Disclaimer- All the characters you recognize are Miss Rowling's. (Who else could invent such beautiful and lively characters?)

CLOSE TO MY HEART

CHAPTER 8

UNDER THE DARK MARK

Two hundred kilometers away Hermione dropped to the ground unconscious.

The Weasleys had always treated her as their own daughter. Her pain had always been their pain. They knew that Hermione and Ron had fancied each other for quite some time, but they did not know that they were already together. They would love to have Hermione Granger as their daughter-in-law. They wanted her to be Mrs. Hermione Ronald Weasley. They wanted to still expand the Weasley family. Arthur and Molly would have late night discussions about how many grandchildren they wanted to have. Arthur would say at least thirty, but Molly try to talk him down to twenty. But Arthur would defend himself saying, "Molly, we have seven children. Even if they have four kids each, we are bound to have twenty-eight grandchildren." And they would discuss their children. Molly said, "Bill is dating Fleur; Charlie, Fred and George are single, Ron has a thing for Hermione, and Ginny, ah well you know her." At this comment, Arthur would laugh, and Molly with him. But this was before the war broke out, before every single person lost the reason to smile, to laugh. Since the war, many lives had been lost, and still more destroyed. The wizarding community could only hope now. Hope that the war would end soon.

As soon as they saw Hermione fall to the ground, unconscious, they ran forward to help her, not caring the spells that came their way. Arthur held Molly's hand and they made a run for it. If Hermione needed them, they would help her at any cost. They were still in the battleground. Their youngest and only daughter…no not their only daughter, Hermione was no less than a daughter to them. But Ginny was dead. She was no more.

They bent down over Hermione and shook her. Molly placed her head on her lap and stroked her forehead. With this, Hermione finally regained consciousness and asked in a low dehydrated voice, "Mum…Dad…where are they?" She suddenly started screaming very loudly, "My mum and dad! Where are they?"

Molly made some soothing sounds but they did not cool Hermione a lot. They finally decided to take her to the Burrow, where she would at least be safe. Arthur was a little apprehensive about leaving the war, but he could not let Molly go alone. Thus, they went to Knockturn Alley, from where they apparated to the Burrow.

They popped right in the living room, where sat a very distraught Ron who was crying madly.

As soon as Molly saw her son in such a state, she went and hugged him, and she too started crying on his shoulder. He saw Hermione standing behind Molly. Her angelic face only had silent tears. How could he break this news to her? It would completely unbuckle her. The war spelled death and disaster, nothing else.

Slowly, he walked to her. She couldn't take it any longer. She ran to him and buried her face in his broad chest and cried her heart out. He pulled her tighter against him and tried to calm her down.

When they finally pulled away from each other, Ron cupped her cheek in his hand and said, "Hermione, you must bear this. Your parents are no more. Death-Eaters killed them."

Hermione stopped crying. Tears would just not come. She looked at Ron's face in horror, and SMACK! She slapped him hard. Ron's only response was to pull her closer to him.

"I understand Hermione. I understand what you are going through. But you must face this." He then raised his voice and started shouting at her, "Don't you give a damn to your dead parents? Aren't you sad because of their demise? Then why aren't you CRYING? Cry Hermione, let your tears out. Don't hold them back. Your parents are not truly gone. They are somewhere up there, looking at you, felling sad at your sad moments, feeling overjoyed at your happy ones."

This broke Hermione down. She moved still closer to him and burst out crying. Ron started stroking her hair gently and finally rested his hand on the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes. He tilted his head and felt her do the same. Involuntarily, she parted her lips and wet them. Within no time, his lips were on hers and he entered her mouth. Hermione too kissed him back, their tongues exploring the depths of each others mouths and battling for supremacy at the same time. Ron's hands snaked around her curves, making her moan. Hermione too, was ruffling Ron's hair all this time, first softly, and then more urgently, as their kiss grew more passionate.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a huge blast which rocked the whole house. Arthur and Molly ran down the stairs. Seeing them coming, Ron and Hermione hastily broke apart. Molly reached down first and addressed the children, "Both of you run away from here. It's the Death-Eaters. We have some important Order papers with us. We will gather them and come after you. Now run. We can take care of ourselves."

"But mum-" After all the past happenings and the circumstances at hand, Ron was bound to fell scared.

"NOW!" She shouted at him. "Ron, Hermione; look, you have to run. We have no time. They will be here any moment. And…and if we don't come back remember that we will always love you. If both of you decide to marry, our blessings are with you."

All the four people there had tears in their eyes.

"Now run!" Once again Molly shouted.

Hand-in-hand Ron and Hermione ran out. They could not use the Floo Network because that would be watched. They had to resort to muggle means to escape.

Death-Eaters started to enter the house, but a certain man with flaming red hair was standing on the gate, with his wand drawn out. His eyes spelled anger and hatred for the Death-Eaters and love and repentance for his family. How could he ever think that his parents and the Order could be wrong and the Ministry right? He regretted every decision he made. The proud, perfect Percy was gone. Instead, there was a man who could do anything for his family, anything to be with his parents again, and anything to win their trust again.

"You will not enter this house till I'm here." Percy shouted at the Death-Eaters. Arthur and Molly were shocked to see Percy there. Their son had left them after a huge fight more than two years ago. But now he was back, back to save the lives of his parents. He was back to fight the raging war against Lord Voldemort.

Only one word could pass through Molly's lips, "Percy…" Tears came into her eyes and she ran forward to hug her son. She forgave him, and how couldn't she? She had not seen her son for so long. Which mother can ever stay away from her own son, her own flesh and blood?

"No mum." Percy stopped her from coming near him. It was not for the Death-Eaters; he would run into her arms and melt into her motherly embrace. The blinked away the tears that were coming into his eyes, and on a higher tone shouted to the Death-Eaters, "Go back. You will not get anything here, but death. Go back to your Lord, the maniac Voldemort."

At this the Death-Eaters started laughing evilly and said, "Weasley, you cannot stop us. The Dark Lord shall win this war. He will emerge victorious. Then he will reward all his loyal Death-Eaters beyond their wildest dreams. You and all the other blood traitors shall perish at the hands of the Dark Lord."

This speech gave rise to more laughter. But Percy was not a person who could be intimidated by such things. He stood there boldly in the doorway and yelled, "Stupefy!"

A Death-Eater dropped to the ground stunned. The other Death-Eaters charged towards the Burrow. But Percy was continuously yelling spells at them. He stunned a few Death-Eaters and hexed many more with minor hexes. All this time Arthur and Molly tried their best to go to the aid of their son, but Percy did not allow them.

After about fifteen minutes of vigorous dueling, a Death-Eater caught Percy from behind his back and pointed his wand at his throat. Percy dropped his wand and put his hands down in defeat. The Death-Eater muttered the fatal curse. All was green and Percy dropped to the ground dead.

Arthur and Molly lost two of their children on a single fateful night. Tears would just not stop. But they had to save themselves, for their other children who needed them.

But alas! The Death-Eaters had already entered their house. They had spread all over and arranged themselves into a circle around them. Together all of them yelled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The entire house was engulfed in bright green light.

Half a kilometer away, Ron and Hermione saw the Dark Mark hovering over The Burrow.