⚠Trigger Warning⚠
Violence and gore. Read at your own discretion.

Draco was the one who led the rest out of the castle via the tunnel behind the hump-backed witch directly into Honeydukes. He'd used this passage so many times now that he was quite used to the dark tunnel. He knew just how long it went on, at exactly what place the tunnel tapered or widened, and where it descended sharply or turned hard right. It was a bit surprising for Pansy, Theo, and Blaise though, when they emerged from the attic of the sweet shop and had to lift the loose floorboard and keep it aside to climb out.

"I thought the exit would be somewhere more secret," Theo said, wrinkling his nose as a sugary wind hit him. "The Shrieking Shack would've been more like it."

"So, do we have a plan?" Pansy asked as they quietly came out of the shop and closed the door behind them. "Or are we going impromptu?"

"No plan," Harry said tersely. "We just go and get her out."

"It's amazing how much you rely on your incredible instincts when your best friend's life is at stake," Pansy said.

"We've tried planning before," Ron replied. "In Harry's words, all that happens is that we plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

"Besides, we should know something about her situation to plan," Harry said. "As it is, we aren't sure she's really at Malfoy Manor."

"I'm not complaining," Blaise said, twirling his wand. "I wasn't up for a strategized mission anyway. Chaos is more my type."

They gathered close in a narrow, inconspicuous street and Apparated together. Draco felt the tug just behind his navel as he was whipped from Hogsmeade right to his sweet home.

The Anti-Apparition wards started within a few meters away from the main gate of the Manor. Draco and the rest jogged up to the enormously grand, coal-black gate that Draco opened with a gigantic wave of his hands. They walked past the hedges on both sides and entered the main building. He signaled everyone to be quiet as they walked in.

Draco had expected an outburst of shock, rage, and curses flying at them the instant they entered from a dozen Death Eaters standing in the main hall. Instead, the place looked utterly deserted. Draco had to wonder if they were wrong, if Hermione was not there after all. But they had to search at least once. They had to split up.

"Weasley, Pansy, take the left wing. Theo, Blaise, Weaslette, you three take the right wing. Potter and I will search the basements and dungeons. Meet back here in twenty minutes. If any of you run into trouble, set off any kind of explosion or something so the rest hear you. You all know the rest, I believe."

Everybody nodded silently as they grouped up and took their positions. They scattered, everyone, walking in silent cat feet. Harry nodded to him curtly and motioned him ahead. He knew he had to be the one to lead - it was his house, after all.

He set them at an unrelenting pace, eyes peeled for any kind of trouble, but the entire place seemed to be very much deserted. He led them to the staircase leading down to the dungeons. Draco stopped. A few steps down his right, there was his mother's room. He needed to check if she was there or not, and if she was, he had to ensure she was safe.

"Go down from here, I'm right behind you," he whispered. Harry set off downstairs, giving him a warning glare. He knew what it meant. Think before you do something. I'll kill you for it. It was a promise, made by a best friend to a person who posed a potential danger to his friend who was almost a sister. Draco understood. He nodded reassuringly as he set off to the right, counting the doors to his mother's room.

When he reached the elegant door, he raised his hand to knock, when he thought better. Their entire mission relied on their ability to keep their presence unknown, and by knocking, he'd be screaming their presence to everyone in and around the Manor. So he cast a Homonum Revelio through the door. There was nothing.

So the Manor was empty after all.

Somehow the thought didn't cheer him up. He left the door and hurried behind Harry.

Draco met Harry in one of the cells underground - there was a row of cells in the basement of the Manor that were used more often than not. But Harry was very still. He was looking at a spot on the floor.

Baffled, Draco lit his wand with a Lumos. And then he saw what was horrifying his compatriot. There were blood stains in the corner of the room - both on the floor and the wall.

"It's fresh," Harry said. His voice was weak, almost trembling.

Draco didn't say anything out loud, but his mind was rattled. The only clear thought he could form was that if his father had a hand in it, he'd make him pay dearly.

***

Hermione stifled a scream. The thing in the bundle was about the size of a human child, but that was where the similarities stopped. It was an ugly thing, its skin - or rather flesh - looked raw and mutilated, with feeble hands and a slimy, scaly body. Its eyes were black, but somehow there was red in them. Rodolphus held it to himself lovingly, like it was his own baby - or rather, Hermione realized, his own wife.

When this struck her, she started making violent efforts to break free of the ropes binding her. If the thing in Rodolphus' hands was really Bellatrix, a remainder of her, kept alive by a Horcrux, if these Death Eaters were going to bring her back like they had brought back Voldemort so many years ago, and if they were going to use her blood to do it, then there was no way she could allow that to happen. It would be unleashing too much darkness and violence on the country, on Hogwarts. Hermione was sure she'd kill all her friends on sight. There was no way she could let that happen.

Hermione's mind was racing. She had no idea why the Death Eaters had chosen her and not anybody else, but if they had, there had to be a big reason. They could've picked up anyone from Hogsmeade, they'd all been there - Harry, Ron, Ginny. Still, it was her they brought. That must mean that something in her blood was desirable to them, something that would make Bellatrix even more powerful when she was resurrected. But... The blood of a dead enemy was no use, was it?

If her blood would be the one to give Bellatrix the most power, Hermione would make sure she never got it. Sure, they may choose some other enemy to attempt again - Bellatrix had no shortage of them - but she'd still be weaker than expected, and then, maybe, someone would be able to find her Horcrux and finish her off for good.

So since there was no way to escape, all she had to do was end herself. The rest would follow.

All this flashed through Hermione's brain in a second. Her job was to get free and find something sharp. One second would be enough. But how? Could she somehow use her ropes? Or better, get free and - she shuddered slightly - use something sharp and long to stab herself? Or could she perhaps do something to trigger the wound at her temple again, so she'd bleed to death? That was the best option she had, but she had no idea how long it'd take.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a weird chanting sound. She looked around. The other Death Eaters stood in a circle, enclosing the cauldron and her tree within it. They all looked strangely solemn.

Rodolphus was reciting a spell of some kind. It sounded rhythmic, even a little musical. The potion in the cauldron began boiling, almost as if the sound of the spell excited it. He then let the cloth fall off the thing that would be Bellatrix. It was squirming fretfully, and a loud, eager shriek escaped its mouth. Rodolphus grinned.

"See you soon, sweetheart."

He let the thing fall into the cauldron with a gigantic splash. The liquid began stirring very fast and emitted a thick cloud of smoke, blurring the outlines of Rodolphus muttering over the liquid. And then he spoke, loud and clear.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given."

From the long folds of his cloak, he extracted a small, rectangular box, something like a snuff box. Hermione squinted to see clearly in the dark, struggling with her bonds desperately, but this time they weren't budging.

He opened the snuff box and released its contents into the cauldron. A gray powder fell into the welcoming potion. Instantly, the liquid turned a bright, poisonous blue. Hermione realized what the powder was. Ashes.

Harry had told them everything that had happened to him in fourth year, when the Dark Lord had risen. Hermione remembered everything he'd said. She knew what was coming next, and she was afraid of it. Please, she wished. Let something go wrong. Let it fail.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed."

He ushered a hooded Death Eater forward. It was Lucius Malfoy. Looking paler than usual, he drew out a dagger. She could see him gritting his teeth to do it, but she couldn't will herself to watch it happening. She scrunched her eyes, wanting to block it out. But a split second later, a resounding scream filled the air as the sound of a splash appeared in the background. Hermione opened her eyes again. The potion had turned a burning red. Lucius was staggering back to his position, a stump where his hand should've been. Hermione felt nauseous. He was dripping blood all over the grass, crimson spots on faded green.

But all this meant that it was her turn to give Bellatrix what she needed to come back to life. The next step was her blood, and there was nothing she could do now. She was out of time. Her breathing became heavy as tears of helplessness prickled at the back of her eyes. She had failed to do the one thing that could've saved everyone. She'd failed to kill herself.

Rodolphus was walking up to her, grinning evilly. He was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her face.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken," he whispered, his lips inches from her own. Her breath hitched. The next second, she felt the tip of a knife break into the skin of her right forearm. She screamed as she felt the blood flowing down her arm.

"Time to mark your other hand, Mudblood," he whispered in her ear. He held a vial at her arm to collect her blood, then let his lips hover dangerously close to her neck. Hermione closed her eyes. A solitary tear rolled down her cheek.

But then he withdrew, taking her blood with him. He poured it into the potion, and the liquid began emanating sparks that looked like diamonds flying around. The air was so thick with smoke that Hermione could see nothing in front of her except the sparks. It's gone wrong, she thought, hoping against hope. She died for good. It all went wrong.

But then her eyes made out something beyond the white smoke. A figure rose into the air from the cauldron and stepped out. The smoke cleared all of a sudden, and then Hermione shrieked.

Bellatrix Lestrange had come back to life.

***

A/N: So the main antagonist rises again! How do you like the story so far? Had any of you anticipated this turn of events? And why do you think it was Hermione they chose to bring our most manic mass murderer to life?

Vote, comment, and stay updated!