Okay, okay...I'm going to post this before I lose my nerve...
When Hermione falls deeply into an unforgiving state of depression, who will be there to save her from her isolation and sorrow?
Disclaimer - I donot own HP, if I did things would be very different...
Ice Queen
x_x She was hell's ice queen, and all of the fallen were her angels of retribution.
The night was darker than any other in her living memory. The air was icy, and foggy tendrils lashed out to strike her, whipping her ivory skin raw as she lay, exposed and defenseless to the merciless elements.
She was on a small island, a mere patch of grassy turf fit to hold two lithe human bodies. In dead middle of the Black Lake, she surmised, because nowhere else could be this dark or this desolate. Even with the nights' full moon shining harshly off the endless expanse of murky water, she could see nothing. The lake seemed to go on forever, slipping past the shadows and on into infinite. There was no better place to serve out her punishment. Lust and wraith were unforgivable sins, two of the worse of the unofficial seven.
It ended here, with her lying internally naked at deaths door step, raped of all the meager innocence childhood could so scathingly allow. Hurt, broken, almost comatose. Every jagged, shallow breath penultimate to her last. Her time has ended, that much was certain. Everything else, life, thought, sense, love…all forsaken in favour of this new irrevocable peril.
She curled over, retching silently as she wept from tearless eyes. No bruise spotted her body, and no blood was shed, but inside a catatonic tumult unlike anything she knew roiled thickly in her veins. Outside the madness she was beautiful. Too beautiful for words. She was attractive beyond human ability, a species unknown to any scientist. An ungodly entity, a demon in the flesh.
Whether she had asked for such a gift or that it came thrust upon her shoulders was irrelevant. It became a poison, slowly drawing blood straight from the marrow of her bones, constricting her chest and seizing her heart. Intoxicating and seductive. The price of such beauty was nothing less than eternal damnation.
‡†
She didn't sense his approach. The first sign was in the form of a single ripple that crossed the water with eerie silence before reverberating to the edges of the lake. A faint groan lost instantly to the wind as a young man prepared to jump, his mouth set in a determined line that was hidden in the velvety black. He began his count, one…two…three! before plunging headfirst into the icy water.
For the first time in many fortnights, he could honestly say that he was unafraid of death. There was nothing left in the world to stand between him and his siren, the Gryffindor Princess. She had fallen not long ago, and had unwittingly taken him with her. Because despite her attempt at acidic heartbreak, her true inner valiance had been thwarted in her endeavor to save his soul.
She thought herself cursed, wicked, damned, undeserving of his love and affections. She tried to disengage to make it less painful, to create less suffrage on his part, lest considering her own needs. Emotions had gotten the better of her, and she slipped away from heart, from hope, from life itself. He was here to bring her back.
The icy liquid sucked the air from his lungs, forcing him to return to the surface. Only he couldn't. He was too far under.
His pulsing heart raged in his ears, the ire of his resolve working to give him unparalleled fortitude. There was no room for failure tonight. In the end, this delusion would be broken, and she would be his. To die now would be sheer blasphemy.
Even with his blood frozen in his veins, even as his eyes misted over he could sense the shift. The blast above him was muted, but he thought he heard the grating sounds of a giant mirror shatter. A vivid image consumed his mind for a beat, one of jaded shards of moonlight cascading across the velvety night, as wave after wave of emotion crashed over the edges of the lake. Every one threatening the life of the broken girl who was at the epicenter of this chaos. The witch in distress at the eye of the storm.
His heart shuddered before a sudden burst of warmth seeped through his chest as adrenaline fueled his body. A single word bounced around his skull, an endless cry etching deeply into his mind, hurry.
‡†
All I want is this suffering to end…
Her vision blurred out the world like snowfall on a winters day. Tiny pinpricks of light flashed beneath the lids of her throbbing eyes, which made no sense because there was no light. This was a place of makebelieve, where tangible elements ceased to exist. Things like hope and heart and bravery and cunning were all figments of a pretty haze that rested somewhere in her distant memories.
A place where love was little more than a empty, depthless void where even the hearts marrow was sucked away by fury, lust and infinite lies…
Betrayal, the word scourged her throat, wrecking her delicate inner flesh. Outside she was still intact, a striking angel that reality cast her to play. But on the inside…fate had dealt her a more vicious hand.
She was filthy, tainted, undeserving of any wizards affections. She had led them on, her best friends, her admirers, her housemates, everyone she had come into contact with. Secrets too heavy, her double life could stay hidden no longer. It all came undone, and she watched the fabric that was her life unwind before her frightened, disbelieving eyes. Too shocked to cry, to afraid to run. Too weak to make the ultimate sacrifice, she instead slipped without resistance into the onslaught of madness.
She caught a faint flicker of movement to her left. Then the sounds of hissing and dry panting came from behind. Thump, thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump…
A single pulse raged in her ears, manic beats erratic but strong. She counted them off, one, two, seven…
Slender arms wrapped around her torso, pulling her back against a solid, heaving chest. Waterdroplets glided across his exposed skin, streaking down his flesh and dripping onto her shoulders, her stomach, everywhere until she too was soaked. She envied the girl who's touch this was meant for. Possessive and reassuring, his strokes softer than a caress.
Agile fingers entwined in her dark brown curls, tugging gently until she moved her head back. Warmth seeped through his palm, infectiously spreading from the crown of her head to the curve of her abdomen, to sensitive places lower down…
She felt his tender lips brush against her earlobe. His silky platinum blonde hair became plastered to her cheek as she lay her head in the crook of his neck. Her eyes fluttered closed as she selfishly reveled in the contact, taking pleasure in the sensation of his marble skin against hers. His hot, sweet breath fanned her tear stained cheeks, melting the liquid saltwater off her porcelain flesh. Their pose was something so familiar, tangible evidence of her past, yet formed a surreal, foreign picture unlike anything else in persistent memory…
Her eyes flew open as a sudden thought struck her. They settled on the turmoil above her, as wordless questions formed in her mind. She watched the ferocious storm rage ceaselessly onward, and observed the ire lighting flash across the darkened heavens, the clouds smoggy and black with unshed rain. All life appeared at its end tonight, with the entrance of the strange gentleman synonymous to the perilous conclusion of the final act.
Or was this death? She wondered. She was certain she wasn't dead yet, but she didn't feel alive either. Or maybe that was because she had never experienced true vivaciousness.
Or maybe she just didn't remember. Maybe her mind had drawn shutters around her happiest memories, shielding them away from the world. And maybe that was her gravest mistake.
Icy fingers traced spirals on her neck, as delicate nails grazed chillingly across her skin. For the first time that night she turned to the stranger. Dazzling slate grey eyes focused on hers, radiating a brilliance that contrasted with the storm around them. Their eyes locked, and she saw something unfamiliar stir in their depths. Longing, sorrow, mischief, heartache…
He raised one eyebrow, daring her to reject the idea. Something so impossibly ludicrous that she dared not whisper it even in the safe confines of her mind. He cannot…
She had no idea who he was – his face was hidden in shadow, his silvery hair deflecting any moonlight that shined down on their bodies. She wanted to turn and run, fly away through the break in the clouds and never look back. The immense fear that welled in her chest disgusted her – she was a Gryffindor, not some frightened little Hufflepuff who fled from her problems. She was strong, devious, brave…
He made his move, taking advantage of her indecision. He leaned in, breaking away from the veil of shadows, and pulled her close. She caught only a glimpse of his pale jawline before he placed a warm, lingering kiss on her forehead. He drew back, silently waiting for her reaction.
It was not recognition that made her gasp. Nor was it the shock harboring her inevitable idiocy at not knowing sooner.
His eyes…held something so far beyond standard care and friendship. What shined unashamedly, free for all the world to see were thoughts and emotions and impulses that could never be fully expressed with words, things that she knew had existed all along. Things like desire and affection and devotion and fascination had slipped through his passive façade and immerged to the very surface of his being. He crouched before her, utterly exposed and free of his bloody and gruesome past. Bearing his soul to her, his features sculpted into one of unnatural allure. A young man fighting for his second chance, a fallen angel seeking retribution from the worst sins ever committed.
Only this time, she was the one at fault. She was the one burdened with years of repentance. It was she who pleaded for his amnesty.
Finally she lost it, throwing her arms around him and ripping away her inhibitions, her reluctance, her pity. She hung on to the only life line she knew, knowing that if she let go that death would claim her as his own. Then she would lose the only thing that ever truly mattered. He would be lost to her forever.
A small moon sent rays of weak light bleeding through the haze of darkness, illuminating their glistening hair and faces, gleaming with magnificent contrast to the formidable surroundings. The waters of the Black Lake stilled, reflecting their intimately entwined forms.
But she did not see this shift in natural balances. Her head lay on his chest, her ear placed over his thumping heart. A single tear slid down her cheek as she listened to the sweetest lullaby.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, her firm words nearly inaudible.
His velvet lips kissed her tear away, and with it the last pains of her loneliness. One hand stroked up and down her spine, gesticulating his need to reassure her.
They sat in silence for awhile, until the first signs of dawn streaked across the bleak horizon. It was then that one firm hand lifted her jaw, brushing her collarbone in the process. She shivered and looked up, again captivated by the frightening intensity of his silvery blue eyes.
For a beat he said nothing, seeming content with staring straight into her soul. Then he spoke, his lips quivering slightly as he said those three little words.
"I forgive you," he whispered, pulling her in for one final embrace.
Darkness consumes them, and they ascend into the world of the living, leaving behind that place of lost souls and hopelessness. Abandoning their hesitation, their logic and reason for not staying close to one another. Forfeiting their rights in freely choosing their soulmates, because fate has chosen for them. Never again would they risk losing the other, for they were of one heart, one soul, one mind.
Together. Forever. Until eternity's end.
A/N - thanks to all of you that have already given your support to "Ice Queen", all of your comments and criticism hasnot gone unnoticed, I assure you.
To - ZeScribbler and DarknessApproaches for your wonderful comments
And to greenharper for adding this thing to her favorites
And Youko's Little Girl and OnlyVampires who put this on their StoryAlerts
And to Xx-Jaspers-Girl-xX who reviewed and added Ice Queen to her StoryAlerts :P
And anyone else who has read this and secretly enjoyed it
- Lux