Dark Desires

Chapter 2

Hermione stops as soon as she reaches the first empty hallway. Without even offering it a second thought, her arms reach underneath her pink jumper and pull out a long, golden necklace. The Time Turner. Her finger is ready to turn the hourglass within it, when she hears a sound. Her head whips around, scanning the hallway. To no avail; there's no one there except herself. To be sure no one sees her though, she hides in the nearest alcove, behind an armour. Hermione takes a deep breath, debating whether one turn of the Time Turner will be enough. What were they doing an hour ago?

She comes to a decision, and turns the Time Turner once. A prickly feeling spreads through her body. From behind the armour, she sees students and teachers running through the hallway in sync with a faint ticking noise, only backwards. Then everything stops and time resumes its normal pace once more. Glancing out of the alcove, Hermione makes sure that no one is in the hallway before hurrying out. Every hallway she passes is completely empty. This is odd. Where is everyone? Why aren't anyone fighting? Continuing to stick to the right side of the hallway, the brunette never loses her cautiousness. She makes her way to the grand entrance hall of the castle, careful to not be seen by sticking close to the large columns on each side. From outside comes the sound of hundreds of people murmuring in shock and silent despair. Suddenly a guttural roar of horror belonging to McGonagall rips through the air. Hermione's skin turns to ice in an instant. She had never heard the headmistress emitting such a terrifying sound before. The horror continued with Bellatrix's crazy laugh as a backdrop to it all. The brunette freezes against the wall as a very familiar scream echoes outside, even worse than McGonagall's - her own. Placing the sounds as a reaction to Harry's supposed death, Hermione slides down to the floor, holding her head in her hands. The only thing she could do now, was to wait and not get caught in the meantime. She faintly remembered that she had sprinted after a gleeful Bellatrix into the hall while firing spells after her in high tempo, but she couldn't place when it happened in the turn of events. She just had to be observant and ready at a moment's notice. A thought hit her head like lightning from a clear sky. The other Hermione, her past Hermione, would obviously wonder if someone snatched Bellatrix right in front of her eyes from behind a column. And if they weren't quick in their withdrawal from the hall, past Hermione would surely see them, and who knows what could happen then. There were so many things that could go wrong with this insane plan, however there was no backing out now. Hermione acted on a primal instinct, not thinking properly through anything beforehand, oddly out of character for her. The only thing she knew, was that she had seen despair and regret in the other woman's eyes and she knew a way to fix it. Repercussions could she think about later.

A high pitched laughter, followed by raging screams pulled her out of her train of thoughts. Instantly ready on her feet, Hermione gave her full attention to her wand. She knew which motion to use, thanks to the crazy woman herself a couple months ago. Bellatrix had used the whip incantation on the snatchers, without uttering a word out loud. Unknowingly, she had then given the knowledge to Hermione, who had watched in awe of the older witch's duelling skills. A dark clad figure suddenly ran through the entrance, but Hermione was prepared. Her hand quickly whipped forward, her wand responding immediately to the motion. Time slowed down as Hermione watched the tip of her wand elongate to form a black whip soaring through the air. It wrapped around Bellatrix's waist in a matter of milliseconds. Hermione used all her strenght to pull the other woman towards her almost before the whip had tightened around her. The adrenaline rushed throught the brunette's body, making the seconds drag out. Before anyone could as much as take a breath, Bellatrix crashed into the younger witch with a surprised look dancing over her features. Hermione's instincts were quick, fastening an iron grip around the other woman's wrist and dragging her along towards the hallway she had come from. Before Bellatrix could even react to anything, let alone protest, she was pulled into the empty hallway. She let herself be led by a fast-thinking Hermione for another two hallways before suddenly ripping her wrist away from the other witch's grip, and with one lightening fast move she had Hermione pinned up against the wall, her ice cold hand wrapped around the brunette's neck. Hermione hadn't thought longer than to here in her brainless plan, and now found herself faced with the enemy.