Disclaimer: Don't ask, cause I don't own it.
A/N: I'm back! Surprise surprise I know. It's been just over two months, and I swear I worked on this through out the quarter. I am hoping to get two more chapters out before I start winter quarter in January, so look out for those. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and have a nice thanksgiving for those of us in the U.S. It's this Thursday. I'd also like to say thank you to my beta Cathy who has said that she'd beta this story for me. I am still looking for a person on here that will still be willing to beta this as well. And, I'm just reminding you to check out my friends online radio station at . You can also add them to facebook, and Klango by searching for "WR979 Internet Radio" if you use either of those services. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 17: The Second Search for Hermione
After the meeting ended the night before, Kendra and her family went home. Holly expected nothing else but for her mother to be a wreck after that nights unplanned meeting. She had to do something to salvage a win out of this war before Voldemort got any more ideas to become immortal. The sooner she could destroy the evil that kept him alive, the quicker the war would be over. The exhilaration, the fear, the joy, the terror, the delight, and the horror the bliss, the apprehension, the happiness, and the anxiety coursed through her veins. It was a lot for her to take in, and she knew exactly what her mom was going through. She knew to expect a big breakfast when she woke up, because her mother was under so much stress. That night Holly did not get much sleep, and as we'll find out in the morning, neither did Kendra. Dawn came at last for the two women who didn't know the other was still awake. Kendra went downstairs to her kitchen around 7, and Holly joined her an hour later.
"Wish me to help?" Holly asked as she came into the kitchen.
"Set the table." Her mother replied. It was honestly the last person Kendra wanted to see this early in the morning, but she knew Holly wouldn't put herself in danger unless it was necessary.
"Which set of dishes do you want to use this morning?" Holly asked.
"The plastic is fine for our family." She responded, and for a few minutes the two women worked in silence until Kendra felt a pair of arms wrap around her. When she turned her head she expected to see her husband, but it was Holly who gave her the hug.
"Sorry mum." She said in a whisper as she buried her face into her mothers back. Kendra put down the spatula she was using, and turned around to face her second eldest daughter.
"Do you have to do this?" Kendra asked after hearing a sob escape her daughter's lips.
"Yeah, or we'll lose more people if I don't help. I don't want to do this, but I don't want many people knowing what keeps him alive--I don't have much choice in the end though." Kendra looked at her distressed daughter before deciding that Holly definitely didn't want to put herself in danger. Kendra lifted her daughters chin to make her look her mother in the face.
"Is your heart in it?" She questioned.
"Yes." Holly answered quietly. Kendra thought about the answer before asking,
"Are you scared?"
"Yes." Holly said.
"Do you have to do this alone?"
"For now."
"When can the rest help?"
"Once I find the thing--o! Things--that keep him attached to life."
"Do you know where they are?"
"I've got an idea, but I want him to give the information willingly."
"And we can help you destroy whatever it is?"
"Absolutely." Holly nodded vigorously. Kendra gave Holly one more hug, before turning around to finish breakfast.
A tap on the window drew Holly's attention after she finished setting the table. Kendra let the Owl in and it landed in front of Holly.
"It's for you," Kendra said to her daughter. Holly took the letter, and opened it.
"Meet me in the woods after breakfast; I'll be on the bike path waiting. Severus." Holly scribbled a quick response, and then sent the bird back on its way.
"Who was it from?"
"Severus," Holly responded.
"Occlumency?"
"Yes."
"When are we starting the search?"
"After lunch. I've got the lessons after breakfast till lunch."
"Go wake up your siblings, breakfast is ready."
"Ok," and with that Holly left the kitchen to do as her mother told.
After breakfast, Holly grabbed her cane, and exited the house. The weather could not decide if it wanted to bee cloudy, or sunny, so she looked ahead instead of what could be a beautiful sight. Three minutes into the walk, she heard,
"Over here." And Holly turned in the direction of the unmistakable voice of Severus Snape. As she drew near, she noticed he was sitting on a fallen tree and then he spoke again,
"I am not going to bore you with the details of what Occlumency is. No doubt you know already, so we can move on with the next part." The wind blew through Holly's hair, and the birds lent her the peace she needed. After a few minutes of silence, he asked, "Do you understand the basics of Occlumency?"
"I do." Holly responded.
"Then let's start by relaxing parts of your body before we get into relaxing your mind." Holly nodded to indicate she understood, and then he patted the spot next to him on the fallen tree, so she took that silent gesture to mean, "Come and sit down and she did. We will start with your arms. Get your mind to release the tension within them, and I'll move each one to see where the tension resides." Holly nodded again, and forced her mind out of its vigilant state. Severus gave her a few minutes to collect herself before he grasped her right arm. By instinct her wand was in her hand, and pointed at him. "Now I'm glad we didn't start with relaxing your entire mind first."
"Sorry," She replied sheepishly, then relaxed her wand arm.
"Try to relax your arms again, and do not think of your wand just yet." He prompted. So she tried again, making sure to tell her mind not to care about her arms. After a few more minutes that he gave her to collect herself, he reached for her arm again. Reflexively, her hand immediately went to her wand, and her fingers curled around it before she realized what she did--again.
"Sorry, again." she said.
"No reason to be sorry, because that time you didn't turn it on me, and that was an improvement from the last time."
Holly scowled to herself, and attempted to relax her mind one more time. Severus gave her a few minutes before touching her arm again. He picked up the right arm and put pressure on it in several places. So far so good he thought. He picked up the left arm, and did the same. He found the same results.
"Now that you've mastered relaxing your arms, we will try your arms and legs together." Severus said after giving Holly time to get back in her vigilant state.
"I actually mastered it?" She asked in shock.
"You certainly did." he assured. Holly took a deep breath and withdrew into herself. Severus checked her arms, and then picked up the left leg. It twitched a few times as he moved it, and put pressure on it; however, her right leg had a mind of its own.
"Holly! Shit! That hurt!" Severus gasped as he doubled over on the ground. The loud noise brought Holly out of her Trans, and she looked at him bewildered.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You kicked me... in the crotch." He supplied.
"I kicked you in the crotch?" she questioned, as she surveyed him.
"Yes, you did." He said in irritation.
"I--seriously--kicked you--in the--CROTCH?" She asked through the laughter that erupted in her chest. Severus got up, and shouted.
"Yes Holly, you did."
"Sor-ry Sev-or-us, I a-pparently thought you were Mitch-el..." she said as she laughed a little more. Holly now noticed that she had slid off the fallen tree in her laughing fit. She hoisted herself up on to the tree, and composed herself.
"I'm glad you found that amusing." He said sourly.
"I really am sorry about that." she said in her most sincere voice. "It's just that you are a guy, and every time I wanted Mitchel to do something for me, all I'd have to do is tell him that I'd kick him."
"Just try to remember that I am not him during these lessons." He said.
"Certainly," Holly replied. The session continued through another leg test, arm test, and all four of her limbs at once. All went well after that incident, and now that it was 30 minutes to twelve she was ready to try Occlumency for the first time.
Holly and Severus stood to face each other.
"Relax," he prompted. She did as she was told, and withdrew her mind into a tranquil state. "Are you ready?" Holly nodded. Holly was extremely nervous, because she wasn't sure what information Snape could get out of her.
"Legilimens," He whispered.
James was sitting in a chair in the Davidson living room. Holly was on his lap with her face buried in his chest. James was trying his best to soothe the child, but it didn't look like it was working so well. Another image came into view of yet another younger Holly, but a little older this time. A birthday party setting and Holly was in the middle of a temper tantrum. Kendra was trying her hardest to soothe the child, but Holly was having none of it. Holly's release of underage magic was prominent, because the cake, dishes, pots' pans, and other kitchen items were hovering in midair. The view changed when everything crashed to the ground. The next image was at Christmas. An even older Holly unwrapped a present from an unknown source to Snape. Whatever it was, it made her cry, and as she cried, she held the object to her chest. The next view was of a summer's day. Lilly, Mitchel Holly, and Kelly were outside jumping on a trampoline. Mitchel shoved Holly off the trampoline, and Holly flew off and her body slammed in to the grass. Holly realized that he wasn't going to stop, so she mentally kicked him out.
"That was a good attempt for the first time." Snape complimented. "So can I ask you about those images I saw?" He asked.
"You want to know what they were about?"
"Yes." Holly sat on the tree with a contemplative expression. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to reveal, but the explanations wouldn't be complete until she put it all out.
"Well," she began, "the first one was the day Uncle James told my mum that he couldn't come see us any more. The second was my second birthday without my Uncle. The third was the hardest Christmas, because Uncle James sent me a present without him there. The last image was the summer before Mitchel entered his second year at Hogwarts. He teased me about being a squib because I was blind. I retorted, and he pushed me off so I ended up breaking my leg."
"When do you want to continue your training?" He asked.
"When do we want to do the Polyjuice?" She asks back.
"We can do our first attempt in a week, not on him, but on family members who understand Legilimency."
"Then we can continue tomorrow." She asked.
"Tomorrow it is." He confirmed. After this, the two walked back to the house in companionable silence.
Once inside the house Kendra asked,
"How did things go?"
"It went pretty well, after I was finished attempting to hex him, and he now knows that my leg reflexes don't just kick..." Holly said. Kendra looked at her daughter and Severus very puzzled before it dawned on her.
"You kicked him where it counts?" She asked in surprise. Holly stifled a giggle before saying,
"Yes."
"I will definitely be more cautious and alert when it comes to her limbs." Severus assured.
"Well, I s'pose that's one way to learn." Kendra quipped. Severus left shortly after, and the family ate their lunches.
When the Davidson's aparated a safe distance away from the burrow, Molly was waiting for them.
"We just finished lunch ourselves. Come into the wards before some unwanted person sees you." She said as they stepped one by one into the wards, and one by one Molly gave each child a hug. "How did things go for you this morning?" She asked Holly.
"They went well, I've still got things to learn, but I should be ready in time to put this plan into action before the summer is over." She replied. Molly smiled, and ushered everyone but Kendra Lilly, Holly, and Kelly into the house. The five adults went and joined the rest that were standing in a line in the lawn.
"Our mission is simple. Look for clues that may lead us to Hermione." Albus Dumbledore said. We will meet back here at 5 o'clock, have dinner, and discuss everything at 7. Are we all on the same page?" Everyone nodded. "The younger members, listen to the adult in your group, and do exactly what they say--no questions asked. Are we understood?" The younger adults nodded. "As for us older adults, try not to put anyone in danger unless completely necessary. Take this responsibility to heart, and before you leave I want to know who is going to be the designated speaker for your group. Am I understood?" It was the older adults that nodded their heads this time. "Now that we are all at an understanding, here are today's groups:
Group 1 will go to Poland, Alastor, myself, Alice, and Arthur.
Group 2 will go to Slovakia, Bill, Caradoc, Charlie, and Clayton.
Group 3 will go to Czech Republic, Dale, Dedalus, Dorcas, and Elphias.
Group 4 will go to Austria, Emmeline, Fabian, Fillius, and Frank.
Group 5 will go to Hungry, Fred, George, Gideon, and Gracie.
Group 6 will go to Bosnia, Hestia, Holly, James, and Jane.
Group 7 will go to Croatia, Joanna, Kelly, and Kendra.
Group 8 will go to Yugoslavia, Kingsley, Lily, and Lilly.
Group 9 will go to Greece, Marlene, Minerva, and Molly.
Group 10 will go to Slovenia, Mondungus, Neil, and Tonks.
Group 11 will go to Italy, Percy, Remus, and Rochelle.
Group 12 will go to Albania, Hagrid, Sirius, and Sturgis."
As Dumbledore spoke the members arranged themselves to their respective groups. When that was finished, and Dumbledore gave them a few minutes to converse, he called, "Now I need one person to come from each group and I will have more instructions for you." One by one Caradoc, Dorcas, Flitwick, Gideon, James, Kendra, Kingsley, McGonagall, Tonks, Remus, and Sirius approached Dumbledore.
Every group walked to the apparition point and appeared in their respective locations. The Bosnia group appeared in an abandon lane outside of a city. James instantly released some detection spells, to see if anyone was in the general area. Any of the normal spells he was allowed to cast revealed things within the city.
"I really didn't want to go into the city, but I s'pose we have no choice." James whispered. They walked to the village in silence. When they reached the city James turned to the others. "We will have to split up. All we need to do is find something unusual. When and if you find anything just send your patronus to the rest of us." The rest nodded to indicate that they understood his directions. Hestia went to the left so she could go around her half of the city. Everything was fine in the first half of an hour she walked. The detection spells she released were typical of anyone, and she hoped it didn't give up her hiding position. Five minutes into the second half hour she spotted something unusual. The place she was examining was supposed to be deserted, but the mistake they all made was to not protect themselves, and having people walking to and from the building carrying boxes. Hestia disillusioned herself, and walked closer to the people. She examined the boxes, and found they had pills, of every shape and size as well as the power they had when consumed. She waited for a few more minutes to see if anything else was going to come up. Just then, a scream was barely audible from the abandon building, and Hestia sent off her patronus at once.
Hestia didn't have to wait long before Holly came into view and out of breath. She stopped beside her companion and waited for the others. Holly and Hestia waited in palpable silence for about a minute before another scream erupted from the building. Jane came around the corner at that moment out of breath just like Holly.
"What happened?"
"Boxes full of illegal pills and some screaming from a struggle." Hestia summarized.
"Goodness." Jane exclaimed quietly.
"Exactly." Holly agreed. Just then another scream came from the building, and James finally came into the lane.
"What do we have here?" he whispered.
"Some screaming and illegal medicine." Holly replied.
"Are these tortured screams, or gleeful ones." He asked.
"If you wait long enough you will find out yourself." Hestia said, and sure enough a scream did come from the building.
"Definitely gleeful." James said. A few seconds of silence past before Jane asked,
"So what do we do now boss."
"We attack." He said.
"When." Holly asked.
"When?" James questioned.
"Yes, when." Holly growled. Several figures emerged from the building before James could answer properly. They were levitating a figure in the air covered in a cloak.
"Jane, stay here. Holly, go to the left. Hestia, go to the right and I'll go across from Jane."
"Our signal?" Holly asked.
"You'll know." He grinned.
"Our goal is to take them down, and not hurt the levitated figure." They all nodded in understanding. When places were taken James let off a loud bang, and the fight began.
The group that held her captive came into the building very noisy and acting as if nothing unusual was going on. She knew what they wanted to do to her today. Macnair thought it a good idea to get a variety of Muggle drugs, and inject them into her system. She knew that abuse was abundant in the world and she knew they would do anything to get the whereabouts of her best friend. Every day since she's been in their possession her days consist of: Wake up. Eat one slice of bread and two ounces of water. Endure the cruciatas curse every half hour for 3 minutes each time. Lunch consists of 2 slices of bread, one slice of cheese, and 4 ounces of water. After this they try to weaken her mind with the imperius curse, (they did this every half hour for 5 minute each.) If things didn't go as planned they would physically beat her heal and then does it again till dinner. If things did go as planned they would give her to their lord and have him use Legilimency to break down her mind further. Dinner consists of three slices of bread, two slices of cheese, one slice of meat, and 6 ounces of water. After dinner they would interrogate her until she fell asleep from exhaustion. At this point her captives enter the room and walked purposefully to her.
"Are you ready for this?" One of them asked.
"Do I have a choice?" She asked.
"You could try to fight." Another said.
"It would be wasted energy. I'll stay here thanks." She said.
"So you're just going to let us drug you up?" The third one asked.
"Again, do I have a choice?"
"You're going to make this easy on us?" The first one asked.
"Easy for you, extremely terrifying for me." She responded.
"You're actually going to let us mess your brain up with these items?" The second one asked.
"Yes, only because I know you won't kill me and that the worst has already happen to me." She replied. A maniacal laugh escaped the lips of the third person, and he asked,
"Then please enlighten us to what your definition of worse is."
"Well, I've been physically, mentally, and sexually abused by you people, and you think you can do worse?" She asked.
"How about kill you." The second asked.
"I rather be dead than continue this torture." she said.
"Then what about your friend Holly, how will she feel?" The first asked.
"She will no doubt be sad, but at least that way I'll be away from this hell, and in a place where I can't be hurt ever again."
"So you don't think we'll kill you?" The third one asked.
"No. You have orders from your pathetic lord to keep me alive."
"Why you little..."
"You know it's true, he doesn't want me dead, does he?" She tilted her head to the side to emphasize her point. The third person growled in frustration, and the girl knew she was correct. She didn't remember much after that, but what she did went a little something like this.
Blackness.
The blackness surrounded her, and she couldn't understand why. She felt like she was floating, floating high in the air. She heard shouting, and funny sounding words, "Expelliarmus, Protego, and Avada Kedavra." She was roughly dropped on the rough ground. She felt like she had fell out of the sky. And then it hit her. A duel was going on around her. A wizard's duel was going on around her, and she didn't have her wand. She couldn't help but wonder who was attacking the group that made her feel like she was flying. She kind of understood now that the people who were making her feel like she was flying were death eaters, and there was nothing she could do to get out of the situation. One of the men picked her up, and ran to an apparition point, but Hermione and her uncontrollable wandless magic blasted him into a wall. A figure came running over to her, and the blackness was lifted. Hermione saw a girl with blond hair and blue eyes, and it looked very familiar.
"Are you ok?" The girl asked.
"I'm not hurt." Hermione replied.
"Hermione?"
"Holly?" The two girls realized one another at the same time.
"Who's with you?" Hermione asked frantically
"James, Jane, and Hestia." Holly replied.
"Get out." Hermione ordered.
"Not without you."
"Go!" She ordered again.
"What's been happening to you in their care?" Hermione sighed,
"Any physical, mental, and sexual abuse you can think of." She responded, "Now go!"
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Yes, go!" she tried in another feeble attempt.
"Not till you give me something that will help you."
"Fine, follow me." She said in resignation, and with that, the girls entered the building. "I'll get beaten for it, but it'll be worth it." She muttered to herself. At the end of the hallway in the building they came to a door. Within the door they found the St. Mungos stolen stock. "Get all of this out of here Holly, that's how you can help me." Holly pulled out a container and placed several charms on it.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked in amazement.
"I'll teach it to you when you get back, you'll need it if you need to go on the hunt for things." and with one sweep of her wand the entire rooms contents were in the box and the lid was shut. "Anything else?" She asked her friend after a while.
"Send this message to the other groups and tell them that in Austria they will find bloodied needles, in Greece they will find many poisonous plants that are illegal, and in Italy they attempted to bleed me to death, again." She said in a rush. With that information, Holly sent the three patronuses to the respective groups. Holly gave her friend a hug, and asked,
"How come we can't get you out of here?"
"Because, once we go back out of this building they will notice that I've been missing from under that cloak." She said.
"I could..." Holly started.
"No you can't. Just save yourselves. They won't kill me until it's absolutely necessary." Hermione promised.
When the two girls exited the building, Macnair was the only one standing. The nine other people were bound and stunned in the capable hands of the three other order members.
"Holly lets go, and bring that girl with you." Holly grabbed Hermione's arm and walked toward her uncle. In a flash Mcnair appeared behind Hermione, and grabbed a hold of her.
"Your not going anywhere missy." He growled.
"I believe she will be coming with us." Holly snarled. Macnair paid no attention to Holly, and said,
"The Dark Lord will not be happy with you. I don't know what you did to help them, but we'll get to the bottom of it." And with a pop, Macnair and Hermione vanished, leaving a stunned Holly alone.
"Lets go Holls." James said. Holly looked at the spot where her best friend was and she disapparated back to Grimmauld Place. James and Hestia took the prisoners to the ministry, and then they too went to Grimmauld Place.
Later that evening after dinner we find the order members gathered around the kitchen table. They were chattering excitedly with the items they found. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table, and cleared his throat. The room fell silent so he began to speak.
"Does anyone have news for us?" The question was met with silence before Professor Flitwick raised his hand. "Group 4?" Dumbledore called.
"With the help of Holly, we found various, and lethal needles that were used on some unsuspecting victim. Dumbledore turned his head and asked,
"Who was this source?"
"I will explain everything when our turn comes." She replied.
"So you found some needles?" Dumbledore asked Flitwick for conformation.
"Yes."
"Do we know who they were used on?"
"Hermione." Holly said.
"You know this how?" Dumbledore asked.
"In my explanation." She said. Dumbledore was frustrated now.
"Anyone else have news?" McGonagall spoke next.
"Yes group 9?" Dumbledore asked.
"With the aid of Holly, we found illegal plants, and they were poisonous." Dumbledore looked at Holly, but Holly beat him to speaking,
"I said, in my explanation."
"Anyone else have news? Or dare I ask." Dumbledore said. Remus was the next to speak.
"We just found a lot of blood in the place we got directed to from Holly."
Silence filled the room, and all eyes were on Holly.
"Don't look at me," she said, "Ask my group leader first then I'll tell you my adventure." James recounted the events with the help of Hestia, and after ten minutes it was Holly's turn to explain.
"When they dropped the figure that James told you about I went to investigate. I asked if they were alright, and the answer was yes. That's when I realized it was Hermione."
"What!" They gasped.
"She begged me to leave--save myself--that kind of thing, but I persisted and asked if there was anything I could do to help. She finally relented and took me back into the building to this door where we found the entire St. Mungos stash."
"Did you bring it with you?" Rochelle blurted. Holly produced the box of items and handed it over to Rochelle.
"It would be wise for the rest of you to hand over the poisonous plants and needles." Holly suggested, and the two other groups did just that.
"Anyway, while we were in the building she told me the locations of the blood, plants, and needles. I alerted you guys, and that's how you found them. I gathered up the items and put them in that box. We went outside and the fight was over. We didn't have a chance to protect Hermione from Macnair before he aparated her away."
"Did she tell you anything important as to her health?" Dumbledore asked.
"Just that she's been physically, mentally, and sexually abused in any way possible." Holly repeated. The members talked a bit more on the subject, and left shortly around 9 o'clock.
A/N: Just reminding you to review, cause I won't know what you think otherwise. Love ya guys, and I'm not stopping this story just because I don't get enough reviews. This project is for me, and for your enjoyment. See you soon!