A/N: This wasn't 'due' until tomorrow, but between work, some appointments I have to go to, and the Bears game to watch on Monday night I'm going to post this today to save my timeline and my sanity. Yes, I am one of those people who schedule things around my team's football game.
Thanks again to everyone who left a review so far. You guys are awesome, and thoe ones who make me want to make sure I post a day early rather than a day late.
I already have a spin-off of this story in the works. Things will probably pick up a little bit when I get used to my work schedule. As it is, I'm still bouncing between the coffee high that helps me work that early in the morning and the walking zombie I become once the caffeine wears off. Why I ever tried to quit coffee is beyond me.
Enjoy.
She reappeared in the parking lot of a cheap motel, unable to follow the trail all the way to the room. Ilse must have protected the area. Swearing she looked up and down the motel, wondering which way to go. Thinking quickly she ran her wand over the necklace Spencer had given to her, then held her wand in her opened palm. It spun around, pointing up to the second floor, towards the other end. She bolted up the stairs and ran towards the end of the motel, not allowing herself to think of what might happen because of the delay.
In the second room to the end she heard a high-pitched voice through the door. She pressed herself to the wall and listened.
"...like Mudblood scum like her to sink so low as to go around fucking Muggles!" Ilse was ranting on the other side of the door. "I bet you were so excited to be able to touch a witch, even if she's a magic-thief and filth. I guess bottom feeders do breed."
Hermione sent off a quick Patronus message to Harry and Ron to tell them where she was.
"Hermione is a wonderful woman who will take you down," Spencer said, his voice trembling. Ilse had lifted the Imperius curse, wanting him to watch as she killed him.
"That Mudblood Granger will lose everything because of me. I will destroy her, piece by piece, after I take care of the slut Lentz. Of course, I have you here, so I'll start with that. Avada..."
Hermione stepped back and blasted the door open, cutting Ilse off as she was rained with debris of the destroyed wall. Hermione stepped into the room as the dust settled, her wand pointed at Ilse's chest. Ilse took a couple steps back, enough for Hermione to grab Spencer's arm and pull him behind her. They could hear the screams of Muggles from nearby rooms who were running for cover.
"Hermione Granger," Ilse smirked. "I knew that you would come to save your paramour from the grip of death. How heroic. I expected him to be dead by the time you got here, but it's so much better this way, don't you think? He'd never be in this spot if it weren't for you. I saw you yesterday, before you changed your hair and eyes. I saw the way you held his hand. What a better way to lure the World's Biggest Mudblood to me than to take her lover, and use him as bait? I knew you'd come to rescue him. It's so predictable."
"Drop your wand, Ilse," Hermione ordered.
Ilse chuckled. "Why should I do that? It seems like we're both on even ground here. If anything, I have an advantage. Or are you going to throw the Muggle out like the piece of trash he is?"
"You think that I'm alone?"
"I don't see anyone else. I'll admit, you're clever enough to have followed us here. You've probably told them where to find us. But they're not here yet. It's just us, Mudblood."
"It's the end, Ilse."
"It's never the end! Your kind will always steal magic, and it's up to those of us with honor to take care of filth like you."
"You're not upset at Hermione for stealing magic, you're upset that one like her stole your man, the one you were supposed to marry, and befouled him," Spencer shot at her, and Hermione managed to keep the surprise from her face.
"Stop it!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't you dare speak to me!"
"Can't handle it?" Hermione taunted. She realized what Spencer had been trying to do, he wanted to keep her talking as much as possible, give her team as much time to show up and help her, and she was more than happy to play along and buy herself as much time as possible. "Can't handle a simple little Muggle talking to you?"
"You act so righteous. And yet you call him simple. Is he your toy? Your plaything to fuck and throw away?"
"I always treated my toys better than that," she replied.
"Were you a toy, then? One who got thrown away? The Blood-Traitor dumped you, and gets engaged to a Half-blood, which is a step up from the basement. At least their children will have their magic legitimately. But you are the worst kind of Muggle-born. You have to flaunt it, have to prove to everyone how good you are. We both know you're nothing more than a pathetic little girl who lucked out and figured out how to take magic from those whose right it is."
"Must have been something more than luck, since your lot hasn't been able to kill me. They had me on their property, wandless, tortured, and they still couldn't manage to get rid of me."
"That just proves to me that you're a cockroach. One that needs to be exterminated," she growled before hurling a curse at Hermione. Hermione pulled Spencer out of the way, tried to push him towards the door, but he wasn't leaving her. Hermione shot a spell back, but missed Ilse by inches as the younger witch shot a stunning spell, and Hermione was forced to put up a blocking spell, knocking the jet of red light into the television, which exploded on impact, a shard of glass slicing across Hermione's arm causing an instant splash of red across the beige carpet. Ilse jumped backwards in surprise, and Hermione took the opportunity to push Spencer to the ground. The table pulled itself from the floor and flew in front of him, protecting him from the Stunner that hit where his head had been a second before, shattering the window and continuing until it hit a garbage can on the other side of the parking lot.
In the split second it took Hermione to protect Spencer Ilse straightened and cried, "Crucio!" Hermione fell to the ground, her shrieks of pain echoing around the room. Her wand rolled from her hand, coming to rest at Ilse's foot.
"Hermione!" Spencer cried, looking at her writhing body in panic. He needed to do something, anything, so he did the only thing he could think of. He pulled out his gun, stood up, lined up his shot and pulled the trigger.
Ilse had seen him standing, and let up the curse as he did. As he pulled the trigger her wand slashed through the air. The bullet shot back at Spencer, hitting him in the right side of his stomach. He fell, clutching at the wound, the gun clattering to the floor.
"Expelliarmis!" Hermione cried. In her hand was Bellatrix's wand, which she had pulled from her back pocket. A jet of light erupted from her wand, hitting Ilse, and sending her wand flying towards Hermione. Without wasting another second Hermione waved the wand again, and thick black ropes wound themselves around Ilse. Unable to move, but fighting anyways, the witch fell to the ground, twisting to free herself from the tight bindings.
"Spencer?" Hermione called, crawling over to him. She pushed him onto his back, and gasped as she saw the blood spreading over his shirt. Without a word she ripped the shirt open, pressed the wand to the wound, and started muttering something in Latin. Outside the room there was the sound of several sets of footsteps.
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron shouted together.
"Reid's down! Reid's down!" she heard Derek shouting behind them. "Single gunshot wound to the abdomen. Suspect is in custody."
They heard the call repeated over the radio, and several sirens start sounding nearby. Evander and Marius grabbed a still-fighting Ilse and dragged her out the door. Still Hermione bent over Reid, muttering the spell. The bleeding slowed, but the wound didn't close. Two minutes later she suddenly stowed her wand, and she allowed Harry and Ron to pull her out of the room as three paramedics entered the room and began working on Reid.
"You have to be seen, too, 'Mione," Harry insisted, noticing she was having difficulty walking.
"No," she said. "I want to stay with Spencer."
"The best thing you can do for him right now is to let the paramedics do their jobs."
"Ilse?"
"They're taking her to the Ministry. She was ranting about how you and all those Muggles got what you deserved."
"Miss?" a paramedic from another ambulance came up to her. "My name is Marie. May I help you?"
"I don't need help," Hermione responded.
"You have quite the nasty cut on your arm, and you look like you may be in shock. May we please just take your vitals and see if we can get that thing cleaned up and the bleeding stopped?"
"You should be seen," a deep, authoritative voice sounded.
"Bloody Hell," Hermione growled. "When did you get here, Kingsley?"
"Earlier today. I stopped by after visiting with the American Minister. You were already at the bar. What happened in there?"
Hermione shot a look at the paramedic.
"We're Obliviating," Kingsley assured her.
"She hit me with the Cruciatus..." she managed, but the thought of it brought the pain back. She was unable to stifle her cry of pain as she sunk to her knees, then to her side, her body curling itself into the fetal position in an effort to block the pain radiating from her bones. Harry and Ron were kneeling by her sides, trying to soothe her out of it. Kingsley was talking to the paramedic, but it was the faces of the rest of the BAU team, who had come to her to try to figure out what happened, looking down at her in shock and horror, that would stick with her. When the pain subsided she managed to push herself up so she was sitting against the wall.
"You need to be seen," Kingsley ordered.
"No," Hermione pleaded. "Please, Kingsley. I want to be by Spencer. I can heal this cut myself..."
He bent down and looked her directly in the eye. When he spoke it was so quietly only she could hear it. "Go to the hospital. Get the cut taken care of by the Muggles. A healer will get there before you do to give you potions for the other problem. I'll make sure you go to the same hospital as Reid. Leave against medical advice as soon as your cut is mended, but that'll get you into the hospital. From what I hear you and I have to have a talk later about him, so right now, you do what I say."
"Yes, Minister," she muttered as the gurney carrying Spencer was wheeled from the room. She pushed herself up into a standing position, and tried to look like she wasn't in pain.
"Hermione..." he groaned as he passed her, his hand reaching for hers.
"I'm here," she muttered, grabbing it and walking with the gurney.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she lied. "Are you okay?"
"Stay with me," he begged.
She looked pleadingly at the paramedic.
"You really need to be seen by someone. It's against protocol.." suddenly her eyes shifted focus, just for a moment. "Yes. I'll give you some gauze to press on that. If you promise to keep it elevated you can ride up front."
"I promise," Hermione said, running around to the front of the ambulance. She looked up at the second floor and saw Harry and Ron there, interrogating two Muggles who had been in the room next to Ilse's. Ron looked down at her and gave her a quick wink. She nodded back at him before climbing into the front seat and slamming the door. Someone shoved a wad of gauze into her hand, and she pressed it over the cut on her arm as the ambulance lurched forward towards the nearest hospital, a police escort in front of them, the two black SUVs carrying the FBI team behind.
As promised a Healer wearing scrubs was blending in with the group of doctors and nurses waiting for the ambulance. The larger team gathered Spencer out of the ambulance and rushed him inside. The healer, a nurse and an intern were waiting with a gurney for Hermione, who obediently climbed on and allowed herself to be wheeled inside. The Healer waited patiently as the nurse and intern helped her out of her blouse, took her vitals, gave her a thorough check, and stitched her arm up. They left to go get her pain medication, but the Healer stayed.
"So you caught the killer?" the Healer asked in a low voice as she pulled two vials of potion from the pocket of her scrubs.
"Yes," Hermione said, pulling her blouse, which was stained in blood, back on.
"This one is for the pain," she said, opening the first vial. Hermione shot it back quickly. "This one is to help with the effects of the curse. You'll need to take a vial every twelve hours for a week, and hopefully that will keep you from any long-term effects."
"I already have long-term effects," she pointed out, but she drank the potion anyways.
"It's probably too late to help those, but hopefully they won't become worse."
"Thank you."
"No, Ms. Granger. Thank you. I'll come find you in twelve hours with another dose."
"I'll be wherever Spencer Reid is."
She nodded. "I'll find you." She left the room, and Hermione gave her a minute as to not arouse suspicions. She finished buttoning her blouse and walked out of the room.
"Ms. Granger, the doctor hasn't cleared you," the nurse protested.
"I'll sign that I'm leaving against medical advice. But I'm leaving," Hermione mumbled.
The nurse stared at her for a moment, hoping the glare was enough to cause Hermione to admit defeat, before deciding it wasn't worth the fight. "I'll get the paperwork. Just wait there a minute."
"Fine," she nodded. The nurse walked away, and Hermione allowed herself to lean on the counter.
A doctor came around the corner with another nurse. "I think the kid has a real shot, no pun intended," he was saying. "If I didn't believe in miracles before, I do now. How that wound was already that healed is beyond me. It saved him a lot of blood loss. If it hadn't healed that quickly he probably would have bled out by now. I'm sure the surgeons will be able to patch him up."
"Excuse me," Hermione called. "Could you tell me where Spencer Reid is?"
"May I ask who you are?" the doctor looked at her.
"I'm his... partner," she answered.
He considered her a moment, then answered, "He just got sent up to surgery. The rest of the team is in the OR waiting room. Second floor, follow the signs."
"Thank you," she said politely as she scribbled her name on the form the first nurse had reappeared with, then strode off through the hospital. She came across the waiting room and walked inside. The heads of all the BAU members snapped up as she entered.
"What the hell happened?" Derek demanded. "One second we're sitting around the table, the next Reid is gone."
Hermione closed the door. "Listen as closely as you want, I'll probably only have time to tell you once, but you'll never remember it."
"How do you think we won't be able to remember this?" Hotchner asked.
"Because as we speak the teams of Aurors are modifying the memories of everyone who may have seen something tonight so it will go along with a Ministry-approved story. They're probably even giving Penelope Garcia a surprise visit right now as well. When they're done doing that, and making the scene look like the story they're telling, they'll come here and modify your memory. Within an hour you will all probably believe that Reid was shot by the unsub when we cornered her in that motel room. The story will be that I, or another Auror perhaps, managed to shoot and kill the unsub. A dead animal will probably be transfigured to look like Ilse. We'll allow the police to take over from there. You'll do an autopsy, which will confirm that she's been killed from a gunshot wound, and the body will be buried unceremoniously. Of course, it'll be our people controlling that situation, so if something seems off they'll step in with more memory modification charms. You and the police will be able to take all the credit, and in your minds you'll be telling the truth. You won't remember what really happened. You won't remember magic at all. And you won't remember me."
The team exchanged glances, then looked back at Hermione as she launched into the story of what happened. She explained everything quickly and thoroughly, and no one bothered to interrupt her. When she finished the room fell into silence for a minute as things sunk in.
"What about Reid?" Derek asked.
"The doctors think he has a good chance. I cast a healing charm on him to stop his bleeding, but I couldn't fix everything since you had called for medical assistance. People listen to police scanners, and there's probably press outside already. I had to fix enough to give him the best chance and allow the doctors to take over from there," she replied.
"That isn't what I meant," he shot back.
"The Ministry is going to want me to do the same thing to him as is about to be done to you."
"And you're going to do it? Were you playing with him this whole time? I saw the difference in him. I saw how happy he was with you, how his eyes would light up at the thought of the two of you having a future. And you're just going to toss him to the side like he's nothing? You used him!"
"I assure you," she said, standing up and staring at him in the eyes. "That was never my intention. I let my emotions take over, and I let a relationship that should have been strictly professional turn personal. I've made really big errors in judgment when it comes to Spencer insomuch as I shouldn't have let it go as far as it did, but that's only because I went with how I truly feel. Whatever I decide when it comes to Spencer, please know that I'm only doing what is best for him."
"Do you really think making him forget you is what's best for him?" he shouted. "Or is it what's best for you?"
Hermione didn't answer as several Aurors started shuffling into he room.
His eyes fluttered open. He was sitting in a light blue room, vertical blinds on the windows, generic floral prints hanging from the wall, light wood accents everywhere. He was stiff, but shifting caused a surge of pain to shoot through his right side.
"I can call for more painkillers, if you want them," a voice muttered next to him.
His eyes shot open, immediately seeking out the source of the voice. "Hermione," he smiled as he caught sight of her. She put down the file she was reading on a tall stack of files and came to perch herself on the side of his bed.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, sounding concerned.
"Better," he said, taking her hand with his.
"I can call for more painkillers," she repeated.
"I'd rather not take any," he muttered, afraid of becoming hooked again.
"You're going to be singing a different tune sooner rather than later."
"Why is that?"
"Some prat named Gideon. Your team had to leave on another case, and he showed up a couple hours later. He's been bugging me ever since to see my files. I think he's missing the chase a little bit. He's off with one of the nurses to lunch right now, but he promised me he'd come back."
"Gideon's here?"
"Your girl Garcia can find anyone. She contacted him about your injury, and he wanted to come by and make sure you were okay. He decided to stick around when your team moved out. He just wanted someone you knew when you woke up and started recovering. Which, by the way, the doctors think will be pretty quick. For some reason or another you're mending at a speed heretofore unheard of in medical history."
"Am I getting a little help?"
"I got you into this, I should make sure I return you in the same condition that I found you in," she said with a smile playing across her lips. "Or, at least, in a condition that you will return that condition. You'll be healthy, but I can't stop the scar or thing's will be suspicious."
"How long has it been?"
"Three days," she answered. "The doctors kept you mostly out of it, because they thought the longer you rest the better."
"Is everything okay with the case?"
"Everything's pretty much closed," she shrugged. "I got chewed out for involving Muggles in my investigation, but since I caught her with your help it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There's a write-up in my file, but that's it."
He held her hand for a minute, rubbing her palm with his thumb, feeling better knowing she was by his side.
"I told you not to use that damn gun," she muttered.
"It worked, didn't it? You caught her, didn't you?" he asked.
"But you got hurt."
"What's your cover story?" he asked, changing the subject quickly.
"That I'm on loan from Scotland Yard. That they called me in because they wanted every possible source looking for your somewhat out of control unsub. There's been a bit of a snafu in travel to Europe, so I've used that as my excuse to stay here."
"Good to know," he said, wincing as he rolled onto his side. He reached up and guided her down to him, kissing her gently at first, but it quickly became more passionate as she leaned into him. When she finally straightened up she looked pained.
"What's wrong?" he asked, studying her face.
"Spencer..." she whispered, sounding apologetic, her eyes wet. "I stuck around because you deserve to hear what I have to say, and hear it coming from me. You see my stack of files? That's about a quarter of my inbox, and it's only getting worse the longer I stay here. It's upwards of two hundred and fifty files right now. About fifteen of these are requesting my immediate presence. Not to mention they're trying Ilse next week. Well, trying is a poor word for it. She's bragging about everything. I just need to give evidence."
"So, you're leaving," he nearly choked on the word. "You're leaving for work?"
"Yes. I..." she looked him in the eyes, and became visibly deflated. "No. That's not it. You're here because of me. You almost died because of me..."
"I lived because of you," he protested.
"You wouldn't have gotten your injury if it wasn't for me! She wouldn't have picked you if it wasn't for me! You heard what she said, she targeted you because she saw you with me. She is not the only one who would, either. How can I, in good conscience, start a relationship where you'll be a target for any dark witch or wizard who wants to get to me?"
"Don't you think I should have a say here?"
"I know what you're going to say. I've debated listening to it back and forth about it ever since you were injured. It just has to be this way. I can't stand to see you hurt, and I can't let you put yourself in danger because of me. What happened the other night will never happen again, and if it takes me giving you up then that's what has to happen."
"Please, don't do this Hermione," he whispered.
"I'm sorry," she replied, a tear escaping and running down her cheek. "I have to. To protect you."
He fought his own tears. "Can I ask you for one more thing before?"
"Yes."
"Kiss me."
She leaned towards him.
"Kiss me, then look me in the eye and tell me that it means so little to you that you're still unwilling to take both our emotions into account."
Another tear fell down her cheek as she leaned forward and kissed him passionately. His arms wrapped around her, holding her in place, refusing to let her go, but she managed to slip away from him anyways. She stood up, taking two steps away from the bed, eyes still locked onto his.
"I will never forget you," she whispered, lifting her wand and pointing it between his eyes. "Goodbye, Spencer."