Fallen Angel
~*~
By Mae Noelle
~*~
Disclaimer - Do you see what I did? No? Well, don't worry, it is a mutual thing. I may have finally thought up an original plot, but, probably not.
Summary - After an incident with a ministry raid Hermione finds herself tripping back in time and into Severus, along with a whole new gang of familiar-yet-unfamiliar faces. In the midst of a war, what can she do?
Rated for stuff. Anything that I decide to make (ie - sex, excessive violence) it will be announced at the BEGINNING of the chapter it appears in. Get it? Goodie.
A.N. -- Lots of little rumors I have found are accumulated in this ficcy. You will find that out, of course, later on. Just decided to warn you. Personally, they are all the rumors I believe to be true, and the ones I would choose to write if I was the one making the wonderful HP books. But, I am not, and they probably wouldn't flow all that well if JKR decided to denounce them completely in the next book, and then I will have to make this an AU ficcy (Alternate Universe) But just read to understand, and ignore this note if it confuses you. ^___^ . I have proven quite well so far that I am good at confusing peoples, ne?
~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~
Hermione Granger walked quickly across the atrium and into the lift, swiftly making her way to the hall her meeting was in. She held close to her a large, black, leather bag, which held most of her personal necessities.
Walking past many familiar faces and smiling quickly at a few of them, she turned sharply down a well-lit hall that blinded her with the whiteness of its ceiling, floor, and walls. Coming to a bright white door labeled in black, shiny letters 'Department of Wizarding Warfare', she stopped and to turn the door handle.
After hurrying the entire way, fearing that she would be late, her hand hovered over the handle of the door. Heavy thoughts soared across her mind, elaborating the things that this emergency meeting might have been called for, that needed her for.
She turned the handle and strode into the room, which was missing very few people.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said to Robert Chambers, the Head of the department, who was sitting at the head of the table. "I tried to get in here earlier, but Minerva had me-"
"No hurry." The man interrupted her. "We are still awaiting the arrival of a few more people - though, if they don't arrive soon, we will begin the meeting shortly without them." He sat hunched forward in his chair; his callused hands folded and elbows resting on the tabletop.
Hermione walked to the nearest empty seat, which was the second seat to the right of the Head of department. The first seat to the right of the Head of department was also empty. She set down her leather bag next to her feet and started to settle down herself, her nerves, and her thoughts.
There was a quiet hum of conversation in the large, slightly empty room, to which Hermione paid no heed.
Not a bit of decoration adorned the walls or floor of the room, besides a black case filled with paper lying in the middle of the table at which they all sat.
Hermione turned her gaze to all the people called to the meeting. Everyone of them was either what was left of the Aurors, members of the department, or normal qualified wizards who had just volunteered to help the Ministry of Magic round up the remaining resistance to the peaceful wizarding world for side money.
Over the following agonizingly slow minutes, three more people walked into the room, taking seats among the table of at least forty. There was now only one empty seat left. It was the one to the right of Hermione.
The door suddenly flew open, banging slightly against the white wall, leaving a black scratch.
The last man walked in quickly, a long black cloak billowing behind him. His dark eyes cut through anyone who dared look up to see who it was blowing through the quiet room, stirring up distressed thoughts amongst the people trying to wait patiently for the meeting to begin.
One single thought echoed through the many minds in the room: If he was at this meeting, something serious was going to be discussed.
Severus Snape, with a quick glance and a sneer at who he would be sitting next to, pulled out the seat next to Hermione, and, without a sound, sat.
"Well then," Chambers began quickly, gathering up the wandering attentions of everyone in the room. "I am glad to see that everyone I called managed to make it to this meeting. I apologize for all the inconveniences this sudden scheduling must have caused, but I do promise you that it is for a very good reason."
He stood, keeping his hands on the tabletop, his frame slightly bent over the table. He moved his gaze over the faces of the many people sitting around him.
"And as for what you all must have been worried about - we have finally gotten a date and time of a Death Eater meeting." There were a few gasps and heavy sighs among the crowd. "We must," He banged his fist on the table. "Must get these people now, before they get any more power, any more people." He raised his hands from the table, and brought them up and folded them behind his back. "We will not let the dark times pass over our community again." He sighed. "I will have Severus tell you the details of this.meeting." He waved his hand slightly before sitting down, motioning for the man next to him to begin.
Hermione turned her head slightly to stare at the man raising himself from his sitting position next to her.
Just standing there, staring out at the people who had their eyes magnetized to his position, he was intimidating. Hermione suddenly shivered in her seat.
"The Death Eaters are growing in number." He said slowly, moving his gaze around the room, his look so penetrating that most people shut their eyes or looked away. "Even though Voldemort is not here to make official the entrance to the people willing to become servants of the darkness," his right hand suddenly jumped to his left forearm, and he tightened his grasp, "the leaders have taken unbelievable amounts of effort to gain followers and retain them. Though that last remark doesn't matter - the ones now entering wouldn't want to leave. Over one hundred unofficial dark wizards congregate together - under our very noses - to discuss ways to destroy this peace. And not just British wizards either. Wizards from around the world, spread out and growing in number every day.
"And finally, we have gotten a specific and accurate date for one of these meetings. Two o'clock in the morning - tonight. They are gathering in an old farmer's field, in an enchanted barn that from the outside looks as though it could be filled with only a stack of hay. But it has been enchanted to fit an army of would-be Death Eaters.
"We will be the ones storming in there tonight, risking our lives to save the public. They will not know about this, and it will not be publicized, so I suggest you do not make it public either. The Ministry will denounce any such rumors if they quell up." Snape unfolded his arms and laid his hands flat onto the table.
Hermione stared at his hands, which where basically placed right in front of her. She tried to digest all that was happening so fast. If they had the meeting date, that means they would all have to rush in.an open war.they had been called to this emergency meeting to go to war.
"Everyone is expected, though not pressured," Snape narrowed his eyes further, as if to say, 'Actually, that's a lie. You are.' Hermione removed her gaze from him for a second, staring at the white wall. "To come to this room, this very room, by at least one o'clock in the morning, to help put an end to these meetings. To try and wipe out - again - the remaining resistance. Arm yourselves. Do not entrust this information to anyone, not even a spouse or someone you consider a close friend. You are entrusted with classified information, and found worthy of it. Not - anyone -else."
Snape remained standing for an extra second or two to get across the point he had been explaining by glaring it into the people's souls through their eyes.
Finally sitting down and sighing slightly, he gave a withering look to the Head of department, and leaned back in his chair.
Hermione took in a shaky breath, not wanting to believe everything that was happening so fast.
When she had asked to help with the removing of remaining resistance, she did not expect anything more then research and books and interviewing and everything she was good at.
She certainly didn't expect anything so massive to be found out that even her would be needed to help.
Chambers stood in front of them all again, his hands folded behind his back and a grave look contorting his face. "I assure you all we can win this war with ease. Good will always triumph over evil, never doubt that. I expect to see you all tonight, here in this room, at precisely one o'clock. Meeting adjourned." The Head of department sat heavily in his chair, and began rapidly leafing through and marking up a stack of parchment in front of him, shutting out the world around him.
Hermione sat in her seat, waiting for the many wizards piling out of the room behind her to move out of the way, hoping to privately ask Chambers a question.
But after most of the wizards had left the room, Chambers circled something on one of his parchments, threw down his quill, and leapt from the room, leaving Hermione to herself.
She sighed again and reached down to pick up her leather bag, pushed out her chair, stood and smoothed out her robe, and walked briskly out of the white room and the Ministry of Magic.
~*~
Hermione looked behind her, as a black-haired figure retreated down the street. She felt so guilty not being able to tell her friends about the reason why she was going into the Ministry this late at night.
"Please, Hermione! You know us, we aren't going to tell anyone! C'mon, tell Harry, you have to trust Harry! Harry Potter! C'mon! Everyone trusts Harry! Then he can tell me," Ron had said, and repeated, over and over, and again and again Hermione had repeated, "No, no, no, no."
So now here she was, standing in front of the hidden Ministry of Magic for the second time in a short period. The few light sources illuminated the pitch-black street and buildings in select spots, leaving others darker than the moonless sky.
She sighed and entered the building, making her way through the blinding white halls, which had previously been filled with happy and rushed faces, but now seemed eerily silent and deserted.
Taking her time, as she had arrived a half an hour early, she gathered her courage and silently hoped for a quick battle. It wasn't even led by Voldemort, just a bunch of rogue Death Eaters and wannabe Death Eaters.
Harry had retired into peace after the last war and wasn't bugged by the Ministry anymore so he wouldn't even know about the Death Eater's growing rebellion. Hermione had the impression that Ron knew enough, but Ron never really did anything on his own, not without Harry. Harry would've gone, though.
Running over bust strategies in her head, she tried to picture how the night would play out. Without trying to, images of the Wizard War entered into her mind, flashing before her violently. She shook them out of her head.
Despite all her elaborate strategies and plans, she had a sinking feeling nothing was going to go the way she hoped.
Wizard woman's intuition, she mused herself, Ten times stronger then the already lethally strong Muggle woman's intuition.
Before long, she was sitting in the room she had been in earlier, with people slowly entering and piling in around her. She dully noted the men and women with the same expressionless look on their face as they came and sat down, all musing to themselves.
Hermione waited and watched as each of the people that had been here earlier came in, an odd sense of déjà vu striking her mind.
She had come very early, there was at least an hour left, but she blinked and the time was gone. Everyone was standing, all beginning to file out with Chambers and Snape in the lead.
Now they were each Disapparating, one at a time. Chambers was standing at the front of the line, giving the coordinates of the Death Eater location to each person as they passed him. Then that person vanished into thin air with a crack. Then the next person, and then the next.
Hermione was at the very end of the line. Once the person in front of her disappeared, Chambers gave her the location, and they both left together.
Hermione opened her eyes (she had had them closed, as she had the feeling she would open them and see Death Eater masks) and the first thing she saw was leaves and a stick.
They had all Apparated into a large bush. She looked up and saw oaks towering over them. She looked behind her and saw a huge field laid out over the rolling hills. In the middle of the field were a lone building, a couple trees and bushes beside it.
"Their base," a soft voice said beside her, and she jumped. She whipped her head around and saw Severus Snape. Hermione breathed out in relief, though she didn't know why she had been so tense in the first place.
Everyone around her had been staring out onto the field as well, but their expressions of worry and doubt had been replaced by strength, hope, courage. She had a feeling her face still reflected a painful horror.
"Wands out," Chambers said swiftly, tapping his head with his wand. The others around him followed, each in turn appearing invisible.
Disillusionment Charm, Hermione noted dully, and she followed suit by tapping her wand on her head. She felt the curious trickling start from her head and making its way down the rest of her body. Some people were slipping Invisibility Cloaks over their heads, securing them with charms.
"Remember what we've discussed," Chambers continued swiftly, stepping out from the bushes. "Stay grouped back to back, aim swiftly, and, if absolutely necessary, do not hesitate to cast the Killing Curse."
Hermione gulped, grasping her wand tightly in front of her. She didn't plan on killing anyone tonight. She'd Stun, trip, freeze, and Petrify as many as she could, though.
She held back a sigh as they all made their way out of the bushes and across the field. The Disillusionment Charm would keep any watching Death Eaters from noticing them, but it wouldn't help them very much once they got inside.
In front of her she could barely see the outlines of Chambers and Snape, their wands out in front of them.
She felt a jolt as she bumped into something. Swiveling around, she heard a soft 'sorry' issue from thin air to her right, and she recognized it as Alisha Marnet, obviously hidden under an Invisibility Cloak.
"It's all right," Hermione whispered back, though she wasn't even sure Alisha was still there or not.
Before she knew it, they were surrounding the small barn that looked as though it could hold but a couple horses. There appeared to be no Death Eaters guarding the area, invisible or otherwise (Someone who appeared to be channeling Moody's spirit had checked and rechecked).
Finally, Chambers was holding his wand up against the door of the barn, and she felt as though something around them had begun to count down. Three - two - one.
There was a brilliant flash and a thundering bang, which turned nearly the entire side of the barn to dust.
She felt the air whip past her as the wizards and witches in her team rushed in, some throwing off their Invisibility Cloaks, all with their wands raised.
Hermione stood their for a moment, observing in a silent second the crowd of Death Eaters and other unmasked men and women, all sitting around a large, green fire, all obviously beyond startled to see the other wizards thrown into their fray.
The walls of the barn were black brick, an incredible feat for the inside of a barn. They were adorned with large tapestries, most of which bore family emblems, coats of arms, disturbing portraits and scenes, and there were iron candle holders, which all had candles planted firmly into them, none of which were lit.
Still standing, shocked, somewhere around where the doorway had been, Hermione felt someone bump into her, sending her flying forward into the side of another Death Eater. The black haired man growled, turned to his side, and looked at Hermione oddly, as she was still in her chameleon state.
"Finite Incantato!" The wizard suddenly cried, and Hermione felt her charm receding. She turned around and noticed that everyone else with the charm was becoming normal and solid looking again.
Hermione thrust her wand out in front of her and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!" and the man went stiff like a board and fell over onto his back.
Hermione took a deep breath in and swiveled around to face the rest of the room, keeping her back to a corner. It was very large, and there were many more Death Eaters than expected. They, the Ministry group, were outnumbered at least three to one. Hermione cringed as she saw a man get spun in the air by a Death Eater who had thrown his mask to the side.
She rushed forward, the adrenaline pumping through her, her wand held out high before her. "Petrificus Totalus!" She cried, swiveling her wand around to face whom ever was closest. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Again and again she turned, dodging as best as she could the curses that were flying her way, although she did catch a few. Mostly they weren't too bad. She winced as she backed up, almost stepping on the face of a man she had seen earlier at the Ministry meeting. He had fallen.
She refused to do anything worse then Petrify, though she doubted she could do anything worse if she wanted to. She wasn't strong enough to pull the Killing Curse, and that curse required the will to kill. She would never have the will to kill.
Her arm was bleeding heavily now, and she held it up to hold back the blood flow, continuing to freeze the Dark wizards around her. She was amazed at how calm her mind seemed to be. All the lessons Harry had taught them seemed to be working. Duck, turn, flick, spin, duck, turn, flick, spin. don't open your back. flick and then turn, don't wait to see if your opponent is fine.
She tuned out the screams and the yells, hollering and incessant jeers, along with the maniacal laughter often betraying the location of a Death Eater. She couldn't tune out, of course, the bodies, which littered the ground, whether Petrified, collapsed, or.dead.She had to move gingerly over them, trying not to catch their faces before she turned away.
Her wand flicked once more, sending another Death Eater stiff, and turned right into a tall, cold blonde man. She jumped away instantly, her wand raised, mouth open to repeat an incantation.
But his wand was already situated and he had already begun crying the curse when a black blurred figure had barreled into him. His curse was cut short, but the wand seemed to find what he had cried sufficient enough, for it shot out a thin green jet that splintered across the air with a crack and hit Hermione in the neck.
The world stopped spinning for a moment and Hermione stood, unable to breath, and watched as the world slowly faded away, every person inside the barn running, falling, shouting, dying at a tremendously slow rate.
Severus Snape pushed Draco Malfoy down, and cried out something that kept him there. He lifted his wand, which had been pointed to Draco's chest, and turned swiftly around, to the girl, but she was gone.
~*~
I've been building up the notes for this story for a year now. I have been shying away from writing it for many reasons - number one being that I have too many ficlets on my hands, and number two being that I was too lazy, and I didn't want to mess up a plot as good as this. So! Be afraid! Be very afraid! This story is going places, baby!
Comments? Questions? Listless amounts of adoration? Bottle it up in a review, and send it my way! Just no flames, I pretend to be strong, but when I get flames or way-too-cruel-constructive-criticism, I break. And when I break my shards are dangerous.
~*~
By Mae Noelle
~*~
Disclaimer - Do you see what I did? No? Well, don't worry, it is a mutual thing. I may have finally thought up an original plot, but, probably not.
Summary - After an incident with a ministry raid Hermione finds herself tripping back in time and into Severus, along with a whole new gang of familiar-yet-unfamiliar faces. In the midst of a war, what can she do?
Rated for stuff. Anything that I decide to make (ie - sex, excessive violence) it will be announced at the BEGINNING of the chapter it appears in. Get it? Goodie.
A.N. -- Lots of little rumors I have found are accumulated in this ficcy. You will find that out, of course, later on. Just decided to warn you. Personally, they are all the rumors I believe to be true, and the ones I would choose to write if I was the one making the wonderful HP books. But, I am not, and they probably wouldn't flow all that well if JKR decided to denounce them completely in the next book, and then I will have to make this an AU ficcy (Alternate Universe) But just read to understand, and ignore this note if it confuses you. ^___^ . I have proven quite well so far that I am good at confusing peoples, ne?
~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~
Hermione Granger walked quickly across the atrium and into the lift, swiftly making her way to the hall her meeting was in. She held close to her a large, black, leather bag, which held most of her personal necessities.
Walking past many familiar faces and smiling quickly at a few of them, she turned sharply down a well-lit hall that blinded her with the whiteness of its ceiling, floor, and walls. Coming to a bright white door labeled in black, shiny letters 'Department of Wizarding Warfare', she stopped and to turn the door handle.
After hurrying the entire way, fearing that she would be late, her hand hovered over the handle of the door. Heavy thoughts soared across her mind, elaborating the things that this emergency meeting might have been called for, that needed her for.
She turned the handle and strode into the room, which was missing very few people.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said to Robert Chambers, the Head of the department, who was sitting at the head of the table. "I tried to get in here earlier, but Minerva had me-"
"No hurry." The man interrupted her. "We are still awaiting the arrival of a few more people - though, if they don't arrive soon, we will begin the meeting shortly without them." He sat hunched forward in his chair; his callused hands folded and elbows resting on the tabletop.
Hermione walked to the nearest empty seat, which was the second seat to the right of the Head of department. The first seat to the right of the Head of department was also empty. She set down her leather bag next to her feet and started to settle down herself, her nerves, and her thoughts.
There was a quiet hum of conversation in the large, slightly empty room, to which Hermione paid no heed.
Not a bit of decoration adorned the walls or floor of the room, besides a black case filled with paper lying in the middle of the table at which they all sat.
Hermione turned her gaze to all the people called to the meeting. Everyone of them was either what was left of the Aurors, members of the department, or normal qualified wizards who had just volunteered to help the Ministry of Magic round up the remaining resistance to the peaceful wizarding world for side money.
Over the following agonizingly slow minutes, three more people walked into the room, taking seats among the table of at least forty. There was now only one empty seat left. It was the one to the right of Hermione.
The door suddenly flew open, banging slightly against the white wall, leaving a black scratch.
The last man walked in quickly, a long black cloak billowing behind him. His dark eyes cut through anyone who dared look up to see who it was blowing through the quiet room, stirring up distressed thoughts amongst the people trying to wait patiently for the meeting to begin.
One single thought echoed through the many minds in the room: If he was at this meeting, something serious was going to be discussed.
Severus Snape, with a quick glance and a sneer at who he would be sitting next to, pulled out the seat next to Hermione, and, without a sound, sat.
"Well then," Chambers began quickly, gathering up the wandering attentions of everyone in the room. "I am glad to see that everyone I called managed to make it to this meeting. I apologize for all the inconveniences this sudden scheduling must have caused, but I do promise you that it is for a very good reason."
He stood, keeping his hands on the tabletop, his frame slightly bent over the table. He moved his gaze over the faces of the many people sitting around him.
"And as for what you all must have been worried about - we have finally gotten a date and time of a Death Eater meeting." There were a few gasps and heavy sighs among the crowd. "We must," He banged his fist on the table. "Must get these people now, before they get any more power, any more people." He raised his hands from the table, and brought them up and folded them behind his back. "We will not let the dark times pass over our community again." He sighed. "I will have Severus tell you the details of this.meeting." He waved his hand slightly before sitting down, motioning for the man next to him to begin.
Hermione turned her head slightly to stare at the man raising himself from his sitting position next to her.
Just standing there, staring out at the people who had their eyes magnetized to his position, he was intimidating. Hermione suddenly shivered in her seat.
"The Death Eaters are growing in number." He said slowly, moving his gaze around the room, his look so penetrating that most people shut their eyes or looked away. "Even though Voldemort is not here to make official the entrance to the people willing to become servants of the darkness," his right hand suddenly jumped to his left forearm, and he tightened his grasp, "the leaders have taken unbelievable amounts of effort to gain followers and retain them. Though that last remark doesn't matter - the ones now entering wouldn't want to leave. Over one hundred unofficial dark wizards congregate together - under our very noses - to discuss ways to destroy this peace. And not just British wizards either. Wizards from around the world, spread out and growing in number every day.
"And finally, we have gotten a specific and accurate date for one of these meetings. Two o'clock in the morning - tonight. They are gathering in an old farmer's field, in an enchanted barn that from the outside looks as though it could be filled with only a stack of hay. But it has been enchanted to fit an army of would-be Death Eaters.
"We will be the ones storming in there tonight, risking our lives to save the public. They will not know about this, and it will not be publicized, so I suggest you do not make it public either. The Ministry will denounce any such rumors if they quell up." Snape unfolded his arms and laid his hands flat onto the table.
Hermione stared at his hands, which where basically placed right in front of her. She tried to digest all that was happening so fast. If they had the meeting date, that means they would all have to rush in.an open war.they had been called to this emergency meeting to go to war.
"Everyone is expected, though not pressured," Snape narrowed his eyes further, as if to say, 'Actually, that's a lie. You are.' Hermione removed her gaze from him for a second, staring at the white wall. "To come to this room, this very room, by at least one o'clock in the morning, to help put an end to these meetings. To try and wipe out - again - the remaining resistance. Arm yourselves. Do not entrust this information to anyone, not even a spouse or someone you consider a close friend. You are entrusted with classified information, and found worthy of it. Not - anyone -else."
Snape remained standing for an extra second or two to get across the point he had been explaining by glaring it into the people's souls through their eyes.
Finally sitting down and sighing slightly, he gave a withering look to the Head of department, and leaned back in his chair.
Hermione took in a shaky breath, not wanting to believe everything that was happening so fast.
When she had asked to help with the removing of remaining resistance, she did not expect anything more then research and books and interviewing and everything she was good at.
She certainly didn't expect anything so massive to be found out that even her would be needed to help.
Chambers stood in front of them all again, his hands folded behind his back and a grave look contorting his face. "I assure you all we can win this war with ease. Good will always triumph over evil, never doubt that. I expect to see you all tonight, here in this room, at precisely one o'clock. Meeting adjourned." The Head of department sat heavily in his chair, and began rapidly leafing through and marking up a stack of parchment in front of him, shutting out the world around him.
Hermione sat in her seat, waiting for the many wizards piling out of the room behind her to move out of the way, hoping to privately ask Chambers a question.
But after most of the wizards had left the room, Chambers circled something on one of his parchments, threw down his quill, and leapt from the room, leaving Hermione to herself.
She sighed again and reached down to pick up her leather bag, pushed out her chair, stood and smoothed out her robe, and walked briskly out of the white room and the Ministry of Magic.
~*~
Hermione looked behind her, as a black-haired figure retreated down the street. She felt so guilty not being able to tell her friends about the reason why she was going into the Ministry this late at night.
"Please, Hermione! You know us, we aren't going to tell anyone! C'mon, tell Harry, you have to trust Harry! Harry Potter! C'mon! Everyone trusts Harry! Then he can tell me," Ron had said, and repeated, over and over, and again and again Hermione had repeated, "No, no, no, no."
So now here she was, standing in front of the hidden Ministry of Magic for the second time in a short period. The few light sources illuminated the pitch-black street and buildings in select spots, leaving others darker than the moonless sky.
She sighed and entered the building, making her way through the blinding white halls, which had previously been filled with happy and rushed faces, but now seemed eerily silent and deserted.
Taking her time, as she had arrived a half an hour early, she gathered her courage and silently hoped for a quick battle. It wasn't even led by Voldemort, just a bunch of rogue Death Eaters and wannabe Death Eaters.
Harry had retired into peace after the last war and wasn't bugged by the Ministry anymore so he wouldn't even know about the Death Eater's growing rebellion. Hermione had the impression that Ron knew enough, but Ron never really did anything on his own, not without Harry. Harry would've gone, though.
Running over bust strategies in her head, she tried to picture how the night would play out. Without trying to, images of the Wizard War entered into her mind, flashing before her violently. She shook them out of her head.
Despite all her elaborate strategies and plans, she had a sinking feeling nothing was going to go the way she hoped.
Wizard woman's intuition, she mused herself, Ten times stronger then the already lethally strong Muggle woman's intuition.
Before long, she was sitting in the room she had been in earlier, with people slowly entering and piling in around her. She dully noted the men and women with the same expressionless look on their face as they came and sat down, all musing to themselves.
Hermione waited and watched as each of the people that had been here earlier came in, an odd sense of déjà vu striking her mind.
She had come very early, there was at least an hour left, but she blinked and the time was gone. Everyone was standing, all beginning to file out with Chambers and Snape in the lead.
Now they were each Disapparating, one at a time. Chambers was standing at the front of the line, giving the coordinates of the Death Eater location to each person as they passed him. Then that person vanished into thin air with a crack. Then the next person, and then the next.
Hermione was at the very end of the line. Once the person in front of her disappeared, Chambers gave her the location, and they both left together.
Hermione opened her eyes (she had had them closed, as she had the feeling she would open them and see Death Eater masks) and the first thing she saw was leaves and a stick.
They had all Apparated into a large bush. She looked up and saw oaks towering over them. She looked behind her and saw a huge field laid out over the rolling hills. In the middle of the field were a lone building, a couple trees and bushes beside it.
"Their base," a soft voice said beside her, and she jumped. She whipped her head around and saw Severus Snape. Hermione breathed out in relief, though she didn't know why she had been so tense in the first place.
Everyone around her had been staring out onto the field as well, but their expressions of worry and doubt had been replaced by strength, hope, courage. She had a feeling her face still reflected a painful horror.
"Wands out," Chambers said swiftly, tapping his head with his wand. The others around him followed, each in turn appearing invisible.
Disillusionment Charm, Hermione noted dully, and she followed suit by tapping her wand on her head. She felt the curious trickling start from her head and making its way down the rest of her body. Some people were slipping Invisibility Cloaks over their heads, securing them with charms.
"Remember what we've discussed," Chambers continued swiftly, stepping out from the bushes. "Stay grouped back to back, aim swiftly, and, if absolutely necessary, do not hesitate to cast the Killing Curse."
Hermione gulped, grasping her wand tightly in front of her. She didn't plan on killing anyone tonight. She'd Stun, trip, freeze, and Petrify as many as she could, though.
She held back a sigh as they all made their way out of the bushes and across the field. The Disillusionment Charm would keep any watching Death Eaters from noticing them, but it wouldn't help them very much once they got inside.
In front of her she could barely see the outlines of Chambers and Snape, their wands out in front of them.
She felt a jolt as she bumped into something. Swiveling around, she heard a soft 'sorry' issue from thin air to her right, and she recognized it as Alisha Marnet, obviously hidden under an Invisibility Cloak.
"It's all right," Hermione whispered back, though she wasn't even sure Alisha was still there or not.
Before she knew it, they were surrounding the small barn that looked as though it could hold but a couple horses. There appeared to be no Death Eaters guarding the area, invisible or otherwise (Someone who appeared to be channeling Moody's spirit had checked and rechecked).
Finally, Chambers was holding his wand up against the door of the barn, and she felt as though something around them had begun to count down. Three - two - one.
There was a brilliant flash and a thundering bang, which turned nearly the entire side of the barn to dust.
She felt the air whip past her as the wizards and witches in her team rushed in, some throwing off their Invisibility Cloaks, all with their wands raised.
Hermione stood their for a moment, observing in a silent second the crowd of Death Eaters and other unmasked men and women, all sitting around a large, green fire, all obviously beyond startled to see the other wizards thrown into their fray.
The walls of the barn were black brick, an incredible feat for the inside of a barn. They were adorned with large tapestries, most of which bore family emblems, coats of arms, disturbing portraits and scenes, and there were iron candle holders, which all had candles planted firmly into them, none of which were lit.
Still standing, shocked, somewhere around where the doorway had been, Hermione felt someone bump into her, sending her flying forward into the side of another Death Eater. The black haired man growled, turned to his side, and looked at Hermione oddly, as she was still in her chameleon state.
"Finite Incantato!" The wizard suddenly cried, and Hermione felt her charm receding. She turned around and noticed that everyone else with the charm was becoming normal and solid looking again.
Hermione thrust her wand out in front of her and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!" and the man went stiff like a board and fell over onto his back.
Hermione took a deep breath in and swiveled around to face the rest of the room, keeping her back to a corner. It was very large, and there were many more Death Eaters than expected. They, the Ministry group, were outnumbered at least three to one. Hermione cringed as she saw a man get spun in the air by a Death Eater who had thrown his mask to the side.
She rushed forward, the adrenaline pumping through her, her wand held out high before her. "Petrificus Totalus!" She cried, swiveling her wand around to face whom ever was closest. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Again and again she turned, dodging as best as she could the curses that were flying her way, although she did catch a few. Mostly they weren't too bad. She winced as she backed up, almost stepping on the face of a man she had seen earlier at the Ministry meeting. He had fallen.
She refused to do anything worse then Petrify, though she doubted she could do anything worse if she wanted to. She wasn't strong enough to pull the Killing Curse, and that curse required the will to kill. She would never have the will to kill.
Her arm was bleeding heavily now, and she held it up to hold back the blood flow, continuing to freeze the Dark wizards around her. She was amazed at how calm her mind seemed to be. All the lessons Harry had taught them seemed to be working. Duck, turn, flick, spin, duck, turn, flick, spin. don't open your back. flick and then turn, don't wait to see if your opponent is fine.
She tuned out the screams and the yells, hollering and incessant jeers, along with the maniacal laughter often betraying the location of a Death Eater. She couldn't tune out, of course, the bodies, which littered the ground, whether Petrified, collapsed, or.dead.She had to move gingerly over them, trying not to catch their faces before she turned away.
Her wand flicked once more, sending another Death Eater stiff, and turned right into a tall, cold blonde man. She jumped away instantly, her wand raised, mouth open to repeat an incantation.
But his wand was already situated and he had already begun crying the curse when a black blurred figure had barreled into him. His curse was cut short, but the wand seemed to find what he had cried sufficient enough, for it shot out a thin green jet that splintered across the air with a crack and hit Hermione in the neck.
The world stopped spinning for a moment and Hermione stood, unable to breath, and watched as the world slowly faded away, every person inside the barn running, falling, shouting, dying at a tremendously slow rate.
Severus Snape pushed Draco Malfoy down, and cried out something that kept him there. He lifted his wand, which had been pointed to Draco's chest, and turned swiftly around, to the girl, but she was gone.
~*~
I've been building up the notes for this story for a year now. I have been shying away from writing it for many reasons - number one being that I have too many ficlets on my hands, and number two being that I was too lazy, and I didn't want to mess up a plot as good as this. So! Be afraid! Be very afraid! This story is going places, baby!
Comments? Questions? Listless amounts of adoration? Bottle it up in a review, and send it my way! Just no flames, I pretend to be strong, but when I get flames or way-too-cruel-constructive-criticism, I break. And when I break my shards are dangerous.