Today is the day that I kill the one man I ever truly loved. She thought as she approached them. A story of how two people came together and were violently torn apart by a war.
Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter…or anything like that.
Italics: flashbacks
Non-italics: present day.
Prologue.
Painful reminders.
Life. An inexistent force, a white light in which I slowly drown.
Death. A peaceful existence, a darkness that caresses my battered body.
He laughs, a high maniacal laugh as he stares down at me, I feel his red eyes piercing into my soul and I look up at him defiantly. His snake like features contort in rage, his leathery skin stretching against his knuckles as he clenches his fist around his long, elderly wand.
I look to its brother, my wand that lay in his left hand. He follows my gaze and laughs once more, a quiet, almost normal chuckle. I let out a small growl, which ends up sounding like a series of gargling noises. I grimace as the metallic taste reaches my tongue, his face is blurry before me, the scarlet heat is falling into my eyes.
I place my torn and bloody hands in front of me and press on the hard floor to right myself. My muscles scream in process as I rise to my knees, it looks as if I am kneeling before him; I frown and immediately try to rectify the situation. I lean heavily on my left leg, my right, I cannot feel, it hangs limply from my hip, like a dead weight attempting to drag my protesting body back to the floor.
I swallow and raise my eyes once more to face him, my eyes alight in anger, pain and most of all, regret. He has a smirk on his face, a proud, arrogant smirk that seems unwavering, but his eyes, his eyes tell a completely different story. I let out a small laugh, flecks of blood flying from my mouth, mingled with saliva which hits his pale face, contrasting oddly to his flesh.
"I'm not dead yet … Tom." My voice is crackly, my life force, my heart beat is fading and I blink several times to try and stop the black spots appearing in my vision, clouding my already ruined sight. The older man wipes my blood from his face with the hem of his long black robes with disgust, a scowl replacing his smirk.
I look on triumphantly, finally he is angry. Even before I came here I knew I was going to die, I was willing to die, willing to sacrifice myself so that she could kill him, it's our only chance, Voldemort needs to kill me, he needs to destroy the final horcrux and in doing so, kill me. Or I need to kill him. But then, I would be asking something of my best friend that she should never have to give, that she would never be willing to give.
I feel resigned to my fate, like I was never meant to live my life to the fullest. I am, merely a sacrificial lamb, made for the slaughter from birth, made to die and if possible, bring down the bad wolf in the process.
I sigh as he surveys my face severely, he tries to probe my mind and I laugh again when he lets out a cry of outrage.
"I have killed everyone you have ever loved." Voldemort hissed and I nod, a bored expression on my face. A slight pang of pain resides within me at the mention of those I have lost, but I must not let him win, I can't let him win.
"Yes and we all applaud your efforts." I spit my voice crackling and Voldemort's teeth bared in a snarl. Pain, excruciating pain runs through my entire being, like hot pokers being driven into every inch of my body, I remain as still as I can, feeling the curse intensify with his rage, my body shakes and I close my eyes tightly and then its gone, and relief washes over me, until I look up and see Voldemort still before me.
We are alone in the cave, I hear a blast from outside the walls that trap me and the ground shakes, I pray that no one I love is hurt.
Rays of sunlight begin to creep through behind him, casting him in a glow unbecoming to him, he looked like the devil, but it was as if nature was trying to obscure his sins from my view, he shone like an angel, but I know better.
He raises his wand and with one smooth motion cuts through the air, a cut opens up on my chest, I raise my hand and feel the last of my energy pulsate from it, the green light almost prevents me from seeing the angel standing at the entrance to the cave, her beautiful form bathed in light. I smile as my eyes meet hers and she raises her wand and the last words I hear, come from the angelic voice of my love, her wand pointed directly at my chest as the snake infront of me crumples to the ground. A dark mist surrounds me and I feel my eyes burn as they are stained scarlet. I smile and watch as a tear rolls down her delicate cheek, her beauty radiating from her glowing body.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
She sat up in shock, clutching her chest in pain, the image of two men falling to their deaths burnt into the back of her eyelids. Hermione reached for her potion and grimaced at the time that flashed up at her 2.45 am, better than yesterday; she thought with a small grimace on her face and gulped down the putrid smelling headache potion.
Hermione covered her face with her trembling hands and let a small sob escape her lips. She rose from her large bed, knowing she would never get back to sleep even if she tried.
She ran her fingers through her tangled mess and sighed, using her wand to tame her characteristically unruly locks. She walked into the bathroom that lead off from her room and flicked on the light leaning heavily on the basin she sighed despondently when she saw her face. The woman staring back at her was hollowed, her once rosy cheeks were now dull, her eyes dark and emotionless, a deep dark abyss of despair. One scar ran across her neck and she placed her fingertips to the fading blemish and a single, innocent tear ran down her face.
"What happened to me?" Hermione asked her reflection and wasn't surprised when she received a single answer.
"Love." Hermione turned on the tap and splashed her face with icy water, washing away the tears and remnants of her restless slumber.
"War… that's what happened to me." she whispered and switched off the light. The immediate envelopment of darkness would in the past have made her tremble with fear, but now she revelled in it, it was the one thing that allowed her not to face the truth, to simply hide away in her own memories and despair, slowly sinking deeper and deeper within the confines of her scarred mind.
"Harry Potter… he was what happened to you." her mirror self called and Hermione turned back, staring at her reflection which was merely a dark silhouette, the mirror itself had been Dumbledore's, when he had shortly lived in this apartment during the first war, the apartment itself had not been occupied since the former headmaster had been there in the late seventies, he had given it to Hermione a week before Harry's death, it was as if the old wizard knew exactly what was going to happen. Hermione sometimes hated him for that, the fact that he always knew what was going to happen and did nothing to prevent certain things and everything to prevent others. She frowned and bowed her head, walking to her bedside table.
She withdrew her wand and lit a single candle. The yellow flame immediately flickered into life, casting a friendly glow onto the only picture in the entire otherwise plain room.
The couple looked happy, in love. His strong arms were around her, a smile on his bespectacled face; he immediately brought her into a sweet kiss and spun her around in his embrace. Hermione remembered the day well, she had squealed when he lifted her into the air, the cold autumn air chilling her smiling face.
That was her twenty-second birthday, two years, before she became a murderer.
AN
For those of you who followed forgive these changes, my other story and liked my frequent updates will be slightly disappointed because my updates with this story will not be every day, at best they will be every second day at worst weekly, im going to aim for longer chapters than this one, which in turn will increase the wait for new chapters, apologies but I have important exams coming up and holidays finish today…
Anyway: your thoughts?