One Round to Live
Hermione knew they were in trouble. It took everything she had to keep down memories of the World Cup. She'd never stood a chance, and they hadn't been after her. Now, they were surrounded and clearly the targets.
First, before anything else happened, she had something important to do. It was possibly the most important thing she'd ever done in her life.
"Told you," she hissed to Sally-Anne.
Before they could take their plan any further, one of the Death Eaters stepped out from behind the trees.
"It's alright, children," he said in a familiar voice. "We've merely come to take you away from this wretched place."
Hermione knew the man's voice, but she couldn't place it. Where had she heard it? It was calm, smooth, calculated. Like every syllable he spoke had hours of thought put into it to sound perfect. The perfect pitch, the perfect tone, the perfect words, to give them all a sense of safety.
"Mr. Malfoy?" Sally-Anne asked.
He waved his wand over his face, his mask vanishing behind it.
"Sally-Anne Perks, isn't it?" he asked. "Draco has spoken of you. You're a reasonable young witch, aren't you? All we want is Harry Potter, and we'll be happy to leave the rest of you alone."
"As if we would trust you!" Ron spat. "You're just going to bring him to Voldemort!"
"You dare speak his name?" another Death Eater screamed.
Hermione didn't recognize the voice, but that provided little comfort once Lucius identified the speaker.
"Calm yourself, Bellatrix," he said, his icy voice bringing contrast to Lestrange's fiery tone. "These children aren't fools. They know they can't win."
As much as it pained Hermione to admit, he was right. They were surrounded, outnumbered, and far outclassed. Between the five of them, they could probably have taken down some of the Death Eaters, but not all of them. Hermione had heard stories about Bellatrix Lestrange and knew she was the worst of them. They didn't stand a chance against her.
That didn't stop her from thinking. Her brain worked slowly. She knew how delicate she was. It took so much out of her to keep down the memories. If they did fight, she'd hardly be of use to anyone.
She thought about Neville and Luna. They were in the forest somewhere. She'd told Neville where they were. There was no telling what he'd do, but he was likely on his way. They'd be walking straight into a trap, just like they had.
An oddity occurred to her. Something about the ambush didn't make sense.
"How'd you know we'd be here?" Hermione asked, not sure why she thought they'd answer.
"We have our ways," Lucius replied. His voice took on a sterner tone. "Be reasonable children. You don't all have to die here."
For a second, Hermione gave his words consideration. They didn't have to die, not if they gave up Harry. But Harry was her friend, and Lucius Malfoy was a liar. He made his living working and manipulating people. The moment they gave up Harry, the rest of them were dead. The only reason they weren't open firing on them was because of Harry. Voldemort must've ordered them to take him alive. If they fired spells into their bunch, Harry could be hit, and none of them dared to disobey their master.
"This is for the best," Lucius said. "Harry, you must have so many questions. Wouldn't you like to know how that scar really works? How you got it?"
Hermione glanced at Harry. He touched his scar for a moment, giving Lucius's words some thought.
They all exchanged glances. Hermione took in the faces of her friends. She wished for a moment that she could get a message out to her parents. She wanted to tell them how much she loved them, how thankful she was for them letting her return to Hogwarts. They'd blame everything on Hogwarts, on Dumbledore, on the Ministry. That last one was completely to blame, so that was fair, but it wasn't Dumbledore's fault. She wanted to thank Professor Vector for teaching her Arithmancy, for giving her that chance so long ago.
All she had at that moment, the moment before she knew she'd die, were her friends.
Ron's face twitched in a slight grin.
"Well, Harry?" Lucius asked. "Are you going to come quietly?"
Harry glanced at his friends for a moment before replying.
"No!"
They all dropped to their feet. Ginny aimed her wand at the sky.
"Confringo!"
It was much the same as Hermione's plan at the world cup, but this time, she had people with her. They also had the missing, crucial component from her original plan: a loud bang.
Sally-Anne slapped her palm to the ground. A dome of energy formed around them, not just absorbing, but reflecting shots from the incoming Death Eaters. They all gasped and cried as they were blinded and deafened.
"Move!" Ron shouted.
They all ran for it, as fast as they could. Once again, they didn't look to check on the others, apart from Sally-Anne and Ginny, both of whom were deafened by the explosion. Ron grabbed Sally-Anne's hand and kept track of her. Hermione did the same for Ginny.
Hermione didn't know where she was going, only deeper into the forest. She hoped she'd come across centaurs, or Acromantulas, or anything to buy them time to get out.
She heard footsteps behind her.
She and Ginny ducked down as spells flew over their heads. They were all green flashes, which meant their opponents were going for the kill.
Hermione nearly stopped cold when she realized the obvious.
"Death ward," she whispered.
Death Eaters were known for tossing around the Unforgivable Curses like they were nothing. But Hermione was immune to all three… probably. She'd never tested death ward against Avada Kedavra before, and if Rose really was dead, then it wouldn't work.
I'm going to die anyway. Might as well learn something before I do.
"I think I can hear again," Ginny shouted.
Three Death Eaters appeared in front of them, reminding Hermione that they were outside the wards.
The girls broke apart, diving for cover. Green flashes arced like lightning, narrowly missing Ginny, but one struck Hermione.
It was a strange feeling. Her entire body tingled, forcing her to shiver. She felt cold for a moment, but then everything went back to normal.
If any of the Death Eaters noticed that she'd been hit, none of them said anything. Hermione wasn't going to give them the chance to worry about it. She rushed behind a tree and stayed hidden, forcing herself to stay calm. With adrenaline coursing through her, the urge to laugh was almost overwhelming.
She's alive!
"Come on, little girls," one of the Death Eaters said. "Come on out."
Hermione drew a sharp breath when she heard it, all the joy knocked out of her. She knew that voice. It'd haunted every nightmare she'd had for the past two years.
Everything came rushing back to her. Cowering in fear of a man whose name she didn't know, whose face she'd never seen. Fires burning, people screaming. Some of those screams had been hers.
Hermione clapped her hand to her mouth to muffle a scream. But the sound was enough to alert them. She hid behind a tree and crouched down, hoping to make herself small enough to hide.
She felt tears run down her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Confringo!"
An explosion nearly knocked her off her feet. She saw men sent flying through the trees, crashing into them. Most of them slumped down, unconscious.
She looked up and saw Ginny, covered in soot, walking through the fires like they were nothing. The girl sidestepped a spell, the flames around her making it impossible to aim. Then she fired a bolt of flame back at the caster, incinerating his wand and part of his hand.
Hermione realized Ginny was walking towards one of them in particular.
"You!" he shouted wearily as she approached. "Get away from me!"
She knew the moment he spoke why Ginny had singled him out. Her mind, five steps ahead of her, urged her to cry out, to stop Ginny, but Hermione was too scared to do anything.
The man stood up and stumbled back. He fired a spell at Ginny, but she dove out of the way with practiced reflexes. She tumbled to the ground, rolled, stopped, aimed, fired, all in the span of a few seconds.
A flash of light lit up the forest.
Hermione struggled to see through the darkness, waiting for her eyes to readjust. It was always worse when she'd given herself night vision, but she saw the figure of that man. At first, she was scared Ginny wouldn't have a chance to react. After all, the red-head was standing still.
Then her vision finished adjusting, and she realized that the man's body didn't just look black — it was black.
Bits of him crumbled, and finally the charred remains of the man that had attacked her fell to the ground.
Ginny got to her feet, her face showing no remorse.
"Nobody hurts my friends."
Harry ducked behind tree after tree, always staying one step ahead of the Death Eaters. A hail of spells flew around him, always accompanied by calls for him to give himself up. He ignored them and sneaked ahead, hoping to get out of the forest. Still, he had no idea where he was.
He saw a flash of light not far from him, and recognized Ginny's voice. Moving quietly, lest he draw too much attention to himself or his friends, he positioned himself to get a clearer view.
His blindsight picked up several people, but most were moving slightly. He spotted Ginny and Hermione in the darkness, and found that Hermione was cowering behind a tree.
"You!" a voice shouted. "Get away from me!"
Macnair.
He'd paid special attention to that man. The man that he was certain had hurt Hermione. If Rose had been there with them… none of this would've happened, but apart from that, Macnair would've been… incapacitated at least.
Ginny tumbled with practiced ease. He was proud of her, up until she launched her counter strike.
Harry watched, horrified, as Ginny burned Macnair's body. The man hardly had time to scream.
Movement nearby tore his attention away from the scene.
Harry scanned the area, and picked up movement he was sure was Ron and Sally-Anne.
Harry crept out of the trees, staying low, and joined Hermione.
She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
Together, Sally-Anne and Harry helped Hermione to her feet.
Ron and Ginny joined them in a moment, then the five of them started moving as a group again. The fires Ginny started were already attracting attention. In under a minute, they had spells flying past them again.
He heard a series of loud pops, then picked up new movement all around them. Once again, they were surrounded, but this time, the Death Eaters weren't in the mood to negotiate. Spells flew at them from all directions.
Sally-Anne blocked the first round, but Harry could hear her panting. She didn't have it in her to block another one.
"Last chance!" Lucius said. "Why don't you give up now? Save us all the trouble."
Harry did want to now how he'd been connected to Voldemort. There were so many questions, questions Alavel couldn't have answered, all that had answers that Dumbledore would never tell him. He looked at his friends. Would giving himself up really save them?
Ignoring the cries from his friends in his head, he stepped forward, arms raised in surrender.
"I'll go with you!" he shouted. "Just let my friends go."
Lucius stepped out of the shadows.
"A wise decision."
Harry took a few steps towards Lucius before another voice came from behind the line of Death Eaters.
"I'm sorry, Lord Skyeyes, but I can't allow you to do that."
A golden figure bounded over the line of Death Eaters, knocking several of them down as he flew through the air.
Alavel landed beside Harry, standing tall, swords drawn and at the ready.
"As for you, Mr. Malfoy, this young man is under our protection."
Harry picked up more movement above them, four distinct patterns.
Taltria landed on another group of Death Eaters, taking them all down, then ran to another group.
Tutela tackled another group as Harry's friends moved towards him and Alavel.
"My apologies for the delay," Alavel said. "We had to wait for you all to stop moving before we announced our presence, although we did what we could from the shadows."
More Death Eaters fired spells at their group, but another figure landed between them and the spells. He whipped a familiar sword around in an arc, sending the spells flying towards the ground.
"Thanks for the message," Neville said to Hermione. "I hope you don't mind, I brought a few friends to the party."
Harry almost didn't recognize the last figure to fall. If he hadn't already seen Tutela, he wouldn't have realized it was Luna.
By the light of another flash orb that Ginny threw up, he saw a mask on Luna's face. It looked like a Guy Fawkes mask, for whatever reason (he was sure Rose had something to do with that), but the real feature was the rest of her. Whatever wasn't covered by tattered clothing was covered in runes. But not normal, runic tattoos like Sally-Anne's Shield Rune. These shifted. Harry thought it was the light at first, but he realized that the lines on her were moving around her body, forming into new runes.
She dodged around a spell, then lines raced to her hands. They formed a strange pattern, and claws grew from Luna's fingers.
After getting over the shock of everything happening, they all got to work. Alavel went into the fray, never straying far from Harry. Harry stayed back, picking off any incoming threats to Alavel.
Luna and Neville stayed close to Hermione, keeping an eye on her, while Tutela stayed by Sally-Anne and Ron, providing them cover while they provided everyone else cover.
For the first time that night, Harry actually felt like they had a chance.
Hermione's hands still shook, but she forced herself to stay calm. She refused to allow herself to become a liability again, and to think about what Ginny had done. With her focus on Luna and Neville, she provided what support she could.
"Magical ink, right?" she asked Luna. "That's why you ran here? There are herbs in the forest that must be used. It's in your mum's notes!"
"And the other runes redraw them," Luna said, forming another rune on her hand. She waved her hand in a circle, creating a whirlwind in front of her.
"And of course you had to remake Shadow's mask," Hermione said.
"I didn't want them to think I was too human," Luna said. "Most people in the forest don��t like humans."
As she spoke, the mask melted into her face.
"Still me."
"What about you?" she asked Neville as he blocked another shot. "Where have you been?"
"Looking for her." He nodded towards Luna. "She's gotten good at hiding here. Found her this morning."
The three of them stood back-to-back, knocking spells away or sending them back. Hermione spared Rose a thought. She would've been so proud of them.
A volley of spells came flying at the three of them. Neville and Luna blocked what they could, but another spell sent them flying apart.
"Don't I know you?" Lestrange asked Neville as she approached them.
"You," he hissed.
He leapt to his feet and charged her, sword drawn.
"Toad!" Luna cried.
Hermione couldn't follow Lestrange's hands. They flew around in the air, then a tree slammed into Neville. Lestrange sent it around the battlefield, scattering the rest of them.
"No!" Luna cried again.
She raised her hand and detonated the tree. Splinters flew everywhere, but Hermione got another idea.
Hermione immobilized the splinters, then sent them flying at Lestrange.
Lestrange lit them on fire before they could reach her, resulting in smoldering piles of ash falling uselessly around her.
"I know you!" she exclaimed, her attention still on Neville. "I drove your parents mad, didn't I! And now you're here, about to die! Such a small world."
Neville climbed to his feet, then charged her again. This time, Lestrange cut the ground out from underneath him. He jumped to avoid it, but another spell sent him hurtling back to the ground. He struggled to get to his feet, but Lestrange entangled him in a pile of roots.
An idea struck Hermione, one that had occurred to her before, but she'd never had the chance to prepare it for battle. She began to move her hands around one another. The strange gestures for her spell made it nearly unusable in combat without a distraction.
Luna ran at Lestrange, runes forming on her hands to grow claws.
"Look at this one," Lestrange said. "Is this love? I hate love."
She whipped her arm around and hurled a black mist at Luna, striking her in the eyes before she'd had a chance to dodge.
Luna screamed and fell to the ground, clutching her face.
"Moon!"
Neville tried to get up, but Hermione finished her spell first. She spread her arms wide, then thrust them upward, reversing the local gravity around Lestrange.
Distracted by Neville and Luna, Lestrange didn't have time to react before Hermione's spell flung her into the air. She fired another spell at Hermione, who brought up a piece of earth to block it.
Behind her, the others were handling the remaining Death Eaters. With Lestrange mostly neutralized, they'd won.
"Oh come on, Belly, really? She's just a little girl. Can't you do anything right?"
Another Death Eater appeared next to Hermione and knocked her to the ground.
"See?" the new arrival, a woman judging by her voice, asked. "See how easy that was? Why is it that it's just you that can't do what our lord asks? I even told you where they'd be!"
"What are you doing here?!" Lestrange screamed. "Get out of here, Lux!"
"I'm here to clean up your mess before our lord arrives," the other woman, Lux, said.
She crouched down to look at Hermione, her mask vanishing when she did. Her blonde hair stuck out from around her hood.
"You're not so tough, are you?"
Hermione's vision was blurry from the knock to the head, but she swore she saw it. Even in what small light they had, it was clear as day, glinting in the firelight.
Hanging from the woman's neck was a gold locket with an emerald 'S' on it.
"Which one are you again?" Her eyes scanned Hermione before a smile crept over her face. "Right, Brain. Perhaps next time, Brain, you won't be so useless."
Hermione heard the words, but she wasn't registering anything apart from that locket. It couldn't have been, but the evidence was right in front of her eyes.
Lux glanced down and tucked the locket away. Then she smirked at Hermione.
The last things Hermione remembered before passing out were the word "sleep" and that smug jato face.
Harry saw the newcomer attacking Hermione and ran to help.
With Hermione out, her spell on Lestrange wore off, and the woman fell to the ground.
"You can't even fall properly," Lux sneered.
She spared a glance at the rest of the battlefield, reached her left hand into her robes, and drew her wand.
They never stood a chance.
Harry tried to disarm her, but she apparated before he could. His spell flew through the empty space she'd once occupied.
She appeared behind them and waved her wand. A wave of energy flew from her, accompanied by a loud bang, knocking them all off their feet.
Harry struggled to look around, but he couldn't see anyone still standing.
Then he arrived.
The shadows drew away from him as he stepped out of the darkness. His eyes burned red in the dying light. He didn't walk, he drifted over the ground.
Lux, the only Death Eater still standing, bowed to him on one knee as he entered.
"My Lord," she said.
He made little acknowledgment of her. Instead, he surveyed the battlefield.
"It seems I was right to send you, Lux," he said, his voice like ice. "My faithful servant, you have done well."
Harry's forehead burned. He struggled to put a hand to his scar, but he found himself too weak.
Voldemort's face turned into a smile when he spotted Harry.
"There you are. So good to see you again, Harry."
He drifted over to Harry, who tried to back away from him.
"Hardly good form to kill you like this," Voldemort said, raising his wand. "But you've given my disciples quite the trouble, I see."
A blast of fire flew through the air, but Voldemort waved his wand without breaking his gaze on Harry and broke the fire apart.
Then he turned his gaze on Ginny. Without hesitation, he aimed his wand at her, and her own wand erupted.
Ginny grunted as splinters dug into her arm, tearing it up. She clutched it with her good hand, still struggling to climb to her feet.
Voldemort's attention returned to Harry, and he raised his wand.
"Goodbye, Harry Potter. Remember, this is merely self-preservation. After all, neither of us can live while the other survives."
A green flash flew out of Voldemort's wand, striking a shimmering disc that appeared in the air.
Voldemort turned towards Sally-Anne this time and saw her hand still outstretched.
His face twisted in anger, and he fired another spell at Sally-Anne.
Sally-Anne screamed and clutched the stump where her left hand had been a moment ago.
"Harry!" she cried.
"Enough distractions," Voldemort said, raising his wand again. "I tire of these games."
Something flew over Harry's head and knocked Voldemort back. When the object landed, Harry saw a pair of dark red boots attached to a body of gold armor.
"My apologies once again, Lord Skyeyes, I seemed to have been stunned." He turned his attention to Voldemort. "As for you, Mr. Riddle, I'm afraid if you want to harm him, you'll have to go through me."
Voldemort fired a spell at Alavel, but Alavel ducked under it and cut into Voldemort. With another swing of his sword, he knocked his opponent to his knees.
As Voldemort moved to his feet, Alavel knocked him back again, sending him sprawling once more.
"Lux!" Voldemort cried. The ice was gone from his voice, and Harry was certain Voldemort was angry. "Take care of this!"
Lux walked up behind Voldemort and pulled her hood down.
"As you wish, My Lord."
Alavel didn't waste any time. He swung at Lux, but she moved his blade aside with a wave of her wand. After avoiding Alavel's second sword with equal ease, she fired a green ray at his left leg, turning it to dust.
"Alavel!" Harry cried.
Alavel fell to his knee, but kept his gaze on his attacker.
"Lord Skyeyes," Alavel said. "It has been my honor to be your friend."
He swung his swords at her again, but with a single touch of her wand, Alavel's shoulder exploded, taking off his left arm. He stumbled again, struggling to stay upright.
With that same smirk on her face, Lux touched her wand to Alavel's chest. She held it there for a moment during which she locked eyes with Alavel.
Red cracks formed around Alavel's body. The gold metal around them turned black for a moment.
Harry could hear his heart beating in his chest, could feel the tears running down his cheeks. He wanted to attack her, but he couldn't move. His legs wouldn't move, his arms were numb. Everything felt like he'd been laying on it, and it'd all fallen asleep. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do anything to help Alavel. He couldn't do anything to stop it.
All he could do was watch helplessly as Alavel exploded.
"NO!" he screamed.
Tears in his eyes, he struggled to get up. He was going to make that woman pay. Even if Voldemort killed him, he'd make that woman pay.
He could still hear Alavel's voice in his head. He could still see that gaze that could see inside his soul. That friendly voice, lifting him up, showing him how to be a good person, teaching him forgiveness. It was all gone.
Harry felt sick, but adrenaline took hold, and he got to his feet.
Lux didn't say anything. She just stepped back to allow Voldemort through, then bowed again as he passed.
"I'll kill you!" Harry screamed. "I'll kill all of you!"
"That's it, Harry," Voldemort said, the ice returned to his voice. "Don't fight it. You're just like me. Remember that."
Harry raised his wand, but another voice stopped him from attacking.
"That's far enough, Tom."
Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows not far from Harry. Behind Dumbledore, Harry sensed at least 20 people. Then more arrived from behind Harry, although these didn't move like humans.
"You've all trespassed in this forest," Magorian said.
Harry heard the sound of arrows attached to bows.
"Kill any that move."
Because no one had any good sense of timing, a third group emerged from the trees, although this one was far less composed than the Order or the centaurs.
"No one move!" Umbridge shouted. "You're all—"
Fudge came up behind her and gave an equally surprised gasp.
Voldemort looked at each of the new arrivals, then turned back to Harry.
"Another time, Harry Potter."
Voldemort and Lux vanished. The remaining Death Eaters all followed suit, leaving Harry and his friends with three armies in the clearing they'd created.
The assembled Aurors with Fudge and Umbridge began to whisper to one another.
"He's back!" one of the Aurors shouted.
"No, really?" Ron exclaimed.