Chapter 3: And so it begins
July 5 - 5:49pm - The Granger Home
"Hermione, dinner's almost ready." Jane Granger called from the doorway of her daughter's room. Hermione glanced up at her mother and marveled again at the similarity between she and her mother. 'Well except for the fact that she doesn't have dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep,' Hermione thought.
"Ok, Mum, thanks!" Hermione answered forcing some cheer into her voice as she finished reading over her Potions essay on the uses of the Polyjuice Potion.
"Are you feeling well enough to come downstairs?" Jane questioned the concern obvious in her voice. The two had gone out shopping earlier in the day and Hermione had come home and gone straight to bed seemingly exhausted. Jane suspected she was having nightmares, but she was also worried that Hermione was pushing herself too hard. Hermione got up from her desk and hugged her mother before answering.
"I'm feeling much better, mom. I promise. Madam Pomfrey's magical remedies fix people up relatively quickly."
"I know. You've said that before, but you were injured pretty badly." The blast from Dolohov had damaged Hermione's lungs and although she had gotten to return home on time, she'd brought home a collection of potions that she was to continue taking for the next week. Madam Pomfrey had cautioned her to be careful and had told the Grangers to make sure that she did so.
"I love you, Mom." Hermione said hugging her mother again. "Now let's get some dinner. Is Dad home already?"
"I love you, too, dear, and yes, your father is waiting for us in the kitchen," Mrs. Granger replied holding her daughter tightly.
The two made their way downstairs and to the kitchen where Mendelous Granger was waiting for them.
"Ah, the two most beautiful and intelligent women in the world, what a lucky man I am" Mendelous greeted the two as they entered the room. Hermione smiled and hugged her Dad, while her mother blushed and kissed him on the head before turned her attention the stove and beginning to remove the food and place it in dishes.
"Hermione, darling, could you set the table."
"Sure, Mom" Hermione gathered the plates and silverware and carried them to the dinning room just off from
the kitchen.
As she set the table, a loud explosion shook the entire house. Bits of plaster and the wall separating the kitchen and dining room rained down around Hermione. Coughing in all the dust, she pulled her wand from her pants pocket and held it at the ready, eyes and ears alert for voices or any sounds to indicate what had happened.
Another explosion caused the house to shake more and Hermione lost her balance falling over as more dust and debris fell around her. She cautiously got to her feet and moved towards the kitchen slowly. The kitchen area seemed to have taken the brunt of both explosions. She said a quick prayer that her parents were ok and had taken cover. Somehow she didn't think that the explosion was caused by muggles.
"Ah, if it isn't the mudblood" A voice came from her right.
"Stupefy!" Hermione shouted pointing her wand in that direction. The Death Eater collapsed with a thud.
"Expelliarmus!" Another voice shouted. "Protego!" Hermione managed, preventing her wand from flying out of her wand. "Confundo!" She shouted immediately after the protection spell, then "Petrificus Totalis!" Another Death Eater fell to the ground.
Hermione had reached the doorway to the kitchen now, or what was left of it. She couldn't see either of her parents. She wasn't sure if she should call out in case there were other Death Eaters about, but she desperately needed to find her parents and get out of there.
She made her way through the rubble that had only moments ago been one of her favorite rooms in her home. It was as if the entire room had been blown apart. She struggled through the mess her wand at the ready.
"Crucio!" Hermione whirled at the voice, but she was hit with the spell and collapsed in pain.
"Expelliarmus!" Another voice shouted and the pain stopped. Still trembling from the after effects of the cruciatus, Hermione started to look up to see who her rescuer was when she caught sight of something that made her heart stop.
"Mum?" On the floor only a few feet away lay the mangled and broken body of Jane Granger. Her head was tilted at a strange angle, and blood pooled out from around her body. Part of her appeared to be buried under a section of the kitchen wall.
Hermione sobbed unwilling to accept what she was seeing. "Mum?" The girl cried again sobbing and crawling through the broken glass and debris to her mother's side, everything else forgotten.
"Hermione! I'm so sorry! We have to go!" Nymphadora Tonks stared at the shocked girl as she touched her mothers face. Jane Granger was obviously dead. Kingsley was fending off another Death Eaters just outside the kitchen in the Granger's backyard. Arthur had started to tie up the other Death Eaters that Hermione had taken down already.
Tonks had found Mendelous Granger before she had spotted Hermione on the floor writhing in pain from the Cruciatus
Curse. Tonks hoped Hermione had not seen her father or rather what was left of him after the explosion that had ripped
apart the Granger's kitchen. She pulled the girl to her side and placed her hand upon the portkey in her hand as
she called for Arthur and Kingsley. They burst into the room as Tonks and Hermione disappeared. The two men looked at
the remains of the Grangers kitchen and then at each other before apparating to Grimmauld Place, leaving three captured
death eaters bound to wait for Ministry aurors to arrive and take them away. The fourth death eater from the back yard
had apparated away.
* * * * * * * * * *
July 5 - 5:45pm - The Burrow
"Ron!" Ginny practically screeched as her older brother, who was completely covered in mud tracked his way across the kitchen floor that she had just finished cleaning. Ron looked startled for a moment, then looked down at his dirty footprints and then to his sister.
"Umm, sorry…" Ron started, but Ginny cut him off, "You're cleaning this mess up Ronald Bilius Weasley."
"Don't call me that, Ginevra." Ron practically shouted back at her. "I said I was sorry. I've been weeding and de-gnoming the garden."
"I don't care. I just finished cleaning this floor, and your going to clean up those footprints before mum gets back."
"But Ginny." Ginny shot him a look that rivaled their mum's and he knew better than to argue further. He slipped off his muddy shoes and continued on to the stairwell and the bathroom to clean up before tackling the mess in the kitchen. He'd just started into the bathroom when an explosion rumbled through the Burrow.
"Ginny!" He raced back down the stairs, as another explosion rocked the still trembling house. Debris rained down on him as the second explosion caused him fall down the remaining stairs. He winced in pain as his head made contact with one of the steps.
A sharp piece of wood stabbed into his leg just before he dove under an old table that his mother kept beside the stairs for mail.
A third explosion tore through what was left of the Burrow and brought it raining down around him. Ron was surprised the table didn't collapse, but he did find himself buried under a pile of debris. He had pulled his shirt up over his face and used his arms to protect his head as best he could. He still felt as if he was choking and he was bleeding profusely from his upper thigh where the piece of wood was still sticking out of his leg. A fourth explosion shook the structure and Ron's table collapsed on one side and Ron knew no more.
Ginny had just stepped outside when the first explosion shook the Burrow. She withdrew her wand and ducked down behind
a flower bush just outside the kitchen door. Dust and bits of debris came from the house. Ginny debated going back
inside as she scanned the area in front of the Burrow looking for Death Eaters or the source of the explosion.
As the second explosion ripped through the Burrow, Ginny remembered that Ron was inside the house. "Oh no!" She moved to dart back inside the kitchen when the third explosion caused the rest of the house to collapse and there was no longer a house to enter.
The third explosion knocked Ginny back into the yard. Instinct kept her from dropping her wand as she crawled behind the crumbling garden wall, desperately trying to remain out of sight as tears streamed down her cheeks. It was only after the fourth explosion that she saw the Death Eaters approach. They surveyed the remains of the now leveled Weasley home and laughed.
"I wonder how many Weasels we took out." A man's voice floated to Ginny.
"Hopefully, all of them" answered the other as they both surveyed the damage. It was all Ginny could do to not jump out of her hiding place and attack them. However, she didn't know how many there were, and she wasn't supposed to use magic. Though in this situation she wasn't going to hesitate if push came to shove, she'd worry about whether or not she was going to get kicked out of school later.
"Let's make a quick survey for survivors just in case." The first man spoke again. He walked into the rubble. The other man began walking around the side of the house, neither had noticed Ginny.
Just then several cracks were heard. Molly Weasley, Bill, and Charlie all appeared at once. At the site of the ruined home, Molly nearly collapsed as her first thoughts went to her two youngest children whom she had left at home.
"Petrificus Totalis!" Bill shouted at the first Death Eater. Caught by surprise the man only just managed to dive out of the way of the spell. He landed hard on some debris and cursed in pain before apparating away.
The second Death Eater fired a spell at Charlie who dodged it easily. They shot spells back and forth for a moment before the Death Eater finally succumbed to a full body bind. Meanwhile two other death eaters had appeared and engaged both Molly and Bill. Molly was caught off guard and knocked to the ground. The death eater grinned in delight.
"Avada…" but before he could finish the spell Ginny crashed into him from the side knocking him over and sending his wand flying. Molly sent a binding spell at the now fallen death eater and took her daughter into her arms.
"Ginny, are you alright?"
"Yes, mum, but Ron was in the house."
"It looks like that was all of them." Charlie stated as he and Bill levitated the two other captured death eaters near the third that Mrs. Weasley had bound.
"Ron's still in the house." Mrs. Weasley told her other two sons as she and Ginny got to their feet. "Charlie, take Ginny to safety. Bill, help me find him."
"I wanna help, mum." Ginny insisted. Molly sighed in exasperation.
"Alright, but we need to hurry. There could be more death eaters coming." The four moved through the rubble that used to be their home. Finally, Bill called out.
"I've found him." He slowly moved the debris away from his youngest brother. "He's out cold, but he's got a pulse. He managed to get under this old table, mum."
"Oh thank goodness!" Molly exclaimed. As she stared at the deathly pale face of her youngest son, she almost
broke down, but knew that it wouldn't do any of her children any good. Instead she pulled the portkey Dumbledore
had given her from her pocket, and all four of then touched it as Bill held one of Ron's limp hands to it. In
moments they had swirled away to Grimmauld Place.
* * * *
Thanks for the reviews so far, it means a lot that someone is actually interested in this story, besides me. Reviews
are welcome and greatly appreciated!