Whom the Gods Would Destroy...

Title: Whom the Gods Would Destroy…
Author: ianthe_waiting
Rating: MA/NC-17
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter books and their characters are the property of JK Rowling. This is a work of fan-fiction. No infringement is intended, and no money is being made from this story. I am just borrowing the puppets, but this is my stage.
Genre: Angst, Horror, Mystery
Warnings: Character Death, Graphic Violence, Adult Situations, Dark!fic
Summary: DH-EWE: The end of the world has come. Millions dead, magic waning, Hermione Granger and Charlie Weasley are the last people left in Britain—left to pick up the pieces of their once great civilization. Why were they spared? Who is responsible for the death of a nation? These are the mysteries left as a legacy for two lost and lonely people.
Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at a Charlie/Hermione pairing, so please be gentle. This fic is very much inspired by my morbid obsession with ‘end of the world’ scenarios. There are few OCs in this fic, and I have tried to keep much in ‘canon’ as possible. WGWD is unbeta’d, so pardon the mistakes, please?




Whom the Gods Would Destroy…

Part 13




‘quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius.’ –A Roman proverb





Charlie flew point; behind him were Katie Flint and Cho Chang. Ollie Wood took up the rear as the ten flew in formation over what was left of Hogsmeade in the grey hour before dawn. Glancing back, Hermione was flying next to Theo Nott on one of the 2001s, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the landscape below. Already the Inferi were growing still as the sun began to come from the east, brightening the horizon.

Only a few words were said before all took off from Hagrid’s hut. Marcus and Katie had kissed quickly before mounting their brooms. Cho had kissed a pendant about her neck before slipping it under her jumper beneath her traveling cloak. Even Finnegan was crossing himself, his lips moving in a silent prayer before all mounted their brooms.

They flew through the wards, only shivering as they passed into the sky. A grave seriousness kept all their faces mask like and their eyes keen. It was like riding into battle, Charlie supposed, as he made a hand motion to have the formation take on more speed south.

Hermione flew like an expert, keeping in formation. Almost the entire group had flying experience, and those who had little seemed to have confidence enough to keep in formation and perform manoeuvres as they flew low over the mountains.

Oban would only take minutes to reach if they pushed fast enough. Even as they cut across Loch Etive, two groups split, Charlie and Cho heading due west, Hermione, and the rest heading for Oban, Katie in the lead. It was just as they planned, as the villages grew denser when they left the black waters of the loch.

The sun was just rising as the larger portion of the group headed southwest. Charlie glanced to Hermione’s flying form, her long hair catching the first rays of morning. He sighed as Chang fell in beside him. They slowed as they began circling around the countryside.

“So, what is it we’re looking for?” Chang shouted over the wind as they descended lower.

“You’ll see.”

Chang shrugged and followed Charlie as he took a sharp midair turn to cross the eastern edge of the town of Oban, flying toward the harbour.

Charlie slowed as the dark harbour waters rippled and waved below. He stopped before a slight swell of land, staring at a structure on the hill above the harbour leading out to the Firth of Lorn. Chang hovered next to him, following his eyes.

The wind was icy, unusual for June in Scotland. Charlie’s eyes narrowed. Finding sanctuary seemed almost too easy.

“What’s that?” Chang asked, inclining her head to the remaining tower of what was once a ruined castle.

With a grin, Charlie answered: “Sanctuary.”





Five had split off over Oban, going toward the town centre while Hermione, Katie, Theo, and Justin found the hospital in the southwestern part of the town. The sun lit the side of the hospital as they approached up the drive to the Emergency Department. Carrying their brooms with wands out, they spread out around the ambulances abandoned before the front doors of the Emergency Department. There were bodies scattered on the ground, lying in heaps of dried bone and clothing, the smell not as potent as Hermione expected.

“There is a pharmacy on the backside of the Emergency ward,” Katie whispered to Hermione as they set their brooms against the wall next to the automatic doors, which were open wide. “I’ll take Justin, you and Theo see what you can find in the cafeteria, it’s on the first floor.”

Hermione nodded, glancing to Theo Nott whose violet eyes were moving inside the dark door of the Emergency Department. Katie had the bottomless bag and with a motion to Justin, they slipped inside the darkness of the Emergency Department and out of sight.

They all had agreed that if there was a message to be relayed or a problem, they would send a Patronus, and Hermione knew that both Justin and Katie had master a corporeal Patronus long ago when they were in the DA. As for Theo, who took the lead, making a path in the darkness, Hermione was not sure. She knew almost nothing about the man except that he had been in Slytherin and competed with her and Draco Malfoy for grades in school. She also knew that he had no part in the War although his father was a notorious Death Eater.

Theo muttered a curse when they passed beyond the counter, lighting his wand to find the door to the stairwell. Hermione’s eyes moved from Katie and Justin as their wand light disappeared down a corridor further into the Emergency Department.

Hermione glanced about as they neared the door, seeing why Theo had cursed. There were gurneys and cots all over the Emergency Department, all loaded with decomposing bodies. The smell was stale, but not overpowering. After almost four months, the stench of decay had turned into something Hermione associated with graveyards, only fresher—stale, bitter odour.

“Was it the Curse, you think?” Theo whispered, pushing open the stairwell door.

Hermione moved her wand light over the bodies, the soft tissue of the bodies mostly gone, some bodies looking more like desiccated skeletons while others were still bloated and damp. Few on the cots had brown bandages about limbs, shoulders, and from the formation of the bloodstains, she could tell the wounds were caused by bites.

“I think so, some may have been attacked by Inferi, and made it this far before the Curse was cast…”

Theo made a noise and soon both of them were standing in the stairwell. Both were nervous, as Hermione had said to be wary of windowless rooms and enclosed spaces. Hermione remembered what Charlie had said about stumbling across a hive of Inferi in a back room of a pub near Shrewsbury.

However, as they peered down into the basement and up the stairwell, there was nothing. They moved silently up to the first floor, Theo having to jam his shoulder into the door to open it. A cart of cleaning supplies blocked the door and Theo Levitated out of the way for them to pass.

The light in the corridor was much improved compared to the ground floor, but both kept their wands lit as Theo strode to a wall map near the emergency exit. Hermione stood beside him, memorizing the map.

“The cafeteria is at the end of the wing,” Theo whispered, more to himself than to Hermione.

They moved, silently, glancing into open doors. Hermione soon realized that they were in the Obstetrics Department and when the glass windows to the Nursery were in view, she looked away.

“Merlin,” Theo muttered, gagging. Hermione whimpered and grasped Theo’s arm as he slowed to look inside. She pulled him roughly away. “Sweet Merlin, Granger…” he gasped.

Hermione grimaced as she pulled harder, seeing the wing corridor angle through open doors. Soon, they were jogging down to the doors with the sign for the Cafeteria over top, moving past the Pediatrics ward. Hermione finally released Theo just outside the door, watching the dark haired man gag again, bending over to press his hands into his knees.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered thickly, and Hermione took a step back, knowing that Theo would surely vomit. When he did, he managed to turn away, a hand upon the wall as his breakfast came up with a wet splatter. The sound nearly made Hermione vomit, but instead she pushed on the doors into the cafeteria, peeking inside, giving Theo time to compose himself.

Large windows allowed the morning sun into the empty cafeteria and Hermione sighed.

“I’m sorry, Granger… It’s just…” Theo murmured, Vanishing his vomit and wiping his mouth with the back of the sleeve of his long duster.

“It’s alright, Theo. Believe me when I say, that that was probably the worst you’ll have to see…”

Theo was not comforted, but straightened, his eyes keen again though his face was pale.

Soon, they were back on task.

They found the kitchen in the back of the cafeteria also lit with large windows, and surprisingly corpse free. Hermione told Theo not to bother with the freezers when he moved to them, and instead motioned him over to a dry goods pantry, which she lit with a few bluebell heatless flames. Inside there were industrial sized cans of food, sacks of rice, beans, and flour. Hermione let herself smile.

“How much, do you think?” Theo asked, his hands on his hips as they looked into the pantry together.

Hermione shrugged. “Enough to feed a hospital? Too bad we don’t have the bag…”

Theo moved, pulling an ornate beaded bag, much as the one Hermione used to have, from an inside pocket of his duster.

“I nicked it from ‘Tori Malfoy’s trunk a few days ago…” Theo said sheepishly.

Hermione cocked her head, but said nothing as Theo passed it to her.

“I think Creevey got another from McGonagall sometime before we left.”

There were four bags, and so much for the better. Hermione opened the bag, finding that the opening was Charmed to stretch as wide as one wanted. There was no prompting for her and Theo to start swiping the shelves with their arms, hugging cans of food and dropping it into the darkness of the bag Hermione placed near the door. When it became difficult to carry the food, they began Summoning the tins and sacks into the bag.

“There has to be other pantries like this in the town,” Theo mused as he dropped the last tin of lima beans into the bag. “Schools, inns, restaurants?”

Hermione nodded. “I’m sure Dennis and Marcus will figure it out.”

As they moved into the main portion of the cafeteria, a shimmering Patronus slipped through the doors of the cafeteria, a raccoon.

“We have everything from the pharmacy,” Justin’s disembodied voice said softly, in almost a whisper. “We’re cleaning out the medical carts for bandages and instruments. Will meet you shortly outside after we clean out the surgical suites.”

Theo chuckled at the raccoon and glanced to Hermione as the Patronus dissipated.

“A raccoon? I was expecting a badger…” Theo muttered.

Hermione said nothing, not about to tell Theo Nott that her own Patronus was an otter.





Charlie had noticed how Chang seemed to shudder when they moved on the inside of the remains of Dunollie Castle. He watched her reaction as she moved up into the upper story of the keep, looking out the window into the harbour.

“It’s like the earth is humming… I can almost hear…” she trailed, shutting her mouth with a snap.

“The music?” Charlie supplied, calling up from the ground as Chang moved to the steps down.

Chang nodded. “I supposed you might have been able to hear it.”

“Since Leeds, no, before that, though I did not know what it was. Hermione knew before I did.”

Chang leapt off a lower step into the dirt floor next to Charlie. “Most of those who came can hear it, you know?”

Charlie nodded. “Marcus told me.”

“Not Justin, though I don’t know why. Just about all of us who can still use magic can hear it.”

Chang shrugged and moved to the door toward the harbour, standing just in the entry, leaning into the stone. “It is eerie, this world, this castle… You know Roger and I flew down here from Inverness when it started. Gavin was at Hogwarts already, thank Merlin. We were just ahead of the Inferi as they came down from the north, and south of us, the Curse.

We flew through the black clouds of magic, breathed it in, smelled the death, but we were fine. Why was that, I wonder?” Chang mused.

Charlie could not answer, moving through the door and into the sunlight. He had not seen the Holokauston and could only imagine what it looked and felt like.

“Oh well, we’re alive, Gavin’s magic isn’t failing him, and Roger seems fine so far… I should thank the stars, eh?”

Again, Charlie did not answer, he could not. He only knew of his pain and his troubles. He had no idea what it would be like to worry for a child or a family of his own. He had his parents and siblings, nieces and nephews, but still could not feel the lingering ache of loss. It would come soon enough, Charlie supposed.

In the meantime, they had to inform the others of where to land for the night.






Seamus’ fox Patronus found Hermione and the others after noontime as they walked down the empty streets of Oban. The other group had cleaned out the markets and some restaurants and was now at the golf course to the east.

“Charlie has sent word to meet at Dunollie Castle on the harbour,” the little shimmering fox said with Seamus thick accent.

The group took flight then, Katie in the lead. From the golf course’s lodge, the eight flew together, stopping in the smaller villages northeast of Oban toward Dunollie. Hermione was not sure how much they had managed to forage all together, but by sunset, all ten were alive and safe in the shell of the keep of Dunollie Castle.

“We didn’t come across any problems,” Seamus told the group as they sat around a smokeless fire in the shelter of the tower as cold rain began pouring outside. “There were signs of Inferi, but we did not see any…”

“Of course not,” Justin muttered. “It was an unusually sunny day. A rare day.”

The other nodded in agreement.

“Do you think something is affecting the weather? The Seal maybe?” Katie asked, leaning into Marcus’ side.

No one could answer, but Dennis added. “It’s almost the middle of June and it feels like it might snow…”

Conversation ended as the distant shrieks of Inferi drifted from somewhere to the south. All listened, eyes wide until silence came again.

Hermione sat between Theo and Oliver, Charlie across the fire, his hands on his knees.

“Tomorrow?” Oliver asked, eyes moving the fire lit faces. “We head east toward Perth and Dundee?”

“We’ll get as far as we can,” Charlie said softly, his eyes moving to Oliver. “Perth and Dundee are too large… Inverness and Aberdeen, the same.”

“The bigger the town the more Inferi?” Theo asked.

Charlie nodded. “We forage the smaller villages for now. Stay at least a half hour flying distance from Hogwarts. We assess the situation, the number of Inferi, or any unusual movement toward Hogwarts…”

“It’s been too quiet,” Cho whispered from the other side of Oliver, a visible shiver passing through her thin body. “Considering the number of Inferi outside the wards and walls…”

“I agree,” Justin said. “Like a calm before a storm.”

Hermione’s attention moved to Marcus whose dark eyes seemed to glow. “And when the storm does come, I doubt we’ll be able to manage.”

“Enough!” Dennis Creevey hissed, rising from his place by the fire. “Brooding upon the matter is of no use. We all know what is happening, and we will know our attacker soon enough!”

Theo sighed loudly as Dennis moved away from the fire to a corner of the tower, sitting against the wall, wrapping his cloak about him. “Creevey’s right. We can speculate and brood until the tops of our heads pop off from thinking. It does no good, not now. I, for one, want to have this over with… We move as fast as we can to get back to Hogwarts as fast as we can. Agreed?”

The group murmured, and Hermione felt that it was the end of the conversation for one night as several began to depart from the fire. Marcus and Katie moved to the upper story of the keep, and heard the soft sound of a Conjuring spell. Cho moved to a sleeping bag she had brought with her, pulling out the pendant she wore, which was a locket, Hermione saw. Cho kissed it as she laid down, zipping up the down filled bag. Justin and Theo moved to Creevey, mimicking his posture by pulling their cloaks about them tightly. Seamus sat on the stone steps leading up, laying back to look out one of the barred windows to the darkened harbour.

Oliver whispered to Charlie as he retreated to his own sleeping bag near Cho, patting Charlie’s shoulder. Oliver instead went to the door and sat down on the low step to the outside, lifting the cowl of his cloak, and looking out to the dark with Seamus.

Charlie stood, stretching, and walked around the fire to stand next to Hermione.

“C’mon, let’s get some sleep…”

Charlie had already made a little area under the stone stairs, tented off from view, large enough for the two of them to lay down on a Conjured pallet. Hermione lay down, only removing her boots as she stared up at the bottom side of the stairs. Charlie’s body was warm next to hers, and together they stared up at the stone over their makeshift bed.

“This is a nightmare,” Charlie whispered. “Isn’t it?”

Hermione sighed, rolling onto her side in unison with Charlie, his arm curling about her waist.

“A shared one, perhaps. Surreal…”

Charlie inhaled into Hermione’s hair, tickling the back of her neck.

“I hope it ends soon…” he whispered with a yawn.

“Me too.”






“Run, damn you! Run!” Hermione shouted back to Justin as the front came from the southeast along the glen.

They had been foraging the small surgery at the far end of the village of Glencoe, finding more bandages, drugs, and supplies. It was near to dark and only a few miles from the Inn Charlie had found earlier in the day. The others had foraged the village and the houses.

It was just as the sun began to set that Hermione and Justin had finished, mounting their brooms outside the surgery. Justin was the first to notice the change in the air, like a stillness before a rain.

“What is it?” Justin had asked kicking off the ground to hover next to Hermione over the roof of the surgery.

Hermione’s golden eyes looked down the glen to the south, and in the air, there was a flash, like heat lightning, and the still, staleness of the lack of any earth magic. The void was expanding like a bubble of death.

They flew as far as they could, but the front was faster, and soon they were on the road, running.

Justin was in awe as he kept looking back. There was nothing to see, nothing different about the area behind them. There was no terrible sight, or any visible indication that a bubble of vacuity was growing, engulfing all the magic in the earth as it swept over the mountains and along the glen.

Hermione knew very well what awed Justin, but she growled at him to keep running. Out in the open, they were vulnerable. She was not afraid of the Inferi, they, too, were magical things. She was afraid of inadvertently casting a spell and hurting herself again as she had near Mansfield.

“Run, you fucking ponce, run!” she shouted again, and this time, Justin Finch-Fletchley snapped back to reality and was running next to her as fast as they could use their legs.





All but two returned to the Clachaig Inn by nightfall. Charlie was pacing as Hermione and Justin warmed themselves by fireplace in the Bidean Lounge in the Inn complex. The Inn sat upon a particularly peculiar plot of magical earth, something that protected the group for two days while they foraged the villages nearby. It was the safest place to go instead of heading south to Tyndrum and the bed and breakfast Hermione had found almost two weeks before.

After Glencoe, the group was to return to Hogwarts. Charlie rubbed his unshaven face roughly.

The vacuum had settled over the village of Glencoe like a stationary weather front. Everyone sitting in the Lounge could feel it, and how dry the air was. It was hard to breathe, draining to move, but no one had used their wands or ability to cast. Charlie supposed he should be thankful that they had remembered.

“Dennis and Theo…do you think?” Chang asked, sitting on a leather sofa in the near dark of the Lounge.

No one spoke, even as Marcus and Katie returned from a back room with candles. Soon the room was lit and Charlie could see how pale everyone seemed, how wrought out. Hermione’s hands were shaking as Oliver passed her a glass of whiskey from behind the bar. Justin looked ready to faint. They had run from down the glen, carrying their useless brooms. Charlie was thankful that the enchantment on the bottomless bags did not seem to be affected.

“They were in the western part of the village…” Seamus whispered to Chang, “Not too far away. If there is no Inferi, shouldn’t we try to look for them? There’s a car outside, I might be able to get it working if this doesn’t let up soon,” Seamus said to Charlie.

“It might not be a bad idea…” Oliver said.

“Aye, I got me permit to drive a few years back, and my da taught me how to fix cars…” Seamus said, trailing as suddenly Charlie stalked to the door to the outside, throwing it open.

All were on their feet as out of the darkness beyond the door came a huffing and shuffling sound. Chang gasped as suddenly Dennis Creevey stumbled inside, blood coating his dark cloak and face.

“Merlin!” Seamus exclaimed as he and Chang rushed past Charlie to Dennis who was carrying Theo Nott’s unconscious body over his shoulder.

Charlie was suddenly shouting orders, and everyone snapped to attention.

Marcus took Theo from Dennis, running toward the stairs leading to the upstairs rooms. Charlie shouted for Justin to pull himself together and help. Justin was the only one who had any formal medical training, though cut short. Charlie ordered Chang and Katie to bring hot water and towels. Oliver was to bring the bag of medical supplies while Hermione was to tend to Dennis.

“And no wands!” Charlie shouted as everyone moved.

He knew they were all tired, and the lack of magic in the air did not help.

Charlie left Hermione and Dennis in the Lounge, following the sound of Justin’s weary voice, instructing Marcus to lay Theo down in one of the larger rooms.

“His hand is gone,” Seamus whispered to Charlie just outside the door to the room, Marcus lighting candles for Justin to examine Theo. “It looks like he’s been bitten…”

“Shit…” Charlie muttered, watching as Justin tore away Theo’s cloak and jumper with his shaking hands. Blood was turning the white bedding black.

“Finnegan, the bag!” Justin snarled.

Seamus left Charlie at the door, dropping the bottomless bag on the foot of the bed.

“Bandages, antiseptics… Christ, I don’t know…” Justin growled.

Charlie turned away, moving numbly to the stairs down to the Lounge. He could hear Hermione’s voice, whispering, and Katie and Chang fussing in the small kitchen behind the bar, trying to light the gas stove with matches and not their wands.

It was a disaster.

“We were going through the last house on the street. We found it had a basement pantry…but…” Charlie could hear Dennis say. “There were at least a dozen, just standing about. We tried to back out as quiet as we could, but it wasn’t quiet enough…”

Charlie stepped down into the Lounge to find Hermione wiping Dennis’ face with a damp handkerchief, sitting with him next to the fire.

“It was already getting dark, and we could feel it, ya know? The bleakness…”

“I know, Dennis, I had to run too…”

Dennis was sobbing softly, still trying to catch his breath. “Inferi on one side, the emptiness on the other… We ran north along the street, town the centre of the village, to the road here…they chased. Others were coming out of the dark, hearing the ones we found. And then one caught Theo…tried to drag him away. It was biting him, tearing at him…and I…I…”

Dennis’ voice dissolved into louder sobs, and in the candle light, Hermione held to the younger man, not minding that blood smudged onto her cheek from Dennis’ hair, or onto her clothes.

It seemed like seconds later than Chang and Katie emerged from the kitchen with a pot of steaming water, moving as quickly as they could without spilling the water, past Charlie. He listened as they made it to the upstairs room.

“When the front came, they all just fell to the ground…like the strings cut from marionettes. Theo was in bad shape, and I had to keep thinking: no magic, no magic…” Dennis said softly, his sobs subsiding. His voice was muffled in Hermione’s shoulder, but it was clear enough for Charlie to listen. “There was so much blood, Hermione…”

Hermione whispered to Dennis, cooing almost, like a mother to a child, and Charlie could take no more. With several long strides, he was outside in the still, but cold air. His face contorted as he looked up to the stars.

They had been lucky so far; Charlie knew it could not last forever. He supposed he should thank the stars above that Theo was not killed outright. The boy at least had a chance.

There were millions more who had not been so lucky.






Dawn came, and still the air was devoid of magic. Justin had managed to stabilized Theo sometime in the early morning, and was now sleeping, propped up against the side of Theo’s bed. Hermione had left Dennis to sleep on a couch in the Lounge, under her cloak.

The other two women had slept a few hours then went about preparing a decent breakfast, ala Muggle, in the small kitchen behind the bar with what food they could find in the stores. Hermione had contributed by making coffee for everyone who was up at dawn, finding Charlie last, sitting on the hood of one of the abandoned cars in the car park outside the Inn.

Charlie did not sleep, though everyone tried to catch at least an hour. Even as Hermione approached him with two cups of steaming coffee, Charlie’s green eyes were open and alert. He slouched, however, staring down at the toes of his dragon hide boots.

“Here,” Hermione whispered, passing a large mug to Charlie.

He muttered a word of thanks and grasped the warm mug, but did not drink immediately. Hermione sat next to him, propping her feet up on the bumper of the old Vauxhall Magnum, the paint job a terrible shade of brownish yellow.

Hermione drank her coffee, leaning into Charlie’s right shoulder.

“It is not anyone’s fault, Charlie,” she said soberly. “We knew this would be dangerous…”

Charlie sighed and drank his coffee. “I know, luv, I know…” he muttered.

Hermione frowned slightly, holding her mug between her palms. “This will let up soon, and we can be on our way.”

“Yeah,” Charlie said wistfully, raising his face to the clear blue sky. There was no wind, no sound of birds, nothing to make even the azure beauty of the day seem true.

The mountains, the Inn, the sky, and sun, it was like some stage set pieces to Hermione. The air was tasteless, dry, the lack of ambient magic made everything false and stagnant. Even the coffee did not have much taste to her.

Slowly, Charlie’s arm wrapped about her shoulders as he drank from his mug again. “This has got to end sometime…either with us all dead, the Seal failing, and the whole world finding Britain gone…”

It was a morbid thought, but Hermione could not deny she had thought it many times herself. This could not last forever. What would be the point if it did?

Marcus came outside to tell them both that breakfast was ready and that Theo was still stable. Hermione and Charlie followed Marcus’ bulky form back into the Inn, hand, and hand, and tried to appear upbeat.

The façade was tiring, even when they felt the front shift and the wind blow through the open door of the Lounge soon after eating tasteless powdered eggs and dehydrated bacon.


TBC...