Firstly, I need to make a VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! YOU NEED TO READ THIS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND! Well…now that I have your attention, I realize that in the beginning of the last chapter I said that it began three days before the final battle. I AM CHANGING THAT. The events of last chapter led up to the final battle, which will be in the next chapter. I hope this doesn't confuse you too much!
Secondly, there's been some slight confusion as to chapter 10's title…well, some of you sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that a few of my chapters are named after song titles. Chapter 7 was The Sweetest Thing by U2, chapter 8…When We Dance by Sting, and chapter 10 was My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne. If you've heard the song, the line actually says "So much for my happy ending". I was just listening to it when I wrote the chapter…I don't know really, maybe because the story's not over yet!
So, without further ado…
Ron leapt to his feet, fear filling his eyes. He whipped out his wand, aimed it at the girl still sitting on the bench, and yelled, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
She froze instantly with her wand halfway raised. Ron stared at her petrified form, breathing heavily.
"Ron!"
Harry came hurrying out of the house. Ron turned to him with an unfathomable gaze.
"What the bloody hell d'you think you're doing?" Harry asked angrily of Ron. Ron was still a little shaken up.
"Why did you Petrify Hermione?" Harry demanded, bending to pick up the frozen body.
"Harry—no!" Ron said hastily, finding his voice again. "That isn't Hermione!"
Harry straightened and looked at him disbelievingly. "Ron, just because you two rowed again—"
"It's nothing to do with that! I swear, that is not Hermione!"
"Sure, Ron," Harry chuckled. He pulled out his wand and, before Ron had had a chance to lunge at him, unfroze "Hermione". She blinked appreciatively at him.
"Thank you," she said, in that horribly high voice. Harry looked round at Ron angrily.
"Now look, you made her cry!" he exclaimed, obviously mistaking her tone to be one of somebody trying not to let out tears. "Hermione, can you remember why—"
"Harry, I really need to talk to y—"
"Not now, Ron, it's Hermione that I'm worried about…"
"THAT ISN'T HERMIONE!" Ron yelled. Harry fixed his eyes upon his red-haired friend, anger blazing in them.
"What makes you think so?" he asked incredulously.
"Because I heard her, she said she didn't care that the library at Hogwarts burned down when I told her about it!"
Harry looked surprised. "The library burnt down?"
Ron gaped at his friend, amazed at his lack of logic. "No, it didn't—I just made that up, because she didn't seem the same!"
Harry looked at the brown-eyed girl sitting on the bench with raised eyebrows. "She doesn't look that different to me."
Ron abandoned all pretence. "Look, Harry mate, would I lie about something like that? You've got to believe me! Please—I know that it sounds crazy, but it's really easy to just take Polyjuice Potion—and Voldemort's got most of the wizarding tricks in existence up his sleeve!"
Harry pondered Ron's pleading face and sighed. "All right. I'll give you a chance to see whether your hunch is correct. If you're wrong, then you owe Hermione an apology. But if you're right—" he paused here, looking rather frightened, "I owe you one. We should find out as quickly as possible, because if that's not the real Hermione, then—"
It felt rather as if somebody had forced up all the contents of Ron's stomach into his throat. He had completely forgotten what might have happened to the real Hermione.
"Well, Hermione, let's get back into—what the hell—?"
Ron followed Harry's gaze to the bench.
Hermione, or an exact physical replica, was gone.
Harry and Ron crashed through the thick grass towards the house. Harry was beginning to believe Ron's theory more and more.
When they rushed through the front door, it was to find a deserted room. A square of moonlight stretched across the floor, weakened by the dust covering the window through which the light was streaming. They ran into the next room…
"Expelliarmus!"
Ron and Harry's wands flew out of their hands. They whipped round, to find Hermione emerging from behind the door, wand raised, approaching them with a horrifying, maniacal gleam in her eye.
"Hermione—" Harry squeaked weakly.
"Once again, the Dark Lord's plans have succeeded," the girl cackled in a deep voice, which both boys recognized.
"Bellatrix…" Harry breathed, feeling fire roar in his chest. Of course…how could he not have believed Ron?
"Yes, Potter, that took a while." She laughed, a cold, high laugh that didn't reach her eyes. Ron stared at the girl before him. In physical form, she was the girl he loved, but when he looked into her eyes, he could see a glint of evil in them, and it made him shiver. He felt his hatred for Bellatrix rise considerably.
"You didn't fool me for a second," Ron growled, edging towards his wand. Bellatrix turned her newly brown eyes to him and smirked.
"You're weak," she spat at him. "You're a pathetic little boy."
"Pathetic?" he roared, now scrabbling on the ground. "I'll show you pathetic—"
"Ah-ah-ah," Bellatrix said in a sing-song voice. "You wouldn't hurt your dear Hermione, would you?"
"I would rather die than hurt her," Ron whispered. He had gotten to his feet, clutching his wand, but Bellatrix didn't seem to care.
She laughed again. "That can be arranged."
"I wasn't finished," he continued in a deadly voice. "I would never hurt her. But you aren't Hermione. I just have to look into your eyes to see the cowardly evil in them."
"Big words for a filthy blood traitor," she said with venom. Harry watched Ron as said boy's ears turned bright red. Harry could see a blazing hatred in his friend's eyes. Bellatrix was feeding his fire, and soon it was going to explode in her face…he could see Ron whisper a spell, and Harry's wand suddenly flew back into his hand. They exchanged a secret smile while Bellatrix ignored the fact that they were now armed.
"Don't you dare call Ron that again," Harry snarled at her. She turned to him, apparently having forgotten that he was there. She smirked again.
"Don't you dare call Ron that again," she said mockingly. Harry wanted so desperately to curse her with everything he knew, but for some reason something told him to stay put for now. Bellatrix, being Bellatrix, only had to start a monologue, and then they had her…
"It just goes to show how weak you are," she said quietly, eyes flickering between Harry and Ron. "All this time, and you haven't hexed me yet…"
Ron raised his wand in a furious rage and shot a curse at Bellatrix; she blocked it with a lazy flick of her wand. It still felt very strange for the boys to watch what looked like Hermione doing these things. But Ron looked closely; her hair was darkening to a gleaming black in streaks. His eyes widened.
"What're you staring at, you stupid little—" She reached a hand up to her hair, and felt a smooth lock. She fingered it and brought it to her eyes. Upon seeing the ominous raven color, she swore angrily. Harry and Ron knew that she had not taken enough potion for an hour. However, a split second later, she released the hair and cackled.
"No matter," she said happily. "There is no longer any need for me to reside inside the filthy Mudblood's body…uh-uh-uh, I don't think you want to be doing that…" She blocked the curses that both boys had shot at her.
"I'LL KILL HER!" Ron bellowed. Harry only barely managed to hold him back.
"What's the matter, Potty?" she sang; her eyes were resuming their heavy-lidded look. "Scared?"
"You wish," Harry said, trying to retain a light tone while being reminded of a scene back in his second year, and fighting to hold Ron back.
Ron stopped struggling upon seeing Harry's face, but his own still contorted with fury as he yelled, "WHERE'S HERMIONE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?"
"Oh, she's in good hands," cackled Bellatrix. "For now…"
Hermione woke with an aching head. Her vision was blurred as she sat up. She seemed to be sitting on something cold and hard. Blinking, she shook her head and tried to think back.
She remembered that awful row with Ron. And then…she couldn't remember anything else, no matter how hard she tried. Frustrated, she banged a fist down…and felt hard earth.
Scrambling to her feet, her head hit something above her with a painful thud. She swore and looked up, rubbing her head. About two inches above her head was a wooden beam, stretching across the top of the structure in which she now sat.
She reached into her pocket for her wand—but it wasn't there. She felt a horrible jolt in her stomach as she felt her way around. She seemed to be in some sort of tent. Yes, there was a flap there, and some light outside…she managed to crawl towards it, slid a hand in between the gap in the fabric and lifted the flap. Her eyes widened in fear and horror.
She was looking at some kind of circle of tents, with a large fire blazing in the middle. Tall, hooded figures were passing back and forth, causing the fire to flicker and cast horrible shadows on the tents. Her head gave a throb as she looked around wildly for some sign of normality. Suddenly, one of the cloaked people noticed her, and swiftly walked over.
"Well, well, well, Miss Granger." The poisonous voice reached her ears with a terrible edge. It was one she had hoped never to hear again.
Severus Snape lifted the hood of his cloak off and grinned maliciously at her. "Bellatrix did well."
Hermione felt as if an invisible hand was crunching her organs together; she was filled with horror as she thought about Harry and Ron, did they even know that she was gone?
"Lord Voldemort will be very pleased to see you," Snape sneered. "Come with me." He grasped her elbow and yanked her up painfully. She jerked her arm from his grip, disgusted.
"Don't you dare touch me," she spat. He smirked.
"I'm afraid you don't have much control over that," he said greasily. (A/N: Not in that way! He's just evil and wants to hurt her :P) He grabbed her arm again in a death grip and pulled her along, despite her protests.
"Struggle any more," he said smoothly, "and I may be forced to cause you bodily harm, which I'm sure you would rather avoid…if you had a choice in the matter." He leered unpleasantly at her. She turned her head so that he could not meet her gaze, but allowed him to drag her along, thinking it best to oblige. After all, there were many more of them, and she was unarmed and relatively defenceless…
"I have the Mudblood, my master." Snape's voice spoke suddenly. Hermione wrenched away from him again, and looked up into the horrible face of Lord Voldemort. Though her knees were knocking with fear, she drew herself tall, and tried to look calm.
"Ah, yes…" Voldemort said softly. "She's a pretty one, is she not?" He reached out a long, thin, bony finger and touched her cheek lightly. Hermione backed away, revolted.
"She's feisty, too," he said quietly. "Let us now see what she's thinking…" To Hermione's horror, she felt a strange calm fall over her. She tried to shut out thought, but somehow a wavy image of Ron's smiling face made its way to the forefront of her mind. No matter how hard she tried, vision after vision floated across her brain; the terrible sight of the Dark Mark, her parents, the Weasley clan, and, though she tried extra hard to keep out these particular images, Harry and Ginny, hand in hand, beaming, and her and Ron, laughing together, perfectly happy…
Finally, the haze vanished, and she was back in the campsite, Voldemort smiling with satisfaction.
"Ah, I see…you seem to have a certain affection for the Weasel boy…"
"No, I don't," Hermione denied quickly, trying to keep down the ferocious blush rising in her cheeks.
"And Potter…foolish Potter…he has succumbed to the always descending spiral called love…this will make him even easier to defeat." Voldemort chuckled and Hermione felt anger bubbling in her gut.
"What do you want with me?" she demanded. He laughed his cold laugh again.
"You are supposed to be the smartest witch of your age…and yet you cannot figure out why I brought you here? You are merely an…object, if you will…your friends will not let you die here, now will they? And in the meantime, you can provide me with some very useful information…"
"You're never getting anything out of me," Hermione snarled. He looked amused.
"Is that so…Crucio!"
Hermione couldn't help it; she screamed. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She thought about Ron, Harry, Ginny…their smiling faces seemed to lessen the pain by a fraction…
And then, quite suddenly, it was over. Hermione was lying on the ground, feeling limp. She scrambled to her feet, mocked by the jeering of several Death Eaters who had stopped to watch the show.
"Did you like that?" Voldemort whispered. She shook her head, unable to find something to say. "Do you want me to do it again?" Another shake. "Well, then, perhaps you could answer a couple of questions for me…"
"Blocked again, Potter!" Bellatrix taunted, screaming with mirthless laughter. She was locked in combat with Harry and Ron both, and was merely parrying every blow instead of fighting back. "My, my, we need to brush up on our hexing skills…"
"WHERE IS SHE?" Ron bellowed. Bellatrix turned to him, wand raised; she shot a curse at him, which he managed to duck just in time.
"Tut, tut…you think I am going to tell you when you use that tone of voice?" Bellatrix said haughtily.
For a split second, the scene seemed frozen in time in front of Harry's eyes: Bellatrix, laughing mercilessly; and Ron, who was rushing towards her, all thoughts of using his wand apparently forgotten…then time sped back up to normal and Ron was attacking Bellatrix, trying to close his hands around her throat. Bellatrix looked surprised and started aiming hexes at him, trying to fend him off: Harry could only watch, not cursing Bellatrix for fear of hitting Ron instead. But as he watched his best friend violently swipe for the woman's throat, he realized the lengths to which Ron would go for Hermione…he didn't want to stand around, either, as he had a sudden memory of Sirius' lifeless body, falling backwards through the fluttering, tattered veil, and Bellatrix laughing heartlessly, watching him…
He felt a surge of rage towards the woman, and he too launched himself on her, but before he reached her Ron's fingers made their way to her neck. She gasped and spluttered, choking; she kicked out, hit Ron in the stomach and he fell back with a groan of pain; Bellatrix shot a curse at him and he was blasted backwards, crashing to the floor after hitting the wall, motionless. Harry yelled and lunged, knocking her wand out of her hand; he pinned her to the wall, wand pointing directly at her heart.
She did not look afraid; on the contrary, she gave a manic smile, a trickle of blood running down her cheek from a cut.
"I'm going to kill you," Harry said quietly. She only smiled wider.
"You don't have the guts to kill me," she said in a hoarse voice. "You wouldn't kill anything to save your own skin."
"I'm not saving my own skin." Harry held up a warning finger when Bellatrix shifted, obviously planning an escape. "I'm saving my friends."
You're not a killer, said a small voice inside his head.
That little voice was right…he was not a killer…save for Voldemort…if he killed him, he would complete the prophecy, unless of course Voldemort killed him instead…but now was not the time to be thinking of such things…he straightened his back firmly, and kept his wand at Bellatrix's heart. He could not think of a single human being (Voldemort's only half-human now, really) who deserved to die more than she and her fellow Death Eaters. An eye for an eye, really…
But did he want to become a killer? Well, of course not. He had been destined to kill Voldemort, however, so how would killing one of the people who had helped him rise into power be a big deal?
His thoughts were interrupted by another cold laugh. "Even when Potty's got me defenceless he doesn't have the nerve to finish me!" Bellatrix cackled. Harry snapped his gaze back to her and made up his mind.
"Cruci—" He did not finish; she took the opportunity to drop to the floor, trying to reach her wand; he blasted it further away and pointed his wand once again at her. This time she was cowered on the floor, with many possible escape routes…Harry needed to do it as quickly as possible, and he didn't want her to die without experiencing some of his pain…
"CRUCIO!"
She twitched and yelled out in pain, though obviously trying to keep silent. Harry watched her, feeling a mix of terrible satisfaction and regret. When she finally stopped writhing, she fixed him with a maniacally happy eye.
"You're actually going to kill me, then?" she panted. "The Dark Lord will know that I died in honor…"
Harry couldn't believe this. She was happy…?
Suddenly, she leapt to her feet, and lunged at her wand. Harry, taken aback by her sudden movement, did not react quickly enough, and as a result she now stood before him, wand in hand, ready for a duel.
"Imperio!" she yelled. Harry attempted to block it, but had started to feel that familiar dreamy sensation…
Kill the Weasel. Harry knew how to fight this.
No. I'm not going to.
Kill him. Now.
I WON'T!
Harry shook his head, a triumphant grin on his face. Bellatrix looked angry.
"Cruci—"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry yelled the spell as he aimed his wand wildly at Bellatrix. She had a momentary look of shock on her face before there was a huge flash of green light and she was lying, crumpled, on the floor.
Harry stood in silence, unable to believe what had just happened. He had just killed the woman who had murdered Sirius…who had tortured Neville's parents…who had caused so much pain and so many deaths…
"Harry?" croaked a weak voice from across the room. Harry span round; he had almost forgotten Ron was there.
"Ron! Are you okay?" he asked, hurrying over to see how his friend was doing.
"Yeah, fine," Ron said, standing with some difficulty and brushing himself off. "Only got a bump on my head…it aches something horrible, but other than that…where's Bellatrix?"
Harry gulped; Ron did not yet know what had happened, then…he must have only just woken up…
"Erm…Ron, I-I killed her," Harry choked out, sinking to the floor.
Ron seemed speechless. "You killed her?" he repeated, as if to assure himself of this.
Harry nodded, feeling numb. His head dropped so that he was staring at his lap.
"I can't believe it…I actually killed Bellatrix…"
Ron sat next to him and waited until Harry looked up. When he did, Ron spoke quietly.
"You know that I would've done the same thing…"
Harry bobbed his head again. "We need to get to Hermione…I'm certain that Voldemort has her…"
Ron bit his lip, nodding. "I-I just hope that she's okay…"
Surveying his friend's face, Harry said, "Me too."
Suddenly, Ron buried his head in his hands. "I can't believe that the last thing I said to her was that I wasn't going to be there to protect her all the time…and now…I might never be able to tell her…it's all my fault…"
"No, it's not," Harry retorted firmly. "It's not all your fault and you know it. This is our faults…all of us. But right now, our priority is Hermione."
"I know." Ron got to his feet and Harry followed suit. "I-I just wish I could've told her that-that…"
Harry put a comforting hand on Ron's shoulder. "She's going to be okay," he said, attempting a reassuring smile. Ron sighed.
"I suppose you're right. But we need to find her. So let's go."
"CRUCIO!"
Hermione dropped to her knees for the fifth time, writhing and screaming. She could just make out the blurry figures of the Death Eaters standing in a circle around her through her eyes filled with tears.
When Voldemort released her from the curse, he surveyed her quietly, tapping his long fingers together.
"Hopefully now you'll cooperate," he said softly. "I asked you, how many Horcruxes has Harry Potter found?"
"I told you, he hasn't found any!" Hermione exclaimed desperately, trying to focus on Ron's face, smiling at her…
"You are lying," he said venomously. "Nagini is gone. Potter has destroyed her. I know so."
"All right, Harry's found Nagini, and we destroyed it, but that's the only one—"
"I believe you've gotten a healthy dose of the punishments I give for liars," Voldemort said, his voice rising. "I don't want to torture you into insanity before my questions are answered…so let's move on. What does Dumbledore know about me?"
Hermione looked up, resolute. "I'm not telling you anything," she said quietly. "You can torture me all you like, but I'll never betray Dumbledore or Harry or anybody."
Voldemort pondered her stony features for a moment, then spoke.
"You do not understand my power. You cannot comprehend it. You have only received a small taste of it…if you cooperate, and give me what I want, I will not be forced to unleash my full powers on you…"
"How are we going to find her?" Ron asked of Harry.
"I don't know," Harry replied. The two were walking down the street of the small hamlet, on the base of the hill. On the top, the abandoned house seemed to leer down at them. "Maybe we could find somebody to ask…"
"Oh, that would go well," Ron said darkly. "'Excuse me, sir, did you see a group of tall, hooded figures walking round here with a teenage girl?' Anyway, there's nobody out now, it's eleven at night…"
Suddenly, a loud CRACK ripped the air behind them. Stopping in their tracks and spinning round, they saw Dumbledore standing there, obviously having just Apparated. He looked mildly surprised at seeing Harry and Ron there.
"Oh, well, this is convenient," he said, apparently more to himself than to Harry and Ron. "I had hoped you'd be around here…"
"Headmaster? What're you doing here?" Harry demanded to know—despite the fact that he was happy to see Dumbledore, it was rather unnerving to have people Apparating behind you in the middle of the night. The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched upwards.
"You seem to need some help in finding Voldemort," he said succinctly, striding over to them.
"Yes, well, we were going to look for him ourselves, but this is kind of an emergency…sir, they took Hermione, and we don't know…"
Dumbledore held up a wrinkled hand. "I am aware of Miss Granger's unfortunate position, Mr. Weasley. I have come to help you."
"Headmaster, sir…we need to…I need to do this alone…"
"I am also aware of that," Dumbledore said. "I am here to aid you in finding the Dark Lord, not fight him. I would not go against your wishes."
Harry nodded. "Can you tell us where he is?"
"I can show you," Dumbledore smiled. "If you'll just take my elbow…"
Ron and Harry obliged, and one second later, they were being compressed through a familiar shift in time, gripping Dumbledore's arm tightly on either side. After a few seconds, they appeared in what looked to be a wood. Harry and Ron immediately took their wands out and whispered "Lumos" so that light emitted from them. Dumbledore smiled grimly at them.
"I will be going with you in spirit," he said calmly. Where have I heard that before, wondered Harry. "I wish you all the best."
"Th-Thank you, sir," Ron said, apparently losing some of his nerve.
"If you just head in that direction—" Dumbledore pointed to the left, "—and walk for about five minutes, you will arrive at the camp in which Voldemort and his…group are staying. I've taken you here so that you may make a safe, quiet approach. Once again, good luck."
"Thanks," Harry said, but before the word had escaped his mouth Dumbledore had turned on the spot and vanished. Ron shivered.
"I'm scared, Harry," Ron squeaked. Harry, turning to his best mate and finding a terrible fear in his eyes, found that he felt exactly the same way.
"I know," Harry agreed sadly. "But, Ron, when you're fighting, think about Hermione, and about your family…the people you love. That's what I'll be doing," he added, thinking of Ginny's letter.
Ron nodded. "I'm ready."
"Let's go."
And they set off in the direction Dumbledore had given them, ready for whatever would face them when they reached their destination.
VERY hard to write. I really hope you liked it. The name for this chapter was a song by Evanescence, whose songs I LOVE! Anywho…here are the responses for my great reviewers:
Freakyfinger-Thank you! I know, what dumbos would break up the Golden Trio? Yeah, the enemies of today just aren't what they used to be, huh?
Kamiangel-Don't you worry, it's not all smooth sailing for RHr! It's part of who they are, right? Unfortunately, my life won't calm down for some time…thanks so much for your review!
DarkSlytherinPrincess-Thanks! I do try to let my creative juices do the thing for me:D
Hermron-I hope this chapter cleared everything up for you. And thanks for saying the fight was good, it took me awhile to write it so I'm glad you enjoyed it!