Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 24 – A Memorable Conversation
"Goodnight, Ginny," said Harry as he got into bed. "We'll need to be well-rested tomorrow. I love you."
"Harry?"
"Yes."
Ginny looked uncertainly at her husband. "I haven't been a very good wife since Percy got hurt, have I?"
Harry sat up and put his arms around Ginny. "You're the best wife anyone could ask for."
"But I haven't…we haven't…"
"Do you think that's why I married you, Ginny?" he asked, with concern in his voice.
"No. I know you love me. It's just…"
"You're going through a hard time right now." He took a deep breath. "You don't have to worry about that. I love you now, and I always will. You don't ever have to do anything you don't feel like doing with me. I want to love you, not use you."
"It's not using me to take what you deserve…"
"I deserve for you to hex me, divorce me, and never speak to me again."
"You do not! I know you still blame yourself for this war, but it's not your fault!"
"He dueled me and I ran away! If I'd…"
"You were fourteen years old! That bloody coward only voluntarily dueled you because he knew you didn't stand a chance! If you had won, the other Death Eaters would've killed you anyway." She then grinned. "Or made you their new leader."
"I could just see Lucius bowing down to kiss my feet," commented Harry with an evil grin.
"You wouldn't be the first half-blood he's bowed to."
"That's what I just don't understand. How can those stupid Death Eaters not realize he's just using them? He cares just as much for them as he does me!"
"Except that I think he respects you."
"I doubt that," replied Harry. "But one thing I do know is that his followers are crucio'd a lot more often than his enemies."
"And then they like to do that to others." She sighed as tears formed in her eyes. "What if something happens to Percy while we're gone?"
"Then we'll find out when we get back. We'll have to be focused on our mission, Ginny. We have to stop Voldemort so he can't attack people anymore."
"I, I know." She then looked intently at her husband. "Can…can you make me forget all about Percy, and Death Eaters, and Tom, just for tonight?" She scooted closer to him seductively.
"If that's what you want," he replied with a smile forming on his face.
The next morning, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were eating breakfast with Petunia and Mr. and Mrs. Granger before leaving for their mission.
"So, do you think we should wear our rings?" asked Ginny.
"Of course not," answered Hermione, "They might give you away."
"But they block legilimency attacks," replied Harry.
Hermione looked embarrassed. "Oh, yeah. I forgot. I read about that in your vault inventory. You should wear them, then. Maybe you should disillusion them though, just in case you get caught."
"All right," agreed Harry, pointing his wand at his and then Ginny's ring.
"Does everyone have a flask of Polyjuice potion in case we all have to disguise ourselves?" asked Ron.
They all nodded. "Hermione," said Harry, "I want you to be extremely careful. If you think he's suspicious, I want you to call us with your necklace. I'll be wearing the other one." Hermione nodded.
"Does everyone have their shrunken Firebolt?" asked Harry.
"Yes," they all answered.
"Swords and armor?" They nodded. "Boots filled with loaded guns, dagger, and extra wand?" They nodded again.
"Do you have that extendible ear?" asked Ginny.
"Yes, but I hope he doesn't block off the sound with a ward or something," the brunette replied. "If I go in a room with him and the sound dies immediately, don't just break down the door unless I call you."
Mr. Granger looked at his daughter. He appeared ready to cry. "I, we can't tell you how proud we are that you're willing to do this for the war. If we thought we could talk you out of it, we would." Hermione smiled slightly. "I want you to know that we love you. Please be careful and come back to us." He and his wife walked up to Hermione and hugged her tightly.
When they separated, Mrs. Granger looked at the other teens. "You be careful as well. We want to have a victory party tonight."
"This won't be the end of the war, even if everything goes according to plan," corrected Hermione.
"You getting away from him alive will be reason to celebrate," argued her father.
Petunia walked up to Harry and Ginny, hugging them both. "You be careful, all of you." She turned her gaze on the others. "Now go and…good luck to you."
A few minutes later, the group appeared a block away from Voldemort's hideout. "This is about a mile from my house," commented Hermione. I used to ride my bike past here on the way to elementary school."
"Let's disillusion ourselves and go to the dragon's lair," suggested Harry once they were out of sight.
They approached the old house. It had sky blue paint that had seen better days. Harry, still invisible, walked up to window and looked inside. He saw Draco Malfoy sitting in the living room all alone in black robes, looking bored. Harry figured Tom was in another room, so he walked up to the door and knocked lightly with his staff. He heard footsteps approach, and the door opened.
The blonde boy that had been Harry's nemesis for seven years looked out the open door and asked with his familiar sneer, "Who's there?"
Harry pointed his staff and thought, 'Stupefy!'
The Death Eater fell, but Harry caught him before he hit the floor and dragged him outside quickly while the others made sure no one noticed. They swiftly got him into a nearby alley and took some hair off his head to put in Hermione's flask. While she drank her first dose, Harry petrified Draco, just to make sure he wouldn't wake up, took his outside robe, and then disillusioned him.
It was weird watching vomit come out of nowhere when Hermione got sick from the potion, but she quickly recovered and had a mint. She then reappeared, put on Draco's outside robe, and glamour charmed her boots to look like his. Her armor and boots were charmed to adjust to her size, so there were no problems with that. She confidently walked in a very good imitation of Malfoy, and said, "You filthy mudblood!" out loud to make sure she sounded like the prat.
She walked into the house (knowing that her friends were following her) and waited for the door to close. The house looked like it used to be nice, with expensive furniture, but it all looked old now. She heard a voice that she remembered from the memories she'd seen in Harry's pensieve. "Malfoy boy! Who was that at the door?" Ginny flinched at the sound of his voice. Although it was now different, it still had traces of the boy she had met.
Thinking fast, Hermione answered while putting her hand in her pocket, pushing a button. "Master, it was some filthy muggle salesman! I took him outside and…disposed of him. I disillusioned what was left of him in the alley! It'll take weeks for those filthy muggles to find him."
"Very good," hissed Voldemort.
Being a bit bold, Hermione/Draco walked toward the voice. "Thank you, master," she replied as she got closer, "but I've no doubt you've done better."
"I certainly have," he hissed happily.
"Master, would you honor this lowly servant with tales of your great exploits in the extermination of filthy muggles. I wish to be more like you!"
"A noble goal, to be sure, but no mere Death Eater like yourself can ever hope to be like me. Crucio!"
Hermione had figured this would probably happen, but that didn't prepare her for the pain. He'd aimed his wand at her face, so any hope she'd held that her armor would protect her was lost. She knew that she wasn't holding up her occlumency during the torture, so she closed her eyes until it was over a few seconds later. Ron in the meantime was being held back by Harry, who had made it a point to stay near his friend, just in case this happened. "You'll make this be for nothing," he whispered. Ron relented, but did not seem pleased.
When Riddle released the curse, he continued speaking as though nothing had happened while Hermione did her best to maintain her composure and occlumency shields. She then noticed Nagini was randomly crawling around the room out of the corner of her eye, but managed to stay focused on Riddle. "Nevertheless, tales of my exploits are certainly worth telling as examples for you to follow.
"I remember the first time I used the cruciatus curse," he began, nostalgically. I was still a child, and was inside a cave with some filthy muggle children. I didn't even have a wand yet, so I'd imagine it wasn't nearly as focused as when I use one, but they were begging me to stop as soon as I'd begun." He chuckled. "They were never the same after that, and they never again questioned my superiority."
Hermione, although she wanted to throw up again, forced herself to laugh gleefully and commented, "Master, I wish I could have seen that. I wonder. As a child, when was the first time you did that to a filthy muggle adult who thought they had authority over the heir of Slytherin?"
Tom laughed again and pointed his wand at the door to the room they were in. It closed. Hermione forced herself not to gulp. "For security," he stated simply, and then continued talking. "Because of the circumstances of my birth, I was forced to go to a filthy muggle home during the summers. When I was fourteen, a muggle woman who worked there told me I couldn't leave at night, and locked me in my room. I naturally escaped when she was leaving and followed her." He paused and smiled.
"Where did she go?"
The dark lord chuckled to himself. "I'll never forget it. Number Seven Hope Drive. She went into the house and kissed her filthy muggle husband. For a muggle, she was fairly attractive. They do have their uses. I unlocked the door with my wand and crucio'd her husband properly with my wand while she begged me to release him. I told her to take off her clothes. By the time that slow-moving muggle was naked, it was too late for her husband. He'd lost his mind. Then I turned on her."
While Hermione was listening to his disgusting tale of torture and rape, pretending to enjoy it, secretly satisfied that Voldemort had already given her the information she needed, Ron, Ginny, and Harry were worried. Once the door shut, the extendable ears were useless, so they had to wait in silence until they heard the outside door open. They looked toward the noise and couldn't believe it. Five Death Eaters had walked into the house. One was Lucius Malfoy, but they didn't recognize the others. However, they did recognize the magical eye that one of them had instead of a right eye. It turned and looked straight at Harry. "Put on your glasses. We've got company, including Harry Potter."
As the other Death Eaters put on what appeared to be normal glasses, Harry (who already had his staff) fired a reducto at the one who'd spotted them. It hit his neck, separating his head from his body.
Ginny looked at the killer who'd slipped her Riddle's diary, and fired a reducto from her staff at him as well, but not before he'd shot a cutting hex that hit her left shoulder despite her quick reflexes (it was aimed at her heart but she dodged). Fortunately, it didn't affect her armor. It just cut her robe. When Ginny's curse hit Lucius, it separated his right arm from his body. She pterodactyl-bogie hexed him while he bled horribly and then summoned his wand out of his separated hand. He lost consciousness from lack of blood before the bogies were done with him
Ron wasted no time using a cutting hex at another's feet, causing him to fall over and trip another.
Harry was about to send a curse at the last one when he felt the necklace warn that Hermione was in danger.
After the door was closed, no sound could pass through it. No one could overhear the conversation in the room, and they couldn't hear what was going on outside. And so, as Voldemort ended his gruesome tale, he had no idea of the battle going on. Hermione had taken a drink during the tale, but so far Tom didn't suspect a thing.
"…and so when I was done, I crucio'd the filthy muggle until she couldn't remember who she was, to say nothing of telling anybody what I'd done. I even scourgified her so they wouldn't have evidence," the monster bragged. Hermione flinched just slightly at the thought of what he'd done, but Voldemort noticed. His expression grew angry. "You would dare judge your lord!? Crucio!"
As Hermione writhed on the floor in agony, her eyes opened for just a moment, and she saw Voldemort's red eyes staring into hers. As his expression changed to a mixture of glee and fury, she knew he'd read her thoughts. She forced her shaking hand to grab the necklace to call for help.
Harry shot the last Death Eater with a cutting curse to his throat. He screamed, "Ron, make sure these don't get up! Ginny, come with me! Hermione's in trouble!" and turned to run into the room. Ginny got there first and blasted the door off its hinges. "Reducto!" shouted Harry, pointing his staff at Voldemort. He dodged, but released Hermione from the torture curse. Harry heard Ginny blast something, but didn't look to see what it was. Instead he shot a cutting curse at Tom's wand hand, this time making contact, causing Riddle to drop his wand. He screamed, "Let's go!" as he grabbed the still-shaking Hermione by the shoulders.
"I'll take her," said Ron from behind him.
"Okay," Harry replied, as he saw Voldemort hit with a pterodactyl-bogey hex. Harry kept his staff pointed at Riddle while Ron picked up Hermione. Harry smiled slightly at the sight of what appeared to be Draco picked up by an invisible person. They ran out of the house while Voldemort was fighting his own huge bogies.
Once they were out of the house, Hermione shakily declared, "I got the address."
"You did a great job. We need to get home. Ron, apparate her. Ginny, come here!"
Ron left immediately with a small pop while Harry waited to feel Ginny in his arms. Just as she touched him, Voldemort, free of his bogies and looking furious, stepped out of the house. He heard Ginny whisper, "I got Nagini!"
As Harry apparated them away, he smiled and whispered, "I guess he noticed. Not to mention the five dead Death Eaters he must have seen."
When Harry and Ginny arrived, Hermione/Draco was struggling to walk on her own with Ron next to her. He made himself visible as Ginny did the same.
"H-Harry. You'll have to g-go now. He knows we know. Y-You've g-got to get it before he m-moves it."
"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
"I-I will be. Just don't make this be for nothing."
"We can take care of her," insisted Mrs. Granger. "You three, go."
He looked at Ron and Ginny, both of which nodded, and asked, "What's the address?"
Less than five minutes later, Harry was apparating them (Ginny side-along while Ron was just following, which didn't require extra power from him) to a gas station one mile away from the location where Vernon had once stopped at while trying to avoid a bunch of letters from Hogwarts. They, along with their brooms, were already disillusioned. They mounted the Firebolts and took off.
Chapter end