Hermione lay in bed, eyes staring into the darkness. She couldn't sleep any longer; she just had this feeling deep inside that something bad was going to happen. Casting a Tempus charm she realized it was only five o'clock in the morning. With an inward sigh, Hermione made the decision to leave the cozy bed she shared with Draco and head to the library to read.
When she arrived at the library, she saw Yaxley reading a book in silence while seated in a chair near the fireplace.
"Can't sleep, little dove?" Yaxley asked with a raised brow.
"No. Do you ever have that feeling that something bad is about to happen, and it just keeps you awake all night?" She murmured nervously.
"Yes, it seems to me we are having the same problem. I couldn't sleep either because I just had a strange feeling something was going to happen." He said, giving her a tense smile.
"I think it's this upcoming battle… I know I'm on the side I want to be. I'm just scared, I guess. It's not so much being scared that I'm having to fight my former friends. It's the fact that all the people I've come to love here recently are going to be fighting, and I don't think I could stomach losing any of you." She rushed out while quickly wiping a tear from her eye.
"Oh, little dove, that's perfectly normal. It's okay to be worried about everyone. I worry every time we go on a raid. Some of these guys I fight beside I've known my whole life; they are brothers to me. So it's okay to be worried. Just don't let it get you hurt in the process. As hard as it is going to be, you can't worry during a battle this big. You need to keep your mind clear and worry about keeping yourself protected." He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement.
Getting up from her chair, she walked over to Yaxley and wrapped him in a hug.
"Thank you, Yaxley. I really needed to hear that I wasn't alone in my thoughts." She smiled at him, teary-eyed.
"Anytime, little dove. I just know we are all going to make it out of this alive. We have to." He said softly.
Breaking the hug, she returned to her chair.
"Dinky." She called quietly.
Popping into the room, the little elf looked at Hermione and said, "Yes, Ms. Hermy?"
"Would you mind getting Yaxley and myself some tea?" She asked with a smile.
Without answering, the little elf popped away, only to come back a moment later with a full tea service.
After they both made their tea, they settled down to read their chosen books.
Before Hermione could get two pages in, her mark started to burn painfully. Looking up at Yaxley, she noticed he too was being summoned.
"Do we need to summon our regalia?" She asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes, the mark only hurts this bad when it's urgent." He hissed out.
Using their wands to Accio their robes and mask, they quickly placed them on and pressed their dark marks, dissapartating from the room.
When they landed where they were being called, she silently cursed. Hogwarts , that could only mean one thing—her gut feeling was right.
Looking around, she spotted a familiar head of platinum hair in the sea of Death Eaters. Yaxley nodded his head at her before proceeding through the gates.
When she made it to Draco he wrapped her in a hug and said, "Where were you, love? When I woke up to my mark burning, I started to panic because you weren't there." He said, a look of dread in his eyes.
"I was in the library talking to Yax. I couldn't sleep. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen—clearly, I was right." She said with an amused smile.
"Always having to point out when you're right, huh?" He smirked as they rushed through the gates.
When they made it to the Great Hall, they noticed that it was filled to the brim, just like it was the previous day.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here so early," the Dark Lord said from the dais. "About thirty minutes ago, my spy came to me with the news that the Order plans to try and take Hogwarts today. They will make their attempt this evening around eight. If you don't already know where you need to be, approach a member of the inner circle, and they will inform you." He said, glancing around the room, making sure the inner circle were where they needed to be, before exiting.
Once the Dark Lord had left, Draco grabbed Hermione by the hand and led them over to Lucius to figure out what they would be doing to prepare.
Walking up to Lucius, she said, "Your two favorite Death Eaters are reporting for duty, Lucy dear." Hermione sang.
Failing horribly to hide his smile, Lucius looked at her, saying, "Ah yes, I do think you meant 'biggest pains in my arse'. You two will be rounding up the school Death Eaters and taking the Gryffindors to the dungeons."
"Yes, Father. Stay safe tonight." Draco said with a hint of emotion in his voice.
Lucius wrapped both teenagers in a tight hug, and said, "Both of you, stay safe. Don't do anything foolish that could get you killed—and yes, I'm talking to you, my foolish Gryffindor." He chuckled.
As they walked away from Lucius to head to the Slytherin common room, they ran into Blaise and Theo.
"Well, it looks like the war is finally popping off. Are you guys ready for tonight?" Theo asked.
"Wow, Theo. Way to break the tension." Blaise laughed.
"As ready as I can be, I just hope we don't lose anyone." Hermione murmured.
"Well, I don't care if my Ol' Thoros dies tonight. I would dance on his grave!" Theo laughed.
"Nice, Theo. Nice." Draco deadpanned.
As they finally made it down to the Slytherin dormitories, Theo said, "Pureblood."
The door opened to reveal the Slytherin common room. Wow, this is so much nicer than anything we had in Gryffindor Tower, Hermione thought to herself.
" Why did you bring that dirty bitch in here?" Pansy screeched, "She's going to give us fucking diseases or something!"
"Oh, Pansy. Do you need a reminder of our talk from yesterday?" Hermione grinned evilly.
"CRUCIO!" Hermione snarled.
Pansy was screaming and pleading with Hermione to stop, and that was all that could be heard in the Slytherin dorms.
Pansy remained in a crumpled ball on the ground when Hermione eventually lifted the curse.
"Well, as fun as that was to watch, we need everyone who is fighting to make their way to the Great Hall." Draco said while trying to hold back a laugh.
As everyone who would be fighting exited the room, Narcissa entered.
"Oh, my darlings. I'm so happy I could see you all before tonight." Narcissa said, dabbing her eyes.
"Mother, why are you here? Shouldn't you be at home where it's safe ?" Draco said worriedly.
"Dragon, someone needs to be here to stay with the younger snakes. Don't you worry though. I grew up with Bella, I know how to fight and our dear Antonin will be putting up the strongest wards he can to keep anyone without a dark mark out." Narcissa smiled at him while squeezing his hand to calm him.
Looking at all four of them Narcissa started to tear up before saying, "Please, all four of you watch out for each other and be safe. I just can't imagine what I would do if I lost any of my children."
Narcissa dabbed her eyes before hugging each of the four teenagers. "Well, I guess you better be off to do your duties before everything starts." She said, giving them a tense smile.
It was a quiet walk to the Gryffindor Common Room. Nobody could think of anything to say that would make the others worry less.
Once they made it to the entrance of Gryffindor Tower, Theo said, "Bravery."
If looks could kill the one the Fat Lady gave Hermione, would've put her six feet under, "Such a disgrace to the house of Godric Gryffindor."
"Oh, shove it, you fat bint." Draco spat.
"Well, I guess I'll go first. Best to rip the bandage off quickly." Hermione murmured.
When Hermione walked through the door, everyone started to cheer.
"You've come to help!" Seamus said excitedly.
"It's Hermione! The Order must be here!" Lavender cheered.
"I'm so glad to see you, Hermione." Neville smiled.
The cheering died immediately when Draco, Theo, and Blaise walked into the room.
"What're you doing with these Death Eater scum?" Seamus growled out.
"Hermione… What have you done?" Neville asked sadly.
The rest of Griffyndor just stood silently in a state of shock, seeing one of Harry Potter's best friends with a group of Death Eaters.
"I was abandoned at Malfoy Manor by the Order. I endured days of torture, and no one came for me. I did what I had to do, and I'm not sorry for it, nor do I regret the choices I made." Hermione said with a sneer.
The silence turned to cries of anger.
"You're lying. The Order would never leave someone behind."
"The way Malfoy is staring at her, she probably changed sides to be his Death Eater whore."
"I always knew she was one of those people who would throw someone under the bus to make things better for themselves."
Surprisingly, it was the always quiet Blaise who spoke up, "One more word against Hermione, and I will permanently fucking silence you."
"For those of you who are a bit dense, he means he will kill you." Theo laughed.
The threats and insults stopped immediately. The Gryffindors opted to glare at the group of four.
"Well, now that you've spewed all of your utter shite, let's go. The entirety of Gryffindor will be having a lovely stay in the dungeons tonight." Draco smirked.
"You either some quietly and without fight, or I will stun you and levitate you down. The choice is yours." Blaise said flatly.
The walk down to the dungeons was eventful, ending with Neville, Seamus, and Collin, being stunned and bound.
Once everyone was locked up, Draco sent his patronus to Antonin to come and ward the cells so no one would be able to escape, or enter the dungeons without a dark mark.
Looking at Hermione, Antonin said "Krasavitsa, you will be dueling with Yaxley. When you are done saying your goodbyes, he will be waiting for you in the great hall." Then he turned to the boys and said, "You all will be in the courtyard waiting for the first wave to come in. We have the Forbidden Forest and the rest of the Hogwarts grounds being guarded by Dementors, Werewolves, and Acromantulas."
As Antonin walked away, Hermione rushed to Blaise and Theo, hugging them and whispering to them, "Be safe."
Walking to Draco, she kissed him with hunger, "Draco, you better make it out of this alive or so help me, I will bring you back to kill you myself." She said with a smirk.
Hugging her as hard as he could, Draco said, "I love you, Hermione Granger. I would crawl through the fires of hell to get back to you. Not even death is strong enough to part us."
After kissing each other one last time, they parted to go their separate ways.
Hermione's POV
As she made her way to the Great Hall to meet Yaxley, she couldn't help but worry. All of her found family would be fighting tonight or in the castle, protecting others. I just have to be positive. We will all be okay. Everyone has to be okay, she thought to herself.
Once she made her way to where she needed to be, she spotted Yaxley talking to the Dark Lord. Walking up to them, she bowed her head to the Dark Lord and asked, "My Lord, are you ready for tonight?"
"More than you could ever imagine, my dear. This is thirty-plus years in the making. It should've ended years ago. Tonight, we will be victorious." He said with confidence.
"I agree, My Lord. I have been in the middle of this war since I was eleven years old—albeit on the wrong side for the first seven years—I'm ready for some normalcy and to live my life with my new family." She said, smiling.
"Yes, just like all the other young ones in my ranks, you deserve to be able to live the rest of your life carefree. We will see to that tonight." He said, giving her shoulder a squeeze, before walking away.
"Well, my little dove, it seems like we've been partnered up." He grinned.
"Ready to kick some arse, Yax?" She laughed.
"Always, you've got my back, yeah?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
"Of course, I wouldn't want to fight beside anyone else." She said while giving him a hug. "It's only thirty minutes to eight. Where do you think the best place to go and wait will be?"
"The Dark Lord told me heading to the professors lounge would be a good idea to make sure they're all incapacitated so they don't make it down to the battle." He said nonchalantly, like this would be easy work.
As they made their way to the second-floor lounge, they paused, hearing voices coming from the room.
"I've already contacted Remus. He told me they would be coming through The Room of Requirement using the old passage from the HogsHead." Minerva said in a hushed tone.
"I say we give it a few more moments, and then we make our way there to meet them." Flitwick said back.
Yaxley pointed to the other side of the hall, motioning to an alcove. Once they were both hidden away, Yaxley placed Notice-Me-Not charms on them before whispering, "Let's sneak back out of the alcove, and each post up on a different side of the hall to catch them off guard."
They both snuck to opposite sides of the hall to wait. Three minutes later, Minerva and Flitwick peeked their heads out of the door to make sure no one was in the hallway before stepping out.
Stepping out in front of the professors, Hermione dropped her charm.
"Going somewhere, professor?" Hermione drawled while spinning her wand in her fingers.
"Ms. Granger, I'm going to have to ask you to walk the other way, or I will Stupefy you." Flitwick said nervously, looking around the halls to see if she was alone.
Hermione laughed before saying, "Is that seriously the only spell the Order knows other than Expelliarmus ?"
" DIFFINDO!" Minerva growled, aiming her wand at Hermione.
Before the curse could hit its mark, it was deflected.
From the other side of the hall, Yaxley walked out. "Now, now. I do believe it's poor manners for two people to gang up on someone—let alone a child, Minerva." Yaxley tutted.
"That child is a traitor. She deserves whatever comes her way, Corban." Minerva said admonishingly.
That was enough to set Yaxley off, and he began to duel her.
" AVIS…OPPUNGO!" Hermione hissed as small dragons flew from her wand and began to breathe fire at the little professor.
" EXPULSO!" The little professor bellowed.
Hermione deflected the curse, turning it back to him and aiming for the ground under his feet.
Flitwick was able to shield at the last moment, preventing him from being blown back.
" PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" He screamed.
While moving to dodge the curse, Flitwick caught her off-guard and landed a Diffindo on her ribs.
Flitwick was cheering that he had finally landed a curse on her, but he had not noticed a Cruciatus curse that was being hurdled his way from Yaxley's wand.
When Hermione turned her head to look over at Yaxley, she screamed. "YAXLEY, NO!"
Minerva had already appeared from the rubble of the destroyed hall and struck him with the killing curse before he had a chance to turn around.
Yaxley collapsed to the ground, lifeless, bringing an abrupt stop to his curse. The triumph of helping Hermione one final time was still etched on his face—a smile.
Hermione let out a guttural scream, feeling her heart stop for a moment. Dead, one of her favorite people. She would never hear him refer to her as a "little dove" again.
Springing up from the ground, she bellowed, " FIENDFYRE! "
Before the professors could even attempt to defend themselves, a massive fireball transformed into a dragon and swooped down the hall, engulfing them and converting them to nothing but ash.
She let the flames burn, accepting their intensity and letting her wrath fuel them, until at last she lifted the curse.
She ran to Yaxley's body and clung onto his cold body, peering into his unseeing eyes one last time before letting herself break—giant, heaving sobs leaving her body.
Pulling herself together, she thought of her happiest memory—Draco telling her that he loved her for the very first time—and summoned her Patronus.
"Go find Draco and tell him," a sob escaped her mouth before continuing, "Yaxley is dead. The Order will be coming through the Room of Requirement."
Draco's POV
Nothing—a whole lot of nothing—was happening in the courtyard.
"Why isn't the order here yet?" He asked his fellow Death Eaters, as they were all starting to get antsy.
Before anyone could answer back to him, a massive blue light in the form of a Hungarian Horntail came barreling towards them.
'" Go find Draco," a sob escaped Hermione's mouth before she continued, "Yaxley is dead. The Order will be coming through the Room of Requirement ."'
We have the same Patronus! She really does love me , Draco thought to himself before feeling extremely hurt knowing that Yaxley had died in front of Hermione—one of her favorite people—before the battle had even really started.
"Hurry! Everyone to the seventh floor!" Draco yelled before taking off at a dead sprint towards the castle.
Lucius' POV
Lucius was walking down the main staircase when Draco and several other Death Eaters ran past him.
"What's going on? Why are you running?" He yelled to his son.
"Order…Room of Requirement." Draco panted out while still running up the stairs.
He heard footsteps and whispers as he was about to climb onto the first step of the staircase. He turned and looked around the corner, seeing two redheads—they had to be Weasleys.
When Lucius noticed that one of the men was missing an ear, he became enraged realizing that this man had tortured his daughter-in-law.
Aiming a wandless Petrificus totalus , he incapacitated the other twin before stepping into the hallway to be seen.
"Ah, if it isn't the filthy fucking Weasley who tortured my daughter." He growled out.
"You mean the bitch that killed my mom? My desire for vengeance was greatly satiated by hearing her scream as I tortured her." George gave a vicious chuckle.
Wandlessly, Lucius disarmed him.
" Incarcerous!"
With a sinister grin, Lucius realized that Fred would witness all he planned to do to his brother, who was restrained on the ground, despite the fact that he was petrified.
Aiming his wand at George, he said, "Let's see how much you like it." Before hissing, " CRUCIO!"
Lucius saw that a tear had fallen from Fred's eye as he looked across at his brother, who was being held under the Cruciatus .
He grinned before canceling out the Cruciatus. "Not feeling so big and bad now, are we?" Lucius laughed.
"Tardius ossa conteram."
Let's see how the arsehole likes having all of his bones broken slowly one by one, he thought to himself.
Looking at Fred, he grinned before sending a quick Avada Kedavra towards him.
He levitated George back into the tunnel they had just slipped out of thirty minutes prior, silencing him as he did so. Someone will find him…Maybe he laughed to himself as he turned to race up the steps once more to rejoin the ranks.
Hermione's POV
The activities taking place on the uppermost levels of the castle could only be described as mayhem. The wandfire's hues reflecting in the windows gave the impression of fireworks.
Looking around, she saw low-level Death Eaters strewn about the ground. Rolling her eyes, she started Rennervating everyone. Of course they're only stunned, typical Order bullshite, she thought to herself.
Placing a Notice-Me-Not on herself, she made her way up to the seventh floor cursing Order members, and deflecting Stupefys from hitting Death Eaters.
She arrived at the epicenter of the fighting, dropping her charm to reveal herself, and as she turned to her left, she was just in time to witness Percy, sporting a murderous smile, use the killing curse on his younger sister Ginny.
Arthur Weasley, who was dueling Rodolphus, was standing just to the right of Percy and Ginny, watching everything happen. With a deafening cry, he collapsed to the ground—his wife was dead, and now his baby girl is dead as well. Rodolphus capitalized on Arthur's distraction by striking him with the Sectumsempra, the same curse that murdered his wife.
Well, the Weasleys are just dropping like flies. Served them right, she laughed to herself.
It was madness, but when the Dark Lord's voice echoed through the castle halls, everyone fell silent, out of reverence or dread.
"Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. Bring him to the Forbidden Forest. You have until midnight."
The moment he finished speaking, Hermione noticed her dark mark was burning. He was calling them to his location on the grounds.
Ron's POV
From under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry and Ron stared at each other wide-eyed when Voldemorts voice rang through the castle. While the speech was still going, Ron looked up and smiled.
Just in front of him and Harry stood Hermione. Nudging Harry, he tilted his head towards Hermione to show Harry.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, mate?" He smiled deviously.
Harry nodded his head in affirmation. Slowly, they shuffled as close to her as they could get. As soon as the speech was finished and everyone started yelling, they took their chance.
Jabbing his wand into her back, Ron hissed, " Stupefy."
As soon as Hermione was incapacitated by his spell, Ron yanked her into the Invisibility Cloak with Harry and himself.
"Let's take her to the Shrieking Shack and have a little talk with her before using her as a bargaining chip with Ol' Voldy." He smirked.
As they made their way across the grounds, Ron couldn't help but be excited. It was time to make this stupid bint pay for what she's done, he thought to himself.
When they made it to the basement of the Shrieking Shack, Harry grabbed a chair, and Ron shoved her in it, casting an Incarcerous to make sure she couldn't move.
" Rennervate!"
Hermione's POV
When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of Harry and Ron smiling at her like they had just won a trophy.
"Oh, this will be the biggest mistake of your pathetic fucking lives when Draco finds you." Hermione spat.
"No one is going to find you—until we're ready for them to do so—you traitorous bitch." Harry roared with laughter.
"Yeah! We plan to have a little bit of fun with you before using you as a bargaining chip." Ron agreed.
"Of course, you have to let Harry have the first word, being his little fucking shadow and all that." She laughed before continuing, "It must suck to be poor little Ron, always riding everyone's coattails for just a little bit of fame."
Turning a violent shade of red, Ron aimed his wand and screamed, " CRUCIO!"
It hurt, but Hermione stayed silent. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of showing she was in pain, so she bit her cheek to the point of bleeding.
When the curse stopped, she looked up at Ron. "Is that all you've fucking got?" She spat the blood in her mouth at his feet before continuing, "Your bitch of a Mother's Expulso throwing me to the ground hurt worse than that."
"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU MENTION HER!" Ron bellowed.
"How was her funeral? Sorry, I forgot to send my condolences—oh, wait, I'm not fucking sorry." She cackled.
Harry's POV
When Hermione finished her sentence, he sucked in a breath. Before he could exhale, Ron had already lunged across the room and was pummeling into Hermione with his fists.
Harry wanted to feel bad—he was taught never to lay hands on a woman, but he couldn't.
Hermione deserved everything that was coming her way. Today alone, he had already lost what little family and friends he had left thanks to the Death Eaters—and she was one of them.
He didn't know how long he stood there watching Ron slap, punch, and kick at Hermione. Every time she would pass out, Ron would Rennervate her and cast a healing charm before starting the process over.
Casting a Tempus charm, he realized they only had twenty minutes before they needed to be in the Forbidden Forest.
"Ron, it's time to stop. I think she's gotten the point, and we need to go!" Harry yelled trying to catch Rons attention.
"M'kay" Ron murmured before casting a Rennervate on Hermione, "I'm not healing her this time. They need to see what will happen if they don't give us what we want." He said confidently.
"Whatever you say, let's just go." Harry said before throwing the Invisibility Cloak over the three of them.
Draco's POV
Something is wrong. She should be here by now, he thought to himself while pacing behind Theo, while Blaise was searching the crowd, asking if anyone had seen Hermione.
When Draco saw Blaise walking back to them, his heart sank, seeing the grim look on his friend's face.
"Percy said he saw her before the Dark Lord spoke throughout the castle, but when he turned back to see if she wanted to side-along to the forest, she was gone." Blaise sighed.
" FUCK! " Draco shouted before starting to pace again.
"Draco!" Bellatrix hissed. "What is your problem?"
"They took her. They fucking took her, and no one has seen her." He gasped out.
"What do you mean they took her, Draco?" The Dark Lord growled out.
He explained to the Dark Lord, his Father, and Aunt Bellatrix everything he knew, and when he looked at them, he desperately hoped maybe they had seen something that could allude to where she was.
"Draco, track her! If she's wearing her courting gift, you should be able to cast a Point-me charm at your ring, and it'll show you where she is. That's why I suggested adding that in the first place." Lucius said softly.
Casting the charm, he stared at the map before saying, "That's weird. It shows she is about to walk into the clearing."
Draco let out a choked scream at what he saw as they all sprinted to the front of the gathering. Hermione was lying on the ground in front of Potter and Weasel. She had been severely beaten or cursed—which one, he wasn't sure.
When Ron realized how much it hurt him physically to see her like that, he had the gall to smile at him.
"We will give you Hermione back if you let us live." Ron spoke loudly.
Making eye contact with the Dark Lord, Draco could feel him slip into his mind.
" I am going to agree. The moment you get close enough to Hermione to grab her, bind both Potter and his red-headed friend. I don't care what you do to others, but Potter is mine ."
Once the Dark Lord slipped out of his mind, he turned his eyes back to Hermione.
"I will grant you this boon, as long as Draco can come grab his intended to bring her to this side," the Dark Lord drawled.
Hermione's POV
Her eyes were so swollen from the beating that she could barely see a few feet in front of her. When she heard footsteps coming up to her, she couldn't help but start to shake in fear of being beaten again.
She saw two purple lights flash over her head before hearing, "Shhh, it's me, love. I've got you. Everything's going to be okay. No one will touch you again."
Hearing Draco's voice made her feel so warm inside. Safe, she thought before everything went dark.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in the Slytherin common room. She shot up in a panic before noticing that not only was Draco by her side, but so were the majority of the inner circle.
"Did you do it? Did you kill them, and I missed it?" Hermione frowned.
The Dark Lord chucked before speaking, "No, my dear. We have Potter and Weasley being guarded in the Great Hall by Fenrir. We brought you up here long enough for Narcissa to heal you. You've only been asleep for about fifteen minutes."
"Krasavitsa, you act like we would have all the fun without you. I'm truly wounded." Antonin taunted with a smile.
"Well, what're we waiting for? I feel brand new now that I'm not a bloody mess." She laughed, trying to make light of the state they had to see her in.
Draco flinched at her comment before grabbing her hand and helping her up from the couch.
"You heard the girl! Let's get this going." The Dark Lord laughed.
As everyone filed out of the room, Draco turned to her, wrapped her in a hug, and kissed her softly. "I never want to see you like that again, love. I swear, my heart stopped beating at the sight of you like that." He croaked out.
"Hopefully, you will never have to see me like that again, Draco," she said quietly. "Now let's go. I wouldn't want to miss the death of those sorry bastards."
When they made it down to the Great Hall, the Dark Lord and the inner circle were waiting outside the closed doors.
The Dark Lord looked to her and said, "Dear, would you mind escorting me to the front of the hall? I feel like we should show them just how much you mean to myself and the inner circle." He smirked, holding out his arm.
"I would be honored, my Lord." She winked at him before looping her arm through his.
As the door opened, she could see Harry and Ron on their knees in front of the dais. She smirked when she saw the look of fear in their eyes as she walked arm-in-arm with the Dark Lord and the inner circle flanking their sides.
As they approached the dais, the Dark Lord held onto her arm and continued to guide her up the stairs.
When they made it to the dais, the Dark Lord cut his eyes harshly at Ron before speaking, "Mr. Weasley," he purred out. "It has come to my attention that you seem to think it's okay to torture and physically beat a girl I've come to think of as family. "
Hearing the Dark Lord say he thought of her as family made her smile.
"I didn't do anything to that stupid bint that she didn't already deserve! I would've fucking killed her if I could've!" Ron blurted out.
" CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screeched.
Hermione was pleased to see Ron writhe beneath the curse and Harry pleading with Bellatrix to cease.
Who deserves it now? She thought to herself.
The Dark Lord raised his hand, and Bellatrix stopped the curse.
"It seems only fair that young Draco should be the one to kill this scum. It was his intended, after all, that was senselessly tortured by Mr. Weasley." The Dark Lord smiled cruelly.
Before walking to where Ron was kneeling on the ground crying, Draco walked to her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips before whispering, "Never again will he put his hands on you."
Draco whirled around and marched over to Ron, his eyes gleaming maliciously. Draco hadn't even raised his wand, and Harry was already screaming and pleading with Draco not to do it.
"Let this be a message," Draco stated, peering out over the gathering of Death Eaters. You will not only infuriate me but also The Dark Lord and the entire inner circle if you attack Hermione."
Draco looked at her and smiled before aiming his wand at Ron and growling out, " Avada Kedavra!"
Rather than witnessing Ron collapse to the ground lifeless, she observed Harry, who was inconsolable over the death of his best friend.
"Harry Potter," the Dark Lord hissed. "You should've known that you were never going to be able to defeat me this time around. Your overconfidence, instilled in you by the order, became your biggest weakness. Instead of coming here to end me, you only led your precious Order to their deaths." He cackled before continuing, "If you haven't already realized, you are one of my Horcruxes. We can finish this once and for all. Join me or die."
Hermione continued to observe Harry take in this information— he probably didn't know that while he was watching his best friend beat me to a pulp, the Death Eaters took out every last order member.
She watched as Harry wiped his eyes and straightened his glasses before looking The Dark Lord in the eye saying, "I would rather die, than join the Person who ruthlessly murdered my parents and ordered for the rest of my friends and family to be killed."
The Dark Lord smiled at Harry and said, "I was hoping you would choose that option. Killing you will be much more satisfying than keeping you around."
Before Harry could say anything, a green light shot from the Dark Lord's wand, hitting Harry in the chest and blowing his body back several feet.
Harry Potter was dead.