All that was left was a burning pile of canvas and sticks. Hermione stared into the lopsided bonfire, only vaguely aware of her surroundings. For once, her mind had ground to a halt, and she could only stare.
She had failed.
She had failed.
She had known this was coming, and she had failed. She had numerous opportunities to warn someone to fix them, yet she had only dismissed it as a dream until it was far too late.
How was she going to face Mr. Weasley? Knowing that she could have prevented this, all of this destruction was her responsibility. If only she hadn't been so hesitant.
Then, maybe because of the heat, she felt the metal chain around her neck heat up, like a hot iron. And then Hermione remembered something that she had that could fix this.
"The Time-Turner!" She whispered to herself, digging it out of her robes. Each twist turned back an hour, with a maximum of five hours returned. She had to fix it in that period.
Only once she had already wound it up did she remember the rule of the Time-Turner: don't let anyone see you. And she was going to be reappearing right outside the tent, too.
Oh, bother.
As time started rewinding all around her, she felt a panic rise in her again. What was she going to do? Everyone was going to see her appear out of thin air in the middle of the campsite?!
Then everything slammed to a halt, and Hermione remembered that they had left for their seats early. There were still people around the campsite, but no one was looking at her. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why, hello." Hermione spun around, her heart beating wildly. A tall yet elderly wizard stood in front of her, vaguely interested in something. "My, what a strange appearance you have."
The wizard waited for a response that Hermione was hesitant to give. Finally, she managed to whisper some words to the wizard. "Sir, I must be on my way." Clear, formal, and polite. "If you have any business with me, please tell me now. Otherwise, I will have to leave." Less so, but she had to make a point.
"Of course," he obliged. "But before I do, tell me, what did you come back in time to prevent?" He asked, gesturing to her visible Time-Turner.
"It was…" Hermione hesitated, instinctually knowing that the wizard could tell she was lying, before deciding to tell the truth. "Sir, it was a fire."
The wizard nodded. "As is obvious from your singed clothes." He rubbed his chin. "How far does it spread?"
He was intelligent. "I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. "But I know, sir, that's it spread to my campsite. I have to stop it."
"A fair desire. What is your plan?"
Hermione bit her lip. There wasn't one. She was trying to formulate one on the spot, but it wasn't easy considering the lack of information she had at the moment.
"I need to find who started the fire," she said after a second or so of quick introspection. "And then, when I can get them alone, I can" But she couldn't use magic outside of school, not without being caught.
"Then you'll use that form, then," the old man completed her trailing sentence, startling Hermione slightly.
"You know about it," she surmised. "What form exactly are you referring to?"
The wizard coughed a little, then started reciting something Hermione was familiar with, considering how she had spent a few hours poring over the transcribed sheet of parchment. "Kirlia, the Emotion Anima. It has the abilities Synchronize, Trace, and Telepathy. Its two typings are Psychic and Fairy. I could go on, but for the sake of time, I hope you are convinced."
Hermione swallowed, uncomfortable. "I am." Hermione felt another wellspring of curiosity spring up (who was this wizard?) before suppressing it, remembering that the longer they spoke, the less time she would have to find who did it. "You're saying I should use my Anima, then, to stop the assailant."
"While an Anima's powers are not as versatile nor as powerful as magic, they do have their uses. Just as one will practice spells for when the need comes to use them, so does one need to practice other powers, in case they may save you where magic may not." The wizard then looked toward the deep forest that would lead to the stadium. "Though, that's enough of my blathering. You have a dark wizard to find. I'll keep watch during the event for any suspicious wizards. If I can, I'll minimize the casualties. You focus on figuring out who the culprit is and cornering them."
Hermione nodded, relieved. "You can count on me."
"Good luck." With that, the wizard started walking to the stadium briskly.
Hermione looked at him a bit, the well of curiosity growing deep by the second. Though it took a little longer this time, she shrugged it off and sped off toward the stadium.
Arriving, she saw that the quidditch match was nearly going to begin, the dance of the veela already having begun. The clock was ticking, and she had to move fast.
Then she realized something very crucial that made things all the more difficult. No, not difficult, but simply impossible.
She had no clues.
There was only one thing she knew about the perpetrator, and that was that they were magically powerful to use Fiendfyre, as well as cold-hearted enough to bring it to reality. Magical strength was unrelated to physical appearance (as far as Hermione could tell), and Quirell had taught her that you couldn't discern someone's true nature easily.
If she were to even appear in the stadium, there would be problems too. If someone had found her, all eyes would be on her, and the culprit could slip away to cast the Fiendfyre where no one could see them. No, that was true for any occurrence. She had no way to find out who made the Fiendfyre. Thus, she couldn't stop them from using the Fiendfyre.
As the Leprechauns appeared, jesting, joking, and mocking in the night sky, Hermione's heart and brain raced as she tried to figure out any way she could find the user of the Fiendfyre before it was too late.
But then the Quidditch players flew into the air, and Hermione's heart sank.
She couldn't figure it out. Nothing was pointing to a caster. No matter how hard she willed it, the cold truth spoke clearly against her hopes. There wasn't any magic she could use to stop this, and her Anima couldn't stop it. All it could do was use vaguely defined psychic powers and look into the future.
…
And then, a tiny fragment of hope was born inside of her.
Hermione shifted into her Kirlia form. It was the smallest of hopes, but there was a chance she would have a vision like she had since earlier in the summer. If it happened, it could give her an idea of how to move on. With no other leads, it was worth the risk. Better than standing around, wringing her hands, or gaining nothing by exposing herself to thousands of blissfully unaware wizards and witches in the stadium, at the very least.
Hermione sat down on a rotten and moldy log, not minding the filth, for the time being, and closed her eyes, and attempted to concentrate.
'Future…'
'The future… '
She needed to understand what lay ahead. She needed to see the moment.
She needed to see when the tragedy started.
Hermione sat there for a few minutes, trying to concentrate on what she knew would happen. As time dwindled, she grew more desperate.
'The tragedy, the tragedy, I need to know more about the tragedy!'
Yet the more she begged her powers to work, to show her what she wanted to know, the more her perception anchored to the ugly sensation of the log beneath her stick-like Kirlia legs. The more she concentrated on seeing into the future, the more her mistakes wormed their way into her thoughts.
With the roar of the crowd and Bagman screaming the score, Hermione's eyes snapped open.
Nothing.
She had tried, hadn't she? Inspired by Divination, she had attempted to stimulate her future vision to work. It never had. Hermione was left doubting the scroll's claim that her Anima could see into the future - at least, until tonight.
But it was no different now than it was then. Hermione couldn't command those powers to work.
Hermione got up, feeling foolish. At least, now she could claim that she had tried something.
Then a wave of dizziness hit her, and Hermione doubled over, feeling her vision fade.
A wand floated in the air, supported by nothing. Hermione watched with bated breath - this was what she had seen in her vision! Yet, as the wand waved itself in the air, Hermione found herself unable to do anything. She didn't have her wand, and in the heat of the moment, she had forgotten her Anima. She just sat there, waiting and frozen in indecision.
"So, you were right, Hermione." She turned to see Ginny, who was looking resolutely at the floating wand. "You really can see into the future."
Then Ginny ran straight at the wand, as a man's voice cried "Omnignis!".
A spurt of cursed fire shot forward.
Hermione gasped, breathing heavily.
A vision! Just when she had given up hope, her powers had shown her something new. Had it been from her concentrating, or had it been pure luck?
Regardless, Hermione felt awe at what she could do as an Anima. She had yet to see anything in a crystal ball, or her tea leaves or palm. Now Hermione had a vision! Now she had new information with which to work!
The vision had taken place deep in the forest, judging from the wealth of trees she and Ginny had hidden behind. The dark wizard must have had enough control over the Fiendfyre to send it to the campsite without letting it burn any of the trees. Thus, obfuscating his position and giving him a chance to blend in with those escaping.
Since the dark wizard (and it was a dark wizard, the voice was too deep and burly to be female) had some form of invisibility, Hermione would not be able to pick him out of the crowd. But since the vision was of the future, Hermione would find them, somehow.
Finally, Ginny was there too. That aspect was one on which Hermione could act. As Krum caught the Snitch, Hermione hung by the edge of the path to the campsite, waiting. Soon the spectators, one by one, started heading to the encampment, each person cooling down from the exciting night.
It took a few more minutes, but she saw the Weasley family, sans her, Harry, and Ron, returning. Mr. Weasley spoke to Percy while Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George chatted animatedly. Farran just listened, visibly bored, while Ginny occasionally chipped in a word or two.
If Hermione had to make the vision come true before the culprit struck, she needed to separate Ginny from everyone else. A few plans ran through her mind, though most would have the other Weasleys coming with her.
But as the Weasleys passed her, she knew that she had to pick one. Muttering a quick apology to Ginny, she took a spare pebble from the forest floor and lobbed it at Ginny's back.
Hermione was never a good pitcher when she was in primary. She rarely played sports, and when she did, she lacked any real ability, often being the last one picked. So it didn't come as any real surprise to find that the pebble missed Ginny completely, ending up in the road beside her.
Fortunately, Ginny noticed the pebble landing. As the other Weasleys kept moving on, Ginny picked up the pebble, peering at it inquisitively. Hermione saw her chance and threw another stone. Ginny noticed the second pebble, as well as its relative trajectory.
Hermione thought about it for another second, then threw a third pebble. Ginny, now paying attention and realizing someone was targeting her, brandished her wand.
"Show yourself!" she ordered, slowly approaching where Hermione was standing. Hermione waited for a second, then slowly stepped out of the forest so that Ginny could see her.
Ginny lowered her wand slightly. "Hermione? Weren't you with Harry and Ron?"
"I was," Hermione acquiesced. "But we got separated. That's not the issue right now, though."
"Issue?" Ginny asked, looking bemused. "Looking for your wand isn't an issue, Hermione?"
"I can find it later, Ginny," Hermione waved her aside. "There's something more important to deal with right now."
Ginny blinked, then took note of Hermione's bedraggled state, and wrinkled her nose. "Hermione, what's that burning smell? Why do you smell like you're burning?"
Hermione grimaced. Explaining was going to take too much time, so desperate times called for desperate measures. "Ginny, do you know what Time-Turners can do?"
"Time-Turners? They turn back the clock, don't they?" Hermione pulled out her Time-Turner. Ginny's eyes widened. "Wait... Hermione? Is that a Time-Turner?"
"Yes, I've had it for the past year at Hogwarts, and it's why there are two of me right now." Ginny stood still, slowly processing the information, and Hermione's impatience flared. "Ginny, that's not the important thing here. The more important thing is the reason I came back."
Hermione then did her best to summarize the events leading up to her time-travel. Since Ginny knew of the existence of Anima, Hermione explained her Kirlia form.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "So when you're a Kirlia, you can see into the future?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "It warned me of the fire for weeks, though I did nothing about it. Ten minutes ago, I saw another vision, showing me the two of us confronting an invisible wizard about to cast Fiendfyre."
Ginny's eyes darkened. "So the reason you brought me here was to make that vision come true?"
"Yes!" Finally, she caught Ginny up with the situation. "We have to go find him now!"
"Where will we go?" Ginny asked, crossing her arms. "Was there anywhere specifically that could tell us where the vision took place?"
"No," Hermione admitted. "There isn't. You were the only part of the vision that I could reliably find, so you were my first and only option."
"It's not like I have a better idea of what to do than you do, Hermione." Ginny sighed. "Well, we'd better just start walking, then."
The idea of just trying to wander to where the dark wizard was was odd to Hermione, and it chafed against her method of problem-solving. Unfortunately, without any more clues, Hermione nodded.
"Let's go, then." Ginny gripped her wand tight. "You in first, Hermione."
Hermione felt like protesting, but then remembered that it was her responsibility to fix things, not Ginny's. So, with butterflies in her stomach, Hermione led Ginny deeper into the forest.
Thankfully, the forest did not grow darker and more mysterious the farther they went in, but that did nothing to quell Hermione's nerves. Hermione had never faced a dark wizard before. Quirrel was one under Voldemort's control, yes, but Quirrel had to masquerade as a wallflower of a teacher to avoid detection, so Hermione was never in any harm from him. The memory of Voldemort in the diary would qualify as a dark wizard, but it caught both her and Penelope Clearwater by surprise.
Well, the memory caught Penelope by surprise. Hermione had figured that the Basilisk could strike at any moment and immediately ran to someone with a mirror to protect herself. The best Hermione had ever done was to run for protection.
But now, she had to deal with a real wizard face-to-face, where the dark wizard would likely try to kill her. As Ginny and Hermione walked through the woods, Hermione quietly uttered a question.
"Ginny," she started. "How will we stop the dark wizard?"
"Disarm him? Use your Anima? Punch him in the nose?" Ginny shrugged. "Hell if I know. You're dragging me into this, and I barely have a handle on what's going on either."
The answer to the question wasn't one that Hermione was comfortable hearing. "Aren't you afraid?" She asked, a little quiet. "I can't imagine going into this with confidence. How did you handle facing the memory in the diary?"
"I didn't," Ginny remarked. "I had spent the time before I was possessed trying to understand things myself. By the time I realized what I was doing when I led the memory into my heart, it was too late. Then Riddle took me over, and everything went white. When I awoke after Harry defeated him, well, he was already defeated."
"So you have even less experience than I do." Well, wasn't that a comforting thought? The fear she felt now was much greater than the fear she had felt when she went to stop Voldemort from getting his hands on the stone. Voldemort had been a much more abstract fear at the time, and Hermione still hadn't half-believed he was there. Even when the Basilisk was after her, she managed to keep calm by immediately taking precautions she knew would help.
But from her vision, she couldn't deny the grave result of failing to stop the dark wizard. Going into this when she had no way to stop it, going into this with nothing but faith, made her hand quiver like no test or piece of homework had before.
She attempted to use Occlumency, or what she knew of it so far, to calm herself down. However, it wouldn't work, and Hermione was as anxious after attempting to calm herself down as she was before. It could have been her lack of experience in the art. It also could have been the lack of dedicated practice since the summer started. Either way, she couldn't calm herself down.
Hermione's hand plunged into her pocket to find her wand for a semblance of comfort, only to remember that it, of course, hadn't miraculously made its way back into her pocket. She wouldn't be able to cast spells, even if she had wanted to do so.
She couldn't just be a sitting duck when they found the dark wizard, so she switched into a Kirlia, startling Ginny.
"Hermione?" Ginny breathed, a little amazed. Hermione could feel the emotion emanating from her. It wasn't in an abstract, 'interpret from her expression and body language' sort of way, but she could almost see Ginny's amazement, fear, and trepidation. "Is that your Anima form?"
Hermione nodded, the different proportions of a Kirlia nearly unbalancing her. Luckily, her body also had a supernatural sense of balance, and she didn't have to think to correct her stance.
Then Hermione sensed something invisible to her usually. Off in the distance, there was a dark, eerie feeling. The fragments of emotion she could feel were antipathic. There was a desire for revenge, cold sadism, resolution, and a demented version of anticipation.
Hermione had found him.
Quickly, she shifted back. "Ginny!" She whispered, beckoning Ginny to come close for a whisper. Ginny obliged. "The dark wizard is over there!" she exclaimed, pointing to the general area where she felt the black emotions originate.
Ginny gulped. "Are you sure?" she asked slowly.
"I'm positive," Hermione insisted. "We have to go now. We must be at the point where the fire had started, since the time Harry, Ron, and I had been searching earlier matches the time we spent getting here!"
Ginny grimaced. "If you say so."
Slowly, Hermione led Ginny to the location of the malice she sensed. As they approached, Hermione looked back to see Ginny with an odd look on her face. Hermione wanted to transform again so that she could precisely understand what Ginny was feeling, but abstained, knowing that the light of the transformation would alert the dark wizard.
Suddenly, both Hermione and Ginny froze as they heard a sound originating from someone else. Hermione crouched behind a tree, Ginny following suit. Both of them peeked at what lay ahead.
A wand floated in the air, supported by nothing. Hermione watched with bated breath - this was what she had seen in her vision! Yet, as the wand waved itself in the air, Hermione found herself unable to do anything. She didn't have her wand, and in the heat of the moment, she had forgotten her Anima. She just sat there, waiting and frozen in indecision.
"So, you were right, Hermione." She turned to see Ginny, who was looking resolutely at the floating wand. "You really can see into the future."
Then Ginny ran straight at the wand, as a man's voice cried "Omnignis!".
A spurt of cursed fire shot forward.
Ginny's eyes widened, and she weaved out of the way of the curse that would have-
Hermione dived to the ground as the Fiendfyre flew over her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Fiendfyre turn into a flaming horse, touching nothing. With heart-pounding realization, she realized that once again, she had failed.
Then she heard a crack, as Ginny ran to the spot where the wand was floating and punched the air near it. Blood appeared out of thin air as the dark wizard dropped it, falling halfway to the ground before it must have caught on their robes.
Ginny readied a second punch but then fell to the ground as the dark wizard retaliated before fleeing. Hermione and Ginny both stood rose as plumes of smoke rose in the air far away, screams echoing in the distance. The Fiendfyre had once again set the campsite ablaze.
Ginny walked up to Hermione. "So what do we do... now?" Ginny asked, looking as lost as Hermione felt.
Hermione had no immediate answer. She hadn't been able to stop the dark wizard, whoever they were, from casting the Fiendfyre. The tragedy had already started, and Hermione could no longer prevent it. All the hope she had held for her meddling to fix things disappeared. The only thing she had left was the fledging possibility that the old wizard had heeded her warning and had saved some lives.
Hermione gulped and turned back to Ginny, ready to tell Ginny there was nothing they could do, before spotting the wand on the ground. A new hope then arose.
"The wand," she whispered. Ginny turned around to see the wand. "Wands are distinct enough that we can find who's responsible."
Hermione walked forward, Ginny following closely, as she picked up the wand. Upon gripping it, she then came to another terrible realization.
It was her wand.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, puzzled at Hermione's terror-stricken expression. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
"This is my wand," she whispered, connections forming. "The dark wizard must have taken it, pickpocketed it, from me when I wasn't paying attention to it."
"Are you sure?" Ginny pressed.
"I can recognize my wand, Ginny!" Hermione snapped. "This is my wand!"
Ginny frowned. "But why would they take your wand?"
"To cover their tracks," Hermione explained grimly. "There isn't any reason they would use my wand over their own other than leaving theirs clean." She turned her wand and saw a burned patch near the tip. She tried scrubbing it off, resulting in the wand emitting sparks and the patch not clearing at all. "Fiendfyre must alter the wand wood, so using my wand allows them to escape detection."
Ginny stared at the dark patch. "Then we can't tell anyone."
Hermione shoved her wand into her pocket, shaking a little. "Right." In the end, the dark wizard had a near-total victory, her and Ginny's efforts only leading to the wizard having an injury on the nose. And there was a spell (Episkey, she believed) that could fix that right up, leaving no lasting consequences for them.
Ginny then looked to the burning campsite. "We should hurry back. Dad and the others might be in danger." Ginny didn't wait for Hermione to respond, immediately rushing back.
Hermione was quick to follow, and soon they approached the campsite, the return trip much quicker than the slow and cautious trek guided by the vision. Their speed halted, however, as they stared at the inferno of cursed fire.
The attack didn't discriminate. Everyone, everyone, was escaping the wrath of the Fiendfyre. Malfoy fled into the woods next to his father, both looking dreadfully frightened. Fudge was desperately shouting orders to frantic Ministry officials, yet yelped when a touch of Fiendfyre neared him. Some of the small children that she had seen playing earlier were now crying while terror-stricken parents led them out of harms' way as fast as they could.
And then she saw the Muggles, who she had seen being tortured by laughing, cruel wizards earlier, trying to escape too. Yet, in the haze of their pain, they hadn't cottoned on to the disaster fast enough. They had now realized the danger they were in but couldn't move as the Fiendfyre trapped them in their tents. Hermione turned away, not wanting to see the flames devour them.
Ginny gulped. "I... this is Fiendfyre... " Her voice trailed off, staring at the carnage.
Hermione, with great effort, pushed her mind away from the tragedy. "We have to hurry," Hermione echoed what Ginny has said earlier. "Harry, Ron, and the others might still be in danger."
That managed to bring Ginny to her senses. "Right. You go after Harry and Ron, and I'll get everyone else."
"Hurry!" Hermione shouted as Ginny sped off. Hermione couldn't fault Ginny for her situation and would have likely split them similarly.
Immediately, Hermione shifted into a Kirlia. Its usefulness had already presented itself multiple times tonight, and Hermione still wasn't allowed to use spells (though if the opportunity presented itself such that using her magic would save someone, Hermione wouldn't hesitate to do so).
Casting out the psychic sense of empathy a Kirlia had, Hermione sensed the emotions around her. They were unanimously terrified or anxious, and Hermione couldn't find anything that she could use to distinguish Harry or Ron from everyone else. Deciding that using her psychic senses wouldn't help as much, Hermione closed off that sense as best as she could at the moment and instead climbed a tree to get a better view of the people still trapped.
Hermione jumped down from the tree branch. She wasn't going to find Harry or Ron from up there. However, just as she was about to head to another spot, she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Hermione!" Hermione turned to see Harry, haggard and burned but glad to see her. "Are you okay?!"
Hermione turned back and grimly nodded. "What happened to Ron?" She pressed.
"Ron's looking for you!"
A deep sense of dread knotted itself deep into her heart. She had gone to check on everyone after the first attack by the dark wizards had started. Then, as she neared the tent, the Fiendfyre had erupted, and by the time she had fully arrived, the tent had already collapsed and burned.
If Ron had been following her, it was likely that he was in the middle of the conflagration. He was looking for someone who had already traveled back in time to fail in stopping it all.
Hermione paled. "We have to go save him!"
"But what about Mr. Weasley and the others?!"
"Ginny will find them! Ron is still in danger!" Harry made an aggravated noise as Hermione shifted back (she could strangely take the heat in that form) to run back into the fire. Harry wasn't long in joining her, though Hermione could tell he wasn't taking the heat well with his shaggy kitten fur.
As melting metal dropped burning canvas' on them, the two of them barely able to dodge, Harry started shouting at her. "Hermione, it's too dangerous! Let's get as close to the tent as we can from the forest and then make our way straight to it!"
Hermione briefly turned to Harry, irritated. "If you can't handle it, Harry, leave!"
Harry threw her a scathing look but pressed on at her side. Hermione didn't care, not when Ron was still in danger of dying. Harry had practically taken on the Basilisk alone, so he could handle the flames as well as she could.
It was much more difficult for her to make her way through the flames the second time around. Most of the landmarks she had used to navigate were now burnt to cinders or melted to magma. She and Harry ran through the burning campsite, looking for any sign of Ron.
Harry had begun coughing, and Hermione's indignance at Harry's unwillingness to enter changed to concern for his wellbeing. Hermione came to a stop.
"Harry, maybe we should... " But that was as far as Hermione could go, as something dark interrupted both her and Harry.
A black mist roiled through the campsite, spreading quickly. The Fiendfyre recoiled at its touch, desperate to escape the incoming darkness, but to no avail, as the mist snuffed it out.
Hermione and Harry stayed deathly still as the mist passed over them. Hermione felt an odd, creepy chill as it went through them. Yet, other than the sensation, nothing else happened. Soon, the mist receded, leaving both Hermione and Harry alone in the dark wreckage.
Harry transformed back and breathed in the cold air. "What do you think happened?" He asked as Hermione did the same.
Hermione didn't have an answer, as this was after she had used the Time-Turner. She had no foresight or any idea of what was going on. "That could have been the countercurse for Fiendfyre," she hedge, feeling a little unsure of her words considering what they had just seen. "Maybe the caster decided that it wasn't worth keeping up anymore."
Then Hermione let out an exasperated, slightly insane laugh. After all the work she had put in trying to stop this incident, it ended not by her hand but by a random spell of fate.
"What about Ron?" That was enough to get her to push the tragic comedy out of her mind and on more pressing urgent matters. Without the flames obscuring her view as much, she could piece out the campsite's topography and figure out their rough location.
Hermione pointed in a direction sideways of where they were going. "Our campsite should be that way," she said. She and Harry sped to their tent, hoping to find some sign of Ron.
And their hopes came to fruition. Ron was standing near where the tent had been. There was a slightly dazed look on his face, as though he weren't quite sure what had happened. As he saw them, though, that haze broke, and a smile replaced it.
"Harry! Hermione!"
"Ron, why are you here?" Hermione shouted, feeling a surge of emotions run through her. "You were running to your death! I can't believe you'd do something so stupid!"
"We were looking for you, Hermione!" At that reminder, Hermione deflated again. Right, they had run into the campsite looking for her.
"W-Well, there are smarter ways of going about it! Running into Fiendfyre! How did you survive?!"
Ron blinked. "My Anima is immune. It was a little hot, but the flames didn't hurt me."
He was immune to fire. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief again. "So you weren't in any danger?"
"Well, no, not really." Ron's eyes sharpened. "What happened to Dad and everyone else? Are they okay?"
"They should be okay," Hermione reassured. "Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie are strong wizards, and they won't fall to the Fiendfyre. I've sent Ginny to make sure they're alright."
"Ginny?" Ron asked. "Why her?"
Hermione bit her lip, not wanting to explain the Time-Turner she had taken a second earlier to stuff back into her shirt. "We met while I was running through the campsite. The others had left without her, and I sent Ginny to them. I found Harry later, and then I found you." Hermione had to change direction quickly. "Let's go to the woods. Everyone else must be there already."
Ron looked oddly suspicious of what Hermione was saying. Harry, though, was eager to leave the campsite and started going without them. Ron took his attention away from Hermione and followed, with Hermione coming soon after.
It wasn't long after entering the woods again did Hermione hear the commotion, as many, many wizards were around them, fearfully discussing the events. The three of them navigated their way through the crowd, attempting to find the rest of the Weasleys. It wasn't long before they heard a loud argument from many wizards, and some of the voices were very familiar.
"There's nothing! There's absolutely nothing!" Mr. Diggory roared, pacing in a small circle. "No sign of anyone that could have cast the Fiendfyre, nor of anyone starting the riot!"
"Amos, please, calm down!" Mr. Weasley, Hermione was glad to see, was still hale and hearty. There were a couple of burn marks here and there, but for the most part, he was alright, though pleading with Mr. Diggory unsuccessfully.
"'Calm down'? Arthur, there are dark wizards among us!"
"But shouting won't help," Mr. Weasley said tiredly. "All you'll do is leave your throat sore."
Mr. Diggory clenched his teeth but didn't answer. Hermione felt a pang of empathy for the man, though she couldn't express it for obvious reasons. At the very least, she knew one or two things about the dark wizard (knowing that they were male and had a deep voice). Mr. Diggory, though, was left floundering without any clues.
All discussion stopped as Mr. Crouch brought everyone's attention to himself. Mr. Crouch, fatigued yet resolute, began a small speech. "Everyone, as it stands, there is little information on this incident. Disperse, speak to all wizards, and do your best to determine what kind of wizard could have done such a thing. Find those who don't have an alibi and bring them to me."
Hermione looked warily at Mr. Crouch, then at Mr. Weasley. Harry, Ron, and Ginny would serve as alibis. However, all the tales would be contradictory. Would Mr. Weasley find it suspicious?
Mr. Weasley then had spotted them, a look of worry plastered on his face. "Are you three okay?" He asked urgently.
Ron nodded. "Of course, dad."
Hermione took the chance to secure her alibi. "We looked around in the stadium for a while before we came to the campsite to look there. When we came back, I asked Ginny if she had seen it, right before everything went to pieces."
Harry and Ron looked at her oddly, as the version of events she presented contradicted what they knew she had done. Mr. Weasley, though, nodded approvingly. "Ginny said something along those lines as well." Hermione hid a smile, more than grateful that Ginny had figured out what to say. "What about you two boys?"
Ron hesitated before speaking without certainty. "Well, after Hermoine went to… " Here, he looked at Hermione oddly. Hermione pled Ron with her eyes to support her story. "... ask Ginny for help, Harry and I, er, looked around the campsite for her wand. But then the riots started, and we quickly went to find you guys. After that, the Fiendfyre started, and, erm…" Here Ron went silent again. "We, er, managed to survive long enough for the Fiendfyre to stop."
Mr. Weasley's eyes widened. "You were there when it stopped?" he marveled. "What happened?"
Harry answered in Ron's stead. "There was this black fog-like magic that went through the campsite and sort of snuffed everything as it went. It felt cold when it went through us. I don't think it did much else, though."
Mr. Weasley breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank heavens." He smiled. "Everyone else is waiting for us. I still have to ask them for their alibis as well." Mr. Weasley went deeper into the forest. Hermione made to follow but was stopped by Harry's hand on her shoulder.
"Hermione, what was that about Ginny? Didn't you go to check on everyone else?" Harry was both confused and suspicious.
Hermione grimaced. "I'll tell you about it when we get back." They more than deserved her trust at this point, and that tempted Hermione to tell them several times last year. "Let's just say both versions of events are true at the same time."
Ron scratched his head. "Still don't get it."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "As I said, I'll tell you when we get back." Harry and Ron were still unsure, but Hermione saw them gradually accept her implied request. "Anyway, let's go check on everyone else."
And with that, they left.
Strangely, Hermione was far easier to write this time around. I'm not exactly sure why but her personality shone much more easily in this chapter than it did in other chapters. It took me a while to return to this fic, and I was able to resume with a little difficulty. So, with that in mind, if you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to follow, fav, and review.
See ya!