To the Death
Hey you guys! I just had this idea while watching the Hunger Games trailer. Sort of taking a small break from Under just so I can start this one. I'm gonna continue updating Under as well as work on a sequel to White, but this has been bouncing around in my head for like a week. Hope you guys enjoy it! Please read and review.
RON'S POV:
Beep beep beep beep. The annoying sound of an alarm clock filled the sleepy room. I groaned and sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes. 7:03? What the hell? I mean I always poke fun at Hermione for setting such specific times, but this- she wouldn't hear the end of this.
Speaking of Hermione, I turned to where she lay fast asleep. Funny. I thought to myself. She sets the alarm for this time and she doesn't even wake up at the sound of it. She sighed in her sleep and I thought about just going to work without her. No. She'd kill me if I let her sleep through work. When Hermione sleeps in, she sleeps through the entire day. I don't know if she has some kind of sickness that causes that, or if she's just that tired.
I put my hand on her warm shoulder and shook it slightly. "Hermiiione." I cooed. She shifted in her sleep and moaned. I shook her shoulder again. "C'mon sweetheart. Time to get up. You don't want to be late for work." She turned her small frame to face me, her eyes still closed.
She opened her mouth and muttered. "Don't feel good." I smiled and laughed through my nose.
"Poor thing." I put my hand on her forehead, attempting to amuse her. I drew my hand away quickly as if she had burned me. "Ouch! You're burning up, babe!"
She sat up and hit me playfully on the arm. "Fine, you got me." She lay back down on her back and rested her hands on her stomach. "But seriously, I want to call in sick."
"We can't, hon. You've got that presentation today." She grimaced at the thought. "What? You nervous?" She shook her head.
"No, I'm not nervous, I just.." She paused.
I furrowed my brow and rubbed her back. "You just what?"
"I don't know, I just don't have a good feeling about work today. I don't know what it is, I just don't like it." I smiled at her.
"Nothing bad's going to happen. The worst that could happen is that you completely fuck up your presentation." She hit me again.
"Language, Ron!" I laughed heartily and got out of bed. I walked over to the curtains and began to draw them back.
I turned to Hermione. "Close your eyes." She turned over onto her stomach and rested her face in the crook of her right elbow. I drew the curtain, letting in the light of a new day. Hermione moaned as she began to open her eyes, letting them adjust to the bright light. I walked by her and kissed her head gently. She smiled and began to sit up and stretch.
It was a very slow morning for us. Usually we're out the door by 7:45, but we left the flat around 8. I took her small hand in mine and closed my eyes, preparing to apparate. Before we could apparate, Hermione let go of my hand. I turned to look at her, confusion written on my face.
"Ron, seriously I really really don't want to go to work. I seriously have a bad feeling about it." She turned to head back inside. I lunged forward quickly and grabbed her hand. Before she could say anything, we apparated.
When we hit the ground, she immediately tried to apparate herself back home. "Hermione! Stop! What's bothering you so much?"
She looked at me with confusion. "I-" Before she could say anything more, two ministry guards grabbed her and forced her arms forward, and lifted her shirt slightly, exposing her back.
I ran forward only to be stopped by two more guards. "What the fuck are you doing! Let her go!"
The guard to my right began to speak as I continued to struggle against them. "All mudbloods must be marked for the selection." What? Marked?
"MARKED? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I heard Hermione scream and I turned to see something that made me sick. Another man came behind her with some sort of branding iron. The iron at the end was in the shape of a giant M and it appeared to be yellow and steaming. It looked like it was supposed to burn the M into her skin.
"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP!" My protests were ignored as the man pressed the iron into the bare skin of her back. Hermione jolted forward and screamed. I fought against the guards as she screamed louder. How dare they brand her like some sort of farm animal? My heart broke as the man took her shoulder and pressed the iron further into her skin. The guards holding me back finally let me go. I ran forward as the guards holding Hermione in place pushed her to the ground.
"Hermione! Hermione are you okay?" I knelt down and took her hand, helping her to her feet. She was trying not to cry. I took the end of her shirt in my fingers and looked into her watering eyes. "Can I?" She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth. She hissed in pain as the material of her shirt rubbed slightly against her burnt skin.
Anger flooded through my entire body as I saw what they had done. An angry red, bleeding M was permanently burned into her skin. As if she didn't have enough marks like that. Her left arm still had that disgusting word forever etched into her porcelain skin. Now she had this? Struggling to keep the anger out of my voice, I spoke to her in a soothing tone.
"It's okay Hermione. You can barely notice it." I let her shirt back down, eliciting a hiss from her. "Sorry, sweetie." I kissed the top of her head and looked at her face. My heart broke as I gazed at her features. She was still trying to keep herself from crying. Her hands rested on her hips, her head was bent back as if looking at the sky, and her eyes were squeezed shut.
"Let's go home, okay?" She nodded, her face still contorted in pain. I took her hand, but before we could apparate, we were stopped by the same guards as before. "Look, just leave us alone." I said, anger dripping from my voice. I suddenly saw a jet of light hit Hermione and I and felt the effects of an imperius curse take place. I was furious. I couldn't turn around and apparate, I couldn't get to Hermione, I couldn't fight, I couldn't do anything.
We were forced into a giant room full of people separated into two groups. The one on the left contained Harry, several of my coworkers and my entire family. I looked to the group on the right. It contained Dean, Penelope Clearwater, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Mary Cattermole. My heart stopped as I realized the pattern in the two groups. The group on the right was full of muggle borns.
I looked in the direction Hermione was in to see the imperius curse lifted from her. She struggled against the men as they pushed her roughly to the muggle born group. I felt the curse being lifted from me. I fought the guards, trying so hard to get to her. I could see the fear in her eyes as she was pushed roughly to the front of the group. The guards pushed me next to a shaking Harry. My mum was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh Ron- it's just so horrible!" She wailed as she sobbed into my chest. I looked at Dad who wore a face of complete sorrow and worry. He spoke in a solemn voice.
"They said that all muggle borns would be marked. Did they mark Hermione? How did they mark her?" I shook my head, disgusted with the situation we were all in.
Before I could answer him, the doors behind us closed and Lucius Malfoy stood on a platform in front of the muggle borns. My heart filled with overwhelming fury and confusion as he began to speak into a small microphone.
"Welcome, welcome. I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here." I scanned the other group, my eyes frantically searched the crowd for my beautiful wife. I finally found her, her chocolate eyes darting nervously. I looked her over making sure she wasn't hurt more than she had been.
Apparently Harry was looking at her too. "Look at her wrists." He whispered into my ear, struggling to keep the anger from his voice. I followed his gaze to Hermione's wrists. My blood boiled with anger. Her wrists were shackled together in handcuffs. I scanned the entire muggle born group. Everyone's wrists were in handcuffs.
"If you are a pure blood, you were not harmed upon your arrival. However if you are a mudblood, you were branded with a letter M. The men on your stomachs, the women on your backs. You're probably all wondering why this has happened. Why we had to mark the mudbloods." My eyes filled with tears. I was so afraid for Hermione.
"We had to separate the filthy and worthless from the pure." I was ready to kill him. How dare he speak of my wife like that? How dare he speak of anybody like that?
"This is the selection. From the mudblood group, we will have four women and four men be selected to fight to the death in the Arena. If you are chosen, you are what we call a tribute. If you are chosen, you have no choice but to participate. If you are chosen and somebody else volunteers to take your place, then they will take your place in the Arena." I looked at Hermione who was struggling to keep herself from crying again. She scanned the pureblood group and locked eyes with me.
I mouthed to her You're fine, and It's okay. She shook her head and took a wheezing breath that I could hear from across the giant room. She was so pale, I thought she was going to be sick. Lucius began to speak again.
"I have every mudblood's name written on a piece of paper in these two bowls. One for the men, one for the women." He pointed to two small glass bowls levitating next to him. I wanted to take that bowl and beat him to death with it. Nothing would've made me happier. Besides Hermione being at home, safe of course. Hermione and I never broke eye contact.
I could hear him shuffling his hand in the bowl. "I will now choose the men tributes." He picked four pieces of paper. Hermione and I still didn't break eye contact.
"Dean Thomas." The entire room erupted with screams of protest as Dean solemnly walked up to the front of the room. I didn't see his face or anything because I kept my gaze fixed on Hermione.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley." Again, the room erupted with anger. I still stared at Hermione, refusing to break eye contact.
Three more names were drawn. People I'd never even heard of. Hermione was sobbing, still keeping her puffy chocolate eyes on mine. All of these tributes were her friends, and to think that she might have to kill them all… I couldn't imagine what she was feeling.
"And now for the women." My heart thudded against my ribs. I could hear him shuffling the small pieces of paper in the bowl. My eyes were still locked on Hermione's.
This was it.