A/N: can you believe it- most of this chapter was written to avoid having to study for a grand total of three tests worth 10 per cent of my yearly course marks and also holiday homework, which my teachers felt obligated to give us?!??!!? I know I'm insane- but you have those tests to thank for getting most of this typed up!
Chapter 5- Part 2: Hufflepuffs' Help.
5 months prior to Prelude: The Reluctant Servant
Previously in Part 1 of this chapter:
That evening they sat in McGonagall's office discussing their usual topic of order of business. Currently McGonagall, the Trio and Tonks were present.
`… The tabs work quite well. They function similarly to Tracking Charms, only they have a much wider range of coverage. If the subject is in any sort of suspicious situation an Order member is put on their trail- and the best part: the Death Eaters have no idea that we have the tabs placed on them,' reported Tonks in her usual perky and cheerful tone. `But, of course, we can't have these placed on higher ranking Death Eaters, in case Voldemort finds them. So far we have had nothing that should alarm anyone-'
Almost as if on cue at that moment Remus burst in through the doors of the office looking very disorientated and out of breath.
`There's an attack!'
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They could barely remember how and when, but all of a sudden they had been carried away to battle (after a lot of pleading and begging on their part). It turned out that a whole bunch of Death Eaters with Tabs placed on them had been gathering at a weird location. The Order had been sent out to check out the situation, but had been spotted and forced into taking action to defend themselves. Just as they thought they had won more Death Eaters had shown up, clearly out numbering the few Order members on site. The amount of reinforcements sent by Voldemort clearly stated that he wanted something of great value from the site, so now the Order was doing everything to try and get more members out on field to help defend the Light Side.
As soon as the Trio had heard there was something that Voldemort wanted- presumably of great value- they had all jumped to the same conclusion- Horcruxes. After a lot of pleading and begging they were reluctantly allowed to accompany everyone else. They had used a portkey to get to a remote area at the base of a hill. On the other side of the hill lay their enemies.
The battlefield was not a pleasant sight. People from both sides of the battle lay hurt, injured or dead. It was not an easy sight to bear, but soon they too had been caught up in the fight. Before the portkey had taken them to the fight Harry had told Hermione and Ron that they had to get to stick together and basically try to get to the place a Horcrux would most likely be hidden. The second part of the plan hadn't been hard to follow as the only place a Horcrux could be hidden in a place like this was a castle, a lot smaller than Hogwarts but still big enough to catch ones' eye. It was in the center of a forest clearing and was surrounded by wild plants as if someone had really let the housekeeping out of hand. The first part of the plan was easier said than done; as they progressed into the battle they were being attacked from all sides and to remain uninjured they had to spread out.
Spells and hexes of all kind and colour were being shot out in all directions. Hermione currently had a shield charm up around her as she tried to deflect a random jinx that had been thrown her way as she tried to stun a Death Eater in front of her. Harry and Ron were surrounded by three Death Eaters, until Remus saw them and hit one of them with a Stunning Charm in the back, and while the other two Death Eaters had been distracted Harry and Ron managed to stun the last two. Meanwhile, Hermione had finally managed to knock the Death Eater she'd been fighting unconscious.
`Harry- this is impossible- how are we going to get to the castle at this rate?' screamed Hermione over the noise of war cries and curses.
Harry, who had spotted a Death Eater behind Hermione, fired a quick stunner, had a look around and then answered her, `We get to those bushes over there- Duck! -' Disarming spell. `That's as close to the castle we can get without them killing us.'
`And how do we manage that?' screamed a very jumpy Ron.
`Follow me!' was all Harry said before he ran towards the bushes in question. They made their way dodging and reflecting off random spells, hexes and jinxes. The thing they were all very grateful for was the fact that the use of Avada Kedavra was being kept to the minimum, even by the Death Eaters. After a couple of more close calls and lots more dodging they had reached their target point. As they ducked behind the un-kept foliage, making sure they were out of sight, Hermione began to study all the possible ways they could get into the castle without being detected, but so far all plans resulted in them being followed by the enemy or worse- being zapped before they even got anywhere near the door.
`What do we do?' Ron asked. `Hermione?'
But before Hermione could answer, Harry had stepped in to take over the situation. `We get in-'
But before the statement could be finished a large Death Eater came crashing into the foliage they were taking refuge in. It seemed he had been stunned with such force that that he had been thrown backward, hit the trunk of a tree and fell unconscious underneath it, causing screams and startled yells to be expelled by the Trio.
A large Death Eater who had been standing somewhat near their hide out had heard the sudden outburst and started to make his way towards them. Soon he had at least five others following him. Harry and Ron raised their wand to defend themselves, but Hermione silently shook her head in refusal, knowing that they were clearly out numbered. It was almost as if the rest of the battle didn't exist any more. Only about half a meter or so from their hide out the Death Eaters stopped and raised their wands; the head of the miniature gang gazed into the bushes almost as if he could see their fearful faces. And just when the boys thought that all hope was lost and they raised their wands again to fight till the end, Hermione grabbed the two of them by the upper arm and pulled them backwards; the last thing any of them remembered before blacking out was passing through the stone wall of the castle behind them and falling.
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Hermione was the first to awaken, after their fall into the castle. Harry and Ron were slumped next to her on the cold hard stone floor. Her eyes took a while but soon they adjusted to her dark surrounds; they all seemed to be in an underground corridor, with a dim light at the end of the corridor that illuminated a winding stone staircase.
`Harry- Ron- get up,' Hermione called in a loud whisper, afraid that there might be someone who might hear her; and after a bit more whispering and shaking she had both of them conscious again.
`Where are we?' asked Ron as he picked himself up from the cold floor and rubbed the back of his head which had a small bump on it.
`Inside the castle- I think we fell in- through the wall,' answered a bewildered Hermione, her own words not making much sense to her.
`I think you might be right,' agreed Harry. `We just sort of fell in. It might have been a secret entrance or something.'
`Come on, we better try and find the Horcrux, before someone else does,' called out Hermione in a more confident tone as she made her way towards the light at the end of the corridor. Harry and Ron following her, and they made their way up the staircase and found themselves in a sun lit camber about the size of the Gryffindor Common Room.
The furniture of the room was an exquisite canary yellow and black. The yellow drapes hung in perfect flow and were drawn back with a black drawstring, enough to let the sun light pour in. The huge fireplace lay empty as if it hadn't been used in quite sometime and ornaments adored the shelf that over hung the fireplace. The rug in front of the fireplace was the same canary yellow as the furniture with the edging the same black colour. And above the fireplace hung a portrait of a beautiful woman in a pale yellow and black robe and hair the colour of mahogany, which cascaded around her elegant smiling face. It was almost as if the battle that they had just been plunged out of hadn't ever existed.
`I am glad you found your way into the castle,' spoke the portrait, in a serene and quiet tone.
At first they were startled that the portrait had been speaking to them, almost in a welcoming tone. `Hi, we are sorry to just drop in like this, but we sort of didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I am Her-`
`I know who you are child and I do apologize for the unpleasant way of entry, but it was the only way that I could think of at the time,' this was met by a bewildered silence. `I am He-'
`Helga Hufflepuff,' this time it was Hermione who cut her off, in an awed whisper. The portrait smiled and went on speaking.
`I am Helga Hufflepuff and welcome to my humble home. Again I do apologize for the abrupt way of entry, like I said before I could not think of a quicker way of getting you inside without the enemy's knowledge of your whereabouts.'
`Umm, so let me get this straight, Madam Hufflepuf-'
`Call me Helga.'
`Helga- you were the one who yanked us out of a battle, through a stone wall and into your castle just so you could introduce yourself to us?' scorned a very annoyed Ron.
`Ron!' Hermione scowled.
`Mr. Weasley- I assure you that I have better things to do than kidnapping random teenagers and introducing myself to them. I may be a portrait, but I still happen to have a social life!' Not knowing how to reply, they remained silent until Helga seemed to calm down and started talking again in her quiet tone of voice. `Now, I do hope you will be quiet and listen to what I have to say, as it may be worth more to you than most others.
`This castle is almost as old as I; it belonged to me in my time, then to my heir and then so on, until no more descendents of the Hufflepuff family remained; it has for quite some time now played host to a possession which belonged to me once and was stolen only to be returned to my home not long after its disappearance. The possession I am talking about and about which I'm sure you have heard of is a Goblet, which was once a family heirloom. This Goblet was stolen by the Dark Lord, Voldemort, and made into a very dark article. Bringing me to the reason I had you lot `yanked out of battle,' as Mr. Weasley put it, and into my castle: so I could make sure that the item was given to someone who would see to its destruction.'
The Trio stood there, shocked and not knowing how to react. This could be exactly what they had been after. Finally Hermione spoke. `So- the reason you brought us in here, is to tell us that you know where the Goblet, containing Voldemort's soul is?'
`That is precisely why I brought you here,' replied Helga.
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Not soon after their meeting with the portrait-Helga they made their way down an old corridor. This one, thankfully, was not underground.
`So, umm, we're just gonna believe her?' inquired Ron, who had been strangely very quiet ever since Helga had snapped at him.
`Yes, Ron, we're just going to believe her,' replied Hermione.
`And it's not like we have any other choice and-' continued Harry for her.
`How bad could she be anyway? She is meant to be a Founder!' finished off Hermione.
`Guys, stop that, you sound like the twins with you start finishing off each others' sentences.'
Harry and Hermione looked at each other queerly, before shrugging it off.
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They found the Cup in the hidden hall, behind the portrait of the emblem of Hogwarts. It sat there in the middle of the secret hall on a stone podium. It was gold with two finely wrought handles, with the engraving of a badger. It was exactly as Harry remembered from the memory that Dumbledore had shown him not so long ago.
`That's it,' muttered Ron, looking at the Cup intently.
`Yeah,' was about only thing that escaped Harry at the moment.
`Can we please just take it and go, I don't want to be here any longer than we have to be,' Hermione spoke in an apprehensive voice. `Helga said we should be able to just grab it, it's not meant to cause any harm.'
With that being said she stepped forward, before either of the boys could object, and grabbed it by one of the handles. When nothing happened she turned around and smiled at the two very anxious boys.
`See, nothing to it- Ouch!' she dropped the cup to the floor and then started to sway a little, as if she was going to faint.
`HERMIONE?!'
The two boys rushed forward and Harry caught her before she fell. Her eyes were half closed and her complexion had paled slightly, but she was still conscious.
`I'm fine,' her voice weak, as she tried to get up. `Some kind of a shock, nothing to worry about.'
`Your hand- it's bleeding. And yes, there is a cause to be worried about, Ron help me get her up.'
When Hermione was once again on her feet, Harry bent down and examined the Cup. It looked perfectly normal. Getting his wand out, he muttered a charm to make the small object start to float in mid-air and getting his robe he grabbed the Cup. He then Transfigured the robes into a back-pack, with the Cup inside it.
`Okay- now we can get out of here,' the back-pack on his back and an arm around Hermione's waist, they set off, making their way out of the castle.
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The battle outside the castle had, it seemed, ceased in their absence.
All that was left were a couple of Order members and Minister personals `cleaning-up' the scene; by which meaning they were arresting the last of the captured Death Eaters and taking in any bodies that were left.
After tracking down Remus and make sure that everyone else was safe they made their way to Grimmlaud Place. Hermione's hand had stop bleeding a long time ago, but they had flooed Madam Pomfrey to have it checked out, just to be on the safe side. The Healer had found nothing that caused her any suspicion. After giving Hermione a potion to make sure the wound would cause no infections and telling Hermione to get some serious bed rest, she bid her farewell and was off, back to Hogwarts.
Totally disregarding the Healers instruction, Hermione had started to interrogate everyone in the room, until Harry had cut her off and sent her straight to bed, with threats of never letting her anywhere near a battle ever again.
Muttering and grumbling, she had complied.
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In her room Hermione got changed into her night suit, brushed her teeth and then crawled into bed just when Harry knocked on the door and came in.
`No one was killed from our side; a couple got hurt. They managed to capture about five Death Eaters, two of which are still unconscious. And no, none of them were of high rank. Is that all?' Harry teased, knowing that was probably the first thing she was going to ask him.
`Humph, no! I was going to ask whether you and Ron were okay!' scowled Hermione. `And then I was going to ask about what you thought I was dying to know!' she finished with a sheepish grin.
`See I do know you!' Not giving her a chance to reply, he changed the subject, `How's you hand?'
`It's fine. A little sore, but fine,' she replied as she let him have a look at her hand. `How are we going to destroy it?'
`I have no idea, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.'
`I think we need to start as soon as possible-`
`We aren't starting anything until your hand is perfectly healed again, got it?'
`But- Harry this is important!'
`But so is your health. So we don't start anything until your hand is healed- okay?' he countered in a perfectly calm voice.
`Fine,' muttered a gloomy Hermione.
`Now, come on, get some rest.'
`Yes Dad!' teased Hermione, at which Harry just stuck out his tongue at her.
`Night, Harry,' whispered Hermione as she shrugged under the huge quilt.
`G' night, Hermione,' he kissed the top of her head and then crept out of the room and closed the door after him, as her eyes fluttered close.
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AN: and that ladies and gents is the end of that… if you haven't read my One-Shot-Please do. It's titled `Our Secret' and is really short and in Hermione's POV. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!
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