CH-38

Theo enters the room, ropes firing from the end of his wand as he moves toward her. Dolohov and Crabbe Sr. have already entered the other room. Granger tries to Stun Theo, but he leaps to the side, and Goyle Sr. is struck instead. She evades the ropes and makes a run for the door, but Theo conjures a wall of fire, blocking it. Travers attempts to Disarm her, but the spell backfires, and he has to dodge to the side to avoid being hit.

Well, at least I know that the charm works.

I watch anxiously, gripping both sides of the water basin tightly, as she duels both Travers and Theo. Most spells are deflected or absorbed before they reach her, but I can tell that the power of the charm is wearing down. Fuck… where is Lupin? He hasto get Granger out of there!

The door leading to the other fight is thrown open, and Rowle emerges. Damn it, that means Lupin is losing. Rowle joins in the fight against Granger, and her brows furrow in concentration as she fires curse after curse at her attackers—she seems to have realized that their spells can't reach her and is taking full advantage of that fact.

Then a Stunning Spell whizzes past her head and hits the wall behind her, making a small crack. Shit! The charm must have reached its limit. She maintains a Shield Charm around herself and attempts to edge toward the exit, only occasionally firing spells at the three Death Eaters.

Oh fuck, I can't watch this.

But I can't tear my eyes away from the image on the water.

Then the door to the adjoining room bangs open again, and Dolohov emerges with a bound and unconscious Remus Lupin levitating just behind him. Granger spares only a moment for shock before continuing toward the exit.

Dolohov barks something at her and points his wand at the unconscious werewolf, and Granger seems to hesitate, shouting something back at him. When he starts to say something else, she drops her wand to the ground.

"No!" I shout to my empty living room. "Fucking hell, Granger, no!"

Furious, I hurl the stone basin against the far wall. It collides loudly and falls to the ground, water splashing all over the hardwood floor.

Then I'm on my feet, pacing back and forth madly.

Where will they take her? Straight to Voldemort, I expect. After all, he's capturing her for the sake of finding out who has betrayed him. Fuck! I don't even care about being discovered—at this point, I would do anything to switch places with her. I'm still scared as hell of being the focus of the Dark Lord's wrath, but the mere thought of Granger being tortured…

I know I was attracted to, interested in, and perhaps even infatuated with Granger, but this… this feeling… it's indescribable.

Bloody hell.

I have to free her, even if it kills me.

I sit down in a chair across the table from Rowle.

"I'll be right outside, Hermione," Lupin says, backing out of the room.

I still don't quite understand why they've decided on a private interrogation, but I suppose that having no audience will indeed help me focus on penetrating Rowle's mind.

First, I decide to give him a chance.

"Rowle, do you know why you are here?" I ask him.

"Yeah, yeah," he says, bored.

He's bound to a chair, unable to do anything to threaten me. Instead of fear at being alone in a room with a Death Eater, I feel only revulsion. I overheard from Tonks and Lupin's conversation that this man didn't hesitate to kill women and children, as long as their blood status was challenged. While that probably holds true for most of the Death Eaters, being so close to one, unmasked, makes me feel disgusted.

"So, what are you going to do to me, Mudblood?"

"You can call me whatever you like," I say nonchalantly. "I'm going to give you a chance. Do you know which member has betrayed the Order?"

"Oh, you'd like to know that, wouldn't you?" he says, grinning maliciously.

Why isn't he afraid? He's completely in my power. I can do anything to him without restraint. There's no reason for him not to be afraid.

"If you're not straight with me, I'll have to use Legilimency on you," I say.

I don't like invading others' minds. In my book, it isn't much better than torturing someone for information because it's a serious violation of privacy. I know that in desperate times, we must resort to desperate measures, but still…

"Oh, go ahead. I don't see any harm in letting you know the truth, after tonight."

I narrow my eyes. After tonight? What can he possibly mean?

As soon as I get eye contact with him, I delve into his mind. Malfoy was right—Rowle's barriers seem to crumble with just the slightest bit of effort on my part, and soon I'm rushing into his memories. At the thought of Malfoy, the charm begins to burn my chest, but I don't have time to check it.

I focus on Voldemort, trying to go for the most recent memory.

I find myself in a dark room, looking at the back of a tall armchair. On either side of Rowle stand Dolohov, Mulciber, Crabbe Sr., and Malfoy Sr. Voldemort is giving orders in a quiet hiss.

I flip back a bit further and find a memory of Rowle, watching that same room from a slit in the door. He sees the back of a short man, with bandy legs and little hair on his head.

No…

Mundungus Fletcher.

Shacklebolt had assured us that he would be the best man for amassing information about the Death Eaters because he was a criminal. We'd believed him because that despite his cowardice, he did have a way about skulking through the underground, making trades and gaining useful tidbits of information along the way.

But now, it makes sense.

He was the one who had gotten the numbers wrong on the night of the ambush at the Leaky Cauldron. He'd given us the location of the Death Eater camp near Bristol. And he didn't have any idea about our planned defense of Nottingham because it had been so short-notice. The only thing that remains to be checked is whether or not he knew about Seamus's mission.

I withdraw from Rowle's mind and see a smug expression on his face.

"Mundungus Fletcher," I say aloud.

"Mundungus Fletcher, indeed," he says, nodding.

The charm burns my chest again, and I get to my feet.

"Well, we have what we want. Now, all that's to be decided is your fate," I say. Then I raise my voice and call for Lupin.

He enters the room a moment later.

"The spy is Mundungus," I tell him.

"Are you certain?" he asks.

I nod. "I have to go outside for a moment."

He takes my seat, and I leave the room, pulling the door closed behind me. As soon as I'm alone outside, I pull the charm out to look at it. Only one word shows, in all capital letters: DANGER. What the…?

Then the door is thrown open, and two Death Eaters enter the room. I immediately note that one of them is Dolohov and back up to the opposite end of the room, throwing Stunning Spells at both of them, but they both disappear into the inner room where Lupin and Rowle are.

A third Death Eater points his wand at me, and ropes issue from the tip. I sidestep the swirling tendrils and send another Stunning Spell at him. I miss him, instead striking a fourth Death Eater just inside the doorway. I race toward the door, but the third Death Eater throws up a wall of fire, blocking my path to the exit. A Disarming Charm comes at me from a fifth Death Eater, but before I can react, the jet of light rebounds and shoots back in his direction.

Yet again, I'm repelling spells. What's going on?

I block most of the hexes coming at me but let one through, and it rebounds again. Growing more confident in this strange blessing, I shift to a more offensive position, stepping forward toward them and alternating my attacks between the two of them. I advance on them, and eventually I can see past the wall of fire toward the exit.

Then the door opens, and Rowle comes into the room. I gasp—Dolohov and the other Death Eater must have freed him. He joins his comrades, and I realize that this must have been the reason why he wasn't worried about letting me find out the truth. This was a set-up. He'd known that his friends were coming to rescue him!

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