Zero Hour
Chapter 34 of 40
Aurette"Princess, dear, come over and meet this fine gentleman!" I looked over to the doorway of the lounge and saw Ma standing next to a middle-aged businessman. I stood and straightened my black peignoir and smoothed any stray hairs that might have escaped from where it was piled on top of my head. I narrowed my eyes at the man and stalked over to him. My eyes reflected, honestly, all the things I was going to do with him, and he flushed and smiled broadly.
"Please show this gentleman upstairs and give him a night to remember."
"Absolutely... This way, sir," I said in my most sultry voice.
I took his arm and felt him flex slightly. I smiled viciously and led him up the stairs and to the east wing.
"Here we are." I opened the door to the bedroom, and he gallantly allowed me to go first with a little bow. I entered and walked over to the tray of refreshments. I was about to offer him some, but he had rushed up behind me and began pawing at my arse, obviously in no mood for preliminaries.
"Stupefy!"
I almost sprawled across the table as the man's weight hit me; he was hauled off quickly.
"Do you think you waited long enough?" I snapped at the empty room.
"I was waiting for him to close the door; I wasn't expecting him to scuttle quite so quickly. Are you alright?" Severus asked, pulling off Harry's cloak.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Then why are you complaining?"
I took a deep breath and then reached for the pot of tea and made myself a cup.
"Forgive me, it's nerves. How many does that make so far?'
"Five innocent fornicators so far. Who's arrived downstairs?
"So far Gibbons, Avery and a few of their people, about ten so far. They are expecting Jugson and one or two others but that's it."
"What about Nott's group, what are they doing?"
"Most of them are set up in the Emerald Lounge having a loud party with the doors open, but the two Goyles are in with Avery, and Vaisey is with them as well, so there is some traffic between the two rooms. Warrington and a few others are at the Ministry. They will signal when they are in position." I finished my tea and set the cup back down, and Severus tapped the tea service with his wand and it disappeared, called back to the kitchen by the elves.
The lights in the room flickered, and I hastily made for the door as Severus levitated the other man over to a corner and cast a Disillusionment charm over him. The lights flickered again, and I cursed.
"No time, get by the bed!" he hissed as he threw the invisibility cloak over me.
I hid under its folds as Severus Disillusioned himself and backed into the wall.
Stupid man. The cloak allowed unseen movement. Disillusioning only worked if you stayed still, otherwise it might be noticeable to the observant. He should have been wearing the cloak.
The door opened, and Ruby came in, followed by another client. My heart froze when I saw it was Avery.
A tray appeared on the table, and Ruby walked over to it and picked up the unopened bottle of wine and corkscrew that had appeared. Avery was still half in the doorway, giving her an appraising look.
'Get in and close the door!' I screamed in my head.
"What are you planning to do to me from over there?" Ruby said in a husky voice.
Avery looked like he was sulking, and she put a little more authority in her voice.
"Are you being a naughty boy already? Don't make Ruby angry, young man. Come here right now," she ordered.
He smiled his sickly smile and came into the room, pushing the door closed behind him. He was almost all the way to Ruby, when he glanced eagerly over to the bed. I don't know if he saw movement or heard a noise, but he spun on his heel with his wand out and just dodged Severus's Stupefy. He fired off a silent hex that blasted a hole in the wall, and I was already running at him when Ruby smashed him in the temple with the wine bottle. He crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Bad boy," she said to his unmoving form as Severus and I appeared. "Huh, in the movies these always break," she said, holding up the still intact bottle. "I swear I heard it break."
Severus leaned down and checked him for a pulse.
"I thought they were going to be down there a little longer," he said over his shoulder.
"This one couldn't wait and was planning on an all-nighter. I thought it best to just go ahead and get him out of the way since no one down there is expecting him back. Did I make a mistake?" she asked, worried. "It's not like I could have conferred without it looking suspicious."
"No, you did well," he replied.
I noticed a distinct odor and decided to hustle her out of the room.
"Good job, Ruby," I said. "Since you're officially with him for the rest of the night, why don't you go ahead upstairs and get yourself ready."
"Good idea. I'll go change." She raced out of the room, and the door clicked shut behind her. I tossed the invisibility cloak back to Severus.
"He's dead isn't he?"
"Yes, she crushed his skull."
"What are we going to do with him?"
"For now? Turn him into an end table. We need to get the other one upstairs."
"What about the smell?" I asked, waving a hand to try and clear the thickening stench of emptied bowels.
"Honestly, Hermione," he huffed, "doubt my skills later; right now, go and get one of Krum's boys."
I left the room and hurried up to the practice center. I took my robe off the hook by the door and slipped it on. It had been a long time since I had been self-conscious, but with the new house guests here, all of us girls were, and so there was a privacy screen blocking a portion of the door and the hooks on the wall next to it.
Viktor came over quickly as I stepped out from behind the screen, and I explained what had happened.
"It vill be taken care of," he assured me and signaled two of his men and they left the room in a hurry.
"What's the situation up here?"
"They are ready to perform the Blood magic when vee get the signal. They can drop the vords very swiftly with so many here."
"And you are sure we won't be as affected this time?"
"No, your Snape had to push the vords away from this room without anyone at the Ministry being suspicious, yes? They vill drop them completely," he said. "This time, as long as Snape's men are in the right place in the Ministry at the right time it vill be alright. If not? Vee start fighting earlier, yes?"
"Alright. Let me know if anything changes, okay?"
"I vill," he said as I headed back out into the hall.
Out in the hallway, I saw one of the men Viktor had sent down to Severus coming with the levitated body of my client following behind him. He nodded at me, and I followed him and the stunned man into another room.
I said hello to Aberforth Dumbledore, who was watching as the new arrival was settled against the wall next to the previous four. I had been shocked when I met him the first time--the resemblance to his brother was uncanny-- but the differences were striking as well. He was the Headmaster, without the twinkle, or kindliness, or manners for that matter. I liked him a lot, and it was mutual.
"What're you doing here, missy. Don't you have a war to go start?"
"Oh, that? Well I thought I'd put that on hold to see how an old grouch is doing with his new toys." I gestured to the men.
"Oh, they're fine. A dose of that dreamless sleep when this one wakes up and he'll be fine as well. If we win, we send them home. If we lose, well, I'm sure someone will send them home. Never you mind, girl, they're safe as lambs." He pointed his wand towards the Stupefied man but then turned his head back at me and told me to run along and let him get back to work.
"Alright. Do you need anything? Tea?"
"Tea would be lovely," he said, and his voice sounded so much like Professor Dumbledore's that I blinked. No wonder Severus wouldn't go near him.
I headed down the hall and stopped in the last room before the stairs.
"Everything alright in here?" I asked Neville.
He looked up from the table he was standing around with ten of Viktor's friends.
"Yes, they were just explaining to me about the wards. Fascinating, but nothing I would ever touch I think," he said. He turned to thank them and headed out the door to join me. I watched as each man picked up a vial of blood from the table.
"How are you holding up?" asked Neville once he had closed the door behind him.
"Honestly?" I quipped, "I think I stopped knowing that about an hour ago. I've been on automatic since the first client showed up."
"I know what you mean. I just wish it would get a move on and start."
As if on cue, the lights on the upper floor blinked. Ma's house-elves had given the signal that the last Death Eater expected was in the house.
"Well, here's your wish. Zero hour at last," I said. I unbuttoned my robes and tossed them to Neville. He gave me a light slap on the back, and I headed down the stairs checking the sloppy knot of a bun on my head.
The silencing spells on the rooms made it seem eerily quiet as I hurried along to the next staircase, and so I almost yelped when a door flew open and I barreled into nothing.
Arms came up around me, and as Severus shook the hood of the cape back off his head, his features ghosted into sight.
We said nothing, just looked at each other, and then he kissed me hard. He set me back on my feet, and I turned away from him and raced toward the stairs. I could feel him at my back.
Ma came up the stairs and cast a quick Muffliato when she saw me.
"Yaxley and Jugson have arrived with some of their flunkies. There are about fourteen in all. Mulciber's not coming after all, nor any others. I'm sorry; I really thought my free offer to celebrate would have brought more."
"We'll manage; you did your best," I reassured her.
She took a deep breath and then squared her shoulders.
"The Floo is shut, and I'm on my way to take care of the holding area. Angel has the wine. Do be careful, Princess. Where's Snape? I'd feel better if he was with you."
"I am, Agatha," came his voice over my shoulder.
She started and laid a hand on her bosom.
"Keep her safe, Severus," she said, and then with a flick of her wand, she canceled the charm. Before she headed up the stairs, I stopped her.
"Can you make sure Aberforth gets a cuppa?"
"Hermione!" hissed Severus in my ear.
"What?" I hissed back as I headed down the stairs.
Ma let out a short hysterical laugh and ran in the other direction.
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Princess of Gryffindor
597 Reviews | 6.94/10 Average
I agree with Mick42 in the sense that I don't like the Voldemort won/everyone's dead/Hermione's a whore stories. I avoid them like the plague. I decided to give this one a go based on the reviews. I was very, very skeptical. There were aspects to the writing that I didn't like, such as it being written in first person, but the memorial scene alone made it well worth the read. I may have shed a tear (or 10).
Wow...just wow. Now I know why all of these other reviewers have shed a tear. I am a mess. Still smiling tho'! Captivating read. Kudos!
Yay, all finished. It's been a while since I've read this, so I had forgotten a lot of the details in the ending chapters, but I still love it as much as I did the first time I read it. You have my in tears reading the end couple of chapters now, but that's terribly easy to do to a pregnant woman, so don't worry too much lol.
I just love Snape, have I ever mentioned that? I do. And it's stuff like this in stories- him vowing to protect Hermione- that make me love him even more..
This is one I've read before, on ffnet I think, but I have to read it here too, it just seems impossible not to reread your favorite stories when you come across them somewhere. The bonus is that you already know you love the story, even if you can't remember all the details between point A and A.D.
My dear Aurette,I have spent half of yesterday and all of today re-reading this unbelievable story. Half of the time, I've been a sobbing, sopping mess - when S&H were gathering forces and found people who were still alive, the whole Harry and Ron speaking to Hermione from the great beyond, the memorial scene (holy crap, talk about sobbing!), reuniting with Minerva's ghost, and the list goes on. I love the plot of the story. I love your numerous OCs. I love how the young DEs revolt. I love how forces from all sides join together to fight the Dark Lord. I love the romance between S&H. I love how utterly vulnerable he is to her, and she to him. I love how wizarding society hero-worships Snape in the end. I love So Many Things about this story. If my heart could take it, I'd start it all over again, but I really wasn't exaggerating when I said I was sobbing half the time I was reading. This might sound odd, but reading this today, US Memorial Day, just makes it seem even more poignant. But I do think it's honoring to RL sacrifices by reading about fictional ones. Thank you so much for this absolutely wonderful story, and for giving me such an enjoyable (if teary and snotty) way to spend my day off.Love,Christev
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Heartbreaking and wonderful and worth rereading. Thank you for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I'm so glad you enjoyed. ;-)
Just re-read this and had to mention: Best Epilogue Ever. Why couldn't you have given JK a few pointers? ;-p
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! She never asked... Thank you!
I've just flown through the last several chapters, held in thrall to this story! This is just genius, you know, starting at a place of total desolation - this terrible post-war dystopia - and taking all the elements from DH (the prophecy from Severus, the Hallows, even walking beside the dead and moving with them before returning to earth - thanks particularly for including Draco with the others), using them as they were meant to be used, finding another way of stopping Voldemort and reenvisioning a new world in the aftermath.
And I love seeing Snape marked as the Man Who Lived! And a father! And the Minister! (And that proposal? Mmm-hmm... clearly, he has caught on to everything Hermione's been teaching him!)
You strike such a great balance between comedy and high drama. It's such a pleasure to read.
Oh, Goyle. Goyles will be Goyles, I suppose!"I think you have just been metaphorically peed on." Oh, I love this line... particularly since Severus' possessiveness towards Hermione is such a strong part of his character (which is why his reluctant willingness to 'share' Hermione rather than lose her was SO terribly shocking).
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Thank you! And I think, by his behavior in this chapter, you can see he tacitly took those words... back.
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
Oh, absolutely! That's what's so marvelous to see in this Snape. He acts impulsively so often, and then immediately knows that it's not what he really wanted, and is slowly learning to keep it all in check as he accepts the fact that she really loves him and that he's truly safe with her.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Hannah and Neville! Woo-hoo! (You can just feel the little triumphs along the way - things are getting brighter all the time!) And the lack of trust between all parties involved... yes, that feels completely, completely believable.(Also,I don't know that I've ever met an original character that I've liked, but Peaches is fantastic. Just fantastic. You make me change my mind on a lot of things, I think...)
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I intentionally started this tale as dark as I could make it, and then slowly let the light in. Neville and Hannah were such a beacon of hope...
Ah, the trust between the two as they examine the girls! And her red robes... yes, I imagine Severus doesn't want Hermione in anything less than a high-necked robe in front of her old beau.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Trust is something they thought they had, but as you can see, they are both too emotionally unsophisticated to not end up with issues.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... Elder Goyle and Ma are two revelations here, aren't they? As for the former, it really makes me wonder (again and again) what Voldemort's plan was 'when' he won. Why cheat Death if you have nothing to live for? For someone as hypothetically long-sighted as he was (looking to an eternity of power and control over the wizarding world), he's remarkably short-sighted here (what do you do now that you've won?). You raise all sorts of fascinating questions here. And Ma, with the Veritaserum? Grand.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Ma was intended to just be a stock vilain, but she elbowed her way toward three dimentional. I was very happy with the way she worked out.
The robes! Wonderful, wonderful, all around, from Hermione's comfort in them and the note exchange.Charlie and Viktor? You're really getting things moving here, aren't you? Momentum. You're really a master with creating a momentum that just pulls a reader through the story. I don't mean just here, but everything I've read up til now - it's so well paced and unfolds so naturally. In case I haven't said this in a chapter or two, thanks so much for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I was very attuned to the pacing of this tale. It was my very first mult-chaptered fic and getting the pacing down right was one of my primary concerns. Thank you so much for reviewing it!
Hooray! I love what you've done with Theo Nott. The second guessing and the regret shows how easy it was for misguided, then-ambivalent people to latch on to Voldemort's coat tails. (Cloak tails?) Very like Severus at that age, no?You're also hilarious, but I suspect you know that. "Conjure myself some decent clothes?" FABULOUS.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Exactly! I saw Theo as not being wildly different from young Snape, just perhaps a bit more entitled. I am so glad you liked this.
Wow. There are so many things I love, love, love in this chapter. First off, the relationship between Severus and the Malfoys. (Ach, and the horror of their deaths!) Next, Dumbledore's attitude. I, for one, have a tendency to vilify the man. Reading the repentance he shows here makes me rethink a lot of things about him. (So thank you for challenging me!) But you're right - we have a lot of evidence in DH that there are many unspoken things in his past that explain his present actions. And, of course, it's just a relief to see that he finally has someone to tell all this to, someone who will care for him and stand by him through it all. This is just wonderful, and I'm completely loving your writing and this story!
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I also have a tendancy to vilify Dumbledore, but I know that was never JKR's intention, so every so often I try and reset my thinking. Then I backslide. lol.
There are so many reasons I love this story... wonderful narrative flow, seamless incorporation of canon devices (Hallows! Can't wait to see them in action!), a fresh perspective on the nature of evil in the Voldemort regime, a place to see regrets worked out and atoned for.But the single greatest reason why this is so fabulous is your clear vision of your characters. What we know of them from JKR is fleshed out so beautifully here, and it's not a happy-go-lucky, cleaned up and sanitized version of the very broken people we know (and love), but a hard look at the mistakes they make and how they learn together to move on and forgive one another in a much deeper understanding of who the other really is.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
This chapter was my impetus for writing the whole fic. I wanted to get to this scene. Of course, once I did, I then had a Ministry to over throw... lol.
Oh, now that's interesting... incorporating the Hallows? I think this means we'll get to see some action from the Elder Wand (killing Voldemort?), the Resurrection Stone (Harry and Ron?), and the Invisibility Cloak (I have no idea on this one... it's useful in so many ways). I can't wait to see where they lead!
Severus' thoughts on the ambition of Voldemort five years out are interesting... it certainly does make you wonder - what would Tom have done had he won? Did he have a plan in place? I mean, the fear of ignominious death aside, what was really motivating his actions? What did he envision for the Wizarding world?
There's much that I enjoy in this chapter... the way they recognize each other as being, really, the only people left on earth (that we know of so far) who can really see one another is fantastic. Antarctica banter with penguins! 'Whoever had broken this man deserved to burn in hell.'What I found myself wishing I had here was Hermione's musings on her own sexual history. Was she a virgin before she was enslaved here? I found I wanted this when she first talked about her position as a whore with Snape as well... I just want it sometime. (Maybe it's coming up later? We'll see!) There seems to be space for her to say that she's still a virgin (so to speak) with a great deal of this as well. And defend her innocence. Since she never kissed Ron in the final battle (AU breaks off earlier here, right?), has she even been kissed?
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
(Because Severus very well may be right in trying to stop her... for her own peace of mind, certainly, and for the fact that she's been traumatised for years there. Another sexual experience now may not be helpful on the road to recovery, and he'd certainly be remiss if he didn't know the situation before letting her have her way with him...)
The harpsichord? That's hilarious. Does she tune it herself, as well? All the descriptions of this place add up to a bizarre, depressing, garish nightmare. It's like everyone tossed in their leftovers and out popped a brother, or several people's lives just vomited out all their extras on the (Voldemort-run) street.
Ah, Draco. I'm sad to hear he's lost. I have a soft spot for him as one of the people who gave Severus a will to go on in HBP and DH. I would have liked seeing your Snape deal with him.
That last long paragraph on the enigma of Snape? Spot on. It sums up why he's such a fascinating character in canon: powerful and powerless, beautiful and ugly, lauded and humiliated. The ambiguity of him is so rich, and not in the Dumbledore 'we sort too soon' sort of way, claiming that he's truly a Gryffindor at heart merely because he's on the side of good.
As to protection, well, that's another one of the strongest themes attached to him in canon, isn't it? He's constantly fighting to protect people - even people he despises -and he prepares them all to do the same. Your Hermione's a lucky girl...
Well done, you.
Hmm... "I, too, practice self-denial?" I think he might practice a few kinds of denial here, since he did just move to kiss her. (Of course, perhaps poor Severus doesn't know any better. He missed out on the 'What not to do whilst visiting a whorehouse' lesson in finishing school.) I greatly appreciate a post-DH Snape who doesn't know what to do with a woman... after all, when you poke around in canon, it seems fairly obvious that his social calendar was empty.
I also enjoy the dynamic you're setting up between Hermione and Peaches, the latter of whom is clearly in control of her own destiny in a way that Hermione just isn't... yet.
And...Harry and Ron? What?!?
Oh, gravy! Lime-green peignoirs and silver mules? This is a high class establishment poor Hermione's stuck in. (Although the lime-green clothing is oddly reminiscent of St. Mungo's...)
I love a phrase like "She floated in like a frigate in full sail." Really, the oppressing shabbiness of the place is overwhelming. I'm so very wary of new characters, so I'm really hoping I will like yours... Peaches, maybe yes? Ma, maybe no. Unless we do know Ma or Angel already and they're just under aliases like the Princess?
Drinking Cocoa enticed me back here to revisit this wonderful, deep, rich tale once again, when I should be doing my own writing and in other ways getting the heap of papers on my desk cleared and sorted (not to mention getting to bed at a decent hour). But, no, I had to swallow this beautiful work whole once again, rediscovering all its complexities and marvels, emotions and heatbreak, fascinations and intricacies. And it is now nearly 2am, and I can at last climb into my solitary little bed, wrapped in the warmth of some quite satisfying and delicious writing. Thank you.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I thank you, truly, for your revisiting this story. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing it is apreciated on a second reading as well. :-)
I give it five years before Brilliant figures out how to spell that journal open and gets the shock of her young life hahahaha.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! Oh, that would be Brilliant! You need to write that fic!
Response from StarryEyedNoOne (Reviewer)
I haven't wrote HP fanfic since I was the age of a first year lol. I pray to any diety that's listening that NONE of it is still floating aroung out there. :-\
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! I understand. I once read that if you aren't embarrased by something you wrote a year ago, you are no longer growing as a writer. Hell, I get embarrassed over things I wrote last week...