Chapter Text
Hermione cursed and ducked, the acid green death curse flying harmlessly over her head and not so harmlessly hitting the Death Eater behind her.
She was fenced in on all sides, trapped in a circle of opponents. Every time one of them fell, the circle closed up, shrinking. She had mostly stuck to dodging, but the circle was getting so small it was hard to.
“Well I guess now is as good a time as any,” Hermione sighed, drawing up her magic and channelling it into her hand. She crouched and twisted, throwing her hand in an arc.
“Everte Statum!”
The Death Eaters surrounding her were all thrown backwards, some flipping several times before crashing into the ground. There were numerous snaps where they landed wrong, and their bones gave out under the pressure.
She walked between the groaning criminals, easily avoiding the occasional underpowered hex or curse.
She noticed Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Luna fighting off a hoard of acromantula and a few giants by the lake, and sprinted towards them.
Ginny was casting Avis and Oppugno, commanding the birds to peck at eyes and joints.
Luna was transfiguring the giant spiders into quills, turning them to stone, and a number of other creative but painless defeats.
Ron was shivering, and casting rather forceful and overpowered banishing charms, throwing the creepy crawly death dealers into the giants.
Harry was at the head, casting Incendio, Bombarda, and Reducto, and even the spider banishing charm when he remembered it.
All four of them were throwing spells at the giants when they could, but the acromantula were taking most of the focus.
When Hermione got there, the first thing she did was cast Protego Maxima, the shimmering dome barring the spiders and buying them some time.
“Right, if you four can keep the spiders away, I’ll kill the giants and then come help you.”
Ginny’s eyes widened. “Kill?”
“Yeah, kill.”
“But- but that’s wrong!”
Hermione sighed. “Look, Ginny. If I don’t kill them, they will kill all of us and all our friends. They will keep killing until they die. It is quite literally life or death. There’s no room for morality in war.”
Ginny swallowed, but nodded. “O-okay.”
Hermione patted her arm, and sent a thought to Skyeirohn.
She obliged, and a few moments later a wave of lake water crashed onto their magic dome, washing the spiders off it and away.
After the water had run off, Hermione lowered the shield and nodded to her friends. “Fuck them up.”
The three nodded, and started to cast once more, using stronger, more destructive magic this time.
Hermione disillusioned herself and looped wide around the acromantula, coming to stop behind the giants.
She stowed her wand and called for her magic, splitting it into nine balls of power. Three of them became compressed flames, three became crackling lighting , and three split further to form spears of ice.
She attacked with lightning first, one ball to each giant. Their hulking forms were drenched from Skyeirohn’s attack, which conducted the lightning even better.
All three forms crackled and burnt as the electricity passed through them, though none fell. The smallest swayed heavily, and while its knees buckled, it used its club as a crutch and remained on its feet.
After a minute of searching for where the attack came from, the giants found nothing and turned back to assist the acromantula.
Hermione once again took aim, this time with fire.
Her aim rang true, and the flames wrapped around the giants like straightjackets.
The giants screeched in agony as their flesh bubbled and burnt.
The ice spears rose as Hermione readied herself, then one shot backwards, spearing through the skull of a death eater. Hermione glanced behind her to see four remaining, and smirked.
Making eye contact with each of the masked attackers, she raised a hand toward the runt and sliced a hand through the air, pouring her power into casting sectumsempra.
Its head fell with a thump, its body with a much louder one.
Hermione grinned, and the Death Eaters stumbled back, turning and sprinting away from her.
It drove them towards Bill and Charlie Weasley, but they would take the Curse Breaker/Dragon Tamer pair over Hermione after that little display.
She saluted the two redheads when they sent her a thumbs up and turned back to the remaining giants. She sent all of the ice at one, piercing through its heart, lungs and throat.
The other was hit with a far overpowered Bombarda Maxima, and its head became a very fine mist instantly.
As promised, Hermione then turned to the acromantulas. Unsheathing her wand again, she summoned a flame whip, lashing and tearing at the massive arachnids.
With the giants gone, and Hermione preventing escape, the clutter was quickly exterminated.
She wove through the carcasses carpeting the ground, avoiding the puddles of blood and entrails wherever possible.
“Well, that was intense. Where to next?” She asked.
Harry pointed wordlessly to up near the courtyard, where members of the Order seemed to be congregating.
The four others nodded, and together they trekked up the hill, occasionally coming upon a stray opponent, or an ally in need of healing.
They got to the others just in time for an anguish of dementors to swarm through the gates.
The Order, almost as one, cast their Patronuses. Or those that could, at least.
The silvery animals stood in front of their owners, and the mists formed a pearlescent shield to combat such an intense presence.
Ron laid a hand on his Jack Russell Terrier and smirked at Hermione. “Thought you said you could cast a corporeal Patronus, ‘Mione.”
Hermione shivered, the shield not quite repelling everything. “Yeah, I can. I’ve only cast it once though.”
She stowed her wand and held her body still, closing her eyes. She searched for the icy feel of her magic, fresh and crisp like a winter morning. She heard a gasp and knew that others could see it.
She breathed in deep and stepped beyond the shield.
The happiness leached out of her in an instant, and she almost lost grip on her magic. Her saving grace was Skyeirohn’s warm, burnt orange power enveloping her, combating the dementors’ choking aura.
She took a breath of the cinnamon citrus scent and refocused, eyes on the writhing black mass of dementors.
A supernatural wind whipped at her hair, and her eyes almost glowed with intent and power.
“Expecto Patronum.”
As before, magic spread from her reaching hands, shifting and growing and speeding towards the depressive mass.
The pearly whale was so large, it encompassed almost the entirety of the anguish.
The dementors caught inside it shrieked and screamed as they dissolved into puffs of black smoke, one by one.
The ones that were left had no wish to die in such a fashion, or indeed at all, and fled back to their island home.
The battlefield was silent in the wake of such a devastating victory.
“Can you kill Voldemort for me?”
Hermione looks at the megalomaniac Dark Lord appraisingly for a moment, then shrugged. “Can’t hurt to try.”
She clicked her fingers and pointed to the snake-like man, and her whale followed her command, rearing up and flopping onto him.
Voldemort screamed, clutching at nothing as he flaked and burned in the face of such pure love, disintegrating into the late afternoon air.
When he was no more, Harry turned to her. “Why the fuck didn’t you do that seven years ago? You would have saved me so much trauma.”
Hermione cuffed him upside the head light heartedly. “If I had been able to, I would’ve. But I’ve seriously only cast that once and I didn’t really get many opportunities to fight the bitch. He tended to single you out.”
Harry nodded sadly, and Hermione stared at all the remaining dark forces.
“Hey Harry, I reckon I can knock them all out but it’s going to be hell on my magic and I’ll probably faint after. Can you catch me?”
“Of fucking course, Hermione.”
Hermione grinned and threw her hands wide, raw magic pulsing off her in waves, restraining her foes and healing her allies.
When the last of her will was complete, she did indeed sway and collapse dramatically into Harry, who swooped her into a princess carry without a thought, carrying her to the castle.
He paused for a moment, and then turned, carrying her towards the Black Lake.
“Harry, if I ever faint of magical exhaustion at Hogwarts, I need you to get me to the Black Lake. Can you do that?”
Harry frowned, puzzled. “I mean yeah, sure I can. But can I ask why?”
“I have a connection to the Giant Squid, and she’ll be able to lend me enough magic that I don’t end up in a coma.”
“Oh.”
He laid her gently on the lakeshore and stepped back. Sure enough, the Squid emerged, one tentacle rising above the water and stretching to lay against Hermione’s chest.
The orange light from before seemed to emanate from the tentacle and was quickly absorbed by Hermione. Or, that’s what Harry assumed was happening, at least.
This continued for several minutes until Hermione sat up with a start, heaving in a panicked breath.
She put a hand over the tentacle and seemed to forcibly calm herself, murmuring unintelligibly.
By this point, a crowd had gathered a respectful distance away, and a collective breath of relief was released when Hermione awoke. Magical exhaustion could be incredibly dangerous, and even fatal if you really overdid it.
“Thanks, Skyeirohn. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t helped.”
The tentacle patted her head and then retracted, Skyeirohn reluctantly retreating to deeper waters.
Immediately Poppy Pomfrey descended upon her, fussing and casting diagnostic charms.
Hermione smiled but pushed her away softly, climbing to her feet. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine.”
The medi-witch frowned at her. “Absolutely you are not, young lady! Sit back down and let me check you over. What you just did was foolish and damn near suicidal. Your magic may be damaged beyond repair!”
Hermione sighed begrudgingly, but sat back down on the grass.
A few minutes later, Poppy scowled, puzzled. “Every spell I’ve cast says that you’re fine. but that’s ridiculous, you said yourself that you should be dead.”
“Well yeah, if the transfer failed. But it didn’t, so I’m fine.”
At some point during the check-up, McGonagall had arrived. “What do you mean ‘transfer’?”
Hermione grinned. “Well professor-”
“You single-handedly destroyed Voldemort and his army ten minutes ago. It’s Minerva now.”
Hermione looked vaguely uncomfortable with the informality, but nodded. “Right. Well, I suppose the tale starts way back in fifth year. By now, I’m sure you’re both aware of Dumbledore’s Army, an illicit study group run by me and Harry.”
The two witches nodded, and Harry blushed.
“Well, in the original intake meeting someone asked Harry if he could cast a corporeal Patronus, as there had been rumours flying around. He replied that he could, and a couple of people demanded that he teach them.”
Poppy looked like she was getting a tad impatient, so Hermione sped up accordingly.
“In the few meetings before Christmas, we worked on the Patronus charm. Everyone managed to get a corporeal Patronus at one point or another, even if only once or for only a few seconds.”
Minerva’s eyes widened. “Everyone? That’s incredibly impressive! And a testament to Mr. Potter’s teaching ability, I suspect.”
Harry blushed harder and Hermione smiled, though bittersweet.
“Actually, it was everyone except me.”
Poppy frowned. “You weren’t among the first to get it?”
“You’d think that, but no. Ronald took great pleasure in reminding me, too. But I digress. Over Christmas break I went out to sit by the lake and tried to puzzle out why I couldn’t cast anything more than weak vapour. I realised that, in layman’s terms, my wand wasn’t strong enough to cast properly. So, I meditated with my core and magic, summoning and concentrating power in preparation for attempting to cast wandless. During that time, Skyeirohn essentially sent me magic, to assist with my spellcasting.”
McGonagall frowned. “Who is Skyeirohn? How did they get onto the grounds?”
Hermione laughed, cutting some of the tension from her professor’s battle-worn shoulders. “No, Minerva. Skyeirohn is the name of the Giant Squid that lives in the Black Lake. When she shared her power with me, she also established a telepathic connection between us. She’s incredibly knowledgeable in water magic and pulling power from the world around us.”
The two women gaped, knowing full well how rare that kind of connection was. Particularly with such an evidently powerful animal.
“Well, I attempted to cast my Patronus, in the process completely contradicting everything that I had read about wandless and wordless magic. It was so… simple? No, that’s not the right word,” she muttered. “Uhh, okay. So for me, spellcasting through a wand is like… it’s like trying to use fiendfyre to light a candle.”
Harry winced, the Room of Requirement fiasco still fresh in his mind. Hermione sent him an apologetic smile, knowing somehow exactly what he was thinking.
“Anyway. Skyeirohn and I have built up a good relationship over the past few years, and she has been a great help in learning to cast in a way that is comfortable to me.”
“And what would that way be?” Blaise Zabini stood a few feet away, hands behind his back. He didn’t seem malicious, simply curious.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, but lifted a hand, almost casually summoning a crackling ball of cobalt lightning. She made a single gesture, and the ball lengthened and morphed into an eel shape, lazily swimming through the air.
Blaise hid his shock smoothly, drifting closer. The eel curled to drape around Hermione’s shoulders. After a moment, she dissipated the electric animal and continued her explanation.
“So she’s pretty attached to me now, given that I’m her only proper company in almost half a century. So, when I raised the idea of me doing something like what I just did in order to end the war, she suggested a magical transfusion in order to keep me alive long enough for my magic to recover a little. I accepted, got Harry to bring me down here, and now I’m fine. And I know I said that I ‘probably’ would’ve died without her help, but in fact I did. Was dead for a whole, what, ten seconds? Both me and my magic are fine though. Skyeirohn gave me far more than needed or warranted.”
Blaise stared at her for a moment, then placed a hand on her shoulder. His eyes brightened with magic for a moment, before he stumbled back.
“What the fuck?” He muttered softly.
Hermione smiled knowingly at him. “I do wish you’d asked me before you did that.”
Magesight, or the ability to see a person’s magical strength, was a fairly rare ability, but the Zabini’s were well known for having it.
“You have a fucking void? Like, there’s just…Nothing.”
Hermione sent a sidelong glance at the lake. “Yeah, I let Skyeirohn direct me to craft several personal wards to protect myself from people stealing my magic. Still not sure if it was a good idea or not.”
The tip of a massive tentacle flicked out, sending a wave of freezing water at the group of five. Hermione automatically raised a hand, and the water lost momentum, dropping back to the lake.
Minerva stared at the rippling lake for a moment, then pulled a silver flask from somewhere within her robes. “I am not drunk enough to deal with this.”