from the day they had.

Herbert scowled, "Of course not, stupid boy!" He limped towards Draco and put his face close to the whiney boy's. "You of all people should know that we can't risk there being more of them. We will go out this way, and it will give us a head's up before the rest know that we're gone. Now, stop acting like this and go with Ron to block the door. There's a good lad." Herbert watched as Draco sneered a little and finally grabbed Ron's shirt.

"Come on Weasley."

Hermione watched as Ron and Draco scampered off to block the door at the front of the long hallway, when they were out of sight, Herbert put a hand on her shoulder. Knowing what he meant, she followed him into the 'war room' where they needed to work on the door. She saw death-eaters lying on the floor, still spell-bound, save Lucius. His face was white and his eyes were rolled back in his head. He was leaning against a wall that had a blood stain all the way down to where he was.

"Draco pushed him," Herbert said knowing what Hermione was thinking, "After Lucius got up from the last blow to the wall from Draco, he said something about you. Mr. Malfoy's eyes went wide from shock, and then to anger. I've never seen a kid so mad before in my life Hermione, not even during the war in Ireland."

Hermione looked at Lucius and blinked away, not wanting to see it anymore. She had seen too many dead bodies in one day; she didn't want to see anymore. She walked to the vaulted door and began to unlock it, she put her ear up to the door to hear the clicks she wanted as she turned to lock around and around, from left and then to right.

For a few minutes, Hermione tried to unlock the door, and finally after a series of no luck, Hermione just broke down. She fell to the ground and cried into her hands, she couldn't stop and gladly accepted the hand that Herbert put on her shoulder.

"Hermione…" he began.

She interrupted him, "She was right on top of me Herbert, she was right there. I saw the green blaze and I saw her eyes go wide. I've never seen anybody die before, and she was right there." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, "The worst part is that I didn't care after words. She had hurt Draco, and all I cared about was seeing her hurt. Although," she hiccupped, "I didn't expect her to fall dead while she was on top of me." That last sentence got her going, and she began to weep once more.

Herbert knelt down the best he could with his leg and moved her face with his hand so that she could look at him. He was handsome in his older years, and she could tell his eyes had seen more than she could ever imagine. "Hermione," he said, "I know it's hard to see someone die for the first time, but I won't ever take back what I did back there. She was going to kill you, and you know it. If I hadn't had spelled her, she would have." He wiped a tear from her cheek with his rugged thumb, "You are a brave person Ms. Granger, and you should recognize that."

Getting up, he gave her a pat on the back and turned the lock to the left, which clicked loudly, "Just needed one more turn," he said before limping off to the other side to wait for Ron and Draco.

Hermione thought about what he said, she knew she almost died, and she knew that if Herbert hadn't stopped her, she would have, but that still didn't help stop what Hermione was feeling on the inside. 'I'm not brave,' she thought to herself, 'If I were brave, I would have fought back instead of closing my eyes in the face of danger.'

Voices disrupted her thoughts and she wiped her eyes one last time before looking towards the door. Ron and Draco came into the room and slumped against the wall.

"What took you guys so long?" Hermione said as she looked at the two boys who were covered from head to foot in dirt. Draco glared at Ron and said, "We couldn't decide how to block the door. I thought it would be a good idea to spell it, while Weasley thought it would be a good idea to push dirt up against it, to keep them out. We argued for a bit and decided to do both." He scowled at Ron again, "Then Weasley decided to throw dirt at me, so I threw dirt at him."

"Who won?" Herbert asked with a coy grin on his face. Hermione just laughed and knelt beside Ron and wiped his nose off with her shirt. "Draco did…" Ron muttered. "That's right," Draco said smugly, "I won, and I will always win, it's in the Malfoy blood, get over it."

He looked over towards Herbert to say something, but when he saw his father lying there against the wall, he got up. Walking over to the dead man, he frowned and then sneered, "Except in this Malfoy's blood." He said softly and angry, looking at his father, Draco kicked his foot and knelt down towards his dad. "Looks like you were the one to die before you apologized. It's ok though, I forgive you." He said sarcastically before kicking the foot one more time.

Herbert cleared his throat and walked towards the vault to open it, "Come on folks, let's get going, I'm sure your teachers are wondering where you are." Opening the door, Hermione led the way, followed by Ron and Draco. They climbed up the wooden steps until Hermione hit her head on something, "Ow!" she cried, before feeling that she hit her head on a door.

Running her hands across the wood she felt for the handle, once found, she pulled on it and opened the door slightly. A bright light blinded the four for a second before they realized it was sunlight, "We're outside…" Hermione whispered.

"Let's go and get out of here," Ron urged her through the door and held her hand as she climbed out of the basement. She could see trees and grass and everything looked beautiful. She looked up to see what bird was chirping when her eyes went wide and she pushed Ron back into the basement, shutting the door quickly. "Ouch, Hermione, why'd you do that?"

Shushing him, she pushed her way back into the 'war room' and the rest followed her. "Death eaters are outside Herbert, what are we going to do?" Ron and Draco looked at each other and closed their eyes. "We blocked the other exit with dirt, we're trapped."

Herbert locked the vault again, and sighed, "Looks like Mr. Weasley, you've got some digging to do."

He walked into the hallway and was silent as they searched for the end of the tunnel. Draco walked by himself behind Herbert, but Ron and Hermione kept some distance behind him.

"Are you ok Hermione?" Ron asked softly, as he held her hand. "It'll be ok soon, I promise." Hermione squeezed her boyfriends hand and put her head on his shoulder, "It just seems that we're never going to leave this place Ron, and I'm afraid someone else will die. What if it's you?" she said the last part ever so softly, and Ron kissed the top of her head. "It won't be" he said, "I wouldn't do that to you."

Smiling, they reached Draco and Herbert who had already begun to dig. Ron detached himself from Hermione and started to help. Within minutes the door was clear and Ron was dirty again.

"Herbert, what if they're out there waiting for us?" Ron asked him, "What if they know we're here and are just waiting for the door to open?"

Herbert looked at Ron and said, "We're trapped either way, at least we have a slight chance to get through this door. Just hold your head up lad; it'll all be fine in the end."

Nodding, Ron reached for the handle, "Here goes nothing."

As he opened the door, Draco reached for Hermione's hand and squeezed it in comfort. Ron didn't see him, but Hermione decided that she didn't want him to at this exact moment, but she didn't know why.

The door opened and another light, less bright of course, surged through their eyes, when they could see again, Hermione screamed before a hand reached for her and covered her mouth.

"Hermione, jeeze, do you want us to be heard?"

Hermione looked at Harry, who was holding her mouth and laughed, "Oh Harry, you're alive!" She let go of Draco's hand and hugged her friend.

Dumbledore came into view as they walked out of the doorway, "We've been waiting for you Miss Granger. Any longer and we would have fallen asleep." His eye gave a familiar twinkle and he looked at Herbert, "Well done Herbert."

Ron looked at the two with a confused look on his face, "How the bloody hell did you get here? How did you know where we were?"

Dumbledore smiled and answered him, "Calm your self Mr. Weasley, for I will explain. Mr. Potter contacted me after he escaped from this very mansion, he told me what had happened and I came straight away. We knew it was this door Mr. Weasley because we overheard the death eaters talking about it. For people working for the Dark Lord, they aren't so bright sometimes."

Hermione smiled and turned to Draco; "See Draco, I told you there were people waiting outside to help us…" she stopped and turned to Dumbledore. "Professor," she started, "if you don't' mind me asking, how did you get inside the mansion without being noticed."

Dumbledore smiled again and said coyly, "Plan of attack Ms Granger was to send a spell in one direction. We caused noise on the other side of the mansion, and naturally all of them went running towards it, like the followers they are. Mr. Potter and I just simply walked in unnoticed and searched carefully for you."

Ron punched Draco's arm playfully and said, "See, I told you we could have walked out unnoticed."

"Shove off Weasley."

Dumbledore looked at the two boys covered in dirt, "I see that a house unity project wouldn't be so asinine at all now."

Blushing, both boys looked away and mumbled something nobody could understand. Herbert cleared his throat and said "Well, Professor, if you don't mind me saying, I think we should head back home."

"An excellent idea Herbert, you can come back to my office with me and we'll have lemon drops." Dumbledore put his hands behind his back and walked off, the rest following him, unprepared for what was going to happen.
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A/N: Hello! I hope this chapter was to your guys liking! I had to stop here because I just can't write when the library is closing! Lol, but I so wanted to add on to this, it's a horrible place to stop I know, but at least it's at a happy ending right? Remember: the fourth reviewer gets to pick Hermione's dress color….make it good! Lol.