Chapter 11
The day of the final strike had come, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape and Regulus Black were in the basement, in a room adjacent to the ritual room. It was warded to prevent cursed fire and many types of dark magic from escaping, so they could use it to destroy the horcruxes safely. Or as safely as was possible, Hermione had shared what could happen and how it was alive and preyed on the attacker's insecurities to remain alive and fight back, which made Regulus quite apprehensive but it would be the final step.
Hermione had placed all five horcruxes on the ground in a warded circle to hopefully keep the fire contained as they died and they were waiting for the signal from Lucius Malfoy.
They were all battle-ready, donning practical clothing and mentally prepared to duel against Tom Riddle. Hermione, to Regulus' continued joy, wore her usual black trousers, a long-sleeves fitted black top, her hair was braided again and she had knee-high leather boots. He was also aware all of her clothing, at least these ones, were charmed to repel many hexes and jinxes, at least low-level ones, she had also fireproofed her entire outfit and hidden daggers and other weapons on herself. Regulus had followed her lead with black trousers he could easily move in, a dark grey shirt and had forgone robes, he had been able to find dragonhide boots in the chest in his room and had finished getting ready by fireproofing his clothes as well. Severus was wearing an all-black outfit as usual, with his classic robes. Regulus made a mental note to teach him there were colours beyond black.
"He's here." The peacock patronus announced as it appeared in front of them, speaking with Lucius Malfoy's voice.
"Alright, let's do this. We don't know how long he will be able to stall him." Hermione said, squaring her shoulders and pointing her wand towards the circle.
"Fiendfyre."
At first, it seemed like nothing was happening despite being able to feel the heat of the flames taking the shapes of phoenixes, but very quickly a figure started to emerge from the objects. It formed into the shape of a man with messy black hair, a scar on his forehead and round glasses. Regulus realised this was likely Harry Potter, based on how much he resembled his father. Regulus heard the shocked gasp coming from Hermione but her hand remained steady as the ghost-like man starting talking with a hiss to his voice that sent shivers down his spine.
"You don't deserve to live Hermione, you killed me! You killed Neville! You even killed the Minister of Magic! Why do you deserve to live through it and a do-over? Why you, Hermione? You should be dead like the rest of them, dead like Ron!"
You think you can save them? Save them from Fate? You're just a little girl playing with things you don't understand!" The voice hissed with venom and Regulus could see the tears falling down on Hermione's cheeks but she did not respond, nor did she stop casting the fire.
"You're just a insufferable know-it-all bitch, playing nice with Death Eaters, you can't kill Lord Voldemort! Your muddy blood isn't even worth enough to be present in the room with the shards of my soul you little girl! You will end up dead like all your friends, tortured and bled to death, Bellatrix should have finished you off but I will! Even if you succeed, you'll be alone, your friends are dead and you're never getting them back!" The voice shrieked as it slowly dissipated and the the black fumes of the horcruxes stagnated in the room.
"It's done." Hermione whispered hoarsely as she cancelled the fiendfyre and lowered her wand.
Regulus immediately enveloped her in his arms, "He was wrong, he was lying, love." he kept whispering to her until her breathing calmed down.
"I know, I know, they say the worst things possible to stop you from destroying them, it's a defence mechanism." Hermione said while nodding and whipping the tears from her eyes.
"Are you ready to go?" Severus questioned, concern swimming in his eyes.
Hermione took a deep breath and nodded. Together, they made their way back to the library and stood in front of the floo for a couple of minutes, preparing themselves mentally.
"Malfoy Manor Study." Severus said once he had thrown a handful of floo powder down the fire.
One by one, they all stepped through and were transported to a dark study, filled with books, and furniture looking centuries old.
Hemione grimaced as she observed her surrounding, "This is just tacky."
Regulus snorted, "That's the pureblood way, anything to show off how old your family name is."
"Alright, let's repeat the plan." Severus cut in, trying to get them to focus.
Hermione recited their plan with added comments from both Regulus and Severus confirming points and their parts.
Once everybody felt secure, they disillusioned themselves and left the room.
Severus guided them through the corridors as Malfoy Manor was big and maze-like on purpose, they crept alongside the hallways until they finally reached a massive door he was able to open and they stepped in.
Once they had verified no one else was in the room, Hermione went to the middle of the Drawing Room while suppressing her memories of the place and unshrunk the cage she had prepared.
Now, in the middle of the space, stood a big plexiglass cage, with no doors and only a small hole that could be opened, as big as a letter slit. A door was actually hidden but only Hermione could open it as it was linked to her magical signature. She had added wards and charms to the cage itself, making an escape all but impossible even if they planned for their prisoners to be unconscious during their stay.
"Now, we wait." Severus said and they all went to the wall near the fireplace, still under disillusionment charms as they waited for Lucius Malfoy to bring in their honoured guest. As they stood there, all but invisible, the door opened slightly and Narcissa Malfoy joined them in their vigil without a word spoken.
Thankfully, the group only had to wait ten minutes before the door opened and Lucius Malfoy entered with Tom Riddle at his side. The Malfoy heir appeared as haughty and proud as ever, talking about a project to put down mudbloods in their place while Riddle listened with rapt attention.
Once they were both fully in the room, however, Lucius sent a spell to the door making sure it would stay close for anyone not of Malfoy blood.
"What is the meaning of this?" Tom Riddle asked with suspicion, staring at his follower.
No giving Lucius time to answer the question, Hermione leapt away from the wall and started firing spells at Riddle.
The entire group soon joined the battle and Riddle was now surrounded by five fighters, he quickly finited their disillusionment charms and looked both disappointed and furious at seeing two of his followers taking a stand against him. Seeing Regulus Black alive made him stumble in shock and a small amount of fear was visible in his red eyes. However, he did not falter in his spell casting, nor did he say anything.
Most of the fighters were casting non-verbally, a mix of offensive and defensive spells. They moved towards darker and darker spells as time went on, as even five against one, Riddle did not seem to be tiring or losing anytime soon.
Hermione retreated slightly to the back of the group and while everyone took Riddle's attention, she focused and suddenly surged.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!" She yelled with a roar, hitting her mark.
Riddle did not stop casting but the blood soaking his clothes from hips to neck was not showing any signs of stopping and against the assault of 5 people, he couldn't take the time to heal himself. Even if he had been able to, he did not know the particular counter-curse needed for this, and Severus did spare a curious glance towards Hermione, wondering how she knew his own spell.
As the battle raged on, and the more blood Riddle lost, he finally started to get slower in his casting until he started to let other spells through, mostly hexes and cutting curses.
"This is the end, Tom Riddle." Hermione said as they continued to weaken him.
Finally, the man fell to his knees, "I am immortal." he snarled with fury in his eyes as he heard her use his real name.
"Not anymore." She retorted as she took a dagger hidden in her boot and launched it straight at him, impaling the blade into his heart.
Tom Riddle fell down, eyes wide in shock but unseeing, a man made mortal again.
The battle stopped instantly as they all stared at the body, unwilling to believe it was over and the man was truly dead. Severus took the lead and went to check for signs of life but found none.
"He's dead." He declared.
"Finally." Hermione said while falling to her knees, the adrenaline finally leaving her body and letting her appreciate the cutting curses she had been hit with.
Quite quickly, they all tended to each other's wounds, Severus had come prepared with dittany, blood replenisher potions and various health potions and salves.
It took almost an hour, but the group was able to stand up once more, blood vanished and clothes repaired.
"I'll be right back." Lucius Malfoy said and left the room to enact his part of the plan, taking down the spell restricting the door on his way.
While he was gone, Severus went back to his bag and found the vial he had been preparing, he opened the small opening of the cage and launched the vial in the middle of it. A purple gas immediately started to spread in the room.
A few minutes later, Lucius came back to the room, holding his father at wand point.
"What is this?" Abraxas Malfoy yelled when he saw the body of his master on the ground.
Instead of replying, Lucius simply said Imperio and Abraxas' body relaxed as his eyes glazed over.
With a few instructions, Abraxas Malfoy placed a bubble-head charm on himself and entered the cage when Hermione held the door open, the wards preventing the gas from escaping its confines.
Once inside, the elder Malfoy stood in the middle of the cage, unmoving.
Lucius, still in control of the imperius curse, instructed his father to call everyone linked to his mark.
He hadn't been sure it would work, but based on Hermione's research, the magic within the mark would remain active at least a few hours following Riddle death and the fading of it would follow the end of said magic, therefore none of the marked followers were yet aware that their master was dead and they had no reason to not respond to the call. He hadn't been aware a marked Death Eater could call the others, as the impression given by Riddle was that he alone was in control of the magic.
Obediently, Abraxas Malfoy placed his wand against his forearm and focused all his magic on calling everyone linked to it.
In less than 30 seconds, the first person popped in. Bellatrix Lestrange had no time to react to the strange conditions of her arrival before succumbing to the gas and falling down to the floor unconscious.
It took two hours for the arrivals to finally stop, and the cage was full of unconscious bodies in various positions from falling down on the ground and each other.
Lucius simply instructed Abraxas to remove his bubble-head charm and he followed his colleagues into the ground.
Hermione then went to the small opening and used her wand to remove the left sleeve of every person present in the cage, to make sure their allegiance was undeniable.
"Alright, this is it." She said once she was done.
Exhausted by the day's activities, she chose to sit on the throne-like seat next to the wall in front of the door, which she assumed was usually reserved for Riddle and the group followed her, conjuring themselves seats to rest on the raised dais.
Once everyone was comfortable, she waved her wand to conjured her patronus, once a playful otter and now a golden eagle, and instructed it to go to Alastor Moody, "Come to the Drawing Room at Malfoy Manor, with a few Aurors."
Once the message was sent, the group finally relaxed and Lucius called an elf to serve tea on a conjured table in front of their seats. They waited the arrival of the Auror department sipping their teas.
After 30 minutes of waiting, the door was pushed open with enough force to bang into the nearby wall and Alastor Moody strolled in followed by the Aurors he knew he could trust, Kingsley Shacklebot, James Potter, Sirius Black, John Dawlish, Frank and Alice Longbottom.
The group came into the room with urgency and stopped dead in their tracks at the scene.
Alastor Moody took a few seconds to analyse the scene in front of him, there was a body, likely dead, in front of a cage full of what appeared to be unconscious Death Eaters and in front of all that on a raised dais was a group he had not expected. One person declared dead, two suspected Death Eaters, the wife of one and someone he didn't recognise but he had his suspicions.
He walked around the body and went to the group sipping their teas like this scene was completely normal and stood there in question, silently urging them to talk.
"Hello, Auror Moody, thank you for coming on such short notice." The unknown woman said.
"H?" He questioned.
"Yes."
"Good to finally meet you, your tips saved many lives." Moody said with a nod.
"Glad I could help." She replied with a smile.
"Do you want to explain this little scene?" He inquired.
"Right, we killed the man known as Lord Voldemort, he's over there." She said, while gesturing at the bloody corpse laying on the ground.
"And the cage?" He continued.
"All the marked Death Eaters we could find, we used their own mark to call them. If some are missing, I wouldn't know but it appears to be all of them." She said.
Alastor Moody nodded then looked at Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy, "Why aren't they in the cage?"
"They're not Death Eaters, roll up your sleeves." Hermione instructed the two men, who did as asked and showed mark-free forearms to the Auror who nodded but did not mask his disappointment.
"And you?" He asked, looking at Regulus Black, who also rolled up his sleeves to present his clean forearms.
"You were reported dead two months ago." Moody said.
"I know, we faked my death to work on defeating Voldemort." He said with a wince.
During this entire conversation, the Aurors that came with Alastor Moody had not moved from their spot, staring at the captured Death Eaters or the corpse of Voldemort in turn, therefore both Sirius Black and James Potter were partially hidden behind the cage and hadn't noticed all the people on the dais.
However, Sirius picked up his brother's voice immediately and walked around to stare at his supposedly dead brother in shock.
"Reggie?" He asked, brokenly.