I'M BACK!
I just REALLY want to thank all the people who STILL have me on their favourites list and alerts (even if you just forgot, and left me there :P) because it really feels nice :)
11bballchick11, anna0728, Centaursparkles, ChloeDracoMalfoy, GottaGetBackUp, heartrose61, javelin seer, supernaturalNUT, virginger, voldyismyfather, act-not-think, fallfromreality, Grace Dianajane and Mrgrtpacheco
So, without further ado...ENJOY!
Don't Close Your Eyes
Prologue: The Rebirth of Hermione Granger
A cold blast of wind forced open the windows, shattering the glass and breaking the deceptive serenity of the night. Through the now opened windows, a haughty looking owl flew in and landed itself regally on Hermione's desk. A photograph was clutched tightly in its claws.
Hermione drew her jacket tightly against her body, an indescribable chill ran up her spine as she stared at the messenger with wariness. She then waved her wand in several intricate motions and after being sure that the picture was free from any jinx or curses, she took it from the creature's talons shakily.
Hermione ignored the logical workings of her brain advising her calm down. She only knew that she had to get to her parents – her parents who were lying in a pool of their own blood, staring at her with their once warm, adoring brown orbs filled with pain, regret… and love.
It was her fault. She should have sent them away earlier, relocated them to somewhere safe and erased their memories. But she didn't. Now, she had to pay the price of her selfishness. Her tears blurred her vision as she raced down the streets, but she swiped them away impatiently.
Please, please hold on. I'm coming...
Perhaps it wouldn't be too late? She thought indulgently.
But even as she was thinking it, she felt the warmth remaining within her chest slowly ebb away.
The emerald death mark was glistening victoriously above her house. Hermione watched numbly as the snake slithered out of the skull and raised itself up challengingly at her. She felt a sudden wave of exhaustion, her legs gave away underneath her and she succumbed, willingly, to darkness.
I didn't tell you that I love you both so, so, much...
Hermione opened her eyes to the feeling of someone's calloused hands running over her cheek. She blinked several times as she tried to dispel the blurriness and gain her orientation.
"So the sleeping beauty awakes." A raspy voice sounded right next to her ear.
She whipped her head around to face the man. "Dolohov…" The man's name tasted like poison on her tongue.
Antonin Dolohov grinned and pushed his face closer. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"
She flinched at his proximity, but refused to back away, her grip tightening on her vine wood wand. Then, within a blink of an eye, she flicked her wand out of her holster and shouted Expelliarmus.
Dolohov's eyes widened slightly at her attack, but within seconds he had regained composure and casually stepped aside with practiced ease, "Is that really the best you can do?" Mockery was clear in his voice. "Aw, this is no fun at all. I left you with your wand because I wanted it to be more of a challenge. Let's end this now." He finished with a savage grin and with a harsh flick of his wand, a lightning blue spell came hurling her way.
"Protego" Hermione raised the shield in alarm but while it blocked the brunt of the spell, she was still sent hurling back onto the pavement. Her eyes watered as she felt all the air knock out of her lungs.
"Well, well, what do we have here? A damsel in distress…Let me help you my dear lady." Dolohov offered her his hand in a gallant manner, but she slapped his hand away like one would do to a pest.
"Go. To. Hell." Her grip tightened on her wand again and she felt the grooves as they pressed almost painfully into her palm of her hand. She would not be easy prey.
She felt the life trickle out of her; her eyelids were getting heavy, she couldn't see properly, she was so, so tired…
The wind blew again, blowing a bitter coldness against her bare skin and into her bones.
Tears slipped from her eyes and she felt them slide tortuously slow down her face, mingling with her blood, and creating several bloody trails.
"So this is how it ends…" She thought. Surprisingly, the thought of death did not scare her as much as it did anymore. Before, she thought she had so much left to accomplish and she wasn't ready to leave this world. But now…what was there left for her? She was stripped of her power, her hope, her warmth...
No, death would be a welcomed respite; she was so, so cold.
Hermione felt her eyelids drop further and it was in that stage of semi-consciousness, she heard footsteps approaching. She tilted her face slightly, urging tendrils of her hair to cover her face...she didn't want anyone to see her like this –defeated, beaten. But her worry was for naught, the person stopped a respectful distance away, before continuing back from where they came from.
She didn't know if she should smile at her fortune or...
She forced her eyes open with sheer willpower and caught the person's silhouette.
Her red hair gleamed triumphantly under the moonlight and swayed elegantly with every step she took. She walked with a feline and deadly grace, her high heels clacked nosily against the insidious silence of the night.
Clack, clack, clack
She felt the last vestiges of hope and life drain away as she watched the familiar silhouette walk away from her.
Clack, clack, clack
She closed her eyes calmly, a small wry smile playing on the edge of her mouth. Today would be the end of Hermione Granger.
Clack, clack…
Five years later…
Angelique Château – Renaud sat in front of her vanity and watched dazedly as her house elf dragged an ornate hairbrush through her silky and luxurious brown curls.
"What will you be wearing today Miss?"
Angelique replied mindlessly, "Whatever you see fit Libra."
She heard the click of Libra's fingers and padded over to her bed, changing out of her sleepwear and into the white lace dress that Libra had chosen.
She had seen them last night. They had appeared in her dreams. Her mother was running gentle fingers through her bushy hair as her father flicked her nose teasingly. Her mother sprouted off random lines from poems, while her and her father smiled indulgently at her attempts. Her father made a joke at her mother's expense, and while she was laughing her head off, he would wrap an arm around his wife's shoulder and place a gentle kiss on her forehead.
But it was over before she realised and she was left waking up in between her Egyptian cotton sheets with an acute sense of loss and emptiness.
Angelique was startled out of her reverie by an owl tapping impatiently on her window. Libra walked over and opened the window to allow it in.
The small, pompous-looking owl dropped her subscribed copy of the Daily Prophet in her hands daintily and flew away immediately. Angelique hid a smile at its official manner and scanned through the newspaper, but what she saw on page seven made her stop cold.
Hogwarts mourn the Brightest Witch of her Age
Written by Harvey Gluttenborough, special correspondent of Wizarding Education
Today marks the 6th year of Hermione Granger's alleged abduction. Hermione Granger, muggleborn, was a close friend of Harry Potter and was abducted on the 23rd of June. Disaster stroke again for this young witch as also on the same date her parents were revealed to have been tortured and killed in their own home. Due to unsuccessful attempts to recover the witch, and no leads of suspects, the Ministry has officially denounced Hermione Granger to be dead as of this year. Mr Shacklebolt, Head of the Aurors Department, expressed that the investigation has only continued this long due to Mr Potter's insistence.
"She is not dead! She is still out there! We can't give up on her!" The Boy Who Lived claimed in a recent Wizengamot meeting, during which emotions ran high.
Although Miss Granger was unable to complete her education at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she certainly left the teachers quite the impression, "She had so much potential. She was truly a bright witch." Professor Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House and deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts confessed tearfully to the reporter.
Hogwarts will be holding memorial service for this Brightest Witch of her Age tomorrow and although Miss Granger was not with us for long, let us take one moment to commemorate this girl and all that she had lost in the span of one day.
Angelique didn't realise that she was crying until the her tears wetted the newspaper. "Oh...Harry." She whispered, her voice was thick with tears but she felt her fondness for her former friend flicker brighter. She suddenly remembered the nights that her and Harry and Ron would hundle in a bed together and talk about their dreams and future careers, like they had a chance of surviving the war. She remembered dancing with them, in the dead of the night, in the kitchen in Grimmauld Place by wand light. It had resulted in them bumping into a lot of furniture and nearly having stitches from holding in their laughter. But most of all, she remembered the feeling of having her hand gripped in theirs, how for a moment, they were invincible.
It was in these moments of weakness, when she remembered, that her heart ached and she wondered whether she had made the correct decision. The newspaper had an accompanied picture of Harry being escorted out roughly by the Wizengamot guards, and she couldn't help but let her fingers trail lightly over his cheeks.
"Soon Harry...Soon I will be back." Angelique murmured quietly - it was a promise.
Gathering her emotions up again, and wrapping her impassivity around her like a cloak, she wiped her tears away hastily and curled her fingers up. But even so, her eyes were still caught on one name: Hermione Granger.
"My Angel!" Her father's voice rang majestically through the halls.
Angelique snatched her hands away from the paper as if burnt. "Burn it." She commanded Libra as she walked out of the room, gracefully...and coldly.
Hermione Granger had died on the 23rd of June.
She was Angelique Château – Renaud
So...? How did it go...? Hopefully I haven't disappointed all of you if you feel like my writing has DRASTICALLY gone downhill...
I know it has been short - I promise to make future chapters longer! But please drop me a review! All of you have been so supportive for my last fic and that has been an amazing experience :D
With love,