Unofficial Portkey Archive

Prince of the Dark Triangle

Details, descriptions, items and characters of the Harry Potter series are the sole property of J.K.Rowling, et al and used only within the context of this story and my not be otherwise reprinted, sold, or used for any other purpose. Original characters and plot are mine and my not be used in any other {for profit} form without permission…

Chapter 5

In the days that followed that horrible night the murder of Ron Weasley went unsolved. Harry Potter as well as Ginny Weasley were listed as missing when neither had shown up for practice with the Cannons…and their manager said they had never missed a practice before.

Kingsley wanted Hermione put in protective custody for her safety but she had refused. She was not going to hide like a scared rabbit cowering in fear. She did, however, allow the Commander to have a few Unspeakables put some very complex and intricate protections, alarms and safeguards on and around her flat near downtown London just so she could sleep in peace at night. They also put safeguards around her mother and father's home as well and had them all watched around the clock.

She didn't like the idea she was being babysat but Kingsley would not budge on that. She had also limited her time out in public as much as she could stand and giving up one of her favorite Muggle pastimes was excruciating.

She didn't have many interests but when the Aurors watching her reported some strange looking people hanging out near the Opera House in London the Commander flatly nixed her forays to see Porgy and Bess and all her other favorites after that.

Shortly after Ron's funeral she got an Owl from George telling her Romilda had taken her own life by splinching herself over the grief of losing her husband.

Her mother came to their bungalow in Hogsmead after she had not heard from her daughter in several days to discover the gruesome scene.

The upper half of Romilda's body was lying on the living room floor in a lake of blood and the lower part was discovered in the basement of the joke shop.

Since there was absolutely not a single trace of evidence that suggested fowl play it was listed as a suicide. Her mother had even acknowledged that Romilda had been horribly depressed and miserable.

One evening she found herself standing outside the building that contained #12 at Grimmuald Place trying to figure out how to get inside. Several attempts by the Aurors had been unsuccessful due to the industrial strength wards on the place.

Hermione had gone to every place she could think of where Harry might have gone but neither he nor Ginny could be found anywhere.

Then, slowly, other reports of disappearances and very gruesome deaths started surfacing.

The next to fall victim to the sudden, unexplained and unexpected violent attacks was Seamus Finnigan. His body was found badly beaten and bloody just outside a new wizard pub, the Gilded Dragon that had opened in Knockturn Alley. Half his head had been caved in. There was scant little evidence and no eyewitnesses.

Other names started cropping up in the Daily Prophet such as Dennis Creevey, Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil, and many others they had gone to Hogwarts with.

Cho Chang had been found dead. She had been tied up, beaten and bruitilly raped. A plastic bag had been tied around her head but she didn't give up without a fight.

It must have taken a long time for her to suffocate to death because investigators found her body covered in bruises and cuts as she had bucked and thrashed and tore the skin from her bound wrists tyring to wrench her hand free. It must have been a horrible death.

But there still wasn't enough evidence to determine who was perpetrating these heinous crimes.

It was frustrating the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and once again terror and fear began to grip the English wizard world.

Kingsley began ramping up efforts to try and protect as many as his recourses would allow after Hermione came to a rather startling conclusion one evening sitting at her flat afraid to go anywhere.

As she wrote the names of all the dead and missing to that point on a piece of parchement a clear pattern to the carnage began to emerge. Almost all the names could have been taken directly from the membership list of their old secret Dumbledore's Army club.

After frantically digging through her old Hogwarts trunk filled with her keepsakes she found the old list she had spelled to reveal anyone who snitched on them and sure enough, much to her utter horror, she discovered she was right.

She contacted Kingsley right away with her discovery.

Hermione had begun to become a bit peranoid so she found herself in Kingsley's office one night after work begging him to relocate Andomida Tonks and little Teddy to a safe location. Even though they had nothing to do with their old D.A. club something inside was telling her to do that.

She thought about sending her mother and father back to Austrailia but reconsidered when Kingsley doubled Auror protection on them but still she constantly worried for their safety.

Kingsley had no idea where he might put them but after some thought it only took an owl and calling on a favor from an old friend to solve the problem.

Less than 24 hours later Andomida and Teddy found themselves as welcomed guests in the placial estate of the Krum family just outside the Bulgarian capitol city of Sofia.

Viktor had welcomed them with a warmth and friendliness that surprised even Hermione and Viktor took to little Tedy almost immediately joking he was going to teach the little morph-megus how to ride a broom like a champion.

Hermione also met Viktor's new incredibly gorgeous girlfriend Lasha. She was the lead singer in an all-girl Bulgarian rock band and Hermione liked the girl immediately. Wizard tattoos adorned both arms and much of her body and her dark gothic drag gave her an almost sinister apperance.

She also had a rather dominering personality but she was open and honest and didn't let Viktor get away with any nonsense. She was also very kind to Andromida and Teddy and when out of her way to see to Andromeda's comfort. Teddy fell in loved with the raven-haired goddess at once and clung to the slender dark young woman like she was his mother. It was a bit shocking to both Andromeda and Hermione but it didn't seem to surprise Victor at all.

"My Lasha has a very magnetic personality," he had said with a devious grin.

If it wasn't for the fact the girl was so likeable and perfect for Viktor, Hermione would have almost been jealous.

After returning from Bulgaria Hermione had finally had enough and wracked her brain to think of a way to get into #12 so she decided to pay a visit to one Bill Weasley at Gringotts.

She asked him if he might be able to break the wards on #12 so they could get in to see if they could find out what was going on. Being worried for Ginny's safety he agreed to try and with the help of a few other curse breakers he knew they met at #12 the next evening.

Standing in the small park across the street from Grimmuald Place Hermione was getting quite nervous.

"He did tell you he would be here soon, didn't he Hermione?" Bill Weasley asked as they and three other highly skilled curse breakers stood waiting in the shadows of a large willow tree.

"Yes," Hermione replied, "He said…"

But before she could finish they heard the sound of quite a few apparitions landing all around them.

Kingsley Shacklebolt greeted them somberly as he approached. Bill quickly introduced his associates as the rest of the Aurors took up their assigned positions. The older man glanced at Hermione for a moment.

"You know," he rumbled in his deep voice, "I should have thought of this. Thank you for your help Bill."

"Think nothing of it Kingsley," Bill replied, "To be honest…I hope we don't find anything in there."

But as they slowly approached the old Black family home they were all about to discover that Bill Weasley's hope would be dashed when they finally gained entrance.

It took almost an hour for the four highly skilled curse breakers to bring down enough wards for them to at least gain entry to the house but before he would allow anyone else inside Kingsley insisted he and the Aurors go in first.

After what seemed like an eternity as Hermione found herself going insane with worry Kingsley finally reappeared at the front entrance looking horribly pale and sweating, almost as if he was going to be sick. Hermione knew instantly it was really bad.

"Bill," the Commander gasp, "I think you need to see this but I must warn you…It's ghastly," the old Auror swallowed hard, "Please be prepared and promise you'll touch nothing. I need to get an investigation team here at once."

When Hermione made to follow Bill inside Kingsley grabbed her shoulder.

"Ms. Granger, please. I don't think this is something you should see!"

Hermione looked at him with a touch of annoyance and more than a little defiance.

"With all do respect Mr. Shacklebolt I'm not a sheltered little girl anymore," she huffed, "Those are my friends in there so if you don't mind," she glanced down at his hand holding her arm.

Kingsley reluctantly released her practically begging her not to go in but she was already making her way through the front door.

When she stepped into the gloom of the entrance hall the first thing that hit her was the horrible cloying smell. The next thing that immediately grabbed her attention was that the portrait of the old Black Matriarch had been shredded into rags, the long strips of canvas hung off the painting like a skeletal hand as if reaching down to grab the next one passing beneath the dusty ornate wooden frame.

There were streaks of something dark that splattered the walls everywhere and as Hermione looked closer she realized what it was. It was blood…a lot of it and it seemed to be everywhere!

Her heart pounded as she fought to keep the keening cry behind her teeth as she heard someone down in the dungeon kitchen sobbing relentlessly. She quickly made her way forward and down the steps trying hard not to step in any of the puddles of something all over the floor.

When she entered the kitchen she was not at all prepared for what she was about to see and instantly wished she had taken Kingsley's advice.

As her mind processed the horrific scene before her it all became too much and before she could do anything else the whole world seemed to fade to a total encompassing blackness…

---@>---

As Hermione's eyes fluttered open she realized she was looking up at a night sky full of stars. The air was almost cold but quickly realized she was drenched in sweat. She tried to sit up but someone in a Healer's tunic held her gently but firmly in place.

"Please Ms. Granger," the older woman pleaded, "remain calm and just relax." The woman was pointing her wand at the left side of her head mumbling some kind of healing charm.

It was then Hermione realized her head was pounding and she unconsciously reached up to touch a rather large goose egg-sized lump on the side of her noggin.

"You fainted, Ms. Granger," the Healer stated matter-of-factly, "and from what the Commander told me you're head nicked the side of one of the benches on the way down. Here…"

The healer handed Hermione a small vile of a clear liquid.

"A pain drought," the woman added, "It will help with the pain. It tastes rather bad so you might want to chase it with this…"

She also produced a goblet of pumpkin juice.

Hermione nodded and didn't even hesitate to throw the pain drought into her mouth and swallow. She then snatched the pumpkin juice and tossed it back. She started feeling better almost instantly but as she sat there the horrible images came back into her mind and it almost made her wretch.

She didn't want to believe it…she couldn't…but she could not deny the reality of it…

Ginny Weasley, or what remained, was lying on the long wooden table naked and pale white. Thick rope bound her to the wooden surface around her middle. Her legs had been spread wide and Hermione saw her center was covered in blood and some other kinds of fluids. She had no desire to speculate but she could guess what those other fluids could be.

Her arms were flung wide and both her wrists had been slashed. Two large pewter pitchers sat on the floor below her dripping wrists to catch the blood as it flowed from her severed veins, although her body long since drained of its life-giving fluid.

Marks had been carved into the soft skin of her chest between her breasts and on her stomach but Hermione could not remember what the marks looked like…she didn't want to remember because there was dried blood everywhere. It covered the youngest Weasley's torso.

But the thing Hermione would never forget was her face. Ginny's lifeless eyes were open wide with utter stark terror and what Hermione could only describe as total disbelief, mouth open wide in what must have been terrifying screams of sheer pain and anguish. Her long red hair hung off the end of the table like a curtain of shimmering auburn silk.

Hermione would never, for the rest of her life, forget Ginny's face. It hung suspended in her mind's eye like a spectral image but as she sat there trying to regulate her breathing trying desperately not to vomit all over the place she suddenly remembered the walls of the kitchen and the words painted on them in what could only have been Ginny's blood.

Over and over the words were repeated all around the room…

Blood Revenge!

It didn't take a genius intellect to figure out what that meant. The remaining Death Eaters were taking revenge on as many of them as they could get to with a brutality so heinous it would shock everyone to cause panic and fear once again in the wizarding world.

Hermione looked up to see Kingsley Shacklebolt looking down at her with concern. He glanced at the Healer.

"She'll be fine Commander," the older woman nodded, "just a bump on the head."

The Healer moved off and Hermione sat up pulling her legs beneath her then wrapping her arms tightly around her middle.

"I should have listened to you Mr. Shacklebolt," Hermione said softly, tears of misery tracing down her cheeks. She really didn't want to ask the next question but she had to know… "Did you find h…him," she choked.

"No, actually," Kingsley said with a bit of surprise, "There's no trace of Harry anywhere in the house. The whole second floor where the bedrooms are has been tossed. Everything had been torn up, broken or ripped to shreds almost like someone was looking for something."

Hermione's head snapped up peering at the old Auror with utter disbelief.

"But the wards," she stammered, "The house was warded from the inside Mr. Shacklebolt! How could that be possible and anyone be able to get out?"

Kingsley's eyes held hers for a long moment.

"I'm not certain I can answer that at present Ms. Granger but it tells me there's a good chance that Harry's still alive somewhere," he concluded, "Perhaps they've taken him hostage…" but his voice trailed off in a touch of misery.

The same thoughts plagued Hermione's mind as well. With the utter brutality of the scene in the kitchen they both knew if whoever had done this took Harry they were probably doing horrible things to him at that very moment.

Hermione turned away from the Auror just in time to empty the contents of her stomach all over the scraggly front lawn of Number Twelve.

Less than a week later Hermione found her theory about the D.A. list tested when the Burrow was attacked during the night by what Arthur had described as an insane group of out-of-control psychopaths!

He told Kingsley they had all been dressed in black Muggle clothes and wore some kind of strange masks not at all like the old Death Eaters.

He had forced his wife to leave just as the house erupted into flames but his stubborn wife insisted on returning as soon as the attacking hoard left.

Molly had been badly burned when she tried desperately to save some of her priceless and irreplaceable possessions and Arthur suffered sever smoke inhalation damage trying to rescue her. Neither of them was doing well. Just after giving his statement Arthur lapsed into a comatose state.

Arthur had also said most of the attackers appeared to be younger but there were a few he thought he recognized as being the type Voldemort had once employed as his minions but even with Arthur's testimony it gave them scant little to work with because their methods and attacks seemed to be completely random in nature leaving behind little or no evidence to whom they might be.

Hermione had no way of knowing then that in less than ten days Molly and Arthur would both be dead from their injuries.

Two days after the attack on the Burrow a similar group attacked Shell Cottage in the same fashion but this time they hit in broad daylight. Fleur had barely managed to escape with her life and was badly injured. She managed to grab an emergency portkey Bill had given her for just such a reason after the incident at his parents.

Fleur had made it to just outside Gringotts when she collapsed. The Guards on duty got to her immediately and called for Bill. He took her straight away to St. Mungo's surrounded by a contingent of Aurors and Hit Wizards and as soon as she was well enough to travel he got her away to France to the safety of her parent's chateau in the quaint valley community of Avignon near Marseille on the southern coast of France.

George's place in Diagon Alley was next but when the deviants saw the massive Auror presence they disappeared just as quickly as they came. It was then George, Bill, Lee Jordon, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and a few others they knew all decided to take an extended vacation to visit Charlie Weasley.

They had tired to convince Hermione to come and the Commander of the D.M.L.E. couldn't agree more but she refused. She would not leave her parents behind and took steps to try and prtect them as best she could but she did not want to interrupt their lives again by taking them away. It would be a decision she would live to regret.

During all that was happening the Ministry did next to nothing to assist. The new Minister for Magic, Sedgwick Bristlebalm, who had been a senior member of the Wizengamot spent his days doing nothing but blustering and bellowing in front of the Wizard Press which added up to exactly nothing.

Many members of the Wizengamot fled London like rats from a sinking ship fearing they would find themselves targets in this new threat to wizard safety and it made Hermione sick to watch it all happen.

She had never placed much confidence in the Ministry's leadership but part of her believed, at least for a time, the regulatory body was necessary to keep wizard London from falling into utter chaos but at the moment she was hard pressed to find any reason to keep trusting them.

It was two weeks before Christmas when the final blow came that sent Hermione Granger into a tailspin of pain, grief, anguish and utter despair.

While trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in her life she stubbornly stayed at her post in the Muggle Liaison's Office while trying to protect her mother and father and at the same time assist the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in their investigations. She knew she was stretching herself way too thin and on a snowy evening it had all caught up to her.

She had collapsed into her bed and slept for almost 24 straight hours. In the haze of utter exhaustion she found herself brought back to consciousness by something that was not as it should be.

As she lay in her bed unmoving, trying to gather her wits she suddenly and with an icy cold dread spilling down her spine, realized she was not alone in her flat.

She listened intently for even the hint of a clue, of even someone breathing and heard nothing, not a single sound but something inside her knew…someone was there…she could feel it!

Hermione slowly and almost imperceptibly coiled herself. In the next second she summoned her wand and jumped out of her bed ready to fight but as she stood in the middle of her silent room she found nothing.

She slowly eased her way through the rest of her rather spacious flat looking in closets and even behind doors but she found no-one or nothing to even indicate someone had ever been there but the feeling of being watched by someone close was still there.

Then a frightful thought occurred to her as she was standing in the middle of her dark living room.

The Invisibility Cloak!

If this new group of dark wizards had taken Harry then maybe they had got hold of his cloak as well. Maybe that's what they had been looking for the night they killed Ginny and tore up Number Twelve.

A line of sweat traced its way down the left side of her jaw as she strained with all her senses to hear any sound, to feel any movement, completely aware how vulnerable she was just standing there in the darkness wide open.

She was contemplating what she was going to do because she knew with all the wards, spells and charms placed on her flat by the Unspeakables she could not apparate in or out of her flat, no-one could, not even her. The only way in or out was through the front door which was the only entrance and even then one had to possess the password and only she knew that.

…But did wards work while under the Invisibility Cloak?

She couldn't remember…

Then a small tentative glimmer of hope filled her rapidly thudding heart…

"Harry?" She whispered.

But in the next second, loud booming and frantic pounding sounded against her front door and it made her jump several inches off the floor, squealing in stark terror.

"Ms. Granger," came a muffled voice she had come to know very well over the past several months. The pounding was relentless, "Please open the door. It's Kingsley. Are you in there? Ms. Granger PLEASE!"

The aged Auror's voice was on the verge of panic and she had never heard him like that so with a wave of her wand the door to her flat opened. The next second had Kingsley rushing in followed by a whole phalanx of Aurors.

"Secure every window and any other possible way in or out NOW!"

When he turned his eyes to Hermione still standing in the middle of her living room she suddenly realized she was wearing nothing but a thin tight tank top and her panties but as the Aurors flowed in around her they didn't seem to even notice her standing there in her knickers. They were focused on their task at hand.

"Mr. Shacklebolt…" Hermione was about to ask what the hell was going on but never got the chance.

"Ms. Granger," he said, the look on his face a horrible mask of pain and anguish, "the bastards attacked your parents while they were in transit from doing their monthly volunteer work at an orphanage near Ipswich. They mercilessly killed all four guards and…and…" he couldn't seem to continue.

Hermione just stood there and heard her own heart crack right down the middle and her soul shatter into a thousand pieces. She suddenly couldn't feel her arms and legs and if the Commander of the D.M.L.E. wasn't standing right in front of her she would have collapsed into a boneless pile of goo right where she stood.

"I'm so sorry," she heard Kingsley choke but she was leaving. She just wanted to go away…go somewhere and maybe never come back so she allowed the darkness to take her…willingly this time.

---@>---

As Senior Auror Jonathan Gallingforth made his way into Ms. Granger's flat he heard his Commander's instructions and immediately pointed his men toward their proper places. As he moved into the living space movement of a potted fern set in a corner near the door to what he assumed was a bedroom caught his eye and he instantly thought it quite odd seeing how none of his men were anywhere near enough to disturb the air around the plant.

"Over here," he shouted instantly, "I think I've got something!"

In the next instant he was waving his wand trying to assess the situation but in the next moment whatever had caused the fern frond to move was dashing into the bedroom. He knew this because who or whatever it was had bounced off the partially closed door and caused it to fly open banging off the wall behind.

Several curses went flying into the room just past his left ear that caused him to duck but he kept moving forward.

"Don't let whatever it is get away damn it!" He shouted.

But whatever they were chasing was determined to make the window and had a rather significant head start. He could see the bed compress where the thing jumped on top of it no doubt making a last ditch effort to dive out the unopened window. It was going to smash the glass to pieces and whatever it was would probably crash to the ground a bloodied pulp. He could only hope.

Auror Gallingforth whipped his wand toward the window to try and make it disappear all together but he found himself suddenly dodging a curse aimed right at his head.

He was forced to duck below the bed for just a second while multiple curses and hexes flashed over him from behind but they seemed to be deflected by something and careened around the room causing more then one Auror to hit the floor.

When he finally looked up over the edge of the bed he saw the whole window pane shimmer like liquid and the curtains on either side billow as if hit with a sudden breeze from the inside of the room.

But just before the shimmering window settled he caught sight of the bottom of a shoe…just a single shoe and it was a trainer…an old worn out sneaker.

Document created with wvWare/wvWare version 1.2.7

-->