Title: This Once
Pairing: Viktor/Hermione
Rating: M (adult content, abuse)
Summary: Could he make her whole again? Maybe just this once. Good things always come at a price, but neither Viktor or Hermione expected their twice found love to be so hard won.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the innumerable characters and content therein. I am making no profit from this jumble of words.
This Once: Chapter Twenty Five
"No." He glared at her. She glared back. "Just, no."
"Shut up, Harry," she hissed. "You don't have a choice." Hermione was too busy stretching, limbering up before the coming lull in crossfire in order to make a mad sprint across the courtyard to another outpost, to notice her old friends posturing as he hovered over her menacingly. Harry glowered further at her lack of attention.
"Martyr," he spat back at her complete dismissal.
"Oh, don't." She righted herself, poking him in the chest. He grimaced, massaging his abused pectoral as she continued to rant. "Like you really have any room to speak on that end, Mr. Self Sacrifice. If I had a knut for every time you wanted to turn yourself into a human peace offering I'd be several galleons richer."
"Why don't you let me send St. John, Peterson, hell, I'll go. But don't you make me tell him," he pointed in the direction Viktor had bolted, "that I sent you out to play duck and cover. I value my tender bits."
"Harry, we need to draw their fire and the is the plan. Sort of."
"It bloody well isn't." Harry's voice had gone shrill in anticipation as she counted the seconds after a volley of spells.
"I'm killing two birds with one stone. Deal with it." She bolted.
Harry spit out a spell, exploding an overturned cart mid square as a distraction, mentally shrieking at his best friend as he trained his wand on her back as she ran.
Viktor cursed, pulling away from the huddled aurora as he felt his betrothal band frisson with heat. Poking his head out, he resisted the close his eyes in desperation and fear. He couldn't afford the luxury of giving into having a fit about Hermione, there were too many lives at risk. There wasn't anything to be done except move on to the next outpost, hoping he'd cover them all before she managed to reposition herself.
The volleys of exchanged fire had already started to dwindle as word began to spread through their team about the true nature of their opponents. He hoped that several pearlescent pools of decomposing golems in the square would be self evident, but even the most observant witch or wizard would be distracted by their surroundings in the midst of a firefight. It was easy to get distracted when so fully focused on pinpointing the location of an enemy, however well trained both teams of aurors had proved themselves to be.
The intensity of the fire, so far, had done little to reveal the location of the mastermind behind the attack, so all he could do was to keep moving, hoping that he was making a large enough target of himself to draw out a response vicious enough to pinpoint their target.
Poking his head out, he quickly zeroed in on the areas nearby where they'd been concentrating their fire, taking stock of the remaining wands he'd need to dodge before making it to the other side of the operation. If he could time it right, he'd hit the two remaining outposts without having Hermione expose her position again. It was less than a straight shot, however, so the timing was important for his continued health.
The next post was manned by the Weasley boys, who'd quickly and thoroughly excised the enemy fire in their area after the fighting began, which lead Viktor to believe that his little jaunt would be made in redundancy. Better safe than dead on that note, on the other hand. He waited for the last spell impact after counting out their rhythm, and then bolted.
Debris flew past him as he ran through missed spells, dust flying up on impact from the cobblestones surrounding him. A slicing hex grazed his arm as he darted around an abandoned pram, but he knew that faltering wasn't an option. Feet to pavement, he pushed his body to continue on without a misstep as the storefront grew ever larger in the shortening distance.
He stumbled past Bill, the redhead's wand flitting through the air as he blasted away at the target across the square, before crouching down to squat against the cover of a wall, heaving precious oxygen into his lungs.
"Golems, yeah?" shouted Bill, over the din of incoming fire, and Viktor suppressed the urge to thump his head against the brick wall he'd collapsed against. He outwardly cursed, making Bill's face light up with twisted glee at his frustration. The older mans eyes never left the field, but George hooted, turning to slap Viktor on the back before thrusting a tin of water into his hand. The Bulgarian growled, ripping off the cap before guzzling the liquid down, pouring the rest onto his head.
"Sirius' probably figured it too," bellowed Charlie, as he darted back and forth out of the entryway, sharp eyes scanning for movement in the shop windows where their wands were pointed, purposefully making a target of himself.
"Can't take the chance." Viktor shook his head. There was another group of aurors stationed near Sirius's area, in the same quadrant, and they needed to be informed if Black hadn't done so already.
Hauling himself to his feet, his eyes shot to where Hermione had ran to link up with Harry's auxiliary, seeing that she hadn't yet run to the next post. Her now messy bun was peeking out from behind the edifice of a storefront, shifting back and forth as if to gage when to move on.
He counted the seconds. Breathe in, breathe out. Three, two… he sucked in a steadying gulp of air before launching himself away from the wall with both hands like a skier out of a gate. It had begun to snow, powder floating down from the sky to cover the ground with a slick layer of ice and slush. He skidded as he ran, sliding to a stop past a snickering Sirius.
"Wasted effort, son."
Viktor righted himself, stomping the slop of his boots with a snarl.
"Told the aurors, da?"
Sirius tossed his head to the empty spot behind him, and only then did Viktor notice the lack of aurory detail in the Marauder's bolthole.
"Sent one of Harry's boys to spread the word."
Both men half ducked as a massive explosion rocked the foundation of the building, and then Viktor whipped around to survey the damage, glancing through a punched out window.
He pulled at his hair, moaning as he saw the point of impact.
Debris hailed down on them as all three wizards crouched low to the ground for cover, huddled in a corner. Both Hermione and Todo had had the sense to cast a Bubblehead Charm before the impact, but the other two aurors behind them hacked and choked on the smokescreen created by the Bombarda Maxima that had collided with the outer wall of the storefront in which they were sheltered. One man choked out a spell, swirling his wrist to clear the air before hastily checking to see if the damage had affected any load bearing walls, sighing as he found their location to be structurally sound. The gaping hole in their frontal cover wasn't ideal, however. Todo dispelled his Bubblehead as Hermione did, both glancing at one another in half panic as they assessed the now marginal space with which they had to use for protection.
"I think is time to move next house." Todo pointed to his left, a less solid storefront, but for the time being, a much more desirable defensive position.
"Da," was Hermione's droll remark. This was going to be a tricky maneuver. All of a sudden her earpiece flared to life, the sudden crackling within her eardrum startling her so badly that she nearly smacked herself in the head on reflex. Todo let out a yell, his two subordinates echoing him, before cursing wildly, glaring at Hermione all the while. The headsets had been her idea in the first place. Harry's voice blared to life over the intercom.
"Hermione?!"
"Team Leader One, I'm with Team Leader Three. Requesting cover fire for transport of personnel to a new location." Use your combat speak, you berk. Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes at his lack of composure. Boys.
"Starboard or Port?" They'd figured that boating terminology would be tricky enough in case the lines were tapped. Muggleisms were a convenient throwback in case of listening ears whenever Harry dealt with pureblood fanatics.
"Starboard."
"Roger that." Harry's voice continued for a moment, somewhat muffled, as he spoke to his own team quickly as he concocted a plan, before speaking a full volume as he regained command. "Be aware that you're facing Golems; threat neutralized by freezing. Team Leaders, weigh in." One by one all the quadrants called in by sign, and then they knew that whatever spell had been used to block their radios had been dispelled. Thankfully. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright then. I need Teams Two and Four to lay down fire on my count, Team Three get ready to move." Todo, Hermione and the two aurors crouched low to the wall, inching their way forward into the exposed zone of the crumpled masonry that had once provided cover. "Teams One and Five target incoming fire. On my count.. Three.. Two.. One… FIRE."
Explosions rocked the square, dust clouding the already snow filled air, and then Todo thumped Hermione on the shoulder letting her know it was time to move. With tactical precision, the team moved with stealth and speed along the outer wall and into the storefront to the right of their original position.
"We're in!" Hermione panted with the aftereffects of an adrenaline rush, listening to the empty mayhem echoing outside the still open door.
Harry's voice crackled over the set once more. "Cease fire!" All fell silent in the square, and Hermione leaned out the doorway of what they now saw to be a printers with foreboding lodged in her gut. It was too still. She turned to Todo, wand clenched in one hand, who in turn merely shrugged.
"What the hell do we do now?!" George's off the cuff remark over the comm hit home. What did they do now? They'd expected their quarry to have charged into battle, half cocked, by this time. Dark wizards were typically fond of overly dramatic gestures, but this time they'd been let down in their anticipation.
"Team Leader Three. Stay vhere you are." Viktor's guttural order snapped over the intercom, leaving Hermione scrambling for a window, well aware of what would come next. This was what she'd been dreading. Her wrist stung, the pricking heat radiating from the goblin silver encircling her wrist intensified as she watched helplessly as Viktor appeared in the doorway near Sirius's post, obviously readying himself to bait the enemy.
The silence was now deafening, the wind whistling through now crumbling structures with eerie clarity. Snow had begun to fall more heavily from the thick cover of clouds now blotting out the sun, enveloping the visibility across the square in fog as it melted against the still warm flagstones.
"Plan B," muttered Viktor across the intercom, and several voices crackled back in affirmative. Sirius, crouched next to him by an open window, cracked his knuckles before letting his wand dangle between two fingers.
They both startled as Tocopher St. John climbed through a hole in the wall behind them, having taken alternate means to link up with the other team a few door down. Viktor lifted an eyebrow before realizing that he'd forgotten the lad was the team medic, and so he must have been scurrying around between outposts for triage purposes.
Tocopher dusted off his trousers before jauntily saluting Viktor with a filthy hand. He looked as if he'd taken a skid into a puddle, then rolled around for good measure. Sirius covered up a laugh with a sharp cough, at which Tocopher rolled his eyes. Viktor huffed at Sirius's distain; the boy must have been trench crawling his way between buildings.
"Moving on," interjected Sirius, shaking his head.
Viktor hesitated, before approaching the question he'd had on the tip of his tongue since realizing what Tocopher had been tasked with during the operation. "Have there been any casualties?"
"No. One of Todo's took a nasty cut to his femoral artery, that was a close bit of work, but nothing I couldn't fix. Thankfully I was there when he was hit." He shrugged, as if brushing off what could have happened if he hadn't have been with the team when the injury had occurred.
Then it was Viktor turn to shake his head, before moving to stare out the door, and he felt the sweat on his back cooling as he listened for movement. Nothing. There remained the possibility that the culprit had already been eradicated, but as most of the veterans among them knew, they couldn't let their guard down until the square had been entirely and thorough searched. Sniper fire raining down after someone had declared the all clear wasn't an acceptable risk.
'Plan B' was to make a gigantic target of himself if they hadn't yet ascertained the whereabouts of the mastermind behind the attack. Meaning a slow and luxurious jaunt across the square without any cover fire. His feet felt like bricks, ice crawling into his chest as he contemplated the probability that he'd be blown to smithereens within the first ten seconds. Sirius shuffling behind him brought his thoughts back to attention.
"I'm ready." He breathed in deeply through his nose, watching his breath crystalize in the air as he exhaled sharply through his mouth.
"Alright." Harry's voice was coaxing. Of all people, at the very least, Harry Potter knew what this would feel like. "Whenever you're good, just go."
His boots crunched as he stepped out into the fresh snow, wand clutched in his hand in front of him, and hoped that he'd be proven wrong in his pessimism.
"Oh my God. I can't believe I agreed to this," Hermione moaned in a harsh whisper. She watched, one hand covering her mouth, the other with her wand outstretched and ready, in horror as Viktor began shuffling into the square with little but a shielding spell to protect his continued existence. "This is insanity."
Todo snorted, before muttering back a retort. "Brilliant. No vone vould expect."
Hermione scowled, never taking her eyes off of the square. "No one would expect it because it's absolutely mad, that's why."
The Bulgarian auror shrugged, before pinning her with a sharp smile. "You do not trust yourself?"
"With this? No. I don't care how many awful situations I've been in or however much training I might have, I'll never completely trust myself with someone else's life in my hands." Her hands were white as she gripped her wand waiting for the slightest sign of trouble.
"Good. Means that you are not stupid like him yet."
Hermione snorted. Todo moved to stand next to her, his own wand outstretched. Both of them watched through the ever dimming light as Viktor began to make his way further into the square, his dark head turning as he scanned the seemingly vacant buildings. Two teams of aurors had been tasked with the evacuation of noncombatants, and it seemed that they'd done their job well. The square was devoid of human life, and Viktor was left to pick his way around the scattered belongings of reporters and patrons alike. Hermione cringed as he kicked a camera out of the way, the metal grinding harshly against the stones even through the snow. The anticipation was killing her.
Still, nothing. They were keeping radio silence so that no one would be distracted, Viktor or otherwise, by side chatter. Hermione drew a deep breath, holding it as she listened intently for the telltale whoosh of a spell thrown while looking for any semblance of light that would precede a perhaps fatal bombardment. The fact that the entire operation was her idea in the first place weighed heavily on her shoulders.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she watched him stumble, his foot catching on something in the road. He was close enough that she could see the color of the unsticking charm he aimed at his boot, and the panic in his movements when the spell failed and he remained stuck. The second he reached down to pry his foot loose and leave his footwear behind, out sprung a cargo net of magic, entangling him where he remained.
Hermione jammed the transmission button on her earpiece. "Team Three, deploying." Todo shook his head, and Hermione dug her fists tighter into her coat in distress.
"Stand your ground!" Came the shout from Viktor, huffing over the comm as he struggled against the rope with a slashing hex.
Her fingers itched for the spells she was holding back, Harry's voice chiming in to agree with Viktor's call. "Just do it already!" She growled back, and in that instant, he disappeared.
Nothing was left, not his boot or a trace of magic, except for swath of snow on the ground that was swept up by his struggle. Dimly, she could hear blood surging in her ears as she fought to keep herself from dropping to her knees, disbelieving as she stared at the empty space where he had stood. Instead, she sagged against the wall, legless. Numbness set in. "Why didn't he apparate?" Her voice, strangled and shaking, was barely a whisper.
Todo's fists were clenched as he stared at the now empty square. "Must haff been illegal portkey.. He vould haff spliched." He shook his head. Any number of things could have prevented their so-called failsafe from not working as intended.
Her wand shook as she waited, in vain, for him to appear.
"Then why hasn't he apparated to me now?" It didn't bear thinking. She couldn't think about such a thing.
Todo just looked at her.
Terror welled at an unholy rate until she decided to take the one option left to her. She'd considered this as an outcome, and really, there was only one thing left to do. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her betrothal band until she could feel the primeval string that attached her soul to Viktor's, feeling her way to where he was. It was an intangible place, completely unlike her envisioning during a usual apparition, but she could feel him and that was her anchor. Distantly, she could hear Todo's s stuttered warning, and Harry's shout of dismay across the radio, but it was all filtered out by necessity as she blinked away to an unknown destination.
No matter the danger to herself, no matter that it was probably a sprung trap or however mad Viktor might be, two was better odds than one.
Harry roared, kicking the door, already half off its hinges, onto the snowy ground. Breathing deeply, he rested his forehead against the molding where it had hung. He punched his headset back on.
"Someone get me a tracker." His voice was hoarse, bottoming out with emotion. He took a moment to collect himself, frantically running down the possible avenues to find where the portkey could have been keyed to. Then, shaking him back to his senses, his wand buzzed in his hand. Tapping it against the cracked wood, he cursed loudly, startling the two aurors behind him. "Morrisey! You come with me. Todo! Take over while I go take care of this." Todo radioed his affirmative, as Harry tried to pull together his scattered rational.
"Sir!" Steven Morrisey, one of his tacticians that was grouped with his team, sidled up, shifting uneasily as he tried to glance at the report that floated midair above his superiors shaking wand. Harry was still cursing under his breath, making the other wizard even more apprehensive. He could hear Todo's voice over the headset, speaking in clipped snippets of Bulgarian and English, ordering groups to clear the buildings. They all knew, whatever had happened or would have happened, the square was now empty. But that wasn't the point. They now needed to glean any evidence left over that might lead them to their targets.
"Morrisey," snapped Harry, bringing the older wizard back to attention. "We've been pulled back to headquarters. It can't be helped. But I'd like a steady pair of hands." Harry tried to smile, lightening the situation, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Yes sir," stuttered Morrisey, unsure of how to respond.
"Let's get this over with," muttered Harry, turning to face the now dimming sunlight before he apparated away with a crack, Morrisey following suit
"What the hell are you doing here?"
He looked stunned as Harry walked into his own office, which was an oddity enough. The man's moonlight skin faded even further, grey eyes slanting as his face became pointed with frustration.
"Malfoy?" Harry's voice was steeped in anger and shock. "What am I doing here? You orchestrated me being dragged here off of an important operation. What are you doing here?" At the last, suspicion finally interlaced with the Molotov cocktail of emotions Harry's entire body projected as he slammed the door behind Morrisey, moving to sit behind his desk so better to emphasize Draco's position as he sat in a rickety visitors chair.
"You're supposed to have been… I didn't ask for you specifically," spat Draco. "I was told to come to this office by my handler if necessary, and all I had was your title to go off of. Never mind the pissing contest, where the hell is Granger?"
Harry's stomach churned. "She's unavailable. And what the hell do you mean, handler?"
Draco lurched up from the chair, slamming a fist down on it's paper covered top with a bang. Morriesy – still hovering by the door – jumped with alarm, drawing his wand. Harry barely stirred, merely narrowing his eyes in suspicious irritation at his former school nemesis.
"Yes or no, is Granger accounted for?" Malfoy dug around in his robe as he spoke, making Harry twitch to pull his own wand.
"I bloody well can't tell you-" Harry began to rumble, before Draco interrupted by slapping a file on his desk with agitation, a familiar looking identification form directly on top.
"I have a security clearance just as high as yours, so cut the shite."
Harry, stunned, scanned the profile given to him with nerveless fingers. It had never occurred to him that the son of Lucius Malfoy would have anything to do with pro-ministry espionage.
"Not that it's any of your business, but we had complications with a mission-"
"That's a no." Draco raked shaking fingers through his white blond hair. "You were supposed to be there, you useless pillock. How could you cock up a bloody rural town square-"
Harry pulled his wand, throwing all caution to the wind as Morrisey shifted to pull Draco back into his seat by a shoulder. At which point Draco raised his hands, theatrically showing his lack of a wand, before pointing at Harry with a long finger, fury leeching into his every pore.
"You were supposed to be watching over her! You were supposed to keep her safe."
The entire situation was bizarre. Harry growled, standing to lean over his desk to grab the front of Draco's robes, green eyes flashing as the accusation hit home.
"You're going to tell me everything you know about this, and you're going to do it now. You have ten seconds to start talking without getting sidetracked, or I swear I'll take you apart right here, right now. Ministry be damned."
Author's Note:
This one is a long time coming. Lots of IRL issues. A friend passed away, work issues.. I also met someone that I'm now in a serious relationship with on a good note. So you'll have to bear with me and my now horrible turn around time for updating. I'm taking nearly a full course load and I'm working full time this semester as well, so, it's going to be a rough one. I have a couple of weeks left before I start classes, so, I'm putting on my writers cap to try and buckle down for at least one chapter here and starting the next.
This one has been HARD to write, too. I'm a lot less motivated when writing action sequences. It's more technical and I end up taking a lot of extra time to think everything through so that things are consistent. I despise continuity errors. I reread through and found a major one previously, so now I'm gun shy. I've also completely re-edited this entire work several times by now for grammar errors and to rework awkward sentence structure, so I've been working on that at the same time as writing this chapter. So far I think I've polished it up to where I want it to be. I had a hard time with capitalization in/after dialogue, since I've never been formally trained with that type of grammar, so I had go through every point of dialogue to check if I'd done it right (it took HOURS).
Why is it that I get writers block when I'm happy with my life situation? I really think there is something to the crazed, starving artist theory.. I shouldn't be complaining about this one.