Rite now im supposed to be doing a gym project that I basically have done sooo….i decided to grace y'all with a new chapter. I kno, I kno, im wonderful…er, sure. This will be relatively longer than the rest and though at the time im not positive, this may actually be one of the final chapters.
Harry and Ron fought like they had never fought before, both with overwhelming motivation. Dumbledore loomed behind them, a grim and powerful participant. The floodgates seemed to open, releasing dozens of the Dark Lord's most accomplished servants.
"Send them all but I will live to see Malfoy die." Harry snarled as he fought his way towards the castle with ease, his rage driving him more powerfully than his own strength.
Ron nodded furiously in agreement, accidentally elbowing a man behind him, yet happy with the result all the same. "Professor and I will meet you in there, but you've got to get to that bloody bastard before he gets a chance to take her." Harry concurred, diving into the crowd and waiting for Ron to make a distraction.
"Potter's that way!" He heard a loud voice roar over the bustling crowd of the Death Eater's, pointing in the direction that Harry had been not twenty seconds before. Taking advantage of their confusion he made his way to the castle doors and whipped out his two old friends, the Marauders Map and his Invisibility Cloak.
He was surprised at how much he remembered of the old school there were certainly differences from the Hogwarts years ago and now, such as the fact that the halls were no longer brimming with silly yet beautiful paintings and eager students. Everything seemed deader than he recalled, but he did not dwell on his fact for long before he searched like a madman.
He could hear the stifled noises from outside, the explosions and shrieks of pain. He winced in a lame attempt to shut this all out before he heard movement behind him. He whirled around quickly but he was too late.
"Accio, Invisibility Cloak!" A powerful yet drawling voice commanded, sounding quite bored with the situation. Harry could feel the cloak slip off of his body and fly through the air and straight into Malfoy's arms.
It felt as though at that moment the two of them had suddenly went hurtling through a time loop and back into their second year, when their rivalry had nothing whatsoever to do with Hermione. "Malfoy." He greeted coldly. He reciprocated the aloof salutation with a stiff nod of the head.
"How have you been doing? You look positively dreadful." Harry commented, watching as a shade of pink rose to the tips of his cheeks.
"You look ill as well. A haircut is in order." He snapped back, somehow maintaining his tone of cool indifference expertly.
Harry frowned slightly. "Well now that we have established that neither of us are good looking and both of us have aged like a bowl of overripe fruit I would find it best that we just get on with it."
Malfoy nodded curtly. "I assume that you have noticed that, though I caught you unaware, I left you with your wand purposefully."
"Yes, I did." Both of them were sure that they had never been in a more hostile yet guarded conversation in their lives. "Let us not mince words. Where is she?" For the first time in their conversation Malfoy's face betrayed his possessiveness.
"You can't touch her, Potter." He snarled, taking a step forward threateningly. He refused to back down.
"I think not. She doesn't want you. Never has and, frankly, I doubt that she ever will. Not after you, forgive my crudeness, screwed her over, I doubt that she will be in want of your company." Malfoy's face became impassive and unreadable once more, though his eyes darkened with every word Harry spoke.
"You're not wrong. But Hermione is a clever girl. She will figure out what is best for her, and I truly am. The Dark Lord will never be defeated; you cannot disillusion yourself enough to believe that. With you she will live a life of terror and that of a fugitive. With me she can be safe." Harry seemed to think otherwise.
"You'll be eating your words, Malfoy. She doesn't want to be with you or else she would not have informed us that she was still alive, a fact that we had done our best to prove to no avail." Malfoy smirked slightly before twirling his own wand in his long, pale, and tapered fingers.
"The poor girl is confused. She doesn't know what's right and what is ridiculously wrong. She was trapped in the confines of that dreadful prison for a long while, Potter. If I had not saved her…" He let his voice trail off mysteriously, his eyes fixing on Harry's scar. "Not even you, the Chosen One, can take her from me." He informed him coldly.
Harry found himself wearing a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. "I have a feeling that you can do nothing to stop me." He remarked, waving his wand with a flourish.
"I was hoping that you wouldn't get your knickers in a bunch. I cannot kill you," He admitted regrettably. "But I can certainly have some fun." And with that sentiment, the spells began to fly.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Hermione was not one to surrender her efforts easily, but the incessant pounding on her door was getting on her nerves. She released the door handle, sure that the intruder could have entered with ease if he had wanted. But then he would harm Malfoy's prize. She realized grimly, backing away from the door.
"Hello, Hermione." She was vaguely surprised that Percy Weasley dared to darken her doorstep after their last meeting had resulted in the death of several of his colleagues.
"Percival," She inclined her head slightly, keeping her expression impassive and eyes fixed on his.
Percy frowned dramatically. "Ah, I can remember a time when we got along and saw eye to eye on many matters, albeit elf rights." He grimaced at the gloomy memory.
She was quick to comment. "Yes, that was before you abandoned reason for this madness and I remained loyal. Traitors always get their comeuppance, in this world or the next." The haughty glint in his eye had vanished in an instant. Hermione was satisfied.
"Yet it is I who have been living in luxury while you have been curled up in some hovel, wasting your talents and youth." The slight was not overlooked but she did her best to ignore it.
"I can make this moderately easy for you, Percival. You can release me into the castle and maintain your life of luxury until karma inevitably catches up with you or Malfoy does." Reading his expression she continued. "Or you can just continue with your not-so-witty banter, teasing me until at long last you discover that I can escape with or without your help. Well for both ways I need you. Think." She waited for three breaths until he spoke.
"You are more silly than I recall. My sister must have rubbed off on you-" Hermione cut him off.
"Before dear Draco murdered her. Not only are you a traitor to the Order, you have also betrayed your very family." If he had heard her he showed no indication. "Have you come to a decision?" She asked politely.
He smirked, an expression that would shame even Malfoy. "I believe that you have known that I would refuse you since the instant I walked into the room." He replied, looking down at her broodingly.
"Your loss." She shrugged before leaping to her feet with a rush of adrenaline, taking his left arm in her hand and twisting it over his neck, snatching his free hand and twisting it the wrong way so that he let out a gasp of pain.
"Now, would you like to unlock this door for me? Again, I could do it with or without you but only one of those ways will result in your survival." She took his wand from out of one of the pockets in his robe. He had not wished her to see it.
"Obliviate." She muttered, pressing the wand to his temple and expertly modifying his memory. Releasing him she spoke one last spell, this one much more clearly. He collapsed to the ground, still alive, only immobilized.
"You are quite fortunate that I do not wish you death." She informed the unconscious figure of Percy before focusing her remaining energy on the door and it's charms, knowing that she could never have unlocked it without a wand. Wandless magic was powerful, but not nearly as strong as when a wand or some sort of focusing objects.
Time for a showdown. She thought to herself, immediately cringing at the hackneyed phrase but finding it necessary nonetheless. She knew that by the next morning she would either be free of Malfoy or dead.
Three pages, better than usual, huh? REVIEW, if I get enough I'll actually update within a week. If not it could take much longer, I've got a shit load of homework.
