HUGE thanks to the following people: Genetic Island, Anon, Kyra4, WannaBArtist, ODST girl058, Dark-Illusion1, supafly09, LadyKillingSpree, BA de Danone, jeanselina, forkslover1.
Disclaimer: I disclaim Harry Potter. I hope he doesn't take it personally.
Everything To Lose
Chapter 12: The Happiest Day of My Life
In which the D-Trio finds at last what they are
looking for, Hermione gives a passionate kiss and gets abandoned, and
something horrible is revealed.
For many long moments all he could do was stare. At first he didn't believe what he was seeing and expected the vision to disappear any second now. But it didn't and he kept staring. The very previous evening Harry had said that tomorrow they would find Hermione and even though he kept saying it every day, and even though he had not believed him then, now it was tomorrow and Hermione was sitting in front of them.
Ron suddenly felt his heart explode of the many sensations he was having. First there was surprise, complete and utter shock, then came relief, followed by exhilaration, then apprehension and worry. He was not going to analyze his feelings since he had never been any good at this, but he let the overwhelming relief and joy took power of him, and a goofy grin appeared on his face.
They had found her. After months of searching they had finally found her. And she was alive, she was safe and she looked unharmed.
"Hermione," he gasped, stepping towards her, craving to hold her in his arms again, feel her skin against his own and her warm breath upon his neck. It had been far too long since he last held her.
She looked at the three of them, but her eyes failed to flash in the merry sparkle they usually did when seeing her friends. Her mouth didn't form a smile and her expression stayed absolutely blank. She looked at them and she saw them, but she didn't seem to recognize them.
A dark fear suddenly enveloped Ron and a ball of dread was forming in his stomach. What had they done to her? She looked different than before with her former bushy brown hair now sleek and black, but her physical appearance didn't bother him much. She was still the same Hermione, even though he had grown to love her untamed curls. But what frightened him was her expression, still cold and emotionless bearing no hint of recognition or even surprise. She hadn't seen her friends for months but now she was looking at them as if they were strangers to her. She could have never forgotten them, but it was able to make her forget...
"Hermione, it's us, your friends," he implored her. "It's me, Ron. Don't you remember me?"
His heart clenched painfully at another blank look he received as a reply. Hermione slowly rose from the seat and carefully placed down the book she had been reading, then turned towards them and folded her arms.
"I know exactly who you are, Ronald Weasley," she stated coldly.
At the tone of her voice and the way she used his full name, Ron felt his biggest fears come true. They had indeed Obliviated her, those bastards, and told her lies about her friends.
But he pushed away the coming despair and hopelessness – he had felt them too often lately – and tried again.
"I'm your friend, Hermione. You remember me, don't you? You remember how we went together to Hogwarts? Remember all the things we did with Harry? The troll we saved you from at our first year? And then how we went after..."
"The Philosopher's Stone trying to protect it from the Dark Lord? The Chamber of Secrets and being turned to stone by the Basilisk? Going back in time to rescue Sirius Black? The Tri-Wizard tournament? Fighting Death Eaters in the Ministry? The night Dumbledore was killed? Finding and destroying each and every one of the Horcruxes? Locating the village and taking down all the Death Eaters there, minus Peter Pettigrew who managed to escape? Do I remember all of these? Yes, Ronald Weasley, I remember all of these."
Ron let out a sigh of relief. She remembered. But then why...
"Why do you keep calling me 'Ronald Weasley'?"
"Isn't that your name?"
"Yes, but..."
Ron wasn't able to finish since all of a sudden another voice called out from some other room.
"Who are you talking to, honey?" it asked.
"We've got guests," Hermione called back.
"Who?" the voice sounded curious.
"Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy," she loudly spoke their names, granting each of them a short look, before turning toward the voice which now was accompanied by hurrying footsteps.
A moment later Blaise Zabini walked into the room, surveyed the scene and grinned rather maliciously. But before speaking to them he turned to Hermione.
"Did you forget to lock the front door after your walk today?" he questioned.
"I locked it," she shrugged. "But all it needs is Pure Blood and a Dark Mark and at least one of your guests lives up to both criteria."
"Oh, yes," Blaise agreed. "You think we should tighten our security?"
"Perhaps. How many traitorous Death Eaters know our location?"
"None," he frowned.
"Apparently one does," she stated calmly. "Want me to get rid of them?"
"No need, Babe. In fact," he smirked, "I've been looking forward to meeting them."
"Suit yourself," she shrugged again and turned to walk away. As she passed him, Blaise stretched out his hand and grabbing her arm he pulled her to him and captured her mouth in a savage kiss.
This finally ended everyone's stupor and the air was suddenly full of shouts.
"Get away from her, you bastard!"
"Let her go, you scum!"
"I will kill you, Zabini."
Granted, he let her go, but finding three wands pointed at him didn't seem to intimidate him, instead he gave them another smug smile.
"But she likes it. Don't you, babe?" he turned to Hermione.
She sent him a glance through her dark lashes, a glance that was obviously seducing, and throwing her arms round his neck she kissed him long and passionately, leaving them both slightly breathless as she pulled away.
"I told you she likes it," Blaise announced victoriously.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?" Ron yelled. "You bastard! You have her under Imperius!"
"No, he doesn't," Hermione replied, moving out of his embrace to stand beside him, arms folded and an ugly sneer on her face. "You really think I'm weak enough not to fight an Imperius? Even Potter manages to do it."
But Ron was not convinced.
"What did you do to her?" he yelled again and shot forward, moving his wand in a threatening way.
Blaise spared it only a glance and then raised his brows mockingly.
"That's it, bastard, you're gonna get it now! Stupe--"
But he had to halt his curse since Hermione suddenly stepped in front of Blaise.
"Get out of the way, Hermione," Ron hissed, shaking with fury, but she stood her ground.
Not knowing what to do he sent Harry a pleading look, but the Boy Who Lived seemed too shocked and clueless himself.
Deciding it was time to act, Draco swiftly crossed the room and pulled Hermione out from between Ron and Blaise, giving the former a clear way to attack. But he let the opportunity pass, simply too shocked to see him use sheer force against the girl he claimed to love.
The moment Draco had first noticed Hermione he thought his heart would stop. Time seemed to have halted as well, and he hadn't been able to do anything but stare. The first thing he felt after the shock, however, was pain. It was different from the pain he had felt before but it was still sharp and intense. It hurt him to see her after so much time. But this pain he cherished. This pain was good.
The idea that this was a dream did indeed pass his mind but he quickly banished it, wanting to hope this was real, wishing to believe it was true, that they had really found her. And if it was indeed a dream, he wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.
His thoughts about her cold demeanor were surprisingly the same as Ron's at first, as he too feared her memory might have been modified. The way she had looked at him, her eyes, always warm and full of emotion now so void and empty, it had almost broken his heart. But, opposite to Ron, he knew that look – after all, hadn't he seen it for years staring back at him from the mirror. Her expression was not necessarily cold, it was simply guarded. Just like him she wore a mask, not letting any of her emotions escape, not letting anyone see what she was really feeling.
When Blaise had walked in, Draco had to hold himself back not to Crucio him on spot. When he had kissed her, he had to hold himself back not to strangle him with his bare hands. When she had kissed him, he had stopped himself midway sending him a nice juicy Killing Curse.
Now, holding her gently by her arms, relishing her warmth and the feel of her, the smell of her, gazing deep into her eyes, he momentarily forgot all about Blaise or the rest of the world. She was here now, in his arms, and he was never going to let her go again. He loved her. He loved her so much it hurt. But it was the best kind of pain, and she was here now and he would keep her safe for the rest of his life, at whatever cost.
Craving to have her closer to him, he wrapped his arms around her and placed a chaste kiss upon her lips, nothing deep or passionate, but loving and tender.
"I love you," he whispered, hiding his face in her hair and taking deep breaths. "I love you so much."
And for a moment, life was pure heaven for Draco.
Only too soon did it turn back to hell.
Pushing him away none too gently, Hermione let out a short cruel mirthless laugh.
"Sorry, Malfoy," she cast him a smirk. "But I'm with Blaise now."
And she moved to stand by his side once again, leaning against his form.
"See?" Blaise said, snaking an arm around her waist. "She wants to be here. I'm not keeping her as a prisoner, she is my girlfriend now. My lover."
Three men suddenly launched at him, three wands fell to the floor forgotten as each of them tried to kill Blaise with their own two hands. But they never made it there since a pale orange wall of light sprang to life round Blaise and upon reaching it they were thrown back forcefully.
The second they landed on the soft carpet they were back on their feet and scanned their surroundings, trying to locate the source of the spell. They didn't need to look far, though, for just beside Blaise Hermione was standing in a duelling pose, her wand out and ready.
"Hermione..." Harry spoke for the first time now, looking at her with apprehension.
"Accio wands," she stated, and the wands that the Trio had dropped flew to her outstretched hand.
Blaise chuckled.
"See, she even has her wand," he said.
"Hermione," Harry spoke again in a low pleading tone.
"No," she said firmly, coldly. "My name is not Hermione."
"That's right," Blaise grinned. "She wanted a new name to go with her new life. Now she is called Astraea. Astraea Zabini, that is."
"Astraea, the Goddess of Justice," Draco remarked. "What are you playing at, Zabini?"
"Oh," the Slytherin said, "it's simply that I have always lusted for her, even back at school, and I found it rather unjust that it was you who always taunted her who got her in the end and not me. So I brought a little more justice into our cruel, cruel world. And now, she is mine. Aren't you, Astraea?"
"I'm yours," she concurred.
"Each night long," he purred.
"Each night long," she nodded.
"Mine."
"Yours."
"And now," Blaise smirked wickedly, "it's time to entertain our guests."
Hermione licked her bottom lip and winked at them.
"Not that way, gorgeous," Blaise chuckled. "I meant with the wand."
She simply shrugged and directed it at Draco, who happened to stand closest to them.
"Any special wishes?" she asked.
"Let's see," Blaise replied. "There are three people in our room. And there are three Unforgivable Curses. Matching perfectly, doesn't it? But who gets what, that's for you to decide, darling."
Hermione smiled, stood still for a moment and then moved her wand, so it now pointed at Ron.
"Imperio."
Ron turned around, walked to the nearest wall and started banging his head against it.
"Ron!" Harry shouted and ran to pull his friend away from the wall. "Fight it, fight the curse."
Hermione flicked her wand back to Draco.
"Crucio."
It wasn't the first time Draco had been hit with a Cruciatus, not even close to it, but it was the first time it was cast upon him by a person he loved more than anything else in the world. Despite being a general bastard, Lucius Malfoy had never tortured his own son this way, not that Draco had ever loved his father as much as he loved Hermione.
And somehow, this made a hell of a difference. In addition to the physical pain, he had to cope with a broken heart, with a feeling of betrayal, loss, despair. Somehow, life suddenly did not seem worth living, and he wished for sweet oblivion and numbness. And yet, there was another thought clear in his mind. Do it, Hermione. Do whatever you want to me, as long as it makes you happy.
She didn't lift the curse until he had cried out, not of pain but of despair. Because he felt he had lost her.
"Weak," she spat. "You are all weak. One can't fight a simple Imperius, other cries like a baby under Cruciatus. Weak and pathetic. Don't you know that only the strong have the right to live?"
"How true, honey. You never cry under a Cruciatus, do you?"
"I'm not weak!" she gave Blaise her answer.
"She's right, you know. She never cries under a Cruciatus. And she is strong enough to fight an Imperius. It's a proved fact."
"That's right," she stated proudly. "Last time we had Death Eaters over they all got one Crucio and one Imperio at me."
Harry, who had kept Ron away from the wall all this time, now let his friend go and with a howl of battle he dashed at Blaise.
Hermione blasted him away.
"I believe you have one more curse left," Blaise told her.
Without a moment's hesitation, she pointed her wand at Harry, lying on the floor and staring at her with wide eyes and a look of utter shock.
"Hermione.."
"It's Astraea. Avada Kedav--"
Draco, being released from the curse, reacted on instinct at the last second, and leapt at Hermione, knocking her down on the floor and landing on top of her. Almost at the same second, Ron finally overcame the Imperius and practically flew at Blaise, who had now managed to draw his own wand. Harry, jumping to his feet, followed his red-haired friend.
Hermione made no sound as she landed on the floor, and despite the suddenness and force of the impact, she managed to hold on to her wand. Noticing that, Draco used his weight to keep her down and gripped both of her hands firmly in his before she succeeded in hexing him. For one moment he was able to stare deep into her eyes which now blazed with fury before she started trashing and kicking, trying to get herself free. He found it difficult to keep her down without hurting her, but he did his best. The kicks and blows he received brought no reaction out of him, though in spite of all his efforts he felt his grasp on her loosen, mostly because of being weakened by that Cruciatus.
Before she escaped him, though, she stopped her kicking and squirming, and turned her head to see how others were doing.
Blaise Zabini had his wand out and pointed when Ron come running towards him, and he managed to blast him away. But what he was not able to do, was to hurl another curse at the livid and quite mad-looking Harry who jumped straight into him, sending him backwards. They both crashed into the small table onto which Hermione had tossed their wands before. So even though Blaise did not let go of his, with a bit of luck on his side, Harry managed to grab one of those on the table, and punching Blaise into his face without giving him any time to react, he stepped off and disarmed him.
Now Blaise was starting to panic, as would anyone on the receiving end of Harry's Killer Gaze, especially without his wand. Blindly, he reached behind him, trying to find one of the two wands still there, but those had fallen to the floor and his hand found nothing but air. Harry attacked. Still gripping onto his wand, he used only his left hand and legs to punch, kick and hit his enemy into all the places it hurt the most. He fought back, but there were only a few things more awful than a royally pissed off Harry Potter. Soon he was nothing more than a bloody lump on the floor, but Harry still didn't back off. On the contrary, Ron, having restored from the blow, limped up there to help him.
Draco didn't notice when she had managed to get her right hand loose, but suddenly he was thrown away from her forcefully, and the next moment she was on her feet and cast the same spell upon Harry and Ron. He recovered first and stood at the same moment Blaise did, with the help of Hermione. The two men looked at each other, and even though being bruised and bloody and looking like hell, Blaise smirked at him.
"Sorry, babe," he turned to Hermione, snatching the wand from her fingers, and she let him have it. "We'll meet up later. I'm almost positive they won't kill you."
With a short sharp laugh, he Disapparated.
Hermione froze, staring first at the spot Blaise had occupied a moment before, then at her empty hand, before swirling around to witness the scene in front of her. Draco stood some seven feet away from her, wandless. Harry and Ron were slowly moving and scrambling to their feet, and the former was armed. Seeing that, she turned back to the table which had once held three wands, but now had none. Looking at the floor, she noticed them there and scooped down to retrieve one.
"Accio wands," cried Harry, acting fast enough, and as the two sticks made their way towards him, she wheeled to face them, looking wary but furious like a caged lion.
Minutes ticked by as the D-Trio watched the target of their too long search, and she looked back at them, ready to take action should one of them make any move.
Ron, known for snapping first and ending long, uncomfortable silences, lived up to his reputation, and opened his mouth to say something, but Harry held up his hand, silencing him, and slowly made his way to Hermione, who had remained motionless and was eyeing him with fiery intensity.
"Hermione," Harry whispered gently, placing his arm around her shoulders. "Everything will be all right now. You are safe. This ordeal is over now."
She pushed his arm away roughly.
"My name is Astraea. I'm not who you think I am."
"Perhaps she isn't," Ron suggested. "She might be using Polyjuice."
"But then how would she know..."
"They could have looked into her memories. Or fed her Veritaserum," Ron explained, quite confident about his theory. "I mean, look at her! She can't be Hermione. She says so herself."
Harry noticed the pleading tone is Ron's voice and for a moment wondered why he so intently wanted to believe it wasn't Hermione. After all, the girl was safely with them and were she an imposter, the real Hermione would still yet to be found and saved. Or worse – dead. But then he remembered what she had done to him, to all of them, and realized how painful it was to think what that bastard had done to her to make her who she was right now.
"If I were, I would at least make myself look like her, and probably act like her as well – if my plans were to imbue into your precious Order and betray it to the Dark Lord. Wouldn't that be much more logical?" she spoke, her tone amused.
"There's one way to make sure who she is," said Draco, casting an expectant look at Harry.
"What?" he didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. "I don't have it."
"You didn't take a vial with you? Isn't it your task to carry one?"
"It's not my fault! We have used up the supply we had been given by the Order, and yours has ran out, too."
"Why did you never told me this before, Potter? It takes a month to brew it!"
"Well, I didn't notice it was all gone until it was all gone!"
"You do know that I always keep a vial in my laundry drawer, don't you?" Hermione casually joined the conversation.
"I..." Draco started, then stopped, and thought that statement through. "She is right. Hermione does keep one vial in our bedroom. I'm not sure why though."
"So I'll have it handy should I ever get the need to drug you, silly," she gave a fake giggle. "No, it's for emergency situations, when our usual supply has ran out and a new batch is not yet ready. I always think everything through very carefully. I mean, I even did that before."
"Let's get her to the apartment then and use it on her!" Ron urged.
"Yes," Harry nodded, although he was already pretty sure it was Hermione, and turned to the door through which they had come in, only to realize that it wasn't there.
"Ummm, where is the door?" he asked.
His companions looked around and saw what he had seen before. Draco moved to the stretch of wall where the doorway had once been and ran his wand over the place, trying out all revealing spells he could think of.
"That's not the way out," Hermione choose to speak after a while. "It is the way in, but not the way out."
"Where's the way out then?"
She shrugged, but the message was clear – figure it out yourself.
---
Somewhere during the next half-hour when they where roaming the apparently empty castle in the search of an exit, Harry managed to get Draco aside, leaving Hermione to Ron's care and hoping for the best.
"She might be different," he said as a most random comment, not looking at Malfoy but staring at the wall instead and prodding it with his wand. "But she is still Hermione. Whatever that bastard did to her..."
He stopped, hearing a sharp intake of breath and suddenly regretted saying anything at all. He didn't need doubt his attitude towards all this. He knew Malfoy loved her and would give his life for her. He shouldn't have said a thing.
He had just wanted to comfort him, not suspect him. But it was Malfoy, and he would always think the worse, at least from Harry, who was not his friend.
"I'm going to kill him for that, Potter. I promise. And no need to worry about the other thing. If I'm ready to die for her, a mere Cruciatus will not change it. I'm more concerned about Weasley, though. He really wants to believe she isn't Hermione, and he might..."
"YOU BITCH!"
"... do something," Draco finished and turned around just in time to see Ron holding Hermione by her arms and shaking her violently.
"Hey Weasel, hands off my girlfriend," he yelled to him and rushed to the duo.
"She might be your girlfriend, but she is not Hermione!" Ron defended himself, but did let go of her.
"You do not know that."
"Yes, I do. Because I know Hermione. She would never be like that, no matter what. She couldn't be brought down to... to this."
Ron simply nodded his head towards her.
"You'd be amazed what seven days of torture can do," Hermione smiled as if that memory had been a good one.
Ron flinched.
"It can do a lot," she continued, then turned and started her way through the countless rooms and hallways back to where they had come from.
"Where are you going?" Harry yelled, hurrying to follow her with everybody else.
"To get my book."
No one said anything else on their way. Once they got back to the initial room, she picked up her book, and then headed towards the far wall.
"It's not healthy…" she began, fishing up a golden chain from under her robes and removing a vial much like the one Malfoy had from it, uncorking it and smearing the red stuff (probably blood) onto a blank spot of wall.
"... to believe..."
Suddenly the same thing happened to the wall that had taken place at the entrance, except no voice spoke out from the dark oily substance.
Hermione pushed her sleeve away and touched her forearm to its surface. After a blinding explosion of white light, the door was back where it had been before.
"... what people tell you," she finished and opened the door.
But at that moment the D-Trio couldn't care less for any exit or escape, for they had just caught sight of something horrible beyond belief. From the creamy skin of Hermione's left arm, a black skull and snake were staring back at them.
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