Their Little Witch
Chapter 16
After finding Bellatrix, it didn't take her eyes long to find her other tormentor, the other death eater who haunted her nightmares.
Lucius Malfoy stood proud, his back straight and his eyes gleaming. His wife, however, was stood away from him. Her eyes locked on someone behind Hermione, she didn't need to turn to know Draco was stood there. She hadn't seen him since the room of requirement, but there was no one else who could attract such a desperate look from Narcissa Malfoy.
The torches on the castle walls had been lit, casting an ominous yellow glow over the scene.
"Hagrid, place the boy at my feet."
Slowly, the half giant ambles forward. Hermione can see large, fat tears trailing down his beard. He places the body as tenderly as he can, stroking his face when he pulls his hands back. Hermione can see his shoulders shaking with grief.
Voldemort's face is monstrous. His features were no longer human; he had no hair on his head, no nose on his face. His eyes glow a blood red and his skin is a waxy, unnatural white, making the yellow of his teeth stand out when his evil grin spreads over his cheeks. He stands taller than most of the death eaters and Hermione has to admit that his presence is powerful. He seemed to radiate evil, his intentions are written all over him, sinister and dark,
"You're beloved 'Chosen One' was caught while running away. He intended to leave you all to die, alone. He died begging for his life, a cowards death. I have no respect for cowards." His bare foot nudges Harry's cheek, pushing his face towards them. Hermione can feel the bile rising in her throat. How dare that man touch him, how dare he desecrate her best friends memory like this.
"I have no desire to see anymore magical blood spilt today. I, your merciful Lord, offer you this one chance. Step forward, announce your loyalty to me, and I shall spare most of you. I reward bravery and punish insolence. I have need for only the best, however. Some of you-" Hermione freezes when his eyes seem to land on her, "Are simply not worth the oxygen you breathe, the space you occupy."
Of everyone, it's Neville Longbottom who steps forward first, much to Voldemort's displeasure,
"I had hoped for better. Who, exactly, are you?"
Bellatrix's high-pitched, baby like voice cuts through the thick air,
"That's the Longbottom boy, My Lord."
He grins wickedly,
"I'm sure I can find space for you, somewhere in my ranks."
The death eaters laugh, and Neville holds his hand up, straightening his back,
"I have something to say."
A look of dark fury flits across Voldemorts face, his voice is clipped when he answers,
"I'm sure we would all like to hear what you have to say."
Neville swallows, shrugging a woman's hand off, a woman that Hermione realises is his grandmother, Augusta,
"Yes, Harry's dead. But that's not important."
Seamus pulls his arm, "Stand down, Neville."
"No. People die every day, that's just life. But he didn't die a coward. And he will not have died in vain, because no one here will join you. Harry didn't demand our loyalty, he earned it. Harry died a hero, and we will avenge him. We will never stop fighting you."
Neville's gaze is fierce, his back straight. In Hermione's ear, she hears Rhodes,
"No sense of self preservation, that boy."
Voldemort's lips curl, fire passing through his eyes as he raises his wand,
"There will be no more sortings at Hogwarts. So we won't be needing this." The sorting hat flies into his outstretched hand, and with a flick of his wand, it's fixed on Neville's head, his screams drowning as the hat burns.
The effect was instantaneous, wands were drawn on both sides, and the sky lit up with spell fire. From behind the death eaters, the aurors finally arrived, followed by a swarm of parents. Someone had gotten the message out, and help had arrived.
Hermione clutches Luna's hand as they race away from the wall, Hermione fires a litany of spells at Nagini, who surges towards them, chasing them into the castle. In the distance, Neville pulls the hat off his head, yanking the sword of Gryffindor from it. Hermione grabs a piece of brick off the floor, hurling it at the stupidly large serpent, Luna copies her, both girls sprinting up the stairs,
"Confringo!"
"Expulso!"
The snake continues towards them, rearing its head back ready to strike, Hermione shoots a stunner into its mouth, buying them precious seconds to get out of its reach.
Ron appears at the bottom of the stairs, firing his own spells, but nothing seems to faze it.
Hermione wants to tell Luna to run, but she knows the girl would refuse, so she pushes her sharply down the stairs, Ron catches her at the bottom and Hermione sprints after them,
"Reducto!"
On hearing the boys screams, the Avengers had torn out of the castle, Steve had flung his shield at the first death eater he could find, following it up with a stun bullet. Tony had fired his blasters into the crowd, separating the death eaters from each other, they were easier to take down if they were fighting alone. He'd blasted one man straight over the edge of the bridge, his screams would haunt Tony later.
Natasha was duel wielding guns, firing both lethal and non lethal bullets as the numbers around them multiplied.
War machine had gone straight to Neville, inspecting his head for any permanent damage. The skin was singed, bits of it smoking and his hair had been damaged as well, but he seemed eager to continue, hurling spells over his shoulders. James left him, flying over to Cap's shield flinging it back to him as he shot at a particularly sour looking death eater, he'd heard someone else call this man 'Nott'. He shot at Nott's hand, burning it and the wand he held, eliciting a small scream from the man.
Bucky was back-to-back with Steve, firing his guns into the chaos. He used his metal arm to throw the dark wizards whenever they got too close.
It was chaos, everyone was screaming and faces had become colours as it became a life or death fight in the ground.
Hermione continues to fire over her shoulder, but honestly she thinks the rocks had more effect than the spells were having. Pure panic courses through her veins, she clutches Luna's hand, both girls sprinting into the next hallway, but it's a dead end and Hermione doesn't fancy the chances of getting past Nagini unscathed again. It's her fault that they're trapped, and she wishes she had a time turner, she'd have left Luna outside.
She pushes Luna behind her, she'd lost track of Ron, or maybe he'd lost track of them.
Voldemort's voice cuts through her thoughts,
"FIND POTTER!"
A small ball of hope blooms in her chest, she raises her wand,
"Avis! Oppugno!"
The small flock of birds attack Nagini with fervour, keeping her distracted for a moment while Hermione Pulls Luna away from the wall, back into open space, Luna's wand rises,
"Bombarda!"
They sprint out of the double doors, almost stumbling down the steps, the great serpent close behind them.
Then she felt it, a cutting hex slashing its way through the back of her leg, bringing her to the ground, Luna with her. Her eyes find Bucky at the same moment that he spots her and time stands still as a look of utter horror and fear crosses his face, his mouth shaping to form a screaming,
"NO!"
He starts running to her, but she only has a moment, and she knows it. She throws herself over Luna, bearing her back to the snake and covering the smaller girl with her body. She clenches her eyes shut, bracing herself for the fangs to penetrate into her skin. She's aware of the blood pooling onto her trousers, and Luna's frightened screaming fills her ears, but the bite never comes.
An anguished yell comes from Voldemort, the sound feels wrong on her skin, the magical backlash from his emotions sends her toppling to the ground and she sees Neville stood there, the sword of Gryffindor embedded in the snakes body, then he brings it right through, slicing her head clean off. Hermione and Luna both scurry backwards as thick, black smoke fills the air.
Hermione grabs Luna by the shin, forcing the girl to look at her,
"Are you okay? I am so, so sorry, Luna."
Luna just smiles serenely at her, though her hands shake,
"You would have saved me, I trust you. But, I'm not useless, Hermione, let me help."
Hermione doesn't have a chance to answer before she's dragged to her feet, the mad cackling making her eyes widen. She's almost glad that Bucky has turned back to his own fight, he didn't need to see this. She can feel the wand tip pressing into her throat, Bellatrix's stench fills her nose. The woman smelt of death and decay, with a pinch of roses.
Luna scrambles to her feet, her wand raised and her blue eyes like steel,
"Let her go."
Bellatrix giggles,
"My favourite little toy," She purrs, "Scream for me."
Hermione's legs buckle as the cruciatus hits her, the world fades and all she can feel, all she can sense, is burning pain.
Luna's breath catches,
"Stop it! Stop it now!"
Bellatrix turns her gaze to Luna, maintaining her spell on the frustratingly silent mudblood at her feet,
"Or what? You'll make me?"
Luna points her wand at Bellatrix's head,
"Exactly."
Bella giggles, her voice demented,
"But her screams really are delicious."
Something in her snaps,
"Expulso!"
The spell on Hermione ends as Bellatrix throws up a shield. Hermione curls into a ball, coughing up blood as the two women duel. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, rising unsteadily to her feet, pointing her wand at her tormentor, joining the duel,
"Confringo!"
Bellatrix duels them both easily, like a dance. Her magic is more perfected, more suited to playing dirty than theirs is.
Hermione knows that they're outclassed as she summons a small wall to block an avada for Luna, neither girl were a match for Bellatrix's experience.
Hermione turns to Luna, throwing a shield over them both,
"You need to go! It's not you that she wants."
Luna shakes her head, panting heavily. A few cutting curses had hit her, she had a deep gash on her forehead that was trickling blood down her neck,
"I won't leave you."
Hermione growls,
"Sectumsempra!"
Bellatrix bats it away without so much as a flinch,
"Oh, Kitty's got claws today. Ickle mudblood wants to play like a grown up."
Hermione leaps to the floor as a pale blue light soars where she had been. Fear was beginning to slip through her mind,
"Diffindo!"
She's vaguely aware of the centaurs arriving, arrows flitter past her face and she leans back. She senses someone beside her and looks up into the face of Neville, he's flinging his own curses. Bellatrix just laughs, a high pitched sound that never fails to make Hermione's chest tighten.
The three of them are able to just about hold their own; she's no longer pushing them back. They feel a small sense of accomplishment; it was no small feat to be able to stand against Bellatrix.
A blasting hex hits Hermione's back, pushing her straight into Bellatrix's waiting arms. Her back burns and her knees buckle, once again being held against the crazy woman, her eyes narrow as Lucius Malfoy approaches, his own hexes now firing at her friends. Hermione's lip pulls into her mouth and she pulls her head back, feeling Bellatrix's nose crack and their head collide before the witch pushes her away,
"YOU DARE FIGHT ME LIKE A MUGGLE?!" Her voice is a screech as she turns her wand on Hermione, the girl has just enough time to throw up a shield charm before a spell in a nasty red colour hits it, sparking into little flames against the shield.
Luna and Neville pull her back; they're being pushed backwards again, unable to fight off both the Malfoy patriarch and Bellatrix at the same time.
A slicing curse hits Hermione across her chest, stinging as it rips through the scar from fifth year. Luna hits the ground to avoid an incendio, firing a confringo back. Neville is struggling to maintain his shield charm, Bellatrix is pounding into it with various hexes and curses. Neville feels his body weight sliding across the floor with the force of the hits, unable to keep himself still.
Hermione's beginning to lose hope when another flash of blonde catches her eyes, and Draco appears at Neville's side, his face hard as he fights his own family.
Lucius looks murderous and if looks could kill, there would be no Malfoy heir.
Neville doesn't look surprised, a flicker of pride in his eyes when he takes in the new arrival.
Around them, it's chaos as the remaining giants join the fray. They're hulking around; there are only two of them. Tony and Rhodes take one; Steve, Bucky and Nat are on the other. Hermione is vaguely aware of them barking orders at each other through the comm unit,
"BUCKY! THROW ME!"
Natasha's body soars high into the air; she grabs hold of the giant by the ear, swinging her body into his neck with enough force to stagger it. Bucky catches the swinging club with his metal arm, a pained yell coming from his as he grips onto it, stopping it from causing more damage. Steve uses his shield to dig into the giants arm, getting covered in a spray of blood as he penetrates the skin.
Natasha grabs a handful of tranquilizers, stabbing the giant in the jugular. It takes eight to make the thing topple.
Tony and Rhodey are blasting theirs, joined quickly by the remaining avengers. They'd run out of tranquilizers now, it was going to have to be brute strength.
Hagrid is ambling around, searching desperately for Harry, the body having been missing since the action had restarted.
Ron was at Ginny's side, duelling Mcnair and Yaxley.
Kingsley Shacklebolt, McGonagall and Flitwick are duelling Voldemort, it takes all three of them to keep him occupied.
Luna sends a hex that Hermione had never heard of at Lucius, who had been occupied with Draco. His long, blonde, beautiful hair began to shrivel, each strand yanking itself from his head until there was nothing left, Luna's voice is smug,
"That was for Hermione."
Lucius is furious, his face burns a fierce red as his hands rush to his scalp, but Draco is roaring with laughter,
"I told you that would come back to get you."
Bellatrix doesn't pay Lucius any mind, her sole focus is on the people she's duelling. She flings spells out faster than anyone else they had duelled, keeping them on their toes. Lucius was slower, but his spells packed a bigger punch. Hermione was doing her best just to stay standing at this point.
Because of their individual focuses, her duel ends up splitting into two groups, Luna and Draco duel Lucius and Hermione and Neville are duelling Bellatrix.
For a few minutes, Hermione and Neville manage to hold her off, but Hermione was becoming weak from blood loss and Neville was unused to duelling for long periods of time, the magical drain was extensive. Eventually, Bellatrix lands a hit on Neville, blasting him across the courtyard and into a pillar, a crazed laugh echoing out of her mouth, then her crazed eyes are on Hermione who barely has enough time to suck in a breath before she's writhing in agony. Bellatrix was done playing games.
At first, she refuses to give Bellatrix the satisfaction of hearing her scream, but the torture becomes too much quite quickly. She can feel her bones breaking and rejoining, her body distorting and her organs burning, she can't stop the screams. It feels like her muscles are tearing away from her bones and then shredding apart. The screams rip at her throat, she can feel the blood bubbling, making her screams sound odd and unlike any previous times under the curse, Hermione got the distinct impression that Bellatrix didn't intend to stop. On one hand, everything was becoming very clear. Nothing really mattered, after all. This was nothing.
She could hear the avengers in her ears, hear the panic in their tones as they listen to her screaming, but the world was fading away from her. She hoped they were okay, the giant must be giving them a lot of trouble.
Augusta had looked up when she saw Neville fly across her vision; she marched over to him with purpose, terrified of what she'd find. Praise Merlin, the boy was breathing. She cast a quick rennervate, his eyes snapped open as the screaming started.
Augusta followed his flight path, coming to the conclusion that of course it had been Bellatrix Lestrange. Fury had bubbled in her veins, but concern for Neville had won out on her need for justice, the boy was bleeding from the back of his head, after all.
The Avengers had just taken down the last giant when the screaming filled their heads, Bucky's voice was amongst the first to start trying to soothe the girl. It took his brain a minute to work out that the girl who was screaming, was his girl. His Hermione.
Panic and rage had coursed through his blood as he stalked back to the battleground, his eyes scanning for her. Then the screaming had started to fade into whimpering, and Luna's panicked,
"HERMIONE! NO!"
Had him sprinting. An older lady shot some form of blasting hex at the witch that was torturing his Hermione, and he had leapt off the wall to catch her around the throat with his metal arm. She grinned at him as he choked her, an evil grin that had him throwing her at a wall. The impact from her body had cracked the wall behind her, a bit of blood trickling out of her still laughing lips. The gun had been in his hand less than a second later, but only one of the bullets that hit her had come from him. Behind him, Steve, Tony and Natasha all had guns smoking guns pointed at the now very dead witch.
Luna had reached Hermione first, letting out an anguished sob at Hermione's unseeing eyes,
"No, Hermione, come on. You're better than this, come on. I've got you, Luna's got you."
Luna ignored Voldemort's scream of rage, she ignored Harry appearing out of nowhere, seemingly back from the dead. Her only focus was on the brunette witch in her arms. She was aware of the other Avengers joining her on the floor, War Machine had taken it on himself to begin tying up various death eaters that had been knocked unconscious. Draco had stupefied his father and was helping Neville tend to his head wound, but she didn't care.
She was shaking Hermione as she called her name out; Tony pulled his suit off, stepping out of it to kneel as a man,
"FRIDAY give me her vitals now."
Luna had ripped her comm unit out when Hermione had started whimpering, she couldn't bear the sound of it.
Bucky was also calling out to Hermione, trying to reach her conscious. His voice laced with as much fear and desperation as hers. The fighting around them had ceased, probably to watch Harry duel the Dark Lord, but none of them could bring themselves to care.
Luna fished into Hermione's bag, grabbing out a bottle of water, splashing it on the girls face, sobbing when Hermione didn't even flinch,
"I'm so sorry, Hermione, please, I'm sorry. Come back to us, I know you're in there. Harry's alive, and Bellatrix is gone. If I'd just been quicker."
There's a loud crash, pulling their attention to the duel behind them. Harry fires off an Expelliarmus and Voldemort fires an Avada Kedavra. Luna's eyes flash, a burning anger in her veins. Quicker than a flash, Steve's gun is in her hand and it's aimed at Voldemort, then the bullet fires, catching his attention long enough for his spell to lose power and bounce back at him. Voldemort's body hits the floor with a dull thud.
Luna pays that no mind, turning the gun to Lucius Malfoy, pure fury running in her veins. Steve's hand closes around hers gently, and she looks at him, a look of pleading on her face,
"He is one of the reasons that she's not-"
Steve lowers the shaking gun, pulling the hyperventilating girl into his arms, nestling her into his chest, neither of them noticing the giant blood that now was smeared into the girl, too,
"Shhh, we'll fix this. I promise you, we'll fix this, but that isn't the way forward."
Luna lets out a pained yell, clutching Steve's uniform tightly.
Bucky tenderly lifts Hermione, tears stream down his face and he glares at the cheering. He cradles the girl to him, imagining that she would look up at him with that tired smile that she reserved just for him. But it never came. She was breathing, but she wasn't in there.
Tony claps a hand on his shoulder, ordering his suit into a suitcase,
"I'm going to contact T'Challa when the sun rises. Maybe they have something that can help."
Bucky nods, not trusting his voice. Hermione looked so fragile in his arms; he needed to get her somewhere clean so he could tend her wounds. It wouldn't do if she woke up in pain, she wouldn't like that.
Harry and Ron approach them, seemingly not noticing the grief in the group. Harry approaches Natasha, who's kneeling over Lucius,
"Where's Hermione? We need to see her; I thought she'd be with you."
They obviously hadn't seen Bucky, hadn't heard Luna's begging. Natasha figured they probably shouldn't go near Luna right now. She looked at the two boys with only a slight look of disgust,
"She's with Bucky. The big one with dark hair and a metal arm. I wouldn't advise you get too close."
Harry nods, turning and freezing in his tracks, a look of horror on his face when he finally took the sight in. He approaches Bucky softly, his voice breaking,
"Her-Hermione?"
Bucky lifts his eyes to Harry, his tone is empty when he talks,
"She thought you were dead."
Harry puts a tentative hand on her face, she's cold. His fingers shake,
"We should get her to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey—"
"Has enough on her plate." Tony cuts him off, his voice hard but also soft, it wasn't the kids fault,
"Is there somewhere in the castle that we can take her where it will be safe and private?"
Harry thinks for a moment and nods, leading them up to the room of requirement. He paces three times and the door appears. The group walks forward, only minorly surprised to find it turned into a private hospital room complete with medical equipment.
Bucky gingerly places her on the bed, sitting at her side with her hand in his. Harry goes to his other side while Tony and Natasha talk in the corner. Luna and Steve were still downstairs, Luna was still hysterical. Ron stood at the foot of the bed, staring at Hermione.
It's Harry who breaks the silence,
"I-If I pretend, it's almost like she's just petrified again."
Ron nods slowly and Bucky frowns in confusion, prompting Harry to tell him about second year. It led to both the boys telling their stories of Hogwarts over the years, attracting Tony, Natasha and James to sit and listen as well.
They hadn't noticed Luna and Steve come in until Luna says in an eerily calm voice,
"She is not dead. Stop talking about her like she's dead."
Harry looks up at her,
"We're not, Luna. We're just telling stories."
Luna sniffles,
"Stories that she should be here for, so she could tell you how she could actually hear you while she was petrified, or how relieved she was in third year when you forgave her. How she finally felt like a princess at the ball in fourth year because in the gardens, away from prying eyes, even Draco Sodding Malfoy had asked her to dance."
Tears are streaming down her face,
"She should be telling us all those little things. It's not fair."
Steve holds Luna up, otherwise her legs would have her on the floor already,
"I just- I just want her to look at me and tell me how silly I'm being, because she's Hermione Granger, and of course she's going to be o-okay."
A chair appears and Steve gently tugs Luna to it, sitting with her on his lap.
Tony clears his throat,
"T'Challa messaged me back; I figured this couldn't wait until morning. His sister and he will pick us up in the morning, they've locked to our location so as long as the wards don't go back up overnight, he won't have a problem finding us."
Ron's voice is croaky,
"She's one of you, now, isn't she?"
Natasha smiles softly,
"They both are. They're our little witches."
Luna had cried herself to sleep on Steve's lap, her exhaustion wearing her out.
Ron nods almost dejectedly,
"She was ours once. Look after her? I have to go and spend some time with my family."
The Avengers nod, watching him leave. Harry remains seated, his eyes on Hermione and Luna,
"My family is in here, so I hope you don't mind if I stay?"
They just nod at him and he almost smiles,
"Everyone downstairs will be clearing out soon. I expect the Weasley's will go back to the Burrow, their home. I imagine I'll join them. I don't think any parent will leave their kids here after tonight, so it'll probably just be a few order members and teachers here tomorrow."
Bucky stands, gently pulling Hermione's jacket and top off. The wounds are ugly, she's covered in deep cuts and there's a scorch mark on her back that makes her skin bubble. He frowns and hands Hermione's bag to Harry, his eyes pleading,
"Help me?"
Harry nods, opening the bag and summoning out various balms and salves. He hands Bucky a burn paste, labelled with Hermione's neat handwriting,
"She made all of these, in case we ran into something we shouldn't. They never- They never got used when they were actually needed."
Bucky just nods, delicately scooping the cream into his human hand so that she doesn't feel the cold from the metal, it always made her jump a bit but she always smiled afterward.
He rubs the cream into her back as gently as he can, making sure to cover every part of the burn, Harry's voice is soft when he speaks,
"The more you put on, the quicker that will heal. Don't worry about over using, there's no such thing with burn paste."
Bucky nods, applying it more generously.
Her skin makes a fizzing sound and Bucky looks up in alarm, but Harry's voice is calm, if strained,
"The slicing hex on her chest is deep, I've put some dittany on it to close the wound, but it will scar. She hates her scars."
Bucky frowns, he'd never taken notice of the marks on her skin. With her top off, he could see most of them. The biggest being a large scar from her right shoulder tip down to her lift hip, it was thick and purple, and if she didn't like it, he'd spend every day telling her how beautiful she was.
He snaps himself out of his reverie, determinedly not looking at her chest as he helps Harry close some of her other wounds, including the one on the back of her leg that had almost seen her eaten by that snake.
Harry's hand closes around Bucky's wrist,
"Her arm."
Bucky swallows before looking at it. When he looked up at Harry, he realised it was probably his first time seeing it. The same with Tony, Nat and Rhodes, judging by the way they'd come over to look. All of them had paled, Rhodes voice was shaky,
"She's been living with that?"
Bucky nods sharply before locking eyes with Harry,
"The one that did it is dead."
Harry just nods,
"Her hair?"
"Luna said it was Lucius Malfoy, the other man she tried to shoot."
Harry almost laughs, because of course she would,
"My name will no doubt carry some weight now; I'll make sure he never sees the light of day again."
Bucky just nods. Hermione's eyes are still open, though he knows she's not seeing anything. He closes them tenderly before pulling a sheet up over her to protect her modesty. She has to lie on her side, so that her wounds can try and heal.
Harry grabs the dittany and heads over to Luna and Steve, gently waking Luna up,
"Luna, I need to close your wounds. Then you can go back to sleep, okay?"
Luna just looks up at him with those large, sad eyes that make his chest hurt,
"I trust you, Harry."
He nods, swallowing thickly before applying the dittany over the cuts on her face and arms. For the most part, Luna was unhurt. Most of her damage was emotional, that only time would fix. She smiles sleepily at him before closing her eyes, drifting back into her dreamscape.
Harry sighs; the room seems to listen, summoning enough beds for everyone. Both Bucky and Harry push their beds next to Hermione's, Tony, Nat and James follow suit. Steve gingerly carries Luna over, and that night, everyone sleeps in a group, drawing comfort from each other.
A couple of hours later, Bucky finds himself waking up, it's still dark but there's a pair of brown eyes looking right at him,
"Are we okay?"
He's stunned. That was Hermione. He blinks for a moment before whispering back,
"We won, Doll."
As if in acceptance, her eyes close and Bucky can't help but question whether he was dreaming or not.
A.N. Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Marvel. Please review! Please remember that this doesn't follow canon at all, so some of the characters may behave a bit differently to what you are used to!