Chapter 19: The Longest Night

Date: Sunday, 7th November 2010

Time: 9 pm, Malfoy Manor Moor, South Side

Hermione asked Malcom to appear. Lucas followed suit with his own elite squad.

Hermione spoke, "Malcom, for exclusively this night, ADENA is your commanding officer. You are to follow her orders even if it means abandoning my side, if required. When in any doubt or regret, remember that by following Adena exclusively, you will be honoring me."

Lucas then spoke to his security leader, "Yobil, tonight Harry is your only leader. You are to follow him to the letter, even at the expense on abandoning me, if needed."

Once the security command was clear, it was confirmed that ADENA, Harry and Zabini would be leading the combat operations this night.

Malcom spoke, "The last known location of the Korean Biologist was in the Brighton Coast area. There are more than 250 buildings, huts and communities out there. Have we got anything further to narrow down the scope?"

Adena nodded, "One thing is clear. They want to hurt us where we are the weakest. They know Athena and Lucas have powerful defensive force-fields. They will try to gather us in warzones that have high natural disturbance such as electromagnetic storms. Our defensive cover will be at its peak but we won't be able to attack. If they devise a means for them to take our force field cover apart, we will not have sufficient time to stage an attack before they kill us all with dark magic. We should look particularly for those villages near which the sea is violent. Our man would take up his base out there."

Malcom nodded, "Tonight only 2 spots in the UK have that. First is our area in Kemp town and next is Castlerock in Northern Ireland. That is probably where the Canadian and the girl is hiding out. Hermione Ma'am, could you send an advanced thought message to Athena?"

Hermione smiled, "I can do better than that. Veena will hand deliver the message to Athena."

Veena was uncertain, "Are you sure you are taking the correct decision, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded, "We decided on this earlier, Veena. These wizards are rather dangerous and they may have called in more reinforcements because foreigners can easily come in. When facing such numerical superiority, we need our strongest combat force and your direct combat experience would be an ideal foil to Zabini. I have my entire core group, Luna/Neville and Jack/Adena/Lucas and their protective group, all to hunt down a single wizard. We are going to be absolutely fine. They are the ones I am concerned about."

Veena bowed uncertainly and Apparated away.

Harry nodded, "Right off we go to the town square at Kemp Town. Teams: Hermione/ Draco/ Neville/ Pansy/ Luna/ Jack, Lucas and his force covers both teams and my team: Adena/ Fred/ George/ Ron & Myself. No one is to separate without my express permission. We investigate in Bars, crowded late night restaurants and seedy hotels. Any person getting a clue will send their PATRONUS to the rest of the group. Should we encounter them, we will concentrate on defensive and capturing spells such as rope binding. These people are far more valuable in terms of potential information alive, so no one shoots killing spells, even in self-defense."

As soon as the group landed in Lewes Crescent, they knew they were right on target because there was electricity in the air. From the park, staring out to the churning and menacing sea, they knew they had a long night ahead. Being 10-30 pm early evening, the first place they investigated were Bars. 10 minutes into the night, a person in a long dark cloak touched Adena's shoulder in the Black Pigeon restaurant and bar. The person whispered urgently in her ears and Adena signaled Harry and others to look away and stay casual.

"Thank You Adena, you took my whispered advice. I do have some specific information on the biologist you are searching but you need to take this drink. This drink has a magical spell embedded within it that gives the precise location of your target's activities up until 3 minutes back."

"Who are you and why are you helping me? I would like to test this drink with my spells before taking it."

"Who I am is not important, Adena. The fact is that everything in this mission is based on trust. You have no choice but to trust me."

Adena realized that long before and she took a big swig of a golden colored liquid. Instantly she felt the need to relieve herself and she entered the ladies room. Once she came out, she saw that the stranger was gone. Adena joined Harry and asked him to go to the Old Hall library. That was the location of the target 7 minutes before and then the trail was lost. She had another hunch for which her mysterious helper wanted to speak to her alone at the Beach opposite Lewes. She would be having Malcom, Yobil and their security groups to cover her. Harry agreed and went with his remaining group to the library. Both communicated the developments to Hermione.

Hermione and her group were in the Sussex Hospital reception, investigating a fresh injury claim that evening consistent with splinching, often the result of unfocused Apparating. A young French piano girl gave her this information, after Hermione momentarily forgot her mission and was lost in appreciating the melodious strains this prodigious musical teenager was producing. The girl responded to Hermione's appreciation in kind, stating that 20 minutes earlier, her start to the performance was delayed when a person with hideous injuries entered the bar, before she described the injuries at Hermione's insistence. The Assistant Barman had taken him to the Sussex Hospital.

Hermione called in her team, "This may be a random incident or it may be a splinching incident involving our target/ his friends. Given the nature of our mission, we can't take any information for granted. Let us investigate at the hospital.

As Pansy was asking the hospital reception, Hermione updated the information from Harry with her team. "So our target is safe, this may be one of his friends. Pansy, please ask the nationality of this patient. Neville, check the force fields around us. Dark people have significantly altered force fields. If so, we can nab someone right here at the hospital. Luna, go with Pansy and try to casually talk with the doctor dealing with this injury."

Hermione gave her update, "Malcom and his group are now called in by Adena to give her additional protection, so I am momentarily exposed. I need to go to the ladies room now but after I come back, we will join Harry. Our investigation here seems to be over."

Jack instantly stood up alert. He was relaxed all night long but now he started prowling like a tiger.

When Hermione came back, she was a changed person. "Guys, someone left a clue on the ladies room mirror. They want me to meet them alone at the water falls outside. If they detect any of your presence, they will kill you. I must do this alone."

Jack faced Hermione, "Show me the clue, Hermione."

Anger flashed in her eyes, "Now is not the time for trivialities."

Jack put on a mask of steel, "It is decided, if you do go out there, I will disguise myself behind you. I will protect my identity but if situation demands, I will reveal myself. I still have the reputation to induce fear in mischief mongers. This is a non-negotiable condition, Hermione."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "Suit yourself, Jack. Others, join Harry. If they want to meet me alone, we must give an impression of us complying with their demands. Update Harry about this latest development and remain alert. If I do not join you in 10 minutes, come and search for me staring from the waterfall area. Take remote advice from Veena about target location tracking: in this case me."

Hermione found the waterfall area deserted. 200 yards behind her, Jack was disguised as an old drunkard. A blue light washed over Hermione, leaving Jack perplexed. Jack joined Hermione.

Hermione smiled at Jack, "I just got a thought message. I am to meet the target's main associate at the Castle Hill National Nature Reserve. As usual, he wants to meet me alone. He sends this white flag to indicate a peaceful meeting. We are very close to success tonight."

Jack sighed, "Hermione, why do you like elves?"

Hermione gave a curious laugh, "What kind of question is that at the middle of a mission?"

Jack's smile was consistent, "A rather vital question, Hermione."

"It is not just the house-elves, Jack. It is about all forms of life, including humans, who are weaker than me. We are here in this world to use our superior powers to elevate the weaklings: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Love, empathy and gratitude for their presence is the noblest act we can perform because our own gifts are the bounty of Nature. We are duty bound to give it back to Mother Nature. At the end of my life, post-retirement, I will go to the Japanese Gardens and immerse myself in Buddhist philosophy of universal love, courage and kindness, principles I live for."

Tears flashed out of Jack's eyes, "Hermione, we have a long night ahead. I just want you to remember one small fact amidst all the forthcoming challenges. Mother Nature always takes care of her golden children. You truly are one of them. I thank Holy Father for the fact that Lucas's greed led him to you and I got a chance to meet you. Just remember this, a person with your heart never walks alone."

Hermione's own eyes now misted, "Thank You for your incredible kind words, Jack. At this point for the first time in my life, I am absolutely alone. Those words have given me tremendous strength. No words in gratitude are good enough, Jack."

Hermione tightly hugged Jack. Hermione then decided to proceed to the rendezvous alone and Apparated to the Nature Reserve.

Meanwhile, Adena was following her lead and she reached the 18th Green at Castlerock Golf Club, Northern Ireland. A caddie told her to meet a group of people at the Downhill beach house. When she reached the lounge, she found herself facing the dejected group led by Zabini. They were shocked at Adena's appearance. Adena updated them about her events till that point of time and how her lead asked her to come here.

Zabini gave Adena a sad smile, "At least you have a lead. We have zilch. For the past 4 hours, Veena has been getting leads that we follow, only to see the targets escape us with a lead time of 10-12 minutes. They leave a clue as to their next destination but that leads to an identical result. We have covered 27 spots in this beautiful location. We tried all known means. We went together as a team, split Athena and Veena who are both experts at this tracking technique, we even did a proxy trick by sending Veena's hologram to lure them out (my o my, that was some advanced magic, it still took her more than 45 minutes), yet we have nothing concrete to show for all our efforts. Shamefully, our bodies ran out of energy and as a group we decided to recharge our bodies with light high energy food. If we were tired in a battlefield, I could have understood. But we are here after simply running after them in circles. Your presence here might spark some inspiration in our team, Adena."

Adena shook her head sadly, "Frankly, I came here hoping to get a lead. I am myself at a dead end here. My unknown benefactor purposely led me to a dead end here. However, disappointments are part and parcel of all missions. Let us review all our information and start anew."

As soon as Adena finished her observation, the door outside shook by heavy pounding. Zabini instantly told others to take their combat position and he went to the door himself.

"Who is this? Identify yourself or we will be forced to blast you apart. We are in a combat mode. You tell us or you perish, choice is yours."

An angry voice replied, "This is Hermione, you idiot. Open the door. I have some urgent piece of information."

Zabini opened the door cautiously.

Hermione stood in the room facing them, "We are trapped Adena. They tricked us all when you asked Harry to go to the library. My informer told this at the Waterfall. The old library with Harry and Group inside is booby trapped with a timer explosive. Our only ballistics' expert is Veena. You are their last hope, Veena. All modes of communication with them are blocked off."

Zabini got up, "We will Apparate right back, Hermione. Irrespective of what Veena does, I swear it on my own honor that nothing will happen to them. At last, we have got a chance to make a positive contribution to this mission. I have specifically trained myself in bomb evacuations and I will tell the precise method to all of you here. We will safely escort them away before they put their plan into action. We will keep substituting metal weight to the rooms in place of people, if bomb is weight sensitive. Veena and Athena can work on detecting and dismantling the bomb. Rest of us are to focus on evacuation."

Veena raised her hand in askance, "Zabini, please wait. Hermione, what are you doing here? You never abandon your own made plans. Why this diversion today?"

Hermione flashed angry eyes at Veena, "Are you even making sense Veena? What is the value of plans when the lives of my core group and best friends are at stake?"

Veena persisted, "Who else did you inform about the change of Plans?"

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, "I just told you, all communication modes are blocked. No one knows that I am here."

Veena smiled, "I am not fully convinced but I will take your words at face value for the moment. I will detect and dismantle the bomb and then we can continue on this topic. OK then, we go back to the Old Library at Kemp Town. We do not know if bomb is weight sensitive but we carry with us 66 metal bars at maximum adult male weight. Our security cover will help us carry this load. Athena and I will begin the task of detection and you guys will look for Harry and group. Your PATRONUS will tell me when Harry and team are found. Begin evacuation immediately with Zabini's lead. Ginny is ideally suited to maintain calm and order."

After 20 nervous minutes of frantic searching, Zabini and team finally found Harry with team at the 2nd floor hall. He updated the situation urgently and started the evacuation procedure. A film like PATRONUS attached itself to Veena and Athena, asking them about the bomb situation. They had to find the bomb soon because they did not have much time left. 45 minutes after the 2 groups reunited, Athena and Veena finally found the bomb below a 15th Century Arm Chair in the basement. The rocking motion made it challenging for Veena because she knew the bomb was both motion sensitive and weight sensitive. They had less than 10 minutes before a blast. It was 3 Kg worth of Antimatter in a special Canister. An explosion would take down the entire county. Veena summoned up all her skills. Athena conjured a miniature cradle whose rocking motion echoed the armchair movement with 100% precision. Veena disconnected the bomb from the arm chair and immediately placed it in the toy cradle. She then worked on dismantling the bomb. It was the most sophisticated piece of explosive she ever saw with more than 20 wires tightly meshed and crisscrossing and they had only 5 minutes to time zero. If it ultimately came down to it, Athena and she would have to abandon the town to its fate because Hermione was the biggest priority. They would device a plan to take revenge for loss of more than 2 million innocent lives because the waves of the explosion would reach outskirts of London. It would be the worst human tragedy since the Japan blasts in 1945. At the moment however, Athena and Veena were giving their 100% focus on the bomb.

Just 2 minutes were left. Athena paced nervously, "Have you located the ignition wire yet, Veena?"

Veena nodded, "Yes, I have finally placed it but I am tracking it to its origin. At the one minute threshold, please Apparate away and ask Hermione and team to Apparate to Iceland. I will join you there."

"I am not leaving you here alone, Veena!"

"This is not a high school play, Athena. Choices and sacrifice are the critical part of any mission. I wanted to serve Hermione and I will do that by saving her life. The war is yet to begin and it will be a long dirty one. She needs your love and protection. I would never be part of them as you are. Between you and me, I should be the one to die here tonight. My ethics does not allow me to doom 2 million innocent souls to die without any effort on my part. It is one minute remaining, you must leave NOW!"

Athena resolutely stood her ground. "Athena, I bind you to Tom Riddle's last wish. By critically injuring yourself, you will do him dishonor. You need to go NOW."

Athena looked at Veena helplessly, "I hate you, Veena. You exploited my only weakness. OK, I will go now. Adieu!"

Veena smiled back, "This war is going to be decided by just a single weakness, a single chink in the armor. That is how a true war is, Athena. Goodbye."

Athena helplessly joined Harry, Hermione and Team at the garden outside. Athena looked at Hermione, 'She is not coming, guys! Ethics and stuff. We are to Apparate to Iceland. If she meets us there, we will know. Else, tomorrow's paper will tell us all about the deaths of 2 million + 1 person."

Tears escaped Adena and Luna. They were all just about to Apparate away when Veena called out, "STOP!"

They turned and looked at Veena holding the antimatter canister. All of them rushed to her and embraced her.

"Wait, before we leave this place, I need to clarify something. Hermione, why did you not inform Harry about your change of plans? He can be reached even when Lucas force fields block all access. He knows that and so do you and I. Why did you not inform Harry?"

"What does all that matter, Veena? We are safe, that is what is important. Frankly I am surprised at your constant questioning, Veena. If I am your idol, you are to take every word of mine as your Bible, Veena. Are you having second thoughts about hero-worshipping me, Veena?"

Veena felt badly stung at that question and she replied with tears falling freely on her cheeks, "You are always my only Hero, Hermione! My soul and life feels connected with you. All the same, my years of honed instinct tells me that you are not the real Hermione. My instincts have always saved me just like they did 2 minutes back. The bomb ignition wire was leading to the small button, not the fancy clock. It was scientific observation versus raw instinct because clocks are ideal activation mechanisms. My instinct saved 2 million lives and my own. I am sorry but I must test you, Hermione."

Veena aimed her wand at Hermione and a blue light emerged. Harry fell nose down into the fresh mud as others looked on in shock. Veena's tripping spell went right through Hermione's body and hit Harry. A zombie like human doll crumpled to the hard ground.

Others were paralyzed with shock when Veena spoke up, "I knew it. Adena was misled after going into the ladies room, so it was clear that Lucas keeps his protective force away only from that location, he wishing to maintain the dignity of the opposite gender. The enemy knew about this and trapped both Adena and Hermione. Hermione would never change plans without informing Harry so I suspected a bad apple immediately. Yet the bomb threat was a genuine one hence I focused on that aspect. Hermione is never rude and spiteful. I also knew the Korean biologist could easily create a hologram induced robot of Hermione with her exact voice and genetic features. This is possible without actual DNA replication when the person herself is physically present in the location. The enemy used our goodness to go against us. Hence I had to carry out this test. I am sorry for tripping you, Harry."

"YOU are apologizing Veena? Without your intervention, Hermione might have been dead tonight. She is still alone out there because all of us are here."

Identical faces of utter despair crossed the core group, Pansy, Luna, Neville, Penelope and Ginny. Veena, Adena and Athena were ready to cry.

Suddenly Pansy brightened up, "Wait, Jack is still with her. The odds are miserably low because we have a veteran wizard and an innocent witch against the cream of the evil world. We must find her immediately for her to have any chance of survival. But the question is, where is she? We start at the waterfall and track her real self from there. With expert trackers in Veena and Athena, we will soon reach her."

Hope surged through the ranks as they Apparated to the waterfall together.

In the Nature reserve in the neighboring village, Hermione walked alone confidently. She knew that the protective cocoon surrounding her visa vise her position had to come apart someday and she had to face the enemies alone, using only her intelligence, courage and kindness as her true weapons.

Her lead kept luring her to the depths of the forest. It was getting difficult to walk. She finally reached a small clearing and stopped. A voice called out and her wand was disarmed by a golden haired young girl, no more than in her late teens. She was surrounded by 16 masked wizards and atleast 4 witches, given the graceful hair that was visible. Hermione sighed. She wanted to absorb the beauty of the moment. The perfect cold night, clear star filled skies and a shiny silvery moon shining on 20 people meaning to kill her.

A kind voice spoke to her, "Welcome to your final moments, Hermione. I am Kim, the Korean Biologist. How do you feel now?"

Hermione smiled, "I am Happy and at peace."

"You ought to realize that this is nothing personal, purely a political example. Your death will be a killer blow to the morale of the good magical society and dark will finally have a permanent reign over the light."

"I understand that Kim. I have also figured out that you put me under imperious curse and had me send away my loved ones. Do I have the right to know what specific objective you will achieve?"

"Sure, Hermione. A dying person gets to fulfill all her wishes. After we put you to death, we will ask Harry (who is the only true successor you have) to introduce our senior lady as the head of Aurors else his other loved ones will face worse consequences. With our person at the helm of the most critical forces hunting us, we will eat you away from inside and in 3 years, so a complete takeover of this planet."

"Will I have a quick death, Kim?"

Kim laughed heartily, "You wish Hermione! We will give you a slow and excruciating painful death. We will allow fiendfyre to roast you from within and without and our crew will videotape this. We will magically broadcast this video to all magical households across the world. That will kill all morale and dissuade people who are good, kind and intelligent from stepping up, especially the women, whose rightful places are still as Homemakers?"

"What do you have against women, Kim?

"I am not anti-women, Hermione. I am anti-change. Women are changing the power structure in a traditional patriarchal society. We detest that and your death will be a death knell to all such initiatives."

A girl with golden hair spoke up, "We did not agree on this, Kim. You told me she would have a Hero's death- a single killing spell. We did not agree to torture and video tape her death. And what is all this stuff about women? When did you develop such a sick mentality? You are a biologist so you must know that women create and preserve life? Why such a level of antagonism?"

Kim growled, 'Shut up, Natalie. You are a junior intern. We do not need to share all details with you or explain our principles. You just sit back and watch the show."

Natalie spit back, "I have every right to demand being heard and explained to. I was the one who put Adena and her under imperious curse when they were inside the ladies room."

Kim laughed, "You started things but never finished it. My Canadian buddy fixed the anti-matter bomb in the library but all of them escaped and we had to change our plans at the last moment. When I sent the fake Hermione to Adena, I thought it was too little too late. If Harry and group were saved, they become our puppets. If they perish, we directly run the show. It is like bake the cake and eat it too. Veena is brilliant and brave, I give that. She dismantled the bomb with 4 seconds left. That is not important now. Natalie, please step back and let us do our job."

"Enough of this madness Kim. Get away from her and let me give her a Hero's death that she deserves."

Kim gave a dry laugh. "You brought this on yourself, Natalie." He sent her body spiraling back with a stunning spell. With Natalie unconscious, no one was there to stop him. He turned to Hermione, "Any last wishes?"

Hermione smiled, "A last prayer and a message to all my 70 loved ones that I would always love them."

"You have my word on that Hermione. Finish your prayer and face the final moments of your life."

As Hermione sought the Grace of Lord, whom she was shortly to join, Hermione prayed for all her loved ones and their strength to live out their lives without her. She looked back at her contribution since joining Hogwarts and felt proud of her doing throughout life. Opening her eyes, she remembered with a shudder the searing pain of fiendfyre that burned her hand at Bellatrix den during the 3rd Wizards War. She would be facing intense pain for an hour or more but she would soon be free of any other pain. She thanked Mother Nature for providing resources to make her life happy and smiled at Kim, "I am ready now."

Just then, she heard a faint thud behind her.

Kim asked her, "How does it feel to die all alone, Hermione?"

"I have realized one fact, Kim. A person with my heart is never truly alone."

"Enough of the philosophical nonsense. Your one supporter is unconscious and your loved ones don't even realize you are absent. You are alone in the real sense. FIENDFYRE!"

A ball of orange made its way towards Hermione's chest. She closed her eyes, embracing pain and death. The pain never came. Instead all that came was a piercing pain filled scream of an old man as he slashed his wand at people all around the circle shouting the death cry, "AVADA KEDAVARA!" 19 wizards fell in shock, being unable to anticipate a last moment savior, the first being the fire caster Kim.

Hermione looked at the burning Jack in utter shock. Unable to think much, she conjured salt water from the nearby ocean to attempt dousing the fire. The fire doused but Jack screamed in further pain. Hermione sent out a pain numbing healing spell.

Jack finally managed a forced laughter, "Thanks for literally poring salt into my wounds, Hermione!"

Hermione responded, "I am sorry. That was the only fire retardant in miles nearby."

Jack smiled, "Thanks for your attempts, Hermione. You are not out of danger yet, they have multiple followers. We can't have another attack attempt tonight. Use my wand, point to the sky and whisper Lucas Code. The group will join us before face more from the evil side. I know you don't like killing but these heartless people were going for nothing less than blood. I had to finish them all before they touched you. Now please cast the spell without wasting another moment."

Hermione did as asked and a silver jet disappeared across the horizon. "What do we do with the teenage girl Natalie?"

"I thudded her head with my wand to give her an extra strong sleep spell. We then exchanged clothes, allowing me to seamlessly enter the group circle. She will not be awake for hours. Take her with you and interrogate but let her go. She is a good teenage girl."

Suddenly every Magical member that departed Malfoy manor earlier that night joined Hermione and Jack. There was unanimous relief seeing that Hermione was fine but that changed into unmistakable sorrow, looking at Jack. Oceans load of sadness marred the faces of Adena and Lucas.

Before they could utter a word, 45-50 wizards popped out around them but Lucas sent out a green light warning that the worst death awaited them should they as much as utter a word. They quietly left.

Hermione asked Lucas, "How did you get here so soon, Lucas?"

Lucas spoke with a stone in his throat, "That code is the end of life code for the core members of our group. It gives the exact location of the sender and the person with them along with the last message of the caster. You cast the spell Hermione but the message was encoded by Jack. It told me all that happened since I took up my town hall position. I located Adena and updated Harry's group only about your location and we rushed here."

With all danger gone, the adrenaline pumping into Hermione sagged. She crumpled to the ground in front of Jack and broke down in a bout of convulsive sobbing. She was joined by Lucas and Adena.

Hermione bawled, "I am so sorry, Jack. I watched you save my life but I could do nothing to save yours. My healing spells have only delayed the inevitable but even after years of research, the healing community have not found the answer to fiendfyre wounds. It is always fatal."

Jack smiled, 'It is good that some wounds are incurable. Thus the human endeavor continues to search for a way out. If all mysteries are solved, the world will shrink into mediocrity. I thank your commitment to knowledge that you knew healing well enough to keep me alive for this long when I should have died in 2 minutes flat. I feel my heartbeat is fading so I must speak really fast. Lucas, I want you to promise me that you will fulfill my last wish."

Lucas asked, "What is your wish?"

Jack stared angrily at Lucas, "Damn it, Lucas. Why do you always need to rationalize? For the sake of our friendship, you have to promise me. I think I have earned that right from you, with or without your express consent. You can break your vow if situation truly demands but I order you now to say YES."

Tears clouded his face as Lucas proclaimed, "YES YES and a thousand times YES."

Jack smiled, "Good Lucas! You made a dying man happy (Lucas collapsed to the ground, supported by Adena). Adena runs our empire from today onwards. We both have mentored her long enough and she is ready. You remain a powerful mentor and you retain your official title but in terms of operating and executive power, she is now the one and all. You can argue the case with her but it remains her decision. You will not be able to veto any decision on your own. Go to the Buddhist Garden to recharge your sorrow filled batteries, Buddy. Hermione will give you the location. Adena (Adena stepped forward, her eyes blinded out by tears), take care of the empire we lovingly built. You are now like the daughter Lucas never had. He may be a charmer with the opposite gender but you give him that stability only a lady can provide a man. Lucas made a big mistake when we tried to grab hold of Hermione's empire but in his mistake was the biggest masterstroke. You now have Hermione as an ally along with Athena and their powerful followers. They are officially your rivals but unofficially your best friends, being there for you 24*7. (Hermione, Athena and Harry affirmatively nodded) One last thing Lucas, thank you for respecting my wishes and letting me be a good man since May of this year. I have honored my brother and you have truly honored me. It also gave me immense pleasure to collaborate my work with the brilliant scientist that is Athena. Her knowledge of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences are unparalleled. She is a true ambassador for our conservation initiative. Stay well, all of you! Wherever I go, I will remember you fondly."

That was the last bit of speech he could manage with all the remaining energy in his body. Immediately afterword, his body collapsed and Jack passed on. Universally the women were united in convulsive grief as the men folk held themselves artificially strong. Lucas was a complete wreck, declaring that one light illuminating his life was now gone. All of them knew Jack well since his decision to involve Athena in their lives.

After struggling to compose herself, Hermione threw both her arms around Adena and Lucas. "You have lost one light but gained one more. Jack gave me a chance to live when I had made a peace with death. All my subsequent moments are a bonus, a gift of Jack. I know he was your foundation. I now promise to be the same informally. Just keep courage and look at the rising sun. Darkness is gone, a better tomorrow is here. Just keep faith and thank Nature for having the magical life. Draco, Harry and I will personally escort Lucas to the garden that I mentioned about to Jack. He will stay there until his scars are healed. At this time, we all are there for you Adena, 24*7. We need Lucas to properly heal. The dirty battle has just begun and we have lost one of our commanders and they lost 19. This is an unprecedented battle of physical power, science skills and the ability to exploit the slightest weakness of the enemy.

They took advantage of the fact that Lucas did not extend his force to the ladies bathroom. Athena had no such reservation about men's room. The force field allows the caster to monitor activities in all the spaces where the force shield is active. Lucas was an embarrassed gentleman who drew his line but Athena was under no such chivalrous illusions. Under her care, if someone tried to put Zabini under imperious in the men's room, she would have known that. Lucas's chivalry opened a door for their strategy to isolate me. Their lone weakness was their 100% focus on me which helped Jack slip in as Natalie after exchanging her clothes and covering the hair before he signaled Kim that she accepted his conditions after coming around. I saw all this with a mirror I held to my face as I said my final prayer. Kim also pointed out that he sent Athena's group on a wild goose chase in Ireland and rejoined with the Canadian and the Kyrgyzstani Girl after activating the bomb at the old library."

All of them embraced and they collected Natalie's limp form to proceed to Hermione's home.

Date: Monday, 8th November 2010

Time: 9 pm, Malfoy Manor, Hermione Room# 5

Hermione recounted the entire incident to Molly, Narcissa, Celia, Dudley and the mature children: Aurelian and Ted. Despite vowing that she will be tough, she broke down to cry again when describing Jack's burial amidst his loved ones in the Merdyside Moors. Hermione then made special VVIP luxury arrangements in Japan, which Lucas promised to try out sincerely in Jack's honor. Natalie was in Hermione's Room #6, still asleep.

They had dinner and were about to turn in when Hermione stopped Veena. Her son was also sleeping here for the night.

"I heard what happened yesterday. It must have been so tough on you emotionally. I want you to know that I have complete faith in my people, even if they go against me. I would never question your spirit of dedication as your Hero. That is against my real nature. Thank You for taking me to be your Hero. My closest hero in the wizarding world was Professor Dumbledore and now Jack. By saving my life, he earned that right. I have no living Hero, magical or muggle, so I am happy that I fulfill that role in your life. We have a long war ahead and could do with all the camaraderie and inspiration."

Veena smiled sadly, "I knew then and there that you were in trouble. I know your real nature, Hermione and I realized that it was not you."

They embraced and Hermione was left alone to look at the starry November sky. She thanked Jack for his valor and vowed to finish the long drawn war effort he started when he defected to Athena. With 66 able people on her own side, she was quietly confident of a bloodless victory. There was plently left to do however because even though Kim was dead, their yellow box containing their group DNA was still not in their possession. Recovering that box was the urgent mission now but they could leverage Natalie as their negotiating hostage.

A/N: This is the first chapter in the story involving death. I tried to keep this a happy story but Jack's death made the not good bond with the good. The war is long but we are finally getting a glimpse of the real enemies and true allies.