Chapter 30!

I'm trying to post frequently, and it's somewhat working xD There are still some chapters to go before the end though =) But I won't use forever to post them all! (Like I said in the former chapter, perhaps :P)

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Disclaimer: Totally not mine.

-o-

Chapter 30 – It's All About Practice

Hermione walked carefully through the halls at the end of the garden. This part of the keep was still in the process of being repaired and restored, thus, the place was practically empty. The workers had finished for the day, and it was unnervingly quiet, causing her to tense up even more.

She was disillusioned, and with all the practice with Cole, the chance of someone managing to sneak up on her was rather small.

Not to mention she had no idea what – who – she was looking for. A mage – most likely – with lightning magic, or a staff with electricity, not an elf – again, most likely – not a dwarf, if the theory that she was looking for a mage was correct. Dwarfs didn't have mages. They had no magic. Not a dwarf, nor an elf, not a Qunari – they would probably notice if a Qunari showed up – thus, the most logical conclusion was that she was looking for a human being.

Were there any human mages among the recent arrivals? Or has one of the mages already here gone on a sudden killing-spree?

It would seem logical that the assassin was among the recent arrivals – not that she was about to believe that blindly – but it did seem rather likely.

Why do people insist on closing every bloody door? Hermione thought as she closed in on yet another closed door, to yet another empty room. Invisible or not, opening a door would give away that there was someone there.

This room isn't empty, she thought as she heard voices from inside the room. Not to mention that she felt a magical signature. No, two magical signatures.

And four voices. Wonderful.

Hermione contemplated how to approach this. Should she get help? The people inside the room could be gone by the time she came back.

She could open the door while still invisible, but that would cause them to be on guard.

Most people know who I am, she thought as an idea fell into her head. I could just barge in, fuss over how sorry I am for disturbing them, and then – catching them off-guard, hopefully – take them down.

A second later, everything changed.

Someone was screaming. Screaming.

"Shut your mouth, filthy knife-ear," Hermione heard an angry voice exclaim, "or else I'll shut it for you! And you won't like that, believe me!"

Hermione made a quick decision, cast Protego with her left hand, holding the shield active in front of her, unlocked the door with a flick of her wand, and threw the door open, making sure it slammed into the wall, startling them, and used the moment where they were startled to take in the scene in front of her.

A young elven girl was tied to a chair with her side to Hermione, bleeding on several places, and around the terrified girl, three men and one woman, looming over her.

The woman – standing behind the chair – and the man nearest to Hermione were mages. The man to the left of the girl was a…rogue. He had shiny daggers, at least. Shiny daggers could mean that they weren't used much, so hopefully that was the case here. The third man was a…warrior. Big sword. Warrior.

Female mage first – her staff and robe was high-level stuff, thus, she was – theoretically – the biggest threat. Male mage second – they could freeze, kill, stun, generally a whole lot of impractical things, from a distance. Rogue third, warrior last.

She had to be careful, though. The rogue had shadowstep, and the warrior had charge. She had to be careful, and move a lot.

The female mage had her staff in her hands with impressive speed, and Hermione dodged a lightning spell.

"Stupefy!"

The female mage was thrown backwards, into the wall, and Hermione would have at least a minute before the woman woke up again.

"Stupefy!" she yelled again, but the male mage managed to dodge her spell, throwing a barricade of firespells back at Hermione. Her shield held, however, and after another stupefy, the male mage slammed into the wall, falling into a heap on the floor.

The rogue shadowstepped, the warrior charged, and Hermione realised she was about to be trapped between them.

She apparated in a flare of grey smoke to the other side of the room, and it gave her a moment to take them out, because they were momentarily confused, looking for her with frantic eyes.

She managed to knock out the rogue just as the warrior found her, and charged.

"Stupefy!"

The warrior was thrown back, landing with a crash on his back on the floor.

Hermione spun around to the female mage, finding the woman still unconscious.

It wouldn't last, however, and Hermione had to act fast. The problem was that she had to keep four people unconscious at the same time. And keeping up four Petrificus Totalus at the same time was not a good idea.

Petrificus Totalus on the female mage. It would keep her knocked out for a while.

Next was the male mage. She frantically contemplated what to do while flicking her wand, disarming both the rogue and the warrior.

"Accio Draught of Living Dead!" Hermione exclaimed while wringing open her pouch. The potion popped up, and Hermione uncorked it while running over to the mage. She forced open the mouth, poured a suitable amount, and massaged his throat to make him swallow.

A few moments later, the man was as if he was dead. Unnerving potion.

She had enough for one more, and repeated the procedure on the rogue before turning to the warrior.

Warriors – without a sword and shield – were just men, and right now, the man was no threat. She had to find a way to keep him unconscious, though.

"Immobulus," she eventually hissed, leaving the man immobile.

The elven girl whimpered, and Hermione hurried over to her, glad that the chair was placed where she could keep an eye on the four unconscious people in the room.

"It's going to be alright, da'len," Hermione said in elven, "I promise."

The girl looked at her with wide eyes, probably not expecting hearing elven.

Hermione untied the girl, and looked her over. "You're bleeding, da'len. You are losing too much blood."

Those cuts are deep, Hermione thought with disgust as she flicked her wand, healing the wounds, one by one. What's wrong with people? Torturing a fragile, young girl, just because she has pointy ears.

"There, da'len. Your wounds are healed."

Now what, though? Hermione thought. She couldn't exactly leave the room, not with the four assholes on the floor. Well, this will result in a whole lot of explaining.

"Expecto Patronum," Hermione said with a clear voice, and the silver Dread Wolf appeared. She focused on the silver wolf. "Find Solas. Quickly. Quickly. Stay out of sight for anyone but my friends. Tell him; this is Hermione. I am on the second floor of the garden part, the second to last room. I am unharmed, but I need you. Quickly. Bring someone if you can, but the quickly part is more important. Again; I'm unharmed, and in no immediate danger, but I need assistance. Now. Please hurry, Lethallan."

The silver wolf spun around in the air, and sped away in a streak of silver.

Hermione turned to the girl again. "I can't leave the room, da'len," she said in elven. "In case they wake up. You are free to leave on your own, of course, but I promise you I will keep you safe. They will never touch you again."

The girl stared at her, wide-eyed, but eventually nodded.

-o-

The next few minutes felt like an eternity. She had four people to keep unconscious, something she had been fine with, if only the frail girl wasn't there. If anyone woke up, the girl would go straight back to being terrified, Hermione was completely certain of that. And she really didn't want to cause the girl anymore fear.

Finally, she felt a familiar magical signature approaching, and sighed in relief.

"Hermione? Hermione!"

Hermione flicked her wand, sending a few sparks out the door. "In here!"

Solas entered the room a few moments later, eyes wide with fear.

"I'm perfectly fine, Lethallan," she said, and saw him relax ever so slightly. She gestured at the fragile being in the chair. "But she is not. Also, I have four people I need to keep unconscious."

Solas seemed to suddenly wake up, and noticed the scene in the room. "You decided to take on four people at once. Foolish woman."

Hermione gave him a sharp look. "What, I should have let them torture her into oblivion while I strolled around Skyhold, looking for someone to help me? Stop being Captain Hindsight, Solas. This is definitely not the time for this ridiculous discussion. You will bring the girl, and go...somewhere. Anywhere but here. Then, you will find someone, anyone, soldiers, something, and come back."

"I'm not leaving you, Hermione."

"You most definitely are. Unless you can keep four people unconscious? Or knock them out if they all wake up at the same time?" He gave her a reluctant look, and she continued. "That's why I need to stay here. But I need to get the girl out. She has experienced enough trauma for a lifetime. And it's harder to focus with her in the room." She turned to the girl. "Go with Solas. He will bring you away from here. It's going to be alright."

The girl nodded, and Hermione helped her up from the chair, just to realise that the girl wasn't able to stand. "Solas," she said, supporting the girl as best she could. "She has lost a lot of blood, and she is too weak to walk."

Solas had the girl in his arms a moment later, and gave the frail elf a soft look. "They will not hurt you again, emm'asha," he said before looking at Hermione. "Dareth, vhenan."

"Yes, love, I will. Now, go."

Hermione felt like she could finally breathe again as Solas carried the girl out of the room. Keeping the four people unconscious was not really an issue. She would manage that just fine. Doing that and keeping the girl safe, however, that was more difficult. Or, keeping her safe wasn't really the issue either.

Hermione knew how it felt to be tortured, and the all-consuming terror it brought with it. If she had been forced to sit in that room, looking at her torturers – even if unconscious on the floor – for a lengthy period of time afterwards, she would have been frozen in fear. And if one of them began waking up? She didn't even want to think about it.

And that was why it was so important to get the girl out.

-o-

She was actually rather relaxed by the time Solas came back. She was sitting in the chair, her feet on a small table, gazing at the four limp bodies on the floor.

She was, by this point, decorating them, more or less. She had begun with tying them up, but when they looked more like mummies than anything else, she had begun flicking her wand absently, making a bowtie here, a fancy looking knot there, and by the time Solas entered with Trevelyan, Dorian, and Varric trailing behind him, Hermione was humming while drawing fiery trails in the air – using Flagrate – but cancelled the spell as they entered.

They stopped, taking in the scene in front of them. "So," Dorian said, "perhaps we could get an explanation of what exactly happened here?"

-o-

Hermione sighed as she entered her quarters late that night. Solas had been rather quiet, and she expected a discussion circling the subject 'how dare you risk yourself like that, foolish woman' so when he didn't say anything, she was puzzled.

"Solas," she said as she entered the bedroom after him, "are you planning on speaking to me any time soon? Because this is getting quite unnerving. I would, in fact, prefer to hear a detailed explanation of foolish I am, over this."

"That's the thing, is it not?" he finally said as he turned around to face her. "You are not the foolish one. I am."

"What?"

"What you did today was not foolish," he said, but paused to give her a somewhat jaded look. "Well, as far as 'not foolish' describes a situation where you throw yourself against four enemies while protecting someone. The point is; you emerged from that situation without a scratch. Not because you were lucky, but because you are able to deal with four enemies at once. If you had been harmed today, it would be because of bad luck, not because you made a foolish decision. And bad luck may happen, even when faced with only one enemy."

She gave him a puzzled look. "Thank…you? Perhaps? What are you trying to say?"

"I was the foolish one today, Hermione. I was not thinking clearly. A girl was hurt, but my mind was focused on all the things that could have gone wrong." Solas sat down on the bed before continuing. "I will end up causing you to come to harm."

There was something in his tone that made Hermione's blood go cold. "Don't you dare," she said, resulting in an utterly confused look from Solas. "This is another 'I will only cause you pain, you would be better off without me' conversation, isn't it?"

The defeated look Solas gave her told her everything she needed to know. "Well, if you could just stop that chain of thought right away, that would be great."

"Lethallan," he said quietly, "don't you see?"

She shook her head, interrupting him. "Quit it, Solas. I mean it. It took you approximately one minute to clear your head. It's all about practice. Keeping a clear head, even with a loved one fighting alongside you, is all about practice. Thus, this is not one of the situations where I would be better off without you."

Solas sighed, but then he got up, pulled her close, and kissed her.

Thank Merlin.