Summary: After imprisoning Hermione, Bellatrix Lestrange uses Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the former in order to lure Harry into a trap. What will Hermione do when she is faced with a decision, that is cruel to make, but might be able to save them all? Non-compliant with book Six and Seven. One-shot!
Note 1: There have been other stories who've used Bellatrix using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Hermione, the first one I read about it was "This Time Around" by Disneydoll0424 (a great story, you can find it in my favourite list). While I've copied that idea, the rest greatly differs from any story I've read so far, and other similarities are therefore of coincidental nature.
Note 2: Everything in cursive writing is either a flashback or a thought.
Note 3: Please leave a review, even if you didn't like the story. It's good to know what people think about one's work=)
Disclaimer: As you all know, I don't own anything.
Hermione was lying on the ground of the cell she'd been thrown in. She'd been strong so far, hadn't let them get to there, but there is only so much a person can take. In Hermione's case it was the idea of her two best friends getting murdered by a person who looked exactly like her.
When Bellatrix had pulled out a few hairs from her head, Hermione hadn't given it any second thought, but had considered it as the former's latest torture method. Now she knew better than that. Bellatrix had been very smug about explaining to her just what exactly she was planning to do.
If only she was dead! Hermione had never been one to play with the idea of committing suicide, yet right now she couldn't help but wish for something sharp, something to cut her veins with. Surely, being dead was better than knowing that at this very moment, your captor was using your appearance to lure your best friends into a trap. Hermione felt sick.
She had been strong so far, had not given in to any threats, to any curses, and yet, right now, Hermione felt that this was more than she could take.
They had come for her eight days ago. She had been sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner with her parents, when a loud bang had disrupted their peaceful conversation. She hadn't had any chance to react, the last thing she saw before she blacked out due to a curse that had hit her from behind was the horror on the faces of her parents, as they were hid by killing curses and fell down to the ground, dead.
Hermione had gone practically numb since then - in emotional terms. She could not get the picture of her parents' horrified faces out of her head, so while she was being tortured, this was the only thing she could see. And yet it was the one thing that gave her strength above everything else. She had to be strong for them, that much she had sworn to herself.
Hermione quietly cried out in pain, when she tried to roll from one side to another, in a futile attempt to get a little more comfortable. She couldn't recall how many times they had used 'cruciatus' or other foul curses on her, and maybe it was better this way. It felt like there was not an inch of her body which had remained unharmed and yet she hadn't given in. She had not revealed any information, at least not willingly. There had been a pride in her eyes whenever they had tortured her, proud to be the muggle-born witch to defy Bellatrix Lestrange and even Voldemort himself. But right now she felt helpless, she could not help her friends even though she so desperately needed to.
Meanwhile, at platform 9¾ two boys were anxiously waiting for their best friend. It was so unlike her to be late. Finally she came, running and got onto the train the very last minute.
"I'm sorry", she said, still out of breath. "My parents are ill, so I had to take a taxi to get here."
"It's alright", the slender, black-haired one said. "As long as you're here now, we were worried you would be late."
"Yeah, imagine that!", interrupted the freckled red-head. "Us announcing 'Hermione Granger missed the train, simply because she was late'. No one would have believed us."
"Come on", the black-haired boy said next. "Our compartment is just down there, Ginny, Neville and Luna are waiting for us."
The fake Hermione gave a quick hug to her two supposedly best friends, before she followed them to the compartment. Both of the boys failed to notice the smug smile that played around her lips.
Severus Snape was pacing the hallway impatiently. It wasn't like him to show nerves, but then again, it wasn't a normal occurrence for him to not know what exactly was going on either. All that he knew was that the Dark Lord had a new plan to take down the boy-who-lived, one which was to be executed today. He knew that Bellatrix Lestrange was involved somehow, and that was probably what worried him the most. He knew Bella all too well, knew and feared what she was capable of.
He forced himself to calm down, he couldn't let his mask slip now. Once again he was grateful for all the years of spying that had made a great actor out of him. The nervousness lasted, but he had regained his composure: back was the untouchable, cold professor, who was surrounded by an air of indifference.
Finally, he saw Lucius Malfoy walking down the hallway towards him, and the two men exchanged in greeting. They were soon joined by other deatheaters, and, after what appeared to be a decade but had only been a few minutes in reality, Wormtail opened the door they were gathered in front of, beckoning them in. The Dark Lord was ready to see them now.
The Dark Lord looked pleased indeed, when he announced that Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's mudblood best friend was currently being held hostage.
"As you might have noticed", the Dark Lord continued, "Bella is missing. Now, she should be back here in about 15 minutes with the one and only Harry Potter." The last statement was followed by a derisive snort.
All the deatheaters looked curious, but pleased at the Dark Lord's news. Only Severus had kept his impassive mask on and tried to think quickly. The Dark Lord was not going to reveal his plan just yet, so much was evident. There was really only one thing he could think of to do, but he had to be careful, very careful.
"Forgive me, my Lord, this might look like an odd request, but I need to see the mudblood prisoner."
"An odd request, indeed", the Dark Lord replied, eyeing Snape suspiciously, and Snape knew that he had possibly just provoked his own death.
At the same time, Dumbledore was sitting in his office, awaiting a report from Kingsley, which had been due half an hour ago. He did not think too much of it, though, Kingsley being late usually just meant that he was busy. If only Dumbledore had known, what news Kingsley was to bring him, maybe he wouldn't have been as relaxed as he was.
Hermione was lying on the floor, struggling to keep conscious. There was hardly any strength left in her body, and the knowledge that Bellatrix was probably with Harry and Ron right now was eating her up from the inside.
Emotions were threatening to overwhelm her, emotions she had been able to hold back so far. She had been so proud, so naive, how could she possible think that she would be able to defy them. They had used the Cruciatus curse on her, over and over again. Usually it had been Bellatrix, but she recalled the Dark Lord casting the Unforgiveable on her at some occasions as well. She had cried, she had screamed, but she had not revealed any information. She had remained strong and there had been a triumphant glint in her eyes. She was no Harry, she had not been able to throw the curse off, but she hadn't told them anything.
How naïve she had been! She should have known that there were other ways to force information out of an unwilling prisoner. Veritaserum! How could she have forgotten about that evil potion. She had been so frustrated when words had come bubbling out of her mouth, and she hadn't been able to stop them. She had felt so useless then, so helpless.
And then, when she had thought things couldn't possibly get worse, Bellatrix had come in that morning, wearing that smug smile of hers. She had expected another round of cruciatus, another investigation under the influence of Veritaserum. So she hadn't been too surprised when Bellatrix walked over to her and pulled out some of her hairs. Probably just her latest torture method. What she hadn't expected had been Bellatrix conjuring up a chair and sitting right opposite to her. And then she had started to tell her just what exactly she was planning to do that day and Hermione's blood had frozen.
"I don't suppose you've ever heard of Polyjuice Potion", Bella said, taking out a small flask filled with potion from under her robe.
Hermione simply stared at her, trying to make sense of what the other woman was saying. Polyjuice Potion, of course she knew what that Potion was for, but what could Bellatrix possibly want to do with it. And then it came to her, the hair, how could she have been so dumb.
"Judging by the look on your face, I actually think you do", Bella had added, that smug smile of hers once again playing around her lips.
"See, I think it would be cruel to keep you in the dark as to what exactly I am planning", she had continued. "I will use this potion to take on your pitiful looks. Since you have kindly provided me with all the information I need, your friends won't be able to tell that I'm not you. That stupid fool called Harry Potter trusts you, so it should be easy to grab his arm at some stage and apparate with him out of there and right into the Dark Lord's arms."
"But, you can't apparate on Hogwarts' grounds", Hermione said against her better judgement.
"Oh, don't you think I know that? I know you can't apparate on the grounds, but the same thing can't be said about the train. I'm afraid, Harry Potter will never be back in school to even start his sixth year."
Desperation filled Hermione's heart then, and, even though she knew it would prove futile, she lunged at Bellatrix. But before she reached the other witch, the chair Bellatrix had been sitting on had disappeared and Bellatrix herself was out of the cell and locking the door behind her. As Hermione fell to the ground, Bellatrix's cruel laughter filled the air.
Hermione had been lying in that same position she had landed in ever since. She did not know what to do, and even though her sides were aching, her hands bleeding, her head exploding in pain, there was something that tormented her far more than anything else: It was the fact that she didn't know what was happening, whether Bellatrix had carried her plan out yet and whether her friends were alright.
Ginny had just left to talk to some friends, when Neville realized that his toad had (once again) gone missing. Luna quickly offered to help him look for it, so the two of them left the compartment. Bellatrix was smiling, she knew this was her chance and she was planning on taking the red-head with her as well, just to see the pain in Potter's eyes when she would be killing his best friend in front of his eyes. She just had to get into a position where she could easily take hold of them both, so that she could apparate them out of here.
Hermione didn't look up when she heard footsteps on the steps, nor when she heard the screeching noise of the door to her cell being opened. It was only when someone addressed her softly, that she finally looked up to meet his eyes.
"Professor", she whispered.
"Shhh", he said, clearly shocked at what he was seeing. The usually cheerful Gryffindor was lying in a heap on the floor, her clothes torn, her usually curly brown hairs intermingled with blood, her face looked beaten, her right foot looked out at a weird angle and there were cuts and wounds all over her body.
Snape recovered quickly, however, asking her what he needed to know: "Do you know what they're planning to do?"
"Polyjuice Potion. Bellatrix. Hogwarts Express. Harry. Apparating", Hermione managed to say.
Professor Snape looked shocked when he realized just exactly what Hermione's words meant. "Listen, I'll get you out of here, we have to go now. Can you walk?"
"It's no use", Hermione mumbled. "We… too late."
Snape knew she was right, so there was nothing he could say to comfort her, to make her feel any better. He knew that after this, his cover would be blown, no matter what, so he focused on the only thing he could possibly achieve right now, and that was saving his student.
He leant down to offer a hand to help Hermione up, and wondered how he would be able to get her out of here without anyone noticing. There were wards on the door that would alert the Dark Lord when Hermione went through them, so he wouldn't have much time. In fact, chances were slim that either of them would survive this, but he wasn't going to leave his student behind.
What he hadn't expected was Hermione lunging at him, knocking him over and before he knew what was happening, he found himself bound by a body-binding spell, his wand in her hand.
Kingsley ran into Dumbledore's face, worry written in capital letters across his face.
"The Grangers were killed two days ago", he cut straight to the point. Their bodies were found in their house just today, but there was no sign of Hermione anywhere; so we have to assume that she was captured."
"But how? There was no student missing on the train today, or I would have been alerted. Unless…" Dumbledore didn't finish his sentence, praying that he was wrong. He hurried off, Kingsley right behind him, and prayed that he would be getting to the train on time.
Bellatrix had just gotten up, positioning herself in the middle between the two boys. It was now or never.
Snape was looking at Hermione in shock. What was the witch planning to do? When realization hit him, and admiration filled his eyes.
A silent look of understanding passed between them, before Hermione released the curse on him. A soft "Avada Kedavra" echoed in the cell, before Snape jumped forward to catch the girl's now dead body.
Getting out was easier when he had thought. The wards were only supposed to set off when a living Hermione passed them, so Snape had no problems carrying her out. Since all the deatheaters were gathered down in the hall, he made it out of the house unnoticed. A cool September chill was in the air, when he apparated them away, apparated away from his former life as a spy.
Bellatrix had been so close to achieving her goal, when it started. She felt that she was transforming back into her own self, and at a rapid pace. She didn't know what was happening, as the potion shouldn't be wearing off for at least another half an hour. And then it felt unlike any other transformation she had gone through before, it was rougher this time, and she couldn't control it.
Harry reacted fast, faster than he should have been able to, but experience had taught him to be cautious. So when he first recognized the signs of Hermione transforming in front of his eyes, he stunned her, and was shocked when the now unconscious form of Bellatrix Lestrange fell to the floor.
Dumbledore arrived to the train only minutes later, finding a confused Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley in their apartment. When he saw the unconscious form of Bellatrix Lestrange lying at their feet, he knew that his fears had come true. And he also knew something more, there was only one way for a Polyjuice Potion to lose its effect in such a drastic way.
The day of the final battle there was only one person on both Harry's and Ron's mind: Hermione. She should have been there with them, should have celebrated this victory with them.
So when that night, everyone met up in the Great Hall, Harry knew that he should say something about her, but he couldn't.
He was grateful to see that Professor Snape had gotten up instead, saying what he couldn't possibly put into words. It was very out of character for Professor Snape, and that was probably what gave even more meaning to his words.
"This is a toast to Hermione Granger, without whom, none of us would be here today. I never liked her much or knew her well for that matter, but there is something I know about her. She is the bravest and kindest person I have had the honour to met in my life and the least selfish person. In her predicament, Miss Granger was faced with an impossible decision. She knew that she was the only one who could possibly save us all, and she knew that this would cost her her own life. She did something I don't think many of us would be able to do, and I don't claim to be among those who could be able to follow her brave example. She sacrificed her own life to save others, and did so without a moment of hesitation. There are few people who have earned my respect, even fewer who have earned my esteem and only one who has my admiration, and Hermione Granger is that person."