I just need to say one thing: I LOVE YOU GUYS.
I never had this many reviews for one chapter! You guys have really outdone yourselves :) I'm really glad that a lot of you figured out the "mystery" guy, and also read some of your predictions. I think you're awesome and I'm just so happy that you were all pleased with how the story is going.
Before I start on the next chapter, I want to clear up some things for you guys:
1) When Ron and Hermione had sex, I promise you it was Ron and Hermione. Ron was not Wilson, and Wilson was not Ron. That would be really sick and I'm not that twisted. I know a lot people thought it would be like this, because of the whole poly juice potion thing, but don't worry about it. All of the sexual scenes and kisses were all Ron and Hermione.
2) Unfortunately, or Fortunately for some people, Voldemort and Draco or any other "bad guys" are not in this story. Honestly, I wasn't thinking about any of them as I wrote the first couple chapters, and I'm actually surprised that you guys brought them up in the reviews. Good guess though!
3) The story will be ending real soon. And I'm a little scared at writing the final chapter. I don't want it to awkward or anything, I want it to be really good. So if anyone has any ideas of what I should do, or any tips/advice, you should really message me :)
Sorry for taking up your precious time, Enjoy!
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Reflect
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Standing still, and lowering her wand a little, Hermione's eyes widened in shock, taking in the appearance of the new man in front of her. It was as if something underneath his skin was crawling around, creating bulges on his body. The huge bumps kept moving around, shifting different parts of his body. The curly haired witch held her breath, watching the transformation in front of her.
Wilson's form was no longer standing in the middle of her bedroom, instead a different man was glowering over in fear. She was scared, terrified even. And what frightened her the most was that she recognized this man. It wasn't someone she met before, it was someone she read about. Someone she was warned about.
Several thoughts were playing throughout her mind at the same time and she hated it. A part of her wanted to stay here and fight him. Fight him until he was no longer able to spy on her, violate her privacy and ruin her life. Another part of her wanted to run away and hide- to just get away from the nightmare. But how would she do that if she was cornered in, with no other escape option but the closed window behind her?
She finally let go of the breath she held onto minutes ago, realizing who the man was. Her lips quivered with fear and her eyesight became too blurry from the tears welling up. How could she have been so stupid?
Her thoughts instantly snapped into a memory from about a month ago. It was as if images were just flashing before her golden eyes. Just like today, it was a dark, cold night. Hermione remembered that she was with Ron, while she read a book and he finished his work at the kitchen table...
Ron pushed his chair back a little, and Hermione took this as an opportunity to sit on his lap lightly. He looked back at the papers on the table, "It's my first aurors mission, I still haven't finished it yet. And, bloody hell," he glanced at a paper in front of him, "the deadline is next week!" He buried his head in one of his hands, and Hermione chuckled at the sight of him.
She snuggled closer to him, and rested her head on his hard chest, "Well, what is it about? Maybe I can help you." Her eyes scanned the papers quickly, before Ron slammed his hand down and ruffled the papers together. She jumped a little at the sudden impact and loud noise as his hand collided with the hard surface. Her eyes widened, and she looked back at him, with a perplexed look on her face.
"Sorry, 'ermione, but it's confidential," Ron stated, while stuffing all the papers into a messy folder. He wore an apologetic look on his face, but continued anyway. She watched as the papers disappeared behind the beige folder, she understood that he could get into trouble for sharing unclassified information. She wouldn't want him to lose his job...
But little did Ron know, Hermione had already seen the name and picture of the dark wizard he was assigned to capture. The name of Gary Lipins and an image of a long, dark haired man with a face covered in scars was implanted in her mind. She shuddered at the horrible picture she caught a glimpse at, but kept her cool in front of Ron. She didn't want him to know that she saw the private information.
Eventually he sighed, and felt kind of guilty for snatching the papers away from her. He didn't want her to think that she couldn't trust him. "All I can tell you is that I'm looking for a wizard who's been kidnapping young witches from the ages 16 to 25. Four different witches have gone missing since April," Ron added, "So, be careful."
Hermione smiled at Ron's protectiveness and affection, "Yes, sir."
Gulping in fear, the curly haired witch studied the man in front of her, whom was just getting over the metamorphosis into his real body. The once perfectly coiffed hair was now long, greasy and resembled that of Severus Snapes'. His once clean shaven face was now hideously covered in long, deep scars that seemed painful both physically and emotionally.
She whimpered to herself realizing that, Gary Lipins, a wanted criminal was standing right in front of her. In her own bedroom. Where she was sure, he stood in before. Hermione swallowed an oncoming gag, realizing that this disgusting man was the one who was spying on her. It wasn't the handsome, young, successful jerk Wilson. Instead, it was the revolting, foul, middle aged pedophile.
Hermione gripped onto her wooden wand tighter as her palms became sweaty with anticipation. "What happened to Wilson?" she spoke, with fright dripping off of every syllable. Her skin had grew paler, and her lips were pursed together and pink due to the pressure. A part of her wondered if Wilson really was an innocent guy that worked at the Ministry. Sure he was annoying, pesky, and irritating, but at least he wasn't a 40 year old creep.
The man laughed, in a deep, sinister voice, "Wilson? Oh, he was just a decoy. A poor old muggle college student that was swindled into my little plan. And I must say, it was the perfect plan." He stepped closer to his obsession, reaching for his own wand in his pocket. His breath still reeked like alcohol and his body smelt of dirty sweat.
The smart witch stepped back, away from the predator in front of her, realizing that she was the prey. She clenched her wand tight again, so constricting that it just might snap due to the pressure. A million different spells, incantations, charms and enchantments were going through her disheveled mind, but none would come out of her mouth. How many of them has she studied, practiced, used before? And now her thoughts were so tousled and disorderly that she couldn't mutter a single word.
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Ron Weasley sat behind his messy desk, with his boot covered feet propped up lazily and his chair leaning back unstable. Time was ticking by slowly, even though the majority of the employees had already left. Excluding Harry, who was sitting at his own desk across the room. The newly made auror yawned loudly and covered his mouth with the palm of is hand tiredly. He then scratched at the rough patch of dark ginger hair at the bottom of his chin, while reading over a couple documents.
"So did you hear?" The Boy Who Lived's voice traveled across the office. In front of him was the latest Daily Prophet paper that sported a huge moving picture of the Chudley Cannons. Apparently they had quite a comeback at their last game, which contradicted their usual losing streak.
From his seat, Ron attempted to examine the picture of his favorite Quidditch team while replying back idly, "Did I hear what?"
Harry lowered down the paper to reveal his round glasses and bright emerald eyes, "Wilson didn't come to work today. Evidently it's a big deal around the ministry, everyone is talking about it. He never had a day off before, and today he just didn't show up at all. Weird, huh?" The young man noted as his gaze returned to the article in front of him.
Lost in a trance, Ron removed his feet from the desk and placed them firmly on the ground while he stabled his chair. What Harry had just said rang a bell in his head for some reason, and he wasn't sure why. For a moment he glanced at the huge, circle clock on the wall, and back at his best friend, who wasn't even paying attention.
"I'll be back," he muttered, more to himself, and got up from his chair. His hands flew through his messy red hair, not making it any better. The piece of information Harry had just recited to him was excruciatingly important, and flashed a bright idea in his head. The wizard made it across the room, and to the door without even making his best mate look up in acknowledgment. He was out of the room in a matter of seconds, and without even realizing where he was going, his feet moved on it's own.
The hallway was empty, thankfully, since Ron didn't really want to bump into anyone anyway. His mind was overly occupied yet considerably dumbstruck at the same time. It was as if there were so many thoughts going on in his head, that he didn't have enough room to register anything that was happening now.
His feet had carried him all the way to a familiar door, which he recognized as the entrance to Hermione's office. He smiled at the small, boring room, thinking about the bright, colorful woman who belonged in it. Ron closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about his lovely girlfriend, who must be curled up on the couch in her pajama pants, reading a book she already knew every word to.
He opened his eyes, the smile fading from his lips, and backed up away from the door slowly. And without knowing, his feet traveled on it own, reaching the following room just a few short steps away. Stopping in front, Ron glanced at the familiar office, noticing that the door was opened just a bit. The crack was big enough for the ginger haired man to realize just how dark it was in there.
"Lumos," he chanted, holding up his now lit up wand. It brought about an orb of brightness every time he moved his hand. And as he entered the small room, it was now illuminated by the artificial lighting.
He glanced behind his shoulder as he walked in fully, he wanted to make sure that no one was behind him. And at that moment he felt a pang of guilt hit his chest, for two reasons. The first being that he should have told Harry, his best mate, what he was up to. The last time he had been in this office, his best mate was with him. It only seemed fair, that he should have at least known now.
Shaking that thought out of his head, Ron thought of the second reason why he was feeling guilty. If Hermione ever found out that he went to spy inside Wilson's office again, she would never forgive him for it. She was nearly furious the first time she found out (well, before she found out that the creep was taking pictures of her).
He couldn't stand it when she was mad at him. Even though he found it hot.
Thinking about Hermione made him feel distracted, and he pushed that idea out of his mind also, focusing on the task at hand. Ron made his way over to the wooden desk that sat in the center of the office, noticing that it was cluttered with all sorts of papers. Luckily, he found no pictures decorating the top of the pile, like it had the other night. And a part of him wasn't really expecting it either.
But still curious, he began ruffling through the stacks in front of him. The majority of it was uninteresting documents related to the ministry. There was also a small section of the pile dedicated to letters that were still stuffed into envelops, most were yellowing at the edges due to the age of them. And Ron shuffled through them unmotivated, until he passed by something that caught his eye.
After he moved all the old envelopes out of the way, underneath was a small heap of newspaper clippings, all supporting the same theme. Some of them were torn around the edges, some were cut neatly, some were big and some were small. But what really stood out to Ron was the same grubby and revolting face that appeared on all of them.
His eyes widened, bringing the cut up articles closer to him, recognizing the grotesque man immediately. And after adding two and two together, he stood up from his chair abruptly, knocking it down behind him. Without taking a breath, or even thinking logically, he knew what he had to do next.