~*~The Fated Path~*~
She had finally silenced the biting remarks of the horcruxes, which was one victory amongst many defeats. Her muscles were tight from the constant tension she had put them through during the melding but thankfully her body wasn't covered in sores as Neville had been taking care of her when she was too far gone mentally to do so herself. Cadeyrn had been spirited away under the cover of darkness and though she had gotten to say goodbye, her heart still ached at his loss. Hopefully, Severus would keep him safe.
Despite the best effort to destroy her, the horcruxes had failed and she crawled back from her own personal battlefield to resurface a changed woman. Casting a patronus was out of her depth with so much of Voldemort's soul in her body, but there were many benefits to having them inside her.
When she had descended from her tower, as soon as her body was up to carrying its own weight, Hermione had run into Nagini in the halls. Neville never really got used to having that serpent so close to him, especially when she and Voldemort had sat upon their thrones with their respective pets beside them and since he was shadowing her to ensure she was recovered she heard his sudden intake of breath. Looking around, curious, Hermione saw the snake slithering leisurely up the hall, tongue flicking out occasionally. Nagini had a knack for antagonizing people who she knew feared her and Neville had become her new favorite sport.
Little dog, alwaysss jumpsss. I ssshould like to tassste him, bite him...bite him, yessss. It took a moment for Hermione to realize it was the snake that was speaking. When she did, a laugh bubbled up in her chest. Apparently, snakes liked to talk to themselves.
As amusing as her new power was, Hermione was tired of the antics. "Nagini, behave." she snapped.
The snake stopped suddenly and raised her head. "Missstresss? You can ssspeak my language? How?"
"Your master's soul is within me now. I possess what he possesses. Now, do as I say and behave."
"Yesss, missstresss."
"Good." Hermione reached out and ran her hand down Nagini's long neck, feeling the smooth scales beneath her fingers. She could feel the soul resting inside the reptile's body. "We shall be allies, you and I. Together we will ensure our master's eternal fate. But find your fun someplace else for now. This one is still of use to me."
Nagini bobbed her head and went on her way. Hermione made to continue on, but noticed that Neville wasn't following her. Turning, she stared at her friend.
"What's wrong?"
"You...you just hissed! Parceltongue! How are you not freaking out?"
"I'm capable of wandless magic, wordless magic, effortlessly casting Unforgivables. I can read your mind through your eyes, like an open book," Hermione came closer to Neville, cupping his face in her hands and speaking softly. "what makes you think I care if I can speak to a pathetic, belly-crawling vessel?"
The brown eyes that stared into hers were wide and when Neville spoke, his voice trembled. "Hermione?"
The power of his fear was like a drug and for a split second, she revelled in it like cool rain after a hot day. She breathed it in and her fingers dug into his cheeks, feeling him balk and twist in her grip like wriggling prey. But this wasn't Hermione Granger. She would never want to instill fear in people. Hermione Granger was not a villain. With a jerk, Hermione pulled away and put at least five feet between them.
"I'm sorry," she closed her eyes and focussed on simply breathing. "I can't always control what they do. I'm trying, but they are strong...I'll try harder, I promise. I'm so sorry...please just don't..." she opened her eyes as arms came around her and held her tight. "Don't give up on me."
Neville pulled her as close as he could and she was so thankful for him. "You're my sister, 'Mione. I'll always have your back."
"Thank you, Nev..." Tears were attempting to build up in her eyes and she forced them back, collecting herself as she stepped away again.
"My Queen," A familiar voice called gently and she spun around. Severus was standing a respectable distance away in full Death Eater regalia, his Slayer mask firmly in place and his eyes on the floor. "If you would come with me, there is something I would like to show you."
"Ah, Slayer, how do you like your new position...at the bottom of the chain?" Hermione knew from his posture that she had to act the part just in case someone was listening.
"It suits me, your Majesty. I am pleased to have been given another chance to prove my worth. But, please, my Queen, it is urgent that you follow me." Severus' eyes were the only thing that she could see through the Slayer mask but she could hear his mind. We only have an hour, please, come with me.
"Very well. Lead the way," Hermione followed Severus through the manor, down towards the King's laboratory. Though she was curious, she kept her questions to herself for now.
Neville held the doors open for them as they entered the laboratory and Hermione was surprised to see Draco at the center of the large ward circle, drawing new runes upon the floor with some paint from a jar.
"My Queen, please step into the circle." Draco absentmindedly gestured, his gaze locked on the shapes he was creating. Hermione did as he asked, knowing that Severus would not have broken Draco out without good reason. The fallout from this could doom them all if they were caught. There was no telling what Voldemort would think.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, calmly taking up position where she had been during the melding. The ghost of the pain she had felt here sent shivers down her spine.
"The less you know the better, I'm afraid. Just keep your mind clear and your thoughts light." Draco screwed the cap back onto the jar and tossed it to Neville. "Trust me and this will all go quickly."
Hermione relaxed her body and calmed her mind, not moving as Draco raised his hands and unknowingly mimicked the way she had held Neville's face just minutes ago. His fingers were still wet with paint, but thankfully they were not clawed. She could simply Scourgify the stains away when he was done...with whatever he was about to do.
"I need absolute silence. Do not move or speak until I am done." Draco had directed that at Severus and Neville. When they nodded, he closed his eyes and magic pulsed from his hands into her mind.
The horcruxes were swarming around the intrusion, but Hermione held them back to allow Draco the space to do his work. He was picking at the places where the horcruxes and her own soul met, digging deep into the spaces and wedging himself between them. In his wake he left intricate and ancient magic, solid walls that separated her from the horcruxes. A pressure she hadn't even known was weighing her down slowly lifted and the horcruxes were being corralled into a small space like bees in a jar. All that resistance was evaporating and it felt like she was breathing for the first time since he had done the melding.
"I can't...this one won't let go!" Draco ripped at a stubborn spot, but the pain of it shoved both of them backwards. The ward burned off the floor and vanished, but by the look on Draco's face that wasn't the plan.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked as she fought back the bile in her throat. The pain was reaching a fever pitch in her head and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.
"How long has she been speaking Parseltongue?" Severus asked and Neville told him of the incident with Nagini before he had arrived. None of that mattered! Her head was going to explode from the agonizing waves of pain.
"Draco, fix this! Take back what you have done!" she was not sure it was only her voice that spoke the hissing language to him.
Bright white spots appeared in her vision and she couldn't see Draco return to her side or hear the words he spoke, but the pain abruptly ended and she collapsed to the ground. Catching her breath was difficult, but she did eventually.
"What...what did you do?" Blessedly, the question came out in English.
"I put a barrier between you and the horcruxes...but the cup was too strong. I couldn't break its hold. You will have to cut it out by force...by death." Draco glanced to Severus and he nodded solemnly.
"I still must kill Alastor?"
"It is either you kill him or you die yourself. If the King's soul is destroyed and the cup is still tied to you, there is no guarantee that you will not follow."
"How will killing a man help me survive this?"
"When someone creates a horcrux, they are severing a part of their soul. Perhaps you can decide which part is cut away. If you kill Moody, you can ensure that the King dies alone. I can teach you how to construct the barrier on the fly. There is a way out of this." Draco helped her to her feet.
"No," she whispered, meeting all of their eyes. "If the new beginning of me is the end of another, then I would rather end. No victory is worth that price. I am the only one in the position to end this war...I will not do so by killing someone. I am not the King."
She expected Severus to loudly disagree or at least appear as though he would, that had been his response from the beginning, but he simply closed his eyes and turned away. Neville sighed.
"Hermione, your guard is waiting on you in the ballroom. We have to go."
Severus did not argue, instead he grabbed Draco by the bicep and hurried from the room. She watched him go, hoping he wasn't going to give up on her so close to the finish line. But she couldn't focus on that now.
Quite a lot had happened while she wrestled with the horcruxes and not much of it was good. The Light would have their work cut out for them when she escalated this struggle towards the Final Battle. She would have to do her best to make way for their eventual victory.
But first, she had obligations to attend to.
Her luck being what it was, her first appointment was a mandatory interview with some of the most vapid reporters she had ever met. The crowning irony of the whole event was that Rita Skeeter had been named the authority on all things Voldemort and his regime, so her article would feature on the front page of The Daily Prophet.
The Dark Queen was leading a swarm of clicking cameras and floating quills down a lane outside the Ministry. At the end of a golden leash, which matched her outfit, Neville crouched down as she pointed out the lack of rebel propaganda plastered across the walls around them. Hermione had been waxing poetic about Voldemort and his vision for the country for an hour or so and it was being to wear down her patience.
Rita Skeeter was the worst of the bottom feeders around her.
Because of their history, or rather the parts of it that the vicious reporter wanted to remember, Skeeter was very assuming in her questions and she made her lack of respect clear in the tone of her voice. The others followed her lead and their delicate conversations were beginning to lean towards the mocking, patronizing rubbish Hermione knew what would undermine her power in the eye of the people. For a moment, she was at a loss as to what to do to make them realize, she was as much a force to be reckoned with as was the King.
In her hesitation, she glanced upwards at the sky, hoping perhaps the slow moving clouds would bring a moment of clarity, but instead she saw a man upon the roof. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to catch a better glimpse of him. As the sun poked through the clouds above them, it glinted off of a piece of metal on the man's face and she saw a swirling blue eye in a haggard face.
Moody, she gasped in thought, is he going to ambush me?
Diverting the third question about the supposed baby she and Voldemort were expecting, Hermione drew attention to her royal guard. Upon waking and walking around of her own power, Voldemort had made it a point to extend her limited privacy by assigning her an even more constant guard of fifty witches and wizards, half of which would be with her at all times and the other half would be in reserve. Because this was a very public outing after such a major loss to the Light, she had taken forty of her guard with her and left the rest at the King's manor.
She snuck another look at where she had seen Moody and hoped he got the message. Not now or I won't be able to save you.
"Come along," she said, gesturing to her guard and the reporters. " I have a gift for you all."
It was obvious that showing her guard like that had been a show of force, which Alastor was grateful for as it made it easier for him to know the full threat he would be going up against. The Slayer had been adamant that he not push too hard or too quickly, because the balance between horcrux and vessel was always in flux. The Slayer had also clued him in on the danger being presented to Hermione because of the horcruxes. It wasn't just her trying to keep control over them, it was also the plain truth that they were leaking into her. The fragments of Voldemort's soul were steadily intertwining with her own soul and if they were allowed to continue to do so, they would be inseparable.
The Slayer had been reluctant to speak about it when they met up only an hour ago, until Alastor snapped at him that they did not have time to pull punches about things anymore. A broken, gasping confession had not been the reaction he had expected.
"She refuses to kill you...even if it means...even if..." Severus - because calling the sobbing man before him Slayer just didn't seem appropriate - had fallen back against the wall as the words escaped him. "I swore to you, on my knees, to keep her safe. But how do I save her from herself?!"
The wall Severus had been leaning on probably didn't deserve the abuse it subsequently received from the wizard, but there was a desolate resignation as he slid down to the ground surrounded by shattered bits of concrete and wood. His long, shiny black hair blocked his face from view and while one long leg was straight out in front of him, the other was bent and he was leaning over it.
"My mother is dead, my father is blessedly dead, Albus is dead...Lily is, too. Everyone who trusts me, everyone who depends on me, every damn one of them is rotting in the ground and..." Severus sniffed mightily, and gazed through the strands of his hair with watery eyes, bloodshot and blacker than they had ever been before. "I can't...I can't live if she isn't. I don't do things halfway. When I hate someone, I hate them with all that I am. When I love, I love completely. Madly, some would say."
"What are you saying, Snape?" Moody had asked, softly.
"You live...she dies." The words seemed to be wrapped around a desperate hope, one that was almost too afraid to take root.
"And if I die...?" Alastor told himself he wasn't watering that fledgling hope by entertaining the idea.
"The act can sever the part of her soul tied to the horcruxes. She won't be whole but she'll be alive. I know what it's like to kill for the greater good, I can be there for her after, but if you don't...if she doesn't..."
"Have you always been so selfish?"
He couldn't tell if it was the Slayer or Snape that shot to their feet in front of him, but he saw the madness, the absolute, all-consuming anger that washed over the man's face. Was this what Ron had looked like before he had taken to cutting off heads? Is this what a broken heart did to people? All these years, Moody had watched the darkness of the world rip the innocent and the guilty apart, but he had never been ground zero when the heart was crumbling. It was like watching a hunk of metal being dissolved in caustic acid.
"Selfish? After all I've given...all I've done..."
"Snape..."
"Fuck you!" Alastor's reflexes told him to push back when Severus advanced on him, but for once, he knew that escalation would only prolong the inevitable. "I've been tortured for you people, cut open and left bleeding so you can remain complacent with the perfect world you live in and when I want something...when I need to keep one thing pure, I'm selfish?! Fuck you! Fuck you and fuck the rest of them! If the price of your freedom is her life, then I hope you die. I hope he kills all of you."
The passion whooshed out of the Slayer with each deep breath and he staggered back. Alastor sighed, staring at the destruction of the wall as he gathered his thoughts.
"My death will save her?"
The Slayer didn't speak, but the shattered light in his eyes was enough.
"I swore to her, too." Alastor closed his eyes as he spoke, unable or unwilling to see the world around him as he revealed this secret. "When we first moved into the refuge and Potter was in a coma, she came to me in tears because she didn't have the strength, she told me, to keep going. It was so soon after she had left everything she knew behind, and I was the only one she knew who wouldn't lie to her to make her feel better. She asked me to swear that I would lead them through this...that I would keep them safe. And I swore to her that she would make it, and she believed me because if Mad-Eye Moody believes it, it must be true."
The Slayer was silent and still when he opened his eyes, but that was just as well. He wasn't sure what to do either.
"Perhaps," Severus said, shoving his hair out of his face, "Perhaps we can both keep our promises."
Alastor pulled himself out of his reverie and climbed off the roof.
Though the war was still waging, Voldemort wanted the country to know that his agenda for the betterment of them all was still very much intact. So, he had decided to turn the public against the rebels. New facilities had been secretly constructed all over the country in preparation for this very moment. Hermione led the group around her to the front door of a seemingly quaint office building, a thick sheet over the sign that was fixed above the door. She stood in front of it and faced the reporters.
"Behind me is the newest installation of the Ministry-funded program to eliminate this destructive influx of the so-called 'Phoenix' rebels. If they would bring the war to the doorstep of your home, to the school where you send your children, to the eyes of the muggles who get caught in the crossfire, then it is your duty as citizens to take action. We will not stand by while they destroy our long peace and endanger our lives. Now, the King has decided to take the fight to them but he needs your help."
Hermione used wandless magic to remove the sheet from the sign. Royal Recruitment Center was revealed to the reporters and their cameras flashed wildly as she began again.
"The fate of our great nation could rest in your hands. Let us join together to end this conflict before it does irreparable damage to our way of life. Sign up now and write your name upon the pages of history."
More camera flashes went off and she reasoned that was why she didn't see the spell coming. Neville was low to the ground, though and his vision was unimpaired because he had been staring at the ground. Without hesitation, he rose to standing and used protego to block the vibrant red curse that had been headed straight for her. The reporters gasped and cried out, rushing out of range of the attackers. The confusion only lasted as long as it took everyone to realize that the curse had come from the man standing across the street. As soon as the man stepped into the light, the reporters began to whisper amongst themselves and quills were flying across parchment in excitement.
"Alastor," Hermione greeted the Auror, stepping even to Neville. "You have courage to come to me here. Surely you know there will be no escape for you."
"Perhaps you overestimate your power."
She gave a small chuckle and glanced at her guard. They were closing in quick and she knew as well as Moody that they had already activated a localized Anti-Apparation ward. The avenues for escape were slowly dwindling and a sudden desperation filled Hermione's heart. Even with the horcruxes, even with paler skin and bright red eyes, she could not help feeling nauseous and faint at the idea of carrying out this last task.
"We have spent so much time searching for you," she stepped forward and waved off Neville's unspoken words of caution. "Why have you come to what you knew would be your end? I find myself reluctant to believe you of all people would surrender."
"This is not surrender."
"Walk into death, then, if the wording offends you."
"I will not die today."
A sliver of impatience creeped into her mind and she knew the horcruxes had risen to the challenge Alastor Moody presented. Hermione imagined the strongest steel encasing them and her face hardened in response.
"What makes you think you have a choice?"
"The King can throw whatever mockery he wants in my face, that doesn't make it true. Hermione Granger, that is your name. Hermione Granger, whose mother and father don't even know she's alive. Hermione Granger, the mudblood." Hermione knew this tactic, because Moody had used it during their training sessions to rile her up until she attacked him without thought. It shouldn't be working, but the horcruxes were indignant in her head and it was difficult to figure out which one was her own emotion and which one was theirs.
"You live on borrowed time, now," She hesitated before reaching deep into the horcruxes inside her and calling out to Voldemort. If he had been able to read Harry's mind because of the horcrux, then the path must work both ways. She called him loudly and felt a brief burst of awareness before she closed her mind off again. "Even now, my king comes."
"So you need his approval to end me? Isn't that what he has tasked you with already?"
"He wants to watch." Hermione whispered, smirking for the reporters she knew were watching.
"Or command. He is surrounded by puppets, after all. How much stuffing did it take to fill you up?"
"Silence, you old wretch. Soon, my king will be here and I will do what I was meant to."
"Creating chosen ones, eh? Well, someone should tell him that ship has sailed. Over the parapets, he tell us, but we all saw Potter on that roof. Boy Who Lived, indeed. Wonder what he thinks of you now, oh Queen...his little wayward know-it-all."
"Shut up!" Hermione yelped as Neville muttered her name quietly, but anger had flooded her system and she darted forward, grabbing Moody by the throat. "You left me to him!"
Her voice was no higher than a breath, but she knew he heard her.
"You told me the Light would always be there, all those years ago, but you lied. There is nothing but darkness here, nothing but death."
"You know that's not true." Moody was looking at her with both eyes, staring at her for the first time in what felt like centuries. She almost smelled bread on his old worn coat and for a single second, she felt like she would die if she didn't hug him to her.
"Is he still alive?" A high pitch voice asked politely from behind her and Hermione put space between her and the old Auror. Turning, she saw that Voldemort had walked to their location. Of course, the Anti-app ward would have stopped him from appearing that way. "Ah, you've kept him breathing for me. How thoughtful."
"I said we would greet him together," she drew closer to Voldemort and the reporters were taking more pictures. Hermione wasn't sure she could keep this up very much longer.
"I am here now, no need for further delay. Please, do the honors." Voldemort was waiting for her to prove herself and she couldn't falter. With slow steps that she tried to pass off as a playful stalking, Hermione returned to Moody's side.
"Anything left to say? Keep in mind that the world is watching." she waved to the reporters and flashes from the cameras went off again.
"Only to you." Moody held her gaze and she tilted her head as if in consideration, before nodding.
"I've changed my mind, his last words belong to me." It was the only warning those gathered received before she cast a complex Muffliato.
"You remember what you asked of me, before I locked your memories away?" Moody asked softly, watching her and watching the reporters.
"What?" Hermione was confused and could feel Voldemort staring at her impatiently. She fought to keep from fidgeting.
"You told me to keep everyone fighting if anything happened to you. You told me to never let anything break the Light because it was too precious. Do you remember that?"
It took a moment, far longer than it should have, but she did. With a nod, she let him know.
"Now that the tables have turned..." He raised his wand to her and she lifted hers, her other hand up to halt the advance of her guard. "You must promise me the same. Let nothing and no one break the Light. We are almost done, Hermione. We are almost done. Avada Kedavra!"
If it weren't for the faint gleam in his eye, she would have missed the cheap shot and be dead on the ground. Of course, after his last trick, she was ready for that tactic and dodged. Anger welled up in her at the behest of the one horcrux still linked to her and she retaliated instantly, unthinkingly, a flare of brilliant green light shooting out of her wand to hit Moody in the chest. He gasped out a breath and fell backwards to the ground, his body limp on the cobblestone street. Camera flashes went off one after another, illuminating wide open eyes and a slack jaw. The once swirling, piercing blue eye just as blank and still as the brown one.
A cheer rose up around her and as she numbly turned to see who dared make such a racket now that someone was dead - someone she had looked up to and trained under, someone so vitally important to her as well as the Light - Neville appeared in her line of sight and mimed joy as he guided her away from the body. It would have been a kindness for her to burn the body, as Voldemort met her eyes with the promise to parade it through the streets, but she couldn't think beyond the act of simply being and that was hard enough. Her guard flanked her on all sides as she followed Neville away and with a sharp order, they made their way back to Voldemort's manor.
The King stopped them with a soft command before they had gotten very far.
"Where are you going, my Queen?" Voldemort asked with a smirk on his thin lips.
"There is one final lesson to be taught," she said to him emotionlessly, gazing up at him without a hint of fear or disgust as he surely expected. Instead she felt and showed nothing. With a shout so that even the reporters could hear, she declared her intentions. "To Hogwarts!"
A/N: Okay, so um...a bit of a long break there. Sorry. These last chapters are giving me hell. Lots of things to sort out before the closing curtain. I bet everyone who reads this once its complete will not understand how terribly horrid I am about updating this. Soooo sorry to everyone keeping up with me for the long haul, here. You have all my love and virtual hugs and cookies. I adore you all. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Tickle2Kill
