AN: All you reviewers are awesome and I love each and every one of you. Special mention to Evil4Dummies: Femme Fatal Powers ACTIVATE! – this made me giggle no end. Girls Just Do It Better! indeed
Chapter 18 Sometimes it Takes a Different Approach
Silence hung over the kitchen table as the four witches tried to think of a way to break into Hogwarts. They could assume that the Death Eaters had not taken the wards down which meant that apparition was out of the question. Hermione considered the secret passages but without the marauders' map, which Ron had there was no way of knowing whether they would be safe to use or note, Ron had probably told the Death Eaters all about the secret passages, and had probably just handed the map over anyway.
"Poly juice?" Ginny asked. Hermione considered the idea for a moment.
"Nah, they will be expecting it after the Gringotts debacle, besides I don't have any stray bits of Death Eater's on me do you?" Hermione asked, the other three shook their heads.
"Could we just walk onto ze grounds? Approach et from a muggle point of view, 'ow you say like a bank robbery?" Fleur suggested. Hermione smiled at her, delighted to see that she had even considered the muggle aspect.
"If we are going to do that we cannot come at Hogwarts from the Hogsmeade side, there is a caterwauling charm on the village." Hermione told them.
"That leaves the mountain side, hmmm I'm not sure if that is a good idea, though we could fly on brooms." Ginny offered. While Hermione was less than keen on the idea but it was the only feasible one they had come up with so far.
"Well if there is a caterwauling charm on Hogsmeade then that counts out the secret passage at Aberforth's as well," Ginny said, "so it looks like brooms it is." She concluded.
Hermione's stomach dropped, but she needed to do this, she absolutely had to destroy the last horcrux and the only way to do that is with a basilisk fang, "Besides even if Ron hasn't told them about the secret passages, the room of requirement burned down." She said completely ruling out the Hog's Head.
Luna considered Hermione's statement, "Can the room of requirement burn down?" she asked and the other three witches stared at her.
" I can assure you that when I left the room it was most certainly ablaze," Hermione said, pained at the memory of the last few hours she spent with Harry and Ron, before her world had been shattered.
"Oh I do believe you, but then you left the room and the doorway disappeared?" Luna asked in her whimsical voice.
"Well, yes." Hermione answered not quite sure where Luna was going with her line of questioning.
"Good." Luna simply stated.
Hermione stared at the Ravenclaw and wondered if the witch had finally gone coconuts. Hermione's look of incredulity was reflected on both Fleur and Ginny's face, when finally Ginny took the bait that Luna had left out, "What's good Luna?" the red head asked.
"Well if Hermione, Ron and Harry left the room and nothing was required of it, then the room could be what it wanted to be, and one would assume that it wouldn't want to be on fire." Luna stated dreamily.
Hermione opened her mouth and then closed it again. What Luna had suggested was off the scale of her normal craziness but on some level that Hermione could not quite grasp, it made sense.
"While you were in the room you needed it to be on fire, is that right Hermione?" Luna asked, braining her hair as she did so, as though they were simply discussing the weather.
Hermione thought about the question, "Fiendfyre is the only other substance I know of that destroys Horcruxes, but I dare not use it as it is so dangerous to control," Hermione explained as the other three witches watched her, "Crabbe cast the fiendfyre and lost control of it...it consumed him," she paused for a moment as the memory of Crabbe on fire reaching out to anyone for help flashed through her mind, Fleur reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. Hermione took a deep breath, "Yes we needed the fiendfyre to destroy the diadem which was a horcrux." Hermione concluded.
Luna smiled, "So once the diadem was destroyed you neither needed the room nor the fire?" Hermione nodded her agreement with Luna's statement, "So we can conclude that the room was left to it's own devices and since it's main purpose is to hide things and provide them when required we can assume that the room did not want to be on fire. So it probably put itself out and went about it's afternoon waiting to be asked for something." Luna concluded.
"You are talking about zis room like et is a puppy or somezing, zat ez ridiculous!" Fleur stated. Hermione considered what Luna had said though and realised that Luna was right.
"The room is sentient to a certain extent, Luan is right, once we did not need it anymore it would have put the fire out." Hermione said. Luna nodded her agreement, clearly delighted that Hermione had come to the same conclusion, Fleur was stunned but bit her tongue.
"But still, we can't get to the Hog's Head so it's no use to us." Ginny said finally catching up on Hermione and Luna. She had learned long ago that these two witches were way smarter than her so if they said the room was a being then she just went with it.
"Ginny, you are quite right but there is another secret way into the room of requirement." Luna replied as she giggled to herself. Again the three witches around the table looked puzzled. Luna beamed up at them, "The vanishing cabinet that Draco used to sneak the Death Eaters into the Castle." She explained
Ginny's mouth dropped open, Fleur had lost the track of the conversation not knowing anything about the vanishing cabinet and Hermione's brow was creased in concentration as she tried to think through what Luna was saying. Hermione rubbed the back of her neck and shoulder, the pain was getting to her the more tired she got. Fleur got up and started going through the stores of ingredients, pulling some out as she began to brew a potion.
"Wouldn't it have been burned up?" Hermione asked, starting to wonder if Luna was onto something.
Luna smiled, "I'm not really sure but if I was going to have a magic wardrobe that magically transported me to another place I'd put a flame freezing spell on it at the very least. Perhaps we could get Mr Kreacher to check." She said.
Hermione smiled, whether Luna had known it or not she had referenced one of Hermione's favourite stories as a child about a group of children who entered a magical wardrobe that took them to a magical land called Narnia, taking this a sign Hermione's grin widened. "No, it is too dangerous to send Kreacher." She stated but then added, "But we could ask Phineas Nigellus to get nearly-headless Nick to check for us, he could also tell us if the other cabinet is still in Borgin and Burkes, I hear the shop is closed up but all the stuff is still in there."
"Good plan Hermione, I will go and ask Mr Black right now." Luna said as she got up from her seat and left the kitchen.
Ginny looked at Hermione, her eyebrow raised. Hermione grimaced, "Hey it's the best plan we have at the moment, you know as well as I do that broomstick or not once we cross the wards at Hogwarts, even from the mountainside the Death Eaters will be alerted, at least this way we have a chance." She explained. Ginny nodded and got up to go and follow Luna but Hermione grabbed her arm, "Ginny, come up with a backup plan for me? An escape plan in case all goes wrong?" Hermione asked her friend.
Ginny squeezed Hermione's hand, "I will come up with something." She said then left the kitchen to go check on Luna and Phineas.
Hermione turned in her chair and watched Fleur while she brewed. The blonde really did seem to be at home in the kitchen. "You like to brew and cook and be in the kitchen Fleur?" she asked. Fleur nodded in response as she added a pinch of something to her potion.
"From ze time when I was a little girl my Maman used to 'ave Gabrielle and I in ze kitchen every day eizer brewing a potion or making a meal or snack. Et gives a sense of usefulness and I find et calming." Fleur explained and she offered Hermione a smile.
Hermione nodded, "What are you making?" she asked, hoping it was not something she was going to have to end up eating because it did not smell good at all.
Fleur smiled, "Zis iz for your shoulder, et will stop et from being so stiff and should give you less pain," she explained as she went from stirring clockwise to anti clockwise. Hermione was amazed there was no potions book that she could see which meant that fleur was brewing this from memory.
"Calming? So you are upset or nervous about something," Hermione asked her friend though she thought that she knew the answer already. She saw Fleur's back straighten a little as she asked her question.
"Oui, zis 'ole 'breaking in to 'Ogwarts' et 'as put me on edge, I do not like ze idea of you being back wizin reach of ze Death Eaters." Fleur explained as a flush crawled up her neck.
Hermione felt a pang of guilt, the last thing she wanted was to make Fleur feel nervous or uncomfortable over anything that she had done. "Fleur, I have to finish, or his death will have been for nothing, please understand. He is the only one, it seems, that has been completely honest with me since the day I joined Hogwarts, my brother and my best friend. I can't carry on like his death meant nothing. Harry died for all of us, he died because I let him down. Well I won't again."
Fleur took her potion away from the heat, it needed to cool before she could rub it on Hermione's shoulder anyway. She turned to look at Hermione, the younger witch was studying the linoleum. Fleur stepped to her and knelt down, taking Hermione's hands in her own and looking in her eyes. "'Ermione, 'Arry's death is not your fault." She said and tears fell from those chocolate brown eyes and dripped onto the two witches hands.
"Yes it is Fleur," Hermione stifled a sob, looked Fleur dead in the eyes and explained, "Before he went to the forbidden forest he asked me to kill the snake, 'kill the snake and then it's just him.' He told me, my head was all over the place, it wasn't in the war, Harry's plan didn't even occur to me until days after. If the snake had died then the only remaining pieces of You-Know-Who's sould would have been the piece within him and the piece within Harry. Harry was a horcrux Fleur, he must have somehow discovered how to destroy the piece within him but he needed Nagini dead before he could do it. But instead I ran away, I crumbled, I hid, and I let Harry down."
Hermione's tears flowed freely as she finished explaining it to Fleur. The blonde tried to draw Hermione into her arms but Hermione fought her off but Fleur was stronger and finally pulled Hermione into her arms, "Shhh ma petite, if that had been 'Arry's plan zen 'e would 'ave told you zat. 'Arry was desperate ze snake waz wiz You-Know-Oo at ze time, he did not expect to survive and you know zis. 'Arry wanted you to kill ze snake and zen You-Know-Oo after 'e died because he trusted zat you would do et once 'e was gone." She rocked Hermione as they sat on the kitchen floor, "'Arry died because 'e is an 'ero and et was 'is fate to die zat day, not because of somzing you did or did not do." Fleur told the young witch and she seemed to calm down a little.
Just as Hermione seemed to be calming down a blood curdling scream tore from her throat and she began to writhe in pain. Fleur tightened her grip on Hermione and made soothing sounds letting her know that she was here with her as she tried to cast legilmens to get into her mind and help her fight Bellatrix off. As soon as she entered her mind she got thrown right back out. Hermione was clawing at Fleur's arms trying to get away and twice Fleur had to dodge her head as it was thrust back in her direction. Fleur felt panic rising within her, why could she not get into Hermione's mind to assist, surely Hermione was not blocking her, but if it wasn't Hermione then it could only be Bellatrix.
The kitchen door swung open as Ginny and Luna burst their way into the kitchen, wands drawn looking for the danger. Hermione screamed in pain again as she clung to Fleur, tears streaming down her face, her body was hot to the touch and when she wasn't writhing she was shivering. Fleur looked up at Ginny and Luna helplessly as she fought to hold onto Hermione, the fear being that if she got out of Fleur's grip she would do harm to herself by banging her head on the floor. Hermione lay in Fleur's lap shaking and sobbing, Fleur was not sure that it was over so she continued to soothe Hermione, her hunch was rewarded a moment later when another wave of pain tore through Hermione.
Ginny's eyes widened as she watched her friend writhe in pain, "Is this Bellatrix?" she asked, Fleur nodded, "How do we stop her?" Ginny asked more than a little alarmed at the display.
Fleur continued to talk in a calming voice, "touch 'er to 'elp her ground herself, normally I can enter 'er mind and 'elp 'er but I was thrown out zis time." Fleur explained.
The two witches went to their knees and Luna instantly reached out and touched her friends arm, "We are here with you Hermione, it will all be over soon," Luna told her friend. Ginny followed suit and began to rub Hermione's leg, but could not find any words to soothe her. The three sat there a long time, every few moment Hermione would scream and writhe in pain then she would calm down again.
Tears were streaming down Fleur's face as she was helpless to stop the pain Hermione was in she picked up her wand and cast legilmens again, this time she was able to get to Hermione's boundary wall and could see Bellatrix taunting her, she raised her wand and cast hex after hex at the deranged witch, pushing her back until finally she left. Even in her mind Hermione lay on the ground, Fleur went over and picked her up, gently placing her within her protective barriers before withdrawing from her mind.
On the Kitchen floor Hermione lay shaking in Fleur's lap, staring off into the distance. "Et is over," Fleur said as she put her wand away and pulled the limp form of Hermione into her arms and rocked her. After some time Luna cast a featherweight spell and Fleur took Hermione up to the room they shared, she lay her on the bed as Ginny entered with a couple of potions, including the one that Fleur had been brewing. Fleur gratefully took the potions from Ginny, "I will let you know when she comes around, I suspect it will be some hours," Fleur told Ginny who nodded and left. Fleur pulled a blanket up to Hermione's chin and gently swept a strand of hair out of her face. She transfigured the chair beside the bed into a rocking chair and sat with her feet pushing against the bed and sobbed as she watched over Hermione, praying that Bellatrix had not broken her friend this time and wishing that Hermione knew how much she loved her.