A/N: Sorry for the long wait. School, as always, had prevented me from writing, as well as the little number of reviews. I do hope that somewhere, someone is reading what I've taken so much time to write.
Having said that, there are some kind souls in this world who was so kind as to review my story, though I have the feeling that I'll be flamed for this chapter. Thanks for your reviews, Cygnus Crux and Mystical!
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The name Tel'anran'rhiod belongs to Robert Jorden and the 'Wheel of Time'.
Dreaming of youChapter 11
Voldemort's Revenge
All Harry felt was cold; all he saw was darkness. Time seemed to have lost any meaning; all was the endless now. At first, Harry was surprised. Surprised at Ginny for pushing him into the mirror, and surprised at Star for allowing Ginny to come along. But soon, his underlying worry for Hermione, lying helpless in the hands of Voldemort, began to work it's way up through his mind.
"Hermione, hold on!" Harry thought in his heart. "Help is on it's way."
Then there was light. A thin, wavering kind of light, to be sure, but light nonetheless, and very welcome in the darkness. Slowly the light took on shape, solidifying into a door that stood open. Nothing of the other side could be seen, just a white nothing. But Harry knew that if he stepped across that door, he will be where Hermione was held. He was about to take that step when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulders.
Startled, Harry wheeled around to find out who it was, but tripped over his own feet as he turned, and fell, half-turned, through the doors.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"A little rest now." Voldemort said, lowering his wand. He looked over at the huddled figure of Hermione, a small smile on his face. "Are you willing to tell me now? Is Harry willing to come for you?" He lifted his wand again. "Or would you like another dose of pain?"
Hermione shivered. The pain still too great for her to make any answer. Fire still burned in her veins, and her lower lips was bloody from her biting it earlier. Slowly, however, she managed to sit up.
"He wouldn't come." Hermione said, almost to herself, as she wrapped an arm around her knee miserably. "He got Ginny now, why would he come after me?"
Voldemort had being leaning forward to hear Hermione's words, but now he sat back on his throne, a satisfied smile on his face.
"So that's how things stand…" Voldemort mused, the beginning of a plan formed inside his twisted mind. At first, all he wanted was to kill Harry Potter. Get him out of the picture, to dishearten the wizardry world that held on to the view that Harry Potter was the savior of them. Voldemort would show them that that was not the case. He had been defeated by mere chance, a freak accident, not by any contest of power or strength. Had not their dual the last they met proved that? Potter was a mere boy, a child! He was nothing compared to Lord Voldemort…
But now, Voldemort has a new plan. Boy or not, Harry was the only one, other then Dumbledore, who had walked away from a dual with Voldemort alive. It wasn't enough to kill him now. Voldemort want to crush him. To destroy all whom he holds dear. To make his live a living hell, before finally granting him dead, in the most painful way he could think of. Yes… that's what Voldemort wants now. And to think the means to this plan had just been placed into his hands.
Voldemort turned his gaze back at Hermione, who had seemed to have slipped into a world of her own, as she sat on the cold stone floor staring at nothing. "Imperio" whispered Voldemort, aiming his wand at her and slowly allowing the spell to enter Hermione's mind.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Are we all ready then." Dumbledore asked, looking around in his office. Almost all the teachers within Hogwarts had gathered there, to plan a rescue operation.
"As ready as we could be." Professor McGonagall said. There was a general mummer of agreement from the other teachers.
"But how are we going to get there?" Professor Flitwick asked in his squeaky voice, as he nervously fingered his wand.
"Severus?" Dumbledore asked, turning to the professor in question.
"it's fairly simple." Snape said, waving his wand in the air in front of him. A diagram of Hogwarts and its surrounding grounds appeared in the wake of the wand like a holograph. "The place the Dark Lord is hiding is here, in this direction." Snape said, stabbing his wand at the place in the diagram representing the Quidditch field. "We just follow this line and we'll find the place sooner or later."
"So what you mean is that we just fly from the Quidditch field away from Hogwarts and we'll find it?" Professor McGonagall asked incredulously.
"Basically, yes." Snape answered, dispelling his diagram with another wave of his wand.
"But that could take days! Months!" Professor Flitwick squeaked in protest. "We could spent the rest of our lives looking!"
"Do you have a better idea?" Snape snapped angrily. "When the Dark Lord summon the death eaters, all I could get was a vague direction. And that's the closest I can make it."
"Now, now." Dumbledore stepped between the two bickering professor. "This isn't the time to be fighting with each other."
Grumbling a little, but obeying Dumbledore's mild stare, the two professors turned away from each other.
"Now, time waits for no man, and Harry would certainly not wait for us. So I propose us starting at once." Dumbledore said. "I had taken the liberties of asking Madam Hooch to prepare each of us with a broom, so if all of you would be so good as to follow me…" Dumbledore opened the door of his office and stepped through. He had hardly reached the bottom of his moving staircase when Professor McGonagall caught hold of Dumbledore's robe sleeves.
"You know I can't fly, Albus!" Professor McGonagall whispered a little angrily.
"Of course, my dear Minerva." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "I've already made arrangements for that. You don't think that I would leave the castle unguarded, do you?"
"You want me to look after the castle?" Professor McGonagall asked, a little surprised. "All alone?"
"One is enough." Dumbledore replied. "The castle's defenses are still working. They should be sufficient for any small scale attacks."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "And if worse comes to worse, I can always recruit some of the seventh year students." She added.
"Excellent idea, Minerva." Dumbledore approved. "But don't let them take on more then they can handle."
"I'll be careful." Professor McGonagall promised.
"Well then, I'll see you when I see you." Dumbledore waved a cheery goodbye as he stepped out of the stairway and rejoin the other professors in the hallway.
~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione sat there in a blank, her mind numbed from the pain of Voldemort's curse. Her thoughts flirted about in any and every direction, but in the end they all turned back to the same thing.
Harry.
She could not, would not allow Harry to come to any harm. No matter what happen, Hermione had determined in her mind that Harry must not come to any harm. She would sacrifice her own life if needed to ensure his life. Now more then ever, with Voldemort not ten meters away from her, that she must be careful. Harry would come for her, she knew. They have been friends too long, with too many common experiences, for Harry to just give up on her. He will come. What was important was that Harry would walk out of this encounter alive.
As she made up her mind, a strange calm seemed to come over her. She relaxed, as her pain seemed to melt away like ice under a hot sun. As she lay there, eyes half closed under the calm feeling, a voice came to her.
"You do love Harry, right?"
"Wha…" Hermione gasped, raising her head a little and glancing about her. She saw no one that could have said anything. Malfoy was still by the door, nudging at Wormtail with his toe. Voldemort just sat in his throne, looking down at her, idly fingering his wand, but Hermione could see that it couldn't be him. His lips did not move as the voice continued.
"Don't worry. I mean you no harm."
"Who… who are you?" Hermione asked in a whisper.
"Do not speak out loud, but speak in your heart. I can't hear as well when you talk out loud."
"Who are you?" This time, Hermione asked the question in her mind. The answer came fast enough.
"I am a friend."
"Where are you?"
"Close by."
"What do you mean by asking me if I love Harry?" Hermione couldn't help but feel that the question was meaningless. Here was Voldemort himself, not ten meters away from her, and the voice was asking her about her love life?
"Because he is in danger right now." The voice answered.
"What? But You-know-who is near me, and he isn't doing anything…"
"The danger isn't from the Dark Lord."
"Then where is it from?" Hermione asked, barely able to resist lifting her head and looking around her.
"Near him. Who is closest to him now?"
"His Girlfriend, I think."
"This girlfriend… her name is Ginny Weasley?"
"Yes… how did you know?"
"Never mind that. The Danger is from her."
"What? But how could it be?"
"She is under the Imperius Curse, to betray Harry Potter at the last minute to the Dark Lord."
"How can that be? Harry loved her!"
"I know… This Ginny Weasley used a love potion on Harry Potter. It's so strong that Harry Potter would not even look at other people now."
"What can I do to help him?"
"Steel your heart, my dear. The only way is to kill her."
"What! But…"
"There is no other way!" The voice insisted. For some reason, Hermione did not question the reliability of the voice. She accepted everything the voice told her.
"It's the only way to save Harry Potter from death." The voice continued. "If you love Harry Potter, you will do everything in your power to save him, wouldn't you?"
"Yes… but Ginny! How can I kill her?" Hermione cried out inside her mind.
"It's the only way to save Harry Potter." The voice repeated firmly. "Or would you rather see Harry Potter die under the hands of the Dark Lord?"
"Of course not!"
"Besides, this Ginny is a traitor now. Not her own fault, as she's under the Imperius Curse, but a traitor nonetheless."
"There is no other way?" Hermione asked again, dull resignation in her voice.
"None…"
There was silence for a while…
"Ok…" Hermione said at last. "I understand…"
~~~~~~~~~~
Voldemort smiled then, a thin cold smile. Things were going according to plan. The fool Dumbledore would not expect this move. The Imperius Curse has many uses, the least of which to bend others will to your own. But that's only the most basic of its use. With the proper training, one can use the curse to make anyone believe anything one so desires. That's what makes the curse so dangerous.
He stood up, long robes flowing down his skeleton thin frame. Aiming his wand at Hermione once more, he let lose a sudden dose of the Cruciatus curse. Hermione stiffen up in the sudden pain, but gave no other sight of pain. This girl had spirit, Voldemort had to give her that. But no matter. The trap is set. The bait is place. Now all that's left is the wait for Harry Potter to come… to his death. He released the curse, and the mudblood girl slumped forward, her strength sapped by the curse.
Voldemort laughed then, a cold delighted laugh that chilled the blood. He will have his revenge!
"Come, Malfoy, Wormtail." Voldemort cried out to his minions. "Let's go. This place stinks of Mudblood!"
~~~~~~~~~~
Barely had the great wooden doors boom shut behind Voldemort when a line of light appeared in the middle of the room. This line rapidly expanded until a square could be seen in the room. Out of this square, Harry dropped out, landing on his back with a bang. Groaning, Harry pushed himself onto his elbows. But before he could seat up properly, the square spit out another person, then disappear as rapidly as it appeared. For the second time, Harry found himself on his back, Ginny on him.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Ginny asked in concern, looking about in the gloomily light for any sight of Harry.
"If you would get up, I'll be better." Harry said from under her.
"Oh, sorry." Ginny scampered to her knees and helped Harry seat up. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry replied, rubbing his head. "Where are we?"
"I don't know." Ginny answered. "Some kind of chambers, I guess."
"Is Hermione around?" Harry asked as he tried to stand. Swaying a little, Harry stumbled a few steps forward, his eyes searching for any sight of Hermione. Almost at once, his eyes alight on someone on the floor, someone with bushy hair. "Hermione?"
"Is that her?" Ginny had also stood up, and was also peering at the place Harry was looking at.
"I think so." Harry answered. "Let's go see."
They walked slowly towards the person lying there, each alert for any sound. When they reached the person, Ginny kneed down next to her and gently lifted the hair that covered the face.
"It's Hermione." Ginny cried out.
"Thank Merlin." Harry breathed a sigh of relief before kneeing on the other side of Hermione. He gently shook Hermione by the shoulders. "Hermione? Wake up, Hermione."
~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione stirred, someone calling her from above her. The pain was still burning in her, duller now, unlike the sharp pain when Voldemort cast the spell. Slowly her eyes opened, to see a pair of bright green eyes looking down at her.
"Thank Merlin you're ok." She heard Harry's voice say. And her heart jumped at his voice. 'He came for me!'
"Yeah. Isn't it great." Another voice agreed with Harry. Hermione felt her eyes narrow at that voice. Ginny Weasley.
With a sudden burst of strength, Hermione pushed away their arms and jumped up, spinning around at the same time to face them both.
"You! Ginny! How could you!?" Hermione shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Ginny.
"How could I what?" Ginny asked, a little puzzled. "We came to rescue you."
"Traitor!" Hermione cried out angrily. Her arms shot out and she shouted out the words of the deadliest curse ever. "Avada Kedavra!"
And Harry watch in confusion as the green jet of light busted forth from Hermione's hands and hit Ginny full on the face…