Warnings: Human Cruelty; Graphic Violence

~o0o~

They didn't have any better ideas on what to do. It was a risky play. Of course, they could try to bring in more fighters, but a major storm on the Ministry could cause more problems than it would solve. Especially head on.

One week into February, Hermione lay in bed running every possible outcome in her head and how to fix it. There were so many holes in the plan, when she went to fix one, another tore open.

'If only I could see into the Ministry,' she thought. 'I need a way to see into the Ministry.'

George's raven form was good in that he could spy on comings and goings but actually entering would be a risky move. They didn't know how tight security was now. Kingsley's main job was protecting the Muggle Prime Minister, he technically wasn't working at the Ministry of Magic anymore and wouldn't have much reason to be there.

Mad-Eye would be killed on sight.

Shaylyn couldn't get anymore information and was being watched more closely.

Hermione needed to see. Find out where the prisoners were. Find another way.

She needed to see.

Hermione fell upwards. She inhaled sharply and rolled onto her side to see Cedric sitting up and reading a book on car repair and maintenance with a couple other books stacked on his lap.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to apparate."

He didn't respond or even acknowledge she was there. She touched his shoulder and they both jumped as she phased through him. He rubbed the spot, muttering, "Ow."

Oh… was this astral projection? It was dangerous… Still, she had a window before she was lost forever. If she could move quickly, she might be able to do some inside recon at the Ministry.

Okay. She could do this. Hermione worked her jaw and focused on her magic. Ley lines. She never really worked with them and had never seen them, but she knew of their existence. She floated higher until she was above the house. There. She could see a scintillating trail of magical energy in a straight line going towards London. How had she never seen that before?

Hermione clumsily paddled towards it. As soon as she touched the line, she shot forward. Everything blurred and she ended up someplace dark. A stone tunnel. She explored a bit and felt the rumble and heard the roar of the underground network. She walked around the stones then found a maintenance tunnel. Interesting. She followed it until she found tile that she recognized.

Turning back, she found the anchor stones beneath the Ministry. Brilliant. Glowing. Just beyond them, she discovered a staircase just hidden from sight. The magic made everything strange here. Distance. Space. It shouldn't have been more than a flight or two. She walked up a winding staircase for what seemed like forever until she was in an open space.

She could finally hear voices. They were crying out.

"I don't belong here!"

"I am a real witch!"

"I promise, I never stole a wand!"

Hermione walked down the corridor and the stone turned to plaster and then black tile. She followed the voices past the courtrooms and down a hall with holding cells where she found dozens of people crammed together so tightly they were taking turns lying down. People of all ages.

Guarding them were three people in masks. Hermione didn't wish to focus on what their idea of guarding was.

"Hem, hem!"

That sound. She whipped around. Her. Dolores Umbridge. Her pink robes were slightly rumpled and she had the air of someone who was up later than they wanted to be, but couldn't go to bed.

"How many more?" asked a guard.

"They are still tracking some who are resisting," she said in that tight, prim tone that reminded Hermione of her speech therapist. "They will be apprehended soon enough. Trials will begin Monday."

That was in three days.

"I thought it was the 20th," said another guard.

"Oh, we gave a different date to each member of the department," Umbridge said, looking quite pleased with herself. "If the Order of the Phoenix arrives on one of those false dates to rescue prisoners that aren't there, we will have them and we will know of any potential spies in our midst."

She'd have to warn Shaylyn to be cautious.

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked around some more. She found the stash of wands in a nearby office that was decorated like a princess-obsessed little girl had free run of the place where grandmothers bought their décor. Instead of dolls that had the souls of Victorian children trapped in them, the walls had dozens of plates decorated with adorable kittens that definitely had the souls of Victorian children trapped inside them.

She attempted to grab at the box of wands, but they only shifted. Guess giving everyone the opportunity to break themselves out wasn't going to happen.

Instead, she ran through the route to the anchor stones again.

She knew what she had to do.

Pain shot through her chest and she was thrown back along the ley line. A far away voice begged at her, though she couldn't quite hear what was said.

The pain hit her chest again and the air she didn't know she was missing filled her lungs.

Her body flung back and the world blurred dizzyingly around her, the sun she hadn't known had risen was blinding her. She slammed into her futon and she was certain if she still had her raised bed, she would have been thrown right out of it. Someone was leaning over her, their lips against hers. She knew these lips.

Not quite all there, she embraced him and leaned into it.

Cedric broke away, their lips making a popping noise. Hermione realized what she was doing and jerked her hands back.

"CPR works better if your arms aren't around my neck," he said and huffed in relief. "You didn't come down for breakfast and I got worried, so I checked on you and you weren't breathing." His voice wavered and he touched her cheek. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry," she wheezed. "I thought I had plenty of time."

He drew his wand and poked her chest. Her sternum and ribcage righted themselves.

"Ow!" She sat up and breathed deep to catch her breath.

"What happened?" Cedric asked. "If it's sleeping on the floor or a curse… I don't like the thought that you could stop breathing in the middle of the night."

"I'll be fine," she said. "I just… I astral projected. I didn't really mean to do it, it just happened."

"Oh." He pursed his lips. "Is there any way we can prevent that?"

"Well, if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have learned something very important," she said. "I'm sorry for worrying you. It only felt like an hour or two for me."

"I see. Well, what did you learn?"

"I'd better gather everyone." She turned her bracelet over and summoned those who lived in the house plus Bill and Fleur.

ROSE ETA 30 MIN

Cedric helped her to her feet. She felt tingly all over and had trouble moving her limbs. She nearly collapsed to her knees, but Cedric supported her.

"I've got you," he said.

She needed to take a lap around the couch, but was feeling better. She pulled on her dressing gown and took off her bonnet. Oh, geez, she had morning breath. That's embarrassing. She brushed her teeth quickly.

"Right… oh, I need my drawing tools. Urgh, but my art sucks."

"I'll draw it," said Cedric. "Just project to me what you saw."

She got a clean piece of parchment, a notebook, and a pack of colored pencils. They hurried downstairs to the kitchen and found everyone already gathered in the dining room. There was a tray of sandwiches, a bowl of crisps, and some chopped up veggies.

"Oh, good, you're all here," said Hermione, setting everything down. "Right, so I've had… well, I guess you could call it a vision. Long story short: I astral projected by accident—" She picked up one of the sandwiches and took a bite— "And when I astral projected, I went straight to the Ministry for some recon—this sandwich is excellent."

"Duckie made them," said Tonks.

"Very good. Where was I?"

"Astral projection, Ministry," said Cedric, wiggling a colored pencil.

"Right." She rested a hand on his shoulder and he started drawing. "Okay, so change of plans. They're actually having the trials on Monday. The Feb twentieth thing was to try to lure us into a trap. They don't entirely know we've got people on the inside, but if we were to show up when we meant to, they would have rounded up those who were given that date."

"Get on with it," said Draco.

"I think we should launch our mission the night before," said Fred. "How many guards did you see?"

"Three, but we might expect more," Cedric answered as Hermione had taken another bite of sandwich. He finished scribbling out the map she saw.

Hermione snapped her fingers to raise it in view of everyone.

"I agree, Fred," she said. "So, what we need are… timetables. Kingsley, can you get me the train timetable for Charing Cross? And, if necessary, shut down the line for the time frame we'll be there?"

"I can," he said.

She ran over the plan, which seemed more solid and doable than the previous one.

"Does anyone have any objections? Concerns?"

"Is this the end of Reggie?" George asked sadly.

"Aww." Tonks pat his shoulder. "Yeah."

"Who is Reggie?" asked Fleur.

"He's a janitor, works for the Maintenance Department," Cedric explained. "Reggie 'the Mustache' Dwight, Lester Cox, and someone who looked quite a bit like me, but I will neither confirm nor deny was me, enacted a heist on the Ministry. Think they might recognize 'Reggie' George?"

"Not in the slightest," he said smugly. "He hung around most of the day before making his grand escape out the front doors. People are so afraid of being wrong that he greeted them by name and they pretended they knew him."

"Careful mate, Ceci and I will be out of the job with a chameleon like you," said Tonks.

Fleur tapped her cheek. "I think I have an idea of what he could do to help."

Everyone thought it was a brilliant idea.

"One might think you've done this before," said Kingsley approvingly.

"Granger, any chance a horcrux might be at the Ministry?" Mad-Eye asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I don't think it's likely. Too many variables. There's so much magic layered up in there I wouldn't be able to see it and I don't want to connect entirely to the anchor stones, Hogwarts might take offense—Hogwarts will take offense. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm not wasting time going on a scavenger hunt when we can save living, breathing people first."

He hummed and didn't argue.

Hermione finished her sandwich and poured herself a cup of tea. "Cedric, is two days enough time to create a space inside the van? About bus-sized, we've got several dozen people to move."

"I can do it," he said.

"Brilliant. Operation Clown Car Maintenance is a go. We'll just need a few more things. Bill, Fleur, if I give you a list and some money can you acquire them?"

"Of course."

"Okay, we'll—" she snorted. "Lester."

Fred scowled and chucked his napkin at a laughing Cedric.

"I am not being Lester Cox again!"

Cedric opened the notebook to take notes. Hermione stimmed and walked around the room, sparks of magic flying around her head.

"We'll need: one, two, three—nine sets of coveralls: three mediums, four larges, an XL, and a double XL; protein bars; water bottles; two jumbo-sized emergency kits; flashlights; hard hats; reflector vests; a clipboard—we'll use mine—work boots. Ced, we've got wellies, yeah?"

"Various sizes," he confirmed.

"Let's see, what else… chocolate, a hundred feet of rope, lock picking kit, equipment that looks official."

"What kind?" Cedric asked.

She mimed holding a small object and pretended to wave a wand around while making clicking sounds.

"Got it," he said. "If I get a bit of help on the van, I can find something like that."

"Fred, Draco, help him," she ordered. "Whatever he requires to get this done. The rest of you, I'll need you to help me get this place ready for guests and to notify the other safe houses to prepare for guests. Once we rescue these people, we're going to pick up their families too. It's going to be a tight fit, but that's why the place is so big. Get it, got it?"

When they all assured her they understood, she divvied up the list between them.

"If you can astral project Granger," Mad-Eye mused, "we could use that to our advantage."

"Hell no!" Cedric protested. "When I found her, she wasn't breathing. I am not risking her dying."

"I have to agree with Cedric," said Cecilia. "Berto, he was prima Constanza's husband, did research on astral projection. He didn't return to his body in time and… well, we hope he died and his soul isn't just wandering around."

"Yes, I vote 'yes' on my best friend keeping her soul in her body," said Fleur.

Cedric side-eyed the 'best friend' comment.

"I'll try not to do it again," said Hermione.

"If you do, Tía Ximena will ground you," said Cecilia. "Eh, literally. She'll give you something that will keep your spirit grounded to your body."

"Good to know. I'll message her myself if I do it again." Hermione looked down at her checklist. "Right… finish eating and hop to it."

~o0o~

As luck would have it, Charing Cross was closed between 12:50 and 4:30 in the morning, which gave them three hours and forty minutes to do what they needed to do. Tonks, Cecilia, and George were already at the Ministry and had notified Hermione when they were in and safe. They had driven to London in the van. Hermione was worried about apparating and using up precious magical energy. She'd need as much as possible for their escape.

The team was all dressed up in matching coveralls with Basilisk armor vests underneath, specially made by Esperanza, and bracers to block low-to moderate-level curses courtesy of Fred and George. They parked close to Charing Cross, put money in the meter, and waited until 12:50 exactly before making their move.

They had a battered tool kit filled with a few junk pieces to make it rattle, Hermione had a clipboard and a geiger counter that Cedric fixed up to whirr and whine when she pressed a button.

The only thing off were the crystal earrings in Hermione's ears that recorded their surroundings to the camera in her bag. She wanted everything documented.

The security guard for the platform met them at the door after they let themselves in.

"Evening," said Hermione. "I expect you got the call about our inspection today, yeah?"

"Er, no," he said, looking confused. "But them blokes up top never tell me nothing."

"Course," Hermione huffed with an eye-roll. "Never can make it easy can they?"

"No," he agreed. "What exactly is going on here?"

"As I said, inspection," she said, handing her clipboard to Cedric. "Normally, we only need one person on the job, but with all those strange goings on, the board is anxious about further accidents and subsequent lawsuits. We're just out here to rest any reports of corroded tracks, loose wiring, vandals hiding out in the tunnels, among other things."

"Perhaps I oughta come with you," he said. "Know what to look for and all that, so's I can make the call meself."

"Yeah, alright." She brought out her counter making it light up and whirr. She pulled a concerned expression and waved it around. She hummed and gave the security guard a look as the clicking and whining sound went crazy when the wand waved by his head. "Do you know your iron levels?"

"I—no," he said, looking nervous.

She hummed and Cedric lifted his clipboard for her to look at.

"I'm sure it's fine," she said. "Then again… Ever see any odd glowing in the tunnel?"

The security guard paled.

"Know what?" he clapped his hands together. "I'll just stay here. Let you do what's needed. Just holler if you need me to call anyone."

"Thank you," she said. "Right, crew. First train comes at 4:30, let's not waste any time."

She led the way, keeping them single file along the wall. They switched on the torches on their hats to keep their wands free for spells. The tunnel seemed to breathe, the air pushing through from other active lines.

"You really don't consider the amount of urine smell that's here," said Fred, sounding choked from disgust.

"Yeah, it's not going to get any better," said Hermione. "It's along here somewhere… I can see the magic, it's just very faint."

"Granger, are you sure of this?" Kingsley sighed.

"Yes! I saw it!"

"Shh!" Cedric hissed.

Everyone fell silent as he moved to the front of the line and switched off his light. He tipped his head back and sniffed loudly. Another blast of wind moved through the tunnel.

"This way," he said, leading the way.

They found it after ten minutes of walking. Hermione should have realized how scrunched the distance was when she was just a spirit. Charing Cross, though the closest line, was still a ways from Whitehall.

"This is it," she said. "Good nose."

"Magical Beings have a distinct scent," he said modestly.

The maintenance tunnels took slightly longer to navigate. They marked the way with spray paint so they could find their way back. It was twisty, almost maze-like, but Cedric followed his nose until they finally found it behind wooden planks and a thin bit of plaster. The anchor stones, imposing though not as alive as Hogwarts', glowed bright, working to keep the massive unit contained in a pocket dimension and seemed to whisper. The cavern was massive. Hermione found the stairs and moved the stone blocking the passage.

"Let's go," she said, taking the lead.

The stairs were much too long for the space they filled, but she couldn't worry about that. At last, they hit a wall.

"Alright," said Hermione. "Take a step back, this could get messy. Ced?"

He brought out a walkie-talkie and clicked the side twice.

"This is the Mustache," George answered.

"Break the lifts," said Cedric. "Over."

Some time passed and George answered back.

"Good news: lifts are broken. Bad news: got a message that there are over twenty Death Eaters pissed about them breaking. Over."

"Oh joy," Hermione sighed and took the walkie-talkie. "Thanks for the warning. Things are going to get messy. Be ready at the van to accept our guests. Over and out."

"Got it."

Hermione rolled her shoulders and brought out her scythe.

"Wait," said Bill. He cast some containment and muffling charms on the wall. "Okay. Now do it."

She cast the spell and the wall crumbled with a distant boom like thunder. Hermione rolled her shoulders. "Let's do this. Fred, know where the office is?"

"Got it," he said.

The nine of them stormed down the corridor as one. Part of Hermione was terrified that they wouldn't be there at all, but she soon heard the cries and pleas of the newly captured. Fred stopped at the office and brought out his kit to pick the lock. The rest moved ahead. Down one way, crammed into cells were dozens of people, just as she saw in her vision. All of them pressed to the bars.

Sure enough, there were a dozen and a half Death Eaters clustered together, muttering to each other. Less than half bore the dark mark, but the others were wearing armbands labeling them as supporters. None had an imperius spell. One took notice of the Weather.

"Stop right there!" barked one, who had the authority of a leader. He was a tall man with a dark beard. Frankly, he looked like a Woolly Wally toy.

"Albert Runcorn," said Mad-Eye distastefully. "Should've known you'd be a leader in this."

"Alistor," Runcorn sneered. "So you're the cause of the lifts going down. Your little group is going to regret that."

"You seem to be under the assumption that I'm the leader of this outfit," he said gruffly, readying his staff. "My leading days are behind me."

"Oh? And who is so bold as to think they can attack the Ministry?"

Hermione brought her scythe to full size, spun it, and pointed it at him. She'd been rehearsing what she was going to say, going through all her comic books for a snappy line.

"We doing this the smart way or the messy way?" she asked.

Runcorn laughed. "Do you even know how to use that, little girl?"

"Blood bath it is," she said, took several puffing breaths, and belched out a jet of fire.

The ones who got caught ran around, screaming their heads off like chickens. Six more Death Eaters were summoned by the noise.

Hermione signaled her team to move forward.

Thanks to the trolls, she had a bit more experience with a group battle. It was still different when your life was actually on the line, but she gave it her all. She tried to use as little magic as possible, conserving it for what was coming up. When the enemy was at a more manageable level for her team, Hermione put her scythe away and ran to the cages.

If they weren't so jam-packed, she would have had them stand back to blast the doors away. Her lock pick was doing no good, so she used a super heating spell—the kind she used in jewelry making—to melt the hinges and break the doors clean off.

She whistled through the small gap in her teeth and Fleur ran up.

"Follow me," she said, leading the prisoners away.

They leaned upon each other for support.

The second group was taken by Lee.

Hermione ripped the last door away and Cedric was ready.

"Crucio!"

The scream Cedric made was horrific, Hermione drew her scythe once more and found herself face-to-face with Umbridge. She was disheveled. No doubt she had been in her office and scuffled with Fred. Hermione desperately hoped he was okay. The old witch's eyes were murderous as she gazed upon Cedric.

"I should have known you were behind this, Wolf!" she snarled. "I will do what I should have done the moment I saw you. Avada—"

Hermione roared in fury and charged, swiping her blade. Umbridge's scream was shrill, almost inhuman. She stared in horror at the bloody stumps where her hands used to be.

Hermione dragged Cedric to his feet and pushed him along so he could lead the others away.

"Death is too good for you," Hermione snarled and grabbed the stumps, cauterizing them. "When little Tommy Tims sees what you lost… it almost makes up for what you did to the love of my life."

Umbridge writhed on the floor, sobbing and cursing her. Hermione snapped her head towards the others.

"Anybody else?"

"RETREAT!"

The last few screamed and ran in the opposite direction.

Hermione roared and sent another bout of flames after them for good measure. She took up the rear and did a headcount of her team. Every Weather member down here was alive. Good. Night wasn't over yet.

Up ahead, Fleur began to sing, calming the frightened stampede. Her veela magic washed over them and compelled even Hermione to put one foot in front of the other.

Cedric was at the doorway, guiding people into the darkness so they wouldn't accidentally run for the Department of Mysteries by mistake. Hermione was last. He took her hand and they walked side-by-side. The comfort was as much for him as it was for her.

"We'll be alright," Hermione called forward. "Just keep calm and walk single-file along the wall until we get to the platform. Don't touch the third rail unless you can handle 100,000 volts of electricity."

"Hint: you can't," said Lee somewhere ahead of them.

Cedric sniffed and whipped around. "DEMENTORS!"

The light of wands and head lamps dimmed as a cloud of dementors clawed their way down the tunnel towards them. Each one desperate to be the first to taste their souls. Hermione pointed the end of her scythe.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Her sea turtle, large and beautiful, swam to push the creatures back. It took out the front line, but there were still more.

"KEEP MOVING!" Cedric bellowed, a magic force behind his voice. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

An otter rather than a badger spun out of his wand and danced around Hermione's turtle. Behind them came a raccoon, a peacock, a gorilla, a horse, a unicorn, a hummingbird, and an occamy of all things. The dementors were driven back and they were soon in the maintenance tunnels. Hermione cast a strong spell that caved in the tunnel. They wouldn't be able to use it again anyway. That bridge was burned.

When they reached the tracks, Hermione put her scythe away and jumped down to run ahead and give Fleur backup in case they were cut off.

"Keep close to the wall!" she yelled. "We're not far!"

The security guard was waiting around for them on the platform.

"Heard a noise," he said. "Everything alright?"

"Confundus!"

He looked dazed as the dozens of people hurried past. Many of them were leaning on each other for support. George, Cecilia, and Tonks were waiting by the van looking anxious. They saw the crowd and threw open the doors, lifting up the floor to the extended space hidden beneath. They turned the ladder into a slide for quicker entry.

"Come on! In! Go!"

"Will we all fit?" a man asked.

"You're a wizard, aren't you?" Cecilia snapped. "Get in! You're holding up the line!"

While everyone got in, Hermione changed into her disguise and hurried to the driver's side. She put in a contact to cover her star eye, tearing up slightly at the burn. She put on a pair of gloves to hide her splints, she tied the arms of her coveralls around her waist and put on a loose, bouncy wig that was a vibrant shade of blue and thick glasses.

Cedric came up the rear, carrying someone who must've collapsed across his shoulders despite looking pale and shaken himself.

"Cedric, up front with me," Hermione ordered. "Ceci, Tonks, stay in the back. Everyone else, get below and keep everyone calm."

"Yes," said Fleur, hurrying in.

Once the doors were shut and seatbelts fastened, Hermione started driving. She wanted to get a bit farther away before apparating. They couldn't risk revealing the van before they even had a chance to start.

They didn't get far when police lights flashed in the rear view.

"Dammit!" Once she pulled over, Hermione pulled off her blood-splattered henley shirt and removed her armor, dumping both in the back. She adjusted her tank top and grabbed her wallet.

"What are you doing?" Cedric asked.

"If they're imperiused for Death Eaters and straight men to boot, I don't want them getting a good look at my face," she said, handing him a spare pair of fake glasses.

She grabbed a driver's license and looked at the address before flicking a spell at her insurance card to match it. Just as she finished, a light shone into the car.

Magic-user. With him, an officer. Imperiused.

"Morning officer," she said in a friendly, stereotypical (and really bad) Canadian accent. "Why'd ya pull us over? Is a taillight out?"

The magic-user stepped aside for the officer, but kept his wand trained on her.

"License, please," said the officer, sounding slightly dazed.

Hermione handed it over. He barely glanced at it before handing it back.

"Where are you headed this time of night?" he asked.

"Oh, wouldn't ya know it," she said. "We're a film crew from Newfoundland doing a documentary on secret undergrounds in the world's most popular cities when this cheese head here got us lost!"

"I told ya," said Cedric, donning the same accent just slightly better. "We aren't lost, we just got turned around. If you could give us some directions, sir, that'd be just swell. Ya know, these roads aren't so bad. The worst you gotta look out for is a couple o' drunkies staggering in the way, but you haven't seen nothin' until a moose crosses yer path. Though both tend to move when they're good and ready. Why I once had an entire flock o' deer—"

"Let the poor man get a word in," said Hermione. "He still hasn't told us why he pulled us over."

"Suspicious activity has been reported not far from here," said the officer.

"Oh my, what kind of activity?"

"There was a disturbance over at Charing Cross, the tube station."

"The tube!" Hermione gasped and swatted at Cedric. "I told ya we shoulda started filming there, but nooo, you said we should get a feel for the city. Are you feeling it now?! This is just like that time in Ioway."

"You had to bring that up!" Cedric huffed and turned away. "I said I was sorry. Since we're bringing things up, what about Bartholomew?"

"The hamster was not my fault!"

"Sir, ma'am, please," said the officer.

Hermione turned back to the pair. Act flirty, lean in, boobs up, smile. "Right. Sorry about that, officers. Here we are yakking away when men of your caliber need to be right on the case!"

The wandlight was lowering out of her face.

"Right… the case," said the officer.

"Are we free to go?"

"Yes, miss. Have a good night."

"Ah-huh! You too, officer!"

She rolled up the window and waited for them to move on before driving to get out of the city.

"What the hell was that?!" Cecilia demanded.

"Canadians," said Cedric.

"They didn't seem to notice us," said Tonks. "Not sure I could've done that accent."

"Oh, I think we know why they didn't look anywhere else," said Cecilia, pinching Hermione's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a tart," Hermione sighed and shivered.

The heater in the van was still broken.

"Well, next time I get to flirt," said Cedric, removing his jacket and draping it over her shoulders. "You wouldn't believe how many rides these babies hitched me."

He stroked his thigh and Hermione laughed. A real, full laugh. The sound almost surprised her.

"Okay, time to focus," she said, watching the police car turn the corner. "There's no telling how long we have." She rolled her shoulders. "Hold on."

She floored the gas pedal, braced her hand against the roof, and apparated.

"Whoa!" Cedric gasped as they sped towards Rosehill.

Hermione cringed as she steered a little too hard to the right. She pulled up to the barn and hit the old paddock fence.

"Hermione! The van!"

"I only have one eye!" she retorted defensively. "And nobody else knows how to drive. Ceci failed driver's ed, like, eight times!"

"I did, I'm terrible," said Cecilia.

Hermione parked, grabbed her armor, and jumped out. She hurried around to the back and opened the doors.

"Welcome to Rosehill," she said, fastening the chest piece down. "Come on, out you go. Draco, Cedric, Kingsley, Fleur, Bill, you're on medic. Mad-Eye distribute clothes and blankets and put everyone on a shower schedule. The rest, cooking detail. Move it. Veet, veet!"

"Nia," said Fred, holding out a box for her. "I got the wands and when I was fighting Umbridge off, I found this book of names. I don't know if they have a copy, but I thought we could use it to pick up anyone else."

"Oh, you are brilliant," she said, kissing his cheek before taking the box inside.

She put it on the kitchen table and flipped through the book.

"Right!" she said loudly, making the chatter dwindle. "I understand everyone is tired, hungry, and in need of a shower, but we cannot give them time to retaliate. I need all of you with family to please step forward so we can go and collect them and anything you want salvaged."

Arguments struck up on who would go first.

Hermione whistled. Sort of. A second version of her stepped up and the resounding confusion of this settled the room.

"There is no order that will make you happy," Second Hermione said, wearing the time turner she forgot to give back to her grandmother. "Therefore, I'll just have to take all sixty of you at once. You will have exactly two hours to gather your loved ones and anything of importance. We leave in five minutes. I will pass out your wands."

Fifty-eight more Hermiones filed into the room.

"What the hell," Cedric breathed.

"I had a weird dream like this once," said Fred.

"Yeah, I get that," said Cedric. "Mimi, this is dangerous."

"Too late!" they chorused.

"I'll need to run to Hogwarts, too," said one of the baggy-eyed last Hermiones. "There's twenty kids there belonging to families here."

"No, no," said Cedric. "Fred, George, and I will fetch the kids."

"All Entrances into Hogwarts are on watch," said another Hermione. "Except one." She stepped forward and pressed her forehead to his, sending him an image. The cave at the end of the tracks at Hogsmeade. "Apparate a safe distance away and arm yourselves well. They have caterwauling charms and we don't know how far they extend."

"You can count on us!" said George.

When they got the names of the kids and had left with an arsenal of pranks, the sixty Hermiones took a person and left.