In a way Harry felt relieved when the winter sun finally started peeking through the windows of the cabin, even though he hadn't slept much, it had been a restless and long night. Their captors had worked until late with Malfoy casting detections spells in various places around the cabin while Greengrass was taking notes as he informed her of the results. After that Greengrass had started making sketches of various possible ward layouts while Malfoy was looking through Hermoine's personal library in order to find any clues.
Hermoine and Harry had remained passive throughout this ordeal, they tried to not give anything away while the others were trying to work out the wards they had set up. When the two Slytherins had finally called it a day, Harry had had a hard time falling asleep, he was going over the various scenes of the tumultuous day that had passed and wondered if he could have done anything differently.
Killing Tom's snake was a huge success, but Harry had to admit that he had been quite lucky. Him and Hermoine had focussed so much on creating the 'machine' to possess Voldemort and minimising all the risks that came with it, that they had failed to think about what Harry would actually do when he entered his enemy's mind. This was an important lesson which they had to apply if they would be able to make a second attack, which was uncertain since they were captured and were also at risk of losing the locket in their possession.
The lost fight in the living room also weighed on him, it was undeniable that Harry had been exhausted, but he still thought he could have lasted longer if he had used the surroundings better. Also, if they had just been a little quicker in breaking the floo connection… He wondered how they had been able to access their protected connection. In a way it had always been the weakest point in their wards, but on the other hand it was difficult to find a floo connection in the network if you did not know the name of the connection point.
These thoughts were not helpful at all and they had kept him awake for a long time. When Harry finally had dosed off he was awoken rather early when Daphne got up to continue the work on her report for Rookwood. Greengrass had made stoicism one of her trademarks, which is how she gained the nickname 'ice queen' at Hogwarts. But Rookwood had put her under a lot of pressure the day before and as the time of her meeting grew closer Harry could observe more and more signs of nervousness in the girl, small things like the movement of her leg or biting a nail.
When the time for the meeting finally came, she took a few calming deep breaths and spoke in the mirror "Rookwood".
"Greengrass, is that you? Hurry up girl, how much time will you need to get us in there?"
"We will need one month, Sir. We have identified 27 layers in the ward scheme, 13 of which are critical to dismantle before we could attempt to penetrate. I suggest we start to analyse those thirteen, make a plan to handle them and then dismantle them in one short period." Daphne explained.
But Rookwood was clearly not happy with that answer: "One month? That period is not acceptable, Greengrass. Our Lord has made it clear that this has the highest priority. As such I expect results in two weeks."
"I understand the importance of this project, Sir. But they have built the most complex and original ward set I have ever encountered. I am not even sure of the amount of layers we have identified. I really cannot guarantee that we will get it done it this time frame."
"I believe the work you did on the Fidelius charm has gotten to your head, girl. I am guessing the rewards our Lord bestowed on you and your family are not sufficient to motivate you? Were they not up to your standards?"
"I am very grateful for those rewards, Sir."
"Apparently not grateful enough. Let me remind you that there are not only rewards to be gained, but also punishment to be handed out if you should fail your task.
"I understand that very clearly, Sir. I will do my very best not to disappoint you."
"Very well, Finite.", Rookwood ended the call.
Daphne closed her eyes for a few moments and again took some deep breaths to calm herself. She only flinched slightly when she heard Hermoine smirking from the corner of the room: "Like I said before, you are in so much trouble."
At this moment, Malfoy, who had been rummaging around in the kitchen, came back in the living room. "Shut up Granger. Don't worry Daphne, we will start our work today, I am sure we will manage. But first, I have prepared some breakfast for you."
Daphne smiled to her fellow Slytherin as he put a bowl and a spoon in front of her. Draco then went to Hermoine, opened a small door on her cage and handed her a platter with breakfast as well. But he received a less grateful reaction from her as she looked in her bowl.
"What is this, Malfoy?"
"Euhm, it is porridge." The Slytherin replied.
"This is not porridge, these are oats and cold milk. Is this the way the purebloods eat their porridge nowadays?" Hermoine said.
Harry smiled and said: "Don't tease Draco, Hermoine. I am sure this is just the way Voldemort likes it."
Malfoy, who shuddered for a moment when Harry used the Dark Lord's name so loosely, replied uncertainly "Well, I know you have to cook it. But you are the ones with a broken stove in the kitchen, what do you expect me to do?"
Harry and Hermoine looked at each other for a moment and started laughing loudly. "It is a muggle stove you idiot. It is working perfectly fine." Hermoine said.
"Just eat your oats and milk the two of you, and be happy I am feeding you." Draco said back angrily.
Harry was still slightly snickering when Malfoy handed him his own bowl. "Seriously Draco, why did you not just ask us? It is a muggle gas stove, just turn one of the buttons and press it. You will hear some clicking and soon a flame will appear. Then hold the button a few seconds more and release it. You can increase or decrease the flame by turning the same button. And add some raisins, cinamon or some sugar next time, you have to add some taste to it."
Draco did not reply, but gave a single nod to indicate that he understood and then turned away to eat his own breakfast.
Hermoine, who had started eating as well, choose this moment to start her teasing of Greengrass again. Harry wondered if she wanted to rile up the other girl to make it harder for her to focus or if this was just triggered by genuine dislike. "So Greengrass, are you ready to start failing? Two weeks to break our wards? They might as well have given you two years and you still would get no results."
But apparently Daphne had been able to recompose herself and was not going to be outdone this time. "Really? I did manage to enter your previous hideout? Didn't I? A muggleborn like you hiding in such a dark place? Very naughty, Granger."
"Big deal, Greengrass. Somebody just gave up our location there to bypass the Fidelius charm. Which poor soul did you torture for that information?" Hermoine replied.
Daphne looked at her and smiled: "What? The order of the Phoenix betraying their precious saviour? No, you are wrong Granger, I did not have to torture anybody. I just developed a countercharm to the Fidelius."
"A countercharm to the Fidelius?" Hermoine said flustered, "But that is impossible."
"Not impossible, just very difficult. I must admit, it took me a lot of time. But in the end I managed it. How confident are you feeling now? Granger?" Daphne teased.
Hermoine was not able to formulate a clear response for a moment, so Daphne just continued.
"You are not completely wrong though, somebody did give us some information, we did not have to torture him though, actually he was quite willing. However it was not to enter that Hideout at Grimmauld place you had. It was to enter here. Could you guess who I am talking about? Maybe you want to have a guess as well, Potter?"
A big lump grew in Harry's throat, and it was not because of the uncooked oats. He felt heat rising up to his cheeks. When neither Hermoine or Harry replied, Greengrass continued.
"It was your good and loyal friend Ronald Weasley of course. He told us about your floo connection and gave us some information about the wards protecting it. He barely understood anything about the runes, the buffoon, but we did manage to get enough information from him to get in here in the end. Apparently he was very worried about you, Granger. What happened? Did you leave him for Potter?"
It was in a very small voice that Hermoine replied: "That is impossible, Ron would never…" But she did not finish the sentence.
"Believe what you want, Granger. Now, if you stay quiet in your corner over there, we can get to work on breaking these wards here. Do not disturb me again, or bear the consequences." And with those words Daphne turned away and finished her breakfast.
Harry felt very emotional after this revelation, his oldest friend had betrayed them? He would have never expected that. But when he watched Hermoine, he saw that she was more than emotional, she was completely devastated. Tears were glistening in her eyes, when she noticed him looking she turned her back to him and lay down in her cell. The next few hours as the two Slytherins were working there was only the sound of quills scratching on parchment and the quiet sobbing of Hermoine filling the cabin.