Creating your own future
Chapter 9 – Fighting the good fight
Dedicated to my two reviewers (*sob* only two reviewers!)
Vedra42: Woah! Is it okay to be a little scared of your in depth analysis? Okay, all jokes aside. Thank you very much for your incredible review. It's a huge ego boost and all authors need those... Anyway, thank you so much. The next chapter should bring a bit more action and some more fun our way. Please keep letting me know what you think!
maya: Thank you! I hope it does become one of your favourites. Here's the other chapter I promised for today. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. Please review again and let me know what you think!
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It was at 5.47 a.m. that an excited Hermione knocked on Albus door before entering. She'd left her latest muggle project on the table last night and it was still working. She was certain that this permutation was it, it worked and it was perfect.
Guessing the right password to get past the gargoyle had been surprisingly easy. Strawberry Jam was his latest one.
She waited patiently in her seat whilst Dumbledore came into his office in his night robes.
"Hermione?"
"Albus, I've got it. Here" she floated the TV until it was under his nose and pointed at the runes. Adjusting his glasses he studied the runes, paused and then went over them again.
"This does indeed looks as though you have succeeded. This is very impressive, Hermione."
Smiling at her the headmaster sat in his chair to study the runes in close detail whilst his student sat in her chair watching his every move.
After another half an hour Albus finally agreed that her runes were flawless.
"Now, my dear, I believe we'll get ready to go to the ministry."
"We'll need to stop by Gringotts first. I have not had a chance to open an account with them."
Albus nodded at her and Hermione made her way back to the Gryffindor tower to grab all her money and double check she had sufficient weaponry on her. The ministry was a surprisingly dangerous place with Voldemort's agents having infiltrated it and she was also going to be in the most populated street in the Wizarding world. Ensuring that she not only had a gun as well as a miniaturised snipers rifle, several knives and a katana as well as two spare wands and clothing that hid all this she allowed herself to breathe in deeply, sifting through her memory banks.
There had not been a single attack on Diagon Alley or the Ministry. Not this month. This month there would only be the attack on Hogsmeade in two weeks time. Breathe in, breathe out. Voldemort was still lying low. Nevertheless she felt anxious and she wasn't quite sure why.
Quickly descending the steps from the girls' dorm she was in the common room again and once again it was only Remus who was awake.
"Where are you going?"
The werewolf had noticed her clothes, the same almost leather robe she'd first arrived in – suitable for fighting but formal enough for the ministry.
"Good Morning to you too, Remus. I have to sort some things out with Gringotts, special permission from the headmaster to be absent today. I should be back by tonight, don't worry."
Remus watched as the brown haired girl made her way out the portrait hole. He wasn't quite sure what bothered him exactly but he could tell that she was tense and anxious. In turn he found himself unable to shake off the uneasy feeling he had all day – his friends tried their best to ease his mind but once he heard about the attack on Diagon Alley he found himself rushing to the hospital wing.
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Hermione exited the fireplace at Tom's followed shortly by Albus. Her first movements had been to ensure she had a free back and scanning the crowds for potential hazards and entrances and exits. She placed a notice me not charm on herself and stayed a step behind Albus, allowing her to observe everyone else whilst their eyes simply skipped over her.
She waited as Albus exchanged a few pleasantries before pressing on and disappearing through the wall into Diagon Alley.
"Is the notice me not really necessary, my dear?"
She shrugged. "I don't like the crowds. I'll be a wee while at Gringotts. Are you happy to wait or do you want to meet up again?"
"I'll wait. Goblins are fascinating to watch."
Hermione sniggered. They were rather interesting, especially once you'd broken into the place.
They stepped into the building and Hermione walked right up to a teller whilst Albus sat down, watching the surroundings.
"I bid you a good morn for I will put your enemies heads on pikes and ensure your rivers always run golden."
She watched as the Goblin's head shot up at her greeting – it was the greeting of a Goblin friend, as close as a family member or someone who fought alongside them. She allowed the ring on her finger to shimmer into view for him. It was a gift from their king because despite breaking into their bank she'd defended and stood beside them when they fought. In turn they had allowed her a place amongst their ranks and bestowed upon her a ring which allowed every Goblin to identify her as kin, as a protector and defender and as a warrior.
It took the Goblin only a moment to look back down so as to not draw attention to them.
"I will bring you to Rashnok, our leader."
The different branches all had individual leaders who made the decisions. Rashnok was the one for the London branch even in her time. So she acquiesced and followed the Goblin up the different hallways, never noticing Albus eyebrows shoot up as she was taken where even he had only been on four occasions in his lifetime.
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Hermione waited outside until she was bid to enter.
The goblin looked a lot younger than she remembered, less wrinkles in his face and his hands and his voice was stronger and firmer than it had been.
"What is your name?"
"Hermione Winchester. I wish to open an account and to engage in profitable dealings with the muggle world."
"Will you share your information?"
"Certainly. For equal return I would be happy to."
She watched as he grinned, razor sharp teeth showing. Her smile was equally fierce and she ensured her teeth showed as anything else was seen as an insult.
"Fill this in."
He handed her forms. She'd obviously passed the first two tests. Noticing that the quill he handed her would write with her blood she quickly realised that this was the third test. This quill would not allow her to knowingly lie as long as she used on this paper as the two interacted with one another.
The next half an hour she spent negotiating and explaining what she wished to invest in and which companies she wanted to obtain shares from. Having knowledge of the future proved to be oddly beneficial in this regard at least. She gave the Goblins permission to invest into these companies themselves if they wished and she gave them further information on what they were investing in.
She handed over the money she currently held and advised the Goblin's of the rune sequence she was about to register and that funding a muggleborn to sell muggle wares would be further beneficial to them at this point.
With a snap of his fingers her money disappeared into her vault and Rashnok handed her an account statement and a detailed listing of the investments they would be making with her money.
She left the office, shaking hands with him and in a good mood. There was no doubt in her mind that the Goblins would be keeping a close eye on her now but she had at least made potential allies for the moment.
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"I trust everything went well, my dear?"
Hermione smiled. "You could say that. Now, onto the ministry."
They had barely stepped outside before the loud apparition noises startled them. Within moments twenty Death Eaters stood in the centre of Diagon Alley and everyone had stopped moving, startled. Hermione held a knife in her left hand and her wand in her right before the situation had time to even register.
She glanced at Dumbledore and he gave her a quick nod, indicating she should move back into the bank, as he manoeuvred himself so he had no one behind him and could draw their attention.
Hermione almost smiled. Harry had made similar gestures to often for her to count.
Instead she knelt down in the general confusion and drew several runes onto the ground, using her wand to infuse them with magic. She managed to repeat this another twenty three times before Albus started to draw attention to himself.
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"We are emissaries of Lord Voldemort, we are Death Eaters. Bow before the Dark Lord."
Voldemort stepped out of their midst, icy smirk on his lips. He looked... surprisingly human. He had hair and normal face, only his red glowing eyes and his white hands showed the use of extremely dark magic yet. He looked almost handsome and that was a scary thought in and of itself.
"Magic belongs to those of pure blood. Those born to muggles are an abomination and they need to be exterminated so that we can reign over the world, as it should be. Follow me and you will have power at your fingertips you could only dream of."
His eyes went over the crowd, mouth twisted in a sneer. Hermione watched as one or two hesitantly walked over but Albus interfered before Voldemort was able to give them his dark mark.
"Now, Tom, I think you should retreat and leave these people alone."
Hermione watched Voldemort's eyes widen in surprise before they narrowed as he turned around and hissed "Dumbledore."
Normally she preferred to have much more time to prepare though that had been an admittedly rare occurrence during the war.
Albus' eyes met hers and she knew he had made a decision.
"Anyone standing by Voldemort's side loses the right to live if you come across me. I warn you all now. Step back. Take off your masks. Flee. If you don't, you will not be spared." His blue eyes were hard as he looked at the assembled men and women, dressed in masks and wands ready. No one moved but then the dark lord laughed and stepped out towards Albus, wand raised as he yelled to his minions.
"Attack! Attack!" At that Voldemort engaged in a fight with Dumbledore whilst his Death Eaters spread about in a bid to cause chaos.
Now safe in the knowledge she wouldn't be drawing Voldemort's direct attention Hermione ran over to the first lot of Death Eaters; out of the corner of her eyes she noticed everyone else screaming and running in fear rather than fight.
Her left hand threw her knife and it impacted one of the Death Eaters through his mask in his forehead. He fell to the ground dead and she summoned the bloodied knife back with a twist of her wrist whilst shooting off a spell at one of the female Death Eaters. The Sectumsempra hit her in the back and her body separated as it fell to the ground. Hermione immediately fell into a roll as she noticed three separate spells heading for her. She stood up again a few meters away from her last location right behind a tall muscular man. Unfortunately for him he hadn't noticed her approach until it was too late. By the time he managed to lift his wand she'd slit his throat and dropped his twitching body to the ground, focusing on her next targets.
The Depulso took her by surprise and caused her to roll a few meters away until she came to her knees again, facing a female Death Eater advancing on her with a cold smirk, wand raised. The moment she said the words to the Avada Kedavra one of her stone golems raised itself from the ground to take the spell. It slammed its hands together and squashed the witch between its hands before it liquefied.
Her runes were good but the golems still could only take two hits. They would appear every time one of the non-mask wearing people was in mortal danger and this time it had been herself. She hoped she'd managed to create sufficient amounts of them.
Feeling that she needed to conserve her magic Hermione quickly switched to a Smith & Wesson Model 500 Dean had given her – it was supposedly one of the strongest handguns on the market; in 2003. Now it undoubtedly was.
She'd not garnered enough attention as her deaths so far had been relatively quiet. Lying on the ground, knees under her so she could propel herself sideways at a moment's notice, she took aim. She only had five shots, but this gun would be able to hit at over 200 yards away and since it would move at 602 m/s none of the wizards had a chance to escape. Picking out her targets Hermione breathed in slightly as Dean had taught her and aimed before firing five bullets in quick succession.
Unfortunately the noise from the gun drew attention towards her as another five Death Eaters dropped. Quickly changing back to her knife and wand she sent the bombarda at the three approaching Death Eaters. In her retreat she missed the one turning up on her right side and it was only by sheer luck that she turned in time. The gouging spell went through the side of her arm instead of her heart. Quickly bringing up a Deflector shield she sent a spell at the floor to ice it whilst sending off an Avios and a stream of tiny birds flew at the wizard. The other wizard simply stepped around the ice whilst sending a fire spell that had her birds going up in flames before they were even half-way to him.
Grimacing as she felt the warm blood running down her arm, she thought about her best course of action. The adrenaline would keep pain at bay for a little while longer so she knew what she was going to do wasn't the best by any means but her options were limited. There were too many Death Eaters to have a prolonged duel which meant she had no choice but to go all out.
Evading the rather impressive spellwork from her opponent Hermione used the ice to slide sideways. With a quick twist she sent her knife flying and conjured a fire whip with her other hand. The whip easily wrapped itself around the wizards neck and with a pull tore through it. Another flick sent the whip flying at another Death Eater advancing on her.
Breathing fast, she ran to the side to gather where her enemies were. Her hands were shaking and her magic was dangerously low. Activating the golems was no mean feat and now she was paying for it. On top of that she'd just apparated across the Atlantic last night.
Luckily Hermione realised that when people had seen a young witch fight – and win – against Death Eaters, they had joined the fight. She was not on her own anymore and with a tired wave of her hand she called the rest of the stone golems to join the fight so she could rest.
Within a very short space of time there was only Dumbledore and Voldemort left. She watched as Albus called Tom's attention to this fact and watched as he disapparated, swearing. It felt good to be on the winning side for once.
A glance around told her quickly that whilst people were injured no one besides the Death Eaters was dead. That was unbelievable, though admittedly Voldemort's contingent had been rather small.
Conjuring bandages that wrapped themselves around her arm she turned towards aiding any injured wizards and witches. Healing magic had always been more her forte and she'd become remarkably good at it; hence it used up very little of her magic.
It took another five minutes before Aurors showed up and she stopped herself – barely – from snorting derisively. Typical. Too late to be of any use.
Luckily Albus was a tad more diplomatic than that. He easily convinced them that the killing had been necessary as there were too many children and mothers around that needed protection; if the Death Eaters had been revived from any of the spells there would've been loss of life. Thanks to him providing a warning at the beginning the Head Auror agreed with his assessment and they got to work cleaning up the bodies.
She was amused when they took off the masks and the Aurors made their surprise known at the high standing purebloods they found. Of course this drew everyone's attention and soon the ministry found themselves unable to sweep these news under the carpet. Too many saw and too many heard and all of them had just seen Voldemort beat resoundingly. It inspired them, gave them courage and none of them were willing to stand on the sidelines whilst their minister tried to hide anything.
The evening edition of the newspaper was filled with articles and interviews. To the Head Auror's embarrassment they managed to catch one of the Aurors vomiting in an alley at the sight of some of the bodies. It had been grisly, she had to admit, but as she watched people being treated for the Crucio she also saw that no one seemed to mourn their passing. It seemed to have done the opposite and she supposed Voldemort would be furious for the next week.
What bothered her though was that this attack had not happened last time around. This could only mean that she had already changed events or changed someone enough to influence these changes. Too quickly everything would spiral out of her control and she would be left without any means of tracking what was due to happen. Hermione could feel the adrenaline fading and as there were now qualified medi-witches and –wizards around to take care of the injured she found herself unneeded.
"That was some rather impressive fighting."
"I could say the same to you, Albus."
He hummed but she could feel his eyes on her. It was only then that she realised she'd forgotten to clean her robes – two quick spells took care of that but she found herself shaking with the exhaustion.
"Yes, but I have had numerous decades to gather this knowledge. You appear rather young for the skills you just displayed. May I ask what weapons you used?"
Albus calmly walked through the chaos with her at his side, heading for the telephone box that was meant to transport them to the ministry.
"I used my wand, runes, knife and a handgun."
Albus didn't feel the need to inform her that even he'd been slightly distracted when he had seen her fire the gun and watched five wizards drop dead the next moment. It had been somewhat frightening to watch; wizards were all to used to magical weapons were it was all human reaction and spells, words, wand movements and the time to travel from wand to person: it all took time even at their fastest. He hadn't even been able to see the bullet move. It was frightening with what ease muggles could kill and he suspected he hadn't seen half of it yet.
"If all my pupils were as well versed in combat I think I'd have to be afraid for the continued survival of Hogwarts."
Hermione gave him a short smile, her adrenaline was still running and she hadn't quite come down from the high despite the exhaustion pulling on all her limbs.
"This is a more interesting visit to the ministry than even I had anticipated, Albus."
He nodded, eyes scanning over her just in front of the telephone box.
"Are you okay?"
"Couple of bruises and some bits of me are bleeding but it's only minor blood loss. Also magical exhaustion. My left arm is injured and i will probably experience continued weakness there for the next week."
Unconsciously she had found herself analysing and reporting her injuries as if Albus was one of her fellow fighters who needed to know how impaired she was for the next fight, to know if they could rely on her. It took her a moment to realise that an 'I'm fine' would've probably been sufficient.
Albus said nothing though and only got them through to the ministry.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir!"
The boy at the security checkpoint stared wide eyed at his former headmaster before letting him through. Albus Dumbledore did not need to relinquish his wand – hers on the other hand they wanted to scan. She had no intention of informing the boy that she had another two on her body.
"Ah, Mr. Blair, a pleasure to see you again. How is your new job?"
"It's fantastic, sir. I get to meet all the important politicians and we even had the French minister here a couple of days ago."
He barely paid her any attention before handing back her wand. Albus said his goodbyes and they moved towards the elevator. Hermione found herself hiding behind Albus as everyone came into the elevator to chat to him. She would've put a barrier up to keep anyone from touching her but even she wasn't stupid enough to use magic when she was already magically exhausted.
They finally exited on the right floor and went to register her new invention.
"Miss Winchester here would like to register a new invention."
Albus sat with her in front of the obviously pureblood wizard. Instead of the anger or embarrassment she used to feel when people like him stared down on her, she felt only vaguely amused. She'd seen too much and done too much to let mere looks bother her.
"It's a rune network that allows muggle equipment to work within magical environments."
The wizard snorted, not even looking at the parchment Albus gave him.
"I doubt that. Besides who wants to use muggle stuff anyway."
Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed Albus looking taken aback at the treatment she was receiving.
"I am sorry, you must have not realised what your job is. You are here to note this down. I appreciate you may find yourself unable to comprehend the complexity behind the way these runes interact but your incompetency should in no way reflect upon your ability to send these off to your superiors. Moron."
The man in front of her huffed, insulted.
"I am not a moron, I am a pureblooded wizard."
Even Hermione couldn't suppress her lips twitching now and Albus was chuckling to himself.
"Mark Twain once said 'It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.'."
Albus laughed out loud, making the pureblood in front of her flush in anger but it also had the side effect of drawing his superiors across to them, curious as to what was going on.
"Good Afternoon, my name is Derek Fairfax, how may I help you."
Smiling widely Hermione stood up to shake Derek's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fairfax. My name is Hermione Winchester. Please excuse Professor Dumbledore for the moment. I am here because I wish to register an invention. Your employee was kind enough to inform me that my invention is not needed and inferred that he didn't think me capable of coming up with the required rune network. Please, here."
She took the parchment from the other guy's desk and handed it on to Derek, amused to watch the other guy stammer.
Dereks eyebrows raised themselves as he looked through her parchment and she could see the surprise in his eyes.
"This is very impressive, Ms. Winchester. You said you came up with this on your own?"
Albus helpfully interjected.
"In only a week" His eyes were twinkling mischievously as he watched Derek gasp and Hermione shot him a quick glare.
"Sorry – he's exaggerating. I have been thinking about this for some time."
"Nonetheless this is incredibly impressive. Have you had a chance to test this yet?"
Nodding, Hermione explained her results and everyone ignored the pureblooded wizard who was now red faced and sitting at his desk, uncertain what to do now that his superior had acknowledged the invention.
For another hour Hermione found herself chatting away to Derek, explaining how the runes interacted and what the end results would be. Very pleased he made her sign a few bits of paperwork before sending her on her way. The invention would be tested over the next week and if it proved to work as she explained they would announce it in the Daily Prophet.
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At 6 p.m. she found herself forcefully escorted to Madame Pomphrey by Albus to ensure that she was sufficiently healthy.
"I'm fine – Mme Pomphrey, no scanning spells. And Albus I will not comply. I have exhausted my magic. I need rest. Not scans and Merlin knows what."
She turned around and walked away from the duo, fuming. If they used magic on her they would discover her other injuries and she had no explanation for those. Once outside the door she found herself face to face with Remus Lupin suddenly.
"Ah, sorry Remus, I'll get out of your way. Are you injured?"
Remus huffed out a laugh.
"I came to ask you that. I presume you haven't seen the Daily Prophet yet."
Genuinely puzzled she frowned at the boy but he simply, wordlessly, held out this evening's edition.
In the forefront were Albus and Voldemort fighting – you could see the fierce expressions, wands whirling and spells flying. It was always a sight to see and even a photograph did not detract from that. However Hermione immediately saw what Remus meant. In the background you could see her coming out of a roll, standing up and a flash of her hand at the wizards neck – and aforementioned wizard dropping. Her eyes were cold, her movements were swift and she could see why Remus had noticed it. Luckily her face was semi-obscured so hopefully no one else had noticed it was her.
Remus' honey coloured eyes were on her and she sighed. He was very handsome as a younger student.
"I am fine, a few bumps and bruises, some magical exhaustion. Nothing a couple hours of sleep wouldn't cure."
Eyebrows raised he looked at her. "I smell blood."
"Sorry, did you say smell?"
Albus turned up behind her, surprised to see her still standing there. Then he obviously put two and two together.
"Now, Hermione, playing dumb doesn't suit you."
Remus – who had flushed and tried to come up with a believable excuse – stopped and watched with an open mouth as Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Okay, sorry. Remus – I know you're a werewolf. A good friend of mine was too. No, I am not scared nor do I wish to stop associating with you. You're still you and you're still a good person." She smiled softly at him which only caused Remus' eyes to widen, his heartbeat to increase and his cheeks to flush. She really was incredibly pretty when she smiled. "And you, Albus, you are unfair. I was waiting until he was ready to tell me on his own!"
Albus simply chuckled and left them to their own devices. Hermione glared at his back before turning back to Remus and handing him the newspaper.
"Sorry about that. Professor Dumbledore has never been able to stop himself from sticking his overly large nose into other people's business." She'd raised her voice for the last bit and heard his answering laugh down the corridor.
"But yes, you can smell blood. A gouging spell went through my arm. It didn't hit any muscles, only tissues. I was intending to go to sleep and brew the nerve regeneration potion tomorrow. I have not got sufficient latent magic in me just now."
Hermione shrugged before grimacing. That had not been a very well thought out action, she had to admit. Her arm was hurting like a bitch and she really just wanted to go to sleep. The sooner the better.
"I- Can I see? I have got some experience in healing magic."
He gave her a self-deprecating smile and Hermione rolled her eyes before flicking him on the forehead.
"I swear, boys. So you're a werewolf. Big whoop. I don't see you running around eating people – so you're okay in my books. You don't want to kill, you lock yourself away; how much more are you expecting from yourself? Do you want to apologise for existing for the rest of your life? You are worth just as much as everyone else in this castle, you are just as good or bad as them. You have got a disease which puts you out of commission once a month; so what?"
Remus still didn't seem to catch on. With a sigh Hermione pulled up the sleeve on her arm and instructed Remus to cast a Finite on it whilst she used the cloth of her robe to rub away the makeup.
She heard him gasp and take an involuntary step back when he saw the words 'Mudblood' carved into her skin.
"We all have our stories and we all have our scars. Not all of them are visible. The people who did this – they wanted me to be scared, they wanted me to hate the person that I am, they wanted me to not want to exist anymore. I am still here and I am unafraid. I will not bow down because people think that I am inferior or that I should. I will not allow people to define me, I define myself. Why do you allow your life to be dictated by other people's opinion? Why should you give a fuck about what they think? Who are they to tell you what to do, Remus? Why aren't you standing proud and tall of having come out on top – why aren't you shouting from the rooftops? You are a werewolf but you've managed to attend school for seven years and you were at home ten years before that. You didn't turn a single other person into a werewolf or attack anyone. Allow yourself to live a little."
She watched him for a moment but it looked as though realisation was finally settling in. Patting his shoulders she left Remus to ruminate whilst she went to the room of requirement, her hands curling into fists and the newspaper article on the forefront of her mind.
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Righto, next week will have the next chapter. Let me know what you think!
By the way the moron comment actually took place. My boyfriends brother works as a chef and his commis-chef in one of his jobs was so idiotic he went "You're a moron." And the guy goes "No, I am catholic!" LOL! I had to put this in here. Idiots do exist! Long story short, my brother-in-law ended up drawing a line through the kitchen and telling the guy not to cross over it. That guy had actually used the same batter for fish for 4 weeks and he was proud of it. Yuck. Anyways, thought overall this was a funny story to share :)
