It's Not Much, But It Is Home

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me. Just borrowed. Will be returned. Snape is welcome to stay, though.

A big Thank You goes to my beta-reader, Maggie, and my beta-reader and brit-picker, Melusin, who both are always encouraging, helpful, and thorough.

Chapter 8 – It's Not Much, But It Is Home

"Oooh, it's another letter from Viktor," Ginny gushed when the owls delivered the morning mail in the Great Hall. Harry continued laughing and joking with Ron and tried to ignore the inquisitive stare from Luna Lovegood. A group of sixth-year Gryffindor girls were grouped around Ginny, oohing and aahing about the frequent mails Ginny received from the Quidditch hero.

Harry could afford to be very relaxed; he was meeting Ginny in the Room of Requirement every day, and no one suspected anything. To the rest of the school, it seemed clear that both he and Ginny had moved on after their break-up.

"Anyone we know?" Ron asked Hermione, who had just paid the owl that delivered the Daily Prophet. She started scanning the front page like almost everybody else did who stayed overnight at Hogwarts and was now sitting at the breakfast table. About half of the fourth to seventh year students had returned, many of them only for classes. Teachers were coming and going, assisting the parents of younger children with the Ministry-sponsored private study groups. Several of the teachers had chosen to stay with their families this year and only appeared for their lessons. Thus, the Great Hall was rather empty, and only a few teachers were bent over their breakfast and newspapers.

After a while, the Great Hall became oddly quiet, so quiet that even Harry and Ron, who were still chatting, started to notice.

"Oh, my goodness!" Hermione choked out, tears in her eyes. "The whole Abbott family has been killed: Hannah, her father, and her siblings." She swallowed and looked at Harry, who stared at her, stunned. "It was a Death Eater attack; the Dark Mark was seen over the house," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "The bodies were hardly recognizable. They were burned in their house... And a very thin Death Eater, who is believed to be Severus Snape, was seen on the scene before the Aurors arrived."

Harry's eyes flashed in anger, and he saw that anger reflected in Hermione's eyes. Ron looked crestfallen like most of the other students and teachers in the Great Hall. No one felt like eating any more, and the Great Hall emptied silently, though there was still quite some time before classes began.

"Poor Hannah," Ron said while they walked back to their common room, "and poor Ernie. Did you see how pale he was?"

"How would you look if your girlfriend had just been killed?" Hermione snarled at him and stormed away.

Harry looked at Ron and shrugged. "I didn't even know that they were going out," he said.

"Me neither. I only knew that they were close friends," Ron admitted, and they went back to their dormitory to get their books.

Half an hour later, they met in Professor Price's office. Each of them had a free period, including their teacher. That allowed them to meet and discuss strategy during the week without having to use up too much of Price's time. He was busy making arrangements for the Vance property when he wasn't teaching at Hogwarts.

"Professor, have you seen the news?" Ron asked when they arrived. Hermione was already there, looking cross and brooding.

"You mean the Abbott murders?"

Ron nodded.

"Yes, I've seen it, as has every other teacher who was present today. The Abbots were a well-known and popular family."

"They were purebloods. Why would they kill a whole family of purebloods? Even the children?" Harry was baffled. "How can they hope to gain followers when they kill whole families?"

"That's what they always do: kill the whole family. That's why I'm a target, too, and so is every single member of your family, Ron. Just as your parents are, Hermione. The Death Eaters always go after the whole family when one family member opposes them. It's a method for intimidation. You punish the family of the perpetrator, and other families who are concerned or scared will keep their own people in line. That way, any resistance is suppressed quickly and quite efficiently."

"This isn't the Mafia or some abstract strategy game," Hermione hissed. "This is real. Hannah was our friend." She clenched her teeth. "And it was Snape – again. Snape, Snape, always Snape who is around when someone is killed," she yelled suddenly. "We've been trusting a mass murderer."

Harry and Ron started and looked at her wide-eyed. "I never trusted him. You know that, Hermione," Harry said.

"Yes, and now it turns out that you were right, after all, with everything you said about him. I hate, hate, hate him," she screeched.

"Get your wand out, Miss Granger. You will now duel all three of us simultaneously," Price said, then stood up and waved the furniture to the side. "And I don't want to see too much gentlemanly reserve from you, boys."

Hermione took a few deep breaths; her eyes seemed to emit sparks when she glared at Price.

Harry didn't wait for formalities; he shot a Leg-Locker Curse at her, which she dodged deftly. Price and Ron had teamed up and each aimed an Expelliarmus at her from two sides, but her deflecting charms held steady. She jumped and twisted, turned and ducked and evaded every hex and jinx that was sent her way almost elegantly. Only when Harry, Ron, and Price sent clusters of nonverbal spells, one after the other without pause from different sides without a set pattern, did she start to breathe heavily and rely more and more on her protective charms. The charms held, and her anger started to flare again. While Harry was still busy hurling hexes at her, sometimes alternating with the other attackers, sometimes at the same time as they, she changed her fighting pattern from defence to attack and attacked with such fury that Harry and Ron were kept very busy trying to deflect or neutralize her spells. Price, who wasn't the target of her wrath very often, watched her attentively and continued with his steady attack.

Harry watched in amazement at how Hermione seemed to gain strength while attacking them. He understood that she used the method of controlled emotion with great skill. Her fury, while strong, seemed remote, and her concentration was unwavering. In fact, she reminded him of Dumbledore when he had fought Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic.

Harry tried to adapt to her ever-changing pattern of attack, but he still couldn't manage to solely focus on the fight and not at the same time admire, worry for, and be slightly scared by Hermione. She used his weakness mercilessly and drove him backwards. Loud booming sounds from her shield spells filled the room and further deteriorated Harry's concentration. Who would have thought that Hermione would develop into such a formidable dueller in such a short time? And then he slipped on a patch of ice that had come out of Hermione's wand, let out a surprised yelp and was bound in ropes with a satisfied "Incarcerous". With a grim smile, Hermione turned to face Ron, who had been attacking her relentlessly. Almost as an afterthought, she was deflecting Price's attacks with her booming shield spell.

Harry saw that Ron didn't seem to be worried or concerned; he used all his concentration for the attack. Price slowly moved towards Hermione's back, apparently planning to perform a manoeuvre that he had taught them called 'The Pincers'. But Hermione seemed to have grown eyes in the back of her head. She moved away from both men and cast another strong shield spell in front of her. While both men recoiled from the loud boom that reflected their spells, Hermione conjured her trusted flock of canaries out of thin air and sent them to attack Ron. This was something Ron hadn't expected, and he was furiously waving at the attacking birds instead of banishing them. Hermione narrowed her eyes, tsked, and Petrified him.

"Two down, one to go. What should it be, Professor Price? Will you keep holding back, or will you finally give me your full attention?" she asked coldly.

Price smiled and continued with his steady but predictable attacks. "Keep going, Miss Granger. You're doing quite well."

"Am I? Now, isn't that nice?" she snarled, trying to gather her anger around her once again but failing. Her eyes shone from excitement, and by now she was clearly enjoying the fight. "And what then? Endless skirmishing, or will you show me who the duelling master is?" They danced around each other.

Harry was reminded of the fight between Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange, only their fight had been deadly serious and had ended in his godfather's death while all three of them knew that their training fights never involved harmful spells like Stunning, slicing, or worse.

"We can go on with this if you want, or we can agree to end it. The lesson was more than successful."

Hermione seemed to think for a little while and then sank her wand. "All right, let's stop it here."

"Good."

Price turned around to relieve Harry and Ron from their constraints when Hermione yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

But Price seemed to have been expecting this since he whirled around almost simultaneously and Petrified her. "This is getting a bit old, Miss Granger. All of you have been using this fake-capitulation a bit too much for it to remain a surprise. Remember, when you duel an opponent for the first time, you can use the full range of your little surprises. But when you meet the same opponent again, or when you duel someone who had the same teacher as you, those tricks won't help much; they're too predictable." He finished the spells on all three of them and smirked. "But that was an excellent fight. You all need to be commended, especially you, Miss Granger."

The three friends grinned at him in delight. Price's praise was rare.

"That was brilliant, Hermione," Harry said. "You beat us formidably today."

"If you had been Death Eaters, I wouldn't have won, not likely. They wouldn't have been concerned for me, or held back from using really harmful spells. And who knows what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves? If I can distract Ron with my canaries, Merlin only knows what they can shock and distract us with."

"Very true," Price said. "But all three of you are getting to the point where those tricks won't affect you any longer. That was excellent use and control of your anger today, Hermione. Harry, and maybe Ron, still have to work on that control."

"I knew what you were trying to do when you challenged me to the duel,'" Hermione said. "I didn't know if I could manage it, but while we were fighting, I pictured my anger like a tool, like a club I could wield at you, and that helped a lot."

"Yes, that's exactly it! Use your emotions and don't let them use you. So did your anger go away, or are you still angry now?"

"I am still angry, but maybe I can control it better now. My hatred for Snape is still there. If I had been duelling him, I don't know if I could have stayed that remote."

Price looked at her pensively. "What exactly is it that makes you so hateful, Miss Granger? You've known for a while that Snape is a murderer. Why this anger now?"

"Because I trusted him. Because Dumbledore trusted him, and I refuse to think of Professor Dumbledore as an overly trusting old fool. And I admired Snape."

"I knew it! You had a crush on him. How could you – the slimy, greasy git?" Ron interrupted, accusation and hurt in his voice.

"Oh, shut up, Ron," she snapped back. "Are you really so simple-minded that it always has to be a crush when someone is simply interested in someone else?"

Ron flinched. "So you were interested in him. Isn't that the same? Care to enlighten simple-minded old me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "I am sorry, Ron; I didn't mean it like that. I don't really think that you are simple-minded, and you know it." She gave him a tentative smile. "But the way you constantly accuse me of having a crush on someone is grating on my nerves."

"So why were you interested in Snape?" Harry asked sharply. "Simple-minded me would like to know that as well."

"Oh, don't get in a huff, you two." She glared at them.

"Why, Hermione?" Harry asked coldly.

"All right. Calm down." She smiled again, more apologetic this time. "Remember our third year? When all three of us attacked Snape in the Shrieking Shack? At the time, it was the right thing to do, but afterwards I felt bad for him. You know, when we learned that the Marauders had played that trick on him? I first thought that it was just a stupid prank, but later I had my doubts. I mean, when Remus is transformed, he is a werewolf: a mad, violent beast. It was a horrible thing to do to Snape, I thought. He could have been killed or infected. And the events in the Shrieking Shack didn't make things better. I wanted to apologize and, maybe, make peace with him. But he didn't let me. You know how he always loathed me?"

Harry and Ron nodded; Price watched all three of them curiously.

"I did follow him around a bit at the beginning of our fourth year. I still wanted to talk to him, but he snarled at me that I should stop harassing him and became even nastier. Then that incident with the Densaugeo Curse happened."

She looked at Price, shrugged, and explained to him about the fight between Harry and Draco Malfoy and the stray curses that had hit Gregory Goyle and herself. While her front teeth had grown excessively, Snape had insulted her by stating that he saw no difference. "After he said that, I gave up trying to understand him," she said with a shrug.

Price smiled. "You know, maybe he did indeed think that you had a crush on him. He would have known that an insult like that would cure you of that crush immediately."

Harry and Ron grimaced, but Hermione frowned. "You think so? Why should I have had a crush on him? He's never been nice, or even fair to me."

"Well, it's not unusual. That's something teachers have to deal with, no matter their gender or age. It's best to be prepared and have some method at hand to deflect or quell those attractions."

"Every teacher?" Ron asked.

"Every teacher," Price confirmed.

Hermione rolled her eyes when she saw Ron and Harry grin at each other. She basically could hear them think, "Someone has a crush on Binns?" That thought made her giggle, too.

Price smirked at them and continued. "Minerva advised me to keep my distance from the students, except for the seventh-years. They are mature enough, usually, to see teachers as humans and not as some idealized authority figure. And power play or, ah, favours for better grades won't help with the N.E.W.T.s, so any type of friendship developing between student and teacher should only be followed through with seventh-years."

"Makes sense." Hermione nodded. "So maybe Snape really thought I had a crush on him. I did make a fool of myself over Lockhart in my second year, after all." She blushed, and Harry and Ron snickered.

Price raised an eyebrow. "That still doesn't explain your emotional outburst, Miss Granger."

Hermione smiled sheepishly. "I, err, was a bit distracted for the rest of that year, so I didn't pay much attention to Snape. I take it you know about the events at the end of our fourth year – the year of the Triwizard Tournament when Voldemort came back?"

Price flinched slightly and nodded. "Yes, Harry was kidnapped to be part of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's resurrection, wasn't he?"

"Yes. And after Harry returned, Snape revealed his Dark Mark, and we knew that he was a Death Eater. An ex-Death Eater – or so we all thought. We thought he was a spy for Dumbledore... No one ever told us, of course, but we thought we could put two and two together. So when I learned that, I really, really admired him."

"Why?" Price looked puzzled, and Harry and Ron stared at her.

"Because if that had been what he was, an ex-Death Eater turned spy, then he would have been an incredibly brave man. To be in such an organization and turn... that takes great determination and resolve." She took a deep breath, looked at all three men in turn and continued. "Don't you see? You can't just leave an organisation like the Death Eaters the same way you cancel your membership in a club. It's more like... I mean, they are being brainwashed there, aren't they, magical folk and Muggles alike? Their lives and little triumphs depend solely on their master, don't they? That makes leaving very difficult. And Snape didn't only turn sides, he tried to fight them from within. Or so we thought." She paused again and glared at Ron and Harry. "If you had paid attention in History of Magic, you'd know that people like that were essential in the downfall of Grindelwald and his mad Muggle general. They were heroes, and most of them didn't survive. So you'll excuse me if I felt a lot of admiration for Snape. I thought that he must be under extreme pressure, and that made his nastiness a bit easier to bear." She hesitated and stared at Harry. "And his behaviour towards Sirius, well, Sirius wasn't exactly acting..."

"Leave Sirius out of this," Harry screeched, outraged. "He always had the right instincts about Snape..."

"Looks like it, yes... I just wanted to explain to you why I admired Snape so much. And Professor Dumbledore trusted him..." She now had tears in her eyes. "I just can't understand how he could trust someone so much who turned out to be such a... a cowardly, perfidious murderer! I hate him..." Her voice faltered, and tears streamed down her face.

"I see where you are coming from, Miss Granger," Price said, staring at her steadily. "It isn't easy to have one's illusions shattered so brutally. And treachery is always devastating..."

"Yes," Harry hissed, seething. "And Snape will get what is his due, and if it's the last thing I do..."

"What did I tell you about controlling your emotions, Mr. Potter?" Price looked annoyed. "Does it really take so little to get your focus away from what really counts? We all have to deal with You-Know-Who... That has to be our first priority. The other Death Eaters will be dealt with afterwards."

"I don't care about the other Death Eaters," Harry roared. "I want to see Snape dead – just as dead as Dumbledore. And I hope he suffers when he dies."

"Harry!" Hermione looked shocked.

"What?" he yelled at her. "I thought you hated him, too. I thought you wanted to kill him..."

"I don't really want to kill anyone," Hermione admitted. "But if people are killed, I hope it is without much suffering. Do we really want to stoop down to their level and torture before killing? Is that what we're fighting for?"

Harry looked at her, startled out of his anger. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "No... no, of course not..."

"Well said, Miss Granger," Price said. "I am glad that at least one of you has learned something in my lessons. Or maybe even two; Mr Weasley at least has enough sense to keep his thoughts to himself and not get carried away... If it weren't for the two of you, I'd consider stopping these private lessons. You're not the most attentive student, Mr. Potter. You all may go now."

"What was that all about?" Harry asked, puzzled, after they had left Price's office.

Hermione looked at him, unbelieving. "Harry, you just let your anger control you once again. That's contrary to everything he's tried to teach us. You're not making enough of an effort."

"Stop telling me what I have to do, Hermione." Harry had had enough of her bossing him around. "So what if I don't do what he says? We managed quite well before he came along. All this strategy talk... That's theorizing, nothing else. You said it yourself. In a fight, you need your gut feeling, and you need to rely on your instincts. Don't think that your enemy will wait for you to work out a fancy strategy."

"Oh, you mean the way you didn't wait for my fancy strategy?" she snarled. "You looked rather stupid when you slipped on my ice patch, if you ask me. I'm quite relieved you didn't wait for anything there..."

"Dammit, Hermione. What is the matter with you?"

"Can't you see what a brilliant teacher Price is?" she growled. "You could learn so much from him..."

"I don't believe it! Now she has a crush on Price," Ron said and rolled his eyes.

Harry chuckled, but Hermione was furious again. She started to yell at Ron, who yelled back. They fought until they reached the Gryffindor common room. Harry had had enough of them by then and went to the Room of Requirement to meet Ginny.

Two days later, they all sat at the large table in the kitchen at the Burrow, savouring Molly Weasley's excellent barley soup. They had been invited to the family get-together after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had returned from their visit to France, and the newlyweds had returned from their honeymoon. Ron was telling his parents about Muriel Prewett and the potential danger to her because of the tiara, as well as about Professor Flitwick's connection to the family. Bill and Fleur listened quietly while Fred and George were talking in low voices with Ginny at the other end of the table.

Arthur Weasley listened with increasing agitation and proclaimed that he would Floo Aunt Muriel the next day, but Molly Weasley seemed distracted and nervously fluttered from the stove to the table and back.

"What is the matter with you, Mum? Why are you so nervous?" Ginny asked after a while.

"I'm not nervous, just a bit disappointed, I suppose," Mrs. Weasley said. "I sent Alouette off to invite Percy, but he doesn't want to come."

"What did you invite that git for?" Fred asked.

"We're having a family gathering, and he should be here. He didn't come to the wedding... I had hoped that he would at least come now – to see his brother and his sister-in-law." Mrs. Weasley dabbed at her eyes with a huge, striped handkerchief.

"I say it's no loss," Fred said, and the other Weasley offspring nodded while Arthur looked sad and Molly burst into tears. "He's your brother; he's our son, and I wanted to see him, let bygones be bygones."

"Perhaps Alouette did not deliver the message properly," Fleur suggested and called the elf from the kitchen.

"When you went to the Ministry, Alouette, did you find Percy Weasley and deliver the message to 'im?" she inquired in a stern voice.

Alouette shifted from one foot to the other, her hands nervously wringing the towel that was her dress. Her eyes grew even bigger than they normally were, and she started to wail.

"Of course Alouette 'as delivered the message to Mr. Percy Weasley. Alouette is a good elf."

"And what did 'e say? Did 'e accept it, acknowledge it, turn the invitation down? Where is your training? Speak up, Elf!"

Harry was surprised to hear Fleur speak so harshly to her own house-elf. He hoped for Alouette that this wasn't their usual way of interaction, but Fleur did have a haughty streak, and he really had no idea how she spoke to those she deemed her inferiors. He really didn't know her all that well. A quick glance at Hermione showed him that she was upset, perhaps even angry, with Fleur.

Alouette started to cry softly. "Mr. Percy Weasley is not a nice man, Mistress Fleur," she sobbed. "He yelled at Alouette, something about a hovel staying a hovel whether one used a cheap elf or not. Then he took the parchment with the name of this place from me and threw it into a filing tray."

"That's a bit careless with a note that shows the name of a place under the Fidelius Charm, isn't it?" George threw in.

"It is indeed," Arthur Weasley said. "What did you do next, Alouette?" he asked gently.

"Alouette was coming back here and doing her work. Alouette hasn't done anything wrong, has she?" The little elf looked scared.

"No, you may go, Alouette. I will go and talk to Percy tomorrow and see where he put the paper. If I can retrieve it, I will. If it is lost, we'll have to break the Fidelius Charm and ask Minerva to cast a new one somewhere else – or do without one like all the other families do."

"All the other families aren't prime targets, Dad," Bill said. "If you don't want to bother Minerva, I'm certain that Tonks, or Moody, or any other of our old friends would be willing."

"You're right, Bill." Arthur Weasley smiled at his oldest son. "We'll do that, but maybe it won't be necessary. I will talk to Percy tomorrow, and he will hear me out." He turned back to his soup.

Mrs. Weasley had just started to hand out the pudding when a sharp rap at the front door brought all conversation to an end.

"That must be Percy! He must be wondering if he's really welcome if he's knocking on the door, the poor boy. Be nice to him!" Mrs. Weasley whispered happily and rushed to the door, pushing Dobby aside, who had wanted to admit the visitor.

"Molly, wait," Mr. Weasley called, but she had opened the door already. "Percy!"

"I'm so sorry, Mum," a feeble voice stammered.

Then one voice yelled, "Crucio," a second yelled a Stunning Curse, and a third voice yelled, "Avada Kedavra."

Everything seemed to happen at once. Harry jumped from his chair, wand already drawn. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ron and Hermione do likewise while Fred, George and Ginny flanked Mr. Weasley, who ran to the door where the still shape of his wife lay on the floor, a screaming and twitching Percy at her side. Bill and Fleur had each drawn their wands and stood back-to-back, watching the windows and the back door.

Almost as if in slow motion, the windows shattered, and the back door flew open. All of a sudden, Death Eaters seemed to be everywhere, flooding the house through every available entryway.

Harry was immediately attacked by two of them, but he blocked their spells with an ease that surprised him. A few nonverbal hexes of his own, and his two opponents lay unmoving and bound on the floor.

He looked around wildly. Mr. Weasley had thrown himself over his wife, and Fred, George, Ginny, and Alouette the house-elf were deflecting the attacks of at least seven Death Eaters, who cursed and hexed them incessantly. Harry Stunned two of them from behind and blocked the attack of a third with the deflector spell that filled the house with its booming sound.

"That's Potter. He must not be killed," one of the Death Eaters yelled. Harry used the brief indecision of his opponent to levitate him up to the ceiling at top speed. With a 'whomp', the surprised Death Eater hit his head and got knocked out cold. With a grim smile, Harry released him, and with another thud, the Death Eater fell to the floor.

"Watch out, Harry," Ginny cried.

Harry spun around and immediately leapt to the side, evading the flying cauldron that was aimed at his head.

"I told you not to harm Potter," the Death Eater yelled again, and Harry thought he knew that voice.

"Wormtail," he snarled. But he didn't have time to look for the owner of the voice because he was knocked off his feet by a bunch of flying bananas. A puzzled glance showed him an amazing sight. Several of the Death Eaters were levitating the remaining food, the plates, and the cutlery from the dinner table and were sending them flying at everyone who came into their range of vision. One Death Eater was juggling three apples and was completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

With grim satisfaction, Harry saw Ron Petrify one after the other of their confused enemies while Hermione was sending nonverbal Confundus Charms at every Death Eater who came close, causing some of them to act just as confused as their comrades.

"Let's get out of here," the voice, Wormtail, yelled again, and the few remaining Death Eaters who still had their wits about them headed towards the doors. Fleur skilfully Stunned two of them, and then it was over. It couldn't have lasted longer than ten minutes.

Dazedly, Harry looked around. One of the escaping Death Eaters had managed to cast the Dark Mark, and in its eerie, green light, Harry saw Stunned or otherwise incapacitated Death Eaters everywhere. They had taken out at least twenty of them. Harry's guess was that there had been thirty Death Eaters in total, but while they had been fighting, it had seemed as if there were more. All of the Weasleys seemed unharmed except for Mrs. Weasley, who still lay where she had fallen, and Percy, who was curled into a ball and sobbing quietly. Mr. Weasley sat at his wife's side and stared at her numbly. As Ron slowly walked over to his father, Hermione stood and watched wide-eyed and with clenched teeth, swallowing hard several times. All the Weasleys gathered around their parents, everything else forgotten.

"Molly," Arthur Weasley whispered, then threw himself over his wife and started to shake her, wracked by sobs. "Molly, wake up."

Ginny and Bill were trying to pull him away from her when the crackling of Apparition announced the arrival of new visitors.

Harry ran to the next window, crouched down and looked outside. The new visitors were Order members – Remus, Tonks and Moody among them. All came with wands drawn as they carefully approached the house.

"They're gone. It's over," Fred said to the Order members. Harry presumed that it had been Fred who had sent his Patronus for help.

Tonks started to check on the captured Death Eaters and sent them to the Ministry with a Portkey.

The other Order members crowded around the Weasleys, took charge, and started to Floo the family off to St. Mungo's, one after the other. Harry still felt dazed and shocked, and from the look on Hermione's face, he thought that she must feel likewise. They both seemed like intruders and didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

The Weasleys looked similarly shaken, some of them numb. Only Percy continued to sob, and Fleur had started to curse and grumble under her breath. She seemed to see something that fuelled the flames of her ire and started yelling, "It's all your fault, you useless, brainless excuse for a servant. It should 'ave been you who's dead now. I wish... I wish I could..." And then she was taking one of her shoes off and throwing it at the sobbing Alouette, who was cringing on the floor, obviously in pain.

"Not clothes, noooo," Alouette whimpered and fainted. But before Hermione and Harry could say, let alone do something, someone took them by the arms and shoved them towards the fireplace where they were whisked off to St. Mungo's.