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Chapter 20

Hermione was still livid with Ron. Over the past week since he had returned, she had spoken to him as little as possible. Underneath the anger was the hurt. The wounds that he had given her with his cutting words as he had left were still tender, and she knew that it would take more than him finding them with the Deluminator and an admittedly heartfelt apology to make things right.

She had been appreciative of the fact that he'd arrived with a couple of spare wands in his pack. They had tested them out until they had found one that Harry could make work for him, which had meant that Hermione had gotten her own wand back. That was, in no way, enough to make up for what he had done.

Harry seemed to have forgiven Ron before the two of them had even arrived back at camp on the morning that Ron had found them, and Hermione wasn't upset with her best friend for that. It was Harry's choice as to whether or not he could forgive Ron and move forward, and the fact that he had forgiven Ron did not bother Hermione overly much. As for her, though, she was waiting for things the going to get tough again before she decided whether or not Ron was truly apologetic and wanting to do better.

At the moment, she was sitting outside by the fire, keeping watch, while the boys were inside the tent. She could hear the faint murmur of their voices, although she couldn't make out their words, so she was mostly alone with her thoughts.

And she had, indeed, been thinking: they needed to talk to Xenophilius Lovegood. There was just no way around that fact, so far as she'd been able to find. She needed to know what the symbol in The Tales of Beedle the Bard meant; the same symbol that she had found on the gravestone in Godric's Hollow. When she had first shown it to Harry, he had told her about a medallion that Luna's father had worn at Bill and Fleur's wedding that had been emblazoned with the symbol as well.

Mind made up, she stood and brushed the dirt and leaves off her butt before walking into the tent and over to where the boys sat.

"I think we need to go see Xenophilius Lovegood," she said without preamble.

At Ron's confused look, Harry had quickly filled the other wizard in on the details of what Hermione had found, as well as Harry's remembrance of Lovegood's medallion.

"I agree with Hermione," Ron said immediately, almost too eagerly, and Hermione just rolled her eyes before turning to look at Harry.

He seemed deep in thought for a moment as he weighed the pros and cons of going to see Xenophilius, but was finally convinced when Ron told them about the most recent issues of the Quibbler that he had read while on the run. Lovegood was clearly still a staunch supporter of both Harry and the Order and was running the only wizarding publication still left that was openly defying You-Know-Who.

"Okay, let's do it tomorrow," Harry said with a nod, looking at Hermione as he did so, and she could swear that she could actually hear his thoughts in that moment: Hopefully this is the right thing to do.

Hermione's feet hit the ground with a hard thud, and she heard Harry's and Ron's grunts as they landed beside her.

"I can't believe that crackpot tried to turn us over to the Death Eaters!" Ron said, enraged.

"They have Luna, mate," Harry said calmly, trying to calm their reactive friend.

Hermione, like Harry, wasn't upset with Xenophilius. The wizard had told them, voice utterly forlorn, that the Death Eaters had Luna. She didn't need him to go into detail to know that the dark wizards were using his love for his daughter to attempt to control him. If it had been her, she couldn't imagine having to make the decision to betray her daughter's friends to ensure her own child's safety. She wished fervently that there was something they could do to help Luna but knew that there was simply nothing that could be done, at least by the three of them. She idly heard Harry still speaking to Ron.

"I would have probably done the same thing if Voldemort…" Hermione gasped as the name slipped past Harry's lips, breaking the taboo.

"Harry, no!" she shouted on reflex, but it was already too late, and she knew it. There was no way they could Disapparate away now before someone came for them.

The sharp CRACK of Apparition echoed in the trees around them, and she looked around, spotting the Snatchers that now surrounded them.

"RUN!" she shouted, giving both boys a hard shove, and the three of them took off into the woods. She could hear the whoops and jeers of the men that following behind, now chasing them through the densely wooded forest. Hermione watched as Ron veered off to the left, dodging a Snatcher that had appeared in front of him, and then she could only see Harry.

She stuck closely to Harry, determined that he at least should escape. There was no way that Voldemort's followers could be allowed to catch him. She watched in horror as Harry stumbled over a protruding root and tumbled to the ground. She could feel the men closing in on the two of them and, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get back to his feet in time to escape, she instead did the first thing that popped into her head.

With a wave of her wand, she aimed a non-verbal stinging jinx at Harry's face. With a jolt, she felt a firm body hit her from behind as she was tackled to the ground, and she barely bit back of groan of frustration as the Sword somehow managed to slip from the beaded bag that still hung from her waist.

She watched as a particularly burly wizard dragged a struggling Ron over to where she and Harry lay side by side on the ground. A small, wiry man immediately saw the valuable-looking sword laying in front of them and picked it up, oohing and aahing over the gems that adorned the hilt.

"Well, well…" said a large man with unkempt grey hair and a patchy beard. He ran his tongue across his pointed teeth as he looked appraisingly at the three of them before his focus lasered in on Hermione. "What a delicate little morsel we've found ourselves here, boys."

Hermione felt a shudder of revulsion race through her at the lecherous look in his eyes as he examined her from head toe. She could feel him mentally undressing her and the thought of what he might be planning for her made her nauseous. She knew exactly who this man was, and his reputation for cruelty and sadism was well known Fenrir Greyback.

"You stay away from her!" Ron barked angrily, only to receive a hard smack to the back of his head by the burly wizard who still held him down.

Greyback ignored Ron's outburst, walking over to Hermione and crouching down in front of her before running one long, yellowing fingernail down the side of her face.

"What's your name, little morsel?" he asked her.

"Penelope Clearwater," she said without hesitation, borrowing her former classmate's identity.

"Blood status?" asked a lean wizard leaning against a nearby tree. The man appeared indifferent to the goings-on around them, but Hermione saw that he took in everything around him with a razor-sharp stare.

"Half-blood," she said confidently.

"Hmm…" he muttered, before looking away from her and to Ron.

"And what about you, ginger?"

Ron struggled against the restraint of the large wizard that had yet to move away from him before answering angrily.

"Barny Weasley," he replied bitterly, knowing that his appearance was too recognizable to pretend that he hailed from any other family.

"Oh, a Pureblood, eh? But the Weasley's are blood traitors, the lot of them," the lean man said matter-of-factly before turning and finally noticing Harry's appearance.

"Oi! What happened to you, handsome?" he asked Harry mockingly while motioning at his distorted face.

Neither Hermione nor Harry answered, and the man shrugged as if it didn't matter. Before he could question Harry regarding his identity, though, one of the other Snatchers spoke up.

"Hey, Scabior! This one looks a bit familiar, don't he? Kinda looks like Potter a bit, if his face weren't so swollen…"

The lean man, Scabior, pushed away from the tree and stalked over to Harry's side with the grace of a lion, crouching down mere inches from Harry's face and staring at him intently.

"I think…" he said in a slow, measured voice, "that we won't be taking these three to the Ministry, gents. I believe I know of a better place to take them."

Hermione felt her heart drop as Scabior grabbed ahold of Harry and, with a knowing nod at the others, Disapparated away with her best friend in tow. She watched as the burly man did the same with the Ron, and then remaining Snatchers followed leaving her alone with Greyback. The werewolf grinned savagely at her, showing off his pointed teeth once more.

"Looks like you're with me, girly," he said with a lascivious smirk before gripping her arm in a bruising grip, and then she was pulled into the crush of Side-Along Apparition with him.

Song Inspiration: Leave My Body - Florence + the Machine