Summer Writing Series Challenge (July 23)
Challenge: [Musical Week] The Big Cast Ensemble Piece
Title: Phantoms of War: Act II, Scene II
Word Count: 2,743
The young couple danced to each and every song, happily tuning out the rest of the world as they spun happily around the dance floor. Hermione felt lightheaded and dizzy, unable to pull her eyes from Harry's sparkling green gaze.
"Hermione?" Harry asked suddenly.
"Hmm?" she replied dreamily.
Harry pulled her in close causing her heart to suddenly skip a beat when his hot breath trickled over her sensitive ear. "Did you like my forced animagus transformation of Cho?" he whispered with a soft chuckle.
"That was you?!" Hermione hissed as she covered her mouth with her hand.
"I couldn't let her comments towards my best girl hang over our heads, now could I?" he asked with a laugh. "I imagine that she thought her animagus form was a secret, but I saw the first time she transformed..."
"Y-you did that for me?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Harry nodded with a wide grin on his face and looked to her curiously when she suddenly stopped dancing. "What's wrong?"
Hermione didn't answer because her attention was drawn to a striking figure on the stage who was dressed in a black and red jester's costume. His mask was that of a skull that seemed to constantly be grinning evilly.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I welcome you to the evening's main event!" the newcomer shouted over the now dying music. Everyone stopped at the outburst and looked to the stage, curious as to what he was talking about.
"Let's give our esteemed guest a little space on the floor," the figure said with a bout of high-pitched laughter. Hermione stiffened at the sound and she backed away from Harry almost automatically along with the rest of the school but was stopped by some unseen force.
Harry, on the other hand, recognized the shield that was surrounding the three of them. He growled menacingly as his wand magically appeared in his hand. "Hermione, get back."
The jester hopped down from the stage and laughed again. With his arm raised in peace, he turned towards Hermione and beckoned with a single finger. "Come, my love, it's time to face your fate..."
To Harry's surprise Hermione started towards him at a slow pace.
"That's it, my love, your angel awaits..." the jester said softly, smiling at the look of terror on Harry's face.
"In sleep you came to me, in dreams you came," Hermione said with a thick voice. "Your voice entrances me, what is your name..."
"Hermione's under his spell..." Harry whispered, eyes wide. "The Library!"
"You resist," the jester said eerily, "but you've passed the point of no return! No backward glances: the games we've played till now are at an end..."
"Past all thought of 'if' or 'when' - no use resisting: abandon thought and let the dream descend..." Hermione said as she pulled her wand from her robes and turned towards Harry.
"I am your angel... Listen to me, your angel..." the jester said softly, concentrating his gaze on Hermione.
Hermione stood transfixed, scenes of Harry's broken body flooding her mind once again. A tear trickled from her eye as she lifted her wand into the air.
"If you're an angel, you're an angel of darkness, Voldemort!" Harry spat at the jester. "Release her!"
Voldemort smiled wickedly at the pleading youth and began whispering, "I am your angel, finish him, my love..." over and over again.
"Hermione! Hermione, listen to me!" Harry pleaded. "Whatever you think this thing is he doesn't love you! It's me you want, Voldemort, let her go! Take me instead!"
Voldemort ignored the please once again and continued his whispering, "Defeat him, my love; remove this blight from the earth..."
A red light began to appear at the end of Hermione's wand. "The-Boy-Who-Lived..."
"Hermione, he doesn't love you!" Harry pleaded with her. "I-I love you..."
Hermione looked at him with confusion then looked to the jester. "You said..."
"He hates you... he lies to save his life..." Voldemort cooed.
"More lies!" Harry spat. "When have I lied to you, Hermione?"
"Past the point of no return, no backward glances..." Hermione said as she leveled her wand on Harry and walked closer.
"Such spirited words, boy," Voldemort crowed.
Hermione stopped right in front of Harry, the light at the tip of her wand glowing madly, attempting to escape its cylindrical prison. "Do you mean that?" she asked warningly. "Do you really love me, Harry?"
"I do, Hermione, I love you..." he admitted passionately, his cheeks flushing brightly.
Hermione raised her wand high in the air. "Past the point of no return, the final threshold..." she whispered mechanically and turned to Voldemort as her wand let loose its magic. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
The Dark Lord scowled at the turn of events and with a simple wave of his wand, the disarming charm simply ricocheted into the shield with a bang. "So be it! Now let it be war upon you both!" he shouted angrily as the shield fell away.
Harry's wand was in the air immediately. "REDUCTO!" he shouted and stumbled back as the spell shot harmlessly in the air. Voldemort laughed with amusement but stopped when he saw the smirk on Harry's face. There were screams as students rushed from the Great Hall as Voldemort looked up to see the large chandelier crash into him.
"You can't win her love by making her your slave, Riddle!" Harry spat as he tried to push her towards the doors.
"Our young friend speaks the truth," Dumbledore said angrily from the stage as he launched a blue light at the dizzy riddle, who regained his composure enough to apparate out of the way.
"Train your sights on Voldemort!" Remus Lupin shouted above the din of the arriving Aurors. "Keep the students safe! We've tracked down this murderer, he's been found!"
"I'm past the point of no return, no backward glances..." Harry growled as he strode into the middle of the fighting. Concealed Death Eaters making their appearance to lend support to their lord began to knock out the wizarding law enforcement. Spells flew across the room as Auror's attentions were changing to the followers of Voldemort instead of the ring leader himself.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled and stunned a Death Eater who was sneaking up behind him. "Harry, I've been there, to his world of unending night... To his world where daylight dissolves into darkness..."
Harry looked at her after realizing the ruse Voldemort had played on them all. After the chandelier fell, he'd fled, leaving a decoy in his wake. "The dungeons!" he hissed and started off, but was caught by Hermione.
"He'll kill you... I don't want to lose you, not when I've just found out that you love me..." she said earnestly.
"We need to find him before he gets away!" Ron shouted as he ran over to his two best friends.
"It shouldn't have taken a façade like this to wake you up, Harry," Ginny said with a punch to his arm. "I'm never pretending to be your girlfriend again!"
"If you don't stop talking, I'm going to go after him myself!" Neville said angrily. "Not after what he did to my Gran!"
"Or my mother," Luna piped in with an uncannily coherent voice.
"Voldemort's escaped!" Shacklebolt bellowed over the din of the fighting. "We have to track him down before he gets out of the castle!"
Professor Dumbledore suddenly appeared in the midst of the small group of friends. "I know it's cruel to have you face your fate, but we must stop him before it's too late..."
"He's in the labyrinth," Hermione said urgently. "I've been there, trapped in a room with an underground lake..."
"The piers!" Harry said evenly and without a word shot out of the room. The rest of the group was hot on his tails.
"Track down this murderer," the portraits said angrily, pointing where the Dark Lord had fled, "he must be found... Track down this animal, who runs to ground!"
They weaved, zigzagged and ducked through what seemed like countless tapestries, hidden passages, and doorways before coming to a steel bound door.
"REDUCTO!" Dumbledore shouted, knocking the door clean off its hinges into the black water beyond. There was a small boat sitting at a dock, the piers were empty.
"Where has he gone?" Hermione asked as she used her wand as a flashlight, checking the shadows of the large room. Harry did the same as Dumbledore walked towards the shore.
Before anyone could act, Hermione screamed as a white hand shot from under the robes of her headmaster and wrapped around her neck. Voldemort's wand jabbed painfully into her temple and he let out another of his laughs.
Hermione raised her wand in an attempt to disarm him but winced at the grip on her neck.
"Wait! I think, my dear, I do protest!" Voldemort said with a sneer firmly planted on his face. He looked to Harry and that sneer turned to one of wicked enjoyment. "This is indeed an unparalleled delight! I had hoped that she would do this but she faltered." His grin widened to a hideous mockery of giddiness as malice flickered in his cold, dead, eyes. "And now my wish comes true - you have truly made my night!"
"Free her!" Ron yelled with his wand raised.
"Do what you want to me, only free her!" Harry said lowering his.
"Have you no pity?" Luna asked in a daze.
"Your lover and friends make a passionate plea!" Voldemort laughed.
"Harry, no! Don't listen to him!" Hermione shouted hoarsely.
"I love her!" Harry growled.
"Does that mean nothing?" Ginny asked from the side where she'd tried to sneak up on their quarry.
"I love you! I'm not going to let him do anything to you!" Harry said to Hermione.
"Show some compassion," Neville pleaded, his face white and his knuckles whiter as he clutched the wand in his hand desperately.
"The world showed no compassion to me!" Voldemort hissed in reply. "Nothing can save you now, my sweet boy..." he said maliciously to Harry. "If you strike at me, I take her with me to hell, if you don't, I send you on your way!" He looked at Hermione and his wicked smile returned before glancing back at Harry. "This is the choice - this is the point of no return!"
"Hermione, forgive me, I should have said something sooner..." Harry said sadly, his wand dropping to the floor of the cave.
"Harry, don't!" Hermione screamed as Voldemort summoned his wand then cast the cruciatus curse on him.
Harry screamed in an unholy agony as his body contorted unnaturally. Neville backed away from his thrashing friend and tripped over an oar, sprawling into the lake behind him. Luna dove into the dark waters after their clumsy friend in an attempt to save Neville. Ginny tried to disarm the lord of dark wizards but found herself sailing through the air and crumpling to the ground unconscious after she hit the wall. Ron got a curse off that Voldemort barely dodged. His face now bleeding, he put Ron under the cruciatus as well, giving Harry a slight breather from the pain.
"You alone could make my plan take flight," Voldemort hissed evilly as he stalked closer to Hermione. "Without you, my dove, I was bound to sit in darkness and plot endlessly. Past all hope of cries for help: no point in fighting - for either way you chose, you couldn't win, my sweet mudblo-argh!"
Harry looked up weakly at the scream of pain that issued from the Dark Lord's mouth. The white-skinned man's back was arched as a sputtering Neville pushed against him again with a long spear.
"That's for my parents and my Gran!" He shouted as Voldemort flailed in pain.
"Harry, now's your chance!" Luna shouted from Ginny's side.
"Use mine," Hermione whispered as she handed him her wand. "I'll look after Ron, go!" She kissed him quickly on the lips and went to their unconscious friend.
"It's over now, your terror of the night..." Harry growled as he slid Hermione's wand straight into the Dark Lord's gullet where a piece of the chandelier had impaled him. The wands slipped from the weakened grip of Voldemort as Harry looked him dead in the eyes. "It's time you went home, old friend. INCENDIO!"
Voldemort's high-pitched scream echoed throughout the cavern and into the castle. His thin frame engulfed by flames and held steady by Neville Longbottom as if he were toasting a sausage over a campfire. The young man collapsed when the ashes of Voldemort crumbled to the earth and blew away in a sudden gust of wind.
Harry, unable to hold himself on his feet, fell to the floor. Hermione rushed to him, cradling Harry in her arms as if he were a small child in need of protection. "He's not breathing!" she cried as she rocked him back and forth. "HELP!"
"Sold for seven thousand Galleons to Albus Dumbledore, thank you, sir," The auctioneer said, stirring Hermione from her reverie. She looked around at the auction goers and reverently held Harry Potter's famed broom in front of her.
"I see you couldn't stay away after all," her old headmaster said with a twinkle in his eyes. "This charity auction will benefit thousands of children, Hermione."
"I know," she said quietly. "I've got what I came for, Albus. I'll see you when the next term starts."
Hermione walked slowly onto the school grounds then disapparated when she'd reached the apparation point just outside of the school gates. She reappeared in the foyer of her large home and walked into a room that was full of Gryffindor memorabilia. Hermione gently set the Firebolt on a wall hanging that had a picture of Harry flying on it from third year when they'd finally taken the Quidditch Cup from Slytherin. Her eyes glazed over as she ran her finger over the photo's cheek and sighed.
"You were once, my one companion... you were all that mattered..." she whispered silently as a tear streaked down her cheek. "You were once my friend and lover - then my world was shattered... Wishing you were somehow here again... wishing you were somehow near..."
"Why so gloomy, beautiful?" his voice echoed in the room and Hermione turned around to see the man she loved standing in the door.
"Harry!" She cried out and ran into his waiting arms.
He laughed as he encircled her body with his strong arms and kissed her tenderly. "Training took longer than I thought," he said quietly after they'd pulled away slightly. "When I told them I'd rather teach about defense instead of chasing dark wizards down again, they told me I was done with the program..."
"You're going to teach?" she asked as tears continued to slip down her face. "I was afraid..."
"Shh," Harry said quietly as he wiped the salty drops from her cheeks, "No more talk of darkness, forget those wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you, my words will warm and calm you." He got to one knee and looked into her shocked face. "Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you..." he cleared his throat and smiled lovingly, taking her trembling hands in his. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime... let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you here, beside you... anywhere you go, let me go too - Hermione, that's all I ask of you."
"Then say you love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime..." she whispered in reply. "Say you need me with you now and always... promise me that all you say is true - Harry, that's all I ask of you..."
"Hermione, I love you, spend the rest of your life with me?" He asked as he produced a small, velvet box with a glittering diamond ring nestled on a silk pillow.
"Anywhere you go, I will go too," Hermione said as she nodded. Harry placed the ring on her finger and caught her in a bone-crushing hug. "I love you, Harry!"
They parted a few minutes later and he smiled gently at her beaming face. "The Firebolt wasn't necessary, Love... you, alone, have made my heart take flight..."
"It's over now, the darkness and the night..." Hermione whispered happily as they kissed once again.
A/N: Well, there you have it! The end of the Phantoms of War! Thank you for joining me on this ride ;) It's over the word count, but that's fine with me! Heh, have a good one!