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Home » The Crystal Hall » Authors Corner » Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller (a Harry Potter / Buffy xover fanfic)  () 6 Vote(s)
Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #49718 is a reply to message #49536 ] Wed, 14 December 2011 02:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 16 All the Host of Them


The next morning, Ginny noticed when Hermione woke up and stretched. Crookshanks hopped up on the bed and nudged Hermione right on the cheek.

Hermione petted Crookshanks and giggled, "What? Am I not giving you enough attention?" And that was when she noticed Ginny was already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, already showered, and sitting at her desk. She was studying out of some of Hermione's magic textbooks. Hermione worried, "Did I oversleep? How late is it?"

Ginny smiled at her. "It's only six or so, but I've been up for a while." At Hermione's concerned look, she admitted, "It's okay. Ever since... that night, I'm only sleeping about three or four hours a night. It's the Slayer, wanting to go out and hunt."

Hermione gasped, "You get four or five extra hours to study? I would do anything for..." And then she realized what she was saying. "Oh. Sorry." Because someone would have to die for her to get those powers, and that wasn't something Ginny was ever going to feel good about. And now, the person who would have to die was Ginny. Instead, Hermione hastily changed the subject. "So... what are you looking up?"

When Hermione and Ginny went downstairs for breakfast, Fred and George were already at the table, wolfing down food and making horrible jokes about ears and holes in the head and everything you could think of.

Ginny would have joined in, but she could hear her mum. Every time her mum looked at George, she sobbed. It was really quiet, but not quiet enough for someone who now could hear people's heartbeats when she tried to.

Their mum finally wept, "I should have listened to Ginny! Oh George! It's all my fault!"

When the twins looked at each other in confusion, their mum broke down and told them all about Ginny's new powers. Ginny could have guessed what the twins would say.

"Wicked!"

"Cool!"

Their mum snapped, "It's not cool! Your little sister's stuck like this!"

Fred smirked, "Hey Ginny, can you hold Ron upside-down on the wall while we do a Sticking Charm on him?"

George grinned, "Come on Ginny, aren't we your favorite big brothers? Please?"

Ginny gave them both a smile and said, "You're my very favorite twin big brothers."

"Thank you... Hey!"

"Oh, and can we test some of our new inventions on you?"

Their mum shouted, "BOYS!"

Ginny smiled evilly and said, "Oh sure. We can make a trade. I practice my vampire fighting techniques on you, and then you get to test something on me. I broke my dresser and a brick wall last time, so I need to practice on something I don't mind breaking."

Hermione played along. "But you boys have pots and pots of that bruise removal cream, right? And you probably have something for broken bones too, so it won't be that bad."

"You know, I think one of our potions might be bubbling over-"

"-so we really need to go check on it-"

"-right away-"

"-if not sooner!"

By then, they were already halfway up the stairs to their room. Her mum waited a couple seconds, and then opened her mouth to give Ginny a good talking to. But Hermione stood up and held up one hand for silence. Ginny was amazed that her mum stopped.

Hermione peeked out into the stairway, and then came back. She performed a couple quick charms, and then said, "They can't hear us now. They had some more Extendable Ears out."

"Those boys!" her mum fumed. "I told them not to..."

Hermione calmly said, "They're selling them in their joke shops now. They probably have hundreds of them made up."

Ginny grinned, "And how do you know this?"

Hermione said, "I read through one of their price lists, so I'd know everything they're selling. After that business with the Peruvian Darkness Powder, I don't plan to be caught unawares any more."

Ginny repressed a shudder. "Once was enough."

Hermione added, "And I'm working on an antidote or counter-curse for every one of their inventions. The love potions are bad enough. Just imagine what a Death Eater could do if he slipped something in your food and then you wanted to do anything in the world for him! He wouldn't even have to perform the Imperius Curse on you."

Her mum said, "Love potions have always been dangerous. And that's not counting all the ways they can go wrong. It takes a very skilled potions expert to brew one and be sure of the results."

All three of them looked up toward the twins' room. Her mum muttered, "And yet they didn't do well on their Potions O.W.L."

Hermione said, "Professor Flitwick said the swamp they did in the corridor was a really nice bit of magic. So they can do it if they want. I think they knew what they wanted to do when they grew up, and that's all they've ever concentrated on."

Mum said, "But they need to... Ginny?"

"What, mum?" Ginny said as soon as she swallowed the sausage in her mouth.

Her mum sounded worried as she said, "There were fifteen sausages left after the twins finished."

Ginny looked at the plate. There were only five sausages left. She looked at Hermione, who was still working on her first one. She looked down at her own plate. There was one sausage left, amidst the grease marks left by a small armada of now-eaten sausages. Merlin's beard, she must have eaten eight of them while she was listening to Hermione! She admitted, "I'm just eating more. Sorry, mum."

Hermione said, "She's eating a lot more. I think it's the Vampire Slayer powers." Ginny noticed that her mum winced slightly.

Her mum got up and moved back to the stove. "Well then, I'd better cook up some more sausages. Harry and Ron will want something. It's just such a... change having you eating like Fred and George put together."

Ron and Harry finally came down for breakfast. Ron watched as Harry deliberately sat next to Ginny. Ron finally shrugged and sat down next to Hermione. He shoved a huge chunk of sausage in his mouth and asked, "So, what are we going to do today?"

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief when Harry didn't answer back with a mouth full of food. She knew Harry wasn't perfect, but she still thought Hermione had a lot more work to do on Ron than she did with Harry.

Hermione glanced over to make sure Ginny's mum wasn't listening. She instantly started listing her plans for the day in a whisper. "I thought we could divide up tasks. We need to do research, and we need to start planning, and spell practice would be good, and I wanted to read through Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts books, and-"

Ron interrupted loudly, "I thought Fred and George wanted to play Quidditch today."

Mum heard that and just about exploded. "Ronald Weasley! How can you think of Quidditch when your brother has that dreadful injury!"

Hermione frowned at Ron for interrupting her, but she said, "Mrs. Weasley, it was George's idea. Really."

"Molly, dear. Please call me Molly," mum insisted.

Hermione smiled and said, "I'll try... Molly."

Ginny just tried not to look over at Hermione, because she knew her mum was thinking about having Hermione as a daughter-in-law some day.

Hermione thought for a few seconds and then said, "You know, a game of Quidditich might be just the thing." Ron's jaw dropped open in shock. She went on, "Ginny needs some exercise, and chasing after something might help calm her down so she can sleep at night. We could play teams, and have Ginny run instead of ride a broom."

Her mum said, "You know, that's a very good idea, Hermione. Especially if it keeps her from needing to... run around loose at night."

Ginny just rolled her eyes, while Hermione sat there looking like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. She had no idea how Hermione did it.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #49888 is a reply to message #49718 ] Sun, 18 December 2011 12:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 17 The Earth and the Heavens


After breakfast, it was just like always. The Quidditch players needed to argue for an hour about who should be on which team to make it 'fair'. In George and Fred's case, that really meant 'so my team will be better'. Everyone agreed Harry and Ginny couldn't be on the same team. Everyone agreed that whoever had Hermione had to get some extra advantage, even if Hermione hated being the one who was really bad at something. Finally, they ended up with a team of Ginny, Ron, and George. But Ginny had to run instead of flying on a broom. She could tell Fred figured that would give his team a big advantage. He even decided he and George would be the Keepers. She looked at Ron and smirked. Ron checked to make sure Hermione wasn't looking his way, and he smirked back.

They played for about an hour and a half. Ginny ran the whole time, with a few breaks here and there. Her side won 370 to 240. And Fred was covered in bruises, because Ron's strategy was to get the quaffle away from Hermione and throw it to Ginny, then let Ginny outmaneuver Harry. That worked a lot, because everyone including Harry was on Weasley family brooms, and an old Cleansweep Five wasn't as fast or as maneuverable as a Vampire Slayer. And once Ginny got close enough to the goal, Fred had no chance of stopping her shots. She bounced a few of them off his head and his bottom, just to teach him a lesson.

"Bloody hell, Gin!" Fred complained as he limped into the kitchen.

"Go little sis!" George laughed.

Hermione asked, "They do have enough of that bruise removal cream, don't they?"

Ron grinned, "Yeah, they have pints of the stuff."

Fred turned and glared at Ron. "Well, I bloody well didn't figure on having to bathe in the stuff!" And he limped up the stairs to his room.

Ginny slumped down in a chair and had a big glass of cold pumpkin juice. She felt great. Tired, but great. Playing Quidditch like that finally gave her enough chasing time and enough exercise that she wasn't jumpy and edgy.

After lunch, the four of them ducked into Ginny's room to talk about their plans. Harry pointed out, "For right now, we can only prepare, since I can't go after the Horcruxes until the Trace breaks on my birthday.

Ron suddenly worried, "Uh-oh. What about Ginny's Trace? Hers isn't going to break for a long time."

Hermione looked a little embarrassed as she admitted, "It's okay, Ron. Ginny's Trace broke the night she became a Slayer. I'm sure of it, because it was gone the next day when I looked up the spells and checked on it. It probably broke the second she became a Slayer, because we've seen magic doesn't work so well on Slayers."

Harry grinned, "So Ginny can go with us? And no one will know they can't follow her using her Trace?"

Hermione smiled wickedly. "And I can probably figure out how to duplicate the Trace somewhere in the Burrow, so anyone who tries to check on her will think she's right here."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Probably. Wouldn't surprise me if you could figure out how to travel through time. Oh wait, you already did that."

"Ron!" Hermione fussed. Then she stopped and thought out loud, "You know, it's really a shame all those Time-Turners got broken, because we could really use that as a backup weapon if-"

Harry grimaced, "It's probably just as well, since we've got so many Death Eaters loose in the Ministry these days. Fudge would probably give Lucius Malfoy as many as he asked for."

"Ugh," Ron complained. "That'd be all we need. The bouncing ferret with his own Time-Turner."

Hermione pulled out a sheet of parchment with a schedule on it. "Now here's what I propose. Ron and I can teach Ginny magic she wouldn't learn until next year. Apparation, voiceless magic, advanced Charms. Harry's the only one who can't do magic yet, so his job is research. Finding out what Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw might have left, and where they are, and which of them went missing since Tom Riddle was at Hogwarts."

"Ugh," Harry groaned.

"And if Ron decides not to work harder on spellwork, he can help Harry with the research," Hermione continued.

"Hermione!" Ron gasped in horror. Ginny had to work hard not to burst out laughing.

Hermione added, "And I have two hours every evening marked out for me. Studying Harry's DADA books I haven't read yet."

Ron asked, "What about Quidditch? Are we going to play every morning?"

Hermione sighed. "I think so. Your mum will be a lot happier if she thinks we're just mucking around and playing games. And Ginny probably does need the chasing and exercise."

Harry said, "Besides, it was hilarious when Ginny bounced that shot off Fred's bum."

Ron said, "The best was the one off his forehead. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my broom."

Hermione said, "You do realize no one's going to want to play Keeper against Ginny after today."

Harry said, "We'll probably have to allow that Keeper to use some kind of Shield charm."

Ginny smiled. "We don't have to mention that to Fred and George yet, do we?"

"Ginny!" Hermione fussed.

Harry said, "Yeah, we've got to figure out where Voldemort could have hidden all this stuff, and what things he might have used. We know about the cup and the locket I mean the real locket and Dumbledore was pretty confident about the snake. That still leaves something of Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Then I have to face Voldemort."

Ginny frowned, "But there's nothing in the prophecy that says I can't tenderize him a bit, first. Right?"

Harry grinned at her. "Especially if you're my power he knows nothing about. I always wanted to have a secret weapon. I just don't want you to get hurt!"

She said, "I'm the Vampire Slayer. Hurting monsters is what I was made for." She didn't say anything about the whole 'dying really young' part. She was trying not to think about that. But when she looked at Harry, it was easy to tell herself it would be a good thing if she saved Harry, even if she died doing it.

They managed to spend most of that day and night sticking to Hermione's schedule. Ginny could tell it was going to take a long time for her to learn voiceless magic, and she didn't seem to have a knack for apparation either. She didn't like the idea of Hermione having to side-along apparate her everywhere they needed to go. Harry spent the afternoon poring through what seemed like an entire library of books Hermione had stashed in her purse. Ginny knew that trunks and suitcases in stores with charms like that cost a fortune in Galleons. She only wished she knew how to do those spells so she could make her own purse like that. Then Hermione stayed up reading so late that even Ginny got sleepy.

* * * * *

But their schedule fell apart completely the very next morning. First, Harry and Ron needed to pull Ginny and Hermione aside right after breakfast. Ron convinced the twins to be a distraction, so they had time to talk in the meadow before they played Quidditch.

Harry groaned, "We have a problem." When everyone was looking at him, he said, "I had another flash from Voldemort. He was talking to Thorfinn Rowle. They already have him out of prison, even if his jaw is still sort of swollen. Rowle told Voldemort the whole story. A girl in Muggle clothing broke his arm, smashed his knee, and broke his jaw, all before he could get in one good punch. Voldemort figured it out. He knows I have a Vampire Slayer on my side, and he's figuring out how to counter her."
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #50019 is a reply to message #49888 ] Wed, 21 December 2011 15:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 18 Every Plant of the Field


"Voldemort figured it out. He knows I have a Vampire Slayer on my side, and he's figuring out how to counter her."

He added, "But he doesn't know it's you. I think he believes it's a Muggle."

Hermione winced. "Oh, this isn't good. This isn't good at all! What are we going to do? I'll start researching ways of countering a Vampire Slayer, and we'll have to think about ways to counter his moves..."

Harry nodded. "Okay, you come up with possible plans for Voldemort, and then work with Ron on counters. Maybe chess moves to lure him into a trap so we can checkmate him."

Ron started to reply, but the twins interrupted. "Strategy session over, mates! Mum's wised up. If we don't start playing right now, she's got cleaning for us to do instead."

Then after the Quidditch game, her mum cornered Harry out in the yard. And Harry told her most of the truth. That he was going to go do the mission that Dumbledore gave him, and not go back to Hogwarts. Then her mum cornered Hermione, who said she was going with Harry. Then Ron spilled the beans too. Stupid git. Why couldn't he just lie and tell her he was going to do what she wanted?

Oh yeah. The whole spattergroit plan.

"Ginny? You're not planning on going with Harry, are you?" her mum glowered. "Because you're definitely too young."

She stood her ground, even if it was her mum. "I have to. After Professor Dumbledore's funeral, the centaurs gave us a prophecy. About Voldemort, and Harry. I'm in it too. I have to go, and I have to help Harry."

"You can't go!" her mum insisted. "You're underage! You still have the Trace!"

"I don't."

"What? Lying like that is completely pointless, young lady. You're not seventeen, and you won't be for months!"

Ginny made herself look at her mum instead of the ground. "Hermione checked the morning after I became the Vampire Slayer. My Trace had already broken. She thinks it probably broke the second I was Called."

"But you're too young! I forbid it!"

She stood there and let her mum yell at her for a long time. But she had made up her mind a long time ago. She was going, and she was going to help Harry no matter what it cost her. Hermione was already giving up her family, maybe forever. How could Ginny do any less, when it was for Harry? Her mum finally wound down and realized Ginny was going to go with Harry, no matter what.

So her mum took another tack. She gave each of them a million tasks to do for Fleur's wedding. And she planned it so they were always separated. Even Ron figured it out by late afternoon.

* * * * *

That night, they met at midnight in Ginny's room.

Ron yawned, "Well, the kneazle's out of the bag. Mum got Fred and George to tell her about transfiguring the ghoul. Fred said she only screamed at them for about ten minutes before she rushed off to yell at me some more. Dunno how they got the ghoul to go along with the plan, but he's looking forward to it. Figure she's going to do anything she can to keep us apart."

Harry said, "She's already keeping us apart with all the wedding details. And she's talking about tasks she needs you and Ginny to do after the wedding, so I guess she's trying to stall us until she can figure out how to scuttle our plan."

Hermione said, "I'm working all that out right now. We just need to get all our things together, get our clothes all washed and packed so we're ready to go at a moment's notice, and keep working on our parts of my schedule. Any news on that?"

Ron said, "Well, I'm getting better on apparation. Be easier if I didn't have to go all the way to the meadow to practice, but dad's got his anti-apparation wards set around the whole area. And it'd be easier if Fred and George would lay off me."

Harry said, "I got in a couple hours of research in your books. There aren't that many famous artifacts for Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor anymore. The only one for Gryffindor is his sword, and we already know that isn't a Horcrux. There are a couple possibilities for Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw's goblet is still on display in a Wizard museum in London. Ravenclaw's belt is supposed to belong to the Bones family. And then there's Ravenclaw's lost diadem, but it hasn't been seen for centuries."

"What's a diadem?" Ron wondered.

"It's like a circlet or a tiara," Hermione instantly explained. Hermione nodded, "That's a good start. We can check on the goblet and the belt first. Maybe we'll get lucky. We'll check whether the goblet is a Horcrux, and we'll ask Susan Bones if she'll talk to the Head of Bones House for us, and maybe they'll let us see the belt."

Harry asked, "And if it's not either of them?"

Hermione shrugged. "Then we'll have to keep doing research until we find out what the Horcrux is, and where it might be."

Harry frowned, "If it's like the locket, it may be somewhere that only has meaning for Tom Riddle. And it may be really heavily guarded."

Hermione said, "I know. But all of Riddle's life before Hogwarts is going to be in Muggle files, so we may be able to dig up information that even Professor Dumbledore couldn't track down."

Ginny didn't say anything, but she hoped Hermione was right. If she was wrong, it might be like looking for something that wasn't hay in a whole field of haystacks.

Harry just said, "Dumbledore knew Riddle's entire life before Hogwarts was that lousy orphanage, and he knew a lot more about what went on in there than he ought to. But he didn't know what Riddle got up to after he worked for Borgin and Burke's, and that might be what we need to track down."

"That'd take a bloody miracle," groused Ron.

The next day was more of the same. Ginny got sent off to groom the meadow and touch up the rock walls. She could see Harry cleaning up around the henhouse and Ron working over in the front garden. Hermione was probably stuck inside with mum pestering her non-stop.

So it wasn't until lunch that the next problem reared its ugly head. Ginny was appalled when her mum and Fleur wanted Harry in disguise. Her mum thought Polyjuice Potion was probably the best choice, except for the long preparation time. Ginny decided right then she wasn't going to tell anyone that Hermione had already brewed up an enormous batch of the potion.

Ginny fussed, "Mum! I want Harry looking like Harry!"

"Stop whining dear, Harry will still be there, just..."

"Mum! I'm not whining!" she complained. She was sure she wasn't whining.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #50148 is a reply to message #50019 ] Sun, 25 December 2011 03:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 19 Man of the Dust


They argued throughout lunch, and then every time Ginny came in for water or a snack. It wasn't until dinner, which included Ginny's dad and half a dozen other members of the Order, that Hermione finally made a breakthrough. She asked Kingsley and Ginny's dad, "Is anyone at the wedding going to be a Death Eater, or someone who might talk to Death Eaters?"

"Well... no," her dad finally said.

Hermione smiled brightly, "So will it make any difference? And if it does leak out that Harry came to the wedding, he'll be long gone well before then."

Her mum wasn't convinced, but Fleur was satisfied.

Then it turned out Fleur's little sister Gabrielle wanted Harry to be at the wedding so she could dance with him and try to ensnare him with her slinky veela ways. So that was why Fleur was all right with Harry not being in disguise. Ginny suddenly wanted to go punch a certain part-veela in the face.

* * * * *

Ginny paced back and forth in her room for hours. Hermione tried to calm her down. "Be reasonable, Ginny. Harry picked you, not her."

"She's a veela!" Ginny snapped. "You know what they're like! You know what they can do!"

Hermione gritted her teeth. "Of course I know! Whose boyfriend was it who couldn't stop staring and stammering every time Fleur walked into the room last summer? Was it Harry? NO!"

Ginny ducked her head. "Oh. Right. Sorry." She kept pacing, though. "I just need to get out... and... you know."

Hermione thought for a minute and finally said, "I have an idea."

"Really?"

Hermione nodded. "First, let me see if I can undo the alarm charms on your window." It took Hermione almost ten minutes of testing and looking in books before the window flew open on its own. The alarms didn't sound. The window didn't scream about being opened.

Hermione grinned, "Next, we need brooms."

"We?" Ginny checked.

"Yes! We. I'm going with you. And there's no way I can run ten or twenty miles like you can. So..." She opened her little purse and reached into it. Two school brooms came out when she withdrew her arm.

Ginny asked, "How many brooms do you have in there?"

Hermione grinned, "Six, including Harry's Firebolt." She stopped and thought. "Next, I need to do Disillusionment Charms on both of us." She tapped her wand on her head, and she took on the coloring of the wall behind her. Then she tapped Ginny on the head.

Nothing happened.

Hermione tried it again. And a third time. Finally, she muttered, "I should have known a spell wouldn't work." She marched to the door, flung it open, pointed her wand up the stairs, and hissed, "Accio Harry's cloak!"

There was a rattling upstairs, and a few seconds later Harry's cloak flew into her arms. Hermione blushed a little and said, "I needed to get this folded away and put in my purse anyway."

Ginny wrapped the cloak tightly around herself, and tucked it under herself once she was on her broom so it wouldn't blow off while they were flying. Then she leaned forward on her broom and expertly flew it out the open window. Hermione followed a bit more carefully.

"Where to?" Hermione whispered from what looked like thin air, if you couldn't spot an odd, Hermione-shaped wavering there about a broom that seemed to be hovering without a pilot.

Ginny pointed, and then realized that was useless when she was invisible. She whispered back, "South, past Ottery St. Catchpole. Can you see my broom?"

"Yes," Hermione whispered. "And I can see your legs most of the time too."

So Hermione followed Ginny across the skies. Ginny flew low, keeping a lookout for suspicious vampire activity as she went. She wondered how in Merlin's name a Vampire Slayer was supposed to do her job on foot. Maybe that Watchers' Council did lots of research for her and told her where she needed to be. She wondered if Hermione would agree to be her Watcher and help her with all this. If they survived Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

When Ginny finally saw two stealthy shadows sneaking through a cemetery, she knew what to do. She waggled her broom to get Hermione's attention, and dove toward the ground. She staked the first vampire on a chest-level flyby, and leapt off the broom before the second vampire even figured out there was a threat. She dropped the cloak and punched the vampire so hard he went flying back into a stone mausoleum.

She grinned as the vampire got back on his feet. She leapt to attack him.

She didn't see the two vampires coming up behind her. One had a shovel.

The other one had a rifle. He took careful aim at her back.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #50259 is a reply to message #50148 ] Wed, 28 December 2011 03:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 20 The Breath of Life


She didn't see the two vampires coming up behind her. One had a shovel.

The other one had a rifle. He took careful aim at her back.

Suddenly she heard Hermione shout "Incendio!" She dove to the side and rolled, figuring there had to be a threat behind her if Hermione was getting involved.

Two voices screeched for a fraction of a second before the familiar whoosh of dusting vampires reached her ears.

The lone remaining vampire struggled to get to his feet after being pummeled by Ginny's fists and feet. He groaned, "No fair using a bloody flamethrower!"

Ginny glanced back at the gun on the ground amidst a spray of vampire dust. She growled, "Says the vampires who brought a rifle!"

"We didn't know we had the bloody Slayer on our hands! We just figured it was some Hunters. Maybe those Torchwood pillocks. But how can you be the Slayer? You're not the Golden Slayer, and you're sure not the Dark Slayer. You look more like the Red Witch."

Ginny refrained from staking him. "Two Slayers? I thought there can be only one."

"Me too, Ginger. Me too. But I got a sire who went over there and never came back. He's sent us a couple letters, though. Two Slayers now. And the brunette's a bleedin' psycho. So you're number three? Or maybe someone finally snuffed the Dark Slayer."

"What if someone killed the Golden Slayer?" Ginny wondered.

"Nah, word is Summers is pretty much indestructible. Wiped out or corrupted the whole Order of Aurelius from The Master on down, helped take down Kakistos, killed Dracula for good, put the fear of the gods into the Order of Teraka, beat a hellgod, stopped The Dark Witch, you name it, she's killed it. I'd bet fifty quid it isn't her."

He looked up into the air and then smiled in what he hoped was a disarming way. "So, what do you say, we call it all a misunderstanding, and I just take the next ferry over to France and you never see me again? I mean, you got that hovering invisible black helicopter or whatever it is up there with that flamethrower for your backup, so it's not like I've got a chance..."

He suddenly threw a chunk of rock at her head and lit out like an army of dementors were after him.

She dodged the rock and pulled out her wand. "Incendio." The vampire disintegrated into dust.

Hermione floated down to about ten feet above the ground. Ginny could tell where Hermione was by her faintly wavering outline, but she wasn't sure any normal person would be able to tell. Hermione whispered, "I'm guessing the shovel wasn't for burying anyone."

Ginny nodded. She tossed the invisibility cloak over herself and mounted her broom. Then they began searching the graveyard.

There were four new graves. When Ginny put her ear to the ground, she could hear movement underneath three of them. She could feel something knotting in her gut that told her she had found three newly-sired vampires. She flew over to Hermione and whispered, "I think I should have let that last vampire run. If there's a... a whole gang of them-"

"A nest," Hermione corrected her. Naturally, Hermione had done research on vampires.

"-a nest, we need to find it and wipe it out."

They used quiet incendio spells to take care of the three fledglings as they emerged from the ground. Hermione didn't even bother to speak out loud when she did her spells. Ginny reminded herself that she really wanted to learn how to do that.

Then they flew back to the Burrow. They carefully ducked as they flew into Ginny's room. Then Hermione went to work. She dispelled the Disillusionment Charm on herself and packed away Harry's cloak as well as the broomsticks. Then she made sure the right alarm spells were back in place on the window.

Hermione did a couple quick reparo charms and a tergeo to fix Ginny's torn and dirty clothes. Then she tried some medical charms to take care of Ginny's bruises. The medical charms didn't work.

Ginny looked at the bruises on her knuckles and frowned, "What do Muggle Slayers do?"

Hermione said, "They must go through an awful lot of clothes and an awful lot of bandages."

Ginny sighed, "Maybe they're a lot better at it than I am."

Hermione pursed her lips and unwillingly admitted, "If they really have these Watchers around to help them and train them, I suppose it's possible. I don't know how to do training for Vampire Slayers. But you could use spells instead."

Ginny grimaced. "That's the thing. I don't want to. I just have this... urge to get out there and attack them... and hit them... and beat them senseless... and kill them. It's like I turned into some sort of monster."

"Or some sort of Glaswegian," teased Hermione.

They giggled over that for long minutes as they got ready for bed.

* * * * *

The next morning, as Ginny's mum gave everyone orders for their morning tasks, Ginny could see Harry and Ron were right pissed at her. And at Hermione.

As they walked out into the yard, Ron complained to Hermione, "Merlin's baggy Y-fronts! Why'd you sneak off like that? Why couldn't we come too?"

Harry said to Ginny, "I would have let you borrow the cloak if you'd just asked."

Ginny ducked her head and admitted, "We had to accio it. Hermione's Disillusionment Charm won't work on me."

Ron asked, "So... What was it like tagging along with the Vampire Slayer?"

Hermione gushed, "It was amazing. Ginny's so fast she's a blur when she's fighting, and she threw a vampire so hard he broke a stone wall! And I got to take out a couple vampires with spells." She looked over at Ginny and added, "And the bruises she had last night are pretty much already gone. With no potions."

Ginny said, "We need to meet up tonight in my room and do some planning. That town's got a vampire nest we need to get rid of before there's a really nasty problem."

Hermione frowned, "And it's not like the Ministry will bother itself with loads of Muggles being killed by vampires or turned into new vampires."

Harry suddenly stopped in his tracks. "And it just happens to be within a couple hours' walk of the Burrow? Or a lot less than that if they just steal a car? Maybe Voldemort's building up a few vampire armies to attack some Order strongholds. Maybe this is his counter to the Vampire Slayer. Give her half a dozen gigantic nests of vampires to track down all over the countryside, so she can't help me."
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #50534 is a reply to message #50259 ] Sun, 01 January 2012 03:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
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Chapter 21 The Man Whom He Had Formed


"Maybe this is his counter to the Vampire Slayer. Give her half a dozen gigantic nests of vampires to track down all over the countryside, so she can't help me."

Ron groaned, "Oh lovely. So there could be another nest of the blighters in London near Grimmauld Place? Or maybe near Hogwarts? Or hiding in Knockturn Alley getting ready to rampage through Diagon Alley some night?"

Hermione calmly said, "We'll just have to get a list of suspected Order hideouts, and go patrol around each one of them. Maybe Professor MacGonagall's home, and Professor Flitwick's..."

Ron complained, "And that'll go over so well. 'So dad, we thought we'd like to go out in the middle of the night and risk our necks hunting loads of vampires. Care to tell us where the Death Eaters think the Order are hiding out?' Mum will bloody well explode."

* * * * *

Ginny figured Ron had to be right this time. For once. But her mum had all of them come in and clean up for dinner, because guests were coming over. It was Kingsley and Tonks. And, despite her mum's wishes, Hermione and Ron were already in the Order, just like every other Weasley except her. And Percy. So Hermione was already working on a plan to get secret information out of Aurors who ought to be too smart to fall for something like that.

Finally, over dessert, Hermione got the opening she was looking for. Tonks was talking about their concern that several key people in the Ministry had been put under the Imperius Curse, and Hermione seized the opportunity. She asked, "So does that mean some of the Order are in danger? From being suspected of being in the Order?"

Kingsley gave her a smile and explained in his deep voice, "Not really. Only Moody was suspected of that, so the other Aurors like myself and Tonks are just... in the usual danger of being Aurors when Death Eaters are on the loose. Most of the people suspected of being in the Order are either dead or at Hogwarts: Hagrid, MacGonagall, Flitwick, Vector, and Sprout are all safely behind the Hogwarts wards. Daedalus Diggle, and a couple others who are suspected, are out of the country guarding the Dursleys and out of harm's way. Peter Pettigrew knew that Remus was one of the Order, but Remus is quite hard to track with the usual spells because of his lycanthropy, and Dumbledore before he died managed to locate a hideaway for Remus that not even the Ministry knows about. That leaves only a couple people who are generally suspected of being Order members, like Amelia Bones. As you know, she isn't even in the Order."

"What about us?" checked Ron.

Kingsley cleared his throat uncomfortably. Tonks glanced at him and spoke up. "You're not considered threats. Percy Weasley has badmouthed your father so much to Fudge and Scrimgeour that no one believes Arthur Weasley is competent enough to be a member of the Order."

Her dad glowered unhappily, even while Harry asked, "Umm, maybe Percy is protecting his family by acting like-"

"A ponce?" tried Fred.

"A nattering git?" asked George.

Fred went on, "Maybe a pinheaded-"

"BOYS!" snapped her mum, and they shut up.

* * * * *

The foursome met up again in Ginny's room at the stroke of midnight. They talked over everything they had learned from Kingley and Tonks, and they decided they would hunt for vampire nests around the Burrow, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Bones Manor, and Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

At long last, Hermione grudgingly gave in. She had wanted two other sites added in, but Ginny thought they were overextending themselves already, and Harry kept pointing out that Ginny was the Vampire Slayer on the team so they should listen to her on the subject.

Hermione said, "We'll just have to find a computer where we can do some searches on recent violent deaths and missing persons. If there's anywhere in Muggle England with big jumps in both, it's probably either Death Eaters or vampire nests." Then she had to stop and explain to both Weasleys about computers and the internet and search programs.

Ron asked, "So here's what I want to know. How can they not know exactly who's in the Order? They have Snape on their side! They have to know mum and dad and the whole family are in it!"

Harry said, "I've been thinking about that. Maybe Dumbledore has a hex on him so he can't tell."

Hermione frowned, "I don't see how that's workable anymore. With Professor Dumbledore dead, Snape has to be able to talk about Grimmauld Place, since the Fidelius Charm would fragment, and Snape would now be one of the Secret Keepers. Like we are now. And if there was something like an Unbreakable Vow so he couldn't talk about the Order, Voldemort could break it now that Dumbledore's dead. Or he could make Snape tell and just not care that it killed Snape to do it."

Ginny wondered, "So why aren't Death Eaters busting down our doors right this second? Or going after Kingsley and Tonks and them in the Ministry?"

Hermione frowned, "I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. There must be some piece of the puzzle we don't have, and if we had it, things would make sense."

Harry muttered, "I still don't get why people are so afraid to say 'Voldemort' instead of 'You-Know-Who' and 'the Dark Lord'."

Hermione snorted and said, "You ought to know about that! It's in the chapter of Modern Magical History that you're in. The last time, Voldemort was able to empower a massive Taboo Curse." Ron actually winced, so Ginny figured he knew what that meant. "He could maintain a magical map of Great Britain, and if someone said his name out loud, there would be a marker on the map, and he could send Death Eaters there to kill them."

Ginny asked, "So when Dumbledore kept saying 'Voldemort' like it was nothing..."

Hermione nodded. "He was being incredibly brave. Voldemort had to know that someone in Hogwarts was using his name indiscriminately, and he had to know from Snape that it was Dumbledore. It's a wonder Voldemort never launched a massive Death Eater attack at Dumbledore. Or at the school."

Harry pursed his lips. "That we know of. Maybe Dumbledore defeated enough attacks that Voldemort didn't dare try any more of them."

Ron groaned, "So now, without Dumbledore around to protect it, the school's going to be a target, right?"

Hermione sighed, "Well, it does have all those wards and protections..."

Harry said, "Well, I know you can't fly a broom through the wards without disabling the anti-broomstick enchantments, but why couldn't they apparate to the wards, break them enough to get through, walk in, and then mount their brooms to attack the castle?"

Ron muttered, "Forget that. Just get a thousand giant spiders to attack the castle and eat everyone inside."

"Ron, they're acromantulas," corrected Hermione.

"Fine. Giant, man-eating, talking acromantulas who didn't eat everyone in Hogwarts because Hagrid asked his mate the head spider not to. And it's dead now, so we're just little spider treats if they come across us."

Ginny knew Ron had a fear of spiders, but she didn't make fun of him this time. Not when he'd had to face down hundreds of spiders bigger than he was, back when he was twelve. And she figured he was probably right. "So, when the Death Eaters are ready to attack Hogwarts they'll probably just get their nearby vampire army to sweep through the Forbidden Forest and drive everything in there right at the castle."

Hermione nodded unhappily. "We need to take care of those vampire nests, and anything else we can move away from the Hogwarts grounds."

Ron said, "Hermione, in case you hadn't noticed, there's only four of us. And we have something else we have to do first."

Hermione said, "I can count, you know. And I don't think we'll be able to find all the Horcruxes just one, two, three, and be done with it. I think it's going to take time and lots of research, and possibly lots of exploration."
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #50828 is a reply to message #50534 ] Wed, 04 January 2012 03:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
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Chapter 22 In the Midst of the Garden


The next morning, Ginny was again surprised when Hermione wanted to play Quidditch. Her mum was all for it, assuming everyone did hours of chores first. Even Fred and George had to apparate home and help out, if they wanted to play Quidditch with Harry later.

And so, after lunch, the six of them hiked out to the meadow with their brooms. As soon as Hermione thought they were out of sight, she said, "Go ahead and start without me. I have to run a couple errands." She pulled out her wand and disapparated.

Ron grumbled, "Oh. So that was why she was so keen on playing today."

Fred smirked, "So let's make her one of the Keepers for the day."

George gave an identical smirk. "With Ginny on the other team."

Ron cleared his throat in as much of a threat as Ginny had ever heard Ron give the twins.

"Oh! does Ickle Ronnikins-"

"-want to play Keeper against Ickle Sister?"

There was a pop behind Ginny, and Hermione reappeared. Breathlessly, she said, "Did anyone notice I was gone?"

Ginny noticed that Hermione had what looked like two or three newspapers hidden behind her back. It couldn't be the Daily Prophet, since Hermione still had a paid subscription that arrived every morning by owl. And Ginny couldn't make herself believe that Hermione would willingly read The Quibbler, no matter what. She figured Hermione had snuck off to a Muggle town and picked up some Muggle newspapers.

Harry said, "No one down at the house did."

Hermione looked down at the Burrow. "Can you play two on three while I sneak off? I want to go to a couple Muggle libraries that have internet connections, and see if they have more information on dead bodies. Or missing people. Or girls whose last name is Summers who died or disappeared in California on the day when that Hellmouth closed."

"Missing people?" Ginny checked.

Hermione nodded. "It would be a lot smarter for the vampires to kill people and turn them, then bury the bodies yourself in a forest or some other remote area. Maybe your own backyard or basement. You could let them rise without letting the bodies be found by the police and then buried in the cemetery. You could build up a much bigger army of vampires before anyone figured out what was going on. You could take hundreds of homeless people or prostitutes or runaways and turn them into your own vampire army before anyone even realized they were gone."

Ron said, "Hermione, have I ever mentioned that I'm very, very glad you're on our side?"

George said, "You'd be one scary vampire-"

Fred said, "-without even mentioning the whole vampire with magical powers problem."

Ginny groaned, "Ugh. All I need is a magical duel with a vampire wizard."

Harry wondered, "Would Unforgivables even work on a vampire?"

Hermione stopped and thought it over. "I don't know. They're already dead, so the Avada Kedavra might be useless. They're magical creatures and very strong, so the Cruciatus Curse might not do much, if anything. And I have no idea if the Imperius Curse would have anything to affect. I wonder if there's any books on the subject..."

"Are we going to play or not?" asked one of the twins.

Hermione pulled herself out of her thoughts. "Oh. Right. You five play, while I go do research." And she disapparated again.

Ron said, "Right. Harry and Ginny against the three of us, with one of us getting Harry's Firebolt." He looked at the twins and said, "And we take turns playing Keeper. We change after every five goals they score." He looked at Harry and said, "First team to 300."

Harry took Ginny aside. "I say we play as two Chasers and no Keeper. If we can keep them from moving the quaffle down the field, they won't get all that many shots on goal anyway."

Ginny eavesdropped on the other team and said, "They're going to play two Chasers and a Keeper, and one of the Chasers has the Firebolt. I think that means they're always going to get some shots on goal."

Harry nodded. "But if they're on my Firebolt, we can't defend the goal very well on these old Cleansweeps anyway, so we might as well let them take the shot."

She gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. "And if I beat up Fred and George enough with the quaffle, they won't be doing all that well as Chasers."

He grinned naughtily.

The game was surprisingly even. She was the best Chaser on the field, but Harry was a decent second. He was better than her at flying and intercepting the opposing Chasers, but she was definitely better at throwing the quaffle. The other team had the Firebolt as their big advantage, so they got a number of easy shots on goal. And she noticed that Ron was better than either of the twins as Keeper.

Hermione apparated under one of the trees not long before Ginny won the match 300 to 240, with a shot that ricocheted off Fred's head through the goal.

Ginny flew right over to Hermione and asked, "Did you find out about the Golden Slayer?"

Hermione sadly shook her head. "No. All we really have is a last name. A really common last name. I looked through the obituaries for that week in as many California papers as I could, for a blonde girl around twenty with the last name Summers. No luck. And there's no way to track anyone down by a vampire nickname. And it makes no sense that there's two Slayers! I've got to find a book on the Slayer line."

The rest of them clustered around Hermione and Ginny, the twins complaining about Ginny's aim. "Next time, I want a Shield Charm."

"A big Shield Charm."

"Definitely a full-body Shield Charm."

"And a helmet."

Ron rolled his eyes and ignored them, even though he still had a bloody nose. And a swollen left hand from one of Ginny's shots he had blocked without using a Keeper's glove.

Harry said, "Maybe next time, we could play four on two. With three Chasers, you ought to have more of an advantage."

Hermione looked at the bruised Weasley boys, and winced at the idea. She stepped over to Ron, whispered episkey to fix his nose, and made him let her examine his hand. "I've got a potion that will take care of the swelling, and I know you have a little tub of bruise cream up in your room.

"And what about us?" the twins asked in unison.

She said, "If you're good boys, we'll let you come with us on our adventure tonight."

They looked at each other and instantly said, "We can be good."

Fred asked, "Can you tell us what we're doing?"

Hermione looked at Ginny. Ginny said, "We're going to track down a vampire nest, squeeze some information out of some deadly vampires, and then wipe them out."

"Poor, poor vampires," George kidded.

Ron said, "They're close by, because Voldemort wants to wipe out the Burrow in a vampire slaughter."

"Those evil vampires-"

"-have got to go."

Harry explained, "Voldemort figured out we have a Vampire Slayer, but he doesn't know she's a witch. He's trying to build some vampire armies to keep her too busy to help me, and simultaneously wipe out some Order strongholds with strong wards. Here, probably Hogwarts and Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and we think Bones Manor is on the list."

The twins stared at Hermione in awe. "You interrogated Kingsley, right in front of mum, and no one spotted it!" They both bowed. "We're not worthy!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Tonight, get a broom each, apparate to Ottery St. Catchpole, use a Disillusionment Charm so you can't be seen, and meet us at midnight by the weathervane on top of the town hall."

"And how are you-"

"-going to get past mum's alarm spells?"

Hermione just gave them a smug smile.

They said together, "We really aren't worthy!"
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #51079 is a reply to message #50828 ] Sun, 08 January 2012 03:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
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Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 23 The Tree of Knowledge


Ginny looked up from her preparations when her bedroom door opened. Harry and Ron slipped in as quietly as they could, even though she could hear them coming down the stairs.

This time, she was wearing a special long-sleeved blouse and long pants that Hermione had cast Anti-Ripping Charms on. Maybe they would hold up better. She had her hair back in a French braid so it would be harder for someone to grab her hair. Those dreams where a vampire grabbed the Slayer by her hair from behind and sunk his fangs into her neck? Brrr.

Hermione handed her a wide choker collar and a pair of driving gloves. She quickly fastened the plastic collar about her neck and tugged the gloves on.

"What's with the gloves and the neck thing?" Ron whispered.

Hermione smiled wickedly. "Surprises for vampires. The gloves have a Hardening Charm on them so Ginny can hit harder without splitting her knuckles open again, or breaking her hand. And the collar has an inner lining of cotton batting soaked in holy water. If a vampire tries biting her, he's going to get a nasty surprise."

"Where'd you get the holy water?" Harry asked.

Hermione frowned. "Don't ask." Ginny thought that meant Hermione had snitched some from a Muggle church. Hermione was pretty uncomfortable about doing things like that. Sometimes Ginny suspected that Hermione must have been worse than Percy when she was a Firstie, back before Ron and Harry loosened her up a bit.

Ron asked, "So would it work if Ginny poured a bucket of holy water all over her head and her clothes before she fought a vampire? Every time the vampire hit her or grabbed her, he'd get burned, right?"

Ginny frowned, "But then I'd be sopping wet all the time. I'd rather just have Hermione as my backup."

Hermione added, "Any vampire who can beat up a Slayer probably is old enough and mystical enough to handle holy water with just a few minor burns. So it's not exactly a panacea."

"What about holy water in a water balloon?" Harry asked.

Hermione sighed. "I tried that. Holy water stops being holy if you use it for sacrilegious purposes. Putting it in a water balloon or a squirtgun seems to destroy the blessing on the water."

Ron asked, "So, what about the holy water in the collar?"

Hermione shrugged, "I can't tell yet if it will work. And I'm really hoping we never have to find out the hard way."

"Eww," Harry winced as he thought about some of the ways Ginny could end up having that collar 'tested'.

Ron rubbed his hands together, clearly not wanting to think about where the conversation was going. "So. We ready to meet up with Gred and Forge?"

Hermione nodded. She pointed at the four broomsticks standing beside the window. "I've got the broomsticks. I'll do Disillusionment Charms on us three, and Ginny will wear Harry's cloak. I already turned off the alarms on the window." She glanced at her watch. "If we leave in four minutes, we should get to the top of the town hall right on time."

Ron asked, "Are there more bodies buried that are going to rise tonight?"

Hermione nodded. "I know which cemetery, so we'll be ready. I just can't believe how stupid the reporters are. And the Muggle policemen! I found three deaths listed in the newspapers as barbeque fork accidents. Barbeque fork accidents? To the neck? That are fatal? How would that even be possible?"

"Maybe it's extreme grilling," Ron snickered.

She rolled her eyes and said, "And I found some useful information on the computer. Alcester in the West Midlands has had a surprising number of recent violent deaths and disappearances that are being attributed to 'gang violence' in supposed quiet country towns. But I'm sure Bones Manor is near there. These are probably more vampire killings."

Ron asked, "Hermione, do you know where every Hogwarts student lives?"

Hermione admitted, "Umm... Just my friends. And members of the D.A. And a number of our enemies, like Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle. And Millicent Bulstrode. I still haven't found out where Parkinson Manor is, since it's Unplottable and warded. And I don't know exactly where Malfoy Manor is, just the general area."

Not for the first time, Ginny decided Hermione had to be a lot smarter than Voldemort, even if Riddle had spent decades learning dark arts that Hermione didn't know. Not that Hermione couldn't learn them, just that she hadn't bothered to try. After all, Hermione learned how to brew Polyjuice Potion in her second year.

Hermione looked at her watch and said, "It's time." She waved her wand at the window, and it opened for her. Then she mounted her broom and carefully slid out through the opening.

The three Quidditch players mounted their brooms and flew out a lot faster. Hermione cast Disillusionment Charms on herself, Ron, and Harry, while Ginny wrapped Harry's cloak of invisibility around herself. They headed off toward Ottery St. Catchpole as a group. Mostly. Harry had insisted on taking his Firebolt so he kept speeding ahead of them every time his attention strayed.

They arrived at the weathervane atop the city hall just as two hard-to-see broomsticks flew toward them.

"Well there's something you don't see everyday."

"Four brooms flying all by themselves with a pair of legs hanging off one."

Ginny couldn't be sure, but Ron sure sounded like he was rolling his eyes. "And would someone remind me why Hermione invited them?"

Hermione said, "Everyone follow me. I mean, follow my broom. And stay close, so no one gets lost. We're going to try to do this without Harry having to do any magic, because he still has the Trace on him."

Ron said, "So when we get to the cemetery, we count the vampires. I take the first one, Fred the second, George the third, Hermione the fourth, and Ginny the fifth. If they have that many. If they have more, we may have to use Harry too."

Hermione said, "The last time, some of them had weapons and tools. So first, we'll go in order and accio everything out of their hands. Then we'll incendio all but two and let them run off to their nest. We'll follow on brooms, with Harry in the lead because he has the fastest broom. Everyone else stick with me, and if Harry gets too far ahead, I'll do a locator spell so we can follow him."

Ginny said, "Once we find the nest, we'll have to do reconnaissance and figure out how many there are, and what ways in and out they have."

"Got you-"

"-little sis."

If she hadn't known how much they had practiced to get their little routines down, she would have been a lot more impressed. But she'd seen them doing this since she was old enough to crawl into their room when they didn't want her to come in.

Hermione said, "Follow my broom. Stay close enough you can see it, but not so close you'll crash into anyone."

Ron said, "Ginny and Harry behind Hermione. The twins right behind them. I'll be at the rear."

"As usual!" Fred and George laughed simultaneously.

They followed Hermione to the cemetery. She wasn't flying as fast as the Cleansweeps could go, but it wasn't that far to the next town.

As soon as they reached the cemetery, Hermione moved to the middle of the plots and whispered, "Everyone keep a lookout for any movement coming in. And no noise. Vampires have good hearing."

Ginny drifted to a couple feet above the ground, and flew over the newly dug graves. Ugh. Two of them were going to be rising soon. She could feel it in her gut. She rose to about thirty feet over the second grave, and waited impatiently for the vampires to come help their childe dig its way out.

Ginny really wanted to beat the vampires to a pulp and then stake them, but Hermione had other plans. She knew it was the Slayer in her that wanted to hunt and kill those monsters, so she tried to stay calm and controlled.

It was harder than it sounded. After a couple minutes, she was gripping the broomstick hard enough that the wood groaned.

When she felt the vampires coming, she swept toward that side of the cemetery. Ron was already sweeping the rest of the team in that direction. She could see three vampires, two of them with rifles and one with a pickaxe. Fighting that lot by hand would be a problem.

[Updated on: Sun, 08 January 2012 03:38]

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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #51350 is a reply to message #51079 ] Wed, 11 January 2012 03:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
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Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 24 Of Good and Evil


Ginny listened as Ron whispered, "You know what to do. On three. One. Two. Three." He, Fred, and George pointed their wands.

"Accio firearm!"

"Accio pickaxe!"

"Accio firearm!"

The vampires looked around frantically as their tools flew up into the sky.

Ron gestured with his wand. "Incendio." The first vampire exploded into dust as soon as the fire hit him.

The other two vampires panicked and took off running. And they were fast. They were faster than these old Cleansweeps. She could see that Harry was able to keep up with them, silently flying high overhead, but she and the others were slowly left behind.

Hermione hissed, "Stay with me!" Ginny knew Hermione was using a tracking spell so they could follow Harry.

A few minutes later, she saw Harry's Firebolt hovering a hundred feet in the air over a large, apparently abandoned warehouse.

Ron looked down and whispered, "Aren't they supposed to use creepy old castles?"

Hermione frowned, "Ron, that's a stereotype, and it's typical of the kind of prejudiced-"

Ginny interrupted before Hermione really got wound up. "I think we need to plan now and explain later."

"Right," Hermione said. She sounded like she was blushing, but no one could tell since she was still under that Disillusionment Charm. "Reconnaissance first, action second. All voiceless spells. No one goes near a vampire except Ginny. And remember, Ginny needs time to get information out of the vampires."

Ron sighed, "Hermione! It's not like you didn't go through your whole plan for what Ginny's supposed to say about four times."

Ginny said, "Six times. She didn't think I had it down well enough."

Hermione said briskly, "Right. Reconnaissance. Ginny flies around the place at several heights and tries to locate our vampires. Harry inspects the roof for access and guards. We each take a side and look for doors, and use Seeking Spells to look for tunnels out of here. We meet back here in three minutes."

Ginny started at the level just below the roof. It didn't take her long to figure out there was a whole wall of offices on the shorter east side. She couldn't see in through the windows, but it looked like the windows had been painted over on the insides so the room would be safe for vampires during the day. There were maybe five or six vampires in the office rooms, and none anywhere else aboveground. However, it felt like there was a small army of vampires down below the warehouse. That would be pretty dangerous if she was a Muggle and didn't have anyone helping her.

She flew upward and had to dodge to avoid Ron, who didn't see her. She'd have to keep in mind that she had eyesight and hearing the others didn't.

Hermione quietly had everyone report. After she explained about the vampires in the offices and under the warehouse, the twins started talking.

"Three garage doors big enough for a Muggle lorry on the south side. A regular door too."

"Two regular doors on the north side, at each end of the building. And a big underground basement area."

Ron asked, "How did you find that?"

"Oh little brother, for shame... The big sub-grade windows in the window wells all along the building."

Ron sounded embarrassed as he said, "Oh."

Hermione said, "No doors on the east side, but there are two tunnels underground there, heading off toward the river. I found them with a Seeking Spell."

Harry finished up, "And there's one regular door on the east side. It looks like it used to open up into a fancy lobby, and it used to have a sign over the door."

Hermione said, "Right. Everybody go back to their side of the building. Put up Shield Charms to block every door and low window, so nothing can get out. I'll block those tunnels about a hundred feet out from the building, so they won't know they can't get out that way. We go in and block the entrances to the basement while we clear the top floors. Then we escort Ginny and let her play Vampire Slayer, just like I explained before. Everyone clear on what to do?"

She received three 'yes' answers and two 'oh definitely my goddess of sneakinesss' answers. Ginny couldn't see Hermione's face to tell if she was fed up with the twins yet.

They flew in through a roof exit Harry had spotted, and put up a Shield Charm behind them. Then they flew down into the open warehouse toward the offices. Ginny could see that each row of offices faced a walkway with stairs at either end of the row. There were four stories of offices, and it felt like the vampires were all in the top two floors.

Hermione whispered, "Wood and plaster and papers. No incendio spells up here. Save the fire for down in the basement."

Harry whispered, "Make it reducto and sectumsempra only."

Ron whispered, "Make it silent."

Ginny flew with five shapes that she could only see because she knew what to look for. She hoped the vampires wouldn't notice anything. She pointed them toward three offices. One had a vampire looking out over the warehouse and supposedly guarding the place. She was sure it was Ron's shape that moved to take it, with Harry's shape backing him up. Another office had three vampires playing cards. The twins moved in that direction. The third office was on the top floor. She flew up there with Hermione's shape alongside.

She rushed in as soon as she saw what was in the last office. One vampire enjoying the show, while a second vampire drank blood from a sobbing woman. She staked the first vampire in the back as she leapt off her broom. She punched the second vampire in the back as she threw off Harry's cloak.

"What the bl-" The second vampire wheeled around to see who was interrupting him. She kicked him to the other side of the room. A silent sectumsempra from Hermione beheaded the vampire, turning him into dust.

Ginny stared in horror at the woman. Some helpless Muggle shopgirl or secretary, still dressed for work. The woman was probably around thirty, but looked a lot older now that she was nearly bled to death. The woman was horribly pale, with several sets of bitemarks on her neck.

Ginny turned and insisted, "We can't just leave her!"

Hermione tapped herself on the head, and her Disillusionment Charm dissipated. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a pink bottle shaped like a sphere with a cylindrical chimney on top. She knelt by the woman and held the bottle to her lips. "Drink this."

The woman sobbed, "Just let me die!"

Ginny held the woman in a sitting position. "We're not vampires. We're rescuing you. Drink it, it's good for you. Then we'll take you to a hospital."

The woman struggled to drink the potion. Ginny could see how much the woman's neck hurt. Once the woman was finished, Hermione had Ginny lay the woman down on the floor. Hermione flicked her wand, and a pale blue light played over the woman, who seemed to pass out.

Hermione whispered, "It's a sleep spell. The bottle was a blood replenishing potion. We'll put a Shield Charm on the doorway just in case, and then when we're done we'll take her to the hospital. I think I'll have to obliviate her so she won't remember us or the vampires." She caught Ginny's look and frowned, "I don't like using a spell like that, but I can do it. If I don't use it, she'll tell the police she was attacked by vampires and rescued by a super-strong girl with a stake. They'll either put her in an insane asylum, or they'll send the Watcher's Council after you. Or both. The local police would just chuck her in a loonybin, and the higher-ups might still know enough to alert the right people in Whitehall."

Ginny winced. Just thinking about being taken from her family and knowing they would never remember her again... She shuddered. "She's pretty badly bruised, and she's got all those bitemarks on her neck. How's she going to explain any of that?"
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #51673 is a reply to message #51350 ] Sun, 15 January 2012 03:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 25 Which Compasseth the Whole Land


"How's she going to explain any of that?"

Hermione muttered, "Barbeque fork. I'll make her think she was assaulted by some gang and they stabbed her with a metal fork to torture her."

Ginny said, "You hate the barbeque fork excuse."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Well... yes. But what else are we going to have her remember?"

Ginny stopped and gasped, "What if... What if all those people are thinking barbeque fork accident because Aurors are obliviating them? What if there are already Ministry people messing around after vampire attacks?"

Hermione grimaced. "I don't think so. They're vampires. We know which department that would be. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Do you really think the likes of Macnair would care what happened to a bunch of Muggles?"

Ron's voice burst in on them. "What's keeping y... Oh bloody hell. Is she alive?" Ginny looked up and saw a Ron-shaped shimmer in the air where Ron was still under the Disillusionment Charm. Other than the faint edges around Ron's form, all she could see were the front and back of the broomstick, sticking out from underneath him.

Hermione nodded. "We need to take care of the vampires down below, and then drop her off at a hospital."

Ron checked, "We can't take her first?"

Hermione said, "I wish we could. But we have a small army down in a cramped basement area and we have to keep a couple of them alive. I think we need every one of us. Even Harry. Just in case. I gave her a blood replenishing potion and put her to sleep, so she should be fine until we get back."

Ron gritted his teeth and said, "Fine. But there are times when I don't like you being right."

"Oh Ron! There are plenty of times when I don't like finding out I'm right."

Ron just nodded. At least, it looked like he was nodding. "The basilisk. Professor Lupin being a werewolf. Needing a hex on the sign-up sheet for the D.A. You've been right about a lot of big things."

She groaned, "And I've been wrong about a lot of big things too! I thought the Ministry of Magic would protect Harry... and all of us. I thought Lockhart was... dashing. I thought Quirrell was on our side. I... I really did think Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, I just didn't think it was fair to blame a cat for being a cat. I believed Professor Moody..."

"Hermione, we all did! Even Dumbledore!"

She frowned again. "That's something I never understood. How was it no one noticed Mad-Eye Moody wasn't acting right? If the headmaster and a dozen other members of the Order and all those Aurors he trained knew him for years and years and years, how did he manage not to ever trip up, and how did he manage to know everything Moody was supposed to know about all of them? There had to be something else going on there."

Ron muttered, "Yeah. Snape. Snape probably told him everything he needed to know about every single person at Hogwarts."

Ginny said, "But if Snape could do that, then Snape could tell Voldemort about everyone too. And then the Death Eaters would have already killed Kingsley and Tonks and Emmeline and all of them."

Hermione looked at the injured woman and said, "Later. We have a vampire nest to clear out, and an intelligence mission to run. You know what to say?"

Ginny sighed at Hermione the same way she did with her mum. "Yes, I do." She pretended she didn't hear Ron snickering.

Hermione ushered them out and redid the Disillusionment Charm on herself before putting up a Shield Charm to protect the woman. She said to the group, "All right. Everyone go out to your side of the building and do Shield Charms on the windows and doors so no one can get in or out. I'll block those two tunnels far enough down that we can let our vampires run for cover and keep them nicely contained. Then we meet in the middle of the warehouse halfway to the ceiling, and Ginny leads us into the basement."

"Roger that, general!" two Disillusioned shapes said as they snapped off almost-invisible salutes.

Ginny listened to Hermione grumbling to herself about the twins as she flew off. Ginny wrapped herself in Harry's cloak once again and then found the entrance to the basement. It was a large metal stairwell that went down into shadowy darkness and would probably clang like a bell if anyone walked on those metal steps. She could feel there were vampires somewhere down there, but not anything really close to her.

In a matter of seconds, all the rest of the group were back, and waiting for her to make the first move. She stuck one arm out from under the cloak and pointed down the stairs, then she flew into the stairwell.

It was dark and spooky. She could feel vampires ahead of her in the basement. If she hadn't been the Slayer, she would have been terrified. Instead, something inside her was urging her forward.

At the base of the stairs, the room opened up into a huge basement area supported by a couple dozen massive concrete columns. She could hear an angry male voice yelling at someone. Maybe the someones who they had chased out of the cemetery.

While the angry vampire who sounded like he was the boss told his minions how he was going to rip their throats out for messing this up, Ginny closed in from behind. There were at least twenty vampires crowded around watching. All but four were standing around watching the other four. Two of the four were kneeling before a little raised platform that had flaming torches mounted at either side. On the platform was the obvious leader, a big angry vamp who was still yelling at the two, and beside the leader was a female vamp in a slutty dress and cheap makeup that made her look like a Muggle prostitute.

Just about the time the head vamp was threatening to stake the two kneeling vampires, Ginny handed Hermione her broomstick and Harry's cloak. She stepped forward with her wand held behind her back and casually said, "I'd be happy to help you with that, if you don't think you're up to it."

Twenty fanged faces spun to confront her.

She looked at the rows of threats, and did just what Hermione had suggested. She waved her empty hand and hissed, "Burn!" A wall of fire rushed from Hermione's wand and destroyed the closest seven vampires. It had to look to the vampires like the flame came out of nowhere.

One of the vampires still standing turned even whiter than he already was. He shrieked, "It's the Red Witch!" And he ran for his life, straight toward one of the tunnels.

"Not the Red Witch!"

"Aaagh! I'm too young to die again!"

"I'm outtahere!"

"Nooooooo!"

All but four vampires ran for what they assumed was safety. They rushed into the tunnels, only to smash into the magical shields. Once they were bottled up in the tunnels, the twins used a couple more silent Incendio spells to turn them to dust.

Ginny stalked toward the four remaining vampires. The leader stood on his little podium, with his slag girlfriend by his side. The other two vampires were big men who stepped in front of the leader like bodyguards. Ginny glared at them. "Do you want to tell me what you think you're doing here?"

The leader pompously insisted, "Leave now while you still can, Red Witch! I have the protection of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard in the world!"

Ginny had a good idea why they thought she was the Red Witch, since from what she had seen in that crystal ball, the Red Witch looked like she could be one of Ginny's siblings. An older sibling.

She scoffed, "Voldemort? That loser? The guy who's running scared of a sixteen year old kid? You're doomed if you think he can protect you." She stopped and remembered just what Hermione had wanted her to say. "So let me guess. You're supposed to put together a big vampire army for this guy, and then go eat up some wizards? You and the other four groups?"

The slag said, "Three groups."

"Shut up!" snapped the leader.

Ginny lied like Hermione had said to. "Oh, so your boss didn't trust you enough even to tell you how many vampire armies he's working on, huh? Doesn't sound like he's going to leave you walking around for long after you do his dirty work. You must already be in trouble if you got stuck out here, instead of London or that place up in Scotland."

"How does she know so much?" hissed the girl.

One of the guards hissed back, "She's the Red Witch, stupid!"

The leader stood tall and insisted, "I'm from around here. I know the area. Not like those Londoners. They'd stick out like a sore thumb."

Ginny pretended not to believe him. She scoffed, "Oh, naturally. You probably don't even know how to contact Voldemort and his losers."

He flinched, just a little. "I... I do not need to know that! He sends his Death Eaters to meet us! We don't bow before him!"

She continued pretending to scoff. "Oh, sure. So when's the next scary Death Eater supposed to pop in and give you the secret message?"

"At a time of importance. That is enough for me. And by then, I will have had time to rebuild my army."

Ginny said, "So you don't know how to contact Voldemort, and you don't know when another wizard's going to show up and tell you what to do. That's all I wanted to know."

As soon as she said the last six words, Ron quickly incinerated the two guards while Hermione did a sectumsempra that beheaded the woman.

Ginny slid her wand into a pocket, pulled out a stake, and said to the sole remaining vampire, "Shall we dance?"

The vampire didn't leap at her neck or do something else stupid. He calmly stepped down from the podium and gracefully moved toward her. He put his hands up like those Muggle karate fighters.

Ginny suddenly realized she was in trouble. It looked like this vampire knew how to fight, and she knew she didn't really know Muggle martial arts. All she knew was what she had picked up from her dreams. She basically knew where to hit people to do damage.

Then he moved. He slid forward expertly and struck at her so fast she couldn't get out of the way. He punched at her throat, and she just barely twisted enough that his blow caught her on the collarbone. The blow was so hard that for a second she thought he must have shattered her bones. Even worse, she could see it was only the start of a combination.

His leg shot out and he tried to kick her knee, but she flexed just enough that he missed. His leg snapped back too fast for her to catch his foot, and then he was spinning and his other foot was flying at her face. She just barely got a hand up in time to brush his foot off to the side, but he was snapping his leg back too fast to grab that foot. She managed to get a couple fingers on his shoe, but that wasn't good enough to do more than damage the leather upper.

And he was still moving. Why wasn't he stopping to gloat or something? She was trying to back up, but he was still closing on her.

"Help her!" Hermione squealed.

She blocked four lightning-fast punches and some kind of grab at her forearm that nearly got her.

"Can't get a clean shot!"

A kick at her stomach that she blocked, and another kick with the same leg that she didn't. It caught her in the ribs and sent her flying. She crashed into one of the concrete columns and fell heavily to the floor. She hoped she hadn't just broken three or four ribs.

"They're too bloody fast!"

She landed on her hands and saw he was already closing on her. She cartwheeled away from the vampire, but he was too fast. He was already nearly on top of her, kicking her in the stomach while she was still cartwheeling, and knocking her onto her back.

"Do something!" Hermione screeched.

And then the vampire grabbed her, twisting her arm and rolling her onto her stomach while forcing one arm up between her shoulderblades. She tried kicking him from her hopeless position, and he ignored the feeble try. She smelled him as he opened his mouth and bent his head to sink his fangs into her neck.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #51902 is a reply to message #51673 ] Wed, 18 January 2012 03:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 26 Thou Shalt Not Eat of It


His mouth was only inches away from her throat. She frantically grabbed her plastic collar with her free hand and ripped it off, slapping it against his cheek. She could feel the water splash on her hand.

He screamed in pain. "You bitch! I'll make you pay for that!"

She could hear his skin searing from the holy water, but he didn't seem to be stopping. He reached for her fingers and...

"Wingardium leviosa!" Ron yelled.

And suddenly it felt like a dragon had been dropped on them. The vampire took the brunt of the force, as something massive crashed onto his back. The massive weight caught him across the back, smashing his head into the concrete beside her throat and momentarily stopping him.

She blinked and turned her head enough to look up. Ron had levitated the entire podium over and dropped it on them. She couldn't breathe. An ordinary human would have been crushed. And probably nothing else in the room would have stopped the vampire still lying on top of her.

"Wingardium leviosa!" Ron said again, and the podium lifted into the air.

"Wingardium leviosa!" Hermione said, and the vampire lifted ten feet off the floor. He began kicking and thrashing wildly, as he realized how much trouble he was in.

"Incendio!" "Sectumsempra!" "Incendio!" "Reducto!"

Ginny flinched as four different spells simultaneously blasted the vampire, and then nasty-tasting dust shimmered through the air onto her prone form.

Then a still-Disillusioned Harry was leaping off his broom and hugging her. "Ginny! Are you all right?"

She groaned a little at his fierce hug. "My ribs."

"Sorry! I'm really sorry."

She felt more than saw as he kissed her on the cheek. That hurt too. "Ouch. I think I better figure out all the places I'm hurt. And..." She fished her wand out of its holster and checked that it at least hadn't been broken. "Finite incantatem." She ended the Disillusionment Charm on Harry. "At least I can see you now. Getting kissed by an invisible Harry is nice, but weird."

Hermione undid her own Disillusionment and knelt down beside Ginny. She started performing some medical charms.

Ginny said, "Those won't work on me, remember?"

Hermione replied, "These aren't healing charms. They're diagnostic spells to see how badly you're hurt. And... they're not working right either!" Ginny almost grinned at Hermione's frustration.

Hermione muttered, "I guess it's a good thing mum made me get first aid trained at the Red Cross."

"What's that?" one of the twins asked.

"Thirst ade? Anything like lemonade?" the other one asked.

"First aid, George," Hermione groaned. "As in first one to assist at an accident. It means I learned how to do some of this without a wand." She carefully felt along Ginny's ribs, letting Ginny groan or gasp when she found a place that was too sore.

Ron gasped, "You mean you can do medical diagnosis spells without a wand? That's... If it was anyone else I'd say it was impossible."

Hermione snorted. "It's medical diagnosis and treatment the Muggle way. No wand. No spells."

Ginny groaned again as Hermione pressed on an especially tender spot a couple inches under her right armpit. She said, "Don't tell dad. You know what he'd be like."

George gave it his best impression of their dad. "Amazing what these Muggles think of!"

Then Fred did his impression of their dad. "Does it involve plugs?"

"I say, can you explain it to me?"

"Do you need a fellytone?"

"Is it like... aeroplanes?"

They just kept going. Finally Ginny couldn't take it any more and she starting laughing, which really hurt.

Hermione helped her to her feet and frowned, "I don't think anything's broken, but you may have a couple cracked ribs. And you're going to have some lovely bruises by tomorrow."

Harry said, "Sounds like an excellent time to find out if that bruise cream works on Slayers."

Hermione nodded. "I'm still not sure whether Madam Pomfrey's potion helped with Ginny's calf, so we really ought to try this and find out. If potions work on Slayers even if it's just some potions we need to watch out for that. Anyone could slip something into your food and poison you."

"Or turn your hair blue!" Fred snickered.

"Or make you burp up soap bubbles," George suggested.

"Or-"

Harry said, "Or maybe you ought to remember she can throw a quaffle hard enough to knock you out at a hundred paces."

"Ooh, he's threatening us," Fred said.

"Maybe he likes you," George added.

Hermione said, "Maybe we should get home instead of putting up with this. I think Ginny's going to be too sore to do any Slaying for a couple days."

"A couple days!" Ron exploded. "I was afraid she'd end up in St. Mungo's for a month!"

Ginny stared at him, "Well then, why didn't you help sooner?"

Ron stared back at her like she was mental. "Sooner? Are you taking the micky? That whole fight was just a blur, and I helped as soon as I could."

Harry said, "The whole thing until Ron dropped the podium on you couldn't have been more than seven or eight seconds."

Ginny just stared at him, because it felt to her like it had lasted a couple minutes.

George admitted, "I couldn't get a shot in without risking hitting you too. Do you have any idea how fast you two were moving?"

Hermione said, "I was afraid to try anything like a reducto. If it could behead a vampire, I didn't want to find out the hard way if it might hurt you too."

Ginny pursed her lips unhappily. "At least the collar worked out."

Hermione sighed, "Barely. The holy water hardly slowed him down. I guess the master vampires really are a lot more dangerous. We'll have to be a lot more careful at the other nests."

Ron gaped at her and groaned, "You mean we have to go through this three more times? I was scared Ginny was going to die!"

Hermione staunchly said, "At least three more times. And the longer we take, the bigger the vampire armies are going to be, and the worse the fights will be."

Ginny tried not to wince.

Hermione started walking around the basement, occasionally scooping stuff off the floor. She said, "Fred? George? You can disapparate. We'll see you tomorrow. We've got a victim to get to the nearest hospital, and then we'll apparate back to the Burrow."

It turned out to be just that easy. Hermione apparated with the still-sleeping woman over to the town clinic, which she had already located on a Muggle map of the area. She undid the sleeping charm and let the woman stagger into the clinic under her own power. She was back at the warehouse in under five minutes.

Hermione packed their brooms and Harry's cloak into her pouch. She said, "That went well. Now I'll side-along apparate Harry, and Ron will take Ginny. We'll meet in the meadow under the oak."

Ginny blinked. Ron was doing better at apparition. They were right under the oak, only thirty feet or so from Hermione and Harry. Ginny led him through the darkness, whispering, "Psst! It's us! Behind you!"

It was a good thing she could see in the dark, or else Hermione and Ron would have had to start doing lumos spells, and that would have been visible from her parents' window. Once she led Ron over, and Hermione stopped complaining about how dark it was under the oak tree, they got on their broomsticks and flew through Ginny's open window into her room. Ginny and Hermione put things away and repaired the alarm charms for the window, while Ron fetched a little pot of Fred and George's bruise cream.

While Ginny applied lots of the bruise cream to her face and arms, she remembered to ask Hermione, "What were you picking up back there in the basement?"

"Vampire dust."

Ginny asked with a wrinkled brow, "Why?"

Hermione smiled wickedly. "Locator spells."
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #52174 is a reply to message #51902 ] Sun, 22 January 2012 03:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 27 In the Day


As Ginny carefully got ready the next morning, she checked with Hermione again. They still thought the three other vampire groups were probably aimed just where they first figured. Bones Manor, Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and Hogsmeade. But they both figured that Ginny needed a couple days to heal up. Her bruises were barely noticeable on her face and hands and arms, thanks to all that bruise cream, but her ribs were still really sore and one arm still ached.

When she complained, Hermione pointed out, "Remember. An ordinary girl would have a crushed ribcage with crushed internal organs to go with it, a fractured cheekbone and jaw, half a dozen concussions, broken arms, broken hands, a crushed knee... Oh, and she'd be dead about ten times over, and have no blood left in her body."

Ginny pouted, "I still feel like I should have done better. Don't Vampire Slayers do this sort of thing every night?"

Hermione said, "Not against Master Vampires. They're rare, and they're really dangerous, and they're smart enough to avoid Slayers until they're ready. According to what I could find out, a Vampire Slayer is a successful one if she kills even one Master."

"Hmm. Then what about what that vampire told me about 'Summers'? Maybe she's the Golden Slayer that girl vampire told me about the first night. How many Master Vampires would there be in the Order of Aurelius from The Master on down? And he said Kakistos and Dracula, and the Order of Teraka. And a hellgod and the Dark Witch, I think."

Hermione said, "We covered the Order of Aurelius in third year, and I know I did the extra reading on it. Let's see... That would mean Heinrich Nest, the lady Darla, Angelus, Drusilla the Seer, William the Bloody... I think that's all the master vampires in that part of the line. Well, that's all I can recall. The Order of Teraka is an order of supernatural assassins, I don't know if master vampires would work for them but I can research them. So... that would mean this Summers got at least seven master vampires, maybe more. That seems pretty hard to believe."

Ginny shrugged, ignoring the pain from her ribs. "Well, that girl vampire was scared enough of her to leave the whole country, so maybe she's really dangerous." She couldn't help thinking about what the centaur had said. The daughters of Artemis are a threat to all magical beings. They must hunt, and the hunted cannot stop them.

Was that what she would become? If she didn't die soon, would she become some sort of monstrous hunter that nothing was safe from?

She had plenty of distractions from her dark thoughts that day, as her mum had a dozen tasks for her, and she didn't dare let on that her ribs and her arm hurt. The worst tasks were cleaning the ovens and checking the drains, but her mum gave those jobs to Fred and George, oddly enough.

Although it might have been because Hermione 'casually' mentioned at breakfast while her mum was still in the room that the twins were teasing Ron about not having to do so much housework since they weren't living at home anymore. Ginny knew the twins were relentless about their pranks, but Hermione was smarter.

After lunch they all trekked out to the meadow for some Quidditch. But the twins had to get back to their business, so Hermione decided that DADA practice would be a better use of their time. Everyone else was okay with that.

Harry was really good at teaching, even if he wasn't allowed to perform the spells himself until his birthday. So she worked on new spells, and she worked on silent wandwork. Naturally, the first spell Harry had her doing silently was Expelliarmus. Everyone knew it was his favorite. Still, when she finally got it to work, she realized she was a lot faster when she didn't need to say five syllables out loud.

She worked with Harry and Ron, trying to teach them to dodge magical attacks by jumping or diving to the side. Hermione didn't like that part, especially the part where she was hitting the ground and getting bruised. So Hermione was practicing what Harry had seen Voldemort do last year: dueling while apparating around your opponent.

As Ginny watched Hermione and Ron practice dueling, with Hermione apparating and Ron diving out of the way of attacks, Ginny could see that apparating in the middle of a duel wasn't as effective as she expected. First, Ginny could see Hermione make the wand movement and turn her body to disapparate, so she knew what Hermione was going to do. And second, Ginny could hear the noise in the spot where Hermione apparated to. Ron could too, so he was whirling to face the noise and diving to the ground before Hermione had a chance to orient herself and fire off a hex at Ron.

Finally, Harry said, "When Professor Dumbledore apparated into a place that he thought might be dangerous, he did a spell that basically launched a wide-area attack all around the spot he was apparating to. But he never taught me the spell."

Hermione pursed her lips and said, "Maybe I can look up what that kind of spell requires."

Ron brushed grass and dirt off his clothes and said, "At least we're learning how to prepare when someone's apparating in to attack us."

Hermione did a quick tergeo to get the grass stains off Ron's shirt and jeans, then said, "And I think if I'm going to try apparating in a duel like that, I should first use a spell that makes a blast so loud my opponent won't be able to hear me apparate in."

Harry asked, "Would a muffliato do the trick?"

Hermione shook her head no. "I tried it, but the spell silences where I'm standing, not where I'm going."

Ron said, "Then how about a spell that makes a loud explosion and also makes a light bright enough your opponent can't spot you when you disapparate?"

Harry laughed, "Sounds like one of Fred and George's fireworks."

They stopped for a while, after that. Ron and Hermione walked across the meadow together, while Ginny sat with Harry under the big oak tree. They just held hands and talked, but it helped. Knowing about the other, just being able to talk with another Chosen One. They had someone to talk to. Someone who really understood what they were going through.



The next morning, before her dad even left for work, there was an owl from the Ministry. Her mum grinned, "Ginny! It's your O.W.L.s!"

Ron grimaced, "And you didn't have psychos attacking you in the middle of your exams, so you ought to have good scores." She stuck out her tongue at him.

Still, she was surprised when she looked at the parchment and saw her grades.

Astronomy E
Care of Magical Creatures E
Charms E
Defense Against the Dark Arts O
Divination O
Herbology E
History of Magic A
Muggle Studies E
Potions E
Transfiguration E

She stared at the list for long seconds. "Merlin's beard!"

Harry looked at it and hugged her. "Ginny, that's terrific!"

Ron looked over her shoulder and said, "Yeah. That's nearly as good as Bill. And you know, Percy got an Outstanding in History of Magic... and at least six or seven other classes."

She couldn't help blushing. She looked at the floor and said, "It was Hermione. She gave me all her notes, and years of O.W.L. exams, with all her answers worked out."

Ron smiled, "And all those D.A. lessons with Harry didn't hurt."

Her dad hugged her and told her how proud he was of her before he rushed off to work. But Ginny knew the second her mum saw that 'O' in Divination. Her mum gasped and suddenly burst into tears again.

Her mum was so upset that day she hardly remembered to keep them all separated with housework and yardwork. And once they had a room ready for the Delacours, and they had prepared beds for Bill and Gabrielle they had no trouble getting permission to go up to the meadow even though they practiced wandwork instead of playing Quidditch. Ginny's ribs were still too sore to do sprints back and forth, so she knew she wasn't ready for more Slaying. Still, her body seemed to know she needed the rest, because she had no trouble settling down that night and getting ready for bed.

It was just as well, because Gabrielle was staying in her room with her and Hermione, and there was no way they could hide it from her if they were sneaking out in the middle of the night to go hunt more vampires. So they chatted in her room about the wedding. Gabrielle was a lot nicer than Ginny expected, even if the little part-veela still thought Harry was 'tres beau'. Ginny didn't know a lot of French, but she knew what that meant.

Ginny settled herself in her bed and dozed off, telling herself that if Gabrielle tried to ensnare Harry, someone was going to end up with a broken nose and two black eyes.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #52389 is a reply to message #52174 ] Wed, 25 January 2012 02:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 28 Thou Eatest Thereof


The next morning, when Ginny and Hermione came down to the kitchen with Gabrielle, her mum put them to work again. The Delacours were already eating, and so was Bill. Her mum was cooking breakfast for everyone, and the table was full. What wasn't taken up with people's plates was serving dishes or the pile of presents for Harry. Ginny winced a little bit when she saw it.

Ron waited until everyone else had eaten and was out of the kitchen before he revealed that Harry had another dream about Voldemort. Harry had been saying "Gregorovitch" in his sleep. Harry frowned at him, and Hermione fussed quite a bit at Harry for letting Voldemort into his mind.

Harry checked to make sure Mrs. Weasley wasn't nearby, and finally admitted, "All I remember is he was walking into a little town in a deep valley with huge mountains around it. It didn't look like anywhere in Britain."

Hermione was angry at Harry for not working on his Occlumency, but Ron got her sidetracked trying to think of who 'Gregorovitch' could be. And by refusing to tell her what he got Harry for a birthday present.

Ginny watched as Harry opened his birthday presents with an astonished glee that made her think the Dursleys hadn't ever done this for him. She felt like apparating right over to Number 4 Privet Drive and breaking some things. Not that she was good enough at apparition to risk it yet. And the Dursleys weren't there anymore.

Mum gave Harry a watch. Uncle Fabian's watch. Ginny knew how much that meant to her mum. She knew her mum saw Harry as another son, and she wondered if her mum was already hoping for another wedding someday. Hermione gave Harry a brand new Sneakoscope that probably cost more than all the Weasley presents combined. Ron still wouldn't tell them what he had given Harry, so Ginny was pretty sure it wasn't Quidditch gear. Then Bill and Fleur gave him an enchanted razor, the Delacours gave him a big box of chocolates, and the twins gave him a huge box of their own merchandise.

The problem was simple. Ginny didn't know what to get Harry for a present. Hermione said a book, but Ginny had known before she asked that Hermione would say a book. Anyway, it wasn't as if mum would let her go to Diagon Alley unsupervised and buy Harry something. And she knew the kinds of books she'd like to buy for Harry were more than she could afford. After all, she had seen the fancy Defense Against the Dark Arts books he already had as presents from before.

Ron said Quidditch supplies. That was stupid. All right, it was as good an idea as anything she had come up with, but there was no way she was buying Harry something that anyone else might get him for a gift. Fred and George had several things from the Zonko's gift list that they thought would be fun, except she knew they were going to give him something that would be a lot better than anything from Zonko's that she could afford.

Her mum said she should get Harry some new socks. What? What in Merlin's name was mum thinking? What could be more dull and uninteresting than socks? Ginny knew what she wanted to give him for a birthday present, but she was underage and her mum would have a fit. Oh. Maybe her mum knew just what Ginny wanted to give Harry and was trying to make sure that didn't happen. Still... socks?

The other sorts of things she wanted to get for him, like a real dragonhide jacket, were so far out of her price range it was laughable. So she helped her mum cook his birthday dinner for him. She was unhappy that this was the best she could manage. How did Ron cope, when Harry was going to be Lord Potter and could afford a Firebolt and Hermione's parents were so well off in the Muggle world that she always had the newest books and clothes and... and...

Ginny stared down at her hand-me-down robe with its hem that was frayed despite years of reparo spells. She thought about her second-hand wand and her third-hand dress robes, and she knew what she was feeling. She was ashamed. It wasn't the first time she'd felt ashamed of being poor. The girls at school who were rolling in Galleons went out of their way to rub it in, especially the Slytherins.

She told herself it didn't matter. That it was far more important that her parents loved her and cared about the right things. That it was much better being a Weasley than being an evil, deranged bigot like cousin Bellatrix and cousin Narcissa. That it was much better being a Weasley than being a psychopathic murderess like Blaise Zabini's mother.

Then she remembered she probably wouldn't live long enough to buy clothes again. Even if she didn't die helping Harry on his mission, she was the Vampire Slayer. The Chosen One. The girl who fought monsters every night until she died a horrible death and some other unfortunate girl was cursed with her powers.

"Ginny? Ginny? Watch what you're doing with those potatoes, dear."

She glanced up at her mother and saw she had utterly failed to peel the potatoes. Instead, she had crushed them into paste.

Her mother patted her on the shoulder and said, "We'll just have mashed potatoes instead."

"Sorry, mum."

Her mum stared at her for long seconds and gently asked, "Is there something you want to tell me, dear? Something other than your problem with a simple Peeling Charm?"

But she couldn't talk to her mother about any of this. Not about how poor they were. Not about how she felt about being poor, and how ashamed of herself she felt for feeling embarrassed. Not about how stupid her present for Harry was. Not about how she was probably going to die within a matter of weeks. That farmgirl had been powerful enough to fight giants, and she only lived for seven weeks after she became the Vampire Slayer. "No mum, I'm fine," she lied.

Her mum looked at her oddly and finally said, "Then why don't you check the ovens? The pieces of the cake should be almost done by now."

It was funny. Not funny hilarious, but funny in a weird way. Normally, she never worried about the cooking. The boys would eat anything. Ron and the twins would probably eat roast basilisk if you just told them it was chicken. But she was nearly panicking over this dinner. It was for Harry. It was Harry's seventeenth birthday, and it was her present to him. She desperately wanted it to be so perfect that he'd always remember it as the best meal he ever ate. She was so nervous and fidgety that finally her mother insisted on levitating the cake out to the table herself, so Ginny didn't drop it or accidentally hurl it all the way into the meadow.

Harry stared at the huge cake in the shape of a floating Snitch, and his mouth dropped open.

Her mum said in a manner that wasn't as casual as she thought, "Ginny baked it and decorated it."

"OOOOOOH!" said the twins, in the most annoying way possible. They were so lucky the table was still covered in plates and flatware, so she couldn't pick it up and hit them with it. Ginny still turned as red as her hair.

Ron elbowed Harry and tilted his head. Ron was giving Harry advice?

Harry cleared his throat and looked at her. "I bet it tastes as great as it looks."

"OOOOOOOH!" smirked both twins. "He likes it!"

She was going to cream both of them tomorrow in Quidditch. Even if they were on her team. She was going to take that quaffle and throw it so hard they'd-

But before the twins could really make her lose her temper, something worse happened.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #52575 is a reply to message #52389 ] Sun, 29 January 2012 03:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 29 It Is Not Good


At first, she was hoping it was a good thing. The Minister came home with her dad. She had only met Mister Scrimgeour a couple times, once when he and a couple other department heads had dinner with her dad. She was hoping the Minister's visit would be a good thing. She was hoping that he would be kind to Harry, and sympathetic, and maybe even listen to what Harry and Hermione had to say. But what in Harry's life was ever good, or kind, or sympathetic?

The Minister took Harry and Ron and Hermione into the house, leaving the rest of them out in the garden. She got up from the table despite her mum's protests, and silently moved into the kitchen so she could eavesdrop. She stood there in the kitchen doorway and listened to it. To everything. To the way Rufus Scrimgeour treated them. To the way he talked to Harry, accusing him of things just because Albus Dumbledore left him things in his will. She would have charged in and knocked Scrimgeour across the room if her mum hadn't come into the house and grabbed her by the shoulder. It would have been so easy to shrug that hand off her shoulder, but it was her mum. And her dad was right, she couldn't let the Ministry know she had the powers of the Vampire Slayer. Instead, she had to let her dad step in and try to fix things.

After Rufus Scrimgeour left, she got to see what Professor Dumbledore left them. She had to agree with Hermione. They didn't make any sense at all. Ron got a Deluminator, which looked like a really rare, one-of-a-kind magical device. It would probably cost Galleons and Galleons. But why would Ron need it? All it did was snatch lights away and put them back. Were they going to have to go someplace dark? They had wands and the lumos spell for that. Were they going to have to go somewhere well-lit? It was easy to put out lights too. Maybe she just wasn't as smart as Albus Dumbledore, so she couldn't see it.

Hermione got a book. Naturally. But it was a book everyone had! Well, everyone in the Wizarding world had a copy of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" to read to their children. She had an old family copy on her shelf in her room. It once belonged to her dad's grandmother. And Ron probably still had Uncle Fabian's old copy up in his room. Why would Professor Dumbledore leave Hermione a book? A book that everybody had? Was there a secret code in it so complicated that the entire Ministry couldn't figure it out in a month, but Hermione could?

All right, Hermione could probably figure out anything. Even a secret message so clever a team of Ministry wizards couldn't figure it out in a month. But still, if there was a secret message in it, why would the Ministry let Hermione have it at all? It wasn't like they wouldn't try every possible way to reveal a secret message, even if it was invisible.

And Harry was given his first Snitch. Ginny couldn't see the point of that one, either. Not until Harry and Hermione explained about the 'flesh memory' of a real Snitch, so the Snitch would 'know' who touched it first in case of a dispute. And this was the Snitch Harry had caught in his mouth. Harry touched it to his lips, and words formed on it... I open at the close. What was that supposed to mean?

Hermione pointed out, "It has to be important if Professor Dumbledore went to all the trouble of putting a spell like that on it. He had to really want to make sure no one but Harry saw the message."

Ron complained, "Then why couldn't he make the bloody message so we'd understand it?"

"That's a very good question, Ron," Hermione muttered as she thought it over. "Maybe... maybe it's something we're not supposed to see until we get more information, or we learn more later on. Maybe it's like the quest for the Holy Grail."

"The what?" Ron checked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "You know all about Merlin, but you don't know anything about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Do you?"

What? Ginny looked at Ron in confusion. It was pretty obvious he had no idea either. Even Harry didn't, and he'd been raised by Muggles. But Hermione patiently explained about the knights and the quest. It still didn't really explain why the message had to be more complicated than making Polyjuice Potion. Maybe the problem was that Dumbledore and Hermione were so much smarter than everyone else that it looked easy to them.

Harry explained why he thought Dumbledore had tried to leave him the sword of Godric Gryffindor, even if it wasn't Dumbledore's to give away. The sword was enchanted to absorb the powers of those it vanquished. So now it would be able to destroy Horcruxes as effectively as the venom of the basilisk it had slain. She still didn't like thinking about that cursed diary from her second year really being a Horcrux, but it explained how the thing was so intelligent and diabolical: it had a piece of Voldemort's soul in it.

Hermione nodded and said, "That makes sense. There are very few things magically powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux, and the things that are magically destructive enough to work are too dangerous to carry around with us. Basilisk venom and Fiendfyre are the two I've been able to find that are the least risky, and they're really dangerous."

"Fiendfyre?" Harry wondered.

Hermione said, "Yes. Fiendfyre. It's very dark magic. It's like a living inferno. It's horribly dangerous, and it's terribly hard to control, and it's terribly hard to stop once it gets started. I don't want to attempt it unless we absolutely have no other choice, because we could end up burning down the whole country before enough wizards could get together to put it out."

Ginny winced, "That's the least risky?"

Ron groaned, "Ugh, that's a cure that sounds worse than the disease."

"Basilisk venom isn't exactly safe, considering where it comes from, you know," Hermione reminded him. "And the venom off the fangs will gradually eat through pretty much anything you use to capture it, even magical containers, and then it will poison anyone carrying it."

Ron said, "But we could get some basilisk venom if we need it. All we have to do is sneak..." Ron began to look like it wasn't such a good idea after all. "Into the school... past all the wards... and the teachers... and any Aurors they have guarding the place..." He started to look like it was a really bad idea. "And get Harry to open up the bathroom sink so we can get down into the tunnel... and hope the tunnel isn't completely blocked now... and hope Dumbledore and the teachers didn't open the Chamber of Secrets and clean it up... and then we could get some basilisk venom." By the end, he was looking like he'd rather try switching over to Slytherin House.

Hermione just said, "If we have to, we'll give it a go. I'm still hoping we can find another way to destroy these things. I still have about a dozen more books to study."

Then the conversation moved back to Hermione's inheritance. At first, Ginny was surprised that Harry and Hermione hadn't heard of something as well known and beloved as "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". But then she found out there were tons of Muggle children's stories she had never heard of. She smiled fondly, "I always loved 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune' the best."

Ron groaned, "Yeah, and she'd throw a right little temper tantrum if mum read us anything else."

"It was not a temper tantrum! I just... fussed. Some. Maybe a lot." She could feel her face burning with embarrassment as she thought about it. Maybe she really had thrown temper tantrums. Stupid Ron. He didn't really have to tell about her tantrums when they were right in front of Harry!

She complained about it to Hermione the whole time they were getting ready for bed that night.
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Re: Harry Potter and the Deadly Heller [message #52777 is a reply to message #52575 ] Wed, 01 February 2012 03:21 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Diane Castle is currently offline Diane Castle
Messages: 2505
Registered: September 2007
Location: Oregon, USA
Chapter 30 A Deep Sleep to Fall Upon


She was dancing with Harry under a big white tent. He looked so handsome in dress robes she just wanted to kiss him, even if they were in the middle of everybody. They danced past her mum and dad, who were dancing together and looking way too much like they were really enjoying dancing together, and there was no way she wanted to think about that. They danced past Ron and Hermione who were dancing a little but mainly staring into each other's eyes. Ginny looked into Harry's eyes and started to say something.

But suddenly Kingsley Shacklebolt apparated in, right next to Harry. Everyone started screaming so loudly that Ginny had to cover her ears. He yelled at them. The only words she could pick out were 'Ministry' and 'fallen'. And then Death Eaters were apparating in and firing curses at Harry...



She sat up in her bed, gasping.

Hermione groaned from the bed only feet away. "What? What? You all right?"

Gabrielle rolled over and moaned, "Fleur, arretez!"

She took a breath. "I... I had another..." She glanced at Gabrielle's form and paused. "... another of those dreams. I think... I think the Ministry is going to fall to the Death Eaters during the wedding reception."

Hermione gasped in horror. Gabrielle sat up abruptly and asked, "Deed you say you had a... a seer's dream?"

She nodded uncomfortably and said, "I've been having them for months, and they keep being correct. It's how I got an Outstanding in my O.W.L. for Divination." She started telling Hermione and Gabrielle everything she could remember about the dream.

Hermione put her hands together, and started thinking out loud. "Write down everything you can remember, while it's still fresh. We have to tell your parents first thing in the morning. Then we need to have your dad alert the Order. Then we need to warn everyone who is coming to the wedding, and make sure they can disapparate to somewhere safe, or else they can pair up with someone who can take them. We'll need to be fully packed and ready to go before the wedding. We need to decide where we'll go. You have to finish your preparations. And then..."



Hermione made sure the three of them were up early enough to catch her mum and dad in the kitchen before they had breakfast. Ginny needed to tell her parents. Hermione wanted to make sure everything went as she planned it. Ginny briefly wondered if Albus Dumbledore was like Hermione back when he was a teenager.

And Gabrielle was still trying to figure out what was going on. Ginny knew the part-veela wasn't stupid. Gabrielle knew there was something peculiar going on. And she picked up right away that Ginny had been dancing with Harry in the dream. Gabrielle hadn't said anything, but Ginny knew what that expression meant. Now they just had to see if Gabrielle was going to leave Harry to Ginny, or if she was going to try to take Harry for herself. Maybe she'd challenge Ginny to a duel and Ginny would get a chance to let her have it. Even if veelas had the ability to hurl fire. Slayers might be tough and fast, but they weren't fireproof.

Ginny had to focus. Hermione had finished getting her parents all worried. Ginny said, "I had another of those... prophetic dreams last night." Her mum whimpered. That scared her like nothing in the dream had.

Gabrielle asked, "I have seen seers wiz ze dreams before, but why eez thees so eemportant?"

Hermione said, "The last time Ginny had a dream like this, Alastor Moody died, George had his ear blasted off, and Harry was nearly killed by Voldemort."

Ginny thought about it for a moment and said, "I still haven't had one nice seer dream. They're always bad things."

Her dad asked, "So... what did you see?"

Ginny admitted, "It was the reception after the wedding. Someone apparated in the middle of the dancers and started yelling. I think he was saying the Ministry had just fallen."

"Oh Merlin," her mum gasped.

"Goodness gracious," her dad choked.

She went on, "And then Death Eaters were apparating in and attacking everyone."

Hermione said, "So I think Mister Weasley needs to speak to certain... friends of his, like in the Ministry. And then we need to warn all the guests that they need to be prepared to disapparate to a safe place during the wedding reception. And if they can't apparate easily, they need to have a partner who can take them to safety."

"And Ginny... you're sure about this?" her dad asked worriedly.

She sighed, "Dad! It's divination! I can't be sure about anything. But I believe it. The dream about Harry and his house and the Death Eaters..." She shuddered. "That was too accurate."

She watched as her parents stared at each other and did that wordless communication thing they did sometimes. Her dad's eyebrows went up. Her mum pursed her lips. Her dad's eyes twitched. Her mum frowned and then rolled her eyes.

Her dad smiled and tried to sound casual as he said, "I think that a few people we know will be quite interested in your dream. I'll just send a few... messages today."

Then her mum said, "And I think I'm going to need to use the fireplace to have a few chats with people on the wedding list. Even Great-Aunt Muriel. I hope we have enough floo powder."

Ginny managed not to wince at that, even if she would rather stick her face into a real fire than have to give Great-Aunt Muriel news like this.

Hermione said, "If there's something we can do to help with the chats..."

Ginny watched her mum think it over. Finally, her mum said, "That's a good point. I'll have Fleur and Apolline floo their side of the wedding using the living room fireplace, and I'll floo our side with the kitchen fireplace. I don't think there's anyone I need you two to contact directly."

Her dad said, "I... umm... I think I'll go up to our bedroom to contact the people I need to talk to."

Ginny didn't get that, since there was no fireplace in her parents' bedroom, and no one could disapparate from inside the house. But Hermione looked at her and mouthed 'talking Patronus'. Oh. That made sense. They were at least as fast as apparition, and no one could intercept one like with owl post.

Her mum sighed, "At least this isn't a huge wedding. The Black-Malfoy wedding must have had two thousand guests. We would never be able to contact everyone in time for a wedding that size."

Hermione said, "Before everyone arrives for the wedding, we need to meet back here and check over the guest list, just so we can make sure we contacted everybody."

"Oh good thought, dear," nodded mum.

Hermione hastily dragged Ginny upstairs to their room, and started working through an enormous checklist Hermione had prepared, so they could make sure they had everything packed and ready for their exit. Ginny had to rush up to Ron's room a couple times to grab clothes that Ron and Harry hadn't gotten packed yet. It was just a good thing Hermione had made sure everything was getting laundered, because Ginny didn't want to have to haul around a pile of Ron's stinking unwashed clothes.

Gabrielle came in twice to grab clothes, but she was busy rushing around doing last-minute tasks with Fleur, so she was mostly out of their hair. The second time Gabrielle dashed in, Hermione waited patiently until Gabrielle found the lingerie she was seeking, and then locked the door once Gabrielle left.

"Now then. I have something for you to wear, and I think you'd better have it on during the wedding, just in case."

She pulled out something that looked like an Auror's holster for Ginny's left forearm, except that it was only two inches wide and looked more like a leather bracelet. It had little openings on the top and bottom. Ginny slid her hand into the bottom opening, and felt a small piece of wood. Her wand.

Hermione said, "Both openings have Undetectable Extension Charms on them. The bottom opening has your wand, and any backup wands you have lying around." Ginny still had Bellatrix Lestrange's wand in her desk, so she slid that into the holster too.

Hermione went on, "The top opening has a box of stakes, a crossbow, one of the school brooms, a broadsword, several enchanted silver and cold iron daggers, a large battleaxe, and a huge quiver of bolts for the crossbow."

Ginny's jaw dropped open. "Where did you get all this?"

Hermione looked slightly embarrassed as she said, "I asked some of the suits of armor back at Hogwarts to loan it all to me."

Ginny had to wonder just how long Hermione had been preparing for this adventure. Months, at the very least.
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