Chapter 47

Bang!

Hermione lifted her head to the burnished wood of the door to the chamber, at the loud noise which came from the direction Amaya and Chester had disappeared off to.

"Sounds like they found them." The muttered phrase came from behind her. Hermione turned to glance at Dìona.

The Essence of Magic had straightened up from where she was leant against the stone dais in the centre of the room, and had her head tilted to the side thoughtfully as more clangs and blasts sounded. Dìona turned her head to look at Hermione as a particularly loud bang rang through the air.

"I hope you're ready for a fight, kid."

Hermione had no time to answer because at that moment the door was blown off its hinges, hurtling towards Dìona. Acting quickly, Hermione slowed time, as she had been practicing for weeks, and sprinted to pull Dìona out of the door's path.

The two of them stood against the wall, panting, as time sped back up and the door smashed into the dais and snapped into two, one half limply leaning against the edge as it clung onto the half on the dais by just a splinter.

Dìona grinned at Hermione, "Nicely done, kid. But watch you don't wear yourself out before the finale, yeah?"

Hermione returned Dìona's grin, before the two of them turned to face the newly created archway.

Chester and Amaya were back-to-back, facing off against five Death Eaters, and more were coming. Luckily, the limited space in the hallway made for a difficult approach for more than five at once, but as soon as they made it into the stone room, it would be fair game.

"You stay this side of the dais, I'll go to Mai and Chess and help draw them away from you," Dìona murmured to Hermione, before running off, yelling, "Come at me!" at the Death Eaters as the air crackled around her.

Hermione shivered at the raw power in the air. She didn't know how the Death Eaters were still standing.

Slipping closer to the dais, Hermione started to draw on her magical core, easing the magic out through the trails to allow it to hang around her, like Chester had taught her.

She was stopped in her path by a pair of Death Eaters, each with vicious scowls on their faces, and their wands held threateningly in front of them.

Drawing a breath, Hermione prepared to fight.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Fuck!" Hermione cursed, dropping her hand and cradling it to her chest as she ducked away to escape the fighting. She crouched down behind the remnants of the blown apart door, panting heavily as she felt her remaining power dwindle, "Crap." She whispered, wincing as a blast jostled the splintered wood above her, forcing her to press closer to the stone behind her.

She didn't know how they were going to get out of this; everything depended on her being able to transport them back those precious three hours. And if she couldn't…well, Hermione didn't want to think about the consequences.

Suddenly, Dìona's worried face appeared in front of her, "What happened?"

"I–I…" Hermione stuttered, feeling her words start to slur together sluggishly. She shook her head to clear it and tried again, "I c-can't…"

Dìona's eyes flickered in understanding, and she glanced briefly over her shoulder before turning back to Hermione, "Chess and Mai have got everything covered out there for the moment. I'll stay here and see what I can do."

Hermione started to panic, shaking her head frantically, "N-no! I can't! I-I…It's not…working…I don't…understand." Hermione's breathing quickened, and soon she was gasping for breath, eyes blown wide as she panicked.

A pair of hands on her shoulders stopped her from descending fully into a panic attack, and she found herself looking into the unusually solemn eyes of Dìona.

"Hermione," She spoke soothingly, "It's okay. You can do this. Just don't panic, and I'll be right here to help you, okay?" Dìona studied Hermione's eyes seriously, "You've got this, Herms."

Reluctantly, Hermione nodded, closing her eyes and focussing on accessing the Essence the way she had been practicing for weeks. Reaching out, she delved further into her magical core, following along the barely-there seam from where the trio had combined her personal core to the Essence of Time all those weeks ago.

Finding the right trail of magic, she turned along it, feeling resistance as she urged her magic to go beyond its' current capacities. She felt like screaming as pain ripped through her mind, beginning gradually, then crashing through her core like a tidal wave as she finally found her target.

A ball of energy, seemingly insignificant but capable of great deeds. The resistance against her assault increased ten-fold, and she let out a sob as the pain reached a maximum, feeling her body getting ripped into shreds over and over.

Hermione jerked sideways when she suddenly felt a foreign energy appear beside her, nudging her gently.

"It's okay, Hermione. Keep pushing." She heard Dìona's voice, as if through a body of water, and slowly realised what the energy was. Dìona was lending Hermione her strength.

With the added power, Hermione pushed through, breaking the barrier between her and the energy, and diving into the ball of pure Time magic.

White light exploded around her, filling her mind with its' fantastic beams, and slowly taking away the pain, leaving a dull throb in its place. In the wash of pure magic that followed, Hermione directed her attention to the task ahead. She could feel the power surges coming from Amaya and Chester across the room, as well as the steady pulse of Dìona's from beside her.

Latching onto them, she began to weave the magic in such a way as would allow her to move the four of them three hours back.

Feeling her grip on the magic begin to slip, she desperately tried to hold on, fighting to stay conscious. Her mind began to give out, despite the extra energy coming from Dìona.

Just before she slipped into unconsciousness, she vaguely heard a voice above her saying, "Good job, Hermione."

And then, she knew nothing.

A/N: anyone spot the plot hole? What about the really ooc-but-not-cause-this-is-an-au-and-i-do-what-i-want moment? (also there's a weird moment where i think Hermione could be giving birth? idk man, words are hard. but yeah. i wrote this scene ages ago, and have no energy to fix it so, she'll be right)

song rec - Drama by AJR

btw, i finally calculated how many chapters this is going to have! yay

(no im not going to tell you)

(...i might if you bribe me with reviews)

:) bye