The Prime Princess

A lone shuttle scurried across the vast Universe. It was on autopilot. Hermione lay in her stasis pod, dreaming a dream that wasn’t hers. Next to her were two other pods containing Draco and Blaise. Their consciousness was connected with the ship’s computer to monitor their state and also keep them from waking up. The course was set to Ancients colony that had been discovered about a week ago. It was the largest colony ever found and that’s why General Lucianus had given the order to destroy it completely because it was the greatest chance to wipe them all out with one single plow. He had sent other Rage Walkers to take out smaller groups of Ancients and left the jackpot to Hermione of Midgard. His wife had seen her defeat them all with great success and so he had placed all his bets on her.

Inside the stasis pod was quiet. Only the mild humming of the shuttle could be heard. Hermione was asleep but her mind went on thinking about her life. What would have happened if she hadn’t died and not woken up as Hermione Ariston? She guessed not much would have changed but still she imagined of a life with a husband she loved and children she adored. In this life as a Reaper she didn’t have that chance either. She was going to die again to wake up in someone else’s body. And her so-called life would be different again. For a second she frantically feared that she would wake up as a serial killer or someone much worse and rot in prison for the rest of her life.

She didn’t want to wake up in the dark side of herself.

Blaise felt her despair and drifted closer to the edges of her mind and told that everything will be all right. His presence was comforting and behind closed eyes she smiled. Another warm feeling cascaded over her consciousness, telling her how much they loved her.
***
Snape and Lucius were having a screaming contest with General Lucianus and Supremeverse Marshal Saga. They were very angry and pissed off when they had found out about Hermione and her Switchers fate.

“I demand you to call that bucket of bolts back here right now!” yelled Lucius to his twin.

“Pull yourself together,” ordered General gruffly, “And calm down already.”

“No, I will do no such thing! This is our Mione we are talking about!”

Saga placed her hand on her husbands arm and tried to cut in as a revelation rolled out before her eyes. Snape huffed as he saw that things weren’t moving in any direction and pulled out his wand.

“If you do not comply to our demands, I swear I’ll kill everyone in this ship!” bellowed Snape and green sparks burst from the tip of his wand as a warning. Lucius turned around to look at his friend and saw he was on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous.

Saga yanked the sleeve of her husband’s and hissed that Snape was really going to murder them all. General Lucianus looked at his wife in disbelief because a mere twig in a grazed man’s hand looked rather harmless.

“He’s a wizard,” hissed Saga and tried to hold her eyes locked on her husband while the premonition blurred her vision.
***
She really wanted a good life with happiness but the Fate had given her another purpose in life – to die so others could live. It was the life of a hero and she had never considered herself as a hero. She was a bitch, an evil little viper. Well, the Ariston had been that but who was she really. Had she been any better person as a Granger? She didn’t know. No, she didn’t remember anymore.

‘Why are you thinking like that?’ asked Blaise. His voice echoed through her mind like a lost memory of waves coming to ashore.

‘I can’t help it,’ said Hermione and curled up inside her mind. She knew what was going to happen when they reached the colony. The Last Battle of Evermore. Saga had seen it and revealed her the secret of her victory. At first it had made no sense but when Hel had explained the Death, she had understood it all.

‘You are not gonna die,’ said Draco quite seriously, ‘I… we won’t let you die.’

‘Yes, you have to pass NEWTs, graduate and marry us, have children and live happily ever after,’ supported Blaise that idea with a cheerful sound but Hermione noticed that he was hiding fear behind his words.

‘I love you both,’ sighed Hermione when she felt the ship’s computer beginning the process to bring them out of the stasis.
***
Ron looked around in the room and tried to cope with the knowledge that he was very far away from home. Harry just sat on the bench and glared at Branwen who was keeping an eye on them. She was some kind of twisted version of Hermione and Harry didn’t know if he liked that. Branwen had long white hair, long sharp teeth and the face of a fallen angel. She was nothing like Hermione he finally figured when he saw dark figures rising from the floor. Harry stared at them and recognized the Dementors.

Branwen grinned widely when Harry started to panic and search for his wand but didn’t find it although it was right in the left pocket of his denims. She loved to torment them silently, to make them see ghosts but the howling sirens interrupted her fun. Branwen conjured another wraith to keep those two in line and went to check out what was happening.
***
The lids of the stasis pods slide aside with a hiss. The white vapor rose from inside with the passengers as they stepped out and stretched. Draco went to the cockpit and looked out. The black space before them was filled with thousands of ships in various classes. They all were huddled together and just waited there.

“They must be hibernating,” guessed Draco when he logged off the autopilot and scanned the herd of ships. Shuttle’s scanners picked up loads of life signs but couldn’t decipher them from Ancients and humans. The shuttle wasn’t so advanced as Gliders and smarter vessels used in the Atlantis Fleet. The shuttle was only meant to bring them there.

“But if they have some people on board from some ravaged Hive?” asked Blaise and squinted his eyes to see if any Hiveship was in the middle of the flock. General Lucianus had told that three Hiveships had been attacked.

“Then there is nothing we can do,” said Hermione and stood behind him to look at the screens in front of Draco. There was at least 50 000 Ancients that the scanners had detected and that was a lot.

“This is the heart of the enemy and we are going to cut it out,” murmured Hermione and started to get her gear out of the boxes. Full body-armor, staff weapons, some guns and of course her twin wands. She loved those. Blaise turned around and watched her getting dressed for the battle. The thought of the end had never quite really sunk into his brain until he saw her. She had that determined look on her face when she tied her hair up into a ponytail and pulled her helmet over her head.

“So this is it?” asked Blaise.

“Yes,” said Hermione and yanked another box from the shelf and handed it to Blaise, “Get geared up.”

“But…”

“We have no time. Soon they’ll discover us and they’ll come after us,” she hissed and gave the last grate to Draco who was silent. He took it and opened it to find basically the same tackle units she already had on.

“I’m sorry that I dragged you into this,” she said after a long silence. “You can leave if you want, I’ll manage perfectly on my own.”

“No!” barked Draco and glared at her. “No one is leaving,” he hissed and glared at Blaise who was not the warrior type. “We are staying at your side even if it means we are going to die. We will be together all the way to the end.”

Hermione looked at him and felt his emotions running through her veins like boiling lava. He was ready to go to the end with her. The feeling was so great and beautiful that she just couldn’t ignore it’s powerful strength. She took a step towards him, raised her hand and grabbed a handful of blond hair, yanking his head down a bit to kiss him. Blaise watched them and closed his eyes to keep the tears at bay. He felt what they felt. It was a mixture of fear, boldness, passion and completeness.

Draco grabbed around her and never wanted to let her go. She was everything to him. Hermione smiled and looked inside his soul that was darkened by the fiery obsession for her.

“Blaise,” she whispered and looked over her shoulder at him, reaching a hand towards him, “Keep me sane.”

Blaise couldn’t suppress the smirk and stepped closer to her, took her hand and kissed her wrist before kissing her and coming one with the bundle.
***
Branwen reached the hall where the chaos had been released. Lucius and Snape stood in the middle of the soldiers with the backs together and shot curses in every direction. There were dead bodies on the ground and one of them was Saga. General Lucianus crouched next to her and sobbed.

“Sir!” yelled Branwen over the fight and dashed to his side. “Sir, please, save yourself!” shouted Branwen and swung her staff weapon around to create a force field to shield them form curses and hexes.

“No!” cried General and just looked at his dead wife. He didn’t even dare to touch her.

When had it gone out of hand?

“Please, you have to!” said Branwen and looked up. To her utmost horror she saw Colonel Severiano in the middle of the fight shouting orders to contain the situation. He looked absolutely flamboyant in his rock star style while yelling at soldiers to take the two wizards down. For a brief second she remembered why she had deeply fallen in love with him.

“Come,” hissed Hel, appearing from the dark cloud of mist. Branwen looked at the Void Walker and the opportunity to get away. She apologized and grabbed at General Lucianus and pushed him into the Void. Hel looked at Saga and then at Branwen.

“She can’t be helped anymore,” said Hel with her ragged voice and shook sadly her dark head. Branwen just stared at her. She just couldn’t believe her that Hel couldn’t bring Saga back from the dead. She had done that so many times. Why not anymore?

“I can’t bring her back anymore because there is nothing left to bring back. Her soul has been scattered around for numerous times and it has been worn thin after every revival. I’m sorry, Branwen, but if I bring her back for one more time, she will be an empty husk,” said Hel and the mist around her turned into inky blackness from sorrow.

“No!” cried Branwen and looked at Saga on the floor. She was a Time Walker, why hadn’t she seen it coming? Why hadn’t she avoided it? Why?

“Come, Branwen.”

Branwen looked up again and searched for her husband in the mess of battle. It was so loud and bloody that she almost got sick. There he was, courageous as ever, leaping over the dead bodies and sneaking closer to the enemy. He was going to get killed just like the others.

“No, I have to go…” said Branwen and got up, “Take care of Saga.”

Hel watched her dive into the battle and nodded.

“I will.”
***
“It’s not real!” shouted Harry to himself and watched Dementors gliding closer. Ron had fainted. He knew that Branwen had created those monsters and that those weren’t real but his brain said otherwise. The coldness crept up his spine with the feeling like everything beautiful and joyful was leaving from the entire world.

“Ron! Wake up!” screamed Harry and shook his friend. Ron was still dead to the world and that really aggravated Harry to bitch-slap him hard across the face.

“Whoa…” groaned Ron and opened his eyes. He saw Harry yelling at him but he couldn’t hear him for about ten or more seconds. When his brain started to translate the noises, he heard Harry telling that all this wasn’t real.

“What is not real?” he asked and looked around. They were in a locker-room of some sort and they were alone. Harry paused and also looked around and then sighed.

“Never mind,” he muttered and pulled him up. “We have to find Snape and Malfoy… or Saga. Anyway we need to get the hell out of here.”

“I agree, mate,” said Ron and started to wonder again where the hell they were in the first place.
***
Three Doom Warriors boarded one of the biggest Ancients Motherships and faced their Destiny. Their minds worked as one and there was no hesitation anymore when the Reaper started to suck the energy from all around her and the Switcher kept the flow coming from the Ancients themselves. The crystals at the ends of her Staff started to glow brightly. The blinding blue light flooded into every direction like a tidal wave.

After few moments Ancients started to come out and come on them. Their presence was shocking. Their faces were obscure – white sculls covered with swirling mist, giving them featureless and motionless façade. Inside their empty eye sockets glowed two emerald lights, glaring at the intruders with utmost rage possible.

The more Ancients flooded into the great hall, the more the three of them felt the anguishing feeling of cut off from the entire world, making them so small and helpless. The fear crept inside their minds and numbed their bravado and courageousness. It was ice-cold and ruthless.

‘Keep me sane, Blaise,’ pleaded Hermione as she started to slip. Draco had raised his big guns and fired at the advancing Ancients. His strength held her going but the fear that Ancients created choked her still.

‘I love you till the end,’ purred Blaise and the warmth of his words melted the icy grip Ancients had on her.

‘Kill them all!’ growled Draco and concentrated on slaughtering as many as he could. They stood backs together and welcomed Ancients with grins on their faces. It was the end.

“Put your soul into this,” had Hel said to her back then, “It’s the most powerful weapon you’ll ever have.”

Now she understood. There were too many Ancients and she couldn’t bring herself to sucking enough life force from them to bring down the ultimate destruction. She wasn’t strong enough. No one was. Not even the Reaper. But she wasn’t the Reaper. She was someone else and she took her own soul. The one thing she cherished the most in her. She took all the souls she had in her.

My name is Legion because we are many, thought Hermione and poured herself out of herself. The brightness became pure light extinguishing everything on its way, whooshing across the space like an exploding supernova.
***
There was a cold room of gray steel. Its floor was covered of dozens of caskets neatly placed in solid rows. Five figures stood in silence and mourned for the dead. Major Paris put an arm around Hel who was devastated because she couldn’t bring the lost ones back anymore. General Lucianus stood in front of his wife’s casket and cried silently. Saga’s murderers had finally fallen and taken with them lots of good men and women. Next to Saga were Colonel Severiano and Supremeverse Marshal Branwen in similar steel coffins. All of them had fallen in a gruesome fight that had been unnecessary.

Harry and Ron stood in the silence, paying their last respect. They had seen the end of the fight when two great wizards had fallen by the hands of Branwen and Severiano who had given their own lives to save those who were still on their feet.

It had been dreadful to see fierce wizards killing everyone around them. One dark, one light, both mad and crazed. They had reminded to Harry the last battle with Voldemort. The fight had gone on like forever before one of them had eventually died.

It was over now.
*****************************************************



Epilogue


The smell of roses lingered in the air with the freshness of the Sunday morning. The window was open and the quiet breeze stroke the creamy skin exposed to the sunlight.

She opened her eyes and for the first time she looked around in her luxurious bedroom. The feeling of cool satin sheets was wonderful as she rolled to her side and looked at her husband gazing her from under his half-closed eyelids. He smiled and reached out a hand to slither his fingers through her rich chocolate brown hair.

“Good morning, darling,” he said and smiled brightly. She looked at him and smiled, scooting over to kiss him.

“Good morning, love,” she purred happily and remembered the dream wedding years ago as she noticed the sparkling ring in her finger. A perfect life had followed it and she found herself wondering if this was the Heaven.

“Mommy, mommy, mommy!” came a happily energetic voice from the door as a four-year-old little girl ran into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed.

“Good morning, sweetie!” cheered Hermione and hugged her daughter.

“Oh, mommy, can we go to the funfair today?” the little girl begged and her adorable little face was so cute that Hermione just couldn’t say no. She loved that angel so much.

“Mom, me and the guys are going out!” called out the little angel’s older brother from the open door. He was already sixteen and had his mother’s looks. Hermione waved to her son and got out of the bed with her little girl.

“Be back at eleven!” Hermione called after him and stood in front of a huge mirror with her daughter. The little blond angel smiled brightly as her father came to them and hugged them both, saying how much he loved his queen and little princess.

“I’ll call Ginny, Pansy and Millie and see if they would like to come with their little ones too,” said Hermione after kissing her husband who tickled his precious daughter.

“Yes, you do that,” he agreed and went to the wardrobe to find something casual for the whole day in the funfair. Hermione put the girl down and asked her to get help with her clothes. She watched her little daughter ran out of the bedroom and then turned to her husband who had picked out his favorite robe. The moss green one she loved to see him wearing.

“Gonna have a quick shower with me?” he asked slyly. Hermione laughed.

“With you it’s never quick!” she giggled but still she joined her husband in the bathroom.

THE END
-------------------------------------

I can’t believe how long I have written this fic. I started it in 17th December 2006 and finally got done with it at 16th April 2008. Wow, that has been a long time of steady writing. Well, 70 chapters is a lot and I hope I have broken some records here. Anyway I want to thank all my readers. I love you!!! And of course I thank JK Rowling for even getting out of her depression and writing this beautiful story of Harry we all rip to get a chance to write something in that fantastical world. THANK YOU ALL!

This is not going to be my last fanfiction. I have started writing few other ones but not in Harry Potter world, although I’m planning to write one in HP too. It’s in the future anyway. So, in the meanwhile I’ll try to get finished a novel I’m writing for the big national contest over here for the end of this year. For that novel I actually stole Prime’s character’s name – Hermione Ariston AKA Hera cuz I love it so much. I tried with Heather Ariston but that just didn’t sound right.

If I have some free time alongside writing my award winning (aren’t I egoistic!) “Pink Bunny”, I’ll bring out a new fanfiction. It’s going to be under Stargate Atlantis – Sheppard/OFC. And again one chapter a week. But I don’t think I could ever break my own record in chapters. So, if there are any SGA fans, then keep an eye on me!!!