Chapter 53- Interficus Maleficum
Without quite knowing how they ended up that way, Draco found himself on the edge of a clearing in the Forbidden forest, with Harry in the exact middle and Ron at the opposite end. Hermione was no more than fifty feet from him.
Obviously, she was charmed not to be able to move from that spot, and her wand had been taken away. As soon as they appeared, she looked frantically at Draco. He called her name, startled at her helplessness.
"Draco, go!" She implored him with her eyes to do as she asked. She did not even appear to see Harry or Ron. "Get out of here before it's-"
"Silencio!" Came a voice from the trees. It was an all too familiar voice.
"Too late," Draco finished for her as Lucius Malfoy stepped into view. Along with at least twenty other Death Eaters…
And Voldemort himself.
Draco turned his head to the side for a moment, looking regretfully away, as he realized to what he had brought them. It was more than likely that none of them would escape the clearing alive. If he had his way, some of their enemies would come to the same.
"Your plan worked wonderfully, Lucius," Voldemort hissed. Draco, while watching the proceedings, never took his eyes from Hermione. She looked with fear between the three of them. "This will not take long, I expect. Expelliarmus!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the spell aimed at Harry. He heard Ron's voice yell "Protego!" a split second later, and a hideous crash as the spells met. Harry had kept his wand.
He could sense Voldemort's lips curling. "I see you intend to make this harder," he snarled. "I don't see why you can't just give in to the inevitable, Potter. You know your destiny is to die by my hand."
"You never did find out the rest of that prophecy, did you, Voldemort?" Harry spat smugly.
The Dark Lord hissed, recoiling at the use of his name. "What's the matter?" Harry asked. "You're afraid of yourself too?"
Afterward, Draco did not hear much of their exchange. He was a bit distracted by his father. Lucius walked back and forth near Hermione, who refused to look at him. He kept twirling his wand between his fingers, then pausing, as though trying to decide which spell to use.
"I have thought about this long and hard, Draco," he said at last. Draco's eyes narrowed as he followed Lucius's progress. "You've never been the son I had wished for. You are a most disappointing- *mistake*." He smirked.
"I think you were the mistake, you as my father," Draco laughed derisively. "How much of a father were you to me? You were nothing. You don't know how to feel. It's amazing you call yourself human."
"She's the one who's not human!" Lucius exclaimed, flinging a hand out to point at Hermione. "A child of Muggles. It's a wonder she's even allowed to live."
He could see, even from the slight distance between them, tears forming in her eyes. He smoldered internally, wishing he could incinerate Lucius with a glare.
"Don't you dare talk about her that way. You should have been drowned at birth. Hermione should never even have had the displeasure of looking upon your face." Draco felt more resentful by the second. His anger grew rapidly. He was only dimly aware of the duel going on off to the side.
It was clear that most of the Death Eaters had instructions simply to keep them from escaping. None of them were joining in the action. At a hasty glance, Draco spotted Harry dueling Voldemort, and Ron being held back by two- or maybe three Death Eaters. They had, apparently, taken his wand.
But he could not let himself be distracted. He had to get Hermione free, and somehow get her out of there. He was too emotional to come up with a real plan, he realized. He knew what he would have to do…
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No spells were directed toward Ron. He wasn't important in Voldemort's plan, he realized. He was just a…pest, he thought with annoyance.
Once again he fought to break out of the grip of the two Death Eaters, but they held him too tightly. His wandless magic was not strong enough to have much effect. He resigned himself to the fact that he could not help Harry.
His gaze returned to Harry and Voldemort, standing in the middle of the clearing. They threw spells back and forth as though no one else was there. Few of them hit, and those the least dangerous. Ron worriedly knew what Harry's expression meant. He was bent on fighting Voldemort, unaware of anything but his worst enemy facing him. In that state, Ron was not sure what Harry would do.
*No matter what you do, I love you, Harry.* Even in thought he spoke in a whisper. He was afraid of what would come beyond this night. Would he and Harry both survive? If Harry didn't, he knew he wouldn't want to. There would be no point in living without him.
Without meaning to, he found himself dragging up all the memories he had of Harry. Their first kiss- which had puzzled and pleased him all at once. Meeting on the train, the giant chessboard, all the time under the Invisibility Cloak, all the times they took Harry away from the Dursleys to stay at the Burrow. That time in fourth year, when they had been fighting.
*At least if one of us dies, we'll never fight again,* he thought with dry humor. He pictured Harry dying, and suddenly felt weak. He could do nothing, could not even cast a simple spell to aid him.
His attention shifted again when he saw a wand pointed in his direction. It was Voldemort's. He did not hear the spell, but it did not matter, because it never reached him. He felt a field of power all around him, and suddenly he was warm and indescribably happy. He knew what had happened. Harry had cast a white shield around him, with the help of his love, and Ron felt his own love grow. And his strength.
"You'll never hurt Ron while I live!" Harry proclaimed, growling.
Ron used a simple bit of wandless magic to simulate the skin on the hands of his captors burning. They cried out and let go. He summoned his wand to him quickly. Death Eaters came at him, and he sent spells in their direction without thinking. Their own attempts bounced off the shield Harry held in place. Soon many of them were stunned, either physically or mentally- because they would not expect a mere *child* to be capable of so much. The ones who were not unconscious by the end were either injured or bound with magical ropes.
"Up until now I have been testing you," Voldemort says, his voice an echoing hiss. "Though I have no desire other than to see you dead, I do like to have my fun. But now, The Boy Who Simply *Will Not Die* will die, killed by me. Say goodbye, Potter."
Ron turned at these words, fearing for Harry's life. He saw the look Harry wore, and his worry melted away.
Voldemort struck. "Avad-"
************************************************************************
"Let her go now, scum, and I might let you off easy," Draco spat at his father.
Lucius laughed heartily. "You will let me off! Bold words, for someone about to die."
"If I die, I'm taking you with me," Draco told him dangerously. "You deserve no better than to die by the hand of your own son, who hates you beyond description, by the way."
"And you deserve less than to be killed by a Death Eater. It is too high an honor for you."
"Then I suppose you won't be killing me. That makes my task easier."
Draco realized that Hermione could hear every word he said, in the back of his mind, but he could not stop himself. Though he did not want her to see him this way, his anger was too great. He could not resist the feelings boiling within him.
"Sadly I must give you that much honor," Lucius said, seeming regretful. "Though it is more than you deserve, I've already set my mind to seeing you die. And *I* will be the one to kill you."
"All my life, I have known you were no better than this!" Draco shouted. "I may have acted like Potter was my worst enemy, but that's all it was- an act. You have always been my enemy! Ever since I was born! No one else tortured me with an Unforgivable when I was three years old! It's like you've had the Dementor's Kiss. No one with a soul could have done anything of the sort!"
"Fool of a boy," Lucius said quietly. "Do you really think I care?"
Draco's angered expression turned to one of realization. If Lucius did have a soul or a heart, both were fashioned of ice. He had always believed that even underneath all the malice, there was some true emotion of some sort. It was not true. Lucius really was incapable of feeling. And he did not want to.
"Feelings make you weak. Why would I want that? Do you know what will be the cause of your death, Draco?" He walked to Hermione, and took her face roughly in a hand. She tugged at his arm, but could not remove him. She resorted to sending a desperate look to Draco, whose rage increased. "This is the cause of your death. She's your weakness, because you feel for her." He uncaringly let her out of his grip. "How touching."
His voice was as dripping with sarcasm as Draco had ever heard it. "I had thought it might be entertaining to torture her and make you watch, but I don't have the time for that." His wand directed a spell toward Hermione.
"Stupefy Totalus!"
Draco did not think. He could only feel the shield go up around her, and block off any spells, but it was too late. Lucius's spell had hit. Hermione fell to the ground. At the same time, another white shield when up across the clearing.
"Hermione!" Draco shouted. He pointed his wand at his father, uttering, "Expelliarmatus!" Lucius flew backward a good distance, his wand blown to some spot away from him.
This taken care of, Draco ran to Hermione's side. When he took her in his arms, the shield encompassed him as well. He pointed his wand carefully at her, and spoke. "Ennervate."
She remained as still as before. There was no sign of consciousness on her lovely, suddenly pale face. Only stillness and silence. "Ennervate!" This time it was more desperate. It should have worked. She should be up and well by then, with her wand in hand. His father had altered the spell, he remembered. What had he put at the end of it? "*Finite Incantato*!"
Then he remembered. *Totalus*. How would that change the effect of the spell?
Lucius's laugh sounded behind him. Draco turned, anger turning his vision red. "Like the spell? I modified it myself."
He was twirling a wand in his fingers, but it was not his own. Draco recognized it. Hermione's wand.
"Now, all I have been waiting for is about to take place. Oh, I do so love revenge." He pointed the wand with careless grace.
Draco was quicker.
Two voices spoke the same spell. "Interficus Maleficum!"
Both spells hit their target with a blinding white light. Two bodies dropped to the forest floor, lifeless.
End Chapter 53
AAAHHH!! Please don't hurt me!!! *Fends off reviewers who wanted to see this chapter as soon as they were done with the last one.* I meant to post this earlier, I just didn't.
This chapter is not as long as I expected/wanted, even after I added the part from Ron's point of view. But whatever. Hey, opportunity for house points here! As long as you specify your house. Question 1: who are the two characters that died? Question 2: Who killed them? Ten points for each correct answer, for a possible total of forty points. This is really easy, so I should see a lot of right answers. So far, Hufflepuff is the only house with any points. (See chapter 43 for challenge, which is closed now. Sorry.)
Review for…um…forest confetti? Kind of?
Without quite knowing how they ended up that way, Draco found himself on the edge of a clearing in the Forbidden forest, with Harry in the exact middle and Ron at the opposite end. Hermione was no more than fifty feet from him.
Obviously, she was charmed not to be able to move from that spot, and her wand had been taken away. As soon as they appeared, she looked frantically at Draco. He called her name, startled at her helplessness.
"Draco, go!" She implored him with her eyes to do as she asked. She did not even appear to see Harry or Ron. "Get out of here before it's-"
"Silencio!" Came a voice from the trees. It was an all too familiar voice.
"Too late," Draco finished for her as Lucius Malfoy stepped into view. Along with at least twenty other Death Eaters…
And Voldemort himself.
Draco turned his head to the side for a moment, looking regretfully away, as he realized to what he had brought them. It was more than likely that none of them would escape the clearing alive. If he had his way, some of their enemies would come to the same.
"Your plan worked wonderfully, Lucius," Voldemort hissed. Draco, while watching the proceedings, never took his eyes from Hermione. She looked with fear between the three of them. "This will not take long, I expect. Expelliarmus!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the spell aimed at Harry. He heard Ron's voice yell "Protego!" a split second later, and a hideous crash as the spells met. Harry had kept his wand.
He could sense Voldemort's lips curling. "I see you intend to make this harder," he snarled. "I don't see why you can't just give in to the inevitable, Potter. You know your destiny is to die by my hand."
"You never did find out the rest of that prophecy, did you, Voldemort?" Harry spat smugly.
The Dark Lord hissed, recoiling at the use of his name. "What's the matter?" Harry asked. "You're afraid of yourself too?"
Afterward, Draco did not hear much of their exchange. He was a bit distracted by his father. Lucius walked back and forth near Hermione, who refused to look at him. He kept twirling his wand between his fingers, then pausing, as though trying to decide which spell to use.
"I have thought about this long and hard, Draco," he said at last. Draco's eyes narrowed as he followed Lucius's progress. "You've never been the son I had wished for. You are a most disappointing- *mistake*." He smirked.
"I think you were the mistake, you as my father," Draco laughed derisively. "How much of a father were you to me? You were nothing. You don't know how to feel. It's amazing you call yourself human."
"She's the one who's not human!" Lucius exclaimed, flinging a hand out to point at Hermione. "A child of Muggles. It's a wonder she's even allowed to live."
He could see, even from the slight distance between them, tears forming in her eyes. He smoldered internally, wishing he could incinerate Lucius with a glare.
"Don't you dare talk about her that way. You should have been drowned at birth. Hermione should never even have had the displeasure of looking upon your face." Draco felt more resentful by the second. His anger grew rapidly. He was only dimly aware of the duel going on off to the side.
It was clear that most of the Death Eaters had instructions simply to keep them from escaping. None of them were joining in the action. At a hasty glance, Draco spotted Harry dueling Voldemort, and Ron being held back by two- or maybe three Death Eaters. They had, apparently, taken his wand.
But he could not let himself be distracted. He had to get Hermione free, and somehow get her out of there. He was too emotional to come up with a real plan, he realized. He knew what he would have to do…
************************************************************************
No spells were directed toward Ron. He wasn't important in Voldemort's plan, he realized. He was just a…pest, he thought with annoyance.
Once again he fought to break out of the grip of the two Death Eaters, but they held him too tightly. His wandless magic was not strong enough to have much effect. He resigned himself to the fact that he could not help Harry.
His gaze returned to Harry and Voldemort, standing in the middle of the clearing. They threw spells back and forth as though no one else was there. Few of them hit, and those the least dangerous. Ron worriedly knew what Harry's expression meant. He was bent on fighting Voldemort, unaware of anything but his worst enemy facing him. In that state, Ron was not sure what Harry would do.
*No matter what you do, I love you, Harry.* Even in thought he spoke in a whisper. He was afraid of what would come beyond this night. Would he and Harry both survive? If Harry didn't, he knew he wouldn't want to. There would be no point in living without him.
Without meaning to, he found himself dragging up all the memories he had of Harry. Their first kiss- which had puzzled and pleased him all at once. Meeting on the train, the giant chessboard, all the time under the Invisibility Cloak, all the times they took Harry away from the Dursleys to stay at the Burrow. That time in fourth year, when they had been fighting.
*At least if one of us dies, we'll never fight again,* he thought with dry humor. He pictured Harry dying, and suddenly felt weak. He could do nothing, could not even cast a simple spell to aid him.
His attention shifted again when he saw a wand pointed in his direction. It was Voldemort's. He did not hear the spell, but it did not matter, because it never reached him. He felt a field of power all around him, and suddenly he was warm and indescribably happy. He knew what had happened. Harry had cast a white shield around him, with the help of his love, and Ron felt his own love grow. And his strength.
"You'll never hurt Ron while I live!" Harry proclaimed, growling.
Ron used a simple bit of wandless magic to simulate the skin on the hands of his captors burning. They cried out and let go. He summoned his wand to him quickly. Death Eaters came at him, and he sent spells in their direction without thinking. Their own attempts bounced off the shield Harry held in place. Soon many of them were stunned, either physically or mentally- because they would not expect a mere *child* to be capable of so much. The ones who were not unconscious by the end were either injured or bound with magical ropes.
"Up until now I have been testing you," Voldemort says, his voice an echoing hiss. "Though I have no desire other than to see you dead, I do like to have my fun. But now, The Boy Who Simply *Will Not Die* will die, killed by me. Say goodbye, Potter."
Ron turned at these words, fearing for Harry's life. He saw the look Harry wore, and his worry melted away.
Voldemort struck. "Avad-"
************************************************************************
"Let her go now, scum, and I might let you off easy," Draco spat at his father.
Lucius laughed heartily. "You will let me off! Bold words, for someone about to die."
"If I die, I'm taking you with me," Draco told him dangerously. "You deserve no better than to die by the hand of your own son, who hates you beyond description, by the way."
"And you deserve less than to be killed by a Death Eater. It is too high an honor for you."
"Then I suppose you won't be killing me. That makes my task easier."
Draco realized that Hermione could hear every word he said, in the back of his mind, but he could not stop himself. Though he did not want her to see him this way, his anger was too great. He could not resist the feelings boiling within him.
"Sadly I must give you that much honor," Lucius said, seeming regretful. "Though it is more than you deserve, I've already set my mind to seeing you die. And *I* will be the one to kill you."
"All my life, I have known you were no better than this!" Draco shouted. "I may have acted like Potter was my worst enemy, but that's all it was- an act. You have always been my enemy! Ever since I was born! No one else tortured me with an Unforgivable when I was three years old! It's like you've had the Dementor's Kiss. No one with a soul could have done anything of the sort!"
"Fool of a boy," Lucius said quietly. "Do you really think I care?"
Draco's angered expression turned to one of realization. If Lucius did have a soul or a heart, both were fashioned of ice. He had always believed that even underneath all the malice, there was some true emotion of some sort. It was not true. Lucius really was incapable of feeling. And he did not want to.
"Feelings make you weak. Why would I want that? Do you know what will be the cause of your death, Draco?" He walked to Hermione, and took her face roughly in a hand. She tugged at his arm, but could not remove him. She resorted to sending a desperate look to Draco, whose rage increased. "This is the cause of your death. She's your weakness, because you feel for her." He uncaringly let her out of his grip. "How touching."
His voice was as dripping with sarcasm as Draco had ever heard it. "I had thought it might be entertaining to torture her and make you watch, but I don't have the time for that." His wand directed a spell toward Hermione.
"Stupefy Totalus!"
Draco did not think. He could only feel the shield go up around her, and block off any spells, but it was too late. Lucius's spell had hit. Hermione fell to the ground. At the same time, another white shield when up across the clearing.
"Hermione!" Draco shouted. He pointed his wand at his father, uttering, "Expelliarmatus!" Lucius flew backward a good distance, his wand blown to some spot away from him.
This taken care of, Draco ran to Hermione's side. When he took her in his arms, the shield encompassed him as well. He pointed his wand carefully at her, and spoke. "Ennervate."
She remained as still as before. There was no sign of consciousness on her lovely, suddenly pale face. Only stillness and silence. "Ennervate!" This time it was more desperate. It should have worked. She should be up and well by then, with her wand in hand. His father had altered the spell, he remembered. What had he put at the end of it? "*Finite Incantato*!"
Then he remembered. *Totalus*. How would that change the effect of the spell?
Lucius's laugh sounded behind him. Draco turned, anger turning his vision red. "Like the spell? I modified it myself."
He was twirling a wand in his fingers, but it was not his own. Draco recognized it. Hermione's wand.
"Now, all I have been waiting for is about to take place. Oh, I do so love revenge." He pointed the wand with careless grace.
Draco was quicker.
Two voices spoke the same spell. "Interficus Maleficum!"
Both spells hit their target with a blinding white light. Two bodies dropped to the forest floor, lifeless.
End Chapter 53
AAAHHH!! Please don't hurt me!!! *Fends off reviewers who wanted to see this chapter as soon as they were done with the last one.* I meant to post this earlier, I just didn't.
This chapter is not as long as I expected/wanted, even after I added the part from Ron's point of view. But whatever. Hey, opportunity for house points here! As long as you specify your house. Question 1: who are the two characters that died? Question 2: Who killed them? Ten points for each correct answer, for a possible total of forty points. This is really easy, so I should see a lot of right answers. So far, Hufflepuff is the only house with any points. (See chapter 43 for challenge, which is closed now. Sorry.)
Review for…um…forest confetti? Kind of?