Title: Queen of Hearts
Rating: PG
Warnings: Singular use of the word wanton. ;) None, really.
Word Count: 498
A strange, painful shudder went through her, shook her body and she suddenly
remembered she must breathe. Her knees gave way in a slow crumple, lungs pawing
frightfully for handfuls of air. One hand reached out to touch hesitantly, shook, slid
down the smooth glass without finding purchase or staining.
The mirror reflected a myriad of colours as dazzling glimpses of her every desire
rippled beneath the placid surface. Hermione's harsh breaths were the only thing to
break the silence, the deceptive stillness.
Power…
She wielded her wand, exuding wave upon wave of overwhelming power. It was like
a cloud of perfume, an odour, stinging sparks of magic surrounding her like wasps.
And everyone cowered at her feet, their vulnerably exposed throats, upturned backs,
lining her way to justice.
(a glimpse of a strawberry red tongue behind white teeth when she licked her lips)
Intelligence…
She walked a solitary path, a bright star – no, the brightest star, swathed in sweet
glory. Delicious, undying glory, the milestones upon her path prizes and essays and
praise and the glowing knowledge of being the best, achieving the best. With no one
to tell her otherwise.
(Hermione swayed forward gradually until the coolness emanating from the glass
seemed to reach out for her body heat, swallowing it whole. Goosebumps swept up
over her arms, a plague.)
Love…
She saw herself clasped in a tight, wanton embrace; green eyes, grey eyes, blue
eyes, black eyes made of no light… a smattering of freckles, elegant hands.
An unruly nest of red hair. And then… and then…
The anonymous paramour turned her gently in his arms, breath hot and heavy and
palpable upon the mirror-Hermione's pale throat.
And then… and then…
And then Ginny's mouth descended upon hers, (no, mirror-hers) searing through
glass and flesh and bone and nerve, time and room.
(She cried out her "NO!" so harshly that it bounced and ran circles around the room,
ringing out like a church bell.
"No…" Born of desperation. She flung herself back from the icy fingers of the mirror
of Erised, her Desire, her erised.
"No, no, no… no!" Sobbing now, she groped blindly around her, salt tears wetting
her hands. Her engagement ring. Where was it? She felt a moment of sharp,
absolute dread at the thought that she might have ripped it right off her finger under
the presence of the enchantment.
Hermione scrabbled back and forth on her knees, back purposely to the mirror and
finally found it tucked into the folds of a white linen cloth. The big, empty hall
seemed to still be resounding with footsteps, conversations and whispers from the past.
The floorboards creaked with longing. All the furniture was covered with dusty
sheets but for once she spared not a thought to what might be under them.
She closed her fist around the ring, pressing it briefly to her lips. She would not dare
lose it, could not afford to be rid of it.)
"With love forever/ Percy"