Hello! I am aware that this is exactly what happened in the original piece of fiction that I posted here a long time ago, but I hope it is at least slightly better written because that was the goal. The deal is as follows; I wrote 'Twice Unwanted a LONG time ago and it has just dawned on me that it was AWFUL and I am ashamed of that. But because I don`t want to get rid of this story entirerly, it being one of my first works posted here, I have decided to rewrite it. And this is what had become of it now. On a side, but not totally unrelated note, I would quickly like to thank all of my readers for your continuing support as we, together attempt to navigate the Harry Potter and Hunger Games filled world that is my imagination. It means alot to me everytime I get a review, favourite, alert or viewish thing. To know that actual people in the world are reading my writing gives me the greatest thrill and I hope you`re still up for the ride! Thank you so much, you beautiful people! To the madness!
"Hermione, lookout!"
Peeta watched in a frozen sort of panic as the rubble of a broken piece of the castle fell towards the woman he loved. The new woman he loved, Peeta reminded himself, as Katniss had chosen Gale. The end, he lost. Pushing that thought aside, he continued to push- students out of the way, this time- towards where Hermione lay, buried alive. Or… dead. No, he would not think like that.
When he had finally fought his way to where he would be Hermione`s savior, Peeta was met by a familiar red headed figure, who evidently had already pulled her out. Ron Weasley was holding Hermione in a tight and passionate grip, which only tightened as he realized Peeta was watching them.
"Oh," he said with a voice as cold as ice, surveying Peeta angrily. Or was that what jealousy looked like? Peeta couldn't tell. "Hello Peeta." Clearly, as Ron released Hermione, grabbed her hand and walked away, the hello was meant as a goodbye. Why was it that Peeta`s taste of girls always already had best friend-boyfriends?
Pulling himself from depressed thoughts about his sore luck for romance, Peeta watched dizzily as Hermione walked away. When both were out of sight, Peeta too turned away to find ways to help fight the oncoming Death Eater attack. As much as he knew it was wrong, he silently wished Ron would get killed tonight. He knew it would crush Hermione, but he also knew she would choose Ron over himself. For he was, after all her best friend. He refused to lose her like he lost Katniss. Then a thought struck him, making the pit of his stomach twist with pain. What if Katniss was dead?
Peeta started to make his way to the Great Hall, to see if her body was among his other fallen friends. He walked through rows and rows of dead bodies- making him uncontrollably guilty, even though none of this was his fault- until one caught his eye. Fred Weasley; Ron`s older brother. He took one look at Ron in mourning of his brother- feeling a small amount of guilt for his loss- and started sprinting for the door. Thoughts raced through his mind in a state of utter panic.
If Ron was in the great hall, than Hermione was alone, unprotected. She could get hurt, or worse. He ran up and down the corridors, searching for any sigh of her, yelling her name. Until he stopped dead, spotting her across the hall from her standing at the top of a steep flight of stairs; face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange.
"Hello mudblood," she shrieked as Hermione backed away from the mad woman in front of her, tripping slightly as she realized where she was "long time no see." Hermione, holding her wand and well equipped to fight Bellatrix, had a semi-permanent look of terror on her face as her hand snapped to her forearm, as if it was a reflex. Bellatrix too had her wand raised and was a lot less terrified looking and a lot quicker.
Peeta watched in horror as she did the unthinkable.
"Crucio!" She just about sang, as she pointed her wand at Hermione. Then she let out a cackle of victory as the screaming started.
At this Hermione fell backwards, letting out the most horrible sound Peeta had ever heard. Worse than when Katniss would scream after a nightmare before he could calm her down. Worse than when he would hear Joanna's screams while she was being tortured by the capitol. Worse than when he was hijacked. He shivered at the thought of it, but even after going through all that he couldn't even start to imagine the kind of pain Hermione was in. Hermione.
He snapped out of his panic, grabbed his wand and pointed it at Bellatrix and shouted "Expelliarmus."
The wand flew out of her hand as Hermione stopped screaming and lay motionless. Bellatrix, looking angrier than he had ever seen her, turned her attention to Peeta and before he could even contemplate it he did it.
"Avada Kadavra" he screamed as he pointed his wand at Bellatrix. She collapsed in a lifeless form a few feet away from where Hermione lay.
Peeta pushed his way through the rubble to the stair case that Hermione had fallen down when she had been hit by the Cruciatus curse. She had slid about four steps from the top and now lay unmoving. Panic pulsed through Peeta`s veins as he approached her.
Was she dead? He sprinted down the steps to sit next to her. He picked up her limp body in his arms and cradled her face in his hands. She stirred at his touch and her eyes fluttered open.
"Peeta." she breathed out, though her voice came out cracked and on the verge of tears.
"I`m here don`t worry," he answered in the calmest voice he could muster at this moment of absolute panic. Then He leaned in to kiss her and he kissed her, and she kissed him, and it would have been perfect if someone hadn't heard her screams.
Ron Weasley`s yell of anger was the only thing other than death that could have ruined this moment of heaven.
"What the bloody hell do you think you`re doing with my girl friend," he yelled, covering the distance between them with little difficulty "I heard her scream from the Great Hall, care to explain." Peeta was so angry that the words left his mouth before he could sensor them, contrary to his usual calm manor.
"I went to look for her while you were in the Great Hall and I found Bellatrix Lestrange with her at wand point."
Peeta stood up to give his next few words a greater effect, leaving Hermione on the floor because she seemed too fragile to move, at the moment, and he didn't want to see her in pain.
"And I saw Bellatrix perform the Cruciatus curse on her. I killed Bellatrix, I saved Hermione`s life, you were nowhere to be found. Now, if you will excuse me," he bent down to pick up Hermione in his arms, being as gentle as he could be "I am going to bring her to the Great Hall to be treated." This was it, Ron would give up and he and Hermione could be together.
"Fine," Ron scoffed in an unusually calm voice that left Peeta feeling suspicious "and by the way, Gale`s dead. But seeing as how you`re over Katniss that shouldn't matter to you. And seeing as how you`ve got Hermione now why don't I take a shot at her? Funny you finally get another girl and the girl of your dreams becomes available again and now she needs you more than ever". There it was, the one thing anyone could have said to make everything suck again.
"Ronald," Hermione yelled angrily, but weakly from Peeta`s arms "how could you say that!"
"Now if you will excuse me" Ron carried on, as if oblivious to what Hermione had just said "I have a battle to fight and," he tossed a basilisk fang and a golden cup to the ground in front of Hermione "how about you destroy this one?"
"I-I can`t." She whimpered, pushing herself out of Peeta`s grasp and standing in front of Ron on her own as she looked from the cup to the fang and back to Ron.
"What are you guys talking about?" Peeta questioned as he looked from Ron to Hermione. They seemed to know exactly what was going on.
"You mean you haven't told him?" Ron asked the wonderment apparent in his voice.
"No, I would never betray Harry`s trust like that."
"Can someone fill me in please?" Peeta asked impatiently.
"Why don't you show him." Ron said as he put the fang in her hand and pushed the cup in front of her. She stood up tears with in her eyes, head shaking profusely. "You can do it, I know you can."
Ron took a step back as Hermione stood perfectly still, both boys watching her intently. Finally, taking a deep breath to steady herself, she plunged the fang towards the cup, only getting half way before it let out a terrible wail. Hermione, being the closest to the noise dropped to her knees and covered her ears, letting out occasional whimpers of pain. In between the earsplitting wails, a snake-like voice came out of it.
"Hermione Granger," it hissed, sending chills up Peeta`s spine "I have seen your fears, your hopes and your dreams." Soon after, the wailing died away and out of the cup illuminated a thick, black smoke, emerging out of it was one figure; Ron. But this new Ron was nothing like the real one. He had the same appearance, but had cold eyes and an evil like sneer on his face. And when he spoke he spoke with a cold, heartless voice.
"I could never love you," Ron began, staring deep into Hermione`s eyes, furiously "you are nothing but a tool to help me get by in school. On the first day I met you I hated you. I wouldn't have even saved you from the troll if Harry hadn't asked me too. You`re not even a friend of mine. Harry is my friend, not you. You will never fit in anywhere, because you only care about grades. You are hated by everyone you meet because of your rude and bossy attitude."
"Hermione don't listen to it," Ron screamed, trying to get closer to Hermione, but being held back by the fact that the smoke how now turned into very real ropes binding his arms and legs together "it`s evil. It`s not me, I`m over here, I-" But Hermione couldn't hear him and even if she could, it wasn't evident she cared.
Hermione cowered in fear; eyes transfixed upon the fake, evil Ron not the real one trying to break through to her. She let the fang fall from her hand, being blown by the smoky wind halfway across the room, far out of her grasp. She couldn't move, too possessed by fear to even take her eyes off of it.
"I would much prefer the beautiful Lavender Brown to you."
Just then, a pretty girl materialized next to Ron and they kissed so passionately and fiercely that it made Hermione cringe.
Ron continued to call out to Hermione and she continued to be mesmerized by the display before her. Next, Ron and Lavender disappeared and Peeta materialized holding Katniss tightly. Ron instantly tensed up. Peeta felt himself gasp for a sharp intake of breath.
"Do you even think I`d hesitate to come back to Katniss, now that Gale`s gone? You meant nothing to me, mean nothing to me and you never will." He said angrily as he pulled Katniss into a kiss just as passionate as Ron and Lavender`s had been and at this Ron lost it.
"Hermione!" Ron yelled louder than he even thought possible. Hegrabbed a small piece of the castle that had broken crumbled in some stage of the war and hurled at Hermione`s head. As it collided, she gave a sudden gasp of panic and blinked around, as if coming out of some sort of a haze. Getting to her feet quickly- fuelled by cheers from Ron- she raised her wand.
"Accio Basilisk fang!" she shouted, sounding both confident and weary in the same three words. Upon catching it, she took to the task at hand; destroying the Holcrux. Bending down, she stabbed it until it let out another wail. This time Ron and Peeta both grabbed for their ears, this noise being louder and more deranged than the first, but Hermione stared at the cup as if it wasn't making a sound.
When the sound vanished, so did Hermione`s ability to stand and much less hold herself together any longer. She crumbled to the ground, gasping for air between sobs. Peeta Immediately stumbled over to where Hermione had pulled herself into the fetal position and sat down next to her.
He pulled her into a tight hug with her head resting in his lap and turned her face over in his hands. Ron, who was Kneeling by the destroyed Holcrux in order to make sure it was really dead, didn't notice Peeta at all. He noted painfully the tears in her eyes and the streaks they left amidst all the soot and blood down her fragile face as she whimpered and shook uncontrollably.
"Is it true?" She asked, her voice unsteady "would you leave me for her?" Peeta opened his mouth to dispel this as nonsense, but closed it again, struck with the shocking realization of the situation. It was true; he would leave Hermione to be with Katniss once again.
All he could manage was right now, looking at Hermione so positively broken was "I`m sorry," before his way with words returned to him once again. "I don`t deserve you, I`m a coward. And if I`m not faithful to you when what I wanted before I met you comes back to me than I really don`t deserve you. I may love you, but Ron loves you more and he has fought with you and for you all his life. And I have fought for Katniss," he paused, swallowing the shame he was sure she could see like a burning scar on his forehead "I`m so sorry Hermione".
With those possible last words to Hermione, he stood up and walked away. He wasn't sure where he was going to go; to fight, to find and comfort Katniss, to get some fresh air and quiet, but he knew that he needed to get away.
After he was out of sight, Ron walked over to Hermione and hugged her, stroking her hair gently. Hermione sobbed into Ron`s ever-open shoulder until she regained her ability to speak.
"Did Harry really have to convince you to save me from the troll?" Hermione asked, looking at Ron with horrified eyes. Ron swallowed and thought that after seven years, it was finally time for the truth.
"Yes," he answered honestly "but that was before I loved you, before I knew you, the real you."
"So you would have let me die because you didn't know me?" She asked using angry words, but a weak tone that seemed as if she could crack at any moment and she would return to uncontrollable sobbing.
"I was only eleven and I was scared for my life," Ron argued in his defense, but Hermione`s face depicted sadness, not anger "plus that was the first rule break in a long series of them. I didn't want to be like George and Fr-" He cut himself off at the thought of his brother.
"I understand," she said, the last of the detectible sorrow seeping out of her voice.
"Let`s go get you fixed up, shall we?" Ron asked and, adding as an afterthought "would you like to apperate?" Knowing the reply he always got from Hermione, Ron smiled expectantly.
Hermione laughed then added, in a mock serious tone "Ronald Weasley, how many times do I have to tell you, you can't apperate inside of Hogwarts!" Ron groaned and picked up Hermione in his arms, setting off for the great hall on foot.
Peeta, who had decided that he didn't want to talk to anyone for a long while or do anything productive of the sort, exited the castle via a large gaping hole near the transfiguration classroom. The are on the part of the grounds were practically deserted except for the scatter of dead bodies here or there. Thankfully, he didn't recognize any of them and, even more so thankful, most of them were Death Eaters.
It was much easier to think without the raging sounds of war around every corner. So, he thought. He thought about how he was awful and completely unfair to Hermione and how he wished that Katniss would still want him even after he had become the monster he had feared of being not that long ago. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't.
And it also crossed his mind, in whatever primitive way, that he was being reckless and stupid and acting out of shame and a broken, then mended, then broken again until it was shattered into a million microscopic, impossible to fix pieces heart. But he didn't care anymore.
That was, until he ran into Finrir Greyback, a man who had no pity or time for a boy of such emotional complexity and killed him where he stood.