January Event: Hermione Granger/Viktor Krum (hard pairing)
Chocolate Frog Card: Leticia Somnolens (Gold): Challenge: Use the tale of Sleeping Beauty as inspiration for your story. The story should reflect the tale.
Gringotts Prompt Bank: Fourth Floor: Spell Damage (St Mungo's / Location); Cairo (Cities and Towns / Location); "A hundred hearts would be too few, to carry all my love for you." - Unknown (Love Quotes); gawked (instead of said)
"Bill," Hermione called hesitantly, eyeing the set of runes on the pyramid wall. "We need to leave. There are charms in place that we aren't equipped for!"
"What are you on about?" he called back, confusion lacing his voice. She knew that once he understood their situation, he'd be having someone's head on a platter. A mistake this big was bad. "How bad are we talking?"
"You tell me," she breathed when she sensed him behind her. She heard his inhale and she just knew that things were bad. "Those runes, bottom left, I can only make out four of them."
"What do they say? I can't see from here."
"Women, sleep and love," she told him.
"Huh," he mused. "Doesn't sound too bad. Seems like someone wrote down a love story. What was the fourth?"
"Danger," she breathed. "The more I look at the one next to it, I'm sure it says imminent."
"Okay, right, we should get out of here. Calmly." She nodded and turned around so she could see where she was walking. "Don't touch anything and we should be good." She nodded and they were almost at the exit when things took a turn for the worst.
A crow, she didn't know how it got in there, swooped down and attacked her. She cried out in shock, lifting her arms so that she could protect her face. It didn't stop it from tearing her arms to shreds with his claws, causing a fair amount of blood to drip from the wounds. In her state, she couldn't see where she was going and stumbled on a rock. Before Bill could catch her, she steadied herself with a bloodied hand on the wall.
"Shit," she murmured the moment the bird went away and she could see her bloody handprint. "I just got played." Before they could start moving again, making their way out of the pyramid, a large yawn escaped Hermione. "M't'rd," she mumbled, her eyes blinking blearily before yawning again and falling. Bill was able to catch her this time and made a quick exit.
"How is she?" Bill asked the Healer at their camp. "Has she woken up yet?" The Healer sighed and took him to her bed where she was still sleeping.
"She won't wake up," the Healer admitted. "It seems to be a curse from the pyramid. We've managed to locate the file on the pyramid that you entered and there is mention of a curse that will cause all females that enter to sleep for as long as it takes for their true love to kiss them and wake them up. It's a nasty bit of spell work."
"But we'd been in there for at least an hour before she fell asleep, surely it should've acted instantly? And the cure for the curse seems silly, surely the women's husbands would've been able to wake them up immediately."
"It's an old curse and an old pyramid," the Healer shrugged. "All I can say is that maybe it was low on battery and needed the blood to boost the curse." She flicked her wand over Hermione and a quill beside her, noted her findings. "The cure was hard, back in those days. Marriages were more for convenience and kissing someone other than your husband was extremely frowned upon. Typically, women would sleep till they died. You're lucky that we're in a modern world and she's not betrothed. Has she got a boyfriend?"
Bill sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. "I don't know."
The emergency medical portkey that transported both Hermione and himself from the pyramids of Cairo to St Mungo's was put in place quicker than he'd ever seen and he could only put it down to her status. She was a celebrity, after all.
"St Mungo's, Fourth Floor," Bill spoke clearly to his patronus, watching it bounce away. He knew, within moments of that being sent, practically everyone would arrive and he didn't care. They needed to find someone to kiss Hermione and wake her up. Someone who loved her.
He was right. Only ten minutes later, as he paced the corridor outside of her room, he heard the sounds of a lot of people and he knew that they were his.
"Bill?!" a frantic voice exclaimed, one that he pegged was his Mother's. He'd barely turned around before she barrelled into him and was fussing. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Mum," he reassured. "It's Hermione." He heard the sharp inhale of breath from behind her and looked apologetically at Harry and Ron. "It could be very bad," he admitted truthfully.
Ron and Harry had camped themselves in her room after the first two days of panic and anger. He got the brunt of it but it didn't bother him, he expected and accepted it. But after that phase was over, came the ultimate sadness on her impending doom. They expanded the chairs in her room so they were larger and made them comfier so that they could be with her twenty four/seven. They were eating less and as days went past, it became clear to everyone that the pair weren't looking after themselves.
It was on one visit, just as Bill and George were getting ready to leave, that the older Weasley got fed up. He twisted his wand in elegant ways and chanted a whole jumble of words, causing the two thirds of the Golden Trio to fall asleep abruptly.
"What have you done?" George gawked, staring at him with shock. "They're going to be so mad if she wakes up and they're asleep."
"They'll wake up when she does," Bill answered. "I linked them to be more aware of her and added a mild sleeping charm. The charm will wear off when Hermione wakes up."
Weeks passed and Hermione, Harry and Ron slept peacefully in the Hospital. The Weasleys and close friends visited almost daily but they didn't stay long because it hurt them to see them all like that. Yes, they knew Harry and Ron can easily wake up with the charm reversal but the fact that Hermione couldn't… hurt.
Ginny sighed as she sat in her shared apartment with Hermione, alone.
She's scoured everywhere, looking through all of her books for something that would help but they'd all led to the same thing: True love kiss. Then she'd decided to look around for any hint that Hermione was in relations with someone secretly. The only thing she'd come across was a box warded heavily that even Bill had problems getting through it. The box, Ginny knew, was filled with important things to Hermione; photos, old letters, her parents' bits and bobs. She doubted that would have changed.
The floo chimed and Hermione sighed, guessing that it was more than likely to be her Mum, checking if she had enough food in the house.
That's why she was shocked when a large, burly figure that she easily recognised filled the room.
"Vhere is my Herminny?"
The look in his eye was all Ginny needed to see to decide her answer. "I'll take you to her."
Molly and George were sitting with the sleeping trio when Ginny arrived with her surprise guest in tow. He immediately rushed to Hermione's bedside, his hand cradling her cheek gently and pushing a curl behind her ear.
"Vhat is vong with her?" he asked, his eyes focused on her face. "Vhy is she asleep?"
"She was cursed at work," Ginny answered. "Some sort of sleeping spell. Only a kiss of true love will wake her up." She watched his body still, almost stiffen, and his eyes shut. She could only assume that he cared for her greatly but if he kissed her and she didn't wake up, it would break him and his heart. "You should give it a go," she prompted.
He stayed still for a moment longer before leaning down and chastely pressing his lips against hers.
Nothing happened. He sagged with disappointment.
Then everything happened.
Harry and Ron groaned, rubbing at their eyes as they stretched. Hermione's eyelids fluttered and she scrunched her nose up as she tried to get to grips with the difference from before to now.
"Viktor?" she croaked, reaching up to trace his face as if he was a dream. "You're here?"
"Of course, my love."
"A kiss of true love," Molly cried, shoving her face into George's chest as she cried of happiness.
"True love?" Hermione questioned. "Viktor, you love me?"
"A hundred hearts would be too few, to carry all my love for you."
George snorted. "That was smooth. Too smooth. He hasn't changed a bit, has he?" He was ignored.
"I love you too," Hermione whispered, kissing him soundly on the lips, allowing her this moment of peace before everyone overwhelmed her with their welcomes. "So much."
I may do a second part/prequel of how they came to be. I like the idea of that.