The wand was levelled straight at her; all she could think was how stupid they'd been. It would have taken minutes to get backup; Harry and Neville could have the order assembled in moments but instead they'd decided to try alone believing one schoolgirl couldn't possibly stand against the two of them.
She should have known about this stupid room as well, asked Dumbledore's portrait or even looked more closely when they were in the security rooms. They could have deactivated this spell then and never gotten into this mess.
They had become arrogant and now they would meet their fates.
An explosion shattered the chanting. Several of the white robed wizards were blown across the room, bowling over others in their path before they were peppered with shards of stone and debris. Without hesitation, Grindelwald twisted out of his captor's grasp, using the distraction to wrestle his wand from one of the other spectators. Hermione had no idea who had her wand but she tried to imitate Gellert's move. She ended up twisting her shoulder, then the man holding her gave a loud ompf and crumpled, releasing her as he went. She spun to see Ron breathing heavily and holding both their wands.
She thanked him and took her wand back just as whomever had blown open the wall finally managed to bring down whatever enchantment was stopping the magic by blowing a cavity in the floor.
Whoever was on the outside gave a raucous battlecry and bodies surged through the gap. Brooms whizzed above their heads and Hermione threw herself into the frenzy. She quickly found Gellert's dark presence and he automatically adjusted for her as they stood back to back.
As soon as they made contact, Hermione felt her magic meshing with his, familiar after so long fighting together. When she lashed out with a surge of fire, Gellert's magic went too, flaring along with her own into a deadly arc. Gellert blew a hole in his opponents and her magic pulsed out like a shockwave from the blast. It was a bond she had seen shared by Lupin and Tonks, one of intimate familiarity and comfort in one another's presence.
They worked together perfectly, Hermione compensating for him when one of Gellert's opponents surprised him by successfully mustering a shield. He knew exactly when a sudden surge in opponents focusing on her meant he needed to turn and back her up. They were a deadly duo, bodies piling up around them only to be consumed by trails of fire and gases.
It was over almost too soon, although Hermione was certain that the joy in destruction was Grindelwald's influence. Finally she could see flashes of her friends between the ex-dark wizards; Luna waved and Ginny sent her two thumbs up. Neville had lost his wand somewhere and was wrestling with Crabbe. Lupin and Tonks were furiously protecting the childlike ICW wizards, one of whom was trying his utmost to eat a disarmed soldier's wand.
The last opponent fell in a burst of red light and suddenly Harry was standing there, panting heavily with a relieved grin on his face. It seemed of the trio he was the only one to remain innocent.
'We thought we would come and help.' The young hero laughed and Hermione hugged him gratefully.
Gellert waited patiently until they pulled apart before sweeping her into his arms and holding her in an almost bone crushing hug.
'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have known.' The dark wizard apologised repeatedly, mumbling into her chaotic hair.
'It's not your fault. I should have known better too. Next time, let's do the research and plan it out. This was stupid.'
'No, we're never doing this again.' Grindelwald growled darkly, his magic wrapping threateningly around his promise. 'The next person to try and break the peace will discover just how I became the darkest wizard of the century.'
The atmosphere after this fight was almost jovial, order members laughed as they performed counter curses on one another, quickly discovering that fighting an army programmed to never use dark magic was actually very easy. After all, without dark magic, no lasting effects could be caused. They had no casualties, except maybe Neville who'd been punched in the face by Crabbe and broken his nose.
Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that with the ICW all but destroyed, there was nobody to organise the cleanup of this international event. Really though, it was no different to any other battle that she'd fought. She sent Molly Weasley to fetch St. Mungo's and Lupin to fetch Kingsley. Then she left Gellert to organise the recently arrived healers as she went to give a press conference.
By the time she got back, the last of the ICW wizards was being taken into the care of the medi-witches and Grindelwald was assuring the concerned head healer that they would communicate internationally to reduce the workload on his staff.
A squad of aurors had arrived to arrest Marinette, a satisfied looking Ron informed them that the drooling girl's enchantment had backfired and she'd cursed herself to be free of all evil intent. Grindelwald happily volunteered to keep her in custody in Nurmengard's cells and Hermione noted that she'd have to keep an eye on the girl. There was something in his countenance that suggested he was planning to teach her exactly what happened when you messed with a dark wizard.
Seeing that everything was taking care of itself, Hermione greeted her friends briefly and they exchanged plans to catch up later, then took Gellert's hand and apparated them both back to Nurmengard where she planned to remain for the foreseeable future.
Narcissa and Draco stayed long enough to make sure they were both healthy, then Narcissa conveniently remembered that she wanted to show the Grangers the grounds. The four left quickly, allowing the new couple to spend some time together uninterrupted.
Gellert dropped into a chair with a heavy groan and Hermione moved behind him, massaging his shoulders.
'That was such a foolish mistake.' The dark wizard sighed, shaking his head and Hermione's thoughts returned to self recrimination again.
'It was. Is this okay?' Hermione pressed her fingers into his knotted shoulders. His pleased moan was answer enough.
'I should have learned after that duel with Dumbledore.'
'That was a long time ago. What do you think will happen now?'
'I think you will become Supreme Mugwump.' Gellert said nonchalantly, pulling Hermione down onto his lap. She giggled girlishly, then coughed as she realised that she'd just sounded like Lavender Brown.
'Don't be ridiculous.' She sighed, trailing off as he kissed her neck.
'Okay. We'll spend tomorrow morning researching a magical creature to breed in the grounds. I thought thestrals would really go with the atmosphere; unicorns would be a little more tricky to introduce. I think Hagrid would be happy to introduce them.' He trailed kisses up her throat and she restrained another giggle as his moustache brushed her chin.
'Hippogriffs. They like rocky landscapes.'
'Sure. We'll see about getting the beginnings of a herd tomorrow morning then. In the afternoon, I imagine you'd like to see Ginny and Harry.' Gellert stopped, just holding her close to him.
'What about long term though?' Hermione asked persistently, no longer so distracted.
'Well, Tonks is due to give birth soon, so I suspect the relevant events for that. Harry and Ginny will probably set a date soon, so a wedding there. Your NEWTs are around Christmas time, I rather thought I might take them too; finally finish my education. Then I suppose you have that job offer in the ministry to take up.' He pressed back into the chair so that he could look at her.
'A normal life then.' Hermione asked uncertainly and the dark wizard laughed.
'Hardly, it's not exactly normal to be deputy minister at eighteen.'