Hermione had waited for hours before she finally saw the small check mark appear in her notebook. Even though she knew she had thirty minutes, she wasted no time in opening the trap door and dropping down to the dungeons. Just like Malfoy had warned her, there was someone standing right where she was let out. She didn't have to think before silencing him and slicing his neck. She levitated him back into the trap door she'd come from and closed it to hide his body.

Although she knew most manor dungeons followed a similar floor plan, she hadn't really expected to walk around the corner and come face to face with where the slaves were being held. Luckily, her momentary shock didn't keep her from killing two of the other wizards before they'd even realised she was there. The last two yelled loudly and Hermione threw up a shield just in time to avoid two killing curses. She twisted sharply to avoid a third that shattered her shield and cast an angry avada at the leg of one of her attackers. He fell with an echoing thunk and Hermione took advantage of the other's shock to slice his neck.

"Are there any others?" she demanded, turning to face those locked behind the dungeon bars. More than a dozen scared faces stared back at her. "Are there any more?" she demanded again. They shook their heads quickly and Hermione gestured for them to move back. "I'm blowing off the lock, stand back," she instructed.

The group scrambled to the far corner and after Hermione cast a strong silencing spell in the room, she aimed her wand at the cell doors and cursed it.

Just like she'd expected, the cell bars dissolved immediately, breaking through the ancient magic since she'd made sure to account for it beforehand. As the group of captives hesitantly climbed through the whole in the dungeon cell, Hermione scanned the hallway for anyone coming. Satisfied no one was on their way yet, she told the nearest four people to grab hold of her. Several frantic hands reached for her and Hermione apparated a second later.

"Two of you need to come with me to get the others," she said, handing a wand to a man who stepped forward. A woman stepped forward as well, albeit a bit timidly, and Hermione handed her another wand before saying to the others, "You two, don't move."

She apparated back to the dungeons with the two she'd brought out before and told the remaining nine captives to grab onto one of them. Two grabbed hold of the man, two more held onto the woman, and the other five held tight to her. She waited for the others to apparate first before making sure all those holding onto her were ready. A second before she waved her wand, a young wizard came running into the dungeons and stopped abruptly.

"Protego!" Hermione yelled, casting a shield as he tried to curse her. She sent a curse sailing at him and he stumbled back into the wall. Tar oozed from his shoulder but Hermione didn't wait around to see the curse finish him off.

Landing back in the forest with the remaining five captives, Hermione almost dropped to her knees. She'd apparated with four people one time before, but never multiple times. To add a fifth person into the mix had drained her energy much faster than she had expected.

As she stumbled forward, one of the girls she had rescued grabbed her shoulders and kept her upright. Hermione gave her a small smile and forced herself to stand up straight and not sway on her feet.

"Are you all okay?" she asked. Everyone nodded in reply, a welcome surprise. "We're near an Order safehouse where half of you will remain. The other six will come with me to another safehouse."

"Can I stay with my sister?" a young girl asked, clinging to a slightly older girl. Hermione nodded and the two girls smiled.

"Of course," she promised. "The Order will take good care of both of you."

She led the short way to the Order's safe house and sent a group of seven to the front door. Not wanting to show her face, she instructed them on how to get past the wards and what to tell the person who answered. It was important none of them told anyone who had rescued them and that they were to say they had escaped together. While it was obvious some of them were confused, no one asked why.

Unfortunately, when Hermione turned to apparate the remaining six to the next safehouse, she swayed slightly and knew she wouldn't be able to take more than one person at a time.

"I'll take one at a time," she explained, holding out her arm to the person nearest her. "It will only be a second."

She apparated the first person to just outside the safehouse wards and immediately apparated back for a second person. When she returned for the third person, she swayed on her feet and a young man darted forward to keep her from falling. She thanked him softly and waited a few minutes before apparating with the third person. The fourth time she apparated, she brought back one of the girls she'd already taken to the second safehouse and allowed her to help apparate the remaining people.

"It's just like the first safehouse," she informed them, telling them to walk straight ahead through the wards and knock on the door that appeared. "Don't tell them I brought you. When they ask where you've come from, it's a code. Reply exactly with 'We've wandered from far east through fire'. Anything else and you'll be turned away."

"Thank you," a boy whispered. Hermione glanced at him. "I know we can't tell them it was you, but I think they should know because you're our hero."

"If you tell them, I won't be allowed to help others," Hermione said. If Kingsley heard she'd been responsible for liberating several people who were claiming to have been captured and almost sold as slaves to the Death Eaters, he'd know she was talking with Malfoy on her own time.

"I won't say anything," the boy promised. Hermione smiled at him and watched them turn to walk to the safe house.

She waited until they were long gone before apparating to Grimmauld Place. What she hadn't expected, however, was for her vision to swim as she landed. She reached desperately for a nearby wall only to find nothing. She hit the ground before she could try casting a patronus and all her thoughts left her at once.

* * * * *

Hermione woke abruptly, inhaling sharply and sitting upright in one fluid motion. Her head pounded at the sudden action and she groaned, bringing one hand up to cup her forehead as she tried to remember what happened. She could recognise Grimmauld Place around her, but for the life of her, she could not remember how she'd gotten there. She didn't even remember what she'd been thinking before she woke up until Malfoy's white face came into view in front of her.

"What in Merlin's name happened?" he asked, squatting in front of her. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, not remembering having a meeting with him that night. Wait, was it night? "I wrote you a note to ask if everything went smoothly only for you to ignore it, then when I write to meet you here, I find you passed the fuck out."

"What?" Hermione grumbled. Malfoy exhaled irritatedly and Hermione scowled at him. "I don't even remember how I got here. The least you can do is explain further."

Malfoy frowned at her and sat back on his heels. His arms locked around his knees and he stared at her with what Hermione thought looked a tad like worry.

"We went to one of Yaxley's properties last night," he said. Hermione nodded slowly, trying to recall the event. "You freed the slaves while I set the bombs, but Mulciber didn't talk for half an hour like I expected. You seemed to have gotten all the slaves out, though, because the whole place went into chaos when the news broke that the Order had been there."

Hermione vaguely remembered the manor and talking to Malfoy about their plan, but the fine details still escaped her. As she opened her mouth to ask what had happened next, the memory seemed to slide back into place and she remembered everything down to collapsing in the entryway of Grimmauld Place. Merlin, had she really been there all night?

"What time is it?" she asked suddenly, wishing not for the first time that Grimmauld Place had a functioning clock.

"Almost five in the morning," Malfoy answered smoothly. Her eyes widened as she realised she had, in fact, been there all night. While Kingsley may not notice, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sure to.

"Fuck," she grumbled. She climbed to her feet, Malfoy mirroring her movements, and summoned her wand from where it had rolled away when she'd collapsed. "Yeah, everyone is fine. I must have drained myself too much apparating them all."

"You appara—Fuck, Granger. Thirteen?!" Malfoy exclaimed, running a hand through his hair and looking at her with wide eyes. "You fucking apparated—You cast two killing curses then thought it would be fine to apparate thirteen people?"

"Not all at once," Hermione grumbled, crossing her arms and looking down at her toes as if Malfoy's scolding of her actually mattered. "It was only five at a time and I only did it twice I think."

"You think," Malfoy repeated. He took a deep breath, staring up at the ceiling before looking back at her. "You're an idiot."

"Hey!" Hermione yelled, uncrossing her arms and glaring at him.

"You are!" Malfoy argued, stepping toward her. "You're lucky you didn't splinch apparating that many people at once after performing such powerful dark magic. How many times did you apparate last night? Three? Four?"

Hermione just glared at him. She couldn't very well say six without Malfoy scolding her further. Even if the last four times had been one person at a time, she'd clearly overextended her magic. She'd been unconscious for hours!

"I don't have to listen to this," she said instead. Malfoy scowled at her and grabbed her arm to stop her from stepping around him. "If you'll kindly give me my bag back, I'll return to the Order and contact you later."

"Granger, your magical core took a brutal hit last night," Malfoy reminded her. Surprisingly, he seemed to have lost the bite in his tone this time. "Return to the Order, but try not to do magic for at least a day. I'd rather not find out from Weasel or someone else as obnoxious that my contact with the Order is dead."

Hermione nodded sharply in agreement. She really didn't have the energy to do anything else, so the least she could do was appease some of Malfoy's apparent worries.

"Fine," she replied. Malfoy, seemingly pleased with her reply, removed the spells he'd place on her bag and handed it over. Hermione looped her bag over her head and adjusted her robes as she asked, "What's that information on Dolohov you have for Kingsley?"

"He's been working on a potion for the slaves Mulciber is bringing in," Draco replied. Hermione paused and looked at him. "He's been using muggleborns and blood traitors as test subjects and while I can't say for certain what it is, I know it has to do with the slave trade. He's also working on a new curse I believe has roots in alchemy, not potions."

"That's—" Hermione wasn't quite sure what the right word was, but the one she ended up saying was, "—bad."

Malfoy nodded.

"I tried to ask more, but he closed off quickly," he explained. He couldn't ask more questions without raising more suspicion. "As soon as I have more information, though, I will tell you."

"Keep an eye on that potion for the captives too," Hermione said. If they were to keep helping those Mulciber took captive for the trade, they would need to know everything possible about the testing being done on them and any potions Dolohov was developing.

"Easy to say, harder to do," Malfoy replied, reminding Hermione of the muggle expression so much she almost corrected him.

"I'll see you later?" she asked instead, pulling out her wand and preparing to apparate. For some reason, she felt like she needed the confirmation from Malfoy after how upset he'd seemed about how their most recent mission had ended.

"Soon, Granger," Malfoy promised, stepping back to give her more room to apparate. "Get some sleep before then though, yeah?"

Hermione just rolled her eyes but gave a short nod before apparating back to the Order.