Chapter Six: Dying
"And I told you to be patient, And I told you to be fine, And I told you to be balanced, And I told you to be kind. Now all you're love is wasted. Then who the hell was I?"
-Birdy; Skinny Love.
It was a week after their graduation, and Hermione and Sirius were eating ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, when Alice Fortescue came and sat down at their table.
"Hey Alice," Hermione greeted her dorm mate.
"Hey Hermione. You know Frank and I have been dating, right?" Alice asked.
"Yes?" Hermione replied, confused.
"Qe're getting married!" Alice said, bringing her hand out from under the table to showcase her engagement ring. "I want you to be one of my bridesmaid's Hermione. And Frank want's you as one of his groomsmen, Sirius," Alice told the both of them.
Frank worked very closely with Sirius when he and Hermione were starting the Order, so it made sense for him to want Sirius as one of his groomsmen, they'd become quite close.
"It'd be our pleasure Alice," Hermione smiled, "but we must get going, we have to go to Madame Malkin's. I'm getting my measurement's done for my own wedding dress today. We'll get together on the details soon, as you're one of my bridesmaids too, that if if you want...?" Hermione left it open for the girl to readily agree and they went on their way.
Not ten minutes later Sirius and Hermione entered Madam Malkin's and were accosted by a girl "How may I help you?" she asked, she was a pretty girl, maybe three years older than Hermione herself, and blonde as a dandelion wisp, with a dreamy, floaty sort of voice to match.
"I'm here to redeem a Christmas present of mine, a new wardrobe, and to be fitted for my wedding dress," Hermione told her offhand.
"Okay, I'll fetch the Madame," the girl said in a more businesslike manner.
"Did you want to look at dresses with me, Sirius?" Hermione asked her fiancé.
"No, remember that muggle tradition of Lily's, about the dress. I'll just go up to Knockturn Alley and see about buying one of those curse shielding cloaks to give Lily for her birthday," Sirius said.
"Okay, be careful," Hermione said, standing on her tiptoes to peck him on the cheek.
"See you in a bit, Love," He said with his cheeky grin, as he exited the store.
"Miss Black!" Madame Malkin said with astonishment as she came out from behind a large rack of Hogwarts robes.
"Hello Maria," Hermione said with a smile at her old friend. The famed seamstress Maria Malkin had been a friend of Hermione's for quite some time.
"You're a sight for sore eyes," Maria smiled embracing Hermione. "What brings you to my shop?"
"This," Hermione said handing Maria the piece of paper she'd gotten from Walburga for Christmas.
"Whoa, that's quite a tall order," Maria said, whistling through her teeth.
"I don't really want all the clothes now. I just need you to start working on my wedding dress, other than that, I need some leather products," Hermione told Maria Malkin.
"What sort of leather products?" Maria wagged her eye brows suggestively at her.
"Not that sort," Hermione said. "I need some sort of wand holster, that I can wear on the inside of my robes, or within a pair of specially designed boots. It need to be spelled so that it's not noticeable," Hermione dropped her voice low into a whisper. "I'm worried about Sirius, His mother feels as her heir, he should join the Dark Lord, and work his way up in his ranks, but Sirius," Hermione paused and sighed. "We, as Black's were taught to never bow to anyone, and Sirius, he's resistant to the idea, and I don't want to lose my husband before we have an heir of our own..." Hermione trailed off, looking up at one of her oldest friends. "Can you do it, Maria?"
"Hell yes! You bet Merlin's saggy left nut I can," Maria said in the most serious voice Hermione had ever heard from her. "To tell you the truth, my father wanted me to join, because he has no sons, I told him to stick his wand up his ass, I'm a seamstress, not a warrior."
"Exactly, I'm so worried Walburga will evoke her right as head of household, and try to make Sirius join," Hermione confided.
Maria nodded, understanding her worry. "I was worried too, but I'm over 17. Father can't make me do anything. Walburga can't make Sirius do anything either, he's over seventeen too,"
"I know, thank you so much Maria," Hermione said gratefully as Madame Malkin lead her back to the wedding dress racks.
Several hours, and many more dresses later, a frustrated Hermione practically threw a handcrafted hundred-thousand galleon dress at Maria. "ugh," she groaned. "Not to insult your dresses, but none of them are right, they're all wrong."
"What did you have in mind Hermione?" Maria asked the Black Heiress.
"Something that's very me. Gold, it must have gold fabric. I want a high neckline and long sleeves, they have to be gold lace, and they have to look like feathers. Yes, and right past the waistline it has to look like fire, yellow-gold at first, but fading to orange, then red, then merlot, then black at the train. A Phoenix! That's what it needs to be," Hermione smiled fondly at her friend who'd been taking notes the whole time, and had a sketch of what the dress was to look like.
"Is this it?" Maria asked, holding up the sketch.
"It's perfect," Hermione said. "How soon can it be done?"
"I can have it done by the end of this week, if I hurry. I need you in here on Saturday for your bridesmaid's fittings. I'll make dresses similar to this design for them, if you want." Maria said, her eyes filling with a little of the same light Hermione's held. There was excitement, happiness, and most of all, power. Maria knew about the Order of the Phoenix, and Hermione was definitely the Phoenix. Maria was overjoyed for her friend.
As Hermione exited Madame Malkin's her hands filled with bags; her sole intention was to go to Nocturn Alley to find her fiancé, but a crowd gathering in the opposite direction attracted her attention. Above that crowd, in the quickly darkening sky was a grotesque symbol, but one Hermione knew well. The dark mark hovered in the sky, and beneath that mark were six words hovering in the air, "Come to me, or Black gets it."
Screams filled the air as the words that were hovering silvery in the air erupted into flames and disappeared. Hermione knew what she had to do, and with a look of determination, apparated to Lestrange Manor.
"Come out, come out wherever you are," Hermione taunted in an airy voice, her own voice mimicking that of the cousin that she'd killed. "I know you're here, come and face me."
No sooner had she said that, four separate jets of light sprang from unknown locations. Hermione deflected them wordlessly with a sweep of her hand. "Is that all you've got?" She cackled uncontrollably.
"You cowards! Where is your master? Let him come out, so I can kill him. The cowardly half-blood!" She cackled as they attempted to attack her from their hiding places. "Tom! Tom Riddle! Where are you hiding, Tom?" Hermione said, as she began blast things with the Bombarda curse. "Are you here, Tom?" she screamed as she smashed things, trying to find those cowardly death eaters.
"Hermione!" Hermione heard the voice of Peter Pettigrew from behind a low-slung couch.
"Peter, you fucking traitor! I knew it!" Hermione cackled. "I ought to have killed you. But no, "Peter, wouldn't do that to us, Hermione." She mimicked Sirius' voice to a t. "But now, little Peter, I don't care what he said. You took my Sirius, you betrayed us. My baby needs a Daddy." Hermione pursed her lips and sighed dramatically, her behavior still reminiscent of Bella. "And you, dear boy, you're going to die."
It took Hermione an hour of smashing things, and chasing that damn rat around the manor for the Dark Lord to finally show his face.
"Hermione Black, what a surprise." The dark haired man cocked his head to the side.
"I'm just going to cut to the chase, Tom," Hermione said, which elicited a hiss from the pompous Lord. "I want my fiancé back, if I have to cut down your entire little band of followers, I will. He's mine," Hermione released a feral hiss of her own.
"Why do you want him back so bad?" He asked, looking intrigued. "Yours was to be a marriage of convenience. An arranged one, why wouldn't you leave him, to get his money, his inheritance?"
"I'm pregnant with his child," Hermione said, dropping that bomb on him. "Sirius and I had planned to get married at the end of this month, in hopes of passing the child off as legitimate," She said, effectively putting the ball quite literally in Tom's court.
Tom looked throughly impressed. "So you want him back, in order to claim his money. That's very smart of you, Miss Black."
"I know I'm a genius, Tom. I don't need you to tell me," Hermione said in a bored tone, having grown quite tired of these games.
"So, Miss Black. I've a proposition for you," He said, his eyes holding some emotion that Hermione automatically distrusted.
"Which would be?" Hermione was careful not to agree nor disagree with anything the Dark Lord said. Hermione was well versed in the art of pureblooded negotiations. It was time to see if the half-blood Lord was just as versed as she.
"If I were to give him back, I want something in return," the Dark Lord paused.
"And should I be so inclined, what would you want in return?" Hermione queried, her interest in Tom's proposition growing.
"I want you, Dear Hermione," Hermione's dread grew as a grotesque smile split the face of Tom Riddle. "You killed my favorite Lieutenant. I want you to replace her. Once you've had your heir, I want you at my side, and your loyalty above all. I want you to conquer the wizarding world for me. Alphard had bragged of your, uh, capabilities, let us just say. I want the whole world, and you're going to give it to me," Silence descended upon the room, as the two formidable opponents stared at each other.
"Tom," Hermione's icy voice broke the silence. "Do you know what it means to be a daughter of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black?" Hermione asked, and by the look on the face of Voldemort told her that he did not. "It means that as a woman whose blood is the purest in the magical world, we are taught certain things. One of those things is that we should always look down upon those who're less pure than us," Hermione paused, as Tom raised his dark brow in utter defiance.
"and another is that a Black never bows. I will never bow to you, Tom. You're wasting your time." Hermione rested her hand on her hip, as she held her wand ready for Tom to loose his cool, and attack her.
"I see, Miss Black. It is regrettable to have to destroy some of the most promising talent in all of Wizarding Britain. I'll give you a few moment's to say goodbye to your child before I kill you," Voldemort said, brandishing his phoenix feather and Holly wand.
"You know Tom, I think it's funny," Hermione said, smiling widely.
"You think what is funny?" He asked in a dull monotone.
"That I would go quietly, you really have no idea what a Black can do. I see Bella hadn't shown you the full extent of our 'capabilities'." Hermione said, wand at the ready.
The wandlight from curses could be seen through the windows, flashes abounded, and crashes resounded. And when the dust cleared, Hermione Black was wandless and bleeding heavily.
"Now what say you?" The archaic Lord laughed cruelly. "Hermione Black, prepare to die,"
"Goodbye, little one, I love you more than anything." Hermione whispered, her hands clutched to her slightly distended stomach. "I'm sorry," tears finally slid past Hermione's lids. She knew this was the end.
"Good bye Miss Black," Tom Riddle said as a jet of green light lit up the room, and by the time the corpse of Hermione Black fell to the ground with a hollow thump, Tom Riddle was already gone.
A/N: Whoaaa. That was intense... Umm, I didn't mean for that to happen, it kind just did... Uh, damn. I just killed her off. Shit, what to I do now?
Ideas? I kind of have a half-way, not really plot bunny for this, but it's rather offshoot, and kind of radial. Just lemme know. ^_^
-Elena