A/nhey everyone! hope you enjoy this chapter! It's been one of my favorites to write. as always please let me know what you think!*reminder, this work is completely un beta'd so all mistakes are my own.
"Fuck" was all Harry could say as he began taking in the scene laid out before him. He and Hermione had apporaited to just outside the gates of Malfoy Manor and from there they could see with horrifying clarity the attack. Harry paused his analysis just long enough to call upon his stag, "find Ron" he shouted "Malfoy Manor is under attack. 10" "11" Hermione corrected as they both began running towards the battle. "11 unfriendlys. Only Malfoy, Zabini and who is that?"
"Nott"
"Nott defending. I don't see the children but they are supposed to be here, wards are down" he sent the patronus off and focused on how to strategically join the fight. To the left of the front door Zabini appeared to be handling two attackers while Nott stood to the right fighting off 3 others. Malfoy was in the middle in front of a huge fountain that was in the center of the driveway. He had 6 all taking turns throwing curses at him. None of the attackers seemed particularly skilled but the sheer number of attackers made it difficult to land a hit while trying to shield, and they were at least smart enough to stand far enough apart that he couldn't hit two at the same time. Harry knew where Hermione would head. Straight to Malfoy. And she didn't disappoint. While Harry slowed slightly to try and form a plan Hermione ran up behind the two wizard's who seemed to be giving Malfoy the most trouble. She wordlessly shot multiple blasting hexs at them that sent them both flying to the ground. She joined him in front of the fountain. Now it was 4 on 2, Harry liked those odds better. He turned to help Nott and positioned himself so he could see the gates to see when Ron arrived.
Malfoy had been concentrating so hard he hadn't even seen Harry and Hermione running up. Upon seeing Hermione his attention was distracted for just a moment causing him to have to physically duck to miss a slicing hex sent his way by a witch on his right. "How?" He muttered as he righted himself. "Bryony summoned us. Where are they? Is everyone safe?"
"Inside with Mother. Wards are still up on the manor, they can't get inside" he gritted as the witch began throwing random hexes at him with a vengeance. She was about mid 30's tall and blonde but the mad gleam in her eyes reminded him much to much of Bella.
"What the hell?" Harry exclaimed as he hit the wizard to his right with a full body bind. "More are coming through?" Two new had joined the battle and had separated Harry from Nott's side, leaving him still 3 to 1.
"I took one out who came in with us but another got away." Ron called as he and George came running down the drive to join the fight.
"He disappeared towards the greenhouses if I'm not need here, I got him." George pointed.
"Go, we can't have anyone get behind us." Harry yelled as he disarmed another. "All this is going to be for nothing if they can keep coming in. Malfoy, you gotta get the wards back up!"
Somehow Draco was back to 4 on 1 again. Hermione had distracted 2 and was holding them off but still unable to land anything on them. Draco was just throwing shields up waiting for a chance to attack. "I know. Theo? Can you get the wards back up?" He asked panting now, a gleam of sweat on his brow. He was starting to get winded. It was obvious who they were after, all of them seemed to be trying to throw a curse at Malfoy.
Theo had stunned one wizard but he still had 2 he was facing, "I can in theory but in case you haven't noticed I'm kinda busy here." He sent another stunner at the wizard closest to him but the man ducked at the last second, sending a slicing hex back at Theo.
"Ron!" Harry yelled pointing at the sandy haired man.
"On it." Ron called as he ran around the fountain to stand next to Nott. "How much time you need?" He asked as he started pushing towards the 2 Nott was fighting.
"5 minutes, minimum."
"I got your back just get it done." Ron said standing in front of Nott. Theo turned back towards the Manor and ran behind a large topiary using it as cover as he began bringing the wards back up.
"We got two more coming in. Looks like they're going to try and get around the back." Ron called as he tried yet again to disarm his opponents.
Harry looked over and saw the two wizard's running along the garden wall, scaring those obnoxious white peacocks as they ran by. "Go after those coming in by the wall Zabini" he called. He saw George coming back from the greenhouses, "cover his side so Zabini can go after the others." Harry called to his brother-in-law. George jumped in, he began throwing random hexes as he reached around his back and lifted the concealing charm on a messenger bag he was carrying. He began digging around until he found what he was looking for. He pulled what appeared to be a small black ball out and lit it with his wand throwing it over the heads of the two men he was dueling. It landed a few feet behind them and exploded knocking them from their feet. While they were down George disarmed and stunned them both.
"Shit! Harry you have your medi kit? Zabini's hit bad. Looks to be a slicing hex." George called as he saw the tall Italian come limping around the side of the house. Zabini had his right hand held up to his left shoulder in an attempt to slow the bleeding. He was losing blood fast. George had already taken down the two he was fighting so for the moment they were clear. He led Zabini to the garden wall and sat him down.
"Seriously George? I'm supposed to be on paternity leave. Your fucking lucky I have my wand at this point. Hermione?!" Harry called as he shielded from yet another slicing hex.
"Here" she called as she lifted the concealing and sticking charms from her beaded bag. "All I have dittany, but its better than nothing." She stepped away from the fountain to throw the bag towards George. As she did so one of the wizard's she was dueling took the opportunity to shoot a disarming spell past her at Draco.
"FUCK!" Draco screamed as his wand went flying towards the wizard on his left. Hermione turned back towards her wizard at his expletive. Upon seeing his wand flying away from him she called his name. Mercifully the wizards and witch he was dueling were so shocked to see his wand fly away that he had a second to jump behind the fountain to try and shield himself. After Draco landed behind the fountain he turned to look at Hermione as she threw him her wand then wordlessly threw up a full shield protecting herself. "Harry!" She cried, when he paused to look at her she pointed to the wizard who was standing between him and Draco gleefully clutching the other wizard's wand. Draco stepped away from the fountain and tested the vinewood wand by stunning his nearest attacker. Harry sent a blasting hex at the wizard he was dueling and stepped towards the one holding Draco's wand. The smaller man was obviously one of the more talented of the attackers. He had be focused solely on Draco and only engaged with Hermione when she pushed herself in front of Draco. This wizard obviously hadn't been paying attention because he looked quite startled to realize he was now dueling Harry Potter. Harry was able to land a minor slicing hex across the man's left forearm but it wasn't enough to slow him down. He threw a slicing hex right back at Harry but rather than shield Harry dodged it and threw a tripping hex following quickly by the disarming charm. As the wizard fell both his and Draco's wands went flying towards Harry.
Meanwhile Ron had knocked one of his attackers unconscious but the other was still putting up a major fight. Another who had been attacking Draco and had been cut off from the others by Harry had joined the fight against Ron so he was still 2 to 1. The first actually had skill and knew what he was doing, the other was a young man that looked so young Ron wondered why he wasn't at Hogwarts. The younger man kept himself behind the cover of various topiaries but would pop up anytime he thought Ron was distracted and throw a hex before moving to a different position. Finally Ron had enough as he just barely dived to miss yet another slicing hex sent by the young man, "that's it you little shit. Bombarda Maxima!" The topiary the man had just jumped behind burst into flames as it came crashing down. The man went running towards the nearby pond with his backside on fire.
"Your in for it now," Nott said as he stepped back up to Ron's side, "Mrs Malfoy is quite fond of those topiaries." He quipped as they both took on the remaining wizard.
"Wards are back up then?" Ron asked ignoring the comment. He didn't like having to take drastic measures, especially against one so young. It didn't sit well with him, its part of the reason he left the DMLE.
"Yep. Added some extra to the Manor as well. Nobody's getting in their but a Malfoy."
"What about my daughter, she's in there and definitely not a Malfoy. " Ron asked frantically looking at the other man.
"She should be fine."
"Should be fine? What the hell does that mean?" Ron yells as he hits the wizard they were dueling with Levicorpus then drops him back down knocking him unconscious. Now that their opponent was out of the way he turned his wand on Nott, "promise me my daughters safe or we are going to have a problem here." Ron said in a low growl.
"Shes safe, I promise. Shes already inside. She'd only be on danger if she tried to go in now by herself." Theo said throwing his arms out in front of himself as if to protect himself from Ron.
"If you two are about done fighting each other we could use a hand here." Harry called as he took hold of Draco and the other wizard's wand. He looked at them then made a quick decision. He knew his wand would work for Hermione and years ago he had used Draco's wand to take down Voldemort so with that knowledge he called to Hermione and threw her his wand pocketing the other and using Draco's to continue his fight. Ron and Theo ran to join them but there were still 7 to their 5. And if any of those already knocked out began to stir the numbers could shift even further from their favor.
"George, I could really use some cuffs here."
George looked up from where he and Zabini stood off to the side and looked around him for a moment. He summoned some gravel from the driveway and place it on the low garden wall and began transfiguring it into handcuffs.
"How can I help?" Zabini asked still cradling his injured arm. The dittany had stopped the blood flow but wasn't enough to heal the dark curse used to cause the wound.
George quickly showed him the spell and wand movement to create cuffs then laid out about a dozen and a half rocks in front of him. As Zabini began creating the cuffs George started charming them. Years ago George had created magical handcuffs that not only stopped the wearer from preforming any kind of magic once they were activated they were portkeys used to send the arrested to holding cells in the Ministry's Auror offices. Thankfully having Zabini create the cuffs sped the process up but it was still slow creating each magically enhanced cuff. Once he had a half dozen ready he called to his brother, "Ron, remember how to activate them?" Ron nodded as he caught the cuffs thrown at him and he began running around the perimeter of there close battle field.
Ron had sent three off to the Ministry before several things happened all at once. One of the wizard's Theo had originally stunned woke back up and summoned a wand from one of the other fallen beside him and he was able to join the fight catching both Harry and Theo off guard. Theo was caught by a tripping jinx from the wizard in front of him and Harry was thrown up into the air and landed 6 feet away from the others and was effectively cut off from any help on their side. Then the crazed witch in front of Draco decided she had had enough. "Avada Kedavra" she cried running towards him. He just barely had time to physically duck causing the curse to hit the fountain behind him. The insipid cupid on top of the fountain was blown to bits by the impact.
The tide had turned greatly against them. Now Theo and Harry were both down, fighting to get up with Harry cut off from the others. Draco was visibly shaken from the close call with the killing curse. And now Unforgivables were being thrown. Hearing the witch cast the killing curse seemed to be all the encouragement the others on her side needed to do the same.
Hermione looked around her. Her friends, family and lover were failing. They were all physically, emotionally and magically drained. They won't be able to hang on much longer. So she did something drastic.
Hermione focused all her energy on the magic flowing within her. She forced it towards the tips of her figures and once she felt her fingers tingling with all her magic she yelled "duck" to her friends and turned her focus on the water in the fountain. She pulled it up out of the fountain swirling it into a water spout. Using her wand in her right hand she forced ot over their head towards the attackers. Using her left hand she pulled some of the water from the spout and froze it into ice crystal and sent them flying towards the wizard attacking Harry. With her wand she took the rest of the water and opened the spout up til it grew twice as big. After the ice crystals hit the attacker she then used her left hand to draw up a shield protecting herself, Draco, Theo and Ron from the unforgivables being thrown their way. Realizing what she was doing Ron ran to her side and thrust his wand into her left hand. Immediately the shield visibly strengthened and instead of taking the curses it began sending them rebounding back at the attackers. One had his own crucio sent back at him. His friends seeing him get hit with his own curse started sending their curses at an angle so that if they rebounded they wouldn't get hit.
Hermione could vaguely hear her friends yelling at her but she didn't let her concentration slip. She focused on the water spout and began sending it towards each individual attacker. The first one didn't even know what hit him as the spout picked him up, spinning him around. She picked up two more before the others realized what was going on and tried to run. But Hermione was too fast and too powerful. Finally there were just three left and all were more concerned with getting away from her than trying to attack. She left the shield fall and used Ron's wand to send each attacker into her water spout.
"Be ready with the cuffs!" She yelled as she brought the spout back towards them. Once it was near enough she stopped the spout from spinning and the 6 wizard's and 2 witches caught up in it all fell to the ground. With a swish of her wand she sent the water back to the fountain and fell in exhaustion. Harry, Ron and George ran around cuffing everyone, sending them all off to the Ministry while Draco and Theo ran to Hermione. She was still conscious but barely. The use of elemental magic had severely drained her magical core.
"How many did you count?" Harry asked Ron. "17. I already sent off 3. By my count the only ones missing is the one I left by the gate, the one that ran to the pond, by the greenhouses and the one Zabini went after."
Harry nodded, "I agree. You guys can collect them?" Harry asked nodding in the distance.
"We got this, go take care if Hermione." Ron said. Harry summoned Ron's wand from Hermione's side and sent it to his friend. Ron grabbed it but yelped a bit as he touched it. It literally burned his hand it was so hot. He and George ran off to grab the others as Harry turned back to Hermione.
Draco looked absolutely terrified kneeling on his knees with Hermione's head cradled in his lap. He was running a diagnostic spell over her. It told him what Harry already knew. She had dangerously depleted her magical core.
"Kreacher" Harry called hopefully. In theory his elf should be able to come when called no matter what but Harry didn't know if the wards on the manor could somehow over ride the elf magic.
Thankfully Harry didn't have to wait long for his answer as just a moment later the ancient elf appeared before him.
"Keacher, I need you to go to our potions cupboard. Please bring back 7 pepper ups, 9 core replenishers, and 2 healing potions. DO NOT TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU'VE SEEN HERE." Harry adds. Keacher just nods and disappears with a snap. Hermione was conscious but barely. George and Ron came running back to the group from opposite side of the house.
Zabini was know kneeling near her, "Damn Granger, I've never seen anything like that. Where did you learn that?"
"Charlie" the two Weasleys and Harry chorused all together, "next time I see him I'm going to thank him." George added, then Ron followed up with "and then I'm going to kill him. I told him not to teach you that."
At the puzzled looks on Zabini and Nott's face Draco clarified, " the dragon tamer Weasley."
"And what the hell was that with two wands? Thats impossible, you shouldn't have been able to divide your magic that way!" Nott said trying to wrap his head around what he had seen.
"Nott, have you met Hermione Granger?" George asked, laughing.
Harry looked up at Ron, "I figure we have about 10 minutes before the shit hits the fan." He said to his old friend.
"I hate to tell you but probably less than 5." Ron replied.
"Ron and I were working together when the alarm went off. Angie saw us as we were leaving and followed us to your house. We were asking mom to use the trace when your stag found us. They heard it all. Mom was going to get the clock when we left."
"Damn." Was all Harry could say before Kreacher popped back with the requested poitions. Harry quickly grabbed a healing poition and three core replentishers and had Malfoy help him tip Hermione's head back to pour them all down her throat. Kreacher began passing the other potions around to everyone else.
Slowly Hermione began to sit up on her own. She looked around quickly, looking up and down each of the terrified men standing around her. "Is everyone ok?" She looked at Zabini's arm and tried to stand to get a better look at him, "hows your arm?"
"It'll be fine in just a minute." He answered holding up the healing potion Kreacher just handed him.
Before she could question anymore a brilliant horse came galloping up to stand in front of Harry. His wife's voice came ringing out "Harry James Potter! How dare you run off with out telling me whats going on! And then ignore my messages." In the background Molly added, "and tell Kreacher he couldn't tell us whats going on. Why do you need so many core replenishers?" Ginny continued over her mother, "why is Hermione still listed as in 'mortal danger'? You have five minutes to get shit straight and answer me or I'm enacting the trace and coming to kill you myself!"
Harry sighed but decided to not comment on the verbal beating he just received, "we need to get things settled and soon. I'm surprised Robards hasn't come looking for me seeing as he now has a bunch of full cells at the office. But first. How are you?" He asked Hermione.
"I'll be fine." She quickly dismissed his concern.
"Good because I'm about to kill you myself. What the hell were you thinking?" Harry asked his frustration evident, "Attempting elemental magic after 30 minutes of battle? 5 of which you held up a full shield wandlessly? Your lucky your still alive!"
Hermione chose to ignore her friends ire, "Are the kids and Mrs Malfoy safe?" She asked Draco as he helped her stand up. "Theo, can you go fetch them? I'm sure their scared and worried." Theo nodded and ran into the house behind them.
"Before they come out want to explain what the hell happened here?" Harry asked turning to Draco.
"I have no idea. It was a last minute decision to come here. I mentioned it to Granger last night. Bryony had told me she's interested in Herbology and the Manor has extensive greenhouses, with plants even Hogwarts dosen't have. Rather than taking hours re-keying the words to allow Bryony access Theo suggested just dropping them for the hour or so she'd be here. He was here to bring them down as we drove in. We got halfway down the driveway when I saw two people running in behind us. I quickly parked and had Mother enact a temporary blood bond to allow Bryony inside. By the time I came back outside there were at least 8 attacking Blaise and Theo."
"But who are they?" Ron demanded
"I have no fucking clue." Draco snapped losing his temper. "It could literally be anyone. The list of people who aren't pissed at the Malfoys is shorter than those who are."
They all turned as they heard the front door open. Up until that point Hermione had been leaning heavily on Draco but she didn't want Bryony to notice and see how weak she was so she gently pulled away and stood on her own, albeit shakily. Scorpious and Bryony came running out. Scorpious jumped into his father's arms and hid his face in Draco's neck. Bryony ran towards her mother but stopped when Harry called her name. "You hit the panic button. Remember protocol."
"Yes sir."
Bryony gave her mother a careful hug whispering in each other's ears. She did the same with Ron then Harry, ending with George. Instead of a hug she did some kind of complicated handshake with George. After she was done she hugged her uncle then went back to her mother. Hermione picked up her daughter and held her tight.
"Mummy I was scared. When I saw that awful man throw a curse at Mr Draco I hit my panic button. I hope that was right." The small red heads voice shook slightly, the first she'd shown of her fear during the entire ordeal.
"That was absolutely right." Her daughter had buried her head in her neck but Hermione pulled back a bit, "hey look at me." She waited until her daughter looked her in the eyes before continuing. "You did exactly what you were supposed to do. We gave you that button for a reason. Never hesitate to use it. I would rather you use it for nothing than not use it when its needed. Do you understand me?"
Bryony nodded her head before cuddling back into her mother.
"Are you ok Mother?" Draco asked his mother as he clutched his son. She had just walked up and while to everyone else she looked completely unfazed by what happened he knew her enough to know better. Her hands were clenched slightly and she had a slight furrow to her brow. She had been scared.
"Of course dear." She answered in her usual clipped tone, "We were perfectly safe and young Miss Weasley made sure Scorpious wasn't scared by telling him stories."
"Oh really, what did she tell you Scorp? Something from The Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
Scorpious leaned back in his father's arms and smiled, "nothing like that! She told me how her mummy, daddy and uncle Harry fought a troll in first year. Then how her uncle Harry saved her aunt Ginny from a giant snake second year."
Hermione turned to look at her brother. "Oh really?"
"Gin got a little sentimental during her pregnancy," he shrugged. "It was a highly edited version. I promise. "
"You're daughter was quite brave. And though she was scared she tried her best to distract Scorpious from being scared." Mrs Malfoy said to Hermione.
Ron stepped closer to Hermione and placed his hand on his daughter's back, steadying Hermione in the process. "Well I think we need to get these guys out of here so we can figure out what's going on. You know Mum would be happy to take her while you sort this out." Ron said to Hermione then turned to Draco, "same for him." He pointed to Scorpious "just because the wards are back up dosen't mean this place is the safest right now. If this was personal against you no one would ever think to look for him at the Burrow. As soon as she hit the button all the old security measures went up. The place will be a fortress until dad and Bill release the wards and they won't do that until the all clear is given." He'd be safe. Ron mouthed and distracted over the child's shoulder.
Draco paused just a moment before answering. He knew Weasel was right but he hated the thought of not being with his son. Finally reason won out and he agreed, "hey Scorp, how about you go with Bryony to visit her Grandmum?" Scorpious seemed to hesitate so Hermione quickly added, "you know I think she said something about needing to do some baking." She paused until he lifted his head to look at her, "Something about cookies and brownies. She will need a helper and taste tester. I bet if your really lucky she might even let you lick the spoon. And we all know that's the best part of baking brownies."
After he nodded George stepped to the side, "I'll message Angie to have her and Mum meet us at the Burrow."
For a moment all the adults seemed at a loss as to what to do next. Finally Harry broke the spell. "I know the kids hate side-along but that would be quickest, easiest and safer than trying to open the floo up." Everyone nodded reluctantly. "OK then George and Ron can take the kids on to the Burrow and I need to get into the office and try to sort this mess out."
George turned back to the group, "they are expecting us."
While Draco took a moment to say goodbye to Scorpious and Hermione did the same with Bryony, George and Ron nodded to Zabini and Nott then each shook Mrs Malfoy's hand saying goodbye. George followed with an overly exaggerated bow to the group in general. Bryony took her dad's hand while George reached for Scorpious. "Come with me little man. After you get done making cookies you, me and Bryony have some planning to do." He smiled wickedly as the four of them set off towards the gates.
Harry looked at Hermione questioningly. She just shook her head, " don't ask. Just know I plan to kill him after this is all taken care of." She instinctively leaned back towards Draco who swept an arm around her shoulders to help hold her up.
A silver bobcat came swooping in and started yelling at Harry, "Potter I thought you were on paternity leave. Imagine my surprise when I'm told my holding cells are full and the prisoners are all terrified and muttering about you, Weasley, Granger and Malfoy of all people. GET YOUR ASS IN HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF! NOW!"
Harry shook his head. "I knew it was a matter of time before he got involved. Malfoy, like Ron said, I wouldn't trust the safety of this place yet. Do you have somewhere you and your mother can stay until we figure this out? I don't know if your place was compromised and I'd rather not risk it. We don'tknow who these people are which means we don't know how many more there are."
Draco hesitated trying to think of somewhere they could go that wasn't tied to the Malfoy name. Mercifully Theo spoke up, "no worries. You guys can stay with me. Heaven knows I've got plenty of room. And the wards are fortress strong. No ones getting in unless I allow it."
"Perfect." Harry agreed before turning to Hermione. "And you." He stepped into her face, "I know you. Your going to want to figure this out on your own. DON'T. Leave this to me. Rest. Focus on getting your strength back. I don't want you staying by yourself either. Grab a bag and head to the Burrow."
"Seriously Harry? You think I'm going to be able to rest at the Burrow? Have you lost your mind?" Hermione replied. "At least at home I'll have peace and quiet."
"I don't like the idea of you alone either Granger." Draco spoke up.
"Perfect, she can join us at Nott Manor then." Theo declared settling the matter once again.
"Sounds good to me." Harry nodded. "Mrs Malfoy, do you have any idea who could be behind this or what it was about?" Harry asked the older woman.
"We still receive hate mail and death threats regularly." The stately woman answered, "it could be for any number of reasons."
"Do you keep any of the mail, for records maybe?"
"We use an owl post service to screen our mail. They are supposed to turn over anything suspicious to the Auror department."
"I will start there then." He shook her hand and hugged Hermione. "Take care of youself." He said as he held her tight for a moment, then turning to Draco he shook his hand, "take care of her. She's not going to want to rest as she should. Seriously, stun her if you have to." "Hey!"
"I doubt such actions will be necessary. " Draco replied shocked at the thought. He pulled his arm tighter around her shoulder as if to protect her from Harry.
a/nsooo? what do you think? next chapter we finally get some answers.I obviously took some liberties. I wanted to show just how BA Hermione could be when her families in danger.