Hermione didn't understand how it had all gone so wrong; the death eaters had been waiting for them in the hall of prophesy, no Sirius Black to be seen. They had been lured down here by Voldemort, who was somehow under the impression that he had implanted the vision in Harry's mind, except they hadn't been lured down by him, they'd come because Gellert had a vision of the future. Of course, it was only as she sprinted down a corridor between two tumbling towers of glass that she realised that of course Gellert had seen this – they had caused it by coming here. They were as bad as Voldemort when it came to chasing prophesies.
She sent one of Dumbledore's speciality jinxes over her shoulder, a heavy whompf the only sign that anything had happened. The death eater chasing her gagged as he took a breath and realised there was no air.
She could see Harry's heels ahead of her, cursing herself for not staying fitter as she wheezed. A death eater appeared in front of her. She skidded to a halt, then in a move she knew she would come to regret even as she did it, she pointed her wand upwards, and screamed Ascendio.
She shot upwards, managing to snag the top layer of the shelves. She heaved herself over, sending a couple of glass balls skittering down the tower. She was a long way up.
One of the death eaters sent a curse whizzing up, she shuffled forwards on her tummy, realising as she did that would be too slow. If only she could block their view for a moment – mist!
'Caligo' She whispered, poking her wand over the edge of the shelf. For a moment nothing happened, then the air around her suddenly became very dry. She peered over the edge; thick mist shrouded the death eaters, rising up to about half way up the shelf. She pushed herself to her feet and began shuffling along the shelf.
Then, as if in the distance she heard a thundering of glass. Off to her right, the shelves were caving in on themselves. It didn't matter who had cast the curse, but she definitely didn't want to be here when the shelf fell. She peered over the edge – it was a long way down. Perhaps if she performed Wingardium Leviosa on herself, but that was notoriously unstable. There must be a better charm, think, Hermione, think.
Then she was in freefall. Glass showered down with her, splintering into glittering crystals on the floor.
'Arresto!' Was all she managed to get out before she hit. Broken glass bit into her skin like a hundred tiny knives, but her spell must have done something because she wasn't dead. Around her, apparitions of seers rose up from the shattered balls, forgotten prophesies being recited to the silent room. She scrambled to her feet, shifting the one or two balls that had been protected from impact by her body.
Glass tinkled somewhere to her left, she bolted, covered by the thousands of ghostly speakers.
'-death will forever be your company.' Intoned a witch in a ball gown as Hermione sprinted in the direction she hoped would be the door.
'-the long awaited cure-' a wizard in a ruff said. Glass crackled in that direction, that couldn't be good. Her cover wouldn't last much longer.
'-and he shall be free once more!' A Slytherin student foretold, just as Hermione slammed into a wall. There! The door. She lunged sideways, yanking it open and diving into the room behind.
Her friends had already been here, the desks were overturned, sand and glass coated the floor in here too and a death eater with the head of a baby head sat cross legged on the floor, sucking his thumb.
She could hear shouting from couple of rooms away so she scurried into the next room. A huge explosion behind her as the door flew open and a death eater climbed through. His black robes glittered with glass dust and his face was streaked with blood. His mask was missing, revealing a weedy, narrow face that she recognised from the papers.
Then things became really strange; Hermione had been duelling Dolohov who sent purple curse after purple curse in her direction. Then she tripped over a rumple in the carpet, of all things. A disarming spell tore her wand out of her hand and Dolohov caught it with a vicious grin.
She braced herself, then suddenly there was a death eater between them. The newcomer sent several curses towards the shocked Dolohov, his pale blond hair swirling around his shoulders as he slashed his wand. Two wands soared towards him at the same time as Dolohov crumpled. Lucius Malfoy turned to face her.
'Quickly. We need to get you out of here.' She shook her head, scrambling away from him.
'I've been working with Grindelwald for months. I doubt he'd appreciate his little girlfriend getting killed. Now get up, we need to get out of here.' The pureblood sneered as he tossed her wand at her.
'I can't leave without the others.' She said resolutely.
'The Order are here. The others will be fine.' He snapped, obliviating Dolohov. 'Now move.'
Hermione reluctantly got to her feet, she had no idea what to think of Gellert's plans anymore. He seemed to have connections in all sorts of strange places. She followed Malfoy, who seemed to know exactly where they were going as he led her through the corridors. She would have left, but they didn't encounter a single other death eater and either way, she would be closer to her friends.
She heard shouting from her left and made a sudden decision, abandoning her trailing of Malfoy in favour of helping her friends. Harry bolted past her, hollering bloody murder at Bellatrix Lestrange, who whipped around a corner out of sight. She managed to dive through the door of the rotating room just before it began spinning. Harry hollered for the exit like a madman, and Hermione dove after him, slamming the door just as Lucius Malfoy ran through a different door. She sprinted after Harry and Bellatrix, missing the lift Harry took by a fraction of a second. She jabbed frantically at the button, then spun and took the stairs instead.
She was wheezing by the third floor. This time the lift answered her straight away, doors opening with a strangely gentle ping. The jumped inside, jamming the button for the atrium, certain that Bellatrix would have been trying to escape. She needn't have worried. She would have heard Bellatrix screeching from floors away.
She tumbled out of the lift just as Voldemort appeared. His eyes met hers across the space and suddenly he was right behind her, those long, white fingers could belong to no one else. His high, cold voice echoed across the space and she found herself being forced to cross the atrium, Voldemort's wand at her throat.
Harry shouted something, but she couldn't hear him over her own terrified panting. She felt the wand lift from her neck, saw it levelled at Harry, heard the rumble in Voldemort's chest as he uttered the first word of that terrible curse, and she bit him.
Her teeth sank into the bare skin of the arm that restrained her, putrid tasting blood filled her mouth as the Dark Lord threw her off with a strangled cry. Her head cracked against the floor and she gagged, spitting black blood onto the polished floor.
Pain flooded through her, unbelievable, like nothing she had ever experienced before. She writhed, biting her tongue hard enough that her own blood overpowered the taste of Voldemort's in her mouth. Then the pain stopped abruptly.
A familiar voice, curses, explosions, flashes of light from behind her closed eyelids, then someone was dragging her across the floor.
'Hermione, Hermione, wake up. We've got to move.' It was Harry. His hands were hooked under her armpits as he tried to get them away from the battle. She opened her eyes; two figures duelled among a maelstrom of light and magic. Dark magic clashed against dark magic, one twisted and warped, awesome as it writhed like a snake, the other an icy swirl, a force of nature; it was like watching two titans clash. Then a third titan appeared, this one like a beacon of glowing light. The light joined the ice, the two chaffing against one another even as they worked together.
'Hermione, move!' Harry snapped again. She looked up at him, a bubble of bright gold, twined in twisted black.
'I... I can't see Harry.' She said, frantically reaching for the gold. Harry cursed and an arm wrapped around her waist, lifting her to standing. She leant against him heavily, both of them stumbling as the edges of the magical storm caught them. She glanced back – the figures were still fighting, the ice and light winning now. Then the fractured one disappeared and the dark bands around Harry's gold pulsed with life, constricting like a serpent. Hermione cried out as she hit the floor with him, scrambling to get clear as he began to thrash.
Then the icy one was there, surprisingly warm arms lifting her up and away. She struggled, needing to return to Harry, even as he began to speak in a cold, high voice. Voldemort. Somehow Voldemort was in Harry.
Hermione cried out, scrambling for her friend as though she could tear Voldemort off him, blind and wandless as she was. She heard a muffled curse, then several loud pops. Bright bursts of colour began to appear behind Harry.
With a final screech, the bonds released Harry and the twisted one reappeared. Voldemort, she realised. That must be Voldemort. The icy one was Gellert. With a final, furious scream Voldemort disappeared, taking the small purple blob that must have been Bellatrix with him.
Gellert swore violently from behind her and she suddenly realised what the other coloured dots must be. The ministry was here, and he, a wanted wizard, stood plainly and blatantly in front of them all.