Story: Stress
Chapter: 18
Rating of Chapter: PG-13
Author Notes: I just had another read through the chapter, and I realised that it does seems a little confusing. Just to clear things up, they DIDN'T do it. They were close, but they didn't. They just nearly did, therefore they went a little too far. I hope that makes sense. This next chapter is very intense, and doesn't really break from the intenseness. Please review when you have read it because this is a different chapter to some of the others and I would love to know what you think.
Chapter 18: War & Death
Harry sat quietly opposite Hermione in the library. They hadn't said much to each other after the earlier events between them. What had nearly happened both excited Harry, and made him rather nervous.
He and Hermione were now the only students left in the school, everyone else was away for the next three days for Christmas. Harry glanced down at his Potions book; Hermione had insisted that they use this spare time for studying. Harry stopped reading the book for a moment when he felt an eerie feeling in the air. He looked around the Library but could see nothing other than Madam Pince the librarian. He turned back around and then spotted a small shadow silhouetted under the window in the corner of the room behind Hermione. He slowly got up and walked over to the shadow, Hermione followed him curiously. He was about to reach the shadow when he felt a jolt of pain in his scar. It was more pain than he had ever felt before; he then heard the cold voice of Voldemort.
"Well, well, well Potter, alone for the holidays are we? Well I thought by now you would have learned to keep an eye out in situations like this. Now, Potter, it is time for you to wish that you had watched your back." The pain disappeared when Voldemort left him and he heard Hermione scream. He turned sharply and saw Hermione lying flat on the ground, he was about to walk over to her, but he noticed the shadow move. He turned on the main lights of the library and revealed the small shadow to be the house elf Kreacher.
"What are you doing here?" Harry hissed.
"Me," snarled the snout nosed house elf. "I am here to help in the capturing of another worthless wizard, just like I did to your Godfather last year." Harry heard the Avada Kedavra curse in the background and ducked his head quickly. He looked up and saw Madam Pince fall to the ground. He then felt a cold hand grab his shoulder; he stomped on the person's foot and elbowed them in the face. He glanced around and saw that it was the Death Eater Walden MacNair. Harry moved his hand to his pocket to pull out his wand, but it was gone.
"Where's my wand!" he yelled.
"Potter," taunted Kreacher, who was dangling Harry's wand in front of his face. Harry was about to grab it but was thumped in the ribs by MacNair.
"It's not only animals I specialise in executing Potter! I also specialise in teenage girls." He turned a dangerous glance at Hermione, who was still on the ground. Harry didn't know if she was alive or not. He then turned back at Harry. "I'm going to save you for the Dark Lord, and there is nothing you can do about it." Harry felt MacNair's grip tighten, but only for a short while, as he then felt MacNair drop to the ground.
"No, but I can." Harry heard a voice say. He turned around and saw a revived Hermione, with her wand pointed high. "Harry, are you ok?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he answered, pulling her into his arms. "Is MacNair dead?"
"No, just stunned." Hermione answered.
"Oh break up the love fest," they head someone say. The two of them turned around and saw Bellatrix Lestrange standing before them. "Hello, remember me Potter? How's my dear cousin? Oh yeah, he's dead isn't he?" She then eyed Hermione. "Put your wand down you silly girl, or I will be forced to kill you like I did your little mummy and daddy," she taunted. Hermione kept her wand out, but it was removed with an Expelliarmus spell. They noticed that the conjurer was Lucius Malfoy, who was then joined by Percy Weasley, Viktor Krum and Professor Karkaroff. Harry didn't know that Karkaroff had re-joined Voldemort.
"How are you all getting in here?" Harry asked.
"We apparated, it is very easy to lift the spell cast over this castle when you have the right amount of intelligence," hissed Lucius. Harry snorted at his words, and this caught his attention. "Don't you dare laugh at me boy, Mobilicorpus!" he yelled. An array of invisible strings bound around Harry and Hermione's arms and legs, causing them to fall to the ground. "Death Eaters," he ordered. Bellatrix, Percy, Krum, Karkaroff and the now conscious MacNair drew out their wands at Harry. The all muttered the Crucio curse, and Harry felt the effect of five Crucio curses hit him. He felt the pain cursing through his body, he felt like his blood was about to burst through his skin. He screamed and screamed until the pain finally eased after about five minutes, and he noticed that there was actually blood coming from under his skin in on his arms. Harry looked to his right and saw that Hermione was un-harmed. But Bellatrix had her wand pointed at her.
"Stop!" Harry heard a voice yell; he looked up and saw what could be the biggest shock of his life. Draco Malfoy had his wanted pointed in the direction of his father.
"Let them go father," he hissed.
"I thought I told you to stay in your common room when I kicked you out of the house!" Lucius shouted.
"I don't care what you say, I never agreed with what you were doing anyway. For years you made me praise up Voldemort, for years you made me worship him. And I'll admit that you nearly made me become the pathetic human being that you are. But I'm not, Voldemort is nothing more than a filthy, sly murderer!"
"You forget your place Draco, you better apologise for what you just said because I will have no problem killing my son. After all, I've already killed your mother!" he hissed.
"How dare you!" Draco screamed. "You may think I am useless, but I am very handy when it comes to finding help." Draco turned to the door behind him and watched it swing open. In stepped Snape, Lupin, Tonks and Moody, wands out. Harry noticed Malfoy slip behind a bookcase, as the four order members started duelling the Death Eaters. Harry looked to his left and saw Draco Malfoy with his wand pointing at him.
"Incendio," cast Draco. Flames erupted around the now visible ropes and they burned apart breaking Harry free. Draco did the same to Hermione. Harry snatched his wand from the grasp of Kreacher, who Hermione lifted by the throat.
"I usually stand up for house elves, but I really dislike you," she said sternly, as she threw him into a bookcase.
"Thanks Malfoy," mumbled Harry.
"No problem Potter, but just because I saved you, doesn't mean I like you," answered Draco. They then turned their attention to the Death Eaters and noticed that three others had appeared. They were slowly being out numbered but just as those thoughts entered Harry's mind he saw Ron walk up behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, glaring at Draco.
"Helping Potter and his mudblo…girlfriend," he answered.
"What are you doing here though?" Harry asked Ron.
"I heard from the Order that you were in trouble so I came to help you." Ron answered; he then pulled out his wand.
Harry walked up towards the back of Krum, who had his wand up at Draco. "Stupefy," he shouted, as Krum fell to the ground.
"Mobilicorpus," added Draco, and Krum was caught. They both turned their eyes to Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape.
"Petrificus Totalus," yelled Snape.
"Protego," answered Lucius, and the spell was deflected. "Face it Severus, you'll never beat me, you couldn't live with being a follower of Voldemort. You are not strong enough to beat me…Avada Kedavra," he hissed. The spell caught Snape off his guard and appeared to connect, collapsing him to the ground. Lucius turned to his son. "You see how powerful I am? You don't stand a chance against me…"
"Avada Kedavra," they heard again. This time Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground, face first. Snape stood up behind him, he wasn't dead after all. "Playing dead is a good tip, that's why I should be Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher." Snape hissed, continuing on his pursuit. Harry smiled slightly, but his smile was cut off when he heard another Avada Kedavra. He glanced around the room, looking for who was on the receiving end. But all he saw was Dumbledore enter through the door, causing the remaining Death Eaters to flee.
"Who had we lost?" Dumbledore asked.
"A boy," answered Moody. He nodded to the far corner of the room and Harry saw Ron lying lifeless in the corner. He rushed over to his side, followed by Hermione. Draco hung back a little, allowing them to see to their friend.
"Ron wake up, please, WAKE UP!" Harry was screaming through his tears. Hermione didn't say a word; she just sat still watching on in disbelief, tears roaming her face.
"Ron you can't be dead, wake up, wake up, please, wake up…" he trailed off into deep sobs, as he placed a hand on Ron's cold face. Hermione put an arm around Harry's waist as they held each other tightly through the tears. Harry felt as though half of his life had been wiped away, it was all so sudden, and he wasn't even there to help him. He kept thinking of that young redhead that he met on the Hogwarts Express, he was the first friend he had ever had, and now he was gone…forever. The whole room felt cold, as the lifeless bodies were sprawled across the room.
"Remember what you said Harry, as long as we have each other we can get through anything." Hermione forced out. "And with time, we'll get through this."
Author Notes: I hope you enjoyed that chapter, as I said earlier let me know what you think of the different style of chapter. Also, what do you think about the shocks with Draco and Ron? I'm sorry about Ron, but it is necessary to the story.