XXXVII
Ending Sequence
"Stop!" Remus pleaded, "Please stop!" He was on his knees, hands bound to his sides, screaming at Voldemort.
As if the Dark Lord had finally decided to take pity on them both, he pulled the silver blade back. Hermione regained control of her movements and recoiled from him, bringing a hand to her face as if she didn't believe that there was only a bit of a scratch on her cheek.
Remus knew how it felt. He'd been at the mercy of a silver blade once before, and it had not been pleasant.
Hermione turned to face Remus, shock and worry written all over her face. He knew what she was thinking: Voldemort had just called Harry and now Harry would most certainly take any chance he could find to come here and save them. Remus hoped Dumbledore was there and could help them figure out a plan of some sort.
Voldemort turned away from Hermione and Remus, stalking towards Bellatrix and whispering something to her. Next, he beckoned for Lucius. The man approached Voldemort, "Yes, my lord?"
"You and Dolohov with disarm Severus when he arrives," he explained, "do not underestimate him. Do you remember what happened last time you underestimated Severus?"
Lucius nodded like a scared dog. Remus almost pitied the man in that instant.
"Good," Voldemort said, his tone sickeningly cheerful. He turned to address the remaining Death Eaters surrounding him, "the rest of you know what to do. Don't stray form the orders I've given you." Silence fell over the clearing. It was obvious how afraid they all were.
Remus assessed the situation, trying to think of the best way possible to get Hermione to safety if he got a chance. There were eight Death Eaters that Remus could count in front of him. In addition, he knew that Yaxley, Greyback, and one other were behind him. The problem was that in every possible escape opportunity Greyback could get to them within a second. He'd have to figure out a way to get rid of Greyback.
A crack of Apparation drew Remus from his thoughts. He whipped his head around to search for the source of the noise. After a few seconds, two figures appeared among the trees. Harry's form was distinctly recognizable next to Severus, even in this darkness.
"Harry, no!" Hermione shouted.
Harry emerged from partial darkness into the moonlight. Severus stood beside him. Both had their wands drawn at their side. Both were prepared for battle. Remus certainly hoped they had a plan.
"Ah, so glad you could make it, Potter," Voldemort hissed, stepping forward in the clearing. Death Eaters flanked him left and right.
"Let them go," Harry growled, "We're not negotiating anything else until they're gone."
A smile cracked across Voldemort's disfigured face, "my, you're quite demanding."
Harry didn't say anything. Beside him, Snape took another step forward. "Enough," he implored, "Potter and I will both surrender ourselves willingly once you release them." Remus watched Severus' eyes flicker down to Hermione and himself for just a second.
"Ah, Severus," Voldemort's smile widened, "you know you really had me fooled for a while." He began to pace back and forth, twirling his wand in his fingers. "I truly thought you were an ally of mine. But the whole time you were betraying me. And for what? An old fool like Dumbledore? I honestly thought you had better judgment."
"I'm not here to discuss my choices," Snape spat.
"Very well," Voldemort sighed, "I'll play nicely. Greyback, over here. Now."
The large wolf that had been standing just an arm's reach away from Hermione and Remus reluctantly stepped past, eyes sweeping over both of them on his way. Remus knew this was their only chance, despite the fact that Yaxley still stood beside them and they were under some sort of Body Bind. He snapped his gaze back to Severus and tried to convey that whatever they were planning, now was the time.
Severus gave Remus a miniscule nod, his hand turning something over in his pocket. It only took a second for Remus to sense the arrival of several more people in the surrounding woods. Hermione and Greyback appeared to sense it as well. Greyback let out a loud howl, turning to face Severus and Harry again, preparing to pounce.
Before anything else could happen, Severus stepped forward, his wand hand rising into the air and blasting Yaxley backwards. The body bind was immediately released. Remus jumped from the ground just as Hermione did the same. They bolted towards each other, clasping hands and backing away as quickly as possible from the Death Eaters.
Voldemort threw a wild, furious spell in their direction. Harry stepped forward and raised his wand in the air, deflecting the spell with a flair that Remus was certain he'd learned from Sirius.
As soon as the spell was deflected, Greyback was barreling towards Hermione and Remus. Remus felt his anger flare up, and for some strange reason he wished that he could be a wolf right now, just for the satisfaction of tackling Greyback to the ground and tearing him apart.
But he was human, and a wandless human at that. Acting on instinct, Remus stepped in front of Hermione and braced himself. Greyback was getting closer, reading to pounce, but suddenly the wolf hit some sort of invisible barrier, and was thrown onto the ground. Remus glanced over his shoulder and saw Severus there, wand raised. Behind him, Remus spotted tons of familiar faces emerging from the trees. There was Tonks, Kingsley, several different Weasleys, and even Draco and Narcissa. He almost smiled out of pure relief when he noted that Sirius was among them as well.
"Take the wands," Severus ordered, extending a hand to Hermione and Remus, holding two unfamiliar wands. Remus and Hermione took them eagerly. They weren't their true wands, but at least it was something.
After they took the wands, Severus immediately turned to Greyback, who was struggling to pick his giant wolf form up from the ground. With a strangely ambivalent tone, Severus murmured a concentrated, "Avada Kedavra."
Green light hit the wolf with a flash. Remus felt Hermione gasp beside him. Greyback crumbled to the ground. Remus felt a breath of air leave his lungs that he could only describe as pure relief and satisfaction. Fenrir Greyback was dead.
A loud blast drew Remus' attention away from the dead wolf and back towards Harry, who was now engaged in a full-on rally of spells with Voldemort. Harry appeared to be losing steam, and he was taking frantic steps backwards with each spell that he tried to deflect.
At that moment, another figure stepped out of the woods, practically glowing in the moonlight. It was Dumbledore, looking the part of one of the most powerful wizards ever. He appeared to be glowing with magic, casting a shield around Harry and causing at least five of Voldemort's curses to fizzle away instantly.
"Remus," Hermione's frantic voice called out, "we have to help the others." She tugged on his arm, and he looked around the clearing once more. Duels were taking place everywhere between Death Eaters and Order members.
"Go help Ginny and Ron," Remus said to Hermione, nodding off in the direction of the two redheads, who were losing a battle against a recovered Yaxley.
Hermione nodded and rushed off to assist her distressed friends. Remus, trusting that she could finish Yaxley off with Ginny and Ron, approached another target.
Tonks and Sirius were engaged in a duel with two Death Eaters, one of which had the long, curly black hair of Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix was a particularly vicious fighter, and whoever fought beside her was obviously skilled as well. Sirius looked injured, and struggled with each spell. Although Tonks was talented, she couldn't carry her own weight and some of Sirius'.
Remus intervened, joining in on the battle and instantly targeting Bellatrix.
She let out a mad, cackling laugh, "aw, the werewolf's come out to play!"
He said nothing, sending as many spells as he could at Bellatrix in quick succession. The unfamiliar wand that Severus had given him was obedient to his magic, but it felt foreign in his hands, and he couldn't put the same power into it as he did with his true wand. Thus, his spells were frustratingly weak.
"I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed," Bellatrix called out, "Sirius and little Nymphadora here are hardly living up to the family standards, and the werewolf is just pitiful."
The Death Eater beside her laughed, but before he could even finish his breath, Tonks' curse hit him straight on. He fell to the ground.
Bellatrix almost gasped. "So Andromeda's spawn can fight," her tone was gleeful and intrigued. Remus was struck by how positively insane Bellatrix was.
"Oh fuck off, Bella," Sirius shouted, his next spell hitting her shield hard, causing her to stagger backwards.
Remus immediately took advantage of the weakness, sending three curses at Bellatrix in quick succession. The last one knocked her off her feet. Tonks stepped in and stunned her before placing her in a full Body Bind.
The three of them didn't have much time to rejoice over the victory. Back in the center of the clearing, the battle between Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry was ramping up. Bright, crashing spells were flying everywhere, colliding with cracking and fizzling noises. Remus didn't think he'd ever seen Dumbledore move as quickly as he was now. Nor had he ever seen Harry look more determined.
"Shit," Sirius murmured, breaking off into a run in the other direction. Remus glanced toward where Sirius was running and his heart nearly stopped. Hermione was losing a battle against a tall, robed Death Eater with blonde hair peeking out of his hood. On either side of her, Ron and Ginny were lying on the ground, hopefully only unconscious.
Remus broke out into a sprint just behind Sirius. Before they could reach Hermione, however, her wand was suddenly flying out of her hand. Lucius caught it in the air, shooting one more spell at her and causing her to crash into the trunk of a tree behind her. Before she even hit the ground he was pacing towards her, picking her up by the collar of her jumper and holding his wand to her neck. He dragged her around to face Sirius and Remus with a sinister scowl on his face. Remus' heart seemed to skip a beat when he recognized the similarities here to that dreadful night in the Forbidden Forest.
Hermione, having regained her wits, was struggling against Lucius' grasp. She somehow managed to bring her elbow into his gut and bite into his arm at the same time. He fired a spell from his wand, but it narrowly missed her head.
Remus and Sirius were still charging forward.
"REMUS, SIRIUS," Tonks' voice called out from behind them. Neither had any time to react before an array of spells was flying at them from the right. Remus turned his head just in time to see another Death Eater send a curse at Sirius, knocking him off his feet. Remus readied his wand, eyes darting from Hermione and Lucius to this other Death Eater.
Hermione was struggling against Lucius, flailing her arms while he repeatedly tried to fire spells at her. After a few seconds, she managed to wrench his wand from his hand. It fell to the ground a few feet away. Hermione didn't have any time to scramble for it, however, because Lucius had a firm grip on her upper arm and hurled her to the ground with an excess of force.
She grunted at the impact, and tried to get up from the ground instantly, but found that Lucius had her pinned down, kneeling over her torso. She turned her head just a little to the side, looking for Sirius and Remus. They'd been running this way just a second ago…
She spotted Sirius' form on the ground, and Remus frantically dueling with a Death Eater. He kept glancing in her direction between deflecting spells and sidestepping towards her.
Hermione knew that as long as she kept Lucius' wand out of his hands, she could handle whatever physical violence he unleashed on her. He may be strong, but he was still a wizard, and he relied on his wand to properly injure or kill someone.
A moment later, Hermione realized that she had made a vast miscalculation.
Lucius still had her pinned to the ground. With his free hand, he reached into the pocket of his robes and withdrew a shimmering silver blade.
Hermione's stomach dropped. Using his hands alone to hurt her was one thing, but a silver blade… he could kill her in a matter of seconds. She recalled the horrible pain when Voldemort had simply cut her cheek several minutes earlier.
She screamed when the blade was suddenly pressed against her neck. Merlin, it felt like a boiling hot ember, burning through her skin and crushing her windpipe.
"You've been a nuisance to me for far too long, Mudblood," Lucius snarled. His expression was one of pure hatred. Hermione felt the burning silver blade move down from her neck, pressing against her clavicle, and then towards the left side of her chest. She felt it rest, tip poised just above her rapidly beating heart.
"So," Lucius concluded, a malicious smirk on his face, "I'm going to end this quickly, like I should have done months ago."
He raised the blade from her chest, poising it above his head, preparing to bring his hand down. Hermione tried madly to move out from under him, but he was using all his weight to pin her down. Her head jolted to the side, and she searched for Remus, for anyone that could help her. Remus had broken away from the Death Eater he'd been dueling, and was now sprinting towards her, aiming his wand at Lucius.
Lucius grunted and he brought his hand down in one violent motion. She felt the blade dig into her chest in a horrible, tremendous burst of boiling pain. She screamed as loud as she could, until the pain was too much and her body went limp, her scream abating into a pitiful whine.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The words left Remus' lips with more conviction than he ever thought possible. Lucius was blasted off of Hermione, several meters away, where he collided with a tree. Remus continued sprinting at Hermione, but he could see the blade embedded in her chest, and he could tell that her body had gone limp.
He didn't even register the loud blast and the scream of agony from far away as Harry delivered the final killing curse to Voldemort, Dumbledore having drawn the Dark Lord's attention away. Remus didn't notice and he didn't care that Voldemort was dead at long last.
He fell to his knees at Hermione's side, tears spilling from his eyes as he grasped her shoulders and tried to gently shake her awake. Her eyes were closed and, as stubborn as always, she would not open them.
"Ennervate," he whispered frantically, pointing his wand at her. Nothing happened, though in the back of his mind he knew that it wouldn't work. The spell only worked after a person was magically knocked unconscious. He inspected the silver blade, digging into her chest. He could try to pull it out… but he knew that would only spill more of her blood. He couldn't bear the thought.
Remus shouted for someone to help him, feeling more terrible and wretched than he'd ever felt in his life. Somehow, everything had been his fault. He'd made Hermione a werewolf. He'd stepped out of the wards tonight. He'd let her get separated from him. He'd failed to reach her in time.
He'd ruined her in the end, just like he always expected.
"I love you, Hermione," he whispered, the words coming out choked and strangled, "I'm so… so sorry."
He was still hunched over her body when someone shoved him aside roughly. It was Severus. The Potions Master cast some sort of spell on her chest and then picked Hermione up from the ground with little effort. He hoisted her in his arms, careful not to touch the blade still in her chest. Remus only now looked up and noticed the small crowd gathering around them. It appeared that all the fighting had stopped. There were no Death Eaters to be seen.
"I need to get her to my lab," Severus said briskly, "I have potions that may help."
Remus didn't know what Severus could do to fix this, but he nodded dumbly, feeling like a child again, a lost boy who never knew how to do anything right.
Sirius, who had somehow regained consciousness, hauled Remus up from the ground. He pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a spoon, telling Remus and Severus to place a finger on it. They did, and the Portkey whisked them away. They landed in the usual spot, just outside the wards of the Estate. Severus immediately made towards the house at a run, Hermione in his arms. Remus and Sirius followed.
They ran all the way into the house and upstairs to Severus' lab, where he whisked his wand and sent everything flying off of one of the tables, placing Hermione on top of it.
Severus immediately set to work, ordering Remus and Sirius around, telling them to fetch various potions from his cabinets and bring them to him. Meanwhile, he cast numerous spells over Hermione's wound. Only a few moments into this, several other voices were heard outside in the hallway. Molly Weasley burst into the potions lab, rushing towards Hermione's side.
"Oh Merlin," Molly whispered under her breath, leaning over the girl and looking close to tears.
"I need you to take the blade out, Molly," Severus said, sorting through the bottles of potions Remus and Sirius were bringing him. "Pull it out gently and straight upwards. The blade missed her heart by half a centimeter, so if you do not shift it at all it won't touch her heart."
Molly looked a little frightened at the order, staring down at Hermione's jumper, which was now soaked in blood. After a moment she nodded, swallowing and rolling up her sleeves, "I can do that."
Remus only noticed now that he was gripping Sirius' upper arm in a way that would certainly bruise his friend. He didn't care; this was far too nerve-wracking to do anything else. I trust Molly, he kept repeating to himself.
Molly carefully gripped the blade. When her hand made contact with the metal, however, Hermione's shoulders trembled.
"Black!" Severus snapped, "put her under a Body Bind so she can't move."
Sirius nodded, casting the spell quickly. Hermione went completely still once again.
Molly took that as her cue. Remus watched the woman take a deep breath in, and slowly extract the blade. Hermione was still as death, and the blade came out easily.
After the silver was fully out of her chest, blood started to flow at about ten times the rate of before.
"Put pressure on the wound," Severus said, conjuring a rag and handing it to Molly. She obeyed. Severus then proceeded to open Hermione's mouth and pour what looked like a blood replenishing potion down her throat, followed by two other potions unknown to Remus.
Just as all this was happening, more voices were heard from the hallway.
"What happened?" Harry nearly shouted, bursting into the room with a frantic look on his face. Ginny and Ron trailed behind. Ron had what looked like a broken arm and Ginny was bleeding heavily from her leg. Harry, on the other hand, appeared unharmed.
"Black, get them out of here. Everyone, even Lupin," Severus nearly shouted, still feeding another potion to Hermione.
Sirius hesitated, looking at Remus for a moment before he began to usher Harry, Ron, and Ginny outside. When he came back he grasped Remus by the arm and started pulling him away.
"Absolutely not," Remus protested, "I'm staying with her. I can help. It's calming when I'm near her."
Severus shook his head. "I'm going to cast dark spells on her to reverse the effects of the silver. You need to be out of the room."
Remus was going to protest, but Sirius was suddenly dragging him from the room. He gave up resisting after a few seconds, knowing that he'd already done enough to hurt Hermione. Sirius pushed him out the door and closed it firmly behind him.
There were far too many people standing out in the hallway. Closest to the door to the lab stood Albus and Harry. When Remus was thrown into the hallway Albus looked at him, and he instantly could tell that the Headmaster knew everything. Remus didn't care; he simply shoved his body up against the wall and slid to the floor, resting his head in his hands and hating himself more than ever.
After a pause, he heard Dumbledore's footsteps as he opened the door to the potions lab and entered the room. When the door shut the entire hallway was filled with silence. Remus didn't look up; he didn't care to see everyone staring at him with pitying or hateful expressions. He was a bit confused when he sensed Harry, Ginny, and Ron all sit down beside him against the walls, but he simply pretended like he was alone; he didn't want to speak or look at anyone right now. He just wanted Hermione to be okay.
Author's Note: I hate to leave you all with another cliffhanger, but at least the final battle is over, right?