Harry stared down on the locket in his hand. He had so many questions and so little time left to answer all of them. He knew at the beginning of the year that he was going to die. That he was one of the horcruxes and that the only thing keeping him alive was ensuring the rest of the horcruxes were destroyed. He had already run into Luna Lovegood's father and knew about the Hallows, he even knew about Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, Nagini, all of them but he had no clue how to destroy them, any of them. He didn't have Hermione to figure it out, didn't have Ron to save him, he didn't have anyone but the Order of the Phoenix and the Aurors. Adults that didn't trust him to wipe his own ass currently because he was holed up in 12 Grimmauld Place with this grouchy little house elf that hated him. Currently Tonks and Moody were down in the kitchen after coming back from the Ministry. It had been taken over and Umbridge was now the Minister. He also learned that Hogwarts had been attacked but Moody had managed to grab Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem when they took Harry out of the school the night before. He was worried about his friends but the Aurors had assured him that they were safe in Mcgonagall's care. Currently Severus Snape was to take over the school so Mcgonagall could take certain students out of Hogwarts and to another safe house.
"Bellatrix Lestrange took her," Tonks breathed, Harry's head rose from staring at the cursed locket at her words.
"Bellatrix Lestrange took who?" Harry moved into the kitchen doorway to glare between the two Aurors. Tonks looked extremely guilty but Moody had that usual blank expression on his face.
"She took Hermione, we've been trying to figure out where but-" Moody started to explain.
"That's it! Where did you take Ron?" Harry interrupted the Auror, looking to Tonks.
"We took them to a house in muggle London-" Tonks started.
"You take me to him and you take me to him now." Harry slammed the locket on the table.
"You have a mission-" Moody stood to admonish him.
"I know what I'm supposed to do, you aren't the one that knows they're going to die soon," Harry leveled his eyes on Moody who for the only time ever crumbled. He nodded and looked away.
"Alright, let's go then," Tonks stood up and gathered her things.
~~~!~~~
"Harry?!" Ron exclaimed as Harry walked in the door. The surviving Weasleys and much of the order were camped out in a large series of connected flats in downtown London. The tall redhead instantly pulled Harry into a bear hug which dispelled most of the horrible feelings churning in his gut.
"Harry," Draco spoke up behind them, the two best friends pulled apart and Harry pulled him into a hug as well, surprising the hell out of the stiff Slytherin.
"Thank you. Thank you for defending her. Tonks told me about the duel," Harry explained as he pulled back, Draco nodded, emotion choking him up.
"I still failed-" Draco started.
"No, you did the best you could. I heard you almost died from the injuries, we'll get her back. I swear," Harry promised him then looked to Blaise who had limped out from one of the back rooms.
"Blaise, are you alright?" Harry asked, going to him.
"Fine, better. It's going to take me some time to recover still. My uncle hit me with a pretty bad curse," Blaise answered.
"He saved my life Harry. The curse would have killed me if Blaise hadn't of stepped in and deflected it," Ron spoke up.
"It would have been better if I hadn't of deflected it with my body," Blaise smirked. Everyone moved into Blaise's room so he could return to his bed.
"You'll be alright, right?" Harry looked sincerely concerned.
"Yes, I'll be fine. The healers did their job very well. I'll be good as new soon enough," Blaise answered.
"Professor Mcgonagall has been following every lead for Hermione but I fear the worst," Draco spoke up as everyone got settled in.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"He thinks Lestrange took her to Malfoy Manor," Ron answered, Harry looked around at everyone there.
"The dungeon is the only place that could contain her. With magic like hers…and you know who-" Draco started to explain.
"Voldemort, I'm not afraid of him, you shouldn't be either," Harry corrected, Draco and Blaise flinched but didn't comment.
"Well, either way, one of the major Deatheater bases is there. It's only a matter of time before they find out that she's not a mudblood and then we're really in danger," Draco explained.
"Muggle born," Ron hissed.
"Wait, Hermione isn't a muggle born?" Harry looked around, Blaise and Draco looked uneasy.
"I guess with all the excitement and the war, we forgot to tell you," Blaise spoke up.
"Tell us what?" Ron looked thoroughly confused.
"Hermione was sent an invitation to the Pureblood Annual," Draco answered, Ron looked impossibly more confused.
"Why would she be sent one of those? We've met her parents…they're really muggles. Not for pretendies or anything," Ron commented.
"They aren't her parents, we've been trying to track them down but it's been low on the list of things to do, the war and school taking up pretty much all our time," Draco elaborated, Harry and Ron nodded, comprehension slowly dawning on their faces.
"So who are her parents?" Harry asked.
"We don't really know, we have her mother's name but it's been really hard to figure out where they are or really anything about them. They aren't part of the British Wizarding families and we all know how isolated we are from the rest of the world. Especially with the war going on," Draco replied.
"So let's start putting a plan together about getting Hermione out of Malfoy Manor and then we'll figure out the whole parentage thing…" Harry leaned forward to start planning.
TBC