Hello my lovelies!
Since I've finished Chapters 34 and 35 AND planned out approximately how Voldemort is going to die, here's a new chapter! Yay! It's quite long!
AND WE MADE IT TO 1038 REVIEWS! Congrats to hopeforhealing who won a oneshot. That'll be up soon,... it's SSHG, of course, and is getting quite long.
In the last chapter, the six headed to the Ministry to search for Sirius... and Hermione was injured, as happens in Canon.
But. From here on out, canon is no more. Sixth year is going to be a whole new ballgame, as is the summer.
Happy reading!
Chapter 31
The Inner Circle of the Order of the Phoenix were clustered at the kitchen table of Grimmauld Place. Most were pretending that they weren't cowering at the wrath of Severus Snape, who was glaring down at all of them with true malice in his eyes.
"This isn't something we need to debate," he hissed. "The children are in the Ministry, at the hands of Death Eaters, with one Order member to protect all five of them!"
Remus looked haggard, Sirius more so. Arthur and Molly Wealsey were sitting together, holding hands so tightly Molly's knuckles were white.
"But- but Albus said to wait," Molly said, her voice shaking. "And- and you said it yourself, Hermione is the best. You- Moody-"
She jumped and squeaked in fright when Severus' fist came down on the table. "She's trying to protect five people from more than a dozen Death Eaters!" he roared. "She's good but she's not superhuman!"
Moody glanced up at Snape, but said nothing. Sirius, who had been pacing the room gave a bark of a laugh. "Think about it, Molly," he said bitterly. "If she has to make a choice, she's not going to choose Ron or Ginny over Harry. We need to go, now."
Who would have ever thought that the only person I can get on my side would be Black? Severus mused dourly. "He's right," he said shortly. "Her primary goal is to get Harry out of there alive."
"Why is he even there in the first place?" asked Molly Weasley in a high pitched voice. "Why did she even let him go?"
Severus' eyes flashed. "Because I told her that we would be there!" he shouted. "Dumbledore was supposed to be here hours ago-" His watch burned. Cursing, he drew it out on its chain and looked at her message. Danger. DE, come quickly. LM, BL. Hurry.
"Listen," he snapped. "They are facing both Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange."
Remus rubbed his eyes with his hands. "We got a message from Dumbledore," he said, voice strained. "Dumbledore says to wait for him."
Tonks' hair was changing from a worried blue to angry reddish pinks in quick succession. "Why do we have to wait?" she asked reasonably. "He can meet us there."
"We obey him," Moody said firmly. "He's the boss around here."
Severus, who was already standing, pushed away from the table in disgust, stalking out of the room. He couldn't go himself. That was out of question, although perhaps if he disguised himself...
Hermione's message turned over an over in his head. She was in danger. She wanted him to come, to come quickly. She was only nineteen, and was facing a full company of the best Death Eaters the Dark Lord had in his arsenal. Lucius Malfoy was older than he was, Bellatrix too. They had more years of fighting experience. Bella was mad, but powerful. Lucius was cruel. She was a Muggleborn. They would go for her first, out of all of the children, even if the didn't know she was the best fighter.
It was agony. He had never known anything like this desperate wish that a loved one would return safe and whole.
One dark night he had cast a doubt about the Dark Lord sparing Lily. And then it had evaporated and he had been confident that she would be alive to see the next sunrise. That she would be grateful that her life had been spared.
And then she had died.
Severus found himself staring at the door, a mammoth thing of dark wood. The absurd portrait of Black's hag of a mother was snoring and pretending to be asleep to avoid talking to him.
He could disguise himself. Take the appearance of- of Moody, perhaps. He had Polyjuice Potion in his stores, it would be good, it would work, they could linger and he could save her-
"And where are you going, my dear boy?" There had never been a voice he had hated and yet had been so relieved to hear at the same time.
Severus collected himself quickly. "Back to Hogwarts," he said in a low voice. "This meeting is accomplishing nothing."
The twinkling blue eyes were piercing. "But surely you want to be involved in the planning?"
"What planning?" Severus snapped, at the end of his admittedly short rope. "I already have a plan! We know where they are and what they are doing. Hermione is with them, but she can only keep them safe for so long. We Apparate to the Ministry, get into the Department of Mysteries, and get the children out of there!"
A slight smile came to Dumbledore's face. "You aren't telling me you are beginning to care for Harry? For his safety?"
Severus scowled at him. "I have a vested interest in keeping him alive for as long as possible," he countered. "Let's show the Order your face so they don't have to wait anymore."
"All in due time, my dear boy," the Headmaster said calmly. "Now. When I received your message I as a bit taken aback by your willingness to put them into danger."
Severus glared. "Didn't you say that Harry needed to be tested?" he replied quickly. "We thought that it would be a safe situation with Aurors ready to come to his rescue if needed."
He knew he had made a mistake the moment the Headmaster's eyebrows raised. "We? Severus, are you telling me that this plan was that of a fifth year girl?"
"Whom you trained to think like a grown woman who spies for a living," said Severus steadily. "We plotted together, and she is performing her part admirably. Now I need to keep my side of the plan by getting fighters there now."
Dumbledore sighed and spread his hands. "I'll be having words with you after this, Severus. You and the girl both."
With that, the Headmaster turned his back to his spy and swept into the kitchen turned war room.
Pain was all she knew, pain in one concentrated stripe from her right shoulder down to her hip. She wanted to scream, to arch her back and yell her torment, but she was held immobile by the pain. She sunk into her mind palace, running, running from the pain, from the fire that was sinking into her skin and clawing at her organs and bones and tissue.
When she slammed a barrier down between herself and her body, Hermione could finally think straight. She searched, desperately running, for the well of magic that Severus had shown her. She reached for it, going right to the lip of the well so that the stones cut into her belly with a new blossom of pain.
Come here! she ordered it. Heal!
It rose, then fell again. How had she done it the last time? Severus had guided her, Severus, Severus whom she might never see again if she died...
It surged up, and she guided it to her chest, to her ribs and her skin and her heart.
"That's a pulse, Harry, I'm sure it is!" Neville's voice was saying.
"She's alive?" Harry voice was cracking. She knew what he had to be imagining, her body crumpled in a graveyard. She pulled her power to her a surged up again, forcing her body to refuse the pain entrance.
She opened her eyes to see Neville nodding. "I think so- yes!" he shouted.
Hermione gasped, pulling in air that hurt more than it helped. "Spell," she croaked, grabbing Harry's hand and pressing his wand to her belly. "Look!"
She met his eyes and forced the knowledge of the spell from her mind to his. "Do it!" She had only moments before she sunk into pain and sleep again, unless-
Harry, unsure, twirled his wand in a counterclockwise spiral and said the incantation as he flicked his wand tip up sharply. It worked, almost as well as if she had done it herself.
There- now the pain wasn't crippling, she was separated from it enough to sit up and breathe. "Thanks," she gasped. Neville was gaping, mouth moving silently. Finally he stopped and pointed at her face. She reached up to find blood on her fingertips- a nosebleed, and she had bitten her bottom lip.
Those things were easy enough to repair, but the pain was there and hovering at the back of her mind. The damage the spell had done hadn't gone away- she had just blocked the pain so that she could function. If they had time she could heal it, but... well, they didn't have time.
"Help me up," she ordered Harry and Neville, allowing the two strong boys to lift her to her feet. She wavered for a moment as black threatened to overtake her vision, then steadied. "We need to find the others," she croaked. "Harry- remember the spell I taught you last year? The Point Me spell?"
Remembrance came to his face. "Yeah," he said, letting his wand lie flat on his palm. "Here. Point Me!"
They followed the spell through two doors, Hermione leaning heavily on Neville. They emerged into the rotating room just as Ginny, Luna, and Ron stumbled out of one of the doors.
"Ron!" croaked Harry, dashing towards them. "Ginny - are you all -?"
It was immediately obvious that something was wrong, terribly wrong, with Ron."Harry," said Ron, giggling weakly, lurching forwards, seizing the front of Harry's robes and gazing at him with unfocused eyes, "there you are… ha ha ha… you look funny, Harry… you're all messed up…" Ron's face was very white and something dark was trickling from the corner of his mouth. Next moment his knees had given way, but he still clutched the front of Harry's robes, so that Harry was pulled into a kind of bow.
Hermione pulled away from Neville, going to Ron's side and trying to loosen his fingers from their death grip on Harry's robes.
"Ginny?" Harry said fearfully. "What happened?"
But Ginny shook her head and slid down the wall into a sitting position, panting and holding her ankle.
"I think her ankle's broken, I heard something crack," whispered Luna, who was bending over her and who alone seemed to be unhurt. "Four of them chased us into a dark room full of planets; it was a very odd place, some of the time we were just floating in the dark -"
"Harry, we saw Uranus up close!" said Ron, still giggling feebly. "Get it, Hermione? We saw Uranus - ha ha ha -"
A bubble of blood grew at the corner of Ron's mouth and burst. A fist clenched in Hermione's chest. "Yes, Ron. That's- that's funny." The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile.
"- anyway, one of them grabbed Ginny's foot, I used the Reductor Curse and blew up Pluto in his face, but…" Luna gestured hopelessly at Ginny, who was breathing in a very shallow way, her eyes still closed. There was a part of Hermione that felt for the girl's pain but there was a smaller voice that was screaming in pain behind the barriers she had set up that mocked Ginny for being brought down by a broken ankle of all things while her innards were being burned-
Her watch heated against her wrist.
She read the message from Severus with a glance, relief and anger both running through her veins.
Aurors en route.
It was bloody time that they show up. They should have been in the Ministry hours ago, before their only hope had stumbled into this godforsaken mess with four children.
She shook it off. "Harry," she said in a low voice. "Harry, we need to move. We're not safe here."
"And what about Ron?" Harry asked Luna fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging off the front of Harry's robes despite Hermione's work. He had heard her, even if he didn't acknowledge it.
"I don't know what they hit him with," said Luna sadly, "but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all." She stroked Ginny's hair, comforting the girl.
Hermione knelt carefully, taking Ginny's chin her hand. The girl's skin was slick with tears. "Listen to me," said Hermione forcefully. "I'm going to heal you, and you will be fine."
Ginny's large brown eyes, still welling with tears, flooded with relief. "Please," she whispered.
The spell wouldn't have drained Hermione normally; however, a good deal of her magic was being used to fuel the barriers between her and the pain that slinked at the edges of her consciousness. Ginny's breathing eased, though, and she stood with Luna's help.
"Harry," said Ron, pulling Harry's ear down to his mouth and still giggling weakly, "you know who this girl is, Harry? She's Loony… Loony Lovegood… ha ha ha..."
Hermione was left to stand by herself- she did so after taking a breath and steeling herself. Her midsection screamed and the black was there and then gone again. "We need to go, Harry," she said again once her vision cleared. "Now."
Their eyes met, hers saying Listen to me, you promised and his filled with fury and worry and fear.
"We've got to get out of here," said Harry firmly to the rest of the group. "Luna, can you help Ginny?"
"It's fine. Hermione got it, I can do it myself!" said Ginny impatiently. "Worry about Ron!" Her color was looking slightly better, to all of their relief.
Harry pulled Ron's arm over his shoulder just as, so many months ago, he had pulled Dudley's. He looked around, Hermione echoing the same movement. They had only one chance in twelve of reaching the right exit. Harry looked at her expectantly, but Hermione could only shake her head. She didn't know which one they had come from.
There was nothing for it then. He heaved Ron towards a door; they were within a few feet of it when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
"There they are!" she shrieked. Stunning Spells shot across the room, blazes of red light ruffling their clothing or hair, dodged at the last minute to hit walls and doors and leave sinister scorch marks.
Harry smashed his way through the door ahead, flung Ron unceremoniously from him and got out of the way to let the other in. They were all over the threshold just in time to slam the door against Bellatrix.
"Colloportus!" shouted Harry, and he heard three bodies slam into the door on the other side. He grinned at Hermione, who grinned back.
"Good," she whispered. "I don't think I'm strong enough to do it right now."
"It doesn't matter!" cried a male Death Eater's voice. "There are other ways in - WE'VE GOT THEM, THEY'RE HERE!"
Harry spun around, and Hermione looked behind them slowly. It was true- they were back in the Brain Room and, sure enough, there were doors all around the walls. They could hear footsteps in the hall behind them as more Death Eaters came running to join the first.
"Give me the prophecy for a moment, Harry," Hermione said. "I'm going to try to duplicate it, so they don't know which one of us has it."
He clutched it warily. "But-"
Hermione grabbed his wrist. "You have to hold the real one," she said, keeping her voice low. "But the only reason they haven't killed you so far is because they need it. Right now, nothing is stopping them from killing any of us. I'm just trying to keep everyone safe!" I'm trying to keep them safe and still relatively happy- I didn't kill those damned Death Eaters in front of them because Harry would have thrown a fit- the scorpions will sting, though, the moment they move and that'll take care of that. And then I get cursed because I'm just trying to keep them safe- Harry this is the point where you listen to me! For heaven's sake!
"Yeah, sure," Harry mumbled. "Take it."
He turned away from her to face the others. "Seal all the doors!" Harry ordered, just as Hermione was about to open her mouth and suggest it. "Luna - Neville - help me! Hermione, if you need to sit and breathe for a moment do that."
Hermione nodded and sat- not to breathe, to plan- while the three Harry had called tore around the room, sealing the doors as they went; Harry crashed into a table and rolled over the top of it in his haste to reach the next door. Echos of "Colloportus!" could be heard as Ginny and Hermione leaned against the already sealed door, each breathing hard. Hermione frowned at the glass ball that was in her hand. It was made of blue glass, but the dullness seemed not to come from the dust but from the smoke within it.
"Ginny, help me with this," Hermione said. Between the two of them, they soon had five fake orbs between the. Hermione sent Harry's to him magically, and he plucked it out of the air with a careful smile at her. She pressed on into Ron's hand and sent the other two to Luna and Neville, who were still busy sealing doors.
There were footsteps running along behind the doors, every now and then another heavy body would launch itself against one, so it creaked and shuddered. Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall - then, as Harry reached the very top of the room, Hermione heard Luna cry, "Collo—aaaaaaaaargh…"
As if in slow motion she flew through the air as five Death Eaters surged into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and on to the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled. She was still, deathly still. Her dirty blonde hair was in a halo around her head, her wand rolling out of her fingers.
"Get Potter!" shrieked Bellatrix, and she ran at him; he dodged her and sprinted back up the room; he was safe as long as they thought they might hit the prophecy – so were the others, Hermione thought, desperately happy. The globe was slick in her palm, difficult to hold on to.
"Hey!" said Ron, who had staggered to his feet and was now tottering drunkenly towards Harry, giggling. "Hey Harry, there are brains in here, ha h a ha, isn't that weird, Harry?"
"Ron, get out of the way, get down -" The desperation in his voice was heart wrenching to Hermione.
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank. "Honest, Harry, they're brains - look - Accio brain!"
The scene seemed momentarily frozen. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish: for a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared towards Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film.
"Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it -" said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards, "Harry come and touch it; bet it's weird -"
She and Harry cried at the same time.
"No, don't touch it, Ron!"
"RON, NO!"
Hermione did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but she was sure it would not be anything good. Harry darted forwards but Ron had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands. The moment they made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around Ron's arms like ropes.
"Harry, look what's happen— No - no - I don't like it - no, stop - stop -" But the thin ribbons were spinning around Ron's chest now; he tugged and tore at them as the brain was pulled tight against him like an octopus's body.
"Diffindo!" yelled Harry, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
What do I do what do I do I've never read about anything like this-
While Hermione was paralyzed in thought, Ginny reacted violently.
"Harry, it'll suffocate him!" screamed Ginny, running at Ron. A jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater's wands and hit her squarely in the face. She keeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.
It provoked both Hermione and Neville into action.
"STUBEFY!" shouted Neville, wheeling around and waving the fallen Death Eater's wand at the oncoming Death Eaters, "STUBEFY, STUBEFY!" His own wand has been broken when he had flown into the desks, landing badly. He was using the one Hermione had taken from the fallen Death Eater, and it was fighting him. Hermione fired spells silently, using ones that had streams of red light- but that weren't Stunning spells. Bone-Breakers, Entail-Expellers, Brain-Boilers. She wasn't going to play nice. One Death Eater fell to her spells, and was left twitching on the floor.
One of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville, missing him by inches. Harry, Hermione, and Neville were now the only ones left fighting the five Death Eaters, two of whom sent off streams of silver light like arrows which missed but left craters in the wall behind them. Harry ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at him: holding the prophecy high above his head, he sprinted back up the room; all Hermione could think of doing was that he was trying to draw the Death Eaters away from the others.
It seemed to have worked; they streaked after him, knocking chairs and tables flying but not daring to bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy. Hermione cursed loudly and followed, yelling at Neville to stay with the others who had fallen. Harry dashed through the only door still open, the one through which the Death Eaters themselves had come.
"Help Ron!" Hermione shouted behind her shoulder, running after the Death Eaters. "Stay here, Neville!" With a spurt of power she Disillusioned herself, feeling the cold of the spell trickling down her head and spine.
She came to the top of a flight of steps to see Harry flat on his back in the sunken pit where the stone archway stood on its dais. The whole room was ringing with the Death Eaters and their laughter. The five who had been in the Brain Room were descending toward him, while as many more emerged through other doorways and began leaping from bench to bench towards him. Harry got to his feet though his legs were trembling so badly they barely supported him.
With a sigh of relief Hermione saw that the prophecy was still miraculously unbroken in his left hand, his wand clutched tightly in his right. He backed away, looking around, trying to keep all the Death Eaters within his sight. The back of his legs hit something solid: he had reached the dais where the archway stood. He climbed backwards onto it. The Death Eaters all halted, gazing at him. Some were panting as hard as he was. One was bleeding badly, others were bruised or missing their masks.
"Potter, your race is run," drawled Lucius Malfoy, pulling off his mask. "Now hand me the prophecy."
Hermione could see it in his face, the realization that he was surrounded and that no help was there. It was a look of defeat, of desperation. "I'll let you have it if you let the others go," he said, pleaded, begged.
"You're in no position to bargain, Potter," Malfoy said, amusement lighting his pale face. "Here, all alone. Abandoned. Foolish. You brought your friends into this, you know." His voice was light and faintly chiding, as if he was remarking upon Harry's choice of sweets at a shop instead of life and death in a battle. She slid around him and went to stand with Harry.
Hermione removed the Disillusionment, ignoring the noises of shock that went up around her. "We brought ourselves," she said quietly. She knew how foolish this was- she had drained her magical reserves, she was running off of nothing now but her Occlumency shields and the force of her will.
Out of habit, her hand raised to the pearl that Severus had given her, resting her fingertips over it in a gesture she had made a thousand times before.
Warmth. Brushing her fingers, glorious golden warmth that her body welcomed and sucked in like a thirsting man takes in water.
Pearls. Good for holding or storing magic. Less noticeable than opals, better conductors of magic for women than men. Strengthens a woman's magic at the full moon. Known for ideals of feminine beauty, traditionally a gift for a young woman. Not as rare as diamonds, not as powerful as rubies. Gentle magics, storing magics. Signs of affection.
It wasn't the full moon yet, but it wasn't far from it. And it had probably been drawing little bits of magic from her in moments when she wouldn't need it, saving and hoarding the scraps of gold for when she would.
It would have been wrong to say that her strength was back in an instant, or that her magical reserves were full again. Rather, she was bolstered by the gentle magic in the pearl. There was enough there, enough to make a shield and hold it, enough for one or two spells of middling power. One weak spell of great power. It was there. Not all was lost.
Lucius Malfoy threw his head back and laughed. "I remember you, little girl," he said, meeting her eyes. "This time I'm not going to bother with talking before I kill you."
His wand was moving in a fluid arc that came to a shuddering halt when she held the glass ball out. "Kill me and this drops," she warned, voice deadly.
"Potter has the real prophecy," Malfoy said, but still he didn't move.
Hermione gave him an icy smile. "Potter has a pathological need to protect other people at the expense of his own safety," she countered. "What if he gave the real one to me and took a fake one because he would prefer that I be protected?"
Beside her Harry shifted. "I do have a saving people thing," he said, glaring out at the room. "She's the one who reminded me of it."
"But Dumbledore's little bodyguard wouldn't let him do that," Bellatrix said, voice high and full of malice. "She's the one who killed a brother of ours in the graveyard last year, was she not? The one Severus tells us about, the one who they've trained."
Hermione's eyes narrowed at the mention of Severus. Her hand went from the pearl he had given her to her knives. She slid one out, using Harry to hide her motion and cradling the fake prophecy in her elbow precariously. "I did it once and I'll do it again," Hermione spat.
She was lowering into a crouch when two meaty arms encircled her from behind, lifting her off her feet. They caught her by surprise, but not for long. Hermione kicked at the man's knees, and pulled her head back and rammed it into the man's nose. Her head was cushioned by her bushy hair, but she heard a dull crack in the man's face.
The Death Eater grunted, his arms loosening. She pulled the arm with her knife free and in one movement slid it against the side of the man's neck in the gap between his mask and his robes.
He made a gurgling sound, and dropped. Harry looked between her and corpse with horror on his face.
Hermione glared at the others behind her. "Try if you dare," she hissed. She was furious- the fake prophecy had fallen and shattered on the ground. It was clear that Harry was the protected one now- at least, he had that.
She raised a hand and swiped at the blood that was covering one side of her face and neck. "We're not giving you the prophecy," she said quietly.
Bellatrix laughed again, coming down to stand with Lucius. "Little girl, you can't stop us." Her wand was not even a blur as it moved down. Too quickly for Hermione to counter, to useless. "Crucio."
Suddenly she was back in the graveyard except this was real, this was worse. This was an Unforgivable wielded by an expert with almost fourteen years worth of awful memories and hate and another twelve before that of honing her craft.
Hermione lost her control of the shields that were blocking her from the pain. It came in a swarm of black that became red tinged when the Cruciatus Curse would not let her black out. It didn't come it waves anymore, it was just present and helping the curse tear her bones from her muscles and her organs from their places and the blood from her veins and the air from her lungs.
It wasn't ending, it went on and on and on and she screamed yes she pleaded and yelled and just tried to let some of the pain leave through her open mouth.
And eternity passed before the curse lifted, an eternity before she could feel Harry's kind hands at her face and holding her head. Blood trickled from her mouth, from her nose, from her ears. The pain from Dolohov's curse seemed trivial now, even as it was no longer held back behind mental shields and spells.
Hermione gasped for air, arching her back, then sat up and coughed with Harry's help. He was breathing fast and the haunted look in his green eyes was enough to make her want to cry again.
"Give it to me or she gets it again," Bellatrix said, something like glee trying to hide behind boredom in her voice. "Now." Her eyes glittered dangerously as her hand reached out, beckoning Harry forward.
And- and he was going!
"No- Harry-" she croaked. "No!" Her wrist blazed with heat- a glance showed three words. Aurors in Ministry.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Her-"
Hermione pointed her wand at Bellatrix, the knowledge of what she was about to do terrible in her heart. "Reducto."
There was just enough power behind it to blast a hole the size of a fist through Bellatrix Lestrange's chest.
Bellatrix realized she was dying at the same time the Death Eaters around her did; Hermione shoved Harry down and away from herself, yelling at him to shield himself, as dozens of wands leveled themselves at her.
At least two Stunners met their target of Hermione's chest, but it was Bellatrix's screech and downward slash of her wand that struck the hardest.
Hermione fell to the ground, unknowing, as the doors to the room burst open and Order members streamed in.
Severus kept the worry at bay by going through his Potions cabinet meticulously, sorting out what they might need. Burns were always a possibility. Knowing, Bella, a Cruciatus potion might be wise. Some Pepper-Up. Calming Draughts. Dreamless Sleep.
He shrank the box and ordered it to trail behind him as he made the long trek from the dungeons to the Hospital Wing.
Poppy Pomfery was already bustling around, clearing six beds in the far corner of the wing. When she heard Severus enter, she made a soft squeak.
"Oh, Severus," she sighed. "Albus told me that they'd be bringing in children. Order members and children."
He nodded stiffly. "I brought potions," he said, needlessly gesturing at the box that promptly re-sized itself. "I didn't know what you needed, so I brought plenty."
Poppy harumfed. "You'd know if you'd been in anytime lately," she scolded. "Don't be telling me that this time around old Snake-face isn't just as wand happy. You can come here anytime and I'll do what I can to heal you, Severus. You don't need to suffer through it all on your own."
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.
"Good, then," the matron said happily, going back to her preparations. "I won't ask who helps you, but I do want to know who I'm preparing for, and who's parent's I'll have to Floo."
It stuck him then, how few of them had parents left to Floo. "You'll have to make a call to Xenophilius Lovegood and Augusta Longbottom. The Weasleys already know, and both Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have no family worth contacting."
In the midst of folding down a sheet, Poppy grimaced. "Poor dears. At least it makes my workload easier- although Augusta Longbottom is worth three Floo calls in and of herself."
"Speaking of," Severus said, nodding his head at the large fireplace at one end of the wing. "They are coming." The fire had been acquiring a greenish tinge that burst into full emerald.
Out stumbled Sirius Black, the lifeless body of a girl draped over his arms.
Time slowed for Severus until the sound his heartbeat in his ears counted an eternity rather than a breath. It took a long moment to place the shade of brown bushy hair, not fiery red or dirty blonde. Then the elegant neck and the pert nose and the stubborn chin.
"Hermione," he breathed. "What happened?"
Sirius was already depositing her in a bed. "She had the worst of it," he called over his shoulder. "She was the last one with Harry. The others will be coming soon- Ron's got something serious and Harry said something about a brain. Ginny and the Lovegood girl both are out, but I don't think it's anything too bad."
He was already turning back for the Floo when he was jerked back by Severus' iron grip on his arm. "Where are you going?"
"Back to the fighting," said Sirius. It was clear in that moment that Sirius was feeling more alive than he had in months; there was the whisper of a grin on his face and the animation of his features was sacrilegious to Severus when his beloved was lying on a bed with a mediwitch leaning over her. "Harry wouldn't rest until she was safe."
Sirius pulled out of Severus' grasp and was back in the fire in a moment. "See you in a bit, Poppy!" he called. "The Ministry of Magic!"
The insufferable prankster was gone, but Hermione remained. He went to her side, unable to stop himself from reaching out to touch her skin. She was pale, too pale, and too still. He could have mistaken her for dead if it had not been for the barely noticeable rise and fall of her chest. Poppy's eyes were darting back and forth, reading the lights over the woman's body that told her what, exactly, was wrong with her.
"What did they do?" she whispered. "I- I don't recognize this, Severus. Or this. This here says Cruciatus, and at least two Stunners. Maybe three."
Severus frowned and ran his wand slowly from her feet to her head. When it reached her abdomen it buzzed, the vibrating intensifying when it reached her breastbone. "Something here," he murmured.
The next half hour was lost in a blur of diagnostic spells and healings and pure concentration. Through it all she lay unmoving, even as the noise level rose to unbearable levels with the addition of Molly Weasley and her two children, an outraged Augusta, a shouting Xenophilius. Poppy left Severus with Hermione, pulling the curtain around her bedside as she worked on the other patients.
The curse that he could identify was a specialty of Dolohov- a nasty thing, purple, that was designed to separate. Originally used by medical surgeons to part the breastbone and split the ribs, with a simple adaptation it could be used for murder, for torture. Just a flick of the wand a few degrees to the left and the surgeon was left with a disaster. For obvious reasons the respectable uses of the spell went out of style as more reliable measures were used.
What he didn't recognize was Bellatrix's work. He could tell it was the woman's- he had been cursed by her often enough to know- but he didn't know what she had done.
Dolohov's he could fix. With a quiet apology, he severed her shirt down the middle, revealing a simple blue bra and smooth skin that was marred by horrible busing and a long section of scar tissue that had already been partially healed. He could fix that, whatever it was. That was a singing spell, one of the few ancient healing spells that hadn't been lost. That his mother had taught to him, showing him how to move his wand back and forth over the area in a smooth pattern when chanting the words to the spell to the right rhythm.
He remembered her as he worked. His mother. Eileen Snape, nee Prince. She had had long black hair like his, and it had swung forward to hide a small smile as she had shown him the spell.
"An inheritance," she had decried dryly. "Passed down from pureblood Prince to pureblood Prince to... the half-blood Prince, I suppose. It's yours by right, anyway. Half right."
She wouldn't have approved of its use on Hermione. Not that she had anything against Muggleborns or Muggles- she'd married one for god's sake- but she wouldn't have liked Hermione. Wouldn't have liked her know-it-all ways or her surety that she was always right or her occasional flair for the dramatic or foolhardy.
It didn't matter. Severus approved of her and that was all that mattered. He more than approved of her. It was becoming quite obvious, the worse her color turned, that the woman lying still in the hospital bed was the most important thing in his life.
Xenophilius had quieted by the time he finished with the chanting spell. Augusta was sleeping in a chair near Neville's bed, her vulture hat on another chair. Molly's hand was still stroking her daughter's hair even as she watched Madam Pomfrey's shadow move through the curtain around Ron's bed.
Severus gazed down at her. Sneaking a look up, he brought his hand up and caressed her cheek. The skin was warm, too warm, under his hand. Warm and dry. Fever. He had to get Poppy.
When he stepped from the protective cocoon of the curtain around Hermione's bed, Molly gave a little gasp and Remus turned suddenly. There were dried tear tracks on the werewolf's face, and his hands were shaking.
Severus assessed this in a moment, then plucked one of the vials from the potions he had set on a small table earlier. "Drink this," he ordered Remus. "Calming Draught. What happened?"
There was a dangerous look in Remus' face when he answered, as if he was daring Severus to comment. "Sirius is dead," Remus said. "You-Know-Who killed him."
There was nothing to say; he was not sorry that the bastard who had tortured him as a child was dead, but nor was he gladdened by the pain before him, or the pain he knew Hermione would feel later. All he could do was nod. "Drink that," he said again. "It will ease the pain some."
The muscles of the werewolf's neck tightened, but at last he nodded tersely and uncorked the vial. "You-Know-Who was furious," he said quietly. "Because she's dead."
"Who?" Severus asked harshly, already halfway to Ron's curtain where Madam Pomfrey worked. "Who else died?"
"Bellatrix Lestrange," answered Tonks as she walked in, wavering before she sat on a bed. "Hermione killed her and auntie dearest tried just as hard to kill Hermione."
Severus froze. "Damn," he whispered. "Fuck." Hermione killed her? How- he had no idea how this would play out. But it didn't matter- none of it would matter if Hermione died. If she was permanently disabled from whatever Bellatrix had hit her with.
He pulled the curtain around Weasley's bed, catching Poppy's attention instantly. "She was cursed by Bellatrix Lestrange," he said shortly. "I think it's a poison of some sort. I need your help."
The matron nodded. "I'm nearly done here," she said. "Give me ten minutes. Try to see what the poison is attacking while I finish with this one."
He headed back to his task with a renewed fear prickling at the base of his spine. He tried spell after spell, soon joined by Madam Pomfrey.
As they worked, the matron's mouth pressed in a harder and harder line. Hermione's breathing grew ragged. Severus shed his outer robe. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck, and he bound his hair at the nape of his neck to keep it out of his face.
Bezoars didn't work. Neither did any other of the cures he had brewed. When the convulsions started, nothing could calm them. They ran themselves out in the darkest hour of the early morning.
The sun was beginning to lighten the sky when the pair finally stopped. Everyone else in the Hospital Wing was sleeping- the only sounds were Hermione's rasping breaths and the snores of Xenophilius.
"She's not getting better," Madam Pomfrey said, sitting down in the visitor's chair next to Hermione's bed. "I don't know what to do, Severus. The poison is in her blood, in her lungs, in her muscles... probably in her bones too, by now." Her voice was the practiced hushed of one who works with the sick.
There had been a thin shield keeping his true emotions from his face and his hands and his thoughts as he worked, as he had tried spell after potion after spell on the still woman before him. She's not getting better... it snapped.
"No," he said, voice rusty. "No. She has to."
"There is nothing we can do, Severus," Poppy said, tears coming to her eyes. "She's a good one. She doesn't deserve this. But unless you have a miracle in your pocket then there is nothing-"
He folded himself into the other chair, putting his hands over his face, pressing his palms into his eye sockets. What do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do I don't have any miracles bezoars save people from poisoning what else what else unicorn blood can bring anyone from the brink of death but they are doomed to live a cursed life what else what else magical creatures what can they do-
"Phoenix tears," he breathed. "Would that work?" He stood and grabbed Poppy by the shoulders. "Would phoenix tears work?"
The hope that sprang to the woman's face was a glorious thing to see. "Yes," she said, pushing herself to her feet. "They could. If you could find them, if-"
"Fawkes," Severus said. "He can give tears, he could try-" Even as he said it, she was shaking her head.
"I thought you had a vial someplace," she said, shaking her head. "Fawkes- he doesn't cry for people. Not even the Headmaster. During the first war, Albus would beg that bird and he would just sing to ease those people to their deaths."
Surety was gripping him. "He cried for Potter," he said, voice full of grim determination. "Almost exactly three years ago, he cried for Potter."
He would go to the Headmaster's office. That had to be where they were.
The tears of a phoenix would be the only thing that could save Hermione Granger's life.
And so ends Chapter 31.
In case it wasn't clear, Sirius dropped Hermione off, ran in to help Harry, and ended up confronting Voldemort with Harry. Voldemort kills Sirius and tries to possess Harry, and Dumbledore swoops in and saves the day again. I know a lot of you wanted me to save Sirius like I saved Cedric... but no. Sorry, it couldn't happen.
Part Two is going to be ending very soon. ;) Part Three is looking very interesting.
I'd like to thank Pahan, who gave me some stern warnings about letting Hermione's badassery fall short, as well as helping me plan for Part Three. You've been great, thanks so much!
Some questions people had for me: Yes, I'm enjoying my summer (except for learning how to drive which is terrifying). I'm going to be majoring in anthropology with a minor in French and maybe also Poverty Studies. I eventually want to be a medical anthropologist. Or author. We'll see. :)
Next chapter should be up in two weeks, as planned! Or- I'll make y'all a deal. If I pass my drive test, I'll post next Friday. Gulp.
Your excerpt:
"We'll see what Dumbledore says," Severus said. "But I will be seeing you this summer. You will need to take my reports." He was quiet for a moment longer, debating his next words. "And I'm not sure I'd stay sane without seeing you at least once a fortnight."
Reviews are always lovely! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to that person who told me that June 6 was their birthday. :D See y'all on the 20th if all goes well! Or on the 13th if some miracle happens and I pass my test.