Knight Sword

A lot of questions went through Hermione's head as she laid in bed. They were halfway through April, meaning the day Taltria wanted to go after Rose was looming nearer. She planned for the end of June, giving them as much time as they could to prepare.

Would they be able to? What was the plan for finding her? Hermione hadn't had any luck working out discern location, and even if she did, it wouldn't help her find Rose. Yet Taltria insisted it was Hermione's job to find her.

What about Malfoy? Had he somehow found the ward chamber? He couldn't have, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he'd found it. That it was only a matter of time before the wards were lowered and they were all dead.

With all of this going on, all Hermione wanted to do was go to Professor Vector and work on Arithmancy. Even exams felt simple compared to this. Why did it have to be her?

Hermione checked the time. One in the morning. She gave up on sleep and got out of bed. She got ready for the day, then snuck out of Gryffindor Tower. She spared a thought for how terrified she'd been in her first year of getting caught. Now, she had invisibility, so there was no way for anyone to see her.

She crept through the castle, worried that someone could still hear her. She made it down to the Dungeons, then tapped the wall to reach the first secret passageway. She dismissed invisibility before it ran out, then started towards the maze. When she reached the end of the maze, she found the entrance to the chamber. It looked as it had before, like any other dead end.

Hermione relaxed. No one had entered the chamber. The wards were safe.

She recast invisibility, then returned to her room. She past Harry and Sally-Anne talking in the common room on her way, and joined them after it didn't look like she had been out of her room. There was nothing to worry about.

Draco walked around the Dungeons. From what Granger had said, there was somewhere to find to disable the wards. That meant it'd be at the bottom of the castle, which meant the entrance would likely be in the Dungeons.

It wasn't much; there was a good possibility that the only way to get to wherever the wards were placed was through the headmaster's office. If that was the case, he was in trouble.

He prepared to give up for the night when he heard footsteps echoing through the corridor. He ducked in an alcove and looked around, but he didn't see anyone. Was someone using a disillusionment charm?

As he watched, something tapped a section of the wall, and it slid away. He cast his own disillusionment charm and slipped inside before it could close.

When he got inside, he saw the person he was following: Granger. Draco crept behind her, careful not to make a sound. She walked through a few corridors, then opened another wall.

A maze lay past this one. Draco couldn't begin to keep up with the twists and turns. He didn't have parchment on him, so he had to force himself to remember. The maze didn't shift, which likely meant he could always figure it out himself later.

After a time, Granger arrived at a dead end. Apparently satisfied, she turned around, a smile on her face. He stepped aside to avoid her running into him before she returned through the maze. It wasn't any easier to remember the directions the second time around.

When they were out, Granger cast her disillusionment charm (although the incantation didn't sound anything like it should've) and started back towards Gryffindor Tower.

Draco watched her go, then memorized where they were in the Dungeons. The Dungeons were vast, so it made sense that no one would've found wherever she'd been. He didn't know for sure, but his instincts told him that he'd just seen the way to the wards.

He opened the passageway again to make sure he could, then returned to the common room. He'd be tired in the morning, but he didn't care. He knew where the wards were. It was only a matter of time before he found out how to take down the one Granger added.

Then what? Sally-Anne would've said. You go on living your life under the fear of Voldemort? Of Rose? Do you think it's going to stop there?

He clenched his teeth at the thought of someone telling him off, but relaxed when he realized Sally-Anne had a point. What did happen next? If he did as he'd been told, he'd continue living his life under Voldemort and lose Sally-Anne. If he didn't do as he was told, he kept Sally-Anne, but lost everything else.

Draco struggled to fall asleep with that choice on his mind. It seemed simple, but every time he thought about giving up Sally-Anne, he'd think of her smile. That kind smile that promised him she'd do whatever it took to make him happy.

He counted himself lucky that he didn't need to choose yet. He could enjoy a few more months with her before everything fell apart.

I wonder what she's doing now?

Moments after Hermione left, Sally-Anne opened her eyes. When Hermione cast invisibility, Sally-Anne knew it was her chance.

<Harry, would you please bring the map to the common room?>

She waited for Harry to give her an all-clear, then went down to the common room. Harry was waiting for her, map at the ready.

"Thank you for doing this," she said.

"I don't know why you want to find out where Hermione's going," Harry said, "but knowing you, there's a good reason."

Sally-Anne was happy to have regained Harry's trust. Only a few months ago, he wouldn't have considered helping her. Now, as per her request, he was doing so without asking too many questions.

"I think Hermione and Ginny are up to something," Sally-Anne said. "Neville too. I've noticed they've been disappearing lately at odd times of the day."

Harry shook his head and pointed to Neville's marker on the map. It was still in Gryffindor Tower.

"And I spotted Ginny in her room on my way down," Sally-Anne said, pointing to Ginny's marker. "That's reassuring."

Sally-Anne wanted to know where Hermione was going, but she didn't want to invade her friend's privacy more than she already had. Whatever Hermione was doing, it wasn't part of why she was sneaking off with the others. On her instruction, Harry folded the map.

"I'm afraid they're trying to kill Rose," Sally-Anne said. "The way Hermione talks about it, it's as if someone's forcing her to do it."

Harry glanced down at the map as he folded it.

Sally-Anne frowned at him.

"What is it?"

"I… Over the holiday, Taltria was at Sirius's flat."

"So I've heard," Sally-Anne said with more disapproval than she'd intended. She had no issue with Sirius and Taltria, only an issue with Sirius forgetting to pick up Harry.

"When I saw her over the holiday, I… I let slip about Rose. She left after that. Sirius said he hasn't seen her since."

Sally-Anne didn't know the nature of Sirius's relationship with Taltria, but it couldn't have been easy on him for her to disappear.

"I'm worried about Taltria," Harry continued. "I'm afraid she's going to try going after Rose. I know Rose is only human, but no one could ever stand up to her."

"I wonder if Taltria recruited Hermione, Neville, and Ginny to help her."

"I haven't noticed Neville at meals," Harry said. "I think something happened last week."

"I don't know. It feels like every time someone takes a step forward, someone else takes two steps back."

They sat in silence for a moment. Sally-Anne tried to think of anything else about which they could talk.

"How did things go with Professor Snape?"

Harry shrugged.

"I didn't say anything about my parents. Occlumency is easier knowing he's not really angry at me. I've still got to put in twice the effort, but I'm managing."

She smiled at him.

"Alavel would be so proud of you."

Harry smiled back.

"Thank you."

He glanced at his own staircase.

"Has Ron said anything?"

"About what?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Anything. About Lavender, Ginny, exams. Everything keeps hitting him harder. He seems fine."

"He's keeping it bottled up inside," Sally-Anne said. "I'll talk to him about it tomorrow during rounds. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

Sally-Anne smiled, then realized Harry could see through it.

"That wasn't convincing, was it?"

Harry shook his head.

Sally-Anne couldn't help but smile. It quickly faded when she thought of Ron.

"I'll talk to him," she said. "We'll figure it out."

Sally-Anne didn't convince herself either that time.

It was dark when Ron met Sally-Anne for their rounds later that week. He always noticed the dark nowadays. Had Hogwarts always been that dark at night?

"Good evening, Ron," Sally-Anne said with a smile on her face.

As dark and miserable his world was, hers was just as light and happy. He felt like an idiot next to her, straining to see what she could so clearly. The darkness closed in closer around him as he thought about it.

"Hi."

Sadness joined the light in her eyes. He liked that she never pitied him. People kept telling him how sorry they were, even after so many months. They talked as if they understood what it was like to watch someone they cared about die because they weren't good enough. If he'd been clever, Lavender would still be alive.

"Bad day?" she asked.

He wanted to tell her that every day was bad, that there were no good days anymore. At least when Rose had pretended to be their friend, there was a chance she wouldn't kill him. Now she could just pop up and kill him for fun. The best he could do was to prepare for any situation.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Alright."

They walked in silence, scouting the corridors for students out of their rooms, for traps that might've been set up by students… or others.

Ron occupied his mind with what he'd seen Rose do.

If she teleports a Death Eater here, first priority is Sally-Anne. I can��t let someone else die, especially not her.

His eyes darted around the corridor taking in everything he saw and categorizing it according to how useful he could make it.

If it's a Death Eater, I can animate the torches. Fire will damage them, just not Rose. If it's Rose, I've got to have a line to Dumbledore. He's the only one that can stop her.

Ron had argued for adding Dumbledore to their telepathic network, but Hermione was the only one who knew how to draw the rune. She was always busy with research, ironically with Professor Dumbledore, so Ron had never had the chance to ask her. Every time he tried over the network, she told him "busy".

Ron had several ideas about how to solve that problem. Muggles used radios, or these new devices they called "mobiles" to communicate. None of that would work in Hogwarts, since the magic interfered with electricity. They'd need magic, which they had.

They'd assigned an order of communication. Depending on the person after whom Rose went, they'd contact the others, who'd then contact Dumbledore.

That still left a delay in Rose appearing and Dumbledore appearing. Ron had to figure out how to solve that problem. The only solution he had was delay Rose. It hadn't worked before, but he hadn't known exactly where he'd been. Now he knew exactly where in the castle he was at all times.

If she uses that ray thing, I can stop it by throwing objects between us. It can't go through them; I saw that during the Triwizard Tournament. She can shoot lightning from her eyes. That's easy; just create a metal line to ground it. Can I do that? I can probably transfigure something.

"Ron?"

Ron shelved his problem solving and turned his attention to Sally-Anne. She was watching him expectantly.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you're ready for our Transfiguration exam."

He'd hardly thought about classes, much less exams. Every good mark he got was because of his preparation to stall Rose.

"Sure."

She smiled and laughed a little.

"I thought so. I've hardly had time to think about exams. It seems like every night I'm rushing to get something done. But it's probably easy for you."

The best he could manage was a small smile. He wasn't sure he was smiling at all.

"Even with being a prefect and having Quidditch," she added. "Is everything going alright on the team?"

Ron shrugged.

"I guess. There's no more fighting. With your boyfriend losing his matches, I think we've got a shot at the House Cup again."

Sally-Anne smiled at him. While it'd raised his spirits before, he found it did so little for him now.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You've had a look about you."

"What's wrong?" he echoed. "What do you mean? Rose is out there, waiting to kill us all. She could pop up at any second!"

Sally-Anne shook her head.

"Hermione put up that ward against her, remember? She can't pop in anymore."

"About bloody time," Ron mumbled.

If they'd taken me seriously, then Lavender would still be alive.

Sally-Anne walked in front of him and stopped.

"It's okay. We're safe."

He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so worried. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen anyone so worried about him.

"Tell that to Lav."

He walked past her and didn't speak a word the rest of the night.

It wasn't until someone mentioned Quidditch at breakfast that Ginny realized that Gryffindor's match against Ravenclaw was a week away.

It angered her to think about it. Another match, and she hadn't been let back on the team. She was better than the others. With her, they stood a much better chance of defeating Ravenclaw.

If they weren't going to do the sensible thing and approach her, then she had to approach them.

She spotted Harry leaving breakfast and went after him.

"Skyeyes!" she called.

Harry stopped walking and turned to her as she ran to him. Ron took a step back, but Sally-Anne smiled at her.

"Hey, Firecracker," Harry said. "Everything alright?"

"Obviously not," Ginny replied. "You haven't said anything about practice. When am I getting back on the team?"

She got a bad feeling when the smile faded from Harry's face.

"What?"

"Are you—" Ron started, but Sally-Anne shook her head.

"I can't," Harry said. "It's up to Professor McGonagall to let you back on. You've been better these past few months, but it's not up to me. If it were, I would've brought you back in weeks ago."

Ginny clenched her fists.

"Ginny," Sally-Anne said, "we know you're not happy about this, but getting angry at us isn't going to change anything. Like Harry said, it's not up to us. Why don't we all go talk to Professor McGonagall and—"

"She'd have a week to practice," Ron said. "We've got strategies worked out that fit our team. With her there, it'd throw everything off. There's no time."

With every word her brother spoke, her anger bubbled higher and higher, threatening to explode. She wanted to see her brother in pain, to remind him which of them was stronger. To remind him who ended up in St. Mungo's a few months ago.

She flicked her wand into place.

Harry had his trained on her before she could raise her arm.

"Don't you dare," he said.

"Ginny, don't do this," Sally-Anne said. "You're better than this. You've got to let this go."

Ginny's eyes darted from Sally-Anne, to Harry, to Ron. Harry would be faster than her. If she tried anything, he'd stun her before she could fire a spell.

She slowly brought her left hand over and pushed her wand back into place.

"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "You win."

She stormed off. That was it. Her chances of being on the team were gone.

Fine. She didn't need to be on the team to prove anything. She had other talents she could use.

<Brain, I'm heading to the Room of Requirement for practice. Wanna come?>

<I… I can't. I've got work to do.>

<What? What's more important than going after Rose?>

<I… I don't think it's a good idea to go on our own, that's all. If we listen to Professor Dumbledore, he can—>

<What? We don't need him! You, me, and Taltria! We've got this!>

<Exactly. Toad already backed out. Maybe he had the right idea.>

Ginny stormed off to the Room of Requirement and slammed the door behind her. She unleashed blast after blast at the targets it made for her. With every spell, she screamed the incantation. Every explosion made her feel better. After 15 minutes, she sat down, panting.

As she surveyed the wreckage she'd caused, a smile spread over her lips. She didn't need them. Skyeyes. Princess. Brain. Toad. She didn't need any of them. She could do everything on her own.

An idea crept into her mind. She could do everything on her own. If she brought Rose's body back, everyone would see that.

Rose is immune to fire.

She'd hit her brother with more than fire, she'd hit him with an explosion. The explosions would hurt Rose. All Ginny had to do was throw more of them at Rose, and she'd wear away at the traitor's defences. Rose would be powerless to stop her, trapped in an endless chain of explosions until she died.

Ginny laughed. It was so easy! Why hadn't she done it months ago?

Then she remembered that she had no idea where to find Rose. Taltria had told Hermione to do it, but she'd never said anything about it. Did Hermione know, and she wasn't telling them? Ginny didn't know, but she knew she could find out.

As she started to plan, she felt her brother laughing at her.

You're going to plan something? Ha!

Grinding her teeth together, Ginny abandoned her plan. She didn't need one anyway. All she had to do was get Rose's location out of Brain. and she'd be fine.

Hermione held her finger to her face and closed her eyes. She got a fuzzy image of a colourful box, but it faded before she got a location.

"That didn't work."

She crossed out some numbers on one of the pieces of parchment scattered over her room.

"Perhaps this."

She tried again, but the spell still failed.

She crumpled the parchment and hurled it across the room before falling on her back.

June had arrived. Hermione had skipped the Quidditch match the previous afternoon so she could focus on finding Rose. The stress of dealing with finding Rose was getting to her.

"I haven't started hallucinating yet," she muttered. "At least there's that."

She sat up and looked around the room. Everything there looked like it belonged. Pointing out that she wasn't hallucinating usually led to her hallucinating.

"I'm just tired," she muttered, falling back to the floor. "I need some rest."

She stared at the ceiling until sunrise. A new day.

She made her way to Professor Vector's office to review papers after breakfast. Perhaps she could help.

I suppose it is an eighth-level spell. Not the easiest thing in the world.

Septima smiled at her when she entered, but the smile quickly turned to a frown.

"Is everything alright? You look awful."

Hermione struggled to smile. The thought of Taltria butchering her parents struck down the smile.

"I'm fine."

Septima didn't buy it, but Hermione stuck to her story.

"What's the newest spell?" Septima asked. "Some way to fly without a broom? Brew potions without a cauldron?"

Hermione's mind churned to life and worked out fly. She cast it, wishing discern location was as easy.

She floated into the air, enjoying the astonished look on Septima's face.

Hermione floated over to her chair and sat down.

"That's easy," she said. "I've gotten so used to it that I can work out most spells fourth-level and lower without trying. I'm stuck on discern location. I've almost got it, but I can't get it right."

Septima frowned and waited for Hermione to unpack her notes.

"Do you understand how it's supposed to work?"

Hermione nodded.

"We leave behind psychic impressions whenever we interact with someone or something. Like a lifeline back to it. Discern location follows those lines back to the object or person, while mind blank temporarily severs them."

Septima nodded, then looked over her notes. Hermione explained them as Septima looked them over.

"Perhaps there's a mental component," Septima said after she'd finished. "Looking at what you've got, it looks like your spell will open up your mind to the psychic lines. It'd still be up to you to follow them."

Hermione looked down at her notes again, then concentrated on the spell. She focused on Luna, and felt her mind open. Concentrating harder, the spell revealed a mental image of a golden line leading out of Hogwarts. She followed the golden line to the forest, where she found Luna running through the trees.

Hermione opened her eyes.

"That was it!" she exclaimed. "Professor, you're a genius!"

Septima smiled.

"They don't give this position to anyone, you know."

Hermione closed her eyes again and concentrated on the Rubik's Cube she'd given Rose their first year. A golden line appeared in her head. It led her out of Hogwarts, but not far, settling in Hogsmeade.

Hermione opened her eyes.

"What did you find?" Septima asked.

"Rose." Hermione's mind processed the information she'd gained slowly. "She's in the Shrieking Shack."

Rose was in Hogsmeade. Hermione could get to her without needing to apparate or dimension door. She could finally get the answers she wanted.

Septima's face took on a forceful edge.

"Don't you dare."

Hermione snapped out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"Hermione, I know you want to understand why your friend is doing what she's doing, but she could kill you. Don't go after her."

Taltria's words echoed in Hermione's head.

"I haven't got a choice," she whispered.

���Of course you have. Why would you think you didn't?"

Hermione shook in her chair. She couldn't tell anyone about what Taltria was doing. If she did, Taltria would surely take her revenge.

"I… I can't say."

"Did Rose threaten you?"

Septima's voice had a tone Hermione had never heard before. Like a strange cross between concerned, sweet, and angry.

"Rose didn't. It… I didn't want to be a part of it, but I thought it'd be the only way I could get to Rose and be safe, and Taltria probably knows something about Rose's magic that I don't, so I agreed to help, but then our plan wasn't working, and I wanted to quit, and now Taltria says she's going to kill my family if I don't, and I don't know what to do!"

Septima's lips were pressed so thin they were white. This was in stark contrast to the rest of her face, which was red.

"Rest assured, Hermione, she will not harm you nor your family. I will see to it myself that this matter is dealt with."

Hermione closed her eyes and cast discern location again. This time, she followed the lines straight to the Forbidden Forest, where Taltria was hidden out.

"She's… she's in the Forbidden Forest."

Septima stood up.

"My apologies for cutting our session short after…" she glanced at the clock. "…only 15 minutes, but I feel we've made progress today."

Hermione couldn't argue with that. They'd worked out discern location, one of the most useful of Rose's spells she'd seen, and that felt like progress to her.

She walked with Septima to the door, where Septima bid her farewell.

"I'm sorry to leave you like this," Septima said, "but I'd rather not involve you anymore than you already are."

Hermione nodded. She had no arguments about not being involved anymore.

"You'll hear no complaints from me. I'm tired of being involved."

Septima smiled at her.

"I see you've learned a lot this year."

"I've had a good teacher."

"I'll see to it that this is sorted. No need to worry anymore. I know you've got mixed feelings about Peta-Lorrum, but I can't blame you for wanting to believe the best in a friend."

Hermione smiled, glad someone was taking her side for once.

They parted ways, leaving Hermione feeling more confident about the future than ever.

That night, Hermione's new outlook on life was tested.

<Brain!>

Hermione jumped at the angry voice in her head.

<What are Order members doing in the Forbidden Forest? Did you tell them where to find me?>

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut.

She can't get to me here. I'm safe.

<You threatened my parents. You've lost it.>

Now I know how Rose felt every time someone threatened me.

A shiver ran down her spine. Compared to her newfound abilities, her parents felt so vulnerable.

<Where's Rose?>

<I'm not going to tell you!>

<Then your parents are—>

<You can't get to them before the Order does. They're safe. I can send people anywhere you can go long before you get there.>

Hermione stood firm against Taltria and did the sensible thing.

<Princess, Skyeyes, Taltria needs help. She's on the network with us.>

<Brain, tell me where she is right now!>

<Taltria,> Harry said, <Alavel wouldn't want you taking revenge on Rose.>

Sally-Anne ran up to their room and sat on Hermione's bed next to her.

<She killed him! Brain knows where to find Rose!>

Sally-Anne looked at Hermione, who nodded.

"Have you gone after her?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Professor Vector told me not to."

Sally-Anne gave her a smile that reminded Hermione of the way Alex smiled.

<It doesn't matter,> Harry said. <Professor Dumbledore will take care of it. Let it go.>

"Isn't she in Malfoy Manor?" Sally-Anne asked.

"She goes between there and the Shrieking Shack," Hermione replied. "I think she rests at the shack."

Sally-Anne nodded.

Taltria raged in their heads, but after a time, she wore down.

<Fine,> she said at last. <You win.>

None of them said anything after that. There was nothing else to say.

Hermione laid on her bed. Everything was looking up.

When Ginny saw Sally-Anne run out of the common room, she crept up the stairs after her. Careful to stay out of sight, she leaned in to hear Sally-Anne and Hermione talking.

��Isn't she in Malfoy Manor?" Sally-Anne asked.

"She goes between there and the Shrieking Shack," Hermione replied. "I think she rests at the shack."

Ginny grinned, then crept back to the common room.

<Rose is in the Shrieking Shack. I know a shortcut. If you still want to take Rose out, meet me at the Whomping Willow at midnight.>