AN: Hello, FF and Harry Potter fans. I do not own Harry Potter but feel free to enjoy this or hate it. If you enjoy it, please leave a lovely comment, if you hate it, then leave some constructive criticism, thanks!

Warning: some gory details

Can You Take the Jump?

Chapter 70

The other boys leaned closer to see the stain starting to spell something.

"What is it writing?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Fol…"

"Follow? Folk? Fold?"

"No, Foloi Oa—"

"Foloi Oak Forest." Lucius finished for him. "She's in Greece."

…

Lucius, Severus, and Regulus stood around a luxurious room in a Greek villa by the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Severus tried not to look around with bug eyes and a slacked jaw, but it was hard to do with such an impressive place. Sure, he'd been inside the Malfoy Manor, and while it was very impressive, it was dark and heavy with thick stone walls and narrow windows from the age that it was made. It gave a sturdy and isolated appearance to the large space. Severus knew very little about architecture, but he knew he didn't want to live in Malfoy Manor. On the other hand, this Greek villa was probably less than a quarter of the size of Malfoy Manor, yet its bright and liveliness immediately attracted Severus's eyes.

He'd been stuck in dingy basement-like areas for far too long. His childhood home was dark and filled with fear, Alphard's place was nice, but also continued a dark aesthetic, and more importantly, it was never really home. Slytherin's common room was in the dungeons next to the Great Lake, giving the appearance of dark ominousness and tinted with the lake's algae green. It wasn't until he visited his mother in the small property that Alphard had left them, did he got to live in a brightly lit and welcoming home. It was nowhere as large as this, nor as lux, but it reminded him of home. Of Lily.

He suddenly regretted his choice of coming here. Perhaps getting away wasn't the answer to his heartbreak, but a long conversation with his mom. It'd been nearly 2 weeks since he last saw her.

Lucius snapped his finger and an elf popped up next to him holding a large rolled-up parchment. The blond took the parchment and dismissed the elf without so much as a thank you. As he unravelled the parchment onto a round table, Severus nodded thanks to the elf before it popped away.

A deep sigh brought his attention back to the table. On the parchment was a large and old map of Foloi Oak Forest. Severus's brows immediately rose at the vastness of the forest.

"So you're sure that she's here?" Regulus asked the older boys, but none of them answered. Of course, he was stuck with the ones who never talked. Even though Avery was annoying, at least he could hold a fucking conversation.

At least Lucius was useful. Out of the three boys, he was the only one of legal age to be allowed to use magic without being flagged by the Ministry. So why did Severus and Regulus come with him? Well, Severus seemed antsy to leave the country. According to Avery, he looked sad, and he even heard him sniffling about something when he thought he was alone. However, upon questioning, he shrugged them off, telling everyone that he was 'fine' and that 'nothing' was wrong.

No one thought to push further.

Regulus, on the other hand, was brought as a precaution. No one trusted that he wouldn't interfere with Avery's plan to bring Sirius instead of Lily Evans. At least if he was out of the country, there would be no way for him to hatch any possible plans the young Slytherin might have to kidnap his brother into a safe house that no one could access.

"It's a national park, the forest will be littered with people at this time," Lucius told them. "We'll wait until nightfall to search for Evans. The numbers should drop when the night comes, I'll cast a spell to see how many people are around. Lower numbers will help us determine which of the little blips of magic is her."

The blond looked at the boys next to him, but neither of them seemed to be listening.

He let out a sigh, "I hope both of you realize that if we cannot find Hermione Evans here, then Sirius Black will die, and Lily Evans will also die."

That seemed to jar the boys back to reality.

"Right." They nodded, both of them looking thoroughly annoyed. "This will work. We'll find her."

…

The boys stood at the edge of the forest as the sun began to set on the horizon.

"Homenum Revelio," Lucius casted. Dozens of lights glowed in the distance, each light representing a person.

"I thought you said the numbers would be lower." Regulus deadpanned with a sassy raised brow.

"It's a large forest, there are rangers and campers. That being said, this is the lowest number." Severus turned the younger Slytherin's head back to face the forest and pushed him into the threshold of the forest.

"Snape," Lucius nudged. "The paper, it hasn't changed? We're in the forest."

Severus pulled out the piece of paper once more, but the greyish stain still spelled "Foloi Oak Forest".

He shrugged, telling the blonde that whatever change he was expecting, it wasn't happening.

"Remember, if you find her, don't approach. We don't know the reason she left so if she sees you, she might run. Just use the coins to alert your location, but do not let her out of your sight."

"We're trying to find a person, not trapping an animal," Severus let out a small laugh at Lucius's words.

This time it was Lucius who stared at Severus with a 'are-you-serious' look.

"If you don't find her by dawn, return to the villa. You guys are capable of that much, right?"

Regulus let out a scoff as he walked into the dark forest without turning back. Lucius walked in the opposite direction toward the clump of lights in the distance, which left Severus to take the remaining clumps over on the East side.

"Let the hunt begin," Severus muttered to himself as began walking into the forest.

…

She could hear his bones snap and heal with incredible speed. He was trying to reconfigure his anatomy to slip out of the binds.

"Oh fuck!" Hermione leapt onto him tightening his binds. "No!"

"Too late," his arm got free, grabbing her by the hair. He threw her off.

"Ah!" Hermione went fly, landing straight into the cave wall. She was winded from the impact, hitting her head on the stone. Black spots appeared in her vision, she could barely make out the fact that Greyback got free.

She reached her hand out, summoning something from her bag.

"Die!" Greyback lunged toward her, claws out.

"Augh!"

…

Although it happened in the blink of an eye, Greyback almost felt like it was happening in slow motion. His long arms allowed his claws to reach her, piercing through her soft skin like a marshmallow. His arm swung, ripping through her, starting at the collarbone of her left side and past her sternum on the right. He smirked at the damage he'd done, feeling a surge of victory within him. He looked at her face to see the terror of death, only to see the fire in her eyes.

Instinctively, he knew something was wrong. Like an animal's sixth sense alerting him that something was awry. Something glinted in the dim light of the cave. It hadn't been in her hand before, but he could make out some type of blade in her hands, swinging down from above. He needed to move, but as he made the move to withdraw, he found his hand stuck.

The crazy bitch was holding his arm, pulling him closer, piercing herself further.

"AUGH!" She screamed as she swung her arm in full strength.

Greyback's shocked expression remained frozen on his face as his head toggled to the floor.

Hermione stumbled back until her back touched the wall. Her dirty clothes started blooming with red and growing quickly. She further ripped the shirt to properly assess the full scale of the damage, only to gasp at the severity. The pink tissue beneath her skin was exposed to the air as blood oozed and squirted.

"Oh fuck," she was losing blood fast. "You fucking asshole." She swore at the decapitated head of the werewolf on the floor.

As the adrenaline faded, the pain started settling in. She let out a gasp at the smallest movements. She knew she was in trouble and needed to act fast, but her arms felt like noodles with 50kg weights on them.

"Accio healing potion." After a few clacks and clinks within her bag, a small vial of healing potion landed in her hand. "A-Acci-o silver."

The difficulty of healing werewolf wounds was that you needed to mix different amounts of silver into the healing potion depending on the wound, its depth, severity, and the amount of werewolf saliva on the wound, but also not too much to cause toxicity. Another factor that made werewolf wounds a pain to heal was that the silver used needed to be prepped silver so that it could easily dissolve into the healing potion.

She glanced back and forth between her prepped silver and her deep cut. She didn't have enough prepped silver for this. She would have to break the chains or the blade that she used to decapitate Greyback and prep it by melting it and mixing it with other compounds that were in her bag, but that would take too much time.

"Use the silver you have to stop as much of the bleeding as possible, then think of solutions, Hermione." Remus appeared next to her, whispering urgently. "You're losing too much blood. You cannot waste time."

She willed the potion bottles to uncork and mix with her magic, but she was quickly losing consciousness at the rate of blood she was losing.

"Hermione," Remus urged beside her. "You need to stay awake. You're almost done."

"I…" she muttered as her pants started to soak with the red and warm blood around her.

"Hermione!"

The human body, despite it's complex and intricate design wasn't without its flaws. Her body could tell the loss in blood volume, resulting in hypoxia. As a result, her heart was pumping hard and fast to make up for the rapid loss, but consequently only proceeded to make her blood drain faster. She was sweating profusely from blood loss, the weakness settling in her limbs. She could feel the chills shaking her deeply

Many of her hallucinations were screaming at her, but she couldn't focus. She felt confused and anxious. Her body wasn't responding in the way that it normally did, and the steps to prep her special healing potions weren't coming to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh shit," she let out as her eyes started to droop, she could feel unconsciousness rushing in. If she passed out right now, she would die.

With trembling hands, she grabbed the vial from mid-air. She didn't even know if the potion was completed but she knew she was seconds from passing out and this half-assed potion would be better than nothing.

She poured the viscous liquid onto her wound directly but couldn't noticeably see a difference with her unfocused vision. She summoned another healing potion to drink, but when the vial rolled out of her bag, she couldn't open the cork with her weak arms.

This was an emergency.

"Call someone." Harry urged. "Now, Hermione. Call someone now!"

"I need… coin…"

Harry reached out to her bag, as if to grab it and cried out in despair as his hands moved right through.

"FUCK!"

Tears streamed down her face as darkness enveloped her mind when she finally succumbed to her unconsciousness.

…

Severus slapped his arm to kill the mosquito flying around. He noticed his breathing starting to become heavier as the backpack on his shoulder was weighing him down more and more, despite him drinking more of the water.

It was his third hour in the forest. It was dark and damp with critters of all shapes and sizes moving around, aggravating his heightened senses that he needed to find Hermione. He was tired. He was hungry and thirsty. He was bitten everywhere causing him to itch everywhere as well. Nothing was going right.

He wondered how the other two were doing. He had a bad feeling Regulus had already given up and gone back to the luxury villa. Lucius might also be done, if he wasn't, he was probably just going around the well-lit areas where people were camping.

"Hermione Evans, where the fuck—"

He stopped when he felt a chill travel down his spine. There was a faint and unnatural sound coming from the distance. He couldn't see anything, even when he flashed his light in the direction.

It sounded like a dying animal wheezing and groaning, he hadn't seen any tracks for beasts, but this was an old and mythical forest. Although it didn't have as many magical beasts as there used to be in the past, if there was anything Severus had learned from Hermione over the years, it was that you needed to be vigilant and cautious in every situation. Even if it seemed excessive.

He carefully walked towards the sound, avoiding as many sticks and crunchy leaves as possible.

Severus came upon a cave, but before he could look in for the sound, the smell hit him first. He never stayed around a dead animal long enough, but he instinctively knew that was the smell. Something, or rather, somethings died in that cave.

He recoiled back from the stench as it hit his nostrils.

He didn't want to enter. There was an intense sense of ominous fear that radiated from the cave along with the smell, so why was it that he was 100% sure that Hermione was in there?

Without even looking inside, he wrapped his hand around the coin in his pocket, making it burn intensely 3 times—the boys' signal that something urgent had happened and they needed to gather.

With his signal sent, Severus put one step in front of the other, stepping through the threshold of the cave.

The place was damp and dark. Despite the summer heat, there was a chill that shivered down his spine.

Severus continued to walk into the cave with his wand in his hand. He knew he wasn't supposed to use it, but he held it just in case, his thoughts racing as he thought of different defensive spells to use when he found himself inevitably against a large mystical beast. However, the scent got stronger and stronger as he walked deeper into the cave system.

There was an odd hissing and crackling sound that grew louder as he walked deeper into its depth.

"Oh fuck, what the hell did you get yourself into, Hermione?"

Despite every fibre of his body screaming at him to turn back, he continued to march into the depths of the cave towards the inhuman sounds.

…

"Avery, stop pacing. Have faith. Your friends are going to return with Hermione, so you and your parents are going to be fine."

Avery paused. He slowly turned his head towards Sirius looking like he just swallowed something bitter.

"Aren't you a little too laid-back Black? I thought you hated us Slytherins and would never trust us."

"I don't."

"But you just said—"

"I trust Hermione, who trained you idiots. I don't trust you."

"How's that any different?"

"It's different," he argued.

Avery opened his mouth as though he'd say something, but shut it quickly, knowing arguing with him would be a lost cause. He continued to pace as though his life depended on it, mumbling to himself as he did so.

If Sirius was being honest, Avery's anxiety was rubbing off of him, making him nervous as well. They were taking a long time, but that was expected. It was just 3 of them in a gigantic forest looking for 1 girl and two of them couldn't even do magic.

So they just waited, one of them anxious and pacing, while the other was anxious and sitting.

It wasn't until the clock struck 5 AM that Avery stopped pacing. He turned to him with a sad look on his face.

"They're not here yet."

Sirius frowned at the obvious comment.

"I tried telling everyone that I didn't have much time left."

"Avery?"

"But no one was listening. I told you all…"

"Avery?" Sirius's hair stood on its end. "What—"

Several loud cracks echoed in Malfoy's large study.

Sirius jumped onto his feet, wand in hand. He tried to apparate out of the estate but found himself stuck. Anti-apparition wards. This was very clearly and thoroughly planned.

"Well well well," Dolohov smiled. "If it isn't the lionhearted Black. It hasn't been that long since you were last within our grasp. If you were going to return so quickly, why bother fighting the inevitable?"

"Avery! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Sirius screamed as he shot offensive spells at the Death Eaters who approached him cautiously.

"Trust me, Black, it's better if you don't fight it."

Dolohov clapped Avery on the back, the younger Slytherin let out an awkward and nervous laugh as the only Gryffindor started duelling 3 able-bodied experienced adults. It was like watching an avalanche. A spectacle that was terrifyingly grand and predictable. As talented as Sirius Black was in a duel, there was no way with his level of duelling skills was he able to defeat the three Death Eaters that surrounded him. He was able to effectively disarm and injure one of them, but the other two used that moment as a distraction to disarm and magically bind him.

"Well done, young Avery."

"I still failed the Dark Lord's mission. I couldn't get the other Evans."

"It's not your fault. She's under constant surveillance with the Potters and with Dumbledore himself. Don't worry, I'll advocate for you. Your punishment won't be as harsh. Of course, you won't be able to negate a punishment entirely, but consider it a good learning experience."

'Learning experience', what an interesting way to describe torture.

"AHHHH! AVERY! AHHHHH!" Sirius thrashed, fighting against his binds. "I'll fucking kill you! You fucking piece of—" the rest of his words were muted with a flick of Dolohov's wrist.

"You're sure he'll bring her in?"

Avery nodded.

"They didn't just date. They loved each other."

Dolohov grimaced as he glanced down at Sirius with distaste. "Love? You loved her? I get fucking her. I remember her from your Yule Ball. I'd like a taste of that tight body too, but love? You bring shame to your prestigious family name."

They couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was clear from his expression that he was saying something along the lines of, "Good. Fuck my prestigious family." And much more.

"Alright, wrap it up boys. We better get back to the Dark Lord before sunrise." Dolohov told the other three men. He looked around the expansive study, "Where is Lucius? Avery?"

The young Slytherin paused, as if to think about it, then shrugged his shoulders. "Probably out looking for his missing pregnant wife or fucking a whore in Diagon Alley. I don't bother asking where he goes when he leaves at 3 in the morning. He's a grown-ass man."

"Cissy is still missing?" Dolohov let out a laugh as he swung his arm around Avery and pulled him along. "Quite the troublesome wife, Malfoy ended up getting. The pretty ones are always troublesome though. I've got to ask Malfoy the next time I see him whether the face is worth all the nuisances."

"Hah," Avery let out a laugh as watched Sirius Black get dragged out of Malfoy Manor.

"You really should have trusted your instincts about us Slytherins." He told him through Legilimency. The only confirmation that Avery got from Sirius that he heard his message was a continuation of the thrashing he had been doing until now.

…

Regulus couldn't understand what he was looking at. If he were to describe what he was seeing, the only word that came into his shocked mind would be a bloodbath. He could step anywhere without stepping into a puddle of blood. He felt faint, even though none of the blood on the floor was his.

"Get me that chain!" Severus demanded to Lucius. The two were crouched on the floor working on some potion too complex for him to follow. Regulus also thought it pointless. He couldn't see how someone could survive such an injury.

He jumped back when the decapitated body 2 meters away from him twitched. It was still fighting for life despite not having a head attached to it and bleeding out for Merlin knows how long. In this sense, Regulus could see how the werewolf's supernatural ability to heal could be seen as a curse, just like the rest of the werewolf virus.

Regulus turned to stare at Fenrir Greyback's head, still and dead. No heart to pump blood to keep it alive. The shock he felt at being decapitated by a girl less than a quarter of his weight was frozen on his face as he died. The last expression he would ever make as the light disappeared from his eyes.

"Black!"

How did Hermione manage to do this? The amount of strength and skill required to slick a neck clearly through…

"Black!"

Against a werewolf no less. What balls did she have to take on such a task?

"REGULUS!"

He jumped when both of the boys hovering over Hermione's dying body shouted his name. He took a step towards them only for his shoes to make the most disgusting sound he could think of. Quelch. It wasn't just the sound, but the fact that he knew what made it.

Suddenly, it was like everything hit him all at once. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the… everything.

"Bleurgggghh"

"Oh fuck," Severus turned away, nearly vomiting himself. "Nevermind, just stay over there and don't fucking… don't… just don't."

"Snape, focus. She's bleeding. Why isn't the potion working?"

"It is, it just isn't enough. Look at the state of her fucking wounds Lucius. Did you think that one measly bottle was going to do shit? So you focus and prep that fucking silver. You're the only one here who can do magic!"

"I can't make silver melt faster, you inane cretin!"

"Ina-Inane cretin?! I'm the one giving you the blood instructions for the fucking potion you—"

Lucius lifted his hand, effectively cutting Severus off.

"Wait."

"What? What happened?"

"Something's wrong."

"With the silver? Fuck we don't have time to start another batch, Lucius!"

"No, not the silver. Someone's in my house."

Everyone's heart seemed to skip a beat simultaneously.

Regulus let out a small, "Who?" as he wiped his mouth.

"No one good."

"We need to go," Regulus immediately stood up.

"No!" Severus shouted. "It's all pointless if Hermione dies!"

"If Sirius dies, then Hermione's going to kill all of us! And honestly, it's more likely that I'm going to fucking kill all of you first! It's your choice!"

"Regulus, Avery is there. He will deal with it."

"You trust him?"

"Yes."

It wasn't that Avery wasn't skilled. He had significantly improved from when they first started training. In fact, he had improved the most out of everyone. However, when it came to skilled and seasoned Death Eaters, no one was willing to place their bets for Avery.

"Fuck!" Severus looked back and forth between Hermione, the pot of melting silver, and Regulus. Finally, he turned to Lucius who was waiting for his decision.

Unbeknownst to the other two, Severus had witnessed something when he first stepped into the cave.

…

The chilling sound grew louder and the temperature dropped further as Severus got deeper into the cave. Everything about the situation was unnatural.

The cave curved in, but before he could take another step, the was a sound that stopped him entirely. He felt scared to even breathe or blink.

"Uraahrhgg"

He couldn't even see it but knew it wasn't human or a regular beast.

"LLLLLLLeeeet ggggrooo."

Severus held his hands over his mouth to silence his breathing as he remained stuck to the wall. The creature croaked unsettlingly, repeating the same words over and over again. Finally gathering the courage he needed, Severus inched around the corner to see the source of the sound.

No one would have believed him if he told them.

Hermione's parasite, that tremendously powerful and frightening magical parasite that destroyed everything in its path once released looked merely like a floating shadow.

He was so taken aback that he forgot about his fear and let out a small gasp.

The parasite turned its 'head' nearly 360 degrees to face Severus.

"A fffuullll and h-health ssssoouul."

It had no face, but Severus swore it smiled at him as it charged towards him at alarming speed.

"Gah!" he tripped on a puddle as he tried to run, his face submerging into the puddle. It wasn't until he tasted the 'water' did he realize that it was blood. Or that it was warm. He scrambled to get up and run away when he realized nothing was chasing him anymore.

Correction. It couldn't chase him anymore.

Hermione's parasite was still very much Hermione's. It was still attached to her, leeching off of her, draining her, but still dependent on her.

"Let go," Severus realized. "You can't be released from her until she dies, just like how she can't be rid of you. Hermione's still alive." He jumped up and ran towards her limp body. "Evans!" He cried out with joy at the news of her aliveness only to freeze at the state of her injuries.

"Evans!"

…

"We'll move her, place a stasis charm on that silver and portkey back."

"Snape," Lucius looked uncertain with his decision. "She needs treatment now."

"But it's not happening now anyway. So we might as well go back, and see the situation while we treat her! Besides," he looked expectantly. "You have more prepped silver at home, don't you?"

Lucius was about to shake his head, sure, he had plenty of silver in his house, but prepped silver was such a specific medical item only used for werewolf wounds. No ordinary household had such expensive and specific medical potion ingredients. But… he thought back to his wedding gift from Hermione. That box of potions and potion ingredients which remained untouched in a special and forbidden corner of his house. Although he never specifically looked to see if she added prepped silver, he had a gut feeling she did.

"Yeah. I do."

"Okay. Let's do this."

…

"What do you think life would be like if you weren't a witch?" Harry asked her during their lunch break. They sat at their usual spot at the café within the Ministry, eating their homemade lunches and sipping on their 3rd cup of coffee that day.

"Probably just like yours if you weren't the Chosen one."

Hermione laughed at her response, thinking what their lives would be like if they hadn't been the Golden Trio if the events of their lives hadn't happened as they knew it. What a thought. What if the world simply lived in a neutral state where prejudiced people didn't make it their mission to eradicate those they deemed different or inferior? What if muggleborns simply got to live? What if Voldemort simply remained dead? What if? What if she wasn't a witch and never met Harry and Ron?

"Muggle Hermione," she wondered to herself. "I'd probably attend school, go to uni afterwards. Maybe even become a dentist like my parents?"

"Except now you're the Brightest Witch of her Generation and Youngest Department Head, Hermione Granger Weasley."

"And you're the Chosen One," she joked.

"I'm not though."

"Hm?"

"I'm no longer the Chosen One, Hermione."

"What do you mean? Harry?"

"Harry?"

"Who's Harry?"

The sight in front of her wasn't the Ministry café or the Ministry at all.

She gasped so loud and suddenly that she choked on her saliva.

"Welcome back from the land of the dead, Evans."

She tried to get up, only to silently scream at the pain in her chest. She looked down at the neat bandages wrapped around her chest.

"Severus?" she croaked, her as rough as sandpaper. "Why…" she looked around to see the grave faces of both Lucius and Regulus, also in the room. "What happened?"

…

AN: A bit of filler chapter before the upcoming big chapters that will follow! The plan is to have the next few chapters be pretty heavy and long so it'll take some time for me to write them all up and edit, so please be patient and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, leave me those comments and love 😘😘😘