Chapter 21
AN: Many apologies for taking so long this time, I have some horrible weeks behind me, and then to it added the huge amount of work and to it even… Sherlock the BBC-Series After I have watched all the six episodes couple of days ago, I suddenly kept hearing this acerb, dry voice of Sherlock in my head telling me how my following story and plot are entirely lame and un-logical and don't make any sense anyway, so I felt a little intimidated :D
This chapter is a short one, but I thought I better get rid of it now as it is, before another work would prevent me again to write more. Here you will find revealed some bits of Helen's history in the pre-Sunnydale period, not everything though, to keep you guessing . I should mention at this point that originally I intended to write a HP-fanfiction but later decided to set it into the Buffyverse. So in this chapter you'll sort of find the bits from the original idea, which is a few years old now. At that time I liked it a lot, now I'm not sure…
„Snape and her... they were bound by wandlore..." Hermione began to explain.
"By what?" Four incomprehensive looks were directed at her.
"It's the wand-magic... not the magic with the wands, but the magic of the wands, you see wands are not just things, inanimate objects, they have... I'm not sure how exactly to describe it... let's say the wands do have some kind of a life of their own. There is magic in them that the wizard – the owner – cannot control. A part of it demonstrates alone in the fact that it is the wand that chooses its wizard, not the other way round." She noticed Giles' doubtful look. "Oh you would be able to perform spells with most of the wands to a certain point, but only with the one wand that was made for you can you unfold your magic to its full extent."
"Ok, what does this all have to do with her?" Buffy asked a little impatiently, raising her eyes towards Giles' bedroom.
"I'll come to it in due time," Hermione replied and looked at her taken aback, then continued: "You see every wand is unique. Since over two thousands of years when the wandmakers have been producing them, you would not find two identical ones. They differ in their size and their weight, are composed of different ingredients, such as phoenix feathers, dragon scales, unicorn hairs – those are very rare, or Thestral tail-hair..."
Now the four of them were looking at Hermione in amazement, Buffy obviously was thinking that the witch was kidding them, Willow just hang on her lips to hear more, Xander looked puzzled, and Giles was wondering whether he would ever get to see all those creatures he had thought only existed in fairy tales till now.
"Not important... There exist however... very few, and this is interesting because no one really knows nowadays anymore how many still may be laying in the storage rooms of the wand-shops... there exist a few-eh... couplets... they have actually a name of their own." Hermione tipped her fingers on her lip trying to remember the exact term.
"Yes?" Buffy again spoke. As much as she would like to hear the story, in the moment she was rather restless of waiting to find and catch Rodolphus.
"I'm sorry, I won't remember it now... Anyway, these couplets are very rare-"
"What are they?" Willow asked eagerly.
"They are wands that are... almost identical. To my knowledge there have been seven of these couplets so far, that is those that have been discovered and actually came to their specific use... But it is certain that there are more, Mr. Ollivander told me he knows about twenty four. Almost all of these couplets have been made hundreds of years ago, according to Ollivander his ancestor had made the last one in the 15th century."
"Yes, but what are they?"
"They give their owners more power than usual wands." Ron replied.
"Well, it's more complicated than that, isn't it?" Hermione said instructively. "Their spells have more and better effect when they act together… The first of these couplets was made by one of the first wandmakers and it actually – according to Ollivander at least – happened by a mistake: By a very odd coincidence the man used the wood from the same tree, the heartstrings from the same dragon and also the hair from the very same veela twice and so made two quite identical wands without realizing, there must have laid a period of many years between the time he created the one and then the other... These two wands were – and herein lies another unlikely coincidence that had started it all – purchased about the same time, within a decade in fact, by a wizard and a witch whose paths crossed later, again accidentally. And it was then that the extraordinary power, the particular magic of this special pair, this first couplet, was discovered... The witch and the wizard met in a war, they were facing each other in a fight, yet any offensive spell they would cast against the other would not work, instead their wands created some sort of a connection, something must have happened between them, and then finally they fought on the same side, making it to their advantage that all spells they cast together would be twice as powerful as usually. Not much is known about it, obviously, because there have been exactly only just seven such couples so far. Nor do I know when or how actually the foedus virum was added to it."
"The what?" Xander asked.
"The pact of power?" Giles frowned.
"Yes, it's a ritual called foedus virum or foedus virgarum-"
"The pact of the virgins?" Xander asked raising his head.
" – the alliance of wands." Hermione glared at him, Ron giggled. "It's not quite clear when it was first used or who actually invented it. And I wasn't able to find out how at all they managed…" Hermione again shook her head and furrowed her brows, apparently she disliked having gaps in her knowledge. "It's supposed to strengthen the bond between the two wizards and their wands. If performed correctly, it did bestow further powers upon the persons and their wands… While they already could do extraordinary magic without it, the ritual yet would make them, well, not unbeatable, but… sort of, compared to other wizards anyway. One of its features for example, that will make you understand Helen's position in our world, was that the foedus virum ensured that should one of the couple die, then his powers and those of his wand would transfer into the other – saving the wand of the perished would be kept intact."
The four non-wizarding listeners were looking at Hermione, perplexed, confused, and she wasn't sure they could still follow. Giles looked like he was trying his best, so did Willow, but the gaze on Xander's and Buffy's face seemed blank. Hermione sighed quietly before continuing.
"You must understand – the chance that the two wizards, who were destined for these two very rare wands, actually meet, that they'd actually live in the same generation, even in the same century, is... small to say the least. There are thousands, no, probably tens of thousands of wands waiting for their wizards, some have to wait only a few days before they find their owner right when they leave the hands of a wandmaker, some have to wait years, hundreds of years, laying around in the storage-rooms, packaged in nice leathern boxes... Mr. Ollivander told me that there have been quite a few that never came to unfold their powers simply because they were destined for wizards who could never have met. Or who did not claimed their wand or purchased another one for whatever reasons.
As the wands are almost identical, so – as I understand it – are the wizards also, well, obviously they're not identical, but they are… very close, there is supposed to be a very strong, unique bond between them, they resemble each other in their character, in their thinking perhaps, their views, their general disposition, their likes and dislikes, they are soul mates really, more than that, imagine two people who have been destined for each other, hundreds of years ago, long before they were born, I've been hoping to find out more about it, it sounds so romantic," Hermione blushed as she saw Ron's raised eyebrows, then hurried to continue, "but it's almost impossible, there are no reliable records, all I know is what Mr. Ollivander told me who knew bits from his ancestors, bits from his fellow wandmakers, but it's all very vague."
Ron looked around at them. "You see Helen never talks about it ever." He said, explaining why they knew so very little about it all.
"Well," Hermione continued, "imagine two such persons, with this special tie created between them, and they actually meet, they actually get the privilege to experience what it means, to live the specialness that others haven't got." Hermione spoke calmly, but Giles found something irritating in the way she spoke, she had this way of I-am-explaining-the-world-to-you-now in her voice, something very judgemental.
"It's been observed that every time these couples, every time one of these seven couples actually did meet, it was in a very particular period, within events that would have a long-run effect on the later course of things, mostly during wars or such – just as it was the case of the first pair. The ritual I mentioned was supposed to make sure that even if one of the two wizards died, the other would keep or even, as later the ritual was upgraded in the 15th century, enlarge his own powers... and – the most striking peculiarity to me – it would even enable them to perform magic without the wand as long as the wand of the deceased wasn't destroyed."
"Weren't they ever tempted to kill each other then? You know – in order to become stronger?" Ron wondered.
"Would you kill your soul-mate? The one person who was meant to be with you, who was destined for you? Who had been fighting at your side?" Hermione asked reproachfully, implying that Ron's question was needless. "Besides the magic of their wands ensured that they couldn't harm each other in any way, not even with other wands."
All four of them were now utterly confused. This was just too much information. It all sounded too bizarre, too… doubtful even, too obscure and surreal. Hermione sighed once more. "Right, let's make it short. Helen and Snape have been the last known such couple, the first since 1412. They both had bought their wands at Ollivanders, our wandmaker in London."
Giles frowned and was about to ask where exactly in London one could purchase a wand, but Hermione kept explaining in a teacher's voice. "After more than five hundred years," she emphasized, "here they were again, the foedus virum was performed by Nicholas Flamel, who had it performed in 1412 as well."
"Nicholas Flamel?" Giles stared at Hermione in disbelief. "The medieval writer who died in 1413?" The corners of his mouth were twitching into a smile as if he was about to tell her that finally he discovered a flaw in her story and that she has been kidding them all quite successfully until now.
Hermione nodded, not noticing Giles' grin. "Oh he didn't die then, he had invented the sorcerer's stone and lived for another 600 years, he only died some ten years ago, a long story and not of relevance here." Hermione said, when Giles looked at her incredulously, but she waved her hands vehemently, she didn't want to get sidetracked again.
"And then Professor Snape was killed in the battle and due to the ritual the power of his wand went over to hers. She," Hermione made a short meaningful pause, "at that moment – gained powers none of us, not even her probably, would even dare to dream about."
"Yeah," Ron nodded thoughtfully, then grinned: "She blew up one whole wing of the castle as the Death Eaters had been approaching it, with a single spell." He said, an amused admiration was detectable in his voice.
"She killed Bellatrix Lestrange, the wife of Rodolphus, who's been responsible for…", Hermione shivered a little, remembering the moments when her, Ron and Harry had been held captured at the manor of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix cruciated her repeatedly to find out about the sword of Gryffindor, "torturing wizards in order to get information. She was the closest to Voldemort. Others may have joined him mostly out of fear or out of some twisted foresight, worried about their future if they wouldn't, but Bellatrix, and Rodolphus were indeed true fanatics…"
Suddenly a loud, persistent knock on the door interrupted them. They all exchanged baffled glances, then Giles got up and slowly walked towards the door. "Who is it?" He asked loudly.
"It's George Weasley," said a man's voice.
Ron stood up. "Oh, it's George, it's my brother, we left him a message, I didn't think he would come so soon."
Giles opened the door and the other familiar red-haired face was looking at him earnestly.
"Mr. Giles, we met before." George offered him his hand to shake. "I heard what happened. Well, not exactly, but I got your message." He turned at Ron. "I came as soon as I could. Had to promise Angelina that I won't do anything stupid." He rolled his eyes. "As if I ever did."
Giles stepped aside and motioned George to enter.
"Thank you. How is Helen?" He asked looking around the living room.
In that moment Helen's quiet murmur from upstairs could be heard, the meaningless moans about someone's green eyes that weren't hers. George raised his head towards the railing upstairs.
"She'll be fine." Hermione assured him. "He really didn't spare her, but she'll recover, give it a few days."
"Good." He replied nervously. "So, what is going on? Where is Lestrange?"
Ron cleared his throat, then said quietly. "We don't know yet, he had escaped before… Hermione is telling them about the thing…"
George frowned at his brother. "What thing?"
"You know, about Helen and Snape and… the thing, the spell, you know." He gave him the look that was saying George surely knew and motioned him to follow him to the sofa.
George looked at Hermione in disbelief, she at him provocatively, he wanted to say something poignant, but Ron's short "Don't" stopped him and resigned he joined the others sitting around the coffee table.
"Where was I?" Hermione asked herself.
"You were talking about Bellatrix Lestrange." Willow said.
"Right. Helen killed her, even after Bellatrix had taken her wand, she just looked at her, didn't even say a word and all we saw was the sudden burst of green light, just as Bellatrix was grinning at her widely, then her face froze and… well, she was dead. After that she knocked out some other Death Eaters and Harry managed to destroy Voldemort…" Hermione gave them a meaningful look. "With him gone she actually became the strongest witch, with the most powerful magic on her disposal, it must have been so exciting, such a challenge… she could do stuff, perform spells and enchantments beyond imagination… had she wanted to."
"What happened?" Giles asked.
"She didn't want to." George replied. "She chose not to." He added firmly as Hermione was about to say more.
"That's not all." The young witch said stubbornly.
"Hermione," George said warningly, but she merely gave him a cold look before continuing.
"Soon she began to… to avoid people, to shun everyone's company-"
"That's not quite true, you know that, only because she had no one left and the rest of us was simply too busy to take notice-"
"Are we supposed to feel responsible-"
"That's not what I said!" George snapped.
"Hey," Ron tried to appease them, Hermione and George were shooting wary glances at each other. "It doesn't matter now."
"But what happened?" Willow demanded to know.
"One day," Ron began cutting Hermione's and George's attempts to continue, "I believe it was about two years ago from now, almost a year after the battle, we found her – we went to visit her in her London apartment on an evening and we didn't find her there, only a-an old book with some odd rituals of dark magic… brrr," he shrugged, "really scary stuff, it was opened on a chapter that was describing a dark, powerful ritual of how to deprive your opponent, another wizard of his whole magical power. We, or better George had guessed that she might have wanted to try it on herself… then we went to the shore house where my brother thought she would be, it took us ages to break all the protection spells around the place-"
"We reached her just in time," Hermione said, "it was so typical for her, she didn't thought about the consequences-"
"Didn't she?" George asked in a challenging voice.
"She didn't even read the damn chapter till the end! It explicitly warned the user that the ritual can on occasion lead to death and that if used upon oneself it most certainly would," Hermione was saying, emphasizing every word, "I think she can owe her life only to her special condition, to the fact that she wasn't an ordinary witch before either, otherwise she would surely have lost her powers entirely. And hadn't we come just in time to disrupt the ritual and destroy the settings…" Hermione shook her head, then after a short pause she said: "It was completely insane, I don't understand how she could do such a thing."
"Well, she'll have her reasons, Hermione." Ron said calmly.
"What reasons? ! What could have been so terrible that would make her do it? ! To throw away what she was, all the possibilities at her hands, Merlin! She had responsibilities…" She paused again, it was clear to them that she had tried but could not justify the action in any way, couldn't find any acceptable excuse for it. "I mean, sure it was hard, difficult after the battle, to go on, but everyone has suffered their losses then, every one had been sad, every one of us has lost some family, their friends, relatives, parents…. but none of us blamed magic for it, though it all hurt-"
"Yes? ! Can you really see, Hermione? ! Whom have you lost? ! How can you-" George was outraged, Ron has never seen his brother like this, he seemed to have difficulties to put his thoughts in words. "You have told us, you yourself have enlightened us in your cheeky know-it-all-better manner several times on that-that thing with the wands and the special… bond between the two wizards, their unique relationship for which they had been destined…" He shook his head, looking at her angrily. "How… can you really understand what it must have been like – how can any of us know – what it must have felt like – to lose the one person you were destined to spend your life with, who was your soul mate, who was the one that understood you best, that knew your deepest secrets, your weaknesses and strengths, your thoughts, who was your other half and without whom you're lost, you're… amputated… Have you lost someone like that ever? !" George said in a loud voice and his words made Giles stiffen. He felt strangely out of place. There already had been a perfect – because destined – person for her, how could he ever fill his shoes, of this Snape? Would he want to?
Hermione just stared at George for a moment, then said: "She almost died because of her foolishness!"
"Well, perhaps that was her choice too!" George almost yelled this time and Giles' eyes widened at the statement. The older Weasley laughed sarcastically. "I… I don't believe this. You're wasting your time here with this stuff, with talking about things of which you have no idea," he spoke agitated, "while Lestrange is lurking somewhere around, probably planning his next attack… you might be the brightest witch on Earth but you surely sometimes-"
"George," Ron interrupted him.
"Guys," Buffy walked towards them. "I'm glad we're finally at the important subject here."
George looked at her blankly, he almost forgot there were other people in the room.
"We need to find this guy," Buffy said impatiently. "Before he charms himself back here again."
"He can't come here," Hermione answered, still a little riled, "we placed the protection spells around here-"
"Yeah, you see, so did she yesterday and it didn't keep him away, so don't take this personally, but I don't care much about your so called protection hocus-pocus." Buffy said unimpressed.
"That was her, what did you expect? !" Hermione said. "She can hardly do anything! For someone as strong as Rodolphus Lestrange her spells were no match!"
"Well, he can't be that strong, his spells surely didn't work on me!" Buffy said.
"What? !" Hermione frowned incomprehensively.
"Well," Giles said in a loud voice, hurrying to interrupt the emerging argument, he stood up. "Be that as it may, let us-uh… all calm down a little and think."
"Right."
They began to discuss their options on how to find Rodolphus. They decided that Buffy and George would do another round through the town, stopping at Willy's, Ethan's and Angel's trying to find out whether there were any traces of Rodolphus or whether someone has seen or known anything about him, while Ron accompanied by Xander should go – just in case – refresh the protection spells on Xander's and Willow's homes. Later – if they wouldn't succeed till then in finding and defeating him – they would meet near Helen's house to look around there once more.
Hermione, Giles and Willow stayed at Giles' apartment. Giles let Hermione in on their Watcher-Slayer duties and on Hellmouth, she seemed very interested in the demon-world and was listening eagerly as he and Willow were enumerating some of their adventures. Every now and then Hermione would check on Helen upstairs, who was half asleep, half awake, tossing and turning, quietly moaning over and over the same incoherent stuff about the green eyes of some woman.
"What is it with the eyes? Do you know what she's talking about, what it means?" Willow finally asked Hermione when she returned downstairs.
Hermione squirmed uncomfortably, obviously she knew. "Eh-… that's-eh… private, I-eh," she shook her head, "I don't feel that it'd be right for me telling you... you best ask her yourself." She walked towards them and sat down on the sofa. "But then again apparently she didn't tell you a whole lot about herself."
"No," Giles replied thoughtfully.
"How long have you known her?" Willow asked.
Hermione thought for a moment. "It's been some five-six years I guess. She had replaced Professor Bins as a history of magic teacher, who was a ghost."
Both Giles and Willow stared at her.
"I don't exactly know why he needed to be replaced, I heard rumours that he became somewhat unreliable towards the end of our fourth year, going to some wild ghost-gatherings or even muggle-parties, scaring people, ravaging in the streets in some Scottish towns at night. Hagrid said that he might have discovered at last what possibilities and opportunities he had been missing as a ghost and… sort of wanted to compensate for his boring life as it had been before he died and then for his even more boring being as ghost later… it did make sense." She nodded to herself. "Well, anyway, he was gone by the end of the fourth year and Helen came. We actually met her in the holidays already, she was in the Order, she was staying at the Grimmauld Place with us during the last weeks of the summer."
When Willow asked what kind of an Order she meant, Hermione began to tell them about the wizarding events of the past years, about Hogwarts, about Dumbledore and Voldemort, about Harry's special role, about the war between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix that ended with the Battle of Hogwarts.
Upstairs Helen was laying in the wide bed, many images were rushing through her fevered head, of Rodolphus' face distorted with hatred, of the widely grinning Bellatrix standing opposite to her in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, of Dumbledore's apologetic sad expression during their last conversation, and over and over the image of Severus laying on the floor of the Shrieking Shack and staring into Harry's eyes, the eyes of Lilly Evans…
A semi-loud pop seemed to have woken her up a bit. She tried to look around her, her vision was still blurry, but couldn't see anything, then a flash of white light of a spell hit her, someone had silenced her. She wanted to speak, to ask who's there but no sound would come out of her mouth. Despite that every movement hurt her she tried to sit up, when there was another flash of light and the tall dark-haired figure of Rodolphus Lestrange appeared at her bedside, with a malicious smile. He placed his forefinger on his lips, asking her to be silent, knowing very well that she couldn't speak or scream even if she wanted to.
Downstairs Hermione ended her explanations and frowned, remembering Buffy's words from before.
"What did she, the girl – Buffy – what did she mean when she said that the spells, Rodolphus' spells didn't work on her?"
"Yes," Giles said, "there was something yesterday, Helen found it-uh… odd too… he cast a spell on Buffy, twice. I don't remember it exactly, it sounded very much like-uh… Abrakadabra? From what Helen said before it was supposed to kill her but nothing happened…"
"The killing curse? !" Hermione exclaimed shocked.
Yet an odd sounding rumbling from upstairs interrupted them and then a man's "Shsh". They turned their heads towards Giles' bedroom and to their horror saw Rodolphus Lestrange standing there, pointing his wand somewhere they couldn't see.
"How-" Hermione spoke in utter surprise and then Rodolphus pointed his wand at her, realizing only now who she was. His eyes sparkled hungrily. She managed to take out her wand, yet when he shouted "Crucio" and she "Protego" to block his spell, her wand gave off a flash of blue light, but it did not stop Rodolphus' curse, it hit her into her chest and she screamed as the familiar pain in her head emerged. She fell. Giles pushed Willow under the staircase, out of the line of the spells.
"Expelliarmus!" Rodolphus yelled and Hermione's wand flew out of her hand up and over to him where he caught it. "Crucio!" He repeated. "Impedimenta!" Hermione froze and laid motionless on the floor, her gaze blank, but she seemed to be breathing.
"Right." Rodolphus said contentedly. "I guess there is no point for you to remain silent anymore. Finite!" Giles heard Helen coughing. He looked around, searching for some weapon he could arm himself with. There was the open chest from which Buffy had taken the crossbow earlier. Rodolphus didn't seem to care for them, obviously he thought the two muggles couldn't harm him in any way or rather he didn't really find them worth noticing. Giles shortly turned at Willow and whispered to her that she was to stay there, not move. He wanted to rummage frantically in the chest to pick something useful when a high pitched scream echoed through his flat, it was the most horrible sound Giles has ever heard, it was cutting his ears. Without further thinking, without considering what he could actually do, he jumped up determined to stop the wizard at whatever prize it would take. He ran upstairs, saw a bundle of pale bare skin and white tunic covered in blood laying on the floor, Rodolphus standing next to it, smiling like a maniac. Giles was about to throw himself at the man, to fight him with his bare hands, when the wizard noticed him.
"Excuto!" Rodolphus shouted and Giles suddenly felt as if someone with an extraordinary force had picked him up and then he flew downstairs and was smashed, with his back he hit the hard wall in the middle of his staircase and blacked out.
Helen tried to turn her head to see what happened and who actually was Rodolphus' last target.
"Look, dear, what I've learned from you! A new spell! And it works splendidly, I must compliment you, you're so…," he shrugged, "inventive, just like Severus, ah," he sighed, "I do miss him sometimes, don't you?"
There was a quiet groan as Giles came to himself again, half laying, half sitting, leaning onto the wall.
"Oh, your muggle friend is awake, what's his name again, Ripper or something, how ridiculous really... What should we do to him, hm? Any suggestions?" He looked down at her. "Any new spells you'd like to teach me? None?" He turned to Giles. "Crucio!"
Giles felt some invisible knives stabbing into his chest and his arms, as if trying to pin him to the wall he was leaning onto.
Rodolphus turned back at Helen, continuing in a casual tone. "No? No ideas?" He shook his head pretending to be disappointed. "You said yourself that I was boring you, doing the same stuff all over again, well then tell me what to do next…"
She was moving her lips but it seemed that to utter a single word was costing her terrible efforts. "Don't…"
"Don't what?"
"Break… it," she murmured, she heard Giles' heavy breathing and his gasps.
"Why-?" He asked, but got interrupted as the door went open and Buffy, George, Ron and Xander stepped in. They walked over to the sofa and spotted there Hermione's motionless body on the floor. Willow, who's been hiding under the staircase, pointed with her finger towards the ceiling upstairs and pulled Xander to her.
"Oh, this is intolerable!" Rodolphus drawled in an irritated, impatient voice. "Do these people have no manners at all? !" He gave Helen a short look as if waiting for her to agree with him, then turned at the group downstairs. Ron was just about to run over to Hermione when Rodolphus knocked him out with a quick spell.
George grasped his wand to attack, but Buffy was already rushing towards the stairs, past Giles, up to where Rodolphus stood. The wizard kept shooting one curse after another at her, but nothing seemed to have the slightest effect on her and for a few seconds George just stared at the blond girl, who didn't appear to be anything more, any stronger than an average teenage girl, she wasn't even very tall, yet when she reached the now utterly irritated Rodolphus, she struck and slapped him hardly, entirely unimpressed by all the blue flashes emerging from his wand, she beat the wand out of his hand. At last she threw him on the floor and then picked his fallen wand and before Helen or George could stop her, she broke the wooden stick in two halves and threw them away.
"Dead wand," Buffy said firmly and satisfied, recalling Hermione's creepy words about wand's inner life. "You best shut up, unless you want to join it." She added pointing at the two separate small wooden parts spread on the floor, when Rodolphus opened his mouth to let out a shower of curses.
Giles felt an immediate relief, the stabbing pain ceased and he looked up. George hurried upstairs, he paused shortly as he reached Giles. "Are you alright?"
Giles nodded reassuringly and George helped him to stand up. They walked past Buffy and both knelt down to Helen, ignoring Rodolphus' furious glances. At the sight of Helen George let out a gasp, then covered his mouth with his hand and look into her eyes. But she was looking at Giles, her lips moving to say something they couldn't distinguish. Already Hermione and Ron came running and Giles heard their voices like from a great distance, he wasn't paying any attention to them, but kept fixing Helen's gaze, trying to make her let her eyes open, not to close them...
The others were talking all at once, having a fevered discussion about how they should proceed. Giles didn't know how long they were arguing, only after a while Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder, saying something that he didn't quite catch and then he saw the two brothers carefully lifting Helen's body, carrying it and laying it on the bed. Hermione gave them some instructions and then someone pushed him gently, turned him around and directed him to walk slowly downstairs. He sat on the sofa when someone's hand appeared in his focus reaching him a glass of brandy. He took it without a word, noticing that his own hand was shaking.
"He seems to be under some shock, probably from the cruciatus-curse," Giles heard Ron saying quietly.
"Maybe," George replied rather doubtfully and for a moment watched Giles drinking out of his glass and every few seconds shooting anxious, uneasy glances towards upstairs. "He'll be fine. Anyway, let's take this thing and return." He pointed at Rodolphus, then took a look at his watch. "It's almost five in the morning in London, we better get back soon, best before we attract too much attention at the ministry." Once more he turned at Giles, clumsily slapped his shoulder and said: "Don't worry, Hermione will fix her."
After that he and Ron cast some spell on Rodolphus to silence him and prevent him from struggling much, and they took him in the middle, then turned on their spots and disappeared.
Bit by bit Giles seemed to have regained the perception of his surroundings, aware now of the other persons in his apartment. The three Scoobies were standing around the sofa, talking about what would possibly happen to Rodolphus now, letting their imagination a free flow, cursing the wizard and wondering what kind of strange horrible imprisonments and punishments there might be in the wizarding world.
Giles was trying to catch any sounds, any voices from upstairs, but all he could hear was a silent murmur of Hermione every now and then, the rest was silence, no moans, no painful screams, no talking, nothing. When Hermione finally came down, Giles was almost afraid to ask, but then he saw her smile, tired, but pleased.
"It's not so bad, she's been very fortunate," Hermione said.
"Fortunate?" Xander repeated perplexed, wondering whether the witch had been there with them during the last hours, seen and heard what they did.
"Yes," she nodded, "some of the cuts are worse, that is true, some will take long to heal, but otherwise, she has no inner bleedings, no other complicated or dangerous injuries. But the wounds need to be looked after. May I stay here until tomorrow?"
"Of course," Giles answered, glad, relieved.
"Later I'll show you how to take care of it and you can do it yourself, but just in case, I'd like to stay a little longer."
Giles then sent the trio home and together with Hermione they sat on his sofa.
"What will happen to him now?" He asked.
"To Rodolphus? Well, he'll probably get a trial, which – as I predict – will be public, considering his rank among Voldemort's followers, and then he will end up in Azkaban, our prison."
"For the rest of his life?"
Hermione hesitated. "That's hard to tell. But probably yes."
"Can he do anything without his wand?"
"His wand! Right!" She slapped her forehead. "I bet we're going to get a harangue from Kingsley because of that," she lamented.
"Because of what?"
"Buffy – snapping his wand."
Giles frowned as he didn't understand what was so bad about it.
"You see, only someone from the ministry, an official is entitled to snap someone's wand, no matter what the circumstances…"
"Hm."
Hermione yawned and it occurred to Giles that it was already an early morning according to her English time. He offered her to sleep on the sofa, but she refused and conjured a mattress out of nothing, then – floating in the air – she directed it towards Giles' bedroom and gently let it fall on the ground next to the bed, in which Helen was now sleeping.
Giles watched it with widened eyes. "That's-uh… very convenient." He said.
Hermione smiled shyly, then wished him good night and walked upstairs to finally take some rest.
Giles made himself one more drink, turned the lights off except for one small lamp and stared into the fireplace, deepened in thoughts. He didn't even think of sleeping, he doubted he could close his eyes after everything that happened, after what he had heard, seen, felt…
AN: I'd be really glad for reviews here, especially about the wand-couples-idea, it sounds logical and clear to me, but it can be (very likely ) perhaps confusing or unclear to the readers.
Because I know what I'm talking about, I have this idea clearly in my head, understanding it, quite thought it through, I might not see the flaws in it or in the description of it…
So, please if you have a few minutes, you know what to do :D
Thank you for staying with me this far, hopefully I'll update soon, with a longer chapter…