"Do you have something specific in mind, Miss Granger?", asked Paul.
Hermione was feeling much better now that both Harry and Ron had actually made the vows and got their wands back. This was the breathing room she was looking for. She could now finally stop worrying about their inevitable deaths and focus back on defeating Voldemort.
"Luna Lovegood is currently imprisoned in Malfoy Manor." Ignoring the gasps from Ron and Harry she continued, "And there could be other prisoners there as well. It is also the headquarters of the Death Eater organization and will probably house at least a few high-ranking Death Eaters. Probably those that are not quite accepted by the public yet, like Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband. And obviously Lucius, Narcissa and Draco. Since we know that Riddle is on a quest to find the wand, he will probably not be there now. But he is going to return sooner or later, so we should strike fast and hard. Rescue the prisoners, perhaps take a few prisoners of our own and then destroy the building."
"Hermione, I hate to spoil your plans but how do you propose we do all that?.", Harry said. "Malfoy was hiding his actions from the Ministry for sixteen years. That house is probably heavily warded. We don't even know where it is!"
"Miss Granger, I have to agree with Mister Potter.", said Paul, "Ambushing reckless wizards is easy. Assaulting the Death Eater headquarters is not. We could try to destroy the house from a distance but even that would be risky. You are proposing we infiltrate a heavily defended building we don't even know the location of. We have no idea what the defenses are or the layout of the building and to make it worse there could be any number of civilian hostages in there as well. That is not ambitious, it's suicide."
"Both of you are wrong.", Hermione's eyes twinkled. "As soon as I heard Luna was there, I knew exactly what we were going to do!". She was now standing straight and looked at them with fire in her eyes. "I'm going to show you exactly how we are going to take over the manor, but you must promise me your men will stand down.". Paul gave her a questioning look, "A house elf will appear in this room answering my call. He must not be harmed! He will give us with all the information we need."
"Miss Granger, the safety and secrecy of this base is paramount." , Piotr cut her explanation. "This creature cannot enter the base and then be allowed to leave."
"Piotr is right.", Paul nodded his head. "In fact, I'm worried that this house elf already knows our position if he can appear in this room."
"It's not like that.", Hermione quickly doubled back. "He was freed years ago by Harry. House elves have, a, particular sort of magic. It informs them when their master is calling them and makes them appear next to him. They don't need to know where he is, they just answer the call. It's a deep form of magic, we have seen it penetrate some of the most powerful protection wards in the magical world."
"And why is this elf so important?", asked Paul.
"He used to be the Malfoy family elf.", said Harry. "I tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing him five years ago, during my second year of Hogwarts. He used to work for the Malfoy family for years, perhaps even decades. It never occurred to me to ask how long. He probably knows the mansion inside and out. It wouldn't surprise me if he was still able to apparate directly into the manor. Bigoted pureblood like Malfoy would never think of warding against his own former house elf."
"I see.", said Paul. "And you say this house elf can find you everywhere you are?"
"Yes."
"So if Miss Granger were to go to a secure location, she could question the elf there.", Paul stated. "We have a number of safe locations. You could be at one of them in less than two hours. Miss Granger, you will obviously be accompanied by your two friends. While you can use your wand Miss Granger, do so sparingly. You gentlemen, can only keep your wands. I would advise you not to use them unless you ask us for specific permission first. Be in the gear room in twenty minutes."
By now, Hermione was used to the abrupt way the conversations ended once the plan of action was determined. She nodded to the priest as he was exiting the room. It was amusing her to see the look of confusion on Ron's and Harry's faces. This was the first time in a long while that Hermione felt like smiling.
As soon as they were left alone, Hermione, Harry and Ron sat down on Ron's hospital bed and just sat in silence for a minute.
"All right Hermione, what is going on?", Ron blurted out. "You are usually the calm and sensible one while Harry and I come up with plans like 'Let's attack Malfoy Manor'. Which is a plan that, frankly, needs a bit of work. The almost certain death at the hands of Bellatrix, I feel, needs addressing at the very least."
Harry winced. He knew Hermione was still angry at Ron for abandoning them, this little outburst of his was not going to help with that. Before Hermione could answer, Harry said: "Ron, they have Luna. She is imprisoned in the Manor.". All three of them immediately thought back to the events in Lovegood house. Especially the small golden "friends" written all around their pictures.
"Right.", said Ron. "Sorry about that. It's time for our usual plan than.". Looking pensive for a moment, he added: "Do you think I can challenge Bellatrix to a chess match for Luna?"
Harry and Hermione stared at him in disbelief and then all of them started to laugh. It was the best they felt in a long time, because for the first time since they came to this place, they felt hope.
After a good minute of laughing, Hermione stood up and motioned both of them to follow her. "It's time to go to the gear room. I think you will like getting normal clothes back, I know I did."