Hello, my dear readers!
It's been a while, and I'm sorry! But I'M DONE. WITH IB. WITH HIGH SCHOOL. HOLY SHIT. So yeah, I graduated on Tuesday and took my last IB test on Wednesday and NOW I'M DONE.
Which means I'll have SO MUCH TIME TO WRITE. YAY!
And so I'm posting this chapter even though I'm not yet done with 34 (wrote one... interestingly steamy scene that took like 8 pages). Enjoy! And Happy One Year Anniversary to the fic!
Chapter 30
Hermione took a deep breath. "I need to tell you something," she said.
It was crashing in on her, the importance of what she was about to do. Reveal herself, reveal herself to Harry. To Ron. To Ginny, to Luna. To Neville, even. But she couldn't see a way around it. She and Severus had discussed this before, when they had debated telling Harry and Ron about her position, if only so that they would listen to her. The war was progressing too quickly it was unreasonable for Harry to be unaware of his protector- and knowing him, if they were in a dangerous situation together, Harry would be the one trying to protect her instead of the other way around.
Severus had argued many times that it was only hindering her efforts to protect him to keep Harry in the dark. Hermione had stubbornly refused, refused because she was sentimental and wanted to keep his true friendship for as long as possible.
Maybe she could keep this contained- tell only Harry. Perhaps it would work for the moment- Harry would listen to her, and the rest of them would listen to Harry.
"Now?" Harry said heaving a great, frustrated sigh. "We can't waste time, Hermione!"
She let a stream of air out through her mouth. He was making it hard on her, giving her a chance to back out. "No, Harry. Now. Over there." She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the group, putting up anti-eavesdropping spells.
"What is it, Hermione?" Harry exclaimed. "Sirius could be-"
She saw no reason to do things in halves; with a swish of her wand and a wordless Finite the Glamour was gone. "Look," she said, coming a few steps closer so that her face was in the light. "What do you see?"
Harry squinted at her, aiming his wand so that the light fell on her face. "You're taller," he said, surprised. "And- older? You- Hermione, you don't seem the same." Brilliant, Harry.
"I not, really," Hermione said, pushing the fear out of her voice. "I'm nineteen. I work for the Order. And my main task is making sure you don't go off and do something that will get you hurt and ruin our chances in the fight against the Dark Lord." She gave him a level, clear gaze.
Harry seemed a bit dazed. "How..." His voice trailed off.
"Dumbledore," said Hermione, "gave me this." she pulled her Time Turner up. "Before Third Year, remember Harry?" The pale gold of the thing shone with its own magic in the depths of the forest. It was deceptively simple, an hourglass that could be turned at will to move one through time.
Harry nodded slowly. He had unconsciously- or consciously, perhaps- sunken into a defensive stance that put Luna and Ginny behind him. That, more than anything, hurt. "Yeah. So?"
"So I've been using it since Third Year," Hermione said, keeping her eyes on Harry. "To learn more things. To take extra lessons, to make sure that you were safe."
"I don't need protecting!" shouted Harry. There it was- she had broken the dam of his anger. "Who do you think you are? Dumbledore?"
She walked closer to him. "Do you want to see?" she asked. "When Dumbledore asked me to do this? Do you want to know why I've- how I knew about the Trophy? How I knew how to fight with knives in the graveyard? How I was able to make sure that the Dark Lord didn't take anything from my mind that he could have used to hurt you?"
Harry's eyes were defiant as he stared at her. "Yes," he said finally.
She reached out and held his face still. "You know the incantation," she said. "Do it."
Something passed between them in that moment, an acknowledgment of their years of friendship and trust, perhaps, a memory of a misty graveyard, or the taste of butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks all mashed into one booth. A troll in a girl's bathroom, a troll between them and the stone. Whatever it was, Harry's face cleared and Hermione dropped her shields.
"Legilimens," he said, after the briefest pause.
His presence in her mind was feeble, questioning. She let him inside her mind, encircling his weak presence with her own.
Come, she said. I will show you.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said warmly. "Please, sit. Would you like a lemon drop?" She dropped into the seat he waved at, but shook her head at the candy.
"No, thank you," she said, blushing faintly. "Sugar is quite bad for the teeth." Her blush deepened, and she ducked her head. It was awkward, the feeling like once again she had blundered and said something that didn't belong in the Wizarding World, that she was out of place and out of time.
Dumbledore tucked the candy away. "Do you know why I called you here, Miss Granger?" he asked, breaking her self recrimination.
"Harry," she replied immediately, head rising to meet his eyes. "It has to do with Harry Potter." She looked straight at him, eyes narrowed slightly. "He is my best friend," she said slowly, "Which makes a slight bit of trouble for you." He would want the Boy-Who-Lived to be the best in the class, I'm betting.
"Quite the opposite, actually," Dumbledore countered. "But yes, Harry is the reason we are here on this fine morning."
Just then, Professor Snape entered the room, as dramatic as ever with his robes billowing and a scowl on his face. "I was busy, Headmaster," he drawled. "But I am here now, so can we please make this quick?" His eyes darted to where Hermione sat, dark and treacherous.
"Professor Snape," Dumbledore said with a smile, eyes flashing in a warning. "Just the man I wanted to see. I was just explaining to Miss Granger-"
"You haven't explained anything," Snape snapped. "Or she wouldn't be sitting here, docile as a lamb." He sneered at her, and Hermione wanted sink back into her chair. A trickle of irrational- or not?- fear spilled along the knobs of her spine.
With a huff, he turned to face her. "Miss Granger," he said brusquely, "The Headmaster asked you to his office today, not to talk about your…" he let his voice trail off before adding a slight stress to his next word. "Remarkable scores. Indeed, he wants to ask you to put your life in danger by becoming a bodyguard, so to speak, for the walking trouble magnet named Potter."
She looked up at him, then at Dumbledore. "Is that true?" she asked, voice shaking. "What exactly is it you want me to do?" I'm about as far away from a bodyguard of any sorts as you can get, she thought.
Dumbledore glared at Severus, before turning his attention to the girl-child and answering her question. "Take extra classes and training over the summer, and when you are back in school. Learn defensive spells and offensive spells that can be used in situations like the ones Mr. Potter has found himself in last year and this year."
"You want me to learn extra magic so I can help Harry more if he gets into trouble?" Hermione asked, relief in her voice. "Of course I'd want to help. I've done what I can so far, but if I can learn more-"
"Don't run into this blind," Snape warned, cutting her off. "What the Headmaster isn't saying is that you will learn other techniques, such as the art of manipulation and lying." His lip curled at the shock on her face. "The Dark Lord is not truly vanquished, Miss Granger," he said smoothly. "Every day, he gets closer to returning. You cannot reveal your status to Potter or Weasley. You must learn how to defend your mind from intrusion, how to fight with or without a wand, and how to protect without seeming to protect. It is important you know that in defending Potter, you may die."
Fear was echoing in her mind, but Hermione squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "But this will help keep Harry safe?"
"Yes," Dumbledore replied before Severus had a chance to open his mouth again. "Harry is in constant danger. If you learn these things, and just stay by his side, you can make sure that no one harms our only hope."
Hermione's mouth tilted up in a kind of bitter grin. As out of place as it should have appeared on the face of a thirteen year old, it fit both the girl and the situation. "May I speak frankly, Professor?" she asked.
"Of course," Dumbledore said. His smile seemed frozen, cold, waiting.
She nodded at Professor Snape, then spoke. "I have the feeling you are feeding me a pile of dragon dung and calling it treacle tart, Professor," she said annoyance dripping into her tone even as her voice wavered. "I'll do it- but, but not because someone needs to defend 'our only hope.' I am always interested in learning more, but to top that, Harry is my best friend. I'd do anything to keep him safe anyway." Even though she stammered through it, she met the Headmaster's icy blue eyes and promptly blushed. "Sir."
"Very well," Dumbledore said at last. "Someone will come to pick you up at your parent's house two days after the break begins. I will need that long to get you special dispensation for you to use a wand outside of the school."
Sharing the memory took the space of a moment. She released Harry, letting him reel back, the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes. "Sorry, but we do have a bit of a time constraint, here," she said, rubbing her own temples.
Harry straightened, breathing hard. "So- that was-"
"Second year," Hermione answered promptly. "After I was un-petrified. And from there it's been about six years of extra training and classes and fighting."
It was excruciating, waiting for him to speak, to say something that would let her know what was going on in his mind. "Why- why are you telling me this now?"
Hermione let out the breath she had been holding. This, at least, was a question she could answer. "We are going into a dangerous situation, Harry," she said quietly. "I wanted to make sure that you understand that you are the most important person to protect here. We cannot have any heroics- we are coming with you to save Sirius but if you die the war is lost. If Sirius dies, you are heartbroken but we can still defeat the Dark Lord. None of us matter in the grand scheme of things, except for you."
"I refuse to accept that," Harry said harshly. "I won't let-"
"I won't let you die and condemn the rest of us!" Hermione snapped. "So if I tell you to do something you'd better fucking do it because this is real, Harry. There are going to be Death Eaters there, the Dark Lord himself, maybe. There are going to be Order members, which means a lot of fighting. But above all, you need to stay safe!"
Harry was glaring at her, fury in every line of his body. "So why don't you just knock me on the head and leave me here and do the 'saving people' yourself?"
"Don't think I haven't thought about it," Hermione countered, feeling her own anger rise. "But this is a chance for you to experience some fighting in a real situation, get some experience leading people, and to see how a battle is fought. And the Dark Lord would get suspicious if Order members shows up but no Harry Potter. That would put our spy in danger and we can't afford that." Her heart clenched at the thought of the Dark Lord punishing Severus for her, or Harry's, mistake.
She could see all the usual signs of nervousness in Harry- the fidgeting, the constant ruffling of his hair, the quick and hesitant glances. Hermione sighed. "I didn't want to tell you," she said honestly. "I just wanted you to go on thinking of me like your friend who just happens to be good at a lot of defensive spells. But- if something happens, I want you to know the truth from my lips. And I want to make sure you listen to me as Hermione the experienced Order member rather than Hermione the bookworm."
"Experienced?" Harry asked, confused.
"Duels," Hermione replied. "A few. Not to many. But I have a good idea of what will be happening tonight, so while I'm fine with letting you take the lead, if I shout something, listen, please." Her hand rose to fiddle with the pearl at her throat, a sign of her own nervousness.
Harry glanced back at where their friends were waiting, all visibly curious about what was going on. "Fine," he said finally. "You're explaining more about this after tonight."
"And don't tell them," she said, reaching out to grab his arm as he turned away from her. "Please."
There was a softness in Harry's eyes that had been absent before. "Yeah," he said. "For now, yeah."
In the time they had been talking- a short time, terribly short- more Thestrals had come, enough for all six of them.
She followed, after taking a moment to tap her watch and leave Severus a message. Revealed to Harry. Leaving now. A moment more to restore the Glamour, and she was taking her proper place at Harry's side and clambering onto a Thestral.
It was time to head for the Ministry.
The voice came out of the shadows the moment Harry's fingers closed around the dusty glass ball. "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me." It was as if her spine had turned to cold water, abandoning her without support and leaving only the feeling of icy fear. I messed up we shouldn't have let this happen we shouldn't have come here what were Severus and I thinking
She should have made them turn around the moment she saw that the Atrium was empty. She had simply thought the fighting had moved down. When the Department of Mysteries was abandoned as well, she should have stopped them there.
It was obvious now that no Aurors were in the building, no one was there to save them from the black shapes that were emerging out of thin air all around them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their hearts. Ginny gave a gasp of horror that echoed Hermione's own feelings. Where is Severus? And the Aurors? she wondered helplessly, watching as their leader came to stand in the front. They were supposed to be here...
"To me, Potter," repeated the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy as he held out his hand, palm up. His blonde hair, almost white, glinted in the light. His mouth was stretched in a politician's smile, cold and merciless. The other shapes had fallen behind him willingly, except for one, a woman's shape, that hovered just at his elbow. A quick count of the figures told her that they were outnumbered two to one.
"To me," said Malfoy yet again. The outstretched hand beckoned with two fingers.
"Where's Sirius?" demanded Harry. Hermione felt a small corner of her heart break as she realized that he didn't get it yet. We were tricked. It was a trap. Unless help arrives, we're not all getting out of here safe and sound. You are, but not all of the rest of us.
Several of the Death Eaters laughed. A harsh female voice- far from the midst of the shadowy figures to Harry's left, no, it was the one at Malfoy's elbow- said triumphantly, "The Dark Lord always knows!"
"Always," echoed Malfoy softly, a more sincere light gleaming in his eye. "Now, give me the prophecy, Potter."
"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry voice was growing higher and more childish. Hermione couldn't look at his face anymore, too young and too open with pain.
"I want to know where Sirius is!" mimicked the woman.
She and her fellow Death Eaters had closed in so that they were mere feet away from Harry and the others, the light from their wands dazzling Hermione's eyes. They were too close- she wanted to back away, to protect Harry at all costs. She moved closer to him, keeping her face from the light.
"You've got him," insisted Harry. "He's here. I know he is."
"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo," said the woman in a horrible, mock baby voice. Ron stirred on the other side of Harry, angry for his friend.
"Don't do anything," Harry muttered. "Not yet -"
The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. It wasn't soft laughter or controlled, it was the cackling of the mad. That, more than anything else, told Hermione who the woman was. Bellatrix Lestrange. She clenched her hands in her robes, willing them to stop shaking.
"You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!" She cackled again, and Hermione let out a shaky breath. This would be the one she would try to take out first. She was the most dangerous- her or Lucius.
"Oh, you don't know Potter as I do, Bellatrix," said Malfoy softly. "He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter." Hermione felt Harry stiffen next to her as she heard her own words echoed back to her. "You've got a saving people thing..."
"I know Sirius is here," said Harry, sounding as though panic w as causing his chest to constrict and he could not breathe properly. "I know you've got him!" More of the Death Eaters laughed, though the woman laughed loudest of all.
Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm. "You know he's not here, Harry," she said quietly. "It was a trap." She had to say it, even though it drew eyes to her. She looked up and met the eyes of those who looked at her squarely.
Bellatrix gasped theatrically, moving closer. "Is this the little girlie who defeated you and yours in the graveyard, Lucius?" she asked, a yellowing smirk stretching her withered cheeks. "This little slip of a lass?"
"Yes," Hermione answered plainly, letting her hand fall from Harry's arm to where her knife sheaths were. She ignored Bellatrix as the woman threw her head back and laughed again, to Malfoy's annoyance.
"It's time you learned the difference between life and dreams, Potter," said Malfoy, throwing an irritated glare at his sister-in -law. "Now give me the prophecy, or we start using wands."
"Go on, then," said Harry, raising his own wand to chest height. As he did so, the five wands of Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna rose on either side of him. Hermione could taste the futility of their stand, she could see how easily the would all fall.
But the Death Eaters did not strike.
"Hand over the prophecy and no one need get hurt," said Malfoy coolly. Liar, thought Hermione furiously.
It was Harry's turn to laugh. "Yeah, right!" he said. "I give you this - prophecy, is it? And you'll just let us skip off home, will you?" She could hear in his voice, his own realization of the predicament in which he had planted them.
The words were hardly out of his mouth when the Bellatrix shrieked: "Accio proph—"
Harry was just ready for her: he shouted "Protego!" before she had finished her spell, and though the glass sphere slipped to the tips of his fingers he managed to cling on to it. Hermione's breath rose to the top of her lungs and was exhaled in a harsh noise. Behind her Neville made a sound that was suspiciously like a whimper of relief.
"Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter," she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. "Very well, then -"
"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Lucius Malfoy roared at the woman. "If you smash it -!" The panic that flashed briefly through his face and held his body rigid gave Hermione an invaluable piece of information. The prophecy was what was important, what would keep them safe.
She turned her head and met Harry's eyes, ducking in his mind to see what he was thinking. Harry's mind was racing. The Death Eaters wanted this dusty spun-glass sphere. He had no interest in it. He just wanted to get them all out of this alive, to make sure none of his friends paid a terrible price for his stupidity…
The woman stepped forward, away from her fellows, and pulled her hood fully from her face, releasing it to the light rather than the half shadow it had been cowled in. Azkaban had followed Bellatrix Lestrange's face, making it gaunt and skull-like, but it was alive with a feverish, fanatical glow. Her hair had obviously once been luxurious, but was now brittle and dull. Her eyes were large, and if her face had been fresh skinned and dewy they would have been magnificent. "You need more persuasion?" she said, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Very well - take the smallest one," she ordered the Death Eaters beside her. "Let him watch while we torture the little girl. I'll do it."
Hermione could remember with shaking fear the way that Severus had returned in the depth the night bleeding from friendly torture from this woman. Not Ginny- she would give herself up before she would let that happen. She moved to close in around Ginny at the same time the rest of their group did, Harry taking the last step to stand right in front of her, clutching the prophecy to his chest.
"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," he told Bellatrix. "I don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?" She did not move; she merely stared at him, the tip of her tongue moistening her thin mouth. "So," said Harry, "what kind of prophecy are we talking about, anyway?"
"What kind of prophecy?" repeated Bellatrix, the grin fading from her face. "You jest, Harry Potter." Her tongue darted out again, like the snake Voldemort kept at the base of his throne.
"Nope, not jesting," said Harry, his eyes flicking from Death Eater to Death Eater, looking for a weak link, a space through which they could escape. "How come Voldemort wants it?"
Several of the Death Eaters let out low hisses. Hermione knew that the name of their master had just spasmed up their arms, meeting their Dark Mark with pain. She grinned mirthlessly. Good. Anything that distracted them and caused them pain was good in her book.
"You dare speak his name?" whispered Bellatrix. Her glare caught Hermione's smile, and then returned to fixate on Hermione's face.
"Yeah," said Harry, maintaining his tight grip on the glass ball, expecting another attempt to bewitch it from him. "Yeah, I've got no problem with saying Vol—"
"Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare -"
"Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Harry recklessly. Hermione gave a little moan in his ear. Now was not the time to antagonize them too much. "Voldemort? Yeah, his mother was a witch but his dad was a Muggle - or has he been telling you lot he's pure-blood?"
Rage lit Bellatrix's face. "STUPEF—"
"NO!"
A jet of red light had shot from the end of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, but Malfoy had deflected it; his spell caused hers to hit the shelf a foot to the left of Harry and several of the glass orbs there shattered. Two figures, pearly-white as ghosts, fluid as smoke, unfurled themselves from the fragments of broken glass upon the floor and each began to speak; their voices vied with each other, so that only fragments of what they were saying could be heard over Malfoy and Bellatrix's shouts.
"… at the solstice will come a new…" said the figure of an old, bearded man.
"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!" Malfoy was livid, high spots of color brightening his cheeks.
"He dared - he dares -" shrieked Bellatrix incoherently, "he stands there - filthy half-blood -"
"WAIT UNTIL WE'VE GOT THE PROPHECY!" barked Malfoy.
"… and none will come after…" said the figure of a young woman. Hermione bit her lip. This one looked like on of their informants called Cassandra on the Greek side of Diagon Alley. She had died months ago. Severus had only given a brief explanation- that her mouth had gotten her into trouble.
The two figures that had burst from the shattered spheres had melted into thin air. Nothing remained of them or their erstwhile homes but fragments of glass upon the floor. Hermione stared at them, then at the other shelves. Perhaps... if it was done right...
"You haven't told me what's so special about this prophecy I'm supposed to be handing over," he said, playing for time. His voice had the same wheedling tone as it did when he was trying to distract someone, someone like McGonagall from paying attention to Ron while the redhead finished his Transfiguration homework in class. She narrowed her eyes unconsciously, then widened them again. She didn't want to give anything away, not right yet.
"Do not play games with us, Potter," said Malfoy. The spots of color had faded, but the patience was gone from his voice. This scared her even farther. So far, Malfoy seemed like the calmest of their opponents and if he was nearing the end of his rope, it would mean bad things for all of them.
"I'm not playing games," said Harry absentmindedly. He promptly stepped on her foot, causing her to inhale sharply.
"What?" she whispered.
"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?" Malfoy sneered. She scowled at him- the perfect way to distract Harry, just as he seemed to have a plan.
"I - what?" said Harry. "What about my scar?"
"What?" whispered Hermione more urgently behind him. "Now's not the time to get off track!"
"Can this be?" said Malfoy, sounding maliciously delighted; some of the Death Eaters were laughing again, and under cover of their laughter, Harry hissed to Hermione, moving his lips as little as possible, "Smash shelves-"
"Dumbledore never told you?" Malfoy repeated. "Well, this explains why you didn't come earlier, Potter, the Dark Lord wondered why -"
"- when I say now-"
She nodded. "Distract them," she whispered back.
"- you didn't come running when he showed you the place where it was hidden in your dreams. He thought natural curiosity would make you want to hear the exact wording…"
"Did he?" said Harry. "So he wanted me to come and get it, did he? Why?"
Hermione breathed Harry's plan in Neville's ear, jerking her head at Luna as she passed it on to Ginny, who told Ron. They all looked at each other and nodded.
"Why?" Malfoy sounded incredulously delighted. "Because the only people who are permitted to retrieve a prophecy from the Department of Mysteries, Potter, are those about whom it was made, as the Dark Lord discovered when he attempted to use others to steal it for him."
"And why did he want to steal a prophecy about me?"
"About both of you, Potter, about both of you… haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?" Malfoy raised a perfect pale eyebrow, a malevolent grin on his face. He knows he has Harry's curiosity by the balls and he using it for all it's worth, Hermione thought angrily. I knew we should have told Harry about the prophecy before now!
"Someone made a prophecy about Voldemort and me?" he said quietly, gazing at Lucius Malfoy, his fingers tightening over the warm glass sphere in his hand. It was hardly larger than a Snitch and still gritty with dust. "And he's made me come and get it for him? Why couldn't he come and get it himself?"
Hermione put her hands behind her back and tapped her wrist with her wand. Danger. DE, come quickly. LM, BL. Hurry.
"Get it himself?" shrieked Bellatrix, over a cackle of mad laughter. "The Dark Lord, walk into the Ministry of Magic, when they are so sweetly ignoring his return? The Dark Lord, reveal himself to the Aurors, when at the moment they are wasting their time on my dear cousin?"
"So, he's got you doing his dirty work for him, has he?" said Hermione, throwing a glare at Malfoy. "Like he tried to get Sturgis Podmore to steal it - and Bode? And the three other Ministry officials that have disappeared over the last year?"
"Very good, Potter, very good. Your Mudblood has a brain…" said Malfoy slowly. "But the Dark Lord knows you are not unintell—"
"NOW!" yelled Harry.
Five different voices behind him bellowed, "REDUCTO!" Five curses flew in five different directions and the shelves opposite them exploded as they hit; the towering structure swayed as a hundred glass spheres burst apart, pearly-white figures unfurled into the air and floated there, their voices echoing from who knew what long-dead past amid the torrent of crashing glass and splintered wood now raining down upon the floor. Hermione shoved out with her wand, creating a shield that protected their group from the falling glass while shoving over rows and rows of shelves that struck more down like dominoes. One Death Eater was felled by a falling shelf, flattened with a sickening crunch.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, as the shelves swayed precariously and more glass spheres began to fall from above. He seized a handful of Hermione's robes and dragged her forwards, holding one arm over his head as chunks of shelf and shards of glass thundered down upon them. The glass was repelled by Hermione's shield, but they were still caught in a cloud of dust and pearly light. A Death Eater lunged forwards through the cloud of dust and Harry elbowed him hard in the masked face; they were all yelling, there were cries of pain, and thunderous crashes as the shelves collapsed upon themselves, weirdly echoing fragments of the Seers unleashed from their spheres.
Someone was reaching for Harry, even as Ron, Ginny, and Luna sprinted past Hermione and the other two boys. With a thrill of fear she saw the hand reach out to grasp Harry's shoulder. It was a moment's work to curse the man until he fell away moaning. She Stunned him to put him out of his misery.
They were at the end of row ninety-seven; Harry turned right and began to sprint in earnest. He was running faster than Neville could, faster than even she, perhaps, could run. She gave as much encouragement as she could to Neville, taking in his red face and gasping breaths with worry. Straight ahead of them the door through which they had come was ajar. The glittering light of the bell jar was visible for a moment before Harry pelted through the doorway, the prophecy still clutched tight and safe in his hand. He waited for Hermione and Neville to hurtle over the threshold before slamming the door behind them. He wasn't even breathing hard, and for that Hermione blessed him and his genes even as she cursed her own stupidity. Where were the Aurors? The main concern now, though, was to outrun the Death Eaters.
"Colloportus!" gasped Hermione and the door sealed itself with an odd squelching noise.
"Where - where are the others?" gasped Harry. "I thought- Ron and Ginny should have come through here. Luna too-"
"They must have gone the wrong way!" whispered Hermione, ice cold terror in her bones. She had allowed Harry to bring them here, those children, and if they died their blood would be on her hands just as surely as it would be on Harry's.
"Listen!" whispered Neville.
Footsteps and shouts echoed from behind the door they had just sealed; Harry put his ear close to the door to listen. It was unnecessary, even though the heavy would Hermione could hear Lucius Malfoy roar, "Leave Nott, leave him, I say — his injuries will be nothing to the Dark Lord compared to losing that prophecy. Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary - Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right -Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead - Macnair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there - Mulciber, come with me!"
Hermione stole a glance at Harry's face, glad to see it was steady. Now was the time to test him."What do we do?" Her voice was steady, even as her hands trembled on her wand. She was scared, too scared. Breathing exercises, Occlumency exercises, would calm her. Now was the time for Harry to prove himself, to show her that he had a plan. That he could be trusted to lead.
"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," said Harry. "Let's get away from this door." They ran as quietly as they could, past the shimmering bell jar where the tiny egg was hatching and unhatching, towards the exit into the circular hallway at the far end of the room. They were almost there when something large and heavy collided with the door Hermione had charmed shut.
"Stand aside!" said a rough voice. "Alahomora!"
"Down!" Hermione shouted, pushing at the boy's backs. As the door flew open, Harry, Hermione and Neville dived under desks. They could see the bottom of the two Death Eaters' robes drawing nearer, their feet moving rapidly.
"They might've run straight through to the hall," said the rough voice.
"Check under the desks," said another.
Harry saw the knees of the Death Eaters bend; poking his wand out from under the desk, he shouted, "STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light hit the nearest Death Eater; he fell backwards into a grandfather clock and knocked it over; the second Death Eater, however, had leapt aside to avoid Harry's spell and was pointing his own wand at Hermione, who was crawling out from under the desk to get a better aim.
"Avada -"
Hermione was having none of that. With a lethal downward slash of her wand, the man fell without a sound. With another swish she had him bound and gagged, and her wand was floating into her palm. She did the same with the Death Eater that Harry had felled.
"Here," she said, tossing one wand to Neville and the other to Harry. "In case something happens to your first wand. Keep these just in case."
They were gaping at her. She scowled back. "This isn't the time to play nice," she hissed. "You get them before they get you and don't be sympathetic. Tie them and gag them if you have the time. Definitely take their wands. It's a safe bet that a good deal of them will be somewhat proficient in wandless magic, but if they can't make any hand motions or any sounds it'll be harder." She thought about it for a moment more, then called some shards of desk over to her, placing one on the chest of each man. It was complicated to Transfigure them into scorpions, but not much of a drain on her power. "There," she pronounced, satisfied. "If they wake up, those should occupy their attention for a while."
Harry's face was tense, but he nodded. "She's right, Neville."
There was no time to argue the point, even though she could see that the boys did not entirely agree with her. There was not use for it now anyway. The sound of more footsteps were growing louder from the Hall of Prophecy. They had probably been drawn by Harry's shouted curse.
Harry registered the sounds at the same time as Hermione."Come on!" he said. They left the tied Death Eaters and made for the door that stood open at the other end of the room, leading back into the black hallway.
They had run halfway towards it when Harry saw through the open door two more Death Eaters running across the black room towards them; veering left, he burst instead into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them. Hermione followed quickly, dragging Neville behind her.
"Collo—" began Hermione, but before she could complete the spell the door had burst open and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside. She backed away, placing herself between them and Harry.
With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Hermione countered with a shield made to protect two people, one in front and one behind. It just barely extended to Neville, and the boy was thrown over a desk and disappeared from view. She hoped that he was alright but would stay down. This was not a fight for fifth years.
"Stay behind me!" she ordered Harry. "I mean it! Get behind something and stay down!"
That was all she had time to say before she was dueling with the two men in earnest. Harry had thrown her a disbelieving look, but had down as she had said.
The two Death Eaters were worthy opponents. They were ganging up on her too- but she had been trained by the best. Mad-Eye Moody himself had fought her and she had won two times out of five. But she was out of practice- she hadn't had a proper duel with Severus in months, not since they had fought that one day and he had pinned her.
Since there were two of them one could cover the other while he shouted, "WE'VE GOT HIM! IN AN OFFICE-"
"Silencio!" cried Hermione, vocalizing her rage, and the man's voice was extinguished. He continued to mouth through the hole in his mask, but no sound came out. He was thrust aside by his fellow Death Eater, who sent three curses of a nasty orange at Hermione. She ducked, and over her head she saw the familiar brown of a curse, and then another.
"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the fighting Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.
"Well done, Ha—" Hermione shouted over her shoulder.
But the Death Eater Hermione had just struck dumb made a sudden slashing movement with his wand; a streak of what looked like purple flame passed right across Hermione's chest. It felt like it was ripping her chest into pieces, like it was forcing her ribs apart and going straight for her heart.
Hermione gave a tiny "Oh!" as if in surprise, and crumpled to the floor.
And so ends Chapter 30.
So I didn't get around to naming the chapters... but oh well. I couldn't think of good names for them and it felt awkward. Damn, the plagiarism really messed things up, right? About that... she PM'd me to ask if I could take her name down. I'm not going to, but please don't send hate or anything awful. Just report her stories if you see she's up to it again. What really gets me is that she claims to work with children- ugh, no. But she finally PM'd and apologized if my story "could have potentially been somewhat similar" to hers and "maybe it was because the titles were similar." (no the fucking title was the only thing that was different) AND THEN she PM'd me to ask me to beta her stories and help her become a better writer and then blocked me before I could answer in the negative. Well. Enough! I'm done with it.
The long waits should be over? As long as I have time to write, things will be good. Next update is, I'm anticipating, June 6.
He looked down at the floor, embarrassed. "I'm not," he said gruffly. "I- I have help. Someone who looks out for me, someone to heal me." He met Poppy's kind gaze. "She also makes sure I eat and makes me drink far too much tea." Unpacking the potions onto a small table gave him a chance to turn away and hide his small smile at the thought of Hermione.
About the rating... It's going to be changing to M. If not at Chapter 34, then sooner. Just to be on the safe side. So I'm giving fair warning now- at the start of Part Three it will change. And Part Three is fast approaching. :) But there is not going to be any real full on hanky panky anytime soon- people keep asking me not to have them have sex soon and IT'S FAR FAR AWAY OK.
Also, thanks for all the reviews! HOLY SHIT WE ARE 12 AWAY FROM 1000 RIGHT NOW. So that means that Reviewer #1000 will get a one shot of their choice. We'll sort out the details over PM or if it is an anon I'll figure out a way to contact you.
Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing. (except to that person who was upset that Hermione ended up with a greasy death eater... that's sort of the point of SSHG dude)
I'll see y'all soon!