So... because I feel like a cad for getting caught up in studies and stuff around me and therefore not uploading, despite having finished the story, I'll do a very clean cut: now - today. I'll upload it all and hope that you are happy.
Therewith: Have fun reading =)
November
Pansy growled furiously when Luna made a grab for the locket. "You! You want it! You have always wanted it!"
"Pansy!" Hermione tried to make a grab for their friend, but the Slytherin was quicker and with an excellent dash to the right, she evaded her grip and vanished in the thicket of the Forest of Dean. Luna and Hermione both looked after their friend.
"It's the locket." Hermione whispered brokenly. "It's not Pansy's fault."
Luna nodded and they continued to stare at the point where their friend had vanished into the woods. Pansy had started to scream vile words in the middle of the night, breaking their understanding of not talking above a whisper and attracting unwanted attention. But now they were only two – instead of three and Slytherin's Locket was a nasty Horcrux.
It had a life of its own and knew that it wanted to survive – whoever carried it always tried to separate himself from the rest of the small group who had their minds set on destroying the locket. And now it had more or less jazzed its' pants and had made Pansy run.
"We need to find her." Luna said determined and Hermione nodded, folding the tent with a swish of her wand. The sun was not yet rising over the forest, but first light announced its rise.
"Perhaps," Hermione mused, "she'll have killed it by then. This is Pansy we are talking about after all, she's a strong witch."
Pansy watched in panic when the locket opened in front of her and depicted for all and sundry her biggest fear. It was not a Dementor, nor was it her probable Death – no it was the fear of her heart.
"I have seen your heart, and it's mine." The Horcrux hissed.
"Stab it!" Hermione yelled tearfully, wishing not to see the fear of one of the people she relied on, wishing not to see what perhaps equaled up to her own fear.
"I have seen your dreams, Pansy Parkinson, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible." As if that wasn't enough, Riddle's eyes – they knew them, they'd seen them at the night of resurrection – emerged in the darkness. "Least loved, always, by the father who craved a son… least loved, now, by the man who prefers us the pure-blooded side… never good enough…"
And before they could really tell when it had happened, a grotesque bubble flew from the locket, transforming into a distorted version of Draco Malfoy and both of the onlookers held their breath. Their companion had never said a word, had never betrayed her feelings, but it shone clear as day now.
"Love? Never could you be loved. Look at you," the blond sneered at her, "you are a witch, a woman who knows not where her place is. You are undesirable and everyone knows so, no one-"
"SHUT UP!"
And with a determined lunge, she stabbed Gryffindor's sword into the Locket. It screamed and wailed, threw curses at her head, but after a minute even that stopped. Silence settled over the scene, Pansy still breathing harshly, eyes still closed and trying to not cry. Arms wound around her.
"It's alright, Pansy," the soothing voice of Hermione met her ears, "that fear might as well have been mine."
"You are a strong woman, Pansy, a witch indeed and very loveable for your head." Luna sighed as they embraced her. The Slytherin let go of the tears.
January
"Incendio!"
The spell repelled from the wand and before Hermione knew what happened, a green blast shot from the tip of the wood. Ducking out of the way, she sneered at the now floating piece of wood.
"At least we know that it is the real wand." Glaring the three witches took up their posts in a triangle around the wand that hovered precariously in the air between them. Hermione raised her wand. "You know what to do."
The fight was dangerous – it was life-threatening even. No Death Eater put up the fight that this wand put up. It shot spells out of all ends available, turned and danced, swiveled and shot spells that had no names. Even in a higher number and with the advantage of knowing wandless magic as well, they had their hands full.
"Vade retro, ira." Hermione hissed, reinforcing her protection when the wand, realizing the first words of the destruction-spell, reinforced its spells.
"Pacem in terris, ophidia." Luna intoned softly, blocking the spells that the wand shot at her in its panic.
"Nulla salus bello." Said Pansy, surprised when the wand stopped defending itself altogether.
"Nulla poena sine culpa. Nosce te ipsum." Hermione wondered for a moment, if perhaps they had gathered the wrong incantation – the wand reacted not at all anymore, it floated solemnly above them, as they spoke the ritualistic words that books had taught them.
"Mors sola." They whispered and with big eyes watched as the wand went up in flames and disintegrated into ashes over the cliffs of Mohair. (*)
February
Hermione,
I took my time to write this letter, mostly because I feel it is important for it to be long and explanatory. Do not fear, I am well hidden behind Joan and Peetey is looking out for people as I write this so you know that I have taken precautions.
As unfortunately I have no idea where you three are, I also have no idea how you fare, but I hope with all my might that you are well. I believe in you – you have managed it thus far, you can only come further.
You have been informed about Hogwarts by me, and yet there are things that I have not told you – mostly because until now I chose to not address it. Hermione, this letter is about Snape.
In one of my first letters, I told you that he has become headmaster. As predicted, this school year has been difficult for a lot of students. Death Eaters have found their way into these halls, posting as teachers and yet torturing students as they please – no one is safe here anymore. You might think now, Hermione, that Snape is the reason for this but I have other theories.
Hermione, Snape gave me detentions so many in number that I cannot count them anymore. I was asked to write letters to his fellow Death Eaters, asked to brew potions, asked to write essays about dark creatures – I leaked this information to Harry, who told the Order. Snape has been working for the Order beforehand, we know this and I believe him to be still loyal.
Why else would a man as intelligent as Snape let a second-year whom he knows to be part of the DA write the information on where and when the next meeting is and name the Death Eaters the invitations should be sent to? He taught me healing potions that I used to help tortured students and we have a clear insight on what kind of creatures Voldemort has amongst his ranks due to the essays I was given.
Perhaps this does not yet ease your heart, Hermione, but think of this. We knew that Dumbledore was dying due to the spreading curse – do you remember? You told me he left the country sometime last year and when he came back, his hand was shrimpled and gray. He would have died anyways. A slow and painful death – he would not have been able to continue living. Snape killing him had advantages: one, it assured Voldemort that Snape was on his side, two, Draco did not have to kill and split his soul and three, it was a mercy-kill.
Think clearly of it, Hermione, because you know that the reason you have not been able to let him go, was because your heart screamed at your mind that you were overseeing something.
I do not know, when I can write next, Hermione, the Carrows are becoming suspicious of something, they sneak around, wands at the ready at all times, something is going on but until I know what it is, I am afraid I can tell you not what.
I think of the three of you,
Be as safe as you can be,
Love,
Marlene
The witch read over the long letter twice, before she sat down on her bed again. Snape had done that, he had made it possible for Death Eaters to get caught, he worked for the Order, via Marlene, via Harry.
But could she trust him? After all – this was but a theory of the younger witch, one that Hermione was very inclined to believe, but should she? Was it a wise thing to think Snape one of them?
"What say you?" she asked as she handed the letter to Luna and Pansy, who took turns in reading the letter. Marlene's last message had been brief and to the point, hardly anything besides information, whereas this letter was indeed long and thorough. Pansy played with her lip.
"Well… it is a theory. I mean, we haven't seen it one on one but it is clearly a possibility. Dumbledore was indeed close to dying – already in our fifth year he had the curse possessing him, it would not surprise me if Snape had actually drawn out the moment of death for as long as possible – he is the potion's master after all."
Hermione chewed her lip. "What should we do then?"
The other two witches looked at her. Hermione had not really been able to get over Snape's treason, but now the two of them figured that perhaps it had never been treason and that her heart had continued to cling to this person because perhaps – as Marlene had said – it had known that something was not quite right with the whole story.
"Should we ever face him in this war once more, we'll know on how he acts around us." Pansy shrugged and Luna nodded. Hermione could deal with that decision.
March
Hermione knew where she was – she knew the smell of the covers above her and she waited, silently, for the pleas that she had grown accustomed to. But they never came.
Curious she opened her eyes to find that he sat opposite of her, his face hidden in his hands, his shoulders shaking. She could tell that he was crying silently into his hands – inside of her, she knew not if she should stand up now, if she could trust him, but it was the first dream in months that she had of him, in this same room.
As she stood up, he hid further in his hands, trying in vain to still the shaking of his shoulders. Carefully she treaded over her carpet, making not the slightest noise as she had grown used to while she walked. On a small table next to him lay a letter – it drew Hermione's interest, more than anything else in the room, yes even more than the crying man on the chair.
I regret to announce the demise of Meredius Midas, and I regret it all the more to announce the demise of a strong warrior; he made not a sound under the torture and I sincerely bow my head to such a strong personality
,he had written. In her chest her heart stood still – surely this was a nightmare, but when she turned to find any alps, she found that the man was still trying to still his shaking shoulders and finally realized that Marlene had been right.
Snape had never wished for any of this. He had tried to keep the young witch safe and had failed in the end – much as he probably felt to have failed Dumbledore. Sadness and empathy washed over her, guilt for having shunned the poor man and when she neared him, she did not know if what she was about to do was an intelligent idea.
But before doubts could swallow her whole, she stretched her arm over the shoulders of Snape and embraced him carefully, not withholding her own tears and sobs.
Luna contained not her tears as she held Marlene's pendant in her fingers. How could she when, after all this time, this young woman had almost made it through the year, only to now have died away so close before their victory.
Pansy and Hermione both were silent. What should they say? Tears silently streamed down their faces and their shoulders shook. There were only few more Horcruxes to get rid of – Huffelpuff's Cup, Ravenclaw's Tiara, Harry and Nagini. They were so close to winning, spring was coming, made it easier to find food, and even though they were worn, undernourished and depleted from their constant running, they had somehow had hope that everything would turn out good.
Now though… what would happen? Marlene was gone – their only link to Harry had died and could not be replaced. So close before they would have come back, Marlene had passed away.
"We will continue, will we not?" Luna asked through her silent sobs – Hermione nodded as she enveloped the blonde in a hug.
"Of course we will. We are so close to finishing what others have not and Marlene's work would have been for naught if we would stop now. After all, she's found the Cup and the Tiara – we cannot simply leave that undone."
(*) Just in case you were wondering about all that Latin humdrum:
Vade retro, ira - Retreat, Anger/Ire
Pacem in terris, ophidia - Peace on earth/ rest in the earth, ophidia/Snake.
Nulla salus bello - There is no safety in war
Nulla poena sine culpa - no punishment/pain without guilt
Nosce te ipsum - Know thyself
Mors sola - only death
So, all in all this still stays a collection of stuff that, seriously, makes little sense. I meant to pick together a few latin phrases that would somehow translate the wrong situation the horcrux finds itself in, considering it shouldn't even exist (technically, since it's really the warpedest - not a word, I'm aware - piece of magic there is) and our four witches 'releasing' it from its black purpose. Does that make any more sense now?
As usual, although for the last time, I wish to thank all those,
who reviewed: bluefirefly5 (thank you for the empathy, Severus would probably not appreciate it openly, but perhaps deep down he would... I certainly sympathise), ousia(thank you for the encouragement, I hope you'll like the end as well), giggles (I now! But sometimes life just sucks... especially poor Severus'), renaid (wait and see - and thank you for all the reviews, you're a very loyal read-and-reviewer), notyetanotheralias (sniff... when you say it like that I feel bad... :'( but I understand), DoctorBellaMortLock (the muse made me do it!), ATrueSlytherinAlwaysSS (thank you, I hope you like it to the end) and EisForElephant (THAT is one of the highest praises I've ever been given, thank you so much),
who pushed the 'Alert' button, namely: Lunabeegood, JaeBard, mugiwarabaka, Lotus Blossom88, Princess Gwendolen Diana Julia, waterballoons155, and SeasidalGirl
as well as those who favourited the story, such as: JaeBard, Princess Gwendolen Diana Julia, , SeasidalGirl, Tigers45 and EisForElephant
I hope you read it until the end (and I look forward to any reviews forwarded ;P)
