Will You Ever Return to Me?

Chapter 2.

Northern Minnesota.

"It won't do you any good to tire yourself out before we even see the enemy, Sergeant," Catherine Hemmings told Anderson, who was pacing around.

"She's right," Padma said. "If you've done everything you can to prepare for the fight, you should relax."

The man turned. "Relax? We're sitting in a barn on an abandoned farm in the middle of nowhere, and we're about to go into a fight with no backup, less than half of us with actual military training, on hastily customized snowmobiles which--are you sure you know what you're doing?" he snapped at Hermione, who, with Ron's help, was finishing the work on the last snowmobile. Once the machines had machine guns installed on them, Hermione and Ron decided to add some magical enhancements as well. After assurances that they'd still function normally, Hemmings let them.

"Of course I know what I'm doing," Hermione said. "When are you going to stop--"

"Can it, Hermione," Ron said. "This... if I wasn't married to you, I'd have my doubts, too."

Hermione glared at him, but Sergeant Anderson interrupted, "He killed three trained Delta Force men--"

"Not quite right, Sergeant," Hemmings said. "Hund, by his own wand, killed one."

"Does it matter?" Anderson retorted.

"From a moral standpoint? No. From the viewpoint of military reality? Absolutely. Hund's powerful, but he's not superhuman. You put a bullet into his brain, he's going to die, and he'll stay dead."

"Uhm--" Hermione began.

"Don't," Ron whispered. "Once was enough."

"Ron, you know it's--"

"What--" Anderson started to ask.

"You can continue that conversation at another time," Hemmings said. "We finally got darkness. It's time."

The small group got on their snowmobiles and the machines, made silent by magic, headed north. Hermione assumed that Hund had a way of detecting magic, and they wanted to spring a surprise.

"There's our mystery farm," Hemmings said.

"You know, this may be a complete waste of time," Padma commented.

"We have to follow every lead we have," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, look where that got--"

"Quiet," Hemmings ordered.

"Where do we head first?" Ron asked. "The house or the barn?"

"The barn," Anderson said. "If we have to attack the house, it'll take all our attention, and we don't want to get stabbed in the back."

"Right." Hemmings turned to Hermione and Padma. "Can you open the door quietly?

"Sure," Padma replied. "Except," she said after approaching the barn door, "it's already open."

"Wha--"

"Quiet, and get ready." They took position. "Now," Hemmings said.

Ron and Padma pushed the doors open. As soon as that happened, the entire barn lit up. After the glare of the light resolved itself, Ron gasped. In front of them stood Hund, whom he recognized from photos, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Ginny.

Hund was smiling. "You've found me, Cathy, and I'm quite pleased to see you. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for anyone else here. Kill them."

XXX

The doors of the barn smashed behind them and nearly knocked Hemmings down. Ginny and Bellatrix raised their wands.

"Avada Kedavra!" both shouted. Ron shoved Sergeant Anderson out of the way of one of the curses and dropped himself. The two green bolts hit the closed doors and sent splinters and sparks flying.

The barn's carpet of straw, hay, and sawdust caught fire, which quickly began spreading.

Hund's faced turned red with fury. "Fucking morons!" he spat. "Expelliarmus!"

Ron's wand slipped out of his hand, as did Padma and Hermione's. The same happened to Anderson and Hemmings' rifles. "Run, idiots!" Hund shouted at his companions. Both Ginny and Bellatrix Disapparated.

"Not quite the way I planned things," he said, "but I'll take what I can get." He shook his head. "Fucking morons," he said again. "When I--ahh, what difference does it make to you? None at all." He Disapparated as well.

The five of them crawled to the center of the barn, to get farthest away from the flames. But the heat was unbearable, and as the smoke built up, they had to practically lie on the ground to breathe.

Crack. Ron first thought that the structure of the barn was beginning to fall apart. Then, he looked up at a burst of machine gun fire. All five of their snowmobiles were in front of them, and behind the wall of flame was a hole in the barn wall, through which they broke through.

"Get on!" Padma shouted. There was no need to ask twice. As soon as they boarded, the machines turned and sped out by themselves.

"Good thing we imbued them with personalities," Hermione said.

"Huh?"

"The snowmobiles," she explained, looking behind at the fire. "They came to our aid, on their own. Well... Ron, it's like your Dad's car back--" She patted her snowmobile affectionately.

"We're riding--" Sergeant Anderson started, but was interrupted as the snowmobiles suddenly increased speed and began to spin.

"What's--"

"I've lost control--"

"Is this also something to do with persona--"

"They have lost control too! No--"

"It's like there's a sheet of ice under us, not snow--"

"Very slippery ice. The weather--"

"There are no lakes around here, are--"

"No--"

"This," Padma announced, "can't be natural."

Someone laughed. "It isn't."

"Hund!"

Ron looked up. Hund was about thirty feet above them, riding a broomstick.

"You--"

"You expected Santa Claus? Christmas was over a month ago."

"Don't joke! You--"

"Hey, don't blame me! It was my idiotic--"

"My sister is not an idiot!"

"Judging by the rest of the family, I'd have serious doubts."

"How--"

"They did exactly what you told them to do!" Padma shouted.

"No, I told them to kill you. They tried to kill you. So, no, they didn't do what I told them to. I'll deal with them."

"What do you want?" Hemmings asked.

"Cathy, you're overstepping your bounds now."

"What?!"

"'We do not negotiate with terrorists.' It's the official policy of the U.S. government. You are overstepping your boundaries."

"I'm no longer part of the U.S. government--"

"You little--"

"This strip of ice you created can't last foreve--"

Their motion was halted and they were thrown nearly forty feet ahead, falling into deep snow. "It doesn't," Hund said. "Locomotor mortis."

Ron felt his legs stick together. He sat up, but couldn't do much else. The rest of them were in the same position. "Her--"

"I'm all right."

"Tsk, tsk. Lying to your husband." Hund landed next to the snowmobiles. Ron couldn't see exactly what he did, bur it was clear after five cracks of his wand, the machines were useless.

Hund walked around the group several times. "If this was a bad Hollywood movie," he said, "this would be the place where I tell you all about my plans because I'm sure you're all going to be dead soon. But, given her ethnicity, Auror Patil can't be a main character... and the rest of you are deficient in good looks required by Hollywood. So I think we'll skip that part."

"Is that what how you think of life? A bad Hollywood movie?" Hemmings asked.

"No. I think of life as a good Hollywood movie. The kind where the selfless noble hero outwits and escapes sinister government agents sent after him, and eventually brings the truth to light, changes the whole world for the better, and gets the girl."

"You're nuts," Hermione said.

Hund stroked his chin a few times. "Let me tell you something. The nearest town is twenty-one miles away. I'm not going to tell you which direction--have fun guessing. Of course, even if you make it, there may not be any wizards around, so explaining your predicament will be problematic. The Guinness world record for distance covered by crawling doesn't exist... yet. If you make it, you can apply. However, that honor will only belong to four of you. I'm taking Cathy with me."

"I'll not come. I'm going to stay--"

"I'm not giving you a choice, Cathy. You're still my daughter--"

"I am not."

"Don't lie to yourself." He approached the woman.

Hemmings attempted to punch him in the groin. Hund blocked and twisted her wrist. "Yaaow!" she screamed, and then head-butted him in the kneecap. Hund winced, but didn't fall. He yanked Hemming sup and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack. Hemmings continued to punch and kick. Hund, limping on one leg, pulled out his wand. "Stupefy!" He sighed.

"I'll be looking at the next year's Guinness Book," he said. "Enjoy your crawl. Oh, and a piece of advice--while you're crawling through the snow, you should avoid any hibernating bears." With that, he Disapparated.

"I don't believe it," Anderson said.

"What?" Padma asked.

"He's lying about the bears."

"Well, that's a relief," Ron said. He crawled over to Hermione and embraced her.

"This is not how I planned to die," Anderson said.

"I didn't plan to die at all--not yet, at least," Padma replied.

"I still don't," Hermione said.

"Guys, we have a problem," Ron said.

"No, you think?"

"Snowfall has just got worse. We're going to get covered, and then--"

"Hypothermia," Anderson said.

"Poor Caroline," Hermione said. "What if--"

"I'm going to try to make it--"

"Ron, what'll--"

"I won't sit and die!" he shouted.

"Okay. Where?"

"Where we came from. There's another snowmobile at that barn--"

"We can also go to the farm house Hund used. At least, we might still be able to warm ourselves at the remnants of the barn fire," Padma suggested.

"Good idea," Anderson said. "The fire will probably be spotted and someone will come."

"How'll we--"

"Let's deal with that later," Ron said, and began the crawl. Soon his face was buried in the snow as he carved a path through it. Anderson followed him. Hermione was next. Padma brought up the rear.

An hour later, after covering a few hundred yards at most, Ron fell from exhaust. "I--"

"Let me ahead," Anderson said. "It's hardest for the person in front, then gets progressively easier."

"Then... Hermione... should... be... last."

"Ron, I can--"

"Right now, you should be last, Ron," Padma said. "That's how we'll do it. Move forward until one gets exhausted, then go to rear."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "If--"

"If what?" Anderson asked, getting ready to start plowing through.

"If only someone of us thought to bring a spare wand," she said.

"Yeah, well, hindsight is 20-20."

"I know. Let's go. Our situation isn't getting any better."

Hours passed monotonously. Anderson got exhausted, Padma took his place, and there was still nothing but snow ahead. But despite constantly moving, Ron felt cold. His hands and motionless legs were numb from constantly being in the snow.

Ahead of him, Hermione fell. "Herm--" He reached for her and then his arms gave in and also fell, face first, into the snow.

"Caroline... Hermione... I love you," he whispered as he made another attempt to crawl forward... and collapsed again. "No...."

His vision faded; he remembered nothing more.