Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hermione was trying to read the book she had signed out from the wizarding library in town, but a pair of all too obvious cobalt eyes were staring at her, trying to get her attention.
"Ron, I'm trying to finish this chapter," she warned without looking up.
"You've been at that for hours," he whined.
"It's only been twenty minutes."
"Well, it feels a lot longer than that."
"That's because you're just lying there, staring at me," she admonished.
"What did you expect?" He said, propping himself up on one elbow on the bed. "I come home after a hard day's work to find you sitting on my bed but all you want to do is homework."
"I'm sorry to have built up your hopes but it was quiet here, so I came here to read."
"So how much longer do you think you're going to be?" He asked after a long stretch of silence.
"Ron!" She tried to sound stern but with only marginal success.
"I see I'm already starting to break through that tough, academic exterior of yours," he said, giving her a lopsided grin.
"You're a horrible influence," she said, biting her lip to keep from smiling.
"One you don't seem to mind," he said sitting up and wrapping his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder. "What are you reading anyways?"
"It's about hypnosis," she said to him.
"Hypnosis?" He said sounding surprised. "Isn't that in the same league as Divination? I wouldn't think you'd be interested in that."
"I'm not – I mean I wasn't until yesterday."
"Why? What's changed?"
"Since everyone seems to think this may be the key to helping me remember what happened before the charm stopped working."
Hermione didn't like to talk about that day. While she had still been in St. Mungo's, Ron had tried to get her to remember but she would just get frustrated and not want to talk about it. He was surprised she would even consider doing something as dodgy as this.
"And hypnosis is what's going to do that?" He sounded every bit as skeptical as she had when she had first found out about it.
Hermione put the book down in her hands and began telling him about the procedure Remus had explained to her, along with the risks involved. She pulled out a couple of articles from her book bag to explain some of the incidents in which it had already been used, even though it was only marginally successful in a handful of cases. She also told him Moody wanted her to do this because he thought it might provide the Order with strategic information.
"I know you've done your research, but are you sure you want to do something like this?"
"I haven't decided anything yet," Hermione replied. "And it's not just because of the risks involved with the Veritaserum. I'm just not sure if I want to know what happened," she admitted. She couldn't help but think about what Remus had said about her mind naturally suppressing those memories as a means of protecting her.
"The hell with Moody," said Ron. "You don't need to do this. The Order has other informants and contacts it can go to. You don't even know if you're even going to find anything useful.
"Ron, even if there's a remote chance it could help I should do it."
"I don't even know why we're still talking about this because it sounds like you've already made up your mind."
He didn't sound angry but he didn't sound overly thrilled about what she wanted to do either. But he knew once she got an idea in her head he'd have better luck convincing Malfoy he wanted to be friends, then to get Hermione to change her mind.
"Let's just forget about this for tonight, okay?" Ron said. Then, as if to emphasize his point, he took the book off the bed and tossed it on the floor.
"Ron, that's a – "
"I know its library property," he said, cutting off her scolding. "But they're never going to know, so what's the harm?" He said, grinning mischievously and tossed another book off the bed that had those articles she had shown him stuffed inside.
"You've made your point," Hermione said. "And for your lack of respect towards library property maybe I should just leave?" She said and started to get up, but Ron with his Auror reflexes pulled her back down to the bed so she landed on top of him.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked coyly.
"Well, I know you really don't want to leave. You're just trying to get a response out of me," he responded.
"Are you really sure about that?"
Instead of waiting for his answer she closed the gap between them and kissed him hard on the lips. Ron's response was immediate and he tangled his hands in her hair, pulling her closer. He moved his hands from her hair down to her back. He heard a door open and stopped.
"Its just Harry," she breathed, kissing his jaw line.
Ron, with amazing restraint that he didn't even know he possessed, gently pulled Hermione off of him and sat up. "I just need to talk to him quickly. I'll be right back."
Hermione was frowning at him and he had to get out of there before he changed his mind. Damn, Harry for deciding to come home now, Ron thought.
He found Harry in the living room, just about to switch on the telly.
"Hey," Harry said to him.
"So you and Ginny are an official thing now?" Ron said. "Because two days ago you were worried about You-Know-Who being able to access your thoughts. So what, that doesn't matter now?"
"Of course it still matters," said Harry. "I'm going to see Snape after our mission tomorrow, so he can see if I really am still vulnerable to Voldemort."
"Have you said anything to Ginny?"
"No, because I know she'll just worry and it might be for nothing. And you don't have to worry about me putting her in danger because she's not even talking to me right now."
"What happened?" Hermione asked, appearing in the doorway behind Ron.
"She found out that everyone knew I wasn't an Auror anymore before her, so that didn't go over too well," he said, fixing his gaze on the telly.
"Did you try apologizing?" Hermione asked, joining him on the sofa.
"No," Harry mumbled, suddenly feeling like an idiot.
"It might help," she encouraged. "Then maybe the next time you have something important you should tell Ginny first."
"Hermione, it's not like I planned to tell Ginny last. It just happened. I don't know why it should even matter who I tell first," he said, exasperated.
"I think it matters to Ginny. She knows you told us first, right?" She said and Harry nodded. "Maybe she felt a bit left out then, or even jealous."
Harry just sighed. This relationship stuff was far too complicated for him.
"So, are you going to tell Harry?" Ron spoke up.
Hermione frowned at him. She hadn't wanted to bring up the hypnosis idea to Harry yet.
"Tell me what?" Harry said, staring from one best friend to the other.
Hermione knew there was no way she was going to get away without telling him now, so she explained to him the whole procedure, the same way she had to Ron.
"I don't think you should do it," Harry said afterwards. "If there was a good chance you would recover something useful, don't you think Moody would have suggested the procedure sooner?"
"This isn't just about helping the Order. Maybe I need to know too, for my own piece of mind."
It didn't sound to Harry like she really wanted to know.
"Just don't rush into anything, okay?" He said, giving her hand a quick squeeze. "Having the knowledge of a few hours isn't worth you getting hurt over."
As soon as Harry was out of the room, Hermione shot Ron a sharp look. "You wanted me to tell Harry because you knew he would side with you?"
"No," Ron lied unconvincingly, coming over to sit beside her.
"I'm not saying I'm going to do it," she said to him. "But would you come to St. Mungo's with me if I did?"
"Of course I would," he replied instantly.
But Ron knew without a doubt as Hermione curled up next to him that she was going to go through it.
Ron and Harry were huddled around the strategy table at Phoenix Headquarters, along with Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Bill, and Charlie. Tonks was currently leading the meeting on the Death Eater raid they would heading that night.
"Based on the intelligence we got from Fred and George a few days ago, a new Death Eater cell has popped up about 10 miles south west of the Ministry. We don't have exact numbers on the number of Death Eaters there, which is why we're going in teams of two. What we do know is that there is a spell surrounding the area that prevents anyone from apparating in or out unless they know where the pockets are. Try apparating outside those pockets and you'll be killed instantly. The spell extends about a mile outwards in all directions, so we'll apparate to a secure location outside it and then walk in. This is the spot that's already been scouted out, so you're all to apparate here," said Tonks, using her wand to draw a glowing red circle on the map. "From there, we'll head in. Questions?" She asked in a very, un-Tonks like serious tone.
There were none, and Tonks cleaned up the strategy table with a wave of her wand and they moved out.
Harry was all too aware of the fact that Moody's glass eye had been following him throughout Tonks speech. He didn't have time to worry about Moody's distrust of him though – there was a mission to complete.
Once the group was a safe and concealed distance away from Phoenix Headquarters, they all apparated within a couple of meters of the point Tonks had indicated on the map. When they were all there, Bill and Charlie did a quick perimeter sweep that turned out nothing so they moved on.
The building was disguised as a rundown muggle barn that had seriously deteriorated over the years. Fred and George's information had said to walk up to the west side of the barn and then through the swinging doors that were falling off their hinges. It was supposed to operate very similar to the barrier between platforms nine and ten at the train station, and would transport them inside.
Lupin and Kingsley went first, quickly disappearing behind the wooden doors. The rest of the group followed a short time afterwards. They reappeared in a large hallway, completely dark save for the illumination coming from the adjoining room.
Moody indicated they should move and they broke out into their teams of two, heading into the next room. It was clear the barn was just a façade as the inside was much larger. There was a great open area, like it was some sort of a meeting place. There were sets of staircases on either side, leading up to walkways that surrounded the open area on the floor.
The fact that they had not encountered any resistance to that point, that even their approach to the place had gone undetected, left Harry with an uneasy feeling that refused to abate. As soon as the group was fully spread out, Harry felt cold excitement in his head, and froze, realizing the deadly mistake they had made.
He screamed out, "it's a trap!" to warn everyone seconds before the first wave of wand fire rained down on them.
The area lit up as they took up defensive positions to begin returning the curses being shot at them from the walkway above. Harry couldn't even begin to fathom a guess as to how many Death Eaters were present there were so many. He and Ron were standing back-to-back, returning wand fire from a shielded spot under the walkway. When Harry looked up he could see Bill and Charlie had made it to the other staircase and were taking down Death Eaters trying to make it to the main level.
"Looks like there's an opening on the other staircase," Ron shouted over the noise. "Think we can make it?"
Harry, who knew they couldn't hold out much longer in their current position, took the initiative and started running towards the other staircase in a zigzag pattern to avoid getting hit. He could hear Ron's heavy footsteps behind him as he started climbing the stairs. Death Eaters were on top of them the moment they reached the top of the platform.
Ron aimed at the pack of Death Eaters closest to their position, taking out three of them in a matter of seconds.
Harry spun around at the popping sound behind them. A Death Eater had just apparated behind them. He and Ron would have already been dead or unconscious if the Death Eater had been using a normal charm. But a purplish energy looking sphere was swirling around its wand, slowly increasing in size. Ron turned as well because it seemed to be emitting a low sound. Harry had never seen this kind of spell before, which made it impossible to tell if he'd be able to block it with a standard shield spell.
As the noise continued to raise in volume, it was probably a sign the Death Eater was getting close to releasing it. Thinking quickly, Harry shoved Ron and himself through a darkened doorway and into another room.
Both teens were surprised to see they were in a room that looked every bit the same as the one they had just come from. The sounds of the battle in the other room could barely be heard, which meant there was likely an impenetrable charm put on the room.
"What do you suppose they need these rooms for?" Ron said to him.
Harry himself wasn't too sure it was meant as a meeting area anymore, now that there was more than one. He was going to voice his opinion when something swinging slightly in the air caught his attention. He felt his chest tighten when he saw it was a person dangling from that rope. When he recognized who it was, it took everything he possessed not be sick on the spot.
His grip on Ron's arm was painfully tight as he made him come around to the direction he was facing. Ron felt his knees buckling slightly at the sight before him.
Just as he did so, Harry heard the marching of footsteps coming from the doorway they just entered through. He turned back to Ron, who had fallen to his knees beside him and threw up.
"Ron, they're coming," he said, trying to draw his friend out the state he was in. But Ron didn't seem to hear him. He couldn't get past the image of a dead Percy hanging in the air in front of him.
The footsteps were getting louder and Harry drew his own wand, planning to cover both of them as Ron seemed to be in no state to fight. The dozen or so Death Eaters that applied on the platform in front of them, told Harry he would not be able to get out of this with his wand alone.
He took aim and shouted a body-binding curse at the Death Eaters nearest the front before blasting two more against the far wall. But they were too fast. Through his own wand fire and use his mind to push the Death Eaters back, he managed to keep a sizeable gap between them and him.
He had been told to avoid obvious shows of his powers in the presence of the enemy, but it was either that or let Ron and him die.
He used his mind to throw two Death Eaters over the railing and smashed the skull of another one against the wall. He didn't care what he did as long as he prevented them from getting too close. The sound of a wand behind him told him Ron had recovered and was now covering him from the other side.
Harry was late in getting up a shield charm, so his hand was still exposed when the curse hit him and he lost his wand, lucky enough not to lose his hand in the process.
Knowing he had a split second choice of either to conjure it back to him and maybe not get a defensive charm up in time, or to charge the Death Eaters without a wand and use the element of surprise to take out as many as he could.
When Ron heard him move from behind him and saw him running into the packs, he shouted, "Harry, what the hell are you doing?"
Harry didn't answer. He needed every ounce of concentration he could muster. He was already feeling drained from using his telekinesis so much. He didn't try to do anything fancy or difficult, all he cared about was doing it whatever it took to take out as many Death Eaters as possible, whether it was knocking them unconscious or snapping their necks. He was making quite a dent in the pack of Death Eaters and was glad to see Ron was still holding his own, when a blinding pain ripped through his skull. He staggered backwards, grabbing his scar. That's when he felt the last Death Eater who he had only managed to disarm before succumbing to the pain, club him over the head. Harry collapsed onto his back, already feeling something sticky and wet trickling down the side of his face.
The pain in his scar had subsided to a dull ache, while the pain from the blow to the head he took was still fresh. The Death Eater had recovered its wand by this point and was looking triumphant staring down at a fallen Harry. Harry tried to use his mind to throw it backwards but the same stabbing pain ripped through his scar and the Death Eater was still standing in front of him.
His breathing ragged Harry lashed out with his booted foot, knocking the Death Eater off balance, and allowing him a chance to stagger to his feet. Weaponless, Harry jumped on the Death Eater and tried to wrestle his wand away. The Death Eater had about a hundred pounds on him, making it difficult for Harry to get the upper hand.
They were wrestling against the railing, when Harry suddenly felt it give way under their weight and they plunged through the air in a deadly fall towards bottom level.
Harry felt his body crash through the wooden floorboards before finally hitting something solid and stopping completely…
When Harry came to, it hurt just to breathe. He managed to blink open his eyes but everything was a dark, blurry mess around him.
"Thanks for deciding to rejoin the living," said Ron's hushed voice, sounding from above him.
"Ron?" He croaked. "What happened?" He was flat on his back, but at least he could feel his legs, though at the moment he wished he couldn't.
"You're a big fucking idiot, that's what happened," said Ron, his voice more rough now. "Don't you remember deciding to take on a squad of Death Eaters single-handedly and then wrestling with one twice your size before you both fell over the railing?"
"I thought I was dead."
"It must be that extremely thick head that protected you."
"You're one to talk," Harry retorted, attempting to sit up and immediately regretted doing so as the pain in his chest doubled.
"I patched you up as best I could but my med charms aren't that great," he said, sounding apologetic.
"I guess we should have taken Hermione's offer to teach us healing charms a bit more seriously," said Harry, closing his eyes to try and block out the pain.
"I'm sure she'll have good time scolding us about it when we get back," Ron remarked sarcastically, but there was no humour in his voice.
"Where is everyone?" Harry asked him. His eyesight might be poor but he couldn't hear anyone else but Ron.
"I don't know," Ron replied, his tone turning grim. "After you fell, all the Death Eaters started turning and running away. I went to grab you and found another way out. It's a good thing too, because the whole place was blown to bits a few seconds after we got out." Ron reached into his robes and handed Harry a thin, brown object. "I got your wand but couldn't find your glasses."
Harry took his wand gratefully. He'd rather be semi-blind than weaponless because he sure as hell wasn't going to chance using his powers again so soon after what had happened. Something occurred to him then and he regretted not saying anything sooner. "I'm sorry about Percy, Ron."
He couldn't make out the expression on Ron's face in the darkness, but his friend didn't speak for almost a minute. "They knew we were coming," he said at last. "They wouldn't have hung – wouldn't have done that if they hadn't been expecting us."
Harry, who was having to rely on his hearing more heavily now, heard the restrained grief and rage in Ron's voice. He knew Ron and Percy weren't particularly close. Ron had refused to forgive him for deserting his family, but it didn't mean Percy's death wasn't tearing him up inside.
"Can you walk?" Ron said to him. "I've been trying to keep us hidden in case any Death Eaters were still hanging around, but we need to get out of here in case they decide to come back and see if their trap worked."
Harry, with help from Ron was able to get to his feet.
"I figure we're about a quarter of a mile from the barn," Ron said as he walked and Harry limped. "We need to get out from under the shield spell before we can apparate out of here. The explosion could have disrupted it but I don't want to take that chance."
Harry didn't bother with a response. It was all he could do to keep from slipping into unconsciousness again. He didn't even know how long they walked for before Ron finally stopped.
"I made us walk a bit further, just to be safe," Ron said to him. He didn't want them to still be inside the bubble by chance and the moment they apparated they were splinched or worse. "I'll apparate us to St. Mungo's."
Harry became alert at this. "You going to apparate us both at the same time?"
"Listen, I hate to break it to you, Harry, but you'll probably splinch yourself the second you try to apparate. I think the odds are a hell of a lot better if I do it for both of us," Ron countered.
Ron didn't wait for Harry's response. Putting a lot more concentration into apparating then he normally did, he pictured St. Mungo's in his mind and disapparated with Harry.
As soon as Kingsley came to Grimmauld Place brining the news that Harry and Ron had showed up at St. Mungo's, they couldn't leave fast enough for Hermione's liking.
She burst into Harry's room and straight into Ron's arms. "I didn't know what to think," she said burying her face into his shoulder and tightening her grip on him. "I've never been so worried."
"Sure you have," said Ron. "Like when you didn't think I was going to pass my O.W.L.s or that time – "
Hermione broke the embrace, and deciding it was best not to comment on Ron's statement, turned her attention to Harry, who was occupying the single bed in the room.
"You better not launch yourself at him," Ron advised her. "He's in pretty rough shape."
"Thanks, Ron," Harry muttered. If he had the strength he would have sent Ron a warning look not to tell Hermione about what he had done. She already looked close enough to being hysterical over worrying about the two of them.
Hermione turned back to Ron. "I'm so sorry about, Percy," she said, lowering her voice.
"You know?" Ron said, his voice tightening.
She nodded. "Tonks found him when they were searching for you. Your mum is still at Grimmauld Place with your dad."
Ron gave a slight nod of his head. His mum would be a mess. She was the only one of them that didn't begrudge Percy for walking out on their family.
The hospital room door opened behind them and Ginny entered. She encountered Ron first and embraced him tightly. They weren't normally so openly affectionate in public but that attitude was nowhere to be found that night.
She made her way to Harry next and not wanting to aggravate his injuries, embraced him gently. She heard his sharp intake of breath and immediately let go. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"A little, but it's better now that you let go," he said, forcing a smile so he wouldn't look so haggard. He sought out her hand and she clasped it tightly.
"Everyone else made it out okay, right?" Ron said to Hermione.
When she didn't answer right away, Harry tore his gaze away from Ginny to look at her. "Hermione?" He prompted.
She bit her bottom lip. She knew she had to tell him. She had just been hoping to put it off a bit longer. "Remus is missing."
Harry, who seemed almost a cripple a moment before, shot up in bed, grabbing his sides as he did so. "Missing? Did he at least make it out before the place blew up?"
"Tonks was with Remus but she got hit and went down. She doesn't know what happened to him after that. She thinks there's a good chance he got out. She thinks it's also just as likely the Death Eaters grabbed him, which explains why no one's heard from him."
"Are they out looking for him?" Harry asked, slowly moving his legs so they were hanging over the side of the bed.
"Tonks and Moody are conducting the search themselves." Her eyes widened when she saw he was trying to get up. "Harry, you can't – "
Ron moved quickly and caught one of Harry's arms, while Ginny grabbed the other one to keep him from falling.
"Damn it, Harry," Ron said, trying to hold him up. "The Healer said you're not supposed to walk around for at least a couple of days."
"I'm not just going to lie there while Remus is missing."
"You have to, Harry. You can't help him like this," said Hermione.
Harry resisted Ron and Ginny's attempts to get him back into bed.
"Harry, you should be resting," Dumbledore's voice sounded from the doorway.
"Moody and Tonks are going to need all the help they can get in finding Remus," Harry argued. "Every second wasted – "
"No time is being wasted," Dumbledore assured him. "As you just said, Tonks and Alastor already have two teams assembled and are searching for Remus as we speak. You, Harry, in your current state cannot help them. You would only be hindering their progress."
Harry just stared at the Headmaster defiantly, not looking any closer to getting back into bed.
"Harry, I'm afraid if you continue to refuse Mr. Weasley's attempts to get you back into bed, I will have to get the Healer."
Harry finally agreed – albeit grudgingly to get back into bed. He didn't know if Dumbledore would make good on his promise to get a Healer but he did not want to risk having to take a sedative potion.
"Thank you," Dumbledore said to him. "There are many capable people looking for Remus. With time, they will find him," he told them all confidently.
The bit about time was what had Harry worried the most. If Lupin was in Death Eater hands he might not have much of it.