Apartment 23 & 24 (Dramione)

Chapter 4: The Mission

Song: Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

Auror headquarters smelled strongly of coffee and sweat. Hermione noticed that as she walked into work on a cloudy Wednesday morning. She was tired and sleep deprived, that morning she had woken up to the sound of Luna trying to impersonate a nargle mating call. It sounded like a dying chicken.

"Are you ready for the mission?" Asked Harry casually as he sipped on his morning coffee.

Hermione was in fact terrified of going on this mission. The thought of going to Voldemorts old base kept her up at night. It made her terrible dreams more vivid. "Uh, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"I hate to admit it but this mission has gotten me all out of sorts. Last night I tried putting on Ginny's pajamas instead of mine. Ginny walked in on me as I attempted to put her shirt on...it didn't end well. She thinks I'm going crazy." Admitted Harry with a sheepish smile.

"You're not the only one." Said Hermione as she looked up at her best friend.

"Everyone come over here." Said Alice.

Harry, Hermione, and all of the other aurors on their team walked over to Alice. Alice sat two port keys down on the ground and told her colleagues what they were fixing to do. "In five minutes time half of us will take one port key and the other half will take the other. We will approach the base from two different sides. Your job is to: get inside the base and steal as many dark objects as possible. If you happen to come across any death eaters knock them out and send them to Azkaban to be analyzed. Do you have any questions?"

A tall skinny boy in the back named Ryan Parish raised his hand, "Can I get a raise?"

Alice looked Ryan in the eyes and said, "No. This is the third time today you have asked me that. If you ask me that again I will fire you and replace you within thirty minutes time. Do. Not. Test. Me."

"Yes Ma'am" Replied Ryan.

Once the five minutes were up, half of the aurors were standing in front of one port key while the other half stood in front of the second port key. Hermione was in a group with Harry, Ryan, Noah, and Ivy. All five of them put their hands on the port key and were transported to a heavily wooded area.

"Ew, it smells like nature out here." Commented Ryan.

Hermione looked around at her surroundings, "The base is this way."

Everyone trailed behind Hermione except for Harry, he walked right beside her.

"How are you holding up?" Asked Harry. Hermione knew he was referring to what happened between her and Ron.

"Pretty good... Luna moved into my new apartment with me." Replied Hermione, as she looked around for traps and death eaters.

"That's good, how is that working out?"

Hermione took a deep breath, "It's not as bad as I anticipated it to be."

"Damn it! I just stepped in deer shit." Complained Ryan.

"Stop complaining Parish." Snapped Harry.

Nobody liked Ryan, the only reason the aurors kept him around was because they didn't have the time to train anybody to replace him.

"So, Has anything else happened?" Asked Harry.

Hermione considered telling Harry that a small army of Slytherins lived across the hall from her but, she decided against it. She'll leave that for another day. "No."

A few minutes later they stumbled upon the outside of the base. Harry walked up to the building and ran his fingers across the exterior of the stone building. Eventually he found a window, he used his wand to shatter the glass.

Hermione figured that the window was approximately Four feet off the ground. She watched Harry climb into the building she climbed in after him along with Ryan, Noah, and Ivy.

"This place is depressing." Commented Noah.

Everyone looked around the room they were in, it was filled with filing cabinets. Ivy tried to open one of the filing cabinets but it was locked. She used a silent spell to open it. Ivy is a woman of few words. She is a very powerful witch, she can perform every spell silently including the unforgivables. Ivy started pulling out files left and right.

Everyone else except Hermione approached a filing cabinet and started doing the same thing.

"I'm going to go look around in the other rooms." Stated Hermione as she headed towards the door.

"I'll go with you." Said Harry, he abandoned the filing cabinet he was looking through and followed hermione.

The corridor outside the room was narrow, it was also dimly lit. Hermione and Harry had to use there wands as a light source. Harry tried opening one of the doors along the corridor wall but it was locked.

"Alohomora." muttered Harry. The door still wouldn't open.

"Let me try." Said Hermione as she stepped towards the door.

Hermione used some advanced charms. Harry stood behind her and thought about how she really is the smartest witch of their generation. The door swung open, Hermione looked back at Harry and motioned for him to follow behind her.

When they entered the room they instantly noticed the shelves lining the wall, filled with dark objects. Harry and Hermione started filling their bags with all of the dark objects around the room.

At the other side of the room there was a door that blended in with the wall. Hermione caught a glimpse of it out the corner of her eye and thought it looked out of the ordinary. She slowly walked towards the doorway and inspected it. The brunette cautiously ran her fingers over the door frame. It didn't have a door knob.

"Alohomora."

It didn't open.

"What are you doing?" Asked Harry as he approached his friend.

"Shhh I'm thinking." mutterd Hermione.

Hermione thought about how she could open the door. After a few moments she pulled up her shirt sleeve. She conjured a knife out of a hair tie and cut her palm.

"Hermione! What are you doing?! I gotta get you out of here." Said Harry, as he looked around in a panic.

"Harry, calm down. You have to weaken yourself to be able to get in." Commented Hermione as she rubbed her blood on the door.

"Oh" Harry thought about when he went with Professor Dumbledore to the cave by the ocean all those years ago. Dumbledore had cut himself to be able to get in. What if there was something in there Hermione had to drink like Dumbledore had too. Harry was determined to make sure his friend got out of here alive.

The door slowly opened and Hermione and Harry walked into a dark room. At the other side of the room there was a single light hanging over a small table.

Hermione hesitantly walked over to the table and picked up a small stone. "Harry... It's the resurrection stone."  She quickly turned around to show Harry what she found but she didn't see Harry. Instead she was facing Gregory Goyle.

He shot a spell at her before she could react. Hermione fell to the ground unconscious.

Authors note:
This chapter was originally supposed to be a lot longer but I haven't had the time to write. My step father recently passed away and I've been spending the majority of my spare time with my family. Thank you for your patience. Don't forget to vote and comment.
-MC