Okay, a little prize for my readers! Two chapters in one day! Oh so Lucky
Disclaimer: I wish Severus was mine but he is not! Severus Snape and the others belong to JKRowling and she alone!
Selena stared at the scene around her from an outside perceptive. In blunt truth, they were insane. Just the day before they broke into the ministry and now they did it again Except for the fact they were surrounded by death eaters.
Severus gazed at Bellatrix who was busy gloating over the fact that she had the three most wanted in her grip now.
It didn't take long before Selena, Severus, Draco and Hermione were pointing wands and shooting spells and hexes. Severus immediately engaged Bellatrix and spells flew heavily between them so that death eaters nor Selena, Hermione and Draco could even approach. Draco and Hermione doubled up as the spells flew. Unfortunately, none knew which death eater was who, but then again that was an advantage. Draco dueled against an unknown death eater who seemed to be a one trick pony. All Draco had to do was dodge, duck and dive. Hermione was having better luck than him as she was able to get in a spell once in a while. The atrium was very useful in its columns where the younger two hid behind. Selena however fired off spell after spell only to parry and be parried by whoever she was fighting. If she was honest, she lacked the intent to kill unlike who she was fighting.
Draco finally managed to stun his attacker. Immediately he placed a binding spell and hurried to help Hermione but there were others that broke off. Silently, Hermione summoned her
Patronus and called for help However that created an opening that whoever attacked her could not past up. Hermione's body slammed in Selena's back who immediately placed a shield charm around them.
Hermione's groans were music to Draco's ears that saw what happened.
Selena's attention was elsewhere. Minerva McGonagall had just entered the fray along with Mad-Eyed Moody, Kingsley, and a few other members of the Order of The Phoenix. Selena looked on slightly amazed. The Weasley clan was also present and fighting their own weight.
"This is like last year!" Hermione moaned.
"We have to get the snake, the locket and whatever was the seventh item!" Selena whispered urgently. "I'm going to get Umbridge!" Selena sped off without even noticing the barrier yet it dispelled the second she was near it.
Hermione wasted no time. All the secret preparations she had done were extremely helpful. It didn't take long before she got revenge and moved onto another target. Hermione joined McGonagall and together they took down a good number.
Draco however found himself in a very sad predicament. He somehow ended up dueling Lucius Malfoy. To be honest in the chaos of bangs and flashes, no one would know the difference between a toenail hex and a lumos charm. No one was paying attention to either Malfoy.
Selena had taken off in a run. She skid to a halt into the lift and headed onto the floor where Umbridge office was located. A simple disillusion spell along with an unlocking spell allowed her access into the office itself. To Selena's great luck, Umbridge was in her chair writing out what Selena guess were reports. Umbridge didn't appear to hear Selena enter. Silently Selena shot a binding charm at Umbridge who jumped as she felt the invisible cords wrap around her.
"What is this? Who's there?" she screeched. Selena almost doubled take as she spoke. She could have sworn that she would have croaked.
"Well, well, well, a little frog is caught in my web," Selena cooed as she approached Umbridge. The bounded woman squinted at her as the shimmer was showed her position. Selena glowed at the woman but she knew her mission. Selena tugged the locket from the frog's neck. "Should I wait to kill you before or after?" Selena asked sarcastically. Selena however waited for the woman to moan before she tore the necklace off. Selena laid the locket on the floor not too far from Umbridge. Selena immediately cast fiendfire after carefully occluding her feelings. The hellish red fire erupted out of her wand. Almost tame-like, the fire edged to the locket and circled around but then like a beast it pounced onto the locket and devoured it. A blood curling scream escaped from the wretched object.
Selena cut the curse fluently as the locked soul in the locket died. With a grim smile, she turned to Umbridge and advanced. Her brown eyes dark as she pulled another object from her robe. It was Hufflepuff's cup. "Do you want to do the honors?" she asked placing it right where the locket was. Selena walked around to where Umbridge sat and wrapped her arms around Umbridge who shrieked. Immediately Selena silenced her and aimed another fiendfire at the cup. Like before the cup melted and like before she picked it up and placed it back in her coat. Selena smiled at the frog lady and she pointed her wand at her. Selena whispered the mindreading incantation to slip into the frog's mind. To say it was ghastly would be like saying the sea is wet. True but still and understatement. Selena swam rapidly through the memories until she reached the one she wanted. Umbridge talking to the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort himself. It wasn't long but stock full of information.
Of course Selena returned to the fight where only two duelers remained. It was Severus against Bellatrix. Neither of them were playing around instead the only sound heard was the crunch of the gravel as well as the murmurs of people. Selena itched to join in and help Severus or just blast Bellatrix apart but there was a job to do. Finding Draco and Hermione was the easy part, what was hard was staring at them waiting for them to come up for air. However they both seemed to be past the physical need for air as they were locked by the lips.
Impatiently Selena tapped them on the shoulders. "Sorry to break up the love feast but I know where the snake is!" Selena whispered. The two glared at her until her announcement then hurried off to finish off another of Voldemort soul chambers.
Shoving down the urge to save Severus, Selena led Draco and Hermione out of the ministry into the bare alleyway of London streets.
"Where are we heading?" Draco asked.
"Your manor would be where the snake is but we need to find the Ravenclaw item. Its Rowena Ravenclaw diadem." selena replied.
"What about Severus?" Hermione asked fearfully. Selena's eyes gave away a slight sign of both longing and tenderness but it didn't last long before she stuffed it in the back of her mind.
"Don't worry about Uncle Sev," Draco replied not sure who he was trying to appease more. "He's tough and will succeed." Selena's sigh was little to work on so he continued. "He was able to outfox Auntie Bella's entire gang back in Hogwarts."
"we have little time, let's go!" selena commanded. Selena quickly laid out her plan which everyone, even her, agreed was totally reckless. "Understand?" selena asked slightly doubtfully.
"yes, miss!" Draco and Hermione replied to the laughter of all involved. Of course the plan was simple but then again even the most dangerous adventures begin simple.
It was easy to apparate into Hogsmeade but not so easy to get into Hogwarts. Finally Draco and selena agreed with Hermione that it would be easier to crawl through the tunnel connecting the shrieking shack and the whomping willow.
Selena stared at the castle hoping that she would change the future for the better but there was no telling. Instead she followed the bushy haired girl up to the castle where she expressed the wish to visit Hagrid, the gamekeeper. Draco took charge and led then through a series of tunnels and passage ways.
"How did you know about these?" Hermione asked looking around cautiously.
"Shh," Selena whispered stopping abruptly.
The three listened carefully to the sound of voices filtering through the walls. "That's Not and the Carrows," Draco whispered as he pressed his ear against the aged stone.
"There's more," Hermione whispered with a chill.
"Come on," Aziza whispered leading the way to the Ravenclaw Tower. The aged wall stood at the entrance. 'Can we enter?" Aziza asked making herself known.
"Then answer me this, 'the beginning of eternity,
The end of time and space,
The beginning of the end,
And the end of every place." The wall sang out.
"You have to answer a riddle to enter?" Draco asked looking annoyed.
"Of course, the answer is the letter e," Selena replied cheerfully. The wall slid apart and the three enter.
Selena pointed to a stature in the middle of the tower. "That's the lost diadem of Ravenclaw." She stated then turned to face away from them. "Helena, are you here?" Selena asked.
Out of a wall, a pale translucent lady floated towards the three gathered. "What does a Ravenclaw like yourself, need from me?" The specter's wispy voice came.
"Isn't she the Gray Lady?" Hermione whispered.
Selena nodded but kept eye contact with the ghostly lady. "I know all about you," Selena whispered. "About your mother and about that," she gave an discrete nod to the diadem "but only you are brilliant enough to hide it," Selena continued. Draco realized what she was doing.
"Of course, even the Great Rowena Ravenclaw could not find your hiding place," Draco added.
"No, mother was smart but not as clever as I," the spector replied proudly. It took a few more minutes before the three were heading back to the tunnel with a location in mind.
"so we are going in Albania to look at every tree there?" Draco asked sarcastically. As they exited the shrieking shack. He stood and helped Hermione out of the tunnel.
"I guess that's the plan," Hermione replied looking up to see the blacken skies with a forlorn expression.
"Has anyone been to Albania?" Selena asked also looking at the sky. "this better work," Selena sighed when none answered. she closed her eyes and thought deeply of Albania. With a loud pop, Selena disappeared.
Selena disapparated with a loud pop to see miles and miles of dense forest. How were they going to find a small silver tiara here?
Selena apparated back to find Hermione and Draco surrounded by death eaters. Without warning she joined the fray but Hermione and Draco seemed to be handling themselves well since two of the death eaters were sporting nasty wounds. Without a word, she threw herself into the fray after finding a safe tree to hide behind. Hermione and Draco had taken down enough death eaters that the reminding was thin and few as well as cautious. Without warning Hermione gather Draco's arm and apparated away. Selena struck the reminders with stupefy spells and carefully obligated their memory. Now instead of just finding the diadem of Ravenclaw she had to find Hermione, Draco and Severus. She allowed herself a moment's rest as she leaned against the fence of the shrieking shack.
Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and apparated for the first location in her head, her parents' house. This proved to be both a good and a bad idea. It was good because no one would look for them there but bad because of the sight they met. The front door was kicked opened with blood stains on the steps. Hermione stared at it in shock. Draco however surveyed his surroundings. The street was deserted and if he watched muggle cinema he might have expected tumbleweed to blow across the road. The bushes and shrubs were dry like they haven't been watered in years rather than the five weeks since school adjourned. The pavement was cracked and the air was smothering hot as the heat waves rolled off the roads.
"What happened here?" he asked holding his wand slightly tighter. the Slytherin inched to the open door way expecting anyone to burst out of the house any minute. However no one did. The hallway was dimly lit by the sunlight outside. A few of the incandescent bulbs were shattered on the floor. A bloody smear painted the hallway into the living room. The sofa was over turned and the pillow fluff was completely settled on the floor. The china that hung on the walls were disarrayed or half broken on the floors.
A shrilled scream erupted in a distant part of the house but Draco recognized the voice as Hermione's. That fact however caused his legs to work even faster. Within seconds, with speed inhumanely possible, his arms circled around the sobbing girl while his voice was busy cooing softly to her. His words were incoherent but it didn't matter nor did it matter that Hermione's tears were soaking his shirt. Her hands fisted his shirt and her head sank lower into the crook of his neck. Gingerly, Draco rubbed her hair unsure of what else to do.
Draco kneeled with the sobbing Hermione for more than an hour so that he lost feeling in his legs and toppled over with her still clinging to him. Silently Draco performed the humanio revelio spell and the spell showed that they were all alone.
Aziza apparated back to the long forgotten campsite with exhaustion weighting on her. Severus was nowhere in sight. Should she go to the ministry and try to find him? She asked herself. Hermione and Draco were who-knows-where and she was exhausted and running on pure adrenaline and weakening will power. Without a second thought on warding the tent, she dropped into the couch and fell asleep.
Selena dreamt restlessly but her sleep was undisturbed. Rather changes were happening around her that she wasn't aware of. While she slept, Voldemort was having a bit of a staffing problem. It would be helpful if any other death eater had a bit of knowledge of potions but they didn't and he was forced to allowed the injured to heal and only the most dire were feed healing potions. The former included most of his fighting force. It was a hard blow the four had struck onto the tyrant reign but Voldemort wasn't backing down. He would take them all out.
Aziza woke to darken skies and moonlight. The clearing the camp was located in was silent that not even a leaf stirred. Aziza couldn't help but feel slightly paranoid. No one returned over the night. She chided herself for falling asleep without checking the conditions of the wards. Selena secretly hoped that someone would return so that she could prepare breakfast for more than one. O:-) silently she moved around the small kitchen frying Bacon. Selena made a bacon sandwich and headed outside of the tent.
Severus wielded his wand as he and Bellatrix dueled. Spell met spell, hex met hex and jinx was dodged. It was an easy pattern to keep track of unless you were a spectator which meant that you be running from the circle the two expert combat specialist had created. The air in the atrium was charged with shear hate, anger and killing intent. Severus reflected Bella's dark curse with a spell of his own design and dove under a fallen pillar where he set an exploding spell.
Severus was well aware that his comrades had left to go after the other horcruxes although he was slightly angry; he knew that there was no way to get out of Bellatrix's radar. The woman was bloody vengeful and cruel. She had killed her last male cousin, she hunted down Tonks like a hawk and quite angry that Harry had gotten her inheritance. Well, with Harry dead, it may be hers again.
A loud pop sounded behind him and a familiar figure jumped into the duel beside him. "Bombada!" The chestnut haired girl yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Semptasempa!" Severus cursed allowing the deadly cutting spell to wield beside the blasting spell.
"Sorry, I'm late professor!" She whispered as she dodged the familiar yet deadly green light.
"Five points from Ravenclaw," he joked under his breath as he carefully led Bella to the fallen column. He hoped that Selena would stay away from it. Almost as she has read his thoughts she got behind Bella and backed her into the very same column.
"Two points to Slytherin!" Selena yelled and two seconds later, Bellatrix was unconscious on the floor with marble chunks in her hair. Uncharacteristically, Severus breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where are the others?" He asked striding over quite energetically. Selena's face grew slightly redder.
"We got split up in hogsmeade."
Severus sighed.
Selena looked around and was amazed at the carnage surrounding her. All around were unconscious or dead death eaters and ministry officials. Arthur Wesley was still engaged in battle with a hooded death eater and a few more aurors selena recognized were dueling and successfully defeating voldamort's minions. "Sorry we left you over the night," Selena whispered pulling a second bacon sandwich from her cloak and handing it to him. "The fifth one is in Albania, I think." Severus nodded but instead of apparating he took her hand and led her though the chaos that surrounded them onto the busily yet unaware streets of London. Selena followed not sure what Severus was planning but she bet that he wasn't planning on going to Albania.
"Where are we going?" she asked softly as she sped up to walk along aside him. Severus didn't answer even when he slowed down to cross the busy road. Slowly the crowds died down and they reached a small crook gurgling smelly water as it sloshed along playfully. Selena sweep a hand through her hair and pulled it into a ponytail once more.
Finally Severus decided to answer her. "To a place where magic will be easily found but hard to summon." Selena didn't understand what Severus was getting at but she didn't ask. Severus silently took her hand and apparated. Severus's face was twisted in concentration but Selena just closed her eyes and allowed her power to flow with Severus.
They appeared in a clear field.
"do you have the diadem?" Selena asked. Her voice barely above a whisper. Instead of answering, Severus pulled out a tiara.
"How should we destroy it?" Severus mused quietly as he dropped it to the ground. Selena watched quietly as he pulled out his wand and ignite the diadem with fiendfire. Within minutes the tiara was a crumpled piece of metal. Selena levitated the destroyed diadem into a bag.
"Just the madman and his snake now," Selena said as Severus grabbed her hand ready to apparate to their tent.
~~ee~~
Draco apparated Hermione back to the tent and held her as she cried. He understood her feeling but said nothing as she sobered. "I'm foolish!" she moaned. Draco handed her a cup of tea and encourage her take a sip. He had tipped a bit of calming potion into it. "I should have listened to Professor, my parents are gone!" she moaned.
"It's not your fault!" Draco said softly.
"Still, I was foolish to think they would be safe."
"Hermione, you could have another family!"
"How so?"
"What about mine?"
"What do you mean?"
"After the war," Draco sat her up and pulled out a small velvet box. "Hermione?" Hermione jumped as she spotted the box.
"Draco?" She asked startled.
"Hermione, After the war…would you marry me?" he asked, looking at her with a faint blush across his pale cheeks. Hermione stared at him in disbelief. This was the boy who tormented her in her early years of magic. Then by fourth year, he stopped troubling her and started to avoid her. In fifth year, she was well aware that he kept most of the investigation squad running in circles while she, Ron and Harry conducted their army. and sixth year, everything was too confusing to figure out.
But what about Ron. She was expected to be with him. Then again, he was with Lavender! Harry was dead, her parents were dead and she had nothing else to hold onto. Draco was very nice to her. Hermione thought of what had happened since they went on this whole adventure.
"Of course, Draco," Hermione replied. Draco beamed at her. Hermione felt her heart stop at the break taking beauty in his smile. Hermione turned red as Draco slid the green and gold ring onto her finger as he placed a soft chaste kiss on her lips
Both were busy staring in their significant other's eyes and probably deeping engrossed when a loud pop sounded and caused both to jump. Scrambling for their wands they hurried out of the tent, ready to attack.
Dont kill me but yes, He proposed but not on one knee!
Come on, It's Draco Malfoy! Can't expect anything better when on the run.