A/N 1: In the words of Ray Arnold, "Hold on to your butts."
Chapter 36
It was pandemonium. But it was well-planned pandemonium, and Hermione couldn't help the swoop of fierce pride in her belly as she watched Neville's team engage the first of the junior DEs to arrive on the lawn in front of Hagrid's house. She kept to the sidelines, waiting for her moment.
"They've run into the woods," she heard the shrieking voice of Pansy Parkinson yell out, "after them!"
"Come on," Hermione muttered under her breath, fingering her wand nervously as she watched a group of junior DEs break from the scrum to run into the woods alongside Pansy.
She wanted desperately to join the fight – watching without helping was torture. She saw Neville duelling Crabbe at the east edge of the Forest, dodging the latter's screamed attempts at the Cruciatus Curse while refusing to send anything worse than a Stinging Hex in return. She glanced down at the Map yet again and sighed in relief: the Carrow siblings were finally crossing the lawn. The DA hadn't been able to count on them showing up together, and seeing their dots side by side was a bonus. Snape would be here soon – there was only so long that Parvati's decoy team could distract him – and she needed to do her part before he arrived.
Hermione stepped around the corner of the hut just as the Death Eater siblings came into view.
"Oy!" the rough voice of Amycus Carrow cut across the lawn, "The Mudblood-that-was is making a run for it! That way, behind the hut!"
Hermione turned to face the Carrows. They were puffing after their run from the castle, but malice shone in their flushed faces. She raised her wand.
"You thought we wouldn't find out about your plans, you Mudblood slag?" Alecto Carrow screeched, closing in quickly as her brother moved to the side to flank Hermione. "You think you can spread your Chosen One filth all over Hogwarts without us finding out?"
They were almost within duelling range, but Hermione held her spells fast, prepared behind the solid Mind's Eye that rose up to enclose her in an eerie calm as she faced down her two tormentors.
"No, we thought you might find out," she shouted back, and she saw the two exchange a brief glance. They wouldn't hold their fire much longer. "But you've missed something rather important – shall I enlighten you?"
"You see!" shouted Amycus, pointing at her with one of his hammy fingers as he drew closer. "Brazen as a bitch in heat, she is, Alecto! This is what she gets up to in my class. Well," he turned back to Hermione, raising his wand, "not anymore!"
The words of a curse were already crossing his lips, but Hermione had a blocking spell ready; she cast it, and turned to sprint without waiting to see its effect. The Carrows let out twin yelps and followed, no doubt shattering her shield on their clumsy way after her.
To the edge of the woods, said the calm, confident voice from within her Mind's Eye, two minutes beyond the edge, and then give Hagrid the signal.
She was almost there when a flash of red light shot past her, followed immediately by another that grazed her arm.
Stunners, and worse. Weave between the trees, find the grove.
She dove into the thicket, weaving as she went, her mind reflecting the sounds of her pursuers in a calm that belied her darting feet. She knew this part of the woods well – she'd walked it with Snape, all those months ago. Two minutes of quick sprinting, and she entered the ash grove. The Carrows had fallen behind, swearing and shouting in the thickest part of the brambles. Hermione adjusted her position so that she was partially concealed behind a large grey boulder before raising her wand to fire red and gold sparks into the air.
"There! I seen Gryffindor sparks that way!"
Hermione felt rather than heard a massive THUD from behind her, followed by another. A distinctly Muggle image of a glass of water trembling on a dashboard flickered through her mind. She giggled.
That's right, follow the sparks… something is on its way to meet you.
The timing was perfect: the Carrows stepped into the grove, their faces mirroring one another in malevolent anticipation, just as Hagrid's voice, high above but clear as day, cried out, "All right, Hermione?"
"HERMY!?" a huge voice boomed, and Grawp's gigantic shape manifested as the giant stepped out from between the tall pines and into the little ash grove. The Carrows stumbled to a stop.
"What the fuck is that?" demanded Amycus stupidly, his wand still raised. Alecto had stepped behind him, but Hermione could see her angry, canted eyes peering over his shoulder.
"May I introduce you to Grawp," Hermione said, stepping out from behind the boulder. "He's the other part of the evening I thought you'd like to know about."
She turned to the giant, who stooped slightly to give her a ghastly, crooked smile. Hagrid sat on his shoulder, holding tight to one gigantic, fleshy ear to keep his balance, his flowery pink umbrella aloft. The giant tipped his face toward Hermione in an unmistakable nod of greeting.
"Grawp," she said to the giant, pointing at the Carrows, "those two want to hurt Hermy."
"Tha's right!" Hagrid shouted. "Let's show ' em what Hogwarts does with wizards who hurt Hermy!"
Grawp's face creased momentarily in confusion, but the words soon made the correct impression, and he turned to the Carrows with a swift, decisive motion that made them stumble back into the undergrowth. The giant and Hagrid pursued them into the trees, and a great scuffle followed, along with screamed spells and curses. Hermione heard Alecto Carrow's upraised voice cut off suddenly, and she tried to follow the progress of the giant's fight against Amycus on the Map, when she noticed something that made her calm Mind's Eye turn red in alarm. Most of the DA members had made it back to the castle, where a steady stream of dots were returning to the Room of Requirement, but Hermione gasped when she saw Neville's name completely surrounded by a closing circle of over a dozen junior DEs next to Hagrid's hut. He had clearly been separated from the rest of his team, which Hermione now tracked quickly, confirming that they had returned to the castle, likely losing sight of their leader in the confusion.
"Hagrid!" she yelled, plunging into the thicket, following the sound of the giant's grunts and Amycus's curses. Two of the dots closing in on Neville – Crabbe and Goyle – had her stomach in knots. She needed to get Neville help – big help - NOW. "HAGRID!"
"A little busy now, Hermione!" he shouted back at her through the trees. "Take that, you sodding –"
A bright flash of green light speared past Hermione, and she leapt behind a tree.
"You have to get back to the hut, Hagrid! Neville needs your help!"
"Still got one more bit o' scum to deal with here, Hermione!"
Hermione squared her shoulders and stepped into the clearing. It was a tableau she would never forget: Grawp with his fists raised over his head, and the Death Eater, pale and visibly trembling, his wand like a useless stick in his hands, his unconscious sister at his feet.
"You have to help Neville!" she said again, and Hagrid twisted to look at her from his perch on Grawp's shoulder.
Amycus used the moment of confusion to fire a hex directly at Hagrid's back, but Grawp's lawnmower-sized fist, striking like a boxer's hook, knocked the spell clean out of the air.
"He's near the hut - alone! And there's too many for him to fight," she said, and she gestured at Carrow. "And I can handle him."
"Right you are, then, Hermione," Hagrid said, though he still hesitated.
"Go now! Please Hagrid!"
Hagrid pulled his brother's ear, and the giant stood up, still glaring down at Carrow.
"Come on, Grawpy! Back to the hut!"
They disappeared from the clearing, and Hermione straightened her spine.
At least there's only one of them for me to fight now, she thought to herself, but the calm from earlier had given way to dread as she raised her wand and took her duelling stance.
"Y'know, Mudblood-that-was," Amycus said, stepping away from Alecto, his wand half-raised, "I was hopin' I'd get you alone tonight."
Hermione's skin crawled but she kept her wand up, already primed for the fight that would begin any second now. She watched as Amycus shifted, first one way, then the other, before he began to walk towards her obliquely.
Just hold… let him make the first move.
"Y'see, Mudblood," he continued almost casually as he followed the line of trees surrounding the clearing, "you've been a pain in my arse all fuckin' year. And I think it's time we settled who's in charge of Hogwarts, once and for all."
He was less than two meters from her. She took a deep breath.
"I agree," she said, her voice calm but cutting, "I think it's time you learned that you and your harpy of a sister are as far from in charge of Hogwarts as your pathetic snake of a master."
That did it. Amycus let out a wordless roar of fury and, so quickly she almost didn't release her spell in time, he unleashed a blast from his wand.
"Protego!"
The curse bounced off the shield charm and into the forest, but Carrow was already aiming another hex, this one at Hermione's knees. She blocked it, but only just.
He's quick. Quicker than you'd ever expect for his size.
Carrow slashed his wand and a hideous purple bolt of lightning shot forward, straight at Hermione's chest. There was nothing for it but to dodge the curse, and so she twisted out of the way, just as Carrow took two long strides to close the space between them.
"Impedimenta!" she screamed, and the advancing man stopped in his tracks.
The jinx held him for only a moment, but Hermione was already rallying. Nonverbals! she told herself. And so she cast the Full Body Bind in her mind only, directing the bright white flash at his head, but Carrow blocked her easily. He shook off the Impediment Jinx, and spread his legs wide, shifting from foot to foot as Hermione faced him.
"You know what I'm gonna do to you?" Carrow hissed at her, his eyes glinting in the darkness of the woods. "You know what Death Eaters do to little Mudbloods who forget their place?"
"Stupefy!" She hadn't meant to cast the spell aloud, and he blocked it before she'd even finished saying the incantation and then –
She'd seen him move quickly before, but now it seemed almost superhuman. Carrow cast a nonverbal stunner whilst at the same time shouting, "Crucio!"
Hermione's shield charm took down the stunner, but she had to dodge the Cruciatus, which scorched her shoulder as it passed. She was running out of space in the little clearing as he closed in, forcing her towards the bramble thicket, where she couldn't possibly get away.
She recast her shield charm just as two different flares of light flew from his wand as he screamed, "Crucio!" once more.
Hermione dodged the curse and blocked the hex, but only just. She had never seen someone double-cast in a duel like this, and she felt completely unprepared.
"Ready to give in, Mudblood?" Carrow asked, his voice a hideous sing-song that made her shudder. "Ready to – PROTEGO!"
He'd blocked her nonverbal attempt at disarming him, but he stumbled a bit.
So that's it, Hermione thought, casting her fear aside, Block and dodge until he starts running his mouth and getting clumsy. I can do that.
Hermione was ready for the next double-attack, and it came only half a second later, another purple blast alongside the Cruciatus. And then another double-cast, and another. She dodged and weaved, blocked and parried, hoping that he'd tire himself out sooner than she did.
"You know why I keep castin' Crucio, little girl?" Carrow asked, pausing to catch his breath as he stepped forward inexorably towards her.
"Because you're a sick bastard?" she snarled back, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
He waved off Hermione's answer, and the accompanying spell.
"Nah. It's 'cause of how you screamed that time in class." His voice lowered again, but it carried to her across the dark clearing and Hermione felt herself shaking. "I wanna hear you scream, jus' like that. I want you writhin' and screamin' just like that… while I break. You. In. Protego!" he added, almost as an afterthought, pushing aside her attempted nonverbal Body Bind Curse.
Carrow raised his wand and double-cast yet again. Hermione dodged and blocked, trying not to get backed into the thicket. He shot twin streaks of red light at her, and she parried and tried to curse him in return.
"Tha's it Mudblood! Keep dancin' for me. I'll have you soon enough."
She was tiring. She knew it and, from the widening grin on his face, he knew it, too. His next strike was somehow even faster, and Hermione had to struggle to dodge the blows. She parried with a curse of her own, but he flicked it away and double-cast again.
"Surrender now, little girl," he purred, and Hermione realised that he'd closed in, stalking in a slow circle just a meter from her, "and I won't torture you while I do it. I bet a Mudblood bitch like you will enjoy it."
Hermione deflected the next double-attack, but only just. She'd run out of space to dodge, and Carrow was almost at arm's length. And, just when the choking fear was beginning to rise within her again, something came to her – a strong, bold voice drifting through her Mind's Eye:
"Remember your footwork. It's no use duelling if you don't know the ground you defend. There might be something close by, something – anything – you can use as a weapon or a shield." Hermione let the memory coalesce around her for a fleeting moment: Harry's fierce green eyes in the low light of the DA's Headquarters in fifth year, his hair a dark, messy halo, his wand an expert blur. "Find your feet," he'd said, just as his eyes met hers, "and hold your ground."
Hermione looked down at her feet just as Carrow raised his wand once more. She flicked her wand to block the spell, but she didn't bother to dodge the accompanying Cruciatus. No… all she did this time was tuck herself down next to Alecto Carrow's prone form.
"OY!" Amycus yelled, cancelling the curse and fumbling his wand, but Hermione's wand was already twirling, and she was already catching the conjured dagger in her hand. It glinted in the faint light of the waning gibbous moon as she brought the blade to the side of Alecto's throat.
"Drop your wand," Hermione snarled at Carrow, "or I'll cut her throat!"
Fear flickered across his face for a moment and his wand lowered slightly before he hitched his usual malicious countenance back into place.
"Drop it!" Hermione's voice was loud, commanding, and completely devoid of fear. "Drop it now, and I won't kill her."
Carrow grinned at that, and took a deliberate step forward.
"Little Gryffindor girlies don't cut sleepin' people's throats, Mudblood. You're bluffin'."
"You're right," Hermione shot back, and she moved the dagger from Alecto's throat, placing the tip of the blade over the unconscious woman's left eyelid instead. Her gorge tried to rise but she forced the nausea down, and her Mind's Eye sorted the disgust and horror away until only icy detachment remained. She looked back up at Carrow. She smiled a dreadful smile. "I'll just blind her instead. And then, if you care to test me any further, maybe I'll cut her a smiley. Do you know what that is?"
He shook his head dumbly, his wand arm lowering further as he sized her up as if for the first time.
"Well, it's Muggle parlance, so I'll put it in a way you'll understand." She raised her voice, icy and terrible with the new certainty pervading her Mind's Eye. "I'll carve her up like a fucking jack o' lantern."
And in that moment, Hermione knew – she knew – that she'd follow through on this threat, that the part of her she'd found that night would drive her hand forward with that knife.
"That won't be necessary, Miss Granger," a voice said from the far side of the clearing, and Severus Snape stepped out from between the trees, a cool breeze lifting his black robes so that they seemed to float around him. He held his wand aloft as his eyes swept over them, assessing the situation.
"Snape," Carrow's voice was almost absurd in its relief. "Look at what the Mudblood bitch has – "
"I told you," Snape said, his voice colder than Hermione had ever heard it, "that you are not to call Miss Granger by that name. Granger," he turned to her abruptly, "this fight is over. Return to the castle."
"It's not over, Snape!" Carrow yelled, turning his wand on the dark man. "Not when she's threatened Alecto!"
Snape continued to glare at Carrow, but it was Hermione he addressed when he spoke.
"Miss Granger, leave us at once. You are dismissed."
"I don' think so!" Carrow snarled, and he whipped his wand arm around so quickly that Hermione had no time to cast a defensive spell or to dodge when –
"Protego!" Snape's voice rang out in the clearing, and Carrow's spell exploded against a massive shield charm.
Carrow was already turning back, already raising his wand. Snape was ready for him, his wand pointed straight at the Death Eater's heart.
"You always did love to wallow in Mudblood filth," Carrow spat as he shifted his weight in the same way he'd done while preparing to duel Hermione.
"And you've always failed to notice when you've been beaten," Snape countered.
Hermione watched as the two men squared off - Carrow shifting his feet, Severus, widening his stance - before Carrow shot his first nonverbal hex, simultaneously screaming, "CRUCIO!"
Snape struck the hex out of the air, ducked the Cruciatus, and fired Sectumsempra at Carrow, all whilst shifting his feet and moving in closer to his opponent. Carrow barely ducked Snape's curse, and wobbled off-balance for a moment before re-focusing on the dark man, who sneered at him from behind his raised wand.
"Come now, Amycus, do try to keep your feet. Has duelling a…" he glanced sideways at Hermione, "what did you call her? A little girl tired you out?"
His next curse was aimed straight at Carrow's head, followed up quickly by two stunners.
"I can take TEN of her any day of the fuckin' week!" the Death Eater screamed, and he waved his wand broadly so that a lash of fire struck out at Snape, who flicked the curse aside contemptuously, but Carrow had regained his footing. His back straightened, and Hermione recognized his rhythm when he fired off a double-attack a second later. He'd gotten back into his duelling stride. Hermione worried briefly that the dark man wouldn't be able to stand up to the continual onslaught of double-attacks when Snape smirked, muttered a word and raised not his wand, but a long, shining whip.
The air in the clearing seemed electrified as Snape flicked the whip once, twice and a double CRACK! filled the air. Carrow's curses both dissolved into puffs of smoke, but the Death Eater hardly seemed to notice. He fired off another double-attack, and then another, never breaking stride as he walked warily in a circle around Snape, who plied his whip with practiced ease, lashing the hexes, jinxes and Unforgivables out of the air before him. Hermione repositioned herself slightly, staying close to Alecto, but keeping well away from the duel. She watched Severus's confident strides, his darting black eyes, his seemingly endless energy as Carrow began to visibly tire.
And so it was that she saw it – the moment when the fight was decided: Severus shifted his weight, that was all.
"YOU FUCKING MUGGLE!" Carrow was bellowing in between onslaughts of curses. "You fucking half-blood piece of dragon dung! You fight like a gods-cursed MUGGLE –"
Carrow's wand had lowered slightly in that moment, and Severus took the opening and shifted forward, a sudden blur. The whip CRACKED! and shining black loops coiled around Carrow, enclosing his arms so that his wand pointed to the ground.
Severus yanked the handle of the whip, baring his teeth as he hooked first one elbow then another along the black length, jerking Carrow painfully closer. The Death Eater could no longer speak, could no longer breathe as Snape bore down on him, drawing him closer and closer, constricting the whip with each sharp tug.
"I do fight like a Muggle," Snape hissed as he brought Carrow up in front of him. "Which is why you'll never see this coming."
And the dark man stepped forward fluidly, his forehead crashing down into Carrow's face with a dull THUD. Carrow slumped limply to the forest floor, his face a mess of blood.
A/N 2: Thanks for reading (and reviewing!), dear friends.