Disclaimer- all the characters you recognize are Miss Rowling's. (Who else could invent such beautiful and lively characters?)
CLOSE TO MY HEART
CHAPTER 5
THE SHADOW OF DEATH
"No…no this can't be. Ginny is safe. Nothing can happen to Ginny. Voldemort, he can't take Ginny." Ron was nearly shouting.
Hermione, in an attempt to calm him down said soothingly, "Ron, I'm sure she is fine. Nothing will happen to her. Ron, please, Ron." But her voice quavered and she was unable to stop her tears.
He held her close and looked at Harry who had been silent all this time due the shock.
"Where the heck is this Spinner's End?" He asked.
Harry scratched his head, and at last said, "I've heard the name somewhere, but I just can't place it. Got it! Diggle mentioned it in class. It used to be a graveyard having a unique variety of Nifflers, which went for bones, not metals; but now people don't go there."
"Do you know how to get there?"
"Knockturn Alley. We have to get there fast. Hermione, we will have to apparate. Are you sure you can manage?"
With tears on her face, Hermione nodded a yes.
They took out their wands and with a crack sound, vanished.
The nasty, forbidding, yet familiar smell of Knockturn Alley greeted Harry.
"This is the place." He said. "Now, it has to be somewhere here. Maybe here." He said, pointing to a dark corridor where the first shop held on display the skeleton of a man laughing maliciously and drinking blood.
Looking at it, Hermione exclaimed "Ugh!"
Ron comforted her and held her closer and said, "Can't we apparate to this damned place?"
Harry managed a weak smile and said, "Sorry mate, you can't. The Death Eaters have sealed the whole place. No one except people having the Dark Mark can apparate from there. Yes, this is it. Three right, nine up." Harry said, counting the bricks in the wall. He tapped the one he had chosen twice, but nothing happened.
Suddenly Hermione said, "Wait! I know. Diggle mentioned this sometime." She took out her wand and went to the wall. She drew a cross on the brick and muttered an incantation.
Almost instantly, the wall gave way to a huge graveyard. Unsure of what to do next, they started walking towards the graves.
But they were surprised a highly familiar babyish voice that said mockingly, "Ooh, Potter is here. His friends have also come. You received our invitation? Oh poor Ginny! You want to save her? There she is!"
Harry couldn't take it anymore. The woman who had killed the only person he had in this world was standing in front of him. "Bellatrix Lestrange, you killed Sirius, I'm going to kill you."
"Ooh Potter got angry. Anyway, thank you so much for reminding me that awesome moment. The pleasure I got by killing that blood-traitor cousin of mine!"
"You are insane." Hermione said through clenched teeth. "You killed the closest thing to a parent he ever had. You destroyed his life. You have that pure-blood mania, right? And you support that half-blood devil you call Voldemort?"
"Do not use the Dark Lord's name." Bellatrix hissed. "You mudblood! What do you know about him?"
"I know enough to say that all of you are crazy, insane, diabolical creatures. How can you have fun while killing all those innocent people? What exactly is it that you want? Power? Immortality? Strength? Ah. Your beloved creep, the ever famous Dark Lord himself is a half-blood. You call yourself Death-Eaters, right? Nasty name for even nastier people. Life is a gift. No man has got the right to terminate it."
"The Dark Lord is not a man. He is much, much more than a man. And you, Granger, shut your mudblood mouth. The Dark Lord doesn't think twice about killing mudbloods."
It was evident that Bellatrix was very angry.
At that moment a familiar face appeared out of nowhere.
"Professor Diggle!" Hermione was plainly surprised. "Sir, sir, Bellatrix Lestrange,-she killed Sirius. But sir, you, and here? The Order is here? This woman is mad!" Hermione couldn't speak.
But Diggle just said, "Relax Hermione."
Then, turning to Bellatrix he continued, "Bella, the Dark Lord wishes to see you. I'll get Harry Potter and his friends."
Bellatrix smiled at him and made her way to the other end of the graveyard.
The trio was shocked to see that their own Defence Against Dark Arts teacher, a member of the Order, a person they trusted could be in league with Voldemort.
With a malicious laugh, he said, "Didn't expect me to be here, did you? I'm amazed at your intelligence Hermione. I told you about Spinner's End and where it is. All that was for a specific purpose. All that was for the Dark Lord. I have been working for him all this time, as a spy. He was able to give me whatever I wanted, unlike your Dumbledore. It was me who sent you that interoffice memo saying that Ginny was with the Dark Lord. Don't think that it was just a trick to lure you here. She is here, awaiting her death. But before that, we have something special planned for you."
Hearing this, Ron shouted at him, "No, you will NOT hurt Ginny."
Laughing at Ron's outburst, he said, "The ultimate decision lies with the Dark Lord. Now, for that special something, you will have to come with me."
Not having any other option, they quietly followed him. He led them to a large plain area where Voldemort was standing with his back to them.
Bowing low, Diggle said, "Master, they are here."
And Voldemort turned. His face was partly covered by a hood, but his deathly white colour, scarlet eye-slits and twitching smile were very clear.
"Harry, Harry so nice to see you again. Dedalus has very graciously told me the contents of the prophesy, and I'm so glad to know that only one of us will survive. But anyway, I'm too bored of you Harry. Today let's see how Ron fights me to get his sister. This will be a proper wizard duel. If you win, you get your sister back and I turn to Harry. If you lose, well you lose everything." He finished with a small laugh.
"So come Ron, in the centre. I don't need a second. However, you may have one. Granger, how about it?" he asked Hermione.
"I will be his second. But I warn you Voldemort, you will not win this battle."
Hearing Hermione's words, a few Death Eaters laughed. But Voldemort did not take any heed. Determined not to show how scared they were, Ron and Hermione walked together to the centre of a circle, which the Death Eaters had made.
When they were positioned right in front of Voldemort, he said, "Now, we bow to each other. Voldemort gave a very small bow. Ron was determined not to bend, but Voldemort raised that phoenix feather wand and gave it a small swish and Ron felt an invisible hand pressing his back.
As soon as the hand released him, Voldemort yelled, "Incendio!" Ron's sleeves had caught fire.
Hermione could not hide her tears. The boy she loved the most was fighting against the most powerful Dark wizard of all time. She only wished to take Ron away, to save him from the jaws of death, to save him from Lord Voldemort. But she couldn't do anything. The whole of the wizarding community was at stake. What could she choose-Ron or a million innocent wizards?
By then Ron was dueling furiously. Suddenly Voldemort shouted, "Crucio!"
The pain of seeing Ron in pain was unbearable for Hermione. She forgot all her fears all stormed straight to where Voldemort was standing.
"You-" she began, but was cut off by Voldemort, who said in an icy tone, "Wait Granger, your chance will also come, but after him."
"You will not kill him! Why don't you kill me instead? Let him live." She screamed. Then trying to calm herself down, she continued, "Look, he is a pureblood, right? And I'm a muggle-born. Kill me!" She yelled.
"Old magic, eh? Love? Your muggle-loving fool Dumbledore thinks that this is going to work. No, Granger. Only one life will be taken today, that of Ginerva Weasley." He ended in a hollow laugh.
Ron was horrified to hear this. Harry was stunned and couldn't do anything about it. Hermione was too shocked to even respond.
Seeing their faces, Voldemort laughed once more and turned to Lucious Malfoy.
"Lucious, would you like to take the privilege?"
"Oh yes master, of course. It would be such a pleasure."
With that he lifted his wand. Ginny started screaming frantically. Harry was still unconscious. Ron was also getting hysterical. Hermione was trying to console him but she too couldn't hold back her tears.
But Lucious did not care about the plight of these young people. He did not care about the fact that Ginny was just sixteen. She had a whole life to live, to enjoy, to love…
He did not care that a seventeen-year old boy was losing his only sister; a mother was losing her only daughter. The Weasley family would now be minus Ginny, minus all the happiness Ginny was, minus the youngest and most-loved family member.
No, Lucious was a man made of steel, with a heart of stone. He was ready to give his own son for Lord Voldemort, then what was Ginny to him?
He lifted his wand high and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" There was a flash of green light and then there was nothing more. No Ginny's cackles of laughter, no Ginny's sweet smile, no…no Ginny.
Ron fell down to his knees and started crying uncontrollably. Hermione was no better, but she resolved to keep herself strong. Slowly she moved over to Harry and pointed her wand at his throat. In hushed tones, she said, "Ennervate!" Harry opened his eyes and began to say something.
Suddenly all the Death Eaters started disapparating and a hush fell over the entire Spinner's end. From the distance, the trio saw Professor Dumbledore leading the Order members. His blue eyes did not have any emotion, except that of hatred. He seemed to be irradiating some powerful energy. Fire seemed to be coming out of his eyes.
He looked at the trio's broke condition and said, "Harry, brace yourself for the war. Now our lives are not important. It's you who has to live. Everything is in your hands. Detach yourself from the whole world. You mother died to save you. You have to live for her. Harry, your friends are always there with you. Many will perish in this war, and still more will be destroyed, however, I must tell you that this is just the beginning. They went to their extreme limit. Now is our turn. I DECLARE THE WAR."