Holy rockin' responses Batman! I'm so, SOOOOO disgustingly happy about the action this little fic has seen thus far. This chapter is significantly longer. To be precise, the word count is 3.9244851 times longer. Yeah, I did the math.
Disclaimer: I had a little plot fairy flit around in my head and she won't shoo, so I have to inflict my ideas on the universe because I'm out of mental bug spray. So nope, not mine. Shocking.
Avast me readers! I'm warnin' ye - there be VI-OH-LENCE, bloodshed, some sea worthy cursing, and ass kickery in this here chapter. Arrrrr.
Chapter 2 - Alis volat propriis
(Latin: She flies with her own wings.)
She could have sworn she had her time turner again. Everywhere she looked things were in slow motion, with an eerie choking silence. The Earth seemed to completely still in anticipation of what would come next. She couldn't even hear the sound of her own heartbeat.
Then her world kaleidoscoped, putting her in sensory overload with bursts of color and sound.
She felt a warm trickle out of one ear - eardrum must have burst.
Harry, she had to find Harry.
Frantically she looked around, the motion of her skull swiveling back and forth causing her to convulsively swallow against instant nausea. Did she have a concussion?
Sprawled on the forest floor, she tried to get up, pushing herself on shaking arms before collapsing back into to the leaf litter. Reaching down, she clasped her wand in her trembling hand. Rolling over to lie on her back, she willed the stars to stop their hellacious spinning.
Something tickled the edges of her senses. There it was again, but she couldn't make sense of it as she fought to concentrate on the distorted sounds reverberating in her pounding head.
What in Merlin's name had just happened, did a bomb go off?
Taking another deep breath and gritting her teeth, she tried to sit up. Gasping at the pain she immediately disregarded it, compartmentalizing all sensations away to deal with later. She had to get up, find her boys and get the hell out.
She brought her hand to her face when her vision became blurry and it came away shining and wet with her still warm blood.
There was that noise again. It was a little more distinct this time. A man's voice.
"Hermione! No!"
Everything went black.
Draco stiffened as he slowly came back to consciousness. He did not know where he was and if the Death Eaters had found him when he was knocked out by the blast. Best use caution.
The last thing he remembered was getting the all clear from Hermione before following Weasley to flush out their quarry. Then there was blinding light and he knew nothing more.
He could hear water dripping, his hands and feet had been tied and he lay on his side on the cool damp ground. It was safe to assume they had taken his wand.
Was he in the cave?
There were quiet murmurs all around him.
"How did they find us?"
"Just walk backwards slowly and we can apparate out of here, no one will know."
"Where's the fourth one?"
He heard booted feet before a thud was followed by a low grown.
Ron. They had Ron too.
The deep menacing voice resounded through the area. "I'm only going to ask once more, where's the woman?"
He slowly opened his eyelids just enough to be able to see past his lashes.
The speaker was a broad shouldered male and was towering over two figures tied in a similar state as him. He would recognize that black unruly hair anywhere.
Shit, they had Potter too. Neither one bothered to give the man an answer.
"Tell me where she is, filth!"
Tall and angry brought his boot down on Harry's stomach, causing the wizard to curl into himself as he gasped.
His mind immediately began working through how to get out of this situation. They all knew wand less magic and as long as the bindings weren't charmed against it, they could be removed. Focusing inward, he invoked the spell to loosen the ropes.
Nothing. Damn.
They were skilled in hand-to-hand combat. A nice jab to the throat did wonders to prevent the speaker from hexing, definitely hard to do that when your voice box was crushed. But you needed your hands for that.
They were down, but they weren't out. Especially if Hermione...
"Sebastian! We found her!"
All three men on the ground tensed. Draco's mercurial eyes snapped open to see some greasy thug with an unconscious brunette draped across his shoulder. Her once pristine braid was undone and covered in leaves. A red line was trailing from one of her ears, down her cheek and dripped off her chin.
Was she playing opossum?
The lackey unceremoniously dropped Hermione onto the ground, he winced in sympathy for how hard she hit. She didn't move or indicate she felt any pain. Not playing then.
Sebastian, formerly known as Tall and Angry, sauntered over with his hands in his pockets. "Where was she, Simon?"
"Edge o' the woods, starin' at the sky like it was gonna fall or somethin'."
Simon, the greasy lackey, snorted at his own joke but sobered quickly when Sebastian glared at him.
"Did you get her wand?"
He reached a fat hand into his robes, "Yessir! Here it is!"
Sebastian pocketed her wand and looked at the four on the ground. He smirked at the glares the conscious ones were giving him.
"Look at you! As if your looks alone could actually kill. It appears someone has clipped the Ravens wings." He shook his head and tsk'd. "Tis' a shame."
He rolled Hermione over with the toe of his boot, her arm flopping over, palm facing up. Draco immediately went deadly still as their captor brushed her hair away from her face then grasped her chin, inspecting her lifeless form.
"Yes, a shame. Especially for this pretty little bird. An imposter. Wake her, Simon."
Simon muttered 'Innervate' and Hermione's body shook as it was unnaturally forced awake.
He heard Ron start struggling to get free.
Sebastian kneeled down."Wake up, pet. That's a good girl." Her eyes slowly opened, dimmed with hurt and confusion.
The look he was giving Hermione as she lay beneath him filled Draco with fury, acid flowing in his veins as adrenaline flooded his system. He began to furiously wring his wrists back and forth in attempt to loosen the ropes.
"You've been very naughty, pet. Didn't you know this was a no fly zone?"
Sebastian chuckled and his minions echoed his actions from the shadows.
"I think it's time we plucked your pretty feathers. Don't you my friends?"
Depraved laughter bounced off the walls of the cave as Sebastian stood once more.
"Keep your hands off her, you bastard!" Ron bellowed while Harry attempted to get Hermione's attention. She was beyond hearing, her head lolled back like a windblown dandelion.
Draco jerked his wrists harder, the cords digging into the skin, making them burn. It didn't matter, he almost had one arm free.
Laughter immediately ceased as Sebastian stalked over to Ron.
"Shut your mouth you disgusting blood traitor. How dare you attempt to protect this, this thing! Following her around like a mindless rutting fool. Disgraceful."
He stomped back over to Hermione, pointing down at her.
"You see this, my brethren! This is what we are fighting against! Our magic, our very souls, are being tainted by those that pretend to have the same power that we do. They do not hold to our sacred traditions nor do they value our real power. They are abominations, unworthy of our magic."
He bent and pulled Hermione up by her hair, forcing her to stand on wobbling legs that refused to give her a sure footing.
He shook her like a rag doll, "Look at her! She was educated in the same schools your children, shopping in our marketplaces, seducing your sons and infecting them with her muggle poison while she brutally hunts down our brothers and sisters as they attempted to preserve our perfect way of life."
His eyes gleamed with his impassioned speech, only pausing to meet the eyes of his audience. Coaxing them to fall into line as his voice rose with each hate filled sentence.
"I say no more! I will fight to my last breath to rid the wizarding world of this vermin. Starting with her."
He backhanded Hermione, her head whipping to the side as she dropped to her knees.
The crowd roared in blood thirsty approval.
Just then, another voice cut through the din. The menacing tenor of it promising violence, sliding like toxic silk through the cavern, subduing the revelers.
"Touch her again, and I will kill you, ever so slowly."
Heads turned to see a figure defiantly standing, his bindings lying in a pile at his feet. Eyes like molten silver openly challenging their leader.
Sebastian released Hermione's hair.
"You dare threaten me? You are the worst of all. Your family was destined for greatness - yet you betrayed our Dark Lord!"
Draco sighed and buffed his nails on his black flak jacket, studying his cuticles in feigned boredom.
"Yes, yes. I've gone over this countless times with many other upstarts. Do be so kind and cut to the chase? I grow weary of your posturing."
Sebastian's face went purple in rage as he commanded his men to seize Draco. Lithely avoiding blows and dishing out a few of his own, he valiantly fought and brought down three of his would-be attackers. There were too many of them.
They held him face down in the dirt, pinning him by his ankles and wrists as another one dug his knees into his spine to prevent him from moving.
"It gives me extreme pleasure to know I'm the one who's going to kill you, Malfoy."
Although he fought to take in air due to the weight sitting on him, he managed a chuckle.
"Yeah? Definitely never heard that one before."
Sebastian roared in fury and Draco's world broke apart at the seams only to come back together and rip into smaller pieces.
Fucking Unforgiveables.
The cloistering fog lifted from Hermione when Sebastian hurled the 'Crucio' at Draco. Watching his body spasm as it was crushed by those men caused something inside her to snap.
No!
Later, when asked to describe exactly what happened, all she would remember was a red tinted haze falling over her rapidly tunneling vision. That influence, the thing within her that she had tried so hard to keep at bay lazily stretched in its mental cage.
It seemed to sigh in relief as it found no resistance.
Finally.
Now, we punish.
Ron and Harry watched in disbelief as Hermione's brown eyes deepened to an inky black, the whites disappearing in the unnatural tempest. Black claws sprouted from her finger tips and her hair floated around her face, snapping and popping with raw power.
The Death Eaters on top of Malfoy immediately jumped to their feet, paling in shock and bewilderment.
She threw her head back, releasing a blood curdling shriek and they heard the sound of cloth ripping.
Sebastian pointed his wand at her, "What sort of trickery is this?"
A vicious hiss came from Hermione as she crouched, curling her clawed hands as she stared down the quivering crowd.
"Surrender. Now."
Harry frowned, her voice was off. It still sounded like Hermione, but with a growling sublayer that infused her normally dulcet pitch. Ron had freed his hands and was frantically working on the knots on his ankles.
Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest. "I will not."
Hermione's inhuman snarl revealed brilliant white fangs peeking out from her full crimson lips. The world had completely turned on its head. And what was that buzzing sound?
"Then you die."
"Avada -"
Blood sprayed over the walls of the cave, someone screamed as Sebastian's head cleanly slipped off his neck, hitting his feet and rolling as his body crumbled. One of Hermione's hands was covered in blood.
It didn't even look like Hermione had moved from her previous position, yet she had been faster than the spell. How in the-?
Total pandemonium broke out as the few lanterns were knocked over and extinguished as Death Eaters scrambled to escape the massacre. Screams of pain and sickening wet sounds bounced off the walls, creating a symphony of death and destruction in the obscurity of the shadows. By the time Ron had helped Harry out of the ropes, there was complete silence.
They couldn't see anything in the pitch black.
"Hermione? Draco?"
"Accio, wands." Four wands flew into Ron's palm. Handing Harry his he placed his team mate's into a pocket in his cargos.
"Hermoine? You ok?"
They heard a small mewl.
Ron pointed his wand to the caves ceiling, "Lumos."
They blinked as their eyes adjusted to the light, what they saw froze them in their tracks.
"Merlin..."
The entire back portion of the cave was awash in garnet rivers, the walls coated with so much of it; it had started to drip like macabre stalactites.
Arms, legs, and torsos littered the cave floor. And in the middle of it annihilation was Hermione, kneeling over Draco making small sounds of distress while brushing his hair away from his eyes.
The origin of the mysterious buzzing sound had been discovered. Small, delicate, translucent wings were protruding from between Hermione's shoulder blades.
Harry took a cautious step forward.
"Hermione? You alright, love?"
She stiffened and he stopped advancing. When she raised her head, her eyes were still that bottomless black. She seemed to study him for a moment, her head cocked to the side in thought. But she hissed and her wings flapped angrily as Ron approached.
"Stop, Ron. We don't know what's wrong with her."
Harry raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.
"'Mione, we just want to make sure you and Draco are alright. Can we come closer?"
Hermione crawled over Draco's torso, flattening herself over him. Covered in gore as she was, she looked like an avenging angel of death, one that you did not want to anger.
"Mine."
Harry took another slow step forward and Hermione growled, snapping her teeth at him. He ruefully thought of his Hogwarts days, when he had to approach Buckbeak for the first time.
Draco let out a moan. Her focus immediately switched and she keened softly, gently drawing her claws along his cheek.
"Harry, what the fuck?" Ron's whispered.
"I don't know, but that's not our Hermione right now. Stay exactly where you are, no sudden movements."
Ron nodded. "What's she gonna do to Malfoy?"
Draco inwardly cursed as he felt himself coming back to consciousness for the second time that evening.
Someone must still be holding him down, but this one was lighter and would be easier to throw off once he got his bearings.
Something soft was touching his face, and he felt a low vibration against his chest.
He opened his eyes.
"Malfoy! Don't move." Harry called out desperately.
He was too shocked to move, he couldn't have even if he tried.
Hermione, or what he thought was Hermione, was draped over him. She was covered in blood from head to toe, dark eyes staring at him intently.
Her whole body tensed as she glared at Harry, her lips curled back as she growled. Holy hell, were those fangs?
"It's alright Hermione. We just want to help." Harry was attempting to be soothing and calm, as if to tame a cornered animal.
"Mine."
He ignored the pain in his body, softly clearing his throat.
"Hermione?"
Wait a moment. Were those-? His eyes widened as he took in her appearance once more. She had fluttering appendages sprouting out of her back and daggers on her fingers. Hermione had wings and claws. Something was wrong with their witch. But what? They had seen a lot of strange things during their school years, the War, and afterwards in the Ravens. This was slowly making its way up the list.
To his relief, she stopped pressing him into the ground and instead straddled him, releasing some of the left over soreness he was feeling from the Crucio. Her focus was turned solely on him, those glinting ebony eyes actually seemed to soften.
He never turned away from Hermione's stare as he asked in a low whisper, "What do you suggest I do, Potter?"
Harry looked at him intently, "Hippogriff."
He withheld the urge to roll his eyes. What on Earth did that mean? The last time he met up with a Hippogriff he…
Oh.
Oh.
He forced his body to relax, to appear completely non-threatening. "Hermione? You ok?"
She gave him a soft smile, the black expanse momentarily lighting with stars, reminding him of black diamond's as she purred. Her wings flapped once and her smile widened into something proud and wicked. Those little fangs stark white against her garnet lips.
"I killed them. I killed them all." Her voice was deeper and it had a faint rumble to it.
He looked around at the carnage in the room and swallowed. She had done this? All by herself? He looked over to Harry and Ron who nodded in confirmation.
"I see that."
She grabbed his hands and brought them up to frame her face sandwiching them between her own black clawed hands, leaning into his touch. The muted purr became louder as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, slowly opening them again.
"I killed them for you."
"For me?"
She nodded, "They touched what was mine. I punished."
His eyebrows rose to his hairline.
"What on Earth are you talking about, Hermione?"
She dropped his hands and her wings began to flap furiously as the glittering stars in her eyes were doused. Her purrs turned into threatening growls as she leaned down, their noses almost touching.
She flashed those lethal fangs again, shit. He was never good with magical creature diplomacy.
"You are mine!"
"Damn it all Draco! Calm her down before she kills you." Harry bellowed.
Taking cues from her previous behavior, he cupped her face, noticing how it gave her a modicum of calm. He purposefully gentled his voice.
"I'm sorry, that was neither a challenge nor a rejection. I just don't understand what you mean. Explain it to me, please."
The growls and angry wing flaps immediately ceased.
"Consort."
He kept his face completely neutral, just kept cradling her face in his hands. "Consort?"
She said nothing but smiled mysteriously as she nuzzled his palm. Looking for all the world as content as a cat sunning itself on a lazy afternoon.
The brief moment of peace was interrupted when Ron tripped in his attempt to get to him, startling her. She shrieked as her shoulders hunched and he felt her thighs bunch around his hips, his only warning that she was going to pounce.
Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her, trapping her small body against his chest, keeping her imprisoned in his lap as she writhed against his hold. Something told him to be careful of her wings, so he kept one arm over the tops of her shoulders, tucking her head underneath his chin; the other had a death grip around her waist.
She yowled in fury as she tried to get him to let go. Damn she was strong. But not once did she scratch or introduce him to those new teeth of hers while she struggled.
Harry grabbed Ron by the arm and drug him a safe distance away. Hoping to calm her further when he was out of her visual range.
"It's alright Hermione. Be calm. You don't want to hurt Ron and Harry, you love them as much as they love you."
She let out a long slow hiss against his chest.
"You have to be careful or you will hurt me too. You don't want that, do you?"
He cupped the back of her head, petting her wild hair to soothe her. She trembled, but took a deep steadying breath while he focused on keeping his own heart rate steady and even. When most of the tension had slowly leeched out of her system, he leaned back to look at her.
Her claws and wings had receded, the black of her eyes slowly coming back to that rich brown they were all used to and incredibly fond of.
"That's it, sweetheart. Deep breaths, it's ok now."
He cupped her cheek, looking at her for signs of aggression or panic. When the darkness had completely left her irises, leaving just a dilated pupil, Hermione's body went completely limp. He signaled behind her back to let the other two know he had this under control.
"Draco?" She sounded incredibly weak, her skin waxen.
He stood, easily cradling her slight weight against his chest. "We have to get to St. Mungo's. Can you calm down enough for me to apparate?"
She nodded flinching as the movement caused her pain.
"Just rest, Hermione. I'm getting you out of here."
Fun fact - hydrogen peroxide will get fresh blood out of pretty much anything (except your conscience) if applied immediately.
Until next time...Adieu!
