Chapter 8: A Battle and Harry Falls
Hermione was meeting Harry and Ginny in a little bit. She was walking in the forest area surrounding Hogsmeade. She saw some branches of long dead roses and reached out to touch them. She slowly ran her finger tips along the dead branches and put a little power out. Slowly buds appeared and the roses suddenly bloomed.
"I never knew you could do that?" Said a soft deep voice from behind her. Hermione turned and Lex was walking slowly from out of the woods. His hair was sandy brown in colored and it was long enough to cover his hazel eyes if it fell into his face. He stood tall and lean and by looking at his posture you could tell he was strong. Hermione felt her fear turn into to hate. She felt angry tears slide down her face.
"I should have done something to stop you from raping me," She started, "But I didn't want to believe it was happening. You are sick I am your sister."
"I never raped you," Lex said to her while coming closer, "I made love to you because I love you and you really aren't my sister."
"But you didn't know I wasn't you sister then," Hermione said getting a bit angrier, "You did rape me Lex, you did. I never wanted you. I never loved you like that. You tied me to my bed. I never wanted you!" Hermione flicked her hand toward him and he flew back about 10 feet. She no longer feared him, she hated him. Lex on the other hand was very frightened. He crab-walked himself back into a tree. Hermione looked at him, her eyes were burning with pain. She flicked her hand again and he twisted in a silent pain. As she was ready to make him pay for what he had done to her two strong arms wrapped around her. She turned and found herself in Harry's arms. Ginny was running up to stand beside them a strange look in her eyes as she looked from Harry and then to Lex.
"Stupefy!" Ginny said and the spell hit Lex stunning him. Then she nodded at Harry and ran to get help.
"Hermione stop you are going to kill him!" Harry said.
"So?" Hermione whispered as she buried her face in his chest. Harry felt tears begin to pour down his face and he leaned in close to Hermione.
"Because Hermione you are better then him." He whispered into her ear. Hermione let everything go right there. She began to cry uncontrollably and hung onto Harry. She began to realize that Harry and she had been to hell and back so many times and they had always been there for each other. She placed her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her.
"I love you Harry." She whispered to him. He pulled away slightly before lightly kissing her on the lips. Then he pulled her back into a tight embrace. Soon help came in the form of Dumbledore and McGonagall. But, still Hermione and Harry held on to one another.
* * *
Hermione was sitting in the library reading a large old book when Draco found her. He knew that Lex had made an appearance earlier that day. He knew he needed to talk to her, to tell her the truth. He needed to make her understand that Ginny had been lying to her that Ginny herself was insane. He knew that Hermione would be angry at him. He also knew that it would hard to make her believe him over Ginny. After all he had been nasty to her all these years. But he also found himself thinking about what Ginny had said to him earlier. About him having bad blood and that he would have hurt Hermione in time. He was scared that Ginny was right. He knew what kind of family he came from. The Malfoys had always been close to evil things and people. 'What if I am just like every other person in my family?' Draco had asked himself. He didn't have an answer for his question. So he stood there watching her read, watching her fall into the book, watching her fall away from the evils of the world. He watched her long graceful fingers play with the pages. He watched her soft hair brush her neck. He loved everything about her. He slowly made his way out of the shadows and towards her. When he made it half way to her she looked up and saw him. Her eyes became icy orbs that bore into him. He felt an awful shiver go down his spine. He knew that it was going to harder then he originally thought. He made the rest of the way to her table slowly. But her eyes remained fixed to him, they remained cold. He felt like those amber orbs were boring into his very soul.
"Hermione?" He asked her slowly.
"Malfoy I had an awful day." She whispered to him, her voice was like poison thorns. "I will not go to Dumbledore if you just walk away now."
"Please Hermione," He pleaded with her, "Ginny lied she set me, us up. She has gone insane."
"Malfoy stop it!" Hermione said as he stood up, "How dare you? Forget get the rules you will pay for what you done." Draco felt his heart freeze at the look of hate in her eyes. He backed away a few steps as Hermione grabbed her things and swept out of the library. He felt tears flowing down his face. He knew that the girl he fell in love with was becoming lost. He also knew that he had to talk to Snape.
* * *
Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Harry was meeting her a little bit. She had been crying the whole hour she had been here. Luckily for her it was a Hogsmeade weekend and nobody was here. She truly couldn't hate Draco. She remembered her hate earlier and how it made her feel and the whole thing about trying to kill Lex. It really scared her that she could get that angry. Plus she had been watching Ginny and things did seem a bit weird about her. She knew that she cared about Draco and maybe really loved him but she also loved Harry. She thought that Harry and she belonged together. When Draco told her he wanted her to have his children she felt weird. Plus, she could never picture that. On the other hand she could picture her and Harry's wedding. She was honest with herself and she could see herself spending the rest of her life with Harry.
"Hermione are you here?" Harry asked as he walked into the room.
"Yea, Harry I am here." Hermione said and hoped her eyes were dry.
"How are you feeling?" Harry asked as he sat down next to her. Hermione scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her head.
"I am not sure Harry." She sighed as Harry kissed the top of her head. Harry gently placed soft, sweet kisses on top of her head and stroked her hair and Hermione found herself falling asleep in his arms.
* * *
Draco walked quickly down to Snape's office. When he got there he knocked on the door. The door opened rather quickly to reveal Snape.
"Mr. Malfoy what can I help you with?" Snape said while stepping aside to let him in.
"Sir, it is Hermione," Draco said as he sat down in front of Snape's desk, "She seems angry, I mean very angry. There was so much hate in her eyes."
"He is getting to her," Snape said with a long sigh and a slight edge in his voice.
"Sir?" Draco asked. Snape had already stood up and was pacing the room.
"That means he is going to strike soon." Snape mumbled mostly to himself.
"Professor Snape are you alright?" Draco asked him. Snape stopped and quickly turned and faced Draco.
"Mr. Malfoy please go back to your dorms." He said but his voice didn't contain the venom it usually had. Draco didn't say anything as he got up and left. He knew something was up. He also knew that he missed Hermione very much.
* * *
Hermione had gone up to wash up after she had woken up. Harry was waiting for her downstairs; they were going to sneak down to the kitchens to get some snacks and drinks. Hermione was coming down the steps when Ginny walked into the common room for some reason she stayed where she was and watched.
"Hey, Ginny!" Harry greeted her.
"Hey Harry," Ginny said, "Have you seen Hermione?"
"Yea, we were napping and just woke up," Harry said, "She went upstairs to wash away the sleep."
"You two were napping, together?" Ginny asked carefully.
"Hermione was venting stuff to me Ginny," Harry said, "Did you get a letter from Ron? I can't believe he wanted to do the student exchange program." Ginny slowly made her way over to Harry and sat down next to him. Then she suddenly grabbed him and kissed him. She pulled him down on top of her as she lay down on the couch. Hermione decided to make her appearance at this time. She came noisily down the rest of the steps and into the common room; at that point Ginny pushed Harry way and slapped him.
"What the hell are you doing Harry?" Ginny said with tears in her eyes. Hermione nearly laughed out loud at this. "I've told you I do not like you like that." Harry looked totally shocked his eyes wide looking from Ginny to Hermione. Hermione finally saw the smugness behind the tears.
"Funny Ginny you kind-of looked like you wanted him when dragged him into the kiss." Hermione said calmly and suddenly Ginny didn't seem so smug. "There is also no hot chocolate lace with lust potion for me to sniff. I have to remind myself to apologize to Draco. Why Ginny? Why? I was your best friend. Why would you do that?" Ginny stood up a bit of disbelief in her eyes.
"Malfoy would have hurt you eventually," Ginny said and the looked over at Harry with disgust in her eyes, "And him he played so many games with your heart, going out with Cho and such. But, I loved you before either of them. I love you even before I knew what love was. When I found out about your "parents" and "brother" I knew I failed you. I should have known about them, I should have protected you. But I didn't. So I am making sure no one else hurts you. I love you and want us to be together forever." Harry was very shocked and very worried. While Hermione realized that Draco was wrong when he said Ginny was insane. Ginny, Hermione realized, was homicidal. Harry reached for his wand.
"Ginny..." Harry trailed off when he couldn't find it.
"I took you wands, hid them." Ginny said as she raised her wand at Harry. "Hermione, love, I am going to have to make you forget all this. I don't want you to be mad at me." Hermione stared at her and knew she had to stop her from hurting Harry and herself. Hermione raised her right hand and Ginny's wand flew to her. Ginny was shocked at her wand was pulled out of her hand magically by Hermione. Ginny had no idea Hermione knew how to do wandless magick. Harry knew that Hermione could do wandless magic and took advantage and tackled Ginny. Ginny shrieked and kicked Harry in the stomach which caused him to roll off of her. By this time Hermione had pocketed Ginny's wand and then cast a stunning spell on her. Hermione went over and helped Harry up off the floor and then she flooed Dumbledore.
* * *
Ginny had been taken to the hospital wing, after everything had been explained. Molly and Arthur Weasley were going to be contacted. Most likely Ginny would be transfer to St. Mungo's for treatment. Dumbledore believed here ability to ignore good and evil was a side effect of what happened in her first year at Hogwarts. Hermione decide that she had to apologize to Draco tomorrow and have a long talk with him. Hermione had left Harry in the common room to finish up with Dumbledore and went straight to bed and fell right to sleep. Even though it was only 6:30 at night and she had missed dinner.
* * *
Hermione was fast asleep in her bed the curtains drawn around her bed. She hadn't bothered to change her clothes and the sheets were tangled around her body. Just then she felt someone shaking her awake. He opened her eyes and found Harry staring down at her panic in his bright emerald green eyes.
"Harry what is going on?" Hermione asked she was completely awake at the look in his eyes.
"Voldemort is attacking Hogwarts!" Harry said as Hermione jumped out of bed. She grabbed her wand, even though she really didn't need it. Madam Hooch was in the common room gathering the younger students. The older students were leaving, to meet the other teacher; Harry had explained to Hermione. They met the teachers right outside the main door of Hogwarts. The cold bitter winter wind reached them through their cloaks even with warming spell. They saw as Death Eaters approached Hogwarts' main gates. The students looked very scared but they tried not to show it. Hermione found Draco and he looked up at her. She mouthed to him 'I am sorry.' He smiled gently smiled at her and his eyes told her that she was forgiven. She felt Harry take her hand and give it a squeeze. She turned to Harry then back toward Draco to see the hurt in his eyes. She looked him trying to say that she still cared for him. He looked like he understood her. But they both knew that needed to have a long talk that is if they both survived the night.
They had staring moving toward the Death Eaters so they could meet them outside Hogwarts' gates. Hermione saw Snape and Remus watching her and trying to not look like they were. She pay them no mind, she had too much else to worry about. As soon as the gates closed the battle began. Hermione saw, even though all kind of spells flying all around, Aurors appearing on the battle field. Soon she and Harry were separated in the battle. She cast curses on the Death Eaters and stopped to see if she could help the fallen people of her side. Soon the curses got so bad that she couldn't tell if the fallen people were on the good or bad side. Hermione felt hot tears spilling down her face as she found the body of her friend Abby. Her long beautiful curly black hair spread out under her head like a dark halo and her dark blue eyes stared blankly at the sky. In vain Hermione knelt down and checked her pulse and it proved what she already knew, that Abby was dead. Hermione gently closed her eye and kissed her friend on her soft, smooth, cooling cheek. Then she got up and moved on a new passion as she cursed the Death Eaters. Soon she came she saw Professor Dumbledore laying on the ground Madam Pomfrey casting healing spells on him. Hermione ran up to them,
"Professor!" She cried. Dumbledore smiled at her the twinkle still in his eyes.
"He is going to be okay, Miss Granger." She said.
"Harry..." Dumbledore said and pointed off to the distance. Hermione was up and gone before he could finish. She ran at top speed as spells burst all around her. But as she reached a clearing she realized that she was too late. Harry was lying on the ground his body surrounded by a soft fading green light. Voldemort's wand still smoking. He looked up at her with his snake-like face and smiled. He slightly bowed to her.
"Welcome my dear, grand-daughter, come share in my victory." He said in a smooth voice. Hermione realized what Snape had been trying to tell her about Voldemort before. Suddenly she felt a presence around her, it smelled like wild flowers. She felt a new strength form inside her. She knew something that Voldemort didn't know. She was both the heir of Slytherin and Gryffindor. She walked towards Voldemort, her grandfather, not as 'just Hermione' but with the heart of a lioness.
Hermione was meeting Harry and Ginny in a little bit. She was walking in the forest area surrounding Hogsmeade. She saw some branches of long dead roses and reached out to touch them. She slowly ran her finger tips along the dead branches and put a little power out. Slowly buds appeared and the roses suddenly bloomed.
"I never knew you could do that?" Said a soft deep voice from behind her. Hermione turned and Lex was walking slowly from out of the woods. His hair was sandy brown in colored and it was long enough to cover his hazel eyes if it fell into his face. He stood tall and lean and by looking at his posture you could tell he was strong. Hermione felt her fear turn into to hate. She felt angry tears slide down her face.
"I should have done something to stop you from raping me," She started, "But I didn't want to believe it was happening. You are sick I am your sister."
"I never raped you," Lex said to her while coming closer, "I made love to you because I love you and you really aren't my sister."
"But you didn't know I wasn't you sister then," Hermione said getting a bit angrier, "You did rape me Lex, you did. I never wanted you. I never loved you like that. You tied me to my bed. I never wanted you!" Hermione flicked her hand toward him and he flew back about 10 feet. She no longer feared him, she hated him. Lex on the other hand was very frightened. He crab-walked himself back into a tree. Hermione looked at him, her eyes were burning with pain. She flicked her hand again and he twisted in a silent pain. As she was ready to make him pay for what he had done to her two strong arms wrapped around her. She turned and found herself in Harry's arms. Ginny was running up to stand beside them a strange look in her eyes as she looked from Harry and then to Lex.
"Stupefy!" Ginny said and the spell hit Lex stunning him. Then she nodded at Harry and ran to get help.
"Hermione stop you are going to kill him!" Harry said.
"So?" Hermione whispered as she buried her face in his chest. Harry felt tears begin to pour down his face and he leaned in close to Hermione.
"Because Hermione you are better then him." He whispered into her ear. Hermione let everything go right there. She began to cry uncontrollably and hung onto Harry. She began to realize that Harry and she had been to hell and back so many times and they had always been there for each other. She placed her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her.
"I love you Harry." She whispered to him. He pulled away slightly before lightly kissing her on the lips. Then he pulled her back into a tight embrace. Soon help came in the form of Dumbledore and McGonagall. But, still Hermione and Harry held on to one another.
* * *
Hermione was sitting in the library reading a large old book when Draco found her. He knew that Lex had made an appearance earlier that day. He knew he needed to talk to her, to tell her the truth. He needed to make her understand that Ginny had been lying to her that Ginny herself was insane. He knew that Hermione would be angry at him. He also knew that it would hard to make her believe him over Ginny. After all he had been nasty to her all these years. But he also found himself thinking about what Ginny had said to him earlier. About him having bad blood and that he would have hurt Hermione in time. He was scared that Ginny was right. He knew what kind of family he came from. The Malfoys had always been close to evil things and people. 'What if I am just like every other person in my family?' Draco had asked himself. He didn't have an answer for his question. So he stood there watching her read, watching her fall into the book, watching her fall away from the evils of the world. He watched her long graceful fingers play with the pages. He watched her soft hair brush her neck. He loved everything about her. He slowly made his way out of the shadows and towards her. When he made it half way to her she looked up and saw him. Her eyes became icy orbs that bore into him. He felt an awful shiver go down his spine. He knew that it was going to harder then he originally thought. He made the rest of the way to her table slowly. But her eyes remained fixed to him, they remained cold. He felt like those amber orbs were boring into his very soul.
"Hermione?" He asked her slowly.
"Malfoy I had an awful day." She whispered to him, her voice was like poison thorns. "I will not go to Dumbledore if you just walk away now."
"Please Hermione," He pleaded with her, "Ginny lied she set me, us up. She has gone insane."
"Malfoy stop it!" Hermione said as he stood up, "How dare you? Forget get the rules you will pay for what you done." Draco felt his heart freeze at the look of hate in her eyes. He backed away a few steps as Hermione grabbed her things and swept out of the library. He felt tears flowing down his face. He knew that the girl he fell in love with was becoming lost. He also knew that he had to talk to Snape.
* * *
Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Harry was meeting her a little bit. She had been crying the whole hour she had been here. Luckily for her it was a Hogsmeade weekend and nobody was here. She truly couldn't hate Draco. She remembered her hate earlier and how it made her feel and the whole thing about trying to kill Lex. It really scared her that she could get that angry. Plus she had been watching Ginny and things did seem a bit weird about her. She knew that she cared about Draco and maybe really loved him but she also loved Harry. She thought that Harry and she belonged together. When Draco told her he wanted her to have his children she felt weird. Plus, she could never picture that. On the other hand she could picture her and Harry's wedding. She was honest with herself and she could see herself spending the rest of her life with Harry.
"Hermione are you here?" Harry asked as he walked into the room.
"Yea, Harry I am here." Hermione said and hoped her eyes were dry.
"How are you feeling?" Harry asked as he sat down next to her. Hermione scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her head.
"I am not sure Harry." She sighed as Harry kissed the top of her head. Harry gently placed soft, sweet kisses on top of her head and stroked her hair and Hermione found herself falling asleep in his arms.
* * *
Draco walked quickly down to Snape's office. When he got there he knocked on the door. The door opened rather quickly to reveal Snape.
"Mr. Malfoy what can I help you with?" Snape said while stepping aside to let him in.
"Sir, it is Hermione," Draco said as he sat down in front of Snape's desk, "She seems angry, I mean very angry. There was so much hate in her eyes."
"He is getting to her," Snape said with a long sigh and a slight edge in his voice.
"Sir?" Draco asked. Snape had already stood up and was pacing the room.
"That means he is going to strike soon." Snape mumbled mostly to himself.
"Professor Snape are you alright?" Draco asked him. Snape stopped and quickly turned and faced Draco.
"Mr. Malfoy please go back to your dorms." He said but his voice didn't contain the venom it usually had. Draco didn't say anything as he got up and left. He knew something was up. He also knew that he missed Hermione very much.
* * *
Hermione had gone up to wash up after she had woken up. Harry was waiting for her downstairs; they were going to sneak down to the kitchens to get some snacks and drinks. Hermione was coming down the steps when Ginny walked into the common room for some reason she stayed where she was and watched.
"Hey, Ginny!" Harry greeted her.
"Hey Harry," Ginny said, "Have you seen Hermione?"
"Yea, we were napping and just woke up," Harry said, "She went upstairs to wash away the sleep."
"You two were napping, together?" Ginny asked carefully.
"Hermione was venting stuff to me Ginny," Harry said, "Did you get a letter from Ron? I can't believe he wanted to do the student exchange program." Ginny slowly made her way over to Harry and sat down next to him. Then she suddenly grabbed him and kissed him. She pulled him down on top of her as she lay down on the couch. Hermione decided to make her appearance at this time. She came noisily down the rest of the steps and into the common room; at that point Ginny pushed Harry way and slapped him.
"What the hell are you doing Harry?" Ginny said with tears in her eyes. Hermione nearly laughed out loud at this. "I've told you I do not like you like that." Harry looked totally shocked his eyes wide looking from Ginny to Hermione. Hermione finally saw the smugness behind the tears.
"Funny Ginny you kind-of looked like you wanted him when dragged him into the kiss." Hermione said calmly and suddenly Ginny didn't seem so smug. "There is also no hot chocolate lace with lust potion for me to sniff. I have to remind myself to apologize to Draco. Why Ginny? Why? I was your best friend. Why would you do that?" Ginny stood up a bit of disbelief in her eyes.
"Malfoy would have hurt you eventually," Ginny said and the looked over at Harry with disgust in her eyes, "And him he played so many games with your heart, going out with Cho and such. But, I loved you before either of them. I love you even before I knew what love was. When I found out about your "parents" and "brother" I knew I failed you. I should have known about them, I should have protected you. But I didn't. So I am making sure no one else hurts you. I love you and want us to be together forever." Harry was very shocked and very worried. While Hermione realized that Draco was wrong when he said Ginny was insane. Ginny, Hermione realized, was homicidal. Harry reached for his wand.
"Ginny..." Harry trailed off when he couldn't find it.
"I took you wands, hid them." Ginny said as she raised her wand at Harry. "Hermione, love, I am going to have to make you forget all this. I don't want you to be mad at me." Hermione stared at her and knew she had to stop her from hurting Harry and herself. Hermione raised her right hand and Ginny's wand flew to her. Ginny was shocked at her wand was pulled out of her hand magically by Hermione. Ginny had no idea Hermione knew how to do wandless magick. Harry knew that Hermione could do wandless magic and took advantage and tackled Ginny. Ginny shrieked and kicked Harry in the stomach which caused him to roll off of her. By this time Hermione had pocketed Ginny's wand and then cast a stunning spell on her. Hermione went over and helped Harry up off the floor and then she flooed Dumbledore.
* * *
Ginny had been taken to the hospital wing, after everything had been explained. Molly and Arthur Weasley were going to be contacted. Most likely Ginny would be transfer to St. Mungo's for treatment. Dumbledore believed here ability to ignore good and evil was a side effect of what happened in her first year at Hogwarts. Hermione decide that she had to apologize to Draco tomorrow and have a long talk with him. Hermione had left Harry in the common room to finish up with Dumbledore and went straight to bed and fell right to sleep. Even though it was only 6:30 at night and she had missed dinner.
* * *
Hermione was fast asleep in her bed the curtains drawn around her bed. She hadn't bothered to change her clothes and the sheets were tangled around her body. Just then she felt someone shaking her awake. He opened her eyes and found Harry staring down at her panic in his bright emerald green eyes.
"Harry what is going on?" Hermione asked she was completely awake at the look in his eyes.
"Voldemort is attacking Hogwarts!" Harry said as Hermione jumped out of bed. She grabbed her wand, even though she really didn't need it. Madam Hooch was in the common room gathering the younger students. The older students were leaving, to meet the other teacher; Harry had explained to Hermione. They met the teachers right outside the main door of Hogwarts. The cold bitter winter wind reached them through their cloaks even with warming spell. They saw as Death Eaters approached Hogwarts' main gates. The students looked very scared but they tried not to show it. Hermione found Draco and he looked up at her. She mouthed to him 'I am sorry.' He smiled gently smiled at her and his eyes told her that she was forgiven. She felt Harry take her hand and give it a squeeze. She turned to Harry then back toward Draco to see the hurt in his eyes. She looked him trying to say that she still cared for him. He looked like he understood her. But they both knew that needed to have a long talk that is if they both survived the night.
They had staring moving toward the Death Eaters so they could meet them outside Hogwarts' gates. Hermione saw Snape and Remus watching her and trying to not look like they were. She pay them no mind, she had too much else to worry about. As soon as the gates closed the battle began. Hermione saw, even though all kind of spells flying all around, Aurors appearing on the battle field. Soon she and Harry were separated in the battle. She cast curses on the Death Eaters and stopped to see if she could help the fallen people of her side. Soon the curses got so bad that she couldn't tell if the fallen people were on the good or bad side. Hermione felt hot tears spilling down her face as she found the body of her friend Abby. Her long beautiful curly black hair spread out under her head like a dark halo and her dark blue eyes stared blankly at the sky. In vain Hermione knelt down and checked her pulse and it proved what she already knew, that Abby was dead. Hermione gently closed her eye and kissed her friend on her soft, smooth, cooling cheek. Then she got up and moved on a new passion as she cursed the Death Eaters. Soon she came she saw Professor Dumbledore laying on the ground Madam Pomfrey casting healing spells on him. Hermione ran up to them,
"Professor!" She cried. Dumbledore smiled at her the twinkle still in his eyes.
"He is going to be okay, Miss Granger." She said.
"Harry..." Dumbledore said and pointed off to the distance. Hermione was up and gone before he could finish. She ran at top speed as spells burst all around her. But as she reached a clearing she realized that she was too late. Harry was lying on the ground his body surrounded by a soft fading green light. Voldemort's wand still smoking. He looked up at her with his snake-like face and smiled. He slightly bowed to her.
"Welcome my dear, grand-daughter, come share in my victory." He said in a smooth voice. Hermione realized what Snape had been trying to tell her about Voldemort before. Suddenly she felt a presence around her, it smelled like wild flowers. She felt a new strength form inside her. She knew something that Voldemort didn't know. She was both the heir of Slytherin and Gryffindor. She walked towards Voldemort, her grandfather, not as 'just Hermione' but with the heart of a lioness.
