Love In Translation

Chapter 7. THE SECRET MEETING

"Tonight?" We both asked surprised.

"Please calm down. Remember, it's a top-secret meeting!"

"But where are they going to meet?" I asked, deeply alarmed.

Rufus leaned closer to us and spoke again lowering his voice even more."At the ancient Monumental Cemetery. We'll go there in gondolas."

"Why don't we just apparate there?" Angy asked impatiently.

"Because it's impossible to apparate to a place that you've never seen. You need to have a clear idea of where you want to go. You should know that. You're an Auror!" I replied rolling my eyes, and Rufus nodded.

"We should come up with a good plan for not getting caught. Do you have any ideas?" I asked slightly alarmed. We didn't have much time left.

"Well..Rufus could attract the Death Eaters with a diversionary action." Angy suggested.

"What do you mean by "diversionary action"? I am not really looking forward to being killed by Death Eaters. Besides, it's your friend who we are going to rescue and I am just giving you a hand," Rufus said.

"All right, all right. Rufus, scratch that. Let's see... First of all we should cast a Disillusionment Charm on ourselves. Then we could arrange to set off some explosions out in the cemetery to make them move away long enough for us to save Harry. Then... Oh well, I'm sure that I'm going to have some other ideas as soon as we get there."

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me that we're going to go there without having a decent plan? Just armed with our wands?" I didn't know if I was more astonished or angry.

"Do you have a better idea, Miss Know-It-All?" asked Angy, challenging me.

"You are the Auror here, my dear, you should think about that."

"And I'm saying that as soon as we get there, we'll see. Now let's go. We don't have any more time to lose."

I frowned at her, but I didn't have any other options. We stood up and headed to the boats.

***O***

Soon the night fell above us, bringing intense cold. Angy and I squatted in the back of a very small gondola, huddled in our cloaks. Rufus was standing while slowly rowing to the opposite shore.

I shuddered at the idea that in a few hours, we were going to face Voldemort's Death Eaters. They were murderers with no scruples who wouldn't hesitate to kill us on the spot. We had to act with extreme caution, doing everything possible not to be discovered.

I turned to my companion, and I noticed that she was deeply absorbed in her thoughts as well.

When the boat touched the shore, Rufus let us off quickly. We tiptoed to a large rock and hid ourselves behind it.

Quietly, we cast the Disillusionment Charm on ourselves and took on the exact color and consistency of the night around us. We looked like human chameleons.

We walked along a dark country path, slightly illuminated by the silver moon rays. Suddenly, a small light lit upin the distance. It seemed like a fire right in the middle of the fields.

"They have just lit a fire to signal their presence to the others yet to come," said Rufus grimly.

We continued on our journey, and after half an hour, we finally reached the cemetery entrance.

"Alohomora!" At Angy's order, the latch opened with a loud "click!" and we entered, closing the gate behind us.

The Monumental Cemetery was huge and picturesque: above each grave was a magnificent and tall white marble statue of a winged angel or saint. As I walked past the graves, I couldn't avoid admiring the wonderful sculptures.

Suddenly, Rufus pushed me toward a stony wall, and I realized that right behind us, a group of hooded Death Eaters was approaching. There were nearly twenty, walking in two lines.

I felt a cold shiver going up my back, and my legs started to tremble in fear.

"Let's go!" Rufus whispered in my ear. After the group of Death Eaters had gone, we started to walk again.

When we arrived, we hid behind a small stone mausoleum and watched. I was really surprised to see so many hooded Death Eaters; they were settled in semi-circles around a large fire and in each semi-circle were thirty of them; there must have been about three hundred all together.

We would have no chance against them. It was pure craziness.

"Hey, have a look there!" Angy poked me with her elbow to attract my attention, and when I turned, I felt my blood freeze in my veins.

Two hooded Death Eaters were dragging Harry to the large fire. His hands were tied behind him. His face was wounded and he was unconscious. They laid him on the ground and left.

"What have they done to him?" I thought, angry and I felt a strong pang in my stomach.

I wanted to do something to rescue him, but what? For a moment, I had the crazy idea to leave my hiding place, take Harry with me and run away.

"I'm going!" I was really determined, and I stood up.

"Stop! It's not the right time yet" Angy grabbed my arm.

"We have to wait until the ceremony begins!" said Rufus.

"What ceremony?" I was completely shocked.

"It looks like they are going to offer their prisoner to the Dark Lord. We must stay here so they don't get offended or feel threatened. This way they'll be more vulnerable" Rufus explained, without breaking his gaze from the Death Eaters.

"So we're going to wait until Voldemort shows up?" I asked deeply alarmed, but I got no reply.

In the mean-time, another Death Eater was coming closer to Harry holding a large dagger, and he started to recite magic words, following an odd ritual.

I was feeling my panic rising, and I thought that it was time to act. I couldn't allow them to do Harry any harm. I stood up abruptly and ran away from my hiding place to watch them closely.

"Hermione! No!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Angy desperately signaling to me to come back, but I had already made my decision.

I didn't know yet what I was going to do, and I desperately looked around for an idea. There were so many marble statues; there could have been thousands of them. If only they couldgive me a hand.

Then I had an idea. "Of course," I thought. "Those statues are going to help me!"

I turned back to the Death Eaters. Horrified, I saw that the one with the dagger had already pulled away Harry's shirt and was going to cut his chest.

I definitely had no time to lose. I pointed my wand at the statue in front of me, and I pronounced the magical words with deep concentration.

"Inanimatus locomotor!"

Suddenly, the statue came to life, stood up and got down off its pedestal. I quickly pointed my wand at all the other statues around me and soon found myself surrounded by a silent army of saints, angels, doves, and white ladies.

"Go and catch them, quick!" As soon as I gave the order, my obedient army marched toward the group of hooded Death Eaters, who were caught completely by surprise.

The one who was going to wound Harry remained with his dagger in the air, looking horrified while the others broke the rows and took out their wands to defend themselves; my statues had absolutely no fear, and they also were more in number.

In the general panic, I realized that two Death Eaters were already dragging Harry away. Without even thinking about it, I ran to them.

"Stupefy!"

At my command, a ray of red light came out from my wand and caught one of the two Death Eaters right in the face, dashing him to the ground. The other one remained astonished, and turned around frantically; it seemed to him that my attack was coming from nowhere because I still was under the Disillusionment Charm.

"Petrificus totalis!"

I immobilized the other Death Eater without even giving him time to react, and he fell on the ground with a big thud.

Harry slipped down heavily and I rushed to reach him: I took him in my arms and sighed with relief when I realized that he was still alive.

I looked around me and saw that everybody was still fighting: the marble statues were attacking in every direction, leaving their victims senseless on the ground. The Death Eaters were casting Unforgivable Spells on the statues, which were exploding, throwing pieces everywhere.

I couldn't see Angy and Rufus in the mess. I couldn't even go and look for them. I had to getaway from there, and quickly.

Suddenly, I realized that another Death Eater had just pointed his wand as Harry and I, but I was ready. "Expelliarmus!" I shouted, and his wand flew away.

Without losing any more time, I held Harry tightly against me and concentrated on my hotel room. With a loud "Crack!" we disapparated together.