Hermione (before Voldemort confronted Percy)
It has been a couple weeks since we first got the locket and we still haven't figured out how to destroy the locket. It was taking its toll on our moral, especially Ron's. He's been listening to that radio everyday to make sure he doesn't hear the name of anyone in his family. Ron has been refusing to take off the locket and it is worrying me. He gets frustrated and annoyed a lot easier. He wouldn't listen to my warning about the locket. I think he must be really stressed over worrying for his family and that we haven't figured anything out yet.
Deciding to clear my head I went over to go through some of my books I brought. I flipped through one of them and saw section about the Sword of Gryffindor. That's when it clicked.
"Oh my god." I said realizing a way to destroy the locket.
"What is it?" asked Harry as he walked into the tent.
"The Sword of Gryffindor, it's goblin made. Dirt and rust don't affect the blade, it only takes in what makes it stronger. You destroyed one horcrux already, the diary. You stabbed it with a basilisk fang. Before you did that you stabbed it with the Sword of Gryffindor. The sword is how we will destroy the locket!" I explained excitedly since now we had a way to destroy the locket.
"You're brilliant Hermione!"
"That's why Dumbledore left it to you in your will. He knew it would be of use."
"There's one problem, the sword was stolen." came an annoyed Ron who walked into the tent.
"I'm still here you know, but you two can carry on." he continued.
"Alright, what is wrong?" asked Harry.
I could feel something bad was about to happen and I didn't know what to do.
"Nothing, according to you anyway." replied Ron.
"If you have something to say then spit it out." said Harry.
"I'll spit it out then, but don't expect me to be grateful that there's another damn thing that we need to find." retorted Ron.
"I thought you knew what you were getting yourself into." said Harry.
"Yeah, I thought I did too."
"Well I'm sorry. Did you think we would be finding a horcrux every other day, staying in a nice hotel?" asked Harry getting up from where we were sitting and walking over to Ron. I got up as well and walked towards them, but with some distance from the two of them.
"I thought by now we would have actually done something. I thought you knew what you were doing, that Dumbledore told you something useful." said Ron raising his voice.
"I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And we've already found a horcrux incase you forgot." said Harry pointing to the locket around Ron's neck.
"Yeah and we are as close to getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them."
"Ron please take off that locket, you wouldn't be saying any of this if you hadn't been wearing it for so long." I said trying to take the locket off of Ron. He stopped me and shoved me away.
"Do you know why I listen to that radio everyday? To make sure i don't hear anyone's name that I care about." yelled Ron.
"You don't think I'm not listening too? You think I don't know how this feels?" yelled Harry.
"No, no you don't. Your parents are dead, you have no family! You don't know how it feels." yelled Ron.
I watched in horror as Harry ran up to Ron in anger and punched him right across the face. Ron was in complete shock for a second. Then tackled Harry to the floor and they started fighting. How did everything go so wrong so fast?
I ran up to the two and pulled them off each other standing in the middle of them with my hands out to both of them. "Stop!" I yelled.
"If you want to leave, then leave! Go!" screamed Harry with a bloody face.
Ron with an equally as bloody face took off the locket and threw it on the floor. He picked up his pack and headed towards the exit of the tent.
"And you Hermione? Are you staying or leaving?" asked Ron.
I didn't know what to say. I knew we had to find these horcruxes in order to defeat Voldemort, but, I was also getting tired of this. We did have a lead and it was worth a try, but before I could say anything Ron decided for me.
"Fine, stay then." he said walking angrily out of the tent.
I followed him, trying to stop him from leaving but he just pushed my off again. Before I could do anything he apparated away.
I walked back into the tent to see Harry with his face clean of blood, but still messed up. He was packing his belongings.
"Pack your things, we need to go somewhere." he said glancing at me. Knowing that it was best not to ask question right now, I started to pack and kept quiet.
Time Skip
We apparated into a small town that was blanketed by the white soft snow. Thankfully it was only snowing lightly. I looked around and didn't recognize anything.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Godric's Hallow." replied Harry.
"Maybe we should have used polyjuice." I said looking around again.
"No, I was born here and I'm not returning as someone else." stated Harry.
We walked down the street in silence, looking around. I couldn't tell what Harry was feeling at the moment. We continued walking aimlessly until Harry stopped walking to look at something. I turned to see what he was looking at, a graveyard.
"Do you think they'd be in there Hermione?" asked Harry in a quiet voice.
I studied his emotional face before answering, "Yeah, I think they would."
He walked inside and a I follow shortly. I decided it would be better for him to look around separately. There was one gravestone that caught my attention. I walked over to it and wiped some snow off of it. With the snow gone, it revealed that same symbol we've been seeing, a triangle with a circle and line in it. I wiped some more snow off and it revealed a name, Ignotus Peverell. The name sounded familiar.
"Hey Harry-" I started while turning to look for him, but stopped when I saw him standing in front of a grave. He had found them.
I walked over to him and saw him staring at the tombstone. I took out my wand and knelt down. I made some flowers appear at the bottom of the tombstone and stood back up and gave Harry a hug. He hugged me back and I heard him sniffle. By the entrance I saw someone standing there watching us.
"Harry there's someone watching us." I said.
Harry stopped hugging me and turned around to see who it was. They stared at each other for a minute before she turned around and started walking away.
"I think I know who that is." he said following her.
"Harry, I don't like this idea." I said.
"She knew Dumbledore." he stated as we kept on following her.
Harry stopped walking again and was looking at a broken down house.
"This is where they died Hermione. This is where he murdered them."
I turned back to where the woman had walked off to and she was standing right next to. To say that didn't freak me out would be lying.
"You're Bathilda aren't you." All Harry got out of the elderly woman was a nod before she started walking again.
We followed her into her home. The placed looked dirty and smelled really bad. Harry picked up an old photograph in a frame of a man, perhaps in his twenties.
"Who is this?" asked Harry.
Bathilda continued to say nothing and lit a candle. She waved her hand for Harry to follow her and started to walk up a flight of stairs and he started to follow her.
"Harry..." I said worriedly, but was ignored by him as he continued up the stairs. Bathilda hadn't said a word and I was starting to get worried.
"I guess I'll stay down here..." I said quietly to myself. I decided to look around Bathilda's house. On top of a stack of books was a rather large book with a note on it. The note was from Rita Skeeter and it read:
Dear Batty,
Thanks for your help. Here's a copy of the book, hope you like it. You said everything, even if you don't remember it.
-Rita
I took off the note and looked at the cover. The title read, The Life & Lies of Albus Dumbledore with a picture of his face. I started to tear up a little, his death still sort of fresh in my mind. How dare she write such a book like this about Dumbledore. I slid the book into my bag, Bathilda wouldn't notice until we were long gone and I was curious about what Rita actually wrote.
I continued to walk until I came to a door slightly open. There was a buzzing noise coming from it and as I got closer, the smell worsened. I opened the door and looked inside, my lumos charm providing enough light to see what was in it. What I saw almost made me drop my wand and vomit. Lying on the floor was the corpse of Bathilda Bagshot viciously murdered with blood splattered all over the floor and walls. Then I heard a lot of banging coming from directly above me.
"Harry!" I turned around and started to run for the stairs.
I got up the stairs just in time to see a large snake lunging at Harry. I quickly reacted by sending a stupefy at it, sending it over the railing. I quickly grabbed Harry's wand that was on the floor and gave it to him.
"Is it de-" The snake lunged back and I hit it with and incendio charm. I grabbed Harry and apparated away.
I brought us to the Forest of Dean, but before I could say anything Harry he dropped to his knees clutching his head in pain.
"Harry! What's happening, what's wrong?" I said worriedly running over to him. He started to scream and then he passed out.
"Bloody hell." I checked his pulse and found a steady one. I took the locket off of Harry and checked him for any wounds. I found a couple of bites where the snake had struck him. I took some dittany out of my bag and started to apply it to his wounds.
Now that Harry wasn't in any danger I put some charms up again like our last campsite. Then I unpacked the tent. After I dragged Harry inside and put him onto one of the beds.
I went back outside to catch some fresh air. I laid on the ground and stared up into sky. I saw the moon shining bright along with the stars. That's when I noticed the constellation of the Huntress again. It seemed like a lifetime ago where Percy and I laid outside the ground and he told me about how the constellation came to be. I really missed Percy. I thought I'd never see him again and when I did it was only for a couple of months. Now there's a high chance he is a powerful enemy.
I took off the bracelet Percy gave me and willed it to turn into the kukri and I examined its beauty. The moonlight reflected off of the blade. The design was just simply amazing. Even though I hardly use it, I grown sort of attached to it and gives me a sense of security. I made it go back into its bracelet form and put it on my wrist.
After what seemed like lying there forever, I got up with a sigh and went back into the tent. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Next Day
When I woke, it was still quiet except for the birds chirping outside. I turned to see Harry still in bed resting. I could hear his steady breathing. As long as he was ok, then there was nothing to worry about. I couldn't help but keep on thinking about the dreams I had last night about a sea green eyed, raven black messy hair boy.
I got out of my bed and went over to my bag. I pulled out Rita's book.
'Now is a good time as any to read this' I thought.
I went outside into the chilly weather. It wasn't too cold right now. I walked over to a tree and leaned against it. Now to see what Rita wrote.
After reading for some time, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I turned to see Harry walking over to where I was sitting. "Feeling better?" I asked.
He nodded, "You've outdone yourself Hermione." He walked over and say across from.
"The Forest of Dean. I came here once with mom and dad years ago. It's exactly how I remember it, the trees, the river, everything. It's like nothing changed. It's not true of course, everything has changed... "
Harry just listened in silence looking at me as I talked.
"You wanted to know who the person in the photograph was. I know who he was. Gellert Grindelwald." I said handing over Rita's book.
I watched as he flipped through the pages, reading the information.
"I guess another thing we didn't know about Dumbledore."
I didn't say anything and continued sitting in silence thinking.
Time Skip to later that night
I was jolted awake by a sudden screech from outside. I looked to the other beds and Harry was in none of them. I quickly grabbed my wand and exited the tent.
"H-help." croaked a voice behind me. I turned around to see someone lying on the ground. I approached slowly raising my wand.
As I got closer I recognized who it was. "Percy? Oh god, Percy!" I screamed rushing over to him. I kneeled over and found that he was unconscious. I carefully flipped him over and let out a gasp, seeing the condition he was in. He was bleeding heavily and had a lot of cuts and gashes all over his body. I had to get him back to the tent immediately. I tired to pick him, but he was just too heavy for me to do anything so I settled for dragging him. Once I got him into the tent I ran over to my bag and grabbed the dittany bottle. After I grabbed a bowl and some extra rags. I willed my bracelet to turn into my kukri and went over to Percy who was still bleeding. I took my kukri and cut open Percy's shirt and took it off him so I could help him. He was still wearing his camp necklace and the necklace we got each other. I looked down at his torso and I didn't think it was possible but he had even more scars littered across his body than last time. I grabbed the rags and started to stop the bleeding and wipe off the blood that was all over his skin. I took the dittany and started to pour it over the deeper wounds. The smaller wounds would have to do without because by the time I finished applying it to the larger wounds I had run out. Percy's breathing was still ragged but it was starting to calm down.
I heard someone shout outside and then there was a bang. Everything went silent outside again. I looked at Percy and he was breathing steadily now.
"I'll be right back..." I whispered. I picked up my wand and went outside praying that Harry was ok. As I got out of the tent I was greeted by Harry who looked soaking wet.
"Harry you had me worried. I thought you were being attacked." said Hermione.
Before he could respond another voice came, "Hey Hermione." I turned to see it was no other than Ron Weasley who decided to leave. He, similarly to Harry was also soaking wet.
"You leave all that time ago when you knew we needed you and you just say hey Hermione?! Why are you here?"
That's when he moved his hand and a sword shone in the moonlight. "Is that the Sword of Gryffindor? How did you get it? Don't think this changes anything. I'm still mad at you Ronald." I asked surprised.
"It's a long story. We can tell you once we get inside and dry off." said Harry walking towards the tent.
"Wait." I said stepping in front of him. "Before you go in, promise me you won't do anything rash." I received curious looks from the two boys.
"While you two were doing whatever it was with all that noise, I wasn't exactly alone." I said.
"What do you mean Hermione?" asked Harry.
"I think it would be easier to show you, but please promise me neither of you will do anything rash." I answered. I received two nods in return. I turned around and walked into the tent to see things were just as I had left them. Harry came in first followed by Ron.
"Hermione I don't see what the prob-" Harry stopped right as he was Percy lying on the floor with everything I had used around him on the floor. I could see the rage in both of their eyes.
"Hermione, what is that murderer doing here?!" said a furious Harry with each word getting louder as he said them.
"Harry please, I'm sure there some sort of explanation. He came here bleeding heavily and was about to die." I said.
"Then let me finish what he came to do, die." said Harry grabbing the sword from Ron. I turned the bracelet back into my kukri and stopped the sword just as it was about to come down.
Harry looked at me in shock, then at Percy, and then at the sword in his hands before dropping the legendary sword on the ground and backing away.
"I'm so sorry." he said shaking his head as he realized he was about to kill someone.
"It's not your fault Harry. You're angry, I understand. I am too." I admitted.
"We can get information from him maybe." said Ron.
"We'll try when he wakes up." said Harry sitting on the bench.
"We should take his weapons from him." said Harry walking over to Percy searching his pockets. He took out his wand and pen and put them down on the table by the bench. I went over and took off his kukri bracelet. I put it with his wand and sword.
"Are those matching bracelets you two have those dagger thing you used to stop the sword?" asked Ron. I nodded confirming his belief.
"I think we should time him to the bed." said Harry.
Ron nodded and they picked Percy off of the ground. Harry grabbed his arms and Ron grabbed his legs. They lifted him and brought him over to one of the beds.
"Incarcerous." said Ron as ropes tied Percy to the bed. "Now what?" he asked as I passed them dry clothes to change into.
"How about we start with how you found where we were." I said still annoyed with him having left us.
"With this." he replied pulling out his deluminator. "When I knew I should return a light came out and went through my heart. I knew that I had to follow this light and it led me here. Then I saw a patronus of a doe and it led me to a frozen lake. I saw a hole in the ice and someone under the ice who couldn't get out. I realized it was Harry and dove in and pulled him out along with the sword." he explained.
I turned to Harry, "How did you know where the sword was?"
"I was sitting outside thinking about what we should do. Then I saw a do patronus like Ron and it led me to a frozen lake. The patronus stood over the ice so I took it as that it wanted me to follow. I walked over to it and it went under the ice. I wiped off the snow that was covering the ice and saw the sword was at the bottom of the lake. I created a hole in the ice and dove under to get the sword. When I got close the locket started acting abnormally and I couldn't fight against it. I started to lose oxygen until Ron pulled me out."
"Speaking of which, where is the locket?" I asked. Ron pulled out the locket and tossed it to me. It was destroyed.
"Is that was all that noise was? You guys destroying the locket?" They both nodded.
"Finally..." I was glad we were able to finally destroy a horcrux.
"What should we do now?" asked Harry.
"I think we should pay Xenophilius Lovegood a visit. He may be able to give us useful information." I suggested.
"How would he be able to help us?" asked Ron.
"Harry, you remember at Bill and Fleur's wedding? He had a necklace with a triangle and a circle and a line inside it. It keeps appearing in the Tales of Beedle and the Bard, the book Dumbledore left me in his will. It was also on a tombstone of someone named Ignotus Peverell at Godric's Hollow." I explained.
"If I were you, I'd be careful going to the Lovegood residence. Mr. Lovegood may not be so uh.... as welcoming as you wish..." came a weak voice from the beds. All our heads turned in unison the the sea green eyed boy.
"Why should we believe anything you say. I know we can trust Luuna's father unlike some people." said a wary Harry.
"I don't expect you to trust me after...what I did...but i had my reasons..." said Percy.
"Your reasons?!" asked an angry Ron.
"Percy, why did you come here?" I asked.
"I had to flee from the Death Eaters..." he answered.
"Flee? Why?" I asked curiously.
"I-I can't tell you." he replied.
"That's great, just great. He wants us to believe him but he can't give us a valid reason as why to." Ron said.
"I agree with Ron, if you can't tell us why, then why should we believe you?" asked Harry. I remained quiet and watched. I wanted to believe Percy, but after what he did, it certainly made it hard to.
"Listen, I can't make you guys believe me, but just remember my warning. Be very cautious going to the Lovegood's residence is dangerous. And Harry just know I didn't get much sleep last night and it's been a long day." he said.
I could tell Harry knew what he was talking about, but I'd have to ask him about it later.
"What should we do with him?" asked Ron.
"Bring him with us!" I said quickly. I knew Percy was looking at me, but I continued to look at Harry and Ron.
"Well we could get information out of him still. And if it comes to it maybe we could use him as a bargaining chip." I explained quickly still not looking at Percy.
"Good idea Hermione." said Harry while Ron nodded in agreement.
"So we leave for the Lovegood's in the morning?" I asked.
"Yeah." said Ron.
"Do you guys mind if I talk to Percy privately for a bit?" I asked.
"Why do you wa-" Ron was interrupted as Harry nodded in understanding and pulled him out of the tent.
"What do I owe the pleasure to Mione?" asked Percy as I walked over to him.
I gave him a hard slap across the face that I'm sure they could hear outside.
"I probably deserved that. Listen Hermione I'm sorry. I know I must have broken your heart when you found out what I did. I don't expect you to believe me, but it pained me a lot to do what I did. If you want to hate me for the rest of your life...then I'm ok with it." he finished obviously pained at his last sentence but tried to hide it.
"You're still wearing the necklace." he said noticing it around my neck. "I wore mine everyday, I couldn't stop thinking about you Mione." he explained.
I continued to stare at him, sea green eyes meeting hazel brown eyes, not saying anything. I was processing everything that had happened this night. I was torn between trusting this son of Poseidon or not.
After what seemed like forever, Percy spoke again, "Hermione are you going to say anyth-"
I cut him off with a kiss, surprising the both of us. We kissed passionately until we had to stop to because we ran out of breath. Only then was when I realized what I had just done.
"Hermione." breathed Percy.
"I-I shouldn't have done that." I said backing away.
"Wait Hermione-"
"No, I'm sorry." I said before turning around exiting the tent. I saw Ron and Harry standing by the lake. As I got closer I could hear them talking, but I didn't really pay much attention to what they were saying. I was too busy thinking about what I had just done.
"We should get some rest. We should be well rested just in case what Percy said was true." I said.
"Alright." said Harry.
When we walked back into the tent, Percy didn't say anything.
I went to bed thinking about the kiss Percy and I had was wrong because he was the enemy.
Time Skip Next Morning
The next morning we packed up our campsite and prepared to apparate to the Lovegood's residence. We had Percy's hands tied behind his back and his legs tied together. We hung his pen from a rope around his neck in a necklace kind of fashion. We realized that if his pen went too far from his person it would reappear back in his pocket. This way, around his neck, he couldn't reach is with his hands and it wouldn't appear in his pocket. He hadn't said anything either all morning.
"Ready?" asked Harry. Ron and I nodded while we are grabbed ahold of each other.
We appeared in front of a black cylindrical house on top of a hill. Remembering from how Neville described it, we were at the correct place. We walked up the stairs to the front door of the house. Harry knocked on the door and we waited patiently. A minute later the door opened a slight crack.
"Mr. Lovegood?" asked Harry.
"Harry is that you?" asked the man behind the door.
"Yes sir, we came here to see if you could answer some of our questions." replied Harry.
The door opened completely. Not wanting to be rude, I didn't say anything but Mr. Lovegood looked like a mess. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was all messy. He looked like he hadn't taken a shower in days.
When he saw Percy, I saw his eyes flash with anger for a brief moment. Why would he be angry at Percy for? He ushered us in and I noticed he looked around outside before closing the door.
"W-what can I do for the...four of you?" asked Mr. Lovegood looking at Percy tied up.
"We had some questions about something we bought you could help us with." answered Harry.
"Come in and sit. I'll get some tea." he said.
We walked in and took a seat on some empty chairs.
"What is it?" he asked coming over with a tea pot and cups.
"Do you remember the necklace you had on during Bill and Fleur's wedding?" I asked.
"Ah yes what about it?" he asked.
"You see, that symbol has been appearing wherever we have gone. I found it in the book Dumbledore left me and at Godric's Hallow. We wanted to know what it was." I explained.
"You mean this?" he asked while pulling out his necklaced and holding it for us to see.
"Yes." said Harry.
"Well it's the sign of the Deathly Hallows." said Mr. Lovegood.
"The what?" asked Ron.
"The Deathly Hallows. I'm sure you're all familiar with the tale of three brothers." explained Mr. Lovegood.
Harry said no while Ron and I had said yes. Mr. Lovegood went on to explain the tale of three brothers. Once he finished the story he took a piece of parchment and quill. First he drew a line and said this was the elder wand. Then he drew a circle at the bottom half of the vertical line and said this was the resurrection stone. Lastly he drew a triangle that went around the circle and vertical line and said that was the cloak of invisibility.
"Together they make the Deathly Hallows. Together they make one master of death." he finished looking at each of us.
"Mr. Lovegood, does the Peverell family have to do anything with the Deathly Hallows? That symbol was on a grave at Godric's Hollow." I said.
"Ignotus, Antioch, and Cadmus are thought to be the original owners of the hallows and therefore the inspiration for the story." he explained. "Let me go get some more tea, it's gone cold." he continued while getting up.
"We should get going." whispered Ron. Harry nodded in agreement.
"Mr. Lovegood you've been a wonderful help in answering or questions, but we must get going." I said.
"No! You can't!" he yelled running in front of the door.
"Sir?" asked Harry.
"This is what I was talking about." Percy whispered as he walked next to me. He had been so quiet I had forgotten he was here.
"You're my only hope. They were angry about what I have been writing. So they took her, they took Luna. My Luna. But it's really you they want." he said looking at Harry.
"Who took Luna?" Harry asked nervously.
"Voldemort." he whispered and then suddenly there were screams outside. Spells were being shot inside.
I got pushed to the floor just as a spell was about to hit me. I turned to see who had pushed me and it was Percy. He was now lying on the floor next to me. I could see Harry and Ron lying on the floor too as the spells kept coming. I looked around and I didn't see Mr. Lovegood anywhere.
"We got to get out of here!" yelled Percy.
We all crawled to each other. We put our hands together and we apparated away. We appeared back into a forest.
"Is there no one we could trust?" asked Ron as he got up.
"He supported me. He just wanted to get his daughter back. He was desperate." I said now standing.
"You knew about this didn't you. You knew they took Luna." said Harry walking up to me angrily as I was getting up.
"No. I delayed it actually. When I was still with the Death Eaters, I told them not to take her. That I would get Xenophilius to stop writing. I just assumed that since I was delaying and that now I was gone, they took Luna." I explained.
"Well look what we got here." said a voice. All our heads snapped toward the voice. Then other men started to come out from behind the trees.
"Mione cut me free. We are going to need to run." whispered Percy as he stood next to me.
The men started to get close in on us. Before they could completely surround us, I turned my bracelet into my kukri and cut Percy's ropes.
"Run!" yelled the son of Poseidon. Following his instructions we all ran. I quickly turned my kukri back into my bracelet and took out my wand.
"Don't just stand there. Snatch them!" yelled the same man.
As we ran we dodged a multitude of spells coming at us from the snatchers. I continued to run, trying to make sure I wasn't going to get caught. I looked to my left and I ran and I no longer saw Harry or Ron. When I turned to my right Percy wasn't there either. I was starting to get worried.
I quickly turned behind me to see two snatcher gaining on me.
"Expulso." the spell shot right at their feet and they flew back. I turned around and stopped, there was no longer anyone around me.
"Hermione!" yelled a voice. It was Harry. When I turned around to continue running there was a group of snatchers coming from that direction. They knew we were going to run.
Thinking quickly I shot a stinging jinx at Harry's face as he got closer. The jinx hit his face and he fell. When he got up, his face was all swollen.
"Hermione, I just saw him. I had a vision. Voldemort confronted Grindelwald. He knows where to get the Elder Wand." he said.
Before I could say anything I was grabbed by a snatcher. Another snatcher grabbed Harry and forced him up. Two snatchers came holding Ron with the rest of the snatchers from the direction we had run from..
"Where's the last one?" asked the leader.
Just then spells came flying in. Two stupefies hit two of the snatchers while a reductio hit another. They had come from different directions. The rest of the snatchers were now all looking around. The leader came over and grabbed me and pointed his wand at me.
"Come out and surrender now! Or she dies!" he yelled. There was no response.
"You have 5 seconds. 5.....4....3.....2.....-"
"Ok!" yelled Percy with his hands up coming out from behind a tree.
"Good choice." he said pushing me to another snatcher. The other snatcher went up to Percy and disarmed him and restrained him.
"Line them up." said the leader of the snatchers. The four of us were forced on our knees next to each other.
He looked at Harry first. "What's up with this one's face?" he asked the others. Then he looked at Ron for a minute but didn't say anything. Next he looked at me. "Well, well, well, looks like we found us some worthwhile." said the man pulling out a piece of parchment paper from his pocket. "The mudblood traveling with Harry Potter." he said showing me a wanted poster of me.
"Don't you dare call her that!" said Percy trying to stand up but he received a punch across the face and was forced back down.
"It must be our lucky day boys! The traitorous high ranking Death Eater! Get them ready, we are going to the Malfoy Manor." said the leader.
As we were being forced to stand up, Harry tried pushing one of the snatcher off, but he was quickly shoved onto the ground by two snatchers. The leader walked over to Harry and bent down looking at him.
"Now boy, it would be wise to st-" I looked at what he was looking at that made him stop talking. Harry's hair was no longer covering his scar. It was hard to definitely say it was the sacr everyone knew that Harry Potter had because of his swollen face.
"We shall go to the Malfoy Manor right now!" he ordered.
We were each grabbed by a snatcher while the leader grabbed Harry. We apparated out of the forest and appeared in front of a gloomy black manor. They quickly lead us to the front gate where what I presumed was a Death Eater.
"Let us in. I have high valued people for Bellatrix" said the leader of the snatchers while gesturing to us. The Death Eater nodded and opened the gate. We were lead to the front of the house and walked through the front door. We were lead through a series of hallways and into a living room area. There was a pale women with midnight black hair with an equal as black dress with her back turned to us.
"Bellatrix, I bring you Harry Potter." said the leader moving Harry's hair out of the way. Bellatrix looked at Harry for a moment.
"Get Draco." she said to a Death Eater.
After about two minutes or so, Draco and his father walked through the door. Draco looked surprised when he saw Ron and I standing there. Then he saw Percy standing there. The two of them looked at each other in the eyes before Percy shook his head. I didn't understand what just went on between them. Then Draco walked over to where Bellatrix had Harry.
"Well? Is it him?" asked Bellatrix.
"I-I can't be sure" replied Draco.
"Draco look at him carefully! Come closer! Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiven!" urged Draco's father.
"Now we won't be forgetting who actually caught him, now won't we Mr. Malfoy?" said the leader of the snatchers.
"You dare talk to me like that in my own house!" yelled Lucius.
"Here come closer Draco. Look closer." said Bellatrix pulling Draco closer and making him look at Harry even closer.
"What's wrong with his face?" asked Draco.
"Yes, what is wrong with his face?" Bellatrix asked the snatchers.
"He was like that when we captured them in the forest." said the leader.
"We shall check their wands. See what their last spells were." said Bellatrix walking away from Harry and Draco and towards the Percy.
"Well if isn't my favorite traitor. I don't know why you would be an idiot and betray our lord. Once he gets his hand on you, I just want to see what he is going to do to you!" exclaimed Bellatrix in a sick way.
Then Bellatrix turned to a snatcher and let out a gasp. "Where did you get that from?" she asked looking at the sword of Gryffindor one of the snatchers was holding.
"It was in one of their bags when we searched them. I reckon it's mine now." he replied.
Before anyone could react, she hit every snatcher in the room with a stupefy and grabbed the sword.
"Go! Leave!" she yelled.
"Take the boys down to the cellar! I'm going to have some girl talk with this one." said Bellatrix walking up to me.
I watched as Percy, Harry, and Ron forced down the stairs to the cellar. She grabbed me by my hair painfully and threw me on the floor. She took out her wand, "Crucio!"
The pain hit crashed into me in a wave. I had never felt any pain like this before, it was unbearable.
She pinned me down onto the floor and screamed, "How did you and your friends get it? How did you take it from my vault!"
"We didn't take anything." I said weakly.
"Crucio!" I screamed in pain as the pain intensified from being hit by the curse again.
I heard Percy faintly scream my name from the cellar.
"Looks like the traitor has found special interest in the mudblood, how sweet." said Bellatrix. Then she fired the curse at me once more and again the pain intensified even more. My body was screaming all over the place, my body felt like it was on fire and wanted rip itself apart. I screamed again in pain.
"How did you get the sword?" she asked again. I refused to answer.
"Tell me!" she said raising her wand.
She was about to fire the curse again, but I stopped her. "W-wait! It's a fake, It's just a copy of the sword. It's not the real one." I said gasping in pain.
"Bring me Griphook." she said to a Death Eater get off of me. I laid there in too much pain. The Death Eater nodded and went down to the cellar. Just as quickly as he was gone, he was back as fast with a goblin.
"Is this sword truly goblin made?" asked Bellatrix handing him to the sword.
Griphook was looking at me from the corner of his eyes. I weakly shook my head no. He continued to make it look like he was studying the sword to tell if it was real or not.
After a minute, he answered, "No, it is a fake."
Bellatrix turned her attention back to me. "I'm done with this one." She raised her wand and was about to fire spell.
"Expelliarmus!" I turned to see Percy catch Bellatrix's wand. Before Lucius could react he was hit by two stupefies. Draco and his mother started to fire spells at them, but they were losing ground against the three of them. Then Bellatrix picked me up and I felt the sharp edge of cold metal pressed against my neck.
"Stop! Or she dies!" threatened Bellatrix. The three of them stopped firing spells.
"Drop your wands." ordered Bellatrix. They listened and dropped their wands. She then told Draco to go pick them and he obeyed.
"Well, look what we have hear. It's Harry Potter." said Bellatrix. "He's just in time for the Dark Lord. Call him." she continued. Lucius started to pull up his sleeve. Just as he was about to call him, there was a squeaking noise from above us that caught everyone's attention. It was Dobby unscrewing the chandelier. The chandelier started to fall and Bellatrix pushed me away from her so she could dodge the falling chandelier. Percy caught me and helped me back up.
"You're ok Hermione. You're safe now." he said.
I turned to see Harry pulling the wands out of Draco's grasp. He tossed one to Percy and Ron. We grouped up a the back of the room with Griphook and Dobby.
Harry hit Lucius with a stupefy and sent flying back as he was about to call Voldemort.
"You stupid elf! You could've killed me!" yelled Bellatrix.
"Dobby never meant to kill. Dobby only meant to maim or seriously injure." said Dobby.
Draco's mother was about to fire a spell at us, but Dobby snapped his fingers and disarmed her. Her wand flew over to us and Dobby caught it."
"You dare take a witch's wand. You dare defy your masters." said an angry Bellatrix.
"Dobby has no master. Dobby is a free elf. And Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends." he said.
As we we started to apparate away, I saw Bellatrix throw the knife she had to my throat. Right when we apparated away the knife came closer and then I felt something cold embed itself in my stomach. I looked down and saw a red liquid coming out of my stomach. And then the Malfoy Manor disappeared.