Well, since it's Christmas in a few days, I decided that as my present to you all, I really should do something about poor Hermione! So, as a Christmas gift, I give you the new chapter of wings! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!
I Love Ginerva – I know. You're entirely right, it was very VERY harsh… but I need for my bad guys to be evil. I don't see the point in having fun giving the chosen all these amazing powers if they don't have an enemy worthy of them… does that make sense? If not, I hope you forgive me and keep reading!
Munchnzoey – thank you very much!
GirlWithAPearl6 – firstly, hi! It's nice to see new readers! Ok, now I understand that wings does seem random (unless you have my copy of the plot outline) and it is very AU from the books but I'm afraid that's just how the story's written… if that's too much for you then I hope you manage to find something you like more.
If you're still with me, Harry never actually became a vampire. Harry has not been, and will not be, turned. The way his power manifests itself (it's done it a few times before, but now he has it under control, it's only when he calls his armour) it makes him seem like a vampire, but it's just his power. He doesn't need to drink blood and sunlight won't hurt him etc. he gets some vampire powers like the fangs or thrall depending on how much power he's using, but it works in the same way as Ginny becoming more like the fire fairy, or Hermione becoming more like the lioness.
Lastly, Harry and Ginny make eachother stronger just by being together. It's like the Chosen being stronger together, just a bit more… personal! Hope this helps you!
lorilou783 – if you're hooked then my evil scheme must be working…. Mwahahaha. Seriously though, I'm glad you're enjoying wings!
Girlbrighteyes – I know it was, I'm sorry. But I hope this chapter's more… acceptable? Or just, more happy! (if that's the right term!)
Dare-deviless – it looks like there's a line to do that…! And here's your as-requested update! Thanks so much for the review
Goodygurl – hello! Well, firstly, let me just say thank you so much for a wonderful review, it really made my day. Now, I know that the last chapter was very intense (that might be the perfect word for it!) and I'm afraid that there will probably be one or two chapters like that in the future of wings, but seeing as I'm just over half way through, there should be some lighter things in there too! I hope you keep enjoying wings.
Bloodless Ace – thank you so much, and it's lovely to have someone interested in that chapter! I was starting to worry that I'd scare off all my loyal readers with it!
I just wanted to add another general thank-you here for everyone who wasn't put off my story by the events of the last chapter!
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The next time Hermione's tired mind managed to emerge into reality, she was overjoyed to find that she was alone in her cell.
She spent a few quite moments wrestling with the feeling that something was missing from her situation… that there was something, just out of reach, that her mind knew was absent.
Suddenly she had it; there was no pain.
"Oh! But…" She was so startled at the realisation that she spoke aloud "… but that doesn't make sense!"
There was a space of about ten seconds where her mind threatened to fly apart entirely. Hermione came so close to losing not only her control, but also her sanity, that she actually felt her mind begin to drift as the realisation came: He hadn't been real.
"But… no. NO!" The logical part of her screamed into that empty cell, he HAD been real and he HAD done everything she remembered… hadn't he? Her mind was frantically trying to rationalise what had happened. Had Malfoy been a dream? Had it been some kind of spell? Had he been real but he had healed her?
After a few more minutes of thought she realised that with everything he had done to her… every sadistic, twisted moment of his company she was forced to endure… she knew something of him… and he had learned about her. He would still be trying to break her, and waking after that night without pain where there should be agony… She was sure that would be enough to make all his other pets doubt their sanity… and maybe that was all he needed to break them?
Slowly, she forced her mind back over his visit and eventually it occurred to her that she has never actually SEEN herself bleed. Was he really so terribly skilled with that dagger that he could do… that, and not leave a mark on her?
She pushed the material of her dress up her arms to see the bruises that had bloomed there and she sighed. At least now she knew it had been real… she was hurt and so he was real… perhaps the wounds weren't where she had expected them to be, but that didn't matter any more. It was not enough to break her.
Well, she thought as she smiled to herself, if THAT was the best he could do… she would be fine until she was rescued.
As they left the hospital wing, Harry, Ron and Ginny were desperately trying to come up with a plan.
"We're lucky that they can't know we're coming… and they don't know we've been chosen." Harry began.
"They won't have anything that could stop us at the moment, they aren't expecting to be attacked." Ron added.
"The problem is that even if the portkey does work, we don't know that she'll still be in the same cell… they could have moved her?" Ginny mused.
"That's a good point… we could find her if we had the time… but if she's warded so strongly, it might take too long." Harry sighed.
"Actually, I can find her." Ron said, full of quiet confidence now that he was on his way back to Hermione.
"How?" Ginny asked.
"You remember the familiars that we learnt to summon?" Harry and Ginny nodded, unwilling to interrupt their friend "well, they aren't really alive. They are our magic… we give the magic form and a name subconsciously, so if you talk to your familiar, it's like learning the extent of your power."
They had a moment to marvel at this newly serious and informed Ron, before Harry realised where Ron was heading with this;
"So you're saying that because there's part of Hermione's water element in your familiar...?" Harry began, entranced by the idea.
"Truthsong can track the rest of the magic, and lead us to Hermione." Ron finished with a feral grin.
"Ron? If your magic is outside your body, as Truthsong, does that mean you can't use magic?" Ginny wondered aloud.
"It… yes. But I have the sword." Ron admitted, sheepishly.
"They won't get past Gin and I, Ron, I swear it." Harry smiled as they turned into the corridor that would lead them to the room of requirement.
"It's that stone." Ron pointed.
"Well, it looks like this is it." Harry said as he slid his sword free of it's sheath "I feel like I should say something poetic" Harry shifted his weight from foot to foot as his body started to itch for a fight, Ginny laughed a little nervously and Ron let his eyes drift to the stone.
Harry?
Yes Gin?
Don't get killed.
I promise.
Harry took a deep breath and slid his free arm around Ginny's waist, as Ron grasped Harry's left hand. Ron slammed his hand against the portkey.
For three whole seconds, nothing happened.
Suddenly the three chosen were pulled off their feet and slammed onto a stone floor with a still-hot white stone in its centre.
"Is this-?" Ginny whispered.
Ron nodded in reply and the magnificent Phoenix that was his magic, flew into being next to Ron. Truthsong and Ron began to talk faster than the other two could follow.
Do you hear anyone else?
No, Gin… I think it's just us.
That's… well I'd love to say good, but…
I know. I feel nervous too.
Do you think that stone will take us back to Hogwarts?
Harry looked at it more closely and then beckoning Ginny closer, they called on their familiars who delicately sniffed, licked, tasted and examined the stone before speaking to the Chosen.
"The white stone will take you back to the school if you stand on it and hold onto the others. When you get back, you must destroy the portkey or they will follow." The winged lion spoke first, sounding almost amused by the situation, as the unicorn touched her horn to the glowing stone.
"When you travel to the school it will trigger an alarm and they will know what you have done." Silversong continued, in her kind voice.
"Thank you" Ginny whispered as the familiars disappeared.
Suddenly Ron spoke from across the room "She's close… I can tell."
Harry nodded at Ron and they opened the only door in the room and ventured out into the labyrinth of passageways. The phoenix not only lit their way, but also led them steadily through the maze. Everything was going well, perfectly in fact, until they rounded the second-to-last corner before they reached Hermione.
There were seven Deatheaters standing there.
Ron killed the first. He moved before his body had caught up with his mind, and he'd stabbed the man before he realised that he intended to do it.
Harry killed the two that rushed forwards to attack Ron. His sword seemed alive on it's own, and the Deatheaters hadn't expected a physical attack.
Ron and Harry worked together then, to drive the remaining Deatheaters backwards. One of the Deatheaters cast a spell that opened a long cut on Ron's arm, but he barely noticed, and it was only after the fight that Harry realised his leg had been cut.
As Harry and Ron drove forwards, killing the remaining two Deatheaters, It occurred to Ron to look for his sister, and he found her blocking the Deatheater's escape, having circled behind them at the very start of the fight to keep them from raising the alarm.
Ron watched as his little sister slid her sword from one of the two bodies at her feet.
As Ginny looked up, her eyes locked with Harry's and she was filled with such a fierce exhilaration and pride, that she couldn't help but grin as Harry wiped away a streak of blood across her cheek.
The three of them knew that they would pay for this later, Ron and Ginny would spend most of the night throwing up as their bodies tried to purge themselves of killing, and it would be two days before Harry could eat again… but just for then, they were proud that they had survived their first encounter with the Deatheaters.
Truthsong called to them quietly from outside a metal door, and then flew backwards and disappeared. Ron tried every spell he could think of to get through the wards before Harry had an idea; if the door held the wards in place, destroy the door.
Together, the three of the, threw fire at the door. Harry's flames were weaker, it wasn't his area of strength, but he concentrated on the hinges, as he knew they were the weak point of the structure. Ron had to re-cast his spell every few seconds but the metal of the door was starting to turn white with his spell's heat. Ginny simply raged. Her thoughts became fire and she drove at the door with everything she was. None of the three noticed the burns that worked their way up their arms as the door finally fell away from the frame.
"H-Hermione?" Ron's voice sounded uncertain for the briefest moment, as he was half blind from the flare of the door melting.
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione breathed as she threw herself out of the small cell and into his arms. "It- it is you, isn't it? This isn't some new trick?"
"It's us, 'Mione." Ginny beamed at her friend, as Harry slid an arm around Hermione as well.
Between them there was a silent agreement not to ask questions. Hermione valiantly didn't question her friends on their blood-soaked state, and they didn't question her at all. There would be time for talk tomorrow. Together they make their way back to the room with the white stone, and less than an hour after leaving Hogwarts, they were on their way back to it, safe and whole again.