Rating:
PG-13
House:
Schnoogle
Characters:
Hermione Granger Severus Snape
Genres:
General Romance
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire
Stats:
Published: 10/03/2003
Updated: 10/17/2003
Words: 94,798
Chapters: 20
Hits: 77,297

Ordinary People

Hayseed

Story Summary:
How do ordinary people cope with their extraordinary circumstances? A SS/HG romance that strives for realism.

Chapter 16

Posted:
10/14/2003
Hits:
3,019

I will fear no evil---

If possible, the night was growing darker, the occasional flash of lightning Hermione's only source of light. The wind was picking up as well, blowing her hair rather annoyingly into her eyes. Idly wishing she'd brought something to tie it back with, she tucked it behind her ears and tried to focus on her part of the plan.

Somehow, she had to find Harry.

He wasn't in the clearing with the Death Eaters, she knew that much. His shouts, mingled with Voldemort's, had been coming from further away.

Striking out further east, she felt a few more raindrops pelt against her skin. The storm was moments from breaking, unless she missed her guess.

Wonderful. Facing an evil wizard in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Just how Hermione had pictured her evening. She didn't even have Severus beside her to make her feel better.

There was a small stand of trees a few hundred feet away, new leaves rustling in the wind. She thought she saw a thin figure slipping through the branches and picked up her pace.

Indeed, as soon as she drew near enough to see his face, she saw Lord Voldemort himself making his way through the tiny forest, a sly grin on his face. "Where are you hiding, wee Potter?" he asked quietly, voice carrying disturbingly far.

With a flick of his wand, Voldemort blasted the leaves off of the tree nearest to his right hand, regarding the naked branches with something akin to pity.

"Make no mistake, Harry Potter," he continued in that same conversational tone that was somehow loud enough to reach Hermione's ears fifteen yards away. "I will find you. And when I find you, we will end this once and for all."

His only reply was the mournful rustle of the leaves as the wind continued to whip around them. Thunder echoed in the distance and Hermione moved even closer.

There could not be more than thirty trees standing here and Voldemort had already denuded nearly half of them. If Harry was indeed hiding here, it would not be for long.

As quietly as possible, she slipped through the trees herself, looking up and down and around the trunks, trying to catch a glimpse of her friend.

There.

Hunched behind a tree not twenty feet from Voldemort, Harry's glasses glinted in a sudden, blinding flash of lightning.

Still moving slowly, so as not to make any noise, Hermione reached Harry just as Voldemort blasted the leaves off of the tree right beside his. "Not very Gryffindor of you to continue to hide from me, Harry," he said derisively. "I would think that such a brave, strong lad would face his fate with dignity."

Harry's lip curled in a sneer, but he remained silent. She could read the terror in his eyes, though. Otherwise, he looked unharmed. As gently, as carefully as she could manage, Hermione moved close to him and whispered in his ear. "Harry ... Harry," she said quickly, "it's Hermione."

He tensed, eyes widening further. But he still did not speak.

"Harry, you've got to follow me," she continued quietly. "I've come to help you."

"I can't see you," he whispered.

Voldemort drew even closer to his hiding place, thin lips stretched in a gleeful parody of a smile. "I can smell you, Harry Potter. Not long now ..."

Thinking quickly, Hermione grabbed his robe sleeve. "I'll pull you along. Now, Harry."

Not about to wait for a response, she gave his sleeve a tug, forcing him to follow her silently away from the tree, away from Voldemort. She breathed a thankful sigh for Harry's black robes--Voldemort did not see him fading back.

She led Harry in a wide circle around the stand, coming to a stop behind a tree Voldemort had already exfoliated. "I still can't see you, Hermione," Harry whispered.

A thought striking her, she jabbed her wand in Harry's chest and swiftly spoke the words to the Concealment Charm, breathing a little sigh of relief as he faded from her view.

"What did you do?" his disembodied voice asked with wonder.

"Concealment Charm," she replied tersely. "It's not on our syllabus, but I've found it useful lately. Most people don't bother with it since they've got Invisibility Cloaks."

He was silent for a moment, but his next question was rather reproachful. "If you can go invisible, why don't you just sneak up on Voldemort yourself?"

"I can't perform the Killing Curse any more than you can, Harry," she admonished. "And besides, I don't think it would be helpful--he's survived that once already."

"So what do you suggest, then?" he asked brusquely.

There was a certain tightness in his voice that suggested to Hermione that he was perhaps not as unhurt as she'd initially thought. "Harry, are you hurt?"

"I think my right arm is broken in a couple of places," he muttered in a hoarse tone. "I fell out of my tree--that's how Voldemort knew where to look for me. But I landed on my arm and I think I heard it crack. It doesn't hurt as badly as it did."

"Cruciatus?" she inquired with a slight frown.

He was blithe. "Of course. But I managed to get away before it got too bad. That's how I lost my wand."

Putting a hand over her eyes, Hermione tried desperately not to hit him. "You lost your wand," she repeated.

"I was more worried about losing my life," he said irritably. "What, have I foiled your ingenious plan?"

"Not exactly," she replied, still itching to smack the empty space he was standing in. "But you have rather mucked up our getaway."

Compounding her rising fear, Voldemort's voice drifted toward their ears, signaling his approach. "Now, Harry," he drawled, "let's do be reasonable about this ..."

Apparently unconcerned about this new wrinkle, Harry's voice sounded almost cheerful as it floated softly toward her. "So now that we've assessed our failings and we've got an evil wizard breathing down our necks, how about that ingenious plan, now?"

"I'm going to try to put a piece of parchment in your hand, Harry," she said. "And once I do, you should be able to read it, if I've done your Charm correctly." Reaching out her hand blindly, she bumped into Harry's chest and felt him take the parchment.

"Got it," he replied. "And I can see it fine. Well, when the lightning flashes, at any rate. Now what?"

Taking in a deep breath, she crossed her fingers. "When I say so, Harry, I want you to read it. Loudly. Okay?"

"And that's going to defeat Voldemort?" he asked doubtfully.

As if in response to Harry's query, the Dark Lord made himself heard once more. "Do I hear murmurings, little Potter? Are you calling me near?"

"Trust me," she replied shortly, fumbling around for her knife, not liking the slight motion around the trees she could see a few feet away from their hiding space. "I'm going to count to three and then you read. Got that?"

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Harry. She could hear the parchment crinkle slightly as she poised the knife on the inside of her arm.

And before she could even finish saying, "One," Severus' prediction came true. Her Concealment Charm failed completely--it didn't even flicker in warning, just gave out. Hermione froze as she came into view once more, nearly dropping her knife. She hadn't even been standing behind the tree.

Voldemort's eyes came to rest on her and he was close enough now that she could actually see the expression of surprise mingled with joy on his face. "Well, well," he wheezed in that horrible little chuckle of his, "what is my little Gryffindor lioness doing here tonight of all nights?"

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Severus prowled through the clearing stealthily, noting the faces of the unmasked Death Eaters milling about. They all appeared to be focused on a dark mass of trees some yards east.

One of them--Nott--jumped as thunder crackled once more. "Damn!" he exclaimed. "Why doesn't he just kill the brat and be done with it?"

"Unfortunately," Lucius Malfoy drawled from Severus' left, "Potter has proven to be more resourceful than any of us had ever imagined."

"I was rather surprised to see him recover from the Cruciatus as quickly as he did," Nott admitted.

Lucius smiled and Severus shivered. He didn't like it when Malfoy smiled like that. "Not quickly enough, though," he replied. "He didn't remember to take his wand ..." The smile widened and took on more of Malfoy's usual smirk as he twirled a wand idly through his fingers.

Potter's wand, Severus realized.

"Cor, where did you find that?" Avery breathed. "Does our Lord know?"

"Yes and no," Malfoy said. "He knows Potter does not have his wand."

Which meant that Voldemort didn't know that Malfoy did, he thought. Malfoy was planning something above and beyond the murder of a child tonight.

It was too early for them to fail to notice if Severus started Stunning them. Their attention needed to be drawn away from the circle itself. Hopefully, Voldemort would make enough of a fuss over the ritual to properly distract his followers and then Severus could make his move. It would be a shame for Hermione and Potter to follow through with their plans and kill the Dark Lord only to be slaughtered by his Death Eaters.

Grimacing, Severus pushed all thoughts of Hermione out of his mind. He could not handle any distractions. It was very important to retain his focus.

He needed to pinpoint the locations of the most dangerous ones. Not all of Voldemort's followers could cast the Killing Curse--they would be slightly easier to incapacitate and therefore could wait.

Severus saw Lestrange and his wife standing next to Wormtail. Those three had the added bonus of insanity, and he added them to the top of his mental list. Unpredictability was more dangerous. Besides--if he moved quickly enough, he could Stun them in a group, and perhaps no one would notice.

And of course, Lucius Malfoy, standing in between a blank looking Goyle and an openly nervous Avery. Severus toyed with the idea of Stunning him first, but then a flash of lightning illuminated the knife glinting in Lestrange's fist and Wormtail's silvery left hand. No ... unpredictability needed to be dealt with foremost.

Avery suddenly started, eyes narrowing in the purported direction that Potter and Voldemort had gone. "D'you see that?" he asked Malfoy.

"See what?"

"A green flash, like. Maybe our Lord's done it. Maybe he's got Potter. There, again!" he cried, pointing now.

"Come on," Malfoy said, brandishing his own wand and making Potter's disappear somehow. "Let's go!"

Taking advantage of the sudden movement of the crowd, Severus quietly Stunned the few Death Eaters that passed near his hiding place, rejoicing as the Lestranges silently hit the ground among the three others he'd taken care of.

That was two out of four, and Wormtail was only a threat if given a chance to toss the first spell. Severus could take him by surprise fairly easily.

Lucius was now the primary concern, and he was leading the pack, walking swiftly, jerkily toward the source of the light, his long hair flapping wildly in the whipping wind. Severus slipped from his hiding place and followed them, Stunning as many as he dared.

The storm was drawing ever closer.

----------

Voldemort's smile widened as he pointed his wand at a still Hermione. "Avada Kedavra," he said conversationally.

But Severus' words echoed through her head. As soon as You-Know-Who lays eyes on you, he'll kill you. And she dropped flat to the ground as she heard Voldemort's voice, watching the green light whiz harmlessly over her head.

Rolling, she managed to duck behind a tree, giving herself a brief respite. Unfortunately, the tradeoff was that she dropped her knife somewhere on the way. She cursed silently.

"I've wondered what happened to you after that night," Voldemort continued. "You dealt me a blow greater than most, you know. I'd hoped that you died."

"Sorry to disappoint," she shot back, pulling her wand out of her pocket and gripping it fiercely, bracing herself for his onslaught.

"Such cheek," he said with another one of his wheezes. "I will enjoy killing you, I think. But first, my lioness, you will tell me where your friend Potter is hiding."

She smiled grimly. "You presume much, Lord," she said derisively. "I have no intention of doing any such thing."

"You will find, my dear," Voldemort continued as if she hadn't even spoken, "that I can be a very persuasive fellow when I put my mind to it."

"I would rather die," she cried boldly, wondering at the fact that he hadn't yet come around her tree. Perhaps if she moved very quickly, she could fetch her knife. If she could find it, of course.

The crackle of thunder was nearly simultaneous with the lightning--the storm was nearly upon them--and Hermione could hear rain pattering on the ground and could feel it on her shoulders. Only a few drops now.

"A viable option," he told her, voice drawing slightly closer. "If an unfortunate one. Just recall that Lord Voldemort allowed you your free will, little lioness."

Gritting her teeth, Hermione allowed herself a moment to reflect on the irony of his statement. "Oh, I will," she spat. In one motion, she spun around the tree trunk and leveled her wand at a mildly surprised Voldemort. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted.

It only took him a second to dodge her hex and send another Killing Curse her way. But, anticipating it, Hermione ducked, once again watching the light flicker past her shoulder.

He had to be tired--he'd sent more than one Crucio Harry's way this evening and now two Killing Curses. If he could manage a third, Hermione would be shocked. And that wasn't even accounting for any other major spells he might have cast. Voldemort may have been the closest thing to inhuman she'd ever seen, but even he had magical limits.

And so she threw herself at the ground, searching frantically for her knife and momentarily ignoring the Dark Lord not twenty paces away from her.

Her hand was closing around the handle as she heard Voldemort cry something unintelligible. Instinctively, Hermione twisted, trying to evade the curse she knew he'd just cast.

But she let out an agonizing scream as the hex hit home, her left side suddenly rupturing and blood flowing freely down her hip and leg.

The rain was falling harder now, thunder echoing in her ringing ears.

The lightning lit up Voldemort's grinning face. "You will die as you intended me to, now. I hope you enjoy yourself."

Struggling to retain consciousness and rolling onto her side in an effort to stem the bleeding, Hermione raised the dagger against her arm. Three drops of blood, freely given, that was all she needed.

Her side crying in pain, she dragged the knife across her skin, barely feeling it, watching a slight trickle of blood drip to the ground.

"Harry, now!" she shrieked over the moaning wind.

Hermione was gratified to hear Harry's answering shout, his voice clearly repeating the incantation she'd so carefully copied out from Iustus' text almost a month before.

Looking rather confused, Voldemort lowered his wand slightly as he heard Harry, eyes searching for the boy. But by the time Harry read the last word triumphantly, he'd blanched fully, gaze turning back to the barely-conscious girl sprawled at his feet. "What have you done, girl?" he whispered.

"This is how we intended for you to die, my Lord," she spat back, pointing the bloody tip of her dagger up at his heart and trying desperately to not pass out.

It was rather anti-climactic, really. One moment, Voldemort was standing there, looking down at her angrily, the next, his eyes went blank and he toppled to the ground, lying there, motionless.

Only halfway caring that there was probably a dead body now lying about three feet away from her head, Hermione was slightly more focused on the fact that she was bleeding profusely from a fairly large wound in her side.

She tried to use her hands to put pressure on the wound but either she was too weak, or it was too large and she had to resort to pressing into the ground once more, gritting her teeth against the scream as a few scraps of gravel worked their way under her frayed skin.

"Hermione?" she heard Harry's voice ask quietly in her ear. "Hermione, you've got to tell me what to do. I can't ..."

"My wand," she whispered. "Point it at yourself and say 'Reveal.' That will break your Charm."

In mere seconds, Harry's familiar face flickered back into her sight, concerned eyes boring into hers and a large bruise forming on his right cheek. He must have hit it when he fell, she reflected.

Suddenly, inexplicably, Harry squinted into the distance, frowned and shot off a Stunning Curse. She wanted to ask him what he was doing but felt too weak to speak.

The rain was now more of a downpour, plastering her hair to her forehead, and the thunder grumbled.

She didn't want to die in the mud, she realized. And someone nearby was shouting. But that was none of her concern.

"Have to stop the bleeding, Harry," she muttered, vision flashing dangerously. "Use ... something."

Looking around helplessly, he shucked off his shirt, wincing only slightly as he jostled his broken arm and held it out. "Will this ...?"

"Got to help me," she said. "Can't move on my own."

His eyes asking her forgiveness, Harry carefully rolled her over onto her other side. She screamed when he pressed his sopping shirt into her wound, but he just closed his eyes and continued to attempt to stop the blood flow. Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed to be working.

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Severus broke into a run when he heard an unmistakably female voice cry out. Hermione.

Outstripping Lucius, he continued to increase his speed, barely noting it when his Concealment Charm failed, his only thought to find her. As it was, he skidded into the stand of trees just in time to see her rolling around on the ground some yards away, ignoring Voldemort who was standing just at her feet. He opened his mouth in preparation to warn her.

"Severus?" he heard someone ask incredulously from behind him.

Unthinkingly, he whirled around and saw the ten Death Eaters he'd been following staring back at him. Lip curling up into an unconscious sneer, his wand firmly in hand, Severus threw out six Stunners and two Disarming Hexes in rapid succession, not even pausing to breathe.

Crabbe, Wormtail, Nott, and a masked fellow all went down. Avery flew back into a tree and did not rise. But Malfoy elegantly dodged his curse and pulled his own wand out. The remaining four followed suit.

Severus managed to duck most of their hexes, darting back and forth between the trees and trying not to react as he heard Hermione scream in what sounded like extreme pain. One of the curses hit the back of his leg at that moment, however, and Severus staggered, his left knee now completely numb. At least he could still walk, mostly.

The increasing rain was slicking his dripping hair into his eyes and making it incredibly difficult for him to see. His only consolation was that it was also hindering his opponents.

In fact, he watched Malfoy actually hit one of the Death Eaters with the Killing Curse, probably mistaking him for Severus. Malfoy cried out a rare expletive as he realized what he'd done. "You can't hide forever, Severus!" he shouted over a rumble of thunder.

"I can certainly try," he retorted loudly, ducking behind another tree and managing to Stun another one in the process. Only three left.

"Come, now, Severus," Lucius said in what might have otherwise passed for a reasonable tone. "You're outnumbered and you must be positively exhausted after casting all of those hexes. If you surrender now, perhaps we will let you die a dignified death."

"Believe it or not, Lucius, I have no intention of dying today," he replied in an equally civil tone.

Laughing coldly, Malfoy stepped nearer to Severus' tree. "Isn't it ironic how life sometimes betrays intention?"

It was now or never, he told himself. Impulsively, Severus leapt out from his hiding place and pointed his wand at Lucius, shouting, "Expelliarmus!" at the top of his lungs.

Perhaps a childish maneuver, it was a successful one, in any case, and Severus relished the feel of the smooth wood as Malfoy's--no, Potter's--wand jumped into his outstretched hand. Malfoy's mouth was hanging open in a rather uncharacteristic fashion.

"You were saying?" Severus inquired mildly, keeping his wand trained on Malfoy's chest.

Incredibly, Lucius' mouth was stretching into a sly smile, brightened by a flicker of lightning. "You've forgotten, Severus," he chided. "You're still outnumbered."

He flicked his wand absently over Malfoy's shoulder at one of the advancing dark figures, crying, "Stupefy!" and watching the figure fall with satisfaction. Raising his wand once more to deal with the other one, Severus was just as surprised as Malfoy when a red jet of light arced through the trees and felled the last one.

"Outnumbered, eh?" he asked a now pale Malfoy with a grim chuckle. He took a step closer, realizing with a slight start that Malfoy probably had his actual wand tucked away in his robes somewhere. He'd only taken away his extra one.

Malfoy held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. The thunder boomed again.

"Keep your hands up," Severus barked. "If you so much as twitch, I swear I'll kill you, Lucius." Swiftly, he advanced on him and thrust his hand into Malfoy's robe pocket, searching.

"This is rather unnecessary, I think," Lucius said in a tone that suggested that searching his person was somehow worse than actually killing him.

"I doubt it," he replied absently, flinching as he heard another female scream echo through the trees. And indeed, within moments, Severus pulled another wand out of Malfoy's pocket.

"Oh, my, three wands," Malfoy said. "And here I am with none."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Severus poked his wand into Lucius' chest. "Shut up."

"Are you actually going to kill me, Severus?" he asked silkily. "Have you ever managed to kill anyone, I wonder? I never saw you, if you did. Tell you what, Severus, go right ahead." Spreading his arms out, Lucius offered an inviting target. He grinned wolfishly. "I dare you!"

He only hesitated for a moment. "Stupefy," Severus whispered into Malfoy's ear, smirking as he heard the thud of his unconscious body hitting the ground. "Petrificus totalus," he added for good measure.

Tucking two wands into his pocket and holding his own in front of him, Severus began moving quickly toward the source of the screams he'd heard. He only dimly saw Voldemort's limp body sprawled in the mud, water running in rivulets into the blank, open eyes. Noting only that it was not Hermione, Severus turned around and saw her, similarly collapsed, Potter at her side.

With a soft curse, Severus fell to his knees at her other side. "What has happened to her, Potter?" he asked, willing his voice to remain level.

"Professor Snape?" the boy asked idiotically. "What're you ...?"

"Potter!" Severus snapped, unwilling to deal with stupid questions as his panic mounted.

"She's hurt," Potter said unnecessarily. "I can't stop the bleeding."

At the worried note in his voice, Severus' heart dropped. Hermione's face was pale and she appeared to be unconscious. Blood was seeping around the already soaked rag Potter was holding to her side--his shirt, probably, Severus noted, taking in the boy's bare chest.

Not hesitating, Severus stripped off his own shirt, ignoring Potter's shocked gaze and placing his hands beside the boy's on her body, putting firm pressure on the wound. Hermione moaned a bit but didn't move. His heart broke a little more.

"She needs the Infirmary," Potter said very quietly, still looking rather surprised at Severus' appearance.

"Where's the Portkey? " he asked. "The one that brought you here."

Potter was despondent. "Wherever I dropped it when they grabbed me. I wasn't paying close attention to my surroundings. We'd never find it in this rain, Professor."

With a sigh, Severus removed one of his hands from Hermione long enough to take Potter's wand out of his pocket and toss it at him. "Do you know how to make a Portkey, Potter?" He hoped fervently that the boy did--he would never be able to concentrate long enough to be able to manage it himself.

Startled once more, Potter looked down at the wand in his lap with obvious curiosity. "I think so ... to Hogwarts, at least. Gryffindor tower."

"Quickly, then!" he snapped, returning his gaze to Hermione's disturbingly white face and his hand to her oozing side. "A rock, a leaf, anything!"

Removing one of own hands from her body, Potter pointed a trembling wand at a nearby fist-sized rock. Severus let out a relieved breath as he recited the proper words and the rock sparkled momentarily.

"Can you walk?" Severus inquired.

Potter nodded.

"Good. I can only carry one of you," he said, gently slipping one hand behind Hermione's neck and another under her knees, twisting her so that her side was firmly against his belly. It was the best he could do for the moment. As swiftly as he dared, he stood, taking care to continue to press her wound into his body. She groaned softly in protest.

They positioned themselves around the stone, Potter crouched with an outstretched hand and Severus' foot extended toward the rock. Looking up and seeing Severus' affirming nod, Potter cried, "Now!" and they both touched the Portkey, feeling the tell-tale tug.

Ron Weasley looked very surprised as the sopping wet trio popped into the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. Potter managed to fall flat on his face and cursed loudly as his chin encountered the floor. With only a stagger, Severus fixed the shocked Weasley with his most fierce glare. "Get out of my way," he hissed, holding Hermione more tightly as she moaned louder.

Without a single protest, the boy moved to Potter's side, eyes still focused on Severus and his precious bundle as they left the tower.

As Severus neared the Infirmary, his steps quickened, but he was careful not to jostle Hermione. Once in the correct hallway, he began shouting, uncaring of whoever heard him. "Poppy! Quickly! I need you, now!"

A disheveled but alert Madam Pomfrey stepped out into the corridor. To her credit, she managed to mask her amazement at seeing Hermione rather than Potter cradled in Severus' arms rather well. All business, she was at his side in a minute, pushing him into the Infirmary. "What happened?"

"She's bleeding," he said simply, depositing her gently on an open bed and holding the shirts to her side with his hands once more.

"Get out of my way, Severus," Pomfrey said, unceremoniously shoving him away and lifting the edges of the makeshift bandage.

All he could do was watch helplessly as the mediwitch clucked over her new patient. For a moment, a confused and fearful look flickered across Pomfrey's face. But only for a moment. Severus allowed himself to be convinced that it quite possibly could have even been his own imagination playing tricks. Yes, that was it.

Seized by a sudden shiver, Severus tried to blame it on the fact that he was currently shirtless and sopping wet. But he failed miserably when he heard Madam Pomfrey make another worried little noise. Worse was the fact that Hermione hadn't made a single sound since they'd left Gryffindor tower.

Closing his eyes, Severus lowered his head, feeling his wet hair slap softly against his neck. It would be a long night.

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