A/N: Again I want to thank everyone who has been keeping up with this story so far. I wasn't certain I was going to get this chapter up today, but thank Slytherin for the Muse has pushed me to inspiration. Coming up soon is a chapter with lemons because ye gods we need it.
A/N #2: Guest wrote: "I feel you crossed the line with the shit that went down this last chapter... I don't really see how this story can continue now that hermione and fleur have broken souls and Narcissa is far gone too." I don't see life as just the decisions that you make but having to live with them. It's not about the destination, but the journey and the reflection when you're done. Was Severus' soul broken for killing Albus?
KhazintheDark wrote: "So everyone is more violent and sadistic in this AU, FINALLY someone writes about the PTSD" I feel like the book was violent and sadistic, we just didn't have it 'full-frontal'. Rowling had dropped hints that the muggle-borns were rounded up by the Ministry and Delores like the Jewish Holocaust, but didn't openly state what happened to them. (Judging from the Dementors who were multiplying and congregating in the courts, I just openly stated what I saw inferred to: that they were having their souls sucked out as one would 'send jews to the showers'.)
Whereas JK may have only dropped hints at things (like Albus being gay) I'm dropping anvils. As for the PTSD, I hope to show more of that in this and how to overcome the demons in your past.
I was certain that I had died. Then I realized I wouldnt be in this much pain if I were. At the thought of the word 'pain', my eyes jerked open and more pain blazed within me. I was lying down, and it was so bright my eyes hurt. My skin felt raw and singed, as if fire lived beneath my skin. My arms flailed instinctively, trying to brush the heat off of me. A pair of hands latched onto my shoulders and I kicked out with my legs, deep aches making the knees stab with pain.
"Help me hold her down!" The voice was familiar as my eyes tried to slowly open and take in the vision of my wife, but everything was too bright, too blurry.
Weight landed on my arms, hands, my ankles, and my knees. All were hands holding me down. I tried to struggle, I didn't like the sensation of being restrained, but the pain started to recede as a wave of lethargy took over.
"Blood pressure is dropping fast." I couldn't recognize the voice. Some of the weight upon me receded, and I tried to open my eyes again. I could make out shapes and light, blurry movement as a phial was brought to my lips and I jerked my face away from it. What are you giving me? I tried to ask, while keeping my teeth clenched.
A grey hue took over my vision as tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, and I felt the cool embrace of familiar darkness come back to claim me. It was the sensation of falling, scary but safe.
The man's voice sounded more panicked. "We're losing her!"
Darkness took over, muting the pain, and quenching the light. A feminine voice cut through the dark, "Let me try." Lips touched my own, and it was familiar.
It was safe.
It was home.
It was life.
I reached out with my own self as I returned the kiss, and drew her around me like an old, familiar blanket. The Darkness was still there, but I knew I'd be safe. The man's voice sounded reassured. I let the Darkness hold me.
Fleur had taken glee at immolating the final Inferi as Narcissa unloaded her muggle weapon at the Goblin. The goblin was under her foot as she dry-fired the P90 to an unsatisfying click. In the end, Kingsley had to show up and take the prisoner, but Severus wanted to do a complete search to ensure the Resurrection Stone would not be lost again.
In the end, only three babies survived. Counting the patients, Healers, and mediwizards, only ten people were rescued in a Hospital that holds around five hundred patients. This was designed solely to be a massacre; there was no bargaining chip nor hostage situation here, nor was there any common ground between the two races that could be found anymore. The Goblins opted for 'scorched earth' tactics and were willing to commit genocide, and the Wizards couldn't respond to that with just a stern warning. That the ringleader was taken alive was nothing short of a miracle.
It was a strange twist of fate that they were now using the dungeons at what once was Malfoy Manor on behalf of the Ministry. But then again, the wing of the manor that had housed Hermione's parents was now a makeshift infirmary.
"He's unconscious from multiple sleeping potions, we'll be lucky if he ever wakes up again." The Minister said, stress wearing away at him.
"Minister, there is no need to revive him for an entrail-expelling curse." Severus said dryly.
"Vat? That could kill 'im!" Viktor objected.
Severus pointed his wand at the unconscious goblin. "Accio Resurrection Stone." Nothing happened. "I searched the remains of the other goblins already. It has to be inside this one." Fleur nodded as she clinically cast the spell. The only small mercy was that the Goblin was still asleep and therefore didn't have to experience the sensation of having its organs and entrails pushed outside of its body, making her job of finding the stone much easier. It was one of the cruelest spells that was still perfectly legal since the results weren't always lethal. Not always lethal. Pretty to think that.
The Goblin had indeed swallowed it, and with a few strategically-placed spells she knew exactly where the stone was inside the sleeping Goblin's organs. Either she would have to summon it to take the natural course to exit, or she was going to have to pierce the flesh and dig it out. Fleur decided to cut it out of him.
Harry had arrived, breathless and shell-shocked from Saint Mungo's with Longbottom. "Merlin! How is this not an unforgiveable?!" Harry cried out, taking in the gore before him. Fleur reversed the spells and the Goblin was reassembled, the Stone in her hand.
Kingsley moved between the goblin and Harry. "Potter? Report."
"It's done, Minister. The muggles are on-scene, putting out the fire of the supposedly abandoned department store building." He took a deep breath. "No more hospital."
Severus had helped move the injured survivors to Granger Manor and direct the Fiendfyre to take down the building as quickly as possible. Cancelling the spell and leaving only non-magical fire for the muggle firefighters to battle had been the most surreal thing he would have to do, as Obliviators had been dispatched to reconstruct eyewitness accounts.
"Kingsley, this does not remedy the greater issue at hand; that other goblins are seeking to capitalize upon the chaos that has already claimed hundreds of wizards." Severus warned.
Kingsley frowned at that; he didn't want to say it out loud for fear of it becoming all the more real. "The Wizengamot enacted Emergency Powers. All Goblins are now banned from our territory under pain of death."
Harry's voice dropped to arctic tones. "What does that mean?"
Kingsley pinched his nose bridge. "It means, after all of the death and destruction the Goblins did, and that it took only three of them to destroy our hospital and kill hundreds within an hour, the Ministry is no longer willing to engage in diplomacy. They have sanctioned a complete purge of the Goblins from our lands."
"You have to stop this, Kingsley!"
The Minister seemed winded as he admitted it.
"I can't. The magical governments of France, Spain, and Germany have acknowledged the situation and declared all Goblins in our land as terrorists. They have even sealed their borders to deny them any possible entry." He looked down at the ground, ashamedly. "Even if they request political asylum. I've distanced myself from the decision and decried this as the act of a few extremists, but..."
Viktor spoke up. "But we can't be certain which Goblins are innocent."
Harry looked surprised at that. "They don't all deserve to be killed, though!
Fleur's voice was filled with venom. "How many Wizards were killed by this so-called 'rebellion'?"
Harry huffed at that. "That doesn't matter!"
Fleur's eyes turned blue ice against her pale, avian-like features. "It matters to the public who wants security! The Ministry doesn't have the support of the public any more; Godric's Hollow has followed Hogsmeade's steps and is in open rebellion. They don't trust us to protect them, so they are taking up with Anarchists."
Kingsley's voice betrayed his guilt at it. "At least a thousand. More..." his usually rich voice cracked from the pain of admitting it, "...more than in the war against Vol-Voldemort."
"That can't be true." Harry looked like he was just told that Father Christmas wasn't real. "Voldemort was more evil... he was trying to..."
"He wanted Pureblood supremacy and worked the fear of the people. Wanted to round up the muggle-borns and enslave them. As detestable as it all was, he valued efficiency and didn't want to have to kill too many of them. The Goblins, however, just want to see our world burn." Narcissa spat out, "The Goblins are, believe it or not, a worse threat."
Neville was shaking his head at the aftermath burned into his memory. "It only took three goblins to take down the hospital. How was that so... easy?"
Viktor spoke up, his own eyes looking haunted. "They used hit-and-run tactics, poison gas. Then they turned the dead into an instant army."
Cormac, bloody and bandaged from his own battle in the courtrooms, spoke up. "They even had loads of Inferi to let loose in the Ministry as a diversion when St. Mungo's was overrun. Where did they get all those from?"
The reason for Kingsley's guilt was apparent. "Azkaban. Remember the Soulless that we couldn't agree on what to do with? The ones who would die anyways? The Goblins decided for us. Sent them back to try and kill all of us."
Ron walked in, handing over healing potions to the Healers in the makeshift hospice. "Brilliant strategy. Evil, but brilliant."
Harry's eyes centered on him as he shoved his former best friend into the wall. "I NEEDED YOU HERE RONALD!"
Ronald refused to look at Harry. "One more wand wouldn't have helped."
"You don't know that! Doesn't even matter. You should have been here. People died. Good people!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as Harry pointed down the hall. "Hermione's still fighting to survive! Your own sister and Draco were hurt-"
"She shouldn't have been there! It's not her job to save the world!"
"Someone has to, Ron." Harry wiped tears away. "Someone has to."
"Well, George and I are restocking the basic healing potions since you torched the hospital." Ron said bitterly. Harry wanted to make a nasty retort, but a plain-looking wizard showed up with a cauldron in his hands and Draco by his side. Draco's face was still bruised and sore, but at least the skull fractures were healed.
The former Malfoy looked as if he wanted, or needed, to embrace Harry. To comfort him. But he couldn't just yet. "Harry, we may have found a way to deal with the Goblins."
"It can't be good, if you're with Bob here." Draco and Harry had decided to call the Unspeakable 'Bob'. Bob refused to give up his name nor show his real face.
Kingsley looked equally mistrustful. "What do you have?"
"It's a relic from Gringelwald's time. Blood magic, designed to wipe out bloodlines." Bob said.
Draco frowned at that. "It was designed to kill the muggles. We can modify it for Goblins, and will take them all out in a 300 kilometer radius." Fleur understood what that meant. It would wipe out most of the goblins in the UK, but it could also take out some in Belgium and France. She remembered the carnage of the past few weeks and she knew she'd light this fuse herself if she had to.
Harry shook his head. "We can't use it."
Kingsley talked over him. "It's not our decision anymore. The Wizengamot has spoken. Unspeakable, do whatever preparations you require. Merlin forgive us, forgive us all."
Severus swooped in through the door and sat beside me before the door could swing closed. His movement seemed off; he didn't have his regular teaching robes billowing around him. Even his frock coat was gone, leaving him in his usual white Victorian-style shirt with a black cravat tucked in between the second and third buttons. It was expertly neat, even down to his pressed trousers, a leather belt around his narrow waist, clasped with a silver pair of serpents in a type of eternal struggle. It had been charmed to have absolutely no shine, to give zero reflection and to avoid attention.
What really stood out was the muggle shoulder holster that held both a muggle gun and his wand for a quick cross-draw. It hugged his chest and it showed me exactly how strong and muscular he was under all of the robes. Overall, the look made him seem a bit more real than the abstract dour Potions Master. I realized that this was the first time I'd ever seen him out of what would serve as his shield. He felt safe around me.
"For once, you're not dressed for a funeral. Try wearing a splash of color, then you'll scare everyone." I said wryly. Holy crap, did I just say that to Professor Snape? I tried to look around, and realized that we couldn't still be in St. Mungo's. The ceiling looked familiar… too familiar…
He smirked for a second, then his face went to careful scrutiny. "Hermione, you are not one to usually make light of my wardrobe."
We exchanged looks that conveyed little. "You seem serious. What happened? The Goblins have been stopped, there are no more Inferi going around trying to kill..."
He shook his head as I realized I was in my home. Apparently we got out of the hospital but I couldn't remember any of that. I started to sit up, and Herpy was there, helping prop me up and put pillows behind me. Bless that dear elf.
"There have been no new reports of Inferi." he said.
"Then what is bothering you?" I seemed to ache all over, which is probably due to being slammed onto the ground a few times. My chest hurt, my skin felt raw, and my head felt tender and sore.
He tried to smile. It looked like it was too difficult. "You nearly die, essentially get brought back by your wife's kiss, and you ask me what's wrong?"
I arched an eyebrow at him. "I didn't know you cared." As I said it, a strange thought went through my head. This is exactly how Narcissa would be with him. "I'm acting more like Narcissa would with you." My eyes focused on his face, his jawline, and I could see the eon of pain that was etched into his soul. I wanted to cup his face with my hands, and tell him that it would be okay. My mind flashed onto a memory where Narcissa had held him as he wailed, unable to keep his emotional barriers up after Lily left him in Hogwarts. I knew Narcissa had always cared for him, but I never expected to feel her memories like this. Severus had said those exact words, 'I didn't know you cared', to Cissy as she offered him a handkerchief when they were in the Advanced Potions classroom after curfew.
His eyes met hers… my eyes… as he said my wife's reply. "Perhaps I care more than I should."
I said the next line automatically. "Lucius' monogrammed handkerchief. You know you don't have to go through with the Bonding…" I pulled away from the memory. "Severus, why do I have my wife's memories?"
"She had to strengthen the bond between you two in order to share some of her life energy." He looked pensive for a moment. "You were gravely injured; not just the concussion, broken bone, fractured skull… there was a cursed wound upon you, sucking the life out of you much like…"
My heart pounded in fear. I knew that there was something about that Inferi, but that it could deliver cursed wounds? Had I been rotting like Dumbledore?! "Is Narcissa…" I couldn't finish the question. It was too scary to even fathom.
"She's fine. Just… tired. Chased down the final Goblin as it tried to escape. Gunned it down and emptied her clip of sleeping potions. He'll stand trial, after a fashion." I searched my mind and my feelings for what was Narcissa. Had she been inclined towards men, she could have loved Severus. I couldn't keep my eyes on him as I realized that.
"Sev, if there haven't been any more attacks, why do you look so… beat?"
"Fleur only woke back up yesterday." Yesterday?
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days. You depleted your magic; anyone else should have been unable to cast that many spells." I nodded my head, comprehending the implications of using the Elder Wand. It was trying to seduce me to kill, to use it more. Even to wipe my memories of guilt, of even using the wand in the first place.
"How bad was Fleur hurt?" I asked, noting his body language.
"Broken wing, concussion. She'll heal." He gave nothing away, which was a tell in itself.
"Good," I replied, nodding. "And my son? I mean, step-son?"
"Draco is fine, he got a small concussion. Ginny suffered a nasty bite… it wasn't cursed, though… everyone else made it without any real physical damage. I've taken the liberty to refrain Gilderoy Lockhart from signing photographs as a 'get-well-soon' gift to you. Molly didn't seem to understand why."
I smiled at that, but there was something he was attempting to hide from me. "Drop the other shoe, Severus."
His eyes narrowed. "I have no idea what you speak of."
"I've known you for far too… Narcissa's memories of you are indicating you're still hiding something."
"The Goblins are to be culled by order of the Wizengamot."
I tried to sit all the way up; shocked at the news I had heard. The more I tried, however, the more it hurt. My chest ached, and so did my shoulder. Rammed the door open. Right. I tried to reach to touch the back of my head, only to feel how sore my arm muscles were. The skin felt tight and stretched around my hands to boot, making an ache whenever I was stubborn enough to move.
I flopped back into my half-sitting-up position and relaxed. The pain receded as I grimaced at how laid-up I was because of it. The Goblin who tried to kill me had done it from a distance, where I should have been safe if he hadn't stolen wands from the dead.
I let go of the frustration as I remembered the more important thing: I had almost died. That I was still alive means that maybe it's a good thing that I'm laid up like this for a while. I needed to not run off and play the hero by myself. Maybe I should leave this up to Severus and Fleur, and go back to a relatively safe life and finish at Hogwarts.
My mind flashed to remember the deaths in the hospital, and at the awards banquet, and the battle in the middle of Diagon Alley. I couldn't just lie here and hope that the rest of the Goblins would peacefully surrender and be executed for conspiring to commit genocide and destroy the Ministry.
Merlin, not even Voldemort wanted the Ministry destroyed. He wanted it taken over.
"Hermione?"
"I heard you, I need to get up. Goblins to kill." Severus cast a spell, opening up the door to the room I was in. A mediwitch rushed in, meaning that I must have been more injured than I had thought. Or Narcissa is spending a lot of Galleons on us. My mind went back to Saint Mungo's. Why wasn't I there getting treated now?
"Miss Granger, you're in no state to be getting-"
"-Misses Granger." I corrected automatically, "what happened to the hospital?"
The mediwitch looked familiar, like I should have known her from Hogwarts. She was my own height with short blond hair, and her demeanor conveyed professionalism and exhaustion.
"What do you think you're doing, Misses Granger?"
"Getting up. This is my home, correct? What happened to the St. Mungo's?"
She tittered as her head shook slightly. "This may be your home, but you're my patient."
"You can either help me up, or be in my way. Severus, where is my wife?" I demanded.
Severus' face gave nothing away. "She's resting."
"I'll get the Healer." The mediwitch rushed out.
My eyes met Severus'. "What happened?!" He stood, graceful as flowing water. It reminded me of the water rushing down the stairs to the Morgue. Something happened there, something really bad. I couldn't seem to focus on it.
"I'll see if Cissy is awake." Severus swept out of the room, and it seemed odd without his regularly billowing robes in his wake. He considers my wife like family; had he even gone home? Where was home for him? It hit me then; his house might be at Spinners End, but home for him is near his loved ones. Which is precisely why he's been keeping a vigil upon us.
"Thanks Sev," I muttered to the now-empty room. I pulled back the sheets to see my legs. The knees looked like overripe bananas. I hadn't known bruises could come in dark yellow. Wincing, I pulled back my sleeves and saw deep purple and brown bruises across my forearms, and a healing bite mark on my left hand. The fact that I had been out for three days and that I still looked this bad with magic was saying a lot.
The Wizarding War is over, yet the Goblin's Rebellion is even worse... what kind of world are we going to create out of all this?
