Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

I hate writing this story. It's been so drawn out, and even though I originally thought I had so many ideas, I'm starting to doubt myself and hate them all. The only reason I haven't deleted this entire thing is because I said a thousand times that I wouldn't. I'd just let someone else take over writing it, but I don't trust anyone to do it justice. Lately, I don't trust myself to do that either.

Chapter Forty-One: 62442
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'Wait –' said Ron. 'Say that again?'

'You have to hijack that truck,' Hermione said. 'Before it gets past the gates.'

'I – I can't drive a truck!'

'Honestly,' said Hermione, 'it can't be much more complex than flying a silly broom.'

'Why can't I just fly a broom over the fence?'

'That's what Harry and I will be doing,' explained Hermione. 'But you need to be seen. You can't just fly over the walls and then show up out of nowhere and not expect any of them to ask questions. In a place as heavily guarded as that one, someone will get suspicious.'

Ron looked nervously from Hermione to Harry. 'Why can't Harry do it?'

'No way, mate,' said Harry, holding up his hands. 'This is all you.'

Ron's shoulders slumped. 'Fine. But when we get caught, just remember that this job wasn't my choice.'

Hermione smiled encouragingly. 'You'll do fine,' she said. 'Far better than either of us, I'm sure. You're a much better liar than me. That much is clear.'

'Okay,' Harry said. 'So what's the rest of the plan?'

'Ron will drop off whatever shipment is in the truck. The truck was unmarked, so who knows what it'll be …' she said. 'We'll get inside under your Invisibility Cloak.' She gestured to the bed, where everything they'd brought was laid out. Several objects made up the pile, with many Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products resting on the top.

Ron ran a hand through his hair and glanced at them with uncertainty. 'The things I do for you two …' he muttered.

'We'll be needing this,' Hermione said, picking up the Omnioculars she'd taken from Harry's possessions. 'Judging by the outside appearance of that building, I'd be willing to guess that each door in there is locked and sealed with a security access code. Harry doesn't have his penknife anymore, right? I think if we can catch someone keying in their code, we can use the Omnioculars to get the code from the replay.'

'What else have you got in there, then?' asked Ron. 'Good thing you thought to dig through our things and pack stuff. We sure didn't.'

'Let's see …' said Hermione, digging through the pile and holding up several objects. 'A Put-Outer, Harry's Sneakoscope, my Revealer, a Secrecy Sensor, and a few of the twins' Shield Cloaks.'

Harry looked at her. 'Hermione, have I ever told you that you're brilliant?'

'Where'd you get a Secrecy Sensor?' asked Ron.

Hermione blushed. 'Well … I … on one of the last days of school, I had to report to Filch's office during rounds … and it was just sitting on his desk …'

'You knicked it from Filch?' Ron cried.

'I … you know, we're going to be putting it to much better use now than he would be if it was in his possession,' she justified.

'Did you steal the Shield Cloaks, too? And what about all the other products from the store?'

Hermione shrugged. 'They were left in the twins' bedroom at The Burrow. I assumed they weren't serving any particularly important purpose from their places under the bed. Ginny gave me them, actually. I thought some of them weren't going to be horribly useful, but I took them anyway to humour her … I suppose we owe her a rather large thank you, because they're all going to come in handy, it seems.'

Harry frowned at the mention of Ginny, but closed his mind to the images arising in his mind – Ginny at home, trying to calm a hysterical Mrs Weasley and absolutely livid McGonagall.

'Do I even want to know where you got the Put-Outer?' asked Ron.

'Probably not,' Hermione said with a small smirk, one that made Harry quite curious indeed where she'd gotten it.

……………………………………………………………

'Okay,' said Hermione. She nodded to Harry, who glanced at Ron.

'Ready, Ron?' asked Harry.

'Let's go,' said Ron.

Harry bit his lip in concentration and waved his hand. The truck sputtered and all four of its tires blew out. The street was deserted at this time of night, and even then, Hermione had insisted on using the Put-Outer.

The street was pitch black and without any lights, save for the truck's headlights, which illuminated the area just enough for the trio to find their way to it without incident.

It was a moment before the driver stepped out of the truck, and it was just long enough for Hermione to worry that they'd injured him. When he stepped out into the dim lighting, Hermione felt her stomach churn. He was – a she.

'Well,' said Ron in a hushed tone. 'That complicates things just a bit.'

'Hermione will have to do this part,' said Harry.

'Me?' asked Hermione. 'But I –'

'You know what you need to do,' said Ron. 'This is your plan.'

'But we'll get caught!' whispered Hermione frantically. 'I'm horrible at lying. Plus, I can't drive!'

'It was fine when I was the one doing it,' Ron said accusingly.

'That's different,' she said, though she knew it wasn't. Why was it fine for Ron to do it, but now that it was up to her, she was too afraid? It wasn't fair, and she knew that, but he just couldn't stop the awful feelings that were flying around inside of her.

She felt Ron nudge her lightly between her shoulder blades, politely but firmly urging her forward. She moved, but not before a fresh, strong sense of panic washed over her, and she nearly drowned in it.

She was going to do this, and do it well, because Ron and Harry needed her. Their safety – not just her own – depended on this going well. But she as still allowed to be frightened. Wasn't she? She had set out a very detailed list of rules for the three of them to follow, but never once had she told them, you are not to be afraid.

She swallowed thickly.

She could do this. If she just approached this as a textbook problem, and did it in steps, she could do this. She would do this.

'Go on, then,' she said faintly, and Harry sprung into action.

The female driver was unconscious before Hermione had even realized that Harry had done anything.

'Move,' he whispered, picking her up and pulling her back into the truck. When Hermione and Ron made it to his side, Harry had already using his wandless magic to gain access to the locked area in the back of the truck.

Hermione worked quickly to pull off the driver's uniform, and she was suddenly very aware of how horribly she was violating this woman. They had knocked her out, and now a stranger was undressing her.

If she felt awkward about undressing a stranger, it was nothing compared to how awkward it was to remove her own clothes in front of both Ron and Harry. Because the back of the truck was very cramped (it was, after all, loaded with unknown contents) there was very little space for the three of them to move. Harry and Ron could not turn away because they needed to watch for any signs of trouble, and so Hermione had no choice but to get nearly naked before them.

Ron had already seen her in this little, and Harry was showing some tact by not looking directly at her.

She was too nervous to care that her bra and knickers did not match.

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Harry used his wandless magic to awaken the woman, keeping her in something similar to a trance. In this state, she hadn't hesitated to answer any of the questions they'd posed, including who are you? and what is in this truck? and what is the procedure you must follow upon delivering the items in this truck?

As it turned out, this woman – Natalie – didn't have the slightest clue what sort of supplies she was delivering. Drivers aren't entrusted with such information, she'd said. They were merely used to get everything from one place to another.

Once Hermione was in position and began (slowly, and somewhat poorly) driving around to the back of the building, Harry and Ron slipped on the Invisibility Cloak and mounted Ron's broom.

'Think this place has a protective ward up?' asked Ron.

'I hope not,' Harry said, 'because we've got no other way in.'

They soon discovered that there was no protective ward up, and that the electric fence was nearly twice as high as it looked. They flew high into the air, and Harry was somewhat thankful for the unexpected turn of events, because Hermione probably would have fainted if she'd had to ride this broom.

They touched down on the other side of the fence, and their timing was ridiculously good, because a side door opened to greet the truck just as they'd finished hiding the broom in a bush.

They slipped through the door. The inside of the building was everything and nothing at once, and though Harry did indeed take in the high ceilings, marble floors, and fancy décor, he got the feeling he would not be able to recall such details once he left.

The layout was like a maze inside, and Harry knew that it was not an accident that he and Ron got lost. Every corridor looked the same, and none of the walls were marked with unique or identifiable paintings. A large plant occupied a square of space in each corner, and fancy chandeliers hung from the ceiling, but it was the same at every turn and Harry was beginning to get flashbacks to the Triwizard Tournament.

'Why are there no doors? And … Merlin, what is this place?' he heard Ron whisper. He shook his head wordlessly, not even knowing how to describe it. There was a pull in the pit of his stomach that he recognized, surely, but from where? And what was it? Did Ron feel it too?

'Do you feel that?' he asked finally, unable to keep the tense silence.

'No. What?'

'It's –' Harry's voice died away when two men rounded the corner up ahead and began walking straight toward Harry and Ron.

'Is the shipment in, then?'

'Ned's getting it now. Have you got everything ready?'

'Just about.'

'Just about?'

'It'll be done.'

'It had better be done.'

'It'll be done.'

'Severus had better be right about this.'

Snape.

These people were Death Eaters. All of them.

Harry was suddenly very interested in what they were talking about. So interested, in fact, that had Ron not carefully but forcefully pulled Harry out of the way, the men would've plowed straight through them.

'What the bloody hell was that about?' Ron whispered harshly, but instead of referring to the conversation they'd just heard, he was staring accusingly at Harry.

'I –'

'You almost got us caught! And for what? It doesn't matter what they're talking about, you said so yourself!'

'Let's follow them,' said Harry. Did Ron not hear? Or did he just not understand?

'They're gone, we're just going to get lost trying to find them,' Ron reasoned.

'We're already lost. Ron. I have to –'

Ron's angry sigh cut him off. 'Fine. But it'll be your fault if we die without getting this thing.'

Harry flinched, and decided not to add that it would already be his fault if that happened to any of them.

They turned and began to follow the men, but as Harry soon realized, they could have turned down several different corridors, and it would be impossible to decide which one was the right one.

Without warning, a door appeared and a man stepped out. Drawing his wand, he gave it a complicated wave and the door disappeared. He left, his dark robes billowing behind him as he rounded a corner.

'Whoa,' breathed Ron.

Was it really that there were no doors? Or was it that the doors would only appear for people who belonged in this building? If that was the case, Harry decided that he and Ron were in trouble.

A woman approached and tapped the wall twice in the exact place where a door had just been. Harry watched as a small keypad rose out of the wall, and hurried to grab the Omnioculars from his pocket in order to catch the code she was typing in.

He recorded it and gripped the Omnioculars tightly as the woman slipped inside. Would she be coming out any time soon? They couldn't stumble in unless they could be certain the coast was clear. Was it? Or would Harry be leading them both to their deaths?

Shortly after entering, the woman reappeared in the corridor holding a package and left.

'Replay it,' Ron urged.

Harry did. He played it once, then twice. The third time, he slowed it down. To be sure he was seeing the correct code. And he was not prepared for what he found.

Six … two … four … four … was that another two?

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