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Summary: Companion piece of "Agamemnon's dilemma." Hermione sees the opportunity to get Bellatrix into her grasp and away from the treacherous grip of Voldemort.
Artemis's jape:
How did one break out of the chains of society? The ones that were cast upon you with expectations as soon as you were born? There probably was no easy or just one answer for that. What Hermione knew was that the way Bellatrix's life was ruled needed to stop now.
"And the great General Agamemnon makes his choice and sacrifices one of his heirs." When Voldemort said this to Hermione's face, the muggle-born was just a little confused by what he meant till she remembered the Greek mythological story about Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia at the goddess, Artemis's whims. Hermione tried not to laugh at that comparison. Voldemort comparing himself to Agamemnon? That was funny. Though it was never made clear in the Greek and Trojan stories which side started the conflict, the Greek General that Voldemort spoke of was fighting for his people, the Slytherin man standing in front of her was discrimination embodied. He regarded other human beings as lower than animals simply because of blood status. He was no hero. He was only a savior to his disillusioned followers. And they were just as insane as he was. Hermione glanced down at where Bellatrix Lestrange was being magically restrained. Speaking of insane...
No one said that winning a war would be easy. No one said defeating the world's darkest and most powerful wizard would be in any way fun. Exhilarating? Perhaps, but fun? Certainly not. This dark wizard had given them more grief than they could possibly articulate. It had been through great effort that they had called upon the world's most well known witches and wizards. Powerful magic users of all ethnicities, from every country were asked to come and fight with them, shoulder to shoulder against Voldemort and his horde. Rallying troops was easy enough. Appealing to their sense of morals however was another story. They could make their case as much as they wanted but by the end of the day, it was the other magic users' decisions.
It was why Hermione was so grateful when she heard that all of the witches and wizards they had pleaded with to fight at Hogwarts across countries, continents and states had agreed. Soon, magic users from all over were assembled. Wizards and witches from Russia, China, Africa, Germany, France, Spain, the Caribbean, Korea, Italy, America, Japan, Taiwan, even from Australia came to defeat their shared enemy. Voldemort was known worldwide as a menace.
The Ministry of Magic of course had protested against using outside forces to stop Voldemort, at which Hermione had almost eagerly pointed out that Cornelius Fudge had failed to acknowledge that Voldemort was back for a year and further taunted the Ministry by saying that they wouldn't want the public to know that they had hindered the one remaining good defense they had against their most dangerous enemy, would they? Needless to say, all the complaints from the Ministry of Magic stopped after Hermione had rebuked them with that comment. They would defeat Voldemort, and Hermione planned to take care of his "most faithful" Lieutenant herself.
Something had happened after Hermione escaped from Malfoy Manor, and out of Bellatrix Lestrange's clutches. There was a dangerous edge to her. She didn't take any talking down to from anybody, not even her two friends since first year, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. She was commanding now, aggressive and even more calculative and scheming than before.
Hermione could accept her changes. She knew why she was the way she was even though no one else realized. The plan was set up. The army was in place. The only person Hermione worried about now was at Voldemort's mercy twenty four-seven. She was safe and sound and while she certainly hadn't gotten away unscathed, she was miles better than her mentally broken love.
The muggle-born stared over the barricades of the stone windows of Hogwarts at the mass of foreign wizards and witches, ready to defend the school. She had learned so much about Bellatrix Lestrange in her time being captive at Malfoy Manor and the Black Manor. She knew more than she could ever possibly want to know. It had been after the eighth month of being held there that Hermione made her decision when she found a way to escape. She decided that after she escaped, she would take care of Bellatrix. Bellatrix was a broken woman. So strong and so unyielding, yet so broken. So empty.
When Hermione had first lain eyes on her, she thought Bellatrix was similar to a siren or a gorgon depending how one looked at it. But she wasn't that at all, was she? At her core, regardless of her age, Bellatrix was a lost, scared, terrified and fragile little girl beneath the forty-seven-year old, haggard, homicidal witch that everyone saw.
Hermione had made her decision after one of the times Bellatrix went on her rants, screaming at Malfoy Manor and eventually ended up on the muggle-born's lap, crying herself to sleep. Bellatrix needed help. Voldemort had taken advantage of Bellatrix's vulnerability when the Black heir had come to the Dark Lord, going against her abusive pureblood parents' wishes.
Voldemort had warped Bellatrix's mind worse than even Cygnus Black III had. Hermione exhaled and thought harder one what she had learned during her time at the two pureblood manors. Cygnus Black III had been a monster. The things he had done to Bellatrix; what Hermione suspected he did to her based on the things the pureblood screamed out when she had nightmares just completely made the muggle-born's blood boil.
Hermione had never really pondered on the possibility of murder before learning what Cygnus Black and his wife had done to their daughters. Before she learned what they had done to Bellatrix. She would save Bellatrix Black. One way or another.
Bellatrix was an individual amongst pureblood women, that was certain. While almost all women of pureblood society obeyed and married and had pureblooded children as their parents expected of them, Bellatrix had rebelled against her parents and followed Voldemort. Where her youngest sister and mother had allowed themselves to be married off, Bellatrix had stood on her own two feet and became a soldier in the army of Death Eaters dominated by men. Bellatrix was an individual, and yet she had bended to Voldemort's will so easily. In Bellatrix's eyes, the only reason she had for following Voldemort was because she had deemed him worthy of being followed, and in the end had become his dog, sacrificing that independence of hers. It was truly very sad.
Bellatrix had gone against the chains of society, only to be bound in them in another fashion.
Well, Hermione wanted to see this terrified and shattered little girl grow into the strong independent that she used to be before Voldemort got ahold of her. Yes, if she had to, she would play the part of Artemis and take Bellatrix from the "General" and help her break away from society and away from patriarchy.
That was why it seemed so funny to hear Voldemort compare this situation to the dilemma Agamemnon had been caught up in, in the old Greek myth. Agamemnon? Did that make her, Artemis then? Artemis, offering to send wind to allow the General's ships to pass to get to Troy, to raid it? So where was Bellatrix in this scenario? Well, that appeared obvious, albeit ludicrous. Bellatrix was Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daughter. The price Agamemnon had to pay for being allowed to sail to Troy was to sacrifice his own daughter to the goddess Artemis.
What wasn't talked about that much was the little trick Artemis played when Agamemnon "sacrificed" Iphigenia. He brought his daughter to the alter and cut what he thought was her throat. It wasn't though. It had been the throat of a deer that Artemis had planted in place of Iphigenia. And where had Iphigenia been after Agamemnon killed the deer he had been disillusioned by Artemis into thinking was his daughter? Iphigenia had been carried off by Artemis to join her band of immortal hunters. Hermione didn't ponder it often, nor did she talk about it that much, but she always suspected that the whole "sacrifice thing," had been a ploy to gain Iphigenia herself all along. Hermione used to fancy that Artemis had made Iphigenia her lover after carrying her off.
Of course, that might have just been a hope on her part. It certainly was now. And when the words left Voldemort's ashen reptilian lips, Hermione felt laughter almost burst from her throat. How fitting, even if Voldemort was a pitiful General. Yes, she was pulling quite the jest that Artemis had, wasn't she? Most likely Voldemort thought that she meant to torture Bellatrix and then kill her. No; she meant to save Bellatrix. Bellatrix would not be harmed in any way. While she had gotten Voldemort to give Bellatrix to her, thinking that she'd kill the pureblood, she meant to rehabilitate the oldest Black sister.
She would rescue that broken, unloved child buried underneath the traumatized and cruel shell that had been erected to protect her from the harsh world around.
Hermione stared again at where Bellatrix was being magically restrained. The raven haired witch was staring at her with an acidic gaze. Hermione felt no threat, only compassion and unbelievable adoration. How could she have not seen it? Even before first meeting Bellatrix at the Department of Mysteries with the other Death Eaters, it should have been obvious just how broken Bellatrix really was. Anyone who heard so much as one rumor about the abuse Bellatrix must have suffered at her mother and father's hands would probably know that it was unavoidable that Bellatrix would turn out this way. The worst part? The worst part was that it seemed impossible that no one else knew about Bellatrix and her sisters' abuse.
People knew and they did nothing.
No one ever bothered to lift a hand to help Bellatrix. Not even her sisters. Her sisters had bought the easy way out. Narcissa had married Lucius and left as soon as she could and Andromeda had run off with Ted Tonks first chance she got, leaving Bellatrix alone with the abusive monsters.
Rodolphus Lestrange, if Hermione heard the stories correctly, was just as bad as Bellatrix's parents. If the stories were accurate about the Lestrange family, then forcing themselves on women (including the wives) was just a regular everyday occurrence for them.
Hermione didn't even want to comprehend the horrors that Bellatrix experienced in her life; trapped between the brutality Cygnus Black III and Druella Rosier exposed the dark witch to, and the brutality she had been subjected to at Rodolphus's hands. Of course the only way out, for Bellatrix at the time had been Voldemort. Of course Bellatrix had joined Tom Riddle.
When your whole world was shattered and you were left to bleed, joining a fanatical megalomaniac that spat out words like, "pure," "filth" and "superior" must have been very appealing, at least if you were looking for a scapegoat to hide your pain.
Hermione turned back to Voldemort, not letting one emotion slip, not letting one indication go of what she was planning. As the Dark Lord left her side and walked past the many witches and wizards getting ready for Hermione's signal, she watched him before her hand slipped to the hilt of her wand. Agamemnon was about to die. And Iphigenia? Hermione chanced another glance at Bellatrix who was thrashing and struggling against Hagrid's firm grasp. Well, she would be taken care of. She would have another chance at life. A chance that Bellatrix's parents, Rodolphus and Voldemort never gave her.
Hermione supposed she was enacting a fairly cruel jape. Far crueler than any Artemis might have concocted in that story. Where Artemis simply switched Iphigenia with a deer so as to take Iphigenia away and make the General's daughter her own, but gave something to Agamemnon in return, which was allowing him and his ships to sail to Troy, Hermione was taking Bellatrix from him, and she was going to give him nothing in return. In return, she was going to screw him over and have him killed. Tough luck, right?
But then, Greek Gods and Goddesses were known for their malice and wrath, right?
Voldemort got close to the door of Hogwarts and Hermione withheld a smirk, locking eyes with Narcissa Malfoy's as she considered what was about to happen. She grinned at the blonde Black sister. "Your sister is mine." Hermione said before she could think about doing otherwise, "You never stood up for her. You never protected her. She was nothing but a shield for you to use against your parents when they were abusive. That's going to change now. She has me now. I'm going to protect her. But no one's going to protect you. No one else is going to sacrifice themselves for you."
Hermione smirked when she saw the shocked confusion in those blue eyes. Oh, Narcissa truly was clueless, was she not? When she wasn't obsessing over her son's safety, she truly thought she was innocent in all of Bellatrix's troubles. Besides the risks Narcissa had taken for the sake of her son, the blonde had wiped her hands clean of all crimes and just had stood back and did nothing. Hermione was disgusted by people like that.
"There's a special place in hell for people who stand by and do nothing while people are suffering, Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione sneered, "And another painful portion of it for people who stand by and do nothing while a family member is suffering."
Hermione was met with a completely lost look again and before anything else could pass between the two women, shrieks from the other Death Eaters filled the air and many of them bolted from the vicinity as balls of fire shot out of Hogwarts's entrance in the shape of all kinds of animals; tigers, rams, dragons, phoenixes and more barreled out at Voldemort and his followers.
Hermione cocked her head at the fleeing Death Eaters, all appearing terrified and frantic. They were dangerous but only confident when their great Dark Lord was certain of what he was doing. Right now, with a battalion of snarling, fiery beasts besieging him, Voldemort was the farthest thing from calm and confident. Hermione laughed at how startled the slimy bigot looked as he backed away from the great open doors of the school. His ever irritating snake was slithering away, with perhaps just as much fervor as her master's servants were.
Hermione leaned forwards where Harry was hiding behind a stone column. "Harry, get Ron and please, do go and do something about that snake for Merlin's sake!"
Harry nodded and ran to go find their redheaded friend.
Hermione turned her attention back to Voldemort and became alert immediately upon seeing him raise the Elder Wand above his head, ready to massacre all the Auror's at the entrance. Hermione had her wand out in a second, shouting the killing curse without any hesitation.
Emerald magic ejected from the wand and rocketed into the genocidal wizard, hitting him right on the spot. Voldemort stumbled backwards a bit and then collapsed to the ground, face hazed over.
"My lord!" Bellatrix screamed, making Hermione cringe. It stung in the worst way that Bellatrix could still love Voldemort after everything. Voldemort had tortured her, threatened her, used her, mistreated her, and now he had sold her to the enemy so that he could gain the upper hand in war. But she still loved him. He didn't deserve her. He had always abused and mistreated her. It was the same as how she felt when she had read the story of Agamemnon and his daughter. She always wondered why anyone would sympathize with Agamemnon after her sacrificed his own daughter. To be fair, even he had a better reason than the power hungry Voldemort.
But Bellatrix was still obsessed with the half-blood masquerading as a pureblood. It was sickening to witness. Hermione shook her head as she walked over to where Voldemort was sprawled, standing over him, glaring.
"Bellatrix is mine now, General. I'm going to take care of her," Hermione declared, fully meaning what she said, "I won't let people like you ever hurt her again." As if those words were a death knell for the dark wizard, his already unimaginably pale face seemed to somehow lose its blood and his eyes slowly slid shut forever.
Hermione smiled, turning back to the still distressed Bellatrix. The muggle-born lost her smile when she saw how afraid and shell-shocked the dark witch was. Hermione's triumphant mood was interrupted by the need to reach out and comfort her love, but soon was startled by Harry yelling for Ron to kill the snake. She saw out of the corner of her eye, Ron picking up the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Hermione smirked. The redhead had been getting to use that quite a bit, hadn't he?
As the silver glint of the sword shined in the hot blazing air, coming down on something with a loud "thunk," the sound of something splattering all over the courtyard, Hermione fixed her eyes on Bellatrix again and said to the dark witch gently, "It'll be okay. You're under my protection. He sacrificed you. He didn't deserve your love."
As Hermione weathered the cannonade of screams and hateful names Bellatrix cast upon her (as Hermione expected) she started planning how to help the pureblood start her life anew. It would be long and hard and difficult, but she'd help Bellatrix. She could do it. Her devotion was just as strong as Bellatrix's was. She could do it.
Bellatrix would be free of Agamemnon's reign.