Chapter 3

The Lestrange brothers and Barty Crouch Junior were torturing the McKinnon family, drawing out their fun. The Dark Lord had asked them to make an example out of the family, to make sure everyone understood the price they would pay by refusing him.

The wards had been easy to get through, Blood Traitors that they were, they didn't put Blood Wards on their ancestral home. The death eaters had added an anti-apparition jinx and another one preventing escape via portkeys.

However, what they had not been prepared for was for someone to come in instead.

"Hello boys, so sorry to interrupt" a sweet voice announced the new presence.

The McKinnon family was barely able to keep their eyes open, having suffered one too many Torture curses by the death eaters.

Barty Crouch Junior was the first to recover from the interruption, "Who are you sweet?" he leered at the interloper.

"Your end" she said.

What followed was a bloodbath, Hermione Granger charged at the death eaters wielding both her sword and her wand, she charged with little care for her own life and one aim: to kill. She did. She jumped high, likely propelled by a light levitation charm spelled on herself, and went down on Crouch Junior sword first, not letting him take the time to block her arrival. Besides, she thought bitterly, purebloods were all the same, never anticipating a physical fight, a physical sword.

Crouch Junior went down swiftly, covered in his own blood, a scream stuck in his throat.

The Lestrange brothers were frozen in fear, they were both accomplished wizards but used to follow, not lead. Hermione started duelling them both at the same time, she couldn't apparate behind them so she did the next best thing and disillusioned herself, snuck behind them low and struck her sword on their calves, she used their momentary loss of balance to struck the younger brother with her sword in-between his shoulder plates and aimed a blood-boiling curse at the other one's back.

Marlene McKinnon had been watching the entire scene with wide eyes, she knew who the woman was, the one the twins had talked about. They called her their guardian angel, but to Marlene, the woman looked to be coming straight from Hell, a blood-thirsty demon. Which was still a better alternative to the death eaters laying dead at her feet, she reasoned.

"Thank you for saving us" she rasped, still spasming from the cruciatus curse.

Hermione took stock of the family's health, and conjured a rope to act as a Portkey for the McKinnon girl and her parents.

"Hang tight, you'll go straight to Saint Mungo's" she explained.

Remus Lupin was walking the edge of the Forbidden Forest, thinking back on the Order meeting that happened last night. He was in awe of the mysterious woman who had saved the entire McKinnon family, and dismayed by Dumbledore's attitude, he could understand his disgust at the violence but had she not intervene Marlene would have died and couldn't fault her that result.

He had come here hoping he might stumble upon her and with great joy found her sitting on a log a few feet away.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Sure" she nodded.

"Thank you for saving Marlene, and her parents. Without you they'd be dead, or worse" Remus started.

Hermione had a tight smile but nodded anyway.

They spent some time in total silence, until she broke it suddenly "Am I a monster?"

Remus startled so hard he almost fell from the log, "Why would you think that?"

"I killed them, the Lestrange brothers and Crouch Junior, and the ones duelling the twins, Greyback, Bellatrix, they're all dead because of me, what does that make me? How am I better than them?"

"It's a balance, I won't lie and say you had no choice, some of them you could have simply binded and turned into the Ministry.

I understand though, it's likely they would have walked away anyway, but even if they didn't, they were not good people, they didn't deserve redemption or fairness.

You didn't kill them without reasons, you did it to save lives. Even Bellatrix Lestrange, she had already murdered and tortured so many people, including children."

"Thank you Remus", she started walking away, feeling lighter, as she was about to apparate away, she turned back and whispered low "My name is Hermione" looking in Remus' eyes as she spoke and disappeared with a pop.

Remus Lupin was staring wide-eyed where "Hermione" had just left, she had whispered her name so low no one could have heard it from where he was sitting, but she did it anyway while looking right at him, she knew, she knew he would hear, she knew what he was.

She didn't care.