An Author's Note:

So! A fourth chapter is upon us. Did you enjoy the last one? I think I rather did; the ending in particular was enjoyable for me. I wanted to say thank you to those of who you have hung on long enough to reach this point, and I wanted to especially thank those of you who review; I respond to every review this story receives, and I just want to emphasize how rewarding it is to receive feedback and encouragement from all of you. Without that encouragement, I can safely say I never would have written this story, or any of my previous stories. So thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart, for being the best readers any author ever had.

All the best,

PhoenixAeternum

December 6, 2010

Rebellion
(Lies)

With a crack that echoed through their forest hideaway, Hermione, her arm draped around Harry, appeared from nothing. Shaking, she lowered him down to the ground with great effort, and she gasped at seeing him; he was covered in blood and burns and his chest neither rose nor fell.

"Oh god," she said to herself, scrambling to the ground beside him and pulled out her wand, desperate to do something. Forgetting for a moment, as she had done so long ago, that she was a witch, she reached out her shaking hand and seized his wrist, then paused, stilling even her breath, as she anticipated a pulse that wouldn't come. "Oh god," she repeated, and she ran a hand quickly through his hair as she racked her brain for what to do.

She looked with mouth agape at her wand hand to see it clutching her only hope. Desperately, she thought back to the medical charms Dumbledore had included in the book of spells he had left for them, and for the thousandth time thanked the stars that he had done; she was sure they each would have died a dozen times over without it.

Remembering one to place the body in a sort of stasis, she waved her wand over his heart and muttered the incantation. A faint blue glow materialized, and she let out a small breath of relief – he was alive, and the stasis charm would keep him that way until she could work out what to do.

She clambered into their tent, and as quickly as she could, returned with Dumbledore's book of spells. She flipped through it frantically – the stasis charm would keep Harry from dying, at least for awhile, but every second he was incapacitated was another second she was alone in the world, another second they were twice as vulnerable to attack, capture, or death, another second he slipped closer toward a place he could not come back from.

It was with incredible relief that she found a spell marked Defibrillatio; with a shaking hand, she raised her wand and pointed it at Harry's heart. Her face contorted, and she wiped her eyes against her sleeve, and she whispered the incantation and moved her wand in circles around Harry's heart. "Defibrillatio."

Nothing happened. Or nearly so. There was a shock of blue lightning that shot into Harry's chest, but he did not stir. Dread filled Hermione. No, she thought to herself. No. He was all she had left – and she had given up everything she had to remain with him. Ron was gone, and she'd not gone with him. Her parents were gone, and she'd seen to it that they would never remember her, seen to it that they had never known her. Harry was every thing and the only thing left in the world she could hold on to – and she would not let him leave her now.

"Defibrillatio!" she intoned more forcefully as another shock of blue entered his chest and he failed to stir. "Defibrillatio!" she was almost shouting now, and the shock of blue had grown deeper in its blueness and wider in its diameter, and Harry had almost stirred, but continued to lay on the verge of eternity, still unmoving, still dying.

XXX-XX-XXXX

His panting and the falling of his feet was the only sound that broke the silence of the forest. He was running, desperate to escape, desperate to be away from here, from the four who chased him. He looked over his shoulder frantically as he fled – they had found him, they were after him they would have him.

Curses flew by him, some just inches from hitting their mark, and his desperation grew. He wouldn't be able to apparate with all of them attacking him at once. He had to get away, to find a place to stop – even for just a moment – so he could escape.

He didn't know how they'd found him, how they'd gotten through the enchantments he'd put up, how they had even know anything – let alone a wizard in hiding. He'd used the same enchantments Dumbledore had written down in the spell book now in Hermione's possession – every single one. Those spells should have rendered them undetectable. It was like they knew where to look, and what to look for.

He continued to sprint, running as fast as he'd ever done, and there was a large stump just a few hundred feet ahead of him. If he could get there fast enough, if he could avoid the volley of spells well enough, he could hide behind the stump for one second necessary to disapparate to safety.

A green jet blew by him, hit a tree, and immediately it was engulfed in hot red flame; the Snatchers weren't out to snatch him – they wanted him dead.

Wasn't he worth more alive to them? If they knew he was, didn't they know he could hand them Undesirables One and Two? He had thought his blood might have protected him, if he were caught; that at least he could trade Harry and Hermione's lives for family's, or even just his own. Weren't they more valuable than him? They wanted him dead.

The stump was just ahead of him now, but the snatchers were just behind; he didn't know if he'd have enough time, if he would or could escape.

Still sprinting, less than ten yards now from the stump, he looked back at the Snatchers, ready to throw a curse their way, to buy himself just a few tenths of a second, just enough time to delay them enough that he might escape. He looked over his shoulder in time only to see a green jet of light coming right for him, and fly into his face. And he crumpled to the ground and moved no more.

XXX-XX-XXXX

"Defibrillatio!" And she was almost roaring, and she would not let him die, and he could not die. He could not leave her to carry on on her own, she wouldn't let him. He could not die, not then, not there, not ever, not while she yet lived.

"DEFIBRILLATIO!" And with a lightning bolt from the tip of her wand that collided with his heart, Harry more than stirred or shook – he sprung up, sitting up straight, his eyes open wide and looking into Hermione's without seeing, without knowing where he was and how, or who she was and why, but two words and the smallest smile formed on his lips before he fell back to the earth and lost all consciousness:

"You're alive."

X

A/N: This chapter marks the first of what will likely end up a half dozen or so chapters like it – that is, bits which are more interludes than proper chapters. These will be marked with parentheses around the chapter title. For instance, this chapter was entitled (Lies). And yes, this chapter's title is indeed a reference to the song 'Rebellion (Lies)' by Arcade Fire. Very clever, right? Anyway, thanks for reading everyone; next chapter will be here before you know it.

Oh, and one last thing. I've come up with an idea – everyone who reviews from an FFN account (that is, all reviewers who aren't reviewing anonymously) will receive in my review reply a 250-word sneak peak to the next chapter. It will usually be the first 250 words of the next chapter, but depending on how I feel about the chapter's beginning, it might be something in the middle or the end – sometimes even a snippet of the climactic bits. So – please review. I'll make it worth your while.

All my best,

PhoenixAeternum

December 10, 2010