Chapter 11

(Same day)

I walked into the shop where I usually met up with Iskra.

But I didn't see a sign of her, which wasn't concerning. Iskra would arrive when she would.

I walked around and debated just heading home and waiting for her there. Maybe send her a note about the importance of being on time.

Or a chart on time management skills.

I smirked and was about to do that when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

"Ello, Hemi." Iskra's jubilant voice filled my ears.

I grinned and turned around to face her. I had to look up at her. The height difference between us was made more apparent with Iskra's spiked-heeled boots.

Mine had a bit of a heel to them but nowhere near enough to make me taller than my average height.

Iskra slyly smiled and flicked her back with a casual hand.

"Iskra, beautiful as always," I said as I let her hook her arm through mine.

She knew I didn't like anybody touching me, yet she insisted since she said it was the only way to get over my aversion to touch. She pulled towards Diagon Alley and into a pub.

We went up to the bar and ordered a butterbeer. We sipped as we watched people come and go for a while. Iskra was silent, which was unusual for somebody like her. We were meeting for something she could get arrested for here in Britain.

That should've been enough to send her off the walls in excitement. Yet, Iskra was quiet.

"How have you been?" she questioned as she set her mug down. I glanced at my drink for a bit and tried to answer honestly.

"I think I'm doing better. My nightmares aren't as bad anymore. I try mentally try not to abuse using Occlumency, which is very hard not to do. Especially since I've discovered how to use it regularly without needing to cast it," I sipped my drink before continuing, "Harry and Ron are having a hard time away from me. Now that I have other people in the house, some of which they don't like, they are even more so."

Iskra nodded as she took another sip from her drink, "I guessed as much. Those boys love you from what you've told me, but I did think it would make them a bit more protective towards you."

Iskra had met Harry and Ron once. Ron hadn't liked her.

Iskra took great delight in that.

I sighed and changed the topic, "How have you been?"

She chuckled, "Old man has been trying to get me married for about three years. He wants me to marry Vik, but I don't want to, and neither does he. He still holds a torch for you. I plan to marry who I want. I won't settle for whatever comes my way. The old coot's fourth wife is the one filling his head with rubbish."

Grimacing at her choice of words, I pushed the empty mug away and leaned back on the bar counter facing the crowd. Friday's was usually busy but not today from the looks of it. "Hard life of a pureblood, uh?"

She shoved me and almost knocked me off the stool. I yelped. I really shouldn't tease her so much.

But it was fun to do so.

"I'm a bit smaller than you. One of these days, you will break me, and you'll have to answer my mother." I threatened as I put my nose in the air while trying to hide a smile.

Iskra snorted and crossed her long legs, "Your mother loves me. She should adopt me and act like you never existed."

I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest.

My mother would adopt her, but it'd only make us sisters.

We grew silent, and the lack of words wasn't awkward but comfortable.

She pulled a small piece of paper from her robes and handed it to me. "The old man added some possible locations to the list. I might not get along with my father, but he does love me in his arrogant way. Plus, he likes you even though you are a muggleborn."

The word mudblood was left unsaid, but I knew what she meant.

Her father approved of her relationship with me, but he did believe in the old ways since he was a bit older than one would think.

Lazar Georgi was not a pleasant man, but neither was he spiteful. He knew what he believed in but didn't try shoving it in your face. Georgi had called me a mudblood to my face- the one time I did meet him. I'd responded with a cheeky remark. He had not laughed, but something in his eyes had sparked with amusement.

Looking over the list, I realized there were too many locations, but we would probably only go to one of them today.

The one that all three of them, Viktor, Iskra, and Georgi, had listed.

"I think we should head to the one with the only wizards. I feel like they would be more open about stuff. I haven't said anything to Harry or Ron since I knew they would jump the chance and bring a lot of Aurors. Plus, I don't want to put you on their radar. I wanted to look at them first before bringing them in."

I knew Harry and Ron would want to turn it into a raid once they found out exactly what went on in these types of places.

Iskra ordered another butterbeer from the man behind the bar and gave him a coy look. Benji just shook his head and turned back to his work. He was used to Iskra flirting, so he didn't take her seriously.

She flashed me a smile, taking a sip, "If you think that's the way to go. Although, you should have left them a note with Termaine since anything can go wrong." she said darkly before wiping it away and smiling big at Benji, who had just passed by them.

I shrugged, "It will be fine for tonight. If anything happens, both will come the instant I call."

Putting money on the table, we headed outside.

If we'd looked back, we would've seen a man get up and follow.

"I'll take you with me first so that you can get a look at where to apparate since you have to be careful. Noctis Market is kind of like Knockturn Alley but much darker. It's a place where things sold there make Knockturns look like kid toys." she stated as she helped mask my features with a casual wave of her wand.

Once done with me, she did the same to herself.

I knew I wouldn't look too different since it was a spell most students learned early on in school.

Iskra looked down at me seriously, "Are you sure, Hemi?"

I swallowed hard, "I don't have a choice." Not while they were on the loose.

She grabbed my arm and apparated to a dingy street.

It was narrow, and the buildings around us smelled like death.

I took in my surroundings, noting the towering buildings that blocked most of the sky. The streets were wet, and the air felt cold against my skin.

Iskra let me go and pulled her hood up, and I did the same. We heard others apparating around us in the darkness, so she grabbed my arm and pulled me down the street.

"Many people prefer to apparate outside than in since you don't know what situation one will be coming into," she explained as I looked around some more.

We came to a stop near a large door. It was hidden, right between two buildings.

Iskra tapped it once with her wand and said, "Patentibus." and the door slid open.

I pulled my cloak tighter around myself and pulled my want out of my holster.

She walked in, and I followed her.

The door closed silently. I glanced at it, noticing the lack of a door frame or handle.

"It opens in different locations every three times somebody comes through it," Iskra quietly said as she moved away from a man leaning against the far wall staring at us with a leer.

I casually glanced around, noting the dark buildings and dirt road that ran down the open market. Almost everybody had on hooded cloaks.

I heard a roar and stiffened.

I knew that sound too well. There were dragons nearby.

We walked around for a bit, taking note of the things on 'sale' and moving further down towards the sound of dragons roaring. Iskra stayed ahead of me and tried to look around for familiar faces.

I froze when we came to a building that looked like it should have hosted large horses and instead had small dragons in them.

The building was one of the largest, spreading farther back into pitch darkness. It's where the roaring was coming. Loud and angry.

The smell of smoke and dragon fire clogged the air, creating a dense layer of smoke.

I resisted the urge to cough as I inhaled sharply when another piercing roar filled the air.

"They breed the dragons here and kill and sell parts of them too. That's what I'm doing here half the time, getting information and sending it out. I practice dark magic, but even this-" Iskra made a face of disgust before walking past the stables.

I gave it a lingering gaze before following after. I could see many people of different races, but none looked familiar.

But neither did I.

We stopped near a shop called Grimy Grim just as the door to the store banged open with a shrill bang.

"We said we would bring it in, and we did! The price you gave us isn't the same, old man!"

I stiffened.

Found one.

I quickly grabbed Iskra by the arm and pulled her towards the dark nook by the store. I invaded Iskra's personal space, making sure our hoods were up.

From the outside, it looked like Iskra was trying to buy my favours. She looked down at me in confusion, but I just shook my head and moved her closer. I knew the voice of the person inside. It was Dolohov. We could hear something slamming continuously against a crate inside, but it didn't overlap Dolohov's outraged voice.

"I could kill you in different ways so just give me the money, and you can have the damn bloodhounds."

Since there wasn't more shouting, I guessed that the old shop owner had replied with something more agreeable to Dolohov. But the tense air outside the shop remained as others quickly walked by, shooting looks at the door.

I looked around the little nook, noting the tight space was an entrance to an alley. The only light was coming from above us. A small window that was too high up for me to look in.

I stood on my toes, pulling Iskra's face down to mine, "Try to look into the window and see what kind of bloodhound it is."

She nodded and slid farther up the wall, using my shoulders to reach the window.

With a slight turn of her head, Iskra looked inside.

I felt her body stiffen as she glanced inside. After a while, she rested her forehead against my neck.

"It's an Albino Bloodhound," she whispered in my ear.

I gripped the front of her cloak tight. The hounds were only supposed to be controlled by the pest sub-division since they were almost extinct.

The cause of their near extinction was farmers. They used the bloodhounds for potions and labour.

The bloodhounds were supposed to be protected by strict laws.

Shite, somebody on the inside must be helping them. Why didn't we think of that? Several people had been helping the Death Eaters, and there is only so much that Snape and the others could know.

Somebody must have slipped through the cracks.

"Let's go. We know why Dolohov came here, so I'll let Harry know about it."

I felt her nod against my neck and moved back. We quickly traced our steps back, moving swiftly as the street filled with more people.

On our way, I kept looking around at the stalls that reeked of dark magic. I could feel the elements of the dark curses used.

My scared arm burned with the remainder of said dark curses.

We were almost there when we heard a large crash, and we both turned sharply towards the noise and saw a beautiful dragon burst through the top of the building we had passed earlier.

It was an Antipodean Opaleye Dragon. The pearly scales gave it away as well as the size. It screeched, and a ball of fire emerged from its jaws. I was about to move forward when I felt large arms grab me from behind.

The pair of arms tightly pulled me away from Iskra.

Iskra tried to catch my hand, but the people around us were shoving their way away from the escaped dragon. I lost Iskra in the sea of panic.

I pointed my wand back into the neck of whoever had grabbed me, and before I could utter a spell, I heard a familiar gravelly voice.

"You think I couldn't smell you? I have had your nasty mudblood scent engraved in me. Don't think I don't remember you. I do. Harry Potter's mudbloodwhore."

Greyback's foul-smelling breath brushed across my face as he bodily turned me around to face him.

"You disgusting mongrel." I hissed at him as I heard Iskra scream my name from afar.

Her name didn't draw attention due to the dragon, but if Iskra kept yelling my name, people would find out who I was.

Greyback sneered when Iskra's voice reached him.

He grabbed my hand, twisting it in his large hands. I gasped in pain. He laughed at the sound of my pain.

Using my injured arm, he pulled me along, twisting it further when I resisted.

I needed to take him to a place of my choosing before he decided to apparate with me. I didn't want to take him home, but I had no choice. I grabbed a fistful of his hair and moved my arm away from his opened mouth.

I apparated us right by the willow tree and heard Greyback scream as he landed. I had deliberately done it this way to splinch him. Even kill him if possible.

I kicked him away from me and flicked my wrist twice to send my patronus to Harry. "Harry, I have Greyback at my house!"

The otter left at great speed, and I turned towards Greyback, who was on the floor, clutching his stub. There was no sign of his ripped arm. I held my wand in front of me, keeping him within sight.

It wasn't long until somebody appeared with a thunderous sound.

It was Iskra.

But she had landed too close to Greyback, who took the chance and made a grab towards her.

I could accidentally hit her with a wayward spell, so instead, I ran forward and pushed her out of the way.

I landed on my injured arm, crying out at the sudden pain.

FUCK!

"HERMIONE!" I heard several people shout.

I lost my wand.

I tried getting up when Greyback finally made another grab for me and yanked me back. He dove down onto my neck and bit me.

HARD.

I screamed in outrage and pain as his sharp teeth tore my flesh.

I felt somebody rip him off me, and I slumped down on the floor with blood drenching my cloak and shirt. I was delirious with pain at that point and tried to crawl away when somebody grabbed me.

"No!" I screamed as I jerked forward. "Shhh, I have you." Nott's voice said as he picked me up.

I shouldn't have felt safe and protected in his arms, but I did and finally gave in to the painful darkness.

I was safe.