Disclaimer: My house belongs to the bank, my work belongs to my boss and my money is always confiscated by my wife. And Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling... Damn...
Rocking the boat
By DerLaCroix
Chapter 29: Not without incident...
With a few gliding steps, Voldemort stood in front of the plate, and pulled his robes open, exposing a grayish, wax-like chest. A steely scrape could be heard as he slowly drew a dagger from a scabbard in his belt. Like in a grotesque prayer, Voldemort extended his hands forward at head level, and stayed like this for a moment, gripping the dagger firmly with both hands.
"This is the beginning of a new age," he said with pathos as he stood there..
Harry hit his head on the headstone when he jerked back in shock as Voldemort suddenly brought his hands in and pierced his own heart.
Coughing blood, the Dark Lord slowly dropped to his knees next to the new body, the hilt of the dagger still protruding from his chest. Crabbe looked on oblivious, and Goyle was slightly disturbed by the proceedings, while Draco looked like he was fighting his stomach. Bellatrix gazed with profound reverence at her master, who would go such lengths to achieve greatness.
Voldemort knelt there for a few seconds, his body swaying as his body quickly bled out. With great problems, he managed to raise his head, and tried to say something, before he keeled over sideways.
Harry knew what would come next. The black cloud of Riddle's soul would rise, just like it did in his first year, and move over to the host body. Bellatrix and her co-minions stepped over to the new body to address their Master, Draco behind them.
But nothing happened. No cloud, no lights, no weak voice from the creature, nothing. While the Death Eaters started to become restless as their master took his time to address them, Harry suddenly realized what this meant.
They really had destroyed all Horcruxes!
"Master?" Bellatrix whined as the small body kept motionless, breaking the silence of the others, who were equally horrified by the proceedings. It was bizarre how much she sounded like a small, recently orphaned child while doing so, when she had been the cause for so many similar scenes.
Harry saw their distraction as the perfect chance and quickly vanished the ropes binding him and sent the same spells at Hermione and Margret.
He cancelled the silencing charm on himself and Hermione, and then reached for his battlewand.
During this motion, Draco turned round and saw the captives free, with Hermione in motion to dive for her wand. He immediately went for his wand. Harry changed tactic and quickly sent a wandless reducto in his direction to keep him from casting at Hermione. He succeeded in that, as Draco dove to the ground to avoid the spell. This, of course, notified the others of the situation.
Bellatrix wasn't feared for no reason. While whirling around, she already had started to draw her wand. Goyle was already diving for cover behind a headstone, while Crabbe hadn't even turned around, yet.
As Harry was a bit distracted by cursing Draco, his own draw was too slow and gave her enough time to draw her wand. Still, his overpowered piercing hex, almost as wide as a head, was already on it's way.
Instead of trying to shield that spell, Bellatrix simply reached over and yanked Crabbe in front of her, using his bulk as a shield. The curse pierced all through him, spraying her in blood and liquefied organ pulp. Just as this spell was designed to, it dissipated after it had penetrated the body, in order not to damage anything behind the target.
Not bothering to wait for the man to recognize his death and to keel over, she just stuck her arm through the hole and sent a vile sizzling lilac curse at Harry, which he thought to be an organ expelling curse.
Not in the mood to try his shield on that, he dove to the left and let the curse pass, as he got his own wand in a correct grip to return fire.
ooOOoo
While Harry rolled over the ground, Goyle unsheathed his own wand and aimed it at the running Hermione from behind his cover. When the girl in question dove for her wand and kept on rolling over the ground, he took aim and yelled "Avada kedavra". His curse hissed over her, missing her by a good foot and a half as she rolled behind a headstone and impacted the ground in a explosion of mud. Goyle was rather surprised by her action. Dropping to the ground and cowering in fear was something he was used to, but this was a dodge, something he had never expected a target to do.
Still panting from the magic spent, and seeing Margret running for cover, he sloppily sent a bludgeoning hex at her. Chuckling over the result of this spell, he took cover behind another headstone in case of a return attack by the Mudblood while he rested a bit.
His spell hit the running Margret in the small of her back. Her surprised gasp never managed to turn into a full scream as the impact pulled her legs out under her and sent her flying into another gave marker.
Hermione, though, did scream for her mother as she saw her impact on the stone, where she came to a rest in a motionless heap. All sense of self-preservation forgotten, she jumped out behind her cover, with only vengeance on her mind. Seeing the elder Goyle crouching behind cover, she started raining a chain of spells down on him.
Goyle was in complete panic. He had expected that the girl would have gone into shock after seeing her mother it. She was supposed to be a crying wreck at his mercy. The murderous rage that caused this inferno of spells rain down on him was something he couldn't deal with, except for to curl up behind his slowly disintegrating cover.
He gave a relieved sigh as the rain of doom suddenly ceased. His smile would have turned into a scream of panic if he had seen Hermione give her wand an overhead swing before slashing it down and ending in a jab towards the stone. As she executed the jab, she yelled "Bombarda!"
A huge orange ball of the wall battering curse raced towards the thick marble slab, shattering it and driving the fragments deep into the back of the crouching Goyle patriarch, knocking him over.
Seeing her foe cut down, Hermione came to her senses, panting with exhaustion. She immediately rushed to her mother's side, but never arrived there. Noticing a motion to her right, she quickly raised a shield to block the cutting curse Draco had sent at her. Stumbling and panting, she was slowly driven back and away from her mother as she had to counter and block the spells he cast at her.
ooOOoo
While Hermione was busy with Goyle, Senior, Harry and Bellatrix were exchanging a flurry of spells. Tombstones were exploding all around them as they were hit by deflected and dodged spells, as the vilest of magic was brought to bear by the both of them.
"My, my, what spells do they teach you these days," Bellatrix taunted Harry as she finished the crouched spin to dive under his organ-expelling curse that made a tree behind her wither.
"That's our newest class, 'Crushing evil vermin'," Harry replied against better knowledge. He had to throw himself back to stop as a spike of red-hot metal crossed the path he was on. Feeling the heat singe his hair as the spike cleared him by inches, he slowly realized that he was out-classed.
He bought himself some time to take a breath by animating a stone angel next to her, but Lestrange had no sense for the fine art of Transfiguration, and simply blew it to pieces. Still, she managed to doge the cutting course that Harry sent at her back with a grotesque contortion. For a short moment, Harry pondered the question whether one of her personalities was watching her back during fights. The ghastly lilac light that he just barely avoided taking straight in his face ended that philosophical discourse.
A kneecap-crushing, a heart-stopping and a bladder-perforating curse later, Harry knew that he was living on borrowed time. If Voldemort hadn't done the decent thing, they'd all be strung up by their spleens by now. Harry was starting to feel the latest injury as he was forced to dodge almost constantly. Bellatrix, on the other hand, hadn't even broken into sweat, yet. Her movements were erratic, and completely unpredictable as she moved around, casting in a fury, always shrieking and taunting.
Harry had no idea where to aim at, and was sure that half the time, even Bellatrix didn't know where she was going and what she'd be casting next. Only the fact that every single one of his spells was high- or overpowered and forced her to dodge and loose her aim had saved him so far. It was only a matter of time until she got him if he kept playing her game.
In a practical application of 'Insane enemies require insane tactics' - a direct quote of Flitwick - Harry switched to a different approach, and used a flurry of rolls and twists to close the distance. Bellatrix was completely surprised with that approach, and her shrieked question of what the stupid boy was doing was answered when Harry suddenly stood face to face with her, batting her wand to the side as she was about to cast a stream of acid at him.
The jet impacted with a marble angel guarding over a grave site, whose surface sizzled and melted away in a white goop as the acid worked on breaking it down. Harry didn't really notice that, he was busy sticking his wand into Bellatrix's face and casting a cutting curse.
The crazy woman was of course disagreeing with that course of action, and used her off-hand to bat his wand out of alignment, while spinning to bring her wand to bear again, only to be blocked by Harry, who used his inertia to swing his wand into position under his blocking left arm. Lestrange gyrated back in the other direction, her elbow shoving his wand out of danger, his eviscerating curse digging a deep gouge into the lawn.
His disadvantage in mobility negated and Bellatrix seriously discomforted by the close combat, Harry felt his chances increase by a huge margin as they pushed, pulled and grappled in order to bring their wands to bear, Harry drawing as heavily on his fencing skill as Bellatrix on her insanity.
ooOOoo
Initially, Hermione was struggling under Draco's assault. The first spell had hit her on the wrong foot, as she was running for her mom and completely out of balance. She barely managed to stay on her feet as she staggered, trying to form a proper defense against the hail of spells. Much to her luck, Draco wasn't a good dueller, and his spells were infrequent and badly aimed.
The first piercing hex went extremely wide, her forward inertia still persevered and the spell passed far behind her, and impacted somewhere in the bushes at the cemetery's boundaries. Draco had learned from that and cast the next spell ahead into her way. She had drawn up a shield in time, and the spell ricocheted off into the sky as she threw herself to the left between a few grave markers, bleeding off speed. The grass between the stones proved to be slippery, and Hermione took precaution to keep her wand and a shield aimed backwards in Draco's general direction as she took off for a couple of tombs in the distance, weaving between the stones.
She saw a few spells passing by but could feel her shield still holding when she finally found herself on a gravel path that gave her better footing.
Spinning around, she dropped her shield and fired a cutting curse in the general direction of his head before she dove to her left side, finding cover behind a ornate sarcophagus, before executing a quick roll that made her escape into the paths between the tombs.
ooOOoo
Draco quickly took cover behind a corner of a tomb at his right side, taking a few hectic breaths.
This was not right. He had an edge over her as she stumbled around, like the useless mudblood she was. But even though she was only running away from him, he was unable to hit her! She even managed to block one of his spells while almost falling down.
He was already attributing this to stupid Muggle luck, but then she stopped, turned and returned a spell that almost impacted, and just barely missed his ear before escaping an a flurry of movements. The shock had brought his vicious attacks to an immediate halt. This was far too close for his comfort.
Hectic, he took a quick look around the corner, finding no one. Tense and very careful, he made his way round his cover, his eyes darting around for any sign of motion, not noticing the slight motion at the corner behind him.
ooOOoo
With a shrill scream, Bellatrix launched her fist at Harry's face after he had again shoved her wand out of the very same. This fighting style was extremely confusing to her, she preferred long range, where her good aim and agility worked to her advantage. Just like her reputation. Most people tried to stay as far away as possible from her in a fight. That stupid whelp in front of her actually hadn't gotten that memo. Her triumphant cry as her fist connected with his cheek turned into a surprised one as he did not only refuse to fall, but stubbornly held on to her wand arm, yanking her with him as he spun.
That yelp was in turn converted into a moan as Potter used his free arm to lodge his elbow in her side. She barely managed to pull her face away as he tried to hit her with the back of his head. Her wand arm still in his grip, she simply punched him in the kidneys.
Harry cried out in pain as her fist connected, and spun around, forcing her wand hand up high in order to do so safely. Extending his wand, he tried to cast another spell at her at point blank. Out of other options she simply bit in his hand. She didn't really draw blood, as he quickly pulled his hand back, but it gave her a chance to wrestle her wand arm down and try to aim it at his midsection.
Only a sharp pain in her left knee stopped her from achieving this. That piece of filth had kicked her! Out of instinct, she also grabbed his wand arm, and returned his kick.
ooOOoo
Harry hissed as her pointy boot scraped over his shin, but kept hold of her. Wrestling against her writhing form, he pushed her against a gravestone, trying to immobilize her legs with his own as they fought for dominance. Bellatrix was slithering like an eel, and worst of all, she was trying to bite at his face. He was seriously surprised as she suddenly stopped and smiled at him.
"Reducto," she whispered, smiling like Christmas had come early for her.
Harry was perplexed. He had her wand hand in a tight grip around her wrist, and her wand as not pointed at him, at all. Then he heard the explosion, and the shrill cry in a voice he'd be able to single out among thousands. In panic, he tried to look what had happened, but couldn't make out anything.
Most importantly due to the stars impending his view as Bellatrix had unceremoniously rammed her knee into his groin while he was distracted.
ooOOoo
Hermione screamed in pain as the wall next to her erupted in fragments. She pulled her hand back, cradling it against her chest. It hurt badly, but she knew subconsciously that it wasn't broken, it was merely badly bruised. The piece of rock had mostly hit her wand and twisted it out of her grip, and only a few smaller pebbles had actually hit her and left bruises. Sadly, her left leg was hit quite hard, and as she rose, she winced as she stood up, her leg almost giving out under her.
But far worse than the pain was the fact that she was now unarmed, and Draco very much aware of her presence. Quickly, she hobbled back behind the tomb, trying to come up with an alternative plan.
Draco gave a hoarse scream of triumph as he saw her flee, cradling her wand arm and obviously hurt. Feeling secure in his superiority, he strode after her, not even caring to run.
He turned around the corner in a leisurely pace, laughing as he saw her desperately hobbling away from him. When she suddenly turned around and jabbed at him with her hand, shouting "Diffindo!", he almost wet himself in fear as he threw himself to the ground in a desperate attempt of dodging.
ooOOoo
Harry was rolling around on the ground, under the shrill laughter of a triumphant Bellatrix. Out of options, he quickly cast a wandless banishing curse at her, which she barely dodged.
Shrieking loudly, she started to shower him in spells, which he tried to avoid by rolling around on the ground.
Not knowing what else he could do, he fell back on his trick from the last engagement, and cast an Incendio hex, pushing all his magic into it.
As the huge cone of fire rushed at her, Bellatrix wasted no time and cast a shield. The heat was immense, the fire almost completely surrounding her.
This time, though, Harry's opponent was an experienced dueller, and had one luxury that the late Wormtail couldn't fall back on. Space.
Harry was unaware of the fact that she simply had stepped back until she was out of the fire. He only realized that something was wrong when the writhing red light of the torture curse jumped at him from within the fire.
The next sensation was liquid fire being poured into his bloodstream.
Harry screamed.
ooOOoo
Hermione moaned in pain as her leg gave out under her. She had given everything in this attempt to cast wandlessly, but obviously it hadn't worked, again. This time she had been so sure. She had given it everything. And still, it didn't work. Draco was already rising again, and he was pissed.
Draco was stalking towards her, and her knee had conked out. Refusing to give up, she dragged herself behind a gravestone, only to find herself cornered against a mound of earth from a freshly dug grave.
"How convenient," snarled Draco as he approached her. "Far too good for your likes, but how fitting that you end up here. What a pity I don't have time to fully enjoy this."
Just then, a long scream of pain echoed from somewhere behind Draco. A male scream. A very familiar male voice. Even Draco immediately recognized it and lowered his wand slightly.
"DRACO! DRACO! I GOT HIM, I GOT POTTER!" Lestrange's voice rang out over the graveyard.
"AND I'VE GOT HIS BITCH!" he roared back, smiling as a shrill laughter answered his call, followed by another scream of agony.
"Seems I'm not lacking time, anymore," he said with a cruel smirk.
Hermione could see the feral anger in his eyes, and knew that there was nothing she could do. She was absolutely helpless and at his mercy.
At least so she thought, until she saw the rip in his shirt.
It wasn't a tear, it was a cut. A perfectly straight cut across his right stomach, four inches wide, on his otherwise unblemished front of his shirt. The shirt had dirt marks on the left side, on which he dropped to avoid her, so it couldn't have come from that.
The sight of the cut did something to Hermione. Just like Harry had told her - such a long time ago, it seemed - she suddenly knew it. She couldn't explain it, but she knew she could do it. Because she had done it!
Quickly, she raised her hand and pointed at his chest. "Diffindo!" she yelled, watching him flinch slightly.
"You crazy bitch!" Draco yelled back. With a sharp slash of his wand, Hermione's head was thrown to the side as a hard slap impacted on her cheek. "You are disarmed and helpless. Do you really think I'd fall for this trick, twice?" he raged as Hermione shook her head to clear her vision. The coppery taste of blood was in her mouth as she slowly turned back to glare at him.
She felt betrayed and elated as she saw a second gash on his shirt. Elated, because she really had done it, but betrayed as well, for all she could do was a slight cut to his clothes. Still, being Hermione Granger, she was already pondering the ramifications of this while Draco continued berating her at wandpoint. Just before the second slap hit her on the other cheek, she had figured it out.
Out of natural instinct, she shielded her head with both hands as the more and more slaps hit her.
She heard Draco shouting some more abuse at her, but she wasn't listening. She was focussing herself and waiting for a chance. She pulled every little bit of what was left of her magical reserves together. She knew why her spells had failed. Wandless magic was highly inefficient. Without the magical focus of a wand, she needed much more magic, and she was already closing in on complete exhaustion from the fight.
She needed to push all her magic into a spell. A spell that was easy to cast. A spell every witch could cast in her sleep. She only had to endure this beating, first.
ooOOoo
Harry was coughing up blood as the next kick hit him right on the belly button. Bellatrix was making the most of this. Instead of holding him under the torture curse, she had switched to the much more satisfying method of doing bodily harm the old-fashioned way. Doubling up in the foetal position, he was unable to defend himself against the next kick, this time into the face.
Harry could feel a tooth breaking as his jaw snapped shut. By now, he was far beyond screaming. There simply wasn't enough air left in his battered lungs to allow for more than a moan and gargling noises.
Wrapping his arms around his head and pulling his knees tight to his rump, he expected the next blow.
But this time, he was only tormented by a shrill laugh.
"Awww, isn't that cute? How determined, and still so useless." Lestrange cackled in her shrill baby-voice. "Potty, you should take lessons from this Muggle bitch - that's volition!" she shrieked, kicking Harry in the kidneys, hard enough to hurt, but not really into it. Bellatrix was far too much entertained by the show.
ooOOoo
When Margret had regained her consciousness, she felt less pain than she feared. Being a doctor, this fact was terrifying. Panic rushed through her as she confirmed that she really had no feeling in her legs, at all. When she heard her daughter's scream in the distance, her mother's instinct pushed these concerns aside. From her vantage point, she could see that Hermione was still alive, but chased by that blonde asshole. In her current state, she had no illusions to her being of any help to her daughter. A second scream made her aware that her daughter's only hope was also in severe danger.
Tears shot to her eyes as she was forced to helplessly watch the boy writhe and scream as some invisible power caused him pain beyond imagination.
"Trying to pway with the biggies, Potty," she heard the vile bitch cackling as she started kicking Harry, who could only try to curl up to avoid the blows that rained down on him from every angle as that woman circled him, always finding a new spot to hit next.
When that monster roared out her triumph, and someone replied that he had Hermione, it occurred Margret that she was the last one standing. She had to huff a small laugh when she realized the sarcasm of that epiphany.
Cursing her helplessness, Margret had to avert her eyes from the poor boy being beaten to a pulp.
When she suddenly noticed the proverbial straw sticking out of a hedge ahead of her, she ignored her inner doctor screaming bloody murder at her for her stupid idea. Moaning under the pain in her battered back, she ground her teeth and started pulling herself towards it.
ooOOoo
After he'd administered a thorough magical beating, Draco was sure he'd beaten her into submission. She wasn't resisting, at all, completely resigning and accepting her place.
Draco's confusion only lasted for a fraction of a second as Hermione suddenly opened her arms and pointed at his crotch. Then the word "Depilo!" rang out and the pain kicked in.
With a roar that would make his namesake proud, Draco dropped his wand and doubled over, clutching his groin as he slowly dropped to his knees. Hermione didn't leave him any time to recover as she grabbed the shovel lying to her right.
She swung it with full force, the edge of the shovel hitting his neck with a popping sound. Blood sprayed out of the gash as Draco keeled over, his body twitching spasmodically before he became still.
Hermione managed to swallow the bile both times it rose, as her body tried to deal with the situation. She couldn't afford wasting valuable time emptying her stomach. Instead, she dragged herself over to Draco. Taking his wand, she started casting spells at her knee. She was no help if she couldn't even stand.
ooOOoo
"Aww, Potty-Pooh, isn't she adorable? Any idea what she is planning to do?" Bellatrix tittered happily. That she was grinding her heel into Harry's right hand while she was commenting the action was part of the reason she felt so elated.
"While highly entertaining, I must admit I am growing curious, don't you as well, Hawwy-bewwy?" she chatted, lifting her foot up to free herself from Harry's other hand clawing at it, only to bring it down, sharply. Harry's howl of pain as something snapped was music in her ears. "You too? You're right, I should take a closer look," she said, turning on her heel - which still was firmly planted on Harry's hand - and strode over to where Margret was inching forward.
"Now, now, you little filthy bitch," she sing-sang as she came closer, swaying on a zig-zag course as if she were strolling through a park. "What are you trying to do?" she asked.
When Margret ignored her and kept on crawling on, she kicked her in the thigh. For a moment, she was irritated when that was completely ignored, but then kicked her in the ribs, instead.
When Margret tried and fail to curl into a ball at this, Bellatrix started hopping and laughing, clapping her hands happily as she celebrated her finding.
"Awww, our wittle beastie is foundering," she teased. Margret didn't give her the satisfaction of any reaction, but stubbornly shook the pain off and resumed her crawl. "But such a brave beastie, so brave..." she cooed, circling Margret, watching her closely.
"Poor beasty, poor beasty," she tweeted, stooping down low and petting Margret's head with long, lovingly strokes.
ooOOoo
Margret felt disgusted by the way that bitch acted. The doctor in her knew that Harry won't play the piano again, that snap was really bad. Forcing herself to ignore his situation, she moved on, trying to crawl even faster as she saw the woman waltzing over casually.
She only felt being jostled by whatever the woman had done to her legs. Deep inside she knew that whatever she did probably had left a huge mark, and what this meant. Swallowing the desperation that surged, she redoubled her efforts.
The kick in the ribs was more noticeable, though. She felt as one or more ribs that probably already were cracked from the impact with the headstone gave way and snapped completely. No willpower on earth could have prevented her from folding. Of course, she only could fold halfway, her arms curling up around her mid-rift as she gasped for breath.
She could have strangled that bitch with her bare hands when she heard her speak to her as like to a sick horse, but channelled her anger into determination. Only a few more yards.
When that madwoman was touching her hair, Margret had to bite her lip to keep from retching. Only what she had gone through in anatomy class and the fact that it was only a couple of feet to her goal kept her going.
ooOOoo
Bellatrix Lestrange had seen many things, but this was utterly confusing. Hurt Muggles trying to crawl away she could understand, hurt Muggles crawling towards their family members, too. But this one was different. She did neither of those. Was she trying to hide in the hedges? No. She couldn't hide anymore. What was she trying to do?
Curiosity had killed many cats, so she held her wand pointed at the woman at all times, but left her otherwise undisturbed.
She was slightly alarmed when the woman had reached the hedge and reached into it. Her wand almost sparking with magic, she waited for the hand to come back out.
She laughed out shrilly when she realized what the stupid thing in front of her had done.
"Potty! Ooooh Poooootty..." she sang out. "The mommy has found your wa-hand! Too sad you can't hold it, anymore," she cackled.
Her laughter became even more shrill when the stupid Muggle bitch tried to point the wand at her. "Aww, the bitchy wants to play witchy?"she howled with laughter, dancing on the spot.
"Hey, Potty! Didn't you tell her that Muggles can't do magic?" she called out in Harry's direction. Still, she noticed that the stubborn bitch weakly tried to aim that wand, but failing to lift it properly.
"I've got an idea," Bellatrix spoke, shaking with laughter, staggering towards Margret. Right next to her, she knelt down and spoke to the completely exhausted woman.
"Here, let me help you. You poor thing, poor thing. Soo tired, so very tired, right?" she cooed mockingly. "Let's make this a fair contest, ok? Be both will cast one spell, at the same time. I'll even teach it to you - it's my favourite," she spoke, before starting to cackle madly. "Among us girls, it's actually my second favourite, I like the cruciatus much more, but that stays between us, yes?" she whispered.
Clapping her hand on her thigh, she laughed over her own joke. "Anyway, back to class - it's really straightforward; all you have to do is to wish for me to die, and then you say the words, 'Avada Kedavra', ok? A-va-da Ke-da-vra. Easy, isn't it?"
"Now, together, on three!" she spoke, slowly putting her wand on Margret's head.
ooOOoo
Hermione never felt such pain in her whole life. Magical exhaustion was cruel. It felt like fire was flowing through her body instead of magic as she kept the spell up. The normally bright light of the healing spell was a weak glow, but it worked. Ending the spell and panting, she weakly staggered to her feet. It wasn't perfect, and far from fully healed, but she could at least put weight on her leg.
Stumbling, she paused and reached for the shovel she had used on Draco. Using it as crutch, she hobbled back on the way she had come from.
It took her more than a minute to trace the way back she only had taken a few seconds to run, earlier, but she managed. Carefully, her back pressed to the cold stone of the tomb, she crept closer to the edge. Reaching it, she threw a quick glance around the corner. The glance turned into a long stare as she saw a picture that would haunt her for long time. Harry a motionless lump on the ground, with Bellatrix Lestrange kneeling over her mother.
Hermione sighed as she looked at the useless wand in her hand. In her current state, she could only use it to poke an eye out. Anything she could cast would only make Bellatrix angry.
The only plus point was that Lestrange kept on teasing her mother and was thoroughly distracted. Taking a good grip on her shovel, she crept closer. That sneak turned into a mad dash equivalent of a hobble when she watched Bellatrix putting her wand on her mother.
ooOOoo
"No! No! No!" Bellatrix chided Margret. "You can't cast if you can't aim! Here let me help," she said, taking Margret by the hand. Putting her wand back on her head, she guided Margret's hand to her chest. "No, we count to three," she spoke.
"One."
"Two."
"Three. Avad..."
A loud noise cut Bellatrix off. Instead of the rest of the spell, only a gargle came out of her throat. A look of extreme surprise was on her face for the last few moments it was recognizable. Then, Hermione's shovel impacted with full force on her right cheek.
ooOOoo
Hermione was like a demon unleashed as she reached the spot her mother laid. Somewhere inside, she noticed the sound, but she was too focussed on her intention to recognize it. With a scream that held all the fury she had built up over the last minutes, she swung the shovel as hard as she could, trying to stop Bellatrix from casting the spell.
It hit with enough force to knock the kneeling woman down. Hermione felt a painful sting in her wrists at the impact, almost dropping her makeshift weapon. Her anger fuelled by the pain, she swirled around and hit Bellatrix again, this time full on the forehead, once more screaming in fury as she did so. Lifting the shovel for another blow, she finally noticed the huge wound on her victim's chest.
With a soft thud, the shovel dropped on the grass.
ooOOoo
"HENRY!"
The man in question left his place at Grimmauld Place's fireplace and sprinted towards the entry hall. When the other had been abducted, Tonks had assumed command. She had put Remus in charge at the Three Broomstick's, and had taken Henry to the Black Manor. There, she had assumed watch duty at the entrance door, knowing that their emergency portkeys would take them there. Henry's job was to mind the fireplace, in case that they'd be contacted by someone.
He had already thoroughly ruined the carpet in that room when Tonks called out for him.
Sprinting through the hallway, his mind replayed all the pictures that it had come up in the last 20 minutes. When he reached the hall, he was in part relieved that not all of his fears had come true. But two our of three wasn't the result he'd hoped for.
"What happened?" he gasped as he found Hermione trying to care for Margret, who was prone on the ground. Tonks was meanwhile waving her wand like mad over a bloodied bundle that he knew must be Harry. The hiss that the bundle emitted as Tonks said something about bones in Latin, confirmed his thoughts.
"It's a case of 'you should see the other', Henry," Margret said, ending in a pained hiss, her small chuckle causing her pain in her bruised side.
"Stop this shit, Margret! What happened? Are you alright?" Henry almost exploded as he dropped to his knees next to her.
"I'm fine, darling, Hermione is well, and Tonks will fix Harry up in no time. They made it, Henry, Voldemort is dead."
"He is? Really? Finally," Henry sighed. "You can't imagine what I have been through since you were kidnapped - I thought I'd never see you all again!" Henry cried as he embraced his wife and daughter in a hug.
"I'm so glad you all are fine," he choked out, pulling out of the hug. He barely managed to catch Margret as she slumped down.
"Wait a moment - you said you are fine! What is wrong?" he stammered.
Margret caressed his cheek softly as she smiled at him, crying softly. "Hermione is alive, Harry is alive, and I am alive, as well. I am fine. I'll miss dancing, though."
"No! You... No!" Henry cried as it hit home, cradling his wife as she cried on his shoulder. "Hermione, what happened?" he demanded.
"Dad... She... A spell threw her into a stone. Her back..." Hermione tried to explain, but failed to continue. Finally, the adrenaline rush from the encounter ebbed off, and she lacked the strength to keep herself together. Henry found himself once more in a hug with both of his women.
"But - you have magic! Tonks? Can't you do anything?" Henry called out helplessly, trying to look around for Tonks.
"We can! Let me just finish patching up Harry," Tonks replied coolly from Harry's side. It wasn't the first time she had to patch someone up, being all torn and upset won't help her magic. She was a professional, and could cry later. And usually, if you kept it together, there was no need to cry, then.
"So. That's it. I can't do anything about the Cruciatus, now, but the rest should be fine. We'll regrow the teeth, later. At least you're not bleeding to death, anymore," she told her patient. "Try breathing shallow for the next few minutes, the ribs are still setting. Same for the hand. And be careful when you stand up, you've lost quite a lot of blood, and I have no potion at hand."
Standing up, Tonks rolled her head and shoulders until a crack sounded. Breathing in deep and exhaling fully, she turned and went over to her next charge.
"Ok, let's get her patched up for transport. We need a real healer on her. A severed spine is beyond my skill. Stand back," she said. As soon as Henry had lowered Margret to the floor, she cast some spells at Margret.
"Seems fine," she concluded. "No bleeding, the ribs are bruised, but otherwise fine. I'll carry her through the Floo. Hermione, call Remus at the Broomstick's, tell him we'll come through. Harry, you'll be going solo, Hermione, you'll guide your dad through the Floo."
"What? Aren't we going to St. Mungo's?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Same question," Harry chipped in from behind, swaggering lightly, but standing on his two feet. He came up on Hermione's side and slung his arm around her, for moral support as well as for his own stability as he grimaced a pained smile her way. Hermione gave him a won smile in reply and suddenly perked up. Reaching for her waist, she pulled his battlewand out of her jean's waistband, handing it over.
"St. Mungo's doesn't serve Muggles. Wizards only. We have to get her to Poppy. She's a pro healer - when Charlie Weasley broke his back in his sixth year, she had him patched up right on the field - took her but a minute," Tonks explained, shaking her head with a small laugh as a memory surfaced.
"Bloke went straight back into the game. Ever since, Pomfrey doesn't heal Quidditch players on the field, anymore, except for life-threatening stuff," she said as she started to move Margret onto her arms, with Henry quickly helping her standing up and carrying Margret when he noticed her intent.
"Guys! Get going - it works best if it's done within less than an hour," she chided the others when they hadn't moved from the spot by the time they were done.
She didn't have to tell them, thrice.
AN:
As always, my sincere thanks to the people that help me do this. Alix, embi, thank you very much.
This chapter got delayed for a couple of reasons. First of all, life had me quite busy. The last two or three weeks had me de-icing the water troughs for my horses almost full-time. It feels great to have less than 15°C now - the frost resistant water supply is working again.
In the little time I wasn't preparing or hauling huge jugs of hot water, or too exhausted to move because of the aforementioned things, I was working on a different work of fiction. My tax report.
(Seriously - one day I'll write a story where the power he knows not is accounting! A vile, dark art.)
Also, this story (or at least this book) is finally coming around full circle, and for some reason, I find myself reluctant to work on it for that reason. Feels like digging a grave for a good friend.
