Spellbound Sacrifice: The Black Rose
(Book 2)
Chapter 10 – The New Arrival
"Why have we come to Azkaban?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Her baffled expression struggled to comprehend why they were not a few miles away at the illusive towering European fortress of Nurmengard where Gellert was last known to be.
Voldemort ignored the curious witch's question as he concentrated on landing outside the discerning prison without being detected. He walked around the solid circular tower walls, tapping at the large grey bricks with his wand as he tested the strength of the structure, ordering his followers to carefully explore the rugged grounds, looking for a weak spot to enter.
Hermione repeated her question as Voldemort regarded the inquisitive witch with irritation, not wanting to be distracted from his focus,
"You want your grandfather, don't you?" He replied firmly.
Hermione nodded sarcastically and continued with her inquiries, disregarding the Dark Lord's annoyance at her constant interruptions,
"I thought he was in Nurmengard? Why would he be here?"
Draco pulled the brave witch back, knowing that his leader was growing more frustrated by the minute.
The nervous lover shook his head at Hermione, warning her to keep quiet so the Dark Lord could complete the delicate plan.
He could see Voldemort's shoulder's tense up under his long dark cloak and had witnessed the merciless wrath of his leader when a follower had distracted his train of thought in the past.
Hermione ignored Draco's subtle gestures and, instead, gravitated towards her anxious grandmother.
The cool evening air rippled across the deep river that restricted any outside access to the remote building.
Shivering with fear and foreboding, the old woman's eyes beamed wild panic as she flinched away, reliving the recent flashback of the terrible killing of her old friend at the hands of her possessed granddaughter,
"Here have this" Hermione whispered.
She took off the long cloak, she previously borrowed from Draco, wrapped it around the cautious woman and rubbed her shoulders to try and keep her warm.
Monica observed her new, intimidating surroundings with fear and remained focused on the determined Dark Lord as he stroked the grey brick wall, with a sinister grin, remembering his last encounter with Gellert.
Flashbacks of invading Nurmengard and kidnapping Gellert, as he forced him to go on the hunt to find the missing Elder Wand, excited his memory banks, giving him more purpose to get him out to help him with the next stage of his plan,
"He was in Nurmengard but I needed his help to find the wand so I broke him out. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough and the Ministry found us so I had to leave him. He had served his purpose so I no longer had any use for him" the Dark Lord casually explained as he hit a sweet spot in the wall and stepped back.
He waved his wand in the air and threw it towards the desired patch with enthusiasm. Hermione stepped forward and joined his side, creating a nervous hush amongst the ranks.
Voldemort observed the brave witch's position and slightly lowered his wand as he tried to control his underlying fury, knowing Hermione held all the power and needed to be kept happy until he completed his plan.
The undaunted witch held her ground and concentrated on the wall's weak spot, aware the Dark Lord's piercing eyes were watching her every move,
"So why put him here instead of back in Nurmengard? And since your sole purpose of breaking him out was to find the wand, why do you want to free him now? You have found the wand. I have it, see, so why now?" Hermione quizzed, tapping the powerful staff on the side of her leg to solidify her point.
The visible sight of the Elder Wand, radiating in the moonlight, created an alluring pull which caught everyone's attention. Voldemort's frustrated expression faded as he became hypnotised by the supreme scepter.
The wide sleeve from his black, imposing cloak quivered with delight, exposing the Dark Lord withered grey hand as it slowly reached out for the enticing staff,
"Well, they couldn't put him back in the fortress he built, he knows every part of the building and could escape again" he mumbled, slightly distracted by the lure of the wand.
His quivering fingers unconsciously leaned in with yearning for the seductive rod before Hermione whipped her hand back and pressed the distracting stick into her leg.
A gasp echoed around the circle as the crowd watched the impassive witch pressed the staff harder into her leg. Her tight fitting jeans welcomed the supreme stick by absorbing the hard baton into the tough fabric and into her inviting thigh as it vanished out of sight and into Hermione's evolving body.
Draco cautiously stepped forward and inspected his lover in astonishment,
"Hermione, where-is-the-wand?" He stuttered, walking around the nonchalant witch, trying to see how she did the disappearing trick.
Hermione smirked at their surprise,
"It's safe. But we're not, so let's hurry up and get Gellert so we can get out of here" she replied with authority.
Voldemort moved back, unsure what other tricks the impressive witch had been hiding as she pressed her hands against the wall and used her energy to blast a hole in the side.
The wild, vibrating static connection weaken the tower and it began to crumble,
"What are you doing?" Draco yelled. Large pieces of brick and rubble came crashing down from above, leaving the panicked group to frantically jump out of the way to avoid being crushed by the raining concrete debris.
Hermione looked at her trembling hands as she observed the swaying building in terror,
"I only meant to create a doorway! I don't understand what happened" she cried, baffled by the lack of control she had over the recent power surge.
The bellowing sound of the tumbling tower alerted the guards, making the Dark Lord round up the troupes to take immediate action,
"We've got to get him now!" Voldemort ordered as red and yellow lightning bolts lit the sky and obstructed into their path.
The Dark Lord led the group into the prison courtyard, firing at advancing guards along the way.
Black hooded figures swooped into the enclosed area, aiming and blasting fireballs and electric nets in their direction, causing Voldemort to adjust his previously precise plan,
"Split up! Draco take the others and head that way. Hermione and Monica come with me!" he ordered, pointing to the east.
Draco glanced at Hermione as he reluctantly left her to go with Voldemort and disappeared through a fiery wall of ammo,
"Can you sense him?" Voldemort asked while returning fire against the attacking guards.
Hermione held onto Monica's hand and stroked her leg. She cleared her mind and focused on the image she saw in a picture on Dumbledore's desk when she was younger.
Stood proudly in front of a church in the centre of Godric's Hollow, a young Dumbledore and Grindelwald, with their arms around each other, smiled from ear to the ear as the picture cemented their conflicting friendship.
Hermione focused on that image and continued to rub her leg with determination. Her thigh glowed green with the friction as it softly beamed to a high spot in the tower ahead,
"That way" she said confidently.
Hermione shielded the cautious pair through the smoky courtyard and pointed to the top of the swaying tower ahead.
The blistering ammunition bounced off the witch and her two companions as she held her arms in the air and created an electric shimmering red protective barrier, covering the trio,
"Wait here!" Voldemort shouted as he prepared himself to scale the tall building for the prisoner.
He quickly evacuated the defensive shield as his long cloak violently flapped in the evening breeze before wrapping itself around the Dark Lord, vaporising his solid frame into a black gassy mass as he disappeared up the tower wall and vanished out of sight at the top.
Monica trembled in fear with the intensity of fire bouncing off the electrifying dome. She cowered down into a ball, leaving Hermione to see the true fear in her grandmother's eyes. The torn witch couldn't take anymore and closed her eyes,
"It'll be OK. I won't let any harm come to you anymore. I won't let anything break my family apart again" Hermione promised as she flung her head back and summoned all the energy in her body to radiate out of the static sphere.
The emotion faded from the witch's pallid face as her skin crackled and split open, expelling a black gas into the swirling dome,
"Close your eyes and hold your breath" she whispered sternly.
Monica did not argue with the blackened eyed witch, instead opting to put her arms over her head and stay low, unsure what was to come.
The black mist escaped the protective barrier and snaked into the midnight sky, infecting the attacking guards, throwing them off their defensive assault on Hermione and her trembling grandmother.
The ambushed guards lost control of their broomsticks, and their bodies, as they violently thrashed from side to side before the murky smog started to slowly melt the insides of the screaming guard's bodies, inflating the empting shells past natural capacity, allowing Hermione to view the floating human balloons above with slight humour,
"OK let me put you out of your misery now" the possessed witch muttered.
She opened her inordinately stretched mouth, which span the width of her splitting face, and welcomed the black mist back into her body. The smog absconded from the guards inflated body with urgency as it congregated in the air, ensuring all the gases morphed together before developing into a swarming, buzzing drone and returning to its host.
Hermione snapped her head back upright and screamed,
"Reducto"
A deadly silence fell upon the courtyard as Monica hesitantly opened her eyes, unclear whether she had been deafened by the sounds of the close blasts or whether it was something more sinister.
Hermione bent down and picked up her shivering grandmother,
"You're safe now" she confirmed proudly. The elated witch threw her arms into the air and twirled around in the empty courtyard, causing the elderly woman to squint her eyes as she glanced above to see something falling out of the sky.
The small black flakes coated the courtyard like snow,
"Is this what I think it is?" she stuttered.
Before Hermione could answer a gust of wind swept in behind her and the blood drained from the exhausted woman's withered face.
The object of her distraction stood at the side of Voldemort, glaring at the shaken woman with a smirk on his wrinkled face,
"Monica, it's been so long. You still look as beautiful as the day you left me" he croaked.
The slim man brushed his long wild white hair from his face and tried to smarten his appearance for the tense reunion as he turned his attention to Hermione and held out his shaky hand,
"You must be my granddaughter. I can see you have your grandmother's eyes" he complimented.
The excited witch observed every aspect of the frail man before launching at him with her arms wide open,
"It's complete" Hermione cried. Gellert returned her affection and squeezed her tight,
"And who is this?" Gellert questioned as Draco and Lucius swooped in and landed behind the emotional witch, regarding the reunion with curiosity.
Hermione broke away from her proud grandfather and joined Draco by his side.
She gestured her lover towards Gellert and enthusiastically introduced the pair,
"This is Draco, my partner. He is part of the family, grandpa" Hermione explained with eagerness.
Draco held out his shaky hand to the ex-prisoner and held his breath for the response.
His eyes exuded his wonderment of the well-known wizard as he tried to maintain his fascination with Gellert, without success.
There was a pause as the group gathered together and watched on as Gellert accepted the young wizard's hand and shook it firmly,
"Welcome to the family, son. And what a family we are now. Such a power house. Indestructible" Gellert purred as he regarded Monica with a sinister grin.
Voldemort grew uneasy of the open space and morphed back into his gassy form,
"Lucius, take Hermione and Monica. I'll take Gellert and Draco follow on with the others" he ordered without haste.
Hermione held onto her grandmother closely before she stared blankly at the optimistic witch and whispered,
"Do you really think Gellert cares about you or becoming a family? All he is bothered about is the wand and after his previously failed attempted he will be more determined to get it now. They will both try to get the wand from you"
The elderly woman caressed her granddaughters face in an attempt to find some type of reasoning within the possessed witch. Hermione tilted her face, accepting Monica's affectionate stroking before moving away, not wanting the happy moment to be tarnished.
The alluded witch glanced back at her golden haired lover as he returned her warm-hearted smile and looked up to the sky at her grandfather being led back to the manor by the Dark Lord and replied,
"This is all I have wanted for years. I can deal with any little problems like that when we get back to the manor but please let me have this moment of happiness. It has been so long since I have felt this complete".
For the first time, Monica could see her granddaughter for who she really was – a lonely, lost woman who just wanted a family to belong to and could not continue her assault on the dangerous reunion,
"Ok, let's go" she confirmed to Lucius as he wrapped his cloak around the hugging pair and bolted from the ground in his vaporised state.
Hermione looked down and saw the other prisoners escaping the collapsing building as more guards attempted to capture the fleeing convicts,
"Lucius, to the left" Gellert yelled enthusiastically.
The Death Eater clung on tight to his two important passengers as he fired at the swift guard, shooting at him down from his broomstick,
"Let me help" Hermione screamed through the whistling wind ripping past her face. Lucius nodded in agreement for the extra help,
"Reducto" she screamed, throwing her palm at another advancing guard and blasting him into ashes.
The explosion alerted more attention to their location as more guards came, firing lightning bolts at the disbanding group.
Lucius used Hermione's help to slow down the defending group from following them any further as Voldemort continued on with his prized cargo, leaving the other's to fight the increasing hordes,
"Over there" Lucius yelled to his son, alerting Draco to a creeping wizard on his tail.
The disorientated Death Eater swung round ready to fire at the stealth guard but it was too late.
The wizard hid behind the group of guards already attacking Hermione and the other Death Eater's and was able to focus and lock his aim on the inexperienced Death Eater's smoggy mass as he fired one shot into the centre of the dark mist.
The electrical charge blew straight through Draco's misty exterior as he involuntary morphed back into his human form exposing the true nature of his injury,
"DRACO!" Hermione screamed as her lover held his chest and looked at his father with helplessness in his gawping eyes.
His limp body lost control as he fell from his position and descended to the ground, unable to continue the battle.
Hermione screamed and tried to get out of Lucius grasp but it was no use,
"Hermione, we have to go" Lucius cried but the distraught witch could not hear anything around her.
The wind whistled in her ears, silencing the commotion around her as a voice whispered,
"The wand"
The teary witch pressed hard into her vaporised leg and swung the wand towards the ground, without a second thought,
"Save him" she screamed into the air as the Elder Wand fired a piercing white stream through the cloudy night sky.
A rumbling echoed around them, causing the war to come to an immediate halt and the guards to retreat slightly,
"What have you done?" Monica cried at the ear-piercing, bellowing sound.
Hermione clutched onto her grandmother more firmly, unsure what the wand had understood from her vague request as a bright spark of light from the side distracted her attention and sent a piercing ripping sensation down her spine.
Shrieks from those around her, deafened her ears as her vision became blurred and her limbs began to give way.
Her arms fell to the side as her mind frantically tried to apprehend what happened,
"Lightning! Hit! Falling" a familiar voice screamed from beside her.
The wind knocked the air from the descending witch as everything went black and she fell into the darkness – alone, helpless and unsure whether she was still the owner of the Elder Wand.
By Queen Frost Bite