Disclaimer: Don't own HP or M&MS
Mr. & Mrs. Evans
Chapter 21: Crushed
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[a/n] 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
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"AVADA KEDAVRA!" a voice shouted coming from the restaurant. On instinct, Hermione ducked and pulled out the muggle gun before moving as fast as she could towards the restaurant. Not only was Krum in there but Sienna was as well, and Hermione had a horrible feeling that that killing curse had just ended someone's life.
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"SIENNA!?" Hermione shouted, half crawling, half running through the wreckage in search for her best friend.
"I'm here!" Sienna answered her, crouching behind an overturned table, grasping on to the shaking form of someone.
"Ezkiel's dead," she told Hermione as she made her way over, "I've got Krum, but we've got to get out now. Hermione…" Sienna trailed off looking seriously into her eyes, "Ezekiel was about to murder Krum. Someone gave him an AK in the back before he could finish his own curse."
"What?" Hermione asked incredulously, looking over to the dead body in front of them, "That's…"
She was on the verge of saying that it was impossible that Ezekiel was a wizard. But with his odd behaviour last night to her, and Krum especially, it was actually highly possible. Although, why would Silas have such an interest in Viktor? Unless…
"It all makes sense- Ezekiel is the evil step brother! 'Ducks in a row'- why didn't I see it before?" Hermione asked, wanting to kick herself.
Krum had lifted his trembling, ghost white face from his hands and was staring wildly at Sienna and Hermione, "Who are you people?!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and looked to Sienna, "We need to get him out of here. It's a mess out there and Jeremy and Jude have already gone-"
"What happened?" Sienna asked in a panic.
"Jude- Jude's…" Hermione began strongly before shaking her head, "Start heading for the atrium. I'll head into the lobby and help the others-"
"Hermione, you don't even have a wand! You take Krum and I'll go after everyone else," Sienna argued rationally, giving Hermione an irrefutable look.
"I can handle it!" Hermione returned, not wanting to admit that she wanted to stay particularly to watch over Harry.
"This isn't up for dispute, Hermione! Seriously, just get back to headquarters and make sure Jude's okay."
Hermione knew she was right and that it'd be extremely unwise for her to throw herself in a situation where she couldn't fully protect herself, much less her team.
"Fine, come on," she relented, grabbing one of Viktor's arms and helping Sienna hoist him up onto his feet.
"W-Where are you taking me?" he asked as they began to lead him forward.
"We're taking you to a safe place until we can turn you over to your own authorities-" Sienna was finishing her sentence when a stack of plates crashed to the floor a few feet in front of them. Hermione didn't hesitate firing a shot in the direction of the shattered dishes, convinced that she saw a lone foot, up to the ankle, walking on the ground before something veiled over it, causing it to vanish.
The bullet didn't hit the wall, but did hit something that emitted a low, pained gasp. Pieces of glass and wood on the ground cracked as the invisible something stepped on it, obviously trying to make a quick escape.
Hermione and Sienna tugged Krum back behind the overturned table and began shooting at the object- jinx and curses for Sienna and bullets for Hermione.
More cracking footsteps could be heard, alerting Hermione and Sienna that the wizard was heading for the double kitchen doors as they swung open and close.
Sienna stood, readying herself to go after it when Hermione grabbed onto her arm tightly, "Forget it, we don't have time."
She nodded in agreement before both women and Krum took off as stealthy and guardedly as they could towards the exit of the restaurant.
…
"HARRY! HARRY!"
The raven haired wizard lolled his head to the side, "Hermione…" he moaned, reaching out blindly.
"Shit Harry, snap out of it!" spoke Sirius's voice in a rush.
"Sirius? Bloody hell," he grunted, grabbing at the back of his head and finally taking a look around, "Where's Hermione? And what happened to that bloke? Fuck Sirius, my magic wasn't working!"
Sirius looked at him worriedly, "I haven't seen Hermione, and I don't know what bloke you're talking about, but look Harry- we've been ambushed," as he said that another booming sound exploded by the reception area, blowing the fancy granite and gold trimmed counters to smithereens, "I need to find a clear spot where I can concentrate to get some anti-apparition wards up. Are you alright to cover for me?"
Harry nodded without a thought, "Yeah yeah, go…"
"Don't do anything stupid!" he yelled as he was taking off for the corridor that lead to the ballroom.
"STUPEFY! BOMBARDA!" Harry could hear the fierce yells of Ginny coming from a few feet away. She was being backed into a corner by two muscled wizards who had both easily deflected her spells with a flick of their wrist.
The man on the left then raised his wand, aiming it at Ginny's throat while the one on the right started reaching a hand out to grab her.
Harry could see Ron, George, Fred, Remus and the rest of the order that had come to help all dealing with their own duels. Quickly he grabbed for his malfunctioning wand, and ran towards Ginny and the two Bulgarians.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted towards the one on the left as he was approaching them. To no surprise, the wand only spat out a few sparks.
"Fucking hell," he muttered as the two men turned, realising they were about to be attacked. The man on the right extended his wand arm, preparing to fire a curse at Harry. Doing some quick thinking, Harry yanked the man forward by his wand hand and punched him square in the throat. Ginny followed his lead by taking the opportunity to curse the other man while his back was turned.
"Stupefy Maximos!" she shouted before a bolt of deep red energy blasted the other wizard across the room.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, clutching onto her shoulders for balance.
"I'm fine- why didn't your spell work?" she questioned perplexedly.
"I have no fucking clue! It went all wonky when this started up," he finished motioning around to the fighting and destruction.
"Where did all these wizards come from?" she asked somewhat frantically, having just pulled Harry and herself into a crouching position after a spell flew an inch over both their heads. When they looked up they caught even more people spilling into the entrance hall; all with wands in their hands.
"I don't know, but we won't be able to take all of them like this," he returned hurriedly, "We need to get out of here and regroup!"
"Where's Krum?"
"I don't know- he was supposedly in the restaurant…" Harry said, glancing at the café across the room. After seeing the annihilated entrance, it seemed impossible that anyone could be alive inside.
"Harry we have to go see…" she trailed off as more spells and crashes could be heard nearby.
Harry nodded knowingly. Afterall it was the whole reason they were in this sodding town in the first place. This would all have been for not it they left without Krum.
"Alright, we'll check for Krum and then we're gone," he told her, making sure the coast was clear before he grabbed her hand and pulled her up with him, the both of them hurrying towards the café. 'And get Hermione also…' he added to himself, praying to the gods that his wife was okay.
…
"Sienna, we need a distraction. We can't just go walking out into the middle of a battle with him," Hermione said sensibly, nodding curtly in Krum's direction.
"Uh," Sienna voiced, looking out into the hazed filled lobby for ideas. Beyond the smoke and spell-fire she caught the sparkle of the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
"I got it," she muttered, pointing her wand towards the chandelier and concentrating hard on what she was about to do.
"Fragoraux!" she screamed in French. Hermione and Krum watched as the beam of steal blue light sped towards the ceiling piece and circled it.
Not a moment went by before the chains began to snap and the chandelier's support became weaker and weaker.
"When it falls, cast a shield for us to apparate," Hermione instructed Sienna and Krum, grasping the gun tighter in her hand.
Finally, the fifth and final chain broke, sending the chandelier catapulting towards the ground.
…
Their was a rumbling crack coming from above them, and Harry looked upwards to see the resort's expensive chandelier hanging limply from one of it's five chains.
He didn't have time to warn Ginny as the last chain broke, but instead grabbed her waist and spun the both of them around so his back was facing the impending danger.
As the chandelier shattered against the tile floor, Harry could feel pieces of the crystal and glass cutting into his legs and back. He gritted his teeth and waited until the ringing in his ears was over before he let go of Ginny.
"Harry?" she asked, her voice muffled.
Realising that they had fallen forward and that he was on top of her, Harry rolled to the side, careful of his torn up back, "Sorry."
"Shit Harry," Ginny muttered lowly, taking in the state of his bloody back, "Come on, we need to get out of here."
Ginny helped him stand, holding her arms gently around his middle as he threw an arm over her shoulders.
Harry glanced up in order to see where he was walking but stopped short when he seen the figures of three people, a man in the middle of two women, staring straight at him from a few feet away.
…
Hermione looked into the eyes of Harry, standing extremely close to a woman with a wand pointing up towards Harry's chin. Her mind immediately went to the fear that he had been captured and was about to be hurt by this woman. But with another, more close look, all of her naïve fears vanished and were replaced with fury.
The look of shock on her face fell into a frown as her eyes darted to the stupid, whorish, redhead's arms wrapped around Harry and the wand also grasped there.
Harry followed her vision and glanced down before he jerked his head up again, already knowing what she was thinking, "No, no, no- Hermione, it's not what it looks like!"
Sienna could feel the aura around Hermione intensified and for a brief second felt sorry for Potter.
Hermione was glowering obstinately at Harry who was beginning to turn into a blubbering fool. All of the functional magic left within her began to fire up and race throughout her.
Harry had now broken away from Ginny's hold and was pointing at his back, "I'm bleeding! See, blood-" before he could utter another suppliant word, the café's cushioned bench tore away from it's built in position against the wall and flew at Ginny and Harry.
They tried to duck as fast as they could but were still waylaid by the flying furniture. By the force of the hit they were pushed back a few feet with the wind completely knocked out of them.
"Can we go now?" Hermione asked brusquely, impatience and irritation obvious in her tone.
"Contego ex vulnero," Sienna spoke, swishing her wand and ending with a jab. A light yellow vapour accumulated around the three of them that would protect them from outside dangers and break free from wards if any had been set up.
'Everyone, back to headquarters!' Hermione ordered in her head, hoping that her team would be able to hear her given all of their distractions.
"Ready?" Sienna asked, getting a firm grip on Krum.
Hermione couldn't help but glance back to see if Harry was up. He was staggering up from the couch and looked up, catching her eye. How could she have been so stupid to actually think that he was being honest when he said he wanted her back?
Before she could think or feel anything else, she nodded to Sienna and apparated back to the safety of headquarters.
…
"She-She just- did she? Wha?" Harry spun around wildly to Ginny with a crazy look in his eyes.
"Oh god…" Ginny mumbled bleakly staring at the spot where Harry's ex just performed magic.
"Did you see that too?!"
"She just apparated… with Krum… She's a-"
"That BITCH!" Harry roared in outrage. If they weren't in the middle of a battle, Ginny might of found Harry comical by the way he so violently changed behaviours.
"Harry-"
"After years of me feeling guilty for not telling her I'm a wizard-"
"Harry!"
"-She's been keeping just as many secrets as me. If not more!"
"HARYY WATCH OUT!" Ginny pushed Harry gown just in time to miss the bolt of green aimed at him.
"Look Harry, we can figure out what's going on with her later- right now we need to worry about getting out alive. Since we know Krum's not here…"
Harry scoffed and shook his head furiously.
"We need to signal the retreat."
They shared a look before he nodded and stood up, thrusting his flat hand in the air.
"Prendre la Fuite!"
A beautiful misty blue phoenix burst into flight from Harry's hand and flew throughout the battle gracefully. It weaved it's way throughout the wizards before flying out the shattered doors into the midday sky.
Harry turned back to Ginny with a sour look evident on his face, "Alright, let's go."
Together, the two ran off in search for Sirius and a safe exit.
…
Sienna and Hermione walked back into the apparition room after putting Krum in a room and casting a strong sleeping charm on him.
Thankfully, most of the agents had already returned, and more where still arriving.
"Listen up!" Hermione yelled over them, "We need two to go back and sweep our hotel
room."
"We'll do it," offered Matthews for him and Colgan. Hermione ordered them off and they disappeared with two cracks a second later.
"Now, if you're hurt in anyway get down to the infirmary for care. I want the rest of you finding out who the hell everyone else was in that lobby!"
The agents all started heading off in two directions, either to their desk or the medical wing to get their fixes.
Hermione and Sienna where turning back to each other when the door burst open down the hall and Jeremy stormed through, his eyes trained on the floor and his hands curled into fists.
"What's the matter?" Sienna asked.
Jeremy only shook his head and continued past them.
"I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna fucking kill that guy," they could hear him muttering under his breath.
Sienna frowned and quickly followed him, "Kill who? Jeremy? Jeremy stop!"
He had turned the corner and reached the weapons ward where the teams artillery where kept. Jeremy was punching in the pass code when Sienna swiftly grabbed his arm and spun him around.
"Sanders answer me!"
"No I-I'm…"
"Jeremy, where's Jude?" Hermione asked quietly from behind Sienna.
Jeremy stopped spluttering and stared at Hermione over Sienna's shoulder. His chin was wobbling but his mouth was still firmly shut.
"He's dead."
The room became deadly silent as Sienna took a trembling step back and Hermione stared helplessly at Jeremy.
"We couldn't stop the bleeding..." he carried on, his hands shaking.
Hermione fell against the wall and slid to the floor with her head in her hands.
Harry had killed him… Harry had murdered Jude.
…
Hermione was in her office, her fingers steepled underneath her chin, and her eyes glaring at the handsome and familiar face of Harry Potter. After Matthews and Colgan had gotten back from clearing out their suite, Hermione had snuck away with Harry's file and his wand. She needed some time to wrap her head around all the betrayal, fury, and guilt she was dealing with.
She knew she should have gone down to pay her respects to Jude's body but she felt much too culpable. She felt undeserving.
There was a knock at the door and Sienna entered their joint office.
"I have Jude's parents address… The story is that he was in a car accident early this morning," she said numbly, gripping the folder in her hands.
Hermione nodded shortly, abhorring the fact that she'd have to lie to Jude's mother and father. They'd be devastated enough and lying to them wouldn't exactly be respecting Jude's memory.
"Do you want me to-"
"I'll do it."
A few moments of quiet went by before Sienna felt secure enough to speak, "Hermione, what are you going to do about him?"
She again looked down to the photograph of Harry, giving her a cheeky lopsided smile. She didn't hesitate for a moment before tearing the picture right down the middle and throwing it in the rubbish bin.
She turned back to Sienna with a hard look in her eye.
"It's for the best 'Mi," Sienna said gently.
Hermione stared at her friend intensely before looking down to her desk, her eyebrows furrowed. Finally, all of the emotions she was feeling where fighting to the surface but she refused to the let them show.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back at Sienna about to speak.
"I-"
She was cut off by obnoxious ringing coming from the office phone on her desk.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hermione, I was hoping you'd be there," spoke the old aged voice of Father.
"Yes sir," Hermione replied, "We have Krum in a room downstairs. Silas Ezekiel was the half-brother, but he was murdered by a third party. And Jude… Jude Stewart was killed in combat. We aborted before anyone else could get hurt."
"I'll make the Stewart's will be taken care of. But the important thing is that the mission was successful."
Hermione felt a pinch of anger at Father's statement. It almost sounded… cruel. But alas, that's how it was in this business. Your mission ranks higher than your life.
"Sir, I'm sorry about this morning. I-I-"
"Hermione, you don't have to explain anything to me. I once thought I was in love as well. Our loved ones have a special way of manipulating us, wouldn't you say?"
Hermione frowned into the phone. She wasn't referring to that and she really hadn't expected him to say anything about that at all. It made her feel even more stupid that Father somehow knew about what she and Harry had done.
"Sir, I never knew that he-"
"I have to admit to you that I have had my reservations on your ex-husband for quite some time now, and they were confirmed about a year ago when I seen him dealing weapons to bosses of the wizarding underworld. And then I knew for sure when I sent people to follow him at dinners with Silas Ezekiel. They've been plotting this for quite some time, Hermione. I had a suspicion that he would try to lure you into bed, attempting to lower your inhibitions, and then do something to hurt you."
Hermione remained on the phone, her head swimming and mouth gapping.
"Just know, that I understand if you do not want to go forth on this mission because he is your ex-husband. From the extent of damage he did this morning, I think it'd be safe to say he could trick you again. I already have a team in waiting to take over for you. Perhaps it's best if you go on sabbatical for a few months-"
"NO," Hermione finally cut in, just short form screaming at Father for basically accusing her of being weak. He may not have known it, but Hermione was extremely insulted. Did Father really think she was just some silly little bint that would fall apart at any sign of Harry?
"Sir, your team won't be necessary. Sienna and I are capable of handling this."
She could hear Father sigh, "Well, if you're sure. But Hermione, don't get in over your head. Harry Potter is a powerful wizard and I don't want you getting hurt."
Hermione bit her lip and took a calming breath, "I'll have Harry Potter either tied up at your feet or dead by the end of the week. We'll report back to you with details once we get sorted."
She hung up the phone without her usual polite goodbye and looked up to Sienna with determination outlined in her face.
"I need a new wand."
…
Father leaned back in his old leather chair, smiling to himself jovially. So far the day had been a little out of order, but nothing he couldn't handle. He didn't need that young immature brat Ezekiel telling him what to do. It was easier that he be dead.
He hadn't intended that Harry Potter still be living by the day's end… but with a little pushing and prying, he expected that Hermione would soon take care of him.
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