AN: Hello, fanfiction 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!
Can You Take the Jump?
Chapter 37
Most students stared, some even dared to giggle and point.
None of the other Slytherins wanted to associate themselves with him anymore. Travers wanted nothing to do with him, going as far as shunning him.
All the reigning terror that Mulciber had built around himself and his reputation for years had diminished to nothing by Hermione Evans's hands within a few months. He wasn't sure how she'd done it, but he's been getting amnesia episodes that somehow always ended with him in a compromising position. Professors were taking points and giving detention, while students around him were laughing and whispering into the ears of their friends.
"Ease up, Anton." She told him coolly. She sat at the Slytherin table with Severus Snape, enjoying some grey sloop she called lunch. "There's so much tension in your shoulders that you look like you have no neck."
"What do you want?"
"I'm within my right to ask you to sit with me, Tonton." She spoke in a sickly-sweet voice. The revolting nickname caused not only Severus's eyes to flicker toward her, but everyone within hearing distance. "You're my bitch, remember?"
Severus did a horrible job suppressing the snort of amusement.
"Something funny, Snape?" Mulciber growled.
"Honestly?" Severus's eyes flickered to Hermione and back to the large Slytherin next to her. "She's going extremely easy on you, Mulciber. You deserve so much more. She could be asking you to do a lot more humiliating, demeaning, and downright dehumanizing things to you. You should be glad that the worst you've had to do is sit with her during lunch and call you Tonton, Tonton."
Hermione made a smug face. "Such a great nickname, don't you think Sev?"
"Excellent." He agreed. "It suits him perfectly."
"I agree. Your bulkiness rounds you out, Anton. I was debating between Annie and Tonton, but I think I made the better decision."
Severus bit his lip, "Annie? Well, now I'm not sure. I really like Annie as well."
"Really? Which do you prefer, Tonton? Annie is cute, but I think Tonton is much cuter." She turned to the rest of the Slytherins at the table. Everyone was listening now. "What do you guys think? Annie or Tonton?"
Mulciber slammed the table, knocking over goblets of juice and water.
"Enough!"
Hermione pulled out the old antique pocket watch she found in the Room of Requirement years ago.
"Wow, you lasted a solid 5 minutes before you snapped," she counted. "Honestly, it's more than I gave you credit for."
He seethed, "I know you've been doing something to me! I know it!"
She smirked and glanced at Snape. "Not as dumb as he looks. But…" She turned to him. "Can you prove it?"
"What?"
"Can you prove it? Or am I going to have to sue you for defamation as well?"
Her hazel eyes turned impossibly dark. He'd seen this look on her face before, but he didn't know where. Suddenly the old injuries and scars on his wand hand started to throb, pulsating with pain. He clenched it tightly, trying to be discrete, but she smiled knowingly.
"How about a deal?" Hermione pushed her bowl aside and looked up at him with interest. She placed the paper in front of him. The front page of the Prophet read, "The Death of Ex-Minister of Magic, Eugenia Jenkins! Was it Natural Causes or did the Dark Rebellion Strike Again?!"
She leaned closer to him, whispering in his ear. "I want every single piece of information you can gather about this. Use every resource you have to tell me who did it, how it was done, and when it was planned."
Despite the chill that travelled down his back, he shook his head. "You're treading on dangerous waters mudblood."
"Perhaps," she nodded. "But if you do this, you're free. If you don't, your humiliation will get a lot worse, Tonton."
Mulciber weighed his options. His eyes flicked back and forth between the paper and her soul-sucking eyes. With a grumble, he grabbed the paper and stormed out of the Great Hall.
"Do you have questions, Severus?" Hermione asked, feeling his inquisitive eyes.
"You know I do, but I also value my life."
"Wise choice," she nodded. "You're learning."
An owl hooted from above. It was a school owl, not a personal one. She looked around suspiciously to the possible sender, but once Mulciber had left, no one paid her any more attention.
She threw a ham piece off Severus's plate to the owl and untied the note from its leg.
I need to see you. Now. Fourth floor, end of the east wing, last room on the left.
-Avery
She immediately closed the note and placed it in her pocket. Snape gave her a curious glance, but she shook her head, warning him not to ask. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her essay for Transfiguration.
"Submit this for me, will you? I don't think I'll make it to class."
"What about your academic probation?"
"Tell McGonagall I have bad period cramps or something."
"I don't want to do that!" Snape called out, but she was already gone.
…
By the time Hermione arrived at the classroom, Avery was already there pacing the floor, biting his nails and hair a mess.
"What's going on Avery," Hermione asked. The two had never met privately like this in the 5 years they'd known each other. "Is this about the OWLS?"
"No, it's not that." He grumbled. "I've been called." He passed her the note he received from his parents.
"Holy fuck."
"I won't be able to survive as one of his little murderous minions! You know I can barely gut the bloody salamanders for Potions," he gripped his hair. "You've seen the paper, haven't you? All those things that the reporters write about, all those horrible, gruesome things, they're done by them! Him! But if I don't do what he asks, then my parents are punished for it, or I'll be punished for it."
She watched him panic, "I'm not exactly sure what you want me to do about this, Avery."
He whipped his head around. "IT'S YOUR FAULT! They want me because of my bloody potion skills! You got me into this mess!"
Avery Jnr. was a Death Eater in the original timeline as well, and a successful one at that, but she didn't mention it.
"And when they find out you're not as talented as they thought, maybe they'll kick you out."
"Kick me out? Do you understand what that means? They're going to kill me!" He spat. Anger bubbled beneath his chest at her expressionless face, but he forced himself to calm down. "You are the most capable person I know. You need to have an answer."
"I don't." She shook her head. "It's not like you volunteered. Your parents volunteered you. There's little I can do about that."
"My parents have no clue what his group really is. They just think it's an exclusive elite group, something that will help me get ahead in life. They're fucking clueless!" His face crumpled with despair. "You have to be able to help me. If you can't, there's no one else."
"Have you tried Dumbledore?" She asked, knowing the answer.
Avery scoffed.
Hermione knew that Dumbledore wasn't cruel enough to allow a kid like Avery to be left to Voldemort's devices, but she also knew that he would see Avery as an opportunity, just like she did. She felt bad for Avery, she really did, but this was an opportunity that she couldn't miss, and one that she definitely couldn't hand off to Dumbledore.
"Have you considered emigration?" Hermione proposed. "Although he would punish your parents for your betrayal and probably freeze all your cash flow, leaving you broke in a foreign country by yourself by the time you're seventeen."
"Merlin, you're the worst." He shook his head. "What was I thinking when I asked you here?"
"That I'd have an answer to an impossible situation." She shrugged; she allowed a bit of sympathy to shine through her eyes as she laid the trap. "I do have an option for you to consider, but it's not something you're going to want to hear."
Helpless and desperate, he turned to her despite her warning.
"I've got nothing else. Let's hear it."
…
Regulus nearly derided the assembled group around him. It had to be the weirdest ensemble of people he ever stood around. A half-blood, a skittish Pureblood, a mudblood dating his brother, and himself.
He didn't wholly care for or despise Avery, but adding the other two's presence, it was bizarre as it gets.
"What the fuck is going on?" He was tired of waiting for someone to break the silence and address why the hell the four of them were here.
"Good question, Black." Hermione nodded. "Thank you all for coming. Before we start, this room is warded. No one can hear, see, or find us here. I also need everyone here to take a Wizarding Oath to promise that none of what was said in this room will be repeated to anyone else unless we've all agreed."
Regulus let out a laugh, thinking it was a joke, but no one else laughed.
"Who do you think you are, mudblood?"
Snape immediately became defensive of the girl, but Regulus had expected it. It was well known amongst the Slytherins that the half-blood and Mudblood Evans were friends, but what surprised Regulus was how Avery's eyes nervously flickered to her. When did they have any type of relationship other than as potion partners?
"It's alright, he has the right to question what we're all doing here." She reached over to grip Avery's shoulder. "Avery here has been called by dear old Voldy. And I've also been recruited after my successful outcome at the Dueling Championships."
Snape's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their respective sockets.
"That's what we're here to talk about, so do you now understand the desire for discretion?" She sounded as if she was talking about the bloody weather.
"I'll go first." She pulled out her wand and held it to her heart. "I, Hermione Evans, promise to never speak about what is said or what happens in this room tonight to anyone else unless everyone here agrees to disclose the information." The wand glowed in bright yellow light and faded into her chest, completing the Oath.
Unlike the Unbreakable Vow, the Wizarding Oath was much less severe, but there was still a probability of death if they went against their Oath. It would take someone with an inordinate amount of willpower to even break the Oath in the first place, let alone survive it.
Snape held his wand up soon after and copied her words.
Avery followed suit.
The group waited expectantly at Regulus.
"If I don't make this Oath, what happens?"
"Do you expect us to hurt you?" Hermione smirked but shook her head. "We kick the little 3rd year back to his dorm." She shrugged casually.
By the end of a furious internal debate, Regulus stiffly held up his wand to his own heart and repeated the words everyone else said.
Hermione clapped, "Great. The reason I've called the three of you here today is that out of all of his potential future followers, we are the only ones who view his actions distasteful."
Regulus truly laughed this time, clutch-the-stomach-and-tears-in-the-eyes type of laugh.
"Future recruit? I was never recruited. Voldemort doesn't even know I exist!"
"He does," Hermione assured. "Your mother has already offered your brother. He and Avery will probably be initiated this summer. Your parents are fanatical enough to offer both of their children, and you know it."
Regulus paled. His parents had truly gone and done it. He was always secretly afraid they would, but now that they had, he couldn't think. He couldn't breathe.
"Easy, Black." Hermione reached out to him, steadying him as his knees quaked beneath him. "Easy."
"W-why isn't Sirius here?"
She sighed, "Because Sirius does not know how to bend. He will never go through with being Voldemort's lackey. He will gladly break before his own cause."
"And we are?" Avery demanded, catching onto her meaning.
"Sirius is willing to die to stand up for what he believes in. Are you?" Hermione challenged. They were Slytherins, self-preservation ran through their veins, or at least Hermione was betting on it.
None of them had any retort.
"You don't know what you're saying, once you're chosen, there is no going back! It is a choice between life and death! Sirius will choose life. He has to!"
"Your brother will be placed in front of Voldemort this summer and be marked against his will," Hermione told him. "It will break him, rendering him useless. After they break him, who do you think they will turn to as their newest recruit to join the cause?"
Regulus looked into the eyes of his brother's so-called girlfriend who stood in front of him completely expressionless as she spoke of his brother's possible future death. It was practically clinical.
"My brother may be immature, but he is a Black. He knows his duties to his family. To the people that raised him."
"Then you do not know your brother."
"Our family words are Toujours Pur and we are some of the strongest advocates of blood purism! My brother is the one who taught me those words!"
"Then kill me."
Hermione dropped her wand. Its clatter against the stone floor echoed in the empty and abandoned classroom.
"Hermi—" Snape jerked forward, but she held her hand up to stop him.
"You seem like a supporter of Voldemort. Kill me, Regulus. Kill the girl who dared to speak up against your great Lord. Kill the girl who stands against everything your family stands for, who led your brother astray. Your mother would be so proud. It would be a perfect murder too, right under Dumbledore's nose. No one would find me for days in this abandoned classroom that no one uses. Your only two witnesses just took an oath to never speak of anything that occurs in this class. And no previous interactions between us could point to a motive. You'd get away with it, just like that." She snapped her fingers. "Kill me."
She stepped forward. Regulus pointed his wand to her chest.
"Hermione," Severus warned, even Avery looked concerned.
"Kill me." She took another step toward the boy. "Just like your parents taught you. Feel the hatred of my kind within you. You can do it. Make your mother proud. Rid the world of one more filth. Rip my unworthy mudblood hands away from your brother."
"Don't come any closer."
She didn't listen.
"Stop!"
"Kill me."
"No."
"Kill me."
"No!"
"Kill me!"
"FUCK OFF!"
"Why won't you do it?"
"You're crazy!" he stepped back.
"And you're in denial." She shot back. "I remember your drawing of a muggle plane in your Arithmancy textbook. You're the one who called Malfoy to help me when Travers cornered me before the semi-final. You answered my call and came here tonight. You don't have to be honest with me, but at least be honest with yourself."
Regulus didn't answer, but he stormed out of the class.
"Holy mother of Merlin." Avery let out the breath he'd been holding. "What is the matter with you? Why are you gambling with your life like that? What if he actually killed you?"
"I was hoping one of you would jump in and save me."
"Do I look like a fucking Gryffindor to you? Don't fucking do that shit again because I will NOT and will NEVER hurl myself into a fight to save your life."
"Oh Avery, stop. You're making me blush." She told him in her monotone voice.
"Shouldn't we go after him?" Severus asked.
"I think I've given him plenty to think about. If he has more to say, he knows where to find me."
"Why is Snape here? He hasn't been recruited."
"No," Hermione shook her head. "But he might be, thanks to his association with me. That is, if Voldemort doesn't already know it, it's only a matter of time until he knows Snape's name. The Death Eaters will hear about his prowess of his potion skills and his DADA skills and Voldemort will want him."
"Will Lily be okay?" Severus asked. She was also in close contact with Hermione and a talented witch. Dread piled in his chest at the mere thought of Lily being called upon by the Dark wizard.
"Evans wouldn't get recruited, would she? She's muggleborn."
Hermione and Severus both stared at Avery.
"Oh, fuck. Right. I forgot that you're a muggleborn and that you and your sister are related."
"Happens more than you think." Severus agreed.
"Blood has never been the real objective for Voldemort. He does have some personal vendetta against muggles, it's true, but it's more about power and winning. Purebloods simply have higher status, power, and more money in the wizarding world than the muggleborns. If the reverse had been true, he would have done a crusade against Purebloods. I'm sure of it."
Severus had guessed it to be true, but Avery, who'd been completely unaware of the true reasons behind Voldemort's support for blood purity took a staggering step back. Oh, how foolish his parents were. He wondered how much money they'd devoted to this cause without even knowing. They offered their only son, it can only be assumed it was a hefty sum.
"So, what's the actual plan?" Avery blinked, fury building within him. "What am I going to do about this call? How can I refuse him?"
Hermione shook her head. "You can't and you won't. We're going to infiltrate the Death Eaters and bring them down from the inside."
A silence stretched out. Severus looked shocked at her statement, but Avery blatantly started laughing.
Hermione turned to Severus and sighed, "apparently, I'm a comedian today."
"You're joking right?" he started laughing again. "Good one, Evans."
"When have I ever joked with you?"
His laugh cut off. Avery audibly gulped. "Why are you doing this? Why are you—"
"Have I ever gotten you into something I can't get you out of?" Hermione asked. "You have to trust me."
"Trust? Trust?! This isn't an issue of trust; this is an issue about your sanity!" He shook his head in denial. "This isn't like tricking a school full of idiots that I'm some potion genius! We're talking about tricking the dark fucking lord and ruining him!"
Severus's jaw dropped at Avery's admission, but Avery seemed to have forgotten all about the 3rd individual standing in the room.
"I can't do anything about the fact that your parents have already given you up like a fucking sacrificial lamb!" Hermione shook his shoulders. "The only thing I can do is prepare you so that you don't fucking kill yourself or they don't kill you. The only way you'll be free of him is if he falls and the only way to do that is if I have someone from the inside."
"Why is that someone ME?! If he finds out that I'm a spy…" Avery started shaking his head again. "No, I can't."
"You won't get caught." Hermione ensured. "I will be the only one to accept information from you and I won't pass it to his enemies. Just me."
"Just you? Is that somehow supposed to calm me?! How the fuck are you bringing him down? Are you hearing yourself?"
"Avery," she whispered. "I can't tell you everything. It will put both of us at risk, but I can help you survive. You will train your mind with me so that he can't hear everything you're thinking. You will train magic with me so then the time comes you can…"
"Kill someone?" His voice shook. "Torture them? Rape them?"
"No, they won't ask you to do that. You're there as a potioneer."
"Can you be sure?" He demanded. He jabbed her in the shoulder, "Well? Can you?"
Hermione was silent. The simple answer was that she couldn't.
"What are your other options?"
This time, it was Avery who had no response. Instead, he stormed out of the room just like Regulus had.
"Was there a reason I needed to be here tonight?" Severus asked.
"Moral support?" Hermione joked, but neither of them laughed due to the gravity of the situation. "Besides being seen with me, you've also been seen being friendly with Travers and Mulciber for months. That news will have trickled into Voldemort's ear and put you on his radar. You need to be prepared, just in case."
"Dear Lord," Severus held his head in his hands. "Fucking hell."
"You're going to learn how to block your mind. You're going to train proper duelling and fighting techniques with me and you're going to exercise with me as well."
His brow twitched.
"O-okay."
"Don't be nervous, if I can do it, anyone can." She smacked him on the shoulder, "Your first mission. Bring Avery and Regulus Black to the Quidditch pitch by 5 AM tomorrow. Duelling ready."
…
"Do you think it's wise to start a Dumbledore's Army 2.0 in 1976?"
Swung his legs on the bench, his short legs unable to touch the ground. He was 11 today. She hadn't seen him like this in a few years.
It was chilly so early in the morning, but it would get warmer by the hour. Spring was officially around the corner, which meant her fifth year at Hogwarts in this life was ending. And closing this year by forming a Dumbledore's Army 2.0? It was eventful, that's for sure.
"Do you have a better idea?" Hermione asked child Harry as she sat next to him, waiting—more so hoping—for the Slytherins to arrive.
He shook his head. "No, but I just want to make sure you've thought through all your options. Starting an inner circle within Voldemort's inner circle…it's a risky plan."
"Well, with Voldemort handing out his Horcruxes like cars in Oprah Winfrey's show, I don't have much of a choice."
"I can't believe you tampered with the Marauder's map and are in the process of making your own to do this." Harry waved his arm around at the training setup she had made on the quidditch pitch. "Sirius is going to be so mad when he finds out."
"IF he finds out." She stressed. "Fewer questions mean less lying."
With Sirius knowing the location of the Room of Requirement, she couldn't hold her training sessions like had with the original Dumbledore's Army. She needed space and the only place large and secluded enough was the Quidditch pitch. However, a secondary issue came about when the Marauders finished their Map. It would tell them exactly who she was with, and a group like theirs was odd enough to see together on the Map.
While it gave her no joy, she charmed the Marauder's map to make sure the map always told the truth where she was at all times, but not for the other Slytherins. During the time they met up to train, the three Slytherins were placed at locations where they would normally be found: their common room and dormitories, library, Great Hall, or class. It had taken quite a lot of time and intricate spell work, but she finally managed to figure out how the Marauder's map tagged the people on the map. All she had to do was merge their magical trace on the map with someone lesser-known Slytherins so that Avery, Snape, and Black's names would appear where they are. And voila, her secret anti-Voldemort club could practice in secret.
"I hear something." Harry and Hermione spoke at the same time.
The sound of two footsteps trudged to the center of the Quidditch field. Avery and Severus were yawning and rubbing their sleep-deprived eyes, but it was the floating body next to them that took her by surprise.
"You told me to bring him. You never specified if he needed to be willing or conscious." Severus shrugged. Regulus Black floated towards her in his silk pajamas.
"Wake him up," Hermione instructed. "He needs to be awake if he wants a chance."
"A chance?" Avery questioned while Severus woke the slumbering boy.
"Gah!" Regulus jumped up, disoriented and cold. "What the fuck?!"
"Good morning, Regulus." Hermione greeted cordially. "A bit of a rude awakening, I presume?"
"What the fuck is going on?!"
"You rushed out in such a hurry yesterday that I never got to finish the explanation of my offer."
"What in Merlin's name am I—"
"Severus," Hermione cut the younger Slytherin off completely. "I asked him to be duelling ready, where's his wand?"
Severus reached into his pockets and pulled out a dark wand and handed it to Regulus. He scowled and immediately snatched it out of Severus's grasp.
"If you wish to return to your warm cozy bed today, all you have to do is disarm me," Hermione explained, raising her own wand. "Unlike the Dueling Championships, your spells will not be limited. You may use all forms of magic to disarm me because that is more realistic to what the war will be like. No one is going to stand there as a referee to penalize you for using a spell "too" dangerous. However, I will follow the school's duelling rules. I will not attack. I will be purely on the defensive and I will disarm you."
Regulus stared at her as if she was speaking fluent pig-Latin to him.
"Are you insane? You could die!"
"Or you could be extremely humiliated."
"If you have such a death wish, fling yourself off the bloody Astronomy tower and leave me the fuck alone!"
"I'd rather just snog your brother in the Astronomy tower."
Regulus stormed to the doors that led out of the Quidditch pitch, he yanked at the doors to find them locked. He pulled out his wand and muttered an unlocking charm, but the doors remained shut.
"Mudblood!" He roared. "I'm tired of your fucking games, let me go!"
"The only way those doors open is if my wand leaves my hand. So, if any of you wish to leave this pitch to change, eat, attend class, and such, all you need to do is win. You've got 30 minutes."
…
"How has he not landed a single blow? A single spell?" Avery asked Snape as they watched Regulus Black and Hermione Evans duel for over 25 minutes. "She hasn't lifted her wand except to throw a shield charm. How is she so good?"
"Hermione's good, but…" Severus's eyes trailed to the younger Slytherin. "He's holding back. He has free reigns over what he wishes to cast, but so far, he's gone textbook. I'm not sure if he's holding back because he's scared that he might actually hurt her or if he's too prideful to use something more powerful to win."
"He's never going to land that blow, is he?"
"I don't think any of us will," Severus told him honestly. He watched Hermione move fluidly through the air, avoiding one spell after another. She wasn't even on the defensive; she was simply avoiding the fight entirely. She was lighter and faster than he remembered from the Dueling Championships. She either got better in a couple of months or she had been holding back.
A bell dinged, announcing that Regulus Black's 30 minutes were up.
The boy collapsed on the ground, his chest struggling to rise and fall steadily as his lungs greedily took as much air as they could. He was sweating profusely, his silk pajamas sticking to his wet skin uncomfortably.
"Argh!" He cried in frustration. "Again!"
Hermione, who was slightly out of breath and a small bead of sweat trickled down her forehead shook her head.
"Your turn is over. If you want to beat me, come back tomorrow. Next, Avery!"
"Shit. I didn't even get to duel her during the Championships." He muttered. "Got any advice?" He asked Severus, only for him to laugh.
"Even if I had any, what makes you think I'll share. I want to take her down myself."
…
Avery succumbed to his exhaustion and gave up after 20 minutes.
…
Severus stared down at his long-time friend. Gods she was intimidating.
"Am I really allowed to use any spell?"
She nodded.
"Even the Avada Kedavra?"
"If you're able to cast it, you can use it."
He didn't wait for her to get into position, he fired a spell of his own making, a slicing curse that lacerated the target. With shockingly fast instincts, she dodged the spell with a quick sidestep, which put her directly in line with his disarming charm. He was sure he'd gotten her that time, but she dodged it once more by hitting the floor and creating a smokescreen.
With his vision impaired, Severus fired blindly in the general direction he last saw her.
"Evanesco!" He shouted, clearing the smoke.
Before the air cleared, he heard her from the side, running toward him. Panicked by her charge, he threw various spells he could think of Langlock, knockback jinx, the curse of the bogies, freezing spell, but nothing worked. She continued running toward him, deflecting his hexes and curses.
She's too close!
"Bombarda!"
Even though she deflected the spell, as soon as it hit the ground next to her, the spell caused the ground to explode.
"Ahh!" Hermione screamed as she was thrown aside by the blast.
"Hermione!" Severus ran to her, shocked by his own actions. Avery and Black, who were watching from the sidelines stood from their seats, jaws slacked.
"Hermione, oh shit!" Blood dripped down her face from a cut on her forehead. Her hair was covered with dirt and bits of grass. "Fuck! Are you oka—"
She jabbed her wand into his throat. "Dead."
Severus sat there frozen and speechless.
"I'm trying to imitate a war, Severus. A duel that happens on a battlefield has an endless list of possible ways you could die; betrayal, stray spell, deadly opponent, falling object, dark creatures, traps, so on and so forth."
She wiped the blood with her free hand. "Lesson number 1, you do not go up to the individual to check that they are dead. You assume they aren't and fire a deadly spell or a freezing charm. You NEVER lower your guard. Understood?"
He nodded.
Even as she stood up, she never lowered her wand or turned her back to him.
"Wand up. Again!"
…