Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that resembles J.K. Rowling's work. Please don't sue; I have nothing to give you.

Hermione was in the drawing room with Ron and Harry when Remus returned from Azkaban the next day. Harry had been pacing and driving her crazy. She had asked him to sit, but knew it was a futile effort. He stopped moving when Remus entered the room. They all waited expectantly for any news.

“I hate that place. The Dementors are gone, but it still reeks of despair.”

“Thank you for going, Prof – er – Remus. We can’t thank you enough,” Hermione said.

The others mumbled their thanks.

“Dung was only marginally helpful. He sold a bunch of stuff to a man in Hogsmeade. He thinks the locket was part of that particular sale.”

“Did he know who the man was?”

“Yes… It was Draco Malfoy.”

“That git? Dung should have known better than to sell anything to a Malfoy!” Harry practically roared.

“He claims he was simply giving things back to their rightful owners. Draco is, technically, a relative of the Black family.”

“So you’re siding with him? Thanks a lot, Remus,” Harry spat.

“Harry! He’s not agreeing with Dung’s actions. Though at least we can track Draco. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get the locket back.” Hermione looked from Harry to Remus.

“Finding them will be easy. They have a mansion in Wiltshire. The problem will be gaining access. Even with Lucius in prison, their mansion is like a small fortress,” Remus explained.

“Can’t the Aurors raid the mansion again? They’ve done that before,” said Ron.

“Maybe, but we’ll need to be careful. This locket will be dangerous,” Remus said, his tone full of warning.

Harry finally sat down with a sigh. “What are we going to do until then? How long will it take to set up a raid on Malfoy Manor?”

“That I don’t know. I’ll talk to Tonks and Mad-Eye. Maybe we can just stage a raid instead of going through the Ministry.” Remus was thinking out loud at this point.

“If we’re going to stage a raid, I think the three of us should be there,” Harry said while indicating himself, Ron and Hermione.

Remus looked uncertain. “That will be something for the Order to discuss. There will be a meeting tonight to talk about all of this new information.”

Hermione noticed that Remus seemed very tired. “Remus, why don’t you try and get some sleep? We won’t do anything rash.”

“Thanks, Hermione. I’ll just take a short nap. The meeting will start at five o’clock tonight.”

Hermione was sitting to the right of Ron in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Harry was on her left, and Fred and George Weasley were directly across from her. The meeting was due to start any minute. Minerva McGonagall had taken over as head of the Order of the Phoenix after Albus Dumbledore’s murder.

Hermione shook herself to stop her mind from going down those memories. Just then, Minerva stood, and the room fell silent.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice. There has been a major development. We know for certain there are several steps that need to be taken before Voldemort can be vanquished. Harry, if you will please explain what you’ve learned?” Minerva asked as she moved to sit back down.

All eyes turned to Harry. Hermione squeezed his hand under the table as a sign of support. He glanced in her direction then stood.

“Well, Voldemort took many steps to make himself immortal…”

Having heard all of this before, Hermione took to watching the people gathered in the room. From what she could remember, there were more people here tonight than had been in the Order two summers ago. All of the Weasleys were present, save for Percy. Mad-Eye Moody was in the back of the room, his magical eye swivelling from person to person. Kingsley Shacklebolt was sitting next to the twins. He was listening intently to what Harry had to say. There were a few people on the twins’ other side that Hermione didn’t recognize. One boy in particular didn’t look much older than herself. He was watching her instead of paying attention to Harry. She caught his gaze, but he wouldn’t look away. Hermione felt decidedly uneasy after her staring match with him.

“I can’t believe the Ministry won’t send any Aurors to Malfoy Manor! Why on earth do they need more evidence?” Ron vented to her.

Harry was still talking to people in the kitchen.

“I don’t know, Ron. We’ll think of something.”

“I’m with Harry on this. I think we should figure out our own way to get to Malfoy.”

“We don’t even know he’s there, remember? He ran away with Snape. They could be anywhere,” Hermione said in an exasperated voice.

“Who could be anywhere?” Harry asked as he entered the room.

“The git. Hermione says that Malfoy ran off with Snape, so Merlin knows where they are now.”

“Oh, I’m sure Malfoy ran home. He would think he’s safe there since his daddy was the one to put up the jinxes.”

Hermione sighed. “Okay, Harry. We’ll come up with something. I have a question though; do you know who the guy was sitting next to the twins? He had pale blond hair and looked to be our age. He was somehow familiar to me.”

“I didn’t notice him. Why do you ask?”

“I just got a weird feeling from him during the meeting. I can’t explain it.” Hermione shrugged.

Ron was looking at her oddly.

“What, Ron?”

“I didn’t notice the guy either. He would have been sitting across from me, right?”

“Yes…”

“I saw you staring at something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. You looked very uneasy.”

“It was probably my imagination. I haven’t been sleeping very well,” she said by way of an explanation.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, no problem. I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” Hermione got up, hugged both of them, and walked to her room.

“Okay, we need to get to Malfoy Manor. We know it’s in Wiltshire. Any ideas?” Harry asked them the next morning.

“Well, I think Apparition is out of the question. You aren’t of age, and Ron didn’t pass his test,” Hermione said.

Ron glared at her.

“What about a Portkey? We could set it to take us close to the Manor and walk the rest of the way,” Ron said.

“That’s not a bad idea. Hermione, can you make a Portkey?” Harry asked.

“I’ve never tried, but I shouldn’t have too much trouble,” she said with a shrug.

“Alright, that looks like our plan. Tomorrow morning we’ll Portkey to Wiltshire and try to get that locket back.”

"Now, wait a minute! We should think about this. The Malfoys are a nasty bunch. What if we get there and the whole place is one huge trap? Or, better yet, if the mansion is under the Fidelius Charm? We could be standing on top of it and never know," Hermione commented before the others lost interest.

"The Malfoys think they are untouchable. They won't have their Manor under the Fidelius Charm. And Ron is a pure-blood," Harry said as if that explained everything.

"Yeah," Ron said, nodding in agreement.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The traps will be set for people who aren't pure-blooded. Ron won't set them off because he is a pure-blood."

"Perhaps, but I think we should sleep on it before making any actual decisions."

"Sure thing, Hermione," Ron said, moving out of the room.

"Goodnight!" Harry said, following Ron.

"Boys!" Hermione muttered and left the room.

Author's Notes: Thank you to my wonderful betas, GinnyW and snarkyroxy. Without these ladies, this story wouldn't be half as good.

As normal, reviews and feedback are welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read.