Chapter 29: In the Line of Fire – Part One

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

A big thank you goes out to VIVAvivacious for the beta of this chapter.

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The blood roaring in her ears was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

A spell grazed her left shoulder, the red beam of light burning a gaping hole into her robes, exposing the tender white flesh of her arm beneath. She glanced over her shoulder to see Snape fending off three Death Eaters at once from behind her and turned back to focus on the two junior idiots who were walking towards her with their wands raised. She frowned, thrusting her free hand in their direction. Her mouth curled into a sneer.

'Do you truly believe that you can handle me?' she shouted, her voice booming above the noise. 'Go ahead, if you dare.'

She saw a slight tremble in the steps of one of the young men and took the opportunity to strike, ropes wordlessly soaring straight towards him and wrapping around tightly to bind him mercilessly. As he dropped to the ground in front of her, Hermione looked up to see that the other man approaching had faltered in shock for just long enough for her to gain the upper hand. Oh, how she was tempted just to kill the men then and there...the magic coursing through her was driving her to do things she had never before considered right until recently. She had discovered, in the end, it didn't even matter.

She was not going to be forgiven by anyone for the lives that she would take. She might be tried later, but at that very moment, nothing meant what it did normally.

'Stupefy,' she said, her voice empty of any real feeling.

No, she could not just kill anyone. It had to be them...the inner circle of the Dark Lord's recruits. They were the ones responsible for the death of her parents and Ron...for the destruction of her soul. Her blood boiled with rage, and she whipped around to see Snape battling hard against none other than Rabastan Lestrange. Now how did one so close to the inner circle end up so far away from the one he was intended to protect? She turned her head just slightly to see that no one was advancing on her from behind and forced herself to Snape's side, throwing a Confundus at Lestrange, hitting him right in the centre of his forehead.

'Hermione!' Snape shouted at her, pushing her behind him as Lestrange advanced on them clumsily. 'Stay out of this one!'

Her brows furrowed at him momentarily before she spun around sharply and surveyed the battle before her. The Order had finally arrived, and a large number of them were involved in fighting off this fledgling army that Voldemort had obviously put together as some form of detour and distraction tactic...to keep them away from him for longer. She groaned in annoyance as another junior Death Eater broke through the ranks and charged towards her, wand raised. She was having a hard time being patient.

'Give over, already,' she growled as she threw a stinging hex followed by another stunning spell at whoever it was with lightning speed.

It was clear that the younger Death Eaters were all amateurs. After kicking off the mask and checking to see that the young man was truly out for the count, she rolled him onto his front and walked away. She turned to see Snape send a hex at Lestrange that sent him flying into one of the Ionic marble columns, cracking him against the stone sharply before he slumped to the ground. Uncaring as to whether he was dead or just mortally wounded, Hermione grabbed Snape's arm and dragged him with her towards the elevator. They needed to get to the floor where the Minister's office was.

Snape was quicker than her and was soon pulling her along behind him as they hastened towards the lift. He punched the button and soon the doors were opening before them. After pushing her inside, he followed, and as the doors were closing, a cloaked figure tried to jam the door with his body. Hermione pointed her wand at him, but Snape pushed her arm out of the way, settling for giving the young man a hard kick with his booted foot. With a yelp, he got out of the way and the doors finally closed.

She watched as Snape leaned on the back wall heavily, his expression weary. She felt a pang of sympathy for him through the angry haze and reached out for a moment to touch his brow, smoothing away the frown. He reached out a hand to cup her face gently just a bell sounded, signalling that they had arrived at the desired floor. Quick as a flash, Snape withdrew from her, holding his wand at the ready in case there was an ambush waiting on the other side of the elevator doors.

'Stay behind me,' he told her, pushing her behind him with one arm as the doors opened.

What it revealed was a bloodbath unlike she had ever seen in her life. People were strewn all over the ground...some in Death Eater robes, others in the bright blue robes of the Order. The blood was a rich red shade, splattered against the walls and marble floors, pooling around the bodies. If she had been even the slightest bit sensitive to blood, she would have fainted at the sight before her. Fortunately, she was not.

Snape urged her forward, and she moved alongside him, peering around cautiously as she did so. The fighting in this particular area of the floor seemed to be over, and she could barely hear the shouts and muffled cries from further along. Sticking together, they moved with haste towards the end of the hall, turning the corner at the 'T' formed by the two halls converging in the direction of the most noise. It was mere moments later that they came upon a new lot of Death Eaters...the inner circle amongst them as well as many of the Weasleys and other prominent Order members.

'Granger!' barked a voice from beside her as she made to advance.

She turned her head to see Alastor Moody slumped against the wall, clutching his hand to his chest tightly in a fist. His breathing was irregular and heavy, and as her eyes continued over him, she saw that his prosthetic leg was missing and he appeared to be losing a lot of blood, fast. She nodded coolly at him.

'You're on the right side, aren't ye?' he wheezed, coughing up some blood and turning his head minutely to spit on the ground beside him.

She frowned but nodded. 'What do you want?' she demanded.

'Make sure the right people find me when it's over,' he murmured, pushing his wand that was on the ground towards her. 'Use this if you need to, but don't you let those damn Death Eaters win this.'

Hermione nodded in understanding. It appeared that near death, Moody was feeling somewhat less suspicious of everyone around him. She leaned down to pick up his gnarly wand, battered with age and quickly cast a simple healing charm over him, stopping the blood flow before knocking him out with a Stupefy. There was her revenge on the bastard, even if he deserved so much worse; it would have to suffice for the time being. She had much bigger fish to fry.

She turned around to see that Severus had disappeared from view and felt a moment of panic, her eyes flickering around the chaotic hallway until they finally clapped onto him. He was engaged in battle with Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus, who appeared to have teamed up in order to bring him down faster. Hermione felt her magic soar through her veins and into her fingertips as she made a mad dash in the direction of her lover. There was no way those two would get the better of her Snape.

'Rictumsempra!' she shouted, her wand pointed directly at Rodolphus, who had not seen her approaching from behind Snape.

The man was thrown back several feet, his body twisting around as it did so, landing in a heap on the floor. Bellatrix shrieked with rage, her eyes practically bulging out of her gaunt face as she turned her focus to Hermione. Hermione smirked, flicking a few simple slicing hexes at the woman, damaging her dress and leaving a large gash across her left cheek. Meanwhile, Hermione noticed Rodolphus pulling himself off the ground and nodded at Snape, who switched sides with her and allowed her to focus on Bellatrix while he took care of her husband.

'So, little Mudblood,' Bellatrix taunted, using the back of her hand to swipe at the blood from her cheek. 'We meet again. You look older every time I see you.'

'The same could be said for you, Lestrange,' Hermione replied coolly, raising her wand arm into the appropriate position for duelling. 'You're looking particularly old this time. Is the stress getting to you?'

'Smart-mouthed little bitch,' the other woman spat. 'You'll be dead before you can even utter another word from your filthy mouth! Crucio!'

Bellatrix was fast, but Hermione had seen it coming, dropping to the ground and rolling to one side, successfully avoiding the spell. She stood back up, silently sending another few slicing hexes at Lestrange, most of which she managed to dodge, save for another across the same cheek as before, creating an 'x'.

'Too much talking, Lestrange,' Hermione said with a feral smile. 'You're really losing your touch, old woman. Crucio!'

She had expected that after the taunting, Bellatrix would pick up her game and dodge the attack. Instead, Hermione was mildly surprised that the curse instead hit, and the woman fell to the ground, writhing in pain and shrieking at the top of her lungs. She felt a surge of power run through her, and she was urged on by the darkness in her to continue, to torture the life out of the woman, until all she was left with was madness. She pushed harder, allowing more magic to flow through her and into the wand. She had held on so tightly to what control she did have over the darkness, but here in the midst of battle, it was unleashed.

'Hermione! Hermione, stop this madness!' she heard vaguely from outside the blood and whisperings in her ear to keep going.

Without removing the curse, she looked over to see Harry gesturing at her wildly. She frowned and turned back to Bellatrix, removing the curse and waiting to see how long it would take for her to stand up again and fight. It took less time than she had imagined, and she soon found her opponent once again on her feet.

'Y-you're much better than I expected, Mudblood,' Bellatrix stammered, seemingly out of breath. 'A more painful Crucio than the Dark Lord's. But you stopped. Why?'

'I was thinking about giving you another chance to fight me properly,' Hermione answered. 'But I can see that would be a waste of time. Sectumsempra!'

The spell hit Lestrange right in the centre of her chest, and the blood immediately sprayed forth. Bellatrix dropped to her knees on the ground, slices appearing all over her, blood seeping through her clothes to soak them red. Hermione made her way closer, a look of satisfaction on her face. She once would have felt guilt at such a ruthless act, but she only felt pleased with herself and that one of her intended victims had finally got what was coming to them.

'Goodbye, Bellatrix,' Hermione said quietly, lifting her booted foot and kicking the woman over so that she was sprawled on the marble floor.

She sighed heavily and turned around to see Snape watching her in disbelief. She walked over to him and reached out to touch him, frowning when he grasped her hand and lowered it. She was about to jerk away from him in annoyance when he brought his other hand up to swipe just above her eyebrow.

'You've got a cut,' he murmured.

She breathed out in relief. No...Snape would not reject her for the sin she had just committed. After all, he knew exactly how she felt. She was about to lean in to his embrace when she heard loud shouts from a little way up the hall. Peering around Snape, she was surprised to see Draco with his hood thrown back, the silver Death Eaters mask nowhere to be found. His wand arm was held out in the direction of his father, who stood just across the hall from him.

'Are you going to kill me then, son?' Lucius taunted loudly, his voice echoing through the hall.

It was stonily silent, all the other battles throughout the hall having paused to gaze on the spectacle of a son turning on his own father.

'It would be the least that you would deserve,' Draco spat, glaring at the man across from him in hatred. 'I never wanted what you have made me into. I never wanted to be like you! You're a disgrace to the name of Malfoy.'

Lucius smirked. 'Well then, go ahead and end me now,' he said, spreading his arms out on either side, inviting Draco to deliver the final blow.

'Avada Kedavra!'

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A/N – Yes, I know, but I just could not resist ending the chapter there. Fortunately for you, there is more on the way.