CLVIII
Hermione, wake up!
"Ten more minutes, Mum." It was too cold in her room. Hermione clutched at the thin sheet, wrapping it closer about herself. Her back ached from the punishingly hard mattress and her troubled mind sought to retreat back into the refuge of strange dreams.
A gentle glow tugged at the edges of her consciousness. Child, if you do not wake up this instant, you won't be able to at all!
Her eyes flew open to the darkness binding her body and smothering her senses.
The Goddess shouted, Corruption! Foes! Time to fight!
Hermione awoke, her magic blazing.
CLIX
This darkness was dense, smothering. When she squinted into it, it looked back.
Hermione sat up slowly, her every breath a battle. Her body screamed with the effort it took to move at all, as though the air had turned to wet cement.
Something was stuck to her, a sheet, or perhaps a shroud? It clung too tight, blocking her air. Was this a lethifold?
Where was her wand?
The Goddess urged her on, Concentrate, my daughter. I shall lend you power.
Whenever her fingers seemed to gain purchase, the shroud slid away.
Visualizing what she desired, Hermione summoned fire.
CLX
A flash of burning fabric brought Hermione new insight. Not a lethifold, then?
She should have been able to see something by her bluebell flame's light. The air damp with the smell of cold earth. Where am I?
Cupping her hand, she maintained contact with her fire, squinting into the shadow. Tilting her head, she thought she could make out the sound of battle nearby.
The Goddess spoke,Our husband is near, however, your attention to the threat at hand would gratify us.
Looking down, Hermione was horrified. The darkness encased her legs and was pulling her into the stone.
CLXI
Panicking, Hermione shouted, "Shit!" Her left heel was stuck.
The blue fire in her hand flared brighter and she used both hands to form it into a ball. Instinctively, she knew that her legs were being held only by an extension of the beast who attacked her, but where to strike? Goddess, I cannot see! Open my eyes!
A pain flared in her brow, as the Goddess answered, Hurry, child! You are running out of time.
The air shimmered, and the corrupted attacker was abruptly visible, its black barbs poised to strike.
Hermione loosed fire upon the Enemy of Life.
CLXII
A rush of elation coursed through Hermione as she watched her bluebell flame attack and consume the angular creature, who fought back, spitting ichor. It did not belong here, it felt wrong .
She spoke in her mind, "Goddess, where did that monstrosity come from?"
"The Enemy was invited in by the evil of men, twisting magic against its nature."Waves of grief rippled through her.
Attempting to stand, Hermione panicked, for her legs were completely encased in stone. "Goddess! No!" Hermione struggled, searching for her wand. "Help me!"
Around her, the flame blazed brighter, intensifying in answer to Hermione's fear.
CLXIII
The Goddess called to Hermione from what felt like a distance, "The Enemy is coming! The walls between worlds are being eaten away. We won't be able to stop it if it gains a foot-hold here and now."
"What!? How?" Hermione's voice hit a high pitch, the panic tightening her throat, she sank deeper, now completely encased in stone to her hips. There was nothing to grab onto, nothing with which she could use to free herself.
Burn this rip in reality closed, force the chaos back to the void.
Above, the battle raged on. Angular spikes of chaos, which she'd thought would succumb to her fire were gathering force, fracturing and sapping the magick.
Our fire will burn away the corruption.
Hermione's thoughts raced, for this was bigger than the prayers she held in her heart - freedom, a child, and love.
The evil that dark wizards used to fight the Blood War had corrupted the land, invited in The Enemy, and would bring destruction to the world she loved.
She stood in the portal between hell and earth.
As her chest sank into the stone, Hermione reached clarity. Nothing could save her, so she chose to save everything else.
CLXIV
Raising her hands above her head, Hermione summoned a new fire, white with the power of creation. It should have left blisters, yet the flame danced across her skin
Crying out, she opened herself to the Goddess, "Together!"
She focused her love for her family, for her friends, for her new husband, and for magick herself on that fire, feeding it impossibly hotter. Power flowed through her from the earth herself.
Words flowed past her lips, backed by the will of the Goddess, "I reject you, Nameless Ones. Go back to the void, there is no place for you here!"
CLXV
Hermione opened her arms and set loose the holy fire of creation, purifying her world.
As she sank deeper into the cold stone of her deathbed, she had to close her eyes against the blinding intensity that surrounded her, rooting out every last scrap of corruption, burning it away.
The screeching of her enemy's defeat cut off as she slipped further into the earth.
Regret swept into the void left by the expenditure of her will.
No! It can't end like this.
She was drowning, her mouth stopped with stone.
Goddess, look after Severus for me?
Always.
Hermione let go.
AN:
Written for grangersnape100 Spring Fever Challenge.
Alright everyone. Take a deep breath... let it out. Another... and out again. One more time: In and Out.
I feel moderately guilty posting this Cliffie, but it's what the story demanded.
If it helps my beta, Qdrew, is still speaking to me. ;)