Author's Note: Hi, here I am! I'm not dead! *waves* I realized the other day that I haven't posted anything for this series in over a year, and for that, I'm so sorry! I started going back to school for my degree in Creative Writing and it's been busy. I used to scoff at the authors on here who would use school as an excuse but never again. I totally get it. This was the last one I was working on during the winter that I stopped because school and this was a bit much. Believe it or not, I've only picked back up on reading some of my favorite stories in the last week or two; I didn't even read fanfiction! That's when you know it's sirius! I figured, since it's been so long, I'd finish it and post it for everyone. I'm posting half now and half later in the day, maybe tomorrow. I hope that the next one doesn't take me this long. But I can't make any guarantees, as I'm heading to Paris next month for a bit.
If any of my regulars are still here, please leave me a love note in a review, I miss you all! And to my newbies, hello, hello! Please read and leave me a lovely review and maybe I'll post something sooner than later!
Per usual, this is a part of the Grimmauld Fairy Tale series and IS rated M. You should know what that means and if you don't like that stuff, don't read it! Or, be very skilled at skimming through those parts! Check out the others in this series, they're great too!

itakethewords


The Rose: A Grimmauld Fairy Tale
By: itakethewords


The wizarding world was on the mend, licking its wounds from the havoc Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater followers had caused. Not only were a handful of evil wizards loose, but many dark artifacts had been lost among the shadows and skirmishes. One artifact, while not classified as dark, was dubious and feared. A spinning wheel, made of ebony and tipped with gold, rumored to have spun the first true invisibility cloak. What made most people shudder at the mention of this spinning wheel was the curse imbued; a mixed bag curse that affected only muggleborn. Placed on the artifact by the last owner, a collector who's family was as stingy with money as they were with affection and kindness.

Unfortunately, it was this shadowed artifact that Hermione Granger stumbled across one day as she sorted through an acquired acquisition at Gringotts. She barely ran a finger along the golden tip before pricking her finger. With a hiss she pulled her finger to her and sucked on the tip to stop the bleeding. Across the room, Fleur Wesley whipped her head to look at her coworker, shock written on her face.

"'ermione, no!"

With a small sigh, Hermione collapsed straight to the floor, piled on herself gracelessly. Running over to the fallen woman, Fleur sent out her patronus and fell to her knees, gathering up the younger girl in her arms.

"'ang on, 'ermione. Help is coming soon. I promise."

/*\

The portrait of Severus Snape looked down at the witch on the bed, face blank. Around the bed, Harry Potter, Ginny Potter, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and George Weasley looked on with various degrees of worry and confusion.

"The chit is lucky she wasn't killed painfully or something worse. As it is, this is the Sleeping Beauty curse." Snape kept his voice neutral, but his brows furrowed ever so slightly.

Harry swallowed and took her hand in his. It was cooler than it should have been. "So, what does that mean? She'll sleep until someone kisses her? Shouldn't one of us just end it now and wake her up?"

"Harry, it's not that easy. Nothing in curses ever is. A kiss won't do it, not from just anyone especially," Ginny explained, looking to her husband. "Hermione has to be kissed by her soul mate, a magically equal partner who fits her physically, mentally and magically. She has to be woken up from the inside out."

George wrinkled his nose. "So are we bringing any old bloke into Grimmauld here so he can cop a feel?"

"Don't be a fool, Weasley," Snape drawled. "Kingsley, the Ministry still has the testers in the Department of Mysteries, correct?"

The large black man nodded. "Yes. They're the department's worst kept secret," he chuckled. Sobering, he said to George while watching the slow breathing of Hermione, "There are aptitude spells that can narrow down the pool. Somewhere, there is a witch or wizard who can help Hermione."

"What if it was Ron?"

The question hung heavy on the air, picking at the scabbing wound that was the death of Ron and Fred as they'd fought back to back against Death Eaters twenty two months before. Surprisingly, Snape was the first to speak.

"Magic has ways of compensating for the world around us."

"For now, we need to keep this within our circle. We don't want groups of random wizards beating down the door trying to get to her, taking advantage." Kingsley checked his pocket watch. "If none of you can stay with her, I can arrange for someone to come keep an eye on her in case she wakes up."

George spoke up first. "I can stay tonight, but not tomorrow. The shop will keep with Angie once and a while."

The others looked to Snape's portrait, who sneered at the group. "I am at Hogwarts. I watch over Slytherin house, I can't be here to watch her as well." With a final glare, his portrait became empty, his figure retreating into the distance.

Kingsley held up his hands in surrender, silencing Harry who had been about to speak. "I will send some reliable witches and wizards to take shifts when none of us can be here. I will also have the department look into finding Hermione a match."

The large man left the room, heading downstairs to Apparate, leaving the younger generation gathered at the bedside of Hermione. With a sigh, Harry ran a hand through his dark hair. He looked down at Ginny, who was absentmindedly tucking Hermione in further and smoothing the blankets.

"Let's get back to Andromeda's, get Teddy, and make dinner back at the Hollow." Harry looked sideways to George. "Will you need anything? No telling what Hermione had in her cupboards."

George shook his head. "I'll be fine. Besides, I reckon a few moments alone with me and I'll have her up before breakfast." He winked and laughed at the blush on Harry's face.

It was six months before the Magical Aptitude Testers of the Department of Mysteries were able to narrow down their database of living, viable wizards to suit Hermione's off the charts magical core.


Hermione was dead. She was sure of it.

She found herself in a space of white nothing. She was standing, on what, she didn't know, as there didn't seem to be any ground or a floor. Infinite white, emptiness. There didn't seem to be any sort of structure involving time or the necessities of living. She never got hungry or thirsty or tired.

Yet, her body could feel that she had been there more than just a few moments.

Her solid proof came in the form of a dark visitor, walking towards her from the nowhere. A mere speck against the white until his face was close enough for her to remember him.

"Did you die, too?"

He laughed. "I didn't die, sugar. And neither did you."

"Then where the hell am I? And just how long have I been here?"

"This is some sort of limbo, I suppose." He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Explains how I was able to get to you. There's nothing to distract or block me. As for how long, right now... I guess it's been maybe six weeks or so."

Hermione frowned, swallowing hard. Throwing any decorum or shyness out the window, she launched herself at the man and squeezed tight. "I missed you."

"I miss you, sugar. I'm coming to find you out there. In the waking world." He hugged her back tightly. "Count on me."

He pulled away to take in her face, his eyes searching for permission. He found what he was looking for wavering in brown eyes and took her lips with his. Their lips met fiercely, battling for dominance, passion exuding from the pair.

Curling her hand upward, Hermione wound her fingers in his longer hair and tugged gently, grinning smugly in their kiss when he let out a moan.

"Please," she said, breaking their embrace, panting heavily. Her lips nibbled on his left earlobe before taking a rougher nip with her teeth. She could feel the shudder run through him.

Letting out a shaky breath, he shook his head and pulled back farther, looking down at her at arms length. "If I could, I would. I've been here too long. I need to wake up or I can't get you out. I'll be back, you won't notice the time between," he added quickly, sensing Hermione's hurt. "I'm coming for you, I promise."

And then Hermione was alone again, infinite white surrounding her.


"Harry, be realistic. This list of men are the only hope we have of waking Hermione up! It's been a hundred and eighty four days and counting. She won't wake up from this curse spontaneously." Ginny looked across the breakfast table at Hermione's Grimmauld Place and was met with a mulish look on Harry's.

"This list is absolute bullocks. There is no way Hermione would ever pick these men!" He tossed the parchment at Ginny and grimaced at the thought.

Shaking her head, Ginny picked up the letter from Shacklebolt and read off some of the names listed. "Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Terry Boot, Brandon Gardner, Rastaban Lestrange, and even my brother Charlie. And that's not the whole list. It is impressive." Harry snorted, but she continued. "Think about it Harry. These are powerful wizards. Even the Malfoys. And you can't tell me you're adverse to Charlie, too."

"I should hope not."

Harry and Ginny both jumped, started by the deep voice in the doorway. Charlie stood there, arms crossed, grin on his lips. Ginny flew out of her chair and hugged her older brother. Harry grinned, glad to see the older Weasley as well.

"What are you doing in London?" Ginny asked, pulling back and motioning for Charlie to sit.

"Kingsley sent me an owl, asked me to take a week off from the keep. He said he had important business to discuss with me." He smirked and tousled his hair a bit. "Little did I know that the business would be Hermione."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah, trust if it's not Hermione in the thick of it, it's Harry."

"What happened to her, Gin? I understand that she's under a sleep curse, but what caused it?"

It was Harry who spoke first. "She and Fleur were going through acquired Gringotts vaults, sorting the dark artifacts from the distributive items. According to Fleur, there was a replica of a golden spindle under a pile of books and Hermione pricked her finger on the needle."

"Hermione crumpled to the ground and seemed so dead when they brought her here. Her skin is as cold as death, Charlie," Ginny whispered.

The three sat at the table in a cloud of various emotions. And the clock ticked one thousand eight hundred and one times before Charlie stood. Harry looked off to the side, uncomfortable with the situation and Ginny stared up at her big brother, hopeful.

"I'll be back down in a bit. Hopefully with Hermione."

"Charlie…" Ginny called out. He looked back from the doorway. "You're the first one we've allowed to try. Be careful, we don't know what will happen."

Charlie winked to lighten the mood. "I tame dragons, Gin. How bad could this be if I'm not it?"