Chapter 39: Rough Landings

Saturday, 24th June 1995.

Hermione felt her stomach drop and suddenly there was nothing underneath her body.

She fell through the air, the dark ground rising rapidly beneath her form and she squeezed her eyes tight. She focused on righting herself and, with the sharpest pinching feeling she'd ever felt when using the ability, she popped.

Opening her eyes, she realised she hadn't ceased her fall, only switched her angle from perpendicular to parallel, right before her body finally made contact with the ground.

Having kept her downward momentum into her new direction, Hermione landed hard and had the wind knocked out of her. She struggled to regain her breath as she rolled along the ground, being further battered and bruised with each passing moment.

Her body continued to tumble for several rough metres before she collided back first with something very solid and at last came to a painful stop, her back pressed against the cold surface of whatever had finally ended her crazy fall.

Before she could catch her breath a pain, unlike anything she had ever felt in her life, filled her body.

Every single part of her, from the follicles of her hair to the very tips of her toes screamed out in agony. She had no control over her body as she twitched, convulsing against the surface she had crashed against and time ceased to matter as her entire world reduced to nothing but pain.

In desperation, more instinct than rational thought, Hermione pulled her magic about herself in the vain hope she might cloak or shield herself from the source of the pain, maybe even squash it with her strength. Yet all it did was make the pain more intense. She tried to scream but no air passed her lips, her lungs burned as she couldn't breathe and black spots began to float across her vision.

Only as she let her magic snap away, both the shroud she had made and some of the pain retreating from her, did she realise what was happening. She wasn't in pain.

Harry was.

The realisation that Harry was in trouble managed to focus her mind, a goal to accomplish meant she knew what to do. Knowing what was wrong, what was happening, was the first step to solving it. No matter how much it hurt she pulled in a ragged, rattling, breath. And a second.

It was just pain, it wasn't her pain, it was something she could handle.

Hermione pushed a sliver of her magic into her fingers and snapped them. No relief came, but she had hope that the silencing spell had worked, and even as she rolled onto her stomach and let out a scream she heard nothing.

Pushing up against the ground she managed to rise to her knees, every part of her resisting even the tiniest of movements, but she would endure it. Harry needed her.

While the pain had not lessened in the slightest, her resolve grew in opposition and she sat back on her feet and looked about herself for the first time.

She was in a dark and misty graveyard. Headstones peeked out of the shimmering surface of the wavy mist and a glance behind her revealed that one such headstone had been the solid object that had stopped her fall. There was no obvious source of light in her line of sight and glancing up revealed an overcast sky that looked like it was threatening rain.

Hermione screamed silently as she forced herself to her feet, every shift of every muscle sending sharp spikes of pain throughout her form. Each step was worse, the impact against the ground sending shots up her legs and into her back. But she could feel the direction Harry awaited and she needed to get to him.

Anger began to build inside, both at her body for succumbing, and whoever was responsible. She was determined to make them suffer for whatever they were doing to her and Harry.

She tried to focus her magic on Harry and pop to his side, but the moment she pulled on it, the pain increased tenfold again and she fell to her knees once more. Thankful that her single spell so far had worked, and the howling scream she had let out at the spike of pain had not carried through the night, Hermione began to drag herself forward, not bothering to stand again.

Harry was ahead, that was where she would find her relief and assist him in avenging themselves against whatever force was responsible for their pain.

For several long and agonising minutes, Hermione dragged her body onwards, feeling Harry's presence draw ever closer. Several more spikes of agony shot through her, some related to her own actions, but most seemed to come at her from ahead. Each of those only fueled her need to move faster.

At last, she heard the screaming over her own blood rushing in her ears.

Harry was close, and he was in abject agony. Hermione had never heard him make a sound like it in her life and the tone of it immediately cut through her deeper than anything she had felt until now.

Resolve spiked and she pushed her body harder. She was nearly there, and whatever was affecting the pair of them, Harry was feeling it much worse than she was.

A flickering firelight became noticeable from the area in front of her and Hermione glanced in that direction, but she couldn't make out detail through the tears of pain filling her eyes. Only blobs and blurs of what she figured were more headstones, shiny under the new source of light.

Ever onwards she moved, the pain only increasing as she drew nearer, but she would not surrender to it. She had a purpose, and as Harry and the Family had told her on numerous occasions, a stubborn drive that would not quit.

Hermione came to a final headstone and looked around it, finally seeing the source of the flames only for them to go out and a cloud of black deeper than the already dark night around it billowed up from where it had been.

She blinked her eyes several times, trying to clear the tears and allow herself a clearer view of the space ahead, and almost immediately wished she hadn't.

Harry was in front of her now, strapped to a giant figure of Death carved from stone. Held in place by what appeared to be barbed wire, he was twitching violently in silent pain as he endured whatever was truly causing the deep agony they both felt.

Three figures moved about the open space in front of Harry. Two were in black robes, their hoods raised covering their faces as they stepped over to the third figure. A figure that had formed out of the cloud of immense blackness that had replaced the flames.

The third figure turned and Hermione felt utter revulsion when she saw the face. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's but with slits for nostrils. The eyes immediately focused on Harry and a perverse smirk twisted the face even more than normal, the lack of lips making it all the more disturbing.

"Robe me." The figure whispered, yet the command carried clear across the space.

Hermione noticed at the command that the figure was completely naked, their bones poking prominently out from every part of their body. She also noted with disgust that the figure bore many similarities to the Ken dolls some of the other girls used to like playing with so much as children. No navel was visible on the stretched pallid skin of its stomach and down below was blank and flat as an unused canvas.

"My wand." The voice commanded again, and the only thing whiter than its skin was handed to it from under the cloak of the figure on the left, the figure bowing as it passed the item over.

The wand was as twisted as its owner, pale bone white and looked as though it had been intentionally warped and sharpened to a dangerous point. An emotion finally came through on the sickening face, one of fond remembrance and Hermione felt her stomach churn once more at the idea of the things that wand had done in the past.

Thankfully before she could dwell on the matter, the bony figure's other hand shot out and grasped the left arm of the bowing figure. It responded with a shout of discomfort as the third figure twisted its arm and pressed the tip of its wand to their arm. The now kneeling figure screamed in pain, but Hermione was unable to continue watching as a new even sharper lance of pain spread throughout her body.

She rolled onto her back and screamed into the night air, her body trembling uncontrollably, all chance of rational thought lost to the intensity of the pain.

At long last, it seemed to pass and she began to notice her surroundings once more. Her mind was foggy after the last surge of pain and it took a moment to recall where she was, so powerful had it been. Her mind managed to focus and she remembered that Harry was in danger. Right behind her.

She rolled over, once more forcing her mind to master her rebelling body and saw Harry kneeling in the dirt.

Half the statue he had been tied to and the snapped remnants of his bindings lay on the ground behind him, a lance of white energy passing from his extended arm out past the edge of the headstone she was still behind.

Harry was free.

If she could focus her magic enough, she could pop to him and get them both away from this pain. She tried once again to utilise the ability, but again when she pulled her magic about her body, the pain increased immensely and she lost all focus required to use the power she had obviously come to rely on too much.

Unable to make a quick escape, she instead summoned her wand to her hand and made ready to lunge out from behind the granite block. Harry was exchanging spells and she would not leave him alone against his attacker.

Unfortunately, she had noticed he seemed every bit as sluggish as herself, and as she moved to stand and join the fight, a flash of green light splashed over Harry's form, having just missed his own spell mid-flight. Harry stuttered for a second before he fell in what seemed to Hermione to be slow motion.

She had done all the reading necessary to recognize the spell that had just covered Harry's form.

The Killing Curse.

Emotional agony rapidly overpowered any physical pain she may have been feeling as she screamed at the night once more. The one she loved had just been killed in front of her very eyes. She had been too slow, too weak to save him. Her body shook with the violence of her scream and her eyes remained fixed on Harry's form.

He had fallen flat on the dark earth, his face turned slightly towards her. She could see his eyes, the green eyes he had inherited from his mother.

Green eyes that moved and seemed to see her perched there grieving over him. Green eyes that blinked and focused on her.

The pain she was feeling vanished as she realised that Harry was moving. He was alive. And he looked both happy to see her and incredibly pissed off. A feeling she mirrored.

As their eyes locked, she could practically hear his thoughts in her head as he asked if she was ready. She tightened her grip on her wand and nodded.

There was no phantom pain running through her anymore, though her body still tingled. But it was second now to her burning need for vengeance. Harry may have survived the dreaded spell, but someone had still cast it at him. She was going to see that person pay with their life.

Harry's arm shot forward and a bright spell launched from the tip. Hermione turned to face the direction he had sent it and noted the large headstone she had been concealed by was sitting between her and his target.

She smirked and whispered a polite apology to the spirit of Sandra Townsend as she lined up her wand and cast an extremely overpowered banishing curse at the solid stone. It wrenched instantly free from the small metal pins holding it in place and launched at ferocious speed into the midst of the laughing crowd of black-robed figures.

Three of them took the impact directly and they dropped instantly, the sound of cracking bone incredibly loud in the otherwise still night air.

Hermione knelt in place and lined up another shot, a blasting curse rocketing from her arm as she noted Harry rising in her peripheral vision. His arm was a blur as he cast spell after spell, some she recognized and she realised he was pulling no punches.

Screams of pain began to come from the crowd as more and more of their number dropped, out of the fight for good. Hermione vanished the entire rib cage of the first one to track her direction and lift his wand. The figure instantly screamed in pain and dropped, clutching at his chest as it swelled outwards, the weight of his own body now crushing the formerly protected organs that sustained their miserable life.

Her position on her knee gave her the ability to dodge easily once they finally came to their senses and began to fire spells in her direction. Not a single spell came even close to landing on her and she silently thanked the training that Sirius and Remus had hammered into them.

Countless hours of training with Harry at her side had prepared her for just about anything, and now the robed figures were seeing the full extent of her wrath pitted against them.

Leaping to her feet after a smooth roll to avoid three simultaneous green curses, she noted Harry in front of her exchanging spells directly with the figure she assumed to be Riddle. And Riddle was beyond angry. For every one spell he managed to fire in Harry's direction, Harry rebutted with four.

Harry was a blur of motion and Hermione felt a swell of pride towards the boy she loved.

She stepped quickly forward, falling into step beside him and they finally felt right again for the first time that night. This was a position they were used to when duelling all four of their teachers. One covering any oversights in the other's defence.

Both raining pain and agony back at those who had wronged them this night. And Hermione had been wronged plenty.

With the new clarity of who they were fighting, Hermione lost any desire to pull her punches. Death Eaters behind Riddle began to fall screaming in pain as limbs were severed, bones vanished, and torsos exploded under the furious weight of her anger.

While Harry kept Riddle completely focused on him, she had free reign to teach these bigoted bastards exactly who they had decided to fuck with.

Seeing that Harry had begun to push Riddle closer to his crowded followers, Hermione smiled and pushed an immense shard of magic into her elder wand. A spell she had practised a few times but never had the chance to try in a skirmish formed at the tip, white-hot before she raised her arm and swept it down across her body. Piercing hot flame leapt from the tip, extending outwards as the flame whip grew through the air.

She directed the tip across Riddle's body, but the dreaded wizard was fast enough to dodge her spell.

However, the Death Eater directly behind him hadn't even hoped to see it coming and the spell made contact with his collarbone, slicing deeply through the flesh as if it weren't even there.

His howl of agony was short as the flames carved down and into his right lung, splitting his body apart. She pulled sharply on the shaft of her wand and the whip came loose of the figure and with a twirl she flicked it to her right, carving across another three of the Death Eaters in front of her that had foolishly rushed forwards.

All three fell screaming as the violent flames tore easily through their mere human flesh and the tip nearly scraped over the stunned figure of Riddle who was now standing alone in front of the two.

Hermione had to suppress her desire to laugh as her whip dissipated into the air as Riddle watched agape, his eyes flicking from the two of them to the now mostly absent right arm he had been sporting.

Hermione realised that Harry had managed to use her flashy distraction to his advantage and must have blasted Riddle's wand and arm into pieces. The satisfied smirk on Harry's face said it all as he moved to bring his rowan wand to bear once more.

Fear filled Riddle's eyes and before either of them could act, the coward vanished into the air with a powerful crack. The only sounds left in the graveyard were the groans and agonised screams of the Death Eaters scattered about them on the ground.

Hermione ignored them instead turning to Harry and latching onto him hard. The adrenaline that still coursed through her body gave her usually firm hug an even deeper strength, but Harry didn't complain as he held her back just as tightly.

"Never do that to me again," Hermione said and Harry gave a soft laugh.

She pulled back and gave him a stern look, ready to give out to him for mocking her. Instead, she watched as he softly tapped her cheek with his wand.

"Try now, love." He said and Hermione looked at him confused for a moment. "You obviously silenced yourself."

"Oh," Hermione replied, recalling what seemed like hours earlier when she had used all her strength to try and silence her screams of pain upon first arriving at the graveyard. She had never lifted the spell. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. When I saw you perched behind that headstone, I lost it. Riddle had to die. I could see the pain in your eyes at having seen me hit with that spell."

"You did a pretty good job of that. What did you do to his arm?"

Harry smiled. "He tried to dodge that marvellous whip of yours. Ran right into the most powerful blasting curse I've ever used. He didn't turn as far as I had hoped, so it only hit his right hand instead of his torso."

"Shame. Now we'll have to track him down and finish things." Hermione growled in annoyance.

"Speaking of, you sure did a number on this lot," Harry said, turning to face the screaming figures on the ground. He twirled his wand and all of theirs shot up into the air, pulling free from the few hands still trying to repair the damage Hermione had done to them. "I might have hit two or three with misses or deflections. And there was one I managed to redirect a killing curse into, but you…"

Harry pointed to the one Hermione recalled vanishing the ribcage of, as he banished the collected wands into the ground nearby. "Oh, yuck. That one is beginning to look like a human puddle."

The figure was face down on the ground, his mask had come loose and part of his face was now visible, though he was silent unlike many of the others. His upper torso was slowly expanding outwards as gravity squashed the no longer rigid part of his body flatter and flatter under its own weight.

Hermione gave a sound of disgust and turned away, unable to look at the disturbing sight of her own handiwork.

"The screaming is beginning to grate, though," Harry said harshly, not sparing a single ounce of sympathy for those they had savaged in their attack. These were people who flocked back to a man like Riddle at the first opportunity and had tried to murder two schoolchildren in cold blood. "Give me a hand."

Harry raised his right arm, wand in hand and Hermione matched the movement, understanding his intent. Together, they pooled their magic and with a downward sweeping wave, his to the left and hers to the right, the pair cast a wide stunner over the field. All the bodies immediately ceased moving and silence once again filled the night air.

"That is so much better." She said, taking relief at last after who knew how long of agony and adrenaline.

Hermione closed her eyes and just allowed the cool air to fill her lungs and help slow her heart rate. After a few moments, she opened them again to see Harry levitating the Triwizard Cup over to where she stood.

She gave a soft smile at the sight. "Looks like Nym was right."

"Shut it. I even tried to give them a chance, to make up for the First Task, but they were taking forever. Just don't touch it, ok. It's the portkey that brought me here."

"Yes, and your magic yanked me along for the ride again. I'm glad it did though. I'd have been livid if you had died here without me."

Harry smiled at her and took her free hand into his own. "I always need you, Hermione. Even when I don't, I still want you as well." He leaned in and kissed her firmly.

Hermione relished the warmth of his lips. The cold dread of having seen him 'die' in front of her still hadn't left her, and might never truly be gone. Harry still told her he had nightmares of her under the lake. And she knew he still recalled the last time he had seen Riddle before tonight with almost perfect clarity.

Harry pulled back suddenly and he was immediately alert.

Hermione once more matched his stance and she listened carefully in the now still air. There was definitely something odd to it, a strange sound they had not heard before under the moaning from the wounded Death Eaters. A scraping sound coupled with a soft whispering she was struggling to make out.

"What is it?" She asked Harry silently.

"I think it's a snake. A big one." He replied and Hermione focused harder on the whispering.

~Master?~ The voice said, drawing nearer as it did.

Hermione braced herself and allowed her senses to sharpen. She willed her mind to filter her hearing, to allow the minimal evening background noise to fade out so she could listen for unusual sounds. Her eyes swept back and forth across the ground, searching for anything that moved in the darkness.

"There," Harry whispered, and she followed the direction his magic indicated.

Her eyes bulged as she saw the size of the enormous serpent now wending its way out from between the legs of the shattered statute of Death. It stretched out across the thick grass of the graveyard. She was completely unfamiliar with its breed, but there were very few snakes in the world that grew to this size. She was instantly on guard though, this one looked venomous, so being bitten would be a very bad idea.

The pair waited in silence, neither facing the creature directly as they allowed it to fully emerge into the space. The snake seemed to see the prone bodies of the Death Eaters and Hermione's stomach turned at the sound it made.

~Dinner… thank you, Master.~

It picked up its pace as it shuffled rapidly towards the downed figures before it stopped suddenly. Harry and Hermione both stood ready to cast if it turned as it sniffed the air with its tongue.

The stillness of the night had kept them covered from detection, but the snake was now close enough to detect their scent.

~Live prey.~ It whispered as the head swung to face them and it barred its long dripping teeth.

~Not a chance.~ Harry replied in parseltongue, bringing his wand up.

Hermione swung to his left and cast, pinning the snake down with a series of conjured U-shaped pins. With her quick movements, she managed to pin the snake down along most of its length before it could strike, and Harry followed up by firing a blasting curse straight into its open mouth.

The snake roared backwards as the spell exploded in its mouth but it had survived the attack. Hermione was surprised at its resilience, but she continued pinning it in place, adding more pins every time more of its winding body laid back upon the grass. She began to fire the pins into the ground at obtuse angles to help keep the creature trapped and she could hear it becoming frustrated at their efforts.

~Master! Help me.~ It whined into the night as it snapped forwards at Harry who thankfully remained just out of its restricted range.

Hermione focused hard and conjured a new pin right behind the beast's head and brought it down with all her might. Her magic fighting the tensely wound muscle of the mighty snake managed to wrench it towards the ground and suddenly the effort lessened and she noted that Harry had conjured a pile of bricks over the snake's head crushing it down.

She seized the advantage and pinned the length behind the head down with over a dozen spikes and she panted as the creature fought with every last one of them. But when she pulled back, every few inches of the snake was now pinned to the ground by her shimmering spikes.

Harry vanished the bricks and the pair looked in silence at the now fully restrained length.

The creature hissed into the night air, but they seemed to be nothing more than screams of anguish as neither she nor Harry seemed to discern any real words in the howling.

Harry sighed at the struggling beast and took a moment before he aimed just behind the head and cast. The powerful cutting curse struck true and bounced off the worming flanks of the creature, leaving a deep scar in what was left of the statue it had not fully cleared before they had attacked it.

"What the hell are you?" Harry asked redundantly, looking to Hermione for help.

Help she could not give. She'd never seen such a resilient beast before in her life.

Harry sighed again as he turned back to the captive snake. "Sorry. I had wanted this to be painless. But I guess I have no choice."

He closed his eyes and Hermione felt him pulling his magic inwards intensely. She had never felt him use so much magic in a single spell before and she even felt some of her own being incorporated into the forming ball of energy.

After several long moments of this, Harry opened his eyes and flicked his wand, his arm pointing directly above the beast's head.

Hermione flinched away at the intense light of the superheated rock material Harry had conjured directly over the snake's head. The heat caused her to take several steps away as the restrained snake struggled frantically under its bindings.

Confused and agonised hissed screams could be heard beneath the thick goopy material that was incinerating the flesh of the creature as it settled over it.

She reached for Harry and pulled him back, feeling the guilt that filled him at having to so brutally dispatch an animal like that. "I didn't want to have to do that."

"I know. But it wanted to kill us. And by the sound of things, it was with Riddle in some way." She said, hoping to allay some of his anguish. "It seems that he truly corrupts anything he touches. Anything except you."

She stared into his eyes. Hermione could tell by the shadow cast over his face by the rapidly cooling molten material thanks to the wide bushy hair on her head, that she was blocking his view of the now silent snake still struggling beneath the bindings. As snakes did when you removed their head. Harry stared back and she saw both a weight she'd never seen before and a lightness as well.

"What is it? You're different somehow."

"It's going to be a long story."

"I am not going anywhere, Harry Potter. You are stuck with me for all time." She said, gripping his free hand in her own, her magic mirroring the move and wrapping tightly about him as well. Just in case he might think of running as he did after their first kiss. She was going with him wherever he went.

"I know." He said back with a smile, his magic wrapping her back in return, proving he wasn't going anywhere. "But perhaps we should clean up and get back first. The rest will want to hear it too, and they must be going frantic right now with you vanishing in front of them."

"Do you think the Task is finished?" Hermione asked, glancing at the Cup that had apparently signalled the end of the competition sitting by the figure of Death.

"I'd rather not risk bringing them here. You're unharmed so far, but our magic has always been so entwined, maybe the Goblet just can't tell the difference anymore."

"How can we be sure?" She asked. And I guess we should probably tell someone about all of this. But who?"

Harry paused and gave the question thought for a moment before he seemed to come to a conclusion that had eluded her. "Bones. She wasn't bad before and after the Second Task. And Remus spoke highly of her help in getting Sirius free. I think we can trust her."

"Are you sure? I don't recognize most of them," she said, flicking her head in the direction of the now-silent Death Eaters, "but that one at least is Macnair. Remember what Mr Scamander said about him?"

"I won't risk one of the Family. She's the head of the law department. If not her, then who else?"

Hermione considered it for a moment before she nodded. "I suppose you're right."

Harry gave her a soft smile. "Your turn. Kitty's already had some fun tonight."

Hermione smiled openly at the simple cute name that Harry had given to the massive feline beast that he conjured whenever he summoned his corporeal patronus. She well recalled the looks on Sirius and Remus when it had burst forth from Harry's wand for the first time and nearly knocked them both on their arses with its impressively solid shape.

It had taken her weeks of research to find anything that remotely matched it in the animal kingdom, the closest she had come being the legendary Rapa cats of Mesoamerican myth. A massive pitch-black jaguar-like species that supposedly stood taller than a man while on all fours and were supposed to be legendarily vicious.

Calling one Kitty had left her in stitches.

Hermione allowed the memory to fade away as she focused her mind, keeping the joyful feeling of that day in her chest as she conjured her own patronus. Dawn shot forth, landing on all fours deftly and sweeping her head back and forth looking for prey.

Hermione marvelled once more at the mottled rosettes covering the side of the slinking snow leopard form as she turned to face her master in the absence of obvious prey.

"Hello. Please bring Madame Bones here." Hermione said, imparting the message with their location rather than the spoken word given she had no idea where exactly they actually were.

With a twist of her wrist, the image shivered and leapt into the sky vanishing quickly into the distance beneath the imposing clouds.

"Those look like it's going to rain soon. I hope she doesn't take too long." Harry said and Hermione turned him to face her once more.

"She probably won't, but I at least need the quick version. Please."

Harry sighed before he conjured a small loveseat facing away from the carnage and settled the both of them into it. He seemed to be reviewing his experience in his mind and deciding what he needed to share now versus the full tale later.

"You remember the ritual?" He asked eventually. Hermione nodded quickly. She would never forget the weight of that experience. "I think I met her. That weight we felt. Properly this time. In a way. I understand why some people personify magic as a woman now. Even though it looked nothing like a person to me, it had a feminine feel to it. And..."

He paused once more and took a deep steadying breath, "...I met my parents."

The glow in Harry's eyes was so intoxicating at his words that Hermione couldn't help but lean in and kiss him. Sharing the warmth between them as she caressed his lips with her own. But before she was properly done with the sensation, her mind intruded as she properly realised what he had just said.

"Your parents?" She said as she pulled away suddenly.

Harry now looked bashful and was avoiding her eyes. "Yeah. As much as I wish I didn't have to say this to you, I think I really did die there for a second."

Hermione grasped his face and turned him to face her, both of them cast in deep relief by the intense light coming from the still partially molten rock, looking into his eyes and seeing the truth of his statement within.

Harry looked both joyful and saddened by the experience he was recounting to her and Hermione wrapped him tightly in her arms, crushing them together as Harry seemed to understand for the first time what he had actually just endured.

He began to sob quietly into her shoulder and Hermione ran her hand up and down his spine, allowing him the time to work through his thoughts and emotions. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now, her own emotions were a wash of just about everything she had ever felt. The pair remained there, wrapped in one another until a sharp crack rent the quiet air.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" A female voice yelled.

Hermione pulled back from Harry, checking his face as she did and noticing that the vulnerability he had just shown was once more hidden behind his mask.

"Later then." She whispered as she turned and stood, facing the newcomer they had only spoken to once before.

"Hello, Madame Bones."

ϟ

Amelia paused mid-sentence as a shimmering cat-like shape formed in the air in front of her.

While she was well-trained enough to recognize a patronus when she saw one, this was a form she had not encountered before. It coalesced properly forming a fully corporeal shape and she thought it might have been some form of large snow leopard.

She quickly cast a muting charm around her and the patronus, blocking the sound of the crowd so that she could better hear whatever message was so important. However, no noise came forth, as she had expected from a patronus sent in such a way.

Instead, the cat simply perched on its hindquarters and stared at her intently. In that impatiently impertinent way that only cats could. She could feel something in its gaze, but she was unsure what.

Amelia stepped one pace to the right and the eyes followed her exactly, clearly indicating she was the intended recipient, yet the beast did not speak. Merely yawning once before continuing to watch her.

"Right." She sighed, figuring that the feeling in the gaze was a location and she was being summoned. "Looks like I need to be somewhere." She said, turning to Moody who was watching her and the patronus closely. "Things are going smoothly here so far, but don't take that for granted. And make sure you keep an eye on those bloody Dementors. I cannot believe they brought some of them here for this."

"You don't get to tell me what to do anymore girly. But go. I'll keep these wankers in line." He replied gruffly.

Amelia shook her head at the former Auror and turned to face the cat, which had now stood once more as it seemed to realise she was ready to go.

She tapped her wand to the badge on her chest, then pressed the tip into the misty form, tying her personal DMLE portkey to whatever location the creature was here to provide.

With one last glance at Moody, she tapped the portkey again and prepared herself for whatever she might see. And she wasn't even close to ready.

Amelia was stunned.

Arrayed before her were over a dozen cloaked figures, some with obvious Death Eater masks visible, all of them unconscious and in some varied state of injury. Her eyes caught sight of one that appeared to have deflated entirely, his chest squashed flat as though it had been crushed by a giant boulder that had since been vanished.

"What the bloody hell happened here?"

Several of the figures were missing limbs and one of the closer ones had been cleaved mostly in two from neck to navel.

And perched quietly in front of it all, in front of a cosy little loveseat were two teenagers who, apart from being somewhat grubby and bearing a few tear tracks on their cheeks, looked untouched by comparison.

"Care to explain?" She asked, looking at the two.

"Hello, Madame Bones." The Granger girl said as the two turned to face her properly.

"No, no!" Amelia replied, waggling her finger at the pair. "You don't get to summon me to a mess like this and just go 'hello'. What happened? How are you two even here? You should both be back at Hogwarts."

"Well, you see," Potter started, "when one is kidnapped, they tend not to be where they were supposed to be."

"Kidnapped?" She asked, ignoring the sarcasm in his reply.

He nodded and pointed to the glowing Cup at the end of the loveseat. "It was a portkey, exactly as Bagman said it would be. Just didn't bring me to the platform. Came here instead. And was immediately attacked by two masked assailants. They might be in that mix there. Might not."

"And what exactly happened to that lot?" Amelia asked, nodding at the still figures.

"They tried to kill us," Granger answered with a perfectly straight face, the tone chilling her despite her experience and reminding her of Potter's perfectly delivered threat before the Second Task.

"We don't take well to that," Potter added, and neither of them looked in the slightest bit sorry for having savaged what appeared to be a flock of Death Eaters.

"Just a shame some of them got away," Granger said, obviously hoping to do so under her breath, but in the cold quiet air, the sound still carried.

Amelia's gaze flicked back and forth between the stationary bodies and the two who claimed to have made them so. "Alright then. Wands. I need them both right now."

"Why?" Potter asked, tightening his grip on his wand.

"Because I am currently here alone investigating your claims. I will not have two armed assailants at my back while I check that lot. And even if you're telling the truth, I need to take them temporarily and check them for evidence at the least. So hand them over."

Granger turned to the boy and placed her hand on his shoulder. The pair locked eyes but did not speak a word for several long moments. Amelia wasn't sure if she had made the right choice, but she needed to see the status of the Death Eaters to continue.

"Fine," Potter said, flicking his wand into the air and grabbing it by the tip. He held it out in her direction as Granger spun hers on the flat of her hand and extended it out, handle first.

Amelia nodded as she took them both and pulled an evidence bag from her pocket, tucking them inside for the time being. She would return them after testing the spells used. She would not be responsible for failing to check that on a case ever again.

With half an eye on the pair, she walked over to the bodies laid all about the tombstones and saw that some were indeed still breathing. Though very few were free of any obvious external wounds. Almost all were missing a limb of some sort and she had trouble keeping her feet with all of the blood slickening the grass.

She even noticed that some of the body parts appeared not to be from injuries, but to have been splinched and she shuddered at the thought of what those two must have done to inspire such fear in their enemy. Even with the signs of it all around her.

As she passed, she unmasked and uncovered the left arm of each one with her wand. Confirming the presence of a very visible Dark Mark on each, she counted off the names of a significant number of those accused of crimes in the last war, but who had managed to buy or cajole their way to freedom.

She was disgusted to learn that several of their number were even Ministry employees. Though none here were from her department, she made a mental note to enforce a check as soon as possible.

The human pancake was Walden Macnair, a real bastard from the Derc who she had always thought enjoyed his work disposing of dangerous creatures far too much. As she returned towards the children, she noted the body closest to them, the one they had cleaved from throat to stomach right the way through the entire torso.

This one, too, was still alive, though barely. The cutting implement had torn through his right lung as it passed and the figure was slowly choking to death on their own blood. She flicked her wand and the mask vanished, showing the still face of Lucius Malfoy frozen in a look of utter terror.

His lower face and his usually pristine hair were now stained red by the blood that was leaking from his mouth and Amelia was torn.

She hated the bastard, for sure, but this was a hellish way to die. And with a wound that severe, die he would.

"Right. Every one of them is a marked Death Eater. So your story sounds plausible at the least. Why are they here? They orchestrated a kidnapping of you for revenge after all this time?"

The pair looked at one another and Potter shrugged. "They were here at the request of their master. Tom Riddle."

"Riddle?"

"Voldemort," Granger said clearly.

"He's dead. I've seen his wand hanging in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"This wand?" Potter said, raising his hand and causing hers to twitch on her wand as several fragments of a pale thin wand rose into the air beside her.

Amelia recognized the pieces as being from the wand on display. "How?"

"He took a blasting curse to the hand. Shattered the wand and about, I dunno," Potter said, turning to face Granger with a questioning look.

"I'd say about two-thirds of the entire arm. It was above the elbow for sure."

"You blew up Voldemort's arm?"

"I was aiming for the chest," Potter growled. As if disappointed by the 'failure'.

Amelia sighed as she looked at the pieces and pulled another evidence bag from her pouch. She held them under the pieces and Potter waved his hand again, dropping them into the bag. She tried not to focus on the utter precision with which the boy could evidently cast wandless magic, meaning taking his wand had meant nothing for her safety.

Sealing the bag, she stepped over to the pair once more. "This is going to take forever to clean up, you do know that?"

"The aftermath wasn't really a concern while dodging Unforgivable Curses," Granger said firmly.

"At least you dodged a few," Potter mumbled and Granger took his hand.

"You need to stop doing that."

"It was only a cruciatus curse. And after that pain earlier, it barely even tickled. Plus, it's fun watching them shit themselves when it doesn't work." Potter finished with a wicked smirk that chilled her more than she was willing to admit.

Amelia watched the back and forth, still unsure what to believe when it came to these two. "We need to talk about all of this. I need the full story from both of you, especially why you are even here Miss Granger. But I need to get people here cleaning things up first. Some of them might actually survive long enough for trial. Do you know somewhere we can all talk it out securely?"

"Depends on who 'we' is," Potter replied.

"Well, if Voldemort is truly back, we'll need those most likely to stand against him. I would suggest Alastor Moody, probably the best Auror in recent history. Took down about a fifth of all the Death Eaters killed during the last war. I would hope, your family. And Dumbledore to start."

Both their faces fell at the last name and Potter's eyes became dark once more. "He is not welcome in my home."

"Your home? I was asking for somewhere to talk."

"There is nowhere more secure than Harry's home. But he's right. Albus Dumbledore is not welcome there. He'd never make it past the wards. Not with Harry this upset." Granger said, comforting the boy beside her.

"What is with you and Dumbledore? He's the only one Voldemort refused to actively engage in the last war. We will need him on our side for something like this."

"It's personal. And we haven't had a chance to hash it out with him just yet." Granger said, still focusing on Potter.

"Well, be that as it may, I still suggest he be present. In fact, I would suggest we meet in his office. It's the most secure place at Hogwarts, which itself is more secure than the Ministry, given we apparently cannot be sure who there might be a bloody Death Eater." She said, waving over her shoulder at the still figures.

Potter glanced at Granger for a moment before he turned back to her, resolute and Amelia expected a firm refusal after his previous reaction.

"Fine. But we need to know that the Tournament is over first."

Amelia was surprised, both by the agreement and the condition. "I am afraid I'm not part of the committee. I can't say for sure. For the purposes of the security the Aurors are providing, I was told that the competition ended once the Champion with the Cup stood on the platform. Everything after that is standard award ceremony pomp."

"I don't feel like being the centre of attention like that right now," Potter said. "And it still feels like I can't use mine." He turned to face Granger. "Can you summon the Cloak?"

Granger smiled at him, raising her right hand and setting Amelia's nerves going again. With a snap of the girl's fingers, a sleek cloak appeared over her outstretched arm and Amelia was stunned at the move. That was beyond the wandless magic of anyone she'd ever seen.

"How did you do that?"

"Family secret," Granger replied, pulling the cloak up and draping it around the pair who partially vanished under it. It was clearly a powerful invisibility cloak.

"We will wait for you in Dumbledore's Office. And we'll make sure the whole family is present. Bring whoever else you need, but we will be prepared to defend ourselves if necessary." Potter said firmly, staring her down once again.

Amelia weighed her options before she gave a slow nod. "Alright. I shouldn't be too long."

Granger flicked the edges of the cloak around them fully and they disappeared from view. A moment later, the Cup vanished as well before Granger reappeared alone by the side of the conjured couch.

"Right, only one person. Stupid portkey." She closed her eyes and vanished again, with none of the usual signs of apparition or portkey usage.

"What are those two?" Amelia muttered to herself as she felt the oppressive weight of her location settle in without the distraction. "Right. Best set this to rights."

She raised her wand and tapped her badge, summoning a patrol to her position. Hopefully, it didn't take her hours to get out of here.

Amelia needed answers and that pair seemed to have most of them.