A Badgers Love

Chapter 9

Alastor Moody surveyed the aftermath of the rain of Malfoy manor. Six aurors had lost their lives out of the nearly fifty he had brought with him. And considering that most of them were new recruits that hadn't even finished auror training yet, that was pretty good.

Even better was the line of over forty black body bags filled with the lifeless corpses of Death Eaters. Not to mention the nearly thirty sitting in a huddle not far away, each of them bound with heavy iron chains and magic repression handcuffs.

The only downside to it all was that Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange had managed to get away.

"What do you think?" asked Tonks.

"Not a bad days work if you ask me," growled Moody.

"And You-Know-Who?" she asked.

"I see one of two things happening," he said. "Either he's left the country and someone else's problem now. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or he's going to make a suicide run at either the Minister or Potter," said Moody. "But I don't think that will happen. He's not stupid enough to try that. His game is finesse and secrecy. He'll more than likely end up somewhere in Russia where he can try and gather new followers wanting a taste of his power."

As Moody spoke, his magical eye rolled around, trying to take in everything from every direction at once. However, when it noticed something in one of the body bags, it stopped and drew his full attention.

"What is it?" asked Tonks as the grizzled auror turned and started walking.

Moody crouched down with his fake leg extended out as he unzipped the bag and smiled.

"Contact Amelia and tell her we found him," said Moody.

"Right," said Tonks, smiling to herself as she ran towards the edge of the anti-apparation wards they had placed before the raid.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Thud. Thud, thud.

Slowly, Ginny opened her eyes and saw that Cho and her friends were unconscious on the floor in front of her. She heard the sound of approaching footsteps and quickly turned and pointed her wand at...

"Hannah?" Ginny asked.

"You okay?" Hannah asked her as Ginny lowered her wand.

"I'm fi..." Ginny started to say, and then broke down into tears. Grateful that someone had come and saved her.

"Shhh, it's okay," Hannah said as she pulled Ginny towards her and hugged her. "You're fine now... Come on. Let's get you to see Madam Pomfrey and get you a calming drought. I'm sure you could use one."

Ginny just nodded and the blond Hufflepuff led her away from there.

When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey is checking over a now conscious Harry.

"What happened?" the healer asked as she noticed Hannah bring a distraught looking Ginny in and rushed over.

"Cho and some of her friends had Ginny cornered and where about to curse her for some reason," said Hannah as Madam Pomfrey sat Ginny on one of the beds.

"It was because of Ron," Ginny said. "They said my family was working for Voldemort and that we were only keeping Harry close so we could kill him when he asked us to."

"That's ridiculous," said Hermione.

"Here," said Madam Pomfrey as she handed Ginny two vials. "Calming drought and a dreamless sleep potion."