Happy Easter everyone! First off, I must apologise for being so late with an update, once again I have had a lot on my plate, namely university assignments and lab reports. I will try to keep you guys informed of how I'm getting on with the story. Second, the story is far from over here, I'm hoping for around 25 chapters for this story, so hopefully this story will be completed by Summer Break. Third, I have some questions from my reviewers that require answering:
Yamiperv: With regards to vampires in the books themselves, in book 6, you may recall that Slughorn invites an Albanian (I think) vampire to one of his 'Slug Club' parties.
Wild Artemis, Darkshadow-lord, LethalPoison: Wait and see ;-)
Now, on with the story!
While Hermione, Ron, Tom and Bellatrix stood tired and dazed, hundreds of feet below them Harry was watching the entire battle through the eyes of the Patronuses. He could see that they needed his help, yet he could doom the world if he did. He looked at the wand in his hand, the Deathstick, alongside the stone and cloak; if he was to truly be the master of Death, surely he would need to forever beat Death at his own game. He stood up and conjured a silvery beast, his own stag Patronus, before stepping into it and racing upwards to aid his friends.
Back at ground zero, the last remnants of the Order: Tom, Bella Ginny, Hermione, Ron, George, Arthur, Molly and Kingsley; were getting ready to face the inevitable. Each one had fought valiantly to defend Harry, but even they couldn't defeat an entire army. Hermione stood next to Bella and grasped her left hand with her own right hand. Ron did the same with Ginny, Arthur and Molly too. They knew it was all over, and looking at the mass of dark creatures surrounding them, as well as the bodies of their dead comrades. George spotted his brother Bill backed into a corner alongside his wife Fleur, and wished that there was something he could do, that any of them could do. Of course, it wasn't him that was about to do something…
As the remainder of the dark forces issued their final battle cry, the Order braced itself for the end, but as the darkness attacked the group, a white light enveloped them, and the dark attacks rebounded, Bill and Fleur looked up from their protective embrace to see the same shield before them. "Honey, what is going on?" she asked Bill, who gave her a self-explanatory clueless look. The Order circle looked to the other side of the shield, and realised it was starting to expand. Suddenly it pulsated outwards, knocking the first wave of enemies backwards, before shattering and rising above the group, all of the other satellite shields broke too and joined the main ball of light, before it exploded an revealed the source, the stag Patronus.
"James?" Tom said, as he recalled the form the deceased father took, before realising that there was something, or someone, with the Patronus.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, and the Patronus started to ride along the ground and smashed into the first wave of enemies, blasting them away like they were ragdolls. The Order started to cheer for their Chosen One, all the while Harry rode around in a flash of light, sending beast after beast flying through the air.
"I knew he would save us…" Ginny said to Ron as she started to cry with joy in his shoulder. Ron simply stood there and comforted her. The rest of the Order watched as a dozen Dementors flew across the remnants of the bridge, which had by now all but been destroyed, making a beeline straight for Harry. He sensed them just in time and dove off of the stag, watching as the beasts devoured the silver stag. One of the others raced to grab him as he was off balance, but was blindsided by another Patronus Charm, this one now emanating from Hermione.
"Thanks Hermione," he said as the Dementor flew away and regrouped with the masses converging in the dawn sky.
Her otter Patronus bounded faithfully to her side once more and stood vigilant, Hermione simply smiled. "It's not over yet, Harry," she remarked as she readied the sword, the rest of the survivors regrouped and stood ready, wands raised, ready to defeat their final wave of enemies. Without warning, the sky suddenly darkened, a black mist descended and enveloped the Great Hall, and the Dementors raced towards the group. To Hermione, it felt like she was covered in ice, she could barely move, and the air around her was so cold. She tried to call out to someone, but her voice couldn't penetrate the thick mist. Finally the mist subsided, and she was doubled over on the stone floor, gasping for breath. There was nobody in the room that was a threat, no dementors, no vampires, and no shadowknights. No one. She looked around as she got to her feet, locating the others, who were in a similar state to her. Molly was the first to speak, although all she could manage was a whisper: "is it over?"
As if to answer her question, a hooded figure formed in the centre of the room, close to where Harry was lying on the floor. "Evidenty not, Molly Weasley" the featureless face sneered from under it hood. Hermione looked on as they all got to their feet, and received their first look; at Death.
He was a lot different to how he appeared to Hermione the last time she saw him, he was now sporting a pair of black feathered wings, similar to a crow's, and his skeletal hands and feet were of the clearest white she had ever seen. He was wearing a single hooded cloak, which was thankfully covering the rest of his body and face, if he had one at all.
"You know why I'm here, Harry Potter," the sinister creature said, slowly walking towards the unconscious wizard. "I am here to collect the payment the Hallows require. With it, I can walk free in this realm, and rule this world once more!" He cackled as Harry slowly started to get to his feet, the Elder Wand in hand. "Fool," Death simply remarked, and backhanded him across the face, the force propelling him several feet backwards.
"Leave him alone!" Ginny yelled, blasting a Stunning spell at him, but he merely deflected it with a wave of his hand. Undeterred, Ginny blasted him with curse after curse, in a desperate attempt to protect her lover; but all her attacks were blocked by the supernatural entity. As the entity cackled at her fruitless attempts to harm him, Ginny mustered all the strength she could, and blasted him with the strongest Cruciatus Curse she could. With her strength spent, she fell to her knees, breathing heavily; Death meanwhile was laughing, in a cold, almost sadistic manner.
"My turn." Death blasted a wave of energy directly towards the helpless student, but before the magic could impact, Bellatrix darted in front, taking the full force of the dark magic. Death merely laughed at this, his cold-heartedness hitting a nerve with Hermione. "You really think you can withstand this pain Bellatrix Lestrange? You think you can defy my right to rule this land?"
"She is innocent, I am not." Bellatrix stated bluntly, fruitlessly attempting to block the dark magic. "If you want to kill someone, kill me," she continued. Death cackled once more, and intensified the magic, diminishing her resistance bit by bit. When he ended the magical barrage, Bella was on her knees, panting, gasping for breath just like Ginny had. Death stretched his skeletal hand, now enveloped in a black aura, and pointed it at Bellatrix. "As you wish," he said.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hermione yelled and charged at Death, sword raised, and swung it down as she closed in on her target. "Crucio Maxima!" she yelled and a red aura enveloped her entire body as she collided with the supernatural being, making him lose his aim and blast the ground before Bellatrix, the explosive power of Death's curse sent everyone, including Bella, flying into the sides of the Great Hall.
"Insolent little girl," Death remarked as he got up, his face now uncovered. As the dust settled, Hermione looked into the eyes of Death itself. His face was a deathly white skull, but had glowing red eyes. He looked like something out of a horror story, or a nightmare. She desperately looked around or any sign of the sword or Bella, but she couldn't see either one. As Death regained his feet, Harry charged, sword in one hand, Elder Wand in the other. Almost as if he planned it, Death grabbed Hermione and enveloped her body in a grey mist, using her as a human shield.
"Harry, Stop!" Hermione cried out, and Harry did indeed stop, just mere feet away from the two. The rest of the Order were watching this series of events unfold.
"Good, Harry. Good." Death's grin was unmistakable; he had Harry exactly where he wanted him. "Now then, surrender yourself to me, Harry Potter, or she will suffer." As if to reinforce the point, Hermione was enveloped in an increasing intensity of yellow sparks, the pain steadily increasing. She tried to scream, but the pain was too much so no sound came out. Defeated, Harry dropped the wand at his feet.
"You want the sword, here;" Harry said, tossing the sword towards Hermione, who grabbed it before Death could. It was a mistake he was about to regret.
"He he he; Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, the Chosen One," Death laughed, "Ready to die, so that I may live forever."
"You still don't get it do you," Harry countered. "You may have ruled once, but it all ends here. Tonight." He got to his feet and blasted Death with an wordless spell, which Death subsequently blocked with Hermione's body, the white spell hitting her torso instead.
"You never learn, Harry," Death sneered, but when he looked at Harry, he was not disheartened. No, he was, smiling?
"Neither do you, Death," Harry retorted, glancing to Death's hostage. If Death realised what was about to happen, it would be too late anyway, for Hermione had raised the sword of Gryffindor and was about to plunge it into her own abdomen, the white light of Harry's protective charm ready to save her.
'Goodbye everyone,' Hermione said in her head, tears streaming out of her closed eyes. "Avada Kedavra." The sword, charged with the killing magic, was thrust into her abdomen and into the heart of Death itself. As Death died, she blacked out and fell in a slump to the ground.
When she awoke, she looked around for any sign of her friends, her lovers, but nobody was there. She looked at the scenery around her, and it was just like it was after her first near death experience. Calling on her memories of that time, she cried out for Bella, Tom, anyone, but no answers. "No. Please no," she pleaded to herself, and broke down in tears in the white mist.
"Come now, dear girl, you have done a most extraordinary thing," a voice said comfortingly as a figure formed in front of her. "Only one other person was able to accomplish what you did today, and that was almost a millennia ago."
Hermione looked up at the figure, and realised just who she was in the presence of. "It can't be; Merlin?"
"I'm surprised one so young knows who I am, of course, I am the most famous wizard of all time." Merlin conjured a seat and sat down; as he did, Hermione couldn't help but notice that he had two dark wounds in his chest.
"You became Death all those years ago, didn't you?" she questioned, rubbing the area where her own wound should be, only to find nothing there.
"Short answer, yes I did," Merlin replied. "I fashioned a cloak so powerful, it could render anyone who wore it invulnerable to spells, and also made the wearer invisible, as well as enchanting a stone so that I could see the spirits of the dead. Also, my magic was the strongest of all mages in the kingdom, so naturally, my wand was the strongest too."
"You created the Hallows?" she gasped in shock.
"Indeed, that is what they are known now as. However, by doing so I invoked the power of Death itself, he was able to enter this dimension and started to kill hundreds of people to whet his insatiable appetite for destruction. I had no choice but to stop him. However, none of my spells worked, he was too strong, he attempted to kill me, reasoning that by absorbing the Hallows, he could become as powerful as a deity. Of course, everything has a weakness, as I'm sure you're aware, Miss Granger."
"Excalibur," she stated, starting to understand the gravity of the situation.
"Yes, the holy sword Excalibur was created to be able to defeat dark creatures such as Death, and my friend, Arthur was able to kill him. Unfortunately, in his dying moments, he cast a curse on the Hallows; the person who wields all three will become Death incarnate, and summon him back to Earth. I absorbed his powers and became the new embodiment of Death to prevent that from happening. I came across three men, who had magic to rival my own. They were chosen to be the recipients of the Hallows."
"The Peverell brothers," Hermione asked, to which Merlin nodded. "So what happens to Harry?"
"Harry Potter has known for a while, the minute he realised he had two of the Hallows, I started to possess him, telling him he couldn't get the third, of course, Death had another idea."
"Wait, I thought you were Death?" Hermione stated, confused at the statement.
"In vessel only, consider us how you say, two sides of the same coin. He had the powers, I only contained them. I tried to tell Harry not to collect the wand, but Death convinced him otherwise. I was with Harry all the way, trying to get as few people hurt as possible, including you."
"You told me and Ron to leave Harry?" Hermione asked, shocked and glad at the same time.
"Yes, I told him to make sure you and Ron stayed away from him, for your own safety. Of course, once he had the wand, my control over him became less and less powerful. I had barely any control over him at the church, and then of course the Ministry of Magic too."
"Was that how you got the first of the stab wounds?" Hermione asked, recalling the events at the church so long ago.
"Indeed, it was then that I was able to split from Death and protect Harry, I was desperately trying not to bring him back, I couldn't live with myself if the world was destroyed because of me."
By now, Hermione was desperately trying to avoid the question she wanted to ask, but someone beat her to it. "You want to know what will happen to us, right Hermione?" Harry said, walking into the vicinity.
"How did you know, and for that matter why are you here, I thought I was dead?" Hermione asked.
"In a manner of speaking, you are," Harry replied, wrapping his arm around her back. "You sacrificed yourself to stop Death, you banished him from this world. The consequence of which is that someone must take his place. I must take his place." Harry comforted Hermione as she started to understand. "As for you, Death decides when it is your time, and as it is not yours, you can go home, I however must cross over."
"No! Please, there must be another way!" Hermione pleaded, hugging Harry tightly.
"I'm sorry Hermione. There is no other way for me to escape this curse. However," Harry summoned the Hallows to his hands, "there is a way to make sure the power Death craves will never return. Take the Hallows and distribute them. Spread the word that they must never be collected by one person, else it dooms the world."
"I understand, Harry." She gathered up the Hallows in her arms, and turned towards the beckoning light. "Goodbye, Harry."
"We'll see each other again, Hermione; count on it…" Harry called back as she disappeared, a single black feather floating behind her…
As she awoke once more, she realised she was back in the real world, she first glanced at the rubble where she lay, and saw no body lying there, then over to where Harry last was, and saw the Hallows lying in a pile, accompanied by a single black feather. Realising everything was true, she started to sob once more. As the rest of the Order started to see the dust settling, they saw Hermione crying, and assumed the worst. Ron and Ginny approached, and went to comfort her, holding and embracing her, mourning the loss of a friend. Suddenly, Hermione remembered about someone else she cared about.
"Bella…" she muttered, before racing off to where Bellatrix was thrown. Ron and Ginny, realising what she was doing ran after her to help. "Bella!" she yelled as she reached the pile of rubble and started to pull the debris off of her lifeless body. "Bella please don't die on me. Please!"
As the final brick was pulled from her body, Ron and Hermione lifted Bellatrix out of the rubble and laid her down on the floor. Hermione was desperately attempting to revive her through CPR, but to no avail. "Hermione, she's gone." Ginny went to comfort her friend, but Hermione would not listen. Ginny didn't know what to do, until a voice urged her towards the Hallows, specifically the Elder Wand. "Hermione, catch!" Ginny said, tossing her the Elder Wand; Hermione realised what she could do and caught the wand in her hand.
"C'mon, please work, please!" she cried as she tried every medical incantation she could think of to heal her lover. "Please. I can't live without her. Help me…" As she cast spell after spell, she could only watch as her spells, even after being amplified by the Elder Wand, still could not revive her.
A voice called out to her inside her head, "If she means that much to you, then I won't separate you. Although, I can only save her live by returning her to a point in her life where she was uninjured, otherwise the spell will not work. I will need your help to make it work though..." A blue light enveloped both Hermione and Bellatrix, and the voice urged her to touch Bella, the moment she did, the light entered and enveloped Bella alone, raising her up into the air and starting to heal her. The blue aura around her started to dissipate, in its place was a black cloud, sucking all of the injured flesh and dark energy, thoughts and actions out of her. When she was lowered to the ground, the extent of the healing was undeniable; Bella had been rejuvenated to her 19 year old self, a luscious teenager with a curvaceous body, flowing black hair and full, firm breasts. Hermione held her face and gently kissed her lips. Almost instinctively, Bella kissed back weakly and opened her eyes.
"Miney… is that you?" she said softly as they broke their kiss. Hermione meanwhile was crying her eyes out that her lover was alive.
"Bella, Bella I'm here. I'll always be here. I love you, Bella." Hermione cried as she stroked her lover's face.
"I love you too Hermione…"