"Aside from that little detour, we're in possession of two more Stones", Strange was the last one to exit the portal before it closed.

As it was in the middle of the night, the entire street was predictably empty – for the most part, only a very loud group of teenagers where walking in the distance. Harry was very aware of how much their odd group stood out.

"And we have information about the whereabouts of whoever claims to be Harry", said Lupin.

"He resides in a pocket dimension somewhere, I think I know the place", said Strange.

"And?" said Harry.

"And that's all the information we've got."

"You're serious?"

"Very."

"Great. You guys go do that while I go after Hermione", Harry dug for the mask in his pocket and pullet it over his head. "You coming?" He turned his head from Ron to the Peters.

Ron opened his mouth and closed it tightly. Harry didn't see

"Harry, I fully understand how much Hermione means to you. But we don't know if she's alive or in a worse state than that. Wasting time to find her will only mean our doom draws closer so much faster", Lupin was looking at Harry, now more serious than angry.

"We can split up!" said Harry, upset at his supposed friends weren't supporting him. "If nothing else, I'll go on my own!"

"Are you even thinking straight right now?" said Lupin.

"Why would you go on your own?" said Ginny. "That seems like suicide."

Strange slightly tilted his head in a sort of half-hearted shrug. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's not seeing the bigger picture!"

Harry felt hurt, betrayed. He knew where to find her, it was if the location from his vision was burned into his brain: Malfoy manor, that was the place, he was sure of it. But his friends refused to see things from his point of view.

He might as well do it on his own.

"I don't know about you, but I won't sit by while someone is being tortured!" he shot up a web at a building and swung away.

"Harry, wait!" yelled a voice after him.

As he furiously swung, someone swung up at each side of him. It was the two Peters and Ron clinging onto one of them, screaming for his life.

"You are insane, you know that right?" said Peter.

"You didn't have to come after me", said Harry.

"Maybe not, but we stick together, right?" said Pete.

They rounded the corner of a tall building.

Harry couldn't help but smile behind the mask. "One of you guys don't happen to have a spare suit lying around? I kind of uh left mine behind."

"Didn't you say you could replicate things?" said Peter, looking at him.

"Do we really have time for that right now?" asked Pete.

"Sure we do! He's practically naked without a suit", said Peter half-way through a corkscrew-kind of motion.

"That's not how that works!" said Pete with noticeable irritation in his voice.

Harry flung himself high up into the air, doing multiple backflips before shooting another thread that carried his momentum forward. He had missed swinging freely between buildings. No more did he have to put up with the musky pine smell or branches lashing into his face, only the refreshing polluted air of London filling his lungs and the occasional bird.

Swinging didn't last for as long as Harry would have wanted, as the buildings started to become less and less as they got closer to the Malfoy home.

On the way they had stopped on a rooftop to replicate Peter's suit. Putting it on was a real hassle compared to how easily Harry usually got into his suit, eventually he gave up and used magic to get it on instead.

The last few miles they had to run. Harry thought he might as well describe who the Malfoys were, so he did just that.

Finally, they had reached their destination. Ron fell down on the ground as soon as they stopped, sucking for air as he laid on the gravel.

The Malfoy home was giant, surrounded by a giant green hedge and behind a black metallic gate leading to the big mansion, too big for just – what – three people? Harry quickly counted the Malfoy family members on his fingers.

Peter pulled off his mask and looked at him like he was that one strange kid in class who wouldn't do what he was told to do no matter what.

"What are you doing, math?" Peter said, looking stressed out.

"No, just wondering how three people can live in that house without being absolutely sick of it", said Harry.

Peter looked at Pete who just shook his head.

"Well, after you", Peter nodded towards the gate.

Harry walked up to the gate and looked at it. "I'm really gonna enjoy this", he shot one web, two webs, three, four, five, six webs – with enough strength he pulled the gate clean off its hinges. Ron jumped to his feet, startled by the noise.

"That's a bit overkill, don't you think?" said Peter, gesturing at the gate, as if he was waiting for Harry to go and fix it.

Harry scoffed. He jumped over the fallen gate and lightly jogged across the gravelled road, the two other Spider-Men closely following him – and surprisingly, Ron as well. For a second, he wondered how he had recovered so quickly, but then his thoughts went back to the mission at hand.

His eyes were set for the door, and as he got close enough, he kicked away from the ground with his feet and a landed a very hard kick through the door which pulled the entire thing off entirely from its hinges with a deafening crack that definitely was much louder than he had expected.

In a graceful pose, he and Pete landed next to each other in a big hall, possibly a dining room judging by the chairs and long table – and the fancy pillars and giant chandelier, if rich people like the Malfoys had those in their dining rooms, that is. "Honey, I'm home! I brought my pals, if that's okay."

Peter looked down on the two of them. "Oh, we're supposed to pose? Alright, my bad", he awkwardly crouched down next to Harry in a similar pose.

Harry groaned.

Immediately, his eyes were set on the surprised group of oddly dressed Death Eaters standing together with the same mysterious, purple robed person with a hood and metallic mask that Harry had seen on the bridge. The two other Spider-Men were already on it and attacked them.

"Go! Find her, man!" yelled Peter. "We keep these guys busy!"

Harry didn't waste a second and swung over the battle breaking out underneath him. What was the most believable place to keep prisoners? Underground, right? Right. He spotted a set of stairs going down and wasted no time getting to it and kicking down the door leading into a big empty room – it was more like a dungeon, really.

The dungeon was so dark that he hardly saw anything, only indistinct silhouettes of people. Faint sobbing reached his ears. Harry felt nauseous and upset knowing that this was something Voldemort had probably been doing for months, keeping people locked up and tortured them until they either died from the torture or starvation.

A crack in the dark followed by a squeaky little voice broke the eerie atmosphere. "Harry Potter, sir?" A small set of dirty feet carried forward a house-elf clad in very mismatched but colorful clothing.

"Dobby?" Harry lowered himself to Dobby's level. "Where did you come from?"

"Dobby was sent here to help Harry Potter and his friends!" Dobby smiled.

Harry nodded. "Okay Dobby, have you by any chance seen Hermione?"

Dobby frowned and shook his head.

A soft, dreamy voice spoke to them. "I have", Luna Lovegood approached them, she looked worse for wear but better than what Hermione probably looked like. "I have taken care of her while you weren't here, Harry. Have you come to rescue us?" She smiled delightfully at him.

Harry was taken aback. "How do you know it's me?"

"Your voice is very distinct and warm. By the way, she's over there. I tried to clean her wounds but it didn't go so well", Luna pointed towards a corner.

Harry pulled off his mask. What was even the point of having a mask anymore?

Dobby hurried away to the corner; Harry followed. "Wounds? What happened?" He looked on the floor where a human laid curled up into a pathetic ball.

"She tried to fight them and escape. It ended horribly", said Luna, still sounding like they were just discussing the weather.

Harry crouched down by the person, putting his hand on their shoulder. It was definitely Hermione. His fingers traced over her, trying to find any sign of a major wound. The back of her shirt was ripped up, something was carved into her skin but he couldn't tell what in the dark.

Around a wound in her side, she had a ripped piece of clothing soaked with dried blood acting as a makeshift bandage.

The fury against Bellatrix bubbled inside him as he gently turned Hermione around on her back and lifted her into his arms.

Her face was scarred and bruised, not horribly but certainly noticeable – her left eye was too swollen to open. She didn't react, but simply lied in his arms, mouth agape and eyes closed.

"Hey, I'm here", he pressed his shaking fingers against the side of her throat – good, she still had a pulse. "Hermione?"

Only a weak gasp left her mouth. Harry felt horrible seeing how much pain this place had caused her, leaving her broken and far from the brainy, firm and loving witch he knew.

"Get them away from me!" roared a sudden, not quite human voice from another corner. It sounded more monstrous. "Get them away!"

Luna's soft and dreamy sort of voice spoke to the monstrous voice. "There is no one here, dad. Except for those people – they look dreadful. But they are no threat."

"Dreadful?" piped Dobby angrily.

"Hermione?" Harry felt his heart get stuck in his throat. "Hermione, please wake up."

She took a few raspy breaths, still remaining unresponsive. Had he been too late after all? He lowered his head over her. Maybe all that remained of her was a husk of a person. Breathing, with a pulse but not really alive.

"Harry?" Hermione opened her one good eye slightly. "You came."

Startled, he raised his head and looked at her. He felt his tears roll down his face behind the mask, but smiled. "Always the tone of surprise."

"I hate you", she said with a weak smile.

"I know. What happened to you?"

"I tried to fight them", she said and wheezed, gasping desperately for air.

"Alone?"

She made a tiny whimpering sound and nodded.

He untied the old bandage around her side and covered her wound with webbing instead. "That should be better. Can you stand up?" he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I can carry you, but we have to move fast."

Hermione grumbled something inaudible. "Just get me out of here." She closed her eye for a brief moment, breathing unsteadily until she decided to open them again.

"Are you in much pain?"

"What do you think?" said Hermione, the weariness and irritation clear in her voice.

"Alright, alright, I was just checking."

He helped her slowly stand up, which she definitely didn't have strength for – she fell down on her knees, wheezing and pressing her hand against her side in pain.

"Give me a moment", Hermione sat leaned against the wall, each breath was a wheeze and a shudder.

Her face suddenly turned into a shade of green, like she was about to throw up and she made a revolting throaty noise as she appeared to fight the urge. Harry remembered for some stupid reason that Hermione despised being sick, and even if she was, she still dragged herself through classes, so maybe she was used to resisting sickness at this point.

Harry crouched down next to her. "Alright, Dobby can you get Hermione and the others out of here? Then come back here and get us."

"Dobby will do what he can", squeaked Dobby. He reached out his little hand to Hermione. She grasped it without protesting.

"Are we leaving?" said Luna, standing next to Harry again, but this time she had Ollivander in a poor state by her side, supported by a bare-naked man with cracked, scaly skin and a dirty blanket wrapped around his waist like a skirt.

Harry stared at the man, and back to Luna. He had no idea who he was, but judging from the blonde hair he assumed they might be related.

"Oh, how rude of me", smiled Luna. "Harry, dad – dad, Harry."

"He's your dad?" said Harry, his eyes unable to draw away from the cracked green scaly skin of Luna's dad.

"Xenophilius Lovegood", said the man and extended his hand to Harry, who warily shook it.

"Harry Potter."

Xenophilius appeared to notice Harry's stare. "Oh this? It comes and goes. Potion gone wrong, I'm afraid. Nothing that can't be fixed though… no, nothing that can't be fixed."

Harry leant his forehead towards Hermione's and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm so sorry for letting this happen, Herm. If I could I would've traded places with you."

Hermione's eyes flickered a couple of times, looking into Harry's but she seemed kind of distant.

"I knew the risks, Harry. There was nothing you could've done, I was being dragged away—"

A sudden impulse overcame Harry; he pressed his lips against hers and somehow they kissed in that appalling place. He was aware that people looked on but really, he couldn't care.

Let them look and stare, let them think whatever they wanted. He just wanted to kiss her and never stop, never let her go ever again.

Xenophilius cleared his voice, interrupting them. "Not to be rude, though I believe the time to leave is now."

A loud explosion could be heard above them.

Harry cursed under his breath. He looked at Hermione again and even though she was in such a state she was looking back at him with a warm smile. "Go, Harry. I'll be fine."

"I know you will", he place a last kiss on her lips, put on his mask and used his webs to get out of the room and up the stairs.

Author's end of chapter notes: So many things changed during this chapter, as always! I had a general plan for how things was going to play out, but the details kept changing into what you just read! I wanted to really have Bellatrix actually hurt Hermione and not hold back, at first I was going all out, but that left a bad taste in my mouth of how gory it became so I dialed it back a bunch. For example, originally Bellatrix removed Hermione's eyes from her skull (!) which might be a thing Bellatrix would do just for fun, but I reconsidered it and again, dialed it back to just a swollen eye.

I very much believe that the Death Eaters and Voldemort hold themselves back in canon. They aren't savages but certainly most of them enjoys torture and won't hold themselves back just because of children, especially Bellatrix. Just my thoughts.