Ginny pushed open the doors letting them swing wide. The smell of stale blood was the first thing to register to all of them. The next was the eerie stillness of the room and the unseen weight that came with spells well beyond anything any of them could ever dream up.
A large boxed cage stood center, its bars were wide but thick, easily seen through but possibly charmed so that one couldn't pass through them. A pole stood center, but the body attached to the pole made all their hearts beat a little faster.
It took Ron only two heavy heartbeats before his eyes ran over her messy curls and white blood-stained robe. Though her head was down and her body was still, he was certain it was Hermione.
Ginny turned her head and her wand, the first thing she noticed was the waist-high pillar that sat only a few feet in front of them, a circular hole in the top. She suspected that they were expected to place the cup on the pedestal in exchange for lifting the cage.
Neville noticed that aside from the center cage, no one else was in the room. At least, no one they could see. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and a heavy stone settled in his stomach.
"Somethings not right...this is too easy..." His words were barely a whisper but Luna was close enough to hear and nodded her head slightly. She couldn't see the girl clearly like something was obscuring her true form. She wasn't so sure that the girl they were looking at was the one they'd come for.
Harry's heart was pounding, the absence of pain he usually felt while in the Dark Lord's presence was only making the fear inside him grow. Why would he had lured him there if he hadn't wanted to fight him. Had bringing his friends with him, spared or damned them?
Ron took a slow step, his wand shaking slightly as he neared the slightly raised stage. He glanced back at the rest of them before putting his weight down in the platform.
"Hermione?" His voice was shaking and his hands followed suit. He could hear the others behind him coming closer but they didn't break their formation, keeping Harry cloaked in the center.
Ginny desperately wanted to take Harry's hand, but she knew it would give him away. She was just as amazed as everyone else that something more dubious hadn't happened when she'd placed down the cup. Their eyes watched the sides of the darkened room for any sign that things were about to go pear-shaped.
Neville turned his head to watch Ron but only just, the air was becoming difficult to breathe and his head felt light. He still stood by his previous assessment of the situation and the longer they lingered the stronger the feeling became.
Luna was completely facing Ron, her wand up and at the ready to protect his back. Her previous observation was niggling away at the back of her brain and she started to follow after him. Her steps much slower than his. She didn't know if he'd even listen to her at all.
"Hermione?" Ron's hands trembled as he ran them under her chin. Her skin was so cold, her head so heavy. He tilted her chin up towards the light and into his face. His heart pounded heavier in his ears and he gently thumbed her bruised cheeks. Short lashes fluttered against his thumb and his breath caught hard in his throat. When her darkened lids opened to reveal heavily greyed over green eyes his brow turned to confusion.
"Ron...?" Luna's voice was like a knife through the silence that had fallen, though it was soft it had completely shattered whatever spell had befallen the space.
"It's not her..." Ron didn't know what to do with the information. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the change of her features as the glamour melted away. He knew he recognized her, he was sure of it. Another house, surely. She had been on the Quidditch team. A chaser, he was sure. Yellow came to his mind and he was certain he recognized her. "Alesina?"
The girl in his hold let out a shuddering breath before her eyes fell closed again. There was a sudden rumble from beneath the platform and Ron turned his head down in surprise.
Do you take me for a fool, Harry Potter?
All of them heard the whispered message, a deep coldness washing through every one of them. It was milliseconds after the last syllable was whispered that the room erupted into chaos.
"Ron!" Luna had almost made it to the platform by the time Ron had made his discovery.
Her wand shot out and her spell sent him flying back. There was barely a anytime between Ron flying past her and the large spikes that had come up from all angles. One of which came directly in front of the pole and straight through Alesina's heart, right where Ron would have been standing.
"Luna!" Neville had made it two steps before Luna's shocked face turned towards him. A magical arrow had come from on high. She had just enough time to create a shield but the shock of it had forced her to take a step back. There was a heavy click and her head turned down to the stone that had sunken in with her step.
Luna's eyes shot to Neville's just as the doors behind them slammed closed with a heavily barred wall blocking them in. The very next moment was a bit of a blur. One moment she was watching him run towards her and the next, everything was black. She'd never felt a thing.
"No!" Neville rushed over, actually jumping over Ron who was still getting his bearings to get back on his feet.
"Luna! Luna!" Neville fell down beside the large hole that had been made as an explosion rocked the world behind him. The debris from the explosion pelted him hard in the back of his head but his eyes looked down into the hole before him.
The last thing he saw clearly was Luna's body laying brokenly at the bottom of a shallow pit. Large pikes had been mounted on the floor. Her body was so small that she'd amazingly missed all but one. Her chest was arched awkwardly as the large spire held her partially aloft by her right shoulder. Her head was turned down but her eyes were partially open, frozen in place, though completely unfocused.
The large explosion had centered around the pillar and had sent Ginny flying backward straight into Harry. The blast had knocked her instantly unconscious and left her face a bloodied mess.
"Ginny!" Harry caught her as best he could, his words were being drowned out by similar explosions that were happening around the outer wall.
Neville was able to get his bearings quickly enough. Tears ran down his face as he pushed himself back up onto his feet. He would get her, he just had to make sure he survived long enough to do it. He managed to cast a very powerful shield charm around the area hoping to buy himself some time.
Ron had made it back to his feet, his wand and eyes burning with fury. He shot out his own shield spell and started sending curses at rapid speed. Amazingly, he managed to fight off Narcissa Malfoy, who had come out from behind one of the large drapes that had been closed. He had sent the pompous woman flying into a column where she collapsed, awkwardly bent on her side, to the floor before going still.
Other's like her, though much less skilled, started to come out from behind the shadowed walls. Five in total, including a very reluctant looking Lucius, had joined the fray. Low-level death eaters eager to prove themselves worthy of taking the mark. It was hard to discern one from the other as spells went flying around the room.
Harry had abandoned his cloak in his efforts to help the others. They were holding their own well enough but he knew that they were just cannon fodder. The real fight had yet to truly begin.
Neville snapped his head, barely able to block the cruciatus curse that had been thrown his way. Bellatrix's evil smile made the lion inside his heart roar. He'd managed to levitate Luna from the pit and close the gaping hole in her shoulder, at least so much to slow the bleeding. He'd been practicing his healing spells, but he still wasn't all that sure one which one would have been best.
"Ennervate!" Harry was doing his best to keep Ginny protected, but it was becoming more and more difficult to handle on his own. He needed her help, she was probably one of the best, besides Hermione, at defensive and offensive spells. He held her up against his knees as he tried to bring her back around.
"We've got to get out of here!" Neville had Luna's good arm wrapped around his shoulder while he held up the unconscious and still bleeding blond to his side, firing out spells from his hip to keep the other death eaters at bay.
"The door! The one Bellatrix ran through!" Harry ducked his head pulling Ginny's arm around his shoulders. She gave a heavy groan and lifted her head trying to blink the world back into focus.
Ron came between the both of them doing his best to push back the three death eaters who were advancing quickly. A loud bang caught everyone's attention. The doors that had been bared suddenly burst open, the metal screaming as it was bent out of place.
Remus' face was a welcome sight, but none of the teens really had the time to be grateful for his appearance. The room's ceiling gave out a deep roar as a rapidly growing green fire started to burn across the across the ceiling.
"Everyone out!" Remus' deep commanding voice sent the others running towards the far stairs. He and three other members of the Order taking to protecting their retreat.
Ron caught up with Harry and Ginny first but he turned back in time to hear Neville screaming. The fire had suddenly come down from the ceiling creating an impassible wall. Neville's shoulder and chest had been caught in the blaze as it had come down. His body fell backward out of their sight as the flames grew thicker.
Ginny had garnered some wits about her and shifted her weight to pull Harry further towards the staircase. Though her head felt like someone was pounding away at her skull with a sledgehammer she knew they had to keep moving.
Remus ran towards Neville as the flames continued to move over his fallen form. The werewolf found himself at a loss for what to do when a shrill laugh came from just behind. He turned himself to follow the sound, his eyes going wide when the insane cousin of his best friend suddenly collapsed forward a dark shadow taking shape behind where she'd fallen.
Remus' eyes narrowed just slightly into the fathomless black. There was a moment between the both of them, a shared communication of sorts where Snape turned his eyes down towards the floor and Remus' twitched to follow. When he would raise them again, the spell had already passed his lips. His body jumped as the man fell back hard against the pillar, having not done a single thing to stop him, before following his body as it collapsed down into a puddle of black.
The flames that had surrounded the room instantly vanished and a sharp noise to Remus' left reclaimed his attention. He bent down quickly as the other order members continued to keep watch. The other death eaters had been easily disposed of after their sudden appearance.
"Luna...Luna, she's..." Neville coughed trying to take in a breath, his trip, and subsequent fall onto his back had taken all the air from his lungs and his fear over the fire had left him in a rather thick haze.
Remus ran his eyes down the boy's chest and arm where the fire had been but found no burns nor other marks. When his hand went to the boy's chest he only felt cold. A cold fire, that didn't burn but sure as hell looked terrifying enough to send anyone with any intelligence running.
"We'll take care of her." Remus pulled one of the portkeys from around his neck in haste, there was nothing to be done there, and they still had to find the others who had taken off down the stairs, "Go! They went down the stairs!"
He held out a portkey to Fleur as she ran past with Tonks on her heels before turning his head back down, "Here we go." Remus didn't wait for the boy to object as he wrapped the chain around his and Luna's necks. "Hold her tight now." He pulled his wand free and tapped it three times before whispering the activation phrase. He didn't even wait for it to completely take them away before he was back on his feet and following after the others.
Ginny was doing her best to stay on her feet as Harry dragged them down the stairs. Her world was spinning on its end and if it hadn't been for both of them having had taken an arm she surely would have tumbled down the stone.
"Where...?" Her voice was cut off by the sound of footsteps thumping after them.
Unaware that they were friendly Ron quickly pulled the lot of them to the right into a small servants tunnel. His breath was coming out in quick pants his mind spinning over everything he'd just witnessed.
"Wormtail!" Harry released Ginny to her brother to cast out his spell. The cowardly man let out a sharp cry before ducking down into another hallway just a few paces ahead of them.
Harry was seeing red. He wanted nothing but revenge for everything. He could feel the influence of another guiding his actions but he didn't take the time to put any introspection on the growing feeling. A hand to the back of his shirt kept him from taking off, when he turned his head he came face to face with bright brown eyes as fierce of his own.
"Together." Ginny's face was still bleeding and she had to wipe a bit of the blood from her lips before taking a cleansing breath. She glanced behind as Ron tried to collapse the doorway from which they'd come before she pushed Harry forward again, "Come on, he probably knows where Hermione is."
Harry took her arm to keep her steady but his hold quickly moved to her hand as she kept her pace. Ron caught up with them quickly enough but voices were starting to echo through the hall too distorted by the stone wall's echo to make much sense.
"That's the cellar!" Ron recognized it almost immediately as they came out into the main hall. "He went into the cellar!" He pushed past the both of them. He fired a shot as Wormtail turned down towards the steps but missed hitting the wall instead.
Ron snarled and ran after the man firing another spell when he got to the landing, again his spell missed as the man had just managed to get past the threshold of the door by the time the redhead had made it.
Harry and Ginny were right behind him taking the stairs with joined hands. They took each step quicker than the last though Ron had jumped the last five and shouldered his way through the thick wooden door. He stumbled forward firing another series of spells.
When the couple made it to the bottom and through the door, Ron was already standing over the cowering man who was begging for his life at the end of Ron's wand.
"WHERE IS SHE!?" Ron's head was still ringing from having slammed it into the wood but his heart was roaring louder than the mightiest king of the jungle.
"Ron!" Ginny didn't want to see her brother commit murder, even if it was for a good cause. She had seen more than her fair share of death for the days to come. Her hand went to her head as it gave a rather vertiginous flip and she had to lean into Harry for support.
"Where is she!"
"W-who!?" Trying to feign ignorance wasn't working as the man just didn't have a spine in his entire body.
"Hermione! Hermione Granger!" Ron pressed his wand even further into the man's chest.
"Ron, Harry, Ginny!" A voice from behind them turned all their heads and the man at Ron's feet took the distraction. Transforming into his animagus form in an instant he shot further down deeper into the cellar.
"Tonks?" Harry's voice called up but he wasn't sure what was going on anymore.
Ron ignored their call having seen the rodent take off from the corner of his distracted eye. He snarled and threw out another spell before taking off after him. When he rounded the corner leading to the personal slave pins he paused, the rat had run himself into a corner.
Ron's eyes turned up for the briefest of moments looking at the names over the tops of the doors before looking back down at the rat as he tried to crawl through a small hole in the wall next to the last door.
"No, you don't!"
Ron fired again taking immense satisfaction in the loud squeal the rat had let out when he'd blown off his tail. Ron pushed himself further down the hall and pressed himself against the door looking through the barred window to see where he'd gone.
What looked back at him made his entire world tilt on its axis. Everything around him went silent in an instant and his heart jumped into his throat choking off any sound that would have passed his moving lips.
Hermione was there, she was really there, he was sure this time. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't seeing. Her head was cradled in the far corner, her body propped up against the wall and her breathing was slow. Her lips were a soft blue and parted moving a whisp of hair that had fallen down over her right eye.
"Hermione..." Ron swallowed down his heart and lowered his head forgetting all about what his previous mission had been. He took a step back trying to look for the handle on the door, surprised to find that it hadn't been locked he pushed it open slowly, half expecting the same thing that had happened before.
"Ron!?" It was Ginny's voice that kept him from taking the step he desperately wanted to take. His wand was down by his side as he couldn't find the courage to step into the room.
"We don't have time for this!" Tonk's no-nonsense voice rounded the corner, the other's right at her back, "Ron we have to go!" She was just about to take his arm when the girl inside the cell caught her eye. She released her grip on the tall teen's arm as she blinked dumbly. "Is it her?"
Ginny and Harry pulled away from Fleur and Remus, who had just made it down to the cellar, and moved closer to the open door.
"What...what do we do...?" Ron couldn't keep the quiver from his voice. Everything inside of him was begging him to take her into his arms and never let her go. It had was even worse than before knowing that she very much could be just as fake as the other had been. The guilt over having not seen through the magic from the start, that had cost someone their life, only adding weight to his feet.
Remus' eyes turned down to the brown leather bag that was still held tight in her fingers. His brow twitching as he remembered what he had seen before in Snape's eyes. He hadn't understood it then but he believed he did now. With a strong breath, he pulled Ron from the door and took a careful step inside the cell. His eyes turned to the rat that was still bleeding out against the other corner but he paid him hardly any mind.
"Hermione?" Remus kept his voice soft as he approached. A coldness filled his chest when her eyes didn't move to his voice. He knelt down very slowly, setting his wand down beside his leg. He tilted his head trying to bring himself into her supposed field of vision.
"Remus we don't have time for this..." As much as it pained Tonks to say it, they needed to get out of there. They were sitting ducks down there in the cellar.
Remus pursed his lips but nodded his head. He pulled the last portkey from his neck and leaned in closer. He pulled her body from the wall and closer to his chest. Her head rolled down against his shoulder and he pulled the portkey from his shirt draping the chain around her head before he tapped it three times.
Ron, Harry, and Ginny had very little say in the matter, as they too were forcibly portkeyed away with Fleur and Tonks.