Unofficial Portkey Archive

Life and Times

Rating: R

Ship: HHr (main emphasis)

The (unlovely) procedure: all rights go to JKR for previous plot and characters, Scholastic, Warner, and whoever else has their hands in HP.

…Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end - Luna Lovegood

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Chapter Seventy - Beast

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"I'm sorry, Hermione."

"What?!" How I could see her, and that of her wand, through the melting world of light and colour… She held the tip at my attachment, my grip of her dress when her eyes went to mine.

She smiled contentedly, a genuine, freed grin, an image I'd bet in any past life no one would ever see on Rita. A small jolt burst from the wand's tip, and it struck me like a white-hot fire, but only a second-a second for my hand to release Rita. I went to grab at her, take her back again in any shape my grasp could hold, but as I was sucked one way she shot off in another. The spell she had chanted evidently had momentum, propelling her away from me as well as the liberation.

"I've done enough damage…," I heard her in echoes, fighting as I may the force that drew me backward. Her figure began to fade into the fast lights enwrapped about us, taken to some other destination than that of her portkey-or, should I say, mine.

"Give `em Hell for me," she winked, and then she was gone, my flailing arms still outreached to grasp at nothing.

Drumfire, I could hear the thunderous barrage, breaking through churning, dark clouds in freefall. I tried to return my equilibrium, having left any trace of balance when I went for Rita. Alas, struggling, I kept in my turn, and at this rate I'd fall straight on my neck. I fought hard against the acceleration, seeing magical discharge, flumes of thick, black smoke and that of white. I gave it my all, flinging myself upward like a swing so I'd better prepare to land on my feet rather than my head.

I put too much effort into it, now seeing the ground closing in and one of the three-pointed basalt brick walls of Azkaban Prison. Dropping by Dementors in the fray, they immediately picked up my scent, in chase and behind me. I made an effort, again, to turn back rightside-up, seeing spells zoom around me. The colours were intangible, tangled, like webs connected to fire, bullets homing in on their targets.

I could see a dragon in flight, a Common Welsh Green, swoop down. Its great wings, its claws sunk themselves into the side the prison wall. It scraped the brick, cobblestone cascading with ease down towards the jagged rocks and sea below, pelting anyone dare close enough. The Welsh Green in frenzy, snapped and spewed forth flame at anything, swatting Death Eater and Auror from the air like flies. A particularly daft Death Eater gave brunt to the most gruesome of swipes, the dragon's claw tearing his body in two as he tried to best the Auror's heels he followed after thinking he'd found a quicker way: beneath the dragon itself.

I looked back and saw the trail of Dementors in pursuit. I saw what looked like gunfire, magicks in straight lines rather than the slightly curved partner of ours. They would strike, tearing the tattered hate like paper. My hand for my wand, my feet facing the ground of which I'd land, I peered up and readied the incantation on my tongue. A strikingly brilliant blue light rose from below me, pushed upwards, like a bubble, never fazing me but when struck the flying gaggle came screams. The Dementors turned back and fled towards the skies, consuming whatever Auror or Death Eater flying by.

I fell through another bubble, transparent and of green hue which settled my fall and immediately slowed me down. I could hear voices, people in chaos, maddening calls and other languages I'd never heard of-all speaking as one, and none differentiated.

"I've had a habit of underestimating you, Granger!" I saw Draco, his blonde hair starkly white within a sharp bolt of lightning. He yelled through the deluge of rain, or at least its noise, as I came down through what appeared to be some sort of shield. It wasn't protego, in fact the barrier felt organic…an odd feeling, and as I searched the corners did I find Elves. They maintained the globe with a vigilant chant, never looking in any other direction than forward.

I caught the black, leather-gloved hand of Draco at the conclusion of my descent. My feet hit the sturdy, yet shaking ground. We were dry, and I could see Draco clearly as he spoke, his grey eyes studying me over. "The old fossil put more stock in you, but I sure didn't."

"Did you happen to leave your calling card?" his banter and mine, betwixt my index and middle fingers held the chocolate frog card. The sheen gave light with another bolt of lightning, Albus Dumbledore's face smiling at Draco, unbeknownst to me.

He plucked the card from me and immediately placed it secure in his coat pocket. "Every obstacle you've faced you've overcome."

He kept his eyes to the sky, the swarm of death above us.

I looked, too, and saw Death Eaters, try as they may, sweep down in their blackest of smoke and bounce off the Elven magicks dispersed from their hands.

"Will they get in?"

"We're hoping for the best, Granger-keep your head on, and keep it down. I gave Harry a promise after he saved my arse in that fire. I'd keep you safe, and that is thusly my intention."

"What?!" I swung back around. "It was you! I knew not of why I was placed in such a state-a draught of some kind-you, Severus-"

"All that time brewing wasted… I could have done other things if I knew just how stubborn you really were. I'll remember that next time."

"There won't be a next time! I'm done running!"

Draco seemed to loosen from himself, his sight escaping the skies to me. His pupils, from our closeness, dilated at my very words. He seemed to know my final conclusion, the absolute answer. I was not to be crossed. I was Hermione Jane Granger, the steadfast thinker, the lover, the woman to be wedded to the most courageous of men in the history of the wizarding world. And he, Harry, his soul ran within mine.

I was going into the fray-and I'd fight Malfoy to get to the end.

"She's here."

"Who?" He asked, and I found it almost amusingly rhetoric.

He knew exactly.

"Sarilda."

He paused, his eyes never quite stopped studying me, soaking the furrowed brow, the traversed madness of my mind, and the revenge in my heart.

"I fear we're up against something far greater than Sarilda, Granger."

"I want her-!"

He grabbed my shoulders, and how quick and strong his jerk of me abated my sentence. "Stow your hatred, I plea! Remove it-now! Your vengeance will surely be our downfall!"

"She killed him!"

"They're attempting a complete resurrection of Voldemort! We haven't time for such animus!"

My eyes grew wide.

"They've stolen a work shed only from the deepest pits of Hell. They've taken it-the Tome of Blood-Muerte Grimoire-Liber Mortuorum. They've all the same meaning…"

I had mouthed each titled description for the same tome after he said them…

"The Book of Death."

"The Book of the Dead."

"But history! I-I read it…," I couldn't think. My words were all jumbled in my head. "I know what it is! It was said it never existed-that Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, the-historians and philosophers said the book but a ruse! The infamous Holy Grail! Pandora's Box!"

"Nothing is certain and everything is certain, Granger! Look around us! Muggles don't believe in magic-say magic doesn't exist!"

"We've got to get up there! We've got to stop-!"

"Down-we're fighting downward, not up-into certain abyss of Azkaban's belly."

"Come on! No time to waste!"

"Granger!"

"Draco!"

"I want you to stay right beside me-right beside me, do you hear me?! The moment you run off I swear I'll body-bind curse you from here till next week!"

"Same for you, Malfoy-I've about as much trust in your word as does a mouse to a snake!"

"Who would have thought-you and me-a team?"

"Current situations do find time for irony these days."

Draco chuckled, but became serious in haste. He withdrew his wand and shot a spark of white from its tip. By the time the white sparks faded dozens of white cloaks had appeared until we were surrounded in a circle with us two the centre. He let the lightning, and then thunder die before initiating his next speech:

"Our brothers and sisters inside have pushed to the middle rung! Our victory won't come easily as the final press will be the hardest! They'll surely find ways and means-search for traps, do not go into rooms and fight alone! Our goal is the bottom, the basement, Hell itself. This is where we'll find Quincy Nolpho and Sarilda Lestrange. This is where we'll find the most powerful of powerful of their lot! Anything goes and watch your backsides. I want all of us alive at the end of this-I want to see the thousands of my men's faces when we are triumphant over evil and have taken back liberty and freedom, what is truly ours!"

"Sir!" They saluted, a fist to their chests.

"All right men!" Draco pivoted on his cane towards a large, gaping hole in the side of Azkaban. I hadn't noticed, the dark brick blending with the dull colour of the island, the barren, lifeless grounds. I guessed they hadn't guessed to go through the front door. He raised his arm, pointed onwards and shouted: "For the future! Our families! Our children!"

The shine from the Aurors glowed to such intensity that I had to close my eyes, and in that split second we were left alone but for a dozen white cloaks at Draco's side. A beat passed, the residual mists dispersing into the side of the opened all. Inside came flashes of light, of chants, screams, and I hoped not of ours. I saw blurriness in my vision as dozens of Elves raced in behind the resistance, leaping headlong into the broken wall and down into the black depths. Other men, of all ethnicities, of robes and clothing not unlike ours, tip what could be their hats towards Draco as teams of them repeated the Elven footsteps.

"Stay with me."

Draco reached for me with his black leather-gloved hand.

He turned to me with those warm grey eyes of his.

"Stay with me."

I nodded and took his hand, the very warmth of his eyes seeping through the leather.

"Catch my coat sleeve with your other hand and hold tight."

I followed his word, shuffling to stand now in front of him. Something in the back of my mind found this awkward, and it came to conscious. My hand in Draco's, my other hand on clasp to his far sleeve, and we so incredibly close… Draco sensed the feeling, too, and huffed.

"Don't get any crafty ideas, Granger. I'm a happily married man."

I rolled my eyes, and gave a huff, too. "And, I'm happily engaged."

He chuckled, and went to put his left arm around my right shoulder. He tucked his right underneath my left. For all intensive purposes…we were in embrace. I heard him chuckle, again, at my tensed sigh, and I blew a huff again from my diaphragm.

"Keep your head down-keep your head on my coat-and try not to look. You might get sick."

"I'm tougher than you know."

"Women."

I gave his arm the tightest squeeze I could give.

He laughed and readied the call. His arm moved, and I saw him motion with his hand the go. "Hold on," he said in my ear.

I felt my feet leave the ground.

I felt a whoosh of air, a feeling as if I were traversing quickly through a stream of water. I heard the noise coming, and I became rigid. The noise was more like a wall, and we were heading towards it, about to break through. When we did the sound overwhelmed me. I hadn't ever in my wildest dreams heard the kind of buzzing I heard blaring in my ears. For a moment I thought to cover them, but when Draco felt the slightest of my movement he hugged me further, keeping me in position.

I found his arm move from my shoulder, down my back, to across the back of my head. He knew of my plight, the deafening banging, like shots, bullets, a gun fight. The sound was snuffed greatly by Draco's change; but, with the change came my own.

I had opened my eyes, a blink really, to have them fully open and see the horror I was being flown through. What resembled fangs, a claw, a wretched hand separated the irony stone and pitch overhead, the torrential rains pouring forth through a broken chasm at the top of Azkaban. About us, the stench of decay and death, of pain, and the foul smell of human excrement. I buried my nose deep within Draco, the odor having me gag. The warmer environment grew increasingly cold, and colder still as icicles hung to the wall, the rain turning to hard sleet.

We had to have been floors deep by now. I knew of stories about Azkaban, the horrors of which kept the place. The stories never came close to the repugnance, the dominion that could only be described in something like Dante's Inferno with each rung of Azkaban gaining distress and despair. Only the blasphemous of humanity, those of evil could ever reach these depths, and as my eyes flittered to the lightning-wrought skies once more did I see the visage drawing dimmer. Darkness dutifully suffocated the light.

I closed my eyes and found again my strength and will. Easily detachable, true happiness and love could never survive this bottomless pit. Even my skin, so evident with care, nearly illuminated against its opposition. My eyes opened at the encroachment of another barrier of sound, louder than the feet, miles from where we began. My very fibre shook, a chill surrendering my spine. I found myself lacking, and thought retrospectively a coat would have helped, only a simple shirt and jeans to my name. But, only fleeting the simple thought came and went.

Something had hit us-or somethings.

I smelled the smoke, saw the fire on Draco.

I dropped from him, his grasp, unattended consequence after the flame had struck him. He struggled to find help, and had let me go. I fell without wings, falling quick as I reached out to air to see Draco alit with fire. Closing in our troupe, Death Eaters had broken through his Aurors, the white overcome with black. I saw him, his grey eyes watch me fall, his black leather-gloved out for me.

I felt hundreds of pounds heavier, dropping fast, seeing only blackness under my feet. Stairways wrapping the inside perimeter of Azkaban I saw the fighting, zipping by Auror and Death Eater alike. If I were to die, I thought. I might as well take some of the bastards out! I pointed my wand, tossing, casting spell after spell at each sight of Death Eater, in the flesh or through their purplish-black contrails. A spell of mine hit one in-chase with an Auror, and I saw him, or her, fall right along with me. I started again, trying my best, trying everything-anything my mind could come up with-to help, fight back, however helpless I'd become.

I felt something wrap around me, a chain, rope-like and I was ripped from my fall. My fall slowed, and I noticed an ever-so-slight blur beneath my shoes as if I were on some invisible, floating cloud. Pulled towards a side wall, something leapt to me and I was taken from flight, my sight went back as the rogue Death Eater I'd taken continued his descent into the darkness. I felt a body, and nothing truer than warmth as he, or she-it-had brought me down with them and into a dank, darkly corridor of Azkaban.

I went to rebel, chant, cast a spell, but was immediately hushed. The something, a hand, their hand was placed over my mouth.

"Shh!" It said. In the pitch I couldn't see anything; though, I could feel more leather and that of fingers at my mouth. I heard a language I hadn't heard-and beautiful-Elven?-whisper silently to something… Someone?

"Lumos," called another whisper, a familiar whisper, and I saw in the light Weasley-red.

Ronald!

My eyes widened, and I wanted to shout his name excitedly.

My eyes went to the one holding shut my mouth, and I saw between limited light and shadow the perfectly carved features of Alice. She didn't look like herself, though; serious, and more stoic. We had left the fight, the calls, shouts, wails seen through an archway around the corner from where we stood hidden in the wet stone corridor.

"Nox…," whispered Ronald, hearing footsteps, seeing blackened masses of Death Eaters charge their way in from the main shaft.

In the darkness, Alice embraced me, pulled me down with her as we pressed ourselves steadily back into the corner.

"Draco's out there!" my whispers were silenced.

"Quiet!" announced immediately Alice. "They'll hear you!"

I nodded, but couldn't tell of where to nod.

"Where'd they scurry off to?! I saw those fucking Elves go this way!" said one Death Eater, filing into the open room next door.

They were closing in.

"Check every corner and watch your arses! You get caught in ambush it's your fault!

I could see the lights dancing in the corridor's hallway, and I could see them-one-flashing inside our tiny area. A wand's tip, and then its light quickly lit our room-which I saw to be one of Azkaban's many cells we crouched in-and instantly knew… This was it. I gripped my wand, and Alice stowed the twitch. I saw her form clearly now, a finger over her lips for me to be quiet. Ronald was aside her and behind, covering us with something translucent…a material…

The Invisibility cloak! Genius!

The masked intruder stood within the cell door, looked to his right, and then to his left. I saw him look straight at us. My heart pounded, my adrenaline raced. I tried to steady the pace of my breath, the wisp of white which expelled from my lips. I wondered if the cold cloud could be seen, and decided better to hold it. I closed my eyes, just seeing the disembodied skull brought me to tremble. I wasn't so much frightened than overly ready…wanting to fight.

"Any luck idiots?"

"Nothing in here!" yelled the Death Eater in our midst back towards his leader.

"What's the hold up? Keep moving then!"

The Death Eater vanished, jumping from the cell door and back into the corridor. The light from their wands trailed off with their footsteps, and soon we were alone once more. I let my breath out when Alice and Ronald moved, and I was so overjoyed to see them. I gave her the biggest hug, a release of emotions, so needed; and then one for Ron, embracing him like I hadn't seen him in ages. I kissed them both and hugged them again.

Alice and Ron smiled.

"You two are together now?" I mused.

"A very long story…," Ronald lifted from his kneel, shedding the invisibility cloak from us.

"We make quite the duo," said Alice with a bit of snark, a smirk.

"I've made every effort of protecting you, Hermione-why are you here?" The greetings were done. Ronald looked pissed. "This isn't where you want to be!"

"I'm done running, Ron-I'm done," I shot back. "Harry sacrificed everything for me-for us-it's time we all, me, I pay him back in return."

"He wouldn't have wanted you here!"

"I would have told him exactly how I felt, too."

"You cannot deny Fate," interjected Alice, her eyes on Ronald. His, so intent on Hermione as he stared her down, straight-faced, went back to Alice. "She is here for a reason-reasons beyond what we could ever control. You should know this. Look at the vast ocean Hermione crossed. She's here, and it's time to end this."

Ron's eyes went to Hermione's. "I'm never done protecting you. I will continue to do so."

"And, I'll be saving your arse time and time again."

Ron and I bore into each other in our pause, one face as stern as the other.

"We'll take the corridor down-" Alice grabbed my hand and we eased from the cell, peeking around the corner before setting off from the centre of Azkaban. She looked back at me when her hand released from mine. "Ready your wand, love."

Alice reached for her bow, a bolt in wait.

My wand was in hand, firmly gripped, my index finger aligned with its rigidness. I looked back, too, to see Ron. He kept behind, watching our backs.

"Draco-"

"Draco can carry his own…" replied Ron, and when I looked at him he nodded. "Keep your eyes forward."

Alice put her hand in the air and closed it, signaling to wait. "People are coming…," she announced.

A felt a hand go to mine, to see it Ronald as he pulled me with Alice into a holding cell. The decrepit rock that was Azkaban shook, the stone ceiling chipping bits of cobble off. Ron had the invisibility cloak in hand and tossed it over all three of us. We sat down, huddled together, with Alice the elected lookout. We heard the shouting, people in a run, and then the dreaded colour of green.

I heard the Elven dialect, their beautifully language against the chants of death. They were in the corridor, the casters in flee, backtracking the length they had trekked. I heard arrows fly, its piercing whistle strike someone and their cry. Alice perked up, vigilant as the bodies drew closer-the Death Eaters in flight, their black smoke fuming into our cell and disappearing quickly. The visage of many a pointed ear, their multi-coloured tunics and white stretch-cloth in pursuit could be seen against the nebulous ambience, a hint of blue hue against the somber backdrop.

Alice softly said something I couldn't understand; a muted, inaudible something that caught one Elf's attention. He stopped at our door, the others rushing by, and stuck his head in. He looked right at us, and in that moment Alice ushered Ron to reveal ourselves. The invisibility cloak came off.

"Selli!" [Sister!] the Elf of darkest black skin opened his arms in greeting. "Mammen heru lende?!" [Where have you been?]

"Laume yaara, lo maure assira!" [No time, brother! We're in need of dire assistance!]

The Elf nodded, turned to shout, "Faerassein!" [Kin of Her!], and noted as he spoke, again, to Alice, "Tanelo assira, lo assira." [Anything-we will help.]

The Elf's redden-sight gazed over at me while some of his kin flew to his side, breaking in a third to stand by him. As I looked back and into him, I could actually feel myself calming, the very heightened sense of awareness, of grief and sadness, subsiding tremendously. His eyes went back to Alice.

She spoke in English, maybe so I could understand, too. "Have we breeched the cover we blew?"

They began in haste moving back towards the way we were going, leaving the rest of the Elves in pressing back the Death Eaters. I took off after them, Alice and the Dark Elf's lead with Ron always at my side. We were in jog, turning down bleak hall after bleak hall. Candles stood in old, brass holders, unlit. Water dripped from the shaking ceiling, our foundation. One shock made us stop a second, to look around, to make positive our situation wasn't going to cave in, and begun when the eroded blocks sustained the damage from above.

"The resistance has plundered into the depths. We were about to dive in ourselves, but took defense when the Death Eaters rushed us from behind."

"How many were there?"

"Too many-our unit has been broken into two, and now halved."

"I'd wondered why we were so few."

"By their desperation, this is their final stand. The revival of Evil itself is their persisted goal. We should have acted years ago to help prevent this from happening again. Here we are now."

"Stop!" In mid-run, I halted and bumped into the back of Alice, and Ron into the back of me. He took my hand, and I squeezed his in return.

Alice's eyes went to the ceiling, and I could see her heaving chest. "I sense it…"

"I sense it now, too, sister."

"Back up…," she turned to us and yelled. "Back up-all of you!!"

The ceiling collapsed in front of us, stone raining down. Ron grabbed me and pulled me with him. I had my wand out, and aimed, being thoroughly dragged backwards by my Weasley friend. A head of translucent scales, of the smallest of black eyes and a round snout busted through: a Chinese Fireball, and an angry one, belched fire upon us. We began our sprint, retreating from the onslaught unbeknownst to the dragon. Death Eater had taken control of him, and as I looked back saw their lead.

The dragon, cramped, continued its clawing stalk, snapping at our heels and breathing breath after breath of rolling flame. The Death Eaters who had crawled their way inside from the hole in the ceiling gave barrage of spells, casting them around the Fireball at us. The dragon our largest problem, I threw counter-curses back, tossing up shields for protection and blowing down stone obstacles when we'd round a corner to impede their travel. The obstacles slowed them down, but the dragon barreled through the fallen cobble.

The Fireball would scream when the Death Eater's would shoot violently a spell to carry him on.

I heard their chants, the Killing Curse over the dragon's wails. "Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! AVADA KEDAVRA!!"

Bullets of green sparked from their wand's tips, but would fade at mine, the Elves and Ron's anti-magic.

"Everyone left!"

I'd been too busy concentrating on hindering those that hunted us, between circumventing their spells back and creating destruction to halt their steps, did I never see the fork in the road. Ron literally picked me up and yanked me around the corner. My Expelliarmus went off just as he tugged me, snapping back the hand of one, followed by my Stupefy which knocked him back towards the opened, furious mouth of the Chinese Fireball.

"Keep running! Keep running!"

"Dementors!"

Farther down the length of our new corridor came those tattered robes, mindless bodies in search of content souls. Even from here could we hear the sucking sound, the perpetual inhale. They were coming, and coming fast. What little flesh still clung to their boney fingers scabbed over and scrapped at the walls, a screech, constant nails raking against stone. Another fork closed in, but the distance would be close, too close, and behind us the dragon loomed in follow.

"Right or left?!" barked Ron towards the Elves, towards Alice now behind us.

"Take the next right!" yelled the dark-skinned Elf. "We'll hold off the Fireball behind us-use your Patronus!"

"They're too close! Dodge-lower your heads and keep running! Don't stop!"

Ron waved his hand, light, like electricity run between and through his fingers. A flash of light enveloped our sight, and suddenly we had a little Jack Russell terrier nipping with our stride.

"Here they come-go, go, GO! QUICK!"

Their frigid breath was upon me, us, and as I gave a final zap from my wand at the dragon did I feel the suck of a Dementor. The Dementor only slowed me down, my feet still in frantic run. Ron still had my hand, a body shield between me and the darkness. I didn't have time to see the Dementors flee, but heard their cries, the growls of the Jack Russell terrier tearing into them.

I looked back, hearing the wailing of men and fire pour into the cobbled hall. My eyes widened, the fire, its flicker evident in my sight. I saw Elves running ahead of the flames. The fire spread, wall-to-wall, branching easily into the cells we went by and swallowed them with its intense heat.

"Ron!" I screamed out, followed by, "Aguamenti!"

The jet of water shot from my wand's tip was immediately devoured by a grinning skull, a familiar face appearing within the beginning of the licking, rolling flames. Voldemort, his wicked smile, opened his mouth and ingurgitated the spout.

"Fiendfyre!"

Ron did a swift turnabout, and in sprint ran right by him. He released me from his grasp. I went to stop, only to be taken by Alice and the rest of her Elves. She had picked me up, my arm, my hand reaching, trying to get at Ronald's planted form. He stopped, and I screamed. My body bobbed in Alice's arms, her spring juggling me as I fought hard to have her release me. Ron had been left behind!

"Alice! Let me go! Please! Ron!"

She ignored me.

Tears welled in my eyes, my sight seeking the decreasing figure of Weasley-red growing smaller in size the faster we fled.

"Ron! RON!!" The vehement wails lambasted my throat sore.

I saw him look back, his body a mere silhouette against the fiery background.

He had his arms out, a white light keeping the flames at bay.

"I love you," I heard him say. In my panicked state, in my cry, I fought to go back and rescue him. "I love you, Hermione."

"Ron!!!"

We had turned another corner, and the atmosphere grew deathly quiet, still, the blackness consuming all but a flitter of light from once we were.

"We have to go back!" I pleaded to Alice, the Elves around me. "We have to go! He can't-"

"He can," Alice had found her voice. "And he will. His character is strong, his will stronger. He made a choice that can save us all."

"He `made a choice'?! We have to go back! I need to go back!"

"Hermione!" She sounded like mum which brought me back, grounded from my cry. "Come out of it-this isn't about one, it's about us. Us-we all will finish this. Ronald will come out this, and with his sacrifice we must continue-to finish this once and for all!"

"Don't act as if he's dead!"

"He's not dead-we feel him-a soul as caring as his."

"I just don't-"

We stopped, and I was placed on the ground.

Alice grabbed me by my shoulders and our faces were mere inches apart. She gazed at me, stared straight into my eyes. The sound of fighting became white noise as we engaged each other without words.

"We'll go scout ahead, Aedirwen," said a few Elves, leaping off in the direction in which we stopped.

"What is it that you want?!" She shook me with exhaustion in her voice. "What is it that you feel?!"

"I don't want another person to die!" My own voice teetered. I could have begun bawling, but at that moment, in her eyes, something far more spiritual kept me sane. Support like I never had before filtered within my veins. "Just no more-no more…!"

My voice grew in softness.

"We're going to stop this-everything-listen to me, Hermione," The conviction in Alice's eyes was a look of sheer determination, and honesty, and love. Warmth, like the warmth seeping from her hands on me, stayed as she spoke slowly. "The love Harry has for you is infinite. The love he gave definite. Look inside your heart. We will end this."

"When this is all over," she said, sisterly, more than an acquaintance, a friend. "We'll see our loved ones again. You've convinced me of this."

She smiled, tears in my eyes at her strengthened hope, and when I went to smile to…

An explosion rocked the hall in which we stood, giving both me and Alice a jolted look. The Elves that were to scout ahead, we heard their plight, heard their zipping arrows. The cold chill that emanated hushed. Alice, with her arms still attached to my shoulders, gave me a push into the cell we stood by and jumped out of the way backward into an opposite cell.

"Hermione!" Alice shouted over the tumultuous casting, the colours changing in seconds from red, to blue, to green against us. I had crept close to the corner of the cell so I could see Alice, her hand movements, her address. "On the count of three we're going-"

A spell whipped by Alice's head and struck the cobblestone, breaking a portion of it off to dust.

"Back up!"

I heard the Elves drawing closer, the lisp of death, the Death Eaters firing away by tongue casts and counters.

I looked back again, to see Alice talking to her kin beside her and motioned to some Elves who had gone in the cell with me.

"Hermione!" she yelled out again. The shattering noise was at our walls. "On the count of three I want you to get in line behind us-and keep your head down!"

"I want to fight!"

Alice shook her head. "We're close to the end. We can't act reckless-"

"They killed Harry-they killed him! I can't sit back anymore! I won't be that woman! I've still fight in me left!"

Alice could see the heart in my words.

"On the count of three!"

I nodded, wand at the ready.

She held up her index finger, and then her middle.

Our cell shook, and immediately the Elf behind me grabbed me and pulled me down on the ground. I felt the pummeling, even if I weren't getting hit, as parts of the ceiling crumbled. I could feel the Elf's strength, so opposed to how delicate he held me. Something dropped that felt like a ton and squashed me along with it.

I was safe when the clouds of old masonry cleared, but realized…a corpse now laid on me. As I crawled out from the Elf's bravery, what had hit us was a severely large chunk of the stone ceiling. A hole the size of a queen-sized mattress displayed itself above me.

Water was brought to my eyes, the Elf had been crushed.

I could have…he…

"Hermione!"

My eyes shot back to Alice, her beautiful voice so disproportionate against all the death.

She made in quick succession her fingers, and when the third was up did she barge into the corridor. I filed in line along with her, casting anything and everything-everything that came to mind including spells I'd never thought in my wildest dreams would ever fall from my virgin tongue. We were met by Death Eaters, the Elven scouts still in-conflict.

I had never used my wand so much, the coloured lights, my aim not perfect-like theirs-bouncing off walls with more of the murky, smothered remnants of Azkaban billowing our way. Alice shielded herself with her arm when cobble came crashing down.

"We need the upper ground, sister!"

I saw her take something off her belt, grip it with her teeth and tossed the spherical object at them. The sphere stuck to the far wall closest to them, and I could see the Death Eaters fall back in retreat.

"Everyone-brace yourself!"

I threw up a final protego, being pulled down and away from the blast.

Azkaban could no longer hold the hostility, the support underneath us withered down to its breaking point. I lost Alice's grasp as we fell through one level after the next and into a darkening abyss.

With the light nearly extinguished, falling slowly, I continued to try and touch what remaining light. Futile, the tunnel grew dim, the light vanquished, and I was left in the dark. The freefall, bitter and cold, the darkness surrounding me led me to believe death had already found me. I could neither hear nor see myself, my pleas, my screams, my tears. If not for my thoughts…

A flash of light came before me, behind me, growing. I tried to turn-if I were turning-to see the light which was so brilliant, so intensely pleasant. Could a light be as amiable, as friendly, as loving as this? The light felt more like a gateway into another realm, of warmth and sunlight.

The light wrapped around me, in an embrace, and when I looked back…

The chaotic mess of raven, his gorgeous smile and jade-green eyes. He had me. Harry had me in his arms again. He hugged me, and I felt him. My hands went to him, to his hands, his flesh, his bone, each digits and knuckle. I felt those arms, how strong he was and the passion behind his embrace. He was at my cheek, in my wide eyes. He leaned in and kissed me, my mouth, and I was taken by breath.

I could still feel myself falling, and Harry…but he said in whisper in my ear, "Never fear, my love… Be strong."

He left me with his beautiful smile.

The falling slowed, and then stopped all of a sudden.

I gasped and heard people around me do the same, in different pitches, squeaks.

I rose from what felt like the ground, a hard, smooth floor.

"Hello?" I called out. The voices…

"Hello?" said someone, and I turned my head in that direction only to hear from my opposite side:

"Hermione!"

"Ronald!"

"Lumos!" My wand alit first, followed by his.

I could see my breath, the white cloud in the frigid air. I held myself, shaking, as I got up and ran over to my beloved Weasley-red.

I started crying, my emotions bottled up and pouring over.

He hugged me tight, caressed by hand my hair and ushered, "Shh… Shh… It's all right."

"Lumos!" said another.

"Lumos!" and yet another.

Lighted wand tips appeared from the darkness, and one after the other did I see familiar faces: Alice and the Elves, Draco with a significant number of Aurors at his side…and Neville!

"Neville!"

"Hermione!"

"How-?"

"Just like old times, eh? Dumbledore's Army at it again."

A myriad of friendly faces stood behind him.

I didn't see some of the more prominent ones… Ginny, Luna, Lee, Dean, and George were missing. I had a heavy weight drop in the pit of my stomach.

"They've been training under Kingsley as Aurors for quite sometime…," I heard Ronald say beneath his breath to me.

My eyes went from Neville, to Ron, and back to Neville.

I could see the white cloak on him, now, better in the popping lights.

"How many more-?"

"We like to keep things mum," Ronald answered before I could finish.

"Everyone!" bellowed Draco in a hoarse tone. "Get back!"

"Ilya yerya lo!" barked Alice, ordering her own to back up as well. "Saura…"

"The smell!"

"Don't breathe it in!"

I smelled it, too; the odor…something rotten, something so burnt, sulfur, brimstone… Ron put his leather-glove over my face and led me to step back in his arms. I placed my own hands over his, too; the odor swelling tears in my eyes, and I gagged.

Rows of candles instantly lit, the flames of one met flames of another, and down the line, candelabras meeting in the centre. Torches lit to life, and I could see more and more of the room…and more and more of death. Bodies hung from the ceiling, their mouths gaped open, their entrails out and gutted. Corpses were scattered about the smooth stone floor, and flies, maggots ate away at their carcasses.

A frigid wind blew at us, and I shivered to the bone.

I had to look away, the stench of foul blood in the air, of blood literally dripping from the rotunda-like room in which we stood. Our backs against the wall, and the room without doors, we had no other place to go.

A spotlight landed on us, and I squinted to see through it.

I heard footsteps, hollow they were, clomping down a stairway, an altar at the back. I held a hand over my forehead, but the light blinded still.

"The players are all here-your roles have been set!"

"Nolpho!" Draco called through the intense brightness. "You're done! It's over!"

"Oh child, perish the thought…," a laugh reverberated against the coldness, and I began to shiver. Ron had wrapped his cloak around me as he held onto me.

"Stay calm…," he said to me quietly into my ear. "Keep strong."

I wanted to nod, but was instantly fixated on the being-no longer human-the man in the handsome business suit. A woman behind him, or once was, her anatomy there but an amalgamation of beastly flesh. She looked hungry, thirsty, her crimson sight staring at us like food in the shadows.

"You've all arrived on time-it is nigh, the birth of a God."

"Everyone!" cried Draco, raising his wand. I looked over at him, at his grey eyes when they landed on me and he nodded. The grip of my wand tightened, my knuckles white.

"Now!" Draco's hand swiftly aimed down and out shot the Aurors, the Elves, my own wand firing a shot of the Killing Curse aimed at Nolpho. Others had their target the shadowy beast in the back, colours sailing across the room. At the call, we charged, Ron never leaving my side with Draco leading the way. Our light broke through the darkness, a radiant brilliance, one of a kind. I found as we drove closer, my feet in haste, the light growing until…

Draco flew back, flailing in mid-air as his spells ricocheted off an invisible barrier and hit the ceiling. My body, too, and Ron, the Elves, our resistance were effortlessly flown backward. Like limp dolls, we were carried weightless through the air. I hit the wall where we had been, yards away, my upper back feeling the impact first. The pain seared from head to toe, and when the backside of my head nailed the wall did I nearly blackout.

White-hot waves flashed through my mind, coursing throughout my body.

I screamed, and I wasn't the only one.

I heard Ron struggling to maintain his will, grunting through gritted teeth and dusting himself as if he were on fire.

Nolpho's wicked laugh echoed throughout the chamber. "Mere humans and your magicks… You've nothing left! Nothing! We are triumphant!"

"I'm bleeding, Ron!" I screamed. I looked down at my arm, where "Mudblood" had been carved into my forearm and had healed into scars overtime, began to etch itself back. Sanguine oozed from the cuts that were there, fresh.

Ron, on his hands and knees, pain evident in his face, tore a part of his white cloak and pulled me to him. He wrapped the white cloth around that arm, and the blood bled through, turning its purity pink.

The blood that dripped from my arm slowly drained towards Nolpho, gathering in a puddle beneath his clean, shiny dress shoes.

Steadily we rose.

My wand readied again.

Nolpho saw our defiance and yelled, "You are ignorant! Disgraceful! Do you dare deface a God by your insolence?! Bow before Him!"

He swatted his hand in the air and we all fell flat on our hands and knees.

"Learn your place!"

I gasped, weak and shaking. My nails clawed into the stone, the pain surpassing my threshold.

"I can see your hopes-your dreams-your fears…" began Nolpho, his voice larger, more grand in the chamber. "Sin feeds off them, envelope yourself in the fear, cower in it. Stand in the darkness and be purged!"

"Draco-your father, your poor mother. After we ravaged her body, he had nothing left to give. We reveled in his tears, his breaking heart, his broken will. We killed her and taunted him with her corpse-we made him watch, and when it was over…we took his life."

"Aedirwen-you wish only to stand with your beloved Luna. Have you yet heard that her place of occupation has been destroyed? That she is near death? You will be saved from death only until you see her die before our hands, drained of life, and then we will kill you."

"Ronald-your love of Hermione. You've never loved anything more. But, you know you will never have her. I see your dreams, wet they are and craving-have you not told her what you've dreamed before? How incredulous you place her? How you want to have her…almost enjoying that you've nothing in front of you with Harry gone."

"Hermione-you've run and hid, you're frightened. You try and be strong, your mind always reeling, your willpower, your heart so caring and affectionate… How does it feel that we mocked the lifeless body of Harold Potter? As he lay dead, we abused him-"

My breathing raced, my chest heaved.

I looked up at Nolpho with madness in my eyes.

"Yes-yes, feed off your revenge-hate. Hate! Let hate gather in your heart! Let it crystallize, have the warmth leave and let it be cold and barren!"

Winds encapsulated me, whipping my bushy brown locks in frenzy. I felt the very blood in my body boil. One knee left the muddied, sodden ground, and shakily I went to stand up.

"Yes!" Clapped Nolpho, laughing. "Yes! Fill yourself with hatred! Let hate devour you whole!"

"Hermione!" I heard Ron yell after me.

I was up, the magicks holding us back merely a tickle against my hot, pale skin. I charged in, wandless, gathering the heat that pulsed through me, discharge like electricity flickering at the end of my fingers. When I went to raise my arms, at the invisible barrier, Nolpho just a few feet behind the shield, did I see my vessels appear clearly on my unveiled arms.

Never did I scare myself, my eyes, my mind set on Nolpho's contented stare.

I found myself gripping, pulling back, breaching the barrier between me, him, and the shadowed demon.

By unsteady heaves, I groaned, inching back the rupture I split. The very chamber began to tear, the walls set to tremble, the rocks falling, the candles dancing wildly with the anarchic winds.

I let out a blood-curdling scream and took a swipe at him, inches away from his face.

His smirk subsided. Nolpho had felt the power within my close wallop.

He swatted me down with the palm of my hand, a flitter of scarlet in his eyes, his irises clouding darkly.

"Your audacity! Your insubordination!"

I flew back, but this time was caught on the wall.

Something or someone had their hands around my throat, and I gasped for air, clawing where those hands were to be and feeling nothing but the hollow of my throat.

I heard the choking sounds of others, and in my peripherals did I see the rest thrashing, beating the unseen hands about their throats.

I heard the coughing, the deep, guttural wheezing.

"Your deaths will come swiftly…," Nolpho boomed loud and clear. He lowered, bent down to the puddle at his feet and slathered his hand in the cooling redness. He stood back up, enjoying our last moments, our pounding, seeking any breath, hung by our necks.

"The mindless mobs…seeking happiness, but fearing everything…"

"…How easy it is to break humanity…to hear their cries in the emptiness of their hearts…"

Nolpho stood straight again, leaning his head sideways. He slathered his off-white, revealed throat with the blood of the dead, and that of the still-living.

"Why do you live if you are only to die? Give yourself to the Sovereign-the Prince, the Star who will set you free!"

The beast, cased in the shell of a naked woman, stalked from the shadows. She walked carefully towards Nolpho as he bore happily into our struggles. From the outside she had nothing of flesh, more of muscle, and tainted black whenever not wine. Hair of obsidian swung within her step. Her face, half herself, the other half serpent-like, Voldemort, his forked-tongue lapped the frozen air between fangs instead of teeth. Her red eyes were surrounded by black as she stared at the backside of the waiting sacrifice. Horns stuck crookedly from her skull.

Her hands ensnared Nolpho's neck, and she-he-it snatched down in posthaste the hollow of his throat. It took the chunk and spat it out, draining him, drinking him and the blood he washed himself of from the floor.

The creature let Nolpho fall, his frame striking the ground with a bounce, dead.

It set its eyes on us, and with a devilish smirk began a run in our direction-starting with me.

"Al-!" Draco hacked, murmuring as he tugged helplessly at those invisible tentacles tight on his throat. He let a breath, and with all his might shouted, "ALBUS!!"

A resplendent light, radiant, illuminated our sights.

In the clear, my eyes adjusting, the glow of figures so ethereal… I saw him before me-and those others before the resistance, the Elves, and what was of Dumbledore's Army.

A man adorned with shining armor, his dazzling brightness a breath of fresh air, lowered me down, his hands beneath my arms. At his level, without a helmet, his messy tassels blowing in the warm breeze about him…and wonderful…I saw Harry. On his chestplate decorated a lion, the emblem of Gryffindor, the very metal golden. He smiled at me, his burning aura stunning, a sight to see.

He had never been more beautiful.

His face of perfection, healed, the bruise he had worn for so long gone; his lightning bolt scar vanished.

"Harry…!" And it was if time had stopped.

White light had engulfed my surroundings.

Me and Harry: one again.

I leapt into his arms and he caressed me so gently, holding me with him, cradling me. My fingers were taught in his hair where I grabbed him, my heart fluttering. When our lips drew apart, our forehead lingered, our noses, the tips of them dwelling together. I closed my eyes and kissed him once more, the taste of him, the smell of him… He brought me back, my weakness dissipated, and I was whole again.

He saw my arm.

He saw the blood leaked through.

He reached for it, kindly putting the bandaged cloth to his lips and gave it a soft caress. He watched me as I felt his warmth seep through me, and watched me as I saw the bandage lighten to its pureness. The splotch disappeared.

"You've done brilliantly, my love…," His voice was heard in reflection, reiteration. He caressed the top of my hand and he led me to brush my fingers against his lovely, warm cheek.

The light relaxed, and at once I saw around me all who had died amongst us, the living, each with their own glowing radiance. Severus was with Draco, and among him Alastor Moody and even Sir Nicholas. Cedric, Remus and Tonks encircled the demon with a list of others including those I had only seen in photographs: Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Amelia Bones, Dumbledore's girls, Kendra and Ariana, and at lead, Albus himself. Sirius stood behind Harry with his hand on Harry's shoulder. He smiled at me, as well did James and Lily, watching over me, too. Fred stood with his brother, having released him from the clutches of the demon. They were saying something, something I couldn't hear, a slight ringing developing in my ears.

But, whatever it was, Ronald was beaming. And, Fred-Fred was laughing, alit like so many times before, giving his brother a hug.

"…Now, it's our turn," ended Harry with his signature, gorgeous smile. He leaned forward and planted his warm lips along my forehead. I closed my eyes instinctively and smiled, feeling his fingers comb through my hair.

"I love you," he gazed with the smile.

"I love you," my hand went to reach for him, but he had turned, as they all did, towards the lashing demon.

Albus suppressed it with his wand.

The brilliant light grew with strength.

It never blinded me, crystal clear; clear enough for me to see the vivid figures of friends, and family, my love…

Harry unsheathed a long, thin, glistening object from his waist.

The metal gleamed, and at once I knew the sword he carried.

The Sword of Godric Gryffindor, never more ablaze.

They flew at the demon, and with a charging yell, smothered him with their light.

The demon belted a cry, a scream so loud I lowered and covered my ears.

And, all at once…

Silence.

What was left was the candlelight from the candelabras, the torches, the altar of which sat a tome.

I went to stand up, to stand with my friends, my brothers and sisters, to find the ground in agitation, quivering.

Azkaban began to cave in, the floor crumbling to dust as it crept fast, closing in. The Aurors, the Elves, went to jump. Ronald grabbed hold of me, and began to ascend within the mist that gathered. The pit that opened up glowed dusk-red, and hot. A whirl of pressure started to suck those of us in, and as difficult Ron's flight was to maintain did the pull drag us farther in.

I looked back, and instantly wished I hadn't.

From the fiery abyss crawled hellish forces, of corpses reanimated, grasping for us. They crawled on their bellies, crawled on the wall like insects and tore one after the other down. Far greater in number, our casted spells only halted the inevitable. I felt the cold hand of one grab my ankle. Another grabbed my foot. I tried to shake them off, tried to kick my feet up. They took my shoe, it falling carefree into the hole and down, gone.

I could hear Draco and the others yelling, impeding them, but Aurors were sunk, pulled in.

I stomped on a flesh-eaten skull, its boney hand wrought on my calf. I screamed as I found myself losing hold of Ronald by their incredible strength. "Ronald!!"

"Hermione!"

I heard the taunting, evil chuckle of the demon, the fires in the pit building.

I heard a yell and saw the Elves far worse, most of them swallowed by the mass of corpses, and then I saw-

"Alice!" I shouted, seeing her dive head first into the sea of rotting bodies.

She had leapt in after the final of her kin was yanked down below.

She looked at me in her descent and smiled sweetly before succumbing to her fall in chase for her family.

My grip left Ronald's hand, and I fell, too.

Hundreds of frigid, ossified fingers were on me-the darkness consuming me. I fought to scream, the hands pulling at me-pulling so hard I thought they were to pull me apart, my arms and legs from their sockets. I saw beneath me, the depths of what looked like Hell, the all-engulfing frozen fire. I coughed, breathing in the acrid atmosphere between the Inferi's suffocation.

I saw lights below and above.

I heard the shouts, the fighting-I heard Elves, those Aurors who had been pulled in or jumped, leaving their lives to precarious hope.

I heard the whistling of arrows.

The colours of magic.

"Lumos Maxima!"

A white light came from above, and a hand reached out for me when the Inferi fled to the sides, crawling still to the surface.

My dilated sight gave fruition to a white cloak, an Auror, Ronald, as he pulled me back up.

"Ron!" I cried with tears. "Ron!!"

"I'm going to toss you upwards with all my might, Hermione," His tone stern, he kept ever-vigilant, never wavering from my tearful streams. "I'm going to toss you upwards. When I do, use your wand and cast Windgardium Leviosa on yourself."

"What about you?!"

"Don't' worry about me-" He grew frustrated, without time. "Do as I say, damn it! Do it!"

"I don't want to leave you!"

"Don't say that as if I'm dead already-we'll see each other again," He struggled a smile, but was forced to yell at me again. "Get ready! It may hurt a little!"

"I love you, Ronald," I said, my lips trembling with tears.

I could feel the Inferi pulling at my legs and feet again.

He smiled. "Tighten your muscles!"

He could feel me do so, tensing, prepared.

"Don't look back!" He dragged me out of the Inferi, groaning as he did, pulling me backward with everything he had until I was thrown upwards.

I winced when my socket popped, gritting my teeth.

My wand penetrated my shirt, poked against my stomach.

I let out a loud, "Windgardium Leviosa!" and found myself floating, flying ever-higher thanks to Ronald.

I barreled quickly through the Inferi, wanting to, and wishing when I looked back he was there.

He wasn't.

I felt a hand on me, plucked and gathered from my flow north.

I gasped, of all the effort, the sacrifice…to have the Inferi on me again. I jerked around and was met with Draco having caught me as I flashed by him.

He pressed an object against my chest and tore my necklace off, the Hippogriff feather that Harry had bought me for my birthday and I'd never taken off. The silver chain broke immediately in his hand.

He pointed his wand at me, my form apparating, departing from visible and let a word fall from his tongue:

"Obliviate!"

A bluish-green light hit me as I fell back into a void and vanished from the Hell I had witnessed.

***

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place

A swirl of bluish-green lights swam like a circling whirlpool in the ceiling above the Master bed. Enlarging, the spot evolved, spreading to the length of two average humans. Magical dispersion jotted spider-like across the wood grain, sending sparkles of what looked like electricity throughout the bedroom.

Hermione's form started with her backside, funneling out from the centre, her listless appendages sprawled-out heedlessly. Her contingent fall was steady, calculated. She hit the bed with a slightest of bounce, her head upon the pillow.

The old, musty tome of which Draco shoved into her arms dropped off her abdomen and lay haphazardly aside her on the mattress sheets. The cover was sewn together bits of flesh with no title.

The book opened deliberately to a page of loose folded parchment. Ink displayed in hasty scrawl, as if the person knew time was precious.

The words:

Your Directions

Were written.

---

{Author's Note: remember that reviews help the author! My only gauge at how successful the fiction is comes from a cold hit number. This is another end and another beginning. Pros? Cons?}

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