"Fuck," Hermione whispered after taking a quick glance around the deserted living room of her parents' house in London. She clenched her fist angrily and closed her eyes. The curtains of the terrace door swayed eerily in the wind, which was able to penetrate the Grangers' frosty living room unhindered. She hadn't hesitated for a second after she had finished reading the letter and had immediately flown through the warding spells of Hogwarts as a raven to apparate to London as quickly as possible. She hadn't had time to think about whether she would be able to cover the distance without splinching. When she had caught sight of the missing window pane in her parents' patio door, all the thoughts that had been whirling around wildly in her head had been silenced at a stroke.
There wasn't much evidence that her parents had left their house involuntarily, but Hermione was sure that the kidnappers had left clues on purpose. There were no traces of a fight, no remnants of an interrupted dinner, no message, no blood, but the absence of the glass in the door was so obviously the result of a spell that even a Muggle could probably believe in magic. Another message that subtly proved the authenticity of the First. Hermione closed her eyes again and gasped as she loosened her clenched fist, for her fingernails had dug deep into her palm. As if her brain had snapped out of its tense state, the thoughts, speculations and fears returned, and Hermione took a deep breath to stop herself from screaming out loud.
"Focus," she said quietly, straining to think in a structured way. She had to act quickly if she wanted to save her parents. Abernathy's death had shown the ruthlessness of whoever claimed to be 'M' in the message. She looked at her right hand, which looked perfectly normal, as it had every day after the incident in the workshop under the supposed betting parlour in London. They wanted something from her. Hermione couldn't be sure but believed that the severity of the threat was a sign that the contents of the prism, as 'M' had labelled it, were of great value to them, and her parents were at least not in mortal danger until she arrived. She understood that such leverage was meant to force her to act, but subliminally Hermione could sense her fear that M was so ruthless as to actually bleed her parents until they were barely alive. She remembered Alastor saying after the night in Hogsmeade that Bellatrix Lestrange's definition of 'alive' was substantially different from that of other people. "They don't deserve this."
She closed her eyes again and visualised the contents of the message in her mind's eye. She was supposed to meet a contact in the first bedroom in the boar's head. Without another movement, she disapparated and reappeared a blink of an eye later at the lookout point of the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, where she transformed into her raven form. M had escalated the situation for no conceivable reason, now it was Hermione's turn to strike back. If they thought Hermione was going to throw herself at their feet like a whinging child, they were sorely mistaken. On the first floor of the rather uncomfortable pub, which Hermione only knew from the inside from Severus' memories, the light of a chandelier flickered in one of the windows.
Hermione looked for the nearest branch of a tree and tried to make out something behind the dirty glass. She could make out a dark silhouette sitting motionless cross-legged on the bed. She feverishly thought about the safest way in. She had already decided in her parents' house not to play by the kidnappers' rules and was determined to use the contact to find a way to get to her parents herself and rescue them. She was sure that the Hog's Head, like any wizarding house, had an apparition barrier and the fact that Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore's brother, was the owner led Hermione to believe that there were several protective spells on the shabby pub. Aberforth had retired from wizarding society many years ago, but Hermione knew that his younger brother had less of an edge on him in terms of magical ability than most would assume.
There was only one way to get into the bedroom unnoticed. Through the window. Hermione flapped her wings once and, heart beating fast, settled down as silently as possible on the small ledge in front of the window. Inspired by the kidnappers' method, she checked the pane of glass for protective spells and, finding none, vanished it without hesitation. Instantly, the figure's head snapped round on the bed as a strong wind now blew into the room, but Hermione had calculated that her advantage would only last a few blinks and followed her vanishing spell with the strongest stunning spell she was able to cast.
The figure must have been expecting an attack because Hermione felt the resistance of a shield charm that had already been set up, but the sheer force of the red bolt caused the shield charm to collapse like a house of cards and hurled the person hard against the wall, where they fell to the floor like a wet sack. With a pounding heart, Hermione transformed back into her human form and was terrified when the loud cry of a bird rang through the room. She immediately raised her hands, ready to defend herself, but realised the next moment that the hawk that had screamed was sitting in a cage on the little table opposite the bed. She didn't allow herself to be distracted by the raptor anymore, returning her gaze and raised hands to the unknown person, but quickly realised that her spell had done more damage than she had intended. The white hood of the woman, who now lay slumped on the dusty floor in front of the bed, was slowly turning red where the back of her head had been smashed against the wall. Hermione acted without thinking and pulled the hood down to look at the wound.
"Episkey," she thought, patching up the large but not too-bad laceration before placing two fingers on her artery and exhaling in relief when she felt a steady pulse. For the first time, she was able to see the approximately thirty-year-old woman's face. She narrowed her eyes as she wondered if she had seen the red-haired woman before, but couldn't remember her. Still keeping one hand on the woman's face in a defensive stance, Hermione fumbled through the pockets of her white cloak but found nothing but a quill and a blank page of black parchment that she knew only too well. Hermione cursed and rolled her eyes. Of course, they used Black Mail to communicate. After letting the woman's wand float into her hand, Hermione felt safe enough to venture a glance around the room. The woman didn't seem to have had any luggage with her, as the spartan furnishings of the room looked untouched except for the bed.
She took a deep breath and took a closer look at the slumped woman. Hermione gasped as she realised what she had missed in the flurry of her attack. The woman's white cloak had slipped down one shoulder after she had hit the ground, revealing an unusual image of her bare shoulder that Hermione already recognised.
Like Abernathy's, the young woman's skin was coloured pitch black from the collarbone down and was covered in a multitude of white symbols, lines and hieroglyphics. Hermione lifted the woman from the floor into the air with a levitation charm and dropped the limp, unconscious body back onto the dusty bed. She overcame her inhibitions about undressing the defenceless woman against her will and a few seconds later looked at the naked torso, whose chest rose and fell in a slow rhythm and which, like Abernathy's, was indeed pitch black from neck to hips and wrists. She saw goose bumps forming on the woman's skin and realised that she, too, was shivering in the piercing cold of the night that was seeping into the room unhindered by the vanished window. With a flick of her wrist, she put the pane back in its usual place and immediately turned her attention back to the tattoos on the unnaturally black skin.
Hermione couldn't tell if it was because she had been looking at the drawings on a corpse at Abernathy's, but the white lines and symbols on the woman's torso looked fresher. She held her right hand just a few centimetres above her skin and gasped as she felt magic emanating from it even from that distance. She felt a mixture of curiosity and disgust as the drawings seemed to be actual enchantments, which she had thought completely impossible until a few days ago. In other circumstances, Hermione would most likely have found it difficult to turn away from this discovery and not immediately find out everything she could about it, but concern for her parents was so present in her thoughts that she wasted no time.
"Hmm," she uttered a confirming sound as she utilised her ability to read the woman's mind, noting an intact barrier, albeit weakened by unconsciousness. Since the woman's blank thoughts were of no help to her, Hermione decided to enter her mind, even if it was a great risk. If the woman communicated with Black Mail and the person on the other end realised that she was no longer answering, they might call for reinforcements or surprise her here. She had to act quickly.
Although time passed more slowly for her when she was in her mind or someone else's, she was defenceless during this time. She ruled out the possibility that someone other than the woman had been waiting for her in the Hog's Head, as the thud against the wall of the room had probably been heard throughout the house and no one had come to investigate the noise. Had M assumed that Hermione would let herself be brought to him without resistance out of fright and fear for her parents? Her gaze flitted to the centre of the woman's chest, which, like Abernathy's, was emblazoned with the eleven-pointed star she had seen on the back of her hand in the workshop when she had touched the Prism. She checked one last time that the woman was indeed unconscious before, heart pounding, she took the plunge into the cold water and entered her mind.
The barrier that had remained in the woman's mind when she was unconscious only withstood Hermione's attack for a short time and so she finally found herself in the visual representation of her mind. Hermione was immediately taken aback, because, unlike all previous occasions when she had entered the mind of a wizard or witch, she did not find herself in a material world, but in a greyish mist that surrounded her on all sides. Confused, she looked around and tried to orientate herself, which was extremely difficult due to the lack of a sense of gravity. She strained to understand what was going on in this mind and spun around when she heard a fragment of a word behind her that she didn't understand. It had sounded as if someone had flown past her on a broom and shouted something at her. She squinted her eyes as she tried to make out something in the greyish wafting and winced as something whizzed past her ear again.
This time, she had heard a word that sounded like 'key' to her and had come from the same male voice that had uttered the previous, unintelligible word. Hermione wondered if the absence of a physical environment might have something to do with the enchantments on the woman's body and continued to look around. She could see a faint glow in the distance. She tried to move towards it somehow in the mist but couldn't tell if it was actually moving in the veils of fog. She was startled when something soft and elastic bumped into her head from behind and bounced off.
"Falc..." it echoed briefly in her head, and Hermione turned her head in the direction from which she had been hit on the head and recognised a light in the fog in that direction too, which was steadily fading. She frowned and tried to find the light she had spotted earlier. Her eyes widened as she realised that the light was heading roughly towards her, and she instinctively reached out for it. Had her arm been a few centimetres longer, Hermione would probably have been able to grab the light as it whizzed past, but as it was, her fingers only brushed against the same soft, seemingly elastic ball of light, causing a woman's voice to echo in her head for a brief moment.
"That must be it!" Hermione exclaimed, relatively certain that the woman's memories were floating around in the chaotic fog of her mind and needed to be caught by her to be retrievable by Hermione. "At least it's a start," she thought to herself as she kept an eye out for the next yellowish light, which faintly appeared in the fog a little later. It took Hermione two more attempts to grab one of the balls of light, and she immediately let it go out of reflex as a woman's scream echoed in her head at a deafening volume. She tried to calm herself down and not to think that the scream could have come from her mother. She took a deep breath and braced herself for the next ball of light, which she finally grabbed firmly, resisting the urge to let go again as another voice echoed deafeningly in her head as if someone had struck a gong between her ears with full force.
"You know what to do. This is your final test. She's not allowed to use magic outside of her school, but still be careful. We don't know how far she'll go."
Hermione let go of the ball of light, breathing heavily. It had been exhausting just listening to those few sentences because the longer she had held on to the glistening light, the more it had felt like her head was going to explode at any moment from the mounting pressure. Apparently, only snippets of conversation were accessible to her, as Hermione hadn't been able to recognise anything in the blinding light that indicated a visual memory. After she had rested a little, she grabbed the next sphere of light and, in mental pain, tried to listen for longer than the previous attempt.
"... found her! Look, master."
"You're right. Granger. Hmm, doesn't tell me anything," Hermione heard the male voice she had heard before in snippets of sentences in other light orbs reply with a strong accent she couldn't identify.
"I haven't heard that name either, Master"
"It doesn't matter. Find out everything you can about her..."
Hermione had to let go of the memory and breathed heavily as her mind raced. Did the male voice of the person who addressed the woman only as 'Master' belong to 'M.'? And did the woman's voice belong to the person whose mind she was in, or had she only been present during the conversation? She had to find out more. Although it was noticeably weakening her mentally, Hermione seized many more memories and was able to answer at least some of the questions. The name of the woman whose mind she was in and who owned the voice she had heard in the previous memory was Judith, and from her accent, Hermione assumed she was American, unlike her master who spoke with a foreign accent Hermione had never heard before. However, the strong connection to Egypt led her to assume that this man was from there. She again took some time to gather her strength before the last memory she wanted to listen to before she withdrew from the woman's mind.
Determined, she gripped the yellow ball of light with both hands and immediately heard the deep, male voice from the other memories speak. This time, however, it wasn't English, but a language that sounded completely unfamiliar and eerie to Hermione. Suddenly, she felt her right forearm grow hot and realised with horror that orange glowing lines were starting to emerge on it. She tried to let go of the memory, but the ball of light stuck to her right hand, which grew hotter and hotter as she heard the strange words echoing in her head. The symbols and lines on her forearm became clearer and hotter by the second, causing Hermione to panic. Again, she tried vehemently to shake off the ball of light but failed again. She finally only saw one way out and cut the mental connection to M's servant.
Gasping, she regained consciousness in her own body and immediately held her hand in front of her face. She exhaled in relief as she took in the smooth and hieroglyph-free skin. She finally sat up exhausted, resting her head on her hands. In addition to the shock that had gone through her limbs, she felt that the unexpectedly strong mental exertion had also spread to her entire body.
"Fuck!" she whispered through clenched teeth and stood up in frustration. What was she supposed to do? If this Judith had sworn unbreakable oaths like Abernathy, she would die before Hermione could squeeze anything useful out of her. For a millisecond, it occurred to her to take that chance, and she immediately loathed herself for even thinking about it. But was this woman actually still alive? Enslaved by enchantments and unbreakable oaths, forced to follow her master's will? Would it be salvation for her, like Abernathy, to find death by betraying her master? She remembered how Abernathy had begged to break one of the oaths when he had realised he was forced to tell the truth. Had he begged for Tonks to end his life of slavery?
Thinking about it made her question for the first time whether she was doing the right thing. Did she even have a chance? Were her parents lost anyway? She shook her head vehemently to clear the dark thoughts from her mind and was startled again when the falcon in its cage let out an agonised cry. She raised her hand to silence the raptor with a spell but stopped when an idea came to her. Hermione walked up to the bird, which had just enough room in the small cage to half-stretch its wings. She felt sorry for him, but she couldn't release him under any circumstances. Especially if her idea worked.
From her first attempts to take possession of Lancelot, she had realised that he had an instinct that she suspected also existed in owls of wizards, and that ensured that they could find their way back to their owner, even if he had changed locations since they had left. It was an inner drive that she had only felt very faintly with Lancelot, as she had always been close to him when she had possessed him. Hopefully, she made a mental connection with the hawk, who stared at her through the cage with one yellow eye, and she gasped as she sensed what she had hoped for. It was an urge, deep inside her, pulling her in a certain direction like a magnet. Relief flooded through her body, and she considered how she was going to maintain the connection to the falcon as she moved towards this new destination without releasing it. Apparating was out of the question, as she didn't know the exact target, and it could cause enormous damage to animals.
She thought one last time about whether she should really take the risk of searching for the kidnappers on her own and hunting them down, or whether she should admit defeat. The moment she thought about waking the woman, probably being paralysed by her and transported to the place where her parents were being held captive, a fire lit up in her chest again.
"You will pay for this," she said resolutely and walked towards the bed. With a levitation charm, she lifted the servant's limp body into the air and reached for the white cloak she had been wearing. With a circular motion of her hand, she conjured thick ropes that bound the woman to the bed and covered her mouth with a piece of cloth. With another flick of her wrist, she sucked the blood from the hood of the cloak and slipped it on after stowing her own cloak in her magically enlarged shoulder bag. Her plan was set. She took one last look at the symbol in the centre of the servant's pitch-black chest, then pulled the white hood low over her eyes and opened the door.
"I have an appointment and don't know when I'll be back. I'm paying for two more nights in advance," she said to Aberforth, trying to imitate the servant's accent as best she could.
"So you can speak after all, eh? Thought you were mute!" replied the gnarled Aberforth, who had averted his eyes from the glass he was cleaning more poorly than well with a dirty rag. Hermione dropped a galleon on the bar in response, which the innkeeper looked at with a frown, but the next moment, he let it disappear into his till without further comment and nodded to her, grumbling. "'Kay."
Hermione turned her back without another word and crossed the sparsely populated guest room of the Hog's Head. She took a breath as she felt the cold air of Hogsmeade on her face and the heavy oak door of the pub slammed shut behind her. After making sure no one was watching her, she changed back into her raven form and flew back to the window to gain access to the room. Without hesitation, she summoned her shrunken Firebolt into her hand with her arm in her shoulder bag and reached for the cage of the indignantly screaming falcon, which she silenced with a wave of her hand. She mounted her broom while still in the room, clutched the cage in front of her chest with one hand and flew outside. After letting the window pane return to its frame again, she re-established the mental connection to the falcon and immediately shot up into the dark, icy night.
"Fuck. Fuck Fuck FUUUUUCK," she screamed into the silence that prevailed high above the clouds that lay in a thick blanket over England's south coast. Her heart was still pounding, and her mind was racing, even though she had been flying at top speed on her Firebolt for an hour through the silence that would have been soothing under other circumstances. She looked down at the falcon, who seemed to have come to terms with his situation by now, as he had curled up on the floor of the cage and closed his eyes in the warmth of the heat sphere Hermione had conjured around them. Hermione tried to calm herself, but her feelings of guilt and fear could not be suppressed. Her thoughts kept returning to the letter, the workshop in London, Abernathy, her parents and finally Tonks. Had she made a mistake by not informing her? She had already held the message parchment in her hand several times, only to put it back again in the end. There was no turning back. She had decided not to put anyone else in danger. This was her fight, for which she herself was responsible, which she alone had to win, would win. Would she win? Was she prepared to face a wizard who had achieved the seemingly impossible and made people obedient with enchantments?
Over the next few hours, when she was unable to enjoy the beauty of the star-studded night sky above the clouds, her feelings alternated between determination, fear, anger and a guilty conscience. As the first rays of sunlight on the horizon bathed the cloud cover in a mysterious purple colour, Hermione felt that she was getting closer to her destination. She cast a disillusionment spell on herself, the cage and her broom so that she couldn't be detected from the surface of the earth in daylight. Her astronomy lessons had given her a rough idea of the direction she had been travelling in and where she should be by looking at the stars. She was therefore not surprised to discover the glittering whitecaps of the Mediterranean Sea below her when the dense cloud cover parted for the first time, giving her a clear view of the world beneath her feet in the morning sun. As she had a dozen times already that night, she felt annoyed at having left everything but her bag in her room to get to London as quickly as possible. She had already used up her supply of sweets by midnight and felt her body, which had last been fed at midday the previous day, craving nutrients. Since she at least had unlimited access to water thanks to the Aguamenti spell, she filled her stomach with a few large gulps, as she had done several times before that night, but as always this only lasted a short time.
She racked her brains over whether she should land at the next opportunity to get something to eat. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she recognised some dark spots on the horizon that stood out sharply from the surroundings. For the first time in hours, her thoughts fell silent in awe as she watched the pyramids of Giza creep further and further out from behind the horizon. She had only seen the pyramids in books and television documentaries, which did not do justice to the size of the massive stone structures. For minutes, she admired the massive tombs of antiquity, which had survived more time on earth than most civilisations. She realised she was getting closer to her destination, but was still surprised to leave the pyramids behind her a few minutes later, as the falcon's intuition led her further south. In other circumstances, she might have enjoyed the flight over the tops of the pyramids, but the tension and growing hunger quickly suppressed the positive feelings.
She finally decided to get something to eat in one of the numerous towns that nestled closely around the meandering Nile, which was glistening in the now-risen sun. The closer she got to civilisation, the slower she flew so that the disillusionment spell could conceal her from the eyes of the Muggles as best it could. She finally landed in the shadows of a narrow alleyway, which was completely empty and deserted apart from a few barrels and crates. She placed the cage between two barrels and checked the Silencio spell on the falcon once more before pulling the hood of the white cloak over her face. Not wanting to waste any precious time, she headed straight for the first market stall, which seemed to be selling fruit and vegetables. Despite the early hour, it was already teeming with people, so Hermione remained inconspicuous, at least until she silently pointed to a large pile of small bananas, whereupon the vendor raised an eyebrow. She rubbed her thumb and forefinger together, the universal sign for money, whereupon the vendor replied with a few sentences in Arabic, which Hermione naturally didn't understand. She was annoyed that her magical abilities couldn't help her in this situation.
"English?" she asked, close to despair, and sighed as the man shook his head and continued to speak to her in rapid Arabic. Finally, she put her hand in her pocket and only realised at that moment that she couldn't pay for anything with her Pound Sterling anyway, let alone Galleons. "Damn," she thought, looking desperately into the eyes of the old man who was staring at her bag, his expression darkening by the second. Hermione, not wanting under any circumstances to provoke the vendor into making a scene, raised her hands apologetically and was about to turn around when she realised that he was about to do just that. She acted instinctively, and a confusion charm performed silently with a minimal hand gesture later, the vendor looked at her in bewilderment. Hermione acted quickly and pulled a few pounds out of her muggle wallet, which the vendor now accepted with a nod, and took two bunches of the unusually small bananas. Glad not to have attracted the attention of the Muggles scurrying around her, she devoured two bananas straight away, which tasted wonderfully fresh and sweet and immediately revitalised her body. The food couldn't lift her spirits for long, however, and Hermione ran straight back to the alleyway where she had hidden the cage. She was only a few steps away from the corner where the falcon was hidden when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and pressed against the wall.
"Have you lost your fucking mind?"
Nymphadora Tonks clenched her fist around her wand, ready to defend herself against an attack. The hazel eyes that had first glared at her in horror, then fearlessly and determinedly, took on a glassy gleam as Hermione seemed to recognise her through the scarf she had pulled over her nose and mouth.
"What in God's name were you thinking?" she hissed after placing a hand over Hermione's mouth as she was about to wrest her forearm from her grasp. Hermione's eyes flashed again, this time with anger, and Tonks glanced hastily around the dark, deserted alley.
"How did you find me?" Hermione immediately asked after Tonks let go of her mouth but continued to hold her arm.
"Why didn't you tell me? You can't just put yourself in such danger without telling anyone! Thank God it's not too late," Tonks replied angrily, still whispering. She looked into Hermione's eyes and thought she could see guilt in them for a moment. "Fuck, Hermione, I'm really sorry about what happened, but you can't do this all by yourself!"
"How did you find me?" Hermione asked again, more forcefully now, completely ignoring Tonks' questions, causing her to sigh.
"The Trace."
"Impossible, I didn't..."
"I know, and yes, I also know that you didn't use your wand when you just broke the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! You can thank Kingsley when he's done with the people at the market."
"Kingsley's here? But... don't get off topic, how did you find me then?"
"There are ways and means for the Ministry to track down an underage wand owner. Are you satisfied? And to answer your next questions straight away: Luna found the letter in your room after you didn't turn up for dinner or your weekly practice session. Luckily, you left the letter behind, otherwise it would have taken even longer. The trail can only be followed if the owner doesn't move. I was going insane because we had no information about where you were all night. Not even that Judith Miller could tell us anything because she didn't even get to see you," Tonks recounted the abridged version of last night, when she had nearly had a heart attack from worry. Her chest had tightened when Luna had shown her the letter in Dumbledore's office, but that had been nothing compared to the oppressive feeling of uncertainty after they had found the contact person tied up in the Hog's Head. They had learnt from what had happened to Abernathy, which was why they had refrained from using Veritaserum when interrogating Judith Miller. The subsequent wait in front of the large world map in the Department of Mysteries had almost driven her out of her mind. "Are you going to answer my question now? Why didn't you let me know?"
"Enough people have been hurt already," Hermione replied, averting her eyes again and this time Tonks allowed her arm to slip from her grasp. She felt tears welling up in her eyes as Hermione looked sadly at her feet and didn't know what to say. She could understand that Hermione didn't want to put any more people she cared about in danger, and she admired her courage. On the other hand, she couldn't possibly let anything happen to her.
"Hey," Tonks said softly when Hermione still avoided her gaze after a silent pause and gently applied pressure to her cheek. "We're not going to let anyone get hurt, okay? That includes you. We're going to take this 'M.' down, together."
"I'm done. We should leave," Tonks heard Kingsley's voice behind her but didn't take her eyes off Hermione, who was still looking at her in despair.
"Thank you, Kingsley. Give me two more minutes, and I'll take Hermione to the Ministry," she replied and then heard a barely audible disapparating noise.
"I'm not going anywhere!" shouted Hermione after Kingsley had disappeared, and Tonks let out a hiss to tell her to be quiet. "I'm almost there," Hermione added in a whisper, and Tonks frowned.
"If you know where your parents are, you can tell me at the Ministry, safe and sound. We..."
"No, I can't. That M. is in Egypt, I'm certainly not going back to London..."
"Nobody has said anything about London. We're meeting at the Egyptian Ministry. Where do you think we arrived with the portkey we had to take to catch up with you? Take my hand, we can discuss everything else there," Tonks said, offering her hand to Hermione, who shook her head again.
"I need the falcon."
"What?" Tonks watched in surprise as Hermione took a few steps deeper into the alley and pulled out a birdcage from behind some wooden barrels.
"This falcon. He brought the letter. I can feel the instinct in him to return to his owner," Hermione said, and Tonks looked wide-eyed at the raptor, who was staring at her darkly from his prison.
"That's all? A bird's intuition?" asked Tonks, just managing to stop her question from sounding too reproachful.
"Do you have a better idea?" Hermione asked sourly now, glaring at Tonks, who sighed.
"Fuck. I'll write to Kingsley," she said, and pulled Hermione into the darkest part of the side street, where she pulled out her Black Book and gave Kingsley a brief and concise account of her new findings. "Okay, change of plan. You've been travelling by broom so far?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll come with you, and as soon as we get close enough to our destination to be able to assess the situation more accurately, we'll make a new plan. I don't want to hear any objections, this is a matter for Aurors," she said and could tell Hermione was struggling with herself, but finally nodded. She glanced around before pulling the shrunken Firebolt from her pocket while Tonks cast a disillusionment charm and a protection spell against the glaring sun over the two of them. Seconds later, as the pair hurtled through the air at the racing broom's top speed, Tonks devised a new plan. She had firmly assumed that Hermione had found out an exact location from the mind of the woman in the Hog's Head. There was no way they were going to fall into the traps that the kidnapper had undoubtedly laid. Hermione may not have realised it because of her concern for her parents, but it was obvious to Tonks that this 'M.' was testing Hermione and luring her to him because she was too protected at Hogwarts.
"We're getting closer," Hermione called over the airstream fifteen minutes later, and Tonks clung to Hermione's hip as she rudely applied a full stop in mid-air.
"What's wrong?" Tonks asked, recognising Hermione's disillusioned body moving against the horizon.
"My arm," Hermione replied, and Tonks could recognise the fear and fascination in the tone of her voice, which was immediately transferred to her. "It's... pulsing." Tonks tried to get a better look at Hermione's outline and finally saw that she was looking at her right palm, only to hold her arm out a moment later in the direction they had flown. "I think I'm reacting to something in the same direction! That must be where my parents are!"
Tonks thought feverishly about how to assess this information. It was hard to check if Hermione was right in her assumption, but if she had a reaction in this place, it was time to call Kingsley in. She called out to Hermione to land on a big rock that was outside the large settlement on the Nile that they had been flying towards. Hermione landed on one of the wide rocks, not far from the green fields bordering the town.
"It's still the same direction, Tonks!" exclaimed Hermione, and Tonks raised a hand over her eyes to see something in the glaring sun.
"Do you think it's in the town there, or in the desert beyond?" she asked, and it took a few seconds, during which Hermione seemed to reconnect with the bird before she answered.
"More likely beyond, it's probably a few more miles," Hermione said, raising her still disillusioned arm to her face.
"That's what I thought."
"Why?"
"How many wizards in Britain do you know who live in the middle of a Muggle town? And this one's pretty big."
"Hmm," Hermione replied, nodding. Tonks checked her message parchment briefly.
"Kinglsey has called for reinforcements," she said after reading Kingsley's short message and ending the disillusionment charm. "Hermione, please listen to me," she said after glancing at Hermione's right arm, which showed no outward signs of change. Hermione looked at her wordlessly, and Tonks pressed her lips together tensely. "I know you don't want to waste any time, but we need a plan to stop this 'M' from getting exactly what he wants and on top of that, you and your parents coming to even greater harm. No more solo missions. When more Aurors arrive, you will no longer be able to cast spells without a wand. You hereby have permission to defend yourself in a dangerous situation, but please leave the rest to us. You must promise me that you will let us do our job, even if it is difficult for you. From what we know so far, we absolutely must stop that bastard from slipping away from us again!"She could see the tension in Hermione's eyes, but she also seemed to realise that they had to work together to have the best chance of saving her parents.
"Okay, but don't expect me to back down if someone comes between me and my parents."
"I don't. I'm by your side," Tonks said, having to suppress the feelings of attraction that made her heart skip a beat at the sight of Hermione's eyes. She watched silently as Hermione levitated the birdcage in the air in front of her and gasped as the cage and falcon vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.
"I don't need it anymore," Hermione said resolutely and made a barely noticeable gesture with her hand, whereupon her wand appeared in her palm. "Ready."
Tonks felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at Hermione's penetrating gaze, and she felt as if she had awoken from a feverish dream. The long night of hoping for a sign of life from Hermione had cloaked her view of the situation with an opaque veil of fear, which had now been severed. Making the falcon disappear would probably save them some questions, but something about the way Hermione hadn't hesitated to send the living animal into the void gave Tonks goosebumps as she'd last felt when she'd realised Abernathy had died right in front of her, even before his head had hit the desk. There was no time to lose.
"Okay. Attention, we're apparating," Tonks said before grabbing Hermione's hand and apparating the two of them to the spot where she and Kingsley had arrived with the portkey that morning. Tonks could see the surprise on Hermione's face as they arrived in the sunlit courtyard of the Egyptian Ministry of Magic. It had also been Tonks' first visit. Like Hermione, it had taken her a few seconds to take in the surroundings. Palm trees lined a large, grandly decorated square surrounded by high, ancient-looking sandstone walls. As in the Atrium of the British Ministry, witches and wizards bustled about, running in various directions towards the pillared buildings surrounding the courtyard. Tonks recognised Kingsley standing in a shadowy corner and pulled Hermione in his direction without hesitation.
"We need to change the plan. Hermione doesn't know exactly where her parents are being held, but she can sense the direction of where this 'M' might be. We've flown close enough to be able to estimate the approximate location. Apparently, the target is outside a Muggle town on the Nile. No idea what the town is called," she summarised what she had just learned and looked at Hermione, who nodded.
"We have to avoid walking into a death trap. It could be unpleasant. I've requested Nephtys and Dawlish. They should be here in the next few minutes. Maybe she knows something about this town," Kinglsey said, and Tonks nodded. If anyone could help them in this situation, it was Nephtys. Like Hermione, the young Egyptian had been a tremendous help on the case that was still incorrectly named 'Moon Tear'. Tonks hoped that her knowledge and skills were the ace up her sleeve that the kidnapper wasn't counting on. It only took a minute for two new arrivals to arrive on the polished marble of the courtyard. Nephtys immediately drew her wand and coloured her black cloak with golden embellishments white, which Dawlish, who had arrived with the same portkey, immediately imitated. She glanced around briefly, recognising Tonks and Kingsley, and furrowed an eyebrow at Hermione as she and Dawlish walked towards them.
"Hello! What can I do for you?" asked Nephtys, still puzzled by the location of this meeting and Hermione, who was tapping her foot impatiently. Her eyes widened in horror as Tonks described the situation to them both, and the young Egyptian immediately pulled Hermione into a hug she didn't seem to have expected. "I'll do everything in my power to help you and your parents," she said firmly, wasting no time with further questions. "Take me there."
"Hang on a minute," Hermione said, and Tonks furrowed her brow as Hermione looked at Nephtys with a slightly ashamed expression. "I need to go to the toilet. It's been a long flight." In the seriousness of the situation, Nephtys nodded curtly and pointed to a building on the other side of the courtyard.
"Good idea, we should all make sure we're ready and well-hydrated," Kingsley said, following Hermione.
Tonks, who had taken the lead after consulting with Kingsley on their return, then assigned everyone to their tasks and briefly went through the usual scenarios they could expect with Hermione, just as she had the week before. Hermione listened attentively, and it felt to Tonks as if she'd been part of the team for years, just like the last time they'd worked together. She apparated with Kingsley and Nephtys in turn, then Hermione and Dawlish back to the rock, from where they had a breathtaking view of the Nile, which meandered dark blue through the desert and filled everything surrounding it with life.
"This is Luxor," Nephtys said after taking a quick look around. "Interesting..."
"In what way?" asked Kingsley.
"There are ancient magical ruins here. Have you ever heard of the Valley of the Kings? Many of the tombs in ancient Thebes were built for wizards and witches who used their power to rule over non-mages as pharaohs. A cruel time that is romanticised by non-mages. The ancient tombs are still full of magic, but for the last seventy years or so they have been overrun by non-magical tourists. They're not far from here, about a mile beyond these hills," Nephtys explained, pointing to some rocks to the south.
"Then that's out of the question. We have to go in that direction," said Hermione, pointing to the rocky desert behind Luxor on the other side of the Nile. Nephtys raised her eyebrows in surprise and looked at Hermione in confusion momentarily.
"Are you sure? As far as I know, there's nothing there but sand and rocks, all the way to the Red Sea."
"Yes," Hermione replied tensely and curtly, which seemed to snap Nephtys out of her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting it. I'll take us to the other side," she said, offering both of her hands to Tonks and Hermione. A moment of Apparating later, the three of them were standing in a flat stretch of desert where they could only see a few taller buildings of the city on the horizon. Hermione held out her right hand and turned, while Nephtys fetched Kingsley and Dawlish. "That's as far as I can apparate us. I only know my way around the city and the ruins," Nephtys said after Hermione confirmed that the feeling in her arm was getting stronger. The young Egyptian looked at Hermione's hand in fascination as she also told her which way they had to go. Tonks knew how she felt. Everything that had happened since last week was hard to believe, and Tonks felt at times like she was part of one of the films her grandparents had watched with her as a child.
The group eventually decided to continue on brooms, as they would have travelled far too slowly on foot on the sandy ground. Tonks flew with Hermione again, and it wasn't long before Hermione signalled to the group and landed. Everyone looked around, perplexed, as there was nothing but sand and jagged rock in the area. Kingsley waved his wand and shrugged his shoulders when he didn't seem to see any signs of magic in the area. Tonks looked around at the vast emptiness of the desert and couldn't suppress a yawn. She was beginning to feel the strain of the sleepless night and realised after a minute or so that Hermione had already started walking.
"Fuck. I said no more solo runs," she whispered to herself as she ran after Hermione at a fast pace, which was easier said than done on the unfamiliar ground.
"Hermione, not so fast! Wait!" she shouted to Hermione, who was walking south as if drawn by a magnet and didn't seem to hear Tonks. "Hermione! HERMIONE!" Tonks screamed when she was only a little over ten yards away from her, and from one moment to the next, she had disappeared from the face of the earth. Tonks ran as fast as she could to the spot where she had last seen Hermione and just managed to stop, skidding in the sand, when Hermione reappeared out of nowhere a few feet in front of her.
"Here!" she exclaimed excitedly, and Tonks cursed loudly, split between relief and anger, whereupon Hermione apologised with a guilty look on her face. "Seems to be a warding spell that lets you..."
"You will stay behind me now until I say otherwise!" Tonks interrupted Hermione, who nodded guiltily. While the two waited for the rest of the group to catch up with them, Hermione told her about her discovery. Tonks checked her surroundings again with an analysing spell and was surprised when she didn't see anything again. Her eyes widened as she took a step in the direction where Hermione had disappeared, suddenly standing in front of a huge, shiny, pitch-black obelisk. The seemingly alien structure rose several hundred metres into the air and was covered in numerous golden figures and symbols that glistened in the sun. Tonk's hair stood on end as she felt the magic emanating from the obelisk, which was perceptible even without an analysing spell. It was the same feeling she had had in her school days when she had travelled from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts in the carriages. Behind her, she heard Nephtys gasp as she gazed open-mouthed at the monumental building.
"Be on your guard. They know we're coming," Kingsley's deep voice broke the silence in which they had all been scrutinising the obelisk for a few moments. Tonks took a breath and exchanged a determined look with Hermione, then walked ahead towards the monument towering eerily above them. No one said another word as the group marched in V formation, with Tonks in the lead, Hermione and Nephtys following her, and Kingsley and Dawlish in the rear, towards the place where Hermione's parents were most likely being held captive. Tonks kept hearing whispered words behind her from Nephtys, who was talking to herself, absorbed by this discovery that she said no one in Egypt knew about. The eerie silence of the desert, where no wind had blown since they had passed through the magical barrier, put an oppressive feeling on her chest, and Tonks was amazed that they arrived without incident at the foot of the huge obelisk, which seemed to have been cut from a single, giant piece of black obsidian.
Tonks' heart was beating so fast by now that she could almost hear it hammering against her ribcage. She led the group towards the gigantic entrance gate, which made the Hogwarts portal doors look like a mousehole. With seemingly every step, Nephtys, Tonks, Kingsley and Dawlish checked the surroundings for curses, traps and protective spells, but apart from the basic magic in the area, they could find nothing. Tonks felt reminded, not for the first time that day, of one of her favourite film series, Indiana Jones, as they all advanced into the darkness of the obelisk with conjured torches and lit wands, the interior of which, as expected, was as ornate as the outer wall. She agreed with Kingsley, who suggested that she lead the way with Nephtys as the long corridor narrowed beyond the entranceway.
"We must be careful. The ancient pharaohs built non-magical traps and mazes in their palaces and tombs to protect their treasures and their lives even from mages who could bypass the spells and curses," Nephtys explained after the group paused again to scan the area. Nephtys seemed to use every spare blink of the eye to inspect the hieroglyphs with interest but never held the group back. Tonks also caught herself several times taking a second look at hieroglyphs that showed eyes to make sure they weren't moving. "It really is suspiciously quiet here."
"Watch your every move," Kingsley said, walking close behind Tonks and Nephtys by now, while Dawlish brought up the rear behind Hermione, making sure they weren't surprised from behind.
"Watch out!" Nephtys said suddenly, when a few turns later they were suddenly standing on a ledge with nothing but darkness behind it. Her words echoed through the darkness, and Tonks suspected that they had arrived at the centre of the obelisk. She waved her wand and shot a flash of red light upwards, which rose higher and higher through the emptiness of the huge interior, illuminating the walls. The inside of the obelisk was also decorated with huge hieroglyphics that glowed hauntingly in the red light. The spell's duration was over before the lightning reached the ceiling, and Tonks turned on her heel to discuss what to do next when something caught her eye behind Nephtys in the glow of the torches and wands.
"There's a staircase," she said excitedly and repeated the flash of light, but at an angle in the direction behind Nephtys to illuminate the staircase. It seemed to lead several floors down, as it branched off at each wall and led deeper down into the darkness.
"Looks like this is the only way," Nephtys said after everyone had taken another look around.
"Good, since there's no railing, we should go one at a time. You two go first, then Kingsley, Hermione and Dawlish bring up the rear as before," Tonks ordered, letting the torch float several metres ahead down the stairs, which had no railings and seemed far too small for the huge interior of the obelisk. Tonks got a sinking feeling at the thought that they were entering the depths of an unknown magical building that most likely belonged to a black mage. She didn't voice her thoughts, however, and moved forward as quickly as she could.
As suddenly as the ledge at the top of the stairs had appeared, Tonks found herself confronted with a wall about four rounds around the obelisk's hollow interior later. Once again, a corridor branched off from the stairs. If Tonks' assumption was correct, the corridor led a few floors directly below the corridor that had connected the entrance to the stairs.
She and Nephtys were still scrutinising every stone, every wall before taking one step in front of the other. The eerie, concentrated silence, in which only the breathing of the five witches and wizards could be heard, gnawed at Tonks' well-being more and more. It was starting to feel as though they were walking into the open mouth of a monster that could snap at any moment. She flinched several times when Nephtys touched her shoulder while casting a spell or checking her surroundings.
"There's something here," Nephtys said, grabbing Tonks by her robes as she was about to take another step forward. She pointed to a tile of the glittering black rock that covered the floor of the corridors and summoned a head-sized stone, which she dropped to the ground from waist height. With a sound like a pane of glass shattering, the tile splintered into thousands of pieces, and it took so long for the sound of the impact to echo up to them that it sent shivers down Tonks' spine. "I think we'll have to skip this whole row to... do you smell that?" Nephtys suddenly paused, and Tonks also noticed the smell of an extinct fire at that moment. Tonks and Kingsley, who had been checking the floor with Nephtys, turned around, and Tonks gasped as she realised that only three torches still lit the part of the corridor they were standing in.
"Fuck! Hermione?!" she shouted through the corridor, where her silence returned several times with an echo. She immediately levitated her torch in the direction Hermione and Dawlish should have been standing and ended up rushing towards the extinguished torch, which lay in the centre of the corridor, still smoking slightly, with no regard for her own safety. She cursed aloud as she realised by the light of her own torch that there was now a smooth, black wall blocking her way behind it that hadn't been there before. Instantly, she tried to bring the wall down with a blasting curse and gasped as the wall simply absorbed the curse as if she had fired it at a body of water. There was silence for a few seconds, then a deafening boom echoed through the corridor, numbing Tonks' senses for a few seconds and resulting in a loud whistling sound in her ear. Behind her, Kingsley and Nephtys groaned in pain and held their hands over their ears like Tonks. It took a while for them to recover from the shock, and Tonks finally checked the wall for magic. She cursed loudly as the spell displayed strong magic for the first time since they had entered the obelisk.
"What now?" she shouted, close to panic, looking at the faces of her companions. Kingsley's eyes darted back and forth as he thought feverishly, but it was Nephtys who answered first.
"There must be another entrance to wherever Hermione and Dawlish are now. We've only come through corridors without doors so far and the writing on the wall didn't point to secret passages. I'd keep going down the corridor as fast as I can and try to find clues on the walls," she said, and Tonks, who couldn't think of anything better to say, let her go first. They skipped over the false slabs of rock they had identified earlier and Tonks felt her heart pounding in her throat as she walked helplessly along the corridor behind Nephtys, trying to suppress the worst-case scenarios that were playing out in her head.
"It can't be!" Nephtys broke the tense silence about ten minutes later as they travelled deeper and deeper into the corridor, which finally ended in an impenetrable wall. "Absolutely nothing! We have to go back and investigate this magical wall. There must be a way out."
"Wait," Tonks said excitedly when Nephtys had already passed her. "These symbols here! They've appeared in every corridor so far but in a different order!"
"Are you sure? I don't think so..." said Nephtys, but Tonks tapped her wand firmly on the symbol that always appeared first on the wall in the other parts of the obelisk. There was no way to tell if she was doing the right thing as she tapped the ten symbols from memory in the order she had seen them before. Tonks felt a wave of relief and adrenaline roll over her as the wall slid silently to the side after she touched the last symbol. "You've done it! Okay, stay alert. If they think we're still trapped in a maze, we might have an element of surprise," Nephtys said.
"Or it's another trap," growled Kingsley, in whose voice Tonks could hear the same annoyance at being played like this that she felt.
"We've lost enough time already! Every second counts," Tonks said, placing a Silencio on herself and taking the lead of the remaining group with quick strides. She knew the danger she was potentially putting herself, Nephtys and Kingsley in, but she couldn't let anything happen to Hermione. The three of them scanned their surroundings for traps and curses at record speed and finally came to a fork in the corridor with a bright light shining at the end. Tonks ran off without hesitation and was the first to reach the passageway, behind which she could see into the huge hall, lit by thousands of candles and fires.
A wide altar occupied the centre of the huge, pyramid-shaped room, on which a large fire was burning, its flame blazing an unnaturally dark red. Four people dressed in white robes, their faces covered by long hoods, stood motionless with their backs to the fire as if they were guarding it. Tonks sucked in a shocked breath as her eyes travelled higher, and she caught sight of Hermione. Her motionless, undressed body hovered over the fire, her arms stretched out wide as if she were hanging from an invisible cross. Her head was stretched back so that it was impossible to tell whether she was conscious or not, and Tonks saw the hieroglyphics for the first time, glowing dark red on her arm like the embers of a fire. Two more bodies floated next to her, thick, red beams like ropes emerging from their chests, which, to Tonks' horror, seemed to be carrying blood in the direction of Hermione's palms. Her shock was relieved when she noticed a tall person in a dark red cloak behind the flickering fire, holding a wand in both hands, directing what appeared to be a ritual.
Nephtys and Kingsley had also arrived by now and, like her, had taken a second to take in the surroundings. Nephtys and Tonks entered the brightly lit room at the same time, and Tonks flinched as a bright flash passed right in front of her eyes, missing her by a hair's breadth and scorching one of her eyebrows. She immediately sent a stunning spell into the corner of the room, where she now saw another white-robed figure. Tonks wanted to apparate behind the stranger but felt a ward preventing her from doing so. Limited in her mobility, she had to rely on her stationary duelling skills, which, to her surprise, the stranger had very little to hold against. She immediately turned on her heel when her opponent collapsed unconscious and watched for a moment as Kingsley duelled with another figure who had been standing in the other corner of the room. She realised with horror that Nephtys was lying at his feet, apparently hit by the spell that had missed Tonks by a hair's breadth. She was just making her way to Kingsley when two of the four guards in front of the fire broke free of their paralysis, and each pulled out a wand and ornate daggers. To Tonks' horror, they stabbed the daggers into their forearm with which they were holding their wands.
Instantly, they began bombarding Tonks with curses she didn't recognise. She skilfully dodged two bolts of light and cast a protective spell reinforced by Hermione's gift, which the rest of the curses bounced off without any problems. Having to duel two opponents at once made the fight much more difficult, especially as the two hooded figures seemed to be using blood magic, which she had no experience dealing with. She cried out as one of the wizards hurled a viscous jet from his wand at her, hitting her in the arm. Instantly, Tonks felt the blood rush through her veins and had the feeling that magic was being drained from her. As quickly as she could, she removed the jet of blood from her arm with a spell and sent several stunning spells at its creator, one of which hit the mark.
She cursed inwardly as the two remaining, previously motionless guards began to move, and she now had to face three opponents. The spells that had prevented Tonks from apparating before didn't seem to apply to the guards, and it was only thanks to Tonks' enchanted ring that some of the spells coming at her from behind didn't hit her. She heard a dull thud behind her, and hope sprouted in her as she felt Kingsley's back against hers a moment later.
"Concentrate on one. I'll protect us!" she shouted to him, putting all focus into the extended shield charm to allow Kingsley to attack. Kingsley managed to bring one of their two opponents to his knees a moment later. Tonks, meanwhile, could feel her shield charm slowly cracking under the barrage of spells hitting it. Working as a duo, however, it was no problem to take out the last guard, who threw their dagger at them in a final effort. Kingsley and Tonks wasted no time and stormed towards the altar, behind which the dark red-robed figure was still standing and directing the ritual, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. As they approached the pedestal, a dark red wall of fire suddenly rose up in front of them, the heat of which forced Tonks and Kingsley back a few steps.
"We have to break through the barrier! I'll get Nephtys!" Tonks shouted over the deafening blaze of the flames.
"No time, look!" shouted Kingsley, and Tonks realised with horror that the wall of fire was moving towards them. She immediately followed Kingsley's lead and cast a banishing spell on the wall of fire, which nevertheless moved towards them. Tonks gulped as the fire reached one of the guards lying on the ground and immediately set their robes on fire. "Everything you've got!" Kingsley shouted strainedly as sweat poured down his face like Tonks'. She focussed all her strength into the spell and felt her eyes go black with the effort. She was on the verge of losing consciousness when she suddenly felt an enormous amount of magic being released in her hand, creating a shield charm around her. Surrounded by flames, she looked around with wide eyes, but couldn't recognise Kingsley through the blazing flames. She fervently hoped that he could save Nephtys from the flames and walked resolutely in the direction where the altar must have been located.
She felt how even the reinforced shield charm surrounding her began to crack and breathed a sigh of relief when she could see Hermione's glowing arm through the flames, the hieroglyphics and lines of symbols now glowing turquoise blue. She rushed towards the altar and suddenly stood in an oppressive silence, broken only by a loud thumping that sounded like the heartbeat of a giant. Tonks' gaze travelled upwards, and she didn't know if it was due to exhaustion, but it looked to her as if both Hermione and her parents were noticeably paler than before. Blood was still flowing from her parents to Hermione's palms, where it seemed to be glistening into her body. She also realised for the first time that the person behind the altar was not wearing a hood. With his eyes closed, the dark-haired man, half of whose face was covered in tattooed hieroglyphics, stood in front of the altar and appeared to Tonks as if he was in some kind of trance, oblivious to his surroundings. Without hesitation, she used her advantage and sent the strongest stunning spell she could muster after the strain of the battles. Her eyes widened as one of the man's wands moved almost imperceptibly, and her spell was deflected.
He opened his eyes immediately, and barely a heartbeat later, goosebumps spread all over Tonks' body as the three bodies fell like stones from the air onto the stone altar with an unsavoury thud. The impact of the bodies was immediately followed by the splashing sound of the previously floating blood, which turned Tonks' stomach. The sight of the three people drenched in blood horrified her, and she felt unbridled rage boiling up inside her. Trembling, she raised her wand, but to her surprise, the man in front of her made no move to attack her. Instead, he glanced across the altar room and a second later, appraised her with a furious expression in his unnatural grey eyes.
"You stupid fool!" he said with a heavy accent and calm voice that gave Tonks the creeps.
"Wands on the floor! Now!" shouted Tonks, ready to react at the slightest movement of one of his hands.
"The ritual was almost complete, and now they're dead. A shame, really. She'll hate you for this."
"What... What do you mean?" asked Tonks, snapped out of her focussed tension by the man's words. The thin man's mouth twisted into a wry grin before his two wands once again moved ever so slightly. Tonks was prepared and was able to use her enhanced shield charm to ward off the dark red flames that came hurtling towards her with a deafening blaze. When her view of the altar cleared again, she realised with horror that the stranger had disappeared. Breathing heavily, Tonks whirled around, but there was no sign of him. The wall of fire had disappeared with him, leaving only ashes of his servants behind. She fervently hoped that Kingsley had escaped with Nephtys.
Unsure whether she was falling into another trap, she shakily approached the altar, where still none of the three bodies were moving. She glanced around one last time, then rushed over to Hermione, whose right arm was still covered in glowing turquoise symbols that reached up to her elbow. She breathed a sigh of relief when she could feel a faint pulse, but her relief gave way to horror a few moments later as she examined the lifeless bodies of Hermione's parents. Tears came to her eyes, and she closed them in despair. This couldn't be true. She desperately wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
"Enervate!" she cried in despair, but deep down, she knew there was nothing more she could do. A great emptiness spread through her head, which was soon flooded with guilt and sadness. "No," she sobbed and sank to her knees at the foot of the altar. She had ruined everything. She hadn't protected Hermione. It felt like her heart had been set on fire. She screamed until her lungs gave out and collapsed on the altar, breathing heavily as sobs wracked her body. It wasn't fair.
"Why?" she sobbed, pounding her fist on the cold stone of the altar. She winced as she heard quick footsteps echoing through the hall and aimed her wand at the entrance. She breathed a sigh of relief when she recognised Kingsley and Nephtys, who also lowered their wands when they recognised Tonks. Nephtys slapped her hand over her mouth in horror when she saw the altar and immediately rushed towards Tonks.
"Hermione! Is she...?"
"She's alive," Tonks said, covering her face with her hands as she was shaken by sobs again. She answered Kingsley's questions about the stranger's whereabouts curtly once she had calmed down a little and finally took a deep breath.
"Do you want me to handle this?" Kingsley asked, gently placing a hand on Tonks' shoulder.
"No, I have to be the one to tell her."
It was her fault. She hadn't guarded Hermione well enough, had let her down. It was out of the question for her to leave Hermione alone at that moment. She would admit her guilt and ask Hermione for forgiveness, even if she didn't hold out much hope.
"Then I'll look for Dawlish. He must still be here somewhere. Nephtys?" said Kingsley, whereupon Nephtys nodded silently and followed him. Tonks hoped fervently that her failure hadn't cost any more lives. The situation couldn't have gone any worse. She finally pulled herself together and realised that she couldn't let Hermione see this horrible sight. In tears, she used her wand to suck up the blood that almost completely covered the three Grangers and finally conjured white cloths to cover the lifeless bodies. She then conjured a blanket for Hermione, and the fear rose in her body as she saw the moment approaching when she would have to tell her what had happened.
"Enervate," she finally whispered, swallowing hard as Hermione instantly opened her eyes. The hazel eyes flicked around aimlessly for a moment, then they met Tonks' eyes and looked at her piercingly. Hermione's eyes closed tightly again, and Tonks could tell by her heavy, shaky breathing that she had already seen in her face what had happened. Tonks wrapped Hermione in a tight hug, sensing herself on the verge of losing control again.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed in a whisper, hugging Hermione tightly to her chest.
"It's not your fault," Hermione replied in a whisper. "It's mine."
Author's Notes: Hey everyone! I hope you are doing well! Phew, that was both exciting and tough to write. Of course a huge decision, but I wanted to add some darker tones to the storyline and the characters.
As always, I'd be delighted to read what you think about this chapter, and thank you to everyone who has already left reviews, favourites and follows! I hope you still enjoy what I come up with.
See you next time!
Kasing