Mayhem at the Ministry: Part 1

Thanks go to Drusilla, who beta'd the last few chapters of this story for me after my last beta was unable to.

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Chapter 18 - Mayhem at the Ministry: Part 1

The sun began to rise over London, twinkling at the citizens of Muggle London with the greeting of a new day. However, the inhabitants of the Ministry of Magic, that morning, were not so fortunate. The air was stale, and only a tiny peak of what lay beyond the cloud reached through the air of gloom and pending destruction that hung over them.

Snape stood by the nearest window, staring out at the clouded haze on the outskirts of the city. They were coming. Soon. He could feel his Mark burning with their anticipation. His only relief was that having the Mark did not automatically mean that he would perish with the Dark Lord when he was destroyed.

'Severus?'

Snape looked over his shoulder at Remus Lupin and nodded in acknowledgement, folding his arms across his chest forebodingly.

'Getting nervous, old friend?' Remus asked with a reassuring smile.

'Old I can agree with, Lupin. But I can hardly remember a time when we have ever called each other friend,' he replied sarcastically.

Lupin chuckled darkly. 'Well, perhaps now is the time to set aside our differences and make amends? Right, old boy?' he asked kindly.

‘Perhaps,' Snape replied, smiling weakly at Hermione as she approached them. He took her hand in his own and brought it up to his lips, brushing them against her knuckles.

Remus was a little surprised by this, but decided not to ask questions. The less he knew, the better, perhaps. 'Hello, Hermione,' he greeted with a warming smile. She smiled back at him, let Snape draw her into a comfortable hug, and in turn, returned his embrace.

'Hello, Remus,' she said softly.

Lupin looked on at the changed dynamics between his old school foe and the younger woman, who had once been his student, and a brilliant one at that. He saw the tender way that Snape tucked a stray curl behind her ear and their reluctance to pull away from each other as they let go.

They all turned sharply when they heard a loud, cracking noise, and then a squeak before something fell to the ground with an almighty crash, shaking the floor beneath them.

Snape's eyes flew to where the large fountain stood in the middle of the Ministry's first floor foyer. What he saw was nothing short of despicable. The head of one of the statues, the one of Merlin in the centre, had been severed and had fallen clean off.

Hermione, who had moved straight back into Snape's arms again, fixed her eyes on his face. Snape pulled his wand from his sleeve while keeping one arm around Hermione, pinning her to his side. 'Draw your wand,' he ordered softly.

She obeyed without question, looking from the firmly set face of the man she loved to Remus, who also had his wand in hand, staring, concentrating on the fountain.

'Remus, where are Harry and Ron?' she whispered urgently.

'They are hidden and safe. And you should be, too,' he said back quietly, looking pointedly at Snape.

Hermione noticed this and pursed her lips together tightly, shooting him a sharp look. 'I chose to be here, Remus. Severus tried to keep me away,' she snapped defensively just as they heard another crash, this time caused by the head of the female witch statue falling.

Snape listened to Hermione defend him and decided to stay out of whatever it was that was supposed to offend him, just as Lupin spoke again.

'I apologise, Severus.'

'As much as I appreciate your apology, Remus, I do not think this is the time nor the place to be worrying about such trivial issues,' he replied as a flash of green light emanated around the fountain, blocking it from sight, and then suddenly, the hall was filled with Death Eaters in their black robes and silver masks.

Snape could sense Hermione's fear as her pulse sped up beneath his fingers and her breaths became ragged. He leant down and gave her a final, chaste kiss before whispering to her as the Death Eaters scattered around the foyer, 'Do not panic, my sweet. I have every confidence in you.'

Hermione was sure that she had never been so scared in her life. She could already see the curses and hexes flying across the room in jets of bright light. 'N-no, I… oh, Merlin!' she uttered in gasps.

Snape gripped her by the shoulders and turned her to look at him. 'Hermione, I am going to ask you… no, implore you once more. Will you please go to Spinner's End? Stay there for me? Please?' he pleaded, keeping his wand aimed to block the oncoming wave of hexes.

Hermione clamped her jaw in place firmly and shook her head. 'No, Severus,' she said, finding her voice again. 'We are wasting time with this discussion. I will be staying.'

She pulled away from him and, getting a firmer grip on her wand, looked at the battle before them. Snape nodded and cast a Shield Charm, giving her one final thought, before using Occlumency to disguise the rest of his thoughts from the Dark side. He was ready for this, and ready to live, if only to see Hermione one last time afterwards.

As Hermione broke away, she had to dart out of the way of some misguided hexes and shot as many curses and charms as she could, with fair accuracy, getting her targets nearly every time.

'Stupefy! Reducto! Furnunculus!' she yelled, pointing at each Death Eater as they approached, slicing her wand through the air violently.

Two were blown backwards, knocked out the instant that they crashed into the walls and pillars. A third was writhing around on the ground in pain, clutching at his face and trying to tear his clothes off, screaming, his flesh breaking out in boils everywhere.

She left him there after magically binding him and dodged another Death Eater who was falling at the hand of "Mad-Eye" Moody. Moody gave her a brief nod before taking off across the foyer to where another Death Eater was trying to engage him into battle.

'Hermione, watch out!' somebody yelled from across the foyer.

She spun around and caught a glimpse of Bellatrix Lestrange before she was caught in the shoulder with the older Death Eater’s slicing hex. She swore under her breath as the cow let out a high-pitched laugh.

'Well, if it isn't the Mudblood slut that has Snape wound around her little finger,' she spat cruelly. 'It's been a while, little girl. Care to see if you're any better at duelling than you were last time?'

Hermione saw the blood soak through the sleeve of her robe and threw Lestrange a foul look. It hurt, but it would have to wait. 'Bring it on, Lestrange,' she dared, spitting out her name as if it was fouler than the monster herself.

'She's a feisty one. I can see why Severus likes you. He always did like it… rough,' Bella said with a twisted smile.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort just as she saw someone approach Bellatrix from behind. She was going to warn them, but was too late. Bella whipped around quickly and, without much effort, muttered the worst Unforgiveable and, in a flash of green light, Draco Malfoy fell to the floor, dead.

Hermione would have screamed if she could have found her voice, but instead of panicking, her Gryffindor common sense kicked in while the Slytherin in her decided to take advantage of the situation. She drew every ounce of anger in her and concentrated it on one spell. As Bellatrix turned around to face her again, Hermione looked at her and smiled.

'Avada Kedavra!'