The truth shall always be ugly.
Harry ran after the couple as Hermione ran after him trying to stop Harry. Neville tried to stop them but he fell hard on the ground. Lestrange's were fast and did try to stop their persuers, but Harry somehow managed to follow them to the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Rodolphus was obviously too tired to cast anything as he was barely standing. Bellatrix, however, still had some juice left to battle Harry. His rage was helping him to keep up with the witch. He and Hermione eventually had to hide behind the status.
"I thought you were here to revenge your girlfriend's dead uncle Sirius. You left Dumbledore's side to confront me." she taunted. "If not so, why did you follow us?"
Rodolphus fell on the ground unconscious. He had taxed his magic to the extreme in his short battle with Dumbledore.
"I am." cried Harry.
"Aaah ... don't tell me that you loved that pathetic dog." she said.
Harry swirled out and bellowed at the top of his long, "Crucio."
Bellatrx fell on her knees silently, breathing heavily. "Noble boy. Never used it before eh? You need to mean it Potter, want it really bad and enjoy it too. You're just angry and that is not enough."
She cast the killing curse. Harry ducked and it hit the wall causing it no damage.
"Give me the prophecy and I'll spare your life Potter. This is your last chance." she offered.
"Well then you'll have to kill me then; I was a bit clumsy and it shattered on the floor." Harry said calmly.
"No..." Bellatrix's voice was rattling. "You'll give it to me. You'll give it NOW. Accio propecy."
Her spell failed her. She laughed hysterically. "You're lying Potter. You little scumbag. Master, I tried, I swear."
"Don't waste your breath." said Harry, enjoying her misery. " He can't hear you from here."
"Is that so?" said an emotionless voice. Hermione squirmed and looked at the upset face of Voldemort who was focused on Harry, ignoring her completely.
"Such a disappointment, all this has been." He said as if he was talking to himself. "I've come all the way down here to find the prophecy smashed by a clumsy boy, and my Death Eaters incapacitated.
Rodolphus moaned barely gaining his conciousness. He looked up to saw his master and froze as if he had been hit by petrifucus totalus.
"No matter. We'll have to finish up." He pointed his wand at Harry. "Avada Kedavra."
Harry didn't even have time to raise his wand in defense but two things happened simultaneously. Hermione jumped in front of the spell as Harry saw dread creep into Voldemort's eyes. Then the statue of the wizard sprang to life pushed Hermione aside to take her place.
"Dumbledore." Voldemort said angrily but Harry could feel relief in his voice. They both turned their heads to see Dumbledore in front of the golden gates.
"Miss Lestrange was doing a fine job sacrificing herself for your golden boy, why bother really?" He seemed to be more angry at Hermione.
"Ah Tom, unlike you I have some decency." He explained.
Voldemort threw another killing curse only this time at Dumbledore.
"No." Yelled Hermione, but Dumbledore disappeared before it could hit him. He reappeared behind them waving his wand at the rest of the statues and they too became animated.
The centaur attacked Bellatrix but Rodolphus who was now standing hit it with a golden spell that slowed it down significantly. He fell onto his knees again.
"Lie down Rodo." Bellatrix screamed at him as she tried to blast the statue with a stream of spells. She was very tired and collapsed after a few tries, hardly able to keep her wand in her hand.
"That's magical exhaustion. How are they even concious at this point?" thought Hermione. That was a testament to how powerful those two were.
The goblin and the house elf went to the fireplaces on the wall as the witch ran towards Voldemort incredibly fast. Voldemort disappeared in a cloud of dust and reappeared beside the pool next to Hermione. She shrinked back and tried to get away but Voldemort didn't even spare her a glance. The wizard pushed Harry behind itself.
"Coming here was a mistake, Tom." Dumbledore said with a calm smile. "The aurors are on their way."
"-by then you're dead and we're gone." He said. "And it really wasn't that much of a waste, if you know what I mean." He waved his wand to send a killing curse to Dumbledore which missed him and hit a desk, inflaming it.
Dumbledore did a complex series of wand movements and a spell with great force emitted from his wand that gave Harry goosebumps. Voldemort made a grey sheild that absorbed the spell with a boom sound.
"You do not wish to kill me Albus?" He smiled. "Above such brutality, are you?"
"We both know there are worse ways to destroy a man, Tom." Dumbledore responded. He walked toward him fearlessly and almost carelessly. "I have to admit taking your life isn't satisfying enough..."
Voldemort moved closer to Hermione as if he had wanted to pick something up but regretted to do so. "You wouldn't dare." He seemed almost desperate. "There's nothing worse than death in the world." He said as his voice shaked slightly.
"At least you know you're wrong." Dumbledore said so casually that it worried Hermione and Harry. They wanted to warm him to be careful but before they could even attempt it Voldemort sent another killing curse at Headmaster.
The centaur which had remained motionless came to Dumbledore rescue and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Dumbledore cast a rope of fire to trap Voldemort and initially it worked but then Voldemort turned it into a snake and unleashed it towards him. Voldemort disappeared and this time reappeared on the plinth were the statues previously stood. He waved his wand and a stream of green light was shot toward Dumbledore. This time Fawkes came to his resque.
Dumbledore vanished the snake as Fawkes devoured the curse and burst into flame.
Voldemort started to move his wand, but Dumbledore was much faster. Water rose and engulfed Voldemort sealing him in a seemed calm as he didn't move a lot and then suddenly he was gone.
"Master!" Yelled the Lestranges who had gained some of their strength back. However, they were restrained by the statue of the witch and couldn't move.
It was over. He was gone and had left his vassals behind to be arrested.
Harry ran to Dumbledore but he looked at Harry terrified. "Stay where you are!" he commanded firmly.
Hermione saw a cloud of darkness around Harry and he fell. He fell on ground motionlessly first and then began twitching from pain.
"Kill me Dumbledore..." said Harry with a hoarse voice. "Kill us if death is truly nothing."
Dumbledore seemed frozen and Hermione's alleged parents were watching in astonishment.
"Harry... Hold on Harry." She kneeled in front of him. "Hold on for Sirius."
The shadow instantly departed. Harry was panting heavily.
It took the form of Voldemort, who freed the Lestranges and fled as the aurors and the minister himself arrived.
"He was here. I swear I saw him. He grabbed two people and ran away."
Harry raised his head gaining concious was.
"Are you OK Harry?" asked Dumbledore concerned about him.
"Yes..." He shook his head. "Where's he? Where's Voldemort?" Harry looked around. "Who are these-"
"Minister I saw ..." said a tall man, but Fudge cut him. "I know Unspeakable Stiltskin. I saw him, too." He said as he looked at Dumbledore ashamedly.
"Should we arrest Miss Lestrange, minister?" asked an auror.
"No, Park. There is no need. She's an ally of the Ministry." He said.
"Really, Fudge you can be so stupid at times." said Amilia Bones who restrained Hermione who staterd at her incredulously.
"Madam Bones, please refrain from arresting the children. They were the true saviors of the Ministry tonight. Miss Lestrange and Mr. Potter stopped Death Eaters from stealing a prophecy that could determine the destiny of our world." Dumbledore explained slowly. "If you proceed downstairs to the Department of Mysteries you shall find convicted Death Eaters confined in the Chamber of Death confined by Anti-disapparation jinx. Also you will find my crowd who are trying to stabilize Sirius Black's condition as he was badly damaged defending the ministry."
Madam Bones freed Hermione. "Aurors, follow me." she said, sparing no attention to Hermione as almost a quarter of the crowd follwed her.
Dumbledore took the head of centaur from the ground and whispered something. It glowed blue.
"Dumbledore, that's illegal!" exclaimed Fudge. "You owe us an explanation!"
"We'll talk when my students are sent home." responded Dumbledore as he handed the severed head to Hermione and Harry. "On the count of three."
"One.." he counted.
"Dumbledore!" cried Fudge furiously.
"Two...Three" they heard Dumbledore before they were jerked up to Dumbledore's office.
Hermione was walking nervously in Dumbledore's office as Harry sat quietly thinking. He didn't talk or move. He simply kept staring at Dumbledore's desk as if he intended to destroy it with his gaze. Thirty minutes later Dumbledore came back.
"I was expecting my office trashed by now." Dumbledore joked.
"Finally you're looking at me." said Harry abruptly. "You've avoided me for an entire year, sir."
"Harry I must ask your forgiveness. My foolishness broght us here..." he said, but Harry gave him a very angry look.
"Oh, sir. It could have been much worse. You could have told me and this would have happened months ago." he smiled coldly. "I'm not sad that you didn't talk to me or didn't tell me about the prophecy. You're blatant ignorance of my existence has been annoying, yes, but that's not why I'm sad."
Dumbledore seemed surprised. He was concerned what would Harry say next. "Then what's wrong my boy?"
Harry smirked bitterly at his question. "You did everything right. Just forgot one tiny, minute detail."
"And what was that?" Dumbledore asked patiently.
"That Hermione first and foremost is my friend." he said to a very shocked Dumbledore. "You see, here is the funny thing. We all got attacked by the Death Eaters, but Hermione was excluded. No one attempted to hit her by anything less mild than a stunner."
Dumbledore had an ugly expression on his face.
"That's not very odd, is it?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Because Hermione is the child of Bellatrix and Lucius, in theory at least, right?" Harry smiled like it was a personal joke between him and Dumbledore.
"Harry they really are my..." Hermione started to say but Harry stopped her with his raised palm. Dumbledore now was looking at his fingers.
"Yet, we met Voldemort and he holds no reservations for blood traitors." Harry explained with a cheerful tone. "He tries to kill me and Hermione throws herself in front of me which is a pretty stupid yet brave move." He could barely contain his anger now. "And you save her for your decency." He gulped. "No more protection for Hermione seemed to be necessary." He paused. "Because Hermione needs no protection from his father."
Hermione looked at him in confusion.
"What the heck are you talking about, Harry?" Hermione asked. "My father wasn't even there. Rodolphus is not my real dad."
"Neither is Lucius, I'm afraid." said Dumbledore weakly. A drop tear fell on his desk.
"I- I don't understand professor." said Hermione. This all was so unreal.
"I told you, you would be disappointed when you found out." said Dumbledore. He was barely audible. "Harry, your mother would be proud. You're as smart as her. You have her tolerant heart too."
"You should have kept her safe, too." Harry was silently crying. "What is worse to do to a man that is worse than death?" Harry asked indignantly. Dumbledore was silent. "Showing them their dead child is much worse, isn't it?" Harry was obviously at the brink of emotional collpse.
"Oh my." It finally sank into Hermione's mind "I'm his daughter." She put her hand on her mouth and wept. "I'm unclean." She cried even harder.
"Oh come on Hermione I thought you didn't believe in that blood crap." Harry scolded her, trying to calm her down by diverting her thoughts. He kissed her temple.
"How can you take it so well, Harry?" Hermione asked. " My father, killed your parents."
"Yeah, he wants to kill me, too. He is nothing but a sperm doner, okay?" Harry said.
"Gosh, I hate it when people use my own logic against me." Hermione laughed and then kept crying.
"What should we call you?" asked Harry.
"I think Lestrange is sufficient Harry. That's her mother's surname." said Dumbledore. "The world will not be kind to Lord Voldemort's daughter, once people know she exists."
"Professor, there is something I don't understand." Harry said. he had calmed down a bit. Occlumency had other uses as Snape had said.
"Why Hermione can't talk to snakes?"
"Hermione hasn't inherited the genes that make it possible Harry. Even if she has, they are dormant and can be only transferred to the next generation."
"Miss Lestrange, I owe you an apology. As Harry guessed correctly I tried to threaten Tom by threatening you. That was a mistake and unforgivable. I will totally understand if don't wish to forgive me." Dumbledore said.
"Of course I forgive you ,sir." Hermione said as she tried to wipe her tears.
"What was in he prophecy, sir?" Harry tried to change the subject now that he was satisfied with Dumbledore's apology.
"I'll show you if you wait." He waved his wand and his familiar pensive appeared in front of them.
"I'll be leaving then professor." Hermione stood up and attempted to leave, but Harry stopped him.
"Harry you don't want Voldemort's daughter to know about the pophecy, do you?" she asked quietly.
"I do, if that daughter is you." Harry assured her.
She couldn't stop herself from kissing him right there.
"Wow 'Mione I need to say these things much more to you." he said blushing.
"I believe the sooner you watch this the sooner you'll get to be alone together." a smiling Dumbledore's said to the blushing teenagers.
Umbridge had been hospitalised in the infirmary. She was currently suspended from her job until the new minister came through and he or she would be an idiot to keep such a strong Dumbledore denier around. Hermione visited her a few times even though Umbridge hadn't been very responsive.
One morning Harry and Hermione came to visit Ron, she was gone.
"They took her to Saint Mango this morning. She's gonna lay low for sometime. They are poking into her background and her history of conduct." said Ron knowingly.
"You're not silly anymore." commented Luna.
"No, thank Merlin for that." Ron said as his eyes started to look like bacon.
"So you guys saw You-Know-Who?" Neville asked them. "What was he like?"
"Really creepy." said Hermione. "He doesn't have a nose."
Everyone laughed. "Well, we knew that."
"Hey Hermione are you coloring your hair again?" said Luna.
"What?" Harry asked with an alerted voice.
"Well your hair is black at its base." Luna said innocently. "It's really hard to notice but I think you're getting close."
"Yeah, she's been trying for some time Luna. I like dark hair better, you know," Harry said swiftly. Dumbledore had warned them that Hermione might change even more.
"Yeah I think it looks better than blonde, don't you think?" Hermione said trying to utilize her natural Occlumency.
"Yeah." said Ginny nervously. "so... when will we be visiting Sirius?"
"Tomorrow, Ron should be discharged by then." said Harry. Ginny at seemed to behaving oddly around Hermione. Was she scared of her? It would be natural since she had been recently possessed by the blond girl next to her.
"You thought he was dead mate." said Ron.
"And he would have been if Lucinda weren't there." responded Harry. "I hear that she saved him."
"Yeah, she did. You guys weren't there but I saw it." said Ginny. "She purified his blood and put it back into his veins. Then she left him to Remus to kick her brother's arse. Like any good sister would do."
"Wait Malfoy stood that long in front of Dumbledore?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Oh yeah, he lasted for a minute or so. He hadn't fought much and he is really tricky, almost frustrated Dumbledore. Lucinda simply surprised him by hitting him in balls." said Ginny mischievously making Harry, Neville and Ron shudder. "Like a good sister."
"Ginny, please be available as a bad sister. Please!" Ron begged her.
"Oh Ronald I'm always going to be good." She smirked. Luna and Neville left soon after Harry told them what has transpired between Dumbledore's and Voldemort. Ginny stayed however.
"Okay you're obviously not telling us something." She said.
"It's personal." Harry responded shortly.
"Okay. I guess I'll find out later." she said as she kissed her brother goodbye.
"So what is it?" asked Ron expecting them to talk.
Hermione sighed and quickly cast a privacy spell around Ron's bed.
"There are a few things that we need to tell you." Hermione said and then told him everything, about how they first thought she was Lucius Malfoy's daughter to how Draco gave them a different hair to present to the public and then how Harry had cleverly deduced that she had been actually the daughter of Voldemort. When he didn't show any reaction they told him about the prophecy.
"Okay I don't know what kind of power you have that You-Know-Who doesn't know about, but I know that Hermione has this newfound power to find a new parent every other month. What's next Hermione? Dumbledore and McGonagall are going to be your next parents?" He said sarcastically.
"Ron this is no joke." said Harry somberly, but Ron nevertheless continued. "See Harry? There is wisdom in not calling him by his name. You don't know who might be listening."
"Ron." Hermione pleaded him.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but it's just too much. You don't get it. I defended you. I was eating slugs one entire afternoon to defend a girl, whose parents killed many wizards in case of your mommy or ordered them to be killed by daddy dearest." he smiled bitterly. "I ate slugs defending her honor. I spent my life with the daughter of my worst enemy, I ..."
"I swear to God Ron, if you don't shut up, we are never going to talk to you ever again." Harry yelled at his best friend.
Ron closed his mouth and stared at Hermione. "I'm sorry." He looked away. "Please go. I need to deal with this alone."
Harry and a tearful Hermione left Ron. They couldn't hear the boy cry as the sound barriers were still intact.
A/N: Sirius Black shall live! I have so many things in store for him.
