Hermione groaned and hung her head. "It was so obvious!"
"Hey!" Harry said reprovingly as he paced her room. "It was not obvious. We were all under the impression that Ginny wouldn't be stupid enough to leave her family to spy on the Death Eaters."
Ron snorted in amusement. "I was never that deluded. This is my sister we're talking about. If she gets an idea in her head, she'll follow through no matter what."
Harry ignored him and went over to sit with Hermione on the bed. "I want to get her out of there."
"We can't." Hermione worried her bottom lip as she shrugged helplessly. "If we go in to get her then we'll probably get killed. If we aren't killed, we'll probably get her killed, and the biggest obstacle is that we don't know where the Notts live. Even if we do find it, I imagine it is well guarded, just like Grimmauld Place."
Harry had already thought about all of those things, but he didn't want to voice them out loud. Every fiber of his being was screaming for him to leave this instant and take her away from there. The fact that the Order was having a meeting downstairs and he and Ron had been dismissed from it did not help soften his mood. Remus had assured him that he, Ron and Hermione were being considered for membership, but at this point, a decision hadn't been made.
"Too bad you didn't actually kill Nott Sr.," Ron commented absently.
It had been a close call, but the staff at St. Mungo's had managed to save him. Harry had thrown the paper into the fire this morning after reading that. The problem was that Tonks hadn't seen Nott's face, so she couldn't positively identify him as a Death Eater, and if they wanted to keep Harry out of the Ministry, he couldn't go in to testify either.
He'd been ready to go when Tonks had come to speak to him, but she assured him that Nott wouldn't be out of St. Mungo's for at least a month. That gave him an idea.... "With his dad away from the house we should be able to get her out without many problems."
"I don't think we should..." Hermione said slowly, sitting up with a grimace. She was still in a bit of pain from the attack the day before, but Mrs. Weasley said that she would let Hermione out of bed later today. Ron strode over to her and took her arm, helping her up. He crawled into bed behind her and leaned against the headboard so she could rest against him without hurting herself too much. After she was settled, she explained, "I just think that we should let things settle a bit, before we try to rescue her. If they suspect her and we fail to get her out, they might just kill her, and if they didn't suspect her, but we fail, they certainly would watch her more carefully."
"I know," Harry agreed slowly, "but I still think we should go."
Ron grinned sympathetically at him. "You also have to consider that she probably doesn't want to be 'rescued'. I mean, mate... this is Ginny we're talking about."
"I have to agree." Hermione nodded. "I think she is doing what she feels is right...." She hesitated for a moment at Harry's murderous glare. "E-even if we know that wasn't a smart move on her part."
"I want to get her out," Harry reiterated. "I think I need to talk to Tonks about this. She knows something and isn't--"
A knock sounded at the door, halting Harry mid-sentence. "Who is it?" Hermione called out while straightening her sheets nervously. Ron didn't budge from behind her, which Harry found amusing. His best mate was willing to risk the wrath of his mother to stay at Hermione's side.
"It's Tonks. Can I come in?" Her muffled voice sounded exhausted as it floated through the door.
Harry walked over and removed the locking charm before pulling it open. He stared into her vibrantly blue eyes that contrasted beautifully with her cotton candy pink hair. "Come on," he said as he held open the door. When he closed it behind her he placed several charms on the door to ensure that no one would hear them.
Tonks pretended not to notice. She strode over to Hermione and sat on the bed at her side. "How are you feeling? I heard that you were knocked out and Ron had to Apparate you out of there."
"Oh yes, well...." Hermione beamed as Ron's arms tightened around her. "It's lucky he was right there to catch me. I'm fine now, just a bit sore."
"Good," Tonks said, patting her hand.
Harry watched her open her mouth to ask another question and realized that he couldn't stand it any longer. "How could you let her go?"
Her pink head swiveled slowly around to face him, her expression blank. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't pretend. We know that Ginny is a spy," Harry bit out, trying to control his rage. His hands were fisted at his side as he stood over her. "How could you let her go?"
Tonks planted a hand and pushed off the bed, standing to her full height so that she was eye-to-nose with Harry. Even though he still towered over her, he stepped back at the expression on her face. She was furious. Her voice was low and rasping as she spoke. "Don't you dare to presume that you understand anything."
"You do know what she's doing," Harry retorted. "I saw you talking to her last summer, in the garden at the Burrow."
"So?" Tonks said rhetorically, crossing her arms over her chest. She tapped her foot and narrowed her eyes at she glared up at him. "I'm friends with Ginny. I can speak to her whenever I want to, and you shouldn't be butting in on private conversations."
Hermione cleared her throat, and they both turned towards the bed. She was balling the sheets between her hands, pulling at it in agitation. "Tonks... we know that Ginny's a spy, and we're pretty sure that you're helping her. I...." She glanced anxiously at Harry but turned back to the Auror. "Unless you say something to convince us not to, I do believe that Harry's going to drag us to Nott's house to get her out."
Tonks didn't speak for nearly a full minute. "You can't get her out." She finally looked at Harry, her eyebrow raised questioningly. "The Nott house is unplottable and is protected by many enchantments. I can't get into it, and neither can you. Trust me, Molly, Arthur and I have discussed this, along with the rest of the Order, but Ginny is there of her own free will, and she seemed to have been allowed in by the family."
"They're Death Eaters," Harry reminded her quietly, but he felt his heart skip a beat. If the Order couldn't get her out then how was he going to manage it?
"It doesn't matter," Tonks said more reasonably, now that he wasn't looking to hex something. "I don't want Ginny living with him either, but she chose to move out, and you can't stop her."
"But...." Ron's voice was calculating as he studied her. "What if she's under the Imperius Curse?"
Tonks shook her head. "No, I checked that last year after she started acting oddly. You know," she said to Harry. "When she started starving herself I thought that maybe she was being controlled by someone, and I asked her about it, which is probably what you heard," she informed Harry sarcastically. "She wasn't under the influence of any spells. I made sure of that."
"So she is a spy then?" Ron questioned suddenly, but Tonks merely laughed hollowly.
"Would I really help a sixteen year old to spy on Death Eaters?" She sighed heavily, and once again, Harry saw the fatigue that emanated from her. Her shoulders drooped as she walked to the door and undid the charms that Harry had placed on it. Finally she looked back at them, and she looked like she was close to tears. "I would never willingly put Ginny in harm's way, and I'm disappointed that you three think I would." With that she pulled the door open and left, the door swinging shut behind her with a soft click.
Harry walked slowly over to the bed and sank down onto it, feeling wretched. "Okay, so now what?"
He felt a small hand take his and squeeze it firmly. "Now we leave it to Tonks and the Order to deal with Ginny, and we finish up the job we're supposed to so that she can get out of Nott's house sooner."
"Yeah..." Harry muttered bitterly. He didn't like it, but if he couldn't locate Nott's house, there wasn't much sense in trying. Even if he did locate the house it would probably be weeks of searching that he could have spent on destroying another Horcrux. He was getting so close to his final confrontation with Voldemort that it seemed almost a shame to stop now. It was already 1st December, and he was over halfway towards being able to take on Voldemort himself.
"Harry," Hermione said softly, squeezing his hand to make sure he was listening. "What happened with the Dementors?"
"The Dementors?" Harry stared at her blankly for a minute before he cottoned on to what she was talking about. "I drove them away with a Patronus. I was thinking about Ginny and what I had lived through in the box, and... they just disappeared."
"Oh... well actually, Harry... I wanted to know what you were reliving," Hermione explained as she went into her 'Hermione-ish' mode of wanting to examine him as if he was a bug. "The Dementors have always affected you more than us, but we've encountered them several times now and...."
Her voice floated to the back of his mind so that he barely registered that she was still even speaking. He had seen his mother's death again, relived that night once more, and the words that had been spoken just came back to him. "The symbolism..." he muttered absently, trying to recall exactly what Voldemort had said to her.
"What?" Ron's voice broke through Harry's thoughts, and he jumped a bit, realizing that he had been caught back in his memories.
"Voldemort said, after he killed my mother, that the symbolism of... of something was too good to pass up." Was that right? "Or something like that. I'm not sure that's all of it, though."
"You heard this when you were with the Dementors?" Hermione asked for clarification, motioning over to the side table for her notebook. Ron reached over and snagged it for her, handing it to her as she flipped it open and began to write feverishly. "Did he say anything else?"
"I can't really remember," Harry said broodingly. He didn't want to talk about his mother's death just then, even though now that he thought about it, it was probably very important. Ginny was still foremost in his thoughts.
BANG!
Not again.... Harry groaned as he got up and went to the door, throwing it open to find chaos throughout the house as he looked down the staircase from the upstairs banister.
Mrs. Black was screaming, adding her own chord to the cacophony. "Filthy dirt in my house! Scum! Be gone from the noble house of my fathers!"
No one seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention as several Order members scrambled for the door. "What's going on?" Harry called down to them, but no one answered.
"Harry?" Ron said from right behind him. He'd obviously extracted himself from his place on the bed to see what all the fuss was.
"They live in Cambridge," Tonks called to the departing group as Mrs. Weasley fretted with Mr. Weasley's cloak.
"No time, Molly! We've got to go or the Longbottoms won't stand a chance!"
The Longbottoms.... Harry's heart froze, but his body was already in motion. He heard Hermione call out and Ron shout something back to her, but it didn't matter. He ran for the stairs and took them two at a time, with Ron at his heels.
"No!" Mrs. Weasley shouted when she saw them, but Harry didn't even look at her. He ran straight for the door, intent on following the rest of the Order to where ever the fight was.
"Harry!" Remus grabbed for him, but Harry shook him off.
"He's my friend!" Harry told him heatedly. "I'm going!"
"Me too!" Ron added as he skidded to a halt next to Harry.
Remus opened his mouth to argue, but the rest of the Order was heading up the street, obviously heading for the back alley that Harry knew most of them would use to Apparate from.
"I'm going," Harry told him vehemently as he sprinted down the street, not caring what he looked like to the Muggles in the neighborhood.
Ron was at his side, keeping his pace slowed so that he was in step with Harry. They rounded the corner, and headed into the alley. Moody was standing guard at the entrance, casting several charms that Harry did not recognize but also did not stop to examine. "Potter!" Moody called, but he ignored him as well.
Amazingly enough, Moody didn't hex him on the spot.
Harry got safely away from the view of the street and stopped, not bothering to catch his breath. He spun on the spot and felt himself being squeezed through the tunnel as he thought about landing at Neville's house in Cambridge.
He landed, not very gracefully, on his knees in front of a large house and the dark mark floating ominously in the sky. "No..." Harry moaned as he scrambled to his feet.
Another pop signaled the arrival of Ron, and together they ran for the house. A few Order members were standing outside, attempting to put out the fire with their wands, but the flames were resisting all attempts at extinguishing them.
Harry reached for the large door handle and felt it tentatively, relieved to feel that it was cool. He coughed as a cloud of smoke rolled past through a broken window.
"Bubble-Head Charm," Ron yelled above the roar of the fire around them. He and Harry both placed it on their heads, and Harry threw open the door.
It was impossible to see, even through the magical bubble. Thick, black clouds rolled through the burning house. Sparks landed on their exposed skin, crackling as it burnt them, but they didn't stop. Harry moved to the right, following a path that wasn't engulfed in flames until he tripped over something that he couldn't see at his feet. He looked around to see what he'd fell over and nearly screamed.
Mrs. Longbottom was staring at him, her expression blank and her face half burned off.
Bile rose swiftly into his mouth as he scrambled away from her, and he heard Ron swear violently. "Come on," Harry choked out as he backed away from the dead woman. "We have to find Neville."
"We're never going to find him like this!" Ron said as he motioned around the house. "We'll be dead before we find him."
He was right. Harry racked his brain, trying to think of something... anything... and then it hit him. "Brace me, Ron," Harry ordered, and Ron instantly stood behind him. Harry pointed his wand generally at a wall and yelled, "Accio Neville!"
Instantly a crash sounded from upstairs, and they spun, ready to face whatever was coming.
Seconds later their unconscious friend came hurtling down the stairs towards them, his head lolling as he flew towards them. Harry held out his arms, and a moment later, their dorm mate crashed into them, sending the three to the floor.
He could barely breathe, and he was sure that at least one rib was cracked. He and Ron didn't need to talk as they both got to their feet and hauled Neville up by his arms. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Harry wasn't sure his friend was alive, but he was getting him out of the house anyway.
Ron hoisted Neville up a bit higher as they stumbled to the door. The smoke was closing in around them, swirling as if to keep them from ever getting out of the house. "Can't see!" Harry called as several boards groaned loudly above them. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that flames were beginning to creep along it, burning slowly towards the door and more oxygen.
"Move!" Ron bellowed as he ducked lower and pulled Harry and Neville towards a small light in the distance.
Another groan from above, and before Harry could even think of what he was doing, he pointed his wand above their heads and roared, "Protego!" just as the wood and fire above them came crashing down on their heads.
A flash of yellow light streamed above them as debris fell everywhere in a circle around where they stood. Harry watched in awe as the house began to crumble behind them. He didn't dare to move though, in case he disturbed their last protection against the fire.
The house fell rapidly, collapsing under the damage of the fire. When the last bit fell around them, Harry looked up to see about fifteen Order members, standing frozen on the lawn, watching them under his Shielding Charm. He glanced back and saw that it was safe. Only then did he lower his wand.
Together, he and Ron slowly pulled Neville out of the wreckage and towards Remus. The old professor felt at his neck for a pulse and called to Tonks. She came and took Neville in her arms, Disapparating away while Remus said something about St. Mungo's.
Harry nodded feebly and fell to his knees on the grass. The image of Mrs. Longbottom still burned feverishly in his mind's eye, and he knew that it wasn't something he was likely to soon forget.
"Harry?" Ron tugged on his arm, pulling his best mate to his feet, despite no help from Harry. "Come on, we've got to get back. Mum and Hermione are probably going spare."
Harry nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. He was probably going to get a lashing from both of them, but he didn't care. He had done what was right, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat.
So did Ginny... a small nagging voice reminded him, but he pushed it aside. He would have to think about that later.