Chapter Text
It didn’t take a genius to figure out why Ginny suddenly could not accompany her on missions. Hermione only needed to take one look at Ginny’s normally flat stomach that now had a distinct convex nature. Or walk past her with a plate of heavily spiced food and watch her go pale and excuse herself to the bathroom.
But like most things with the Order, it was best just not to know—best to keep things separate and secret. Harry didn’t even know with how often he was gone, gallivanting across the UK with Ron to find horcruxes and hopefully end this war soon, once and for all. They only returned every so often to get more leads from the research she did.
“You shouldn’t go alone,” Ginny said. “Moody will assign you another partner.”
Hermione stared down at Ginny where she lay, tucked in her bed, pretending to have some sort of flu. She certainly looked sick. Magical pregnancies were very hard on the mothers, according to her reading. Ginny had barely kept any food down the entire week.
Hermione looked away, staring at the bare walls of the tiny room. This safe house was small, but at least it had electricity and water. Better than the run-down places some others were forced to hide out in.
She signed. “If I ask for a new partner, people will ask why-”
“-I’m just sick-” Ginny said, pushing herself up.
“Yes, of course, I know. You’re sick. I just don’t want anyone-” Hermione cut herself off. She just needed to leave so Ginny could rest. “Never mind. I’ll go alone just this once, and we’ll see about moving the teams around another time.”
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea. What if something happened?”
“It’s just a bit of recon. I’ll be fine.”
Hermione and Ginny were rarely sent on truly dangerous missions. Harry was better knowing Ginny was safe, and Hermione knew too much intel that if she ever got captured, the Order would seize to exist. If the Order’s numbers were bigger, Hermione probably wouldn’t be allowed to leave at all.
“I’ll be back before you know it,” Hermione said, stepping back towards the door.
Ginny nodded, but her brow was still furrowed. “Be safe.”
So off Hermione went. Missions like these were second nature to her. She’d get the address, figure out the best way to get there via the intelligence office, then do a twelve-hour reconnaissance shift. The point was to note who came in and out of whatever locations they were watching and file a report on the movements. It was terribly boring, but incredibly important. These sorts of things helped create a better picture of which death eaters were where. Even a small data point could give the Order an edge in the war.
This time, the location was near Cambridge, in a stately-looking home with a large garden.
It was legally owned by a muggle, but likely whoever was there had killed the muggle or used them as their slaves with the imperius curse. Or maybe, unlikely, but hopefully, the intel on the home was wrong, and a happy family liked there, none the wiser of the secret war going on around them.
Hermione disillusioned herself once she reached the location and began setting up a quick ward in a large radius. It would warn her if someone was coming or going. Once she finished, she sat down under a large tree, between some bushes where she wouldn’t be seen even if her disillusionment dropped and prepared for a long day. If someone came in or out of the wards, she’d investigate, but otherwise, she’d just be sitting and waiting.
Thankfully, she brought some light reading.
She couldn’t work on any research regarding the horcruxes, in case she got captured, but she could study other things of interest that would be useful to know.
When Hermione wasn’t doing reconnaissance missions or acting as a medic or potions master, she attempted to develop or strengthen existing spells. It was part hobby, part something of interest to the Order’s leadership.
One such spell she had been working on for quite a while was her disillusionment charm. She spent a lot of time using it because of all the reconnaissance missions, but she was also very inspired by Harry’s invisibility cloak. It was a shame he took it with him and Ron when they went to search the horcruxes, but she remembered how amazing it felt to be completely invisible. There was nothing quite like it.
The cloth of the invisibility cloak inspired the alterations to the charm. The reason disillusionment charms could be very ineffective was because the moment the person moved, their magic rippled, making them somewhat visible to anyone knowing where to look. Not being able to move was quite the limitation. Instead of disillusioning the person, the way they are when they are still, Hermione altered and merged charms that created shields and clung to the user, then disillusioned that.
It still took a tremendous amount of control, but it was at least a step closer towards the perfect invisibility of Harry’s cloak.
The research she did to do just that had been accomplished over the past year. Everywhere she went, she scoured libraries so she could get more books so she could do more research. It wasn’t exactly allowed, but she knew the Order would benefit. The end would justify the means.
Today was such a day. After her twelve hours were done, she planned on going to Nott Manor, which was relatively close by. The intel she read right before the mission said that it was completely abandoned and in disarray. She’d be careful, but if she could get in and check out the library, she might find something interesting that could help her with her various projects.
And even more ideally, there would be something that could better help her understand horcruxes.
Households like that probably had many books on dark magic. But if not, she’d take any magical theory textbooks she could fit in her magically extended bag, which was many, many textbooks.
The hours ticked by under the tree as Hermione read about researchers in charm development throughout history and their approaches to altering charms to better suit their needs. As she sat, she felt the familiar pull of the muscles low in her stomach. She sighed. It was a little early in her cycle for that, but things had been stressful. She simply took a quarter dose of one of her pain potions and continued her reading.
A few times, the wards told her that people were coming and going. She recognized two lower-ranking death eaters entering the house, but everything else was just muggles passing through the road in their cars.
When her twelve hours were finally done, darkness had already fallen. She reapplied warming spells and packed up her few things and made the giant jump to Nott Manor.
The Manor was just as the intelligence reports described it. Clearly, it had once been an opulent place, but now it was in a state of complete disrepair. Rain began to drizzle over the overgrown plants surrounding the front of the estate.
She wandered closer to the stone building, every protective spell she could think of already applied. She’d just get in, search the library, and get out.
The front door had been blasted away, based on the scorch marks on the surrounding stone. She waited a moment before stepping through the entryway, hoping to sense if someone was already there. But the whole place was dead silent. A few candles were lit, but Hermione knew manors as old as that had deep magic running through it. Keeping the lights on was probably the only thing the magic could still maintain.
A shiver ran through her body as she entered. Probably some additional warding that never went away.
It took some time to find the library. She hustled down the long halls, noting the peeling wallpaper, spots where paintings used to hang. Hermione passed a parlor, a music room, another parlor, and a bathroom that was all gold. Every room was covered in a fine layer of dust. While she didn’t know the Notts at all, Hermione still felt sad to see a once grand home left like this.
But when she found what she was looking for, she couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face.
The library was enormous. She hoped it would be.
Rows and rows of wooden bookshelves lined the walls and more created divisions in the large room. The hardwood floors matched the cases, making it appear as if the shelves had grown straight up from the ground.
While it was clear no one had cleaned the place in a very long time, there was still a wonderful scent of cedar and something almost citrusy. She took another deep breath and smelled the parchment as well at the scent of the older books. It reminded her of Hogwarts wrapping around her like a hug.
Her pain potion wore off as she walked through the many sections of the library. It was odd, because that should have lasted her well into the evening. Though the Order was often working with low-quality ingredients. It wasn’t a surprise that she’d get a dud of a pain potion occasionally. She’d need to be more careful about that in the future.
Hermione paused for a moment to take a quarter of a dose from a different vial before moving on. It would be effective in only a moment.
In the meantime, she tried to pay more attention to the sections as she walked through them. She shouldn’t get too complacent and stay too long, even if it was a rather nice library. But try as she might, she just could focus. The pain was worsening.
She kept moving through the library, hand over her stomach, hoping the blood flow would help, but no such luck.
Hermione could feel her disillusionment faltering in sections, so she stopped to finish the rest of the pain potion. She really needed to be for careful about the ingredients she used. This was ridiculous.
After putting the vial back in her pocket, she continued through the stacks. She’d just grab anything that seemed relevant and head back to the safe house. They’d probably have some potions from a different batch that would actually be effective.
But as she walked, it only got worse, the worst period pain she had ever felt by far. It became harder to focus on the titles of the surrounding books. The library’s smell of cedar and citrus was strangely calming though, so she kept moving, her instincts telling her she was going the right way. She had spent a lot of time in libraries, so her instincts were probably right.
She stumbled against a shelf and paused again to catch her breath. Her cramps were never this bad. Maybe something was wrong. Even if the pain potion wasn’t as effective as it should be, there was no reason that she could still feel so much after an entire dose when just a little usually did the trick.
Another wave of pain hit her, even stronger than before.
“What the fuck?” she whispered to herself, leaning over, trying to relieve some of the pressure.
This wasn’t normal. She pointed her wand at herself and whispered her updated diagnostic charm. She had to squint to focus on the result, but it didn’t tell her anything particularly useful. According to the result, she was fine, even if she didn’t feel like it. Her temperature and heart rate were slightly elevated, but there was nothing to indicate why she might feel that bad.
Another wave of pain brought her to her knees. It seared through her lower abdomen and around her back.
A whimper escaped her throat, and her hands became covered in the dust on the floor. She needed to leave. Something was very wrong, but hopefully, someone back at the safe house would know what to do.
With all her remaining focus, she thought about the location she wanted to apparate to.
Destination, determination, and deliberation.
She squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the pull.
But nothing happened.
She tried again, but there she was, still on the dusty floor of a death eaters’ library.
Panic coursed through her, sending her heart pounding in her chest.
Hermione gripped her wand. “Lumos.”
A tiny light flickered and disappeared.
“Lumos,” she said again, her hand shaking. The light lasted less than a second.
Tears burned in her eyes as the cold reality of the situation set in.
She was alone, without magic, and no one in the Order would even know where to find her.