Chapter 4 – The Beast Within
Hermione muttered a few choice words, before moving across the room to examine the door which was now firmly closed. While Hermione cast spell after spell on the lock, the handle, the doorframe and the body of the door, Charlie slowly circled the crate, keeping a wary distance, as it continued to glow.
When Hermione had exhausted every spell she could think of, she took a step back and evaluated their options. They were slim indeed.
'So, what's the prognosis?' he asked, appearing beside her.
'Not great, there are numerous enchantments in place to prevent the door being unsealed, or anyone Apparating in or out. I think it's part of the security measures in place, which I presume activated when something changed about the crate.'
'Quite intelligent really, stops anything dangerous being released into the Ministry,' he responded, his voice surprisingly calm.
Hermione nodded her agreement before turning away from the door and directing her attention towards the purple glow in the middle of the room.
'Any luck with the crate?' she asked, already knowing the answer.
'Looks about as sinister as it did when the door slammed shut,' he responded, scrunching his face up and shrugging his shoulders in feigned disinterest. He paused to examine his nails as though bored.
Hermione was glad that of all the people she could have been trapped with, it was Charlie, taking comfort in his ability to find humour in the situation. Playing her part, she dutifully pretended to disapprove, rolling her eyes and tutting. She could see Charlie grinning like an idiot our of the corner of her eye, and shoved him with her shoulder as she walked past him to take a closer look at the crate. He pretended to stumble back a good three feet before following her.
She wouldn't have said it aloud in that moment, but she could vividly see the family resemblance between Charlie and the twins in that moment.
As they both approached the middle of the room the sound of stone on stone filled the air and Hermione looked down to see a great circle of stone slabs set into the floor beginning to turn slowly.
'Move!' Charlie shouted, dragging her by her arm towards the back wall beside the door.
The circle of stones was very nearly the total width of the room, leaving a small space against each wall to stand in. When the stones had finished a full rotation, an ominous green mist began to seep up from the cracks. Hermione immediately tried to cast a bubble head charm but nothing happened, she tried three times before reluctantly accepting that the security enchantments must be blocking the spell. Charlie had also tried with the same results.
The mist was slowly filling the room, and seeping ever closer to them.
'Distineo!' Charlie said loudly, swishing his wand in an elaborate circular motion.
A large sphere surrounded them which the mist could not penetrate, and Hermione felt the sigh of relief leave her, even as she felt Charlie's shoulders sag beside her.
'Fast thinking, Weasley,' she praised.
'Spell we use at the reserve for keeping smoke at bay if there's a forest fire,' he explained.
It made sense, but she was still impressed, and she told him so. She pretended not to notice the way his ears went red, or the smile which spread slowly across his lips. It occurred to her then that it might well be another one of his own inventions, and made a note to ask him about it when they got out of here.
Which brought her back to the present with an uncomfortable lurch. Just how were they going to get out of this?
'There must be a safeguard in place,' she muttered, thinking out loud.
'Of course, some way of turning the safety mechanism in place if it's activated accidentally,' Charlie trailed off.
'OK, well it would have to be something simple. I assume it's part of the training they provide in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I doubt it's changed much since the rooms were built, the enchantments I found when I was examining the door earlier were very old,' Hermione continued.
They both tried several spells, some directed at the door, some at the floor and Hermione even cast a Patronus, asking it to fetch help, but her silverly Otter simply ran about the room, before hovering over her helplessly.
The barrier Charlie had summoned rippled and seemed to shrink.
'How long does this spell last?' Hermione asked tentatively.
'I don't think it's got long left. It's really only meant to be a temporary barrier when a bubble head won't do it,' Charlie said, looking apologetic.
Hermione nodded absently, her mind whirring. She had expected as much she reasoned, carefully suppressing the rising feeling of dread which had settled in the pit of her stomach. She considered and dismissed half a dozen theories before Charlie's voice penetrated her thoughts.
'OK, let's think again, something simple, something old,' Charlie reasoned.
'Blood magic,' Hermione said suddenly, the pieces slotting neatly into place.
Charlie looked at her with a strange expression.
'It's the oldest kind of magic there is.'
Before Charlie had time to do much more than open his mouth (whether to agree or disagree she'd never know), Hermione drew her wand across her palm, creating a neat cut, which immediately began to bleed. She allowed a few drops to hit the ground, the little beads of red shimmering red and then evaporating entirely. She clenched her fist and allowed a few more drops to hit the floor, they too swiftly disappeared. Swallowing loudly, she placed her palm against the door, as she pulled her hand back, the red smear of blood evaporated with a sharp sizzling sound. Nothing.
Dark smoke continued to fill the air.
Hermione felt her stomach lurch as she suddenly thought about everything she still wanted to do with her life. She didn't want to die, not here, not yet, certainly not like this.
The sphere protecting them from the encroaching smoke shrunk further, forcing them to sit on the floor shoulder to shoulder, backs now against the door.
'Surely Durham will have raised the alarm, it's been ages since he left,' Charlie reasoned.
Hermione didn't reply, thinking, just as Charlie undoubtedly was, that if Durham hadn't already thought to come looking for them, it was probably too late.
'I'm sorry the spell doesn't last longer, never thought I'd need it for so long,' Charlie apologised, taking Hermione's injured hand very gently in his. She could feel the callouses on his palms as he carefully healed the small cut on her palm.
'The spell, it's another one you created, isn't it?' she asked as she stared at their now intertwined hands, resting in Charlie's lap.
'I suppose it sort of is. I adapted it from an old spell meant to keep the heat in, I figured if it could seal warm air in, then surely it could keep the air out too. Bit of tweaking and it did the job,' he explained, his face solemn.
Hermione squeezed his hand in hers.
'To borrow a phrase from Ron, you bloody brilliant, I hope you know.'
He squeezed her hand in response, drawing it up to his chest. She could feel his heartbeat, slow and steady.
As she turned to look up at him, she wished she could have explained to him how much the last few days had meant to her. She thought about how empty she had felt, how alone, and how quickly her life and home had felt warm and complete again, since his arrival. It made no sense really, she didn't know him all that well, and yet, she felt like she'd known him for a lifetime.
She saw that now familiar smile tug at the corner of Charlie's lips, and felt her own mouth mimic his. She could feel his heart hammering against the back of her hand, in sharp contrast to only a moment ago. She could hear her own heart pounding in her ears. It must be the smoke beginning to seep in she thought.
The barrier around them flickered again, breaking the spell.
As if it infused him with a sudden surge of anger, Charlie muttered a long string of curse words, pommelling his fist against the unyielding metal of the door. Hermione joined him, perversely enjoying the sting of her palm striking the metal. She heard the pop of the enchantment finally failing, and silently offered a prayer to whoever was listening that the next part would be quick. She felt the smoke fill her lungs; it tasted like copper. Her chest burned even as she desperately tried to keep her breathing shallow.
It was only a moment or two before she could no longer muster the strength to raise her hands to the door, and she felt the world spin. Suddenly her cheek was resting against the cool stone of the floor and she could barely make out the shape of Charlie still weakly clawing at the door.
As she felt herself slip away, her mind was filled with memories, thousands of moments she'd spent with her parents, her friends, the boys and the Weasleys, moments filled with joy and grief, laughter and tears. She thought about Missy, and she thought about Charlie, standing at the window of her bedroom, bathed in sunlight. In her mind's eye, he turned to look at her and smiled softly, holding his hand out, she desperately wanted to take it, but her arms felt like lead.
She blinked once, twice, trying to tell him she couldn't reach him, and then she thought she could hear him shout out in pain, before the world went black.
The next coherent thought that entered her mind, was that she was thirsty, in fact she was thirstier than she could ever remember being. She opened her eyes, expecting to be in her bed at home, and was for a moment thoroughly confused to see stark tiled walls. She gingerly sat up a little, regretting it almost immediately.
'Hermione!' she heard Ginny practically screeching.
Hermione immediately winced, sinking back into her pillow, and pressing a hand to her forehead.
Ginny would later tell her she had actually spoken rather quietly, but in that moment, Hermione thought she sounded like she was part banshee.
'Sorry!' she whispered, her face hovering over Hermione, filled with relief and concern.
Soon enough Harry and Ron had come rushing to her side, expressions matching Ginny's.
'Thank Merlin! I'll fetch a Healer.' Ginny declared, disappearing as quickly as she'd appeared.
Harry wrapped Hermione's free hand in hers, Ron carefully laid a hand on her shoulder, as if they both needed the physical reassurance that she was in fact alive. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw how tired and happy they both looked.
'Glad to have you back.' Ron choked out, Harry aggressively nodded his agreement, clearly unable to speak.
Hermione's vision blurred as she fought back tears. She could just about make out Harry rubbing a hand over his face, his cheeks suspiciously wet.
Ginny and a witch with a blonde bob, wearing St Mungos green, appeared moments later.
The healer cast several spells in rapid succession, and appearing satisfied with the results, handed Hermione a potion which dulled her headache from searing pain, to a dull ache. It was difficult to swallow, but she was grateful.
'I'm Healer Barrow. How are you feeling?' she asked cheerily.
Hermione voice came out in a hoarse whisper, 'like I've been sat on by a troll, but better than I did before you gave me that potion.'
The witch nodded and tutted sympathetically, handing her a second potion, which Hermione dutifully swallowed, her throat felt infinitely better.
'Thank you,' Hermione sighed.
Healer Barrow smiled gently, somehow managing to look motherly, despite being the youngest person in the room.
'Just two more, and then you can rest a bit,' she promised, handing Hermione yet another potion.
She drank both, and took it as a good sign that she found herself making a mental note to find out what she had been prescribed, in case it came in handy down the line. She imagined Charlie had received the same treatment.
'Charlie!' she cried, cringing at how raspy she sounded.
'It's OK, Charlie's fine. He woke up yesterday, he's in better shape than you are.' Harry quickly soothed her.
They crawl out just as a load of Aurors arrive. Hermione's boss had gone looking for her and when he couldn't find her raised the alarm.
It emerges that Durham is missing and so are most of his case notes. The Auror department assume he is involved and is on the run but Unspeakable Holmes indicates he thinks there is more to the story.
At home, Hermione asks Charlie to tell her more about his involvement in recovering the original dragon's egg and what his thoughts about it are.
Charlie reveals he found evidence of human activity near a nesting female Chinese Fireball in the mountain region of the reserve, specifically tailored to meet their specific needs. He checks with all of his Keepers and they all deny being there. He sets shifts to observe the nest, convinced that someone must have found a way past their wards, and about a week later, he finds Keeper Reeves unconscious and an egg is missing from the nest. He immediately triggers a lockdown of the reserve, and they barely make it out alive as the female returns and thinks they're responsible.
Charlie then tells Hermione he had spoken to Bill and placed a tracking charm on the egg, one used by the Goblins when keeping track of precious objects in transit. Its absolutely not legal, but he takes the chance, and it pays off. He is able to trace the egg to a black market in Berlin, where he alerts the authorities and the egg is seized. By this point, the egg has been through several hands and the seller is arrested but doesn't lead them to the original thief.
Charlie confides in Hermione that he suspects it's an inside job, and knows the Ministry and Romanian Chambers of Magical Office think so too. He says he initially resisted requests to come to the UK to 'help with the investigation' as he felt it made the reserve more vulnerable, but eventually received a summons from Durham, countersigned by Auror Applebee, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.
The next day they return to the Ministry and discover that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has released them from the case, and asked the Unspeakables to step back. They sate that they have determined Durham to be responsible and wizard hunt is on to find him, therefore their help is no longer required.
Unspeakable Holmes states that he has informed them he will pass the message on to his team, which infuriates Charlie. Holmes endures his outburst with impassivity until Hermione intervenes and says that he didn't say he'd said he'd issue the order though.
Holmes simply raises an eyebrow and asks Hermione if she believes her 'Project' would benefit from some more focus time? Hermione replies that it absolutely would and Holmes tells Charlie that the Ministry are expecting him to return to Romania post haste before leaving.