Soul Searching/End Game
SS Chapter 20 - The Final Horcrux
By Chem Prof
Chapter 20, The Final Horcrux
Friday, August 1
“So, when are we going to go after that horcrux?” They were at breakfast and Harry was studiously avoiding looking at Hermione anywhere below the neck.
“Well, we have to plan it first, don’t we? Honestly Harry, you didn’t think we were just going to apparate there and walk into the house and look for it, did you?”
The sheepish look on his face indicated that in fact, he had been thinking something like that. He quickly recovered while Hermione gave him her sometimes-I-just-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-you look. She crossed her arms and waited.
“Right, well I guess we should ask for help?” She nodded once.
“Um, we should let Remus and Tonks know what we’re doing and see what they can find out for us?” She nodded again.
“We plan carefully and don’t do anything until we’re sure we know exactly what we’re doing?” She nodded once more.
“Well, where’s the fun in that?” He asked with a wide-eyed innocent look. She glared at him, but as he continued the look, a smile kept fighting at the corners of her mouth until she just shook her head, groaned and buried her head on her arms on the table. With a big grin on his face Harry crept around to her side of the table behind her and put his arms around her. In an overly dramatic voice he pronounced, “Oh, Hermione, I just don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Suddenly from the head buried on the table came a growl, “Potterrrrr …” Harry leapt back just as Hermione turned in the chair and took a swing at him, and he took off laughing as she chased him out of the kitchen.
-ooOoo-
Thunk! Thunk!
Thunk! Thunk!
“Ginny, what are you doing?” Ron had come out to the shed looking for his sister.
“Practicing.” Ginny retrieved the knives from the target she had set up on the far side of the shed, out of sight of the house, and walked back to her spot. She sheathed the weapons in her wrist holsters. One after the other, she drew her hand back behind her head, which caused the knife to drop into her palm, and in one smooth motion hurled it into the target.
Thunk! Thunk!
Ron swallowed hard. He had too many bad memories of her throwing things at him. He decided that it would be a good idea to be very nice to her for the rest of the summer.
“Um,” he said hesitantly, “would you like to practice some combat spells later?”
Ginny looked up and smiled sweetly. “I’d love to.”
-ooOoo-
Things had settled down at Harry and Hermione’s house. They had talked with Remus and had arranged to meet with him and Tonks later that day. They were also going to try to get Moody to attend. Hermione was going over the list of muggleborn students and parents that McGonagall had given them that went back twenty years. She had just about finished when she suddenly gasped.
“What’s wrong?”
He came over behind her and she showed him the entry.
Lily Evans – Gryffindor
1971 – 1978
Prefect, 1975 – 1977
Head Girl, 1977 – 1978
Parents: Harold and Rose Evans
Occupation: Physicians (retired)
Address: Unknown
“Well that’s interesting.” His voice was unusually flat.
“Harry?”
“OK, I guess now I know who I’m named after.”
“Harry?”
“What!” he snapped. “They’re dead, OK? What’s the big deal?”
“Are you sure? I think the list …”
“Dumbledore told me Aunt Petunia was my only living relative, so they must be dead,” Harry explained, controlling his temper. “Please don’t tell me you think he lied to me about that.”
Hermione said nothing, noting the pleading look in his eyes. Something didn’t add up here. There were no other names of dead parents on the list. She resolved to look into this later. “Well, we don’t need to worry about it right now,” she finally stated, changing the subject. We have to find that last horcrux.”
-ooOoo-
Sunday, August 3
At their meeting with Mrs. Longbottom that week, they began with a discussion of the attack on the Burrow. She pointed out to Harry that he needed to work more at maintaining his Occlumency while under attack, so that he didn’t have to stop fighting to focus on his shields. Harry grimly agreed, knowing that a distraction like that could be fatal. Then she surprised them.
“I believe that the two of you have progressed far enough to begin the study of Legilimency. But I have another suggestion for you.” Harry smiled as Hermione immediately leaned forward, eager to learn something new. “You might wish to consider attempting to master Telepathy.”
Hermione had a thoughtful look at this, but Harry was confused. Seeing this, Mrs. Longbottom explained. “The two of you are unusually close. As I watch you work together it seems as though you often know what the other is thinking. That is often an indication of the potential for telepathy. It most often occurs in twins, but sometimes happens in unrelated people.” She neglected to mention that this had only ever occurred when a wizard and a witch had been married for a long time, but she suspected that the sharp minded young witch before her either knew that or would look it up before long.
Harry had a more immediate concern. “Do you mean we would be able to read each others minds? We wouldn’t be able to keep anything from each other?”
Mrs. Longbottom smiled at this. “Don’t worry. The information transfer would be completely voluntary on your parts. In that way it is different from Legilimency. You will still be able to plan a surprise birthday party for Miss Granger.”
Harry grinned. He had actually thought a little about what he could do for Hermione for her birthday. “Well, it might be useful to be able to think something to each other without anyone being able to hear. Not just in battle situations, either.” He raised an eyebrow at Hermione with this last thought.
“Harry Potter, I am not going to be giving you answers in class, or talking to you when we should be listening to our professors.” Hermione sounded serious as she said this, but the grin on her face gave her away.
Having dispensed with the teasing, both students agreed with the suggestion and decided to begin studying telepathy as soon as they could.
-ooOoo-
Friday, August 8
A trio of pops, two of them nearly inaudible, broke the stillness of the night in front of the darkened mansion. As Hermione insisted, they had carefully prepared for this mission. With much anguish, Winky had confirmed that a cup similar to the one they described had been stored in the house, but she had refused to go anywhere near it. Moody had staked the place out for the last five days and pronounced it deserted. Remus and Tonks were coming in from the back. They each had an emergency portkey that would jump them to Grimmauld Place, where there were first aid supplies and a floo connection to Hogwarts if necessary. They were wearing their dragonhide armor and were wearing their concealment cloaks. Stored away in Harry and Ron’s packs were the invisibility cloaks. They were as ready as could be. Slowly they began to move toward the empty Crouch mansion.
“Stupefy!” “Protego!” Four red jets of light sped toward them. In the blink of an eye Harry and Hermione had shields up, which each deflected a spell. Ron was not so fortunate, and took two full strength stunning spells. The dragonhide armor reduced the impact somewhat, but not enough to keep him conscious. Instinctively Harry and Hermione moved together in combat position, their wands up and on hair trigger alert. With twin shrugs their concealment cloaks dropped to the ground, freeing them for action. Suddenly, ahead of them they heard an all too familiar laugh, and four figures appeared as disillusionment charms faded away.
“Well, what do we have here?” an oily voice sneered. “Playing the hero again Potter? Leading your friends into another trap? Surely they must be getting tired of that by now. Is this the day you finally manage to get them killed?” As the voice continued his taunting the figures emerged from the shadows. Snape, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
Harry and Hermione kept silent and reinforced their occlumency shields. Harry would not rise to the bait. Not this time. He knew that Snape was trying to get him to lose his temper. That’s not going to work anymore, Snape, he thought grimly. The six of them stared at each other for a few seconds, then the spells began to fly.
-ooOoo-
Remus and Tonks appeared together at the rear of the Crouch property and were instantly alert. Remus was uneasy as his senses picked up that something was wrong. Without exchanging a word, they cast disillusioning spells on themselves and creeping silently, made their way toward the back of the mansion. Suddenly Remus reached out to where he could feel Tonks beside him and took her arm. Someone was here, watching for them. He could feel it. Then a voice cackled through the night air.
“So, if it isn’t my little niece who likes to play at being a big bad Auror. And look, she brought her animal friend along with her. How sweet.” The voice dripped with sarcasm and sent chills through Tonks as she instantly recognized her hated aunt. As the two of them whirled toward the sound Belatrix Lestrange shimmered into view as she dropped her own disillusionment. “Come on, little Nymph. Don’t you want to play?”
Remus and Tonks canceled their disillusioning charms and Tonks quickly fired a stunner, trying to catch her aunt off guard, but the older witch easily moved out of the way. “Oh my, surely you can do better than that?” Bella taunted. “Perhaps you’ve been debasing yourself with beasts too much. Has he rubbed off on you?” Without warming a white bolt flashed from her wand. Remus and Tonks dove apart as the blasting hex exploded between where they had been standing. Scrambling to their feet, they returned fire and the dual was on in earnest.
-ooOoo-
Hermione’s wand was a blur as she parried spells from her four attackers and Harry hurled hexes faster than she had ever seen. All of their spells were silently cast and the appearance of the pair, grimly silent as a blazing array of light flew from their wands in a constant stream brought to mind George’s description of a week earlier. They were truly scary together.
But the two of them had never faced odds like this. Snape was as skilled a duelist as they had ever seen, and it was clear that Draco had been training, probably as much as they had this summer. Crabbe and Goyle were less skilled, but could not be ignored either. Harry focused nearly all of his effort on Snape and Malfoy, throwing a spell at Crabbe or Goyle every so often just to keep them off balance. The initial flurry surprised their opponents and threw them back a little.
Severus Snape was taken aback. Was this the same boy he had toyed with on the grounds of Hogwarts less than two months ago? Both his and the mudblood’s minds were closed off to him so he had no idea what spell was coming until it was cast. But no matter, the four of them together would soon overwhelm the foolish Gryffindors. Slowly, the Slytherins began to move forward.
Harry and Hermione held their ground at first, the long hours of practice in working as a team paying off against the uncoordinated assault of their adversaries. But as the four began to spread out it became more difficult to keep track of them all at once. Hermione had to begin to let some spells through, relying on their dodging ability and their armor to keep the damage to a minimum. As their foes started moving to their sides, the pair began to retreat to keep themselves from getting into a deadly crossfire.
Abruptly Harry realized the danger as they backed away. ‘They’re going to get Ron!’ Their friend’s prostrate form now lay between the combatants and would soon be within the grasp of their enemies. Harry forced himself not to think of what might happen if Ron were captured.
Hermione seemed to have exactly the same thought and together they stopped retreating and redoubled their attack. ‘Reduce the odds!’ The thought appeared in Harry’s mind in the voice he had come to associate with Hermione. Putting his trust completely in Hermione’s shields, he abandoned his focus on Snape and Malfoy and threw his most powerful stunning spells, first at Crabbe on the right, then Goyle on the left. The two behemoths dropped to the ground. In a blink the contest had changed. They were now fighting on even terms.
-ooOoo-
Wands flashed and spells flew as Remus and Tonks took on one of Voldemort’s top Death Eaters. Practicing all summer with Harry and Hermione had not just improved the skills of the teens. Remus and Tonks were now better fighters than they had ever been. But no matter what they tried, they could not land a knockout spell on Bellatrix. Dancing and twirling, dodging or deflecting everything they shot at her, and throwing deadly counterspells of her own, she was constantly just out of reach. But the two pressed on. If she was here, the trio might be in trouble too. They had to end this quickly and find the others.
Tonks dropped to the ground and rolled away from Remus, firing the whole time. As they split farther apart, Bella was having more trouble keeping them both in sight. It was just a matter of time now.
-ooOoo-
Two on two, Harry and Hermione gradually gained the upper hand. Now nothing was getting through Hermione’s shields, and all the effort put into conditioning began to come into play. Draco was clearly getting winded, and Snape was showing signs of strain as well. All at once Snape made a motion to Draco and ran toward Crabbe. Draco likewise sprinted to Goyle. Before Harry and Hermione could react both had grabbed the unconscious wizards and disapparated away.
Hermione slumped against Harry as his arm automatically went around her and they caught their breaths. Glad for the respite, they knew they still had to be on their guard. They hurried forward to Ron. A quick check showed that he was OK and they stood up, relieved. Just as Hermione was about to enervate him, a double pop in front of them announced that they had company again. This time they were ready. Hermione had a shield up and Harry had begun a blasting hex even as the enemy had finished appearing.
But the Slytherin strategy had changed. Snape and Malfoy had enervated Crabbe and Goyle and given new instructions. As soon as they appeared they ignored Harry completely and each one sent the most powerful bludgeoning hex they could muster straight at Hermione.
There was no way any shield could have withstood the impact. Hermione was blown back ten feet and fell to the ground hard. Before she could recover, a disarming spell caught her cleanly and her wand flew away. Harry was on his own.
But Harry had not been idle. Even before Hermione had hit the ground, he had knocked Crabbe unconscious once more and by the time she was disarmed Goyle had joined him in dreamland. With a silent fury he confronted the two nemeses that had made the last six years of his life a living hell. Faster than ever before he threw spell after spell at the pair, and it was all they could do to fend him off. Without even looking he could sense that Hermione was uninjured but he moved in front of her, knowing that she was defenseless without her wand.
Now recovering from his initial barrage of spells, Draco and Snape began to take the offensive. Harry realized that he was in trouble. He could not dodge without risking a spell hitting Hermione and he could not move away from the spot where Ron still lay. Knowing this, the Slytherin pair separated just as Tonks and Remus were doing in their battle with Bella on the opposite side of the mansion.
And then it happened. Just as Harry succeeded in landing a disarming spell on Draco, Snape hit him with a pair of his deadly Sectumsempra slashing hexes. Although the dragonhide armor took the brunt of the spells, a long gash opened on his left leg and his right arm was cut nearly to the bone. He fell to his knees, his leg no longer able to hold him. His wand dropped to the ground beneath him an instant before Snape’s final disarming spell hit him. With a final groan, Harry Potter collapsed, unconscious.
Hermione stood alone, wandless, over the bodies of her two best friends. Keeping a wary eye on Snape, she prepared to dodge whatever he threw her way even as her mind flew through escape scenarios. Their emergency portkeys were wand activated and useless. She was right above Harry and might be able to grab him and apparate away, but that would mean leaving Ron to a certain death. She just could not bring herself to do that.
Snape was casting a spell and she readied herself to dodge, but nothing happened. Then she realized what it was – he had cast an antiapparation jinx on her. One less option, she thought grimly.
Snape scoffed at her as he revived Crabbe and Goyle and Draco retrieved his wand. “Doesn’t the insufferable know-it-all have any answers this time? Pity that such intellect was wasted on a mudblood.” Turning to Draco he handed him a portkey and said, “Make sure Potter gets back to the Dark Lord alive. Kill the other two. I must look in on Bella.” Without another word he whirled and disapparated.
As Crabbe and Goyle struggled to their feet Draco gave Hermione a look of pure loathing. “Not so tough now are you Mudblood?” Not without your precious Gryffindor heroes to back you up. What do you think we should do with the mudblood whore?” he smirked at his two oafish friends. “Which one of these two do you think she’s been spreading her legs for? She was drooling after the Weasel all year, do you think she finally caught him? Or maybe she let Potty get into her knickers.” Crabbe and Goyle laughed uproariously at this, as if it were the funniest thing in the world. “How pathetic. She’s probably been doing both of them.”
Hermione forced herself to ignore his taunts, knowing that reacting would do her no good. She ruthlessly forced back the panic that was creeping up on her. She had to think! Come on, Granger, use that brain of yours. Her mind rapidly scrolled through her options. If she moved fast she could grab Harry’s wand where it lay, unnoticed by any of the three beneath his body. If she could touch one or more of their portkeys, she could get them away. But the probability of succeeding without getting stunned was vanishingly small.
“What do you think, do you want to try her?” Draco continued spouting his disgusting suggestions. “That’s all mudbloods are good for anyway. Get her clothes off and see what she’s got. Who wants to go first?” The brainless sidekicks grinned at each other and licked their lips. They had been promised that they would be rewarded with naked blood traitor females for their enjoyment when they joined the Dark Lord and this would be their first opportunity.
-ooOoo-
Remus and Tonks had Bellatrix on the ropes and were on the verge of disarming her when Snape suddenly apparated twenty feet away. Remus immediately turned his attention to his old enemy leaving Tonks to duel Bella. Remus and Snape were reasonably well matched and neither could gain the upper hand. Not so Bellatrix and Tonks.
All her life, Tonks had heard about her legendary aunt. According to family lore, Bella and Sirius were the top duelists of their age. Growing up the two cousins had tested themselves against each other constantly, continually sharpening their skills until they were without peer. But when Bella had been sorted into Slytherin and Sirius into Gryffindor, they had gradually grown apart as Sirius had made friends with James Potter and Bella had embraced the dark arts. The story went that after one incredible duel during their fourth year they had refused to ever face each other again. Until the Department of Mysteries where her aunt had killed her favorite cousin.
Tonks remembered very clearly what else had happened that night. Bellatrix had first defeated her before taking on Sirius. Because of her failure to stop her aunt, she had blamed herself for Sirius’s death ever since. Now, she realized that the stakes were even higher. If Bella bested her this time, the man she loved would die as well. She could not fail!
But Bellatrix was not only highly skilled, she was truly evil. Just as they were getting into a pattern of attack and defense, she unexpectedly dropped to the ground under one of Tonks’s spells and pointed her wand, not at Tonks, but at Remus.
“Avada Kedavra.” Ignoring the next spell from Tonks, Bella launched the fatal spell at the unsuspecting werewolf. Instantly Tonks hurled herself at her love, knocking him to the ground just as the green streak passed through where he had been standing. Even though her final spell had caused her evil aunt to throw herself prone on the ground, losing her wand, Tonks realized immediately that they had lost. Snape, being the only one still standing, wasted no time in disarming his two opponents.
The other three slowly got to their feet, Bellatrix in triumph, Tonks and Remus in despair. Bellatrix regained her wand and resumed her gloating. Snape also stood there with his trademark sneer, clearly relishing the impending death of his longtime foe.
“You have failed once again,” came the oily voice. “Even now Potter is on his way to the Dark Lord. He will be killed for his impudence at last and there will be none left to oppose my lord’s return to power.” Tonks felt her stomach churn. Was it truly over? Beside her she could sense her lover tense up, preparing for one last charge, futile though it might be. Not even a werewolf was fast enough to disarm Bellatrix Lestrange.
-ooOoo-
As Crabbe and Goyle moved toward Hermione, Crabbe made a very crude comment about finally finding a way to shut up the know-it-all mudblood. Hermione realized her time had run out. Even though she had been trying to keep calm, the words ‘try her’ and ‘clothes off’ had got her attention. She was about to be raped and killed, and Voldemort would have Harry. As her mind threatened to give in to despair she forced it to search for another way out. Her hand was on her hidden dagger; the first one to touch her would at least precede her in death. But that would still leave two. She would have to kill one and then go for the wand while the other two were trying to rip her clothing off.
Another image flicked into her mind as these thoughts surged through at lightning speed. An image of Harry saying, “an emergency that might include me being knocked out”.
Without warning Hermione let out a piercing scream and dropped to her knees. “Harry!” she screamed. “WAKE UP! I need you. Please Harry wake up.” She grabbed the front of his shirt, shaking him in a futile attempt to revive him.
Crabbe and Goyle stopped only a few yards away, surprised by her sudden collapse. They laughed heartily at the spectacle. They had been looking forward to seeing the obnoxious little mudblood get hers for a long time. Draco joined them in laughter and started to make another sarcastic comment, but was interrupted.
Hermione had looked up and brought her hands up and folded together, in one last plea for her life. “No, please don’t! Stay away! Stay away!”
The three Slytherins laughed again and Draco motioned to the other two. “Go ahead, do it.”
BLAM, BLAM, BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
From the disillusioned handgun that she had seized from the concealed holster on Harry’s chest, Hermione had fired three rapid shots into Draco’s chest, then quickly swung left then right, firing one shot at each of the others. She paused, with three shots in reserve. The results were deadly.
The .45 caliber automatic had long been prized by the American military for a very important feature they called stopping power. The powerful slug fired by this weapon did so much damage to tissue that even a wound was devastating, and anyone hit by a slug rarely got up.
Draco had a massive hole in his chest and had died instantly. Goyle, to her left, had a gaping wound in his leg and had collapsed, dropping his wand to clutch at his thigh, blood streaming through his fingers. Her shot at Crabbe had hit him in the upper right arm, and his wand had gone flying from his hand. He fell to his knees in shock, clutching his now useless right arm with his left, and staring at the witch in front of him who had shot such a large, incredibly painful spell at him with her bare hands.
Hermione shifted the gun to her left hand, and never taking her eyes off her wounded enemies, reached under Harry and groped with her right until she found his wand.
“Stupefy! Stupefy!” For the third time in fifteen minutes Crabbe and Goyle fell, stunned, possibly for the last time. Hermione slumped back on her heels and gasped for breath, noticing for the first time that her heart was attempting to pound its way out of her chest. Every part of her body wanted to collapse beside him and her mind screamed at her to be allowed to shut down, but once more she forced herself to her feet.
Even though she was out of immediate danger, she had a long way to go before she was safe. First she used Harry’s wand to close up the gashes on his leg and arm as best as she could. Next, she summoned all five of the other wands to her and looked around. She had to hide the gun. She clicked the safety back on, removed the holster from Harry and put the reholstered handgun into her pack. Then she stood still for a moment, trying to decide what to do next.
-ooOoo-
Tonks steeled herself. If Remus was going to go down fighting, so would she. She would take them on with her bare hands if necessary.
Without warning a staccato series of light pops filled the air, punctuated by some louder pops that seemed to come from the other side of the mansion. Bellatrix whirled to face the new threat as Snape backed away, keeping one eye on them and one on the new arrivals. A gleam filled Bella’s eye as she awaited the new challenge. Tonks eyes widened as she recognized the now familiar black robes of Krum’s elite strike force. The cavalry had arrived!
The legend of Bellatrix Lestrange was that besides Sirius Black, only one person had ever been able to land a spell on her, the Auror that had finally captured her after her torture of the Longbottoms. And that had only been after she had taken out a half dozen other Aurors. The legend was slightly mistaken, though. What no one knew was that Harry Potter had also hit her with a spell, in a one-on-one duel just a year earlier. And while Harry Potter may have been one of the best seekers in Hogwarts history, with amazingly fast reflexes, there was a professional seeker who was regarded as the best in the world, and likely even faster still. Viktor Krum.
Bellatrix Lestrange never had a chance.
-ooOoo-
Harry was still on the ground, unconscious and bleeding. He needed medical attention soon if he was to survive. Something needed to be done with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. While Hermione was thinking she absently waved her wand at the unconscious lumps on the ground cauterizing their wounds. She could portkey Harry to Grimmauld Place, but could not leave them behind. Then she thought of another option.
“Dobby?” she called out tentatively. Up until now, Harry had always been the one to summon the loyal house elf, and she wasn’t sure if he would respond to her.
Pop. She let go a long breath in relief as Dobby appeared before her.
“Harry Potter’s Miss Hermione called Dobby? Is yous be needing help?” Just then the little elf saw Harry lying on the ground in a pool of blood. “Harry Potter is hurt! Dobby will get help!” Without further warning Dobby disappeared.
Fred and George! Maybe they can help. Hermione pulled her cell phone out of her pack and punched the number.
“Fred? We’re in big trouble. We got ambushed and … yes we’re OK now but we have some prisoners to hide. Just a minute.” Dobby had returned.
“Winky is getting Hogwarts healer for Harry Potter. What else can Dobby do?”
“Can you take these three to Fred and George’s shop?” Dobby inspected the three bodies lying on the ground and shook his head.
“House elves can only pop with wizards if wizards is wanting to be popped.” Then he saw Draco and glared at his hated former master. “This one is dead. Dobby can pop with dead animal.” He pointed his finger at Draco’s body and instantly a dead white ferret appeared. Dobby picked it up with a look of disgust on his face.
“Fred, I’m going to send Dobby to get you.” Hermione said back into the phone. Fred and George would have to come to pick up Crabbe and Goyle. “He’ll be there in a few seconds.” As she turned to explain his next mission to Dobby she noticed that he was already gone.
Two more pops had Hermione’s wand out and ready with a stunner. It was Winky and Madame Pomfrey. Wearily she lowered her wand, thinking that her nerves could not take much more of this. Pomfrey rushed to Harry and immediately cast a diagnostic spell and sealed his still bleeding wounds.
“I need to get Mr. Potter to the infirmary immediately,” Poppy said, looking up at Hermione for the first time. “Is everyone else going to be all right?”
Hermione nodded, despite having her body screaming otherwise. “We’re OK, just stunned.” Pomfrey pulled out a portkey and disappeared.
Hermione next enervated Ron. As he was coming to, more pops announced the arrival of Fred and George with Dobby. She tried to fill everyone in at once as the twins examined the unconscious thugs.
“Ambushed …Harry and I fought them off for awhile but they knocked me down and then got Harry …were going to rape me and kill us but I stopped them … have to hide them because no one can find out what I did to them.”
The world had started to spin and she was having trouble completing her thoughts. The horror of what she had just been through began to dawn on her. She had almost been brutally gang raped and murdered. She began to shudder uncontrollably. Ron grabbed her and held her up, not quite believing what he had just heard. As she relaxed in his arms suddenly all the repressed strain, both mental and physical, finally broke through like floodwaters breaching a dam and poured into her. Everything went black.
Ron caught the suddenly limp body he was holding and carefully picked her up. Had he heard it right? Hermione had faced these three all alone and defeated them? His mind refused to think about the rest of what she had said. As he looked down into her battered and dirty face it struck him that he was holding the most amazing woman he would ever meet in his arms.
“Oi! Quit looking at your best mate’s girl like that.”
“What …What do you mean? He’s with Ginny.”
“Lil bro, take a look at the two of them together sometime. The way they read each other they could be twins. Harry may officially be with Ginny but the two of them are incredible when they team up. One way or another, they belong together.”
Ron looked back down at the woman in his arms, trying to grasp what his brothers were telling him. It just wasn’t right.
“Take care of her, OK? We’ve got to get rid of these two.” And with that Fred and George disappeared with Crabbe and Goyle.
Dobby and Winky were still standing there waiting for further instructions, but Winky was trembling. Ron suddenly realized why – she was back here at the Crouch estate, her former home. He carefully laid Hermione down on the ground. She was exhausted, not stunned, so an enervate would have no effect. She would wake up eventually on her own. He considered his options carefully. He could portkey her back to Grimmauld Place and be done with this whole disastrous episode. But if Voldemort was alerted to their presence here, this might be their only chance at this horcrux. It was up to him to finish the mission.
Fishing the invisibility cloak out of his pack, he spread it out over Hermione and turned to the two house elves. He would need both of their help. He thought carefully. Harry could get them to do anything. How did he do it? Then it came to him. It was in the way he treated them – like friends rather than servants.
Ron knelt down in front of them, causing their eyes to go wide. “I need your help,” he said carefully. Dobby nodded but Winky just continued to stare at him, trembling, so he first addressed himself to Dobby. “I need you to watch Hermione and make sure she stays safe while I go into the house. Can you do that?”
Dobby nodded eagerly. “Dobby takes good care of Miss Hermione. He will make sure nothing happens to her.”
Then Ron turned to Winky. This was going to be the tricky part. His inclination was to order her to help him, because she was the Weasley house elf now, but six years of friendship with Hermione Granger and Harry Potter had begun to have an effect. “Winky, I need you to help me.” But Winky started shaking her head, still trembling. While at the Weasley house she might have been more willing to give him information, but here at the house to which she had been bound, it was not possible for her to betray her former masters. Her magic would not permit it.
Ron pondered the problem, approaching it like a chess match. When one move is blocked, try another. He couldn’t order her to do it. He couldn’t plead with her to do it. That left reasoning with her. But how did one reason with a house elf? He thought some more. Precious time was ticking away. Somehow he needed to persuade her that what he wanted her to do was in her former master’s best interest.
“Winky,” he began again. “There is a very bad wizard out there.” Winky nodded. She knew about the bad wizard. “The bad wizard put a part of himself inside some things. One of these things is inside this house.” Winky started trembling again. Even though He Who Must Not Be Named was a bad wizard, Master Barty had wanted that thing in the house.
“This thing is very dangerous and can hurt people inside the house.” Winky’s eyes grew wide. A danger to Master? Ron suddenly had an inspiration. “There was another of these bad things in Dobby’s former master’s house.” Winky turned her wide eyes to Dobby, who looked confused. “The diary Dobby, remember? The diary he gave to Ginny?” Dobby suddenly realized what Ron was talking about and nodded eagerly.
“It was a very bad book,” Dobby assured her. “Dobby’s former master gave it to Miss Ginny. The bad book was very bad for Miss Ginny. But Harry Potter destroyed the bad book.”
“Winky, the evil wizard in the bad book took control of Ginny and made her do bad things,” Ron continued.
“No, no, no,” objected Winky. “Mistress Ginny is not bad. She is a good witch.”
“Yes, she is a good witch. Harry Potter destroyed the bad book and made the bad wizard leave Ginny alone,” Ron reassured her. Winky nodded. She knew that Mistress Ginny was not a bad witch.
Ron took a deep breath. This just might work. “The bad wizard gave the bad cup to Master Barty. It made him do bad things too.”
“No, no. Master Barty was not a bad wizard.”
“But the bad wizard in the cup made Master Barty do bad things.” Winky didn’t know what to say. She did not want to admit that Master Barty was a bad wizard but she knew that he had done bad things. Maybe it was all the bad cup’s fault.
“We need to take the bad cup out of the house so it will not make anyone else do bad things. Harry Potter will destroy the bad cup too.”
Winky hesitated. She looked to her friend Dobby. Dobby was nodding again. “Harry Potter can destroy the bad cup and get rid of the bad wizard. Harry Potter is a great wizard.”
Ron scooted forward and put his hand on Winky’s shoulder. He didn’t think he had ever touched a house elf this way, but he knew that Harry and Hermione had given these elves hugs. Winky looked back at him, still trembling but with a determined look on her face. “Winky will help Master Wheezy. She will help him get the bad cup.”
Ron smiled at the little elf and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you Winky. We will get the cup and Harry will destroy it so it can’t make anyone do bad things again. He pulled out a piece of paper. Hermione had found a picture of Hufflepuff’s cup in a book and had made a copy of it using some kind of muggle machine. He showed the picture to Winky. “This is a picture of the bad cup. Do you know where it is?” Winky nodded
Ron stood up and stretched, then looked down and held out his hand to Winky. The little house elf took his hand and concentrated, and suddenly they were gone.
-ooOoo-
Once Bellatrix was down Snape had only taken a few more seconds to subdue, but not before he had stunned both Remus and Tonks. The shocked looks on the faces of the pair when they realized that they were unable to apparate away were quite satisfying to Krum and Troy. Two members of the strike team had shackled Bellatrix and portkeyed her to the dungeon and now two more were taking Snape away. Remus and Tonks had finally been revived and Krum was checking in with the two. As he was about to explain about the anti-apparation wards and how they had managed to shorten their response time Remus suddenly went pale and said. “What about Harry?”
They quickly explained to Krum that Harry, Hermione, and Ron were on the other side of the mansion on a mission and grimly repeated what Snape had told them. Balancing the need for speed and caution, the three of them and Troy disillusioned themselves and as silently as possible apparated to the front of the mansion. After a little searching they came across the site where the battle had taken place, and noticed all the blood on the ground. No one was in sight. Krum and Tonks looked at each other in despair, but Remus had sensed something. Someone or something was silently watching them.
Dobby was staying hidden, guarding Miss Hermione as he had been instructed. But he knew that these three were friends. When Remus looked right at the spot where he was hiding he revealed himself.
“Dobby! What happened? Where is everyone?”
Not sure what he should say, Dobby opted for minimal information. “Everyone is fine. Harry Potter sir was hurt but is being taken to Hogwarts to be fixed up. Miss Hermione is all right too. Master Wheezy is with Winky. Dobby is being waiting for them to come back.”
Remus and Tonks shared a glance, silently connecting the dots. “Is there anyone that we can help? We can take someone to Hogwarts with us.”
Dobby thought, then nodded. Miss Hermione should be at Hogwarts with Harry Potter. He pulled aside the invisibility cloak, revealing Hermione’s unconscious form. Remus quickly gathered her up, and after the group decided that the rest would wait with Dobby for Ron and Winky, apparated away.
-ooOoo-
Ron and Winky silently crept through the darkened Crouch mansion. No one had been here since the end of the Triwizard tournament and a layer of dust covered everything. Not knowing what defensive spells might be present, he avoided lighting his wand, trusting Winky to guide him to Hufflepuff’s cup. Finally they reached the room where it had been kept. It was in a display case with several other ancient artifacts. Ron’s strategic sense admired the deception. Hidden in plain sight. As he started forward Winky grabbed his leg. He looked down to see her shaking her head violently.
“No, no Master Wheezy. It is too dangerous. Winky must get it.” The little elf shuddered again, then moved slowly toward the display case and with a gesture unlocked it. She had been told by Master Barty never to touch this cup. But it was a bad cup. It had hurt Master Barty. She had to get it out of the house. She reached up and just as she touched it there was a bright flash and she was hurled across the room and smashed into the wall. The cup clattered noisily to the floor.
Ron froze. Several seconds ticked by and nothing else happened. Silently he made his way over to Winky’s prone figure. He breathed a sigh of relief as he discovered that she was only knocked out. He turned back to where the cup lay on the floor. He still didn’t want to use magic in the house so he couldn’t simply levitate the cup, but he also didn’t want to touch it. How would a muggle pick up something he couldn’t touch?
Looking around, Ron noticed a heavy set of curtains along one wall, tied back by a sash. He carefully removed the sash, and brought it over to the cup. Threading one end of the sash through one of the arms of the cup, he brought it back up and tied a knot. Using his makeshift carrying handle, he finally brought the cup over to where Winky still lay, and picked up the brave little elf. Concentrating on the spot where he had left Dobby and Hermione, he disapparated out of the mansion.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-