Concurrent Existences

Chapter 27: Friends Forever

When a friend needs aid,

sacrifices will be made.

The sky shall turn dark,

as a strike falls in an arc.

Hermione opened her eyes...

...and Hogwarts was no more.

The school of Hogwarts had just been obliterated with pure magical energy.

Hermione surveyed the area. Nothing was left of Hogwarts. Even the basements, the secret tunnels and whatever else that Hogwarts could have buried deep were all gone. The Obliteration spell truly did obliterate the target, therein lied the problem. Any amount of evidence that could have been shown to Harry, Minerva and the Ministry was disintegrated.

The goblin rebellion threat was now erased. It came at a cost of Hogwarts as well as anything or anyone else that was within Hogwarts' walls at the time. Hermione would have liked to think that it was fully empty of innocents, but she was sure there were probably some house elves or ghosts, possibly even a student or two that snuck back in. She couldn't dwell on the casualties though, more people and even Bella would have been at risk had the goblin threat escalated.

I'm still stuck trying to explain this catastrophe.

The brunette looked around at the other people in the area. Only she was still standing on both feet. Bellatrix still held her hand, but was currently down on one knee with sweat pouring down her face. It wasn't a surprise since the witch stuck in a fifteen year old body had to endure the full spell weave as a conduit, regular witches or wizards would most likely be unconscious by now.

A slight pain radiated from her ear, finger and arm, she could see the burn marks that came from the overuse of the artifacts, the same burn marks Bellatrix now had on her as well. Hermione would have to apparate them out of here as soon as possible and get Bella some recovery potions and rest.

Hermione thought for a moment if she should let herself be detained to be able to fully explain the situation, but quickly realized that there was no way should could let herself be detained.

One, the Head Auror would most likely have her already trapped if she was detained. She may be powerful, but without her artifacts and with multiple magical-suppressants on her, she would be as strong as a regular muggle no matter how powerful her magic had already become.

Two, Hermione could not and would not let them take Bellatrix away from her. There was always the off chance that someone might figure out who she really is and if it did happen then the Wizarding World would immediately go for the dark witch's head. Bellatrix was also in no condition to be left alone. The dark witch was currently dealing with exhaustion as well as whatever else problem she had that Hermione couldn't detect.

Detainment is a no.

Hermione readied herself as she could see Harry get up along with his retinue of Aurors. The brunette winced as she readied an apparating spell with her overworked earring. Her magical energy reserves were already below half, things weren't good at all. She could feel the high from using the Elder Wand fragments slowly die down and began to feel the aftereffects from using such a powerful spell without much preparation.

Bellatrix wasn't one to show weakness in front of anyone aside from Hermione and began to pull herself up with a lot of help from her lover. She knew her magic was near empty right now, her passive Protego wards weren't even activated from the burnout. Still, she wouldn't show weakness in front of Potter.

Bloody useless Aurors. Arriving when all the shite is over.

Harry Potter just couldn't believe his eyes after the immense beam of light started to fade away. There was nothing left of Hogwarts. All that was left was a gigantic crater that went down several meters. Anyone or anything within the confines of Hogwarts would have just been obliterated. There was no surviving that blast.

There was no denying who it was that cast the spell, the spell signatures that Harry could detect were all pointing to Hermione as well as his fifteen year old step-god-daughter? Would Sirius' daughter be connected to him somehow?

There wasn't any explanation that Harry could come up with. Instead of further speculating, he decided that he needed to get the details and the truth from the source.

Hermione.

Harry Potter quickly got up and made his way towards the two witches. He made a quick hand sign towards the other Aurors to leave the talking up to him and for them to stay back. He knew the shock value would soon fade from the people in the area and then chaos would ensue.

Harry stopped a few feet away from Hermione. The smaller fifteen year old seemed exhausted and was obviously trying to look strong while leaning onto Hermione, but the thing that unnerved Harry the most was Hermione's expression. The cold, hardened expression that she had worn when they were facing down Voldemort and Death Eaters, but this time it was turned towards him as if she was dealing with an enemy. He wanted to just push the thought back, but he couldn't help but feel the hurt from the expression she was giving him.

There was no time for dawdling right now. Harry had a job to do, and he needed to know what happened.

"Hermione, what in bloody hell happened?" How the hell would he even explain this back at the Auror Department?

"The goblins, Harry, they were planning a rebellion." A rebellion? There had been no reports about the goblins. He decided to just go with the story for now.

"A rebellion? So, why destroy Hogwarts? Why not report this to the Ministry? Why didn't you even try to inform me? What the hell, Hermione?!" Harry couldn't help the hurt and anger that began to seep in to his questioning. He could see the conversation now. Oh, my best friend Hermione Granger, yes, the Golden girl, yes, her, well, she blew up Hogwarts and disintegrated everything.

"The goblins were using Hogwarts as a forward base. That's the reason why the goblins footed the bill for Hogwarts' repair. They were slowly importing and reconstructing other parts of Hogwarts to be used as a base of operations. There wasn't any time, Harry!"

"And you just decided to end this all yourself?! And your ally was a fifteen year old?! Are you fucking serious, Hermione?! I want to believe you, but all I currently see is Hogwarts destroyed and anyone left inside dead." Harry didn't even know what to think anymore. He wanted to believe her, but it just seemed so outlandish. There hasn't been any reports of goblins doing anything aside from managing the bank!

"I had to work with what I had, Harry. If I didn't nip this in the bud, several thousands of people would have died. I know they were using another remote location to apparate more goblins and weapons inside Hogwarts, their main headquarters will still be out there." Harry knew this was all plausible, albeit outlandish, but he couldn't just let Hermione walk out of this.

The case before had just been a few Death Eaters, one dead due to self-defense, but now? There could be dozens of dead elves, millions in damaged property, possibly hundreds of goblins that were supposed to be reinforcing Hogwarts and whoever else might have been hit by the blast.

There was no way to put it lightly.

This was a massacre.

"I need to bring you in for questioning at the very least, Hermione. I know you wouldn't lie about this, but I can't just let you leave." Harry sighed, trying to compose himself. He knew he could believe Hermione. "At least come to the department for debriefing, we'll also need to take Isabella. If your story is true, then we'll be able to start a plan of action." Yes, this would be the best course of action. Getting Hermione down to the Auror Department would keep her safe, and they would be able to get all the information.

"No Harry, that won't be possible." Harry's stomach began to churn as he realized Hermione wouldn't be coming with him quietly.

Hermione was his friend, but Harry Potter had a job. Harry Potter needed to ensure that justice was always done, and to get to the bottom of all this, he needed Hermione's testimony and to debrief both witches. Whether Hermione had broken the law or not had yet to be seen, but he needed to detain her.

Harry Potter was an Auror now before anything else.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione began to apparate along with Bellatrix, but nothing happened.

Damn it. I waited too long.

"Anti-apparating ward set. Please cease and desist." The Aurors from behind Harry began to circle around the two witches. Apparently, they were smart enough to create a small anti-apparating field. At least, it wasn't an anti-apparating jinx, or might have caused a splinch.

Hermione knew there would be no way out other than to fight these Aurors. It would be a challenge since Bella was in no condition to fight. She would need to take them out quickly before they had a chance to retaliate. Hopefully, the surprise of casting a spell with no wand would be enough to take them by surprise.

Hermione quickly charged two spells up with both hands ignoring the pain that shot through her coming from the burns that came from the artifacts. She would have to repair those soon. She would need to incapacitate all these Aurors to at least shut down the anti-apparating field.

Before Hermione was able to let loose a spell, Harry's wand was already targeted on her. Harry had a look of hurt on his face, but held the belief that what he was doing was right. And, really, what Harry was doing was the right thing with the little evidence that Hermione could actually give.

Now or never. Velox. As the haste spell was cast, Hermione aimed to parry Harry's wand with her arm to incapacitate him and use her other arm to cast a quick succession of Stupefy spells to render a few of them unconscious before the fight even started. The plan was sound...

...if it worked.

A spell was already going through Harry's wand as she reached for it, the spell that intended to stun her hit the ground in between Hermione and Bellatrix instead, causing the two witches to be flung from each other. There were seven Aurors including Harry, amounting to eight. Two Aurors went down from Hermione's initial assault bringing them down to six. She had wanted to bring at least four down with her initial strike, but she had no choice.

Hermione began to run. Harry and the Aurors immediately gave chase, leaving only one Auror to guard Bellatrix that was still breathing heavily on the floor.

The brunette would need to drag this out, take out the five Aurors then take out the last Auror guarding Bellatrix before apparating.

Immobilizing spells began to be flung towards her as they began to give chase. The Aurors including Harry all vocalized and shout out their spells, making it easy for Hermione to determine where most of the projectiles were being aimed.

Hermione began tossing Stupefy spells behind her, but they were all nullified thanks to the quick casting of Protego spells. She frowned, incapacitating people when you were outnumbered just wasn't easy.

There wasn't much in the area, only a few trees and Black Lake. She couldn't use the terrain to her advantage unless she went deeper, but the longer she took, the worst off she might be.

Hermione was able to quickly cast a Bedazzling hex while going behind one of the few trees in the area. She needed a plan, taking out these Aurors wasn't as easy as she thought.

A minute later, and her worst fears came true. Multiple apparate spells began littering the area.

Hermione started cursing Merlin, Morgana and all the gods.

Of course, these Aurors are smart enough to leave apparate access to other Aurors. Hermione didn't even have cast a detect spell to know how fucked she was. There were at least three more Auror teams.

Merlin! How am I going to incapacitate over thirty Aurors!

"Who authorized reinforcements?"

"The Head Auror had sent all available Aurors to guard, Hogwarts, but when we arrived, it wasn't there and had to reapparate to your location."

Harry was annoyed that the Head Auror had done another move without at least consulting him. He just hid his irritation. He would voice his complaint towards the Head Auror after this was over.

Might as well use the reinforcements to end this fast.

"Apprehend Hermione Granger. She is to be captured unharmed." Harry needed to end this soon. He still would need to sort out through Hermione's story as well as sort out what to do with Hogwarts not being there anymore. Looking at the death count wasn't going to be fun.

Harry knew Hermione was in the area. He put his hand into his pocket and took out the Marauder's map. Hermione really wasn't giving him much choice.

I didn't want to hunt her down like this.

The boy-who-lived relayed the her position to the other Aurors and began to close in.

I wish you would have just trusted me, Hermione. Hermione wanted him to trust her, but why couldn't she do the same?

Hermione was growing tired. She was already exhausted after firing off the Obliteration spell, but after taking down several Aurors, she knew she was almost out of magic to throw out. She had been running and hiding from dozens of Aurors for over half an hour now. Maintaining defensive spells while her offensive spells were deflected by Protego spells were slowly whittling her down.

If she was at full strength, Hermione would have been able to break passed the anti-apparate wards that the Aurors placed, but now, she could barely cast the bloody apparate spell.

I haven't even had breakfast! She was sounding like Bella now! She just hoped that the dark witch was still safe. She needed a plan. She needed to get back to her witch!

The sound of an apparate right in front of her revealed Harry carrying the Marauder's map.

"No wonder I couldn't hide." Hermione said, indicating the Marauder's map that was being stuffed inside Harry's robe.

"Please, Hermione. Just calm down and come with me quietly. We'll be able to get through all this after we finish the investigation! I'll even be sure to be with you the whole time there!" Harry pleaded, but Hermione knew she couldn't let herself be detained. This was bad, this was the weakest Hermione had felt in a very long while.

Her mind raced to make a plan to get out of this mess, but there wasn't an escape route she could think of.

She was almost out of magic.

She wouldn't have time to get anything from her bag.

Magic...

Hermione knew the basics of dark spells since she had real all the books on them, but never truly practiced them. Many dark spells, especially the ones Bellatrix used, all absorbed magic on some level.

Hermione would have to try and leech off magic from these Aurors.

Sorry, Harry. I guess you're going to be the first meal. Hermione didn't want to act like some kind of magical vampire leech, but she had no choice.

First, she needed to disarm the Golden boy.

Expelliarmus! Hermione cast the spell out of her finger, bypassing the words, trying to disarm Harry before he could mount any defense, but it seemed as if he had gotten better at dueling.

Harry was able to detect the familiar spell before it was cast. He was able to bring his wand up in time to fire off the same spell.

"Expelliarmus!"

Both beams of magical energy collided and continued to stay connected. Both Harry and Hermione continuously pumping out magic to try and overpower the other.

The duel looked exactly like the time Harry had gone against Voldemort only both beams of magic were red.

The Aurors that weren't knocked out began to enter the area of the duel. None of them tried to interfere knowing how volatile colliding spells were. Any destabilization from an outer source could kill anyone in the area.

Hermione knew her plan had failed. She had no magic left. She had probably taken over fifteen Aurors out, but that wasn't even half their number.

The spell collision ended with Hermione being blasted backwards. The brunette tried to activate her artifacts again to summon more magical power, but they were burnt out. The hand used in casting the Expelliarmus spell was also burnt from losing the collision.

All this just to lose?

Hermione could hear the Aurors get closer, but she could barely even open her eyes anymore.

Bella. I'm sorry. I'll come for you soon.

Before unconciousness could claim Hermione, she swore everything went dark accompanied by a loud smash, but anything else was a blur as she let emptiness engulf her mind.

Harry was in a pinch.

A second ago, he had just overpowered Hermione's magic. He knew that the witch was already tired from that ancient gigantic spell she had cast as well as dueling nearly half of the Aurors here. He shuddered to think what she would have been capable of had she been ready for them...

... or if Hermione was out to kill them.

He had absolutely no idea how powerful Hermione had gotten.

Harry was just about to apprehend his friend when the sky went dark.

Huh? Harry looked up at the sky.

Apparently, the sun was blotted out...

... by a large tentacle.

"Merlin's balls!"

That was the last thing Harry Potter saw as a massive tentacle smashed him into unconciousness.

AN: Tenty is back and saving the day! Oh, just passed 100k words too! :) My posting time has been all over the place now.

Hermione may be powerful, but casting an Obliteration spell, overheating her artifacts, fighting over thirty Aurors and clashing with against Harry Potter with his own signature spell would tire out anyone.

Minerva had no chance to show her reaction as the chase began while she was still in shock.