Chapter two: Plan

"Why isn't he coming down? It doesn't make sense."

"I think he was sad."

"What?"

Hermione paced her cage. "I said he didn't say anything. That wasn't exactly true. He kept saying 'I'm sorry' on a loop. He called me Grace."

Spencer sipped a flask of strange juice that she told him was pumpkin. "He might be comparing you to a family member or someone he was close to; sister, cousin, childhood friend. That would imply-"

"Remorse. Like he didn't want to be doing what he was doing, but he can't stop himself."

He would admit to being impressed. "Right. If he does come back here then we may be able to get him to let us go by playing on that."

"You're a profiler aren't you?"

He blinked in surprise. "Yes, I am. I'm in the, uh, the BAU. The Behavioral Analysis Unit. It used to be called the BSU-"

"Behavioral Science Unit, part of the NCAVC; National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes."

Spencer was definitely impressed. "Yes, I'm a profiler."

Hermione smiled. "My friend is a Minister, though not one I think you would know. Minister for Magic, Neville Longbottom. You know, when he and I met you'd never have seen it coming. He was bumbling and sweet, but very shy."

"Are you being for real? Magic?"

"Very, here." she handed him her beaded bag through the bars. He pulled it open and reached into it. His arm kept going into it and he pulled it out, examining it carefully. "Undetectable Extension Charm. I worked very hard on it and I was telling the truth when I said it saved my life. It did. And several of my friends, and I suppose in a roundabout way the entirety of Britain."

He wasn't sure what to say. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because it won't matter. Once we get out of here, they'll erase your memory of anything to do with me."

Spencer frowned, not liking the sound of that. "Do they have to?"

She had been turned away from him, having paced around for hours, but she turned towards him with a strange combination of wonder, care, and... guilt. She looked as though she were examining him closely before finding whatever it was she was looking for. "No. I can make them leave you alone. You're too smart for your mind to be able to miss it and stay the way it is. Most people just accept they can't remember, or there's a haze, or something that doesn't make sense. You-you would dwell on it and drive yourself barmy. Like a tongue over a loose tooth."

Spencer shivered. "And.. you can do that? Convince them?"

"I have leverage," she said quietly. "And though it's unlikely, should they ignore me, they wouldn't Harry. Or Neville."

"Friends in high places?"

"The highest."

He believed her. He also thought in some small part of his mind that he was hallucinating, but he believed her. Besides, he could explain the bag with physics. "So, why can't you get us out of here?"

"I don't have my wand. It's stupid, but I didn't take it with me downstairs to the shop that day. I was painting. I didn't think I needed it. I can do menial things, summon something from across the room, unlock something, but I can't unweld this."

"Do you think he's... like you?"

She scoffed. "Doubtful. He used Muggle methods."

"What's a-"

"Non-magic folk."

"Ah."

Hermione finally sat down again across from him, the two separated only by iron bars. "I can't believe this happened again."

He frowned. "Again?"

"Long story."

"Right, because it's not like I have time or anything."

She laughed near to the point of hysteria and he felt good for having made her. "We were in a war, revolving around Harry and a madman, Voldemort. His people.. the Death Eaters.. caught us because there was a taboo on his name. They took us to his manor where they questioned us. Tortured me. We were lucky though."

"Lucky?"

"I sent a jinx at Harry that distorted his face. If they had realized it was him they'd have killed us all."

Spencer looked at her in slight horror. Lucky indeed. "We were on a case in Georgia. We had caught up to him and JJ and I split up. God, I was so stupid. It was my idea and she got attacked by man-eating dogs and I was kidnapped by a disturbed man with Disassociative Personality Disorder. He drugged me, tortured me, killed me and brought me back."

"JJ, that your girl?"

His face flushed. "No. She, uh, we went to a football game once, but she's just my friend. Her son is my godson."

"How old is he?"

"Henry is one year, four months, seventeen days," he looked at his watch that the Unsub hadn't taken, "fourteen hours and two minutes old."

She chuckled. "Well, I don't think I could go down to the hour, but my godson, Teddy, is six years and four months old."

"Harry's son?"

"Depends on how you want to look at it," she said. "He lives with Harry and Luna and calls them Mum and Dad, but Harry and I are his godparents. His parents died in the war."

"Hotch has a son, Jack, around that age. October seventh is his birthday."

"Teddy's is April 16th. He was born less than a month before the last battle. The Final Battle."

Spencer nodded, not knowing what else to say. "What else do you have in your bag?"

She laughed. "I honestly am not all that sure. Loads of candy, I know that. Ron had an obsession. I have a tent, loads of books, clothes, water, not much pumpkin juice, an Invisibility cloak, some-"

"Invisibility cloak?"

"It's Harry's. I'm mostly just holding on to it for him."

"Does it actually-"

She nodded, digging into the bottomless bag and pulling a shimmery material out. Spencer felt it in his fingers, awed at it. Physicists had been working on making invisible clothing a reality and had, on some level, succeeded. But nothing like this. Still, could be logically explained.

Hermione yawned and Spencer noticed how tired he was.

"You should get some sleep," he told her. "I'll keep watch."

"No, that's okay."

"Hermione, go to sleep."

She looked at him for a long time. "Okay. Will you- will you wake me if he comes back?"

"I promise."

*

Spencer woke with a start from a faceless nightmare and glanced around anxiously. Hermione was still asleep, leaned against the bars most uncomfortably and making soft snoring sounds. He sighed in relief, letting his heart rate slow back down from its adrenaline high. He had to figure a way out of here. Or someway to get a message out. He doubted Hermione had a phone. Or if she did, he doubted they'd get much signal being in a concrete box. He wasn't claustrophobic, but he didn't like it.

Hermione woke up an hour later while Spencer was reading a book from her bag, The Golden Trio. She had told him she had leverage in the Wizarding World, but he never imagined how much. She was a hero. The Brightest Witch of her age.

"Ugh!" was the first thing out of her mouth. Then she grabbed at her bag to pulled out a bottle of water, guzzling half of it. Then she sat back and breathed heavily from lack of air when she was drinking. She smacked her lips a few times before looking over to him with a tired face.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Just peachy," she replied. "It's not like I'm stuck in a small room, in an even smaller cage, without a wand, and with a total stranger for whom I'm risking the Statute of Secrecy. Thank you for asking."

He frowned, this was completely different than the girl he'd been in here with for a day. "Hermione? Calm down."

"I can't, I-I have to get out of here or something."

"We'll get out, but you're starting to go into a panic attack. Hermione-Hermione tell me more about Harry and Ron. Your friends. It says here you had a werewolf as a friend?"

Her body language softened at the names and she made more of an effort to breath calmer. "Remus, he started out as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He was best friends with Harry's father and godfather. He's Teddy's real father."

"Teddy? Tell me about Teddy."

She breathed out. "Teddy is the sweetest thing. He likes to prank people though. He's terrible around George. George and his twin, Fred opened a joke shop. In our fifth year-" She stopped and pulled her bag into her lap and started going through it. Then she stopped with a thoughtful look and turned to him.

"If you drank another pain potion, do you think that you could take him down? If you were able to catch him by surprise?"

Spencer frowned. "I-yes. I think. I don't know. It depends on him."

Hermione nodded. "Do you think he's alone?"

"I think he most likely has a partner, the brains of the operation, who tells him what to do. He might be handicapped in some way. If they're recreating a scene, his foot might have been broken in the original scenario. He probably lives away from the man who took us as a way to distance himself."

"Do you think if you had the tools, you could get me out of here?"

"Yes."

"You're positive?"

"I have three PhD's, one of which is in engineering. Yes, I can get you out of there."

Hermione pulled an assortment of things from the bag, and placed them in a neat row. Then she was pacing like a caged animal again, her hair crackling with blue electricity. That... could be the lighting. "Whizzbangs, they sort of explode and chase you around. Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder does exactly what it sounds like. Portable Swamp, literally just makes a swamp appear and can be quite difficult to get rid of. There are Dungbombs, don't touch those, and loads of explosives. We could use them to lure someone down here, then you stand by the door under the Cloak and catch whoever it is by surprise."

"What if it's both of them? We can't take them both. And if one comes down and we get out and another is waiting what do we do?"

"It's better than being stuck down here and waiting for someone to find us despite there probably not being any sign of where you are or even that our abductions were connected. I'm sure you know the odds."

A/N: So, yes. In another story of mine, she was able to send wandless patroni to Harry and Remus. In this one, she cannot. If she doesn't have her wand, she can't really do much magic. I thought that would be good balance as I thought I was being a bit free with wandless magic in Walking Away Clean. Hope you like it. Love always, Skye.