A/N: Welcome new readers and welcome back old readers! Thank you for the follows and the faves!
Not an update just fixing some spelling mistakes and such.
Shall be putting up the next chapter tonight!
As dawn broke on Saturday, Hermione continued to stare out the window. She had not slept all night. Once they got back, she had bathed and then written in her book a
Where are you?
She had sat up waiting all night but it only at the crack of dawn had the book grown warm
D: Our Classroom in the dungeons
H: Are you okay?
D: Just come… please…
H: Okay…
—
Blaise was roaming the halls aimlessly, every time he looked he'd see blood and hear screaming from the revels. He was afraid and guilty. They had not idea what Voldemort had planned for Hogwarts. He walked towards the Quidditch field and saw a few athletes from different houses warming up. He turned away, he really didn't want to talk to anyone who might be dead by the end of the week… His feet carried him towards a section of the forest where he saw the one person he truly wanted to see - Luna Lovegood feeding the thestrals.
She turned when she saw him and smiled "Hello Blaise…"
He didn't know what came over him, he ran up to her and hugged her tightly. He held her and began to sob. "It's okay…" Luna said in a dreamy voice holding him and patting him lightly "everything will be okay soon…"
Blaise didn't know how long they stood there but the longer her stood, the better he felt. After a while when he'd managed to check his emotions, he stood up wiped his face and said "Would you like to go on a date with me to Hogsmeade later today?"
"I would like that very much…" Luna said with a soft smile
"Okay… great… so I'll meet you at the gates at 10?" Blaise asked
"See you then…" Luna said and Blaise smiled and turned to leave but Luna caught his hand and stopped him
"Here…" she said rolling up her corkscrew necklace and placing it in his breast pocket " just keep it close to your heart, it should make you feel better…."
Blaise patted his pocket lightly and smiled and then left feeling significantly better than before.
—
"Bathilda?" Tonks called looking like Kendra Dumbledore "Are you there? I baked some biscuits… thought we could have them with the morning tea!"
A mousey looking Bathilda Bagshot opened the door. Here eyes were confused as she tried to make sense of the group of people in front of her.
"Kendra?" She asked confused
"Who else would it be…" Tonk's said and entered through the kitchen door "Oh splendid you have pot on the boil already…" she said wiving her wan around and using the pretext of setting up the cups to cast a quick confounds on the old witch
"yes.. tea…" Bathilda said turning and walking in as Kingsley and Lupin shut the door behind them and entered the kitchen. Sirius stuck his nose in the air. There was a funny smell in the house but he couldn't quite make out what it was or where it was coming from.
As Tonks prepared the tea, she put a few drops of Veritaserum into Bathilda's cup and passed it along to her. A couple of sips and some idle conversation later, Bathilda's eye's glazed over
"I am really sorry to do this Ms. Bagshot…" Tonks said as her appearance turned back to normal and she bound the old witch to her chair.
"What is happening? Where is Kendra?" Bathilda asked slightly dreamily as a smile formed on her face
"Ms. Bagshot, is it true that you are related to Godric Gryiffindor?" Kingsley asked, his deep voice low
"Yes, yes it is…"
"Ms. Bagshot did a boy named Tom Riddle ever come to you?" This time it was Lupin
"Tom…" Bathilda sounded like she was remembering something from another time "Tom… riddle…. yes…. Many years ago… he came to me, Slughorn had sent him…."
"Did he ask you for anything?" Lupin asked
"He wanted to see the staff…" Bathilda began but suddenly there was a shriek and Tonks put s shield charm around them as a massive snake leapt towards them
"So this is Nagini?" Kingsley asked as the Snake tried to strike the shield charm…
"What staff?" Lupin asked Bathilda ignoring the commotion
"Why the staff of Gryffindor of course… the one in which he carried his Wand…"
Nagini had begun to turn into smoke and leaked in through the shield charm "What is happening?" Tonks said confused…
"I don't know…" Kingsley said pulling out his wand and getting ready
"Where is the staff now?" Lupin asked
Once inside the shield Nagini transformed and went straight for Bathilda's throat. Sirius pulled Lupin away just in time but they couldn't say the old witch. Nagini bit her twice and blood sprayed out like a fountain from her neck. The snake then transformed into a black ball of smoke. The obscurus collected it's power to strike.
Bill was the first to recognise it "It's an obscurial! Make the most powerful shield you can!"
There was a loud bang as Arianna transformed into her human from she was terrifying with glowing red eyes and flowing black robes. She threw surge upon surge of untamed raw magic on the party as the house began to collapse around them.
Lupin had grabbed the body of Bathilda and run out "Where is the staff…" he asked the dying witch pointed towards the ground before her soul fell through the veil
Airanna let out a shriek of fury as the spells from the members of the order stung her
Sirius had been bounding through the house in his dog from sniffing for things and trying to look for a staff. He let out a yelp as the part of the house he was in collapsed. He made it out but broke his hind paw and limped towards Lupin who grabbed his friend and put distance between them and the battle
Inside the house Airaana let out a last wave of raw untamed magic before dissappearing in a cloud of smoke. When they emerged, tonks had a bruised eye, Kingsley's head was bleeding and Bill a set of nasty gashes across his face…
"Fleur is going to kill me…" He said looking at his reflection in the broken window pane
"Anything?" Kingsley asked Lupin
"She pointed to the ground…" he said as Sirius let out a howl when his broken paw was mended…
"I'll go check for a cellar… or tomb or something…" Bill said walking back towards the house
"I have to return to the ministry…" Kingsely said "Keep me appraised of any development…" he was about to pop away but then changed his mind and walked up to Bill. "Bill.. a word…" He said pulling him aside
Lupin tended to Tonk's injuries much more gently and then cleaned up the corpse of Bathilda Bagshot so that she could be laid to rest…
—
Hermione ran too the classroom to find Draco sitting there his eyes bloodshot and his face pale. She put up muffliato and several silencing charms she had been practicing as she rushed towards him.
"What happened? Are your parents safe? Did someone get hurt?" She asked him and holding his face in her hand
He pushed her hands away and hugged her around her waist "We fixed it…"
"Oh…"
"Now I have just one task left…"
"What?"
"I have to kill Dumbledore before tom get's here…" Draco said his voice hollow
Hermione who had been stroking his hair softly froze
"Draco… that's…"
"Impossible… I know… I've tried…" He said looking at nothing in particular
"What?" Hermione said sitting next to him and Turing his face to her. He looked into her eye's and all she could see was guilt
"Kaite bell I imperiused Madame rosmereatta to give it to her and for her to give it to Dumbledore… I gave the poisoned mead to Slughorn that nearly killed Ron… I even tried to visit him but… I lost my nerve… "
"Draco… please… you can't the order, they will…" Hermione said not sure of what to even say
"He'll kill my mother!" Draco yelled suddenly making Hermione jump. He held her shoulders and shook her "He'll kill you! I can't let anybody I love die! But he's going to come here and kill everyone anyway so what's even the point!" Draco screamed he then got up and screamed as he let out his rage, helplessness, fear and frustration
Hermione just watched equally helpless… when he was done, she held him in her arms as he cried for what seemed like hours.
The sun was beaming down, a rarity during the winters… like a gilder of hope a ray of sunshine was glimmering on the old stone in the empty classroom.
Draco's eye's had finally dried up and he was sitting there staring into the sunlight. He reached his hands into the beam feeling the warmth trying to catch it. He looked up at Hermione sitting next to him holding his hand.
"I can't breath without you…" He said kissing her forehead "So whatever happens, promise me, you won't die…"
"I promise…" Hermione said giving him a peck on his cheek
Draco pulled her close and kissed her deeply
They said there in the dark watching the sun go higher in the sky both wondering what fate had in store for them next.
—-
Sorting through rubble in the house, Lupin asked Bill "What did Kinsgley want to know…"
"If an obscurial can be bound by a master…" He said shoving a particular heavy set of wood away with a spell
"Can it?" Lupin asked and even Tonks and situs stopped to listen
"No…" Bill said as he reconstructed the section of the house alone "Until earlier this morning I believed it to be impossible…"
Suddenly Sirius barked making everyone jump. He scraped on the ground on a pile of rubble. Once the rubble had been magically cleared, they saw a seal made up of runes.
"Hmm… Not very advanced…" Bill said as he kneeled to examine it
"Can you break it?" Tonks asked
"Do the goblins at gringotts love me?" Bill retorted and everyone including Sirius tilted their head in confusion
—
Voldemort reached out when he woke up and screamed out as he felt Arianna getting struck by curses. He instantly cut himself and used a drop of his now black blood to summon her from the battle
Arianna transformed into a human as she landed, she had cuts and bruises on her face that made Voldemort furious. "Was it the order?" He hissed
She nodded
"Did the old woman tell them anything?" He asked
Arianna shook her head
"Good… rest, I must go and check something, after I come back, I will need to feed…."
Arianna nodded and walked to the bed and lay down in it
—
Harry was sleeping in. It had been a long week, Christmas was almost here and he hadn't bothered getting anything. He knew he should get up and get to Hogsmead but he could always get there a little later.
He had snoozed his alarm and dozed off again putting the blanket over his head. Suddenly he screamed out in pain. His scar seared with pain as if his head was about to split open from the inside.
He saw Voldemort scream with rage as held up a fake locket horcrux in the cave. He then saw a vision of Voldemort screaming at the broken seal in the Gaunt house.
Ron had just gotten back to the dorms after a shower when he heard harry scream. He ran up to his friend and tried to shake him awake "Harry! Harry! Wake up!"
Just as suddenly as it had come, the pain subsided and Harry opened his eyes in fear "he knows…"
—
Blaise had met Luna at the gates, the odd pair had turned quite a few heads. Whisperers had been following them through their walk around the village of Hogsmead but for once Blaise didn't care one bit. He was happy to listen to Luna go on about nargles and wackspurts and all sorts of other creatures.
They stopped at Honeydukes trying out some of the new sweets and picking up some classics. They laughed and talked about everything and nothing and finally Blaise took her to the private room on the first floor of Madame Puddifut's shop
"Well, this is quite, I didn't know this tea shop could be so silent…" Luna said as Blaise pulled a chair out for her "I usually go to Hogs Head when I want some peace and quite…"
"I'm glad you like it…" Blaise said sitting down on a chair next to her instead of the one opposite her "What would you like to have?" He asked
Once they had ordered Luna looked and Blaise and asked "Where are you?"
"I'm right here…" he said smiling and confused "see…"
She cupped his cheek in her palm "No… where are you?"
Blaise sighed "How can you read people so accurately?"
Luna "I don't the Whackspurts tell me…" she whispered
Blaise smiled and held her hand "Luna, if I am forced to do something that hurts others, am I a bad person?"
"The dark mark on your arm doesn't define you…" She said
Blaise was shocked "How did you…"
"The whacksuprts… " She whispered then smiled and said "..also, I saw it when we were taken"
"And you still agreed to… I am not the right sort of wizard to be getting mixed up with…" Blaise said seriously
"You don't seem like the kind to wall in self pity…"
"I'm not…"
"Then what is it…"
"I'm stuck in this place and I don't know how to get out and how to fix…"
"Fix what?"
"I dunno… my life" Blaise said
"Oh! Is that all…" Luna tinkled a laugh "I know how to fix that…" She said as she reached across her chair and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips "there… all better…"
Blaise was stunned for a moment, he then pushed his chair back as he stood up and held Luna's face in his hands and kissed her deeply.
—
Narcissa Malfoy had always been pale, but today she looked bloodless. Lucius had brewed the tonics himself all night as his wife had practiced a rather difficult spell with Grindelwald.
Narcissa stirred as Lucisus pottered about the room.
"Stay in bed love…" Lucius said gliding to her side "I'll take care of everything…"
Narcissa let herself fall back into the arms of the man she loved
"By the way, he did it…" Lucius said gently "Draco fixed the cabinet… we attack on new years day…"
Narcissa sighed "my poor boy…"
"Oh and one other thing… the dark lord has taken my wand…."
Narcissa forgot her exhaustion and sat up staring at Lucius…
—
They stood in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place staring at the glimmering golden staff with a black ruby on the top of it.
"So this is it?" Kingsely asked
"Yes…" Lupin responded
Molly measly was looking at the staff with tears in her eyes "How could he? Such a precious and perfume artefact…"
"How do we Destroy it?" Sirius asked disgusted with the thing being in his house
"Fiendfyre…" Tonks said
"Not in my house then…" Sirius said seriously
"We'll do it…" Lupin said picking it up and nodding at Tonks…
They left the house and apprated to a clearing in the Chinbrook Meadows. Lupin up muggle replying charms and a protective shield around them and asked "You're sure you can control it?"
"I may be a Tonks but I claimed the black family magic, and it is a black strand… if you get my meaning…" She said seriously
"You're nothing but white…" Lupin said smiling
"Tell that to my dark core…" Tonks mumbled and cast the spell, it took the shape of a snake and coiled itself around the levitating staff. As soon as the fire burnt it the staff let out a shriek and dark mist rose from it. Tonks saw herself holding a wolf cub and Lupin going transforming into a werewolf and killing both her and the cub. She saw herself screaming and bleeding on a full moon. Lupin saw himself impregnate Tonks in his wolf from. He saw her dying as he slashed her pregnant belly. He saw himself covered in blood and showing at the moon.
And soon the visions were gone and the staff was reduced to cinders. The fiery snake retreated back into the wand and they just stood there looking at each other. Their greatest fears laid bare
Tonks was the first to speak "It's a nasty piece of work…"
"I would never…" Lupin said and then sat down
"I know…" she held him and they sat there in the meadow enjoying the rare sunny winter day…
—-
Snape's arm burned as he felt his master call. He instantly flooed to the Manor and all but ran to the west wing.
"My lord" he bowed deeply as he entered
Voldemort was pacing like a caged animal… "What news of Dumbledore?"
"Draco managed to reach a cursed object to him" Snape lied "he is dying slowly… but he is…"
"Good… How are the preparations for the attack on the 1st going "
"Very well my lord… we should be able to take the castle with ease…"
"Sevrus, you have been most loyal to me through these years…" Voldemort said "Tell me… did you ever check if there was another heir to Slytherin?"
"My lord!" Snape said bowing in shock "That seems most unlikely…"
"I would like you to find the other heir Severus… I know there is one…"
Severus bowed and left, but all he could think of was the day Hermione had claimed her familial magic…
See you tomorrow!