Dying is a Delicate Moment
A fanfic by Agara
"Kill me. Kill me if you ever loved me."
And he kills her.
Thoughts are written in Italics
New POV : Big Line
Same POV / Time Lapse : OoOoOo
CHAPTER TEN : A TEMPEST IN A TEACUP - PART I
Notes :We are currently looking for a Beta, so if anyone is interested you can send us a mail at : agarariddle
Song : A Tempest in a Teacup by Derek Webb
09.01.1943 :
The teacup was chipped.
"No Albus."
It was tiny, almost invisible.
"You have no say in this."
But the cup was chipped.
"She is my student, my responsibility."
Like a scar on porcelain skin.
"You will leave us alone."
She skimmed the crack with her right thumb, unable to feel the porcelain cutting her skin. Numb. She felt numb.
She repeated the movement one more time. And this time, sensed the laceration on her finger. She removed her thumb from the teacup and examined it. A pearl of blood was ready to flow on her skin. She followed its movement, slowly rolling on the palm of her hand to reach her wrist.
The thin line of blood the pearl left behind, this blazing crimson red, stood out on the dirty dry maroon blood covering her hand. Her gaze focused on both of her hands. She felt the layer of old blood slightly cracking as she slowly moved her fingers. She took the teacup in her left hand and stared at it. The white porcelain was long gone and replaced by bloody fingerprints all over it.
She heard the loud steps of heavy shoes on the wooden floor, yet she did not steer her eyes away from the macabre sight of her hands. Then, the drag of a chair. She heard when it as it flowed over each parquet board. She felt as if the movement was slow or maybe she had just been living in slow motion for the past couple of hours. A loud thud just in front of her made her head snap up. She saw professor Slughorn sitting is a massive leather chair. The same type as the one she was currently longing in.
"Grace ?"
She was looking at his face. He was young compared to the Slughorn she had first met in her own timeline, yet his features were tight. The image of the silly professor he always seemed to have was gone. His brows were furrowed, his lips were pursed and his eyes were heavy with concern.
"Grace ?" He repeated.
She finally acknowledged his presence.
"The teacup is broken." She simply stated.
Slughorn opened his mouth to reply but quickly closed it. It appeared as if he was searching for the right words.
"It is Grace."
Her eyes went back to the cup. She tried to get rid of the blood on it.
"Grace."
She did not answer, too focused on making the blood disappear but only succeeding on smearing more on it.
"Grace?" He firmly said. "I need your attention."
She rose her head once more.
"I need you to tell me everything you remember from what happened this afternoon." Slughorn kept going. "What you are going to tell me is of utmost importance."
"What do you want to know ?" Hermione asked.
"Start from the beginning."
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
Hermione dropped her trunk on the floor of the 5th Year girls dormitory. She was tired from her journey back to Hogwarts. She hesitated on relaxing on her bed for a couple of minutes but she opted not to, afraid of falling asleep. She did not bother emptying her suitcase. She went down to the Slytherin common room.
"Ready ?" Isodor smiled at her. "Come on Grace, everyone is already at Hogsmeade."
She reluctantly followed him down the corridors. Isodor was talking about how his Christmas holiday went. Hermione laughed at his anecdotes.
"... and I swear it wasn't me !" He finished as she rose her eyes towards the blue sky.
They just arrived in the small wizard village. The cold January breeze made the fresh layer of snow fly all around the students, muffled in their warm coats. The sun was only illuminating the streets. Hermione put her hands in her pockets. She turned her head to the left to look at Isodor. He had a match in his mouth. When he saw her watching, he shot her a wide grin. She replied with a soft smile.
They approached the main road. Hermione knew that the cold would force even the bravest to rush into the nearest popular bars, either the Three Broomsticks or the Swizzle Wand.
"I reckon the lads got a table at the Swizzle Wand." Isodor said.
They headed towards the large bar at the end of the road when someone interrupted their walk.
"Kiddo !"
They both turned their heads and saw Pollux and Cole getting near them.
"I have searched for you on the train, couldn't find you anywhere." Pollux kept going.
"No he didn't." Cole smiled next to him.
"You haven't replied to my last owl. So ? Did you like the present ?" Pollux asked her while lighting up a cigarette.
"Sure Pollux." Hermione laughed. "I found 12 years old : your body is changing quite interesting."
Funny considering you're older than him.
A loud and bright laugh escaped from his mouth and Isodor snickered behind her.
"Though, it was not as captivating of the one you gave me kiddo."
"Have you read it ?"
"I am a slow reader."
"Pollux, half of the book is animated images."
"What's the name of it again Pollux ?" Cole intervened, a smirk on his lips already knowing the answer.
Isodor was already grinning, impatient to find out the name of the book. "Tell us !"
"Can't get your wand up?" Hermione smugly said.
After a couple of seconds of silence, Isodor burst out laughing, catching the innuendo. "Grace you've got to give me the reference. I so need to give it to Cygnus."
"Too much information mate. Draw the fucking line Avery." Cole smiled.
"Are you coming with us ?" Hermione asked. "We're going to join the lads at the Swizzle Wand I think."
"Haven't you heard ?" Pollux rhetorically said. "The Swizzle Wand is closed today. It's weird on a back to school day."
That means the Three Broomsticks will be packed.
"That means the Three Broomsticks will be packed." Isodor complained.
She smiled at him.
Hermione looked at the entry of the said bar and saw students waiting outside, blowing hot air on their hands. She deeply hoped the lads found a table.
"Well let's go to the Hogshead, Abe always has a good bottle of firewhisky for me." Pollux said to Cole, shoving him in the ribs.
They both waved at the two fifth year and left. Isodor grabbed Hermione by the arm and they made their way through the crowd of students. As they opened the door of the Three Broomsticks a wave of warmth enveloped them. She saw, from the corner of her eye, Isodor waving at the lads sitting in a booth at the end of the room. They got closer.
They didn't even have the time to sit down that Thorus stopped them in their tracks. "We've been waiting for you for thirty minutes. So now…" He smiled like the Cheshire Cat while pushing a small pile of coins their way "it is your duty to order drinks."
"Fuck off. I was waiting for Grace." Isodor shot back.
"Oh for fuck sakes." Hermione said as she took the money and turned to the bar. She stopped and turned around. "You really are not going with me Isodor ?!"
He was about to sit on the bench and froze at the last second as he heard her. "I was coming, I was just resting my legs." The blond boy muttered.
The entire table snickered, as did she. The ordered 9 butterbeers and waited for their drinks to be ready. She leaned against the bar and scanned the room she was in.
Feels good to be back.
She shot a smile at Belone who was sitting a couple of meters away. Hermione noticed that even though there was a lot of students, there also was a good number of visitors.
Just one bar closes and the entire town settles for this one. You've never seen it so packed Hermione.
She saw Tom rising from his seat and coming towards them.
"Isodor, Abraxas wants to talk to you." The prefect said.
The other boy nodded and left the two of them alone.
Hermione turned around and laid her arms on the bar. Tom copied her movement.
"Nice cloak." He said. "Christmas present ?"
"Hum, yeah." She replied, remembering one of the other gifts she received the same night. A shiver went down her spine and made her tremble from remembrance.
Among other things…
He looked at her then he smiled.
"Oh. I see you received it too." His voice pulling her out of her thoughts.
Hermione was startled. "It was still moving. How can you send that to someone for Christmas ? It's not a gift, it's a bad omen." She ending up laughing a little.
"Well at least you had the courtesy of being able to open it while you were alone. He gave it to me in person."
"Slughorn handed you a moving eye in person ?" Hermione said a little alarmed.
"You got an eye ? I got a tail."
Sometimes you tend to forget that is only fifteen. He is only a boy. He was only a boy before becoming who everyone fears.
They shared a look then smirked.
The barmaid gave them their butterbeers and they went back to the table. On their way to the lads, an older man shoved Hermione on his way to the door. She turned around, expecting him to apologise. The wizard, catching her insistent look mumbled "sorry" with a thick accent and went away. She settled next to Milton.
"Gracie !" The small boy smiled. "How was your holiday ?"
The entire table went silent. They exchanged knowing looks between them. They all knew.
Hermione had taken the train back to King's Cross as every other student the day after Slughorn's Christmas dinner. She had sat with the girls in a carriage at the front of the train. When the train stopped she had smiled at her fellow Slytherin, had taken her trunk and had gone on the platform. She directly had recognized the ministry official. He had had a stern look on his face and had been clutching his umbrella tightly while scanning the students' faces. She approached him.
"Monsieur Boutin ?" She had asked.
He had acknowledged her presence by nodding his head.
"Nous allons tout d'abord transplaner au ministère anglais, un port-au-loin nous attend la bas." (Trad : We will first apparate to the english ministry, a portkey is waiting for us there.)
He had offered her his arm, she had taken it and had grabbed tightly her trunk.
"Prête ?" He had said. (Trad : Ready ?)
She had given him a shy smile then she had felt the world swirling around her.
Hermione had stared at the house, longer than she had expected. She had already been there, yet it had not been the same. It had been at night in May, she had been under shock, she had been overwhelmed. But at the precise moment, she had all the time in the world. So she had spent dozens of minutes staring at the white house. There had been bougainvillea climbing on the facade. On the first floor, there had been a small balcony with a large bay window. She had finally entered the house. It had not been the show flat she had been expecting after months of idleness, it had been alive. There had been books stacked in huge bookshelves, reading glasses on the wooden coffee table. A large patio door had allowed the southern sun to light the living room. It also had shown a little garden, one with swings, one with a small fountain carved into the rock on one of the outside walls.
The first night had been rough. She had been ashamed of laying in the bed of the girl who she burned the body. She had been incapable of looking at the modified pictures of herself with Grace's parents. And she had been unable to sleep.
Hermione had always been able to be Grace, but not in this house. "Thief" had been written all over the walls.
She had gone to France for a reason, she still had a relative, well Grace still had relative : her grandmother.
Hermione had visited her for the first time on a Monday, two days after arriving in Nice. Dahlia Hortense had stayed in a wizarding retirement home for the past five years. Hermione had held her wand as she entered the room, ready to cast a Confondus. She had been ready to shred Grace's last trace of existence out of this world. What she had not been expecting though was the delighted smile Dahlia had sent her, or the tight embrace she had given her, or the words she had spoken to her.
"Ma petite fleur." The old lady had greeted her. "Tu as tellement grandi. Tu es magnifique et tu es plus grande que moi maintenant !" (Trad : My little flower. You have grown so much. You are beautiful and taller than me now !)
Hermione had not been able to reply for a couple of seconds. She had prepared herself for hours, rehearsing a well-known spell in her head, but she had not had to cast it. Instead of words pouring out of her mouth, tears silently poured out of her eyes.
"Comment vont tes parents ? Est-ce qu'ils sont là avec toi ?" (Trad : How are your parents ? Are they here with you ?)
"Personne ne te l'a dit ?" (Trad : No one told you ?)
Dementia. Hermione had figured it out on her way back to the house. Someone had told Dahlia. She had simply forgotten and Hermione had found herself telling the woman with two flowers for a name that her son and his wife had died months prior over and over again for almost two weeks. Each time the old lady had cried. Hermione had wondered if those moments of pure sadness were her punishment for stealing her granddaughter's identity. So when she had gone back to see Dahlia on the last few days of her holidays, she had found herself telling her stories about Theodorus and Beatrice, how they were on holidays, each time changing the destination and inventing new exciting adventures.
The reason she had gone to France had turned out to be harder than what she had thought. At the beginning of December, she had received a letter from the French Ministry of Magic informing her that the bodies of the BeauxBatons' attacks victims were ready to get back to their families for proper burials. That was why she had gone to France and she had visited Grace's grandmother. She had needed help on the burial, she had wanted to do the right thing for them. Yet, she had been obliged to organise it all by herself. At first, Hermione had wanted to invite Dahlia to the funeral, but she had also wondered what good that would do, so in the end, she had gone alone.
It had been cloudy and cold that day. The Caucade's cemetery had been deserted. As she had seen the two coffins being lowered into the ground side by side, she had taken a picture she had kept in her pocket and put it on top of one of them, the one Hermione had unmodified. And with a small smile on her lips, she had delicately laid down a bouquet of Dahlias next to it.
"Yes, it was fine." Hermione finally answered Milton.
At this moment the lads really saw her tired face, and the little weight she had gained the last months seemed to have been lost.
Thorus, in front of her, quickly changed the subject, feeling the tense atmosphere. "I got a new broom for Christmas."
"And what use would that be ?" Edgard retorqued.
"Shut up." The other one laughed.
The conversation turned pleasant, they were chatting about their respective holidays within their families.
Hermione chugged down the last drops of her butterbeer then put it back loudly on the wooden circle table.
"Well lads, I must leave you." She informed them.
"Where are you going ?" Abraxas asked.
"I've got some errands to run. Let's meet up at 4PM in front of the apothecary."
She turned around but Milton's voice made her look behind her.
"Let's say 4:30PM we want to hit the broom shop."
She smiled at him and looked at the room one last time, still amazed by the crowd within the small pub.
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
"So you left the Three Broomsticks around 2PM ?" Slughorn asked her.
She nodded.
"I need an oral confirmation Grace."
"Yes." She simply confirmed.
She moved forward in her seat to put the teacup back in its matching saucer laying on the table before her. The contrast of the white saucer with the bloody red cup astonished Hermione. Her eyes wandered on the tea ensemble and she drew the contours with her gaze.
This is wrong.
"So you were alone for two and a half hours ?" Slughorn tried to get her to talk, sensing she was spacing off again.
"No. I wasn't."
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
As she walked alone south of the village, the chatting noise of the students talking loudly distanced from her. This part of town seemed almost deserted. This area wasn't known for being popular, except for the Swizzle Wand at the end of the road. With this main attraction closed for the day, only a few people were wandering around.
She saw the second-hand book shop Forgotten Books on her left and she opened the door. The old man, probably the longtime owner, was sitting behind the counter. He wasn't known for being the most polite person on earth so it was totally normal that they didn't greet each other. She walked down the aisles, getting herself lost in the mountains of books.
She lost herself for an hour in this bookshop reading the abstracts of some of the strangest books. She had chosen four at the end of this hour : Progress in Centaurs' legislation - a thesis on how to make a change, Architectural timeline of the oldest castles in Great Britain, Why should we listen to what elves have to say ? and Wandlore : The Art of Crafting the Ultimate Magical Tool.
She put the books down her enchanted purse and left the boutique. A small group of people walked in front of her, heading north. A man, walking opposite, stood out. He was not wearing particular clothes nor had a peculiar haircut. He just didn't seem to belong here.
OoOoO
09.01.1943:
"Did you know him ?" Slughorn asked.
"No I didn't."
"Did you follow him ?"
"No I didn't."
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
"Kiddo !"
She spun around and saw Pollux grinning approaching her. His smile fell once he stood in front of her. "You look tired." He told her.
She let out a humorless laugh. "Well, thanks."
"Are you okay ?" He asked her.
"I'm fine."
He gave her a pointed look and reiterated his question. She only shrugged.
She knew he couldn't talk to her like he wanted to a couple of hours priors, and he was about to seize the opportunity of the two of them being alone to ask her about her holidays.
"I would have come." He simply stated. "I would have come if you had asked me to."
She understood what he was talking about. The British press had released an article about the French Ministry decision to give back the bodies to the families.
"I know you would have." Hermione gently smiled.
"And, are we okay ?"
He is talking about the Christmas dinner.
You fucked up. You were frustrated from not finding what you were looking for.
He fucked up. He was too pissed to realise he was bothering you.
"We are fine Pollux." She genuinely answered.
They started walking in silence towards the Shrieking Shack and leaned against the white fence keeping them from entering the house. Pollux pulled his pack of cigarettes out of his black coat and lit one.
"How were your holidays ?" She asked him.
He snorted. "It was fine."
She took a good look at him. His features were tight and his eyes hollow. He put a hand through his hair and messed it up a little. Hermione had come to understand that he would do that when he was stressed.
He was a beautiful boy, everyone knew that, but as he took another drag of his cigarette Hermione found him tired.
"It was fine." He repeated, more to himself than to her.
"One more time and I will believe you." She gave him a sad smile.
He snorted again. "What do you want me to tell you Grace ? It was shite. My father was on my ass, always talking to me about politics, my mother was obliged to drown herself in wine just to handle two weeks of family gathering and Cassandre.."
He took a long drag.
"He hates me." He threw his cigarette in the snow. "But on the bright side, the Parkinson family always has good bottles." Pollux laughed. It was so fake that Hermione joined him. Then, his humorless laugh turned into a real one and they were incapable of stopping.
"We're two losers." Pollux stated, a smile still on his lips.
"At least we're together in this."
"Let's raid Abe's bar. What do you think ?"
"I told the lads I would join them, but later ?"
He smiled. He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back to the center of the town. "About that book kiddo…"
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
"So you were with Mister Parkinson ?"
"He went our separate ways. He headed south and I stayed a little bit longer in the north."
Hermione took back the teacup in her hands and drank a sip of it. The liquid had gone cold but she didn't care.
Her eyes were fixed on the coffee table, trying to remember every detail of the day. "I was with the lads, I went to the bookstore, I saw a man, Pollux called me, we talked for a while, we parted ways, I walked alone for a while and then…"
"Then what ?" Slughorn said eagerly.
"I saw Tom. I saw Tom and Antonin."
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
As she walked she saw them in a small deserted alley. She stopped and quietly got closer. Tom shoved Dolohov violently on the brick wall and put his forearm on the smaller boy's throat.
"Give me the names." Tom told Antonin in a threatening voice.
"Tom, mate ! Stop !"
"Give. Me. The. Names."
Antonin's face became paler. He seemed genuinely scared. "Warwick, Pucey and Greengrass" He answered weakly. "But Tom..."
"Save it Dolohov. Save it for someone who cares. I believe now you know you can't keep secrets from me."
Dolohov tried to nod, but the strength Tom put on his throat didn't allow him to do so.
What is happening ?
Antonin turned slightly his head to the left and as he saw her, his eyes widened. Tom, by the look of his fellow Slytherin, turned his too and noticed she was standing a couple of meters away. He immediately let go of him. Hermione hurried to walk away and heard "fuck" coming out of Tom's mouth as she left.
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
She looked at Slughorn, expecting him to say something about the altercation she had just described but the old potion master said nothing. He seemed contemplative.
They stayed silent for a bit but a knock on the door interrupted and broke the quietness. Slughorn turned his head towards the door and got up to open it. While he talked with who she assumed to be the nurse, Hermione looked around her. Her eyes wandered on the furniture, enlightened by the chimney's fire. Two huge bookshelves, filled with heavy books, decorated two of the four walls of Slughorn's private apartments. The two others were covered by different pictures of the professor with former students, celebrities, politicians.
"Then you joined the others ?" Slughorn had just come back and sat in the leather chair opposite of hers.
OoOoO
09.01.1943 :
Hermione wondered what she had just witnessed was about. Antonin was scared like he had done something wrong and Tom.. It was the first time she had seen him this angry and violent towards his friends.
She started making theories in her head when Cole called her from afar. She rose her head and saw him walking towards her. "Grace ! Have you seen Pollux ?" The sixth-year prefect was breathing heavily as he had just run a few miles.
"I saw him maybe thirty minutes ago ? We are supposed to meet up at the Hogshead in a few."
"Just went there. He wasn't in it." Cole breath became steadier.
"Should we be worried ?" Hermione asked.
"No, no, no !" He answered, slightly panicked.
Hermione's brows furrowed. She was about to ask another question when Cole cut her in her tracks "I'll keep looking for him, he is probably snogging some bird somewhere. See ya !"
He was gone before she had the time to greet him goodbye.
Odd…
She stood still, thinking about the weird encounter she just had with Pollux's best friend, then shook her head and went to join the lads standing next to the apothecary. They were all here, even Tom and Dolohov, and the strange part was that they were laughing together as if nothing had happened.
"Let's go eat !" Milton declared. "I'm starving."
"When are you not hungry ?" Edmund chuckled.
"You literally just ate an entire bar a Honeyduke's chocolate ten minutes ago." Edgard went one further.
As they started bickering they all heading towards the south of town, where everyone was mainly gathered. Hermione could see Tom looking at her and she acted as if nothing happened and started laughing with the lads. As they passed in front of the Swizzle Wand, she slowed her steps and got closer to the pub.
"Come on Grace !" She heard Thorus say loudly.
"Yes I coming." She smiled "I just found it odd…"
She got closer and put both her hands on one of the windows. The shop was dark inside but she could notice that the interior of the bar was ready to welcome dozens of people. The chairs were neatly put around the tables, the glasses were all clean ready for use. Hermione narrowed her eyes and focused a little bit more on the bar. Her gaze dropped to the floor.
A somber liquid was smeared on the floor. She followed it with her eyes to find its source. She saw a hand, sticking out from behind the bar. It was holding a wand and it was not moving. Hermione realised the liquid was blood, and that she was looking at a corpse.
What day is it again ?
"Hortense, are you coming or not ?" Tom almost shouted from afar.
"Wait…" Her voice was barely a whisper.
It's the ninth. The ninth of January 1943. It's the ninth. It's the ninth.
The world around her stopped for a second. Everything was in slow motion. Everything clicked in her mind. She turned her head, took a hold on her wand and opened her mouth.
"LADS !" She screamed.
They all turned around, still laughing at a joke Isodor had probably just said when it exploded. The strength of the explosion propelled her backward. Her head violently hit the floor. Everything went dark for a second. Her vision was blurry. Smoke was everywhere. She couldn't hear anything from the tinnitus in both of her ears.
She struggled to sit up. She saw the entire south of the village burning into ashes, she noticed people screaming but couldn't hear any noise coming out of their mouths. She saw the lads on the floor, barely moving. She tried to get up holding the wall. It was covered in shattered glass. The material cut through her skin and she could feel the pain. Once she was up on her feet, she looked on the ground for her wand and grabbed it with her right hand. She walked, limping a bit and got closer to the lads. The noises came back slowly. She felt hands on both her shoulders. Thorus was shouting at her.
"Grace ! Grace ! We have to move !" He had a large cut on his forehead.
"That's why it was closed." She told him.
"What ? We need to run Grace !"
"We need to move !" Abraxas yelled behind them.
Everyone was in the south part. The part that was burning.
She was hearing the cries of pain from everywhere. She was seeing the bodies scattered on the ground.
"We need to go help them." She declared.
Antonin, who was now standing next to Thorus, yelled at her. "Are you out of your fucking mind Hortense ? We need to get the hell out of here !"
Hermione got rid of Thorus' arms on her shoulders and ran towards the source of the explosion.
"Hortense !" Tom shouted.
They were standing tall in the middle of the ashes, wearing all black. There were too many of them for her to properly count. Some students have already started fighting back. Others were taking care of children, protecting them and trying to get them back to the castle.
"What do we do ?" She heard the panicked voice of Isodor ask Tom. "What do we do ?!"
Tom was as lost as them. For once, he didn't know what to do.
So many things were happening that Hermione didn't know where to look at. On her right, she saw a seventh-year boy hurrying third years to run. He had his back towards one of the attackers. The latter, seeing the opportunity before him, got ready to shoot a curse at the older student.
"Stupefy !" Hermione hexed him before he could do anything.
From that moment, everything went fast. She felt all eyes on her. She ran into the battle. She saw a curse coming her way, she hadn't got the time to ducked it and it hit her shoulder. She stumbled backward.
"Reducto." She cast it, still on the move, but the man shielded himself. She cast another, then another.
As she saw someone getting closer to her, she wordlessly sent arrows towards him. They hit him in the legs and he fell down on the ground, screaming. She jumped over the body and kept running. She hid behind a wall and saw the lads, still standing from afar, frozen in shock.
"Don't just stare !" She yelled at them. "Do something !"
Tom grabbed his wand and run towards her. The others split, Isodor, Edmund, Edgard, and Thorus began casting spells while the others helped the injured. Tom pulled her by her shirt and she felt the heat of a spell almost hitting her back. The other four boys joined them, and they all crouched down.
She slightly rose, turned her head above the fragment a wall they were hiding behind and rapidly cast a Confringo. They heard a small explosion followed by a scream.
Hermione realised that the lads were staring at her, expecting her to say something. "We need to protect the younger ones by taking the attackers down. We just need to win some time while the professors get here."
"But we don't know how to fight." Edgard pointed out. "We don't know any spells for that."
They heard another explosion, she turned around a saw a large rock not far from her.
"Wingardium Leviosa." She said. The boulder levitated and she threw it in the direction of two men standing their back at them.
"You don't need to." She said to Edgard.
She gave them a last look then rose on her feet and ran. "Grace !"
And she ran, she cast Expulsos around her. She could hear glass shattering underneath her shoes. The smoke from the explosion became thicker and made her cough. She cast a Bubble-Head Charm. She was able to breathe properly. She stopped in tracks, two wizards blocking her way, both wearing the Deathly Hallows symbol around their neck.
For half a second, the three of them stayed still. Hermione cast a Protego and the two dark wizards threw red spells at her. She threw a Confringo at one of the men. The latter got propelled backward and his back hit a tree in a loud thud.
The other wizard, still standing in front of her, realised that she was no ordinary students. Hermione saw a mocking grin spreading across his face.
"Avada Kedavra !" He almost laughed.
As she saw a green light escape his wand, she dropped to the floor, her chest and chin colliding violently with the ground. The killing curse flew over her head, she followed it with her gaze, making sure it did not hit someone. It blasted the window of a house projecting glass around it.
She rose her head and saw him ready to shoot another spell at her. Wordlessly she sent birds steering at his face. Even though the wizard got distracted, he nonetheless cast an Incarcerous at her. She felt the thick ropes encircling her tiny body. They got tighter and tighter to the point of her not being able to breathe properly.
"Diffindo." She felt the pressure around dissipate. Tom crouched down and helped her get rid of the remains of rope. They both got on their feet. Hermione fixed the man who tried to kill her, not once but twice. Revenge was the only word on her mind.
Sectumsempra.
The white spell collided with her opponent. He stood still for a while, but blood began to flow out his clothes. A red puddle began to pool on his feet.
"What is that ?" Tom asked with a mixture of disgust and fascination.
The enemy collapsed on the floor, coughing blood and convulsing. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the body.
"He is dead." The prefect stated emotionless.
"It was either him or us." Hermione defended her actions.
They were now looking at each other. People were running around them and screaming yet everything was still at this moment.
"I know." He answered. He was genuine like he completely understood.
Hermione's gaze focused on what was behind Tom. She saw a dark figure, she held her wand above Tom's shoulder and cast a Bombarda Maxima. She spun around.
For the first time in the last minutes, she finally observed what was going on around her. Students were trying to escape the curses sent by the enemies. The youngest were crying, afraid of every sound and every shot of colors.
The lads were jinxing the opponents trying to gain some time, as she ordered them to. On her left, she saw two of the youngest students on the floor. She got closer and crouched down. One of them tried to explain something to Hermione, but he was crying too much for her to understand.
"H-He won't wake up. He won't wake u-up." The student panicked.
Hermione turned her head and looked at Tom, her eyes pleading for him to help.
"You take care of him, I cover you." He told her.
Hermione got closer to the boy dying on the ground. The sun was setting, and the lighting didn't allow her to see the wound.
"Cast a Lumos." She ordered the crying third-year. He obeyed.
As a soft light escaped from his wand, she finally saw the extent of the injury. The one laying had his entire torso covered in blood. A deep and large gash, from his sternum to his left hip, poured the red body fluid. She lacked to know what to do so she instinctively put both of her hands on it and applied pressure.
She turned her head towards Tom and saw him battling. He was shooting curses at an impressive rate. The spells were not the basic one the others were using. Tom cast spells not made to fight the enemy back but to hurt him, and during this madness, Hermione thought she saw the beginning of a smirk on Tom's lips.
Hermione focused back on the boy dying on her hands.
"The Mending Charm is not meant to be used on flesh wounds, as attempting so may create serious scars"
She didn't know what else to do, so she grabbed her wand, got it close to the wound and whispered Reparo.
The moment the spell escaped her lips the boy began to scream. A piercing scream filled with pain and horror. It resonated all around the battlefield and Hermione couldn't help but feel tears pooling in her eyes.
"Shhh, it's going to be alright." She tried to reassure him. Tears were now flooding her cheeks. "I'm-m sorry, I'm so s-sorry."
Tom turned around as he heard the scream. He saw her, blood all over her hands and hair. The tears on her face and the soothing words coming out of her mouth. Then he saw the kid, the one begging for death, as his chest was being patched-up slowly together.
Tom had never seen something this ignoble in his entire life. During this tiny moment of inattentiveness, the enemy behind him got the time to throw a dark severing curse at him.
If Tom had not turned his head towards the latter, he would have had his carotid cut. Instead, he received the curse on the right part on his face.
If Tom had not closed his eyes at this moment, he would have been one eye blind. Instead, he just received the scar that will last for his entire lifetime.
Hermione finally realised that she was entirely covered in the kid's blood.
"What did you do ?" She heard from above, in a horrified voice.
She lifted her head and saw Miss Asphodela.
"I-I didn't know what else to do." She replied, the words breaking as she spoke. "He was bleeding out."
"Okay okay, right, you saved him."
She felt a hand grabbing her wrist and pulling her from the ground. She saw Tom staring at her, blood covering the right part of his face. Hermione realised, by looking around, that the professors were here along with Aurors.
"EVERY STUDENT GO BACK TO THE CASTLE." She heard the voice of Armando Dippet say using the Sonorus charm.
"Come on Hortense, we need to go back." Tom told her.
They walked around the bodies on the floor, their breath ragged from what had just happened. The lads were all gathered meters away, Isodor had a huge gash on his tight and was leaning on Thorus who seemed to have lost all colors on his face. Dolohov was standing straight with a broken nose. Edgard was holding his left wrist as if it was broken. Edmund had a part of his forehead burned as did Milton on his shoulder. The only one who seemed neat was Malfoy, apart from his pointy chin covered in blood.
By their reaction as the saw them walking towards them, Hermione understood that Tom and she must have looked terrifying, all bloodied, an aghast look on their face.
Even though Dippet had asked the students to go back to the castle, some of them were still fighting and the others wanted to help more.
She saw Dumbledore talking to the Headboy, who was apparently missing a finger. "You have helped, now enough. You go gather everyone and go back to the castle. Let the adults deal with it."
"No ! We want to fight !" The seventh-year replied.
Hermione saw that the Headboy was not going to back down. Dumbledore rose his wand, flicked it towards the sky and a bright pale blue light illuminated the battlefield. A dome appeared around the fighting area, creating a barrier between the students and the adults.
"Go back to the castle. Help young students. Get them to the infirmary. Help them mend their wounds." Dumbledore said in a stone cold voice. He gave one last look at the student then crossed the dome.
Eileen Wu, the 16 years old Slytherin prefect followed Dumbledore without thinking and got through the pale veil.
The HeadBoy, a 17 years old Ravenclaw, followed Dumbledore without thinking and didn't get through the pale veil.
"We can get through" Edmond said.
"And it's not an age limit" Edgard completed.
More older students tried to get into. Some of them, prepared enough got in, the others got stuck outside the barrier.
Tom and Hermione shared a look.
"Guys, dont..." Isodor started.
Tom and Hermione nodded.
They walked side by side. Hermione's heart beating faster as she approached the blue dome. Without hesitating, she crossed the limit and found herself inside. She turned her head to the left looking at Tom.
But he wasn't there.
She turned around and saw him behind the dome, incomprehension printed on his pale face.
"Behind you !" He yelled.
Hermione turned around and crouched down at the same time. The green spell hit the dome and the latter absorbed the shock in a deafening sound. She took a hold on her wand and without thinking slashed it, causing deep gashes in her enemy's shins. He fell down on the ground and she stunned him.
She quickly got up and noticed that only eight other students were inside. The dark wizards were not simply trying to hurt anymore, they were aiming to kill. She was in front of a wall of humans, she couldn't see anything.
She looked around her, searching for a way to get more visibility. On her right was the remain of a wall. She quickly got on it and spot a curse coming right at her. She jumped on what seemed to be a table. She was standing he what used to be a pub. She busied herself casting spells after spells, dark or light, he didn't matter. Hermione heard a loud thud behind her and saw a tall man standing on a table opposite to hers.
Everything went fast. He shot curses after curses, she ducked, she cast back, she jumped from table to table and he followed her. She quickly turned around and saw him getting closer. She cast an Evanesco and the table underneath him disappeared.
She heard his neck breaking and she winced from the sound. She jumped off the table and landed badly on her feet. She got back to where she was standing at the beginning, on her right the raging battlefield and on her left the blue barrier.
T
hree meters away from her was standing a fifty-year-old wizard, ready to kill her. After 45 seconds of fighting, she took a drastic decision and cast a dark spell, shattering into pieces every bone in his right arm, the one holding the wand. The man fell on his knees and screamed from the pain. There was no blood, no open wound, just pure pain.
"Please !" He begged.
The colours of the spells were illuminating her face : red, purple, green. She cocked her head to the right.
Silencio.
And she left him.
Diagonally from her, she saw a man staring at her. He had apparently noticed the action. He was ready to cast something but she Accioed his wand. She broke it in two from rage.
She hadn't realised that someone was in front of her. "Expelliarmus." The latter said.
She succeeded in getting a grip on her wand and it fell at her feet. A panicked look came upon her face.
What do you do now Hermione ?
In the spark of the moment, Hermione put her hand into a fist and punched the man in the jaw. She curled up from the pain, sensing her broken thumb inside her fist. She took the opportunity to pick up her wand. She was about to stand back up but she felt a hand pressing on her head, forcing her to stay low.
"Fucking look around you !" a seventh-year Gryffindor told her as he shot a curse at the man she had just punched.
They were now standing back-to-back, covering each other. Behind the dome, at the far left, she saw the lads.
The look on their faces confirmed what she was thinking : she was not the Grace they knew. She was not Grace at this moment. She was purely herself.
Three minutes passed when she felt the Gryffindor behind her falling on her. She slightly turned around and he fell backward. She stopped him by the shoulders and got a huge splash of blood on her face. He had his throat slit open. Out of horror, she let go of him and his body hit the ground.
Her gaze found the man who just murdered a fellow student. He was mad, laughing out loud. And she was burning inside. He mouthed "Wanna play ?" then started running north of the village. She saw red. She followed him.
"Grace !" She heard Cole shout behind her, outside of the dome. She turned her head. He was alone.
"Where's Pollux ?" She whispered to herself.
You'll find him later.
She resumed running. She ducked, jumped, slid over and under every obstacles and curses on her way. She found herself in the middle of the north part. It was deserted and it looked just like it did at the beginning of the afternoon. She was following the noise of boots on the snow. They were both in a small alley and silence surrounding them.
The man wanted to talk, to play but she had neither the time nor the patience for it. She was blinded by the hatred inside of her.
"Exantera Vivorum." She stated emotionless.
As he heard the words, his eyes widened. A dark grey light came out of her wand. It hit him in the guts. He slowly fell on his knees, he was not laughing anymore. She turned around, not even caring about his death.
Hermione started walking, she closed her eyes as she heard the body hit the ground behind her. She had never used the Entrail-Expelling curse before.
She passed in front of the Swizzle Wand. The first thing she heard was the noise of boots on pieces of glass, then the whispered voice of two men. She got closer.
"You know I am right." One said.
"You went too far." Dumbledore replied.
What…
"You were not saying that before. You had the same vision, the same goals, the same ideals. We were supposed to share that together."
She filled the blanks, she understood. Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore were having a private conversation, inside a bar, while a raging battle was taking place just outside.
"Students ! Children ! You are out of your mind Gellert. I could never support something like that." The Transfiguration professor barked.
"But you did. You created it ! It was your idea. And now ? You turned your back on me ?!" Grindelwald spat.
"I did that a long time ago."
Hermione took one step closer. A ring bell resonated. She lowered her gaze on her feet and realised she had just kicked the doorbell which had fallen on the floor. She quickly ran away, not knowing if they had seen her or not. She hurried to get back inside the dome. She only had the time to throw two or three spells that Grindewald's voice echoed in the dome. "It's over. Go."
Every one of his supporters took a hold on the necklace around their necks and disappeared.
Portkeys.
She spun around and saw Tom. He had stayed during the entire battle. They stared at each other.
"It's snowing." A girl simply stated
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09.01.1943 :
"But it wasn't. It was ashes." She concluded.
Slughorn was staring at her. His eyes were filled with humanity and horror. But Hermione was looking at the teacup which was bloodied, used and broken.
Notes : Hi guys, hope you enjoy it ! Part II is coming
We have decided to cut this chapter in two parts because too much was happening, as you saw...
Badass!Hermione is finally here !
Thanks for your support and reviews.
Lots of love,
-DDM's Managers