Author's Note: Okay don't shoot! I surrender! I'm sorry that I didn't write anything but I had good reasons! Honest! Anyways, I don't own anything! By the way, thank you to my amazing beta reader, Caitlin Allyana, who has had to put up with a lot of errors that I always make.

Part 10

One side of the house was still standing but the rest had collapsed. It didn't take her long to see her greatest fear confirmed. Her parents had indeed returned home early, they lay on the ground lying in a pool of blood. She threw up on the spot. Looking up she saw a horrifying message written in her parent's blood on the wall. Too overcome with the horror of the scene she ran as far away as she could. She just reached the end of the corner when she suddenly knocked into something or rather a someone.

"Harry!" she cried out of fear and surprise.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? My little Hermi," he said coolly, his ice-cold finger reached out to caress her cheek.

She shivered at the touch and took a step back, clapping her hand to her cheek, shocked at the coldness of his touch.

"What has happened to you Harry?" she whispered.

"I found the truth," he said as he took a step towards her.

"No, no whatever has happened it had nothing to do with finding any truth. Harry it doesn't matter what happened. I know the Harry I knew is still in there. Come back to me Harry," she said with pleading eyes.

"No, the Harry you know is gone," he said harshly.

"No…" Tears began to run down Hermione's face. She wouldn't believe Harry was truly gone, she wouldn't. She didn't believe it when Dumbledore told her all those years ago and she wouldn't start.

"Do you know what I feel when I kill somebody? I feel nothing. I don't feel anything when my victims tremble when they see me approach. Their eyes dart back and forth in fear while they look for help, and seeing none their eyes would look back straight at me, and then they realize there is no hope. Instead of mercy they find none. I don't give a damn when they freeze up and try to look away from me as I cast the spell. I care even less when they cry out in absolute agony. Even more so when they turn and look at me with wide frightened eyes as their life flashes before them, until they slump down into a heap as death overtakes them."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. How did this happen? More importantly why?

"That's how it is with every murder. That's how it was with your little friend," Harry watched as Hermione's face paled.

Hermione thought back to when she felt a growing pit in her stomach, a few minutes earlier…

 "Hermione!" Fred shouted, having separated in the chaos he was relieved to see her alive.

"Fred!" she cried out equally relieved. "Listen to me," she said grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, already covered in blood, "go find Cindal and Andrew. I've got a bad feeling in my stomach, something is wrong."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine just find them before it's too late!"

"Cindal..." Hermione whispered. She knew right then and there what exactly happened to her friend

****

"Cindal!" Andrew ran forward, dropped to his knees and cradled her in his arms. Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to speak. "Oh God…oh…" he choked weakly, already feeling the sobs overtake him.

He looked down at her body, blood spilled all over, slowly seeping out of the many holes formed from the curse. His trembling hand pressed on one of the wounds in a futile attempt to stop the blood. His body started to shake in sobs.

"We're gonna get you help…it's okay…I just…I need…" he tried to say.

"Drew…" her voice was weak from the pain.

Fred ran down the alley after hearing loud cries that sounded all too familiar for his comfort. He stopped when he caught sight of the state Cindal was in.

'Oh God, am I too late?' he thought to himself.

He ran forward and nearly passed out from seeing Cindal with the wounds all over her body.

"Oh…oh my…what do we do…what happened…what…" he stuttered falling to his knees beside them. He started to panic and cry.

"Send up red sparks…she needs help!" Andrew managed to say.

****

Hermione blinked through tears.

"Don't cry you'll see her soon." he said advancing on her. Her blood turned to ice as he leaned down and felt his cold breath on her ear. "Very soon." he whispered.

Without thinking in one swift motion she swung at him catching his cheek with her fist while grabbing her wand at the same time. He was one step ahead of her as he pointed his wand and opened his mouth to say a spell. She saw this and made a quick dive behind a dumpster. Hermione shouldn't have made it in time to the dumpster, she should have been dead. But he hesitated in saying the spell, he could have said it but he didn't, why?

"You never did have much guts to stand up and fight. Always played by the rules didn't you? How did you get into your line of work?"

The two shouted spells at each other. Hermione ducked behind various objects in the alley.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione shouted, unfortunately the spell bounced harmlessly off him.

Harry laughed it off.

"Pitiful! Come on! Give me something with a punch Hermi, not something taught to first years at Hogwarts! Or rather what WAS Hogwarts. How is the reconstruction coming along? Are they gonna name is after that fool Dumbledore?"

"You asshole! Dumbledore saved your life more times than you can count!" Hermione screamed, shocking herself. 'No, Hermione! He wants you to get mad! Remember, Harry is still in there somewhere you have to save him!' she thought to herself.

Harry smiled cruelly. He silently studied her face, seeing her brow scrunch in thought. He had seen her do so many times before, his eyes gleamed when her face changed to a look of determination.

"Stupefy!" she shouted.

"Hermione, show no mercy! I didn't when I killed your friend Cindal."

Red-hot anger boiled inside her.

"That curse I set on her was the new and improved Cruciatus curse. The regular curse feels like knives stabbing you all over, but with this curse, the sensation is real. Not enough to kill you, immediately, but you'll die a very slow and painful death. The knives slit you in just the right places, avoiding the major veins and such but still causing enough damage. A few actually stab you, in the stomach, your shoulder. My guess is that she's lying in his arms dying right now." She gritted her teeth. A red haze filled her vision. All she wanted to do now was to kill the cold-blooded murderer standing in front of her.

****

"They can't see the sparks in all this fire! I'll go get someone! Please hold on, Cindal," Fred said taking her hand. "Don't let go, you're not ready to leave us yet," He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. After wiping away the tears that blurred his vision, he ran to get help.

 "Please, hold on baby, oh god, please," Andrew moaned. He looked into her half closed eyes as she fought to keep them open.

"Drew, I'm sorry," she said weakly, tears ran down her cheeks unnoticed.  

"You have nothing to be sorry about, don't say that!" he cried, cupping her cheek with his bloody hand.

"I didn't tell you when I first found out…four months…" she took a stuttering breath as she tried to continue. "It's dead now…curse…hit my stomach…"

"Save your strength, please you have to hold on," he cried, holding her tighter.

"I can't…" she moaned.

"Yes, you can, you're strong…" he said choking on his words while stroking her hair with his hand.

"I have to tell you…about…" she struggled on her words.

"Hold on…please hold on…" he begged his voice choked with tears. "Fred…please hurry!" he said to himself.

"I…have to tell you…please…" she cried.

"Okay…"

"I…I'm… I've known…four months…" she paused, coughing up blood, "I'm…pregnant."

The news hit Andrew with the force of a ton of bricks.

"Oh…oh God," he stuttered not knowing what to say.

"Are…you mad?" she forced out.

"No…no baby…I could never be mad." A fresh wave of tears began to flow as he hugged her closer.

****

"He'll tell her to hold on, but there's no use. No one can help her…even if help was there right away, she'd still die, no magic can stop that. That's the beauty of the curse I used. Right now she's probably telling him some monumental secret that she's been hiding and just has to tell him before she dies," Harry said, his voice filled with sarcasm. "She only had a few seconds left now. So here, they will say their 'I love yous' and of course like always, she'll die before she finishes what she was saying. The end."

****

"I can't…" Cindal croaked.

"Please…" Andrew cried.

"No…Drew…I…" she said raising her hand to touch his cheek, "…I…I love…"

Cindal's hand slumped to the ground, lifeless. It would never feel warm again, never caress her lover's cheek, never hold a newborn baby.

A loud cry filled with anguish resounded in the air

****

"You're sick!" Hermione said angrily, she shook her tear-stricken head.

"No, I just enjoy watching people die. I'll especially enjoy watching you die."

He advanced on her. Before Hermione could counter-attack, in her panic, she stumbled onto the ground.

Harry stood over Hermione his wand drawn.

"I'm going to enjoy this.," he whispered.

"Maximus Crucio!" he shouted. But something went wrong. Instead of pointing it at her, his arm jerked suddenly off to the side like some invisible force pushed his arm away.

"No…Maximus Crucio!" he tried again but to no avail, this time his whole body was pulled away, towards a wall.

"NO!" he cried in frustration. "This isn't over!" he hissed and disappeared.

Hermione took a few deep breaths wondering what happened. Then a sudden realization crossed her face.

"Cindal!" she said and took off running to find her.

****

 "Cindal…no…Cindal!" Andrew cried shaking her. "No…Cindal! Don't leave me! Come back, please!" he shouted, shaking her harder. "I love you! I love you too! Please don't go! Oh God…no…" he sobbed. "Please…" he kept murmuring desperately.

At that moment Fred showed up with help but it was already too late.

"Oh…oh God…" Fred felt like he couldn't breath. He was in a shocked stupor until somebody called him.

"Weasley! We need your help over here!" shouted one of the medics.

They were trying to take Cindal's body away but Andrew refused to let go. Fred ran over and tried to pull Andrew away.

"No! No…leave me alone! NO!" he tried to resist.

Letting go, Andrew's emotions went from pain to anger.

"No! Damn it!" he shouted knocking over a pile of crates next to him. "It's not fair!" he shouted. Blind rage overtook him as he continued to destroy everything in the alley. The medical team went to calm him down but Fred told them to back off, he needed to let it all out.

"I hate Him!" he shouted, punching his fist into the dumpster. If there was any physical pain it couldn't even come close to matching the emotional pain he was already feeling. In his anger he came across his wand, he picked it up, looked at it and turned it towards himself. Fred knew what he was going to do.

"No!" Fred said jumping forward and taking the wand out of his hand. "That is not the answer!" he shouted, taking Andrew by the shoulders.

"Why?!" Andrew cried. "I can't live without her!" he sobbed.

"No, she wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want that," Fred said through the tears, pulling Andrew into a hug.

Hermione ran to the opening of the alley and saw the heart-wrenching scene.

"No…" she whispered painfully.

She walked slowly forward. She looked around her, the town was in ruin and the streets were littered with dead bodies and blood. And then her eyes fell on Cindal's lifeless body. She glanced at her friends and saw that their clothes were stained crimson; she looked down at herself and discovered her own bloodied state. Tears flooded her vision as she went to the two and joined them in an embrace. Together they all fell to their knees on the ground.

It started to rain but they did not break away from the embrace. The three of them let loose their tears, shared the horror of what they saw that night and the grief for the loved one they lost.

Hermione was filled with a hurricane of emotions. Among them was deeply rooted anger.

'Harry is dead. He's gone. He's been replaced by an evil monster. I hate him. I HATE HIM! All this pain he's caused, he'll pay! I won't let him do this anymore. I'll stop him.'