A/N: I guess we've come to this. Warnings: blood, torture, and such things.
Word count: 1025
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Myths and Legends Assignment #5 – The Man Upstairs – Write about someone babysitting and getting more and more paranoid that someone else is in the house.
Chocolate Frog Card Club: (Bronze) Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques – Write gory horror. (not sure how gory is it, but I guess this'll have to do)
Ultimate Hermione Pairing Club: Hermione/Stewart Ackerley
Hermione had always loved looking after children. True, she had her own as well, and dealing with Rose and Hugo on a daily basis was often a nightmare, but it seemed like her friends' babies were much more calm and collected than her own.
And that was how she ended up in the Lovegood-Scamander household on a completely ordinary Friday. Or, at least she thought it would be.
It had all started out rather well, the twins, Lorcan and Lysander were fairly quiet while playing with their plush dragons, all the while Hermione could read her Advanced Arithmancy textbook without interruptions after they had all had dinner.
It was all so idyllic that no one noticed the man in the shadow of the room, wearing a wicked grin.
oOo
It was later in the evening, and Hermione had been reading a particularly interesting passage about the connection between numbers 7 and 13, when she heard a screeching sound, coming from the direction of the window. She abruptly turned to face the place, but apart from the creaked open window, she found nothing strange. Though, the opened window in itself was a bit creepy, as she was sure she had left it closed when the twins went to bed, earlier in the evening.
But it was not enough to creep her out completely, so she quickly locked the window with a swift swish of her wand, and went back to her book.
And she didn't see the man, whose eyebrows furrowed slightly under his cloak.
oOo
A loud clattering noise interrupted Hermione's peace, coming from the kitchen. She raised her eyebrows, then with a sigh, plopped the book on the couch, and left the living room to see what happened.
Out there, she saw an opened cupboard, and a dozen coffee cups, broken into million pieces on the ground. With raising suspicion, she raised her wand, casted a few quick charms to see if somebody had charmed the cabinet to open, but she found nothing.
She was sure that she had left the cupboard closed as well.
It was only then, that a feeling started creeping up on her, making her shiver.
Maybe she wasn't alone.
But she told herself she couldn't be afraid. After all, she was the one who helped Harry and Ron in finding the horcruxes, while living in constant fear for months. She wasn't going to let the unfortunate string of coincidences get to her. And so, still determined, she walked back to the couch, and continued reading where she previously left off.
She didn't notice the man with his cloak, who was now grinning at her like a maniac.
oOo
Almost half an hour had passed without any other strange incidences, and Hermione was almost fully convinced that it had all been just some strange coincidence, and that she must have been the one who left the window and the cupboard open. It must have been her faulty memory that told her otherwise.
It all made so much sense.
At least, that was, until she heard someone – or something – turning the water on in the bathroom. At first, she didn't hear anything, but after minutes of silence, she noticed that there was a sound coming from far away – or from the bathroom, blunted by the door -, which sounded suspiciously like running water.
It was really weird. There was no way she could've left the water open after she bathed Lorcan and Lysander, or, even if she did, there was no way she wouldn't have noticed it if she did.
But once again, not bothered by her instinct, which told her to run, to get away from it all, she grabbed her wand, left her book on the coffee table once again, and headed to the bathroom door.
Inside, she noticed, much to her dismay, that the water was indeed running. It was strange. Up until that point, she had been sure that it was all her imagination, and for some reason, the silence had been creeping her out, but no. That wasn't the case, apparently.
But she knew once again, that she it shouldn't make her afraid, so she grabbed the handle of the water, and turned it off.
Or, she would have, if she hadn't felt a hand pushing her in the tub with full force.
Letting out a yelp, she spun around as fast as she could before the back of her hit the wall behind her with a sickly crack. Her wand rolled away from her, and she felt her blood creeping down on the nap of her neck as she faced the man standing in front of her.
She couldn't see his eyes, as they were hidden under his cloak, but her eyes caught his wicked grin, and it made her sick in the stomach.
"W-Who are you…?" she stuttered, feeling already a bit dizzy from the blood loss.
"That doesn't matter, darling," came the answer from the man. "Diffindo!"
Hermione felt pain shooting in her left arm as the cutting spell slit her arm open, blood oozing out of her newfound cut as well.
"What matters is the way you're going to scream for your death in mere minutes," the man continued. "Diffindo!"
Hermione felt another cut, this one on her right arm, at a slightly lower place than the previous. She felt light-headed, and struggled to get her next words out.
"W-Why…" she whispered, wincing from the pain that was shooting through her body.
"Because you've done too much to this world for your own good," replied the man. "Crucio!" he hissed, his tone alone making Hermione shiver.
Unbearable pain shot through her again, making her wriggle in pain, though she fought against the screams that were rising in the back of her throat. She was not going to let them man get what he wanted.
"You're one persistent witch, it seems," said the man. "Crucio!"
Hermione couldn't bear it anymore. She opened her mouth to protest, but her words were muffled by the scream she let out, echoing in the room as she felt the man cutting a final wound into her abdomen.