Chapter 2
Chapter 2:
Hermione was frozen; she didn’t know what to say. What to do. How do you explain this kind of thing to the two most important people in your life?
“I—“ she was at a loss of words, she could feel their eyes on her, waiting for her response. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. Her chest was feeling tighter, her breathing heavier. She was panicking and it was obvious.
“Hermione?” Harry stepped towards her, trying to grab hold of her, she looked as if she was about to faint.
“No! Don’t touch me!—“ she screamed, making eye contact with him then, “please, don’t touch me.” She whispered in a calmer voice. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest.
Remus and Sirius decided it was best to step in then, “I think we ought to sit down, we can discuss this all later. You boys came to Hogwarts for a reason, what is it?” Sirius guided them over to the bed, sitting them down.
Harry started the conversation off, “We escaped early yesterday evening,” gesturing to Remus, “when they took Remus away. We tried finding you Hermione but there was no trace of you. It was then that we thought about why they were so concerned about the Lestrange Vault.” Ron pulled out a goblet.
“We broke in late last night and found Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup. Reckless I know but we didn’t have the brains of the operation.” Ron smirked at Hermione, hoping to get a smile out of her.
She gave him a small smile, “So what’s left then?” Hermione was back in action, she would dwell on her emotions later. Right now they need to finish this.
Harry’s tone shifted, “it’s happening today, the final battle. The last horcrux besides the snake is here in the castle. We need to find and destroy it.”
Ron’s eyebrows raised “My galleons are on something from Ravenclaw.”
Hermione thought about it, that actually made a lot of sense considering they had the locket and the cup. “That’s brilliant Ron!” She stood then rushing around pulling on her clothes.
“What? What’d I say?” Ron was confused, he didn’t really know what he said that was so brilliant.
“Each of the founders have artifacts, it makes sense that the last one would be something from Ravenclaw. Riddle would never associate with something from Gryffindor, so, Ravenclaw it is.” She was pulling on a jumper then, now fully clothed. She tied her hair back in a plait, hoping to keep it somewhat tamed.
She stared at them then, “well let’s get a move on, we don’t have a lot of time.” She was waving her hands at them getting everyone up.
Harry was talking to Professor Mcgonagall when Remus pulled Hermione to the side. “Hermione, I don’t think now is the time to be running into the unknown.” His eyes held a worrying look. He was looking at her like one wrong move and she might break.
Hermione pulled her arm out of his hold, “Remus, I’m a big girl, and right now Harry needs me. We’ve got to finish this. We will talk more later I promise. Now go with Sirius, alert the Order, and secure the Castle. I’ll see you soon.” She gave his hand a squeeze.
She went to leave but remembered one detail, turning to her friends, “Wait. I don’t have a wand.”
Harry fumbled around revealing two wands, “Right. Sorry, forgot we nabbed these on the way out.” He placed them in Hermione and Remus’ hands.
Hermione felt at peace as her magic felt whole again. With that she left the hospital wing with Harry and Ron.
——————————————————————
The blazing fire narrowly missed them as they came crashing out of the Room of Requirement. Crash. They fell in a heap on the ground. They groaned, untangling their limbs. As they righted themselves, Ron muttered “At least that took care of the Diadem and the Cup.” He clasped Harry’s hand, pulling him up. “The Bag fell into the fire. I saw the flames consume them before we made it out.”
Hermione dusted off her legs, she felt relieved to have one less thing to worry about. “That just leaves the snake, right?” She turned to Harry, who nodded his head, but didn’t look certain.
Just then a ringing filled Hermione’s ears. The screeching caused her to buckle in pain, covering her ears. “Harry Potter, come to me. Come to me and your friends shall live. Come to me and I’ll leave Hogwarts.”
The trio looked at one another. They knew their time had come to an end.
Harry looked at his two friends solemnly, “kill the snake, okay?” He went to walk away, the goodbyes being too hard to face.
Hermione stopped him, tears clouding her vision, “I’ll come with you.” She hiccuped. Her friend. Her brother was walking to his death and she couldn’t do anything about it. Ron stood silently beside her, crying. He didn’t have the words. His first friend was about to die, he didn’t know what to say. How to feel. It was too hard for him.
Harry pulled them into a hug, “I love you both, now finish this for me, yeah?”
Before they could respond he was gone. The boy with the lightning scar, off to fight Voldemort once again.
Ron grabbed Hermione’s hand, pulling her along. She knew they couldn’t stop and dwell but damn did she want to because the past twenty four hours were the worst of her life, yet she couldn’t stop. Not yet. They had a job to do.
——————————————————————
“Harry Potter is dead.” Voldemort chuckled.
Anguish was felt all through the courtyard. A scream filled Hermione’s ears, but she wasn’t sure who it was. All she knew was that it felt like her insides were being ripped to shreds. She had hoped that Harry would have made it out, and somehow defeat the maniac. But there he was. His limp body being held by the half-giant Hagrid.
Hermione felt dazed, she couldn’t even focus on what was happening in front of her, because next thing she knew gasps echoed around her and Harry was up and running, throwing spells at Voldemort.
The crowd erupted into chaos, and the fighting broke out again. Hermione shot curse after curse at random death eaters, as she ran for cover. She raced down the corridor slamming into someone, getting her bearings she held up her wand ready to defend herself.
“Wait! Hermione, it's only me.” Remus had his hands up, still on the ground. Hermione lowered her wand.
“Remus! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” She helped him stand, freezing when she heard the familiar cackle behind her.
“Well, well, well. Seems the mudblood is still breathing after all.”
Remus pulled Hermione behind him, protectively shielding her from the witch.
Hermione’s mind was lost in shock. Her body froze, even as she tried to find the will to move, nothing. Not even a twitch.
“I was hoping the filthy half breed had finished you off, but nevertheless, No time like the present.” She snarled then through curse after curse, Remus was easily blocking them.
“You filthy beast, thinking you can fight me. How dare you!” She wound up her wand hand “Avada—“ before she could send the killing curse and she fell to the ground in pain. She was pulling at her hair, muttering like a mad woman, “My lord,” before she apparated away.
Remus whipped around, looking Hermione over. “Hermione, look at me! She’s gone. I need you to talk to me, please.” He had his hand on her face now, thumbs caressing her cheeks.
Hermione made eye contact with him. The dam was starting to crack. Her resolve was weakening. “Remus,” her voice cracked. She let a single stray tear fall but that’s all she was going to let through she told herself, the fight wasn’t over yet.
He wiped the tear off her cheek, smiling softly at her, “it’s alright, let’s go find the others.” He slipped his hand into hers pulling her along. Leading her to the Great Hall.
——————————————————————
The Great hall was echoing with the sounds of quiet sobs and murmured whispers. Hermione watched as people she’d known for years cry over loved ones who died in the battle. They walked along until she saw the mass of red hair, and the one dark haired boy she thought she lost, not even hours ago. She stopped walking, stopping Remus in the process.
Remus turned to check on her, “Hermione?”
“Everyone’s alright. They—“ her voice cracked “They all made it out okay.” She stumbled back, Remus barely catching her before she hit the ground. The commotion alerting the others to her presence.
“Hermione!”
“Is everything alright?” Everyone was bombarding her, talking over one another.
“Back up, give her some room,” Remus said, pushing them back. He swooped her up, carefully placing her on a cot. Hermione felt dead on her feet, the adrenaline finally wearing off.
Molly Weasley pushed to the front of the group, eyes raking over Hermione’s tattered body.
“Oh my dear, what’s happened? George go fetch Madam Pomfrey.”
Hermione tried sitting up in protest, but gasped in pain instead. Her injuries finally got to her now that the work was done.
“There’s nothing more she can do for me, she’s already looked me over this morning. Let her help the others.” She tried to play off the pain, but she knew it was noticeable when she winced again.
“This morning?” Molly furrowed her brow, holding Hermione’s hand. “What do you mean this morning dear girl? This happened before the battle?”
Hermione froze, she didn’t mean to draw attention to the fact that she had these injuries before the battle had even begun. Now she was caught between a rock and a hard place. Everyone was looking at her waiting for her to explain why she was hurt. How she got hurt, and Remus looked guilt ridden and worried about the fact that she was hurt by his hand.
Hermione glancing over at Remus, giving him a small reassuring smile, threw up a silencing spell around them. She started with a shaky voice, “We were captured at Malfoy Manor, Bel—“ she gulped, “Bellatrix thought we stole something from her, she tortured me.” Her hand instinctually went to her mutilated arm where the witch carved that damned word into her.
The group looked appalled, Molly was crying. Harry looked a bit confused, “Hermione you’ve got bite marks and claw marks all over you. When we couldn’t find you yesterday, where were you?”
Hermione paused looking back over at Remus, she didn’t want to make him the villain, she felt bad enough as it was.
Remus watched Hermione as she fought the flurry of emotion about what to say next. He let out a sigh in defeat, ready to accept the reaction of the people he called friends. He nodded at her to continue.
Hermione gave him a look of apology, “Bellatrix is demented. She trapped Remus and I out in the forest—“
Hermione was cut off by loud gasps and yelling, everyone knew that last night was the full moon.