And here we are! Time to find out what happens between our three favorite Hogwarts students and one Bellatrix Lestrange. I am so proud of this chapter so please let me know what you think!
Keep the reviews coming!
"I'm sorry." Is all Ron says before he's trampling his way through the hot flames.
George, being the closest runs after him, but is soon meant by a blazing wall of fire. Thankfully, Fred pulls him back before it can reach him.
"Put it out! Put it out! Ronnie!" Charlie yells panicked as the remaining Weasley's think of something, anything to do.
Ron swears he can hear Charlie calling out to him as he makes his way to the tall grass. He silently swears at Harry for running after her. Ron gets his need to avenger Sirius, but this was Bellatrix bloody LeStrange, he wasn't sure if even someone like McGonagall could best her.
Soon, the wheat nearby gave a harsh jolt as the dreadful tune filled the air yet again, "I killed Sirius Black."
Closing his eyes, Ron summons all courage he has and takes off into nothingness, determined to protect Harry and Hermione.
"I killed Sirius Black." Hermione hears the shrill voice yell again, this time closed.
Part of her wants to find Harry and curse him herself. She knows how much Sirius meant to him, but he's just put himself in danger. And she knows that the last thing Sirius would want is Harry dead, and on his behalf no less.
Then she hears it.
A sharp intake of breath like someone sniffing a flower, "hello there beautiful." Greyback sounds from behind her.
Turning swiftly, she points her wand at him, "expelliarmus!"
Shockingly, it works. His wand flies from his hand and rolls into the water of the pond.
He laughs, "no matter, I won't need it darling, not for what I have planned for you." Then suddenly his sharp teeth are bared as he eyes her throat.
She fires off offensive spells which merely make him jolt as he lurches closer.
Terrified, weak, and helpless, Hermione closes her eyes and prepares for the worst. But it never comes.
Instead, something else does, something she thinks it's much worse.
"What did I tell you? Wait." LeStrange scolds the werewolf as he slinks backward, fangs growing a bit duller at this.
"You know," Bellatrix circles Hermione, not even scared the young girls wand is drawn, "I didn't even come here tonight for anyone, not my dear niece, nor even for Potter." She stops, "but now, now I think you could do me some good."
"Me?" Hermione asks voice uncharacteristically shaken.
"Yes you Muddy, you see, I hadn't known you'd be here tonight. There's been a bit of chatter about you, makes me wonder if the Dark Lord..." she licks at her red stained lips as Hermione raises her trembling hand in fear.
"Oh no you don't," she hears a dark whisper from behind, "stupefy!" Ron shouts aiming his wand at Bellatrix.
With a look of mock shock, she easily deflects the advance and cackles madly. In one swift motion the witch yanks Hermione against her as she puts her wand to her throat.
Ron's blue eyes widen with fear as his whole body begins to shake in terror.
"Please don't." He whimpers weakly.
"Well look at that," Bellatrix whispers in Hermione's ear, lips grazing the shell and making her shutter, "looks like someone's upset I've got their dirty little mutt." She says louder, causing Greyback to snort.
At this Hermione tries to pull away, but this just causes LeStrange to grip onto her hair and yank it back as if it were a leash.
"She's not bad, for a Mudblood, don't you think Greyback?" She taunts.
"Divine." He rumbles.
"Ron I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, for everything." She doesn't care if Bellatrix Lestrange curses her for it, she needs to tell him.
He shakes his head fiercely, "don't say goodbye to me Hermione. Don't." He warns with watery eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She continues to whisper like she's under some sort of spell.
The scene causes nothing but joy for the Slytherin as she grins madly, "I'm gonna have fun with this."
But as apologies push past Hermione's lips and Ron surveys what to do, Greyback suddenly falls to the ground.
Behind him, is Harry Potter, wand drawn, and the most pissed off expression Ron's ever seen him wear.
Bellatrix turns around to see what caused the commotion, Hermione takes his a cue to muster any strength and escape the woman's clutches. It works, she elbows the older woman in the ribs and leaps toward Ron.
He catches her and dares take a second to embrace her, needing to feel her close to him.
"Dumb boy!" Bellatrix shrieks as Harry sprints away, making her follow.
"Run." Ron's tells Hermione, grabbing her hand and whirling them through the fields.
"Me Ron, Voldemort, he's been talking of me." She manages to huff out in between dodging weeds.
"What?" He asks back, she must sound mad.
"Lestrange, she said there's been talk, I don't, I don't know!" She practically cries.
Ron pulls them to a stop as they heave under the oak tree they were at what feels like a lifetime ago.
"I don't think she'd kill me Ron, they want me for something." She whispers.
He shakes his head, "I'm not betting on finding out if either of those things are true." His gaze briefly meets hers, just visible due to the light from the nearby orange flames.
"Harry, we have to go back for him." Hermione says soon after.
And as much as he wants her safe, of course she's right, that's their best mate. "Just give me a second, gotta catch my breath."
As he sucks in a gasp of air, she whispers to herself, "she said she wasn't here for Harry..."
Then, before Ron could even react to this, a pair of sickeningly familiar footsteps sound in the air.
"Did you hear that Greyback? It must be Potter." Bellatrix whispers, but she's close enough for Hermione and Ron to hear.
Instantly, he clamps a hand over her mouth and pulls her behind the oak tree, hugging her frame to his.
"Why does it matter?" The werewolf grumbled, "the Dark Lord told us even if the boy was here, we were not to kill him." This was a curious statement to both Gryffindors as Hermione turned slightly to peer into Ron's eyes.
"We can still have a bit of fun." She says menacingly, "no matter, I have the perfect gift for the Dark Lord." They've stopped walking.
"Care to share Bella?"
"Well, you see it all just depends on who I find first. If it's the blood traitor, the one from before, I'll kill him, just like that! Surely the Dark Lord wouldn't begrudge me for him, there's about eight more of them!"
In fear, Hermione's grip tightened around Ron's arm that was holding her. He seemed to have shivered behind her.
"As for the Mudblood, well, there's a bit of chatter you know." Bellatrix states airily.
"Chatter?" The werewolf asks.
"Well sure! She's certainly the brains of this whole thing, think of how much we could get out of her. And we could have fun in the process, you know, making her squeal, have a bite or two."
"Looks delicious."
"For a Mudblood maybe."
A tear finds its way down Hermione's cheek and eventually onto Ron's hand that's still glued to her mouth.
"They won't touch you." He whispers unbelievably low into her ear.
She swivels to meet his eyes, stepping on a twig while doing so.
"What was that?" Bellatrix demanded.
"I hope it's the girl." Fenrir commented.
"I hope it's Weasley. Haven't had a good kill since Sirius Black." The witch whispers loud enough for the pair to hear.
And just like that, Hermione knows what she has to do. It's stupid and brave and Ron will probably hate her for it, but she knows they can't stand here forever.
From the looks of it, helps not coming, as help is trapped in a ring of fire, and there's about no chance Harry will find them this time. They surely can't duel Bellatrix Lestrange and Greyback without dying. They're just a bunch of sixth year kids. Plus, with the witches personal mission of killing Ron, they wouldn't stand a chance.
For Hermione however, they seem to have other plans. And yes, she'd rather wake up in hell then find out what that entails, but it's her or Ron, and in the end, she'll always choose him.
Soundly, she kisses his cheek and uses her other hand to caress his jawline, grabs her wrist lightly, confused by the action.
"Hermione, don't." He warns, already seeming to know what she's thinking.
"I'm so sorry Ron, come find me." She pleads with him through the flood of tears, summoning all the courage inside her.
And before he can even move, she raising her wand, "petrificus totalus."
Just like that, with tears skimming his cheeks snd a horrified look in his eyes, Ron falls to the ground with a thud.
"I heard it again! This way!"
As Bellatrix and Greyback's footsteps neared closer, Hermione casted a quick disillusionment charm on Ron, before stepping out from behind the tree with a sob.
"Oh it's you." Bellatrix said sounding bored.
Hermione raised her wand, "Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Petrificus totalus!" She tried, just having some hope, maybe she could get out of this.
Her attempts were futile, the older witch blocked every blow with ease.
"Expelliarmus!" Bellatrix sounded off with a cackle as Hermione's wand flew from her hand.
At this, the younger witch dove for the thing, but crashed on the ground instead. Her attackers drew closer, causing her to slink back until she hit the trunk of the tree. Her hands clutched wildly at the grass for her wand, but instead, she felt something hard and rectangular.
"Thought I'd take a page out of your book. Not so brave without our wand, are we muddy?" If only Bellatrix knew exactly how brave she was.
"I'm sure Dolohov will be excited to see you, he hasn't stopped going on about you all year. Grab on Greyback."
The werewolf did as he was told as Bellatrix took a fistful of Hermione's hair in her other hand.
The only thing Hermione remembers before disapperating was the feel of the rectangular parcel in her hand and flashes of the horrified look on Ron's face.
This is probably my favorite chapter I've written so far. It was so heartbreaking to write, but it felt like something Hermione would do for Ron. Please let me know what you guys think!
Until next time, here's a preview for the next chapter:
"Ron! Ron, where are you?" Charlie calls.
Their footsteps sound closer, he speaks again, "Hermione."
"Did you hear it again? It sounds like he's right here, but there's no one." George whispers.
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