"Hello" Luna's soft tone floated across the clearing as the four slytherins came into view. Hermione had been able to hear them approaching for a good two minutes before they came into sight, and Neville and she had shared a disapproving look at the lack of stealth. How the hell Snape could think they would be any help bar passing on notes like before was beyond her comprehension, they clearly weren't used to getting their hands dirty. She pushed herself up from the rock she was sitting on as the group made their way over to them, only Blaise and Theo acknowledging Luna's greeting.
When she met Dracos cold eyes she could feel a scowl creep onto her face, an expression she had seen plenty of times from him but was highly amused to see how much he seemed taken aback by being the target of. He averted his eyes from her glare and evidently found the grass in the clearing a far more appropriate subject. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she moved to the side to let them all pass so they could enter the cave, after all she wasn't going to turn her back on them.
Once inside Neville gave Hermione a quick reassuring smile before addressing the slytherins; "I'm sure you haven't just been missing our company, care to explain why we have been summoned?"
Pansy snorted "Oh yes Longbottom, we've been simply lost without you."
"What Pansy means to say" Blaise started while giving Pansy a quick glance, "Is that we haven't come for a chat, we have information for you." He lifted shrunken papers out of his pocket and then proceeded to return them to their original size. "This is everything we could remember from the most recent meeting, they were the initial outlines for an attack on one of your safe houses but there's another meeting during the week to finalise strategy. You won't stand a chance during the actual attack, but the meeting will be relatively small so it will be the only option to intervene."
Hermione took the parchment from Blaise and quickly scanned through it, there was a rough sketch of the blue prints to one of their larger safe houses, surveillance records, summaries of the wards, head counts and some names that the Death Eaters that had been sent to get this initial intel clearly thought were Order members worthy of noting. There was absolutely no doubt they would be able to get into this location when given a few extra days to gather the last of the information required. It felt like a stone had dropped into her stomach.
"When did you get these!?" The anger was welling up inside her, they had messaged last night which meant they had sat on this information for at least twenty four hours before giving it to them.
She saw Draco stiffen, but it was Pansy that spoke "Oh I'm so sorry Granger, I didn't realise the whole bloody world centred around you. In case you haven't realised there's a war going on!"
She could feel her blood boiling and took a step towards Pansy, but Neville shot his arm out in front of her before whispering in her ear "Don't let them get a rise out of you 'Mione". As much as she would love to place a fist right in the middle of her little pug face she stepped back again, ignoring the smug grin plastered on Pansy's face. Draco said something to Pansy that was too quiet for anyone else to hear and the smile disappeared off her face as quickly as it had appeared.
Theo intervened, "Hermione, please, a moment?" He gestured away from the group and slightly deeper into the cave. Reluctantly, after a nod from Neville she followed him. It appeared that her absence wasn't going to help the situation, Neville had taken over and the outrage in his voice was evident. Given the lack of respect the others had had for him during school she wasn't surprised that their drolling voices quickly retorted but Neville had grown up, and she wasn't the least bit worried about him being able to hold his own.
Theo glanced over her shoulder at the group and shook his head, "I'm not going to lie to you, this is possibly Snapes worst idea yet, and that is seriously saying something." He leaned against the cave wall as he continued, "But I hate all the bloody tension, we've enough of that don't you think? So given you and I have never actually had any issues in our past I thought this might work better…." He trailed off and scuffed the toe of his shoe on the ground.
Hermione studied him for a moment before she replied, "Fair, but I still don't trust you."
Theo chuckled, "Wouldn't expect any less Kitana, or are you more of a Sonya?"
She didn't even respond, just slowly blinked at him in astonishment. Surely he hadn't just referenced muggle filmology.
"I'm going with Kitana, you remind me more of a knives than guns type of girl." Theos smile was now reaching his eyes, clearly he was pleased with his decision. Hermione had absolutely no idea what was going on, and she really hated how easily he made her drop her guard, even if it was only for a second.
"GUYS SHUT UP! We are trying to talk!" His sudden shout over to the growing noise coming from the rest of the group drew Hermione back from her thoughts, it also miracuously quietted the others bar a "Fuck off" that Pansy had spat back at him. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the curly haired slytherin in front of her and decided that this one was somewhat tolerable. There was a familiarity to him that she just couldn't place.
"Okay Theodore, keep that lot quiet and I'll listen."
Theo dropped his arms, clearly glad to come to an understanding and started to explain about how they had been at a meeting the previous night. He explained how an update on the surveillance of one of their safe houses had been given, what all information they had gathered so far and how a meeting was going to take place during the week. He went on to tell her how they knew it was a large safe house, and that a lot of force would be brought to make sure no one escaped. He navigated her through the pages of parchment as he spoke, then he produced another from his own pocket.
"This is a rough sketch of where the meeting will be. We've also roughly outlined where the wards parameter is but make sure to double check them, we couldn't get a proper look or we would raise questions. Draco is the only one who's been in the dining room here, so he's going to be the one who runs down the layout of the meetings. We have a few ideas if you want to hear them?"
Hermione couldn't hold off on going back to the others much longer so she gathered the plans up and nodded reluctantly.
"...was when we realised that erumpent horns could probably be used like muggle grenades." She could barely keep her laugh contained as she watched Blaise, Pansy and Draco try to work out what in the world Luna was talking about. Neville had a glazed look in his eyes, and she knew he had most likely zoned out at this point which made her feel a little bad for leaving him.
"Nice of you to join us" Blaise said, drawing everyone's attention to Hermione and Theo as they rejoined the group, the latter led them all over to one side where large boulders lined the cave wall. They proceeded to spread the parchments out so that everyone could see them then Theo motioned to Draco.
She had almost forgotten he was there, having been the quietest out of all of them so far. She was hopeful he had been taught a lesson after their last meeting, but she doubted that was why given how little he learnt in third year when she punched him. There was definitely a change in him from school days; he was taller, his features slightly less pointed, his clothing not as pristine, however the most noticeable changes were written over his face. There was a hollow set to his eyes like sleep escaped him, and they had the most haunted quality to them. She noticed because they were things she hid from her own face daily, signs of a mind ruled by war and death.
Draco cleared his throat and pointed towards the sketch of the meeting house, "This is Rowles house, he will most likely be one of the highest ranking there. They always have the meetings in his dining room which is in the east wing of the house just here." He indicated the area on the sketch. "There is normally around 8 to 10 in the actual meeting, along with two stationed outside the room and another four outside covering the four sides. Relatively low security in comparison to if He was there, but still almost impossible for two people with no magic or backup."
Neville and Hermione shared a look, Neville smiled at Draco before responding "Don't you worry a pretty hair on your head Malfoy."
"Wrong Slytherin, flattery will get you nowhere with me Longbottom." Draco spat out, in a tone Hermione instantly connected with his fathers. Neville cocked an eyebrow at this response and quickly scanned the others faces that all remained impassive.
"If we are done interrupting?" Draco looked directly at Neville who gave the tiniest of nods, "Very well then. Theo and Blaise will be on the doors that night, so we figured some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder would get you past them without them looking like they've let you past. Pansy is on the West side of the manor, and I am covering the North which also happens to be where the wards are the weakest. Our only solution is for you to stun me and break in through the gap."
"And how exactly are we to break through these wards without any magic?" Hermione really had tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but it came so naturally when talking to Draco.
If looks could kill she was pretty sure the one Draco was giving her would be her downfall, but he was interrupted by Theo
"Ahh Kitana, this is where my brilliance comes in!" She couldn't miss the puzzled look Neville shot her way, all she could do was shrug in response. Theo poked around in his robe pocket and produced a vial, "As you may know, us fucked up 28 like to keep it in the family. So with each of our blood, and some of Longbottoms for good luck we can confuse the wards and weaken them in a small area."
"There's not just blood in there Theo" Luna chimed in, she had moved right to Theos side and was closely studying the vial.
"Well spotted" He handed the vial to Luna then carried on "There's a few extra ingredients in there, something I've been playing around with, but it works. It helps strengthen each blood connection added so the wards can register a relation even if there is only a very distant family connection. It will only create a gap in the wards for about thirty seconds so you will have to be quick, and you'll need half to enter and half to leave again. Any more than half and you will end up activating enough of the wards for them to register they've been breached, not to mention you won't be able to get back out again."
"Theodore, that's amazing!" Hermione blurted out, as much as she had wanted to hate them all she had to admit how incredible a potion like that was. Theo puffed out his chest with pride, causing Draco to shove him slightly, hissing "Suck up" under his breath.
Theo straightened his robes and winked in reply.
"Merlin above, can we get back to the topic so we can all get out of here?" Draco snarled, then started to gather up the parchments. "You know where the dining room is, how to get through the wards, where we will be, and what you are going in for. That's about as much as we can do for you. If you don't stun me, if you walk in front of Pansy, if you don't hide well enough from Theo and Blaise we will have to act on our orders. I can not make this clear enough, we will NOT hold back if you do not carry out your part of the plan properly. I have no intention of dying due to your foolishness."
"Lighten up mate, we are going to see these guys in action this week!" Theo exclaimed like a kid on Christmas morning, he pulled out a small black bag from his pocket and handed it to Luna who was still studying the vial. "Darkness powder, potion….anything else?"
"Plans." Draco muttered and handed the various parchments to Hermione.
"Are we done here then?" Neville asked, taking the items of Luna and pocketing them.
"Yes" Draco responded, already turning on his heel.
"Thank Merlin!" Pansy exclaimed and linked arms with Blaise, trailing him along.
"Don't die Granger!" Theo called over his shoulder, and as she watched them walk away she could swear she caught Draco flinch slightly at Theos words.