Author's Note: Hope you like. Please review and sorry it too so long.
Chapter 7
It took Ron two days to finally get someone from the Order to listen to his idea.
He tried to talk to Harry, but he was too busy sulking over Ginny's words to listen.
He tried to reason with Ginny, but she was too depressed to pay attention.
He tried every member of his family, but years of his company had left them untrusting.
He even tried Sirius, but every time anyone mentioned Hermione he locked himself in his room and got completely drunk.
So it was extremely surprising to find that the only person who actually listen to him was Severus Snape.
It was after his rather short and loud talk with Sirius where he tried to explain how due to Hermione's brilliance she had foreseen a situation where she could be captured or missing and had created a "copy" of herself in some "hollow-thingy" that knew everything the real Hermione knew and was able to track, not only herself, but every member of the Order. But Sirius hadn't even been listening to anything he had said. He was drunk again. Drowning his miseries in spirits.
But Severus Snape had been coming into Grimmauld's Place when the conversation began and knowing the brilliance of the missing witch he put attention to the seemingly random musings of the idiot.
So the night before the full moon found Ron and Severus in the Black library trying to activate some muggle contraption that protected what Ron called the "hollow-thingy". Both men were covered in dirt and co-existing in an oppressing silence. The clock over the fireplace read 1:30 A.M. and both men were exhausted of the search having been at it for more than three hours, having found the contraption no more than ten minutes ago. But the blasted thing refused to cooperate.
Severus shot the previously hidden panel a dark look. He seriously had no idea how to work the thing and he was one of the brightest men in all of Britain. He looked at the brat and didn't even contemplate on asking him how to work the thing because if his name giving gift wasn't enough of an example for his stupidity than he had seven years of memory to help him.
But surprisingly enough it was Ron who activated the blasted thing. Although not in a positive way as it began to scream louder than the portrait of Lady Black and awoke the whole house who found Severus glaring daggers at the red-headed idiot who couldn't shut the thing up.
It took half an hour to explain to the Order what they were doing and another half to figure out what the password for the thing was. (Apparently it was modeled after a muggle computer and required a secret word.) Harry finally figured out that it was Snitch, which was surprising coming from Hermione but understandable since it was created for Harry and Ron.
It was after the password was typed in that Harry understood what Ron had been trying to say with "hollow-thingy" when a hologram of Hermione appeared in front of the entire Order who had first believed it was the ghost of Hermione. It took fifteen minutes to calm Mrs. Weasley and explain the idea behind a hologram and how it worked.
It wasn't until around three that the Order finally found the place where Hermione had been taken with the help of a tracking spell that had been placed on every member of the Order by Hermione through their Phoenix.
It was at 3:30 A.M that Harry, Ron, Severus, Sirius, Kingsley, Charlie, George, Bill, and Dora left the safety of the Order headquarters and began their trek to the Scotland Highlands where a cave hid the Death Eater headquarters and Hermione. Remus had remained at Grimmauld's Place due to the proximity of the full moon and had tried unsuccessfully to convince Sirius who was still a tad tipsy to remain with him. Which had ensued in a screaming match between the two and had ended with Sirius pointing out that she was his. That statement had confused the rescue party to no end and annoyed two members of the same.
Harry couldn't help but find it surprising that his godfather could show such great emotions for a girl he had almost no contact with and found rather odd the change that had taken place. He really needed to have a talk with him when they had Hermione back. He cleared his mind as the group Apparated to the Grampian Mountains and in search of Hermione.
Severus Snape wasn't jealous. He was just disappointed in the Granger chit for falling for the Black charm. He really wasn't jealous of Sirius Black or the fact that he felt that Hermione Granger was his. He had just always thought that Hermione Granger would enjoy the intellectual type rather that the pretty bad boy. But really it's not like he was jealous. As far as he was concerned they could enjoy their life together.
And he went on to brood. Which got him a weird look from Tonks.
The group moved carefully up the mountains using the cover of darkness as a shield and trying to make as little noise as possible. A surprise attack was their only option and stealth was Hermione's best chance of survival. They had no idea how many Death Eaters where in that cave and couldn't predict the course they would take against the girl if they felt cornered. They neared an embankment that lay before the entrance of the cave and cursed when they saw three Death Eaters with their wands aimed at them.
So much for a surprise attack.
The monster had come again.
The girl laid curled up on the hard cave floor her body shaking from blood loss, fear, and adrenaline. She tried to calm herself but her nervous system refused to cooperate with her. Today was different. She could feel it.
Her mind was sharper, more alive and her body seemed to infuse itself with strength. She covered her ears as she heard the agonized scream of the girl with curly hair, she felt bad, the crazy she witch seemed to take pleasure on torturing her and her alone.
She wiggled her foot a little, trying not to draw attention to herself. She waited a second and then,
Wiggle. Another second.
Hard yank. And she covered her mouth to muffle the scream that threatened to overcome her. She looked at her ankle, covered in blood and lacerations and gave another yank, this time with all the strength she possessed and watched with relief when the chain came undone from the wall. Using her dirty hands she broke the clasp that surrounded her ankle and broke it off.
She picked up the hard metal and neared the crazy witch as she tortured the girl. The witch was screeching with glee and laughing cruelly as the girl lay at her feet.
She walked slowly toward her careful not to make a sound she swung the chain hoping to hit her on the side of the head. But the surprise on the dace of the girl that lay on the floor must have given her away because as the chain neared her head the witch moved and yanked on the chain sending her sprawling into the cave wall. She hit her head and felt the witch approach her,
"You little bitch, did you really think you could hurt me?"
She felt a kick on her mid section and went down hard without breath, she turned to face her captor and saw, like in slow motion, as she raised her wand and began to form the killing curse and felt for the first time that she was going to die.
The fighting was not going well, though Harry. It wasn't that they were outnumbered or losing for that matter, but it was taking forever and everyone that was fighting could hear the screams that were coming from the inside of the cave.
He watched as Tonks, Bill and Professor Snape fought with Fenrir, who kept roaring and taunting Tonks to lose their concentration.
Sirius, Kingsley, and Charlie were fighting against one Lestrange. Ron, George, and himself were fighting the other.
The night was alight with magic and spells illuminated the dark night. Fenrir was the first to go down with a well place adava from Professor Snape, followed by the two Lestrange brother, one taken out by Sirius, the other by George. They ran inside the cave splitting up to cover ground. He followed Snape down one opening trying to follow the screams that could still be heard but froze when the cave went strangely quiet.
Hermione picked herself up trying desperately to force her muscle to listen but failing miserably as her legs gave out from under her and forcing her to drag herself toward the forgotten chain.
Merlin, but she wished she had her wand.
She grabbed it clutching it with her right hand as she tried, this time succeeding, to stand up. She took cautious steps toward the two women and watched as Bellatrix formed the adava curse as she pointed her wand at the girl.
She swung with all her power, much like the younger girl had done before, but connecting with the head of Bellatrix. She heard a sickening crack and watched without an ounce of regret as Bellatrix Lestrange fell to the floor. She did not know if dead or alive, she hoped the bitch was dead.
She walked toward the girl and helped her stand up against the cave wall. She walked cautiously toward the unmoving figure that was Bellatrix and vaguely heard the girl speak,
"Do you think she's dead?"
"I really don't know," she answered. She leaned forward carefully picking up the wand that had fallen from her fingers and hoping that this wasn't a repeat of those American horror movies where the villain came back to life. She backtracked quickly using the wand to transfigurate some of the clothing that Bellatrix Lestrange was wearing to use for herself and the girl.
She handed the girl a long dress, " Here put these on. It's not much but until we get away from the rest of them it's all we've got."
The girl nodded putting the dress over her head and hugging herself while she waited for instructions.
Hermione was about to speak when they heard movement from the tunnel that lead into the cave. She saw the girl tremble and felt her insides tighten. It couldn't be good. There where at least three other Death Eaters that they knew about and none of them were the friendly type.
Hermione forced her fear to take a backseat in her mind and focused on finding a spell that could break down one of the cave walls and give them an avenue of escape. A sudden memory came to mind and she tighten her hand on the wand before forming the words in her mouth. As the spell hit the wall she rushed to the girl and both covered their heads with their arms from the flying rocks before rushing to the opening and their first taste of freedom for a long time.
Author' s Note: Well this isn't my best work but I've been stuck for so long that I just left it like this. I hope you like and sorry for the long wait. Most updates will be slow now that school began. Sorry. Like always please review and let me know your opinion love, Mimi.