Title: An Inevitable Fate
Chapter Twenty One: Powerless?
Author: KissThis
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Rating: R - maybe later...if I feel like it.
Pairing: She still remembers him
Setting: 6th year in Hogwarts.
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Disclaimer: I don't know why they make us put these up. If I put one on the first chapterthen it should count all the way through. Though if you steal MY stuff [ie: the plot] I'll want to murder your friends and family and leave you strung up in some remote cornfield, but I'll remember to say to myself: "What would Jesus Do?" So I'd set you on fire and send you to hell. :-D
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A/N: Yay! I'm SO excited. I know the last chapter may have been a bit confusing, but hopefully it'll all get cleared up in this chapter.
Hermione groaned. Rolling onto her back she groggily rubbed at her eyes and opened them. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach and she blinked her eyes several times experimentally. Nothing. Tentatively, she reached up to feel if her eyes were indeed open. They were. Her stomach dropped.
Unfaltering darkness surrounded her naked form.
She forced her disoriented mind to remember how she'd gotten to this empty place. She sat up and rested her forehead upon her drawn up knees; her breathing ragged. She remember training, and Postvorta, and --
She swallowed slowly.
Hope.
She was here because of Hope.
She'd asked the primeval force to rise up. She'd wanted to train with her newly awoken powers so she'd be ready to call upon them for the final battle. But Hope had had other ideas. She remembered it now...the takeover.
The instant the orb had exploded over her hands she had known something was wrong -- terribly wrong. But she had already surrendered herself to the power. She was powerless to stop it. All she was able to do was to watch as the energy coated her body, and then feel the overwhelming helplessness as her body was taken from her.
Hope had spread throughout her body, conquering her as the wild fires conquered the dry plains and pushing her out of the way. She had lost herself and then awoken here.
She was then trapped in the farthest corner of her own mind, forced to spend the next eternity in a dark and inescapable prison. Despair took her. Curling up into a small ball she tried to bring comfort to herself, but failed. She wept.
"Now give me back my friend."
Hermione lifted her tear-stained face from her knees and looked around into the darkness. Uncoiling her body she slowly lifted herself onto her feet. She turned around jerkily and shivering.
"Harry?" She whimpered and wrapped her arms about herself.
"She is powerless to stop the coming battle." Hope said.
Harry dropped Her arm and pushed Her away from him. "Whether you think that or not, it doesn't matter. What should matter to you is the principle you have broken. You've taken something that isn't yours to take...and you must return it!"
"I don't take orders from humans."
"Then you better start."
"Don't threaten me. You're wasting your breath."
"Then enough talk." Harry's wan was out in a flash. With a steady hand he pointed it straight at Hope's heart.
Hermione flung herself towards the source of Harry's voice and rebounded off a solid wall. Falling back, she slid backwards across the floor on her side. Sitting up she wiped the tearstains from her face before struggling back to her feet. Arms outstretched she walked slowly back in the direction she'd come from. After a few steps her hand connected with the wall. She pressed her ear to it.
"Harry?"
There was only silence. His voice had faded away.
Despair filled her again and for a moment she doubted that she had truly been hearing his voice. No...that couldn't be true. She couldn't really be alone!
Tears, now of anger, poured down her cheeks and she bent her will upon the wall of her cage. Ferociously, she began clawing at the darkness, screaming and crying in frustration. She banged her fists and her prison shook.
"Harry!" She screamed.
With all her strength and might she fought to chip away the darkness. Her nails splintered and her fingers began to bleed, but she never slowed her relentless attack upon the wall.
She had to get out...
Hope's eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out.
Hermione screamed again, banging harder and harder. The wall was starting to form spidery, thin cracks that glowed white across the background of black. Bits were chipping off and clattering to the floor; pooling around her feet. Her power was draining.
"You can't do this to me, Hope! You can't keep me here!" She howled into the shadow.
With one last enraged scream she leapt back at the wall and punched straight through it. Light burst through the fist-sized opening, blanketing Hermione's slumped form in it's blinding warmth. Unable to move, she lay half-leaning against the beaten wall; struggling just to breathe.
In and out, in, out...she repeated to herself over and over again, as if thinking it would re-energize her lungs and spur them on. A numbness was beginning to spread through her legs and she was already seeing white spots dancing across her vision.
One of Hope's eyes was twitching sporadically, and She was struggling to recover Her voice. Postvorta appeared -- wraithlike -- out of the mists and glided slowly about Harry's shocked form.
"This...c-can't...urgh!" Hope groaned and lifted a hand to Her temple.
"What's happening to Her, Postvorta?" Harry asked quietly.
Her head appeared beside his ear. "It seems our beloved Hermione has awoken." Harry flushed, but Postvorta had turned to face the struggling Hope. "...And she's fighting back."
Hope was clutching at Her eye as She stumbled forward. She grabbed Postvorta by the throat and pulled her up off the ground. "Look what she's done to my perfect face!" She shouted.
She let Her hand fall away and Harry recoiled in shock. The glow had dimmed and the whites had returned to Her eyes, but the irises were now flickering violently from one color to the next. One pink and the other green; now blue and brown. It was nauseating to look at and Harry had to avert his eyes to keep from vomiting.
Hope's grip on Postvorta tightened and She shook the nymph like a limp rag doll growling fiercely into the blank face. Postvorta simply stared back down at her attacker and blinked her eyes. "I don't breathe."
Hope's sad face twitched. Then She was no longer clutching to the nymph's neck. Postvorta slid liquidly through Hope's arm and floated back several feet to hover next to Harry once again. She reached out a watery arm, and in only the second violent display Harry had seen her commit, blasted out a churning ring of water; wrapping it tightly about Hope's neck.
"It's time for you to go." Postvorta said quietly.
Hope's rapidly changing eyes narrowed. "I don't breathe, either."
Postvorta's fingers snapped and the ring disappeared. "Fairs fair. However, I cannot allow you to damage Hermione's body."
"This body was destined to be mine!" She screeched. "--And I will not give it up!"
Harry took a step towards her. "Hermione?"
"Hermione?"
Hermione struggled to open her eyes. "Harry." She moaned. She hadn't imagined it. His voice was real.
"Hermione, can you hear me?"
Her mouth strained to voice the words to reply. She was so empty -- all of her energy had gone to that last ditch effort to break free, and she had failed. She shuddered involuntarily and gave back in to the numbing sleep from which she'd been roused.
The world was now safe...she rationalized in her head and in light of such an immense greatness her sacrifice seemed of little consequence.
The light began to fade away, and without moving her head she looked up to see the broken wall slowly beginning to seal itself back up. It seemed suddenly very cold and the darkness was creeping back upon her. She cried out, self-piteously "I can hear you", but the silence stretched on.
A sudden golden light burst from between Hope's fingers, and when She drew Her hand away Her eye had returned to its previous state. The other continued to flip-flop between colors, making for a disconcerting contrast. A low and throaty chuckle left Her throat, and as if something had come and wiped it away, the innate sadness was gone.
"Don't you see?" She laughed, "Hermione is gone. She was infinitely insignificant compared to my part in way of the world. And now she's not coming back."
"You're wrong." Postvorta said softly.
"Oh am I? I don't think so," Hope looked down at Her new body and turned around a bit, "In fact..." She grinned wolfishly. "I like this body -- I think I just might keep it."
"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted so suddenly, both Postvorta and Hope jumped.
Hermione had almost lost herself, but the shouting had awoken her once again. Her lolled on her shoulders.
It's no use Harry...
"Damnit Hermione! You can't give up now!"
Too late.
"You must keep fighting."
"I can't get out. I'm not strong enough." Hope clapped Her hands over Her mouth, equally as shocked to hear Hermione's voice coming from it.
Postvorta leapt forward, as did Harry both staring intently at Her. Images from Harry's dream flashed in his mind.
"You're as strong as you believe you can be."
Hermione's eyes snapped open. He'd heard her. He'd heard her!
"The world needs you. We all need you; Ginny, Ron, me, Draco..."
"Draco..." She whispered, forcing her cracked lips to speak.
"You better be ready for this Hermione -- I believe in you." Then his wand was out and he had already launched a spell at Hope. The red energy hit Her square in the chest, and Her mouth dropped open. She gapped in shock at the Boy-Who-Lived.
"You kill me...and she's as good as dead." She said through gritted teeth. "I can always find another body. Can you say the same for your friend?"
"I think you're wrong."
Hermione had barely anytime to react before the red energy was crashing over her like crimson waves. It filled her small cell drowning her and seeping out the yet unfixed cracks in the wall. Instantly she realized what Harry was doing and surrendered herself to the magic.
It seemed into every pore of her body and swam through her veins from head to toe. Power filled her and her body re-energized. With powerful strokes she swam back to the bottom of her prison and with a mighty thrust buried her arm up to the shoulder into the black floor.
In her mind she saw the great swirling ball of energy deep in her body's stomach. It was so warm...she reached out with her mind and grabbed a hold of it. Scalding heat burned her hand spreading quickly up her arm. Then the pain stopped as the gathered energy joined with the magic from Harry's spell.
"I can change the magic -- I know I can."
"I can change the magic -- I know I can." Hope glared at Harry whose wand disappeared back into his sleeve. "What have you done?!"
Beneath Her still-flickering eye, silvery thin cracks appeared. Shimmering red energy began to slowly slip through the gashes and drip steadily down Her cheeks -- it looked like Her eye was bleeding.
Then She was doubled over, clutching at Her stomach.
"I've righted your wrong." He said quietly.
Soon all the red energy had been gathered inside her -- mixed with Hope's powers. Walking straight to the wall where she had started she stared at the hole that was struggling to close itself. She grabbed the edges of it and yanked it open larger.
Hope's eye began to flicker again with more cracks forming beneath and spilling forth the thick, red energy. She looked truly pathetic, having fallen to Her knees with magic bleeding from eyes She was no longer able to control, and Her dimmed blonde hair hanging in Her face.
"You've damned this world." Hope hissed, baring Her teeth.
"I can live with that." He told Her simply. "I made the choice."
She spat upon the ground. "Choice is an ill--"
Light exploded from Her open mouth, followed by fist.
Harry jumped away from Hope's crumbling body, truly frightened by what he was seeing.
"LET ME GO, BITCH!"
Another hand followed the first, and then impossibly, Hermione's head. With a grimace on her face the brunette fought the invisible power that was trying to pull her back and pulled her body from Hope's mouth.
Arms crossed over her bare chest, Hermione stood before Harry smiling. Ethereal and translucent she flickered in and out of his vision for a moment before she jumped backward into Hope's startled body and disappeared.
"Postvorta?"
"Watch."
Hope's body convulsed and began to shudder uncontrollably. The energy on Her cheeks hardened and then shattered, falling to the grass. Harry darted forward, but Postvorta held him back. He pushed her out of the way and fell to his knees beside Hope/Hermione. He pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth.
Her eyes closed, her hair darkened back into rich mahogany, and her dress faded back to black and then disappeared completely to be replaced by her outfit of red.
Her eyelids flickered open and she stared up at Harry with her rich honey eyes and smiled. "Thank you."
Harry smiled back and helped her to her feet.
"We'll talk about this later, right now we need to get the students to the safety of Hogwarts." She told him forcefully.
Harry was worried, " 'Mione?"
She gave a slight shiver, but it didn't go unnoticed by him, "I'll be fine. Let's go." Turning on her heel she started off towards the lake through fog that was already beginning to lift and dissipate.
He turned to Postvorta, "Keep and eye on her, Postvorta. I'm worried."
Postvorta glided forward, staring after Hermione's retreating form. "As am I. Dumbledore should be informed -- things are not going to plan."
HEY! OkI knowa bit shorter than last times, but Megs' been bugging me to get started on Stars and I must soah well. Plus I should probably get cruising on Revelations, which I've left sit for more than a month.
Review if you love me!
KissThis