22

Always the tone of surprise

After reading the letter he went up to his room, telling everyone he was going to get some rest. He did not want anyone to see him shed the tears he felt were coming on. He left the letter on the living room table.

He did not hear Ginny enter his room and did not know she was there until she gently put her arms around him, and pulled him to her. Ginny whispered gently to him, trying to sooth him.

"How can she expect me to forget about her?" he finally asked.

"Ron, she does not want you to forget about her" Ginny answered softly. "She wants you to continue to live after she…" Ginny could not finish her statement.

Ron looked at his sister. "There will be no one else…"

Ginny nodded, she understood. She felt the same way about Harry. Ron suddenly stood up and ran to his trunk. Ginny was worried that Ron had lost it. He was muttering under his breathe that Hermione had found a way for him to find her after all. A minute later he took the deluminator Dumbledore had left him and ran downstairs.

***

Harry was the only one that was not completely confused when Ron came back down with the deluminator. Ron had a look Harry had not seen in a while. The look that there was still a chance they could prevent Hermione from being killed.

The living room was now full. All the Weasley's were there, along with Luna. Neville knew what was going on but was not able to come to the burrow. He was in basic training for the Auror corps, and was not allowed to leave. He asked that everyone let him know once they knew something.

Everyone in the room was looking at Ron like he had lost his mind. Ron looked at Harry, Harry gave him a nod and Ron explained how the Deluminator had helped him find Harry and Hermione when they had gotten separated during the hunt for the Horcruxes. Harry was glad Ron did not give the details on how they had gotten separated.

"So all Hermione has to do is say you name, and we will be able to find her?" George sounded skeptical.

"I found her once with it, I will find her again."

Harry finally spoke up.

"We're going to need a plan ahead. We are not going to have time to plan anything once we Hermione".

***

Ron listened as Harry stated the finishing touches on the plan to rescue Hermione, if the Deluminator worked. Harry had Ron click the Deluminator early into the planning session, so they would not miss if Hermione did say Ron's name. The plan was simply to use the Deluminator to get as many people to wherever Hermione was being held. Ron and Harry would go first. There was a bit of a fight as to who else would go to rescue Hermione. After arguing briefly with Ginny it was decided the next to come would be Luna and Ginny, then the rest of the Weasley's.

As Harry was going over the last details of the plan they were stunned by the sound of Hermione's voice coming from the Deluminator.

"Ron, forgive me".

"Your precious Weasle is not here to stop me bitch, so…"

The voices faded out as Ron clicked the Deluminator. It produced a brilliant blue orb. Ron stepped into the Orb and handed the Deluminator Ginny. Harry barely had time to grab Ron before he apparated.

They found themselves in a dimly lit basement. Ron looked around and saw Benedict on top of Hermione, she was lying with her eyes closed tightly whispering his name. Benedict was too involved getting ready to rape Hermione that he did not notice Ron and Harry sudden appear in the basement.

"Get off my fiancé you bastard!"

Ron did not wait for Benedict to respond, He hit him with a stunner, and he fell to the floor by the bed. Ron ran quickly to Hermione. The condition she was in was heart breaking. He gently took her into his arms and whispered to her.

"'Moine, it's Ron, It's going to be ok."

Hermione opened her eyes at the sound of Ron's voice.

"Ron, is that really you?"

Ron caressed her face gently and whispered

"Always the tone of surprise."

***

Hermione fought back her tears. She would not give Benedict the satisfaction of crying as he raped her. As she felt him push her legs apart she started whispering Ron's name under her breath. She felt Benedict start the push himself into her when she thought she heard Ron's voice. She felt Benedict fall off of her.

To her surprise the next thing she heard was Ron's voice. She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. She must be dreaming she thought. She then saw a blurred face in front of her, but there was not mistaking the red hair. Ron said something to her that sounded like something he said to her once a very long time ago. She thought maybe at the Weasley burrow the night they had bought Harry from Privet drive. She could not be sure. Her mind did not want to seem to function.

She felt a hand gently touch her face and she knew it was Ron. She did not know how he got there, but he was there.

Everything else was a blur. She thought she heard Harry's voice saying something like

"Ginny, it's", then "Bring Luna with you."

That did not matter to Hermione. Ron was here. She had not lost him after all. She tried to get her eyes to focus on the man now holding her gently but she could not seem to get her eyes to work right…

Harry felt like his heart was breaking into a thousand pieces as he looked down at Ron and Hermione. She looked like she had been put through hell the last couple of days. She also could not seem to keep herself conscious. Ron looked at Harry, pleading with his eyes.

Harry took out his cell phone and dialed the number he left with Ginny.

"Ginny, we made it. You had better bring Luna with you instead of George."

A minute later Ginny and Luna appeared in the room. Ginny gasped when she saw Hermione's condition. Luna wasted no time and quickly stepped to the cot where Hermione was lying and began to assess her injuries.

Harry heard her cast a couple of healing spells. After a minute she stood up.

"I need to my Healing kit." She said to Harry, "Do you think I can apparate?"

"I don't know" he answered.

Ron asked Luna from the cot.

"If we can apparate can't we apparate Hermione out of here?"

Luna looked at Ron. "I don't want to risk it Ron. She is in very bad shape. Apparating could make her injuries much worse. I can probably give her something to give her enough strength to walk out of here with help, but not much more than that. I will be back in a few minutes."

To everyone's relief Luna was able to apparate with no problems. Harry turned to Ginny.

"Ginny, go back to the burrow and bring George back by side along." He looked up at the door. "In the mean time I will try and see what were dealing with hear."

As Ron continued to do his best to tend to Hermione, whom had passed out after a few minutes, Harry walked quietly up the stairs to the door. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He tried to open the door with an unlocking charm but that failed. The door was magically locked. He would need a pass code along with the unlocking charm to open the door. He could make out at least two voices by the door as well, so the door was guarded.

As Harry was walking down the stairs he heard the pop of someone apparating. He saw Ginny had returned with George who was looking at Hermione.

"What the hell did they do to her?" He asked.

"I don't know George. Luna says she's in pretty bad shape."

As Harry answered him, George took off his cloak and covered Hermione with it. Ron looked up at him thankfully, and then continued gently stroking Hermione's hair, whispering to her all the reasons she needed her to be ok. Most of that involved making a life together with each other.

As Harry walked up to Ginny and George Luna arrived back with a pop. She had a case with her this time. Harry looked at Ginny, before he could ask her Ginny explained.

"Last year Luna took time to have Madame Pomfrey teach her healing so she could take care of those in the DA that could not go to her. She's a natural."

***

Luna knelt down next to Hermione and began a more detailed examination of her injuries. She found her friend's right arm was broken, and lacking advanced healing spells quickly put it into a splint. She also determined that she had at least two broken ribs. She quickly did her best to stabilize the ribs. There was not much she could do for the extensive bruises and cuts all over her body. When she rolled Hermione over she gasped at the site of her back. She had been whipped! That was the only explanation for the many deep cuts on her back. She casts several healing spells over he back. This helped a little. When she had done everything se could do with her wand she bandaged. Luna was very worried for her friend, her breathing was very shallow and she had a very weak pulse. Luna knew this meant that Hermione had many injuries she could not see.

After doing everything she could she woke Hermione with a renervate spell. When she awoke she smiled at Ron.

"Drink this" Luna said as she started to administer first a healing potion, then a potion to help with pain and finally a potion to give her some energy. After drinking the potions Hermione slowly started to look a little better, however Luna knew she was far from out of the woods.

***

The first thing Hermione was able to see as she woke up made her heart beat just a little faster. Ron's face made her feel joy for the first time in several days. Before she had a chance to say anything, Luna helped her drink three potions. After she drank the potions Hermione felt a little bit stronger, but she was still very weak. She also felt the extreme pain she was in improve to just feeling overall achy.

She then heard Harry's voice and looked over to see Harry talking to George and Ginny.

"We can't risk apparating with the condition Hermione is in. Luna is afraid she has internal injuries that could be made worse by apparating."

She saw George and Ginny look in her direction. Seeing she was awake Ginny walked over to her,

"Ron, you should go and help Harry and George with a plan to get out of here. Luna and I can watch over Hermione."

Hermione felt Ron squeeze her hand before he walked away.

***

It took all of Ron's willpower to leave Hermione's side. He listened as Harry and George were talking.

"We need to know what we are up against"

"Never fear" George reached into the bag he bought with him and pulled out what appeared to be one of the daydreams he sold at the shop. The difference was it appeared to have an eye on a string, "This is still in testing."

Harry and Ron looked at it, before they could answer George explained.

"It's a portable eye!"

George walked up the stairs and placed the eye by the door, he then waived his wand muttering an incantation. Once he finished the incantation the eye shrank and slid under the door. Shortly the box it was attached to came to life. Ron and Harry now had a clear picture of what lay on the other side of the door.

They could see the door was guarded by two men. The men looked rather bored. They were not expecting Hermione to try and escape. They also could hear what the guards were saying. They were wondering if they would get a chance with their prisoner when Benedict was finished with her. Beyond the guards was a warehouse. The eye moved into the warehouse and they could see there were four other men sitting at a table in the warehouse. On the far end they could see an office, through the windows they could make out the outlines of three other people.

Ron was the first to speak. "I make nine of them"

Harry agreed. He looked at Ron. "Dynamic entry?"

Dynamic entry was a tactic they had been taught during firearms training with the Metro police. They would blow the door with a shotgun, then use flash bang grenades to stun the guards, giving them the advantage of a few seconds while the guards recovered.

"I would agree, however will the shotgun work on the door? It is magically locked."

Harry looked at George.

"The door is not warded. The lock is magically sealed. Blow the lock and the door will open."

"Ok." Ron looked down into the room below. Hermione was awake, talking to Ginny and Luna, but she was in no condition to fight. They would need at least one person to stay with Ginny. He knew that him and Harry would have to be he ones to breach the door since he, Harry and Hermione were the only ones trained in the technique.

"I think we should have at least two more for the assault. We can have Luna and Ginny watch over Hermione…"

"Much as I appreciate your trying to protect my girlfriend" Harry interrupted Ron "We both know that Ginny would be the best one to go through that door with us."

Ron sighed. He knew Harry was right. Ginny had been dueling with the trio up until they left for Hogwarts. She had beaten both he and Hermione in several duels, the only one of the trio she had never beat was Harry. He also knew she and Harry also worked as well as the trio did as a team. He reluctantly agreed that Ginny should be a part of the initial assault. The better choice than Ginny was Hermione as the Trio had beaten some of the best Auror teams in the ministry over the last few months. Ginny would not be the same as Hermione, but she would be damn close.

"Ok," Ron reluctantly agreed, "That problem solved. But we do not have any Flash bangs or the shot gun."

Harry smiled. He said loud enough for Ginny to hear them "Ginny, you and George apparate back to the Burrow. Bring bill and Charley back with you. Ginny also bring my work bag with you"

Ginny nodded. Soon both she and George once again apparated back to the burrow.