December 21st

A faint buzzing woke Hermione up out of a sound sleep. Annoyed that her rest had been disturbed, she rolled over onto her side to see if the noise disturbed her husband. When she discovered that he was still asleep, likely thanks to the combination of his pain potions and the one glass of wine Sarah allowed him to drink at dinner, she grew even more annoyed. Why did she have to be such a light sleeper? While it might have saved her life a time or two in the past, mostly it was just frustrating. Though she could no longer hear the sound that woke her up, going back to sleep was difficult. She had too much on her mind, too much anxiety, too much uncertainty about her future.

It was a little after two in the morning when she decided that tossing and turning wasn't going to help her return to sleep. Carefully slipping out of the bed to not wake Antonin up, she made her way towards the home's kitchen. Perhaps a cup of chamomile tea or even something a little stronger if she could find Lee's secret stash. He was a man with exceptional taste in fire whiskey, not that she could ever appreciate the differences in quality.

She didn't expect to find anyone else in the kitchen when she pushed open the door. Especially not Lizzie at that hour. As Hermione stepped inside the room, the young witch opened the door leading to the back garden. Before she exited her parents' home in the middle of the night for seemingly no discernible reason, Lizzie caught Hermione's eye and smiled.

Hermione had a choice to make in that moment. She could either rouse the household for something that might have a simple, innocent explanation or she could follow the girl. Even in the heart of the Resistance village she wasn't safe. A look out the open door showed that Lizzie had already made it to the gate on the edge of the property. If Hermione didn't run after her in that second, she might lose all sight of the girl before she could tell her concerned parents where she went. Borrowing one of the cloaks hanging up on a hook next to the door, Hermione rushed outside in her slippers.

Lizzie wasn't old enough yet to be ready for sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet her young lover. Even she was too innocent for those sorts of activities. Once Hermione was out of the back gate, she could see the young witch several meters ahead. She thought about calling out to the girl, but immediately decided against it. She might wake up some of the concerned villagers. How would it look? Lizzie appeared to be running away from crazy, dangerous Madam Dolohov. No one would believe that Hermione was chasing after the girl because she feared she might be in trouble. One of the villagers might curse first and ask questions second. It was a terrible idea.

The further they traveled away from the Jordan home, the more Hermione got concerned. What was the girl up to? She wished she still had the ability to produce a patronus that she could use to send a message to Lee and Sarah. If she wasn't alone the entire experience might not feel so sinister. Hermione attempted several times to produce a patronus, but nothing happened. Not even a bit of wispy smoke. The darkness was still too strong inside of her to call forth such a pure magic. If she turned around to inform the girl's parents what was happening, she might not be able to find her again in time to keep her from harm. Even with the tracking spell moments mattered. A lot of bad could happen to the girl in that time.

When Lizzie led her to the edge of the village, Hermione grew even more nervous. Where was she going? She almost forgot about her concerns of calling out the girl's name. Instead, Hermione picked up her pace to run as fast as she could in her direction. Not caring that she was about to breach the village's protective wards, Lizzie crossed over the border and kept walking.

At least a hundred meters outside of the village, Hermione heard a rustling up ahead. She was close to catching up with Lizzie who seemed determined to keep moving no matter what. Clutching her wand tightly in her hand, Hermione gasped when she saw the large St. Bernard emerge from the darkness. With a happy giggle of delight, Lizzie ran towards the dog to pet his head.

"I did exactly what you told me to do. She followed me."

Hermione could feel her mouth open in complete surprise. What was happening? Did Lizzie even know who she was talking to? The moment Lizzie pointed in her direction, she knew the girl was aware. It made an awful sort of sense. She'd been so fascinated by Death Eaters. Considering no one but Ginny in the Resistance knew Rodolphus was an animagus happily living amongst them, there would've been no reason to warn the girl to stay away from the friendly dog that lived in Tiberius Zeller's house.

It was all just one nasty trap and she fell right into it. Playing on her newly developed concerns as a mother had been low, even for Rodolphus. Gripping her wand tighter in her hand, she prepared herself to curse the damned dog the moment Lizzie was no longer blocking him. Likely aware of what her plans were, Rodolphus moved even further behind the girl. St. Bernards made big targets, but the girl's presence made trying to hit him more difficult. What if Lizzie was injured in the process? She didn't think Lee and Sarah would be quick to forgive her if anything happened to their daughter.

"Rodolphus, let her go. Lizzie, step away from the dog."

Neither of them heeded her command. Instead of moving away from the dog, Lizzie pressed herself against his fur, effectively acting as a human shield for the monster. Hermione didn't know what to do next. If she screamed for help, the wrong villagers might show up. She knew how bad it looked to an outsider. The evil lunatic Madam Dolohov held a child at wand-point who only wished to protect the helpless dog from the witch's cruelty. She had no doubt that Lizzie could make herself cry if prompted by witnesses. Turning her back wasn't an option. Either Rodolphus would transform into a wizard and curse her as she ran for help she could trust or he'd take Lizzie away. Kidnapping would be just as bad as Lizzie getting hurt for Hermione.

In the end, it didn't even matter what her decision would've been. As she was focused on the animagus being protected by the young girl, she didn't hear the footsteps creeping up behind her. It was an amateurish mistake, one Antonin and Thorfinn would both chide her for if she ever had the opportunity to see them again. A hard body slammed against her back, tackling her to the ground.

She hated herself for her carelessness. No wonder she used to believe so fervently that emotions were weaknesses. With all of her concern placed on what happened to Lizzie, she hadn't taken the time to reserve any for herself. Her attacker held her down on the ground with his body. Temporarily stunned by the surprise, she almost dropped her wand. Everything happened in a matter of moments. He punched her forearm with a closed fist and all of his strength. Hermione cried out as she could feel and hear her bone break. The sheer pain forced her to lose her grip on her only weapon. It was only a matter of few seconds before she was completely subdued. Her limited physical strength, especially when she was attacked off-guard, simply couldn't compete with the wizard. Her ankles were bound with conjured rope and despite the agonizing pain in her clearly broken arm, she screamed when her attacker bound her arms together in a tight knot.

The final insult was when he jumped off her back to stomp her wand into two useless pieces. Even if she was somehow able to untie her wrists, she had nothing to fight with. It was only then that she got a good look at Rodolphus' second accomplice. She just had to laugh or she feared she would go mad with worry. How persuasive did Rodolphus have to be to get such a distinguished and respected member of the Resistance on his side?

Tiberius Zeller was once one of the most powerful men in the Ministry of Magic. The Head of his department, he was close friends with the murdered Minister Scrimgeour. Hermione remembered Cormac McLaggen mentioning his uncle's close friendship with the Head of their government. It had been impressive enough to earn him a spot in the coveted Slug Club. One of the few who actually survived a Ministry purge with his life intact, Tiberius might've disappeared into obscurity if it hadn't been for the tragedy that befell his only daughter Rose ten years after the war ended.

"Why are you helping him? Don't you know who he is?"

"Of course I know who he is." Tiberius practically spat in his anger. Still in shock, Hermione didn't know what to say. "More than that, I know who you are. You lied to me when you told me my Rosie's death was an accident. You killed her."

Laughter she had grown to hate startled her attention away from the still-grieving father who seemed ready to kill. Rodolphus took the time to transform into his human form while Hermione struggled with Tiberius on the ground. He clearly found the entire situation amusing.

"Oh, dear, I didn't realize you hadn't told Tiberius the full truth about how his daughter actually died. When I filled in the blanks for him, I had no idea he would be so angry."

Hermione would hate Rodolphus until the day she died. Never once did she expect anything that she'd confided in him about over the years of their fucked up relationship to be used against her in such a way. What was he playing at? She didn't think he wanted her dead, so why would he put her in a such a terrible position? If it was just to get Tiberius to agree to help him attack her in the middle of the night, what did he expect would happen when the wizard began demanding her blood for what she did to his daughter?

Tiberius pulled her off the ground by her broken arm none too gently. She was afraid she would throw up because of the pain. As she turned her head to look at Tiberius' face in some hope of gauging his next move, a deep gash appeared in his neck. Blood, copious amounts of it, gushed out of the wound, spraying Hermione in the face. Out of fear or revulsion, she wasn't sure which, she screamed. Rodolphus laughed again.

"Handy little spell. I can see why you like using it."

Completely ignoring the rapidly draining body on the ground, Rodolphus turned his full attention to his younger accomplice. Far from being horrified by the murder she just witnessed only a short distance away, Lizzie seemed excited. A chill ran up Hermione's spine. What was wrong with the girl? Rodolphus knelt on the ground so his eyes were level with the girl's.

"You did a wonderful job, Lizzie. Now, I need you to run home as fast as you can to tell your parents that Hermione killed Mr. Zeller and tried to kill you too."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was going to blame the murder on her and worse? Lizzie turned towards Hermione to smile. She didn't even flinch when Rodolphus pressed the tip of his wand against her throat to make a small cut. Not deep enough and certainly not in the right place to kill her, it indeed looked as if Hermione tried to kill the girl. Rodolphus laughed for several moments as he watched the girl run back towards the village while Hermione could only stand there in complete shock.

"Stupefy."

Still bound by Tiberius' spell, Hermione was unable to escape Rodolphus' stunner.