Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Mephistopheles	By : Semidazed Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 5935 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Mephistopheles

By: TheGreyLady (immaculatecalypso@hotmail.com)

Chapter 17~ Filthy Little Puppets

As she felt the scalding blood surround and choke her, Hermione did what any other rational human being would have done.

She screamed.

She instantly regretted it. The sharp metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth and nearly caused her to vomit again. Grounding her feet into the shallow depths, she pulled her dripping body from the pool of blood. Her blood-soaked skin shined even brighter in the red-hued light.

Wiping the cloudy scarlet haze from her eyes, she gaped at her surroundings. Slowly, she turned her head to dare and see whatever she�d collided into. The voices of her companions rang in her ears as she found herself inches from a Dementor�s face.

This close, the Dementor looked even more frightening. The whites of its eyes were coal black and it had no iris. The pupil was a simple orange point no larger than the head of a pin. Its eyes rolled as though it did not see her; she didn�t think that it could.

She couldn�t think, couldn�t blink, couldn�t even breathe. The creature loomed closer, its congealed flesh dripping and vacant eyes rolling. It released a sound somewhere between a hiss and a screech accompanied by loud rattling. For a moment, she thought she felt her pulse flicker with the same clattering tempo as this monster�s breath.

Then she was suddenly no longer in control. Despite her mind�s desperate pleas, she felt rooted to the spot where she stood. Feeling oddly detached from her body, Hermione became aware of it shaking.

Her body unwillingly folded in on itself, coming tauntingly close to the Dementor�s face as she slowly sank into the blood again. She gaped at the monster in horror while trying to remain brave. It was impossible to be courageous in the face of this aberration of nature. With thin tendrils of gooey flesh separating its upper and lower lips, it opened its mouth and she watched as several of its rotting teeth dropped from its gaping maw. Before her eyes, its tongue shriveled as it released a noxious gas through its decayed lips.

It was all she could do to silence her shriek and slam her mouth shut in terror.

The feeling of dread intensified a thousand-fold and with no conscious volition, she felt her legs rise towards her chest as she curled into a fetal position against her will. Her jaw dropped open, letting the warm fluid seep into her mouth as the left side of her face was submerged. One eye saw only red and the other terrified eye beheld several more Dementors swooping down upon her with the wretched rattling of its breath shaking her to her core.

Unable to stop herself, she breathed the toxic fluid. The hot blood flooded her lungs, forcing her to cough violently. If she had been able to fight the onslaught of misery, she would have. Instead she felt her head loll back and she accepted her untimely death without regret, as she took another gasp of fluid into her vulnerable lungs and sank even deeper.

Suddenly she felt peaceful, as though she hadn�t a care in the world. With her eyes wide open, she stared up -- whichever direction that may have been. Vaguely she felt blood dribble from the corners of her mouth as her face once again broke the surface of the unholy pool. She saw the features of the Dementor and suddenly the mutated face -- hideous as it had seemed before -- became that which she did not know but instantly recognized. Everything was seen though rose-tinted lenses. While the recognition of this delusion tore through her mind, she remained unable to feel fear.

She felt empty and lifeless. She felt hollow and absent� and for some reason, in that moment, it was the greatest feeling in the world.

Her sanity screeched that what she was seeing was an illusion, but a soft, haunting chanting drowned it out. She believed suddenly that everything was going to be okay. Severus would be fine; Ron and Harry would be fine. All was perfect and right in the world. No logic could break through the eerie uncanny peace she felt at that moment� not even her friends� and lover�s shrieks.

Everything would be right in the end. They would understand that soon. She felt her mouth slip open wider as the Dementor bent lower.

She ceased to be in a pool of blood. She ceased to be in a room that had spawned countless nightmares. She ceased, for a moment, to be at all. The void was pleasant� welcome, even. Nothing mattered because nothing was all that existed.

No more nightmares, no more life, just this overpowering nothing that would, somehow, absolve her.

In a silver flash, everything came back into perspective. The Dementor fled before the white hissing serpent that guarded her. The face of God once again became the face of inexplicable horror.

�Mobilicorpus!� she heard Ron shout as she was lifted from the pool like a baby from baptism. Barely aware of her surroundings, she stared at the ceiling until she felt sticky wet stones press against her back. She couldn�t remember why she was here.

The sensation caused her to blink and forced her to hack the blood from her screaming lungs. Her sight was clouded in scarlet-red and she errantly brought her palms over her eyes, desperately trying to refocus her attention. When her vision finally cleared, she stared at the silvery mist of the serpent. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to touch it but she couldn�t make her hands obey her brain.

�Wake up, Hermione!� Ron�s voice shouted from a distance.

�Help her!� Severus called. He sounded so sweet. So, he does care.

She shifted her blurred concentration and saw Severus casting the Patronus that saved her life while Ron rushed over. A serpent� how appropriate� her head flopped to the side as she beheld none other than Cornelius Fudge. Fudge looked angry� surprise, surprise. She felt heavy slaps fall onto her cheeks. Why am I here? What�s going on?

�Merlin! Hermione! Wake up!� Ron yelled as she saw his hand cross her face again and ag Sh She thought that Ron was straddling her chest, hollering as though she couldn�t hear him. It was really getting annoying. She really should do something about that� later. She was too tired to act now.

�Hermione!� More blows struck her partially numb face. She could tell that Ron was hitting her in earnest now from the way he was throwing his shoulder back, his blood-streaked hand passed before her vision. Am I bleeding? she thought confusedly, trying to make sense of it in her mind. Adrenaline began pumping wildly through her, though she wassuresure why, causing her breathing to quicken and her limbs to shake.

�Stop,� she managed to choke out as Ron continued to smack her, �Stop it!�

Her vision cleared a little more and she grasped the offending hand. Ron looked at her with bewilderment before she managed to push him away. He looked infinitely relieved for a brief moment before heaving himself off of her and departing more quickly than her eyes could follow.

She rolled over, propping herself up on all fours and crawled towards her comrades. The slippery blood impeded her movement and, try as she might, she could not force her limbs to coordinate with each other. Her entire body was shaking. She was slowly coming back into her right state of mind, recalling the events that brought her to this place, leaving her shocked and confused.

The camera�

With great fear, Hermione dug her shaking hands into her soaked pockets. The camera was wet and broken; the film was ruined. Pushing her wet, blood-reddened hair away from her face, she fought back the tears. The serpent crossed her vision again, keeping the Dementors at bay.

�Avada Kedavra,� someone cried, wrenching her attention from the lost evidence. It was Fudge�s voice; he stood there with four figures, each masked in black robes.

This was definitely not good.

The intended target, namely Ron, dove out of the way to avoid the curse as he threw a stunning spell. Hermione fumbled for her wand as she watched another curse hit Harry. What do I do? She felt her brain click into gear. The assailants weren�t paying attention to her, considering her disposed of for the fight. Severus was busy keeping his Patronus active. Harry and Ron were doing their best to keep the enemies at bay.

They were outnumbered. She had one chance to even the odds. Raising her wand, a single thought repeated in her mind, I cannot miss. I cannot miss�

She quietly cast a full-body bind and watched triumphantly as she hit her mark. The masked figure guarding Fudge went rigid before toppling to the ground like a lone domino.

And then there were four.

Having just proven that she was not out of the fight, the goons threw curses at her with uncanny speed. She pressed herself against the bleeding wall, feeling the sticky liquid drip over her drenched body and focused on dodging the attacks and casting shields on her companions. She heard Ron scream and turned to see him collide headfirst into the wall. Despite the cacophony of shouted spells, she still heard the sickening crack of Ron�s skull slamming into the unrelenting wall.

She pulled herself to her shaking feet. If they weren�t playing fair, there was no reason she should be taking the moral highroad. She summoned a flame and cast it into the face of her enemy as he attempted to rush her.

The man fell back, screaming as he ripped his burning mask away from his face. The scent from the burning of his long, white-blonde hair invaded her nostrils�

� long blonde hair? She froze for a moment, unable to overcome her dread. No� no, no, no, no, no. It wasn�t possible. It just wasn�t possible. The man looked up and stared at her with furious brown eyes.

Brown eyes� It wasn�t a Malfoy-- or it wasn�t any Malfoy that she knew-- she almost sighed with relief. Apparently, it really wasn�t possible. The man raised his wand, taking advantage of her inattention. She gripped her wand more tightly as she readied herself to throw another attack, knowing that she would never utter the incantation in time.

The man hissed the beginnings of the Killing Curse. This is it� she thought when a black-clad form crashed into her attacker, throwing his aim off-kilter. She quickly cast another body bind and looked at her rescuer.

Severus.

�Hermione,� he growled, �cast your Patronus!�

She nodded and tried to focus her energies into executing the spell, which was incredibly difficult to do as she was coated in blood and terrified at the events taking place around her. She attempted the spell twice, each time producing only a light mist. The failure only raised doubt in her mind, making the spell even more difficult.

�Calm yourself,� Severus� words managed to penetrate her thoughts in a remarkably soothing tone.

Garnering every happy memory she could recall, she fought to remember her parents-- her childhood -- without the infinitely foreboding thought that they were forever gone. She managed to release the corporeal otter; it was hardly a daunting figure but the Dementors seemed fearful of it all the same. Severus� serpent dissipated as he cast a shield and a disillusionment charm on her before reentering the fray. Fortunately whatever had been corrupting the otter before had ceased and she was able to survey the fight with a detached focus.

Harry was barely holding his position, his legs violently quaking. She could see cuts oozing blood on his arms. Severus was busy throwing spells that she had never heard before, quickly dispatching another foe.

Two�

Severus was using dark magic; funny how that didn�t affect her in the way she thought it should have.

Hermione crept to Ron�s still body, valiantly trying to avoid detection. There was blood� it was staining Ronald Weasley�s hair a different shade of red. Fear crawled through her as she tried to see if Ron was breathing. She pushed it down-- if her fear overcame her Patronus, it would vanish; she doubted she would be able to summon it again. Her shaking hand reached for Ron�s neck, feeling the faint flutter of his pulse.

She knew a simple reviving spell that could bring him back into the fight but she couldn�t cast it and maintain the Patronus. Ron was alive if a bit unstable; she forced herself to take comfort in that. She heard another Killing Curse being cast. She tore her attention from Ron and watched in explicit horror as the green bolt hit Harry.

Though she knew that Harry�s mother protected him from this curse, she remained shocked at the display that followed. He stood frozen for a moment, his entire body stiff as metal as the green light was absorbed into his body. Then, a flash of white so brilliant she was temporarily blinded illuminated the room. The spell was rejected from his body. She saw a green streak bolt back into the body of man who had dared to cast it.

The man collapsed to the floor. Hermione knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was dead and, oddly, that didn�t bother her at all. Harry continued to stand, gasping as though he had run a marathon and shaking like he was standing in the middle of the Arctic tundra. His body quickly became pliant once again and fell limply to the ground with blood oozing from his scar and dripping steadily onto the stone floor.

Now there was one.

The odds had been leveled in their favor. Fudge and Severus stood together, poised for combat with their wands pointed at one another. She reached for Ron�s taser; hers was covered in blood and she wasn�t about to risk using it. If she could get close enough, she could disable Fudge and still keep the Patronus going. She began to inch away from Ron, staying near the walls and the shadows of the room.

�Where�s the girl?� Fudge said in a deadly quiet voice.

�She�s safe,� Severus said calmly, keeping his wand aimed at the Minister. �Why are you doing this?�

�You�re a traitor, Snape,� Fudge hissed.

�You know which side I fought for.�

�Clever of you. If the Dark Lord succeeded, you could continue pretending to support Him. If He lost, you would be regarded as a hero,� the portly man snarled, a sound she�d never heard from him before. Something about his words� something was setting sirens off in her head. What is it, she thought frantically, What is wrong with this?

�You, Snape,� he continued. �You deserved this more than any of them.�

In the span of a moment, she replayed the words in her mind until she stumbled onto the offending phrase. The Dark Lord� she�d never heard anyone use that phrase except for�

Severus ceased to breathe, his entire body going completely rigid. �You were playing both sides,� he whispered in astonishment.

If Voldemort was Lucifer, then the sneering man before her was Mephistopheles� the devil�s minion�. Or perhaps Azrael, cast down from righteousness by his sheer opportunism. In any case, the danger had increased. They were not dealing with a good man-- they were dealing with the devil�s bitch.

It made sense. If Fudge had been a sympathizer then, in theory, he would still be Minister of Magic if Voldemort took over. Suddenly, Fudge�s claimed ignorance of Voldemort�s return took on a whole new light. He knew and had just been biding time. Hermione felt ill and doubled her efforts to keep the Patronus going despite the onslaught of unhappy feelings.

�Now, Severus. You can�t rightly expect me to admit to such slander,� Fudge sneered.

�Why this?� Severus spat, ignoring Fudge�s jab and tilting his head toward the pool.

�I was at an impasse, I suppose,� he replied. �What was I to do? Let your lot run free? The people would have been most disappointed, Snape. Besides, at least one of you knew about my �friend� and I couldn�t risk that getting out. People would have been most upset�� Fudge taunted. �Most upset, indeed.�

Hermione realized with that statement that Fudge was stalling. If they waited any longer, reinforcements would arrive and there would be no chance for escape. No trial would take place; they would all take the Dementor�s kiss. There was no time. She needed to distract Fudge.

�Avada Kedavra,� she shouted. The words may as well have been �abra cadabra.� She knew she couldn�t cast the killing curse even if she weren�t preoccupied with casting the Patronus. She just hoped to seize Fudge�s attention long enough for Severus to gain the upper hand.

God help her, she was going to win this one. Hermione Jane Granger didn�t know the definition of defeat� well� not in the applicable sense.

Like clockwork, Fudge spun in the direction of her voice, allowing Severus the opportunity to stun Fudge, who fell to the ground like a trash-bag filled with chunky soup. The Dementors were getting restless and Hermione�s otter was continuing to drain her energy; she shook her head to clear her mind and leaned against the filthy wall again, trying to conserve her stamina.

Severus quickly charmed three portkeys, placing one on Harry and one on Ron. The boys quickly vanished. He came to her and released the disillusionment charm; the sensation was pleasant, giving her a warm rush of energy.

Crouching next to her, Severus charmed another portkey. She grasped it.

Footsteps echoed through the hallways. People were running to the room. Voices sounded in the distance. Naturally, help wouldn�t arrive until the fight was over.

�Drop your Patronus on three.� Severus said slowly, as though he were praying, despite the urgency. �One��

The footsteps came closer. Hermione could hear their voices calling to each other; she recognized a few of them. Kingsley�s deep baritone voice bounced from the walls.

�Two��

The voices came closer. They were right outside the door. She couldn�t help but look as they burst over the threshold. Four Aurors, each clothed in the standard uniform, stared dumbly at the room.

�Dear Merlin! What on Earth�?� one of them said, aghast.

�Three!� Severus softly called. Hermione released her Patronus and felt the familiar tug at her navel, allowing herself to promptly vanish from the Aurors� sight.

They re-appeared in the warehouse.

Harry still lay unconscious and Ron remained the same. Hermione held little hope for the latter. She hadn�t realized in the room�s poor lighting exy hoy how much Ron was bleeding. His still face was a ghostly white, making his freckles appear to be even darker in comparison, and his hair was soaked. She hadn�t acted quickly enough.

Severus released her and quickly moved to Ron. He gently brushed the discolored hair aside from Ron�s pale face as he examined the younger man�s bleeding head.

�It�s a concussion,� Severus said moving to one of the bags they�d left, �A bad one. We need to get him to a hospital. He may become comatose if we don�t.� He strode back to her and pulled a chocolate bar from the bag. �Eat,� he ordered as he opened another bar and ate a section of it.

She placed the semi-sweet chocolate chunk onto her tongue. As soon as the first piece was swallowed, hope surged through her� if a hospital could save him then it couldn�t be as bad as it seemed. Wait� her mind halted her elation. �We can�t go to the hospital. We�ll be arrested. Maybe Nicholas�?�

Severus took on a look of contemplation before stating, �We may not have that much time. Charm a portkey for Ronald�s home. His parents� they can help him better than we can. They can get him to Hogwarts.�

�Hogwarts is crawling with Aurors, Severus.� She sighed and shook her head, �After tonight, there are only going to be more of them. There is no way that Madam Pomfrey is going to be able to treat him without detection.�

�Then they can contact Lupin,� he replied. At her questioning glance, he continued, �He trained as an Auror for the Order. Basic medical training is included. He may not be able to cure Ronald but he should be more than capable of stabilizing him until professional help can be summoned.�

Shaking her head, she took her bloody camera and focused on the Burrow, the place where she�d spent so many holidays. Once the spell was cast, she stumbled to her fallen companion, intent on taking him to his parents. Severus seized the portkey before she reached Ron.

�Potter needs to return to R�bida,� he calmly stated. �He could wake soon. You should be there.�

�The Weasleys won�t appreciate your bringing Ron in this condition.�

�I doubt they�ll appreciate you either,� he replied, grasping the portkey and vanishing. Hermione cursed for a moment before shifting to examine Harry. Aside from the blood marring his face from the reopened scar and the several cuts on his body, he looked to be merely sleeping off a night of drinking.

She sent a silent thank-you to the heavens-- to Lily Potter-- before activating another portkey to the small island of R�bida. Once there, she decided to place Harry into his own bed to let him rest comfortably.

Coaxing him into a sitting position, she removed his jacket and shirt. It didn�t take long for her to cleanse and seal the cuts and gashes Harry had suffered in the fray. Bending down, she removed his shoes and socks before pulling the blanket over his lax form.

When she�d convinced herself that he was comfortable, Hermione quickly moved to the bathroom, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in her wake. She passed a mirror during her hasty journey and couldn�t help but stare at herself.

She looked dead. The blood on her body had thickened and begun to dry. Even through the dark red, she could see the dark circles beneath her eyes.

Hastening to the bathroom, she stripped away her clothing, letting the drenched items drop heavily to the floor before practically leaping into the shower. She watched with morbid fascination as the blood on her body mingled with the water and drained away.

After letting the hot stream rinse the blood from her for a few minutes, she began the tedious process of attempting to sterilize her skin. Her hair was washed several times and no part of her body escaped the assault of the lava soap she wielded.

Try as she might, she could not get the red stains from beneath her nails. With a determination that bordered on mania, she raked her nails across the soap, trying everything humanly possible to rid herself of any physical remnants of the ordeal she�d just survived. It was not a hopeless cause; after a few tense minutes, she managed to accomplish her goal.

As she prepared to get out of the shower, she noticed the water running across the white tile taking on a pinkish tint. Quickly checking herself for cuts, she paused as the realization dawned on her. She closed her eyes and touched her hand between her legs before bringing it before her weary eyes for inspection.

The tips of her fingers were bright red. Her period had started.

Blood� just like Ron�s blood� just like Harry�s blood� just like the blood in the pool that she had spent so long trying to wash off. She was bleeding and would continue to do so. Blood coursed through her veins. It was the very thing that kept her alive.

The blood she�d just scrubbed away had once belonged to other people just as the blood leaking from between her legs belonged to her. Everything in that room came whirling back-- the nightmares, the visions and the even more macabre reality. Fear for Ron, fear for Severus, fear for Harry and fear for herself encompassed her.

Her hands and legs shook as she lowered herself to the hot floor. Choked sounds escaped her and bounced off of the walls as she bit her lip to keep from crying. She retched again and again, her stomach roiling and her head spinning. She sat on the tile as the hot water beat down upon her naked frame and did the only thing she could think of.

She buried her face in her hands and wept.

After a solid fifteen minutes of crying, Hermione pulled herself together. Tears, she thought, are not going to change anything. She took care of the bleeding, dried herself off and left the bathroom after wrapping a towel around her body. Hoping the evidence of her breakdown was not terribly obvious, she changed into an oversized set of pajamas and returned to Harry�s room.

Severus sat staring at the Boy-Who-Lived and the bloody handprints and footprints that evidenced her presence there.

�Are you all right?� Severus asked quietly before she�d even announced her arrival. It wasn�t surprising; the older man always seemed to know when someone else was in the room. He turned to look at her. �You�ve been crying.�

�I had to,� she said unapologetically. �How�s Ron?�

�His parents moved him to the headquarters for the Order. His mother was summoning Lupin and Poppy when I left. I sealed a note for him once he wakes, telling him to return to Flamel�s.�

�I don�t know why I didn�t think of that.�

�Luckily, Molly and Arthur are in a better state of mind to care for their son than we are. Hermione,� he paused for a moment, seeming to debate his choice of words, �I had no idea��

He stopped speaking. She sighed as he rose to his feet and embraced her. �If it�s any consolation, it wasn�t nearly that bad when Harry and I went the first time.�

�That is not what I meant,� he whispered into her hair, lightly kissing her neck.

�That�s disgusting,� Harry�s semi-prone body grumbled from the bed.

Author�s Notes- Well, it took me an absurdly long time but I finally got the chapter to be what I wanted. What you, the reader, have just finished is the final version of a scene that I�ve written, changed, rewritten, changed, rewritten, tossed, started over, changed, etc. There are (as of now) 4 completed alternate chapters (and a shameless number of incomplete chapters) that this one inevitably replaced. I�ve tried to incorporate the absolute best of those chapters into this. I hope this is as good as the wait merits.

To give you some ideas of where the alternate chapters deviate- Ron is hit with Avada Kedavra in one, Ron is completely okay in another, Flamel comes in and saves the day, Hermione narrowly escapes the pool and in the first draft, I accidentally killed Snape and the showdown would have taken place between Harry and Fudge.

Yeah� that last one was completely unacceptable. I got very angry when I realized what I�d done.

I knew that the conclusion of this fight had to take place between Snape and Fudge. The one thing I dislike the most is probably the fact that Hermione has to remain a bystander (since someone has to keep the Patronus going) for the actual fight. Also, if she were to be knocked out or hurt, she�d miss everything going on. Funny thing is, that�s also the thing I like the most about it because she has a vantage point to see and internally comment on everything that�s going on and her inability to assist more brings up all sorts of feelings of helplessness.

Next chapter shouldn�t have the kind of wait that you guys had to suffer through. Questions/comments/requests to be on the update list can be left in reviews or emailed to me personally.

Special thanks go to my beta and friend, Kate, who got very concerned at my sudden absence.

15

16

17

You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Mephistopheles