Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Madrigal	By : Rotisserie_Cassowary Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 7982 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 44
- 45
- 46
The impossibly sharp sword sliced through the Headmaster’s arm as if it were no more than a slim, brittle tree branch. A single artery spurted blood, which I quickly cauterized with a small blue flame from my wandtip. The stump continued to weep slightly, but the blood seemed to be clotting as perfectly as we’d hoped.
I quickly sterilized the open wound with a couple of spells, poured a small portion of Dittany, and placed an invisible magic bandage over the raw flesh. Hermione pointed her wand at the shriveled arm that I’d tossed carelessly across the floor. Flames spurted out of her wand, utterly engulfing the limb. It burned for no more than a few seconds, seeing as how it had so little actual flesh left on it. I speared with the sword through the widest part of the upper arm.
I held my bizarre shish-kabob out over the battlements. I threw it as hard as I could, and it plummeted to the ground. It landed almost exactly in front of the castle doors, and I let out a little “Yes!” of triumph.
I turned to Draco’s prone form. His eyes were still dazed and unfocused. He didn’t even look at me when I pulled him up into a sitting position.
I pointed my wand directly into his eyes and whispered, “Obliviate!” The boy’s eyes rolled back into his head, leaving only the whites showing. I left him there, recasting a Disillusionment Charm on myself as Hermione and I ran back down the staircase. We needed to be as far from the scene of the crime as humanly possible before someone found the bodies.
We were loudly galloping down a fourth-floor hallway to the narrow secret staircase that would lead us directly into the dungeons. Suddenly, a black-clad figure leapt out from behind a mirror. Hermione shrieked, and I sent a nonverbal Leg-Locker Jinx at it. Harry tumbled to the ground, letting out an inelegant high-pitched scream as he fell.
I chuckled quietly, releasing the jinx as Hermione helped him to his feet. “Where is Bellatrix?” I asked sharply as the three of us continued to run down the hall to the staircase, Potter limping slightly.
“She doesn’t know the secret passages in the castle very well. I was able to lose her by slipping into that one behind the mirror after I put enough distance between us! After a while I heard running but didn’t see anyone, so I figured it was you guys.”
“So she’s just roaming around the castle, then?” I barked impatiently.
“Yeah. I’ve seen the professors patrolling the corridors though, and I could’ve sworn I heard Tonks' and Kingsley’s voices from a distance. I thought Bellatrix would probably try to take me back to Voldemort, so it would be best if I just laid low. I figured it was what you’d tell me to do,” he huffed out, gasping for breath as we ran.
“Quite right, boy. You did the perfect thing. You can’t protect anyone else if you go and get yourself killed doing something stupid.”
He nodded silently, preserving his precious oxygen. “Where do you think she went?!” Hermione choked out.
“All I can think of is that she’d go to the Slytherin dormitory. Try to find some allies to help her search for Potter,” I said.
We finally reached the end of the dungeon corridor, sliding to a halt in front of a nondescript wall. Potter and Hermione squeezed together under his invisibility cloak, and I whispered, “Ophidia!” The wall dissolved at the password, and I snuck into the dim, abandoned common room. Bellatrix was in the process of opening the doorway to the boys’ dormitories.
I cast a silent Petrificus Totalus jinx, then ran over and bound her tightly in ropes I produced from my wand. She glared at me furiously, madness glinting dangerously in her black eyes. I dosed her with a powerful memory potion Hermione handed me from her pocket, and I had to force it between her clenched teeth. The mad witch's eyes instantly went unfocused and cloudy. I cast Wingardium Leviosa and guided her out of the blessedly still silent, empty room. The wall melted back into existence as we proceeded down the hallway.
I whispered to her almost seductively, informing her, “Draco was about to kill Dumbledore, but you got greedy. You were tired of waiting for the boy to get up the nerve, and you wanted all the glory for yourself. So you cast Avada Kedavra. The sword of Gryffindor fell out of the old man’s pocket as he collapsed. You grabbed the sword and chopped off his wand arm, setting it on fire just for the fun of it. Draco was so traumatized watching your actions that he fainted. Without Draco’s help, you couldn’t lift the body over the side of the tower. So you contented yourself with throwing the Headmaster’s arm and sword in front of the castle entrance so everyone would immediately know what had happened. You abandoned Draco’s insensate body and ran back down the stairway, but you met the Order of the Phoenix on the way. You battled ferociously, but you lost, terribly outnumbered. They tied you up and knocked you unconscious. Do you understand?”
She nodded dazedly, murmuring everything I had said back to me, repeating it word-for-word. When we made it to the entrance hall, we immediately ran into McGonagall and Flitwick. They gasped in surprise when they saw the witch levitating in front of me. I dropped her on the floor, indicating that they needed to take the body. We began to hear hundreds of distant footsteps thundering on the staircases in every direction. The other Professors took the odious witch’s body into the dining hall, and Flitwick stayed to keep an eye on her. Hermione and Harry whipped the Invisibility Cloak off themselves, subtly melting into the first flood of students spilling out into the entryway. McGonagall and I positioned ourselves on either side of the huge entryway doors, trying in vain to quell the stampede of children.
Eventually, it seemed that nearly the entire school was out on the grounds. They were crowded in a circle around the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, which had landed with its tip embedded an inch or two into the ground. Upon further inspection a blackened, shriveled shape appeared to be impaled upon the gleaming blade. Finally, a sixth-year Hufflepuff screeched, “It’s Dumbledore’s arm! I can see all his rings! OH MY GOD!!!” She broke down in sobs, and the news traveled through the crowd on a wave of sheer panic. Shrieks of agony and despair rang out all around us. Girls wept uncontrollably, holding on each other. “The Headmaster’s dead!” rang out all around, first in whispers, then shouts.
I made out Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny across the crowd. They were all on their knees, burying their heads in each other’s shoulders. I knew Hermione would be quietly whispering the news of what had really happened to them. But their small huddle of bodies formed a perfect image of dislocate grief. Ginny tipped her head back, wailing miserably. I could see that she and Hermione had tears cascading endlessly down their cheeks. Finding myself truly impressed by their acting, I fixed a stony grimace on my own face.
The other professors and I walked through the crowd, encouraging the children to head back into the castle and go to bed. It was many hours before we had finally herded everyone inside. I knew none of them would sleep tonight, but at least they were all safe. The Golden Trio were the last students that Minerva shooed into the school as they protested vociferously. But I stayed out there a long time afterward, sitting beside Dumbledore’s cursed hand, caught in a swirling miasma of internal conflict.
- 44
- 45
- 46
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

Madrigal