Author Note:- Chapter 15 finally done, usual thanks to all the betas, helpers and reviewers! You guys and girls rule! With the hits in the high 60k and reviews at 240+ I'm bouncy happy as usual. I recently saw in a fic I was reading a little cute bit at the top which gave a short hand of what's in the following chapter. I considered it but considering how I'm an evil bugger I'd prolly end up lying in it just to tease you all, so I'm not gonna do it. However I do recommend listening to Linkin Park - In the End, very good song and it reminds me of Harry for some reason.
The black SUV rolled into the car park followed closely by an armoured van and a second and third SUV. Harry winced seeing the fourth vehicle enter the building, now knowing the reason for why they had brought extra men. Seventeen Death Eaters against eighteen guards, with Snape in the middle. Hermione was cloaked by the disillusion charm so he couldn't see her reaction but he knew she'd be shocked as well.
"Well, our informant was right about the extra guard at least," Rabastan muttered, "Antonin, time to start I think."
Harry felt the man sweep past him to the gateway and he appeared as the first SUV turned towards the exit. With his wand pointed at the car, he grinned and shouted out the incantation. The air howled as his reductor curse streamed and struck the bonnet of the car, detonating the engine. The car was flipped to its side and crashed into one of the concrete pillars, blocking the exit.
The rest of the drivers slammed their brakes and the SUV's unloaded, Aurors climbed out wands drawn. The first few sent stunners at Dolohov who had moved behind another pillar. Instantly Death Eaters around the floor dropped their disillusions and started firing upon the Aurors. Bone-breaking and stunning spells were preference though the odd Avada Kedavra was fired at the ones furthest from the truck.
Then the door of the fallen SUV was blown off and Harry froze in shock as he watched the Aurors climb out, wands drawn. The third man out was none other than Kingsley Shacklebolt himself.
"What the fuck is he doing here!?" Harry screamed inside his head.
"Well he was only putting volunteers onto this mission and you don't ask people to do something you wouldn't do yourself, do you?" his logic replied.
"Well I wouldn't"
"Why should Kingsley be any different?"
"Because this is a bloody suicide mission!"
"All the more reason he should be here instead of another really, it's precisely what you would do, so don't criticize"
"But what if he gets killed?!"
"Make sure he doesn't, do your bloody job Potter!"
Harry snapped out of his musings and re-evaluated the situation. Thus far the rear and front car had both been taken out and the Aurors were on the south side firing spells against the Death Eaters. Who in turn had surrounded them to the east, north and west. Two of the heating traps had activated detonating the cars. Along with the fire wall spells except the south east side by Rabastan's small group. Anti-Apparition and Portkey wards had been activated as expected as well.
Harry hoped that the Aurors would contribute the missing firewall to a failed spell. Since it was the one closest to them he didn't think they would worry about it just yet. Thus far just less than two minutes had elapsed, leaving three more until the backup would arrive.
"Give up Dolohov, you're trapped and our reinforcements will be here any minute!" one of the Aurors shouted.
"By then you'll be dead and we'll be long gone!" the Death Eater replied with a laugh as he darted out and sent another reductor at the first car blowing a large chunk out of the front. There seemed to be a sphere around the sections where people sat which was heavily spell resistant so most of the vehicle was intact still for cover.
"Resistance is futile, your escape is blocked and I have fifty Aurors arriving in three minutes, Potter was rather annoyed that I wouldn't let him be here in the first place. I'm sure he'll be arriving any moment." Kingsley's deep voice called out as he stunned one of the masked figures.
"Talk about an empty threat" Harry thought as he cast a glance around, which was rather pointless since he could barely see his companions.
"His newest spell worked in case you were wondering, an unblockable stun. Your time is limited." Kingsley called again and Harry grinned.
That was why Kingsley had come in person, he wanted to give that bit of information. Harry's grin was almost maniacal as he let the good feelings wash through him, summoning up his joy, happiness and love. He rolled his wand in his fingers waiting for the signal to attack.
By the three minute mark Harry was starting to get a bit concerned about the escape plan. Rabastan was just waiting while the fight raged on before them. Still most of the Aurors were sheltering on the southern side and launching spells at the Death Eaters. By Harry's view seven Death Eaters had been stunned, most of which were rennervated shortly after whereas the Aurors had suffered two casualties from deadly curses.
Harry grimaced as he knew the Aurors were under orders not to use deadly spells in case they hit an undercover ally. Suddenly Rabastan hissed and moved, moving swiftly but silently over to the back of the armoured van. He aimed his wand at the head of an Auror standing by the back door and the tip flashed red and the man slumped. Harry noticed what he did and moved to the one by the front and used a weak non-verbal stun to knock the man out. Rabastan employed the technique twice more before he moved to the back of the van.
"Alohomora," he whispered on the lock and let the door swing open, moving back as four red flashes hit the car behind.
"Well, he knew about the guards in the back as well." Harry thought.
His mind really started to dwell on who could be leaking information while one of the Death Eaters tried to enter the van. The disillusion dropping as he stunned the first guard earning three in return. Harry stood to the south side of the van with the others out of view from both sides and let his illusion drop. He elbowed the remaining unknown death Eater and pointed at the back tyre then looked to Hermione and mouthed 'shield'.
Hermione nodded and brought up a Protego shield over Harry and moved closer to the back. He let the feelings swell inside him and darted out at the same moment the Death Eater used a piercing spell on the back tyre. The Aurors inside were jolted and Harry raised his wand at the first.
"Avada Kedavra!" he hissed and a green light shot from his wand and the feeling surged through Harry again.
He fired once more at the second before the third responded with a stunner which bounced off Hermione's shield. He dived away from the red light and Harry dived into the van, disarming and knocking out the last man before he could recover. He looked up to see his old potions master sneering at him from behind a cage. Harry dispelled the mask for a moment before putting it back on.
Snape had been shown what Harry and Hermione would look like under the Polyjuice so he was taken by a look of surprise. Harry moved quickly and grabbed an Auror badge from one of the fallen and opened the cage with a spell. He'd have to excuse his knowledge of Auror locking procedure later but now they needed speed.
Snape took the opportunity well and rose moving over the unconscious bodies. Harry quickly tapped Snape and himself with disillusion charms before jumping out of the van and moving back to the others. Rabastan who had been discreetly removing the Aurors, blinked at Snape when he appeared with a bit of surprise, not expecting him to be released so easily.
"Time to blow out, we need to do something about Kingsley, he's preventing anyone from getting to the exit." Rabastan hissed.
"He's mine!" growled the death eater who blew the tyre and he ran over towards the first car.
Rabastan looked at Harry who nodded and followed while Hermione rennervated the stupid Death Eater. He was hauled to his feet and supported by Severus and Rabastan as Hermione shielded their run to the exit. With a worried glance back towards the fight Hermione climbed out of the window with the others.
The death eater who volunteered to eliminate Shacklebolt had moved to the front of the van and started firing spells on the first vehicle by the exit. Shacklebolt and three other Aurors were sheltering behind the overturned SUV and trading fire with the main force of enemy. Harry guessed they had less than a minute and while he had no problem leaving the rest to be captured, he didn't think it would be a good impression.
Bursting from behind the van the unknown man fired a pair of curses at the Aurors. The yellow streak of the bone breaking curse and the purple dart of the piercing curse flew fast and true. The closest Auror was struck by the first in the ribs and went down with a scream while the piercing curse closed on Kingsley.
The Auror next to the large black man saw the curse coming and pushed his commander out of the way, taking the curse in his shoulder in the process. The death eater levelled his wand for the killing curse aimed at Kingsley. Harry checked and seeing no Death Eater could see where they were, and kicked the death eater at the back of his leg dropping him to his knees. He followed up with a quick elbow to the back of his head which sent him sprawling to the floor.
He then stepped out into view and snapped Avada Kedavra at the last uninjured Auror who crumpled as Shacklebolt pulled himself from under his guard. Harry quickly led Kingsley in a circle as they shot spells at each other, Harry had purposefully missed any Kedavra's while dodging, rather than defending, against anything Kingsley sent. With Kingsley circled to the van Harry now stood between him and the exit, Dolohov noticed quickly and called the retreat. With precious few second left the Death Eater ran around the perimeter and jumped out of the safe window.
A Thunderous explosion shook the west side as the barrier was detonated by the Auror reinforcement. Harry quickly fired a stunner which caught Kingsley in the chest knocking the big man down. Antonin stopped and turned to finish off Kingsley as he lay unconscious. Spotting his intend Harry grabbed the man as he ran past screaming about needing to leave. With the reinforcements starting to send a large number of stunners at them Dolohov agreed and both men dived through the window and ran clear of the wards before apparating away.
The last pair landed back at the manor driveway where most of the Death Eaters lingered in case anyone followed through. Harry looked around but couldn't see Hermione, Rabastan or Snape around.
"Icewell?" Harry snapped around and saw Pettigrew cowering to the side, "Master Lestrange wants you and Master Dolohov to go to the sitting room to discuss the mission with Mistress and Master Lestrange."
Harry nodded and followed Peter and Antonin to a new part of the manor. When he entered he found himself with only a small group but still too many to dare drawing his wand. Bellatrix lounged over a sofa with her head resting on her husband's lap while he fed her grapes and treats. Rabastan stood in the middle of the room with Hermione beside him, in one of the chairs to the side was Snape wearing dark robes.
Harry assumed he wanted to change out of the shabby prison uniform immediately but still marvelled at the speed of his change. He was also mildly amused at his immediate return to his old surly and aloof self but he didn't let that show.
With a glance behind him Harry noticed Macnair sitting on a second sofa with an unknown woman. Dolohov went and joined them while Harry stood by the door awkwardly.
"Come, sit," Bellatrix beckoned, moving her feet from the end of her sofa, Harry saw Rodolphus roll his eyes as Harry tried not to explode, he knew his eyes were burning with hatred already.
Harry moved a bit stiffly and sat on the end of the sofa and Bella immediately put her legs onto his lap with a grin. She then looked over to Rabastan and Hermione who was discreetly shooting daggers with her eyes at the elder witch.
"I see you have successfully rescued out dear Severus, brother dearest, tell me how the mission went." She asked rather sweetly.
"We succeeded to be blunt, we lost two Death Eaters and another two recruits but I saw three Aurors dead and another four injured." Rabastan started, "The information we received was correct on most counts, they increased the guard to eighteen, anti apparation and Portkey wards were in place to be raised. They missed however the firewall traps along the windows and heating charms under all the cars."
"They were detected by Icewell when we arrived, and he managed to disarm one of the firewall traps in twenty five minutes which pretty much saved our skins."
"Impressive," Rodolphus commented.
"See, I told you he was worthy," Bellatrix smirked at her husband and then grinned at Harry, rubbing her foot over his thigh. Harry bit back any reply and satisfied himself imagining snapping Bella's leg in as many places as possible instead.
"Earning here also proved useful, she protected me and Severus as we carried Darian out. He was stupid enough to get himself stunned four times." Rabastan commented, "I'll approve of both when we decide who to keep. I'll let Antonin tell you of the others as I was separated and unable to observe them."
Rabastan moved over to a sofa between Snape and Rodolphus and sat down heavily. He beckoned Hermione to follow and sit on the other end, closer to Snape. Antonin rose from his chair and moved to the middle and started commenting on how the fighting went on the north side. Harry was oblivious to the whole report as his mind was focused purely on if he could break every bone in the foot rubbing his thigh. Then he heard his name mentioned again.
"… Took out three Aurors and engaged Shacklebolt to give us the opportunity to escape."
"Icewell did? But I thought Phinneus went to do that? Icewell was covering him," inquired Rabastan.
"Didn't see Phinneus, but he didn't come back with the others." Antonin looked over to Harry.
"He got a head start on me, he had already reached the fallen vehicle and taken out two Aurors. He had his wand set on Shacklebolt when I arrived. Before I could help an Auror jumped him from behind, kicked his legs out and elbowed him in the head. He dropped after that," Harry replied to the look, "I Kedavra'ed the Auror that got him and the last one, by then Shacklebolt had composed himself and I engaged him. Kept him occupied so the others could escape."
"That he did, just in the nick of time, as the last of us got out while the reinforcements arrived. Icewell landed a stunner that took our Kingsley and I went to finish him off but the reinforcements were shooting heavily at us. Icewell grabbed and dragged me out to escape." Antonin finished.
"So Shacklebolt survived, when he could have been killed?" Bellatrix inquired as her foot stopped it's exploration of Harry's thighs and she turned a hard, icy gaze upon Antonin.
"Yes, I tried to finish him off but he stopped me!" Antonin pointed at Harry.
Bella's eyebrows lifted for a moment at his outburst, the icy gaze fell upon the finger pointing at Harry. Antonin gulped and quickly withdrew his hand as if he feared her look alone could remove his finger. Bellatrix did not look pleased that he had the audacity to try and shuffle the blame to her new recruit. She looked over and met Harry's eyes, which burned with anger and hatred, as they always did in her presence. Her glare now softened and she swept a few stray hairs from her eyes as she waited for an explanation.
"Reinforcements had arrived, my defence is useless, didn't want to risk Dolohov for a sub standard Auror." Harry replied shortly.
"Sub standard Auror? He's the bloody head of the Auror and MLE division you fool!" Antonin snapped.
"Really? Must be good at paperwork, bit nimble for an old guy, managed to dodge my attempts to kill him but didn't seem that impressive." Harry shrugged, "If he's so important I'll let you kill him if we get another chance."
"We won't, he very rarely goes out on missions, don't know why he was there in person if he thought there was an attack." Rabastan commented.
"Didn't know he was that important," Harry just shrugged again, placing a bit more emphasis on his accent as he continued, "I've tried to avoid the British authorities on my visit."
"All in all, I think some of our Death Eaters could use a few lessons and I'm satisfied with the recruits that made it back for now." Dolohov finished.
"Very well, why don't you and Macnair go sort out those lessons, Elladora, take the recruits to get something to eat." Rodolphus ordered, "We'll have a word with Severus here."
Harry looked over to the woman sitting by Macnair who nodded and rose. He turned his attention to Bellatrix's feet which were preventing him from rising along with Hermione. Bella let out a disappointed sigh and lifted her feet enough to allow Harry to escape. He left the room quickly, following Hermione and Elladora.
"I'm surprised Bellatrix didn't jump you." Hermione muttered haughtily.
"If she had I'd have snapped her pretty little neck," Harry hissed in response, still trying to rein his anger.
"I'm glad you're keeping your anger in check, we have a lot of information now." Hermione commented under her breath as Elladora opened a door and led them into a large dining room.
There were about twenty people sitting around the room. Harry recognised all of the recruits from the training room and their mission immediately. He also recognised a few of the others as suspected Death Eaters but some faces were new still. Elladora had them sit at a table and brought them some drinks. Harry sniffed at the glass and smirked.
"Pumpkin juice laced with anti-Polyjuice?" he asked with a chuckle, "Don't trust us suddenly?"
Elladora looked surprised and Hermione suddenly looked worried. Harry was facing Ella while Hermione sat with her back to the woman so only he noticed her expression. With a silent jolt he wondered if Hermione had forgotten her immunity potion this morning. He quickly slipped a spare from his belt and kicked her shin discreetly. She glanced under the table and noticed what he was offering and shook her head slightly then looked to her wrist.
Harry nodded back at her, realising she was reminding him that the time on their polyjuice was running out. He wasn't looking forward to another incident like the bar so he took the drink and swallowed a few gulps for Ella.
"Which way is it to the bathroom?" he asked while Hermione drank her drink.
"Just over there, first left door, come back quickly, I'm not sure what Bellatrix wants for you next." Elladora replied.
"I have a vague idea." Hermione muttered and Harry smirked in return as he rose from the seat.
Following the instructions he found himself in the bathroom in no time, the moment he entered he cast a quick silencing charm over the door. Harry then refreshed his polyjuice from a spare in his potion belt. He grunted and grabbed the sink as the potion refresh itself, no matter how often you used it, you never really get used to the bloody stuff. He held back the urge to vomit and calmed himself before sliding the empty vial back into his hidden belt.
Harry then went back to the dining hall and Hermione slipped out to refresh her potion. Rabastan entered the room shortly after she left and he looked around quickly. His eyes caught Harry's and he walked over to him, Rabastan sat and dismissed Elladora with a wave of his hand. She turned and swept out of the room as Rabastan sat with the tall man.
"Phinneus was captured and Darian is unconscious due to his own stupidity. Thus the only ones who know what happened at the back of the van are you, me and your girlfriend." Rabastan started, "When I grabbed Darian I noticed that all four of the Aurors were still breathing, the two that you 'killed' were still doing so very slowly."
"I find this intriguing," Rabastan commented as he relaxed into the chair. Harry had already flicked his wrist and had his wand pointed at the other man under the table, "There are two explanations that I can think of. Firstly, you are simply not evil enough to kill, but powerful enough to do a lot of damage. Secondly, you are the second person on the planet that I know of who can use the killing curse as an unblockable stun, the other is Harry Potter."
"Which do you think it is Paul?"
"Don't have a clue, I point the wand, I call the curse, they fall over. Never used it before and I didn't bother to check. I just assumed they were dead, because it is the killing curse after all." Harry replied carefully.
"Well I suppose from our perspective its two more Aurors we will have to kill at another time. In any case they were removed from the problem at the time most efficiently so I see no reason to bring too much attention to it. We're taking Snape to a secure facility to work on a project. We had someone else working on it but someone betrayed us and we lost Yaxley."
"Betrayed? Did you find the traitor?" Harry asked.
"We asked around in Bellatrix's favoured way, we found nothing though. Rodolphus was the secret keeper and just in case Bellatrix has decided to choose someone else for the second facility."
"I have a bad feeling you're about to tell me its going to be me," Harry put on an expression of annoyance while his hopes swelled up.
"She may be in charge but there's no chance the rest of us would let her pick a first day recruit as a secret keeper. Can't say for certain she didn't consider it of course," Rabastan smirked, "No, this time I'm the secret keeper. I've also managed to get you and your girl onto guard duty. Bellatrix wasn't very pleased, she wanted to keep you close. So you'll be coming back when you aren't on shift. I'll also be taking one of you two on all of my raids."
"I'm honoured," Harry commented.
"What can I say? I'm very fond of winning." Rabastan smirked, "I've got the most successful record for getting what's needed which is why I went for Snape."
"You also seem to have a pretty low casualty list. You were knocking the Aurors unconscious rather than killing them."
"Like I told you before, I'm not so trigger happy with the unforgivables. I'm loyal to my brother above all else and I'll do what it takes to keep him alive, safe and happy, in that order."
Harry nodded and made a mental note of that, it was possible that Rabastan might not be as bad as suspected. But there was very little Harry could do about that at this stage. Even if Rabastan didn't deserve the death sentence he was willingly helping those that did. Rodolphus definitely earned his walk through the veil and Harry didn't want to get him out of it for the sake of his brother.
He would have to try and speak to Hermione alone and see what she though of the whole problem. He was wondering why she was taking so long when Rabastan took a slip of paper from his cloak and slid it over the table. Harry looked at it and saw an address written on the slip.
"That's where we're moving Snape, show that to no-one but Suzette and then destroy it. Where are you staying?"
"Leaky Cauldron, I've got a room rented for a bit longer, then I was going back to America, it was only supposed to be a short visit to meet Suzette." Harry commented as he memorized the address and pocketed the slip.
"You can move your things to that location when your time expires then. I'm sure Bellatrix will offer you a room here soon, you can pick for yourself."
Harry instantly picked the second site, he was exceptionally uncomfortable about the woman he wanted to kill so desperately hitting on him. Living with Snape probably would have been worst or at least close had they asked a younger Harry of course. He nodded in return at Rabastan.
"Your first shift will be tomorrow morning starting at seven sharp, I'm sure Severus will complain to someone if you're late." Rabastan smirked, "Go train or go back to the cauldron with your girl, I don't mind which, you did well today Paul, keep it up."
"Yes Sir," Harry replied with a small smirk as Rabastan rose and left the room.
Harry looked around the room and saw Hermione still hadn't returned. His fingers brushed over pocket where he put the address and he smiled. He stood and went to find Hermione, he wondered if she had slipped off to explore the building some more but the bathroom door was still locked. He knocked gently on the door but there was no reply, he knocked a little harder and still nothing.
"Suzette?" he called to the door, when no reply came he took a better look at the door, letting his magic guide his thoughts. He was intensely familiar with Hermione's magic so he had no trouble detecting the silencing and sealing charms on the door. Standard counter spells would probably be blocked and he smirked at the passing thought of trying 'Alohomora'. He eventually decided upon the simple approach and took his wand to the door.
"Finite Incantatem" he muttered, the door made an odd noise as the sealing charm vanished which was replaced by soft sobbing shortly after. Harry knocked again and opened the door, "Suzette?"
Hermione was curled up in a ball, in the corner of the room as she cried quietly. Harry re-spelled the door before he walked over and kneeled before her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She jolted immediately and had her wand under his chin in a moment as she looked up with puffy red eyes.
When she realised who it was she dropped the wand and launched herself into Harry, holding him tight and crying louder. Harry put one arm around her back and stroked her hair gently. He tried making soothing noises like she had done before.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"How can you stand it?" she squeaked between sobs, "All those people here, just waiting to be tortured or killed and we did nothing."
"I stand it because it's for the greater good, it's only for a little longer." Harry replied, emotions he'd been suppressing since their arrival begged to be released.
"I see them every time I close my eyes, I can still hear their screams and cries Harry."
"I know, it's the same for me," Harry hugged her tighter, "Rabastan gave me the address to Snape's facility, he says we can stay there, far away from here."
"We can't help them if we aren't here Harry," Hermione hissed, "I don't want to leave them here with all these psychopaths!"
"We can't help them if we are here, anything we do will be noticed and we'll be compromised," Harry sighed, "Don't take lack of reaction or action as indifference to their suffering Mione. It's all I can do not to tear this place down and rescue everyone, but you spent ages hammering into my head that the mission is more important."
"I didn't know we'd find this here, how many are we going to save? Why are their lives more important than the people here?" Hermione asked.
"They aren't, no life is more important than another, this much I know. What is important is to know which lives I can save and which I can't." Harry replied evenly before he explained.
"We could march upstairs, try and rescue them. However, you know as well as I do, that Bellatrix is an even match for me. I don't like the odds of us two against everyone who's usually in that room. But say we defy the odds and we can defeat Bellatrix and whoever else is present. We'd be left to escort a large number of heavily injured people to a safe point to leave."
"A number of which I suspect are muggles and none would be in a fit state to fight as we tried to leave. On the slim chance the initial fighting didn't alert all the Death Eaters to our escape then we'd have to face at least a few, including those four guards outside. The odds of combating all those opponents without taking any casualties from the hostages is beyond slim."
"I know Harry, I just can't close my eyes and my heart to their suffering and pretend it's not happening." She interrupted.
"You don't have to, you just have to hide your emotions for a little longer," Harry replied, "We've got Severus in position, we can leave now and contact Kingsley. Tomorrow we attack the second site, lure as many Death Eaters into there as we can. Hopefully we can cripple them badly enough that we can attack here and free everyone."
"How can we raid the second site, surely it's under a Fidelius charm like the first one? You definitely aren't raiding it alone again!"
"Yes, it's under a Fidelius charm, the secret keeper is Rabastan who kindly wrote this for me." Harry grins and fishes out the note, showing the address to Hermione who looks at it wide eyed, "Since you were still here he gave me the note and told me to burn it after you saw it, of course he didn't say exactly when after. I suppose I should though, imagine what would happen if Shacklebolt got his hands on this."
"Now, you need to fix yourself up and we need to get going, we need to talk to Kingsley quickly so he and Ron can get everything ready in time." Harry grinned as Hermione brightened and got up.
Hermione went over to the mirror and started to remove the evidence of her emotional outburst. Harry was already running several plans through his mind. If this worked out they could drain a large amount of the Death Eater resources in a single day. With luck by tomorrow evening he could be throwing Bellatrix through the veil himself.
Hermione looked up and nodded her ready and Harry removed his spells from the door. As he opened the door they found themselves face to face with a very upset looking man with his legs crossed. They gave small apologies to the man who waddled into the bathroom and tried their hardest not to smirk as they walked away. They made their way through the maze of rooms and corridors until they found themselves outside. They strolled quickly past the guards towards the point of apparation.
"Now Paul, You weren't trying to sneak off without saying goodbye were you?" Bellatrix slipped out from behind a statue ahead of them and smiled.
"I tried to find you first but I got lost in this huge manor of yours, this is the first time we found the exit and we thought it would be best to leave or we might be stuck here all day and night." Harry replied slowly, as he was forced to make it all up as he went along.
"Would that be so awful?" Bellatrix teased, walking over and letting a finger caress his chest.
"We wouldn't want to impose on your hospitality so soon after our first meeting." Hermione replied, "And we were feeling a little tired after all the work this morning so we wanted to have a quick rest."
"Don't be silly, Paul here doesn't look tired at all, I'm sure he could keep going all day and night," she replied with a lick of her lips.
"I wish my lady," Harry replied with a forced smile.
"Well if you desire rest you may stay here, I have plenty of spare rooms,"
"I have an appointment this afternoon, they are collecting me from the Cauldron and it would look suspicious if I were to cancel unfortunately." Hermione quickly replied.
"Well then you must go unfortunately," Bellatrix commented with a smile glinting in her eyes, "But I'm sure you wouldn't mind if Paul stayed a bit longer, I assure you that you're boyfriend will be in good hands."
Hermione froze, unable to think of a plausible excuse which would not anger the rather unstable woman. Harry also drew a blank but turned to Hermione and gave her a look, it was important that at least one of them spoke to Kingsley.
"I'll be fine sweetie," Harry said, and drew her into an embrace, turning her to be between him and Bella, "I'll see you later."
"You behave and try not to offend our new commander," Hermione smiled and pushed up to give him a soft kiss.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes at the mushy display of affection which meant she didn't notice Hermione quickly picking the address from Harry's pocket. The kiss was quick and mild but both parties still enjoyed it more than they thought they should have. Hermione then turned and slipped past Bellatrix, looking over her shoulder at Harry as she stepped out of the apparation wards and vanished with a crack.