A.N.: Alright, let's tackle another Horcrux, shall we? I admit that I hate writing these chapters and having to deal with the Horcruxes. But as I want to stay canon as much as possible, there's no way around it. I hope you can enjoy reading the chapter anyway, it took me days to write it which is very atypical for me. But as I said, there are the passages I struggle the most with.
Chapter 28: The traitor
15th of June 1981
Their success at Gringott's left Hermione in high spirits but as the days went on, she realized that there was not much she could do now, as finding the last two Horcruxes strongly depended on Severus' and Dumbledore's help. Severus regularly assured her, that he had some kind of plan and the Horcrux would soon be in their hands and Hermione willed herself to trust him. It wasn't like she had much choice anyway, as almost nothing would force her, to set a foot into Malfoy Manor again, not if there was a way around it at least.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, was silent since their visit to the castle and Hermione already started to ask herself if he had maybe forgotten her request to help them, as one day suddenly appeared his phoenix Fawkes in front of her in the Prewett's library. She had just been pouring over a thick tome on the family history of various important wizarding families, as the air next to her suddenly burst into flames and the majestic bird appeared with a high piercing cry. Hermione stared at it with wide eyes.
"Oh hello Fawkes," she greeted the phoenix with a startled voice, just as her eyes fell on the rolled parchment in the bird's beak. "Does the Headmaster send you with a message for me?"
Fawkes nodded and made a cooing noise, before dropping the scroll into her lap.
"Thank you for delivering this. I've been waiting for a note for him quite impatiently." The phoenix cooed again and Hermione assumed that he kind of gave her an answer. She smiled kindly at him, but before she could say something else, the majestic bird bobbed its head and disappeared in a ball of flames. Hermione stared at the spot in the air for a short while longer, before she finally grabbed the sealed scroll in her lap and opened it. There was only a single address written in the middle of it, but Hermione's mouth turned into a victorious smile. It looked like it was finally time for them, to collect the next Horcrux.
16th of June 1981
The Gaunt Shack was the ancestral home of the Gaunt family, located in the woods just outside the village of Little Hangleton. Hermione had known of its existence through Harry's stories, but further, than that the ring containing the Resurrection Stone was hidden there, she had no idea what to expect. But she was prepared for security measures of the worst sort, as the necklace in the cave had been protected quite heavily as well. As she had no idea what kind of traps or other danger lay ahead of them, she couldn't help but be nervous when she, Fabian and Gideon apparated into the village the next day.
"I have no idea, what traps there might be ahead of us," she whispered towards them urgently.
"We know Hermione," Fabian said soothingly and put a hand on her shoulder. "You already told us. Don't worry, we are no slouches and if we really can't get any further, we'll just come back another time after we have a solution to whatever problem might be ahead of us."
Hermione nodded with a grimace, but she couldn't help the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach. Maybe it was because they had gotten away too lightly so far, but Hermione couldn't help but feel, that serious danger lay ahead of them. But it wasn't like they had any choice in that matter. They had to get to the shack and get the Horcrux and just deal with whatever Voldemort put in front of them.
"Alright, let's do this then," Hermione said and straightened her back. And with her wand readily in hand, she started to march towards the forest. They walked in silence for several minutes until they reached the first trees of the forest. There Hermione halted at the tree line and peeked ahead. There was no danger in sight, but she knew that this was meaningless as there were dozens of invisible traps Voldemort could have placed on their path.
"Do you have a way of detecting wards or magical traps ahead of us?" she whispered and the twins nodded silently. Immediately the two of them started casting and after a moment of waiting, they finally started to set a foot into the forest. Hermione instantly felt the temperature drop and just a moment later she could hear Bellatrix voice interrogating her within her head. He gasped. "Dementors," she warned and without waiting for the twin's reaction she cast her Patronus. The little otter leaped happily from her wand and started circling the three of them while swimming through the air on his back. The effect was noticeable right away as the coldness and the voices in her head immediately vanished.
A moment later Hermione's otter was joined by a Fennec from Fabian's wand and Gideon's Patronus which was a little Arctic Fox. The two light animals bounced excitedly through the air before they started sniffing the air and circled them with their ears raised in attention. Hermione looked at the cute little fellows with an adoring smile before she looked at their friends seriously. "That was too easy. The Dementors are probably here to scare away the muggles. But I'm sure that there is more ahead of us. Could you continue casting detection spells, while I keep up my Patronus? This way we hopefully won't be surprised by something."
Fabian and Gideon nodded in silent agreement and immediately started casting again, which made their Patronusses dissolve into white mist again. They crept through the forest with measured steps but nothing happened for almost ten minutes. Then the Prewetts suddenly paused in front of her and Gideon raised his finger to get her attention.
"There's something here," he whispered while his twin started to cast several to Hermione unknown spells. She waited patiently next to him and studied their surroundings with squinted eyes.
"This should be safe to pass," Fabian exclaimed quietly after a while and looked at the area in front of them with furrowed brows. "As far as I get this, that ward will cause some pretty nasty hallucinations, probably also lots of pain. But it should be safe to pass, even though it will be doubtlessly very unpleasant."
Gideon looked at his brother for a long moment, before he started casting some spells on his own. "Yeah, I kind of see the same. I suggest one of us goes ahead and plays guinea pig, while the other two wait here. And no Hermione, you're not going first."
Fabian nodded resolutely and for a moment the two redheads just stared at each other silently.
"I'm going," Fabian finally announced and without waiting for a reply he gripped his wand tightly and went ahead. He managed three steps before a pained groan escaped his lips and he started to clutch his head. "Gah, this hurts," he gasped and for a moment it looked like his knees were about to buckle but then he made another step and then another one. It was almost too much for her to watch, as his pain seemed to increase with every step and after his seventh step he seemed to be constantly moaning in pain.
"Fabian," she whispered in horror. "Don't go any further."
But he didn't seem to have heard her, as he made another two steps before he collapsed on the ground with a loud gasp. Hermione already wanted to rush to him, but Gideon held her back with a firm grip on her arm. "He's alright, he made it through," he reassured her and when Hermione looked at his brother to assure herself that he was right, she could see the relieved smile forming on Fabian's face. Finally, he pulled himself up with a tired groan, before saying: "Okay, I guess it's safe for you to pass. But be prepared for the worst pain of your life. It hurts like hell."
Hermione sighed resignedly and straightened her back. But before she could even make her first step, she felt Gideon's hand taking hers.
"Let's do this together," he said and looked at her with warm blue eyes.
"Alright, together," she agreed and smiled back. She gripped his hand tightly and nodded, then she made the first step. The pain was instant, but Hermione just squinted her eyes and moved on. It was almost as bad as being under the Cruciatus again, but compared to that particular experience, she still kept control about her limbs and was able to move on. Still, the pain was almost too much and with every step she took, she kept clutching Gideon's hand harder until she finally stumbled towards Fabian with a last determined step and landed in his arms.
"Merlin, I hope we can apparate on our way out," Gideon murmured behind her and groaned. "Because I don't fancy doing that again."
Fabian grunted in acknowledgment before letting go of Hermione. She immediately regained her posture again and looked around. And there, behind the next set of trees, she could see something that looked like an old shack. "We're almost there," she murmured and raised her wand. The twins nodded cautiously and Fabian was just about to cast another set of detection charms when the skin on Hermione's neck suddenly started to prickle. Without even thinking about it, she cast a strong shield around the three of them and it was just in time, to see a blue spell bounce from it to their left. Gideon cursed, before pulling up a shield on his own and it was just in time because the next curses were already coming. Hermione had no time to even think what was happening, but her reflexes from the war kicked in and she started casting. Harry had trained her well and even though she refused to use lethal spells, the ones she knew were efficient on their own. Two stunners and a silencing spell left her wand in rapid succession but they were skilfully blocked by the masked figures that stepped towards them from behind the trees. It were five of them and Hermione could have sworn, that the curly black hair belonged to no other than to Bellatrix Lestrange. Why was it always her?
"We're outnumbered," Fabian stated calmly and flanked her left side. He threw curse after curse towards their attackers, while his brother was guarding their backs.
"Doesn't matter," Gideon replied coolly, before casting another strong shield for them. "We're a team, we trust each other. They're just a bunch of self-centered arseholes."
Fabian grunted in agreeance while throwing back a bunch of other curses. "Can you shield us for a moment, Hermione? Gideon and I will try something. It will only be for a minute, at most."
She nodded and without saying another word, she cast the strongest shield she was capable of and started to feed it with her magic to keep it up through the attacks that kept coming towards them. Fabian and his brother immediately dropped their shields and started to cast on their own. They worked like a well-oiled machine and Hermione could see their spells layering around each other before they melted into strong wards that protected the area around them with some sort of blue shimmering dome. None of the spells directed towards them were able to come through the barrier they had just created and Hermione saw this as her cue to lower her shield.
"That's brilliant," she mumbled and cast a number of offensive spells and promptly one of them hit a cloaked figure in the torso that dropped to the ground at once. It made a big difference to not worry about shielding yourself and just be able to cast. "How long will it last?"
"About five minutes, not longer. But there will be a warning before it breaks down," Fabian replied and took out another Death Eater himself. "Now we're equal," he said and grinned.
"They must not get away, none of them. I don't know why they're here but Voldemort mustn't know that we are looking for his Horcruxes. Otherwise, we're finished," Hermione said urgently and the two of them nodded.
"Let's concentrate on the one in the middle than at first. We'll take them out one by one, as long as the wards hold," Fabian murmured and threw a green light bolt towards the appointed enemy. The strategy worked perfectly, as the Death Eaters confronting them dropped to the ground one by one until only one of them was left. That was, unfortunately, the moment, when the wards around them started breaking down.
"Well, well, I see you little redheads love to play," Bellatrix's voice taunted them just as the witch ripped the Death Eater mask from her face. She was much younger than Hermione had ever seen her, but the madness had already taken hold of her and blurred her once pretty features to something that looked ugly and dangerous. "Shall we play like big wizards and witches, now that those idiots are finally out of the way?" Bellatrix didn't really wait for an answer of them though before she cast the first curse. Hermione automatically cast a shield, but the Cruciatus Curse went right through it and hit Fabian squarely in the chest. He crumpled on the floor next to her, where he immediately started screaming and convulsing in agony. Just a moment later Gideon who was standing at her other side, dropped on his knees as well and started to moan in pain. But the sound was drowned by Bellatrix mad cackling in front of her.
"Stop!" Hermione pleaded and tried attacking her on her own. But the black-haired witch simply ended the curse and skilfully blocked her attack with a simple shield.
"You see? That is the problem with magical twins. If you have one, you've got both." But before one of the twins could even move a finger, strong thorned tendrils shot out of the ground and wound themselves around their arms and legs. Hermione could see their skin breaking under the rough admission and blood ooze from the fresh wounds. She cursed inwardly.
"Now to you little girl," the madwoman in front of her said in a dangerous tone. "Who are you?"
But Hermione ignored her question and shot a stunner towards her instead. Bellatrix blocked it with a lazy flick of her wrist. "Ah I see, you want me to break you first? Or do you prefer if I break your little redheads and let you watch?" Bellatrix said almost playfully and studied her with a curious expression and just at that moment the tendrils that had captured her twins started pulling at their limbs. Gideon moaned in pain.
Hermione did her best to ignore Bellatrix's question and cast another set of offensive spells. The cutting curse hit her enemy squarely in the chest, but the woman didn't even flinch, even though her dress was ripped open and blood started oozing through the black fabric. But Bellatrix lips just curled into an amused grin and she cast another Cruciatus that was aimed at her this time. Hermione gasped from the impact of it and for a moment her knees wanted to buckle, but then she realized that the pain wasn't nearly as bad, as she remembered it. It definitely hurt and felt like she was being badly burned but Hermione was still able to remain upright with clenched teeth. But Merlin, she needed to end this, or they were all dead rather sooner than later. As soon as Bellatrix got tired of playing with them or nagging her for answers, she'd simply kill them or torture them to insanity. And Hermione wouldn't let that happen.
She used the moment of surprise to cast an Expelliarmus, followed by a full-body bind and with no small amount of satisfaction she saw both curses hit their target with a precision that was surprising considering the amount of pain she was in. But she didn't dwell on it and quickly summoned the witch's wand before she released her twins from their horrible restraints.
"Are you alright?" she asked while she rushed to their side and looked at them with concerned eyes. The wounds on their limbs were bad still oozed blood through their robes, but Fabian and Gideon just nodded grimly towards her, before they pulled themselves up with a groan.
"A little shaken," Gideon admitted weakly and stumbled towards her with his face scrunched in pain. She held him back with her hand.
"Wait," she mumbled and handed him a vial of blood replenisher, before handing out another one to his twin. "Here, take this. It's not much but hopefully, it's enough until we can get you help." They nodded their thanks and took the potions without hesitation. Immediately the colour rose back into their pale skin.
"Gah, that's better," Fabian sighed next to her and squeezed her hand. "Thanks for saving us – again." Hermione smiled back at him shakily, before she straightened her back and stepped next to Bellatrix, who was staring up at her with wide, hateful eyes.
"Well Mrs. Lestrange," Hermione said in a hard voice as she crouched down next to her. "You found yourself the wrong witch to play. Your dirty little spells are not working on me. Pity you won't remember that fact or even get the chance to try them ever again." With that, she raised her wand in a calculated move and said: "Obliviate." Immediately the agitated spark in the witch's eyes disappeared and what was left was only a dull glimmer.
"Alright, now the other ones," Hermione said determinedly and got up from the ground.
"What are we going to do with them?" Gideon asked her in a tired and skeptical voice. "We can't let them return to their master, even though they might not remember anything that occurred in this forest. "The odds are already bad enough as it is."
She nodded darkly. "No, but we can send them to the ministry after we cut off their sleeves and wrapped them into a nice little present for the Aurors to find."
"Alright," Fabian agreed solemnly next to her. "And then let's get this damned Horcrux. I can't wait to fall into my bed after a long hot shower."