She could not put her finger on exactly why, but Hermione felt like she was the one who was walking for her last meal after being put on death row. She moved past the guards, past the Dementors, and down to the final cell. The plea was in her hand, all they needed was Harry to agree with him. The alternative would be ghastly.
"In the end, you're here again," Harry remarked when she showed up. "In the end, you see your world crumbling down upon you. And you really think that you can prop it up, can't you?"
"What do you want Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Does it matter in the end what I want, I'm not the one who has destroyed their own civilization through their arrogance," Harry commented. He was almost tranquil. "I don't hold the Ministry responsible for what they had to do. I don't hold them responsible for putting me away. They did what they felt what they had to do."
Harry walked up to the edge of the cell. He stopped and smiled at Hermione.
"If you knew what they knew now, they would do it again," Harry whispered. "History has this nasty ability to repeat itself, constantly. The definition of madness is doing the same self-destructive thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. They expected an outcome that wasn't failure. It didn't matter what I did. It didn't matter what I didn't do. I lost."
"Harry, the world needs you," Hermione whispered.
"The world lost me," Harry responded. He looked towards Hermione. "I see it in your hand. You think that you can convince me to do something that you'd know that I never would agree to."
Hermione's hand was shaking. "If you don't sign this plea by midnight, you'll get the Dementor's Kiss. If Minister Shacklebolt doesn't sign the order, he'll lose support of the Wizengamot and the Ministry will crumble."
"Then it will be at midnight on this day where the Ministry falls," Harry commented. He looked into Hermione's eyes. She aged a great deal during this entire ordeal and she looked to be driven mad. "Midnight is when it happens, Hermione. The end is here."
"It doesn't have to be, just sign it, you can figure this out," Hermione remarked.
"Do not believe your hype Hermione," Harry said. "You're not as smart as everyone says you are. You had a nice little ability to retain information in a book. But you haven't found a book yet that will get you out of this, did you?"
Hermione's hung her head down in frustration. Harry had her.
"You're going to get the Dementor's Kiss, Harry!" Hermione shouted.
"I heard you the first time, Hermione, there's no need to shout," Harry commented. He sat back on the chair and reclined back, almost lazily. "I fail to see the issue here."
"You won't have a soul," Hermione said. She could not believe it.
"And what reason do I have to think that the Ministry just won't do it anyway after I exterminated their little problem?" Harry asked.
"You have my word that we won't, we have the word of the Ministry," Hermione responded.
"Neither of which are worth the oxygen that is squandered to say them," Harry said.
Hermione couldn't believe that he was so stubborn. It was like he couldn't be bothered.
"I'll tell you exactly what will happen tonight, the Ministry will fall at midnight, and there will be rioting in London," Harry told her. "There will be no one to police the magical users. And what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you what's going to happen. The ICW will step in. And if they step in, judging by the charter, the authority of the magical users of this country automatically goes back to the Crown and the British Government. And you will have to go public. Unless you want to be considered outlaws."
"You either sign the plea or be kissed, the Ministry can't fall, it's impossible," Hermione said. She was begging, pleading for this.
"What do you think is going to happen with a vigilante, outlaw government that locks people up without a sanctioned trial?" Harry asked her. "Tell me, Councilor? Surely you've read it in a book somewhere."
"I can't take this anymore!" Hermione shouted. She was breathing in and out heavily.
"We have some time, tell me, and I might play ball," Harry responded to her.
"The Ministry and all of it's officials will be held in contempt and the ICW will back up the Muggle government," Hermione whispered. "The Ministry will get tried for war crimes."
"The consequence of your actions will have finally come to roost," Harry commented. "The Ministry is fighting their attempts to stay secret. It isn't a dark lord, it isn't some cult. People are angry and using some Ministry created media creation as an excuse to settle their vendettas. The Ministry made it real."
Hermione backed off suddenly. She realized something instantly.
"I knew that the Ministry would never leave me alone if I just left after defeating Voldemort," Harry said. "I went on the inside and learned all of their laws, all of their traditions. I found out what I could to do destroy them utterly."
"People will suffer because of this," Hermione begged him.
"People already were suffering, you plan to wipe out Knockturn Alley, which would cost Gringotts a lot of money," Harry commented. "Go ahead, Hermione. It's your move now. Tell Shacklebolt to sign the order to give the Dementor's Kiss. I dare you. Good luck in finding a Dementor that will get close enough to touch me."
"You're bluffing," Hermione said.
"The Ministry could be the one bluffing because they won't perform the kiss on the last surviving member of an ancient pureblood house that dated back to Camelot," Harry said. "But go ahead, give yourself a few more weeks of secrecy, if you think that it'd do you any good. I'll be here when you get back."
"Harry, you have to sign the plea, people will die if you don't!" Hermione shouted. "You're going to do what I say, this is for your own good!"
Harry smiled and shook his head. That caused Hermione to collapse on her knees and start to sob.
"We better get you out of here, Councilor Granger," one of the guards commented. She pretended to have empathy to the utterly distressed girl. She couldn't be more disgusted if she tried though.
Harry waited for the other shoe to drop. This was going to be delightful.
Each second might have been a day when Hermione returned to the Ministry. Judging by the angry chatter, the goblins weren't buzzing at all. History of Magic told her that they rebelled over a lot less. Hell that was about the only thing History of Magic told her.
Hermione collapsed down on her desk. The unsigned plea fluttered down onto her desk. She didn't look dignified at all.
Harry had to be bluffing. There was still time before the D-Day. Hermione was shaken and absolutely pale.
Hermione became one with the Ministry. All hopes to try and change it have been lost. She reached into her desk and pulled out a vial.
It would be so easy to do it. So easy to end it, so she could be spared the torment of her failure.
She couldn't do it. She didn't have the guts to pull it off. Or maybe she was too arrogant to do so. She honestly couldn't tell at this point.
A knock on the door caused Hermione to be jumpier than a cat underneath a rocking chair.
"The people want their gold and the goblins are refusing to even open talks," Kingsley said, entering Hermione's office. "Did Potter…"
"No," Hermione said. "What are the consequences of what you're about to do?"
"It's the entire Ministry, the Wizengamot, we're all in this together," Shacklebolt commented.
"We're all going to hang together for this, I hope you realize that!" Hermione yelled.
"When the kiss is given…" Shacklebolt said. There was a part of him that trailed off.
"What would happen if the Dementors refuse to do this?" Hermione asked.
"That's unlikely," Shackebolt replied.
"Humor me," Hermione said.
"If a Dementor won't give the kiss, then the order is considered void, and we're back to square one," Shacklebolt commented. "If this order isn't signed by midnight, the Ministry falls by midnight and there is no one to keep the order."
"Except for the ICW and we both know they're going to put the power back into the Muggle government and all of us are going to the gallows to pacify the masses," Hermione said.
"You talked to Harry, didn't you?" Shacklebolt asked.
"Yes, I tried to get him to sign the plea, but he turned it back around me and got in my head," Hermione said. "He seems to think that there's no chance of the Ministry successfully pulling of the Dementor's kiss by midnight."
"He's trying to get in your head, he isn't the Harry Potter we knew before," Shacklebolt said. It was a very real possibility this could happen. "Do I have your support to sign the order?"
"Yes," Hermione said shortly. She had nothing left to lose at this point.
Harry saw an entire army of Ministry Aurors arrive an hour before Midnight. He leaned back into his cell. Hermione followed looking like she wanted to be any place in the world but there.
Harry whistled as he finished his soup.
"You know, I didn't expect you to show up," Harry said. "So would you like to make a public spectacle of it in Diagon Alley or would you like to do it here?"
"Mr. Potter, you're being charged with the murder of Dolores Jane Umbridge and treason against the British Magical World," Kingsley said. It looked like it pained him to say this but he was in between a rock and a hard place.
"You say treason, I say the truth," Harry sang. "Oh well, Tomato, Tomato."
Harry smiled and the barrier holding him inside the cell allowed him to step outside.
"You're being sentenced to the Dementors kiss," Kingsley commented.
Harry whistled merrily when he was escorted down the hallway towards the Dementors.
"Well, have at thee!" Harry yelled, raising his arms into the air.
The Dementors looked at the person that they were supposed to kiss. They all backed off slowly.
"You have to give Mr. Potter the Dementor's kiss, that's an order!" a haughty sounding Auror said.
One of the Dementors stopped and lifted its arm. It slowly lifted a bony middle finger directed towards the Ministry.
"Thanks for that, Steve, my thoughts exactly!" Harry called.
"The Dementors, they're all gone!" one of the Aurors yelled.
"Well, look, it's the president of the obvious club," Harry replied dryly.
"Why didn't they kiss him?" one of the Aurors commented dimly.
"I don't know, maybe I've got cooties," Harry suggested. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if that's all, I'll be back to my cell. I've got to catch up on my reading."
"Mr. Potter, you can't just…"
Harry turned around and looked at them. "I can. Unless any of you geniuses want to try and kill me. But, go ahead, if you really want to start a war."
The Ministry Aurors looked around and saw the guards close in on them. It was obvious that they would get pummeled if they tried anything against Harry.
"Okay, maybe not," Harry said. "I'll be out of here by this time tomorrow."
Hermione watched Harry turn around and leave.
"Leave, now," the blonde guard ordered.
"You can't..."
"We have to go, now," Hermione said. So many things hit her suddenly and she realized that by this time tomorrow, Harry would be out.
She would either be dead or in a prison much similar to this one. Her name was all over the order to sign the Dementor's kiss. She was so fucked. She was really, really, really fucked.
She turned around and saw Harry sarcastically wave at her from his cell.