Chapter 22

Chapter 22

No one looked pleased when Hermione outlined the plan she and Lucius had devised.

"That's it? You expect to go into a mob of Death Eaters and be able to just strike her on the back of the head?" Harry asked incredulously.

Lucius could no longer control his irritation. "If you had paid attention, you would have noticed that everyone has the responsibility to isolate her so that capturing her will be possible."

"Why you?" asked Harry.

"Because I have to survive. Without me, that child will continue to live. You do your part, I'll do mine."

"We don't have any more time to waste," Moody said.

Lucius noticed that Moody always seemed to keep at least one eye on him. He was grateful to have the argument stopped before it could really start. In times like these, he could hardly believe that Potter was to be the savior of the wizarding world.

Lacing his fingers with Hermione's, he gave her a reassuring squeeze before they departed. While they had assembled more than twenty Order members, he had the feeling it might not be enough. Normally, the Dark Lord liked to send small numbers of his minions on raids, but he had the impression this would be something different. He had expressed his belief this was a trap and found it was one that Moody shared. Unfortunately, they had not choice but to spring the trap.

When they arrived, they found that the fighting was raging in a Muggle area of the city. Most of the Muggles had fled or were injured, but the gang of Death Eaters was searching out new victims. Aurors were Apparating to the area, trying to control the Death Eaters.

"How are we going to find her?" asked Hermione as she ducked down an alley.

"She should be at the center of the action." Looking around, he realized they had already been separated from the others. "Stay very close. It will be safer if we stay together."

"Right." She followed close behind as he moved through the alley towards the sound of the fighting. After they had ducked through many alleys and carefully hid from sight, she asked, "Shouldn't we be doing something to help our side?"

"We can't draw attention to ourselves. If someone recognizes me... Well, you know what they will do to me. I would not be surprised if they don't expect me to be here, but I don't want to advertise my presence."

"I know, but we could move faster if we reduced their forces."

"Perhaps. We discussed that stealth would be our best weapon." He continued scanning the surroundings, searching for danger.

"But if she's protected like you seem to think, we will have to fight."

"Only when it is unavoidable." He took her by the hand and pulled her behind a car.

As they moved closer to the center of the fighting, they were forced to attack some of the Death Eaters.

"We could Apparate in small steps," Hermione offered.

"No. They could find us from the noise and the ripple the magic causes. And we would be temporarily disoriented. It's safer to make our way like this."

She wanted to ask about the ripple Apparition caused, but this was not the time for that sort of academic discussion. In the distance, she could hear familiar voices and fought against the urge to help them. "We must be getting close," she whispered.

"Yes."

She noticed Lucius was staring in the distance, as though trying to hear something. "What is it?"

"Magic has a signature of sorts. For lack of a better word, I am listening for her signature. If I am close enough, and she is using her magic, I should be able to find her."

This was something Hermione was not familiar with, but she assumed it was a learned skill that manifested itself with practice. "Which way?"

"I'm not sure, yet." He pulled her toward another alley.

After another ten minutes, Hermione was worrying they were running out of time. She doubled over in pain.

"The Aurors. They don't know. We must hurry." He pulled her along, forcing her to ignore the pain. "This way," he said confidently.

As they peered around a corner, they could see their child pinned down by several Aurors. They didn't see any members of the Order in the area. This was a doubly dangerous situation for Lucius. Both the Death Eaters and the Aurors would attack him if he were seen. "I can't get close her. It has to be you," he said.

"But I can't hit her. She's just a child."

"Hermione. You can. It is our only option. I have faith in you. From here, it should be easy to sneak behind her. Strike her swiftly on the back of the head. Once that's done, Apparate her back to Hogwarts. I'll join you."

"Lucius..." She grunted as she felt the effect of another spell.

"You must hurry." He gently shoved her away.

She moved down the street, trying to hide in the debris. Trying to avoid notice, it took her longer than anticipated to get close the child. There were a couple of Death Eaters in her way, and she could tell that she had no choice but to attack first. Aware that this would draw attention, she prepared to move quickly, hoping to be at her destination before anyone realized how close she was to them.

************

Lucius watched as Hermione picked her way down the street. She wasn't always in his view, but most of the time, she was. At one point, he saw one of the Aurors moving into position to attack the child, and he risked giving away his position to stun the man. If a spell were to hit her, it could prove fatal to both him and Hermione.

When she was nearly there, an Auror hit the child. As soon as he recovered from the blow, he tried to find Hermione and saw her lying unconscious on the ground. He could see multiple Aurors moving in, and he knew they would continue to attack the child. Realizing there was only one action he could take, he started attacking the Aurors as he sprinted for the child, hoping to take her by surprise. He knew that word he attacked Aurors would get back to the others, but it was his only option.

Without thinking he rushed forward, stunning Aurors as he ran. Thankfully, they were not expecting an attack from his direction. The child was suitably distracted by the other action that he was able to move behind her and strike her on the head, knocking her unconscious. He gave a quick glance toward where Hermione had fallen, but knew he had to leave the area immediately, and there was no way he could Apparate all three of them. With a heavy heart, he departed for Hogwarts, hoping the Aurors or the Order would get to Hermione before the Death Eaters.

Arriving at the Hogwarts main gate, he realized he had a problem. He did not know how to get through the protective wards. And even if he did, it was unlikely he had the ability. Looking down at the unconscious child, he examined her features. While she had Hermione's bushy hair, it was dark blonde rather than brown. And she had the pointed Malfoy nose. He brushed his hand against her cheek, wishing circumstances were different, that he could have raised her from birth.

"What are you doing here in the open?"

Lucius spun on the voice, wand at the ready, and saw Snape. "Severus? What are you doing here?"

Severus saw the small shape clutched to Lucius' chest. "Ah! You've come to destroy the abomination. Why are you waiting out here?"

"Because I can't get through the gates. You do realize they are locked," he sneered.

"I would have thought they would give you access."

"Of course not. They tolerate me, not trust me. Now, what are you doing here?" Lucius was getting irritated by the word games Severus liked to play.

"I noticed that you did not return to your manor, so I came here."

"Why?"

"In case you required assistance. I believe the magic you need to perform involves a rather complex potion, and while you performed adequately in Potions, I believe this is beyond your capability." Severus moved toward the gate, casting several spells in an attempt to unlock the gate. None of them worked. "You should return to your manor."

"It won't do any good. All the information I need is in the castle." Lucius leaned against the gate and heard a barely perceptible 'click'. Experimentally, he turned the handle and was surprised when the gate opened.

"How in Merlin's name?" asked Severus.

Lucius quickly moved through the gate. "I don't know, but I will accept this good fortune." He didn't care whether or not Severus followed him. He had to get the child to the castle and restrained before she regained consciousness. As he hurried up the path, he began to suspect that his position as Hogwarts Protector might have something to do with his ability to open the gates. The school was a repository of much ancient and forgotten magic.

He started to head up the stairs toward his room. Severus stopped him. "This way. It would be better to imprison her in the dungeon where I will have easy access to potions ingredients. You can get your notes after she is secure."

Rather than start an argument that might draw attention, he followed.

Severus unlocked what had been his private workroom and was quite pleased to find it had not changed. With a wave of his wand, he cleared off a worktable, and Lucius set the child on it. He then started gathering what he would need to start the base of the potion.

"Aren't you going to restrain her?" Lucius asked.

"Why don't you do it?"

"Courtesy of the Dark Lord's marvelous spell, I am unable to use magic unless Hermione is nearby. As she is not here, I cannot conjure restraints." It pained him to admit this, but he had no choice.

"And where is Granger?" Severus asked as he restrained the child and cast a spell to keep her from performing magic.

"I was forced to leave her in Liverpool." Realizing the traipsing through the castle was probably not the best idea, he called out, "Dobby!"

"Yes, sir. You is calling Dobby?"

Severus raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Yes. I need you to do two things. First, I need you to collect all the notes on the desk in my room and bring them here. Second, I need you to look for the return of Miss Granger, Professor McGonagall, Potter or Weasley. You need to tell them where we are."

"Yes, sir," Dobby replied and popped out of the room. In a few minutes, he returned with the notes and left for the main gate.

Lucius shuffled through the notes, looking for the pages Severus needed to start the potion.

The door banged open, "What's going on... Malfoy? Snape?" exclaimed a very confused Slughorn.

Acting quickly, Severus cast a body-bind on Slughorn. Realizing that they could not let him go, he levitated Slughorn into an out of the way corner.

Lucius took away the man's wand. "Sorry to do this to you, old chap, but you really should have been less nosy." He could see the look of fear in the old man's eyes. "Don't worry. We aren't Death Eaters any longer. Once the others are here to explain the situation to you, we'll release you. Unfortunately, we can't have you raising the alarm."

*************

"Hermione, can you hear me?"

Hermione heard the voice, and she thought it sounded like it was off in the distance. As it continued to call her name, she focused on it, following it back to consciousness.

"I think she's coming around," said a second voice.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't too bright. "What?"

"Hermione! Are you okay?"

She could see that Ron and Harry were at her sides. "I'm not sure."

"Can you move?" Ron asked.

After experimentally moving her hands and feet, she tried to sit up and was overcome with a wave of dizziness. Thankfully, it passed quickly. "I'm starting to feel better."

"Where's Malfoy?" asked Harry.

"I...don't know. He was back there," she pointed over her shoulder. "I don't know what happened after I was knocked out."

An Auror approached them. "Excuse me? I heard you mention Malfoy? Do you know where he might be?"

"Why?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"He attacked several Aurors before the fighting died down."

Harry gave Hermione an 'I told you so' look.

"No, we don't know where he is," Hermione responded.

The Auror walked away without saying anything else.

"He's run back to them," Harry growled.

"Harry, please. If he hasn't run back to the Death Eaters by now, he isn't going to. I'm sure he went back to Hogwarts. I mean, the fighting stopped so he must have got to her."

Harry frowned as he helped Hermione to his feet. "You have entirely too much faith in him. Let's see if he did go back. Ron, we'll meet you there." After Ron left, he looked to Hermione. "Ready?"

She nodded. "Ready." Holding tight, she felt a nearly overwhelming wave of nausea from the Side-Along Apparition. She could hear Dobby talking to Ron, but couldn't make out the words.

Ron turned to face them. "Hurry up. Malfoy's here and so's Snape."

"Snape! That bastard. I'll kill him."

"Harry, no! Remember, he's been helping. Please, be calm and logical." Ron was already through the gate and Harry was running after. She realized there was no way she could keep up. "Ron, Harry! Please, wait up. I can't run right now."

The two of them look annoyed at her, but waited and walked with her.

"Dobby says they are down in the dungeon. He didn't know what they were doing because Malfoy sent him out here to wait for us," Ron explained.

Hermione offered, "He's probably working on the potion needed to break the connection. If Snape's with him, it would make sense that they went to the dungeon. No one was ever able to get into his office after he left."

**************

Lucius stood watch over the child. It was better than meeting Slughorn's gaze. After several minutes, he began to wonder if Slughorn's stare would be the better option. The more he looked at his child, the more he imagined how things might have been, and he realized he was making the whole process more difficult. Unconscious, she looked innocent and peaceful. She looked normal, even though he knew she was far from normal.

Abruptly, her eyes snapped open and focused on his. He noticed they were the same steel grey as his.

"He said you would come for me, Father," she said in a voice that sounded far too mature for her child-sized body. "He hoped that I would be the instrument of your destruction. He is right. You cannot destroy me. Hurting me will only hurt you, but I think you know that already." She flashed him a cruel grin.

He refused to dignify her taunting with a reply.

"You always thought you were so smart. You lied to stay out of prison. You pretended to be loyal. Oh yes, he knows it was an act. One you proved when you turned against him again. I am the instrument of your destruction. I will cleanse the Malfoy blood of the taint you have given it. I will be raised to a high place in the new order."

"Severus, shut her up!" Lucius barked.

"Yes, my impotent father can't cast the smallest of spells." She didn't get to finish as Severus gagged her.

Lucius paced, trying to avoid looking at the child and Slughorn. Unfortunately, that was virtually impossible in the tight confines of the room. He spun to face the door when he heard it open.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing in the doorway. The boys had their wands drawn.

"What are you doing here?" Harry demanded of Snape. "And what did you do to Professor Slughorn?"

"I am here to assist with the brewing of the potion, though I can't remain much longer or my absence will be noted. In a few minutes, I will have the potion at a point from which Miss Granger should be able to complete it. As for Slughorn, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we couldn't have him sounding the alarm. You may release him." He returned his attention to his potion.

Harry quickly released Slughorn, but learned nothing from questioning the Potions master.

Hermione ran to Lucius' arms for comfort. When she looked down at her child's eyes, she was startled by the malice.

Lucius turned her away from the child. "Don't look at her. It will only make our task more difficult." He could only imagine how difficult this must be for her. She had been protesting that she could not do this, but she had to.

Severus stepped back from the potion. "I have done all that I can. The rest is up to you. I must go before I am missed. Good luck."

"Hey! Wait a minute. You aren't going anywhere," ordered Harry.

"Are you under the impression you can finally defeat me? And even if you could, you need me to help you locate the Dark Lord. The time is rapidly approaching, and I must be at his side." He swept out of the room before Harry could act.

Lucius ignored the drama and led Hermione to the cauldron. "It won't take long for us to finish the potion."

With work to focus on, Hermione regained her emotional control. Lucius helped her finish the final few steps of the potion.

When they reached the last step, the addition of the blood, he asked, "Are you ready?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "I'm ready," she whispered.

Lucius used his wand to cut the palm of his hand. Once the seven drops of blood were added to the potion, he healed the small cut. He then took hold of Hermione's hand. "It will hurt." After she nodded, he added her blood to the potion.

When he turned to face the child, he could see the fear in her eyes. With a small wave of his wand, the cauldron levitated across the room until it was next to the table. Grasping the child's hand, he smirked. "And you thought I was weak."

For a third time, the door banged open. "What in Merlin's name is going on here?" McGonagall's gaze froze on Malfoy. "You attacked Aurors?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, yes, but only because it was necessary. If you could hold your questions a moment, we are at a time critical point in the brewing of this potion. I will answer all questions once we are done," Lucius replied

"What potion?" she demanded.

"This is the potion that will sever the link we have with our child," Hermione explained. "Please, Professor. Let us finish."

Lucius was already adding the child's blood to the potion. After he had the requisite seven drops, he did not bother to heal the wound.

"Blood magic? This really isn't appropriate," McGonagall said with an air is disapproval.

"That was how the spell was cast. It is the only way to remove it. Ugly things happen in war, Professor."

"About your attacks on the Aurors?"

"It was most unfortunate. The plan was for members of the Order to try to isolate the child. Unfortunately, they weren't able to do so. As Hermione was moving to capture her, a group of Aurors arrived and started attacking the child, not knowing about the link. I knew that allowing them to continue their attacks would only continue to injure the two of us, if not kill us. As such, I was forced to attack them. I employed non-lethal methods, and there should be no serious injury to any of them." He resisted the urge to make a snide comment about how it would not have been necessary if the Order members had done their job.

"It is true that you did not seriously injure any of the Aurors, but that still does not change the fact you violated the terms of your parole. I will speak with Minister Scrimgeour and inform him of the extenuating circumstances surrounding your actions. He may be convinced to excuse your behavior."

Lucius forced a polite smile. "Of course." He knew how protective Scrimgeour was of the Aurors and was not overly hopeful. "Now that the potion is ready, I would ask that you all leave the room. When the Dark Magic is excised, it would be best for you not to be in the area. I believe that one hundred yards should be sufficient."

"What's going to happen when this evil is expelled?" McGonagall asked.

"I do not know what the exact results will be, but I would assume something similar to what happened shortly before the child's birth." He didn't think there was any danger if any of them remained in the room; he just wanted Hermione to have privacy when she did this difficult task. Once they were alone, he ladled some of the potion into a goblet. He took a swallow of the potion, grimacing at the bitter taste. Even though the potion was warm, he had the sensation of ice water flowing through his veins.

He handed the goblet to Hermione, who tentatively took it from his hands. He gently brushed her cheek. "This is the way it must be."

"I know." She stared at the goblet, almost afraid of the contents.

A/N: I know, yet another evil cliffhanger. It's the evil plot bunnies conspiring with the muses. I swear. The action is about to start fast and furious. There are just a few more chapters to go. I'm going to force myself to write them. There's a part of me that is sad to see the story coming to the end and is therefore reluctant to write the last few chapters.