Dysfunctional

67 - The Traitor

"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Ron loudly as soon as they had arrived in the cave outside Hogsmeade.

"You tell me," said Sirius, letting go of both of them. "How did you know where to find Harry's home?"

"I don't know!" exclaimed Ron, as he rubbed his neck which was redder than his face. "When Travers caught hold of me and Disapparated, I thought I'd be a goner! I managed to get him off of me, when I heard Hermione's voice calling my name out of my pocket."

"Out of your what?" Hermione asked shrilly.

"Here, look," said Ron, putting up his hand and showing something small and silver – it was Dumbledore's Deluminator.

"You heard my voice coming from that?" Hermione's eyes widened, speechless.

Ron nodded. "I didn't know what to do, so I clicked it. It sort of produced a ball of light and then it went straight inside me."

Sirius saw his own expression of disbelief mirrored across Hermione's face as they shared an incredulous glance.

"I just knew then where I had to go," continued Ron. "That was when that idiot Travers lunged at me while I was Disapparating which is why he came along for the ride."

Hermione's eyes were narrowed in fascination as she took the Deluminator from Ron's hand and inspected it with something akin to awe.

"But why did we Disapparate here?" asked Ron, looking around at the cave while directing the question to Sirius.

"And what about Tonks?" asked Hermione, looking up from the object in her hands. "She was right ahead of us and then she simply vanished. Was it because she got into the boundaries of the Fidelius?"

Sirius didn't immediately answer them, turning around to murmur the incantations for the protective enchantments around the cave.

"Fidelius?" repeated Ron, before understanding dawned on him and his eyes widened in alarm. "But if Sirius is the Secret Keeper to Harry's home, and I brought along a Death Eater, does that mean…?"

"The Secret is safe," said Sirius at once. "That's why I Disapparated here with the both of you. If I'd taken you in and Travers witnessed it, it would have been enough of a giveaway. However, they will know the general location of our home, by now. I saw him touching his Dark Mark."

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "Tonks is in there! Can't we do something?"

As if on cue, a large werewolf Patronus illuminated inside the cave, speaking in Tonks' worried voice. "Stay wherever you are. Don't come back. Being watched."

The Patronus dissolved and both Ron and Hermione stared back at him wide-eyed.

"She will be fine," said Sirius firmly. "Meanwhile, we've got something important to do. Hermione, will you stay here while Ron and I make a trip to the Burrow?"

Hermione glanced back at him, puzzled.

"If the Secret of the Order's Headquarters has been divulged, we have to check on the Secret Keeper."