CH-32

He deflects it and points his wand right at me. He barks an incantation, but nothing happens. Taking advantage of his surprise, I send a Stunning Spell his way, and the red jet of light hits him square in the chest.

I dive out of the way of another green jet of light and reach for George's arm. I glance up and see that the last jet of light came from Voldemort himself. My gut clenches in fear, and I freeze.

He points his wand at me, but before he can fire a curse in my direction, a Killing Curse flies toward him, and he's momentarily distracted.

I distinctly hear Blaise's voice above the sounds of the fight all around me.

"Go, Hermione! GO!"

I grip George's arm tightly and Apparate back to Grimmauld Place.

I bang furiously on the door, and it's thrown open.

"Jean, Wendell and Monica Wilkins, Australia," I say quickly before Harry can even ask the questions.

He helps to take George from me, and we move to the kitchen swiftly.

"Has anyone—" he begins to ask.

"No, not yet," I reply before he finishes his question. I know that he wants to know if anyone's died yet.

"Ron and Ginny—"

"They should be fine."

We set George down on a stretcher; we're more prepared this time. The necessary potions are already sitting on the counter, in order—Angelina and Neville are still recovering from the Nottingham fight four days ago, and they need a drop of each potion every day.

"These are in order," I tell Harry. "Give him one drop from each bottle, just like Angelina and Neville. I have to go back."

"No, let me. You stay here," he says.

I shake my head. "Harry, you can't go. Voldemort's there."

"All the more reason to go, then. I can finish him," he says.

"Harry, no," I say, grabbing his arm before he can leave the room. "Don't make me hex you. There are far too many Death Eaters there right now. They were prepared—they must have known we were coming."

He takes a deep breath. "Fine. Go—go quickly. Tell them to come back, before anyone dies. If they were prepared for us, there's no way we can win this fight."

I nod and hurry out of the kitchen.

When I reach the battlefield, not many are still fighting. Lupin must have given the order to retreat already. I catch sight of him holding off a group of three Death Eaters and rush to join him.

Where's Voldemort?

I scan my surroundings but don't see him.

A Stunning Spell comes right at me. I don't have time to dodge, but it rebounds when it comes within a foot of my face. Startled, I watch as the red jet of light doubles back and hits the Death Eater who fired it. McGonagall joins us from another direction, and we stand back to back as a huge group of Death Eaters swarms around us—there seem to be even more now than there were before.

Where did everyone go? I didn't see them at Grimmauld Place.

Then impenetrable darkness surrounds us, and I can't see a thing. I immediately focus on Grimmauld Place as my destination and Apparate there a moment later. As I bang on the door, Fred appears behind me.

"Hermione," he says. "Thank Merlin you got outta there okay."

"Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," I say.

He nods. "You know everything, don't you? I saw you take George—he's here, right?"

Then the front door is thrown open, and Ginny points her wand at the two of us. After answering her questions, we both enter.

"When did you get back?" I ask.

"Apparently right after you left," she replies as we head toward the kitchen.

When we enter, Harry smiles at us grimly. "George looks okay."

"Fucking Dolohov," Fred mutters. "Why didn't you kill him while you had the chance, Hermione?"

I shake my head. "Sorry, I just used the first spell that popped into my head."

"We're lucky none of the other Death Eaters use that curse of his," Ginny says. "Did any of you hear the incantation?"

I try to remember what it had sounded like, but all I can remember is the look of shock on his face when there was no effect on me. Why was I spared?

"Where is everyone else?" Harry asks.

"Most of them went to McGonagall's, some to Shell Cottage," Fred replies.

"Why?"

"I think I know why," I say. "There were so many Death Eaters—any of them could have grabbed us when we tried to Apparate. If we led so much as one of them to Grimmauld Place, we'd be handing Harry over to Voldemort."

Then the fireplace comes to life, and we move toward it.

"Harry, are you there?"

"Tonks," Harry says, moving closer. Sure enough, her face is in the fire.

"Who's at Grimmauld Place?" she asks.

"Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione," I say. Remembering the injured who are still upstairs from the last fight, I add, "Angelina, Neville, Colin, and Hannah are still here." All of the others have recovered already.

"Alicia isn't there?"

"No," Fred says.

"How about Lee?"

"No, he isn't here either. What's going on?" Harry asks.

"If they're not at Grimmauld Place, then I don't think they made it back," Tonks says. "Lupin and I checked with the other safe houses already. Molly has Bill, Charlie, Ron, Dean, and Ernie at Shell Cottage. No one showed up at Muriel's home. Katie and Justin came with us. The professors went back with McGonagall."

Harry voices the question just as it goes through my head, "Where's Blaise?"

Tonks frowns and shakes her head. "I don't know. I have to get in contact with Molly, let her know that Ginny and the twins are all right."

"George is hurt," Fred says. "Got hit by Dolohov."

Tonks curses. "Next time anyone has a chance, kill him," she says.

With that, her face disappears, and the fire goes back to normal.

"Someone must have betrayed us," Fred says. "There shouldn't have been that many Death Eaters there. They were expecting us."

Harry transfigures one of the vacant stretchers into a chair and sits down. "I'm sure McGonagall and Lupin will want a meeting soon. We'll have to talk about it there."

"And what do you think happened to Alicia, Lee and Blaise?" Ginny asks. "You don't think they're… dead, do you?"

"We were right outside a Death Eater camp. They could have been taken prisoner," I say.

"If so, we still have hope," Harry says. "We can try to rescue them."

"It'll probably be best to find out who the traitor is before we do anything about that, so that they won't be able to alert the Death Eaters," I say. "I can ask Malfoy about prisoners the next time I see him."

"Speaking of Malfoy, has he contacted you since the last time?" Fred asks.

I shake my head. I haven't seen him since the night of the fight at Nottingham, four days ago. He's plagued my thoughts, and sometimes I think I feel the burn of the charm against my skin, but upon inspection, the back of the charm always remains blank, and the inscription of my initials remains the same.

"Is there any way you can get in contact with him?" Harry asks me.

"No," I say.

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