Toxin

Hermione Granger was afraid. Very, very afraid. She had just received information from her ex-fiancé Ronald Weasley that the Ministry had declared a reward in her name - dead or alive. She was to be Kissed at sight. There were Dementors and Aurors looking everywhere for her. And she had nowhere to go.

She fingered a vial in her pocket. A vial containing the most potent poison ever produced. Its fatality was measured in parts per trillion. The amount she had in the vial would kill an entire nation. It was her invention, and it was the end of her career. Hermione Granger, formerly the youngest Minister of Magic, had been publicly denounced as a traitor. All because she had invented this poison. But she had made it for medicinal purposes...

Now, the Ministry wanted the poison and her dead. The newly formed Death Circle wanted the same thing. Everyone was looking for her. Ron had been kind enough to take the risk of informing her through a code they had devised in their sixth year at Hogwarts. She couldn't endanger him any more. She couldn't go home; they would wait for her there. For the first time Hermione felt that it was better that her parents had died earlier, without seeing her in this situation.

She took out the vial and stared at the sparkling royal blue liquid within. It was so pretty...and yet so deadly. She had no doubt anymore that it had to be destroyed. It was too dangerous. The Ministry would not have it; the Death Circle would not have it. Neither would they take her, dead or alive. She would drink her own poison...it would liquefy her. All they would be able to lay their filthy hands on would be an oozing semi-liquid mass.

"Yes," she said out loud, "I will do it. That is the only way to end it all. Goodbye, everyone!"

She unscrewed the cap, but quickly put it back on, and slipped the bottle in her pocket. She had heard footsteps. Rather familiar footsteps. She shrunk back into the shadows, ready to drink her death if her suspicions were proved wrong.

They weren't. The voice that called out next could belong to but one man in the world.

"Hermione? Are you here?"

She quietly stepped out of the shadows.

"Right here, Harry."

Harry Potter turned to her, his face impassive. But the relief in his eyes gave him away. So he'd guessed her course of action. Very well.

"Hermione!" He moved forward. Hermione threw her arms around him and broke down into tears.

"Oh, Harry! I'm so glad to see you! Look what they've made of me..." she sobbed.

Harry silently patted her back. He turned away when she pulled apart.

"Why did you have to do this, Hermione? Why did you have to turn on us? You were the Minister until a few months ago, for Merlin's sake!" he cried softly.

Hermione shrank back from him, noticing his Auror robes. He'd come to arrest her.

"You, too, Harry?" she asked in a painful voice, her throat tight with something more than grief and anger.

Harry stared at her blankly.

"Perhaps I was wrong to put it away...don't worry, Harry. No one will get this poison. And someday, in the future, when you become the Minister, they may tell you why an innocent witch was accused of treason. But I'm really sorry that you won't be able to add me to your list of successes. I'm taking my invention with me," she said quietly, in a voice dripping ice. She pulled out the vial and put it to her lips.

Harry was as fast as lightning. Before the deadly liquid could enter Hermione's mouth, he snatched away the bottle.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" he shouted.

"Give me my poison, Harry. It's better that I die of my own accord."

"No!"

Hermione shrugged tiredly.

"All right, have it your way. They're going to kill me anyway."

"You'll have a trial!"

"Where do you live, Harry? Haven't you heard the order that I'm to be Kissed as soon as I'm sighted?"

Harry looked appalled. He shook his head.

"Let me die on my own terms, Harry. Give me my poison, please, I beg you!"

"You are not going to die, Hermione. Not if I can help it."

Hermione laughed.

"You can't help it, mon cher. Fine, take me wherever you want to. I'll do you a last favour...you'll get a higher badge than any you've earned so far barring Voldemort. But promise me something. You'll destroy my poison. Don't let it fall into anyone's hands. Neither the Ministry, nor the Death Circle, nor anyone else...there will be a massive disaster if anyone gets hold of this...promise me, Harry! You will destroy it, won't you?"

"How do I destroy it?"

"Pour it down the throat of my body. Do it immediately after my death. And make sure that they bury me within two days. In living tissues, it takes up to a week to take effect, but it'll be faster in dead cells. You will do it, won't you?"

"I will destroy it."

"Thank you," said Hermione, breathing a sigh of relief.

They were silent for sometime.

"Aren't you going to arrest me, Harry?"

"Huh? What the...oh...no, no. Give me your hand."

Hermione obeyed. She had nothing to lose.