A/N: Heyyy all, I know. I know. I can hear everyone loud and clear. This took WAY too long for me to update. Well there was a lot that happened when I went on vacation recently that put me in a very bad mindset. My dog got attacked, and we just got her stitches out a couple weeks ago, then our main transport vehicle broke and we had to get that fixed, and now this virus is going about. Anyway, dog and truck are all better, and so am I really. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I worked really hard on it and the next one while our internet was getting fixed (Tech cut the wrong wire, broke our internet). Please enjoy! And forgive me, next chapter should be out within the week. Much love- Bookworm
Somewhere along the line, Hermione and the twins got separated. Hermione was beginning to panic as spells every color of the rainbow were shot off around her. Her breathing was labored, as they still had one more horcrux to find and the gravity of that situation had finally hit her. She ducked into an alcove behind a tapestry and held her hands against her temples as she caught her breath.
"Need to find Harry." She whispered to herself, and pulled out the map with shaking hands. She found him in an empty corridor, he appeared to be with the ghost of Ravenclaw. "What are you doing?" She whispered aloud, tucking the map into her pocket and ducking out of her hiding place. She was immediately bombarded with spells, and she returned them blindly, just hoping that it wasn't anyone friendly that she was hitting. She ran, shooting spells and coughing through the dust, to where she had seen Harry. She ran into something solid, and immediately shot a spell, only to hear a familiar grunt of pain.
"Harry?" She asked, kneeling down next to him on the ground. "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry." She muttered, quickly casting the counter curse and helping him back to his feet.
"It's alright Hermione." He said, dragging her to a wall and kneeling behind it. Spells flew over their heads, but they both ignored them. "Where's Ron?" He asked, and she quickly pulled out the map again. Her eyes roamed the parchment, briefly landing on a small huddle of names. Her boys, she dragged her eyes away from the small print that told her where they were, and found Ron.
"There." She said, pointing. "Right near the Room-"
"Of Requirement. Good. Let's go." Harry said, standing and shooting a couple spells over the wall before making a run for it. Hermione was right on his heels, her head on a swivel so that they weren't ambushed. Amazingly, they made it without much incident and were reunited with Ron.
"Do you have it?" Ron asked, looking at Harry with wide eyes.
"No. But, I know where it is, sort of, and I know what it looks like." Harry told him excitedly.
"What do you mean, sort of?" Ron asked, Hermione silently agreeing with his question.
"I mean, it's in there." Harry said, gesturing to the wall that the Room of Requirement would appear on. "Watch out, I'm gonna get it open." Harry said, walking up to the wall and staring intently at it. Hermione held her wand up, her eyes flickering between Harry and the corridor.
"Harry, is there any way we could hurry this up?" Ron asked nervously as they heard shouting getting closer to them.
"There!" Harry shouted, bursting though the door that had appeared in the wall. Hermione and Ron followed him into the room, and they immediately stopped walking as they saw the expanse of the room in front of them. "Erm… okay… We should split up. We are looking for a bust of a man and he has a tiara on, it was on top of some sort of cupboard last I saw it." Harry told them. They agreed quickly and split, Hermione making her way down a branch in the room, quickly scanning everything that she passed. They had been in the room for a while, Hermione would have guessed that they been there for about ten minutes, and she had gotten deep into the maze of lost items when she hear Ron say something.
**"Harry? Are you talking to someone?" She heard him call into the room. She strained her ears, trying to hear an answer. Instead of an answer though, she heard an unknown voice shout out.
"Descendo!" She heard the voice shout out. She immediately began to run in the direction that she had heard the shout and the following crash.
"Ron!" She shouted. "Harry!" She didn't get a response, and she could feel her heart beating harshly against her chest. She could hear voices as she got closer to where she felt she would find Harry.
"Harry?" She heard Ron shout, and she stopped in her tracks to hear him over her breathing. "What's going on?" She heard him call out.
"Harry." She heard a false high-pitched voice say. "What's going on- No Potter!" The voice shouted, reverting back to his normal voice. "Crucio!" She began running again, knowing that she was close to them. She was worried about Harry, she didn't like the thought that he was in more trouble than he could handle. She rounded a corner and immediately saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle with their wands trained on Harry, though it seemed that Malfoy and Crabbe were arguing. She trained her wand to Crabbe's head, recognizing his voice as the one that had cast both spells at Ron and Harry, and shot a stunner. Harry whipped around, his eyes wide, as the spell went past his head.
"It's the mudblood!" Crabbe snarled, shifting his wand to point at her instead of Harry. "Avada Kedavra!" He shouted. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the green jet of light coming toward her, and she dove to the side, landing behind a stack of chairs that began to teeter dangerously. She saw a couple more flashes of light before hearing another shout, this time from Malfoy.
"Don't kill him!" She heard him shout.
"Expelliarmus!" She heard Harry say. She let out a groan as she got off of the ground, was that the only spell that Harry knew how to use? She wondered to herself as she poked her head back around the chairs that had thankfully steadied themselves. Hermione quickly shot off a couple stunning spells, one of them narrowly missing Malfoy. She saw Ron out of the corner of her eye, and he also lifted his wand and sent off a spell that just missed Crabbe, who spun on him and immediately shot off another killing curse. Fire rushed through her veins as Ron dove to avoid the curse, and without thinking she charged forward, casting curse after curse, a stunner hitting Goyle square in the chest.**
"Hermione! It's over there!" Harry pointed at a pile of rubbish. "Look for it, I'll go get Ron!" He said, but Hermione's eyes grew wide as she saw both Crabbe and Ron rushing from around a corner, a huge wall of fire behind them.
"Harry!" She screamed, panicked. He looked behind him, and immediately started running away from the advancing flames. He, Hermione, and Ron all ran one direction while Crabbe went to help Goyle and Malfoy.
"He set the bloody place on fire!" Ron shouted as they blindly rounded a corner.
"We need to get the diadem!" Harry shouted, turning to head back.
"Harry!" Hermione said, grabbing his arm to stop him going back. "We need to get out!" She told him. He starred at her for a moment before nodding.
"Right. How?" He asked, and they all looked around frantically. It was starting to feel extremely hot in the room, Hermione realized as she looked around.
"There!" Ron cried out, pointing through the smoke at three brooms leaning against a desk. Her stomach churned, she still didn't like flying and she was sure it would be even worse flying over fire. They ran forward together and each grabbed a broom, throwing a leg over the handle and kicking off of the ground hard. They circled once, trying to find the way out of the room, when Ron pointed at a small light shining through the ever thickening smoke.
"There!" He said. Harry led the way, Ron and Hermione making sure to fly close to him so they didn't lose each other. Hermione could see Harry scanning the ground, presumably looking for the diadem, but was surprised when he suddenly turned and pointed at figures that were standing on a stack of rubble.
"Harry, NO!" Ron shouted.
"Yes Ron!" He called back, and Hermione heard Ron let out a growl.
"Harry, if we die for them, I'll kill you!" Ron said furiously. It took a couple tries, but Harry managed to get Draco onto his broom. Ron hauled the unconscious Goyle onto his, and Hermione had just reached out for his hand when Crabbe fell from the stack into the flames below. Hermione heard the raw scream that emitted itself from her throat, and felt the look of horror dawn on her face, but Harry shouted at her.
"Hermione, we have to GO!" He said as the flames rose higher, attempting to claim another life. She leaned forward on her broom, brushing her tears and sweat away with one hand as the broom moved swiftly forward, following Harry and Ron. Harry dipped down once, diving toward the ground, but quickly escaped the flames with a piece of silver hanging from his arm. A realization dawned on Hermione, and she gasped, breathing in smoke.
"Harry, let it go!" She said, coughing as she tried to relay her message to him.
"Were almost there!" Harry called back, and Hermione pushed her broom forward, she needed out and she needed to tell Harry about the fire. They flew out of the room, and Hermione was relieved when she felt the almost clean air enter her lungs.
"Harry." She coughed, landing and tossing the broom aside. Malfoy grabbed the newly awake Goyle as soon as they landed and ran, leaving the trio to themselves in the corridor. "Harry. It's fiendfyre." She gasped, taking breath into her lungs.
"What?" Harry asked, kneeling on all fours and catching his breath.
"Harry! It destroys horcruxes!" She shouted angrily. If he had ever listened to her, he would have known that. Realization dawned on his face, and he reached to grab the diadem, but stopped short as Ron kicked it back into the room right as the doors slammed shut, secluding the fire. They were silent for a long moment, before they remembered where they were and stood quickly.
"There's only one more." Harry said suddenly. "We just need to get the snake and we-" He was cut off by shouting entering the hallway, accompanied by the recognizable sounds of dueling. Fred and Percy backed into the hallway first, and Hermione's heart leapt as she saw Fred. Ron, Harry and Hermione immediately sprung into the action, attempting to help them fend off the Death Eaters that were attacking the pair.
"Nice of you lot to join us!" Fred laughed, glancing at the trio. Just then, Percy shot a spell at one of the Death Eaters, knocking his mask off and revealing his face.
"Hello Minister! I forgot to ask, did you happen to get my resignation?" He barked at him.
"You're joking!" Fred laughed, looking at his brother. "Oh wonderful!" He said, attacking with renewed vigor. "Now you don't have to be a stuck up-" He was cut off by a large explosion, one that shook the walls and floor beneath them. Reflexively, Harry grabbed Hermione and Ron by the arms and hauled them to one side of the corridor. Hermione watched as Fred and Percy lunged to the opposite wall, and she met his eyes. He grinned at her and she had just begun to return his smile when the wall began to crumble. It was almost as though it happened in slow motion, she saw the wall begin to crumble, cracks spreading through the stone, and saw the look of confusion on Fred's face as he watched her. She reached out, and took a step forward but was thrown against the wall next to Harry and Ron as the other fell. Dust filled the air, and as she heard the wall settle she rushed forward, hoping that Fred and Percy had been able to get out of the way. As the dust settled a little, Hermione saw a hand under a stone. She felt her rage and her fear flow through her, building just like the angry and distraught tears in her eyes.
"NOO!" She felt the raw scream exit her, and following her instincts, pushed her hands out and away from her body. She felt the magic exit her, heard Harry call her name, but she didn't care. She wanted to kill them, to make them suffer for what they did. She opened her eyes, set on hunting down the men that had done this, but saw that the rubble had been thrown to the side. She looked down at her hands, her mouth open wide. She had never done wandless magic before, and she felt exhausted, but Fred wasn't covered now. She rushed forward on her hands and knees the couple feet so she was at his side. She shoved her hands under his chest and hip, and groaned as she flipped him over. Her hands went to his face, and she patted his cheek.
"Fred, wake up. Freddie? Please?" She set two shaking fingers on his neck, trying to feel a pulse, but it was no use as her hand wouldn't stop moving. She set her head on his chest and held her breath, praying that she would hear the beat she so sought. Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she realized there was nothing, no breath, no heartbeat.
"Hermione?" Harry asked.
"No. No, I can do this." She took a deep breath and set her hands on his chest, one on top of the other with her fingers locked. "Watch, make sure nobody comes." She told them. She thought for a moment, her father had taught her CPR just a couple summers ago when she had insisted on babysitting her younger cousin. She shook her head, not compressions first. She removed her hands and placed them on the sides of his face again, tilting his head back a little and used her thumbs to open his mouth. She removed one hand and pinched his nose shut, and took a deep breath right before pushing her lips to his and blowing in. She tilted her head a little and was relieved to see that his chest moved with the influx of air. She removed her mouth, took another breath and repeated the action before moving back to his chest and placing her hands down again. She sat up, kneeling next to him, and locked her elbows over her hands before starting compressions. She counted them under her breath, ignoring the explosions and shouts that rang throughout the castle. When she reached thirty, she moved back to his head and gave him two more breaths. She repeated this religiously, only pausing to check if he had regained a pulse.
"Come on Fred." She muttered under her breath, her hands hurt badly and she was starting to doubt that she was doing this properly, or maybe it was too late. "Come ON Fred!" She shouted. She knew that even if it wasn't too late, this wouldn't have a chance of working soon. She put her head to his chest once more, and tears welled in her eyes as she only heard silence. "DAMNIT!" She shouted, slamming her fist down onto his chest. She heard a gasp and felt him move, and slammed her ear back down onto his chest. One, two beats.
"Yes!" She said, kissing him before turning to Percy. She pushed him onto his back as she heard Fred begin to cough and move about. "Someone help him." She called out. She heard Harry or Ron move to where Fred was, but she focused on Percy. She tried to replicate exactly what she had done to Fred, but after what felt like forever she knew that too much time had passed. She knew she should stop, that she wouldn't be able to help him, but she couldn't. She couldn't just give up. She kept trying, even as her arms gave out under her. She re-locked her elbows and kept pressing down on his chest. She was sure her hand was bruised, every compression hurt her.
"Please Percy, please." She muttered.
"Hermione." She heard Harry say behind her. "Hermione, it's too late." He told her gently. "You have to stop." He said.
"I can't. I can't stop." She muttered as her arms collapsed again.
"Hermione." Ron said. "Stop. You tried." He said, swiping away the tears that made white trails down his cheeks. He stared down at his brother in front of her, and nodded.
"I- I tried." She said, bursting into tears.
"I know, and so will everyone else. Hermione, you saved Fred." Ron told her. "But we need to get them to everyone else, now." He told her. She nodded, still crying. "Harry, why don't you get Fred, I'll- I'll get P-Percy." Ron said shakily. Hermione saw Harry nod in agreement and lift a wand, levitating Fred off the ground. Ron followed suit and levitated Percy off of the ground. They had just started walking, Hermione leading the way to the Great Hall, when someone rounded the corner. Hermione's hand was already up, wand ready, so she shot a spell that thankfully missed it's target.
"Hermione?" Bill said, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Bill. She sighed with relief, lowering her wand slightly. "Sorry. We are just.." And she trailed off as his eyes looked past her to his brothers and Harry.
"What?" He rushed forward, and stopped, unsure what to do.
"Fred in unconscious." Harry told him.
"Hermione brought him back. He was dead." Ron added shakily.
"Percy?" Bill asked, looking around at all of them.
"I tried…" Hermione said softly, a new wave of tears entering her eyes. Bill grabbed her into a tight hug, and kissed the top of her head.
"Thank you." He said, his voice cracking a little. She nodded against his chest, and he released her. "I'll take them down." He said, standing up straight.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked. Bill nodded, and held out his wand, pulling Percy and Fred to him.
"You lot have a lot to do. Please just… end this." He said. Harry nodded with resolution and grabbed Hermione's hand. Ron followed next to them as they ran, and Hermione pulled them into an alcove.
"Harry, we need to know where Voldemort is. We have no idea what were are doing, and we need to get the snake." She told him.
"Hermione, I don't know-" He started.
"Go inside his mind Harry. We need to know." She told him.
"Hermione. You told me that it was dangerous-" He began.
"You choose now to listen to me? Harry, go inside his mind!" She shouted. She watched as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his face twisted with concentration. She looked over at Ron, who was staring down at his feet, and reached out for his hand. He glanced up at her and gave a feeble smile, squeezing her hand. They both watched Harry silently, until he opened his eyes again.
"Shrieking Shack, the snake's with him." He said, and they immediately left their hiding place and began running.
It was a mess outside of the castle. Giants had joined the fight, as had the giant arachnids from the forest. Pieces of the castle had fallen, walls and bricks were now rubble in the courtyard, and the grounds weren't much better. They had the immense displeasure of running into dementors, where they discovered that at that moment, they were unable to produce their patronuses.
"Happy thoughts." Came a lofty voice from beside them, and Luna, Dean, and Seamus all appeared next to them with their patronuses at the ready.
"Happy?" Harry asked.
"That's right, happy." Luna reassured him. Hermione thought hard, trying to find a happy moment. Fred was alive. He was alive. She felt a surge of happiness at the thought, and when she opened her eyes her silver otter was floating in front of them and swimming toward the dementors.
"Thank you." Harry gasped.
"What else are friends for?" Luna said happily.
"Watch out!" Ron yelled, and they all saw the giant headed toward them. Harry, Ron and Hermione all dove to one side, just as the giant's foot landed where they had all been standing. Hermione looked around for Luna, Dean and Seamus and sighed when she saw them running back toward the castle.
They reached the Whomping Willow shortly after, not having run into anyone or anything between the giant and the tree. They were all gasping for breath, Hermione was bent double and clutching her side as the tree waved around above them.
"How are we going to get in?" Ron gasped. "We don't have Crookshanks-"
"Crookshanks?" Hermione gasped. "Are you a wizard or what?" She yelled. Ron hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"Right, sorry. Wingardium Leviosa!" He said, brandishing his wand. He made the stick he was levitating poke the knot in the tree, making the entrance open wide. They pushed Harry down, and followed quickly after. They were met with Voldemort speaking to Severus Snape, and hid themselves so they wouldn't be found out.
"The wand doesn't work for me Severus. Why could that be?" They heard Voldemort say. Hermione felt chills run down her spine at the cold voice. She shivered a little, and her eyes went wide as Harry turned at glared at her.
"Sorry." She mouthed to him. He shook his head a little before turning back to where Voldemort had strode out of view. They listened in on the conversation silently,and Hermione feared where it was going.
"You have done extraordinary magic with that wand sire." Snape said to his master, who scoffed.
"No, Severus. I AM extraordinary, but my magic has been the same." He said. "And I wondered why, but then I realized. I am not the true master of the wand. It's allegiance lies with another."
"My lord?"
"You killed Albus Dumbledore. You are the master of the wand, Severus." Voldemort stated, striding back into the view of Harry, Hermione and Ron. "You see Severus, the wand cannot be loyal to me unless you are dead." Voldemort informed him.
"Please, my lord, let me go get Potter for you. Let me go into the castle." Severus begged him.
"You and Lucius are just alike. I do not need anyone to go get Potter. He will come to me. As for you, I'm so sorry but you must die. Nagini, dinner." He said, not sounding sorry at all. The three watched in horror as the globe that surrounded the snake broke and it reared back before striking their former potions master. Hermione covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes grew wide in terror, what would happen to them if they were found? They waited a few moments to be sure that Voldemort had left before fully entering the room before carefully making their way inside the room. They immediately went to Snape, who's eyes grew wide at the sight of the three. He attempted to speak, but blood poured from between the fingers he had pressed to his neck.
"Take… them…" He gestured to the tears pouring down his face, and Hermione realized that they had a silver sheen to them.
"Oh! Hermione, I need something. A flask, anything!" He said. Hermione immediately shoved her hand into her bag at her side and rustled around, searching for glass. She shook her head at herself, and stuck her wand up, silently summoning a vial out of the bag. It flew out, and she caught it out of the air, taking the stopper out of it for Harry before handing it to him. She watched as he held the vial to the dying man's cheek and collected the silver tears. Hermione and Ron watched on in silence, not sure what was happening.
"Look… at… me…" They all heard Snape say as he stared at Harry.
They got out of the shack as soon as they could after Snape stopped moving. Harry had asked Hermione if there was anything she could do, but Hermione had shook her head, she couldn't do anything useful even if she had tried. A poisonous snake bite was very different than what had happened with Fred.
As they were walking back to the castle, they stopped short as a familiar cold voice entered their heads, taking over any thought they might have been having at that time.
"You have fought valiantly. I do not wish to shed any more magical blood tonight. You have suffered many losses tonight. I command my forces to retreat immediately." Voldemort's voice said. "You have one hour to heal your wounded, dispose of your dead. After one hour, I will no have no choice but to enter the castle myself and kill every man, woman, and child who has helped to hide Harry Potter." The voice faded, and they all stood in place, staring at each other until they heard movement. Not wanting to be found by the wrong people, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over them, leading them in a tight huddle back to the castle and into the Great Hall where they removed the cloak and immediately made their way to the group of Weasleys.