Chapter 20: Dumbledore's Death
'This is it,' Hermione thinks as she stands in front of the stone gargoyle on Monday evening. Harry stands on her right and Draco on her left. Ron was left to gather up the trunks and make sure everyone was safe.
Draco grips Hermione's hand and she looks at his stormy gray eyes. She releases the breath slowly and turns to the guard.
"Lemon drops," she says, the words pulling at her soul. The stone scrapes as stairs appear. Harry leads the way up into the headmaster's office. Three dark wood boxes are lined up on the desk.
"Good evening," Dumbledore greets. "Everything is currently going according to plan. Snape will arrive too late with a few followers wishing to save the horcruxes. By that time, Mr. Malfoy and his mother will already be tucked away in the house. Do you have three of the vials, Mr. Potter?"
Harry set three glass vials on the desk. Each contains a thick clear liquid, churning slowly with tint of green.
"We have one hour before we start. Lemon drop?" The students shake their heads, feeling their stomachs turn at the mere mention.
"Mr. Potter, a moment?" Dumbledore asks, drawing him over to the couch in the corner.
"What do you think that's about?" Draco asks.
"Goodbyes," Hermione whispers. The two students sit in uncomfortable silence for a few moments, until Harry joins them.
"Malfoy, you're up," Harry says casually, though his expression betrays a tightness that wasn't there before. Draco seems shocked, but stands and walks to the headmaster anyways. Harry grips Hermione's hand while they sit.
"Hermione," Draco says when he returns. The witch replaces him next to the headmaster.
"Miss...Do you mind if I call you Hermione?" Dumbledore asks. She shakes her head, brown curls dancing around her, as her throat closes up. He smiles at her. "Hermione, I am so sorry for the burden you have borne to save the wizarding world who has not always been kind you. And for the trials that still await. I wish I could take this from you, but like Harry, there are somethings I simply cannot protect you from. Thank you for giving an old wizard hope. Thank you for all that you have done. We are in your debt."
"Professor," she says softly, struggling not to cry.
"Do take care," he whispers, offering her a hand as he stands.
"Thank you Professor, for...for everything," she replies as she takes his uninjured hand. He leads her back to the desk and she sits between Harry and Draco.
"I think we may need a bit of luck," Dumbledore says with a smile, producing three vials with gold liquid. The students down the felix felicis.
The clock reads 10:15 PM.
In Wiltshire, Severus Snape walks the long halls of Malfoy Manor. He stops before a door and curls his long fingers into a fist before knocking.
"Come in," comes the airy voice of Narcissa Malfoy. Snape enters the room and Narcissa walks towards him.
"Severus," Narcissa greets with an air kiss on the cheek. "I thought you would be preparing with the others."
"I am ready. We leave for Hogwarts in 25 minutes," Snape replies.
"Do make sure to keep Draco safe," she says.
"That is why I am here."
"Is something wrong?"
"Draco needs you," he answers.
"I have been forbidden to leave. You know this," Narcissa scowls at the words. Snape touches her upper arm gently.
"I can take you to him," he says softly.
"Severus," she says, her voice caught between a reprimand and plea.
"Draco needs you and he needs you now. He is in great danger if you do not come with me right this moment," Snape replies urgently.
"But the Dark Lord…"
"Or your son? What is your choice?" Narcissa's eyes narrow at the potion master.
"How dare you ask that?" she snaps. "Take me to him." With a wave of his wand, clothes and an assortment of other items fly into a small bag. Snape snaps it close and then pushes her towards the floo. He throws in a pinch of silvery powder and hands her her bag, pushing her into the green flames.
"Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office," Snape calls into the fireplace. Her face is a mask of shock the split second before it spins away.
When Mrs. Malfoy appears in the office, Dumbledore hits her quickly with a full body bind and yet still catches her before she falls. He sets her in a chair and secures her to it. Handing Draco the bag and her wand, he say,
"You best hold on to these for the moment."
"Draco, what is going on here?" Mrs. Malfoy screeches.
"I am saving you," Draco replies sternly, but smiles at the irony of the current situation.
"Harry," Dumbledore pulls him over to the side. The elder wand lays across his opens palms. "Harry James Potter, I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, give you this wand of my own free will that you may be its master." Dumbledore nods to the wand and Harry picks it up. A rush of magic goes out from the pair to the rest of the room, making the hairs on the back of their necks stick up.
"What have you done?" Mrs. Malfoy whispers. Dumbledore looks at the clock.
10:45 PM
"It's time," he says. Harry, Draco and Hermione each take a vial of basilisk venom.
"Draco, we have to leave right now," Mrs. Malfoy commands.
"No mother," he answers.
"We have to go back," she pleads. Draco opens the box in front of him. Slytherin's Locket lays nestled in the black velvet. Unstopping the vial, he pours the contents onto the locket. A shrieking pierces the air along with the sound of boiling of metal. Draco looks up at his mother's horrified face with a stubborn look of his own.
"Now we can't go back," he says simply. He pulls out a piece of parchment and shows it to her. She reads the address off before looking at him once more confused.
"Kreature," Harry calls. Kreature appears with a crack and a smile.
"Yes master?" he asks happily.
"Please take Draco and Mrs. Malfoy to the house. Please keep them safe, but do not let Mrs. Malfoy leave the house," Harry commands.
"Yes master," Kreature says bowing low. He grabs Mrs. Malfoy and Draco by the hands and disappears.
"Miss Granger," Dumbledore prompts. Hermione opens the box on the far left side of the desk. The lacquer wood feels soft to the touch. The tips of her fingers prickle with the lack of magic in the air between them. The box slides open with too much ease. Resting lightly in the black velvet of the box is Ravenclaw's Diadem. Her fingers itch to touch the ancient artifact, but she pull her occlumency shields tighter like a cloak to keep out the cold and unstops her vial.
"He'll never love you," the diadem hisses. "No one will ever love you. They will use you until they get what they want and then cast you away like the mudblood whor-AHHHH." The hissed words dissolve into shrieks as she pours the venom on to the horcrux. She steps back and looks at the headmaster.
Dumbledore smiles and looks at the clock.
11:00 PM
"Dumbledore, they are here," one of the painting croaks.
"Harry," Dumbledore points to the last box with new urgency. Harry opens the last box to see Hufflepuff's cup inside. He clutches the vial tightly, staring into the depths of the box.
"For Sirius," Harry whispers and pours the venom onto the cup. The same inhuman scream travels through the room followed by an eerie silence. Footsteps are heard beneath them and Dumbledore sends Hermione a final look. A flick of his hand and Dumbledore wandlessly has Harry and Hermione frozen in the corner. He tosses Harry's invisibility cloak over them.
"Forgive me," Dumbledore whispers to the invisible pair. He sits behind his desk as the door burst open.
Snape strides in, followed by Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, and Fenrir Greyback. Bellatrix waltzes up to Dumbledore who stays seated.
"Where is that mudblood old man?" she says with the fair amount of spit landing on the desk.
"Miss Granger has come and gone, I am sorry to inform you," Dumbledore replies calmly. "I would advise that you leave the castle as well."
"You-" Bellatrix pulls her wand back only to have her wrist grabbed by Snape.
"What did I tell you?" Snape sneers. "You cannot perform magic while the wards are still in tact. Unless you would like to be locked down inside this room until the aurors arrive."
"The old fool needs to be taught a thing or two," she rolls her eyes and turns away.
"Oh Bellatrix, you were once such a great witch with so much promise before enslaving yourself to that power-hungry half-blood," Dumbledore says.
"How dare you," Bella rages, being stopped by Snape blocking her view once more.
"The Aurors have already been contacted and are on their way. Perhaps it is time to give this up," Dumbledore announces to the room.
"Let them come," Bellatrix hisses with glee.
"We need to go," Amycus Carrow pleads, looking around the room anxiously.
"Severus," Dumbledore says softly. "Please…"
"Avada Kedavra," Snape says quietly, but just as deadly as the green light burst from his wand and into the headmaster. Harry is still beside Hermione, but she feel the magic fade that was holding them. She grips her wand and throw a silent body bind at him.
"Let's go," Snape snaps at the now gleeful death eaters, including a cackling Bellatrix. Hermione waits until their footsteps have faded completely, then throws off the invisibility cloak.
"Are they gone?" she asks the portraits.
"They are crossing out of the boundaries now," the same headmaster as before answers. "Once gone, Snape will no longer be able to open the gates."
"Thank you," Hermione says before turning back to Harry and canceling the spell. He stays there for a moment before sinking to the ground.
"He's gone," he whispers, eyes wide. He looks from the dead Headmaster to the witch. "Dumbledore is dead." Hermione rushes towards her friend and wrap her arms around him.
"I know, I'm sorry," she repeats over and over as Harry breath goes uneven with sobs. They stay there for a while, both crying and clinging to each other and grieving the loss of a great man. When the clock chimes, Hermione looks up once more.
11:30 PM
"We have to go," she tells him softly.
"Hermione?" She pull on Harry's arm.
"Come on." He lets her lead him to the seventh floor corridor. Outside stands Ron and Luna with the trunks. Luna runs forward and hugs Harry tightly. Hermione walks to Ron.
"Hermione?" he asks. She shakes her head.
"We've got to go," she says and paces in front of the wall. A door appears. They walk through it and to the other end of the Room of Requirement where Hermione pulls the painting open to reveal a tunnel. Hermione charms the trunks to follow them and helps Ron, Luna, and Harry through the opening.
"Goodbye," she whispers and steps through herself.
With the Headmaster gone, the ancient wards wouldn't allow witches and wizards from leaving the castle magically in any way-including portkey and house elves. The students trek through the tunnel until they feel it when they pass through the Hogwarts wards 45 minutes later. Hermione sets down the trunks and the group halts. They've been silent the whole trip.
"Kreature," Harry whispers. Kreature appears and begins fussing over his master.
"Take us home," Harry says. The elf nods and with two trips they are all in the Black home.
Draco walks into the room and straight to Hermione's side. He pulls her into a hug.
"I was so worried," he whispers. "Midnight marked the end of the term and I was afraid that maybe the vow...but you're here now."
"He's gone," she mumbles back.
"I know."
"What the bloody hell is he doing here?" Ron shouts. Hermione breaks out of Draco's grasp and step in between him and Ron's wand.
"Ron," Harry growls. Ron looks between Hermione, Harry, and Draco, not lowering his wand.
"What chest piece was I when we played at the end of first year?" he asks Hermione.
"Knight," she replies.
"What piece was Hermione?" Ron asks Harry.
"Rook," Harry answers. Ron lowers his wand.
"I want some bloody answers," he says. Harry sighs.
"And you will have them," Hermione says. "But it's going to be a long story. Let's get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning." Grudgingly Ron agrees. Kreature places their trunks in their rooms, having prepared one for each of them, and they settle in for the night.