Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Authors Note: - Hey guys, I can't tell you how sorry I am for not posting the chapter sooner. I had my internals going on and had to prepare an art exhibition. And then my computer crashed and all the chapters I had saved were gone in a blink. But in all, I am really sorry.

Well I hope you like this chapter.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked Hermione, opening his one eye as she patted her hair down making herself look presentable.

"I have Muggle studies now." she said as bending down to kiss his cheek "And I am already late. You go back to sleep, I will see you later." she said ruffling his hair. She looked at her watch; she left the room in a hurry to reach the class at time.

Hermione half walk and half ran on the corridor on her way to the class when she was pushed from behind and tripped and fell on the floor. The classes had already started so there wasn't a soul on the corridor. Hermione pushed the hair off her face and turned to look at the culprit and saw Blaise Zabini standing, looking down at her with a smirk on his face.

"Well, well well look here, you are at last at the right place, on the floor-mudblood." He spat at her looking at her with raw disgust on his face. Meanwhile Hermione was calling out for Harry in her head.

"What do you want?" she asked as she struggled to get up on her feet.

"No, no, not so fast. Stay where you are or else I have to hurt you."He said as he pressed his wand on her forehead pressing her down on the floor until she was on her back, her wand had rolled away from her, lying a feet away from her reach.

"Hey." Hermione heard harry in her head and she nearly sighed in relief.

"Help me." She sends the thought quickly never moving her gaze from him.

"What do you want?" she repeated her question to him.

"Where are you?" came his immediate reply.

"Third floor corridor."

"Isn't it obvious, to hurt you of course." he said smirking. She saw his wand move and then she heard silence. She opened her one eye and looked around and saw Zabini, frozen lying on the floor and behind him Malfoy stood with a wand in his hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked her softly coming neared to her and giving her a hand to get up.

Harry saw Malfoy standing in front of Hermione and rage boiled his blood, he ran through the corridor.

"Get away from her." He shouted and pushed back and stepped in-between him and Hermione. He shouted when he saw Hermione slump down on the floor. His heart dropped to his stomach and his legs almost gave away. Harry took a step towards him when he felt Hermione holding him back. He turned slightly to look at her but kept his wand trained at him.

"Hermione." his voice trembling as he took her in his arms "You okay?"

She smiled "I am fine, thanks to Draco here." She said. Harry and Malfoy both looked at her wide eyes and then looked at each other. Harry gave him a gruff nod as thanks and then turned to Hermione.

"What happened?" he asked her. As Hermione explained to Harry and Draco what had happened, they didn't notice Zabini fighting the spell. Being stupefied, he easily broke through the spell and quickly fired the spell at Hermione, before anyone could notice.

"Hermione, Hermione..." Harry called her name as he took her in his trembling arms and Draco went to call McGonagall. He picked her up and took her to the infirmary.

"Mister Potter, what happened to Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey immediately started working on her, as Harry just looked on, incapable of saying anything at the moment.

"Mister Potter?" she tried again and turned to look and saw that he had gone into shock. Cursing under her breath she sends her patronus to Professor McGonagall. She then went to Harry and took him to the bed next to her and made him lie on there was no resistance.

"Open your mouth Mister Potter." She ordered him and he immediately followed and poured a dreamless potion into his mouth and within minutes his eyelids began to drop and soon he was dead to the world. Madam Pomfrey went to work on Hermione when McGonagall entered with Draco in tow.

Draco looking at Harry and Hermione immediately left the infirmary without being noticed by either of them and decided to tell Tonks, what had just happened.

"What happened?" the headmistress asked sharply looking at her student's unconscious on the bed.

"I don't know Mr. Potter here, bought Ms. Granger like this and soon went into a shock himself so I was forced to give him a potion. He should be fine in the next couple of hours." She said still working on Hermione..

"What about Ms. Granger?" she asked looking at her.

"We just heard." Tonks, Remus and Sirius burst into the room with Draco entering behind them quietly.

"What happened?" Remus asked immediately as he looked the both of them on the bed looking pale and unconscious.

"Mr. Potter is fine he just went into shock but it seems that Ms. Granger here had put into an enchanted sleep."

"Who did this?" Remus asked McGonagall.

"It was Zabini." Draco spoke up for the first time. "The first time he tried to curse her, I stunned him and he broke the spell off him and attacked her while we three were talking."

McGonagall was still for a moment and nodded "Please do excuse me, I have some matters to be discussed with Mr. Zabini." She said as she left the room in distress.

"Ms. Granger will be awake by this time tomorrow, the spell used on her shuts down the working of the mind to the minimum." Madam Pomfrey said as she saw the way Tonks looked at Hermione.

Madam Pomfrey left the infirmary leaving the three professors and the student alone. Tonks, Sirius and Remus exchanged startled glances as they looked upon Hermione and they pretty much knew what was going to happen next.

Draco was standing in a corner of the infirmary opposite to Harry and Hermione and saw Tonks, Remus and Professor Andrews walked out of the room into the hallway. They searched for a nearest broom cupboard where they could talk

"This is going to bring trouble." Tonks bursted out as she bended slightly to see Remus and Sirius in the small dirty, dusty cupboard and looked upon as Sirius silenced the place.

"Do you think Voldemort knows about Hermione?" Sirius asked.

"I don't think so, because if he did then he would have her kidnapped and then murdered as soon as possible?" Remus said thoughtfully.

"What do we do now?" Sirius asked jiggling his leg.

"Harry will be most vulnerable now that Hermione cannot protect him from Voldemort." Remus pointed out.

"There is nothing we can actually do." Tonks said sighing. "You think he will try to get connect with Harry?"

"Of course, let's hope he is ready for it." Remus said sighing as he left the room.

"He is ready Tonks." Sirius said as he saw her leg jiggling showing her nervousness.

"You think so?"

"Yes, he is ready." He said more to himself than to her.

"Hello Mr. Potter, its being a long time I have you." Harry looked directly into his red, inhuman snake eyes without flinching. He just nodded. He looked at his surroundings and found himself in a black corridor with Nagini slithering all over Voldemort.

"I hope Ms. Granger is fine, not to badly injured I hope?" he smirked as he saw Harry clench his fist.

"I sure don't want her to be injured, because I would like to kill her myself just the way I killed your parents, looking right in their eyes, seeing the light in the eyes vanish leaving behind nothing." Harry bit his lips and clenched his fist tighter and Voldemort's smile grew.

"You want to know what I will do to her before I kill her Harry." He said now tauntingly.

"My men would like fresh meat so that they could entertain themselves, and I have some new curses I want to try out too."

"You will never get her." Harry spit out at him.

"Oh! And why won't I get her?" he asked leaning forward a little.

"Because I am going to kill you before you can even touch her."

"And how can you so sure of that?" his face going blank but Harry could see a spark of anger in his eyes.

"Because I know the prophecy." He smirked.

"What!" Voldemort hissed now angry than ever, but Harry kept on smirking knowing what he was going to do next. He stood up from his chair and walked right in front of him, never breaking eye contact and suddenly feeling braver than before. He stopped in front of Voldemort, bends in front of him and then suddenly touched his forehead, the same place where he had given him the scar.

Next what happened shocked the both of them, Voldemort and Harry both fell on to their knees and screamed in pain like never before they both had experienced. Then a black smoke rose from Harry and went right into Voldemort. Harry stopped screaming and painted heavy and pushed himself far from Voldemort who his back, screaming and twisting in pain and then a stream on black smoke came out of him and vanished into air. He looked at harry and tried to get up. But Harry had already closed his eyes concentrating to the 'real world'.

He opened his eyes in the infirmary, sweating and twitching looking straight into chocolate brown eyes.

"Hermione." He whispered smiling at her. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug and then promptly fainted.

"What is happening Poppy?" McGonagall asked as she entered the infirmary and saw Tonks, Sirius and Remus standing next to Harry's bed while poppy was working on him. It had been almost a day since the attack on Hermione and since Harry had gone into shock and since then they both had been unconscious. It wasn't until half an hour ago since Harry started murmuring in his sleep and then started to twist and turn around in the bed sweating so much that his shirt had stuck to his body like second skin. He had a frown on his forehead and his eyes were moving rapidly.

"I don't know..." Poppy said as she stepped back and wringed her hands together. "I don't know what is wrong with him; I can't help him at all."

Then all of a sudden Harry fell quiet and completely still as the others kept on looking. They were so focused on harry that they didn't see Hermione sit up on her bad, looking at harry, her eyes widened in shock and quickly got up from her bed, her legs shivering. Pushing Tonks out of the way she sat on his bed ignoring Madam Pomfrey "Get back to your bed."

She pressed her right hand on his heart and picked up his left hand and put it on his scar. She started to chant an ancient Latin spell which no one could hear and understand. Then Harry screamed and arched his back, his sweaty right hand holding her at her waist. Hermione never stopped her chanting but her grip on his chest tightened. Soon the result showed, a black smoke came out from Harry's scar and vanished into thin air and as harry fell down on the bed gasping. He opened his eyes and got up on the bed, his hands supporting him upright. He looked at her and she could see a spark returning in his eyes.

"Hermione." He said as he wrapped his hands around her loosely and then fainted on her.

"Help me." Hermione said as he held Harry's body as the others looked at her in awe. Her cry for help shook them from their stupor and caused Pomfrey fussing on them.

"Miss Granger, what was that." McGonagall asked her sharply as she returned to her bed.

"Not now, Professor." She said clipped tone. Hermione looked at Sirius and pushed a thought into his mind. He went still and then shook his head and nodded at Hermione. He levitated McGonagall and Poppy out of the room and sealed the room shut. He looked back and saw Harry and Hermione sleeping in each other's arms.

"What is happening?" Draco asked quietly and the three of them jumped forgetting he was even present there. Sirius looked at him and instantly knew he could trust him. He took off the glamour from him and ignored Draco's gasp of surprise.

"Harry was a Horcrux, Six down, one to go. The last one is Nagini. Voldemort is coming by tomorrow noon. Get Ready"