Spellbound Sacrifice: The Black Rose
(Book 2)
Chapter 4 – Flaming Fury
Enormous black arched double doors stood before Hermione and Draco as she hesitated about entering,
"Are they all in there?" Hermione nervously asked as Draco nodded darkly.
The gothic patterned border introduced Hermione to the uncompromising characters inside the room, as the jagged designs and menacing gargoyle faces, carved into the thick, imposing wood frame, made her shudder with trepidation.
A faint muttering could be heard beneath the solid imposing divider as Draco pushed his hand on the handle-less entrance and struggled to open the heavy doors,
"Ahhh Hermione, it's a little disappointing to see you back to normal but no doubt we will see your real side revealing itself again soon" Voldemort mocked as he glimpsed at Bellatrix as she regarded Hermione with a grimacing glare.
Hermione rolled her eyes at Bellatrix's intimidating behaviour as she taunted the nervous witch, with her wand, pointing it at Hermione as it followed her to her seat at the other end of the table.
The other Death Eaters pulled away from the unwelcome guest as the sceptical group whispered to each other about their reservations on their leader's plan.
Voldemort heard part of one of his followers doubting conversations as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table, as the dimly lit room fell upon a dead silence.
Hermione grabbed onto Draco's hand under the long black imposing table as they dodged the spilt glasses that rolled around on the shiny surface, from the vibrating force, and waited for Voldemort's wrath.
The furious leader focused on one of his petrified follower's as he pointed at the quivering disciple.
His long, thin grey withered finger sent chills down the table members spine's as they all anxiously waited for his punishment,
"You doubt me after everything I have shown you? Maybe you are on the wrong side? Or - maybe you are not worthy to serve on any side at all?" He screamed as he grabbed his wand from beneath his wide black sleeve and aimed it at the unsuspecting victim.
A sharp bolt of red lightning flew from the wand and lit the grey and black space as the other Death Eaters backed away from the doomed follower.
The lightning trail wrapped itself around the struggling Death Eater as Voldemort controlled its movement and intensity,
"Do you have any final words - of doubt?" He whispered as the bolt tightened its grasp around the follower's body.
The Death Eater frantically shook his head as the scorching trail enveloped his body from top to toe as he tried to morph into his gassy form, to escape, without success.
Voldemort smiled with glee as he watched his doubting minion slowly disintegrate to dust before ripping his wand away at the final moment, creating a blast of dust which shot into the air as the victim's body burst into a shower of ashes, littering the table from the black candle chandelier above,
"Anymore questions?" He yelled at the room as his voice bounced against the granite coloured walls, ensuring his followers were under no illusion about his power.
Hermione stood, grounded to the spot as Draco pulled her back to her seat, trying to appear unaffected by what he had just witnessed.
Regaining control of himself, Voldemort gestured the group to return to their seats as Bellatrix's glance at Hermione and blew her fellow member's ashes towards her.
The grey dusty remains swirled towards the witch, as a gust of wind from the hallway assisted the cremated whirlwind as it flew into Hermione's face,
"What are you doing?" Hermione shrieked.
Bellatrix cackled at the flapping witch as Hermione frantically dusted herself down to get rid of the previously doomed Death Eater's ashes.
Frustrated at the mocking from the deranged follower, Hermione grabbed her wand from her back pocket and swiped it at the taunting Death Eater.
Bellatrix stopped laughing and lunged her wand at the annoyed witch.
Voldemort grew tired of the witches' antics and attempt to regain order,
"Enough!" He bellowed as he raised his hands in protest as Hermione's eyes began to blacken with fury,
"Take her to the bedroom. This meeting is over!" He announced as Draco grabbed onto Hermione's arm in embarrassment and led her out of the simmering room.
The fresh breeze in the hallway cooled down the fiery witch as they walked to the bedroom in silence with Draco refusing to look at his torn lover.
They entered the bedroom and Draco stormed off into the ensuite bathroom to the side of the fireplace and slammed the door shut as Hermione slumped down onto the bed, deflated at her lover's refusal to acknowledge her.
She gazed into the roaring fire as she silently begged for answers - but none came.
Instead, the seductive flames danced before her eyes as their rhythmic motion hypnotically lulled her into a sense of utter elation.
Hermione slowly backed away from the mesmerising sight as her head hit the headboard,
"Ouch!" She hissed as she gawped at the developing scene before her.
Dancing and swaying out of the ashy pit, Hermione gasped as the flames snaked their way out of the fireplace, up the walls and towards the bed, creating a flaming cage of intensity.
Hermione tried to jump off the bed but she was paralysed to the king sized prison as the flames smacked and lashed at the quivering witch.
She tried to scream for Draco but no sound came out.
Instead, a small stream of black smoke slithered up from her contracting throat and into the fiery atmosphere, searching for something to attach itself to.
The enticing flames beckoned the black stream towards the ceiling as they merged with the connected black smoke and used it to connect to the incapacitated witch.
Hermione's mouth was clamped open by the smoky stream as she looked on in terror as her eyes widen with despair at the creeping stream of fire that was windy its way down the mist rope and towards Hermione's mouth.
She tossed and turned as the sheets tighten themselves around her wrists and ankles as she silently begged Draco to return to the room to help her - but the bathroom door remained firmly shut.
Hermione gagged Draco's name but all that came out her scorching mouth were frantic gurgles.
The fire seared her chapped lips as her body began to convulse at the fiery entity that had now entered her scorching shell.
Hermione closed her eyes as the fiery trail worked its way around her vital organs, infecting each one with a spark of flaming enticement as she gave up the fight and waited to join Voldemort's previous follower's ashes.
Her skin began to crack and emit a sizzling orange glow as the flaming trail came to the end of its journey at her frazzled head.
The flames wildly lashed around behind her eyes as the force levitated Hermione above the bed and mummified the scorching witch in a wrap of fire just as the bathroom handle turned.
Hermione's body hung in the air as Draco stood in the doorway, staring at the blazing room in terror.
He observed the burning walls and ceiling as his baffled mind tried to work out what type of magic created this fiery force.
Draco slowly pulled his wand from his cloak as a stream of fire shot itself from the floating witch and whipped the wand from his hand, leaving him helpless and powerless to help his suffocating lover,
"Hermione!" He screamed to the swirling ball of fire that floated before his eyes.
The fiery mummified sight started to pulsate and shake as it reacted with Draco's panicked shrieks,
"I'm sorry about earlier. I know Bellatrix provoked you. Just please come back to me" he screamed.
The pulsating fiery ball stretched and tore as Hermione's limps began to tear through her flaming cage as Draco ducked in the doorway to avoid the fiery bolts that were being expelled into the room from the escaping witch.
With the last pieces of the flaming cover gone, Hermione slowly hovered back onto the bed as her cracked skin slowly repaired itself.
She looked at her petrified lover cowering in the doorway as the fiery entity ripped her head towards the ceiling, gripped her eyes open wide and shot the remaining flames from the walls and ceiling into the paralysed witch's eyes as the room returned to normal with only the roaring flames lashing out behind Hermione's eyes as a reminder of the previous minute's fiery events.
Draco cautiously walked towards his unresponsive lover on the bed,
"Hermione?" He whispered.
A smoky veil covered the witch's body as she bolted upright and faced her lover blankly.
Draco backed away, unsure of what to expect from the emotionless witch as she stood, robotically, in front of him and regarded him with determination as a faint eerie voice echoed around her searing mind,
"East Wing".
She stepped forward and put her blistering hand on his cheek as the connection engulfed him in a fiery veil as images and feelings of the new entity that infected Hermione, revealed part of itself to the petrified Death Eater.
Hermione moved her cracked smoky hand away from Draco's singed cheek as he fell down to his knees, unable to take anymore,
"I have given up everything for you which is proof or who's side I am on but now you must show me your devotion. Show me what is in the East Wing" Hermione coolly demanded as she walked towards the bedroom door.
Draco jumped in front of the heavy mahogany divider and begged his lover to wait until the morning as she held up her hand and threw him to the side.
The shocked Death Eater stared at the powerful witch with alarm as he regarded her wand on the bed with foreboding,
"Hermione you didn't use your wand to move me" he gasped as his unresponsive lover looked back at Draco on the floor and confidently concluded,
"I have much more power inside me than any wand does - well all but one, and once I find it, no one will be able to stop me from finding out the truth"
With that, Hermione opened the door and headed to the East Wing, leaving Draco to run to the dining room to get Voldemort to stop his determined lover before she finds out the truth and destroys them all.
By Queen Frost Bite