A/N: Hey y'all. I hope you guys had a nice and safe New Year's. Anyways, here's the chapter and it's mostly from Draco's perspective. This is my spoiler here, I made him a tad bit dumb in this chapter because, neither Blaise or himself "truly" know everything about the locket. So, he'll figure it out soon. Speaking of that, this chapter and the next will be longer because I want to get this Story arc out of the way for my other ideas. I highly doubt that as the readers, that you want five chapters of Draco being dumb and Hermione stuck in a cage. So therefore, it may take me a longer time to update. Like a day or so. Anyways, Happy reading, please review/give feedback.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JKR does.
True Love's Locket
Chapter 21- A Canary In the Birdcage
Draco's eyes lightly stirred underneath his trembling eyelids as a sudden hollow sound echoed throughout his bedchambers. He groaned in frustration because all he wanted to do was sleep after the long restless night he had last night. During the night, all that he dreamed about was a never-ending void of darkness which felt like his own eternal prison inside his head. Draco had waken up moments before the pestering sound came and he had been trying to rest some more. He growled again when the hollow sound grew louder, more persistent.
Opening his silver eyes in a sleepy squint, Draco moved his sore body from the undersea window where he had fallen asleep and stood. The green sheet around his waist dropped to the stone floor as he rubbed his eyes awake. His still-tired body staggered to the hollow sound coming from his wooden door. His hand lagged with fatigue as he unlocked the door and opened it slowly, in his nude glory. In his state of sleepiness, Draco crankily snapped, 'What?' completely forgetting that he could not talk. Instead, his mouth flapped open hilariously which made Blaise's boyish grin grow larger as he greeted him with, "I wanted to make sure you didn't die after your thrashing episode last night."
He halfway debated on shutting the door on Blaise's face for the mere reason that he hated morning people. The wood door slowly creaked as Draco fought with the temptation as he propped himself up on the door. Then Blaise streaked by him, entering into his bedchambers and plopped himself on the green velvet cushion that he had occupied earlier with a disgusted grimace on his face.
"Well, you didn't die but I may if you don't cover yourself," said Blaise as he turned his head away from Draco's nudity. Wordlessly, he snatched the fallen bed sheet from the floor and tossed it at him. Draco caught the awkward heap in his arms as Blaise spoke, "Do me a favor mate and hide yourself yes? I would love to eat breakfast this morning."
Dramatically, Draco rolled his silver eyes and snorted through his nose at Blaise's attitude in his early morning. He humored Blaise by securely tying the bed sheet around his pale, porcelain white, waist. He arched a silver blond eyebrow in a silent question at Blaise when he was finished with the knot that protruded oddly on his hip. Draco snapped his fingers when Blaise didn't look up from the stone floor. Blaise snapped to his attention and Draco arched his blond eyebrow once more.
"Is there something wrong with your eyebrow Draco? Or are you too lazy to get your wand?" teased Blaise as he stretched out on the cushion. Draco's eyes flickered to his wand, still sitting on the nightstand. He shambled across the room slowly to the dark wooden nightstand as the green sheet teased to trip him around his ankles. Draco's pale hand snatched his wand and wrote in mid-air, "What do you want Blaise?"
The other man snorted at Draco's message before his face and replied, "As I eloquently stated at your door, I wanted to check in to see if you were faring better this morning compared to last night. How did you sleep after everything yesterday? I am only asking because you look bloody awful."
"I slept like hell, and thanks mate, it is good to know that I look exactly as I feel." wrote Draco. There was a brief silence between them before Blaise spoke. "More Granger related dreams?" he asked.
Draco shook his head and wrote in fiery red letters, "No."
Blaise hummed thoughtfully from his throat before stating, "Maybe you did, and you just can't remember the dreams." Draco only nodded again and stood silently in the middle of his room as he mentally mused about the possibility of forgetting a dream. For the last month, the sexual dreams had been teasing him and there hasn't been one dream yet that he had forgotten. Even the most bizarre, unreal dream that he had of the chestnut haired vixen were still plaguing his mind. He could remember every detail of her voluptuous figure, every sound from her pink rose bud lips and every touch of her tempting body on his.
His mind chattered endlessly with whirling thoughts, focusing around his dreamy sexual escapades with Granger. Her moaning and mewing voice teased him and he tried to divert his growing, harder attentions by running a shaky hand through his silvery blond locks.
"Well, this has been thrilling Draco, but I was on my way to the owlery to send off that letter that you so kindly hounded me to write. Now, that I know you're mentally stable again, I won't have to worry about you acting so out of character in public; thrashing about just doesn't suit you mate, stick with stubborn and arrogant. It's been working for you for years." teased Blaise as he removed himself from the green velvet cushion of the undersea window. Draco's silver eyes watched Blaise as he stepped across the room and stopped before the door with his back to him. Then Blaise turned around to face him with a rare expression of concern on his face.
"Honestly, Draco. Writhing around on my bed like an eel last night was not normal and as a friend, I think you should go the infirmary." Draco snorted indignantly before whipping his wand through the air.
"I'm fine."
The fiery red letters of his message were still burning in mid-air when he flinched painfully. Needle-like pricks sharply stabbed at his skin as the locket suddenly weighted him down heavily and his neck throbbed in complaint. Absentmindedly, he rubbed the skin underneath the silver locket. Draco felt the small, brewing flicker of doubt in the shadow of his silver eyes as Blaise's face morphed from playful to seriousness again.
"You're lying," accused Blaise, as the mocha-skinned man studied him some more. Draco only smirked as he shrugged his shoulders, acting as if nothing happened just now with the horrid locket. He arched a pale blond eyebrow when Blaise rolled his eyes and replied, "I know you're lying, so quit being an arse and say something."
"I can't talk remember?" cockily smirked Draco as he folded his arms across his pale, toned chest. He could feel his silver eyes mostly dancing with amusement at Blaise's expense, but there were still traces of doubt that something was wrong. Draco didn't honestly know if he was fine because unfortunately, Blaise did have a point. Flailing around like a fish out of water was not in his nature, nor was it even remotely normal. Though, these days, Draco could say he hardly felt normal. His own gut instinct, knew something was wrong.
As he leaned against the gray castle wall, his smirk grew deeper when Blaise heatedly glared at him, silently accusing him of being a smart ass. Draco shrugged his shoulders lazily as he decided to trust in Blaise with yet, another one of his issues. He pulled his arm up from his side and whipped his wand.
He wrote in fiery red cursive, "Something still does not sit right with me. Unfortunately, I have been dreaming about Granger for the past month and I had not forgotten any of the disgusting details. Last night, was the first time I had heard her scream like that. Usually, her voice is like a crystal clear whisper inside my head."
Draco paused in his writing to allow Blaise to quickly read and when the mocha-skinned man nodded his head slightly, he continued, "Then just a few moments ago, my skin started burning and this horrid thing," he pointed to the locket, "felt like it gained a hundred pounds."
When Blaise suddenly appeared before him, he took a sharp step back from the sudden proximity. The mocha-skinned man closed the distance again, and jabbed him hard in the chest with his dark finger. "Does that pain now feel remotely similar to the pain you had earlier?" asked Blaise, his dark black eyes bubbled at him with curiosity, like he was testing some kind of theory.
Just standing there, still leaning on the cold stone wall of the castle, Draco reflected on Blaise's question. His chest throbbed painfully in the spot where Blaise had severely poked him. Surprisingly enough, the locket no longer felt like it weighted a heaving ton around his neck. Draco only nodded in response as Blaise walked back to the wooden door with his hand on the handle.
Before Blaise opened the door, he spoke, "Maybe Granger isn't your true love after all mate. Wouldn't that be a stroke of luck? Anyways, she could have possibly be shagging last night, it's the only thing that I can think of to explain her screaming fit."
After he was finished speaking, Blaise threw open the door with a creaky complaint and walked through the open doorway. The door closed behind Blaise to the smallest of cracks, leaving Draco in his bedroom alone seething in anger. His hands balled up into fist as his arms trembled in heated jealously just from the very thought of Granger shagging someone. It certainly didn't calm his rage when his mind played visions of Weasel's and Granger's nude bodies intertwining and the sounds of her pleasure mewed for Weasley instead of him. His silver eyes flared with boiling emotions when his door suddenly swung open, and Blaise looked around the wooden barricade.
"Just a friendly reminder mate, don't do anything drastic to Granger or to her lover. You're supposing to be keeping her at a distance remember? You don't want to fall in love with her." stated Blaise before his head disappeared from view and the door swung closed with a heavy thud. Once again, Draco stood alone in his room. As he swallowed his heavy battle of conflicting feelings, he waved his wand at this door, locking it from any intruders. He was thankfully glad that he wasn't greeted with a nude Pansy this morning. His fingers worked at the knot on his hip as his reflected on Blaise's haunting words.
His mind reflected on the memory of that one Saturday, just outside Hogsmeade, and the fight between Granger and Weasel. From their public fight, the red head had been extremely forward about his wants of sexual intercourse. She, on the other hand, had no interest. Draco mentally snorted, seemingly glad that the bookworm was too obsessed with books rather than men. He stepped over the green heap when the sheet fell from his hips and strutted nude to his bathroom, figuring that he should start his day.
He placed his wand on the sink before walking over to the shower to turn the handle. As his pale fingers adjusted the water to the perfect temperature, Draco still couldn't help but to feel odd in a sense. The locket was no longer heavy around his neck, but something festered in the deep pit of his stomach, something that filled him with concern about Granger. His feet grazed the warm spray of water before he completely submerged his body into the pleasurable mist. As the liquid smoothed his silvery blond locks to his face, Draco came up with a plan. Since he was still worried about Granger, and he was slowly losing all normalcy of his own mind, he decided that he would check in on her. He certainly didn't call it stalking, it was more like being environmentally aware of his surroundings and if his surroundings included a bushy chestnut hair beauty, then so be it.
Draco lathered his skin with soap and rise his body before declaring himself clean after twenty minutes. He quickly streaked the bathroom and snatched his wand before entering his room to pull clothing onto his naked, chilly body. When his school robes were latched on his body, Draco grasped the silver locket and stuffed it through the layers of clothing to hid it. He cringed slightly from the chill that ran down his spine as he grabbed his wand, and his satchel before leaving his bedroom. With a swift flick of his wand to lock his door, he ascended up the stairs and walked through the empty Slytherin common room. Entering into the dungeon hallway, Draco quickly strolled to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The Great Hall was filled to the brim with chattering students and the aroma of wonderful food. Draco past a group of Slytherin girl who stopped talking to gawk at him. He felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance as he gave them a heart-stopping smirk that would send shivers down any girl's spine. His silver eyes automatically scanned over the crowd and at the Gryffindor table, to find the one girl he didn't want at all but couldn't help himself from wanting to at least see her. Draco shook his head innocently, which earned him wild giggles from the group girls. He rolled his eyes in annoyance again, when he spotted a empty seat further down the table by Goyle, who looked like he was having a heated discussion with Crabbe.
When he sat down, Crabbe and Goyle immediately stood and before Draco could ask anything, the two thickheads scrambled from the table as fast as they could. He watch with indifference when they both disappeared from view. With a simple shrug of his shoulders, Draco began eating peacefully and for the second time that day, Draco was thankful that Pansy wasn't hanging all over him.
Hermione collapsed onto backside in utter frustration on the dirty floor of the owl cage as she nursed her throbbing foot. She bit her lip, as her mind planned another route of escape as she wished for her stolen wand. When she had first woken up, her body moved like it weighted a hundred pounds but still clothed. Her white school blazer was in worse shape with a small tear at seam of her shoulder and no buttons to cover her. She balled each end up and knotted them together, hiding her nude colored bra for some decency. The skin of her flat stomach was showing, but Hermione couldn't complain. Showing some stomach wasn't a fate worse than death and she would rather have tattered clothes than no clothes at all.
Eventually, when Hermione gained control of her abused limbs and she tried the opening the door of the cage with her hands. The door did not budge, instead only rattled the lock at her teasingly, so Hermione had turned to a more vicious route. As she had kicked the door with rage-induced venom, the cage groaned and complained under her ministrations. When she was about to deliver a swift kick to the lock of the cage, the side of her foot crashed into a golden bar instead, which left Hermione sitting on the bottom of the cage. The throbbing of her foot faded as soon as she finally thought of another way to escape. She would simply slide through the golden bar of her prison and she could take her midterms.
She stood abruptly to proceed with her plan. Hermione easily slipped one of her slender legs through the golden bars, and her arm, along with her shoulder followed soon after. Unfortunately, as Hermione tasted freedom on the back of her tongue, she suddenly came across a problem in her plan. She was, by no means, a well-blessed woman for her breast size, but she was suffering for her manageable size. Hermione could not fit the rest of the way to freedom and as she ripped herself from between the golden bars, she screamed in frustration until her voice was raw. Her angry voice echoed around hauntingly quiet Room of Requirements.
As she heard her voice echoing the sounds of her torment, Hermione sat down and laid on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Her throat was hoarse and she immediately regretted screaming. She closed her brown chocolate eyes as she desired for something to ease the scratching of her throat. Then a heavy thump landed by her head, which made her bolt up in surprise. Her eyes landed on a tan goatskin bag a few inches from her. When she spotted a crystal clear puddle growing steadily as the water dripped from the spout, her body shot forward, she had no ounce of hesitation as she snatched the bag from the dirty floor and greedily drank the water down.
After she had drunk her fill and quenched her thirst, Hermione decided to contemplate a new plan around the advantage of The Room of Requirements. In her fifth year, Dumbledore's Army had practiced in here and used their desires to bend the room for whatever they had needed; such as a strong stone door to keep the wretched Umbridge out or even a second exit for an easy escape.
She crossed her legs as she focused her mind on wanting to get out of the golden cage before either Parkinson or Flint returned. Hermione ignored the quick flash of molten silver eyes by gnawing on her bottom lip and she closed her chocolate brown eyes in concentration. She forced all of her desire within herself to open the cage door, but when nothing sounded like unlocked door, Hermione hung her head. Her freedom at the moment was her current desire, but not her truest. What she desired the most will never happen again and some of her jealously still seethed loathing from last nights sight. Her chestnut curls fell into her face; she mentally cursed 'Malfoy' and his silver eyes. Then she grumbled under her breath, "You damnable man. Get out of my head."
'Malfoy.'
His head turned towards the direction of her voice but only found Pansy happily staring at him with an expression of love sick adoration on her face in the chair beside him. He looked from her with clear indifference as he watched students pour through the classroom door last minute and the noise level grew tremendously. Draco rubbed the his sore temples from oncoming headache that was most likely from his lack of sleep. His saving grace was when Professor McGonagall walked in and instantly hushed the classroom when sound of her heels tapped against the stone floor. The Transfiguration classroom was still quiet as she stood before the classroom, quietly musing to herself about roll call, which was required for every midterm. Draco paid no heed to the Professor, instead his silver eyes were glued on the door, waiting for her frazzled chestnut curls to bounce through the door while she poured apology after apology for being late.
"Mr. Weasley, Where is Ms. Granger?" asked the Professor, which the sound of Granger's name immediately caught Draco's interest. He whirled his silvery blond head towards the scene and watched silently as Weasel shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't know Professor. I didn't see her-" Weasel's sentence was abruptly cut off by the girl sitting next to him.
"She's in the infirmary," chirped Pansy with a bright smile on her face. He looked sideways at her for moment from sheer surprise from her smiling. Then he narrowed his silver eyes as his mind questioned about Pansy's attitude; since when were Granger and Pansy on good enough terms to know each others whereabouts?
"Very well." stated Professor McGonagall.. As the Professor continued her task, he saw Pansy's bright smile morph into a deep smirk and he was overcome by an unsettling sensation in his stomach again. He knew being sick would not prevent her from coming to midterms. Hell, one year, she had taken a midterm in the past basically dripping bodily fluids without a shut off valve from her nose. The only reason why he even remembered that particular memory because he was the culprit to her illness. He had hoped if she was ill, then her scores wouldn't be as high as his; he was wrong. In fact, she scored twenty points higher than he did. Draco smirked fondly from the memory until Professor McGonagall's voice carried through the classroom, "Mr. Flint, what on Earth happened to your face?"
Then suddenly Flint turned around, looking almost desperately to Pansy while exposing five horrid, jagged, gashes down the length of his face to Draco. He cringed at the sight at the bright red inflamed skin burning at the edges of each wound. His silver gaze flickered back in forth between Flint and Pansy, whom gave Flint a very heated glare. Immediately, Flint faced the Professor and Draco watched him shrug his shoulders.
"I was practicing Charms, Professor," muttered Flint.
The classroom was still quiet as the Professor merely nodded and replied, "After your midterm Mr. Flint, you should go to the infirmary to have those healed."
Then she went back to her task as Flint nodded quickly. Draco sat in his chair, thoughtfully. He had never witnessed Flint even reading a book, let alone practicing Charms. His body automatically stretched out over the shared desk, extended his arm to full length and lightly tapped Flint on the shoulder. When he turned around in his chair, Draco wrote, "Since when do you practice Charms Flint?"
Flint's mouth was open, just about to answer his question when sounds of rustling paper flew through the air. Flint quickly turned from him and Draco raised his wand again to write when a seemingly familiar shadow stood by his end of the desk. Gingerly, he lowered his wand and gave Professor McGonagall his most innocent smile as he tried to seem unaffected from her sudden appearance. Truthfully, though, his heart pounded in his chest as he mentally decided she was exactly like her Animagas form; sneaky like a cat.
"Mr. Malfoy, please tell me why you are here disturbing my classroom when you have an essay to write?" snapped Professor McGonagall. Draco swallowed his throat, quickly reminding himself of a fearful child before gathering his satchel. As he took those short and few steps to the classroom door, he ignored the Professor's heels as she walked away from his desk while explaining the rules of the midterm. Instead, his silver eyes gazed at Granger's empty chair over his shoulder as he walked out of the classroom.
The door slammed shut behind him when his stood in the empty, quiet hallway. Draco began walking to the library with the sinking feeling still in gut. He knew there was something wrong with Granger. He knew it. His whole body shook with, his bones ached with it. There was something going on, and he seemed like the only person well aware of it. The creaky wood of the door of library complained as his pale hand pushed it open and was greeted with an unusual sight. The librarian witch laughed cheerfully at Madame Pomfrey as Draco walked past them to place his things at the usual table.
He was in mid-motion to sit down when he heard the Medi-witch complain, "It's always so slow during midterms week. At least with the two Weasley twins, I had at least someone to patch together. There hasn't been a person all morning."
The words of the librarian's reply quickly faded away as Draco swallowed his throat again. His mind quickly wondered if Granger was in the infirmary at all that morning or was she simply in her dormitory, all patched up and sleeping. Then his mind flickered through the ideas that Pansy had possibility lied to the Transfigurations Professor or had she been simply misinformed? Though, who in their right mind would trust Pansy with the responsibility of Granger's whereabouts? It obviously doesn't take a genius to figure out how much Granger and Pansy can't stand each other. Draco sprung to his feet and briskly walked to the Witches by the big wooden desk. He stood before a confused Madame Pomfrey as he whipped his wand in the air before them.
"Not even Granger?" The Medi-witch paused for a moment, clearly surprised from his question. Madame Pomfrey shook her head as she replied, "No, surprisingly Ms. Granger didn't stop by today to see Mr. Potter and interrogate me about his condition."
He nodded his head sharply as he walked further into the library and sank into one of the dark wooden chairs sitting beside the table. His pale hands pulled supplies from his bag as his unsettled stomach flip-flopped. When he was ready, Draco dove into writing his essays and focused on his task. Every so often his stomach would churn with a sinking feeling.
After about an hour and half, he joylessly had two finished essays laying on the desk before him as he heard the usual traffic of noisy students in the hallway. He quickly removed himself from his chair and walked out of the library with a simple mission in mind. He leaned his back against the gray stone wall just outside of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom; silently watching for chestnut curls in the crowd. Students past him with strange looks as they entered the classroom. The unnerving feeling in his gut returned when the busy hallway simply died down to one or two stragglers, desperately running down the hall to get to their midterms on time.
His silvery blond head turned when the familiar sound of heels echoed down the hallway. He automatically looked down his nose at the Professor as she stalked by him and entered into the noise polluted classroom. When Draco heard the hollow sound of the door closing, he returned to the library as he debated internally with his mind about Granger. She should be in that classroom, she would be in that classroom. Nothing on Earth would stop her, not even illness. He sat down in dark wooden chair in the library and ran a hand through his silvery blond locks. Draco knew something was going on with Granger's absence, his mind was slowly(presumably from the lack of sleep) putting together the pieces. He absolutely hated his lack of intelligence today and frustrated, he continued to work on his assigned essays to get them out of his way.
Like clockwork, after another hour and half, the hallway outside the library grew exponentially louder with each passing student and Draco rose from his seat. He stretched his arms high above his head for several seconds before venturing through the library door to go to the Great Hall for lunch. When he entered the cavernous room, his silver eyes quickly darted over the Gryffindor table; looking for Granger's untamed curls as he walked over to the Slytherin table. Draco found an abandon seat at the long banquet table with two empty seats on either side of him. His stomach gave a nasty rumble when the food magically appeared before each table and he hungrily made his plate. Then something claps on the back of his shoulder right as he swallowed his first bite. With tearing eyes from slightly choking on his food, Draco whirled his around and glared at culprit, whose held a face of innocence as he plopped down beside him.
"So, did you take my advice? Did you keep your arse away from her?" cheerfully asked Blaise as he helped himself to the food on the table. Draco snorted through his nose and mindlessly shrugged his shoulders. A surprised, yet intrigued expression crossed over Blaise's face as he asked in soft whisper, "What did you do to her mate? Or did you mess with her lover? Because if you did, I want nothing to do with helping you with anything."
Draco snorted again, as he wrote small, fiery red letters in the air with his wand, "What makes you think I did anything Blaise. I just, simply checked up on her. That is all."
Blaise's face carried a bewildered look for a few moments before he replied, "So, you were following her? That's majorly creepy Draco; that is almost Flint's level of creepy." Draco rolled his eyes as he swallowed his snarly reply from being compared to Flint. Instead, he whipped his wand in the air, "For all my checking up on her Blaise, I discovered that she did not attend any of her classes today. Now doesn't that strike you as odd? That the brainiest bird in Hogwarts is missing out on her beloved holiday."
"Well, I would have to agree that is odd but not that highly unusual. She could preoccupied with other things-" and his sentence was cut by Draco's pointed stare for a brief moment, then Blaise continued, "Fine, Fine. Then that is unusual for the bookworm but what is odder yet, is Pansy's absence from your arm at the moment.
He looked down at his empty arm for several seconds as he ran his silver eyes down the length of the table. Draco spotted the usual bulky forms of Crabbe and Goyle further down the table as he searched for Pansy. He realized during his failed search for Pansy that Flint's injured face was missing from the Slytherin lunch table as well.
"Draco, by chance have you seen Flint's face yet?" asked Blaise as he took a bite of food and continued to speak in mumbles as he chewed The rest of Blaise's sentence was difficult to decipher with the food in his mouth but Draco managed.
"I bumped into him last night after your thrashing episode, he said that a pack of canaries attacked him. Personally, no pack of canaries can do that kind of damage. What they look to like to me, from my own experience on my back after being with a bird, is a job well done. I must congratulate him for finally losing his virginity."
He didn't feel the need to tell Blaise about Flint's sexual history and how he wasn't a virgin to began with, at least according to Pansy from another Slytherin girl. Instead, he quietly mused about Blaise's opinion as he gracefully shoved another bite into his mouth.
Hermione's stomach cramped painfully in a shriveled ball inside her body as the sweet, delicious aroma of food drifted into the Room of Requirements. She grumbled darkly under her breath, "I want out of this damn cage."
The hostile words of her complaint echoed loudly in the quiet room when an abrupt cackle interrupted her venting. Her chocolate eyes whirled towards the source then narrowed in pure anger as Parkinson stepped through the doorway into the Room of Requirements. The wooden door shut closed behind her with a heavy thud. Hermione quietly glowered at the girl as she approached the golden cage with a small bag enclosed in her hand. When Parkinson stood before the cage, there was a brief silence until she smirked proudly and asked, "Are you enjoying your staying? Tell me, Mudblood are you having a good time?"
She briefly snorted though her nose in an unladylike fashion before walking towards the golden bars of her cage where Parkinson stood. Hermione then tilted her shoulders back proudly and her body straightened as she stood a mere few inches from Parkinson, the only barrier being the cage bars. Smirking her lips, she replied with, "Loads of it Parkinson. You should join me," Hermione said sarcastically.
Parkinson flared her nose and from the other side of the cage, she shook the small, white bag in front of her face, "Is that how you should treat someone who brought you something to eat? If I were you, I would be grateful."
Hermione bit back a hostile, out of character growl as Parkinson's voice took a teasing tone. Her voice bounced around the Room of Requirements in almost sing-song as Hermione's stomach growled wildly again. When Parkinson began to suddenly close the distance between them more, Hermione automatically stepped back. She suspiciously watched as Parkinson squeezed the small bag between the golden bars and then turned it upside down, dumping all the food to the dirty ground. Then Hermione just glared at Parkinson as she smirked and returned her stare. A small silence floated around the room as the two women shot daggers at each other with their eyes.
"Well, aren't you going to eat Mudblood? Eating from the dirty ground shouldn't bother the likes of you any." snapped Parkinson as she tossed the empty bag to the side to join the other miscellaneous junk in the room. Hermione crossed her arms as she shook her chestnut head, "I know you did something to the food Parkinson, I am not thick-headed."
Pansy's hands shot up to her chest and rested over her heart. Her face oozed with fake innocence as she spoke, "Why would I want to do that? I couldn't poison you, at least not at Hogwarts. Too many questions would arise. Besides, you're no use to me dead."
"What use am I alive then Parkinson?" shot back Hermione.
The dark-haired woman shrugged her shoulders before replying, "Since you're going to be in that cage for Merlin-knows-how-long, I want you to brew something for me. A love potion to be exact."
Hermione shook her head in refusal, "Absolutely not. It would be for Malfoy wouldn't it? I will not subject him to that kind of trickery Parkinson."
"How I see things Mudblood, you have no choice. You're going to be rotting in the cage as long as Draco refuses my advances. Just look at it this way, making a love potion would guarantee your freedom." said Parkinson.
She looked away from the plotting Slytherin for a moment to hide her clearly disgusted expression from the dark-haired woman. In the calmest voice she could muster, she said, "Those kinds of potions take months to simmer. The potion will not just instantly become potent overnight. Besides, nobody deserves to be enslaved against their will. Not even Malfoy."
Parkinson snorted as she stalked around the golden cage. Hermione followed her movements with her brown chocolate eyes as she spoke, "It's not enslaving," spat Parkinson. Then she continued to speak,"I love him but he can not see that with your tempting filth in the way. So a love potion will have to suffice until the end of the year."
Before she had control of her mouth, the words of, "You have a funny way of showing your affections," slipped through her lips. Hermione watched as Parkinson's face morphed from an almost delicate softness to a heated glare in a matter of minutes.
"Enough from you Mudblood! Now, eat up or -" Hermione watched Parkinson suddenly pulls her wand from the inside of her school robes as she continued to speak, "Or, I'll snap your wand in half."
Her brown eyes glared as Parkinson took either end of her wand into her hands, almost teasing her. Hermione held back a growl as Parkinson experimentally flex it while she spoke, "Eat all of it. Now! Lunch will be over soon and I must be going. One more midterm to take."
Begrudgingly, Hermione bent down and pick up a broken sandwich from the ground. Her brown eyes stared at the sandwich with dread of being filled with poison before her as she spoke to play her last hand. "What if I make an unbreakable vow with you?" offered Hermione, "I'll stay away from Malfoy as you wish. There's no love potion to brew as I wish and everything can go back to normal."
She could feel her old, defended flame of hope rising in her chest as Parkinson's face carried a thoughtful expression; almost as if she was considering her offer. Hermione watched as one of Parkinson's hands drifted away from her wand. The dark-haired woman's face morphed from thoughtfulness to soft again, then to stone cold hard. Something in Hermione's stomach sank as Parkinson's dark eyes connected with her brown ones.
"No, thought I complement your effort. The unbreakable vow may hold you to your word, but I cannot control Draco's actions. I want him in love with me, to be smitten by me. Not you. Now, eat your damn food before I snap your beloved wand." threatened Parkinson as both of her hand fully grasped on her wand.
Hermione bit her lip to stop herself from arguing about Malfoy's feelings as she stared at the unrecognizable sandwich in her hand. Then she stared up at Parkinson with enraged flames dancing in her chocolate eyes as she spoke.
"Rot in Hell Parkinson." Then she took a bite.
When she finished the sandwich in her hand. Hermione looked to Parkinson and she hissed darkly, "More. Eat all of it."
She watched her wand in Parkinson's hands as she continued the order. Hermione bent over and grabbed some more food and quickly bit into it. Eventually, over half of the food was eaten and Hermione fell to her knees. The world spun, making her stomach nauseous. She could feel the tainted food trying escape her body as she fell from her knees onto her side. Hermione's muffled ears heard Parkinson's voice as she spoke.
"This is my mercy Mudblood. Flint will return tonight after dinner to take his revenge and considering that he's not at all pleased with you after what you did to his face, you better hope that you're still drugged by then."
In her muddled hearing, Hermione knew she alone again from the hollow, loud sound that echoed throughout the Room of Requirements. Her hands slammed over her ears as she groaned painfully. As she rolled onto her back, Hermione felt her body suddenly relax and her eyes were painfully burning, almost begging to be closed. She tried to clench her hands into fists, hoping that the pain of her nails digging to the palms of her hand would keep her awake. She couldn't move her hands, or her arms, or any other part of her body. Hermione felt numb and without any trace of fight left in her body; her eyes fell closed again and all she saw was darkness.
A/N: Okay, the next chapter should be the conclusion of this story arc. Please review/give feedback. Thanks!