Chapter 21 - Confrontation

Hermione paused to let her eyes get accustomed to the darkness. She took one step then froze when she saw the still form of Cormac McLaggen lying on the ground behind one of the stone columns which seemed to surround the large open area. She knelt down but before she could check his pulse the entire area was flooded with a dazzling light and a now familiar woman's voice rang out.

"Don't bother. He's alive – for the time being at least. Thought about killing him as soon as I'd realized the idiot had tagged along but I'm considering letting him live simply because I know how much you dislike him."

Hermione squinted against the brightness then slowly stood to turn in the direction of the voice. In the middle of the courtyard she saw Neville on his knees, his face bruised and lip bloodied, arms bound behind his back. Behind him stood an auburn haired woman holding his head back by his hair with one hand, her wand jabbed against his neck with the other. She had deliberately angled herself in such a way that if Hermione were to try and cast a spell on her it would almost certainly hit Neville first.

Neville locked eyes with Hermione and tried to use the sound of his voice to steady her.

"Hello, Hermione. Fancy running into you here."

Hermione fought to keep her wand hand from trembling. "Hello, Nev. How are you?"

Neville shrugged as best he could in his current condition. "Oh, you know. Been better. Been worse. Have you met my new friend?"

"I understand that we've met before but I don't think we've been properly introduced," said Hermione, taking a slow step in their direction.

"Well, then - let me correct that. Lyssa, this is Hermione. Hermione, Lyssa."

"Hello, Lyssa. Nice to finally make your acquaintance," said Hermione, taking another step closer.

"Think you're cute, the pair of you? Think this is some kind of game, do you?" Lyssa snarled.

"We're just trying to make the best of a bad situation, Lyssa," said Hermione. "Speaking of, why make things any worse for yourself than they already are? I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere so why don't you let Neville go? You've got no issue with him. I'm the one you want."

"Yes, but I've got the feeling that hurting him will hurt you as well."

Hermione swallowed hard. "You're right but you've got a reason to kill me. The courts will take that into consideration. An eye for an eye. A good lawyer could make a compelling argument in your favor in that case. If you kill Neville, that's another story. Why create additional obstacles for yourself? Let him go and I lay my wand down."

"That's an interesting theory but you forget about poor little Margaret," snapped Lyssa. "I'm already done for as far as the courts are concerned. The dementors can only kiss me once. In for a knut, in for a galleon, don't you think?"

She dug her wand a little deeper into Neville's neck. "I didn't plan on killing her, just so you know. Turns out she was too perceptive for her own good. Figured me out not long before your friends from the Ministry came to visit the flat. Shame really. She was a good kid but I couldn't let her stop me once I'd gotten this close."

"You're right. It was a shame. Margaret didn't have anything to do with this. She was collateral damage in someone else's fight – just like so many of us during the war. Just like Marietta."

Lyssa's eyes flashed and Hermione silently hoped that she hadn't seriously overplayed her hand.

"How dare you compare yourself to her?! Marietta suffered because of you! She died because of you!"

"I don't deny that I hurt Marietta but it was never my intention."

"Damn your intentions! She didn't know what she was doing! She was a frightened child!"

"I know she was," Hermione said, edging nearer. "We all were. We were all children thrust into a life or death struggle against Voldemort and his supporters. Children doing everything we could to remain undetected while we trained to fight against an enemy that had no problem killing us. Everyone that signed that document knew the risks. It could have been any of us that cracked. It just so happened to be Marietta. I'm sorry about that. Truly I am. After the fact I tried to find a way to reverse the enchantment but I couldn't. The best I could hope for was that time would minimize the effects."

"Really? Work as hard on that as you did getting rights for house elves and bloody werewolves, did you?" Lyssa spat.

"Yes," said Neville, trying to distract the woman's fury for a moment. "Yes, she did. Hermione's not heartless but there's only so much one person can do."

"Not according to our Margaret," mocked Lyssa. "According to her, the great Hermione Granger can do anything she sets her mind to."

"If that were the case then I'd have ended the whole mess before we ever got to the point of needing a group like Dumbledore's army."

Hermione shifted her feet, hoping she was buying enough time for Harry and the others to locate them.

"We all liked Marietta," she continued. "She was a good friend to Cho and one of the few Ravenclaws that didn't ignore or bully Luna."

"She had a good heart but she scared easily," Lyssa conceded. "Ever since she was tiny she was afraid of her own shadow. She had no business being in the position she ended up in."

"You're right. None of us did," said Neville softly. "Marietta was sweet and kind and wanted to protect her mother. She wanted to do the right thing but back then it could be really hard to know what the right thing was."

"Not like now," said Hermione. "I won't insult you by pretending like I knew Marietta better than I did but I have to wonder if this is what she'd want you to be doing."

Lyssa's expression turned cold. "Well, thanks to you she's gone now so I can't very well ask her, can I?"

"No but I'm sure you knew your sister well enough to know the answer, don't you?" Hermione swallowed hard. "Please. Let Neville go."

"Not sure if I want to," Lyssa said, tightening her grip on Neville's hair. "My plan was to kill you both at the same time but now I think it might be more satisfying to have you watch him die first, knowing that it was all your fault."

"I have enough regrets, Lyssa. One more in my last moments won't be too large a burden." Hermione hoped the woman couldn't tell she was lying. "Don't add to your list if you don't have to."

Lyssa pretended to consider the request. "Throw me your wand and I'll think about it."

"Hermione, don't," pleaded Neville. "Leave. Now. While you have a chance. She's going to kill me no matter what."

"We both know I'm not going to do that, Nev," said Hermione, taking another step.

"That's close enough," barked Lyssa. "Throw your wand towards me."

"Hermione. Please. I'm begging you."

A soft noise off to the side caused them to jump as two good sized mice scurried from behind a pile of rocks. In a split second, Lyssa turned the pair to stone then hit them with a blasting spell, reducing the pair of rodents to dust before quickly returning her wand to Neville's neck.

She smiled maliciously at Hermione. "Hope those weren't friends of yours."

Hermione's shoulders sagged. She adjusted the grip on her wand then slowly dropped it into her other hand.

A tear made its way down Neville's face. "Hermione...no..."

"Sorry Neville but if you go, I go." She inhaled deeply and just before she threw the wand she added, "If Harry's right and there is an afterlife then I'll see you on the other side, my love."

With that, Hermione tossed her wand onto the ground in their direction. Lyssa immediately summoned it and turned it over in her hand.

"Starting quite the wand collection today. Yours. Your boyfriend's. Once I relieve poor Cormac of his I'll have one for almost every day of the week."

She stroked Hermione's wand and smirked. "As a matter of fact, I think I'll use yours to kill Neville. That'll give the press something to write about, won't it? Maybe I'll try a crucio on him first. Make sure it works properly for me."

As she flicked her wrist in Neville's direction, several things happened almost simultaneously.

First the wand Lyssa was holding immediately transfigured into a colorful bouquet of flowers which then began to beat her around the head and neck. At the same time, Neville threw himself against her legs, causing her to lose her balance and pitch backwards. As she fell Neville was startled to see Cormac grab Hermione and drag her behind one of the stone columns while one of them cast an unbinding spell which freed him.

Neville sprinted towards the column nearest him as he heard Hermione and Cormac firing spells at Lyssa, who had managed to take cover as well. Neville summoned his wand then peeked out to try and get a fix on Hermione's position. He saw Lyssa darting between columns in the direction he thought Hermione was in so he shouted, "Hermione! Look out!"

As he'd hoped, Lyssa hesitated briefly as she tried to get a fix on one of their positions. Neville was just about to hit her with a curse when he heard Hermione cry, "Petrificus Totalus!" as another voice cast a full body bind spell. He then watched as Lyssa froze and fell to the ground, bound by a multitude of unbreakable ropes.

Seconds later Neville saw Hermione step from behind a column a few feet to his right. He breathed a sigh of relief and started towards her but he'd only taken three steps when there was tremendous blast and his world went dark.