As Usual, these characters are under the ownership of JK Rowlings, this fanfic is just for fun.

Chapter 20: The Return of the Half Blood Prince

Artemis Gray, Cacius Ewing, and Arius Day did not take well to working with the very man they had been trying to kill for the past two years. Lord Voldemort, however, and his Death Eaters proved efficient members of the Department of Secret Investigations. To what end, wondered Gray, Ewing, and Day, who thought it utter foolishness to trust him. The three had begun meeting in secret at various parts of the day, discussing potential weaknesses of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, discussing potential places or times where he might be caught off guard in order that they might take him out. The trouble was that he was never seen anywhere in the ministry of magic without Scrimgeour nearby.

Visitors to the Ministry of Magic had decreased to the point of almost ceasing entirely. Arthur Weasley had resigned his position, as did half of the Auror force, including several of the most experienced ones. Percy Weasley reluctantly remained loyal to the ministry, placing his trust in Rufus Scrimgeour.

In a large room, deep in the ministry of magic, with a large table and a map of Europe on the wall, adjacent to which hung a map of Great Britain and Ireland, sat Voldemort, Scrimgeour, Gray, Ewing, and Day, along with several other Aurors and Death Eaters. The looks of contempt on the faces of the Aurors, matched the looks of satisfaction on the Death Eaters.

"I've already contacted the French, Italians, and Greeks," Scrimgeour said. "They are doubling their broomsmen patrols in the Mediterranean. The Israeli Ministry of Magic has tightened its guard on both Tel-Eviv and Jerusalem, they won't get very far in Israel."

"And while you are chasing geese, Minister, my men and the Dementors will search Central and Eastern Europe," boasted Voldemort.

"There is no reason for them to travel that direction it's completely out of the way," Cacius Ewing complained.

"No there's no reason at all," said Voldemort, his face maintaining a smug grin. "Except that we wouldn't expect them to, they wouldn't make a dash for Israel, they know they'd never make it, they're trying to throw us off, I suggest we get the Germans, the Austrians, the Swiss, and the Italians to cancel all recreational Broom and Hippogriff flying for the next week. I will double the Dementors' patrols and we're sure to find them."

Artemis Gray had been replaced a few days earlier as head of the Department of Secret Investigations by Voldemort. A fact that utterly infuriated him, the thought of working under Lord Voldemort was absolute torture to him. He grit his teeth as he considered this while he walked down a corridor deep in the ministry of magic. He entered his office which was dark, with a wave of his wand, several candles activated giving light to the room. As he walked to his desk, Gray did not think to look behind him, had he done so he would have noticed an individual in dark robes standing in front of his fireplace, opposite his desk.

When he reached his desk and turned around to sit in it, the man came into his view. The man's wand was drawn, hence Gray did not bother to draw his own. In the hand that did not hold his wand, the man was clutching something not visible to Gray.

"So Mr. Gray you stand relieved as head of the Department of Secret Investigations in favor of Voldemort, how embarrassing for you," the man said.

"Severus Snape, so good to hear from you again," said Artemis Gray in an arrogant tone of voice. "I did wonder when you were going to turn up. Well how shall I say this, you're under arrest for murder."

"I wouldn't be so quick to think that you can apprehend me quite so Easily," Snape boasted. "There are apparition prevention fields all around the ministry of magic, meaning I would not have just walked into the ministry of magic without an escape route. Now pay attention Gray, I'm going to make this slow and clear so that even your brain can understand through that think, half-breed skull of yours. I have left the Death Eaters, and I accomplished the task that Dumbledore assigned to me. I know Voldemort's plan and your playing right into it. That little show off girl Ms. Granger is not a threat to you, she isn't even a virgin. You just gave Voldemort everything he needed to take over the ministry, I hope you're happy, but then again I really do hope that you act to end this before it turns catastrophic."

"Why should I trust you, a murderer?"

"A better question: why should you trust a man who has attempted to gain dictatorial powers over British Wizardry for forty years?" asked Snape, his voice even more provocative. "Now pay attention, this is important Gray, Draco Malfoy and I have destroyed the last horcrux, all you have to do is use the killing curse on him, and the war will be over."

At this, Artemis Gray laughed.

"What do you mean you have taken out the last horcrux, the ministry took out the last horcrux months ago," Gray said. "And we've been plotting to get rid of Voldemort since he got here, It's not as easy as it seems."

"You really are a fool Gray," said Snape. "Potter did not destroy a horcrux last year, that little watch he obtained was a decoy. Draco Malfoy and I have destroyed the real last Horcrux and Voldemort's office can be reached through the department of mysteries, simply go to the door on the ninth level, the password is 'heir of Slytherin.'"

"You know, if you're traveling by floo, it is only a matter of time before we trace where you came from."

"Don't worry I'm closer than you think."

Snape then backed into the fireplace, and with the hand not clutching he wand he threw down what he had been holding. It was powder, a flash of green fire engulfed him and he disappeared.

Artemis Gray did not particularly like Severus Snape, but as he went over the conversation in his mind, something finally gave within him, a cognition beckoning him to trust Snape and end this madness. He decided once and for all that he would take it upon himself to rid the wizarding world of its most evil member. Only a few minutes later, with his wand drawn, he stood in the ministry lift which took him down to the ninth level. Upon arriving, he stepped out of the lift and walked at a quick, determined pace toward the door leading into the Department of Mysteries. Upon arriving at the door…

"heir of Slytherin."

The door opened, but instead of revealing the department of mysteries as it usually looked, it opened into a small office, in which was a desk, at which sat Voldemort. He entered the office and faced Voldemort. Behind him was an opened door leading into a room adjacent to this office.

"I must confess, Mr. Gray, that I never expected anyone other than the minister to whom I have told the password, to discover the entrance to my office," said Voldemort. "What can I do for you?"

Artemis Gray disguised his fear with rage as he stared Voldemort down with a powerfully angry gaze. Voldemort appeared unaffected by this.

"You can answer me this question, is Hermione Granger a Virgin?" asked Gray.

"As of right now I'm not sure," answered Voldemort. "Apparently magical medical evidence seems to point in that direction."

"Really? I just had a visit from one of your Death Eaters, apparently he's betrayed you, a certain Severus Snape."

At this, Voldemort appeared, not frightened, but concerned.

"Artemis, honestly, Severus Snape would betray anyone if it suited his purposes."

"Interesting, because I cannot see any way whatsoever that his betrayal would be in his own best interests; In fact I'm willing to believe him, and as far as whether or not Ms. Granger is a virgin, there are healers who still have doubts about that," said Gray, trying to appear bravely. "As far as you are concerned, you're finished."

Gray raised his wand and pointed it at Voldemort who continued to behind the desk, appearing even comfortable and nonchalant.

"Really?" said Voldemort who appeared unconcerned.

"Avada Kedavra!" chanted Gray, a blinding green light filled the room as a beam of green hurled from Gray's wand at Voldemort. When the beam hit Voldemort, it did nothing, Voldemort was still breathing, appearing unconcerned. After it dissipated, the fright on the face of Gray overwhelmed his expression. "No, but I thought…"

"You thought wrong," Came Bellatrix Lestrange's voice from behind, appearing from the door leading to the room adjacent the office. "Avada Kedavra!"

A second green light filled the room, and in an instant, Artemis Gray lay on the office floor, dead. Coming from out of the door behind Bellatrix Lestrange was Lucius Malfoy, whose wand was drawn.

"Are you alright my lord?" asked Malfoy.

"Get rid of the body," Voldemort instructed. "Find Snape and that pathetic little son of yours, and when you do, kill them." There was a short pause, during which Voldemort looked Lucius Malfoy directly in the eye. "Can I count on you to kill your own son Lucius?"

"I have no son my lord," Lucius Malfoy's response was without hesitation.

"Good man."

---------------------

At night, after Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Reverend Ewls had landed Buckbeak somewhere in the cold, wooded mountains of southern Germany to settle down for the night, Harry sat down in order to attempt to meditate again. As he did so, the look on his face was troubled, concentrated, as if he was again failing to successfully meditate. Reverend Ewls noticed this, but aided Ron in attending to Hermione, who was laying on the only magical cot Reverend Ewls had conjured. Ron held her hand and gently stroked the side of her face. Her expression was drowsy.

"Well your fever isn't getting any better, but there is still hope."

"Reverend, I haven't felt this sick in a long time, and we both know what the birth is going to be like," Hermione said as tears of despair and resignation filled her eyes and began to roll down her face. "I'm going to die aren't I?

With this, Ron's frightened expression became more resolved. He shook his head as he held Hermione's hand tighter in his own.

"Absolutely not, I don't want to hear you say anything like that again."

Hermione's drowsy face and struggling voice became suddenly frustrated.

"Ron don't presume to tell me to be hopeful!" she scolded. "Still waiting for the right time are we? You've waited too long!"

With this, tears of both fear and heartbreak filled Ron's eyes and escaped onto his cheeks. Hermione jerked her hand out of his and rolled to the side facing away from him. Reverend Ewls, wanting to avoid any upcoming row, turned away from them and approached Harry. Ron now sobbed openly as he spoke.

"Maybe I have (sniff), and I'm sorry (sniff) for that," He began. "I'm sorry that I was a coward (sob), but I'm still here with you, and I won't leave you."

Hermione did not turn to face Ron, but tears covered her face. She tried with what little energy she had left to not sob openly, she did not want Ron to see her cry. Meanwhile Reverend Ewls approached Harry. Who immediately noticed his approach and tried harder to appear as though he was meditating, his look of intense concentration gave him away.

"You can stop pretending Harry," said Ewls.

Harry then opened his eyes.

"Sorry."

Ewls' expression became sympathetic as he sat down a few feet in front of Harry.

"Something is wrong Harry, it's been troubling you for quite some time, would you like to tell me about it?"

"I've been thinking."

"Oh?"

"I think I'm having a crisis of faith."

Reverend Ewls nodded, his expression became even more sympathetic. He bowed his head down to his lap, almost in shame.

"Don't we all."

"Reverend, Hermione doesn't believe in Jesus, and I was wondering…"

Harry couldn't find a way to ask the question that was torturing his very soul. He had pondered it since Hermione had become ill and he had learned that there was a fairly decent chance that she would die whether or not they made it to the temple on time.

"What happens to her if she dies?" Reverend Ewls asked the question for Harry. "Will she go to hell?"

Ewls had put it bluntly, so bluntly that it pierced Harry's heart as if it were a Nasserite sword. Harry began to tear openly.

"How can I not worry about it Reverend, she's my friend," he said, beginning to sob. "I don't want her to go to hell." He stopped for a second, letting out a few sobs before continuing. "But our religion tells us…"

"I don't put any stock in religion, Harry," Ewls interrupted. "Well at least not religion as your defining it. 'Human transformation in Response to perceived ultimacy,' that I do put stock in, everyone does that, and it can be a beautiful thing. But when we talk about the nature of God, all loving, kind, and gentle, who sent his only son to save us from destruction, when we say that God is Love, can we really say that, and in the same breath say that all nonbelievers will suffer for eternity?"

Harry's expression became slightly more hopeful, tears did, however, still run down his cheeks.

"No, but what then is the point of believing?"

Reverend Ewls gave a chuckle, Harry had apparently pushed one of his buttons. Ewls adopted his trademark powerful expression.

"Harry, not to insult you," he began. "But I believe that it demonstrates a very shallow faith to say that the only reason for believing is to not go to hell. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God because he is in fact the Christ, the son of the Living God. While it is true that what makes this good news is that he does in fact save us from eternal destruction, is it possible that in the wake of the atonement, hell became a metaphor for what we call realized eschatology?"

"Realized Eschatology?"

"Have you ever felt separated from God Harry? Have you ever felt moments where you can't worship him because you feel so terrible, or you've done something so wrong? Better example have you ever, before you believed, had moments of no hope, when you feared the grave, when you feared your future, when you had no guidance from any outward source, like God."

Harry's expression became contemplative.

"Yes, I have."

"That is realized hell, that is what I think hell is. That is what I think Jesus meant when he said 'wide is the gate which leads to destruction, and many there be that enter therein.' I would also say that it is reasonable to assume that there is a purgatory type place for the non-believer after death to be cleansed of the sins for which he or she was not forgiven; but an eternal hell of fire and brimstone? No I'm sorry I cannot believe that. It does not work with the nature of the God that I know."

Harry wanted so badly to believe what he was saying, but he had studied the scriptures, he knew what they (or at least what he thought they said) and he had always feared for Hermione on this count, knowing that she was not a believer.

"But there are so many verses…"

"The bible says a lot of things that don't go well together," Ewls said. "…because it was written by a lot of people who had their disagreements."

Harry gave a look of confusion, he was apparently not convinced by what Ewls was saying.

"Let me give you an example, notice in the synoptic gospels, that whenever Jesus speaks of hell, he does so in reference to believers," Ewls began. "Believers who did not follow his example of love and service. It's really the Johanene school of first Century Christian Thought that gave us the idea of hell being universal for all non-believers, but it's not really present if you look elsewhere in the scriptures, especially the undisputed letters of Paul, from which, especially the last chapters of Romans, we could very easily make the argument that Paul was a Universalist. To me, it seems, that the concept of hell that we're familiar with didn't develop until the late first century, well after Christ had ascended, and…"

"But is the Bible not the word of God?"

"What does that mean Harry, the word of God?" Ewls continued. "Is it the verbally inspired word of God where every word is as God intends it? Or does it contain the word of God? Does it tell us of the word of God? Is it as Paul writes in 2nd Timothy 3:16, 'Given of inspiration from God, ' Religion invented eternal hell so that it could control and abuse people, so that it could take sinners and hold them over the pit and scare them into believing, and honest men, like the writers of the deuteron-pauline, and the johanene letters—as people do today—stumbled into believing in this heresy; well I don't put stock in that, holiness lies in right action, it lies in you waking up every day and deciding that with Christ's help you will be a better person than you were the day before."

"But I thought that no one was righteous?"

"And so no one is, all sin, and all fall short of the Glory of God, that's why Christ died," Ewls said. "I said that holiness lies in right action Harry, I never said that we could truly be holy without grace. Do not worry for Hermione, God loves her too."

In an instant after saying this, Reverend Ewls was surrounded by a blinding white light. He immediately stood and saw his wife, Amanda Ewls in midst of it. Before he could greet her, she began to speak in a very rushed, very nervous tone of voice.

"I don't have long, they're looking for the healer who analyzed Hermione."

"What?"

"They somehow know that I have found this information," Healer Ewls continued. "And they'll stop at nothing to prevent me from making it public, McGonagall knows, we're trying to get a message to Arthur Weasley to warn the Ministry."

With this, Reverend Ewls became not only concerned, but his expression was one of downright fright.

"My darling what is going on? Why are they looking for you?"

"Hermione is not a virgin Thomas," Healer Ewls continued. "My tests have finally showed that, I've detected very small but very pronounced traces of other DNA, apparently another charm was used when she was cursed, in order to hide the fact that she had, in fact, had sex."

To his already frightened expression, there joined a look of shock.

"Do we know who the father is?"

"Yes we do, and it is he-who-must-not-be-named."

The shock on the face of Reverend Ewls deepened, he thought for a moment that he would faint. His jaw dropped slowly.

"You've got to be kidding!"

"He must have used a memory charm on her too, he must have raped her," Healer Ewls continued. "But he has been granted a full pardon by the ministry because he promised to help them hunt you down. They even gave him a position on the Ministry, he's the head of the Department of Secret Investigations."

"Department of Secret Investigations?" asked Ewls. "Never mind, you've got to get a message to the Ministry, you've got to warn them, for God's sake."

"Thomas we are trying."

"Then Amanda, you've done your part, now take the children and get out of there, get back to the United States, quickly!"

"I can't Thomas, they've closed the borders."

"Then travel as Muggles, just get out of there!"

Tears began to form in Reverend Ewls' ducts, one of them escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheek. Healer Ewls approached her husband and raised her hand to wipe away the tear falling from his face. After doing so, she placed her hand comfortingly on his cheek.

"I told you Thomas, our place is here."

"Please Amanda, I don't want to lose you," he pleaded, now sobbing.

"If it is God's will right?"

"No, leave Amanda for God's sake."

"I love you," she said. "Do not come back here, they've held their ridiculous trial and you've all been sentenced to death, don't come back here whatever you do! I have to go."

Ewls took her hands in his own.

"No, Amanda I love you, leave Britain Amanda! I love you!"

Reverend Ewls was suddenly returned to the ground across from Harry. The climate seemed unusually colder than it should have been. Almost immediately after Ewls returned to his sitting position, Harry suddenly drew his sword and wand, and stood in a defensive position looking into a grove of trees, plainly visible in the moonlight.

"I sense it to!" said Ewls alarmed, drawing both his wand and sword. He turned to Ron. "Ron Get Hermione onto Buckbeak fast!"

"Dementors!" said Harry.

Ewls put his sword back in its sheath, but retained his wand.

"Sheath your sword Harry, it will be useless against them," Harry did so. "Dumbledore tells me you are talented at conjuring patronuses."

Harry nodded.

"I'll cover your escape, get them out of here," said Harry.

Six Dementors suddenly came into view from out of the grove of trees. They charged Harry and Reverend Ewls quickly.

"Too late!" said Reverend Ewls.

Harry suddenly remembered the day he confessed his belief in Christ before the school, and his baptism. Reverend Ewls thought of holding Theo as an infant for the first time.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" they both shouted; from out of Harry's wand hurled a leaping stag which forced three of the Dementors back. Ewls' patronus was an Eagle, which took care of the other three.

"That bought us a few seconds, now lets get out of here!" said Ewls running to Buckbeak who was now mounted by Ron and Hermione, with Ron sitting behind Hermione. Reverend Ewls jumped atop Buckbeak in front of Hermione and with one command of his voice, the Hippogriff took off. Harry quickly mounted the broom that he had acquired in the chase over the English Channel, and flew off to join the Hippogriff in flight, which was visible under the moonlight.

Both the Hippogriff and the broom flew at their top speeds, too fast for the Dementors of which they saw no sign. While atop Buckbeak, Hermione suddenly fainted, her balance was maintained, and she was prevented from falling off the hippogriff, only by Ron's tight grasp.

"Hermione! No! stay with me!" shouted Ron.

"You have to keep her awake!" Ewls told Ron.

"Hermione no! I love you!"

Hermione's eyes flickered, she forced herself to sit more upright, but she still faded in and out of consciousness. Her breathing became more heavy, she shivered in the cold air. Ron suddenly mustered every ounce of courage he had, he let go of her as she was now capable of holding her own balance, and from his robes removed the ring he had kept since the beginning of the summer. He took Hermione's left hand into his own from behind and held the ring just short of her ring finger.

"I'm so sorry that I've been a coward," he began. "But please believe that I do love you, more than life itself, don't leave me! Please! I love you! You're going to make it Hermione, and when you do, marry me!"

He slipped the ring onto her left-ring-finger, and then once again took hold of her with his arms. It took all of her strength not to faint, but beneath her unbearable illness, her heart leapt, a new reason was given to her to fight, in addition to her child whom she loved more than anything, even Ron. She suddenly found herself praying, not just to whomever god would listen but to God, Ron's God, even Jesus, that her child would be safe, that if she did not survive, her child would be safe in Ron's care.