The Magic's Gone

Disclaimer: Still not mine, although I wish they were.

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Chapter I - The Magic's Gone

The feeling of euphoria that followed Voldemort's demise was short-lived. As the survivors counted the lives lost, the initial sense of relief that the side of Light was victorious diminished quickly. Professor McGonagall...victim of Avada Kedavra, casually thrown by Pettigrew seconds before The-Boy-Who-Should-Have-Lived delivered his Unforgivable to his best friend's former pet rat. Harry Potter...victim to the devious skills of Lucius Malfoy with not even a remote chance to come out alive. The entire Weasley family...Vanished by a group of Death Eaters who had long been planning to punish the blood-traitors. More than half of Harry Potter's sixth year classmates...killed by the rampaging followers of Voldemort.

Hermione Granger found some measure of solace in one fact...Professor Snape was, after all, on the side of the Light. She thought her heart would stop when, in the last breaths of what would soon become known as the Final Battle, she found herself face to face with him.

"Not a word, Miss Granger," he hissed in a low voice and then proceeded to cast deadly Unforgivables in quick succession on several Death Eaters who had been hiding nearby under concealment charms.

When Hermione came out of her shock-induced stupor, she witnessed her former professor being bound by Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks.

"Are you out of your mind?" she screamed at the two Aurors. "He just saved my life and killed probably more Death Eaters in one go than you two combined. What are you arresting him for?"

Moody and Tonks looked at her, dumbstruck. Moody turned his attention from Snape to the young witch.

"Miss Granger." He looked her up and down, as if assessing her suitability for being taken into the care of Aurors. "Have you forgotten that this is the man who killed Albus Dumbledore less than a year ago and then disappeared off the face of the earth?" he asked her in his typical growling manner.

Hermione glared at the Auror. "No, I have not forgotten. But, like everyone else, I only know Harry's point of view." She took a deep breath, hoping this would stop her from sobbing over the loss of her friend. Then, the young witch continued, her voice shaking slightly, "I do know from Harry that Professor Dumbledore trusted Snape implicitly. And I am sure you will agree that Professor Dumbledore was not only very powerful, but also very intelligent. I simply cannot imagine that he trusted Snape without a valid reason. And I do believe the law states that a man is innocent until proven guilty!" She held Moody's glare, unafraid and absolutely determined to do anything to keep Snape out of Azkaban. Owing a life debt was not something she could take lightly.

Neither Moody nor Tonks found words to counter Hermione's. Snape, unable to speak due to the various restrictive spells the two Aurors had put on him, stared at her, the expression on his face full of surprise. Does he think I'm going to deliver him to Azkaban personally after he just saved my life? Hermione thought impatiently. Then, turning back to Moody again, she demanded, "At least give him the chance to explain his action. He has as much right to be treated fairly as the next person. And you are not above the rules, Mr Moody!"

Tonks whistled lowly in appreciation of Hermione's words. "Wow, Hermione. I didn't know your sense of justice went beyond house-elves...." She continued, smirking, "Or maybe you secretly have a soft spot for him, eh?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her fellow Order member. "Don't you think you're wasting time here? Instead of dealing with him," she nodded in Snape's direction, "we should see if Madame Pomfrey needs help, or if we can find any more survivors on the grounds," she suggested. Her words drove home the fact that a vicious battle had just been fought, and there were more important things to do than shipping a Death Eater off to Azkaban, one whose crime was obscure and one whose most recent actions had not only saved a student's life, but also, in all likelihood, cut short the duration of the battle. The only Death Eaters who remained behind were all dead now.

"We'll leave him here bound and deal with him later," Moody growled, already on his way out and closely followed by Tonks, who was keen on finding her lover, Remus Lupin.

Hermione moved deliberately slowly, and when she was certain that neither Tonks nor Moody would look back at her, she turned to face her former professor and silently cast the spell to unbind him. Then she set off at a run, in the vain hope of finding some of her former classmates alive. He doesn't have a wand, but at least he has a chance to get out and hide from them, she thought as she ran towards Hogwarts' large entrance door.

The young witch combed through the grounds carefully, not wanting to miss anyone who might still be alive. She didn't know how long she had been searching when she heard a moan. Looking around wildly...and panicking that the sound was merely an illusion brought on by her desperate hope, even need, to find someone, anyone, alive...her heart skipped a beat. There, in a ditch on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, barely a stone's throw from Hagrid's garden where years ago giant pumpkins used to grow, lay a lone figure with dirty-streaked blonde hair and torn robes. Hermione hurried over to the ditch and recognised Pansy Parkinson.

"Pansy... Can you hear me?" Hermione asked urgently. She got another moan for an answer. The young witch fingered for her wand in her sleeve while keeping her eye on Pansy, grabbed it, and sent red sparks up to call for help. Then, she sat down next to the injured witch and started talking to her, all the while waiting for help to arrive. Pansy was unresponsive except for the occasional whimper. Hermione was about to give up waiting when Luna Lovegood arrived together with Colin Creevey.

"Oh, thank goodness! Another one who survived," Luna remarked. "I've been afraid that we have found all the survivors, and the hospital wing is nearly empty!" She evidently had not lost her ability to state the most uncomfortable truth.

"Luna, Colin, can you take her to Madame Pomfrey? I want to search some more. Finding Pansy made me hope for more people alive out here," Hermione said with a tone of urgency in her voice.

An hour or two later, she found Professor Sprout and Neville Longbottom huddled close together, both obviously injured, cold, miserable, and unable to move without wands. But thankfully, both were conscious.

Hermione sent red sparks into the sky, but it appeared that she was rapidly losing strength. The sparks that came out of her wand did not rise to their usual height, and the normally bright red had a decidedly tired shade to it.

"Hermione, you must be utterly exhausted. Give me your wand and I'll try," Professor Sprout said kindly.

Hermione handed her wand to the older witch who immediately cast the spell. Her action yielded the same result. Sprout sighed. "Oh, well. It was worth a try, but I guess sitting out here in the cold for hours and the injuries have weakened my magic as well...."

Hermione turned to Neville. "Do you want to have a go, Neville?" she asked. "I don't think anyone has seen our alert efforts...."

Neville took her wand from Professor Sprout's hand and attempted the alerting spell. The result was the same...tired, bland sparks that barely reached the height of a young tree.

They waited silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Hermione voiced her thoughts first after some time. I don't think anyone saw our sparks, and it's getting dark now. I'll go up to the castle and send someone down to get you."

She got up with difficulty, exhausted and also stiff from sitting in the cold, and dragged her feet towards Hogwarts. The normally short walk seemed to take forever, but eventually, Hermione reached the front doors of the castle. Inside, she was greeted tiredly by a small group of people, Remus Lupin and Tonks amongst them, and, to her great joy, Seamus Finnegan. After exchanging emotional hugs with Seamus, she addressed the group, giving Professor Sprout and Neville's location. Tonks and Remus immediately left to bring the Herbology professor and her best student back to the castle, so Madame Pomfrey could take care of their injuries.

Hermione stayed inside with Seamus, Luna and Colin, too exhausted to engage in any more activities or even conversation. She was thankful that at least Luna and Colin were fit enough to conjure some mattresses and blankets, so nobody had to sleep on the bare, cold floor. They all fell asleep soon, right in the entrance hall, each one deadly tired, nobody wanting to talk as it would doubtlessly lead to the subject of the painful events of recent days.

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Hermione was rudely awakened by angry, thunderous yelling. "Where the hell is he? Someone must have unbound him! He didn't have a wand!" She recognised Mad-Eye Moody's voice, and the previous day's happenings entered her consciousness.

'Oh dear, he's discovered Snape's gone,' she thought and kept her eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep, not wanting to face reality nor the old Auror.

The young witch felt Moody's presence as he bent down to shake her awake. "Miss Granger," he growled, "did you unbind Snape?"

Hermione slowly opened her eyes and then yawned before looking at him, schooling her face into an innocent expression. "No, sir. I left at the same time as you and spent the rest of the day looking for survivors. Then, I came here and fell asleep. How could I have unbound him?"

His reaction, or rather lack of it, led her to conclude that either the paranoid retired Auror had been more severely affected by the latest events than was obvious, or that age and too long a career of hunting dark wizards and witches had finally caught up with him. He appeared to weigh her words carefully and then got up, mumbling, "How the hell did that traitor escape...."

Hermione briefly looked around her. Everyone but Tonks was still asleep, and there was no daylight yet. She turned over and fell asleep again, dreading to have to face the new day, to learn of more losses, to hear more devastating news.

When she woke up hours later, daylight flooded the entrance hall.

"Here. I've just been to the kitchen." Seamus handed her a steaming cup of coffee, which she gratefully accepted.

They drank their coffee in silence, looking at each other now and then, both too reluctant to bring back the dire reality with words.

Eventually, Hermione got up. "Do you want to go and check out Gryffindor Tower? Maybe it's still standing.... I'm dying for a long, hot shower!"

Seamus agreed, and the two set off to examine the state of their House. Everything appeared to be intact except one staircase, which was missing a few steps. The common room was cold and deserted, emitting a feel of neglect. Seamus walked straight to the fireplace and took his wand out. "A bit of heat wouldn't go amiss here," he murmured and cast the spell to start a fire. The fireplace remained cold. Seamus looked at Hermione and then cast the spell again. But no fire lit up.

Hermione sighed. "Here, let me try," she said, trying to hide her impatience at his lack of skill. The young witch took out her wand, pointed it at the fireplace and cast Incendio, like she had done so many times over the past seven years. However, this time, her spell yielded no result.

"Oh, Merlin!" Seamus exclaimed. "If I fail a spell, it's kind of normal, but you?"

Hermione looked at him thoughtfully. "You know," she said slowly, "I failed to send sparks up last night, and so did Professor Sprout and Neville. We all thought it was because we were so exhausted... But both you and I slept an entire night since. This can't be exhaustion...."

"But... But..." Seamus stuttered. "But last night, Luna and Colin conjured mattresses and blankets..."

They looked at each other, then exclaimed in unison, "Hospital Wing!"

"Yes, that's our best bet to find out what's happening, but I really do need a shower first," said Hermione. "Let's meet back here in twenty minutes."

They parted ways, Hermione heading towards the prefects' bathroom, whilst Seamus set off to the boys' communal showers.

The young witch enjoyed the stream of hot water that came shooting out of the shower. However, too soon it reduced to a trickle of cold, murky water. When she returned to the common room, not at all happy about the abruptly shortened shower, Seamus reported a complete lack of hot or clean water.

The two young people made their way across the castle to the Hospital Wing, hoping to resolve the problem with magic there. They were greeted by a gloomy looking Madam Pomfrey.

"We have a problem. There's less and less magic..." the matron stated, close to tears. "Poor Miss Parkinson. Without magic, there is nothing I can do for her."

"Are the potions ineffective now?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

"Some of the potions are working fine. Mr Longbottom responded well to the Cruvanesco. But the rib-mending potion I used on Miss Parkinson for her broken ribs shows absolutely no result." The mediwitch sounded defeated.

Hermione was thinking fast. She knew the Cruvanesco potion contained Mandrake leaf as the main active ingredient. She also knew that in Muggle herbal wisdom, Mandrake leaf was typically used as a pain-numbing herb. The rib-mending potion was brewed just like any ordinary potion, but in order to make the potion effective, certain wand movements had to be used in the last stage of brewing, without which the potion would be completely ineffective. She wondered if somehow Voldemort's death had affected the magic.

"Yesterday, it was quite late, and we could not produce sparks with the wand outside on the grounds. But last night, in the entrance hall, Luna and Colin managed to conjure blankets..." Hermione paused, then turned to the mediwitch. "Madam Pomfrey, when did you start having trouble with magic?"

"Only this morning," Madam Pomfrey replied. "Yesterday, all the spells and potions worked fine. I had no trouble detecting anyone's injuries..." She paused and took a deep breath. "Now, I wish I had administered the rib-mending potion to Miss Parkinson last night...." The mediwitch sighed deeply.

Hermione voiced some more thoughts. "I think the magic might still be working in some places. It seems to me that the less magic was used in a place, the quicker it stopped working, such as outside on the grounds, an open area, where magic could disperse quickly. If we find a room within Hogwarts where a lot of spells were used, and where the magic can't escape easily, we could take Pansy there and try the potion again. It might be working with the lingering magic," she suggested.

"Your idea has merit," the mediwitch conceded. "Now, we just have to figure out which room has the greatest amount of magic... a room where more magic was used than here in the hospital wing..."

"What about the Charms or Transfigurations classroom?" Neville suggested timidly from his bed near Pansy's.

"Good point, Neville," Seamus praised his friend. "On the other hand, the lower years probably use much weaker magic... There must be somewhere here in the castle where the magic is stronger than any other room."

"You're right, Mr Finnegan," croaked Professor Sprout from her bed across the room. "What about the Room of Requirement?"

Hermione agreed immediately. The magic the DA had utilised back in her fifth year was likely more than any classroom had ever seen. "Yes, as long as it opens up for us, it's probably our best hope," she said, hoping fiercely that the door would show. She had never liked Pansy Parkinson, not so much because of the different House affiliation, but the young Slytherin witch was arrogant and downright nasty to anyone who was not a pureblood. Hermione had been at the receiving end of her nastiness more often than she could count. However, the Gryffindor was compassionate by nature and simply hated seeing anyone in pain or in a hopeless situation. And, she was willing to help putting a situation right, even more so as she owed her life to Pansy's former Head of House.

Madame Pomfrey briefly left the room to find a stretcher. It would have been pointless to try levitating the unconscious witch across the castle, and her serious injuries did not warrant carrying her. The mediwitch was rightly worried about the Slytherin's broken ribs, which were digging dangerously closer and closer toward her lungs.

Madame Pomfrey returned with a stretcher and, with Seamus' help, transferred Pansy onto it. Led by Hermione, the strange looking quartet carefully moved from the hospital wing to the wall behind which the Room of Requirement was hidden.

Hermione walked up and down the floor along the wall, wholly focusing on the need for the room. She had almost lost heart when, finally, the door appeared in the wall. The three let out a sigh of relief and entered. The mediwitch ignored the surroundings and dug the vial out of her pocket. While Hermione carefully held Pansy's head up, Madame Pomfrey administered the potion to the unconscious witch and gently massaged her throat to encourage swallowing.

"I just hope there is enough magic in here for it to work," Seamus said, looking around. Then he continued, "I would have thought the Room of Requirement might resemble a hospital now, or at least something different to this... long, deserted, library kind of room."

Hermione agreed, hoping ferociously that the look of the room was deceiving. It looked exactly as Harry had described it after he hid Snape's old Potions textbook in here. She decided to look for the old book. At least time would pass quicker that way, rather than simply sitting there waiting with bated breath for the potion to take or not take effect.

Seamus rolled his eyes, and even Madam Pomfrey grinned, when Hermione returned, happily holding the old sixth year Potions textbook in her hand.

"Only you would find an old textbook useful, Hermione," snickered Seamus. "It won't have any value at all if the magic disappears, you know."

The two witches looked at Seamus, shocked that he had so blatantly expressed their fears.

"What?" he asked defensively, "It's true, isn't it?" His words were met with silence.

Then Madame Pomfrey whispered, "Oh, Merlin. What are we going to do if the magic disappears entirely?"

"Then... We will have to get together with all the witches and wizards that are still around and find a way to bring the magic back," Hermione replied slowly. She paused, thinking of possible scenarios of the magic disappearing entirely or returning soon before voicing her favoured thought. "Maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and be able to use our wands again. The showers will work, the potions will be effective, and the disappearance of the magic will merely be a temporary side effect of Voldemort's fall."

"Yes, wouldn't that be nice," Madame Pomfrey said, the note of bitterness in her voice clearly showing a lack of hope for Hermione's vision.

They all turned their attention to Pansy who was stirring now. "Miss Parkinson, can you hear me?" Madame Pomfrey asked gently, hiding her desperation to help the young Slytherin witch be whole again.

Pansy opened her eyes slowly. "... Hurts..." she whimpered. "Need water."

Hermione took her wand out without thinking and cast 'Aguamenti' as she picked up a goblet from a nearby shelf. The goblet filled with clear water, and she handed it to the mediwitch.

"So the magic is still working here!" Seamus exclaimed.

"So it is," Madame Pomfrey agreed. "Let's hope it'll stay this way."

* * *

It was early afternoon when the witches and Seamus returned to the Hospital Wing. Pansy's health was by no means fully restored yet, but with the risk of her ribs puncturing her lungs gone, she had a fair chance of recovering swiftly and fully now, even without the use of magic.

Hermione and Seamus left the Hospital Wing to search for more pockets of magic within the castle. But even with the help of Colin, Luna and Remus Lupin, it proved to be a fruitless effort. None of the classrooms yielded any magic. All the showers, bathtubs and sinks only produced murky, dirty, and cold water. The few surviving house-elves were panicking; cooking without magic was unheard of amongst house-elves...they had only ever served pureblood wizard families who frowned on anything Muggle.

And, they were faced with even more challenges. When the small group of wizards and witches tried to enter the kitchen, the painting did not reveal the entrance, no matter how much the pear was being tickled.

"Oh, no!" Seamus groaned. "Don't tell me we can't even get into the kitchen now!"

"Got any idea how?" Remus asked. "Magic doesn't open it..."

Thankfully, their voices alerted some house-elves to their presence, and the portrait was opened from inside. The small group entered the kitchen one after the other and looked around, expecting to see the elves.

"Where are they?" Hermione wondered aloud.

Suddenly, Dobby appeared on top of the table in front of her. "Miss Hermione Granger! Harry Potter's best friend! You are alive!" He shouted, his speech interrupted by sobs. "You can't see the elves anymore; the magic is disappearing! It is only with combined effort between us that you can see and hear me, and I do not know how long it will last!"

"What do you mean, Dobby?" Colin asked in disbelief.

"I is speaking to Harry Potter's best friend," Dobby admonished him and turned back to face Hermione again.

"Miss Hermione, you must find the Potions master, the man who killed Headmaster Dumbledore, the man who saved your life! You must help make the magic potion that will restore the magic! He cannot do it alone," he told her urgently, and then gradually he faded out of sight, as if merging with the air in the room.

"What do you mean, the man who saved your life?" Colin asked her curiously. The others stared at her, too, wanting to know why Dobby had claimed that Snape had saved her life.

Hermione told them what had happened and closed with the words, "and the next morning he had disappeared, and Mr Moody accused me of unbinding him."

"And?" Remus asked. "Did you?"

"As I told Mr Moody, I couldn't have done it if I'd wanted to! I left with him and Tonks and didn't return to the castle until late in the evening," Hermione replied in her best goody-two-shoes manner. She was glad that Remus appeared to swallow her words as fact and without comment. She genuinely liked and trusted Remus, but she was not yet willing to divulge her secret of freeing Snape to anyone. Not that she had ever liked the Potions professor...she had had absolutely no reason to during the years he taught Potions...but he had saved her life and with that act unknowingly gained her absolute and unconditional loyalty.

In the evening, the few uninjured survivors met again in the entrance hall. Maybe it was a subconscious hope in each one to be the first to greet any unexpected survivor coming through the doors of Hogwarts; or maybe there was some unseen force directing each able witch and wizard to the front-most room of the castle.

Hermione shot a longing glance at Tonks who was thoroughly kissing Remus as if nothing else in the world mattered. Why do they have to make such a display of snogging, she thought nastily and was immediately shocked by the bout of envy she felt. Her Ron was Vanished to Merlin knew where...whether he was alive or not, whether she would ever see him again, she had no idea. But her own sad loss surely did not warrant everyone else to stop living...

Her reverie was interrupted by Remus, who sat down next to her and said quietly, "Hermione, are you considering what Dobby told you? Because if you are, it might be wise to go to the Room of Requirement now and try casting a tracking spell on Snape... before the magic disappears." He sighed heavily and then continued, "Although, to be honest, I could completely understand if you choose to ignore Dobby's advice. I know Snape's never had a friendly word for you, and if anyone ever found out you work with him, and voluntarily at that, they'll consider you a traitor most likely."

Hermione carefully weighed his words and then looked at him and smiled, her mind made up and morbid thoughts decisively pushed away. "You know... You're right! I don't have to find him, but if I decide to follow Dobby's advice, then at least I have a better chance with a tracking spell on him."

The two set off for the Room of Requirement, and Hermione declared the day a lucky one when the door obligingly appeared. Their combined efforts quickly found the location of the former Potions professor, which Hermione noted down in detail.

When Hermione tried to enter the Room of Requirement the next day in order to conjure some desperately needed clean water, the door did not show. The wall remained solid.

Remus and Tonks returned from Hogsmeade, looking despondent, and Tonks was uncharacteristically quiet.

"What's the matter with you two?" asked Seamus as the couple entered the castle.

"There... There's no one left in Hogsmeade," Tonks replied and burst into tears. Remus pulled her gently into his arms to comfort her and said over her head, "It looks like everyone who survived the battle has left. And a lot of the buildings have started to fall apart. There is no magic left."

Hermione nodded sadly. "The door to the Room of Requirement doesn't show anymore, either."

"Muggle world, here we come," sighed Luna. "I tried Apparating, and nothing happened. And Madame Pomfrey has been trying for days to Floo St Mungo's with no success."

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Two days later, a sad and gruff looking group of witches and wizards, some moving with difficulty because of recent injuries and all in need of clean water for both cleaning and drinking, left Hogwarts Castle reluctantly, none of them ready to face the challenges of living in a world without magic.

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A/N: I thank NotSoSaintly for beta-reading this story. Your encouragement means the world to me. :-)

As always, reviews feed my muse, so please let me know what you think of the story.