Author's Note:

For some reason I don't quite understand, all the HTML codes don't appear to be working on my preview of this newest chapter. I've tried to upload the file in every format I can, but the result is always the same. So either it is just the preview page being wonky (which had been known to happen here, or the coding just isn't going to cooperate. If you find the codes being visible annoying, please pop over to Checkmated or HarryPotterFanfiction and read the chapter there.

Chapter 73

"What?" Hermione asked uncertainly, praying that she'd just misunderstood what Harry had said. Although deep down she knew that she hadn't, because she could feel the panic that was gripping Ron leach into her, even as she spoke.

"It's Bellatrix Lestrange!" Harry shouted back, angry at himself for being so foolish. He'd allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security and let his guard down when they reached the school. He was so stupid. He'd done exactly what Voldemort wanted him to do. He'd followed Malfoy and now the Death Eater's had Ginny. "BUGGER! I gave her my Invisibility Cloak," he cried, as he suddenly realized just how easy he'd made it for the Death Eater to stroll across the grounds with a hostage. Even if Ginny had put up a fight, no one would have seen her. "I gave her my cloak and just sat back while she snatched Ginny right out from under our nose."

"But you couldn't have known," Hermione said weakly, although what she really meant was that she couldn't have known. She was the one who had told Ginny to take Emma back up to the castle, after all. But that was only because she thought the poor girl had been traumatized enough. She hadn't wanted her to witness what she was about to do to Malfoy, for fear of frightening her even more. She was the one that told Harry to give Ginny the Invisibility Cloak. This was all her fault. Ginny was now Voldemort's prisoner and it was her fault.

"Stop it!" Ron shouted at Hermione, taking both her and Harry by surprise. "You two can play the blame game later," he said, before spinning around to face the forest. "If we hurry we might be able to…"

"NO!" Hermione shrieked, latching onto Ron's arm, to hold him in place. "We need to go inside and get help first," she insisted. "Lestrange wasn't working alone. She had Malfoy, Nott, and Goyle helping her. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their fathers aren't around here somewhere. We have to warn the teachers and…"

"By then it could be too late," Ron argued, jerking his arm out of her grasp. "If we go now…"

"It's already too late," Harry said harshly, cutting Ron and Hermione's argument off before it even got started. "And Hermione's right."

Voldemort has what he wants. BLOODY BASTARD! But if he's going to use her as bait, he'll need to keep her alive, and he'll take her somewhere close. Probably Hogsmeade. That doesn't mean he won't let that bitch torture her though, just like she tortured Hermione. FUCK! Harry swore loudly in his head, as Nott's innuendo replayed in his mind and suddenly took on a much more tangible and ominous meaning. Had that been part of the plan the whole time? Was Ginny actually the target, or would Bellatrix have settled for anyone close to him? But if Voldemort knew how he really felt about Ginny... SHITE!

"WHAT!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. No way would Harry admit defeat and throw his sister to the wolves.

"He said I was right," Hermione answered.

"FUCKING BASTARD!" Harry swore out of the blue. If that son of a bitch lets them touch her, I swear to God! "That's what he wants," Harry said to himself. "It's what he expects me to do. This is just like when I thought he had Sirius in the Department of Mysteries."

"But he does have Ginny."

"And he wants us to chase after her without thinking," Harry explained, when Ron's mouth fell open. "He's counting on it, so he can spring his trap with nobody else knowing, just like he did last year. I mean think about it. We didn't know that was Bellatrix. She could have killed me if that's what she had wanted. But she didn't," he ranted. "She took Ginny as bait, to lure me out, so Voldemort could do it. And all because of that GODDAMNED PROPHECY!"

"But... but the prophecy was destroyed," Hermione said softly. "He doesn't know what it said."

"He knows enough," Harry said bitterly. "Enough to track me down and try to kill me when I was a baby. He heard part of it, but not all of it. Just enough to know that he has to kill me before I kill him. 'Neither can live while the other survives'," he quoted the end of the prophecy under his breath.

"How could you possibly know that?" Hermione asked, after glancing at Ron and seeing that he, too, had heard what Harry mumbled, and was just as stunned by the revelation as she was. "Unless," she said, narrowing her eyes and studying Harry intently, "you know what the prophecy says."

"Yeah, I know," he admitted without ceremony.

There was no point hiding it anymore. He no longer feared his friends' reaction. Hermione had just made it clear to Malfoy that she was willing to kill if that was what she had to do to protect the people she cared about. Of course she'd been strongly influenced by Ron at the time, but that was beside the point. The point was that if they were willing to do it, they wouldn't begrudge him for doing the same thing. They wouldn't think any less of him, or abandon him, if they knew what he had to do; what he had to become.

But they didn't really understand. Not yet. Harry could tell by the expressions on their faces. They were still several steps behind him and he knew that he was going to have to catch them up to speed if they were going to be able to help him get Ginny back. They had to know what it was they were running into. But he had to do it quickly, because they didn't have much time; Ginny didn't have much time. The longer those bastards had her, the more likely they'd do irreparable harm.

"Dumbledore was there when the prophecy was made," he said quickly, clenching his fists at his sides and struggling to stomp down his rage long enough to explain. "He told me what it said after we destroyed the copy in the Department of Mysteries. "'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...'" Harry said, lowering his voice so much that Ron and Hermione had to step closer to him to hear what he was saying. "'Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives'."

"DAMN!" Ron said, more to himself than to anyone else in particular.

"So you see now what he's doing?" Harry asked. "He's using Ginny to draw me away from Hogwarts, because he knows that he has to be the one to kill me before I…"

"Rubbish," Hermione cut in. "Dead is dead and it doesn't matter who does it," she stated. "You said it yourself, Bellatrix could have killed you. And if she had, none of this prophecy bunk would be an issue any longer. She didn't kill you, because Voldemort wants to do it himself. He wants to do it, Harry. To prove to himself and to his followers that he's more powerful than you are, but he's not the only one that can. Thinking like that could be very, very dangerous. You have to see that the only real power that prophecy has is the power you two give it, because deep down, Voldemort must see that. It only makes sense that he does. He wouldn't fear Dumbledore any longer if he truly thought you were the only person alive that could defeat him."

"What are you saying?" Ron asked, goggling at Hermione in disbelief. "That Harry should just sit back and let You-Know-Who…"

"Of course not," she retorted before he could finish. "All I'm saying is that Harry's fate hasn't been preordained. It's not written in the stars somewhere. He still has a choice."

"Kill or be killed," Harry said bitterly. Some choice. Although he's making it much easier for me to choose. "Look," he stated irritably. "None of that matters right now. Right now I need you to find Dumbledore and tell him what's happened," he said to Hermione. "Tell him that I think... no, tell him that Ron and I are already on our way to Hogsmeade," he amended.

"WHAT!" she cried in outrage. "You can't go without me!"

"We won't," Harry assured her. "But if Dumbledore thinks we've already gone, he won't waste valuable time trying to prevent us from helping. Voldemort has my Invisibility Cloak, but he doesn't know about yours," he said to Ron. "We should be able to use that to our advantage. Ron and I will meet you in Gryffindor Tower," Harry said to Hermione. "If you take the secret passages, you should be able to beat everyone else back with no problems. Then we can use our brooms to get to Hogsmeade." Once I've retrieved 'the power the Dark Lord knows not'. "Come on," he said to his friends, before turning away from the forest and bolting in the direction of the double doors that would lead them into the entrance hall of the school.

¤

Hermione created quite a stir when she barged into the Great Hall, wet and muddy, wand in hand, shouting for Professor Dumbledore, who was mysteriously absent.

How can he not be here? she asked herself, staring at his empty chair as she hurried towards the staff table at the end of the hall. He's always here when the students arrive. Where is he?

"Granger," Snape snarled her name, as she ran up to her head of house. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded in an accusatory fashion, despite the fact she'd clearly been in some sort of scuffle.

"Professor McGonagall," she said, ignoring Snape's comment completely. "I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore. It's urgent. There are Death Eaters…"

"Wha?" Hagrid, who'd been listening intently along with everyone else in the room, shouted, shoving the table away from himself with so much force it toppled over with a tremendous bang. "Where's Harry?" he demanded in a booming voice, as he jumped to his feet.

"Harry and Ron went after Ginny," Hermione lied, as she'd been instructed. "Bellatrix Lestrange dragged her into the Forbidden Forest less than ten minutes ago. Harry thinks she's taking Ginny to Hogsmeade. He went to try and head her off."

"Lestrange was here?" Snape asked, as the color drained out of McGonagall's face.

"YES!"

"And she took Ginny prisoner?" Tonks said next.

"YES!" Hermione shrieked. Why are they all still sitting here? "Malfoy, Nott, and Goyle were helping her. We left Nott and Goyle unconscious outside the greenhouses, but by the time we realized what happened to Ginny, it was already too late. Lestrange had already taken her and... oh God," Hermione moaned. David. "David Devain," she said urgently, as she suddenly remembered that Ginny hadn't been alone when she'd walked off with the girl they all thought to be Emma Creevey. "Ginny and David were both with her, but she must have rid herself of him, because Harry only mentioned Ginny being taken. David must still be on the grounds somewhere. You have to find him and…"

"Hagrid," McGonagall said almost immediately.

"On it," he said, running for the door with Tonks right behind him.

¤

"What are you looking for?" Ron asked, as he stood by the open window with his broom and his Invisibility Cloak in hand, while his best friend tore through his trunk, tossing bits of clothing all over the room in the process.

"This," Harry shouted, finally finding the pair of socks he'd been searching for at the bottom and upending them until the vial that Ginny had given him the night before slid into his waiting hand.

"Is that…"

"The Power the Dark Lord knows not," Harry replied, yanking the stopper off the bottle and grabbing a knife out of his Potion's kit. "Ginny's already added her blood," he stated, as he dragged the knife across his index finger and squeezed it with his thumb until his blood dropped into the Coupling Potion. "The connection will be one-sided until she drinks it herself," he added, taking a swig, replacing the stopper, and shoving the vial into his pocket. "But I'll be linked to her, which should make it easier for us to find her."

"Let's go then," Ron insisted.

"We have to wait for Hermione."

"No," the redhead stated, shaking his head adamantly. "Hermione's not coming."

"I already promised her that we'd…"

"I don't give a damn what you promised her," Ron retorted. "She's not coming. I can't be worried about her and Ginny at the same time. Without an Invisibility Cloak, she'll have no way of getting out of the castle. The teachers will be monitoring all the ways in and out. She'll be stuck here, where it's safe."

"I don't know," Harry said, clearly torn. The sooner they left the better, and it would be far easier for two of them to hide under a single Invisibility Cloak, especially while on brooms, than it would for three. But on the flip side, he'd promised Hermione that they'd wait, and they needed her. Not just for her brains, but because she acted as the voice of reason in these situations. Or she used to anyway. She hadn't been very restrained or reasonable with Malfoy. But without her to pull them back and force them to think things through, they'd act on impulse.


Reckless act of stupidity number one, Harry thought, with a sigh. Leaving Hermione behind. "She's going to kill us," he stated, as he grabbed his broom off his bed, mounted it, and flew out the window where Ron was standing, to hover on the other side.

"Don't worry," Ron assured him, mounting his own broom and following Harry. "I'll take the brunt of it," he added, throwing his Invisibility Cloak over them both once they were side by side in the air.

¤

"DAMN THEM!" Hermione shrieked, when she reached the boys' bedroom and confirmed what she'd already suspected. "THEY LEFT WITHOUT ME!"

She'd realized what Ron was contemplating even as she slipped away from the rest of the students making their way back to Gryffindor Tower and took the shortcuts Harry had suggested. The deluge of guilt she'd experienced as she raced ahead had been enough to clue her in, but she'd held out hope that Harry wouldn't go along with him.

Apparently not, she fumed, as she stood in the middle of the empty bedroom staring at the open window. If you think I'm going to just sit here and twiddle my thumbs worrying about the three of you, Ronald Weasley, you've got another thing coming.

Of course she knew that Ron couldn't read her mind as she berated him. But he could most definitely read her mood, and Hermione knew that he could tell that she was incensed.

If he had a lick of sense, he'd have known I wasn't going to just roll over and accept this. Where there's a will, there's a way, and I'm going to get to Hogsmeade, she vowed, sprinting back downstairs. And heaven help anyone that gets in my way.

¤

"Uh oh," Ron groaned, standing upright abruptly and turning around to face Harry, now that he'd finished burying both of their brooms in the snow to hide them from view.

"Hacked off, is she?" Harry asked knowingly, when he noted his best friend's frightened expression.

"That's putting it mildly," he replied with a grimace, closing his eyes and making a concerted effort to shove Hermione's rage, and the anxiety it caused, aside, so he could focus on what he had to do. "So are you picking up anything yet?" he asked, to change the subject.

"I dunno," Harry answered, closing his eyes and concentrating as hard as he could, hoping to sense something out of the ordinary. It had been nearly ten minutes since he'd taken the Coupling Potion. They'd flown out of their bedroom window, landed in the woods just outside Hogsmeade, and ditched their brooms already, but he had no idea where to start looking. How much longer is it going to take? he thought, with a considerable amount of irritation. I don't have time for this. Ginny doesn't have time for this. I have to find her now. Stupid useless potion. "How am I supposed to know if what I'm feeling is her or me?" he asked, despite the fact he still wasn't sensing anything at all.

"I don't know," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders. "You just do. It's a bit harder when you're both feeling the same thing," he admitted, after giving it some thought. "Sometimes I still can't tell the difference, like with what happened with Malfoy. I don't know if that was her, or me, or both of us. But you've been through this with You-Know-Who, right? It's probably a bit like that. Just don't fight it," he suggested. "She must be afraid. Try focusing on that. See if you can figure out what specifically she's afraid of. That might help us figure out how many of them are with her."

"It's not working!" Harry snapped, both agitated and impatient for something concrete to go on. If he could just pick up a strong emotion, any strong emotion that was not his own, at least he'd know Ginny was alive. But the longer he went without sensing her, the stronger the nagging fear deep in the pit of his stomach became.

What if Voldemort really didn't need her anymore? What if he'd already accomplished what he'd set out to do? They'd left the safety of Hogwarts, hadn't they? Maybe that was all he wanted. What if they were already too late? Maybe Bellatrix had snapped and killed Ginny against Voldemort's orders. She'd tried to kill Hermione after all. And she would have if Voldemort hadn't intervened and used his snake to stop her.

SHITE!

The not knowing was driving him crazy.

That crazy, fucked up bitch! If she…

"You don't think she's unconscious, do you?" Ron asked, pulling Harry back and putting his mind at ease without even realizing it. "Because you won't be able to pick up anything if she is. I can't read Hermione if she's asleep. So if they've Stunned her..."

"God, I hope so," Harry cut him off. "Unconscious is better than dead," he added, when Ron looked taken aback.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, the color draining out of his face. "You don't seriously think..."

"No, no, I'm sure you're right," he answered. "She'd put up less of a struggle if she were unconscious. I'm sure that's what it is. Except," he added reluctantly, as a new thought occurred to him, "if that were the case, wouldn't I be unconscious, too, or semi-conscious?" he corrected.

"Not necessarily," Ron answered straight away. He and Hermione had discussed the probability of Harry and Ginny sharing the effects of spells, so he was prepared for this question. "That was only the standard version of the potion you took and right now the connection is one-sided. It's bound to be weaker," he explained. "And Hermione and I didn't just link our souls. We sort of unintentionally linked our bodies with a two-way Lànain spell. She reckons that's why we share the effects of certain spells. So that shouldn't happen with you and Ginny at all, which is good."

"But if our connection isn't as strong as yours, maybe she is still conscious and I just can't sense her," Harry groaned. "So much for the element of surprise," he complained. "But I'm done waiting. I'll march into the village and do a bloody door-to-door search if it's the only way to find her. Let's go."

"Hold on," Ron replied, knowing that it would be better for all of them if they spent a little time trying to figure out exactly where they were going, rather than waste even more time searching places needlessly. "Maybe if I check up on Hermione, and describe what I'm doing as I do it, you can copy me," he suggested. "That might work," he said, closing his eyes again and taking a deep breath. "OK, first off, figure out what you're feeling and then try and shove it aside. Anything that's left is her."

"Right," Harry agreed, despite the fact he had no idea how to really go about doing that. He was too angry to beat it down entirely. It was all he could do to contain it at its current level.

"She's angry, naturally," the redhead stated. "I'm-going-to-curse-you-into-oblivion kind of angry. It's kinda scary actually. And she's determined, and…" bugger "…confident. That must mean she has some sort of plan in the works. Damn it! She's not supposed to have a backup plan that I don't know about."

"Quit fretting about that and figure out where Hermione is so you can tell me how you did it and I can do it with Ginny," Harry insisted.

"Right," Ron said, concentrating really hard. "But the only way to do that is to figure out why she's feeling what she is. She's angry at us, but she's confident. She knows where she's going and how to go about getting there."

"Which would be here, by the way," Harry interjected, when he realized Ron was using his knowledge of how Hermione's mind worked to make educated guesses about everything else. Was that what he was supposed to do with Ginny? Did he even know how her mind worked most of the time?

"She can't try Apparition while she's at Hogwarts, and she can't get to the entrance that leads to the Shrieking Shack," Ron said, more to himself than to Harry this time, "because it's outside. So that only leaves one option."

"Honeydukes," they both said in unison.

"Great," Harry added sardonically. "So we know where Hermione is going to be. We'll start there and once she's finished with her lecture, there will be three of us to do those door-to-door searches."

¤

"Neville," Hermione snapped, spotting him near the front of the Gryffindors queuing up outside the Fat Lady's portrait when she burst through it. "I need your help. Come with me," she said, latching onto his arm before he had a chance to protest.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise, when Hermione dragged him back in the direction he'd just come from.

"The prefects are supposed to help the teachers patrol the halls," she stated loudly, because she knew that there were several pairs of eyes trained on them, "and Gryffindor is down by three at the moment. I need you to step in for Ron until he gets back."

"You want me to help you patrol the school?" Neville asked in disbelief.

"You do have your wand, right?" Hermione said, rather than answer his question. "Good," she added, when he produced it from the inside pocket of his robes. "Come on," she said, tugging on him again as she started to run, "we need to get down to the third floor."

"Why? Is that where McGonagall assigned you?"

"No."

"Then why are we..."

"I'll explain when we get there."

"Get where exactly?"

"Just pay attention to where I'm taking you," she ordered, as they ducked through one of the shortcuts Harry had shown her, before jogging down yet another flight of stairs. "This is really, really important," Hermione stated, after they'd reached the third floor, and she'd dragged Neville in the direction of the Armor gallery. "I need you to go find McGonagall and bring her back with you."

"Back where?" Neville asked again, clearly confused. They weren't anywhere important. They'd run right past the Armor gallery and come to a standstill in the middle of an empty hallway. There was nothing important around, just a statue of a humped-back witch.

"This," Hermione said, tapping the statue on the nose with her wand and muttering an incantation Neville couldn't quite make out, "is a secret passage leading directly into Honeydukes. The Death Eaters know about it," she stated ominously, before he had a chance to interrupt. "If they want to get into Hogwarts, this is the path they'll most likely choose. I've cursed this end of the tunnel," she said, as Neville peered into the cavern that had been exposed with trepidation. "But the spell has a flaw. It wasn't designed to keep people from getting in, only to prevent them from getting back out. Anyone can walk through the barrier once. You have to find McGonagall and make sure the teachers guard this passageway."

"CLOSE IT!" he shouted, as if he expected Death Eaters to come pouring out at any moment.

"I will," Hermione assured him, "once I'm inside."

"You can't..."

"I have to get to Hogsmeade," she cut him off. "That's where Harry and Ron are. Like it or not, they're going to need my help and this tunnel is the only option I have."

"Hermione, you can't go in there. It's too dangerous."

"Don't try and stop me, Neville, and don't try and follow me either," she warned. "By the time I make it through to the other end, the entire length of this tunnel is going to be filled with curses. I might not be able to stop the Death Eaters entirely, but I wager I can slow them down."

"Hermione!" Neville protested, as she slid through the narrow opening and disappeared into the darkness.

"Tell McGonagall," was all she said, before the doorway slid shut, and Neville found himself stranded in the corridor alone.

¤

Hermione actually managed to make it all the way to Honeydukes before she was challenged. Her one saving grace was that the small band of Death Eaters she discovered in the basement of the sweets shop clearly hadn't been expecting to meet opposition yet. Two of the three hooded figures actually had their backs turned when she started to emerge. Only one of them, a broad shouldered, brutish looking fellow with blond hair, caught a glimpse of her as she ducked back into the tunnel.

"Come out, come out, whoever you are," the blond Death Eater taunted in a singsong voice, as he launched himself off the step he'd been sitting on and cautiously approached the trapdoor he'd just seen open.

By the size of the door, he could tell that the opening would be narrow. They'd have to go down single file if they wanted to have a bit of sport and flush the girl out. No doubt she was scurrying back to Hogwarts as quickly as she could.

Technically speaking, the Death Eater knew that they weren't supposed to enter the tunnel yet. They weren't all there yet and the Malfoy brat hadn't given them the all clear signal. But if they allowed the girl to make it back to the school, she'd ruin the little surprise they had planned for the Headmaster and it would all be for naught anyway. Besides, if they managed to catch her quickly, they could drag her back up to the cellar without anyone noticing that they'd been gone, and then they'd be able to entertain themselves properly while they waited for the go-ahead to sneak into the castle.

"A chase it is then," the beefy blond jeered, lifting the trapdoor with a wave of his wand while he was several feet away as a precaution. When nothing happened, he inched forward and peered into the hole, as his comrades converged behind him. Only he was surprised to discover that the space below wasn't exactly dark. Some sort of hieroglyphic symbols were shimmering in the air just past the doorway, casting a faint golden light on the walls of the tunnel. But the light quickly faded, as did the symbols, leaving the space below pitch black once more.

"What the hell was that?"

"What's the matter, Gibbon?" the blond taunted, shoving the Death Eater that had spoken closer to the opening. "Get your arse down there, unless you're afraid the little girl might hurt you with her pretty light spell."

¤

"EXPELLIARIMUS!" Hermione shouted, the instant the first Death Eater dropped into the tunnel. She didn't want him unconscious, just unarmed. They were in a confined space after all and there wasn't much room for three grown men to maneuver about. With him standing between her and his friends, she hoped he'd be just one more obstacle in their way.

Of course just because he was unarmed, that didn't mean he wasn't still a threat. Never underestimate your opponent. It was a lesson Hermione had learned the hard way in the Department of Mysteries the year before, when she thought she'd bested Dolohov. So she didn't dare take her eyes off of the Death Eater running at her, not even when she heard one of his friends jump into the tunnel behind him.

"Stupefy," she cried, sending a bolt of red light directly into the first Death Eater's chest just before he managed to reach her. So much for my human shield, she thought, jumping backwards to avoid being dragged down with him as he pitched forward.

Unfortunately for Hermione, she wasn't able to curse two people with the same spell, nor was she quick enough to block the curse racing towards her. She barely had her wand pointed at her second opponent, when his Stunning spell hit home and knocked her off her feet.

"Not much of a chase after all," she heard the one that had cursed her taunt, as he stepped over his fellow Death Eater to stand over her. Although why he'd waste his time speaking to someone he thought was unconscious, Hermione didn't quite understand, unless it was just because he liked to hear the sound of his own voice. There was no way he could have known that the effects of his spell had been dispersed between her and someone else. True, she'd been fazed, but she was only pretending to be knocked out. "But don't you worry," he continued, "we'll still have our fun, you and I. Macnair, get down here and make yourself useful. Revive Gibbon," he ordered, kneeling beside Hermione's prone form, "while I see to our guest."

Even in her groggy state, Hermione realized that it was going to be harder to get past two fully-conscious and armed Death Eaters, let alone three. But once they entered the tunnel, she knew they wouldn't be able to follow her back out. She'd made sure that they'd have to cross through the barrier she'd thrown up, in order to fight her. Once they were this far into the tunnel, there would be no going back for them, at least not the way they'd come. They'd have to make it to the Hogwarts end of the tunnel to get out, which would be no mean feat, considering she'd left random curses scattered throughout the entire length of the tunnel, several of which were powerful enough to bring the roof down on top of them if they weren't paying proper attention.

Hermione, however, still had a shot of getting out at this end of the tunnel. She'd cast the Fortification spell Bill taught her from the inside, and she'd been very careful not to go anywhere near the barrier herself. If she could take the Death Eaters unaware and get past them, she only had to make it back to the trapdoor to be safe. Of course Harry had to figure out what was going on and use the proper counter curse on Ron before she could do much of anything. She wasn't strong enough to act on her own just yet. Fortunately that happened almost instantly. She felt the haze lift and her strength return in full measure even as Macnair stepped over the one called Gibbon to see who they'd caught.

Of course the downside to Harry reviving her through Ron was that the boys now knew she was in trouble. She could feel Ron's level of anxiety increase tenfold, even as Macnair glanced down at her and said, "I recognize this one. That's Potter's pet Mudblood."

THINK! Hermione screamed in her head, because she knew that she didn't have much time left. If Harry and Ron figured out where she was… if they reached the basement before she managed to get out and came charging down into the tunnel to save her, they'd wind up just as stuck as the Death Eaters were. She simply couldn't allow that to happen.

"Indeed," Hermione heard the second Death Eater reply. "That ought to earn us some points with the Dark Lord. You don't suppose," he said, standing upright and walking a short ways down the tunnel. "Where there is one, there could be more," he stated, using his wand as a torch to light up the expanse of the tunnel.

It's now or never, Hermione decided. One was still unconscious, one had just walked away and from the sound of his voice had his back turned, and one was standing right in front of her. The odds weren't going to get any better.

As subtly as she could, Hermione pulled her arm out from under her chest, pointed her wand at the hem of Macnair's robes, and set them on fire with the same bluebell flame charm she'd used on Snape as a first-year. There was nothing quite like having your clothing spontaneously combust to draw your undivided attention.

Macnair was still trying to stamp it out when Hermione jumped up, shoved him out of her way as he teetered on one foot, and bolted for the trapdoor. Only she stopped as soon as she reached it and rather than climb out, she spun back around to face not one, but two angry-looking adversaries.

"I was going to kill you quickly," a now flame-free Macnair sneered, his wand out and pointed directly at Hermione's heart. "But just for that, I'm going to take my time and really enjoy it."

Great, she thought, where's Ron when I need him? Oh that's right, the stupid prat ditched me. This is all his fault. If he hadn't left me behind, I wouldn't be in this predicament. And he's going to pay for it too. When I find him, that is. But first, I have to keep these Death Eaters focused on this side of the tunnel so they don't try and go to Hogwarts. It would be a lot easier to do that if Ron were here though. Spouting off at the mouth is his forte, not mine. Then again, they are Death Eaters. It shouldn't really be all that hard to taunt them into attacking me.

"I'll just hold my breath then, shall I?" Hermione said, forcing herself to stand her ground and mock them, when her every instinct was screaming at her to climb into the cellar and leave them to their hole. "Seeing as how you weren't even competent enough to execute Hagrid's hippogriff."

Well, that was even easier than I expected, she thought, as Macnair's spell raced towards her, only to be absorbed by the invisible wall standing between them.

Hermione wasn't nearly as surprised as the Death Eaters were. She'd known exactly what was going to happen when she saw the spell coming. Bill had explained it to her when he taught her to cast the spell at Grimmauld Place. It was quite ingenious really, how the Ancient Egyptians had designed this particular enchantment to use the magic any would-be-thief utilized trying to break free to reinforce the barrier keeping him in place. The more spells the Death Eaters threw at it, the stronger the barrier would become, which was why she was still standing there, taunting them.

"You're dead, you little bitch," the blond Death Eater swore, when the Cruciatus Curse he sent at her, slammed into the barricade, causing it to shimmer to life briefly, before vanishing yet again. "That shield can't hold forever," he said, firing spell after spell at it.

"Perhaps not," she replied, "but after a few hundred years, I wager it'll feel that way."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" the blond shouted. Evidently he was finished playing around. And even though she was 98 sure that the shield would hold it back, Hermione still jumped out of the way this time.

"That ought to be good for another hundred years or so," she said, when the ominous green glow was engulfed and replaced by the golden hue of the barricade momentarily becoming visible once more.

"What is that thing?" Macnair asked, glaring at the place the shimmering light had been.

"If you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you," she forced herself to answer flippantly. "But I will tell you this much," she added, as if she were doing them a favor, when in reality she was simply trying to unnerve them now. "Unless one of you can Conjure up an Ancient Egyptian, you're well and truly stuck, because I've placed the same curse at the other end of the tunnel and only the caster can walk through it," she lied.

"We will get out," the blond vowed, "and when we do…"

"Blah, blah, blah," Hermione retorted, with far more bravado than she felt. She was going to have to push it even more, if she wanted them to give up on magic and give brute force a try. Only after they tried that, would they believe that they were really stuck. "Lestrange couldn't hold me. What made you think either of you stood a chance? Bested by a… little girl. That is what you called me, correct? How pathetic. Although I'm really not surprised. I've noticed that Voldemort seems to prefer big dumb types that can't think for themselves. Case in point."

The final insult was enough to finally get the big brute moving and despite the fact that she'd told him that he wouldn't be able to get through, the bulky Death Eater either didn't believing her or he simply didn't care. He lowered his head and charged the barrier. Hermione didn't bother waiting around long enough to watch him collide with the impenetrable shield. She turned around even as he was barreling forward and pulled herself into the basement of Honeydukes sweet shop.