Draco was pacing furiously in front of Harry's fireplace. Each time he made a go-around his eyes caught sight of the clock on the wall and he took note of the time. When he had said midnight, he had meant it. Until then his chest hurt and his eyes pained every time he blinked; though it was just his left eye and it wasn't painful because of his anxiety. It was because the feisty, redheaded woman of the house had punched him in the face the moment she recognized who had come through her fireplace. Leave it to Saint Potter to come to the rescue and restrain his violent wife before she got her hands on her wand and hexed him. After Harry explained what was going on Ginny calmed, and now she watched the blonde wear out her floor.
"If anyone can kill Amelia, it's Hermione." Ginny said suddenly.
Draco halted his pacing and looked at her. "I know."
"And yet you're here walking around as an agitated wreck."
He huffed and began his pacing again, albeit at a slower, less harried pace. "For someone who's supposed to be her good friend you're a calm little ray of sunshine."
Ginny's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll have you know that I'm absolutely panicked."
Draco arched a brow and sucked his teeth. "That's you panicked? Merlin, I'd hate to see you downright petrified."
Ginny growled and stomped her way over to him and stopped his pacing. She jabbed a finger at him and said her words with such finality Draco felt like he was being scolded by his own mother. "Don't go judging me, Malfoy. In fact, take notes. This is how you should be –stoic, calm, and clear-headed. Your emotions are running the hell out of you and Hermione doesn't need that right now. She needs you to be ready. She needs for you to be there for her at a moment's notice. You need to be able to take care of her. Is that in any way unclear?"
It didn't take much for Draco to realize that Ginny wasn't just talking about the current situation. He stared at her, realizing just how much she cared for her dear friend. Not to mention being reminded at how crazy she was every time he blinked.
"Hermione doesn't have to worry about me." Draco said. "She doesn't have to worry about anything."
To his surprise the redhead was capable of smiling. "Good to know. Make sure you do just that or I'll have to kill you."
Ginny walked off then, but Draco's eyes didn't follow. His mind was reflecting on their much one-sided conversation and he continued to mull it over as he shouted for Harry. Ginny stared at him in surprise just as Harry hurried into the room.
"What? What is it?"
"We need to go."
Harry's eyes grew in alarm as he watched Draco grab a handful of Floo Powder. "Has Hermione contacted us?"
Draco shook his head and stood in the fireplace, leaving room for Harry to join. "No, but we need to go to her anyway."
"You said midnight! What if by going we're ruining whatever plan she has? We could risk-!"
Draco groaned. "I know the risks, Potter, and I know what I said." His eyes darted to Ginny and he sighed. "But I also said that I would take care of her. So let's get moving."
Hermione was pushing her body beyond its normal limits as she dashed down corridors. Amelia was barely running, more like walking quickly, as she shot spells, hexes and curses respectively with lazy moves of her wand. Hermione did double time trying to block everything the vengeful woman came at her with. She didn't dare go on the offensive as she knew whatever Amelia would defend with would outmatch hers easily. But Hermione didn't need to fight. She just needed to keep herself alive long enough to make it to the guest bedroom of the East Wing.
"I had greater pleasure torturing your other selves, mudblood!" Amelia called.
Hermione grit her teeth as the East Wing came into view. Her feet skidded as she rounded the corner and narrowly missed a curse that began melting the wall where her body had previously been. She ran through the first door on her right and stopped once she was inside. Amelia was right on her trail and Hermione flicked her wand once at the wiring that had been lined along the entire doorframe. The moment Amelia stepped through it was all tripped.
The screams were dreadful no matter who was emitting the glass-shattering sound. Hermione had given one house elf another job aside from sealing the entrances and exits of the Manor. She had asked her to gather as much copper wire as she could find. The elf had done well, and Hermione had placed it along the doorposts and imbued it with a spell to magnify electric conduction. Her wand flick had been a single spark. That spark started a chain reaction through the wires and caused Amelia to feel the strength of at least ten Cruciatus Curses at once. Karma, so Hermione thought, and watched as Amelia dropped to her knees. And although she had expected for the woman to writhe, break a bone or two, or at the very least suffer a massive heart attack, none of those things happened. What happened next was unfathomable.
She laughed.
Amelia's initial screams had somehow morphed into a maniacal fit of laughter as she slowly rose to her feet. Her wand had never left her hand and she swiftly pointed it at the top of the doorframe and severed both it and the wires.
"Cute," Amelia smiled as she stepped further into the room. She then raised her wand hand and twisted it enough so that Hermione could see the glittering jewelry. "Another lovely modification I forgot to mention. It may sting for a moment, whatever you try to fling at me, but the ring will absorb the rest. Aside from your failure, well-played."
Hermione ducked as Amelia went on the attack again and she cursed, wondering how the hell she was going to get that ring from off of her. Although she knew that none of her spells would stick at least they would slow her down. A leg-locker jinx caught Amelia unawares and she tripped over her feet and hit the ground. Hermione attempted to run. She jumped over Amelia's form, but not getting very far as the woman's claw-like hand reached out for her ankle. Hermione was down in no time and she stared wide-eyed as Amelia's wand angled for her face. With a kick from her other leg, Hermione got Amelia in her right shoulder. She grunted in pain and was subject to another harsh kick, this time to her face. A distinct yell escaped Amelia's lips then and Hermione smiled as she was finally released and made her way back down the halls she had just come from.
Hermione should have known that Amelia would have protected the ring from being summoned, but she still tried as she ran down the halls. Her thoughts were running ragged. She had to find a way to pin her down long enough to slip the ring from her. Hell, she'd cut her finger off if it came down to it. In a hasty decision she decided to run towards the study that she had ran from in the first place. It was the first room she could think of that held a treasure-trove of items she could distract the blood-thirsty witch with. Not to mention, if things got bad, it was the only place Hermione could Floo out of.
A loud boom resonated in the hall. Hermione raised her hands to cover her head at the amount of debris that came cascading over her. The dust in the air clouded her vision of the rest of the hall as well as the next rain of marble and stone Amelia's spell hit. The woman's aim was close. Too close. Hermione paused her running and spun around, whirling her wand up and around her head so that the large hunks of rock lifted themselves from the ground. Even through the polluted air she could see Amelia's eyes grow wide. The tidal wave of rubble rushed its way towards her and Amelia ducked to her right and pressed herself against the wall to avoid the onslaught. Her eyes were fiendish, but Hermione hadn't stayed to see it. She continued making her way back to the study, but then halted her steps completely in surprise.
"Draco! What the hell are you doing here?!"
Draco ignored her completely, his eyes gravitating to the woman raising her wand towards them at the end of the hall. "Potter, get her out of here!"
"What?" Hermione said in alarm. "What, no!"
Hermione was in the middle of her protest as Draco brandished his wand and Harry's hand grasped her forearm and began tugging her along. "Use the Floo!" He was telling her. "Go to my house and stay there!"
"No, Harry! No! You don't understand! Draco can't fight her!"
"It'll be fine, Hermione! He'll-"
"No, damn it! Her ring won't let him!"
Hermione had stomped on Harry's foot to get him to let her go. He yelled and hobbled a bit as she fled his side. She was there in time to see Draco slumped against the wall with a hand to his chest. There wasn't an open wound that Hermione could see and she feared instantly that his heart was giving him trouble. Her rage flared when she saw Amelia standing over him, smiling in a taunting fashion.
"Amelia!" Hermione shouted. The woman turned cold eyes to her and she snarled. "Your fight isn't with him."
"Oh no?" Amelia sneered. "As I recall it, it took two people to commit an affair."
Hermione's heart raced. Draco's eyes were on her now and she prayed desperately that he could see what she was doing imperceptibly with her hands. "Yes, it does. But how quickly do you forget that Malfoy men are, as you put it, stubborn mules. How could Draco help himself? How could any of them? My ancestors and I lured them away –away from a pristine, pureblooded witch who was truly worthy of the Malfoy name." Hermione chuckled, less than at what she said, but more so at the fact that Draco was now staring intently at Amelia's hand. "I can see now why you're so upset."
Amelia shouted in anger and flared her wand. The next few moments happened so quickly that Hermione barely had any time to register them. She saw Draco reach up and grab hold of Amelia's wrist, wrestling the ring off of her finger. The woman pushed him away from her forcefully, gathered her fallen wand due to their struggle, and slashed her wand in the air in a diagonal from top right to bottom left. Hermione had said her first Unforgivable Curse and watched the green light leave her wand and hit Amelia squarely in the chest. As the witch fell, Hermione felt a wound open up from the top of her ribcage on her left side and down to her right hip. Amelia hit the ground with a thud just as Hermione fell back into Harry's open arms.
"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted as he held her under the arms. They both fell down together, her upper body was resting on his sprawled legs. "Hermione! Hermione, look at me! Malfoy, we need to get her out of here; she's losing too much blood!"
Hermione didn't hear Draco's hurried footsteps running down the corridor nor his frantic voice as he kneeled down next to her. She couldn't feel anything either, but only knew her love was holding her hand because Harry ordered him to let go and help get her to the fireplace. Had she the capacity to move her mouth or throat she would've laughed. It was one thing to die in a vision, but another thing to die in real life. The only satisfaction that she had was that in her next one, she and Draco would only have to combat their attitudes and contradicting personalities in order to be together.
Author's note: Well, Amelia's dead, but at what price? That's all I have to say about this chapter as it speaks for itself. The next chapter is the last and I just have to say THANK YOU for sticking with me throughout this story :)
-WP