Semper Fidelis

Chapter 16.5

He was furious. The moment he entered the room with his wand blazing, he was angry. Seeing the bloody bastards with their wands out surrounding her as she lay helpless on the floor was blood-boiling.

Harry saw her immediately in the middle of the room. She looked so different yet the same, like an old friend who had grown into a stranger. Because that's exactly who she was now, he thought bitterly. A stranger.

The Hermione he knew would have never done that to him.

Their eyes met and he felt a different kind of anger stirring in him. As he fired spells at the men who had taken her, Harry felt anger he had never known before.

It shocked him to be this angry at Hermione. He had never been this mad before, not even at that toad Umbridge, not at the clueless Fudge, not even at the bloody Dark Lord.

She broke his trust in the worst way imaginable.

She fractured something that Harry wasn't sure could ever be fixed.

He fuelled his fury into his fighting. He tore his gaze away from those sorry eyes and sent a Reducto towards Demos. The man was forced to dodge, and in doing so gave Harry time to send a Stupefy to the man Tonks and Remus were fighting. He went down with a thud. Demos countered with a Crucio which Harry avoided easily.

He's not a bad fighter, Harry mused. But the older museum director was no match for the stamina and grace Harry had honed over the years of being an Auror. Already Harry could tell Demos was tiring and he knew it wouldn't be long until the wizard was disarmed and captured.

As he fired yet another spell, he saw her shift from the corner of his eyes. None of his Aurors have gotten to her yet due to the block at the door. Other wizards came to assist Demos which his men outside the room were currently dealing with.

He was about to fire the ending blow when he saw behind her. The man Tonks had sent towards the glass with the disarming spell was raising his hand. He didn't hold a wand but a gun.

"NO!" He yelled just as she stood and the gun fired.

Horrified, he watched Hermione fall to the ground like a broken ragdoll. Red pooled from the wound on her side.

"STUPEFY! REDUCTO!"

He didn't wait for Demos' stunned body to hit the ground. He didn't even spare a glance at the wizard he had undoubtedly killed with the reductor.

Harry rushed further into the room full of broken things and tried to stop the life from seeping out of the woman he thought he knew.

-~-~-~-

"Where are the bloody healers?!"

"Put pressure here and don't move her."

"Hermione..."

She faded back into nothingness as the familiar yet anguished voice pleaded her name.