Hermione Granger and the Time of Troubles

The atrium of the Ministry of Magic certainly looked quite different than Hermione remembered. Well, in all honesty, she never really remembered the hallway very well at all; whenever Hermione had tried to evoke the image of the open atrium in her mind, the picture was rather blurred and vague. She remembered the cramped ride on the lift down from the streets of London and she remembered the lift ride to the Department of Mysteries. But she had no clear recollection of the majestic atrium and even if she did, she had a feeling it wouldn't have evoked the sense of awe that overwhelmed her at the sight as she stepped out of the lift on New Year's Eve.

They were in a long, brightly-lit hall full of elegantly-dressed wizards and witches. The dark wood of the paneled walls were still strewn with festive strands of garland and wreaths which had been stuffed with twinkling fairies. The numerous fireplaces lining the corridor all had large, red, felt stockings hanging from the mantles; it appeared that each department had its own fireplace. Between each fireplace were identical, slim, twinkling Christmas trees with shiny colorful presents stowed underneath. Decorative balls of all different colors and springs of mistletoe hung from the ceiling, but it was the actual ceiling itself that caught Hermione's eye. She had been in such a hurry last time she was here that she hadn't even glanced up once but now that she had the moment, she examined it carefully. It was a lovely peacock-blue with gilded golden symbols that shifted and changed in some sort of intrinsic pattern.

Hermione wished she could revel in the beauty of the room for the rest of the night. She really wished she could wander about the hall in her periwinkle-blue dress robes with her mug of butterbeer, chatting with Ministry officials and ringing in the New Year with elegance and style. Most of all, she wished that she could have walked out of the elevator on Ron's arm. But they had a job to do and it was making Hermione's stomach writhe nauseatingly with anxiety.

"Bit different from the last time we were here," Harry commented quietly as he waited for her to finish surveying the room. Hermione was too distracted to orally respond so she simply nodded. Harry gave her another moment before nudging her slightly. "What do you think of that?" He jerked his head toward the center of the hall.

Hermione finally lowered her eyes from the ceiling so she could look at what Harry had indicated. In the center of the hallway was a giant, glistening fountain with several statues standing in the shallow pool. She tilted her head slightly so she could examine the jets of water through the throngs of people milling about.

"They must have rebuilt it," Harry noted absently. Hermione glanced over at him briefly with a puzzled expression. Harry didn't take his eyes off of the fountain as he continued to speak. "It was destroyed that night," One finger lifted slightly towards the statue of the wizard. "Dumbledore charmed them somehow--that one saved my life, as a matter of fact."

Hermione fought the urge to look at him again but she knew better. Harry had never really explained what had happened to him after she had been hit by that curse. In fact, she didn't even know how Sirius had died or how on earth a statue had saved Harry from death. Normally, she would have asked, but now she knew better. Harry would tell her--when he was ready. She just had to be patient; she couldn't push him.

Harry finally glanced over at her and Hermione knew he was awaiting a response. Since she couldn't ask the question she was really dying to know the answer to, she instead articulated the thoughts she had been thinking before Harry had brought up the night they had come to the Ministry. "They shouldn't have kept that house-elf," She scowled at the demeaning expression of humiliating servitude on the house-elf's face.

A low chuckle distracted Hermione's attention from her outrage at the degradation of the status of house-elves. To her surprise, the laughter was from Harry and he clapped her affectionately on the shoulder. "I always wanted to see your reaction to that," he commented before glancing at his watch. "Seen Percy?"

Hermione instantly slipped into business-mode and quickly but thoroughly scanned the room. "Haven't seen him."

Harry stood slightly on his tiptoes, lips pursed as if he was about to ask a question but it was answered as Ginny, Fred, and George slipped over to them. "No sign of him yet," Ginny reported briskly. Hermione had never seen Ginny, Fred or George appear so determined and serious.

"Okay, fan out," Harry ordered under his breath. "The minute anyone sees him, call us," He tapped the bulge in his pocket. "We'll meet..." Harry paused to glance around the room to find the perfect, secluded meeting spot. "Okay, there's an alcove by the lifts down there." He pointed down in that direction. "See you there?" The other four nodded in assent and the five split off so they could make their surreptitious searches for a possible Death Eater.

Hermione tried to appear as casual as possible as she wandered over to one of the many long tables adorned with white linen sheets, long red candles and large centerpieces of holly. She picked up a glass of butterbeer and took a long, considering sip. She was so restless by this point that she just wanted to put the plan into action and get it over with, but considering that Percy was a vital part of their scheme, all she could do was wait for his arrival.

The plan was really quite simple. Ginny was going to approach Percy under the pretense of wishing to sort out their differences and take him to a private location. The rest of them would follow and eavesdrop on the conversation in case Percy realized what they were up to and tried anything funny. Ginny would slip Percy the truth serum and ask him what he knew about Ron's whereabouts.

There was a great deal of minor issues to contend with, however. For one thing, they had to somehow manage to follow Percy without him noticing the four people stalking his every move. They also had to make sure Percy had some sort of beverage that they could pour the potion into. They then also had to make sure he didn't see them pour an unknown substance into his drink. There were a lot of things that could go wrong, but probably the worst possibility was that Percy would simply not show up at all.

"Hello, Hermione,"

Hermione's list of things that could go horribly wrong with their evening was abruptly stopped by the surprisingly familiar voice. "Luna?"

The fifth-year Ravenclaw was standing at Hermione's side with her usual distant, dotty smile. Her hair was piled atop her head in straggly but neat curls with one stray strand dropping in front of one of her protuberant eyes. Her maroon robes were simple, velvet, and flattering but the effect of elegance was rather ruined by her butterbeer cap necklace. She had however chosen to stick her wand in the mound of hair piled atop of her head rather than behind her ear and in a way, it almost worked. It appeared that her wand was somehow the sole force containing her hair from spilling from the crown of her head. For the first time, Hermione was glad Ron wasn't by her side--she had never forgotten Luna's flirtation with Ron, and although it was to help her and him get together, she couldn't help herself from hoping Ron never saw Luna Lovegood look this attractive.

"Have you found Ron yet?"

Hermione stiffened at the abrupt question. "No," she answered finally, her voice tight.

"Oh," Luna's eyes were wandering about the room at alarming rate, as if she was taking in every single thing that she could possibly glimpse and storing it somewhere in the depths of her mind. Hermione had underestimated the girl last year, but now she knew better. There was a lot more to Luna Lovegood than anyone ever knew. "Daddy got us invited," Luna explained randomly. "Ever since he sold the rights to the interview with Harry, the Ministry has been asking him to help out the Prophet left and right.

"See them?" Luna pointed towards the ceiling and indicated the small figures that were somewhat discernable as wizards with wands at the ready. "They're going to stop any owl that tries to come in," she explained.

"Mr. Weasley mentioned something like that," Hermione remarked. "They don't want anyone to be disturbed for one night."

Luna nodded with her trademark spacey air. "You're going to find him, you know?"

Hermione's heart started to beat faster and her stomach churned even more. She had had the sneaking sense that there was a lot more to Luna than met the eye, which could include some strong Divining powers. Luna could know what she was talking about, and frankly, Hermione hoped she was right. She tried not to let her anticipation show. "What makes you say that?" Hermione managed to get out with only the slightest tremor in her voice which betrayed the calm demeanor she was attempting to pass off.

Luna smiled serenely. "You already know more than you think,"

"What?" Hermione's jaw dropped as Luna easily turned her back on the girl and glided off into the crowd of velvet dress robes. Hermione tried to follow, but the crowd of people clustering around the nearby table made that impossible. "Damn it!" she swore under her breath as she unconsciously brought her hand up to carefully pat on her meticulously arranged pile of curls.

"Hey," Fred greeted offhandedly as he grabbed Hermione's elbow from behind. She jerked in shock but managed to keep her composure, her eyes still darting in a vain attempt to find Luna. "We're going up to make sure that conference room is ready for us," When deciding on a prime location for Ginny and Percy to have their discussion, George had remembered wandering around the Ministry one day when he was bored waiting for his dad to finish work for the day and finding the Wizengamot area of the floor. There were several massive conference rooms in that area with adjoining private rooms to store supplies, files, etc. that would be ideal to eavesdrop. George had relayed to Ginny precisely how to get there, but had expressed concern about it being renovated or inaccessible or something horrid like that. Now it appeared that he wanted to check it out just in case.

"Okay," Hermione said with a nod. "Be sure to call us."

"Yeah, about that," Fred glanced around and pulled her off to the side so he could block the party's view of the contents of his pockets with his burly back. "How do these things work again?" Fred peered closely at the unusual object he had just extracted from his pocket and turned it around a few times in a vain attempt to comprehend the complicated mechanism. "And while you're at it, what the hell are they again?"

Hermione sighed with slight impatience. "They're called walkie-talkies," she reminded him as she once again displayed the correct way to hold it. "See? All you do is press down on this button here," she demonstrated, "and you can speak into it."

Fred lifted the walkie-talkie to his face. "Can you hear me?" he said loudly into the speaker while pressing the indicated button. His loud muffled voice emitted from the depths of Hermione's robes and she winced slightly. "Too loud?" he asked. Hermione nodded and Fred tried again. "How's that?"

"Perfect," Hermione responded. Her walkie talkie was still in her pocket but now the disembodied voice that would be echoing from her robes would not be audible to any person standing within fifteen feet of her. However, she could feel the vibration of the voice from the speaker on her thigh, so she would be informed the moment anyone had any news.

"Where did you find these?" Fred inquired as he stuck his walkie-talkie carefully into the folds of his dress robes.

"An electronics store in Muggle London," Hermione replied. "I managed to slip over there when Ginny and I went to Diagon Alley with your mum the other day."

"Right," Fred nodded curtly to her. "See you,"

"See you," Hermione returned as Fred slid back into the crowd and vanished from sight. Hermione bit her lip as she renewed her search for Luna. She had to find out what Luna had meant by those odd statements. However, she was sidelined once again by some friends of Mr. Weasley who had heard so much about her. Although she did want to speak to them and make connections that could undoubtedly be very important for future employment, she was much too anxious to make a lasting good impression.

Luckily, the conversation only lasted around twenty minutes before the group's attention was diverted by a streak of white swooping amid the tops of the Christmas trees and ceiling decorations. Not caring that it would undoubtedly be extremely rude to walk away without so much as a good-bye, Hermione turned her back on the Ministry officials and took off after that undistinguishable shape. She knew exactly what it was.

By the time she made it to where the figure had landed, Harry had one shoulder leaning against the wood paneled wall, positioned away from the crowd so the numerous people who were staring at him couldn't see what he was cradling in his arms. Hermione shot them a nervous smile and muttered some sort of excuse for Harry's behavior. She didn't know if they bought it but after a few more curious glances, the bystanders returned to their own conversations and ignored her and the Boy-Who-Lived.

Hermione situated herself so she was facing Harry, one of her shoulders leaning against the walls in the mirror image of Harry's position. It now appeared that she and Harry were having an intimate conversation and should not be disturbed. In all actuality, however, both of their attentions were riveted to the exhausted owl quietly hooting in Harry's arms.

"She's a wreck," Harry said in a low voice as he comfortingly stroked her quivering feathers. "She must have been flying around for ages."

Hedwig burrowed herself deeper into Harry's arms and to make her more comfortable, Harry slid down the wall so he could hold her on his lap. Hermione went down with him and began to also pat Hedwig reassuringly.

"I've never seen her like this," Harry ruffled Hedwig's feathers in a vain attempt to placate her. "She's really frightened--even Umbridge attacking her didn't upset her this much,"

"There's no letter," Hermione said quietly. "She didn't get a reply."

"Not only that," Harry said slowly. "She didn't return the letter I sent with her."

Hermione and Harry's eyes met. "Would Hedwig deliver a letter to someone the envelope wasn't addressed to?"

"Never," Harry said definitely. "I told her to only give it to Ron."

"S-so," Hermione swallowed hard, "it was delivered then."

"Yeah," Harry's voice was thick with unreadable emotion. "Must have been."

They were quiet for a long moment as Harry continued to soothe an unbelievably frightened Hedwig while Hermione slowly stiffened as a sudden wave of knowledge engulfed her. It was a combination of undisputable logic, undeniable facts, and innate intuition that allowed her to reach a shocking conclusion that caused the color to drain out of her face.

"Harry," she turned so she could look up at the ceiling again. "Did you know that they aren't allowing any owls to enter the atrium? Except if it's flagged as urgent, of course." Harry raised his eyes from Hedwig but he didn't speak--he knew better; Hermione was thinking out loud and sorting out her thoughts. "No owl should have been able to get in--unless Hedwig managed to slip through or..."

"Or she came from inside the building," Harry stood up so quickly that Hedwig squawked in pained protest, forcing Harry to stop and pet her once again.

"She could have just delivered it," Hermione hypothesized rapidly, heart beating faster as she grew more and more certain that this theory was the correct one. "That's why she's so exhausted--she's been flying around for almost two weeks trying to track Ron down--knowing Hedwig, she wouldn't quit until she delivered her letter so she hasn't eaten or drunk anything in ages!"

"Slow down, slow down," Harry advised, shifting Hedwig in his grasp so he could lay a hand on Hermione's arm. "Think back--what room did you see Ron in?"

Hermione closed her eyes and instantly, a sharp image of the room leapt in her mind. "Gray stone, circular, no furniture, no windows..." She trailed off as she started to realize how absurd her theory was. "But Harry, they wouldn't keep Ron in the Ministry..."

"Of course they would," Harry argued eagerly. "It's brilliant--you said it yourself when we thought he could somehow be at Hogwarts: it would be the last place that anyone would look!" He raised his hand from Hermione's forearm to rake his hand through his untidy hair. "There are these old courtrooms in the basement--it was where my hearing was last year and it was the same sort of room--gray stone, cold, similar to Hogwarts,"

"But are they that small?" Hermione asked.

"There have to be holding rooms for the prisoners or something," Harry pressed. "We've got to get down there straight away,"

Hermione, however, was no longer listening. "Harry," she whispered, eyes fastened over his shoulder. "Look."

Percy Weasley was making his way towards the lifts with a determined Ginny Weasley in tow.

"No," Harry said under his breath as he watched Percy press the button to call the lift. "She wouldn't..."

"Maybe she forgot how to use the walkie-talkie," Hermione suggested. She couldn't believe that Ginny would be stupid enough to willingly wander off with Percy alone and not tell the rest of them.

"I showed her how to use the damn things five times," Harry disputed, frustration mounting in his voice. "She knows--she's just trying to prove that she can handle this on her own." He tried to hand Hedwig off to Hermione so he could follow but Hedwig squawked so irritably that Harry was forced to tighten his hold on his beloved owl instead.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione demanded anxiously.

Harry looked incredibly torn as he glanced up and down from Hedwig to Ginny and Percy. He didn't have time to contemplate which would be the better option so he voiced the first idea that popped into his mind. "Where are Fred and George?"

"They went to scout the room they told Ginny to use--they're on Level Two," Hermione relayed.

"Fine," Harry said curtly. "Go on then--I'll get to you as soon as I can."

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked edgily. She really didn't want Ginny going off with Percy alone, but she also really didn't want Harry running around in the Ministry by himself especially if Ron was being held somewhere here; if Ron was here, there was a very good possibility that some Death Eaters would be here as well.

"I've got to get Hedwig some help and tell Remus," Harry said in a rush. "So we can send the Order down to search." He made as though he was going to dart through the crowd but he paused at the sight of Hermione's face. "What now?"

"Nothing," Hermione said quietly, a wistful, almost tearful smile playing at her lips. "You--you really going to go to Remus for help."

"Of course," Harry scoffed. "What did you think I was going to do?"

"I-nothing," Hermione didn't have time to express how proud she was of Harry at this moment. He was finally learning from his mistakes and he was finally acting maturely. Not only that, he was finally showing glimpses of the patience and clear thinking that could only aid him in his quest to defeat the most powerful sorcerer of modern time. "Go find Professor Lupin,"

Harry nodded and with one last puzzled parting glance, he took off as fast as he could with an injured owl and massive amounts of people clustered around the wide atrium. Hermione took a deep breath and managed to shove her way through the throng of partygoers so she arrived at the lift just in time to glimpse Percy and Ginny step inside. Percy didn't even glance in her direction, but Ginny's brown eyes met Hermione's for a brief moment.

"Let's try Dad's office," Ginny said much louder than necessary as she jabbed the appropriate button. "Level Two, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Percy said in a quieter, drier tone as he gave her an appraising look.

"That's what I thought, Level Two," Ginny stressed once again as the lift began to rattle and move. Hermione bit back a smile as she waited for the lift to disappear from sight. Ginny may have wanted to handle things all on her own but she was much more willing to allow help than some people that Hermione knew.

Hermione whipped out the walkie-talkie as soon as the lift was out of sight. "Fred? George?"

There was a pause before George's crackling voice echoed from the speaker. "Merlin, Hermione, you scared the hell out of us!"

"Sorry," Hermione apologized half-heartedly as she jabbed the call button of the lift with her elbow, continuing to keep her back to the party so no one would see the Muggle object she was using. For a brief moment, she recalled how she had absurdly thought that Rita Skeeter was somehow using walkie-talkies in order to interview Slytherins. The recollection of that ridiculous thought had actually been the instigating thought to her idea to use walkie talkies in order to remain communicated among the five of them. Communication spells were tricky to say the least and all the other magical objects with similar properties were much bulkier and more conspicuous. Walkie-talkies may be for Muggles, but they were much more useful in this instance. "Ginny's coming to you--Percy's with her."

"Got it," George returned with another crackle--Hermione could tell that he had his lips too close to the speaker. "You and Harry following?"

"Just me," Hermione replied. "Harry has some other things to tend to,"

"Like what?" George's voice floated incredulously loud and caused some unwanted attention towards Hermione.

"I really don't have time to explain," The lift finally arrived and Hermione quickly slipped inside before any more people noticed her. "I'm coming to you."

"Got it," George repeated. Hermione stuffed the walkie-talkie back into her pocket and hopped from foot to foot impatiently. She really wished she had the Invisibility Cloak to mask her arrival, but there had been no way to transport the large, cumbersome robe in a subtle manner.

"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."

The golden grille clattered open to reveal a deserted, dark hallway lined with closed oak doors. She was tempted to illuminate the end of her wand but resisted. She didn't know how far ahead Percy and Ginny were and she couldn't alert them to her presence. Carefully, she groped her way down the hall until she rounded a corner and found herself in front of double oak doors. They barely creaked as she pushed them open, but she still winced all the same. Squinting to make out the small sign she could barely see, she realized that she was now standing in the Auror Headquarters.

Well, well, she thought while winding her way through the cluttered cubicles. This is where Harry and Ron are going to work one day. They both were going to fit right in--she had seen the disrepair their dormitory and Ron's room was perpetually in.

Following the directions Ginny had given her earlier that day, Hermione managed to find another hallway lined with doors and hear the low drone of voices. Pressing her ear against one of the middle doors, she managed to make out wisps of conversation.

"...you sure you don't want some water?"

Ginny. Hermione slid over to the adjacent door and slowly poked her head inside.

"There you are," Fred hissed as he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of her entrance. He and George had their ears pressed against another door in the room that led to the room that Ginny and Percy currently were in.

"What's been happening?" Hermione asked under her breath as she joined the twins on the ground.

"They just got there--Ginny's trying to get him to drink some water," George told her.

"Not being very subtle about it," Fred commented with a mixture of annoyance and concern. "I thought we had taught her to be more devious."

"Come on, Fred, we both know Ginny doesn't have a devious bone in her body," George said.

"Too true," Fred nodded and paused. "But she does have a load of devious muscles,"

"Shut up," Hermione warned as she tried to listen. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot to listen to; Ginny was still trying to convince Percy to drink something but to no avail. "I can barely hear her--didn't she say she was going to try to set her walkie-talkie so we could all hear?"

"Yeah," George said angrily. "But little sister decided to turn it off."

"What?" Hermione gasped almost inaudibly.

"She said that she didn't want to risk Percy overhearing one of our voices emitting from her pocket," George explained with resigned defeat. "I tried to talk her out of it--but you know Ginny."

"Yeah," Hermione sighed. Ginny was the most stubborn person she had ever met--except after Ron, of course. "I just wish she hadn't done it--It's going to be even more difficult for us to overhear, not to mention..." she couldn't finish her sentence. She didn't really think any of them wanted to be reminded how this plan could go horribly wrong.

"Ooh, hey!" Fred suddenly had an epiphany and jammed his hand inside his navy blue dress robes. "Do you think we can risk slipping one of these in," Fred asked as he extracted an Extendable Ear from his pocket.

"No," Hermione roughly lowered his hand. "We can't do anything to indicate to Percy that we're here--he'd take it out on Ginny and you know it."

George inadvertently tightened his grip on his wand. "Hermione, maybe you better cover the other side of the room--if we need to, charging in on both sides may be better for us."

"Right," Hermione agreed as she got back to her feet. "When Harry comes, send him over to me."

"Speaking of which, where the hell is he?" Fred demanded. "What can be more important than this?"

Hermione bit her lip, contemplating if she should reveal what had happened in the atrium. Now that there was a possibility that Ron was in the very building they were currently standing in, spying on Percy didn't seem to be as important. Why should they waste their time finding Ron indirectly when they could run straight into the room where Ron was waiting for their aid. She in all honesty wanted to be downstairs in the basement, checking every nook and cranny to see if Ron was there. The fact that Ron could possibly be so near was making her skin tingle with fearful anticipation and the height of her nerves skyrocketed. She was so close; she was so close that they could even be breathing the same air in a few precious moments. Ron was here, he had to be. She had gone five weeks now without him and if they didn't find him tonight after all this anticipation and planning, she was certain that her sanity would be lost forever.

But they had to stay. As much as she wanted to be helping the Order search, they had to stay for Ginny. She couldn't be left alone with a potential Death Eater. Fred and George would be similarly torn and Hermione didn't want them to be sitting here trying to protect Ginny when they were really just thinking about Ron.

Her eyes wandered over to George's and her heartstrings tugged at the recollection of Ron asking George to protect her. George wasn't supposed to tell her that, but he had been honest with her. Both of the twins could have revealed to the Order what they were scheming, but they didn't. They had been loyal, faithful, and completely upfront with her, and this was a side she had never seen out of either of them before. They had proven themselves to be true Weasleys, and she never concealed information like this from a Weasley unless it was completely necessary.

"We sent Hedwig with a letter. To Ron," Hermione's voice was rather hoarse and quivery but she managed to keep a stoic face. "She just came back with no letter and owls are being blocked by the Ministry officials." She swallowed as the twins both turned their backs on the door leading to Ginny and Percy so they could openly gape up at her. "We think that means that Ron could be in the Ministry somewhere."

George leapt off the ground and before Hermione could stop him, Fred had already roughly sat him back on the ground. "We can't leave her!"

"We don't even know if Percy is evil!" George argued furiously.

"We don't even know if Ron is here!" Fred countered with an equal level of rage.

"Shh!" Hermione warned irately as she stooped over to clap a hand over each of the twins' mouths. "Listen," she whispered as fast as she could. "We don't know anything right now and Harry's going to Lupin and sending the Order to search so all we can really do is just carry on as planned." She slowly straightened up and released her hold on the twins. "So I'm going to go in the other room and we're just going to have to wait, all right?"

"Wait a minute," George grabbed Hermione's hand to prevent her from slipping out of the room. "What about your--y'know," he waved his hand towards Hermione's head, "your thing with Ron--can't you give him a ring or something and see if he is here?"

"It doesn't work like that," Hermione reminded him. "It's not as though I'm a telephone--it's all through him. He's the empath. I just have to feel something really strongly and he initiates the contact." She pulled her hand free of George so she could distractedly brush aside the few locks that had already pried themselves loose from the elegant nest of curls that Ginny had meticulously arranged. "And besides, I haven't felt him in weeks."

The emptiness that Ron's absence always produced instigated a great intensification of unease and loss that made it quite necessary for Hermione to leave the room right now before she lost it once again. Awkwardly smoothing her dress robes, she wordlessly turned on her heel and returned to the dark hallway. As she briskly tiptoed to her post, she had to hold one hand over her mouth to keep from letting the tears flow. By the time she arrived in the small adjoining room and became focused on her mission, practical, logical Hermione had returned. Wand in hand, she crouched on the floor with her ear against the door. After a few moments of attempting to make out the muffled conversation, Hermione decided to rely on an old Muggle method of eavesdropping; she managed to conjure a water glass out of a random quill she found on the ground and pressed it against the door. Much better.

"Why did you do it?" Ginny asked quietly.

"Because I thought it was the right thing to do," Percy sniffed. "How was I supposed to know that the Ministry was incorrect?"

"Because Dumbledore said so, because Harry said so, because Dad said so!" Ginny snapped.

Hermione winced at Ginny's sharp tone; Ginny better manage to keep her temper in check.

"How could you not believe the people who you've trusted your whole life--you sided with people who you didn't even know!"

All right, it didn't look like that Ginny was going to keep her temper in check.

Click.

Hermione jerked her head away from the rim of the glass. What was that?

"Harry?" she whispered.

She paused for only a moment before rising to her feet. There was no way that Harry would be able to hear her low voice through the solid oak door. She was just glad that he was here--if she didn't find out what was happening with Ron, she was going to have to reserve a bed next to Lockhart in St. Mungo's.

"Harry?" she tried again as she reached the door before grasping the doorknob and pulling it towards her.

Except that it wouldn't turn.

Eyebrows knitted in puzzlement, Hermione rattled the handle in a vain effort to open the door. Someone had locked the door from the outside. That's odd, she thought with a trace of anxiety before aiming her wand at the lock and mumbling "Alohomora,". She supposed that a staff wizard was cleaning up for the evening or something logical like that. It wasn't anything to worry about just yet.

Except that Alohomora didn't work.

Hermione stared at the locked the door with an acute sense of shock--one of her most famous spells hadn't worked? She always performed her spells perfectly, especially one as simple as Alohomora which she had learned ages ago. Somewhat embarrassed, she whipped out her walkie-talkie. She had a feeling that she was going to be kidded about this for quite some time.

"Fred? George? Can you give me a hand--someone just locked me in and I can't get out."

Silence.

She sighed in annoyance. "Come on, you two--you can't have forgotten how to use the walkie-talkies already. Just press the button and talk into the speaker. Or better yet just come over and let me out."

Silence.

"Fred? George? Is everything alright?"

Her grip on the walkie-talkie tightened considerably as she stared at the handle, attempting to will it to open and one of the twins to stick their heads in. She knew that there wasn't anything really to worry about, there could be a very logical explanation to why the twins weren't responding to her. This wasn't the time to panic.

"This isn't funny, you two--let me out!"

The only sound was the hissing static faintly emitting from the speaker of the walkie-talkie. Stomach clenched, she clutched the walkie-talkie to her chest and jiggled to knob once again. It was no use--she was trapped.

Well, not exactly. She could very easily exit the small room through the door that lead to the conference area. But she couldn't leave until Ginny and Percy left. She hadn't been planning on leaving until they left anyway, so there technically shouldn't be anything at all to worry about.

This however did not placate her.

"Fred? George? Answer me!"

She swore under her breath after another long silence. This had stretched beyond the realms of a Weasley twin prank--they wouldn't have deliberately taunted her in a dire situation like this. She had just gone over the directions of how to use the walkie-talkie so it couldn't be that they didn't know how to respond to her. For some reason, they couldn't answer her, and because she was stuck in here, she couldn't go see for herself just what had distracted the twins so much.

There was a sudden loud crash of static and a jumble of words in an indistinguishable voice. Her heart leapt. "Hello--who's there?"

"Hermione?" Harry's voice crackled. "I'm in the lift--what's going on?"

"I don't know," Hermione relayed hastily. "Someone locked me in and I can't get Fred or George to answer me, and I don't know why they wouldn't answer, they're not cruel like that, they wouldn't make me worry like this, would they?"

"Okay--calm down," Harry soothed. His voice floated through much clearer, indicating he had stepped out of the lift. "I'll be right there,"

"Check on the twins first--they could really be in trouble," Hermione requested anxiously.

"I'm on my way,"

Hermione nodded mutely as she lowered the speaker away from her face. Maybe they hadn't been the only ones following Percy and Ginny--maybe some of Percy's Death Eater friends had been hanging around too and when they realized that the Boy-Who-Lived and his friends were shadowing their cohort, they had remained in the background until pouncing at the right time. She was trapped, Harry was lured away, Ginny was distracted by Percy, and they were going straight for the twins? Hermione frowned as she rubbed her aching forehead. No, that didn't make any sense. Why would they go after the twins of all people? But then again, nothing about these past weeks made any sense whatsoever so she really shouldn't be surprised that something like this was happening.

She bounced from foot to foot anxiously for several, long, horrid moments as she stared without blinking at the door. Finally, she wasn't able to stand it any longer. She was tempted to ring Harry on the walkie-talkie but she knew that wasn't the best idea. If Harry was dealing with an enemy or perhaps sneaking up on someone, the last thing he needed was the hysterical voice of his best friend. Calm down, she told herself edgily. You just have to wait for Harry.

Hermione decided to put down her wand and walkie-talkie considering that she kept playing with them nervously with no real benefit. She returned to her position at the door and held up the water glass again. She had to keep focused.

"So why Ron?" Ginny was asking. "Why was it only when Ron disappeared that you finally pulled your fat head out of your arse and came home?"

She sighed. It didn't appear that Ginny was any closer to slipping the serum to Percy. And it didn't appear that eavesdropping on them was going to settle her nerves. She fingered the walkie-talkie again; god damn it, where were they?

Click.

This time, Hermione didn't handle the abrupt, loud sound very well at all. Due to her extreme agitation, she jerked in shock and in the process, dropped the delicate water glass.

CRASH.

The goblet smashed into a thousand pieces and she winced at the noise. The echo of the shatter resonated loudly throughout the room and she held her breath. Please, please, let no one have heard that...

CREAK

Obviously someone had heard that. Hermione whipped around towards the door to find Harry softly shutting the door, his wand in hand, panting slightly. She opened her mouth to demand an explanation, but he simply placed a warning finger against his lips to silence her, listening intently.

Ginny's voice was so shrill now that Hermione could hear her through the door without the aid of the drinking glass. "I didn't hear anything, Perce, get back here, we still need to talk...!"

Son of a bitch!

Harry dove forward, but it was unnecessary because Hermione's wand was already swishing into action and the appropriate spell was being uttered. She scrambled backwards a few feet away from the door, still on the floor when the doorknob rattled furiously as Percy tried to open the very recently locked door. Both she and Harry froze as they waited with bated breath.

They could only hear muffled voices but to their immense relief, there were no further attempts to open the door. She heard Harry let out a huge sigh and then felt his hands under her shoulders.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he helped her up.

"I was trying to listen to them and I dropped the glass I was using to press against the door," Hermione answered as she swiftly cast a Reparo charm over the splintered remains of the goblet. She turned back to Harry apprehensively. "What happened to Fred and George? Are they alright? Why didn't they answer me?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "They're fine--they were just trying to scare you."

"What?" Hermione hissed irately, grip on her wand inadvertently tightening.

Harry held up a placating hand. "Hear me out--they thought if you got good and scared, Ron would be able to ring you or something," Hermione's fury did not look any less abated, but Harry forged bravely ahead. "They actually wanted me to help and not come over here," he added with a laugh.

"Those idiots," Hermione fumed under her breath, both of her fists clenched now. "Using me like a telephone or something!"

"Shhh!" Harry warned as her voice started to rise. He jerked his head cautiously towards the door Percy had just tried to barge through. Hermione nodded as she tried to contain her irritation but found that she really couldn't. Her hand shot into the pocket of her robes so quickly that Harry started slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Giving them a piece of my mind," Hermione relayed crossly. She held up the walkie-talkie to her mouth. "Fred, George, pick up!" she ordered. She waited for a few moments before speaking harshly into the speaker once again. "Come on, you two, Harry's here, he told me that you were trying to scare me, it's over, I'm not scared anymore, it didn't work, so pick up...what?" she demanded as Harry grabbed her wrist and lowered the walkie-talkie away from her face. Her anger abated, however, at the faraway expression on Harry's face. "What?" she repeated in a much gentler, more concerned tone.

A loud crackle from the walkie-talkie prevented Harry from responding as all attention went to the voice emitting from the speaker:

"Sorry I didn't respond quicker--I've never used one of these before,"

No. Hermione closed her eyes briefly and licked her suddenly chapped lips before speaking again. "Percy, is that you?"

"Yes, it is, Hermione, nice to hear from you again too," Percy's voice was chock full of dry sarcasm that was instigating a fresh bout of writhing currents of anxiety twisting through her stomach. "Why don't you come on over--I'm sure Ginny, Fred, and George would love your company. And be sure to bring Harry along if he's still there,"

Harry was still gripping her wrist so he was able to steer the walkie-talkie in his direction so he could speak. "We'll be right there." He dropped his hold on her and the walkie-talkie fell limply from Hermione's hand. She had started to tremble so she wasn't able to hold much of anything; it was a miracle that her wand was still tight in her grasp.

"What are we going to do?" she whispered.

"We go over there," Harry said simply, face set in a mask of determination.

"What about Ron?" Hermione couldn't help asking.

"This could save Ron," Harry replied as he began to hurried walk over to the room Fred and George had been hiding in. "Remus has the Order down searching from him so there's nothing we can do."

"Oh," Hermione breathed in disappointment. She wanted to ask how they would find out if Ron was found, but they had already reached the door and Harry opened it with a loud bang.

Ginny, Fred, and George were all seated on the floor, backs against the wall, shoulders slumped. Percy was standing before them, wand loose in his hand. He gave the two of them a terse smile as she and Harry entered the room. Harry's shoulders were rigid with tension and Hermione knew that he was ready for battle. He slightly held out his arm to ensure that Hermione remained behind him and for a brief moment, his eyes darted over to the three seated Weasleys. Hermione knew that his mind was busily processing the quickest, most effective way to get all three of them to safety. Harry had definitely slipped into saving-people mode once again.

"Harry, Hermione," Percy nodded at them and gestured towards the floor. "Take a seat."

"Rather not," Harry said evenly. He folded his arms over his chest challengingly. "And don't worry, I swear I won't get unbalanced or violent."

Hermione flinched slightly. She really didn't think this was the best time to bring up that horrid letter Percy had written to Ron about Harry. They needed to be reassuring Percy, not agitating him.

Percy's eyes narrowed and Ginny hastily straightened up and cleared her throat loudly. "Look, Perce, can we please just tell you why we're all up here?"

All eyes went to Ginny and Hermione bit back a smile. She knew that Ginny would never betray their confidences, so she had a pretty good idea what Ginny was up to. It was rather nice to know that someone remembered her occasional stokes of genius that ended up saving their arses.

Ginny let out a long breath as if she was revealing some deep, dark secret. "We were going to play a prank on you."

Percy blinked in blank surprise. "What?"

"A prank--haven't you heard of those?" George asked cheekily. "I thought for sure we had educated you on pranks before you abandoned us."

Ginny elbowed her brother in the ribs as she continued. "Percy, you can't deny that you haven't deserved it," she said earnestly. "You did run out on us, you never visited Dad when he was in the hospital or when Ron was in the hospital wing at school, you sent back your Christmas jumper, you wrote Ron a letter telling him to sever ties with Harry, you made Mum cry every single bloody day," she paused for breath, her cheeks slightly flushed, "how do you expect us not to be angry about this?"

Percy continued to stare stoically at his little sister and she plunged her hand into the folds of her rose-pink dress robes. Hermione stiffened as she pulled out the vial of truth serum and held it up for Percy to see. "It's an Intoxication Potion," Ginny lied. She jerked her head in the direction of the twins. "I was supposed to slip it to you and the rest of them came up to watch. We were going to convince you to go back to the party so you could make a fool of yourself in front of your coworkers." She lowered the glass vial and looked at her lap with mixture of mock guilt and feigned bitterness. "I know it's not the most mature way to get over this, but honestly, Percy, what do you expect us to do?"

Ginny bit her lip, her face scrunched up and after a few seconds of fighting back "tears", she buried her face into her hands and the fake sobs began. Hermione watched her friend, rather impressed to be watching the master at her craft. She ignored the niggling doubts that were nagging away at the back of her mind and concentrated on looking abashed at being party to this scheme to humiliate Percy. Fred put his arm around his sister, keeping his face decidedly set in an expression that he had to have used on numerous professors in his Hogwarts days. George was watching Percy was a similar expression while Harry just held his breath, waiting to see if Percy would buy it.

Percy sighed and knelt down in front of his little sister. Ginny at this point had brought her knees up so she could rest her forehead against them so Percy gently took hold of the sides of her legs to get her attention. He indicated to Fred to distance himself so he could have a moment alone with Ginny and Fred immediately obeyed. Harry risked a proud glance over his shoulder at Hermione and the same thought ran through both of their minds: Ginny Weasley was good.

"Ginny," Percy began softly in a sincere tone that Hermione had never heard from him, "I'm so sorry." Ginny sniffed hard and raised her head slightly keeping her suspiciously dry cheeks hidden from view. "I should have realized how you would have been affected by my actions and my absence and it is inexcusable that I hurt you so much because you're my little sister and I always said that I would protect you," His brown eyes grew rather melancholic. "It seems like you're always the one who has to get hurt," he commented regretfully. He paused for a moment, one hand petting Ginny's cascade of curls and the other still on her knee. "But there's something I have to know."

The hand on Ginny's knee crept forward. "And you have to be honest with me, Ginny," Ginny's head jerked upwards when his hand was suddenly on hers. He swiftly extracted the potion vial that she had been clutching in her fingers. Percy's eyes were now anything but melancholic; vengeful was a more accurate description. "Why is this potion clear when it's a well-known documented fact that Intoxication Potions are yellow in pigment?"

Hermione only allowed the stunned silence to last a few seconds before responding. "Ginny, I told you I should be the one to brew the potion! You obviously forgot to stew the knotgrass before adding it to the mixture," she gestured towards the vial now in Percy's fingers. "That is the only accountability for the wrong coloration!"

"Or she's lying," Percy said in such a cold voice that Hermione's heart constricted. This was not boding well for them. Ginny squirmed slightly in Percy's tight grasp but he didn't relent. Harry's posture was so rigid with suppressed rage that Hermione knew it would be only seconds before his wrath would finally explode.

"Don't be daft," Fred advised in a forced light-hearted tone. "Why would Ginny lie?"

"Only one way to find out," Harry cut in a much too flat tone of voice. He waited until Percy had averted his glance from Ginny before speaking again. "I'll drink it," He held out his hand for the potion.

"Harry, no," Hermione's heart was now thudding overtime. "You can't drink that--Ginny brewed it incorrectly, remember? You wouldn't act intoxicated--it wouldn't prove anything!"

"Knotgrass is only a secondary ingredient in this particular potion," Percy argued as he appraised Harry carefully. "Even if Ginny did happen to brew this incorrectly, some aspects of the effects of the potion will still be present."

"No," Hermione was shaking her head so vehemently that several more strands of her elegant hairstyle were tugged free. "No way! It's still extraordinarily dangerous!"

"Not really," Percy argued dismissively as if Hermione had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yes, really," Hermione countered, temper starting to flare up.

"You know there are some very dangerous potions that are clear in coloration," Percy said to the twins with a condescending air, as if the twins wouldn't know anything about potions. He twirled the vial in between his fingers, carefully keeping his arm out of Ginny's reach while continuing to pin her against the wall. "Truth serums, Draught of Living Death..." He peered suspiciously at Hermione. "It would be quite awful if the Boy-Who-Lived drunk one of those nasty potions, right?"

"Percy, you're off your rocker!" George protested. "Why would we give you the Draught of Living Death?"

"Because that's what you do when your brother ditches you apparently," Fred said sarcastically. "You subject him to a sleeping draft so powerfully it gives the illusion of death--that's the only possible form of justice."

"A Truth Serum wouldn't be a good thing to ingest either," Percy continued.

"You seem to know an awful lot about truth serums," Harry said quietly, eyes locked on Percy's.

Percy looked uncomfortable for a split second before instantly regaining his composure. "It's my business to know facts, Potter," he explained sternly.

"Because that's what the assistant to the Minister needs to know?" Harry pressed. "Learning how to concoct potions to elicit information from your sources? Or do you have a different master?"

Hermione sucked in a shaky breath. They were going to interrogate Percy when he was without the influence of the truth serum?

Percy slowly straightened up. "What are you insinuating, Potter?"

"I think you know," Harry returned evenly.

The two men locked eyes in a long, terse standoff. Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George held their breaths as they tensed in anticipation for an attack. They all jumped in surprise when Percy abruptly stooped down, yanked Ginny to her feet, wrapped an arm around her chest to hold her in place, and with his other free hand, held out the potion to Harry. "Drink up,"

"Harry, no!" Hermione pleaded.

But Harry wasn't going to deny Percy anything as long as he was holding Ginny like that. Ginny shook her head at Harry furiously but she didn't seem capable of voicing her emotions out loud. Fred and George both had leapt up when Ginny had been grabbed by Percy, but had Percy had threateningly backed away, dragging Ginny with him. Hermione still couldn't discern if Percy was acting this way because he was in allegiance with Voldemort or because he was simply paranoid and furious at his own family for plotting against him. But whatever the reason was for his drastic actions, it was still terrifying Hermione. If Harry drank that potion, he would tell Percy everything and they would be in even more trouble than they already were.

"Percy, stop being such a wanker!" Fred cut in before Harry could step forward and take the potion.

"Shut up, Fred!" Percy barked. Ginny squirmed viciously at the sound of his harsh tone but Percy held her fast. "You don't understand a bloody thing, so just shut up!"

"What don't I understand?" Fred shot at him. "That you're a traitor?"

"Fred," Ginny warned swiftly.

"I'm not a traitor," Percy defended himself furiously. "I'm just trying to look after myself--I really don't owe you lot anything! I'm just trying to make a name for myself!"

"By siding with the enemy?" George snapped.

"You don't understand," Percy exploded. "It's not about who's right and who's wrong--if you really think about it, there is no good or evil; there's only power and those too weak to seek it!"

For some reason, Percy's words caused Harry to very noticeably stiffen but he only froze for a moment. His wand flew up to point directly at Percy. "Where's Ron?" he demanded.

Fred did a double-take before wheeling back towards Harry. "How did we get on that topic?!"

"Because he knows," Harry's voice was deadly calm. He stepped forward deliberately so he could get a better look at Percy's eyes. "I know those words, and they're not Percy's."

"What are you saying?" George asked sharply.

Harry ignored him. "Is Ron here?"

Ginny leaned her head backwards so she could inspect Percy's eyes at close range. "Harry, his eyes look a bit funny," she reported with a trace of hysteria.

"You think it's Imperius?" Fred demanded to Harry.

"Must be," Harry agreed without his eyes straying from Percy's face. "I can't see Percy being clever enough to think of this on his own,"

"Harry," Hermione warned once again. She didn't think it was a very good idea to insult Percy while Ginny was in his grasp.

"Don't worry--he's not going to remember this," Harry called over his shoulder to her.

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"Repeated usage of the Imperius curse will cause memory loss," Harry explained.

"So I can say whatever I want to dear old Percy?" George grinned. "Excellent."

"Not now, George," Ginny insisted.

"Don't worry, Gin," Fred reassured her. "He's not going to hurt you."

"Oh, won't I?" Percy's voice was menacingly soft.

"Not as long as we're around," Fred told his older brother sternly.

"You got that right," George added.

"Besides, you really don't want to hurt her," Harry's eyes were boring intensely into Percy's. "Percy would never hurt Ginny."

"Don't talk to me as though I'm some sort of child, Potter," Percy spat furiously, causing both Ginny and Hermione to wince at his intensity. "I know what I'm doing,"

"Do you?" Harry challenged.

"Yes, I do!" Percy snapped.

"Then prove it!"

"Fine!" Percy shoved Ginny away so he could uncork the vial of potion and gulp down its contents. Harry took a step backwards, a small smile a triumph. So that's why he had been pushing Percy.

"You knew all along that it was a truth serum, didn't you?" Harry demanded straight away.

"Yes,"

"Because it's the same one you used on Ron, right?"

"Yes,"

Hermione inhaled sharply. She had specifically selected to brew this particular potion because it's side effects were the ones most similar to Ron's state after his meeting with Percy. Now it appeared her gamble had paid off.

"You made Ron tell you about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend,"

"Yes,"

"Did you have anything to do with Ron's actual kidnapping?"

"No,"

"Do you know where he is?"

Everyone held their breaths in the seconds before Percy's response.

"No,"

Hermione's heart crashed into her churning stomach with aching disappointment.

"Why did you come back?" George cut in.

"To keep an eye on you all," Percy's blank eyes focused on Hermione. "See what she knew from her communication with him."

Hermione bit the inside of her lip as she remembered something. She had allowed Percy to make her a snack that Christmas night when she had first become suspicious of him. Thank goodness she hadn't eaten anything--she might have revealed more than she would ever want anyone in contact with Voldemort to ever know.

"And to see if we could get anyone else," Percy added.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked sharply.

"We thought that you could be lured again like last time," Percy elaborated in a flat, almost robotic tone. "That's one of the only reasons he's still alive,"

"Then he is still alive?" Ginny asked hesitantly. Hermione had wanted to voice that question too, but a huge lump had lodged itself in her throat, making her incapable of speech.

"Yes,"

"Then you thought you could use him to change the distribution of power in the Ministry," Harry continued. "Thus the ransom note."

"Yes,"

"And," Harry glanced over at the other three Weasleys, "you thought you would have more of a bargaining tool if you had more than one Weasley."

"Yes,"

Everyone started slightly at that revelation, but Harry pressed on. "That was another reason you went to Grimmauld Place?"

"Yes,"

"Did you tell anyone where you were?"

Hermione gasped. If Percy was in contact with Voldemort, they could know where the Order headquarters were.

"Couldn't," Percy revealed. "Not with the secret-keeper ritual performed. I can never tell or show anyone where we were."

Harry knew that his time was running out so he spoke even more quickly; Percy was slowly losing the vacant expression in his eyes so Harry had only question left.

"Are you under Imperius?"

"No,"

The most terrifying response of the whole interrogation had just been voiced.

"No," Hermione repeated under her breath as she reflexively stepped backwards, choking on the lump that was still clogging her vocal cords.

"You--you--you!" were the only words that Ginny was able to get out; her extreme fury was causing her become quite incapable of speech.

"You've been plotting with them all along?!" George raged.

"You helped them get Ron?!" Fred yelled.

"You--you bastard!" Ginny was finally able to voice her thoughts aloud and she started to charge but luckily Fred grabbed her just in time. No one wanted her to get anywhere nearer to Percy so he could use her as a negotiation device again.

"Calm down," Harry warned. Percy's wand had swung up as soon as the truth serum had worn off, but his trembling betrayed that he was undergoing the emotional stress that Ron had endured. Everyone else's wands instantly sprung upwards.

"You--you think that you know me," Percy stammered. His reaction was reminding Hermione very forcibly of Ron's--he looked as though he was seconds from bursting out into tears. Her chest burned at the memory of what had happened afterwards, of everything that had happened afterwards, of every moment she had spent with Ron--she missed that boy so much. "You think that playing pranks on me and harassing me for years gives you the right to judge me, but you don't. I don't owe you anything! Any of you!" He sniffed hard once. "Always being the odd man out--Bill and Charlie were always practicing Quidditch," he waved his hand at the twins, "you two always making jokes and inventions," now his finger indicated Ginny, "and Ron and you reading comics or playing chess! Why are you so surprised that I left you lot?! You all deserted me a long time ago!"

"That's not true!" Ginny argued.

"Shut up!" Percy roared. "I don't want to listen to you lot ever again!"

"Percy, just put the wand down," Harry interjected in a rational, even tone.

"No," Percy refused definitely.

"Come on, Perce," George begged.

"No!"

"You'll never get away with it," Harry warned.

Percy let out a loud, disbelieving laugh. "You think that the Order is going to waste its precious time running after me when we all have much bigger problems?!" He focused on Harry. "Even you have no idea what they've got in store,"

"What are you talking about?" Harry pressed, an edge returning to his voice.

Hermione?

"Ron, not now!" Hermione yelled crossly. Percy had to reveal what he knew, and she didn't have time for Ron's interruptions...

Everyone in the room realized what had just occurred at the same moment and all attention riveted over to Hermione. She clapped both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide as it dawned on her what had just happened. She closed her eyes firmly so she could focus solely on the blessed presence in her mind.

Ron, I'm sorry, I'm here, Hermione turned her back on her friends and blindly walked over to the wall so she could lay her now trembling hand against it to steady herself. Where are you?

I told you, I don't know. She could sense Ron struggling to a sitting position and valiantly attempting to clear his thoughts. Are you alright?

Shouldn't I be asking you? Hermione countered as she tried to once again discover just how badly hurt Ron was. Her left leg was starting to tingle achingly and her perpetual headache intensified, but other than that, she couldn't discern if he was alright.

Why were you scared?

Doesn't matter. What about you?

Fine, Ron lied rather poorly. They've left me alone for the past couple...what?

Hermione had just remembered something urgently important and drew backwards both physically and mentally. She had been tricked by Voldemort before; how could she be certain that this was really Ron, especially since he was blocking her so effectively?

N-n-nothing.

Liar.

I don't think it's you, Hermione admitted. I've been tricked before.

How?

Don't play dumb with me.

Hermione...

No!

Hermione heard a loud sigh in her mind before Ron's voice echoed inside of her head once again. Right then.

All barriers were immediately dropped and Hermione was suddenly overwhelmed with a deluge of all of the emotions Ron was currently experiencing. His left leg was bothering him, rather badly as a matter of fact, although she could tell that the injury had to be at least three weeks old. She didn't think that the leg was broken, but it was still causing him to be unable to stand up on it. The scars on his arms were also very raw and painful, and Hermione was able to catch a vivid image of them in her mind, and she gasped at the sight. By magic or Muggle means, they had recut the scars open so his arms were a bloody, raw, stinging mess. His whole body was still coping from the effects of repeated use of Crucio; his lips were numb, all of his muscles felt twisted and sore, his reflexes were dulled, his mind was sluggish, and his head felt as though it had been repeatedly pummeled with both of the Bludgers and a Quaffle. His hope had noticeably diminished, his heart was heavy, and something awful was eating away at his heart. Something had been said to him or done to him that was making him lose faith in not only any hope at being rescued, but in himself as well. She had never sensed Ron so lost and desolate before and her heart broke at the sensation of it.

But underlying all the pain, all the misery, all the hell he had just endured for the past five weeks, there was still the small flame of the Weasley fire, the passion, the zeal for life that made Ron such a dynamic and powerful person. It was still there, she could feel it, even if Ron could not.

And then there was still the uncharted, voluminous depths of love that Ron had for anyone he cared about. She saw clearly in her mind every single person that Ron cared for just as he saw them. She saw his mother and father beaming proudly as he showed them his Hogwarts letter of acceptance, Bill helping Ron learn how to fly, Charlie teaching him about different magical creatures, Percy giving Ron Scabbers, Fred visiting Ron in the hospital after their third-year adventure, George in Ron's room as Ron asked him to always look out for Hermione, and Ginny running to Ron as he returned home from his first-year at Hogwarts so she could seize him in a fierce hug. She saw numerous students and professors at Hogwarts, several redheads that she could only assume were extended family members. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Luna were just some of the many people that Hermione never knew that Ron valued and respected and secretly watched out for. It seemed like he cared about every single person he had ever met, except of course, the people who did not deserve the compassion he bestowed upon everyone; those people had only his unadulterated scorn.

Images of Harry flashed suddenly in Hermione's head. Harry sitting on the Hogwarts Express alone and offering a seat in the compartment to Ron, Harry playing Quidditch, Harry determinedly saying that he was going through the trapdoor to the Philosopher's Stone, Harry saying that the Burrow was the best house he had ever seen, Harry emerging from a pile of rubble with Ginny in tow....there were so many memories of Harry, but they all had the same emotion behind him: Harry was Ron's best mate, and Ron couldn't be prouder or respect a person more.

Then Hermione saw herself, but she saw herself as how Ron saw her. The emotions behind the images this time changed as the years past: the girl who charged into his compartment and demanded that he perform magic he saw as a pesky annoyance that he couldn't seem to get out of his head, that same girl bravely lying for him in a demolished girls' toilet he viewed with a mixture of surprise and begrudging admiration. The girl's face next flashed with pain as some foul creature dared to call a Mudblood and Hermione learned at that moment, Ron had made a silent vow to himself to ensure that her face would never express that much hurt as long as he was around to do something about it. Her face was then still and frozen as he watched her Petrified in a hospital bed and he had never been so scared in his life at the thought of losing someone so dear to his heart. The thought had scared him so when he had the excuse to pull away from her, he did. He abandoned her in third-year after the Firebolt incident and the Scabbers mishap and although he really was angry at her for her actions, he acted more harshly in order to avoid his thoughts. But when he saw her face in pain once again when she informed them that Buckbeak had lost his trial, he knew he couldn't do it anymore. He welcomed her back in his life and her smile had warmed a corner of his heart that had remained empty ever since her absence. Her face then had slowly begun to change in his mind--her large front teeth had shrunk and the radiance of her hazel eyes and the mesmerizing quality of her lips had been revealed to him when she had for the first time piled her hair atop of her head and worn those blue dress robes. Hermione learned that the Yule Ball had not only changed her outlook on Ron, but it had changed Ron's on hers as well. He now firmly believed that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on.

It couldn't possibly be true, but as Hermione saw more random images of herself studying in the library, raising her hand in class, taking feverish notes in prefect meetings, reading in the armchair in the common room, the firelight causing her hair to sparkle with their hidden golden-red tones. Even in the most ordinary moments, Hermione had never seen herself appear lovelier. And it was all because she was seeing herself from Ron's eyes--if it was Harry, or George, or Fred, or Ginny or anyone else, she would appear to be quite ordinary. It was only because it was his eyes that were on her that she was so beautiful. It was only because he loved her so much.

For the first time, Hermione was certain that Ron had fallen for her as hard as she had fallen from him. He had said it once to her, but she hadn't believed it. She knew he cared for her, she knew that they were very close friends, but the question of did he love her like she loved him still had remained a mystery. But not anymore. Now she knew, and now she knew why Ron had closed her off from him whenever they had connected--being a typical boy, he hadn't wanted her to know the intensity of his emotions.

Thank you.

For what, Hermione asked as tears pressed against her closed lids.

For reminding me what I'm fighting for.

She was puzzled for a moment before she sensed what Ron had experienced while she had been delving through his private thoughts. The connection was a two-way street; while Ron had let her into his mind, she had inadvertently allowed him into hers and at the same time had unintentionally given him the fortitude he needed. She could feel the Weasley flame of passion burning brighter than ever and his pain was diminishing. Of course it wasn't enough--Hermione didn't want him to ever feel anything as horrible as this so she without thinking drew herself into him again. Maybe somehow she could draw the pain out of him...

No, Ron's voice stopped her but not before she had took on a good amount of the aching of his muscles and sharp currents of pain in his leg. She winced as her leg gave out, causing her to drop to the floor.

I want to help, she reminded him staunchly.

You are, Ron reassured her.

A wave of terror suddenly flooded Hermione's senses and it took a moment to realize that it was coming from Ron; it was most difficult to discern where Ron ended and she began. What?

Someone's coming, he informed her. I better go.

"No!" Hermione yelled out loud so her words had even greater impact on him. "No, wait!"

Hermione, they can't know I can still reach you...

Just wait!

Her...

Ron's voice trailed off as they both heard a creak of a door cautiously being opened.

Who is it?

There was a pause before Ron "spoke" but a wide variety of emotions was speeding through his mind: shock, confusion, a slight sense of fear, recognition, and mercifully hope.

"Moody?" Ron's voice was faint, weak, and full of pain when voiced aloud, but it echoed loudly inside Hermione's head.

The connection broke immediately afterwards, but Hermione really didn't care. She slowly opened her eyes to find herself seated on the floor, her back against the wall. Harry and Ginny were both crouched on either side of her, George was stooped forward to peer worriedly at her, and Fred was standing upright so he could keep his wand trained on a decidedly stoic Percy.

"What happened?" Harry demanded anxiously.

Tears had slid down out of her eyes as soon as they had freed from the prison of her eyelids, but Hermione ignored them and smiled.

"They found him."