The same sun that was sinking while Bellatrix Lestrange was torturing her prisoner continued to slide slowly towards the horizon as Harry Potter paced back and forth in the same room in which Snape had appeared and told him about the Death Eaters what seemed like ages ago. In truth, it had only been three days, but it felt longer.
Harry was going over the plan again and again, making sure there was nothing he had overlooked. The loss of Callum still weighed heavily on him, and he wanted to make sure that there would not be a repeat of that this evening. Something inside told him that was out of his control, but luck favoured the ready.
After Malfoy's first night at Claer, Hermione, Ron and Harry had talked to him about what he had overheard from the Death Eaters, and although Malfoy couldn't stop himself from being a sarcastic git, he eventually told them that Bellatrix was planning a raid on the small village of Emrys, not very far from where Claer was, in three days time.
It seemed that Emrys had been secretly established right after the War as a sort of resting place for key fighters who wanted to retire out of the public life, or who were still afraid that the remnants of Voldemort's followers would find them. It appeared that the secret was out, and they had every reason to be afraid.
Malfoy had heard Bellatrix telling her followers where the village was, and had established guards to come and check on it every two hours, which meant that whatever the DA did, it was going to have to be quick, and it was going to have to be quiet.
That same day, the three of them left Malfoy under Luna's watch and Apparated to where the village was. It wasn't much, just a collection of small cottages, and not more than maybe thirty witches and wizards. Still, Harry was surprised when he recognized some of the people he had fought alongside during his seventh year, and the brilliance of the Death Eaters striking at a place like this quickly became apparent.
When he saw Amos Diggory emerge from a house, he motioned to his friends and they quickly made their way over to him. He seemed pleased to see them, especially Harry, but when Harry insisted they talk inside and told him what they had learned, Amos' pleasure quickly melted into concern.
He started asking what the plan was, but Hermione brought up that they couldn't do anything until they knew the movements of the Death Eater scouts, or else it would be pointless. Accepting the wisdom in that, they cast a faint perimeter around the town that wouldn't do anything, but alert them when someone came close. Right now, they didn't need any alarms. They just needed to know how much time they had.
After waiting for about half an hour, the perimeter was breached for a moment or two, and Harry checked the time. It was one o'clock, which meant that they'd have two hours from there to make plans.
That they had to get these people away from Emrys was obvious, but how to do it? They didn't want to tip off the Death Eaters, especially if the DA was going to lay a trap of their own, so secrecy was a must.
Finally, after much discussion, they agreed upon a course of action: the inhabitants of the village would go about their business as normal until the day of the raid. Malfoy had said that the attack was scheduled for nine at night, when it would dark enough for the Death Eaters to approach unseen, so they decided that after the five o'clock scout sweep, Amos was to make sure everyone was inside, and they would all Apparate to a designated place, far away. To keep up appearances, twenty DA members would go to Emrys, go into the homes and make it look like the villagers were still there, and they'd all be ready to ambush the Death Eaters when they came.
Harry checked his watch, which read 8:15. He was supposed to be at Emrys at 8:30, to make sure everything was organized and lead the ambush. There was just one thing he had left to do, and he dreaded it almost as much as the idea of getting into a fight with the Death Eaters.
As if in answer to his thoughts, there was knock at the door, and Hermione entered. He stopped pacing, but she took a look at him and laughed softly.
"I'm surprised you haven't worn out a path in the ground yet," she said.
He smiled faintly back and said, "I'll get there one day, I'm sure."
Hermione knew him too well, and her face instantly went from laughing to concern.
"Harry, what's the matter?" she asked, taking a step toward him.
She's not going to like this, he sighed, and answered, "Look, Hermione, I've been thinking about this all day, and I want you to stay here during the ambush."
She looked at him incredulously. "What?! Harry, you can't be serious!"
"I am, Hermione. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Malfoy,"
"On Malfoy?" she echoed, clearly seeing through him. "Harry, there are still plenty of people here who can keep an eye on him, and he hasn't tried anything yet!"
"Listen, I just want to keep you safe, okay?" he said, hoping to calm her down. Unfortunately, the effect was just the opposite.
"You always want to protect me, Harry! I can take care of myself! I'm getting so tired of you being so cautious about me. I made it through the entire war, I can handle one night, especially when we're the ones who planned it!" her face was flushed and Harry couldn't remember the last time he had seen her this angry.
"Hermione, you can't. I'm sorry, but I've lost too much that I care about, and I'm not going to lose you too!"
"I can't? Who are you to tell me what I can do, Harry James Potter?! I'm old enough to make my own decisions, and if you think that just because you're the head of the DA you can tell me what to do, you'd better reconsider that notion! And as far as you caring about me, if you really did, you'd let me come so I could help and not worry about what's happening to you! Did you ever think about that?"
She had to stop and catch her breath, she was so angry. Harry had expected her to be against the idea, but this was more than he had been prepared for. He took a step toward her, but she just stepped back, looking at him angrily.
"Look, Hermione, I know you'll be worried about me, but I'll be fine. I promise. And I really do need you to keep an eye on Malfoy. Yes, there are people here, but not as many as normal, and none that I trust as much as you. This is the real test to see if he's been honest, Hermione, and I need someone I trust to watch him and see what he does."
She was glowering at him and he took another step to her, but this time she stayed put and he put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hermione, I know you don't like this, but I'm asking you to do this, please. You'll still be helping, just not there," he said softly, brushing a strand of her wild auburn hair behind her ear. "Please."
She stared into his eyes for a minute before replying, in a steely-cold voice, "Fine," and before he could say anything, turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her.
Harry stood looking at the door for a minute, thinking, please understand. He loved her too much to see anything happen to her. She might be angry with him, but at least she was safe.
He checked his watch, which read 8:27, grabbed his wand and headed for the Apparation Room.
***
The moon was barely breaking through the clouds, giving off an otherworldly light that shone done on Emrys. Some of the lights in the cottages and homes were off, but a few were still on, here and there, where the inhabitants hadn't gone to bed for the evening.
I hope that's what it looks like, Harry thought, looking out of the window in one of the houses at the end of the village's main, and only, road. He'd been scanning the trees for the past several minutes, but hadn't seen anything yet.
Ron was in the same house as he was, his wand in his hand, pacing back and forth. Harry knew the feeling, but forced himself to remain calm and keep a watch out.
His mind kept going back to Hermione and the hurt in her eyes, but there was really nothing for it. He would be able to handle it far better here if he wasn't worried about her. He had to keep repeating that to himself, however, and a part of him had a hard time believing it.
Suddenly he saw a shadow move from under the trees, and a hooded form detached itself from the black, heading towards the village. Soon he saw other shapes, and quickly counted twelve figures. He motioned to Ron, who stopped pacing and headed toward the door.
Harry tapped the one of the coins that he had given everyone with his wand, so they changed from silver to jet-black, signaling that the Death Eaters were coming. He put the coin in his pocket, and stood on the other side of the door with Ron, peeking out through the crack to watch the Death Eater approach.
The plan was to wait until the Death Eaters had actually entered the village before attacking, because that way they could surround them, instead of it being two opposing battle lines. They just had to pass the first two houses which were on both sides of the road, and then the DA would spring the trap.
Harry watched nervously as the Death Eaters quietly walked past the house he was in. No matter what, he knew the sight of those hooded figures would never stop frightening him. Too many bad memories.
They quietly passed the house and were moving quickly by the next. Ron looked at him and nodded, and Harry threw open the door and leapt outside, already casting a spell.
In an instant, the blackness of the night was gone, and lights of all colours started appearing from everywhere as everyone cast their spells. Harry could barely hear over all the shouts, but kept casting at the figures in black as he made his way toward where they had formed a ring near the center of the town.
There may have been fewer of them, but they were Voldemort's servants after all, and they fought back ferociously. If not for the surprise factor, Harry wondered how well the DA would be doing.
He saw one of the DA lying on the ground in front of him, and could barely see another on the other end of the town. He momentarily despaired, thinking they should have brought more people or that they attacked too early, when amidst the yelling and spells flying everywhere, he noticed that nearly half of the Death Eaters were on the ground.
Suddenly a woman's voice called something out, and Harry realized it must be Bellatrix. Whatever it was she said, all the Death Eaters stopped attacking, some grabbed the fallen ones, and they Apparated away.
There was silence that seemed to fall over them like a shroud after all the noise of the fight, and Harry saw three bodies on the ground, one near him. He ran over and checked, and the boy just appeared to be stupefied. He looked up to see Ron with a black-haired witch, who seemed to have a broken arm, but that was it.
He could see several people grouped around another body, and quickly went over to where they were standing. Neville was kneeling next to the broken body of a boy, and when Harry came over, Neville just sadly shook his head.
Everyone was looking at him as he stared at the body. Another one to add to the tally, he thought miserably.
"Cheer up, mate," came Ron's voice from next to him, and he looked at his friend. "Only one of the three is dead, and did you see how many of them were down? I think we call this a win."
"Yeah, a win," Harry said in a dead voice.
He motioned for two pairs of people to grab the wounded, and he moved over to the dead body, Ron helping him pick it up.
"Let's go home," Harry said, and they were gone.
-->