Chapter 29

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Rose glared up at him, unmoving. There was a scuffle by the door, and Rodolphus looked up to see the Doctor held back by Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Potter, his eyes wide and fixed on Rose.

Koschei grinned and held his wand to her throat, digging into the pale flesh there. She made a muffled whimper, and he beamed down at her as if she were a particularly clever dog. "You didn't really think this one through much, did you?"

The Doctor threw himself forward, his eyes wide. "Leave her alone!" Harry and Sarah Jane jerked him back, keeping their wands leveled at the other Death Eaters.

"But she could be so intriguingly useful." He glanced up at the Doctor as his wand trailed lower, down her chest. "What is that Muggle saying? One man's trash is another man's treasure." He whispered a spell, and blood began to trickle from the path his wand had made.

Rose choked on a cry of pain, and Sarah Jane closed her eyes for a moment, her face drawn and guilty as the Doctor cried out, "No!"

Koschei looked down at Rose, a mock frown on his face. "You know, I don't think the Doctor likes what I'm doing to you. I wonder why that is?" His eyes traced over her, and a slow, dark smile grew on his face. "I don't think he ever learned to share." His wand traced down her shirt, and the fabric split in two where it touched.

"STUPEFY!" Koschei spun at the roared spell, bringing his wand up quickly into a dueling stance, but he needn't have bothered. The Doctor stood alone in the doorway, panting. Harry and Sarah Jane had been blasted aside by the force of the spell, and they lay crumpled on the floor. Rodolphus and Rabastan began to laugh, but the Doctor glared coldly at them until they quieted. "You want me? You can have me. But only if you leave Rose alone." A particularly hairy Death Eater leveled his wand at Harry's unconscious form, and the Doctor stepped quickly in front of him. "And the others."

Rodolphus sneered. "What's to stop us from doing what we want, boy?"

"The full team of Aurors that will be here within a minute. If you try to harm them in any way, if you so much as look at Rose again, then I'm out of here, and you've lost your chance."

Koschei laughed and spun his wand in their air, catching it easily and dropping the tip back to Rose's chest. "And how do you propose to do that?"

The Doctor simply stared at him, his eyes dark. "Don't test me."

The rumble of running footsteps sounded in the corridor outside as the Doctor stood, poised, in the doorway. Rodolphus glared at him and gestured at Koschei, who stepped reluctantly away from Rose.

The Doctor stepped forward to join them, and Koschei spoke. "Your little pet is safe for now, Doctor." He leaned closer, a demented grin on his face. "But just imagine everything she'll go through when the Dark Lord wears your face."

The hairy Death Eater grabbed the Doctor's shoulder, and one by one, they hurried onto the slab of black marble in the corner. It had somehow been overlooked in the clean-up after the Valentine's ball, and now Rose knew why. With a series of thundering cracks, they vanished, and moments after the last of them had stepped through the marble split in two.

Celeste Hopkins was the first through the doorway, quickly followed by Severus Snape. Donna and Wilf followed, hanging back as the Aurors swept in. Celeste ran over to Professor Bryn's side as Snape dropped down by Sarah Jane, grimacing at the knot he found on the back of her head. He looked up. "Stupified, but otherwise unhurt."

Celeste looked up, her face grim, and gestured for two of her team to take Bryn's body away.

Rose grunted as loudly as she could, and Donna ran over to her. "Rose! Merlin, what happened to you?"

"Stand back, silly girl." Snape flicked his wand and spoke the counter spell, and Rose took a deep breath.

She glared up at them, ignoring the stinging pain of the cuts on her throat and the sticky warmth of her own blood. "I am going to kill him."

Snape raised a sardonic eyebrow. "I believe they're already planning on that, Miss Tyler." He glanced down and looked away quickly, pulling off his cloak to settle it over her split shirt. "You need to go to the Hospital Wing."

"Like hell. What I need to do is to find that bloody idiot and kick his scrawny arse."

Donna broke in, staring around the empty hall. Her voice was low and angry. "Rose, where's the Doctor?"

She met Donna's eyes tiredly. "Where d'you think? We cleared out the first round of hostages, only to give them just the one they wanted." She snorted and ran her hand over the ground until she found the Invisibility Cloak. "I was even gift-wrapped."

Snape grabbed her shoulder, his black eyes drilling into hers. "Enough. Miss Tyler, Mr. Mott is with the Death Eaters?"

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Handed himself over, neat as you please."

Caleb Dorton joined them, looking grave. "They broke the trace on the portal. The trail's gone."

Snape leapt to his feet, pacing back and forth. "Damn it."

Sarah Jane had awoken and now stumbled over, still looking a bit woozy. "John?"

"Gone."

Caleb spoke up. "Could we use the Ministry Trace to find him?"

Rose curled herself up further, ignoring the pain in her chest as she huddled under Snape's cloak. "He doesn't have his wand. Lestrange broke it. One of the Lestranges."

Donna paled. "He's wandless?"

Sarah Jane touched her temple cautiously. "That doesn't mean he can't perform magic, as Harry and I discovered. He may not be very focused right now, but he's far from helpless."

Suddenly, Donna lit up. "Wait. Can you use this?" She jerked her charmed key out of her pocket, and the Aurors stared at it before looking blankly at her. She flushed. "Oi, don't look at me like that. It's not just a key, the Doctor charmed it so he could contact me when he wanted. He's got the other one."

Caleb's eyebrows rose in respect. "He's made a Protean charm already?"

She nodded slowly, looking at him as if he were thick. "Yeah, last year."

Snape's lips twitched. "Normal expectations aren't of much use when it comes to Mr. Mott, Dorton. "

"I'm beginning to see that."

"That will be quite useful, Miss Noble." He shot Rose a glance. "Now, someone needs to escort Miss Tyler here to the Hospital Wing so she'll stop bleeding on my cloak."

Rose flushed and tried to get up, wincing a little at the throbbing pain in her back where she'd hit the ground. Pale hands gripped her shoulder to help her up, and Snape nodded at her and strode off to talk to Celeste. Donna wrapped her arm around her waist. "Come on. Let's get you up to Madam Pomfrey." She glanced over her shoulder and shouted. "Granddad! You, too!"

Wilf tightened his jaw and left the two Aurors he'd been talking to. "I can help, Donna."

"Not with that limp, you can't. Come on, there'll be plenty of time to help later."

Wilf and Rose shared a commiserating look and Donna herded them up the stairs, leaving the hall teeming with Aurors and teachers.

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"I'm sorry."

Wilf looked up and blinked. Madam Pomfrey had finished with the both of them several minutes ago, and she was talking with Donna in the corner, their voices low and intense. He looked over at the blonde girl, the one who had gotten them all out, one by one, under the Invisibility Cloak while young Potter guarded the Doctor by the door. She was biting her lip, her arms folded across her chest to hold her blood-stained top closed.

"Sorry for what, love?"

She closed her eyes. "If I'd been more careful, if I'd gone a bit faster, he'd still be here."

Wilf reached over and touched her arm. "Now, now, don't blame yourself. It's not anybody's fault but those Death Eaters'. You got us all out safely, and you'll have nothing but gratitude from me for it."

She stared down at her knees, crossing her ankles and tucking them underneath the hospital bed she was perched on. "It was the Doctor's idea. If it weren't for him and the house elves, you'd still be in there."

His eyebrows rose. "I think you're selling yourself a bit short there, sweetheart."

Her face crumpled. "But he's gone because of me."

He shook his head and stood carefully, stepping over to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Don't say that. He wanted to keep you safe, and that's nothing to feel guilty for." Her tears began to leak into his thick woolen jumper, and he rubbed her back as she cried. "You're Rose, aren't you?"

She sniffed and looked up, her mascara smeared from her tears. He offered her a handkerchief with a small smile and she took it, wiping her face and blowing her nose noisily. "Yeah, yeah I am." She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her hand against her eyes. "Sorry for fallin' apart on you like this, I know that's prob'ly the last thing you need right now—"

"Shush, now." He squeezed her shoulder gently, smiling at her. "The Doctor doesn't remember to write home all that often, but when he does, his letters are full of you. I'm glad he kept you safe."

She swallowed heavily. "Thank you."

Donna began to walk back over to them, and he patted Rose's arm and lowered his voice. "And we'll get him back, don't you doubt it. I may be retired, but that doesn't mean I don't remember a few tricks that can help out." He winked at her, and she smiled at him.

"I might have a few tricks, myself." She twitched her hand that had been resting on the bed, and the air rippled over the sheets. His eyes widened, and she grinned crookedly at him.

Donna bustled up to them, worry in her eyes. She handed a loose jumper over to Rose, who tugged it over her head quickly, glancing at Wilf with a blush. He looked away gallantly, and she pulled her blood-stained, ripped shirt out from under the heavy green jumper. Donna took it with a grimace and chucked it in the bin. "Right! Madam Pomfrey says you two can go, but you've got to take it easy—especially you, Granddad. That bone's healed, but it'll take a few days for it to fully set."

He sighed, a slight smile on his face as he watched Donna bustle around, collecting the potions that Madam Pomfrey had left for them. "All right, missy. I thought I'd head back downstairs, see what Auror Hopkins had planned."

Donna looked up with a frown. "Granddad, you've got to stay off that leg."

A trace of the family stubbornness showed in Wilf's eyes. He lifted his chin indignantly. "No, I've got to find out what they're planning to do for my son."

Something seemed to crack in her face, and Donna clenched her jaw and blinked her eyes furiously. "They'll get him back, Granddad."

"An' I'm planning to make sure of it." She opened her mouth, and he raised his hand. "Don't worry, love, I'll not do anything rash."

Rose glanced at the hand he had resting on the hospital bed next to her. His fingers were crossed, and he caught her eye and winked. She bit back a grin and slid of the bed, blinking back some slight dizziness—Blood Replenishing potion always made her a bit woozy. She lifted her chin.

"I'm going with."

Donna sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You two are determined to make sure that I can't take care of you, aren't you?"

Rose reached out for Donna, taking her hand and staring into her eyes. "Some things are more important."

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