Chapter 52
Hermione watched in horror as Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground. Never would she have imagined that her boyfriend's father would protect not only his son's life, but also give up his own life for her, a mudblood.
Her heart broke as she watched Draco fall to the ground, and cradle his father's head in his arms. This was the second death of a loved one that Draco had gone through in less than an hour. She placed her hand on his shoulder to remind him that they weren't alone. Bellatrix was watching the scene with glee on her face; no doubted happy that she had ended her brother-in-law's life all while causing pain to her blood-traitor of a nephew.
"Who's going to save you now?" she taunted as she brandished her wand in the air. She gave them a wide grin.
Draco was shaking, partly from sadness, but Hermione could also tell that there was a good deal of anger involved as well.
"You're going to be very sorry you did that," he said quietly. She could barely hear him, but she could hear and edge to his voice, one that was filled with so much anger and hatred, cutting through her as he spoke. She had never heard so much despise in anyone's voice before, and it worried her to hear him talk this way.
"Oh really?" she asked mockingly. "And what's itty bitty Dwaco going to do about it?" she said in a baby voice. "You couldn't even protect yourself against me earlier, why would you be able to do it now?"
"Because I no longer have any reason to hold back. I knew you were crazy, but you were still my aunt before you killed my father. Now you're nothing to me, and I have no problem killing you," he said, as he stood up. He held his wand in his hand as he stood firmly, but Hermione could still see him shaking.
"Draco," Hermione pleaded. "You're not a killer. Don't let her turn you into something you're not. Don't you see? This is what she wants! By killing her, you would be no better than her. But Draco, I know you! You're capable of so much good, please don't be blinded by your anger."
"Yes Draco, listen to your little girlfriend," Bellatrix said with a gleam in her eye. "Maybe if you're really good, I'll kill you quickly, so you won't even feel any pain. But the more you protest it, the more fun I'll have in your death."
"I have to do this, Hermione," Draco said. "Don't you see? She'll kill us, and she'll continue to kill all our friends and family until there's no one else left to kill. If I don't, she'll kill you! And I can't lose anyone else, Hermione, I can't."
She softened at the end of his words, and she took his hands in hers. "Draco, I'm not going anywhere. She's not going to kill me; not now, not ever. But don't kill her out of spite; you don't need your soul darkened by her. She's not worth that."
He looked at his aunt, then back at her, his jaw was firm and unrelenting as if he were fighting an internal battle with himself.
"She's not worth it," Hermione repeated, not taking her eyes off him, well aware that a psychotic killer was standing in front of them, and could kill either or both of them at any given moment.
He sighed, and she knew she had won. When he finally spoke, he said, "You're right. My father died so I could live the life I wanted to, and not the one I had been raised to want. If I killed her, I would be tarnishing my father's memory."
Bellatrix chuckled, "You stupid little boy. Even if you could kill me, you wouldn't be safe from the Dark Lord. And just because you are a weakling doesn't mean that I have any reservations whatsoever about killing you."
Draco smirked at her, "I said I wouldn't kill you; not that I wouldn't fight you. If you were to somehow die in the process, then that wouldn't really be my fault, now would it?"
Bellatrix made an attempt to strike a spell at him, but Draco was faster. He dodged the spell and sent back a non-verbal spell before she could recover. However Bellatrix was a trained fighter, and easily blocked it.
"Not bad," she said as she sent back a Cruciatus curse of her own. Hermione cast a deflection charm and then tried to stun her. "It's too bad I'm better."
"Bellatrix," Hermione heard a familiar voice boom out from behind them. She turned to see Harry, Ron, and Percy running towards them.
Bellatrix may have been many things, but foolish wasn't one of them. She was a strong witch, but to fight five at one time, especially having killed a relative of three of them, would not be in her favour.
"Well this has been fun," she said with a smirk, as she turned around and began to walk away. She wasn't as much fleeing as she was strutting.
"I'll kill you," she heard Percy roar as he ran past her and chased after her.
"I'm coming with you," Ron said, as he began to charge.
"Ron," she said, stopping him. "You can't, we need you."
"She killed Fred, Hermione! How can I let her get away?" He said; his voice breaking as he sobbed.
"We can't kill her," Draco said thickly, his voice cracking slightly. "We're the only ones who can end this. And trust me when I tell you that I want her dead just as much as you lot do, if not more."
Harry seemed to spot Draco's father on the ground. "I'm sorry, Draco. What happened?"
Draco swallowed. "She tried to kill me, but he took the blow. He said he wanted me to be h-happy, and that he was proud of m-me."
Draco choked on a sob as the adrenaline wore off. Hermione wrapped her arms tenderly around him, bringing him into a protective hung. His head rested on her chest, as he cried for the loss of a father who realised his familial obligations far too late.
He began to still, calming himself and attempting to regain his normal collected look. Once he had, he kissed her forehead, and she released her arms from around him. However, his hand found hers, and she intertwined their fingers, knowing that he still need that; she still needed that.
She could tell from how quiet Harry was that something was wrong. Hermione looked at him, and saw a distant look in his eyes, and knew that he had gone off to another place where he was no doubt experiencing Voldemort's thoughts and perspective. It worried her when he did that, only proving her theory correct that he was the remaining Horcrux correct. She had to tell him, she knew she did. But she was selfish; she couldn't lose him, not yet.
Harry let out a gasp, and she knew that he was back with them once more.
"Voldemort's sitting in the Shrieking Shack! He's there with Nagini and Snape. The snake…it has some sort of magical protection around it!" He said, nearly shouting.
"He's sitting in the shack?" Hermione asked incredulously. "He's not even fighting?!"
"He doesn't need to," Harry said, quieting down. "He thinks I'll go to him."
"But why?" she asked, knowing full well that neither Ron nor Draco were capable of forming words just yet.
"Because we need to kill the snake. He knows that I'm after the Horcruxes, so to get the last one we need to go to him."
"Right," Draco said, as he began to form sentences. "So then you can't go. You stay here; look after Hermione and Ron. I'll go to him and kill the snake. He won't be expecting me."
Hermione however did not like Draco's plan all that well. "No!" she insisted. "I'll go under the cloak and do it. All it will take is a single spell! It only makes sense if it's me who does it."
"If you think I'm going to let you go to him willingly, then you're mistaken, Granger," Draco said, looking furious at her.
She raised an eyebrow at him knowing he wasn't being playful this time. "Granger? Well then Malfoy, seeing that you know what's best for all of us, I'll just have to give in, now won't I? Because it doesn't matter one bit if you die or not, does it? Not to you."
He was silent at that.
"You still think you aren't worth it, don't you?" she asked, her voice rising. She felt like smacking herself, after all this time, she couldn't even tell that he was insecure about himself. And of course the meeting with his former friends, and his aunt did no wonders for it, if only amplifying it.
"You're an idiot," Ron told him, for the first time as he spoke. "You're an idiot if you think no one cares. Bloody Hell, here I am telling Draco Malfoy that his presence would be missed, and you still fail to see that?"
Draco chuckled darkly. "I never thought I would see the day where a Weasley stands up for a Malfoy; the world must be ending."
"Something like that," Ron said dryly, as he clapped Draco on the back. "Now, we're all going to the Shrieking Shack, or we're not at all," he said, addressing Harry. "Make your pick."
Harry smiled at them, and Hermione squeezed his hand with her free one. "To the end, Harry. We're with you to the end."
They began to make their way down the stairs, and she spotted Marcus Flint talking to one of the Death Eaters.
"Please!" he said in a begging tone. "I'm Marcus Flint. My father is one of your lot. I have a mark, I swear."
However, unfortunately for Flint, the Death Eater didn't seem to be buying it. Personally, she didn't care enough to do anything about it. Draco however had other ideas about it.
"Stupefy," he shouted out, stunning the Death Eater. "Flint, now we're even for everything and anything that you could have possibly done for me. But as far as I'm concerned, you're on the other side of this war, so if you as much as cross my path once more, I will not hesitate to curse you, do you understand?"
Flint simply gave him a glare as he ran out to join his fellow comrades.
"So how do we get out now?" he asked them. Hermione scanned her surroundings and what she saw could only be describe as utter chaos. They had made their way down the stairs to the Grand Entrance where the main fight was occurring. She saw Trelawney throwing crystal balls at Death Eaters, the Centaurs fighting off the spiders, to which Hagrid was desperately trying to stop.
"Don't hurt 'em," she heard him protest as he tried to stand up for the descendants of his former pet.
She wanted to tell him that it was no good; Argog was dead and his family had a mind of their own, and unfortunately for them, it was not in their favour.
In the corner of her eye, she watched Hagrid nearly get trampled by the spiders, and desperately wanted to help him, but she knew she was powerless against their sheer numbers.
A familiar giant's voice called out to them, whom she recognised as Grawp. "Hagger," he growled as he snatched him from the pile of spiders and lifted him to safety. "Hagger okay?"
"WE HAVE TO RUN," Draco shouted out through the madness.
"We have to get to the forest," Hermione yelled to them. "To the Whomping Willow."
They clearly wouldn't be able to just barge straight into the Shrieking Shack, but if they were to go through the passageway, then they would have the element of secrecy on their side."
She ran, faster than she ever had in her entire life. Mentally, she cursed herself for not being more athletic. Maybe if she took a break from studying every once in a while and took a run around the Quidditch Pitch, then she wouldn't have been so out of shape.
The air chilled, and Hermione could feel herself freeze to the bone. She raised her wand knowing what was coming; dementors. Hundreds of them were flocking towards the four, and Hermione had a quick flash back to third year when they had nearly been killed by the Death Eaters while in the past. Her head still hurt from time to time as she thought about the events of that night, knowing it was far too confusing to really ever make complete sense of. Seeing yourself do something in the past really messes up your point of view when trying to think of something.
"Harry," she called out. "Cast your patronus," she said, after casting her otter and realising that hers alone was not strong enough to ward them all off. Ron had cast his, and she looked to her right to see Draco cast one as well. His took on the form of a raven (A/N:I researched this animal and saw that based on the Native American sign, it was compatible with the otter, and the personality seemed to really match Draco's and I thought that was really cool) as it soar up into the sky joining her own otter. The two intertwined together and charged towards the Dementors. The raw power of the two of them was enough to get the Dementors to push far enough back, but it still wasn't enough.
"Harry," she called out again, as she looked out toward her friend. She saw him standing there, frozen by the sight.
To her delight, their patronus was joined by a hare, a boar, and a fox, which charged towards the Dementors, and successfully pushing them back. She turned to see Luna, Ernie, and Seamus on the other end of the wand.
"We're with ya, Harry," Seamus said, snapping Harry out of the trance he had been in previously.
"We're in this together," Luna said, echoing her earlier words.
Harry smiled, seeming slightly lighter at their words. "Thanks guys," he said, as he began to run off towards the Whomping Willow while their friends held of the Dementors for long enough for all of them to get away.
She quickly cast the stilling spell to get the tree to stop moving while they all slipped into the hole under the tree to get into the shack.
"The cloak," she whispered. "Put on the cloak. Draco, disillusion yourself, and stay far enough out of sight," she commanded her boyfriend, demanding that he stay in safety's reach.
They walked through the all too familiar hallways leading up to the room where they had confronted Sirius those years ago. Siting at the head of the table was Voldemort, and facing him was none other than Severus Snape.
She wasn't sure what it was, but even without hearing any of the conversation, she could tell something was very, very wrong with their interaction.
"My lord, I can still get you the boy," Snape tried. "I can go out there and get him, just give me one more chance, please."
Voldemort stood, his snake-like eyes gleaming. Hermione froze, worrying at first that he had found out about their presence.
"I have a problem, Severus," he said, his eyes narrowing at her former Potion's Master.
"My Lord?" Snape asked, in an attempt to keep calm with the situation in front of him.
"My wand," he said softly. "Does not work for me." He twirled the Elder Wand between his fingers, and Hermione was slightly shocked. Even after coming to the realisation that such a wand existed, she still found it difficult to believe that such a wand would occur. One of these days, things like that would stop surprising her, but it probably would take a few more years for that day to come.
"But it does," Snape said nervously. "My Lord, you have done great things with the wand-"
"All of which I could have performed with my own wand. I didn't need this one to help me do so," Voldemort said, cutting in, sounding calm and musing.
"No difference at all," he said after a slight moment. "Do you know why I called you back from the battle, Severus?"
Snape nearly shook where he was standing. He eyed the snake in the cage in front of him.
"My Lord, please, just let me go back out there. I'll bring back the Potter boy, I will. Just give me one last chance."
Voldemort chuckled at that. "You sound so much like Narcissa. 'My Lord, I swear I'm loyal to you. Please, tell me if my husband is safe…' she begged and pleaded with me, did you know? She's busy right now, but ever so persistent that one is. Lucius should really keep her more in line."
She watched silently as Voldemort began to question Snape as to why the wand wasn't working, when suddenly something clicked in her mind. Mentally, she formed a chain of events, realising who the true owner of the wand was. Unfortunately for Snape, while Voldemort thought it was him, it really wasn't.
"I master the wand, and I master Potter," Voldemort said with no remorse. He raised his wand, and Snape flinched, however a spell was not cast. She heard a hissing, and she turned and buried her head into Draco's invisible shoulder. He held her firmly, and tightly, and while she could not see his face, she knew that he couldn't watch what was happening before his eyes.
Voldemort rose and began to walk out of the room, the snake and their chance of killing the last Horcrux following with him.
Draco removed the charm and walked over to his godfather, Harry following him. Snape seemed to be using some of his last strength to remove a bunch of memories from his head. She quickly reached into her bag and got out a container to hold them.
"Take…it…take…it," he said, as he trust the memories into Harry's hand.
She nodded at him, "Go Harry," she said gently. "We'll be with him. You go view them."
He looked conflicted about whether he should go or stay, but when Draco nodded at him, he left.
"I…was…always…proud…of…you…Draco," Snape rasped. "Hopefully…you'll…understand…what…I've… done."
"Not you too," Draco said, his voice breaking. "Not you too."
She felt tears wet her face, knowing that the man she loved would be in a lot of pain for a long time after this was all over. There wasn't any way she could help him. There were no spell or potions to heal him; there was nothing.
There was a golden light, and she heard a bird call out. She looked up to see Fawkes flying towards them, and land on Draco's arm.
"Fawkes," Hermione said in awe. "Draco, it's going to be okay, don't you see? Dumbledore left you this bird for a reason, to help you when you most needed it."
Draco stared at the phoenix which he was seeing for the first time since receiving her in Dumbledore's will. "Of course, phoenix tears."
The bird began to lull a cry and its tears flowed down its face and unto Snape's many wounds. They began to close up and heal.
Snape was still weakened from the events, but he would live. She had to remind herself that his was a war. There would be many casualties indeed, but there would also be many lives being saved, and that was what mattered.
A/N: I know this is really late, and I'm so sorry. I had a four hour dance audition today, which I didn't expect to go on as long as it did, and on top of that there was some serious residence life drama which I indirectly was a part of. But everything's okay now, and I managed to get the chapter up! I wanted to thank you for your continuous support. I have been working on this story for a year from tomorrow, and it saddens me highly that it's drawing to a close. I probably will write somewhere between three to five more chapters or so. While I have it planned, sometimes I end up writing more or less for a section than I had originally planned, so it really all depends on the time I guess. But until next time, adieu J