Enchanted

Enchanted Chapter 10

"Watch Pandemonium Reign"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ron stared openly, his mouth forming a small "O." Ginny's brown eyes widened to preternatural proportions as she pressed a hand to her heart. Harry stood stoic, arms crossed, his expression nonplussed. Elizabeth groaned. This was not how she pictured this evening at all. It was supposed to have been just she and Ron, with the house all to themselves.

Not spilling my guts and every Department secret I swore to keep.

Elizabeth, however, had cracked under the power of Harry Potter's influential gaze. Those emerald eyes were symbolic of Veritaserum, torturing her with the urge to confess until every ounce of truth spilled forth. Elizabeth wanted to find Hermione. God knew she did; but she also knew Hermione would curse and hex her to kingdom come for uttering anything resembling a word about their researching of the counter-curse for The Killing Curse.

Not that I doubt she won't make good on that threat once Harry has found her...

"Well, I er...Are you bloody serious?" Ron blurted.

"No, I made that up for my personal enjoyment."

Ron stared back blankly. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

At least he's not ranting and raving as he's prone to...

"Why didn't you mention this sooner? I mean...Wow. It's just unbelievable."

Elizabeth brought a hand to her forehead. She recognized the onslaught of a headache.

"Don't you think I realize that? I was shocked when I learned what we were attempting to accomplish. I thought a counter-curse to be impossible. Hell, from my perspective it was like trying to stop a lightning bolt from striking you dead. But with our brilliant team and our resident genius heading the project, the concept became more tangible."

"How exactly did Voldemort get wind of this?" Ginny inquired quietly.

"I have no idea," Elizabeth sighed. "No one outside of the department knew a thing about what went on behind the door; the information was too sensitive. The leak must have sprung from someone on the team. I don't know who, though. Everyone was pretty loyal to the cause."

"We need records of every employee, then. Digging through personal histories can unearth some surprising secrets," suggested Ginny.

"No."

The group turned their attention on Harry, who had remained silent since the confession.

"No? Why not mate? It's a bloody start," said Ron impatiently.

"I have a gut feeling. Just trust me on this one."

"But--"

Before Ron could finish his protest, Harry had left the house and Apparated away.

"Oh, wonderful! Just what we need, an AWOL Harry," Elizabeth muttered.

"No, he's on to something. It's best to leave it up to Harry with things like this," said Ron as he took a seat on the sofa.

Ginny picked up her briefcase and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Ron.

Ginny turned, eyebrows raised. "You honestly think we should 'leave it up to him?' Do you remember what he's like in these states?"

Ron had the decency to appear abashed. "Right, then. Let's head off."

Elizabeth followed the red-headed siblings out the door and onto the stoop, glancing nervously between the two.

"Reckon he's gone to the Ministry?" asked Ron.

"Without a doubt," replied Ginny. They Disapparated.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione gasped into his mouth; however, instead of shoving Malfoy away, she melted into his caresses. The gentle ministrations of his dexterous fingers slid up her back, over the curve of her shoulder blade and sunk into her curly mane. All coherent thought faded as he seductively sucked on her bottom lip, eliciting a soft moan from deep within. Immediately her own hands gained a will of their own and snaked underneath the hem of his shirt, tracing patterns on the marble-like flesh of his stomach.

His tongue pressed for entrance in her mouth and Hermione happily acceded to his pleading. The feeling he caused was unexplainable--something between a cotton-candy heavenly sweet and the edge of wickedly, dangerously delightful. The next moment, however, Malfoy disconnected his lips from hers and stepped away. Bringing a hand to her mouth, she stared in shock.

"What the hell was that for?" she demanded.

Malfoy stood blinking like a zombie in a trance. He then shook his head from side to side as if to clear his mind.

"I don't know which is more shocking, the fact that you just kissed me or that I cursed," Hermione muttered in disbelief.

Malfoy's rigid steel eyes melted to molting silver as he eyed Hermione carefully.

"You didn't see them, did you?" he inquired curiously.

"See what?"

"Never mind. We need to leave."

"No!" Hermione replied stubbornly. "I will not go anywhere until you explain this...This kiss!"

Malfoy had the audacity to appear amused at Hermione waving her arms about in frustration.

"This kiss was a cover so we wouldn't be spotted by my sodding father and his cronies! Now let's go!" he ordered, seizing the sputtering brown-haired witch by the arm and dragging her back down the path.

"Your father?" Hermione asked incredulously. "What's he doing here?"

"He's tracked you down, I suspect."

Hermione appeared stunned cap-a-pie. "Oh no," she moaned quietly.

Malfoy eyed her wearily. "We need to sneak back up to the suite and grab my broom," he declared, dragging Hermione closer to the castle.

Hermione craned her neck in search of the other two couples they had traipsed without into the gardens. After seeing no sign of the Johnsons or the Michaels, she could not decide if that was a good or bad thing.

An effeminate shriek pierced the air.

"That came from inside!" said Hermione. "We've got to do something! The Death Eaters must be attacking the other guests to get to us!"

"Who cares? It's a distraction. We can get you out of here."

"No. I will not have innocent people tortured by those monsters!"

Hermione wrenched her arm out of Malfoy's tight grasp and sprinted towards the foyer's entrance. Malfoy darted forth and pulled her back.

"Are you insane?" he asked, staring at her incredulously. Hermione returned his gaze unblinkingly.

"Why are you so keen to save me, hmm?" she countered.

"I can't bloody explain it," he answered with verisimilitude. Hermione grabbed his left arm, shoving the sleeve back to expose the creamy, unblemished flesh of his forearm. She glanced up into his stormy gray eyes, suddenly understanding. Hermione stepped back, one corner of her mouth upturned.

"My wand please," she ordered, palm open.

Malfoy rolled his eyes as he reached into his pocket and withdrew the thin, shiny wood. Hermione snatched the wand. I could kiss you, wand! she thought, relieved to have her magical instrument back in her possession.

"Just because I'm accompanying you to make sure you don't get yourself Avada Keadavered doesn't mean--"

"--a bloody thing. I know. Save it for later, Malfoy," Hermione grinned.

More screams filled the area, permeating the dusky scene. Night was rapidly approaching. Their eyes met.

"Let's go," said Malfoy determinedly.

Together they crept through the doors and snuck behind a sofa. Shouts and screams ripped through the night air, simultaneously combusting like one of the Weasley twins' infamous Weasley's Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs rockets. Through the darkness Hermione could make out streaks of green, red and blue outside the foyer door curtains.

"Right. If we move quickly, we can make it to the reception desk and duck behind it. Then we can get a few clear shots."

Hermione nodded in agreement. She slipped her hand into Malfoy's. He glanced down uneasily. She gave his a gentle squeeze. "I trust you," she said simply. He nodded, pulling her from the sofa's back and over to the doorway.

Upon shouldering the door open, a nasty crew of black-robed and masked men sifted in through the cracks like a plague of Black Death.

"'Ello, Malfoy."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Harry, NO!" Ginny cried upon reaching the Department of Ailment Researching. In the moments it took Ron, Ginny and Elizabeth to follow, Harry had cornered none other than Thomas Shields, effectively pinning the sandy-haired wizard to his desk.

"P-please," stuttered Shields, "Get this mad bloke away from me."

"I'll show you mad," snarled Harry as he shoved Shields to the floor. Harry grabbed Shield's arm and wrenched his sleeve up to reveal a nasty black insignia of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth. Ginny gasped in shock. Ron made a noise of surprise. Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I should have known."

But no one was prepared for Elizabeth's reaction.

"You bastard!" she flew at him in a rage, wand at the ready. "Move your ass, Potter!"

Harry narrowly escaped a "Stupefy!" followed by an "Incarcerous!"

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, Eliza," gulped Ron as he stood over the stunned and tied body of Shields.

Elizabeth released a long breath of frustration. "Take this trash to the Aurors."

"Righto," replied Ron, muttering a levitation charm.

The four trouped down the corridors and to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The same apathetic witch sat at the desk. Upon spotting the quartet, all in irate moods, she quickly sprung to the back shouting "Black! BLACK!"

Sirius ran out, wand pointed. "Merlin's beard! What did you lot do?"

"We've got the rotten snitch," said Ron, allowing Shields' bobbing head to smack the ceiling repeatedly.

"He's the one who made it possible for Voldemort to get Hermione," snarled Harry.

Elizabeth nodded angrily. Ginny stood fuming. She was itching to use her infamous Bat-Bogey Hex on the git.

Sirius nodded, taking the captive away from Ron and bringing him to a holding cell in the back.

"I'll personally see to it he ends up in Azkaban," Sirius growled, placing several charms on Shields' cell to prevent escape.

TWING! TWING! The buzzer on the wall sounded impatiently, the box device beside it jiggling. Sirius snatched the black square from its hook and, speaking into it like a walkie-talkie, asked "What's the alarm on about?"

Crackling ensued, and a gruff voice barely audible above the racket barked "Death Eater raid in France...Large scale...Need all wizards...Aurors already dispatched..."

"Where do I need to report?" asked Sirius, gripping his wand.

"...Floo Network Office immediately...No time to spare."

"Yes, sir." Sirius hung the receiver back on the wall, tugged his cloak off its peg and tore out of the office, Harry and co hot on his tail.

"Stay there!" Sirius hollered over his shoulder.

"No!" Harry responded impertinently.

The group slung around several corners, skidding to a halt before the Floo Network Office. The place was in an uproar. Witches and wizards were running about, one with a stack of papers, another shouting instructions into a small black box. A bald wizard was waving his hands this way and that, offering explanations of some sort. Another plump wizard stood beside a giant fireplace, holding a jar of Floo powder and allocating handfuls to various wizards heading off to the Death Eater fray. The fireplace apparently was hooked solely to the scene.

"Now," Sirius thundered, rounding on the four, "I don't care how old you are, what you've done, etcetera. STAY HERE!" With that, he swiped Floo powder out of the plump man's hand and stepped in the hearth. Sirius went up in smoke.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Harry looked pensive.

"What is it Harry?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"Follow me," he replied cryptically, snatching a handful of powder and pushing past the wizard into the flames.

Ron, Ginny and Elizabeth shared an uncertain glance, and then jumped in after the Boy Who Lived.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The nasty, mask covered face peered at Hermione as she stumbled backwards in shock. Malfoy's grip tightened on her hand. Both held their wands at the ready.

"Avery," Malfoy growled.

"Glad you still recognize your mates, boy. Been ponderin' if you remembered us," the drunken voice quipped.

"Yes, nice place you 'av 'ere," a second Death Eater rasped. "Took a tumble with the captive, 'eh?"

Hermione gulped.

"New 'interrogating tactics,' son?" inquired the unmistakable voice of Lucius Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy glared silently, squeezing his wand and Hermione's hand tighter. Hermione released a small "Eep" from the pain, but bit her lip to evade further emissions.

"So, son, have you discovered the secret to the Mudblood's nasty little counter-curse?" Lucius's voice dripped with venom.

Draco peered at him sideways, his eyes flickering for a moment to Hermione. Slowly, the young wizard back-pedaled. The gang of Death Eater's besieged the foyer, swarming Draco and Hermione.

"And where do ya think yer goin'?"

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere," Malfoy drawled. "But you are."

The two masked buffoons exchanged confused looks before they were blown backwards, via a Blasting Spell courtesy of Draco's wand. They knocked over several other Death Eaters in their wake. Hermione's eyes widened as Draco dragged her out of the room and into the lobby of La Masion de Roses.

A conundrum of screaming guests and panicking servants intermingled with hex-happy dark wizards filled the reception area. Hermione caught sight of Monsignor Luigi shrieking with his hands in the air. The Michaels couple ran past them, a streak of red light on their tail.

"Damn!" Draco shouted, tugging Hermione at the elbow and ducking. A beam of green soared right over her hair, the heat of the spell warming her scalp.

They crawled over the floor and inched behind the lobby desk.

"What are we going to do?" asked Hermione as she peeped over the countertop. Another hex narrowly cleared her head and she dropped back down.

"How should I know?"

"You're the one who said 'Let's go!' I assumed there was a plan attached to that!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Never assume, Granger. It makes an arse--"

"--Out of you. We've got to think of something!"

"Just because I can't stand the sight of those prats, you assume I'm ready to declare bloody war?"

"Well, yes!"

"Bloody hell! I'm not Potter!"

Hermione sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Harry's not here! It's up to us to do something!"

Draco chanced a glance over the counter.

"There's at least twenty Death Eaters in this lobby alone, ten pissed buggers in the foyer, not to mention the endless line streaming through the door over there!"

Hermione glared at him.

"For the love of Merlin! I'm not a damn Gryffindor alumni with a degree in idiotic plan-making and brash stupidity!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Fine. You take those twits on the left; I'll take out these gits on the right."

"That's your plan? Brilliant," scoffed Hermione.

"You've got anything better?"

"Not at the moment..."

"Then let's have at it."

Draco peered over the desk top, pointed his wand and let rip a string of Stunning Spells. Hermione shouted "Reducto!", successfully knocking over the group of Death Eaters emerging from the foyer.

Both ducked back behind the desk, then sprung up again to send a fresh wave of jinxes and hexes.

"There's too many of them!" cried Hermione.

"Bleeding hell," Draco swore.

Suddenly, the fireplace to their right roared to life, sputtering wizard after witch after wizard. Each raised their wand and took off after a Death Eater. Hermione shrieked "Sirius!" with happiness when she spotted the familiar dark-haired man hopping out of the flames.

"Hermione! Dear Merlin, you're alive!" he gasped, diving behind the desk to avoid a nasty hex aimed his way. "Malfoy," he growled, barring his teeth.

"Sirius, don't! He's helping!"

"What? But I thought he--"

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione cried pointing to the fire. "Elizabeth! Ginny?"

Sirius swore. "I told them not to follow!" The four immediately spotted them crouching behind the reception and sprinted over to join them.

"Malfoy, you--" Harry started.

"Later, Potter. We've more pressing issues," Draco drawled.

"Fire at any moron in a mask!" ordered Harry, leaping over the countertop. "Protego!" he shouted, blocking a few curses hurtled his way. He actively engaged in the fight. Sirius and Ron followed Harry. Hermione and Draco emerged, trailed shortly after by Elizabeth and Ginny.

Each formed a small group, fighting back to back. Ron, Sirius and Harry actively engaged themselves in deflecting and jinxing proactively. Hermione and Draco made their way to the staircase, searching for a better viewpoint from which to aim.

"Duck!" Draco shouted, pushing Hermione down to evade a green streak of light.

"Boy! You idiot! How dare you betray me!" snarled a livid Lucius, his Death Eater mask askew.

"Simple: I didn't fancy being ordered around and bowing to Voldie-pants like you!"

"Diffindio!"

"Protego!"

The two Malfoys locked themselves into a personal battle as Hermione looked on in horror. All around Aurors and the like struggled with their adversaries. She spotted the Johnsons taking on three Death Eaters at once. Hermione fired a few more curses at approaching Death Eaters, and then spun around to prevent one from taking Elizabeth by surprise.

Ginny was holding up well, delivering several nasty Bat-Bogey hexes in addition to other curses.

Ron covered Harry's back while Sirius slipped over to save the Michaels from being tortured. Two massive Death Eaters took turns cursing the young couple; Hermione recognized them as Crabbe and Goyle from her school days.

Harry shot curse after curse at a raggedy man and a woman with long black hair and heavy lidded eyes--Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Harry appeared to be repaying the couple in full for every ounce of damage done to the parents of their old classmate, Neville Longbottom.

"Harry! Watch out!" cried Sirius, momentarily distracted by a hooded figure leaping toward Harry. Harry spun around barely managing to block the curse shot at him. The attacker revealed himself to be Rodolphus's equally repulsive brother, Rabastan.

"Damn!" Draco's cry swung Hermione's focus back to Lucius and Draco's battle. A large crimson gash swept up Draco's side. Lucius released a maniacal laugh. "I warned you about betrayal, boy!"

"Yeah? Since when do I respect the advice of mental cases?"

Lucius flew at Draco, enraged and ready to kill; but Draco was ready. "Petrificus Totalus!" Lucius's legs and arms snapped to his side and he fell to the floor stiff as a board. Hermione quickly spelled ropes around his supine form.

"Draco!" she cried, watching in horror as Draco sank onto the staircase, clutching his bleeding side, face unnaturally pale. She rushed over, eyes widening as she realized just how pernicious the wound appeared.

"I'll survive," Draco muttered weakly. Hermione conjured bandages to wrap around his middle.

"Go, help them," said Draco, grimacing as he waved Hermione away from him and towards the others still engaged in fighting.

Hermione jumped into center, stunning, hexing, cursing and jinxing a path to where Harry, Ron, Sirius, Elizabeth and Ginny had formed a circular battle squad. Most Aurors had managed to capture a majority of the Death Eaters; however, a few remained, namely the Lestranges and their minute band, putting up one hell of a fight.

"Her! Get her!" Bellatrix shrieked, pointing at Hermione with one hand and deflecting a curse from Sirius with the other.

The Lestrange brothers pounced on Hermione at once. Hermione screamed, shooting them off of her with two well placed Blasting Spells. Harry came to her aid, grabbing her hand, hauling her off the ground and shoving her behind him.

Ron and Elizabeth joined Harry in shielding Hermione. Ginny backed up from the opposing side, hexing two more Death Eaters in the process. They formed a close-knit circle around Hermione.

"You can't have her," growled Elizabeth, sending a Stunning Spell towards Rodolphus.

"Yeah," chorused the others.

Bellatrix eyed them wearily and noticed for the first time that her small troupe were the last standing Death Eaters. She stumbled backwards.

"No! No!" she shrieked. "He will not be happy! He will be very, very angry!"

"That's right," hissed Harry. "Your master is going to be furious with the whole lot of you. Going to go crawl back to him now? Going to go beg forgiveness from Voldemort?"

"Don't say his name!" Bellatrix cried, trying to put as much distance between herself and Harry as she could. "Shut up, you foul little boy!"

"What, too scared to hear your master's name?" snarled Harry.

"Retreat!" Bellatrix screamed, Disapparating. Her small group followed suit.

"Damn!" swore Harry, angry that the Death Eater's had slipped through his fingers.

Hermione pushed her way through the circle and ran over to where she had left Draco. The others followed at a distance. Sirius and Harry broke away to bend down over Lucius's immobile body. Sirius levitated Lucius and followed the other Aurors with their catches to Azkaban.

Hermione had knelt beside Draco, checking his bandages.

"Elizabeth!" she shrieked as the blonde witch threw her arms around Hermione's neck.

"Thank God you're alright," breathed Elizabeth, moving back to allow Ron access to Hermione. Ron hugged her tightly as well, sneering at Malfoy. Ginny stood quietly beside her brother.

Harry stooped next to Hermione and pulled her into an embrace, glaring at Draco over the top of her curly head. Malfoy returned the glare with full force.

"Are you ok?" Harry inquired quietly, pulling back slightly.

"I'm fine. We need to move Draco to St. Mungo's immediately. He's lost a lot of blood."

"What?" Harry echoed perplexed. Ron and Ginny shared his confused look.

"I'll explain later," said Hermione, helping Draco to stand. He refused to be levitated like an invalid.

"You bloody well better," muttered Ron darkly as the group followed Hermione and Draco over to the fireplace.

END OF CHAPTER 10