DISCLAIMER. None of the characters used are a creation of mine. They belong solely to JK Rowling.
'Pity,' Voldemort whispered into her ear the moment her feet landed onto solid ground. 'I always counted your brother among my best. I always counted you among my best.'
Blinded for the longest second, Hermione opened her eyes slowly, wary of her surroundings and mindful of the cracks in the air signalling the arrival of the Death Eaters. She pressed her hands to her ears as the scene registered before her eyes.
There were voluptuous screams of terror as the people began to realise the predicament they had been thrown into quite unexpectedly while out in the middle of the Diagon Alley, a relatively safe region to be in considering the ongoing war. The cacophany of the screaming men and women sent a shots of panic through her. Her stomach recoiled at the havoc the Death Eaters began inflicting upon the sightless shops lining the street. There were almost no witches or wizards brave enough to dare and defy the Dark Lord and his bidders right to his face.
Shards of crystal ice flew out of the wands of Voldemort's men, ricocheting into the skin of the hapless innocent, their bodies falling over like broken marionettes.
The clouds rumbled in response to the carnage below, the vicious magic hanging in the air like a predatory silence, the miserable pleas for help ringing loudly against Hermione's ears and pulling at the very blood running in her veins.
The chaos overcame all other emotion. Women cried as their babies were snatched away from their arms. Children broke into sobs watching their parents fall. The sky was blazing with the blood of the fallen.
Only a few minutes through and Voldemort waved his hand lazily, the sight of which left the Death Eaters standing in rapt attention, their sadistic merrymaking halted, sending a wave of pulsating desperation, their eyes starving for greater sorrows as the lcuky few civilians escaped their reach and Apparated away.
'Word is bound to have reached the traitor by now,' Voldemort claimed. 'If he is, indeed, in the company of those fools Dumbledore fawns upon then he has undoubtedly already been intimated of the events that have transpired this evening. He is smart enough to know a ruse when there is one. However, enough of these ramblings,' he mumbled before striking down a little boy no older than five, crawling on his bloodied knees and scrambling towards his sobbing mother with her sheared clothes hanging off of her that made her look like a rag doll. His body was thrashed into the air, now only just a mess of mangled bones and skin.
Voldemort sneered, his eyes glinting with malice. He traced his fingers gently against Hermione's cheek, pulling her by her hair and bringing her face close to his. 'You were a radiant little thing, love. What a delightful delicacy and yet.. here we are.' He extended his cold fingers towards her. 'Your wand?'
Hermione felt her breath hitch. 'My.. my wand?'
'Was I not clear? I shall require your wand. I simply cannot have you rioting in front of such a crowd and tarnish my name.'
She tightened her hold over it. It was no longer the time to maintain her facade. Something was very, very wrong. She could feel it in her very skin with the way it prickled. Her mind was screaming at her to run. But where? How? She had single handedly landed herself into this mess. There was nowhere to go. Not while surrounded by Death Eaters on all sides. No civilian would ever step up to help her. Not even if the Order or the Resistance arrived in time would she find any help. She was just another dark wizard in their eyes.
Voldemort shook his head piteously. He waved over Bellatrix who stooped down, her eyes lit up brightly, and attempted to snatch away Hermione's one last means of defence.
'Get away from me!' Hermione yelled, flicking her wrist sharply which made Bellatrix yelp in pain, the ends of her fingers burned.
'You traitorous whore!' Bellatrix snarled before sending a wave of furious magic towards the bushy haired witch.
Hermione felt herself blasted a few hundred yards away right in the middle of the street. Another beam of blue light hit her in her chest. She cried out, her lips trembling. She rose her chin defiantly at Bellatrix as she marched forward. Another hit. And another. And another.
Lucius and Alecto Carrow were quick to join in on the fun. Hermione's half formed shields were no good against three fully trained Death Eaters. Never in her life had she felt so helpless. She begged the Gods for her end to come quickly. After all why prolong the inevitabile?
'You must be punished,' Voldemort said, holding his arms out for all that were gathered around to witness how ruthlessly he brought down hell upon those who dared defy his word.
Hermione felt an icy chill creep over her. 'Punished.. my Lord?'
The rest of the Death Eaters stood still, their powerful gaits holding the bystanders hostage, creating the perfect audience for the horror to come.
'Yes,' he murmured softly, the tenderness in his voice sending shivers down her body. 'Punished. Your brother may have done the deed tonight but do not think I can be so easily fooled. I know the workings of your heart, Miss Lestrange. I have always known that darkness has a certain allure that can reach out to even the purest of hearts. I had hoped you had taken a shining to my .. cause. But it is quite apparent that I was wrong.'
Hermione shivered as he trailed his fingers down her arm, pressing his wand into her belly, the wood digging into her extremely uncomfortable. She bid herself to give one last chance to herself.
'I knew nothing about it, Master.. how could I ever defy you? You have shown us the way to our one dream. How could I ever have gone against you? Do not doubt me, my Lord. Rabastan is a weakling. He betrayed your trust. He betrayed our trust in him. But not I, my Lord, not I. I live only to serve you.'
He smirked, his lips tugging up in mirthless laughter. 'Oh, my sweet, your games do not work on Lord Voldemort.' He stood up abruptly and snarled into her face. 'You dare lie to me? You who murdered my men. You have commited treason. Was it not you who threw a dagger through Borgin Burke Sr?'
Hermione's blood ran cold. She strained to keep a hold of her bearings. She could not let her fear show. She could not let them see she was at the end of the rope.
'Tell me, how could it be that a traitorous rat such as yourself forgot to remove such damning evidence? Surely you remembered the dagger would bear the crest of your House. It was not a difficult task to figure out the wielder, my love. I have my eyes everywhere. Nothing stays hidden from the Dark Lord. Nothing stays evasive.'
Hermione visibly gulped. What could she do now? She could not possibly attack him. She knew she would be squished under his foot no sooner than she raised her wand. His Death Eaters would swarm her and murder her.
'You spilled the purest of bloods and for what? For a filthy little mudblood? Evans, was it? A mudblood you care about. Or was it that bastardly Black who you have always pined after? What a waste of your talents, I must say. You had such potential to rule. And yet you chose to give it all up for those who would not spare you another glance.'
Hermione knew all hope was lost and yet a semblance of it fueled her to know that he still thought it was her cowardice in the face of love that made her betray him and not some ulterior motive.
Her secrets were safe.
'I should have never allowed an abomination such as yourself into my ranks. You have soiled my name, you ungrateful little pestilence! I had thought that seeing your friend under the throes of torturous pain would be a great enough burden on your dainty little shoulders. I had foolishly hoped that you would bow down for once and for all im fear of me after you saw how incredibly powerful I have strived to become but I mustn't have undermined the consequences of forced loyalty. You are a disgrace to your family. You chose the scum of this world. You are a disgrace. Crucio,' he yelled.
The Death Eaters jeered, Bellatrix at the forefront of them, howling with mirth. She stepped forward, her fingers wrapped tight around Hermione's wrist. 'You love muggles,' she scoffed. 'Look where your love brought you.'
Hermione felt her wrist twist as her wand was snatched away from her nimble fingers. The sound of her breaking bones elicited screams from insider her throat. She bit her lip. She felt stripped of her very magic at the loss of the familiar wood that always rested within her hands.
There was another blast of noise and Hermione felt her body convulse and fall, propelled backwards. She hit the back of somebody's feet. But instead of a kick in her guts as she might have expected she felt soft fingers curl around her bruised shoulders, a rarity of kindness in the darkness that threatened to eat her raw.
She looked up wearily to find Narcissa's icy grey eyes boring holes into hers with something akin to sorrow shining inside them. She tried pulling her up.
Hermione gasped and drew back. 'Narcissa, no mercy.. he will spare none.. let me..'
Before she could finish her sentence there was a rumble in the air and Narcissa went down on her knees, her screams splitting the air with the pain in her voice, her hands rushing to her growing belly.
'Crucio,' Voldemort growled, his wand pointing at Narcissa. 'Step aside, love. Do not make me hurt your child. The girl deserves no mercy.'
Lucius rushed to his wife's side, scooping her up in his arms and pulling her to the side, his anxious eyes roving over her petite frame.
Hermione's eyes shut against the coldness of the world. Her mind conjured up images of a long gone past as she prayed for Draco's safety.
Images of a trio of uncaring eleven year olds, away from the treacherous forces always at work, before the hands of Fate struck, swarmed at her.
She remembered Ron as his cold body was lowered into the ground, the night he had jumped in front of her to save her life. How, then, could she be weak? Her life was not her own. She owed it to him; her red haired, freckled best friend. She would not be weak. Her end might be here but she was no cub to be put down. She was a lioness and a lioness never bows. She braced herself, gathering all the steel in her veins and letting the fire in her eyes burn brighter than ever.
Hermione chuckled softly. 'You pride yourself in your blood, Bellatrix. And yet you bend to the will of a raving madman.' She pulled her hand away from the older woman's grip. Her voice rose as she let her eyes wander around the huddled men and women. 'Pureblooded through Nd through.. wizards abd witches who find it the gravest of crimes to breathe in the air that comes out the lungs of muggles and yet you submit to one lower than yourselves. You do as you are bidded. You do as you are told by the son of a Muggle. A simpleton. A man of no importance.'
She felt her coruage bolden at the murmurs of faint whispering among the crowd.
'Voldemort proclaims himself a Lord. A Lord of what? His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He is no pureblood. He's a liar and a lunatic and you are all fools!'
'Lies!' Barty Crouch Jr yelled, jumping to his Master's rescue. 'She feeds us lies. You might want to silence yourself or I shall forget you are a Lestrange, sacred by birth and yet a soiled tramp by your deeds.'
'This man is a monster,' she screamed, ignoring the cruel man behind her. 'He wants to crush the world under his heel. He cares not about the purity of blood but only about gaining unrestricted powers. You think you are his allies?' Hermione barked out a dry laugh. 'How obnoxiously patronising your Lord is. You may not realise it yet but you are no more than slaves to him.'
'ENOUGH,' Voldemort roared. There was an entirely new emotion in his eyes. They holstered free of any contained mirth and burst forth with a blistering fire, his face awash with fury, bafflement over his biggest secret having been dug out so blatantly. 'Do not listen to her perverse tales. She's a kitten come home. And I shall show her how lying scum is punished. CRUCIO!'
Hermione felt herself fall, the cold ground unsoothing to her aching muscles.
The air shifted as several cracks were heard as various Order and Resistance members swarmed the street, barely enough to hold down the Death Eaters much less stand their ground against the Dark Lord himself. Their eyes grew large at the imposing figure he made, some of their fight deflating them, but their heads still held high. Looks of confusion and bafflement were abound at seeing one of his own at his mercy that fateful night. Before they could lapse into action, however, Voldemort's voice boomed over everything else.
'I come in peace tonight. Strange as it may sound I bear no ill will. I merely wish for you to see how Lord Voldemort treats those who go against me. An example shall be set tonight. At my very own hands.'
There was a quiet round of whispering that went around. Hermione smiled wryly to herself, the irony of her predicament so evidently glaring at her. Nobody would help her. She belonged nowhere. Voldemort considered her a spy. The Light side considered her vermin.
Her eyes wandered hopelessly over the maroon robed witches and wizards, the sight of familiar black hair nowhere to be seen. Not a single person who'd come to her rescue. She felt tears roll down her cheeks as the face of Alastor Moody loomed into her vision, his eyes unforgiving and ruthless, on his side the Prewett twins with their red hair glowing into the darkness of the sky.
Voldemort tilted her face towards him, his eyes a radiant red. 'Nobody will come to your aid, love. You will die alone. I hope your brother decides to arrive. It shall be a pleasure to rip out his heart from my bare hands.' He sneered, 'Now I do wonder how to bring you unthinkable pain. There are spells that could peel the flesh off of you like a grape. I could make your body rot and decay as you lived. But I call for a more fitting end. The Muggles are very proficient at one thing and that's torture. I have always wondered what would happen to such beautiful skin if it was.. flayed.
He stood up and stepped aside, holding out his hand in front of Bellatrix. She preened under his gaze as she handed him a whip made out of black leather, the length of it spiked with tiny little shards of metal glowing white.
There was a sharp intake of breath. Hermione's head swivelled around to find Rodolphus biting his lip, his fists curled at his side.
Her heart beat violently against her chest. She could tell the metal spikes had been meddled with. They had a spell added onto them to drag out her misery even longer.
Her right arm remained limp at her side, her wrist lay throbbing in agony. The darkness descended onto her as the wind gathered up. The cold intensified. Hermione's eyes widened at the crack in the air as the whip was unfurled. She jammed a fist into her mouth to stifle her screams.
The horrid lash against her back left her gasping for breath, the searing pain sending tremors across it. The metal spikes burned and melted into her skin as her robe tore up in tiny little crevices.
Hermione could feel the sweat drench her brows and her nails dig into her palms. Her stomach churned as her ears began ringing with the guttural sobs etching out of her throat, her gut tortured by fear. Her eyes fluttered, her mind oozing in and out of consciousness, her thoughts reminiscent of all the people she had ever loved.
Harry hated the turn the evening had taken for him. The last thing he would have ever expected was to find Peter Pettigrew, the reason behind his parents' death, bleeding and shivering at his doorstep. He had rushed to his side and taken him to the Headquarters as Rab tagged along, distraught and at his wit's end, his speech a cacophany of broken prayers and apologies.
He had tried hard. He had tried very hard to not let his mind wander as he carried out the necessary basic checks on Peter's body. He had futilely tried to keep himself calm and reassured as he explained the situation to the Head Healer at the Resistance. He had tried to keep a check on his emotions as he imitated Dumbledore about the events of the day and advised him to pull Remus out of Greyback's pack immediately.
He had tried. He truly had. But nothing in the world could prevent the raging storm inside his mind as he fretted over Hermione's fate, each little trinket of a scenario that could occur playing before his mind's eyes. He hoped against hope for her to get away unscathed but who was he even kidding?
He was the Boy Who Lived. And the Boy Who Lived could never find rest.
His outward demeanor had been nothing but the face of tranquility and yet his eyes had blazed with an ice cold fury. He cursed himself for his recklessness. He had doomed everybody who had ever gotten close to him. He had lost everyone he had ever loved. And now he was at the risk of losing the one person he could never reimagine his life without. For all he tried, Harry could not figure out just how she could escape Voldemort's fury. It was apparent she would be used to lure Rab out. Voldemort wasn't beyond inhumane atrocities against his own.
But then Hermione wasn't called the brightest witch of her age for no reason. He knew if there was one person who could fool even the likes of the man who called himself the grestest of the Dark Lords then it was her. Her brilliance was unparalleled. He cling desperately to the half hearted rationale his mind conjured up for him and yet his heart trembled.
It had been no easy task to soothe Rab and compel him into staying put when word had arrived of the ruckus being caused in the middle of the Diagon Alley. Harry had assumed it was just another raid. He had sent out most of the men and women he could spare. Most of the Order and Resistance, under the leadership of James and Sirius, was presently occupied with tracing Voldemort's activity abroad to figure out the reason behind his prolonged forays into the outside world. It had turned out that not even Hermione could provide an answer to the baffling problem.
It came as a numbing shock when he found out that that it was no simple raid being carried out. Voldemort himself had chosen to step outside his safety net and into the heart of Wizarding London to set an example for those who dared raise their voice against him.
Hermione had somehow been compromised. And that made Harry's world split right down the middle and into two torn pieces of a barely breathing heart.
His blood ran cold as he Apparated into a dark corner. He squinted into the velvety darkness, the only things visible to him a huge crowd, civilians and the Light side of the war alike, their gaits bent and bowed in fear and cowardice. He couldn't begin to blame them. None of those present here had ever before faced Voldemort himself. They were no match against him. They would end up being a part of the carnage if they had dared out up a fight. And yet no sympathy shredded its way into Harry's heart that night.
There was a beating against his head, a constant thrum of synchronous shackles he realised soon enough was the shrill cries of the one woman he would die for. His heart was rioting inside his chest, spurring him on but something kept him rooted to his feet.
Fear.
He had never known it like he knew it this night. Fear in its most gut wrenching throes of sorrow. He felt like bare timber as the gloom nestled inside his bones.
Something inside him willed him to move for never before had there been such an hour where Harry had felt so utterly broken. He didn't what was wrong with him. He didn't know what cracked inside him. Tears blurred his vision as he heard Hermione's voice grow weaker, the strain of her notes becoming hushed.
He remembered her tiny arms as she had hugged him the very first time all those years ago. He had felt her race into his chest, both of them nearly tumbling down under the weight. He remembered the crease on her shoulders the first time he had embraced her in their second life, left from long forgotten days where his head had so often found solace in her warmth. He remembered all the times she had held his hand, calling him forward.
Every time it had been Hermione Granger who had saved Harry Potter's life. It had never truly been the other way around. She had been his guiding force, his cornerstone. She had been the one to flood into him courage and bravery but the night when he needed the most she was tied down to the ground under the weight of her agony. How could he ever help her when he could never have even helped himself?
His knees almost buckled but then there was a strong wafting breeze that tugged at his robes and yet strangely there was not a tree bristling. Harry's brows furrowed as he looked up to find a golden haired man looking gravely at him, an austere reflection of something akin to a Muggle Admiral, the lines of his jaw hard as ice. His soldier eyes beckoned him forward, jerking him awake from the slumber of his mind, gifting him with a recluse.
Harry pushed against the people, silently gawking at Hermione's pain and misery, fueling her humiliation. He felt a white hot rage burn through his veins as his fell upon her huddled figure. He saw as she tried in vain to keep her breathing under control, every shrill cry sending quivers up her spine, her heart mangled and tired and bleeding out.
NO!
There had been too much death. He had sacrificed too much. Not this time. Not her. Merlin forbid not her.
There was an explosion of steaming black that burst forth from his wand. Shrapnel of wood and glass exploded, jutting into the skin of the dark robed men howling in pain.
Harry's eyes sought Hermione's, the brown inside withering away as she slipped in and out of consciousness, her lips turned into a wry smile as her gaze lingered on him, relief washing over her face despite the blood oozing out of the many wounds littering her body like a wasteland.
Harry nodded at her almost imperceptibly, his heart in a flurry of emotions. He would save her. He would die saving her.
Voldemort's scarlet eyes narrowed as they focused on Harry's form, his fists curled in anger at the man who dared stand up to him. He flung a lazy hand, sending shocks of pink light towards Harry's chest.
Harry swung his arm out, casting a shield stronger than any curse that might have come his way. He felt the force of what seemed like a thousand curses crash aaginst the shimmering force field protecting him, the wands of a dozen Death Eaters trained at him.
Harry felt blood trickle down his nose as he swiped across the invisible air around him, causing several Death Eaters flying into the rummage of the broken walls of the shops that littered the street.
There was a murmur of excitement that rushed through the Order and the Resistance. They launched into action, several of them crowding around a Death Eater each, striking them down like rag dolls.
Harry thanked his stars for the small mercy. He kept one eye trained on Hermione who lay breathing laboriously, her broken arms sturggling to carry her weight forward as she crawled on her knees to hide behind some broken debris. He almost felt himself fall as he saw her gasp softly before collapsing into unconsciousness, her limbs a dangling mess.
She's still alive, though.
He began walking towards her, his arms outstretched. There was a reverberating shock as he felt himself fly into a fountain on the side, in the middle of the raging battle.
Harry growled as he broke free of the roped that wrung around him. He raised his wand to slash at the air, sending a torrent of red light at Voldemort's chest who stood glaring at him, his feet poised.
A simmering figure of a snake took form, lashing at Harry who dived just in time to save himself from its bite.
Harry spat out spell after spell, the unadulterated hatred in his voice like a burning sword. The air swirled around Voldemort, wresthign him in a trap of the elements.
There was a pulsating beat of anixiety at the back of Harry's mind that kept his thoughts focused only on Hermione's broken body ahead that not even the sharp gash against his leg registered as Voldemort sent him hurling.
There was the sound of two simultaneous cracks. Harry whipped his head around to find a ravenously enraged Sirius Black lunge at Voldmort, James, his father, bringing the back of their attack.
'You are no match against me,' Voldemort grunted out. 'Your insolent tricks are child's play.'
Harry gritted his teeth as he summoned the fallen debris and sent it flying at the red eyed man. A torrent of black fire burst from the tip of Sirius' wand, engulfing the man as James added a million little sharp needles to the mix.
Voldemort cracked his wand down, a wave of what rolling off of him and towards the entirety of the crowd. A sickly spell shot out his wand, wrapping itself around the trio in a nauseating glow but as soon as a horrible feeling of breathlessness had begun to envelope them it stopped.
Harry noted the faint flicker of fear in Voldemort's eyes, staring starkly into the widened old pools of silver of Dumbledore's irises.
Voldmeort took a step back, the fight on the side of the Light almost reinforced at the arrival of their beacon of hope. He staggered to a defiant stop before launching into a renewed effort.
There was a tingle of magic that slammed into the trio as Dumbledore raged against the Dark Lord, the two most powerful wizards of the era at each others throats.
There was a moment of stillness. But it was no time to rest.
'Go on, mate. Get her. I'll go help out the others,' James yelled before dashing away into the blurring battle going on.
Harry whipped around to find Sirius already running towards where Hermione lay in a ghostly pallor. Harry was quick on his steps, the distance between them growing shorter but before the duo could have even mad with halfway there was a rustling and a heavily lidded woman stood over Hermione's limp body, a sharp dagger pointing straight at the base of her chin.
Harry gasped at the hauntingly familiar sight, unbidden memories of a night spent screaming in the Malfoy Manor pushed their way to the forefront of his mind.
'Not so quick, cousin,' she teased.
Harry held his breath. There was no way he could attack her without getting Hermione.
'Let her go, Bellatrix,' he said, his voice posion. 'Or I will strip your skin alive.'
'Ah, such intensity. And I don't even know who you are.'
Sirius snarled, 'Don't play games here, Bella. You're no match against the two of us.'
'Oh, but I am definitely up to killing a body as weak as this,' she jutted her chin at Hermione's brittle body, her eyes still shut close. 'You fire a spell at me and your friend here dies. I wouldn't mind giving up my own life to know I brought you such misery.'
Harry cursed loudly before sending a sniewy spell straight at Bellatrix's chest. She cried out as another curse hit her, Sirius' rage pooling into his eyes.
'You don't learn, do you?' She hissed as she pushed in the knife deeper into Hermione's skin, eliciting a soft yelp.
Hatred pumped through Harry's veins. 'You've taken enough from me. Let. Her. Go.'
Sirius growled as he crossed his tipping point, his eyes almost begging. He lunged at the woman, his bare hands clutching at her throat. He was almost close to her, his fingers scraping across Hermione's robes when there was a cacophany of spells that blasted through the night, sending Sirius' body spiralling into the ground as somewhere behind them Voldemort wrapped himself in a misty darkness and disappeared sooner than anybody could have realised what was happening.
Harry raised his wand, a deadly spell at the tip of his tongue when Bellatrix wavered and Disapparated away with Hermione still in the clutches of Death.
He howled in agony, the pain of a million suns beating down against his bare skin funneling through him, the unimaginable sorrow of all the tears he had ever cried in his life hitting him all at once.
AN: Phew, I haven't updated in a while. I hope that a longer than usual chapter will make up for it even though it's not my best. I quite literally struggled through it since I've recently lost my muse. It comes and goes. Now it's not the strongest chapter and I bet it wouldn't be difficult to find loopholes here but it's the best I could come up with under all the pressure I'm currently facing. It's sheer will of not wanting to abandon the story that I'm still writing. I will not go back on my word. The story will be finished no matter what. You guys deserve it after all the unwavering support you've shown me.
Once again, thank you to each one of you :-)