Author's note: this is my first one-shot story, I aim to keep it short and sweet. Please tell me (honestly) what you think in a review. I know the Mudblood scar isn't in the books, just the movies, but it fitted the piece to include it.
Enjoy!
After firing off an emergency text to the Potters, Hermione leaped from the couch and ran out of the lounge, into the kitchen. Snatching up her bag with unnecessary force, she swiped her eyes quickly, trying to stop the threatening tears. She grabbed a travelling robe from the coat rack and tossed it around her shoulders.
Wand, check. Cloak, check. She was ready.
Hermione flew out the back door of her and Ron's little house, barely pausing to lock it behind her. She ran past the gate, out into the fields Ron, Harry and Ginny played Quidditch in. She quickly reached the boundary where she could apparate. Paranoia from the war days had led them to set their Apparition boundaries a good hundred meters from the house.
Hermione shuddered at the memories of when they had lifted the anti-Apparition charms from their tent to listen to Potterwatch. They had been kidnapped, she tortured.
Then a sob shook her. Ron was being tortured at that moment. He might already be dead.
They had been on the phone talking. Ron was away for the week doing some Auror business. She had known it was quite serious, but she hadn't realised Ron would discover a group of Death Eaters in hiding. Including Lucius Malfoy.
They had been having a good conversation when Ron had heard a knock at his hotel room door. Curious, he had gone to see who it was. He was staying at a magical hotel, so supposedly no one with ill intent could enter. He must've hidden his phone behind his back, because they didn't say anything about it to start with. Hermione had heard the whole conversation.
"Oh, hello," Ron had said suspiciously. "Who are you all?"
"We are the contact group you were sent, Ronald Weasley. Code word 'Mad-Eye'." Someone had replied.
"Oh, right!" Hermione had heard a sigh of relief. "Come in."
She had heard the door click. Then a gasp.
"L-L-Lucius? Lucius Malfoy? You're meant to be in Azkaban!" Ron had sounded frightened and angry.
"Well, yes, I am," Lucius's cold drawl had replied. "But you see, I didn't want to go. I sent a fake in my place."
"What are you doing here?" Ron hedged. Trying to stall.
"We have come to serve justice," Lucius sneered.
"Weasley is a traitor!" Someone else hissed.
"A traitor," a voice echoed.
"You helped Harry Potter!"
"Your family are all blood traitors!"
"You work for the Ministry!"
"You destroyed a Horcrux!"
"You tried to bring down the greatest wizard the world has ever seen, the only wizard who stood for what is right and lead us accordingly."
"And worst of all," Lucius hissed menacingly, "You got engaged to a Mudblood!"
"To Granger! The filthiest Mudblood of all Mudbloods!"
"To a Mudblood!" The rest of the group echoed. "To a filthy Mudblood!"
This had been the point where Hermione could listen no longer.
"Ron!" She had yelled, as loud as she could.
The jeering voices had stopped. "Who is that?" Lucius asked. "Who is that? Answer me!"
"Come meet me!" Hermione had begged. "Leave Ron alone."
"Oho!" Lucius cried. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, the blood traitor was calling his Mudblood fiancée. How romantic." He laughed coldly. "Begging ain't going to help him, Granger. Unless…you turn yourself over."
Lucius and his friends had been wanting just a fun night punishing an old enemy, a Weasley. But if they could catch Granger, he knew his fun night would become a lot better. Granger was one of the people he most wanted to catch that was still alive.
At this point Ron had interfered. "Hermione, no! It's not worth it! Whatever you do, don't-"
Ron's terrified voice pattern had been interrupted by the word 'Crucio'. Followed by Ron's screaming.
And that was when the line had disconnected.
Hermione took a deep breath. She could do this. She could find Ron.
Because he was on a Ministry mission he hadn't been allowed to tell Hermione where he was going. Consequently, she didn't know where he was, only that he was in a magic hotel.
She closed her eyes, and attempted to apparate to Ron.
She thought back to her sixth year, when Wilkie Twycross had taught her and her fellow students the art of apparition. His three 'D's had earned him some pretty rude nicknames, but she had never been more grateful for them than she was at this moment. If she ever needed to be reminded of the basics of apparition, it was when she was trying to apparate into the unknown.
Destination: she was going to Ronald Weasley.
Determination: she was determined to save her husband-to-be.
Deliberation: she had steeled her resolve. She had a purpose.
She stepped into darkness. Apparition was a fickle thing. As she spun through the air she felt as if her lungs were being pressed together slowly, suffocating her thoroughly. Her ears popped and she saw stars winking in front of her eyes. Then she crashed to the ground.
When she opened her eyes, everything was hazy. She quickly grasped her wand and performed two charms in quick succession; one clearing her vision and the other casting a shield around herself. And it wasn't a moment too soon; a curse hit her invisible shield straight away.
Hermione stood up.
Four Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy, stood around Ron. Ron himself lay on the floor, physically uninjured but shaking uncontrollably. She recognised the Cruciatus Curse, but where was his screaming?
"Granger," sneered Lucius. "How in Potter's name did you get here?"
Hermione kept her voice flat and factual. "Let him go, and I will let you go."
"No deal," Lucius replied. "See, Granger, you're outnumbered. Four to one. And while you may possess extraordinary magic-the fact that you are standing here, despite not knowing our location proves that-there is no way you can defeat all four of us."
"I think you might be underestimating my abilities," Hermione lied confidently, or with as much confidence as she could muster; which was not a lot. Ron lay shaking on the ground. Four Death Eaters faced her, wands at the ready, sneers on their already jubilant faces. They were sure they could beat her.
They were probably right.
But this was her fiancées life at stake-and probably now her own as well. She couldn't let them win.
She decided to fight fast. A couple of silent spells that took out her opponents would even up the playing field. Wand out, she discreetly traced the movement for the Stunning Spell. A jet of red light flew through the air, but it was deflected by a lazy flick of the wand from one of the Death Eaters. Rapidly, she sent out a few more spells, but all were dodged, deflected or destroyed. And then suddenly, they were firing spells at her too, so she found herself unable to fight, only to defend herself. Because whether she liked it or not, she was severely outnumbered. And she had to focus on defence.
"Imperio," Lucius cried as he flicked his wand in her direction. Hermione quickly brought her wand up and with a quick stabbing movement she created a shield charm around herself, stopping the incoming Unforgivable Curse.
"Crucio!" Another voice screeched. Hermione dodged.
"Sectumsempra," someone yelled.
"Crucio!"
"Tarangtella!"
"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione threw herself out of the way of the Killing Curse desperately.
"No!" Lucius commanded. "We don't want to kill her."
Hermione was confused. Why did they want her alive? It's not like they could use her for anything-at least she thought that- and Voldemort was dead; it's not like they could bring her to him. But she had no more time to think about it; the Cruciatus Curse was flying in her direction.
The battle continued for what felt like many minutes, but was probably only one or two. Hermione only managed to shoot a few curses at her opponents; the majority of her time was spent avoiding the spells fired at her.
"Sectumsempra!" Hermione wrenched her body to the left; too far left. She smashed into the wall, bruising her shoulder, perhaps even dislocating it. High, cold, uncaring laughs echoed around the room as the onslaught of spells halted for a moment, but that wasn't what caught Hermione's attention.
"Er-my-knee," a voice croaked faintly. A memory flashed through her mind.
She was in the hospital wing. Ron had just been poisoned, and she had no idea if he would live. Harry had found her and told her the news, and she had hurled up to the hospital wing, white-faced, jaw clenched as she waited anxiously for Ron to wake up.
"Er-my-knee," he had croaked.
Every head had turned in his direction. Her eyes were on his face, pale and yet somehow flushed at the same time. "Er-my-knee."
He was saying her name. "Er-my-knee."
That was when she knew that she liked him. That she loved him. He had chosen her, over Lavender, over anyone else.
She looked at Ron. He was stirring faintly, the Cruciatus Curse (and probably a Silencing Charm) had been lifted.
"Ron?" She ran over to his side. His bleary eyes were slowly opening. "Ron, it's okay, it's okay," she soothed him.
"Hermione! Behind you!" Ron attempted to shout, but his voice came out a faint whisper. Alarmed, Hermione spun around, just in time to see Lucius Malfoy's boot connect with her face. Crying out in pain, she fell backwards. Blood poured down her face. Her face; well more specifically her nose; began to throb. Another Death Eater waved his wand, and she was too late to stop it. The Disarming Spell hit her, and her precious wand flew through the air, caught in his hand.
"Well, well, well. This is an interesting sight. The mighty Granger, at our mercy." Hermione attempted to stand up, but she was hit by the Cruciatus Curse.
Screams filled the air. Tortured, pain-filled. Hermione was barely aware she was screaming, she was so focused on the pain. Thousands of knives, burying their way into her flesh. Scalding-hot pokers burned her. She was on fire, she was frozen in ice. The pain was excruciating; all she wanted was to black out. Die, even. Nothing was worth this pain. She prepared to beg-
Lucius flicked his wand, and the curse stopped. Hermione lay gasping, tears of anger and pain pricking at her eyes. Slowly, defiantly, she began to sit up, only to be stopped by the renewal of the curse.
It went on and on and on. When Lucius finally stopped the curse again, Hermione lay unmoving on the ground. Lucius kicked her in the stomach. She groaned but didn't move or open her eyes. Frustrated, he waved his wand.
"Rennervate." Hermione began to stir. "Well, Granger, what do you have to say?"
Hermione didn't reply; she was focusing on not collapsing back to the ground and looking like a complete weakling.
"Shall we find out how filthy your blood really is?" Without waiting for a reply, Lucius grabbed Hermione's arm, the one with the Mudblood scar she had been given all those years ago by Bellatrix Lestrange. The one who killed Fred. The one who was killed by Molly Weasley. Who was her husband-to-be's mother.
Lucius pulled a knife from his pocket. Feebly, Hermione tried to push him away, but to no avail. He traced the scar on her arm. It had healed well and faded for the most part like the scar on her neck, but it could never truly disappear, even with magic, as Bellatrix had used a magical knife to make the scar.
"This is looking a bit faint, don't you think?" Lucius crooned. Then he stabbed to knife into the top left point of the 'M'. Hermione screamed. "Yes, this is much better," he grinned. "This should be nice and visible; everyone will want to know you are a Mudblood."
"Get off her," Ron commanded quietly.
"No," Lucius replied, continuing to reopen Hermione's scar. Blood dripped down her arm, mingling with the blood from her nose. Once he finished, he sat back on his haunches and admired his handiwork.
"I said get off her!" Ron insisted.
Lucius ignored him. Instead, he proceeded to raise his wand. Hermione lifted her hand (from the arm not pouring blood) and tried to hit his wand away, to no avail. The wand moved, shooting a cutting curse at her face. Her cheek was slashed.
"Stop," Ron begged Lucius.
Lucius turned to Ron as if he had just remembered he was there. "Crabbe, deal to this one please. I don't think we gave him enough the first time; he clearly hasn't gotten the message."
Ron snorted. "Do your worst," he challenged, sticking his chin out, putting on a brave face.
"I will," Crabbe replied. Then he turned his wand towards Hermione.
"No!" Ron shouted. "Hurt me. Hurt me, not her."
"Not a chance. You asked him to do this, remember?" Lucius taunted. Then Crabbe pointed his wand at Hermione. "Avada Ked-"
A blinding, bright white flash filled the room. The four Death Eaters cried our in surprise, but Ron and Hermione were too weakened to react. When the flash dissipated, a team of Aurors stood there (including Harry), as well as Ginny.
"Surrender," Neville Longbottom commanded.
Lucius and the other Death Eaters exchanged frightened glances. They knew they were outnumbered at least three to one. They tried to Disapparte, but they found they couldn't. Desperately, they made a break for the door, but an onslaught of spells came towards them. A battle between Light and Dark began. The Aurors and the Death Eaters.
Ginny made her way over to the two people she loved; her brother, and her best friend. Her brother was sitting up, shaking, his eyes wide, frightened and bloodshot. "Are you okay? What happened to you?" She asked Ron.
"Nothing much to me, just the Cruciatus Curse." Ron winced. "Hermione had it worse. They broke her nose, I think." The two Weasleys looked down at Hermione, who had blacked out. Ginny waved her wand, and the blood surrounding Hermione disappeared. Another flick saw her cuts seal themselves. A third movement made her stir.
"Ron?" Hermione asked weakly. She sat up, only to be hit with a fierce headache.
"Hermione," Ron sighed. He shuffled over to her and circled his arms around her. She rested her head on his shoulder, and they sat in that position until Harry came over, clutching three wands. "We got them. They're being sent to Azkaban temporarily, until their trials," he informed them. Then he passed them each a wand. "We got your wands back." Ron looked at him and quietly thanked him. Hermione mumbled something that sounded like a thank you, and then a little louder she repeated "Thanks."
Harry nodded at them. "We're just going to check you two over. The Healer will be here shortly." He looked at them as if he wanted to say more, but then he seemed to think the better of it. Instead he bent down and gave them each a hug, before walking away to talk to Ginny, occasionally casting anxious glances back at them.
Ron turned to his fiancée. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay," she replied. "How about you?"
"I'm fine." Ron paused. "Thank you for coming to rescue me."
Hermione scoffed. "I didn't rescue you. Incase you didn't notice, I got pretty thoroughly-"
"But you came," Ron insisted, his eyes soft. "You tried." Hermione blushed slightly. "And I have a feeling I know who alerted the Aurors that I was in trouble."
"I only alerted the Potters. They did the rest."
"But without you doing that, I would be dead." Ron knew it to be true.
"Yeah, I guess," Hermione conceded unhappily.
Ron grabbed her hand. "Hey. What's the matter? I'm alive. You're alive. We're gonna be okay."
Hermione blushed again, and looked down. Ron frowned. "This is going to sound really stupid and selfish," Hermione began, and then for a moment she wavered. But she gathered her Gryffindor courage. "But I wanted to be the one to save you. I wanted to be your knight in shining armour."
"Knight in shining armour?" Ron repeated, confused.
"It's a muggle term. It doesn't matter." She took a deep breath. "I didn't want it to end like this. I wanted to be the rescuer, not the rescued."
"You helped rescue me. And yourself, ironically." Ron tried a bit of humour. Hermione smiled sadly. "And hey. You don't always have to be the brave, strong witch you are. You can let other people do the work too. You might not have fully succeeded today, but you did yesterday, and you will tomorrow."
Hermione smiled. "Thank you." She paused. "I love you," she told him.
"As I love you," Ron replied. He leaned in, and she did too. Their lips touched, and that was all they needed.
Please review, this is my first Harry Potter fic and my first oneshot story, so it would be really helpful if you could all tell me whether or not this is good. Thank you for reading it!