A/N: Cheers to Lupin, beta reader extraordinaire. One more chapter after this; I have to rewrite and add a bit to it, so it may be in either around 1am or sometime tomorrow afternoon. And thanks to all who reviewed and pointed out that Snape's name is not Serveus…I have always pronounced it as "Serveus" and thought that was how it was spelled and pronounced, but alas, my little bubble has been burst and now I will pronounce it correctly: "Severus." See? Incidentally, I thought McGonagall's name was McGonnall until recently as well. Maybe I need glasses.
I disclaim everything. All new and unfamiliar monsters mentioned were lifted from Final Fantasy VIII, a very cool, very long, and very involving video game that the clerk gave me an odd look for renting because I am a girl.
Chapter 11
Harry jumped out of bed and looked at his watch. It was 5:00pm; the dream/vision/whatever it was had obviously kept him asleep for that long. He ignored the fact that he was sweating and hungry; his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam was to begin at 7:00 that evening, and he had a feeling that if he missed it something very, very bad would happen. Hermione, go find Hermione, he suddenly thought. First, Owl Dumbledore; second, find Snape… he had no idea what to do first, his thoughts were so jumbled. Dumbledore is first priority, a mercifully sane voice in the back of his head told him, and he called Hedwig from his perch, thankful for Canada's efficient international owling system that would get his letter to Dumbledore in 4 hours instead of 3 days. It's still too late, he thought with a sinking feeling in his stomach, but continued writing anyway.
Professor Dumbledore,
I had another, more vivid dream. Voldemort has Sirius and Ron in the secret dungeons underneath the school. He is going to kill them at 9:00 tonight, I just woke up, please believe me, or I would have written earlier. I'll figure something out, but whatever is going to happen, please let the Weasleys know that I did everything I could, and tell them that I love them like parents and thank them, just in case.
Harry.
P.S. To get into the dungeons, go to the potions room, tap the pentagon brick in the center, and say Dissendium.
Harry practically threw Hedwig out the window and then hastily grabbed the first things he found on the floor and threw them on. Snape was next, he decided, and sprinted to the Defense Against the Dark Arts wing, not believing that he was actually going to confide in Snape. Out of breath and heaving, he reached Snape's office just as the teacher was leaving and almost crashed into him in the hallway.
"Potter?" Snape asked, confused.
"Professor," Harry panted, "I know where Ron and Sirius are! He's going to kill them at 9:00 tonight—"
"Calm down," Snape said. "Did you owl Dumbledore?"
"Yes!" Harry shouted, deeply distressed.
"Harry, please sit down and listen to me."
Harry did not sit down, but he did listen.
"Voldemort was just threatening you. If you go to 'rescue' them, you will be walking directly into a trap. In my opinion—and believe me, I was a Death Eater, it's well founded—you should stay and wait for Dumbledore's reply before you do anything rash. You have the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam to take tonight, and you have to be there. Understand?"
Harry blinked; he could have sworn he saw Snape twitching oddly throughout his unusually calm (and unusually nice, and unusually uncharacteristic) speech. Something - he couldn't put his finger on it - wasn't right. He nodded slowly in response to Snape's inquiry.
"Good. Now go eat something and prepare; the exam begins in an hour and a half."
Harry walked out of the dungeons, but began to sprint again as soon as he turned the corner. Snape stepped into his office and muttered to a dark, cloaked figure.
"He'll be at the exam, I'm sure of it. Carry out as planned."
Meanwhile, Harry was racing toward Tower 7 when he literally bumped into Hermione as she was doing the same.
"Sorry," they both said without thinking and continued to run. "WAIT!" they both yelled when they realized that they had bumped into the exact person they were looking for.
"Hermione," Harry began hurriedly, "Voldemort kept me asleep. I had a dream, but he was speaking to me…he knew I was listening."
"What—"
"He's going to kill Ron and Sirius tonight at 9:00. They're in the secret dungeons under the school; they're below the potions dungeon. The big stone in the center of the room? Tap on it with your wand and say Dissendium, like with the one-eyed witch at Hogwarts."
Hermione nodded. "Did you owl Dumbledore?" she asked.
"Yes, he'll never get it in time."
"Did you go to Snape?"
"Something's wrong with Snape," Harry replied, eyes beginning to get a little wild.
"What?"
"Something's just not right about the way he's acting, I'm serious. He's trying to make me go to the exam…the dream I had, Voldemort hinted that something would happen at the exam…Hermione, I have to be at the exam. I'm sure that if I'm there Voldemort will be there too. It will keep him away from Ron and Sirius."
Hermione stared. "What do you think you're going to do?!" she half shouted. "Think about what you're saying, Harry!"
"I can't run forever," Harry stated firmly.
Hermione looked at the floor, seemingly indecisive about something. Momentarily, she straightened up and swallowed. "Fine. I'll be getting Ron and Sirius then?"
Harry looked hard at her. "Can you handle it?"
"I better be able to handle it, because I'm going."
Harry nodded. "You'll be alright." He sounded more confident than he felt.
"Don't get yourself killed, Harry," Hermione said, hugging him breathlessly.
"Likewise, 'Mione. You're my best friend, besides Ron whom you're even with, and I love you. Now I have to get something to eat, the exam starts in—" he looked at his watch "—1 hour and 15 minutes." He started to run off, but Hermione stopped him.
"WAIT!" she yelled. He stopped. "Stand still," she ordered, taking out her wand and pointing it at him. "Repercutio Nex Necis," she recited, watching the purple line shoot out and engulf Harry in a bubble of purple light.
"What was that?" he asked as it faded to transparency, bewildered.
"Just hope you don't find out," she whispered.
"There's no time for this—look, whatever you do, don't start until 7:00, alright? Don't go anywhere near Voldemort. He doesn't want you, he wants me, and—"
"Don't worry, Harry," she said, hugging him once more and sprinting away, leaving him free to get some food before his exam, and disregarding her own well-founded advice. I'll do the worrying for the both of us…
***
Harry walked calmly into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, trying to hold up the façade that he was as calm as he seemed. Really, he was about to boil over with worry and fear. Calm yourself, he tried to tell himself, but it didn't do much good. He smiled and nodded when Snape gave him a reassuring grin, and tried to go over everything he had ever learned, ever. He had no idea how he was going to pull this one off, and he had a sick feeling that it would be over quickly with lots of green light involved. Shuddering inwardly, he forced himself to look collected, cool, and calm, and also forced himself not to notice as Draco and Michele walked in, arm and arm.
Michele, Michele, Michele, he thought sadly, mentally beating himself for not realizing where Ron and Sirius were as soon as the dreams had started. The dungeons had been "their" place since the Quidditch match he had won against Tower 1. They had stopped going in recent weeks, and now Harry could only assume it was because of Draco. Why didn't I see it in the beginning? he thought anxiously, all the while knowing that it was too late to do anything differently. He would have to work with what he had, however little it amounted to.
"Is everyone ready?" Snape asked, long robes billowing behind him as he began to walk. The answer was a weak and pathetic "yes," and Snape led the way to the fast darkening outdoors.
***
7:00, Hermione thought, and tapped the large pentagon brick, just as Harry had said, and muttered "Dissendium." It lowered, and she lit her wand and looked down. All she could see was blackness. Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, and extinguishing her wand, she jumped; she landed on a hard floor a few feet down and fearfully debated what to do next. A minute later, her eyes had adjusted to the light and she was able to see the faint reflection of fire, which in turn created a barely lit picture of the area and revealed the path that she was to follow. Trembling with fright, she crawled to the corner, being wary of any invisible spells lingering in the air, scared to light her wand in case guards would see her. She was right to worry. It wasn't long before she heard two distinct voices.
"The Dark Lord has left the dungeons. He is preparing to face the Potter boy."
"We can expect no resistance then?"
"Hardly any. Master purposefully kept the boy asleep so that he could not owl Dumbledore in time for him to react. It will be all over by the time the old codger even sees an owl on the horizon."
"Potter was convinced to take the exam then?"
"Evidently. He is there now, after all."
"Mmm."
Hermione knew that it was then or never, but she was still shaking and wishing for the presence of Harry and/or Ron. I was never any good at this, she thought, trying not to shake. It was them. Never me…Stop it, Granger, you can do this. Gathering up every ounce of her courage and praying she was strong enough to whisper the curses and have them work, she focused all of her energy, held her wand as far away from her as she could, aimed at one of the Death Eaters, and whispered, "Stupefy!" The spell worked and the targeted one fell; the other shot "Crucio!" into the air where Hermione's wand had been. Dodging it, she stunned the other one as well. Neither had screamed or made a noise loud enough to give her presence away. She forced herself to remember a very powerful sleeping spell she had picked up from somewhere and cast it on both of the stunned bodies, along with a memory charm (just in case). They would only wake up if someone knew the counterspell or, at the very least, after three days had passed. She hoped neither would occur while she was down there, and carried on, fearful and shaking, listening, waiting, and anticipating the next set of traps.
Turning down the next corridor, she slowly crept onward. Instantly, her skin felt surprisingly tingly and she stopped dead as the words of Professor Laughlin, her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in the 6th year, replayed in her head:
If you're ever in a situation where traps are a plausible means of protection and you happen to suddenly feel very, very tingly, stop immediately. You've walked into an invisible wall, and on the other side of it is a definite death trap, either fire or electric current. It doesn't matter; either way, cast the stone spell on yourself and walk through quickly. You will be able to survive the shock or heat when you're made of rock.
The next phrase repeated in her head as well:
But most of you won't have to worry about that, because most of you will step over the 3cm barrier and will be dead. The window of realization is very small.
Hermione silently thanked her late professor as she whispered "Saxeus" and walked through, unfazed by the electric current that was running behind her once she stepped beyond it. However, she had no sooner turned back into flesh when she heard voices again; panicking and fighting to control her loud and fearful breathing, she hid behind a giant stalactite and wished she'd had the foresight to bring Harry's invisibility cloak. There were three this time.
"How long has it been since you heard from them?"
"Eleven minutes. They were to check in every ten."
"What if he's here, and…"
"He's not. We were told that he was at the exam. No one's here, they're just idiots and don't know how to read a watch."
Heart pounding so hard that she felt it would burst through her chest, Hermione leaned over the back of the rock and whispered "Impedimentia," effectively slowing the guard closest to the rear of the crowd to a near halt while the others continued on, failing to notice. She did the same with one of the others, and when the last one turned around to see where his companions had gone, she stunned him and he fell. She put the same sleeping and memory charms she had put on the others on the three before her and continued onward.
The temperature was rising, and she was beginning to sweat even more than she was before. There was definitely a lot of fire ahead; she could hear it crackling, feel its heat, and see its light flickering at the end of the stone corridor. Despite her dread, she knew she had to continue on. Her progress was painstakingly slow, but she needed to be sure that she didn't run into anymore invisible walls or other horrors; it would be no use hurrying if she was going to die before she reached her goal. Her watch told her it was 8:52; she knew she was almost there…
Finally, she reached the entrance to what looked like the main room. There was fire everywhere; high on the wall near the ceiling hung Sirius and Ron, both unconscious. Common sense told her to gasp, but luckily survival instinct intervened and she stayed silent. There were five Death Eaters guarding the two prisoners, and they were conversing as the others had been.
"Can we kill them yet?"
"Oh, we have 5 more minutes." There was a pause. "Besides, I know how we can pass the time."
"How?"
Hermione felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face.
"There's a poor little mudblood lurking in the mouth of that corridor."
***
"The exam will be conducted as follows: I will summon the beast that you are to deal with. You will deal with it. When the monster ceases attacking you, your test has ended. Is everyone clear?" Everyone nodded silently. "Good. Mind, I don't expect many of you to finish unscathed. Zucci, you're first."
It quickly became very apparent that the exam was hard. Snape summoned a Vysage, a rare monster only consisting of a horrific face, to Zucci; she eventually defeated it, but was left so weak and injured that she could not even walk back to where the class was standing. Snape immediately sent her to the portkey room, where the nurse was on hand to deal with the injuries.
"Bender, you're next."
Harry watched as Michele fought even harder than Zucci had on her monster, a disgusting looking, flying creature known as a Jellyeye, but was taken out by a torrent of fire before she could defeat her opponent.
And so it went; student after student was pushed and pushed to his or her limit, and each met a grisly and painful near end, only to be transported away.
Harry looked at his watch; it was 8:29. His thoughts were with Hermione; he barely noticed as Malfoy was summoned and he was left to stand alone until Draco was defeated by a Bogart who took the shape of his father and began to scream that his son was a failure. Draco ran off out of Harry's field of vision. Why did he freak out like that? We covered Bogarts ages ago…it's 8:50, he thought. Please let Hermione be alright…
"Potter! Your turn," Snape yelled. Alright, Harry thought, feeling adrenaline begin to pump through his veins, bring it on.
To Harry's surprise, his monster was nothing they had covered in class that year. It was a dragon, and a rather large one at that. Go for its eyes, Harry thought, immediately remembering the Tri-Wizard Tournament. As the dragon howled in pain, he aimed a powerful spell into its mouth, which, in turn, caused the dragon's head to explode. Lovely, thought Harry. Surprisingly, he didn't receive any injuries. Now all he had to do was turn around and—
"Avada Ke—"
"STUPEFY!"
Harry instantly turned, and saw Snape as he hit the ground. Silence invaded the dark air. Behind Snape, Harry could make out Draco holding a wand and staring at his handiwork. Harry gave him a look of horrified confusion.
"I don't like you, Potter," Draco sneered, "but I don't want you dead." Harry continued to stare. "He," Draco motioned to Snape, "was under the Imperious curse."
"How did you know?" Harry inquired suspiciously.
"He told me the monster I'd face would be a firebird, it wasn't, and that a bogart wouldn't be included in anyone's exam at all due to the fact that we had covered it in depth during 3rd year at Hogwarts and only mentioned it during the first week of review. It was awhile ago, but I know Snape, and Snape doesn't lie…to me."
Harry nodded but was stopped from answering by a sudden, sharp pain in his scar and a very ominous feeling. He looked at his watch. 8:56. Harry felt goosebumps go up and down his spine, and then he remembered…
"Kill the spare…"
"DRACO!" he suddenly yelled, horror filling the pit of his stomach. "CAN YOU APPARATE?"
Draco looked at him oddly before responding, "Um, yes…"
"DO IT NOW! AND TAKE SNAPE!" Harry hollered, becoming desperate. Draco didn't move, and continued his odd look. "I MEAN IT!" Harry was panicking; however, Draco obeyed and was gone. Harry was alone. Monster corpses lay in the grass. A cold wind ruffled his hair, the clouds swirled, and Harry knew it would soon storm.
"I'm here," Harry said sternly with gritted teeth. "Now, Voldemort."
"So, Potter has decided to face me like a man," Voldemort hissed, appearing in front of Harry, who, to his credit, did not start at his sudden presence. Snow began to fall. "Get ready to die, boy. Incidentally," Voldemort added, "The core of this wand has been modified ever so slightly…Priori Incatatem and any variants thereof will not save you this time."
Harry did not answer, but his stare became more and more concentrated as each second ticked by. Time slowed as they squared off. There would be no taunting this time.
"Cremo!" Harry called into the night. Voldemort snorted as the spell hit him, and he shook a bit.
"Tickles," he sneered. Harry decided that it was over; he was not going to play this game.
***
They had all come upon her so suddenly that Hermione hadn't had time to react any faster than to stun one. They soon had her wand.
"Alerting charms come in handy," the leader of the five muttered with glee, raising his wand. "This will be fun…." Hermione saw a flash of sudden surprise take over his eyes and watched as he flicked his gaze away from her for some reason. She didn't stop to wonder, and took it as the chance she had been waiting for; she dove under his robes and through his legs, and grabbed the stunned Death Eater's wand from the ground.
Soon, a large explosion, one big enough to take out all four of the remaining conscious Death Eaters, erupted from her newly acquired wand and landed where they stood; unfortunately, Hermione was too close. She felt herself flying through the air, and then smacking roughly onto the ground. Panting, she looked up and around her.
"It's over," she mumbled, magicking Ron and Sirius from their cuffs, watching them slide to the stone floor, and passing out in the remains of the last Death Eater base.
***
Hermione, he thought, you've never been wrong before, no matter how many times Ron and I bugged you…Please don't make this the time you decide to try something new. "Enough!" Harry said suddenly, stepping out of stance. "I refuse to play games with you, Voldemort!" He dropped his wand, breathing hard, and took a step toward his foe. "If you want me, take me! NOW!" he ordered, voice a lot more resolute than Harry thought it would be. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would explode from within his chest. Was this how my father felt? Voldemort smiled, seemingly in slow motion, his sick eyes turning at an even sicker angle; he raised his wand, and Harry could see his lips forming the words that had killed so many innocents, the words that had killed Cedric, the words that had killed Charlie, the words that had killed his parents…
There was a flash of green, and then it was all over.
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