Chapter 4
Once Bill's and Fleur's first dance had finished to whistles and applause, several other couples began to make their way to the dance floor. A shadow fell over Hermione where she sat at her table, and she looked up to see Viktor standing over her with a crooked smile on his ruggedly handsome face. He extended a hand to her.
"Vould you like to dance, Herm-own-ninny?" He pronounced her name slowly, the way she had attempted to teach him at the Yule Ball, bringing a smile to her lips. "For old time's sake?"
She nodded and took his hand, letting him lead her out onto the dance floor. She was grateful that at that moment the song switched to a fairly upbeat number, one of the Weird Sisters' newest hits, as that meant that she could just let loose and have fun dancing with Viktor. She really didn't want to slow dance with, or be that close to, any wizard other than Draco.
As the song was ending, a bright silver light flew through the open flap of the marquee, coming to rest in the center of the dance floor almost close enough for her to reach out and touch. She didn't recognize the Patronus, a lynx, that sat waiting but when it opened its mouth to speak, she immediately recognized the voice as that of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
A hush fell over the occupants of the marquee as Kingsley's words sank in. No one needed to be told who "They" were: everyone present knew. No one needed to be told what the consequences of the Ministry falling would be either. Hermione shared a startled look with Viktor, who was still standing at her side and had her bicep gripped protectively in his calloused hand. She and Ron, and most importantly Harry, could not be here when the Death Eaters arrived.
"I need to find Ron. Now"
Viktor nodded determinedly, steering her towards the area where he had last seen her red-haired friend. Suddenly, the tent was filled with bright flashes of light; the Death Eaters had arrived. Viktor threw his arm over her shoulder to shield her body from the flying spells as they made their way to the opposite side of the tent. They ran at a crouch as they dodged around the other guests, both those running and those lying prone on the ground.
At the exact moment when she spotted Ron sheltering behind a fallen table and aiming spells at the Death Eaters that drew near, she felt a sudden heavy weight drag her to the ground. Looking to her right, she saw Viktor lying motionless beside her; he had been hit. Heart in her throat, she took precious seconds to ensure that he was still alive. She could still feel his pulse beating steadily where her fingers pressed against the side of his neck and there were no obvious wounds on his body; it appeared that he had been hit by a stray stunning spell.
Knowing that she had no choice but to leave him there, even though it went against every instinct she had, she began to crawl along the floor, making her way slowly toward where she had last seen Ron and hoping that Harry was there with him. Out of nowhere, a strong arm suddenly snaked around her middle and yanked her behind an overturned table. Mind bypassing the flight instinct and going straight to fight, she reached beneath her dress and pulled her wand out of the holster that was strapped to her thigh, prepared to curse whatever Death Eater had grabbed her. She wouldn't make it easy for them, whatever they had planned for her.
Before she could fully turn to face her unknown assailant, however, the man had pulled off his mask to reveal…Draco! Hermione gasped and retained the presence of mind to look around and ensure that no one was looking at them before launching herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly, crushing her in a near-painful embrace, before setting her away.
"I volunteered to come tonight," he told her, speaking quickly, "because I knew you would be here. This was the only way I could think of to keep you safe. They've put a taboo on the Dark Lord's name because they know that the Order members use it freely. You can't use it under any circumstances, Hermione; never say his name. The Ministry is now fully under his control tonight and so is Hogwarts. Nothing is safe from him anymore."
He looked at her for a moment, willing her to understand, to feel the urgency in his orders. When she nodded, he reached out and squeezed her hand firmly, not wanting to risk anything further with the enemies surrounding them.
"I love you, Hermione. Please, be careful…be safe."
His head jerked up suddenly as he became instantly on alert at the presence of two people rushing up to them. The two crouched down behind the table where he and Hermione were shielded, and he relaxed when he realized one of the two red-headed men was Weasley. Upon closer inspection, and seeing the ease with which the trio interacted, he realized that the other redheaded man must be Potter in disguise, and he decided that maybe the members of the Order had a bit more brains than he had originally credited them with; at least if they were going to allow Potter to be present, they had disguised him. He looked at the two other men in consideration for a moment.
"Keep her safe, Potter. Weasley."
Both boys nodded immediately, and he knew that, regardless of whether or not they trusted him or his feelings for Hermione, he could be certain that they would not allow the witch who held his heart to come to any harm. It was the best that he could hope for in this situation and he knew that, apart from him taking her away from England and the Dark Lord completely, she was as safe as she could be as long as she was with the two of them. They would look out for her like they had always done.
He scanned the area quickly, making sure that no one was observing them, before leaning over and kissing Hermione once, tenderly, on the lips.
"You have to go. Now. Before anyone sees you."
Hermione stared at him intently, memorizing his face, before placing one last fierce kiss to his lips and grabbing ahold of the boys' hands. She then Apparated them away, all of the protective enchantments that had once surrounded to Burrow to prevent such a thing from being possible having fallen at the Ministry's collapse.
They landed with a hard thud on Tottenham Court Road, the busy traffic flowing past them on the street and people jostling them on either side. Hermione found herself profoundly grateful that she had, in her paranoia, decided to bring her beaded bag out to the dance floor with her when she had gone out to dance with Viktor. Dodging the people that trudged by them, Harry's hand clasped tightly in hers and Ron following closely behind, they made their way to a long, empty alley that turned out of sight behind a building. Hermione thought that the spot would do well enough for what they needed and threw up a few quick spells to stop anyone else from wandering in behind them.
Digging through the bag in her hand she pulled out a pair of jeans, a shirt, a jumper, and a change of shoes for Ron, then continued to dig until she had found the same items for Harry. Once she had found a change of clothes for herself, as well, she had changed with the boys turning their backs to her to give her some privacy while guarding the alley. Then they set off again.
Hermione suggested that it might be a good idea to decide where they should go next, as opposed to aimlessly wandering around the streets of London, so the trio ducked into a little café. The only other occupant in the building was the waitress, who grudgingly took their orders and brought their questionable-looking coffees to them before heading to the back again.
"So where should we go?" Ron asked, taking a sip of the coffee before pushing it away from himself with a slightly disgusted look on his face.
"Well, it has to be somewhere that no one will think to look for us," Hermione began, "but also somewhere that we can be safe."
"Is there anywhere like that?"
"I don't know," she said thoughtfully, not drinking her coffee but instead gripping the mug tightly in her cold hands to warm them. "There would have been before…but now, with Dumbledore gone and Professor Snape on Voldemort's side, I don't know if there is…"
They sat quietly, each thinking of possible places they could go. After only a minute or two, Hermione heard the tinkling of the bell above the door at the entrance of the shop and looked up to see two men enter the otherwise empty building. Although they were dressed in Muggle clothing and moved to the counter as if to place an order, she knew immediately that they were Death Eaters. She recognized Dolohov as the wizard who had cursed her, and had nearly killed her, two years earlier in the Department of Mysteries.
At that exact moment she remembered Draco's warning and felt her heart sink. The taboo on Voldemort's name… They could track them now when it was said, and she had said it only minutes before. It was her fault that they had found them. Before she could warn Harry and Ron, she saw the other Death Eater, a huge man with blonde hair, reach for his wand.
She reacted on instinct, pushing Harry, who sat beside her, to the floor and grabbing Ron's arm from across the table. She pulled him around to her side as she flipped the table onto its side, creating a shield for the three of them. With all three of them protected, she began to fire silent spells over the edge of the table, seeing the jets of color aimed their way, in return.
In the mere seconds that it had taken her to react, Harry and Ron had realized what was happening and had begun adding their own spells to Hermione's in a barrage aimed at the two Death Eaters. Soon, the tiny café was filled with jets of bright, multicolored lights and the crashing of breaking dishes and furniture.
"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted and heard a loud thud. She peeked around the edge of the table to see the blonde staring at her with eyes that burned with hatred and fury, but the rest of his body remained motionless.
In her moment of the distraction, she had nearly given Dolohov the chance to finish what he had left undone two years ago. Had it not been for Harry's lightning-quick reflexes, he probably would have succeeded. As it was, the spell missed her by a mere hair's breadth. Before she could recover or react, Harry had shot to his feet.
"Stupefy!" he shouted, and with another thump Dolohov joined his comrade on the floor and the café grew deathly silent.
Hermione took a moment to examine both boys, making sure they were both safe and unharmed, before the three of them made their way to where the Death Eaters lay.
"I recognize this one," Ron said, kicking the foot of the blonde Death Eater that Hermione had hit with her Body-Bind Curse, "from the wanted posters: Rowle is his name."
"He was there the night Dumbledore was killed," Harry added darkly. "He's the one that set Hagrid's hut on fire."
There was a pause as the trio stared down at the two motionless men at their feet.
"So, what should we do with them?" she asked no one in particular.
"Well, they'd kill us if the situation were reversed, wouldn't they?" said Ron, bitterness clear to hear in his voice although Hermione wasn't sure of the why behind it.
"We're better than them though, Ron," Harry said, staring intently into Ron's piercing blue eyes before turning to Hermione. "We're not going to kill them."
"So, what do we do with them?" she asked again.
"I don't know, but they can't be allowed to tell Vol…" he remembered Draco's warning at that moment as well, stopping himself from finishing the taboo, "You-Know-Who that we were here."
Hermione thought for a moment. She thought about the book on memory charms and memory modification spells that sat at the top of the stack of books inside her beaded bag. She thought of her parents.
"I can wipe their memories," she said quietly.
"Blimey, Hermione! When did you learn how to do that?" Ron asked, amazed.
She didn't answer, instead looking down at the two men lying on the ground.
"How much should I make them forget?" she asked hollowly.
"Maybe just up until right before they came into the café?" Harry suggested.
"Yeah, I think that should be enough," Ron agreed, nodding his head. "That way they will just think that they came looking for us but could never find us."
Hermione emptied her mind of all thoughts and emotions, focusing solely on the task at hand. Her eyes met the blue eyes of Thorfinn Rowle, currently glaring at her with icy fury. With a graceful twist of her wrist and a whispered, "Obliviate," she wiped the previous fifteen minutes completely from his mind and watched as his furious eyes turned vacant. Making her way over to the unconscious body next to him, she performed the same charm on Dolohov.
After a moment's indecision, she stepped into the back kitchen area of the café where she found the Muggle waitress huddled down beside the large industrial sink, hiding. Clearly, she had heard the commotion of the battle, the crashing of dishes and the clatter of tables and chairs being overturned and had wisely stayed out of the way. Hermione crouched down in front of the woman, only a few years older than herself.
"Hey, are you alright?"
The woman looked up at her, clearly frightened, but nodded. Hermione was glad; she didn't want any innocent bystanders caught in the Death Eaters' crossfire.
"It's going to be okay," Hermione said soothingly. "I promise."
Raising her wand and muttering the spell for the third time that night, she wiped all memory from the woman's mind of them ever having walked into the café. She walked back out to where Harry and Ron waited, and the three of them made quick work of tidying the café up again. Hermione fished the Invisibility Cloak out of her beaded bag and threw it over Harry before they made their way back out onto the street. She and Ron walked side by side, looking to any onlookers like any other couple out for an evening stroll. Harry followed right on their heels, invisible to everyone.
As they walked, they spoke in hushed voices, trying to decide where would be the best place to go.
"Well," Hermione said quietly, "it's a risk with Professor Snape having defected over to Vol…um, You-Know-Who's side, but I still think our safest bet is Grimmauld Place. All the enchantments on it should protect us. As long as the Death Eaters haven't breeched the defenses, we will be safe there, at least until we can decide on where to go next."
She waited a moment as the boys considered her words, then saw Ron nod his head in agreement. She heard Harry agree quietly from behind her as well, so they made their way into the next empty alleyway they passed. She grabbed Ron's hand in her left and reached out with her right until Harry's hand appeared out of nowhere to take hold of it. With a twist on her heel the three of them Apparated away, her destination of 12 Grimmauld Place held firmly in her mind's eye.
Song Inspiration: Awake and Alive - Skillet
Hey all! Trying to get these chapters out as quickly as I can. I am going out of the country on the 12th and would love to have this story completed by then. Not sure if I'll be able to make that happen, but I'm going to do my best!
Also, I'm sure everyone caught it, but I did want to do my due diligence. The quote by Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Hope you are all enjoying Part 2 so far!
sbz