We Will Judge Angels

by Lylian

Chapter One


"You know Granger, we look a lot a like," Pansy told her gagged and bound hostage. "Don't you think?"

Hermione was shaking with anger. She struggled fruitlessly to remove the ropes from her hands. If Hermione had a chance to speak, she would be cursing a hundred hexes at once into the small room.

"No, of course you don't." Pansy laughed callously. "Let me tell you something, Granger. You're not who you think you are. Recognise this guy?"

Pansy shoved an old photograph under Hermione's nose. There was confusion written all over Hermione's face, mingled with subdued rage.

"It's our Daddy dearest. Yes, I said our. Turns out he fucked both our mothers. Not such an honest man, is he? A downright bastard. I should kill him," she added as an afterthought. "Don't believe me, do you? Look at this."

Another photograph was shown to Hermione, this time of her father locked in an embrace with a voluptuous, dark haired woman carrying an also dark haired infant. It was a Wizarding photo, and Hermione's father was swinging the woman and child from side to side as if content to forever be in that moment of time.

"That's me. Cute, huh? Such a happy, stereotypical, pureblooded family," Pansy spit out. "Too bad that didn't last long. He found out about you a little later and left my mother for the whore. Got an alias, threw away his heritage, raised his family, blah, blah, blah. You know the story; you're living proof."

She paused to scoff in a bitter fashion. "So, what do you think of all this? Starting to see the truth hidden in the lies you lived in all your life?...Oh, silly me. I forgot you were incapable of speech."

Pansy removed the gag from Hermione's mouth.

"That's a lie! Why are you telling me this?" cried Hermione hoarsely. "What do you want from me?"

With a Cheshire smirk, Pansy stated, "All I want you to do is do everything I say."

"Are you out of your mind! I'll never do that! You're a crazy psycho and when my friends—"

Pansy wrapped her long fingers into Hermione's hair and pulled back hard. Hermione whimpered in pain. "Don't talk to me like that you son of a bitch. You contaminate the world enough with your existence. Keep your filthy mouth shut."

She pulled on Hermione's hair a little farther. "And anyways, when your little friends do find you, it'll be in bits and pieces. That is, unless you cooperate, like a good Gryffindor."

"Screw you," said Hermione, and she spit in Pansy's face.

Pansy calmly stepped back a few paces, before wiping the saliva from her cheekbone. She then extended her nails and slapped Hermione across the face, cutting into her skin and allowing blood to seep from her flesh.

"I don't want to make this harder for both of us, Granger," said Pansy in a strange saccharine voice. "Do it or I'll kill him."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't."

"I don't have to. I don't want to, and I don't enjoy having blood on my hands. But I will if you don't comply. I just have to say one word, and he's dead. Don't bother searching for the spell for this one, bookworm. It has my own personal touch to it."

For a few seconds, the hostage was completely mute and motionless.

"Prove to me that my father is still alive."

"I knew it would come to this," sighed Pansy. "Always a Gryffindor."

From her pocket, Pansy extracted a compact mirror. She tapped on it a few times.

"There. See him?" Pansy said impatiently. Hermione had full view of what shone through the mirror. Where there should have been a reflection, there was an image of Mr. Granger sitting in ashes and darkness. His clothes were ragged and wounds scarred half his face.

Pansy snapped the mirror shut.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione cried accusatorily.

"Nothing that killed him," Pansy shrugged.

"You horrible, insane—"

The pupils of Pansy's eyes narrowed. "What did I tell you about your low class vulgarity? For that, your father will just need to be punished. Maybe this will help you see my point."

A wand was placed on the mirror's edge, and Pansy whispered, "Crucio."

The blood-curdling scream seemed to echo off the falls. There was no escaping the cries of pain and the cries of death. Hermione closed her eyes tightly to avoid the noise, but she couldn't. Her father was dying. His cries were like those of a wild beast on the verge of leaving this world because he could not stand the anguish.

"STOP!" yelled Hermione.

The screams died as Pansy lifted the curse.

"I'll do anything you want. Just stop. Don't hurt him anymore. Please."

The sides of Pansy's lip curled with delight.

"Good. I'm glad to see you've come to your senses."

A small, but inescapable sob clutched Hermione.

"What do you want me to do?"

There was a calculated pause.

"Switch places with me."

Hermione's head shot up. "W-what?"

"It's simple really. You be me, and I'll be you."

"But…why?"

Pansy giggled. "Do you honestly believe I'm going to tell you that? That's my little secret, Granger. You'll just have to stick around to find out what that is."


Author's Notes:

Not your conventional 'potion-gone-wrong-and-we-changed-bodies' story or 'Hermione-Granger-you-actually-have-some-wizard-blood' story, though it is something of the sort. You may hate Pansy very much in this chapter, but she is the main character whom you will learn more about later. Her real reason for this: a boy. You do crazy things when you're in love.

- Lylian

Posted: April 29, 2007

Updated: September 7, 2007