CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR : - )
The shops looked as good as new, the floo networks were disabled; Molly, Gin and Tom prevented anyone entering from the Leaky Cauldron, so it was only the very few witches and wizards that were brave enough to blindly apparate onto what would normally be a very busy street that we had to stun and stow away in the pub. We couldn't just scare them off, we risked them going to the ministry and alerting them of 'death eater' presence before the real death eaters even got here.
Now Harry and I stood in Flourish and Blotts, removing how outer robes so that the order wouldn't confuse us with death eaters.
"Are you ready?" He asked me.
I laughed at him. How could anyone possibly be ready?
"Same." He smiled back.
Both our heads snapped towards the window as a loud crack sounded from the alley. We looked at each other with panic before lunging over to the window, wands raised.
"They're early." I hissed at Harry, checking his watch.
Harry risked a glance over the top of the window ledge before ducking back down with a frown on his face.
"There's only three women out there." He whispered to me.
"What?" I whispered. Realization dawned on me and I groaned at my forgetfulness.
I sprang to my feet and ran from the store, Harry shouting after me as I went. Wands were trained on the girls from every window as order members targeted them as early arrival death eaters.
"It's OK!" I shouted out, waving my arms as I ran. The girls saw me and their faces immediately lit up with smiles as they ran to meet me.
I flung myself on Natalie first.
"You came!" I laughed in excitement.
"I couldn't let you idiots fight alone," she replied, "Although, Charlie is going to be furious with me when he finds out I'm not home…"
"I'm sure he'll be too glad to see you to even think about being angry." Miriam assured her.
I wrapped my arms around her next and then around Katrina.
"I can't tell you enough how thankful I am that you're here." I smiled, still holding Katrina's hands in mine.
"Someone looks angry" Miriam commented, I looked around her to see Bill storming out of Gringott's towards us.
"What's going on?" he demanded. Although angry that we were having a little reunion in the middle of the alley he still shot me an apologetic look for his harsh tone.
"Bill, I want you to meet Katrina, Miriam and Natalie" I grinned. "Natalie is an unexpected tag-along"
"We always have room for more." He nodded, shaking their hands. I noticed Miriam and Katrina exchange a wicked look when Bill turned his back to them.
"OK, Natalie, you can come with me and my brother in Gringott's" he decided. "Hermione, show Katrina and Miriam to their locations. You remember them?"
"Of course," I smiled. "You look after her."
He rolled his eyes at my questioning of his ability to care for Natalie. If she got hurt I was hunting for him first.
"Why can't I be teamed up with him?" Katrina pouted, looking longingly over her shoulder as Bill led Natalie into the bank.
"Oh, I've got a much better surprise for you." I grinned.
"What is it?" she asked excitedly.
"Bill's younger brothers, Fred and George, identical twins," her eyes bulged and I laughed, "But do try and contain yourself, this is a serious situation we're in after all."
I led them into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes where Fred and George were crouched down in front of the front window.
"Boys, meet Katrina" they all but threw themselves off of the floor in their hurry to greet the girl.
"Why hello there," George grinned. "I'm Fred."
"And you must be George?" she asked Fred, allowing him to kiss her hand. He nodded respectfully and led her over to the window.
"George," I growled. He looked at me guiltily and grinned.
"Just havin' a bit of fun, 'Mione"
"Well I warn you, she likes to flirt." I said.
"Oh, darn," he replied sarcastically.
"Try not to get distracted is all!" I smiled, before leading Miriam out of the door.
"Who do I get?" Miriam asked in anticipation, she was even rubbing her hands together eagerly.
"Two middle-aged and happily married men" I told her. Her face dropped.
"Remind me why I'm helping you again?" she scowled.
"Oh, shut up. You'll have your chance to meet everyone afterwards." If she fought well enough…
"Mr Weasley, Mr Tonks. This is my friend, Miriam." They both shook her hand and she shot me one more glare before I left. I paused in front of the shop and glanced over at Ollivander's next door. Draco was leaning against the inside of the window, staring at me curiously. I sent him a smile and he returned it before I turned and jogged back up the alley.
When I returned to Florish and Blott's Harry was standing in the doorway with a filthy look on his face.
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry," I bit my lip and looked at him. "I completely forgot about the girls…"
"If you forgot, how was I meant to remember?" he snapped impatiently.
"Well, on the bright side we have one more than I expected." I tried hesitantly.
Harry shook his head and walked over to the counter. "Just don't go running off on me again."
"Of course not, Harry." I would never have gone running off like that if it were in the middle of a fight, but as it were, I had had a little time to spare, besides, how else were the girls meant to know what to do? I wasn't very well going to leave them standing there until the death eaters turned up!
"But, Harry?"
"Yes?"
"You can't go running off if you see sparks, not unless we're both OK to go help." I tried to look and sound like McGonagall, hoping this would help him agree.
"Hermione…" he groaned.
"I knew it!" I yelled in exasperation. "You are already great Harry; you mustn't prove yourself with each battle."
"I'm not trying to prove anything!" he yelled back.
"Then, what is it?" I sighed in frustration, "Is it guilt?"
Harry gave me a confused look and I rolled my eyes.
"Guilt, Harry. I know you think you're the cause of all of this, which you're not, so maybe you find the need to be the hero because you think it's expected of you."
"It's not…" Harry groaned, unable to argue, "You don't understand, Hermione."
I looked at him with sympathy. It was undoubtedly a heavy burden to bear. I closed the distance between us and pulled him into a hug, if anything it would make him feel a little better.
"Do not run off without me." I whispered in his ear before pulling back and resting my hand on his shoulder as a sign of reassurance.
He covered my hand with his own and gave me a half-smile.
We both jumped out of our skins as a clock chimed.
It was midday.
Harry went to run over to the window but I had a better idea.
"Come on." I hissed, grabbing his shirt and dragging him after me. I pulled him behind the set of shelves closest to the door and pulled out two books.
"You've got to be kidding me, Hermione." Harry hissed, grabbing the books out of my hands.
"Don't be ridiculous, Harry. I don't want to read them!" I snapped back. I leaned down to the gaps I had made and peered through. I had only enough room to look through with one eye, just big enough for me to have a decent view of the windows and door, and small enough to not be seen too obviously.
Harry followed suit and glanced down through his just as the alley filled with loud cracks.
"They're here." He said glumly.
We sat in a painful crouch as we waited. We could hear voices, but it was unclear what they were saying, but they sounded confused.
My heart leaped to my throat as a three men came into sight. They peered through the window, looking for frightened customers before kicking the door open.
"Where is everyone?" one of the men roared, pulling over a small table in his rage.
"They must have been tipped off." I knew that voice; it was the executioner, Macnair.
Their boots creaked around and Harry and I moved closer together.
"Protego totalum" I whispered as quietly as I could. It seemed as though nothing had happened, but I could feel my magic in the shield around us.
"Let's go." The first man eventually muttered angrily.
Harry and I exhaled in relief, hoping that maybe they may just leave altogether and no one had to get hurt. It was a hope that lasted all of two seconds when screams and lights started across the street in Florean's ice cream parlour. I groaned, Lavender had undoubtedly panicked and started the fight. Now all she had done was draw all of the attention onto Parvati, Padma and herself.
The three men made a dash for the door, hoping to catch some of the action.
I stood up, unable to let them anywhere near the more pathetic members of the order and pointed my wand at the surprised men, "Reducto!"
They were thrown in different directions as my spell hit the door, sending it splintering and all the surrounding windows to pieces.
"Get her!" Macnair roared, getting to his feet. He grabbed one of the other men by the collar and hoisted him up before moving to the last man.
"Useless." He hissed at the unconscious man.
"Avada Kedavra!" the unknown death eater yelled. I ducked and it hit the bookshelf, sending all of the books crashing to the floor around us. The shop suddenly seemed to spring to life the moment a part of it was damaged and books started raining down on Harry and me.
"Who's your friend?" Macnair laughed viciously from the safety of the counter. He was always one to toy with his victims.
Harry stood and I'm sure if I could see their faces through the masks, their mouths would have been hanging open in shock.
Macnair seemed to be the first to regain thought. "We've got Potter!" He shouted triumphantly, "Stupefy!"
The spell came flying towards us and exploded in a brilliant red colour just centimeters from Harry's face. It had hit my shield charm.
"Very clever." He spat.
I watched the other death eater circle around to our side while Macnair held our attention, "Immobulus!"
He froze mid-step and remained staring at Harry while the books were all frozen in the air as well. I smirked in satisfaction.
"Imperio" My heart sunk as I felt the spell shatter my charm. Macnair however was not so fortunate with his target. It took me only a moment to put the charm back up while Harry fought the curse off of him. If it had been me under the Imperius curse we would have been doomed.
Macnair lowered his wand and spoke to Harry, "Kill her."
Harry smirked and raised his wand to my forehead. Fear flickered through me for a split second before he rapidly turned his wand on Macnair and stunned him.
"Oh, thank goodness." I breathed as I held a hand to my rapidly beating heart. "You're a good actor, Harry."
I only had a moment to relax. Outside had turned into a complete war, spells were whizzing past our window in an alarming quantity and shouts of pain could be heard from every direction.
I quickly bound the three men in case they were to come to, before running over to the obliterated doorway. There were red sparks fizzling above Florean's and to my left I could see Hagrid and Andromeda trying to vain to get to the girls.
I ducked a curse sent my way and shot one back in the direction it had come from before darting out into the street.
Harry was next to me, rebounded curses as I made my way into the ice cream parlour.
"Lavender," I called when I was inside, "Parvati?"
"Hermione, oh, Hermione" I heard Lavender whisper, "We're behind here!"
I ran behind the counter to find a very pale Parvati lying unconscious on the floor while Lavender nursed a severe gash across her arm that was oozing blood onto the floor. Padma, thank goodness, seemed uninjured.
"We're so sorry," Padma sobbed, "There were so many."
"It's OK," I soothed. I glanced at the door; Harry was struggling to shield all of the curses coming his way. "Harry and I will cover you while you get her into the Leaky Cauldron."
"Oh, please don't make us go out there!" Lavender cried. "I can't carry her how I am!"
"You're a witch." I reminded her, waving my wand in front of her face in case he hadn't got the message. Lavender nodded and took a deep breath. "Say when."
I dashed back to the door and pointed my wand out, "Expulso!"
Every death eater that had been approaching was knocked to the ground temporarily.
"NOW" I screamed at the girls. They nodded and ran out, Parvati's unconscious body floating ahead of them.
"Cover them, Harry." I ordered, running ahead of them while Harry followed behind.
I managed to create a shield charm just large enough to cover the lot of us, but I knew it would weaken with just a few hits; the larger the shield, the harder to keep control of.
"Faster, Hermione" Harry roared from the back. I glanced behind me to see the death eaters getting to their feet and coming after us.
I managed to fling a stunner at one of them, sending him crashing back to the ground, but the three other men kept coming at us.
Harry disarmed another and Lavender even managed a weak confundus charm on one of them that momentarily stopped him, but it wouldn't last long.
"Oh, look what I have here!" the voice was terrible, it was laced with danger and it made me what to turn around and start running right back at the other death eater that was still pursuing us.
"Baby Potter and his itty mudblood!" Bellatrix Lestrange stood proudly without a mask or typical death eater robes. Instead she opted for her usual crazed prostitute look.
We came to sudden stop and she held out her hand to stop the death eater from cursing us.
"They're mine, Avery."
"Don't even, Bellatrix. I had them first." Avery hissed back, raising his wand to her.
Bellatrix laughed at the threat and raised her wand back at him. Harry and I glanced at each other. Maybe we could inch around her while she wasn't paying attention?
She shrieked with laughter as he fell to ground screaming, having been caught off-guard by her torture curse. She let it up after a minute and raised a cocky eyebrow at him. He snarled at her before turning his back on us and disappearing into the battle to find an order member to take his anger out on.
"Now, back to you two," she smiled at us. I wanted to be sick as she pointed her wand between Harry and me. Next to me Lavender was trembling.
I dropped my wand at my feet and even she looked startled.
"Hermione, pick up your wand!" Harry hissed. He kept his trained on the insane witch.
"Bellatrix," I spoke nervously, "we'll surrender, if you let these girls go."
She cackled cruelly and pointed her wand at Padma. "What do you say, sweetheart?"
"P-please" Padma trembled. Tears sprung to her eyes.
"Well, GO!" Bellatrix snapped. The two girls ran quickly, levitating Parvati behind them. They didn't even look back at me.
"Now… What to do with precious Potter and the mudblood?" Bellatrix cooed. She stood so close to me I could feel her breath on my face. I turned my head in disgust, only to have my chin grasped in her bony fingers, forcing my head to face her.
"You will learn your place!" she snarled.
"No, Bella. You will."
I managed to struggle free of Bellatrix's grasp to look behind her.
Andromeda stood there, wand trained on her older sister. She looked sad, but determined. "Leave the kids alone, Bella."
The know-it-all part of me wanted to point out that we were in fact adults now, had been for a few years in fact. But, instead, I picked up my wand and was dragged away from the nut job by Harry.
"What about Tonks' mum?" I cried out, trying to pull Harry back.
"Didn't you see the look on her face, Hermione? She wanted to do it alone." I sighed and nodded. Harry was all too familiar with wanting revenge.
"Harry, Hermione, DUCK!"
Harry dragged me down as a purple jet of light flew at us.
"That was close." I muttered, quickly summoning the shield charm back up.
We turned and shot a stunner back at the offending wizard. The death eater face planted the ground.
"You saved my arse." Ernie puffed, coming to stand by us. "I thought I was toast."
"Where's Tonks?" I asked. He shrugged and pointed to the far end of the alley.
"Red sparks came from that direction and she was off. It's hectic over there."
My heart started pounding. All noise seemed to cease as I was taken over by panic. It took me a moment to even realise that the loud pounding wasn't just from my heart, it was from my feet hitting the cobblestones as I ran. I could hear Harry call my name, but he sounded so far away, when in reality it couldn't have been more than a few metres.
I needed to find Draco.
I ducked a jet of green light. They were sending killing curses at me. Now I was separated from Harry, I was in more danger. But it didn't matter.
I needed to find Draco.
What if it was him that sent up the sparks? What if he and Blaise had been killed? The death eaters despised them for being traitors after all. They were good fighters, but how good could they be if twenty death eaters went up against them?
I screamed as I collided with someone, knocking us both to the ground. My victim was quick to recover and was firing stunners instantly. The fact that they weren't killing me was a good indication that it was my side.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, Hermione?" Charlie roared, blocking a curse.
I quickly scrambled to my feet and helped him fight off at least three death eaters.
"I need to find Draco." I whispered urgently.
"It's a madhouse down here, Hermione. I can't say I've seen him."
In my anger a surge of magic swept through me and I took down the front wall of the Magical Menagerie with my next spell. It was unnecessary and destructive, but it took out at least five death eaters.
"Bloody hell," Charlie said in awe, as he gaped at the debris.
"I have to find Draco." I repeated, more to myself than him. I left his side and ran for Ollivander's. The likelihood of his still being inside was drastically small unless he was…
No. He was alive. I would know if something had happened, wouldn't I?
"Draco?" I yelled as I burst through the damaged door.
I received no answer, just a shattered window as a death eater clicked onto my location.
"Stupefy!" I shouted. I cursed as I missed the death eater and quickly ducked under the window sill as he sent back a jet of yellow light.
My panic was making my duelling sloppy. I couldn't allow that. I stood up and gasped as I found myself standing inches from him, the only thing separating us being an empty window frame. He grabbed my throat and tried to drag me through the window. I fought against his hand with everything I had, scratching and biting. He had a grip so fierce though that I couldn't even use my voice well enough to say a spell, and my mind was too unfocused as I tried to free myself that I would never be able to summon my non-verbal skills.
Relief filled my body as his hand left my throat and air was able to fill my lungs. This relief was short lived though, as he had dropped me on the broken edges of the window.
"Shit, Hermione! I'm sorry." It was Blaise; oh thank god it was Blaise.
He ran inside and helped me to raise my stomach off of glass. I cried out in agony as it felt like it was doing more damage than good.
"Come on." He soothed. He picked me up and carried me to the very back of the shop and set me down.
"It's deep," he commented.
"I'll be fine." I assured him. I made a move to sit up but he pushed me back down. "Just heal me, Blaise, like you did at the hotel."
"At the hotel you had minor cuts, this is different. If I healed you now I would be drained of a lot of energy and I wouldn't be able to protect you, and you would still be in no shape to fight for at least a day." Well, what bloody use to me was that? "Now be still, you're bleeding everywhere."
"No Blaise, where is Draco?" I asked urgently.
He looked at me strangely and I could briefly see a flicker of worry shoot over his features.
"What is it?" I whispered.
"Nothing." He muttered quickly. I growled in frustration.
He took his top robe off and folded it so it was as skinny as his forearm; he then helped me to lean up against the shelves.
"Tell me." I hissed. Again I was ignored.
He wrapped the robe around me tightly, it was painful, but it seemed to help stop the bleeding.
"Blaise," I said again. This time I grabbed the front of his shirt and made him look at me. "What is it?"
He sighed and shook his head, "About five minutes ago Draco saw red sparks come from your way and he just up and left. I assumed he would have found you."
"I didn't pass him on the way." I was hyperventilating.
"Don't panic, I'm sure he was just in one of the shops." He reassured, but I could hear the doubt in his voice.
"Blaise, help me up." I demanded. He shook his head at me.
"You need to sit the rest of this one out, Hermione. You're only going to get yourself killed if you fight like this."
"It's just a scratch!" I yelled.
"You had at least two inches of glass impaled into your stomach. You can barely breathe without cringing. It's not 'just a scratch.'"
"I've been through worse." And I had. Sectusempra was a bitch.
"I don't doubt it. But all the same, Draco would kill me if I didn't protect you now."
We both gasped as a low chuckle filled the room.
"Would he now?" Blaise placed himself protectively in front of me as Regulus stepped around the corner of the shelves. "So should I inform him that so far you've done a piss poor job?"
"Easy up, mate, you're on our side." Blaise reminded him. All the same, Blaise kept his wand at his side and ready to strike.
"I know where Malfoy is," Regulus teased. I tried to sit up further.
"Where is he?" I asked desperately. Again I was met with that low chuckle.
"I'll show you if you like." I didn't like the way his voice sounded as he said this. How could he be sure Draco hadn't moved…?
"Please… he's alive?" I whispered. Tears were threatening to burst from my eyes like a dam.
"I'll show you, princess." He repeated.
"No way," Blaise snarled.
"Blaise, I need to know… I need to… please" ah, now the tears came.
"No, Draco and I agreed to keep you safe." He growled, glancing back at me.
"Well, I'll happily relieve you off that duty." Regulus smirked.
Blaise went to raise his wand, recognising the words to be a threat, but Regulus was quicker. I screamed as Blaise fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"What did you do to him!" I screamed, reaching forward, even though it was agony to do so.
I touched Blaise's face and moved one hand around to his neck while my other smoothed his hair. I let out a sigh of relieve when I felt a pulse.
"Don't worry, princess. He's just out cold." Regulus confirmed. "Now, do you want to see your lover boy?"
I looked down at Blaise's face and felt a tug of protectiveness grip me.
"I won't leave him here." I snapped, "Besides, I wouldn't go anywhere alone with you."
Regulus rolled his eyes and pulled me up by my arms. I shrieked and clutched my stomach as pain tore through it.
"He'll be fine back here. If anyone comes across him they'll just assume he's dead."
Had so many died already to assume him to just be another body?
"Let me go!" Blaise looked so helpless lying on the floor.
Regulus growled with impatience and started dragging me out the door against my cries of pain and protest.
"Will you hurry up!" he hissed, "This is a battle you know!"
I fought him with as much strength as I could muster. But my stomach was excruciating. I touched a hand to Blaise's robe and pulled it back to see it covered in blood. It was not a good injury to have when one was in the middle of a life threatening situation. The only way I could keep forcing my body to move at all was the promise of Draco, and the knowledge that the moment this was all over, it would take Pomfrey less than an hour to heal. Did I really want to make so much fuss on something so easy to fix?
"We're going to get killed if you don't hurry the fuck up." He snarled. He tugged on my arm again, making me stumble forward.
I gasped in pain and he rolled his eyes before scooping me up and carrying me. Although faster to move, the way my stomach was pushing together made it more agonizing then just walking there myself. Besides, I did not want Regulus to carry me.
"Put me down, you bastard!" I screamed, aiming a hard smack to the side of his head.
Caught off guard by my hit, Regulus did, in fact, drop me. The scream that left my lips as I fell to the ground was enough to capture the whole alley's attention, I was sure. Regulus swore his anger and reached down and slapped me fair across the face.
"Do that again, and I will cut your hands off, mudblood." I didn't doubt it.
He scooped me back up, harsher than before and picked his pace up to a jog. I noticed with dread that we were heading for Knockturn alley.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked. He didn't reply, but when I looked up I noticed he was smirking.
"Where's Snape?" he was meant to be partnered with Regulus at the darker alley's entrance.
"Oh, he got a little preoccupied with the idiots over in Gringott's." Regulus chuckled, "Didn't even notice that I didn't follow him."
Every bone in my body told me to get loose and make a run for it. It was impossible to outrun Regulus though, even when I wasn't in the state I was in. I made to reach for my wand and noticed that it wasn't in my pocket, it wasn't anywhere.
"You left it with Zabini." He supplied. I glanced at him warily, the fact that he had expected me to reach for my wand, and that he knew where it was, did nothing to comfort me.
Two death eaters appeared at the alley's entrance as we neared it. I thought, with a smug bit of satisfaction, that he was going to have to release me to be able to fight them.
I was an idiot. I was such a fucking idiot. I should never have left Harry's side. I should never have left Blaise alone, not that Regulus had given me any choice anyway. I should have left with Draco last night, abandoned the order like he had wanted. But no, I had stayed to fight, I had left Harry's side and I had not fought back hard enough against Regulus when he had grabbed me. Now all my fears were coming to the surface as the two death eaters didn't prepare to attack Regulus, but moved aside for us to pass before they went back to guarding the alley. Regulus only laughed when I tried feebly to get free one last time.
I didn't know if Draco was alive or not, but I knew without doubt, that very soon I was going to be separated from him for eternity.
A/N: Hello all :) How have we all been? Here's a good chunk of the battle. Poor Hermione and Blaise :( I loved reading my reviews and I'd love to read even more... please? :) Anyway, I'm completely distracted by the mind-trapping device known as the television, so I best get back to being it's slave :D
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE RRREEEVVVIIIEEEWWW!
xSiriusxstalker.
