Nurmengard War Room 1944
Gelert looked up from his map at the sound of a tentative knock. With a flick of his fingers the door instantly became transparent. He sighed at the sight of his youngest General; he was not more than a boy at age twenty five, and with his fair blond hair and sharp grey/blue eyes he was passably handsome. He makes a good Natzi at least the older man thought with a chuckle and with another flick of his fingers the door swung open. Gelert allowed himself a small smile at the alarmed look on the boy's face.
"Come in, General Ulrich."
The young blond instantly snapped into a salute. "Heil, Grindlewald!"
The Dark Lord rolled his eyes and waved the boy over. "Relax Ulrich, it is only the two of us. There is no need for the formality."
Ulrich gave an uncomfortable nod and it seemed to take everything the young man had to relax from his stiff military posture. "As you say, sir."
"I do indeed, now tell me what brings you here at such a late hour."
The General's mouth twisted into an uncomfortable frown and if the youngster been a lesser man, Gelert was sure he would be fidgeting.
"Sir, it's about the Necromancer."
Glert sighed and rubbed at his graying temples. "What did she do this time?"
"She has been doing things with the bodies that is making my men uncomfortable."
"She IS a Necromancer, General."
"I know sir, but this is different than her normal work." Now the boy did fidget and Gelert's eyes narrowed.
"Speak up boy, what is Eva doing?"
"She is bringing them back, sir, the Jews."
The Dark Lord rubbed at his temples. "That is rather the point Ulrich, she was commissioned to build me an army of inferi. Why else would we have had that muggle build the death camps for her?"
"I know, but she is bringing them back. They remember who they are, and the more they… feed the more they remember. A few have even been turning on us, despite the protective spells in place."
Gelert frowned deeply and stroked his goatee. Eva tended to experiment when he left to her own devices, and this sounded like something she would play with. Although he admired the witch for her intellect and drive, he could not let her do as she pleased, not when so much was at stake.
I wouldn't have to rely so heavily on her if I had the Resurrection stone. He thought and flexed his fingers. Once Dumbledore is disposed of, I will continue my search. A sudden surge of grief startled him and he furiously reinforced his occlumency shields, there was no room for sentiment, not now.
"Sir?"
Gelert blinked. "Eva, yes, I will take care of her. Was there anything else you wished to report?"
"No sir."
"Then you are dismissed."
The boy saluted him again, looking greatly relieved, and backed out of the room. The instant the door closed Gelert allowed himself to slump over the large war map that took over the center of the room, he was in no mood to deal with Eva. But deal with her I must. He thought with another sigh. Perhaps it will not take up too much of my night.
Hogsmeade Current Day
Hermione froze over the jar of dried sage. "Did you hear that?"
Harry gave a grim frown and carefully set aside the large sack he carried, stuffed to the brim with potions ingredients, and drew his wand. "Yeah, I think it was coming from downstairs."
Ron grimaced and pulled out his own wand, his entire body tense "They wouldn't come this close to Hogwarts would they?"
"They have been getting bolder but I don't think they-" Harry stopped, winced, and rubbed at the jagged scar on his forehead. "Shit."
Hermione was instantly by his side. "Your scar?"
"Yes, they are here."
"Damn things, why couldn't they have just waited another hour!" Ron hissed and looked ready to throw the jar of eyeballs he had been holding. "We don't have everything we need yet!"
"We can't afford to stay Ron," Hermione said as soothingly as she could, keeping one eye on her friend and another on the door. "We can try again tomorrow."
Ron clenched his teeth and Hermione winced at the loud grinding sound. "We need the unicorn velvet still, we can't leave without it. I won't leave without it. Ginny and Fred can't afford to wait any longer. You know that they will not let us back out of the castle to try again with activity so close to the students. Hogwarts will go on instant lockdown the second we come back."
Hermione grimaced. "Ron, you know I love them as much as you do but we need to-"
"No." The boy snapped. "I am not leaving until I have it, you lot can go back without me."
Hermione and Harry traded a look before turning their attention back to their friend.
"You know I'm not going to abandon you mate." Harry said tiredly and scratched at his scar again. It looked puffy and painful. Being so close to any horde activity always took its toll on the teen.
"And I can't leave you two alone without at least one of you getting into trouble." Hermione added and tried to ignore the terror creeping up from her chest to strangle her. "Do not even start with me Ronald Bilius Weasley." She snapped as soon as he opened his mouth to protest. "I know what you are going to say and you can stuff it."
Ron gaped at her and Harry's smile became a genuine one. "Well I suppose that is-"
The door to the basement rattled.
All at once they clustered together, back to back, wands at the ready.
"How many Harry?" Ron asked tensely.
"I can't tell," Harry growled, frustrated. "I know they are there but something is blocking me from finding anything else… HERMIONE TO YOUR LEFT!"
Hermione instantly turned and cast. The cutting curse flew in an elegant arc to smash into the window, and the creature trying to crawl into it. Satisfaction welled up at the sight of the monster's yellow blood staining the wood of the window frame. She did not have time to bask in her victory as the front door blew open.
"Ron-!"
"I see it!"
She heard Ron cast and the furious snarl of the un-dead beast, but she didn't dare turn to look as another one of the humanoid creatures started to pull itself through the wreckage of the window. There was a brief moment of horror as she recognized the features of the thing coming at her, the blond hair and silvery eyes were a dead give away.
"Sorry Draco." She muttered and raised her wand.
The Draco thing howled something in return at her and pulled his body over the ragged blades of glass that were left in the window pane. She cast another cutting curse, and tried to push her bile back down as the thing that had once been her classmate shrieked in apparent pain as its shoulder tore open.
Psychosomatic reaction. She thought as she felt her jaw clench. It is just a bag of flesh with a person's face.
She didn't have time to think about it, another one was crawling through the window and Draco had recovered from his shoulder wound. The blonde started to shuffle toward her. Hermione's next spell hit the former Malfoy in the legs, severing them cleanly. She ignored the kreen of pain from the once teen and started in on the stranger that started to clamor through the window.
"We have to get moving," she heard Harry hiss behind her.
"What about the- getawayyousonofabitch- bag of ingredients?" Ron asked in between casting.
"Shrink it." Hermione growled as she severed the stranger's head cleanly from its shoulders. The thing's muddy brown eyes dimmed and she knew it was finally, truly, dead. "It won't hurt anything in the bag."
"Right."
Luckily the bag of ingredients was safe inside their self made circle, and it only took Harry (she assumed it was Harry at least, she didn't dare look away from the window) seconds to shrink and pocket it.
"We have it, Hermione do you know where the velvet is?"
Two more of the things were trying to crawl into the window but a single blasting charm took care of them. Thank Merlin the apothecary only has one window.
"According to the inventory list, it is in the storeroom behind the counter."
She felt Ron's shoulder brush hers.
"Lets go then!"
"We need to secure the exits first. I don't know about you but I don't fancy getting bitten while my back is turned."
"I have the window." Hermione called as she banished shelves into the window, effectively blocking it. It was crude, but effective. She tried not to grimace at the sound of blunt nails scratching on the barricading wood.
"Basement is sealed off, don't know how the bloody things got in there." Ron grumbled.
"The front door is blocked. It's secure for now." Harry called.
Hermione allowed herself to relax for a brief moment before tensing at the low moan that came from the legless Malfoy corpse. She had assumed he would have bled out by now. The pitiful thing was huddled in a corner, groping at its severed left leg.
"Oh sweet Merlin, is that Draco Malfoy?" Hermione peered over her shoulder at Harry. The boy was staring at the blonde in a combination of pity and horror.
"I think so."
"Why isn't it dead?"
The coldness in Ron's voice made her duck her head to avoid his gaze. "I thought it was."
"You can't make mistakes like that Hermione. That thing could kill us all!"
She whipped around to glare at the ginger. "What is he going to do Ron, walk over here and bite me?"
He recoiled at her venom before an angry flush crept up his neck. "They aren't people anymore, just because you know who they used to be doesn't mean you can spare them!"
"Guys we don't have time for this, just take care of it now." Harry snapped as the shelves he had used to barricade the front door rattled.
Ron looked away from her. "I will take care of it, you go get the velvet."
"Ron…"
He ignored her and stalked over to Draco, Hermione looked away as the creature started to shriek in agony. She jolted at the feel of a gentle touch on her elbow.
"Come on Hermione, lets go get the velvet."
She tiredly nodded and followed close behind Harry.
The door to the back store room didn't look like much of a challenge at first glance, but as soon as Harry tried to touch the knob he hissed in pain.
"It's warded." He said incredulously. "How the hell has a simple security ward lasted all these years?"
Hermione frowned and examined the door. They had raided more than one shop in the past and the worst ward they had come across had been in the Hog's Head. Even then it was so weak we just ignored it. She thought as she gently pressed her fingers against the metal door knob.
The metal flared to life, vibrating with power.
"This has to be recent." She muttered with a frown. "Who would put a fresh ward in an abandoned shop?"
"Can you break it down Hermione?"
"I can try, but it will take time."
"How long?"
Hermione lifted her wand and tried a basic reversal charm. It slipped off of the ward like water off of a duck's back.
"A while."
Harry cursed.
"Those barricades will not last long, we have five, maybe ten minutes before they break through."
"I will do the best I can, but this ward looks tricky. Not to mention whoever warded it might have already taken the velvet, it's a valuable ingredient."
"So even if we manage to break through, this might have all been for nothing?" Harry ran a hand through his messy hair and something dark flashed in his eyes. "Fuck."
"We managed to get everything else, and we can send more teams into the Forbidden Forest to find the velvet. They should start shedding it soon."
"Not soon enough, Ron is right, they will lock down Hogwarts as soon as we get back. No one will be able to leave for at least a month." Harry shut his eyes tightly and slammed his fist against the wooden wall. "Ginny doesn't have time to wait that long, this was her last chance. They are going to be put down in five days, Hermione. That's not even a week." Grief radiated from his every pore.
An image of the two Weasley siblings flashed across her mind's eye. Ginny, normally so vibrant and full of life, lying in the quarantine ward, growing more and more gaunt. Her smile growing smaller with each passing day. Fred with his sparkling eyes and sly smiles, able to do nothing but groan and scream through the night, in his fevered state he couldn't even recognize his own brother anymore.
"Then I will try to break the ward, but I need you to promise me something."
"You know I would do anything for you, Hermione."
She smiled gently at her surrogate brother. "If they break through, I want you to grab Ron and use the emergency portkey. He isn't going to leave willingly no matter what happens."
He opened his eyes and peered at her. "With you behind us?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry you know better than to ask me that."
He relaxed slightly. "Yeah, I keep forgetting we only have two thickheads in the group."
"Oh Harry you're not thick, just misguided sometimes. Ron on the other hand…."
He gave her a silly smirk and she smiled warmly back.
"Guys? What's taking so long?" Ron called from the front.
Being reminded of the task at hand sobered the amusement between the two and Hermione turned her attention back to the door.
"I will work as fast as I can, in the meantime you and Ron can keep the barricades reinforced. That should buy us some extra time."
"Will you be ok alone?"
"I will be fine."
Harry gave her one last, long, look before making his way back to Ron. Hermione took a deep breath and then slowly let it out. Trying to dismantle the ward would take all of her focus. At least Draco isn't screaming anymore. She peaked over her shoulder to see Draco's body parts neatly piled in the corner of the shop.
She shook her head and tried to put Draco out of her mind as she turned back to the door, There was no saving him, I should have disposed of him myself the instant I saw him. I can't afford to feel guilty. I REFUSE to feel guilty. With new resolve, Hermionebegan to cast. Soon she was lost in a fury of spells.
It was like trying to unravel a knot in a ball of yarn, only this ball of yarn had a mind of its own and was rather determined to stay tangled.
Whoever made this spell was brilliant. She thought through gritted teeth. There was no time to breathe, hardly any time to think, and unless she was precise all of her progress was instantly lost. Soon her thoughts were solely consumed with casting as the magic grew increasingly aggressive as she tried to disable it. You will not beat me! She thought as she furiously untangled a spell knot.
"Hermione, the barriers are falling!"
Harry's shout distracted her and to her horror the barrier became even more tangled in the few seconds she looked away. This is ridiculous! Hermione went on the attack, not just untangling the magic, but shredding it as she found the individual strands. The magic reeled from her aggressive onslaught and slowly she started to gain much needed ground.
Her anger and desperation fueled her magic, putting down any and all resistance the ward tried to put up. Where before it had acted like a hydra, rapidly regrowing the strands of individual spells she eliminated, now it simply melted away from the heat of her magic to wrap around the core knot in a last ditch effort to protect it.
In the back of her mind she registered the sound of someone yelling for her, but she could no longer hear them. All there was was the ward. I almost have it, just a little more! With one last slash of her wand the knot fell apart and with a quiet click the door unlocked. Triumph filled her every pore as she gently touched the knob and felt no resistance, and she was sure she was grinning like a loon as she let the door swing open.
Before her were rows and rows of shelves covered to the brim with potions ingredients.
"Hermione!"
Ron's desperate shout forced her to turn around and she paled at what she saw.
The barriers were being broken down, and a multitude of arms, legs, heads, of the undead were sticking through. Half rotten teeth gnashed as the zombies wormed their way inside but most were quickly cut down by the boys. But where one fell, another rapidly took its place, and to her horror they were losing ground as the new corpses used the bodies of the old as meat shields to absorb the spellfire.
Its a horde, a full on horde!
Unlike in major cities, Zombies simply didn't form hordes in the country. There was not enough for such a large group of them to eat. The closest thing to a horde Hogwarts had seen was a group of twenty in the Forbidden Forest, and even then they were weak and sickly from a lack of flesh to sustain themselves.
Hogsmeade had been abandoned for over fifty years, none daring to come close to it, a virtual no-man's-land for both sides.
Why so many? Why now? Her heart started to pound and she felt her throat closing. No. She took a breath and forced herself to relax. They were just shambling corpses, there was no intelligence guiding them, all they had were numbers. And we still have the portkeys.
"I have the door open!" She called.
Ron and Harry looked up at her, pausing in their furious casting. Ron gave a lopsided grin and Harry laughed in delighted relief.
"Brilliant Hermione, come on Ron we can keep the room sealed until we find the-" Harry froze and gaped stupidly at her.
"HERMIONE! HERMIONE, BEHIND YOU!" Ron was charging at her, pure, unadulterated panic across his every feature.
What-?
An arm wrapped around her, trapping her arms against her sides, and pulled her against a cold, boney chest. She didn't have time to so much as jerk before something bit into the fabric on her shoulder and tore into it, leaving her flesh bare. No! She struggled, but the thing that was holding her was stronger than it seemed and kept her still.
Ron seemed to be running in slow motion towards her, Harry only a split second behind him. For a brief second hope flared in her chest, her boys were coming for her, when a low voice rumbled in her ear.
"How annoying."
A foreign hand reached up to grab the wrist of her wand arm and to her horror she felt something call for her magic and push it through her arm and into her wand. Her eyes widened as she recognized the destructive power of the spell he was casting.
"HARRY! RON! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" At the same time that the stranger hissed. "Explodere."
Raw, destructive magic burst from her wand, the force so intense she was jerked backward into the solid hold of her captor.
The jet of angry red light streaked toward the approaching wizards with astonishing speed. Harry, with his seeker reflexes nimbly dodged out of the way. Ron wasn't so lucky. Hermione screamed as the spell hit Ron in the legs and instantly shredded them. The spell didn't stop there though, it careened into the barrier blocking the front door and blasted it apart.
The undead trying to squeeze through it shrieked and fell to tatters, but the swarm behind them simply picked where they left off. She almost vomited as the stronger, whole zombies started to linger at the remains of their brethren and snack.
"Vultures," she heard the contemptuous, breathy voice in her ear, and she shuddered.
The snacking didn't last long when the scent of fresh human blood reached them. Fortunately for Ron, Harry had leapt into action when they had been distracted and created a barrier spell around the two of them. In a minute though they would be in deep trouble. She jerked in her captor's arms in an attempt to free herself, but he held her firm, she tried to raise her wand, but she could not budge it in his iron grip.
"No rush love, we are just getting started." The man dipped his head to bury his face in her revealed neck, she caught a glimpse of thin inky black hair as he inhaled deeply. "You smell like decadence."
"Who are you? Let me go!"
"I have never had such chatty dinner before," he said with a contemplative hum. To her shock he dragged something cold and slimy over her shoulder. "My, this will be a treat."
Before she could process what he meant blunt teeth tore into the flesh of her shoulder, slicing clean through skin and muscle until they scraped bone. She didn't think she had ever screamed so loudly in her life as the thing that held her growled and started to chew.
What's happening- what's happening- what is he- WHAT IS HE?
Zombies didn't talk. Zombies were brainless, mindless shells. She was trapped by some mad cannibal!
The thing pulled her chewed flesh free of her shoulder and there was air touching parts of her that had never seen daylight. She howled in agony as he returned to her shoulder to lick at the river of blood pouring from her wound. I am going to die of blood loss. She realized as she started to tremble. Her heart felt like it was beating at a million miles an hour and her chest ached so bad it hurt to breathe.
She blearily looked up at her friends. Ron was unconscious at Harry's feet, and so deathly still, panic welled up in her throat. Harry was desperately trying to reinforce the barrier surrounding them as body after body threw themselves against it. He was fighting a losing battle. He is going to try to save me. She realized as his focus seemed to be torn from reinforcing his barrier to looking at her.
The blunt teeth found more flesh and set to chewing again, she could feel his pleasure filled groan vibrate against her collarbone. She screamed again, her throat aching from the effort. There is no saving me. The realization struck her hard as she weakly tried to struggle again, but found she had no energy to do so. Her strength was pouring out and into him. I still have my wand. She thought and looked Harry in the eye. Legilimens!
Her magic seemed reluctant to obey, it wanted to stay inside her, protect what little life she had left. If he wasn't holding me I wouldn't be able to stand. Her breath was coming in short pants now and a quick glance down to her wand confirmed the flesh around her nails was turning blue. I am going into shock, I don't have much time. At that thought the magic relaxed its hold on her and somehow she was bleeding even more.
She caught Harry's eye again. LEGILIMENS! Not even a second later she was diving through Harry's memories. Hermione had never done this before, but her desperation was the perfect guide. She found the memory of them, not even ten minutes ago, and pulled it to the forefront of Harry's mind.
"If they break through, I want you to grab Ron and use the emergency portkey. He isn't going to leave willingly no matter what happens."
His eyes hardened and he shook his head.
Hermione furiously pulled the memory up once more, forcing him to watch it again.
She watched his jaw tremble as he looked from her to Ron to the horde surrounding his rapidly failing spell.
"I'm sorry!" He screamed, threw himself down on top of the red head, and together they vanished.
The spell shield fell and the beasts all fell in on one another, snarling and snapping at one another like rabid tasmanian devils. She smiled as her shivering increased, and her breath came in quick little gasps. She may be dying, but at least Harry and Ron were safe. Her eyes fluttered shut and she tried to forget the teeth slicing the skin off of her neck, which seemed like such a distant thing now, or the hot blood that had soaked her clothes through so that they were plastered against her like a second skin.
She pretended that it was summer time, that she had been dancing in the warm rain with Ron, that those were butterfly kisses he was planting along her collarbone. Hermione fell into the delusion as her mind became foggier and foggier, and suddenly his face was in front of her, his blue eyes sparkling with joy instead of the hardness that had been placed there much too young.
They spun and laughed and before she could blink his arms were around her waist, his face buried in her neck, and she let her head fall back onto his shoulder. She felt boneless, weightless, giddy. She giggled like a schoolgirl and Ron paused his ministrations on her neck.
"Don't stop now," she slurred. "Feels good."
"You're delusional." He said, sounding surprised.
She giggled again and twisted her neck until her lips were pressed against his ear, which for some reason was tucked away behind lank black hair instead of his usual vibrant red.
"Bet you say that to all the girls." The words came out more slurred and she tried to smack her lips to relieve the numbness.
He returned to her neck, but he seemed almost hesitant. She must have shattered his confidence, she realized with a weak pout. Well she knew just the thing to fix it.
"Hey," she whispered, her lips brushing a cold, clammy ear. "I love you."
"What?"
But Hermione was beyond hearing, she was beyond much of anything, her clever mind had finally shut down, and she was gone.