AN: I'm considering just dumping the last three chapters over the weekend, so I can be free of it and get back to reading other people's work instead of worrying about my own. Anyway, I ordered sushi, so my weekend is about to go from pleasant to DELICIOUS. Hope yours is too.
25. THE SECOND BATTLE OF HOGWARTS
"Hermione?"
Hermione stared into the ether; deathly pale and unresponsive. She had killed someone. Bellatrix was dead because of her. She had cast an unforgivable curse when only this morning she could hardly have even uttered a charm. She closed her eyes and began to allow the weight of what she had done consume her. However, it never came. All she could think was good riddance. Perhaps that was the toll that the killing curse had upon the soul - that your sunshine dulled, and you became cold to what you had done.
The voice came again.
"Hermione?!"
Her eyes shot towards Severus who began to pull himself up on the bed. She stared at him, and he looked at her with such sadness; such pity.
She had gone mad, she assumed. That was the only explanation. Her soul had indeed shattered and now she was haunted.
Ron moved towards her; she could see him in her periphery but she did not turn to face him. He took her wand from her hand and dropped it on the bed. He moved in front of her, and locked his eyes on hers. Still she looked through him.
"Hey", Ron said, gently, "you're okay."
She almost believed him.
Tonks moved into her line of sight next and Hermione still gazed with her eyes glazed over and wondered if she would ever be okay again. She supposed that being haunted by Severus was better than living without him. She searched her soul for the broken pieces that she knew should come from uttering the killing curse, but she could not find them. If her soul had torn in two, she did not feel it.
So why had her sanity deserted her?
She had been sure, hadn't she, that Bellatrix needed to die. It was Ron or Bella. Good or evil. And she was evil. As much as Hermione tried to see the world in shades of grey, Bellatrix was as dark as they come. She made her peace with her decision. She was at rest. So that meant, her soul was intact? Which in turn meant that...
"Severus?" she asked, and his eyes brightened.
She moved towards him tentatively.
"You're...? But we thought you were...?"
"Petrified, Hermione", Snape said. "She cast a body bind curse on me; a particularly nasty one of her own invention."
Hermione pressed her hand to his cheek and she touched his skin. She ran her fingertips across the line of his jaw and his stubble prickled beneath her. He was real and he was alive and it didn't make sense and she didn't care. She threw herself on him, curling her body into his and wrapping her fingers into his clothes. Her body shook and he drew her close to him.
"I've got you... You're okay."
Hermione tangled her hands into his coat and under his shirt so that she could place her fingers on his skin. It kept her grounded. He was warm. He was real. He was alive.
"I don't understand", she said into his chest. "The blood?"
"Sectumsempra", he replied, softy, "it is her favourite after all. I was able to heal myself before she and Rodolphus came for me. They wanted to eliminate their biggest threat, I suppose."
"But they didn't kill you?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"Bellatrix tracked Moody to Malfoy Manor. I was, of course, there. Against orders. I don't know if they particularly believed the lie I told to explain my presence and I believe they planned to leave me to The Dark Lord. It was for him to decide my punishment, not them. Even though they are brutal and cruel, they still live by a code and they are loyal to their master."
"They're dead", Hermione said.
"I can't say I'm upset by the news."
"I killed Bellatrix."
"And you're okay with that?"
She nodded as he drew calming circles like love letters on her skin.
"Good", he said, "I am glad it was you. There is a karmic justice in it."
Remus touched Hermione gently on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Narcissa needs one of you to help her."
Hermione kissed Severus on the cheek, and moved off the bed. She knelt in towards Narcissa, with her wand outstretched in her trembling hand and she moved it in soothing figures across her wounds. She began to chant the counter-curse that she had heard Severus use all those months ago.
"Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur."
The wounds closed, and Hermione felt a rush of blood to her head. She was using her magic to heal somebody, and she had just used her magic to destroy someone. This was exactly her problem with magic. It could restore life and just as easily snatch it away. She looked at Severus, who pulled himself off the bed, and saw that he was pleased with her. That was enough.
Ron sat beside his brother's body and stroked his hair.
"We need to go", Remus said, softly. "Is everyone ready? We will bring Bill back with us. We'll levitate him..."
"No!" Ron snapped, "I want to carry him."
Ron leant down to Bill and pulled desperately at his dead weight. Hermione assumed that he wanted to do it the muggle way, to be close to him, for what would probably be the last time. This was something he could do for his brother, after what his brother had so selflessly done for him. Severus broke away from Hermione and crouched down beside Ron. He helped him pull Bill up, and rested Bill's arm around Ron's shoulders. He took the other arm around his neck and together they shared the weight.
Neville put his arm around Hermione and she leant into him, allowing his embrace to be of small comfort.
"Let's go", Hermione said, "we should all apparate..."
"Where to?" Neville asked.
"The Come and Go Room", Remus said with a note of sorrow in his voice.
Hermione looked at him and gave him a small and rueful smile.
Remus continued, "Albus should have lifted the block by now, assuming that..."
His voice trailed off and he was the perfect picture of a broken man.
"He'll be okay", Hermione said, "he's The Boy Who Lived."
Hermione ran through the castle, dodging hexes, jinxes and curses as she made her way to the hospital wing. This was where she was supposed to be all along. It frightened her to leave Severus since he seemed so intent on leaving her alone on this mortal coil, but she needed to go where she could be of most use. She threw open the doors to the infirmary and was greeted almost immediately by three pairs of arms.
"Thank God you're okay", Susan said, slapping Hermione gently on the back, and with that she returned to a patient's bedside.
"Glad you're here, Granger", Katie said with a small smile that she didn't mean. "We're struggling a little here... we've lost some already."
Lavender remained in Hermione's embrace, clinging to her as if she was afraid to let go and face the reality of the world. Hermione understood. Lavender shook in her arms, as she wracked with sobs and Hermione stroked her hair by way of comfort. It wasn't much, but it was all Hermione had to give.
"Come on, Lavender", she said, gently, but Lavender would not let go.
Susan caught her eye and mouthed 'Dean'. She jutted her chin and gestured towards the end bed. Dean lay bandaged, but alive.
"You're okay", Hermione said, "he's okay."
Lavender pulled away.
"Nothing is okay, Hermione! Seamus is dead. Aberforth and Dean are only just about holding on. I told you", she said frantically, "I told you it wasn't safe! They weren't protected. They were alone down there, without orders."
"I know. Oh God. I'm so sorry, Lavender."
Then she remembered why Dean, Seamus and Aberforth were down in The Hogs Head in the first place.
"The children... did they get out safely?"
"Yes", Lavender said with a sorrowful smile. "They got them all out."
Hermione sagged with relief, but the news of Seamus' death still hit her in the stomach like a sucker punch.
A scream came from Pomfrey, as two snatchers stormed the hospital wing. Lavender did not have her wand, but Hermione did. She pulled it from her hair and held it out ready to duel. Lavender did not see her and she moved towards the snatchers with her hands in the air in surrender.
"We're unarmed! We are just nurses" Lavender said, moving towards them, her palms to the sky. "We are tending to our wounded, please allow us to do so in peace and leave us be."
The snatchers looked at each other and then back at Hermione. She lowered her wand, but she did not drop it. She curled her hand around it tighter still. The snatchers moved out of the room and cast a spell on the door that Hermione couldn't see.
Madam Pomfrey bustled towards Lavender and Hermione.
"You stupid girl! They could have killed you", she said to Lavender, "... but thank you."
Lavender looked back at Dean.
"How's he doing?"
"He will live, Miss Brown", Madam Pomfrey said and she patted Lavender on the shoulder in an uncharacteristic show of affection.
"There are more injured upstairs", Hermione interrupted. "I passed many wounded on the way here. I think we're needed up there."
"Yes. You should go to them", Pomfrey agreed, "take Miss Brown and go."
Lavender pulled her wand out of her white stocking and held it tightly as she and Hermione moved through the hallways and corridors. Lavender held Hermione's hand tightly, taking Hermione's suggestion that they 'stick together' quite literally. Hermione didn't mind - it was of great comfort to feel the warmth on her skin as a reminder that they were both still alive.
"Down here", Hermione said, as she spotted the form of a young woman crumpled on the floor covered in black robes.
Lavender turned the body over gently and sighed. The girl was dead, and she couldn't be much older than 16. Her Ravenclaw tie slung to one side.
"We should mark the dead", Lavender said with such calm that Hermione stared at her incredulously.
She marvelled at the way Lavender got to work, creating an intricate marker that circled in the air above the girl's body. It was like the dark mark in a way. It hung in the air as an omen of death, except that Lavender's pale pink cloudy carnation was a gentle warning, rather than a threat. It was beautiful magic.
As she and Lavender moved around the castle, casting shield charms in unison to keep each other safe, they tended to the wounded, and gently covered the dead. Hermione felt her heart sank as she approached the still form of Hannah Longbottom. She searched the room for Neville. Was it kinder to tell him now, or to let him continue in battle oblivious to his impending heartache? Hermione didn't know.
Lavender took Hermione's hand and softly clasped hers around it. With a graceful flick of her wand, the little pink flower blossomed from the tip and hung above Hannah's body. She stroked her hair, tucking it behind her ears, pressed her fingers to Hannah's eyes and closed them. Hermione summoned another white sheet and covered the body. Lavender pulled Hermione to her feet and urged her to move just in time, as Kingsley Shacklebolt tore past them in a death-lock with Yaxley. Hermione pushed Lavender down and screamed 'PROTEGO!' as Kingsley dodged a curse and it hurtled towards them.
Lavender and Hermione ran through the great hall, searching for the injured. Luna Lovegood sat propped up against the stone wall next to her Father- Xenophilius did not move. Hermione took in the look on Luna's face and felt her heart shatter once more. Luna was dizzy, but with grief or from spell damage Hermione didn't know. Lavender knelt down and began to perform diagnostic spells. Hermione was useless right now. They needed more healing hands in the fray. The hospital wing was already bursting to capacity and the violence did not stop. The injured were no longer being sent down to the infirmary- they were being abandoned. Hermione concentrated on the memory of being nestled in Severus' arms and shot out a Patronus. The lioness snarled as it circled around Hermione.
"Setting up triage in the Great Hall. We need all hands on deck" Hermione said and the lion nodded its head and galloped out of sight.
Lavender and Luna moved towards Hermione. When she looked back as Xenophilius, she saw that he was covered with a white sheet and her pink carnation hovered above him. Luna did not speak, and all of the glitter and light that usually radiated from her was no more. Hermione gave her a look of deepest compassion and then with a jerk of a head, Hermione urged them to keep moving.
Luna threw herself at the feet of a stirring Hufflepuff girl, as Hermione tended to a wizard in blood-stained grey robes that she did not recognise. Hermione pointed to a large empty space at the front of the hall where she had stood years ago and awaited her sorting.
"Put her there", Hermione said, and she and Luna levitated their wounded.
Hermione heard the commotion before she saw it. Lee, George and Angelina rounded on the Carrows. Alecto blasted Angelina and she quickly deflected it.
"Expelliarmus!" Lee shouted, snipping his wand at the woman. "Confringo!"
Amycus roared with anger as his sister's deflection missed and she hurtled across the room. He seethed and turned to Lee with a flash of boiling crimson.
"Avada Kedavra!" he yelled, at the same time, George and Angelina shouted "Expulso!" in unison.
Angelina turned on her heel and made towards Alecto, but Hermione's heart sank when she saw George. His knees gave out and he sank to the floor next to his best friend. Lavender ran to him, they too had been close once after all. Lee Jordan was motionless.
Albus Dumbledore tore through the castle next. He had two masked Death Eaters on his tail and four snatchers. Six on one, Hermione thought, and still he seemed to run rings around them. Percy Weasley and Lucius Malfoy moved swiftly behind him, each locked in combat with a Death Eater. Hermione recognised the man who locked wands with Lucius, as Rookwood. There was little more disturbing than seeing Lucius Malfoy fight his old friend.
Next Arthur Weasley came into view, brandishing his wand like a gun at two snatchers. He ducked and flashed a white light at them, staggering them long enough for Molly to appear behind and make short work of one of them. The taller of the Snatchers dropped with a thud to the floor and Molly smiled, pleased with herself, before she magically bound him, then moved again towards the shorter, quicker Snatcher.
Hermione saw the black billow of cloth and felt her heart race as Severus Snape moved into the Great Hall in battle with Avery.
It was then that Hermione realised that there were all moving in to the hall. They were all moving towards their injured. Nobody would make it out alive at this rate if help didn't come soon. Hermione's heart swelled as Katie and Susan tore into the room in a flash of red wandlight. They jumped over a soaring curse from Yaxley's wand like a skipping rope and moved towards Hermione. She pointed to where the wounded lay and Katie rushed to their aid. Susan's eyes flew wide, and she whipped her wand.
"INCARCEROUS!" she yelled and Hermione turned in time to see the great, terrible werewolf, Greyback, tear through the ropes Susan had tried to bind him with.
"Worth a shot", she said, with a shrug before changing tack. "Deprimo!"
The floor beneath Greyback's feet gave way and he hurtled down into the dungeons.
Hermione nodded at her friend to show that she was impressed, and pointed at two young women who were curled up in the corner comforting each other. The blonde girl's hair was sticky with blood even from this distance. Susan turned, spent less than a second taking in the scene, and sped across the room without a second thought for her own safety. Hermione turned to see that Arthur had fallen and Molly was duelling the snatcher alone. She moved into place and nodded at Molly as she lifted her wand.
"Stupefy!" Hermione cried as Molly let out a caterwaul of "Expulso!"
The snatcher sprang stiff as a board and then fell to the ground in an explosion. Hermione covered her ears and Molly ran to Arthur.
"They'll tend to him over there!" Hermione shouted as her ears rang.
A blast like a canon roared through the air and its damage ripped through the wall of the great hall. Silt and stone and debris hit the ground, narrowly missing a small Gryffindor. He was far too young to be in the middle of the battle. Hermione pointed her wand and levitated him out of the way and pulled him towards her.
"Go!" she yelled.
It was all she could do. Through the dust, Hermione could make out the figures of Ron, Neville, Remus and Tonks, who circled a pack of werewolves in the courtyard outside. Her heart quickened as she watched green and white and red sparks fly from their wands, and the wolves swarmed, bonded by their greed. Hermione was only grateful that it wasn't a full moon. Even the four of them would be no match for seven transformed wolves. As it was, they made short work of them, and turned to fight others. The dark forces kept coming.
A masked Death Eater moved up behind Severus, whose eyes were fixed on Avery. He hadn't seen him. Hermione charged across the room, leaping, literally over a table. She brandished her wand, and without a second thought, she screamed "DEPULSO, STUPEFY, EXPELLIARMUS!" and the Death Eater crumpled, hitting his chin with a final crack on the stone floor. The sound seemed to distract Avery for just a second, but it was long enough for Severus to seize the opportunity. He did not even blink. He pointed his wand and lurched forward, jabbing it like a knife into Avery's chest. He did not say a word, but Hermione saw the familiar flicker of green light that took Avery's very essence from him and stripped him of life. Avery dropped to the floor, and Severus kicked him aside to move towards Dumbledore.
Albus and Severus' combined abilities, made quick work of the snatchers, and they stood side by side at the front of the hall. The figures they cut were imposing and terrifying. It occurred to Hermione then, that they stood where on any other day they would meet for dinner. That normality was a distant memory. This was the new normal; death and injury and tragedy.
Snape and Dumbledore surveyed the hall, firing spells and shields around the room. McGonagall appeared behind them with Poppy Pomfrey in tow. Poppy ran to help the invalids, and McGonagall moved towards Molly. She put her arm around her, but lifted her wand as a threat to anyone who dared approach. Arthur Weasley stirred and began, cautiously, to move to his knees. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. At least one Weasley had survived this day. He pulled himself upwards to full height and he moved to stand beside his wife.
Hermione's heart stopped as a deafening, screeching, breathy howl moved around the room in a terrible and triumphant surge. It was in their ears and in the air; it was everywhere but came from nowhere. Everyone stopped dead. Some winced; others held their hands to their ears. Some screamed. Blood-curdling, heart-wrenching screams.
Arthur recoiled, but still, he remained strong. Molly rocked on her heels, steadied by McGonagall who shrunk into herself at the sound. Only Severus and Dumbledore seemed unshaped by the voice. Severus did not even blink. He stood firm at the front of the hall and guarded the wounded beneath his feet. Dumbledore's eyes narrowed but he did not react to the sound, and he stood in a duelling stance ready for whatever came next. Then the howl became a voice, and Hermione's heart stopped. It was as though two voices spoke, one a low growl and the other a sharp hiss. It was the voices, she assumed, of Lord Voldemort, and Tom Riddle, burnt and twisted into one man.
"Harry Potter is dead", it said with a sickening pleasure. "The battle is won."
"Nooo!" came the strangled screams of Molly Weasley.
Hermione felt a tug on her heartstrings so sharp that they snapped. She went to move towards her, desperate to go to her, tell her that everything would be okay, but something stirred inside her that locked her feet in place.
Would everything be okay?
"I command my forces to retreat", the voice came. "Tend to your wounded. Burn your dead. Surrender!... or my forces and I will return and we will not hesitate to destroy every man, woman and child who opposes us. You have one hour."
AN: My sushi isn't here yet I'm so upset.