Second Time Around

Harry stepped out of the fireplace, straightening his glasses. “Hey, Ron! Sorry I’m late, your mum stopped by and-,”

Harry stilled. He could sense that Ron wasn’t listening to him. “Ron?” he called.

Something was wrong. Harry hurried through the organized living room and into the kitchen. “Ron!”

When Harry saw him on the floor facedown, he skid to his knees next to him, turning him over. “Ron, mate, wake up!” With shaking hands he dug in his pocket for his wand. “Enervate!”

Ron’s blue eyes snapped open and he gasped, choked. “Harry, oh, gods!”

“Ron, what happened? Are you alright?” he asked worriedly, looking him over. He had a large gash on his face, the blood drying and sticking to his hair, plastering it to his face. Bruises marred his skin, his shirt was torn. Harry helped him into a sitting position and grew more scared by the moment looking at his terrified face.

“Harry, they took her, they have her!”

“What? Took who? You’re not making any sense-,”

“Hermione! They have Hermione! I tried to stop them but there was too many-,”

“Ron, what are you talking about?” Harry asked, his gut sinking. “Who has Hermione?”

“Gerald Wright and his cronies. Gods, Harry, it’s my fault, it’s my fault!” he cried, shaking.

“Slow down, Ron. Tell me everything.”

“Rebekkah, where’s Rebekkah?” he asked weakly, looking around.

“Who?”

“Here,” came a small voice from the doorway. A dark haired girl was clutching her bleeding arm and staring at them with wide eyes.

“Bek!” Ron yelled, leaping from the floor. He hurried over to her and wrapped her in his arms, holding her close. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

“I’m fine, I’m okay,” she said into his shoulder. “Just a little shaken.”

“We’ll take you to your sister’s. Harry,” he said, turning back to him. “We have to find her, we have to find Gerald, he’ll know where-,”

“Who’s Gerald? Ron, what the fuck are you on about?”

“Aren’t you listening? I don’t have time to explain, she could be anywhere! They’ll kill her, Harry! We have to find her!”

Harry had no idea what was going on, whether Ron had finally gone off the deep end or was completely serious. One look in his best mate’s eyes told him what he didn’t want to believe: this was real, Hermione was in trouble and if they didn’t do something fast, her life might be the cost. Ron and Hermione had stuck with him no matter what over the years, even when they didn’t know the details. Now, it was his turn to trust Ron.

Harry hurried over and took the other side of Rebekkah when her knees gave out and Side-Along Aparated with Ron to what he guessed was her sister’s house and shoved her onto a couch while Ron hurriedly explained the situation to an older woman with the same dark hair and blue eyes. Then they were off to the Ministry where Ron tugged him to the Lawyer’s offices explaining.

“I got into some bad shit, mate. I didn’t mean to, really, I had no idea that this guy had gone mental! But he had some grudge against Malfoy, I wanted him out of the picture. I thought if I could make him go away Hermione would come back to me, you know?” he puffed as they weaved through the crowd that was the nine o’clock rush. “But I realized a couple days ago it was a mistake. She loves him mate, he loves her. I love Rebekkah, what’s the point in dragging this all out? But when I tried to call it off that night he went berserk! He kidnapped Rebekkah, said if I didn’t go along with it that he’d kill her! I got a message off to you, that’s when they came for me. They had Rebekkah, I didn’t know what else to do!”

“It’s alright, we’ll figure this out. Where did they take her?”

“That’s just it, I don’t know! But if we can stop Wright from killing Malfoy we might have some leverage,” Ron panted as they entered a door marked ‘Draco Malfoy, Attorney at Law’. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at a beefy man standing over Malfoy, unconscious face down on the floor.

“Drop your wand! Now!” Harry yelled. “As Head Auror I demand you to step away from Mr. Malfoy. Put your wand on the ground and step away.”

The man just cackled and when he turned to Harry and Ron, wand fixated on Malfoy, Harry could tell this man was not one to bargain with, he was mad.

“Think you scare me, Potter? I was dueling before you were even born!”

“Be that as it may, Mr. Wright, but I am Head Auror now. Drop your wand and step away from Mr. Malfoy.”

“So, Weasley, had to get your buddy here to watch your back? Can’t deal with the pressure?”

“Not when I’m dealing with a crazy fucker like you, I have no qualms going to Harry, yeah. You know as well as everyone who Harry is. I suggest you listen to him.”

Harry tamped down the feelings of pride. It was definitely an asset in this business to be known as the man who took out Voldemort. Most people didn’t fuck with him and surrendered immediately. But it seemed Mr. Wright was not to be intimidated.

“Well, when you say it like that I’m just positively quivering in my knickers. Stupefy!”

He and Ron ducked and Harry charged, shouting spell after spell while the man jumped behind Malfoy’s desk and took cover until Ron blew it to smithereens with a well placed “Reducto!”

“Party’s over, Wright. You can come with me quietly or we can do this the hard way,” Harry said, his voice a lot calmer than he felt. If anything happened to Hermione…

“Now, now, Potter. You see, I still have the key.” He lifted his wand and tapped a little coin in his hand. Screams filled the room, causing Ron to cover his ears with the sound. Harry paled. They sounded just like-

“Hermione! Where is she you sick fucker? WHERE IS SHE?” Ron screamed, charging at Wright. Harry held out a hand as her screams reached an unbearable level.

“Don’t, Ron! He’ll only hurt her more!”

“Let her go!” he screamed, still trying to get at the man who was laughing again.

“Got ya, didn’t I?” he said. “Remember this little coin you gave me, Weasley? It’s come to be quite useful.”

Ron sagged against Harry as Harry recognized the coin Wright was holding up. It was the one they’d used for the D.A., the one Hermione had worked so hard at perfecting.

“What do you want, Wright?” Harry asked in a calm voice, knowing the next step was to make him think he had room to bargain.

“What I’ve always wanted. Revenge. She doesn’t have to die, you know. She could be just fine if the two of you do as I say. Actually, we can turn this sticky little situation to our advantage.”

“In what way?” Harry asked, trying to keep the man talking. If he could signal to Ron to enervate Malfoy while Harry kept Wright’s focus on him, Malfoy might be able to take him out while he wasn’t watching and they could get some Veritaserum from Bryce and they could have Hermione back in no time. He only hoped they weren’t too late.

“You will take Mr. Malfoy here into custody, lock him up and write up a report saying you caught him torturing me with the Cruciatus for a raise and-,” Harry caught Ron’s eye when Wright looked down at Malfoy and nodded to the unconscious man. Ron raised his eyebrows in consent and Harry looked up in time to catch Wright’s eye who was rambling about his well thought out plan. Harry saw a flash of white light that he was sure Wright hadn’t seen. In his peripheral vision he saw Ron trod none too gently on Malfoy’s leg as Wright began pacing. Perfect.

“And you’ll tell us where she is?” Harry interjected, hoping to give Malfoy time to figure out what was going on as Ron kept his face impassive, watching Wright with a slightly worry gaze. Ron wasn’t a great actor but he knew they were both worried.

“Of course, of course. As soon as the sentencing goes through I’ll bring her to you-,”

The large man hit the floor with a bone jarring thud and Malfoy handed Ron back his wand and began ransacking Wright. Harry was about to ask him what he was doing but he stood up a moment later, his wand clenched in his hand.

“Where is she, where’s Hermione?” he asked as her screams filled the room once more. Malfoy turned to Wright and flipped him over, grabbing the coin that was lying beneath his generous stomach, clenched in his fist. Malfoy used Wright’s wand to tap it and the screams stopped. He stood, his face paler than Harry had ever seen it.

“Where is she Weasley?” he rounded on Ron looking murderous.

“I don’t know, honestly, it wasn’t supposed to be like this!” Ron cried, punching the side of a bookshelf next to him.

“What do you plan to do?” Malfoy asked. “Wright is the only one who knows-,”

“Veritaserum. Bryce Rangston, Hermione’s boss, always keeps some on hand to coax the more unruly wizards along,” Harry explained as he watched Malfoy’s temper flare. “Ron, cover Wright, we can’t leave him here alone and we can’t be Hovering him through the Ministry. We’ll be back.” He signaled to Malfoy who hurried out of his office, stopping him and ducking behind his secretary’s desk. Harry heard a muttered “Ennervate!” and the next minute, Malfoy was helping a sandy-haired woman to her feet.

“Go straight to St. Mungo’s, I’ll meet you there soon, you hear me? No arguing, I’ll have your boyfriend sent over immediately,” Malfoy said, pressing the girl into a chair. She nodded and Malfoy shouldered his way past Harry, his eyes dead-set and determined. Harry followed, knowing that when this was all over they had some serious talking to do.

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Hermione coughed again, blood splattering the stone floor beneath her. She rolled onto her back and clutched her stomach, the pain unbearable. She didn’t know how many times she’d been hit with the Cruciatus Curse but it didn’t matter. She’d heard them muttering about Draco, saying Wright was going to kill him before he ever got to Azkaban, making it sound a great joke. Hermione didn’t have her wand and could only do some simple spells without it. She’d tried to Summon it, but it hadn’t come so she figured it was somewhere she couldn’t get to it. She had no idea where she was, having only woken up when she was being tortured for the first time. Since then she’d taken the quick breaks to focus on breathing. She had no idea how much time had passed, why she was here or what was going on. All she knew was that it had to do with those notes. Gods, this was all her fault. If only she hadn’t dragged Draco into this-

Her thoughts shattered as excruciating pain whipped through her. Her throat was raw from screaming and it soon broke, dying out as her body shuddered against the curse. When it ended, the sick laughter rang in her head as she was sick yet again, only producing her stomach acid as she’d already lost everything from last night’s dinner. Gasping for breath, she rolled away from the sick and ended up on her stomach. The voices whispered, she didn’t trust them. She didn’t know where they were, it was too dark to see more than a few feet in any direction.

She stared at the ceiling. She would give anything to save Draco. She loved him as she’d never loved Ron and she hated that she’d been too much of a coward to tell him so this morning. Now she may never get the chance.

A part of her felt guilty for loving Draco as she did and still being married to Ron. But she supposed that’s why Ron had kept everything a secret from her. It didn’t condone what he’d done and she would always remember the pain and the hurt of his betrayal, but she couldn’t stay angry at him forever, not when she felt the same. They had rushed into it, scared children looking for love amidst all the destruction and death they’d witnessed. Now they were paying the price. She loved him like a brother, but not. It was strange and she couldn’t put her finger on it, but she didn’t have to. It was enough to feel the peace of forgiveness before she died.

Hermione wasn’t sure how much time passed. Hours. Days. Weeks. The pain wore her down, she drifted in and out of consciousness. Sometimes she could hear the men talking, sometimes they were silent. Once a glass of water was placed next to her head but she ignored it. It could be poisonous.

She was tortured lazily a few more times. She couldn’t even get up the energy to scream. Her weak body simply flopped about, her bones snapping and her skin ripping. Blood trickled down her throat, out her mouth. She felt it draining from her ears and nose and knew she couldn’t take much more, her organs must be toast.

When she felt a hand touch her shoulder she wrenched away from it.

“Ya know, miss, I can decide whether or not to hurt you anymore. All I have to do is send a quick little spell through that coin and he’ll think I hurt you. If you were willing…” he trailed off as his hand crept up her skirt. Hermione kicked out as hard as her weak legs could and caught something, proud when she heard a resounding crack! and a howl of pain. She scooted back as he screamed at his other companion, “The bitch broke my fucking nose!”

“Then fix it, you imbecile! I told you it’d never work!”

“I’ll show you,” he mumbled and Hermione was grabbed by her ankle, tugged back towards the man. She screeched, her voice mangled. “No one says no to me!”

Hermione cried out when he punched her across the face, again when another blow fell to her stomach. He spread her legs, pushing her skirt up as high as it would go, ripping it while Hermione tried to fight, to get away. But she was too weak. With a quick spell she was pinned to the ground, her legs the only movable part of her. She used them, kicking and keeping her knees clenched. She wouldn’t be able to hold him off forever, but she couldn’t give in. The thought of what he would do to her made panic bubble up in her chest, causing her to fight harder.

“You know, I like it when they fight. Turns me on,” he said, biting her knee. Hermione brought her other knee up to his temple and the oily haired man hollered while the other one laughed.

“Yeh idiot! Just get yer arse back here and do what yer told!” the one in the back chuckled.

“She won’t get away with this! You little cunt, I’ll show you-,”

The man was blasted off her and screams ensued. Hermione couldn’t see through the dark what was happening but a lit wand tip crossed her vision and someone was calling her name.

“Draco!” she cried, recognizing the voice. Her voice was broken, but she’d made enough noise as the light neared her.

“Holy shit, Hermione! Oh gods,” her torso was unstuck and she was being pulled against a strong chest. Hermione gripped him hard, crying. She hurt, oh gods, the pain…it sucked at her, pulling her down. She fought it, drifting in and out of consciousness while she was lifted from the ground, carried, Aparated. The bright lights caused her to groan but Draco just held her tighter, reassuring her. He was screaming something; people were taking her, arms taking her away from him. She fought them, had to fight them, get back to Draco-

“Hermione, love, stop, stop, it’s okay, you’re safe!” his voice was telling her. But…he was going away…

“Draco,” she croaked, confused. What was happening?

“I’m here, I’m right here,” he said, taking her hand as she was laid down, something covered her mouth. “You’re at St. Mungo’s, you’re going to be alright. Just relax now, okay? You’re safe now; no one can hurt you anymore.”

Ah, St. Mungo’s. Of course. Her knight in shining armor had come for her.

“Stay,” she begged.

“Always.”

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A/N: I can't believe how many of you saw Harry's hand in this! You're too good :)

XOXO

RynStar15