Oh my gosh, here we go. Nineteen down ... one to go.
*.*.*.*
Nineteen — Death and All His Friends
no, I don't want to battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't want to follow death and all of his friends
"Take them all downstairs to the dungeons, Greyback." He jutted forward to follow her demand, but he stopped when she spoke again, "Wait …"
Hermione knew what was coming, the way she was piercing her with her stare, the snarl on her lips, the white fingers dancing in the air …
Oh god oh god —
"The girl stays."
Hermione could hear Ron immediately shouting in protest behind her, and she could see Draco shoot up into a standing position behind his parents, but she knew neither of them were capable of stopping Bellatrix from getting what she wanted. She nodded her head once at Harry, unsure if this was the last time she would ever see her best friend. Bellatrix used her knife to cut Hermione free from the others and grabbed her by her hair to lead her into the middle of the room. The boys were led down to the dungeon and Hermione's body unexpectedly connected with the ground, her head bouncing off the hardwood floor. She yelped as the pain radiated through her head and down her spine.
This was only the beginning.
Bellatrix always had a flair for the dramatic, and it didn't stop just because she was torturing someone. She not only used magic, but also her own hands to smack her around.
Hermione could faintly hear Ron screaming from the dungeon as Bellatrix repeatedly asked her where they got the sword, and if it was real, and if they had been to Gringotts and inside her vault.
The repeated answers that came out of Hermione's mouth were not enough to convince the crazy woman. It was true, they had just found it (in the middle of a pond), and no, they hadn't been to her vault (but maybe now there was a reason to).
Maybe Harry and Ron would find a way out of the dungeons and rescue her, and then they would be able to leave this place. (Not that she ever wanted to be the "damsel in distress" but right now she was in distress.)
"How did you get into my vault?" Bellatrix screamed again and again.
"We've never … we've never been inside your vault! It isn't the real sword," Hermione sobbed, "it's a fake!"
"A fake? A likely story!"
Hermione coughed from the ground and tears kept falling. Through the tears, she could see the blurry outline of Bellatrix, Greyback, and Lucius. They looked overly excited at the sight of her tears. Bellatrix must've realized that her questioning was not getting her anywhere and decided to hold Hermione's arm down. She drew her small knife with a devilish grin on her lips.
"No, no!" Hermione screamed as the knife dug into the skin of her forearm. The knife seemed to cut into her skin for hours until it suddenly wasn't, and she could vaguely hear Bellatrix questioning Griphook the goblin in a similar manner.
And as she stared at the ceiling of the Malfoy Manor Drawing Room, blood spilling from the cuts on her arm that undoubtably spelled out 'mudblood', she could feel someone probing her mind. Fearing it was Bellatrix trying a new method of obtaining information, she tried putting up a fight. The person backed off, whispering into her mind, "Please …"
Turning her head slowly, Narcissa was right there with wide eyes. Against her better judgement, she blinked her eyes once, slowly, deliberately, allowing her into mind. She felt the mother of the boy she loved poke and prod at her most sacred of memories.
"And I think," Bellatrix's voice broke the spell, "we can dispose of the Mudblood, don't you? Greyback, take her if you want."
At that point, Ron burst into the room screaming "NO!" and charged straight at Bellatrix. The crazed woman raised her wand at his face —
"No," Hermione whispered, but no one heard her.
— and spells flew back and forth above her, but she had no energy to get up. That didn't matter — Bellatrix roughly pulled her into a standing position and held a knife to her throat. She couldn't open her eyes more than a fraction of an inch, and she felt blood trickling down her arm.
"Stop or she dies!" Bellatrix's voice was loud and caused a reverberating pain to shoot through Hermione's body. "Stop, or we will see just how filthy her blood is."
Ron didn't seem to want to do anything, and then a squeaky noise stopped everyone's movements. They frantically looked for the source, and it wasn't until Narcissa gasped when they realized it was due to Dobby the House Elf unscrewing the crystal chandelier from the ceiling. The chandelier began to tremble and the crystals jingling ominously. Bellatrix let go of Hermione, the knife cutting her neck in the process, and jumped to the side with a scream. Hermione, unable to hold herself up, began to sink to the floor as the chandelier began to fall.
But all of a sudden she was pushed out of the way and landed on the floor in front of Harry.
It was a blur after that — and somehow they ended up in the grass outside a small cottage. It was late, the stars and the moon shining brightly, but the lights were still on inside, and the silhouettes of Bill and Fleur Weasley could be seen through the windows.
All Hermione knew was that she would never set foot in the Malfoy Manor ever again.
*.*.*.*
Headmaster Severus Snape entered his office after a particularly rough dinner in the Great Hall. It was not enjoyable to see the students of Hogwarts distraught and bruised and bloody, the students that Dumbledore reminded him on a daily basis that were going to be the ones that fight the Death Eaters once they infiltrate Hogwarts when Harry comes back to get the last Horcrux.
(Because of course Dumbledore knows everything.)
What Snape was not anticipating was an on-alert Narcissa Malfoy in his office.
"Severus."
If Snape could be startled, he certainly was now, however he recovered quickly. "Narcissa, what a wonderful surprise," he drawled.
"You are aware of what happened in the Manor while Draco was home for the Spring Holiday, right?"
Of course, he had heard. Voldemort would not stop talking about their incompetence. Now that Snape thought about it, he hadn't heard if any of them had actually survived. "I am aware of few facts."
"Here's what you need to know: Hermione Granger was tortured on the floor of the drawing room and Bellatrix carved 'mudblood' into her arm."
Oh yes, Snape thought, the Dark Lord may have mentioned something about that.
"Alright —"
"And Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were in our basement along with Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Griphook the Goblin, and Mr. Olivander the wandmaker."
"And they all —"
"Escaped yes, with the help of Dobby, our previous House Elf."
"Narcissa, I know most of this —"
"Draco told me." Narcissa, the ever put-together woman, was shaking in her seat. "Bella … tortured her in front of him, in front of all of us. Her screams were painful enough to listen to as a bystander, but to the person who loves her —" she shook her head — "I had to know."
Snape wasn't sure where she was going with this story, so he waited for her to continue.
"I had to know what she knew. Not about what they're doing or why they were brought to the Manor or what they stole from Bella's vault — no — I … I needed to know if she truly loved my son."
"Narcissa … what did you do?" He asked slowly. In his portrait from above, Dumbledore casually peered down into the room, curious as well.
"I … I searched her memories. She had no strength left, she couldn't fight me off. She laid there and stared at me as I did it. She willingly let me in and, and I could see all these wonderful things. God, these kids were fantastic at keeping it all a secret. I saw it: she makes my son happy." Severus hadn't said anything, although he thought about saying that no they really weren't good at hiding it because half the school knew, but instead he was looking out the window, into the courtyard where a light rain had begun, forcing the students inside. "I want to help them."
He was quiet for a few moments. Dumbledore waited, from his portrait, for Snape to say something. He knew the whole thing was too close for comfort for the man. He believes that if you call the girl you love a mudblood once, you're done for, you will never get another chance. But Hermione had already forgiven Draco, an act that Lily was incapable of doing when Snape called her one. And Draco had probably said it 400 or more times in his life, to her face and behind her back. But there was a difference. Draco was taught his views on blood status. Snape adopted his. There was a way to fix it … but it wasn't up to Snape, or Narcissa, or even Dumbledore.
"Narcissa, the only way to help them is to encourage the idea that they should return to each other once He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is finally dead. We can make sure both are alive, try to make it so — will it so — but there aren't enough Unbreakable Vows to be had in order for them to be happy again." Snape seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, but returned to the present to say this, "Miss Granger already forgave him once, maybe he'll get a second chance."
*.*.*.*
It had been a a little over a week since the skirmish in the Malfoys' Drawing Room, and Ron hovered around Hermione whenever they were in the same room. It was clear to her that her torture affected him almost as much, if not more, than it affected her. But, she couldn't continue "leading him on" as Harry called it.
Hermione glanced out the window of her temporary room at Shell Cottage, absentmindedly rubbing her bandaged arm. "Ron ... I have to tell you a couple things." She turned to look at the redhead and swallowed hard. "And ... I don't think you're gonna like them, but can you please just listen before you say or do anything?" She walked to him, her hands clasped together as if she was begging him to agree to her terms.
Ron looked hard at her, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach with the feeling of uneasiness. He began nodding slowly. "Yeah, alright." Together they exited the cottage and stepped onto the sand and felt the ocean breeze.
"Telling you this is probably the cruelest thing I'll ever do to you, but you need to know." She took a deep breath and paused before taking a few steps down the hill to the shore. He was watching her as she bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair. She abruptly continued, causing Ron to trip a little, but he regained his balance after she began her story.
"Two Christmases ago, you were with Lavendar and I didn't want to spend Christmas with you because of how angry and hurt I was. I was right in front of you, and I loved you, and I … I knew I couldn't be around you for three and a half weeks. I asked my parents to spend Christmas with them, but they had already made plans … " She stopped a moment with the incredible urge to owl her parents and say that she was fine and she would be coming home soon, but they were in Australia and have no memory of her. Swallowing back her tears, she continued.
"Anyway, I stayed at Hogwarts. That's when I met Aspen, and taught her to be proud of her magic. But … I also found out that Draco was a Death Eater —"
"And you didn't tell us?" Ron asked indignantly.
She shushed him, "Remember, no speaking until I'm done." He sighed and shoved his hands farther into his pockets, nodding to get her to speak again.
"I had followed him into the Room of Requirement and had quite the shouting match when he realized I was in there too. He revealed the mark and … I wasn't afraid of him. He looked so distraught and frustrated, I said that I wouldn't tell anyone and left. We didn't even look at each other for days."
Hermione continued with the story of Christmas Eve and the library in the Room of Requirement. She mentioned New Year's Eve but didn't go into detail. When everyone came back from the holiday, he ignored her, and that obviously didn't go over well. She tried to find Ron appealing the same way she had before, but now it wasn't the same. Watching him and Lavendar was just annoying, not heartbreaking.
Ron started to say something, but she put a finger over his mouth and shook her head. "I was just starting to be happy that you were happy when you were coming to your senses and realizing that you weren't happy." She regretfully admitted the reason no one could find her on his birthday was because she was with Draco and didn't find out until the next morning. After the argument with Harry, she ran into Ginny and poured her heart out.
"So Ginny knew, all this time?"
Hermione nodded slowly and said, "So did Harry."
Ron looked crushed.
"When Draco and Harry got in that fight in the bathroom, I was the one that found them, not Snape. I was on my way to meet Draco, and I found him, bleeding out on the floor. I told Harry to get help but he just stood there. I was so scared. Snape heard the commotion and showed up just in time. He would have died …"
They were at the water's edge now, and she sat down on, pulling her knees to her chest. Ron also sat down, cross-legged, and gestured for her to continue.
When she found out that it was him all along, she smashed the picture frame and ran out. That was end of it — he didn't need to know about November — and now the three of them were on the run.
Ron was playing with the sand and she watched him, silently willing him to speak.
"Ron, I —"
"I think … I think I knew." Hermione's eyebrows knitted together at his admission. "Our final in Potions was to make Amortentia, 'member? We had hours to make it, and naturally, you were done first. I tried to catch a glimpse of your steps to see if I was anywhere close to doing it right, and that's when I saw what you wrote down for what you smelled." Hermione looked down, finding her shoelaces suddenly fascinating. "Apples, crisp cotton, and aftershave … apples, crisp cotton, and aftershave …"
She felt a few tears spill, and she shook her head, but when she opened her mouth to speak, Ron said, "No. It's … look, I just, I just want you to be happy. We're best friends, and if that's all we'll ever be, then …" He sighed, grabbed her fidgety hands and held them in his. "Hermione, do you love him?"
She looked at him, his blue eyes piercing right through her. She couldn't lie to him, she couldn't lie to herself. "I do," she whispered.
"And does he love you?"
"I … I think so," she sniffled. The sun was casting a warm glow on Hermione's face, the sea breeze pushed itself through her hair. She looked down at her still bandaged forearm, tears from the memory of that night prickling the back of her eyes. "Please, don't be mad at him. He couldn't stop Bellatrix from hurting me without giving himself away. I understand the position he was in —"
"I don't," Ron said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "He should have stopped her."
"And what, die?"
Ron made an indignant noise. "At least he didn't let you get crushed by the chandelier."
"He pushed me out of the way? I thought it was you …" She looked worried, sure he probably experienced some battering because of it.
"I wasn't fast enough," Ron said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"When all this is over, we'll …" She stopped, suddenly realizing she had absolutely no clue what they would do. "Well, I don't really know what will happen."
Ron wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm. "It'll be over soon," he whispered.
*.*.*.*
Their arrival at Hogwarts wasn't well-hidden. The Death Eaters guarding Hogsmeade were quick and almost caught the three of them, but Aberforth was quicker. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione stumbled through the portrait hole with Neville and into the new room, she felt her throat close up with tears. So many people were gathered in the Room and they all looked worse for wear, but they all looked relieved to see the Golden Trio alive.
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville shouted above the masses. With the voices turned off, the three were able to take in their surroundings. There were multicolored hammocks, tapestries for each house (except Slytherin), bulging bookcases, and broomsticks propped against the walls.
There was only one place that could provide this much stuff for the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army.
The Room of Requirement.
"Surpassed itself, hasn't it?" Neville's voice infiltrated Hermione's thoughts. "I was running from the Carrows, and I knew I needed a place to hide — a good place to hide. When I first came in, there was only one hammock and just the Gryffindor hangings, but as more members of the D.A. arrived, it expanded to fit everyone." Hermione ran her fingers along the red and gold tassels that hung along the edge of the Gryffindor tapestry. She felt an odd sense of satisfaction at the Room's ability to help the ones she loved get through the worst year of their life.
"The Carrows can't get in?" Harry asked, looking for a door.
"Nope," Seamus Finnigan popped up, and he was almost unrecognizable with a bruised and puffy face. "It's a proper hideaway, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get to us, the door won't open. It's all thanks to Neville — he really gets this room. He knows what to say so none of the Carrow supporters can get in. Neville's the man!"
"It's really straightforward actually," Neville said, trying to be modest.
"We've been hiding here for almost two weeks. It just keeps adding hammocks every time someone new comes, and it even added a pretty decent bathroom for when the girls started showing up —"
"It knew we'd like to be clean, thank you Seamus," Lavendar Brown added, and Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the comment. Looking around properly, the trio noticed quite a few familiar faces like the Patil twins, Ernie Macmillan, and Anthony Goldstein.
"Please tell us what you've been up to," Ernie pleaded. "There've been so many rumours, we've been trying to keep up with Potterwatch. You didn't break into Gringotts, did you?"
Hermione felt her face flush. "We may have."
"And the part with the dragon — that's true too." Neville added. There was scattered applause and Ron took a deep bow.
But the laughter stopped when they realized Harry was bent over in pain, gasping for breath. Immediately, Hermione grasped his hand and brought him back to reality. He looked into her eyes and up at Ron and they knew — they had to get what they came for and leave before anyone got hurt.
"We need to get going," he told the others.
"What are we gonna do, Harry? What's the plan?" Seamus asked, ready to jump in and help any way he could.
"Plan?" Harry repeated in a doubt-filled voice.
"Well, there's something that the three of us need to do —" Hermione began.
"And we'll leave as soon as we can," Ron finished.
No one was laughing or cheering anymore. They had serious looks on their faces, and Neville looked confused and concerned.
"What do you mean, 'leave'?"
"We're not staying," Harry was rubbing his scar. "We need to do something important and —"
"It has to do with defeating You-Know-Who, doesn't it?"
"Well, yes but —"
"Then we'll help you." The other members of Dumbledore's Army were nodding, some enthusiastically, others solemnly.
"You don't understand —"
"Harry, we've been with you since 5th Year, we're not leaving you alone. You've had Hermione and Ron for eight months, now you get all of us." Neville stood his ground. "We are not leaving you."
Before Harry could respond, the tunnel door swung open behind him.
"We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I figured you'd be here." It was Luna who spoke while climbing out of the hole, and Dean followed closely behind her. At the sight of his best friend, Seamus let out a roar of delight and rushed ahead (pushing Harry out of the way) to hug him.
"Luna, what are you doing here?"
"I sent for her," Neville held up his fake Galleon. "I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."
"Of course that's what this means," Luna said, "We're going to fight them at Hogwarts."
"Hold on! I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. We have to do one thing and then —"
"You're just going to leave us?" Anthony demanded.
"No, Anthony, we have a purpose for coming here and that's it —"
"Hermione, don't defend him," he bit back. Their confusing past made her unsure if she should press on.
"Harry. Let. Us. Help." Neville ground out. "We want to be a part of this."
Hermione turned back to look at Harry and she shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. There was no way of deterring their friends in front of them, and she knew it. The war was going to end tonight and there was no stopping it.
"I don't … have a plan," he mumbled to her.
"Oh Harry, we don't need a plan!" The tunnel door had swung open again, revealing a bunch of redheaded people. "We'll just make it up as we go — it's my favourite type of plan!" Fred exclaimed.
"Neville!" Harry shouted, startling Hermione and Ron and probably a few others. "You've got to stop this. What did you call them for? This is insane —"
"We're fighting, aren't we?" Dean asked, holding up his Galleon, his other hand grasping Seamus' shoulder. "The message said that Harry was back, and we are going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though —"
"You haven't got a wand?!" Seamus yelped, smacking his arm.
Ron turned to Harry now, "We can't stop them, let's just let them help. We don't have to tell them what we're looking for is a Horcrux."
Harry clearly looked uncomfortable but Hermione added quietly, "He's right. Harry, we don't even know what we're looking for. We need their help." When he didn't answer, she pressed on, "You don't have to do everything alone … Harry."
Looking between the two of them, and then past them to glance at Ginny's profile for a few too many seconds, he nodded slowly. "Alright … you're right. Let's do it."
