First off, I want to say how sorry I am for disappearing from the HHR fandom, and abandoning this story. I tried writing it on and off for the past two years now, but I never seemed to get inspired enough to finish it. I know it's not up to my usual standards, and it's not beta'd, but I hope you enjoy it just the same. I do plan to finish this story, but The Light Within will be taken down today. I no longer plan to write that story at all. Thanks to all the readers who reviewed and asked/begged me to keep writing this story. You gave me the inspiration I needed. :)
It had been a trap. They had been set up by Damien...
Hermione felt the air leave her lungs, and had to struggle to draw another breath. How could she have been so stupid, thinking that an attack by Shadocks wouldn't be led by their evil leader? She had gotten careless, stupid, and did not think things through before heading into this battle to save her friends. She had not only put Harry in mortal danger, but herself and Jakob as well. And the baby...
Trying not to think on it, she drew her wand and pointed it directly at Damien. Straining to hide her fear and to keep her voice level she demanded, "Let my friends go. It's me you want, not them."
"Of course I want you, but why just play with one when four's more fun?"
She could see the predatory gleam in his eyes, and when his stare shifted to Harry she felt cold fear trickle down her spine. Moving to stand in front of Harry, thinking only of protecting him, Damien laughed menacingly and said, "Tut, tut, no heroics here, now." And with a simple wave of his hand, she went flying across the kitchen, her right shoulder slamming painfully into the wall. Crumbling to the floor, her breath coming faster, she watched with dread as Damien once again trained all of his attention onto Harry. "Now, for you, my little puppet..."
But Harry wasn't paying any attention to Damien. He had watched her sail across the room, and afraid for her and the baby, had let his focus slip. Her eyes grew wide as she watched a pure black ball of energy sail from Damien's hand straight toward Harry, and she breathlessly yelled, "Harry, watch out!"
Turning back quickly to face Damien once more, he saw the ball of evil magical energy coming straight for him, but before he could put up his shield to protect himself, the orb hit him directly on the chest. With fear clutching her heart, she watched Harry sail through the air backwards, slamming the back of his head into the wall directly behind him.
Standing quickly, her body protesting greatly at the swift movement, she screamed, "Harry!" When he just lay there, looking much like a ragdoll against the wall, her fear, anger, and hatred for Damien welled up deep within her magical core. Letting her feelings grow, she could feel the golden shield of light growing around her, her skin tingling from the amount of magic she was expending. Turning her glare onto her hated foe, she released the energy around her, sending it straight at him.
Damien never knew what hit him. The golden light surrounded him, the pure white magic of it burning the mortal skin he was wearing completely off of his body, leaving him only in his spectral form. With a great cry of rage and defeat, he flew up to the ceiling, disappearing once again into the night.
Breathing heavily from the exertion the spell had taken to perform, Hermione dropped onto her knees tiredly, trying to catch her breath. When she looked up again, she saw that Jakob was there now, checking on Harry as Mrs. Weasley took care of untying Ron and Luna from the chairs they were tied to. Looking once more to Jakob she asked, "Is he okay?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly, feeling only a very faint pulse and getting no reaction from Harry whatsoever. "What happened to him?"
"He-" she started to reply, when suddenly she was racked with a great wave of pain through her abdomen. Clutching at her stomach, she cried out in pain and looked at Jakob with naked fear in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, rushing over to kneel on the floor by her side.
"The baby," she whispered, fearing that Mrs. Weasley might hear, as another wave of pain rolled through her.
"We've got to get you to a healer," Jakob said, very gently picking her up off of the floor. Looking to where Mrs. Weasley was now kneeling next to Harry, he asked, "Mrs. Weasley, are you able to take charge of everyone else that's here? I'm afraid I need to get immediate medical attention for Hermione."
"Of course, yes," Mrs. Weasley answered immediately. "Take her straightaway to Grimmauld Place. I'll floo Madame Pomfrey and have her meet you there immediately."
"Thank you," he said, grateful for the Weasley matriarch's ability to think during utter chaos.
Seeming to read the look on his face she stated, "I've birthed and raised seven children. I'm sure I can take care of these three."
Nodding in thanks and appreciation at her once more, he carried Hermione directly to the floo, threw in the powder and stated, "Grimmauld Place."
~*~
"What in the world has happened to her?"
Hearing the familiar voice of Madame Pomfrey from the door directly behind him, he turned and repeated everything that Hermione had told him once he'd gotten her to Grimmauld Place and lain her in her bed as gently as possible. When he mentioned the baby, the nurses eyes grew wide and she asked, "Does anyone else know?"
"Just Harry and I," he replied, thinking of the other injured teen. "Which reminds me, he'll be here shortly and is in great need of your medical tending as well."
"These poor children," she tutted, moving swiftly over to Hermoine's side. Casting the usual diagnostic spells, she quickly looked over her shoulder at Jakob and said, "I suggest you get things ready for Mr. Potter's arrival as well."
"Actually, there may be more injured than just the two," he replied, cringing at the look of malice the nurse turned on him.
"And just how many injured are we speaking of?" she asked, seeming to fight to keep her usual calm demeanor.
"The entire Weasley family, well not Mrs. Weasley, but the rest of the family. Oh, and Luna too," he added, not meeting her hard glare.
"Then you'd best get busy," she stated, turning back to Hermione. "This house is going to get very full, very fast, and I am going to need all the help I can get. I suggest you floo Headmisstress McGonagall and ask that she come to help as well."
"Alright," he acknowledged, running out of the room and down the stairs to where the floo was located. But before he could throw in the floo powder, green flames erupted and someone Jakob had never seen before appeared, carrying Harry as he arrived.
"Where should I put him?" the man asked, looking to Harry worriedly.
"Up the stairs, second door on the right," Jakob replied. As the man started walking away, he asked, "I don't think I caught your name?"
"I'm Fred Weasley," he replied quickly, and then ascended the stairs two at a time up to the room where Hermione lie as well.
"Glad to see another Weasley that's not hurt," Jakob muttered, and then went about summoning the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
~*~
She could no longer feel her body, or all of the aches and pains that had been caused by Damien's attack.
Afraid to move, thinking that any shift may bring that pain back, Hermoine lay perfectly still and opened up her mind. Taking in the noises around her, she could hear the faint murmurs of people talking, and turning her attentions inward, she could hear the very faint, but fast, heartbeat of the baby. 'The baby,' she thought, fighting the urge to move her hand over her abdomen to where she knew it grew, not yet used to the idea that she was to be a mom. If she survived to term, that was.
Suddenly remembering exactly how she came to be injured as a crystal clear picture of Harry suddenly materialized in her mind's eye, she slowly opened her eyes to see exactly who it was that had been so deep in discussion while she'd been so engulfed within herself.
In between her bed and another that was straight across from her, Jakob, Madame Pomfrey, and Headmistress McGonagall were all talking in low voices, each of them throwing uneasy glances at the other bed. Turning her head slowly still, she looked at the occupant of the other bed that they seemed so worried about and felt her heart nearly stop.
"Harry?!" she said, her voice barely a rasp. The three adults, upon hearing her, immediately rushed to her side.
Madame Pomfrey was of course the first to talk. "Try not to exert yourself anymore, dear, you need to rest so that you can heal properly."
"But Harry..."
Here, Jakob came to sit beside her carefully on her bed, and looked at her. She could see the sadness he was trying to hide in his eyes, and she could empathically feel his worry and fear. She just wasn't sure who those feelings were for, her or Harry.
"Hermione," Jakob said, breaking into her inner thoughts, "You're going to be okay, as in, completely okay. You just used more magic than your body was used to, and Madame Pomfrey says if you rest, you'll be perfectly fine." The look he gave her now conveyed that he meant that not just her body, but her and Harry's baby would be fine as well, which she had already known. Still looking at her with his intense blue eyes, he added, "Unfortunately, right this moment, we don't know if Harry is going to heal or not. The dark magic that Damien hit him with was very powerful black magic, and after the history Harry's had with Voldemort invading his mind, well, we don't know if he'll wake or not. And if he does wake...we don't know if he'll be himself, or..."
"Or what?!" she cried out, her lungs protesting at the amount of air she'd used. When Jakob didn't immediately answer, she caught his eyes with hers and asked again, "Or what, Jakob?"
"He might not be himself, ever again, Miss Granger," Madame Pomfrey answered instead, so that Jakob didn't have to voice the horrid news. "All we can do now is wait for him to wake, and hope for the best."