Lighting the Fuse

Hermione blocked another blast of fire. Even distracted by Malfoy's gambit, she stayed focused on her companions.

Ginny threw down a fire bomb for cover. Hermione shielded herself from the flames, then checked her blindsight for her friend. Whirling around, she conjured a jet of water in Ginny's direction.

The water struck Ginny, but she evaporated it within seconds. Turning on Hermione, she readied another attack.

Neville caught Ginny with the flat of his blade. She went down, tumbling to recover. Ginny blindly threw a fire bomb at them. Neville dove for cover, while Hermione threw up a shield again.

The bomb ripped through the Room of Requirement. It sent Neville tumbling over the ground. He recovered, sword in hand, looking out for Ginny.

Hermione braced herself against the impact. She didn't know where Ginny was either. The other girl had moved out of range of her blindsight. Hermione made a note to add energy immunity to her repertoire of spells.

The two of them remained ready for another head on attack, as was Ginny's style. It'd be easy enough to catch them off guard with a surprise attack from behind, but Ginny never went for it.

The smoke cleared, giving away Ginny's position. Hermione put pressure on her while Neville closed the gap between them.

When Neville reached Ginny, they switched roles. While he kept Ginny from casting another spell, Hermione moved into position. She traced cracks in the wall, breaking loose chunks of stone. As she and Neville had practiced, she pelted them with rock.

Neville deflected the barrage without breaking eye contact with Ginny. Ginny wasn't so lucky; she took hit after hit from Hermione and Neville.

Hermione's assault knocked Ginny off balance. Neville shoved her off her feet, keeping up his assault.

Ginny landed on her back, then rolled away from Neville. Stretching out her hand, she vaulted off her back, then hurled a fire bomb at Neville in midair.

Hermione tried to work out a solution. She came up with nothing, so she pushed harder. Her mind churned with possibilities, going faster and faster, but then she hit her limit. Her mind locked down. She had nothing. She froze.

Neville glanced behind him at Hermione. He threw his sword at her, pulled himself to her, and got them both out of the path of the bomb.

It went off, but they were safely away when it did. Before Ginny could throw another one, Neville called out to her.

"That's enough for today!"

Ginny glared at him, keeping her wand ready for more.

"That's it?" she exclaimed. "But—"

"If we push ourselves too hard, it'll only wake it worse," Neville said. "It defeats the point of all this."

Ginny lowered her arm.

"Fine."

Oddly enough, Hermione had seen improvement in Ginny. Not only in her combat prowess, but the outlet for her energy had done her good. Hermione wanted to talk to Harry about getting her back on the team before May. As wild as Ginny could be, Hermione thought she'd earned something.

"Why don't you get going?" Neville said. "I want to talk to Brain for a moment."

Ginny spared them a glance, then left the Room of Requirement.

"Hope I didn't beat you too badly!" she called on her way out.

As much as Ginny had improved, she was still arrogant.

"Are you alright?" Neville asked. "You hesitated again. You can't be doing that against Rose."

She was still shaken, but she didn't want Neville to worry. She nodded, hoping it would suffice.

"I know. I pushed myself too hard is all."

Neville eyed her, and she knew he was worrying about her anyway.

"I'll be fine."

The look didn't stop.

"Stop it!"

"If you insist," he said, turning to the door.

"Any word from Moon?" Hermione asked, knowing the topic would distract him.

Neville glanced back and shook his head.

"Don't worry," Hermione said. "I know she cares about you. I'm sure she's got her own problems to sort out."

Hermione hoped that was true. It was nice seeing them together, and she knew how much they both cared for one another. She hoped it was a matter of time before Luna came to her senses. Having Sally-Anne Perks and Draco Malfoy be the power couple in their group felt wrong.

Draco returned to Hogwarts Sunday night. He snuck off to the Room of Requirement, where he found Sally-Anne and Granger waiting for him.

Sally-Anne jumped up and ran to meet him. Without regard for Granger, she threw her arms around him.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she said.

"Well?" Granger asked.

Draco didn't return Sally-Anne's hug. Every inch of him wanted to, but he refused to show weakness in front of Granger.

"I told them about Lux. Then she turned into Peta-Lorrum, turned him into stone, turned him back, showed off some sort of pendant, then told him she needed me to take down the ward you put up."

Granger scoffed.

"You'll never find it."

Sally-Anne glared at her.

"That's not the point." She turned back to him. "What's important is that you're safe."

"I've got until the last day of classes to take it down," Draco said, ignoring Sally-Anne's concern. "After that, I'll go home, and… face the consequences."

Sally-Anne turned to Granger.

"Well?"

"Well what? I can't tell either of you how to take the wards down."

"Like I need your help!" Draco snapped, happy to be asserting dominance over someone after the weekend he'd had. "I'll find it on my own!"

"Good luck," Granger said. She walked past them and out of the Room of Requirement.

Draco waited for the door to slam. He still resisted the urge to show weakness, but he could feel his body shaking with contained sobs.

Sally-Anne smiled at him, and he nearly lost it.

"You don't need to worry about it."

Her kindness was too much for him to take. Ignoring his instinct to run away from her, he pulled her closer. She rested his head on her shoulder. As he breathed to stop himself from crying, he took in the scent of strawberries in her hair. It was warm, soothing.

"It's alright," she whispered. "I'm proud of you."

"They're going to kill me," he said. "And my parents. Probably my aunt for fun."

"You don't know that. We can help you. We can protect you. Inside Hogwarts, they can't get to you."

Draco's tears subsided, but he didn't release Sally-Anne.

"Will Granger tell anyone what I did?"

Sally-Anne shook her head.

"She's kept it a secret all this time. She won't spoil it now."

Draco pulled away from her and straightened up.

Sally-Anne smiled and fixed his collar.

"That's more like it. There's my prince."

Draco blushed for a moment. No one had ever given him a pet name before. He thought he would've hated it, but he loved hearing Sally-Anne call him that.

Sally-Anne's hands drifted from his collar to his cheeks.

"You're doing the right thing. Remember that."

He rested a hand on hers and stared into her eyes.

"I know, Princess."

She kissed him.

"Only making sure, Prince."

He blushed again.

Hermione trekked into the forest to meet with Taltria later that night. It was an odd sensation to be counting on Draco Malfoy, but he'd been her last hope. If he'd succeeded, there wouldn't have been any need to go after Rose. Now, there was nothing.

She found Taltria waiting for her. Hermione had put Taltria on the telepathic network weeks ago to ease their ability to communicate. They'd want it when they went against Rose anyway.

"What?" Taltria asked. "What's so important that we had to meet in person?"

I don't want to fight Rose.

"Do… do we have to fight Rose?"

"Of course we do! Do you want her to keep killing everyone?"

"Can't we talk to her? Find out—"

"There's nothing to say!" Taltria spat. "She killed my brother! She killed a student! How many more people does she have to kill before you realize that she's against us? Cohort? Moon? Toad? Wake up, Brain! Rose is evil! She stabbed us in the back! We've got to take her down!"

Hermione trembled at Taltria's words. It was still impossible for her to think of killing her friend. Not without knowing why she'd turned. What had Slytherin done to make her this way? Was there anything Hermione could do to fix it?

"Quit whining, and let's get back to it," Taltria said. "You've got to be on counterspelling duty. Anything she throws out, you dispel. In fact, dispelling her to begin with will help. She uses Persist Spell, so most of her spells can be removed. Do that, and she'll be powerless."

"She'll still have Serendipity."

"Not if she can't power surge her."

The thought of Rose rendered helpless was too strange for her to consider. Could they really do it? Could Hermione be the one to strip away her friend's defences? Did she want to be the one to do it?

"But—"

Taltria grabbed Hermione and slammed her into a tree.

"Stop being such a coward, Brain! You're the only one that can do this. If you don't help me kill Rose, I'll kill you!"

"W-won't that complicate your plans a little?" Hermione stammered, caught off guard by the sudden outburst.

Taltria picked her up and slammed her into the tree again.

"Then I'll go after your parents."

Hermione trembled in Taltria's grasp. Taltria had given her a choice: her parents or Rose. Hermione wanted to run away, to let someone else make the choice. Why did it have to be her?

"Fine. I'll help you."

Taltria narrowed her eyes.

"Good," she said, and dropped Hermione. "While you're here, let's work on some spells you'll need to fight her. Then you've got to work out discern location so we can find her."

Hermione wanted to argue, but she was too afraid of Taltria. She wanted to run away, to crawl into her bed, to cry to Professor Vector. If she did any of that, Taltria would find her parents and kill them.

She hid her fear and forced herself to practice with Taltria. They went until sunrise, when Hermione insisted she needed to return to the castle.

After Hermione snuck back into Gryffindor Tower, she threw herself into bed. She didn't want to start crying, but the tears came anyway.

"Rough night?"

Sally-Anne walked out of the bathroom and sat down beside her.

Hermione didn't say anything. She couldn't.

"If Draco was plan A, what's plan B?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, her voice hoarse.

Sally-Anne rested her hand on Hermione's back.

"Is it killing Rose yourself?"

The thought of killing Rose brought fresh tears to her eyes. A sob escaped her mouth.

"I don't want to hurt her. I don't want her to be like this. What happened to my friend?"

Sally-Anne rubbed her back. Hermione appreciated the effort, but she was sure nothing would calm her down.

"I don't know, Brain. I'm sure there's a reason for all this. If anyone can work it out, it's you."

Hermione tried to smile, but it only made the tears fall faster. Nothing was going right. She wanted to run away and let someone else handle this. Wasn't there someone else that was supposed to be handling this?

So much for all the talk of the adults handling things.

She forced down her sobs enough to get a question out.

"How are things with Malfoy?"

She couldn't see Sally-Anne's face, but her friend withdrew her hand.

"He's alright. He… well, he wouldn't want me saying anything more."

Hermione wiped tears from her eyes and sat up in her bed. That was when she noticed that something was different in their room.

"Where's Parvati?"

"She left. Her parents called her home last week, so she packed up before the Easter holiday. You were off not planning on going after Rose with Neville and Ginny."

Hermione frowned at her.

"What?"

Sally-Anne shook her head and rubbed her wrist.

"Never mind. It's just the two of us now."

Hermione smiled at her.

"At least we've got each other."

Tears returned to her eyes. Her mind drifted back to her time with Rose. Her friend, so far away. Hermione wanted to see her again. If only to find out why.

Ginny arrived in the forest with Hermione and Neville. They had just under two months before classes ended, and they wanted to take down Rose before then.

"Here's the plan. We go in and take them out. I'll handle Voldemort. Firecracker, Toad, clear a path to Rose. Brain, take down her defences. Once you've got her neutralized, Toad and I take her out. Firecracker, you clear us an escape route. Hit them hard and fast."

Ginny grinned. She'd been waiting for this for weeks.

"Firecracker, you'll be on your own for the most part. Tonight, we've got to get you ready for it. You'll have to be good enough to take us three."

Ginny flicked her wand into position.

"Come on, then!"

Taltria swung at her. Ginny jumped out of the way and fired back. Taltria stopped it with a twirl of her sword.

Ginny jumped back to put distance between her and Taltria. She threw another blast of fire, but aimed this one at the ground. It rose up around them, granting her cover.

Neville came at her from behind. He knocked her in the head with the flat of his blade. Ginny stumbled, her vision fuzzy, then threw fire back at him.

Hermione extinguished the flames, allowing Taltria to get through to Ginny. Ginny dropped to her knees and spun around, hurling fire in all directions. Climbing to her feet, she got out from between Taltria and Neville.

"Ha!" she exclaimed, firing another blast between them.

Glancing around, she spotted Hermione. Ginny threw another blast at her to keep her at bay, then stepped forward and pressed the others back.

In her mind, her teammates would run through the gap she'd created, straight to Rose. She stepped to her right to imitate that, forcing her enemies away.

Hermione started to extinguish the flames again. With her imaginary companions safely behind her, Ginny went on offence. She stepped forward and launched a fire bomb at her opponents.

The bomb detonated, ripping away trees they could've used as cover. The flash lit up the night, removing whatever vision Hermione was using to see. The forest caught fire, meaning it'd be harder all around for them to fight her.

She threw another, then another, keeping them all at bay. They didn't have time to recover, nor to keep up with the volley.

"Not so tough now!" she exclaimed.

Something cracked her on the back of the head. She spun around, but it was already gone. She turned back to her opponents. Before she could make another move, the rumbling of thunder overhead stopped her.

A flash of lightning revealed the person who'd gotten behind her. It wasn't Neville, Taltria, or even Hermione.

Luna stood among the trees, her hands raised to the sky. Ginny went for her, but a wave of Luna's hand sent a gust of wind at Ginny. The wind knocked her off her feet as rain began to fall.

One drop fell, then another, and another, until it was pouring. The rain doused the fires and broke up the smoke.

Ginny clenched her fists and glared at Luna.

"What are you doing?" Ginny shouted.

Luna looked at her, her face concealed by her mask.

"Well?" Ginny shouted. "Answer me!"

Ignoring her, Luna looked to Ginny's recovering companions.

Ginny gritted her teeth, then raised her wand. She started to throw a fire bomb at Luna, but something caught her feet and knocked her to the ground.

She rolled over and saw Neville standing over her.

Rolling again, Ginny tried to climb to her feet, but Neville knocked her down again. Before she could react, he held his blade to her throat.

"Stay down," he snarled.

"That wasn't fair!" Ginny exclaimed. "It can't rain indoors!"

"We've got magic," Neville replied. "You've turned a snuffbox into a mouse and back again, and you think it can't rain indoors?"

Ginny growled at him.

Neville glanced at Luna. Ginny saw her opening.

She knocked the sword away and leapt to her feet. She hurled another blast of fire at him.

Neville flicked the sword up and blocked it, then went for her.

Ginny hurled a fire bomb at her feet.

The blast knocked everyone to the ground. Ginny recovered first. She scanned the area, and saw that she'd caught Luna in the blast. No one was severely injured, on account of the rain falling hard enough to extinguish the flames before they did any real damage. Still, it proved that she wasn't useless without fire damage.

"Shows what you know!" she exclaimed. "I bet I could do this by myself if I wanted!"

She readied another firebomb, but stopped when she realized she couldn't see Luna anymore. She scanned the forest, smirking when she couldn't find her.

"Must've ran away!" She cupped her hands to her mouth. "What's the matter, Moon? Too scared to face a real challenge? I've got your boyfriend at my mercy! If you're not quick, he'll end up back in the—"

Something hit her hard on the back of the head. She spun around, but Luna raked her nails over Ginny's face. Luna spun around and caught Ginny with her foot, landing her on the ground. Ginny lifted her arm, but Luna grabbed her wrist and jabbed at her elbow.

CRACK!

Ginny recoiled, clutching her broken arm.

Luna didn't stop there. She grabbed Ginny's throat and slammed her head into the ground. Claws protruded from Luna's free hand and she lowered them towards Ginny's face.

"Moon?" Ginny wheezed, hardly able to breath through Luna's grasp.

Ginny tried to raise her wand. Pain shot through her arm and radiated into her body. She punched Luna's face with her good hand, forgetting that Luna's mask was wood.

Out of options, Ginny struggled against Luna, but the claws still descended.

"Moon!" Neville shouted.

The claws stopped. Luna stared at Ginny, then looked up. Her head whipped around, then she stared down at Ginny. Luna jumped off her and backed away.

"No!" she cried, clutching her head. "Get out of my head! I'm not you! I'm me!"

Ginny climbed to her feet, her hand clenched. She was helpless. Anyone could kill her if they wanted. Exactly as it had been against Voldemort. He'd shattered her wand, making her powerless. Weak. Pitiful. The way everyone saw her.

Neville approached Luna. She looked at him. Watched him approach. Then she bolted, disappearing into the trees.

"Moon!"

Neville ran after her a few paces, then realized he'd never catch her. After staring at the trees, he turned on Ginny.

"Why did you attack her?" he shouted. "She's not part of this!"

He closed the distance between them and grabbed her. She winced when his hand closed around her broken arm.

"She got in my way!" Ginny shouted. "It wasn't fair!"

"You think attacking us last year was fair? You think Lestrange torturing my family was fair? You think Voldemort killing Harry's parents was fair? These are Death Eaters! They don't care about fair! If not for Brain, Rose would turn us all to stone! She's got magic only she and Brain can use! None of this is fair! Don't attack Moon because you think she's ruining your fun!"

Ginny struggled against Neville's grip, but he squeezed her tighter the harder she tried to escape.

"I'm sorry you're not strong enough to stop me," Ginny sneered. "Only weak enough to hit me while I'm down."

Neville threw her to the ground.

"I'm done," he said. "I'll find a way to go after Lestrange that doesn't involve her."

He stormed off, disappearing into the trees.

Taltria walked over to her. Hermione stood where she'd been the entire time. She stared at them all.

"Good work," Taltria said. "Toad was redundant with you here anyway."

Hermione looked from Taltria to Ginny.

"You can't be serious. Did we not both watch that?"

"Toad��s right," Taltria said. "They're not going to play fair, so why should we? Going all out like that was perfect. Don't hold back next time, Firecracker. Scorched Earth is a great way to go with this. If you happen to kill everyone else there, so be it. We'll all be immune to fire, courtesy of Brain."

Ginny stared in awe of Taltria. Not only was someone not giving her grief for killing some nameless NPC, they were telling her to kill more of them. Someone finally understood.

Her awestruck face turned into a smile.

"I can do that. Can someone fix my arm?"

Taltria turned to Hermione, who stared at the two of them in shock.

"Brain?"

Hermione looked between them, then resigned herself.

"Alright."

She took Ginny's arm in her hands. Closing her eyes, she muttered something under her breath. Her hands glowed white, then the light spread to Ginny's arm, encasing it. The pain faded away. When the light was gone, she could use her arm again.

She looked at Taltria and Hermione. The three of them could do it. They didn't need Toad.

I don't even need them.

Neville trekked through the forest. He knew he wouldn't find Luna, but he wanted to put distance between himself and the others. He'd been wrong to think the four of them could kill Rose. It was suicide.

"But they're going to kill Lestrange without you," Evil Neville whispered. "You'll never get revenge for what she did. It'll be over, and she'll never suffer."

Neville thought of his parents, unaware of the world. They were shells, with nothing inside them. They'd never tell him they loved him. All because of Lestrange.

Anger rose inside him. He wanted to scream. He was angry at Moon for running away. At Ginny for attacking Moon. At Lestrange for taking his parents. At Rose for abandoning them. He was angry at everyone, at everything.

Neville fell to his knees and screamed. Nothing was going right. Why couldn't something go right?

He drove his fist into the ground. He wanted to drive it through Lestrange's head, but that meant working with Ginny again. What was wrong with her? Was that the way people like her went? Was that what had happened to Rose?

"They all hate you," Evil Neville said. "You're still Neville Longbottom, not worth loving at all. The poor little orphan boy who's all alone."

"Shut up!"

"You've still got your sword. Why don't you make me?"

Neville closed his eyes and gathered himself. It was no use getting angry about it. He'd find a way to take Lestrange down.

He climbed to his feet and started walking. He didn't care where he was going. The forest was familiar, safe. He could count on it, unlike everyone else in his life.

That's not true. Professor Sprout's pretty nice.

The sound of someone ahead caught his attention. He ducked behind a tree to see what it was. By the light of the moon, he made out a familiar face.

Luna looked up, and he saw her face for the first time in almost a year. A scar ran across her face. When she looked at him, he saw her eyes.

There were no pupils in them. They were empty. Fake.

"Moon."

She bolted into the trees. He started to go after her, but she lost him in seconds.

Neville slowed to a stop, staring into the forest where Luna had run.

"She's blind," he breathed. "Moon's blind."

He felt short of breath. The urge to be sick rose inside him. Moon had lied to him. She was blind.

Neville turned and started back towards the castle. Only one thought prevailed in his mind.

I'm going to kill Lestrange.

She'd taken his parents from him. Robbed him of a proper childhood with a loving family. Instead, he'd been thrown out a window. It was probably why nothing Rose had done ever bothered him. His family had done worse.

Until Rose had faked her death and turned against them. That was worse than anything anyone had done.

Except for Moon. He cared so much about her, but she'd run away, leaving him like everyone else. As angry as he was about her lying to him, he was relieved to know why she'd run away.

Yet, the same thought prevailed: if it hadn't been for Lestrange, Moon would've come back with him. Lestrange had taken the last good thing in his life.

I'm going to kill Lestrange.