The moon was newly risen when Hermione apparated into Hogsmeade to use The Hog's Head's passage to Hogwarts; however, Fate was not with her this night, for she appeared in front of the Inn just as Lucius Malfoy was being forcibly removed from the establishment. She hid in the shadows, desperate to find a way inside undetected.
"I don't serve your kind here," Aberforth Dumbledore snarled, shoving the filthy, disheveled blond man to the ground. "I would rather hang Fletcher's portrait above the mantle than give a room to the likes of you," he spat.
Rising to his feet, the dark wizard pulled his wand from his filthy sleeve and aimed for the old man's chest. "No one disrespects me and lives." He rapidly sketched a complicated rune in the air and sent it flying.
"Damn it," Hermione thought. "I can't get to the tunnel if Aberforth's dead." Unbidden information poured into Hermione's mind. Before she quite knew what was happening, she drew her own wand and cast an unfamiliar spell aimed between the two combatants. "Ut Ex Reditu!"*
The rune changed directions in midair and slammed into Lucius, throwing him back to the ground. Aberforth, knowing trouble when he saw it, promptly fled back into the Inn and bolted the door behind him.
Hermione shook so badly she nearly dropped her wand. None of that now, the Death Eater chided, and he took control of her hand, tightening her grip. Malfoy isn't dead, and he will kill you if you don't give me control.
"I don't understand…"
Let me help you. Just relax and fall back…yes, that's it; you can trust me, Miss Granger. Hermione stumbled, her eyes fluttering.
Lucius, who had been covertly observing the witch that blasted him, jumped at his chance to flee. He did not have the power he once did, and he was Slytherin enough to know it. He turned and ran, his filthy blond hair flowing behind him.
"I don't think so, Lucius," Hermione said slowly, her voice overlaid with the Death Eater's. She reached out her hand, made a wandless gesture, and pulled hard.
With a yelp, Lucius Malfoy stopped running and flew into the air like a dog who had reached the end of its tether. He slammed down hard, the back of his head bouncing off the cobblestones. Lucius's vision blurred, and when it cleared he was staring up at Hermione. He made to sit up, but a strong hand on his forehead stopped him.
"Be still, Lucius. It will hurt less this way." Dark eyes bore into gray ones as Hermione began to sing in her doubled voice.
"I have finally seen the end.
I have finally seen the Light.
I need to care, to live again,
But I have not the right.
Come to me, where magic be,
Where madness swallows me whole.
Come to me, rescue me,
Share with me your soul."
Lucius would have shaken had he the strength. Hermione's doubled voice travelled all around him and through him, cramping his muscles and scraping the inside of his skull. He looked up into the face of his death and begged for the first time in his life; Slytherins had pride, but it was useless if it killed them. "Please, please don't do this." He gasped as he felt himself draining out. "I'll give you anything you want."
Hermione smirked and caressed her victim's face as he sputtered. "Can you give me time, Lucius? Can you erase the past? Can you make me whole and blameless?"
Tears coursed down either side of Lucius's head, dripping into his ears. "No," he whispered, blinking to clear his vision. "But you will soil your host if you do this, whoever you are. The darkness of this spell will sully her aura with the kind of sludge that can never be removed, and my death will haunt her forever."
Hermione chuckled; Lucius winced as her voice dripped acid down his spine. "Whoever said I was going to kill you?" She leaned forward and kissed him, forcing her tongue inside.
The effect was dramatic. Lucius flopped and screamed into her mouth, his back arching upward as he fought the woman stealing his magic. Light poured from his nostrils and eyes, the fluorescent mist swirling as Hermione breathed it in. When she had sucked down every breath Lucius put forth, he slammed back down onto the pavement, gasping.
Wiping her lips, Hermione grinned and flashed her perfect teeth. "Enjoy being a Muggle, Lucius."
Leaving the blond wizard crying in the street, Hermione returned to The Hog's Head. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Growling in frustration, she breathed out a bit of Lucius's magic onto her closed fist and then slammed it against the wood, shattering it into so many toothpicks. Hermione stepped inside and headed for the bar.
"I know you're there, Aberforth. How many do you have in residence?"
"Oh, Miss Granger, what have you come to?"
She raised an eyebrow and sneered. "Something the world has not seen in over a thousand years, Aberforth. What was old is new, and we are in need of sustenance." She twisted her head side to side, cracking her neck with a meaty crunch. "Since you've not said whom you have in residence, I take it you're volunteering?"
The old man snorted. "I've got four here that were Death Eaters, though I can't prove it. Their Marks faded when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named bit it." He grabbed his ledger and opened it. "They're in rooms two, six, eight, and nine. You want them?" Dust flew when he slammed the book closed. "Be my guest; just remember who it was what set you up with a free buffet."
The Hog's Head Inn wasn't the only place Hermione visited that night; by morning, all of Hogsmead was in chaos. Every suspected Death Eater or Voldemort supporter in town was found drained of magic to the point of being functionally Muggle.
Harry Potter sat on a white bench, his head in his hands. He sat silent as stone for what could have been minutes or days; time was so strange here. He raised his head when he heard shuffling behind him.
"I know you're there, Albus."
The old man chuckled. "I can't put one over on you anymore, my boy, can I?"
Harry scoffed. "I wish you wouldn't call me your boy." He looked out into a white sea of nothingness. "Everyone you've ever called your boy has ended up in a bad way."
The elder wizard shuffled forward and sat down on the bench beside his conversational companion. "I don't know about that, Harry. Severus is still alive."
"But for how long?" Harry turned to the older wizard. "I have no love for Snape, believe me; it's Hermione I'm worried about. What happens to her when your damnable plan comes to fruition?"
Albus cleared his throat. "You must understand, Harry, that it's for the greater good."
Harry snorted. "You can't bait me with your 'greater good' anymore, Albus. I've seen the devastation you wrought in your search for justice against Voldemort." He glared at the former Headmaster. "Just how many lives must you destroy before you're satisfied that the 'greater good' has won?"
"Harry, your parents sacrificed-"
"Don't harp on about my parents. I've met them, you know, and being dead gives one a bit of perspective." He stared back out into the clouds. "Imagine how disillusioning it is to learn that one's sainted parents are nothing more than flawed, fumbling humans who locked themselves into their own fates through shortsightedness and hubris."
Albus smirked. "Miss Granger would be proud of your burgeoning eloquence."
Harry sighed. "I don't belong here anymore, not after what I've done for you." He stood and began to pace. "I've killed her. Gods, I've killed my best friend, and for what?" He whirled on the former Headmaster. "For your crackpot theories on the nature of shamans?" Harry ran his hands through his hair. "I told her your lie, you bastard. I told her Snape loved her."
Albus sat up straighter, his friendly aura replaced by cold professionalism. "Good; I planted the same suggestion in Severus's mind. Thank you for your help, Harry. I couldn't have done it without you."
Harry nodded. "If Hermione dies, rest assured that I will never forgive you, Albus." He loomed over the sitting man. "If you've consigned me to Hell, then by the Gods, I'm taking you with me." He walked into the clouds and vanished.
The former Headmaster sat on the bench for a long time, staring into nothingness.
*Latin for "return to the source."