Disclaimer: My initials are not JKR. Ergo, I am not the creator of the Harry Potter universe. That distinction belongs solely to Madam Rowling.
The Elements
Prologue
Chaos.
Ruin.
Panic.
Fear.
Grief.
Fury.
Hermione felt oddly as if her ears and her eyes had been disconnected. For long moments, as the fighting raged around her throughout the shambles of the wedding, she could only watch helplessly as two of her dearest friends died trying to protect each other. Disjointedly she wondered where all the sound had gone. She couldn't even hear her own heartbeat.
Suddenly, all her wits came rushing back to her, even if the sound didn't. She opened her mouth in a scream of rage she couldn't hear, and she raised her wand. She ruthlessly plowed through the surviving three Death Eaters out of the six that had killed Lupin and Tonks, flashes of light from her wand striking their targets and sending them to join their brethren already dead at the hands of Lupin and Tonks.
Instinct caused her to whirl about suddenly, her wand slicing through the air and taking down another enemy, not a Death Eater but certainly one of the Dark Lord's sympathizers. With his death, it seemed the sound was released. It nearly drove her to her knees.
"Hermione!" cried a familiar voice. She turned to see two more friends, Ginny and Luna, making their way to her, fighting through the melee.
"Please, have you seen Harry?" Ginny begged when she and the Ravenclaw girl reached Hermione.
Hermione, her face suddenly haggard, shook her head. "He, Ron, and I got separated."
Before either of the other two girls could say anything, however, a mad cackle sounded from behind them. "Lost your protectors, have you? Ickle Mudblood and her blood traitor friends all alone?" the babyish voice of Bellatrix Lestrange cooed.
The three girls turned all at once, their wands raised and already casting curses. Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy deflected them easily, the insane witch giggling the entire time.
Hermione tried to concentrate on both fighting the two Death Eaters in front of her, Ginny, and Luna and watching their backs to make sure they weren't caught by surprise. But in trying to do both, she was left vulnerable on her right side, and that proved her undoing. She saw a flash of sickly yellow light out of the corner of her eye, and when she tried to deflect it, Bellatrix saw her chance. She hit Hermione with a spell the valiant Gryffindor never saw coming, striking her in the head and causing her to crumple in an unconscious heap on the ground.
Ginny and Luna didn't stand a chance after Hermione fell.
So? What do we think? Constructive criticism will be appreciated, caustic comments will be noted and duly ignored. Please and thank you. Love,
RP