A/N: Well, I definitely didn't get half of the things that I wanted to packed into this chapter, but as I said in my profile update, that just makes writing chapter twenty-six easier. In fact, I don't want to jinx myself, but I've gotten three pages written on that one already. I only took a small break to post this one because I have a feeling that I'm going to be done with twenty-six in a week or so. As always, hopefully... In the meantime, keep a watch out of my profile for any updates pertaining to both my writing and personal life. That said, I'm going to give my thanks and leave you to read while I hash out the rest of the next chapter.
Thanks to: pottersgirl91 (eight pages of a letter and still going, lol), Idle Writer of Crack (your genius influence still persists in this chapter), Dramione-Fan 17, Lizzy Evans, Elliesmeow, Mary-La, EZRocksAngel, and Tecumseh Dean (as in Indian chief Tecumseh or no?).
Chapter 25 – Death's Door
"Hermione! Hermione!" Noah bellowed as he thundered up the stairs, taking some two at a time. He skid into his cousin's room as Daniel halted at the bottom of the staircase, gazing up with intent and pleading eyes in case Hermione would come out of her room. "Hermione! Can I have some candy, please?"
"She's in the restroom," Cedric informed from his perch on the edge of Hermione's bed.
Noah wheeled away and dashed down the corridor to the bathroom as a dog barked wildly outside. It was probably chasing a rabbit or frolicking in the snow, so Diggory ignored it as he flipped through an album of pictures from Hermione's childhood.
He was so absorbed in her early moments of life as he turned the page and grinned to himself. Hermione was standing next to her father at a park as ducks, who were frozen in partial flight or fights over bread crumbs, crowded around their feet and legs. She had been captured throwing bread into the air and grinning broadly, making it apparent—that even as a child—her heart was strong and courageous and daring. Her gorgeous brown eyes were large and questioning, displaying the same hunger for knowledge that still glittered in her brown depths.
Cedric found as he flipped the page again and continued to study Hermione's transition from infant to toddler to a child heading off to her first day of Muggle school that he liked Muggle photographs better than wizarding ones. The way that still photos captured a moment was even more enchanting than the mere idea that photographs could move in the wizarding world. To freeze a solitary act or smile was amazing and brilliant, and that made photography a great deal like magic itself, in fact. Sealing a piece of the heart and soul into a single shot with the click of a button and a flash was suddenly such an intense idea to him that he had trouble tearing his eyes away as the dog outside continued its crazed barking.
"Hermione! Can I please, please, please have some of these chocolates?" Noah shouted as he banged on the door.
"What chocolates?" Hermione barked back, her voice muffled from inside the lavatory.
"Kids! Settle down some!" Hermione's aunt's voice echoed up from the kitchen, where the faint sound of shuffling cards and clinking glasses could be heard.
"They're in a green package with a red bow. I think that Dad and Uncle got them for you when they went to the store today!" Noah informed his cousin at the top of his voice, ignoring his mother's request.
"I suppose you can, then," Hermione gave in as she opened the door and came out of the bathroom.
"Thanks!" Noah grinned as he whipped around and began tearing the bow away. It dropped to the floor and the lid followed as he reached the top of the steps and popped a dark brown morsel into his mouth.
He chewed in pure delight, tasting caramel and crème and something else that was sweet, but he could not recognize. He sputtered then as he thought about it, feeling his throat itch and grow tight like something was squeezing it. He coughed again as Hermione peeked back out of her room and gave him a scolding glance.
"Chew your food, Noah," she chastised as he dropped the box, chocolates scattering about the hallway and down the stairs as he clutched at his throat. "Noah?" Hermione and Cedric came fully out of her room, alarm rising from the pit of Hermione's stomach. "Noah!" she gasped as her cousin began to turn crimson with exertion.
She rushed forward and grabbed the teenaged boy around the waist as his eyes rolled back into his head and his reddish color turned a more purple shade. He tottered heavily in her arms as foam and drool appeared at the corners of his mouth. Thinking quickly, Hermione did the only thing she knew to do, she began rescue movements to dislodge what he was choking on, but this did not seem to be the problem.
"Cough it up," she commanded in a grunt as she dropped heavily to the floor, unable to hold him up any longer.
Diggory tried to catch them, but he was seconds too late as her knee twisted awkwardly under not only her own weight, but that of her cousin's, too.
Downstairs, the back door opened and the dog barreled inside, running past everyone and into the living room.
"Kids! What did we say?" Mr. Granger bellowed as laughter followed his reminder. "And keep an eye on the dog!" he added as he closed the back door.
The adults were obviously oblivious to what was occurring on the second floor landing. They were mistaking the sounds for rough-housing and frivolity. It must have appeared to them as though the dog were merely trying to join in.
Back upstairs, Hermione tilted Noah's head to the side and pried his mouth open to prevent further choking. Cedric and Daniel squatted quickly down on the opposite side of her cousin, both showing signs of uncertainty.
The collie, who had burst through the living room and almost knocked over a vase, leaped up the stairs, stopping just short of plowing over Daniel to sniff a forgotten chocolate. His nose wrinkled, and he growled, drawing the attention of those nearby. They watched as the collie backed away and then shifted from animal to man. Daniel gasped and sputtered, but his astonishment was cut short by the gargling noises of his friend.
"Make him spit it out!" Daniel panicked, returning everyone's concern to Noah, whose tongue was swelling to four times its original size. His throat was mimicking a frog, appearing as though he were going to make a croaking noise at any moment.
"Oh gods!" Hermione whimpered as she leaned down to press her ear to Noah's chest, listening for a heartbeat.
"How many did he eat?" the newly shifted Auror demanded as he knelt at Noah's head.
"Just one," Hermione informed in a frightful manner as she clutched at her cousin's shirt collar, trying to keep it from further cutting off his air supply. "Ron had this same thing happen to him," Hermione muttered more to herself than anyone else. "Harry shoved something down his throat... Oh! What was it?" she cried as she fisted her hands in her hair and rocked back and forth, willing herself to remember.
"We need to call an ambulance," Daniel cut in.
"There's nothing Muggles can do for him," the Auror responded, not looking at Daniel.
"I just need a second to think," Hermione hushed them, racking her brain for an answer.
"We don't have a second!" Daniel protested angrily as he glared at his best friend's cousin through blurry eyes.
Cedric pulled out his wand then and aimed it at Noah's throat, only to be interrupted by Daniel.
"He's choking! You can't go prodding him with a stick, you sod!" the youth growled as he grabbed Diggory's sleeve and tried to jerk the wand away.
"Get off!" Cedric ordered, shoving Daniel so hard in the chest with his forearm that he almost knocked the teen backwards down the stairs. As the younger boy caught his balance, Diggory aimed at Noah once more and cast the only spell he could think might help. "Anapneo!"
Melted chocolate began running from Noah's mouth with the drool that poured from the corner of his lips; however, this did not seem to help. Hermione's cousin still convulsed on the floor and his eyes were still unfocused and staring up into his skull.
"Try reducing the swelling," the Auror suggested as he checked Noah for signs of what kind of poison could be affecting him.
"Reducio!" Cedric said sharply. When this did not work, he spat out another spell."Episkey!" Again, nothing. "Finite Incantatum!"
He had tried dislodging whatever was choking Noah, reducing the swelling, a Healing Charm, and a charm to stop whatever hex was causing the adverse reaction, but to no avail. The young boy's condition was not improving. And as if to prove this, Noah stopped moving entirely.
"Noah!" Hermione shrieked, startled by his lifelessness. "Noah!" she hissed again with urgency as Daniel sat wide-eyed and pale, tears flowing in slow motion over his white cheeks. His best friend was dying, and he had no idea what to do.
"Keep him stabilized while I contact the Ministry for help," the Auror ordered as he rose and backed away down the corridor and into the bathroom.
Hermione shook Noah, but he did not stir. She pressed her fingers to his wrist and throat, searching frantically for a pulse. At first, there appeared to be nothing, no beat or rhythm of pulsing blood. His face remained blue-tinged and his eyes were glassy and turning lifeless.
"No... no! He... he can't," she gasped as she turned his head and pressed his swollen cheeks between her palms. "Breathe, Noah. Do you hear me? Breathe! Laugh! Blink! Stop playing!"
She gripped his wrist again, trying to steady herself as she searched again for a pulse. Then she found it. A faint, barely-there sort of throb under the surface of his sallow skin. If the tempo of his slowing blood—which was at least four or five times slower than her own rapid pulse—was anything to go by, Hermione guessed that she only had a couple of minutes to get her cousin breathing again, or else he would surely expire.
"CPR," Daniel suggested hoarsely, his eyes never leaving Noah's motionless figure as his brain raced with the impossibility of what was occurring.
Hermione cautiously wiped at Noah's mouth, trying to remove all traces of chocolate and drool so as not to take on any of the poison infecting him. She pinched his nose shut and cupped his chin in her other hand. She covered his mouth entirely with her own and blew as hard as she could, trying to inflate his chest. Nonetheless, his cheeks only puffed a bit as the air stopped at his blocked throat.
Hermione put her hands together in the proper way, palm to the back of one hand and fingers laced. She located the end of his ribs and moved upward an inch or two. Placing the heel of her palm in that spot, she began pumping as she counted in her head, trying to keep his heart going.
Then it came to her like a number in the rescue sequence.
"A bezoar! Cedric, there's one in my closet, in the potion kit on the top shelf. Get it. Quick!"
Diggory rose with haste and almost tripped as he hurried into Hermione's room and began rooting in her closet. He found the small case soon enough and came rushing back out of the room, throwing Billywig wings, dandelion petals, knotgrass, and potion tools on the floor as he dug for the stone-like goat hairball. He pulled it out as though he had found a piece of gold and instantly squatted down. Hermione snatched it from him and shoved it roughly into Noah's mouth as the Animagus Auror rejoined them. Hermione tilted her cousin's head back as far as she could get it and began massaging the mass down his puffy throat.
"The Ministry is sending a mediwizard and another Auror."
"Come on," Hermione demanded through gritted teeth, ignoring the Auror's words as hot tears spilled over her cheeks and onto Noah's chest. "Swallow and breathe!"
Down in the living room, the clock on the mantle chimed the midnight hour. Hermione had once thought that the song it played, which Mr. Granger's father had told her was "Ave Maria," was a cheerful sort of tune. Now it resonated a mournful and foreboding aura as the lyrics marched like a funeral procession through her head.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Hermione leaned forward, trying to listen for the slightest sound of her cousin's breathing over the chimes, which were deafening to her at that moment.
Seconds passed, the tune carried on, but no soft rustle of breathing joined it.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Tears continued to spill from Hermione's eyes. Guilt and grief flocked to her in that moment like vultures to a kill on the side of the road. She could feel chills rent her insides, ripping at her as a strangled sob left her lips.
The chimes downstairs stopped, but they remained echoing in her ears like the thunderous bells at the beginning of a funeral procession.
She shook her head, a signal of denial as she grabbed Noah's wrist once more. While she felt for his pulse again, her mind swirled with her last words to him. They had been harsh and chastising. She had barked at him to chew his food, thinking that he was like a savage little barbarian with the way he gobbled the chocolate. Now he lay dead in the hallway outside her room where she had issued those cold words.
No, she thought to herself, swallowing against her whimpering. He was not dead. She had found his pulse, which was still there, no matter how weak.
Hermione returned to her efforts of massaging the bezoar down her cousin's throat, refusing to give up hope.
"Hermione! Noah! Daniel! Cedric!" Mrs. Granger called from the kitchen where the sound of a slamming drawer and shutting cupboards were made. "You're all being awfully quiet now. Bring down the dog and come have a piece of fruitcake and a cup of peppermint tea before bed!"
Plates clattered on the counter as Cedric reached for Hermione's fervently working hands.
"Hermione...," Diggory breathed, soft and gentle as the Auror checked his strange wristwatch. Her eyes darted up to Cedric's, but she never stopped rubbing her fingers on the distended area of Noah's neck.
"No," she denied with a firm, but gruff tone as she saw the sorrow, apology, and sympathy stretching from his gaze to her soul. "He's still there... Rub the bezoar down while I breathe for him."
Cedric glanced at the Animagus before his hands doubtfully replaced Hermione's and followed through with her command. She pinched Noah's nose closed for a second time as she pulled his chin down with her thumb. When she leaned over him to put her mouth on his, a belching sort of breath left him. Its putrid sweetness burned in her nostrils, causing her to gag. Noah's tongue twitched and then he drew in a deep gulp of air, sounding as though he were a mummy that had been asleep for thousands of years.
"Noah!" Hermione's voice wavered as she clutched his shoulders and pulled him over onto her lap. He blinked once and his eyes fought to focus themselves as his cousin caressed his cheek with concern. His stomach felt like someone had placed an iron ball into it and his throat was raw. He got the impression that someone had been choking him from the way his Adam's Apple throbbed so painfully. There was a sickeningly sweet taste on his tongue, too, that made him want to retch.
"Don't crowd me," Noah growled crustily as he swatted Hermione's hand and rubbed his sore throat.
She exhaled a sigh of relief and closed her burning eyes as her heart jumped from panicked to joyous.
Someone knocked at the front door then, so the Auror rose and jogged down the steps, past the awestruck Daniel and reverent Cedric.
Hermione could not help but think that maybe "Ave Maria" was a cheerful song after all. And maybe Mary had prayed for them in the hour of Noah's death. No one could ever be certain about that, but one thing was certain. He had been at Death's door, about to knock, and quick thinking and a goat's hairball had helped save Noah from an untimely, dark end.
Alleviation flooded Hermione's senses as a mediwizard and two Aurors joined them on the hallway floor. Cedric pulled Daniel away, who gave his friend a watery look of alarm.
Now Hermione turned her attention to the spilled gift of chocolates as the mediwizard ran his wand over Noah in a methodical manner. Her father and uncle had certainly not bought those for her. In fact, she knew exactly where they came from, and it only enraged her to think that her stalker had almost cost her a member of her family.
Things had been quite personal before that moment, but now, as she glared at the dark balls of chewy, chocolaty termination, they became vengefully personal. Hermione would make sure that she got her revenge, even if it killed her. She was not one to be broken or discouraged, so she was going to show whoever this bastard was that he could not eliminate her with a mere box of sweet-coated, candy expiry.
"Are you all right?" Diggory asked cautiously as he rose from his seat on the couch and walked over to take Hermione's empty teacup.
"No... not really," she sighed as she glanced at the colored, twinkling lights on the Christmas tree and thought about the events of only a few hours ago. "Noah almost died... In fact, I think he was dead those last few seconds before I tried rescue breathing a second time," she added, mildly mesmerized by the way the shiny bows atop each package reflected the lights. "He annoys me most of the time, but I..."
She swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat as Cedric sat her cup back down and perched upon the edge of the coffee table in front of her. He enfolded her clutched hands in his and tried to think of the best way to soothe her. He wished then that the Aurors had erased tonight's events from her head just as they had with her family members and Daniel.
"I don't know what I would do if I lost him," she whispered. "He's family. He was the little brother I never truly got to have... What would I have done? It would have been my fault that he-"
"No," Diggory interjected. "It was not your fault, nor would it have been if things had gone sour... You can't blame yourself for everything that happens around you. You don't ask for this stuff."
"I know, but...," she faltered for words, and when none came, she heaved a shuddering sigh and looked at her hands in his. "I can't stay here, especially not if I want them to be safe." She looked up then, her eyes meeting his. "I need to go back to the school early or enter some kind of witness protection. Maybe I could find a place to stay and use the Fidelius Charm until this man is captured."
"Hiding isn't the answer," Cedric voiced, speaking what she already knew deep down. "Besides, I know you are not one to hide from your problems. Even if you were, do you think running away and concealing yourself would stop the attacks happening here?" When she just stared at him, he said something he knew she did not want to hear, but needed to hear. "He would only attack more, trying to draw you out, then."
She nodded her agreement and turned her gaze to the dimly lit floor. Cedric's shadow flickered there, surrounded by red one moment, blue the next, and green the next. As the colors continued to blink and change, she came back to an idea she had had many times recently. She was lucky to have Diggory there with her, to have his support.
"What am I to do, then?" Hermione asked without looking back up at him. "He almost killed Noah tonight... I cannot imagine what could be worse than nearly killing someone in my family."
While Cedric searched internally for an answer to her question, he found himself awed by her. How could she not think of something worse than the death of someone she loved? Did she not fear death for herself more than that of someone around her, someone close to her? Should not the thought of pain involved in death seem so much more dreadful? Was her bravery and selflessness so deep that it paralyzed the part of her brilliant mind in which self-preservation thrived?
"We'll think of something in the morning. For now... you should get some sleep," he advised as he squeezed her hands.
Her nod was barely noticeable, but she followed that up by rising from her seat and looking down at him.
"Thank you," she whispered before leaning down and kissing his temple, "for everything." She turned and walked towards the steps, climbing up to her room without a backward glance.
"Can I help you?" asked a nasally receptionist outside of the Minister's office.
"I would like to speak with Minister Shacklebolt, please," Cedric requested as he beamed down at the portly witch behind her desk.
"Do you have an appointment?" she quizzed as she pulled out a voluminous binder. She dropped it onto the desk with a loud smack and began flipping through the pages.
"Well, no... I, uh-"
"I cannot let you in to see the Minister without an appointment," the secretary informed, ceasing her page turning as she peered up at Cedric from under eyebrows that had seen too much plucking.
"It's about an urgent matter," Cedric tried. "Couldn't you just squeeze me in during a lull? It would only take a moment."
"No appointment, no audience," reminded the receptionist in an annoying chant. She closed the enormous binder with a slap and hulled it off her desk.
"When is the next available opening?" Diggory asked in a hopeful tone, trying to play to the secretary's tune in hopes that he could soften her resolve.
"Let me see," she sighed, dragging the binder back onto her desk. Its noisy thud made Cedric wince, and he soon had to take a seat as she began rifling through the pages.
"The next opening is in January, on the fifteenth," she announced, glancing up expectantly at the young man across the room.
"January? The fifteenth?!" he repeated in mild outrage. "I can't wait that long... Surely there must be something sooner than that..."
"That's the soonest," she said with a disinterested look. "The Minister is leaving the office after today and won't be back until after the New Year."
"There isn't something for later today? Right before he leaves, perhaps?"
"No, sir, there isn't."
"Please... This is about the safety of a dear friend to both myself and the Minister. Her name is Hermione Granger, and she is currently under the supervision of a group of Aurors at her home, but these precautions are not enough."
"Then you need to speak with the head of the Aurors," the receptionist suggested with a tone of finality.
"I tried that already. He will not move Hermione Granger without permission from the Minister because this is a high-risk case. I don't think you understand just how urgent this is," Cedric argued, rising from his seat on the overstuffed leather loveseat.
"There is nothing I can do, Mr...?"
"Diggory. Cedric Diggory. My father is Amos Diggory. Our family is a cherished friend of Kingsley."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Diggory," huffed the secretary in a snotty manner. "There's nothing more that I can do for you. If you want to schedule an appointment for the fifteenth of January, I can do that, but otherwise, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Can I at least leave a message for the Minister?" Cedric grumbled, feeling his patience grow irritatingly short.
"Yes, but I cannot guarantee that he will get to it today," she noted as she grabbed a piece of paper and a quill and looked up at Cedric anticipatively. The quill twitched in her fingers as though it were ready to go bouncing across the page, blotting ink and scratching out words.
"It is about Hermione Granger," he began. "I would like to speak to the Minister about moving her to my home instead of her own. I feel it would be safer."
The quill began scribbling, moving out of the secretary's hand as it wrote the words 'Hermione Granger, move, safer'.
"Cedric Diggory. One twenty-three p.m. December twenty-first," she added, watching the quill jot down her additions to the note.
Then she snatched up the writing utensil as it wobbled on a period after 'twenty-first', making a dark blot on the page. She stowed it in an open inkwell and began folding the note into the shape of a plane. Once she had it just right, she tapped it with her wand, which made it zoom off the palm of her hand and towards the waiting room door.
"Thank you, Agatha," Kingsley boomed as he plucked the flying note out of the air just before it could dart into his eye.
"Oh! Minister... I'm sorry," the receptionist gushed, her face twinging red as her boss stood in the waiting room door. "Sometimes I just give them too much oomph."
"Happens to me all the time," the Minister chuckled deeply as he unfolded the plane and began reading. "Hermione Granger, hmm?" Kingsley turned his gaze on Cedric and there was a small glimmer in his dark chocolate eyes. "Hello, Cedric."
"Minister," Diggory acknowledged, extending his hand as he straightened his back. Even if Kingsley were friends with his father and had visited for dinner some nights after a long shift on the Auror floor, Cedric knew he needed to show respect for the Minister.
"You want to have Miss Granger moved, eh?" Shacklebolt asked, getting right down to business as he clasped Cedric's shoulder and guided him into his office.
"Yes, sir," Cedric nodded. "I believe she would be safer at my home for the remainder of the holidays."
"Is that so?" Kingsley questioned, seemingly inviting the younger man to explain his motives and ideas on the matter.
"Yes, sir," Cedric said once more. "I doubt I need to mention the incident that occurred last night with her cousin, Noah."
"No, you do not," the Minister muttered, sounding highly dissatisfied.
"It could have easily been Hermione instead. If it had not been for her quick thinking in using a bezoar, then Noah would have died. Had it been her, we could not say that anyone would have thought of that solution."
Here the Minister nodded his understand and leaned back in his chair, relaxing despite the tense look on his face.
"I feel that the Aurors protecting her are doing an excellent job; they have prevented so much from going wrong so far. Nonetheless, I think some added measures need to be taken."
"What kind of added measures?" Kingsley inquired, becoming more intrigued as he tilted his head to the left and continued to study Cedric.
"What if we were to move Hermione to a place that the stalker did not know? What if we moved her to a home where she was not only under the regular security watch and myself, but that of another Auror and his family?"
"You want to move Miss Granger to your home because you think that her attacker would be unsuspecting of the switch?" Shacklebolt summed up, tapping his fingers on his chair arm.
"And the added surviellance would be a plus, no doubt," Cedric reminded hopefully. "How could her stalker truthfully trace her there? There is no evidence to suggest that he knows my address, and it would prevent further harm to her family."
"You have a point," Kingsley nodded as he leaned forward in his chair now and eyed the young Auror-in-training.
Moments passed, making Cedric's heart leap from encouraged to worried and back again. Finally, the Minister rose as a knock came to the door.
"Minister, you have a two o'clock appointment with the Head of Magical Creatures about a group of mixed species breeds that were discovered in the wild," Agatha reminded. "Then you are due at a statue dedication ceremony outside of Gringotts by three."
"Thank you, Aggie," Shacklebolt sighed as he opened the door to his office a little wider and glanced back at Cedric, who rose from his chair and walked reluctantly to the door.
He paused and met the Minister's eyes, trying to make his own gaze as pleading and trustworthy as possible.
"Aggie," Kingsley said a moment later, never removing his stare from Diggory. "Write up a transportation request form. I'm going to need an Auror escort as driver for the Ministry vehicle. I would like the pick-up point to be the residence of Hermione Granger and the destination to be the safe Apparation zone used by the Aurors guarding her. There will need to be a Portkey set up for this, too. Destination on the Portkey will be the Diggory home... Cedric here can assist you." With that said, Shacklebolt clapped Cedric on the shoulder and grinned broadly. "Take care."
"Thank you, sir... thank you," Diggory sighed in relief as he watched Kingsley turn away and return to his desk. Cedric felt excitement bubbling up inside of him; he could scarcely wait to tell Hermione.