Chapter 105: Saturday, July 6, 2002

"Some victories are merely defeat wearing the wrong clothing."

-Kiersten White


Hermione could barely see through the filth that covered the surfaces from the blast. The stone walls were blackened and smelled of mould and what little light the half-burned candles in the sconces provided, was muffled by the thick layers of dust. She felt Pansy push past her shoulder and continue on, dragging Harry behind her with an illuminated wand while she searched for Justin.

From the glint of Pansy's lumos, Hermione's eye fell upon a golden, spherical item that hovered on a narrow bookshelf. Just as she turned to Remus to see if he would follow her to the shelves, his eyes found hers and the ghost of a smirk pulled his lip. Of course, his eyes had been instantly drawn to the bookshelf as well. Despite the situation that led them to be blowing apart some sort of secret room in a Death Eater safe house, she couldn't help but find the humor in the fact that they were undoubtedly both swots.

"Think there's anything worth looking at on that shelf?" Remus asked.

"It's hidden behind a wall of a library, so, I can only assume…" Hermione trailed off as she carefully stepped through the debris on the floor toward the case.

"Don't touch anything," Remus advised. "They could be cursed."

Hermione stopped and turned to look over her shoulder at him, "You're probably right," she agreed. "Do you recognize any of the titles?"

Remus took a step closer, his front pressed lightly against her back. He read a few of the words under his breath with interest, before a low "wow" found its way overtop her head.

"What is it?" She asked, crouching down to look at the lower shelf.

"I think it's a first edition of Potions Moste Potent. Some of the title is rubbed off, but look," he pointed to a thick volume on the third shelf. "Just there—it's that one."

In flaked script that looked as if it had been gold at some point, the frayed spine read Haustibus Uiam Fecerit Potissima. There were a few letters missing from the overall title, but it was certainly a first edition. A well-used one, at that. She opened her mouth to remark on the state of the massive treatise but Remus' hand tightened around her wrist. He pointed to the top right shelf.

"That journal," he said, taking a step closer to inspect it. "Hermione, I think...I think this is another journal of his."

They both stopped in their tracks, heads swivelling to the right as a fearful whimper sounded from below. Hermione opened her mouth to call down to Harry and Pansy just at the sudden outstretch of Remus' arm in her peripheral pulled her attention away from the staircase.

Hermione smacked his hand out of the air, "What happened to not touching anything?"

"This could be useful," Remus said. "I'll take the hit if it is cursed. If he's got another journal, there could be—"

"HERMIONE GET DOWN HERE!" Harry's voice boomed from the stairwell on the far right.

Hermione looked up from the shelf, her eyes widening as she looked at Remus. He gave a curt nod and she forced a smile that felt more like a grimace and tore down the stairs, feet sliding on rubble.

At the bottom of the narrow stairwell, a small room opened up. Inside was a single chair, to which Justin was bound. His wrists and ankles were fastened to the arms and legs, his middle held in place by a thick leather strap and his head forced upright. His mouth hung open as he writhed as much as he could against the restraints, his eyes slammed shut. Hermione stopped in her tracks, her heart thundering against her ribs as the image of Caradoc Dearborn flooded her mind.

"Get him out of the restraints," Hermione ordered, staring in disbelief at Harry and Pansy.

"We tried that!" Pansy snapped, "He started screaming and—and then he...he fell forward and…" she trailed off, staring at Justin in horror.

Hermione pulled her bag from her pocket and enlarged it, quickly dipping into it to remove a tiny phial of dreamless sleep. She uncorked the potion and tipped it to Justin's lips. His eyes snapped open, revealing dilated pupils and bloodshot scaleras.

"Justin," Hermione said, softly. "I need you to drink this potion so we can get you out of here. Do you think you can manage that?"

He blinked several times, his eyes unfocused as he seemed to stare through her.

"Pansy," Hermione said, turning toward her. "Come here."

Tentatively, Pansy stepped forward. Her eyes were wide with fear as she regarded Justin, her hands trembling as she took the potion from Hermione.

"Justin, it's me," she murmured, bringing her empty hand up to rest against his face. His eyes dragged from Hermione to Pansy and he seemed to focus for a moment.

Pansy cleared her throat and began again, "You need to take this potion, love. We need to bring you home but we can't until you stop shaking. I don't want to splinch you, yeah?" Slowly, Pansy tipped the phial to his lips. "Please, just take the potion."

"No more," Justin croaked. "Please, no more."

Hermione watched as Pansy tried to hang onto her dignity, trying desperately to ignore the tears welling behind her lashes. She blinked, the action pushing blackened, mascara-filled droplets over the rims of her eyes and down her cheeks.

"I know, I know," Pansy cooed, tipping the phial. "Just a bit of sleep potion, my love. When you wake up you'll be home. We'll be home."

His eyes locked on Pansy and with a minuscule nod, he parted his lips, allowing her to dump the contents into his mouth. Within seconds of swallowing, his body fell limp and Pansy staggered sideways.

"Woah," Harry said, grasping her by the elbow. "Alright?"

"I'm fine. " Pansy spat, yanking her arm from Harry's grip, "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Harry chuckled and Hermione moved forward, using her wand to release Justin from his restraints. She pointed her wand between his eyes and Pansy smacked her hand away.

"What the hell are you doing, Granger?"

"He'll be easier to transport in animagus form, don't you think?"

Pansy seemed to contemplate this more a second before nodding, "You're right."

Hermione turned back toward Justin, muttering the charm under her breath. On the third try, her brows knit together.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"It's not working," Hermione answered, frowning as she cast a patronus, testing her own magic.

"We can see that," Pansy said, motioning toward Justin. "What I'm failing to see, Granger, is why it's not working."

Hermione took in a slow breath and turned toward Harry, willing him to understand the severity of the situation. To look at Justin and see that he had clearly been cursed and that it was eating away at him. Harry met her gaze, his eyes full of concern and questions—Is he going to live?—the most prevalent question being one she couldn't answer with certainty. She looked away from him and scanned the room, her eyes landing on dozens of phials scattered along the floor, broken glass shattered into glittering powder in piles butting up to where the walls and concrete flooring met.

"Harry," Hermione began, slowly turning back to face him. "I think—"

"We need to go!" Remus bellowed from the top of the stairs. Seconds later, the sounds of heavy footsteps bounding through the house thundered above them as voices yelled about intruders.

"I got him," Harry said. "Go! Get out. I'll get him to the boundary!"

Hermione nodded and turned to head back up the stairs. Pansy stayed rooted to the spot, her jaw clenched and eyes hard.

"Pansy," Hermione reached out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her toward the door. "Pansy, we have to go."

Pansy shook Hermione's hand from her arm, "I'm not leaving him here, Granger. Have you gone completely mental? I am not leaving him—"

"No one is asking you to leave him behind but, we have to go now, Pansy!" Hermione said, her voice frantic as the sound of curses being shouted above them became louder. "Harry will get him back to the Shack. We have to go!"

"I can't—"

"Pansy, listen to me," Harry grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "I will not leave here without him. Okay? I swear to you—on my parents—I will not leave without him. But, you both need to get out. You can't be of any use to him if you get killed. Go."

"Potter, I swear to Merlin, if you show up without him I will kill you myself."

"I know," Harry said, shoving pansy toward the door. "Go. Both of you!"

Hermione nodded, grabbing Pansy just below her elbow and dragging her up the stairs. When they emerged into the room, Remus was firing a nasty combination of curses toward the door, where two hulking figures loomed outside, dodging the blasts behind the stone.

"Go!" Remus shouted, "Get out. I'll meet you back at the Shack."

"Remus, you can't—"

"Get out!" He interrupted Hermione with a harsh shove, causing both her and Pansy to stumble forward.

Hermione didn't question him any further. Instead, she surged forward, dragging Pansy along behind her while she slashed her wand through the air. From over her shoulder, a red streak zipped past her and slammed into the chest of a Death Eater, sending him flying backwards. Pansy turned quickly on her heel, wrenching her arm from Hermione's grasp again, to disappear in a flutter of feathers and talons. She squawked in warning to Hermione just in time for her to dodge a bright streak of blue that singed a hole into the shoulder of her shirt. Hermione spun, wand brandished, as Pansy landed on the man's head and began to peck at the side of his face.

"Pansy! Come on!" Hermione yelled over the man's frantic screaming.

He flailed his arms wildly around his head, trying to push Pansy off of him. When his left eye had been completely bloodied and his knees hit the floor, Pansy shoved off him, taking flight and swooping through the hall. Hermione picked up her pace, sprinting to keep up with the path Pansy was taking.

She could hear the voices of the other Order members that had come along. Some were shouting orders, others were yelling hexes and dodging curses as they followed suit and fled from the estate. As Hermione rounded the corner and pushed open the door they had entered the house through, she saw a flash of red and blonde as Ron and Luna disappeared with a crack. Behind them, Blaise ran with Ginny in hand shouting over his shoulder to Draco, who was on his knees next to Charlie, mopping blood from his forehead.

One by one, everyone apparated away from the property, narrowly escaping the clutches of Death Eaters or the graze of an unfamiliar curse. Hermione stood near the boundary, providing coverage as everyone ran forward past the wards, eyes scanning the area for a glimpse of Remus.

Come on… Where are you? Come on!

"Hermione! Come on, we need to get out!" Draco said, gripping her arm and dragging her further past the wards.

"No! Harry and Remus are still inside. I can't leave—"

"Dammit, you impossible bint! They'll both kill me if you get hurt. Let's go!" Draco gave a hard tug to her arm, pulling her to his chest and taking her breath away as he apparated.


The library was crowded as everyone sat, doubled over to catch their breath. Tonks was talking quietly with Charlie while pressing a cloth to his forehead to staunch the still-bleeding wound. Ginny sported a nasty black eye and a swollen face that Hermione assumed was the result of a particularly strong stinging jinx. Luna and Theo were sitting on either side of Ron, Luna's head on his shoulder as Theo flexed his newly healed hand. Draco was crouched beside Blaise, wrapping his knee and feeding him Skele-Gro. Pansy sat perched on the edge of a chair, her leg bouncing at a furious pace and her perfectly manicured fingernails chewed down to the quicks.

Hermione paced. Realistically, she knew the action did nothing to calm her nerves. In fact, taking laps around the room probably did nothing but put everyone else further on edge. It had been over a half hour since they had made it back to the Shack. Everyone was accounted for and any injuries sustained were superficial. However, Harry, Remus, and Justin had yet to return and every second that passed without their arrival, Hermione felt more and more nervous. But, she had to keep moving. Because if she sat down, if she took a moment to think about it, she would be faced with the very real possibility that she—they, everyone—had left her best friend and the love of her life to die in a Death Eater estate.

"Stop pacing Granger," Draco muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Hermione turned to look at him, "You didn't see Justin," she whispered. "I don't know how they can get him out of there," she whispered. The words came out more hysterically than she would have preferred, but she pushed on, "Ignore the fact that we were being attacked—I don't think he's stable enough to move! I don't know if apparating him is going to be an option."

"We don't have a lot of other alternatives and you know as well as I do that Potter will stay true to his word."

Hermione knew Draco meant this as a bit of comfort, but it did nothing to quell the dread bubbling inside of her.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, her shoulders deflating with a sigh. "That's the problem—Harry and Remus will both make good on their word. I just don't want them to be killed doing it."

"They'll be fine," Draco said, with more conviction than Hermione could ever manage at a time like this.

Hermione opened her mouth to argue that he couldn't know that but stopped short as her chest warmed and tugged, her magic reaching out to lace with its missing counterpart.

"They're here," she breathed in relief, pushing her hair from her face and turning to race down the stairs to the lower level.

As she reached the dining room, the door blew open to reveal Harry and Remus dragging Justin between them. The right side of Harry's face was bloodied and Remus was limping, but they were here.

"Justin!" Pansy cried from the hall, rushing past Hermione to hold his face between her hands. "He's still unconscious. Is that normal?"

"Dreamless sleep," Hermione reminded her. "We need to get him upstairs."

"Move," Draco demanded, shoving Remus out of the way.

Ron appeared seconds later, taking Justin's other side from where Harry had him supported and helped Draco get him up the steps. Hermione all but forced Harry and Remus into chairs, summoning her medical kit and instantly digging through it for a pain relief potion.

"'Mione, I'm fine," Harry waved her off, taking his glasses off his face and setting them on the table. "They blew up a wall and the stones caught my face. It's not that bad."

"I'll be the judge of that," Hermione shushed him, thrusting a mild pain relief potion into his hand before using her wand to clear the dried blood from his skin. Once satisfied that it had been cleaned, she turned toward Remus. "And you! What happened to your leg?"

"Bad knee," Remus shrugged. "I slipped in the rubble and twisted it the wrong way. No worse than the morning after the moon. I'll be okay."

Hermione huffed and handed Remus a pain relief as well, holding her free hand to the side of his face. He offered a half-hearted smile and she leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips. "What took you so long?"

"Dementors," Harry interjected.

"At least a dozen," Remus confirmed. "But, I got this…" He trailed off, pulling away from Hermione's touch to reach into the back of his jeans. Tucked into his waistband was the slim journal they had found on the top of the bookshelf. He handed it to her, "It's definitely Dolohov's."

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a/n: Bit of a shorter chapter, sorry about that! Hope you liked it! Let me know?

xo