Chapter 28 ~ The Rat Hunt

"If you are looking for the ways to preserve peace, you have to be prepared to war."


ECOTS


He felt as if everything in him had gone still, impossibly still as he stared at the immobile figure that lay upon the ground. Dumbledore.

Dumbledore wasn't meant to get hurt. That wasn't meant to be possible. He was always the one who was okay, who was alright, who didn't die.

Harry felt his stomach churn, something warring inside him as he could only stare. First his parents, then Sirius, not him to. "No." He wasn't even aware that he'd spoken, but at the sound of his voice something else was.

A peculiar squeak, followed by a rapid scuffling sound tore Harry's gaze away from the Headmaster, the familiarity of that squeakdigging at him-

His eyes locked onto the pile of bricks, haphazardly stacked in leaning piles when the house's front wall had crumbled down into the street below it, and running along that pile was a rat.

A rat that was emaciated, as if it had lost too much weight too quickly, leaving its skin flopping around on its bones.

He had just enough time to see it dart inside a small gap in the charred, blackened bricks, its tail disappearing behind it with a flick.

It was the only thing that could have torn his attention away from Dumbledore's body, in that moment, and a fierce burning anger began to rise within him.

The Minister of Magic had already moved on, the twins now heading towards Dumbledore and the others, George muttering foul things about Percival under his breath.

Harry did not follow them though, instead, as they asked if he was coming, he muttered distractedly under his, "Be right behind you."

Then he began scanning the bricks, his wand clenched in hand as he began to hunt.


ECOTS


A foot lashed out, the sheet of scrap metal kicked violently away by Mundungus, the fire engine's hood spinning on the decimated cobblestones with an ear-splitting, metallic screech. A swish of a wand cleared the area of the largest chunks of debris, and Regulus dropped down by the motionless figure's body.

Albus Dumbledore.

Regulus' voice bit out into the burning night with a furious growl. "Should have known you'd try to get out of our arrangement old man." An instant later he had grabbed at the man's clothing, tearing it, his cloak obscuring Dumbledore's body from her line of sight for a moment.

But not his face.

The half-moon spectacles had been shattered, little trinkets of broken off glass glittering across the ground near his head, one side of his metal frames twisted into an unnatural shape. Somehow shards of glass still clung within the frames, a single, serrated fragment reflecting the vicious red-orange flames from the still burning fires along the street. Nearby another fire crackled loudly, burning the remains of a rusted out vehicle.

"Talk to the Wizengamut on my behalf indeed, old man." Another violent tearing sound, as Regulus tore away Dumbledore's cloak, jerked her attention back to them and the caustic, biting tone. "Potentially a problematic endeavor when you've gotten yourself crushed by half a hood."

Swallowing, her throat grew dry from the humidless air, the nearest fire throwing out heat in every direction, nearly burning her flesh with its ferocity. Droplets of sweat now mixed with the blood and dirt upon her brow, and the fire's greedy flames hungrily devoured the remains of the vehicle, writhing over the blackened, twisted metal so completely that in spots the metal gleamed red. The vicious sound of it crackling in the night was loud enough to send her shaking, the stench of burnt rubber noxious within her nostrils, and Kalliandra's gaze fell closed for a fleeting moment as she found herself only capable of standing there, doing nothing. Only the heat washing over her in waves caused her hair to move, the golden strands swirling around her face...

Something in the engine suddenly ignited with a menacing hiss, a booming sound tearing through the air as something imploded internally within it.

Mundungus let out a shout besides her, one loud enough to drown out her own scream as she was torn from her shocked reverie, ducking down herself. Shouts from every direction were heard, a startled order for men to head towards them immediately followed by the sounds of pounding feet.

Regulus Black remained unaffected. His head ducked a little lower though, and that was the only outward sign that he had even noticed the detonation. Sarcasm was already spewing out of his mouth, even before the small pieces of metal smacking into the ground near them, like sand particles flung from a child's hand, had finished falling. "If one of you would fathom the difficult task of desisting the deer in headlights impersonation," he caustically addressed them, "and proceed to risk getting your knees further skinned by perhaps dropping down to the level of us mere mortals to help it would be mostgratifying."

Already on the ground, her palm splayed out in front of her to steady herself, Kally sucked in a breath. Muscles practically quivering in the aftermath of everything, she struggled to get her breathing under control, and a sudden shout in the background shook her.

It was familiar.

Potter.Gaze automatically jerking in his direction, she caught sight of him near the husk of a burnt out home, a stout witch approaching him at a serious pace.

But he was standing.

Tension she hadn't known she'd been harboring fled. The last time she'd seen him he had been falling, falling out of that golden dome that had been levitating in the middle of the air. Now he was facing off with the official looking-woman in dark clothing, anger written in every line of his-

Regulus growled irately.

Snapping her head back around, Regulus had shoved something at her with an angered order, "Hold this." Fingers wrapping immediately around it, her fingertips sunk into the sopping fabric, the material soaked through with something thick and warm. The stench of it though...was like copper. Like blood.

Closing her eyes for a moment, a gust of heat from the writhing flames sent her hair swirling around her face.

The pounding feet reached them then, a shadow falling over them, and two wizards dropped down by Regulus, one shoving her bodily out of the way.

Kally fell backwards on the ground, blinking, startled, one of the arrivals speaking, as if to himself, Albus...old friend. What is his condition?"

Gaze darting up, up towards the man who had spoken, her hazel eyes roamed over the face of an erect standing, tawny-haired man, his lion-like mane streaked with fierce gray. He was someone she did not recognize.

Regulus merely continued his impersonation of a rabid dog. "Perhaps I was mistaken in assuming minced meat on a living form could possibly be taken for anything other than subpar health," his hands were now twisting something around Dumbledore's leg that looked suspiciously like a tourniquet, "but what does his condition looklike?"

Every inch of the authoritative man's face remained masked, nothing of internal emotion showing. Instead his silence conveyed all that needed to be said.

"Perhaps," Regulus was continuing, swatting away the hand of another newcomer who was getting in his way, "if you had your people remove those anti-apparation wards they just put up, his condition would be more greatly improved if we could get him to a proper facility." He paused only long enough to look up at the man, a caustic look somehow twisting across the mask he wore. "What do you say, oh mighty Minister?"

Kally's heart skipped, fear knifing through her, the sudden temptation to scramble backwards, awayfrom him barely repressed.

The Minister of Magic.

This was him, the man that would have her killed if word reached him that she was a Reach. Just like that horrible woman within the Three Broomsticks had said...he'd have her butchered, to uphold an old law, all because she'd been a witch born with a mutation.

He represented everything wrong with the wizarding world. He was the one that inevitably supported the things that made Remus' life hell, all because he was a werewolf. He'd hurt Hagrid, because he was half-giant. He'd hurt nearly everyone there she knew in this world that mattered.

Regulus and the Minister of Magic stared eye to eye for a long moment, the latter finally speaking. "You know that we cannot do that. As much as it pains me, the remaining Death Eaters would be able to escape."

Something flared within her, her brow creasing in confusion. "They already did escape," she all but whispered, shaking her head, "before any of you ever got here." Chest rising quickly, she forced her tone louder, "Maybe if you'd been quicker you could have actually done some good like hewas." Tilting her head stiffly in Dumbledore's direction, she felt her entire form quivering, her left arm and its nerve damage positively shaking as the Minister of Magic's gaze swiveled upon her.

The man's expression turned somewhat amused. "I could have sworn," he stated, as if he were at a casual affair and not standing within a war zone, "that the Minister of Magic deserved someshowing of respect." Adjusting the severe glasses that sat upon his hawkish nose, he took a better look at her, as if considering how much of a nuisance she would be. "I suppose I will allow it to be forgotten though, given that I can see..." his gaze pointedly indicated the surrounding destruction, "that you have all been through a considerable...ordeal. It is surely a considerably amount for someone so young to deal with, all in one evening."

For a moment the Minister's gaze lingered upon the street and the destruction that had befallen it, Ministry personnel and others hurrying back and forth down its length, serious shouts erupting in the night as survivors were searched for.

Then his gaze returned onto her, his expression assessing, as if he were studying her.

She felt as if his analytical gaze studied her for far too long, his gaze moving towards her brow, narrowing almost thoughtfully. His gaze flickered over her forehead, Kally desperately wanting to shove her hair back into her face so he couldn't lookat her, so he couldn't look at the unnatural hue of silver-red blood smeared over her brow-

Another voice cut through the air, curt and sudden. "Whose blood, exactly, is that on you?"

Kally's gaze darted towards the speaker, a frenzy of activity now arising around Dumbledore's figure, her brow creasing at the suspicious look of the gangly, red-headed, familiarlooking man looking down at her. Opening her mouth to speak, she didn't get the chance-

A hard grip had latched around her upper arm, and before she could so much as yelp she'd been yanked forcibly up, onto her feet.

The severe grip did not leave her arm though.

Remus Lupin's gaze bored past her, challengingly onto the man that had questioned her. "Mine, actually." Remus' head tilted in frighteningly wolfish fashion, his mouth twisting into the semblance of a grim smile. "You know how that is for us Ministry regulated creatures Percy, our blood's just a bit too tainted even for the governmental bodies. I'm rather afraid some of mine might have splattered."

The line of Percy's mouth grew tight, the Minister merely observing in silence.

Remus' gaze moved to him next, something almost predatory in it as he observed the man. "Minister Scrimgeour," he stated, something strained tightening Remus' face. "I trust there will be no objections to me removing Hogwarts' pupils from the area, given the obvious hazards that the present location presents to their safeties."

The Minister of Magic remained silent for a long moment, his gaze studying them both, as if thinking it through, before Percy cleared his throat. "Removing witnesses from the scene before they can be questioned properly is against procedure, as I am sure you are awar-"

"Oh come off it, Perce!" Kally's gaze darted from the tall, red-headed man –Percy – towards the booming voice that had spoken. Two identical men, short and stocky, both with flaming red hair, were heading bodily towards them.

"Yeah Percy," continued the second twin, stalking right up to him and slinging an elbow onto his shoulder. 'Perce' wasted no time in shrugging it off, the other twin circling him like an amused hawk. "Don't think any of this lot is going to be fleeing the country soon." The twin winked at her. "And just think, it'd give you the perfect excuse to visit Hogwarts to question them."

"Could re-live your Prefectorial days, Perce!" Boomed the first twin, slapping him camaraderiely on the back. "Just think, you can make sure you're not rusty at that whole 'looking down your nose at the non-law abiding citizens' thing you were so good at."

"Might even give you a chance to apologize to Harry for all those 'unbalanced' comments you made about him to Ron last year."

"Right you are George. Harry was right to, not off his knocker like you thought. Now that old snake-face is back, bet that superiority complex of yours took a real knock, oi, didn't it Perce?"

"Besides, don't you have better things to be doing than worrying about the students?" Thhe jovial note in the second twin's tone stiffened a bit. He'd stopped his circling, his muscles flexing as he cracked the knuckles in his hands. "Like using that quick notes quill of yours to get an accurate body count?"

"Yeah Perce," the first twin had stopped circling to. "Think there are more important things right now than proper procedure."

A sudden, very loud poptore through the air, Kally actually jumping. Lupin's grip tightened upon her shoulder, a silent comfort as she stared at the place where Dumbledore's nonresponsive form had just been.

Regulus and the two Ministry wizards were the only ones there now, the latter two looking startled. Regulus just looked as amused as the concealment charms on his face would allow.

The Minister of Magic was looking curiously at the spot where his body had just been. "The anti-apparation charms ought to have prevented that. One of you would not, perhaps, be privy to where he went in such a condition, by chance?"

Remus merely grinned, tightly. "You know Albus," he said casually, "always full of surprises." Once more his grip tightened upon her shoulder, and this time it was a silent urge for her to remain silent. She didn't get it at first, her gaze still locked onto the spot on the ground where the Headmaster's body had been.

And then there was a second pop.

Then a third.

A fourth.

The Minister of Magic swore loudly, something about how it should be impossible for anyone to apparate with the wards in place, the man immediately turning and shouting an order, demanding to know where the bodies were going.

That was when Kally saw the fifth pop. The injured form of Diggles had been there one moment, and gone the next. Only his purple hat spinning upon the ground proved he had ever been there at all. And that was when she understood it...

Conditional portkeys, that only were activated if a certain condition was met. Like if the holder was in mortal peril or if the holder was severely injured.

Dumbledore had given Harry one before. He must have given these other Order members ones as well.

Suddenly she understood why Remus had silently been urging her to remain silent. The portkeys were taking them away, perhaps to the Hogwarts' infirmary, and Remus had not wanted the Minister of Magic to know that.

The Minister of Magic and Percy were long gone though, the two men attempting to somehow get order amidst the rubble. Remus' grip loosened upon her, and when he spoke, it sounded as if every word took a considerable effort. "Fred, George. I need you both to round up any students that are here, and-"

"Tiffany." The name left her lips, and in a heartbeat she'd wrenched her arm away from Remus, her gaze darting out over the ruined road. The last time she'd seen her she had been leavingthe Slytherin, all alone, near-

Kally caught sight of the lamp post she'd been nearest, but all that was left was the base. The rest had been blasted away.

She'd rounded back around on Remus and the two twins, Fred and George, apparently. "There was a girl," she said, something frantic in her tone, "a first year Slytherin. She's got blonde hair, is about this tall," gesturing with her hand, "and that horrible vampire witch was throwing her up and down in the air so much that the last time I saw her she was curled up in a sobbing, unresponsive ball right by where that lamp used to be." Words flying quickly along her tongue, she had already jerked back around, eyes scanning the portions of the road she could see.

The girl was only eleven or twelve. She shouldn't have been forced to see this, anyof this.

She knew all too well what witnessing death at such a young age could do to a child.

Remus was already nodding. "Spread out and search, we rendezvous by the indicated lamp post base in ten minutes regardless of if you've found her or not." Fred - or was it George? – already had his wand clenched in his large hand, setting off. The other twin threw her a glance.

"This kid wouldn't respond to the endearment blondieby chance?" He waggled his eyebrows for a split second-

Then he took off after his brother, a bellowing shout of, "TIFFANY! YO! BLONDIE!" bursting through the streets.

A second later another shout burst through the streets, Kally's head bolting in that direction, her gaze landing on Potter.

He'd shouted something about a rat, and now appeared to be digging through a pile of blasted off bricks by a house, the rubble and remains still cindering hotly in spots. Potter's hands tore into it, throwing a brick callously to the side, the thing nearly hitting the person that was shouting at him in the face. The woman barely dodged in time, shrieking furiously.

That woman was a rather squat woman, her face wide and jowled, as if she had been partially transfigured into a toad at some stage.

At a distance one of the twins had apparently noticed as well, his snorting shout thrown towards his brother. "Can't leave Harry alone for a second around these Ministry sorts can we, George!"

"Too right you are, Fred! Think we should go say hello and thank her for putting us off higher education? Did us some good, leaving when we did, didn't it?"

Kally ignored them, for the toad-woman's shrieking, harpy-like voice was grating at her ears. It was so loud it was a wonder everyone on the street did not hear.

"Insubordination! I tried to warn them you were a bad sort, Potter! So they could lock you up before you caused all of this! But did they listen! NO! And now you've caused all of this! LOOK AT ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU BOY!"

The toad-like woman made a grab at his back, Potter throwing out his elbow and throwing her grip offhim. There was a flash of the woman's wand, and it was suddenly pointed directly into Potter's face-

And Harry's was pointed directly at her.

Even at a distance she could see the barely controlled rage in his expression, Potter's entire form going very still as she jabbed it against his nose, only his wand arm vibrating. The heated argument had clearly something that had been going on for awhile.

The witch showed a brief flicker of fear, before her face twisted into something else. She looked as if she had just been given an early Christmas present. "Threatening a Ministry official, boy. They'll have your wand for this."

"Funny thing," he spat back, "could have sworn it'd be called self defense."

"I should have dealt with you when I had the chance, boy!"

"You sure about that, Umbridge?" Harry didn't move, just remained very still, his grip on his wand not wavering. "Because really, I somehow doubtthe new Minister is going to look the other way if you start trying to use Unforgivable curses on underage wizards again."

The toad-woman sputtered. "You were withholding dangerous information from the Ministryyou insolent litt-"

"Damn right I'm insolent," he spat at her. "Whenever you're involved I'll take great PRIDE in being insolent!" He was leaning forward into the woman's wand now. "But if you DON'T get that wand out of my face and he gets away AGAIN it is going to be yourfault!"

The woman Umbridge's flat lips curled back, looking as if she were trying to catch flies as she sneered. "What's this now? More conspiracies, MisterPotter? Has He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named shrunk himself down into that rat you're chasing then?"

"NO!" Potter roared, leaning forward off the pile of bricks, challenging her, "Peter PETTIGREW is the-"

The woman was laughing loudly now, her entire portly face jiggling in a sickening manner. "Peter Pettigrew has been dead for decades, Mister Potter! Certainly you would know that given he died trying to defend your precious parents honor-"

"Don't you say a WORD about my parents! You ignorant, bitter, EXCUSE of a-"

Kally wasn't sure when she'd started running, but she had. She'd taken off ahead of Remus, and was mere meters away now. Neither party had yet to notice her. The toad faced woman's mouth had opened to scream, spittle flying as she prepared to shout back at Potter-

"Miss Umbridge!" That was the name Potter had thrown out wasn't it? "The Minister was looking for you!" Sliding to a stop on the torn up bricks, she barely avoided falling herself, and barely avoided screaming in shock as the Umbridge witch jerked around so violently, throwing her wand in Kally's direction, that a furious spell actually shot out of her wand.

It blazed past Kalliandra's head, missing by inches, the searing red light having cut so close to her that it'd rustled her hair.

"YOU ALMOST HEXED A STUDENT!" Remus' furious voice, sounding as if half-disbelieved what he'd just witnessed, tore across the road, his voice getting closer. "Put your wand down, Dolores!"

Umbridge's furious, slightly maniacal gaze darted from her, to an unseen point past her, towards where Kally could only assume Lupin was. "Half-breed! You do NOT presume to give ME orde-"

She did not get a chance to finish her sentence. Lupin did not get a chance to get there. Instead a spell slammed into Umbridge's back, the immobilizing charm freezing the toad-like witch in place, her mouth remaining wide open, mid-furious yell, as if she were patiently attempting to catch a fly.

And then, as if in slow motion, the witch's stiff form fell to the ground like a freshly cut tree. Her stout form hit with a dull thud.

Gaping, Kally's gaze darted from her to Potter, his expression shockingly dark. "You have no idea," he lowly growled, "how long I've been waiting to do that." An instant later his gaze shot to her, something angry in it. "What exactly we're you planning on doing?"

Shoving her singed hair out of her face, she shot him a glare right back. "Hadn't gotten quite that far yet. Distraction worked, didn't it?"

Potter swore angrily from where he reclined oddly amidst the rubble. "You almost got your head taken off. Again."

Raising her eyebrows, she questioned dryly, "What did you want me to do? Tackle her?"

This time she was relatively certain that he was growling at her, but a sound in the rubble he sat on had his attention jerking back towards it.

In a moment Potter was attacking the rubble like a man possessed, jumping from spot to spot on it, his wand aimed, spinning a circle as he loudly swore.

Swearing herself, not having a clue what was wrong with him, she opened her mouth to ask, only movement distracted.

Umbridge's eyes were moving. Her toad-like eyes were darting around, the only part of her that could actually move, and they were looking directly down at the wand still clutched in her immobilized hand.

Kally jumped forward, kicking the wand out of the foul woman's hand before she had a chance to finish whatever wordless counter curse she was trying to use, the woman's gaze going wide and, if possible, more furious.

Remus skidded to a stop by them a second later, breathing hard and holding onto his side. The look of revulsion upon his face was frightening. "What," he demanded, the infuriatingly calm question thrown in Potter's direction, "happened?"

Curious about that herself, gaze darting back towards where the two twins had resumed looking for Tiffany, she felt her heart skip in fear for the girl. Before another thought could flit through her head though Potter's voice had cut in, and cut in loudly.

"Professor Lupin! There was a rat!" A piece of brick moved slightly, and Potter all but lunged on top of it, shoving his wand's end in between the bricks and shouting, "Immobilus!" The interior of the brick pile lit up as if someone had thrown a flare inside of it, Kally wincing, adverting her gaze from the bright light as confusion flew through her.

A rat?

The light died down, but Potter was still digging, throwing brick after brick off the pile...

Maybe he had lost it...

Glancing at Remus, brow furrowing in confusion and slight concernfor Potter's mental state, she was startled to see the ashen color that Remus' face had suddenly turned.

"Was it him?"

Potter sat up, furiously looking at the lengthy, long pile of bricks in front of him. They stretched the entire front length of where the house had once stood, and beyond that was a mass of brickwork, ironwork, wooden planks and wrecked furniture. Letting out a frustrated sound, Potter nodded, "I think so. I just can't find him in this-" Waving his hand around furiously at the house's wreckage, Kally's gaze darted between them.

Remus had already moved forward to join him. "There are anti-disapparation wards up all around, Harry. He won't get far."

"Yeah well," he practically spat back, "we thought that before didn't we?"

Completely lost on what they were on about, she opened her mouth to ask, only for a slight hem-ingto get her attention.

It was as if the immobilized woman were trying to exercise her vocal chords to their fullest extent. Glaring suspiciously at her, Kally caught the woman's gaze looking interestedin the conversation between Remus and Potter.

Neither of whom were paying attention. Remus had already begun to levitate entire portions of the pile up and away, throwing them aside, Potter prowling the circumference of the house as if hunting...

Hissing a frustrated breath, Kally pulled her pathetic excuse of a pre-magicked wand out, snapping it in the toad-like woman's direction, quickly saying, "Stupefy!"

The red light flashed out, striking the woman right in the gut. Her entire form gave a violent jerk.

Then she didn't move.

Remus and Potter didthough, both having jerked, wands nearly aimed in her direction. Shooting them an exasperated look she merely gestured at the unconscious woman on the ground. "Immobilized doesn't make her deaf." Raising her brow, she added pointedly in Potter's direction, "Unless you wanted her to overhear?"

For a second Potter just stared at her, but then, just for a second, she thought she saw his mouth twitch a bit.

As if amused.

Then again it was rather hard to tell, he had already turned back to the rubble and resumed digging through it as if someone's life depended on it.

Casting a glance back towards the rest of the chaos, she saw that the two twins were bent down on the ground. Squinting, she saw a blonde head of hair sitting up between them. Tiffany. The small Slytherin girl from school.

The girl was okay.

It was the movement from wizards and witches clad in garments similar to those that the horrible Umbridge woman wore though that sent her heart pounding. Ministry officials.

The Ministry of Magic had clearly noticed the little hexing display that had transpired between them all. Shoving her hair out of her eyes, she turned quickly towards Remus and Potter, her gaze sweeping over the rubble as well. A rat. They were looking for a rat, and clearly that Umbridge woman hadn't believed them.

Clearly finding it was important though.

Remus bore a grim, determined look upon his face as he clambored up and inside of the home with haste. "Come out now, Peter, and we'll leave your tail attached."

Peter? Cursing under her breath, Kally stood there awkwardly. "In case anyone's interested, the Ministry doesn't look too happy, and seem to be sending over a welcome party." Both men ignored her. The only consolation was that they were still faraway, separated from them by a field of burning cars and people shouting for help.

Hardly a comfort when they were undoubtedly ready to haul them away for the hexing of a Ministry official. No doubt that they would completely ignore the fact that the woman had been threatening Potter.

Eyes fixating upon the pile of bricks and rubble, heart pounding, something reckless and desperate arose within her. "Right, why are we looking for a rat?"


ECOTS


The room was small and dark, no real lighting to be found within it, except for what was provided by an oil burning lamp mounted to the farthest wall. The scent of the oil mixed with the thick scent of the pine the room was constructed out of, but even that was constricting, claustrophobic.

There were no windows, and no other doors, except for the one that Viktor had come through before. There was not even a closet.

Hermione found that difficult to believe, something about the room seemed altered to her.

Now that she had her wand back, she had spent the last hour searching the room, using every spell in her repertoire to hunt out any hidden passageways. There weren't any. None that she could find, at any rate, and it frustrated her. Her spells had never failed her before. She could try to blast her way out of here, but every Death Eater in the nearby vicinity would be bound to hear that, and without Harry and Ron she did not want to fancy her odds of fighting multiple ones off. No, she had to stay calm and think, and find a stealthy way to escape.

It did not help that her heart had been pounding non-stop since Viktor had left her, the robes of a Death Eater hanging off of him.

Supposedly he had left, to try to send her letter to Dumbledore in time, so that they would have warning. She did not know if that was true or not though. If it wasn't...she needed to escape, and if it was, she stillneeded to escape.

She didn't want to think about what would happen to Viktor if he were caught, and he had actually been helping her.

The door slammed open so suddenly and so fiercely that Hermione jumped, her wand leveled at it.

"It is me Hermy-own-ninny."

Brown gaze studying him, she still wasn't sure if she wanted to lower her wand or not. But Viktor...

Had not made a single move. Instead he kept his hands raised as if aware of her internal thoughts. Half of his face appearing to be covered in thick, black soot, the bottoms of his robes burnt away, revealing his powerful looking left calf.

And his entire expression was contorted, twisted as if he were in physical pain. "It did not get there in time, Hermy-own-ninny. And the deal that vas made between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord is off. We have to get you out of here, or they may kill you now. I do not...know vor sure, but I do not vant to take the risk. Please-"

His plea truncated abruptly, a sound heard distantly down the corridor beyond him, Viktor's head turning to look back down it. A frantic, desperate look had entered his eyes. "Hermy-owhn-inny...ve have to go. Now."

Staring at him, her wand still aimed at him, a wizard she had personally snogged and danced with, she didn't know if she shouldbelieve him. What if she followed him and it was a trap? Just another way to torture her? "What do you mean," she said very quietly, "it didn't get there in time?"

Viktor's gaze shot back around to her so quickly that she marveled he hadn't fallen over. The look he gave her clearly indicated that he thought she was insane to be asking questions when so pressed for time. "Hermy-owh-ninny. Please. Ve do not have the time vor-"

"I'm not going anywhere, Viktor, until you answer my question." Her voice was quiet, tremulous. The letter hadn't gotten there in time. That meant the Order, and anyone else who had been at Headquarters could be...

Viktor was wetting his lips, looking nervous. "The letter did not get there in time. The area that the Bellatrix saw vithin your mind vas attacked. They burnt it to the ground. A lot of people vere hurt. I do not know how many. But ve need-"

It was as if a cold shroud had been thrown around her, Hermione feeling sick. People had been hurt. "And you-you helpedwith that." The accusation hung in the air, her eyes practically blazing.

Viktor looked striken. "You do not understand-"

"Sure I do," she clipped in a tone so bitter she hardly recognized it. "You joined up with a group of Muggle and Muggle-born hating Dark Wizards that has been trying to kill Harry his entire life, threw on their robes and decided to prance through the streets helping them. But it's all okay, because when you do it you get to hide behind a mask so it hopefully shouldn't affect your Quidditch career, and now half of my friends are probably deadbecause of you!" There was a hysterical edge to her tone.

"Vou don't...vou don't understand. It vas not liketha-"

Before Viktor's words had even finished, there was a sinister movement behind him, Hermione's eyes went wide, a bright purple spell flying out of her wand before she had time to even thinkabout what she was doing.

It struck the Death Eater that had been sneaking up on Viktor in the head, right as the wizard had shoved his wand into Viktor's back, hissing, "Traitor!"

The Death Eater's head snapped back, his body crumpling to the floor, and Hermione actually winced.

Viktor had whorled around, his own wand now drawn and aimed down at the unconscious body, his expression thunderstruck. He glanced back at Hermione, before slowly crouching down by the man. He took great care in removing the mask, as if afraid he'd wake him.

He tossed the mask aside as if it had burnt him.

"Avery," he muttered lowly, staring down at the figure. Glancing back at her, he looked confused. "Hermy-owh-ninny, if you think that I am one of them, then vhy did you-"

Swallowing, still terrified, she shook herself, cutting him off, "It's only a sleeping spell. He'll be awake in eight hours." She didn't, couldn't, senselessly kill like the Death Eaters did, and her expression...showed that.

Her dark eyes stayed on Viktors, not wanting to look at Avery. That sort had done more than enough to her without her being forced to look at them.

A moment later she slowly lowered her wand, her arm practically shaking. Viktor's pleading look turned relieved. He held out his hand, "Come Hermy-owh-ninny. It is time ve try to get you home."

Glancing around the small room, the lush sheets still tangled upon the bed, Hermione swallowed.

Then she followed Viktor Krum out of the room.


ECOTS


A single-minded, purposeful fury rose in him. Pettigrew could be escaping as they spoke, he could have already because of Umbridge's interference.

If Pettigrew got away again, he'd do much, much more than just hexUmbridge. He'd kill her. He'd...

Frustrated, he shoved himself away from the outer pile of bricks, glaring at the house and all the rubble it had left behind. Burnt furniture and wooden structural supports for what had been the second floor lay scattered everywhere. The house had literally caved in. Pettigrew could be anywhere in it by now. His rat-like body could have scurried under all of it with speed. It was a rat's personal paradise.

And Kaylens wanted to know why they were looking for it.

"Because," Harry breathed harshly, "that rat isn't a rat. It's an animagus of a murderer."

Stomping up the pile of bricks to join Lupin, Harry glared at the entire house's structure, then decided there was only one solution to flesh Pettigrew out of hiding.

"How many blasting spells do you think we'd need to destroy the entire thing again?"

Remus shot him a look that clearly warned 'overkill', while Kaylens stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. She shook her head, her golden hair flying. "Wait, you want to do what? And the rat's a what?"

Harry didn't have time to spare for this, his gaze hatefully roaming over the brickwork as he stepped over the rubble, striding into what might have, at one time, been the living room. An overturned table lay on its side, and grabbing it Harry threw it out of the way, his wand aimed under it in case Pettigrew had been hiding there.

But he wasn't.

"I think that the Ministry," came Remus' calm, almost resigned voice, "is about to make everything unnecessarily complicated." Storming towards the framework of a couch, Harry threw it aside with a flick of his wand, ignoring what he knew Remus was going to say. "It would be wise if neither of you were here to be questioned when they do."

Pettigrew was not there either. "No." His answer was simple, and he stormed into another room on his search. "Lupin, can't you just do that spell you and Sirius did that made him show himself?"

Lupin was glancing back towards where the Ministry officials had been waylaid by Mundungus, who appeared to be gibbering incoherently. The man had seen the officials intentions, and was buying the three of them time.

Harry felt a freakishly strong wave of gratitude for the man.

"The spell only works if you actually hit the animagus form with it."

"Would someone please," questioned Kaylens, flipping over the remains of a love seat, "explain what an animagus is?"

Harry and Lupin both tossed her a look.

She in turn made a frustrated gesture with her hands, gesticulating back towards the Ministry officials that Mundungus had resorted to grabbing the legs of while feigning a seizure of sorts.

"A wizard that can change forms, shapeshifting into an animal form," Lupin answered, storming into the kitchen and looking around. "The one for which we are searching goes by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"And you seriously think you're going to find him in all of this? He could be anywhere."

Harry cursed her internally for stating the very obvious.

Mundungus' voice let out a shout, the man clearly resorting to desperate measures now.

There was a loud clatter, Lupin tossing down a pot that had been left on the somehow still-intact stove. He was looking down at it, as if thinking. "Harry," he finally said, very calmly, "perhaps-"

"No," Harry interjected. "Just...no." Turning around in the middle of the living room, his wand aimed out, he shouted angrily, "Pettigrew you coward! You OWE me! Show yourself!" He'd saved his life once, to his own fierce regret. Sirius' name had never been cleared. Surely he could invoke old magics to force Pettigrew to come out now, couldn't he?

Lupin had stopped all pretenses of searching, his gaze leveled out towards the Ministry officials tending to Mundungus.

Harry refused to believe what he was seeing. Lupin wasn't giving up. Pettigrew had murdered his best friends, imprisoned Sirius...

"Harry, I want you and Kalliandra to get leave the area, immediately. Number 12 Grimauld's floo network was shut down for safety as soon as the attack began but the charms inside should still be safe-"

"What?" Harry started at him. "You want us to just leave? To let him get away again?"

Lupin was looking at him from beneath the archway of the kitchen, the only part left standing, and he was looking very tired now. "If anyone desires to catch him as much as you, Harry, it would be me. But I also know when the odds of finding him are against us. And next time-"

"Next time what?" Harry all but exploded. "We just wait until he helps get someone else killed again! We just wait till he betrays someone else NEXT TIME? So we just let him scurry back to Voldemort tail between his legs like the pathetic coward he is again because finding him is too DIFFICULT?" Harry didn't care that he was yelling. He didn't care that he was making a scene. He didn't care that the Minister of Magic appeared to be ordering someone else to head over towards them. He just knew that Remus had not been there for him after Sirius had died, like he should have been. He just knew that Remus wanted him to walk away from the rat that had betrayed his parents. He just knew that the Ministry was about to come and interfere again with things they knew nothing about, and more than anything Harry was just angry. "He put Sirius in Akaban for twelve years! He BETRAYED MY MUM AND DAD! He-"

"Potter."

Harry ignored her, rounding around, glaring at the wreckage that had been a house not an hour before. "We should blow the entire thing up if we have to, Remus. It'd be no less than he'd deserve. He'd-"

"Potter, you're-"

He shook her hand off, glaring. The longer that went by without Pettigrew being found the greater the chance that the rat had actually gotten away. The entire street was rubble-ridden. There were too many places where he could have hid...

"Harry!" Kaylens grabbed at his arm, this time with both of her hands, as if preparing to hang on. "Will you just stopfor a second, I have an idea if you'd just-" Her eyes flickered towards the Ministry officials, nervousness ghosting over her face.

Breathing hard, he just glared at her, hating the feeling of not actually being able to do anything. He hated that the whole street was covered in rubble. He hated that there were too many places for Pettigrew to hide. He hated that Lupin was right.

"What," he tensely ground, "could your idea possiblybe?" He didn't attempt to shake her off him this time, she just let go herself. Waiting for what had better be brilliance, Kaylens brow only furrowed.

It was as if she were afraid of something, her mouth opening and closing twice before she managed to get words out. "How-how important is it?" Her gaze flickered fearfully past him towards the Ministry officials. "To find him?"

Own brow creasing, he stared at her for a second, not grasping why she was even asking. "Call me dumb, Kaylens, but given that he was the one who found and brought Voldemort back from the grave I'd say very."

Hazel orbs darted back to his, her gaze startled. Was she shaking? Before he had time to process whether she was or not she was nodding, her eyes now darting quickly between him and the closing in Ministry officials. Glancing back himself, he saw that they were still a hundred or so meters away.

"Okay," she murmured quietly, as if talking to herself. "Okay." She took a deep breath, as if deciding something. Then her gaze flashed abruptly towards Lupin. "Remus, can you keep them away from us for another minute?"

Tension still running through him, it was all Harry could do to not curse at both of them, given Remus was taking his fine damn time in answering.

"I have the regrettable feeling," Lupin acknowledged, looking as if it were against his better judgment, "that you are going to do this with or without my approval."

Kaylens didn't nod, she didn't say anything, she just shot the man a pleading look.

Lupin looked incredibly tired, giving a resigned nod. "Just don't overdo it." With that the man turned his attention towards the approaching officials, and began picking his way out of the house's remains to meet them. His voice could already be heard amicably shouting, "I believe there has been a significant problem involving one of your employees threatening to use Unforgivable curses upon students!" He sounded for all the world as if statements like that were both pleasant and normal.

Harry was still irritated that they had stopped searching for Pettigrew, Lupin's ominous warning not sitting well with him. "What," he demanded, "did he mean by don'tover-"

Kaylens ignored him, seizing onto his sleeve and giving him a pointed tug to follow. Twenty seconds later found them both hopping down from what had once been the rear door of the house, Harry's feet thudding into the glass littered dirt with a crunch.

Kaylens head poked up over the house's foundation like a sodding gopher, clearly checking to see if they were still in the free and clear, before she dropped back down to the ground besdies him, her back thudding against a meter high portion of bricks that has somehow resisted being torn apart.

Either way they were concealed from the rest of the road, and Kaylens gaze had just closed, her breathing...too controlled.

Harry just stared at her, a foreboding feeling shaking him. Crouched on the ground as he was, his grip upon his wand redoubled. He suddenly had a very, very good idea of what she was doing. "Please tell me your not-"

"I'm not," she murmured, so quietly he could barely hear, "trying to hurt anything." Her breathing was hastening, growing more shallow. "Just...don't let them hex me...before I finish." With that...

The hair along the back of his neck began to stand on end, as did the hair on his arms.

Grip tightening around the Holly wood of his wand, he grimaced, feeling the surrounding air changing, as if static electricity were increasing around them both, and he could hear Kaylens breathing growing less and less steady as the sensation grew.

The desire to grab her, to shake her until she stopped whatever this was rose in him almost violently. The last time she had done this the after effects had nearly killed her. Angelina had given a blood transfusion. She'd nearly died.

His hand moved, her lips already forming the word, "Don't," at him. His hand froze where it was, the cursed thought that touching her could hurt her more...

A dull crackling could be heard, as if the air itself was making the barely there sound. He couldn't even be sure that he was actually hearing something. Dull, golden pinpricks of light began to form upon Kaylens hands, the light beginning to roll over her fingers, caressing her flesh as if the light were nothing more than water flowing over her skin. It was as if the golden pinpricks were building up, waiting, ready to be released.

And then suddenly they were.

They lashed out, a tingling sensation striking him, sliding over his flesh, and Harry instinctively jerked backwards, away from it, away from her, where Kaylens sat against the house's foundation, before he realized what he was doing. What shewas doing.

Her hands were digging into the ground on either side of her now, her fingertips disappearing beneath the surface of the dirt, the golden light dripping from her hands as her countenance turned dangerously pale. The heaving, unsteady rise and fall of her chest had something in Harry's clench-

The light could still be seen rolling over her hands, but it could be seen nowhere else. But it was there, Harry could feel it. He felt it brush along him, through him, before it moved on, moving elsewhere, as if it were searching.

That was when he realized what she was doing.

Electrical energy. She could feel that. Life itselfhad energy.

And so did a rat.

She was hunting for where the rat was beneath the rubble. It might be hidden from visual sight, from summoning charms since they did not know its precise location, but something living couldn't stay hidden from her.

"N-now," she was whispering, her entire expression contorting, "would be a good time to go back to that living..." Sucking in a breath, she barely breathed, "room."

He didn't need telling twice.

Up on his feet, forcing himself past the heavy feeling in the air that pressed against him, he vaulted himself up over the foundation and back into the house.

He nearly fell back out of it.

Golden pinpricks of light, just long enough to be the size of a Gardner snake, were slithering quickly over the floor's ruined surface. Harry had nearly jumped away from it when he'd saw it.

In the distance Lupin could be heard arguing. "So is leaving underage wizards in a compromising position of danger!" Harry ignored it, jumping over an overturned chair for what had once been the kitchen table, following the light as it darted into the living room.

The light snaked in between the cracks of a pile of bricks, a pile he'd started to dig through before only to stop as Umbridge accosted him.

From the rear of the house he heard a pained cry, the vocalization renewing the anger that had flown through his blood before-

Harry shouted the animagus-revealing charm, the blue-white light flung from his wand at the pile of rubble.

It was as it had been before, as if he were watching something on time-lapse film. Where a small pile of rubble had been before, a limb suddenly sprouted out. Then a second, then another arm, and a leg...

The head popped out last, the excuse of a man's arms still flailing quickly, as if he had been mid-scamperwhen the light had found him.

For a second Harry just stared at him, his jaw locked so tightly that it actually vibrated. Peter Pettigrew and his rat like nose looked up at him, blinking his beady eyes for a moment, recognition crossing the once portly man's face. Pettigrew's mouth opened-

Lupin's voice rose above anything he might have said. "Stupefy!"

The jet of red light slammed into Pettigrew, his head smacking backwards into the bricks with the force, the man's eyes lolling about in his skull before they closed.

Breathing hard, Harry stared at the unconscious form that was Peter Pettigrew. The Ministry officials were there, the two of them staring in shock at the sight of the unconscious man. One actually sputtered, "Is-is that-?"

"That," Lupin took the liberty of answering, shooting Harry a silencing look, "would be the deceased Peter Pettigrew, loyal servant of Voldemort, framer of Sirius Black, the actual betrayer and secret keeper of Lily and James Potter, and believed by the Ministry of Magic to have been murdered defending Lily and James honor." Lupin stepped closer to Pettigrew, looking down at the man who would have been the last remaining of his three childhood friends. "I believe," he continued, a note of bitterness entering his otherwise calm voice, "your Ministry awarded him a Metal of Honor."

The second Ministry official just sputtered in shock, and Remus very subtly, very quietly shot Harry another look.

The tension in the gaze was palpable, as was the message. Scrambefore they remember why they showed up initially.

He didn't want to. He wanted to stay and watch Pettigrew finally receive the short end of the law.

Then he remembered Kaylens.

The Ministry's law was to kill Reaches, if found, on sight.

And she had just used her one magical talent in an area swarming with Ministry officials.

He was back over the rear of the foundation in a moment, dropping back down by Kaylens. He found her right where he'd left her, the back of her head leaning against the brick wall, her eyes closed.

Something in him thundered unnaturally at how still she was, his grip reaching out to touch her-

Hazel orbs fluttered open, Harry's fingers freezing where they were, inches from her face. Staring at her, he watched her eyes narrow tiredly, a strange, aberrant sparkling within them.

Then they dropped closed again, her lips curving into what he swore to Merlin was a smirk.

It wasn't until he heard the Ministry official's voice shouting for them that Harry realized why she had her eyes still closed.

The golden pinpricks dancing within her irises could not be seen if her eyes were closed, and Kaylens could not afford for the Ministry to see them. If they did...

They would know what she was.

This time it was Harry who smirked. Sliding closer to her on the dirt covered, debris strewn ground, his large hand grabbed onto her waist, her hip bone firm beneath his callused palm, his fingers tightening pointedly.

He didn't give her eyes a chance to fly open, his brow thudding firmly against hers, his wand hand immediately pressing against the side of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. It didn't occur to him that his wand was still physically clenched between his fingers until she made a sound of protest. Her sharply indrawn breath he felt against the stubble along his chin, but Harry ignored it, his grip only adjusting to poke the side of her head with his wand a bit less.

This time she was the one to find his lips, her mouth claiming his. First slowly, then...with more fervor. Tightening his grip upon her waist further, his fingers and wand's end tangling in her messy golden tresses, he paused only long enough to catch a breath. "No Ministry official," he murmured, "would be mad enough to interrupt this," claiming her lips again, once, twice, he paused again to breathe, her doing the same, "long enough to see your eyes."

Really, he'd love to see the Ministry official that would interrupt the Boy Who Lived while he was snogging a girl.

"So..." Taking the time to just breath against her, his nose shunting against the side of hers, he muttered, "Just...keep them...closed." A murmur of agreement was heard, as if she were too tired to bother using words, and with that...

He resumed his indulging, ignoring the fact that his grand plan of snogging her might have had less to do with keeping her eyes closed and more to do with him just wanting to.

He ignored that, just like he ignored the rather loud guffaw from above them, a Ministry official clearly having found them. The brief argument between the two officials, ending in the decision to leave them both alone, he didn't even have a chance to feel smug about.

Instead his arm was too busy snaking around the small of her back, pulling her against him. And as Kalliandra shifted against him, he vowed that he was sending Tonks a thank you letter for the 'grabbing a girl's waist' tip.

Then again, a dim part of his mind considered, perhaps he should be thanking Remus for that one.