PRELUDE TO THE STORM
The next day, still frustrated from his encounters with Hermione the day before, Harry was walking through the corridors towards the minister's office, when he heard two very familiar voices. One was Hermione's and the other seemed to be Bertram's.
He was not wrong. Hermione and Bertram were talking around the corner of that corridor and he decided to hide to spy on them. He felt his blood boil and jealousy wash over him when he saw Bertram leaning in to kiss Hermione. However, to his relief, she pulled away.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do this Bertram" the brunette clarified, moving her head to avoid the kiss on the lips, "You're handsome and you can have any woman you want. But that's not me."
"Why?" Asked the blue-eyed man a little disappointed.
"I... I'm in love with Harry and that's not going to change. Sorry Bertram," Hermione clarified apologetically.
Harry had completely hidden in the corner with his back against the wall, listening to their conversation and a few minutes later he moved from there and continued on his way with a smile on his face, knowing that Hermione still loved him.
The raven spent the next few hours in his office finishing his paperwork, while his head kept reminding him of what he had heard from Hermione, his heart beating faster every time he thought of her.
His good mood was short-lived, for when he left his office, heading for the elevator, he bumped into the person who had caused the misunderstanding with Hermione, his smile fell and his brow furrowed.
Amelie, his former apprentice, was blocking his way.
"But what...? What are you doing here?" asked the jet confused and with disappointment in his voice.
The veela widened her smile, and it is that she had achieved her goal after days of struggling to return.
And it is that when she was notified that she had been transferred to another ministry of magic, she quickly moved to return to the attractive Harry Potter, she was obsessed and was not going to give up so easily.
It took several days, but with her veela charm, she "persuaded" her superiors from that other ministry to promote her, succeeding almost immediately and once she obtained the title she wanted, she just waited for the opportunity to request her re-entry into the british ministry of magic.
With a lot of luck Amelie, she was approved to return as a special agent in the internal affairs department, maybe she would no longer be an auror, but she would definitely be working internally, so she rushed her arrival without wasting time and the first thing she did was look for the green-eyed auror.
"Harry," the Veela said sweetly.
"No, no... you... but... it's supposed to... " stammered the jet, scared that something like that would happen again, because he didn't want Hermione to accidentally witness a scene like that again.
Amelie launched herself at the auror, hooking her arms around his waist and leaning up slightly to kiss him. However, this time Harry was faster and moved away, putting distance.
"No! Not this time!" exclaimed the jet.
The veela tried again to approach him, but Harry stretched out his arms to stop her.
"I said no!" Harry yelled in annoyance, visibly fed up with the girl.
"But... " the veela tried to refute.
"No! It's enough! I'm tired of repeating the same thing to you! I'm not interested in you!" Harry exclaimed.
The veela shook off Harry's arms and looked at him surprised at his behavior, the green-eyed man loosened his jaw, letting out a loud sigh to calm his annoyance.
"Listen, the first time you caught me off guard and got me in trouble with the person I love. I ask you please, don't try to kiss me again. I'm in love with someone else, it's not right for you to do this," Harry clarified to the woman, trying to be as respectful and kind as possible, after a few seconds of silence.
The veela blinked several times, stopped pressing her body forward and took several steps back, but without wanting to accept or understand that the jet would never be with her.
A few moments before, Hermione was about to leave the ministry to go to her apartment. She was walking down a corridor when she noticed Harry walking towards her, probably heading for the elevator.
She quickly ducked into a corner, waiting for Harry to pass by. She'd been trying to avoid it for about a week, being in the lift, in the pub where they'd had that amazing kiss, her nasty run-in with Ethan, and their little reunion over the answers she got about the dark artifact, the only times they'd crossed paths word.
As she hid in that corner, she recognized the veela girl she saw Harry kissed, her heartbeat quickening, reliving the image of the kiss she wished to not witnessed.
Not knowing what to do, other than stay there, she decided to pay attention to what was happening, despite the pain her heart was feeling.
After witnessing and listening to the entire exchange between Harry and Amelie, Hermione noticed that the woman had blushed with embarrassment at being rejected by Harry Potter, who in turn gave her the reasons why.
The brunette felt terribly guilty for having avoided Harry and treated him with indifference for several days.
" She was a fool and had to fix this with him. She loved him and needed him with her. By Merlin! She did miss him!". Hermione cursed herself.
When she was sure that Harry and this Amelie had left, each one on their own after the green-eyed had rejected her in the most polite way possible, Hermione decided to continue on her way out of the ministry to go home.
The brunette was walking out of the ministry, when she remembered to check her bag and take out her wand. She always remembered the words of mad eye: "'Permanent alert", no one never knew when something could happen.
As she checked and tried to stop crying for feeling so silly and thinking about how to fix things with Harry, she didn't notice that Ron was behind her, trying to reach her and she also didn't notice the three death eaters that appeared in front of her.
It was as soon as she lifted her head, finally drawing her wand, that she felt her being grabbed and pinned as her wand was taken. The girl only felt someone cover her mouth and then was invaded by the horrible disappearing jerk in her stomach.
The last thought she had before she disappeared was Harry's name.
As they carried her, now nearly unconscious, her head was a jumble. She was suffering because she thought that maybe she would never see Harry and her friends again, that she would not have the opportunity to reconcile with her green-eyed friend. How would he react when he realized that she had been kidnapped? Surely with another impulse that would put him in danger. She was worried that she knew that Harry might do something foolish and impulsive since he didn't mind putting himself at risk. On the contrary, danger always looked for him and found him.
As Ron ran inside, straight to his best friend's office, well Harry had to know this. Hermione had been kidnapped.
Harry was sitting in his office and frustrated by everything that was going on and thought he was crazy, when he had the sensation of hearing a voice similar to Hermione's, which was still the voice of his conscience, saying his name in his head as a warning of danger, when Ron came into the office like a whirlwind with a face that said nothing good.
"Hermione was kidnapped," Ronald blurted out, furious, scared and out of breath from running so much. "I saw her leave the ministry, I thought I saw her crying and I was going to catch up with her to talk to her, when I saw three death eaters appear in front of her. They took her while she was distracted and disappeared before she could react.
Harry had gotten up to listen to his friend's story, he put his hand to his chest, accompanied by a gasp when he heard what his red-haired friend said, he clenched his hands and the fury that began to run through his veins, made his magic explode, starting to wreak havoc around him, shaking the entire building and exploding some things around him, at the same time that he had left the ministry in darkness for a moment. Now everything made sense, he had connected what his friend said with the voice in his head.
Recovering, the lights came back on and he headed for the door in a rage.
"They aren't going to touch her!" he exclaimed and stalked out of his office with his eyes full of fury with his friend behind him.
On the way they ran into Kingsley and the rest of the aurors, who had been summoned by the minister to look for Harry and meet up. Seeing the jet's face full of fury and knowing that the tremor unleashed in the ministry, along with the gloom, had been caused by the fury that the boy's magic unleashed, knowing that Hermione had been kidnapped. Kingsley stopped him and told him to calm down so he could think, analyze and make a plan if he didn't want her and other people to end up dead.
Reluctantly he agreed and they met to make the plan of attack. The meeting room was large and there were about thirty people.
"This is a rescue mission, no matter what measures are taken, the objective is to recover our most valuable element, Hermione Granger," Harry said taking the floor and organizing the aurors.
After a nod from Harry, Ron explained what he witnessed during the kidnapping, giving height, and description of the death eaters, as well as how they had taken his friend.
The green-eyed man clenched his hands, his body maintained a slight nervous tic, clearly trying to control the anguish and despair of not knowing about Hermione, however his determination to find her brought out his professional side.
"I want three formations and three teams, one is for search, another is for reconnaissance and the other is for investigation, and all of them will report exclusively to me," demanded the jet without caring about anything.
"Harry!" Ron caught his attention, seeing that he was excluding the minister for Magic.
"It's fine, as long as all reports are described in the quest explanation scrolls in the end and nothing outside of the auror rules is carried out. Harry, I understand that Hermione is the priority, not only because she is the person who represents an important position among us, but because she is a special member in our hearts, so I ask you to be careful with the feelings you involve, it depends not only miss Granger's life, but also the entire auror department, " Kingsley warned seriously.
The raven nodded and continued giving directions, feeling his heart pounding so painfully and so energized by the rush to find Hermione.
Not ten minutes passed when an owl unexpectedly flew in and dropped an envelope into Harry's hands. The boy opened the envelope, his hands trembled, while a thick black smoke came out of it that began to take the form of a projection, as if it were a recording.
Everyone witnessed how the smoke took the form of two silhouettes that little by little revealed their appearances. One was a hooded death eater, holding a wounded and kneeling Hermione by the hair, with her hands tied behind her back and being immobilized by a wand positioned around her neck.
"This is for you Potter, if you want your disgusting mudblood girlfriend back, come to Bolsover Castle. Let's see if you can say goodbye to her, if she can stand our torture" laughter invaded the room, it was burlesque and provocative.
The green-eyed auror felt his body heavy and plummeting, his eyes showed terror, his hands clenched on the edge of the table threatened to break it, the air he was holding when seeing Hermione in that form came out so fast it made him dizzy, quickly feeling as if he were drowning. The pressure in his lungs from pulling in air was beginning to hurt, his eyes became unfocused, seeing blurry despite having his glasses, a sharp stab in his head let him know that he might be about to pass out.
Sensing this, Ron reached out to hold one of her arms, his mind flashing back to the time they were both in the Malfoy manor dungeon, with Hermione screaming as they tortured her.
As if in dejá vu, the projection of the letter showed Hermione screaming as she was hit by the torturing curse.
"No…not again" Harry whispered in fear and pain, causing everyone to look at him with mixed feelings.
Ron gulped as the smoke vanished as a chorus of ghoulish laughter rang out, leaving everyone with a bitter taste.
Several minutes passed before Harry began to compose himself, even though his eyes were bloodshot from the urge to cry he was holding back.
They had taken her to a rather abandoned place. They were on the grounds of a castle built on top of a graveyard and they were torturing her and they were doing all of this to get to him. They knew that Hermione was his weakness. This made him even more angry.
"I don't want to be insensitive, but Granger and you hadn't broken up?" One of the aurors dared to ask, after a few seconds of silence.
The green-eyed auror glared at him, with which he transmitted an aura of death directed at whoever dared to continue with that question, leaving the other auror silent, while Ron on his side was incredulous, making a mental note to talk to that daring auror and give him a reprimand.
"The important thing now is to decide the strategy to save Miss Granger," Kingsley exclaimed, seeking to lighten the moment and trying to focus the others on the objective, being aware of the relationship between Hermione and the head of aurors.
"We already know where to go. We have to go," Harry ordered firmly, still terrified and now furious.
"Easy, Potter" one of the aurors tried, noticing Harry's expression.
"How do you want me to calm down?! My best friend is kidnapped and they just showed me how they torture her!" Harry exclaimed angrily.
"Harry, we need a plan" Ron tried to reassure him, trying to fill himself with calm at the same time, since Hermione was also his best friend.
"What we need is to get to her as quickly as possible," said the jet.
"Granger is not stupid and she will know what to do to buy time." Said another auror.
"That's true, but there is a detail" another of the aurors intervened "She has all the information about the artifact and it is certain that they will threaten or hurt her if she doesn't give them the information" concluded the man.
Hearing this, Harry got up more annoyed from his place and as if it were a warning, they all followed him out, heading towards the elevator.
Harry and Ron entered the elevator, followed by the auror team.
"Remember, cool heads, and return everyone as you leave... alive" Kingsley told them, before seeing them leave.
They all nodded to the minister, while the elevator doors closed, Harry connected his eyes with Kingsley and without the need for words the jet nodded his head understanding the message, he should have a cool head, think things through before rushing, and make sure take care of his team and himself. Finally, the elevator began its descent.
"If they asked her for the information and threatened to kill you, Potter? Do you think that…?" asked one of the aurors next to Harry, as they left.
"Ohh... she'll do what she's asked," Ronald answered, noticing his best friend's discomfort with the auror's question.
"That woman would kill for Potter," said Krum, who was ahead, facing the elevator doors, his back to Harry.
Harry couldn't help but feel even more uncomfortable, knowing about the bulgarian's feelings for Hermione, but kept quiet through clenched teeth.
It took less than twenty minutes for the team of aurors to be transported to the outskirts of the castle. Immediately everyone was on guard, holding their wands so tight and high, attentive to any unexpected.
The place they arrived at was quite large, the castle was still some way away, so they would have to advance for at least a hundred meters.
"We will divide into four teams, in diamond formation, with a lag of twenty-five steps between each one, as we advance and we are forced to increase the distance, remember to follow the protocol..." Harry ordered feeling the adrenaline run through his body, anguish could be felt in the air.
Harry and Ron stayed on the same team along with three other aurors, Bertram and Krum led the second team with seven other aurors, the other two remaining teams were the largest and the ones that went in the corners.
Harry and his team called Alpha, began to advance, fortunately around the castle there were some leafy trees with thick trunks with which they could camouflage.
"Harry… twenty meters ahead… six shadows," Ron whispered.
The jet understood the message seeing the six death eaters standing guard and with a raised hand he gave the order to attack at the same time.
All six fell quickly, being hit quickly and as quietly as possible.
However, that only triggered the first defense of the hooded men, as if it were an elaborate trap, and an entourage of sixty people surrounded them.
Quickly the battle took place, the spells flew everywhere, the aurors sought shelter and fell back to defend themselves.
"Watch out!"
"Diffindo! Protego!"
The difference in people began to be noticed, the aurors began to fall, Harry and Ron gave orders shouting loudly.
The sound of the battle was deafening, distressing and with a hint of adrenaline, the feelings at that moment were erratic and changing, Harry was experienced based on his past fighting the dark lord, however each new fight was by its own definition overwhelming in every way, in his vision he noticed several of his team on the ground.
Quickly the smell of blood, sweat and dirt mixed in the air, causing nausea and painful memories, in an instant Hermione came to mind, her slightly hunched body straightened and took on new energy, his green eyes twitching with fury and raising his wand more firmly he began to counterattack with impressive accuracy.
Several of the aurors, seeing that their leader was beginning to gain ground, imitated him and helped him fight.
In the middle of that now almost balanced battle, one of the youngest aurors separated from the battle and, seeing himself safe, disappeared.
The ministry of magic normally overwhelmed with the coming and going of many wizards and witches, was in a heavy silence, the minister seeing his aurors leave decided to cease activities and send everyone home.
While Kingsley waited for news, Luna Lovegood arrived with him, she had learned of Hermione's kidnapping and the rapid deployment of the aurors, in her heart and mind she prayed that no one would get hurt and her friend would be rescued safely.
"Good afternoon minister, is there any news?" Luna asked concerned, but still with her dreamy tone.
"Not yet, they've been a little over half an hour, they must be entering that place," replied the minister.
Just then the young auror who had escaped ran in and headed for Kingsley.
"Mi... minister, there are... d-casualties, we need reinforcements" he said with difficulty due to the lack of air.
Faced with the stumbling of that sentence, Luna approached him to help him, while Kingsley launched a patronus that flew quickly towards a corridor, and lost sight of it.
A few minutes later, the firm and rapid footsteps of a squad of aurors were heard.
They were the defense corps of the minister, something similar to the secret service of the muggle presidents, those men were mostly first class, and with the sole objective of keeping the minister in turn safe, so those who were part of this squad, they were lethal, strongly insensitive and without a hint of remorse when it came to murdering whatever it was that attacked the minister.
"Sir? Will you send them?" asked the blonde, upset by the minister's call.
"They are trained to safeguard my life at all costs, so the only thing that will make them go is for me to be there myself..." Kingsley assured.
"But... Isn't that very risky?" Luna said, feeling a shiver run through her body.
"Perhaps, however, they need me... so I ask you to send a statement to the ministries of France and Germany so that international cooperation can be coordinated and help us in that battle" ordered the minister while he changed his outfit for one more militarized.
"I... yes... yes I will, but... I want to go with you... Hermione is my friend, Harry too... and, and... there's Ron... he... I... for please" exclaimed the blonde stuttering and pleading.
"Definitely not...and I'm not going to debate that, miss Lovegood. Now go and see to what I have asked of you and…discretion, this is still a confidential matter, understood?" Kingsley said with absolute seriousness.
Luna forced a nod as she tried to come up with some plan that would basically consist of following him without being noticed.
Kingsley ordered his squad to follow him and help any auror in need, and after these instructions they left the ministry to make a joint appearance.
Luna was going to follow them when the young auror who had arrived a while ago, was walking away to the infirmary, so the blonde stopped him, and after a few seconds in which she threatened the young man, she got the location of the castle, with a smile she got ready to go, leaving the young auror instructions on the request of the minister.
Luna quickly left and after a sigh full of clear tension, she disappeared from there.
Back in the battle, Harry having managed to stop the impending fall of the aurors, several death eaters fell back, giving the remaining aurors to fight with more enthusiasm.
The place was quite destroyed due to the thousands of spells that had impacted from all sides.
Ron with some cuts on his face and one of his arms cheered in anticipation when the death eater spells stopped and several of his companions relaxed as well. But as soon as they did, a new wave of spells was unleashed.
The real enemy ambush had begun, all led by a death eater girl who stood out for her outfit too bright and flashy to be wearing all black.
That dark-haired woman with cinnamon-colored features had a personal goal, Harry Potter, because she was half secretly attracted to the chosen one, a few years ago she had made herself known because in her first revolt she had left poetically cheesy and crazy letters for the jet, with who wanted to get his attention.
After that first failed attempt, she began to aggravate her crimes, reaching the point of placing explosive potions outside the ministry with the same intention of drawing the attention of the green-eyed auror.
The last time there was news of her, was when she sacrificed herself to be captured and interrogated by Harry himself, who, fed up with the harassment, confronted her.
In the middle of the interrogation, the auror burned all her letters and made it clear that he would never see her beyond a ruthless criminal.
The death eater after that meeting planned to escape in her transfer to Azkaban, which she achieved, and with which she disappeared for a few years.
Now in actuality, there she was, looking at him with undeniable desire. Realizing it, Ron attacked her, and even chased her in an attempt to flee, Harry accompanied his best friend, making a big mistake, seeing both being surrounded by twenty death eaters.
The situation began to get out of control, in less than a minute both were disarmed, and after a strong explosion they were thrown into the air.
Both Gryffindors fell with a crash, as three death eaters pointed their wands at them.
Harry looked up and took a look around, somehow the battle had been several meters away, and they were in a further area, almost hidden by a huge tree.
"Wow, wow... wow... what do we have here? Look who's decided to show up… Harry Potter" exclaimed the death eater.
The jet immediately remembered when he had her in the interrogation cell a few years ago.
flash back
The day had started with the most overwhelming news he could have imagined, it was 6:00 a.m. and he was in the town of Hogsmeade, three houses had been attacked, three families killed, six witnesses, a trapped death eater and eight magical creatures sheltered and protected incredibly arrested.
When Harry arrived at the place, he was surprised to see Hermione there, she was upset by the treatment used on the creatures.
Harry went to talk to her, who then told him that the death eaters were using the magical creatures to perpetrate and carry out the attacks.
Hermione quickly advocated for the creatures, however the only thing she achieved was that they were not treated badly in their transfer to special cells.
At that moment Harry addressed the captured death eater, the only one who mysteriously and according to other aurors seemed to have allowed himself to be captured.
As he approached, he noticed that it was a woman, he immediately tensed, he knew her, it was the same death eater who was harassing him, leaving him poetically psychotic letters in each attack she made, and where lately she added photos of her at the crime scenes.
"Grace Dankworth," the jet said with annoyance.
"My dear Harry Potter, we can finally see each other... face to face," the woman said as she smiled cheekily.
"Take her to interrogation room number six, I'll be there in a few minutes," the green - eyed auror said to the auror who had her in custody, shaking his head in denial at the woman's words.
"Are you leaving, darling?" The girl asked with feigned distress.
Harry turned his back on her as he hurried over to Hermione, who hugged him for comfort at the atrocity of using innocent creatures.
The death eater didn't go unnoticed by the way those two seemed to cling to each other, as Harry had returned the hug quite affectionate and protective and to seal it with a flourish, he kissed Hermione's forehead. Grace furrowed her brows and her eyes began to crinkle with hatred.
An hour later, Hermione arrived with Harry in the interrogation room, the brunette was determined to prove the innocence of the creatures, after knowing that they were drugged and bewitched to attack. For this Harry would help her, so together they entered the room.
"Wow, wow... wow... what do we have here? Look who's decided to show up again… Harry Potter" the Death Eater exclaimed with disdain.
The head auror ignored her and with a nod of his head gave Hermione an entrance pass, and like a true gentleman he pulled up a chair for her to sit on.
"Why do you treat her like this? What is she to you Harry?! Are you a couple?!" Grace yelled in anger, after Harry's actions with Hermione.
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise; however, she once again kept her feelings to herself as Harry tensed.
"What do you say?" Harry asked puzzled.
"Don't lie to me idiot! I've seen the way this bitch looks at you!" The woman exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"Enough! I will not allow you to offend her! She is my best friend!" Harry blurted out flustered.
"Friend? Okay, I can tolerate that... as long as she knows her place and respects mine by your side" said the woman, drastically changing her gaze.
Hermione looked at Harry confused, because she didn't understand what was happening and it was logical that Harry wouldn't be with a woman like that.
The jet stared at Hermione with some intensity, in silence and without saying a word he conveyed to her that the woman was just lying.
Hermione got the message and relaxed her gaze, then focused on the criminal.
Grace, noticing the silent conversation, snorted annoyed at the interactions, and with her eyes on Harry, gritted her teeth and sealed her lips.
"Since you don't want to cooperate, I'm going to have the pleasure of sending you to Azkaban," said Harry, seeing that the death eater kept a harsh and neat silence.
"Oh, my dear, you have a good sense of humor. You see… I have no intention of visiting that place, I just came to have some time alone." His mocking laugh echoed in the room, breaking the tension.
"Listen, it will be easier and less troublesome for you if you confess and collaborate. We can start with the creatures; how did you drug them? And in what black market were they acquired?" Hermione intervened, questioning the woman.
Dankworth laughed hard again and after calming down she focused on the honey-eyed girl and threatened her.
"You will die soon my dear," Grace said with a satisfied smile.
"Shut!" Harry grunted with his jaw clenched at the comment from the woman in front of him.
"What makes you think I'm going to answer what you ask me?" Grace answered, turning to Hermione and ignoring Harry's annoyance.
"As long as you collaborate, we can make a deal and reduce your sentence, which is very long due to the deaths of the families and the way they have used magical creatures," Harry declared annoyed and Hermione touched his arm in gratitude.
"Get your hands off! Filthy Mudblood!" The death eater yelled, clenching her hands at the touch of the chestnut on Harry's arm, and starting to get up to attack Hermione.
Hermione, seeing the reaction of the woman, who got up and was clearly going to attack her, backed up from the chair and looked like in seconds, Harry with his perfect reflexes stood in front of her and stopped the woman's fist with his left hand before hitting his face.
"Just answer the questions and stay away from her," the jet said with a deadly edge in his voice, keeping his jaw tense and the woman's fist in his hand, while his green eyes gave him a murderous look.
When the three of them had calmed down, Hermione knew she wasn't going to get anything from the female death eater, so she stood up and with a look conveyed her plan to Harry.
The jet understood and let her out. At the end of the day the death eater cooperated a bit, after the green-eyed auror burned her letters in front of her, but she was quickly convicted and taken to Azkaban, unfortunately she didn't make it to her cell and escaped.
End of flashback.
Now there they were, Grace and Harry in a staring match, both seeming to remember the same thing.
"What do we do with the redhead?" asked a tall death eater who was pressing his body against Ron to keep him immobile .
"What do you say, Potter? We kill him? Or do we just dismember some parts?" Grace asked seriously.
"No! Don't you dare!" Harry yelled.
"Don't yell at me! You have no right to demand! Do you not understand the position you are in?" said the death eater and slapped the green-eyed man in the face.
Harry felt his cheek burn, the blow had been hard, however he smiled counterattacking his ego.
"Why the hell are you smiling?!" Another slap resounded on the other cheek of the chosen one.
"You are crazy" Harry said with surprising calm.
The words ricocheted off Grace's head like a cold detonator, anger surging through her along with bile rising bitterly up her neck.
Harry was rained down with three torture spells, causing him to lie flat on his back on the floor, his body throbbing in pain.
While this was happening, Kingsley arrived with his entourage of aurors, joining the battle as it unfolded.
A few minutes later Luna also arrived, her eyes widened at the sight of the battle, a shiver ran down her spine, she looked for Ron finding no sign of him among the many people who ran, jumped or ducked to avoid the spells.
For a second she thought that perhaps the redhead was among the bodies that she now distinguished and that were on the ground, her chest rose and fell stormily.
Her eyes stung from the feeling of wanting to cry, she walked absentmindedly looking among the bodies, the spells passed almost brushing her body, but none of them hit her.
She heard somewhere in the back that they were yelling at her, asking her to bend down, to be careful, however she had a goal set, to find her redhead.
At some point she ended up bending over turning bodies, desperation began to dominate her, she couldn't find Ron, until when she raised her head, she saw in the distance a group of death eaters surrounding two people, both were lying on the floor, then she distinguished him, the red hair, the pale skin and the necklace that she had given him days ago, for the date they had had. Without waiting any longer, she got up with her wand steady and advanced through the battle, dodging with great luck everything that crossed between aurors and death eaters.
Harry glanced quickly at his best friend who let out a scream as his left leg was cut.
"You are a deranged psychopath!" Harry exclaimed to the death eater. Helplessness flashed across the green-eyed auror's face, anger palpable.
"Oh yeah?! This is nothing Potter… This is what you get for choosing her! When you have me!" The woman exclaimed angrily, then leaned down and tried to steal a kiss from him, but the auror pulled away, further enraging her.
"Do you really want to know what pain is? Well, watch this…" Grace declared beside herself, pointing her wand at Harry and casting a spell that hit him squarely.
Harry's eyes turned white as an overly descriptive image formed in his mind.
It was as if he was seeing Hermione through someone else's eyes, his body radiated so much courage and with his wand raised he cast a spell that made the brunette scream.
Harry shuddered and wanted to run towards her, however the body he seemed to inhabit snickered and shook with delight as he cast another spell which gave Hermione some red rashes on her skin, as if she were being burned.
The jet wanted to get out of there, he felt like he was drowning, the impotence and the anger were too much, he couldn't bear it, Hermione's screams were more and more painful, more overwhelming and they stabbed into him like sharp daggers.
"You have no idea how much I enjoy watching her writhe in pain…" he heard inside of him.
"Enough! Please… Please…" Harry begged.
The green-eyed man came out of the trance with a severe headache, his heart was beating as he struggled to contain so much desperation.
Once he was able to focus his eyes, and recognized where he was, the death eater looked at him with a smile.
"Stop! You got me… Do what you want with me… but don't hurt her anymore… please…" Harry pleaded.
"Oh honey... we're just getting started," the woman said excitedly.
"He's not going to last long…" one of the men was heard to say, as Ron screamed from the torturous spell they had just put on him.
"Kill him," Grace declared.
"No!" Harry yelled pleadingly.
"He won't be the only one you'll cry for Harry... I hope you remember the words I said when we talked in that interrogation room..." Dankworth said approaching Harry.
"You will die soon my dear," Grace said with a satisfied smile.
Harry's eyes widened in terror and he shook his head fiercely.
"No, no... please... don't kill her... I beg you, kill me... me," Harry now begged with his eyes dimmed in tears, he was desperate.
"Now it's... too late," Grace whispered after approaching him and caressed him face, smiling. "You love her," she said, and her face changed from a smile to one that expressed hatred and disgust for Hermione.
Harry didn't answer, he just stared at the woman in the face and a couple more tears came out of his eyes and with this, Grace could see in his green eyes and now crystalline, the love that the auror professed for the chestnut, besides that he hadn't even denied it, because there was no way to do it.
"Kill the red -headed nuisance," she ordered with a glare of madness, standing up, but without taking her eyes off Harry.
Harry looked at his friend, who already had a trail of tears running down his eyes.
"No, please…" Harry begged again.
"Avada Ke...!" began to pronounce one of the death eaters.
"Expelliarmus!" Luna yelled at the death eater who was aiming at Ron, quickly disarming him, and before the tragedy.
Two aurors who were going after Luna, began to attack when they saw the scene that unfolded.
Luna advanced to Ron who welcomed her with open arms, and quickly other aurors joined in to help them.
"By the time you get there…she'll be dead," Grace told Harry hatefully at the sight of the situation.
Harry saw her running towards the castle, and without hesitation he ran after her, some spells brushed his arms but nothing mattered more than reaching her.
Ron was pulled to the shore by Luna and they both evaluated each other, the blonde without a scratch, while the redhead had two cuts on his left leg and bruises on his face.
After a few seconds they both looked for Harry, it was the blonde who managed to see him running desperately towards the castle and behind the death eater.
Grace had taken a shortcut, and reached a secret passageway, not realizing that the green-eyed man had caught up with her when he went through the shortcut and knocked her down with no subtlety, snatching her own wand that the death eater had taken from her.
"They've already hurt her and believe me, I won't have mercy on any of them," said the auror, as he tied her up with a non-verbal spell, "and if anyone dares to lay a finger on her again, I swear they'll wish they had never been born." The auror said through gritted teeth and glaring at the captured woman, leaving her stunned and tied up.
He regulated his breathing and prepared to find the exit from the passage, he ran as quietly as possible, until he glimpsed a wooden door, and with his heart beating rapidly he opened it.
A smile crossed his face when he saw that he was now inside the castle, he crossed a short corridor and found another door, he opened it cautiously, his eyes were scared when he heard the wood creaking loudly, however with his tight wand he steeled himself and came out.
The jet observed that he was now in an open field, he gulped at the sight of a few tents placed on the edges, behind him hurried footsteps resounded, and they made him turn around, expecting an attack or ambush.
Hellooo! Here i am around again, trying to update a little often.
I hope you like the chapter and I thank you in advance for your comments and favorites.