And voila! Yet another chapter in this ever growing story. Hope you like this one.
Yes, I do have a thing for duels and big fights... I'm a guy, what do you expect? lol
Jarodparker82: Yes, unfortunately my latest chapters have been kinda short. I'm sorry for that, I like to read/write long chapters too... And the pink flamingos were just something that popped into my mind. Don't worry, they'll be back :)
dbzgtfan2004: Thank you for coming by! Please continue doing so! I will continue writing this story too. And of course, Harry/Hermione 4ever:)
CrazyPoet: I'm glad you liked it! Hope to see you around more often :) Unfortunately, this story hasn't been getting that much reviews... dunno why, but anyway, things will get better... I hope... lol
Cheers! (and enjoy!)
Hermione walked aimlessly around the trees of Hogwarts' grounds under the star filled night. The moon was no where in sight and a slight breeze roamed through the mountains, making it wonderful conditions for a little midnight walk. The lake was a calm pool of dark silver waters, and the great castle of Hogwarts was a beacon lit against the horizon. A big rock right by the lake invited her to sit down and relax a little after all the events of the last weeks, and so Hermione took her shoes and her socks off and sat down, dipping her feet into the water. Although the lake had icy cold water, it was actually quite relaxing once she got used to the temperature. She sat there for Merlin knows how long, gazing the amazing collection of stars the night had decided to show.
And then, suddenly, something wasn't quite right. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was, but when she found out she screamed with all her lungs. She yanked her foot away from what seemed to be a tentacle wrapped around it and fell backwards to the grass behind her. Forgetting her shoes and socks she ran away, not even bothering to look where she was heading. All that mattered was to get away from the tentacle that had tried to grab her for God knows what purpose.
Had the giant squid suddenly turned its killing mode on?
No, it couldn't be. The squid wouldn't hurt a fly!
Well, depending on the fly, really… but no, it wouldn't harm a student!
Being busy with her own thoughts while still running away like mad could only mean one thing.
Hermione tried to get on her feet but her head ached so bad it made her dizzy. How did that tree suddenly get in the way? Not really able to get up, Hermione crawled away from the scene. However, she didn't make it two meters before the light breeze turned into a freezing cold wind. The perfect night had turned into a horror movie scenario.
"My my my… what have we got here?" said a voice from behind her, one she knew too well.
"M-M-Malfoy?" She turned around to see the blond boy, looking alive and very healthy. He wasn't wearing Hogwarts robes anymore, and had a dark cloak around him instead. "This can't be!" Her heart pounded vigorously against her chest and she felt like her stomach was trying to push everything she had eaten the day before up the way it had entered.
"Well, turn me into a penguin and make me do the twist with a rose in my beak! If it isn't good ol' mudblood Granger" he said, dripping sarcasm with every word.
"Don't call her that!"
Hermione turned around and watched as a very confident Ron walked towards the little ferret of a boy, his wand ready and aimed to blast him into oblivion.
"Ron?" Hermione said, a little hope crawling back into her soul, although she couldn't believe what her eyes were making her see.
"Don't worry, Hermione, everything will be fine" he said, without taking his eyes off his opponent.
Malfoy kept on his trademark smirk and didn't flinch, even when Ron was just a few feet away from him, pointing his wand square at his chest. "Weasel, how good to see you again. How's everything?"
"Shut up, ferret" Ron let out a smug smile, probably remembering the day when a supposed professor Moody turned Malfoy into a white ferret.
"Oh, and I suppose if I don't shut up, you'll make me?"
"You bet" came Ron's answer.
Hermione had never seen Ron with such confidence in himself. He wasn't even shaking from holding his wand against Draco Malfoy at an arm's distance. "But… This can't be."
Both boys turned to her, Malfoy still smirking, and Ron still holding his wand with a very firm grasp.
Hermione started shaking with fear. "You…" she turned to Draco "You're dead."
Draco's eyebrows shot up ever so slightly. He pinched himself in the arm and faked pain. "Well, it seems to me I'm very well alive…" He eyed a little stone laying right in front of him "Alive and kicking!" He kicked the stone and it hit Ron too close to his groin for comfort. Taking advantage of his adversary's moment of confusion, he jumped out of sight behind one of the bushes that surrounded them.
Ron, however, didn't move after his opponent. He just stood there, at Hermione's side, his wand lowered. "Come on, Malfoy. Can't you fight like a man? Are you too coward to face me all by yourself?"
"Don't tempt me, Weasley, I might just do that. If I were you I wouldn't want to make me get out of my hiding place to start a duel" came Malfoy's response in mock seriousness.
"Try me."
Silence ensued Ron's challenge. However, after some moments considering his options, Draco Malfoy came back into sight, holding his wand. "You are going to regret this, oh King Weasel."
Ron snorted. "I'd be more careful if I were you."
"You are the one who needs to watch out. You can still run away if you want to. There's no point in me dueling someone who hasn't got the skill to rise up to the challenge… I'd beat you with my eyes closed and my arms tied behind my back."
"We can arrange that if you want."
Hermione watched as the two boys kept dueling each other with words. She wanted to get up and stand between them. She wanted to curse Malfoy. She wanted to run away as fast as she could. She wanted it all to vanish. But destiny, it seemed, had different plans for her. Like a poison, her whole body felt numb, and she couldn't move. All she could do was to watch helplessly as Ron took Malfoy in a duel, and the odds weren't very favorable to her best friend.
"Rictusempra!" shouted Ron.
"Incendio!" shouted Malfoy.
Both spells went terribly wide from their targets as both boys dived away from them.
Ron got up faster than Malfoy and attacked first. "Locomotor mortis!"
Malfoy got down and ducked the spell. He quickly regained his position and before Ron could cast another spell he countered with ferocity. "Diffindo!"
Ron was prepared for it and shouted "Protego!" before Malfoy's spell could do any harm. He got up and faced him.
Both boys lowered their wands, each one as if daring their opponent to try an attack.
"I must say, Weasel, you have improved on your dueling skills. I might enjoy a little fight with you after all."
"You'll see that I'm full of surprises."
"Too bad it won't be enough. Reducto!"
Ron barely escaped this time, the spell missing him by a hair's lenght. However he rolled to the side and, down on one knee, yelled "Petrificus totalus!"
Malfoy conjured a protection shiled which engulfed the spell. "Well, it seems I will have to use my special technique to take you down."
What was once Malfoy started to change and a black cloud engulfed him until it covered him up, making it impossible to see his transformation. However, when it faded, Voldemort himself appeared. The Dark Lord took a few steps in Ron's direction and looked at his body, evaluating the success of his transformation.
Hermione muffled a scream and even Ron, who was acting more confidently than ever, gulped. Indeed, it had been a very successful transformation. Every living creature capable of locomotion within a fifty foot radius ran away, except for the three wizards. A cold wind blew through the leaves, and darkness seemed to turn darker at every passing second. Voldemort seemed to have an aura of power irradiating from him, giving a dark silver light that made him even more terrifying.
The Dark Lord let out a cold laugh. "So, you think you can take me down now?"
"Victory will be mine, no matter what it takes… and who it takes" Ron said through clenched teeth, barely managing to hide his seemingly newfound fear.
"A bold claim, indeed. You are braver than I expected. However, the line that separates bravery from madness is very thin and you, my red haired opponent, have just crossed it." Voldemort raised his hand and Ron's wand came flying to it. He picked it and snapped it in half as if it were merely a twig. "Now, time to say goodbye." He conjured a hurl of wind which knocked Ron down and threw him against a nearby tree.
Hermione tried to grab a stone but still found it impossible to move. She was destined to watch Ron suffer and die at the hands of the most abominable wizard of all times. At least she realized she couldn't move because she had the Petrificus Totalus spell cast on her.
But who could have done it?
"I see you have finally found out what happened" came a voice from behind her, as if reading her mind.
"Malfoy" she spoke.
"Yes… in the flesh" Nicholas Malfoy said, coming into her field of sight.
Hermione saw him picking her head up and making her watch as Voldemort halted to a stop just before Ron's unconscious body, and aimed his wand at it.
And then it all happened, as quickly as thunder. In one moment hope seemed lost, in the next there was a huge battle being fought, with Dumbledore and the members of the Order of the Phoenix battling Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Everyone fell to the ground, dead or severely injured, until there were only two people left fighting: Dumbledore and Voldemort. However, who imagined a big fight between them couldn't have been more disappointed, as Voldemort vanished in a cloud of black smoke, momentarily hiding him and Dumbledore from the world. As soon as the cloud evaporated into thin air, only Dumbledore stood, his wand still aimed at the place where Voldemort had been standing just seconds before.
Hermione felt the spell cast on her diminishing until it ceased to manifest itself in a matter of seconds, and ran as fast as her somewhat numb legs permitted. She approached Dumbledore, who hadn't moved an inch, and looked around. Everyone was already dead. She couldn't care less about the dozens of Death Eaters spread out before her, but it hurt very much to see McGonagall, Ron, Tonks, Lupin, Charlie, Bill, Kingsley Shacklebolt and even Snape laying on the ground, deceased. Several tears flowed freely down her cheeks, and she could only find some kind of solace knowing Dumbledore was still there and that Harry hadn't showed up, which meant that at least he hadn't been killed by the Death Eaters. She grabbed one of Dumbledore's arms and clinged to his robes as if they were her last hope of survival, crying for some minutes before realizing the man hadn't moved yet. She took a few steps back and noticed he was in some kind of trance.
"Professor?" she called, keeping a safe distance just in case.
Dumbledore did not respond. He had literally become a statue.
Hermione started backing slowly, scared that a sudden move could wake a demon inside him. She was almost going to start moving away faster when Dumbledore blinked and moved. Hermione stopped and unconsciously held her breath.
"Hermione" he said.
He was almost surprised to see her, but regained his usual cool pose in a matter of nanoseconds. However, something unusual stroke Hermione. His eyes were no longer blue. They were red, like burning pits of fire. She started backing away again, but this time Dumbledore started chasing her. She turned around and ran away as fast as she could, Dumbledore chasing her close behind.
"Hermione" he called after her, but she chose to ignore it.
The chase ended quickly, though, as Hermione tripped on a tree root that had suddenly shot up. Dumbledore reached her before she could charge away and grabbed her neck with one hand, while the other grasped his wand. Hermione tried to kick him and inflict as much damage to him as she could, but she found it impossible to resist his firm grasp over her neck. Tired from resisting, she took one last look into his fiery red eyes before starting to choke and gasp as life slipped from her in an agonizingly slow way.
This was the end…
"Hermione! Wake up!"
Hermione woke up with a start, only to find out that she had two pairs of eyes watching her with concern.
"We've been trying to wake you up for the last two minutes" said Lavender Brown, who sat at Hermione's bedside.
Hermione sat up straight in bed and looked at Lavender and Parvati, still slightly dizzy from her dream. The girls' dorm had all the windows open, letting a cool autumn breeze in. "Wh-what time is it?"
"Nine o'clock, but it's Sunday so there's no problem" answered Parvati "although, I have to admit, we were starting to get worried about you."
"Why?"
"You're a very light sleeper but today it took us quite a good amount of time to wake you up. You're usually the early bird around here and today it's already nine and you're still in bed. You've been the last days away in the Hospital Wing and we didn't know anything about you. Anything else we might be worried about you?" said Lavender ironically, though she had a smile on her lips.
"Besides, you were doing something very unusual" said Parvati.
Hermione shot her eyebrows up. She had seen Parvati wrestling her sheets and Lavender slapping the air so many times during their sleep she had lost count. What could be so unusual about her?
Lavender, as if reading her mind, answered her unverbalized question "You were mumbling incoherent things, squirming like a bug and moving your arms like mad."
"Squirming? Moving my arms like mad?"
"You were almost starting to fly, honey" Parvati stated.
Only then the bushy haired brunette noticed her bed was a total mess. Her pillow wasn't even there, laying silently on Lavender's lap instead.
"Oh, you woke me up with that just a few minutes ago," she said, giving the pillow back to its owner "and that's when I decided we had to wake you up."
"Are you okay? I mean, you came herelast nightand you've slept until now, always making strange noises and gestures. You just couldn't be quiet for five minutes" Parvati looked at Hermione concerned.
Hermione had had her mouth slightly agape during the whole explanation, but had enough presence of mind to close before any of the other girls noticed it. This was new, Parvati and Lavender being the good samaritans to her. It was unusual, but… good. "Uhm… it was just a bad dream. Nothing more to it" She couldn't be more relieved about it. "Just one thing… why all this?"
"All this what?" asked Parvati.
"Don't get me wrong, I kinda like it, but… why all this concern about me all of a sudden? I don't seem to recall you ever being so worried about me before."
Lavender and Parvati exchanged glances and sighed at the same time.
"During the big fight… we saw things we had never even imagined. It was awful." Lavender dropped her somewhat light tone to a deep, shadowy one. "Then you went missing in action. We just knew you were in the Hospital Wing during our first Transfiguration class. We hoped you would get well soon, but almost three weeks passed without you ever coming back. Our dorm became suddenly very empty. We… missed you" she ended with an awkward smile.
Hermione knew it wasn't very easy for Lavender to confess that much sympathy for her, ever the nerdy bookworm at the eyes of her female coleagues. "Well… I kinda missed you too…" she said, half smiling.
That seemed to ease the girls a little.
"So… what happened to you, stranger?" Parvati asked, eager to hear everything. She didn't notice a pink flamingo flying by their window, carrying a pair of trousers on its beak, trying to escape from someone in knickers who chased it on a broom whilescreaming profanities.
Hermione sighed heavily and for the next hour just sat there, telling them the story, careful not to let them know the most important details about Harry and the Order.
It felt good to relax a little bit after everything she had been through, but she knew that sooner or later she would have to worry about Harry.
