They skipped lunch the next day, a terrible idea if Hydrus' well-being had anything to say of it. There was a headache creeping up his temple, and his vision got blurry sometimes if he blinked too fast. He needed another coffee, but Hermione had begged and pleaded, and after all that he had done to her yesterday…
His stomach was grumbling as well, but if Hermione felt the same, one never would have guessed. She was chatting happily along the way and threw open the door to Hagrid's hut with a great smile.
In pureblood culture, it was rude to come upon a person unannounced. Hydrus prayed to Merlin it wasn't the same with Hagrid.
Norbert raised his two heads when they came, and one of them opened its great jaws.
A strange choking sound came out.
Hermione gasped. "Is he all right?"
Hagrid looked up, a great smile on his face. In his hands was a small pipette, filled to the brim with a pinkish liquid. "O' course she is," he said happily.
Hydrus frowned. "She?"
Norbert chose that moment to give a strange sneeze of sorts. Greyish smoke spouted from his nostrils, and something white splattered all over Hagrid.
"Ye'll have te 'scuse her," he said. "She'll be sneezin' up some phlegm for the next couple o' days."
"I -" Hermione looked utterly lost. "How - how did that happen?"
"Genetic reasons," Hydrus said.
Norbert - or whatever the female version of that was - jumped from Hagrid's arms and crawled across the table, grappling the surface with the sharp claws on her wings. Everywhere she went, a trail of scratches followed.
"I never thought I'd see a dragon in real life," Hermione said. Her hand reached out tentatively. "But… one day dragons breathe fire don't they?"
Hagrid looked at his dragon sadly. "Hydrus has… he's offered te care o' Norberta… when the time comes…"
"At school?" Hermione looked scandalized.
"I have properties all around the room," Hydrus told her, which wasn't entirely a lie.
He looked at Norberta, with greyish scales that turned darker by the hour, and blood-red eyes that shone just as bright as flames. They were meant to meet. Hydrus could feel it inside him. There was something about her, perhaps the fire, that just seemed so right.
Perhaps, he would never soar through the sky on the back of a dragon. Norberta, despite everything, was bone-thin and smaller than a Quaffle. But there was something… she turned her head as Hydrus' hand crept closer.
A strange sound came from her mouth, and she crept closer along the table.
Her head felt like the smoothest Acromantula silk gold could buy, soft and flexible, supple in a strange way.
They stayed silent for a long moment, listening to the sweltering crackle of the fire, until Hermione broke it.
"Is this… is this illegal?" she said, so quietly Hydrus had to strain to hear her.
Hagrid looked up guiltily. "Yes," he mumbled.
"She won't tell," Hydrus said, praying it was true.
Hermione gave him a small smile, and he knew whatever he had said yesterday had been forgiven.
Late that night, as the sky turned deep purple and yellow stars glowed, Hydrus went to the Room of Requirement.
For the first time, there was proper lighting.
Great chandeliers, so tall they were almost as big as himself, stretched from the high ceilings, but they weren't lit. Instead, sunlight streamed from great panes of glass, which must have been magic, for outside - outside, outside - was dark. A table was set in the centre, where Professor Quirrell awaited him, scrolls of parchment arranged in a particular fashion, with pots upon pots of ink and so many quills he might have plucked an owl bare just for that.
"Come," he said, looking up.
On the scrolls were diagrams of all seven floors of Hogwarts and the dungeons. There was the Astronomy Tower, spanning three of the total floors, and then more, the Hufflepuff common room next to the kitchens, the Owlery, a tall and thin tower marked by a circle and carefully written words.
And then, on a separate scroll, held open from the weight of four ink pots, was a map of the third floor.
It showed the room with the three-headed dog, and then no further.
"Sir," Hydrus said, having a suddenly very bad feeling about what would happen today.
"Well, go on. Take a seat."
There were many chairs around the table; deep velvet armchairs, and hard desk chairs that didn't look very comfortable.
Hydrus took a seat in an armchair.
"The last time you were there -" Professor Quirrell nodded to the map of the third floor corridor "- you didn't happen to go any further than the Cerberus, did you?"
"No, sir."
He looked vaguely disappointed. "Well, I suppose I can't fault you for that. Burning anything alive would have been a messy thing to cover up." Professor Quirrell got up and took another scroll of parchment, this time a map of seven continents, split into countries. "How many properties does the Black family own?"
"I - I don't know -"
"You," he sighed, "are the heir to the greatest, richest family in all of England, and you don't even know how many properties you'll inherit."
Not the richest, nor the greatest, Hydrus wanted to say. Time and inbreeding have robbed that of us.
"I'll write to Belvina," he said instead.
"Not Belvina," Professor Quirrell said sharply. "Gringotts bank. Goblins do not ask questions, witches do."
"Of course," he flushed.
Professor Quirrell jotted some things down on his parchment, while Hydrus watched him awkwardly.
"In two weeks," he announced, "Norbert -"
"Norberta."
"- the dragon will be large enough to shoot fire. By then, the stone must be gone, Norberta must be gone, and we must be gone. Are we clear on that?"
"I - so I'll never return to Hogwarts."
"We've agreed on this, Hydrus. With what the future brings, your potential cannot be fulfilled at a school."
"What - what will the future bring?" he said quietly. A horrible shiver raced up his spine.
"Prosperity," Professor Quirrell said simply.
"My mother… she'll never… never allow this," Hydrus said feebly. He knew, somehow, that the future would be terrible, would be horrible, would be prosperous to some - but horrifying to others.
"Your mother will have no jurisdiction over you if you are emancipated."
"I thought that required parental consent."
"Unless…" Professor Quirrell said softly, dangerously and with a glint in his eyes.
He felt a shiver of dread creep down his back. "Sir?"
"Unless you become Lord Black."
For a moment, Hydrus did not understand. "But - Belvina… she is... is Lady Black." If she had married into the family, Belvina would be called Dowager Black, and the Black family would be ruled by Hydrus' regent until he came of age. But Belvina was born a Black, and so… Professor Quirrell couldn't possibly mean it… Of course, it had happened before, Hydrus was sure… but... "Sir," he said. "Am I going to marry Belvina Black?"
Professor Quirrell looked at him curiously, as if trying to decide whether or not to sigh or laugh. "No."
"I don't understand."
"Emancipation can be done on three grounds: if your guardians have consented, if you have married an elder woman or…"
The last one, Hydrus knew, was only made available for those part of a Noble House. The Head of one's House could emancipate any member of his or her's House… though Hydrus could not see Belvina ever doing such a thing without… no, regardless of what Hydrus said, he knew she wouldn't do that.
"Belvina won't emancipate me," Hydrus told him.
"She doesn't have to." Professor Quirrell looked at him with something strange in his eyes - pity perhaps. It scared Hydrus more than he liked to admit.
"I… I don't understand…"
"Oh, you do."
"No," he whispered.
Professor Quirrell looked at him. "In ten days, Cornelius Fudge will turn forty-seven. A gala will be held in his manor."
Hydrus felt his throat seize.
"You'll be expected to attend, of course," he continued, "as well as many prominent purebloods will be."
"You can't mean…"
"I do. Of course, I can't come. But you'll be there. Along with Belvina Black."
Hydrus squeezed his eyes shut. Why had he ever agreed to receive lessons from this monster? It was almost impossible to remember why. "I can't do it."
"But you don't have to," Professor Quirrell said. "All you need… is a drop."
Almost reverently, a bottle of dark yellow liquid was set in front of Hydrus. It was smaller than the tip of his thumb, bound and sealed with clear wax.
"This… isn't right," Hydrus said determinedly. "There is another way. There has to be."
Professor Quirrell took his left hand, and slowly, he traced the band burned into his arm. "Would you prefer to slit their throats? Burn them alive? No. Those are too messy. Why dirty your hands when all you need… is a drop? It will be a quick death, I assure you, utterly painless. Have no fear."
No death is entirely without pain, Hydrus thought.
Professor Quirrell smiled. "It will be over soon."
"And after that?" Hydrus whispered.
"With the stone, my master - your master, our master will be back, and your service shall begin."
"I don't want to serve," Hydrus said quietly. He never wanted to, and saying it out loud now only made him realize just how badly he didn't want to do it.
"We made a deal," he said. "Signed in blood. I'm sure I still have the scroll in here, somewhere."
Hydrus lowered his eyes miserably. "You asked for my backing. Nothing more."
"For the time being. The future brings many things. You'll find pleasure in my master's service, I assure you. You and him… are not so different." Professor Quirrell gaged his reaction carefully. "You've had a long week. Get some rest."
_(O.O)_
Gringotts' response came with his new dress robes, flying in with the rest of the morning mail. Hydrus wouldn't know - he had been sleeping at that time, but Hermione gave him both when they met in the library for lunch.
He had told her about the upcoming Ministry gala, and it seemed, all girls had a fancy for jewels and parties.
"Open it, Hydrus," she urged excitedly. "Open it!"
"I have half a million of these things," he said tiredly. "They'll be green and black, I suspect, with silver fastenings and a crow stamped wherever there's unembroidered cloth. Nothing new."
Nonetheless, he did open it, even if it was to please her, and she gasped at the emeralds and rubies and all those other shiny things sewn into his robes.
Hydrus listened to her, feeling the bottle in his robes. It had been placed on his nightstand sometime while he slept, and when held to the light, it glowed red like fresh blood.
There only really was one person who would send him something as ponderous as this.
He closed his eyes tiredly, and wished he had a cup of coffee with him, or even tea, for all the caffeine it had. The headaches had gotten worse, and he hadn't been sleeping well as of late, plagued by horrible dreams. Belvina, and all her golden finery afire, caught in a red blaze, as flames licked every last bit of dignity off of her. There were more dreams; dreams of a poison that made Belvina's regal face cave in like a sinkhole, dreams of a poison that ate her bones as she twitched on the floor… dreams so horrid that Hydrus did not want to close his eyes ever again.
His headaches had gotten worse, and even during midday, it pounded just as passionately as it might have done in the morning.
Somewhere, some time ago, Nancel Fenwick had taught him and Draco about potions and salves and blah, blah, blah, but Hydrus had forgotten all of that. Now, he wished he had not. What colour was a headache reliever?
He broke open the wax with his nail and dipped the whole thing down his throat.
It tasted of cherry, and was thin as water. All of it went down his throat as Hermione's eyes widened in horror.
"What was that?" she demanded.
"I don't -" The headache went away, quick as that. His limbs felt a little less sore, and he supposed if there was a mirror, he would see that he didn't look nearly as pale as before. "- potion. It's a potion my… mother sent me."
"Really?"
There was a pause. "Yes… it's part of a ritual for these Ministry galas…"
Hermione gave a crooked smile before continuing with her homework.
Hydrus remained headache-free, even hours later, as he met Professor Quirrell in the same unnaturally bright room as all the days before.
"There are five estates, sir," he said.
"Where, exactly?"
His fingers felt stiff as they fumbled for the letter in his pocket. "Two in England, one in France, another in Spain and a last in Germany."
Professor Quirrell nodded, as he marked the map with dots of red ink. He unrolled a second scroll. "Give me a full description of all of your estates, and the current state of each."
They were there for hours, talking back and forth, scrawling ideas on parchment, and crossing them out just as quickly. Hydrus came closer to crying than he might have liked to admit, and all the while, he argued ferociously against any idea Professor Quirrell put forth.
"Well then," he said in irritation. "If none of these will suit your needs, what do you suppose you do?"
"I don't want to do it," Hydrus said, much more feebly than what he would have liked.
"All right then. Don't."
Then something strange happened to his face. It twitched, and then Professor Quirrell made a strange noise, that sounded halfway between choking and laughter.
"I - sir?"
When he spoke again, his face was smooth, and his eyes were shining with something - something that looked akin to pain and an odd combination of malice. "Only know that I can summon your brother and a particular friend of yours to my office at any moment that I like, and do whatever I wish to do."
His stomach was shaking, his meal threatening to come streaming out of his mouth.
"Well." Professor Quirrell blinked. "Here is our plan."
The hour hand was pointing to the four when they finished, but even then, the light that shone from the great glass windows was golden and yellow.
"We haven't been sparring recently," Professor Quirrell said, as he rolled up the diagrams they'd drawn together. "But of course…" his eyes looked up at Hydrus. It was only thanks to the red potion that he was even awake. "No, I suppose not. There will be time for that in the future."
From the inner pocket of his cloak, he drew another vial. Purple as ripe wine, sloshing lazily inside.
"Sir?" Hydrus asked shakily. He wanted to run from the room, to hide in his bed and pray that all of today had been one terrible nightmare.
Professor Quirrell looked at him. "For the dreams."
_(O.O)_
The stars glowed white and yellow against a black sky, the wind cold and crisp as Hermione and he shivered underneath the Cloak.
Norberta grew three times in size after a week, spanning almost a yard from the tip of her snout to the end of her tail.
It was even hotter in Hagrid's hut than before, and though Hydrus couldn't feel it, Hermione was pursing her lips, and wiping her forehead every couple of moments.
Norberta scampered from his spot on the table when they came in.
"Look at 'er," Hagrid said. The joy on his face, ever-present in the past seven days was slowly beginning to fade. Hydrus had spoken to him about it. It had taken too many lies, too many excuses to explain why Norberta had to go a week earlier than expected, but Hagrid did relent eventually. "He knows ye saved 'im, Hydrus."
He smiled back, and carefully ran his fingers over her. Her scales were like leather now; tougher, though just as supple. Her feet hadn't grown any talons yet, and it seemed she never would. The claws on her wings, as if in contrast, were bone white and sharp enough to dig one-inch deep holes on any flat surface there was.
"Well," Hydrus said. There was no point in waiting any longer. "Say your final good-byes, Hagrid."
He did, with a fresh wave of tears streaming down his face.
When Hagrid gave him and Hermione both a very snotty and wet hug as thanks, they walked out the door of his hut, under the silvery Cloak, carrying what was the heaviest thing Hydrus had ever held.
Luckily, he didn't need to hold it for long. Twenty paces out of Hagrid's hut, Hydrus used a hand to rip off the Cloak.
"What are you -" Hermione began.
Professor Quirrell was on her before she could finish. He flicked his wand, and she went rigid, collapsing on the grass silently.
"Come," he said quietly. They walked together, one underneath the Disillusionment Charm, the under silvery Cloak. Hermione's motionless body and Norberta in her box floated after them, equally invisible.
They climbed the stairs all the way to the seventh floor, before Professor Quirrell stopped outside the portrait of the Fat Lady.
He set Hermione down, before casting the Memory Charm on Hermione. Her eyes seemed to cloud, and Hydrus gave her hand a last squeeze, before Professor Quirrell and he made their way to the Room of Requirement.
"Precisely on time," Professor Quirrell said, as they took a seat at their customary positions at the table. "You're done for today. The Ministry gala is in three days. Have the necessary preparations been readied?"
"Yes, sir."
All the lies, alibis - all the answers to uncomfortable questions had been rehearsed a thousand times in this room, drilled into his mind by Professor Quirrell. His dress robes were freshly laundered, shoes aptly polished by the house-elves. His Invisibility Cloak, the beautiful silvery thing, would be sewn into the inside lining of his robes, with careful stitches so that with very specific movements, Hydrus would be able to tug it out. The vial was kept with Professor Quirrell for now, but otherwise, all was ready. Except for his stomach.
It seemed to rock back and forth every time he thought of what might happen, squirming as it considered that this would be the first life he ever took.
Hydrus didn't want to do it. He wanted to go to the gala as the heir of a great House, and leave as an heir, as an innocent eleven-year-old boy.
But I can't.
His eyes flitted down to the metal burned to his skin. Professor Quirrell had cast a spell on it, many weeks ago. There was a threat there. Unspoken, but there nevertheless.
"Sir," Hydrus said quietly.
"Go on."
His voice trembled as he spoke. "How does the poison kill?"
"Quickly. We've spoken of this many times."
"And your… your master -"
"Our master, Hydrus," he said, not unkindly.
"Our master," he mumbled. "Who is he?"
His fingers pressed together. "A great man. A powerful man. A man worth following. Dispel your worries, Hydrus, for you will soon be a great lord, and lords do not suffer from such anxieties."
_(O.O)_
"Much may go wrong tomorrow," Professor Quirrell reflected out loud.
"I - I suppose so, sir."
His hands were trembling, and if not for the Dreamless Sleep potion, Hydrus wouldn't have slept a wink last night.
"Perhaps it is time…" Professor Quirrell said thoughtfully.
"Time for what, sir?"
And then from the inside of his cloak, he produced a great triangular blade in a leather sheath.
"Careful now," he said. "The edges are sharp."
His hands were still shaking as they pulled the knife free. It glowed golden-silver in the bright yellow light, and its surface was so well-oiled and smooth that Hydrus could see himself, smiling stupidly as a golden-silver man.
He was so happy that for a moment, he forgot, just for a moment, all that would happen tomorrow.
"It's very nice," he managed at last.
Professor Quirrell didn't smile back. "Should something happen to the poison, you now know what to do."
His grin was gone, and his hand dropped limply onto the table. The knife clattered noisily.
Dimly, he was aware of Professor Quirrell placing a vial in his hands. "For the dreams," he said, with a newfound softness.
When Hydrus looked down, he saw that it was twice the usual amount.
A/N:
Ooh la la what a dramatic chapter.
Special thanks to KingZeRoPL for taking the time to complement my chapter - I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Hydrus will definitely learn Occlumency at some point, but at the moment, he's a bit busy... :]
I've been thinking, since the beginning ish of the fanfic doesn't move very fast (if at all), that I want to do a mass rewrite of the entire story and clear up some of the confusion/plot holes before moving on to anything new.
Don't worry - I have the last two chapters written, which will conclude Part one, but I think I want to smooth out the plot before I continue on with Part 2.
If I were to rewrite everything, I think it would take maybe four months before updated again...
What do you guys think?
Is the beginning of my book worth rewriting?
As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next week!
Cheers
:)