Saving the Future

Chapter 14: Attack on Hogsmeade

It was Valentine's Day, and since it was a Saturday it was also a Hogsmeade day. Hermione was excited to be going on a proper date with Sirius, and she knew her friends were excited also. Alice and Frank had joined their group the day after the miscarriage, Hermione told them everything about herself and what they were doing and now their group was bigger, and they were all helping Alice and Frank cope with the loss of their daughter, all whilst trying to bring an end to this war.

Alice and Frank had decided to stay at the castle for the day, the rest of them, however, were on their way to Hogsmeade, walking hand in hand with their significant other through the late winter snow.

Once they reached the village, they parted ways with the other couples, Sirius and Hermione making their way to a small restaurant down one of the many alleyways that they thought sounded good. It was an Italian restaurant which was small, yet beautifully decorated. Candles were floating in the air to provide a romantic feel to the place. They were seated in a booth in the corner of the restaurant. The seats were a deep red leather and there was romantic orchestral music playing quietly throughout the restaurant. They ordered their drinks and food and they talked and laughed about life, school, pranks and whatever else they could talk about as they ate.

It was everything that Hermione hoped it would be.

When they were done with their meal, they made their way to the bookstore as Sirius wanted to buy her some books. They walked hand in hand, and talked, and laughed. They caught sight of their friends also enjoying their dates.

They were in the bookstore when they heard it.

Screams.

They rushed out of the bookstore, wands in their hands, ready to fight.

Death Eaters.

They were everywhere, duelling with those that were ready to duel. She could see her friends duelling with them. Fighting. Protecting the younger students who were panicking, not knowing what to do. She saw a spell come her way and put up a shield, turning to face the person who fired at her.

Voldemort.

He grinned at her.

"You must be Hermione Dumbledore. Dumbledore's daughter. Seer. The one who knows how to defeat me. It's a shame you are going to die now."

She could see her friends fighting the Death Eaters. She could see that some of them were hurt but not too badly. She could see that some people were on the floor, hurt. Some were dead, Hogsmeade residents who came out to help fight. She could see that a lot of the teachers had come out to help.

She was brought out of her observations by Voldemort firing another spell at her. She threw up a shield, protecting herself again.

"You are going to die, Hermione Dumbledore. But not before I learn everything you know. And not before you watch all of your precious friends die painful deaths."

"I am not going to die, Tom. And even if I were to die, then you would still die yourself, eventually. I am not the only person who knows how to kill you. There are many others," Hermione said.

"I will not die. You don't know how to kill me. You can't possibly know. You can't know what I have done, or where the thing is. You can't know anything. Crucio,"

The pain was tremendous. She was on the floor. Writhing. Contorting. But not screaming. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of hearing her scream, even as the tears welled in her eyes and the screams longed to break through.

She couldn't tell how long he had left her under the effects of the spell, but it felt like an eternity. She felt him cutting her open with cutting spells. She saw her blood seeping into the snow. She saw Sirius jump in front of her as Voldemort shot a particularly horrible spell at her.

Sirius.

She saw him fall to the floor.

Unconscious.

No.

She got up onto her knees and threw every spell she knew at the man who made Harry's life miserable, the man who hurt her love. Well, all the ones meant to hurt someone. Cutting spells. Jinxes. Fire spells. Anything her hazy mind could come up with. Of course, she got hit with more spells as well.

Burning.

Cutting.

Pain.

She saw her father step in front of her to protect her. She saw him fighting Voldemort.

She crawled over to Sirius.

She collapsed next to him.

Trembling.

Pain.

Blood.

Breathing was so hard.

Black.

…

Pain, that was all she could feel as she blinked her eyes open to find herself lying in a bed in the hospital wing. It was night-time. Her mother was lying next to her on the bed she was in, sleeping, but Hermione could tell that she had been crying by the redness on her cheeks.

"Mum," Her throat was sore, so sore. It came out as barely a whisper, but it was enough to wake her mother up.

Minerva looked so worried as she sat up and called for Poppy who came over immediately.

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Poppy asked her as she ran diagnostics.

"Sore," was all she was able to say.

Poppy spelled a pain-relieving potion into her and she started to feel better immediately.

"What happened? How is everyone? Sirius?" She croaked out. Worried for her friends.

"Voldemort and some of his Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade. Lily, Severus, James, Remus, and Regulus are fine. Just some minor cuts and bruises. Sirius, he was incredibly injured, but he is getting better. Slowly. You were also incredibly injured. There was a deep cut and burn on your left leg that severely damaged your muscle, it is getting better, slowly. There was also a deep cut on your chest, which has scarred, and almost killed you. But you were brought here just on time. There are other injuries too, but you look much too tired to stay awake and discuss them, so we will talk about them when you wake up again," Poppy said.

"Where's dad?"

"He's at the Ministry. He wanted to stay here but he had to go. He will be back soon."

Hermione nodded tiredly, her eyes blinking slowly as she tried the fight going back to sleep.

"It's okay, sweetie. Go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up," Minerva said.

Hermione went to sleep.

…

Hermione opened her eyes, and closed them again, the bright light hurting them. She blinked them open slowly, allowing them to adjust to the daylight coming in through the window.

She was in pain.

She looked around to find Minerva and Albus talking to Poppy in the office, the door was open, but she couldn't hear what was being said. Sirius was sleeping in the bed next to her. He was paler than he usually was. He had scars covering what she could see of him. But he looked okay. The other beds were empty.

She saw Poppy, Minerva and Albus coming over to her, smiling at her sadly.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Poppy asked.

"Sore," She was still croaking.

Poppy helped her sit up and fed her a pain-relieving potion and some water, which soothed her throat slightly but not too much.

Hermione noticed that she was twitching. The curse must have damaged her nerves.

The three adults sat in the chairs surrounding her bed, Minerva and Albus taking her hands in theirs.

"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"We just thought we would discuss what happened to you with you," Poppy said, smiling gently at her, "If you aren't too tired anyway."

Hermione nodded to show that she was okay to discuss what was going on.

"Your nerves were damaged due to the amount of time you were held under the cruciatus curse. They are on the mend now, but it is slow going. Your leg muscle is also on the mend, but again, it is slow going, and you will have difficulty walking for a while. The wound on your chest cut your lung, and damaged some of your ribs, which is why it almost killed you. Your ribs have been fixed; however, your lung may cause you problems if you overexert yourself. It is fixed but it is scarred, and we don't know what the effects of that will be. So be careful. You have a number of scars, including a burn scar on your left leg, and your shoulder. Your throat is sore because you were burnt there, not for too long, and the scar isn't permanent. But your throat will be sore for a while as you recover. Other than those things, though, and the scars, you are fine, and you will make a full recovery," Poppy explained seriously.

"What about Sirius?" Hermione whispered, but they heard it.

"He is recovering. He was hit with an incredibly powerful cutting spell, followed by a blasting spell. He lost a lot of blood, and a number of bones were broken. But he is on the mend. He will also make a full recovery."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Two weeks. It is now the twenty-ninth of February. You also lost a lot of blood, so you were incredibly out of it," Minerva said.

"Do you feel like you will be able to eat anything? Even if it is just some soup?" Poppy asked her.

Hermione nodded, feeling slightly hungry.

Poppy left to call the kitchen to request some food and to give the family some time alone.

Minerva and Albus told her about her friends and some things that she had missed. Albus had managed to get the Gaunt ring with the help of the Order members he took with him. Voldemort hadn't done anything since the attack. Some of the Death Eaters, including Peter, were captured and trialled before being put in Azkaban. The baby was doing well. She had a lot of presents waiting for her in her bedroom in Minerva's and Albus' quarters. Her friends had been taking notes in classes for her and Sirius. They had also continued with the research since Poppy didn't want them coming into the hospital wing too much. They had found a potion that can be poured on a Horcrux to remove the soul piece and destroy it without destroying the container itself. It was old and obscure, something that was rarely used, but Severus was going to try making it for them.

Things were going well. The only thing Hermione and Sirius had to do was recover. And they would. Eventually.