Disclaimer: See chapter one.
A/N: Thanks to all the lovely readers/reviewers! Please enjoy this chapter - the action is finally starting, I suppose you could say.
Three
Song of Battle
Summer wore out. September first came too soon and passed without much ceremony. Hermione, imagining the Hogwarts students boarding the express, felt left out.
Knowing that the Death Eaters might be soon searching for them, once words leaked that they were not in school, Hermione realized that as students, they would look conspicuous in the Leaky Cauldron. Before long, she managed to find and rent an inexpensive flat in Muggle London, where she, Ron, and Harry managed to pose as college students.
It would also buy them some time to look into the Horcruxes, because she had a feeling that the Death Eaters would search in the wizarding communities.
The search for the proper Locator Spell had gone well, but the process of actually performing it had some complications. Hermione spent most of her time shut in the bedroom, experimenting on different objects. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron, having realized that she had no need of them, found themselves reading spell books on weekdays and exploring London, as well as its suburbs, on the weekends.
They enjoyed these excursions immensely. Harry had never been allowed to roam London freely, and Ron was as taken by the Muggles as his father was. Eventually, Hermione allowed herself to be persuaded to join them. And thus, despite minor problems arising from grocery shopping and the limited funds, Hermione found herself enjoying her new life.
Weeks passed. The weather grew colder. Less people were seen on the streets in the early morning, and occasionally Harry jammed a hat over his eyes to go out and purchase a Muggle newspaper.
One morning, just as Hermione and Ron were sitting down to begin breakfast, he came back with the paper, looking worried. "Looks like the Muggles are catching on," he said, sliding the newspaper toward where Ron and Hermione sat together.
Ron read the headline. "Five found dead in their homes - foreign organization suspected." He set down the paper with a snort. "It's about time they notice," he said. "Although the Muggle prime minister is just like Fudge. Foreign organization. Might want to look more closely in Britain." He shook his head in disgust.
"Let me see," Hermione said, reaching for the paper. "Five attacks in one week. It doesn't look as if the Order and the Ministry are accomplishing too much. It's becoming serious." The Order hadn't managed, it appeared, to put itself back together since Dumbledore's death.
"Hogwarts isn't doing too well either," said Harry, "and from what little I heard from Ginny, the school's is half-empty and more are leaving everyday. McGonagall and Flitwick are considering beginning the Christmas holidays earlier. I won't be surprised if Voldemort makes a major move soon."
That decided it. Hermione slammed down the newspaper. "I found Hufflepuff's cup," she announced.
Harry and Ron were startled into momentary silence. "What?" Ron recovered first. He saw that Hermione was earnest. "You couldn't have told us sooner?"
"Well…I'm still not perfectly sure," Hermione admitted. "The Locator Spell I'm using can only centre on an area with a radius of fifty kilometres. It does not pinpoint specific houses or families. Besides, not only do I not know what families are involved with Voldemort during the First War, but most wizarding families' homes are also Unplottable."
"You must've found some way," said Harry.
"I - well, I found an internet café when I went to the bank last Saturday," said Hermione. "I managed to find an online directory of residents. It's compiled by Muggles, so it may not be too reliable, but I typed in the name of area I found, and the name Malfoy is on the roster of households."
"No wonder Voldemort wanted to be certain of Malfoy's loyalty," Ron said. "He's hiding his soul in their secret basement!"
"Bit ironic that the Malfoys hate Muggles so much. Who would've thought that a Muggle website could expose them?" Harry said. "Let's go and surprise them today."
"Don't do anything rash," Hermione warned. "The Horcrux must be heavily guarded."
Harry threw up his hands. "You can't expect me to sit here while Malfoy idly plays Voldemort's henchmen!"
Hermione met his eyes steadily. "The mission is dangerous, whether you like it or not." She leaned across the table, so that her forehead was almost touching his. "You must trust me on this, Harry."
He clenched his jaw, acting almost like a spoiled child before his tense face relaxed. "All right. What do you propose then?"
"For one thing," Hermione said. "Your Invisibility Cloak will come in handy."
-
"This," remarked Ron, "is the craziest thing we've done."
Hermione had to admit that he was right, as she looked at the tall, iron-wrought gates before her. She paid the Muggle cab driver, who sped away without a second glance. She supposed that in the eyes of the Muggles, the handsome Malfoy property was no more than a deserted and possibly haunted building.
"Let's put on the cloak right now," Hermione said. "I cast a silencio charm on the cloak earlier, so we can't hear each other under it. If you see anything suspicious, squeeze my hand." Ron and Harry looked sceptical. "If you think of a better plan, do tell me right now."
"You got us there," Harry said. "Let's do it."
Walking under the Invisibility Cloak, caught between Ron and Harry, was uncomfortable. For one thing, they had all grown so much that they had to slouch to avoid showing any part of their body. For another, Hermione could hardly be unaware of the scent of Ron's cologne, a birthday present from her, or Harry's strange scent of flowers.
"Alohomora," she thought, putting her Defence training to use. For good measure, she added, "Silencio!"
The heavy doors swung slowly open. A path now became visible, leading them into a dark forest. Nobody hesitated. As one the three of them stepped inside.
The forest was eerily quiet. It seemed strange to Hermione that she couldn't hear the rustle of birds' wings overhead or the crunch of fallen leaves underneath her feet. They walked on in silence, stopping every so often to adjust the cloak and listen for footsteps, that Hermione almost missed the handle jutting up from underground.
She squeezed Harry's hand, and then Ron's. They stopped again.
Hermione bent slightly to touch the handle with her wand. She thought at first that it was a video camera, such as the ones the Muggles had to catch burglars.
It turned out, instead, to be the door to a secret passage.
Underneath the cloak, she gave Ron and Harry questioning looks. They both shrugged. "Why not?" Ron mouthed.
The passage was constructed of heavy stones. Narrow and small, it twisted and coiled like a snake. It would not have surprised Hermione to discover corpses of those who had gotten lost along the way. She felt a sense of foreboding, as she'd felt when they had gone to the Department of Mysteries more than a year ago.
She adjusted her wand, turning on the Locator Spell. It would now vibrate when it sensed the presence of heavy dark magic.
They continued walking in silence. Hermione fancied that she could hear light footsteps above them. Perhaps they were now underneath the mansion. Harry gave her hand a squeeze. She turned to him, and he mouthed, "It's too deserted."
Hermione had to agree. They had not come upon anyone - human or house-elf - at all. Even though the passage was secret, it was well maintained, so it was clear that house-elves at least visited frequently enough to clean it. It was too late, however, to change course. She could only hope that the Malfoys just happened to be careless.
The wand led them steadily. The signal began to grow stranger. The wand was now vibrating more frequently than before and emitting sparks.
Hermione made a signal and Ron and Harry threw off the cloak. "This sounds crazy," she said, "but we're less than a kilometre from a Dark object."
"It does sound crazy," said Ron, "because this passage has reached a dead end."
Hermione saw that he was right. They were staring at a giant slab of stone that blocked the tunnel. Ron raised his wand, lighting up the darkness ahead, and she realized that the stone blended perfectly with the rest of the passage, leaving no cracks whatsoever.
"Well," she expelled a breath, "this is unexpected."
"I hate to sound discouraging," said Ron, "but you are certain that your Locator Spell did not throw us off-course."
"Maybe it's the Malfoys' ways of throwing intruders off course," Harry said.
Hermione examined her wand. "No, we're on the right track to something. Maybe there's a secret trapdoor around."
"It might be Disillusioned," suggested Harry. "It will take us a while to find."
"Good idea, Harry. Hand me your wand," said Hermione. "Thank you. Finite incantatem!"
At first, nothing seemed to have changed, but then Harry said, "Look!"
"Bloody hell," Ron said.
Hermione did not make fun of his eloquence. Across the ceiling of the passage, four cracks had appeared, forming a square.
Harry folded up the Invisibility Cloak and put it away. A few minutes later, they were climbing a ladder, not unlike the one they'd used to get to the Divination classroom. They emerged into a large room, constructed of what seemed to be marble. As the trapdoor slid back into place behind them and disappeared, Hermione couldn't help feeling nervous. The room, with its lack of windows and doors, felt like a tomb. She remembered a story her mother once told her, of a girl who found treasure in a cave, only to be sealed within for eternity.
She had to admit, however, that the room was furnished beautifully. Hundreds of small glass cases hung in the air, twinkling under the bright lights. She suddenly stiffened.
"Do you hear an alarm go off?" she began to ask, but Ron interrupted. "Look," he said. "Each of them is holding the same thing!"
Hermione raised her head. Each glass case was indeed holding the same thing: a gold cup with two handles. And because they were floating so high over their heads, it was hard to distinguish them - if there were anything to distinguish them by at all.
"Which one is it?" she asked.
Harry squinted as he walked around. His Seeker's eyes roamed over the glass cases, searching. "It's the one near the left corner," he said at last, pointing. "It has a badger on it!"
"Where?" Ron said.
Hermione frantically searched. "I see it," she said. "I don't know how I'm going to get it down -"
"Let me," Ron said, raising his wand to point at the case.
Two things happened at once. The case shattered, and Ron, throwing himself into a dive, managed to catch it. And before Hermione could warn him to drop it, someone joined them in the room.
It was Malfoy.
-
Malfoy was smiling. His sleeves were rolled up and the Dark Mark showed clearly on his arm.
"How nice of you to visit," he said. "I'd wondered what happened to the three of you, ever since Pansy told me that you were not at school."
"Let us go," Harry said. "There are three of us against one of you."
"Really." Malfoy looked amused. "Do you think so? I suppose you didn't hear the alarm that went off. Soon, there will be quite a few people joining me. All familiar faces to you."
"Silencio!" Hermione said. Malfoy looked alarmed, but it wasn't to him that she directed the spell. "Even if you yell now," she informed him, "they can't hear you. Considering how large your place is, it could take them a while to find you."
She was stalling, betting on the hope that there were other secret chambers.
She was wrong. "They would know to come here, and even if we do have time," Malfoy said, "you won't be able to get out without my portkey. This room is charmed. Intruders may enter, but they will never leave. You see these cups? Not all of them are forgeries of the real one. Some of them are transfigured dead bodies."
Hermione looked around, sensing even before she did that he was right.
"Well then," said Ron, "we will just have to take it from you. Accio portkey!"
"Stupefy!" returned Malfoy.
The two spells hit their targets simultaneously. While the Summoning Charm did little, the Stunning Spell hit Ron squarely in the chest. He fell over, unconscious.
"Ron!" Harry said. Hermione could almost see his anger unfurl. "Stupefy!"
Malfoy managed to dodge the spell, though the hems of his robes were singed. "Don't bother," he said. "There are only two ways to get the portkey from me. One is for me to willingly hand it over, and the other is to kill me." He smirked. "I doubt you can do either."
Harry acted abruptly. Hermione didn't think he even thought it through. "In that case," he said, "Avada kedavra!"
The curse practically burst from Harry's wand. From the look on his face, Hermione knew that he didn't expect the curse to work. Perhaps he planned to surprise Malfoy into doing something, Hermione did not ever find out.
Malfoy appeared to share Hermione's sentiments, for he wore a look of composure. His expression changed, however, just before the green light sailed through his body.
He collapsed, lifeless, to the floor.
It took Hermione a few minutes to realize that Malfoy was dead. She didn't know what to feel about this. He had never been kind to her, to be sure, but she'd never expected anyone so familiar to die in front of her. And she certainly never expected Harry to -
Harry.
Hermione turned around. Harry had collapsed himself and she wouldn't be surprised if he were dead as well. But no, he was alive, although he looked deader than Malfoy. He was trembling, his entire face white. Beads of sweat clung to his forehead.
She hurried over to him. When Hermione came close enough he grabbed her around the waist, pressing his face into her belly, as if she were the only thing anchoring him to reality.
Although Hermione wanted nothing more than to comfort and assure him that everything was all right, she knew she had no time to lose. The Death Eaters would soon be here and she did not want to imagine Narcissa Malfoy's reaction when she found out that her son was dead.
She leaned Harry carefully against a wall and ran to Ron. He was slumped over on the floor, hands still clutched around the cup.
"Enervate! Ron, listen to me now. Wrap up the cup in your jacket and get to Harry. I will be back soon with the portkey."
Ron's eyes were unfocused, but he did as he was told. Hermione then headed over to Malfoy and forced herself to rummage through his pockets. She came at last upon the only object that could be the portkey he was talking about: a medallion with an engraved `M.'
Hermione hurried back to Ron and Harry. "Hold this," she said. She hoped the portkey worked as she expected. "Take us outside the Malfoy property!"
At first, nothing happened. Soon, the room began to swirl faster and faster until it disappeared, replaced by the stone path that led up to the woods.
Later, Hermione did not recall much of what happened next. All she was sure about were that she probably broke ten rules about Apparition in the following ten minutes, and that she never let go of Harry's hand.
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