Note: Part two of today's update. Enjoy! Tis a bit shorter than normal, but it's quite fast paced and I didn't want to make it boring by trying to drag it out. I can only make action sequences so interesting; I'm better with character introspection and explanation chapters.
Chapter Fifteen
Panic at St Pancras
Hermione took a deep breath and gulped down the vial of golden potion. This had been her idea and there was no way that she was going to sit back and let everyone else enact it. It was this attitude, she thought, that had made the Sorting Hat chose Gryffindor over Ravenclaw, despite its hemming and hawing all those years ago. She was determined to see it through to the bitter end; if anything went wrong she was not going to watch others suffer from her lack of judgement. She shook her head, not wanting to think of what would occur if the worst came to the worst. Hopefully, once the potion wore off and it was made obvious that she was not in fact Harry… But no, that might make things even worse.
She slid the spectacles, replicas of Harry's own, onto her nose, astounded at just how bad his eyesight actually was without them. It was not something that she had ever really thought about, having got so used to seeing the glasses as part and parcel of Harry's appearance that she never contemplated why he needed them so badly.
Pulling herself out of her daydream, Hermione refocused on the task at hand. She'd had a flash of inspiration as the Order had sat debating the meaning of Harry's dream and whether or not Mr Weasley was indeed stowed in the Malfoys' cellar. There was still a batch of polyjuice potion waiting in a corner of the Burrow's kitchen, bubbling away and having no specific purpose anymore now that Harry had been moved from the Dursleys via other means. Why couldn't they put it to use now, use a modified version of their original plan to provide a diversion whilst others broke into the Manor and rescued Mr Weasley? Once she had ventured her opinion, she had been surprised to find it met with general enthusiasm from all except Harry, who was adamant that no-one else was going to risk their lives on hi account. In the end though, the feelings of one teenage wizard, however vehement they were, were no match for the entire rest of the Order of the Phoenix. He had kicked up more of a fuss when Mrs Weasley had told him in no uncertain terms that he was to stay in the Burrow whilst this precarious mission took place.
"But won't it make the illusion a little bit more convincing when one of the Harrys really is Harry?" he had protested.
"Yes, but what happens if one of the Harrys is caught or killed, and that Harry happens to really be Harry?" Moody had retorted. "We can't afford to lose you. We know that. Arthur knows that. The only person who can't seem to grasp this relatively simple concept is you, so stop clabbering and let's get on with it."
Hermione allowed herself a small smile at Harry's attempts at protest, his mouth opening and closing like a guppy and only the beginnings of words coming out in his disbelief.
"Ready?" asked Tonks, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, her hair colour changing tone every few seconds with pace that made Hermione feel ever so slightly disorientated. She did not begrudge the young Auror her tick though; Lupin was one of the members of the raiding party, and naturally his wife was more than worried about him. Hermione nodded. "Let's go."
She went to move out of the corner that they had stowed themselves in whilst Hermione took the polyjuice potion and completed her transformation. It was all part of the plan; if the Harrys suddenly 'popped up' in the train stations rather than setting out from the Burrow and being immediately pursuable then it would give the Order the element of surprise and perhaps buy them a little more time. Tonks was almost out of the corner when Hestia Jones held up a hand to stop her.
"Wait. Final run-through of the plan before we start out."
Tonks rolled her eyes but patiently stood still whilst they went through the plan once more. Hestia was not quite such a frontline member of the Order and was therefore more nervous when it came to such precarious outings as this one, but that was not to say that she shied away from the task that had been set her by any manner or means. Whilst it would keep up appearances to have Harry travelling with a cohort of powerful magicians, it made sense to retain some of their best fighters for the break-in itself; after all, no-one could deny that they were about to infiltrate Voldemort's headquarters, however much of a distraction for his gatekeepers they provided.
"It's fairly simple. Take a midnight creeper to Newcastle and then reunite with Mundungus, Kingsley and Dedalus at the Burrow again at some time tomorrow once we've found our way home."
Hestia nodded, and Hermione and Tonks took this as their cue to move out into the open. As soon as they had done so, however, the hair on the back of Hermione's neck stood on end. They were being watched, she was sure of it.
"There's someone here," hissed Tonks, her Auror's instincts also picking up on the unfriendly presence. "Someone knew we were coming."
Hermione looked around, but all she could see were travel-weary muggles waiting for their trains.
Get a grip Hermione, of course they aren't going to be here in their hoods and masks. That would be a bit obvious in a muggle train station. Mind you, when you look at some of them, it's hard to wonder how they ever got a reputation as a fear-bringing fighting force.
Hestia shrugged minutely.
"We've got to let them follow us," she said simply. "We need to draw them away from the Manor so that the others can get in and look for Arthur."
Hermione nodded; the older witch was right. As dangerous as it was, they had come with the intention of picking up pursuers. They had just not expected to find them so soon.
"I still say we change trains at the last minute though," muttered Tonks as they made their way towards the platform they had originally intended to travel from. Halfway there, Hermione stopped dead. She had seen something out of the corner of her eye.
"It's Snape," she breathed, and the others followed her gaze towards the black-clad man obscured behind the telephone booths.
"Are you sure?" asked Tonks, but in that moment he stepped out of the shadow and they saw his face fully. It was indeed Snape.
Hermione felt anger bubble up in her stomach, but she suppressed it hastily. This, she thought, was why it would not have been a good idea to allow Harry to be part of the distraction. As passionate as he was, she highly doubted that he would be able to stop himself from attacking the former potions master as retribution for his murder of Dumbledore. As painful a wound as the betrayal was, Hermione knew that she could not be the one to enact revenge. She had to ignore her feelings for the greater good. Mr Weasley's life was at stake. All their lives were at stake. It would not do to let personal vendettas put them in even more danger than they were already in. It was this attitude which separated adults from teenagers, Hermione thought, and a small part of her was secretly pleased that she had mastered it.
They kept moving, walking slightly quicker but not so as to attract attention. Hermione risked a glance over her shoulder. Snape was weaving in and out of the tired muggles, gaining on them…
Tonks pulled her onto a crowded train that was just about to leave and dragged her down the length of a carriage, squeezing past muggles fighting with suitcases in the luggage racks. She saw Snape get on a few moments behind them, still instantly recognisable even without the robes billowing like batwings behind him. She was so intent on watching their pursuer that she did not see the person in front of her until it as too late and she walked headlong into them.
"Sorry," she muttered, looking up into the pale and slightly haunted eyes of Lucius Malfoy. She took a step back but a hand enclosed itself over her shoulder in an vice-grip and she felt a wand jab her between the ribs.
"Mr Potter…" There was an unmistakeable note of triumph in Malfoy's voice. Hermione gave a start, she had momentarily forgotten that she was, for the moment, not Hermione but Harry, and she looked around desperately for Tonks and Hestia; how had they managed to get separated? She located them not far in front of her, also backing up, cornered.
Hermione's mind worked faster than it had ever done in her life. One of the best advantages that she had against her foes, she knew, was that she could think like a muggle. Sometimes, the best ways did not involve magic in any shape or form. Suppressing a smile, she kneed Malfoy between the legs and leapt for the emergency exit. Her wand, secreted up her sleeve, made short work of the alarm and she jumped out onto the track, landing neatly between the electrified rails. A split second later, Tonks and Hestia landed either side of her and they began to make their way across the rails towards the other platform.
"Good thinking," panted Tonks, turning the dangerous metal lines to rubber with a flick of her wand should she trip and fall, as was likely with her inherent clumsiness. "But I think we've just succeeded in attracting even more attention to ourselves."
As Tonks gave her a legup onto the platform, Hermione could hear people shouting and running about desperately.
"There's people on the line!"
"Those fellas on the train were trying to kidnap the boy, I saw it, he jumped out of the emergency exit!"
"Mummy, why's that lady got pink hair?"
"What's going on? Get off the line!"
"We're trying," muttered Hermione through gritted teeth as she helped Tonks pull herself up onto the platform. She looked around at her surroundings, as incapacitated as she was until Tonks gained proper purchase on the platform edge. Behind her, the station officials and the police were careering down the platform ready to arrest her for trespassing on the train lines. In front of her, the Death Eaters had forced their way off the train and were crossing the rails. Hermione was sure that it was only the vast amount of muggle witnesses, a number far too great to dispose of quickly, that was preventing them from entering an all out duel there and then.
"What in Heaven? For the love of God will you get off the bleeding tracks!" roared the stationmaster through the loudspeaker, startling any travellers who had not heard the commotion taking place between platforms one and two into running towards the scene of the mass hysteria. Hermione prayed that they would all just go away. Whilst the muggles might be having palpitations due to the dangers of walking on electrified train tracks, those were really the least of Hermione's worries. Some things were far more lethal to muggles than wayward voltage, and those things were gaining on them from the train standing at the other platform. It was only a matter of time before something went drastically wrong.
For the second time that evening, Hermione felt a hand enclose over her shoulder, and she looked up to see a policeman doubled over, wheezing heavily.
"You're coming with me. Sonny Jim," he panted, although it was evident that they weren't going to be going anywhere in a hurry. "What do you think you're doing, leaping onto the tracks?"
"I was about to be kidnapped!" Hermione yelped, which was not quite so far from the truth. "I…"
But then the policeman keeled over, snoring lightly. Hestia stood behind him, stowing her wand back into her pocket. She reached down and hauled the still flailing Tonks up onto the platform and looked pointedly at Hermione, who was regarding the older witch with respect. How she could ever have thought Hestia was out of her depth on this mission was beyond her.
"May I suggest we continue to run?" she asked before taking off down the platform in the direction away from the oncoming onslaught of officials. Hermione and Tonks followed hot on her heels.
"How did you…" Hermione began.
"I disapparated whilst everyone was preoccupied with you," Hestia replied tersely. "Unfortunately, they did as well."
Hermione glanced behind her, making out the forms of Snape, Malfoy and the other Death Eaters that had been on the train amongst the crowd that was chasing them. Suddenly, everything went fuzzy. She stumbled, toppling into Tonks arms, and her blood ran cold as she realised what had happened. Hestia swore, uncharacteristically.
"Who made this Polyjuice Potion?" she growled. "It's supposed to last at least an hour, not five bleeding minutes!"
"Hestia," Hermione began, her world becoming clear once more as she pulled the glasses off her face. "That's not our biggest problem right now…"
Suddenly, Hermione had an idea. A brilliant idea that she thanked her muggle-born brain for providing her with in their hour of need. There was only way that they could get out of this mess, a mess that, a small part of Hermione's mind recognised, was her own doing for jumping out of the emergency exit and onto the tracks anyway. That was to disappear. But they couldn't disapparate with so many witnesses. They needed a distraction, like Hestia had done to get onto the platform.
And Hermione had the perfect distraction.
"HE'S GOT A GUN!" she screamed as the crowd reached them, pointing in the general direction of one of the Death Eaters.
Tonks looked at Hermione with her eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline. Hestia grinned; she knew the muggle world as well as she did her own.
Chaos. Sheer and perfect chaos. Chaos in which no-one thought to ask why the boy who had been on the tracks had spontaneously changed gender, or why the woman who was with him had blue hair that had been pink a moment ago, or why any of them were carrying what appeared to be magic wands.
No-one thought to ask where the three women they had been chasing had suddenly disappeared to.
Note2: He he! Sorry, I'm in a funny mood. It's anticipation. We're baking lebkuchen in the flat tonight and if there is one thing that can lift my spirits, it's the prospect of lebkuchen. Which is one of the best things in the world. Period.